Grades

ABST: Indigenous People and the Environment: 85; High Distinction, American Equivalent: A
MACS: Australian Content: Media, Narrative, and Celebrity: 76, Distinction, American Equivalent: A
HIST: Australians and the Great War: 76; Distinction, American Equivalent: A

First session of all A's! I get a total of 16 credits for this session, so with all A's this should help out my GPA a lot. I would say, I got pretty damn good marks considering all the fun I had!

That's all, folks

Ok, so I’m sitting in the airport waiting to board my plane – I have an hour as I’m writing this. In reality it will go up when I get home as a final post. I want to just take some time to reflect on my experience in Australia. (As you can tell, I wrote this while I was still in Oz - I've made it home safely now)

For starters, this is the longest amount of time that I have been away from home, ever. And while it’s true that it’s easy to talk to people via google chat and skype (at times, if my internet were a little better) and then even on the phone occasionally, there is nothing quite like seeing people face to face when you talk to them. I’m really excited for that and to be able to hug my family and just be in the same place as them. I can’t wait to see my dogs and cats and walk around my house. And of course, my friends, some of whom I’ve learned are really amazing – those friends who did all sorts of things to stay in touch with me. I can’t thank them enough, because even though I lived in paradise, I would still become sad from time to time and there are about 5 friends from home who were always there to help me.

I’m excited to eat all those foods that I’ve missed so much – mostly Mexican and good home cooking. I’m happy that I will be able to sit down in my kitchen and make whatever food I want. While here, I’ve expanded my food choices, at least by a little bit. First of all, I will miss sweet chilli sauce like no one could believe. I’ve brought a bottle of it back, but who knows how long that will last for. I ate veal here and realized I have no problem with it. And guess what?! I like fish now too! I had it for dinner the other night, even though some of the other options looked good. Of course, there is the fact that I now eat milk in my cereal, something I hadn’t done since…well, since as far back as I can remember.

I’m really going to miss all my friends that I made here, all the Americans and the Australians. I know I can’t go back to what we all shared this semester and that when I see them all again, it will be different. But at the same time, I don’t care. These are some super awesome people that I’m sad I couldn’t spend more time with. My little group consisted of Caitlin, Steph, Gavin, Scott, and Steve and I know that without them all my semester would not have been anywhere near as amazing as it was.

I don’t know for sure if I’ve learned a lot about myself so much. I think that perhaps it has been more gradual, so I can’t say one way or the other definitively. But I know more about myself and how I’m most likely to act in a situation, whether for good or for bad. I remember being so anxious about going to a foreign country not knowing anyone else that was going to be here with me, but now I’m pretty confident in my ability to make friends in a new place. I’m really not too worried anymore. That actually applies to my life in general – the ‘no worries’ attitude has its benefits. You think about how much whatever has just happened will really affect you and you realize that maybe you should just let it go. I don’t feel very different, but I know I was completely affected by everything that happened here down under and I’m better off because of all of it.

I don’t know for sure if I can point to one experience that I enjoyed the most. I loved it everywhere I travelled to – Cairns, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, and of course New Zealand (which is now my desktop background). But I also loved going to the beach and just relaxing with friends. I loved living at I-House and being surrounded by heaps of nationalities and learning about all of them. Most Thursday nights we would have movie nights and I enjoyed them too. Down to the very most basic things, I loved because it was a new experience and it was always with great people.

I will love Australia with all my heart for the rest of my life. I loved every second of every minute that I was here and I can’t say that I regret a single thing (except perhaps not bungee jumping…I’ll just have to do it another time). All I know is that I’m extraordinarily lucky to have had this opportunity to have such a great experience and meet such great people.

Last Full Week in Oz

Well, the last week was basically filled with a lot of time spent with friends. There are now only a few things left that I want to do while I'm here and I've already been scheming on how I'll be able to do them.

So, what did I do all this past week? Let's start with Sunday.

Well, hashbrowns for breakfast at I-House! Always a big deal - they go perfectly with sweet chili sauce. While at breakfast, me and some friends (Steph, Naomi, and Fiore) decided to head to Kiama again. If you don't remember, that's the town that I consider to be absolutely gorgeous. Anyway, it was a bit stormier so not only did we get to see the blowhole blowing (we all learned how to tell if it was going to be a big 'geyser' - basically it's by the sound and how 'full' the hole looks) but we saw some pretty awesome waves crashing against rocks. I took a lot of pictures. We wandered around the town for a bit (we looked at a market that was closing up and we attempted to climb this huge tree) and then our Australian friend Fiore told us that in order to really experience Australia, we would have to order hot chips (fries) and eat them while looking out over the ocean. And that is exactly what we did. It was so quaint and encapsulated so much of what I'm going to miss about Australia. As it was getting dark, we drove up a mountain that overlooked Kiama and some of the surrounding towns. Because the storm was coming in, there was a lot of lightning out on the ocean so Fiore took pictures of it for us. Then Naomi and I slow danced to our version of Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing." It was a fantastic night.

Monday was the day of everyone's last exam (except mine was a week earlier) so we went to the UniBar to have a celebratory drink, then came back to I-House and decided to have a water fight. Caitlin and I filled up about 75 water balloons and decided to ambush our friends Steve and Scott as they were walking back from their exams. Well, it didn't go exactly as planned and ended up more like this: Steph, Andrew, Caitlin and Lisa are crouching by some bushes behind I-House while Gavin tricks Steve and Scott into coming out back. From there, things got wet. I realized from all this, I have terrible aim. Just awful. After everyone was a bit drier, we had a mini party in our room to celebrate being done completely with school in Australia. It was a great night filled with friends, good conversation, and perhaps a little bit of beer.

Tuesday was a gorgeous day, no clouds in the sky and it was warm as well so of course we made a beach trip. I played some rugby on the beach, played in the water, and sat on a couch made of sand. When we got back, Caitlin and I decided we should get some thai food - it is apparently better in Australia because they have more thai people. I got a Fresh Chili stir fry with beef and it was super delicious! Later that night we watched a movie called "The Castle." It is considered a classic Australian movie and we all found it quite hilarious. I have a copy on my computer so I'll try to share it around.

Wednesday we went to do some last minute souvenir shopping as well as attempt to find a place to get our ears pierced. The ear piercing didn't happen because it would have cost $80 and none of us have that kind of money! We did eat kebabs though, which is another dish we had to try while being in Australia. Also delicious, but I liked the thai better. Later that night was our last Wednesday night out in the Gong and we made the most of it.

Thursday was kind of a lazier day - we had to recover from the night before! Regardless, we went and took some pictures of uni and then later that night Steve took Gavin, Steph, Scott, Caitlin and me out to dinner (in reality it was his parents' treat). We went to a delicious Italian restaurant and enjoyed some of our last moments together.

Friday Caitlin and I finally made baked mac and cheese for everyone! Our craving for it started a long long time ago but it took us a while to get around to buying the ingredients. After searching for pots and pans and what not else, we started. We were especially worried about tempering the egg but we managed okay and didn't mess anything up. The mac and cheese turned out absolutely delicious (not as good as Dad makes it, but still) and everyone loved it. Later that night, we went out again because we had free drink vouchers and wanted to put them to good use. It was a fantastic night out - our last night out all together. After we left the bar, we wandered past the lighthouse, harbour, a cliff wall (we sat on it and looked out at the ocean for a bit), and then onto the beach. I think we made it back home at 4 am, but it was totally worth every second.

Today was a bit more depressing than the entire week was. We all knew this day was going to come, but as much as you try to prepare yourself for your friends leaving, it always hurts. Especially because we have all grown so close in our time here; we shared one of the best experiences ever and there's no getting around how much you come to depend on the people here. Friends from home weren't really accessible so you no longer have them as a back up for anything. It's difficult to explain. Caitlin left this morning a little after 10:30 and Gavin left a few hours after that. With Caitlin, I know I'll see her again - she goes to UConn and her family is making a Rehobeth Beach trip at some point this summer. Gavin though, he's Australian and that makes things tricky. In order to keep my mind occupied, I spent the day packing - here's to hoping that all my bags are underweight!

DONE!!

Well, this is just such an awesome feeling that I can't contain it!

Today, I took my final (it was pretty easy, I was never searching for an answer), got back my history paper (I got an A) and turned in my last assignment (um...that one might not go so well, but I don't really care!).

I am officially done with school in Australia which means I am now a senior in college! By this time next year, I will (hopefully) have a diploma!!

I celebrated this joyous moment by going out and having a victory beer with some friends at the local pub. Good times, all around.

But now the question remains: What to do with all my free time?

Legitimate Sydney Trip

So I've actually been to Sydney to do a few things before: I went for Mardi Gras, to the Aquarium, and on a Harbor Cruise. But I had yet to really do the touristy things, so that was my goal for today.

I woke up at 745, got breakfast, and headed to the train, just in time to miss the train by about 90 seconds. It was fine though, there was another one coming in an hour, so I went back to my dorm and made a breakfast sandwich, attempted to make my internet work (hence why I missed the train - I guessed at what time it was gonna be there), did some studying and then caught the 9:22 train. I arrived in Sydney at 11ish, after spending most of my time on the train sleeping.

Now, I had a rough idea of what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go and for the most part I was getting to these areas based off what I had remembered from previous trips. My first stop was Paddy's Markets where I got the rest of my gift shopping done for everyone (yay presents!). After spending an hour or so walking around in there, I walked over to the Powerhouse Museum, which had lots of interactive exhibits. One, I 'made' fireworks which ended up exploding on the ground (it was a film), another one I turned a handle to 'produce' electricity to light up a house...I only made it to the third floor, after that I couldn't turn the handle consistently enough to light up the top floor. I also 'made' video of myself from a cut out picture, took a test to determine what area my intelligence is in (intrapersonal) and walked in a space station simulation (I got dizzy and kept trying to align myself with the walls that kept moving - I was walking around slanted!). I spent a good two hours in the museum and didn't see all that the museum had to offer - really I was just on the bottom floor.

I left the museum, ate my packed lunch (I fed some to the birds), and walked to one of the only other areas of Sydney that I know 'well': Darling Harbour. There is an information center there and I figured they might be able to help me out with finding where and how to get to a couple of other destinations. The guy at the information desk was really helpful and figured everything out for me and while I was in there I saw a pamphlet for the Australian Museum, noticed it was right along the way of where I would be going and decided to go there too.

