Surprise!

I came home early for Thanksgiving with the family! I hope everyone had an enjoyable & yummy day! Hope to see you soon :)

Last Day of Class, Already?!?

It seems like just yesterday I was unpacking my suitcases into my new room. I was so nervous about going to huge lectures and excited about meeting new people. Now, I can't believe the semester has just flown by. This week was my last week of classes, and the next two weeks I have to take 4 final exams. I made a lot of great friends from all over the States, who are already talking about eventually getting together for a reunion. There are a lot of people and experiences I've had here that I will miss! But one thing for sure is that I will not miss the flies! It has gotten very humid here for the past two weeks, and the flies have gotten very pesky. I have been reading this book called "In a Sunburned Country" by Bill Byrson, that is about the authors travels in Australia. Well, he pinpoints our exact experience of walking around outside swatting at the flies -while wondering if everyone else is aggravated and doing the same, or just watching and laughing at you.

(He is going on a walk through a park...)

I had gone no more than a dozen feet when I was joined by a fly - smaller and blacker than a housefly. It buzzed around in front of my face and tried to settle on my upper lip. I swatted it away, but it returned at once, always to the same spot. A moment later it was joined by another that wished to go up my nose. It also would not go away. Within a minute or so I had perhaps twenty of these active spots all around my head and I was swiftly sinking into the stat of abject wretchedness that comes with a prolonged encounter with the Australian fly.

Flies are of course always irksome, but the Australian variety distinguishes itself with its very particular persistence. If an Australian fly wants to be up your nose or in your ear, there is no discouraging him. Flick at him as you will and each time he will jump out of range and come straight back. It is simply not possible to deter him. Somewhere on an exposed portion of your body is a spot, about the size of a shirt button, that the fly wants to lick and tickle and turn delirious circles upon. It isn't simply their persistence, but the things they go for. An Australian fly will try to suck the moisture off your eyeball. He will, if not constantly turned back, go into parts of your ears that a Q-tip can only dream about. He will happily die for the glory of taking a tiny dump on your tongue. Get thirty or forty of them dancing around you in the same way and madness will shortly follow.

And so I proceeded into the park, lost in my own little buzzing cloud of woe, waving at my head in an increasingly hopeless and desultory manner - it is called the bush salute - blowing constantly out of my mouth and nose, shaking my head in a kind of furious dementia, occasionally slapping myself with startling violence on the cheek or forehead. Eventually as the flies knew all along, I gave up and they fell upon me....

That's all I have to say for now :)

Part III: the End of our Midsemester Trip

The end of our 17 day trip consisted of 3 days and 2 nights exploring and camping on Fraser Island and 2 days in Brisbane. Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world, was probably my favorite place of the trip. It was BEAUTIFUL - as if the other parts of the coast hadnt been already, this was again, breathtaking. Who knows if I'll ever get to the see the sunset and sunrise on the beach of another island again!

To start off our 3 days traveling in a 4-wheel-drive, we had to be transported by a huge barge from the main land to the island. As soon as we transfered over we began our trek through the sand. We had a caravan going of 5 vehicles, and a mapped out route of the most popular sites to visit. My favorite places on the island were the Maheno Shipwreck , Lake Wabby, and Lake McKenzie. (I have more pictures in the album, "Don't feed the Dingoes", just click on the title of this post to get to the site.) I loved Lake Wabby, because in order to get to it we had to walk through what felt like never ending sand dunes (if you have seen Star Wars Episode 1, I felt like we were part of Anakan's pod-racing desert-like scene). Finally, when we came to the top of the last hill, we were so hot that we ran down and jumped into the cool freshwater lake! Then seeing Lake McKenzie, you wouldn't believe it was a lake it was so clear! It is one of top cleanest lakes in the world. We spent our whole last day there! I almost forgot to mention we had a few wild dingoes come to our camp site the first night looking for garbage, and we saw a large Goanna lizard when washing our dishes the next morning!

