Dandenongs

This weekend was another amazing weekend in Australia! It's sad to think that I'm going to be leaving in three weeks. But I miss my family and friends at home. I want to go home and I don't want to leave all at the same time! This weekend was definitely another fun weekend. Friday night I went with some enviro club friends to go see the movie Prince of Persia. It was actually better than I thought it was going to be. I also had some japanese crepes, which were interesting. It was pretty much desert in a crepe. I got the cheesecake deluxe crepe, which was a piece of cheesecake, blueberries, strawberries, and whipped cream all wrapped up in a crepe. It was delicious, and I'm sure unhealthy too. Haha. That was a fun night. I always enjoy trying new things too.

Saturday was also another fun day. I worked on some homework at the beginning of the day. That afternoon I went to Amy's house. I met Amy through Christian Union on campus, and I've really enjoyed hanging out with her when we've gotten the chance. That night we went out to an Ethiopian restaurant. Another new food to try! It was really good too. I don't remember the name of the dish, but it was good. It had bread like a crepe, except it was thicker and a bit spongy. It also had a sourdough taste to it. In the middle of the bread was some cooked meat. It had been cooked in a sauce, so it had some flavor to it. There was also some curry powder on the side you could sprinkle on top to add some spice to it. You would then rip off the bread and pick up the meat with it. No cutlery required! I also had some mango nectar juice, which was also tasty. That night I hanged out at Amy's house, where we watched Marley and Me. That is such a sad movie! There was some crying involved. It was a sad movie, but still good.

The next day I went with Amy to her church, which was nice since I haven't had the chance to go to church since I've been here. I've been really busy and it is hard to figure out where to go to church when you only have public transportation to rely on. After church we headed to the Dandenongs, which is a mountain range nearby. Not very tall, but still pretty. We did some scenic driving before stopping at a picnic spot. Amy's dad grilled some sausages on one of the public barbecues they had there. That is one thing I've noticed about Australia. They seem to have public barbecues everywhere that people can use. There were some on the beach in Cairns. There were also some at this picnic spot. After we had lunch they had a spot where you could feed wild birds, which included cockatoos and rosellas. The rosellas were so pretty! All you had to do was hold your hand out with some bird seed in it, and a cockatoo would land on your arm. They were pretty heavy too! It took the rosellas a little convincing to get on your arm. They were a bit shy. One of the cockatoos also stole our bag of bird seed! I thought it was kind of funny though. It was a lot of fun feeding the birds. We then took a bit of a scenic drive heading back to Amy's house. I had a lot of fun feeding the birds and hanging out with Amy and her family. It was definitely another fun weekend in Australia.

Otways

This past weekend I went to the Otways, which is a national park in Australia. It was a very pretty area. I really liked it. I headed down there with Anthony and Megan from the enviro club on Friday night. We headed to Cathy's house and got there around 10 p.m. We made pretty good time, especially since we took a wrong turn at one point. I also got to meet Cathy's bird Krumpet, who was pretty cool. He was very friendly and would sit on your shoulder.

Saturday was definitely a long day, but a fun one. Our first stop when we headed out that morning was Mait's Rest. It's a patch of rainforest in the Otways. Apparently Australia used to be covered in rainforest and forest areas before European settlement. Now there are only patches of these areas left. It was definitely very pretty. I always thought of rainforests being in hot, tropical climates, but at the moment it was cool, not hot and humid. There were lots of tall trees with underbrush, especially ferns. There were some tall ferns too, some taller than me. After Mait's Rest we drove a little ways and then stopped on the side of the road to do some koala searching. We found quite a few in the area where we stopped. I was also able to see a baby koala with its mom! So adorable. The baby was definitely cute. After looking at the koalas we headed to the Cape Otway Lighthouse, known as Lightstation in Australia. We had lunch at the cafe there and wandered around. We went into the lighthouse too. The lighthouse itself wasn't very big, but it was on a tall cliff. After the lighthouse we went over to the Otway Fly. The Otway Fly is a walkway that allows you to walk among the canopy of the trees. It was pretty cool. Not many people can say they've been among the canopy of a forest. The forest at this spot was very pretty too. The highest point in the walk was about 154 feet off of the ground. It was very cool. After the Otway Fly we headed over to Triplet Falls to do a short hike and look at the waterfalls. The waterfalls were pretty. The walk was also nice, since we were walking in the forest. There was definitely a lot of underbrush compared to forests at home. Later that night we went to go see some glow worms. That was another hike in the woods. It was worth it though. They glow worms were pretty though. It was like lots of small blue lights. It was something very cool to see. That night we hanged out at Cathy's house, and I got the chance to try to play a didgeridoo.

The next day we headed back to Melbourne, but we did stop along the way. We stopped at a small town called Lara for some lunch. I got to try some pancakes with ice cream on top, which is apparently how they eat pancakes in Australia. After lunch we headed to the Serendip Wildlife Sanctuary. This one was free, which was nice. The main focus of this sanctuary was wetlands, even though they also had animals such as the kangaroo and emu. Seeing the wetlands though was seeing something different. I thought it was cool. There were a lot of birds there. They had one interesting bird called a musk duck. I also saw a cute tiny bird called a fairy wren. After walking around the sanctuary we headed back to Melbourne. I definitely had a great time at the Otways. It was a fun trip.

