Wine Tour

Week 3:
I went on a wine tour with a group of girls and one guy from Bond (they are from Massachusetts and go to school at Northeastern) . The tour was called Cork'n Fork Winery Tours in the Tamborine District. It was an all day event.... we tasted 5-10 wines at 5 boutique wineries and at the 'smallest distillery in the world.' I got to taste many different sparkling white and sparkling red wines, white wines, and red wines throughout the day. At the distillery we tried several different liquers, schnapps, vodkas, or Eau De Vie. My favorite was a chocolate mint schnapps. SO GOOD! All of the bottles at the distillery were hand painted and one of the ladies on the trip gave each one of us a bottle for free which was a very nice treat. Also, we were served a delicious lunch at one of the wineries along with a good Australian dessert! YUM! At the end of the day I learned alot about different wines and I'm a little more experienced...but still no expert. I definitely look forward to doing another wine tour in the future. I got to take many pictures and the tambourine mountains were beautiful...the green landscape reminded me somewhat of visiting Ireland! Definitely a good day trip :)

VIDEO

Here is a video of Aboriginal Dancers from the zoo:

Race Day

I had another fun adventure in the second week of school at race day. We celebrated Australia Day with the BUSA Race Day. It was so much fun...I had never been to a race before so it was a new adventure for me. I especially loved the unlimited drinks provided ;) and everyone's attire! I only wish we could have pet the horses!
We started out that Saturday morning with a champagne breakfast at Hotel CBD and then we got on the buses to go to the races. We had the choice of sitting in the airconditioned Turf Club or go outside and enjoy the sun. We watched the races all day, drank, and ate good food. At the end of the day we returned to Hotel CBD for our final free drink to finish off the wonderful day. It was an exciting day!

The Zoo

Jess and I went to the Currumbin Zoo and had so much fun! We did not take any pictures holding the koalas but we took many pictures of them, and also of wombats, dingoes, and kangaroos, etc. I was so excited because we got to pet and feed a whole pack of roos :) It was definitely a fun adventure!

Week 1

In week 1, I started classes. I don't have too much in class work other than taking notes, but I feel like I'm going to be doing alot of projects (which they call assessments). For my Child Development class, I will be observing a child once a week and tracking his or her different developmental stages, taking notes and pictures, and then in the end I will have to create a portfolio. I actually enjoy going to that class...the students are friendly and the professor is very approachable, friendly, and has an Australian accent (so it's fun to listen to her lectures). Then for my Families, Groups, and Communities class (which I thought would be a BS class) is actually going to require alot of work from me. I have like 2 smaller powerpoints, then another one that I have to research and interview an organization, then I have a group project I have to work on, and then one other assessment. So basically the easiest class I have here...I have the most work unfortunately. My other class is understanding and changing human behavior. My professor is also very approachable, has a South African accent, and has interesting lectures. I don't mind going to my first and third class but I'm not so excited about the F.G.C. class. Oh well, I guess it's good that I have several days off!

As for my social events, Tuesday night is the big drinking night here (well actually everynight except Sunday and Monday are haha). Anyway, I went out on Tuesday night to Hotel CBD with the Westfielders (that's how I'm going to refer to the girls , Matt and Matt from Boston). I had one drink and just went out to socialize. I have an 8 oclock on Wednesday so that keeps me in check plus I have all the other nights. I typically will only drink one or two nights throughout the week and chill the rest even if I decide to go out...while everyone else is drunk almost every night I believe haha. Friday was a big night! We went on this event called Pub Crawl. You could buy pink or green shirts. We bought hot pink shirts for $25 which allowed free entry into all 8 bars and drink specials. The green shirts left at 2 pm while we left around 4pm. This is the day I discovered vodka in a can...YUMM. best invention! We went to the different bars and ended up in the bars in Surfers. We left at 1 am so it was a night of dancing and having a good time dressed in our 80s attire. I will definitely choose to do another one when they have this event again! Saturday they had a bus take us to the beach Coolangatta (which is my fav. beach so far in the area). I got to watch some Australian sand vball (some were good and some weren't so good). But it was still fun to watch some volleyball! It made me want to play so much! I actually signed up for the sand vball club at the Uni but it's not so much competition as it is being coached and practicing. But hey playing sand vball is playing some sand vball, I'm not complaining! Then Sunday I was super excited to go to Byron Bay to learn how to surf.....however a very sad thing happened! I got there and all my friends on my hall and people I knew were signing in to go with the tour guides, but when it was my turn they didn't have me on the list :( Student flights messed up my days, and they had me down as Saturday. The tour guides could not legally take me on the buses b/c all the seats were full so I was left behind :( I was so so so disappointed (not only because I wanted to go to Byron Bay this whole time, but also because all my friends were on one or the other 2 little buses). Another girl's name was not even on the list so she too was left behind. The rest of the day I hungout by myself :( However, I made the best of it and went and laid out by the pool and read a book for the majority of it (so I got some sun and relaxed!). Then I waited until everyone got back and then went to dinner so the end of my day was much better! So yeah, I've had some bad luck in last couple of weeks...but I've had some good luck too!
Tomorrow I am going with Jess to the zoo and then Saturday we are going to a horse race!!! So I am super excited about both of those! We also signed up for our excursions...so I am so excited and can't wait to travel :)

Week 0

The first week of orientation went well.