That night we returned our 4WD's and got picked up by a Greyhound to make the last leg of our trip to Brisbane. We arrived at 6AM, showered at the hostel and didnt lose any time. We had a free day, so a group of us went to the Australian Zoo -Home of the Crocodile Hunter! It was unusual not to see the typical American zoo animals like monkeys, zebras, giraffes... but instead we saw heaps of crocs (and a croc show) & koalas, walked around with wallabies & 'roos, fed an elephant, saw lots of lizards just chillin' in the other animals' exhibits, saw emus, and several other unusual creatures. If only I couldve seen Steve's daughter, Bindi; our bus driver said that her & her mom just returned from a trip to the States and were at the zoo - but we never found them.

Our last day, we had sunny skies for kayaking on the Brisbane River and abseiling down a rock wall/cliff at the river's edge. (Check out those pictures in the album "Beautiful Brisbane.) I had some issues being a bit scared of heights my first time down the wall, but after a few times I got the hang of repelling and it became more fun. Kayaking was hard work going up the river, but going back we just got to float and enjoy the scenic city! Overall, this holiday was definitely one I will never forget!

This Just In!

Richie & I & our friends Steve & Michelle are going to the AUSTRALIAN IDOL live performance show this Sunday!!! We are so excited :-) Idol is big to us, we get together to religiously watch it every Sunday night for performances & Monday night to see who gets kicked off. They are already down from the top 12 to only 6 contestants, so this Sunday they each get to sing 2 songs (normally its only one; this time one the judges pick & one they pick). We are going early for first come first serve seating & will probably have some kind of sign (I wasn't kidding when I said this was a BIG deal)! Here is the link to my favorite contestant, Matt Corby (he's only 16!) http://www.australianidol.com.au/matt-corby-fan-club.html
I suggest watching ALL the videos of him... however you may not have that kind of time, so I highly suggest the song Got to Get You into My Life (fyi: a "Touchdown" is considered the judge's biggest compliment). ANYhow... I have to get back to writing a paper... I'll let you know how the show goes & finish telling you about my mid-semester holiday soon!

Part II: Voyage on the Condor

Airlie Beach is where we departed for our sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands. Our group (about 30 of us) plus 3 crew members got our own yacht, the Condor. This was not just any boat though, it has an impressive history: the Condor has won every major ocean race in the world twice & is the only yacht to do so. It was tight quarters below, but it was so worth it. Plus we spent almost all of our time on the deck suntanning while taking in the view of the lush, velvet-looking rain forest covered island peaks. There are 74 islands total! We also got to stop at a few places. My favorite being Whitehaven Beach. I was so impressed by the soft, flour-like sand that I looked this beach up & found this out: The sand is minute powder-size grains of quartz & is 99.89% pure, well above the minimum requirement for glass-making & suitable for the finest glass for optical lenses! At this beach we played cricket (which is similar to baseball) & lounged in the clear, crisp, refreshingly cold water. We spent a total of 3 days & 2 night on the Condor. It was sooo relaxing & it felt like we were totally removed from society that it was hard to return. Yet, we were lucky to have another amazing expedition ahead of us - 4WD exploration of Fraser Island.

I'm Baaaaack - Part 1

So, is everyone enjoying Autumn? Is it getting a bit chilly? Hmm, it is about 90 degrees here. October, a warm month, that is a first for me. I am loving the sun back at the village, and I practically lived under the sun on our 17 day holiday. Speaking of, I have a lot to catch you up on, and I apologize for not doing so earlier; when we returned I should have updated it straight away.

We began our quest down the East Coast by flying into Cairns, and spending 4 nights/5 days there. Whitewater rafting down the Tully River was a blast! The difficulty of the rapids were grades 3 and 4 on a grade 6 scale. It was hard work, and we even fell in the water after some of the grade 4 rapids- part of the raft would tip or bounce people out if they didn't hold on! The next day was even more intense! I went skydiving from 11,000 feet over the Great Barrier Reef and landed on the beach! It was a SPECTACULAR view. We took this really tiny plane, that fit 4 people plus the certified divers strapped to us! I was the first one to go- this is how the conversation went leading up to the dive:
Man attached to me to keep me alive: we're at 11,000 feet! are you ready for this? (the side door slowly opens and he scoots us over to face out the door)
Me: ...
Man: ok swing your feet outside!
Me: wooooaaaah
Man: good job! ready, ONE
Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!
(there was no 2 or 3!)
It was such a rush, so exhilarating! My face was flapping in the wind, but only until the parachute got opened, and then we slowed down to a drift. I was actually able to stop screaming, too! As soon as I landed I was ready to go back up... hahaha, not really. It took me a while to realize that I really just jumped out of a plane- I wanted someone to pinch me ;-D

