Camping Trip

One of the elective classes i signed up for to take here is called Introduction to Australian Society. It was requested of RMIT by an American university a few years ago in order to give international students a look into Australian history and current society, that wasn't a focus of any other class. This makes sense because by this point, most Australians know everything that this class teaches. But for students from outside of Australia, it is a great opportunity to learn about it, and get credit for it! The class only meets 7 out of the 12 weeks of the semester, for just one, two-hour class.
This past weekend, before the class even met in the classroom, with the professor, we went on a weekend-long field trip. We met Friday morning, loaded onto a coach bus, and headed west. There were 36 of the 37 international students that are in the class, the professor (Kent), two other women who are former coordinators of the course (Helen and Judy), and the bus driver (Peter).
Friday:
We stopped in a small town called Ararat for lunch. We then headed on to a winery where we did a wine tasting of about ten different kinds of wine, as well as an underground cellar tour. We then headed to a national park called Brambuck, where I saw my first wild kangaroo, listened to a guide inform us about the area, watched two films, explored their center, and did a tasting of kangaroo, emu, and crocodile. I had tasted kangaroo before, which I hate to admit I really like, and the emu and croc were okay...probably not worth buying and making myself.
We then drove to and arrived at the retreat that we were staying at for the weekend. It is a camping area, owned by a very sweet couple, who made us feel like their family. We slept in cabins and ate our meals in a dining hall, where they did all the cooking themselves. We were very well fed all weekend.
We were suppose to have a local elder come and speak to us for the evening, but he could not make it, so we went on a little night hike after dinner instead. After that, once the adults went to bed, about 10 of us decided to rebel and go back into the woods and build a fire in the fire pit, that we were told not to do.  It took awhile to get it going, but was successful after some effort. We just sat around and chatted for awhile until we put it out and headed to bed eventually.

Saturday:
We got up early, had breakfast, and took the bus to Hamilton, a small town nearby. We had a map of various places to guide us around there, such as churches, a botanical garden, different shops, etc. We all met back up to do a tour of the art gallery in the town.
We then returned to the camp for lunch. After lunch, one of the women, Judy, gave a lecture about the history of the Western District, Victoria, where we were for the weekend. The main point of the history was that many people from all over the world came and settled there when there was a gold rush.
After the lecture, we went on a hike up one of the nearby mountains. It only took about half an hour to get to the top, and the view was really pretty. As throughout the weekend while traveling on the bus and at the camp, there was lots of open land and mountains--a big change from the city which was really cool.
At night we had a big barbeque, which a local choir joined us for, then sang for us afterwards which was actually a lot of fun. After they performed, every group of, or individual students got up separately to perform their country's national anthem. The U.S. and Germany had the biggest showing, of about 7-10 people, and then there were others from Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, Holland, South Korea, Vietnam, Italy, and Finland. It was very interesting getting to listen to all of the different languages and songs.
We were allowed to get alcohol in town earlier in the day, so almost everyone was drinking during dinner and the concert, and continued afterwards.
The director of the camp offered to take some of us out in the back of his pick-up truck to a clearing in the woods to look at the stars. About ten of us went on the first run, before he had to take 2 more truck-fulls after we returned talking about how cool it was. I think it was honestly the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. There were probably quadruple the number of stars I've ever seen in the sky before, and they were so bright. You could actually see the milky way, which looked like a cloudy streak all the way across the sky. Dennis, the director, pointed out this little cloudy patch which he told us was another galaxy that was slowly being sucked into ours. He gave us the opportunity to find out way back through the dark woods, which 3 other kids and I did. It was the first time I'd seen the night sky in the southern hemisphere, and being outside of the smog, lights, and everything else of the city, it was amazing, and probably my favorite moment of the trip.

