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<\/p>\nWhen I first applied to study at Bath I knew I wanted to do my research project abroad, it\u2019s a rare opportunity for engineers that I knew I had to take! I originally wanted to go to Toulouse because the projects sounded perfect, but I also managed to secure a place at the University of Queensland, Australia. Anyway the Toulouse application fell through and all of a sudden I was booking a flight to Aussie land. Moving to the other side of the world sounded a little drastic, but here I am, and I\u2019m so happy with my decision.<\/p>\n
So in 2 days\u2019 time I\u2019ll have been here for 5 weeks! Time is going crazily fast and now I\u2019ve found a weekly routine I feel completely settled in. The campus is beautiful, I\u2019ve joined some societies and I\u2019m happy with where I\u2019m living! Before I moved here I contacted my Dad\u2019s relatives who live in Brisbane, just to say hi, it turned out him and his wife had a spare room and were more than happy for me to stay with them! I\u2019m living quite far away from Uni which is the only snag, it takes me an hour to commute but it means I get to take the ferry every day! In Brisbane the CityCat ferry service is very popular and is a great way to get around. Personally the novelty of travelling to Uni by boat every day still hasn\u2019t worn off, I sit outside on the deck in the sun with the wind whipping through my hair smiling to myself, definitely beats First buses!<\/p>\n
The project is pretty chilled as well, the days in the lab are long but we manage our own time and have a lot of independence. As \u2018occupational trainees\u2019 we are technically staff so we\u2019ve even got our own office! I enjoy the fact the project feels more like a job than Uni, after 5pm I can switch off and go home without feeling any guilt! It\u2019s also great because the weekends are 100% our own, so we\u2019re taking trips to different places and just generally having a great time. 2 weeks ago we visited the Gold Coast, we took the train for an hour south and spent a night in a backpacker\u2019s hostel \u2013 which is an experience by the way if you haven\u2019t stayed in one before. We had an amazing beach day, then after a game of beer pong and rage cage (if you don\u2019t know what that is you\u2019re missing out) we headed out. The Gold Coast has good nightlife for the record. Last weekend we went to Byron bay, which was also an awesome place. It\u2019s a lot less commercial than the Gold Coast but the beach is just as good, it\u2019s a popular backpacker\u2019s destination and has quite an alternative vibe - very cool. The highlight was trekking up to the lighthouse on 3 hours sleep to watch the sunrise from the most easterly point of Australia. Definitely make the effort to do things like that! It was a surreal experience and I\u2019ll never forget it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So the project continues, the work is interesting but days in the lab are tiring and take a lot of patience, but knowing that we\u2019ve got beach plans for the weekend makes it very easy to tolerate! Last semester was very challenging and stressful, so I\u2019m happy to say that I am having the time of my life right now, it\u2019s such a breath of fresh air.<\/p>\n
Reader, if you are considering travelling or going on exchange but aren\u2019t sure, I\u2019ll relieve you from your reservations\u2026 go! Even if you\u2019re anxious, even if the first few weeks are tough, I assure you you\u2019ll have the time of your life.<\/p>\n
![\"brisbane2\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/engdes-student-insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/128\/2017\/03\/brisbane2-300x169.jpg\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Author: Nicola Morris - When I first applied to study at Bath I knew I wanted to do my research project abroad, it\u2019s a rare opportunity for engineers that I knew I had to take! I originally wanted to go...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":956,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,35],"tags":[141,140],"class_list":["post-341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-department-of-chemical-engineering","category-undergraduate","tag-meng-research-project-overseas","tag-research-project"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/engdes-student-insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/engdes-student-insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/engdes-student-insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/engdes-student-insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/956"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/engdes-student-insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/engdes-student-insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/engdes-student-insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/engdes-student-insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/engdes-student-insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}