We followed that by getting in a Jungle Minjin Swing, the next day. Richie and I were strapped in side by side and hoisted up, practically into the rain forest, and looking out over the outskirts of Cairns. I had control of the string which would released us; when I pulled it we went plummeting down and swung like a pendulum amongst the trees! (Can you see us way up in there??) We also had the option to bungee jump there, but I was way too frightened I'd snap all my bones or something extreme like that. Richie, on the other hand, faced his fears and ended up loving it!

Our last two days in Cairns: One day, we went snorkeling at three different parts of the Outer Great Barrier Reef. The weather was perfect and the sun was beating down, so the water was so much warmer than the first time we went out there. We also saw a lot of different kinds of fish and got to tough a sea cucumber - slimy and squishy creatures. The other day we spent at a northern Cairns beach. The water was clear and so refreshing. That night we took a 13 hour coach bus ride & arrived at our next destination, Airlie Beach.

Mid-semester "Holiday"

It is Spring here and that means Spring Break! Well, as they refer to it, mid-semester "holiday" :) Richie and I are leaving Saturday, September 15th and returning Monday, October 1st. (Yes, that is a really long time!) We are traveling down the East Coast of Australia and stopping at several cities along the way to do some awesome things, including skydiving! I can't wait to tell you more about our adventures when we return! There will probably be heaps of photos, too! I hope everyone is doing well. Take care :-D

Random News

Did you know??

• The construction of the Opera House began in 1959.
• It took until 1973 to finish building it and for it to finally open.
• It cost about $100 million!
• The final show of Australian Idol takes place inside!

Justin & I:

Check this out!
We rearranged out living room from the front of the apartment to the back for more space and a cozier feel: (view entering from the left side)

(from the right side)



Have you heard??

*For the past two weeks it seems like all I have heard about on the news is how the equine influenza (EI) has spread through Aussie's racehorse population....
*No worries though! Today the horses are back to the tracks!

They're everywhere!!

That is, students in uniforms... from primary to secondary school grades, any person wearing a backpack (not at my uni) has been in a uniform. These small children on a field trip to the Queen Victoria Building have been my favorite so far! I mean, just look at their hats!

Backtracking

Heaps of things have happened since I last wrote....

The biggest news is that Justin came to visit! It was really awesome to have company from home here! Him and his friend, Saim, came from August 21st (a Tuesday) until the 31st (the following Friday). Upon arrival I would not allow for any sleeping -after all they had to adjust timezones and had to do so quickly to allow for maximum site seeing. To start off, Richie and I took them to Wildlife World in Darling Harbor. There we observed:
a variety of Aussie's insects
including this nasty thing: ,
reptiles (including my favorite, the frilled neck lizard:
& the largest of the lizards down under, the Perentie, which is also the 3rd largest lizard in the world), lots of wallabies & koalas, the Cassowary, (the third largest flightless bird & Aussie's largest land animal) and much more. That night we stayed in Darling Harbor for dinner, and ate at a place called Blue Fish. It was located right next to the water, with a spectacular view of the city lights.

We spent the next day walking around the Queen Victoria Building and
going up into Sydney's Sky Tower . It was really to watch the boats cruise around from above and to see how far the city extended. That day Justin and Saim also surprised us with a dart board apartment-warming-gift. We definitely had fun with it while they were here & it has been getting a lot of use since!

