Colgate Goes to Jervis Bay

This past weekend, the Colgate group went to Jervis Bay, which is about two hours south of Wollongong.  A retired professor from Sydney University led us on our trip down the coast and back.  In addition to sixteen Colgate students, our professor came with us, with his wife, daughter and son.  On Saturday morning at 8:00 a..m we headed off to Jervis Bay, first stopping at Kiama.  There is a famous blowhole in Kiama (water that shoots up through rocks near the coast) but we didn't go there; we walked along another part of the city that had beautiful rock ledges.  We walked along the cliffs for awhile and took pictures.

After leaving Kiama, we headed toward Jervis Bay.  There were several campsites at the nature reserve we stayed on.  We all helped to unpack the van and started setting up the tents and cooking dinner.  I was on tent duty; we had two six-person tents, one three-person tent, and four two-person tents.  For dinner, we had chicken shishkebabs and homemade macaroni and cheese.  Eric, one of my fellow Colgate students, directed the making of all meals (he was the one who cooked the dinner at my professor's house).  Everyone helped with something... whether it was getting the fire ready, cutting peppers, washing dishes, or gathering wood.  We also roasted "s'mores" on our make-shift fire (they didn't allow real campfires there, so we made one with the roasting pit).  I don't think they have graham crackers in Australia, so we used biscuits instead.  Biscuits here are like glorified crackers--much thicker and a littler more tasty.  By the time we finished eating and cleaning up dinner, it probably 7:00 p.m. or so and dark.  For a long time, we all sat around the picnic table and played group games like "mafia."  At night, so many nocturnal creatures came out!  We saw several possums, one with a baby on its back!  The next morning Eric made everyone breakfast--"eggs in a basket."  He cut holes in the middle of slices of bread, put it in a pan with some butter, and cracked an egg into the middle of the hole.  So good!  Claire, an avid outdoor camper, made a make-shift dutch oven and cooked a few homemade cinnamon/butter/brown sugar pastries.  Before leaving our campsite, several of us walked to the beach--Jervis Bay has the whitest sand in the world!  It was so beautiful... white sand and blue water for as far as you could see.  It was also near the beach that I had my first kangaroo sighting!  We saw two just laying in the bushes, so cute.   Their heads kind of look like deer heads, and the rest of their bodies are what you'd think a kangaroo looks like.  Like typical tourists, we took so many photos and videos of the tourists.  We also saw a wallaby, which looks very similar to a kangaroo (tail and large legs for jumping) but is darker in color and has a different looking face.  The wallaby we saw was pregnant; it's joey kept sticking its head out of its mother pouch! That's Australian wildlife right there for you.

We left Jervis Bay and headed home, driving through Kangaroo Valley.  We didn't actually see any kangaroos in Kangaroo Valley; we just ate lunch there.  We also stopped at a small nature reserve, where we walked on several trails and saw two waterfalls.

All in all, great weekend!  For some reason, this blog isn't letting me load any pictures or videos.  I have literally photo and video evidence of everything I wrote about in this blog!  Until I can figure this blog problem out, look for photos on my Facebook! (if you have one).

My Beautiful Uni

Last week I got a new camera!  Actually same model as my last one; it's the latest Sony Cyber Shot.  I brought my last Sony camera snowboarding and soon after that, the pictures started coming out horrible (i.e. coloring was off, lines appeared on the screen, etc.)  I thought moisture from the air or from the snow (when I fell a few times) ruined the camera, but apparently it was just getting old!

The first pictures I took with my camera were of uni.  The UOW campus is very beautiful... much different foliage than you see on the Colgate campus. 

This is a panoramic shot of one of the ponds on campus.  Whenever I need a break from doing work, I go to this spot, sit on one of the large rocks, and just think.

This is the same pond, but this picture more accurately reflects how still and beautiful the water is.

A small waterfall, or babbling creek, as us Colgaters like to say.

 One of the bridges on campus... adds a nice touch to the billowing ferns and palm trees.

