uni

ok ok, dad and ol' sonny shine, you win - i'll talk about school.
school isn't too bad. the scheduling and work load in australia is much better than purdue and the states in general, and honestly, i think i may be getting more out of it. let me explain.
at home, classes are usually 50 min long 3 times a week with possibly a lab or recitation tacked on. there tends to be homework or lab reports due every week and at least 2 if not 3 exams during the semester plus a final. not to mention quizzes along the way.
here, classes are 1-3 hours long once a week, with a 1-2 hour long tutorial once a week. there is either a short paper or test midway through the semester and then a final. and that's it!
the aussie format to school fits my study habbits so much better. if i don't have time to study outside of class one week - no big deal: i haven't messed up any homework or quizzes and there is no upcoming exam that i'm behind on. i can just catch up later. plus, writing papers instead of taking exams makes the information in class just information instead of details that must be memorized. basically all the busy work is cut. i love it!
i'm taking 4 classes which is the amount that everyone takes. most students (especially in the business school) also work corporate jobs, so school cannot be a super full time thing. to me, 4 classes is nothing so i'm really enjoying the freed up time. my classes are: financial accouting, macroecon, international diplomacy, and the extreme right since 1945.
financial accounting and macroecon are your typical management classes and pretty boring to be truthful, but they aren't so bad.
international dipolomacy is taught by a professor from chicago, of all things, and is a decent subject matter. it's all about... well, international diplomacy... from ww1 through the september 11th attacks. it's an interesting spin to be an american listening to an american in australia teaching australians...if you can follow.
my 4th, and by far my favorite, class is the extreme right. we talk about all the extremist parties such as the nazis, fascists, aryans, skinheads... very entertaining. so far i've written a speach convincing the american public to go fascist (which i got a high distinction on, heck yes!) and a presentation on louis beam and the national alliance (wanting to purify and isolate the 'dominant' white race). i may come back corrupted.
college dynamics, or 'uni' as they call it here, are very different. first of all, most kids live at home with their parents and just go to schools nearby. this makes for a non-centralized campus life which is the basis for schools like purdue. the other big difference is they have no varsity sports. there are tons of club sports for all skill levels, but nothing for spectators to schedule their whole semester around.
although campus life and college sports are two of the things i like best about purdue, rmit does fine without. instead, activites are based on a city scale which has more to offer than a college ever could. instead of meeting people through sororities and dorms, you meet them in class and clubs, and go out in the city instead of to an apartment or frat party. aussie rules football dominates the sport scene and melbourne has several teams to 'barrick' for (don't say root...it means something else, haha) and boy do melbournites go for it! i've been recrutied to be a collingwood fan and plan to go see a game on ANZAC day vs essendon with a guy from class. super excited!
so although different, school is good. yes i'm making it to class and yes i'm passing all my classes. so no worries, mates!

shout out

i just want to give a public shout out to my roommates for being so incredibly nice to me. the last couple days have been a little rough for me, to say the least, but they've been nothing but supportive. tonight they surprised me with the best pick-me-up care package consisting of all my favorite vices including: a can of sour cream and onion pringles, diet coke, ice cream bar, chocolate candy bar, and a baked good. maybe it's a bad thing that in 6 weeks these girls know all the things i eat when i need a pick-me-up, but i love them for it!
i've also learned (not for the first time, but sometimes it takes a few lessons for it to kick in) that friends are necessary, but when it comes down to it, it's your family you can trust and rely on. it's a little extreme that i've had to travel half way around the world to find a living situation i'm happy in and to learn these life lessons, but i have to figure it out at some point. thanks for the support.

