Things were going amazingly well in Melbourne.  And don’t get me wrong – they still are.  But upon either cooking with questionable ground beef for dinner one evening and eating Australian Dominos Pizza later that night, or coming into contact with a contagious stomach virus from a fellow student, for a few days I suffered from what my 90-year-old doctor at a shady medical center, who didn’t understand the technology in his office (a computer and keyboard), called “a stomach infection” caused by “not washing my hands enough.”.  I, for one, think his reasoning behind my intestinal unhappiness was completely inaccurate.  I wash my hands.  A lot.  Said doctor prescribed me a medicine.  I then merrily went on my way to the pharmacy to get my prescription filled.  Unfortunately, the doctor literally prescribed me a medicine that isn’t made anymore.  I think it may be time for him to retire.

Regardless, the apocalypse that was occurring within my stomach has subsided, and I can get back to living it up in Melbourne.

Class finally started on Monday.  I was almost too nervous to function in my first class of the day – Structural Kinesiology – but thankfully Casey and Eva are taking the same course, so that helped relax me a little.  It was held in the biggest lecture hall I’ve ever attended class in, and it was completely packed.  We immediately delved into the material, and so I can’t help but think that anybody who says studying abroad is a five-month vacation is a little off.  The disclaimer on the course syllabus which reads, “Subject entails a significant workload,” is slightly intimidating, and might be a big tip-off.  Still, I think I can handle it.

The next class I attended was the tutorial session of my Psychology course.  This class was much more intimate, and reminded me of a New Paltz class setting.  There was one professor and only 12 students.  We did a few memory activities, and then introduced ourselves to the class.  I was last to introduce myself, so after 11 almost identical Australian Psychology majors briefly spoke about their lives, I, the American, Journalism/Public Relations Major from Long Island who says “tawk” and “cawfee” finally spoke up.  It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that everybody in the class just stared at me either in awe or in fear.  I couldn’t help but to respond with:  “…And now you’re all staring at me.”  My peers found that amusing.  My professor told me how she’s been to Disney World.  I told her that’s not quite the same as New York.

Later in the day was my Psychology lecture, which was held in an even larger, fully-packed hall than my first lecture.  I got slightly lost on my way to class, but it was a blessing in disguise – I made a friend along the way!  She was making all the same mistakes as I was, only a few steps ahead.  Consequently, it appeared as if I was following her.  So I flat out said, “Listen, I just want to let you know that I’m not stalking you.”  She found this funny.  We then became fast friends and sat in the humongous lecture hall together.  She told me that she and her fiancé would take me to see some of the Australian wildlife that Americans are so fond of, such as kangaroos and koalas.  I was very pleased.  Hopefully this all works out because, as evident in my mini-biography on the Study Abroad Blogger homepage, I’m excited to “encounter kangaroos and koala bears.”

Tuesday I had off from class, so I obviously went to the beach.  I’ve got nothing more to say on that except that I know how jealous you are.

That’s all I can say about classes so far, but when I’ve experienced more on the academic front, I’ll be sure to update.

Peace and love and be well.

P.S.  As a consequence of the whole possible food/stomach infection correlation, I miss food from home a little.  If you feel inspired to send me American food/love, it would be too rude of me to not accept it.

P.P.S.  My friend’s profile on AOL Instant Messenger reads, “oh I also hate Melbourne Australia and Florence Italy for stealing my friends for a whole 5 months.”  That makes me a little sad.

Hi guys!

I realize I haven’t updated in almost a week, but things around here have been crazy (in a good way). Good news is: I discovered if I move my modem closer to my window, I get a better signal and can upload pictures. Hence this post is going to be pretty picture heavy. Get pumped.

 Let’s back up to Friday. As part of O week, the Student Village organized a huge 24-hour scavanger hunt that each college (or housing unit) competed against each other to win. We had to go all around the city and take photos at landmarks and popular places around Melbourne, as well as collecting random objects.

The first picture is of my college, Barton. Our mascot is the bulldogs, if you can’t tell from our banner.

This is me and my friend Alejandro. He’s from Mexico. We got really into the face paint.

This next one is Luna Park, which is a theme part in St. Kilda Beach. It was closed when we went, but check out that entrance.

So Scav hunt lasted until Saturday afternoon, where each college handed in our items to a panel of judges. We also had to make a team chant, a dance and perform a few tasks. One of them was to get one of the guys into a mankini (bikini for a dude). No one in my college was man enough I guess, but this huge German guy from another college got up in front of everyone in a sassy lime green number. I’ll spare you the pictures of that particular moment.

