How do you put more than a month of Australia in one entry….
To sum up this month of my life in Australia thus far would take up a lot of space which I’m sure no one will really feel like reading…
It has flown by - it goes more quickly here than at home.
I’ve met so many people.
I’ve done so many things I’ve never done before.
The sky here…it’s different - it seems lower. Like the clouds are just above the tops of buildings. And the blue of the sky is this blue - I’ve never seen like, such an intense blue before. It’s gorgeous. I have scenic pictures that look like they’re fake.
We flew into Melbournefor orientation, moved throughout the region for 4 days doing all sorts of things - waking up to the sound of a didgeridoo being blasted outside our rooms for one...The wet jetted here to Sydney.
I’m now living in a single room in a dorm called Dunmore Lang College… you heard me… college. But it’s a dorm.
Oh, whacky Australians…
Everyone here has singles, which is rather nice. We’re self contained with our own dining hall, mail, library, computer lab, common room with a stage, tv, pool table… that sort of thing. We’re right down the street from a Giant mall that’s mostly underground, so it doesn’t look huge… Inside they have eevvverrything. They have Walmart here… except it’s called ‘The Big W’.
And anyone remember that cute little 5 & 10 store ‘Woolworths’?
Well here it’s still alive and well… as a huge Supermarket chain.
The school is big… real big. The walk over to main campus is nice, there are sculptures all over the place, and we’ve got a big lake just past the union building - which has food places, a chemists (pharmacy), travel agent, smoothie place, video arcade… And a bar. Like, a REAL bar.
Classes are big. They’re lectures really - with a few hundred people -- and then you have ‘tutorials’ - where you’re broken down into groups to discuss lectures and stuff. You choose your own schedule - it’s not MWF strict classes. You can have one lecture Monday at 10…the next on Wednesday afternoon at 3, and your tutorial on Thursdays at noon. Whatever you want, there’s usually an opening because there are so many people.
And right now I’m taking awesome courses - let’s put it this way. I’m enrolled in a course called ‘Literature and Film’… some films on our list we will be watching? Fight Club. A Clockwork Orange. Minority Report….
Macquarie has clubs too…
- I’m in the Fencing club and getting personal lessons…
- I’m in the Pyromaniac club and learning fire staff and poi…
- I’m a member of the of the Sports & Leisure Centre where we check out free fitness classes,
& take advantage of the treadmills, & weight machine type stuff.
- I’m also enrolled in Belly Dancing classes at an independent studio I found downtown in South Sydney.
Got the hip scarf and everything goin’ on…
I’ve met people from all over the world. Some of the funniest conversations I’ve had here have stemmed from cultural confusion or discovering something that’s completely different from what I’m used to.
-I’ve been to the Sydney Opera House...Tarango Zoo…Paddy’s Market…All over Sydney
-I’ve cuddled with kangaroos, koalas, wombats…
-I’ve seen Penguins storm the beach on Philip Island, like it was D-Day take two…
-I’ve explored Melbourne’s Botanical Gardens, & the bushwalks of the Mornington Peninsula…
-I’ve been to a rock concert - in the middle of our dorm’s common room (I said it was different here!)
-I’ve discovered the joys of Nutella...
I leave on Spring Break in 3 weeks.
Spring Break is TWO weeks long! What at the hell? Why can't we have that at home?
I’m heading out (along with Jaime, & our friend Julie) to Tasmania - and New Zealand.
We’ll be heading to Queenstown, NZ - which they call the adventure capital of the world.
We’ll be doing more hiking… Horseback riding, luging, taking a Lord of the Rings tour of film sites - on Quads!,
River trekking - either all day canoeing or whitewater rafting…
And of course… Skydiving…
So yeah... if anyone wants to have a peek at some of the pictures I've taken, I've started an album online:
http://photobucket.com/albums/a87/insomniac886/
I've got 3 albums in there with a couple different pictures in each.
Anyways... that's about all that I've got.
I tried catching up and reading a few people's journals - It's so strange not being at La Salle for all this moving back in, and getting ready for another year....
I miss you guys! Despite all the cool stuff and everything - I really do miss everybody...
Some people should start looking for postcards in the mail in the coming weeks...
Mailing shit home is expensive! So I'm looking for a solution to get as many postcards to as many people as possible...
It's now 12:30 a.m sunday here - just 10:30 a.m. saturday at home...
Cheers!