life's a beach

never have i lived so close to the beach, and to tell you the truth: i could totally get used to it. as a family we're not much on bumming it on the beach during vacation, but i've come to realize, i'd be a pretty good beach bum. there's really nothing better than laying on the sand, reading a little bill bryson, and soaking up the sun because you have nothing better to do. for all you beach-goers out there, australia is the place to be. all of it's major cities are located on the coast (and presumably have a beach near by) and honestly...there's not a whole lot of places to go outside those main cities. something like 80% of australia's population live in just 5 cities. it's kind of incredible.
as far as melbourne goes, there's plenty of beaches to choose from. the city lies on a huge bay, so you don't get your typical australian surf, but the water is great for swimming and of course the sand is perfect for lounging.
one of the beaches in melbourne, and my favorite, is st kilda. st kilda its self is a bit of a story. back in the day it was a booming yuppie holiday spot with rows of mansions lining the streets. for whatever reason, the area went downhill and became a crime ridden and well known red light district. the mansions were covered up by store fronts and people tended to stay away. now it is being taken back over by the young yuppie population so it has become this strange mix of the poor and rich. you can still see parts of the mansions when there are breaks in store fronts - i would have loved to have seen them at their peak. the beach itself is fine; usually pretty lively with people and i like it because there are heaps of stores and resturants not far from the beach area.
speaking of which, let me tell you a little something about gelato. it's spectacular. most of you probably have had it, i had not. it's a mix between ice cream and sorbet - basically it's super tastey. i had kiwi flavor today which actually had ground up kiwis in it. i don't know if i was just in the right mood, but it really made my day!
the beaches here are a little different than what i'm used to at home. mainly i think this is because we usually stick to the resorts or hotel beach property when spending any appreciable amount of time on the sand. unfortunately there is no beach volleyball here - at least none that i can find. i saw some posts set up today, but was dissapointed to realize that there was no net strung between them. i've had this undying urge to play since i've gotten here, but it is yet to happen. the sun here is also different - much more intense. apparently there is a big hole in the ozone right over australia which makes for very unfiltered sunny days. sunscreen is a must around no matter who you are. i overheard a girl in the outdoors club question why anyone would buy anything LESS than 30 spf sunscreen. my thoughts went the bottles of spf 4 we have around the house, but here, it is just not acceptable. 1 in 3 aussies have skin cancer. there is a national campaign that says "slip, slop, slap" which stands for slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen and slap on a hat. corney? yes, but it's the truth.
as i said before, there aren't any waves to speak of in the bay, but melbournites have made the best of it by adopting kite surfing with a passion. on a windy day, the sky will be littered with parachutte-looking kites attached to guys on wakeboards. they'll use the wind, and what waves they can find, to do flips, fly in the air, spin around....it's amazing. it looks tough on the ol' arms and i feel like i would fly away, but i really want to learn before i leave!
sydney, on the other hand, has it's fair share of waves as i found out the hard way. learn from my mistakes. on a free day in sydney during orientation, a roommate, brit, and i decide to go to bondi beach. bondi is a popular surf/swim beach and it was a perfect sunny day for both. after lying on the beach for a while, we decided to go for a dip to cool off. we're bouncing around in the water for a few minutes... thinking it's pretty fun to jump waves and be thrashed around by the undertoe. eventually we were getting pretty tired so we decided to go back to shore. brit makes her way back fairly effortlessly, but i can't seem to get anywhere. the stupid 'undertoe' (as i think it was) was pushing me out faster than i can swim in. to add insult to injury, mid-battle a surfer comes through a wave and rides over my head. after many apologies he sees that i care much less about my head and more about the fact that i'm exhausted, sick of swallowing salt water, and can't get to shore. he shares some helpful advice of swimming parallel to the shore and eventually i make my way to dry land: exhausted and a little embarrassed.
that night (about 4 hours too late) we had an orientation lecture about such 'rip tides' as i now know they are called. apparently they are the narrow outlets for the waves coming in and are deceptively calm looking (the exact reason i swam there in the first place). they are to be avoided, but if you are caught first you swim parallel to the shore to get out, if that doesn't work then you wave you arm over your head to get the lifeguard's attention and let it take you out to sea. most importantly, there are red/yellow flags saying where it is safe to swim. needless to say, at bondi, we were not between the flags. although we did see the flags...we didn't know what they meant. once again, would have been nice to have had this particular orientation lecture a few hours earlier.
since that eventfull day, a new tv seriers has started entitled "bondi rescue." the name says it all. in the 2004/2005 swim season over 8000 lives were saved in new south whales waters. a few more minutes and i may have been a part of that statistic and on tv, you never know. regardless, i am alive and well and most importantly now know to avoid those tricky little rip tides.
two things you should have learned from this lengthy post: slip, slop, slap and swim parallel.
('labour day in the grampians' pic is up!)

