Remi: My name is Remi, I grew up in Brazil and now I live in Australia in a place that feels like paradise. 

I grew up in big cities, were [there are] big buildings of 16 to 20 stores, so really coming here and I saw this, for me it was unbelievable because it was just another reality. 

Being able to drive half an hour and go to waterfall and just spend the afternoon there swimming and watching the wildlife and that was really something amazing for me. 

This is Cairns in Queensland, Australia on the Great Barrier Reef. I think for me Cairns is peaceful because it's nice and quiet. It's also adventurous at the same time because you can do so many different things in the wild. 

I've always really been into diving. I thought the Great Barrier Reef would be the perfect place to go and visit, so I decided to come to Cairns. For six months as an exchange student, I came to Trinity Bay State High School. 

The education system is quite different, so I really enjoyed being able to pick the classes that I was more interested in, for example, I picked Marine Science, which ended up being awesome.

Bill Liddle: Hey Remi, how you doing, good to see you! 

Remi: Good to see you too. 

Bill Liddle: What's it like being back at Trinity Bay [State High School] after this time?

Remi: It's great to be back here, just to see all the classrooms reminds me of five years ago when I was in those classrooms.

Bill Lidde: Remi, was one of many international students that we get at the school, but Remi really stood out for me as well and I remember him being passionate about a Marine Science course. 

So Cairns is amazing because we have the rainforest which is World Heritage [listed] and ancient, but we also have the Reef, you know one of the seven great wonders of the world, and it's right on our doorstep. 

We do this wonderful mix of doing science in the real world, but when you take fifty students and they're from Germany, Italy, Brazil. China, Japan, they all come together and you give them those wow moments. It really is a once in a lifetime experience. 

Remi: There was actually quite a few excursions, so they did whitewater rafting. They went into the rainforest. The one I did was a trip to Orpheus Island with the Marine Science class. 

Being able to literally wake up in the morning, walk down the beach and on one side you'll have the mangroves with the baby sharks swimming around, and on the other side, you'll have the reef where you can just go and for a snorkel. It's almost overwhelming that feeling because sometimes you're in places that have such amazing natural wonders that you don't know where to look, because everywhere you look it's just something different; that's completely mind blowing. 

When I was on Orpheus Island and I had this experience, it was definitely one of the turning points that made me decide as soon as I graduated from high school, I was already coming back to Australia. And I decided to do JCU [James Cook University] because of that experience. 

I started off studying Marine Science, but after my first year I switched to Aqua Culture. 
At JCU in the aquaculture facility we have contact with animals like barramundi or the Queensland grouper which then going into the wild if I go fishing and catching the barramundi is a actually a feeling like completely unbelievable. It's a feeling of achievement that I managed to finally catch my first barra[mundi] and I was getting a little bit more Australian because of that. 

I think Australia is one of the safest countries you could be in. As soon as I arrived, I felt very welcome. My host family was very lovely and they made me feel at home. What I really enjoyed as well was the fact that they would take me out and visit places around. We went up to the table lamps using the railway. 

Up to Kuranda and then down with the Skyrail, we also went down to Mission Beach and that's where I started feeling that family feeling from them. 

Since I came back to Australia for university, I try and catch up with them as much as possible. We go out for dinners and have a great time together. I really still have that good relationship with them. 

Homestay Host Mother: What fish is that one? 

Remi: I think that once a dogtooth puffer fish.

Remi: It's good that even though I'm away from home, there is still that feeling of home here. 

I'd definitely say that being a student here, an international student in Australia has changed my life, a great feeling to be able to go somewhere and realize that that's what you want to do, and that's where you want to stay, so I'm pretty glad I ended up coming here because I found my true passion in my true career.