Sunday:
We got up early for breakfast again, then packed our bags and lunches at the retreat. We then headed on the road and had about an hour and a half drive until we arrived at a sheep farm. The family showed us the 25 acres they owned, how they (and the dogs) brought in the sheep, and how to shave the wool off of the sheep. It was pretty interesting, but not really something I would want to see again or make a living off of for sure.
We drove a little more, stopped for lunch in a park, then headed to Sovereign Hill theme park which is made to resemble the area at the time of the gold rush. There we panned for gold, went on a mine tour, saw a gold melting/pouring, and wandered around to other various activities.
The we headed back home to the city after a very busy, exciting, and tiring weekend.
It was really nice to get out of the bustle of the city, and see the open land, mountains, and wildlife. It was cool learning about the history of the area and interacting with local Australians that had a different way of life and that weren't students and professors from right inside the city. I met a bunch of cool students and our professor is the most jolly, fun teacher I've ever had. I'm really looking forward to this class for the rest of the semester.

start of classes

Classes started this week on Monday. I went to one class on Monday that I was pretty sure I was going to drop anyway, which I have now decided to do. I was signed up for one extra course, to decide on two of the three business classes I signed up for. With dropping that class, I have Mondays and Tuesdays off, and only one class Wednesdays, since I was unable to avoid Friday classes. I am now enrolled in Business Finance and Marketing Principles that meet twice a week, and Photography and Introduction to Australian Society that meet once a week. I’ve only had marketing now, and will see how the other three classes go the rest of the week.

BEST THING EVER. My friend Hollie and I are in the same marketing class that we had today (Wednesday). When we came out of class around 2pm and into the outdoor courtyard where we had most of our orientation activities originally, they were grilling and serving free food. After talking to one of the guys working there, we learned that every Wednesday, between 12pm and 2-3pm, there’s free food AND BEER given out to any student that wants it. The last Wednesday of every month they have live music and hard cider as well. Note that this completely free food and alcohol distribution is occurring in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week, in the middle of campus. I LOVE this school. 

Last night was Amy’s birthday. One night this past weekend when we went out, she ended up falling and hitting her head and getting stitches, so we stayed in for her birthday and had a big dinner instead of having a party like originally planned.

One of the roommates that lives at the apartment complex where Amy and all of my other friends live, is a chef. He has lived all around the world learning and working in different restaurants. He now wants to own his own restaurant so he’s just here for the year doing a masters program in business management.

A few nights ago, and then again for Amy’s birthday last night, he cooked these amazing, extravagant meals for all of us—11 the first night and even more last night. They were by far the best meals I’ve had since I’ve been here. Because he’s a chef and not only amazing at cooking the food, but also presenting it, I felt like I was at a super exquisite restaurant, and we were all so grateful. I don’t think there was one spec of food on anyone’s plate either night.

I made a chocolate cake with pink-colored vanilla icing and rainbow sprinkles for dessert. Two other girls that came made cupcakes as well. We all made Amy cards, and gave her little presents, that she loved. The boys had beer, the girls had champagne, and everyone ended the night tired from being so full.

[Random side note: To add to the original list of things that I’ve been noticing here that are different than back home: regarding making the cake—I had to finally buy eggs, which I’ve been resisting because in stores here, and at the market where they sell them, they don’t refrigerate them. It freaks me out really bad. Why is it so important to refrigerate them at home if it really is okay to do?]

random adventures continued

Another day, I ventured to the Botanical Gardens with our usual girl crew—Cheyenne, Hollie, and Amy, as well as a few of the boys. It was a pretty decent walk, but a nice day and new part of the city we hadn’t seen, so it was fine. We stopped at the Shrine of Remembrance on the way there, which is a veterans’ memorial. It was a very pretty monument with big columns, big steps, and a nice surrounding garden. We were able to go up to the balcony of it where we would see the whole city from afar. It was really cool. After some pictures and what not, we headed onto the gardens. We spent a few hours wandering around there looking at all of the beautiful flowers, trees, and other plants, then took a while to relax at this scenic lake area. There were swans and different birds all around on the grass. They would come right up to us, within inches, just stand there for a little, and then walk away.

