Leaving!

So, I went on this really cool beach walk this past weekend - pictures and details to come when I return from the Outback (which I'm leaving for tomorrow)! Hopefully, I don't die!

Classes have begun!

Monday, March 3rd

Classes started today. On Mondays, I have Making the Australian Landscape lecture, Intermediate Macroeconomics tutorial, Brain and Behavior lecture, along with the lecture for Australian Politics. The good news for the first week: no tutorials or practicals!

The day started at 1 PM with geology. Somehow I thought taking a science class on Australia might make things better. Nope. I still hate science with a passion. Geology ends at 2 PM and across campus also at 2 PM psychology begins. However, everyone is in the same position so I guess professors tend to end their lectures early and start them late. Why the university does not factor in travel time is beyond me…as with many things they do here. I do not understand why it is so hard to put a 15-minute gap between class times, and then professors could lecture the whole hour…CRAZINESS! But back to the psychology class…it was OK. It is a second year course, which is supposedly equivalent to a third course in America (side note: Australian degrees are only three years. They tend to only take courses in their majors or classes they need to understand the classes in their major). However, the first few lectures have been discussing things I have learned numerous times (it is getting somewhat boring…). On a cool note, we will be training rats in our tutorials for the first six weeks. That should be interesting. Psychology ends at 3 PM, and of course Australian Politics begins at, yes, 3 PM. It is a bit of a shorter walk though, which I am thankful for. What I am not thankful for is the ghetto-fabulous building that my lecture is in. For two hours I get to sit on oh-so-comfy old-wooden benches. And, goodness, if someone in the middle wants out, the whole row has to stand up and walk out of the row because there is literally no room for them to walk by and nowhere to put your feet (if you are a person sitting). I hope the class is good. The professor does not seem too bad, so I am hoping it will be interesting. I am sure I can enjoy the class fully once I get pass the venue, which will happen…I am now adjusted to my dorm room and its lack of amenities (however, I will NEVER complain about GW Housing Programs again…there is something about having your bathroom, kitchen, living room, etc. My roommate here who goes to Bucknell tells me I am just now experiencing “real” dorms…and if this is what dorms are, I am not sad I have missed out the last two and half years).

Government ended at 5 PM. It was a pretty quick walk back to John’s, where I relaxed for a few moments and then got ready for the formal dinner. Formal dinners require one to dress up and wear this graduation-like robe (pictures to come, I promise). We proceed, single-file, into the Harry Potter dining hall, stand, and wait for the High Table to enter. Once they sit, we can sit. Then, dinner is served, we eat, then come announcements and random impromptu speeches about the most ridiculous, off-the-wall topics. Hopefully, I am never chosen to give one. Some were quite funny though. The Rector then spoke, gave some words of wisdom, and made some comments (good and bad) about O-Week, and said grace, in Latin after which, the High Table leaves and everyone follows.

Tuesday, March 4th

My classes, or rather class does not begin until 4 PM on Tuesdays! I plan to usually do readings during the day, but being only the second day of classes, I had none. So, I woke up rather late, ate lunch and then made my way down to Newtown on King Street. I went to Newtown Variety as directed by an American from my hall. I am a bit upset I did not know of this place earlier. Why? Because it is CHEAP. It is a random collection of things much like a dollar store. And, I was able to get some good buys – like a drying rack that goes for around 40 bucks at the local Kmart. Newtown Variety - $15. Can’t beat that. 5 meter Ethernet cord, Office Works, $20, Newtown Variety…a low $5.50. The place is a gold mine! I was also able to get to the bank while in Newtown, which was good considering I was about to be money-less, and I was able to find a pharmacy as I had been feeling a bit under the weather the past several days.

Class was rather uneventful. I already have learned the topics the lecturer covered…hopefully this changes in coming lectures.

Wednesday, March 5th

Usually, Wednesday will be a long day. A psychology tutorial, geology lecture, and a four hour geology practical (shoot me now…oh, yes, that’s right, guns are illegal here, along with handcuffs and pocket knives…honestly WHAT are you going to do with a pocket knife. You can do just as much harm with a pen. Perhaps those will be outlawed soon.). Anyways, luckily the psychology tutorial and geology practical do not start until week 2! So, today was good. Of course, there was a formal dinner in the evening. It was much of the same. Only tonight, I got to sit next to an “OMG I LOVE BEING A JOHNSMAN” fresher who was a strong enforcer of the rules of Meniscus, or dare I say…Kool-Aid. I could have lived without this experience. Moral of the story: I guess stereotypical frat boys are plentiful at every university.

