classes have begun!

So, its July, but I've had a week of classes. I'm done for the week, and its only thursday, which is amazing! My first semester of no friday classes, three day weekends here i come. i'm going to job search tomorrow and grocery shop and all that good stuff. I made quiche yesterday, which was exciting. But classes. I'm taking Environmental Psych (which is great!), Contemporary Culture and Everyday Life (also amazing!), Biology of Australian Flora and Fauna (dorky, but I love it...I am my mother's daughter, thats for sure) and Indigenous People and the State (which is boring so far, but has promise). So yeah, i don't have classes on any day before noon, except on Thursday, i start at the early hour of 11. Rought life i'm living here in australia. Not much else to update on, life is still great. Still love my roommate. Still love my friends. Oh, I finished Harry Potter (the 6th one!) which means since i got to australia (3 weeks ago) I've read two HUGE books (harry potter 5 and harry potter 6). Whew, now i'm reading Next of Kin, by Roger Fouts, which is about his work teaching a chimp ASL (sign language) and all about having actual conversations with the chimp, very fascinating (that snippet was for you, bookworm/sister). Hope you're enjoying the pictures. Everyone, email me! Please! I miss you all!

p.s. the picture is of these cool statues of 'business men waiting for the tram' on the corner of Burke & Swanston St. in downtown Melbourne.

Pictures!

here are some pics! the one in the last post is from Phillip Island. So, in this one we've got the creepy santa kangaroo...christmas in July, and it is winter, soooo yeah. Then there is the view of Melbourne from Rialto Towers, very cool. Then we've got me feeding a kangaroo at the sanctuary...very awesome. Kat, Erin, Nicole, Me, Sarah and Katie before the formal dinner at the res college. Then Sarah and I at the winery in Yarra Valley, and then last pic is of my roommate Claire (on the right) and her best friend from school Erin.

just a quick update

Hi again! So just a quick update. I finally have internet in my room, hooray, so hopefully emails and stuff will happen soon. Classes begin on Monday...a bit crazy! All of you are having summer and its cold and windy here and i have classes in JULY! ah well, i am in australia, so its worth it. My friends and I had a dinner party last night, which i cooked for. I made lemon/garlic chicken, steamed brocolli, rice and a salad. I also made tzatziki and had it on pita bread. hooray for being able to cook! I love having an apartment, and I'm loving my friends here so far. I'm starting to feel settled, and once classes start I'll have more of a routine. I still love my roommate, and already I get annoyed by tourists when i'm trying to run errands in the city, haha. I love being so close to the city, its a longish walk or a 5 minute tram ride, which is amazing. I must eat some breakfast and clean up the apartment, but just a little 'hello' to everyone! Tell people to read this, and keep checking it! Miss you all very much!!