My favorite day, while they were here, was when we went on an adventure tour of The Eldest Cave, the oldest cave of the Jenolan Caves in the Blue Mountains. To prepare, we had to gear up in jumpsuits and helmets with torches (aka flashlights). Then each of us got to repel down to the opening of the cave . Once in, it was no walk through of the cave! It took us about two hours and we had two guides who took us through holes I didn't imagine I could fit through! Sometimes we had to go head first with darkness ahead! Sometimes we went feet first and had to hope we would put our foot down in the right place, and sometimes we crawled through on our side surrounded by cave walls only inches away from our sides... like this picture!> Here I am about to go down a hole and then coming through it>

The four of us about half way through

and then feeling like we mastered the cave

by the end!

Weekend of **10/8 to 12/8

**In case I have confused you, the dates here are written with the day first and then the month ;-)

Two weekends ago, I went on a volunteer weekend to Chakola, in the South Coast of New South Wales. On Friday morning, myself and 8 other international students, who also attend Macquarie, were picked up by a group leader from the Conservation Volunteers of Australia. It was about a 3 1/2 hour trip to the site, which is basically forested preserved property.

I had been expecting to do some hard-core work since work boots & gloves were highly recommended... yet there was more site seeing than physical work! On Friday, our group stayed on the property to pull weeds in a open area of the forest, where lots of wombats live. The rest of the night, we watched wild kangaroo in the field next to the camp, talked around the fire pit, and were in awe of the stars (including the Milky Way!)

Saturday, we drove about 30 minutes away to a National Park to do about 1 & 1/2 hours of work- putting up stakes & plastic around baby trees so they would be protected from the wind & animals eating them. Then we got to walk around Seven Mile Beach, climb around the rocks at a blow hole, and walk around a quaint town called Berry.
That night around the camp fire, we had both a possum (which are actually cute, unlike the ones in the States), and a wombat come wander around by us!

Sunday, our last day, we stayed at our camp site to work; for about two hours we raked & cleared a walking trail through the forest. That afternoon, on the way home, we stopped at another national park to take in the view of an awesome waterfall:

Richie is also going on a volunteer weekend trip with the same program from August 24th- 26th. He's been taking pictures on our adventures, too. So you can check them out at this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/Richard.Kuebler

We have gotten better at grocery shopping which means better meals! We've enjoyed making some awesome dinners, including stir fry, pasta, tacos, and chicken & potatoes! Woo-hoo no more peanut butter & jelly for dinner :-D

Some observations...

1) I saw a kookaburra bird (above picture) for the first time, in the Blue Mountains. They sound kind of like laughing monkeys. Now that I know what they look like (and more so sound like) I notice them around campus, too.
**side note: there is a bush-walking club on campus, that goes on hikes around Sydney. So I went on one in the Blue Mountains on last Sunday. I posted pictures from it and other adventures at this site: http://picasaweb.google.com/Alison.in.Aussie

2) I am taking a math methods class for my major, and people from Australia always says "maths". At first I thought it was someone who mispronounced it, but now I hear the teacher and everyone else saying it with the s.

3) Another thing with the accent, r's are put at the end of a lot of words. For example, "I sawr her at the store."

4) The advisor told us to switch the spell-check feature in word documents to "Australian English". I have already noticed some differences in lecture power points, like: colour and organisation. I'm already not very good at spelling, so this is really going to mess me up!

**Warning this last observation may be somewhat upsetting to some if you are fond of kangaroos...................................................................................................................................



5) Richie & I had this for dinner at a place on the Sydney Harbor:

................................and it was really good! :-O

Settling In

I've now been living at the Macquarie University Village (MUV) for two weeks and a few days. My two suitcases (which were about 40 lbs each) are unpacked, and my room is finally feeling set-up. There are five bedrooms, and each has its own bathroom -its so nice! I ended up with 4 guys as house mates, 1 being Richie. The others 3 are really nice, 2 were friends already from Boston, and 1 from Brazil (he has an Aussie accent , because this is his third semester at the Uni). The condo also has a living room, dining room, and kitchen. Our first night, Richie & I had Australia's famous meat pies for dinner, and the next day we were introduced to their famous biscuits, or cookies, Tim Tams- dangerously delicious! Since we have our own kitchen, we go grocery shopping at this enormous mall located on the opposite end of campus; thus we plan our trips out there, as to not forget anything and have to trek back.

