A Rainy Day in Sydney 2.13.11

At this point we had been in Manly for almost a week. I was still learning all the differences between cultures. Believe it or not, it is actually hard to pick out things that are different. For example, it took me nearly a week to notice that there are no "junker" cars here. They are all extremely nice, mostly new, and no rust. Top, mint condition. Why?  I really can't tell you... Just kinda interesting!  Cuz in America, it's about 50/50. Here, you stop and stare if it is an "older" car. Random and weird... I know.

Saturday came and Liza and I had every intention to head for Sydney for the day. But somebody *ahem* had a little bit too much fun the night before and slept all day. But it was actually a blessing in disguise. I was able to chill out, catch up on postcards, start my mountain of blogging (yep, still catching up in April...), and catch up on some much needed sleep.

But when Sunday rolled around - I had cabin fever!  It was a little bit rainy and overcast, but that never hurt anybody. Adventure to Sydney was a GO!!!  We were total tourists as we walked up to the "ticket window" for the ferry. We didn't even know what to ask for... so we mumbled some things and the nice man figured out what we needed. And we embarked on our first ferry adventure.



Tourists on the ferry. :o)

I will never forget the feeling that I had riding the ferry, making the turn and seeing the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge with my own 2 eyes. This was it. This was the moment that it hit me - I was living my dream... I was living in Australia. This electrifying jolt of excitement went through me. I was humbled. I was thankful. And I was in disbelief. Wow. What a sight. Even on a gloomy day - it was breath-taking.



This was it... what I had worked so hard for.
[And what I will be paying for til I'm 84.]

 We got off the boat and were rushed along by a mad dash of people that knew where they were going. Since we had a little less than no idea... we followed the crowd. We had no direction for the day; just to get lost in Sydney and see what we could see. One of the first things we did was of course take a ton of pics in front of the Opera House. Then we enjoyed the aboriginal talent:

We walked (what we know now to be) George Street. We ventured The Rocks. We found shops. And checked out restaurants. We admired the architecture. And somehow made it to the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  It started raining... but that didn't stop us from making our way across.


The day I discovered that I *LoVe* rainy days on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge does not seem that long, but it's nearly a mile! We took our sweet time; The bridge gave us an ideal spot for taking pictures of the city. On our way back down we saw it all - a bride, an ice cream truck, view point for a cruise ship, side streets filled with Italian people, and a "secret" stairway. The afternoon slid by.

On the ferry ride home, we snuck one more pic of the Opera House and made it back in time for free dinner.

Perfect way to put a close to my "Christmas vacation". Classes, ICMS style, were starting bright and early.

Yeeaaaa Friday!!! ...Oh wait. 2.11.11

It was Friday and what was on my mind: Classes and coffee!

First of all, the reality set in of it being 3 DAYS until the start of classes. YEWWWW!!!! Mind you, I haven't been in classes since mid-December. And here it was, mid-February. It was so nice to have had the entire month of January to prepare for leaving the US and spend time with my American boy, best friends, and family. But gosh, it had been a while since I had had to focus and, well... write a paper!

Second order of business, possibly more important than the first - breaking my dry spell: This girl needed coffee!!!!! Being a coffee addict (2+ cups per day), having not had coffee in nearly 2 weeks, I not only wanted, I needed coffee. Solution: Sarah and I ventured to my new guilty obsession:

The place where they call me by first name... ;o)

I cannot tell you the pure joy that overtook my body after I once again had my "Iced Mocha, no whip,  please!"

Once that caffeine hit my lips - I knew for a FACT that this was not the semester that I was going to give up coffee. So in somewhat of a nervous panic, Sarah and I dissected our class schedules, trying to map out the best times to make a Gloria Jean's run (wayyyy better than Starbucks, by the way!) in between classes. Okay... if we have 30 minutes in between classes, that means we have 10 minutes to physically run down the hill, 10 minutes to order and get our drinks, and 10 minutes to race the clock back up the hill and be sitting in class. Yep, should be plenty of time to make it to the Wharf and back to campus. Fail. We timed it... 40 minute round trip. Back to the drawing board... 

