Written by: Enali Rogers | Spring 2023
BU Exchange at Flinders University
Every stop on my way to Australia, I told time by how many layers I had on. At first, I had a whole winter ensemble: two sweaters, a coat, beanie and scarf. Then a sweater and a beanie. Hours later, just a sweater. When all the layers had melted off leaving t-shirt and pants, I knew had arrived. Waves of heat reflecting off of the airport tarmac made it pretty evident that I made it to the opposite hemisphere.
My name is Enali Rogers, and I am doing an exchange in Adelaide, South Australia. A little over a month into my stay here, I have seen one koala, unfortunately no kangaroos [yet], tons of colorful birds, and an echidna (which I didn’t expect, but hey, I’ll take it.) As far as I am concerned, I wouldn’t mind staying here for longer than a semester. But alas, I have a semester… *sigh*
One thing that I am definitely going to miss about this place
is how easy it is to go to the beach just to watch the sunset. It’s such a common thing to do here. Friends will just text and say, “Hey, I feel like going to watch the sunset. Wanna come?” And within the next 15 minutes you’re on a tram to the beach to end your day with some ice cream, the sounds of water ebbing and flowing, the soft sand under your toes and a beautiful sunset. It’s been about 5 years since I’ve been to the beach, but now I’ve been going at least twice a week.
Another thing I’ll miss is the opportunity to take classes and join clubs that I never would’ve been able to experience at my much smaller home university. Along with two classes that go towards my bachelors in physics, I decided to take two fun classes. The first class is a class where I learn to draw from life. The second fun class is titled “Zombie Apocalypse: Microbes and Toxins” and the topic overview says the following:
“Adelaide has been invaded by Zombies, and most of the population is now living in hiding in the buildings at Flinders University. It is your responsibility to provide safe drinking water and safe foraged and preserved food.”
So far, I have fished out dirty water from the campus lake and “cleaned” it using a filter made from sand, gravel, cotton balls, and a coffee filter and then boiling out the rest of the bad stuff, hopefully making it drinkable for the hypothetical apocalypse civilians. (Don’t worry no one actually drank the dirty filtered lake water. That would be a hazard). I have found this class to be a fun, hands-on opportunity to learn about microbes and the prevention of such, something I never would have been able to do had I not studied abroad.
Experiencing the city part of Australia is only part of the visit. “You have to visit rural Australia too! It’s a different type of life and you’ll love it.” Something along these lines has been told to me multiple times, with some who have extended invitations to their hometown just so that I don’t miss out on that experience. I want more than ever to see the night sky without any light pollution. So, what better way to do so than by signing up for a speleology club (study of caves). This club does an outing every month to explore a different cave while occasionally staying overnight at different sites away from the city. Although the first outing hasn’t happened yet, I look forward to being immersed in a different side of Australia (maybe I’ll even see a kangaroo!).
I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to meet people from around the world (as nearly half of Australians have a parent that was born overseas), and had plenty of fish and chips, picked the sweetest strawberries in a little German town, and felt the cool ocean breeze and warm sunshine on my face. I am happy that I picked Australia to study abroad in and can’t wait to see what awaits in the remaining months. Six months seems like a long time, but time flies when you’re having fun!