After a long day of walking, we headed home to stay in and relax that night.

random adventures

Before classes started, we tried to cram in all of the activities we could. I went to the beach one day with one of my roommates. We took the tram there that took about 20 minutes, invested in some bottled water and popsicles, and headed onto the beach. We went to the area where there was a little boardwalk, some restaurants and shops, and lots of people.

The weather was perfect, unlike its been most days here lately. It was warm and sunny, opposed to the chilly, overcast days we’ve had more than not the last week and a half. All of the locals have said that this is very atypical of Melbourne this time of year. I checked the weather the other day when I woke up after sleeping in and it was 58 degrees both here at 11am and in Rockville at 7pm. Its suppose to be winter there and summer here. Not okay.

Anywayyyy, back to the beach.. We just lounged on the sand for a few hours, getting in the water every half hour or so to cool off. The water was a little chilly, but felt good. The beaches right around here have almost no waves and are shallow for as far as you would wander out.

We headed out when it started to get cloudy and to get back for a barbeque our other roommate, Lena was hosting at a local park. We came back, stopped and bought bread and ceasar salad stuff to contribute to the event. We got there to this huge park that stretched across like 5 blocks. It was raining on and off the entire time we were there, but we sat under trees and it wasn’t too bad. There was lots of food, beer and wine, and more people than expected—probably about 30 by the end. It was a lot of fun (minus the approximately 30 mosquito bites we all got and are still scratching at) and really good meeting a lot of Lena’s friends I hadn’t met before.

Surf Club

The other day on campus, RMIT hosted a big involvement fair, where all of the sports, clubs, and organizations set up stands and tents to encourage involvement. After snagging all of the freebies we could, my group of four girlfriends--Cheyenne, Hollie, Amy, and I, elected to sign up for the school surf club. It's been going on for awhile at the neighboring school, Melbourne University, but has only been up and running at RMIT for a year or two. we paid a club fee to sign up, got really cool coozies (to insulate beer cans/bottles), and got invited to the welcome BBQ/party the following day. The club has lots of social events throughout the semester, all mixed with the other school's club as well, and a few organized "surf camp" trips that we go on. The consist of 3-day trips (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) where we surf all day and party all night. Sounded like a pretty good set-up to us. 

We dressed up for the beach-themed party the following day in hula skirts and leis and headed over. There was probably about 60 people there. They were grilling, drinking mass quantities of punch/jungle juice that they made in a roundabout in the middle of a semi-decent street. They had a big white board with the rules of the gathering. They all were things you had to do when certain cars passed by. For example, when a motorcycle or scooter passed, everyone had to run across the street to the grass on the other side, no matter what you were doing, and the last one to make it had to beer bond or chug a cup of their punch or a beer. The best rule was probably that whenever a driving school car passed (which was very often, since there was apparently a driving school right around the corner that the instructors always directed the students to this roundabout), everyone was as loud as possible and pointed at the car, trying to distract the kid. Pretty evil, pretty funny. 

The day and all of the people were a lot of fun, so I'm looking forward to the events throughout the rest of the semester. AND I'll be able to accomplish one of my goals of learning to surf!

Amazingness of Australians

Just to show how genuinely nice the people are here, I have an example from the other night. My friend Cheyenne, a few others, and I went out to a bar. When we were ready to head back to our friend’s apartment (in a big, all-student complex), we caught a cab. We got dropped back off in front of the building and the cab driver said it was “good enough” when we were trying to figure out the last dollar or two among the four of us. Tipping here isn’t as common as in the U.S. where it’s pretty much always expected, but the fact that he accepted a little short of what we owed, shocked me.

We then went inside and were just hanging out in our friend’s room, talking, listening to music, whatever. My phone starts ringing, and it’s an incoming call from Cheyenne’s phone, who was sitting right next to me. After we realized it wasn’t just her butt dialing me, I answer to a very friendly voice saying he was officer so-and-so from the Melbourne Police Department. He told us that he was in possession of Cheyenne’s phone at the department, and asked if I knew the owner, as I was one of her most recent calls. I told him I was with her and that we would head down. He continuously thanked me for answering, being cooperative, and agreeing to come pick it up, as if I was doing some favor for him. So we headed just down a few blocks, luckily, to the station where we were greeted by this overly-upbeat cop. He told us that Cheyenne must have mistakenly left her phone in the taxi, and that the cab driver came and turned it in. From different experiences and stories with cab drivers from America, the driver most likely would have, not only would the driver have tried to rip us off and give the wrong change to get an extra buck, but if a phone had been left, he probably would have pocketed it or sold it on ebay within hours.