Phillip Island

This past weekend was another fun weekend. On Saturday I got to hang out with Christina and Jamie. We went to Chadstone mall to go see the Robin Hood movie that just came out. First we had some lunch at the pancake parlour. I got the jamaican pancakes, which were really good. They had fried bananas, with cinnamon and maple syrup. It reminded me of bananas foster on top of pancakes. This place was not cheap though. It cost $18 for some strawberry pancakes. But those jamaican pancakes were really good. We also went to a pet store before the movies and looked at some kittens and puppies they had for sale. They were so adorable! We then went and saw Robin Hood, which was good. I liked it. All in all it was a fun day.

Sunday I went on a day trip to Phillip Island! I went with Rachel, who I've met through Christian Union. The first thing we did was head to the wildlife park. It was another fun place to go to. They had some pretty hungry kangaroos there too. If they saw that you had some food they would come right up to you and they would use their paws to try to grab your hand and eat the food. The emus were pretty hungry too. But the wallabies were laid back. I finally saw some dingoes too. We then headed over to the nobbies, which was a rocky area where there are supposed to be seals. We didn't see any seals, but the area was really pretty. After that we went to go see the penguin parade. Even though it was cold it was definitely worth it. We had a pretty good view in the stands. There were tons of people there. And Rachel brought her binoculars, which helped to see them, even though they weren't too hard to see. The penguins were so adorable! They were really cute and small, with a white belly and blue feathers. We could also hear them making noises. And they were so adorable when they would waddle! It was weird just seeing them pop out of the ocean. A group of them would then move up the beach. They was a rock pile they liked too. A group of them would come out of the ocean and then head to the rock pile. They would then pause at the rock pile for a few minutes before all of them would waddle into the grassy area. And when we were heading back along the boardwalk we were able to see some in the grass. They were pretty close to the boardwalk too. We then got some dinner before heading back to Melbourne. I had a great time and I'm really glad Rachel was able to go with me.

One Busy Weekend

The weekend of May 8th has been a very busy weekend, but it has also been a lot of fun. Friday I went to the BBQ club lunch and ate some lunch with Christina. It was good to catch up with her because I hadn't seen her in awhile. That night I went out to a club with Amy. We went to a place called the Night Cat. She said that they normally play jazz music, even though Friday night they had more of a latin band playing, but the music was really good. I also liked the vibe of the place. They had couches and tables and a place to dance. We had some drinks and talked and watched people dance. It was pretty entertaining. I had a good time.

Saturday was a really fun day. I went to Ballarat with Megan, who I've met through the Enviro club. Ballarat is a city about an hour and a half outside of Melbourne. It reminds me a bit of Rock Hill, but I think Rock Hill is probably bigger. We went driving down mainstreet and then Megan showed me the dried up lake. The state of Victoria has been in a drought for several years. There was a little bit of water in it though, since it had rained recently. But it looked more like a marsh than a lake. We headed over to the gardens and they had a little market going on. We walked around and got some food from one of the stands. We then headed over to the gardens and ate there. It was a nice day. After lunch we headed over to the wildlife sanctuary. When we headed in there were kangaroos everywhere, which I wasn't quite expecting. But it was awesome. I got to walk around and pet them. Megan showed me around and then we went and watched a snake show. I was able to pet a boa constrictor. After the snakes they brought out a koala, and I was able to pet him and get a picture with him. After that there was an alligator feeding. Then a tasmanian devil feeding and a spotted quoll feeding. I was able to see a lot of wildlife there. I was also able to see emus, wombats, snakes, crocodiles, wallabies, an eagle, and an echidna. At the end of the day Megan's friend Glen was able to take us into the back where they kept some of the snakes and I was able to see a snapping turtle, and we walked into the crocodile enclosure, even though we were on a bridge above the crocodiles. It was definitely an amazing day.

Sunday was another busy day. I headed into the city with Sarah. We went to the Queen Victoria Market, which I hadn't seen yet. They had so much stuff there. There was produce, meats, coffee, flowers, retail. There was also a lot of yelling going on around the produce, people yelling out prices to try to sell their stuff. If I were closer I would do my shopping there. The prices were really good. I was able to buy some souvenirs while I was there. It was fun because we just walked around and looked at stuff. After that we walked around the city so Sarah was able to take some pictures for a project. I also went out that night for Hayley's birthday, who is another girl I've met through the Enviro club and Megan's housemate. First we all met at the Hawthorn hotel and got some drinks and dinner. They had $5 pizzas there, which was a good price. After dinner we headed over to the Geebung, which is a club. There we got some drinks and danced. It was a lot of fun. They had a band playing too. I knew some of the songs, but they also played some Australian songs that I didn't know. It was definitely a great night and I had a lot of fun.