I walked to Hyde Park, which has Sydney's ANZAC War Memorial. It is under construction so I wasn't able to go inside, but I still got some cool pictures of it. I haven't mentioned, but it was an absolutely beautiful day in Sydney today - I'm not sure of the temperature, but it felt like low-60s and it was mostly sunny. It made walking all over the city very pleasant!

I really enjoyed the Australian Museum, although my Frommer's Travel book says that it's nothing too spectacular. The exhibitions I visited are: Skeletons, Planet of Minerals, Dinosaurs, Birds and Insects, and Surviving Australia. The skeletons exhibition was really cool because they had a stationary bike that you could ride and then they had a skeleton on a stationary bike behind glass that moved as you moved. I especially liked seeing how the kneecap moved...can you guess why? ;) The dinosaurs exhibit was cool too - I'm pretty sure I haven't really ever seen one recently so it was definitely enjoyable - I learned, among other things, that carnivorous dinosaurs only made up about 1% of all the dinosaur population. Surviving Australia had two parts to it - one was about all the animals that were going extinct or had gone extinct and another was about the dangerous animals that live in Australia. Did you know that about 120,000 Australians die each year, but the amount that die from snakes, spiders, sharks, etc, can usually be counted on one hand? Why does everyone make Australia out to be such a dangerous place then, I wonder? I figure it's just because they have the most dangerous species.

I left the museum and headed back through Hyde Park, this time on a different side, and saw a garden dedicated to King George V and King George VI. It was very quaint. Then, I caught a ride on a bus to Bondi Beach, the most famous beach in Australia (I think that's its claim to fame). If I had had more time, I would have liked to have walked along this coastal path that they have that takes you from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach and apparently is just gorgeous, but I was running out of sunlight and didn't want to walk the path in the dark and not be able to take pictures. I got some pretty pictures of the beach, the surfers, and the sky and then headed back to the city. What I realized though was that Sydney is HUGE! I mean like, I understand most cities are, but every part that the bus drove through was developed and there were lots of people around. I like it though; although Wollongong is the ninth largest city in Australia, it doesn't really have a lot going on.

After I got back to the city center area, I walked to buy dinner at a place called Harry's Cafe de Wheels. Dad actually suggested I go check it out. If you look at the menu on that site, the pie that I got was the Tiger. Potentially because I love tigers so much, but also because the toppings seemed pretty good. So, it's a beef meat pie with a scoop of mashed potatoes, peas, and gravy and they stick a fork in it. I ate it by dipping the fork way down so that I would get a bite of gravy, peas, potatoes, and beef. It was delicious, especially for someone who had been walking around all day and because it had gotten a bit chilly as the sun went down. It wasn't anything too spectacular, but the place is open until 4 am so I think it's probably really good as a drunk food.

From there, I did some creative walking around to make it to the Sydney Opera House, which because of this Vivid event that Sydney was doing had artwork displayed on it. I stayed for two rounds and then decided that I was cold and that I would like to get back to Wollongong at a decent hour. Regardless, it was still beautiful and the Harbour lit up at night is really pretty too (I was a little incapacitated for my Harbour Cruise and didn't have the chance to appreciate how pretty it was then...).

I guess I should say, in case you haven't figured it out, that I did this trip all by myself. It was really nice actually, to be free from worrying about what other people want to do or if they're questioning what you are doing. For example, today, some of the routes I took to get places I just guessed on based off my map. Sometimes I was like, well, this seems right, so I'll just keep walking to see if I get anywhere that is correct. It all worked out for me, but I know that others might not have been as comfortable just going with the flow. It was also cool that I was able to just decide what I wanted to do as it came up - the Australian Museum wasn't even on my list of things to do and I ended up cutting out an Art Museum so I could see Bondi. I really enjoyed the freedom and it gave me time to just relax as I walked along. I've also decided that I like Sydney and I definitely could spend more time there wandering around. In fact, as I was attempting to find places, I would find museums/buildings that had I had more time, I definitely would have checked out, like the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the State Building, and the Botanical Gardens. I basically just walked by these places and thought to myself, damn, I should have allotted time for that.

I got back to Wollongong at 930, making it about a 13 hour day overall. Totally worth it, although I wish I had more time...maybe I'll just have to go back! Anyway, I have a little bit more studying to do for my final and two more components to my reflective essay and then I'm done! My essay is due online Monday at 10 pm, so Monday 8 am your time I will be officially done with school! Sweeeet...now for the weather to just warm up and stop raining so I can spend the rest of my days at the beach!

Home Stretch..

I really don't have much to report right now but I figured it's been 10 days since I last posted and I should at least put an update in.

I turned in my last paper on Tuesday; now I only have two bits of schoolwork left. I have to write a 1000 word reflective essay and take my history final. I've started working on the reflective essay, but I don't expect either it or the final to be anything too complicated. My final is a whopping 3 questions, one of which I already know (Assess the film Gallipoli as an interpretation of Australia during World War One). Basically, school is almost over for real this time!! Most likely, by the next time I write, I will be completely done.

So what am I doing with my time? Sleeping, mostly. I've been doing some reading and some movie watching too. Caitlin and Steph are in New Zealand right now so I can't bother them - not that I would be able to, they both have legitimate finals that they're going to have to study for.

Tomorrow and Sunday I'm going to attempt to go to the beach - the Pacific is lovely no matter what time of year, I've decided. We went to the beach last Saturday and played in the water. The tide was really low so we walked out really really far and it was still only up to our knees. Because it was warmer in the water than standing in the air, we laid down in the water and would push ourselves up when the waves came. It was a lot of fun. Also, because it had been raining and storming for about a week and a half prior to us showing up, there were some awesome shells. My quest to find a shark tooth is probably never going to be realized, but I have found quite a lot of awesome shells.

Now that the semester is winding down, there is a lot of talk about going home. The earliest that I know of someone going home is my friend Alyssa - she's leaving 16 June because she has to start summer school. There are a ton of people going home in mid-July. I love Australia and I definitely want to come back, but I miss home a lot. I've pretty much planned out everything about my return trip home (I have my outfit picked out, a ride to the airport, and I've imagined what it's going to be like to see my little sister (and rest of my family :D) and Bella after so long away). I'm sure that once I get closer to the point of actually leaving, I'll be a little more reluctant, but I'm ready to see everyone once again. I've made some good friends here, but I think that I've always realized that this was a temporary thing, so I haven't invested myself too hardcore in anything.

One of my Australian friends asked me if I was ever going to come back to Australia, and my answer was "OF COURSE!" I love the attitude everyone has here - when you're here, your motto automatically just becomes 'no worries'. It's a great way to live and I'm way more relaxed here than I probably have ever been at home (except for maybe when I was like, 5 or something), but I realize that I'm going to have to return to the real world and be all mature. It's likely to be a bit of a shock, but I'm sure I'll adjust. I'm sure that I'll end up reflecting more closer to the time of when I leave, but right now I haven't got much of anything else to do.

On another note, right now it's Study Break so we've had this entire week off. Everyone I know is hardcore studying for maths and other engineering exams, and I just sleep til 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Here I'm classified as being in the "arts" school (not creative arts), which has a reputation for not being a legitimate major. I don't suppose the fact that I don't have to work very hard helps that stereotype. I tell everyone that back home, my major is totally legitimate and I would usually be working just as hard as all of them come finals, but here my classes aren't as intense. Oh well, I love my major regardless of what anyone says.

I want to try to do a few more things with my time here in Australia - I have yet to do all the touristy things in Sydney, so I'll make an effort to do those (I'm thinking in between my beach days) soon. I also want to attempt to hike Mt. Kiera, one of the mountains right behind uni. There are also lighthouses here that I want to go look at and a few parks too. Unfortunately, it's supposed to rain all next week, which is not very conducive to me doing anything outside.

We'll see how things turn out.

Oh, I forgot! I did something really productive with about half an hour or so of my time yesterday. A long time ago, I was out at the beach one night with some friends playing in the water and I found a shell that had a part of it that I'm assuming was...eroded...by the ocean, which made it perfect for a pendant! So I made a pretty necklace of it. Maybe I'll add that to my outfit for returning home...

Nation's Capital!

No, sillies, not Washington D.C, but Canberra!! This past weekend, Caitlin, Steph and I visited Australia's Capital Territory to check out what was all about. Canberra did remind me a lot of DC though, so I was a little more homesick than usual.

We left Friday morning on a bus that was similar to a Greyhound bus. Our other options for getting to Canberra would have been to fly or take a train, but for either of those, we would have had to get to Sydney first. The bus picked us up in Wollongong city, just one train stop down. It was a three hour bus ride, so we napped for the most part. The times when I was awake though, I was able to check out more of Australia's land and sky scape. I decided that I could totally see dinosaurs roaming around in Australia, even right now. It was a strange thought. Because it was a cloudy day, I saw a really pretty sun-cloud thing - the sun would go behind a cloud, and I guess because the cloud was thinner/filled with water, it created a rainbow effect around the edges of the cloud. It was absolutely gorgeous and I wished I had remembered my camera (yup, I'm the tool that forgot my camera...totally wasn't thinking!) so that I could have gotten a snap of it. Oh well - I at least will always remember it.

We arrive in Canberra and walk to our hostel. We were in a 10 person mixed room (the cheapest option). By the time we freshen up and eat our lunches, we have to get a cab to the National Zoo and Aquarium. For the most part, that was the only option for getting to and from the National Zoo. The zoo is privately owned and is about a 5 minute drive out of the city, but it would have been impossible to walk to because walking on the freeway just doesn't seem like a good idea.

So why did I go to the zoo?! For the Zooventure tour! We got a behind the scene look at animals, and the coolest part was that we got to feed them! The tour started off with the European brown bear, which apparently is the smallest of the brown bears. Regardless, it was still huge, and to see it lumbering towards you was a little bit frightening, despite the fence in between us. The zookeeper/our tour guide Leigh put some honey/wheatbix/apple mixture on our hands and the bear licked it off. The bear was quite adorable - as it was licking my hand, it would close its eyes. Precious! Bears are Steph's favorite animals, so she was pretty psyched to have one lick food off her hand.

