February

On December 9th, 2024, I received an email from my university, informing me that I had been accepted for the student exchange program in Australia. Then, over one year later, in February 2026 it was finally time to pack my bags and hop on the plan to Brisbane, where I would spend the next five months of my life.

After settling into the room in a shared house in the suburb of Toowong, which was a result of a desperate and jet-lagged 3-day search, it was time to make some friends and explore the area. At the orientation week of uni, I quickly found a cool group of like-minded people. The first point on the agenda was to get to know the city of Brisbane, which is the capital of the state of Queensland and the third largest city in Australia. It is traversed by the Brisbane River, which makes for a very nice and relaxing atmosphere. Unfortunately, despite being close to the Pacific Ocean, Brisbane has no beaches or other natural swimming opportunities. However, I still think it is a really cool city, with lots of parks, a beautiful skyline and fun bar areas.

The next week, my friends and I went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, which is a mix of wildlife sanctuary and zoo. Despite its name, it is not only home to koalas, but also to other Australian animals, such as kangaroos, crocodiles, Tasmanian devils, dingoes, and many more. This was a really fun experience and definitely worth its price.

One great thing about the University of Queensland is its abundance of student clubs. At the beginning of the semester I joined the mountaineering club, a running club, a surfing club and a cycling club, even though I did not have a bike yet.

On the first weekend, I went on a hike with the mountaineering club to Springbrook National Park, located 1.5 hours south of Brisbane. The hike was quite relaxed, but the scenery and rainforest-like flora blew me away. Especially the huge 100 meter high Purling Brooks Falls was breathtaking. The people on the hike were also very lovely.

March

Pretty high up on my bucket list of things to do in Australia was to learn how to surf. So, three friends an I booked a 2 hour surfing lesson at the Gold Coast. Apart from them giving me a shirt that was at least 3 sizes too small, it was heaps of fun and at the end of it I was pretty confident at surfing whitewash (small waves that have already broken). After the lesson, I was definitely hooked, determined to get better at it. On the day after our surfing adventure, I did my first ride on the road bike I had bought the week before in a really good deal I made with a very kind ozzy. Sadly, I had to find out that Brisbane’s bike infrastructure is pretty terrible, and finding good roads to ride in will take a while. I am still very happy with my purchase, as I had missed cycling.

Luckily, the timetable at uni is not very packed, so there is plenty of time to do fun things during the week. One of those days, I went hiking to Mount Coot-Tha with my friend Kaius. Mount Coot-Tha is located just outside of Brisbane, 20 minutes by bike from my house. From the top of it, there is a great view over the city and the surrounding suburbs, allowing you to see all the way to the ocean. Afterwards, we explored the botanical gardens at the foot of the mountain.

Next up was a trip to Byron Bay, which was organized by the association of postgrad students at UQ. We woke up at 4 am to watch the sunrise at the most easterly point of mainland Australia. Later that day, we did a barbecue at the beach, at one of the public barbecue stations. They are everywhere here in Queensland. The ozzys really have their stuff figured out. On the trip we also spent a lot of time on the beach, resulting in my first sunburn since arriving in Down Under.

To cross off another item from the bucket list, we went to see a rugby game at Suncorp Stadium. Brisbane Broncos vs. Paramatta Eels. The atmosphere was really cool, they even brought out a real horse every time the Broncos scored 😂. Was the first time seeing Rugby League, it is quite different from Rugby Union, but it was really fun to watch (a lot less confusing than Union at times).

The next hike I did with the mountaineering club was to Lamington National Park. The hike included many creek crossings, so the feet got absolutely soaked, and there were tons of leeches, but the rainforest was again stunning and the company was great. After a go in the washing machine, my sneakers were as good as new as well.

Continue reading in part 2…