On the Road: A Pathway to Growth

A shot of other explorers on the road

As a study abroad student from the University of California, Los Angeles, I experienced my first Australian mid-semester break this past week. For some students, the break was filled with endless amounts of sleep and relaxation, while for others, it contained traveling to different countries in search of cultural shock and experience. But for me, the week long break was packed with adventure, bonding and personal growth.

It all started with the collaboration of the fantastic four: One Colombian, One Sweden, One Californian, and one from Washington State.

A picture of us in front of our Jucy van. From left to right: Cristal McClure, Juan Camilo Vargas, Simon Sundstrom and myself.

The unlikely formation of this diverse travel group added to the emergence of one’s self into new and exciting experiences that tested my courage and fed my bottomless appetite of wanderlust.

My mates and I rented a Jucy camper van and decided to drive down the coast from Brisbane back to Sydney. We had a rough estimate of a plan and decided to simply “wing it” in order to have a true college road trip experience. Juan and Simon flew to Brisbane on the morning of Sept 25th to collect the van while Cristal and I decided to leave later that evening in order to attend our tutorials (yes, we actually are good students!). Leaving that evening became our first mistake. Our second mistake was choosing to fly with Tigerair. The weather was stunningly beautiful with warm rays of sunshine and light gusts of refreshing winds...until a thunderstorm rained down on Sydney in all of its glory and might. Our flight was cancelled and the next available flight we could re-book took off Sept 28th. This minor setback provided Cristal and I with the opportunity to further explore Sydney and bond over homemade chocolate milkshakes (the sweetness cut the edge off of our bitterness).

During the afternoon of Sunday, Sept 28th, Cristal and I arrived in Brisbane after a short comfortable flight. Little to our knowledge, the adventure would begin the minute we stepped off the plane.
Below is a detailed schedule of our Australian road trip:

Sunday (Sept 28th): Grocery Shopping. Arrived at the Gold Coast and made last minute accommodation booking at a Camper-van Park. Went out and explored the night life at Gold Coast.

Monday (Sept 29th) & Tuesday (Sept 30th): Beach day at The Gold Coast - Surfers Paradise

Wind surfers taking advantage of the breeze at Surfers Paradise

Tuesday (Sept 30th): Traveled to Byron Bay and stayed at the Arts Factory Hostel. Made new back packing friends and attended a talent show.

The Arts Factory logo basically describes what the hostel is all about

Wednesday (Oct 1st): Drove to Nimbin to explore the town and then to Minyon Falls in the Nightcap National Park to have lunch with other mates we ran into on the road.

A picture of the crew at Nimbin

Thursday (Oct 2nd): Snorkeled with turtles at Byron Bay. Drove to the town of Yamba to explore and then to Coffs Harbour. We stayed the night in a sketchy parking lot.

Me snorkeling in the clear water

A close up photo of one of the turtles

Friday (Oct 3rd): Beach day at Sapphire Beach. Drove to Port Macquarie and stayed at a camper-van park.

A picture of Sapphire Beach

Saturday (Oct 4th): Traveled to Newcastle and rented out ATV’s to ride on the sand dunes. We spent the night in a parking lot right next to the ocean. Cristal and I found a small pub and danced to the live music, which encouraged the locals to get up and dance.

Cristal and I showing off our muscles on the heavy duty ATV's

Sunday (Oct 5th): Drove to Hunter Valley and participated in a “Cheers” tour which included a full day of wine tasting at four different wineries in addition to cheese/chocolate tasting and a delicious lunch.

A picture of us at a winery in Hunter Valley

The expedition turned into a bank of memories that only the four of us would be able to fully share and withdrawal no matter how hard we tried to narrate the trip to friends and family. The destination was simply the journey itself. Seeing Australian nature from a ground perspective and feeling the heartbeat of land and ocean match the pulse of my own was nothing less of intimately beautiful.

Growth came in many different forms.

Time stopped as I looked deep into the eyes of a magnificent turtle, feeling my body surrounded by cool ocean, water rushing in my ears, hearing nothing but the splash of the sea current. I felt limitless. The experience reminded me of why we must keep on fighting the grand fight to protect our ocean’s biodiversity.

Driving in Australia tested my ability to learn and abide law. Putting myself in a stressful situation with lives in my hands helped me grow as a responsible adult.

My heart beat fast as I rode along the sand dunes at top speed with the wind and sand blowing through my blonde hair. I learned how to trust myself and my own abilities.

