Hey there, so yeah, I guess this blog entry is a bit late...so since there is a lot to tell I will try and fit it into a reasonable amount of reading.
So it seems like so long ago that I went on mid semester break vacation...I guess it was, since we left April 13th, almost a month ago. Oops!
This break was from April 10th until April 27th, so it was a nice long break after a lot of work at the end of the semester. I went all along the East coast with three of my housemates (yes, it was three girls and me). It was very fun, and jam packed with activities. We started off in the Gold Coast, and went to an amusement park and water park (DreamWorld and White Water World), which were very fun. DreamWorld had this one ride that was just one of those "pick you up and drop you" rides, the tallest I had ever seen. So obviously, with my fear of heights, I didn't go on the first time around. But, later in the day when Julie decided to go again, I thought I would join her; I mean, I was going to go sky diving in less than two weeks, I thought it might help to prepare me. So...scariest ride I've ever been on, lol. You sit down with your feet dangling and nothing below you as you are raised up to what seems like way too high. Seriously, when I was up there I was thinking "How are we possibly still going up? We are so high! This can't be right!" So yeah, you finally get to the top, and then you just sit there for a whole minute. The view was actually quite nice, there are mountains all around and you see for miles in every direction. And then, after sitting up at the top of this tower peacefully, I felt something change; we didn't start dropping, but I knew we were about to. I got that feeling where you know what's about to happen is going to scare the shi* out of you, and there's nothing you can do about it. And then it began...just falling...faster, and faster, and faster...there's no way you should be going that fast, it all happens so quickly. And just when you get to the top speed and you are about to hit the ground, the brakes kick in, and your once lifted legs fall back down below you as you try to regain your sense of gravity. At that point, it was the scariest, most fun ride I had ever been on...maybe sky diving was going to be a bit scarier than I thought? Lol.
So after those two days at the parks we had some beach days. We went para sailing, jet skiing, boating, and just spent some time laying on the beach. Then we went to Brisbane, went to the Australia Zoo, got to pet some Kangaroo's, watched a tiger show...etc.
Then we went up to Cairns, and went to the Great Barrier Reef, I went on two scuba dives, and hung out all day on a massive, multi-million dollar boat.
We also went on a rain forest trip...it was sort of a bus day tour. We stopped at a lot of cool photo spots, went croc spotting on a river boat, swam in a river (not the same one as with the crocs, lol), and also went to a nice beach at the end of the day.
White water rafting and sky diving were definitely the highlights of the trip; they were the most fun, exciting things I have ever done. We spent all day rafting on Tully River, which has some very large rapids. I have some of the pictures on facebook, so check them out. And sky diving was definitely the craziest thing I have ever done. I don't know who ever thought of sky diving first, but they are crazy! Lol. I was the last one to jump out of our group, which made it even more suspenseful. So in the plane it was Julie, Lindsay, Lauren, some random guy around our age, myself, and obviously all of the dive instructors strapped to our backs. So we fly up there, and as we get higher up in the air, my nervousness also rises. It was the scariest, most exciting feeling I had ever felt to know that I was about to jump out of a plane at 14,000 feet. When we were at cloud level I thought we were somewhere around where we would be jumping at...nope, only 5,000 feet. WHAT?!?!?!? 9,000 feet more? How is that possible, we are so high up! Yeah....haha. When we finally get to the 14,000 foot mark, everyone is screaming, I can't tell if it's excitement, terror, adrenaline, or maybe a combination of all of them, all I know is that I was bugging out, lol. I had never been so scared yet looking forward to something so much in my entire life; such a weird, awesome combination of emotions. So Lindsay went out first..."OH MY GOD!" is all I could muster up, and this continued as every person jumped out of the plane. Wait...everyone is gone...it's just me and my instructor...you mean I have to do that now? AHH!!!! So we start moving towards the open door (and when I say we, I mean my instructor was basically carrying me forward, lol). Ahhh! I'm not ready for this! Just give me one minute! Ahhh, we're at the door! Lean my head back and cross my arms? OK...I think I'm ready...AHHH!!!!!!! Haha, falling out of that plane was the weirdest, most exhilarating, adrenaline boosting stunt I have ever pulled. You aren't attached to anything, you're just falling...for an entire minute...at 120 Mph...yeahhhhhh. The free fall was amazing, everything is happening so fast its like you almost don't realize what's going on around you. You try to talk and say "OH MY GOD!" or "WHOAAA!!!!" but nothing comes out, I guess you lose the ability to hear at those speeds. So after the minute of free fall you begin parachuting, which goes on for about 5 minutes. This is your opportunity to try and save your ear drums and wipe off the drool that you could not control coming out of your mouth, haha. So after a few seconds of repair and clean up, you can enjoy the ride. We actually jumped over a beach, so we were over the ocean the entire time; the views were amazing. I got to control the parachute for a while, and we did spins and turns and stops in the air, it was very fun. I purchased a video and pictures of the whole thing, which I have posted on facebook. Unfortunately the video will not load (it was going to take somewhere around 490 hours....) so when I come home, I would love to show the video to anyone who wants to see it.
Hmm...also, my sister, Rachel just got done visiting for the week. She came on the 2nd, and left yesterday, the 8th. We went all over Sydney, shopping, the pubs, clubs, beaches, the rotating restaurant tower, the Museum of Contemporary Art...we did a whole bunch of stuff...which is another excuse for why I haven't written this blog sooner. But now I have written it :-)
Well...I think that's enough for now. Thanks for reading
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Hmm...
So I thought that I posted again a few days ago, but I guess it didn't go up...weird.
Well, I just finished the busiest week of my life, I started my work on Saturday, March 28th, and worked non-stop every day until Sunday, April 5th...yeah, not fun. Literally, all I did that week was go to class, the gym, and sit in my room (or the library) and do work; not too much fun. But, now all my work is done for a while and in four days I get to go on a 13 day vacation along the Eastern coast of Australia, which should be a great time.
Hmm...what else...I'm trying to figure out where I should travel after my semester ends. I just picked up a few brochures from the travel agency on campus, so I'll take a look at those and see what looks good.
I would like to thank my Grandma, Niki Berg once again for sending the package. I really appreciate it; it was very nice to receive a package from some family :-)
Last night my housemate Ali (the guy from Lebanon) and I went out to this really nice pub with some Aussie girls, so that was a good time. Ali and I are getting along very well, the other day he actually said that he has never met someone as much like him as I am. I thought that was funny, but it's true; we have a lot of similarities.
