Why Australia?

People always ask me why I picked Australia to study abroad. To be honest, I was actually obsessed with going to Paris! I had my heart set on going to Paris since sophomore year in high school but when the time came to apply, I decided that the 4 years of high school French wasn't going to cut it in the real place. I decided to apply to Australia instead since I could always backpack Europe. Australia also had this image of wild kangaroos and koalas roaming everywhere and the weather being warm year round. I thought that I could be a beach bum and chill for the whole 5 months. To my surprise, and all the other American exchange student in Melbourne, there were no wild kangaroos in sight. Instead we found ourselves in the Center Business District surrounded by trams, trains, and men in suits! Studying in Australia wasn't what I expected it to be and coming from Orange County, I was more of a beach girl at home than I was in Melbourne, Australia.