In one month I will be home. wow. It is so crazy to think that my experience here is almost over, although I'm ready to be home, I miss it.
So a few weeks ago (April 5-7) I went to the Blue Mountains. The Blue Mountains are the mountain range that are to the west of Sydney, about an hour away. I actually went with my literature class so it was a field trip (and all paid for!)
On the first day we woke up really early to meet at the train station at 5AM... pretty early. One this first day we went abseiling (repelling) and canyoning. It was a really great experience, mostly because I know it's something I probably won't have the chance to do again. We repelled down a baby cliff (really a rock) that was only 5M, then 10M, the 15M. It was kinda scary putting all of your weight into this rope and trusting that you would be fine. Later in the day we went canyoning which involved putting on wet suits and jumping in to water that was probably.. 50 degrees F (very cold!) We slid down rocks and jumped in pools and all sorts of things.. at the end we repelled off of a (probably around 20M) waterfall. I think it was the scariest thing I have ever done. But so rewarding, by the end I was so happy I had done it.
The rest of the weekend was fun, we watched a movie of a book we had read, had discussions, read plays aloud (we all had parts, it was pretty funny), and ate some good food. We stayed in this large guest house which I guess is pretty common in the mountains (especially in the mid 1900s). On the last day, we went to see the "Three Sisters" which is a famous rock formation in the mountains. Unfortunately, it was really foggy (which brings me to the point of... the mist in the mountains. It's really caused from the chemicals.. or something.. in the eucalyptis trees). So because of the mist we couldn't see too much, but it was still fun to be there. We also went on the Katoomba Scenic Railway which is the steepest incline railway in the world! Unfortunately.. it wasn't that exciting, pretty slow.. but it was steep.
9 April 2008
My birthday! I definitely had a great birthday, although I was a little homesick for my friends and family. On my actual birthday I went to this Mexican restaurant called Cafe Pacifico which had really tasty food and we drank margaritas and Coronas (how appropriate, right?) My friends and I had to work every day that week so we went to one bar but went home shortly after that. All of the girls here were really good to me, and got so much more than I could ask for. They got me this canvas / duffel bag that I have really wanted from a store called Country Road (somewhat like Banana Republic in the States), a gift certificate to a store called Witchery, lots of candy and cards, a bottle of champagne, and a manicure/pedicure. How could I even forget... my coworkers at the InterCon were all so great to me! Completely unexpected.. they sang to me, got me a little cake, and lots of little Australian sort of gifts (like a baby kangaroo, koala pen, etc etc) It was so nice.. and they put up a happy birthday banner! Later that week we went out on Friday, had a barbecue on the roof on Saturday, and got dressed up and went to this fancy/trendy bar on the harbour later that night.
So since then... I have just been working and getting things done around here. The weather has been totally crappy, but this weekend we are taking a trip north and the weather is supposed to be beautiful! This past weekend I walked across the harbour bridge, went to Luna Park (this goofy looking amusement park), and hung around. This week is the final push of all things academic.. I turned in my final internship paper yesterday and have to hand in my lit paper on Thursday. But after that we get a long weekend and some sun!
April 22, 2008
April 3, 2008
Dictionary...
So I've been thinking for awhile that I want to start a US-Aussie dictionary. Even though we all speak English, there are a lot of words and expressions that are completely different, and I don't want to forget them! Some may be obvious, and some a little weird...
Also something I find interesting... I've noticed I say: "I'm all set" a lot you know... meaning: No thanks or I'm fine, and that confuses the Australians every time!
I'll probably just add to this as I think of OR learn more! (and by the way.. some of the spelling might be very wrong...)
"a good laugh" = something's funny...
bush = forest
cheers = bye, general salutation
cossie = bathing suit
fortnight = 2 weeks
freckles = sprinkles or jimmies
"good fun" = obvious.. just very commonly said
heaps = a lot of (something)
hotel = bar (and also an actual hotel too)
"how are you going" = how are you, what's up
hungry bum = wedgie
joggers = sneakers
mate = friend
mobile = cell phone, i know we know this word, but no one ever says cell phone
"no worries" = very common response, usually in response to "thank you"
"not happy jan" = expression when you are angry, from a yellow pages commercial in the 90's
pram = baby stroller
rauw = argument
shout = round of drinks
thongs = flip flops
tomato sauce = ketchup
"what are you after" = what do you need
z = pronounced "zed" .. for some odd reason
Also something I find interesting... I've noticed I say: "I'm all set" a lot you know... meaning: No thanks or I'm fine, and that confuses the Australians every time!
I'll probably just add to this as I think of OR learn more! (and by the way.. some of the spelling might be very wrong...)
"a good laugh" = something's funny...
bush = forest
cheers = bye, general salutation
cossie = bathing suit
fortnight = 2 weeks
freckles = sprinkles or jimmies
"good fun" = obvious.. just very commonly said
heaps = a lot of (something)
hotel = bar (and also an actual hotel too)
"how are you going" = how are you, what's up
hungry bum = wedgie
joggers = sneakers
mate = friend
mobile = cell phone, i know we know this word, but no one ever says cell phone
"no worries" = very common response, usually in response to "thank you"
"not happy jan" = expression when you are angry, from a yellow pages commercial in the 90's
pram = baby stroller
rauw = argument
shout = round of drinks
thongs = flip flops
tomato sauce = ketchup
"what are you after" = what do you need
z = pronounced "zed" .. for some odd reason
March 31, 2008
Spring Break etc...
I know, I know.. it's been awhile. I've been slacking, but I think I'll be able to remember everything up to now (almost a month...)
Ok, so last time I wrote it was 24 Feb. That entire week was really crazy, I had lots of work because my two classes were finishing up. Papers, exams, etc. etc. They actually never give us our grades back so I don't know how I ended up doing, but I think I did pretty well.
MID-SEMESTER BREAK
1 March-
So after our final exam in my Australian Culture and Society class, I finished up packing and getting ready and headed off to the airport. We took a flight to Airlie Beach, (in Queensland) and when we got off the plane there was basically a huge rainstorm.. not to thrilling to see on the first day of spring break. We finally made it to our hostel that night and hung around, and didn't do too much because we had to get up pretty early the next day.
2 March-
For the first part of spring break my friends Nicole, Kelsey, Jenn, and Tracey, and I went on a 24 person sailboat called the Boomerang for three days; it was such a fun and amazing experience. The only thing that was kind of unfortunate was that the weather wasn't too great, but by the last day it cleared up. It was still really fun to be in that environment, not shower, and meet lots of different people. We made friends with these four guys from Israel, and there were lots of other European backpackers on our boat too.
I finally got to see the Great Barrier Reef! We went snorkeling a lot and it was really neat to see all of the fish, and the reef and everything. The area we were in, the Whitsunday Islands, actually isn't the most famous for the reef (isn't as clear, etc) so when you're above it you have absolutely no idea that this huge reef and so much life is under the reef. I remember the first time I went under water it was a shock to see all of the fish etc etc!
4 March -
We got back to Airlie Beach on the 4th in the morning.. and were basically homeless since our bus didn't leave for something like 8 hours. We decided to get a room in a hostel so we could shower (very important!). Which was so nice, even though we were in the water.. wow not showering for three days is pretty gross. After that we just hung around for the afternoon. I bought pink havaianas; you probably have seen them in the states and not realized, but they're really popular flip flops in Australia... I like them a lot.
So here's when the story gets interesting... we got ready to board our bus at about 8pm to Cairns which was where the rest of our break was. We're on the bus for about two hours and our bus driver pulls over at this rest stop/gas station and tells us "sorry guys, but there's been a lot of flooding in cairns, and we can't get through, all of the roads are closed, i will wait here and anyone who wants to get on a bus back to airlie beach there's one coming soon, or i'll take you as far as townsville and you can get accomodation there." So as you can imagine, everyone pretty much freaks out. In the end... we decided to go to Townsville, we stayed there for about three days and went to this really cool island, and everything worked out. It was actually a pretty great experience to have, to decide things for yourself, and work things out. In situations like that I think you kind of just have to go with it, there's no use in freaking out and getting all stressed. I think you kind of have to go with God on it and trust Him... everything works out, and it did.
So we went to Townsville and stayed in this gross hostel (far from the highlight of our trip!) and the next day when we knew that there was still flooding and know way to get up to Townsville, we decided to go to Magnetic Island. We had a lot of fun there, took about a 20 minute ferry to the island, stayed in this cool hostel which was very rustic.. we had our own cabin, rented a moke (kinda a goofy looking car), went to some beautiful beaches, went on a bushwalk (aka what we call a hike), and held a koala, a snake, and an crocodile!!
So the highlights... holding a koala. I was so excited, and I've been so excited to do that! My parents would probably make fun of me because even in December or January at home I was already so excited. They are so cute and.. it was just very exciting!
My other highlight was this crazy bushwalk we went on... I guess it wasn't that great but I knew I needed to write this down or else I would forget. So we decide to go to the beach and the woman at our hostel tells us it isn't too far. Well it was... we walked forever! In about 80 degrees, up hills, to finally get to the entrance to the park. We didn't have any water either... then we walked about another 20 minutes to finally get to the beach. So anyways, after a while, my friends left and I decided I wanted to stay. I guess that was kind of a silly thing to do (you know.. being alone and all) but I needed it. The cool thing is that I decided to go for a bushwalk by myself back to our hostel. It was one of the hardest and most amazing things I've ever done. I was so hot and sweaty and so thirsty.. I decided to listen to my ipod and had it on a shuffle of all of my Christian music and all of a sudden this song comes on:
Lord I'm tired, so tired of walking...