I miss everyone from home, but I am very glad I came here. I am having a great time and meeting a lot of cool people. I am very content with my life right now, and every morning I wake up very happy. It's not just that I wake up happy, but it's actually a combination of things. Every morning I wake up and make myself breakfast, usually eggs, raisin toast, and some tea. The smell of the raisin bread fills the kitchen with this marvelous smell and mixes with the cool morning air to create this mixture that brings back some good memories. It reminds me of being with family, and makes me feel like I am in a cabin in the woods somewhere. I don't know why, but I like it; the feeling is very pleasant. So I have been having very relaxing mornings, and it has been a great way to unwind after a busy week like the one I just had.
So yeah, that's all I have to say for now. Thanks for reading :-)
P.S. Buy some raisin bread for making toast! You won't regret it.
Well, I just finished the busiest week of my life, I started my work on Saturday, March 28th, and worked non-stop every day until Sunday, April 5th...yeah, not fun. Literally, all I did that week was go to class, the gym, and sit in my room (or the library) and do work; not too much fun. But, now all my work is done for a while and in four days I get to go on a 13 day vacation along the Eastern coast of Australia, which should be a great time.
Hmm...what else...I'm trying to figure out where I should travel after my semester ends. I just picked up a few brochures from the travel agency on campus, so I'll take a look at those and see what looks good.
I would like to thank my Grandma, Niki Berg once again for sending the package. I really appreciate it; it was very nice to receive a package from some family :-)
Last night my housemate Ali (the guy from Lebanon) and I went out to this really nice pub with some Aussie girls, so that was a good time. Ali and I are getting along very well, the other day he actually said that he has never met someone as much like him as I am. I thought that was funny, but it's true; we have a lot of similarities.
I miss everyone from home, but I am very glad I came here. I am having a great time and meeting a lot of cool people. I am very content with my life right now, and every morning I wake up very happy. It's not just that I wake up happy, but it's actually a combination of things. Every morning I wake up and make myself breakfast, usually eggs, raisin toast, and some tea. The smell of the raisin bread fills the kitchen with this marvelous smell and mixes with the cool morning air to create this mixture that brings back some good memories. It reminds me of being with family, and makes me feel like I am in a cabin in the woods somewhere. I don't know why, but I like it; the feeling is very pleasant. So I have been having very relaxing mornings, and it has been a great way to unwind after a busy week like the one I just had.
So yeah, that's all I have to say for now. Thanks for reading :-)
P.S. Buy some raisin bread for making toast! You won't regret it.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Frisbee Tournament, Rugby, other stuff.
Yeah, yeah...it's a late post, but I didn't lie when I said I would post again sooner than I did the previous time :-)
So I had my ultimate frisbee tournament last weekend, and that was great. So if you read my last post then you would know that it was a "hat" tournament, unfortunately at the time of the tournament I thought it meant something other than what it actually does. So I thought that the "hat" in hat tournament meant that each team gets a different hat. Unfortunately this name only came to be because the team captains used to throw all the names in a hat and pick the teams randomly. So I was very upset when I showed up and found out that we were not getting hats...damn! haha. But the tournament was fun, my team was alright, we went 2-1-1. It didn't really matter though, it was a relatively relaxed tournament.
After the tournament ended I met my housemates at a rugby game. I understood about half of what was going on, which unfortunately was just about as much as the drunk New Zealanders next to me knew. So it was a group of about seven, fifty-year old, really drunk men. My neighbor slurred a lot and had an unfortunate habit of spitting constantly as he talked, and of course he felt the need to talk to me about everything that happened in the game. To answer your question: yes, it was absolutely terrifying...I think I gagged a few times. Just kidding...but really, it happened. Fortunately for me though, his friend had got cut off at the bar and when my neighbor brought the next round of beers down to the seats they were caught by security. But of course something else had to go wrong: since my New Zealand neighbor was also super drunk he decided it would be a good idea to start a huge scene and yell at the security officers (all the while I am sitting between this drunk, New Zealand spitter and the irritated security officer, with roughly 2 inches between them and myself on either side). So I'm sitting here between two shouting men, getting showered by foreign spit and wondering when I am going to be hit by a misguided punch. After several minutes of this excitement the officers finally removed three of the men from the grounds. So yeah, I didn't have to deal with the spitting anymore, but I'm pretty sure there is a direct correlation between how much spit this man released and how angry he was. But it was...an experience, and at least it was exciting, haha.
Since then I've actually been pretty busy. I had my first paper due this week and I had an obnoxious amount of reading to do for my classes. The weather has been gorgeous, this week has been in the low to mid 80's...it's like a constant vacation.
Other than that there's not too much new going on. I am loving Skype right now because of the video feature. It's nice to be able to see people from home.
Alrighty, that's all I've got for now. Thanks for reading.
So I had my ultimate frisbee tournament last weekend, and that was great. So if you read my last post then you would know that it was a "hat" tournament, unfortunately at the time of the tournament I thought it meant something other than what it actually does. So I thought that the "hat" in hat tournament meant that each team gets a different hat. Unfortunately this name only came to be because the team captains used to throw all the names in a hat and pick the teams randomly. So I was very upset when I showed up and found out that we were not getting hats...damn! haha. But the tournament was fun, my team was alright, we went 2-1-1. It didn't really matter though, it was a relatively relaxed tournament.
After the tournament ended I met my housemates at a rugby game. I understood about half of what was going on, which unfortunately was just about as much as the drunk New Zealanders next to me knew. So it was a group of about seven, fifty-year old, really drunk men. My neighbor slurred a lot and had an unfortunate habit of spitting constantly as he talked, and of course he felt the need to talk to me about everything that happened in the game. To answer your question: yes, it was absolutely terrifying...I think I gagged a few times. Just kidding...but really, it happened. Fortunately for me though, his friend had got cut off at the bar and when my neighbor brought the next round of beers down to the seats they were caught by security. But of course something else had to go wrong: since my New Zealand neighbor was also super drunk he decided it would be a good idea to start a huge scene and yell at the security officers (all the while I am sitting between this drunk, New Zealand spitter and the irritated security officer, with roughly 2 inches between them and myself on either side). So I'm sitting here between two shouting men, getting showered by foreign spit and wondering when I am going to be hit by a misguided punch. After several minutes of this excitement the officers finally removed three of the men from the grounds. So yeah, I didn't have to deal with the spitting anymore, but I'm pretty sure there is a direct correlation between how much spit this man released and how angry he was. But it was...an experience, and at least it was exciting, haha.
Since then I've actually been pretty busy. I had my first paper due this week and I had an obnoxious amount of reading to do for my classes. The weather has been gorgeous, this week has been in the low to mid 80's...it's like a constant vacation.
Other than that there's not too much new going on. I am loving Skype right now because of the video feature. It's nice to be able to see people from home.
