I've discovered that the most unfortunate thing about studying abroad in Australia is the actual studying part. Second on that list is getting sick. Both of which I've been doing.
So, a couple of weeks ago my computer decided to die. And by die I mean it chose to refuse to start up. After several hours of stressing, calling home and calling dell I had to reluctantly give in and have all my files moved to an external hard drive and then completely restore my computer to factory settings. A 220$ solution I wasn't too keen on. But I need my laptop and there was no other way around it. It's still a little wonky and I often have moments where I feel like the computer would be better off thrown out a window, but I'm stuck with it so I make do.
Since then I've just been doing the school thing. Classes, hanging out with friends, homework. One weekend our whole group got together and had an international night where everyone brought different food from their countries and we got to try a little bit of everything. Everyone had to get up and explain where their dish was from and the story behind it. We had so much food, it was crazy. The night was really fantastic.
Then, in my most recent stroke of bad luck, I happened to pick up some virus that was going around. I've just about gotten rid of it, but I've had it for a little over a week now. The first few days were the worst. Its honestly just a bad cough and some congestion but you cough enough and lose enough sleep that eventually your body is just worn out. I am lucky that I got that out of the way before vacation.
Starting Thursday afternoon, my 2 week vacation officially starts. I'm field tripping out to the second largest town/city thing in South Australia. And by large I mean, it's the size of Ridgefield. Population around 25,000. Nearly the entire population of South Australia is located in Adelaide. Anyway, I have a couple of friends who live there and there's a little festival going on so I'm hitching a ride with a friend and spending the weekend there for a bit of a mini vacation. I'll be coming back for a few days and then heading over to Kangaroo Island to explore with another friend. Kangaroo Island is a really gorgeous island about an hour and a half away from Adelaide that you have to take a ferry to get to. We're renting a beach house and spending a couple of days there just to enjoy some time off. This is where we're staying: http://www.blueseasbeachhouse.com.au/Default.shtml Check it out, it looks really beautiful.
I wanted to go to New Zealand over break but because of a holdup in finances I didn't get my scholarship until this past week. Around here, the closer you get to the date you want to book, the more expensive it is, not cheaper. So I'm just going to need to try and check out if I can fit New Zealand in at the end of my trip. I figure that my first week of break I'll take off and enjoy the beach and then the second half I'll buckle down, get a good chunk of my work done and then be able to take some weekend trips during the semester. At least that's the hope. Procrastination likes to rear its ugly head, gotta keep an eye out for him.
Anyways, nothing new to really report. Check in with me after break has started and I may have better stories for you :)
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
End of Break & Uni
It seems like this blog is going to turn into more of a weekly thing...with everything going on, by the time I get around to it, its late at night and I'm tired. We'll see what happens, but I have to give the warning not to expect this as frequently as it was.
I've also been asked by someone -ahem dad- to throw in some pictures of me from my week in Cairns when I held a python and went to the Great Barrier Reef. Please find those photos right here
.
So! Left off at O-Week. Really, there wasn't anything very notable about it after the first day. It's all your typical get everyone adjusted to the reality of school actually starting kind of thing.
Last Wednesday, the group of us international kids who regularly hang out, decided to have a barbecue. We're able to use
the grills here in the village courtyard as long as we sign up that were using them. So, we all chipped in some money and got a bunch of food for about 20 or so of us. Good food, good friends, good conversations.
Thursday night was Skullduggery. Skullduggery is this massive party, thrown as a part of O-Week, at this club a few blocks away. A few of us girls got ready before meeting up with the rest of the village kids. We then walked over to meet some of our other friends at one of their places which was closer to the club. After a quick pit stop we headed over to what was quite possibly the biggest party I've ever been to. We were given strips of fabric that had the Skullduggery monogram on it to use as armbands/headbands/wristbands/etc and glowsticks. By the time we got there, there was already a ton of people and by the end of the night it was packed and they were turning people away. We spent the night dancing and just enjoying one of the last few days of break.
Decided to bum around Friday and then Saturday got up early to go on a wine tour with the group. It was a beautiful day and we had a blast.
We got picked up around the corner at a hostel before heading to a co
uple of other locations to pick up the rest of the group. From there, we spent about half an hour on the road before stopping shortly at the world's largest rocking horse. No, I'm not kidding. None of us really knew that we were going to stop there and it was a bit of a surprise for us too. We think they threw it in just to break up the drive. (The picture is of me on a normal rocking horse, the giant one is next to it but not in the picture) Discovered something of a petting zoo in the back and went to play. There were kangaroos, peacocks, alpacas and more. We entertained ourselves for the break before heading over to the bus to continue on our way to the Barossa Valley.