ANZAC weekend

Well it has been quite a busy week related to school work, so I'm trying to catch up on my blogging. Again. Last weekend (April 24th-25th) was ANZAC weekend in Australia (I'll explain what it stands for in a moment.) The first thing I did that weekend was go on a Christian Union girls retreat Friday night and Saturday. It was so much fun! We went down to Mornington Peninsula and stayed in a holiday house, which was really pretty. I rode down to Mornington with Amy, who I had previously met at the Christian Union fish and chips dinner, and we became friends after that, so it was fun to drive down there with someone I knew. We also had some fun conversations in the car :-). I was able to meet many girls from Deakin and Monash University, which is another University in Melbourne. The message for the weekend was about true beauty, which I thought was a really good message since so many girls struggle with their body image. Friday night we spent some time doing face masks and then playing sing star (karaoke) on the playstation. It was in the morning that the talks started to begin. In the morning we talked about the media/culture's view on beauty. Then we later talked about what the bible says about beauty, and how to incorporate that into our lives. Then in the afternoon we had some free time, and Amy, Alex, Bri, and I went into the town and got some coffee and shared a vanilla slice (yum!). Then we walked over to the beach area, where I took some pictures. It was pretty, but not really warm that day. That evening we had dinner before heading back to Deakin. It was definitely a fun retreat.

The next day I decided to go to the ANZAC ceremonies with Sarah. ANZAC stand for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corp. ANZAC Day for Australians is pretty much like Memorial Day for Americans, but for Australians here it is a big deal, not just a reason to get together and BBQ. I got up at 4 a.m. so Sarah and I could make it to the 6 a.m. Dawn Service at the Shrine of Remembrance. It was a very touching ceremony, even if we didn't get to see any of it because there were so many people there. There were thousands of people! But we were able to hear everything. They definitely honor their war veterans. After the service was over he headed into the city to go get breakfast. So many places were busy! Apparently that was what everyone else from the service was doing. We ended up at McDonalds because the food there was cheap and we were actually able to find a seat. After breakfast we stuck around for the parade, which started around 9 a.m. It was a pretty big parade. They had sections feeding in from three different streets. It was an interesting parade to watch. They had lots of old cars and veterans and bands marching. Even though it was a very early morning, I'm glad I went. It was an interesting experience and a very fun weekend.

Another City Adventure

I'm a little bit behind on my blogs, so I need to catch up. On the 19th I went on another city adventure, this time with Sarah (from the house in front of me) and Lena, who is from Germany and Kelsey (from the house in front of me) met her in Alice Springs. The three of us had a good day in the city. We walked along the Yarra River and had some coffee by the river. After sitting on a bench talking and enjoying a view of the river we headed over to the information center. Even though I have been here for a couple of months I hadn't even been there yet! I didn't realize how big it was and how much stuff it had. It was pretty cool. After that we walked over to the church across the street and had a look inside. The church was St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral. It was very pretty inside. Then we ended up wandering into the state library. It was very big. There was also an exhibit called "shop til you drop". We walked around and looked at that, which was interesting. We also walked around and looked at a couple of the art galleries. I thought they were interesting because I felt like I was looking at a history of Melbourne through paintings. We then walked through Chinatown. We had lunch in a Greek restaurant. It was really good. I liked it because it tasted like authentic Greek food. It wasn't Americanized, which happens to food in America. We walked over towards the Melbourne Baths, which is a gym. It looked really nice from the outside. We also went to the Royal Arcade, which was a bunch of shops. After that we walked down an alley and looked at some graffiti art. I thought it was very interesting to look at. It was very creative. We then went into an opal store and learned a good amount about opals. One new thing I learned is that the majority of opals come from Australia. We also watched the guy shape, smooth, and shine a very small opal. It was a fun store to go into. I definitely enjoyed my day in the city.

Enviro Trip #2: Nest Box Monitoring

Over the weekend I went to Benella with the Enviro club to do nest box monitoring. I had a great time hanging out with some of my Australian friends. The whole point of the nest box monitoring was to go around and look into nest boxes that had been put up around the area to see if animals such as squirrel gliders or sugar gliders were living in them. We headed down there Friday night. We stayed in a boy scouts hall, which reminded me a bit of the Homeworks experience at home. There was a lot of people there. There were two other groups from different universities. I found out later that there were supposed to be over 100 people helping out that weekend. We were split up into different groups to go and look at the boxes. I was in a group with a few other Deakin Uni students. The first day definitely felt long. It wasn't until the 10th box before we found any animals. It was definitely a lot of walking and climbing ladders. And then it was frustrating when it was hard to find the nest boxes. But when we finally did see a sugar or squirrel glider they were really adorable! I got some good pictures. There also was a BBQ Saturday night, which was good. It was definitely a good experience to see some native Australian wildlife. I'm glad I went. I had a fun time.