This is the pathway I walk to get back to the bus stop.  So picturesque!  And so typical of Australian culture.  See that guy walking?  Yes, he does have a surf board in his hand, and yes, this is a common sight.  Australians love to surf... all the time.

Today, George's family came to pick up all his stuff from his room.  I saw his mom, dad, grandparents, and two sisters.  I can't imagine the grief they are feeling at this moment.  They were here for quite a few hours, but I could only walk past once because it was just too sad to watch.  Now George's room is really empty.  There is no physical evidence of George left on Campus East; he's only a memory now.  It's funny how physical objects bring comfort after someone has passed.  Maybe it's because they represent that person, and those objects are like strings, which attach you to the memory of that living, breathing person.  The absence of any sense of George is the saddest thing of all, because George was the one who brought life to this campus.  And now he's gone.  And it still doesn't feel real.

Here's to You, Curious George

Rest In Peace George Matchett



You always hear tragic stories of young people dying in freak accidents and you think "That'll never happen to me, or anyone I know."  Well that's what I thought until yesterday when one of my dear Australian friends, George, drowned at Fairy Meadow Beach in Fairy Meadow, Australia. This news came to my friends and I at approximately 1:00 p.m.; George had died earlier that day around 9:00 a.m.  There was a meeting at Campus East yesterday at 1:30 p.m. to let everyone know that one of its favorite students had passed away earlier that day.  Last night, at 7:30 p.m., around 350 Campus East students gathered on the beach to commemorate George's life.  We all lit candles and stared with dazed looks at the ocean, thinking how could such an awful thing happen to such a wonderful person.  Now to all reading this, you may be sharing in my grief that a young person died, because young people aren't supposed to die.  But George was much more than your run-of-mill college student, George was so much more.  He was unlike anyone I've ever met before.  To fully understand my sorrow, you need to know a little bit more about George. 

George was a Residential Advisor at Campus East, which meant he was always around campus during Orientation Week and the first few weeks of campus.  I met George my second night living in Campus East.  Not only did everyone know George because he was an RA, but he also had the best room location in all of campus.  He room faced the quad, which is surrounded by four of the main buildings.  He didn't have a window looking out on to the quad, rather a sliding glass door, accompanied by a nice cement patio.  My friends were talking to George, standing in the door way, as George was sitting at his desk on his computer.  Right from the start, I could tell he was one of the nicest blokes I'd ever met.  Being a resident in Campus East last year, George knew many Colgate students, many of whom I'm also friends with.  In the following five weeks after our first encounter, George never ceased to amaze me with how caring, generous, and welcoming he was.  George LITERALLY knew everyone on campus, well maybe two-thirds, by name.  He was able to remember so many people's name because he gave everyone a nick name, depending on what their first name was.  My nickname was "Erin Brokovich," my friend Megan had the nickname "Megan Fox," and so forth.  Every time I walked by George's room, "Hey Erin Brokovich!  How's it going?"  "I'm great George, how are you?"  "I'm good Erin, all the more better for seeing you."  Our nickname for George was "Curious George." Because, as George said, "I'm just so curious about everything."  George's patio was the hang out place for everyone.  No matter if you knew George or not, you were always welcome to have a chat with George and his friends (which was seemingly everyone) on his patio.  George and I talked alot about his most recent obsessions... meditation and tea.  George loved to meditate.  Last year, George said he was the wild guy on campus, always partying, always having a good time.  This year, in his words, he wanted "to just chill out more."  In an attempt to become more chill, or "so zen," George meditated in a class on Mondays and on the beach at the morning various times during the week.  Immediately after, he loved to have a swim, come back to his room, drink some tea (lemon and ginger was his favorite), and make ham and cheese toasties.  George was always offering things to people, like his tea, food, and beer.  All the time, George would invite me to have tea with him on his patio.  Actually, he invited everyone to drink tea with him on his patio.  A lover of Australian rugby and soccer, George could also be caught in the TV room on campus watching sport.  He was also the type of guy who would come home from uni at around 4:00 p.m. but get caught up talking to people so much he wouldn't make it to dinner until 8:00 p.m.  Such a sincere person, really interested in talking to everyone around him. 