The Mojo Surf trip was that weekend and everybody was going. Seriously... at 6pm when the bus left, there was pretty much just Liza and myself left on campus. $200 for a weekend of surfing?  Just not my thing... Especially if you couldn't even get me to the hour long (free) surf safety course. It was silent on campus. Which was straight-up bizarre because all I had known of this campus was the buzz of students' excitement 24/7. Well now you could hear a pin drop... and the birds.

the devil itself

Ohhhh the birds. Yes, the birds of Australia were... awful. Completely dreadful. When Skyping Dustin, he asked very concerned, "Is that a baby crying?"  Nope - just the birds outside. They give an awful screeching sound. They sound sickly. Like sheep flying by your window. Just dreadful. They wake you up in the morning, they disrupt silence, and they are a complete eyesore.

I'm not a violent person, but I have envisioned taking these awful birds out, one by one.

It was Friday - HECK YES!! Oh wait... 2 more days of freedom and it's "go time". Merrr. At least there was coffee to save the day.

Beach Bums 2.10.11

"Gooood Morningggg, ICMS!"

"Morning, Tony!"

It was almost 9am, which meant that the "mandatory" Surf Safety course was about to get a start. All international students were required to attend. So, once again, I wasn't much for doing the whole 'surf' thing. But when was I ever going to have this opportunity again?!  And to be honest... there really isn't a better place to try. So I threw my suit on because we were going IN the beautiful, blue-bottle infested waters at Manly Beach.



The good little Americans that attended Surf Safety course (not me).

 Just before 9, I receive a call from Sarah... She talked to the instructors and asked if she had to go. They said 'no'. And since she didn't feel like getting wet, she was calling it a beach day instead. Okayyyy, twisted my arm. Yes, I will lay on the beach like a diva. No surf safety course. Just a golden brown tan for this girl!

Although a little part of me was bummed I didn't at least try surfing, I wasn't too terribly bummed because the people that did go, got all kinds of battle scars - The jellyfish were out and fierce.

Nearly all of them got stung at least once; some twice. They leave a "rubber band snap" type of look. Molly described it as an instant sting then a really bad sunburn type feel (she was one of the lucky ones that got it twice). Thank gosh the pain goes away within the day.

Obviously, a stressful morning of napping on the beach earns a solid lunch... so we strolled through a couple shops on the Corso and made our way back to enjoy the gourmet menu from the ICMS Marketplace kitchen.

The afternoon slid by and before we knew it dinner was upon us. So once again, a big group of us gathered and ate in the courtyard.  We all agreed... It was time for an adventure. Sarah, Megan, Audrey, and I all decided we were going to go on an adventure walk. We left campus and had no destination in mind... we wanted to just get lost and find something cool.

Adventure, it was!! A creepy Jurassic Park-type adventure. We walked and winded and kept going towards signs with arrows pointing... well, we weren't sure where.

After following the trail and going through the woods for what I consider to be "too long", we came across a magical, hidden beach. Actually, it is a well known beach - just for being so far back. But we "discovered" Collin's Beach:

When we got there, the sun was starting to set - and the creepiness kicked in. After making it to the beach, about 30 seconds after we got there, these 3 guys randomly appeared from the woods.
We actually got to the beach at perfect timing - just in time for an incredible sunset. So us being the girls that we are took too many pictures.
"Crazy appearing guys" nicely offered to take a picture of all of us in front of the sunset (which was very kind of them...) and we waited and waited and he finally said the picture turned out great! (Later to find out... he never took a picture of us. Word?)  Then we were getting ready to head back to campus and they told us about a "short-cut" that nobody knew about. Ummm... no thanks. We'll take the main way. The kicker? They asked if we minded if they skinny dipped. We barely gave them an answer - we were too busy bolting back towards the woods to get outta there!!!

It was now dark. Walking through the woods. On a little path. With wicked spiders everywhere. We made it back to the street and a random car slowly drove by very obviously staring at us. We just kept walking... a little faster at this point. The trail we were on was a Jurassic Park type of trail. The trees kinda caved in on you.

