That Gushy Post that Had to Happen at Some Point

Today has been a particularly good day. I’m not sure what’s put me in such a radiant mood. Maybe it’s the sunnier weather we’ve had today and yesterday that’s leading into spring, or the endorphins from playing soccer three of the past four days, or the adrenaline from playing Assassin around I-House (I’ll explain), or the fantastic guest lecturer we had in my fiction class yesterday who set in motion this manic creativity high that I’m riding. Whatever it is, I’m running with it :)

I realize as I’ve been writing these posts that I’ve touched on the high points of my time here, but barely acknowledged the little things that have made life as great as it has been. I can honestly say that I’ve been in a generally, genuinely happy mood since arriving in Australia, especially the past few days, and I want to pay proper tribute and gush about everything that I think is responsible for it. So here goes.

I wake up to one of the prettiest, most pleasant atmospheres I think I’ve encountered so far. Looking out my bedroom window, I see the mountains in the distance and the entry way to I-House where there are constantly people going back and forth, day and night. I’m fifteen minutes from the Pacific Ocean and a clean, soft, sandy beach in one direction, and fifteen minutes from my tree-lined, grassy, and forever busy campus in the other direction. I need to take pictures of campus, because it rivals if not trumps any college campus I’ve ever seen. The people constantly walking around campus add to the beauty; people tend to dress much nicer for classes here, and it’s always interesting to see what people are wearing. It’s given me the confidence to break out some of my own dresses that I love wearing but never quite felt comfortable wearing at home! I hope to bring back a bit of Australian style with me when I come back!

There’s always something fun or exciting to do. This has simultaneously led to the improvement of my time management skills in order to accommodate all these activities and opportunities while maintaining a reasonable amount of focus on my studies. The latest and greatest game I-House has turned out is Assassin: everyone who wanted to participate was assigned a “target” to “kill” by tagging his or her back with a sock. Once you kill someone, his or her target becomes your new target, and the game continues until only one person is left. Though it causes much unnecessary paranoia, it’s been a blast trying to track people down, as well as run away. So far my only real brush with death went something like this: Ves points down the hallway, I see HC (I knew she was trying to assassinate me) charging down the toward me with a sock in hand, I drop my book, pen, papers, lanyard with my room key, and sprint away, at some point kicking my slippers off, then somehow ending up one floor above where I started where I sought asylum in James' room, out of breath. Whew. I’m still alive, but if (...or once!) I die, there’s still plenty to do.

Here’s a laundry list of some of the things I’m still looking forward to: tonight’s Tuesday Topical, Performance Night, where everyone at I-House will showcase their talents; Harbour Cruise this weekend, where I-House will get dressed up and catch a boat around Sydney Harbour then go clubbing for the night; formal, another excuse to get all dressed up and have fun with I-House; my mini-thesis for my writing theory class on truth in creative nonfiction, which I’m actually really enjoying writing (who knew schoolwork could be fun?!); the intercollege sand volleyball tournament I've heard about, which will be run just like soccer was, and will be a good day whether I'm watching or playing; and hopefully a bit more travelling around Australia or even New Zealand if I can swing it!

I mentioned that there were a lot of little things that just make me smile. Though they might seem insignificant, there are plenty of things I love about being here that I’m sure I’m going to miss. The multi-grain bread with butter and cinnamon-sugar from the toaster-oven-thing is delicious, and my day always starts out right with a piece of this toast. The keyboards on the uni computers (like the one I’m typing on now) make the coolest clicky noises as you type, and it just makes me want to write; if I ever find a keyboard like this in the states, I’m buying it and using it until after all the letters are worn off. Any given day, I’ll walk down the hall or around uni and hear a handful of languages being spoken within a few minutes; maybe it’s not that unusual, but I love the mixing of language, culture, ages, and backgrounds and how everyone seems to get along. The hot chocolate is the best tasting hot chocolate I’ve ever had. Getting little Facebook notifications every time someone posts on the I-House group wall was almost irritating at first, but now it’s a constant reminder of the close-knit community I belong to. The music is fantastic, and dancing to it is ridiculously fun; I’m confident that my dancing skills are as abysmal as when I left, but everyone has a good time bouncing around with whatever group of people happens to be out on that given night. There’s this thing called public transportation that takes you to school or around town, and it’s free; it’s weird not driving, but I’ve (mostly) managed to figure out the bus system and even though it takes a bit longer, it’s heaps convenient!