I think I'll stop and rest here awhile
This is all that I can say right now, I know it's not much
This is all that I can give, ya that's my everything
So right when I was about to give up, this song comes on (David Crowder Band, "All I Can Say"), which was just really cool, I sat down for a little bit, then when I got up I went about 20 more feet and I was at the top. How perfect. Ok.. so there wasn't a cool view or anything, but it was pretty amazing for the hill (and the hard part) to be over and start going back down. It was one of the most amazing things. Sometimes I feel like this world is so big, and I've gotten this really cool, new perspective being here. That God truly is everywhere and has this amazing, sovereign power over everything. Wow.
So ok.. we finally made it to Cairns... for one night. The next morning we woke up and hung out at the pool for awhile then went to the airport for our flight back.
9 March-
So we decided to go back to Manly Beach. It is definitely my favorite beach. To get there you go on a 30 minute ferry ride, there's lots of store and restaurants, and the actual beach is so beautiful.
10 March Monday-
So we had our first day of classes! I'm taking an Australian literature class which has been pretty fun. Our teacher is Sharon, and she's such a great lady. I just started a new book which I really like called the Shark Net, and today (the 31st) we went on a field trip to a cemetery (i know.. sounds weird) but it's the setting to one of our other books.
11 March -
First day of internships! So I'm working at the Intercontinental Sydney hotel downtown right near the opera house, harbour bridge, and an area called Circular Quay (pronounced Key). The hotel is really beautiful, and part of the six or so 5 star hotels in Sydney. It's been really neat to finally be in a hotel environment since all of my work experience thus far has been in.. non-hotels. I'm working in the Sales and Marketing department, and more specifically in the Meetings and Events department which is an off-shoot of S&M. This has been such a blessing because I've wanted to get into this area for awhile. I've been working on putting groups into our computer system and booking them space and accommodation nights (if they need them). Once I do that it generates a proposal form that I edit and make look "pretty." So far it's been a really good experience and the people I work with are so friendly and just very nice..
One thing I've realized about myself is that for now while I have the time and energy I definitely want to be in the operations side. While I know I don't want to work concessions and the sort of thing I did with ARAMARK last summer, I loved being out there with the employees, and the customers, and just being in all of the action! With this job it is very much behind a desk, phone and computer work. So I'm glad with each of the jobs I've had I can learn a little bit more of what I do and don't want to do in the future.
21 March Friday-
So... Easter weekend. Easter is very different in the Australia than the US, not in the religious aspect, but in the commercialized aspect. It's hard to explain unless you are here, but Easter is so much more commercialized here. I don't just mean bunnies and chocolate.. because they have all of that too, but it's something else. First of all, it's a four day weekend (with Good Friday and Easter Monday as public holidays) so people have a lot of time off and take the weekend to get out of the city, party, etc. But the one thing I noticed which was weird is that there are easter sales.. I saw signs at clothing stores, liquor stores, and everything in between... very strange.
With that being said, since everyone is trying to get out of the city, it becomes really expensive to get plane tickets, so my friends and I just took the weekend to do lots of "Sydney" things that we have been meaning to do.
So we were going to the Aquarium.. but there was this festival going on at Darling Harbour which caused everyone to be there with free entry in for kids under 12 or something like that. So we decided against the aquarium and instead checked out this festival called "Hoopla." There were all sorts of things going on, it was kinda of like.. a free outdoor festival for kids.. but we still enjoyed it. There was this crazy band, they each had a instrument they were playing and they were flying in the air.. like acrobats. After that we went to the IMAX and saw a 3D imax movie of an African safari, no gonna lie, it was pretty cool. Glynnis, Rachel, Nicole, and I basically spent the day being.. 10 years olds, but it was fun.
22 March Saturday-
So Saturday we went to the Paddington Markets and Oxford Street, which is kinda like Newbury St in Boston (aka expensive shopping). The markets were really cool, they had a lot of beautiful jewlery and clothes, bags, paintings etc etc. I wanted to buy lots of things but controlled the urge. Then we walked down Oxford Street and went into some more shops and things. Saturday night we went to a bar at Coogee Beach which was really fun, and ironically I saw two girls I work with.. pretty ironic!
23 March Sunday-
Easter Sunday! It was pretty weird not being at home for Easter, definitely the first one. I went to church at Hillsong. For Easter Sunday they actually moved to the convention center on the harbour and it was a combined service, (from the 11am and 115pm service) it was huge, probably about 2,000 people. The worship was really great, but because Hillsong is a contemporary church, I really did miss the traditional Easter hymns, and specifically the Hallelujah chorus that Bethany does every year. The other thing I was kinda disappointed with was that I felt like the service was more focused on being an alter call and not on the actual Word. It was definitely surface level of what Easter was about, but that was it... I hate to say it, but it felt fake..more just trying to convert people (which of course is never a bad thing either!) I guess it's bad for me to say this about a church, but I suppose I was just expecting something different. After church I headed back to my room then headed off to a different beach, Maroubra.
24 March Monday-
So like I said, we had the day off because Easter monday is a public holiday. We were going to go to Palm Beach, but instead went to the pool and hung around for the day. It was nice just to have the time to relax and not have to do anything.
25 March Tuesday-
Back to work...
29 March Saturday-
Went to Palm Beach for the day... after handing in our first literature assignment at 9am. Palm Beach is really far away (it took us almost two hours to get there), but it was so beautiful and really secluded. Just hung out for the day and read a book, then later we got Fish and Chips. yum!
30 March Sunday-
Headed off to the Sydney Easter Show. It's kind of like a state fair x 10 + some crazy australians. There were rides and games, dog and cat shows, bull riding, horse competitions, corn on the cob (!), John Deere tractors (haha), dirt bike jumping .. stuff, and a fireworks/laser show. It was really fun, and a good way to spend the day.
31 March Monday-
So like I said we had a field trip to a cemetery.. I know.. weird. In a book we just read a little boy goes to visit the same cemetery.. it's where his mom is buried. The book is actually pretty cool because it's based on the authors life he just changes some situations and names.
I think that's it.. I know very long, but I had to catch up on everything! Check out the picture website.. they're all on there. :-)
Ok, so last time I wrote it was 24 Feb. That entire week was really crazy, I had lots of work because my two classes were finishing up. Papers, exams, etc. etc. They actually never give us our grades back so I don't know how I ended up doing, but I think I did pretty well.
MID-SEMESTER BREAK
1 March-
So after our final exam in my Australian Culture and Society class, I finished up packing and getting ready and headed off to the airport. We took a flight to Airlie Beach, (in Queensland) and when we got off the plane there was basically a huge rainstorm.. not to thrilling to see on the first day of spring break. We finally made it to our hostel that night and hung around, and didn't do too much because we had to get up pretty early the next day.
2 March-
For the first part of spring break my friends Nicole, Kelsey, Jenn, and Tracey, and I went on a 24 person sailboat called the Boomerang for three days; it was such a fun and amazing experience. The only thing that was kind of unfortunate was that the weather wasn't too great, but by the last day it cleared up. It was still really fun to be in that environment, not shower, and meet lots of different people. We made friends with these four guys from Israel, and there were lots of other European backpackers on our boat too.
I finally got to see the Great Barrier Reef! We went snorkeling a lot and it was really neat to see all of the fish, and the reef and everything. The area we were in, the Whitsunday Islands, actually isn't the most famous for the reef (isn't as clear, etc) so when you're above it you have absolutely no idea that this huge reef and so much life is under the reef. I remember the first time I went under water it was a shock to see all of the fish etc etc!
4 March -
We got back to Airlie Beach on the 4th in the morning.. and were basically homeless since our bus didn't leave for something like 8 hours. We decided to get a room in a hostel so we could shower (very important!). Which was so nice, even though we were in the water.. wow not showering for three days is pretty gross. After that we just hung around for the afternoon. I bought pink havaianas; you probably have seen them in the states and not realized, but they're really popular flip flops in Australia... I like them a lot.
So here's when the story gets interesting... we got ready to board our bus at about 8pm to Cairns which was where the rest of our break was. We're on the bus for about two hours and our bus driver pulls over at this rest stop/gas station and tells us "sorry guys, but there's been a lot of flooding in cairns, and we can't get through, all of the roads are closed, i will wait here and anyone who wants to get on a bus back to airlie beach there's one coming soon, or i'll take you as far as townsville and you can get accomodation there." So as you can imagine, everyone pretty much freaks out. In the end... we decided to go to Townsville, we stayed there for about three days and went to this really cool island, and everything worked out. It was actually a pretty great experience to have, to decide things for yourself, and work things out. In situations like that I think you kind of just have to go with it, there's no use in freaking out and getting all stressed. I think you kind of have to go with God on it and trust Him... everything works out, and it did.
So we went to Townsville and stayed in this gross hostel (far from the highlight of our trip!) and the next day when we knew that there was still flooding and know way to get up to Townsville, we decided to go to Magnetic Island. We had a lot of fun there, took about a 20 minute ferry to the island, stayed in this cool hostel which was very rustic.. we had our own cabin, rented a moke (kinda a goofy looking car), went to some beautiful beaches, went on a bushwalk (aka what we call a hike), and held a koala, a snake, and an crocodile!!
