Kia Ora everyone!!
That’s the traditional greeting in Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, where I just spent the last nearly three weeks. As I sat down to write this, I couldn’t seem to condense my trip into an email of a reasonable length and still do it justice. So be warned, this is the abridged version. First I took a road trip with a friend from Sydney down to Melbourne. Although it was one of those organized tour trips, there were only three people signed up (plus the guide), so the small group made the trip much more relaxed and flexible. We spent an afternoon in Canberra, capital of Australia, where we saw Parliament in session and heard Prime Minister Kevin Rudd speak- that was really interesting to see their legislature in action. One day we hiked at an alpine ski village and the next day hiked on the beach- it was amazing how fast the landscape changed!
After spending a couple days in Melbourne we met more friends on the south island of New Zealand. We spent the next week on a bus tour exploring. New Zealand is GORGEOUS. Two tectonic plates meet in the center of the island and created the Southern Alps, which are beautiful rocky snow-capped mountains surrounded by lakes with bright blue water. The scenery here always looks… epic, for lack of a better word. It’s also much greener than Australia, which I hadn’t realized I was missing until getting here. Don’t get me wrong- I LOVE Australia. I don’t know which I liked better; they’re so different.
We pretty much did a whirlwind tour of the island. We spent a night on a boat in Milford Sound in the Fjordlands and kayaked with penguins! They were hilarious to watch jump around on the rocks. We hiked/climbed on Fox Glacier and were lucky enough to see an ice cave collapse (don’t worry- not where we were hiking). We spent a night on a sheep farm, watched how the dogs rounded up the sheep with basically no human help, and even got to catch/wrestle sheep, which was hilarious. Of course I was game, and it was a little harder than you would think. They can actually jump really high. We spent two action-packed days in Queenstown, which is pretty much the adrenaline capital of New Zealand. And considering that New Zealand is known for having unique/strange adrenaline-junkie things, that’s saying something. We went jetboating (NZ invention) which feels kind of like a giant jetski with 20 people. Its made to run in really shallow water (4 inches), and the drivers like to see how close they can get to the canyon walls without actually touching them. They also do 360 degree spins (again, in a canyon where you don’t think there’s enough room). It was so much fun! Another cool thing was horseback riding around to various sites movies were filmed in the area. We saw spots from Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, Wolverine, and the Lovely Bones. Nothing of the actual set was left of course, but a lot of times you could still recognize it for what it was. Some of the horses we rode were actually used in the movies! But my favorite thing I did here was the canyon swing. It works like bungee jumping, except at the end instead of bouncing around you swing. You’re also strapped in at the waist instead of the feet so you have more interesting ways to jump off the platform. Basically you jump/are released off a platform and freefall for 66 meters. After that it turns into a giant 200 m swing. I LOVED it. Heights don’t bother me, so I had so much fun. The guys running it kept trying to freak me out, pushing me around on the platform, and made sure to thank me for testing the ropes since I was the first person of the day to do it. The first time, I jumped off backwards and the second time I was suspended upside down (so headfirst), and they released me. It was so much fun- such a rush! Don't worry, they talked me into buying the DVD, so you can all see the ridiculousness if you want to. ;)
After that, I said goodbye to my friends and flew up to the north island for some solo traveling. I signed up for a hop on, hop off bus trip, which basically means that I had a ride wherever I wanted to go, but had the freedom to stay there as long/short as I wanted and to do/stay/eat where I wanted. I went to some great beaches (including some really good surf spots- Jack Johnson has a house at one), went to a spa, saw kiwis (the birds), went caving, blackwater rafting, zorbing lugeing, sledging…. Whew those are the highlights. Do you notice how some or most of those things you may not have heard of? I wasn’t kidding when I said that New Zealanders like to invent random sports/crazy things to do. Blackwater rafting is essentially tubing inside a cave (there were eels involved). Zorbing was definitely a favorite- basically you are inside this giant hamster ball that zigzags down a hill. It has a little bit of water so you bounce around, and it is SO MUCH FUN. They opened a second one somewhere in Tennessee, I definitely recommend it and I’m planning on going back sometime in the near future. I also ran into some friends from Sydney there, which was really fun to hang with them for the day. The lugeing I did was different that the kind they do in the Olympics- this was more like go-karts but without motor or any real safety measures, other than a brake. You controlled how fast you went, so naturally there was much racing down the mountain/hill as fast as possible. :) Sledging is kind of like boogie-boarding except you do it down rapids in a river. Our bus stopped there for a couple hours and people had options of what to do- I was the only sledger, so it was just me and the two river guides. But that was perfect, because it was one of the most intense things I’ve ever done. Going through the rapids themselves are crazy and intense and you really have no control in the situation, but then as soon as you’re through (and hopefully still on top of the sledge instead of under it or something) you have to paddle really hard to one side or the other to get out of the current. I loved it, even though I was exhausted by the end. :)
Another fun thing was spending the night in a marae, which is a Maori cultural community center. We ate a traditional meal then the guys learned the haka and the girls learned the poi. The kids who taught us (they were between 12-16 years old) also performed a couple things for us, including the traditional welcome. It starts with two guys threatening the newcomers as a show of strength, then offering a peace token to us, which we accept. They told us not to smile going in, because if we did the two guys doing the ceremony would single us out and try to intimidate us. I thought (and so did most of our group) that the “intimidation” stuff would be cheesy, but they were intimidating- their facial expressions were scary. I have some photos , of course. :)
Now I’m back in Sydney, crashing on a friend’s couch before I fly home early next week! I cannot believe how fast this semester has gone. I’ve learned a lot- about life, people, traveling, myself. I’ve loved Australia and New Zealand, but I’m also really excited to see all of you lovely people. I can definitely see myself coming back for more traveling here. But that is another time. So, armed with some crazy stories, life lessons, and a ridiculous amount of photos (seriously, you don’t want to know how many), I’m wrapping up my semester abroad and heading back. Thank you so much for all of your letters, notes, prayers, and love you sent. They have been such an encouragement to me. I can’t wait to see you all. So for the last time,
Love from down under,
Emma
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
planes, trains, and broomsticks
Hello all!!
Even though I've been here for so long, there are still things that happen here that are so different than back in the states that I'm having trouble getting used to.
One is Halloween, and the celebrating or not celebrating it. Here is the opposite of UNC: its non-existent. Kids don't trick or treat, no one dresses up: its just another day. But not to worry, the international students showed them how its done. :) One of my friends threw a party and we all dressed up, ate candy and generally had a good time. She even carved oranges into mini jack-o-lanterns! Another interesting side note: in the UK, everyone must dress up as something scary. You can be a princess/cat/movie character, so long as you make it scary. This, combined with the wardrobe limitation inherent in studying abroad, meant that along with three friends I was a witch. Complete with the hat. :)
However, the "Australians don't celebrate Halloween" does not apply to my street. :) The suburb I live in is a bit... alternative, for lack of a better word. The street has 4 or 5 goth stores on it, and during the day of Halloween the sidewalk in front of every single one was overflowing with people in costumes, either scary or cute, but dressed in all black. Additionally, the two funeral homes on the street capitalized on the opportunity as well: one seemed to be holding a raffle/ market out front, and the other had a carriage pulled by black horses holding a child-sized coffin on the street in front of it. A bit morbid, but also funny to see everyone all decked out. There was more eyeliner being worn on that street than in a Broadway play. :)
But anyways, another difference is weather. As everyone back in the northern hemisphere is breaking out the jackets and quilts, it has gotten HOT here. Seriously hot. In Sydney it's always in the 80's and 90's, and hotter in other parts of the country. I just got back from a trip to Alice Springs, Uluru, and Adelaide, and it was 118 one day in Alice. Yikes.
To university students here, the first week of November is known as "study vacation" because after classes are over there is a week off before final exams begin. For me, however, I emphasized the vacation part more than the study part. I only have one final and it is on the 16th, so I figured I'd have plenty of time for studying later. :)
Two friends (Jacob and Elyse) and I headed to Alice Springs. The first few days was we spent traveling around the outback visiting sites like Uluru, Kata Tjuta, and King's Canyon. Because these are so spread out (both from each other and from the 30,000 person metropolis that is Alice Springs) we did an organized tour. We slept outside in swags (basically a canvas bag with built in mini-mattress you put your sleeping bag inside) which was really fun. The stars were incredible, and the only light around was the moon. We also got up ridiculously early both days- 5am and 4am- but in the end it made sense, because hiking at 7 sounds pretty good if it means you get to do it in 70 or 80 degree weather instead of 100+.
Let me back up: Uluru (also known as Ayer's Rock) and Kata Tjuta (also called the Olgas, but the lesser known of the two) are monoliths. To call them giant rocks doesn't do them justice. They are MASSIVE. We hiked around the base of Uluru- it was a 10.6km hike, nearly 7 miles. Its about 370 meters high, and the thing about monoliths is most of their mass is actually underground (like icebergs). It was huge and beautiful... I can't really put into words what it was like. But we spent time hiking around all three, which was really fun.
We also learned a lot about the local Indigenous culture: the Arrente nation actually owns Uluru and lease it back to the Australian government. Miles, our guide, knew a lot and told us about the dreaming (their creation stories). It involves animal ancestors whose actions shaped the landscape: stories explain various features of the rock. To the Arrente people, Uluru is a sacred site, and you aren't allowed to take photos of certain parts of it.
We were given the option of climbing Uluru: that is, to climb up to the top of it. However, its really disrespectful to the Aborigines to do it, so I wasn't going to do it (along with most of the group). But then it was closed (too windy), so none of us did.
After that trip, we spent a couple days in Alice. We saw the desert park (which is like a zoo but without fences), the original overland telegraph station (which connected Australia much more effectively with England), the spring Alice Springs was named after, and a base for the Royal Flying Doctor service. The latter exists because of how uninhabited central Australia is- there often aren't doctors located in the various towns (or even smaller cattle stations), so they are flown in or come to fly out the patients. After we went, I thought of a question: if a baby is born in a plane (which does happen, apparently), what do you put on the birth certificate for place of birth? ;)
To mix things up, Elyse and I took the train out instead of flying- Jacob had to go back before us because of exams. The 22-hour trip took us through the outback to Adelaide in South Australia. The train moved surprisingly slowly, but I guess it can't pick up too much speed when it has to make sure there aren't cattle on the track. We only had one afternoon in Adelaide- our flight back to Sydney left the next morning, but it was enough time to check out a cool museum, a chocolate factory, and the main streets of the city. Its a cool city I guess, but not so much a tourist attraction, if you know what I mean.
That was the trip! As is typical of me, I took 700+ pictures throughout the week, which I have yet to begin editing. There are too many! :) Doubtless it will be a procrastination project later this week when I'm avoiding studying.
Another interesting thing I've noticed: here, mall Christmas directions went up before Halloween. Which to me seems way too early: I'm okay with them after Thanksgiving, but late October seems a bit premature. It was only when talking to a couple Australians about this that I realized they don't have the Thanksgiving as a way of ushering in the Christmas season. :) In addition to the decorations going up super early, they don't seem to fit Australia. They have Christmas trees, fir wreaths, and icicles. ICICLES. What? It just blows my mind that in a place like Adelaide, where the weather is regularly over 100 in November/December, they line the streets with light-up snowflakes. :)
This is my last email for the foreseeable future. My final is on Monday, and I move out for good on Wednesday. That day my epic travels begin: first a road trip through Canberra (Australia's capital- bet none of you knew that) to Melbourne, and then two weeks in New Zealand! The first week a group of friends is exploring the south island, but the second week I'm headed to the north island to do some traveling solo, which I'm actually really excited about. :) Then I'll be in Sydney again for 4-ish days before flying home- I can hardly believe it!
Like I say every time, thank you all so much for your encouraging emails/letters/messages. Its so great to hear from you all.
I'll try and send some kind of final update either during or after New Zealand, but even if I don't, know that you've got
Love from down under,
Emma
Even though I've been here for so long, there are still things that happen here that are so different than back in the states that I'm having trouble getting used to.