That doesn’t begin to cover everything I’ve come to enjoy here, and I haven’t even mentioned the people that make this place what it is, or the changes I’ve seen in myself. Still, I wanted to share what a good mood I’ve been in and show you all back home some of the everyday life things that don’t make it into my big, long posts about big things that happen here. I realized I have roughly six weeks left in Australia, and while the thought of leaving desperately saddens me, I realize I still have six weeks to make the most of my time here and strengthen the new friendships I’ve made. And let’s not forget that that means it’s only six weeks until I get to come home to a loving family and friends who I miss more than I thought was possible! Hope this post finds you all as happy as I am today! =]

Here and there,
Kiley

"Spring Break" just has a better ring to it than "Mid-Session Break"

What an incredible trip! I’ll start out with a thank you to everyone I spent the last week with – Kathleen, Mitchel, Turner, Fran, Ole, Ben, Elana, and Vild – for making the trip everything that it was, absolutely unforgettable. To tell everything that happened would keep you here for much too long, so I’ll do my best to hit the highlights and show you what happened in Cairns!

Things started out well for me after pulling an all-nighter as I packed and sorted out my room before meeting Kathleen and Ole for the 4:30am train to Sydney for our flight. I figured I would sleep the whole train and plane ride, but it turns out there are plenty of colorful people on the way home from the bar at 5am on Saturday morning, so we were thoroughly entertained on the way to the airport and I had no trouble staying awake. We arrived in Cairns with no trouble and left directly for the lagoon and craft market a few minutes’ walk from the hostel, Gilligan’s Resort. It turns out that there isn’t really a “beach” in Cairns where we were staying, but we were able to scope out the lawn and huge pool, the lagoon, and look at the intricate craft stalls bordering the grassy area by the pool. I found a dress for Harbour Cruise, one of I-House’s semi-formal events coming up in a few weeks, and enjoyed a coconut refreshment with Kathleen and Mitchel!

We had a big group night out that first day at the club connected to Gilligan’s where they were showing soccer games all week – so good since it’s the UEFA Champion’s League Cup right now! We had a generally lazy Sunday at the lagoon, and after our group dinner and a drink, I chose a quiet night in with my book in preparation for Monday’s snorkeling trip on the Great Barrier Reef! I’d seen pictures of clear blue water, of fish swimming on the coral, and of sail boats on blue water with nothing but blue skies; it’s nothing compared to being there and seeing it in person. Pictures don’t begin to do it justice. We got on the catamaran at 8am and took a two-hour ride out to our first snorkeling location. The seven of us from our group sat in the front in the nets, so I reckon we had the best view of anyone on the boat. We all watched the water and other passing boats on the way out, then made our way to the back of the boat where there were already big fish swimming around us. I managed to get my mask fastened and practiced breathing before trying to get into the water; I spent a good part of my last snorkeling experience hyperventilating and nearly suffocating while trying to breathe through my nose. It doesn’t work so well when it’s covered with no access to the air. Either way, I felt way more comfortable this time and leapt right into the water next to the big fish.

