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Saturday, July 31, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Puppy Chow and Opossums
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| Ring tailed possum |
Hope you enjoyed the video tour of my room and building! The past few days have been filled with fun. On Monday, Victoria and I watched Pan’s Labyrinth (had to watch it for my class) and that was quite an interesting movie. If you like fairy tales and goriness then I would recommend it. After that Victoria drove me to Wooly’s because she has her car this week and we got some groceries. And of course I wanted to get in the wrong side. After that we stopped at Blockbuster and got Bring It On because the cheers from that movie have been stuck in our heads the past two weeks. I said brrr, it’s cold in here….
Tuesday was a very good day. In my Reading Stories class a man about in his late 40’s early 50’s that dresses like a hippy pulled a mouse out of his shirt…and it was on a yellow leash. I about died from laughing and then he passed it around and let everyone hold it. He stayed in class about five minutes and then left. I do not know if he is actually in my class or not because there are about 50-60 students, but it was really weird. Once my classes and tutorials were over I taught Victoria how to make a chicken quesadilla. She had never had one and even though she added a lot of weird and random stuff (cole slaw, sweet chili sauce, and mayo) to her’s, she enjoyed it. Then, we made puppy chow, which she had never heard of either. They did not have rice or corn chex cereal so I had to use this honey kind that they had, but it turned out very well. Victoria was not very crazy for it (she is not much of a sweets person), but some of our other friends really enjoyed it. However, whenever we told them the name of it they would give us the funniest looks! They were very confused.
Last night as I walking to my building (there are two building where I live and I have to cut through the first one and then go across the courtyard) I ran into this big furry animal that started to come at me, but I ran away. It looked like a raccoon and opossum and I later found out it was a ringed tail opossum. I cannot get over how big and furry it was! Definitely did not look like our opossums.
Random:
-They call bangs fringe
-Their elementary schools are called primary school and then in high school 11th and 12th grade is called college.
-There are birds here that have venom in their wings and we see them quite often.
-KFC has some very tasty French fries (they call them chips)
-There are seven states: Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia, Queensland, Northern Territory, and South Australia
-They have $2, $1, $0.50, $0.20, $0.10, and $0.05 coins and their bills are colorful and get larger in size.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
It has been three weeks?? What!?
Today is the three week anniversary of my arrival in Tasmania and I still cannot believe I am here! I have already met lots of people and done a lot of things.
On Monday I met three girls in my Children’s Lit class that were really good friends with Brett (he goes to Butler and is my band with me and was here last year) so that was a nice surprise. Their names are Jess, Annie, and Eva and they are super nice and definitely make that class more bearable (the professor is terrible!). I also had my first two tutorials on Monday. In tutorials we actually have discussions and work with each other so that has helped me to meet people. However, in my Aboriginal Studies I feel like my professor always calls me out whenever we talk about the U.S. and of course I never know the answers (example: what is the archaeology trash dig in Arizona??).
Tuesday… Can’t really remember anything special. Victoria my neighbor made some delicious turkey burgers with cole slaw for me for dinner. Then we watched Master Chef (like Hell’s Kitchen) and Packed to the Rafters. She is really picking up the American accent because we have been hanging out a lot. We also went to the grocery store and she told what foods to try (mostly junk!) which was cool.
Wednesday. Well, it did not start out too well. I had two boring tutorials and the last one my professor decided to make it longer without telling us so I missed the bus that I catch to go to my art class. So I had to take another one that didn’t come until 1:12 and my class starts at 1:10 and of course the bus was running ten minutes late. So I finally get on the bus, get off at my stop, walk to building where I have class (about a five minute walk), walk up to the studio room and find that there is sign that says class cancelled due to illness. I was so upset because even though I was half an hour late I still came to class. So now I am trying to figure that whole situation out and I do not wan to drop the art class because I love it even though I really do not need it.