Alrighty, that's all I've got for now. Thanks for reading.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Awww Crap...
Well yeah, awww crap...it's been a while since I've posted a new blog, my bad. I actually had to look back at my previous blog to see what I wrote because I don't remember when I last posted, haha, yay me!
Alright, so I'm really settling in here quite well: I really like my housemates, I'm having fun with my frisbee team, classes are good, I feel like I'm really experiencing Sydney.
So St. Patty's Day was a good time, I went out with the girls and some of our neighbors. We went to a few bars (both of which had an awesome party going on), some people got kissed, some people got pissed (Aussie slang for drunk), and most people got both, lol.
So I have my first Ultimate Frisbee tournament tomorrow, which I am very excited about. It's a hat tournament (throw names in a hat and pick random teams) for the local Uni students. It's basically grouped into three levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Based on whatever level you are you will then be put onto a random team in that category.
But these tournaments are really relaxed and not too competitive, so I guess it's just a fun relaxed day of frisbee with beer and pizza at the end, and did I mention that it's in Sydney? Yeah, I'm in Sydney...cool.
So it's really hitting me that I'm here in Sydney, it's so cool. I'm really getting a feel for the city, and I feel like I am finding a place in it. The weather is maybe the best part, for example today was 30 degrees Celsius, which is equal to about...86 Fahrenheit degrees off the top of my head. Just kidding...but really.
So we go to the beach basically every weekend, last weekend we went to Cooji Beach, which is beautiful. And there is also a huge swimming pool outside the fitness center, which is only a 5 minute walk, so everyone goes there a lot. It's so cool to be able to go study by the pool on a really nice day. Or maybe not study...But really, I feel like I am on a constant vacation. The weather is pretty much always gorgeous, we do a ton of fun stuff, and I'm experiencing so many new things; I am very glad that I came.
We go to the city roughly twice a week, beach another day, and then we usually watch movies at night if we don't go out. I can't say how much better my living situation is now, I am very thankful that I could get moved here. Anyways, it's actually really hard to do work and be productive here, all the things I described above and in past blogs create a terrible work environment. It seems like there is so much going on that I just don't want to do work. I think that the words of my housemate Lauren Lawson, sums it up: "my school is getting in the way of my drinking". Haha.
Anywhoo...today I went to Paddy's Market, which is basically an indoor version of china town. So needless to say, I got a lot of souveneirs (which may either be for me or for you...depending on how much stuff you send me :-) lol). Just kidding again...but really.
Alright, well thanks for reading, and I'll be sure to post again sooner than I did last time.
Alright, so I'm really settling in here quite well: I really like my housemates, I'm having fun with my frisbee team, classes are good, I feel like I'm really experiencing Sydney.
So St. Patty's Day was a good time, I went out with the girls and some of our neighbors. We went to a few bars (both of which had an awesome party going on), some people got kissed, some people got pissed (Aussie slang for drunk), and most people got both, lol.
So I have my first Ultimate Frisbee tournament tomorrow, which I am very excited about. It's a hat tournament (throw names in a hat and pick random teams) for the local Uni students. It's basically grouped into three levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Based on whatever level you are you will then be put onto a random team in that category.
But these tournaments are really relaxed and not too competitive, so I guess it's just a fun relaxed day of frisbee with beer and pizza at the end, and did I mention that it's in Sydney? Yeah, I'm in Sydney...cool.
So it's really hitting me that I'm here in Sydney, it's so cool. I'm really getting a feel for the city, and I feel like I am finding a place in it. The weather is maybe the best part, for example today was 30 degrees Celsius, which is equal to about...86 Fahrenheit degrees off the top of my head. Just kidding...but really.
So we go to the beach basically every weekend, last weekend we went to Cooji Beach, which is beautiful. And there is also a huge swimming pool outside the fitness center, which is only a 5 minute walk, so everyone goes there a lot. It's so cool to be able to go study by the pool on a really nice day. Or maybe not study...But really, I feel like I am on a constant vacation. The weather is pretty much always gorgeous, we do a ton of fun stuff, and I'm experiencing so many new things; I am very glad that I came.
We go to the city roughly twice a week, beach another day, and then we usually watch movies at night if we don't go out. I can't say how much better my living situation is now, I am very thankful that I could get moved here. Anyways, it's actually really hard to do work and be productive here, all the things I described above and in past blogs create a terrible work environment. It seems like there is so much going on that I just don't want to do work. I think that the words of my housemate Lauren Lawson, sums it up: "my school is getting in the way of my drinking". Haha.
Anywhoo...today I went to Paddy's Market, which is basically an indoor version of china town. So needless to say, I got a lot of souveneirs (which may either be for me or for you...depending on how much stuff you send me :-) lol). Just kidding again...but really.
Alright, well thanks for reading, and I'll be sure to post again sooner than I did last time.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Events, plans, and fun times.
So now it has been almost a week since I moved into the new apartment. I am so glad that I moved, I am enjoying living here a lot more than I was in my old place. All of my housemates are really cool and a lot of fun. It's nice having other people around just to hang out with, and whats even better is that they are into a lot of the same stuff that I am. Julie is obsessed with family guy and everyone else likes it too, we also all like a lot of the same movies, and Julie brought a bunch of movies from home, so that's pretty awesome. On Saturday Lindsay, Lauren, Julie, some girls from next door and myself all went down to the Mardi Gras (and if you were wondering...yes, I did feel like a pimp being with all those girls, haha).
So Mardi Gras was a lot of fun, it was actually the gay and lesbian Mardi Gras, so it was very interesting and quite amusing. I may not do it justice, so check out the pictures on my facebook. Although my camera did die about half way through the parade...grrr. The parade was very colorful, obviously, and some people had very elaborate costumes, while other had nothing but a thong and nipple stars (unfortunately, this of course was the case with the people that you would hope would have the most clothes on!) Moving on...haha. So there were all types of groups in the parade, from the "big bears" club, to the "leather lovers" club...there should have been an age minimum to attend this parade! Haha. But, overall the parade was very entertaining and we all had lots of fun. After the parade we went to this awesome, 4-story bar, which was a lot of fun.
So staying on the housemate oriented path...we just planned out our spring break trip. So here is our plan:
Day 1: Flight from Sydeny to Gold Coast, and depending on what time we get there we will figure out what we do that day
Day 2: Dreamworld (it's a really cool theme park with tons of roller coasters and rides
Day 3: White Water World (water park)
Day 4-5: Beach time, basically do whatever we want
Day 6: Bus from the Gold Coast to Brisbane
Day 7: Crocodile Zoo
Day 8: Flight from Brisbane to Cairns
Day 9: Rain forest
Day 10: Reef (snorkeling, scuba diving)
Day 11: White Water Rafting
Day 12: Skydiving
Day 13: Flight back to Sydney
So these are the events that we have planned, and obviously something like "flight from Brisbane to Cairns" doesn't take all day, so we will be checking out the local areas and find cool stuff to do.
