"Life is a shipwreck but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats."

-Voltaire
It's been forty days, and classes are still going good. I can't believe we are already on week five. I had to drop my drawing class unfortunately; it was a much higher level and faster paced class than I wanted and the professor wasn't much help. So now I'm in only three classes, which is actually turning out to be pretty awesome. For the entire semester, I only have four essays, two projects, and one final exam! This is especially great since finals start November 9th and I leave November 30th, so I'll only have one exam during that period, the rest of the month is for travel!

the Sygna shipwreck site

Stockton Beach

This weekend, we took a bus to Stockton Beach, which is like an hour away. Nine of us all decided to go on an ATV tour at Quad Bike King through sand dunes to a shipwreck site. The ship was a Norwegian freighter that lost its battle with a 1974 cyclone that hit the shores of Newcastle. It was such an awesome experience! At first, it was difficult to drive and you actually go pretty fast on the tour; it was a good thing no one can hear anything because of their motors and helmets because I would actually scream at some parts! But about a quarter of the way through I got used to it and started to really enjoy it. I got gutsy towards the end and started actually hitting the jumps and things; I'm pretty proud of myself! I kind of really want to do it again...we'll see.

Back at HPU, my home university, all my friends have moved in and classes have begun. It hasn't really hit me until now that I really miss everyone; and it feels strange how life just goes on fine without me being there. Despite these feelings, I'm so incredibly happy and grateful to be here. I can honestly this is probably the best decision I've ever made. If you ever get a chance to do something like this, do not let it pass by!
The countdown to Melbourne is closing in- we leave in three and a half days! It'll be our first trip flying somewhere; we'll be leaving out of Sydney airport. It's much cheaper that way, rather than flying out of Newcastle. Our flight leaves at seven am on Friday so we have to catch the train to Sydney around midnight on Thursday night, and either sleep on the train/flight or just not sleep! Ah! But it's worth it to have basically all of Friday in Melbourne. I'm so excited!
It's finally starting to warm up, which is fantastic! (finally!!) An aussie told us that once it hits September, it'll pretty much be hot for the next 6 months. Well, that's exactly what I need to hear, because who comes to Australia to wear jackets and pants? No one. No one, that's who.
Anyway, I just want to take this chance to say I miss everyone! Enjoy your heat right now!...and don't forget about me :)

A month gone already?!

It's crazy to think it's been a little over a month since I landed in Australia! I just can't believe it; where did the time go?! I'm absolutely loving my experience so far and don't want it to end anytime soon. Three and a half more months might not cut it....but it'll have to I suppose. Although, I know I'll make the most out of them.
So we went to Oakvale Farm last weekend and that was amazing! I cannot believe how well mannered the kangaroos are. They just hang around and let you do pretty much anything with them, especially if you have food (check out my pictures tab to see my smooch with a roo). We also got to pet koalas, which was sweet; they're so soft and adorable!

koala bear

sleepy koala

Other animals we saw were miniature horses, camels, llamas, goats, sheep, wallabies, turkeys, a peacock, and a dingo. It was very neat! My favorite part was probably hanging with the kangaroos; they kind of reminded me of my dog Kirby, whom I miss very much!

feeding the kangaroos!

Newcastle Beach

On Monday, we explored another beach, and it's actually even closer than Bar Beach, called Newcastle Beach. It's beautiful! The weather was actually decent for once and we laid out in our bathing suits and everything. We stayed for a few hours and then went to class- we are living the life!

Yesterday we went into Sydney again, and we pretty much just shopped all day; ergo, a pretty good day. Our main goal was to hit up this market in Chinatown, Paddy's Market, which just has booths and booths and more booths of random discounted stuff. I got a bag, a makeup bag, a cool aboriginal music thing, and a couple authentic boomerangs that were painted by actual aboriginal tribes. The market was so incredibly crowded and overwhelming since it's literally just rows and rows of booths; we plan to go back another time soon so we can shop there in a more organized and prepared fashion- clearly, we are very serious shoppers!

Paddy's Market

We just booked a long weekend trip to Melbourne, which is a large Australian city that is a short plane ride from Sydney. We are going in two weeks, from Thursday August 29 to Tuesday September 2. I am so pumped! I have heard it's even better than Sydney; we'll just have to see about that...
Even though it's only been a month, I feel like I've known my housemates for a lifetime. I love every single one of them and am so grateful to share this experience with them. Here's to many more months ahead!

Venturing out

Can it just be warm already? But really. The weather has been sort of terrible; cloudy, rainy, windy, blah. August showers bring September flowers just doesn't quite sound right, does it? Missing the states a little, especially every time I look in the mirror and see the ghost of a person I am. I'm ready to go tan at Bar Beach with a hat and a good book.

Sydney Opera House

On one of the nicer days last weekend, we went into Sydney. It's everything I thought it would be and so much more. I'm dying to go on a date there. Any takers?