After the bear, we made our way over to my favorite animal, the tiger!! We fed the smallest tiger of the tigers, a Sumatran Tiger. They had a Bengal tiger, but it was his starve day so we couldn't feed him. Because tigers don't eat every day in the wild, the zoo tries to replicate that and so two random days during the week they don't feed the tigers. Anyway, we fed the tiger cow heart, but not with our hands - it was instead just with a pair of tongs. The cool thing was that you could put the meat up high and watch the tiger jump up and attach himself to the fence to eat at it. Absolutely gorgeous animals, and he was so strong too! I would say that I want a tiger, but I respect them too much to ever want to take one out of it's native environment. I did see a show once where they took baby big cats to this one family and the family helped them grow up. I would do that, for sure.

Ok, moving on. Other animals that we fed: otters (we flung fish at them, which they then grabbed and ran off to their pool to clean), giraffes (when you see them up close, they are very strange looking animals indeed), cougars (you could see the muscles bunching up under their skin when they walked around), elands (basically like a big gazelle - their horns were super scary too), and six white lions. These lions are white because of a mutation - it's a recessive gene, much like how blue eyes and blonde hair is for humans. The white lion has gone extinct in the wild - the last one to be seen was spotted in 1994 I think it was. Anyway, this zoo had a whole pride of them - six male white lions. At first, only one came over to be fed, but then the rest of them showed up. Ok, so, picture SIX huge lions all competing against one another to get a piece of meat. It got kind of intense at some points when they would start pushing/shoving one another out of the way and would start roaring at one another. Granted, we didn't get a full on roar, but there were definitely some little half roars. Now, picture all that happening with only a fence separating you from the lions. Gorgeous animals, but knowing that all of them could probably find a way to bust out and kill you is a little intimidating. When we were done feeding them, they all just stayed by the fence, all lined up. It was a picture perfect moment, which of course would happen when I don't have my camera. Steph and Caitlin got it though, so as soon as I have their pictures I'll share with you all.

We also had encounters with two other animals. The zoo had two dingoes, so Leigh put them on leashes and brought them out to us so we could pet them. They're basically like dogs, except they're a little more devious. It made me miss Bella even more than I already do! The last animal we got to hold - a snake! I thought it was the coolest thing ever and have already decided to own a snake some day. Some of the other people in the group didn't enjoy it as much, but Leigh said this was the first group in about six months where everyone had actually allowed the snake to go around their neck. After washing our hands, we left the zoo. All in all, it was a really cool experience - I doubt I'll ever get that close to these types of animals again my life. I guess that's kinda sad to think about, actually.

We catch a cab back to the city and go to an Irish pub called King O'Malley's for dinner, then head on back to the hostel to figure out what we want to do. Luckily for us, we walk by the Canberra Centre - a HUGE shopping mall. We spent about two and a half hours in it Friday night and then more time on Saturday and still didn't see all of it. In Wollongong city, there is a mall, but it is small and not really legitimate, so this was an exciting change. I got a shirt with a tiger on it and a really cheap pair of boots ($20). Friday nights the mall stays open late, so we were there until 930 or so. We then actually make it back to the hostel and try to decide what we want to do in the coming days. Because we were all pretty exhausted, we go to sleep around 10 (or at least got ready for bed until 10 - I went and watched some poker and talked to some kid from Western Australia who had broken both his wrists and feet in a motorcycle accident and so was going to have to have his right wrist fused straight because of cartilage damage, so he was doing a snowboarding tour of Japan/Australia as a last hurrah).

Although we had intended to wake up at 930, we actually slept until 1130 or so. It was okay though, because we discovered a flyer in our room for an 'explorer bus' which means we could hit up a lot of the historical sites Sunday and not worry about how to get around to all of them. So, we go into the mall again to look at opals, shop around a bit more, and Steph and Caitlin got haircuts. I've actually needed my ends trimmed really badly, but then one night last week I got really sick of them and just cut them off myself. We left the mall to go to a place called the Gorman Markets, which was a little arts market. Very quaint, and one of the men selling stuff there told us some funny stories about America and the US. First though, he thought we were Canadian because I was wearing my Canada hat. I was actually mistaken for Canadian a couple of times because of the hat, but it's no big deal to me - I love Canada! Anyway, he told us that when America coughs, Australia gets pneumonia, meaning that whatever happens to America hits Australia worse. He also said that America practically owns Australia, ever since WW2. He told us a few other stories about his times in America, but I liked that he was practical about it. He wasn't angry at America for the fact that we 'owned' Australia, he was just realistic about it. Here is a joke he told us:
Two American men decide to go on a tour of the world to survey men on what the sex life is like for men all over the globe. They're about to head back to America when they realize that they've forgotten Australia. They get there and realize that they're going to have to stay for a while because of how big it is, so they rent an apartment on Bondi Beach in Sydney (Bondi is Australia's most famous beach). They go out the next day and see what looks like the typical Australian - chiseled body, gorgeous tan, and wearing a speedo. They go up to him and say, "Hi, we're conducting a survey - about how many times do you have sex?" And the Aussie says, "About twice a month." The Americans are amazed by this - they say "Only twice a month?! The Peruvian sheep herders have more than that!" The Australian shrugs and says, "Hm, I don't think it's too bad for a Catholic priest with no car."
Interesting, eh?

We return from the market and walk back to our hostel to drop off our spoils, then walk out to Regatta Point. There is a lake that cuts Canberra in half and this was just one point where you could see all around it as well as a bunch of museums/important places. It was a pretty sight, but I think that the cold kind of diminished how cool it could have been. There is also a Captain Cook Memorial Water Jet (Cook 'discovered' Australia) that shoots water 90 meters up in the air, but it was turned off for maintenance. So, we walk back to the hostel and plan out what we want to do for the night. We had about an hour to kill before we had to go out for dinner, so we put on our bathing suits and headed down to the pool, hot tub, and sauna that is in the basement of our hostel. It was so relaxing!! Definitely a good break for all three of us - we had all had really stressful weeks last week. We get ready to go out and then go to dinner a Wagamama's a Japanese restaurant. After a delicious meal (and because it was Japanese, it filled us up but didn't make us feel gross) we go out and sample some of Canberra's nightlife. When we told people we were going to Canberra, they were like, ew, why would you go there, there's nothing to do! We did not find this to be the case though - it was so much fun! We went to four different bars and had a great night.

We woke up the next morning to check out of the hostel and go on our Explorer Bus tour. Although it wasn't going to give us a lot of time at each spot, it was still worth it to us because it provided a source of transportation, and getting around Canberra was kind of confusing unless you were walking or catching a cab. Our first stop was the War Memorial, which is the most visited museum in Australia. It is a stunning memorial - it has the names of every Australian who had been killed in war, as well as every theatre of war/peacekeeping in which Australia had participated. Underneath the memorial is the museum, of which we saw two exhibits. I really wanted to see the World War 1 section because that's what I've been learning about for the past 12 weeks of uni. I liked that I got to see some tangible artifacts from the time period to add to my knowledge. I felt a bit like a historian even - Steph would ask me questions about the war and I would be able to rattle off the answer. So for anyone out there who doesn't think I've been doing work here and just playing, you can test me by asking me about the Great War and Australia. We also visited the A is for Animal exhibit - I think it's supposed to be more geared towards children, but we figured it would be interesting nonetheless. And it was - did you know they used koalas and kangaroos as mascots in wars, as well as any other animal that they found and didn't use for eating? If I ever go to war, I would want an animal companion as well.

Our next stop was Parliament. We weren't going to have enough time to take the tour, so we walked around by ourselves. The new Parliament building was built in 1988 (go '88 - lots of good things happened!) so it was really pretty - there were marble staircases and a lot of glass. We went up to the roof and got a bird's eye view of Canberra. We wandered around and sat in both the House of Representatives and the Senate Room - I'm still amazed at how small these rooms are - it was the same way in New Zealand - I'm just used to America.

We were supposed to be picked up from Parliament around 245, but the bus never showed (Although the driver said she went there a few times looking for us - bollocks I say!), so we ended up catching a cab to the National Museum of Australia. The museum was AWESOME! There were so many things to do and each of us was completely entertained - it was just a shame that we didn't have more time there. We decided that we thought we had an adequate amount of time in the War Memorial and Parliament, but we would have wanted to spend way more time in the museum. We only made it through 1.5 exhibits - one about the animals in Australia and then we saw part of the Aboriginal exhibit. There was a room right before the Aboriginal exhibit and it was dark but with 6 big tv screens that had some Aboriginal dancing, so we took a break from looking at things and just danced like Aboriginals. It was absolutely silly but one of the best parts of the trip, in my opinion.

We caught the Explorer bus back to the hostel, picked up our bags, and went to a place called Koko Black. We know a few people at Wollongong from Canberra, and they suggested this place for us to visit. It's a chocolatier sort of place, and although they had lots of chocolates inside, we sat outside (they have outdoor heaters) and ordered drinks - I got a cinnamon hot chocolate, and Cait and Steph got Ice Chocolates. Mine was absolutely delicious - it was rich and thick though, so I couldn't drink it really fast. The Ice Chocolates were basically chocolate, milk, ice cream, chocolate syrup, and chocolate shavings. They were pretty good too, but I enjoyed my hot beverage.

After that we walked to the bus station to catch our bus back to Wollongong. It was relatively uneventful, but I do have to give mad props to the bus driver. We were driving down a mountain, and some of the turns were absolutely deadly. If you attempted to go around them at maybe even 20 miles an hour you would probably fly off the road. At one point the bus had to back up in order to actually make it around a turn. There were red signs saying something to the effect of "EXTREME TURN YOU WILL DIE IF YOU ARE NOT GOING 15 KM/H!!" Ok maybe not to that extreme, but the limit was 15 km/h, which is I believe 9.3 mph. I honestly can't even think of any turns or roads in general to compare what driving on this mountain was like, but it reminded me of driving in New Zealand - there were times when I was scared to put the camper into fourth gear just because I didn't know how intense some of the turns were going to be.