So the first winery we went to was Jacob's Creek,
which was by far the best winery of the day. We had a quick tour before tasting about 12 different wines. The best was the very last one, a sparkling white wine called a Moscato. I highly advise going out and buying it. It's delicious and here the price is about 12 or 13 dollars. I would be surprised if it cost very much more than that back in the states- that is if you can find it.
I'm including the picture so you know what to look for. The other 3 wineries kind of paled in comparison to Jacob's Creek, but were fun nonetheless. By the end of the day we had had more than enough wine and were ready to go home. We manage
d another random stop at the Whispering Wall on the way back where you were able to talk normally and people on the other side, 100m away, were able to hear you clearly. All in all, 
it was a really great way to end the week.
Monday was my first day of uni and also the first day of Autumn here in Australia! I had my first class, History of Australia, with some of the international kids so we all met up and headed in. The professor showed up, turned on the projector and suddenly we were looking at the American flag. A few seconds later and the American national anthem was playing softly in the background. We all just stared at each other wondering if we were in the right class. The first 5 minutes was discussing why Australia is sometimes seen as the 51st state. It seemed like a funny way to start our first Australian university experience.
That was my only class Monday and Tuesday I started the day off early with Latin and then went to a class on Games, Festivals and Leisure in Ancient Greece. Now, this week has been mainly for me to see what classes I actually want to take. I absolutely loved the Greek class and was sold when he mentioned the last part would be about theatre. I decided to drop my History of Australia class since, despite
wanting to learn about Australia, the Greek class would fulfill the same gen ed requirement AND count towards 12 credits I need of classes outside the drama department but relating to drama. Didn't hurt that the Greek class seems far more interesting. In dropping that class, I didn't have to go to the tutorial so I headed back to my apartment for a quick break before going back to campus for my Greek tutorial. Got there early so I sat in one of my new favorite spots in a courtyard on campus. I'm throwing in a picture I took while I was there :) Anyways, tutorials are pretty much small discussion groups and every class has one along with a lecture. Showed up to my tutorial and so did another girl. But no one else did. We left confused and only did I discover today that the tutorial I was signed up for had been canceled and I had to pick a new one.
I should probably note at this point that campus is about a half hour walk away or a 15-20 minute bus ride or a 5 minute tram ride (but you have to walk 5-10 minutes to get to the tram then another 10 minute walk after you get off) Its not too horrible, considering all of my options are free. They do have buses you can pay for, but why pay for a bus when you can take the free city bus?
Today was supposed to be my general music class on 1960s music, which I was really excited for. However, after sitting in the lecture for 2 hours listening to a geography lesson on New York, I decided it wasn't what I thought it was. I skipped out an hour early and headed to another class that had been mentioned to me and I had written down as a back up. The class was Power, Greed and Passion in Georgian London. It was absolutely fascinating and the professor was really interesting. The best part about the whole class is that her and a colleague of hers in America have recreated Georgian London in a virtual reality program. Part of the course is a research project in which we create avatars to live in this virtual reality. The tutorials are for us to work in the world. It's going to be a completely different way of learning and seemed really exciting. I left that lecture, headed straight to the computer lab to drop the music class and enroll in the history class. I then discovered that UConn does not offer Latin 2 in the first semester. I want to do my languages in 2 sequential semesters so I had to drop my Latin class as well. I quickly picked up an Anthropology class on people and emotions which will fulfill a general education requirement. So now, not only is my schedule completely different then when I started, but I have Mondays off. So I could take a long weekend and go travel somewhere if I wanted.
Well, that's it for now. More to come when I finish going to all my classes!
I've also been asked by someone -ahem dad- to throw in some pictures of me from my week in Cairns when I held a python and went to the Great Barrier Reef. Please find those photos right here
.
So! Left off at O-Week. Really, there wasn't anything very notable about it after the first day. It's all your typical get everyone adjusted to the reality of school actually starting kind of thing.
Last Wednesday, the group of us international kids who regularly hang out, decided to have a barbecue. We're able to use
the grills here in the village courtyard as long as we sign up that were using them. So, we all chipped in some money and got a bunch of food for about 20 or so of us. Good food, good friends, good conversations.Thursday night was Skullduggery. Skullduggery is this massive party, thrown as a part of O-Week, at this club a few blocks away. A few of us girls got ready before meeting up with the rest of the village kids. We then walked over to meet some of our other friends at one of their places which was closer to the club. After a quick pit stop we headed over to what was quite possibly the biggest party I've ever been to. We were given strips of fabric that had the Skullduggery monogram on it to use as armbands/headbands/wristbands/etc and glowsticks. By the time we got there, there was already a ton of people and by the end of the night it was packed and they were turning people away. We spent the night dancing and just enjoying one of the last few days of break.
