Wow, so a lot has happened in the past week! I’m doing alright, just a bit exhausted I guess. One reason I wanted to come here was to challenge myself, and I think that’s happening, so I guess that’s a good thing, right?! Anyway, classes have finally started so I’m trying to get back into the swing of things, it’s pretty difficult though. So far I feel like I’m on one big vacation! And I’ve learned more than I could ever imagine already without my classes.
So last week O-Week finished off pretty great. Thursday night we went out to a couple clubs for the last night they had planned. There was a lot of dancing and it was a great time. I loved it all except standing in line! I got really tired at the second club, after hours of dancing I was worn out! But nobody else was quite ready to go, so I went to stand by the wall for a bit. Some little Chinese guy with glasses came up to me and asked if I had a partner for the night! I said yes, and he didn’t seem to get it. He told me I was just like his ex-girlfriend and asked where my boyfriend was, I said the next room to try to get him to leave me alone. He did. For a couple minutes, then he came back to me and asked if I was sure I didn’t want to leave my boyfriend right then to be with him! I said I was quite good actually. Then he left me alone. So I have been hit on once down here, great thing it was the dorkiest guy around. It made me laugh though. Anyway, my feet were killing me and it was so blasted hot in there! So we left and went home after a bit, but it was probably the best night I’ve been out. Then Friday Loretta and I went into town just to have something to do and to get a few groceries. We stopped in at the visitor’s info center in the National Wool Museum and got tons of brochures and info. It was actually pretty refreshing and exciting to see all the things we could do around town and quick little weekend trips or something. We got a bunch of ideas. And we’re definitely planning on hitting up the wool museum sometime, you get entrance into the Ford museum as well for $9!! How awesome. So that was a good day. I haven’t gone out at all since then. O-week was a lot for me, I’m more of a homebody and just like to hang out around home, so it was quite tiring! But we still had a good weekend. Saturday during the day we headed down to Torquay to go to the beach. It was too cold for that, so we just hung out at our friend’s house. Our international friends English Pete and German Pete live there so we watched some TV and a movie and had a barbeque. We also got some fish and chips from the local shop, it was delicious. Their house is across the street from the beach literally and they have the best view I’ve ever seen. That whole one side of the house is windows so you can see so much, I could watch the ocean all day from there, it was amazing. There were a whole bunch of international students who were there, and a lot of them were staying for the night, but Loretta and I decided we’d had enough and wanted to come back here. So we did. And we went over to the Wookey 4 unit where our friend Nick from New Jersey lives. There were some people there and we all just hung out and watched a lot of Family Guy, I’m a little sick of it as it is all they seem to watch! But it was fun to sit around and talk with a bunch of aussies and such. Although I haven’t gotten to know my roommates too well, I know the people in Wookey 1 and Wookey 4 quite well, so I guess that’s good. Everyone seems really nice, but I can’t wait to get to know them better.
School started this week!! I have no class on Monday so I didn’t do much. I had to clear up a problem with my schedule. I had to go talk to my professor for that class! I was scared, I’ve never done that!! But I succeeded, so that was exciting. I’m really surprising myself every day with my strength and independence. I’m kind of proud of myself! This week we only have lectures, no tutorials(tutes) or practicums(pracs) so I only had one class Tuesday and one today. I had International Econ with Loretta, then Business Communications today. They seem pretty interesting, I think I’ll learn a lot so that’s good. I can’t really tell how challenging the work is going to be, it’s really hard not knowing what to expect. Their system is different than ours and it will take some time to adjust to a different way of learning. They have a lot less homework and such and it’s more independent learning I think. Yikes, I will have to really discipline myself! Tomorrow I have my Finance lecture and Australia Today. I also have a second Finance lecture on Friday morning, yuck. They split up the two hour lecture into two parts I guess because they didn’t have enough time slots for the one big lecture hall. The classes are so small compared to what I’m used to. Our international econ class only has 20 people max, it’s crazy. And that is the only time it’s offered! But the whole campus only has about 6000 people I think. Tutes are smaller classes where you can ask more questions and go into more depth, like recitations I guess. But every lecture has one. And some have labs or pracs as well. I have a tute and a prac for my communications class. I’m not sure what exactly that means, I guess I’ll find out when they start! The lectures are all two hours, so it feel like forever! And it’s hard to get used to only going to lecture once a week, but I guess that’s what the tutes are for. It seems so different for some reason that I can’t exactly figure out. I think the teachers seem a little less formal as well. We had to go around the room and introduce ourselves in econ and I felt like I was in elementary school or something! So I only have 4 classes and I think I will be in classes for 11 hours during each week. That’s crazy, I don’t know what I’ll do with myself! I think I will have a lot of reading and such to do all the time though. Books are really expensive here as well, but I’m splitting two of them with people so that helps. One of the buildings I have a class in is even more confusing that Seaton back home!!
Yesterday night the campus had a welcome international students coffee and cake thing at the restaurant on campus. So we went to that and had desserts, they were alright. They also had us play a trivia game about a lot of Australia stuff plus some worldly things, and I must say I did pretty well! I knew the most on our team I think. But we didn’t win. I got some hot chocolate as well, and they had TimTams, they’re favorite cookie. It is quite delicious, but they act like it’s the best thing ever! Anyway, some of the other internationals were talking about the TimTam Slam and I had not heard of this yet. So they said I had to try it. You’re supposed to bite off just the tip of opposite corners of the cookie, and then stick it in your hot chocolate and then sip until you feel the liquid come through the cookie, and then slam it all in your mouth. Well, first off I took too big a bite out of one corner, so I overcompensated and took a tiny bite out of the other and had to get some more off. Then I had already drank some of my hot chocolate so I tried to tip the mug so I could actually get the cookie in far enough to get it in liquid, but that wasn’t working too well. I really couldn’t suck it up!! So they just told me to slam it in my mouth anyway after a minute. It was melted enough from my trying and so with the hot chocolate and the melting TimTam it was complete and total chocolate goodness. It was great. But a little messy, I got it all over my face! So I failed I guess, I’ll have to practice! It was kind of embarrassing, as both one of the RA’s and the manager of the residences were taking pictures of me trying to do this!! An experience I guess!
Today Loretta and I went into Geelong to get out a little and pick up a few groceries. We got on Bus 16, the one that goes into town. The driver asked Waurn Ponds? We didn’t understand so just said yes and sat down. Well we still have NO idea what happened, but the bus didn’t turn the way it usually does out of campus. But we thought, okay, we’ll see where it goes and get off somewhere when we get to town. But it didn’t go into town. It went to the closest shopping center, which we didn’t think any busses went to, and then on into the neighborhoods over there. We went all through the little suburb to the south of our campus and then it came back! The driver must have thought we were crazy. We decided to stay on the bus and we’d just get off at the shopping center because that would work fine. But when we left campus the second time, the bus took the normal route it always has!! So we don’t know why it was different or anything. It was funny though, the longest bus ride ever I think. But we made it into town and walked along the waterfront for awhile to the little beach down there. It was really pretty and calm and peaceful, I enjoyed it a lot. Today was kind of rainy for awhile, so it was a little cloudy and the perfect temperature, a nice day. It’s funny, when it rains here, it always seems to be sunny somewhere, and it doesn’t get really dark and dreary and depressing. It’s nice. Anyway, we didn’t stay long because we had to get back for dinner. So far it’s been alright I guess, nothing exciting, but it’s not gross so that’s good. I definitely miss food from home though, everything is different here even if it’s the same kind of food. Most of it’s good, but it’s not comfort you know. Tonight is the big night at The Pond’s again, but I don’t feel much like going out, so I’m taking it easy and doing nothing, it’s kind of nice I guess. Hope you all are doing well and enjoying Kansas. I miss you, let me know what’s been going on in your exciting life.