Sydney Harbor Bridge

We went to a market and did some shopping and then, since the sun goes down around six pm, saw Darling Harbor sparkle at night. There was a street performer from Japan swallowing balloons and eating fire and such, and that was pretty neat. When he was done I gave him a dollar; he deserved it. We also stopped by this famous store that's only in Sydney and Melbourne, which is called Culture Kings; apparently Snoop Dogg and Justin Bieber and cool kids like that shop there. There's a barber shop and a DJ inside; it was over the top, but it was over the top done well.

Darling Harbor at night

I've officially attended all my lectures and tutorials now. The first week of school is only lectures so I didn't get to experience much of interaction with other uni students until this week. The tutorials are great, I feel way more comfortable in them.

20!

This past Wednesday night was an absolute crazy night...both Brittany (my roommate) and Marcus had the same birthday, they turned twenty, and we are definitely a bunch that knows how to properly celebrate. We had a big pot luck family dinner and then hit up a few clubs downtown. It was great!

An incredibly exciting piece of news is I've officially booked my "spring" break trips for September/October (it's two weeks long). For nine days, I will be traveling around New Zealand and then immediately after, for four days, I'll be in Cairns, Queensland, Australia, which is where the Great Barrier Reef is. I have never been so excited for a break before; it's, quite literally, the break of a lifetime. I'll be going to New Zealand with a bunch of the girls and then I think Cairns will be just Brittany, Kate, and myself.

auto day

Yesterday was the uni's Autonomy Day, which is like one of the biggest days of the school year. The tradition is you get to the bar on the hill at like 7 am ready to drink and go crazy (they provide free breakfast too); I heard most people just don't sleep Thursday night and start raging at like 3 am. This, however, did not appeal to me in the least; I woke up around 9 am and just had a few drinks at the bar, nothing insane. It was really fun though; hundreds of people went! It's interesting how the uni actually plans days where they want you to just go crazy; that would never happen in the states. The Aussies definitely know how to have a good time. The lifestyle here is so relaxed. Probably the most common phrase I hear is "no worries," if that's any indication at all.

Tomorrow, we are going to a zoo type place with tons of Australian animals that just walk out and about and you can touch them as you please- I am very excited!

I'm finally getting into the swing of things and it feels great. Even though it's kind of a hassle to have to carry your groceries a mile or so home, walking everywhere is a refreshing lifestyle and I absolutely love it.

As classes begin...

With school becoming a part of our everyday routine, the daily partying seems to have died down to a weekly thing. However, I am looking forward to this huge back to school party at the uni bar Wednesday night, where you dress like a nerd; I think all of us are going, it sounds like a good time!
Last Wednesday, we went to the uni bar, which is better known as the Bar on the Hill, for a fun international students karaoke night. It was actually one of the best times I've had in awhile since the entire group decided to sing me "Sweet Caroline" as I sat on a stool front and center in the audience. Maybe you figured it out already, but Wednesdays are the big nights for students to go out. Isn't it just lovely that I have class from 9 am until 7 pm on Thursdays? eek.

good times never seemed so good...

The Sunday before the first week of class we attended a rugby game (or as aussies say a "footy"), which was literally so so awesome. It was the Newcastle Knights versus the Sydney Roosters. Despite the piddling name, the Roosters came out on top. I don't know too much about rugby so I wasn't entirely aware of what was going on throughout the game, but it was a great experience nonetheless. I'd really like to attend another one if possible!

the roomie and I at the bar before the footy

rugby stadium

Something that has entirely slipped my mind throughout my last few blogs is the weather! I must address it. "Ohhh Australia...soooo warm....shorts, flip flops, t-shirts, ay?" Not quite. The first couple days here were actually fairly warm, but it was trickery. It's been pretty chilly here the past week and a half. Like I brought out the North Face jacket a few times, so clearly it got pretty serious. When you wake up in the morning and as soon as the sun sets, it can get as cold as thirty-five/forty degrees fahrenheit. The next few weeks will be tough, especially since I didn't bring too many warmer clothes, but once it warms up it's going to be such perfection.
So, Uni classes started this week. The campus is so incredibly overwhelmingly huge. But really. Although, we do have an app that gives you step by step directions to any building and includes pictures of each side of the building for reference, so that's helpful. I've only had one class so far, and it was Australian Pop Culture. It seems like a great class, except not being from Australia is really going to have its disadvantages. Just within the first class, I was completely lost; the class was discussing past events that happened in the country, Australian tv shows/ movies/ people... and I hadn't heard of one. The good thing is the class is about one third international, so I'm certainly not alone.
I have class pretty much every day, except nothing on Friday, and on Tuesdays all I have is this one credit course with our program coordinator that we're all in together and it's really not bad at all.
My Thursdays are going to be pretty rough though.
There's been murmurs of plans to go into Sydney this weekend, I'm one hundred percent on board! It costs like eleven dollars to get there and back, and it's a two and a half hour train ride. I really want to get some Australian stuff for myself and people back home so I don't have to worry about it for the rest of the trip.
We're starting to discuss where and when we are traveling and it's getting seriously exciting...like I just can't even believe that I'm here and that I'm so close to Asia and New Zealand and everywhere else. It's truly unreal.