The trail looked like this: Without the vehicular mobile and it was dark out.

Just to add icing to the cake, the birds here sound like very sick sheep (I'll describe in more detail later).
We started that walk as a slow stroll; and it ended up being a very brisk walk, nearly run. Go figure... our adventure walk turned in to an exercise routine.
We finally made it back to our rustic castle on the hill. And to be honest, I think this was the first time I felt relief seeing this place.

It was all kind of surreal... Just moved into a castle. And just encountered a scene from a horror movie.
Is this real life?

Discovery of American Ice Cream... 2.9.11

Kelly looked at me from across the table, smiled, and said the magic words, "Anybody interested in getting Ben and Jerry's tonight?" Ummmmm, YES!!!!! Why hadn't I thought of this already?!?!??  Of course I want to walk down the hill and get a taste of American goodness! My craving grew throughout the afternoon so by the time evening fell, I was JONESIN!! I needed an ice cream cone as big as my head... and I wasn't settling for anything less:

I love Ben and Jerry's

Kelly's idea then turned into a very bad habit. And a serious addiction. This has now prompted Dustin to use this as a very descriptive phrase, explaining how much he loves me by saying, "I love you more than you love Ben and Jerry's". Which to me, explains alot, and is very full of love.

Go figure, it is the only Ben and Jerry's shop in the ENTIRE country. And it was placed just down the hill from us.

It was now Wednesday and had pretty much given up on going to all of the 'mandatory' events. So, my day was like a canvas; I could fill it with whatever I pleased.

The first thing I pleased was to fill my day with the INTERNET!!! I had yet to connect to the interwebs... So, in a way, I had yet to really connect with home (other than a couple overpriced phone calls). The IT department was of absolutely no assistance so what was the next best option?  Ask the other Americans that had somehow figured it out. I cheated the system and... SUCCESS!!! I had facebook... youtube... skype... email... I was back in business!!!  Well... sorta. I learned real quick just how poor the "high-speed" Internet connection really was in Oz. Skype is kind of like looking at a still photo and hearing an AT&T convo. But it was communication with home, so I wasn't complaining.

It was time to blast through my denial; this really was going to be "home" for me for the next few months. So it was time for me to make it appear as such. Wednesday became decorating day. All it took was a little determination and the room started to become my room. It was starting to feel warm and cozy. Like home should.

Yay for closets!



My room in a nutshell.
















It's finally home. There is something ridiculously comforting about putting pictures up of people that I love and miss!

My clothes finally found a new home, that didn't consist of a suitcase. That was pure joy in itself.

The day came to a close with an Australian Wildlife show. It went something like this: a Crock Hunter look-alike stood up there and kept pulling out lizards and snakes. And they kept increasing in size by the minute. When he had to pull out a plastic storage box, the size of a dog kennel, it was time for me to go. This experience lasted less than 5 minutes. And needless to say, no pictures from this - I was too busy running out the back door.
Tomorrow was Thursday. And I had Corn Flakes waiting for me at 7am. What was there not to be excited for?!?

Famous Chapel & Fist Pumping. 2.8.11

It was officially Day 2 of O-Week. We were slowly coming to love the announcements on the loud speaker from Tony in Student Services. (Just to give you a mental image of Tony, super nice guy, I enjoy him alot. He's about 35-40, but thinks he's still young and hip and cool. And missed his calling as a personal trainer. Seriously... homeboy could be a high school gym teacher. He totally cracks me up!). So Tony comes over the speaker announcing the morning's "happenings": breakfast, Professional Performance Program, lunch, and the study abroad students take off for the mall.

Being that it was Tuesday, it was supposed to be hot breakfast (Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. At least I could look forward to this meal!!!). So, I was expecting this:

Yesssss!!!

Apparently, hot breakfast does not start until week two. So, I got this... again:


fail.

