#GrantTouchette
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Week 15 - Thai-ing up Loose Ends, A Slow Start in Bangkok
G’day everyone,
This was my last week of pure studying. The final push culminated in another all-nighter that rolled into our late-morning flight to Bangkok. This time, however, the whole house joined us for a much better night. I think we’re all realizing how rapidly this is all coming to an end, and they wanted to spend more time with us, even if it was studying.
The night we got into Bangkok, Joe and I searched for midnight food. We took alleys and canal ways, coming up empty-handed with every store. The city at night was all but deserted that Tuesday besides the hordes of cats, rats, bats, and canal fishes.
“McDonalds?.... Dude, McDonalds!!”
The Americans ordered a car to McDonald's to enjoy their first meal in Thailand. It was unironically amazing. We had a spicy McChicken with fries and salt levels reminiscent of the States.
The next day, we woke up at the crack of 2 pm. Cursing ourselves, we had slept for over 12 hours, so it felt like half the day was already gone. I stayed in the room for the rest of the afternoon to continue working on some projects due Friday. It was a short-lived work session, though, because after the girls returned, we got ready for the food tour. The tour took us on LED-lined Tuk Tuks, which cut through the city to each night market. We tried pastries, Pad Thai, wings, Thai pancakes, mango sticky rice, and more. The tour intertwined the food stops with visits to historic temples and one of the largest flower markets in the world.
We learned about the history of the Kingdom of Thailand and how the lineage of kings has shaped this country in general and Bangkok in particular.
The following day, we wandered around the city center. We ate a delicious meal over the water, and then I headed to the Bangkok City Library until our flight to Chaing Mai that afternoon. The library was much better than I had imagined. It was full of natural light, universal outlets, and even a luggage check for my duffle bag. But yeah, there are better ways to see Bangkok in a short amount of time.
I’m headed to Chaing Mai and then Ko Samui before returning for exams in Sydney. I’ll catch you guys next week with my penultimate blog!
Grant Touchette
Aerospace Engineering
University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia
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Week 14: Beetroot, Bets, and Beats
G’day folks,
It's been yet another week of primarily studying. However, spending time on campus has its perks. The food selection right outside the library amazes me, particularly the cafe outside the lower food court. Sweet potato and beetroot salad have become my favorite dish.
I’ve also found a deep love for the horse blinder-style cubicles in the back on the 2nd floor of the Main Library. They have a warm, bright light that falls on a rich green pattern. They also have the perfect width and depth to spread out your elbows and computer for any position you're inspired to pose in. I think it's obvious where I spend most of my time these days.
If schoolwork didn’t feel like enough, another concern I’ve been managing is how I will spend my summer. On Wednesday, I spent nearly the entire day on LinkedIn and in professors’ research, and then I cold-emailed them for work or research opportunities this summer.
I’ve found ways to break up the work this week, or instead, my friends have successfully dragged me out of my studying stupor several times for a change of scenery. On Thursday, my roommate Sam’s family invited us to their Airbnb for dinner and card games. They were visiting for the week and wanted to meet all the kids that have traveled and lived with their daughter. The hours passed quicker than they had in the past two weeks as we all reminisced on the months of travel and late nights that had brought us all so much closer than I think any of us could have imagined.
On Saturday, I had the first blog-worthy day since Vietnam! We met Sam’s parents at Sydney’s Australian Turf Club (horse derby). The track and stadium are across from the UNSW campus and are a weekly spectacle. It was all our first derbies, so we put on the nicest clothes we owned (another first) and jauntily strolled through the gates. Then, far off in the distance, a man started energetically waving at us to exit and go around. We had walked along the driveway leading into the stadium, which was about a kilometer from the walking entrance. Anyway, we made it and had a blast people-watching. It felt like we had stumbled upon the high society of Sydney. Everyone was wearing suits and dresses and perceptive glances.
We spent the day placing paper bets with the best names on the horses and enjoying the first sun of the week. We left towards the end of the derby and headed home for a nap. That night, we went out to Club 77 because people online were framing it as the best club in Sydney. It felt underground, but for a reason: the music was uninteresting, with the same few beats repeated for minutes that felt like hours. We left before we could sink any more time into that place and decided to try out Scary Canary.
This club/bar had the best DJ I've ever heard at that place, and time had never flown by so quickly. Afterward, we all unanimously felt it was the best club we had been to; it's just a shame that we discovered it so late into our trip.
Thank you all for reading! I’ve got one last week of studying and submitting assignments before heading to Thailand.
Take care,
Grant Touchette
Aerospace Engineering
University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia
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Week 13: The Unseen Marathon, a Tale of Late Nights and Quiet Chaos
G’day folks,
I wish something had happened this week but its really felt like one of the most uneventful weeks of my time here. It doesn’t help that I am coming off one of the most eventful weeks of my life, but still, this week was school, school, and more school. Our roommate Viv, whom Joe and I pretty much only see on the way out to spend the day at the library, said it best: “When will you guys be fun again??”... not for a while I’m afraid.
Upon arriving back in Sydney, I decided to face what the next three weeks were looking like in terms of assignments. And pretty much 60% to 70% of every class’s grade is being determined by assignments, tests, essays, and portfolios crammed into the next couple of weeks.
One major difference I’ve noticed in schooling here vs. the States is the assignments' weighting and timing. If you plan on coming here beware of this. For nearly every class I’ve taken in the States, class material that you learn is almost immediately applied, whether it be a lab, a problem set, etc. It's a system I’ve become beyond grateful for since hopping the pond. UNSW and likely other schools in Australia essentially wait until 2/3rds of the semester is past and then assess everything you’ve learned up until then. It's frustrating because the earlier fundamentals are lost. If you’re not careful, you could very well end up in the position Joe and I were on Wednesday night.
Alright… it's 15 pages long… based on two labs we weren’t there for… and we can’t recognize half of the terminology…
*Yikes*
Luckily for us procrastinators, the late penalty for every 24 hours late was 5%. Thinking ourselves saved at just a 5% loss, we worked through the night. Before we knew it we were shaking ourselves awake at 4:30 AM to look down at a report that was maybe 10% done.
The next three days made for the worst academic sprint I’ve ever done. It quickly became clear to Joe and me how little we knew, so we were left scrambling over 3 days clocking in an average of 12-14 hours of work. Rewatching lectures, tearing through scribbled notes, and working out our own hypothesis’ on what the questions were really asking. The last day was a 24-hour 12 pm to 12 pm session, all to get the thing submitted before more penalties could be accumulated.
Disclaimer, Joe and I conducted our own work completely but it was spiritually invaluable to not be alone and have someone else there struggling with me.
Outside of studies, we did make time for an exciting trip to an escape room with our New Zealand friends. It was titled ‘Lost in the Woods’ and we enjoyed 70 minutes of scrambling, gaslighting, laughing, and ‘No way!’s as the intricate engineering of the room unfolded with every solved clue. It's an expensive hobby but every time we finish we get told how well we've done. I guess we just can't get enough of the praise, I mean puzzles.
‘Till next week!
Grant Touchette
Aerospace Engineering
University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia
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Week 12 - A Tale of Two Cities and a Loop of a Lifetime
Xin Chao everyone,
The last week was spent traveling through Vietnam, from Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) up to Ha Noi (the capital), and then along the Ha Giang loop which took us into the beautiful countryside of the north. The trip was the first experience of what we felt were genuinely foreign lands. The language, customs, and pace of life felt unique to what we had known.
After our nine-hour, cross-hemisphere, journey we landed at the busy airport in Ho Chi Minh City. We had procrastinated our visas so we had to finalize our rushed, on-arrival application at the airport. A few hours later than we expected, and with millions of dong lining our pockets (~ 100 USD), we stepped out into the night. Our Grab (Asia’s Uber) driver took us to our hostel. He drove us through downtown and wow. Droves of scooters clad with anywhere from one driver to a whole family and their dog maneuver around cars, pedestrians, and each other to get to their destinations with speed.