Ok, so this is an extremely long post - I was going to write another one about life in general, but I'll just include a quick summary here. Last week I completed two of my three final papers and I'm working on my third one now. This week coming up is my last week of uni - I only have 5.5 hours of class (approximately, assuming I don't get out early for any of my classes) so I should get this paper done relatively quickly. After that, I have two journals due and then only one final. After June 15, I will have academically completed my stay in Australia. It's crazy, May went by so friggin fast. Before I know it, it's going to be June 29 and I'm going to have to pack up my life here and just hope that everything fits in my bags!

(A side note - I just spell checked this post and Wheatbix came up as spelled incorrectly - it's basically like Frosted Wheats - but one of the options for a correct spelling was Wetback...wtf mate? How is that pc??)

Weekend!

Yes, I'm updating already - really, I just don't want to forget details about my wine trip and if I wait too long I know that it's going to happen.

So, Saturday morning we wake up at 730 am to take a shower and walk to where we are to be picked up for the wine tour. We make it out there worried we're going to be late because the bus is supposed to pick us up at 8:55. It doesn't actually get there until 9:25, so that should tell you what kind of trip it was to be. We went on the tour with the Scuba Club (Steph is a member) and it ended up being all older people on the trip. I think the next youngest person after us was 26 and after that the ages just kept going up.

So what wines did I taste and what did I learn? Well, I had a bunch of different white wines - chardonnay, some champagne, a dessert wine and other such things. I also had a rose, a bunch of different red wines, some sparkling red, and port. So what did I take away from all this? That I'm really not a big fan of wine. I would much prefer a food or beer tasting. I sampled all the cheeses, marinated figs, olives and I had an interesting lunch as well. Most of the samplings were kind of rushed and you didn't get a lot of personal attention, but at the third one, Two Silos Winery, we went to one of the scuba ladies knew the owner so he gave us our own sampling session in the cellar area. I learned heaps of interesting things but the one that stands out most in my mind is that all the wines that we know - like champagne and port - are going to have to go by different names soon unless they are produced in the country from where the name originates. So champagne will soon only be allowed to be called champagne if it is made in the Champagne region in France. Otherwise, anything else that looks, tastes, or feels the same will have to go by a different name. We also had lunch at Two Silos - the menu was not very extensive and so I was forced out of my food comfort zone and I had to eat something that I would normally not eat. Here is the menu...which one do you think I picked?
SPICY ASIAN CHICKEN & COCONUT CURRY FLAVOURED WITH
PEANUTS & LEMONGRASS AND SERVED WITH STEAMED
JASMINE RICE

CORIANDER, GARLIC & LEMON MARINATED FISH FILLETS,
HAND CUT POTATO CHIPS WITH GARLIC AIOLI AND A SALAD
OF CAPSICUM, FETTA & OLIVE SALAD

SPINACH & RICOTTA CHEESE CROQUETTES WITH A SPICY
CAULIFLOWER PUREE & MINTED YOGHURT

PARMESAN & HERB CRUSTED VEAL WITH A TARRAGON &
ARTICHOKE REMOULADE, SERVED WITH WARM SALAD OF
POTATO, PANCETTA & ROCKET

MALAYSIAN FLAVOURED SAUSAGES , SWEET POTATO MASH
AND A ROASTED CAPSICUM RELISH

If you guessed veal, then you are correct! It tasted okay - I would still prefer a steak. I tried some of Caitlin's fish - it was pretty good too. I really didn't end up drinking a lot of wine at all on the tour - I'm sure other people would have enjoyed it more, but I still had a good time - it was a gorgeous day outside aside from some intense winds and we got to see some really pretty scenery (we were down in the Kiama region!)

We make it back to the train station a little after 5 and catch a 5:22 train into Sydney. We take little mini naps on the train, grab some Hungry Jacks (their version of Burger King) for dinner, and then get on a train to Olympic Park Station, where the ANZ Stadium and therefore the footy game are. Just as the name suggests, the Stadium was used for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2000 Olympics. We were in a place of great history!

Although we had missed the first half and none of us understood Australian Rules Football (it's like every sport in existence combined except for the use of any sorts of sticks), we still had a great time. The tickets cost us $3 through our dorm so a lot of people from I-House were there. We attempted to learn a few of the rules just by watching, but really we decided it's an whatever happens happens and go with it type of game. It's not rugby so don't confuse it with that! Rugby is way more elegant, in my unbiased opinion. ;) The game was between the Sydney Swans and the West Coast Eagles and the Swans were up for the majority of the game (they play four quarters of 30 minutes each) up until the last ten minutes of the last quarter and that's when things got intense. You could feel that the stadium was charged with tension, even though it wasn't full! The Swans ended up being down by 3 with about five minutes left and the Eagles had possession of the ball, until the Eagles slip up a pass and a Swan picks it up and kicks it through two of the posts to score 6 points, putting the game at 104-101 (this is what I remember the score being, but somehow it was actually 106-101...so I guess the Swans scored twice more after that big goal). The crowd erupted after that goal and then all the Swans had to do was retain possession. It was a ton of fun and could only have been made better if we had dressed up in the Swans color. I'll admit it was a bit weird cheering against the Eagles because they are in fact my team at AU! We get on a train back to Wollongong and arrive back home around 1 am. Basically, it was a very fun and very packed day!

Sunday morning we woke up and went down to breakfast around 11 am. I got my hashbrowns and sweet chili sauce fix and we were all sitting at the tables outside, when Caitlin and I realized that it was decently warm, the sun was shining brightly, and there were no clouds in the sky. Basically, an absolutely beautiful day for going to the beach. However, our goal had been to have Sunday be a very productive day because I have papers due and Caitlin had an exam today (monday) that she had to study for. So, what do we decide to do? Be productive at the beach of course! Because I can't exactly bring my computer to the beach, I decide to bring my readings for the week. I get about 1/3 of the reading done and actually spent most of the time at the beach staring at the ocean, napping in the sun, or playing in the water! That's right, playing in the water. Although we are now entering winter down under, the water was decently warm! To give you an idea, it was warmer than the Atlantic will be in the middle of summer. It started out with Caitlin and I just standing in the water up to about our mid-calves looking for shells, and I kept wanting to look further out and I decided, what the hell, I can't go to the beach and not go in the water. So, we brave the imagined cold and head in and had a great time playing in the waves. My love for the Pacific is renewed once more.

Because I didn't really get a lot done yesterday, I made it my goal to get all my work done today...that hasn't really happened though. Instead I spent some time catching up with friends from home, finishing up my reading, and chatting with friends here. Oh well. I have at least started my essay - the word count is currently at 504/1500 words. Hm...I'm going to have to work more on this. Haha, but it's Australia so it's all good!

I'm working on a project for everyone who reads this blog - Aussie slang! I'm currently compiling a list and I'll have it up sometime soon with translations!

Update! (Kinda detailed, beware!)

As I have been informed, it has been a full 10 days or so since I last updated! How silly of me. Anyway, it's been pretty quiet around here - just the usual life. It's been a bit chillier down here, but it's usually still gorgeous and sunny. The other day at uni I was a little sleepy in between my classes so I took a nap on one of the lawns around a pond that we have. It must have been hilarious for anyone walking by (luckily I picked a lawn that does not have a lot of people traffic) to see a girl curled up sleeping for a good 45 minutes or so. Better than sleeping in class though, eh?

Like I said, last week I went to see Ratatat with my friend Rachel (Jeez dad, not that kind of friend!). They have hardly any vocals in their songs - it's pretty much all music. They had a screen up and they were putting up strange, distorted images. It was just as fascinating as the music. There were three cover bands and two of them were really cool too. The first was decent singing but you could tell they were more of an amateur band. The second felt to me to be more like a jam session - very little vocals and just the band standing up their playing the drums/guitars. The third band was not to my liking - the lead singer was this small asian girl who was SCREAMING and it was absolutely ridiculous lyrics about killing people and just generally not happy enough for me. But it was fun nonetheless and I'm glad I've gone to see at least one concert while I'm here, even if the main act was American.

The Casino Royale Ball was a lot of fun as well and was generally just a great night to hang out with my friends. Me and my friend Steph didn't have anything to wear so we went to the mall about an hour and a half before we had to be on a bus to go to the ball. Luckily, we find something Bond-ish at the first store we go to (she's dressed in this sleek short dress as a Bond girl, while I go for the Money Penny look (is that her name???) in a secretary-esque dress) and manage to get ready and make it to uni, although we had to catch a later bus. Even though I was the first one to get ready, you try having three girls get ready in the span of 35 minutes! Not going to happen. Anyway, the food they served us there was soooo good! I had a really good steak (although the portion ended up being too small) and I realized that (this is going to come as a surprise to a lot) that I eat my steak rarer than most people do!!! Everyone else at my table said they preferred it cooked all the way through, while I've moved more towards a medium rare deliciousness. My roommate was eating salmon (half the table got steak, the other half salmon) and because she knows that I'm determined to try fish while I'm here, she told me it tasted pretty good and that I should try it. Another unbelievable moment, I liked it! Another time recently she had me try some fish and I liked that too...I don't know what is happening to me! Anyway, dessert was creme brulee, of which I ate two of and then it was time to do some gambling! Not real gambling of course, but we got a $1000 voucher. Caitlin and I played the entire night at Carribean Stud Poker, which was a lot of fun but you basically have a 50/50 shot of winning - no real skill involved. Luckily, we got to be good friends with the dealer (he was GORGEOUS!) and he would slip us more chips whenever we would get low. When the ball was over, Steph and I got a ride back to our dorm with the head RA's of our dorm - we went to McDonald's and then had a fun time just chatting with them and watching the West Wing. Even though it was the West Wing and probably not filmed anywhere near DC, it made me miss it! And all the politics and just being in the know - this makes me confident that I've definitely chosen the right major and it is for sure something that I love.

