Hey guys, it's Olivia here from Olivia's Catastrophe. Today i'm here to talk to you
all about my year abroad. So recently i
returned home from my year study abroad
in Australia and I just wanted to talk
about my experience and answer some
questions. So before I get started on
answsering the questions I'm just gonna tell
you the situation and a little bit about
what I did. So I went to Australia and I
study English literature and creative
writing. So I was there to take some
English literature and creative writing
classes there. I went to Melbourne,
Australia, Monash University. So that's
where I was throughout the months of
study. However, as I didn't take any exams
I finished earlier than a lot of people
so I was done by the beginning of
November. When I finished in November I
went on a 40-day road trip around
Australia and New Zealand with one of my
good friends that I made there. We were
travelling for 40 days and then that
ended around the 1st of January. I then
had a job au pairing for an Australian
family in a smaller town. And we - well I
was there for one and a half months. And
while I was with them I also got to go
to Alice Springs with them on a work
trip which was a lot of fun as well as a
lot of work. And then after au pairing I
returned to start my second semester at
university. However, we only had one week
of classes before the virus struck and I
took an emergency flight home back to
the Netherlands. Which is where I am
right now. So while my year abroad was
cut short I did manage to do quite a bit
throughout the time that I was there. And
I had a lot of fun and really enjoyed
myself. If you get the chance to do a
semester or a year abroad I definitely
definitely recommend you take it because
you're gonna have such a great
experience meeting new people, going to
new places and just seeing what it's like
to live somewhere that isn't your home
country. It was the first time that I was
in charge of running my very own
backpacking trip. I'd never been
backpacking before. I never had only one
hiking backpack and one little suitcase
for about two months away from where I
was supposed to be living, because
directly after doing the road trip I
went au pairing and then I went back to
uni. So I had my backpack and my suitcase
that was like a 7 kilo kind of suitcase. That's all I had for clothes and books
and everything. It was such a
groundbreaking experience but we also
did so many things that absolutely blew
my mind and just shaped... shaped the way
that I saw Australia and New Zealand. And
it just, well, it was definitely an
experience and I wouldn't change it for
the world. It was also interesting
getting into Australian culture because
it was such a weird mesh of what I knew
and what I didn't know. I chose to go to
an English-speaking country as I'm doing
English literature and that meant that I
was getting the same language and some
of the traits of English culture. But
then it was also very Americanized
because you see a lot of America's
influence in Australia's history. And
then it was something that was entirely
its own because you had the indigenous
communities and of course Australia has
its own politics, and it's developed in
its own ways. So it was just a melding of
all these different things that I knew
and didn't know and it was just
interesting to discover and see in the
people around me, but also in how
everyday life was run. It was also a
new experience to me, being a study
abroad student rather than a domestic
student. While I do go to university in
the UK which is like a halfway home for
me because I live in the Netherlands but
I also live in the UK... kind of... it's... it's
a bit confusing. But I as a domestic
student I have all my kitchen equipment,
I can afford to move as much of my stuff
as I want in with me. However, when I went
to Australia I had a 30 kilograms
suitcase, one seven kilograms suitcase
and a backpack. Which meant I had very
limited stuff that I could bring with me
and I chose to only bring clothes and a
couple of books. Which meant I had to get
used to not having my full extent of
kitchen equipment. I had to change up my
diet a little bit to match the limited
equipment that I had. And it was just a
new experience, kind of living a bit of a
minimalist life to some extent. I chose
to live on campus and I feel like this
is the best thing for me when it comes
to going to classes because if I know
that class is only a little bit of a
walk away... 20 minutes or 10 minutes, then I
know that I'm more likely to go to class
and not just skip out on it. Not because
I don't enjoy my classes. I really do. But
sometimes I get a bit nervous with what
you're expected to do, how much you're
expected to talk.  As an introvert it
can be a lot of pressure. So I like
living within a walking range of school. However, Australia is a very big place
and one of the things
that I learned while I was there is that
distance is measured entirely
differently. So while I thought a one
and a half hour train journey, plus a bus
ride to get to city centre is a long
journey, Australians were like: that's not
that long. So if you want to live more of
the city life I guess you want to live
off campus and more towards the city.