Love, Alissa
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Trips and O-Week
G’day! How ya going? I’m good. I’m learning more phrases everyday so it’s starting to all sink in. I’m getting the hang of this new language! I don’t care what anyone says, they may speak English but it’s a totally different language! We can make fun of them for words that are strange to us and they make fun of us for things we say as well. It’s great fun to just sit and talk about slang and different words or phrases. I especially love it when they say “heaps”, it seems to happen a lot lately. I have learned soooo much already and school doesn’t start til Monday! Chewy = gum; sunnies = sun glasses; lollies = any candy, sweets; stuffed = tired, exhausted; caravan park = trailer park; Eskie = cooler; snags = sausage; skull = chug; avo = afternoon. It’s quite intriguing. Anyway, so what have I been up to!?
Last weekend we took two day trips. Saturday two of the aussies took about 30 of us international students into Melbourne for the day. It was pretty disappointing really. They didn’t know what they were doing and were not organized at all so we did a whole lot of standing, sitting, and waiting. A few people got lost and we had to call them and find each other, everyone wanted to go their own way but we couldn’t, and there was no plan at all. It was frustrating. Sure it was nice to see the city, but it could’ve been so much better. We spent a ton of money as well, and it felt like for nothing. The train ride was $10. Then we went to see Federation Square, cool but not much to do or see. We went inside to ACMI, I can’t remember what it stood for, but they had an exhibition inside that was pretty worthless. I’m sorry to say that for those of my friends who are obsessed, but it was all about video games from the 80s in Australia. You could play some and it showed all the creators and different things they had, not too exciting for me, or most everyone else. Then we walked around in circles for awhile and ended up back at the river to take a river cruise on the Yarra. It was okay, good way to see the city, but we ended up having to pay to ride it, which we weren’t supposed to because if we bought lunch they’d give it to us. Well, on top of that lunch was very expensive! I got the cheapest things, a salad and some “chips”(fries) to split and a “lemonade”(it was just like sprite really) and with the fare it cost me $25. Crazy. Then we went to the Rialto Tower which used to be the tallest building in the southern hemisphere til they built another apt. complex right across the river. So we had to pay $7 to go up there. They showed a really cheesy video about Melbourne beforehand. It was neat to see the city from above, and it was a clear day which helped. However, after being up in the World Trade Center and the Empire State Building, it wasn’t so impressive, those were quite a bit taller I think. Then we spent the entire afternoon walking in circles around the city with a stop to sit in the mall for awhile. They gave us time to shop on one street, but it wasn’t too great and only a few people wanted to go anyway. To add to the frustration of this unimpressive day, it was close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit that day, which in the city was quite sweltering!! I was totally exhausted when we got back around 8pm, with a bit of a sunburned back too. I always feel like I’m frying even if I’m not, so I slather on tons of sunscreen, the sun is incredibly strong here. So anyway, we’ve already said we have to back there soon on our own and have a good day!
Sunday we went on a bus to the Bellarine Peninsula, just to see a bunch of beaches. We stopped in a town called Queenscliff and then in Torquay to eat lunch. We went to Bells Beach then and stayed there for a couple hours just hanging out on the beach and getting in the ocean a bit. The water is chilly I think, but it felt good as it was another very hot day. It was relaxing to just do nothing on the beach for awhile. We had a long hike up a bunch of stairs back to the busses! Then we went back to Torquay to shop at some of the surf shops before heading to a town called Angelsea. There we went to the golf course to see kangaroos, they come out every night around sunset to the golf course to eat the grass. So we saw a whole bunch of them, it was cool to get to see real wild kangaroos! They were pretty far away though so I didn’t get great pictures or anything, but it was cool. So now I’ve seen a koala and kangaroos, and one night we had a “barbie”, what else is there to do?! Then we just rode back to campus. It was a good day.
That night started O-Week as well, orientation week. Everyone in the resis went to some bar downtown, Lamby‘s(it was right next to the National Wool Museum!). It was okay, a little strange, they surprised us some, pretty crazy kids. It’s strange to be surrounded by all 18 year olds, as the first years are the only ones who have moved back yet. And they are legal! It seems so wrong to me though, it’s hard to get used to! I feel old next to them, it’s amazing how much you mature and change in just a few years of college! These kids haven’t even started yet. But it was fun, and another learning experience. Monday morning we had a couple meetings, but us international students didn’t really need to go. We were told to, but they were all aimed at incoming college students you know, stuff we’ve heard before and know by now. It wasn’t anything too specific, it’s the same throughout the world. But that’s okay. We got free lunch, as we do all week. Pretty alright stuff, sausages Monday and a hamburger Tuesday. But let me tell you, that didn’t taste anything like beef to me!! They are surely missing out if that’s what they think beef tastes like. Wednesday was falafel I think, but I’m not really sure what that is, so who knows. Monday night we had a mix and match party. It was actually a lot of fun. I was worried it wouldn’t be since it seemed to be set up for all single people and I’m not one of them. But really nobody seemed to stay with their number. They gave everyone numbers when we walked in, then the girls went upstairs and the guys were downstairs. We just all hung out for awhile talking and such, the girls did some chants that were quite funny. Anyway, after a few hours we went downstairs to find our match. I found mine after awhile and we met and talked for a few minutes before he left to talk to some other girls. Another girl was also the same number since there were a lot more girls than guys, so we just left him as well. So I went to find my international friends and we hung out together all night. Loretta, Nick and Marc never found their matches, sad. We had a good time though. Tuesday Loretta and I went to another pointless meeting meant for first years, we’ve already heard all that stuff. That night we didn’t feel like going to the party they had planned so we went mini-golfing instead. We all went on a bus and didn’t have to pay, which was amazing. It was fun, a very challenging mini-golf course actually!! It took quite awhile too. It was fun to meet some more aussies and figure out the intriguing holes. Wednesday was market day here, where all the clubs come out and have booths. So I signed up with the Commerce Society since that is my “course” here and they give you discounts at all the clubs, bars, shops, and restaurants in town which is great. I also joined DUSA, the student association, so I can get discounts on trips and functions and meet some more people. They also have free food days through the year! Then Loretta and I did another stupid thing, go on a library orientation tour. It was pointless, most of it was talking about how to use the internet for the library, all very simple stuff I could have found myself. But it’s okay. We had time to relax and do nothing for awhile in the afternoon, finally nap time for me! We’ve had free dinners all week as well, they’ve been okay. Monday’s enchilada was tasty. Tuesday’s “parmi” (chicken parmesan) was gross. And last night’s pasta was great. Last night was Uni night at the Pond’s (the Waurn Pond’s Hotel Bar) across the street by campus. It was packed, seriously, absolutely packed. You could barely walk or stand anywhere, and that place was huge. So we didn’t stay too long. It was still fun, interesting, but crowded and loud, all those “jaffys”(they call the first years) were screaming and such, crazy kids. So we went back to campus after an hour or two and hung out there all night. It was quite a fun time. We don’t have anything to do all weekend, so we thought about heading into Melbourne again or something, going down to a few beaches, I’m not sure. We really should have planned a big trip for this whole week, we could’ve left last Friday and stayed til this Sunday. It was a fun week though, just not very useful I suppose.
I got skype working!!! So add me if you haven’t yet and we can start talking for FREE!!!! It would be great seeing as I’ve spent $80 on phone cards thus far, yikes! He couldn’t get AIM to work, so I had to download MSN messenger, so if you have that, I’m alissam21@hotmail.com. Or, you should download it and add me so we can talk that way as well. Although, I just found out that you can chat over skype as well, just as a message thing, so that would work as well. I’m so excited I can finally communicate with everyone!