I rested up after Scav Hunt for Carnivale, which was on Sunday. It was basically a huge bbq in the Village with a DJ and a massive volleyball competition, which Barton came in second at! Usually I get really bitter about losing, but I had too much fun to complain. Almost. But every Monday night everyone plays, so a comeback is already in the works as far as I’m concerned.

Monday started classes! Most of my New Paltz friends are nearing midterms, and here I am taking the bus to our first class with Tracy. It was editing, and I think it’s going to be pretty swell. My professor is really laid back, but she’s worked for a bunch of magazines and really seems to know her stuff. She was really excited to have two Americans in the class for comparison’s sake. Myself, I couldn’t stop comparing how differently they spell some words here: organisation/ recognise, favourite/colour, centre/theatre to name a few. Tracy asked if we would be penalized for mispelling, and I think we got laughed at.

Here’s a picture of Brandon and my other roommate, Natsumi on campus:

And this is the city campus from across the River:

Today I had off, so we ventured to the beach yet again. But tomorrow starts up classes again for me. The way they work here is vastly different from how New Paltz does it. I only have each class once a week; one hour of lecture and 1.5-2 hours of tutorials (or tuts ((toots))) as everyone calls them. So it seems I’ll be in class a lot less than last semester, which means more time to party! go to the library. (That one’s for you, Mom and Dad.)

To close, here’s a few pics I took of the city the other day. Not too shabby, eh?

    Sure, Ecuador is a beautiful country. It has the Galapagos, the Amazon, the Andes, nice beaches, and incredible wildlife. But it also has extreme poverty. About 75% of the population of this country is poor. Many live on less than $2 a day. There´s not a day that goes by where I don´t pass either a beggar or a person who´s living is selling little candies on the street. For most Ecuadorians, life is rough.

My third day here I was surprised to see a boy around the age of 12 sleeping on the sidewalk in the rain near my building. Then as the days went by  and I explored the city I noticed more homeless people, many of them mothers with children, or just children. Finding work is difficult, especially with little or no education…and many never get a proper education because they simply can´t afford it. This is why you find people selling goods on the street. For many it is their only income. There are street vendors for just about everything…food, toys, shoes, underwear, clothes hangers…you name it and somewhere not too far there is a street vender for it. They don´t make nearly enough but it´s something. Many children don´t go to school and work in order to help their family. It is not uncommon to see a 5 year old girl on the street selling gum. I was eating with some friends in Baños once and a little boy came inside the cafe and asked my friend for a piece of her sandwich. On numerous occasions children have come up to me and asked for money. In Quito, there were 4 kids (most likely siblings) walking around one of the main plazas with shoe shining kits. Their clothes, little hands, and faces were covered with shoe cleaning oils/liquids. The oldest was maybe 8 and the youngest was about 3 years old. No adult was around. Someone asked if they could take a picture of them, the kids then put out their little hands and said ¨money¨ perhaps the only word they know in English. The 3 year old had been sitting the whole time and then one of the older kids made him get up. He was obviously tired. It looked like it was time for them to go. The 3 year old got up and started crying because he didn´t want to carry his shoe shining kit. Right then, I felt my heart break. I felt so helpless. I feel like no matter how many times I give charity the problem will continue…and one can only give so much.

It breaks my heart to see Ecuadorians like this. These are my people…people who I share a common background with. Within their faces, I see my own. I can give and give but at the end of the day there will still be hunger and poverty. I hate this feeling of helplessness. This will certainly not be my last visit to Ecuador. I will work hard and in the future I will come back and help my people, especially the children. Maybe establish an organization of some sort for them…perhaps scholarships, or a shelter, or run food drives. I don´t know…anything to make their lives a little easier. Children should not have to work. They should be able to go to school and have fun. Sure, there are some organizations and help already out there for these people but it´s certainly not enough and the government isn´t doing enough either. I can`t get rid of poverty but I can only hope that when I give someone some change (change can go a long way here) maybe just maybe they won´t be hungry, at least for that moment, maybe even for that day.

I find it very strange that I still haven’t started classes. Most of my friends went back to school after winter break more than a month ago. And while I haven’t exactly just been lying around letting the time pass, I can’t help but feel a little weird about it. But classes do start on Monday, and I’m sure I will immediately be wishing for my time off again. Although, I am pretty excited to see what the classes in Melbourne are like and how differently they do things in Melbourne as opposed to America.

My time here so far has been consumed by trying to meet as many people as possible. I probably have more contacts in my Australian cell phone than I do in my phone that I use at home. And no, it’s not because I have no friends at home. It’s just that everybody here is so relaxed and happy all the time. It’s a really refreshing contrast to Long Island or New York City.

