To be honest, I am looking forward to the start of school, even if it is in July. I am excited to meet lots of new people and have a set schedule of things to do and take some classes with the locals. However, scheduling those classes has been somewhat of a nightmare. The standings right now are a history class, a dance class, and a performance class. I just need to find one more to fit in as a requirement back at Creighton. The schooling here is a little different and instead of meeting three times a week you only meet once or twice. Usually you will have a lecture and a tutorial and that’sit. Also, a lot of the Aussie students work during the day, so a bulk of the classes are offered at night.
My schedule right now is as follows: Monday 8AM to 11AM dance class. Monday 11AM to 12PM history tutorial. Tuesday 6PM to 8PM dance lecture. Wednesday 5PM to 7PM history lecture. Thursday 8AM to 11AM performance tutorial. Thursday 6PM to 7PM performance lecture. I had a science class scheduled for Friday from 4PM to 7PM but let’s face it, no one wants to go to class on a Friday night. That just goes against all laws. Especially when you are a study abroad student and you could easily use a three day weekend for traveling.
Orientation Week has so far been great and it is only going to get better. This past Monday was true Orientation day. I was back to being a freshman; walking around campus with a campus map glued to my hand and a confused expression on my face. But after a few seminars I wasfeeling better. There was one seminar that was just for the international and exchange students. There must have been about two hundred or more of us crammed into one large lecture hall for about four hours. And besides all of the incredibly useful information they also gave out a lot of free goodies. I now am equipped with QUT pens, highlighters, pamphlets, t-shirts and water bottles. I also received a bunch of coupons, and my favorite--a penny bank. The penny banks were being handed out by a local bank that was trying to get people to open accounts there. I am not looking to open an account but I walked up to their table with a big smile on my face and when they offered me a goody bag I indeed took it.
Tuesday brought more orientation activities but this time at a different campus. The KelvinGrove campus is located out of the city a little bit and farther north. After a quick ride on the free shuttle bus I arrived at the campus that most of my classes will be offered at. This campus is much bigger than the Gardens Point city campus. Just as beautiful though. (I don’t have any pictures yet but I will work on that!). Tuesday night was the Brisbane River Cruise. A very fun evening on a river boat cruising up and down the river while having a glass of wine and admiring the city lights. After the three hour boat cruise we all went to a club in the city where more dancing and socializing took place.
Yesterday (Wednesday) was fairly quiet. The main event was going to the market in the morning and hanging out in South Bank. Today (Thursday) was a tad bit stressful with figuring out classes and such, but it has come to the end of the day and all is well. After going to see the new movie Knight and Day, which was hilarious and great, I am about to pack for the weekend. I am going on a three-day trip out to Stradbroke Island where I will be staying at the Anchorage Beachfront Resort. I know that I am a very lucky girl. So I am going to grab my cozzie (swimsuit) and my sunnies (sunglasses) and go join the surfies (people who surf). I am working on my lingo so that I can become a true Aussie.
Things here are pretty normal and easy to get used to. However there are a few things that I don’t think I’ll ever get used to…
1. Smoking. Everyone smokes here. Inside and outside of buildings, and always walking down the street.
2. The “wrong” side of the street. Right, left, right or wrong it doesn’t matter. What matters is that it is different and the opposite of what I am used too. I see someone in a car texting when to me it looks like they should be driving. Then the person, who in my world is sitting on the passenger side, is driving. It gets confusing. And also when you want to cross the street you have to look the opposite way from what you are used to because the cars are driving the opposite way.
3. Seventy two degrees and its winter. And people are cold. I walk down the street in shorts, and flip flops wearing sunglasses and basking in the sunlight. People pass me wearing down jackets and snow boots. If this is what they are used to for winter. I never want to see them in Omaha in January.
That’s all I can think of right now. And if that’s all there is , I guess I am doing alright.
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