cyclone larry

i've been pretty lame the past few days, so i don't have much to report. the big news around australia at the moment (when they can tear themselves away from the games) is cyclone larry. old larry hit the northern queensland coast a couple days ago and has apparently caused quite the damage. 90% of the banana crops were wiped out and they keep talking about how the banana prices are going to shoot through the roof. are bananas really that important to have around? i just bought a bunch the other day, but it looks like they'll be my last while here.
the storm hit about 60 miles south of cairns (the big tourist city on the great barrier reef) and i've heard they are without water and electricity and will stay that way for a while. i had plans to go there for easter break, but it looks like my plans will be altered a bit. according to the sta travel agent, cairns is quite 'dodgey' and i should definately steer clear. i'm glad i didn't buy my plane tickets yet. sometimes it pays to be indecisive and procrastinate! a small part of the reef was torn up pretty badly, but most came through alright. the reef is approximately the size of japan, so it'd have to be quite the storm to take it all out.
as for me it looks like i'll be on holiday in brisbane and townsville visiting surfer's paradise, gold/sunshine coast, rainforest, and the reef. that'll encompass everything i was planning on doing, i'll just be a little farther south than originally expected. that's all the news i've got.
cheers!

opening ceremonies

i've always thought opening/closing ceremonies for big events were kind of weird with the giant puppets, interpretive dancing, and tribal music. after seeing it nearly live last night, i totally still do: but the light and firework show and being in the moment with the crowd totally made up for it.
last night was the opening ceremonies for the commonwealth games. they held it at the mcg arena and along the yarra river. it cost a couple hundred to be inside the mcg and nothing to be along the river...i sat along the river. my roommate tiffany and i got to the bank about 3 hours early to claim our spot. we didn't actually mean to be there so early...we were under the impression the batton (like the olympic torch) was going to come through then (it actually made it through an hour after the cermonies started), but it turned out to be a good thing we were there. crowds started to pour in and by the time the show started there was not a seat in the house. unfortunately another one of my roommates called just before the events and i had to go find her. i then spent the next 30 minutes trying to push my way through the wall of people between me and my nice grassy seat with the good view that i had sat around for 3 hours to keep. when i finally got back to my spot, the show was fantastic!
from where we were sitting we had the city to our left, the mcg arena to our right, a secondary set of skyscrapers and the river with the crazy fish in front of us, and two big screen tvs within eye shot to watch the live footage. melbourne's into the large public big screen tvs for events like this. they do the same thing for the australian open. it's a great idea...it's so much more fun to watch televised things with a group of people outside that cheer with you than sitting at home alone.
the actual ceremonies started with a light and water show shooting out of the yarra fish simultaneously occuring with the giant puppet, interpretive dancing, and tribal music in mcg. it continued with an AWESOME fireworks show which were shot from all of the fish, the mcg, and the skyscrapers across from us. shooting fireworks of buildings is probably a fire hazard, but oh well! the queen of england came, then the cat empire (the band i saw a few weeks ago) played while each country was introduced. the batton finally made it to the river and was passed by aussie rules footballers who walked over the fish which had stairs as backs and across the floating flags between them that i was talking about earlier. apparently the fish are strictly in the river for the games. there are 71 of them and they each represent a native fish to each of the countries/territories in the games. it ended with another spectacular firework/light/water show and that was it. i really enjoyed the whole thing - it got me pumped for the games.
apparently the commonwealth nations make up 1/3 of the world's population. considering the states and china aren't a part of it i was really shocked by that statistic. however it encompases 71 nations/territories including india, so i guess it's possible. whenever australia complains about america being a world dominating expansionist country, i'd just like to refer them to thier mother nation whose queen they still recognize. however, john howard (australia's prime minister) said on the news tonight that although australia has no plans of becoming a republic during the current queen's reign, he can't speak for the future past that.

