I'm Mike McCarthy and I am on a study abroad semester here at Griffith University at Gold Coast. I'm originally from Michigan and I have lived there all of my life, and it's very different here than it is in Michigan. When I left Michigan it was about 0 degrees Fahrenheit, that's about -16 degrees Celsius, and when I arrived in Brisbane it was about 80 degrees Fahrenheit, 25 degrees Celsius. I enjoy a lot of snow activities that I am missing out by being here. I left in the middle of the winter so I missed a lot of snowboarding and snowmobiling this snow season, but there will always be next year. I knew that all the stereotypes about Australia were just that, stereotypes, but I can't say I wasn't a little disappointed when I didn't get off the plane to see red deserts and kangaroos.

Uni here is different than back in Michigan. Classes here are two or three hour lectures and tutorials where as in Michigan classes are an hour long every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

It's been a little difficult to adjust to the climate and the classes and minor things like that, but it's been amazing thus far and I'm sure it won't get bad while I'm here.