Trying the taste of sweet and bitter wines for the first time expanded my horizons to new cultures and new perspectives from wine connoisseurs.

May it be a road trip, studying abroad for the first time or opening your heart to new and exciting experiences, maturity is the goal and growth is the progressive side effect.

Jennifer Crane
Current student at the University of Sydney and Marketing & Communications Intern at the University of Sydney Business School 

Beyond Borders

Australian: “How you going?”
American: “Are you asking where I am going?”

These minor colloquial differences such as the usage of words like: ‘mate’ ‘keen’ ‘heaps’ ‘uni’ ‘flatmates’ 'jumper' and ‘doona’ add to a gnarley cultural clash between the United States and Australia.

My name is Jennifer Crane and I am a third-year communication studies major and environmental systems and society minor from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).  I have received the privilege to study abroad here at the University of Sydney for one semester, and I couldn’t be more excited!

So far, my adventures in Australia have given me more than I could have ever dreamed. I have made heaps of new mates (to use the Aussie lingo), that I can already tell will be lifelong friends of mine.

The Australians I have met have been nothing but kind and helpful. I still cannot believe the amount of information Australians are willing to share with me, however ignorant my questions about Aussie culture may be.

Every weekend spent in this magnificent country has been eventful and daring. I have tried to keep active, may it be venturing out to a national park for some hiking, surfing at 7 Mile Beach, or just going out to pubs with friends. *Future plans include snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef, hiking and skydiving in New Zealand and a road trip along the coast with mates.

In addition, I have been exploring Australia’s natural beauty with my mates in the class “Learning in Outdoor Education.” During these last couple weeks we received the opportunity to venture out to the Royal National Park and the Blue Mountains for a three day hike. The experience was absolutely incredible, and as such, led to a lot of self-reflection of my own life and personal growth.

A couple of mates and I taking a break along a river bed in the Blue Mountains

My time spent at the University of Sydney has proven to be significantly different than my home university in terms of the academics. I have found the work here to be structured differently than what I am normally used to. Although there are less assignments due, they are graded a lot more heavily compared to having more assignments with a different grading scale. The study vacations, woven into the semester, have proved to be beneficial. I am able to explore Australia and recharge so as to prepare myself for a focused and productive time at Uni.

At UCLA, our quarters are composed of 10 weeks and are very stressful. We usually always have some sort of exam or essay due every week throughout the quarter since it is relatively short. Unlike the University of Sydney, we do not have as many study vacations (which I wish we did!).

I have found the “tutes” (tutorials) to be much like my discussions back home minus the classroom presentations. The tutorials are definitely helpful and a great way to receive clarification on lectures and facilitate debate about relevant topics to the course.

Although my time is short, there’s one lesson I have learned from it all.

With an open heart and an open mind, we may find comfort in knowing there's always a silver lining of human kindess and compassion that runs far beyond borders.

A panorama view of the Blue Mountains as I self-reflect on my time in Australia

Jennifer Crane
Current student at the University of Sydney and Marketing & Communications Intern at the University of Sydney Business School

What do employers look for?

Good Answers To A Difficult Question

CPA Australia’s involvement with the Master of Management program has turned out to be a fantastic opportunity to tap the insights of some newly emerging corporate talent.

Keen to involve a group of course students with a key issue we’re currently contending with, we commenced our association by steering them onto some opportunities with our tertiary market. Essentially, we wanted them to tell us how we could show students who are just about to finish their university studies the benefits of moving straight into a CPA program. How could we go about increasing those particular numbers? How could we have more of an impact on that particular demographic?

Over the course of six-weeks we had five students sitting in our offices two-days-a-week. It was almost like an internship. We gave them access to specific material, office facilities, and the expertise of our staff, their task being to analyse the available data and come up with some recommendations. That’s a hard call at the best of times, but they were fantastic, quickly getting to the crux of the question and getting the project done.

Their final presentation was highly impressive and I can honestly say they’ve left CPA Australia with something tangible to consider. One of the ideas to emerge was so good, we may put it to our Executive Team for consideration.

Based on our experiences, I think it’s fair to say that the Master of Management program shapes as a great recruitment tool for companies looking to establish a relationship with course students. It’s an ideal means of accessing a rich talent pool and observing how well potential recruits function in a practical business environment. I’d have no qualms recommending an involvement.

Author: Archie Petsas, Employer Relationships Manager at CPA Australia