This week wasn't all that eventful.
Monday: No class. Caught up on some homework/quizzes/reading.
Tuesday: Class all day. Nothing too exciting.
Wednesday: I was supposed to have class in the morning, but instead we headed to Elanora Country Club, one of the top 5 courses in New South Wales, which is the location for my Events Management Project Golf Day. It was a beautiful course, but I haven't seen many to compare it to! More class after I returned to school. That night, we headed downtown for Karaoke Night at the Steyne. Sean, another MSU student here, won free drinks for his version of Lou Bega's Mambo #5. It was amazing (and hilarious)! :)
Thursday: Supposed to be my day to sleep in, but I have to have my bedding turned in to housekeeping by 11:00am. Not cool. Us girls decided to watch a movie for Nazi lady's class Thursday morning before class. "Lean on Me" with Morgan Freeman, wasn't too bad. Better that film than most class documentaries.
Friday: Beautiful day! After my noon class, Sean and I headed to the beach to enjoy the sun. We were laying out for WAY too long, and I definately wasn't wearing enough sun screen. Got a little tender, but that didn't stop me from enjoying my weekend. Friday night, the school put on a Wine and Cheese party (not complimentary this time) on the front lawn area of the school. It was a gorgeous night and the wine wasn't horrible this time. We headed down to the Corso, but it ended up being a short night, home just after midnight.
Saturday: Productive day for me. Got a lot of things done and even made myself ignore the beautiful weather outside. I even went a little souvenir shopping, which I have found is rather difficult. Once everyone returned from the beach, we headed back down to get some dinner at Ivanhoe, bar/restaurant in the Corso. I had a Grilled Chicken Burger with avacado. I have found that many dishes are served in much healthier ways down here. -- We planned on going to The Steyne after dinner, but Nate, a guy from Wisconsin, got turned away because he wasn't meeting the dress code requirements. He had on Khaki shorts (not cargo style), leather sandals, and a collared button-up shirt tucked in... I couldn't believe it! So we all left with him when he got turned away. It ended up being a pretty chill night at The Shark Bar. :)
Sunday: Another beautiful day at the beach!! It was PACKED! After a long day at the beach, and an awful lunch and dinner, a group of us headed up to North Head. North Head is a Australian National Park just up the road from the college. It is a series of lookout points over the water along the coast. On this particular weekend, the Queen Victoria and the Queen Elizabeth 2 were both in the Harbor at the same time. Sunday evening though, the Queen Victoria left the Harbor to finish its journey. I didn't realize it was going to be such a big ordeal, but apparently it was. People were everywhere and it actually ended up being pretty cool. I was hoping to see firewroks, but they got moved to Saturday night and I didn't know that. After the ship left, we walked around the park and explored all the paths. It was an amazing view of the city and the open water.
Today: My day off. Loved it! Had lots of homework to do and spent most of the day doing absolutely nothing prodcutive, just like back home at MSU. Back to reality again tomorrow. :(
Hopefully this week flies by... The Gay Pride Parade- Mardi Gras in Sydney is this weekend. It is going to be out of control! Sean is definately ready to show off his stuff!! It will be an unforgettable experience, I'm sure.
Hope everyone is doing well back home. Keep the updates coming. It's nice to hear how things are going.
Love&Miss.
xoxo
Monday, February 25, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Back to School
Back to School! Wow. I feel like it had been forever since I sat in a classroom. Class was much different than at MSU. All the students are very respectful and pay attention the whole time! Much different than at State. Being in a uniform isn’t all that bad. It isn’t like I have to spend much time thinking about what I will wear to class, but it definitely is something I would prefer we didn’t have to do.
I actually got into this class that I am really excited about. It is called the Event Management Project and our assignment is to put on a charity golf outing. We plan and execute the event for our grade. I am looking forward to that. My other classes shouldn’t be too bad. One of my profs (aka lecturer) is like Hitler. She hates the world and wants everyone to worship her and her achievements. She kinda makes me want to shoot myself, but hopefully she loosens up later into the term.
All of our classes are 2 hour blocks, twice a week. The cafeteria is only open for breakfast from 6:50-7:30am, which sucks big time if your morning class isn’t just after that. So, we will see how many breakfasts I make it to! Things are just so much different at a school of only 1,500 students versus the 50,000 students that go to MSU. At times, we almost feel like they are babying us, and it gets annoying. For example, we have to turn in our bedding on a certain day of the week, or else we lose PC (professional conduct) points. It can be obnoxious.
