First Week of Uni

I have officially completed my first week of Uni! I am attending Queensland University of Technology, and am taking four courses: Ecology, Environmental Economics and Policy, Statistics, and Australian Society and Culture. I have spent quite a bit of time roaming around campus, trying to get to know my way around a little better. The QUT campus is located right near the city center. It is about a 20 minute walk from my apartment. I walk across a bridge over the Brisbane River, passed Queen Street Mall, the Casino, the Parliament House, and arrive at campus. I really think it is one of the most beautiful campuses I have seen. It is located directly next to the botanical gardens and it is incredibly beautiful! There are palm trees and huge flowers surrounding the campus.

After looking at my class schedule, or ‘time table’ as they call it here, one thing I noticed was they have SO much less in class time than we do back home! I am taking 16 credits, and have 3 classes Monday, 2 on Tuesday, NO class Wednesday, 1 class Thursday and 1 class Friday. There are typically three sections to each course; the lecture, the practical (or ‘prac’) which is the lab, and the tutorial, or ‘tut’ which is the same as our discussion sections. The lectures are what I think I will have the most trouble getting used to. The lecturers are only referred to by their first names, never ‘Mrs.’ ‘Mr.’ ‘Dr.’ or ‘Professor.’ It is difficult to get used to their teaching style as well. They pull up a PowerPoint off the computer, and it’s almost as if they stand at the front and read directly off of them. They also rely on the program Blackboard MUCH more than courses at home. Every course has a Blackboard page, and it is utilized to the fullest. They put every PowerPoint they use in class up on Blackboard for you to access it. They also often put up audio recordings of their lectures, and possibly videos as well. I haven’t figured out how students here stay motivated to attend the lectures when everything you see or hear in class is available at home on your computer. I am going to try to go to them all, but we will see how things go :-P . I do feel like it’s a waste of money to be paying someone to lecture you when they give you no further information than what is online though! I have stats with my friend Jen which is a little more motivation to go! She’s also in my Australian Society and Culture course, as is Kagan, Hagen and Amy ! Jen and I have a stats conflict with the ASC tut, and after talking with our lecturer about it, he just decided because we had an issue we wouldn’t even take the tut section. Not sure how that will work our grade wise, but it’s nice to have one less class to attend! My favorite course so far is Ecology. I am really excited to be learning about Australian ecology, rather than Minnesota. We are beginning our pracs studying fruit flies and the abundance in different areas of Brisbane.

Sorry if my blog isn’t very interesting. I have been so busy, and when I sit down to write something, I can never remember what I have been doing all the time, but I will do my best! It was a pretty quiet weekend. Wednesday evening was my friend Rick’s 20th birthday, and so we had a BBQ on the rooftop. After eating sausages, we all got dressed up, had a few drinks, and hopped on the bus to a bar called The Regatta. It was absolutely huge and looked incredible, but they only played techno! I think I could go to any bar, and as long as they have fun music to dance to, I will love it regardless. I don’t mind techno, but I need pop-y music to dance to! It still ended up being a really fun night, but Wednesday is certainly The Regatta’s busy night. The place was absolutely PACKED! Photo of the girls and guys before heading out to Regatta.

Thursday night I saw the movie The Blind Side—it just came out here and I absolutely loved it! We went to the movie pretty late in the evening, and I called it a night after arriving back at the apartment around 11:30. On Friday most of the group wanted a chill night in due to a music festival a bunch of people were attending on Saturday called Future. We had a few drinks on the rooftop, and then Val, Kate, Chelsea, Mary, Elise and I went out to the bar Down Under in the city. After a bit of dancing, drinks, and a stop at Hungry Jacks, we made our way home at a decent hour, surprisingly! Saturday it rained most of the day. We had originally planned to go the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, which is 11 km north of Brisbane, but the shitty weather changed our plans. Aliey cooked Vince, Mikey and I delicious Vietnamese Spring Rolls. We had quite the difficulty rolling them, until I pulled out my Chipotle burrito rolling skills and perfected the spring roll rolling… well, kind of. We spent most of our day having yet another ‘slumber party’ in Vince and Mikey’s room—3 mattresses, 10 people, 3 movies, lots of silly conversations… all in all it was a wonderful weekend =]

5 More Bits about Australia:
1. Practical or ‘Prac’ = Lab and Tutorial or ‘Tut’ = Discussion or Recitation
2. Sprinkles = ‘100s and 1000s’ or ‘Hundreds and Thousands’
3. Busses do not automatically stop for you when you’re standing at the bus stop. You have to hail the bus… a few people in the group learned this the hard way when their bus passed them by and had to wait 30 mins for the next one to come!
4. Girl swimsuit = bikini – this is an American used term as well, but I think we say ‘swimsuit’ more than we use bikini, where they only use bikini
5. They do NOT understand BAGELS here! I haven’t met an Australian yet who has tried a bagel. They literally have one choice of bagels at the grocery store, plain. My roommate yesterday asked me ‘so what exactly IS a bagel? Just bread shaped like a donut?’ They thought it was so strange to hear we have bagel buttons on our toasters, and shops just for bagels!

