I'm headed to Australia in a couple weeks so here is a blog to let people know about my experience

The dates: Feb. 15-19

The transportation: a train (12 hour train ride overnight)

The players: Julia- super cool girl who im very close to right now. she is Canadian

                   Jessi - American girl who is just like me so we get along great

                   Laura - Canadian girl who is into graphic design.... she is not like any of my friends at home but she is cool

                    Jenny - girl from England very sweet and very quiet

                    Katie - canadian girl who wanted to tag along

 

Saturday

We got into melbourne at around 7:30 in the morning and went straight to a coffee shop. From there we pulled out the map and found our way to our hostel. This was my first hostel experience and I must say that it was a good one. The beds were clean and the showers were pretty good. We had a 6 person room so we didnt have to share with strangers. There was a bar downstairs and free toast in the morning for breakfast. It was no hotel but for 27 bucks a night it was great. From the hostel we headed to the markets downtown. We had Kababs (which are AMAZING- pitas with lamb or chicken) and then headed back to relax and get to bed somewhat early for the next days adventure to Phillips island.

 

Sunday

On sunday we woke up early and ate our free toast and coffee that the hostel gives out. At noon we had a GO WEST bus pick us up and take us on our trip to phillips island. The first stop we made was to a winery that was about an hour out of melbourne. I really liked the australian wine that we were able to taste. After some tea and coffee at the winery we got back on the bus and headed to a wildlife refuge. This was one of the best experiences I had while in Melbourne. Here we were able to pet a wombat which was pretty much the cutest thing i have ever seen. Then we were allowed to take a picture with a koala and after that go and pet and feed the kangaroos and wallabies. After a bit of time we ended up headed out and off to the island. When we got to the island it was very unique. There were cows and pastures right next to cliffs and water. The first place we headed to on the island were the nobbies which were cliff like islands off of the mainland. It was beautiful, almost something you would expect to see in ireland. We even were able to see a couple little penguins that were hanging out around the bridges. After that stop our driver took us to dinner where I got a aussie pizza which consisted of ham and egg. Then we were really off to see the imfamous little penguins. We spent a little extra money and were able to sit closer to the water where a couple thousand of these little guys come out to go home. Before they started coming out of the water you would see baby penguins popping out of there burrows to watch for their parents. Once darkness hit we saw this one penguin, about the size of a seagull(maybe smaller) waddled out. Then in about groups of 15 or 20 they would come out and go into there burrows. It was truly an amazing experience and one that i will never forget.

 

Monday

On monday we had to be ready to leave at around 7 in the morning. This was pretty tough being that we didnt get to bed till around 1 the night before. We went with the same GO WEST company for this trip except this time we were headed to the Great Ocean Road. This trip was mainly just driving but the sights we saw were amazing. We first headed to some of the best surfing areas in the world and watched some surfers go at it. Then we just went around to cliff after cliff and beach after beach. The water the entire time was bright blue, almost like something you would see in the islands back home. We went to an area where there were a ton of koalas and got the chance to see them VERY up close and personal. One walked right past us, crossing the road. After that was lunch where i had my first experience of fish and chips..... pretty good! We then headed off to the rainforest that was very green and right next to the cliffs and beaches we were just at. Our drivers told us not to worry about snakes or spiders there but to worry about carnivorous snails! ha! After that we headed off to the twelve apostles which were far more beautiful in person than any camera could capture. Unfortunatly we didnt stay there long. But the bus driver saved the best part for last. At the end of the trip we went to a place called the gorge and it was AMAZING! it was cliffs towering over us and the bluest water coming in from the ocean. I will be putting pics up later from it.

 

Tuesday

At this point we were tired and lazy so we just hit up an art museum and then got ready to leave on the train. I must admit that i am a huge fan of aboriginal art. it is very unique and pure.

 

well im tired and ready for bed but i will start writing more on here!!! i will also put some pics up when i get the chance

 

 

So for awhile I thought I was going to be stuck living in on campus for my extent of the trip with only gallons of alcohol and crazy people to keep everyone occupied. I guess thats the tough thing about most people here being aussie and not many international students around. But a couple days ago I met a couple students... julia from canada and Mari from Tokyo. Mari is sweet and she has some trouble with english but she is fun to be around. Julia is all about traveling so we will prob do a lot of trips together. Julia and I went to a Res(residence) party and met a boy named Dean who works in the city. He told us that he could drop us off when he went into work the next day so we jumped at that opportunity.

We woke up early and woke mari up to meet with Dean. The drvie was about an hour and then we had to take a 5 minute bus into the city. He pointed out where to go and we just started exploring. First place we went was Circular Quay which is where you will see the Harbor Bridge and the Opera house. It was amazing and there was also an aboriginal band playing native music. We then hopped on a fairy and went to the Taronga Zoo. It was really cool because once you get there you take a cable car to the top of the hill where you just start walking down to see all the animals. It was amazing because as ur looking at the animals you can see Sydney harbor in the backround. The kangaroos were the best part because they were just hopping around right infront of us. After the zoo we headed to Hyde park which is pretty much the "central park" of NY. It was amazing!!