Well I better get going. I sure wish I could fly all of you over here to visit me and so you could see how wonderful it is for yourselves!! Hope things continue to be great back home, although I’m so sorry you don’t have as wonderful weather as I do! J Keep me updated on you and have a great day!
Love, Alissa
Last weekend we took two day trips. Saturday two of the aussies took about 30 of us international students into Melbourne for the day. It was pretty disappointing really. They didn’t know what they were doing and were not organized at all so we did a whole lot of standing, sitting, and waiting. A few people got lost and we had to call them and find each other, everyone wanted to go their own way but we couldn’t, and there was no plan at all. It was frustrating. Sure it was nice to see the city, but it could’ve been so much better. We spent a ton of money as well, and it felt like for nothing. The train ride was $10. Then we went to see Federation Square, cool but not much to do or see. We went inside to ACMI, I can’t remember what it stood for, but they had an exhibition inside that was pretty worthless. I’m sorry to say that for those of my friends who are obsessed, but it was all about video games from the 80s in Australia. You could play some and it showed all the creators and different things they had, not too exciting for me, or most everyone else. Then we walked around in circles for awhile and ended up back at the river to take a river cruise on the Yarra. It was okay, good way to see the city, but we ended up having to pay to ride it, which we weren’t supposed to because if we bought lunch they’d give it to us. Well, on top of that lunch was very expensive! I got the cheapest things, a salad and some “chips”(fries) to split and a “lemonade”(it was just like sprite really) and with the fare it cost me $25. Crazy. Then we went to the Rialto Tower which used to be the tallest building in the southern hemisphere til they built another apt. complex right across the river. So we had to pay $7 to go up there. They showed a really cheesy video about Melbourne beforehand. It was neat to see the city from above, and it was a clear day which helped. However, after being up in the World Trade Center and the Empire State Building, it wasn’t so impressive, those were quite a bit taller I think. Then we spent the entire afternoon walking in circles around the city with a stop to sit in the mall for awhile. They gave us time to shop on one street, but it wasn’t too great and only a few people wanted to go anyway. To add to the frustration of this unimpressive day, it was close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit that day, which in the city was quite sweltering!! I was totally exhausted when we got back around 8pm, with a bit of a sunburned back too. I always feel like I’m frying even if I’m not, so I slather on tons of sunscreen, the sun is incredibly strong here. So anyway, we’ve already said we have to back there soon on our own and have a good day!
Sunday we went on a bus to the Bellarine Peninsula, just to see a bunch of beaches. We stopped in a town called Queenscliff and then in Torquay to eat lunch. We went to Bells Beach then and stayed there for a couple hours just hanging out on the beach and getting in the ocean a bit. The water is chilly I think, but it felt good as it was another very hot day. It was relaxing to just do nothing on the beach for awhile. We had a long hike up a bunch of stairs back to the busses! Then we went back to Torquay to shop at some of the surf shops before heading to a town called Angelsea. There we went to the golf course to see kangaroos, they come out every night around sunset to the golf course to eat the grass. So we saw a whole bunch of them, it was cool to get to see real wild kangaroos! They were pretty far away though so I didn’t get great pictures or anything, but it was cool. So now I’ve seen a koala and kangaroos, and one night we had a “barbie”, what else is there to do?! Then we just rode back to campus. It was a good day.
That night started O-Week as well, orientation week. Everyone in the resis went to some bar downtown, Lamby‘s(it was right next to the National Wool Museum!). It was okay, a little strange, they surprised us some, pretty crazy kids. It’s strange to be surrounded by all 18 year olds, as the first years are the only ones who have moved back yet. And they are legal! It seems so wrong to me though, it’s hard to get used to! I feel old next to them, it’s amazing how much you mature and change in just a few years of college! These kids haven’t even started yet. But it was fun, and another learning experience. Monday morning we had a couple meetings, but us international students didn’t really need to go. We were told to, but they were all aimed at incoming college students you know, stuff we’ve heard before and know by now. It wasn’t anything too specific, it’s the same throughout the world. But that’s okay. We got free lunch, as we do all week. Pretty alright stuff, sausages Monday and a hamburger Tuesday. But let me tell you, that didn’t taste anything like beef to me!! They are surely missing out if that’s what they think beef tastes like. Wednesday was falafel I think, but I’m not really sure what that is, so who knows. Monday night we had a mix and match party. It was actually a lot of fun. I was worried it wouldn’t be since it seemed to be set up for all single people and I’m not one of them. But really nobody seemed to stay with their number. They gave everyone numbers when we walked in, then the girls went upstairs and the guys were downstairs. We just all hung out for awhile talking and such, the girls did some chants that were quite funny. Anyway, after a few hours we went downstairs to find our match. I found mine after awhile and we met and talked for a few minutes before he left to talk to some other girls. Another girl was also the same number since there were a lot more girls than guys, so we just left him as well. So I went to find my international friends and we hung out together all night. Loretta, Nick and Marc never found their matches, sad. We had a good time though. Tuesday Loretta and I went to another pointless meeting meant for first years, we’ve already heard all that stuff. That night we didn’t feel like going to the party they had planned so we went mini-golfing instead. We all went on a bus and didn’t have to pay, which was amazing. It was fun, a very challenging mini-golf course actually!! It took quite awhile too. It was fun to meet some more aussies and figure out the intriguing holes. Wednesday was market day here, where all the clubs come out and have booths. So I signed up with the Commerce Society since that is my “course” here and they give you discounts at all the clubs, bars, shops, and restaurants in town which is great. I also joined DUSA, the student association, so I can get discounts on trips and functions and meet some more people. They also have free food days through the year! Then Loretta and I did another stupid thing, go on a library orientation tour. It was pointless, most of it was talking about how to use the internet for the library, all very simple stuff I could have found myself. But it’s okay. We had time to relax and do nothing for awhile in the afternoon, finally nap time for me! We’ve had free dinners all week as well, they’ve been okay. Monday’s enchilada was tasty. Tuesday’s “parmi” (chicken parmesan) was gross. And last night’s pasta was great. Last night was Uni night at the Pond’s (the Waurn Pond’s Hotel Bar) across the street by campus. It was packed, seriously, absolutely packed. You could barely walk or stand anywhere, and that place was huge. So we didn’t stay too long. It was still fun, interesting, but crowded and loud, all those “jaffys”(they call the first years) were screaming and such, crazy kids. So we went back to campus after an hour or two and hung out there all night. It was quite a fun time. We don’t have anything to do all weekend, so we thought about heading into Melbourne again or something, going down to a few beaches, I’m not sure. We really should have planned a big trip for this whole week, we could’ve left last Friday and stayed til this Sunday. It was a fun week though, just not very useful I suppose.
I got skype working!!! So add me if you haven’t yet and we can start talking for FREE!!!! It would be great seeing as I’ve spent $80 on phone cards thus far, yikes! He couldn’t get AIM to work, so I had to download MSN messenger, so if you have that, I’m alissam21@hotmail.com. Or, you should download it and add me so we can talk that way as well. Although, I just found out that you can chat over skype as well, just as a message thing, so that would work as well. I’m so excited I can finally communicate with everyone!
Well I better get going. I sure wish I could fly all of you over here to visit me and so you could see how wonderful it is for yourselves!! Hope things continue to be great back home, although I’m so sorry you don’t have as wonderful weather as I do! J Keep me updated on you and have a great day!