The Sunshine Coast

Friday was Kara's 21st birthday, so we went out Thursday night to a bar in the city called Down Under. It's a backpackers bar, so there are a lot of international students. Mikey and Vince picked me up because I was too lazy to walk and I was there non sober form of entertainment for the night. You're welcome, guys!

Friday evening we grilled out on our rooftop to celebrate Kara's birthday. We were planning on going out, but were all so exhausted from the night before, we decided to keep it low key.

A group of us headed up to the Sunshine Coast on Saturday morning. The Sunshine Coast is a region about an hour and a half train ride north of Brisbane full of beautiful beaches. We caught the train, then switched to a bus, and finally made it to King's Beach in a town called Caloundra by 10:30 am. We spent the day jumping in the waves, drawing in the sand, and laying in the sun. The sand was so fine, and there was a slight breeze, we couldn't have asked for better weather. Laying on the beach, looking out, and realizing it was February and freezing back home was one of the most wonderful feelings ever. By mid afternoon, we all were fried, and decided to head home. Even if you apply sunscreen multiple times a day here, it's almost impossible to avoid getting burnt, and I definitely felt the affects of that. I had the most horrible sunburn all over my feet, and up my ankle. It looked like I was wearing red socks-- :-P! We got back pretty late Saturday, and I was finally able to meet Aliey, Vince's little sister. She is coming to college here, and is living in our same apartment building.



Sunday I slept in! I was so exhausted from spending the day at the beach, I managed to sleep past 9 am. Vince, Mikey, Geoff, and Aliey headed in to the city for lunch. We got ramen noodles, and the cutest sorbet! I got peach, and it was served in a frozen, hollowed out peach. We spent the afternoon wandering around the city, which is pretty much a daily occurance. In the evening Vince, Geoff and Mikey all brought their mattresses into the living room, and a group of us watched Hercules!

I have spent the past few weeks here in desperate search of a fan! EVERY single store is sold out. I think I have gone to at least 10 different stores. Annoying!

This morning Vince, Mikey, Aliey, Kate, Chelsea, Val, Mary and I headed over to University of Queensland for part of their orientation week. Kate, Chelsea, Val and Mary all are from Rutgers University and are all attending UQ. Vince and Aliey both attend UQ as well. Mikey and I just tagged along, as I wanted to see the campus. I was finally able to run into Julie as well! For those of you who don't know, Julie is from back home. She is in Alpha Chi with me, and is studying at UQ. It will definitely be nice to spend some time with someone from back home! We took the City Cat back from UQ to our apartments. The City Cat is a ferry that runs down the Brisbane River and can be used instead of taking the bus or train.

I started classes on Monday. I think I will wait until my first week is completed, and then put a whole post up about it.

A few more:
Cotton candy = Fairy floss
A lot = Heaps
Friend = Mate
Sunglasses = Sunnies
Restroom = Toilet
To call = To ring
Boxed wine = Goon

I have finally gotten photos up on Facebook of my week in Cairns! Sorry it took forever but enjoy! If you don't have Facebook and would still like to see the photos, email me at ande9234@umn.edu to let me know and I will put them on a different site for you to view!

Valentine's Day

I don't think I gotten to bed earlier than 2:30 the last week I have been here... and I still can't figure out what I am doing the whole time I am staying up! I keep wishing I would keep this more updated, but our days are pretty repetitive!
On Saturday a group of 11 of us went to see the movie Valentine's Day. The theater was SO incredibly huge, and with our student cards the tickets were only $5.50, which has been the cheapest thing we've found yet! The movie was kind of more depressing than we all expected, but it was still cute, and gave us something to do without spending so much!

On Sunday a group went to the Gold Coast, which is a really beachy, touristy area an hour trainride south of Brisbane. They left so early in the morning, and I wasn't prepared, so I decided to take a raincheck and might be going this weekend. Sunday was also Valentine's Day! Mikey and Vince decided to be every girl's Valentine, so they bought us kinder surprise eggs, with little toys in them. Valentine's night, a group of 9 of us went to a Korean BBQ restaurant, and then out for icecream! It was much different than most of my Valentine's Days, but it was a lot of fun and I am so glad to have great friends here to spend it with!