At 9am, half of the students filed into the Great Hall and the other half into the College Chapel (according to their surname). We weren't really expecting what was going to come next. And thank goodness for that! Two full hours of a professional performance lecture. We were told things like: We're representing the college so act as such, don't chew gum, wear skirts that are knee-length, what colors are acceptable, where our name badge is to be placed, wear make-up; not too much, not too little, just the right amount. Wear black socks, wear your hair up, shave your beard... okay, you get the idea. But the meeting lasted 2 hours! But again, you have to account for different backgrounds, cultures, and ages. Even though I know how to dress and act appropriately, doesn't mean the girl sitting next to me does. 

We had 30 minutes for lunch and had to catch a bus to head to the mall. I had $500 in my pocket of "free money" that had to be spent and believe it or not, I was stressed out!!!! There was actually alot of pressure on the next few hours. I had a number of stores and a time limit to find everything that I needed for the next 12 weeks. This could have easily been a recipe for disaster. In a nutshell, the outcome was a success. With a dash of unexpected results. ICMS had pre-arranged deals with two stores: CUE and David Jones. These are not Targets, people. This is Lord and Taylor type stuff. EXTREMELY expensive but really good quality. Once I started looking at price tags, I instantly regretted not purchasing more business attire in the US.

Professional (expensive) Attire - 1st day pic!

After an  hour, I purchased 2 dresses and a business jacket, totalling... $506. Yep. I think I cried a little as I watched my gift card dissipate with one swipe. And I still had to purchase shoes. Naturally, you would think Payless... because they would be cheap. But even Payless is enjoying the advantages to Australia's economy - there are no shoes less than $40. And that is considered 'cheap'.

I walked out of the mall spending just over $600 total. The good news: I could take a deep breath. I had everything I needed for class... paper, pens/pencils, business attire, shoes, and even an Aussie straightener and blow dryer (because I accidentally blew up the blow dryer that I brought with me... there was real fire & sparks. very scary).  The bad news?  I had TWO outfits to wear for 10 weeks. And that is straight-up nasty.


We made it back to campus around 3pm and even though there were things on the agenda, we didn't do much that afternoon. There was a big campus-wide welcome ceremony and cocktail reception that evening. We're chicks... so we all hopped in the shower and started getting ready for the evening's affairs. And thank gosh we did because Manly Beach gave us a warm welcome; they may never be the same because of it.

The festivities began at 5pm in the college chapel. Yeaaa Rigghhtttt was I going to be ready at 5pm. So I finished my hair, didn't bother with make-up, threw on my dress and made it there at 4:59. To find out the ceremony didn't start until 5:30. Bummer. Oh well... it's just a welcome ceremony, right? I'll finish my make-up afterwards, but certainly before the cocktail reception. Wouldn't ya know that this was day 1 of filming the campus?!?!??? (Instead of a yearbook here, they do a video of the term. So at all of our events, parties, whatever, we have a camera man that films.) I had a camera in my face and no make-up on... Great first impressions.

Come to find out, the college chapel is kind of a BIG deal. Our chapel on campus is the same place Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman got married last year. Absolutely gorgeous!!!

The actual famous Chapel!

The ceremony began with a procession of flags from the countries around the world. The Dean spoke, the Student Body President spoke, and various other important people took the floor. Many inspirational speeches consisting of phrases like 'great semester', 'your university', and 'visualize graduation'. Before we knew it, we were released and the cocktail party was beginning on the front lawn. There were two orders of business to be taken care of before the drinking began: pictures to be taken in the famous chapel and putting on make-up. Check aaannndddd check. Time for a free glass of wine, courtesy of ICMS.

Some of my favorite ladies at the cocktail reception

Front of ICMS

This was such a classy party! Everybody was there... the Dean, lecturers, other faculty, all the students, and VIP's. There was an open bar with white wine, red wine, and champagne. So we got creative and started enjoying Mimosas. One of my favorite quotes of the night was from Sarah... I explained that the only other time I had ever had a Mimosa was when Dustin and I went to Rose's in East Grand Rapids after church. She looks at me, straight up, and asks, "You pre-gamed for church?!??". I laughed... "No, we post-gamed."

