I started my adventure on July 6th, 2018, flying out of O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois. I had a 12 hour flight to Tokyo, Japan, where I had about a 2 hour layover. During this layover, there was a moment where the entire airport started shaking for about 30 seconds. A woman next to me asked an airport attendant what had happened and he, very casually, said that we had just experienced an earthquake.
Then I took an 11 hour flight to Sydney, Australia, where I then had a 4.5 hour layover. Then, I flew into Adelaide, Australia, finally ending my abundance of flights on July 8th, 2018.

I came down the elevator and found the Flinders employee from the Meet-and-Greet I had set up online waiting for me. We went and got my bag and then walked to the car, where I went on the right side of the van. He asked me if I was going to drive. I was pretty embarrassed by that, especially since I repeatedly told myself to walk to the left side of the car. Amateur mistake, I suppose. He drove me to the house I was residing in and waited to leave until he met the woman I was staying with.

Fast forward to a couple weeks later when I went to the Cleland Wildlife Park and Mt. Lofty with the other exchange students -just a couple of the events offered by International Student Services. I got to hold a koala named Florence. That was pretty exciting. She decided to chew her eucalyptus right next to my ear when I was holding her-that was really cute. I fed multiple wallabies and an emu. I tried to feed the kangaroos, but they weren’t hungry. Little did they know, my food was the BEST, so they were really missing out.

Classes started the following day, July 23rd. In my first class, I had an American professor! I found it funny that I was 9,913 miles away and I still couldn’t escape it.

I went to a footy game (Port Adelaide vs. West Coast Eagles). Most of us were cheering for Port Adelaide (GO POWER!), but I’m not quite sure why. We knew nothing about footy, but we learned a lot during the game. I was definitely getting into it.
I’ve also been to Glenelg Beach a couple of times, along with a trip to Hallett Cove. It’s a beautiful coastal suburb Southwest of Adelaide. We saw the sun set over the St. Vincent Gulf-it was a beautiful sight.

I really miss home, but I’m just trying not to think about it. I’ve been given this amazing opportunity, and so I’m trying to take full advantage of it. I’m excited to explore more.

Hailey Jamann on semester exchange at Flinders University from Columbia College Chicago during Semester 2, 2018