labour day in the grampians

this past weekend was victoria's labour day weekend so we got monday off of school. i spent the long weekend with the outdoors club in the grampians for our intro trip. the grampians are a "mountain range" aka line of big, rocky, hills about 4 hours northwest of the city. the trip was designed so that the new members could get a taste of some of the outdoors club activities including "bushwalking" (hiking), moutain biking, and rock climbing. my weekend went as such...
we set off monday night with 5 of us in one of those 4-wheel drive work vans from the eighties. it was slightly rickety and i was a little sketched out with the fact that our "foot rest" was actually the engine which was located behind the front seats, but it turned out to be quite the trusty vehicle. our driver was 40-year-old gary who doesn't act much older than me. he's an accomplished climber originally from switzerland and a lot of fun to be around. the others in the car were kippe from kenya, hose from canada by way of equador, and michael from germany. we were quite the multi-culteral group!
we stopped about halfway there to get some dinner and groceries for the weekend. i made friends with the dog (and consequently its owners) while waiting for my pizza. they were nice people. i'm not an experienced camper, so i had to get instruction on what to buy for the weekend. it was going to be hot, so we could only bring refridgerated items for one day. i learned that it was fruit and peanut butter for breakfast, a tuna sandwhich and special k bar for lunch, and pasta for dinner. we also got some non-refridgerated milk (which i didn't know existed). the next task was to calculate how much water we would need for three days. there was no drinkable water to be had where we were going. i was falsely advised 4 litres would be enough - i drank that in about a day and a half. luckily there was plenty to spare from more experienced outdoorsmen when we got there.
we didn't make it to camp until about midnight where i found my tentmate (she was very happy to find me since she had been there for a half hour and i had the tent), pitched our tent, met a few people, saw the back half of a kangaroo hopping though our campground, then settled in for the next day.
i can't say i slept like a rock that night....maybe on a rock would be more applicable, but it was to expected. i drifted in and out of sleep only to be woken up at unnatural hours of the morning by not one but two screaming babies outside my tent. at first i thought it was some strange australian wildlife, but as the volume increased realized they were the screams of babies. why anyone would take TWO toddlers on a camping trip is beyond me.
regardless i woke up the next morning feeling rested and excited for the day's activities. i decided to spend the first day bushwalking. about 10 of us set off at 10 am for mount difficult which contrary to the name turned out to be quite fun. we saw several walabies, one of which had a baby in it's pouch - so cute! it was a pretty hot day, probably 33 degrees (low 90s) but humidity is very low here with the near-desert climate. however this did not stop the germans and sweed that were part of the group from doing their fair share of complaining. germans are quite the pansies when it comes to hot weather. i told them to toughen up, but i have to admit the first leg of the trip was taxing. the whole trip was a 15K hike with the first 4K going all uphill for about 500 meters. when we got to the top, however, we were about 800 meters high and the view was well worth the sweat. luckily the next 11K was mainly flat or downhill. water was pretty much nonexistan, but when we came to a stagnent, parasite-filled puddle at the bottom of a waterfall, the germans dove in and drank it down. i was sure they would get sick, but they fortunately dodged that bullet.
the next day i went rock climbing for the first time. it's actually a lot easier, safer, and less scary than i originally thought. plus compared to an all day hike, physically it was a breese. most of the day was spent lying on the rocks or belaying a climber with the occasional climb in between. i did three climbs the first day in the 7-10 range of a 1-34 scale. up to about 11 is for beginners, with 12-18 for intermediates. each climb was fairly succesfull, but i can't say i looked totally graceful in doing them.
when we got back to camp the aussies started up a game of backyard cricket. after having the rules explained to me by a spectator i joined in. although pretty boring to watch on tv, playing is actually a lot of fun. they let me bowl (pitch) and wicket keep (catch) and bat. bowling is kind of strange - you take a running start and throw the ball without bending your elbow so that it bounces once before getting to the batter. they then take a swing at it like they were swinging a golf club and run about five meters (maybe?) to the opposite wicket hopefully faster than someone can wing the ball at it. i was slightly confused by it all, but with a combination of softball and golf in my past picked up the legistics pretty easily.
we spent the night around the campfire playing games are messing around. the club members are "heaps" of fun and full of crazy antics as outdoors people are known to do.
monday i went rock climbing again and in the short day only had time to do one climb, but made it up a 15 which was a huge accomplishment for me. the rest of the time i spent singing 80s rock songs and unfornately being cought on tape singing/dancing to "jump on it" and "i like to move it". i have a feeling i will someday be blackmaled with that footage.
i got through the weekend nearly injury-free (minus the multitude of scrapes on my legs from brushing past sticker bushes and bumping into rocks which no one else seems to get...but that's a whole other issue) except for my cricket battle scar. i was fielding and got a little over excited when a ball came my way. i took off for it, didn't notice the rope holding up a nearby tent, and took a full-frontal slide onlong the ground. it was a typical abby moment which resulted in yet another skinned up knee and a resounding sound of first shock from the players, followed by busted out laughing, and finished with a round of appluase. they also have a picuture of the wound. luckily no one was quick enough with their camera to get the fall.