One of the things I actually enjoy about Australia is, believe it or not, the lower drinking age (18). Administration knows that we are in college and that we're going to drink. At Grand Valley, specifically, they fight underage drinking so aggressively, I personally think that they create bigger problems for themselves and serious hazards for students (i.e. Kicking everybody out of a party so very intoxicated people then get in their car and drive away). Here, there is no sneaking of alcohol and a lot less underage stupidity... because they're legal here. I digress...
Back to the cocktail party: I'm not going to lie and say that there wasn't some funny stuff happening after we had had a few glasses of wine. But hey, it was quite entertaining watching drunken students giving a good attempt at having an intelligent conversation with the Dean. bahh ha ha.

This was really the first time I had been drinking since I had been in Australia. And it felt good. Really good. It was really nice to just chill out and get a little goofy with these new people that I was calling "friends". After the welcome party, our group and the entire campus went down to a local bar/club: North Shore Club. And I made a rookie mistake: I totally forgot my ID and they wouldn't let me in. Obviously I don't look 18 and my student ID was not cutting it... so I had to make an hour round-trip walk with Kat from Hong Kong (who also forgot her ID... but she was 18 and it was a little more forgivable).

At first I wanted to give up on the night... no way was I walking an hour back to campus just to get my ID and walk back down. It was 10pm, afterall... past my bedtime!!! But, Kat (being freshly 18) looked at me with puppy dog eyes. She wasn't ready to call it a night. So I put on my party pants and started the trek back to campus for our IDs. I ended up being very glad that I did - By accident, I took advantage of the opportunity to get to know her and her culture. She talked about her country and how she often felt unsafe. How the neighborhood she was from was known for prostitution. And that people generally keep to themselves. She noticed that I was saying "hi" to people that we passed on the street and after a few people, she asked how I felt safe with doing so. After a bit... she wanted to try to say hello to the next passer-by. But just ended up giggling and saying, "you do it" so I smiled and said 'hello' again.

Before we knew it, the walk was coming to a close and we made it back to the bar. I stood tall and proud and handed that stubborn bouncer my ID that said I was far past legal drinking age. (And he didn't even look at it!!!!!) He just laughed and insisted that I enjoy my night. Great, thanks for the exercise, dude!

Sarah greeted me at the door with open arms, took my by the elbow and led me to the bar. I was about to learn 2 things: The first, that Australians are hardcore. No flavored shots... The rest of the night consisted of straight up vodka or Jagermeister (which I even got an "'atta girl" from Dus!!). The second, that this was going to be the first and last night that I went out drinking in Australia. Sarah had shouts then it was my turn. No more American prices - OUCH!!!!



The infamous "American style" pizza place



There was a live band. Pretty freakin sweet. They were playing all kinds of American music and getting the crowed pumped. I had the pleasure of introducing the 'fist pump' to the Australians. And fist pump we did!!!! It's pretty trashy (Jersey shore style)... but it made for good pictures! At first, I think the bartender felt sorry for me... so it was just him and me supporting the fist pump. By midnight, half the crowd was fist pumping and the band gave me a "complimentary drink card". L-E-G-I-T.

We grabbed a piece of American style pizza at a nearby place that happened to still be open. Snapped a couple more pictures. And I still made it to bed by 12:30 (which is why I very much enjoy starting my night at 6pm!!).

The alarm was set for the next morning... But I knew better. I shut it off - and felt liberated. Sleep was good. At 9am I reached over, pulled my laptop on me, and skyped home. My aunt made a face that spoke for itself. It kinda screamed 'Oh my word, you look like death'!! haha. You're only young once, I suppose. I fully intended on going to the Library Orientation and Teambuilding sessions... but missed them both by a long-shot.

I showered and as the noon hour approached, we went down for lunch. At lunch, the genius idea was presented... And was about to make me one happy camper!

Checking into Hogwarts.

This isn't exactly what I had pictured. It was worse. This place was dark, and cold, and smelled awful. There we stood, 33 of us with all of our baggage. Our instructions were to grab a pen, sign the "house rules", receive our keys to our rooms, and go to Classroom 1 where we would be given a brief rundown of what the day's and week's schedule consisted of.