Love, Alissa
Friday, February 16, 2007
My mouse adventure
Well, I guess I’ll write another post. I’m awake, and haven’t really slept at all tonight because of a mouse. That’s right, a stupid little mouse. I hate them, they are disgusting. And there could be one in my room. I think it left. Well, here’s the story. So I ate a peanut butter sandwich at lunch yesterday and the first piece of bread was moldy which I thought was weird since I hadn’t had it that long, but ignored it and just took a piece further in. So then I was going to have another sandwich at dinner because our dinner plans fell through. This time I took the whole loaf off the shelf to open it, and noticed two holes in the back! That’s right, and there were chunks missing from the pieces of bread at the back, and they were starting to mold as well since the bag had been opened. The bigger hole had quite a large chunk of bread missing. I was quite disgusted, something had eaten my food!! And I had no idea where it came from or what it was. Then I saw the mouse poop on my shelf as well! Yuck! It was a mouse, and it had been on my shelf with all my food! Nothing else seemed to be touched besides the bread though, let’s hope not! So I freaked out a little. Then I put my food in my back pack and zipped it up. Then I proceeded to look around for a hole that it could have come from! I had no idea how it got up there, as it is above my desk and not connected. That’s when Loretta helped me to come to the conclusion it must have climbed up the curtain, which is right next to my head when I’m sleeping. Gross, does that mean it crawled all over me sometime?!? After much freaking out and searching, I had no idea how a rat or mouse got into my room and onto that shelf, but I was thoroughly grossed out. I didn’t feel like eating much and didn’t have a whole lot else, so I am also quite hungry at the moment. So we then went over to the next unit to tell my RA that there was a rodent in my house! He told me he noticed there was rat poison in my kitchen and said he’d call them in the morning to see what they could do. So then we left and did stuff for the night, and when I came back home to sleep, I was pretty worried it was going to come back while I was sleeping and needless to say it creeped me out. So I did fall asleep and was alright for two or three hours. Then I woke up and freaked myself out thinking I heard it somewhere. I kept waking up and turning on my reading light to see if I could find it. Plus it’s quite warm in my room, so that didn’t help the sleeping situation, since I wanted to be covered up so it didn’t get me, but it was too hot to be covered up. A huge conundrum there. So, I continued this until about 3:45, when I was sure that I heard some rustling. Oh yes, I also forgot to mention that I put some bags down against the bottom of the door in the hopes they would keep it out if it came in that way. So, I heard the noise, and it was coming from my window!! I guess somehow the mouse came in from outside! I saw it fall from behind the curtain onto my desk and scurry across and down it to the floor. I didn’t see where it went after that. That little sucker was fast. He was tiny too, it was a little mouse, not a rat, I suppose that’s better. So I got up and stood on my bed and reached over to turn the light on. I tried to find him but I suppose he ran really fast and went under my door before I could see him. Even with those bags in the way. I guess mice are so tiny and can make themselves even smaller to fit through anything. But now I’m scared to go back to sleep again! It just grosses me out, that’s so creepy! And there are already enough ants and bugs around here to give me the creeps sometimes, like something is always crawling on me! One night in Lorne we had the doors open and we were eaten alive by mosquitoes! So I still have a bunch of bites from that too. I’m just all eww! I am going to be extremely tired today. I guess I don’t have much to do though. Since I was up I already had a look at my classes and put my preferences in for my “timetable”(like my schedule, it just picks the times for lectures and tutorials). So that’s what we were supposed to do later today. I have one to figure out, it doesn’t appear that I can work it out at the moment so I’ll need help. But if I get lucky and get things to work as they are right now, I will have no class on Friday OR Monday! So that would be amazing. We’ll see.
I guess I can write some of the little differences I’ve noticed, mostly words or phrases. Honestly, the language is a bit of a barrier even though it’s English. There have been plenty of times I have absolutely no idea what someone said to me, and times they look at us like what are you talking about. For example, Loretta asked a worker at Target if they had contact lens solution because we couldn’t find it at K-Mart. The employee was like, “what? Contact..??” So Loretta said it again and pointed to her eyes. Then she got it and said they didn’t have it, since they don’t sell contacts, why would they have that. She suggested going to an optometrist! But I said we should try the “chemist”(pharmacy) because they had some stuff, and luckily they did have some. But that was a little crazy. Target didn’t have any medicine or hygiene anything, besides shampoo and hair dye and nail polish stuff. Some other little word differences, a shopping cart is a trolley here, you take out your rubbish instead of your trash, you don’t call someone you ring them, Sharpies are called whatever the brand name here is, parking lots are car parks, liquor stores are bottle shops, no parking signs say no standing. They say no worries to everything, like your welcome or no problem, things like that. They also say cheers mate a lot as if they were saying thanks. But some also say ta to mean thanks. I heard one girl say “someone cracked the shits” and she said it meant they got really really mad. They call girls either chicks or birds a lot of the time. Being pissed usually means being drunk. They have “cask” wine which is boxed wine, and everyone drinks that because it is so cheap, the beer is really expensive. On the highways they have power nap stops clearly marked, so you can pull over and take a power nap if you’re feeling tired. Much less creepy than rest stops, and more frequent. I guess a lot of aussies drive for long distances without thinking about it since the country is so big, and so they get tired and it’s dangerous. There are a million rabbits, ants, and magpies around everywhere. There are also some really pretty parrot looking birds around here, and there were wild cockatoos in Lorne. Reservations at a restaurant are called bookings, and it’s not called the ticket or check, it’s the bill. They looked at us funny for that one. Cell phones are called mobiles. A few people do say g’day, but really not too many. Everyone says how you going though, like what’s up, how are you. I still feel weird answering that one or trying to respond. Like, good how are you, that sounds so stupid here! It’s funny when they make fun of our accents, it does make it sound funny and stupid when they say it like we do. Especially sharks, when we say it, it sounds so harsh and gross, they make it sound good. Everything is shortened too, like I live on res at uni. Faculty is more like the subject or college instead of the staff. Everyone cusses a lot, even adults, hell is used most frequently by most people. Oh and flip flops are called thongs, swim suits are often either swimmers or bathers. Or budgie smugglers are speedos. I have heard a few aussies say bugga as well. As far as school goes, your course is your major and units are classes. An associate lecturer is like a GTA. Oh, I think it’s this way most places in the world, but last name is either family name or surname, and first name is given name. And my major is commerce, not business. I’m starting to get used to looking the other way to cross the road, and writing the date day, month, year. They also don’t have fresh, soph, jun, senior, it’s just what year you are, like I’m third year. And most students from other countries also say that, so I guess we’re the weird ones, seems to be a common theme. It’s really strange having an accent and being the minority, although there are a lot of Americans here. I actually think I do have an accent, I’ve never thought that before! It’s especially noticeable to me when I say I’m from Kansas, Kansas sounds so hick like or something! It’s really bizarre.
Okay, I think that’s enough for now. Sorry you got another ultra long post that I wasn’t even planning on!! Maybe I’ll be able to sleep a few more hours now before I have to get up again. I enjoyed detailing my frightening experience with you. Wish me luck with my mouse problems! Have a great day!