Then my weekend started since I have no class on Thursdays and Fridays. I sang karaoke with our friend Sam (Follow Me by Uncle Kracker haha), which was a lot of fun. We also got dresses up and went to a fancy restaurant called the Metz (had some yummy pumpkin, dried tomato, pesto penne pasta) and then went to a play called the Producers. I had never heard of this show and did not know what to expect and it was definitely not what I was expecting, but it had its humor. The theatre was very old and a cool place to go to though.
Random:
-They use the word heaps a lot… it means many or a lot
-You have to be separated for a year before you can get a divorce
-They do not have biscuits and gravy here and the girls on my floor think it sounds disgusting.
-Americans get made fun of for how big our portions are at McDonald’s (Mackers is what they call it) and etc.
-They do not have Dr. Pepper here, which makes me very sad
-We made rice crispy treats one night because they do not have them here and it was actually hard to find regular marshmallows because they mainly have flavored ones.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Footy!!!
On Saturday, we decided to go to the AFL (Australian Football League) game that was at Aurora Stadium in Launceston. The Hawthorne Hawks and Brisbane Lions were playing. Aurora stadium is the Hawks home stadium so we decided to cheer for them since they were from Tasmania. Since I have arrived here I have watched quite a few “footy” games and am slowly starting to understand it. A lot of people have explained it to me, but it will probably take awhile to fully understand it.
It was a blast being at an actual game though because the atmosphere is crazy! Everyone is decked out in their team’s gear: jerseys, scarves, hats, giant pom poms, fingers, flags, signs, and face painting. I felt weird that I wasn’t wearing the right colors because I stood out. They do not have cheerleaders so there were not very many except for when a team scored and then the crowd went nuts. The ladies behind us had all of these songs that they would sing and it was hilarious. We were in the standing section and there was a mix of Hawk and Lions fans and people were getting pretty hostile and yelling things at each other. The Aussies love their footy! I am still deciding on a team to cheer for (some possibilities: Western Bulldogs, Hawks, Geelong Cats, or Sydney Swans).
When we got back we made some Mexican food because they do not have Mexican here. We went to one Mexican restaurant, but it wasn’t really Mexican because it was not spicy at all. We even had trouble finding spicy salsa at the grocery store. We made some tacos and dip and it was very tasty. Our Aussie friends love coming over and trying our food. Later that night we went to the city and listened to a local band. They sang a good mix of songs, both American and Australian.
Random:
-Ate at a place called Banjo’s and it is like Panera.
-Sherwin loves Bug Juice and wants to come to America to be a camp counselor.
-Introduced peanut butter and apples to my neighbor Victoria (she thought I was weird for this combo)
-Supposedly there are these giant birds in Cairns that will attack you (Sam told us to run if we ever see one!!)
-People ALWAYS ask me if I’m American or Canadian.
-The scarves people wear to the footy games remind me of Harry Potter.
It was a blast being at an actual game though because the atmosphere is crazy! Everyone is decked out in their team’s gear: jerseys, scarves, hats, giant pom poms, fingers, flags, signs, and face painting. I felt weird that I wasn’t wearing the right colors because I stood out. They do not have cheerleaders so there were not very many except for when a team scored and then the crowd went nuts. The ladies behind us had all of these songs that they would sing and it was hilarious. We were in the standing section and there was a mix of Hawk and Lions fans and people were getting pretty hostile and yelling things at each other. The Aussies love their footy! I am still deciding on a team to cheer for (some possibilities: Western Bulldogs, Hawks, Geelong Cats, or Sydney Swans).
When we got back we made some Mexican food because they do not have Mexican here. We went to one Mexican restaurant, but it wasn’t really Mexican because it was not spicy at all. We even had trouble finding spicy salsa at the grocery store. We made some tacos and dip and it was very tasty. Our Aussie friends love coming over and trying our food. Later that night we went to the city and listened to a local band. They sang a good mix of songs, both American and Australian.
Random:
-Ate at a place called Banjo’s and it is like Panera.
-Sherwin loves Bug Juice and wants to come to America to be a camp counselor.
