Megan's Adventures Down Under!: July 2012

Hey! These past 2 weeks have been crazy! We started uni (that's what they call college here) on Monday the 19th and classes are going great so far! Here's what my schedule looks like:
-Monday:
10-1: Australian Film & TV lecture
2-4: The Marine Environment lecture
5-6: Australian Legends tutorial
-Tuesday:
9-12: World Religions lecture
-Wednesday:
9-12: Australian Legends lecture
-Thursday:
-10-11:30: Australian Film & TV tutorial

Last Tuesday me and the guys I live with went to see Ted at the movie theater. The theater by where we live has a balcony! It was kinda cool sitting up there watching a movie! Ted was hilarious and I can't wait to buy it on DVD!

Other than that we really didn't do much. We've been exploring around where we live and going to the local bars, which are located in hotels. They are fun, but we enjoy going to the city more!

Last Friday the girls and I went on a long walk along the coastline. We saw some pretty awesome waves and walked up HUGE hills and steep steps. It was a very nice walk and I can't wait to go venture out and take some pictures. I left my camera in the apartment... Whoops! But here is a picture of me and the girls under a piece of artwork in the park.

This past week I did get sick. I ended up going to the doctor on Thursday to see what was wrong. My eyes had been bothering me a lot and I've been sneezing a lot with a runny nose, then picked up my cough again. The doctor said I had a lot of mucus built up in my chest so my immune system was going on overload trying to keep me healthy. He also said there's a good chance I'm not used to the germs here and could have slight allergies. So, I ended up having an eye infection in both eyes and a chest infection. I'm now on eye drops and antibiotics! Yay for getting better!

On Thursday, a few girls who live upstairs and I ventured out of Sydney and went to Manly! We had to take a ferry to get there and it was a ton of fun! I met a few new girls and now know more Aussies! They were so much fun and I can't wait to go out in the city with them! I was exhausted when I got home and definitely crashed when I got back to my apartment!

On Friday, the same girls and I went to Bondi Junction, which is where their "mall" is. The mall is 4 stories tall! It's so cool! They had a Build-A-Bear and a Target. I was in shock and in love!! I bought a few new shirts and the comfiest sweatshirt ever! I love it!

Today (Saturday) we decided to spend the afternoon on the beach! It was super nice out and it felt good to just hang out and read a little by the ocean :) That evening we went to the movies and saw The Dark Knight Rises. SUCH an amazing movie and I kinda wanna go see it in Imax. SO GOOD!

Tomorrow (Sunday) morning we're going SURFING! I'm so excited and can't wait! It's gonna be a little cold, but I'm so ready to go try it out!

Hope everyone's having a great summer! <3

Hey everyone! This is where I will be posting bits and pieces about my trip to Australia!

This past week (well, Wednesday-Sunday) I had Orientation with The Education Abroad Network. If anyone is interested in studying abroad, I would highly recommend looking them up! Anyway, during orientation, we met people who are staying all over Australia in the program and did lots of fun things!

Day 1: Meet everyone in orientation and ate dinner by Darling Harbour. I tried a bite of KANGAROO. It actually wasn't too bad, and I kind of want to try it again! They cooked it rare, which is the best way to eat it.

Day 2: Walking tour of Sydney and a trip to the Wildlife Reserve. We learned some of the history of Sydney and some popular touristy parts. We also went to the Opera House, and had meat pies for lunch at Harry's! The wildlife reserve was awesome! I got my picture taken with a koala and pet a few kangaroos. We also saw dingoes, a crocodile, an albino kangaroo and saw some tasmanian devils running around! They also had a few calves and goats there, which was very... interesting and reminded me a lot of Iowa. Then we took the bus back to our hotel and had dinner on our own. We all called it an early night after a very fun day.

Day 3: University of New South Wales official enrollment and climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge! I was officially enrolled into all my courses and met the lady who helped me plan my schedule. She was very nice and it was great putting a face to an email address/name. Climbing the Harbour Bridge was like a dream come true! The views were amazing and it didn't seem like we were that high up. Come to find out, we were 445ish feet in the air! CRAZY, right?! It was incredible. After the bridge climb we had to navigate ourselves back to our hotel, which was quite an adventure in itself. Once we got back to our hotel, we went to dinner then went out for the night! Drinks are crazy expensive here, so I didn't have that much. It was a great time with everyone to just let loose and have fun!

Day 4: Amazing Race: Sydney style and Harbour Dinner Cruise! We woke up and walked to a park to start the day off doing an Amazing Race around Sydney. They tested our memories on how to get around and do different challenges. 2 girls in my group had to eat Vegemite, which is a yeast/wheat/spice spread. They almost puked and it smelled NASTY. The end point was the Opera House, and my team came in second. It was a very close race and it was so much fun! After we finished we had lunch at the Opera House Cafe. When we were done, we headed back to the hotel for a little bot of rest before a meeting and the dinner cruise. The meeting talked about the Australian education system and how they do grades over here. It also talked about volunteer opportunities and how to potentially get a job. Once we were done, we went to dinner on a HUGE boat! The views were very pretty, but it was a little chilly out on the deck. After the dinner cruise we were all exhausted and went to bed.

Day 5: Moving day! Today we moved into our apartment.. Needless to say, the rooms are TINY but the living room is spacious. I blew a fuse on the first day in mine and my roommates room completely on accident. So we didn't have power for about 24 hours. We went grocery shopping and realized how expensive groceries are here compared to back home. We also walked around and looked at the beach. We live literally 40 steps from the beach. AMAZING! :D I'm loving it so far. We also live about 1.5 miles from campus, which is about a 25-30 minute walk. It's all uphill there and downhill back. Talk about great lookin legs at the end of the semester!!

Well, that's about it so far! Kind of missing everyone back home, but it's been fun so far!

If anyone wants my address or Australian phone number, let me know! I also have Skype and texting on my iPod.

Can't wait to see what else happens and will keep everyone posted!
Laters!

My group on the Harbour Bridge