We couldn’t peel our eyes away from the dozens of collisions that seemed imminent and deadly but would flow into near misses. Through our translate app, the driver confirmed that collisions happen far too frequently and that the traffic rules are more like suggestions rather than codified laws.
After hurriedly checking in, we rushed out into the streets surrounding our hostel. We immediately fell in love with the hustle and energy that came from every street vendor, flashing sign, and musician, even the cats and dogs of the street seemed alive and rapt in the world they were in.
After a delicious first meal of pho and seafood, we wandered into the nearby night market and “backpacker street”. There were vendors selling everything from frog legs to knock-off Adidas, from traditional silk garments to the “best” Bahn Mi in Vietnam. We kept walking and found ourselves in what we’d later figure out was known as the “backpacker street”. A bustling nightlife street where tourist’s attention is competed for above all else. The glamour and shine from the building facades frankly felt disingenuous and scammy. We did have a few memorable moments, the passionate live rendition of the song “Zombie” by the Cranberries and a fire-spitting performance from a Vietnamese girl.
The next morning we woke up, early and bleary-eyed, to catch our tour bus leaving for the Cu Chi Tunnels. The tour took us through the Cu Chi region, north-west of the city, for a lengthy in-depth look into how the Vietcong (who in many cases were the local farmers by day) defended against the might of the US in the Vietnam War. We learned about the amazing and often brutal resourcefulness of the Vietcong, from the hidden traps made out of recycled American gear to the building of the over 250 km network of tunnels. It was a fascinating insight into the war from the other side's perspective.
After our tour, we made it back and crashed, waiting for the start of our next adventure: Ho Chi Minh street food on the back of motorbikes. With our immodium at the ready, we swung our legs over the back of our drivers’ bikes and joined the mass of speeding vehicles. The four-hour tour took us into six different districts and many more exotic bites. From caramelized rice-covered bananas to duck fetuses, the guide took us into the back streets and to his favorite childhood vendors. He colored each meal with a story of the relevance and history behind every dish.
After parting with our group, stuffed but determined to make time out of our final night in Ho Chi Minh, we called on our friend Bridget’s nightclub recommendations. The first bar we went to ended up being closed so we decided on Bam Bam. The club's dancefloor and bar are situated in the basin of an empty indoor swimming pool. We danced to the hits of 2015, whipping the night away.
The next day we signed up for a full-body, 60-minute massage because of the price ($15) and how many people had recommended we try this spa. However, when the masseuse spent 30 minutes on one foot our excitement turned to dread. Our request was lost in translation and instead of the back massage we were fantasizing about, we got an aggressive foot and leg massage that left us fighting back tears and laughs in equal measure.
We stumbled to the airport to take our flight to Ha Noi. That night, after checking into the backpacker-friendly hostel (free beer from 7-8 pm), we rushed into the surrounding streets of the Old Quarter. We enjoyed a traditional Vietnamese meal and washed it down with our first cup of Egg Coffee. The drink was the highlight of the day up to that point, it is essentially a cup of black coffee generously topped with whipped vanilla, sugar, and egg yolk. An invention that came from the milk shortage the country experienced during the decades of war in the 20th century.
We hurried back to the hostel to catch the hostel-sponsored bar crawl and then proceeded to have one of the best nights out during our time abroad. A night made all the better when we met up at the first stop with our friend Kaye who had just come from the airport.
The next morning we forced down some brunch at the Hanoi Social Club recommended by Bridget and then headed off to the Serene Spa for our second attempt at a massage. I can’t recommend this place enough, we were greeted with tea and given a form to fill out that let us choose what kind of massage, how much pressure, and which parts of our body we wanted them to focus on or avoid.
We left feeling dazed but very much at peace with the world. We met up with our friend Erin (she was coming off a couple-day Thailand trip) for an early dinner and then we boarded the sleeper bus that would take us, overnight, to the town of Ha Giang.
The Ha Giang Loop
From Thursday morning to Saturday afternoon Erin, Kaye, Sam, Viv, and I rode on the back of a motorcycle along a loop through the northern countryside of Vietnam. Over mountains and through valleys, on dirt roads, and over rivers, we traversed 400 km of road in 3 days with a group of around 15 others. The experience was easily the best part of our trip and it was something that couldn’t help but put a deep smile on your face. One of the Irish women in our group said - “This is the second time doing the loop in two weeks, the first time literally cured my depression and I just needed to experience the exhilaration and peace with a different tour group as soon as possible.”
Day 1
We made it to our hostel around 6 am and were given 90 minutes to nap before breakfast was served. After a quick breakfast, we got a quick overview of the next three days and then met our drivers.
Our first stop was a boat tour on a river that cut through the mountains and made for scenic photos. We then made stops every half hour or so to stretch our legs and to take in particularly scenic overlooks. These frequent stops would sometimes include roadside markets, ranging anywhere from one person’s food stand to rows of shops with a variety of goods.
Before making it to that night’s hostel, we overshot the town it was in to get to a mountainous overlook into China, which borders the northern parts of Vietnam. Once back, we settled into the hostel, took our much-needed showers, and scarfed down the innumerable Vietnamese dishes. Most of the places we ate brought out dishes that each had their own food item which could be assembled and mixed with rice in your bowl. Anyway, after another one of these communal meals, we tried our hand at the traditional Vietnamese bamboo dance which involved four sets of two bamboo sticks that would rhythmically bounce and then clap in the air, the idea was to bring your feet in and out of these bamboo “jaws” before closing. The dance took a lot of concentration and several tries before we confidently stepped through the moving formations.
Day 2
The next day we woke up similarly early and hit the road around 9 AM. Our first stop was at the start of a stone path that led to a short climb up a local peak. The climb itself was very enjoyable and reminiscent of parts of New Zealand. Along the way, we reached what we had presumed to be as high as we could go when several little Vietnamese children appeared behind a rock above us and extended their hands, “We know the way up, do you want to see?”. I trusted these kids with my life. These children of the mountain guiding us to the seemingly treacherous summit felt like it was out of a storybook.
After another memorable lunch, our final stop before the night’s homestay was a nearby waterfall. The fall emptied into a swimming hole with a bar and benches installed on the rocky slopes surrounding the basin. We spent over an hour following the example of the locals by jumping off of progressively higher parts of the rock face.
As it was our final night in the loop, the chef and drivers prepared and served a feast. Throughout the meal, our group leader led us in rounds of “happy water” shots, some liqueur they called corn wine.
Each round went something like this:
“Are you ready??” - “Yesssss!”
“Are you ready!?!” - “YESSSSS”
“Mot… Hai… Ba… DZO(yo)!” (1… 2… 3… Cheers)
Repeated I think for six to seven rounds, by which time the food was cleared and tables were being rearranged to make room for the night’s karaoke dance party.
Day 3
The next morning we were dropped off at the local village market. Piglets, live fish, and enough random (health) drugs to supply a pharmacy were just a few of the things being sold. We then had lunch in a town where almost all of the traditional buildings were made out of clay, each one-bedroom house was selling for around $1000 if anyone reading this is interested. The town was also a blue zone or a place where its inhabitants routinely live to be 100+ years old.
We made it back to Ha Giang, bums hurting and hearts broken to leave our trusty motorcycle drivers and companions. We boarded the bus back to Ha Noi for our 6-hour ride back to the city. The drive was more eventful than I could have expected, aside from the customary aggressive driving there was an extremely close collision with a pickup truck, even by Vietnam standards. So much so that the driver got out of the vehicle and confronted the driver of the pickup truck. All occupants of the bus were glued to the windows along the side of the bus as our heated driver proceeded to slap the truck driver with full force. The moment was awkward enough but, in his rage, our driver brought the truck driver up into the bus and slapped him in front of us while ridiculing him in Vietnamese.