One week later...

It's been a week since I've left America, and I'm certainly living the good life. I can already tell I'm going to have an absolute blast and nothing less. I'm in love already! ....no, not with a who, with a where. I am one hundred percent in love with this country. The uni campus is perfection, it's like a jungle. The campus land is actually rented from the Aboriginals, so it's like sacred land or something? Pretty neat. In order to get to the uni from where we live, you must take the train. It's about a fifteen minute walk to the station, then a ten minute train ride.

train station at the uni

Today was the first day of Orientation Week, or "O" Week. We had an info sesh and after they had these zoo people come and bring a few reptiles for us to see and hold. There was a giant snake and a few lizards, and I got to hold a bearded dragon! After that, we had a BBQ at the campus bar with all of the other International students and there was a live band and everything. I met people from Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and the like. It's amazing meeting people from other parts of the world.

my bearded friend & I

As far as the animals go here, they're weird....to say the least. Especially the birds! The magpies sound like cats meowing and there's some sort of bird that sounds like a monkey...and it really seems to enjoy sitting by my window and waking me up early.

So you might be wondering about my living accommodation, here's a few pictures.

my bed!

I really like it! At first the bathroom bugged me that it was so tiny, but it's really not that bad! Our apartment is really close to Darby Street (like a two minute walk), which is like the main street of downtown Newcastle; tons of shops, places to eat, clubs/pubs, etc. It's been really fun going out this past week, since I'm legal here. I'd never really been to a bar before, so now I've officially had the bar experience.... and I like it!

Classes start next week. I'll be taking Australian Pop Culture, Intro to Social/ Cultural Anthropology, Design Studio Photography, and Visual Communication Drawing; I'm especially excited for those last two. The classes here are pretty different, there's usually two classes for each class: a very populated lecture and then a smaller tutorial/workshop/studio period.

I'm so excited for classes to begin...updates to come as soon as they start.

Cheers, mate!

First thoughts

So I'm here.
The flight wasn't as bad as I thought, it was about fourteen hours from San Fran to Sydney. I had the window seat, so that definitely softened the blow (although the entire flight was during the night, so there wasn't much to look at except the stars, but the guy in front of me kindly pointed out constellations!). They gave us three meals, which was nice, except they weren't the most tasty.
Once we got to the airport, I got myself in a bit of trouble by bringing a sandwich through customs (I had meant to throw it away, but forgot) and had to stand in a separate line from my buddies to claim it. I finally got through customs and met my Happy Cabby driver at the McDonalds. He drove us for a couple hours north to Newcastle to our new home, the Abbeywood Apartments. We all live in 7 different apartments that are next to each other. My roommate, Brittany (from Wisconsin) and I share a bedroom and we have our own kitchen and living room as well. I'll upload pictures once everything is in order!
My first day was very overwhelming, and I wasn't in the most optimistic mood from the jet lag, I was definitely missing home a lot. At night, we decided to go to a bar down the street because essentially the "superbowl" of Australian rugby was playing. I left so early though because I was so tired. But waking up for my second day this morning and finally taking a shower was absolutely fantastic!
My roommate and I did the majority of unpacking in the morning then walked to Bar Beach with some others. The beach was incredible, we even saw dolphins! It's crazy that I'm only a fifteen minutes walk from somewhere so beautiful. We ate lunch at the bar and then went grocery and cell phone shopping. I'm still trying to figure out the cell phone situation right now, why is it so difficult to activate a phone plan?! Goodness. Hopefully I'll get that figured out within the next day or two, because it's just strange not having a phone.
Tomorrow, we are touring the campus, which is a short train ride away, and then having a welcome dinner at a nice restaurant downtown. I'm so excited to see the campus, I've heard it's gorgeous!
To sum up my experience so far, I absolutely love the city of Newcastle and Australia overall seems like a wonderful country! I'm eager to explore the city more and start going to classes :)

Bar Beach, 15 minute walk from my apartment

Oh, the places you'll go

Where do I want to go? Probably the most common piece of advice I've received for going abroad is to, before going, make a list of the places I want to visit while there. Originally, this list was long, too long, so I've narrowed it down to a top five. If I make it to all of these, fantastic! If not, I know my experience won't be any less spectacular. I guess we'll just see what happens!

I have a feeling Fiji and Bangkok will be some tough ones to find others to go with me, but the other three are within Australia and shouldn't be difficult at all. Wish me luck!