09 March 2009
06 March 2009
Mini-Post
This update isn't going to be about classes just quite yet - I've only had one week of them, but it doesn't really count because they were just introductions. I'll write about them next week after I've had more material presented to me and thus will be able to convey more to you. However, I will tell everyone a little story about my day at the beach today...
It wasn't super hot today - I think only like, 23 or 24 Celsius. It was extremely windy though. And the wind is intense, so it picks up the sand and it feels like you're being sandblasted. Luckily, it wasn't that intense for very long so it was okay after about half an hour. Anyway, so I'm laying on the beach, listening to my music/sleeping/reading, and I realize that there is a seagull about .5 meters away from my feet, just chillin' in the sand. It was sitting down, and it kept tucking its head into its feathers and dozing off. So cute! When have you ever seen a seagull take a nap so close to you? Then, I watched the seagull yawn - it's a very funny image in my head. His entire mouth just opened so it was like looking into a big hole. He walked around a bit and then I guess he realized that he had to stretch as well. I don't know if this is how all seagulls stretch, but when he stretched out his left wing, he also stretched back his left foot. Maybe a minute later he did the same thing with his right side. He also walked all around the blanket me and my roommate were laying on - when we picked up the blanket to leave, there were seagull footprints that made a rectangular shape. Strange, eh? I don't know what to make of it except that the seagulls here are friendlier, just like the people.
Also, I finally saw the Southern Cross - it's a lot smaller than what I would have thought. But I can see Orion's belt, which I think is pretty cool. I had always wondered why I hadn't been able to see it. It's still strange to think that I'm seeing an entirely different side of the universe. I like knowing that I've seen both sides though - makes me feel like a universally better person (that was an attempt at a pun - it's late though and I'm sleepy so that's why it wasn't a very good one). At the same time, I feel kinda sad for everyone in the southern hemisphere, that they don't get to see all the northern hemisphere stars. Maybe the Earth should just flip upside down so everyone can see what the other hemisphere's stars look like. Although, I suppose that if the Earth flipped upside down people wouldn't be much worried about the stars and perhaps more worried about whatever natural disaster had caused such a flip. Ok, I'm ranting now so I think it's just better if I went to bed. Update next week sometime on classes!
01 March 2009
Oz
Ok, so I think I’m going to skip telling everyone about the RainForeStation trip – you’ll have to ask me about it another time. The highlights of the trip though: I got my picture taken holding a koala, fed and pet kangaroos and wallabies, and held a snake (which decided to wrap around my neck a little too tight for comfort). Now onto what life is like so far in Australia…
I live in the International House, so there are lots of Americans, Aussies, and people from all over. I actually feel like a bit of a disappointment because apparently some people knew my last name and were hoping that I was from somewhere Spanish and would therefore speak it. I’ll have to add it to my list of things to do before I die – learn to speak Spanish like a native so I’m not a total let down to people :D I share a room with a girl named Caitlin from Staten Island, NY, but she goes to UConn. She’s pretty awesome – there will be some roommate pics up eventually. Our room is kinda small but we make it work. We have all the normal dorm room stuff plus a sink in our room! It’s nice because we don’t have to leave the room in order to brush our teeth. We have a bathroom on each deck (floor) that is co-ed…I haven’t had any interesting run-ins yet though. We have to pay for our internet, but for 30AUD a month we get 15000 gb so it’s more than enough…I might even be able to play some WoW at the end of the month if I find I have a lot of gigs left!
My dorm (or campus, as they call it) is about a 25 minute walk from the university and a 15 minute walk to the beach. I know how to get to the beach better than I do the Uni, actually. Luckily, there’s a shuttle that takes us from our campus there. There’s also a train station right next to my campus – it’s like a 100 meter walk down the road. It’s a city line train, so it goes all the way up to Sydney and runs pretty late, so I could potentially make a day of it. But it’s good because one stop north is the station next to the campus where a bunch of my other friends live and one stop south is the Wollongong city stop, which is like a two block walk to an amazing mall. I still have yet to just go explore the city, but I’ve only been here a bit over a week, so I’m sure I’ll get around to it. The mall had a ton of stores. There were two components to it. You had the normal mall bit and then there was this outdoor area where there were a bunch of cafes and more expensive boutiques. I bought this really pretty dress (all the girls wear dresses when they go out, so I feel compelled to buy some to stay up with the fashion) for AU$12, which comes to be about US$7.70, or an AMAZING DEAL! I bought all my toiletries and whatnot else that I needed – it’s becoming more and more real that I am in fact going to be living in this beautiful place for the next four months. I think that once classes start it will really sink in that this is not just a vacation. Either that, or I’ve already accepted it and I just don’t miss AU that much. Think about it – being 15 minutes away from the beach or on a campus surrounded by cement, where it’s cold and rainy all the time? Which would you pick?