It was something we didn’t know how to respond to but I guess it made for a good story.
The bus was pretty silent after that, and I felt an internal sigh of relief when we arrived at our destination.
Once we checked into our hostel, Kaye, Sam and I wanted to see the city at night again before leaving. Our midnight strolls took us to two different Bahn Mi vendors and a juice cart.
The morning after we assembled our least dirty outfits and then went to the nearest Gong Cha Tea to try some Southeast Asian Boba. Afterward, we ate at Pho 10 and ran some last-minute shopping before our mad dash to the airport.
I’m writing this on the other side of our 15-hour journey back to Sydney. I can’t help but feel like there was so much more to see and I could easily spend a few months exploring this beautiful, energetic country.
If you are considering where to go in Southeast Asia, almost every traveler we talked to who had been to Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, etc, all felt Vietnam was their favorite if not in their top two favorite countries in the area.
I hope you enjoyed and thank you for making it this far.
Take care everyone,
Grant Touchette
Aerospace Engineering
University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia
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Week 11: Labs, Libraries, and Late Nights
G’day mates,
This week was primarily spent deep diving into my studies. It consisted of a riveting exploration of the eight different floors that make up the compound of a buidling that is the UNSW main library. The few things that would puncutate these days full of studying were strolls through the nearby food court. Experimenting with the delicious variety from sushi to kebabs, from pastas to paninis, from sugar free monsters to sugar free monsters, there was always a new combination of food that made the long hours of studying enjoyable.
All the work culminated around preparing for the one midterm and two labs I had at the end of the week. Both labs took place in the impressive aerospace engineering lab on campus. The first one investigated how much a wing cutout would bend under the same load but applied at different locations. The second lab had a miniature wing covered with tiny holes inside a wind tunnel, the holes fed any air that went into them to a liquid gauge that translated to the pressure felt at that spot. The goal of that lab was to understand how turning the wing would change the pressure felt around the wing cutout.
Now onto the traditionally fun stuff! This week my friends and I dusted off the game of Catan we had picked up a couple of months back. We had all heard it was an addiciting board game but we never got around to breaking the plastic seal. This game took us by storm, the first tedious 30 minutes felt just as long as the 2 hours that followed. We’re already looking into the expansion packs and preparing our friends at home for the hours of Catan ahead of them.
Friday night was the last night for all eight of us to go out together, we started a bit late but felt determined. There were new cocktail creations, stories from our childhood, reminiscing and laughing. I’m not sure who said it but “at this rate we’re never going out.” Sometimes the best plans are the ones that never happen.
To prepare for the Vietnam visa on arrival, we were instructed to take headshots to print out and have ready for the Vietnam officials. (No smiling)
What amateurs.
I’ll catch you all next week with stories from our adventures through Vietnam!
- Grant Touchette
Aerospace Engineering
University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia
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Week 10: Cabaret Dreams and Study Schemes
G’day mates,
This week my Dad and I ended our epic two-week adventure and I started coming to terms with the enormous amounts of recorded lectures that had piled up, unwatched and unloved.
5th - Aaaaaaaand we’re back
After an exhilarating couple of weeks, I was back in Sydney. I had never considered it, but returning to my house felt like coming home. The sentimental feelings were short-lived however as I logged onto MyUNSW and found the weeks of lectures waiting to be watched. Our roommate's friend from the University of Illinois had arrived the day before so Joe and I spent the night introducing ourselves and becoming fast friends.
6th - Thrills and Frills
The roommates and I woke up to a blistering 5 am alarm to catch the shuttle out to the skydive area. We had booked it hurriedly a few nights prior and didn’t know what to expect. I had just been so focused on getting us to the pickup spot on time that only when we got there did I realize I had left my glasses on(I usually wear contacts). The van took us an hour and a half outside of Sydney to an open field. Before we knew it we were hurried to the changing rooms, given a drippy onesie, and then assigned an instructor. I was given special, glasses-holding eye goggles, and then we all sat down for an uncomfortably short instructional talk on what to do.
“Head back, hips forward, and arms at your harness… got it?”
I, guess…
We made it to 15,000 ft (higher than the legal limit in the US), and when the red light turned yellow, our instructors secured themselves to our harness, and then all too soon the hatch door opened and the green light came on.
We made it down and everyone had a blast, aside from a bit of pinching the experience was overall easier than bungee jumping which we felt was due to you being the one to jump rather than some guy doing it for you. We also felt the dropping in our stomachs disappear after a little bit of falling which came from hitting terminal velocity (our acceleration went to zero).
We returned to Sydney and ate ravenously at the cafe where we were dropped off. I said goodbye to my Dad for the afternoon and we all went about our day, hardly believing we had just fallen half the height of a cruising commercial airline.
I got my first Australian haircut (still no tipping expected) and then tried to work but before I knew it, the time had struck 5 pm and I hurried to meet my dad for our final abroad meal. Looking further into Anika’s Beli account, I booked a delicious meal at Zushi.
We then met with Joe and his parents to catch our evening show at the Syndey Opera House. The show was a Gatsby-themed cabaret. The acrobatics were mindblowing. The choreographed music was executed with gusto and precision, oh and the plot was awesome.
After the show, my Dad and I said our farewells and parted ways. Joe and I were finally heading back to make up for lost school.
We filled the next few days up by going through the motions of preparing to study. We’d have a large meal, crack open a monster, sit down, and… “do you wanna just play some tennis?”
It was hard to get back into the swing of things, and tennis was quickly becoming the latest obsession of our house. It was inconvenient timing, but we squeezed in hours when we felt we could no longer sit down and do anything meaningful.
Friday night we went to Argyle for our first time. The club was a double-decker bar with more of a lounge on the first floor and a killer dance floor on top. It was a night to remember and I highly recommend it if anyone gets over here.
The next day another friend of my roommates came, so an already cramped house of 6 became 7. It was another day of attempted studies which ended in us booking an escape room. It was rated 5/5 difficulty with only 15% of people getting past it. We went in honestly just there for the fun, we had all agreed that if the goal wasn’t to win we’d be much more laid back and enjoy ourselves. Instead, we won, won with 10 whole minutes to spare.
We were just as surprised as the owners were. It had felt like we made it on half guesses and accidents but apparently, it was their hardest room and we were in the top 1% of guests for completing with the extra time. It was at this moment that I could sense in the group our love of tennis fading into obscurity and a new obsession coming into bloom.
I ended my week working and then doing more work to catch up, it was 12-hour days of lectures, assignments, project team meetups, and more.
Thank you guys for reading and I’ll catch you all next week in Vietnam!
Grant Touchette
Aerospace Engineering
University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia
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Week 9: Sands, Sips, and Scuba
Monday - Annnnnnd We’re off
We packed early in the morning after landing in Sydney. We loaded our stuff into the campervan parked across the street and made the cabin “sea-worthy”. After turning the first block, however, there was a thundering crash... We had underestimated just how violently the car could shake, nothing but good omens here.
Our first stop was the Australian Reptile Park. We booked the encounters tour which allowed us to pet koalas and echidnas, and even hold a juvenile wombat. We also got a backroom tour of some of the world’s deadliest snakes and spiders. They keep them to harvest their venom which gets sent around the world to develop antivenom medicine.
Tuesday - Sand Boarding
The next day we drove up the coast to Nelson’s Bay. We toured the nearby beach around Port Stevens. We got a fascinating history lesson on how the Australians braced this beach for a Japanese invasion in 1942 and how the beach grows yearly by 4 meters. The large deposits are actually coming from the blue mountains eroding and getting washed out into the sea. And then we sandboarded, more like sled but yeah:
That evening we decided to go backwards and stay at a nearby park to make our 10 am wine tour in Hunter Valley.
