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
Monday, August 24, 2009
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
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