Love, Alissa
I guess I can write some of the little differences I’ve noticed, mostly words or phrases. Honestly, the language is a bit of a barrier even though it’s English. There have been plenty of times I have absolutely no idea what someone said to me, and times they look at us like what are you talking about. For example, Loretta asked a worker at Target if they had contact lens solution because we couldn’t find it at K-Mart. The employee was like, “what? Contact..??” So Loretta said it again and pointed to her eyes. Then she got it and said they didn’t have it, since they don’t sell contacts, why would they have that. She suggested going to an optometrist! But I said we should try the “chemist”(pharmacy) because they had some stuff, and luckily they did have some. But that was a little crazy. Target didn’t have any medicine or hygiene anything, besides shampoo and hair dye and nail polish stuff. Some other little word differences, a shopping cart is a trolley here, you take out your rubbish instead of your trash, you don’t call someone you ring them, Sharpies are called whatever the brand name here is, parking lots are car parks, liquor stores are bottle shops, no parking signs say no standing. They say no worries to everything, like your welcome or no problem, things like that. They also say cheers mate a lot as if they were saying thanks. But some also say ta to mean thanks. I heard one girl say “someone cracked the shits” and she said it meant they got really really mad. They call girls either chicks or birds a lot of the time. Being pissed usually means being drunk. They have “cask” wine which is boxed wine, and everyone drinks that because it is so cheap, the beer is really expensive. On the highways they have power nap stops clearly marked, so you can pull over and take a power nap if you’re feeling tired. Much less creepy than rest stops, and more frequent. I guess a lot of aussies drive for long distances without thinking about it since the country is so big, and so they get tired and it’s dangerous. There are a million rabbits, ants, and magpies around everywhere. There are also some really pretty parrot looking birds around here, and there were wild cockatoos in Lorne. Reservations at a restaurant are called bookings, and it’s not called the ticket or check, it’s the bill. They looked at us funny for that one. Cell phones are called mobiles. A few people do say g’day, but really not too many. Everyone says how you going though, like what’s up, how are you. I still feel weird answering that one or trying to respond. Like, good how are you, that sounds so stupid here! It’s funny when they make fun of our accents, it does make it sound funny and stupid when they say it like we do. Especially sharks, when we say it, it sounds so harsh and gross, they make it sound good. Everything is shortened too, like I live on res at uni. Faculty is more like the subject or college instead of the staff. Everyone cusses a lot, even adults, hell is used most frequently by most people. Oh and flip flops are called thongs, swim suits are often either swimmers or bathers. Or budgie smugglers are speedos. I have heard a few aussies say bugga as well. As far as school goes, your course is your major and units are classes. An associate lecturer is like a GTA. Oh, I think it’s this way most places in the world, but last name is either family name or surname, and first name is given name. And my major is commerce, not business. I’m starting to get used to looking the other way to cross the road, and writing the date day, month, year. They also don’t have fresh, soph, jun, senior, it’s just what year you are, like I’m third year. And most students from other countries also say that, so I guess we’re the weird ones, seems to be a common theme. It’s really strange having an accent and being the minority, although there are a lot of Americans here. I actually think I do have an accent, I’ve never thought that before! It’s especially noticeable to me when I say I’m from Kansas, Kansas sounds so hick like or something! It’s really bizarre.
Okay, I think that’s enough for now. Sorry you got another ultra long post that I wasn’t even planning on!! Maybe I’ll be able to sleep a few more hours now before I have to get up again. I enjoyed detailing my frightening experience with you. Wish me luck with my mouse problems! Have a great day!
Love, Alissa
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Lorne Orientation Trip
G’Day Mates! It’s quite hot here today, and will be all weekend! I’m getting a little bored of having nothing to do. I know, seems crazy, but I’m here for a total of 3 weeks before school starts, it’s beginning to drive me crazy! But the rest of the aussies move in this weekend which will help a lot. We enrolled today, so that was exciting, and tomorrow we’ll pick out the times for our classes. I was a little disappointed because they wouldn’t let me take 5 classes, they said I couldn’t, so I’m stuck with only 3 business classes and the one Australia Today class. That just means one more class next semester, but I’m sure it will be okay. This weekend I’m excited because we’re going to Melbourne Saturday and down the Bellarine peninsula Sunday to the beaches and such. It should be pretty awesome.
The first three days of this week were quite amazing as well. We had our orientation trip down to Lorne, it was more of just a beach vacation which was nice. It was so relaxing. I’ve never experienced such a trip! On our vacations back home we don’t have much time so we go go go to see everything and stuff, which still calls for an amazing time, but this was so different. Lorne is a little tiny town all about tourism now. It started out as a fishing town, but the fish are mostly gone now, so it’s a tourist place, and a place for Australians to have summer homes. The pop is about 2000 but reaches 20000 in the summer! So we sort of took over, with over 200 of us international students from all the campuses. I stayed in a really nice hotel in a “unit”, like a little apartment, with Loretta, Jenny, and Sophie from England. It was pretty amazing. I spent a lot of both days just laying on the couch with the back porch doors open listening to the ocean that was down the hill across the street. We also laid out on the beach for awhile both days. It was all free to us except for one lunch as well, pretty nice! We had a great dinner both nights, at different restaurants. One was sort of Mexican, and the other was grilled barbeque stuff, delicious! I was actually full, too, which was a wonderful change. Monday we were so tired and didn’t get done with dinner til after 9 so we went back watched some TV and went to bed. Each day we had to be up by 7 anyway! So Tuesday were our activities they had set up for us. I didn’t get all that I had signed up for, so I only went to one of them, they were pretty much optional. My morning one was hiking and it was pretty spectacular. I loved it. It was actually a bit of a hike, too, I was tired!! We walked along the beach for awhile, but the beach turned into all rocks, so we had to do rock hopping for awhile making our way across! Scary! But I did good. Our guide showed us some crabs under the rocks and a prehistoric creature I couldn’t hear the name of. They outlived the dinosaurs and are still here, they are just this little thing with 8 plates for protection and they slither along the rock and eat algae, that’s it. Then we went up into the forest. It was much cooler in there thank goodness! I was amazed at how green and quiet and calm it was since the draught is so bad right now! It was gorgeous in there, we saw a few streams and lots of birds. It was fun to listen to them, there are some very different sounding birds here! The worst part was the trek out of the forest, it was a huge steep hill! Unfortunately we didn’t see any kangaroo or koalas, but Loretta did when she went later! I saw some horses in the pasture and birds was all. Thankfully no snakes either though! There are spiders and ants all over though. Mostly daddy long legs though, no worries. So after the hike I rested awhile, then rested on the beach awhile! There was a big fire in the distance that we later found out an arsonist started, not good in these conditions. We got to watch a lot of the surfers too, but nothing too spectacular. I went back a ways on the beach to where we’d gone earlier on the hike so I could pick up some sea shells and take some more pictures. It was so gorgeous, really, none of my pictures can capture how beautiful anything is. But I got a bunch of cool sea shells and took way too many pictures before going back to the hotel to lay around a bit more. I’ve never experienced such relaxation, I highly recommend it. Oh, I also bought some ½ price bread at the local bakery and when the girls went later they bought some and were told to take whatever else they wanted for free! Not fair! We started to go out to the local pub Tuesday night but Loretta and I decided it wasn’t that much fun and we were tired so went to bed. Wednesday was our long day! We were on a bus most of the day. We got up early to eat breakfast before heading out. They took us to see the Twelve Apostles and drive along The Great Ocean Road! It was spectacular! AND, we saw a koala! It was in the middle of the road, we had to wait for it, but that was a probably a really bad, sad thing since he was most likely lost and not going to make it back safely. I saw another one in a tree along the way as well! So I was happy! So I sat on the wrong side of the bus and didn’t get any pictures of the amazing views of the ocean from the road, but I got to see them so it’s okay! We made a stop at Mait’s Rainforest walk, it was a short little path in the rainforest there, pretty incredible. It was actually cold in there! It was amazing to be in the rainforest, so much vegetation! Then we were on our way again. The Twelve Apostles were actually much more amazing than I even though they would be! I don’t know why, they just seemed bigger, closer and more incredible than I had imagined. So of course I took way too many pictures there. Too bad it was a little foggy, but you could still see them fine. We also went somewhere else to get another view of them and see where the ship wrecked there and the two surviving people lived in a cave for awhile. Then we went to Gibson Steps to go down to the beach and see yet another side of the rocks. It was gorgeous. The ocean is so pretty! Some people were complaining about being on the bus and that they didn’t care to see these things. I was in shock! You could complain about seeing such beauty and something known around the world?! Whatever. So anyway, we drove back the inland way to Geelong, it was much faster, though not as pretty. We saw a lot of farmland though, and some cows and sheep. I met a girl on the bus and my hike from North Carolina, she was pretty interesting, we talked a whole lot and it was a little tiring for me! But she was nice.