Reef and Rainforest

For my Easter break I decided that I wanted to go to Cairns. I flew up on Saturday, to a rainy Cairns. I was really excited to see my mom and dad. We stayed at trinity beach, which was a little north of cairns. The first few days weren't too exciting, since it pretty much rained. We walked around Cairns, going into shops. We walked along the esplanade, in which there was a salt water lagoon, which was pretty cool. We also went into the night markets, which was pretty cool. They had some interesting stuff. I got some fruity wine made from lychee. I liked it, but it was very sweet. One day we also went into the mall in Cairns. We ate at the food court, which was packed. It was hard to get a seat. Mom and I also went to the rainforest dome in cairns. I thought it was interesting. None of the birds were caged, so they flew all around you. I really enjoyed it because I got to look at some native australian birds. There were also some koalas and rainforest wallabies there.

The major things that we did was go see the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef. Both were amazing. We went and saw the rainforest first. We went on the Billy Tea Safaris. The first thing that we did in the tour was go down the Daintree river. We saw a snake and a couple of crocodiles, and the crocodiles were a lot smaller than I was expecting. We then went to the rainforest itself and went on a boardwalk. We saw a cassowary, which is endangered. We also saw a spider and some lizards. The scenery itself was really pretty. At lunch we were able to feed some kangaroos and wallabies. After lunch we went to a creek. The water was really pretty. We relaxed there for a bit and ate some tropical fruit. A couple I really liked was dragonfruit and a custard fruit. After that we went to cape tribulation beach and were able to walk around. It was really pretty there too.

The exciting thing of the week was going to see the reef. I thought it was fantastic. We went with a boat called Seastar. The crew was really nice, and I thought it was good because it was a small group. There was only 30 people. I couldn't imagine going in a group larger than that. The first thing that we did was go to Michealmas Cay. We went on a snorkeling tour first. The coral there was pretty. It was amazing to see. I don't even know how to describe it. It's stuff I've seen on tv, but it was amazing to see in real life. Dad and I also did some introductory diving, which was cool. I was nervous at first about the diving, but it wasn't too difficult and I really enjoyed it. After that we had some lunch and headed off to Hastings Reef. There were so many fish there! I can't even remember all of the fish that we saw. Quite a few nemos, that's for sure. Dad and I went on a second dive. We saw lots of fish, and even got to feed some. We even swam between walls of coral. We were able to touch a sea slug and a giant clam, which was cool. We then went snorkeling again. I was surprised about how you saw different things snorkeling and diving. When we were snorkeling, we were among the shallow coral and were able to see lots of colorfish there too. I thought it was amazing. I had so much fun. It went by really fast.

Environment Club Trip to Wildlife Sanctuary

This past weekend I went on a trip with the Enviro club at Deakin. I had joined the club and when I saw on facebook that they were doing a trip to a wildlife sanctuary, I definitely wanted to join. I had to get up bright and early on Saturday morning because we were meeting on campus at 8:00 a.m. to leave. We were only on the road for 20 minutes before a person's car broke down. We pulled off to a side street and had to rearrange people in cars before we could head off again. The person with the broken down car stayed behind to wait for some help. He met us later in the day. We took a pretty scenic route past an area called Kinglake. It was pretty but there had been bushfires there a year before, which was still evident. Many of the large trees were black and growth was starting to come back. But it did look pretty spooky. It was also foggy too. We made a short stop in Kinglake for groceries for our lunches. Then we headed off to our destination, which was a farm in a very hilly area. It was really pretty. We stayed with a couple named Trent and Vicky. They were nice enough to let us stay in their home. After we had lunch I was in the group that headed off to the wildlife sanctuary for the day. When we showed up we were able to go see the animals first before the hard work began. The sanctuary was called The Haven and it wasn't open to the public. They had all kinds of animals there, and I was able to see native birds, along with wombats and kangaroos. After we went and saw the animals the work began. I was able to help clean out a shed, and then I helped a group carry tree limbs to the avery for the birds. After a few hours of work we went to the back of their property were there was a really pretty river and we hung out there for a bit. That evening the club did a BBQ, which was good. BBQs in Australia tend to have sausage, compared to hotdogs and hamburgers. That night we hung out by a fire. We also went spotlighting for wildlife, but we didn't see anything and Trent said it was probably because of the noise. That night I got to sleep outside on a pull-out mattress on their veranda, while other people slept on the balcony upstairs and some people slept in the loft upstairs. Luckily I was under something because it started raining during the night and people from the balcony had to move.

The next morning I was woken up bright and early at 6 a.m. This was because a group of people were getting up to go take a hike to the top of the mountain to see the sun rise. Since I was woken up I decided to go with them. Man was it a morning workout! The hill was very steep and it was a long walk up to the top. It was pretty exhausting. And it was cloudy so we didn't get to see much of a sunrise, but it was really pretty up at the top of the hill. When we were going back down we also saw some kangaroo going through the property. We then had a big breakfast, which included some homemade jam, which was delicious. We then went and drove to a neighbor's house and saw a house that was completely sustainable through solar power. It was also a really pretty house, even though it wasn't very big. It was also sitting on a pretty piece of property. The house was doughnut shaped so there were windows everywhere looking out onto the gorgeous view, and they also had a pond right in front of the house. It was really cool to see. I was in the group that day that was going to do planting on Trent and Vicky's property. It was a lot of work. We were planting on a really steep hill, which was really hard. It was a few hours but we were able to get a good amount of plants in. It was exhausting but rewarding to see all the work we had done. That afternoon we then headed back to campus. The trip was definitely a fun experience, and I'm really glad I went.