In the five weeks I knew George, he taught me so much, not just about Australia, but about life in general.  One of George's first pieces of advice to me was "Always be spontaneous Erin Brokovich.  You only live once."  George lived by that rule, and I will try my best to fulfill that advice while in Australia and when back in the U.S.  George also taught me to spend time with the people you care about.  If you're having a really good chat with someone, don't worry about going to class, you can get the notes from someone else.  George thrived off other people, gaining energy from the intimate bonds he formed with others.  One of my biggest regrets from the past five weeks was not meeting George on the beach the day before he died.  A few nights prior, we had promised to meet on the beach so we could watch the sun rise.  When I woke I saw he had texted me; he needed to push back the time that we met on the beach because he had a meeting that morning.  Overly consumed with work, I told him I wouldn't be able to make it any more because I had to go to uni.  I texted him "Can we reschedule for another time?"  If only I had taken the time to just talk with someone I cared about, someone I wanted to learn more about.  You hear in songs and movies, "You know, you or I could die tomorrow.  So don't wait too long."  Well I should have followed that advice and gone and spent time on the beach watching the sun rise with George.  Because now there's no rescheduling.  Never wait to spend time with others, because there may not be another time.  George also taught me there's no one that's not worth meeting.  Everyone has a story to share.  Lastly, George taught me to just be chill.  Don't sweat the small stuff, don't take life too seriously.

So now you might understand why the whole of Campus East is so upset over George's death.  It still doesn't seem real.  I walked by his porch earlier today and there was no one sitting there.  It was dark and there were several chairs empty, empty bottles, and a pair of George's flip flops sitting idly.  I wanted people to be there, to fulfill George's wishes of getting lots of people together to just have fun.  I would give anything to go back and just have one more chat with George.  George gave everything he had to others, and now I need to do the same.  My friend and I were talking about the reasons why God would have taken such a young life away, a life with so much promise in its future.  And my friend said to me, "Every one was sent to this Earth with a purpose.  And George fulfilled his purpose.  He inspired other people.  And now he's in a better place, looking over all of us." 

There's no more George sitting on his patio, inviting me to drink tea.  There's no more George inviting me to come meditate with him because he "reckons its the most awesome thing he's ever done."  There's no more George to tell me everything's going to be alright, that life works itself out.

But there was a George to teach me about the important things in life:  caring for and spending time with those you love and living life to the fullest.  Thank you, George Matchett, for being a part of my life.

Spiders, Birds, and Possums, Oh My!

I haven't written about the wildlife around campus yet which is surprising because it's so different than the U.S.!  For starters, the birds around campus are so beautiful... but also so loud.  There are Kookaburra's, Magpie's, Rainbow Lorikeet's, and Australian Crows.  Almost every morning, Australian crows wake me up.  They sound very similar to a dying baby, a dying cat, or a dying sheep.  Listen for yourself:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPsIu9y_wuE

Magpie

Kookaburra

Rainbow Lorikeet

Australian Crow

The spiders around Australia aren't annoying; they're scary!  A lot of people here are petrified of spiders and at first I didn't know why.  But then, within a week's time span, there were two huge spiders in our common room!  Spiders here different from back home--they're huge and hairy.  I'm not really afraid of spiders.. but these ones are terrifying.  And, you don't know which ones are poisonous, so you always have to be careful around them.  So the other night when there was a spider right outside my window, I almost freaked out.  Watch below : )



About a week and a half ago my friends and I also saw an Australian possum.  It looked like a mix between a raccoon and a woodchuck.  When my friend Mike made noises to catch its attention, it literally started running for us.  That was the last time we'd ever call a possum.

I have yet to see a kangaroo or a koala bear. However, this weekend I'm going to Jervis Bay with my Colgate group.  Jervis Bay is one of the really well known beaches on the southeast coast of Australia.  We're going dolphin watching on Saturday and then to a nature reserve of Sunday... where we've been informed there's many kangaroos!