When we got back here they got some buses and took some of us into town to eat dinner. It was Valentine’s Day so I got dressed up sort of because I wanted to since I would if I were home! But everyone else was all depressed so it sort of hurt my mood you know. I was sad I couldn’t be home with my valentine, but I wasn’t depressed because I know I have one at home! That’s a happy thing! But again, whatever, people can complain and be poopy all they want, I’m not doing that, I’m in Australia for goodness sake!! Dinner did kind of suck though. And that’s all we did seeing as everyone else were being downers. I got to sleep this morning! Yay! But I’m pretty bored today and will be tomorrow as well. Oh well, it will get better when we actually start school! I’m not sure how it works or what it costs, but if YOU can figure it out, you’re more than welcome to call my cell phone or text me if you’d like. The number is 0434085254. I don’t know anything about international stuff with it though. The other number I gave was my room phone. Well, phew, good job if you made it through that! I just have all this time on my hands, I have to do something somewhat productive!! Let me know how you’re doing! I still miss and love you guys!
Bye now!, Alissa
The first three days of this week were quite amazing as well. We had our orientation trip down to Lorne, it was more of just a beach vacation which was nice. It was so relaxing. I’ve never experienced such a trip! On our vacations back home we don’t have much time so we go go go to see everything and stuff, which still calls for an amazing time, but this was so different. Lorne is a little tiny town all about tourism now. It started out as a fishing town, but the fish are mostly gone now, so it’s a tourist place, and a place for Australians to have summer homes. The pop is about 2000 but reaches 20000 in the summer! So we sort of took over, with over 200 of us international students from all the campuses. I stayed in a really nice hotel in a “unit”, like a little apartment, with Loretta, Jenny, and Sophie from England. It was pretty amazing. I spent a lot of both days just laying on the couch with the back porch doors open listening to the ocean that was down the hill across the street. We also laid out on the beach for awhile both days. It was all free to us except for one lunch as well, pretty nice! We had a great dinner both nights, at different restaurants. One was sort of Mexican, and the other was grilled barbeque stuff, delicious! I was actually full, too, which was a wonderful change. Monday we were so tired and didn’t get done with dinner til after 9 so we went back watched some TV and went to bed. Each day we had to be up by 7 anyway! So Tuesday were our activities they had set up for us. I didn’t get all that I had signed up for, so I only went to one of them, they were pretty much optional. My morning one was hiking and it was pretty spectacular. I loved it. It was actually a bit of a hike, too, I was tired!! We walked along the beach for awhile, but the beach turned into all rocks, so we had to do rock hopping for awhile making our way across! Scary! But I did good. Our guide showed us some crabs under the rocks and a prehistoric creature I couldn’t hear the name of. They outlived the dinosaurs and are still here, they are just this little thing with 8 plates for protection and they slither along the rock and eat algae, that’s it. Then we went up into the forest. It was much cooler in there thank goodness! I was amazed at how green and quiet and calm it was since the draught is so bad right now! It was gorgeous in there, we saw a few streams and lots of birds. It was fun to listen to them, there are some very different sounding birds here! The worst part was the trek out of the forest, it was a huge steep hill! Unfortunately we didn’t see any kangaroo or koalas, but Loretta did when she went later! I saw some horses in the pasture and birds was all. Thankfully no snakes either though! There are spiders and ants all over though. Mostly daddy long legs though, no worries. So after the hike I rested awhile, then rested on the beach awhile! There was a big fire in the distance that we later found out an arsonist started, not good in these conditions. We got to watch a lot of the surfers too, but nothing too spectacular. I went back a ways on the beach to where we’d gone earlier on the hike so I could pick up some sea shells and take some more pictures. It was so gorgeous, really, none of my pictures can capture how beautiful anything is. But I got a bunch of cool sea shells and took way too many pictures before going back to the hotel to lay around a bit more. I’ve never experienced such relaxation, I highly recommend it. Oh, I also bought some ½ price bread at the local bakery and when the girls went later they bought some and were told to take whatever else they wanted for free! Not fair! We started to go out to the local pub Tuesday night but Loretta and I decided it wasn’t that much fun and we were tired so went to bed. Wednesday was our long day! We were on a bus most of the day. We got up early to eat breakfast before heading out. They took us to see the Twelve Apostles and drive along The Great Ocean Road! It was spectacular! AND, we saw a koala! It was in the middle of the road, we had to wait for it, but that was a probably a really bad, sad thing since he was most likely lost and not going to make it back safely. I saw another one in a tree along the way as well! So I was happy! So I sat on the wrong side of the bus and didn’t get any pictures of the amazing views of the ocean from the road, but I got to see them so it’s okay! We made a stop at Mait’s Rainforest walk, it was a short little path in the rainforest there, pretty incredible. It was actually cold in there! It was amazing to be in the rainforest, so much vegetation! Then we were on our way again. The Twelve Apostles were actually much more amazing than I even though they would be! I don’t know why, they just seemed bigger, closer and more incredible than I had imagined. So of course I took way too many pictures there. Too bad it was a little foggy, but you could still see them fine. We also went somewhere else to get another view of them and see where the ship wrecked there and the two surviving people lived in a cave for awhile. Then we went to Gibson Steps to go down to the beach and see yet another side of the rocks. It was gorgeous. The ocean is so pretty! Some people were complaining about being on the bus and that they didn’t care to see these things. I was in shock! You could complain about seeing such beauty and something known around the world?! Whatever. So anyway, we drove back the inland way to Geelong, it was much faster, though not as pretty. We saw a lot of farmland though, and some cows and sheep. I met a girl on the bus and my hike from North Carolina, she was pretty interesting, we talked a whole lot and it was a little tiring for me! But she was nice.
When we got back here they got some buses and took some of us into town to eat dinner. It was Valentine’s Day so I got dressed up sort of because I wanted to since I would if I were home! But everyone else was all depressed so it sort of hurt my mood you know. I was sad I couldn’t be home with my valentine, but I wasn’t depressed because I know I have one at home! That’s a happy thing! But again, whatever, people can complain and be poopy all they want, I’m not doing that, I’m in Australia for goodness sake!! Dinner did kind of suck though. And that’s all we did seeing as everyone else were being downers. I got to sleep this morning! Yay! But I’m pretty bored today and will be tomorrow as well. Oh well, it will get better when we actually start school! I’m not sure how it works or what it costs, but if YOU can figure it out, you’re more than welcome to call my cell phone or text me if you’d like. The number is 0434085254. I don’t know anything about international stuff with it though. The other number I gave was my room phone. Well, phew, good job if you made it through that! I just have all this time on my hands, I have to do something somewhat productive!! Let me know how you’re doing! I still miss and love you guys!
Bye now!, Alissa
Monday, February 12, 2007
I'm here!!