Orientation overview:
In the orientation package that they gave us...they provided us with a yellow sheet for the toga party. They unfortunately did not give us any pins or anything to put them together so we had to make-shift them! It was fun but since Jess and I did not know many people, we just listened to the music (which was pretty good...they even played songs like Sweet Home Alabama haha go figure!). They have random bbqs on campus throughout the weeks which are pretty good, can't complain. Jess and I decided not to go to the masquerade party because we had been at the beach all day and we were hungry. (So basically, we were just too lazy to go back and shower) Instead we went to dinner with Thomas at the good cafe near my block (aka dorm). During the week, I finally went to Surfers Paradise with Jess, Shauna, and Stephanie and checked it out as well as going to the beach called Burleigh Heads. I enjoyed Burleigh Heads more than Surfers ...but Surfers is fun at night. I finally bought my first legal drink "Pink" wine while in the city. In order to save money, I just drank the cheap wine I bought when I went out that Thursday night. On Thursday, the bus picked us up from the Uni at 7:30 pm and took us to the nightclub "the bedroom," and then it would not return until 3:30am! They sure can drink and party for a long time here, but I know I was exhausted and didn't even drink much! On Saturday due to the weather the beach day was cancelled and rescheduled for the next weekend.

My first part of orientation week

I finally made it to Bond on Monday! I was on my way to my
room and randomly saw Jess...so that was a huge relief! The area around my university would remind you something like Miami. It is very humid and sunny but prettyful so far!
I was lucky enough go get one of my bags but the other was still lost after my eventful trip.
Unfortunately I didnt have any workout clothes, my adapter for my computer,
tshirts, pictures, stuff like that. I couldn't talk through skype because I didn't have the adapter, and so communication to everyone was limited and had to use library for the first couple of days.

So the update on the school:
Bond is very pretty. I have taken a few pictures of it and I will upload
to my computer soon. My room isn't that bad, actually pretty roomy since I don't have alot of
stuff...but unfortuantely the bathroom is kinda far away :( haha I mean
compared to my little water closet in Clemson. Definitely makes me
appreciate the house even more (even though I already did!!) The people
are pretty friendly and as someone described it "alot American students,
rich Australians, and other international students). The campus is kinda
spread out a bit but nothing too bad. It would remind you of Clemson in
some ways. I spent the first couple of days running around doing errands, but now I can start to have some fun :)
My schedule is as follows:
One class on Monday. A kinda full day on Tuesday. 2 classes on Wednesday.
Thursday and Friday off. I'm pretty excited!

So this week for orientation week they have a toga party, masquerade party, bbq at the pool, and beach day. Next Sunday hopefully my friend and I are going to be going to Bryon Bay and getting surf lessons (an excursion through the school). I have been to the night club they call "the bedroom" and we had a good time but it's sketchy as most nightclubs usually can be at times. Alchie is unfortunately pricey unless you get cheap wine. (So that's what I will be buying!). I have met several people that are pretty nice and once classes start I will meet more! I have mostly met Americans right now through the orientation (and the uni has a large majority of international students, but maybe once classes begin then I will meet some Aussys!)


First New Terminology:
Thank you
Their response: That's all right (instead of your welcome)

Australia is an interesting place....it is alot like America. They have McD.s Burger Kind (called Hungry JAcks) and Subway and their Targets are much better thans ours (which means they are pretty sweet!) They have similar interests in movies and music to us and the course books are similar to ours. Like my sensation and perception book is same one they use here. And this area (Gold Coast) definitely reminds me of something in Florida. But of course it has it's own twist like the accents and friendliness and unique ways. So all in all pretty cool so far.

My journey to Australia

Well I would first like to say that my adventure to Australia has not been without a little complication. The night before leaving, my mother and I call the airlines to see if they could just check me through in Charleston and that way I would not have to check all my luggage again in San Francisco or Auckland. Then one person from NZ told us that an hour and a half was not enough time of a layover in San Fran, yet another person from American Airlines told us we were fine (so we left the flight the same). The next morning when I got to the Charleston airport (which is the most convenient international airport to use in my opinion and after this experience I am so thankful for it), I had to stand in line for an hour or more because they couldn't get the luggage to be checked all the way through, yet I didn't have enough layover to do get my luggage and go through customs again and board the plane in San Fran. Luckily, they eventually were able to get the bags marked and I was good! I flew from Charleston to Dallas and had time in Dallas to get some Australian money, food , and relax. However, when I arrived in the Dallas airport everywhere else had had such bad weather in the west and north that the airport was crazy. It was more than an hour delayed and by the time I got to San Fran airport which was also a zoo, I missed my flight to New Zealand and missed meeting up with Jessica :( I had about 15 minutes, so I asked several people along the way to direct me to international flight ASAP but they were not so friendly (def. not good ol southerners! haha).SO I called my parents and almost had a panic attack while talking to them but luckily everything turned out ok. (I was worried not only for missing the flight, but my luggage, and we payed for a shuttle to take me from Brisbane to my university. ) I found Air New Zealand which by the way was not labeled and again had to ask where it was located. I thought I was an idiot by not finding it, but found it was labeled "San Francisco International" so that made me feel less of an idiot because everything else was clearly labeled American Airlines, United, etc. The guy at the Air New Zealand counter was very friendly, but said Air NZ only had one flight a day and then next one would not be until 7pm the next night. This is about the time that I had a huge lump in my throat and had no idea what I was going to do and thought I was going to freak out...I was across the USA from everyone and stranded. I held my composure haha for the most part haha. It wouldn't have been so bad if I had had company, but I guess you can just say I'm not the most brave person! Anyway like I said before the guy was very friendly and told me to take the shuttle to the Marriott hotel and I would have a free room to stay in for the night. I am in the hotel right now writing this and will leave for the rest of my journey tonight and hopefully make it there without anymore delays. On the bright side of this adventure---I got a nice bed to sleep in that night, and a nice shower, and a wonderful learning experience that makes for a good story :)
I will update you guys again when I arrive in Australia!