The beach itself is amazing – I took pictures so everyone can be jealous. Beach etiquette is a bit different here. For example, there are flags and it’s highly recommended that you swim between them. It’s the place where the lifeguards have deemed that it’s safe and where they are more likely to be able to help you. People swim between the two red and yellow flags and surfers have to surf outside of the blue flags. They also put up warning signs – like today, there was a sign that said ‘beware of blue bottles.’ Blue bottles are like mini Portuguese man of wars. The Aussies were telling us that it’s not that bad of a sting and that the lifeguards have spray that stops the pain. The water itself is so warm and so clear! Everyone is probably aware of my fear of water I can’t see into. Well, here I don’t have that problem! There is seaweed/kelp on the bottom of the ocean and even though it brushes against your legs in a creepy ‘omg what the hell was that’ kind of way, you look down and see it’s just seaweed and you calm down. The water is really warm too. Back home, when you get in the water it takes like 5 minutes for you to get numb enough for the cold water not to bother you anymore. Here, as soon as you get in, you think, ahh, that’s just chill enough to take away how hot it is. Which, by the way, that giant hole in the ozone layer is right above Australia, so everyone always wears 30+ sunscreen. There is none of the 4 tanning oil. They’re very serious about skin cancer down here because they have a huge amount of it. When I was walking to the mall, there were about three or four clinics for skin cancer. The waves are way more fun here too. There will be giant ones, about three or four of them right in a row. Today I attempted to learn how to ride them in, but I was always too afraid of losing my bottoms or my top to really do it.
Classes start this week – I don’t start until Tuesday morning and this week we only have lectures. Normal weeks will have lectures (usually 1 hour) and tutorials (usually two hours). My schedule as of now is this: Tuesday mornings 830 – 930 Redefining Eden: Indigenous People and the Environment lecture, then 930 – 1130 I have Australia Content: Media, Narrative and Celebrity (this class doesn’t have a tutorial, so that’s why it’s a longer lecture) and then from 330 to 530 I have my Australians and the Great War tutorial. On Wednesday I have from 930 to 1130 my Redefining Eden tutorial and then from 130 to 230 I have my Australians and the Great War lecture. And that is all my classes! I’m actually excited for them to start – I really do enjoy learning and these classes are pretty different from what I take back home.
On another note, today at the beach I played a bit of touch footy (basically touch rugby) in a small little area (so not a whole lot of running and cutting) and I realized how much I miss it. My knee is sore now (it might also be from the pilates I did earlier today too though) but I feel compelled to make it super solid so I can play again (sorry mom! At least you’ll get good action shots though). It really didn’t hinder me too much, or at least a lot less than I thought that it would, but I’m sure I was favoring it.
I’m really having a good time here – I know I’ve only been here in Australia for a little over a week but I think this was exactly what I needed after all of last semester’s nonsense. Additionally, I’m most likely going to be going to New Zealand for spring break (although for them it’s called Easter holiday because the seasons are switched) and going to see some Lord of the Rings sites, which pretty much makes my life every time I think about it.
Some other little things about Australia that I want to tell you:
• Money: The money is plastic. Apparently before it was, everyone was ruining their money because they were taking it in the water with them. Also, you don’t pay sales tax on anything or tip at all. The price you see is the price you pay. Here instead of $1 notes (they’re called notes, not bills) they have $1 and $2 coins. It’s actually pretty awesome because you think, oh man, all I have is change, and then you count it and it turns out you have close to $20 in your pocket.
• Opposite directions: Yes, they drive on the other side of the road over here. Apparently it’s because when driving, your dominant hand is on the wheel and your non-dominant hand is shifting (they only drive manual! I get props because I can) and everything just aligns better. However, it extends to more than just driving…when walking, they walk on the opposite side of the sidewalk too! For a while I would be walking into people, but I think I’m catching on now.