We went to the travel agency on campus and they help us set up the whole trip. They helped us plan out what events we wanted to do, found us housing, arranged all travel, and also gave tips on cool places to go. So we are all very excited about the trip; it should be awesome. So it is going to be Lauren, Lindsay, Julie, and myself on the trip. Ali apparently doesn't really like Australia (I know, ridiculous!), so I'm not sure what he is doing for spring break. Some girls two houses down were talking about going maybe, but I don't think they will. But, either way I will be the only guy again, haha. I have no problem with it, haha. I have an awesome time with them and it's cool being in that situation...more attention, haha.
So anyways...I actually also planned another skydiving trip for this weekend (the 14th). I didn't know we were going to be doing skydiving on the spring break trip, so I guess I'll be able to do something awesome twice on the same trip.
So school here is very different than in the US. Grades are made up of only a handful of grades, whereas in the US grades are made up of many different types of assessment. For example: in the US, we will have several small tests, papers, projects, a mid-term, and a final exam, whereas here there is maybe only one test, two papers, and one project. I don't have any exams this semester, but I do have a few papers that are worth 40 or 50% or my overall grade for that course. Another large difference is that there is a lot more reading here. For my Intro to World History course I just had to read about 100 pages for homework, in addition to the other 40-70 pages for each other class. So yeah, I have to read a lot. I guess it's a good thing that the courses I enrolled in are very interesting to me.
Two of my courses are especially interesting: during the lectures all we do is watch videos on music/dance/art, and then during the tutorials all we do is talk about the demonstration we watched; it's pretty awesome. Last week during my lecture for Contemporary Australian Arts we actually had a performer come in and talk about how he gets his ideas for music and then he performed two songs. He was really good, and many people agreed that his music had a striking resemblance to Jack Johnson (who, if you don't know, is a very popular rock/alternative musician in the US), so that was really cool.
I am having a lot of fun here and I like it a lot. I am very happy about my housing situation now and I will be taking a video of my apartment soon. I would love to hear from you...or get a package :-)
Thanks for reading!
So Mardi Gras was a lot of fun, it was actually the gay and lesbian Mardi Gras, so it was very interesting and quite amusing. I may not do it justice, so check out the pictures on my facebook. Although my camera did die about half way through the parade...grrr. The parade was very colorful, obviously, and some people had very elaborate costumes, while other had nothing but a thong and nipple stars (unfortunately, this of course was the case with the people that you would hope would have the most clothes on!) Moving on...haha. So there were all types of groups in the parade, from the "big bears" club, to the "leather lovers" club...there should have been an age minimum to attend this parade! Haha. But, overall the parade was very entertaining and we all had lots of fun. After the parade we went to this awesome, 4-story bar, which was a lot of fun.
So staying on the housemate oriented path...we just planned out our spring break trip. So here is our plan:
Day 1: Flight from Sydeny to Gold Coast, and depending on what time we get there we will figure out what we do that day
Day 2: Dreamworld (it's a really cool theme park with tons of roller coasters and rides
Day 3: White Water World (water park)
Day 4-5: Beach time, basically do whatever we want
Day 6: Bus from the Gold Coast to Brisbane
Day 7: Crocodile Zoo
Day 8: Flight from Brisbane to Cairns
Day 9: Rain forest
Day 10: Reef (snorkeling, scuba diving)
Day 11: White Water Rafting
Day 12: Skydiving
Day 13: Flight back to Sydney
So these are the events that we have planned, and obviously something like "flight from Brisbane to Cairns" doesn't take all day, so we will be checking out the local areas and find cool stuff to do.
We went to the travel agency on campus and they help us set up the whole trip. They helped us plan out what events we wanted to do, found us housing, arranged all travel, and also gave tips on cool places to go. So we are all very excited about the trip; it should be awesome. So it is going to be Lauren, Lindsay, Julie, and myself on the trip. Ali apparently doesn't really like Australia (I know, ridiculous!), so I'm not sure what he is doing for spring break. Some girls two houses down were talking about going maybe, but I don't think they will. But, either way I will be the only guy again, haha. I have no problem with it, haha. I have an awesome time with them and it's cool being in that situation...more attention, haha.
So anyways...I actually also planned another skydiving trip for this weekend (the 14th). I didn't know we were going to be doing skydiving on the spring break trip, so I guess I'll be able to do something awesome twice on the same trip.
So school here is very different than in the US. Grades are made up of only a handful of grades, whereas in the US grades are made up of many different types of assessment. For example: in the US, we will have several small tests, papers, projects, a mid-term, and a final exam, whereas here there is maybe only one test, two papers, and one project. I don't have any exams this semester, but I do have a few papers that are worth 40 or 50% or my overall grade for that course. Another large difference is that there is a lot more reading here. For my Intro to World History course I just had to read about 100 pages for homework, in addition to the other 40-70 pages for each other class. So yeah, I have to read a lot. I guess it's a good thing that the courses I enrolled in are very interesting to me.
Two of my courses are especially interesting: during the lectures all we do is watch videos on music/dance/art, and then during the tutorials all we do is talk about the demonstration we watched; it's pretty awesome. Last week during my lecture for Contemporary Australian Arts we actually had a performer come in and talk about how he gets his ideas for music and then he performed two songs. He was really good, and many people agreed that his music had a striking resemblance to Jack Johnson (who, if you don't know, is a very popular rock/alternative musician in the US), so that was really cool.
I am having a lot of fun here and I like it a lot. I am very happy about my housing situation now and I will be taking a video of my apartment soon. I would love to hear from you...or get a package :-)
Thanks for reading!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Changes...
So I finally moved into a new apartment, and it is much better. I now live in what is called "Macquarie University Village", which is made up of about 200 houses. Each house has two floors and five bedrooms. I am living with Lindsey (US), Lauren (US), Julie (US), and Ali (uhh....crap. somewhere near Turkey, I just can't think of it right now, but he's cool). Every room has it's own bathroom, which is nice. Everything else in the apartment is shared. But, we do have to pay for laundry, which I guess is $3/load and the washers are tiny...mom...money...lol. Also, I finally got internet set up, which is $40/month...mom. lol.
