Sometimes when I’m here, in Australia, I feel as though I am still at home. That is…although it has its differences, Perth seems very much familiar to home. I’ve been here for a month now, and I’ve seen a range of similarities consisting of the conduct of instructors in classrooms, students attitudes toward education, people in the local community, similar automotive vehicles, grocery stores and largely, humor. It’s just the sense that the way people live their lives here seems generally familiar to that of home.
Occasionally, I even forget that I am so far away from home, or that I’m even in Au of all places. Of course, being so close to the airport there is the constant drum of aircrafts flying overhead (something I rarely have a chance to hear at home). This causes me to ponder my return flight home. In some ways, although I really do enjoy this lovely place, I do look forward to that day…but only in time, not now. I’ve always enjoyed flying, so it gives me a stimulating rush to think of my next flight. When I snap from that dreamy and ponderous state, I quickly remind myself of where I am and what I am here to do…which sometimes is difficult to pinpoint, considering that my opportunities here are endless.
Regardless of the arid landscape and climate that surrounds me, I am witness to an abundance of tropical vegetation, which sprouts and towers above me in almost every angle of view. This, combined with the birds that I see and hear everyday, and some fauna that I had the opportunity to visit while at a wildlife park (such as kangaroos and koalas), really makes for a spectacular combined experience.
Regardless of whether I feel only a couple hundred miles away from home, or actually conceptualize that I am half way across the planet, I am still in Australia, and am extremely grately to have had the opportunity and ability to travel as far as I did.
After spending most of my weekend tackling assigned reading and exercise problems for my math course, I feel as though I have transitioned back into a scholarly flow. The stress of the first week was the result of the overwhelming responsibility of Uni life that I felt suffocated by, at first. However, after breaking through the barrier that seperates the fun times from the hard-working and tedious, I feel compelled to take on all of these challenges. From balancing my academics, to finding and having a job, being a member of the geology club, donating my services to the Kurrajong Village (where I live) garden, training with the recreational soccer team and fitting everything else in between…I’d say I have…a lot to look forward to! As I become increasingly acclimated, things are seemingly looking up.
….And since I really do not have anything nagging at me right now, I should also note that, although living with 7 other people in one flat, I have great flatmates. We have yet to encounter a significant conflict, or any conflicts for that matter. As long as I take this experience one step at a time and keep my head held high, I hope that it will prove to be smooth sailing!
Oh, Blog! There’s so many exciting things going on right now!!!
To start, I’ve discovered two new fun facts:
1- Monika and Ryan can dance! And I don’t just mean dance randomly, but I mean they can professionally dance! A few days ago when they discovered that the other knew how to dance, they got up and just… started dancing! And what’s even better- swing dancing! And WALTZING! And it was all done spontaneously without any rehearsal! The rest of us just sat back and watched in awe- I wish I had had my camera (Lack of camera Fail #1). It was so stunning to watch! My favorite part is they promised me they’d teach me how to dance before the semester’s over :)!
2- I need to find a means of snacking before my Italian for Foreigners class. On Tuesday, I went to Italian for Foreigners class after my Ceramics class, and despite the fact that I had had breakfast that morning, my stomach decided to be an obnoxious pain in the butt. And as my luck would have it, we had silent work. While my stomach was busy making beastly growls, I attempted to hide its ruckus by shuffling my feet and making light coughs between efforts to do my work. Monika just laughed beside me lol.
This week I also had my first Teaching Assistant jobs! Monday was simple as all it involved was establishing my schedule. Wednesday I held office hours- no one came, but it was soooo cool to see my name officially on the schedule of classes!! It looks like I’m an Italian professor here! I wanted to get a picture of it, but this was Fail #2 of not having my camera on me this week.
Fail #3 happened when Laura and I were walking down Via Mazzini on our way back to the dorms when we passed a shop that sells jeans. To our great pleasure however, the mannequins in the front window were left undressed while the shop was closed for the afternoon. There in the bright sunlit glass window stood 3 pairs of nude mannequin legs; the 2 sets of female mannequin legs stood on both sides of the 1 pair of male legs which, to make things even funnier, was turned in a manner so that he was mooning all of Urbino from the front window of this little jean shop. WHY DID I NOT HAVE MY CAMERA AGAIN?!
