Today, we had our first day of classes at Griffith. Luckily, Justin and I walked around the campus last night to scout out the buildings or there is no chance I would have made it to lecture on time. The day went relatively smoothly, considering I only had one class, but tomorrow is sure to be much more stressful. Since Griffith is much larger than Stonehill, the classes will take some getting used to, but I think that I will come to enjoy them.
*This is really for mom's benefit (and by request), but here is my course schedule in Australia time.*
Monday
2:00-2:50 Creative Writing Lecture
Tuesday
11:00-12:50 Creative Writing Tutorial
1:00-1:50 Employment Relations Tutorial
3:00-3:50 Social Sciences in Australia Lecture
4:00-4:50 Accounting Workshop
6:00-7:50 Employment Relations Lecture
Wednesday
8:00-9:50 Social Sciences in Australia Tutorial
12:00-1:50 Accounting Lecture
3:00-3:50 Accounting Tutorial
Thursday
None :)
Friday
None :)
Monday, July 25, 2011
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Beaches and Bicycles
Christi (our program coordinator) picked G-Unit up at the village today and brought us to Surfer's Paradise to rent bicycles and go on an 8-mile bike tour. All 12 of us, and Christi, hopped on our lime green bicycles (complete with fanny packs and bells) and rode in a single-file line around the city. We were quite the tourists, with our purple helmets and cameras, and our Australian friends defnately got quite a kick out of our caravan when we spotted them along the beach. We rode along the beaches and waterways, all happy to be outside in the sun...in the middle of winter.
For lunch, we stopped at a Surf Shop on the shoreline. After being told we could order anything off of the lunch menu, Meadbh actually went through with ordering the "lunch steak". We all thought Christi's eyes were going to bulge out of her head. No dessert though, she still owes us ice cream :) G-Unit is quite the cast of characters and we're already looking forward to our next outing together, a rugby game next weekend!
Mini Melt-Down
We moved into our apartments on Friday, in the rain, and decided to eat our first dinner out. Little did we know at the time that this was probably one of our best decisions due to the stress we were inevitably going to encounter while cooking our first meal. The original grocery shopping trip went from bad to worse as we realized that Australians measure everything in kilos, don't use any familiar brands, rope off all entrances to stores with shopping cart blockades, and charge you $3 for a bottle of water. After purchasing pasta, sauce, a loaf of bread, and a bag of salad, Meadbh and I left Woolworth's frazzled and frustrated, yet confident that dinner prep would be simple. (With that menu, one could only hope!)
Of course, those of you who have ever witnessed my cooking abilities (or lack there of) have probably figured out that meal #1 did not go smoothly. For all of my judgemental followers, please stop reading at this point and assume that Meadbh and I enjoyed a peaceful meal of pasta and sauce within a reasonable time frame. As for the rest of you, let me just say that boiling water is not as easy as it looks! After about 20 minutes of "boiling" water for the pasta, Meadbh and I noticed that the burner was barely even heating up. (At this point, we broke into the loaf of bread.) So, we moved the pot to another burner and tried again...10 more minutes, no bubbles, more bread. Now it was time to get Maddy on the phone, who was upstairs in her apartment attempting a similar feat. Loaf of bread half gone. This is when we learned that the knobs on the stove work the opposite way that they do at home. We had been "boiling" water on low heat for 45 minutes. And no, the markers are not labeled "low" and "high", we're not that dumb.
After the stove was figured out, we were on a roll. I never expected pasta, microwave sauce, and a bag of salad to take nearly 2 hours to prepare, but we did eat Saturday night...which may constitute a miracle. Chances were looking pretty slim for awhile. But, i'm very confident that by the end of this experience Meadbh and I will have our own cooking show...but only if the G-Unit reality show fails. Also, if anyone has any recipe ideas they would be greatly appreciated, but you have to keep in mind that we do not have an oven =/
*Note to readers: Since this disaster, we have somewhat more successfully eaten grilled cheese and soup, chicken and rice, lasagna, hamburgers....and more sausages than anyone would care to consume in a life-time. (Sausages are free at the bbq pit and save you from cooking...aka my new favorite food.)
Friday, July 22, 2011
42 Wallaby Way, Sydney
Even though I left for Australia on Sunday, we didn't actually arrive there until Tuesday morning. Everyone studying abroad through IFSA-Butler (a study abroad coordination program) was picked up at the airport and brought to Sydney Sports Academy for a 3-day orientation. There were about 60 of us in total, mostly from the United States, who were all studying at different schools throughout the country for the semester. When we arrived at the Sports Academy, which looked and felt a lot like a summer camp, we were given our room assignments and found that all of our roommates were going to our same Uni. I roomed with Meadbh (of course), Maddy, and Emily aka Savannah ;)
We spent our first day in Sydney relaxing and attempting to adjust to the time change. Although, later on in the afternoon, my roommates and I felt ambitious enough to set out on the scheduled 4 pm bush walk. Unfortunately, we had already adopted the no-worries Aussie time schedule and missed the bush walk departure when we arrived at 4:05. This is when the better half of G-Unit (a collective term for the 12 of us studying at Griffith University) decided to self-guide their own bush tour through the brush. About an hour later, we emerged: laughing, jet-lagged, and convinced that kangaroos are an Aussie myth.