-Introduced peanut butter and apples to my neighbor Victoria (she thought I was weird for this combo)
-Supposedly there are these giant birds in Cairns that will attack you (Sam told us to run if we ever see one!!)
-People ALWAYS ask me if I’m American or Canadian.
-The scarves people wear to the footy games remind me of Harry Potter.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
First Week of Class
This week classes began, which was bittersweet. I wanted classes start so that I could get to know people (campus has been soo dead), but then I was not ready to do homework and all of that good stuff. It has been nice just doing whatever we want without a time schedule.
On Monday my first class was Australia’s Ancient Aboriginal Past at 11 a.m. I thought this class would be interesting and it will be, but I am going to have to invest a lot of time into this class since I know little about Australia’s history. My professor reassured me that I would be fine and he was there to help me. The class was different because it consisted of a lot of older people. One lady even brought her child to class. The lecture was interesting, but all I could do was stare at the professor’s very crooked middle finger (it is crazy!). Also, I have a tutorial for this class on Wednesdays where we go more into depth and have class discussions, which I will enjoy much more.
Then at 3:10 I headed over to Children’s Literature and after looking at the required book list I became very excited. For this class we are reading Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and etc. However, I did not much care for the professor, but this was only the first week. During lecture she read straight from her notes and the Powerpoint. I was not very impressed, but hopefully in the tutorial there will be more involvement.
Tuesday, my only class is Reading Stories (an English class) and it starts at noon. Before class I had lunch with Paige and Shelley at the café called Saltz and had some tasty lamb. Lamb is very common here and it is good. For Reading Stories, like the name says we will be reading all kinds of stories and the professor was very energetic and knowledgeable. This will be a fun class, except there are about 50 of us taking it. Again this class has a tutorial too and we are broken down into smaller groups so that we can discuss and do hands-on activities with the material.
After class I finally met one of my neighbors, Victoria and she took around to meet everyone in our building. She is a first student from Hobart and I think we are going to get along just fine. There are only two other girls in my hall that actually come out so we went upstairs to meet people. I was the first American a lot of these Aussies had ever met, which was funny. They like trying to imitate me (they make fun of the way I say banana and burger).
That night I went to my first BBQ over at Leprena (where all the other Butler people are) with Victoria. There Wendy and Graham grilled up some burgers, sausages, and chicken. We met some more people and I introduced Victoria to everyone.
Then on Wednesday, I had my drawing class that I had been looking forward to all week. For this class I had to take the bus down to Invermay, which is about a ten-minute bus ride. All of the art classes are held at this mini campus and my class was in this old looking factory building. Inside there was art everywhere and little galleries throughout the first level. Then on the second level there are studios where my class was. This class was small and made up of a lot of older people. My professor had a great sense of humor and called me the American. I wish I could take all art classes because the building, staff, my professor, and their appreciation for art is unbelievable. I am excited to see what all we will be doing in this class. After class my professor showed me a place to get my art supplies across the street and I stocked up and the gentleman working was nice. He said my accent threw him off, but after telling him I was from Indiana he was like ohh, that it explains it. He gave me a discount, which was a nice surprise.
So today and tomorrow I have no classes. I have lots of reading to do and we might go check out some other sites around Launceston this weekend.
It is funny when I ask the Aussies if they know where Indiana is. A lot of them only know about LA, New York, and Texas. Some people do know about Butler because of the final four, which really surprised me, but there are a lot of Duke fans here which needs to change.
Random Stuff:
The weather has been nice during the day. It has been raining quite a bit at night. I have been eating well (I need to workout!).
Finally hung some pictures up in my room so now it feels more like home.
I am addicted to Tim Tams (cookies) and Shapes (like Cheezits).
Learned that a shopping cart is a trolley and wine is goon.
Went to Hungry Jacks (like Burger King) and it was normal except they don’t have ketchup packets or dispensers (they did put it on my cheeseburger though).
We all hang out at Stew’s place and eat dinner there so the Aussies call it America.