As many of you know, Tuesday my nephew, Jacob Preston was born, but it was Wednesday for me… and Wednesday is Karaoke night, so I celebrated down at The Steyne! Jacob Preston 7lbs. 9oz. 21in
Thursday was Valentine’s Day, so we headed into the city to get dinner and explore a little. We ate at a Chinese restaurant called Chinta Ria and it was WONDERFUL! We all split our dishes, so we got to try a variety of things. After dinner, we walked around Darling Harbour, which is where MTV’s Real World was last season. We actually saw the house, and people definitely thought we were strange because we were so excited about it. Couples were EVERYWHERE. I wanted to scream! … I hope everyone had a great Valentine’s Day! Hugs and Kisses!
Friday, after class, we headed to the beach. About an hour into our tanning session, a siren starts going off and a voice comes over the loud speaker… “A small shark has been spotted at the southern end of Manly Beach. We advise you to leave the water immediately.” Wow… Kinda scary.
That night ICMS threw a party to kick off the term, “Icebreaker”. It was fun to mingle with all the students and there were nice drink specials, so that was a plus! At 10:30 when they kicked us out of the party, the party moved itself down to the Shark Bar, where we proceeded to take over the place with ICMS students. It was hilarious. We always seem to travel in packs.
Saturday we headed down to the wharf to go out on the Epic Boat trip that had been cancelled last weekend. This boat was a riot! No seat belts. It was kinda like being on a big jetski. The waves were HUGE and we would go airborne almost every few seconds. It was a little history lesson, too. The driver stopped the boat to show us the old tunnels that the Australian navy used to watch for the Japanese. It was interesting. He also showed us the ladders and ropes that rock fishermen use to get out to the rocks. Those people are fricken nuts! Now I see why more people die rock fishing every year than any other sport. Crazy!
We spent the evening planning our adventures, day trips and overnight trips. I am going to a Jack Johnson concert in a few weeks. We are going to La Boheme at the Opera House on March 5th. We booked our flights and hotel for our trip up to the Great Barrier Reef (the weekend after Easter). On March 1st, it’s the Gay Pride Parade/Mardi Gras in Sydney, so we will definitely be heading into the city for that. Over Easter weekend, we are going to Katoomba to see the Blue Mountains and visit the Jenolan Caves. We are considering a trip to Melbourne, maybe Brisbane (to Steve Irwin’s zoo), and possibly the Gold Coast. We are also going to set aside a day to climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge. I would also like to go to the Botanical Gardens, which is where the bats are insanely big and everywhere! I have a lot to do in the next three months. Ahh!
Today was long, very long. We had our surf lessons this afternoon. It is SO hard! Nothing like snowboarding. It kicks your butt and it is exhausting! A little too much work to ride a wave. They need to invest in something like a chair lift to take you back out after you ride the waves into the beach. Ugh! After our surf lesson, we had a Harbor Cruise just for the study abroad students. There are 80 of us and we all seem to get along alright, so it was actually a great time. We played flip cup and taught the non-americans all the American drinking games! Sydney is absolutely beautiful at night. We danced, and mingled, and ate (not very good food), and enjoyed the view.
I am exhausted! The sun has drained every ounce of energy I had left. No class tomorrow. Amazing 3 day weekends. Hope everyone had a good weekend. I am heading to bed… 12:13am Monday here. 8:13am Sunday at home. Good Night.
Love&Miss.
xoxo
I actually got into this class that I am really excited about. It is called the Event Management Project and our assignment is to put on a charity golf outing. We plan and execute the event for our grade. I am looking forward to that. My other classes shouldn’t be too bad. One of my profs (aka lecturer) is like Hitler. She hates the world and wants everyone to worship her and her achievements. She kinda makes me want to shoot myself, but hopefully she loosens up later into the term.
All of our classes are 2 hour blocks, twice a week. The cafeteria is only open for breakfast from 6:50-7:30am, which sucks big time if your morning class isn’t just after that. So, we will see how many breakfasts I make it to! Things are just so much different at a school of only 1,500 students versus the 50,000 students that go to MSU. At times, we almost feel like they are babying us, and it gets annoying. For example, we have to turn in our bedding on a certain day of the week, or else we lose PC (professional conduct) points. It can be obnoxious.
