First Days of Classes

Monday I had my first two classes of the semester, Communication and Culture and Australian Popular Culture. The communication class has a lecture but then I have a tutorial later in the day, which is just a group of 10 students where we have more of a discussion on the material. In the tutorial, I did have to laugh when this Australian girl behind me said she wished she had been a fan of Michael Jackson’s music before he died. The Australian Pop Culture class looks like it will be very intriguing. We are supposed to watch quite a few a few movies and read some short stories throughout the semester. I was shocked to see that half of the class is students from the United States.
Tuesday I had the day off and didn’t have any classes, but Wednesday I did have a business class, International Marketing. The class does seem like it will be a bit challenging but also very interesting and fun too. In the first lecture the professor just gave an introduction into international marketing and why it’s so important. He used some examples involving the United States and it was interesting to see how the Australians viewed us in terms of marketing, Fortune 500 companies, and major social events.
Thursday I have a cross-cultural learning class with our on-site coordinator. That class is just two hours during lunchtime. Then on Friday I don’t have any classes, so I just have school 3 days of the week.
There are some differences that I’ve noticed and one thing is the paper. It’s thicker and longer than what we use in the states. Also their dining area in the student union has much more variety for food and drinks. They have a Subway, a café, a smoothie and juice shop, and much more. With classes in general here, they are more independent and they meet less often. It’s definitely a bit of an adjustment to all the differences and catching onto the Australian accent to understand what they are saying!
Now I’m super excited for next week because I get to celebrate my 20th birthday in Australia! And the weekend of August 7th we are supposed to be going to Sydney for one of our excursions. It will be quite the birthday week for me then!

Beaches and the Australian Reptile Park

Thursday was one of our days off so me and two other girls decided to explore Newcastle a bit more. We headed down to Nobby’s beach for a while and I must say the beaches here are the best! They are so much better than any beach in the states because they are much cleaner and nicer. The sand is so soft and when you walk barefoot it makes a squeaky noise. Also, the waves that roll in are great for surfing and body boarding. We walked along the beach and the waves that rolled in would wash up the most amazing seashells, so there is now a big collection of seashells! Another beach near by is Newcastle beach, which we also checked out. After the beaches we went to check out some of the shopping areas here. I love the fact that there is a Subway a block from our train station! Except here in Australia it’s the $7 footlong, not the $5 footlong like back in the states.
We’ve also made some trips to the local supermarket to get groceries. I must say it’s an adjustment to see prices higher here, but it will just take time to get used to. At the market they have a brand of cookies called Arnott’s and they are super good! They are so addicting my roommates and I go through packages of them like no other!
Friday we all went to the Australian Reptile Park, which was an event during orientation week. We got to see alligators, kangaroos, dingos, wombats, tasmanian devils, a giant tortoise, lots of different birds, koalas, snakes, and ostriches. The best part was getting to pet a koala! It’s so soft and cute and basically feels like wool. When we saw the kangaroos, people were allowed to feed and pet them. A group of little kids kept smacking this one little kangaroo and I thought that thing would bite the kids. Before we left the park I stopped buy the gift shop and had to buy my first official souvenir from Australia! I got a little koala stuffed animal that has Australian Reptile Park embroidered on its tummy!
But classes start in a couple days on the 27th, so it will be interesting to see how different it is from the American school system. I have a feeling I’ll like the system here in Australia a lot more!

Orientation Week

Orientation started Tuesday and I got my first view of the Callaghan campus and it’s basically a huge jungle! It is a very spread out campus with lots of bushes and trees and is quite a hike to get from the train station to the other end of campus. I guarantee all this walking I will be doing will get me into shape by the time I return to the States!
Their were lots of meetings and speeches the group of us had to sit through. Yesterday was registration for classes so I got signed up for my 3 classes I’m taking. The way they sign up is very similar to how UW-P does, but more complicated because you basically have to sign up twice in two different online spots. Their grading system is a bit different here too, they go by high distinction, distinction, pass, fail.
Also our on-site coordinator, Catherine, rented a bus and she gave our group a tour of Newcastle so we can figure out where places are and how to get there. We also drove by the beaches closest to us and they were so amazing! It was interesting to learn that Newcastle is the largest exporter of coal in the southern hemisphere. There is a huge cargo shipping area along Hunter River that leads out into the Pacific Ocean. You can see dozens of cargo ships just sitting in the ocean waiting to get loads of coal.
With going around the city the past couple days I’ve noticed some very strange and different things. For one, they have these huge trees here that look like the big tree in the Lion King movie. These trees are actually really cool looking and something different to see. Also at the cross walks it signals you to go across the street by this beeping noise, similar to a noise in videos games such as packman. It amuses me every time I’m at a crosswalk, haha.
We now have a couple days off from orientation so I’ll get to scope out the city some more and probably hit up the beaches!!

