On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, I came to Australia, the magic land, for about 20 days in advance. I first came to Melbourne, where I am familiar with, to adapt to the language environment. Australia is located in the southern hemisphere; it is a country that has their Christmas in hot summer. Their summer was recognized as the best season in Australia, and I was lucky enough to arrive there before the Australian pearl mangoes got off the season. I basically visited supermarket every day, ate mangoes, cook Western-style food or even went for a walk on the streets, but happy days are always fleeting, soon the semester started.

The days were quiet and peace after the semester starts. University of Queensland, referred to as UQ, is a very nice and sweet University. It keeps students in the first place at all times. A lot of people have never heard of UQ and will mistake it for a bad university, but UQ is ranked 47th in the QS world university ranking. Although I only took three courses, the uni offers a wide range of free workshop, rich in content, ranging from how to prepare for exams to how to do mindfulness, from how to find a doctor to how to use APA6 reference format. If there is anything that you don't understand, the uni will arrange someone to teach you just like a nanny. In addition, there are free language courses for international students, which I benefited a lot. Moreover, UQ's hardware can also be described as super. There is no such thing called “dodging class” in UQ, because each class have audio and video recordings, greatly facilitate the students who have a part-time job or having a placement. UQ has 11 libraries, 5 of which are 24/7. At the review period by the end of the semester. In the daytime, I will hide myself in the music architect library building, for it have little interference and I can have high efficiency; when it gets dark, I will go to the biological sciences library with my friends, for it is a 24 hours library. When I am tired, I go to the library sleeping pod to take a short nap. Next to the bus stop, there is delicious fruit ice cream; even the coffee shop has no less than ten brands. I was really spoiled in UQ.

There are two weeks of holiday in the middle of the semester, the Easter. A group of eight of us went to Sydney and Melbourne for a tour. There is a lyric that goes well: "Only hate the road when you missing home". Sydney, Melbourne, two famous international metropolises, of course, have so many unlimited scenery. Includes Sydney Opera House, harbor bridge, Melbourne Flinders Street station, Great Ocean Road twelve disciples. Seeing the world famous scenic spots, on the one hand we were excited; on the other hand we are a little bit sad as well, for we want to share those beautiful scenes with our loved ones. Emotions overlay, plus it is always tried to travel. The night when we went back to Brisbane, I saw one of my mates posted a photo of the evening Brisbane on Instagram, with the text is: So lucky I call Brisbane home. I was touched by this captain.I have been here for three months. 

I was a little bit negative after Easter. From a psychological point of view, culture shock has a honeymoon period and after that there will be more negative emotions. Before Easter, everyone didn't have much homework and often played together. After the Easter, the task increased, and I have more time to spend with myself, the loneliness index increases monotonously. I chose only three courses, which were the least of my friends, so I had the most leisure time. As soon as one is free, he finds a lot of interesting things to do. Every day, other students hurried to catch the bus home, but I took my time to cross more than half of the campus to the ferryto take the boat called Citycat. Near the dock is a shopping mall. There is a coffee shop called Merlo, in front of which is always lined up. Australians are proud of their coffee culture; they reckon their own Italian coffee better than the coffee in Italy. Once a week, I'll buy a pack of bird food for 6 dollars at the mall. Feeding birds is definitely the best way to kill time. Sunflower crested parrots, we know them as cockatoos. Only exist in Australia and Papua New Guinea, which was included in the low risk of protected animals by the UN.

Above are basically all about my experiences in UQ.I remember some psychologist once said, if you want to really understand the culture you live in, the best way is to go to another culture. Before going abroad to study, I thought that to study abroad was to learn from the West in order to keep up with the world. Only when I came back did I reckon the psychologist was right. My exchange experience has given me a better understanding of my own Chinese culture and my own personality characteristics. Before going abroad, I reckon myself being independent, and being the life of the party type. When you go abroad, you discover the introvert aspect of your personality and the need for someone else to support you. Only when you leave your familiar culture, language, diet, family and friends can you better talk with yourself and learn about yourself. So what this experience has brought to me is not only in the classroom, but also outside the classroom.