This is Hogwarts. Seriously!!! We were waiting for the staircases to start moving on us!



I obviously did not take this picture - I'm deathly afraid of heights. I live on the 4th floor; 97 steps to make it there. My legs are absolutely ripped. :o)



The view from our window.

 Room 330 - REPRESENT!!! It was me and Molly from Michigan. (Go figure... the girl I am roommates with is the only girl to contact me before the trip and lives 5 minutes from where I work). Okay, well at least I have a familiar face in my room. It's getting better already. Molly and I make it up the FOUR flights to our room. The drag? Four flights up and NO lift. That's right, that means we walk all 97 steps. We call dibs on our beds, check out the view, and just sit there - staring at the wall. We still have a 3rd mystery roommate that isn't there yet... But for now, that is more than okay with the both of us.


All that was on the agenda for the night was dinner. ICMS was doing it's best to make this "fun" and "exciting". After a quick campus tour we landed at the CYC (Courtyard Cafe). They had a little duo playing guitars and singing. They were great! Then we got to see their dining facilities. Ohhh snap. There is one cafeteria with one dinner option. If you don't like it? You get lettuce or go hungry. It was then that I realized my life was going to change. And this little "Diva" picky eating business was coming to an end. Night #1 - fish. I was in trouble - big trouble. Looks like lettuce it is...

A ridiculous case of homesickness kicked in.Who was this girl? Certainly not me. I'm not a home-body. I have no motivation whatsoever to unpack... this isn't home. I don't want to make it feel as such. The bed is uncomfortable, and the walls are yellow, not to mention the smell of an old-folks home lingered everywhere. I want to cry so badly... this is not what I signed up for. But I hold back because Molly is already knee deep in unpacking and is smiling ear-to-ear. The excitement is beaming out of her and I wasn't about to be a steal-joy. A part of me was jealous... I thought I was going to have that reaction. Or anything other than this feeling of paralyzing regret. I fake a smile, decline an offer to paint the town, and call it an early bed. I wanted/needed to talk to home or anybody familiar to reassure me that things will be just as I left them for the next three and a half months, but it is 5am Michigan time - no time to be calling for reassurance. The next best thing to a comforting voice, was a good night's sleep.

Woke up the next morning to a facebook message and a phone call - my sister had been in a bad accident that night. I couldn't even finish my sentences... I just cried. At the time, it was probably the best thing for me. To just let it out instead of holding it in just to appear as if I was "okay". Because to be honest, I wasn't. I knew she was fine. And D was there, with my family... doing exactly what I'd do, if I was home. But I wasn't home. I was 10,000 miles away and completely, utterly helpless. It's not even that I could've done anything if I was there... I think it's a feeling you have to experience to understand. It is difficult to hear about change when you're gone and can't witness it. It's awful to hear about a minor tragedy and not be there.

The next Morning started early. Brekkie began at 7:15. Corn Flakes - I added a check to my tally marks of cereal which was rapidly growing and got ready for the day. From 8:30am until noon, there was 'Official Enrollment' for students with my surname. We gave them our personal information and received our new student ID's. A Computer/Internet Orientation was required and I made sure to get this finished as soon as possible because... it was a holiday. An American holiday - Superbowl Sunday. At 11am, 'Superbowl Monday' was put on the big screen in the Courtyard Cafe. But it just didn't feel right... watching Superbowl on a Monday morning without the commercials that we all wait 364 days to see was just disappointing. Be it as it was, we watched the Packers run to victory and a local newspaper came to interview a couple American boys that were die-hard Packer fans, all decked out in green and yellow. The article was published the following morning.

Yep, that's "our" boys. Zach from Iowa and Derrick from Wisconsin.
American ICMS students makin the front page of The Manly Daily.