I will shoot a video of the apartment soon so you can see what it's like. My room isn't as big as my last one, but it is still nice. So some other nice things about this apartment is that it is much closer to campus, the gym, and the frisbee field. It used to take me maybe 20 minutes to walk to the gym, now it takes 5. It would take me 30 minutes to walk to the frisbee field, now it takes about 10. Also, the "village" plans events for resident students, so that should be a good way to meet more people, and a good way to have some fun!
So I have a bit of a dilemma right now...to go to frisbee practice, or to go on a cruise. Here it is:
Frisbee practice is from 4:30-6:30 and we only meet once a week right now and I really love playing, and I also want to meet people from the team. I also had a lot of fun at last weeks' practice. I bought cleats for about $60 or something like that, and a jersey for $35 I think.
The cruise leaves the harbour at 7 pm sharp, but they said to arrive by 6:30. It takes roughly an hour and 15 minutes to get to the wharf, and the cruise was $20. This includes the ride around Sydney harbour, food, beer, and wine. (This is the same area that the 80's cruise was on, which was free, but the drinks were $7-8, ridiculous!) But, I would also have to pay for transportation, which would be $5 each way, and then if we went out after, that would be more.
So I have already invested in each event (cleats, and ticket). You might be saying, why not go to part of practice and then go to the cruise? Well, I thought of that, but really all I would be going to practice for would be jogging, stretching, and a few throws, and MAYBE a drill. Because I would still have to shower afterwards, and get changed. I really want to go to practice, but I also want to go to the cruise because I know a bunch of people that are going and it seems like a lot of fun. Arg....I don't know! I only have a few more hours to decide...hmm...maybe I will flip a coin (Ali's suggestion, no not my roommate Ali, the guy, but Ali the girl from back home).
Hmm...not too much else going on at this moment. My classes are very interesting and I like them a lot. I think I will go take the video of the apartment now.
Thanks for reading!
I will shoot a video of the apartment soon so you can see what it's like. My room isn't as big as my last one, but it is still nice. So some other nice things about this apartment is that it is much closer to campus, the gym, and the frisbee field. It used to take me maybe 20 minutes to walk to the gym, now it takes 5. It would take me 30 minutes to walk to the frisbee field, now it takes about 10. Also, the "village" plans events for resident students, so that should be a good way to meet more people, and a good way to have some fun!
So I have a bit of a dilemma right now...to go to frisbee practice, or to go on a cruise. Here it is:
Frisbee practice is from 4:30-6:30 and we only meet once a week right now and I really love playing, and I also want to meet people from the team. I also had a lot of fun at last weeks' practice. I bought cleats for about $60 or something like that, and a jersey for $35 I think.
The cruise leaves the harbour at 7 pm sharp, but they said to arrive by 6:30. It takes roughly an hour and 15 minutes to get to the wharf, and the cruise was $20. This includes the ride around Sydney harbour, food, beer, and wine. (This is the same area that the 80's cruise was on, which was free, but the drinks were $7-8, ridiculous!) But, I would also have to pay for transportation, which would be $5 each way, and then if we went out after, that would be more.
So I have already invested in each event (cleats, and ticket). You might be saying, why not go to part of practice and then go to the cruise? Well, I thought of that, but really all I would be going to practice for would be jogging, stretching, and a few throws, and MAYBE a drill. Because I would still have to shower afterwards, and get changed. I really want to go to practice, but I also want to go to the cruise because I know a bunch of people that are going and it seems like a lot of fun. Arg....I don't know! I only have a few more hours to decide...hmm...maybe I will flip a coin (Ali's suggestion, no not my roommate Ali, the guy, but Ali the girl from back home).
Hmm...not too much else going on at this moment. My classes are very interesting and I like them a lot. I think I will go take the video of the apartment now.
Thanks for reading!
Monday, March 2, 2009
random things...
So I just got some great news! I just got the course reader for my final class and...no exam! This means that I do not have exams for any of my classes, which means I will be able to leave around mid June, instead of mid July.
Yes, I do like it here a lot, but I would also like to see my friends and family, and there is no point in staying any longer here if I am done with all my classes and if I have traveled around.
So there is something that I have realized in the past few days...I don't care if it sounds corny or sappy. It doesn't matter where you are in the world, if you around the ones you love you will find happiness.
Why am I saying this? Well, because I am in Australia, and the people I love are in the U.S. Being here is weird for me; a very new experience. It isn't the same as being away at school. Coming here alone has lead to me experiencing many new things. I am forced to deal with not having any familiar faces to look at. I do not have the comfort of knowing anybody prior to coming here. I cannot visit home for a weekend, and I can hardly even talk to the people back home because of the 16 hour time difference. Not that I am unhappy here, it is just a lot to adjust to. But, I am glad that I came, and I feel that I will experience a lot of changes due to the circumstances. I am forced to meet new people, because if I don't then I won't know anybody here. I am enjoying the process, and I am meeting a lot of cool people along the way. It feels like I have been gone for longer that two weeks, I guess just because I have been pretty busy. But I do miss everyone from home, and I would love to hear from you (email, blog comments, facebook messages, Skype).
Enough of that...
So I will be booking my surfing trip pretty soon I think, and I am very excited about that. I'm not totally sure what I will be doing for spring break yet, but I will be booking something soon I think.
So I had my first serious lecture today (last week was all orientation/class info stuff), and woweee was my hand tired! I swear this lady never stopped talking. Slide after slide after slide! And no I'm not a slow writer, messy yes, but not slow; everyone else around me kept groaning just as I did as the lecturer would change slides before we could get everything down. And it's not like she's even reading from the slides, she is talking about something to do with the topic on the slide. So apparently we are supposed to be able to process everything on the slide, write it down with extreme precision and speed, while simultaniously listening to her example/story. I think I might need a second brain for these lectures!
This big school thing is a dramatic change for me; Niagara only has about 3,200 students, and Macquarie has 30,000. I like certain things about this school being so big: lots of cool people, amazing facilities, beautiful women, good sports teams, lot of clubs/organizations, a great education, and people from all over the world (8,000 international students). But, I am definitely used to talking to the professors more and actually having them know my name (actually during last semester one of my grades was based on if the professor knew my name or not, lol). But, I am saying this before attending any tutorials, which are supposed to be smaller groups, so I will have to see how that goes.
I feel somewhat disconnected from the U.S. right now, so keep me updated!
I would like to take a moment of silence for the loss of Brian Dawkins...
No he isn't dead, but he did get signed by the Denver Broncos, and that's big enough of a loss for me. What a great player and a great person, he will be missed by Philadelphia and all Philadelphia Eagles fans.
Well, that's all I've got for now. Thanks for reading. :-)
Yes, I do like it here a lot, but I would also like to see my friends and family, and there is no point in staying any longer here if I am done with all my classes and if I have traveled around.