Thursday, March 6th

Another short day! At least this week. Normally, I have four hours of class – government tutorial, two hours of economics (YAY!), and a psychology lecture. I didn’t have the tutorial and I skipped the psychology lecture (don’t worry Mom and Dad, I can stream it on the Internet whenever I want) in favor of some shopping. However, it was shopping with a purpose.

See, I am going to the Outback for nine days (I can hear you all laughing…) and during this trip I do not want to ruin any of lovely things. I was in the market for some cheap, plain white t-shirts, a new duffle bag, a sleeping bag, a small day-pack, and flashlight.

The first stop was Kmart. Sleeping bags were 60 bucks, and having done some previous online browsing this was a bit too rich for my blood. However, I thought I would be able to get some cheap Fruit-of-the-Loom t-shirts. 3 for $10, right? WRONG. Try, ONE for $10. I would have fallen off my chair, had I been sitting. This country needs a Walmart! I do not know why I was so shocked by this ridiculous price for a plain, white, undershirt, in a country that charges $2.35 for a pack of M&Ms, but I was. Refusing to pay this, I went onward, towards my final destination, Paddy’s Market.

Along the way, I stopped at a few travel agencies to pick up information on the Great Barrier Reef. I also stumbled across a whole-in-the-wall camping store. I almost walked by it, but luckily I didn’t. What did I find a sleeping bag on sale for $25 (which I happily returned to buy on Friday)!

I thought Paddy’s Market would be more of an artsy market that sold nice jewelry, clothes, photography, etc. Again, I was wrong. It was more like a Trader’s World…junk, so I thought. Then, after going through a few booths I realized Paddy’s was a gold mine for my current needs. I was able to purchase a duffle bag, a day-pack, and a flashlight, all at a very economical price. I also found a coin purse, random I know. But, here they do not have one-dollar bills, they are coins, and there is also a two-dollar coin. It is annoying to hunt for those at the bottom of my bags. Hence, I have been in desperate need of a coin purse. In general though, Paddy’s is filled with same junk booth after booth. On the way home, I stopped at Broadway, did some more shopping, and also picked up some of my textbooks.

Friday, March 7th

Today, I got a bit of a late start. I had planned to get up and going by 9 AM. It was a nice thought. I was about ready to leave college at noon, when I realized it was lunch time…hey, a free lunch, I was not going to pass that up. So, I finally left college around 12:30 PM. My first stop was a Jockey store in hopes that I could find some plain white t-shirts cheaper than $10/each. I never found the store, but stumbled upon Paddy’s again. Remembering they had booths and booths of t-shirts, I figured they would have some souvenir –y shirts at 3 for 10 deals…after all they do in NYC. Wrong…again. But, I did find a random booth that had my white t-shirts, 4 for 18, a bit more than 3 for 10, but not too much more. Thinking this is the best I am going to do, so I made my purchased. Overall, I’m happy. If these get gross, dirty, and stained out in the wildness I don’t care and that was my goal.

After making my discovery at Paddy’s I went on to Darling Harbour. I went to the Sydney Aquarium. I definitely recommend it! Highlights: the giant salt water crocodile, the seals, shark and stingray tank (the stingray is mammoth. Hopefully I can figure out how to upload my video of it because it is the largest stingray I have ever seen,), and the exhibit on the Great Barrier Reef.

While at Darling Harbour, I stopped for Pancakes on the Rocks. This time is was the Chocolate Devil Delights…the best I have had so far. It is chocolate pancakes, chocolate ice cream, cream (if you want, I did not), chocolate syrup, and strawberries. DELICIOUS!

After a wonderful snack, I began the walk back to campus, stopping to purchase my sleeping bag. At college I went to dinner, and chatted the night away with an Aussie and my roommate. Random fun Australian fact: it is a law that everyone must vote. If you do not take part in the election, you get fined.

Saturday, March 8th

Today, Sarah and I went to the Glebe Markets. Definitely my favorite markets thus far! Surprisingly, it was only a couple blocks off campus so it took no time to get there (a major plus), and there were so many cute booths. It is probably a good thing it is only open on Saturdays. We spent a good two hours there. It is what I think of when I think of a market – clothes, jewelry, accessories, books, etc. It was a thousands times better than Eastern Market (in DC). I ended up buying two t-shirts and made mental notes of other items that will be purchased in the future.

I spent the rest of the night doing nothing of real excitement. Mostly just getting things together for class. It seemed like a good night to do it. The weekends don’t really seem to be the weekends here – I saw a lot of people staying in…but on Wednesdays they go crazy. Its odd and it is throwing my sense of time off.

Opera House and Bridge Pictures

Pictures from the Botanical Gardens

Random Photos from the Botanical Gardens, included are the bats I talked about in earlier posts!