I’m in Australia!!! That’s my new favorite phrase! Jenny and Loretta, the girls I traveled with, also enjoy using it. We’ve sort of stuck together, which makes things so so so much easier on me! It’s nice to kind of have someone. Although, that’s the hardest part for me, I don’t really have anyone that’s close to me, nobody really knows me yet. So I don’t have that someone to talk to or be totally normal around you know. We tend to be different people at the start of relationships and once we’ve gotten comfortable you know, and with everyone here, it’s the beginning of that. So that makes it difficult. Back home, I’m the only one missing, but here everyone in my life is missing! That makes the adjustment to the new culture and experience more difficult. But it is just amazing here. I can’t stop thinking to myself, this is incredible. Everything is new and exciting. I’ve never met so many people, they are all different and interesting. Most of the people I’ve met so far are from the US, and a lot are from Kansas, everyone else thinks that is strange! But I didn’t know anybody! Most everyone is really nice and cool, there are only a few I haven’t clicked with at all, but that happens with people. I’ve never challenged myself this much, I am constantly in groups of people where I know nobody! Well, now I do, but you know. There are some really awesome people here. I can’t wait to meet the rest of the international students and all the aussies as well. I’ve met a few of the RA’s, they all seem really nice and relaxed. Of course, that’s a theme here, No Worries, mate. It’s so nice! I love not being so rushed and everything. The US is so fast and convenient. It’s nice to not live like that. It has gotten to be a bit frustrating because it can be hard to find someone to really help us with little things, but overall its so nice to be relaxed about everything all the time!
We’ve had nothing we have to do so far though. One meeting, that’s it. So the first night we were here, there were about 10 people here then, and we all went out to eat at a Thai restaurant. It was scary, I’d never had Thai food, so I was safe and ordered sweet and sour chicken, it was delicious though. We just all talked that night, that happened a lot in the temporary residences, but it was nice. I got to know those people well and they are great. Our RA for the temp res took us to Coles (grocery store like Dillons) and K-Mart to get some things we needed, so that was good. We all just wanted to shower and eat when we got there. Wednesday we had that meeting, the international student advisor lady talked to us about some things we needed to know, and how they’re here to help us. We tried to get out user name and passwords to work too, but that took another two days for some annoying reason. Anyway, they also took us on a tour of campus, so that was really nice. It’s a pretty small campus compared to K-State, but then there are a lot fewer students here too! For how small it is though, there is a whole lot of land here. Things are sort of spread out, especially all the residences, since they only house 5-15 people each and about 500 live on campus. There are three little lakes on campus, and even a nice restaurant. It’s quite gorgeous. There are tennis courts right next to my permanent resi. So that second night we stayed in, some people were drinking, it was a pretty good time, just chatting with everyone and getting to know each other. We went to the store that day as well. Then Thursday, our third day, a bunch of us international students ventured to the grocery store by ourselves on the bus! It was our first adventure and quite successful. Loretta, Jenny and I took a long walk all around campus that day as well, checking it out and taking pictures everywhere, it was nice. Thursday night was our first night out on the town!! It was soooo much fun. We went to a popular club, room 99, and waited outside for an hour to get in. It was a dance club and it was great. They play all american music, but a lot of it was older stuff, like Ice Ice Baby! It was fun, but quite tiring. We got home around 3, and stayed up til 5 chatting. During the days when we sat around talking to each other, we’d watch some TV, but we only got 3 or 4 channels, so we watched some soap operas, some DR. Phil and Oprah, and some cricket, which I don’t understand at all. They have mostly American TV, besides news and sports, but it’s all a season behind. Friday, we three girls went to Torquay, a nearby surfing town. Loretta made friends with a girl last semester who was studying abroad at KSU that lives here in Geelong, so she drove us there and showed us around. We went to the beach and walked along it for awhile, then went to an outlet mall of surf shops and stopped to get some local fish and chips. It was soooo good. The beach was gorgeous, and it smelled good. The water was quite cold, I think that’s normal around here though. The countryside on the way there was interesting, it’s all quite barren right now. They are in the worst draught in decades right now, so everything is very dry. It rained for a little bit yesterday afternoon and evening, but nothing to get too excited about. When we got back from Torquay all the RA’s were back from their training, so we met a bunch of them and hung out with them all night. It was very interesting. I learned so much that night! It was the first time really that I’d been around more than two aussies that were speaking to each other, so they use all their slang and everything. It was hard to follow, they had to explain a lot of things to us! We met some more people that night as well. Saturday a bunch of international students ventured down into town. We are sort of on the outskirts of the city, so we rode the bud into the heart of the city and walked around all day. We hadn’t been besides to go to the club, so we wanted to see it! It is pretty amazing, a very neat downtown. It was fun to walk around with nothing planned or nowhere to go really. We really got to see the city and get lost a little bit to familiarize ourselves a little better. We got to see the water too! We’re in a bay, so it’s not really the ocean, but still pretty cool. We ate lunch on the pier, it was tasty, and our waiter we met goes to our Uni as well! Last night, all the international students and a few RA’s were hanging out in one unit, so that was fun. Every day since Tuesday when we got here, more internationals came all the time. So it’s constantly been meeting them and trying to learn their names and where they’re from. In my temporary unit there was me, Loretta, and Jenny, then Sophia from Sweden, Pete from Germany, Emily from Ontario, Canada, Jordan and Summer from Pittsburgh, Jordan from KSU, Pete from England, and Zach from Hawaii. Heath was our temp RA, he was sort of one of those typical good looking surfer boys, but not much else to him! We moved out of there on Thursday. Most everyone went out last night because there was a band playing at some bar, but I didn’t feel like it. They didn’t go out til 11, so I hung out til then, and there were about 5 of us who didn’t go. We sat around and talked for a little while about nothing, then all went to bed. I’ve been alone in my unit, so it’s a little freaky! I’m such a scaredy cat I don’t like living alone in a big house practically! But it’s okay. And really it is very safe here. Today I didn’t do much for awhile. I spent some time to myself, and then around 1 a bunch of us went into town again to walk around. Us three girls and two people from Michigan went to the mall, we were looking for phones. We also needed a few things, and Jenny and I found some good going out shoes, that are flats!, to wear and bought them. That’s exciting! I like shoes. We were unsuccessful with phones, but were told to go to the grocery store, so we stopped there on the way home. At the mall we also got some food, we got Subway just because we haven’t eaten really well in the past few days and needed something we knew, it was delicious. I’ve been hungry so much lately! So Jenny and I got phones at Cole’s on the way home, they cost $80 for the phone a little bit of prepaid service. I’m not sure how they’ll work out, but we need a phone to get in contact with each other! It’s hard not being able to contact anyone without hoping they are in their room across the way. Plus if we get lost, now we have some way to help ourselves! We went our separate ways this evening when we got home. It’s been a relaxing day.
I just didn’t feel well last night and this morning. The homesickness hit me then. I felt overwhelmed and everything, so much has happened, and I’ve been outside my comfort zone for awhile! But really I was quite comfortable with everyone, I just mean that isn’t normal for me! And not being able to use the internet or call anyone besides to say hello I’m here and good, was very hard for me! I’m used to being able to pick up and call whenever I want. I talked to Brian awhile this morning, and that helped me a whole lot, that’s what I’m used to doing! So that made me feel more normal and more connected to home. My mom also called me! You can call me if you ever want, if you have a phone card I guess.
So after I had a little breakdown about missing home, I felt soooo much better! And today is the first day I haven’t been really tired, I’m finally used to the time change and got a good night’s rest last night. So that helped a lot as well. I don’t think anyone can understand or imagine what this experience is like unless they’ve done it. It’s really crazy. I can’t quite explain it, I’m not even sure I understand my feelings all the time. It’s just so incredible and fun and exciting, but at the same time I can feel very sad and alone. It’s strange. I’ve never felt so many things, it’s been an intense week. But it’s all good in the end, it’s overwhelmingly amazing! I love it here. I’m learning so much already and we don’t start school for two weeks! Well, this was sure a long post, I just wanted to get it all down! I’ll try to write again soon with some interesting differences in words or phrases and some little things I’ve noticed about Australia. Although it seems like the US, there are so many subtle differences that make it seem completely different. It is pretty cool! Hope all is well with everyone back home. I miss you all lots! Have a happy day and keep in touch with me, I need to hear from you as much as I need to send things to you!