Steph's birthday was that Saturday, so we went on a trip to the Jenolan Caves. In retrospect, even though we decided the caves were really cool, it ended up being an 8 hour round trip bus ride!! We did sleep for most of it, but it still sucked being cooped up for most of the day. Ok, so the caves are considered to be the oldest known caves in the world and even though we only got to go on one cave tour, I think there are something like 4 or 5 different caverns that you can visit. I've been to caves like this before, but I don't have any memory of it (besides pictures) so I'm glad that I can say I've been to one that I actually remember. I was continually amazed during the tour - it makes you feel very young and insignificant. The stalagtites and stalagmites grow very slowly - I think it's about 1 cm per 100 years and some of those formations were huge! There are pictures up so make sure you go check! In one cave, the tour guide turned off all the lights and although you could tell there was a little bit of light coming from way up, it was pretty much pitch black. The tour guide told us that if you ever get stuck in this situation, where you can't see anything, it's important to occupy your other senses to prevent yourself from going crazy. I thought of one thing you could do to occupy them all, but I don't know how appropriate it is to say here :D It was a little unnerving for me, just because I was the one closest to a stairwell and who knows what could have jumped out, grabbed me and taken me away into the deep bowels of the earth?! Regardless, it was intriguing to think about these caves and how many of them must exist around the world that we don't know about and the intricacies within the earth. I mean, can you just imagine discovering one of these places? You crawl into this tiny hole and then it opens up into a huge area with gorgeous formations glittering in what little light there is? Beautiful. One day maybe I'll gather the courage to go spleunking and feel for myself what it is like.

After our 4 hour bus ride back, we order some pizza (dinner at i-House was already over) and figure out what to do with our night. We decide to go to our usual haunt, Glasshouse, so Steph can dance her pants off (not literally!!!). We had a fun night out and then returned around 3 am so we could celebrate the exact moment of Steph's birth (what it would have been in the US). Overall, we all had a great time and Steph joined the league of old people - that is anyone who is 21.

Nothing too exciting has happened since then. Like I started the post out saying, it's just life as usual. Uni two days a week and hanging out with my friends. I still have those three papers to write, but after I finish those, it's pretty much going to be smooth sailing for the rest of the semester. I just planned a trip to Canberra and Caitlin and I are going to be going to Sydney next weekend we think, to do all the touristy things. Unfortunately, the trip to the outback might not be to see Uluru seeing as flights to anywhere close to there are about AUD700 round trip. Instead, we think that we might just go on a camping trip in the wilderness. I think that during the reading week that we have (it's a week off before exams start) I might try to get down to Tasmania, but we'll see if that actually happens or not. It's supposed to be very very cold down there in the winter and we know how I feel about the cold.

Coming up in the next week is a Wine tour and an AFL game, then writing two of my papers and doing research for the third (I say that now though...). I think I might try to go to the beach on Monday, just to sit by it and read. I think I've decided that I'm probably going to miss the Pacific Ocean the most about Australia, especially when I go home to the Atlantic. That and how relaxed I am over here - we were talking about it earlier, about how different in a sense we are. My personality hasn't changed, I'm still the wonderful Lisa you all know and love, but I have so few things to worry about here that I'm hardly ever stressed out. It's a great feeling. Hopefully I'll bring the 'no worries' attitude back to the States so that I can feel better about life. But with graduating in a year, we'll see how that actually goes...

Link to Pictures

I put up a few pictures from my Melbourne trip - try not to be too jealous!

Here is the link again: http://picasaweb.google.com/hohumdedum02/AbroadDownUnder?authkey=Gv1sRgCI6g_OWo5ZakXw&feat=directlink

I also put the link as "My Web Page." To access this, click on the "View My Complete Profile" in the navigation box to the right. It's listed under Contact.

And just because I'm here, I'll give a quick update. I finished my week of uni today - a full 8 hour week! Intense! :D I also got a grade back and received an A on my research and presentation of the Maori people and the Sooty Shearwater. If you ever want to learn about it, let me know. I have some exciting things coming up this weekend - tomorrow night I'm going to an electronica concert with a friend, Friday night we have a 'Casino Royale Ball' and Saturday we are visiting the Jenolan Caves. I have only 4 more weeks of uni (but 7.5 more weeks here - sweet!) and I have quite a few papers due in that time so I'm going to have to work on a bit of time management!

Weekend Trip to Melbourne (Pronounced Mel-bun)

Me, my roommate Caitlin, and our friend Steph planned our Melbourne trip a month and a half ago or so and it finally snuck up on us! We had a packed weekend that was extremely relaxing and we saw some amazingly gorgeous scenery as well.

Our trip began Thursday night with our train to the Sydney Domestic Airport. It's weird to think about, but I've become used to flying because of my time over here and I think that I quite enjoy it. Except for my right ear, which doesn't like to pop and I have to wait for it to do it by itself. If I try to, I just sit there, blowing while holding my nose until my face turns red, without any success. But yeah, we arrive in Melbourne after a 1.25 hour flight and take a taxi to our hostel, Urban Central, which ended up being one of the best hostels any of us had stayed in. There was complimentary rice/pasta that you could make in the kitchen, it was just the three of us in a huge room, the security was good, everything was clean, and they had free breakfast in the morning too! We get situated in our room, plan out what we want to do the next day and head to bed.

On Friday, the plan had been to wake up at 9 to get breakfast and then make our way out into the city. Wellll, that did not happen. We woke up around noon. Despite our late start, we all agreed that it was really awesome to sleep in because generally we don't get to sleep in very much - if we miss breakfast at I-house, we miss the chance to make our lunch, so you actually end up missing both meals. After we freshen up, we walk into the main part of the city (only about ten minutes away from our hostel) and then catch a tram to the Shrine of Remembrance.

The Shrine of Remembrance is Victoria's (the state/province that Melbourne is in) memorial to their fallen heroes. It was very serious business. Like I've mentioned before, I know a lot of how Australia was affected by World War 1, which is probably why I considered it to be so serious and intense. Have I said that Australia suffered the highest casualty rate of any country in WW1? At the memorial, they have an eternal flame, some statues, a garden, and the Shrine itself. Inside are rows upon rows of medals bestowed upon Australia servicemen and there is also a crypt that has some flags and plaques. There was one really interesting room - the top is like a pyramid with the top cut off so the light can shine through, and directly below it is a plaque bearing the words: "Greater Love Hath No Man." Apparently, on the 11th hour of the 11th day in the 11th month (Armistice Day, when WW1 basically ended) the sun is shining directly on the word "Love." Does that give you tingles? It did for me. Military industrial complex aside, I think the supreme sacrifice people give for their country is absolutely gorgeous and is no small thing to throw aside.

We got a cab from the Shrine of Remembrance to basically the other side of the city to see Dralion, the Cirque du Soleil show that was playing. We had really good seats - we were on the second level, so we didn't have to strain our necks to look up when they were doing aerial stunts and we were directly center stage. I don't have any pictures from the show itself because they don't allow you to take pictures, but man, it was a fantastic show. I had only seen some snippets of Cirque du Soleil on tv, but it doesn't compare anyway. Some of the things people can manage to do it just incredible - this one girl, she was like rubber. At one point, she was standing on one hand on a post and lifted her legs up behind her and was using her feet to move her head. Unbelievable. Some of the other main acts included people falling onto trampolines and then running up walls, a man juggling 6 balls at one time all the while doing crazy acrobats, people doing flips through hoops, a girl and a guy flying around holding onto each other but not supported by any wires except the ribbons they were flying around on (this part was supposed to emulate two lovers, but we did some research later and discovered that the pair was actually brother and sister! we felt a little grossed out), and then a bunch of girls standing on their tip toes on top of one another while the bottom girl was standing on a glass bulb. Seriously, I was amazed and awed and had a fantastic time. I haven't been to an animal circus in a long time, but I think that human circuses are probably way cooler - this way no animals are treated cruelly and you get to see the outer limits of what human bodies are capable of.

After the show we got some dinner at an italian restaurant and while the food was okay, the service was slightly lacking. They told us, when we came to Australia, to absolutely not tip because it the waiters and waitresses get paid enough that it's not expected. But when we were out, it sure seemed like it was expected! We asked someone about it here at I-house, and he said that if you're at a classier restaurant, you tip anywhere from 5 to 10%. Whoops. We definitely didn't tip but we felt it was slightly deserved because of the attitude we got. We returned to our hostel and although we originally had intentions of going out, we decided instead to go to sleep - we were going to have to get up very early for our Saturday trip.

When we told people we were going to Melbourne, a common comment was that we had to do the Great Ocean Road, so that's what our Saturday consisted of. We woke up at 7 am for breakfast and then got picked up at 8 am for our tour. The Great Ocean Road stretches I think around 250 km, but we ended up driving around for 600 km on the tour. It was inspired by the Great Pacific Road (I think that's the name) in California by an Australian who was working there. Technically, the Great Ocean Road is the longest war memorial in the World, because it was built in memory of all the fallen soldiers. What happened is that Australian who visited California came back and wanted to see the same thing built to go around Victoria's coast line, so he talked to the local government about it and said it would be a way to give returning soldiers jobs and the opportunity to be with their mates again. Really, I think that the dude just wanted the road so he was willing to swing it whatever way he needed to get it, but I'm not about to talk smack about a war memorial.

The tour takes us to Bells Beach, where most of the international surfing competitions are held in Australia and the beach name that was used in Point Break (it was actually filmed in Oregon or Wisconsin or something like that). We stopped at the memorial arch for the Road and checked out the beach right by it. The coast line is absolutely fantastic - there are cliffs and rocks that the water breaks against and I really think it's nature at it's finest (and potential deadliest). We visited this place that has a lot of wild koalas (it's illegal in Victoria for humans to handle koalas) and parrots - we got to feed the parrots and my guess is that people have been doing it for quite some time, because the parrots would just fly up onto your hands, shoulders, head, ears, etc. After lunch in Apollo Bay, a popular vacation destination for Victorians, we went for a walk in the rainforest at Mait's Rest. Now, when you think of rainforest, you think hot and sticky. No. Not here. It was actually colder in the rain forest than it was out of it. Apparently carnivorous snails live around where we were walking, but I couldn't find any, even after attempting to do an impromtu carnivorous snail mating call. After our trek in the rainforest, we went to the main attractions of the Great Ocean Road - the Twelve Apostles. The Twelve Apostles are rock formations that are out in the surf area of the ocean - it is postulated that they were once part of the land, but erosion from wind and water eventually separated everything. They were all quite magnificent to see. Then we visited a gorge known as the Loch Ard Gorge, after a ship that crashed right outside of it had only two survivors, whom seeked refuge in the gorge. The final stop on the tour was the site of the London Bridge. It has since fallen down (it collapsed in 1990), but Lee, our tour guide told us an interesting story:
A couple had just finished walking over the bridge to the other part of the rock formation when the bridge suddenly crashed down into the water below. Luckily, the group of school children that were behind them had yet to walk onto the bridge so they didn't plummet to their deaths. Now, the couple stuck over on the other side had no way of getting back to the main land and it was starting to get cold and dark. Someone had run down to the police station to see if they could call a helicopter in but they were all being used elsewhere except one, which was on a training exercise for flying in bad weather (did I mention it was stormy?) Well, the local news station decides it wants to cover the story of the London Bridge collapsing and instead of having the helicopter fly out to help the people, it went to pick up the local reporters first and then over to the people. But, the couple doesn't want anything to do with the news (you'll find out why later!), so the reporters get back in the helicopter but the couple isn't allowed in the helicopter because they're not insured! So they have to wait for a rescue helicopter and finally they get off and into the parking lot and they just take off! Turns out, the guy was taking a sick day/extended weekend from work and BIG SURPRISE HE WASN'T THERE WITH HIS WIFE!! He was there with his mistress!! Hahaha.