However, it was just very expensive and
as I arrived and needed to move in
straight away on that day and I didn't
have any friends that I could live with
meanwhile while I found a place live, and
I couldn't really sign a contract while
being halfway across the world and
knowing I wasn't getting scammed or
something like that.
There were other things that were a huge
adjustment to me and that was having to
rely entirely on friends. I am a very
family person. You'll have noticed that
if you follow me on Instagram or you've
gotten to know me. I'm really really into
my family, like, I love them so much! So
being away from them for such a long
time was definitely a trying aspect of
my year abroad. I wouldn't have it any
other way because I feel like it was
good for me. Not because I needed
independence because while I love them a
lot I'm still already quite an
independent person and I live away from
them when I go to university in the UK
anyway. But that distance of being so far
was definitely something to contend with
and I had to get used to talking to my
friends more, opening up to my friends
more, letting them take care of me when I
need it. And that was definitely a new
experience for me as well. Then I just
want to talk about what to pack and what
not to pack. And this is what I'm gonna
say: just pack clothes. That's all you
need. And if you're a bookworm doing a year
abroad, you don't need to pack too many
books. Just don't do it. Don't make the
same mistakes I did. I brought too many
books because I also gained books while
I was there. So I didn't need to bring
books. If you're going to an
English-speaking country or a country
where you can speak the language, try and
find a library if libraries are a thing
that that country does. I know some put
more emphasis on having libraries around
than others. But if you can deal with the
library and find a library, then go for
it. If you can't then maybe bring a
Kindle or an e-reader of some sort. You
can even get the Kindle app on your
phone these days. You don't necessarily
need to bring 10 books, Olivia. And last
but not least, take your fears and shove
them away. They are not important when
you're on your trip. Take every chance
you can to do everything that you
possibly can.
I have two major fears and one that I
don't really mention that much. My first
one is my fear of heights. But while I
was in New Zealand I went skydiving and
I totally conquered that fear of heights.
While it will never be gone, while
thinking of heights will always give me
a certain sense of anxiety and being all
the way up that high definitely had me
questioning my life choices, and I will
always physically react to me being in a
very high altitude, it was still amazing
that I could do this. And my family and
everyone was shocked because my
fear of heights is very very strong. But
even stronger than my fear of heights is
my arachnophobia.
In fact, lots of my friends laughed when
I told them that I was going to
Australia for my year abroad because I
am the most afraid of spiders that there
can be. To the extent where I have had
panic attacks because spiders have been
within my vicinity. It's... it's a problem. And I went to Australia and I stayed in
a small town and I dealt with some big
spiders. Not entirely alone but that is
beside the point. Don't let the fear that you have of
anything hold you back from the chances
that you get because you will regret it
and you will be opening yourself up to
so much experience and growth by facing
and conquering those fears. The other
fear was something happening to a family
member while I was far away abroad. There's nothing really you can do to
control that though. Let's get down to
the Q&A section. I'm just gonna say first
names of people who ask questions and
I've got my phone here so I'll just be
reading the questions off and answering
them best I can. So Carol asked:
unexpected hardships? And I feel like the
most unexpected hardship that I should
have expected was the distances and how
having a driver's license can really
make a big difference when you're in
Australia. Because you need a car to
travel to those hiking places - the
bases of where you want to start. You
need a car if you want to do a road trip.
I'll tell you how we did our road trip
otherwise, but having a car in Australia
and being able to drive is definitely
definitely something that I would
recommend if you can do it. Because it
will just save you a lot of money, public
transport is slow, the buses were not
always reliable. Definitely best
to drive. And I didn't expect that to be
such a hardship because in the
Netherlands you just cycle everywhere
and in London public transport is
on a point. I doubled up some of your
questions when you asked similar things so
Carol and Gaia both asked how did you
deal with being away from your family
for so long? Was it hard to be away from
them? Yes, of course, it was very hard to
be away from them. The hardest point
for me it was Christmas and when I
watched Star Wars. So Christmas is just a
really big deal in my family. We are a
Christian family and it's one of the few
celebrations that we properly go all out
for and celebrate with a lot of family
traditions and such. And this year for
Christmas all five of them were together
and of course I was not there. I did have
a very good time with my friend in New
Zealand on Christmas Day, but
it did hit me that all of my family were
together and I was feeling a bit like I
was missing out. And the other time was
when I watched Star Wars because
traditionally on Christmas Day or Boxing
Day we go and watch the new Star Wars. We
all grew up with Star Wars due to my
dad's fandom obsession. And it's kind of
become something we love too. So I had to
go and see Star Wars by myself because
while I was au pairing all of my
friends were back home and I was not. And
yeah, there was no one to watch it with
me who was interested in Star Wars. So I
went and watched it in a very fancy
cinema by myself. And as the credits
rolled up I turned to start talking to
my family about it automatically, and
they weren't there. That was a sad day.