So the highlights... holding a koala. I was so excited, and I've been so excited to do that! My parents would probably make fun of me because even in December or January at home I was already so excited. They are so cute and.. it was just very exciting!
My other highlight was this crazy bushwalk we went on... I guess it wasn't that great but I knew I needed to write this down or else I would forget. So we decide to go to the beach and the woman at our hostel tells us it isn't too far. Well it was... we walked forever! In about 80 degrees, up hills, to finally get to the entrance to the park. We didn't have any water either... then we walked about another 20 minutes to finally get to the beach. So anyways, after a while, my friends left and I decided I wanted to stay. I guess that was kind of a silly thing to do (you know.. being alone and all) but I needed it. The cool thing is that I decided to go for a bushwalk by myself back to our hostel. It was one of the hardest and most amazing things I've ever done. I was so hot and sweaty and so thirsty.. I decided to listen to my ipod and had it on a shuffle of all of my Christian music and all of a sudden this song comes on:
Lord I'm tired, so tired of walking...
I think I'll stop and rest here awhile
This is all that I can say right now, I know it's not much
This is all that I can give, ya that's my everything
So right when I was about to give up, this song comes on (David Crowder Band, "All I Can Say"), which was just really cool, I sat down for a little bit, then when I got up I went about 20 more feet and I was at the top. How perfect. Ok.. so there wasn't a cool view or anything, but it was pretty amazing for the hill (and the hard part) to be over and start going back down. It was one of the most amazing things. Sometimes I feel like this world is so big, and I've gotten this really cool, new perspective being here. That God truly is everywhere and has this amazing, sovereign power over everything. Wow.
So ok.. we finally made it to Cairns... for one night. The next morning we woke up and hung out at the pool for awhile then went to the airport for our flight back.
9 March-
So we decided to go back to Manly Beach. It is definitely my favorite beach. To get there you go on a 30 minute ferry ride, there's lots of store and restaurants, and the actual beach is so beautiful.
10 March Monday-
So we had our first day of classes! I'm taking an Australian literature class which has been pretty fun. Our teacher is Sharon, and she's such a great lady. I just started a new book which I really like called the Shark Net, and today (the 31st) we went on a field trip to a cemetery (i know.. sounds weird) but it's the setting to one of our other books.
11 March -
First day of internships! So I'm working at the Intercontinental Sydney hotel downtown right near the opera house, harbour bridge, and an area called Circular Quay (pronounced Key). The hotel is really beautiful, and part of the six or so 5 star hotels in Sydney. It's been really neat to finally be in a hotel environment since all of my work experience thus far has been in.. non-hotels. I'm working in the Sales and Marketing department, and more specifically in the Meetings and Events department which is an off-shoot of S&M. This has been such a blessing because I've wanted to get into this area for awhile. I've been working on putting groups into our computer system and booking them space and accommodation nights (if they need them). Once I do that it generates a proposal form that I edit and make look "pretty." So far it's been a really good experience and the people I work with are so friendly and just very nice..
One thing I've realized about myself is that for now while I have the time and energy I definitely want to be in the operations side. While I know I don't want to work concessions and the sort of thing I did with ARAMARK last summer, I loved being out there with the employees, and the customers, and just being in all of the action! With this job it is very much behind a desk, phone and computer work. So I'm glad with each of the jobs I've had I can learn a little bit more of what I do and don't want to do in the future.
21 March Friday-
So... Easter weekend. Easter is very different in the Australia than the US, not in the religious aspect, but in the commercialized aspect. It's hard to explain unless you are here, but Easter is so much more commercialized here. I don't just mean bunnies and chocolate.. because they have all of that too, but it's something else. First of all, it's a four day weekend (with Good Friday and Easter Monday as public holidays) so people have a lot of time off and take the weekend to get out of the city, party, etc. But the one thing I noticed which was weird is that there are easter sales.. I saw signs at clothing stores, liquor stores, and everything in between... very strange.
With that being said, since everyone is trying to get out of the city, it becomes really expensive to get plane tickets, so my friends and I just took the weekend to do lots of "Sydney" things that we have been meaning to do.
So we were going to the Aquarium.. but there was this festival going on at Darling Harbour which caused everyone to be there with free entry in for kids under 12 or something like that. So we decided against the aquarium and instead checked out this festival called "Hoopla." There were all sorts of things going on, it was kinda of like.. a free outdoor festival for kids.. but we still enjoyed it. There was this crazy band, they each had a instrument they were playing and they were flying in the air.. like acrobats. After that we went to the IMAX and saw a 3D imax movie of an African safari, no gonna lie, it was pretty cool. Glynnis, Rachel, Nicole, and I basically spent the day being.. 10 years olds, but it was fun.
22 March Saturday-
So Saturday we went to the Paddington Markets and Oxford Street, which is kinda like Newbury St in Boston (aka expensive shopping). The markets were really cool, they had a lot of beautiful jewlery and clothes, bags, paintings etc etc. I wanted to buy lots of things but controlled the urge. Then we walked down Oxford Street and went into some more shops and things. Saturday night we went to a bar at Coogee Beach which was really fun, and ironically I saw two girls I work with.. pretty ironic!
23 March Sunday-
Easter Sunday! It was pretty weird not being at home for Easter, definitely the first one. I went to church at Hillsong. For Easter Sunday they actually moved to the convention center on the harbour and it was a combined service, (from the 11am and 115pm service) it was huge, probably about 2,000 people. The worship was really great, but because Hillsong is a contemporary church, I really did miss the traditional Easter hymns, and specifically the Hallelujah chorus that Bethany does every year. The other thing I was kinda disappointed with was that I felt like the service was more focused on being an alter call and not on the actual Word. It was definitely surface level of what Easter was about, but that was it... I hate to say it, but it felt fake..more just trying to convert people (which of course is never a bad thing either!) I guess it's bad for me to say this about a church, but I suppose I was just expecting something different. After church I headed back to my room then headed off to a different beach, Maroubra.
24 March Monday-
So like I said, we had the day off because Easter monday is a public holiday. We were going to go to Palm Beach, but instead went to the pool and hung around for the day. It was nice just to have the time to relax and not have to do anything.
25 March Tuesday-
Back to work...
29 March Saturday-
Went to Palm Beach for the day... after handing in our first literature assignment at 9am. Palm Beach is really far away (it took us almost two hours to get there), but it was so beautiful and really secluded. Just hung out for the day and read a book, then later we got Fish and Chips. yum!
30 March Sunday-
Headed off to the Sydney Easter Show. It's kind of like a state fair x 10 + some crazy australians. There were rides and games, dog and cat shows, bull riding, horse competitions, corn on the cob (!), John Deere tractors (haha), dirt bike jumping .. stuff, and a fireworks/laser show. It was really fun, and a good way to spend the day.
31 March Monday-
So like I said we had a field trip to a cemetery.. I know.. weird. In a book we just read a little boy goes to visit the same cemetery.. it's where his mom is buried. The book is actually pretty cool because it's based on the authors life he just changes some situations and names.
I think that's it.. I know very long, but I had to catch up on everything! Check out the picture website.. they're all on there. :-)
February 25, 2008
Livin' the Good Life
Wow.. what a week (or so) it has been. I hope everyone is happy to know that I finished both of my papers.. and the last one in time to go to the beach. Finally saw Manly Beach (other than Bondi, the most famous beach in Sydney). It was beautiful, and we had a pretty good day, hung around there for awile, went shopping, and ate an early dinner. Manly is also pretty cool because to get there (when you don't have a car) you take a ferry from downtown across the harbour and get to see the opera house close up, so that was cool!
Sunday 17 February-
Sunday we headed off as a group (about 120 people including instructors, coordinators, etc) to Melbourne. It was such a great experience, I couldn't start to explain it all. First of all, it was really neat to see the difference in the cities. Sundays, like in Sydney, are pretty dead in Melbourne. .. oh did I mention you don't pronounce it mel-born, it's mel-bin, i know.. very weird... I feel like everyone in Sydney (or almost everyone) is trendy and tan and you know.. the same. But in Melbourne, there were lots of sub-culture groups, and different people. Another cool thing about the city were the laneways. A laneway, how we would think about it is actually an alley. But in Melbourne, they're really different. First of all, there is grafitti everywhere, but it's pretty cool because it is sanctioned by the city and an artist owns a wall and can decorate it however they want. The other cool thing about the laneways is that there are bars, restaurants, cafes, and shopping. Some of them are bigger than others and you can clearly see everything, but others are hidden, and you would never be able to find a certain bar unless you were looking for it and knew where it was located. ...very interesting.
So Sunday we went to the Queen Victoria Markets, which is an outdoor market.. with lots of cheap souviners. I got some pretty cool pink sunglasses. :-) There's also a lot of food, and there were some Chinese New Year celebrations going on too. Later that night a bunch of us went to St. Kilda Beach which is a cute area, and actually not so much on the ocean, but on the huge bay that borders Melbourne. It was fun, we went to a pricey Mexican restaurant, and later went to a bar that was on a roof downtown and we could see the entire city.
