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!
06 July 2009
01 July 2009
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