The policeman told us that the driver discovered the phone on his drive home, drove back to the apartment complex, trying to find its owner, making recent outgoing calls and asking the security guards if they happened to know anything about it, then drove it down and turned it into the police station after that attempt failed. Cheyenne and I, both from America, were shocked at the kindness and effort that the driver put in. we have no way to find him or thank him, but I hope that guy has some good karma coming for him.

New Home!

I recently moved out of my temporary hotel, and into my new place. It’s a townhouse right in the heart of the city—one or two blocks from school, the city library, the central train station, a few parks, the grocery store, the Big W (their Walmart), and lots of restaurants and bars. The house/aparment itself is 3 floors. My roommate and I, Lena, from Germany, share a huge room that takes up the whole first floor (besides the small foyer). We have our own bathroom, with shower, mini fridge, separate sink, desk, a whole wall of shelves and cabinets, and two dressers and beds. I opted for the smaller bed in order to have my own nook of the room that is kind of separate from the rest, to give more of a sense of privacy and hominess. The second floor consists of the spacious living room and kitchen and small balcony. And the third floor is 2 more bedrooms and a bathroom, that are inhabited by a Canadian girl, Nelia, in on, and three Asians girls in the other—apparently one of them is moving out soon. Lena, Nelia, and I were in the same orientation group and that is how we found each other. The other girls were studying here last semester as well, so they have been here for 6 months or so already.

I had to pay a lot of money to use the internet at my hotel and just got it set up at my new place, so I can finally get in contact with everyone from home that I already miss.

I’ve been running a lot of errands the last couple of days while moving in, getting everything set up—toilet paper, bedding, groceries, etc.

We do not start classes until Monday the 28^th, so we have the week off to explore, relax, and party. I’m excited for classes to start to meet a whole new round of people. It’s really cool constantly meeting people everywhere I go and everything I do. I love interacting with groups of people that all just make fun of (as well as appreciate at the same time) each other’s accents and what and how they say some things and how it translates to other cultures.

Although it was a great idea at the time, staying up to watch the sunrise this morning and not going to bed til 8am, and getting back up again at 11, is starting to take its toll on me, so I’ll update more later!

I’m having a really great time so far and am really looking forward to the semester getting underway. Miss you all!!!

Xoxo, Em

Orientation & First week

Our orientation consisted of 3 days, which included info sessions, ice breaker activities, catered lunch, signing up for classes, and an “Amazing Race” around Melbourne, which was like a big scavenger hunt around the city. The orientation was for all incoming international students, so there was people from all over the place, except Australia.

I made one good friend right away the first day, Cheyenne, from New York. While visiting her at her apartment, we met two other girls from England, Hollie and Amy, both from England, who are now our core group of four girls. The rest of our group consists of the boys that live in their apartment complex from all over the world (England, France, China, Germany…). I’m over there pretty much everyday hanging out and to meet to pregame to go out on the nights that we do. We have gone out a few nights now, to different bars (called pubs here) that have all been pretty cool. We’re still figuring out which places are better for students and which ones are better some nights over others, which ones have deals certain nights, etc.

Alcohol is really expensive here (along with everything else), and the only cheap option is Goon, which is pretty gross boxed wine, which is what we’ve mainly been drinking. I think im either going to learn to love it or hate it pretty quickly…not sure which yet.

Trip over & First few days

1^st day: February 14, 2011

Today was my first day in Australia! After a six-hour flight from Washington to Los Angeles, I gave Mark and Steph calls while I still had a cell phone and knew I would be flying through their 22^nd birthday. It was about 8pm in L.A. and around midnight back in Maryland, so they were both already out celebrating. I was able to talk to Mark for a little bit while he was out at the bars, but only exchanged funny texts and voicemail from drunk little Steph while she was at her “100 nights until graduation, senior celebration.”