pictures!

and we officially have the internet! you would never believe how much of a relief it is to not have to walk 10 minutes/pay every time you want to use a computer. so i've posted a few correlating pictures on previous blogs if you'd like to scroll through and take a gander. this is a picture of my roommates (and the americans downstairs) so you'll have a visual when i refer to them by name.
front row:
matt is from north dakota and goes to some small school in michigan for engineering. he's currently employed by gm and wants to do alternative energy stuff. fun fact: he graduated with 2 people in his class. yes, he was validictorian. prom must have been fun
tiffany is from chicago and goes to bradley in illinois. she does things with film and media for school and is an alpha chi there. this picture was taken on her 21st birthday. we surprised her with a cake from this bakery in st kilda that my city guide said was a can't-miss - i stick to the book.
back row:
sam is from brooklyn and goes to u. michigan. he can't really describe what he's going to school for...that makes you wonder. he's quite the character - randomly busts out the beat-boxing and karate kicks.
me!
adrian is from washington dc and goes to purdue for engineering. he's a good guy to have around....knows way too much on just about everything. when he doesn't know i feel like he can make it up. i believe him.
alicia is from evansville and actually also goes to purdue. she and adrian are dating. i didn't know them from school but they are lots of fun. she is also an engineer. i go around the world and i'm still surrounded by engineers - i can't get away from them!
andrea is from boston and goes to u. florida. she studies psychology and french and wants to go into consulting. she's into indie night and actually is talking about it right now. luckily she also enjoys 80s and 90s sing-a-longs which serves for pretty good nights for me. extreme kareoke thursdays, 90s night fridays....we're there!
so that's the crew. andrea and sam go to monash uni which is about an hour commute by train. the rest of us are at rmit in the city. enjoy the pictures...more to come!

casino night

last night my roommates decided they wanted to go to the casino. the last time i went to a casino was when i was in las vegas and was about 10. apparently gambling is a big thing around here. according to bill bryson in 'down under' (a book i'm reading about australia...yes: a BOOK that I'M READING...schocking, i know. actually it's the second book i've read since starting this trip. so what if the first one was confessions of a shopaholic...it's still a book! :)) anyway, in bill bryson says that although australia has 1% of the world's population it has 20% of the world's slot machines (ie "pokies") and the nation spend $11 million on gambling a year. that's $2000 per person! this lady was telling me what to do while in australia...first thing she said was "go to the crown." i had nothing better to do anyway.
as soon as i got there i realized i do not have to heart (or the spare cash) to gamble. the cheapest table was a $10 buy in...for one hand! in less than a minute a friendly game of black jack can rob you of $10. or even worse...play war and that money is gone in about 10 seconds. what IS fun, however, is playing with other people's money. it's not my fault that guys get a kick at flashing money around! haha
so my money spending went as such: $5 on the roulette table...won a few, lost a few...ended up with $2. brad took my $2 and lost it on some double card thing at black jack so he gave me $5. and i'm even. then he gave me $5 more to play a hand of black jack and i lost it. then i was determined to make that money back so i played more roulette, made $5, and went home even. i'm a weak player...i'll bet $2 on black and $1 on red, that way i always win and at worst i'll loose $1. haha
brad made out well. he cashed in $450 and doubled his money. i was very impressed. there is no way i'd be willing to take that kind of risk. best part was, since he was $450 richer...he picked up the cab ride home.
i can see how it'd be addicting though. the thought of winning money is spectacular. but for me, the thought of loosing it is far worse. i think i've had my fill of gambling for a while, but it was fun none-the-less.