I also got a new camera today, which is awesome because now I can take still-photos.  I took my camera with me when I was snowboarding about two months ago and it's been acting funny ever since.  The pictures started turning weird colors; I thought it was because of moisture that got in the lens.  Come to find out, once you've had a camera for 3 or 4 years (I've had mine for 4) the sensor starts to go and you're left with purple pictures and pictures with lines across the middle.  So yay!  New Sony camera to take lots of pictures with.

Destination: Blue Mountains

Today, a few of my friends and I went to the Blue Mountains, a famous mountain range about three hours away from Wollongong.  We took a cab to uni at 7:00 a.m. and boarded the bus to the mountains at 7:30 a.m.  First, we first stopped at Nepean River, which borders the Blue Mountains.  We eventually arrived at the Blue Mountains around 11:00 a.m.  Fun fact:  The highest point of the mountain region is 1,190 meters and is dissected by gorges which are up to 700 meters deep.  We took a railway car down to the forest, deep in to a gorge.  After arriving on the forest floor, we walked along several boardwalks to see different parts of the forest.  We took a cable car back up to the top of the mountain, where our buses were parked.  Following this, we drove to Katoomba, where we could see the "Three Sisters," one of the most well-known areas of the Blue Mountain region.  According to Indigenous Australian legend, "There sisters fell in love with three men from a neighbouring tribe, but marriage was forbidden by tribal law. Battle ensued, and the sisters were turned to stone by an elder to protect them, but he was killed in the fighting and no one else could turn them back."  This story is part of Aboriginal Australians' spiritual beliefs regarding the "Dreamtime."  The Dreaming is a collection of traditions, comprised of songs, ceremonies, and stories, that describe the creation of the world and correct human behavior in relation to each other and nature. Because it was raining all day, a fog covered our entire view of the Three Sisters rock formation.

This is a picture of the Three Sisters.  Too bad the fog prevented me from seeing such a beautiful site!

These birds, cockatoos, are everywhere in Australia!  In the U.S., I've only seen them in pet stores.  When we were waiting for the railway car, we saw these birds feeding on a nearby post.

This is the ride in the railway car down through the gorge, to the forest floor.  The first half of the video is pretty dark because we were going through a rock tunnel.  The railway car was probably driving down at a 70 degree angle--felt like I was on a roller coaster in the middle of the forest.

In this video, we are walking through the rain forest.  We accidentally went off the main trail; nothing like walking on the less-traveled path!



The Gap Year: Australian Educational Phemonena

After repeated discussions with my Australian friends about their high school and uni experiences, I've come to realize that many students here take a gap year in between graduating high school and going to uni.  In the U.S., where going to college right out of high school is normal, the opposite goes for Australia.  Almost all young adults here take a year off to travel and work.  Many work for 6 or 9 months and travel the remaining months of the year.  Some work in Australia, in the town they grew up in, and some go as far away as Europe to work.  If Australian students work for 19 months, 30 hours a week, the government will give them $500 every two weeks after they enroll uni.  So, essentially, they're getting paid to go to uni!  Also, school here costs about $5,000 per session (or semester as we say).


About two weeks ago, I was trying to think of ways to make my blog more interesting.  What would make people want to read my blog?  What do people want to read about/know?  Also, what am I interested in?  What do I want to learn about? 


This past Christmas, I received a video camera for Christmas... to "document my time spent in Australia, as well as all the other countries I'm going to visit."  In light of all this information, I've decided to start a video project documenting Australian students' experiences during their gap year.  I have a good idea of questions I'll ask each student, but I don't know exact questions yet.  Almost daily, I plan on updating my blog with a new story about what a student has done during their gap year.  I get to learn about this "gap year phenomena" and you get to listen to Aussie's and learn about Australian culture!


I wish there was more incentive, or it was more "normal" for American students to take a gap year.  Many of the Australian students I've spoken to are so cultured because they've been all over the world (not only does the upper class do this, but the middle class as well).  Are Australians better suited to become global leaders in this age of globalization?  To quote Thomas Friedman (you should look into his books and NY Times articles), more people than ever before can "connect and collaborate."  Connection and collaboration between people of different countries and cultures is contributing to an ever-increasing globalized society, a society in which cross-cultural connection and understanding is made easy and is encouraged.


