To travel in Australia

Learning from travel

Recently, I went to many places to get different experiences on each trips without the school time. To me, travel is an attitude to color my life. Process is a chance to recognize myself. If I have any free time, I often do not waste my time to plan my next step where I am going to travel in this beautiful area.

Take my package, drive the car, free in schedule, walk into natural, and join with partners….. It is my one of main parts in Australia life.

One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things. - Henry Miller

Next time, it is your turn to be here.

Exchange Student in Griffith University

Be an Exchange Student

I chose Griffith University for studying abroad in Australia and it was one of best dedication in my college life. It was bring different experiences to me between HPU and GU in education. I want to share my school life with you.

During in this semester, I like Griffith University provided many convenient services and equipment in technicality to students for using in the campus and classes, and the international office also provided professional service to international students and exchange students for asking the question on information.

It was my first day to arrival in Brisbane. When I walked out to the exit, I saw the Griffith University’s officers were waiting for us for on time. The university had a special car would take you to your living place in safely. I recommended the service of airport transfer to our students for study abroad and the important thing is the service is free to exchange students.

The service center of Griffith University in the airport

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Orientation Day – I walked into the campus, I can feel the people, music and food around with me. It had many booths to introduce about the school and student life. I got more ideas to understand the environment of University. I enjoyed the day.

The meet and greet event– all the exchange students who from different countries or students who prepare to study abroad. We meet together to recognize each other. We ate the food, drank the beverage, chatted with other people and played the bingo game. I had a good time to make new friends in the party.

I like lunch trunk because I can taste different food on lunch. We showed out our student ID that we can get discount for any food and free water. Is not a good deal for students? We can enjoy the food, at the same time, enjoyed someone was playing the guitar for performance in the corner.

Lecture.
How big is it!!!!
I felt cool when I walked in the class in first time. I discovered usually students would bring in their laptop to the class. Because the professors usually put all the information as PowerPoint, videos, class note, and assignment on the school website. In addition, it has an advantage on lecture would record the professor voice to provide students can listen it again on courses platform. You can easy catch it if you miss any part in the class.

Workshop

It is helping you to understand more the content in the course and it easy to share your idea with your classmate in a small group.

                                                       Thank you for your reading!!!

Take her to see the beautiful world

This trip was my third time to take her to travel around different country.My mommy came to visit us in Australia when we took a long break last time. Before that, I want to share the little story, why the happening became truth. One day, I face time with my family to chat with them. We said, we will have a long time and we are planning to travel to another city, then next minute, my sister said, take your mommy to go.” Then my mommy said, “YES”.The answer, "YES"  is writing our story about the seven days six night travel in Brisbane to Sydney.

Welcome to Brisbane!!!!I was so proud of my mommy, she took the airplane to visit us by herself. Because usually someone would stay with her to take the airplane and in addition, she can’t speak English so that why our family was so worried about her that period when she was flying alone .Although my mommy got a little trouble when she entered to Australia, it was not a big problem to affect our mood. I just gave my mommy a hug and took her hand, let her feel reassured that I am in her side. Everything will be fine, even it is wrong.We went to many places to visit and did lots of activities, but the most important thing was we are together. Thank you mommy to come here for visiting. Thank you be a young girl to travel with us. Thank you stay with us. Thank you for everything. I love my family.

If you only visit the city of Sydney, I recommend you to take the bus or walk better that rental car around the city that will be more convenience for you. Also, you are looking for the attractions that you can consult the city pass.  

Thank you for reading

Australia, Brisbane, SHUO-TING HSU

Hello everyone, I am Shuo-Ting Hsu go by Sophia. I come to Australia to study abroad in spring semester in 2016. I study in Griffith University Nathan campus in Brisbane. The school has many campus located on different places. If you choice Griffith University you should think about what is campus you want to stay and what is your major is because different campus provide different majors . Griffith University has Gold Coast campus, Logan campus, Mt Gravatt campus, Nathan campus and South Bank campus. Such as South Bank campus provide art class and music and like Gold Coast campus and Nathan campus distance 2 hours by car. Next I want to introduction to everyone is “go card”. In Queensland, when you want to take bus and train you can use go card or pay cash. In here, when you pay cash, the driver can give change to you. When you get go card you should login your information on TransLink Website and you can login and see you schedule and if charge unfair you can write a letter to the company and they would refund to you. But if today, you go Sydney would use different card is call “Opal card”. In Sydney use different company so should be careful which city you want to go. Thank you for your reading.

opal card us in NSW

Adult                                                         Child

Image of blue adult go card                                Image of orange child go card

15 years and over                                               5 - 14 years old (inclusive)

Expires 10 years after day of issue                     Expires on the child's 15th birthday

Senior                                                      Concession

                  

Image of dark red senior go card                           Image of bright green concession go card

Current Australian Senior Card holders                 Full-time secondary and tertiary students,

Choose a Senior go card or Seniors Card +go         pensioners, veterans

Short Trip to PARIS

My friends decided to go to Paris during our Easter break because… because why not!? Austria is located in the centre of Europe so it is very convenient to travel around. We could have taken a train too, but took a plane because it was cheaper. It only costed around 80 Euros for a round trip. (I am sorry for uploading late, but I went there at the end of March.)

Paris was gorgeous. I definitely could see why this place is called the “City of Love”. The city was magical and just being there was exciting. The atmosphere there was different and made me doubt I was living in the 21st century. The city was full of art. They have great museums everywhere and you can see a lot of famous and historical paintings you would recognise, and those are so powerful. I never thought one painting or one artistic object could be this powerful before. Especially when I went to Louvre Museum, there is this hallway with two wall-full of huge paintings on the both side. When I walked down there, I felt the power of art and it slowed down my steps. There were also people singing inside of trains, playing instruments at stations. Art was everywhere in Paris and it felt magical.

