{"id":21056,"date":"2025-04-25T08:52:27","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T13:52:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/?p=21056"},"modified":"2025-04-25T08:52:27","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T13:52:27","slug":"navigating-a-new-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/2025\/04\/25\/navigating-a-new-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Navigating a new life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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One of the prettiest mornings so far. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

April has been a whirlwind of new challenges, big decisions and a visit from home. I have been making a lot of choices this month, hoping to figure out what my life will look like after graduating this summer. There are so many opportunities in Australia and I have decided to take advantage of them. However, in the meantime I will be enjoying my study abroad experience! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In early April, I had a very special visitor! My little sister flew across the country to stay with me for a week. I took her to several of Australia’s beaches and as a big beach girl like me, she was loving every bit of it. I had her try some Australian goodies and of course sent some home with her. We also went to a Sydney FC soccer game and had a blast. It was so funny having them play “Down Under” over the speakers and watching all the locals sing along. I showed her my school and some of my favorite restaurants and cafes. It was so nice having someone from home comes see my world here and also give me a sense of comfort. It was sad having to put her back on the plane, but she said she was happy for the life I have here and truly loved Australia as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My little sister and me at the Sydney FC game. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There are lots of things I have been working on \u2014 some challenging, some just fun. I started surfing, which I would say is a challenge and fun! It is so difficult, and I really do not understand how the surfers make it look so easy. I am not very good, but I have been able to catch my own waves a couple of times, and I really do not mind getting demolished by waves. My roommate and I are also big runners, so we have been getting up around 4 or 5 a.m. to run to a beach and watch the sunrise. In fact, on Easter morning we got up to run and got rewarded with a gorgeous sunrise and a hot cross bun after (hot cross buns are a huge Easter tradition here). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Easter sunrise post 6 mile run. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I have been working on my internship inductions since I will be working in a lab on coral monitoring. There is a lot of safety work I have to get through and a full walk-through of the lab, so I am prepared and understand the risks associated with my position. A challenge I have been dealing with is balancing all my papers at once. I had to write a 15-page paper for a class at Mizzou while also working on three other projects for classes here. It was slightly overwhelming, but I was able to work it all out and turn everything in on time. I find it hard sometimes to work on school when I am so close to a beach and all the events that are happening! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Coffee shop workday with friends.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Finally one other hard thing that happened was I said goodbye to one of my friends already. She is not a student anymore, but I met her through running and we built a little friend group around it. She is the kindest soul and is going back home to Canada for a bit, hopefully to return to Australia later. I already miss her so much and I feel like I am getting a taste of how it is going to feel when all my roommates and international friends leave at the end of the semester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One last time before Katie leaves for Canada. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My biggest update is about graduation and my future. In previous blog posts, I said I was in love with Australia and I didn’t want to leave. Well, I decided I am not. After graduating this summer, I will be an au pair somewhere in Australia for six months. An au pair is like an international nanny, so I get to live with a family and help take care of their kids and the house, and help out where I am needed. This is a great opportunity to get paid and have my accommodation paid for. I also get to spend time with kids and stay in Australia longer! This is also a great choice for me because after speaking with my coral reef professor, I will be applying to start the honors program at UTS in February 2026. This is a program following a bachelor’s degree that is a one-year intensive thesis project. Following, students are eligible to go for a Ph.D. I realize things do not always go to plan, so I am not closing all my doors yet, but since I am in my twenties, I just want to do it all. I am super excited about my decision and cannot see what else I get to do. On a final note, it is starting to cool down here, and I know it is getting warmer in the States \u2014 not happy about that. I love the sun and our beach days are limited, so I guess I will be going to the beach in the cold!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Learn more about this blogger\u2019s study abroad program: University of Technology Sydney<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April has been a whirlwind of new challenges, big decisions and a visit from home. I have been making a lot of choices this month, hoping to figure out what my life will look like after graduating this summer. There are so many opportunities in Australia and I have decided to take advantage of them. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[201],"class_list":["post-21056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-australia"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21056"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21062,"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21056\/revisions\/21062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}