Love, Alissa
We’ve had nothing we have to do so far though. One meeting, that’s it. So the first night we were here, there were about 10 people here then, and we all went out to eat at a Thai restaurant. It was scary, I’d never had Thai food, so I was safe and ordered sweet and sour chicken, it was delicious though. We just all talked that night, that happened a lot in the temporary residences, but it was nice. I got to know those people well and they are great. Our RA for the temp res took us to Coles (grocery store like Dillons) and K-Mart to get some things we needed, so that was good. We all just wanted to shower and eat when we got there. Wednesday we had that meeting, the international student advisor lady talked to us about some things we needed to know, and how they’re here to help us. We tried to get out user name and passwords to work too, but that took another two days for some annoying reason. Anyway, they also took us on a tour of campus, so that was really nice. It’s a pretty small campus compared to K-State, but then there are a lot fewer students here too! For how small it is though, there is a whole lot of land here. Things are sort of spread out, especially all the residences, since they only house 5-15 people each and about 500 live on campus. There are three little lakes on campus, and even a nice restaurant. It’s quite gorgeous. There are tennis courts right next to my permanent resi. So that second night we stayed in, some people were drinking, it was a pretty good time, just chatting with everyone and getting to know each other. We went to the store that day as well. Then Thursday, our third day, a bunch of us international students ventured to the grocery store by ourselves on the bus! It was our first adventure and quite successful. Loretta, Jenny and I took a long walk all around campus that day as well, checking it out and taking pictures everywhere, it was nice. Thursday night was our first night out on the town!! It was soooo much fun. We went to a popular club, room 99, and waited outside for an hour to get in. It was a dance club and it was great. They play all american music, but a lot of it was older stuff, like Ice Ice Baby! It was fun, but quite tiring. We got home around 3, and stayed up til 5 chatting. During the days when we sat around talking to each other, we’d watch some TV, but we only got 3 or 4 channels, so we watched some soap operas, some DR. Phil and Oprah, and some cricket, which I don’t understand at all. They have mostly American TV, besides news and sports, but it’s all a season behind. Friday, we three girls went to Torquay, a nearby surfing town. Loretta made friends with a girl last semester who was studying abroad at KSU that lives here in Geelong, so she drove us there and showed us around. We went to the beach and walked along it for awhile, then went to an outlet mall of surf shops and stopped to get some local fish and chips. It was soooo good. The beach was gorgeous, and it smelled good. The water was quite cold, I think that’s normal around here though. The countryside on the way there was interesting, it’s all quite barren right now. They are in the worst draught in decades right now, so everything is very dry. It rained for a little bit yesterday afternoon and evening, but nothing to get too excited about. When we got back from Torquay all the RA’s were back from their training, so we met a bunch of them and hung out with them all night. It was very interesting. I learned so much that night! It was the first time really that I’d been around more than two aussies that were speaking to each other, so they use all their slang and everything. It was hard to follow, they had to explain a lot of things to us! We met some more people that night as well. Saturday a bunch of international students ventured down into town. We are sort of on the outskirts of the city, so we rode the bud into the heart of the city and walked around all day. We hadn’t been besides to go to the club, so we wanted to see it! It is pretty amazing, a very neat downtown. It was fun to walk around with nothing planned or nowhere to go really. We really got to see the city and get lost a little bit to familiarize ourselves a little better. We got to see the water too! We’re in a bay, so it’s not really the ocean, but still pretty cool. We ate lunch on the pier, it was tasty, and our waiter we met goes to our Uni as well! Last night, all the international students and a few RA’s were hanging out in one unit, so that was fun. Every day since Tuesday when we got here, more internationals came all the time. So it’s constantly been meeting them and trying to learn their names and where they’re from. In my temporary unit there was me, Loretta, and Jenny, then Sophia from Sweden, Pete from Germany, Emily from Ontario, Canada, Jordan and Summer from Pittsburgh, Jordan from KSU, Pete from England, and Zach from Hawaii. Heath was our temp RA, he was sort of one of those typical good looking surfer boys, but not much else to him! We moved out of there on Thursday. Most everyone went out last night because there was a band playing at some bar, but I didn’t feel like it. They didn’t go out til 11, so I hung out til then, and there were about 5 of us who didn’t go. We sat around and talked for a little while about nothing, then all went to bed. I’ve been alone in my unit, so it’s a little freaky! I’m such a scaredy cat I don’t like living alone in a big house practically! But it’s okay. And really it is very safe here. Today I didn’t do much for awhile. I spent some time to myself, and then around 1 a bunch of us went into town again to walk around. Us three girls and two people from Michigan went to the mall, we were looking for phones. We also needed a few things, and Jenny and I found some good going out shoes, that are flats!, to wear and bought them. That’s exciting! I like shoes. We were unsuccessful with phones, but were told to go to the grocery store, so we stopped there on the way home. At the mall we also got some food, we got Subway just because we haven’t eaten really well in the past few days and needed something we knew, it was delicious. I’ve been hungry so much lately! So Jenny and I got phones at Cole’s on the way home, they cost $80 for the phone a little bit of prepaid service. I’m not sure how they’ll work out, but we need a phone to get in contact with each other! It’s hard not being able to contact anyone without hoping they are in their room across the way. Plus if we get lost, now we have some way to help ourselves! We went our separate ways this evening when we got home. It’s been a relaxing day.
I just didn’t feel well last night and this morning. The homesickness hit me then. I felt overwhelmed and everything, so much has happened, and I’ve been outside my comfort zone for awhile! But really I was quite comfortable with everyone, I just mean that isn’t normal for me! And not being able to use the internet or call anyone besides to say hello I’m here and good, was very hard for me! I’m used to being able to pick up and call whenever I want. I talked to Brian awhile this morning, and that helped me a whole lot, that’s what I’m used to doing! So that made me feel more normal and more connected to home. My mom also called me! You can call me if you ever want, if you have a phone card I guess.
So after I had a little breakdown about missing home, I felt soooo much better! And today is the first day I haven’t been really tired, I’m finally used to the time change and got a good night’s rest last night. So that helped a lot as well. I don’t think anyone can understand or imagine what this experience is like unless they’ve done it. It’s really crazy. I can’t quite explain it, I’m not even sure I understand my feelings all the time. It’s just so incredible and fun and exciting, but at the same time I can feel very sad and alone. It’s strange. I’ve never felt so many things, it’s been an intense week. But it’s all good in the end, it’s overwhelmingly amazing! I love it here. I’m learning so much already and we don’t start school for two weeks! Well, this was sure a long post, I just wanted to get it all down! I’ll try to write again soon with some interesting differences in words or phrases and some little things I’ve noticed about Australia. Although it seems like the US, there are so many subtle differences that make it seem completely different. It is pretty cool! Hope all is well with everyone back home. I miss you all lots! Have a happy day and keep in touch with me, I need to hear from you as much as I need to send things to you!
Love, Alissa
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Almost off!
Hey all! I thought I'd start a blog to keep a record of my adventures and keep you all up to date on my life while I'm in Australia for the semester! I hope you enjoy it! I'll try my best to keep it updated and exciting! I now have 3 days until I leave and am just starting to pack now! Yikes! But I'm sure I'll be fine. It's a little crazy, I can't believe it's finally here and I'm actually going. Kind of an emotional time, but of course that's the way I am. I've never been so excited about anything, or more scared! I know it will be a once in a lifetime thing and will be absolutely amazing, even if I do miss you lovely people every now and then. Anyway, hope you enjoy the trip! I know I will!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)