One is Halloween, and the celebrating or not celebrating it. Here is the opposite of UNC: its non-existent. Kids don't trick or treat, no one dresses up: its just another day. But not to worry, the international students showed them how its done. :) One of my friends threw a party and we all dressed up, ate candy and generally had a good time. She even carved oranges into mini jack-o-lanterns! Another interesting side note: in the UK, everyone must dress up as something scary. You can be a princess/cat/movie character, so long as you make it scary. This, combined with the wardrobe limitation inherent in studying abroad, meant that along with three friends I was a witch. Complete with the hat. :)
However, the "Australians don't celebrate Halloween" does not apply to my street. :) The suburb I live in is a bit... alternative, for lack of a better word. The street has 4 or 5 goth stores on it, and during the day of Halloween the sidewalk in front of every single one was overflowing with people in costumes, either scary or cute, but dressed in all black. Additionally, the two funeral homes on the street capitalized on the opportunity as well: one seemed to be holding a raffle/ market out front, and the other had a carriage pulled by black horses holding a child-sized coffin on the street in front of it. A bit morbid, but also funny to see everyone all decked out. There was more eyeliner being worn on that street than in a Broadway play. :)
But anyways, another difference is weather. As everyone back in the northern hemisphere is breaking out the jackets and quilts, it has gotten HOT here. Seriously hot. In Sydney it's always in the 80's and 90's, and hotter in other parts of the country. I just got back from a trip to Alice Springs, Uluru, and Adelaide, and it was 118 one day in Alice. Yikes.
To university students here, the first week of November is known as "study vacation" because after classes are over there is a week off before final exams begin. For me, however, I emphasized the vacation part more than the study part. I only have one final and it is on the 16th, so I figured I'd have plenty of time for studying later. :)
Two friends (Jacob and Elyse) and I headed to Alice Springs. The first few days was we spent traveling around the outback visiting sites like Uluru, Kata Tjuta, and King's Canyon. Because these are so spread out (both from each other and from the 30,000 person metropolis that is Alice Springs) we did an organized tour. We slept outside in swags (basically a canvas bag with built in mini-mattress you put your sleeping bag inside) which was really fun. The stars were incredible, and the only light around was the moon. We also got up ridiculously early both days- 5am and 4am- but in the end it made sense, because hiking at 7 sounds pretty good if it means you get to do it in 70 or 80 degree weather instead of 100+.
Let me back up: Uluru (also known as Ayer's Rock) and Kata Tjuta (also called the Olgas, but the lesser known of the two) are monoliths. To call them giant rocks doesn't do them justice. They are MASSIVE. We hiked around the base of Uluru- it was a 10.6km hike, nearly 7 miles. Its about 370 meters high, and the thing about monoliths is most of their mass is actually underground (like icebergs). It was huge and beautiful... I can't really put into words what it was like. But we spent time hiking around all three, which was really fun.
We also learned a lot about the local Indigenous culture: the Arrente nation actually owns Uluru and lease it back to the Australian government. Miles, our guide, knew a lot and told us about the dreaming (their creation stories). It involves animal ancestors whose actions shaped the landscape: stories explain various features of the rock. To the Arrente people, Uluru is a sacred site, and you aren't allowed to take photos of certain parts of it.
We were given the option of climbing Uluru: that is, to climb up to the top of it. However, its really disrespectful to the Aborigines to do it, so I wasn't going to do it (along with most of the group). But then it was closed (too windy), so none of us did.
After that trip, we spent a couple days in Alice. We saw the desert park (which is like a zoo but without fences), the original overland telegraph station (which connected Australia much more effectively with England), the spring Alice Springs was named after, and a base for the Royal Flying Doctor service. The latter exists because of how uninhabited central Australia is- there often aren't doctors located in the various towns (or even smaller cattle stations), so they are flown in or come to fly out the patients. After we went, I thought of a question: if a baby is born in a plane (which does happen, apparently), what do you put on the birth certificate for place of birth? ;)
To mix things up, Elyse and I took the train out instead of flying- Jacob had to go back before us because of exams. The 22-hour trip took us through the outback to Adelaide in South Australia. The train moved surprisingly slowly, but I guess it can't pick up too much speed when it has to make sure there aren't cattle on the track. We only had one afternoon in Adelaide- our flight back to Sydney left the next morning, but it was enough time to check out a cool museum, a chocolate factory, and the main streets of the city. Its a cool city I guess, but not so much a tourist attraction, if you know what I mean.
That was the trip! As is typical of me, I took 700+ pictures throughout the week, which I have yet to begin editing. There are too many! :) Doubtless it will be a procrastination project later this week when I'm avoiding studying.
Another interesting thing I've noticed: here, mall Christmas directions went up before Halloween. Which to me seems way too early: I'm okay with them after Thanksgiving, but late October seems a bit premature. It was only when talking to a couple Australians about this that I realized they don't have the Thanksgiving as a way of ushering in the Christmas season. :) In addition to the decorations going up super early, they don't seem to fit Australia. They have Christmas trees, fir wreaths, and icicles. ICICLES. What? It just blows my mind that in a place like Adelaide, where the weather is regularly over 100 in November/December, they line the streets with light-up snowflakes. :)
This is my last email for the foreseeable future. My final is on Monday, and I move out for good on Wednesday. That day my epic travels begin: first a road trip through Canberra (Australia's capital- bet none of you knew that) to Melbourne, and then two weeks in New Zealand! The first week a group of friends is exploring the south island, but the second week I'm headed to the north island to do some traveling solo, which I'm actually really excited about. :) Then I'll be in Sydney again for 4-ish days before flying home- I can hardly believe it!
Like I say every time, thank you all so much for your encouraging emails/letters/messages. Its so great to hear from you all.
I'll try and send some kind of final update either during or after New Zealand, but even if I don't, know that you've got
Love from down under,
Emma
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Papers, being touristy, and the substitute fair
Hey!
I guess it's been a while since my last update. There hasn't been much to update on, though. Since being home from spring break, I've spent most of my time doing work. In 10 days, I wrote almost 10,000 words worth of papers. It was a bit exhausting. I am now pretty much incapable of carrying on an intelligent conversation- I've run out of academia for the foreseeable future.
The good news from all this is that I'm nearly done! Only one paper stands between me and next weekend, and this is the final week of classes. Also, Australian uni's are weird, because some classes end before the final week: I only have 1 class that's still meeting (the others dropped off a week or even 2 ago, sweetness).
Not to worry though, I've still squeezed in some fun. :) Classes ending has reminded my friends and I how much stuff we want to do before heading to our respective countries, so we've been doing a lot of tourist-y things in Sydney during the weekends. I went to the zoo last weekend, lots of fun. They have a baby elephant, Luk Chai, who is really cute! Also a regular fixture on the nightly news. (Australia's news is not what you would hope. Apparently not much happens here, ergo they put things like the newborn elephant on the news almost weekly.)
For those NCer's out there, I hope you're enjoying the fair. I haven't been in a couple years, so I was really missing it. But we found a solution: Luna Park! Luna Park is this amusement park on the north side of the Sydney Harbor bridge (the opposite side of the city), and a bunch of us decided to check it out Friday night. It was really small by US theme park standards, and also nearly empty. But it was exactly what we wanted. It had many of the standard fair rides (no roller coasters, it was more like the fair than a theme park), cotton candy (which they call fairy floss), random people dressed up walking around(Australian take on clowns? maybe), even an arcade. There were also some things uniquely Australian- the creepy/smiling face you walk through in the entrance, meat pies, and some really random rides. There was one where about 8 people sat with their backs to each other on this big circular thing, almost like a really gently-sloped hill, which spun around pretty fast. The goal was to not get spun off, and it was hilarious. While waiting in line for it, I got to watch a group of kids all under 10 do it, and as they tried not to fall off they would make hysterical faces. Additionally the ride operator would make you do stuff to help the sliding off process (pick up your feet, touch your toes, tickle the person next to you,etc). All in all, a good night. The only thing missing was funnel cake. :)
A couple weeks ago I realized that I only have about 2 weeks left in Sydney. After this next week I'm traveling, coming back for a week to take my exam, then heading off to Melbourne, New Zealand and who knows where else before coming back to the states. With this came lots of conflicting emotions: excitement (both for travel and to see all you lovely people), shock, and the feeling of "Aahh! There's so much more I want to do in Sydney!! How did I put it off until the last minute?!" The latter feeling prompted the aforementioned activities, with more in the works.
That's all I've got for now. I'm sure in the coming weeks I'll have lots of adventures to share. Thanks for everyone's emails and love!
Love from down under,
Emma
I guess it's been a while since my last update. There hasn't been much to update on, though. Since being home from spring break, I've spent most of my time doing work. In 10 days, I wrote almost 10,000 words worth of papers. It was a bit exhausting. I am now pretty much incapable of carrying on an intelligent conversation- I've run out of academia for the foreseeable future.
The good news from all this is that I'm nearly done! Only one paper stands between me and next weekend, and this is the final week of classes. Also, Australian uni's are weird, because some classes end before the final week: I only have 1 class that's still meeting (the others dropped off a week or even 2 ago, sweetness).
Not to worry though, I've still squeezed in some fun. :) Classes ending has reminded my friends and I how much stuff we want to do before heading to our respective countries, so we've been doing a lot of tourist-y things in Sydney during the weekends. I went to the zoo last weekend, lots of fun. They have a baby elephant, Luk Chai, who is really cute! Also a regular fixture on the nightly news. (Australia's news is not what you would hope. Apparently not much happens here, ergo they put things like the newborn elephant on the news almost weekly.)
For those NCer's out there, I hope you're enjoying the fair. I haven't been in a couple years, so I was really missing it. But we found a solution: Luna Park! Luna Park is this amusement park on the north side of the Sydney Harbor bridge (the opposite side of the city), and a bunch of us decided to check it out Friday night. It was really small by US theme park standards, and also nearly empty. But it was exactly what we wanted. It had many of the standard fair rides (no roller coasters, it was more like the fair than a theme park), cotton candy (which they call fairy floss), random people dressed up walking around(Australian take on clowns? maybe), even an arcade. There were also some things uniquely Australian- the creepy/smiling face you walk through in the entrance, meat pies, and some really random rides. There was one where about 8 people sat with their backs to each other on this big circular thing, almost like a really gently-sloped hill, which spun around pretty fast. The goal was to not get spun off, and it was hilarious. While waiting in line for it, I got to watch a group of kids all under 10 do it, and as they tried not to fall off they would make hysterical faces. Additionally the ride operator would make you do stuff to help the sliding off process (pick up your feet, touch your toes, tickle the person next to you,etc). All in all, a good night. The only thing missing was funnel cake. :)
A couple weeks ago I realized that I only have about 2 weeks left in Sydney. After this next week I'm traveling, coming back for a week to take my exam, then heading off to Melbourne, New Zealand and who knows where else before coming back to the states. With this came lots of conflicting emotions: excitement (both for travel and to see all you lovely people), shock, and the feeling of "Aahh! There's so much more I want to do in Sydney!! How did I put it off until the last minute?!" The latter feeling prompted the aforementioned activities, with more in the works.
That's all I've got for now. I'm sure in the coming weeks I'll have lots of adventures to share. Thanks for everyone's emails and love!
Love from down under,
Emma
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Spring break in October!
Welcome to October everyone!
I can hardly believe it's here already. While I'm sure you all are getting the first tastes of chilly weather, falling leaves, and the state fair, I have spent the past week alternating between the ocean and the rainforest. Yes that's right, I just had spring break.
And let me tell you, spring break was amazing. My friends and I basically packed as much activity into 11 days as possible. If I were to tell you everything we did, this would be a long email indeed. :) But I'll spare you all the details, and give you the highlights.
My favorite thing definitely was the 3 day sailing trip we went on first. We spent the days sailing around the Whitsunday Islands, snorkeling, scuba diving, and playing on the beaches. It was some of the most incredible stuff I've ever seen- I felt like I was in the Little Mermaid or something. Scuba diving was really fun, and very surreal- it feels so unnatural to just breathe normally underwater. It's also strange to look up and realize that there is 25 feet of water between you and the open air. :) We also went to some of the most beautiful beaches, including Whitehaven beach, which is considered one of the top five in the world. It was made of 98% silica, which means that the sand is really soft and white.