On Monday I went on an "academic tour" (which we were required to do 2 of) with Pascal who is about the cutest and nicest man you'll ever meet. He coordinates all of the housing and internet and what not for us in Sydney. He took us around to all these different laneways and eventually we somewhat left the city and went to the really great/cheap pizza place. Glynnis and I did some shopping and made our way back into the downtown area. Later that night I went to "Little Italy" with a few girls and we had the most amazing gelatto I've ever had.
Tuesday was by far one of the most amazing days I've had in Australia. About 60 people from our program left really early in the morning to go on a tour through the "Great Ocean Road." We basically drove...forever... on this road that has the most breathtaking views of the ocean I've ever seen. We stopped in a lot of different places: beaches, sides of cliffs, outdoor koala place, aboriginal reservation, etc etc. The whole day I had this song called "Ocean" by Ten Shekel Shirt stuck in my head. Which always reminds me of driving to the ocean with Emily back in high school. Which basically goes:
"There's something about the ocean, that makes me rise up and praise,
There's something about the heavens that makes me stand in awe again,
There's something about the sunrise that reminds me of your faithfulness,
There's something about the ocean and i'm lost in love again"
Which basically just sums it up, everytime I'm able to travel around in Australia I just realize how big this world is, and how God created it all. It amazes me everytime... I can't really put it into words. Later I took a helicopter ride through the coast and these stones called "The 12 Apostles" which are basically huge land masses in the ocean where the land around them has slowly eroded and they are left, like islands, in the ocean just off of the coastline. It was pretty amazing to see it from that view..wow
On Tuesday I went on another academic tour that was at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. It was pretty interesting, but we just learned about everything... didn't really get to play with it all haha. Moving image, incase you were wondering, is just about any media: television, video, games, etc etc etc. There were a lot of kids there playing with all of the different things. We had a few hours left but it was gross out and really cold so we kinda just hung around and went to a few shops.
Saturday 23 February-
Went to another beach..of course. We took off to another beach called Cronulla which we took an hour long train to get too. It's the furthest southern beach I've been to that is still considered a Sydney beach. It was really pretty and an absolutely perfect beach day, not a cloud in the sky. My friend Nicole and I decided we were having a craving for hot dogs, so later that night we made hot dogs and BBQ chicken on the roof (there is a grill up there) and it was absolutely delicious. yum. And really fun to cook on the roof and just hang out up there.
Sunday 24 February-
Finally made it to church, finally. I went to this church that is absolutely huge.. its called Hillsong. They actually write a lot of their own music and it's pretty much known around the world, I know I've sung it back home. So it was pretty cool to see the church body that had actually come up with all of that. It was pretty big and overwhelming. To put it in perspective: there are two hillsong churches, one in sydney and one in the northern suburbs, the city one has 5 services each sunday and the northern one has 3 services. I guess I went to one of the smaller services (1:15 pm) and it still had atleast 300 people there. Wow.. what a nice change! The worship band was huge and included a choir in the back. It was a good change for me, I feel like I hadn't actually been to a church and taken the time to be with God in .. way too long. I met a nice girl who promptly sat next to me when she saw I was sitting alone and talked to me a lot and after the service. I got myself set up with a small group and she has my e-mail address. I guess the service at night has mostly 18-25 year olds, so I'll have to check that out at some point.
Now I'm back to the academic grind, presentation on Thursday, exam on Friday, paper due Saturday, exam on Saturday. But the good news is: I leave for spring break on Saturday afternoon!
So that leaves me with my final point: I'm so thankful that I finally was around on a Sunday to go to church. I feel like I've been thinking about God when I feel like it, and that is most definitely not the way to go about things. I was just reading Juliette's blog and it really hit home with me (she's talking about Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis): "I’ve realized how you just can’t compromise on what God has told us to do. You can’t just look at the rules, pick what you want and then convince yourself that you’re living the right life." So good stuff, thanks for the analysis Juliette. :-)
Sunday 17 February-
Sunday we headed off as a group (about 120 people including instructors, coordinators, etc) to Melbourne. It was such a great experience, I couldn't start to explain it all. First of all, it was really neat to see the difference in the cities. Sundays, like in Sydney, are pretty dead in Melbourne. .. oh did I mention you don't pronounce it mel-born, it's mel-bin, i know.. very weird... I feel like everyone in Sydney (or almost everyone) is trendy and tan and you know.. the same. But in Melbourne, there were lots of sub-culture groups, and different people. Another cool thing about the city were the laneways. A laneway, how we would think about it is actually an alley. But in Melbourne, they're really different. First of all, there is grafitti everywhere, but it's pretty cool because it is sanctioned by the city and an artist owns a wall and can decorate it however they want. The other cool thing about the laneways is that there are bars, restaurants, cafes, and shopping. Some of them are bigger than others and you can clearly see everything, but others are hidden, and you would never be able to find a certain bar unless you were looking for it and knew where it was located. ...very interesting.
So Sunday we went to the Queen Victoria Markets, which is an outdoor market.. with lots of cheap souviners. I got some pretty cool pink sunglasses. :-) There's also a lot of food, and there were some Chinese New Year celebrations going on too. Later that night a bunch of us went to St. Kilda Beach which is a cute area, and actually not so much on the ocean, but on the huge bay that borders Melbourne. It was fun, we went to a pricey Mexican restaurant, and later went to a bar that was on a roof downtown and we could see the entire city.On Monday I went on an "academic tour" (which we were required to do 2 of) with Pascal who is about the cutest and nicest man you'll ever meet. He coordinates all of the housing and internet and what not for us in Sydney. He took us around to all these different laneways and eventually we somewhat left the city and went to the really great/cheap pizza place. Glynnis and I did some shopping and made our way back into the downtown area. Later that night I went to "Little Italy" with a few girls and we had the most amazing gelatto I've ever had.
Tuesday was by far one of the most amazing days I've had in Australia. About 60 people from our program left really early in the morning to go on a tour through the "Great Ocean Road." We basically drove...forever... on this road that has the most breathtaking views of the ocean I've ever seen. We stopped in a lot of different places: beaches, sides of cliffs, outdoor koala place, aboriginal reservation, etc etc. The whole day I had this song called "Ocean" by Ten Shekel Shirt stuck in my head. Which always reminds me of driving to the ocean with Emily back in high school. Which basically goes:
"There's something about the ocean, that makes me rise up and praise,
There's something about the heavens that makes me stand in awe again,
There's something about the sunrise that reminds me of your faithfulness,
There's something about the ocean and i'm lost in love again"
Which basically just sums it up, everytime I'm able to travel around in Australia I just realize how big this world is, and how God created it all. It amazes me everytime... I can't really put it into words. Later I took a helicopter ride through the coast and these stones called "The 12 Apostles" which are basically huge land masses in the ocean where the land around them has slowly eroded and they are left, like islands, in the ocean just off of the coastline. It was pretty amazing to see it from that view..wow
On Tuesday I went on another academic tour that was at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. It was pretty interesting, but we just learned about everything... didn't really get to play with it all haha. Moving image, incase you were wondering, is just about any media: television, video, games, etc etc etc. There were a lot of kids there playing with all of the different things. We had a few hours left but it was gross out and really cold so we kinda just hung around and went to a few shops.
Saturday 23 February-
Went to another beach..of course. We took off to another beach called Cronulla which we took an hour long train to get too. It's the furthest southern beach I've been to that is still considered a Sydney beach. It was really pretty and an absolutely perfect beach day, not a cloud in the sky. My friend Nicole and I decided we were having a craving for hot dogs, so later that night we made hot dogs and BBQ chicken on the roof (there is a grill up there) and it was absolutely delicious. yum. And really fun to cook on the roof and just hang out up there.
Sunday 24 February-
Finally made it to church, finally. I went to this church that is absolutely huge.. its called Hillsong. They actually write a lot of their own music and it's pretty much known around the world, I know I've sung it back home. So it was pretty cool to see the church body that had actually come up with all of that. It was pretty big and overwhelming. To put it in perspective: there are two hillsong churches, one in sydney and one in the northern suburbs, the city one has 5 services each sunday and the northern one has 3 services. I guess I went to one of the smaller services (1:15 pm) and it still had atleast 300 people there. Wow.. what a nice change! The worship band was huge and included a choir in the back. It was a good change for me, I feel like I hadn't actually been to a church and taken the time to be with God in .. way too long. I met a nice girl who promptly sat next to me when she saw I was sitting alone and talked to me a lot and after the service. I got myself set up with a small group and she has my e-mail address. I guess the service at night has mostly 18-25 year olds, so I'll have to check that out at some point.
Now I'm back to the academic grind, presentation on Thursday, exam on Friday, paper due Saturday, exam on Saturday. But the good news is: I leave for spring break on Saturday afternoon!
So that leaves me with my final point: I'm so thankful that I finally was around on a Sunday to go to church. I feel like I've been thinking about God when I feel like it, and that is most definitely not the way to go about things. I was just reading Juliette's blog and it really hit home with me (she's talking about Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis): "I’ve realized how you just can’t compromise on what God has told us to do. You can’t just look at the rules, pick what you want and then convince yourself that you’re living the right life." So good stuff, thanks for the analysis Juliette. :-)
February 15, 2008
I'm Procrastinating!
Well... I feel like it's been forever since I have written here. I probably won't be able to remember everything that I've been up to but I'll try...