Lesson learned: ALWAYS have my camera on me. I never know what the day will show me.
Classes this week were also fantastic, and I have already picked my favorite- Music for the Show. I am one of 2 students -the other now being Laura- and our professor is the coolest man ever. Each class is like a private conversation between the 3 of us (I’m pretty sure we could convince him to hold our class in a coffee shop). He shows much enthusiasm and manages to keep us interested the whole time! Our 2 hour class flies by. One of the best parts (there are many) is he is very helpful and understanding of our attempts at Italian and helps us with the English that he knows. I asked if he taught more classes in hopes that I could take them, but alas, this is his first semester and this is his only class. We have truly found a hidden gem.
While all this is wonderful to me, the highlight of my week comes in the booking of flights! This week I managed to book a flight for Sicily next week, and tickets to the UK for my spring break! I’m so excited!!!
Tomorrow, I leave for Bologna where I will catch a plane for Sicily where Laura, Janelle, Monika, Judith, and I will have our own apartment in Palermo for 5 days! Be sure to read my next entry after I get back (and I promise to not fail with pictures that time).
For spring break, I’ll be travelling with Janelle to the UK! We’re flying into Edinburgh, Scotland and we will gradually work our way down through England visiting New Castle, the Manchester/ Chester/ Liverpool area, a small side trip to Dublin, Ireland, flying back into Cardiff, Wales, and finishing off with the Reading/ London area before flying home. I’m extra excited to see so much of so many places- and so many of my friends! That is probably the best part- I have friends in each of the places we’re visiting which means I can save money on hostels AND have the extra bonus of seeing fantastic people the whole time!
In my attempts to book my UK flights however, I made the mistake of booking the same flight home (from London to Ancona) twice- I had two tickets in my name for the same flight home!! I had had both flights open in two tabs on my internet browser, and I guess when I booked the first one, it had refreshed both tabs, causing me to accidentally book the same flight twice. I know I should have been more careful and double-checked, but to be honest, I did. Seeing a confirmation for London > Ancona made sense to me since I did have to make that flight; it just didn’t register to me that I had already booked that particular one already. All this resulted in me having to call my parents hoping that they wouldn’t mind covering the 30 euro fee to fix my flight since I hadn’t accounted on paying that additional cost. My parents told me not to worry; everyone makes mistakes. They covered my extra charge. I am truly fortunate to have such understanding -and the best- parents in the world.
Anyway, I’m off to pack for my Sicily trip tomorrow!
A settimana prossima quando ritornero`! (Until next week when I return!)
CIAO!
One of my friends here was planning on going to London for the weekend to meet up with a friend that she hasn’t seen in 13 years. Since she was planning on going anyway, she decided to invite some others and make a mini-vacation out of it.
I went to London last year with some friends while one friend was studying abroad there. For some reason I forgot how amazing London is. Of course when people asked if I wanted to go, I accepted the offer- but I wasn’t nearly as excited as I should have been. I figured I would be seeing the same things, and doing the same stuff, but with three different people- the entire experience was unlike my previous London adventure. It was an experience that ultimately bonded us four travelers and created everlasting friendships amongst the four of us.
We got to London on Friday evening and had dinner at The Shakespeare Pub. It was just the three of us (me, Maggie, and Christine) until our other friend Justine met us there.
When Justine arrived, we had to figure out how to get to our hostel… bus, tube, taxi… how to get tickets…
We finally decided on a taxi, just because we were so tired. We took it to Hyde Park, and checked into the Hyde Park Hostel. This hostel was rather sketchy, but that made the experience more rich and lively. We were lucky enough to get a room just for the four of us. This was nice because we were able to relax in the room whenever neccesary.
Justine didn’t eat yet, so we found this waffle house near our hostel… This waffle house had the most amazing waffles ever, and was perhaps the highlight of our trip. We would travel back to London just for the waffles!
After Waffle-mania, we headed to experience the London night life. We ended up going to this cool London club, and after leaving decided to walk back to our hostel. Although it was freezing, this walk back gave us a unique view of the beautiful city, because London was so quiet. It is interesting to see a city that is so busy all day long, so silent. We walked home past Buckingham Palace, and saw many sights in the late late hours of the night.