So we get back from the Great Ocean Road around 10 pm and our plan had, once more, been to go out (there was a bar in the bottom floor of our hostel!) but once we laid down on the floor, we were like, ehh, let's go to sleep. So, we plan our day for Sunday with a 8 am start.

We actually get up at 830 am. We eat breakfast, shower, check out (we leave our luggage in the hostel) and then catch a tram up to the Queen Victoria Market. Getting around Melbourne is actually really easy - there are trams that come every 5 or 10 minutes that go in any direction you could want and I think that they had a metro and bus system, but we never had to use them. The Queen Victoria Market is like the Eastern Markets on crack. There were so many stalls! After a row or two of them though, you realize that it's mostly all the same stuff - just different prices. We shopped around for some souvenirs and then caught a tram down to Federation Square, which had some crazy glass arts buildings and a big courtyard that people were just chilling in. From there we walked to the Eureka Skytower, which has the highest viewing platform in the Southern Hemisphere and the only 'edge' experience. We rode an elevator up to the 88th floor and got a really cool view of the city - I was able to spot our hostel and the Queen Victoria Market and the Shrine. The city proper of Melbourne seemed just way smaller from up so high! The edge experience you basically go into a glass box and you are moved out from the building 3 meters. You can look straight down through the bottom to the street below - it didn't scare me or even make a little bit of adrenaline pump. I think that having jumped out of a plane at 15000 feet has made me a little impervious to lesser heights. We left the Sky Tower and then caught a tram to St.Kilda, which is right next to the beach and has a really eclectic community. We got some dinner, then walked around on the two main streets - Fitzroy and Acland. Fitzroy has a lot of restaurants, and Acland street is known for it's bakeries and nightlife. We got some tasty treats from the bakeries, took a few pictures and then headed back to the hostel to pick up our bags and make our way to the airport.

Overall, we decided that you could spend at least a week in Melbourne and not even on sightseeing - there were some really cool looking places in St.Kilda that we would have wanted to go check out if we had had some more time. We really had a great time there because everything just fell into place - the hostel was clean which left us feeling refreshed and ready for the day, Cirque du Soleil was awesome, the Great Ocean Road was an adventure, and moving around the city was very stress free. It was fun though, being in a city and not really knowing anything about it and just figuring things out as you go. I can't wait to do it again when we visit Canberra!

History Lesson and ANZAC Memorial Service

So this week begins Week 9 of uni and surprisingly enough, I'm actually going to have to start doing work! I have three papers due in the next month and a half or so, and while I'm not overly concerned about them, I haven't started doing research at all for them. So, I'm going to have to put off reading The Two Towers and Return of the King until I got a little more work done. I started The Fellowship of the Ring last Monday and was finished by Wednesday, but in that time period I didn't do much else except read and seeing as how I really need to start doing homework, I can't afford to start reading just quite yet. This does bring my "Books Read in Australia" toll up to 7 - the most leisure reading I think I've done in a semester ever. Anyway, reading is not what this post is about, so I'll get started with Australian stuff.

April 25 is called ANZAC Day here in Australia and I'm guessing New Zealand, although I don't know how big of a deal it is for them. I know a lot about ANZAC from my history class, so be prepared to read a little bit about Australia in World War 1.

ANZAC stands for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and back when men were needed in World War 1 the two countries for the most part were kept together. So because the British like to think themselves quite superior to everyone else, they sent the ANZAC forces to Egypt for additional training because they did not think that they had been sufficiently trained in their native countries. I suppose this is actually probably true, but I like to think of the British as pompous. The Aussies were chillin' in Egypt, generally being drunken, loud, promiscuous soldiers when finally they were called up for duty. Now, they were all under the impression they were going to the Western Front in France, except no, they were being sent to Gallipoli in Turkey. There is quite a bit of scandal surrounding the decision to attack Turkey - Churchill agreed to send men to fight in Gallipoli even though he was only sending about half of the soldiers that it was suggested was needed to win and further they sent ANZAC in using old tourist maps as their battle maps. I think the best explanation is a comment Lenin made which has been gathering some credence - the Gallipoli campaign was always meant to lose, so that way Russia would not have a gateway to the sea and therefore gain that waterway.

So now that you know some history, the Aussies landed on Gallipoli on the 25 of April. As it was explained to me by someone else, Gallipoli to the Australians is kind of like Normandy Beach to us. Basically, it's really a big deal. So, ANZAC day commemorates Australia's big entrance into war and the realization of her national identity as well as remembers those men who gave their lives for Empire. Wollongong celebrates this by having a 4:45 am MORNING SERVICE. That is right, I woke up at 4 am to go to their memorial service. There were about 10 or 12 of us from International House that ended up going to the service - all Australians except for a Canadian and me and my friend Rachel (we're both American, clearly). It was held down by their war memorial and just had some local military personnel, some talks, some songs (including the Australian National Anthem, which says Australia 5 times!), a bugle song (it wasn't Taps, but I still liked it) and that was pretty much it. It lasted around half an hour. There was to be a parade later on, but I went back to my dorm and fell asleep. Overall, I was a little let down but I think that had something to do with me expecting it to be something like Memorial Day back home. I don't know how it happened, but I think that I have more of an appreciation now of what American soldiers died for and I'm a little sad that I'm going to miss Memorial Day in good ol' West Grove.

Because this post is kind of long, I think I'm going to leave off for now and I'll write up about my trip to Melbourne (I went this past weekend) tomorrow. I'll also go ahead and make an effort to put up pictures from Melbourne, just because I'm making you wait to read about the trip.

New Zealand Lord of the Rings Trip!

Well, I have officially been to the most gorgeous place I’ve ever seen (yes, this beats Kiama). And that place is New Zealand! Not really one specific place, but all of it completely. Because there are so few people that live in New Zealand, as soon as you leave the cities you can really understand why Peter Jackson filmed Lord of the Rings there – it seemed to actually be Middle Earth.

We flew into Auckland, one of the major cities on the North Island. NZ doesn’t have states – instead it has regions, but apparently that doesn’t really make a difference until it comes to rugby. At a population of 1.4 million, Auckland has one third of the entire population of New Zealand. We didn’t spend any time in Auckland itself really – it was just where we picked up – a 6.8 meter long, 3.1 meter high, 3.2 meter wide – campervan that we affectionately named Gwahir, after the eagle that saves and carries Gandalf a few times in the novels/movies. We name our GPS system Galadriel, because she does the voiceovers at the beginning of the film and helps guide the fellowship along.

Ok, so, the Lord of the Rings sites that we visited: Weathertop (Port Waikato), Hobbiton (Mata Mata), Mt. Doom (Mt. Ruapehu), Mushrooms/Get Off the Road Scene, Dun Harrow, Isengard, Lothlorien, Rivendell, Unconscious Viggo (all of these were around Wellington, we visited them on our 8 hour day tour), and the Misty Mountains (Southern Alps). We also drove past the quarry where Helm’s Deep was built, visited the jewellery shop where The Ring was made and visited Weta Cave, a mini museum belonging to Weta, which is the special effects company Peter Jackson helped found. While some people out there might not find this fascinating, I loved thinking that I stood in the same place where 10 years or so before some awesomeness was being filmed. In a decent amount of places, I and my friend Brett acted out some of the scenes. On Mt. Doom, we have a mini slideshow of what happened in the film at the beginning of the Fellowship.

In addition to Lord of the Rings sites, we also saw some other really cool places. Lake Taupo, where I sky dived (more on that later!), was an absolutely amazing place. We had no idea it was such a cute little place with so much to do, or else we would have budgeted more time in there. Lake Taupo is the largest lake in the southern hemisphere and had some magnificent views – it was surrounded by mountains and forests and nature at its absolute finest. We spent a few days in Wellington, but one day was specifically for being in the city. We checked out Te Papa, the museum of New Zealand, did some shopping, and I took a tour of Parliament and walked around the Harbour for a bit. I loved Lake Tekapo too, where in the distance you can see where the Southern Alps. The lake is fed by glaciers and was really cold, but that didn’t stop me from walking around a bit in it. Only up to the middle of my calves though because it felt like in under a minute your feet would go numb.

So what exciting things did I do? Well, besides seeing all of the Lord of the Rings places, I also watched all three extended movie versions in New Zealand! I find there to be something poetic about it. Onto the real exciting things. I took a ferry ride from the North Island to the South Island and driving on and off the ferry was fun. Because Hobbiton was filmed on a sheep farm, we got a sheep shearing demonstration and I bottle fed a sheep. I ate at the Green Parrot, a restaurant in Wellington where Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) used to eat at all the time back during filming. And of course, I went sky diving!