Wednesday - Wine and Turkish Delight
It was 23 fleets of wine and cheese pairings and it floored everyone.
It was delicious but way more alcohol than any of us were expecting. The day of drinking took us out for the next four hours of the day. We made it to Port Macquarie and took a stumbling but refreshing stroll on the beach.
That night we had the best food I’ve had during my time in Australia. We dined at Reyhana, a Turkish restaurant, and ate heaps of homemade pita and hummus as well as lamb shish and buttered rice.
I hastily booked a nearby campsite for the night as all the places I did find were unavailable. It turned out to be an unpowered campsite… Oops. No AC plus tons of bugs meant a humid, irritated night of sleep for everyone.
Thursday - Byron Baes
The next morning we booked it to Byron Bay for a promising day of adventure.
First up was a guided snorkeling excursion through the EAC(East Australian Current) duuuude (the same one Crush and his son Squirt rode in Finding Nemo).
Some highlights were the eagle ray and leopard shark that were hitching a ride on the EAC to loop the island we were snorkeling around. The boat ride was another highlight, the swell coming in made for perfect hills to accelerate over and catch air, at least that’s how the driver felt.
That night we ventured into the town of Byron Bay. We had only known the town from the cheesy reality TV show called Byron Baes so we were pleasantly surprised by how similar it was. It’s a town of linens and “inspirers” (rather than influencers). All that aside, we got a beautiful dinner in a bar that looked over the beach and then made our way to the local nightlife. Props to our Uber driver who convinced us to check out our first stop: someone’s backyard turned into a psychedelic bar with a trippy dancefloor.
It was unlike anything I had been to. The DJ was mixing vaguely familiar music over a wash of synths, there were artists actively painting their psychedelic pieces in the corners, and, when they felt it was getting a bit dull, fire-dancing people would inexplicably take over the dance floor and perform.
Friday - Koala Cuddling to Cairns Crazes
We finally got to hold koalas! The state of New South Wales forbids the practice and so as soon as we crossed the border into Queensland we signed up for the experience. It was a brief encounter and the zoo keeper told us that it was a practice they and the rest of Australia would be phasing out over the next year.
We then parted ways with our roommates who drove up in their sleeper van and would now make the 13-hour drive back down the coast to Sydney.
We quickly packed up and made our way to the Brisbane airport to catch our flight to Cairns. Our time in Cairns was brief. We got in late and spent most of our time running between loads of laundry at the local laundromat and finishing the procrastinated scuba diving e-learning course.
Saturday - Live A Board, Dive A Board
*5:45 am*
I’m up, I’m up.
We started our day early getting our gear and luggage stowed on the diving boat we’d be living on for the next three days. The boat takes customers out to the offshore parts of the Great Barrier Reef and guides them through certifications and general scuba diving skills. Joe, my Dad and I signed up for the Advanced Scuba Diving and Nitrox courses. Over this day and the next, we took our e-learning skills and applied them out at sea. The technical dives focused on navigation with and without a compass, buoyancy and control, night diving (how to communicate and navigate), a deep dive down to 100 feet, and a fish identification dive.
*phew*
By the end of the second day, we were officially advanced scuba divers! We dove, ate, and drank with people from all around the world. Almost everyone, regardless of age, had a similar story of feeling that too much of their life had gone by or that they had missed out on traveling earlier and so quit their jobs to see the world. For many of them, it was a decision that took several years of careful planning and saving and none of them regret diving out of their comfort zone and into the wider world.
Quick side note: I was told by my instructor that he knew I was an aerospace student as soon as he saw me take off from the ocean floor, the plume of sand that followed my vertical, sound barrier-breaking push was "rocket-like".
Between dives, I tried to catch up on the alarming amount of recorded lectures I’ve missed.
And now I write this on the boat ride back to shore with nine new dives and two new certifications under my belt. I’m looking forward to the last few days with my Dad and dreading the reality check from the mounting days of missed school.
Take care, everyone!
Grant Touchette
Aerospace Engineering
University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia
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Week 8 - The Return of The Wolverine
Kia Ora everyone! This week I went back to New Zealand. This time to the North Island, and with my Dad who's visiting the next couple of weeks.
Wednesday - Journey into the Cafe's of Sydney
Life in Australia leaves little to desire, however, one thing I've felt the absence of is study cafes. They don’t exist here, the closest you can get is either buying a coffee and then going to a library or hunting for a coffee shop that doesn’t want to throw you to the curb for ordering one coffee in three hours. This is yet another Anika Satish tip coming in clutch. During her time here, she discovered the cafe study gems that are Berkelouw and Ampersand. Although a far cry from the Michigan selection, the buildings double as a bookstore and cafe. It is challenging to be there for long due to limited outlets and spotty wifi, but it's a very welcome change from UNSW's main library.
Thursday - Ho Dad!
9:15 am *buzz*, *buzz* hello?? Oh hey, Dad… you’re here already… my god, yes come in one second!
My dad arrived earlier than expected this morning and will be here for two weeks, during that time I’m maximizing all the activities I’ve been wanting to do but haven’t had the financial freedom to explore, oh and to spend loving, quality time with my father of course. He quickly showered and I got packed before we both headed to the airport for our midday flight to Auckland, New Zealand (the largest city in the north island). Despite a few flight delays, we made it to our dinner meal of tapas before heading in for a much-needed rest. A rest my dad that is, I stayed up for a few more hours planning the next few days of our trip, all that we had booked up to that point were the flights and that first night’s hotel…
Friday - Auckland to Rotorua
We wanted to spend our trip balancing thrilling activities with cultural experiences and exploring natural wonders. And seeing the Shire of course. However the last-minute booking scramble from the night before uncovered the harsh reality of all the Shire tours being booked. So we settled for lunch at the Shire’s rest cafe (the closest you can get without a ticket).
We returned to the car and set off for grade 5 white water rafting. The highlights were the world's highest commercially rafted waterfall (22-foot) which we plummeted down in the raft, jumping into parts of the rapids, and surfing the rapids.
Here's a photo online of the waterfall we conquered
Sore but exhilarated, we checked into our hotel and booked it for our dinner reservation. That night we got our first taste of the geothermal activity in the area as we spent 90 minutes soaking in the Polynesian Hot Springs in the middle of town. Reeking of sulphur, we made our way to the Redwood Park which boasted suspended walkways lit up by a host of lamps.
The walk felt like we were wandering an Ewok village at night. Not finding any Ewoks, we did see several, wait, baby kangaroos?? large rats?? Joe?? Nope, wallabies, basically short, rodent-looking kangaroos, hopping along the forest floor.
Saturday - Rotorua to Whitianga
The next morning we made our way to the Geothermal Wonderland 10 minutes outside of Rotorua to experience “One of the most surreal places on Earth”. I don’t know about any of that but it was a very unique experience. Watching deep wells of bubbling mud and mineral-rich water boiling from the active vents deep below made Earth’s crust feel as thin as it has ever felt. The fear of all the high pressure and heat churning underneath our feet bursting up from the ground we walked wasn’t eased by the dire warnings of "If you hear a siren for more than 30 seconds, please evacuate immediately"
“I’m talking about Mountain Dew Baby”
We then headed to the Maori village for a guided tour highlighting their traditional practices and totem symbolism, and most interestingly how they harnessed the pools and vents of boiling water steaming up all around their land.
The bottom two images depict one of several thermal vents that the village has reconfigured into a natural steam oven.
Chanting “Stay left”, my dad drove the winding rodes back north to Whitianga, a town in the Coromandel Peninsula near the famous hot spring beach. Our plan that night was to go during the next low tide (midnight) and so we searched for things to pass the time. For context, when visiting the hot water beach at low tide, we were told to dig into the sand near the water’s edge and watch it bubble up to fill in as our very own hot spring.