A new friend of mine from Canada actually gave me a good idea for a future blog update. I’m going to try to get my hands on an Australian newspaper and compare its writers’ views on certain issues to how America’s media report on those issues. My friend said she noticed a huge difference, so I’m pretty stoked to look further into that.

Apparently a major aspect of culture shock is that one compares and contrasts the new culture in which he or she is being exposed to the culture of his or her homeland. And after re-reading what I’ve written so far in this update, I’d have to say it reads like one big Venn diagram.

It’s okay though, because I’m not SAD about the differences – it’s actually quite the opposite. I find it all very interesting and intriguing.

Until next time,

cheers,

no dramas,

and no worries.

[Mmm, Australian slang].

Apparently.

Today heaps (slang for tons) of kids were supposed to journey to the beach nearby for a fun day in the sun, and we woke up today to clouds, 94% humidity and all around nastiness in the atmosphere. Hence, another trip to the mall was made, but tomorrow promises to be sunny.

Yesterday was registration, or enrollment as they call it here. I have to say, New Paltz makes it a lot easier by doing it online. We had to go to three different buildings over the span of 4 hours to pick classes and get registered. Classes start Monday! Yikes mcgee. I need a notebook or something. Our school has 5 or 6 campuses–the closest one is a ten minute bus ride, where I’m taking two of my classes at. But their St. Albans campus is about an hour away by public transport, and two of my classes (ones that will actually ((hopefully)) count towards my major) are being held there. So twice a week I have to make the trek over there. I’ve heard it’s not bad but it will sure be different from waking up 15 minutes before class starts, rolling out of Shango, across the quad and into Humanities.

 Monday was the start of O week in the Village. We had a BBQ in our courtyards, then all the houses got together for a huge volleyball tournament. After telling everyone how I played all through high school and was even the captain senior year, I served the ball into the net. Twice. Bugga. (Aren’t I so cool with my slang?)

Anyway, my internet is apparently slower than Brandon’s when it comes to uploading pictures, so I’ll have to wait till I get on a computer at school. I know, I know, dissapointing, but I promise they’ll be up soon! 

SO!  I have arrived halfway around the world and am currently updating from Melbourne, Australia. More specifically, the Student Village in Maribynong, which is a suburb of Melbourne. (Pronunciation lesson: Marry-bih-nong. But you have to say it fast. (I know, it took some getting used to.)

The past week has been exhausting, but exhilarating. There’s no internet available to residents of the village unless you buy it, and being that I’m pretty dependant on having it at my disposal, I bought a modem and on top of that am paying monthly to get online. Crazy right? I guess it’s all part of the “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone” deal. If I were really going to rough it, I’d go without the internet, but then I’d have no way of contacting my family and friends or updating you lovely readers. 

Getting here was interesting. I was lucky and got to sit next to Brandon, one of the other bloggers, on both planes. The 15 hour flight on Qantas Airlines was actually extremely nice, but I slept through the hot towels L.

The four other New Paltzians and myself checked into the village and were shown to our rooms. The way it’s set up is by blocks: A, B and C, which are then separated into smaller units with about four suites in each, with three rooms in each suite. I live with Tracy, another girl from New Paltz and Natsumi, a girl from Japan who has been here for a few months already. There’s a kitchen in each block with a shared fridge, but it’s in the building next to mine. It’s close though, so it’s not as bad as it sounds.

The actual city of Melbourne is beautiful. It’s kind of like New York, but cleaner and less frantic. You get the feeling people are in less of a rush here than they are in New York. The whole laid back Aussie attitude is a nice change of pace.

The city’s only a ten minute drive away by car, but we have to take public transport to get around anywhere, which increases the time to about 45 minutes, but I don’t mind. The trams and trains are all really clean and extremely punctual. Like to the second punctual. The beach is also pretty close. The sun is strooong. Sunblock is extremely important if you plan on being in the sun for more than ten minutes. I’m nursing a nice burn on the back of my knees. It feels like my skin is too tight for my body. Youch.

The good thing about living in the village is that everyone is here to make friends. I was almost taken aback by how friendly everyone is. It makes it a lot easier to go over to someone and say “Hey, what’s your name?” If it had been that easy when I was first starting college (which they call “uni” here), I probably wouldn’t have been half as anxiety-ridden as I was freshman year.  The village is also an international smorgasbord. I’ve met people from across the US and Australia, Canada, Japan, India, Mexico, Germany, Austria and Russia. And I’ve only met about 10% of the population living here. Exciting or what? And get this: I have people from Europe telling me they like MY accent.