• Toilets: I haven’t actually seen the water flow in the opposite direction. It doesn’t really flow around like they do in America. First, there’s a lot less water in the bowl and then there are usually two buttons that you can press. One is for a lesser amount of water and the other is for a larger amount of water – I’m sure you can figure out why you would use one and the other. The water just kind of rushes into the bowl – there is no clockwise or counter-clockwise action.
• Stars: This is probably the weirdest – nothing looks familiar. I was outside and looking for a dipper and didn’t see one. Instead you have to look for the Southern Cross (it’s the star formation on the right side of their flag and potentially a tattoo for me ;) ) . I couldn’t find it when I was looking for it but apparently it’s sort of upside down in the sky, so I think I’ll go check again tonight.
That’s all for now – next time I post I should be able to talk about my classes a bit more and hopefully I should have pictures up soon! If you want to know anything else, just let me know and I’ll see what I can do.
Additionally, here is my contact information in case any one wants to send me some love (I’m buying post cards tomorrow so if you want one, send me an email or something with your address!)
Lisa Espinosa
International House
University of Wollongong
Wollongong NSW 2522
Australia
My mobile number is: 0466002510
I live in the International House, so there are lots of Americans, Aussies, and people from all over. I actually feel like a bit of a disappointment because apparently some people knew my last name and were hoping that I was from somewhere Spanish and would therefore speak it. I’ll have to add it to my list of things to do before I die – learn to speak Spanish like a native so I’m not a total let down to people :D I share a room with a girl named Caitlin from Staten Island, NY, but she goes to UConn. She’s pretty awesome – there will be some roommate pics up eventually. Our room is kinda small but we make it work. We have all the normal dorm room stuff plus a sink in our room! It’s nice because we don’t have to leave the room in order to brush our teeth. We have a bathroom on each deck (floor) that is co-ed…I haven’t had any interesting run-ins yet though. We have to pay for our internet, but for 30AUD a month we get 15000 gb so it’s more than enough…I might even be able to play some WoW at the end of the month if I find I have a lot of gigs left!
My dorm (or campus, as they call it) is about a 25 minute walk from the university and a 15 minute walk to the beach. I know how to get to the beach better than I do the Uni, actually. Luckily, there’s a shuttle that takes us from our campus there. There’s also a train station right next to my campus – it’s like a 100 meter walk down the road. It’s a city line train, so it goes all the way up to Sydney and runs pretty late, so I could potentially make a day of it. But it’s good because one stop north is the station next to the campus where a bunch of my other friends live and one stop south is the Wollongong city stop, which is like a two block walk to an amazing mall. I still have yet to just go explore the city, but I’ve only been here a bit over a week, so I’m sure I’ll get around to it. The mall had a ton of stores. There were two components to it. You had the normal mall bit and then there was this outdoor area where there were a bunch of cafes and more expensive boutiques. I bought this really pretty dress (all the girls wear dresses when they go out, so I feel compelled to buy some to stay up with the fashion) for AU$12, which comes to be about US$7.70, or an AMAZING DEAL! I bought all my toiletries and whatnot else that I needed – it’s becoming more and more real that I am in fact going to be living in this beautiful place for the next four months. I think that once classes start it will really sink in that this is not just a vacation. Either that, or I’ve already accepted it and I just don’t miss AU that much. Think about it – being 15 minutes away from the beach or on a campus surrounded by cement, where it’s cold and rainy all the time? Which would you pick?
The beach itself is amazing – I took pictures so everyone can be jealous. Beach etiquette is a bit different here. For example, there are flags and it’s highly recommended that you swim between them. It’s the place where the lifeguards have deemed that it’s safe and where they are more likely to be able to help you. People swim between the two red and yellow flags and surfers have to surf outside of the blue flags. They also put up warning signs – like today, there was a sign that said ‘beware of blue bottles.’ Blue bottles are like mini Portuguese man of wars. The Aussies were telling us that it’s not that bad of a sting and that the lifeguards have spray that stops the pain. The water itself is so warm and so clear! Everyone is probably aware of my fear of water I can’t see into. Well, here I don’t have that problem! There is seaweed/kelp on the bottom of the ocean and even though it brushes against your legs in a creepy ‘omg what the hell was that’ kind of way, you look down and see it’s just seaweed and you calm down. The water is really warm too. Back home, when you get in the water it takes like 5 minutes for you to get numb enough for the cold water not to bother you anymore. Here, as soon as you get in, you think, ahh, that’s just chill enough to take away how hot it is. Which, by the way, that giant hole in the ozone layer is right above Australia, so everyone always wears 30+ sunscreen. There is none of the 4 tanning oil. They’re very serious about skin cancer down here because they have a huge amount of it. When I was walking to the mall, there were about three or four clinics for skin cancer. The waves are way more fun here too. There will be giant ones, about three or four of them right in a row. Today I attempted to learn how to ride them in, but I was always too afraid of losing my bottoms or my top to really do it.