As many of you know, Tuesday my nephew, Jacob Preston was born, but it was Wednesday for me… and Wednesday is Karaoke night, so I celebrated down at The Steyne! Jacob Preston 7lbs. 9oz. 21in
Thursday was Valentine’s Day, so we headed into the city to get dinner and explore a little. We ate at a Chinese restaurant called Chinta Ria and it was WONDERFUL! We all split our dishes, so we got to try a variety of things. After dinner, we walked around Darling Harbour, which is where MTV’s Real World was last season. We actually saw the house, and people definitely thought we were strange because we were so excited about it. Couples were EVERYWHERE. I wanted to scream! … I hope everyone had a great Valentine’s Day! Hugs and Kisses!
Friday, after class, we headed to the beach. About an hour into our tanning session, a siren starts going off and a voice comes over the loud speaker… “A small shark has been spotted at the southern end of Manly Beach. We advise you to leave the water immediately.” Wow… Kinda scary.
That night ICMS threw a party to kick off the term, “Icebreaker”. It was fun to mingle with all the students and there were nice drink specials, so that was a plus! At 10:30 when they kicked us out of the party, the party moved itself down to the Shark Bar, where we proceeded to take over the place with ICMS students. It was hilarious. We always seem to travel in packs.
Saturday we headed down to the wharf to go out on the Epic Boat trip that had been cancelled last weekend. This boat was a riot! No seat belts. It was kinda like being on a big jetski. The waves were HUGE and we would go airborne almost every few seconds. It was a little history lesson, too. The driver stopped the boat to show us the old tunnels that the Australian navy used to watch for the Japanese. It was interesting. He also showed us the ladders and ropes that rock fishermen use to get out to the rocks. Those people are fricken nuts! Now I see why more people die rock fishing every year than any other sport. Crazy!
We spent the evening planning our adventures, day trips and overnight trips. I am going to a Jack Johnson concert in a few weeks. We are going to La Boheme at the Opera House on March 5th. We booked our flights and hotel for our trip up to the Great Barrier Reef (the weekend after Easter). On March 1st, it’s the Gay Pride Parade/Mardi Gras in Sydney, so we will definitely be heading into the city for that. Over Easter weekend, we are going to Katoomba to see the Blue Mountains and visit the Jenolan Caves. We are considering a trip to Melbourne, maybe Brisbane (to Steve Irwin’s zoo), and possibly the Gold Coast. We are also going to set aside a day to climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge. I would also like to go to the Botanical Gardens, which is where the bats are insanely big and everywhere! I have a lot to do in the next three months. Ahh!
Today was long, very long. We had our surf lessons this afternoon. It is SO hard! Nothing like snowboarding. It kicks your butt and it is exhausting! A little too much work to ride a wave. They need to invest in something like a chair lift to take you back out after you ride the waves into the beach. Ugh! After our surf lesson, we had a Harbor Cruise just for the study abroad students. There are 80 of us and we all seem to get along alright, so it was actually a great time. We played flip cup and taught the non-americans all the American drinking games! Sydney is absolutely beautiful at night. We danced, and mingled, and ate (not very good food), and enjoyed the view.
I am exhausted! The sun has drained every ounce of energy I had left. No class tomorrow. Amazing 3 day weekends. Hope everyone had a good weekend. I am heading to bed… 12:13am Monday here. 8:13am Sunday at home. Good Night.
Love&Miss.
xoxo
Monday, February 11, 2008
Rain, Rain, Go Away...
This weekend was supposed to be “action-packed”… But not so much after all the rain we had.
Friday, my group had team building activities. Tug-o-war, synchronized walking, and JUMBO volleyball with a ball that was about 6 feet in diameter. There was a giant blow up obstacle course, too. That was even more difficult after hours of rain soaking the ropes and multiple puddles along the way. It actually wasn’t a bad afternoon. I had the chance to meet some new people, so that was beneficial before classes start.
Later that night, we got all dressed up to go out, and never made it off campus. We ran into Amy, our Study Abroad advisor. She was sitting in the courtyard with her boyfriend and we sat down to chit-chat and never got up. It was actually really cool—while we were sitting there, a momma opossum came through the courtyard with a baby on her back searching for food. The opossums here are actually kinda cute, not like the ones back in the States. Then, a bandicoot, which is an endangered species, came hopping around our picnic table. I was pretty excited about that.
