Wollongong, NSW, Australia

March 13th, 2018

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Hello! Back again, but this time I’m back with fun adventures, and not about school! I thought that I should offer balance for this blog by discussing my adventures of going out on the town, alcohol, and how to handle the balance of it all.

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So…the drinking age in Australia here is 18 and that took some getting used to since I just turned 21 and in the States, the drinking age is 21. Two of my roommates are 18-year-old Australians and it was super weird to be able to drink with them in our apartment and have SL’s (Australian version of RA’s) ask us where we're going to go party tonight. It was cool but very different from my experience in the states as an 18-year-old. I would say that there is still that culture of drinking a lot at Uni, but since most of the students here have had experience with alcohol prior to coming to college, they tend to have a better understanding of their limits.

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The bars here are really nice and a lot of fun! The big nights to go out on the town are Monday and Wednesday nights because the weekends are when more of the locals tend to go out. But Thursday nights are my favorite at The Illawarra Hotel because it’s retro night and they have really good music. Since drinks here can get pretty expensive, most people pre-game before they go out. A common pre-game drink is called “Goon” which is basically really cheap boxed wine. Also, O-Week is a great way to figure out which bars you like going to because it’s basically a week where every bar has specials and no cover for certain days that week.

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           The community also offers “party buses” on certain nights to help you get to and from the bars safely. Taxi’s and Uber's’ are also reasonably priced depending on the night. The BAC level to drive is 0.0 so know that there is no way to drink and drive legally in Australia, compared to the USA’s 0.08 BAC level.

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If you are planning on studying abroad, it is very important that you understand what your limits are and that you are going out with people whom you trust and will watch out for you. It’s also important to find a balance between school and going out. It is fun to go out, but you also have to keep in mind that you are here to study abroad. So just keep in mind that you must find that healthy balance (for your brain and body) of going to school and going out to bars at night.

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Look out for another post this week about my weekend adventures from the past three weeks!

 

Cheers,

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Wandering in Wollongong