Aiia Maasarwe had just moved to Australia and was ensuring she made the most of each moment.
In just a few short months, the 21-year-old traveller had hiked in the Grampians, tried Vegemite, done road trips across the state, visited Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance, and even braved tandem sky-diving over the Great Ocean Road.
“Best decision I’ve ever made,” she wrote on Instagram, with a video showing her huge smile and laughter as she experienced the exhilarating drop.
In a tragedy which has rocked her family, her community back in Israel, and those who had crossed paths with the vibrant La Trobe university student in Australia, Ms Maasarwe’s body was found on Wednesday morning in a patch of grass outside a shopping centre.
Police have described her murder as “horrendous” and “horrific” and are searching for the killer. She was seriously assaulted before the murder, which occurred after she got off the tram on her way home from a comedy gig.
Family and friends have since paid tribute to the positive, adventurous young woman.
Ms Maasarwe had been studying Chinese and English at Shanghai University, and had spent the past six months in Melbourne on a study abroad program at La Trobe University.
She was originally from Baqa al-Gharbiyye, a predominantly Arab city in the Haifa district in northern Israel, but had been living with one of her sisters in China, while studying there, before coming to Melbourne.
Read the article by Simone Fox Koob & Nicole Precel in The Age.