Saturday morning we had to be up for our bus tour of Sydney. It would have been a lot nicer if the rain would have held back for us, but what can you do?! We traveled through Sydney Harbor National Park, down to The Corso at Manly Beach, through the suburbs and ended up in Sydney. We stopped off at viewing area of the Opera House and Sydney Bridge. It is absolutely beautiful, and we are definitely going back on a day with more favorable weather. While we were taking pictures, my camera broke. The lens smashed on a rock, but Mom to the rescue… She is sending me hers. There is just too much going on here not to have a camera. After that stop, we quickly visited the New South Wales Art Gallery. I’m not so much an artsy person, but I would have liked more time there. From there we headed to the Rock Markets, sorta like a flee market, which was located almost directly beneath the Sydney Harbor Bridge. There were some really cool things there, and I think we are all planning a trip back there to pick up some souvenirs. As part of our tour, we stopped at Cargo Bar in Darling Harbor to get our complimentary drink. For anyone that watches The Real World, Darling Harbor is where the last house was located. The cast often partied at Cargo Bar, so that was actually really cool for a lot of us to see.
Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge... This one is for you, Dad! :)
Friday, my group had team building activities. Tug-o-war, synchronized walking, and JUMBO volleyball with a ball that was about 6 feet in diameter. There was a giant blow up obstacle course, too. That was even more difficult after hours of rain soaking the ropes and multiple puddles along the way. It actually wasn’t a bad afternoon. I had the chance to meet some new people, so that was beneficial before classes start.
Later that night, we got all dressed up to go out, and never made it off campus. We ran into Amy, our Study Abroad advisor. She was sitting in the courtyard with her boyfriend and we sat down to chit-chat and never got up. It was actually really cool—while we were sitting there, a momma opossum came through the courtyard with a baby on her back searching for food. The opossums here are actually kinda cute, not like the ones back in the States. Then, a bandicoot, which is an endangered species, came hopping around our picnic table. I was pretty excited about that.
Saturday morning we had to be up for our bus tour of Sydney. It would have been a lot nicer if the rain would have held back for us, but what can you do?! We traveled through Sydney Harbor National Park, down to The Corso at Manly Beach, through the suburbs and ended up in Sydney. We stopped off at viewing area of the Opera House and Sydney Bridge. It is absolutely beautiful, and we are definitely going back on a day with more favorable weather. While we were taking pictures, my camera broke. The lens smashed on a rock, but Mom to the rescue… She is sending me hers. There is just too much going on here not to have a camera. After that stop, we quickly visited the New South Wales Art Gallery. I’m not so much an artsy person, but I would have liked more time there. From there we headed to the Rock Markets, sorta like a flee market, which was located almost directly beneath the Sydney Harbor Bridge. There were some really cool things there, and I think we are all planning a trip back there to pick up some souvenirs. As part of our tour, we stopped at Cargo Bar in Darling Harbor to get our complimentary drink. For anyone that watches The Real World, Darling Harbor is where the last house was located. The cast often partied at Cargo Bar, so that was actually really cool for a lot of us to see.
Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge... This one is for you, Dad! :)
A huge statue outside the NSW Art Gallery.
A view of Sydney. That is the Sydney Tower (kinda looks like a Q-tip)... We are visiting it the next time we go into Sydney.
After our tour, we grabbed dinner and got ready to head down to The Steyne Hotel, which is a series of five bars all connected with a shared patio. It was a long night, and we actually ran into a few people we had met last weekend. It seems as though we always have a good time when we are there. It turned into a long night, and we actually wound up seeing sunrise just over Shelly Beach. It was definitely on my things to see list while I was here. Sunrise, check.
Stephanie (Texas Tech.), Me, Caitlin, Steph, Erin (Belmont), Annie, and Perri (GVSU).
My MSU crew! :) Love them!
Up early Sunday morning for brunch and surf lessons… and again, due to bad weather, our lessons were postponed until next Sunday. Not much later in the afternoon, the weather turned around and the sun came out. So we headed to the beach to tan, even though the beach was closed for swimming. I took a little nap and relaxed on the beach all afternoon. Here: beach, sun, and swimsuits… Back home: snow, cold, and sweatshirts. Wish you were here with me!
Today (Monday) was the first day of class at the school. My schedule worked out so that I don’t have Monday courses. Three day weekends, every week! My uniform came in… Yuck. Not excited for that, but I will survive. I will post a picture of it when I get the chance.