I then boarded the approximately twenty-hour flight from California to Melbourne. Just when I thought my section of the plane had finished boarding, and I was going to luck out and get a three-seat row to myself, two middle-aged (not small) people, a couple, came and sat next to me. They were Australians returning from a Caribbean cruise and were pretty nice from the minimal conversation I had with them. Because I forced myself to stay awake during the domestic flight, I was able to sleep the majority of the international one. I had my own self-controlled TV at my seat, so I watched an episode of Family Guy, the movie Despicable Me, and half of the movie The Social Network. We received two meals on the flight—roast beef and mashed potatoes for dinner, and then waffles and yogurt for breakfast. They were surprisingly pretty good.

When I finally arrived in Melbourne, it was about 8am their time. Getting my bags and going through customs went smoothly and didn’t take too long. I then met up with a driver from RMIT University to take me to my hotel. There was one other kid on my flight who is studying this semester at RMIT as well from University of Maryland, and who actually went to high school at Magruder. That was pretty cool because we both thought we were the only ones from Maryland coming here, and we coincidentally grew up just miles from each other at home as well. He arranged housing ahead of time so we dropped him off then headed to my hotel. I checked in, but couldn’t get into my room until later in the day. I skyped for a few minutes with Mom, emailed the fam to let them know I arrived safely, left my luggage in a storage room at the hotel, and headed out to explore.

The weather was pretty perfect today. They use the Celsius scale here, which I’ll need to start to get used to, but it felt like low 70’s and was sunny all day. I wandered the streets for awhile and found this beautiful park pretty close to my hotel that I lied down on the grass to relax for a little while. There was lots of people out and about—on lunch breaks from work, out exercising, people playing games and relaxing in the park. While walking around I noticed that there appear to be more Subway restaurants than any one other chain, that a lot of people smoke cigarettes, and that there are tons of little coffee shops/bakeries and Asian and Indian cuisine restaurants. Everything is more expensive than the United States, as I was told before coming here. A cup of coffee and a 20 ounce bottle of soda are around $4 each and a normally $15 dollar shirt at target is around $40 here. I got a prepaid phone, a straightener, and a few basic school supplies at Target, and a couple basic things from the grocery store before returning back to the hotel.

The second day, and a few times now, I have gone to the Queen Victoria Market, which is a huge open market under big pavilions that is open everyday except Monday. They have hundreds of fruits and vegetable stands set up as well as places with clothes, jewelry, souvenirs, food, etc. that line these massive sheds. They also have an indoor building that has meat, fish, cheese, and fresh breads. I have boughten a watch and an opal necklace from there so far and all of the fresh produce and meat that I have gotten so far. The prices are a little better than the grocery stores, and fresh daily.

Some other things I have noticed so far that are different from home:

• ·      Take away= take out
• ·      Trolley= shopping cart
• ·      Trading hours= hours of operation for businesses
• ·      Everyone obeys crosswalks/traffic lights, unlike our cities where jaywalking is normal and yellow (or red) mean speed up
• ·      People walk/drive/stand on escalators on the left instead of right
• ·      Everyone is friendly
• ·      Restaurants and stores close pretty early. Seems that breakfast and lunch are bigger here than dinner for going out.
• ·      They use a tram system, which is like above ground metro that run in the middle of the streets
• ·      They charge for rent weekly, not monthly
• ·      I always feel safe (but don’t worry, still being cautious)

Welcome!

Hey everyone! Now that I have been in Melbourne, Australia for a week, and finally have my apartment and consistent internet access, I'm starting up my blog so everyone can stay updated on my adventures and new life. Feel free to leave any comments here, on Facebook, send me an email (eowen@umd.edu), or call me on Skype (Flemowen) to catch up. I miss everyone already and want to be updated about happenings in the U.S. as well!

Enjoy :)

xo Em