I bet every study abroad and exchange student that comes to Australia for one semester, like me, has the same nostalgic feeling of having so much to see and so little time! One semester may seem like a lot of time, but there is so much to see around Sydney and Australia, that it seems that six months won't cut it.

That's why planning your spring break and other vacation times might be hard. How do you decide where to go when there are so many places to visit? Well, I think it depends on your study abroad purpose.

My study abroad travel purpose was to visit every possible corner of Australia, because now that I'm already here, why not take the most advantage that I can? That's how I picked Melbourne, The Great Ocean Road, The Grampians and the Red Centre to be my spring break destination. Yes, all of those places in a week!

Melbourne

About Melbourne, I can say I was surprised. I had heard there is a lot of rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne and you either like one or the other. I love Sydney so much I couldn't imagine liking any other city more, but then I went to Melbourne. I think there shouldn't be a comparison point, because they're both so different.

In Sydney I enjoy all the different places there are to visit and the different things you can do in all of them. Melbourne has a lot of culture, fashion and sooo many great restaurants, it's definitely worth a visit. My favourite part was getting to know the city by riding a bike.

The Great Ocean Road / Grampians

The Great Ocean Road and the Grampians National Park are other things you can't miss when in Victoria. The most famous attraction is the Twelve Apostles, but I was surprised because there are so many more impressive views and scenery like Loch Ard Gorge (picture on the left). My favourite part was hiking Hollow Mountain in the Grampians, because it's an easy and fun hike where you go over the rocks and under the caves.

The Red Centre - Uluru

The Red Centre surprised me too! It's not like the big cities where there's so many things to do, but the few things there are, are totally worth it!

I visited Kata Tjuta National Park and went around and between huge rock formations. The place I liked the most was Kings Canyon (pictured in the middle) where I got to hike and see amazing views.

It's hard to pick a favourite part of this trip but I definitely loved sleeping under the stars, because there were so many and I could also see the Milky Way, watching the sunset and sunrise in Uluru, and learning about Australia's aboriginal history and culture.

This Spring Break trip helped me to get to know this country better, not only seeing new amazing places, but also some of it's great culture and history.

I know there's so much more to discover and I can't wait to get to know more of Australia's stunning places!

Carolina Anguiano Paredes (Study Abroad Communications Ambassador, Spring session 2017)

Chemical Engineering

Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México