To start off with, I would absolutely sky dive again. We had perfect weather that day; there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. We decided to sky dive from 15000 feet so we pile into the plane and start flying up. Aside from the four of us, our four tandem divers, and four cameramen, there were two other divers going from 12000 feet and their two tandem divers. So 16 people in a tiny little plane. I think the craziest part of the entire experience was right before we dove out of the plane. We’re strapped to our dive masters (mine was a German named Albert) and they just pop your legs out of the plane so you’re dangling on the edge of the plane with absolutely nothing underneath you for miles except air. Then, we just slid off the edge of the plane and fell. I think that for the first few seconds, you don’t even realize that you’re plummeting towards the Earth – there definitely isn’t a sensation of falling, except for the wind blowing past your face. As we’re falling, the wind was blowing in my face so hard that my cheeks were flapping hardcore and spit was flying out of my mouth (probably into Albert’s – sorry dude!). Free-falling is definitely one of the wildest feelings ever – there’s absolutely nothing around you except the air. Once the parachute was pulled, we just drifted down and that’s when I really got the chance to look around me at the scenery. I was on top of the world! Everything looked so small. Albert and I ran in for the landing ( I don’t know why he had us run in, everyone else got to slide in) and it was over! One minute or so of free fall and I guess two or three minutes of just drifting. Regardless, it was definitely one of the best experiences of my life! I have 100 pictures that were taken of me during the free fall (some are very very funny) and a DVD of everyone jumping out. Find me when I get home and I’ll show you!

There were some things that I’m a little sad I didn’t get the chance to do. At Lake Tekapo, we were going to go on a horseback ride along a trail that took us around the lake, but we didn’t get a chance to. Two of my friends also bungee jumped, and while I know that it’s probably best for me to not risk hurting myself (my knees, I’m not worried about anything else), I still want to give it a try. I think I would also like to kayak along some of the rivers in NZ – it’s the beginning of autumn over there right now, so the foliage was beautiful and I think that a kayak trip down a river would give me a spectacular view of all the trees. We visited Mt.Cook, which is the highest peak in Australasia, but only got a glimpse of it and I think that hiking up it would be a lot of fun, albeit very cold. There are a lot of places in the South Island that we didn’t visit – there is a glacier which I wish we would have been able to fit in, Queenstown which has a lot of adrenaline filled things to do, and Dunedin where apparently is just a happenin’ place. There are also a few places in Wellington that I wish I would have been able to get a look at – the National Archives, a bunch of exhibits in Te Papa, and I would have liked to see a session of Parliament. I’ve decided that in order to do all these things, I’m just going to have to return to New Zealand one day.

Finally, after what seemed like forever to upload, I've selected for your viewing pleasure some New Zealand pictures! Follow this link and it'll take you to Google's picture website: http://picasaweb.google.com/hohumdedum02/AbroadDownUnder?authkey=Gv1sRgCI6g_OWo5ZakXw&feat=directlink

Halfway done with the semester?!

Apparently I'm halfway done with this semester. Unbelievable, completely. Next week is our mid-session/Easter break (not spring break, because it's fall down here, although all us Americans still refer to it as spring break) and then there are seven more weeks left and then finals! Although, we get a study week for finals and finals extend for a good two weeks I think. But after that comes June 30 and then I'll be heading home. It's strange to think about - it definitely doesn't feel like I've had six weeks of classes already, but I suppose that's because my schedule is just that awesome.

I'll go ahead and comment on my classes - my parents will be happy to know that I am doing all my work and it at least feels like I'm doing well. In my history class, I've had two assignments that were returned to me - I got A's on both of them. I've given two presentations so far (I mentioned the one for my history class I think - the other one was a presentation on the Maori (indigenous New Zealanders) harvest of the Sooty Shearwater (a bird that breeds in New Zealand). I didn't have any midterms this semester but when I return from break I'm going to have to start working on three papers - they're not due for a while (mid to end of May) but it's a lot easier to get big assignments done here because I don't spend so much time on doing homework. The reading load is just way less than back home. I think it's also because of the subjects I'm taking here - as an Arts student (basically, not an engineer like everyone else here) I don't have a lot of contact hours, so it leaves more time for me to just do things. For one of my assignments, I did legitimate research - it's actually probably the best piece of work I've written in a while.

Moving on, I haven't really been doing anything very exciting. All last week it was rainy and overcast so we couldn't go to the beach, not to mention it's getting colder and that is really tragic too. Of course, by colder I mean it's in the high 60s low 70s, but it's all relative. My dorm had a Harbour Cruise on Sydney's Darling Harbour, so that was really awesome. On the walk from the train station to where the boat was picking us up, we saw 10 brides. 10! It was neat though because we got to scrutinize all the dresses and decide which one we would or wouldn't wear. I didn't bring my camera that night, but luckily (I suppose) I left my purse on the boat that night and had to go back to Sydney to retrieve it so I took pictures of the harbour when I went back. I plan on spending a weekend in Sydney anyway though, so of course there will be more pictures. I also plan on spending a weekend/making trips to Canberra (the capital!), the outback, the Blue Mountains, and Melbourne (this trip is actually already planned - we're seeing cirque du soleil!). And of course, NEW ZEALAND!!!

I'm leaving tonight to go to sleep in the airport because our flight leaves at 7am tomorrow. If you aren't aware, Lord of the Rings was filmed in New Zealand, so we're going and seeing a bunch of filming sites. It's going to be so epic!! We're traveling around the North Island and the South Island and visiting a few major cities in the process. We will be spending the most time in Wellington - We're doing an 8 hour tour of places where LotR was filmed. And yours truly will be driving a 6.5 meter long motor home! On the wrong side of the road! And it's a manual! To say the least, this is going to be quite an amazing adventure. I'll copy in our itinerary, so you'll be able to look at it and think: "Lisa is in the Misty Mountains - Dear Lord I wish I was her!" (btw, I'm not bungee jumping)I plan on taking lots and lots and lots of pictures - most likely, we'll be taking them doing LotR poses too, because that's the kind of people I'm going with. :D

Well, that's about it from me for now. I won't be posting next week as I won't have internet access, but I'm taking a notebook with me to NZ so I'll make sure that I take notes about the trip and put them up back on here.

Oh, and Happy Easter everyone!

Friday April 10
Arrive and get ready to head off around 4 pm
Go to Port Waikato
Drive to Mata Mata
Saturday April 11
Hobbiton Tour (9:50 am)
Drive to Lake Talpo
Sunday April 12
Sky Diving @ Talpo 10:30 am
Taurangi for the day
Monday April 13
Taihapi – bungee jumping
Drive to Wellington/Upper Hutt
Tuesday April 14
Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt exploration
Wednesday April 15
LotR day tour
Thursday April 16
Wellington for the day
Friday April 17
830 am ferry to Picton
Mt. Sunday
Nelson
Saturday April 18
Nelson
Drive to Christchurch
Sunday April 19
Jenn leaves – noon at Christchurch airport
Mt. Cook
Monday April 20
Mt. Cook/ Misty Mountains
Tuesday April 21
Arrive at airport at noon

Hey I'm almost 21...

...But that's not what this post is about. Because I still haven't found the time to sit down and type out my experiences in Sydney or the absolutely gorgeous Kiama, I figure I'll still put something up. So instead I figured I'll talk about my life a bit more, because as we all know I love talking about me :)

University of Wollongong is way different than AU. It still gets me. Actually, I even got a bit lost walking around the uni last week trying to find my classrooms - sometimes I decide I'll go a different way and then I end up discovering a whole new part of the campus. I actually found this really pretty duck pond area. The campus itself is huge compared to AU, but it's not as big as Penn State or IUP I suppose - mostly because there is no on-campus housing really. And while I adore AU and the quad, the uni here is so much prettier! There are ponds and trees and bushes. I'm going to end up taking pictures probably right before I leave because that's when there will be less people on campus to give me funny looks. It's also a huge commuter campus - in the mornings when I have my 830 class, there will be about 3 shuttles that come within 5 or 10 minutes of each other, just to deal with all the people that are getting off the trains. My neighbor Ben, before he got a room in I-house, had to wake up at something like 5 am just to get to class at 830 or 930 (I don't remember which). But lots of people do the whole commuter thing! I know some people back home have long commutes because of the metro and rush hour, but for these people it's really just a matter of location. I don't know how they do it. Also, there are more older people here than at AU, and not even taking graduate level classes. There are at least 5 older people in each of my classes, which are just 200 level classes. It's strange to think about, seeing as how back home it was really just kids my age. Sometimes they have interesting things to say, and most of the time they enrich the conversation, but I think it's also obvious the difference in the way we communicate - the older people tend to draw out things they say and elaborate a lot (although there are younger kids that do that too - can you tell I'm just annoyed by people in general who aren't concise/take too long to say something?).

I hang out with a decent mix of Americans/Australians. My roommate is American and our friend Steph is also American, but for the most part all the guys we hang out with are Australian. I'm not sure exactly why this is - the Australian girls here are mostly first years and banded together with other Australians in the first week or so, but I suppose we did the same thing (me, Caitlin, and Steph). If the situations were reversed, I would try to make friends with the Americans, but at the same time, knowing that they were all going to be leaving at the end of the semester would be kind of off-putting. Regardless, I'm getting to know some cool people from the States as well as some awesome Aussies. Would you believe I have a friend here who is legit Australian? Like America, Australia has a lot of immigrants, but this kid's family has been here since the convicts were first sent over (yup, he's a descendent of convicts!) I'm also listening to some new music - some American music that was never really big over there, and some Australian music too (listen to My People, This Boy's in Love, or Talk Like That, by the Presets - I can't get enough of this band!). Night time when we don't go out, we'll watch movies, listen to music, or generally bum around on YouTube. It's actually pretty fun - Caitlin and I always have our door open (we don't have air conditioning so it's good for air flow) so people just pop in and hang out for a bit.

Today I went on a field trip for my Aboriginal Studies class and we hiked up a mountain, which made me realize that as much as I like hiking, the draw is gone a bit seeing as how I am always staring at the ground and never really looking up to enjoy the view. I took some pictures when we stopped, but I also bashed my head into a tree because I was looking where I was walking and not looking up. It was pretty funny, actually, in hindsight.

That's all for right now - I'm about to start some pre-birthday celebrating, courtesy of my roommate (she's very excited about it). I think the best of the celebrating we're going to be doing is going to a place that has 3$ tacos! It won't taste as great as Mexican food from home, but it'll have to do.

(Here is a surprise video for reading the post! This video is from Kiama - you can hear me sighing at the beauty at a few parts I think and you also see Steph's head)

Week 4 of school, Week 5 of Awesomeness!