I have to go to class but remember to check back for upcoming videos!

Random Thoughts on Australian Culture

There are so many interesting aspects of Australian culture I keep forgeting to post about!


For one, it is completely acceptable for people not to wear shoes.  Most public places require shoes for entry, but it isn't uncommon to see some bloke walking around uni with no shoes on.  It may be a product of a life lived on the beach, but who knows.  Men also wear their shorts very short, slightly above the knee.  Surfers can often be caught wearing their "boardies" (or bathsing suits) around campus and uni.  On top, guys usually wear loose fitting tank tops, or "singlets."  Regarding hairstyle, a lot of young men have a sort of psuedo-fohawk, except much shorter on the sides and much longer on the top (than how Ryan Seacrest used to rock it).


As for women, beachy hair and jean shorts all the way.  There's no set style for Australian women that I've noticed, but many wear loose fitting tops and comfortable shoes.

All school students, as in elementary and high school (there is no such thing as middle school), wear uniforms to school.  Every day when I get on the free Wollongong shuttle, there are school students on the way to school.  The uniforms look very similar to what a Catholic school uniform in the U.S. looks like--white collared shirt with skirt or shorts. 

All the money in Australia is very brightly colored and each monetary value is a different color.  There are also $2 and $1 coins; unexpectadly, the $2 coins are much smaller than the $1 coins.  Australian money is just called the "Australian dollar."  No fancy name like the "Euro." 



Professor's House for Dinner!

Tonight, myself and the rest of the Colgate students here (16 of us total) had dinner at our professor's house.  Whenever Colgate sends students abroad, a professor always goes with them.  The professor usually teaches the students a class and does research, in their respective field, at the university the students attend.  Our Professor, Kenneth Segall, came to Australia with his wife and two kids, both of whom are under the age of six.  They live in a house in Wollongong; Colgate bought a house in Wollongong, so each professor that comes every semester has a place to live. 

For dinner, we had a Mexican fiesta!  Actually, one of the students who came, Eric, is a gourmet chef-in-training.  So, Eric, with the help of some of our other friends, cooked the entire dinner.  It was absolutely delicious!  It's nice to get to hang out with the Colgate group in a setting different than Campus East.  You feel like a real family, sitting around the dinner table, playing with their kids, and doing the dishes.  Below are some videos from our dinner.

Religion Down Unda

A particular interest of mine is religion--how people practice their faith, how they identify with others in their religious/spiritual community, and how they express their faith (whether through words, behavior, or dress).  I've been talking to Australians a lot lately concerning the practice of religion in Australia.  People here attend services, although public expression of faith doesn't occur often.  Those who go to church, mosque, synagogue, or what have you, do so in their own time and without much mention in their every day lives.  In the United States, it's not uncommon to hear people talk about how their family goes to services during the week or weekend.  Australia is largely a Christian nation.  There are hardly any Jewish people here; one of my roommates confessed recently she's never known a Jew in her nineteen years living in Australia.  This seemed strange to me, as I've met and gotten to know many Jewish people at Colgate.

The high density of Muslims in Wollongong has been very surprising as well.  I'm not sure if it's because the Muslims at Colgate are seemingly hidden within the student population, but I find it so interesting the number of girls who wear traditional Muslim clothing around campus and in town.  All the time, I see girls wearing hijab's and niqab's.  According to Muslim history and tradition, it is widely thought that girls must cover their face and hands.  This is suggested in the Qur'an; however, many current day Muslim women don't cover their face and hands in public.  Because Islam is such an individualistic religion, it is acceptable for people, particularly women, to interpret the Qur'an to mean different things (yes, covering the face and hands is compulsory or no, it is voluntary). 

Above is a hijab.  Below is a niqab.  Niqab's cover every part of the face except a woman's eyes.