But yes, it was definitely difficult to
be away from my family. And how did I
cope? I did have a regular video calls. I
called my grandparents about once a week
steadily. I called my two older sisters
about once a week. And I don't really video
call with my dad because that's not a
thing but we do text. And I did have a
call from my mum in the beginning once
every two days and then once every three
days ish because as mother she likes to
check in. Especially as I'm so far away.
And with my younger sister who is
basically my best friend who you've met in my
meet my sister video, it was really
really difficult to be away from her. And
we had video calls and she would cry
because she missed me... it really was
difficult. But we set up a way to have a
connection together and that was our
film nights. Film nights are just
something we do a lot because my younger
sister loves film and I like watching
films, but I don't like watching them
alone. So when I'm back home we always have a
big list that I need to catch up on. So
what we would do is she would stay up
late at night and I would wake up
in the morning, because there is quite a
big different time difference between
Australia and Europe. And she -- we would
both count down and start the film at
the same time. Then every 20 minutes we'd
have a little call to discuss what we were
watching, to talk a little bit, and then
we'd continue watching the next 20
minutes. And it was almost like I was
right there with her watching a film and
those are some memories I'm never gonna
forget of spending time with my family
even when I'm not with them. Gaia asked
me do you make friends easily in a new
location? I want to say no because I feel
like I don't. But I always end up making
friends fairly quickly. So I guess, yes?
But that's because I end up having
extrovert friends and they approach me. And they're very happy to do a lot of
the talking in a conversation until I
open up as well. I feel like I can be
friendly. I'm not unapproachable, but I
feel like maybe internally I struggle
more than I outwardly seem to struggle. But I did make friends pretty quickly
and for that I was very happy. Andrea and
Hope both asked me Warwick quality of
teaching versus Australian? And Warwick is
the University I go to in the UK. While
Warwick University focuses a lot, for
English literature, on classic books, I
feel like it does more of the classic
side of things.
Monash seem to do more for modern day
topics. And Warrwick kind of just the
traditional literature,
whereas Monash seems to be more open to
casual things. For example when I was at
Warwick I took crime fiction and I took
Shakespeare for English literature. And
then in Monash I took fairytale and
children's literature and those are
things that I couldn't take if I was
at Warwick. So I was happy to expand in my
literature, like, broaden my horizons a
bit when it came to literature. Then when
it comes to creative writing Warwick
definitely gets my vote because they do
it a lot better. There's a lot more
options for the Creative Writing. You can
study short story, you can study a video
game narration, you can study so much...
screenwriting and all of that.
Whereas Monash, I feel like they have been
cutting their creative writing modules.
There's only poetry and short story that
you can take. I took poetry last semester,
currently taking short story online
right now. But when it comes to the
quality of teaching I have to say it
just was not up to par because it was so
easy. Warwick really pushes us. It's very...
it's so hard to reach those high grades
and they really want us to dig in deep
and I feel like I've always learned more
at Warwick than I learned at Monash. Monash tends
to stay very surface level and I'm not
saying it as in I hate or Monash or
anything because it was quite nice to
have a bit of a lighter workload that I
could do easier for my year abroad. Because
then I had time to travel and explore
and make friends. But I feel like they
could dig a lot deeper and sometimes it
even got a bit frustrating for me.