Then I remembered I’m afraid of fish and the ocean. And these fish were HUGE. Like huge as in if I sat on it, I couldn’t have covered the whole thing. Cue panic attack, inhaling water, water flooding my goggles, and heaving chest, the whole bit. I popped up out of the water once I figured out which way was up and focused on the nearby beach, the land where I’m comfortable and not scared. Except I forgot that this particular beach island was a bird sanctuary and covered with thousands of birds either waddling around or flying and flocking together, and I also happen to be afraid of birds. The panic continued. So I closed my eyes and treaded water, hoping that my kicking feet would be enough to ward off the killer death fish that were way too close to my legs. I caught my breath and began a monumental conversation with myself. The short version of this conversation is that I told myself to calm down and relax: people go snorkeling everyday and no one gets eaten by those big fish (probably). I told myself that I was only afraid if I let myself feel that way, and that I would have a lot more fun if I could just appreciate the beauty of everything around me without being a spaz. I even tried to figure out what exactly I was afraid of in the water (this was a no shark area), and I couldn’t even come up with a valid answer. So, I decided not to be scared, and I opened my eyes.

From then on, I saw some of the most breath-taking colors of coral, anemones, and I even found a Dori-fish and a stingray! We snorkeled for two hours at our first location, and I feel like I could have stayed for the entire day. Still, I knew there was another location, so I swam back to the boat where I forgot the gigantic fish were and had a minor relapse. I know I wasn’t going to be scared, but good God they were really big fish. I eventually made my way through the fish and back onto the boat where we had lunch and made our way to another reef in the middle of the ocean. I had another pep talk with myself until I was convinced that it was okay to be swimming around in the middle of the ocean where you can’t see the bottom, nor any land save for a few mountain peaks in the far, far distance. Thinking about these things actually makes my palms sweat, so I’m pretty proud that I managed to overcome my fears and man up to the big scary ocean, as silly and insignificant as it may seem. The second location offered similar and equally incredible views of the underwater wildlife, and the hour in the water went by so quickly. Afterward, we boarded one last time to head home, where every last one of us passed out in the nets, catching some more sun and much needed rest. I can’t think of a better way that we could have kicked off our spring break trip!

On Tuesday, we woke up again early (if you ever need a cheery, irritating song to wake up a large group of people, check THIS out – your group might hate you, but it’s nothing if not effective) to go on Captain Matty’s Barefoot Tours to four waterfalls around the area. This was another breath taking tour, complete with multiple swimming and photo opportunities! Captain Matty, our tour guide, was also by far the most entertaining guide we had the entire trip. Full of fun, interesting, and obscure facts about the area, plants, wildlife (including psycho death killer cows – they’re plotting some kind of attack with the birds that always hang around their pastures, don’t you know!), and Aboriginal and Australian history, Captain Matty kept us thoroughly entertained as we drove through the country and mountains between locations. The tour lasted the entire day and was complete with a stop at the local pub for lunch, as well as morning and afternoon tea. If you’re ever in Cairns, take Captain Matty up on his tour! You can also find him on Facebook and check out the day’s photos for free. Okay, enough plugging about CAPTAIN MATTY’S BAREFOOT TOURS ;)

On Tuesday night, we participated in The Ultimate Party’s pub crawl to five different bars/clubs in Cairns. Since we got back from the tour late, we missed the first bar, but took full advantage of the party atmosphere at the last four bars and on the Chicago-style double-decker bus that drove us between locations. We eventually ended back at Gilligan’s, and we even ran into a dozen other I-House people who we knew were staying in Cairns but didn’t travel with. Overall, it was such a great night!

Wednesday was our last day without planned activities, so we all switched gears to relax-mode all day and either hung out at the lagoon or did some souvenir shopping. Some of the boys rented mopeds, but I was content to lounge by the pool, which was more like the family vacations I know and love. That night proved another quiet one for me in preparation for our three-day excursion beginning the next day.