After that trip we jumped on an overnight bus to get up to Cairns. Let me back up: my friend Elyse and I planned this spring break trip and a bunch of our friends came with us, so we were traveling with anywhere between 6 and 9 people at any given time. Which was great fun, but also made agreeing on a restaurant difficult at times. :) But seriously, so worth it. It also meant that we were always "that group." Also because we were all of different nationalities (American, Canadian, British, German, Australian).
The first thing we did in Cairns? Shower. The boat didn't have showers, and then we'd spent the night on a Greyhound, so we were going on about 4 days without showering. I'm sure the other bus passengers loved us. :)
Every day in Cairns we did some amazing/crazy activity: whitewater rafting, sea kayaking, hiking/exploring the rainforest, swimming in waterfalls.... it was amazing. Interestingly, I was the only one of our group who had ever been whitewater rafting, which made it that much more exciting for everyone else. Also, when we stopped for lunch we saw a four-foot eel gliding through the water we'd been swimming in 10 minutes ago, which kind of freaked some people out. This trip was definitely geared to our age group- the tour guides did a lot of crashing into each other, encouraging us to pull our friends in other boats into the water, and at times purposefully tipping our boat. We also jumped off a 30 foot tall rock into the water, which was so much fun, except for the guy who bellyflopped.
Two days we drove into the rainforest. Both days our tour guides were awesome, but they were very different types of trips. One was aimed more at the 20something/student crowd- the guide had a decidedly hippie feel to him, the bus we traveled in was named Wally(and was very sensitive about people talking about his A/C), and while driving down winding mountainous roads played Beach Boys' "Surfing Safari" and we all stood in our seats and "surfed." So much fun. The other trip was on a really fancy bus, we had two teatimes during the day, and the tour guide was just as friendly and knowledgeable but maybe not quiet as.... ridiculous. It was funny to contrast the two. We saw all kinds of wildlife- goannas (Australian name for iguana-type things), sharks, water dragons, turtles, all the fish and coral you can imagine (including humuhumunukunukuapua'a!), parrots, and other things that my sleep-deprived brain cannot remember right now. :)
One day we took a ferry out to Fitzroy Island, which is part of the official Great Barrier Reef National Park. We spent the day sea kayaking, playing on a water trampoline (which is fun, and there's not really any danger of falling off, because if you do you land in the water), snorkeling and exploring the island. It was here that we saw a sea turtle right before we left. We also rented an underwater camera for the day, which made the day even more exciting- although of the 650 pictures we took that day, about 150 of them are just gray, or white. (For the record, I did not take all 650. We shared the camera between 8 of us. But yes, I did take most of them.)
The whole week was sunny and beautiful and warm. We all came back much tanner than before, which I have had to cover up because it's been cold and rainy since coming back to. This week has been mostly catching up on sleep (we got about 5-6 hours of sleep each night all week on break), working on my 3 big papers I have due very soon, and editing photos (as a procrastination tool when I'm supposed to be writing my papers). The weekend is looking low key as well- lots of work to do. The great part about it is that once these three papers are done, basically all I have left is one final paper and one final exams, and I'm home free. :) I love the Australian lack of final exams.
I love you all! Enjoy the fall- I'm loving the spring, but I do miss the falling leaves and such. I miss you all and love your emails- they make me smile.
Love from down under,
Emma
I can hardly believe it's here already. While I'm sure you all are getting the first tastes of chilly weather, falling leaves, and the state fair, I have spent the past week alternating between the ocean and the rainforest. Yes that's right, I just had spring break.
And let me tell you, spring break was amazing. My friends and I basically packed as much activity into 11 days as possible. If I were to tell you everything we did, this would be a long email indeed. :) But I'll spare you all the details, and give you the highlights.
My favorite thing definitely was the 3 day sailing trip we went on first. We spent the days sailing around the Whitsunday Islands, snorkeling, scuba diving, and playing on the beaches. It was some of the most incredible stuff I've ever seen- I felt like I was in the Little Mermaid or something. Scuba diving was really fun, and very surreal- it feels so unnatural to just breathe normally underwater. It's also strange to look up and realize that there is 25 feet of water between you and the open air. :) We also went to some of the most beautiful beaches, including Whitehaven beach, which is considered one of the top five in the world. It was made of 98% silica, which means that the sand is really soft and white.
After that trip we jumped on an overnight bus to get up to Cairns. Let me back up: my friend Elyse and I planned this spring break trip and a bunch of our friends came with us, so we were traveling with anywhere between 6 and 9 people at any given time. Which was great fun, but also made agreeing on a restaurant difficult at times. :) But seriously, so worth it. It also meant that we were always "that group." Also because we were all of different nationalities (American, Canadian, British, German, Australian).
The first thing we did in Cairns? Shower. The boat didn't have showers, and then we'd spent the night on a Greyhound, so we were going on about 4 days without showering. I'm sure the other bus passengers loved us. :)
Every day in Cairns we did some amazing/crazy activity: whitewater rafting, sea kayaking, hiking/exploring the rainforest, swimming in waterfalls.... it was amazing. Interestingly, I was the only one of our group who had ever been whitewater rafting, which made it that much more exciting for everyone else. Also, when we stopped for lunch we saw a four-foot eel gliding through the water we'd been swimming in 10 minutes ago, which kind of freaked some people out. This trip was definitely geared to our age group- the tour guides did a lot of crashing into each other, encouraging us to pull our friends in other boats into the water, and at times purposefully tipping our boat. We also jumped off a 30 foot tall rock into the water, which was so much fun, except for the guy who bellyflopped.
Two days we drove into the rainforest. Both days our tour guides were awesome, but they were very different types of trips. One was aimed more at the 20something/student crowd- the guide had a decidedly hippie feel to him, the bus we traveled in was named Wally(and was very sensitive about people talking about his A/C), and while driving down winding mountainous roads played Beach Boys' "Surfing Safari" and we all stood in our seats and "surfed." So much fun. The other trip was on a really fancy bus, we had two teatimes during the day, and the tour guide was just as friendly and knowledgeable but maybe not quiet as.... ridiculous. It was funny to contrast the two. We saw all kinds of wildlife- goannas (Australian name for iguana-type things), sharks, water dragons, turtles, all the fish and coral you can imagine (including humuhumunukunukuapua'a!), parrots, and other things that my sleep-deprived brain cannot remember right now. :)
One day we took a ferry out to Fitzroy Island, which is part of the official Great Barrier Reef National Park. We spent the day sea kayaking, playing on a water trampoline (which is fun, and there's not really any danger of falling off, because if you do you land in the water), snorkeling and exploring the island. It was here that we saw a sea turtle right before we left. We also rented an underwater camera for the day, which made the day even more exciting- although of the 650 pictures we took that day, about 150 of them are just gray, or white. (For the record, I did not take all 650. We shared the camera between 8 of us. But yes, I did take most of them.)
The whole week was sunny and beautiful and warm. We all came back much tanner than before, which I have had to cover up because it's been cold and rainy since coming back to. This week has been mostly catching up on sleep (we got about 5-6 hours of sleep each night all week on break), working on my 3 big papers I have due very soon, and editing photos (as a procrastination tool when I'm supposed to be writing my papers). The weekend is looking low key as well- lots of work to do. The great part about it is that once these three papers are done, basically all I have left is one final paper and one final exams, and I'm home free. :) I love the Australian lack of final exams.
I love you all! Enjoy the fall- I'm loving the spring, but I do miss the falling leaves and such. I miss you all and love your emails- they make me smile.
Love from down under,
Emma
Sunday, September 20, 2009
surfing, the wizard, and american-girl-on-bus syndrome
Hello everyone!
It’s been a while since my last email! Things have been admittedly less exciting- mostly schoolwork.
I've had a ridiculous amount of papers the past few weeks. There is less day to day work, and fewer tests, so nearly my whole grade is made up of papers.
I have been having fun though! A few weeks back some friends and I instituted a tradition of "Thursday adventures" because a bunch of us finish class at 3 on Thursday and have nothing Friday. These are usually touristy things in Sydney that we haven't done yet. These have included the aquarium, Paddy's Market, and the Sydney Tower. Paddy's Market is a giant flea market type place, with stands selling everything from ultra-touristy stuff to knock off purses to electronics to band tshirts and everything in between. We were laughing because one store had sports jerseys (mostly NFL or NHL) and a couple of them were wrong.
The Sydney tower was pretty cool- you go up an elevator to get a view of the city area and a lot of the surrounding suburbs (which are still considered part of Sydney). From the tower (which offers 360 degree view) we were able to find a friend's room in his apartment complex that's by the university. He was a little freaked out by that. haha.
Another fun thing: this past week, I got to see Wicked!!! I got tickets through my Australian film and theatre class. I'd seen it last fall on Broadway and loved it, so I was really excited to see it again. It didn't disappoint. My friend Elyse is in the class as well, so we went together. Interestingly, all the actors used American accents. Well, to me they just sounded neutral (and therefore American, as my non-American friends are quick to point out) Elyse had seen it before as well in London, and she pointed out an interesting point about the play: in London all the characters had British accents except the Wizard. Which completely changes the interpretation of this one song where the Wizard says "where I'm from, we believe all sorts of things that aren't true. We call it history." The song is just about how things are true from different points of view, which I always thought just applied to all people on earth (and not oz, apparently). But the way the London show interprets it, that's an American thing. Interesting.
Last weekend I also went to the Botanical Gardens, which are beautiful. I guess the only really newsworthy thing to say about them is that they are home to a massive amount of bats. Seriously. We walked in towards a giant tree, and as we got closer I realized that the tree is FULL of bats hanging out. Literally. ;) sorry couldn’t resist. But anyways, there were a lot of bats. And they were the biggest bats I’ve ever seen up close. Pictures on facebook will follow as soon as I get email back in my house.
I've been surfing the past two weekends, which has been so much fun. It had been more than 6 weeks since surf camp, so I was pretty bad, but after two hours I got the hang of it again. The water is also beautiful, it was awesome to just be hanging out in the waves. It’s also fun to go surfing regularly- it takes me a little less time for me to get the hang of it each time. Both times we've gone to Manly Beach, which is fun because you have to take a ferry to get there. We've also managed to time our returns home so that we go as the sun is setting behind the harbor bridge, which is so so so beautiful. I may or may not have taken loads of pictures on the ferry. :)
Speaking of public transportation, I have observed an interesting pattern: people love talking to me en route to places. I call it American-girl-on-the-bus syndrome. This is especially true if I'm with another girl (usually Elyse, who is Canadian and has the same accent as me). But if people either speak to me in passing or overhear Elyse and I talking (basically long enough to recognize that my accent is not Australian), people love to strike up conversations. On one ten minute train ride three separate groups of people talked to us! This morning, a guy sat behind me guessing what part of the US I was from (first Midwest, then California). It happens most on the bus/train/ferry, but occasionally happens at stores, cafes, and even street corners. They are also usually adults (not students). It has to be the accent, because if I’m on the bus reading, then people don’t do it. Also, if there are any guys with me, it doesn’t happen. If you have any better name suggestions, let me know. :)
On Thursday, I fly out to the Whitsunday Islands for spring break! Some friends and I are doing a three-day sailing trip in the Whitsundays, then taking an overnight bus to Cairns to spend the rest of the week there (it has both the Great Barrier Reef and rainforests). I’m very excited!
It’s strange to think how long I’ve been here. The 2+ months have flown by. It has been interesting, because the first half of my semester has been largely Sydney-based. I’ve had papers, and really gotten into life at uni and in the city. But the second half will be much more traveling. Luckily, Australian uni setup is a little different and is conducive to my plan. We have about 4 weeks of class left after spring break (and at least one of my classes ends earlier than that, possibly 2). Then there is another week off (which is technically a “study vacation” but who says you can’t take your studying across the outback with you?) where I am likely going to Alice Springs and Uluru (aka Ayer’s Rock). Then there is 2 1/2 weeks of exams. During this time I only have on and it’s toward the end so more traveling will happen then. After exams end, it will be all travels until I head home in December. Yikes! When I write it out like that, it seems so short. But there is so much left here that I want to do!
That’s all for now folks. I’m sure that my next message will be full of snorkeling and such.
Love from down under,
Emma
It’s been a while since my last email! Things have been admittedly less exciting- mostly schoolwork.
I've had a ridiculous amount of papers the past few weeks. There is less day to day work, and fewer tests, so nearly my whole grade is made up of papers.