However, for Monash I have heard that
other departments are better than the
English literature department. For
example, I have a friend who does law and
she also is from Warwick but during a year
abroad in Monash and she said that she
prefers how law is taught and handled in
Monash better. So it might just be the
English literature and creative writing
Department. Caz asked what was your
favourite part of the trip? And my mum recently just asked me that
and she let me choose four things so I'm
just gonna say four things. The first one
I have to say it was when I got to do my
first hiking and camping trip with some
friends and we hiked and camped around
Wilson's prom. Which is absolutely
beautiful. It was just so gorgeous. We
also went during winter which is
unpopular time to camp, which meant there
was no one there. We had these beautiful,
pristine beaches all to ourselves. TWe were
exploring these beautiful forests all to
ourselves and it was all in one place. It
was magical even if it was such hard
work because it was hiking up and down
all day for three days. The second thing
that I said was my favourite part of the
trip was when I got to explore the Great
Barrier Reef because that was just
something I never actually thought I
would be able to do. And that was amazing. Thirdly, I mentioned skydiving. Again, that
feeling of conquering your fear and
being on top of the world was just
fantastic. And then I also mentioned
finding a church that I see as home. I
have not really, since moving out of home,
found a church where I personally
connected to at such a deep level and
had such a good community too. And I
guess that ties in to how I dealt with
being away from my family because the
church was like another family to me. If
I needed anything or just needed any
support the church brethren were really
there to help me and uplift me. They
helped me with moving in, they helped me
with giving me a place to store my stuff
over summer for free, they helped me in those
two days when I had to depart from
Australia suddenly and didn't even get
to say goodbye to all of them. The church
was really there for me and they were
fantastic. That's missing out so many
other fun experiences I had but I can't
I can't tell you about them all. Caz
said what's something you would change
about your trip if you could? I would
change the current situation so that I
got to finish off my year. That's what I
would change. Caz also asked how did your
budgeting go? I did take out my student
finance loan that I don't usually take
out so that I would be able to travel a
bit more. And then I was very very
careful with my finances. I planned my
meal schedule so that I wasn't buying
unnecessary food. And while I did eat out
more than usual because I was exploring
all of the wonderful Asian cuisine that
Australia has with it being so much
closer to Asia than Europe... that's very
authentic, I also made sure I didn't
spend too much money on eating food out.
I went on my buying ban which meant I
wasn't spending any money on books while
I was there and all of that money could
go towards travel. And when we did travel
we were so careful with our money. We
didn't just spend it willy-nilly. We
didn't eat out at all while we were on
our forty days travel. We cooked and
prepared for ourselves and brought with
us on trips etc etc. I think we did very
well and actually my money lasted all
through Australia. Ayuni and Dom both asked
me what made you choose Australia? And
this is quite a story because originally
I chose Spain for my year abroad. And
that's where I was very set on going. And
then I mentioned that I was going on a
year abroad to my librarian. I think I've
mentioned my librarian before and what a
close relationship we have. So I
mentioned it to her and she was like:
Spain?? Why don't you go to Australia when
you can take children's literature and
she talked about the Australian
literature there, and she talked about
the experiences she had there. She's from
New Zealand so she also talked a bit about
New Zealand and single-handedly she
managed to convert me from going to
Spain, mastering my Spanish, and living
Spanish culture for longer as I usually
work there during the summer, and
turned me onto Australia. Which is where
I decided to go at the last minute.
Jade asked me how did you get your au
pair job. Again, another funny story. So
before we left for a 40-day trip I
decided I wanted to have that job for
the month of January and half of
February to tie me over until summer was
over while the rest of my friends went
home. I decided that. I found a job and it
was pretty secure. She was gonna -- it was a
mother who was going back to work and
she wanted support for her baby while
she went back to work. However, towards
the end of our 40 day trip she
decided that she was not going to be
going to work anymore which essentially
meant I was out of a job. And out of
anywhere to live for January to February.
I had about a week left to try and find
a new job which was a lot. And I wasn't
having much success. I use aupairworld.com usually and on there I found a
family that was looking for a French au
pair. However, they ticked a lot of my other
boxes and I just decided to apply even
though I wasn't exactly what they were
looking for. However, they read through my
application, then they checked out
Olivia's Catastrophe which they told me
about later.
And as both of those parents work in
creative fields they thought it'd be
great to have another creative live with
them for a short period of time before
they took on a long-term au pair who
does speak French and can help with the
French side of teaching their children. So just by chance they kind of decided I
was the one that they wanted and I
absolutely adored my time there with
that family. They were so nice to
me.