my seattle trip....just incase you were curious

My trip to Australia started off with a little travel in the US. This little bit of travel turned into quite an ordeal, since it took me 3 days to fly from Boston to Seattle. After spending a night in Boston with Sarah Jenkins (on purpose) I got stuck in DC because of rain, so Genna’s little sis Ellis picked me up and the next day she drove me all around DC. I then got re routed to San Fran, and got stuck there overnight. Luckily, my sister Sarah has a friend named Mo who came and picked me up at midnight. She was fabulous and has an amazing place in the Presidio. After a great breakfast, Mo dropped me off at Union Square, where I stored my carry on luggage at the Macy’s Customer Service desk and walked around. There were a ton of big sales, but I was, surprisingly, too tired to shop so I wrote postcards and people watched in Union Square. My flight out of Boston was delayed 3 hours and my flight out of DC was delayed 6 hours, so I was relieved when my flight from San Fran to Seattle was only delayed 1 ½ hours! I did eventually arrive in Seattle though (on the 29th instead of the 27th as planned) and had an AMAZING time. I stayed with Kevin, who lives on Capitol Hill. His family is fantastic and it felt like home. I got to meet a ton of Garfield kids (Garfield High is where Kevin and Jay went to school). On Friday, I got to go to Lego Camp, (Kevin’s creation, which has been a successful little program since he was in 8th grade). After lunch with the kids, and then a full afternoon of Lego’s (with a Popsicle break in the middle), we were ready for some beach time (it was hot out!). Kevin and I went over to Scott’s (who went to Garfield and also goes to Claremont McKenna) and we took his boat out on Lake Washington with some other friends. We toured the shoreline (Bill Gates’ house, etc) and then drove around Mercer Island. Turns out Mercer is a bit bigger than we predicted, and we ran out of gas in front of one of the public beaches. We finally got a boat to tow us, which was being ridden by 4 hippies, but we promised them this would give them good karma for at least the whole summer, if not longer. On Saturday Kevin and I went to Pike Place Market, where we actually ran into Pomona people (Mazohra and Cary), which was fun. Kev and I went to Three Girls Bakery for lunch, which was SO tasty, and then we lost ourselves in a wonderful used bookstore. I stocked up on some reading material for the plane ride and Kev found some stuff to keep him busy when he’s not playing with Lego’s or fixing houses (his other job is construction). We stopped by a UW party that night and I got to meet even more Garfield kids. We also ran into Peter there, who is from Garfield, but also goes to Pomona. On Sunday, David’s family picked me up, and I got to spend the whole day with them. David, his mom, his dad and his sister picked me up and took me to Volunteer Park where there is an Asian Art Museum. There was a great blown glass exhibit, and also one of nature photography. They then drove me out to Puget Sound, to one of the ferry stops, and we got a chance to sit by the shore and chat. David and I returned to Kev’s place where we got some food and then the three of us met up with David’s friend from home and the four of us went to see “An Inconvenient Truth” which was REALLY good. On Monday, I spent the whole day with Jay, which was great! We drove around the UW campus, then took a walk on the edge of Lake Washington. After that, I got to see Garfield High and then we went and got Eizells…(?) Famous Chicken. It was indeed fantastic, and Jay and I chowed down on it in a grassy area in the arboretum. As we were leaving, we discovered that the Japanese Garden (the one that Kevin has never been to and has always wanted to go to) was having a free admission day. So, sorry Kev, Jay and I toured the Japanese garden, which was beautiful. We headed back to his house and relaxed for a bit and then Nate came and picked me up for dinner. Nate drove me all around Mercer Island, showing me the high school and some other points of interest and then we headed to his house. His parents cooked an amazing meal, and then we went on Google Earth and checked out the University of Melbourne and Edinburgh (in Scotland, where Kev and Nate are both going for the fall semester). On Tuesday, my last full day in Seattle, Nate came over and he and Kev and I played some tennis. Nate and I then went to the Mariners game! We had great seats, wonderful weather, and a good time, but the Mariners got their butts kicked. That was a shame, I’ll admit, but I still had a blast. Seeing as Tuesday was the 4th of July, and my last day in the US for 5 months, Jay and Rachel threw me a going away BBQ at Jay’s place. Rachel made fruit salad and baked her first pie ever (and it was a delicious apple pie), while Jay barbequed up a storm. In attendance was Nate, Eric, Kevin, Ryan, Laura, Rachel and Jay and Zach (for Pomona people) and Laura’s brother, and also Greg, Luke, and Sam (?), who are Garfield guys. As a going away present, Jay and Rachel presented me with an enormous can of Foster’s (which was extremely thoughtful but not very tasty, sorry guys). We went to Kevin’s friend Galen’s place, which is on the 7th floor of a new building and has a terrace overlooking the whole city. We got to watch the sun set over the city and the mountains, and then we saw a ton of fireworks displays, 2 of which were close and huge! After a full day of fun, I crashed. At 6:30 am I was up and showered and finishing packing. My half-brother Todd picked me up for breakfast at 8 and we spent a few hours together. I hadn’t seen Todd for over 10 years, so it was GREAT to see him! He took me out to Boeing Field and we saw the Air Force One where LBJ was sworn in and also the Concord. When I returned to Kevin’s, his mom made some fabulous Salmon bruschetta and then we headed out for the airport. Whew! I’m writing this on the plane, and we’re about 30 minutes from New Zealand. I had a 2 ½ hour flight from Seattle to LAX, a 4 ½ hour layover, and then a 12 ½ hour flight to Auckland. We have an hour layover and then another 3 ½ hour flight to Melbourne. I met up with Stuart, one of the guys from Pomona who is going to Melbourne with me, and a bunch of other people from our program. Whew! Almost 2 pages and I haven’t even gotten to Australia yet! I can’t wait to get there, and I especially can’t wait to sleep on a bed. I managed to sleep pretty well on the plane, thanks to a few glasses of chardonnay. J Aussie here I come!

I'm here!