disclaimer

i've been informed that my blog is splattered with spelling mistakes and typos. sorry! i can't say i really care too much, though (haha). it's no seceret that i can't spell, but if it's that bothersome to people, i'll take the extra time to hit spellcheck. and for the record: irregardless is a word. :)

commonwealth games prep

i walked to the city today along the yarra river in hopes of finding a weekend duffel bag with the commonwealth games logo on it. if you didn't know (which i didn't - so i wouldn't blame you) the commonwealth games are very similar to the olympics in that they are a big sporting event that lasts a couple weeks and happen every 4 years, but they are just the commonwealth countries (eg: england, south america, australia, new zealand...). the games are going to be held in melbourne this year and begin on the 15th of this month. the city is buzzing to get everything ready: sprucing up the landscaping, building tents, and bracing themselves for a storm of tourists.
anyway - most of the events will be held in olymic/melbourne park (where the australian open is played) which is along the yarra river. the area is lined with a foot/bike path and green banks/gardens - very pretty. in the river there is a string of very large, industrial looking, metal fish. don't ask me what they are for - i have no idea. i can't say they're super attractive, but interesting no doubt. they are probably some sort of installation that someone's mind views as 'art'. my guess is that they are all native australian fish...but beyond that i don't know what they are supposed to represent. when i passed by today they were putting these huge floting boards between them with the flags of all the countries in the games. i also saw them attaching the head of what looked like a giant pink/yellow pinata maybe in the shape of a horse? i'll get a hold of a camera and take some pictures. the whole thing is hard to describe.
regardless, i'm pretty pumped about the upcoming games. our resident director is buying us all tickets to an event and there are lots of free events like the street races to see. i basically am looking forward to mooching off the boosted festival feel: concerts, food stands, and lots of community-wide activities. it kind of reminds me of madison in the summer (in a much bigger way) as far as the festivals and things go. i didn't find my bag; the merchandise tents didn't appear open, so i'll have to go back later. the salesman who told me to look down there yesterday also seemed very confused as to what day it was, so maybe he wasn't the most reliable source. oh well, it's just an excuse to take go for a walk along the river and enjoy the sunshine. as if i need an excuse.

blending in

i can't decided if i'm blending in or not. i have reasons to think both ways. although most australians are white, blond-haired, anglosaxens (if that's politically correct - i never know), they have a bit of a destinctive look: their features are a little harsher and build is a little slighter. however, if an australian was wondering around the states i don't think i'd pick him/her out of the crowd until they opened their mouth.
my experiences have gone as such:
during our 'city day' with lauren (our resident director) we went to soul mama's: a vegitarian buffet. the resturant in itself was quite the experience, but i'm refering to after dinner. our group was out on the deck, watching the sun set over the beach when one of our waiters came out to join us. we were talking and he says to me, "do you remember when you walked up the stairs and i saw you?" (as if we had some moment there) i just replied 'no', thinking he was leading into some cheesy pick-up line. he continues, "i knew right away you were an american." 'ohhh' i think, feeling slightly foolish. so i asked him how he knew, but he couldn't come up with a good answer. all he said was, "you can just tell" - whatever that means. i critiqued myself: no t-shirt, no tennis shoes, no ball cap, no loud, obnoxious behaviour....oh well. i can't say i'm ashamed.
in my financial accounting tutorial, our teaching decides we needed to introduce ourselves to the class and then mingle to find a friend to ride the train/tram home with. out of a class of 16 people, 10 were from central china, 5 were from australia, and then there was me. when the accent came out, all eyes were intently on me. there is a lot of pressure to impress and have something half way interesting to say. when we broke off to mingle the chinese gathered in their group and i was swarmed by the aussies. it was kind of intimidating really, but i enjoyed the attention. they were all very curious about the states and most had been there and told me what they thought about california and new york (the two places everyone goes). they asked about indiana - my initial response was 'corn'. haha - but i tried to make it sounds as appealing as possilbe. although i was totally singled out, they were super nice and gave me some good tips. they are my first aussie friends that i've found without my american group. very exciting!
in contrast however, EVERY day i'm stopped on the street and asked for directions. no one knows why i am the one out of thousands of people walking the sidewalks they stop. it's not as if i look like i know what i'm doing. i don't know how many times i've started down a street, and halfway through had to spin around and switch directions. i spend most of my times lingering at intersections with my head in the air trying to find recognizable buildings or street signs while rotating my map because i honestly don't know which way north is. irregardless i get stopped, asked if i'm from melbourne or if i know where such-and-such is. my pattoned response is "no, but i have a map!" i go nowhere without my melbourne city guide.
the goal is to one day be stopped, asked where something is, and with confidence answer their question. until then, indexing chinatown and maping the address will have to do.