Classes start this week – I don’t start until Tuesday morning and this week we only have lectures. Normal weeks will have lectures (usually 1 hour) and tutorials (usually two hours). My schedule as of now is this: Tuesday mornings 830 – 930 Redefining Eden: Indigenous People and the Environment lecture, then 930 – 1130 I have Australia Content: Media, Narrative and Celebrity (this class doesn’t have a tutorial, so that’s why it’s a longer lecture) and then from 330 to 530 I have my Australians and the Great War tutorial. On Wednesday I have from 930 to 1130 my Redefining Eden tutorial and then from 130 to 230 I have my Australians and the Great War lecture. And that is all my classes! I’m actually excited for them to start – I really do enjoy learning and these classes are pretty different from what I take back home.
On another note, today at the beach I played a bit of touch footy (basically touch rugby) in a small little area (so not a whole lot of running and cutting) and I realized how much I miss it. My knee is sore now (it might also be from the pilates I did earlier today too though) but I feel compelled to make it super solid so I can play again (sorry mom! At least you’ll get good action shots though). It really didn’t hinder me too much, or at least a lot less than I thought that it would, but I’m sure I was favoring it.
I’m really having a good time here – I know I’ve only been here in Australia for a little over a week but I think this was exactly what I needed after all of last semester’s nonsense. Additionally, I’m most likely going to be going to New Zealand for spring break (although for them it’s called Easter holiday because the seasons are switched) and going to see some Lord of the Rings sites, which pretty much makes my life every time I think about it.
Some other little things about Australia that I want to tell you:
• Money: The money is plastic. Apparently before it was, everyone was ruining their money because they were taking it in the water with them. Also, you don’t pay sales tax on anything or tip at all. The price you see is the price you pay. Here instead of $1 notes (they’re called notes, not bills) they have $1 and $2 coins. It’s actually pretty awesome because you think, oh man, all I have is change, and then you count it and it turns out you have close to $20 in your pocket.
• Opposite directions: Yes, they drive on the other side of the road over here. Apparently it’s because when driving, your dominant hand is on the wheel and your non-dominant hand is shifting (they only drive manual! I get props because I can) and everything just aligns better. However, it extends to more than just driving…when walking, they walk on the opposite side of the sidewalk too! For a while I would be walking into people, but I think I’m catching on now.
• Toilets: I haven’t actually seen the water flow in the opposite direction. It doesn’t really flow around like they do in America. First, there’s a lot less water in the bowl and then there are usually two buttons that you can press. One is for a lesser amount of water and the other is for a larger amount of water – I’m sure you can figure out why you would use one and the other. The water just kind of rushes into the bowl – there is no clockwise or counter-clockwise action.
• Stars: This is probably the weirdest – nothing looks familiar. I was outside and looking for a dipper and didn’t see one. Instead you have to look for the Southern Cross (it’s the star formation on the right side of their flag and potentially a tattoo for me ;) ) . I couldn’t find it when I was looking for it but apparently it’s sort of upside down in the sky, so I think I’ll go check again tonight.
That’s all for now – next time I post I should be able to talk about my classes a bit more and hopefully I should have pictures up soon! If you want to know anything else, just let me know and I’ll see what I can do.
Additionally, here is my contact information in case any one wants to send me some love (I’m buying post cards tomorrow so if you want one, send me an email or something with your address!)
Lisa Espinosa
International House
University of Wollongong
Wollongong NSW 2522
Australia
My mobile number is: 0466002510
25 February 2009
Recount of My Day at the GBR
I’m now finally in Australia! After waiting for what felt like weeks upon weeks I am here. I’ve actually only been at my Uni for a little over a day now, so I can’t really tell you what it’s like just yet. But, I can tell you that from what I’ve seen of Australia so far, I love it!