The next morning we woke up and went to the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. Among others, we saw koala bears, wallabys, a komodo dragon, and kangaroos. Needless to say, the highlight of my day was when the kangaroo hopped across the exhibit. The zoo was bigger than any zoo i've ever been to in the States and had SO many different animals. We even got to watch a bird show in a little theater overlooking the opera house where they had trained all different types of birds to fly in patterns above the audience...very cool!
After the Opera House, Meadbh and I set out to find the Sydney Tower, which is the tallest building in the city. After walking block after block and crashing into countless pedestrians, we finally noticed that we were walking on the wrong side of the side-walk. American Alert! Note to self: Not only do Aussies drive on the other side of the road, they walk on it as well. When we finally found the tower, we decided to pay and take the elevator to the very top. The walk-about provided a 360 degree view of the city. The view was amazing and would definately be worth going back to see a sunset. Before we left the city, we stopped at McDonalds, got attacked by a killer segull (Australia's pigeon), and came dangerously close to being plowed over by a bus. Excellent end to the day, wouldn't ya say? That night, when we were all back at camp, a band played and taught us all how to dance. The dancing reminded me a lot of the dance hall that I went to in Texas, fun and upbeat, kind of like glorified square-dancing. We all had a lot of fun tripping over eachother's feet and making it up as we went along.
The next day was my favorite part of orientation. We got to go on a guided tour of the Sydney coastline! We walked along the ocean for miles, weaving on and off of beaches and up into the hills to different look-out destinations. There were so many surfers out in the water, even though it's still the middle of winter. I can't wait to try surfing here, although i'm a bit nervous because the waves are about 12 feet high! At night, we watched a performance by Aboriginal dancers. They played the didgeridoo and danced to traditional music. We were all just happy that someone else was doing the dancing tonight.
On Friday, it was time to say goodbye to Sydney, as we made our way to the airport (not another plane!) to fly to the Gold Coast. Watch out GUV, here comes G-Unit!
On Friday, it was time to say goodbye to Sydney, as we made our way to the airport (not another plane!) to fly to the Gold Coast. Watch out GUV, here comes G-Unit!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Goodbye U.S.A.!!!
Let me just begin by saying that I have the best friends in the entire world. Yesterday, Lindsay, Sean, and Camryn all showed up and surprised me for a "15-minute" surprise visit before I left. They arrived decked out with balloons, a sign, cupcakes, juice, and my own personal favorite...bugles! We celebrated with food, a photoshoot, and departure gifts. Let's just say that i'm going to have the perfect Australian glow, even in the winter. Also, let's all be clear that the card was from Lindsay, "because it's perfect". Most importantly, Lindsay did some research and tried to fill the gap in my life left by the two people who I have decided I will miss the most while I am away (sorry mom!); 1) my zumba instructor, 2) Ritu (the lady who keeps my eyebrows in check). Hopefully my 4-month stand-ins will be up to par.
Within an hour of "leaving", Lindsay was back (surprise, surprise) and stayed for most of the night. She was occupied with crafts, time conversions, and keeping tensions low in the Middleton household. Mom surprised us after dinner with a koala cake that she had baked which made a great dessert...and breakfast.
Right now, I am currently sitting in the airport in Washington, D.C. waiting for my flight (which was depayed 2 hours) to take off. Woke up pretty early this morning, around 6:30, and was in the car by 8. Kevin was SO excited to be included in the airport drop-off; it was actually quite precious. As predicted, Grammy and Grampy were waiting with their goodbye signs at the end of the street. Over the years, that has become the tradition everytime I go back to school in the fall. It was great to be able to see them one more time before I left.
My first flight from Hartford went well, bags checked in at 49.6 pounds and 50.5 pounds. But, after a little nudge on the scale, it re-calculated to 50 pounds. Way to go Dad! Now, i'm just hoping they don't gain any more weight bewteen here and L.A. where I have to re-check them. Unfortunately, this probably won't be as much of a problem as originally anticipated considering Kathleen and my shopping excursion will be cut short. I'm just hoping we still make it to In-N-Out! Clearly the priority.
Luckily, my flight got into L.A. in plenty of ime for Kathleen and I to get to In-N-Out! She met me at baggage claim, in the creeper terminal, and we set out for our long-awaited date. It was so great to see Kathleen before I left and the burger, fries, and shake were definately an excellent bonus. After dinner, Kathleen and I invaded Meadbh's hotel room so that I could shower and avoid being at L.A.X. any longer than necessary. Finally, we headed back to the airport, met up with Justin waited the last couple of hours before our 11:50 departure.
Peace out U.S.A., see you in November!
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