That afternoon, we didn't have much down time. From 4-5pm, we had a Study Abroad Attire Briefing. In a nutshell, ICMS used to have uniforms (I've mentioned this before...) and this year they changed their policy. We were now required to wear our own personal business attire, which I own hardly any of. We were all given a $500 gift card to the Warringah Mall and some wicked discounts to some fancy stores. We were then instructed on what is/not allowed and the behavior that is/not considered professional. Some of it, I considered common sense... But given some of the Americans that are also on this trip, I realized it was not common sense for all of us. Notes were taken and questions were asked; This was our one shot to understand it - the next morning, we were taking $500 to purchase our wardrobe for the semester. Not an ideal time to have a misunderstanding!

Just before dinner, we had a Study Abroad Academic Briefing. And holy smokes... about 10 minutes in, I almost ran out the back door. What was I thinking?!? I missed GVSU already!  This school is hard core, for lack of a better term. I was warned by Ross (an AustraLearn leader), back in Brisbane, that this would probably be where I wrote my first 100 page paper. Not sure what I was thinking, but I didn't believe him. The Dean was the sole speaker of this briefing - great guy, good speaker. BUT he laid it out for us... high expectations. This is one of the most prestigious schools in all of Australia. And they didn't accidentally come upon their nickname; they earned it! 100% class attendance is expected. He described the grading scale - (They don't use the 'A-F' letter grade system, but I'll put it in American terms for lack of confusion) it is hard to receive an A or B. You have to legitimately work to earn a C. Oftentimes a low B is the highest grade in the class... and there is no such thing as a curve here. Well... there went my excitement for my classes transferring back as "credit/no credit". The good news? The term is only 10 weeks long. Even if I do have a 3,000 word paper due, I'm going to have less than 10 weeks to stress about it. By the time I really get myself worked up, we're going to be knee-deep in Finals. It's go time...

We "enjoyed" a quick dinner and had to make it to our last meeting for the day: The residential meeting. This one was a little more casual and run by our RA, Henrietta. She's a super sweet, down-to-earth girl from Sweden.
Basically, she had a script that she was required to follow and certain things that she had to tell us. But, she was pretty straight up honest with us. She knows that we're going to bend the rules (because we're in our 20's and are going to do it no matter what) so we discussed what we could get away with and what was going to get us kicked out and deported (handy thing to know!). I'm learning very quickly that living in a dorm is something you kind of take for granted when in America. But when you mix numerous cultures from all over the world, sometimes 3 different cultures per room, and have the entire hall share ONE bathroom, it's not so 'common sense' anymore. Maybe this is well known... but I had no idea that people from Eastern cultures don't use toilets the same way that the 'rest of the world' does. So, we have "using the toilet" instructions posted on the wall. Yea... weird to get used to.

But, I really couldn't complain. In the application process for Study Abroad, I cannot begin to count how many essay questions somehow asked, 'Why do you want to study abroad?'. My answer always consisted of something like... Because I think the best way to learn about a culture is to completely submerge yourself in it. And? I was doing exactly that. In fact, I was getting more than what I paid for - I was experiencing all dimensions to many different cultures, not just Australian.

Thanks Brisbane! It's been grand.

An entire day stared us in the face: No plans. Nothing on the agenda. We could do whatever we pleased. So, naturally, Tour-Guide Todd suggests going to their Farmer's Market and almost the entire group decides to join. Go figure... free day, and we choose to go with Tour-Guide Todd. But what a pleasant surprise, it was!! Great prices, "junk food" (or what Australians consider junk food, at least), and the freshest fruit that I've ever tasted. After walking past numerous booths with luscious fruit, I caved and bought a peach. Holy smokes!  I had juice running down my arm, peach in my teeth, and looked like a 2-year old trying to conquer this thing, but it was ta die for!!! It was also at the Brisbane market that I discovered chocolate shakes as we know them, are no longer. I found a place that was advertising "shakes". So, my sweet tooth made the decision that a shake was my next purchase. Come to find out... a chocolate shake is code for "really cold chocolate milk". Yep, no fish looking face, face turning purple because you're sucking so hard to get the ice cream shake through a straw. Now? It's just chocolate milk. One more thing to add to the list of "In America, I should've never taken advantage of..."



[Stolen picture of] Queen St.