Yesterday it was downpouring out all day. A group of us decided to have a movie day, so Vince and Mikey moved their beds into the living room of their apartment, and we all watched The Prestige followed by Zoolander. Last night we had an international student river cruise through our school. The whole thing was pretty unorganized, and it was frustrating walking everywhere in the pouring rain, but by the end it turned out to be a pretty fun night! It took place on the Brisbane river, which runs through the entire city. We all wished it would have been a nicer night, though, as it would have been nice to stand outside and take pictures. Most of the group decided to head to an after party when we got off the boat, but I have been pretty sick for a few days now and decided to head back to the apartment with Lisa. I came back to the and found Vince and Mikey still laying in the living room on their beds. We turned on the Olympics, which is so weird to watch here with the Australian commentary, and I was FINALLY able to Skype with Chrissy (my best friend from home). Another night not getting to bed before 2!

Most of my posts will be pretty repetitive. We have all started to get in some sort of routine, although classes don't start until the 22. It's usually wake up, go into the city, eat lunch, head back to the apartment for a swim, shower, and do whatever! I really like having some sort of plans every day though, otherwise I don’t know what to do with myself.

A bit of Aussie slang:
Car trunk = Boot
Parking spot = A Park
Doing Laundry = Do washing
You're welcome = That's alright
Sweatshirt = Jumper
Tank top = Singlet
How are you doing = How are you going
They also change endings to so many words with 'ie' -- like;
Mosquito = Mozzie
Brisbane = Brizzy
Barbeque = Barbie
College = Uni

Just a start :) I will add more as I think of them!

Brisbane

On Tuesday we arrived in Brisbane and were driven to our apartment. The group was split up into twos to room together with one other person, except Geoff and I. Geoff is living with two Australian guys, and I am living with two Australian girls. I was really nervous at first, but both of my roommates seem really nice, and I think that it will add so much more to the experience to be able to learn about Australia through the two of them.

Tuesday afternoon we all went to the grocery store to pick up a few items. It was incredibly difficult to shop, because we were all shocked at how expensive everything is! I spent nearly 10 minutes looking for a face lotion that was under $15. After an hour of shopping, we headed home to get used to our new apartment. We had originally planned to go out our first night in Brisbane, but we were all so exhausted we kept it pretty low key.

Wednesday was Lisa’s 21st birthday. We spent most of the morning figuring things out at our university, QUT, and getting out ID cards. We spent a bit exploring the city, and then picked up a few items we needed for our apartments. Wednesday night we went out to sushi, which was my first real sushi experience! I don’t eat seafood, but I ordered cucumber rolls and avocado rolls, and they were both delicious! A group of us decided to do sake bombs in celebration of Lisa’s birthday. It was my first sake bomb! Instead of going out that night, we decided to head up to Hunter and Donny’s room to play drinking games, rather than spending even more money at the bar. I think playing drinking games with boxed wine (the CHEAPEST alcohol you can get here) was probably a bad idea, as I had to deal with the consequences most of Thursday.

On Thursday I FINALLY got on the internet for a bit. There is a coffee shop next door to our building, and it is probably my best bet for getting online. The internet is very weak, and I haven’t been able to upload ANY pictures, not even to my blog. I am hoping to get that figured out soon. Thursday night the whole group grilled up on the rooftop of our apartment. We then took a trip to a man-made beach in the city, called Streets Beach. The pool is made with sand and truly looks like a real beach.

Friday I spent the day walking around the city with Mike, Vince, Geoff and Anthony to run a few errands. We ate lunch at a place called Magic Kebab with Kate and Chelsea, and it was SO good! After running errands, we came back to the apartment and went swimming in the pool on the rooftop of the apartment—coolest thing ever. During the night we went to the casino. It was the first time I had ever been to one, and it was quite the experience. We all felt pretty out of place at the beginning, but it turned out to be such a fun night. When we got back, a few of us stayed up talking, and I didn’t get to bed until nearly 4:30 am. I haven’t stayed up that late in a while!

I really think that Brisbane is the most incredible city I have ever been to. It is so clean! The casino has tons of colored lights, which makes the city look so cool when you’re standing on the opposite side of the river. There is a lot of incredible architecture here, something I didn’t expect. I never thought I'd love it here as much as I do!

Here is an album my friend Geoff has created: gallery.me.com/geoff.goral --The first portion of the photos under ‘Brisbane’ were taken from our rooftop—incredible, right?