O-Week

Monday, February 25th

A pretty lazy day. The highlight was a dinner provided by Arcadia at the Congo Bar in Darling Harbour. It was right on the water, so beautiful. And, the food was so yummy. After hanging out there a bit, a group of my friends went with some Arcadia kids who go to Macquire University to Pancakes on the Rocks, which is also in Darling Harbour. It was AMAZING. Its pancakes, ice cream, and various toppings. If you ever come to Sydney, you must eat here!

Tuesday, February 26th

Today was an action-packed day. I went to the beach for the first time since I have been here. There are a good amount of beaches around Sydney. I went to Coogee, the closet to where I live. I was not there less than two hours. It was nice to get to the beach, but the waves were much more powerful than I expected. I was also terrified that I would be strung by something and possibly dies. So after getting knocked over by waves twice and dragged cross the floor, I decided to get out. Not soon after I left as I had to make it back to St. John’s for matriculation mass and dinner.

The events for the college’s freshers and their parents began around 5:30 PM, Obviously, the Americans were parent-less. Mass was mass, and dinner was pretty good. I sat by an RA, a mom, and two new freshers. They all were very lovely. We talked about St. Johns, US politics, and just got to know each other a bit. During dinner all the freshers had to sign the St. John’s book, which has the details and signatures of all college’s members since the it’s inception. After dinner, there was coffee and tea in the library. My favorite comment/question of the night: I told an Aussie father that I was from Ohio, and he just assumed that my parents were farmers. The same man also thought school shootings happen on a daily basis…he was an interesting and nice guy.

After a bit of mingling, the seniors came in to announce it was time for “fresher activities.” They began with making us wear this very large, very ugly orange shirt, with cattle tags as our nametags (these shirts were not to be washed the entire week…). The next step was teaching us when and how to do a “fresher cockroach.” Whenever they blew a whistle, we had to get on our backs, kick our legs in the air, and wave our arms. We ran around out in public, stopping every so often to do a cockroach (sometimes freshers were in the middle of road and oddly enough drivers did not mind that people were stopping traffic), and finally made our way to the pub across from St. John’s for a night of fun.

Wednesday, February 27th

Today began bright and early at 7 AM. We awakened to the sounds of blow horns and whistles. The first event of the day was to learn some of the college’s songs (which you can tell this use to be an all boys college as the songs are quite inappropriate). Then, we went to the official welcome by the university, had more singing practice, and later had a pool party at John’s with all the other colleges. For dinner, we went to the college next door to meet more freshers. Later in the evening people mingled in the Dail (the college’s or dorm’s bar) and went to the Grose (the pub across the street and our official sponsor). I find it very interesting that the college has a pub as the official sponsor and even has its own pub inside the dorm.

Thursday, February 28th

Breakfast for the Jets (the girls of St. John’s) was at Andrews, an all boys college. There was a tennis theme for the meal, but for some reason we went in togas. I had no idea why. After breakfast, there was more singing practice (they are big on their songs). In the afternoon, we headed to King Street’s second-hand stores to find outfits for our “bad-taste harbor cruise.” We had to walk through downtown Sydney in our outfits and got some very interesting stares. That was humorous. The cruise had some amazing views and was a pretty good time.

Friday, February 29th

The seniors began blowing their whistles and blow horns at 6 AM. My roommate and I ignored them. We missed out on a morning run and swim, among other activities that I am not sad I missed. When we finally got up around 10, I went with a group of Americans to fix our class registration at the International Office. I finally have the classes I want (Intermediate Macroeconomics, Australian Politics, Brain and Behavior, and Making the Australian Landscape). I skipped the rest of O-Week activities, called the Mom and Dad, and just enjoyed some alone time.

Saturday, March 1

We had breakfast at Sancta (the all girls college next door) and other various activities during the day. Most of these I skipped as I began to lose the love for O-Week.

In the evening, I went with some American friends to go to the Opera House to see “As You Like It” by Bell Shakespeare. It was a more modern version, for which I am thankful. It was OK. I like musicals more than plays, but the other girls really enjoyed it. I am just happy I can say I have seen a show at the Sydney Opera House.

After the show, we went to the original Pancakes on the Rocks…delicious. The service was not so great. It is nice not having to tip, but it takes some of the customer’s power away, which I do not like. Had I had to tip, this waitress would not have gotten a good one. Asking her for a glass of water was like asking her to cure cancer. Also, learned a good lesson – stay away from the trains late at night. One, the end around 1 AM, and two, classy people do not really ride them. We made it home safely though.

Sunday, March 2nd

Today was a lazy day. I went to the office supply store to get some notebooks for classes which start tomorrow :( And, went to the BBQ. Other than that, not a lot happened.