There is another type of head dress, called a burqa, that women can also wear.  In Saudi Arabia, women are required to wear the burqa. A burqa is a head to toe covering; the only opening is a mesh cover over the eye area.  I haven't seen any women wearing burqa's in Australia, but definitely the other two types of veils.  One of my fellow Colgate students is in a Chemistry lab with a woman who wears a niqab.  Following very traditional Islam, this student doesn't speak to any men in the lab.  My Colgate classmate (and friend), Claire, said it is extremely hard to work with her because she is limited in who she can talk to and it's hard to hear her speak through her veil.

This leads me to wonder, what are the experiences of Muslim women like in Australia?  There seems to be a substantial number of Muslim women here (veiled at least, not including Muslim women who don't veil) but is it enough for them not to feel like a minority?  How is their college experience different than mine because they wear a veil that covers their face?  Maybe I should ask some of them.

The Haven

Below is a video of my room!  We have a small kitchen (which is basically a sink, a refrigerator, and some cupboards), a common room, bathroom, and five bedrooms attached to the common room.  The guy in the video is my roommate Ehsan and the girl is his girlfriend, Caroline.  The banner on the wall says all my roommates names' and the "Haven," which is what we've named our room.  (The video was taken at 10:27 p.m., which explains the lack of roommate activity and darkness.)

Expect more videos to come in the future!

The Only Country that Eats their National Emblem

Last night, I experienced Australian bbq at its finest!  A few Australians my group of girl friends has met live in an apartment a short drive away from where I live.  They invited us over for an authentic "Australian bbq."  They told us they had two surprises for us.  Come to find out, they had purchased kangaroo and prawns (or shrimp) for us to throw "on the barbie."  Kangaroo was actually really good; similar to what a very tender steak tastes like.  And yes, I actually did "put a shrimp on the barbie" last night.  (There will be pictures to come.)  We also had "sausage sizzles," which is basically a sausage on a piece of bread, or bun, with sauteed onions and bbq sauce or tomato sauce.  Australians have both tomato sauce and ketchup; tomato sauce has more of a liquid texture and is more often consumed by Australians.  I like my sausage with onions and all the condiments!  That wasn't the first time we had sausage; sausage sizzles are served literally everywhere (as prevalent and in the same places where hot dogs would be found in the U.S.). 

(Yes, I look exactly like my dad in the above picture.)

Australians also eat a lot of meat pies.  They're also served everywhere.  Haven't tried it yet!



And even more tasty--kebabs!  I don't know if they're just a west coast thing, but there are kebab shops everywhere in both Wollongong, Sydney, and even the University of Wollongong.  They're a tasty combination of meat, lettuce, tomato, onions, and sauces, all served in a warm bread.  Life can't get any better when you're eating a kebab.

Australia prides itself in that it's the only country which consumes the animals in it's national emblem.  Kangaroo meat, as well as kangaroo and emu jerky, can be found everywhere.

Lastly, Vegemite!  Popularized by television shows and movies, Vegemite is not all it's cracked up to be.  I've only tried it once; I stuck my finger in a jar of vegemite and even the smallest dip was too salty and disgusting for me.  Australians put it on biscuits, toast, crumpets, etc. (similar to how we use jelly).  Although, speaking of jelly, jelly in Australia is actually our version of "Jello" and what we call jelly and jam in the U.S. is just called jam and preserves here.  So you can understand the confusion an Australian experienced when I said "I ate a peanut better and jelly sandwich for lunch."  No, Americans do not eat jello with their peanut butter.  Anyway, back to Vegemite.  According to Wikipedia, Vegemite is "made from used brewers' yeast extract, a by-product of beer manufacturing, and various vegetable and spice additives. It is salty, slightly bitter, and umami or malty — similar to beef bouillon."  Even the definition makes me want to gag--a by-product of beer manufacturing? No thank you.

That's all for Australian food right now!



And We're off to the Races!