To end, here’s a few tidbits:

-The toilets do not flush backwards. They don’t even flush forwards. When you flush it, a huge cascade of water just rushes in from all sides and is sucked downwards. It was actually embarrassing when I went into the bathroom at the airport, standing there, a lot closer than I normally would to a flushing toilet (since I wanted to get an up-close view), and jumping back into the stall door when the noise from the flush scared me. Also, since Australia has been in a drought for the past ten years, they’re really into conserving water. Some places even have a “half flush,” which uses half the water of the really powerful flush.

-Kangaroos do not just roam the streets—they’re in the bush, or the outback. There’s zoos and places up in Northern Australia you can go to if you want to interact with them. Hopefully I’ll get there soon.

-Australians don’t drink Foster’s (”Australian for beer!”) A lot of them drink “goon” which is slang for really cheap wine.

-Victoria, which is the region Melbourne is in, has a “no doggie bag” policy. Apparently, if you take home leftovers from a restaurant and it goes bad and you get sick, you can sue the restaurant for all their worth. And we thought Americans sued for everything.

-The Australian version of 911 is 000, which I accidentally dialed when trying to phone home because I thought our country code was 0001. It’s not. It’s 0011 for anyone’s future reference.

More to come later!

I finally have internet. That needs to be said first. This is why I haven’t updated thus far. However, things will be different now. I promise.

Also, as a disclaimer, I wrote this entry before I decided to add pictures. So there may or may not be any correlation between certain pictures and the text above and below. Like these, for example.

(We tend to look like a Cingular ad).

I could write you a laundry list of things I’ve done, but that might bore you. Instead, I’ll tell you the funniest/most dysfunctional things that have occurred.

1) Eva, who is a sophomore at New Paltz and is studying here with me, went through customs in Australia BEFORE getting her luggage. She then realized she had made an error in judgment, and turned around to go back through customs and get her luggage. However, this is against Australian law. She was actually almost arrested – no joke. She wasn’t allowed back through, and had to describe her luggage so that an Australian official could retrieve them for her.

2) Only half of Eva’s luggage was actually found. She was devastated. I hugged her. But it’s okay, because now her luggage has been returned to her and she has more than one pair of sweat pants to wear.

3) We were on the way to the beach, which involves several train/tram/bus transfers, and during one transfer, Casey, who is studying here as well, was stuck outside a train during an unfortunate series of events during which the rest of us took a wrong train. This resulted in us getting to the beach about an hour later than we were supposed to. The look on her face – priceless.

4) Once we got to the beach, Katie, a fellow blogger, was stung on the face by an exotic Australian jellyfish. Consequently, she has been hospitalized for the past several days. We all learned to stay out of Australian water after that.

5) Just kidding about number four. Katie is alive and functioning and was not stung by anything except the sun.

6) Apparently dinner in Australia ends when the sun sets. Friday was Casey’s birthday, and we went into Melbourne to celebrate and dine. However, most places that aren’t pubs (they don’t call them bars here), weren’t open. FORTUNATELY, a little Italian place, which uses way too much chilli in its meals, was open. Although we all suffered from major mouth burn injuries (just kidding), they gave us free dessert to celebrate Casey’s birthday. That was rad.

7) In Victoria, the state in which Melbourne is located, taking “doggy bags” home from a restaurant when you cannot finish your meal is strictly prohibited! If the meal somehow goes bad, and the person who is eating that meal gets sick, he/she can sue the restaurant. This makes me sad, but it’s true. So we couldn’t take home an overwhelming portion of Tracy’s risotto.

Other than those minor setbacks, which actually have proved to be insanely amusing, Australia has been amazing. It’s like living in (a sunburned) paradise. The city is gorgeous and everybody is relaxed. It’s like the anti-New York City. Australians are extremely nice and entirely too good-looking. It’s moderately intimidating, but we’re learning to cope. That’s all for now.

P.S. We have a favorite Australian song already. It’s called “Bleeding Love” by Leona Lewis.

P.P.S. But it’s actually British, so that’s kind of lame.

    Oh the things I do! This weekend I along with 8 other international students spent three days exploring the beaches and islands along the Ruta del Sol (around Machililla). We had an amazing guide who took us snorkeling. We took a small yacht out to the ocean and jumped off by some rocky islands. The water was maybe 15 feet deep…now that may not seem like that much but for someone like me who does not know how to swim, that´s pretty terrifying. I was given a life jacket of course and although I was always floating, I had some moments of panic…but I survived! I was able to see some schools of fish and coral. Underwater life is truly amazing. I´m glad I was able to get a peek of it.

