Conception Day!

Yesterday was probably the most anticipated event of the entire semester...CONCEPTION DAY! It's a huge event put on by the school to basically celebrate the day the school was founded. This year happened to be the 40th anniversary so it was big! My aussie roommate and friends have been talking about it for awhile. I was so excited the night before it almost felt like Christmas! I was woken up at 5:55am with pounding on my door (again, my aussie roommate), then at 6am the chaos started. They drove throughout the village, music blasting, honking horns, waking everyone up bright and early. By 7am everyone was out on the grass field with a drink in hand! My friend Kristen and I started out the morning with mamosas! The Village put on a breakfast bbq and gave out free t-shirts that said "If found, please return to Macquarie Uni Village." I met heaps of new aussies that came out for the event (notice my use of aussie lingo). It was such a fun day! Later on we walked over the lake where the main event was held...bbq, drinks, ferris wheel and concert stages where we got to see Wolfmother play...it was a great concert! I was so exhausted by the end of the day but probably one of the best days yet, meeting new people and having fun...not to mention it was a beautiful 85 degrees out!

Oh, and did I mention that it is SPRING BREAK!? Tomorrow morning I am flying to Adelaide to see some really great friends (Heather & Daniel's fam). I'll be there for about a week and am looking forward to Kathy's wedding on Saturday! Then flying out to the Gold Coast and Brisbane where I get to meet some of my buddy Jay's friends and family. Should be a relaxing two weeks with alot of time spent at the beach. Cannot wait!

Sunday Expedition

Last weekend, my friend Ryan & I visited Watson's Bay and the Gap...both are located just north of Bondi Beach, at the end of the peninsula and entrance to the harbor. I had researched the area before we went and knew it was a small little boat town with shops and restaurants lining the shore. It was such a cute little town! Being that it was the weekend, there were lots of families and kids out and about having Sunday brunch. We started out at Robertson Park and walked along the coast, heading towards Dover Heights and the Raleigh Reserve Lighthouse. It was beautiful! You can see all of downtown Sydney on the horizon. I actually learned a little bit of history too...the lighthouse was built in the mid-1800's to guard the entrance to the harbor. The story goes that 6 American battle ships had snuck into the harbor overnight and the Aussies didn't realize it until the next morning! The lighthouse was really cool, although we couldn't go inside of it. All around the area there are remains of old bunkers and canons too. Next, we walked to the Gap Park...not sure how it got its name, but they are REALLY big shelf-like cliffs on the coast. Because its at the entrance to the harbor, I could see the Pacific all the way to the horizon...and knew home was only 10,000 or so miles away! Thinking of you all.

Wallabies vs. All Blacks

Saturday night my friends and I went to a rugby game at ANZ Stadium in Olympic Park (where the 2000 Olympics were held). We got to see the Olympic torch on display as well as a courtyard with all the names of the athletes. It was neat! A few weeks ago, we heard this was the BIG game to go too. It was a match between Australia and New Zealand...one of the top rivals in all of rugby. They were fighting for the Bledisloe Cup, which New Zealand has had possession of for the past 6 years. It was an intense game to say the least! Little did we know it was the most anticipated game of the year...the 'superbowl' of rugby. Within the first few minutes alone, players were carted off the field and sent to the 'bloodbin'. We were surrounded by a mix of Wallabie and All Blacks fans. The All Blacks reminded me of the Raiders...face painted fans causing a scene. After two 40 minute halves, I was more confused on the rules of the game than ever. Right when I would start to get the hang of it, a player would catch the ball out of bounds and keep playing, or someone would get a penalty for 'not staying on their feet' or 'not turning the ball over' (duh, isn't that what they're trying to do!) We were too intimidated to ask a true aussie what the heck was going on (that would be like someone asking the rules of football at the superbowl...it just doesn't work). Overall it was SO FUN! The Wallabies had the lead the entire game but the All Blacks beat 'em out in the last few minutes and ended up winning 19 to 18, keeping the Bledisloe for a seventh straight year.

One more thing...the All Blacks are famous for their 'Ka Mate Haka'. Before every match, they line up facing their opponent and perform a traditional chant. Although it is mostly for intimidation, the Haka is a sign of respect. It was really interesting...look up All Blacks Haka on youtube and watch a clip!