About two weeks ago, I went to a horse race at Kembla Grange Racecourse in Kembla, Australia.  One perk of being a uni student is that our college provides special discounts to certain events going on around Wollongong; the horse race being one of those events.  A bus picked up us from campus and drove us to the race course.  Apart from the race track itself, Kembla Grange was a huge complex.  There were a few bars, several rooms to eat and drink, a room for betting, and an outdoor patio area.  My friends and I went slightly under dressed (as a result of inexperience with horse races).  Most men were wearing button-up shirts with ties and dress pants and many of the women were wearing fancy dresses with high heels and small hats (like the kind you see in movies about horse races and don't actually think are real).  Before the races began, we got to see all the horses getting ready for the races in their stalls.

Beginning at 11:45 a..m, the races continued until 4:00 p.m..  Races began every forty-five minutes.  The horses would walk out from the stalls, with their caretakers, and then walk around a small track for a few minutes.  Before leaving the small "show" track the jockey's got on their horses.  The horse and jockey then proceeded on to the real track, which was 1 km I believe.  The last few races were longer than the first few (the horses never actually raced around the whole track, it was always only part of the track).

The horses started in gates that were quite far away from the people in the stands.   However, the finish line was directly in front of the stands!  All in all, great day; really cool to experience a horse race for the first time.


Below is a picture of the friends I went with, all from Colgate.  We were sitting in the shaded sitting area.

And the Beachy Life Continues

I'm now heading in to my second week of school.  It's all fun and games until the real work starts!  During Orientation Week, there was not a care in the world... and no one seems to have any cares still as uni drives forward.  I'm not sure if I'm too tightly wound or OCD about completing my work, but everyone here seems to be unconcerned with the work that is slowly starting to pile up.  It's not uncommon to hear a fellow student explain how they're probably going to miss a lecture or two this upcoming week, and the next, and the next... I'm not saying it's wrong; people here seem to do pretty well.  It's just much different than Colgate.  Another weird thing about uni is the age demographic of the student population.  I have several classes with older students (as in older than 25).  In my Indigenous Studies course, there are about 150 students.  However, that's only in the lecture.  In the tutorial, which occurs during a separate two hours of the week, I am accompanied by 20 other students in a small classroom.  Of those 20 students, about 4 are over the age of 40.  Strange, right?  Having the older crowd as part of my academic experience may be a good thing actually.  They can relate to the subject matter from an older time period than any of us young adults can. 

Contrary to popular belief, you can get in trouble for drinking in Australia (despite being over 18 years old).  Campus East has instilled several policies in hopes of alleviating excessive intoxication, such as:  no drinking games, no drinking parties that have more than nine people, and no carrying open glass containers around campus.  I would hate to be on the other end of the RA's pen and writing pad.  Which, speaking of RA's, it is a strange thing to be a resident now (instead of an RA).  My RA, Neil, is really great--outgoing, personable, and generally interested in the welfare of his residents.  Tonight, my roommates and I met with him to go over our room contract.  The contract included items such as when to turn the lights off, when it should be quite in the room, who takes out the trash when, etc.  I'm so used to having my residents fill these forms out; I felt almost juvenile filling out the forms with my RA.  I guess coming to Australia is a reality check... I'm not always going to be the boss, or rather, the mentor (who should know everything about uni life). 

I finally found a Catholic church in Fairy Meadow, which is the town I live in.  I was reminded by an e-mail from the Colgate Chaplain that Lent begins tomorrow--I need to put some serious thought in to how I would like to improve myself and my spiritual life.

When I first heard Colgate had a snow day today, I was disappointed that I wasn't there for the first snow day in approximately 40 years.  Almost a split-second later, I was slapped back into reality as I thought about how I went to the beach yesterday and swam in the ocean.  Yes, I do miss Colgate.. but a beach in walking distance?  warm weather daily?  access to a different culture and attractions?  I'll take Australia any day.  Speaking of Colgate, I've been thinking a lot about the services Colgate provides, in relation to UOW (University of Wollongong).  I've come up with a short list so far of pros and cons:

Pros:  Colgate gives you everything for free (seemingly).  Yes, we do pay $52,000 a year, which is the going rate for a private liberal arts institution.  However, you're not reminded every single second of how much money you're spending, like here at UOW.  Literally everything costs money.  You want a gym membership?  That's $58/month.  You want to get a towel at the gym (which is required for entry)?  That's $2.50 to hire (or rent as we say in the U.S.)  You want Internet (which is a limited amount)?  That's $150.  You want to copy or print a sheet of paper?  That's $0.11 a page.  You go through a full day at uni feeling like you're spending your savings away!  Thank God at Colgate you're not reminded all the time of how much money you're spending to go to school there.