After a few hours we were bored and sweaty. So we made the executive decision to go to the Gallery of Modern Art. But somebody didn't do their research... and it had just closed. Instead we decided to take a stroll down Queen Street one last time just to have the chance to check out the shops, locals, and whatever else we wanted to get into. We stopped at a little deli to have lunch and I had the most delectable Turkish Pocket (don't ask what it was... I'm beyond asking what the food is I'm about to eat - I find I enjoy it more if I just don't know). There is a Target in the strip, so I had to check it out!  And it's totally different!!!! Target in Australia is not the place to go for decorative, overpriced items. It is very much a clothing store. It has other items too, but it's not the general store that I was used to. Which is a total bummer, because Target is one of the things I was looking forward to most. (Sounds funny, but when you're 10,000 miles away from home, a silly store like Target is home).

It was still only mid-afternoon. A few people were headed to the Botanical Gardens, which sounds fantastic!!! But at that point, I was exhausted. The week slid by and we were constantly on a bus heading to our next venture or undertaking these long, exhausting days that were planned for us. I politely declined on the Botanical Gardens. It was time for a shower and a nap. Afterall, it was about 1am at home - my bedtime. :o)

Jojo's was for dinner. We considered going back to the Beach Club for the 2nd night in a row just because it was too epic to pass up. But, since this was it for Brisbane, we decided to enjoy a glass of Riesling and some overpriced pasta at Jojo's. And wow, we were SO glad that we did. This pasta was the most savoury thing - beats any American pasta I've had.

After dinner, the anxiety and excitement was starting to seep in, so a few of us headed back to the hostel and started packing our bags. Dustin took care of most of my packing to get me to Australia, including the air-sucking bag stuff, so I kinda assumed that there wasn't a chance in the world of fitting all of my stuff back into those same suitcases. (Just like when you pack to go on vacation... it always fits on the way there but it's strategically impossible for it to be put back for the trip home). I'm quite positive, a "strategic-packing angel" came down and laid his hands on me... because it fit.

What did not fit, on the other hand, was all of our luggage on the bus, for the trip to the airport. That poor bus-driver was putting suitcases under that bus for 45 minutes in 100 degree heat. He earned his paycheck that day, poor guy! The nerves kicked in... I sat next to "Bama" on the bus. We talked about home. We talked about the trip. We talked about getting back on an airplane and how 5 days was not nearly enough to recover from 30 hours of traveling.

We checked our bags.

We ate Subway (and I enjoyed my last bag of American Doritos - Thanks Mrs. Schuiling!!!)

And we took off.

This was the first view of my new home. And when my heart jumped out of my chest. I was in Sydney, Australia. And it was home. It was another one of those moments where I was humbled. I couldn't help but close my eyes (in the midst of my obsessive picture taking) and say a prayer of thanks.

Flight was smooth. Somehow we were all lucky enough to have our luggage show up when we did. Amy arrived (our contact while here at ICMS). We loaded onto a bus, took over the radio with our Biggie Smalls and Snoop Doggy Dog (cool, we're awesome Americans). Thankfully, we had the opportunity to take the scenic route home and got to see the beach we'd be visiting everyday, local hot spots, restaurants we should keep in mind, the Corso, and of course general scenery. Because, afterall, we are in one of the most beautiful places on EARTH!!



Beautiful even on a rainy day.





The entrance to the International College of Management, Sydney.



We had just missed the biggest heat wave of the past 100 years; The prior week, temps were upwards of 115 degrees (F). They day we arrived, Sydney was finally experiencing some relief; and some rain. So as we were driving into school (towards the beach), we faced a parade of cars leaving the beach (traffic jam style).

Once we made it up the infamous hill on Darley Road (that we now walk every single day), the bus could not make it all the way down the drive. So we all filed off the bus, unloaded luggage... and down came drops. It started to pour. People started grabbing random suitcases and running. But since we had never been here... they were running for the door; any door. We had not a clue where we were going. I was towards the back and thank goodness, at the exact same time I was picking up the last few wet suitcases from the sidewalk, the senior guys came out to help us with luggage (it's customary for the senior guys to assist with move-in).

We walked into the castle. And my heart sunk.