I thought I would say a few things I have noticed about the country as I think of them…
1. EVERYTHING is more expensive. And I mean EVERYTHING. Magazines are around $8, Shampoo and conditioner is $7 or $8, any coffee drink can be $4-$7.
2. They don’t have ‘dollar menus’ ever. They just recently got $3 menus. McDonalds is yet another thing that is much more expensive. My normal meal that costs $2.50 at home was about $6 here.
3. Alcohol prices are also outrageous. You will be lucky to find any bottle under $30, and a 6 pack of beer can be near $25. Boxed wine is the cheapest choice.
4. The phrase ‘no worries’ is used constantly in this country. I have heard it hundreds of times in the last week and a half.
5. Staying out later is much more common here. A lot of bars are open until 5 am.
6. People can go ANYWHERE without shoes on! It is not uncommon to see people walking around the mall, grocery stores, or just around the city barefoot.
7. Target in Australia is an entirely different store. It is much more similar to a department store, and it is also much more expensive than the Target at home. It doesn’t seem to even sell the same clothing lines.
8. Instant coffee seems to be more popular in the household than brewed coffee
That's all I can think of now-!

Last days in Cairns

I have finally arrived in Brisbane, and the internet is not any better here! It costs about $45 a month a person for 3 GB of usage, which is very expensive, so I have just been using the wireless at a nearby coffee shop. I am going to give an update of my last few days in Cairns, and then tomorrow I'll do my first few days in Brisbane. I can barely remember what has happened the past few days, I have been so busy! On Sunday we had our community day at a nursery that is working to save the Cassowary bird. This bird only survives on the fruit of a certain type of tree, and this tree only thrives by having the fruit eaten by this bird, so they have a very strange relationship with one another. The nursery was located in Kuranda, which is about 20 minutes drive from the center of Cairns. At the nursery was where I saw my first Huntsman spider -- google it. I was using an outhouse, and when I stood up I saw it sitting right under the seat! These type of spiders don't bite or cause any harm, but they like warm places and often cause car accidents because they sit on top of sun visors and when drivers pull them down they freak out and get distracted. After leaving the cassowary nursery, we went to lunch. I ordered a kangaroo burger, and it was absolutely not my thing. It wasn’t disgusting, but it felt like I should be eating a burger, and it didn’t taste like beef, so it felt off. I don’t think I will be ordering any kangaroo the rest of my trip.

The next day was our trip out to the Great Barrier Reef. We all loaded up on a sailboat and took a 2.5 hour trip out in the ocean. A bunch of us decided to go scuba diving, and it was the most incredible experience I have had yet. While scuba diving we had to wear these blue stinger suits, to avoid getting stung by a deadly jellyfish called an Iracongi. While scuba diving, I saw sting rays, clown fish, parrot fish, and tons of amazing coral. The diving instructor let us pick up a sea cucumber, it was the weirdest feeling thing I have ever held. After I finished, a bunch of us laid out on the nettings of the boat. It was really an amazing experience to think that you were laying on a sailboat out in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. We took the 2.5 hour boat ride back to the shore, and ate Dominos pizza for dinner at the hostel. This was my favorite day of the trip by far.

Tuesday we packed up the rest of our stuff, ate breakfast, and headed to the airport to head back down to Brisbane, where I will be living for the next 5 months. It was interesting how easy the process of getting through an airport is in Australia compared to how complicated it is in the U.S. Our taxi driver brought us over to our apartment, and the rest I will leave for tomorrow!

Hello from Australia!

It has been very difficult to get internet access, so this will be a long update from the past few days! I left on February 2 at 10 am Central time, and arrived in Australia at 8 am Australia time on the 4th. It was such a weird experience to have no idea of the time! Leaving was a really weird experience. I think that I put the whole idea of studying abroad so far in the back of my head in the last few days that it really didn’t hit me at all. I think I held myself together pretty well. I think most of you would be proud how little I actually cried- I tend to be a mess! My flight from MSP to Dallas, and Dallas to LA were both pretty uneventful. When I arrived in LA is when everything started to go down hill. I was extremely exhausted, but didn’t want to fall asleep so that I would be able to sleep on the flight. I had a five hour layover, there were NO outlets to charge my computer and there was no wi-fi (Of all places, why would LA not have wi-fi at their airport?), and I had a pounding headache. Not fun. The flight from LA to Brisbane was really uneventful. It was 14 hours long and I slept about 6 of them, watched a few . We landed in Brisbane, and then had to hop on another flight to Cairns. We moved into our hostel in Cairns, where we are spending a week.

The first night here was pretty low key. We went swimming, had our first orientation session, and got dinner at a brewery. We were so exhausted, we all decided it was best to stay in for the night. Here is a photo of part of the group at the brewery.