They say French people do not speak English, but actually they do. They are pretty good at English but I do not think it is good to expect everyone to speak English. If you have ever learned at least one foreign language, you should know how hard it is. In my experience, it is also good to know some words in their language beforehand. When I was in Japan, it made me so happy when foreigners said “thank you” in Japanese because it sounded very polite so I felt like they respected our language. For the reason, I always try to remember how to say at least “Thank you”, “Hello”, and “Goodbye” in their language before I go to some other countries.

Their croissant was amazing!!

One of the most amazing things of being in Europe is that when you go to different countries, even though the countries are next to each other, you get to hear different languages. I want to talk about a bit about German now. It has been two months since I got here and I am learning German. I personally love their language so much. I do not know if you have heard about it or not, but German language is sometimes known as an aggressive language. I have seen some videos comparing different languages and trying to show that German sounds more harsh than other languages. I remember a celebrity once said on a famous American TV show that when she went to Germany, everyone sounded like they were angry even though they were saying sweet things. To be honest, I have never thought like that. German is a very gentle language and has got a lot of beautiful words. Those videos on the internet are exaggerated and once you hear a real conversation in German speaking countries, you would think it is such a beautiful language. I just want to inform that maybe information you will find on the Internet is not always true.

When you study abroad in Europe, you can go into most of the museums and attractions for free. They take discount for students in EU. For example, I did not have to pay anything when I went 

to Louvre Museum because I have my student ID of FH Salzburg. However, if I only had my American student ID, I had had to pay. There are a lot of other places that take EU student discount. I have heard some hostels also take EU student discount. You can save more money when you travel during studying abroad, and I believe it is a huge benefit of studying in Europe.

Other than a student ID, there is this card called International Student Identity Card you can use in a lot of places, even in the US. I got around 20 Euro discount for my Disneyland Paris ticket. I have been to Disneyland in California and Tokyo Disneyland but I loved Paris one the best (It is actually outside of Paris, but Tokyo Disneyland is not in Tokyo either, so whatever). It was not crowded at all even though I went there during my spring break. There are two parks, Disneyland and Disney Studio, like California has two, and I highly recommend to go both. You can go both for the same price as one park ticket when you use the card anyways, and one day is enough to go see around both parks. Disneyland Paris has a Sleeping Beauty themed castle and it is PINK (who cool is that?!)!!!! Disney Studio has a Ratatouille themed ride because the movie is about France, and it was amazingly fun. Disney park is definitely one of the most amazing places in France.

Unfortunately the day we arrived there was the day the attack occurred in Belgium so the security check was very strict. We got checked everywhere we go, even at MacDonald’s. To be honest I felt unsafe during my stay in Paris. Police was everywhere and they all got guns. I am not trying to scare you but you should be aware when you go somewhere unsafe. I think it is good to search dangerous area or not-to-go places before you travel.

Eiffel Tower lighted up as the color of Belgium flag 

However, at the same time, this travel made me believe that there are so much more beautiful things than tragedies in this world. My favourite time in Paris was this one night when I was watching the city lights and Eiffel Tower shining from a bridge across Seine River. Cruise ships were running through the river slowly and it was so peaceful and I was so happy being in the moment. I will never forget those moments and cheerful people in Paris. 

Clet Abraham—A Florentine Street Artist

While taking a stroll through the lovely streets of Florence it is easy to get lost in the beauty of the historical buildings, shops, and galleries. You may not even notice something gone astray with the traffic signs. But if you look up you might just see that a dead end sign is transformed into a Jesus crucifixion and there’s a silhouette of a man trying to slyly carry away the white bar of a no entry sign. 

Who’s behind this sneaky street art? The answer to that question is none other than French artist Clet Abraham.  Ever since the summer of 2010 he has been revamping street signs in Florence and across Europe into works of art. 

His artwork is given life mostly in the middle of the night when he applies his pre-made stickers to the chosen street signs. He props his bike up against the sign and then stands on the seat to apply his art. “It literally takes 10 seconds,” says Clet. 

While Clet’s work is not entirely legal he takes care not to alter the function of the road signs. “I don’t damage the signs because I use stickers, but I wake up attention and create dialogue,” says Clet.

Not everyone has the same view as Clet or sees the alterations as art. Some even classify his art as “vandalism” saying that it’s a distraction and doesn’t belong in the historical and beautiful city of Florence. In October of 2010, just a few months after he began, Clet also received a 400 euro fine because the altered signs violated traffic laws.

However, this didn’t stop Clet, but instead encouraged him to think bigger. On January 20, 2011, a fiberglass life-size sculpture known as Common Man appeared on Ponte alle Grazie. It was installed by Clet without permission and seven days later it was removed, but not before it drew much attention and appreciation from the community. 

Clet explains how in a renaissance city like Florence he only intervenes where elements break with history and contrast with the city. Both the Common Man and his altered street signs dialogue with the city where modern invasions, like street signs and the modernly designed Ponte alle Grazie, have taken over.

 

While authorities for the meantime have mostly turned a blind eye to Clet’s art it’s unclear what the future holds for Clet and his clever street signs, along with the many other street artists who depend on urban backdrops as their canvas. With growing appreciation it’s hard to imagine a world without your local street artist. Keep an eye out for Clet's art next time you just happen to be in Florence! ;) 

 “Street art, when done well, is a gift to the city and it’s residents.” 

Clet Abraham