I have been having fun though! A few weeks back some friends and I instituted a tradition of "Thursday adventures" because a bunch of us finish class at 3 on Thursday and have nothing Friday. These are usually touristy things in Sydney that we haven't done yet. These have included the aquarium, Paddy's Market, and the Sydney Tower. Paddy's Market is a giant flea market type place, with stands selling everything from ultra-touristy stuff to knock off purses to electronics to band tshirts and everything in between. We were laughing because one store had sports jerseys (mostly NFL or NHL) and a couple of them were wrong.
The Sydney tower was pretty cool- you go up an elevator to get a view of the city area and a lot of the surrounding suburbs (which are still considered part of Sydney). From the tower (which offers 360 degree view) we were able to find a friend's room in his apartment complex that's by the university. He was a little freaked out by that. haha.
Another fun thing: this past week, I got to see Wicked!!! I got tickets through my Australian film and theatre class. I'd seen it last fall on Broadway and loved it, so I was really excited to see it again. It didn't disappoint. My friend Elyse is in the class as well, so we went together. Interestingly, all the actors used American accents. Well, to me they just sounded neutral (and therefore American, as my non-American friends are quick to point out) Elyse had seen it before as well in London, and she pointed out an interesting point about the play: in London all the characters had British accents except the Wizard. Which completely changes the interpretation of this one song where the Wizard says "where I'm from, we believe all sorts of things that aren't true. We call it history." The song is just about how things are true from different points of view, which I always thought just applied to all people on earth (and not oz, apparently). But the way the London show interprets it, that's an American thing. Interesting.
Last weekend I also went to the Botanical Gardens, which are beautiful. I guess the only really newsworthy thing to say about them is that they are home to a massive amount of bats. Seriously. We walked in towards a giant tree, and as we got closer I realized that the tree is FULL of bats hanging out. Literally. ;) sorry couldn’t resist. But anyways, there were a lot of bats. And they were the biggest bats I’ve ever seen up close. Pictures on facebook will follow as soon as I get email back in my house.
I've been surfing the past two weekends, which has been so much fun. It had been more than 6 weeks since surf camp, so I was pretty bad, but after two hours I got the hang of it again. The water is also beautiful, it was awesome to just be hanging out in the waves. It’s also fun to go surfing regularly- it takes me a little less time for me to get the hang of it each time. Both times we've gone to Manly Beach, which is fun because you have to take a ferry to get there. We've also managed to time our returns home so that we go as the sun is setting behind the harbor bridge, which is so so so beautiful. I may or may not have taken loads of pictures on the ferry. :)
Speaking of public transportation, I have observed an interesting pattern: people love talking to me en route to places. I call it American-girl-on-the-bus syndrome. This is especially true if I'm with another girl (usually Elyse, who is Canadian and has the same accent as me). But if people either speak to me in passing or overhear Elyse and I talking (basically long enough to recognize that my accent is not Australian), people love to strike up conversations. On one ten minute train ride three separate groups of people talked to us! This morning, a guy sat behind me guessing what part of the US I was from (first Midwest, then California). It happens most on the bus/train/ferry, but occasionally happens at stores, cafes, and even street corners. They are also usually adults (not students). It has to be the accent, because if I’m on the bus reading, then people don’t do it. Also, if there are any guys with me, it doesn’t happen. If you have any better name suggestions, let me know. :)
On Thursday, I fly out to the Whitsunday Islands for spring break! Some friends and I are doing a three-day sailing trip in the Whitsundays, then taking an overnight bus to Cairns to spend the rest of the week there (it has both the Great Barrier Reef and rainforests). I’m very excited!
It’s strange to think how long I’ve been here. The 2+ months have flown by. It has been interesting, because the first half of my semester has been largely Sydney-based. I’ve had papers, and really gotten into life at uni and in the city. But the second half will be much more traveling. Luckily, Australian uni setup is a little different and is conducive to my plan. We have about 4 weeks of class left after spring break (and at least one of my classes ends earlier than that, possibly 2). Then there is another week off (which is technically a “study vacation” but who says you can’t take your studying across the outback with you?) where I am likely going to Alice Springs and Uluru (aka Ayer’s Rock). Then there is 2 1/2 weeks of exams. During this time I only have on and it’s toward the end so more traveling will happen then. After exams end, it will be all travels until I head home in December. Yikes! When I write it out like that, it seems so short. But there is so much left here that I want to do!
That’s all for now folks. I’m sure that my next message will be full of snorkeling and such.
Love from down under,
Emma
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Hiking, waterfalls, and... dewgongs?
Salutations!
I realized that I ALWAYS begin these with "hey everyone" so I'm trying to mix it up. Any suggestions?
I hope everyone is doing well! I am great. There has been a lot going on the past week. Last Tuesday I went to another play, Norm & Ahmed. It's about the interactions between an Australian guy and Pakistani guy, and it was really thought-provoking especially about race. I don't know if "I liked it" is the right was to say it, but it has really gotten me thinking and I'm getting a lot out of it.
One afternoon we went to the Sydney Aquarium, which was pretty cool. One of their big attractions are dewgongs (which are a lot like manatees)- they're surprisingly graceful. Apparently pirates used to mistake them for mermaids- although how you mistake a big grey animal for a half naked woman is beyond me. :)
This past weekend some friends and I went to the Blue Mountains, and it was an AMAZING trip. We caught the train up to the mountains Friday morning (only took 2 hours, and suprisingly cheap to do) and spent the weekend hiking, exploring, eating, and generally just hanging out. There were six of us, so we had a room to ourselves in the hostel we stayed at, which was really fun. Even though the weather was supposed to be bad on Saturday, it cleared up by 11 and that was when we were just starting to hike.
The Blue mountains are beautiful. The main access point, Echo Point, overlooks a huge canyon- it's kind of life the Grand Canyon on a smaller scale and with lots of trees. There's also a rock formation known as the Three Sisters- I've heard a couple different stories about them, but they all agree on this: three beautiful girls (princesses?) were turned into rocks by a witch doctor (who may have been their father) to protect them (from war, or a beast, or something). But he died before he could turn them back, and they're still giant rock formations. You can't climb on them anymore, but you could hike all along the canyons, which is what we did a lot of. We found a couple waterfalls which were beautiful -and slippery, which we discovered when we climbed up the sides. No one got hurt, but some of us got pretty muddy. :) The forest was closer to rainforest than they are at home- we saw a lot of parrots! Nothing lethal though- no snakes or spiders.
We also discovered the world's steepest railway. It's advertised as such, and journey comes complete with the Indiana Jones theme in the background as you go very fast down a very steep incline. Basically it's a really quick way to get from the top of the canyon to the bottom. There was also an air tram (I think that's what they called it) which gave a great view of the surroundings.
All in all, it was a great trip. There wasn't much to do in the town at night, but we had such a fun group of people that we had a blast just chilling at the hostel. A interesting side note: none of the four guys brought soap on the trip. Luckily I did, so crisis averted. :)
Well I think you're up to date! This week has been really crazy, I have three papers due within two weeks of each other. And here, papers are worth a lot more than they are at home. Also tonight I'm headed to a wine and cheese tasting put on by a couple of clubs at school- there's an arts festival for the next week or so going on, so there's a lot of fun cultural things to do.
I love you all! As always, the emails are amazing and make me smile every time I hear from you. Have a great labor day and do something fun (and slightly crazy) for me!
Love from down under,
Emma
I realized that I ALWAYS begin these with "hey everyone" so I'm trying to mix it up. Any suggestions?
I hope everyone is doing well! I am great. There has been a lot going on the past week. Last Tuesday I went to another play, Norm & Ahmed. It's about the interactions between an Australian guy and Pakistani guy, and it was really thought-provoking especially about race. I don't know if "I liked it" is the right was to say it, but it has really gotten me thinking and I'm getting a lot out of it.
One afternoon we went to the Sydney Aquarium, which was pretty cool. One of their big attractions are dewgongs (which are a lot like manatees)- they're surprisingly graceful. Apparently pirates used to mistake them for mermaids- although how you mistake a big grey animal for a half naked woman is beyond me. :)
This past weekend some friends and I went to the Blue Mountains, and it was an AMAZING trip. We caught the train up to the mountains Friday morning (only took 2 hours, and suprisingly cheap to do) and spent the weekend hiking, exploring, eating, and generally just hanging out. There were six of us, so we had a room to ourselves in the hostel we stayed at, which was really fun. Even though the weather was supposed to be bad on Saturday, it cleared up by 11 and that was when we were just starting to hike.
The Blue mountains are beautiful. The main access point, Echo Point, overlooks a huge canyon- it's kind of life the Grand Canyon on a smaller scale and with lots of trees. There's also a rock formation known as the Three Sisters- I've heard a couple different stories about them, but they all agree on this: three beautiful girls (princesses?) were turned into rocks by a witch doctor (who may have been their father) to protect them (from war, or a beast, or something). But he died before he could turn them back, and they're still giant rock formations. You can't climb on them anymore, but you could hike all along the canyons, which is what we did a lot of. We found a couple waterfalls which were beautiful -and slippery, which we discovered when we climbed up the sides. No one got hurt, but some of us got pretty muddy. :) The forest was closer to rainforest than they are at home- we saw a lot of parrots! Nothing lethal though- no snakes or spiders.
We also discovered the world's steepest railway. It's advertised as such, and journey comes complete with the Indiana Jones theme in the background as you go very fast down a very steep incline. Basically it's a really quick way to get from the top of the canyon to the bottom. There was also an air tram (I think that's what they called it) which gave a great view of the surroundings.
All in all, it was a great trip. There wasn't much to do in the town at night, but we had such a fun group of people that we had a blast just chilling at the hostel. A interesting side note: none of the four guys brought soap on the trip. Luckily I did, so crisis averted. :)
Well I think you're up to date! This week has been really crazy, I have three papers due within two weeks of each other. And here, papers are worth a lot more than they are at home. Also tonight I'm headed to a wine and cheese tasting put on by a couple of clubs at school- there's an arts festival for the next week or so going on, so there's a lot of fun cultural things to do.
I love you all! As always, the emails are amazing and make me smile every time I hear from you. Have a great labor day and do something fun (and slightly crazy) for me!
Love from down under,
Emma
Monday, August 24, 2009
Beaches, rugby, and tacos
Hey everyone!
It has been funny and strange to hear about everyone moving in, going to back to school events, and generally preparing for school while I'm in my 5th week of class. :) I'm a quarter of the way done with my semester already- craziness.
This past weekend was very eventful and fun. It started on Thursday, when Elyse and I went to a play for our film and theatre class called Saturn's Return. After having a bit of trouble finding the place (the theatre is in a wharf on the harbor, and all the wharfs look the same on the outside...) Its an Australian play written specifically for the theatre we saw it in, and it was... bizarre. I liked it, but it was so strange. There were only about 4 scenes, and they didn't go in chronological order, and the three actors played all the characters, so it got confusing who was actually who. It was meant to be that way- one guy would go from being an old school mate of the girl to her baby to that same baby five years older in the same scene. Like I said, weird. We're going to see another one tonight called Norm and Ahmed. It should be a little easier to follow. :)
After the play we went to this restaurant famous for its pancakes, which was amazing! We got some chocolate pancakes, served with cream (not whipped cream, something different that I'm not sure what it was), ice cream, chocolate sauce and strawberries. We will definitely be going back there soon to try some of their other amazing concoctions.
Friday I was supposed to go surfing, but the waves were nonexistent. But that was okay, because Saturday I went to the beach also! No surfing, but we spent the afternoon playing ultimate frisbee, swimming (yes, we got in the water even though it was freezing), exploring the rock outcroppings off to one side, and just hanging out with friends.
That night some of us went to a rugby game too! There was a group of us going, but by the time we got tickets we could only sit in pairs scattered through the 80,000+ fans in the stadium. It was the Australia Wallabies against the New Zealand Allblacks- those two and South Africa are known as Tri Nations, they're considered some of the best in the world. Rugby is kind of like football, but less stopping. Its a great game- I loved it. Going into the game I knew the basics, and now I feel like I understand it pretty well. The only thing I didn't completely understand was the ref calls and penalties, and neither did Chandos (who I was with), so it was funny to try and predict/understand the different calls. After leading most of the game, the Wallabies lost by one point with 3 minutes to go, which was disappointing. But it was a close game the whole time, and really fun to watch. Also, the Allblacks do this Maori dance-thing before every game called the Haka- go look it up, its the most intimidating thing ever.