Decided to bum around Friday and then Saturday got up early to go on a wine tour with the group. It was a beautiful day and we had a blast.
We got picked up around the corner at a hostel before heading to a co
uple of other locations to pick up the rest of the group. From there, we spent about half an hour on the road before stopping shortly at the world's largest rocking horse. No, I'm not kidding. None of us really knew that we were going to stop there and it was a bit of a surprise for us too. We think they threw it in just to break up the drive. (The picture is of me on a normal rocking horse, the giant one is next to it but not in the picture) Discovered something of a petting zoo in the back and went to play. There were kangaroos, peacocks, alpacas and more. We entertained ourselves for the break before heading over to the bus to continue on our way to the Barossa Valley.So the first winery we went to was Jacob's Creek,
which was by far the best winery of the day. We had a quick tour before tasting about 12 different wines. The best was the very last one, a sparkling white wine called a Moscato. I highly advise going out and buying it. It's delicious and here the price is about 12 or 13 dollars. I would be surprised if it cost very much more than that back in the states- that is if you can find it.
I'm including the picture so you know what to look for. The other 3 wineries kind of paled in comparison to Jacob's Creek, but were fun nonetheless. By the end of the day we had had more than enough wine and were ready to go home. We manage
d another random stop at the Whispering Wall on the way back where you were able to talk normally and people on the other side, 100m away, were able to hear you clearly. All in all, 
it was a really great way to end the week.Monday was my first day of uni and also the first day of Autumn here in Australia! I had my first class, History of Australia, with some of the international kids so we all met up and headed in. The professor showed up, turned on the projector and suddenly we were looking at the American flag. A few seconds later and the American national anthem was playing softly in the background. We all just stared at each other wondering if we were in the right class. The first 5 minutes was discussing why Australia is sometimes seen as the 51st state. It seemed like a funny way to start our first Australian university experience.
That was my only class Monday and Tuesday I started the day off early with Latin and then went to a class on Games, Festivals and Leisure in Ancient Greece. Now, this week has been mainly for me to see what classes I actually want to take. I absolutely loved the Greek class and was sold when he mentioned the last part would be about theatre. I decided to drop my History of Australia class since, despite
wanting to learn about Australia, the Greek class would fulfill the same gen ed requirement AND count towards 12 credits I need of classes outside the drama department but relating to drama. Didn't hurt that the Greek class seems far more interesting. In dropping that class, I didn't have to go to the tutorial so I headed back to my apartment for a quick break before going back to campus for my Greek tutorial. Got there early so I sat in one of my new favorite spots in a courtyard on campus. I'm throwing in a picture I took while I was there :) Anyways, tutorials are pretty much small discussion groups and every class has one along with a lecture. Showed up to my tutorial and so did another girl. But no one else did. We left confused and only did I discover today that the tutorial I was signed up for had been canceled and I had to pick a new one.I should probably note at this point that campus is about a half hour walk away or a 15-20 minute bus ride or a 5 minute tram ride (but you have to walk 5-10 minutes to get to the tram then another 10 minute walk after you get off) Its not too horrible, considering all of my options are free. They do have buses you can pay for, but why pay for a bus when you can take the free city bus?
Today was supposed to be my general music class on 1960s music, which I was really excited for. However, after sitting in the lecture for 2 hours listening to a geography lesson on New York, I decided it wasn't what I thought it was. I skipped out an hour early and headed to another class that had been mentioned to me and I had written down as a back up. The class was Power, Greed and Passion in Georgian London. It was absolutely fascinating and the professor was really interesting. The best part about the whole class is that her and a colleague of hers in America have recreated Georgian London in a virtual reality program. Part of the course is a research project in which we create avatars to live in this virtual reality. The tutorials are for us to work in the world. It's going to be a completely different way of learning and seemed really exciting. I left that lecture, headed straight to the computer lab to drop the music class and enroll in the history class. I then discovered that UConn does not offer Latin 2 in the first semester. I want to do my languages in 2 sequential semesters so I had to drop my Latin class as well. I quickly picked up an Anthropology class on people and emotions which will fulfill a general education requirement. So now, not only is my schedule completely different then when I started, but I have Mondays off. So I could take a long weekend and go travel somewhere if I wanted.
Well, that's it for now. More to come when I finish going to all my classes!
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