I have been to Salinas and Montañita (the more popular beaches in Ecuador), but none compare with the beauty I saw this weekend. I even got the chance to see blue-footed boobies! This was one of the best trips I´ve been on so far.  It was a very relaxing…and much needed trip. The first day we bathed in mud in an extinct crater of a volcano…it was quite the experience. The mud was incredibly soft and felt good against my skin. We then got a fifteen minute full body massage with aloe (straight from the plant!). After that we hopped in a thermal bath. I was told the hot water was heated by the center of the earth…I don´t know how that works exactly but boy did it feel good. The second day of the trip was mostly snorkeling and visiting beaches. The last day was zip lining. This was also a first for me. We did four zip lines and I had trouble stoping on two of them. On one occasion I collided with one of the guides. It was painful only because I fell on my back which had been sunburned…other than that it was really fun. I love getting my adrenaline going…the rush is great. I guess that explains why I throw myself in deep waters when I can´t even swim!

After a night of entirely too many good-bye’s, and at the same time not as many good-bye’s as I had hoped for, I’m finally leaving for Australia tomorrow.  And until today, this whole trip has felt so far off.  It felt as if I had so much time left to accomplish anything I’d need to do.  And then I woke up this morning, my last day on Long Island, and I didn’t even know where to start.

To everybody who I’ve seen recently, I’m so grateful to have spent my final days at home with you.  And to those of you who I didn’t get to see, I’m so, so sorry.  Time has this crazy way of sneaking up on me.  And I wish I could have had a coffee with all of you, even though I don’t drink coffee.  Unless it’s decaf.  Regardless, I’m going to miss each and every one of you, and I strongly urge you to spend your entire life savings on a plane ticket to Melbourne so you can visit me for spring break.

In other news, it’s 3am and I’m still awake because apparently my body doesn’t believe it needs sleep before my 30-something hours of travel.  Stoked about that.  Additionally, I’m currently charging my camera battery so I can photographically assault everything and everyone with which I come into contact during my travels tomorrow.  You’ll be eager to see those photographs.

And now I’m going to leave all you loyal readers/fans out there (because I know there are so many of you) with some fitting song lyrics.

So long, Astoria.  I found a map to buried treasure, and even if we come home empty handed, we’ll still have our stories of battle scars, pirate ships and wounded hearts, broken bones, and all the best of friendships.  And when this hourglass has filtered out its final grain of sand, I’ll raise my glass to the memories we had.

Cheesy, I know.  Just accept it.  And move on.

P.S.  My next entry will be posted from Australia.  How crazy is that?

(If you’re confused, take note of the switcharoo of the R)

It’s 22 degrees on Long Island, and I’m sitting on my bed listening to the wind howl like an actual banshee is outside my window. Makes it even that more hard to believe that in approximately 30 something hours, I will be in 80 degree weather. In Australia. What.

 I’m all packed–two 50 lb suitcases, a jam-packed carry on and a purse/laptop bag. And a pillow, because I can’t even make it a 3 hour car ride without my own pillow. I’m going to hate myself when I land in Melbourne and have to lug everything around, but I keep telling myself that it’s better than actually moving into a dorm room, which I’ve done four times, coincidentally.

 In a weird give and take with Father Time, I will entirely skip over the day of February 12, 2008, since Australia is a day ahead of us, and I will be in the air. But on the way home, I get to experience a day in late June twice. Trippy.

 Tonight I went to Times Square and saw Young Frankenstein with my parents on Broadway. I’ve never felt at home in New York City, never like it was my city. I actually don’t think I ever will, but tonight I felt more a part of it than I ever have before because I knew I was leaving it. How does that work?

 Let me tell you, it’s a fantastic feeling to begin an adventure. How nerdy does that sound? But really, to know that I get to have a “once-in-a-lifetime” type deal for a chunk of time as large as 4 months is really gratifying. It’s like winning a shopping spree and knowing that not all of the clothes you try on will fit, but the ones that do are going to make you feel amazing. (Think about the last time you found a great-fitting pair of jeans and maybe you’ll find that last statement slightly less vapid.) 

 So, to sign off, here’s my crazy itinerary:

Leave from Kennedy airport, NYC at 2 pm. Arrive in Los Angeles 5:40 pm western time (which is 8 something ours. This is where the time differences start to mess with the head). Depart California at 11 pm on FEB. 11th. Fly for 16 + hours. Arrive in Melbourne at 9:30 am on Feb 13th.

So long, folks. Next update will be comin at ya from Oz.