Sunday I played it lazy and wrote a paper during the day, and then some friends came over to my place and we had a taco night! Everyone brought something, and we ended up cook 3 kilos of meat. There was a TON of food, and it was so good. Its also funny, because I'm pretty sure its the only time some of these guys get vegetables in the diets. :) We just cooked, hung out, watched British stand-up, relaxed- a really fun night.
That's about it here! Some friends and I are going to the Blue Mountains this weekend, Friday- Sunday. (I LOVE having no class on Fridays. Its amazing.) This will be our first plan-it-ourselves trip, so I'm excited to hang out with everyone.
We've also been looking into plans for semester break (aka spring break- its okay, you northern-hemisphere people can be jealous). We're thinking that we will spend 3-4 days on a sailboat in the Whitsunday islands, snorkeling and such in the Great Barrier Reef, and then head to Cairns, which has more touristy stuff plus the rainforest. It's in less than a month, so we have to figure it out soon so we can book flights and things! (Nothing in Australia is close to anything else- you have to fly to nearly every other major city.)
I love you all- thanks so much for emails and messages. They make me feel connected to everything back home. I miss you all!
Love from down under,
Emma
It has been funny and strange to hear about everyone moving in, going to back to school events, and generally preparing for school while I'm in my 5th week of class. :) I'm a quarter of the way done with my semester already- craziness.
This past weekend was very eventful and fun. It started on Thursday, when Elyse and I went to a play for our film and theatre class called Saturn's Return. After having a bit of trouble finding the place (the theatre is in a wharf on the harbor, and all the wharfs look the same on the outside...) Its an Australian play written specifically for the theatre we saw it in, and it was... bizarre. I liked it, but it was so strange. There were only about 4 scenes, and they didn't go in chronological order, and the three actors played all the characters, so it got confusing who was actually who. It was meant to be that way- one guy would go from being an old school mate of the girl to her baby to that same baby five years older in the same scene. Like I said, weird. We're going to see another one tonight called Norm and Ahmed. It should be a little easier to follow. :)
After the play we went to this restaurant famous for its pancakes, which was amazing! We got some chocolate pancakes, served with cream (not whipped cream, something different that I'm not sure what it was), ice cream, chocolate sauce and strawberries. We will definitely be going back there soon to try some of their other amazing concoctions.
Friday I was supposed to go surfing, but the waves were nonexistent. But that was okay, because Saturday I went to the beach also! No surfing, but we spent the afternoon playing ultimate frisbee, swimming (yes, we got in the water even though it was freezing), exploring the rock outcroppings off to one side, and just hanging out with friends.
That night some of us went to a rugby game too! There was a group of us going, but by the time we got tickets we could only sit in pairs scattered through the 80,000+ fans in the stadium. It was the Australia Wallabies against the New Zealand Allblacks- those two and South Africa are known as Tri Nations, they're considered some of the best in the world. Rugby is kind of like football, but less stopping. Its a great game- I loved it. Going into the game I knew the basics, and now I feel like I understand it pretty well. The only thing I didn't completely understand was the ref calls and penalties, and neither did Chandos (who I was with), so it was funny to try and predict/understand the different calls. After leading most of the game, the Wallabies lost by one point with 3 minutes to go, which was disappointing. But it was a close game the whole time, and really fun to watch. Also, the Allblacks do this Maori dance-thing before every game called the Haka- go look it up, its the most intimidating thing ever.
Sunday I played it lazy and wrote a paper during the day, and then some friends came over to my place and we had a taco night! Everyone brought something, and we ended up cook 3 kilos of meat. There was a TON of food, and it was so good. Its also funny, because I'm pretty sure its the only time some of these guys get vegetables in the diets. :) We just cooked, hung out, watched British stand-up, relaxed- a really fun night.
That's about it here! Some friends and I are going to the Blue Mountains this weekend, Friday- Sunday. (I LOVE having no class on Fridays. Its amazing.) This will be our first plan-it-ourselves trip, so I'm excited to hang out with everyone.
We've also been looking into plans for semester break (aka spring break- its okay, you northern-hemisphere people can be jealous). We're thinking that we will spend 3-4 days on a sailboat in the Whitsunday islands, snorkeling and such in the Great Barrier Reef, and then head to Cairns, which has more touristy stuff plus the rainforest. It's in less than a month, so we have to figure it out soon so we can book flights and things! (Nothing in Australia is close to anything else- you have to fly to nearly every other major city.)
I love you all- thanks so much for emails and messages. They make me feel connected to everything back home. I miss you all!
Love from down under,
Emma
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
A month in...
Hey!
Its hard to believe I've been here for more than a month now. Having classes makes the weeks sort of blend together. I'm still having a great time and loving it!
The past week was pretty low-key. I wrote my first paper- a film review of Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom. You've probably seen something Luhrmann has directed: Moulin Rouge, Romeo & Juliet (the cool one), and most recently Australia. Its about an Australian competitive ballroom dancer who wants to use his own steps, to the horror of everyone else. Its pretty good- stylistically really interesting. It has the same feel as Moulin Rouge, just a little toned down. I liked it.
It's for my film & theatre class, which is turning out great. Its a 3 hour class once a week, where we usually watch a movie (Australian) and then discuss it. Tomorrow night I'm going to my first theatre production for the class, which I'm really excited about. The playwright came to talk to our class this week, which was cool to hear his thought process in the making/writing the play. We're seeing another play next week, and later in the semester we're going to see Wicked!!! We just found out about Wicked this week, so I'm really excited. I saw it in New York last fall and loved it, so it will be cool to see if and how they do things differently.
My other classes are going pretty well too. Australian lit has been intense (in a good way). We're studying a very specific time period (1960-1988), so the books chosen are all written to say something about what was really going on, or different popular philosophies at the time. Also, they're almost universally about self-discovery in some form, a theme very common in Australian art of the time as the nation was trying to distinguish its own identity from the rest of the world (we've talked about that in the film class too).
Aboriginal history has been really eye-opening. The situation between the indigenous peoples and whites has been really messed up since day one. For me, it seems like a weird mix of the situations between whites and Native Americans and whites and African Americans in the US.
Despite it being winter here, this weekend the temperature hit 80 on Sunday. It was gorgeous- I spent the afternoon in the park with some friends. We were technically 'doing homework,' but I think I read about 20 pages of a novel in the 2 hours we were out there. oops. :)
I also finally made it to the Harbor Bridge and Opera House! Very cool. Bigger than I thought they were. Also much farther than I anticipated- a friend and I walked, and it took forever.
This weekend I'll be at the beach a lot! On Friday I'm going surfing with some friends from surf camp, and Saturday there's an international student BBQ put on by the university. We're also planning a trip to the Blue Mountains for next weekend- hiking, views, and the like. I'm really excited because it's the first trip that we're planning ourselves, without a tour guide or someone making arrangements.
Alright, I think that's all I've got for now! Here's a few closing random tidbits:
- My Spanish housemates were amazed when Elyse and I made brownies one night. Apparently they don't have box mixes in Europe (or at least the Spain/France area).
- Some fruits have different names: cantaloupe is rock melon, raisins are sultanas, and peppers are capsicum.
I hope you all are doing well! Good luck for all of you going (or starting) school this week! I'm sad that I won't be there at UNC to see everyone and hear about summer adventures.
Love from down under,
Emma
Its hard to believe I've been here for more than a month now. Having classes makes the weeks sort of blend together. I'm still having a great time and loving it!
The past week was pretty low-key. I wrote my first paper- a film review of Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom. You've probably seen something Luhrmann has directed: Moulin Rouge, Romeo & Juliet (the cool one), and most recently Australia. Its about an Australian competitive ballroom dancer who wants to use his own steps, to the horror of everyone else. Its pretty good- stylistically really interesting. It has the same feel as Moulin Rouge, just a little toned down. I liked it.
It's for my film & theatre class, which is turning out great. Its a 3 hour class once a week, where we usually watch a movie (Australian) and then discuss it. Tomorrow night I'm going to my first theatre production for the class, which I'm really excited about. The playwright came to talk to our class this week, which was cool to hear his thought process in the making/writing the play. We're seeing another play next week, and later in the semester we're going to see Wicked!!! We just found out about Wicked this week, so I'm really excited. I saw it in New York last fall and loved it, so it will be cool to see if and how they do things differently.
My other classes are going pretty well too. Australian lit has been intense (in a good way). We're studying a very specific time period (1960-1988), so the books chosen are all written to say something about what was really going on, or different popular philosophies at the time. Also, they're almost universally about self-discovery in some form, a theme very common in Australian art of the time as the nation was trying to distinguish its own identity from the rest of the world (we've talked about that in the film class too).
Aboriginal history has been really eye-opening. The situation between the indigenous peoples and whites has been really messed up since day one. For me, it seems like a weird mix of the situations between whites and Native Americans and whites and African Americans in the US.
Despite it being winter here, this weekend the temperature hit 80 on Sunday. It was gorgeous- I spent the afternoon in the park with some friends. We were technically 'doing homework,' but I think I read about 20 pages of a novel in the 2 hours we were out there. oops. :)
I also finally made it to the Harbor Bridge and Opera House! Very cool. Bigger than I thought they were. Also much farther than I anticipated- a friend and I walked, and it took forever.
This weekend I'll be at the beach a lot! On Friday I'm going surfing with some friends from surf camp, and Saturday there's an international student BBQ put on by the university. We're also planning a trip to the Blue Mountains for next weekend- hiking, views, and the like. I'm really excited because it's the first trip that we're planning ourselves, without a tour guide or someone making arrangements.
Alright, I think that's all I've got for now! Here's a few closing random tidbits:
- My Spanish housemates were amazed when Elyse and I made brownies one night. Apparently they don't have box mixes in Europe (or at least the Spain/France area).
- Some fruits have different names: cantaloupe is rock melon, raisins are sultanas, and peppers are capsicum.
I hope you all are doing well! Good luck for all of you going (or starting) school this week! I'm sad that I won't be there at UNC to see everyone and hear about summer adventures.
Love from down under,
Emma
Monday, August 10, 2009
Birthdays, goofiness, and conversations about America
Hey!
I hope everyone is doing well and having a good August! Especially everyone in NC- hope you're surviving the humidity. :) Here, the weather is great. Cold at night, but not too bad during the day. I keep forgetting its winter here!
The biggest news I have since my last email is that I went to surf camp for a weekend!! It was so much fun. Seriously, I loved it. We left Friday night and went to this state/national park called Seven Mile Beach, in this tiny little town called Gerroa or something like that. The beach was really beautiful and there was almost no one else there. Our group had about 50-60 international college students, most from Sydney Uni and a couple from Canberra. The most common countries represented among us are always the US, followed by Germany. Seriously, there are a lot of Germans here. Of the US contingent most are from California, but there's always a few from NC (more than any other state, I think).
We got up early on Saturday and went out for our first surf lesson. They handed out wet suits because the water averages about 15 degrees Celsius in the winter, and because we were all beginners we had giant boards (fondly known as ferries). My board was 8 feet long, and wide enough that I couldn't easily carry it under my arm like you normally see surfers do. Haha. But the bigger the board, the easier it is to ride, so I was okay with it.
We split into groups of about 20 people and had 2 surf instructors per group. All of them were really cool, typical surfer dudes. Ours, Mitch and Chaps (short for Chaplin), were really fun. Mitch looked like he was about 17 (he was 20, but everyone thought he looked 15-17). The first thing they taught us was whether we are goofy or natural. I, of course, am goofy. All it means is which foot you lead with, but the overwhelming majority is natural. And apparently it has nothing to do with being right- or left-handed. So I was one of two kids in our group who were goofy.