So there is something that I have realized in the past few days...I don't care if it sounds corny or sappy. It doesn't matter where you are in the world, if you around the ones you love you will find happiness.
Why am I saying this? Well, because I am in Australia, and the people I love are in the U.S. Being here is weird for me; a very new experience. It isn't the same as being away at school. Coming here alone has lead to me experiencing many new things. I am forced to deal with not having any familiar faces to look at. I do not have the comfort of knowing anybody prior to coming here. I cannot visit home for a weekend, and I can hardly even talk to the people back home because of the 16 hour time difference. Not that I am unhappy here, it is just a lot to adjust to. But, I am glad that I came, and I feel that I will experience a lot of changes due to the circumstances. I am forced to meet new people, because if I don't then I won't know anybody here. I am enjoying the process, and I am meeting a lot of cool people along the way. It feels like I have been gone for longer that two weeks, I guess just because I have been pretty busy. But I do miss everyone from home, and I would love to hear from you (email, blog comments, facebook messages, Skype).
Enough of that...
So I will be booking my surfing trip pretty soon I think, and I am very excited about that. I'm not totally sure what I will be doing for spring break yet, but I will be booking something soon I think.
So I had my first serious lecture today (last week was all orientation/class info stuff), and woweee was my hand tired! I swear this lady never stopped talking. Slide after slide after slide! And no I'm not a slow writer, messy yes, but not slow; everyone else around me kept groaning just as I did as the lecturer would change slides before we could get everything down. And it's not like she's even reading from the slides, she is talking about something to do with the topic on the slide. So apparently we are supposed to be able to process everything on the slide, write it down with extreme precision and speed, while simultaniously listening to her example/story. I think I might need a second brain for these lectures!
This big school thing is a dramatic change for me; Niagara only has about 3,200 students, and Macquarie has 30,000. I like certain things about this school being so big: lots of cool people, amazing facilities, beautiful women, good sports teams, lot of clubs/organizations, a great education, and people from all over the world (8,000 international students). But, I am definitely used to talking to the professors more and actually having them know my name (actually during last semester one of my grades was based on if the professor knew my name or not, lol). But, I am saying this before attending any tutorials, which are supposed to be smaller groups, so I will have to see how that goes.
I feel somewhat disconnected from the U.S. right now, so keep me updated!
I would like to take a moment of silence for the loss of Brian Dawkins...
No he isn't dead, but he did get signed by the Denver Broncos, and that's big enough of a loss for me. What a great player and a great person, he will be missed by Philadelphia and all Philadelphia Eagles fans.
Well, that's all I've got for now. Thanks for reading. :-)
Saturday, February 28, 2009
updates...
So just a few things before I start my second blog... if anyone has any questions or wants to know about anything you can post comments to my blogs and I will be able to reply to them. Also, you can "follow" my blogs, which I think will send you an email every time I post a new blog, which will save unnecessary blog checking. Also, I just got a Skype account, so feel free to look me up on there.
So to the left is a picture of Manly (terrible name) Beach. It is very nice there, but not so easy to get to. We have to take either a bus or three trains and then a ferry, which all-in-all takes about an hour and a half to get there, but I would say it's worth it. I went there yesterday (Friday) with a bunch of friends, and tonight we are going to the CBD (Central Business District) and will most likely go to a pub or two.
This whole week has been "O-Week" (Orientation Week), and there were tents set up all over campus with tons of clubs and teams to join. I joined the Ultimate Frisbee team and we had our first practice on Thursday. It felt really good to play again, and I had a lot of fun. Here is a picture of one of our tournament jerseys, I think the are awesome.
I also joined the Global Leadership Program (GLP) . Since I don't feel like typing it up, here is a quick explanation of what the GLP is:
"Stand up for global issues – and stand out from the pack
Graduates able to demonstrate an understanding of cross-cultural concepts through their own international experience will have a strong competitive edge in today's global marketplace. Employers will look beyond your academic transcript for the additional skills you have developed including communication, creativity, leadership and initiative. Industry demands graduates who have proven their potential for a leadership position.
As part of Macquarie's commitment to internationalisation and innovation, the Global Leadership Program (GLP) allows students to enhance their Macquarie degree and develop their potential to become a global leader.
Macquarie's Global Leadership Program can equip you with the leadership potential, professional skills and international experiences to pursue a truly international career."
To complete this program I will have to attend ten 3-hour colloquium in which I will learn about topics such as: Cross Cultural Understanding, Leadership, Beyond Borders: the responsibilities of a global citizen, Me Inc. - Tools for Powerful Self-Promotion, Group Dynamics, Business Etiquette, Service Leadership, Negotiating in cross-cultural environments, Getting the Message Across: the fundamentals of effective public speaking, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Sustainable Leadership, and Effective writing: respecting & reshaping professional cultures. There is a list of about 25 different colloquium you can choose to attend, and I was most interested in these, and thought that these ten would help me the most in the future. Another great thing about this program is that it is one of the few programs other than college courses that will actually show up on your transcript. So I figured that that would look really good to potential employers, and hopefully set me apart from other applicants.
OK, enough about that.
So I just finished the first week of classes, and I am actually really excited about that courses that I am taking. Intro to World History covers everything from the Big Bang to the present time, and actually we will be looking into the future as well. The way the course is run is very interesting to me, and I feel like I will learn a lot. The main lecturer is also the Author of the textbook, which can't hurt! Haha. World Musics covers all types of World Music, and we learn about the origins/meanings/evolution of the music, and we also have some famous performer coming in (can't remember his name). Contemporary Australian Arts explores all different types of art, and we will explore arts such as: poetry, sculpture, music, painting, dance, etc. So that should also be very interesting. And Intercultural Relations should also be interesting as it covers the way different social groups interact. And I know that the first three classes don't have any exams, and I haven't gotten the course outline for Intercultural Relations yet, but I really hope that I don't have an exam for that course because that would mean that I would get done with school much earlier. They have two weeks of exams here, so the last day of classes is June 12th, and exams end June 28th. My flight home is supposed to be July 15th, because I wanted to travel a bit while I'm already here. But if I were to be done on July 12th then I would be able to travel and still come home sooner. Which would allow me to spend more time with friends, family, and I would be able to make more money working, woohoo!
I think that I will be going to New Zealand over spring break with some friends, we are not totally sure what we will be doing yet, but we have some ideas. I am also going to be booking a weekend surf trip soon, which I am really excited about. The package includes basically everything you could want on a surfing trip, and it seems like a really fun time.
