New Music

I really like the music I've been listening to here. Techno music is popular but so it just dance music in general, and I like that. There is a band I like called The Potbelleez and I just found out they are coming to our school for BONDSTOCK week soon. I got a ticket today! If you are DLing music try to get their song called "Don't Hold Back." I highly recommend it.

Byron Bay

Okay, I’m back.

I gave my presentation in Australian Film class today. I think it went well, he seemed please with the ideas and themes I brought up. I still have one more tutorial later today at 5pm. Tuesdays are always long class days.

Byron Bay was a fun trip this past weekend. The weather could have been better though. It is mostly a beach town so when you take away the beach it’s not as exciting. It was rainy on Friday and Saturday it was nice but really windy. We laid out for awhile but woke up covered in sand. There are a lot of little shops and restaurants along the main strip that we walked around.

The hostel was actually a really cool part of the experience. There were a bunch of other student travelers staying there (30 people from a Uni in Melbourne). They had an all you can eat bbq for $5 and a free pancake breakfast the next morning so I was pretty much sold. We had been warned during orientation about catching bed bugs at hostels and bringing them back. We checked our beds before we slept in them and they seemed okay but the next morning when I was taking off the sheets I noticed a few small bug crawling around. I don’t know if they were bed bugs, but I’m trying not to think about it. Overall, lots of fun and we want to go back to visit again when the weather is a little more predictable closer to summer.

I’m still trying to keep busy and meet new people. It’s tiring sometimes. Tennis lessons also start this week so I’m very excited for that.

Update Tomorrow

I have been slacking this week on updates, but it was somewhat of a slow week. Except our little trip to Byron Bay. I'll post tomorrow (Sunday) about the trip when I have some downtime. I was definitely a little homesick this week - missing you guys!

More to come...

Club Sign Up Day

Week 1...all done!

Time moves quickly on the Gold Coast. My fist week of classes went really well. I was a little disappointed after my first 3 classes earlier this week because they had so many American study abroad students in them. However, today I went to Sports Public Relations and I was the only American,(which is awesome in my opinion). I think the class is going to be really great too, I'm most excited for that one. Some of today's discussion went a little over my head. The popular sports here are Australian Football, Rugby and Cricket so I am not very knowledgeable of any of those. They kept referring to different teams and players who I had not only never heard of, but I had no idea what sport they were talking about at times! But, I'm totally up for the challenge...I spent part of today looking up teams online and also researching ticket info to see if I could go watch some matches while I'm here. I've also been putting matches on TV. It's not like there is anything better on, we only have about 6 basic channels here at the apartment. I just put on sporting matches and the news.

Today was also club sign up day on campus. All the clubs, intermural sports and societies set up booths and you can walk around and add your name to lists of what you're interested in. I signed up for tennis league information and some type of food appreciation society. I really just wanted the spring rolls and other snacks they had on their table though. They had some giveaways from local businesses too.



I took a few more pictures around campus. This one below of Varsity Towers where I live isn't technically on campus, but very close. We live on the lakeside, top floor. It's an awesome view :)



And also, as promised...my wonderful new, used bike...

Grocery Shopping and Classes

Shopping here in general seems so expensive compared to home, we complain about it a lot. Grocery shopping especially has seemed to be ridiculous, everything is expensive and comes in small portions.

One thing that does help is that my roommate Sarah and I have decided to share groceries and also cook meals together. She made a really good shrimp stir fry tonight and our friends Eric and George from the program came over for dinner too. It was actually a lot of fun. My menu nights might be a little less impressive (frozen lasagna anyone?) but hey...I'm trying. We got a lot of food today to eat during the week for lunches too, so we won't spend money eating on campus. The meals plans here seem like a rip off but I guess it could be convenient.

Today I had my first two classes. Image and Photography lecture and my Australian Culture/History lecture called "Dreamtime to Dust." Both went well, photography might actually be harder than I anticipated, a lot of what he said today went right over my head, but he seemed really willing to help. Tomorrow I have Australian film analysis. The classes here have a lecture with everyone who is taking the class and then an offering of several tutorials that break up the class into small groups during the week. Some of my classes have a third component as well, like my class tomorrow. We have an AV screening portion. You only go to the lecture and tutorial once a week, but they last for a longer time.

Well, that's all for now - more updates later!

My Bike

I got a used bike today, it was only $30. By far the best deal I've run across so far in this country. We have been using the bus system lately, which is great but with all the stops, a short distance can take a long time. Our friends from the Study Australia program who are living in beach housing are only about a 20 minute bike ride away, but the bus ride is closer to 45+ minutes. Nicole got a used bike too and on our way back her pedal fell off :(

And don't worry mom I am being (and will be) very careful. I am paranoid about traffic because everyone drives on the other side of the road. Also, pedestrians don't have the right of way here like at home, so you have to be careful at intersections in general.

Maybe I'll put up a picture of my cool new ride later!

Internship

I got the internship with the admissions office - yay! It is only five hours a week but it will be a good fit with my schedule and not too demanding on time. I start on Wednesday and they will start giving me projects to work on though the semester.

Last night I went with a friend to Surfers Paradise and then Broad Beach for dinner. It is only about 20 minutes from here, but takes longer on the bus. I am starting to like the buses here. I don't know the schedules yet but they are easy to use and cheap with your student ID.

Some people were talking about getting used bikes to get to the beach and around the area, but I don't know if I'll use it enough. I picked up a local paper so I could look through the listings and see if there was anything good.

I am also on a mission to try and figure out Australia sports, AFL, Rugby...."footy"? It's on the TV right now but I'm pretty clueless.