Yesterday, we went to the Rainforestation, a nature park in Kuranda. There were kangaroos laying all over the park, as if they were dogs! It was the strangest thing. They were all just lounging around with humans surrounding them. At the park, we went on a duck boat ride, saw an aboriginal dance show, took pictures with a snake, kangaroo and koala, and saw the crocodiles being fed. Last night we went to out to dinner at a place called The Wool Shed, had a few drinks, and danced! A group of us headed out around 11pm, as we had to get up early today!



Today a group of us went four wheeling up in Kuranda. I am used to four wheeling up at the cabin, but it was really fun to be able to fly through huge mud puddles and down a creek. Tonight we are heading to dinner with the group, and probably out for the evening!

Tomorrow we will be doing a community day, then a day on the Great Barrier reef, and finally heading back to Brisbane on Tuesday. I have been wasting money the last hour trying to add photos to this blog, but they aren't uploading, so check back soon! Until next time!
Xoxo.

Be Back Later, America.

This is long, so I apologize in advance if I bore you. I cannot believe that it’s already time for me to leave-- TOMORROW is the big day! I remember first making the decision to go abroad this spring semester and thinking it was so far away! The last few days have been pretty low key. On Friday, I woke up very early to go to a doctor appointment for my sister’s ultrasound on her baby. We found out that she is having a BOY! I cannot believe that when I arrive home from Australia, a sweet baby boy will already have arrived, and I will be an aunt! He is due June 18th, and I will be heading home June 26th, so unless he holds out, I won’t be home for the birth. The ultrasound was incredible, and both Alecia and Justin are all smiles after finding out the sex of the baby. After her appointment, she came home and helped me pack. My sister spent a year in Germany and traveled through Europe, so she has become an expert packer, and really helped me out.

I worked all day Saturday, and Katie (my roommate) came to Stillwater that night so we could say our final goodbye. Sunday was all about packing and spending time with my family. My uncle came over and my dad picked up Famous Dave's for dinner. Shortly after, Carey and Steve stopped by to drop off a book for me to read on the plane, and to say goodbye! After they left, I spent the remainder of the evening watching the Grammys with my mom. Today was the final packing day. I spent all morning running final errands and finishing up my packing. One suitcase ended up being 52 pounds, too heavy ! I had to toss a few things out, but my two suitcases are officially set!

Tomorrow my flight departs at 2:10pm. My sister is stopping over before class to say her final goodbye. My mom, dad and Will are taking me to the airport. I fly from MSP to Dallas, have an hour layover, fly to LAX, have a five hour layover, and then depart from LA at 11pm to Brisbane, where I will be living for five months. I believe my flight to Australia is near 16 hours long.. ugh, and I don’t arrive until the morning of the 4th. I then hop on yet another flight up to Cairns, which is where I will be spending my first week.
I want to say a little something to a few people, as I leave in the morning and may not get the chance to do so.

Chrissy and Kate: You both rock my life. How can I possibly spend 5 months away from the two of you? Can’t wait to have Skype dates and learn about the latest madness going on in the lives of you both. There’s not a chance anything will ever change, even with me 6,000 miles from you. Thank you for constantly listening to me whine and complain about life. You both are irreplaceable.

Katie: How would I have survived this semester without you? I am so incredibly thankful to have had the opportunity to live with you, and to get to know you so much better. You are more special to me than you could possibly know! The hardest thing about leaving Minneapolis was giving up another 6+ months of being your roommate! You were there for me all semester, and really listened to every single word I had to say. I cannot wait to hear about all of the grad schools you are accepted into (because you WILL be).

Carey: My favorite wingman. There’s no one I’d rather have come on this trip with me than YOU. I wish you were tagging along and taking over the city with me. I can only imagine the adventures we would get in, and I can’t wait to keep you constantly updated on my life. Thanks for keeping me sane, and having my back more than anyone ever has. I can’t wait for you get into law school and stay in Minneapolis to be my homegirl for a few more years :-]

Alecia: I cannot wait to Skype with you and hear all the latest about my sweet baby nephew. I am so excited for you and Justin, and I am sorry that I may not be home for the birth of your baby. Thank you so so much for all of your help through getting ready for this trip. You are such a blessing in my life, and I am going to miss you so much.

Mom and Dad: Thank you Thank you Thank you for making this possible for me. You have been so incredibly supportive, and have always been there for me. I know that money isn’t easy to come up with, and the fact that you are willing to sacrifice for me is so incredible. I love you both so very much!

Next update will be from Australia!