Yay for meeting a few people here! Last night Yayah, the guy from Saudi Arabia who lives in the apartment just across from us (so our porches overlook each other), came over and gave us Arabic coffee and dates. Despite me hating coffee, this actually tasted more like spiced tea so it wasn't bad, and the dates, which were from his father's farm back home. It was a big heaping plate which he said was all ours and then explained it was usually worth about 200$. holy cow, surely that can't be right. But it was very nice because he invited us over for dinner with his wife and 5-year old any time we wanted for a traditional meal and said he had a car if we need to go to the hospital or something. Neighbors with cars is always a great resource to have haha. So we are planning on reciprocation his gift, but we can't really think of either any dessert to bring to him or meal to feed them that is typically American - any ideas? Our biggest idea is brownies, but it doesn't quite match up to 200$ dates...
We also made friends with a bartender and waitress at a really nice local hotel - which basically means bar/club here. They just started "Desperate Mondays" where you can go watch Desperate Housewives and get 10% off for every inch of heal you're wearing. We didn't really go there to drink, but me and Ashley ended up talking to the bartender and one of the waitresses probably more than we actually watched the show. He said we were one of the few nice Americans he had met, which is kind of sad that Americans can be so obnoxious. It's also funny because I've heard a couple people with his point of view, and I've heard other people, like our neighbor Yayah, say that they think all Americans are friendly nice people. So I guess it's up for debate.
Other than that we haven't been up to much - classes start Monday and this week is all orientation activities. We went yesterday for the Bollywood day but it was pretty dead by the time we got there. Me and Ashley did get roped in to read these two scripts by these two people, but it was really only for our benefit... though I think Katie got it on video. Today is some comedy shows, so we will probably meander over there again. Actually we've been spending a lot of time trying to figure out what to do for spring break (which I think is kind of weird they don't call fall break... but whatever). I found week-long trip that goes up to Cairns and around there that I might take. It's one of the few that travels and sees a lot of things, but doesn't include a bunch of crazy and expensive extras like bungy jumping or sky diving (which I can do here in Wollongong if I really wanted to). There's a travel agent on campus I'll have to talk to again...
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Orientation
Gloriously, I feel much better today. Of course, only after I spent all of yesterday sleeping while everyone else went hiking up Mt Keira, but it did help. So this morning we got up early and caught the free bus to campus for our first day of orientation. This was really the only mandatory day - everything else is mostly just events and such for the rest of the week.
There are about 250 new international students this semester, the large portion of which are from the USA. Most of the day took care of information, getting an ID, and a tour which I didn't go on because it didn't really include much. The campus seems huge and hard to navigate right now but I'm hoping it'll turn out to not actually be all that crazy. It's actually ::inside:: the buildings that I don't know if I'll ever really understand. We walked through one of the science buildings today and I swear it felt like it had the same number of classrooms and labs that the whole of Earlham has, but twisting and turning in one building. I'm gunna be so late to my classes the first like 2 weeks haha.
There are about 250 new international students this semester, the large portion of which are from the USA. Most of the day took care of information, getting an ID, and a tour which I didn't go on because it didn't really include much. The campus seems huge and hard to navigate right now but I'm hoping it'll turn out to not actually be all that crazy. It's actually ::inside:: the buildings that I don't know if I'll ever really understand. We walked through one of the science buildings today and I swear it felt like it had the same number of classrooms and labs that the whole of Earlham has, but twisting and turning in one building. I'm gunna be so late to my classes the first like 2 weeks haha.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Wollongong
Right, so now that I'm finally settled somewhere complete with internet connection, I figured I should write again before I forget what I did... as I already can't really remember what I did yesterday lol.
Anyways, picking up where I left off, after everyone got back from the mountains, we went out to a bar right around the corner and went dancing at a place with really good music, but the drinks are super expensive everywhere here. It was fun though, and the next day we got up and went to another meeting for a couple hours, this time mostly about school and some culture differences. Afterward we figured out the bus system and went over to Bondi beach, which was crazy nice. The water was blue and pretty clear, huge waves, and pristine sand without a single shell or piece of seaweed. We walked around the rocks a bit and then headed up looking for some gelato. Except that when we got up to the shops, we found a small mass of photographers taking pictures of these 5 people standing out on the balcony just talking. We had to ask someone who they were taking pictures of and turns out it was Zac Efron, his girlfriend and her friend who are both singers.