So I’ve been in Australia for more than a month! It’s crazy, it absolutely doesn’t feel like it. In honour of this occasion though, I’m going to make a list of favourites/things I’ve done since being here…

Favourite Place: Kiama!!
Favourite thing I’ve bought: my gladiator shoes!
Favourite thing I’ve eaten: SWEET CHILI SAUCE ZOMG SO GOOD!
Favourite experience: Great Barrier Reef Trip
Thing I’m most looking forward to: My trip to New Zealand for Easter Break! (I will BE ARAGORN!!)
Food I miss the most: Chipotle (also, good home cooking)
Person I miss the most: Bella (Alex too, I suppose :D )
Most Commonly Worn Piece of Clothing: pair of shorts I bought here – they’re super awesome
Most Schoolwork I did: I wrote a 1000 word annotated bibliography about my research on how Australians reacted to the declaration of war in 1914
Favourite Class: Australians and the Great War
Most exciting thing I’ve done: Sky diving (ok, haven’t done that one yet, but it’s coming up within the next two weeks!)
Most Painful thing: Using my skull to stop a surfboard from moving forward
Most time spent at the beach: 7 hours – 2 hours surfing, 5 hours lounging
Books I’ve read: Watchmen, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Twenty Chickens for a Saddle, and Dune (just started The Road)

There are of course many more, I’m sure, but I think that’s good for now. You might notice that I’ve switched over to Australian typing – I type up the blog posts in Word, which I had to switch over so I don’t get points taken off when I turn in papers. Speaking of papers, classes are going pretty well, although I haven’t gotten anything back yet. I’m really enjoying my History class – everything we learn about is interesting and in my tutorial I get the chance to speak pretty openly with Australians about our nations’ relationship. I actually gave a presentation today in my class – it was unnerving because I was the first person to present and I’m pretty sure I did it the American way as opposed to what Australians do (from what I’ve heard and what the Australian who presented after me did, they just read their essays…I straight up sat in front of the classroom, rambled off some notes, and then asked questions). I learned a lot, so I can only hope that the rest of the class did too. You can pretty much ask me anything about how the Australian people reacted to entering World War I and I’ll have an answer for you.

Besides classes, life here is perfect! I spend my time relaxing, reading, hanging out with friends, or sitting at the beach. I need to go to sleep now, but I figured that I should at least attempt to update, seeing as how it’s been quite a while.

My "Week"

Happy Birthday Mom! This post is going up as a special birthday present to her.

So, let’s go through my week, which is basically just Tuesday and Wednesday – everything else counts as a weekend in my eyes.

Tuesday morning I wake up around 7 so I can take a shower and get ready for my 830 class. We, being my roommate and our friend Steph, go to breakfast at 730ish. Breakfast for the most part is just cereal – some days they have hot breakfast, like sausage, bacon, pancakes and eggs, but we all know I don’t eat any of those, so I stick to my cereal. I have started eating it with milk though – I don’t know why I had such a huge problem with it before, it’s actually quite manageable. Anyway, we hop on a shuttle to the campus and I have my 830 Redefining Eden: Indigenous people and the environment class.

I’m enjoying this class so far. It’s not specifically about aboriginals; it extends to indigenous knowledge worldwide. This week we learned about how indigenous knowledge tends to be more sacred and holistic than western knowledge. My professor isn’t advocating specifically for indigenous knowledge over western knowledge, but more for a blending of the two.

After that class, I walk to my 930 class – Australian Content: Media, Narrative and Celebrity. I think that if I were taking this class back home, I would probably drop it and take a different one, but I don’t feel like going through the whole process of approvals and what not. The class seems a little hokey to me – this is a new class, so I suppose I should cut the professor some slack, but in general it just feels like it’s all over the place. Then my professor took thirty minutes of class time going over motivation/time management techniques. I was kinda bothered by this – I’m a junior at a decent university, I think I know how to do these things. However, my irritation with the whole thing might just have been because I had to pee really badly.

Those two lectures are over by 1130 and my next class, my Australians and the Great War tutorial, doesn’t start until 330, so I walked back to my dorm and took a nap, among other little things. During that time, I’m usually able to talk to people from back home because it is night time back home and most of my friends/family are still awake. Oh! For lunch, at my dorm, they don’t actually serve lunch. At breakfast, they have a sandwich bar with different lunch meats and cheese and toppings, so you just make a sandwich and wrap it up for lunch.

Anyway, so I head back to uni for my last class of the day. Normally it will be a two hour tutorial, but it was shorter because it was the first one of the year. I’m really excited about this class – it’s good to learn a bit about history and apply it to war, especially seeing as how I’m going into an international security field, and what better to look at from a different perspective than World War 1? Even more exciting, I’m one of two Americans in the tutorial – which is basically a class of 12 people where we go over the lectures and go more in depth about some stuff. We started the tutorial off with trying to define war. While I see it as a highly technical term and I define most other things relatively technically as well, we talked about the events of 9/11 quite a bit. It was strange to see it from an international view – I felt that even though I was surrounded by people, they couldn’t actually understand what it was like to have that happen on your home soil. Although during WWII the Japanese bombed Darwin, a city in Northern Australia. Judging objectively, from an IR standpoint, I would say that 9/11 had worse consequences, but then again I don’t know how objective I can be.

After that class is over, at 530, I’m done for the day and I head back to International House for dinner and then Tuesday Topicals. I-house runs events every Tuesday and Thursday which are meant to broaden your horizons and what not. This most recent topical was a Faculty Face-Off, where everyone got in groups with their majors. Here, I’m in the faculty of Arts. It’s weird, back at AU, SIS is the most popular major…here, I have yet to find anyone else studying International Studies (as a major at least). I’m not used to being in the minority! Most of the people here that I know are engineers or science majors. Ha, oh well. I actually often think, maybe I should have picked a different school/country that is more relevant to international affairs, but I decided that I’m here not just for school but for the experience, and experience abroad is still experience abroad. Additionally on Tuesdays, I-House has supper, which is when they put out donuts, cookies, crackers, cheese, and people drink coffee and what not. It’s delicious! There are cookies here called Tim-Tams – at first, I didn’t think much of them, but I think there’s an exponential curve of how much you like them.

Wednesday mornings I have a tutorial for my Eden class at 930 to 1130, and then I don’t have my Great War lecture until 130. My friends Brett and Marissa (more about them later) and I met for lunch and decided to make it a weekly thing. It was a great feeling, walking out of my lecture at 230 and knowing that I was done for the week…One of the weeks here, week 4, I have two tutorial presentations which are actually quite a big deal, and I think to myself, Holy crap that week is going to suck! But then, I have to remember that my ‘weeks’ consist of two days of actual work, so it’s really nothing that is extensively terrible. I do have to start doing a lot of work for those presentations and for a few other things as well…I think that maybe I will devote my time on Saturday that I am not at the beach to doing homework. The readings are quite interesting, especially seeing as how it’s nothing that I’ve ever really learned about before.

Well, that right there is my week. I suppose I should say a few other things, like how the food (at least at I-house) is kinda bland – I’ve started putting salt on a lot of my food. Not a ton of salt, so my blood pressure should be fine, but enough to give the food more flavour. Every night for dinner, I-house has brown rice, white rice, two different kinds of vegetables, and a potato option. For the main meals, there are three meat eater options – chicken, beef, or fish – and one vegetarian option. The chicken is sketch for the most part/it doesn’t meet my standards – it’s often on the bone and doesn’t resemble chicken breast, so I’ve been getting beef a lot. I know that beef isn’t as healthy an option as chicken, so who knows, I may even start eating fish. I doubt it though. There is one food thing here that I absolutely love and know for sure that I am going to be very saddened to leave: sweet chili sauce. IT IS DELICIOUS! I’m going to bring a whole bunch back/import it myself from Australia if I have to.

Back to Brett and Marissa. The three of us are taking our spring break together – Marissa and I met on the plane from Chicago to LA and then she and I met Brett at the LA airport. It is there that we discovered a shared love for Lord of the Rings, and thus, our spring break (Easter/ Mid-Session Recess here) was borne. At the moment, we just bought our tickets to New Zealand. There are two islands to New Zealand and what we decided would be the most convenient way to get around would be to rent a mobile home and drive around to all the places we want to see in North Island, then take a ferry to South Island and see the places there before heading back to Uni. It is going to be an adventure of epic proportions! I am very excited indeed for this, because I love Lord of the Rings and being able to see where the movie was filmed I know will absolutely take my breath away. Not to mention I’ll be trekking across a country in a mobile home with two really awesome people!

I know a few people are aware that I went to Sydney last Saturday for the Gay Mardi Gras Parade, and I’ll have a post up about that sometime this weekend or so, because I’m actually going back into Sydney tomorrow to go to the aquarium, so I feel as though a joint post would be more efficient.

Finally, I’ve already picked up an Australian phrase. I was actually trying to say it before I left for Australia (I didn’t know it was an Australian phrase then, but regardless, I’ve picked it up now). It’s “no worries.” It can be used in place of you’re welcome, but it’s used all the time. Like today, someone floundered with my name, and then was like, hey, it was close enough, and I just smiled and said, very nonchalantly, ‘no worries.’ It’s perfect and I think it shows the Australian attitude towards everything very much so. And because I was already so apathetic, I think this fits in with my general outlook too. :D

I’m almost finished with this post. Today, I was at the beach for right around four and a half hours. Of course, I didn’t think to bring my camera, but I really should have. Probably around 4 I decided three and a half hours of tanning is enough and that perhaps I should go check out the water. It was so warm! After walking around for a bit looking for Mom’s birthday present (she loves it, I called her up to wish her a happy birthday and told her all about it) I just go in about knee deep and look for shark teeth, which involves me sticking my hand into the sand and looking through the little pebbles of sand and seashells in hopes of finding a tooth. After many unsuccessful attempts, me and my roommate go to this rock area right next to the beach, where there are tons of little pools of water supporting fish and seaweed and fun stuff like that. It was lots of fun crawling over it and seeing all the little pockets of life. Like I said before though, didn’t think to bring my camera. I don’t think I’ll make the mistake again, but I’ll probably go back to the little area to check it out and crawl all over the rocks again. It’s fun being active again, after spending so long in knee braces. I’m of course always conscious of my knee and its limitations, but I think that just doing things is a bit of a help for it too.

Once more, happy birthday mommy! And happy march 12 to everyone else out there too.