A lot of people have called us Yankees too. The lunch lady calls me precious, which cracks me up.
Victoria is going to take me to see some wallabies!
I have a new fave show called Send in the Dogs. It is like cops, but was made here and it is hilarious.
I realized that this is the first time in my life that I have had a room to myself and I must say I do not like it. It is way too quiet, but maybe that’s what I need. haha
On Monday my first class was Australia’s Ancient Aboriginal Past at 11 a.m. I thought this class would be interesting and it will be, but I am going to have to invest a lot of time into this class since I know little about Australia’s history. My professor reassured me that I would be fine and he was there to help me. The class was different because it consisted of a lot of older people. One lady even brought her child to class. The lecture was interesting, but all I could do was stare at the professor’s very crooked middle finger (it is crazy!). Also, I have a tutorial for this class on Wednesdays where we go more into depth and have class discussions, which I will enjoy much more.
Then at 3:10 I headed over to Children’s Literature and after looking at the required book list I became very excited. For this class we are reading Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and etc. However, I did not much care for the professor, but this was only the first week. During lecture she read straight from her notes and the Powerpoint. I was not very impressed, but hopefully in the tutorial there will be more involvement.
Tuesday, my only class is Reading Stories (an English class) and it starts at noon. Before class I had lunch with Paige and Shelley at the café called Saltz and had some tasty lamb. Lamb is very common here and it is good. For Reading Stories, like the name says we will be reading all kinds of stories and the professor was very energetic and knowledgeable. This will be a fun class, except there are about 50 of us taking it. Again this class has a tutorial too and we are broken down into smaller groups so that we can discuss and do hands-on activities with the material.
After class I finally met one of my neighbors, Victoria and she took around to meet everyone in our building. She is a first student from Hobart and I think we are going to get along just fine. There are only two other girls in my hall that actually come out so we went upstairs to meet people. I was the first American a lot of these Aussies had ever met, which was funny. They like trying to imitate me (they make fun of the way I say banana and burger).
That night I went to my first BBQ over at Leprena (where all the other Butler people are) with Victoria. There Wendy and Graham grilled up some burgers, sausages, and chicken. We met some more people and I introduced Victoria to everyone.
Then on Wednesday, I had my drawing class that I had been looking forward to all week. For this class I had to take the bus down to Invermay, which is about a ten-minute bus ride. All of the art classes are held at this mini campus and my class was in this old looking factory building. Inside there was art everywhere and little galleries throughout the first level. Then on the second level there are studios where my class was. This class was small and made up of a lot of older people. My professor had a great sense of humor and called me the American. I wish I could take all art classes because the building, staff, my professor, and their appreciation for art is unbelievable. I am excited to see what all we will be doing in this class. After class my professor showed me a place to get my art supplies across the street and I stocked up and the gentleman working was nice. He said my accent threw him off, but after telling him I was from Indiana he was like ohh, that it explains it. He gave me a discount, which was a nice surprise.
So today and tomorrow I have no classes. I have lots of reading to do and we might go check out some other sites around Launceston this weekend.
It is funny when I ask the Aussies if they know where Indiana is. A lot of them only know about LA, New York, and Texas. Some people do know about Butler because of the final four, which really surprised me, but there are a lot of Duke fans here which needs to change.
Random Stuff:
The weather has been nice during the day. It has been raining quite a bit at night. I have been eating well (I need to workout!).
Finally hung some pictures up in my room so now it feels more like home.
I am addicted to Tim Tams (cookies) and Shapes (like Cheezits).
Learned that a shopping cart is a trolley and wine is goon.
Went to Hungry Jacks (like Burger King) and it was normal except they don’t have ketchup packets or dispensers (they did put it on my cheeseburger though).
We all hang out at Stew’s place and eat dinner there so the Aussies call it America.
A lot of people have called us Yankees too. The lunch lady calls me precious, which cracks me up.
Victoria is going to take me to see some wallabies!