We had another early morning on Thursday as we piled onto the bus to be taken to the rainforest for white water rafting! Once at the river, we suited up in our helmets and life jackets and hit the water. I’ve been white water rafting with the family a number of times in West Virginia, so I was mostly feeling excited rather than nervous or afraid. Our group had to split since there can only be six people in a raft, and my group of six was paired up with the medic, Tim, as our guide. It was another blistering hot day in Cairns, so the water felt beyond refreshing. The first real rapid of the day was a class IV (on a scale of VI), so we hit the water (?) running! The adrenaline from paddling through the rapids surged immediately and it felt so good to be doing something physical and active after a relatively lazy and chill week. Still, the group paddled like champions the whole way, splashed plenty of the other boats with our as we raced and passed them, conquered a jump rock, flipped the boat on purpose at our guide’s suggestion, and went “surfing” – that’s where you paddle upstream into a rapid and the raft stays lodged in the white water because of the current and you get absolutely pummeled by the water, like you’re standing under a waterfall. Oh, and I’d guess we killed upwards of 600 flies. Apparently there are six weeks during the year that the March flies come out and, lucky us, we picked one of those weeks; for you all back home, these swarms were about the equivalent of the seventeen-year cicadas that come out, so 600 is actually a reasonable estimate for how many of them we killed. Despite fighting off those nasty little blood suckers, I chalk up the day to a success. Well done team!

Friday was, you guessed it, another early morning as we checked out of Gilligan’s to begin another tour up the coast of Cairns to Port Douglas and then the Daintree Rainforest. We took in the sites up the coast and stopped at a few different look out points as we drove. All gorgeous scenery with mountains overlooking beaches that line the bluest water you can imagine. As we drove further, mountains and rocks turned more into rainforest that bordered the beaches, giving it a totally tropical feel. I found out on that tour that we were only sixteen degrees from the equator! It blew my mind that the sun was actually directly overhead at noon, the way you’ve always been told it’s meant to be since you were a kid. Anyway, after driving a fair bit (and catching a nap on the bus!) we arrived at the Wildlife Habitat in Port Douglas. Which was also largely a bird sanctuary. Good God were there a lot of birds! And they were left to just stroll around and fly as they pleased, meaning they could stalk and sneak up on you when you finally thought you’d found a safe area where they wouldn’t be flapping around. Ew. I (mostly) kept my composure and appreciated the fantastic colors, until I saw one of the scariest birds I’ve ever seen. The cassowary. This thing looks like a dinosaur and is apparently meaner than anything. Seriously, YouTube “cassowary attack” and you’ll find plenty. Anyway, aside from the birds, there were koalas and kangaroos, of course…and I held a koala! It’s illegal to hold one in New South Wales, the state where I live, but not in Queensland. Definitely the highlight of the day.

A Monster Post for the Past Month...

Well, I left off at the Blue Mountains on Friday night (August 19), so I’ll jump right into Saturday morning. Things looked much less scary in the daylight, and we made it up early to start our hike to Govett’s Leap. To say the scenery was breath-taking doesn’t even begin to cover it. We stood at the first look out over a deep canyon covered with trees, the mountains forming on either side. The sky was only cloudy and there was an incredibly strong breeze blowing the whole time that swept the water from one of the waterfalls away from the mountain at a bizarre angle, making everything look more surreal and beautiful. Once we’d had enough of the view (can you ever really have enough?), we started our hike which took much less time than we expected. The view through the trees as we walked through the mountains was as gorgeous as ever, and we crossed a stream that turned into a waterfall that was even prettier than the first that we saw. Overall, it was a great, peaceful hike, and I definitely want to go back to do more trails.

