Emily
Accounting Major

Hello everyone from beautiful Adelaide, Australia. To help you understand my experience fully, I need to explain a few things. Life here in Australia feels surreal. For example, I know it is January but I’m wearing shorts and enjoying 100-degree weather. I know Australians speak English, but I often find myself staring befuddled at them as they speak in their thick accents that produce a language I do not understand. I know how to cross a street safely, yet here in Australia I continually find myself confused when I am about to cross an intersection. Do I look right and then left, or is it left and then right? More things that leave me at a loss are temperatures in Celsius, distances in kilometers and various other things that I should have learned in science class.

After embracing the differences and enjoying the similarities, there are plenty of things to be excited about. Australia has been full of unique places and people, and our experiences in our business site visits have held no disappointment. When people I talk to ask what we have done these past 10 days, it is hard to know even where to begin. Every day is filled with site visits, learning experiences and funny stories.

Today started as any other. We congregated early and Dean Usrey drove us in a van down to the port of Adelaide. There we had a presentation on the workings of the port, what routinely comes through the port and the safety regulations that had to begin after 9/11. I found this very interesting because I had no prior knowledge of ports and the shipping industry. One unique aspect of this port is that it is privately owned and not held by the government. We then went down to the outer harbor in order to see the containers and the cranes that load the cargo. The sheer size of the machinery is intimidating and puts into perspective the size of the trade business.

Next came a site visit that I will not soon forget. We went to a chicken-processing plant. We all entered this site with a little bewilderment as to what lay ahead for us. Soon after arriving we were brought into a room where we all had to put on over our clothes white pants, white over-shirt, a reflective vest, heavy rubber boots, hair nets and ear plugs. This list should conjure in anyone’s mind a picture that makes you laugh. But now add to that picture the knowledge that there was only one size of pants, shirts and I think two or three sizes of boots, and no size was small. I actually have a rather small frame so it was quite hilarious with my size 45 men’s pants and men's size 12 shoes. The tour was eye-opening as we were shown how the chickens are cleaned, cut, stored and put through other processes. Out of the two groups, mine chose not to see the killing process of the chickens. Not surprisingly, my group contained all the women from our trip. So far this trip has exceeded any previous expectations and I am excited to see what lies ahead.

Back to Off-Campus Studies >> Online Travelogues >> Australia Study Program >>