Since we really only had one day in London, we needed to plan accordingly. I didn’t really put much say in, since I have seen and expirienced London’s magic previously. We headed to the Natural History Museum, which was an amazing museum. As an education major, I really enjoyed this museum. It was so hands on and interactive. It was filled with sayings and quotations which brought the facts all together. I would love to take my class here on a field trip… perhaps it’s just a bit too far.
We only saw one aspect of the museum (the Earth, volcanoes, etc), since our stomachs were growling. Believe it or not, there were not many places to eat around the museum, so we went to Kings Cross, and prior to finding food- we went to platform 9 3/4. We found a great little cafe to eat at, and had yet another plate of fish and chips (I can’t get enough!).
After that, we decided not to go back to the museum, but to head to see Big Ben. Big Ben is beautiful. We took un obseen amount of photos, and proceded to adventure into the city.
Somewhere along the way we hit Buckingham Palace. We also rode the London eye, and enjoyed the 4D expirience.
Our stomachs were growling yet again, so we searched, and searched for dinner. We almost ate at the Sherlock Holmes pub, but it was too pricey/crowded. We ended up at Garfunkle’s- to enjoy a lovely burger and chips.
Then, the best part of the night! We decided not to go out again, we went back to the WAFFLE HOUSE… we got waffles to go. We also went to the store around the corner, and bought cans of whipped cream, and large amounts of junk food. We felt sick afterwards, but it was sooo good! Poor Christine dropped her chocolate covered waffle all over the floor. (I wouln’t eat anything that fell on the hostel floor, but she tried to pick at it, haha)
Next morning, we got ready, and went to see Peter Pan. There is a statue of Peter Pan, which was put there by JM Barrie, the author of Peter Pan. The statue was erected in the middle of the night, to seem as if Peter arrived by magic for the children. This was in the newspaper following the statue being erected.
“There is a surprise in store for the children who go to Kensington Gardens to feed the ducks in the Serpentine this morning. Down by the little bay on the south-western side of the tail of the Serpentine they will find a May-day gift by Mr J.M. Barrie, a figure of Peter Pan blowing his pipe on the stump of a tree, with fairies and mice and squirrels all around. It is the work of Sir George Frampton, and the bronze figure of the boy who would never grow up is delightfully conceived.”
After viewing the statue, Maggie left us to go back to Cardiff, as Christine, Justine and I kept exploring.Along one street we found all artwork for sale. We strolled down the street admiring the amazing talent. We all discussed our wishes for the money to buy all of this artwork and fill our homes with it. We then grabbed a bite to eat, and headed to the British Museum.
After the British Museum, it was time to say goodbye to Justine. She was off to reunite with her friend she hasn’t seen for 13 years! This was the sole purpose for going to London. Christine and I ventured off to enjoy some crepes at a creperie, and then did some shopping/wandering.
We got our bus back to Cardiff at around 6:30, and got back home in time for the superbowl! I, thankfully opted out. I must say I was happy to be in the UK for the superbowl, where it didn’t really matter if you watched it or not.
According to the Study Abroad Office I have a 4000% chance of getting accepted to the Australia college in Melbourne that I am applying to. So…it looks like I’m going abroad next semester. I’m going to try applying to an Apple Store for a job when I get there as well. I have a lot of paperwork to take care of for classes to make sure they count toward my major and GEs. I’m also going to start looking into loans and scholarships. Scholarships don’t look promising but there is one tuition assistance program that I’ve applied to through New Paltz. I am continuing to enjoy my first year of college at New Paltz! I CAN NOT WAIT TO GO ABROAD! This will be an experience I will remember for the rest of my life.
Over the weekend I took my first trip out of the CZ, to Vienna! The weather turned out to be phenomenal, and there were no delays in transit. The hostel we stayed at was very nice, and modestly priced at 15 euro a night. The staff was very welcoming, and we made good friends with the bartender. Much of the time spent out and about was in museums. Normally I’m all for it, but it seemed some of the dragged on due the the shear size of the buildings.