After that it was around 5 oclock and we had to find our way back by train. It was very confusing but eventually we figured it out. Once we got off the train we realized that the school's bus didnt run on sundays and so we had to take a 20 min walk back to campus. As we got in it was getting dark and we watched the bats (i think they were flying foxes) fly over us. It was def an amazing day!! I hope there will be many more like it!!!

So I'm sitting at my desk looking out at penrith. In the distance there are small mountians and everything here is green. At first glance I feel like I'm looking out at just another US state and in a way that is comforting to me. Then I started meeting people and seeing places that are in no way familiar to me. Im just going to start at the beginning:

THE PLANE RIDE SUCKED! First off I had to go through security at RDU and that was enough to make me want to leave the country(people are sooo mean). Then I took a 40 minute flight to DC, waited 2 hours, took a 5 hour flight to LA, waited two hours, then one 14 hour flight into sydney. As bad as the flight was, I had a sigh of relief when I saw the Sydney Opera house out the plane window. When I arrived in Sydney it was soo crowded and customs was a nightmare. I finally got to the area where the shuttle was supposed to pick me up then realized I was in the wrong spot. Finally my shuttle driver found me and i tried to get in on the drivers side of the shuttle (they drive on the other side). He was very nice and for about an hour told me all about australia.

When I was dropped off I met up with my mentor, Cameron who is a senior and an australian living next door to me. Him and his friend Marcus, from England, gave me a tour around the campus and then took me on the train to get to the shopping area. We bought some things I needed and then I ran straight for the Starbucks.

When we got back I started setting up my room. Our apartment is pretty nice. I have four roomies, three which I have met. We have two bathrooms, a kitchen, laundry room, and a pretty big common room. My room is upstairs along with three of my roomies. Alisa is one of my roomies and I love her because she is soo nice and she takes me around because she has a car. Raya is another roomie from sydney as well, and Nicole lives downstairs. They are all nice and are excited to show me around. Anyways, as I was unpacking, Alisa comes in my room and tells me they are headed to the "bottle shop". And since I am legal I decided I would joing them. I bought my first bottle of alcohol and cameron and alisa told me to take a picture of the experience.(dont worry it will be on facebook soon).

Australians are def hardcore drinkers. They started drinking last night at around 6 and kept going till around 1 in the morning. We had around 12 people crowded in the next door apartment and orders dominos pizza. I was the only american there and everyone was very nice. Jet-lag hit me around 8 and i told everyone I was off to bed. I got the reaction "Your going to bed at 8 and you arent drunk, I thought you were american?"

Well Im tired and upset that Duke just won against UNC. Its also been raining and storming really bad here, which is odd for this area but it makes me sleepy. I will hopefully be headed into the city this weekend and if not i know we are going to Bondi or manly beach next week.

Ill write again soon,

erica

ps here are some interesting things I've found so far

-vegemite is not very good... way too strong and tastes like soy sauce to me

-they like american music but are also big into techno music

-they say "no worries" all the time

-they call flip flops thongs which really took me by suprise when someone said Im glad you brought thongs haha

-a trolley is a cart

-they eat meat pies and sausage rolls and the idea of a sausage biscuit freaks them out

-they dont have ketchup... they have tomato sauce

- a line in a store or anywhere is a "que"

-They all are glad that i want Obama in office

So here it goes... my first blog. My family and friends convinced me to put this together so they could hear every detail about my five-month study abroad trip to australia. I have a little less than 3 weeks left here at home. My friends have already started back at school so I am bored out of my mind! Anyways, here is a little info about my trip.

 

I am going to be attending University of Western Sydney. This University, or "uni" as the australians call it, has 6 campuses where I am at penrith. This campus is about an hour out from the big area of Sydney with the harbor bridge and the opera house.My campus is at the foot of the blue mountains which is called the grand canyon of Australia. I'm taking 4 classes: Advertising, marketing, photomedia, and pop culture. I am living on campus with a shared bathroom  and living room but I get my own room. I hope I love the people I live with and I hope they want to travel as much as I do!  While I'm there I hope to learn how to surf, snorkel the great barrier reef, and bungy jump in new zealand. I hope I can get to all of them and more!

 

Honestly this trip couldnt come at a better time. 2007 proved to be a bad year for both me and my family. My family dealt with everything from money problems and job-losses to death and incidences I cant even talk about. And as for me, lets just say I've had my fair share of mistakes and disappointments.

I'm less than three weeks away from leaving everything I've learned to live with. In 5 months I am most definitely planning on coming back a changed person.