Week 2: Rain

Its been raining almost all week.  It has been sunny for the last couple of days, but its still pretty wet here! 

Second week of school went well.  I really like 2 of my classes.  I have the same professor and he remind me alot of my high school Drama teacher Mr. Grebel.  Ive been a little sick, so thats not fun, but I am feeling better!  

Friday night im going to the Bar on the Hill, on campus!  They are going to have a Latin dance night, so my friend Jen and her boyfriend and a couple of our friends are going to do some Salsa, and other kinds of dance!  Im very exciting.... although I have no idea what to wear! 

 

I attached some pictures of my place.  

This is what I see when I leave my front door.  

My housmate Lee, from South Korea, is teaching me a new phrase is Korean every week.  This was this weeks! 

This is a picture of our lounge area, were we hang out, eat, and watch the 5 channels of Australian TV that exists! 

This is a picture of our kitchen.  We have a freezer on the left and a Fridge on the right.  Its pretty nice.  And surprisingly for the 6 of us we keep the place very clean!

***Auntie Jo Jo, I hope you feel better!***

Week 1 and Autonomy Day

So Week 1 was alot of fun.  It started with classes, and ended with a huge school wide celebration! 

Classes were good, I am taking 4 right now, 1 political science class, 1 culture class, and 2 religion classes.  The religion classes are definatley my favorite.  I have the same teacher in both classes and hes going to be great!  

On wednesday night my friends Timmy and Natalie held an Army party for there birthdays, so everyone showed up in army gear!  It was pretty funny! 

Friday was the big day however!   Autonomy day!  Auto day is a day celebrating when the University of Newcastle became its own university and not a satelite campus of the University of New South Wales.  The whole campus celebrates, and everyone gets really into it.  

This is what my Auto day looked like:

Waking up at 4:00 am to make brekkie (breakfast) and play auto day games.

At 7:00am all the International House students met in the courtyard for music.

Around 9:00am all International House students go to the Bar on the Hill, the on campus pub.  The University hosted games, 3 bands, and tons of food!  

Around 12:00pm I walk back home and sleep... till 5:00 pm I was really tired!  

At 5:00 I wake, go have dinner.

At 8:00 a few Aussies and I run around the International House.

At 9:00 pm I get a snack!  

at 10:00pm Kevin, Jake and Tom break out the guitar and we spend 2 hours sitting around and singing songs.  

In the end the rule was to stay up till 4, then the celebration would have happened for 24 hours... However I couldnet make it and went to bed much sooner then 4!  

Aussies have crazy holidays!  

O Week

O Week, or Orientation week just happened and it was full of fun!  The first day was quite routine with lots of sessions talking about saftey, class structure and academic topics.  The second day of O week we went on tours and walked around our large green campus, and also got more information from clubs and organizations about how to get involved... so far myself and a few friends signed up for the Ultimate Frisbee team!  Free play starts tonight!!!!!  We went on a Winery tour of the Hunter Valley which is very similar to Sonoma Valley in California!  Its only 45 minutes away from school, so we all got on a bus and went to 2 winerys and 1 brewery!  It was alot of fun, and it was very pretty in hunter valley!  I didnt like most of the wine, but I had 2 favorites that were both desert wines!  I didnt like anything at the brewery, Im not a fan of beer, but it was still a blast!  

At the Brewery they gave us 6 samples, I tried them all but ended up giving them all way to the guys!  

Thursday of O week was our day to do whatever we wanted... which meant I slept in!  I also then walked around campus, and then ended up being a couch potato with an aussie friend and we watched the Amazing Race on TV!  

** Fun Side Note: Most TV shows that are in America show over here, they are just delayed by about a month or two, so I will be able to watch So You Think You Can Dance, because its just starting over here!  

On the last day of O week we went to Blackbutt Reserve and once again played with Koalas, kangaroos and I fell in mud!  

Look Closley at the picture, theres a Joey on the Mama Koalas back!  It was soo cute!  

We walked around blackbutt, and yes I went exploring, and stepped into a big mud bog, and got it all over my shoes and pants, but luckily as soon as we got back home I threw them in the washer and everything came off!  

*** Some of you were wondering what my address was, here it is!

Angela Meyers

International House Rm. 144

University Drive

Callaghan, NSW, 2308 

Cheers!

Scuba, Rainforests, Moving in...

