From 104 degrees, to 3.2 degrees in a day.

G’day!

I am Krissy, the new SUNY Oswego student blogger all the way from Brisbane, Australia. I am spending a semester on exchange here and have been at Oswego for nearly a fortnight now, and loving it! I’ll give you a quick background on my journey and what it entailed for this first blog post.

Background

My favourite spot at QUT

My favourite spot at QUT

In Australia, I study a bachelors of Information Technology at QUT (seriously an awesome university and friendliest place on earth) and am currently in my third and final year of my degree. I decided at the very beginning of my second year (early 2014), that I wanted to participate in the exchange program with one of QUT’s partners. So the research began. I could waffle on more about this, but essentially I chose SUNY because it has a highly regarded Computer Science Program, and Business School, which is exactly what I am into and subjects I would be taking. And of course because I have been in love with the idea of living in America and in the snow since I was a child. Prior to attending SUNY I had only seen snow on ski fields or on mountains in the far distance.

 

 

Trip from Australia to Oswego

soaring from the west to the east

soaring from the west to the east

It still feels surreal that I am actually in Oswego, on exchange and 9482.75 miles away from home. During the lead up to going on exchange it always just felt so far away, when I received my acceptance from SUNY in October it was still a good 3-4 months away and I just could not picture myself actually there. As time creeped on, I actually moved to Sydney over summer for an internship and was working full-time at Atlassian. This kept me occupied and as a result I didn’t really have much time to reflect and think about the long, exciting journey ahead of me. I left Sydney on a Friday, spent the Saturday and Sunday in Brisbane with my family and friends, then flew out on Monday morning. When I was on the plane Monday morning, it was the first time I was actually like “Wow this is actually happening”. I think this was a good thing because I was super excited and felt the flights didn’t take too long. In total I travelled about 26.5 hours to finallllllllllly arrive at SUNY Oswego. Before I left Australia we were in the midst of a steaming hot summer. I’m talking like 104 degree days and nights – it was painful, then when I stepped off the plane in Syracuse it was like 19 degrees, then Oswego was 3.2 degree – farrrrr out.

Arriving in Oswego

Hanging out in the cold

Hanging out in the cold

Driving from Syracuse to Oswego was incredible! I had never seen that volume of snow on roads, footpaths, grass, trees etc! And seeing so many dead trees was crazy – they are beautiful! I remember I was also very shocked by how warm is actually was inside vehicles and shops – in Australia, in winter, I am constantly freezing my butt off because we don’t have central heating 🙁 so I thought this was fantastic. When I arrived at Oswego I moved into my dorm which is in Hart Hall – this building is very central which is fantastic. I found making friends very easy because SUNY organised heaps of orientation events which gave me a chance to meet new international students like me, as well as new in-state freshman. I am having so much fun and seriously never want this semester to end!

Take it easy

Krissy x

From New Zealand to America, It’s Bittersweet

I am home from New Zealand, it was an awesome semester. I am back in Oswego now and living it up in Funnelle but I think the most important thing is all the photos and memories. I will miss my friends so much. I made friends in Germany, Switzerland, South Africa, England, Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand, Sumatra, China, Japan, India, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Fiji, and a whole bunch of South Pacific and Polynesian Islands.

It was the experience of a lifetime, I had some the of best times and learned so much. FYI New Zealand knows how to throw a good party. They also know how to study hard and get those grades. The classes I took there were some of the toughest I had ever been in by a long shot. I don’t know how I managed. I think it was just the drive that if I didn’t get all my stuff done then I would miss out on a weekend trip to the hot springs or the caves or just everything

I am back in Oz though and ready to take on the world. I am tired and only been back in the country for 1 week today but it is all worth it because Oz is where my home is at.

Check out my photos from my South Island trip. If you go, go to the South Island. It is so beautiful and clean that you can even drink the water. Its 98.8% pure water that runs from glaciers and mountains into blue rivers, it is so gorgeous. If you get the chance, do it. Don’t ask questions, just go because my pictures will never do it justice.

The Southern AlpsSeal ColonyThe beautiful and dangerous Tasman Sea
The Frans Josef Glacier