We had our All-College Welcome Ceremony this morning in the chapel. It is absolutely gorgeous in there. The guest speaker was a previous Australian Olympic swimmer in the 1972 Munich games. Her name is Shane Gould and she competed when she was 15 and won 5 individual medals, 3 gold, a silver, and a bronze. She retired from swimming when she was only 17! Her life story was actually rather interesting, but she wasn’t very motivating, if that was her purpose.
Sean and I then headed down to the Corso and ended up at the beach for the afternoon. Took a little nap and enjoyed the beautiful weather. It was about 30 degrees Celsius today, which is about 85 degrees Fahrenheit. No complaints!
First day of school tomorrow! Wow. This should be interesting. I guess I am kinda excited. It will be very different from Michigan State.
Hope everyone is enjoying the winter wonderland at home. I am thinking of you always. Drive careful in all that bad weather (like I can be one to give driving advice!).
Love&Miss.
xoxo
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Monday started O-week, but it was mainly a day for students to check in and get their room assignments. Since I had registered last week, there wasn’t much to do. We now just have meals served on campus, which saves me a great deal of cash! The food is interesting. The “rocket” (aka salad) is more like leafy greens and the dressings are unusual. Everything is familiar, it just has an Australian twist. We did make it down town to watch the SuperBowl by 10am. It wasn't the same though without the sweet new commercials. People loved us and hated us because we were watching American Football in Australia. -- FYI: "Rooting for" means "sleeping with" in Aussie language.-- We never understood why we were getting strange looks when we said we were rooting for the Patriots.
Tuesday wasn’t my day to do much either. The school brought in a band for some entertainment, but there wasn’t much on my agenda. We had a Study Abroad program briefing in the evening. There are 81 SA students, and atleast 50 are from the United States; 8 MSU, 7 GVSU, 1 CMU, 4 Texas Tech, and a handful of other schools. ICMS has put together a Private Sunset Harbor Cruise on the 17th for just Study Abroad students. I am looking forward to that. The harbor will be beautiful at night! There was a Cocktail Welcome Party on Tuesday night. This was kinda fun. It was a chance to get all dressed up and mingle with the other students and staff. We had exotic hors d'oeuvres and all-you-can-drink beer, wine, and champagne. I definitely wasn’t complaining about that, but I wasn’t a big fan of many of the hors d’oeuvres. I went out on a limb and tried them though!
After our Cocktail Party, many of the students headed down to The Corso to hit up The Shark Bar. We hadn’t been to this bar yet. It was more of a modern lounge with crazy colors and a really sweet balcony. It was an early night though (home before midnight) because my group had sessions to attend Wednesday morning. Yesterday, the weather was absolutely perfect. I got up in the morning and attended my “Official College Welcome” and completed all my enrollment forms. I was then fitted for my rather awful school provided uniform. It consists of a navy knee length skirt and blazer, and a long sleeve white button up and short sleeved electric blue blousse. This should be interesting! With the great weather, and finally no rain, we headed to the beach to soak up some rays! I just happened to miss my left thigh with sunscreen, and it is VERY burnt, painfully burnt. My arms are a little toasty, too. I have learned my lesson and I will be more careful next time.
For our evening festivities, the school threw an “Aussie Party”. Australian flags galore, temporary tattoos, and a barbecue station set up. Our entertainment were aboriginal dancers, and that was very cool to see that side of the culture. Then a guy from the local Reptile Shelter came in and showed us what to pick up, how to pick it up, and what to avoid if we ever were to encounter them in the wild. Blue-tounged lizards, horseshoe iguanas, venomous frogs/spiders, and a number of different snakes. He even brought in a baby alligator which was surprisingly cute! I held the snake that was over 6 feet long! They had many Australian snacks for us, too. Cheezzules(?) and different finger foods. They even ended the night with some “shrimp on the bar-b”… or Prawn… It’s really big shrimp and we had to rip off their heads and tear apart their bodies! It was similar to the crayfish we used to cook up north… Similar, but also very different.
Today was long. Seminars all morning, and not very interesting ones at that. They were mostly about culture, and the environment, and blah, blah, blah! Haha. It rained all day and it wasn’t very pleasant… especially when it came time for my Beach Safety session. It was down pour rain and we had to walk about 10 minutes to the beach. Then we learned all about waves, and rips, and sandcastles! Then we headed down to the harbor which was another 10 minutes of walking in the rain, just to hop on a foam surf board and “get a feel for it!” My real lessons are on Sunday, so that should be fun!