We had a quiet Saturday night, free of ax murderers, monsters, and the supernatural and we made it back in one piece Sunday afternoon to watch the inter-college AFL game. AFL (Australian football league, I think?), from what I can tell, is a lot like rugby, but different. I don’t know how it’s different, but people get hit just like in rugby and the ball is turned over a lot. Either way, my goal was to provide moral support more than anything, and it was fun to hang out with I-House and compete as a college. Jackie and I had a quieter last night, and I saw her off at the train station early on Monday morning. Thanks again, Jackie, for visiting!! The following two weeks were pretty packed with schoolwork, unfortunately, but there were still On Tuesday was another “Tuesday Topical,” a weekly event I-House holds, organized by the SDOs where they either bring in a speaker, show a movie, or hold a debate. This week was the first Soapbox, a chance for anyone in the college to get up on the soapbox and let out pent up rage, tell jokes, what have you. Apparently in the past, it’s been a steady stream of raging and complaining, but after a few speakers, the vibe turned around and everyone became really positive and shared inspirational stories instead. It sounds kind of hoaky thinking back on it, but the mood was so positive and so energized that everyone seemed to be riding an emotional high by the end of the two hours (normally, Tuesday Topicals go for 1-1.5 hours!). Gotta love I-House and the people that make it what it is! On Thursday, uni held Global Highway which was organized by one of the girls at I-House. Anyone that wanted to represent their home country could get a booth and share information about their culture, hand out food, and do activities. Once you made it “around the world” and had your “passport” stamped, you could get a t-shirt. Elana, Kathleen, and I didn’t get on for team USA, but we went to the event and got to experience a lot of new foods and learn a lot about the people we live with at I-House. Of all the food, I’d have to say Sri Lanka had the best dish, a sticky rice block with spicy veggies and sauce to put on top. My mouth was on fire, and it was delicious! Best candy vote would have to go to Germany for these chewy little taffy things. So good! That’s probably the first event that I wasn’t involved in directly, and I wish I would have. Everyone put in so much work, and it showed, so well done everyone! Over the next week, I went to support a barbeque on campus for a charity called the Girl Effect that a few of the I-House guys work with. They made heaps of money for the charity, and I-House had a great turn out once again. Thursday was I-House’s BYO Academic where they invite a representative from each faculty, or department, and provide dinner while everyone competes in trivia. I sat next to a professor from the arts faculty who teaches medieval and literature, who also speaks French! I felt somewhat in place after my medieval and Renaissance lit course from my last semester at IPFW, so I definitely lucked out on seating.

The next morning, Friday September 2 now, brought Jenn to see me! I woke up at the crack of dawn again to get her from the airport and after waiting for an hour at the wrong terminal (whoops!), Jenn found me at the information desk where I was trying to ask about her flight. We took the train straight back to Wollongong to get settled in, and Jenn accompanied me to the second day of soccer tryouts for I-House’s college team. We had a quiet Friday night and woke up early the next morning for Crooked River Winery. We took the train with a small group from I-House and did the wine tasting, which was even better than I remember from the first time around. Everything was so good that we decided to stay and eat lunch and share a bottle of wine. Jenn and I shared a platter for two with prawns (shrimp), pork, raw salmon, a salad and other veggies. This was by far the best meal I’ve had in Australia and one of the fanciest I’ve had to date in my life. The food melted in your mouth and was just phenomenal. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! We took our time hanging around the winery for the afternoon and made friends with the proprietor, Brian. He even took some pictures for and with us. If you’re ever in Australia, Crooked River Winery is beautiful with great people and, most importantly, unbelievable wines of all different varieties. Saturday night proved another quiet one as Jenn continued working off her jetlag, but we were up early Sunday to walk into town and check out the shops. There was more soccer Sunday afternoon, and that night, since there were a number of I-House birthdays that week, a huge group went out to celebrate at Hostage. As always, it was a fun night at Hostage, and we ended it with a late night run to Macca’s. We also realized that Macca’s has a play place. Of course, Jenn and I being about five years old deep down inside, we climbed inside the tubes and crawled around for a bit. The boys even joined in when they saw how much fun we were having. We left the tubes via the slide, obviously, and came back to I-House to wrap up the night with a movie. All in all, another great night! Luckily for me, I didn’t have half my classes the week Jenn visited since the creative arts faculty had a break, so we got to run around campus on our own time. Over the week, we went to the beach, walked around campus and town, went out to the Grand, visited Nowra Wildlife Park (so Jenn could pet the koalas, kangaroos, and wombats, of course!), and had an incredible homemade dinner compliments of Celli, an Australian friend that lives just outside Wollongong. Our Friday consisted of an adventure day, driving around the coast near Wollongong going toward Sydney and through the mountains. We saw some unbelievable scenery driving over the Sea Cliff Bridge and from a hidden away lookout in the mountains. As if that wasn’t fun and breathtaking enough, we also went cliff jumping at a gorgeous lagoon, complete with a waterfall. The jump was about 8m, I screamed like a little girl, the water was absolutely freezing, and I had a fantastic time! After sightseeing, we went back to Celli’s for a barbeque and a movie, a perfect, calm way to end an exciting, busy day.

