I have traveled all over Sydney and hit all the main spots that have been recommended to me for the most part. Beside traveling around Sydney, I have visited a couple other cities in Australia.

One weekend trip I took with my friends here in the program was hitting three cities in three days. The first city was Byron Bay, which may have been my favorite of the three that weekend. It was a small town, but filled with many activities to do. After that we took a shuttle bus to Brisbane. During that time, we enjoyed all the activities Brisbane fest had to offer, such as fireworks over the water. The last stop on our journey that weekend was the Gold Coast.

My spring break was my most memorable trip I have ever taken. I went to Bali, Indonesia for a full week. It was so great because so many people from the CAPA program went and I got to spend a lot of time with them outside of the classroom.

Last weekend was my final weekend trip to another city in Australia. This city is called Cairns, pronounced like “soda-can”, home of the Great Barrier Reef. I was able to swim around in the Great Barrier Reef and finally see some the organisms I have always wanted to see since I saw Finding Nemo as a kid.

If I could make any suggestions to other students that consider traveling to other cities while abroad, I would say to plan out your excursions a week in advance and stay in hostels. Plan out your excursions beforehand because they may sell out or even go up in price. Stay in hostels. Hostels are something I was not very familiar with before coming here. Basically the main purpose of them is to provide a cheap place to sleep with no added luxuries that drive up the price of your stay.

Some other advice I would give to future travelers is to check the weather. Something so simple could really come back to bite you when packing for weekend trips. Also to make sure if the weather is going to affect your plans, always have a backup plan to eliminate any wasted time!

Also one thing I found to be very important and had to learn the hard way was ground transportation while in a foreign city. I have become so reliant on Ubers in Pittsburgh and in Sydney as well, it becomes a major issue when they are not available where you are traveling. But with the help of some local people and online research, you can navigate any city you travel to.