They had great kids and it was just... I
think it was a good vibe for all of us
all around. Jade also asked what was your
favourite mode of transportation? Trains
because actually I don't like -- I didn't
used to like taking trains in the UK or
the Netherlands. It made me very
uncomfortable and very anxious but
because I had to take it every time I
wanted to go to the city in Australia or
any time I wanted to get anywhere, I got
used to it and I got a lot calmer. And
yeah, I really did enjoy taking trains.
Jade asks did you find yourself in any
tricky travel situations? Australia is so
hot all the time! We were backpacking
with a suitcase and a backpack but
because Australia is often 40 degrees or
above it meant that the pavement is
always burning hot.
And our suitcase wheels started to melt. My suitcase was a two-wheeler and once
one of those wheels were gone it was it
was a goner. You couldn't wheel it
anymore. And my other friend had four
wheels and one of them melted and she
could just about push it on three wheels. But it meant that instead of having a
backpack that weighs about seven kilos
and wheeling a suitcase I was carrying a
backpack that was seven kilos and my
suitcase in my hand. Which was a lot. Maddie
asked do you have any travel advice or
tips for inexperienced travellers? My
main tip is to take every opportunity
that you possibly can. If you're thinking
about traveling within Australia
hopefully you're able to drive because
that will really make it easier for you
and you could road trip it yourself
rather than paying for a coach company. But the coach company was a really good
one. If you can't drive I recommend the
Greyhound. You can get a pass which will
allow you to hop on and hop off buses
going whichever way and wherever they
possibly can in Australia for 30 days or
longer depending on how much you want to
pay. So we bought one that was for 30
days and then we could just take any of
their coaches for 30 days and that just
took us everywhere. It was like a huge
road trip except we weren't the ones who
were driving. Try and do it also for the
environment 'cause that's another plus. Stay
in hostels, not hotels. Hostels are really
cheap. You can get a room just for you
and your friends or just you and
yourself. We mostly tried to find rooms where we
could just be ourselves but most often
or not we had roommates. We were in
all-female ones but I think we went to
two where they were just like, mixed.
Everybody in hostels are really friendly. A lot of them have some really cool
travel stories and we made some nice
friends while we were doing that. I'd
also recommend taking breaks because
when you're traveling for an extended
period of time back-to-back. It can get
overwhelming to go on a tour or go and
explore something new every single day
and you don't have to feel guilty about
being in a place that's new and
different and exciting but just having a
day where you sit down
read a book and watch TV. I know that we
took two days like that on our trip and
the first one we felt a bit guilty about
it but then towards the end of our trip
where we were getting a bit travel-weary
we were just perfectly okay to just
watch a film all day.
Maddy asks if you could travel anywhere
where would your next trip be? I did have
some more trips planned for the
Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia.
However, in light of the virus, those two
trips won't be happening and I'm not
sure Singapore's happening anymore
either.
So if I could take a trip next it would
definitely be to go there because that's
where I want to be. Maddie asked what was
your most what was the most challenging
thing about studying overseas or what
was the best thing? The most challenging
thing was definitely being so far away
from my family and the best thing was
all the new experiences that I got to
have. Jess says please just explain to me
all the places I need to visit and any
top tips. So my top tip would be the
Greyhound bus if you can't drive by
yourself and YHA hostels if you are
traveling within Australia and New
Zealand. Those hostels are so good. The
rooms, depending on which hostel you get
whether it's more modernized or
it's one of their older ones. But either
which way their rooms are really really
good. I felt very safe at YHA hostels,
the atmosphere was always good. You could
do things in the community as a hostel
but they also had a lot of Tours that
just, that they weren't hosting but the
tours paid attention to YHA and could
pick you up from there. I would also try
and go on as few tours as possible if
you can. Like hike by yourself and
guide yourself. go for it. Go with friends
and you'll be able to find your way
because all of the trails are very
clear-cut. People ask me where you should
go and I'm gonna tell you the top places
that I went. And one of them would be
Wilson's prom which is in Melbourne. You
can hike and camp and see amazing
beaches there. I recommend three or more
days but you can definitely just go one
day and go to one area of Wilson's prom.