I have a new fave show called Send in the Dogs. It is like cops, but was made here and it is hilarious.
I realized that this is the first time in my life that I have had a room to myself and I must say I do not like it. It is way too quiet, but maybe that’s what I need. haha
Saturday, July 10, 2010
The First Week
I cannot believe I have already spent one week here in Tasmania! So much has happened and this is just the beginning. I will start at the beginning because I have been very bad at keeping everyone informed of how I am and what I have been up to. Sorry!
Last Thursday, I left good ol' Indiana and flew to Dallas (which was GIANT), then to LAX, then to Auckland, New Zealand, then to Melbourne, and fianlly landed in Tasmania. I must admit I was very nervous on the car ride up to Indy and was hoping that everything would go according to plan because I was going to be by myself. However, a nice little surprise happened. Stew Smith from my Block A Education class was sitting in the Indy airport too! We had different flights to Dallas and LAX, but after that we were on the same plane. Once we got to Auckland (which we did not know we were going there) we had a four hour layover and I realized that I would not have enought time in Melbourne to get my bags, go through security, and customs so i had to re-book my flight. It all worked out and we made it Tassie late Saturday night and a guy named Max from UTAS picked us up, took us to the grocery store, and then on to campus.
On campus, we met the wonderful Wendy who is in charge of Accommodations. She is a very peepy, hilarious older lady. She gave us a tour and introduced us to everyone as the newbies. The entire week there have been hardly any students, except the International students (pretty much all Asians) because the Tasmanians are on break. That night was a chilly night. It is their winter here and the average temperature is around 50 and gets colder at night. Most days have been overcast and there have been a couple of rain showers.
UTAS is located in Launceston, which is a fairly small town. We walk into town, which has a couple grocery stores (Woolworths and Chickenfeed), Subway, Hungry Jack's (Burger King), KFC, Pizza Hut, Domino's, a few local cafes, Blockbuster, and a few other places and shops. There is the main city about twenty minutes away and we take the bus there. It has tons more to offer and we have found some great places to eat at and some wonderful cafes to drink hot chocolate and eat something sweet.
The people have been very friendly and love talking to us. I love learning their different words and they so do they. It is hilarious hearing them do their "American" accent. One guy did a southern accent, which was exactly right. He talked about having a big old truck and shooting guns.
Also, right outside the city is the Cataract Gorge Reserve and we went there on Friday. It was beautiful and good workout! I will post pictures because it is hard to describe.
So far I am really enjoying myself and the locals have informed us of all the places around Australia that we have to check it which we need to start planning. I forgot to mention that there are seven of us from Butler here and everyone is doing Student Teaching but me. I have classes, which start on Monday. I knew everyone but three girls, but now we all know each other. But for classes I am taking Australia's Ancient Aboriginal Past, Reading Stories, Children's Literature, and Intro to Drawing 2. I am kind of nervous about the Aboriginal Past, but we made some friends the other night that offered to help me. Also, here they have lectures and tutorials that you have to go to. So on Mondays I have my Aboriginal lecture for two hours and then on Wednesday I have a tutorial where we are in smaller groups and do more hands-on things.
The building I live in is called Kerslake Hall and I have a single room. There is a big kitchen that my hall shares along with a computer lab and lounge area. All of the rooms are single which I thought was weird. My room is nice and has a sink/vanity in it which I like. Everyone else from Butler is in Leprena so I spend most of my time over there. It is just a three minute walk. My building is closer to the where the classes are, the Student Union, and cafeteria. It is a small campus and it reminds us of like IUS. The main UTAS campus is in Hobart which is in Southern Tassie.
I am starting to get used to the time difference, but slowly. We are 10 hours ahead of Indiana. It also gets pitch black around 5/5:30 so around that time we all get sleepy, but we have forced oursleves to stay up until at leat 10. Our days have been consisting of going out for lunch, exploring, then coming back and fixing dinner at Stew's place. It is nice having a group of us, but we are ready for everyone to move back so we can make some more Aussie friends. We have met Sherwin and Sam and they are first year students. Sherwin is from Sydney and Sam is from Cannes and he lives in a rainforest! They have been fun to hang out with.