That night since it was the last night of the orientation, we had dinner on a big boat while cruising around the Sydney harbor during twilight. It was beautiful out there and the dinner was great (I even got to have beef rather than the salmon everyone else was having, yay! lol)
So the next morning the five of us going to Wollongong got on a bus and once everyone else got dropped off at the airport, there was just us and 2 of the people who helped run the program left on this huge bus. We drove about an hour and got dropped off at our apartment. As we drove up the guy told us "Yep, that's you, top floor, the penthouse." At which point all of us started laughing at his joke until we realized he was serious. Our apartment is on the 8th floor with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a laundry room. Then there are stairs that go up to the 9th floor with an open kitchen, eating area, and living room. We have two porches and views of the ocean and rugby stadium. It's all fully furnished and basically amazing. The mall and shopping area is 2 blocks away, with the beach 2 blocks in the other direction. All 5 of us are still in disbelief that we actually get to live here for the next 4 months.
Since then, we've been exploring around town and spending time at the beach. The whole area is beautiful and the weather is great. We we took the free bus to campus today to try to figure our way around a little since orientation starts early monday morning. Other than that I haven't been doing too much - I haven't been going out at night with everyone else because I have a stupid cold. So right now I'm sitting in my living room, watching Never Been Kissed on tv, and occasionally looking out over the porch to the beach and watching the stadium get set up for the Dragon's Rugby game tonight.
Tough life, I know.
Anyways, picking up where I left off, after everyone got back from the mountains, we went out to a bar right around the corner and went dancing at a place with really good music, but the drinks are super expensive everywhere here. It was fun though, and the next day we got up and went to another meeting for a couple hours, this time mostly about school and some culture differences. Afterward we figured out the bus system and went over to Bondi beach, which was crazy nice. The water was blue and pretty clear, huge waves, and pristine sand without a single shell or piece of seaweed. We walked around the rocks a bit and then headed up looking for some gelato. Except that when we got up to the shops, we found a small mass of photographers taking pictures of these 5 people standing out on the balcony just talking. We had to ask someone who they were taking pictures of and turns out it was Zac Efron, his girlfriend and her friend who are both singers.
That night since it was the last night of the orientation, we had dinner on a big boat while cruising around the Sydney harbor during twilight. It was beautiful out there and the dinner was great (I even got to have beef rather than the salmon everyone else was having, yay! lol)
So the next morning the five of us going to Wollongong got on a bus and once everyone else got dropped off at the airport, there was just us and 2 of the people who helped run the program left on this huge bus. We drove about an hour and got dropped off at our apartment. As we drove up the guy told us "Yep, that's you, top floor, the penthouse." At which point all of us started laughing at his joke until we realized he was serious. Our apartment is on the 8th floor with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a laundry room. Then there are stairs that go up to the 9th floor with an open kitchen, eating area, and living room. We have two porches and views of the ocean and rugby stadium. It's all fully furnished and basically amazing. The mall and shopping area is 2 blocks away, with the beach 2 blocks in the other direction. All 5 of us are still in disbelief that we actually get to live here for the next 4 months.
Since then, we've been exploring around town and spending time at the beach. The whole area is beautiful and the weather is great. We we took the free bus to campus today to try to figure our way around a little since orientation starts early monday morning. Other than that I haven't been doing too much - I haven't been going out at night with everyone else because I have a stupid cold. So right now I'm sitting in my living room, watching Never Been Kissed on tv, and occasionally looking out over the porch to the beach and watching the stadium get set up for the Dragon's Rugby game tonight.
Tough life, I know.
Sydney
It's my third day here in Sydney, Australia and I thought I might start writing a blog to post for everyone to keep up with what I'm doing. I've tried to do this before when I moved to Holland, and it didn't work out so well, but I'm optimistic I might be doing things that are exciting enough to keep this one going. Also, I realize this will be posted late, but I don’t have access to internet at the moment, so I'll be copy and pasting it in the future, or what is now the past from your point of view… >.>
Anywho. I'll start from the beginning (this is bound to be super long). My flight wasn’t as bad as it could have been by far, but it still wasn’t any fun. Left my house around 1pm Thursday, took a 4-hour flight to LA which left at 4pm and landed at 7pm west coast time. I had thought I was so lucky that my flight was one of the very few that wasn't cancelled or delayed due to bad weather, except that we ended up waiting an hour after we boarded for a pilot who was coming in on a delayed flight. But never fear, because I had a 6-hour layover to burn into. Discovered LA is my new least favorite airport - its only redeeming factor, of which it had no say in, was the fact that I met 2 other girls on the shuttle that were also doing Study Australia, so at least I had someone to be lost with. Waited forever, got some overpriced food, went through security, waited some more, and finally got on one of those huge double-decker planes. At this point it was 2:30am for me, and it's all blurred into a weird pseudo-day. Other than that the flight went fine - it was even 2 hours shorter than the 17 hours I thought it was.