About 3/4 of MUV is study abroad students, so it is good to see & hang with the people I was in Cairns with. The village is located at one end of the campus, which means about a 10 to 15 minute walk, if I'm walking slowly or have gotten lost... to class :) It is definately different than at Elmhurst. The Uni has over 30,000 students, and it is must be an awesome school study abroad at considering over 8,000 of the students are international.

I am taking 4 units (classes), which is the full amount. Each has one or two lectures (1 hour each) and a tutorial (1 hour each). My lectures have anywhere from 75 to 250 students in them (again very different from my small classes of 8 to 25 students at Elmhurst,) and the tutorials are about 20 students. I don't have very many assessments (assignments), 1 to 2 papers, a midterm, and final for most units. I just survived my first week of lectures, and am loving listening to the teachers' (whom wish to be address by their first names) accents.

This is a view of part of the campus; it is in back of one of the main buildings the SAM (Students @ Macquarie) Center - which includes the food court & book store, etc. This is a great place to hang out between classes and soak up the sun!

Arrival

I left for Australia on JULY 17th, from Chicago... to LA, to Sydney, & finally to Cairns.
On the way we crossed the international date line, which meant I lost a day & it was really the 19th when we arrived.
The plane ride from LA to Sydney was looooong (over 14 hours).  I was practically asleep before we took off;
yet when I woke up, there was still half of the flight left!  At least the seats were comfortable.  And the guy next to me,
I could tell by his accent, from Australia, was really nice - the 5plus times that I got up to walk around,
he replied, "No worries" (pronounced No WAH-REES).

Waiting for the plane to Cairns, I met heaps of other students going through the same orientation program
(who would also be attending Macquarie Uni).  We stayed in at a backpackers' resort (which is more or less the
nice way of saying a so-so hotel/hostel), called Gilligans.

The first night we had dinner outside at a restaurant called Hoolahans.  It was really nice weather out, like 20 degrees
Celsius -which converts to 70's in Fahrenheit.  They had a live band playing, and I was kinda surprised to have
recognized that all the songs played were ones I often heard the U.S.  The plane food had been a bit dodgy,
so I went straight for the ribs & mashed potatoes!  That night we walked around a bit,
but, thanks to the jet-lag, went to bed early.

The next day, Friday, we went to the Rainforestation.  The best way to describe this is cultural experience, mini zoo &
rain forest trek combined.  The Aborigines, taught us how to throw a boomerang, showed us some hunting skills, &
showed us some of their tribal dances.
Then we got to hand feed kangaroos &  wallabies- I couldn't stop smiling!
To top that, I  held a koala & got my picture taken with it!  Lastly, we went on an Army Duck ride through the rain
forest.  On the way home, the bus drivers stopped at the side of the road to show us a view of Cairns
from the side of the hills- I was in awe.

Later, we had our own time, so some of us walked a few blocks to the beach.
It was beautiful out, unfortunately too chilly to get in the water.  That night we ate at a Mexican restaurant
(no kangaroo burgers yet!)  We learned that there is no tipping required, & the server expects you to ask for the bill,
as to not push you out of their restaurant.

Saturday the group got up early to walk to the harbor & took


this huge boat 2 hours out into the Great Barrier Reef!
It was windy & cold but the sun was still bright!  The Reef was gorgeous! I can now say that I know that first hand,
because I actually went scuba diving!  ...I may have hung on to the instructor the whole 30 minute dive,
but either way, I am still proud of myself.  We saw schools of fish, a 3 foot reef shark hiding under some rocks,
lots of huge clams (which we touched & were quite squishy), Nemo-fish and lots of other things that we took pictures
of with our under water cameras.  After lunch on the boat, we went on a guided snorkeling tour from the boat to
an island. The coolest animals we saw were 2 enormous turtles about 5 feet beneath us!
I would love to go snorkeling again...
I couldn't stop pointing things out to the people around me, because I was sooo amused ;-D