20 Hour Day

A friend of mine recently introduced me to an awesome website..www.aquabumps.com. Photographer Eugene Tan takes pictures everyday at Bondi and has a rad gallery a few blocks up from the beach. His pictures are amazing! Last Thursday, he posted an unreal sunrise picture of Bondi and I immediately wanted to try and capture the same thing. Much to my surprise, my good friends TJ, Nick, and Michael agreed to come along for the adventure. We caught the 4:58am bus from Epping and traveled the hour and a half bus ride to Bondi to make the 6:25am sunrise. Although it wasn't as spectacular a sunrise as I had hoped for (there were no clouds to bounce the color off of) it was still very beautiful! Between the four of us, we had two Canons and one Nikon camera. After taking some awesome early morning pictures, we had breakfast at a small cafe and was shocked to discover that it was only 8am! We decided to hike south along the cliffs for a mile or so...this was some of the best scenery I have scene in Australia so far! It was absolutely beautiful. We made it to Tamarama Beach and although the waves haven't been too big recently, there were still a few 'spongers' out in the water. After a few more hours, we headed back home to Macquarie for a much needed break which of course didn't last very long. All of us had bought the day trip pass for $17 which includes unlimited use of bus, train and ferry for the entire day. We left campus around 4pm, took the train downtown, and got on the ferry to Manly Beach to catch the sunset. As luck would have it, the clouds rolled in and we couldn't see the sunset but we were able to get some sweet night time pictures down by the water. To end the night, TJ, Nick, Michael and I got off the train at Milson's Point to explore Luna Park (an amusement park down at the harbor). It was a blast! We set the camera on a slow shutter speed to catch the lights of the ferris wheel which resulted in some pretty rad pictures. By the end of the night, we were extremely exhausted....a 20 hour day to be exact! I had so much fun hanging out with these fellow photographers....between the four of us we took around 1,800 pictures! As excited as I am to post them, they might take awhile!

How you going?

Sydney Harbor Bridge

Bondi Beach
Blue Mountains

Dee Why Point
Great Barrier Reef
Cairns

Hi friends & family! I have finally found some time to set up the long-awaited blog so you all can keep up on my adventures...Australia is AMAZING! After 25 hours or so of traveling I finally made it. I cannot believe I have only been here for 4 weeks....it feels so much like home already. "How you going?" is the Aussie way of saying 'How are you?' or 'What's up'. It is a lot easier now to pick up on the local lingo than it was in the beginning. The first week I was in beautiful Cairns in northern Australia...where the Great Barrier Reef is located! My program (Australearn) and I traveled inland to a place called Rainforestation. We were able to pet kangaroos, hold snakes, and take a picture with a koala. We also watched authentic aboriginal dances, played the didgeridoo, and threw some boomarangs (which I am terrible at). The next day we were treated to an all day ocean adventure on a catamaran called Passions of Paradise. We sailed 2 hours offshore to the reef & snorkeled the entire day! It was possibly the most exciting and beautiful thing I have ever seen! The water is extremely clear and bright turquoise, the coral is so colorful, and there are fish everywhere! We even saw a giant turtle. The water temp was around 25 degrees celsius...which is around 75 degrees farenheit....and the air temp was nice & warm! Overall, Cairns was an AWESOME way to start my trip.

After a 5 hour flight and an hour or so bus ride from the airport, I arrived at Macquarie University....where I will be living for the next few months. It is about a half hour outside of downtown Sydney in the town of North Ryde. My first reaction was that it was COLD! Nobody ever told me Australia got cold! It is a beautiful and big campus....with over 38,000 students. Although the trees are all dormant now, spring is coming within the next few weeks and I cannot wait to take some pictures! I share a townhouse with 5 other roommates....Shippy from Australia, Stephen from New York, & Malia and Berlin from Germany. I don't see them too much because of our different schedules but they are all really great. I am enjoying my classes so far although the academic requirements are a lot different from the United States! It is typical here to have 2 or 3 essays per class that make up your ENTIRE grade. On the plus side, there is no busy work!

I am getting to know the train & bus system pretty well from traveling around. A ticket to the city and back is only $4. One of the first nights here, all international students were invited on a night time harbor cruise...it was freezing but so rad to see the famous harbor bridge and Opera House all lit up! I have also been to Dee Why Point, Bondi Beach, the Blue Mountains, and the Royal Botanical Gardens. Tomorrow I hope to go to Watson's Bay, just north of Bondi. It is a boat town on the harbor with the famous Federation Cliffs and the Raleigh Reserve Lighthouse. I am really excited to take some pictures! On saturday night (were 17 hours ahead) my friends and I are going to a huge rugby game at ANZ Stadium, where the 2000 Olympics were held. It is Australia vs. New Zealand (huge rivals) so I'm expecting the game to be really intense! I have met some really awesome friends too. There is 7 other students from the University of San Diego that I hadn't known before so it will be neat to go back to school next semester and be able to share our experience abroad. I have met a few people from San Diego too who know some of my friends back home...such a small world! I miss you all! I would love to see some pictures from back home of anything new and exciting that happens while I'm gone. I will be updating my blog as much as I can and posting lots of pictures too! Also, feel free to send some mail if you want! My address is....

122 Culloden Road Unit 78

Marsfield, New South Wales 2122

Australia

Love you all....Cheers!