Going through customs there was an issue with my visa (I hadn't put my middle name, which apparently Americans do all the time…) but it was quickly sorted and my first glimpse at Sydney was a rainy, cloudy, really really muggy one. We were loaded onto busses and had some lunch while Russ, the guy in charge of the orientation, talked to us about everything for a few hours. We had some glorious time to take one of the best showers I've ever taken and see our hotel rooms which are actually apartments with literal million dollar views over all of Sydney. We met back up and walked to a restaurant where I ate Kangaroo for the first time, which was actually really delicious and apparently super healthy for you and good for the overpopulation problems. By the end of the dinner it was pouring so we pretty much just headed home when it let up a bit.
The next day we went to this Australian animal park outside of the city where I got to see all the typical Australian wildlife. I got to pet Kangaroos and Koalas, and see some crocodiles, emus, echidnas, dingos, flying foxes and wombats! The only thing they didn’t have was a platypus, but it was great anyways. So after that we came back in town and were dropped off in front of the Opera House, ate lunch, and went on a walking tour to get back home. I really enjoyed it despite it being miserable and rainy, which by the way, is very atypical weather. Scrounged around for some food and went to bed pretty early.
This morning I got an extra hour over my roommates because I opted to just go hiking, I mean bushwalking, through the Blue Mountains and watch this goofey IMAX about them rather than going abseiling. Because I'm a pansy. Amazingly we saw blue sky most of today, which made it hotter, but gorgeous. We took a 3 km bushwalk along a ridge and saw 3 waterfalls along the way and lots of awesome views. So now I'm back at my apartment moving pictures off of my camera, waiting around for someone to come back.
I can't believe this is only the third day, it feels so much longer and far removed from being at home just a few days ago. I'm very happy to report that I'm loving it here though!!
Anywho. I'll start from the beginning (this is bound to be super long). My flight wasn’t as bad as it could have been by far, but it still wasn’t any fun. Left my house around 1pm Thursday, took a 4-hour flight to LA which left at 4pm and landed at 7pm west coast time. I had thought I was so lucky that my flight was one of the very few that wasn't cancelled or delayed due to bad weather, except that we ended up waiting an hour after we boarded for a pilot who was coming in on a delayed flight. But never fear, because I had a 6-hour layover to burn into. Discovered LA is my new least favorite airport - its only redeeming factor, of which it had no say in, was the fact that I met 2 other girls on the shuttle that were also doing Study Australia, so at least I had someone to be lost with. Waited forever, got some overpriced food, went through security, waited some more, and finally got on one of those huge double-decker planes. At this point it was 2:30am for me, and it's all blurred into a weird pseudo-day. Other than that the flight went fine - it was even 2 hours shorter than the 17 hours I thought it was.
Going through customs there was an issue with my visa (I hadn't put my middle name, which apparently Americans do all the time…) but it was quickly sorted and my first glimpse at Sydney was a rainy, cloudy, really really muggy one. We were loaded onto busses and had some lunch while Russ, the guy in charge of the orientation, talked to us about everything for a few hours. We had some glorious time to take one of the best showers I've ever taken and see our hotel rooms which are actually apartments with literal million dollar views over all of Sydney. We met back up and walked to a restaurant where I ate Kangaroo for the first time, which was actually really delicious and apparently super healthy for you and good for the overpopulation problems. By the end of the dinner it was pouring so we pretty much just headed home when it let up a bit.
The next day we went to this Australian animal park outside of the city where I got to see all the typical Australian wildlife. I got to pet Kangaroos and Koalas, and see some crocodiles, emus, echidnas, dingos, flying foxes and wombats! The only thing they didn’t have was a platypus, but it was great anyways. So after that we came back in town and were dropped off in front of the Opera House, ate lunch, and went on a walking tour to get back home. I really enjoyed it despite it being miserable and rainy, which by the way, is very atypical weather. Scrounged around for some food and went to bed pretty early.
This morning I got an extra hour over my roommates because I opted to just go hiking, I mean bushwalking, through the Blue Mountains and watch this goofey IMAX about them rather than going abseiling. Because I'm a pansy. Amazingly we saw blue sky most of today, which made it hotter, but gorgeous. We took a 3 km bushwalk along a ridge and saw 3 waterfalls along the way and lots of awesome views. So now I'm back at my apartment moving pictures off of my camera, waiting around for someone to come back.
I can't believe this is only the third day, it feels so much longer and far removed from being at home just a few days ago. I'm very happy to report that I'm loving it here though!!
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