I also recommend The Great Oceans Road. It's a beautiful beach kind of road trip
that you can do with the Twelve Apostles
at the end. And it was just absolutely
fantastic. We went all along the great
ocean road one day, camped, and then all
the way back stopping at different
places on the way back. I also really
recommend making your way to Sydney just
to see the city and the Sydney opera -- the
Opera House. It's just kind of a
rite of passage. I also really recommend
doing the East Coast road trip. That's
what we did and we had
a lot of fun. There are some beautiful
beaches and Islands. The beaches up Byron Bay
were nice.
I've heard that Magnetic Island has
beautiful beaches but we especially
loved going to Whitsunday Islands. The
waters that are blue there are just so
fantastic and oh, it blew my mind. I
wouldn't really recommend going to
Canberra. You don't necessarily need to.
It may be the capital but it feels a bit
more residential and Museumy than
anything fascinating. I also really liked
Gold Coast because the the contrast of a
beach and the skyscrapers was just
fantastic, and the weather was a plus.
And it was just so lovely. Do be careful
of the sun there. The sun is intense. It
will burn you. You need sunscreen. You
need to be reapplying it multiple times
a day. And I'm just gonna say: if you have
a darker skin tone you still need that
sunscreen. It doesn't mean you're immune
to skin cancer. I also really recommend
going to Cairns . From there we went to
the Great Barrier Reef and you can get
to a lot of good Great Barrier Reef
locations from Cairns. And there's a
beautiful rainforest as well which
unfortunately we didn't get to see but
definitely recommend. And Brisbane was
one of those city places that was really
nice. They've got like, a street beach in
the middle of their city and it's just
gorgeous
at night. So so recommend it. And then
last but not least Alice Springs, where
Iluru rock is. That rock is magnificent. It
will blow your mind and Alice is
actually quite a central place for
indigenous communities. There's quite a
lot of indigenous communities there so
you can probably learn and experience
their community a lot by being there in
the desert. If you are going there please
don't go in February which is when I
went. That is the peak of summer. It's the
worst heat it can be. Try and go in
autumn or spring. Yeah, that's when you
should go. If you are on those side of
the world where you're in Australia,
when you get to Australia do go visit
New Zealand as well because it's just
so nearby. The flights are not too
expensive and if you're going to New
Zealand you need to be in Queenstown. I
have never been somewhere with such
magnificent mountains. I cannot even put
it into words and the photos don't do it
justice at all. You need to be there
yourself and you need to go to Milford
Sound because
those waterfalls were just stunning. And
the road trip there is the most
beautiful road trip . Like, great ocean
road, Milford sound: what was the best
road trip? I'll let you guys figure that
out when you go yourselves. The last one
is do make your way to Hobbiton. We were
new nerds because we watched all the
Hobbit films and as many of the Lord of
the Rings films as we could before we
went just specifically because we were
going. And even then I still loved Hobbiton
so much having just been newly
introduced to the fandom. It was still
such an experience so definitely go. KJ
asks what are some things you notice
that were different from what you're
used to during your time in Australia?
Just how different people conceived
distances, distances were conceived in a
way that was entirely new to me. And I
hadn'g an experience before. The climate was
definitely different. Hot hot hot hot hot! And I absolutely loved it because I live
for the heat. But just be ready and drink
a lot of water guys. And then she also
asked did you see any cute wildlife? And
yes we did. I became such a fan of the
echidnas while we were there
and I had a friend who researched all of
these facts about echidnas which was
just amazing. They were so cute. And we
also saw by chance a mama koala with her
baby koala in a tree. That was a
magnificent experience and it was just
so cute and beautiful. I have fed a
kangaroo while I was there. We spent a
lot of time just exploring the wildlife.
Saw a snake while we were hiking. Iit was
mad. Also the wildlife I didn't care
about were the spiders but we saw them
anyway. Dom asked what was the scariest
part of traveling? So before we started
traveling it was when the fire started
in Australia this summer, where it was
very intense and the burnings were
really truly the awful... the most awful
that's ever been. So when we started our
trip we first went to Sydney with a
group of friends and then Canberra for a
bit and we hadn't planned the rest of
our trip. Not because we didn't want to
but because we knew that we were gonna
have to change and alter our itinerary
depending on which areas of Australia
were burning, inaccessible roads, etc etc.
So we couldn't plan out our trip
beforehand which essentially meant we
had 40 days with nowhere to live, but we
had to make it up as we went along.