Anyway, after our delicious dinner, we lodged ourselves at the local sports bar until enough time had passed. But as the drinks flowed, it became obvious that there were other plans in store for the night. We formally met the off-the-clock waitress from the place we had just dined, and I left my dad to join her and her friends for the night. They took me under their wing, putting me on to the “classic New Zealand bands” and expanding my vocabulary. Did you know that when we in America would typically call light rain “misting” they call it “spitting”? Needless to say, the streets and our clothes were covered in spit, so we all ran into the Ocean.
The next morning, a tad sleep-deprived, we drove back to catch our returning flight to Sydney, and to start our next adventure.
Cheers from the down under,
Grant Touchette
Aerospace Engineering
University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia
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Week 7: Adventures in Adulting
After a long trip to New Zealand, it was time to head back to our reality in Sydney. It was more real than we would’ve liked and left us wishing for just a few more hours in the carefree mountain ranges of the Fiordlands.
Tuesday - The Big Reveal
We made our way back to Sydney making sure to load up at the duty free before security. Upon arriving at our house, we realized that none of us brought a key to the house with us. Tried every door we could, but nothing would budge… “guys, what about that second-floor window?”
After not so smoothly breaking and entering into our own house, the full scope of what needed to be done made itself painfully clear. The trash in the back had attracted a pack of rats who now had the backyard to themselves, if you know anything about me you likely know that I am terribly afraid of rats. Needless to say, it was a huge blow to give up such a big part of our place. All the trash removal companies quoted us figures that were hard to swallow, so we set our jaws and became determined to ride out the trash until the next Tuesday morning which, of course, was when trash was collected.
The house has no central AC so the air felt very stagnant and unhealthy. The multitude of flies and maggots invading the cup of coffee left out didn’t soften the picture. The dishes left in the dishwasher were covered in black mold and the house we had pretty much had a day to move in still needed several necessities including groceries. To top it off, we all had no clean clothes and the house lacked a dryer. Oh, and there was no wifi.
As we pushed the last cart of supplies and pest control products into the house that night, the respect we all had for our parents had probably never been so high.
Wednesday - Settling in
Today we went to our Term 1 classes for the first time. It was one of the two classes I shared with Joe. The professor was passionate about his subject. After class, we met some Brits and followed their lead to an on-campus bar for a pint and a round of pool for lunch.
That night, the friends we traveled to New Zealand with came over and we threw our thongs on for a stroll to the beach and then enjoyed some late-night Mac’ers. (G’day)
Thursday
Joe and I went to surf at Bondi Beach today. We also got wind of this 5-day long party pass that caters to UNSW students and gets you into venues around the city each night. That night became yet another Ivy Thursday. A night I could’ve, maybe, sworn was better than before.
Friday - Storms and Shows
Joe has been harping on about this show for a while called Dark. It’s a German series on Netflix that sucked all of us in from the start. We ended up binging the show most of the day, baking cookies and long-winded wifi technical support calls being the only things to puncture our routine.
Saturday - I Love beautiful Sunset Days
We took another trip to the Blue Mountains, this time we went to the town of Wentworth Falls and took the trail down to the base of the waterfalls. We spent most of the day dipping into the naturally eroded pools and basking in the sun on the nearby dry rocks.
Then the sky shifted and we opened our eyes to massive raindrops picking up and falling with a quickening intensity, before we knew it we were in the valley of the blue mountains during a full-on thunderstorm. We quickly got to the other side and slowly made our way back up and out of the trail. Towards the top, we found shelter in a naturally protected inlet carved out of the side of the mountain while the storm passed. It also gave us an incredible view of the valley below. We got to see the full water cycle in action… when the rain stopped the clouds cleared and then clouds started to form right over the bottom of the valley and could be seen floating upwards to reform for a later storm. Mind blown. The storm’s departure left the sky clear for a spectacular sunset.
Sunday - Running a house is hard
Today was the day of solutions (at last). We finally got the wifi up and online, the massive heaps of trash and its inhabitants were carted off by a trash collection agency we scheduled (caved into ordering), and the weekly rent-a-dryer service delivered a dryer. We also had a full-standing AC unit dropped off by a Facebook Marketplace seller. Our next problems were the fuses for the outlets constantly being blown by all of the devices connected to them, namely when the AC unit and dryer were plugged in and turned on. And there was the problem of next to no cleaning supplies, specifically those strong enough to clean the artificial turf of rat poo.
But the battle had been won and so we celebrated our progress with a day on the beach. Except when a storm moved in, it left a long line for the busses… so we tried to bike.
That night my friend Sam and I went to see Dr. Andrew Huberman give his talk on the mind-body contract and then opened up the floor to a Q&A.
The takeaways that stuck with me were the instant stress relief nervous system mechanism we can all tap into and the Body Still, Mind Awake practice. The first happens when we take a deep breath into our nose and then take another inhale and then breathe out through our mouth. The second is a method he’s found that creatives across history have used to varying degrees, from Einstein stopping his walks abruptly, as he found his thinking would change based on the lack of incorporation of movement, to Rick Rubin taking a daily hour-long lie down where he keeps his mind active and thinking in full sentences while keeping his body completely still.
Monday
Time to seriously catch up on school. I’m writing this blog in between 4 hour sessions of watching all the lectures I missed on two times speed. Something, anything to mix up all of this watching.
Have a great week everyone,
-Grant Touchette
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Week 6 - Kiwi Chronicles
G’day folks!
New Zealand, my god.
It was everything I had hoped for and so so much more. More than I could ever put into words. But it’d be a shame not to try… Here’s my week:
On Tuesday we hopped off AJ Hackett’s Nevis Bungee jump. Standing from a suspended cable car over a ravine nearly 140 meters or 450 feet above the rocky stream below. The world’s first bungee jumping company gave us an experience that makes my palms sweaty just thinking about it.
The pounding Pitbull tunes… then the count down, 5,4,3,2,1…
Goodbye Queenstown: We began our last day here with a last-minute booking at the spa pools of Onsen for a relaxing hour to reminisce on all that had already happened and all that lay ahead for us.
After checking out of our hostel, we made our rounds through downtown Queenstown, shopping and renting the food and gear that could get us through the upcoming camping excursion. New Zealand has twelve “Great Walks”, these are typically multi-day hiking trips that span all parts of the north and south island. We decided to follow Kepler Track located outside the town of Te Anau. It is a three-day, two-night, 60 km Great Walk that cuts through the Fiordland National Park.
The food list was focused on maximizing calories while minimizing cost, space, and required prep. This meant a lot of canned meats, rice, wraps, peanut butter, and jelly.
We drove to the trailhead and assembled our packs, making judgment calls on clothes, food, tents, and who carries what. Finally, we set off with two hours of sun remaining.
The trail unraveled into a living canopy of moss and streams that felt at times like a set on Lord of the Rings. We made it to the camp with a little time to spare, just enough to get our tents up and bring our food supplies to the bench. Cooking in the dark was no easy feat. But the whispers of the company, hushed music, and countless stars outlining the night sky above kept us working through the night.
Thursday: the best hike of my life.
We woke up, slept in a little late, and got to work immediately. Even so, we didn’t end up heading off until around 10:30. This day's hike is 13 miles long but with all of the Kepler Track’s change in altitude. The first part of the hike was a climb up through the canopy. From there we took a gruelling climb up and over multiple mountain peaks over five hours. Some of the most stunning natural views I’ve ever seen, I couldn’t recommend this hike more. Everyone we met on the way greeted us with a smile and salutation. We did get a “you’re not even close” early on in the hike when we first got above the canopy but other than that the other hikers were overwhelmingly encouraging and friendly.
We had our first encounter with the Kea, a large majestic bird native to the area that the rangers and locals treat reverently. In fact, at one stop, a ranger told us that it was our job to get out of the way of the Kea rather than to shoo it off. Of course, 30 minutes later this exact situation happened when we left our bags at the base of a scenic lookout that branched off the hike. We came back down to find a Kea picking around and investigating our packs.