Cheers,

Brittany

Christian Union Retreat

This past weekend I went on a retreat with the Christian Union group from Deakin. We went to Phillip Island and stayed in a vacation home. We had a late dinner and played some "getting to know you" games, including 'never have i ever'. We also went on a late walk on the beach. That was a lot of fun. I was able to talk to people to get to know them better. The stars were very beautiful too. A few of the Australians also pointed out some of their constellations. Then we had the adventure or trying to find our way back. We had taken a small path to get onto the beach and couldn't find it on our way back because it was so dark. We got back eventually though.

We had an early start at 8am on Saturday for breakfast. After breakfast we had a discussion. The theme of the weekend was called 'The Great Exchange'. During the weekend we talked about how we could exchange our bad ways for God's Will. We also had morning tea. We did not drink tea but had something called cordial. They come in different flavors such as fruit cup or banana mango. It is pretty much a concentrated juice that you add to water. It's pretty much flavored sugar water. It was good though. We also had cookies (called biscuits in Australia). We also had some really good BBQ for lunch and then it was beach time! A group of us headed to the beach. I played cricket again on the beach and also played some ultimate frisbee (which an American had taught them the year before). We also played in the ocean a bit. That afternoon we had group discussions. The one I went to was on bible reading, which I found interesting. That night we did some prayer and singing and then hung out and played games. There was also a chocolate fountain for dessert!

Sunday morning was another early morning. We had our last discussion and talked about where we go from here. We were going to have fish and chips on the beach but the weather was looking a little iffy, so we had it in the backyard instead. It was also someone's birthday that day, so there was chocolate cake for dessert. After that was the ride home, which I slept most of the way through. I was so tired after that long weekend, but I did have a lot of fun. I was able to meet new people and focus on God.

Cheers,

Brittany

Birthday in Australia!

Tuesday was the 16th of March, which was my birthday! I don't know if I would have described myself as really excited because it didn't even feel like it was the 16th. I went out to lunch with Becky at a place called Brunetti. I walked in and they had a whole case of chocolates and cheesecakes and so many other desserts! I got a sandwich, fruit tart, and a raspberry granita. It was delicious. After that I went to class. It wasn't very interesting but I wasn't going to skip it. Later that night people from the classical house (the house in front of me) threw me a party! So nice of them. There were balloons, and some streamers, and a delicious cake. We all hung out and had a lot of fun. It was a great birthday.

Wednesday was St. Patrick's Day. I don't think it is as big of a deal in Australia. I didn't really see any Australians wearing green. I went to the Christian Union meeting, which was good. I'm going on a retreat with that group this weekend, which I'm looking forward to. I also went to a BBQ club meeting. Later that day I went to the Enviro club meeting. They had snacks and sandwiches to eat, which were good. They talked about what is going to be going on this year. I signed up to go to the retreat to a wildlife sanctuary, which I'm looking forward to. That night I didn't do anything crazy, just hung out with Ali, from Nevada. I had met her my first day on the trip from the airport to housing and I've seen her again a couple of times, and Josh invited her to Australia's Got Talent, and the two of us decided we should hang out. It was nice just to relax. We were going to watch a movie but the dvd player didn't work, so we just watched what was on tv.

Not a whole lot happened today. I went to my Australia New World Nation class. I'm a little nervous about the paper in there. I feel that the professor hasn't explained the assignments very thoroughly, and the essay questions seem pretty broad and a little hard to understand. But I think I understand the assignment a little bit better now so hopefully it won't be too difficult once I try to start it. I went to lunch with Christina today at a place on campus. That was fun too. I really enjoy hanging out with people, I just now need to find a balance between work and play, and try to get my assignments done in time. I'll figure it out. I'm trying not to worry too much about it. I'll post about the Christian Union retreat when I get back. I'm excited! Hopefully I'll get to meet more Australians to hang out with.

Cheers,

Brittany

St. Kilda Beach

On Sunday I made a trip to St. Kilda beach with Christina and her boyfriend Jamie. The weather was beautiful and so was the beach. The only thing was that when we were on the tram Christina and I realized that we forgot our cameras! I was so sad. When we made it to the beach we walked over to Luna park and walked by booths that were set-up along a walkway. There was jewelry, clothes, paintings, and other cool stuff being sold. After that we went and sat on the beach and ate lunch. We then took a walk along the pier. We also saw some giant jellyfish in the water! That got rid of my desire to go swimming. When we were walking back toward the beach a little kid starting yelling that someone's pole caught a fish. The poles were just leaning on the pier and nobody came to claim them. So Jamie went over and reeled in the fish. A group of people started to collect and someone told Jamie that he should be careful or the fish might bite his finger off (which wasn't true). It was pretty funny. We then walked through the streets and went to the botanical gardens. It was so pretty there! After that we went a store and we all got gelato, which was really good. It was a fun day.

