Second week of classes! There’s a lot of reading to do. The classes are set up differently than they are in America. There’s a lecture and a tutorial for each class. The lectures are just what they sound like, huge classes with tons of students where the professors get up front and talk at us for an hour. The tutorials are the class participation portion, small groups where we have more in depth discussions on the topics discussed in the lectures.
Enough about classes, let’s get to the fun stuff! The last 2 Saturdays we got a fairly big group together to go to Bondi and hang out on the beach. We threw balls and Frisbees around and waded through the shallows getting soaked by the giant waves. Last week was the welcome back, join some clubs fair on the main courtyard. I signed up for chess club, the film society, and W.A.N.G. (We all need grub). Have yet to make it to chess club and W.A.N.G. hasn’t had any events yet, but I have already seen two movies with the Film Soc. Last Wednesday we went to the event cinemas to see Captain America. It was quite an awesome film, especially for the cheap student price ($8) we got. After the movie was the big back to school bash at the Ranch. It was pretty much jam packed, but we had a fun time hanging out and chilling at some apartments afterwards.
The following Thursday was a normal school day and that night was the big welcome back event at the U(niversity)-bar. Yes there is a bar in the campus hub. Complete with billiards, dance floor, and most importantly a small arcade. It was pretty fun. Again lots of people and loud music though. Friday was good. Had a pretty easy class period and went to the speed friendship event. It was a great time. Met loads of people there. When we were walking home we got invited to an apartment for dinner. We went over there and there were a couple Italians cooking a sausage chili dish and an egg/potatoes dish. We spent the evening eating and drinking wine there, and it was delicious. We went back to the Ranch to enjoy a nice calm night there.
Enough about classes, let’s get to the fun stuff! The last 2 Saturdays we got a fairly big group together to go to Bondi and hang out on the beach. We threw balls and Frisbees around and waded through the shallows getting soaked by the giant waves. Last week was the welcome back, join some clubs fair on the main courtyard. I signed up for chess club, the film society, and W.A.N.G. (We all need grub). Have yet to make it to chess club and W.A.N.G. hasn’t had any events yet, but I have already seen two movies with the Film Soc. Last Wednesday we went to the event cinemas to see Captain America. It was quite an awesome film, especially for the cheap student price ($8) we got. After the movie was the big back to school bash at the Ranch. It was pretty much jam packed, but we had a fun time hanging out and chilling at some apartments afterwards.
The following Thursday was a normal school day and that night was the big welcome back event at the U(niversity)-bar. Yes there is a bar in the campus hub. Complete with billiards, dance floor, and most importantly a small arcade. It was pretty fun. Again lots of people and loud music though. Friday was good. Had a pretty easy class period and went to the speed friendship event. It was a great time. Met loads of people there. When we were walking home we got invited to an apartment for dinner. We went over there and there were a couple Italians cooking a sausage chili dish and an egg/potatoes dish. We spent the evening eating and drinking wine there, and it was delicious. We went back to the Ranch to enjoy a nice calm night there.
Saturday was Bondi all day then we went out to some Sydney bars. It was stressful getting home since the train was down for repairs so we had to find where the bus stop was. Sunday was a nice, laid back, lazy day. I made some lazy-man’s spaghetti for the guys. Monday was my day off and then we went to Inferno’s Caffe for all you can eat pizza and pasta for $20. We brought some bags and gladware to put some leftovers in. Shhh! We got about 4 meals out of it. It wasn’t a buffet since the waiters were bringing the food out to us. At one point the waitress asked, “Would you like vegetarian or meat lovers?” so I asked, “You can carry those on the same tray?” After that we went to an apartment party next door. I went home early since I had to get up early for class the next day, but everyone had a good time. Yesterday was Tuesday. I had 2 classes and just hung out on campus. Today I spent in class then trying to figure out internet stuff. Not sure what’s going on for the rest of the week.
That’s about it for now! Thanks for reading!
I’m adjusting quite well. Almost on a reasonable sleep schedule. Slept in until 8:30 or so today. The weirdest part of adjusting is my internal compass. I’m so used to the sun being in the Southern part of the sky, so I keep catching myself thinking that north is south and vice versa. The campus is quite gorgeous. We’ve done quite a bit of walking around.Another roommate arrived on Monday. John is pretty cool. We’ve got a good group of guys. John and I went to the Macquarie center and ran into Mike again and ended up hanging out with him most of the day. That night we went across the corner to The Ranch Hotel for dinner and a few drinks. I Had a meat and mushroom pie and Fat Yak beer. It was quite excellent.
Tuesday was the big day in Sydney. The program I booked the study abroad through, CEA, had a day trip with the five students from the program, and our guide Murray. 
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| Guy playing with bubbles in Hyde Park |
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| Cool fountain in Hyde Park |
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Thursday was pretty laid back in comparison. I was able to sleep in a bit and then went to an interview with the International office to work on setting up an internship and learn more about the program. Then last night was the international students’ welcome cruise. We got on a boat around 7 and had lots of pizza and took a cruise around the harbor for 3 hours. They had a DJ playing music and there was lots of dancing.
The best things about Australia so far, besides the weather, are that the prices at restaurants and stuff have the taxes built in, so you pay the price that’s on the menu; they import almost no food items so everything tastes fresh and much better, including the pop; and they are much more easy-going and not as uptight about things (i.e. they have signs for toilets, and I have only seen one sign for a restroom.) That’s all I have for now
G'day mates! Welcome to Dan's wonderful world of super Sydney silliness. I arrived here safe at about 7 this morning local time after a 16 hour flight that departed around 10:50 PM from Los Angeles last friday (Where did Saturday go?).  |
| LA through the fog |
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| Shot of Los Angeles area |
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| Qantas A380 Air-jet like the one I rode in |
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| First view of Sydney Skyline |
We then took a van from the airport, through Sydney, to the Macquarie campus where the 8 of us from that airport pickup were dropped off at the 4 different housing locations. Here's some pictures from the van on the ride to campus. I got my keys and moved into my apartment where I met one of my apartment mates, Joey. He's pretty cool. Quite easy to get along with. I have my own room in an apartment with 3 bedrooms, a living room, a small kitchen/dining room, a restroom, and a toilet closet (?). Pictures to follow.
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| Finally some authentic Australian culture! |
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| First view of the Opera House. |
There are certainly lots of things to get used to here, such as the metric system: It was 7 degrees when we landed, which is ~44 degrees farenheit, gas is 1.44$/litre which is about 4$/gallon. The roads and cars are reverse of what I'm used to, and theres tropical plants and birds (Joey swears he saw a macaw) and it is only 45 degrees out... Plus everything is really expensive due to it being a big city and the exchange rate, about $1.165American:$1 Australian. So far it's been worth every penny, and we haven't even gone to downtown Sydney yet!!
Orientation stuff begins on Tuesday, we register for classes on Wednesday, and we start classes Monday. It'll be a busy week and I may not post again until we get internet in the homestead...
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| First view of my new Uni! |
-Dan
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