We went to the Museum of Military History in Arsenal (my favorite one, lots of guns), Belvedere (which had the painting of Napoleon on his horse, amazing), and the Hundert Wasser house (most of his paintings are abstract, but his architecture ideas are brilliant). Belvedere consisted of a couple of gardens, one of them being massive, many statues and sculptures, and the museum inside. While we there there the sun was shining all day, so it was quite relaxing to roam around the garden as the clouds strolled by.
My only qualms with the trip would be lack of planning on our part. The city was beautiful, although rather flat. If anyone goes to Vienna, I highly suggest saving the museum trips for Sunday because, most of the town’s shops and activities are closed then. Unfortunately we made the mistake of doing museums Friday and Saturday and looking around town Sunday. It seemed a bit rushed but all in all I had a good time.
As the first week of the semester has blasted off with me grasping for the edge of my seat, I have had a difficult time trying to find some way to sum it all up. With overwhelming emotions, as a result of uni life and the extremely high costs of everything, here in Perth, it is difficult to be completely positive. I have fully enjoyed my first two weeks, from the orientations to the people and great friends that I have made; however, I knew there was more to come: not just great and exciting moments, but also the stressful and very aggrevating moments. By having a full plate, with classes Monday through Friday, I am struggling to find time for job; something I am required to do in order to cover my living expenses. The seemingly “low cost of living” in Perth has now presented itself to me as deceiving, and according to many people that live here, it is in fact one of the most expensive places to live in Australia. Cheaper than Melbourne or Sydney? Not so true.
I’m sure this will all be worth it, but for right now I have to pay for additional class activity fees and purchase geology equipment that I am expected to already have for labs and field trips. Seriously in search of a job…
On the other hand, I have been working on my tan a bit, even with a ton of sunblock, and was able to attend a day at the beach with some friends, Sunday, before the commencement of the semester, with which comes the drastic decrease in my freedom.
What up, Blog, how’s it going?
So it’s been almost a week since my last update, but in that time I’ve started to get a better handle on things; routines are forming and I’m becoming more comfortable as I begin to get so accustomed to everything. Of course this doesn’t mean that I’m now a pro at everything I do; I’m still a complete noob- but I’m a noob who knows what to do! …Is that an oxymoron? Probs.
Since my last update, I’ve chosen a more solidified class schedule- my class hunting may actually have ended (YAY!). To start, I scored into the Italian for Foreigners class B1, which is similar to the New Paltz Intermediate 1. Even though back at NP I had already completed Intermediate 1, 2, and Comp and Convo, I’m comfortable with being where I tested. This level seems to hit my points of struggle adequately, especially since it’s been over two years since my last official Italian class.
The other classes are just as great- since my epitome when I realized I could take any class I wanted since they’ll all count toward my Italian major anyway, I’ve chosen the following schedule:
1: Italian for Foreigners
2: Storia della Ceramica (History of Ceramics)
3: Cinema e Fotografia (Cinema and Photography)
4: Musica del Teatro e dello Spettacolo (Music of the Theater and Show) –I’m one of two students at the moment, but it’s a good way to force me to pay attention. One thing I’ve found is that when you don’t speak the common language very well, its easy to tune it out in a lecture.
This week I came to the realization that I’ve been mispronouncing Federica’s name. It’s not Frederica like I thought, but Federica. There’s nothing like mispronouncing someone’s name over and over again- I should know. Do you know how many people call me “Lee”-ah instead of “Lay”-ah? You’d think I’d make a point to get names right and not assume that the female Italian name, Federica, would start with the American male name, Fred. Oopsie.
While on the topic of my mistakes, I managed to shame all of America this week in a single greeting. Thursday afternoon I was running late to my Musica del Teatro e dello Spettacolo class -the classroom was in an entirely different building on the other side of the city, and then I proceeded to go the wrong way! So, after arriving to class 25 minutes late (which oddly enough is very common for students even when they have the right directions), I walked into a classroom with only one student. Because of this, the professor and I were able to exchange greetings. I apologized to him for my being late and then realized this was the perfect opportunity to introduce myself and my foreign-ness in hopes that he’ll go easy on grading me. Yet despite this thought process of mine, the actual elapsed time was only about half a second and my greeting came out as “Mi dispiace, sono americana” (“I’m sorry, I’m American”). Two thoughts became one sentence, and the teacher basically told me not to apologize for being American. Cheers to myself on that one.