Well everyone, I'm in Australia. It must have appeared as though i fell off the face of the earth, as internet has been a bit scarce and i haven't made any phone calls, but I am indeed alive and well. I traveled to Seattle for a week prior to flying to Australia, and I'll write more about that week later on. I flew out of Los Angeles on July 5th, and arrived in Melbourne early on July 7th. My bags, on the otherhand, arrived in Melbourne late on the 7th, but they arrived, so i don't even care. There were a whole bunch of us on the same flight, so we met up in the airport and found out planned ride to the hotel. We arrived at the Miami hotel, which turned out to be a hotel with an 'economy' floor, which we had booked. It was set up like a hostel, with very small rooms (doubles at that) and shared toilets and showers for everyone. Although they weren't the nicest amenities, it was a fabulous time and everyone got to know each other pretty quickly. I'm here in Melbourne through IES, which is the company who organizes study abroad programs. There are about 30 of us here through IES, and we all stayed at the Miami together.
We then all traveled to Phillip Island, which is where the little penguins that are so famous are. We stayed at "CYC The Islands", which is a christian youth camp. we stayed in little cabins here, but there was a huge dining room where we ate and had little orientation sessions. On the way to Phillip Island (which is about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Melbourne) we stopped at a farm where we had lunch (with wine) and got a tour of the farm. We saw emu's, kangaroos, and sheep. We got to see how a dog rounds up sheep, and then this lady sheered a sheep in front of us and told us a bunch of info about it. Oh, and they also taught us how to crack a whip. it took me a while but i did it, i whipped my own leg a few times before i got the hang of it...ouch! We then got to phillip island and what was really fun was the penguin parade. you can read more about them online, but they are these tiny penguins (their actual name is the 'little penguin'), which are the smallest penguins in existence. Anyway, after the sun sets, they come to shore and run from the water, across the beach, into the bushes where they have nests. We got to watch this and it was SO cool, definitely check out pictures online. The next day, we went to 'A-Maze-N-Things' which was this silly amusement place, based on optical illusions, but it turned out to be pretty fun. There was this HUGE wooden outdoor maze, where you had to try to reach 4 flags and then find the exit, which was great fun, and there was a mirror maze indoors, which was incredibly difficult. there was also this 'vertical slide' where you literaly drop straight down, parallel to a slide, and then as it curves it catches you and you slide down...scary but VERY fun! There was also a pretty fun mini golf course. We ended our trip with a fabulous walk on the beach, i'll post pictures when i get a chance. The ocean here is amazingly beautiful, i can't get over it. Even though its cold (very!! brrrr) here, it looks tropical at the ocean because the water is so green. I definitely have had to bundle up more than I expected too, as its usually around 50 here, which is quite cold, especially with the wind! Strange to go from Maine to Melbourne and have it get colder, that's for sure. So, we headed back to Melbourne for one more night at the Miami, and since we were finally adjusted to the time, we all headed out for a night on the town.
We hit up some fabulous irish pubs, but it was a good thing there were around 15 of us because it was a Monday night, so things were a bit slow. We enjoyed some good Australian beer and challenged some Aussies to a pool tournament (i just watched). The funnest part was that we live really close to Lygon Street, which is Australia's Little Italy, and on Monday morning, Italy had won the World Cup, so once it got late the street was full of Italians yelling 'Italia! Italia!' and waving their Italian Flags, it was great fun! We also found that although Australia sucks at pizza and pasta, Little Italy does not! Mmmmm.
On Tuesday, we all packed onto a bus and rode over to the Uni (University of Melbourne). Half of us are staying at one residential college, and half at the other. I'm at Queen's College, which is pretty nice! I'm glad i'm not living here, as the food kinda sucks, but its been a fun week. They planned activities for us as part of the "Melbourne Welcome", which is run by students (most of whom are 19 or 20). On the first day we just got settled in and made a Target run (yup, there's a Target in the city, there is also a Big W, which we found out today is Walmart with a different name, but exactly the same inside, same signs, same fonts, same everything). I've never lived so close to a city and I absolutely LOVE it, I don't know how I'll ever go back, and i've only been here a week. The two main grocery stores here are Safeway and IGA, which is funny because thats what we have in the US. What makes me laugh is IGA is the grocery store in Maine that everyone makes fun of, and none of my friends here have ever heard of it, so it must only be in Maine and a few other places! haha, so strange.