Wednesday 6 February-
Super Tuesday! Well...sort of. It was Super Tuesday in the US, therefore it was Wednesday here. Wednesday after my field trip (to a lawn bowling club! haha) I went to an event at Sydney Uni held for "Super Tuesday." It was pretty amazing to see how many Aussies are interested in US politics. They had a huge screen that they were broadcasting CNN on and were doing lots of "mock" voting and contests. I went with my friend Kelsey and after a while three men, two on her side and one on mine, realized we were American and were pretty excited about talking to us. This whole thing actually made me realize how ignorant Americans are about other countries. Granted not every Australian was at this event and not all Americans are ignorant about foreign politics, etc... but it's pretty evident how bad Americans are. Actually if you turn on the news here...a lot of the stories are about different countries, especially the US. Like I just turned the news on and the shooting about NIU (Feb 15) was on.
Friday 8 February-
After class was over...went to this bar called World Bar. Just thought I would include this because they serve their drinks in teapots...pretty weird.
Sunday 10 February-
SUCH A GOOD DAY! A bunch of my friends and I decided to take a day trip to Hunter Valley which also included a stop at the Australian Reptile Park. We had to get up really early...we met downtown at 7:40am. Ironically, also on the trip were three other girls from our program too.
First we stopped at the Australian Reptile Park. This was really fun...mostly because I finally got to see some animals that are native to Australia! First I saw a koala! Oh my gosh, they are so cute, I was so happy to finally see one (actually two!) In New South Wales (the state the Sydney is in), you aren't allowed to hold koalas.. you can only pet them. Either way, I was so happy, I kind of felt like a 5 year old. After that I saw a bunch of kangaroos! Also very exciting, some of them are pretty cute too. They have incredibly long feet which are (obviously) good for all of the jumping they do. Also, they only have three toes, and the middle one is about three times longer than the other two. So anyways, we got to feed the kangaroos and we took a lot of pictures with them. And then i finally saw some spiders...I managed to miss the crocodile though.
After the animals we took off to Hunter Valley. Hunter Valley is responsible for about 10% of the wine production in Australia, and it is really beautiful. We went to three wineries and a brewery. I learned a little more about wine and some of the terminology and I actually got to drink red wine... I still don't like it very much. Maybe some day.
Tuesday 12 February-
I finally had my interview on Tuesday. It was even an interview really, more like a placement meeting. The hotel I will be working at is the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Sydney. It is really pretty, has a somewhat modern feel and I think it's around 300 rooms. There will be six of us from the BU program working at the Intercon, including two of my friends Jenn and Glynnis. I will be interning in the Sales and Marketing department, and I think somewhat focusing on the events side of sales. For the past year or so I've been thinking this is what I might want to do, so I'm really excited about this opportunity. I will finally get the chance to be in a hotel, work in a non-food and beverage department, and meet some Australians in a work environment! Ya, I'm very excited.
Friday 15 February-
So finally you get to hear why the title of this entry is "I'm Procrastinating!" I had a 2,000 page paper due today for my Australian culture and society class. It was actually for my module (our class split up into three different classes) which is about Immigration. I did a paper about World War 2 and the effect it had on immigration into Australia during that time. And now...I have a 3,000 word paper due tomorrow (hence the procrastination). I've got it started, I'm about 1/3 of the way done and I've got all my research I just need to do it! The paper is for my Brand Advertising and Promotion paper which is about product placement in movies, tv, etc. So I'm off to do that, and therefore...nothing too exciting is going on this Friday night. I'll finish this and maybe get a little break tomorrow night, then Sunday our whole program is headed off to Melbourne, Sydney's rival city located in Victoria (south of here)!!
Wednesday 6 February-
Super Tuesday! Well...sort of. It was Super Tuesday in the US, therefore it was Wednesday here. Wednesday after my field trip (to a lawn bowling club! haha) I went to an event at Sydney Uni held for "Super Tuesday." It was pretty amazing to see how many Aussies are interested in US politics. They had a huge screen that they were broadcasting CNN on and were doing lots of "mock" voting and contests. I went with my friend Kelsey and after a while three men, two on her side and one on mine, realized we were American and were pretty excited about talking to us. This whole thing actually made me realize how ignorant Americans are about other countries. Granted not every Australian was at this event and not all Americans are ignorant about foreign politics, etc... but it's pretty evident how bad Americans are. Actually if you turn on the news here...a lot of the stories are about different countries, especially the US. Like I just turned the news on and the shooting about NIU (Feb 15) was on.
Friday 8 February-
After class was over...went to this bar called World Bar. Just thought I would include this because they serve their drinks in teapots...pretty weird.
Sunday 10 February-
SUCH A GOOD DAY! A bunch of my friends and I decided to take a day trip to Hunter Valley which also included a stop at the Australian Reptile Park. We had to get up really early...we met downtown at 7:40am. Ironically, also on the trip were three other girls from our program too.
First we stopped at the Australian Reptile Park. This was really fun...mostly because I finally got to see some animals that are native to Australia! First I saw a koala! Oh my gosh, they are so cute, I was so happy to finally see one (actually two!) In New South Wales (the state the Sydney is in), you aren't allowed to hold koalas.. you can only pet them. Either way, I was so happy, I kind of felt like a 5 year old. After that I saw a bunch of kangaroos! Also very exciting, some of them are pretty cute too. They have incredibly long feet which are (obviously) good for all of the jumping they do. Also, they only have three toes, and the middle one is about three times longer than the other two. So anyways, we got to feed the kangaroos and we took a lot of pictures with them. And then i finally saw some spiders...I managed to miss the crocodile though.
After the animals we took off to Hunter Valley. Hunter Valley is responsible for about 10% of the wine production in Australia, and it is really beautiful. We went to three wineries and a brewery. I learned a little more about wine and some of the terminology and I actually got to drink red wine... I still don't like it very much. Maybe some day.
Tuesday 12 February-
I finally had my interview on Tuesday. It was even an interview really, more like a placement meeting. The hotel I will be working at is the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Sydney. It is really pretty, has a somewhat modern feel and I think it's around 300 rooms. There will be six of us from the BU program working at the Intercon, including two of my friends Jenn and Glynnis. I will be interning in the Sales and Marketing department, and I think somewhat focusing on the events side of sales. For the past year or so I've been thinking this is what I might want to do, so I'm really excited about this opportunity. I will finally get the chance to be in a hotel, work in a non-food and beverage department, and meet some Australians in a work environment! Ya, I'm very excited.
Friday 15 February-
So finally you get to hear why the title of this entry is "I'm Procrastinating!" I had a 2,000 page paper due today for my Australian culture and society class. It was actually for my module (our class split up into three different classes) which is about Immigration. I did a paper about World War 2 and the effect it had on immigration into Australia during that time. And now...I have a 3,000 word paper due tomorrow (hence the procrastination). I've got it started, I'm about 1/3 of the way done and I've got all my research I just need to do it! The paper is for my Brand Advertising and Promotion paper which is about product placement in movies, tv, etc. So I'm off to do that, and therefore...nothing too exciting is going on this Friday night. I'll finish this and maybe get a little break tomorrow night, then Sunday our whole program is headed off to Melbourne, Sydney's rival city located in Victoria (south of here)!!
February 5, 2008
Surf Camp!
Wow - what an amazing weekend. On Friday night we left for Surf Camp. I'm so glad I went, it was definitely worth the.. $200 or so spent. Surf Camp was in this really small town called Gerroa which is about 2 hours south of Sydney.
On the way there we stopped at this famous burger place. In Australia putting "beetroot" (aka beets) on burgers is really common..actually kind of the norm. After this weekend, I realized why I got beets on my veggie burger two weeks ago. Anyways..we arrived at about 10pm, had a short orientation and went to bed a little bit after that.
On Saturday morning, I woke up at 6:30. I can't really remember the last time I did that! We had breakfast and got fitted for these ridiculous full body wetsuits. They actually weren't that bad, just a little tricky to put on. We were at the beach by 8:30 and split up into little groups. In my group was myself.. Rachel, Glynnis, Jenn, Kelsey, and Nicole. Our surf instructor's name is Winnie.. aka Justin Wynn. He was actually 18, which we thought was pretty funny. So he basically taught us everything we needed to know.
I .. sorta.. got up in the first two hours. After lunch in the second two hour session I got up a few times..and that was really exciting! By the end of the second session I was just completely exhausted and all I could taste was salt water - ew. Later that day we hung around the pool, ate dinner, hung out with the surf instructors and our entire group (about 40 people), and later we went to this place called "Fishos" which I'm pretty sure is the only restaurant/club/bar in the entire town. It was pretty fun..there were families there and basically people ranging from the ages of 7-70. haha
The second day, Sunday, we got up again..really early. There was another instructor with us named Summer, and in the morning she gave me a push on this really great wave and I got up and rode all the way to the beach. That was even more exciting! After that it was kind of down hill... I think that my body was just so exhausted that I couldn't even move after while. (No wonder all of the surf instructors were soo skinny and soo in shape!) For the rest of the 3rd and 4th sessions I somewhat got up but it usually didn't happen. In the afternoon, the waves were also a lot bigger than ever before, so that made it a little more challenging!
Anyways...it was just such a great experience. The only unfortunate thing was that I never got up when the photographer was around, so I don't have any pictures of myself surfing. Now I'm back to class... I have a paper due next week which I need to start thinking about and tonight I start a module about Cultural Immersion for my Australia class.