For the program that I came to Australia with, we had a program introduction in Cairns before heading down to our university. Their goal was to let us get to meet other Americans that were studying with AustraLearn as well as give us a few briefings on what life in Australia would be like. We had three sessions about Australia and then we had two excursions, one to the Great Barrier Reef and one to a place called RainForeStation, a nature park.
The Great Barrier Reef was really amazing! If you know me at all, you must know that I’m pretty petrified of water I can’t see into and of being eaten by a shark. To your surprise then, you should learn that I scuba dived and SAW A SHARK! Before scuba diving though, we started out with just snorkelling. It took me a while to get used to the whole putting your head under water in order to breathe. I actually had to try three times before I was finally able to master it. When we were jumping in the water there was a squall going on so it was raining and the water was really choppy. Like I said, three times. I got in the water, freaked out, got out, jumped back in, freaked out again, got out, and then the third time after jumping in I finally realized how to work the whole breathing thing and I was on my way! I wish I could tell you all how awesome it was to look down at all the sea life. I legit was saying ‘Wow, Awesome’ and ‘Cool’ to myself. There were fish everywhere, of all colours and sizes, and the coral came in every shape, colour and size too! I don’t really know the names of any of the stuff that I saw, but I remember that there was a giant brown disk like coral and then of course there were sea anemones!
Scuba diving is where I got to see things really up close, like the shark. I panicked a bit at first right when we went two feet down to make sure we would be able to do it, but I sucked it up and decided there was no way I wasn’t doing this. As we dove, we had to equalize our ears and they taught us a way to blow the water out of your mask. We saw a Nemo, got to hold a 4-legged starfish, a sea cucumber, and of course the shark. We also saw these tendril like things that I guess were part of the coral. With the shark, our diver at first showed us the tail, then brought us up one by one so we could look at the rest of its body…I’d say it was at least 5 or 6 feet long. I wish we would have been able to dive deeper or stay under longer, but unfortunately that was not the case. I think that if I ever get the chance again, I’ll go scuba diving for sure. Note: this does not mean my fear of water is gone. I’m still frightened, but not as much as I was before.
We went snorkelling in another place that was closer to an island. The first place we snorkelled, I’d say the coral and sea life was about 10 or 12 feet below you. This second place, it was maybe 3 feet, and some places were even closer. I’m pretty sure that I kneed a coral in the face, because I have a giant bruise on my knee now and I seem to remember kicking something. Me and one of my friends went on a search for turtles but we didn’t see any – she and I ventured out way far. Remember how I said that my fear wasn’t totally gone? Well, we had these floaty things that you strapped around your tummy to keep you floating, and one part was the pad and the other part was the strap. Well, I put the strap around my back so the pad was protecting my tummy so just in case any sharks attempted to bite at me I would have that little extra padding to protect me. There was some awesome sea life in this second place too – there would be what looked like a mini field of tentacles of some anemone or plant/animal like it – and it looked like it was just blowing in the breeze. We never found the turtles, but we saw a jet black sea cucumber, a bright blue star fish, and we’re pretty sure we saw a barracuda. It was kinda far away, long, skinny, and you couldn’t see it from the top of the water…needless to say we swam away from there. The only problem was that there were little mini-stingers in the water. I got stung on the lip and I thought to myself, ‘no, I’m making this up, I’m not actually getting stung.’ But then I got stung on the arm (we were wearing these really super hot stinger suits – I’ll find a picture of us in them just so everyone can see how amazing they were) where my suit had a cut in it, and then again on my neck. The same thing happened to everyone else too, so I was not just imagining things. When we were closer to the boat, there were these giant fish that some of the crew were feeding…they would throw some chum out and then the fish would speed towards it and snap it up in their giant mouths (they had these blue lips too). Of course, the crew threw a piece right in front of me and Marissa as I was looking down in the water…that fish swam STRAIGHT at us and then flipped away. We got out of the water after that.
On the boat ride back, the crew tricked us into drawing on our faces. They said that we were looking sort of burned and that they would teach us an Australian trick of using zinc to prevent any further sunburn. I don’t know if anyone knows, but zinc goes on like the Burt’s Bees stuff with the red cap, so it seemed like they were face painting us with these sticks of chapstick-esque consistency stuff. The one crew drew some lines on one side of my face and called it an east-meeting-west type of thing. He was very proud of himself. There’s a picture of it somewhere, but I’ll have to find it (I didn’t take any pictures myself this entire time. I’m lame, I can’t even believe it myself).