After hiking for over 11 hours we made it into camp just as the sun was sinking below the mountains. We broke our group into those setting up camp and those cooking food. But, much to our dismay, we found that we had left a night’s worth of canned chicken in the car. Luckily, we overpacked in other areas so our dinner instead became rice and a handful of tuna cans with some ripped-up lunch meat sprinkled in with some all-purpose seasoning. Pack more than you think you will eat!
That night I was awoken several times to rustling and scratching, I looked outside to see both a Kiwi and a Kea making concerted efforts to break into our tents. A few slaps on the tent wall were enough to send them running, but not for long. In the morning the damage was assessed and the kiwi had broken through the netting in two areas and the Kea had ripped a hole into the side of the tent near our heads. YOIKES. The tents were of course rented so we swore to find sewing materials when we got back to civilization.
The Kiwi in question the morning after.
Our last day of the hike was another 13 miles but with pretty much flat ground the whole way until we emptied out on the parking lot we left in the beginning. In some ways, this day was the worse of the two, Joe and I had rented hiking boots that really didn’t fit and they left us swimming in the boots so the promises of blisters from the night before were in full bloom for the last day. But nonetheless, it was a stunning and memorable day in its own right.
What did I learn from the backpacking adventure?… Bring more food than you think you’ll need, bring a sponge for cleaning dishes, and you are likely overpacking clothes: bring one core outfit with options for layering and spare underwear and socks. And prepare for the bold wildlife!
The next day we unanimously decided on no hiking, instead we hopped on the Te Anau boat to the entrance of New Zealand’s Glow Worm Caves. The tour took us into the caves and, once deep enough, took us on smaller boats that were guided in the pitch dark, other than the cosmic-like glow from the clusters of worms. The bioluminescence was breathtaking and fascinating to learn about its evolutionary origins.
We weren't allowed to take photos but here's a decent one I found online:
After the tour, we had some time to kill in Te Anau so we ran a load of laundry at the local laundromat, walked through a nearby art gallery, and purchased some souvenirs to memorialize this trip. Across the board, every local we met carried a gentle, relaxed disposition with a passion for dry humor.
That night we set up camp at the Cascade Creek camping grounds, the nearest camping spot to Milford Sound. It got much colder than we had initially bargained for and the three-person tent we were all huddled in while we were still up became everyone's bed for the night.
The next morning everyone woke up laughing over how they swore their night of sleep was worse than everyone else’s. Not doing that one again. We packed everything up and set off for the boat tour at Milford Sound.
After the stunning ride through the glacier-made channels, we made our way to the start of our final hike, Gertrude Saddle. It’s hard to exaggerate just how beautiful our final hike was. We walked under golden grass growing off the sharp mountainside cut only by the aqua-colored streams coming from the lake placed in the “saddle” of the mountain. On the way down we thought the lake looked like a great spot to cool off...
That night we had previously planned on camping at the same grounds but we had enough and frantically looked for last-minute accommodations for seven. Our search brought us to an Airbnb apartment back in Queenstown for the night.
We said goodbye to two of our companions and set off for the day’s adventures. Our first stop was jet boating. It’s essentially a Mario Kart-like drift through the surrounding rivers. It was thrilling, but it admittedly got old after the first 30 minutes.
Next up was river boarding, essentially boogie boarding with a wetsuit and helmet in grade three rapids. Everyone had a blast and the trip actually ended with us sharing a pint at a nearby bar with one of our instructors Pav.
This trip has been memorable and greater than my already high expectations. There was nothing like being on the ground looking up at the steep mountains and into the starry sky. The group was reverently silent more often than any group I’ve been a part of. If any of this peaks your interest I cannot recommend visiting this beautiful country enough.
Take care everyone,
Grant Touchette
Aerospace Engineering
University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia
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Week 5 - From Sydney Poles to Mount Cook Strolls
G’day everyone!
My week started off with a confirmation and acceptance of our lease application, narrowly avoiding homelessness by a few days *big sigh of relief*. Our new home is a townhouse in Bondi Junction, an incredible location for most of the spots we want to be near. The junction is a grand central station for busses and trains that can take us to most parts of the city and surrounding beaches in around 20 minutes, oh and the campus is about 40 minutes away.
On Wednesday, all of the roommates and some friends from Surf Camp somehow coerced Joe and me into a pole dancing intro class. Pole dancing… so yeah, if you were to tell me I’d be pole dancing my first month into this Australian adventure I would have raised both eyebrows.
But it so happened that my roommate, and a recent friend of mine, went to a pole dancing class the week prior and wouldn’t stop recommending and at times begging for the rest of us to follow them to the next class. When in Sydney I guess… sorry Mom, I guess…
For anyone interested, it was a tough workout at times and painful on the inner thighs. But ultimately the experience was rewarding and very humbling.
On Thursday, we packed our bags and headed out to the streets of Sydney. Our townhouse wasn’t ready until the day after so we each called up our friends from Surf Camp and lodged at our friends’ places for the night.
The next morning I went to my last Coogee sunrise as a resident of the neighborhood. Joe and I rendezvoused with the other three girls at the front steps of our new home.
That day was spent flipping coins for rooms and making several trips to the nearby mall to stock the house with necessities.
The next morning we packed our briefly unpacked bags and, as the flight attendant liked to remind us, “just barely caught” our flight to Queenstown, New Zealand.
And WOW…
This place is breathtaking from the first sight of the shore out the plane window (get a window seat if you can). We moved through customs declaring anything that even resembled food and then started our 10-day New Zealand journey.
Quick aside… This upcoming week at UNSW is called “O-Week'' where all the clubs and student organizations set up stands. It's a great opportunity for kids to check out and join whatever catches their eye. For us, it's more of a week to explore this side of the world. Also, of all the times to go, New Zealand in the summer seemed like our best bet, it's by no means sweltering but highs of mid-60s beat mid-40s or lower if we went later in the year. Also, the whole trip will be an exploration of the southwestern part of south island, for anyone who knows their New Zealand geography.
Anyways, we landed and headed to our first stop, PAK ‘n Save (NZ Costco), and shared a delectable parking lot sandwich with some of the items purchased in the store.
We also were shopping for all of the next day's meals because there were few outlets along the 3 hours of country between Queenstown and Mt. Cook. We made it to our hostel at the base of Mount Cook, the tallest mountain in NZ, around 1 AM to a sky full of stars.
The next day was the most beautiful hike I have ever done, by far.
Before starting our hike, we talked with park officials who told us that the weather here can switch in a moment and to make a judgment call with each stop we take. Also, it was one of the windier days, so be careful “not to get blown off at the top”.
Our friend Max informed us the hike was 2200 stairs, and then the hard part started…
Feeling a bit nervous but determined we slowly made our way to the summit and it was the natural views more than anything that kept our minds from the, at times, grueling elements of the hike.
Here are a few of my favorite photos:
I'm writing this from our Queenstown hostel and cannot wait to share all the adventures that this next week has in store.
I hope you all enjoyed the blog!
Grant Touchette
Aerospace Engineering
University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia
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Week 4 - Planning and Preparing: the underbelly of studying abroad
G’day everyone!
This week's blog is a bit different than the previous few for a couple of reasons. Firstly, this week was relatively uneventful, but I will give it a recap. Secondly, this blog is meant to give an all-encompassing view into the studying abroad experience, and this week I’d like to dedicate most of this blog to some of the less glamourous aspects of being out here.
So most of this week was a scramble to confront our mounting school work and the pressure to find a place to live for next week. We attended three different “inspections”, essentially open houses. I became a member of the State Library of New South Wales which has some of the best study spots in the city.