On the second day, we started off by going to the Melbourne Museum, which is an awesome museum, just a short walk from the Uni. We then spent the afternoon on a scavenger hunt, with locations in the city such as Federation Square, Findlers Station, Southern Cross Station, the state library, the parliament station, and a few cross streets with famous things on them. After running all around the city I quickly adapted to the tram system and i love it! So far, everyone has been SO nice, but it was this that made me realize how tourist friendly Melbourne is. At Federation Square, there is a visitors center, which is HUGE and just full of brochures and people to answer questions. All around the city are volunteers, in red jackets and red hats on, who are simply there to answer questions and give advice to visitors to the city. Also, there is a city circle tram, which is free, which goes in a loop around the downtown area. In addition to THIS, there is a free bus called the 'tourist shuttle' which does a loop starting at the Uni, going down to the bottom of downtown and back up, so I rode that into the city today for free. it is fabulous! Our scavenger hunt ended at the Rialto tours, which are similar to the Prudential Building in Boston. We got to go up to the observation deck and look out over the city. It was BEAUTIFUL!
On Thursday, we climbed on a bus and rode an hour out to the Yarra Valley, which is wine country. We went to the Healesville Sanctuary, where we saw emus, dingoes, wombats, kangaroos, koalas, tasmanian devils, and platypuses! We got to touch the wombat, and we got to FEED the kangaroos! It was amazing!! Kangaroo's are amazingly soft, and very friendly (at lest the sanctuary ones are), and there wasn't even a zoo keeper there. The kangaroos are free to roam, but there is a roped path for visitors. The kangaroos had been fed recently, and the kernals of corn were all over the ground, so a bunch of us just picked up the corn and put them in our palms. The kangaroos had already been letting us pet them, but they then ate right out of our hands and got VERY friendly. it was SO fun! I don't care if australians think kangaroo's are pests, I think they are fabulous! After a BBQ, we headed off to a winery, where we got a tour and then got to have a glass of wine. This winery (i don't remember the name, i'll add it later) specializes in sparkling wine, and it was indeed tasty. Last night I bought my first bottle of wine and after some pasta in Little Italy, my friends and I relaxed in my room and drank wine from some plastic wine glasses we got at safeway. a bit cheap, but classy and fun, we decided.
Today is Friday, and it has pretty much just been a free day. It's pretty much been my first chance to check email since i got here, and i had a chance to go into the city and get a power adapter and some gluesticks so i can start my journal! Tonight, as our final activity, we are headed to an Aussie Rules Football game in the city, and then going on a fun pub crawl afterwards. I can't wait! If you haven't seen Aussie Rules played before, look up a video of it on the internet or something, its crazy! its a mix between football and rugby (i think) and the players don't wear pads, but do where pretty short, fairly tight shorts. its very strange but great fun to watch.
To finish up this crazy long post, i'm giong to point out a few thigns that are different here.
1. The toilets have two buttons, one is a half flush and one is a full flush, that way, if you just had to pee, you don't waste water...funny but smart. we were all very confused at first, i just kept pressing both at the same time....hmmm.
2. Bathrooms are toilets, you say bathroom and people are like, why, do you want to take a bath? So its, 'excuse me, where are the toilets?'...which leads me to my next point.
3. Do not call someone sir or maam, they don't like it...infact it almost offends them. remember that!
4. Possums here, are very different from opossums in cali....they are like large mean squirrels, and infact one attacked one of the guys in our group one night, and tried to eat his coat...strange.

Oh, and you're all probably wondering about the people I'm spending time with. My roommate for the semester is Claire, and she's from Baton Rouge, LA. She goes to Rhodes College in Memphis, and i love her. Her best friend, who is from Hot Springs, AK, is also here, and her name is Erin. They are great great great. There are a whole bunch of girls in my group i really like, the ones i've probably spent the most time with are Elena (from Chicago) and Sarah (from Pennsylvania). (I know, Mom, another Sarah, sorry for the added confusion!). I also have spent a ton of time with two people on my hall at Queen's, who will be living in College Square apartments with me. They are a couple who went to a boarding school in Santa Barbara together, but he's from Colorado and she's from Los Angeles. Their names are CJ and Katie, and CJ goes to Colby and Katie goes to Bates (so we bonded quickly!). I love them both and its been fun to talk about Maine with them (they made fun of the Marden's TV commercials...haha!). Anyway, I'm moving into to my apartment tomorrow, which is VERY exciting, and then I'll be able to FINALLY unpack my suitcases! I've been living out of them since the 27th of June! Whew! Okay, I love you all and miss you, email me all you want,a nd I'll post pictures soon!