Transportation Around the Gold Coast

February 23, 2017

Due to the fact that I live on campus, walking to classes has been incredibly easy. The campus, though relatively spread out in terms of the on campus housing, is very close together in terms of academic buildings which is very convenient. All of my classes are in buildings located right next to each other, and it only takes me about 5 minutes tops to get there from my dorm. (This has really come in handy when I’ve overslept and or underestimated how much time I have to hit snooze on my alarm).

In terms of transportation around the Gold Coast (where Bond University is located), or to any of the adventures on our bucket lists, transportation has been a bit of a struggle. There are public busses that run through the Gold Coast but it was very difficult to obtain a bus pass and the busses are incredibly unreliable and never come on time. This lead to us Uber’ing a lot of the time, contributing to a huge dip in our bank accounts. Though Uber was super time convenient, it was not super cost effective. Though I have now taken the bus a couple of times, after successfully securing a bus pass, we have now taken to renting cars on the weekend for about $60 a day so that we can go on our adventures. This has actually been a really good investment, because some of the trips we go to are 10s of kilometers away and would have cost us an arm and a leg in Uber. Transportation here reminds me a lot of Boston, actually in terms of the unreliability of the public transport, and the access to Uber. However, despite our transportation snafus, the adventures and places that we have been able to get to have been so worth it.

Claire Celestin

I am a premedical student interested in pursuing medical school after I obtain my undergraduate degree, and in my past few years at Northeastern University, it seems that I have gotten stuck in a routine of sorts. My days consisted of classes, volunteering, and studying in Snell library until I could not hold my eyes open anymore. Although all of this studying did allow me to maintain a high GPA, I have begun to feel trapped. Growing up, I had always dreamt of traveling, exploring, and immersing myself in different cultures and ways of living. I wanted to join the Peace Corps, build houses with Habitat for Humanity, and volunteer as a medical provider in impoverished countries. These are all things that I still want to do. My post graduate plans all point towards medical school and becoming a health care provider where I intend to serve not only those in the United States, but most importantly those areas where good doctors and health care are hard to come by. I believe that this study abroad opportunity will be a stepping stone into my future of world travel. I intend to take advantage of every opportunity that is presented to me while I am abroad. I will say yes to sky diving, snorkeling, and hiking into beautiful sunsets. In between all of that I will also try not to scream when facing Australia’s notorious gigantic spiders. I hope to travel around Australia every chance that I get, take surfing lessons, wake up in time for the sunrises on the Gold Coast, and still ace all of my exams. I intend to say yes to all of these experiences and more and upon my return I then want to share my experience with other students like myself. I want to show other students like me, who are afraid to push the rigid boundaries of pre medical studies that it is okay to take a break from the pressures that they have set upon themselves.