Hmm...some things about Australia/Sydney: There are ants everywhere, I don't know why, but they are all over the place, it's kind of weird. There is also the occasional hand-sized spider (ahhh!), which I am not too thrilled about, lol. These spiders are so big that you cannot squish them, you have to stab them! So yeah...I will be carrying a knife with me at all times, jk...but not really, haha. There are tons of lizards, which is pretty cool. They are all over my apartment complex (no, not inside the buildings). There are also lots of bunnies and cool birds. There are cockatoos everywhere, and a few other really cool birds that I don't know the name of, but I will take pictures. Yes the birds are very pretty, but unfortunately they can be very loud/annoying. There are some crow-looking birds that honestly sound like screaming children; not the best thing to wake up to! Haha.
Hmm...I think I will be getting a job soon once things settle down. I won't be working too much, just about 10-12 hours a week. I entered my information in the school website for some on-campus jobs, but if I don't like any of those then I might check out the shopping center. The shopping center is about a 15-minute walk, and it is absolutely massive. It is four stories, and has a huge number of stores, so I might be able to work somewhere cool, who knows.
Well, that's all I've got for now. I will blog again when I have something interesting to say, lol. Thanks for reading. :-)
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Australia Week 1
So here is my first blog...EVER! Woohoo. Mom I know you hate blogs, but there is no way that I have time to email everybody and let them know what is going on. Alright...here we go!
So all traveling went well, no problems there. I actually sat next to a girl on the plane who is doing study abroad at Macquarie as well.
My apartment is very nice, I am in a single room with a double bed, a porch, a huge closet, and a personal bathroom. Next to my room is a double room where Johannes (23 yrs old, German) and Selman (23 yrs old, Turkish) share a room. They have to share a bathroom, haha! So we all share a kitchen, laundry room, dining area, living room, and another larger porch and a small backyard. The apartment is pretty big, and we also have a pool, hot tub, sauna, and tennis court in our complex, so that's pretty cool. I have finally started to decorate my room (it was so blank is was depressing), so now it is livable. A little description on the roommies....Johannes is from Frankfurt and he is a real cool guy. He loves beer (I mean, he is German...haha) and he is easy to get along with. Selman is...uhh...you know...difficult. You want to know what the first thing he said to us was? "Do you party a lot? Because I am here to study." Yeahhhhh, awesome way to introduce yourself Selman. Gahhhh! Haha. So he is a neat freak and cleans everything every day, which I guess is OK since the apartment is staying relatively clean, or at least disinfected, haha. He doesn't really interact with people, and he is kind of hard o get along with. Johannes and I are actually both trying to move out. Not just because of Selman, but for a few other reasons. Our apartment complex is a regular apartment complex, so there are families living there, which is sort of weird. There aren't too many other students living there, and I would definitely like to live somewhere where there are more students. I don't mind cooking for myself, I actually like it, but we do not get internet. I have tried two different providers and neither gets a signal in out apartment, so I have been coming to campus every day to use the wireless. My apartment is about a ten minute walk from campus, and I go there at least twice daily, and then to the gym also which is a 15-20 minute walk, and then I usually go to my friends' apartment, which is a 12 minute walk, and if I go to the shopping center, thats another 20 minute walk. So I walk all the time! I feel bad for my feet. Good thing the weather is so nice, otherwise it would be a real pain.
OK, next topic...the people...The women here are GORGEOUS! Not kidding, there are soo many hot girls here, and from all over the world. This school is huge (30,000 students, 8,000 of which are international students) so there is plenty of opportunity to meet people from really cool places.
The campus is gorgeous, I will be posting pictures of it soon, it actually used to be a national park. So you know that it's a nice place. My classes so far have been really interesting. I am taking Intercultural relations, Intro to world history, World Musics, and Contemporary Australian Arts. All of the classes are very interesting and I can tell that I will learn a lot of interesting things. Each class is made up of lectures and tutorials. Lectures are huge (so far they have been 150, 150, and 250 students in my classes so far), and the tutorials are made up of smaller groups, and that is where the discussions go on.
The gym here is very nice, and everything is very new. It was constructed less than two years ago, so the facilities are amazing. It is sort of expensive, but there is a lot included in the membership. There is a full gym and aerobic center, they offer a variety of classes (basically any class you could think of, from martial arts, to spinning classes, and pilates classes, to salsa classes). There is also two pools, one indoor and one outdoor.
So last weekend I went on an island trip with other international students. It was an hour bus ride and then an hour boat ride. There were 75 of us, and we stayed in cabins. Everything was included in the package, and it was a really good deal. It was $110 AUD, which is just over $70 USD, and this included transportation there and back, all meals, all activities, and accommodation. The food was really good and there was plenty of it. The activities we did included archery (which I won, haha), boomerang throwing, a ropes course, a giant swing (which I have a video of and will be posting on facebook), bushwalking, canoeing (and canoeing games...for example: all the people lined up in their canoes and grabbed onto the canoe next to them and then the instructor would pick two or more people and they would have to switch places by running across the canoes as fast as they could, which was very fun and very funny). There was also a pool, tennis and basketball courts, and a fire pit. I met some really cool people there, and they were from all over the world (20 different countries). I posted some pictures of it on facebook, so check them out.
The weather is really nice here, it is great to get out of the snow. Most people are very friendly, and good looking, haha. So the drinking age is 18, but beer is very expensive because the government taxes it heavily because they know that younger people will want to buy it. So the route that most people go is boxed wine. You can get boxed wine for $10 AUD, and they call it "goon". A common phrase here is "slap the goon", which means to drink the boxed wine, lol. There are many funny terms here and they are pretty easy to pick up. They really like to abbreviate everything, and add an "E" sound at the end of the word. For example: University is Uni, mosquito is mossie. A guy is a bloke, and a girl is a sheila. My favorite is "dodgy", which is another word for sketchy, but they use it very often, and I laugh every time! My friends and I also made up two other funny terms "half-flush, and full-flush". Can you guess what these mean? Well, I will tell you anyways...on the toilets there are two flush buttons, one that is a half-flush, for number one, and a full-flush that is for number two. So, to bring some comedy to the bathroom situation we call it either a "full-flush" or a "half-flush", which is much more fun to say! And I will do my best to bring those terms back to the US.
There was an international student 80's themed cruise on the Sydney Harbour, which was very fun, and I got some great pictures. I also went on a bus tour, which stopped at Sydney Harbour National Park, Darling Harbour, and some other great photo opp spots. After the cruise we went to a pub in Sydney, and that was a lot of fun. The CBD (Central Business District, instead of downtown) is roughly a 30 minute bus ride from campus, and it only costs $5 AUD, so it's pretty cheap.