This Friday was Australia Day, which is the more controversial version of Independence Day for the States. We relaxed on the beach for most of the day and that night we met up with some of the friends we met at surf camp. They led us to the harbor, where the opera house was lit up with a mixture of patriotic and aboriginal images.
The next day was spent surfing and reading at Bondi Beach.
We finished our day taking Anika Satish up on her local food recommendation at this delicious Italian place called The Corner House.
Now for the less glamorous aspects:
Housing
We went a more unconventional route when it came to finding our housing. Many abroad students opt into the student housing complexes, FYI most on-campus accommodations are filled up before you can apply and there are few abroad students living in anyways. However, by the time we were looking for housing, most of the accommodation options that kept my friend and I together were either too expensive to justify or too far from the areas we wanted to be, namely the beaches near Coogee and Bondi.
During our initial search, we met three girls whom we knew through friends and so two became five, but still no place made sense. We explored the prominent Australian real estate sites domain.com.au and realestate.com.au but quickly discovered we would have to be in person to inspect the property and have an Australian bank account before we could submit an application for a lease.
So, a little out of desperation, we turned to Airbnb for housing, it was slightly pricier but our only viable option while we searched from the states. We found a 3-bedroom apartment near Coogee that would house us from the 4th of January to the 1st of February. We spent the first few nights in a hostel while our Airbnb was opening up.
And now to the stressful exciting part, it is January 28th at the time of writing this blog and we still don’t know where we are going on the night of the 1st. This past week has been filled with three inspections and two lease applications, both places being in ideal locations and at a very reasonable price. That being said, in many ways, we are going in blind. Who knows what documents the Australian housing market favors over others in leasing applications or even what chance we have in general because on paper we’re five barely adult-aged students getting funded primarily by our parents from a foreign country. I know I wouldn’t accept me…
But anyway, I’ll know one way or the other by next Sunday (hopefully sooner). One piece of legal guidance that has been invaluable in our search: it is Australian law that a renter can terminate a lease no matter what and if they fulfilled at least half of their time then the only penalty is two weeks of rent. This is relevant because most leases here are at a minimum 6 months long and we have a little less than 4 months left in our Australian adventure.
And for practical advice, talk to the realtors that are representing these places, they have been across the board open with their advice and generous with their guidance.
Budgeting
The three things you aren’t supposed to bring up at a dinner table are Religion, Politics, and Money, well the first two can wait for later blogs… but this next part is concerned with everything financial. The bits I wish I knew before coming.
I underestimated just how quickly costs would accumulate and how unsustainable the first few weeks would be financially. Below is the financial sheet provided by IPE for budgeting this program.
These estimates are pretty good but there are a few areas I’d like to dig into and update based on my experience so far.
If the “figure it out as you go” approach to housing appeals to you then you could be saving up to a couple thousand dollars. Our first month at this Airbnb plus the few days of hostels were $1450 + $150 and then assuming we get one of the two places we’ve applied to then it would be around $4000 for the remainder of our trip so the rough total comes out to $5600.
The Meals and Personal Expenses sections are highly personal but I’ll give my breakdown. For food, I’m personally spending around $250/300 a month on groceries and also spending around $80 a week on eating out or $360 a month. This comes out to somewhere between $2750 to $3000 for the time I’m here. Another item that deserves a separate column in your budget sheet that I didn’t consider was alcohol. In Australia, it is one of the highest-taxed commodities which translates to ridiculously expensive drinks when going out. If you do plan on drinking I highly recommend buying alcohol at Aldi’s or BWS which we’ve found to have the most reasonable prices. In dollar terms, it comes out to $160 a month or around 700$ for the duration of my time here.
For personal expenses, it is again very personal but there are several things that I wanted to highlight. I’m recently scuba certified so boat dives, shore dives, and more certifications can quickly add up. I’m budgeting around $1500 for the total expenses related to scuba diving and another $500 for expenses related to surfing. Disclaimer: when it comes to buying scuba gear, a surfboard, and most things honestly, Facebook Marketplace is your best pal, you can also sell back the items at the end of the semester.
And then finally I would budget at least $2000 for day, weekend, and week trips while you’re here. When will you be on this side of the world again??… it's what I told my parents at least. The academic schedule for UNSW has three separate weeks off during your time here, all great opportunities to explore the rest of Australia, New Zealand, and even Southeast Asia (probably the cheapest option of the three).
My total personal budget sheet is closer to $30k once trips and scuba adventures are factored in. Overall, there are many ways to be frugal here without compromising your experience, such as buying flights far in advance or building a trip around the cheapest flights you can find, camping rather than staying in hotels (when you can), pregaming a night out, and reselling bulky semester-use items. I’m sure there are more but I hope some of this helps.
Cheers mates!
Grant Touchette
Aerospace Engineering
University of New South Wales
Sydney, Australia
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Week 3: Trials and Triumphs
“If we stay present to our discomfort, we will also feel something else arising—something more real, capable, sensitive, and exquisitely aware of ourselves and of our surroundings.” - a quote from the Enneagram Institute
Wednesday, Joe and I finally decided to test our luck with scuba diving. We figured we’d save some money and go out by ourselves, so off we went uber-ing our rented gear down south of Sydney to a park called Bare Island.
The first dive was beautiful, the highlights included a 10 foot Wobbegong shark and a massive blue grouper that became our diving companion. The grouper would at times lead and even sort of ‘dance’ with us as we spun in the water. The whimsy was short lived however when we surfaced 150 meters away from our entry point.
That swim was nothing compared to our second dive, we tried to keep the reef to our right and turn around halfway, but with no compass and no obvious slope in the ocean floor, we felt lost at sea. When we surfaced, it was only to find that the island we should’ve been hugging was nearly a kilometer away.
That night I could feel a long-suppressed sickness come into full bloom. The next couple of days were a struggle of medicine, water, and uneasy sleep. The silver lining was I got a chance to try out the abroad healthcare program, and it was pretty easy to navigate, just remember to initialize it when you get here. An examination, diagnosis and a golden letter to exempt me from assignments for the next few days cost me 24$ AUD, after insurance.
Feeling decent enough, my roommates and I packed our bags and set off for the famous Blue Mountain range 2 hours inland from Sydney. Because of how the train schedule and the “getting out the door finally” schedule happened to line up, I had to take my online midterm on the train ride to the mountains.
I don’t recommend it.
But.. if it has to be done, its worth noting that Vodafone had coverage for 90% of the ride so it was rarely a headache.
But anyways we made it to the vintage-feeling village of Blackheath, one of several outposts along the mountain range.
On our first day, we hiked to this lookout point:
If you look deep into the photo you can see how each ridge becomes slightly more opaque and “blue”.
We ended our first night there at the local pub which was hosting a raving group of townees belting karaoke. Everyone we met was inviting and generous with their words and attention.
The next day we hiked the “Grand Canyon loop” a roughly 4-hour hike starting along the ridges of the blue mountains and then dipping into a ravine of lush rainforest.
The man who drove us to the entrance of the hike said it best when he exclaimed, “Thats gonna be a f**k ton of stairs”
He was right.
So as we’re exiting the hike and google maps is telling us its another two miles into town we became very disheartened.
“What if we hitch-hiked??”
.... Sorry Mom
If you’ve gotten this far, thank you for reading. It's been another long and memorable week in Australia!
Cheers,
Grant Touchette
Aerospace Engineering
University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia
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Week 2: Fifty Shades of Blue
G’day ladies and gents. Welcome back to your weekly dose of Australia.
I started off the week following Anika Satish’s food and study spot recommendations. Give her a follow on the app Beli if you plan on making it over here.
Sonder Cafe - Sonder: "The profound feeling of realizing that everyone, including strangers passing in the street, has a life as complex as one's own, which they are constantly living despite one's personal lack of awareness of it."