On the way there we stopped at this famous burger place. In Australia putting "beetroot" (aka beets) on burgers is really common..actually kind of the norm. After this weekend, I realized why I got beets on my veggie burger two weeks ago. Anyways..we arrived at about 10pm, had a short orientation and went to bed a little bit after that.
On Saturday morning, I woke up at 6:30. I can't really remember the last time I did that! We had breakfast and got fitted for these ridiculous full body wetsuits. They actually weren't that bad, just a little tricky to put on. We were at the beach by 8:30 and split up into little groups. In my group was myself.. Rachel, Glynnis, Jenn, Kelsey, and Nicole. Our surf instructor's name is Winnie.. aka Justin Wynn. He was actually 18, which we thought was pretty funny. So he basically taught us everything we needed to know.
I .. sorta.. got up in the first two hours. After lunch in the second two hour session I got up a few times..and that was really exciting! By the end of the second session I was just completely exhausted and all I could taste was salt water - ew. Later that day we hung around the pool, ate dinner, hung out with the surf instructors and our entire group (about 40 people), and later we went to this place called "Fishos" which I'm pretty sure is the only restaurant/club/bar in the entire town. It was pretty fun..there were families there and basically people ranging from the ages of 7-70. haha
The second day, Sunday, we got up again..really early. There was another instructor with us named Summer, and in the morning she gave me a push on this really great wave and I got up and rode all the way to the beach. That was even more exciting! After that it was kind of down hill... I think that my body was just so exhausted that I couldn't even move after while. (No wonder all of the surf instructors were soo skinny and soo in shape!) For the rest of the 3rd and 4th sessions I somewhat got up but it usually didn't happen. In the afternoon, the waves were also a lot bigger than ever before, so that made it a little more challenging!
Anyways...it was just such a great experience. The only unfortunate thing was that I never got up when the photographer was around, so I don't have any pictures of myself surfing. Now I'm back to class... I have a paper due next week which I need to start thinking about and tonight I start a module about Cultural Immersion for my Australia class.
January 29, 2008
Well...it's been almost a week since I've written. Time flies...I actually can't believe I've been here almost two weeks. (2 weeks as of tomorrow around noon) I feel like so much has happened and I've already become so close with a lot of the people here. So lets see...
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday...
I had a lot of class. Especially Thursday because I have class from 12:30-4 and then from 5:30-8:30. So it's a long day. I'm taking Australian Culture an Society which is taught by our program director, Mark. He's a great guy, and so very Australian, although I do feel like I'm in 3rd grade since we were learning about the splitting of the continents (pangea?) and the history of Australia pre 1700AD. Very weird...
Friday night my friends, Jenn, Rachel, and Glynnis decided to go out to a "fancy" dinner. Because Saturday was Australia Day, the entire month of January has been the Sydney festival where there are $25 meals (entree and a glass of wine) at all of these really great restaurants around the city. So we went to this restaurant...and not only was it not "fancy" or a great restaurant...no one really knew what we were talking about when we mentioned the Sydney festival...we were pretty aggitated. But anyways...we went to this other restaurant on Darling Harbour called Docks, it was really fun and we had some great food. Also, at some point (I forget which day) I got a call from my internship advisor saying I had an interview with the Intercontinental Hotel in the Sales and Marketing department. So that was very exciting!
Saturday 26 January-
Saturday was Australia Day. It was pretty much...so amazing. It's kinda like the 4th of July in the States (?) Except it's not their independence day, it's the day the British first landed in Australia. Unfortunately, it is also called "Survival Day" by the aboriginals..mostly because it's the day he British first landed in Australia. Much like the Native Americans in North America, the British came, took over, and pretty much ripped apart life as they knew it. So I started the day at 8am down by the water where there was a really great aboriginal ceremony, with dancing, singing, and of course the digeeridoo. After that we went over to the Harbour and watched the "ferry boat races." So we were pretty confused for awhile because the boats were slowly exiting the harbour but everyone was sitting waiting in anticipation. Everyone wanted to leave, but I felt like something was bound to happen. Then, all of a sudden, hundreds of boats started going full speed back into the harbour. I thought it was a pretty weird tradition, but I guess they do it every year. I would think that there would be an accident at some point...
After we were at the harbour we headed over to Hyde Park where there was a *lot* of food. All sorts of vendors came, I only had a sandwich, but there was sausage, corn on the cob, thai, greek, and so much more. We hung at there for awhile with thousands of other people, then decided to head back to our apartments. Later that night, we headed back to Darling Harbour for a fireworks show, with pretty much the entire city. It was basically the most amazing fireworks display I have ever seen, complete with music, singing (the national anthem), and sailboats whose sails were lit in different colors. We were also so close that I could feel the ashes falling on me...kind of gross.
Sunday 27 January-
Beach day! ...and I finally didn't get burnt. I only went for about 3.5 hours to Bronte Beach. It was a lot smaller than the other ones I've been to, but had a really cool salt water pool that the waves splashed into.
Monday 28 January-
Today was the day that everyone in Australia observes Australia Day (since it fell on a weekend day). I don't have classes on Mondays anyways, so it didn't really affect me. I finally did some reading for class and hung around. At night, we headed back to ScuBar for some more crab racing since we had so much fun the week before.
Tuesday 29 January-
Today Jenn, Rachel, and I got up early and headed downtown. We were going to go to the Rocks (a section downtown by the water) but instead we walked down George St. (one of the main streets) and did some shopping. It's pretty great right now, because it's the middle of summer here, almost every store has sales! Tonight I just got back from class where we are learning about the early settlement in Australia. Now I need to read for my quiz I have tomorrow night.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday...
I had a lot of class. Especially Thursday because I have class from 12:30-4 and then from 5:30-8:30. So it's a long day. I'm taking Australian Culture an Society which is taught by our program director, Mark. He's a great guy, and so very Australian, although I do feel like I'm in 3rd grade since we were learning about the splitting of the continents (pangea?) and the history of Australia pre 1700AD. Very weird...
Friday night my friends, Jenn, Rachel, and Glynnis decided to go out to a "fancy" dinner. Because Saturday was Australia Day, the entire month of January has been the Sydney festival where there are $25 meals (entree and a glass of wine) at all of these really great restaurants around the city. So we went to this restaurant...and not only was it not "fancy" or a great restaurant...no one really knew what we were talking about when we mentioned the Sydney festival...we were pretty aggitated. But anyways...we went to this other restaurant on Darling Harbour called Docks, it was really fun and we had some great food. Also, at some point (I forget which day) I got a call from my internship advisor saying I had an interview with the Intercontinental Hotel in the Sales and Marketing department. So that was very exciting!
Saturday 26 January-
Saturday was Australia Day. It was pretty much...so amazing. It's kinda like the 4th of July in the States (?) Except it's not their independence day, it's the day the British first landed in Australia. Unfortunately, it is also called "Survival Day" by the aboriginals..mostly because it's the day he British first landed in Australia. Much like the Native Americans in North America, the British came, took over, and pretty much ripped apart life as they knew it. So I started the day at 8am down by the water where there was a really great aboriginal ceremony, with dancing, singing, and of course the digeeridoo. After that we went over to the Harbour and watched the "ferry boat races." So we were pretty confused for awhile because the boats were slowly exiting the harbour but everyone was sitting waiting in anticipation. Everyone wanted to leave, but I felt like something was bound to happen. Then, all of a sudden, hundreds of boats started going full speed back into the harbour. I thought it was a pretty weird tradition, but I guess they do it every year. I would think that there would be an accident at some point...
After we were at the harbour we headed over to Hyde Park where there was a *lot* of food. All sorts of vendors came, I only had a sandwich, but there was sausage, corn on the cob, thai, greek, and so much more. We hung at there for awhile with thousands of other people, then decided to head back to our apartments. Later that night, we headed back to Darling Harbour for a fireworks show, with pretty much the entire city. It was basically the most amazing fireworks display I have ever seen, complete with music, singing (the national anthem), and sailboats whose sails were lit in different colors. We were also so close that I could feel the ashes falling on me...kind of gross.
Sunday 27 January-
Beach day! ...and I finally didn't get burnt. I only went for about 3.5 hours to Bronte Beach. It was a lot smaller than the other ones I've been to, but had a really cool salt water pool that the waves splashed into.
Monday 28 January-
Today was the day that everyone in Australia observes Australia Day (since it fell on a weekend day). I don't have classes on Mondays anyways, so it didn't really affect me. I finally did some reading for class and hung around. At night, we headed back to ScuBar for some more crab racing since we had so much fun the week before.
Tuesday 29 January-
Today Jenn, Rachel, and I got up early and headed downtown. We were going to go to the Rocks (a section downtown by the water) but instead we walked down George St. (one of the main streets) and did some shopping. It's pretty great right now, because it's the middle of summer here, almost every store has sales! Tonight I just got back from class where we are learning about the early settlement in Australia. Now I need to read for my quiz I have tomorrow night.
January 23, 2008
Week 2
It seems really weird that I've already been here (almost a full week now).
Tuesday 22 January-
I had my first class last night. It is called "Australian Culture and Society" which is a class the everyone in our program, all 117, of us take. Our "prof" is Mark, he's also the director of the program, and probably one of the most light-hearted people I have ever met. I'm really excited to take the class, it will be fun to learn all about Australia.