It’s now 2 in the morning and I’m actually pretty exhausted. I woke up at 730 this morning and did quite a lot. I’m posting this now just to give everyone a little peek at what I spent half of one day in Australia doing. I’ll write soon about my trip to RainForeStation and then what life here at the uni is like soon. Tomorrow I’m going to the beach – someone here told me it’s so gorgeous I’m going to pee myself. Hopefully I’ll be able to contain myself, but I’m really hoping it’s super pretty. I’ll make sure to bring my camera along this time. I don’t start classes until March 2 so I’ll definitely try to post again before then and include information about my classes, schedule, where I'm living and whatnot else.
For the program that I came to Australia with, we had a program introduction in Cairns before heading down to our university. Their goal was to let us get to meet other Americans that were studying with AustraLearn as well as give us a few briefings on what life in Australia would be like. We had three sessions about Australia and then we had two excursions, one to the Great Barrier Reef and one to a place called RainForeStation, a nature park.
The Great Barrier Reef was really amazing! If you know me at all, you must know that I’m pretty petrified of water I can’t see into and of being eaten by a shark. To your surprise then, you should learn that I scuba dived and SAW A SHARK! Before scuba diving though, we started out with just snorkelling. It took me a while to get used to the whole putting your head under water in order to breathe. I actually had to try three times before I was finally able to master it. When we were jumping in the water there was a squall going on so it was raining and the water was really choppy. Like I said, three times. I got in the water, freaked out, got out, jumped back in, freaked out again, got out, and then the third time after jumping in I finally realized how to work the whole breathing thing and I was on my way! I wish I could tell you all how awesome it was to look down at all the sea life. I legit was saying ‘Wow, Awesome’ and ‘Cool’ to myself. There were fish everywhere, of all colours and sizes, and the coral came in every shape, colour and size too! I don’t really know the names of any of the stuff that I saw, but I remember that there was a giant brown disk like coral and then of course there were sea anemones!
Scuba diving is where I got to see things really up close, like the shark. I panicked a bit at first right when we went two feet down to make sure we would be able to do it, but I sucked it up and decided there was no way I wasn’t doing this. As we dove, we had to equalize our ears and they taught us a way to blow the water out of your mask. We saw a Nemo, got to hold a 4-legged starfish, a sea cucumber, and of course the shark. We also saw these tendril like things that I guess were part of the coral. With the shark, our diver at first showed us the tail, then brought us up one by one so we could look at the rest of its body…I’d say it was at least 5 or 6 feet long. I wish we would have been able to dive deeper or stay under longer, but unfortunately that was not the case. I think that if I ever get the chance again, I’ll go scuba diving for sure. Note: this does not mean my fear of water is gone. I’m still frightened, but not as much as I was before.
We went snorkelling in another place that was closer to an island. The first place we snorkelled, I’d say the coral and sea life was about 10 or 12 feet below you. This second place, it was maybe 3 feet, and some places were even closer. I’m pretty sure that I kneed a coral in the face, because I have a giant bruise on my knee now and I seem to remember kicking something. Me and one of my friends went on a search for turtles but we didn’t see any – she and I ventured out way far. Remember how I said that my fear wasn’t totally gone? Well, we had these floaty things that you strapped around your tummy to keep you floating, and one part was the pad and the other part was the strap. Well, I put the strap around my back so the pad was protecting my tummy so just in case any sharks attempted to bite at me I would have that little extra padding to protect me. There was some awesome sea life in this second place too – there would be what looked like a mini field of tentacles of some anemone or plant/animal like it – and it looked like it was just blowing in the breeze. We never found the turtles, but we saw a jet black sea cucumber, a bright blue star fish, and we’re pretty sure we saw a barracuda. It was kinda far away, long, skinny, and you couldn’t see it from the top of the water…needless to say we swam away from there. The only problem was that there were little mini-stingers in the water. I got stung on the lip and I thought to myself, ‘no, I’m making this up, I’m not actually getting stung.’ But then I got stung on the arm (we were wearing these really super hot stinger suits – I’ll find a picture of us in them just so everyone can see how amazing they were) where my suit had a cut in it, and then again on my neck. The same thing happened to everyone else too, so I was not just imagining things. When we were closer to the boat, there were these giant fish that some of the crew were feeding…they would throw some chum out and then the fish would speed towards it and snap it up in their giant mouths (they had these blue lips too). Of course, the crew threw a piece right in front of me and Marissa as I was looking down in the water…that fish swam STRAIGHT at us and then flipped away. We got out of the water after that.