On Monday I decided that I wanted to go back to St. Kilda, since I wanted to take some pictures. I packed a lunch and headed over. I went back to the botanical gardens first so I could get some reading done for school. I met an interesting Australian guy in the park. He was an older man that started to feed the pigeons and he told me that he was originally from Africa. He reminded me of Crocodile Dundee a little bit, minus the hat. After that I went back to the beach to take pictures. I even went back to the pier. They have a wildlife refuge over there for some penguins and water rats ( I can't remember the name, rakali I think). When I was walking around a couple of people saw a penguin hiding the the rocks, and I was able to get a look at it! It was cute. That night I went to a fish and chips event with the Christian Union club. That was a lot of fun. They got fish and chips from a restaurant and we carpooled to the beach. I met a couple of cool girls named Amy and Rachel, who are both Australian. I ended up playing some cricket on the beach too! That was fun. I also saw a opossum at my house that night too! And Australian opossums are cute. They look more like lemurs than American opossums. I had a lot of fun hanging out at the beach. Hopefully I'll be able to go back again.

Cheers,

Brittany

Australia's Got Talent

Friday I only had one class, Wildlife Ecology. It was a two hour lecture, so it felt really long. But I think the professor tried to keep it interesting. He tried to get students to ask questions but nobody asked any. It was a lot of information in two hours. After I got out of class at 2 I met up with Christina to go to the BBQ club. Apparently BBQ is really popular in Australia, and I thought it would be a fun way to get food and meet people. When Christina and I showed up it looked like nobody was there. We saw a couple of the people that were in charge but nobody else was really around. And they had trouble getting the BBQ to turn on. Half an hour later they brought in another BBQ and started grilling. Christina and I started talking to an Australian girl but it wasn't long before she had to go to class so hopefully I will see her again. That night I ended up watching a movie called Water with Kelsey in the house in front of me. Today (Saturday) was a fun day. Josh from my house received some free tickets for Australia's Got Talent. He saw a commercial bout getting free tickets so he went online and was able to get some. I'm assuming they give away free tickets so they can fill up the audience. Either way a free event sounds good to me. It was pretty cool being a part of the audience for a tv show. We stood in line for awhile before they even opened the doors and we were able to get seats pretty close to the front. They had a guy come out that was supposed to keep the audience entertained and he also told us things to do. They took different audience shots before anyone even came out. We had to clap, stand up and clap, look wowed. It was interesting. We sat down around 1 and it wasn't until about 1:45 that the first act came on. There were definitely some interesting acts. There was a father and son duo that we ended up meeting at the end of the show. They were really good and got on to the next round. There were also a couple of other good singers and a cool dancer, and a girl that did a dance/trapeze act. There was also a square dancing act. It was fun to watch. It went until a little after 5 and then we headed to go to the footy game. We stopped to get out tickets and then went to get something to eat. We went to a place called Nando's that served chicken. I got a chicken BBQ sandwich that I thought was good. After that we went to the footy game which was really crowded. This was a championship game. When I've been before I've been able to sit in the first level but because this was such a big game we had to go to the third level! I ended up leaving the game early with a friend because I didn't want to have to compete with the crowd to try to get out. I had a fun day. Sorry but I don't have any pictures to go along with this day because we weren't supposed to bring cameras to the tv show and I wasn't sure how strict they would be about that.

Cheers,

Brittany

First Week of Classes

Well, the hail storm was a pretty bad one. The city had floods and it created a lot of damage. Supposedly one of the worst storms in 100 years. I didn't do too much over the weekend because the weather wasn't that great. Pretty much hanging out with people and watching movies. I ended up going to Chadstone mall on Sunday with Becky. It was a really big mall. I ended up not getting anything. We didn't stay in the mall for too long because the stores closed at 5pm. I'm used to the stores closing at 9pm at the mall at home. On Monday I didn't have any classes so I went to K-mart to get school supplies. Later in the day I went with Stephanie to the grocery store, so I could be set for the week when it came to food. On Tuesday I went to my ecotourism class. I think the subject is going to be interesting but there definitely seems to be work involved. I don't have an exam for that class but we have three assignments that I think are going to be a lot of work. That night people from my house and the house in front of us watched The Notebook on tv. I also got a tv and a minifridge in my room, since my room is a double room. I'm pretty happy about that. On Wednesday I had three classes. The first class was a lecture for wildlife ecology. I think ecology will be interesting but I'm sad that there isn't a lab component to this class. My second class was a tutorial for Australia Today: An introduction to Australia. It is a class just for international students. I think it will be a class in which I will learn a lot about Australia, so I'm really excited about that. My third class of the day was the lecture for the Australia Today class. I also went to a meeting for the club Christian Union. I'm excited to join clubs so I can meet more Australians and become friends with them. I was a little bit nervous but I did say hi to some people. I'm definitely going back to the meeting next week. Later in the day I walked back to campus for an Environmental club to realize when I got there that the meeting is next week. Oh well. Later that night I went to Einstein's, which every Wednesday becomes the bar on campus. I had a good time but it was really packed, probably because it was the first Einstein's bar night of the semester. Today I had a tutorial and a lecture for Australia New World Nation, which is sort of like a history course. I feel a little bit behind because I know nothing about Australian history. I'm taking the class so I'm hoping to learn a lot more. Well that's all for now.

