Wow, it seems like ages since I last wrote in this blog. So sorry about not being more on top of things but there has been a lot going on. I have now been living in Brisbane for a month and in Australia for 5 weeks! In some ways I am shocked I have already been here that long and in others, I am so used to life here now that it feels like much longer. Ok, I will now try to recap the last few weeks for all of you.
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My apartment building from the bus stop
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| Beautiful Brissy! |
The first few days in Brisbane were spent grocery and toiletry shopping, organizing my room, and meeting a ton of people. The first week here was the Orientation Week at University of Queensland. Everyday there were various informational sessions that one could choose to attend or not. I was required to go to the International Student Orientation, which is where it really hit me that I was not in America any more. There were over 100 countries represented from around the world, it was incredible to see the diversity. This same night, my friends that I met in the elevator on the first day, invited people over for dinner and to hang out. Some of the guys cooked pasta with a meat sauce. It was delicious, but the meat was not any ordinary meat, it was KANGAROO! I ate kangaroo meat and I really liked it, although, I have heard since that it is something that usually “bogans” or hicks eat in Australia. That was on Monday of O-Week and the next day I went to campus was on Wednesday for Market Day. This was a day that was devoted to the clubs and organizations at UQ. Each one had a table or booth set up for people to ask questions and sign up. A few of the ones I signed up for were the Social Science Association, the wakeboarding club, and I bought the “L Card” which gives various discounts around Brisbane. It was a really fun and exciting day that was also my first experience of just how lively and populated UQ really is. The rest of the week was spent with various people exploring more of Brisbane, attending every free sausage BBQ on campus, and embracing the end of our extended break before classes began. However, that Friday was “the event of the year,” at UQ, the Toga Party! It was on campus and had tickets that needed to be bought ahead of time. Figuring out how to create the toga was quite the ordeal but once we got passed that, Mimi, Kristi, and I joined other friends to bus to campus. There were thousands of people there and it was a fun night of socializing with other UQ students. Although, it was the first night we were introduced to the term “Sepos” or “Septic Tanks” that some Aussies use to refer to Americans. But all in all, it was a good night.
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| Kangaroo! |
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"Lift" Friends: Kristi, Mimi, John, and Tom
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| Toga Party with Mimi and Kristi! |
On Monday, February 28th, my 3 month break from school ended with a 10am class that morning. As many of you know, I am not quite a morning person, so I was definitely not the perkiest to get up early for school. I guess it helps that the University of Queensland campus is beautiful! But, despite being tired and lacking a little bit in focus, I enjoyed my 2 hour lecture on International Journalism and Mass Communications. I have a different perspective from most in the class since I am an international student, so it makes it more interesting. I also had my lecture for my Introduction to Public Relations class on Monday, which is a practical and hands on type of class that UCSD does not offer. On Tuesdays, I have Television and Popular Culture and Celebrity Culture. It is nice because there are people from my program that I know in all of my classes except the Journalism one. On Wednesdays, I have 2 of my tutorials or discussions, and then the weekend begins at 1pm. It has been really nice only having school 3 days a week and it goes by pretty fast because I like all my classes so far. The teaching styles and set up of lectures and tutorials are pretty similar to UCSD so I have not had much adjusting to do in that sense. One big difference, however, does seem to be the large number of cute, tan boys walking around in tanks everyday…but that’s nothing to complain about. J
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| Great Court at UQ |
My first weekend after classes was a rather eventful one because it happened to be my birthday. This was also not just any old birthday but the big 2-1. My birthday was on Saturday, so of course we had to go out to the bars at midnight on Friday. I’d say that my 21st was done right and in typical fashion. I did not pay for anything the whole weekend and Mimi and I actually became friends with the manager at one bar, so we had a good time. The actual day of my birthday was a pretty low key day spent hanging out with friends. At night, I went to dinner with Mimi, Kristi, and Sara. Then the big group of our American friends went out to the Valley together. This night was a joint celebration with my Canadian friend Max, who’s birthday was the day after mine, the 6th. The next day a group of us decided to head to the beach at the Gold Coast, which is about an hour long trip. There was a professional surfing competition that we watched for a bit and then we just hung out on the beach working on our tans and relaxing.
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| John, Me, and Max, the bday buddy |
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| Me and Mimi |
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| Coolangatta, Gold Coast |
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| Surf Comp! |
The next exciting thing that happened was the following Saturday when Mimi and I ventured to West End, which is next to South Bank. We walked around a huge market that happens every weekend and then ended up watching a rugby game nearby. It was the first time seeing rugby in person for both of us, and it was super intense. Neither of us actually know the real rules so we just tried to appreciate the athleticism of the players. And then today, I dragged Mimi and Kristi with me to an event for the Social Science club, which was lawn bowling. We were all terrible at it, but it we had fun making friends with Australians and just being silly together.
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| Intense Rugby! |
When I am not out doing exciting things here, life is pretty calm. I have gotten used to things and it is turning into everyday life. It is still awesome and really fun, but going to class and doing homework tend to put a damper on things. Although, I guess it is a little exciting that I will be going to the Steve Irwin Zoo tomorrow… Haha, hopefully I will get better at posting on my blog. Sorry all, I totally thought I would be more on top of things with this.
I hope everyone is doing well and I miss you all. I have a good internet plan now so feel free to hit me up on Skype! So until next time, whenever that will be, as they say in Australia, CHEERS!!! J
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