I got my classes today too…
EVT 110: Venue and Hospitality Operations
MGMT 236: Hospitality Human Resources
EVT 111: Intro to the Event Industry
CPTS 324: Hospitality Information Systems (sorta computer-ish)
Tonight we were supposed to have a Wine and Cheese Party at Sunset on the grass looking over the water… BUT the rain wasn’t our friend this evening. So instead, we mingled on the balconies of the castle, which wasn’t so bad. I really got to know some of the GVSU and local Australian girls. It was a really relaxing night. There were only about 50 people that could sign up for the party and about 35 of us were American Study Abroad students! The view was beautiful!
Tomorrow shouldn’t be too intense. Just “team building” activities for my group and possibly a movie later in the evening. I will keep you posted. It has been an eventful, and exhausting week… But I am definitely not complaining! My mom keeps reminding me—Remember what you are there for! Haha! Ok, Mom! Classes start on Monday, so I am sure it will be a long, exhausting, but very fun weekend.
Hope everyone is enjoying the snow at home! Drive careful!
I love hearing from all of you!
Love&Miss.
xoxo
P.S. My pictures wouldn't upload tonight... I will load them ASAP. They are exciting! :)
Tuesday wasn’t my day to do much either. The school brought in a band for some entertainment, but there wasn’t much on my agenda. We had a Study Abroad program briefing in the evening. There are 81 SA students, and atleast 50 are from the United States; 8 MSU, 7 GVSU, 1 CMU, 4 Texas Tech, and a handful of other schools. ICMS has put together a Private Sunset Harbor Cruise on the 17th for just Study Abroad students. I am looking forward to that. The harbor will be beautiful at night! There was a Cocktail Welcome Party on Tuesday night. This was kinda fun. It was a chance to get all dressed up and mingle with the other students and staff. We had exotic hors d'oeuvres and all-you-can-drink beer, wine, and champagne. I definitely wasn’t complaining about that, but I wasn’t a big fan of many of the hors d’oeuvres. I went out on a limb and tried them though!
After our Cocktail Party, many of the students headed down to The Corso to hit up The Shark Bar. We hadn’t been to this bar yet. It was more of a modern lounge with crazy colors and a really sweet balcony. It was an early night though (home before midnight) because my group had sessions to attend Wednesday morning. Yesterday, the weather was absolutely perfect. I got up in the morning and attended my “Official College Welcome” and completed all my enrollment forms. I was then fitted for my rather awful school provided uniform. It consists of a navy knee length skirt and blazer, and a long sleeve white button up and short sleeved electric blue blousse. This should be interesting! With the great weather, and finally no rain, we headed to the beach to soak up some rays! I just happened to miss my left thigh with sunscreen, and it is VERY burnt, painfully burnt. My arms are a little toasty, too. I have learned my lesson and I will be more careful next time.
For our evening festivities, the school threw an “Aussie Party”. Australian flags galore, temporary tattoos, and a barbecue station set up. Our entertainment were aboriginal dancers, and that was very cool to see that side of the culture. Then a guy from the local Reptile Shelter came in and showed us what to pick up, how to pick it up, and what to avoid if we ever were to encounter them in the wild. Blue-tounged lizards, horseshoe iguanas, venomous frogs/spiders, and a number of different snakes. He even brought in a baby alligator which was surprisingly cute! I held the snake that was over 6 feet long! They had many Australian snacks for us, too. Cheezzules(?) and different finger foods. They even ended the night with some “shrimp on the bar-b”… or Prawn… It’s really big shrimp and we had to rip off their heads and tear apart their bodies! It was similar to the crayfish we used to cook up north… Similar, but also very different.
Today was long. Seminars all morning, and not very interesting ones at that. They were mostly about culture, and the environment, and blah, blah, blah! Haha. It rained all day and it wasn’t very pleasant… especially when it came time for my Beach Safety session. It was down pour rain and we had to walk about 10 minutes to the beach. Then we learned all about waves, and rips, and sandcastles! Then we headed down to the harbor which was another 10 minutes of walking in the rain, just to hop on a foam surf board and “get a feel for it!” My real lessons are on Sunday, so that should be fun!
I got my classes today too…
EVT 110: Venue and Hospitality Operations
MGMT 236: Hospitality Human Resources
EVT 111: Intro to the Event Industry
CPTS 324: Hospitality Information Systems (sorta computer-ish)
Tonight we were supposed to have a Wine and Cheese Party at Sunset on the grass looking over the water… BUT the rain wasn’t our friend this evening. So instead, we mingled on the balconies of the castle, which wasn’t so bad. I really got to know some of the GVSU and local Australian girls. It was a really relaxing night. There were only about 50 people that could sign up for the party and about 35 of us were American Study Abroad students! The view was beautiful!