Cheers,

Brittany

Adventure in the City

On Thursday I went into the city with two Beckys that live in the house on the corner (one is from Canada and one from England). We were originally going to go to the Queen Victoria Market but when I checked online it said that the market closed at 2 on Thursdays. So we decided to go into the city instead. We just started walking around. We found an art exhibition that was really cool. It was free and there was some interactive art. There were some hanging plants that if you touched them they started to make noise. Then there was a screen that if you put yourself against it it would take a picture of you, like a scanner would. Then there was a typewriter that when you started typing the words changed into figures and started to eat the other letters. In all of the art galleries that I've been to you're not supposed to touch the artwork, so this was definitely different, but really cool. After that we went walking around by the river. Then Becky (from England) took us into laneways (which are similar to alleys) but there were cute little restaurants and stores in them. We walked into a couple of cute clothing stores but the clothes were a little pricey. For dinner Becky (from England) took us to an authentic little Indian restaurant that was in one of the laneways. I ordered the three curry meal with rice and a tortilla like bread for $10. I got eggplant curry, beef curry, and chicken curry. The food was spicy but I really liked it. I'm going to have to go to that place again. I also got a mango smoothie there too, which was really glad. Melbourne is a very multicultural city, so there are always new things to try. After we got back I ended up watching a Bollywood movie called Bride and Prejudice. In case you don't know, a Bollywood movie is a movie from India, so I felt like it was a good movie to end the day, since I had just tried Indian food. Friday was not very exciting. I went to an orientation thing in the morning but it was meant more for long-term international students. But I did get a free lunch. I went over to Christina's house for spaghetti and hung out with her for awhile. It was nice to have a night in which I didn't spend any money. This morning I went to the store to get some more milk, and it was really bright and sunny. Becky (from England) and I were planning on going to the botanical gardens. When we were ready to go it was looking cloudy so we decided to go to Chadstone mall instead. We didn't make it to the bus stop before hail started to come down. Then the rain came, so we turned around and went back to our houses. That was definitely interesting, since I didn't know that Melbourne had hail storms.

Cheers,

Brittany

O Week continued

Tuesday night was the beach party, which was a lot of fun. There was dancing and drinking. I didn't drink too much though. I just had one cranberry vodka, which was good. There were some people there that were drunk though. I still had a good time. I don't think it was quite worth $25 just to get inside. I did meet an Australian guy that seemed really nice. I'm hoping to meet more Australians once school starts. The next day I went to the Melbourne zoo with some people in the house in front of me and from the house on the corner. It was an adventure because we weren't exactly sure how to get there. One person wrote down directions but we were switching from trams to trains so it was a little confusing. We didn't get there until 3. The zoo closes at 5 so we only had a couple of hours to see everything, and the zoo was really big. I was sad because we weren't able to see the baby elephant that was there. There were also some animals that weren't on display. But we were able to see the lions make some noises, which was cool. I also saw a platypus, and a red panda, but the red panda was up in the tree so he was kind of hard to see. We were able to see everything, even though it ended up being a little past 5 before we actually left. I had a good time though. After the zoo we went to Sophia's (an italian restaurant) for dinner. The food wasn't fantastic but it wasn't that expensive and the portions were very large, so I have leftovers, which is really nice. After that we went to one of the houses and watched a movie. It was called The Big Lebowski. It was funny, but different. But I enjoyed hanging out with everyone. Well that's all for now. I will post more later.

Cheers,

Brittany

After Lorne/Beginning of Orientation Week

Ok, so it has been a few days since my last post. I have been pretty busy and I'm now having some free time to sit down and type. On Thursday after the beach trip was orientation for international students. It was so overwhelming! I felt like a confused freshman all over again. I wasn't sure how their system for signing up for classes worked. I was able to get all of the classes I wanted and I have Mondays off! That will give me a long weekend. But I know a couple of people that only have class twice a week! Friday night I went out to an event coordinated through the ESAs (Exchange and Study Abroad Assistants). We went to Shanghai Dumpling House for dinner and then went to a karaoke bar. The restaurant was an experience. You could get an unlimited amount of food and it kept getting brought to the table, so you just ate as much as you want. But the service was not very good. It took quite a bit of time just to get a soda. It was something different. The karaoke bar was fun too. I didn't get any drinks and I just had water, along with my friend Christina. But as more people started to drink it was funny to watch them sing. Groups started to get up on stage and sing together. Saturday night I went to another footy game. I happened to catch a group of people that I had met. They happened to be on the tram when I got on. I tagged along with them to the game. It was fun again to watch. On Sunday was a BBQ for Burwood Student Living. People from the different houses came to the BBQ. I was able to meet someone who was Australian! Now I can say I have an Australian friend. I'm excited to meet more Australians when my classes start. Sunday night I watched a movie with in the house in front of me with some other people. We watched the Hurt Locker, which was a really good movie. Monday I had more orientation stuff to do. It felt pretty pointless. I felt that I was learning stuff I already learned freshman year of college. But there was free food at lunch and I walked around to the booths for the different clubs. I joined the Environment club and I'm planning on joining the BBQ club and probably a Christian club. Monday night there was an outside movie on campus. I went with some people from my house. The movie that was playing was Almost Famous, which was another good movie. That was a fun event, but it was really cold! It hadn't gotten really warm that day, and once the sun went down it definitely became cold. Well that's all for now. I'm sure as orientation week goes on I'll have more to post.