I will be joining the ultimate frisbee team here. Practice starts tomorrow and I am very excited. We are the Macquarie Warriors, and they are the sickest (that's a good thing) jerseys I have ever seen. Once I get my jersey I will be sure to take a picture of it and allow everyone to see the sickness (still a good thing) of them. I plan on joining some other groups, I checked out the debate club, the green party, the Model UN, and some other various clubs.
That's enough for now, I hope you enjoyed my first blog. I would love to hear from you, and feel free to write me an email (danbme@gmail.com), post a comment about my blog, or send me stuff! haha. For now my address is:
Daniel Brault
29/122 Culloden Rd.
Marsfield, NSW 2122
I look forward to hearing from you. Have a good day :-)
So all traveling went well, no problems there. I actually sat next to a girl on the plane who is doing study abroad at Macquarie as well.
My apartment is very nice, I am in a single room with a double bed, a porch, a huge closet, and a personal bathroom. Next to my room is a double room where Johannes (23 yrs old, German) and Selman (23 yrs old, Turkish) share a room. They have to share a bathroom, haha! So we all share a kitchen, laundry room, dining area, living room, and another larger porch and a small backyard. The apartment is pretty big, and we also have a pool, hot tub, sauna, and tennis court in our complex, so that's pretty cool. I have finally started to decorate my room (it was so blank is was depressing), so now it is livable. A little description on the roommies....Johannes is from Frankfurt and he is a real cool guy. He loves beer (I mean, he is German...haha) and he is easy to get along with. Selman is...uhh...you know...difficult. You want to know what the first thing he said to us was? "Do you party a lot? Because I am here to study." Yeahhhhh, awesome way to introduce yourself Selman. Gahhhh! Haha. So he is a neat freak and cleans everything every day, which I guess is OK since the apartment is staying relatively clean, or at least disinfected, haha. He doesn't really interact with people, and he is kind of hard o get along with. Johannes and I are actually both trying to move out. Not just because of Selman, but for a few other reasons. Our apartment complex is a regular apartment complex, so there are families living there, which is sort of weird. There aren't too many other students living there, and I would definitely like to live somewhere where there are more students. I don't mind cooking for myself, I actually like it, but we do not get internet. I have tried two different providers and neither gets a signal in out apartment, so I have been coming to campus every day to use the wireless. My apartment is about a ten minute walk from campus, and I go there at least twice daily, and then to the gym also which is a 15-20 minute walk, and then I usually go to my friends' apartment, which is a 12 minute walk, and if I go to the shopping center, thats another 20 minute walk. So I walk all the time! I feel bad for my feet. Good thing the weather is so nice, otherwise it would be a real pain.
OK, next topic...the people...The women here are GORGEOUS! Not kidding, there are soo many hot girls here, and from all over the world. This school is huge (30,000 students, 8,000 of which are international students) so there is plenty of opportunity to meet people from really cool places.
The campus is gorgeous, I will be posting pictures of it soon, it actually used to be a national park. So you know that it's a nice place. My classes so far have been really interesting. I am taking Intercultural relations, Intro to world history, World Musics, and Contemporary Australian Arts. All of the classes are very interesting and I can tell that I will learn a lot of interesting things. Each class is made up of lectures and tutorials. Lectures are huge (so far they have been 150, 150, and 250 students in my classes so far), and the tutorials are made up of smaller groups, and that is where the discussions go on.
The gym here is very nice, and everything is very new. It was constructed less than two years ago, so the facilities are amazing. It is sort of expensive, but there is a lot included in the membership. There is a full gym and aerobic center, they offer a variety of classes (basically any class you could think of, from martial arts, to spinning classes, and pilates classes, to salsa classes). There is also two pools, one indoor and one outdoor.
So last weekend I went on an island trip with other international students. It was an hour bus ride and then an hour boat ride. There were 75 of us, and we stayed in cabins. Everything was included in the package, and it was a really good deal. It was $110 AUD, which is just over $70 USD, and this included transportation there and back, all meals, all activities, and accommodation. The food was really good and there was plenty of it. The activities we did included archery (which I won, haha), boomerang throwing, a ropes course, a giant swing (which I have a video of and will be posting on facebook), bushwalking, canoeing (and canoeing games...for example: all the people lined up in their canoes and grabbed onto the canoe next to them and then the instructor would pick two or more people and they would have to switch places by running across the canoes as fast as they could, which was very fun and very funny). There was also a pool, tennis and basketball courts, and a fire pit. I met some really cool people there, and they were from all over the world (20 different countries). I posted some pictures of it on facebook, so check them out.
The weather is really nice here, it is great to get out of the snow. Most people are very friendly, and good looking, haha. So the drinking age is 18, but beer is very expensive because the government taxes it heavily because they know that younger people will want to buy it. So the route that most people go is boxed wine. You can get boxed wine for $10 AUD, and they call it "goon". A common phrase here is "slap the goon", which means to drink the boxed wine, lol. There are many funny terms here and they are pretty easy to pick up. They really like to abbreviate everything, and add an "E" sound at the end of the word. For example: University is Uni, mosquito is mossie. A guy is a bloke, and a girl is a sheila. My favorite is "dodgy", which is another word for sketchy, but they use it very often, and I laugh every time! My friends and I also made up two other funny terms "half-flush, and full-flush". Can you guess what these mean? Well, I will tell you anyways...on the toilets there are two flush buttons, one that is a half-flush, for number one, and a full-flush that is for number two. So, to bring some comedy to the bathroom situation we call it either a "full-flush" or a "half-flush", which is much more fun to say! And I will do my best to bring those terms back to the US.
There was an international student 80's themed cruise on the Sydney Harbour, which was very fun, and I got some great pictures. I also went on a bus tour, which stopped at Sydney Harbour National Park, Darling Harbour, and some other great photo opp spots. After the cruise we went to a pub in Sydney, and that was a lot of fun. The CBD (Central Business District, instead of downtown) is roughly a 30 minute bus ride from campus, and it only costs $5 AUD, so it's pretty cheap.
I will be joining the ultimate frisbee team here. Practice starts tomorrow and I am very excited. We are the Macquarie Warriors, and they are the sickest (that's a good thing) jerseys I have ever seen. Once I get my jersey I will be sure to take a picture of it and allow everyone to see the sickness (still a good thing) of them. I plan on joining some other groups, I checked out the debate club, the green party, the Model UN, and some other various clubs.
That's enough for now, I hope you enjoyed my first blog. I would love to hear from you, and feel free to write me an email (danbme@gmail.com), post a comment about my blog, or send me stuff! haha. For now my address is:
Daniel Brault
29/122 Culloden Rd.
Marsfield, NSW 2122
I look forward to hearing from you. Have a good day :-)
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