Also, I remembered to introduce myself as Ace!! Usually I don't, but on that trip were a couple people from the orientation trip that call me Ace, and in my group there was another Emma. You may laugh (my main group of friends here laugh every time I introduce myself as Ace), but everyone remembered my name, including the instructors. So it works. :)
Anyway, we had three 2-hour surfing sessions over the course of the weekend. In each one they'd teach us stuff on the beach, then let us loose in the waves. They'd be there to help us, give us tips, or even hold the board and help us time it. The first session they taught us the basics of standing up, biting it, you know. In the afternoon they taught us how to stay with the wave/change our speed, and the next morning they taught us how to turn the board.
Of course the first session almost no one is consistently successful at riding. The second wave I attempted I caught, but not very long, and I didn't do it consistently until the end of the second session. We were on baby waves that had already broken, but it doesn't take much to be able to ride it. It was so much fun, even when you fell. At some points Mitch and Chaps would borrow our boards to show us how to do something, or just go show off for a bit. Mitch caught one wave with the board facing backwards, then halfway through it he managed to get it to flip right-way around. It was ridiculous.
The last session (Sunday morning) Chaps took those of us that wanted out past the breakers to catch unbroken waves. These were BIG, and you had to paddle through them to get out there. That part was the hardest- I like to swim, and my arms were hurting after doing that twice. Probably having a smaller board would pay off at that point. :) People rarely caught unbroken waves without Chaps or Mitch setting them up, because the timing is really different than with broken waves. But when you do, its incredible. I caught one really good one, and majorly wiped out on a couple others when I tried to time it myself. So much fun.
Surprisingly there were no major injuries on the trip. Other than running into each other sometimes (having 60 novice surfers fighting the rip means that we end up close together no matter how far the instructors spread us out), there were no major issues other than some sweet bruises. Naturally, I did jam my toe really bad on the trip, but not while surfing- I was just running around on the beach. I know, I'm very talented.
In our downtime, we were pretty low key- surfing is exhausting. We threw the frisbee (well, the Americans taught everyone else), walked around the town (only two stores in the whole thing, and one restaurant-type thing), or helped sort photos. One of the instructors took photos of us the whole time with a really nice camera, and then proceeded to sort them by person. We had numbers on our wet suits so that made it a little easier for him, but he managed to sort the almost 6000 photos he took with only a little help from us in identifying who was who. That night we went to the restaurant. We were told it was a pub, but it was really this giant open restaurant that had a sort of community-center feel. Apparently the whole town came out on Saturday nights- there was a live band of 40-something guys playing covers, and a dance floor with people over 65 and under 10. It was so great. :)
That's about all I've got for the surf trip. It was amazing, I loved it. I'm definitely planning on doing a lot more of that while I'm here, and anyone back in the states who can surf, I'd love to go with you when I get home!! This coming weekend another friend is going, so after she gets back we're going to surf together.
Other than surfing, things here are starting to normalize: I have class, cook, hang out with friends. You know, the normal college stuff. My schedule is a little lopsided but good. This is my normal week:
Mon 11-1, 2-6
Tues 11-12
Wed 9-10, 12-1, 2-5
Thurs 2-3
Fri none! :)
Here classes are not on regular daily schedules. For example, my history class meets at 11 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 9 and 3. They're kind of random time slots. But its nice because I don't have class on Friday at all!! Love it. Also there's not really any homework. There are readings, but in most classes there aren't any assignments or even midterms. There's usually 1 or 2 papers due during the semester, plus you have to lead your tutorial one week (small group from class for more discussion-based learning, like recitations). Then there's usually a final paper/project, sometimes in place of a final exam. It's a pretty good deal. I've got a 1000 word movie review due next Monday that I'm going to write on Strictly Ballroom, which was a pretty good movie.
Really the only other thing worth telling is the ridiculous amount of birthdays going on recently. In addition to my dad's, which was Saturday (Happy birthday! I won't tell how old you are here...), I've had four friends have birthdays in the past week. We'll do dinner, or go out, or in the case of my housemate have a party here. That was fun- almost all german kids. And they tease the Americans for sticking together.
On the subject of being American, there are three main conversations topics everyone hits once they find out you're from the US. In no particular order, they always ask about obesity, talk politics, and the drinking age. Without fail, the first two always come up, especially with adults or guys. Girls not quite as much, but guys ALWAYS bring these things up. One guy even told me that he was impressed to find that I was from the States and not 400 pounds. Thanks. :)
I think that's about everything! I don't have any plans this weekend, but I'm sure fun will be had. :) The following weekend some friends and I are hoping to go out to the Blue Mountains for a couple days. The joy of having 3 day weekends is that we can do a fair bit of traveling.
For those of you who have joined up on the listserv after I've already sent some, I'm copying all my (long) emails into a blog: emmasdownunder.blogspot.com. Feel free to check it out! And if you know of anyone who wants to get on this listserv, let me know and I'll add them!As far as photos go, so far I'm just posting some on facebook (surfing pictures are up!).
I miss you all! Thanks so much for your emails and prayers. For all of you who are starting to realize that school starts soon, good luck! I'll miss Chapel Hill this fall. And not to worry, I'll be back in time to distract you from exams. :)
Love from down under,
Emma
I hope everyone is doing well and having a good August! Especially everyone in NC- hope you're surviving the humidity. :) Here, the weather is great. Cold at night, but not too bad during the day. I keep forgetting its winter here!
The biggest news I have since my last email is that I went to surf camp for a weekend!! It was so much fun. Seriously, I loved it. We left Friday night and went to this state/national park called Seven Mile Beach, in this tiny little town called Gerroa or something like that. The beach was really beautiful and there was almost no one else there. Our group had about 50-60 international college students, most from Sydney Uni and a couple from Canberra. The most common countries represented among us are always the US, followed by Germany. Seriously, there are a lot of Germans here. Of the US contingent most are from California, but there's always a few from NC (more than any other state, I think).
We got up early on Saturday and went out for our first surf lesson. They handed out wet suits because the water averages about 15 degrees Celsius in the winter, and because we were all beginners we had giant boards (fondly known as ferries). My board was 8 feet long, and wide enough that I couldn't easily carry it under my arm like you normally see surfers do. Haha. But the bigger the board, the easier it is to ride, so I was okay with it.
We split into groups of about 20 people and had 2 surf instructors per group. All of them were really cool, typical surfer dudes. Ours, Mitch and Chaps (short for Chaplin), were really fun. Mitch looked like he was about 17 (he was 20, but everyone thought he looked 15-17). The first thing they taught us was whether we are goofy or natural. I, of course, am goofy. All it means is which foot you lead with, but the overwhelming majority is natural. And apparently it has nothing to do with being right- or left-handed. So I was one of two kids in our group who were goofy.
Also, I remembered to introduce myself as Ace!! Usually I don't, but on that trip were a couple people from the orientation trip that call me Ace, and in my group there was another Emma. You may laugh (my main group of friends here laugh every time I introduce myself as Ace), but everyone remembered my name, including the instructors. So it works. :)
Anyway, we had three 2-hour surfing sessions over the course of the weekend. In each one they'd teach us stuff on the beach, then let us loose in the waves. They'd be there to help us, give us tips, or even hold the board and help us time it. The first session they taught us the basics of standing up, biting it, you know. In the afternoon they taught us how to stay with the wave/change our speed, and the next morning they taught us how to turn the board.
Of course the first session almost no one is consistently successful at riding. The second wave I attempted I caught, but not very long, and I didn't do it consistently until the end of the second session. We were on baby waves that had already broken, but it doesn't take much to be able to ride it. It was so much fun, even when you fell. At some points Mitch and Chaps would borrow our boards to show us how to do something, or just go show off for a bit. Mitch caught one wave with the board facing backwards, then halfway through it he managed to get it to flip right-way around. It was ridiculous.
The last session (Sunday morning) Chaps took those of us that wanted out past the breakers to catch unbroken waves. These were BIG, and you had to paddle through them to get out there. That part was the hardest- I like to swim, and my arms were hurting after doing that twice. Probably having a smaller board would pay off at that point. :) People rarely caught unbroken waves without Chaps or Mitch setting them up, because the timing is really different than with broken waves. But when you do, its incredible. I caught one really good one, and majorly wiped out on a couple others when I tried to time it myself. So much fun.
Surprisingly there were no major injuries on the trip. Other than running into each other sometimes (having 60 novice surfers fighting the rip means that we end up close together no matter how far the instructors spread us out), there were no major issues other than some sweet bruises. Naturally, I did jam my toe really bad on the trip, but not while surfing- I was just running around on the beach. I know, I'm very talented.
In our downtime, we were pretty low key- surfing is exhausting. We threw the frisbee (well, the Americans taught everyone else), walked around the town (only two stores in the whole thing, and one restaurant-type thing), or helped sort photos. One of the instructors took photos of us the whole time with a really nice camera, and then proceeded to sort them by person. We had numbers on our wet suits so that made it a little easier for him, but he managed to sort the almost 6000 photos he took with only a little help from us in identifying who was who. That night we went to the restaurant. We were told it was a pub, but it was really this giant open restaurant that had a sort of community-center feel. Apparently the whole town came out on Saturday nights- there was a live band of 40-something guys playing covers, and a dance floor with people over 65 and under 10. It was so great. :)
That's about all I've got for the surf trip. It was amazing, I loved it. I'm definitely planning on doing a lot more of that while I'm here, and anyone back in the states who can surf, I'd love to go with you when I get home!! This coming weekend another friend is going, so after she gets back we're going to surf together.
Other than surfing, things here are starting to normalize: I have class, cook, hang out with friends. You know, the normal college stuff. My schedule is a little lopsided but good. This is my normal week:
Mon 11-1, 2-6
Tues 11-12
Wed 9-10, 12-1, 2-5
Thurs 2-3
Fri none! :)
Here classes are not on regular daily schedules. For example, my history class meets at 11 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 9 and 3. They're kind of random time slots. But its nice because I don't have class on Friday at all!! Love it. Also there's not really any homework. There are readings, but in most classes there aren't any assignments or even midterms. There's usually 1 or 2 papers due during the semester, plus you have to lead your tutorial one week (small group from class for more discussion-based learning, like recitations). Then there's usually a final paper/project, sometimes in place of a final exam. It's a pretty good deal. I've got a 1000 word movie review due next Monday that I'm going to write on Strictly Ballroom, which was a pretty good movie.
Really the only other thing worth telling is the ridiculous amount of birthdays going on recently. In addition to my dad's, which was Saturday (Happy birthday! I won't tell how old you are here...), I've had four friends have birthdays in the past week. We'll do dinner, or go out, or in the case of my housemate have a party here. That was fun- almost all german kids. And they tease the Americans for sticking together.
On the subject of being American, there are three main conversations topics everyone hits once they find out you're from the US. In no particular order, they always ask about obesity, talk politics, and the drinking age. Without fail, the first two always come up, especially with adults or guys. Girls not quite as much, but guys ALWAYS bring these things up. One guy even told me that he was impressed to find that I was from the States and not 400 pounds. Thanks. :)
I think that's about everything! I don't have any plans this weekend, but I'm sure fun will be had. :) The following weekend some friends and I are hoping to go out to the Blue Mountains for a couple days. The joy of having 3 day weekends is that we can do a fair bit of traveling.
For those of you who have joined up on the listserv after I've already sent some, I'm copying all my (long) emails into a blog: emmasdownunder.blogspot.com. Feel free to check it out! And if you know of anyone who wants to get on this listserv, let me know and I'll add them!As far as photos go, so far I'm just posting some on facebook (surfing pictures are up!).
I miss you all! Thanks so much for your emails and prayers. For all of you who are starting to realize that school starts soon, good luck! I'll miss Chapel Hill this fall. And not to worry, I'll be back in time to distract you from exams. :)
Love from down under,
Emma
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Kangaroos and Class
Hey everyone!!
Sorry it has taken me so long to send another update! Things have really been busy here, so I haven't sat down long enough to tell about everything. Last Thursday and Friday, I went on a quick post-orientation trip! It was really fun. There were about 40 international students going from all over the world. First off, our tour guide Matt was hilarious. He would just say the most random stuff, and was a constant source of entertainment. Even if the trip hadn't have been so much fun, I think we all still would have had a good time just listening to him. I also met a lot of great friends- some I'd met before, some completely new- so if only for that, the trip was a success.
