The End

I am leaving Adelaide tomorrow for Queensland tomorrow morning where I will spend two weeks at the Great Barrier Reef. Studying in at Adelaide Uni has been an interesting experience, not one that I would necessarily endeavor to repeat. I've realized that students here just try to pass their classes, instead of trying to get A's or high marks.

I've made some really great friends in Adelaide and that is honestly what I will miss the most about Australia. Unfortunately, I haven't really gotten to travel around the country much, but what made my experience great was the people and all of the events that I have gotten to share with them.

Australia in general has been incredibly expensive, and lately has gotten extremely hot. Lately, the weather has reached the 30s and will be hotter in Cairns. Right now is rainy season there and it will probably rain every day.

Things I will miss about Australia:

The people!

Tim Tams

Bubble Tea/Chinatown

The Beach

Frisbee/Tennis

Goon/Passion Pop

Mass produced college food

The long trek to Uni every morning

The beautiful roses that bloom in abundance

Morse code with Sophie

The cleaners busting into my room at 7 in the morning and vacuuming while you are in bed

Paying 8$ a week for 1 gb of internet

Riding kangaroos to uni

Arts Evening

Click here to view this video

This piece is Rhapsodie Mignonne for four hands by Carl Koelling.

Mid-Semester Holiday

It's been a while since posting because we just had out mid-semester break. New Zealand was easily one of the most beautiful places I've ever had the pleasure of being. I took a bus pass that took us to various cities around South Island. It was nice because it was a hop-on-hop-off type thing so they drop you off at the city and you stay as long as you want and then continue the route. I went to nine different towns, stayed in not so bad hostels and met many people from all over the world.

If I had to describe New Zealand I would have to mention the sheep. There are approximately 4.4 million people in New Zealand and 40 million sheep. Everywhere you look there are snow capped mountains flanked by deep blue seas and rolling green hills dotted with grazing sheep. It truly is magestic. Much of New Zealand is influenced by its indigenous people the Maori, which makes up the largest minority. Linguistically, it was difficult for me to pick up any significant differences between a New Zealand accent and an Australian one but the kiwi's say "sweet as" following many phrases.

We had the opportunity to do a couple of activities including peninsula hikes to seal colonies, glacier hikes (which ended up being cancelled mid way because of an avalanche that happened above us), bungy jumping, wildlife tours (I saw an elephant seal, crazy sea lions and many many penguins), brewery tours, cruises through fiords (Milford Sound is supposedly the eighth wonder of the world), and a variety of random activities.

During our adventure I ended up having many close encounters. On a peninsula hike in Kaikoura, we visited a seal colony and I got a little too close to one of the male seals and was attacked. Luckily, I can outhop a seal. I already mentioned the avalanche during our glacier hike. We had literally hiked all the way until the base of the glacier across the glacial valley in conditions of high wind, pounding rain and hail just to have an avalanche crash down. On a hike in Abel Tasmen National park, I dramatically slipped off of a rock and cut my chin. At a hostel in Nelson, I was nearly crushed by a large German falling off of a ladder from his bunk. It was a good trip.

Floor Crawl

Wednesday night was floor crawl, which is sort of like a pub crawl but on our floor. People get in groups of three's and make a themed room with a game and the entire floor goes from room to room. The theme this year was party so there was an office party, children's birthday party, shower/rave party, supernatural sacrifice party with a fog machine and our Alice in Wonderland tea party. The game we played involved having a partner, walking in a big circle until I would yell out two different body parts. After I did that, you have to find your partner and touch those body parts together, for example: nose to elbow. The last partners to find each other is out of the game and skulls some tea. After floor crawl was mystery pub night where the Gassie, the large blue truck that is sort of like a wagon in the interior collects everyone and takes them to a mystery location. We take the Gassie to sporting events and to various functions. The record number of people stuffed into it is 56!

Tomorrow is Alpine Day, the greatest kept secret at St. Marks. Many say it is the best day of all of college. The day involves hunting Yeti's and drinking their blood after the kill. In past years, people have gotten sent to the hospital for various ailments. It is an all day outdoor event, but after tomorrow, when I find out what it actually is, I still won't be able to share. Wish me luck.

Update

I'm back in Australia and I apologize for the lack of posts lately.

Since I've come back I've had a lot of catch-up work to do and a lot of soccer to practice for. I filled in for some girls during a netball game last week and decided to never play that sport again. The first quarter I played, literally every time I touched the ball I got a call. The rules are dumb in that you can't move your feet when you catch the ball and you have to be at least 3 ft away from the person with the ball.

Today was our last soccer day. We played two games and didn't win but it was still a lot of fun. The weather was shit in that it poured all day. at the end many of the girls did a mudslide.

I got bullied into trying out for the volleyball team and have been extremely busy with that as well.

Music night is coming up soon and I am playing a duet with a fellow collegian.

I will post netball pictures when I get a chance.

I am leaving for New Zealand in a little less than two weeks and it just happens that I start in Christchurch, where the massive earthquake was. I hope that doesn't affect our travel plans.

In 2010, I have flown over 65,000 miles. That's enough to circle the earth 2.75 times!

Homeward Bound

Tomorrow morning I leave for Sydney-Auckland (NZ)-LAX-Cincinnati and finally to Indy. It will take me 40 hours of traveling time but I will get there eventually. I really look forward to being home, even if it's only for a couple of days.

The first picture is of Christmas in July and the second is Barefoot Benefit. I am very much enjoying my time here. There is a lot less work involved in the classes here and I haven't had too much other work to do. One thing that I have noticed is the amount of essays that are used as assessments here. Many of my classes replace essays with exams.

I had Australian sushi for the first time today. Sushi is sort of a really casual affair. You just stroll into a store and they have sushi pre-made and you order them piece by piece. I'm pretty sure I'm starting to get used to the customs here.

Some more Aussie words to add:

dero (derived from derelict, "He's so sleazy, such a dero)

dag (dowdy, I reckon I am looking pretty dag today)

esky (cooler)

keen (I'm keen to play some footy)

starkers (naked)

chunder (vomit)

rockmelon (canteloupe)

reckon (I reckon....)

I was incorrectly informed about the usage of sleazy, apparently, the word is seedy (hungover).

Hopefully this turns into a series...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlKZOMlOR8g

Thursday night was pub night and before we left a couple of girl's here decided to "borrow" a life-size paper mache tree from a room on my floor that had been left open. We put the tree in my room because I had the most space and left for the pub. I returned later that night, entered through the balcony and proceeded to trip over an unknown obstacle in my room. I stumble towards the light switch, turn on the light and see my room lovingly trashed and my entire bed missing from my room. Notice my boots stuck on the ceiling fan. I look around and someone locates my bed in the bathroom. After replacing my bed and putting everything back together I go to sleep. The next morning all of the toilet seats had been taken off of the toilets. Retribution will be swift and imminent.

Last night was Barefoot Benefit which was an annual cocktail charity event that raises money for the impoverished. Cocktail attire, no shoes and cheap drinks makes for a sticky night...will post pictures later. It also looks like most people got a case of food poisoning..

Today was my second day of work at a Vietnamese/Thai restaurant called Beyond the Red. Unfortunately, it looks like I will be quitting tomorrow for many reasons. It is much easier to find a job in Australia and the pay is excellent. Minimum wage is $15 an hour if you are over 18 and on average around $20 if you are over 21. I am in dire need of a job.

This week I booked my plane tickets to New Zealand for two weeks at the end of September. I am looking forward to a series of adventures or misadventures.

Oh so I accidentally had a wrong setting on my blog that didn't let anyone that wasn't a follower make a comment. It is fixed now, go crazy.