On the boat ride back, the crew tricked us into drawing on our faces. They said that we were looking sort of burned and that they would teach us an Australian trick of using zinc to prevent any further sunburn. I don’t know if anyone knows, but zinc goes on like the Burt’s Bees stuff with the red cap, so it seemed like they were face painting us with these sticks of chapstick-esque consistency stuff. The one crew drew some lines on one side of my face and called it an east-meeting-west type of thing. He was very proud of himself. There’s a picture of it somewhere, but I’ll have to find it (I didn’t take any pictures myself this entire time. I’m lame, I can’t even believe it myself).
It’s now 2 in the morning and I’m actually pretty exhausted. I woke up at 730 this morning and did quite a lot. I’m posting this now just to give everyone a little peek at what I spent half of one day in Australia doing. I’ll write soon about my trip to RainForeStation and then what life here at the uni is like soon. Tomorrow I’m going to the beach – someone here told me it’s so gorgeous I’m going to pee myself. Hopefully I’ll be able to contain myself, but I’m really hoping it’s super pretty. I’ll make sure to bring my camera along this time. I don’t start classes until March 2 so I’ll definitely try to post again before then and include information about my classes, schedule, where I'm living and whatnot else.
18 January 2009
T-Minus 1 Month!
Well, I'm sitting here at home and I've got right around a month before I'll be on a plane headed west. I just applied for my student visa today (it's an online process, should be no problem(fingers crossed)) but there are still tons of other things I need to do. None of them are too dire at the moment, but I'm sure I'm going to wait for a while and they're all just going to creep up on me.
For those who don't know, Wollongong is 50 miles south of Sydney and about 110 miles northeast of Canberra (Australia's Capital). The university has mountains behind it and a beach in front of it...perfect for whatever I might want to do.
So while I'm procrastinating and not doing anything, here are some sites that should help get me acquainted with Australia and living there:
This first one shows you the monthly averages for the weather in Wollongong. The site should be in Fahrenheit - it's going to be a bit before I become accustomed to Celsius. I hope that everyone realizes that I'm going in Australia's fall and winter and therefore you will be very jealous of how perfect the weather should be.
This next site is one of the big news sources in Australia. I'm going to try to look at it every day to have a better understanding of what all is going on there. One of my friends here sent me an article from the Times about increased shark attacks - Joy! Maybe that won't be so much of an issue by the time I get there...
Finally, this site is the school's website. Feel free to bum around on it...I've been checking out their student group pages and what not. Because I'm taking some time off of competitive sports to allow my knee lots of recovery time, I need to find some other way to occupy my time. Any suggestions?
That's all for now and probably for a while - not too much exciting stuff will be happening between now and when I leave. I await my adventures in the outback!
For those who don't know, Wollongong is 50 miles south of Sydney and about 110 miles northeast of Canberra (Australia's Capital). The university has mountains behind it and a beach in front of it...perfect for whatever I might want to do.
So while I'm procrastinating and not doing anything, here are some sites that should help get me acquainted with Australia and living there:
This first one shows you the monthly averages for the weather in Wollongong. The site should be in Fahrenheit - it's going to be a bit before I become accustomed to Celsius. I hope that everyone realizes that I'm going in Australia's fall and winter and therefore you will be very jealous of how perfect the weather should be.
This next site is one of the big news sources in Australia. I'm going to try to look at it every day to have a better understanding of what all is going on there. One of my friends here sent me an article from the Times about increased shark attacks - Joy! Maybe that won't be so much of an issue by the time I get there...
Finally, this site is the school's website. Feel free to bum around on it...I've been checking out their student group pages and what not. Because I'm taking some time off of competitive sports to allow my knee lots of recovery time, I need to find some other way to occupy my time. Any suggestions?
That's all for now and probably for a while - not too much exciting stuff will be happening between now and when I leave. I await my adventures in the outback!
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