We went to a Reptile Park first (which actually had mostly mammals). This was amazing, because we saw so many Australian animals: koalas, Tasmanian devil, wallabies, a wombat, kangaroos, dingoes, cassowaries, emus, crocodiles, and lots of other really sweet animals. The coolest part was that we could pet most of them! The kangaroos and emu weren't really even in a cage- they had a section where people couldn't go (so they could escape the tourists and schoolkids if they wanted), but they pretty much just wandered around the central area. We could feed them, pet them, whatever. That was REALLY fun. I love animals, so it was awesome to get to touch some of them!
Next we drove through the Hunter Valley, and stopped at three wineries along the way. At each one we had a wine tasting (and cheese tasting at the first one). It was a lot of fun- people's tastes varied greatly on what they liked. We got the point where we could predict who would like what before we even tasted it. But pretty much none of us liked port. Gross. haha. At the last one, we tried other things too, like various kinds of schnapps. The last one was called Dragon's Breath- chile schnapps. The guy leading the tasting made us all wait and drink it all at the same time, which made it fun to look around at everyone's reactions. It was super spicy! In a way that you wouldn't expect a liquid to be. I actually liked it, but only is very small doses. :) It was also beautiful to drive through the countryside between the wineries- hills and fields, lots of vineyards, incredible skies.
We spent the night in Port Stephens, which is apparently in the middle of nowhere. So instead of going out to dinner or to a pub that night, we ordered in pizza and had a "family party." Matt made this drink he called elbow. Why is it called an elbow? Because it's stronger than a punch. (This guy was hilarious, I'm telling you.)
The next day we went on a three hour whale watching tour. The weather wasn't great- cold and a little rainy, with choppy water- but it was still fun. We did see a whale, and followed him around for a while. Despite following him with my camera for nearly 45 minutes, I missed the money shot when he flashed his tail. Oh well. :) We also saw seals hanging out on some rocks by the shore, and for about 10 minutes dolphins swam alongside our boats. They were so playful! Also the shoreline in general was beautiful- rocky and kind of rustic. We passed a couple islands that people aren't allowed to go on, to preserve the habitats for animals.
That afternoon, we went sandboarding. Going in we were all wondering if it would still be fun (or even possible) because it had rained all morning. But apparently that made conditions better. And it was amazing!! I wish we had sand dunes in my backyard- I would go sandboarding every day. You sit on what looks like a skateboard with no wheels. There's a lip where you put your heels, and you stick your hands behind you in the sand for balance and a tiny bit of control (not much, though. haha). The hill was RIDICULOUS. We drove up around the side, and seriously this thing had to be about 80 degrees at some parts. We were all a little intimidated by the angle. But the guide just talked us through it (picked someone to demonstrate how you sit) and then just pushed him down, and that was it. So we all tried it and LOVED it. It may have been my favorite part of the trip.
Also, there were camels there, so we petted camels too. Just a random note. This past weekend I went to the Australian Museum. The coolest part about that was that in Australian museums you can touch pretty much everything. Dinosaur bones, stuff animals, aboriginal artwork... they're pretty laid back about it all. I love it. There was a really cool exhibit on Australian animals, which had a special section on the ones that could kill you. There was even an interactive touch-screen table that looked like a shoreline that had about 8 things that could kill you regularly found at the beach. Most were smaller than your head too- jellyfish, bugs, etc. Sweet. Australia is also home the 10 most poisonous snakes in the world. Just a cool little tidbit for all of you who were already nervous about me coming here. :)
There was also a really interesting exhibit about Aboriginal history. There was stuff on their history and culture before Europeans came, colonization (or 'colonisation' as they spell it), marginalization, and how things are now. Unfortunately we only found it 15 minutes before the museum closed, so I didn't spend as much time there as I would have wished. But it was really fascinating- hopefully i'll make it back.
I also went to Hillsong church this weekend, which was awesome. Hillsong is the really huge church that i've heard of before because some musicians i like have come from it. But they have a location that's a bus ride away from me, so a friend and i checked it out on Sunday. I loved it. It was like intervarsity on steroids kind of. Unless I meet some friends who go somewhere else, I'll probably keep going there.
This week has been exciting because I started classes! I've now been to all my classes once, and so far i'm really excited. I'm taking an Australian literature, Australian theatre and film (technically it's actually an education class), Aboriginal history, and a psychology class. (See? There is something that actually counts towards my major. haha) They all seem like really interesting classes, and most have really great professors/teachers. Well, all except the history class- which could possibly the most interesting material, but has the most boring teacher ever. I'm also meeting some Australians in my classes, which is awesome.
An update on my flat! Its great, i love it. I keep meaning to take pictures and put them up for you to see my tiny room. I will soon. Also, there are more people living here than i realized. There are 6 bedrooms, but will be 8 total. I've spent the most time with Pete, who is from Germany. He's a journalism student at UTS (another university). Then there's Jordi and Carlos, both Spanish film students. Laura is also Spanish, not sure what she's studying. Then there's another Spanish guy who i haven't met yet, and an American named Nick (i think? I've only met him once.). Plus there's an empty room, so another will be coming soon. The reason i don't really know my flatmates is because they're mostly on holiday (vacation). All but Nick are students, but I'm the only one who goes to Sydney Uni, so they're on different school schedules. But I think everyone is home next week and so we'll really get to know each other then. I've spent the most time with Pete, he's really cool, and whenever he has people over invites me to hang out with them. I think it's a really good set up. Also, because i'm trying to cook instead of going out for meals all the time, any quick/easy recipes or meal suggestions would be really helpful! I have access to a grocery store/fridge/stove/everything i need, just have to cook stuff. :)
To close, I'll give you some amazing animal facts that i learned at the museum and the reptile park:
- Dingoes eat children. Despite looking to me like a regular dog, they are not safe animals. The sign on their cage at the park said "do not feed fingers to the dingoes." Great. They have been known to 'befriend' families camping in the bush, and then lure the youngest kid away from the rest of the family, then eat him. Yikes.
- This is taken from a sign in the museum. I did not make this up. This is why i love wombats. "When threatened, a wombat can run very fast and dive into the nearest burrow or other suitable hole, blocking the entrance with its rear end. Its bum has a solid, square bone which is an effective shield against any attacker. If an attacker gets into its burrow with it, the wombat can crush the intruder against the burrow roof. Bizarrely, wombat poo is cube-shaped." Hahahahaha so good. Okay, that's it for now. This weekend I'm going to surf camp! That will be fun. We'll see how my amazing coordination holds up on a surf board.
Love from down under, Emma
Sorry it has taken me so long to send another update! Things have really been busy here, so I haven't sat down long enough to tell about everything. Last Thursday and Friday, I went on a quick post-orientation trip! It was really fun. There were about 40 international students going from all over the world. First off, our tour guide Matt was hilarious. He would just say the most random stuff, and was a constant source of entertainment. Even if the trip hadn't have been so much fun, I think we all still would have had a good time just listening to him. I also met a lot of great friends- some I'd met before, some completely new- so if only for that, the trip was a success.
We went to a Reptile Park first (which actually had mostly mammals). This was amazing, because we saw so many Australian animals: koalas, Tasmanian devil, wallabies, a wombat, kangaroos, dingoes, cassowaries, emus, crocodiles, and lots of other really sweet animals. The coolest part was that we could pet most of them! The kangaroos and emu weren't really even in a cage- they had a section where people couldn't go (so they could escape the tourists and schoolkids if they wanted), but they pretty much just wandered around the central area. We could feed them, pet them, whatever. That was REALLY fun. I love animals, so it was awesome to get to touch some of them!
Next we drove through the Hunter Valley, and stopped at three wineries along the way. At each one we had a wine tasting (and cheese tasting at the first one). It was a lot of fun- people's tastes varied greatly on what they liked. We got the point where we could predict who would like what before we even tasted it. But pretty much none of us liked port. Gross. haha. At the last one, we tried other things too, like various kinds of schnapps. The last one was called Dragon's Breath- chile schnapps. The guy leading the tasting made us all wait and drink it all at the same time, which made it fun to look around at everyone's reactions. It was super spicy! In a way that you wouldn't expect a liquid to be. I actually liked it, but only is very small doses. :) It was also beautiful to drive through the countryside between the wineries- hills and fields, lots of vineyards, incredible skies.
We spent the night in Port Stephens, which is apparently in the middle of nowhere. So instead of going out to dinner or to a pub that night, we ordered in pizza and had a "family party." Matt made this drink he called elbow. Why is it called an elbow? Because it's stronger than a punch. (This guy was hilarious, I'm telling you.)
The next day we went on a three hour whale watching tour. The weather wasn't great- cold and a little rainy, with choppy water- but it was still fun. We did see a whale, and followed him around for a while. Despite following him with my camera for nearly 45 minutes, I missed the money shot when he flashed his tail. Oh well. :) We also saw seals hanging out on some rocks by the shore, and for about 10 minutes dolphins swam alongside our boats. They were so playful! Also the shoreline in general was beautiful- rocky and kind of rustic. We passed a couple islands that people aren't allowed to go on, to preserve the habitats for animals.
That afternoon, we went sandboarding. Going in we were all wondering if it would still be fun (or even possible) because it had rained all morning. But apparently that made conditions better. And it was amazing!! I wish we had sand dunes in my backyard- I would go sandboarding every day. You sit on what looks like a skateboard with no wheels. There's a lip where you put your heels, and you stick your hands behind you in the sand for balance and a tiny bit of control (not much, though. haha). The hill was RIDICULOUS. We drove up around the side, and seriously this thing had to be about 80 degrees at some parts. We were all a little intimidated by the angle. But the guide just talked us through it (picked someone to demonstrate how you sit) and then just pushed him down, and that was it. So we all tried it and LOVED it. It may have been my favorite part of the trip.
Also, there were camels there, so we petted camels too. Just a random note. This past weekend I went to the Australian Museum. The coolest part about that was that in Australian museums you can touch pretty much everything. Dinosaur bones, stuff animals, aboriginal artwork... they're pretty laid back about it all. I love it. There was a really cool exhibit on Australian animals, which had a special section on the ones that could kill you. There was even an interactive touch-screen table that looked like a shoreline that had about 8 things that could kill you regularly found at the beach. Most were smaller than your head too- jellyfish, bugs, etc. Sweet. Australia is also home the 10 most poisonous snakes in the world. Just a cool little tidbit for all of you who were already nervous about me coming here. :)
There was also a really interesting exhibit about Aboriginal history. There was stuff on their history and culture before Europeans came, colonization (or 'colonisation' as they spell it), marginalization, and how things are now. Unfortunately we only found it 15 minutes before the museum closed, so I didn't spend as much time there as I would have wished. But it was really fascinating- hopefully i'll make it back.
I also went to Hillsong church this weekend, which was awesome. Hillsong is the really huge church that i've heard of before because some musicians i like have come from it. But they have a location that's a bus ride away from me, so a friend and i checked it out on Sunday. I loved it. It was like intervarsity on steroids kind of. Unless I meet some friends who go somewhere else, I'll probably keep going there.
This week has been exciting because I started classes! I've now been to all my classes once, and so far i'm really excited. I'm taking an Australian literature, Australian theatre and film (technically it's actually an education class), Aboriginal history, and a psychology class. (See? There is something that actually counts towards my major. haha) They all seem like really interesting classes, and most have really great professors/teachers. Well, all except the history class- which could possibly the most interesting material, but has the most boring teacher ever. I'm also meeting some Australians in my classes, which is awesome.
An update on my flat! Its great, i love it. I keep meaning to take pictures and put them up for you to see my tiny room. I will soon. Also, there are more people living here than i realized. There are 6 bedrooms, but will be 8 total. I've spent the most time with Pete, who is from Germany. He's a journalism student at UTS (another university). Then there's Jordi and Carlos, both Spanish film students. Laura is also Spanish, not sure what she's studying. Then there's another Spanish guy who i haven't met yet, and an American named Nick (i think? I've only met him once.). Plus there's an empty room, so another will be coming soon. The reason i don't really know my flatmates is because they're mostly on holiday (vacation). All but Nick are students, but I'm the only one who goes to Sydney Uni, so they're on different school schedules. But I think everyone is home next week and so we'll really get to know each other then. I've spent the most time with Pete, he's really cool, and whenever he has people over invites me to hang out with them. I think it's a really good set up. Also, because i'm trying to cook instead of going out for meals all the time, any quick/easy recipes or meal suggestions would be really helpful! I have access to a grocery store/fridge/stove/everything i need, just have to cook stuff. :)
To close, I'll give you some amazing animal facts that i learned at the museum and the reptile park:
- Dingoes eat children. Despite looking to me like a regular dog, they are not safe animals. The sign on their cage at the park said "do not feed fingers to the dingoes." Great. They have been known to 'befriend' families camping in the bush, and then lure the youngest kid away from the rest of the family, then eat him. Yikes.