The following Saturday was just as busy as Jenn and I headed into Sydney with a big group from I-House to do some more sightseeing and go out for one of the American girl’s 21st birthdays (not quite the same significance as in the states, but a birthday is a birthday!). We did all the Sydney must-sees, like the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, took a ferry around the harbour, and explored the craft market. It was tiring walking around, and we refueled at Pancakes on the Rocks, a restaurant with the best pizza and pancakes I may have ever had. We went back to our hostel to get ready for the night out, and what a GREAT night it was! I was told that nightlife in Sydney is comparable to going out in New York City or LA, and not that I’ve been out in either of these cities, but it felt just like those scenes in the movies. Lasers and strobe lights, three floors with balconies that all overlook Darling Harbour, a huge pulsing dance floor, Home Bar had it all. Jenn, Kathleen, and I stayed and had our fill of the club scene and were among some of the first to go back to the hostel so we could be ready for our 5am alarms – Jenn’s flight left that Sunday morning, so Kathleen and I caught an early train back to Wollongong so we could be with Jenn to transfer lines to the airport. All in all, we had a successful week, and Jenn, I can’t thank you enough for coming to visit!! Hopefully, we’ll continue our globetrotting adventures soon.

The week after Jenn left, last week, was another quiet one for me in Wollongong as I caught up and pushed through some of my studies. Assignments and marking works much differently here; for my English writing and lit classes, there are one or two major papers and a presentation that make up the entire grade; for French, there are some smaller assignments and readings that are more spaced out, which I think is more like classes in the states. The grading system is much different as well. For example, the 80% I received on my paper for American lit translates to an A on the American scale, somewhere around a 93-95%, so my 78% on my first fiction portfolio and the high 70s I’ve been getting in French don’t quite give me the heart attack that they did at the beginning of the session! So don’t worry, Mom, Dad professors, or worried friends, I’m still making the cut, and you don’t need to worry! The last highlight I’ll share with you from this past month is the intercollegiate soccer tournament that was held last weekend. It was co-ed, and I-House has a long history of winning, from what I understand, so I was a bit nervous since I haven’t played a real game of 11 v 11 in over three years. Luckily, we put together a stellar team and made it through the first three games and into the finals, against our intercollegiate rivalry Weerona, with relative ease. I even scored a goal as a right mid – a cross from around the top of the box, trapped with my stomach and volleyed in with a left foot from around the six! It was so good just to play again! The final was a tough game, and with maybe five minutes left and no goals, Ves, another Australian friend (and dancing extraordinaire!) managed to put one in the back of the net for a 1-0 victory. Great game to everyone at I-House!

This week has been another busy one with work in preparation for my spring break trip to Cairns. We leave at o’dark thirty tomorrow morning and will be coming back next Sunday, well rested and hopefully full of new stories to tell. I’ll try and keep the posts shorter after this monster of a post and more frequently too. Thanks for following, and I’ll see you after Cairns! Hope all is well at home :) Here and there, Kiley

Where did August go?!

Wow, so August is over, who knew? Time is flyinggg going into September, making for seven weeks total in Wollongong, but it feels like I’ve been here longer, but time is going by fast…it doesn’t make sense, but I don’t think I’ll ever understand how time passes. Also, a HUGE thank you to Jackie for coming to visit =) Had a fantastic time, and I can’t wait for more worldly adventures to come. That having been said, lots to tell from this last month!

