Factual Storytelling Assignment

A Road Trip

8 people. 8 different lifes. 8 different stories. 8 different roads that meet and run parallel for a while.

I’m sitting in the backseat of a campervan, glimpses of the breathtaking scenery of a northern Queensland sunset flickering by in the windows; sitting next to people that I hadn’t even met 2 months ago. Yet I feel like I have known them for a very long time...

The bubbly, outgoing French girl; the sarcastic urban planning student from the US; the tanned, adventurous Norwegian boy; the cute but extremely blonde girl from Germany, her two male compatriots and the lanky Austrian guy who resembles that certain actor from Inglorious Basterds.

How did this motley crew and I, the quiet Swiss girl, end up in Australia, sharing our journey, our memories and our stories with each other? During our road trip I talked to some of my traveling buddies about their stories and in the process got to know them a lot better and got to hear some very surprising and sometimes deep insights.

Austrian Boy is sitting next to me in the car looking at the sunset. He tells me how he wanted to go on exchange to "pimp his CV", but also to make new experiences and grow more mature. He ended up in Australia because he had missed the application deadlines for exchange at all the possible northern hemisphere universities. Grinning, he admits that even though he ended up in Brisbane „by accident“ he loves being in Australia, and very much so. He was surprised by the openness and hospitality of Australians – in Europe, those two qualities are often seen as stereotypical Australian, and he personally has found them to be true. 

"I have learnt to appreciate my family more."

When I ask him about what he had learned since he has arrived in Australia he explains how he has come to appreciate his family and the good relationships they have, as well as their material wealth. He confesses to me that prior to going abroad and getting to know different environments and people he took these things for granted and now feels a little bad about his previous ingratitude.

The oldest of the group - a 28-year old business postgraduate student from Germany - admits that Australia had not been his first choice. He only ended up in Down Under because schools in the United States were too expensive for him. While he does like Australia, he sees his 3 semesters here as just a stage in a journey that will hopefully lead him to the US at some point. He tells me about the difficulties of meeting a lot of  new exchange students each semester but having to keep relationships superficial because they will be gone after a few months while he is staying longer. He misses more meaningful friendships and the time to really let people in.

"Australia is the country of regulations!"

What surprised him the most in Australia is that, while stereotypically, the people here are thought to be living a laid-back, relaxed lifestyle but he did not find reality to be like that – there are a lot of regulations and rules in Australia that, to him - even as a German - seem to be exaggerated and cumbersome.

However, the US-born postgraduate student of urban planning can not understand how someone would prefer the US to Australia. To him, Australia is a refuge from his home country which he left because he „realised how screwed“ it is and because the employment prospects are very poor and Australia offers a higher standard of living. 

"I came to Australia because I realised how screwed the US are."

He does not see himself going back to live in the US in the future - having grown up in the South (Virginia), he is very disappointed by a growing right-wing movement there and conservative mindsets in some of his compatriots. He has been in Australia for almost a year now and he feels like it has been a growing stage for him and that he learned a lot about himself and others, especially that it doesn't matter where someone is from - people are mostly the same when it comes down to basics.

I had gotten to know the French girl who had organised the trip as a loud, outgoing, bubbly and happy person, so when we sat down one night on deck of our sailing vessel in the Whitsundays, I was very surprised by the story she shared with me. She, too, had initially wanted to go on exchange in the US, but then decided in favour of Australia because she'd never been here before. She told me about how she loved Australia and how she learned to be self-confident here. "I had never been able to make new friends easily; mostly stuck to the same small group of people", she said, much to my surprise. Is this the same girl who had organised an enormous exchange student party with over 400 guests last month? The foreign environment in Australia with all its possibilities has given her the chance to open up and grow into a different person, for which she is very grateful.

"Australia taught me self-confidence and to just go for it."

However, she is a little disappointed by the feeling that somehow the Australian people "don't fit their country". She feels like Australians are English people, plonked into a very different landscape and nature and seem to be struggling with it. While this might sound strange to some Australians, she had hoped to find a people that feels more connected to its natural surroundings and its previous owners, the Aboriginal people.

Hearing other people's stories about "their" Australia made me reflect on my relationship with this country. My first time traveling to Australia was on a family holiday when I was just ten years old and I loved it, so much so that I went back 6 years later to go on a high school exchange. In the meantime, my dad had died and me and my family were facing a lot of troubles. Looking back I feel that that first exchange year to Australia really helped me learn more about myself, grow up and learn how to deal with such an enormous, painful loss and with the issues it brought with it. For this I am forever grateful and love Australia and its people. Therefore, when I got the chance to go on a study abroad semester at university, I did not hesitate one second before applying for Australian universities, and here I am!

Going to study and live abroad puts you in an entirely new and foreign environment. Your old friends and family are still there; but „there“ is not where you are right now. You get thrown into the deep end; and because every exchange student goes through similar experiences they are the people that you can bond with very easily and friendships form and blossom - even if they might be temporary since roads and lives will part and lead into different directions soon.

While not all roads may lead to Rome, it is a wonderful thing to meet people and share a part of your journey with them, making everyone's individual journey into a road trip with memories that will last a lifetime.