- This is taken from a sign in the museum. I did not make this up. This is why i love wombats. "When threatened, a wombat can run very fast and dive into the nearest burrow or other suitable hole, blocking the entrance with its rear end. Its bum has a solid, square bone which is an effective shield against any attacker. If an attacker gets into its burrow with it, the wombat can crush the intruder against the burrow roof. Bizarrely, wombat poo is cube-shaped." Hahahahaha so good. Okay, that's it for now. This weekend I'm going to surf camp! That will be fun. We'll see how my amazing coordination holds up on a surf board.
Love from down under, Emma
Houses, fire alarms, and eels
Hey everyone!!
Whew- I can't believe I've only been here less than a week. So much has been going on! Every day gets easier and more fun. I guess the first thing that comes to mind is that I have a place to live!!! So excited about that. After spending two days searching and visiting places like crazy, here I am! And honestly, 2 days was fast. Some people spent more than a week looking. It's a house with other international students in Enmore, one of the suburbs of Sydney. But its not a suburb like you think of in the US- or at least what I think of. It's a pretty safe part of town, about 25 minute walk to campus (which is close), around the corner from a bus stop, and near a main road with restaurants, stores, etc. A lot of students live in the Newtown(the next suburb)/Enmore area. I have my own bedroom which is awesome, and there are 5 other students in the house- 2 Americans (guy and girl), 2 Spanish (guy and girl), and one Portuguese guy. I've only met the American girl, but she's really nice, so I'm excited about it. I move in tomorrow (Wednesday). Here's my address:
14 Cavendish St.
Enmore, NSW 2042
So please feel free to write me! It may take me a bit, but I'll write you back. It's such a relief to have a place and not still having to search during orientation (today and yesterday) or school starting. This week (the past two days, anyway) have been orientation for international students. It has been great, because I've met a ton of people from all over the world. The first couple days I would meet people, and they'd be friendly, but then I wouldn't necessarily see them again. So now I'm starting to see the same people regularly. There's even a guy from Carolina! I didn't know that there was going to be anyone else from UNC here, but apparently there is. We've been reminiscing on how much we miss Carolina, especially when we found out you can't walk on their beautiful grassy quad (which they call the Quadrangle) during the semester. :) I also got my class schedule (or timetable, as they call it here). They appear to schedule classes all over the place, with no rhyme or reason. I have some classes 4 days a week and some only 2, and they aren't usually at the same time from one day to the next. I have no classes on Friday (without even trying to do that), which I'm REALLY excited about, and only 2 on Tuesday or Thursday. However, their computer system just spits out a schedule for you and doesn't care if you double book yourself, or (in my case), you just get classes that meet at the same time. I have two classes at the same time one day, so I'll change one of them, no big deal. So hopefully, I'm taking an Aboriginal history class, Australian literature class, Australian theater and film class, and a psychology class (see, I am actually taking classes in my major).
Ready for some more random stories/things I've noticed?
In International House, my room key is shaped pretty much like a dog tag (you know, the ones that military guys wear). We have one key for the building, and another for our room. But it turns out that my room key will also get me into everyone else's room too. I figured this out because I lost count going up the stairs and went to my room on the wrong floor at one point. :)
Apparently there are eels in the pond in the park at school (like the arboretum, but less trees). Tomorrow some of us are going to feed the ducks, and I want to see them. It's very possible that the guys who told me that were just messing with me. We'll see.
The weather here is ridiculously nice. It gets cold at night (around 50's I think), but during the day it's pretty much 70's all the time. It's so great. I've heard that it gets cold again in August, but we'll see. Also, those estimations could be off because everything is in Celsius here and I haven't adjusted to that yet. :)
The second night I was here, the fire alarm went off. It was around midnight, and my jetlagged self had already been asleep for a while at this point, so it took me a bit to figure out what was going on. I had the sense to put on shoes and a jacket, but only when I got outside did it occur to me to put sweatpants over my shorts. With the aforementioned weather, it was a cold half hour while they figured out what happened. (Someone used a fire extinguisher. Just for kicks, I guess.)
I forgot to say in the last email that my flight here (LA to Sydney) was probably 75% college students studying abroad. That was funny- I wouldn't have thought that would happen.
You also have to pay for internet by the bandwidth here, all across Australia. That means I haven't even bothered with uploading photos to facebook yet (although I haven't taken many). That also means that while using the on-campus wireless, you have to pay to use services like Skype and instant messenger. So I will hopefully be back on skype when I'm in my house, which has internet.
The Australian government passed a law a couple years ago saying that if a student wasn't definitely going to use it, a university couldn't make them pay for it in school fees. That means a lot of things are extra money, like the gym and student union.
Also, an update on the nickname thing. For those of you who hadn't heard my plan, I was going to start introducing myself as Ace while I'm over here. It's a nickname I got at work, and I like nicknames, so I thought it would be fun to have a group of people that know me as that. But it turns out that it's hard to remember to introduce myself as something else. :) I've told a couple people about it, but always after the fact. I got a couple people calling me that last night, but it is yet to be determined if it actually sticks. Haha.
Tonight I'm going with a group from International House to see Harry Potter on the biggest IMAX screen in the world. We actually have tickets after a failed attempt last night. Then, on Thursday, I'm going on a two day trip with a bunch of other international students. We're doing roughly a million things in that time: some kind of nature preserve/zoo, whale watching, 3 wineries, giant sand dunes (sandboarding anyone? I'm pumped!), staying at this cool little port city, and some other stuff too. Well, that's about all I've got for now. Thanks to all of you who emailed me! I will reply even if it takes me a couple days. The emails are amazing- they make me feel connected to everything back home.
Love from down under,
Emma
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
I'm here!
Hey everyone! Well I'm here!! Other than sleeping only 3 hours on the flight, I was awake for more than 40 hours straight. I got here Friday morning local time (Thursday evening to NC) and managed to stay awake all day so I could be a little less jet-lagged. I'm staying just this
week in the international dorm- its been really fun so far. I have a room to myself, but everyone eats all their meals together, so I'm meeting a bunch of other international students. Everyone here (both international and Australian) is REALLY friendly. That's been awesome.
I've met a ton of people (and usually forgotten their names as soon as they walk away, but I'm going to blame it on the jet lag). Here's some fun observations so far:
People drive on the wrong side of the road. Which, since it was a british colony, shouldn't surprise me. But that also means that when people pass on the sidewalk, they do that on the wrong side too.
I haven't yet figured out what authentic Australian food is. Today I walked downtown some, and all the restaurants were either Asian, fast food (McDonald's etc), or pubs.
The bird here are bizarre. They havepigeons and ducks, but they also have birds that just look way different than the ones we have. I saw 2 Kookaburra yesterday! That way exciting. My first experience in Australian wildlife.
Phone numbers here are strange. They appear to be a varying amount of digits, with no clear reason for the amount of numbers. Business numbers can be as short as 4, and home/cell numbers are anywhere between 7 and 10, with random amount of spacing between the digits.
The past two days have also been kind of overwhelming, just with all the things I have to get done. I've already gotten a cell phone and activated it (more complicated than you would think). The biggest thing is finding a place to live. I've got my current place until Thursday, then I'm out. It's just stressful to try and find a place, and most of the people I've met are in the same boat. Which is good, because you can talk to people about what works and what doesn't, but it also means that there are tons of other people in the same boat trying to find places. I visited two today, and I'm seeing at least three tomorrow. I would love to get this figured out before orientation Monday, but we'll see. Well that's about it! Email me back if you get a chance, I miss you all and its really great to hear from home.
Love from down under,
Emma
week in the international dorm- its been really fun so far. I have a room to myself, but everyone eats all their meals together, so I'm meeting a bunch of other international students. Everyone here (both international and Australian) is REALLY friendly. That's been awesome.
I've met a ton of people (and usually forgotten their names as soon as they walk away, but I'm going to blame it on the jet lag). Here's some fun observations so far:
People drive on the wrong side of the road. Which, since it was a british colony, shouldn't surprise me. But that also means that when people pass on the sidewalk, they do that on the wrong side too.
I haven't yet figured out what authentic Australian food is. Today I walked downtown some, and all the restaurants were either Asian, fast food (McDonald's etc), or pubs.
The bird here are bizarre. They havepigeons and ducks, but they also have birds that just look way different than the ones we have. I saw 2 Kookaburra yesterday! That way exciting. My first experience in Australian wildlife.
Phone numbers here are strange. They appear to be a varying amount of digits, with no clear reason for the amount of numbers. Business numbers can be as short as 4, and home/cell numbers are anywhere between 7 and 10, with random amount of spacing between the digits.
The past two days have also been kind of overwhelming, just with all the things I have to get done. I've already gotten a cell phone and activated it (more complicated than you would think). The biggest thing is finding a place to live. I've got my current place until Thursday, then I'm out. It's just stressful to try and find a place, and most of the people I've met are in the same boat. Which is good, because you can talk to people about what works and what doesn't, but it also means that there are tons of other people in the same boat trying to find places. I visited two today, and I'm seeing at least three tomorrow. I would love to get this figured out before orientation Monday, but we'll see. Well that's about it! Email me back if you get a chance, I miss you all and its really great to hear from home.
Love from down under,
Emma
Gettting ready....
Hey everyone!
If you're getting this email, you're on Emma's Australia listserv! Just thought I'd send out one before I leave.
Some quick details: I fly out Wednesday July 15 (although I don't arrive until the morning of the 17th, thanks international date line). I'm taking classes at the University of Sydney- mostly Australian culture classes and one psychology class. I plan to do a lot of traveling, but don't have any set plans yet. This is because while I'm doing a real study abroad program through UNC, I'm the only person in my program and therefore I don't know anyone going in. Which is fine- keeps things interesting. So once I meet some cool people, we'll go exploring and I'll keep you all updated on my adventures.
The next couple days are filled with last minute things- packing, buying things I'd forgotten up until now (Australian power adapter anyone?), last minute logistics, and a multitude of goodbyes.
So that's about it! If you know of anyone who would like to be on this listserv, email me at ekclark@email.unc.edu. My computer crashed recently, so I've lost all my email addresses. Meaning I can't just go through my address book and add people.
My main form of communication while I'm gone will be email and Skype. My skype name is emmaclark419, so friend me! (Or whatever you call it on Skype.) I'll still have facebook too, but no phone that will reach the US.
I think that's about it! I think I set up the listserv so hitting reply will only go to me, but I'm not 100% sure about that.
Love from down under (almost),
Emma
If you're getting this email, you're on Emma's Australia listserv! Just thought I'd send out one before I leave.
Some quick details: I fly out Wednesday July 15 (although I don't arrive until the morning of the 17th, thanks international date line). I'm taking classes at the University of Sydney- mostly Australian culture classes and one psychology class. I plan to do a lot of traveling, but don't have any set plans yet. This is because while I'm doing a real study abroad program through UNC, I'm the only person in my program and therefore I don't know anyone going in. Which is fine- keeps things interesting. So once I meet some cool people, we'll go exploring and I'll keep you all updated on my adventures.
The next couple days are filled with last minute things- packing, buying things I'd forgotten up until now (Australian power adapter anyone?), last minute logistics, and a multitude of goodbyes.
So that's about it! If you know of anyone who would like to be on this listserv, email me at ekclark@email.unc.edu. My computer crashed recently, so I've lost all my email addresses. Meaning I can't just go through my address book and add people.
My main form of communication while I'm gone will be email and Skype. My skype name is emmaclark419, so friend me! (Or whatever you call it on Skype.) I'll still have facebook too, but no phone that will reach the US.
I think that's about it! I think I set up the listserv so hitting reply will only go to me, but I'm not 100% sure about that.
Love from down under (almost),
Emma
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