Tomorrow shouldn’t be too intense. Just “team building” activities for my group and possibly a movie later in the evening. I will keep you posted. It has been an eventful, and exhausting week… But I am definitely not complaining! My mom keeps reminding me—Remember what you are there for! Haha! Ok, Mom! Classes start on Monday, so I am sure it will be a long, exhausting, but very fun weekend.
Hope everyone is enjoying the snow at home! Drive careful!
I love hearing from all of you!
Love&Miss.
xoxo
P.S. My pictures wouldn't upload tonight... I will load them ASAP. They are exciting! :)
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Things aren't wrong... They're just different.
After about 40 straight hours of traveling and countless security check points, I finally made it to Australia. I met up with the other MSU study abroad students and made the jouney from Sydney airport to Manly, a $92.00 cab ride.
Manly is a suburb of Sydney and is just across the harbor. My school, The International College of Management, Sydney (ICMS), is absolutely beautiful. It was previously St. Patrick's Seminary, a catholic church, and was built in the 1880's. It was recently the site of Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's wedding. ICMS is at the top of a hill and it is just a short walk to the bottom to get to Manly Beach. Beautiful.
Manly is a suburb of Sydney and is just across the harbor. My school, The International College of Management, Sydney (ICMS), is absolutely beautiful. It was previously St. Patrick's Seminary, a catholic church, and was built in the 1880's. It was recently the site of Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's wedding. ICMS is at the top of a hill and it is just a short walk to the bottom to get to Manly Beach. Beautiful.
We had a few days to explore Manly before school obligations tie us down. We went downtown to The Corso in Manly. The Corso is a strip of beach shops, "take-away" (aka take-out) restaurants, bars/clubs, and souvenier shops. There are always good-looking surfer boys lining the streets. The Mall was rather interesting, too. Kinda a twisted maze of indoor and outdoor stores.
There were times though that I had to keep reminding myself... This isn't wrong, it's just different. Pepsi Light. Driving on the opposite side of the road. Rounding prices to the nearest 5 cents because Australia doesn't use pennies. Semi-formal dress code strictly enforced at the bar. Drinking age 18 (P.S. I haven't even been carded yet?!). Limited internet access. Topless beach. Dogs in restaurants. Interesting foods (many more to try, I'm sure). And I haven't seen a Foster's yet?!
I have only been here 4 days and I am already much more comfortable. Things were tough at first, which I expected, but things are only looking up from here. Orientation begins tomorrow. We have live bands/entertainment, a cocktail reception, uniform fittings, surf safety classes, and "ice-breaker" activities all week. There are also other optional activities that I might do. A Wine and Cheese party, surfing lessons, a boat tour of the harbor, and parasailing. I will fill you in on how those go.
Classes don't start until next Monday, the 11th, though. Another week without class?! This break has been SO long (not complaining...)!
Tomorrow (Monday) I am planning on getting up and heading into town to watch the SuperBowl. We are hoping we can talk a sports bar into turning it on. It should be playing here around noon. These sorts of things make the time difference complicated at times.
I had a great weekend in Manly. The beach was fun, but the waves were a tad too big for swimming, so the water was only open to surfers. I had some wonderful Fish & Chips for dinner (Ocean Perch and American French Fries). Then we headed downtown to check out the nightlife. We got mixed feedback about Americans. Some people love us, and some people don't. :) That's fine too.
I will try to update this as often as possible with anything that's worth writing about. We have many trips that we are planning and I am hoping my money doesn't run out before I see it all!! This has already been a great experience and I can't believe I still have 3 more months here!!
This is my school, The International College of Management, Sydney (ICMS)
This is the view from the front of ICMS. That is Manly Beach at the bottom of the hill. 
Manly Beach, Sydney
My $3.00 Pepsi Light
Me and my MSU girls! L to R: Annie, Me, Stephanie, and Caitlin
And many people have asked for my address and/or phone number...
The International College of Management, Sydney
Attn: Erica Marx
151 Darley Rd
Manly, NSW 2095
AUSTRALIA
Direct phone line to my room:
001-612-8404-1485
Thinking of you all!
Miss&Love.
xoxo
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