Cheers,

Brittany

Lorne Beach Trip

So I went to Lorne, Australia for the beach trip orientation, and I have to say it was amazing. It is such a cute little beach town. Deakin international students pretty much took over the entire town. I am pretty sure we filled up four hotels/hostels. I stayed in the Ocean River Backpackers hostel. It was nicer than I thought it was going to be. I was in a room with 5 other girls. There were two bunk beds, a double bed,and a trundle. I was the first in the room, so I was able to get the double bed. I was able to meet 5 other girls that are also going to the burwood campus. They were all very nice and we were able to hang out. The first day we settled in and had a lot of free time. Some of us went and tried to lay out on the beach but then it got cloudy. Then I went with Leia and Christina on a walk around the town. Tuesday was extremely busy. The first thing we did was go on a hike through the forest, which I really enjoyed. It reminded me of hiking in the mountains at home. After that I went on a walk with Christina to the pier. After lunch we had surfing lessons. It was extremely hard! The waves were rough so I kept getting knocked down. I was able to get up on my knees but there were a couple of people that were able to get on their feet. It was exhausting. After that I went and layed out with a few girls. I became a little burned because I forgot to put on sunscreen again after surfing. The next day we went on a trip to see the twelve apostles. That was cool to see. We had lunch over there. I was able to get some really pretty pictures but then my camera broke. :-( I was sitting at the emergency exit and the bus driver came over and opened up the exit without warning us, and my camera was leaning against the wall so it fell out. Now I'm going to have to see if it can be fixed or if I need a new one. At least I was able to recover most of my pictures. Other than that the trip was really fun. It was laid back and I was able to meet new people. I really enjoyed it.

Flight and arrival

Let's just say, I'm exhausted. When I first arrived at the airport and went to check in at the kiosks, two of them froze on me. I then had to get help and of course the bag tags wouldn't print off. Doesn't that sound like a wonderful beginning? On the plane from Charlotte to Los Angeles I got a middle seat, which wasn't too much fun. When I got to LAX I didn't not know where to go. I was in terminal 1 and had to get to terminal 2. Of course the two didn't connect so I had to go outside and come back through security check. The 12 hour flight wasn't too bad. The plane was full, so it did feel cramped. But I had a nice couple sitting next to me that were going to New Zealand. They definitely supplied good meals and of course it had the individual tv's, which I really liked. I was able to watch Paranormal Activity, The Invention of Lying, Puch, and Zombieland among those twelve hours when I wasn't sleeping. And if you think it's hard to sleep in a car, I think trying to sleep on a plane is harder. Maybe it was because everyone was sitting so close together. But a plus of the flight from Auckland to Melbourne was that I got three seats all to myself, so I was able to stretch out. Then as I was making my way towards baggage claim my name was called to the baggage services, and they told me that the Los Angeles airport reported that one of my bags didn't make it on the Los Angeles to Auckland flight. My smaller bag with all of my bath stuff and shoes did not arrive. Another thing to worry about. The trip to my new home was smooth and I was able to meet some new people. Once I made it to the house I was rushed to fill out tenant paperwork. I guess I get to learn what it's like to have a landlord. After that I settled down and was able to meet my housemates before we headed into the city to meet other Deakin students to watch footy, or Australian football. Even though I didn't know the rules I was able to figure out what was going on and the crowd was really intense, which was exciting. It was a close game, the score being 100 to 99. After the game a large group of us went over to a bar and got some drinks. I ordered my first alcoholic drink, with the help of an older girl in the group. We then hung out there awhile before heading back to the house. That's all I have for now!

Cheers,

Brittany

Getting Ready

I can't believe that what I've been talking about and been waiting for is finally going to happen. It is the night before I'm leaving and I'm nervous and excited. But more excited than nervous. I've been wanting to study abroad since freshman year and it's hard to believe that it's finally going to happen. I'm going to be getting on a plane to go to Australia tomorrow! I know that I'm going to miss my family and friends, but I think I'm ready. I know this is going to be an experience I'm never going to forget. You guys should be hearing from me soon!

Cheers,

Brittany