*** I originally had a video posted, but its not working, I will try and get it up soon, sorry!


Sorry for not updating, things have been crazy over here, and I have been non stop on the go!  I just got internet connection in my room so I will now be able to update more often!  

Last week at the program intro I got to go scuba diving at the great barrier reef!  It was a blast and I was able to swim with sea turtles and reef sharks, and other big fish!  I also got to go snorkeling..... I also got

 sick on the way back into harbor... I think I will be taking some sea sickness pills n

ext time!  

I got to wear a wetsuit which helped with the cold... it was about 75 degrees, but it was cloudy and windy!  The oceans in Australia are gorgeous blues and greens! I attached a video of the boat, it should work with most computers, just press play!

Another fun part of our adventure is that we got to go to the rainforest!!!!!  It was also a blast.  We got to hold Koalas, and dance with Aboriginals, learn to throw a boomerang, which I was dreadful at, go on a 6 wheel drive through the jungle, and we learned about different plants that could seriously hurt us, or that we could eat!  We also go to hold snakes and play with Kangaroos!  

A group of us went out that night and all ordered Kangaroo burgers!  It was acutally really good!  

After another long day of traveling and lugging my baggage through the airport, up a ramp, then up some stairs, on a train, to a whole new terminal ... I was very tired, but we finally arrived in Newcastle, the school where I will be studying for the next year!  Its a green tropical place right on the beach!  I attached photos of my room!

Im all moved in!  I love it!  More updates to come!

Settling in!

So I have successfully moved into my new place at the International House on campus! I have made friends with a Dutch girl and a Canadian girl who im sure I will spend most of my time with, I also have made some friends with some guys from Washington who I met on the program intro! Im living in the international house "townhouses" so im considered a "townie." What that means is that I live in the more "mature" housing center. Theres 6 of us in our townhouse and I live on the 2nd floor with my own room and the shower is down the hall... we all share one bathroom on the 1st floor. Theres another shower down there as well. I have only met 2 of my housemates, Lee from South Korea and Bernt from Germany, no girls get, but im sure I will meet them today! I dont currently have internet at my place so I havent been able to post the awesome videos and pics from my scuba diving adventure and my travels in the rainforest!

I signed up for a weekend surf trip with a bunch of other students I met on the program intro, so I will learn how to surf which is fun!

Im currently going through "O" week, which is orientation week. Its ok so far, alot of information that Ive hear many other times. Im looking into getting a job, and also joining up with the Ultimate Frisbee team on campus!

The city 0f Newcastle is alot of fun, and Ive been out with some aussies and americans so far! Ive also been shopping to get all the neccessitys!

Its exspensive over here! So im dealing with trying to pinch my pennies in a naturally expensive place! Its gorgeous though, like walking in paradise, very green and tropical!

I will update everyone with more info later!

Cheers Mates!

Quick update on the road!

Im in Cairns Australia, and im loving it... I went scuba diving yesterday! Awesome!!!! And today im going to a rainforest sanctuary and I get to play with Koalas and stuff! I will definatley post more about each of these events when im settled into my place at newcastle! I have a video of the great barrier reef im hoping to post... fingers crossed that it works cause it was gorgeous!!!!

Some other things ive noticed, people do tend to walk on left side, so people stay to there left instead of their right... also we walked through a mall, and the up escaltor was on the left hand side as well... Also the toliets here have 2 flushes, the first one is for when you only pee, the second flush is well for when you go number 2. crazy!

Theres no tipping in Australia... but the food is expensive!!! Last night a group of 7 of us went to a local place called the green ant and got kangaroo burgers... good... but 15$ and that was one of the cheapest things on the menu! most stuff was like over 20! Drinks are really expensive over here too!

I will post more once I get to campus!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers friends!

IM HERE!!!!!

So im in Australia... well im in Sydney International Airport waiting to get on my next flight to Cairns for the Program intro!  SO far I have had an adventure, I made some friends waiting for my first flight and ended up sitting in between a spanish speaking nun, and a kansas boy who was also studying abroad- though at a different university then I will.  I spoke breifly with the nun, she was very nice, but my spanish dosent let me have much of a conversation.   

The plane food wasnt bad, and the seats were actually comfy.  Each person had there own tv screen, and I could choose what to watch.... I tried to watch 10,000 B.C. but it was really bad.... I also tried to watch Smart people.... too tired and fell asleep.  

