This week was our last official week of classes for the semester. It was great to finally wrap up classes and be proud of what I had accomplished in such a short amount of time. 4 classes in 8 weeks is no easy feat, especially when professors are trying to cram an entire class into half the amount of time they would normally have to teach it. While the workload was intense, I think it all went quite well, and I am glad my gpa transfers back to bucknell, unlike so many other programs.
This weekend kicked off our spring break in Cairns. Cairns is in northern Australia, most famously known for its access to the great barrier reef. We flew in early on Saturday morning, and had the rest of the day to get settled into our accommodations. The resort is nice, with three pools and good rooms. It was great to finally be on a trip with people from other schools within our program such as students from Washington and Lee, as during the year we knew them but not well. This trip has thus far been a great opportunity to get to know them better and make some real friendships, though it’s disappointing this happened so late. Sunday was an amazing trip to the great barrier reef. We got on a boat early and took an hour ride out to our dive spots. The boat offered both snorkeling and diving (on an introductory and certified level). The snorkeling was cool especially because you could access shallow parts of the reef which you could not access with the full dive suit on. The diving was incredible though. It was my first time diving and I had an amazing time. They made it super easy to understand, and it made me realize it might be something I would consider getting certified in. If the difference seems minimal and like it might just be a lot of extra steps to dive over snorkel, it was put to me like this; when you snorkel your looking down at the fish, when you dive your swimming with the fish. I found this to be true, and we were fortunate enough to have decent visibility to make it a good experience. It was also great to be in what felt like the middle of the ocean, even though we were only a couple miles offshore.
Overall it has been a great experience with scuba diving being one of my favorite activities thus far in Australia. I can’t wait to see what comes next!