Cons:  Colgate babies its students, even the upperclassmen.  At UOW, it's every man for himself.  For example, you have to arrange your own class schedule so that classes don't overlap.  At Colgate, the class registration system won't even let you register for two classes if it detects they overlap.  At UOW, you have to find books teachers' assign yourself and copy them.  At Colgate, professors scan the articles for you, transpose them as PDF's, and post them to a website.  All you have to do is click print.  At UOW, professors don't care if you're late because the bus didn't come on it's regularly scheduled time--everyone rides the bus to school.  At Colgate, it literally takes no more than 15 minutes to walk to any building on campus.

This is the list I've generated so far, but I'm sure I'll think of more.  I actually try not to think about Colgate because this is my time to grow as an individual outside the walls of Hamilton.  I'm growing, as lame at that sounds, but it's more like the "real world" in Wollongong.  I have to be sensible about the money I spend, I have to schedule my arrivals to school, I don't have three advisers holding my hand throughout my college years, and there's no one telling me what's right/wrong to do. 

Wow that was a really long tangent... but all things I've been thinking about lately.

I'll be sure to update more soon!

Mardi Gras: Sydney Style

Yesterday, Saturday the 5th, my friends and I went to Mardi Gras in Sydney, also known as "Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras."  The main event of the day:  watching  a three hour parade showcasing Sydney's supporters of gay and lesbian rights and those who identify has gay, lesbian, transsexual, bisexual, or queer. 


http://www.mardigras.org.au/


We took an hour and a half train ride from Fairy Meadow to Sydney at 10:30 in the morning.  After arriving in Sydney, we went to a market place to eat and shop.  Following this, we walked to Sydney Harbor and toured around the botanic gardens and the Sydney Opera House.  I WILL be going to an opera or symphony at the opera house while I am in Australia!  After exploring the harbor, my friends and I dressed in our Mardi Gras garb, which included all things glittery, shiny, and flashy.  My camera broke recently so I'll be putting up pictures soon from the parade (from one of my friend's cameras)!  We all colored our hair green and red and the girls had on butterfly wings.  I wore silver fake eyelashes and a red lei.  Surprisingly, we fit right in with the rest of the crowd.  I'm guessing there were several thousand people at the parade.  I saw people wearing everything from butt-less chaps to Halloween-looking costumes.  For the first time in my life, I saw a male to female transvestite, who had obviously undergone surgery to look more female.  Actually there was a whole group of them, probably 6 or 7 taking pictures with people on the streets.  As for the parade, it was very interesting as well!  There was floats for everything:  LGBTQ support groups, sports clubs who support gay and lesbian rights, political parties who support their rights, and even religious groups who support gay and lesbian groups (Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, and Evangelical Christian).  I think my favorite float in the parade was a support group called, "Parents, Families, and Friends of Gay and Lesbian."  Several older people walking with that float had signs that read "I support my homosexual son/daughter."  On the other hand, I was quite offended when I saw a sign that read "Pope Benedict XVI--The Worst Homophobic."  Yes, the Catholic Church does not endorse homosexuality or same-sex marriage, but I thought it was disrespectful, nonetheless.  Below are photos from the parade (they are from previous Mardi Gras parades... but perfectly represent what I saw yesterday).

I also saw several men kissing throughout the parade.  Because I've never seen two men kissing before, at first I was surprised and didn't know what to make of the situation.  But, men and women kiss in the streets all the time and no one says anything... so shouldn't it be okay for two men, or two women, to kiss in public?  It may not be something most of us are used to, but I think society should be more accepting of it (regardless of your views on same-sex marriage or gay rights).


The video below is a shout out to all those who identify as LGBTQ, especially those closest to me who identify as such : )  Gotta love Lady Gaga.