Because class is at night I have the day off on Tuesday. I went to Bondi Beach, which along with Manly, is one of the most famous beaches in Sydney. The waves were huge! It was really cloudy when we get there around 10:30, but by lunch time it was absolutely beautiful. (pictures just don't do anything justice)
I've also realized that you just can't stay out all day long like we do at home for a "beach day." The sun is just too powerful, after about 3 hours, it's probably time. I learned this, because yesterday after about 5 hours, and a *lot* of sunscreen.... ya I'm pretty burnt. Live and learn...it's safe to say I won't be in the sun for a few days!
Here is the link for all of my pictures... http://picasaweb.google.com/lizthomforde
Tuesday 22 January-
I had my first class last night. It is called "Australian Culture and Society" which is a class the everyone in our program, all 117, of us take. Our "prof" is Mark, he's also the director of the program, and probably one of the most light-hearted people I have ever met. I'm really excited to take the class, it will be fun to learn all about Australia.
Because class is at night I have the day off on Tuesday. I went to Bondi Beach, which along with Manly, is one of the most famous beaches in Sydney. The waves were huge! It was really cloudy when we get there around 10:30, but by lunch time it was absolutely beautiful. (pictures just don't do anything justice)
I've also realized that you just can't stay out all day long like we do at home for a "beach day." The sun is just too powerful, after about 3 hours, it's probably time. I learned this, because yesterday after about 5 hours, and a *lot* of sunscreen.... ya I'm pretty burnt. Live and learn...it's safe to say I won't be in the sun for a few days!
Here is the link for all of my pictures... http://picasaweb.google.com
January 22, 2008
Today...it still rained! But the good news is: I finally have internet in my room. That means I can update my blog anytime I want.. like now.
Monday 21 January-
Since it was raining and kinda gross out all day we didn't go to the beach...instead we went to Hyde Park, the Botanical Gardens and around downtown (including the opera house). It was really beautiful and great to see the city ... finally. And I took a lot of great pictures.
Tonight we went to ScuBar...which has some sort of affiliation with Surf Camp (which I'm doing the first weekend of February btw). We went because on Monday they have crab races...yes they actually race crabs.. it was really fun. I just got home, and I'm doing to bed soon, and working on uploading pictures...so keep looking (on facebook and picassa)
Monday 21 January-
Since it was raining and kinda gross out all day we didn't go to the beach...instead we went to Hyde Park, the Botanical Gardens and around downtown (including the opera house). It was really beautiful and great to see the city ... finally. And I took a lot of great pictures.
Tonight we went to ScuBar...which has some sort of affiliation with Surf Camp (which I'm doing the first weekend of February btw). We went because on Monday they have crab races...yes they actually race crabs.. it was really fun. I just got home, and I'm doing to bed soon, and working on uploading pictures...so keep looking (on facebook and picassa)
January 21, 2008
So after one day of sun...it's raining again. What a bummer.
Sunday 20 January-
I woke up and it was finally sunny out and completely blue skies! (well.. there were some clouds) There were still trips being led by RA's so I went with an RA (and almost everyone else) to the beach. I bought a bus pass and left from Central station, I think it took about 25 minutes, but it was so worth it. We went to Coogee Beach (pronounced coo-jee) and it was so beautiful and had a really cute town. Coogee Beach is just south of downtown Sydney. I got a really good smoothie there which had mango and mint (amoung other things) in it. Kinda a weird combination. There was also a little fish hut/beach restaurant called "Chish and Fips" (fish and chips.. get it?) I thought that was pretty funny. I also got to hang out with a lot of different people so that was fun.
So I'm a little burnt, even after applying 30 SPF sunscreen...multiple times.
Later that night I went to Newtown with Rachel and Glynnis. It took us a little while to walk there but we finally got to the main part and there were literally 50 restaurants. Mostly asian (thai was a popular one) lots of gelatto, and some shopping. We went to a Thai restaurant called Newtown Thai and had a really good chicken dish with peanut sauce. Also...some of the names of the restaurants and stores were just so funny: "Holy Sheet" "Dolce and Gelatto" were amoung a few of them.
Which reminds me.. I haven't talked a lot about friends. I've been hanging out with girls mostly from SHA. Rachel is my friend I traveled out here with that is also a good friend from school. Glynnis is also in SHA, although I didn't really know here, she's very nice and also 6'2"..aka I'm not the tallest anymore! Very weird! Jenn is in SMG but has taken classes in SHA...she's very fun, and the good thing about her is that she has no reservations about talking to anyone, so it's easy to meet people with her. Those are the main three girls, I'm meeting lots of new people. I think that everyone had there little group now people are kinda branching out to meet lots of other new people.
So it's raining again (Monday) and I'm trying to figure out what to do, maybe the aquarium? We'll see!
Sunday 20 January-
I woke up and it was finally sunny out and completely blue skies! (well.. there were some clouds) There were still trips being led by RA's so I went with an RA (and almost everyone else) to the beach. I bought a bus pass and left from Central station, I think it took about 25 minutes, but it was so worth it. We went to Coogee Beach (pronounced coo-jee) and it was so beautiful and had a really cute town. Coogee Beach is just south of downtown Sydney. I got a really good smoothie there which had mango and mint (amoung other things) in it. Kinda a weird combination. There was also a little fish hut/beach restaurant called "Chish and Fips" (fish and chips.. get it?) I thought that was pretty funny. I also got to hang out with a lot of different people so that was fun.
So I'm a little burnt, even after applying 30 SPF sunscreen...multiple times.
Later that night I went to Newtown with Rachel and Glynnis. It took us a little while to walk there but we finally got to the main part and there were literally 50 restaurants. Mostly asian (thai was a popular one) lots of gelatto, and some shopping. We went to a Thai restaurant called Newtown Thai and had a really good chicken dish with peanut sauce. Also...some of the names of the restaurants and stores were just so funny: "Holy Sheet" "Dolce and Gelatto" were amoung a few of them.
Which reminds me.. I haven't talked a lot about friends. I've been hanging out with girls mostly from SHA. Rachel is my friend I traveled out here with that is also a good friend from school. Glynnis is also in SHA, although I didn't really know here, she's very nice and also 6'2"..aka I'm not the tallest anymore! Very weird! Jenn is in SMG but has taken classes in SHA...she's very fun, and the good thing about her is that she has no reservations about talking to anyone, so it's easy to meet people with her. Those are the main three girls, I'm meeting lots of new people. I think that everyone had there little group now people are kinda branching out to meet lots of other new people.
So it's raining again (Monday) and I'm trying to figure out what to do, maybe the aquarium? We'll see!
January 19, 2008
Week One
Well...I feel as though my entire life is a whirlwind, but it's slowly starting to get a little bit more normal - and I finally have time to sit down and write this all. This will probably be the longest entry ever, but it does have to cover almost a week, and I feel as though I owe my parents lots of details that I have wanted to tell everyone and just haven't had time. I also want to write everything down so I don't forget it! - I feel like I've already learned so much!
Sunday 13 January -
My friend Rachel and I left the Manchester Airport around 3pm, and with a stop in Phoenix, we arrived in LA Sunday night and stayed with her uncle in "Rollings Hills." Which I guess we would call a suburb of LA? His house was absolutely beautiful and the backyard had a view of the entire city - which at night was pretty.. spectacular.
Monday 14 January-
I woke up so early on Monday, as expected, from the time change. I got to see the city in the daylight and actually to my surprise...there really *is* smog covering downtown LA...you can see it going through the buildings. gross. We spent the day just hanging out and Rachel's aunt and uncle took us too lunch at Donald Trump's golf course which had a beautiful view and we saw Catalina Island. We left for the airport around 5pm and to my surprise..there was no traffic. I thought this was LA? Anyways...arrived at the airport and a few hours later went on the plane. Unfortunately - my seat was pretty small - but I survived. Our flight from LA was 13 hours - I slept for about 5 hours, watched Super Bad, Knocked Up, one episode of CSI Miami, listened to some music, and had two meals...the eggs were surprisingly good.
Tuesday 15 January-
Oddly enough...with the time change we lost this day. weird?
Wednesday 16 January-
After 13 hours in the plane we finally arrived in Auckland, New Zealand. We had a two hour layover, went through security again, and waited to board our next plane. So I realized when I was getting my ticket and passport out to board the plane that...I somehow lost my passport. I basically freaked out (even though a few friends said that I was pretty calm). I went to the desk and tried to explain and the woman told me (with an attitude) that she had it, I left it on the last plane, and had been paged "six times." Point: Keep better track of your things...I thought I had been doing well but evidently...I didn't. That won't happen again...and I don't know what I would have done if I had actually lost it.
So I actually got on the plane and landed in Sydney. Wow. You could feel the heat once we got off the plane and we got through customs really fast. Cal and Mark, two guys from the program, picked us up at the airport and we got on two huge tour buses. We arrived at UniLodge, which is where we stay and also a Best Western hotel, and dropped off all of our luggage in a huge room. We were all greeted by a man named Pascal who works with the program as the "facilities guy" who is in charge of the buildings, etc. etc. Later I went to my room. Turns out.. it's one of the smallest rooms that I've seen in UniLodge. My roommate's name is Claire... she's a really nice girl, a BU student, in a sorority, and from Connecticut. I went to the mall that is across from my building which has a Target where I bought a $40 bath towel which I promptly returned.