And while it was a lot of fun to do that
because we got to have a bit more
freedom in picking and choosing and
being flexible, it was still so scary to
embark on a trip where we just didn't
know where you were gonna get to quite
yet. And that was a bit of the scariest
aspect of traveling. Isabel from the
reader and the chef asked tell us about
school which I think I've done and
covered in enough detail. And she also
asked did you try Vegemite? Yes, I did,
no, I did not like it. It is quite
reminiscent of the British Marmite but
it just was so sour and peculiar that it
didn't work for me. But the au pair
family who I looked after, they really
liked it. So I just think it's it's an
Australian thing. Hope asked me are you
done with school there? Was it just one
semester abroad? No, it was two semesters
abroad but it did get cut short because
of the virus. However, I'm still
Australian abroad student. I''m doing all
my classes on zoom during the night
because of the time difference. Hope
asked me if I will miss the sunshine? Ad
I already do. I stepped off that plane
and I was like: Europe is freezing! And I
was so cold/ And I've been wearing a
dressing-gown for the past few days
because I cannot get used to this cold
weather. Rosnwon -- I don't have to
pronounce the username -- asked what were some
everyday routines, lifestyle values,
differences that you notice compared to
where you're from? I want to say one of
the things that I noticed was that
Australian people are so kind. And that's
coming from someone who lives in the
Netherlands where people are already so
nice to you and are always willing to
help you if you get knocked off your
bike or whatever. I've always had people
stop and ask if I'm alright, if I need
help. But in Australia
it just went to another level. I could be
looking at Google Maps trying to find
where I was trying to go - to beach this
to meet this tour guide or whatever - and
a random person would stop on the street
and be like: oh, where you're trying to
get to? Can I help you? It's not even a
case where I look like I'm distressed or
too confused, but they can just see that
I don't know where I'm going and they
just want to help me. Many times when I
was carrying heavy bags or something there
are people who are always wanting to
help. And just to showcase the chill
nature once we were at an airport and
you know when it says gate opens at this
time or like, just wait for gate. Instead
of saying that it just said
chill. Like, chill your gates not open yet
so you should just chill. And I just
thought like that just shows the
Australian culture very well. Madisyn and
Mariana both asked what was your
favourite travel destination? Again, I've
talked about that extensively so I'll
just pass over that one. And Madisyn asks
how did you manage to film sit-down
videos while you were traveling?
Essentially, I didn't too much. I mostly
just vlogged all of my travel experiences
and I bulk filmed before I went on my
trip because I knew I was going to be
gone for a long time. When we were in New
Zealand which was when it was the end of
the year so all of those best and worst
videos were coming out, we did rent
ourselves an Airbnb to treat us to the
fact that we've been living in hostels
for the past three, four weeks. And that
we wanted to be able to celebrate
Christmas and New Year's like, properly,
cook properly etc etc. So we did have an
airbnb and I was able to film those
sit-down videos early in the morning
before my travel buddy woke up. However,
while we were staying in hostels I did
not manage to film any sit-down videos. It was all pre-filmed. Isabel Alcuaz
asked any Aussie reads you tried out and
would recommend? So I decided to split my
reading experience by doing poetry for
the first semester and then novels for
the second semester. Which means that I
didn't actually get a chance to get
around to reading too many Australian
novels. So I don't really have too many
to recommend but for nonfiction I
recommend No Friend But The Mountain by
Behrouz Boochani and Eggshell Skull by Bri Lee. Bri Lee really focuses on the law system
and how it treats sexual assault cases
in Australia and Behrouz Boochani talks
about his experiences
in detainment prison while he was
trying to immigrate into Australia. And
then for poetry I definitely recommend
Omar Sakr who is an Arab Australian
poet. And he talks a lot about being of
two worlds while living in Australia. And
then we have John Kinsella who is very
well known Australian poet. He truly
engages with the Australian environment
in his poems and I really appreciated
seeing that in his collection Insomnia,
which is the one I definitely recommend. Ladybug asks did you get to see some
authors? And unfortunately, I did not. I
was not really focusing on trying to
visit authors -- oh! Actually, I did, that's a
lie. For my university course there was an
opportunity to go and meet Zadie Smith
and I did. I
met Zadie Smith. I still haven't read one
of her books though, but we did enjoy
listening to her talk about social media
and literature and her own books. And
then afterwards we were a bit sneaky and
while she was leaving we just asked if
we could talk to her for a second and
that was really great. But otherwise I
wasn't really looking to meet up with
many authors. Instead I wanted to spend
my time meeting some of my booktube, book blog and other bookish content
sites friends who I wouldn't be able to
meet if I wasn't in Australia. So I got
to meet Nicole and her books, I got to
Shoi from Starlit Reader, I got
to meet Aditi who is now on bookstagram, and some others which was just so
fantastic. The last thing that Isabel Alcuaz asked that I'm just gonna end the
video on here is is there something
related to your time there that you
would like to talk about? And one of the
things that I want to talk about is
black culture in Australia. So when I
went to Australia I really struggled to
find a black community. I didn't know
where they were at. I didn't see many
black people around in Melbourne. While I
was in Cairns I saw a lot more
indigenous people, while I was in Alice Springs
I saw a lot more indigenous people, but
not many Caribbean/African-esque black
people. And I wondered where are they?
