Kasha Patel, Deacons Abroad marketing intern, writes:

Kasha snorkeling at Lady Elliot Island on the Great Barrier Reef

College checklist: get free stuff from activity fairs, visit every fraternity house, pull an all-nighter, and…visit Australia? I never thought I would have the chance to visit Australia so early in my life, but now, after coming back from my month-long trip, I can’t really imagine a better time or way to visit Down Under.

All the icons of Australia – the kangaroos, Aussie accents, Great Barrier Reef, and beautiful beaches – are definitely better than advertised. I am no stranger to traveling abroad so I can genuinely tell you, without the shock of being out of the country for the first time, that Australia is everything you imagined and more— wombats and all.

I spent one month in South Queensland this past summer taking a course titled “Ecology and Resource Management of Southeast Australia.” This course was great because it took me to places I wanted to see in Australia. We analyzed the four main environments of Australia: the city, rainforest, Great Barrier Reef, and the Outback. The lectures and labs (which included snorkeling on the GBR!) usually answered questions we all had anyways.

Kasha at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane

I am a rising senior at Wake Forest University with a chemistry major and journalism and biology minors. I am very excited to be a marketing intern for AUIP/Deacons Abroad, in hopes of sharing my great memories and making sure you get the opportunity to make your own memories, whether it is in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji or Antarctica.