That night we had a barbecue on the roof of UniLodge. We got to talk to a lot of the faculty and staff for the BU Center and had some great food. We had a great view of a lot of the city and unfortunately...it was raining. By the end of the barbecue I was so tired, I went to bed at 9:30pm.
Thursday 17 January-
On Thursday we had a lot of sessions for orientation. I went on the tour of the Sydney Uni (aka university) gym, which made me realize that we are so spoiled from FitRec, and walked around. We also had a girl come from Backpacker's World (a travel agency here) and a guy from Surf Camp. He cracked me up so much and also talked to us about water safety, crocodiles, and told us that more people die each year from coconuts dropping on their heads than from shark attacks.
Thursday night I went out with a bunch of girls to Scruffy Murphy's which is a local pub. We stayed there for a little bit, it was trivia night which was pretty funny and they ended up playing Sweet Caroline, which ironically everyone there knew, and made all of us pretty excited. We also headed to a bar/club called The Three Wise Monkeys, which we later found out is in the "backpacker's district," and that's why it was filled with so many people *not* from Sydney. We met a bunch of different people and there were a lot of people from the BU program there.
Friday 18 January-
Our first session was at 9am which was on "safety" and we did a ridiculous fire evacuation out of our building. After this all of the hospitality/psychology/journalism people met with our advisors all together. They are the nicest/funniest women. My advisor is Carrie, she's loud, organized, honest, and very quirky. The other women, Sharron, is so sweet I think she knows that and told us all that she was going to be a "cold hearted bitch" so people would stop taking advantage of her. Which brings me to the point that Australian people do not care about being politically correct... which is a nice change. Everyone just says what they think.
So by this time...it has been raining for two days. The staff booked a harbor cruise for all of us, which unfortunately was in the rain. A lot of people still went outside though and I have a lot of funny pictures outside when we could finally see the opera house and the harbor bridge. Our hair was...everywhere.
Three hours later...it was still raining. We went to a lounge right near the harbor called the Lizard Lounge. There was a live band playing which was really fun. Later when they closed we went to a club called Pontoon where we danced a lot and learned from a guy who is in the Australian navy that being in the navy is not cool (who knows if this is true) whereas in the US I think that anyone in the military is really highly regarded and gets a lot of attention.
Also... I saw the Real World Australia house which was pretty exciting...because I'm a dork.
Saturday 19 January-
We finally got to "sleep in," just a little... I met a ton of other people in the lobby at 10AM and we all took off to different locations with the RAs. I went to Paddy's Market which is in China town. Everything was pretty cheap and there was a lot of everything... electronics, souvenirs, clothes, and food. I walked around a lot and later we all met back up and went to a show were a man (who is actually aboriginal on his father's side) play the didgeridoo. The didgeridoo is a long wooden instrument that the aboriginals use for celebrations and gatherings. It was pretty neat to hear his life story and learn how to play the instrument.
Did I mention it is still raining here? Ya.. I thought I was in Australia! So we walked through China town and back to campus. I've been here since then, and have finally had the time to take a nap and just hang out.
Tomorrow I think I'm going to go on another trip lead by the RAs, maybe do a little shopping, and get settled before classes start on Monday. Now that I have this blog set up, I definitely plan to write frequently. There are so many different things about this culture that I want to write down...I don't want to forget anything. Including...they actually do say "no worries" alll the time. Now, we are planning internships, getting ready for class, and planning spring break and other trips. I'm so excited to explore the city, I feel like there are so many things to see and experience, I'm just trying to sort them all out in my head. I've been taking a lot of pictures and I plan to put them online soon!
Sunday 13 January -
My friend Rachel and I left the Manchester Airport around 3pm, and with a stop in Phoenix, we arrived in LA Sunday night and stayed with her uncle in "Rollings Hills." Which I guess we would call a suburb of LA? His house was absolutely beautiful and the backyard had a view of the entire city - which at night was pretty.. spectacular.
Monday 14 January-
I woke up so early on Monday, as expected, from the time change. I got to see the city in the daylight and actually to my surprise...there really *is* smog covering downtown LA...you can see it going through the buildings. gross. We spent the day just hanging out and Rachel's aunt and uncle took us too lunch at Donald Trump's golf course which had a beautiful view and we saw Catalina Island. We left for the airport around 5pm and to my surprise..there was no traffic. I thought this was LA? Anyways...arrived at the airport and a few hours later went on the plane. Unfortunately - my seat was pretty small - but I survived. Our flight from LA was 13 hours - I slept for about 5 hours, watched Super Bad, Knocked Up, one episode of CSI Miami, listened to some music, and had two meals...the eggs were surprisingly good.
Tuesday 15 January-
Oddly enough...with the time change we lost this day. weird?
Wednesday 16 January-
After 13 hours in the plane we finally arrived in Auckland, New Zealand. We had a two hour layover, went through security again, and waited to board our next plane. So I realized when I was getting my ticket and passport out to board the plane that...I somehow lost my passport. I basically freaked out (even though a few friends said that I was pretty calm). I went to the desk and tried to explain and the woman told me (with an attitude) that she had it, I left it on the last plane, and had been paged "six times." Point: Keep better track of your things...I thought I had been doing well but evidently...I didn't. That won't happen again...and I don't know what I would have done if I had actually lost it.
So I actually got on the plane and landed in Sydney. Wow. You could feel the heat once we got off the plane and we got through customs really fast. Cal and Mark, two guys from the program, picked us up at the airport and we got on two huge tour buses. We arrived at UniLodge, which is where we stay and also a Best Western hotel, and dropped off all of our luggage in a huge room. We were all greeted by a man named Pascal who works with the program as the "facilities guy" who is in charge of the buildings, etc. etc. Later I went to my room. Turns out.. it's one of the smallest rooms that I've seen in UniLodge. My roommate's name is Claire... she's a really nice girl, a BU student, in a sorority, and from Connecticut. I went to the mall that is across from my building which has a Target where I bought a $40 bath towel which I promptly returned.
That night we had a barbecue on the roof of UniLodge. We got to talk to a lot of the faculty and staff for the BU Center and had some great food. We had a great view of a lot of the city and unfortunately...it was raining. By the end of the barbecue I was so tired, I went to bed at 9:30pm.
Thursday 17 January-
On Thursday we had a lot of sessions for orientation. I went on the tour of the Sydney Uni (aka university) gym, which made me realize that we are so spoiled from FitRec, and walked around. We also had a girl come from Backpacker's World (a travel agency here) and a guy from Surf Camp. He cracked me up so much and also talked to us about water safety, crocodiles, and told us that more people die each year from coconuts dropping on their heads than from shark attacks.
Thursday night I went out with a bunch of girls to Scruffy Murphy's which is a local pub. We stayed there for a little bit, it was trivia night which was pretty funny and they ended up playing Sweet Caroline, which ironically everyone there knew, and made all of us pretty excited. We also headed to a bar/club called The Three Wise Monkeys, which we later found out is in the "backpacker's district," and that's why it was filled with so many people *not* from Sydney. We met a bunch of different people and there were a lot of people from the BU program there.
Friday 18 January-
Our first session was at 9am which was on "safety" and we did a ridiculous fire evacuation out of our building. After this all of the hospitality/psychology/journalism people met with our advisors all together. They are the nicest/funniest women. My advisor is Carrie, she's loud, organized, honest, and very quirky. The other women, Sharron, is so sweet I think she knows that and told us all that she was going to be a "cold hearted bitch" so people would stop taking advantage of her. Which brings me to the point that Australian people do not care about being politically correct... which is a nice change. Everyone just says what they think.
So by this time...it has been raining for two days. The staff booked a harbor cruise for all of us, which unfortunately was in the rain. A lot of people still went outside though and I have a lot of funny pictures outside when we could finally see the opera house and the harbor bridge. Our hair was...everywhere.
Three hours later...it was still raining. We went to a lounge right near the harbor called the Lizard Lounge. There was a live band playing which was really fun. Later when they closed we went to a club called Pontoon where we danced a lot and learned from a guy who is in the Australian navy that being in the navy is not cool (who knows if this is true) whereas in the US I think that anyone in the military is really highly regarded and gets a lot of attention.
Also... I saw the Real World Australia house which was pretty exciting...because I'm a dork.
Saturday 19 January-
We finally got to "sleep in," just a little... I met a ton of other people in the lobby at 10AM and we all took off to different locations with the RAs. I went to Paddy's Market which is in China town. Everything was pretty cheap and there was a lot of everything... electronics, souvenirs, clothes, and food. I walked around a lot and later we all met back up and went to a show were a man (who is actually aboriginal on his father's side) play the didgeridoo. The didgeridoo is a long wooden instrument that the aboriginals use for celebrations and gatherings. It was pretty neat to hear his life story and learn how to play the instrument.
Did I mention it is still raining here? Ya.. I thought I was in Australia! So we walked through China town and back to campus. I've been here since then, and have finally had the time to take a nap and just hang out.
Tomorrow I think I'm going to go on another trip lead by the RAs, maybe do a little shopping, and get settled before classes start on Monday. Now that I have this blog set up, I definitely plan to write frequently. There are so many different things about this culture that I want to write down...I don't want to forget anything. Including...they actually do say "no worries" alll the time. Now, we are planning internships, getting ready for class, and planning spring break and other trips. I'm so excited to explore the city, I feel like there are so many things to see and experience, I'm just trying to sort them all out in my head. I've been taking a lot of pictures and I plan to put them online soon!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)