I will try my best to keep this updated and I will post pictures soon!
Last Thursday, I left good ol' Indiana and flew to Dallas (which was GIANT), then to LAX, then to Auckland, New Zealand, then to Melbourne, and fianlly landed in Tasmania. I must admit I was very nervous on the car ride up to Indy and was hoping that everything would go according to plan because I was going to be by myself. However, a nice little surprise happened. Stew Smith from my Block A Education class was sitting in the Indy airport too! We had different flights to Dallas and LAX, but after that we were on the same plane. Once we got to Auckland (which we did not know we were going there) we had a four hour layover and I realized that I would not have enought time in Melbourne to get my bags, go through security, and customs so i had to re-book my flight. It all worked out and we made it Tassie late Saturday night and a guy named Max from UTAS picked us up, took us to the grocery store, and then on to campus.
On campus, we met the wonderful Wendy who is in charge of Accommodations. She is a very peepy, hilarious older lady. She gave us a tour and introduced us to everyone as the newbies. The entire week there have been hardly any students, except the International students (pretty much all Asians) because the Tasmanians are on break. That night was a chilly night. It is their winter here and the average temperature is around 50 and gets colder at night. Most days have been overcast and there have been a couple of rain showers.
UTAS is located in Launceston, which is a fairly small town. We walk into town, which has a couple grocery stores (Woolworths and Chickenfeed), Subway, Hungry Jack's (Burger King), KFC, Pizza Hut, Domino's, a few local cafes, Blockbuster, and a few other places and shops. There is the main city about twenty minutes away and we take the bus there. It has tons more to offer and we have found some great places to eat at and some wonderful cafes to drink hot chocolate and eat something sweet.
The people have been very friendly and love talking to us. I love learning their different words and they so do they. It is hilarious hearing them do their "American" accent. One guy did a southern accent, which was exactly right. He talked about having a big old truck and shooting guns.
Also, right outside the city is the Cataract Gorge Reserve and we went there on Friday. It was beautiful and good workout! I will post pictures because it is hard to describe.
So far I am really enjoying myself and the locals have informed us of all the places around Australia that we have to check it which we need to start planning. I forgot to mention that there are seven of us from Butler here and everyone is doing Student Teaching but me. I have classes, which start on Monday. I knew everyone but three girls, but now we all know each other. But for classes I am taking Australia's Ancient Aboriginal Past, Reading Stories, Children's Literature, and Intro to Drawing 2. I am kind of nervous about the Aboriginal Past, but we made some friends the other night that offered to help me. Also, here they have lectures and tutorials that you have to go to. So on Mondays I have my Aboriginal lecture for two hours and then on Wednesday I have a tutorial where we are in smaller groups and do more hands-on things.
The building I live in is called Kerslake Hall and I have a single room. There is a big kitchen that my hall shares along with a computer lab and lounge area. All of the rooms are single which I thought was weird. My room is nice and has a sink/vanity in it which I like. Everyone else from Butler is in Leprena so I spend most of my time over there. It is just a three minute walk. My building is closer to the where the classes are, the Student Union, and cafeteria. It is a small campus and it reminds us of like IUS. The main UTAS campus is in Hobart which is in Southern Tassie.
I am starting to get used to the time difference, but slowly. We are 10 hours ahead of Indiana. It also gets pitch black around 5/5:30 so around that time we all get sleepy, but we have forced oursleves to stay up until at leat 10. Our days have been consisting of going out for lunch, exploring, then coming back and fixing dinner at Stew's place. It is nice having a group of us, but we are ready for everyone to move back so we can make some more Aussie friends. We have met Sherwin and Sam and they are first year students. Sherwin is from Sydney and Sam is from Cannes and he lives in a rainforest! They have been fun to hang out with.
I will try my best to keep this updated and I will post pictures soon!
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