Hi, I’m Hudson a sophomore at Pitt and I’m exited to share my Australian adventures with you. I am a marketing and finance major with a minor in economics. I am also involved in Club water polo, Rec Volleyball, and Alpha Sigma Phi. In Australia I am also doing an internship with The Scuba Gym where I’ll be helping mobility impaired people by scuba diving with them which I am very exited for. I am also taking the sports marketing class which will help me further my marketing degree. I am originally from Ambler, Pennsylvania so I’m thrilled to explore a new foreign city.
After a days worth of travel I arrived in Sydney feeling like I had just time traveled 2 days forward. Because of my background in water sports and volleyball I was very excited to go to the many beaches near Sydney. Luckily on my third day here I got to do just that taking a ferry ride over to Manly Beach. Once I arrived I wandered my way over to the long expanse of volleyball nets which caught my attention for most the rest the day. It was great to see the plethora of ages of people from middle-schoolers to middle aged men, it gave me hope to be able to play my favorite sport no matter what age or county of residence I may be. The next day I also traveled to Coogee Beach with some friends where I took a dip in the water, got crushed by huge waves and explored a cool park.
Australia has always been a country I’ve been interested in based off general vibe and good interaction with media from the country like The Big Lez show, Bluey and several youtubers. I’ve genuinely always loved the idea of Australia with it’s crazy wildlife, rough and tumble attitude, and funny accents. I have absolutely loved hearing all the accents and seeing all the different types of people and have been pleasantly surprised by the amount of Asian people and restaurants. I’m exited to meet more locals like Abraham who I meet in the hotel hot tub while he was on vacation with family and he was very friendly asking question after question about American culture and politics.
Overall I am very excited for the rest of the trip and to fully explore all the parts of this amazing city. I am very happy with the people that are on the trip with me and my roommates and I hope to form great friendships with them.