Yesterday, after a delicious cream of wheat breakfast made by Alex and a quick trip to the Saturday market to pick up ingredients and a spatula for the next day’s pancakes, a group of friends and I took the bus to Pesaro. Pesaro is beautiful and if you ever go, be sure to expect a gorgeous beach, millions of babies, and millions of small dogs dressed in sweaters and coats. Oh, and apparently it’s no big deal to grow lemon trees and olive trees in your front yard. ‘What up? Yeah that’s an olive tree. Yeah it’s just chillin’ in my front yard. No biggie.’
That night, Alex cooked for us again and made a meal of some-sort of flounder-like fish, smelts, pasta, and Greek tomato salad. DELICIOUS YET AGAIN, ALEX! I got to help with the fish and onions, and I feel like quite the chef! It was a nice meal to cook since Caroline’s goodbye-party was about to begin.
This morning I made American pancakes like my mother makes at home with blueberries, chocolate chips, bananas, and strawberries. Unfortunately I didn’t have vanilla extract (nothing some crystallized vanilla and vodka couldn’t fix!), cinnamon (until Caroline brought me some cinnamon sticks- and I ground them myself!), or baking soda (so they looked more like crepes). Oh well, still delicious.
After breakfast, I was still really tired yet again and went back to bed. I think I may be getting a little sick since waking up from my nap took every effort I had, and I woke up with sore eyes, feeling heavy-headed, and with a headache. In the hopes of helping myself, I took a long hot shower, a 10-minute walk for fresh air, and then stocked up on veggies, fruit, and a multi-vitamin from Alex at dinner. I hope hope hope hope I don’t get sick. While writing this, I got up to ask for a ginger-ale at the bar, and they don’t have any! No ginger-ale till July??? NO!!!
Chiara also just stopped by an attempted to video chat with me to my dad on Skype. It was so funny. Unfortunately it didn’t work well because of the poor internet connection, but she made us all laugh. She is definitely one of my favorite Italians here and always brings life wherever she goes.
Anyway, tomorrow is my first Teaching-Assistant day- and I have my own office hours! How cool??
Wish me luck!
A piu` tardi!
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I can’t believe that I’ve been living in Japan for five months already! Things here for me are so normal and I feel so at home that I don’t really pay attention to time passing. At the moment I’m on Spring Break and my first semester finished around the 2nd week of February. I am relieved to be on break since the end of the semester work was slightly challenging. The only problem I’ve been facing lately is quite honestly, boredom.
All of the international students that live in my building feel the same way, for the most part. We try to organize parties every now and then with Japanese students, and go out with Japanese students, but recently things have been quiet. Since I’ll be out of classes for about 2 months, I figured this would be the perfect time to travel. Many of the other students in the International House have the same idea, so at the moment it’s quiet in my building. Some students returned home for good, others just for the vacation, and some are traveling around Japan and other countries in Asia.
I was fortunate enough to go to Korea last weekend for my birthday. I had a blast! While I was back in SUNY New Paltz I was good friends with a Korean student named Yun Hee, who was at the time an international student at SUNY New Paltz. Before she returned to Korea I promised her that some time in the future I would visit her, and to her surprise I did! She was so happy to take care of me for 4 days, as I don’t speak any Korean (YET!).
The first day I stayed at her home in Cheonan, and her family were extremely kind to be, considering they didn’t speak a word of English. Her mom was a fantastic cook and I am utterly in love with Korean food. The next 3 days Yun Hee and I went to Seoul, only 40 minutes away by subway, and we stayed at a youth hostel. As we walked around sightseeing and shopping in Seoul, Yun Hee translated everything that was going on around me into English. Her English is really good and I was so relieved to be in her company. Although she became sick for some time during my trip, my birthday was still a lot of fun. I plan on visiting her again in the future if I can!
This weekend I’m going to Osaka with three other international students, then doing some sightseeing in Kyoto since it’s very close to Osaka. Hopefully I can do much more traveling during this break!