There must be there somewhere. And it was
also high time I found them because I
needed to get my hair plaited and I
didn't know where to go. Eventually a
cleaner came to our building and she had
her hair plaited really well and I asked
her: where did you get your hair done and
she led me to an Ethiopian woman who was
absolutely lovely to me during my duration
in Australia and did my hair every time
since I met her. And then we found this
nightclub which was called Laundry and
they played R&B and hip-hop. And there
were the floods of black people. And it
was just so interesting to see a lack of
black people and to experience some
racism for the first time because well,
not for the first time... but I never like,
personally struggled with racism because
I always had my family with me when it
happened. I received a lot of comments. I
had a lot of people who would just grab
my hair or touch my hair without asking
me. And the worst case was when I was in
Hungry Jack's with my friend. Somebody
was eating a greasy burger and like, the
mess was on their hands and they were
sitting next to me. And while I was
talking to my friend they grabbed my
hair and said: oh, that's so pretty
with all the food gunk on their fingers. And I was a bit overwhelmed and I kind
of just... I didn't, I didn't clap back
like I should have but that's something I
needed to work on. And I have learned a
lot better since Australia. Another
time when we went to a bar to get some
drinks and I was with one other black
friend. We were a group of us but there
was me and one other black woman with me.
And they had to check our passports so
they checked my passport which is a
purple British passport. Right, a purple
British passport which has my name and
age on it. And then they checked my
friend's passport and she had a
different passport and it was bright
green which is very different to my
purple. And it had her name on it which
is very different to mine. And then the
person handed the passport back and had
the audacity to say: oh, so you're sisters?
She just checked our passports that are
different colours, with different
nationalities, with different names and
still asked us that question. And then
looked offended when we questioned her
all about it or something like that/ And
it's just -- some other comments that were
made. I traveled with my friend Marilyn
and whenever she said that she was from
France or whenever I said that I was
from England a lot of people decided to
question where we were from. Saying you
don't look English, or you don't look
French. None of their business?? If you ask
us where we're from and we tell you,
that's the answer. My friends
also had some other comments especially
my non-binary friend also got some
comments. So I could just continue going
on and on but it I do think Australia
has a long way to go in being inclusive
of minorities and not having those
comments and those mindsets in their
mind. And just developing and getting
further in that regard. So I think that's
something I would like to point out
especially if you're travelling there as
a minority. Be aware that you might be
getting some of these comments, you might
be getting some of these looks, that some
of these things might happen and you're
gonna have to grow a double skin. You're
gonna have to be able to question it, to
express when you don't like something
'cause that, I guess, that's one way I grew
while I was there. I've learned to not
take it anymore but at the same extent
it's just not fun. Nobody likes to experience
those emotions. I feel like that's pretty
negative note to end on so I just want
to say Australia was really one of the
best experiences I've had in my life so
far. And I just really recommend you going on
a study abroad trip if you can. This
video is quite long so I'll end it here.
Please let me know in the comment
section down below:did I answer your
question ? If you've got any more
questions let me know and let me know if
you could travel anywhere in the world
where would you want to go? Give this video a
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what they say: onwards and upwards.
Excelsior!