Going through customs wasnt that bad, I grabbed a luggage carrier, so I didnt have to drag around my very heavy luggage... once through customs, I was waiting to recheck my bags for my next flight and a started talking to a man from Perth, an australian city on the west coast.    He was very nice and actually helped me get my heavy luggage onto the scales...  later on after we had taken a shuttle over to domestic flights he gave me his address and number in Perth and stated that he had a 24 year old son who would love to meet me.... hhahah

He then proceeded to show me a picture of his son.  It was cute, but Kinda weird!  

Now im just waiting for my future school mates, and my next flight!  

AND YES ERIN- THE TOILET FLUSHES THE OPPOSITE WAY!!!!  hahah

4th of July: Big Bear style! 1 day

The 4th of July was great, got to spend it with family!

The whole gang went to the Rotary BBQ on the shore of Big Bear Lake, and it was a wonderful day.  Erica and I took baby Emily walking around the village, and Erin and I got our faces painted for the occasion... we were definitely the oldest "kids" in line!

Little Miss Emily, Erica and Damons baby girl celebrated her first 4th of July with us and couldn't stop talking about it.... baby talk that is... but Miss Em's baby talk is very loud and screamy!     She enjoyed laying on the ground playing with her toys and the flag we got for her!  

My Uncle Walter and my Dad ran around all day helping out at the Rotary BBQ!  

There was a cover band that played all kinds of songs, which the gang frequently sang to!  

Once it got cold we broke out the blankets and snuggled together.  The fireworks show was great with many ooohs and ahhhs  through the crowd!  It was great!

I leave tomorrow at 10:30 out of LAX.... im excited but it hasn't set in yet.  

Thanks to Aunt Linda for the nice card, and Craig and Lisa for their encouragement!

Big Bear Holiday: 2 days

So Im staying in Big Bear with my Aunt Sharon and Uncle Walter for the 4th of July.

THe 4th of July in Big Bear is a family tradition for the Meyers clan, weve done it almost every year since I was little. Sitting around the lake with my cousins Erica and Erin and my brother Kevin and Sister Melissa was a blast. Its kind of perfect for me to spend some of my last days in the states in Big Bear. It feels like home!

For the 4th I will spend it with my family like I have most holidays. I will be with the same cousins, and also with my parents and aunt and uncle. The fireworks above the lake are beautiful, and rival the disneyland fireworks I worked under for a couple years!

As far as getting ready to leave goes, I have purchased my camera: Cannon SD1100!
Uncle Bill helped me pick it out, and its the perfect camera for my travels! I will post pictures of the 4th as soon as I get back to the desert!

Other then that im 98% done packed now!

Preparation: 4 days away

So here I am.... blogging.  I figured this would be a good way to keep all my family and friends up to date with my Australian adventures!  

So far I have packed about 95% of my luggage and have all my travel documents!

I still have to get my camera but thats on tommorrows to do list, along with travelers checks! My mom and I have been running around like crazy getting all the things I need for the year!

Just to catch everyone up to speed I will be studying at the University of Newcastle in Newcastle Australia located just 2 hours north of Sydney in the region of New South Wales.

I will be leaving America on the 6th of July at 10:30pm from LAX!  Once I get to Australia, myself as well as 40 other students, from America and 1 from Canada who are also studying at Newcastle, will go to Cairns for 4 days and will go scuba diving at the great barrier reef, visiting a local zoo, and learning about the culture of Australia!  

After the 4 day program introduction we will fly to Newcastle and will move into either our on campus dorms, called houses in Aussie, and will explore the city over the weekend.  The rest of the students will move into the dorms on Sunday which will be exciting because then I will have met all my new roomies!!!!

Im going to be living in the International House which means I will live on a flat with 9 other people.  We will all have our own rooms, with a group living space as well as kitchen and bathrooms.  Its a co-ed house which means there will be 5 males and 5 females in each flat.  Its called the international house because 50% of the students living there will be Aussies, the other 50% will be international students!  

The first week I will be on campus there will be no class.  The first week is a giant orientation where we will have morning tea (something standard in Australia) then we will meet with advisors and university leadership and find out all about the university!  I will also have the chance to meet with a counselor to determine my classes and make sure that what I requested will work out.  The University also has social activities planned for us this week, one where we will go to a local wildlife preserve have a BBQ and play with Koalas!  

Im getting very excited and have already been in touch with other Americans who are going to the same university as myself!  Were all excited and ready for an adventure of a lifetime!

4 more days!