My roommates couldn’t decide which dish sounded more appetizing so we split up all three. We then wandered through the neighborhood of Paddington. Dreaming of coffee and a study nook, we felt that if we sat down maybe some of our rapidly growing school assignments would be shown some attention.
Nope!
The WiFi was spotty so we found an excuse to push off the work till some day in the future and got to work thrifting at the nearest op shops.
The next day we spent at the aquarium taking in the Australian fishes, the same as the ones in the States but with a TON of sharks. We rushed through the exhibit to arrive late to Michigan’s National Championship watch party. The bar was rented out by alumni living in Sydney.
“It’s great… to be… a Michigan Wolverine”
Wednesday was wild. We experienced another Sheaf Wednesday.
This weekend Joe and I attended Surf Camp Australia for a weekend full of lessons and beach living. The journey started Friday evening on the stunning bus ride to the camp two hours south of Sydney.
Gradient Sky Rainbow
The camp was a deadzone for service which kept our phones off and in our rooms. We went from doom-scrolling to nose-diving on our surfboards. In all seriousness, we met an incredible group of exchange students from India, France, Canada, and our very own UMich.
After our second round of lessons, the camp came together for dinner which became an informal watch party with everyone wiping out. That night, we were encouraged to spend time at the local pub to embrace the local culture of drinking and dancing the night away.
The town we surfed in and the Aussie DJ who kept us on our feet
Our night ended with a walk on the beach and a deep appreciation of the stars. When we could tear our eyes from the spotted abyss above us, we found the crashing waves twinkling. The beach had a bioluminescence bloom; the coast lit up with every dash of our feet through the water.
Thank you as always for reading,
As a wise man once said, "More life!"
Grant Touchette
Aerospace Engineering
UNSW, Sydney, Australia
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Week 1: Burns, Clubs, and Animals
G’day everyone!
It's been a whole week in this beautiful city and time has never moved so sweetly slow. We finally moved into the Airbnb we’ve booked for the first month (we still don’t have a place after that). It was bittersweet leaving the 6 person dorm-style hostel room, the already cramped room wasn’t made better with our 5 months’ worth of luggage. The looks on our hostel roommates' faces when we blundered in on the first day said it all. Everyone we lived with in the room was at the very least kind and kept to themselves but were usually eager to meet us and share where they'd been.
The left photo is the inside of our dorm room and the right photo is the view from our Airbnb looking over the valley that empties into Coogee Beach.
The Australian sun has a special amount of power that I had drastically underestimated. During our UNSW abroad summer term orientation, one of the presenters flat-out declared "most if not all imported sunscreens are not going to cut it"…
But anyway, every day has been different! After our orientation on Tuesday, Jan 2nd, we explored the surrounding streets of Randwick. Committed to trying new foods, “Korean Street Food” caught our eye, and we ordered the potato tornado with chicken salt. It was one of the tastiest savory snacks I’ve tried.
Here’s Joe posing with it
The next day we went snorkeling in Clovelly Cove, a naturally protected hotspot of sting rays, schools of fish, and BLUEY, the friendly neighborhood Grouper known in the area for dwelling under a specific shelf of rock. We dove with recently purchased gear and my friend Jack let me use his underwater camera to take some videos, diving down to get near the beautiful variety of organisms. I haven’t gotten the videos back yet but hopefully, I can share some screenshots of good frames at some point in a future post.
That night Joe, our new roommates: Vivian, Sam, Michelle, and I played a quick round of classic 3 vs 2 ping pong before booking an Uber into the heart of Sydney for “Sheaf Wednesday”.
The next couple of nights were “Ivy Thursdays” and then a “Fun Friday” night of our own invention. We strolled around an artsy district of Sydney called Newtown, accidentally spending hours in this sprawling park. We also encountered… "wait is that a Baby Kangaroo”!?!
Sadly no, this was a Brushtail Opossum, still gave us a massive fright
Speaking of animals, this week has been filled with birds, bugs, and who knows what that has left us all floored. Here are some of the highlights:
“Bin Chickens” - because of how they use their beaks to rummage through the “bins”
Hordes of bats swooping over UNSW's campus around dusk
I hope you enjoyed the blog!
Take care everyone and until next week.
Grant Touchette
Aerospace Engineering
University of New South Wales
Sydney, Australia
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Week 0: Have you heard of the Land Down Under?
Hi Everyone!
My name is Grant Touchette and I’m a second year studying aerospace engineering. Then after a few months, I hope to come away with a minor in Aussie slang too.
My mom and I, freshman year
A photo I took on the drive to the airport
I took off from LAX around midnight on the 30th of December and landed around 9 AM in Sydney. For context, Sydney is 16 hours ahead of the east coast or 8 hours back, the next day (quick maths). On 14-hour flights, I’ve realized that there’s a level of introspection that’s unavoidable. I was a bit overwhelmed in the days leading up to my trip. Questions like “Did I get everything packed?” “What could I be missing?” “What should I expect?” flew back and forth in my mind. My well-intentioned friends and family were parroting the belief that it’s “the best time of your life”. It frankly felt like a lot to live up to and I realized it was putting pressure on what my experience “should be”. I decided to make a list of some New Year’s/abroad resolutions:
Become a morning person
Commit to waning off my phone, do not disturb (apologies to anyone trying to reach me), etc…
Take three deep breaths in the morning, before anything else
As I was thinking of more bullet points to fill up the largely empty page and feeling out the mindset I wanted to adopt, I wrote: “Surrender yourself to the flow of your experience”. It may have been the recycled air of the plane talking, but something in those words helped me close the notebook, sit back, and drift off.
Que the longest day…
My good friend Joe and I are embarking on this experience together. It was nice to see a familiar face after all the travel. I met him at the airport and got my new phone number/sim card at a Vodafone stand (highly recommended). We got our bags and called an Uber to the Coogee Beach House Hostel.
We dropped our bags and shed many layers of clothing to step out into the beginning of an overcast Australian summer day. The first order of business: caffeine. We strolled down to a local coffee shop and walked along the coast of Coogee.
Australian for Grant and Joe
We then took the bus to thrift on the other side of Sydney. After navigating 50 minutes into Sydney, it became obvious that Apple Maps is a lifesaver and Sydney’s public transportation is vital to get around… Sydney is MASSIVE. Anyways, our jetlagged minds didn’t think twice about how it was New Year's Day. So we embarked on a fruitless chase across Sydney namely through Marrickville and Newtown, arriving at each store and finding it completely uninhabited. That said, we ventured into an Asian grocery store and hungrily snacked on some lychee jelly.
I quickly noticed how most of Sydney doesn’t have buildings higher than around six stories tall, the streets can be cramped at times but it never felt overwhelming. Another quick lesson said best by my friend Sam is “the biggest culture shock has been walking on the left of the sidewalk”. It may seem trivial but when one is sleep-deprived and stumbling down the streets squinting at Apple Maps, people merging into your direct path walking on a collision course feels pretty threatening.
We made it back to Coogee, collision-free, to meet up with some other abroad students studying at UNSW coming from all around the world. We tossed a volleyball around the beach as we shared why we each wanted to study in Sydney and what we hoped to do over the next several months. There was a common theme of camping in the outback, scuba diving, and surfing.
As the hours passed, we opened up about our lives back home. Oskar from Estonia shared how the war in Ukraine had kept most of his country in a blanket of fear as distraught refugees from both Ukraine and Russia flooded into his country.
And then that night we joined our future roommates and many Michigan abroad students out on a bar crawl. This time taking the bus into the heart of Sydney, we joined them in the basement of a pub and walked to two other places until calling it quits at 11 pm (7 am EST). We were beyond exhausted but couldn’t help but smile the whole way back.
“Do you think you could live here after college?”
“Who knows but it feels like a matter of when not if.”
I’m planning on posting every week. Thank you for reading, and Go Blue!
Grant Touchette
Aerospace Engineering
University of New South Wales
Sydney, Australia
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