I’ve arrived in the Land Down Under

My hours of travel are over now that I have landed in Australia, but it didn’t come without many hours of sitting, walking throughout the San Francisco airport aimlessly, and being extremely excited and nervous about the upcoming international flight.
Saturday the 18th I was up bright and early at 6am central time to get to Chicago O’Hare airport to catch a 9:44am flight to San Francisco. Since my flight got into San Francisco really early, I ended up having a 11 hour layover until my international flight. I must say people watching passed the time fairly quickly. Especially when I was sitting near a French family and I was trying to understand them, but I quickly discovered my 4 years of high school French is completely worthless, lol! Time started to pass by quicker once Zak, another person from UWP going on the study abroad, arrived in San Francisco. Low and behold he sat near a gal, Kali, on his domestic flight and she did a study abroad to Australia a few years ago and is now living in Newcastle, Australia.
A few hours before boarding would start on the flight to Sydney, my nerves started getting to me more. I finally did calm down once we boarded the plane and got things moving. The plane I was on was absolutely massive! International flights are huge, but I’ve never been on a plane that big until then and I thought it was pretty cool! The flight over the pacific went really smooth and wasn’t too turbulent.
I slept most of the long 14-hour flight but woke up for the last few hours of the trip. The guy sitting next to me is from San Francisco State University and he was on his way for a yearlong study abroad program in Sydney. He and I talked about Australia the rest of the time cause we were so excited to just finally get on Australian land.
The last 30 minutes of the flight were awesome! I was sitting on the left side of the plane near the window and you could see the sun rise. The sun wasn’t visible yet, but the skyline lit up over the Pacific Ocean like a very bright rainbow! It was so pretty to see, I’ve never seen such a cool sunrise in my life! Once we got to Sydney the plane did a flyover of the city, which was super cool because you could still see the city lights since the sun wasn’t all the way up. Also I saw the big Sydney Bridge and the Opera House from the aerial view. It was weird for a moment because the pilot turned the plane to get lined up to land on the runway and it looked like we would land in the Pacific Ocean.
So I have made it here to Australia! I’ve just been trying to settle into our apartment and get over this jet lag! It’s orientation week now and we get to sight see the city to figure out where things are so we can make our way around on our own. I’m sure in my next blog I’ll have some interesting stories to tell!!

Time for Departure 7/17/09

Less than 24 hours from now I’ll be on a plane heading to San Francisco to catch my international flight to Sydney. It will be a LONG day of travel that’s for sure, a 4-hour domestic flight, then a 10-hour layover in San Francisco and the 14-hour international flight to Australia, but it will all be worth it in the end once I’m there!
Today (Friday) my parents and I are driving into to Chicago. We have a hotel reservation so we will chill there. Early Saturday morning I get to wake up and go catch my 9:45am flight to San Francisco. So 24 hrs from now I’ll be on my first flight out to the west coast!
Right now my nerves are starting to get to me. The fact that I’m really going to Australia and will live there, go to school, and just be immersed in their culture is a bit overwhelming at the moment.
But I must get going so I can finish packing and get things ready so we can leave for Chicago soon! And probably the next time I write another blog, I’ll be in the land down under, unless I get super bored during my 10-hour layover in San Francisco and decide to write!!

PREPPING FOR AUSTRALIA 7-7-09

Well it’s hard to believe it’s already July and I leave the country in less than 2 weeks! Time has flown by so fast. I’m super excited to be going to Australia, but at the same time I’m slightly nervous too.
I’m looking forward to learning the Aussie lingo, eating kangaroo, trying vegemite, and all the other adventures I will encounter. The schooling will be a big adjustment too; I’m only going to have classes 3 days of the week because they are more independent there. The other days of the week I guarantee I will be spending lots of time at the beach since our apartments are so close to the coast!
I’m super ready to leave the states already, but it’s been slightly crazy trying to get everything ready before I go. Right now I’ve got my suitcases out and “stuff” just piled all over in the guest bedroom of our house. It’s beginning to look like a tornado has rolled through and just scattered it everywhere! I’m wondering how all my belongings will fit into the suitcases; it might be close trying to get everything in. I will probably have to sit on the luggage a few times to keep squishing everything down! 
Before I know it, July 17th will roll around and I’ll be going to Chicago to catch my flight the next morning. It all seems so amazing that I’m really going to be living in Australia for a semester, but then at the same time it seems like a big dream. I’m not sure if reality has still totally sunk in yet about everything. Either way, I’m really excited for my new adventure and will miss everybody dearly in the United States.