Last Friday was a calm day, touch (basically a girl’s version of rugby where the play stops when the player with the ball gets touched…I think full on tackle would be more interesting!) instead of soccer in the afternoon, then dinner and a movie with Kathleen and Chris, an Australian guy we’ve gotten to be good friends with. I watched Green Street Hooligans for the first time, so now I want to go to England for a soccer season and be a hooligan more than ever, except maybe with a few less fights. There was a bonfire on the beach that night, so the three of us went to North Gong Beach after the movie and found more of an acoustic/drum dance with fire twirlers, rather than a bonfire. Still, there were hula hoops, and I hadn’t been to the beach at night until then, so we had a good time just hanging at the beach and came back at a reasonable hour.



Saturday, at the crack of dawn, I woke up to collect Jackie from the airport and explore Sydney, the first time for us both. We made contact in the airport around 7:30am and went straight to the hostel to drop our bags and begin the day, which started at the Sydney Botanic Gardens. One thing we noticed, other than the gorgeous trees, loud birds, and pretty harbor: there were so many people out jogging! We decided can only hope to live in as active a city when we grow up. If we make it to an active city like that, we’ll be even more excited if we actually participate in those early morning runs! One of the most memorable sight-seeing moments of the day would have to be coming over the hill and seeing the Sydney Opera House in the distance across the water, the Harbour Bridge (ew, Australian spelling!). It’s happening less and less frequently as I get used to living here, but sometimes it still takes my breath away and makes me giggly that – oh my God – I really am in Australia! This was another of those moments. Of course we took heaps of pictures then just enjoyed the sunshine as we looked at the beautiful city of Sydney.



We continued our walk through the gardens and made our way to the front of the Opera House, which is just a cool building. We got on a ferry to take us to Watsons Bay where we stopped at a lookout over the rocks and a cliff face. From the lookout, you could also look back over the city and see the bay with the bridge behind it. Pictures certainly don’t do the view justice, and words can’t really describe the beauty of everything we saw in Sydney throughout the day, but I’ll try my best to describe it in some way or another! Jackie and I ate at Watsons Bay, just your basic “fish and chips,” with gelato for dessert, all of which were delicious. After walking around for a bit, we decided to catch the ferry back so we could see the rest of the city, our first stop being one of the libraries in Sydney right next to the harbor. We spent a decent amount of time in the library, considering that there are libraries everywhere, but who can resist a huge library in an old-fashioned building in the middle of the city?

Once we could draw ourselves away from the library, we sought out the Rocks, the oldest part of Sydney with great architecture and cool shops and cafes. We found the small artisan’s market that’s open on the weekend and spent a decent amount of time just looking at all the cool crafts and listening to the guy performing with his guitar at one end of the stalls. They had such cool crafts, mostly Australia oriented kinds of things (go figure!), and I definitely plan to go back for some souvenirs. We made our way back south toward Darling Harbour for some shopping before going back to the hostel and cleaning up for dinner. We managed to find a Chipotle-esque Mexican place (quick side note: I miss Chipotle so much, it’s kind of ridiculous. The things I would do for a bowl, lime chips, and guacamole! Parents, if you’re reading and want to greet me at the airport with a burrito in hand in a few months, I’ll be forever in your debt.) and had a beer that rejuvenated us after a long day of sightseeing, so we made the executive decision to catch the train back to Wollongong instead of staying in the hostel overnight. Turns out the spurt of energy didn’t last long, and we both fell asleep on the train on the way back and called it an early night when we finally made it to I-House.



Jackie and I had another calm day on Sunday just walking down the beach and around downtown Wollongong. We went out at night, but not many people from I-House were out so we trekked back to the house fairly early, having a great bonding session along the way. I unfortunately had class in the morning but came back for Jackie in between to show her around campus. We had a slight misadventure on Monday night as we sought out Indian food along the beach, only to find out that the restaurant is closed on Mondays. We passed North Gong pub on the way back and contented ourselves with burgers and fries (probably the closest to an American burger that I’ve found! Not that I’m completely preoccupied with food…) before heading home for the night.

I skipped out on classes on Tuesday to go to Crooked River Winery with Jackie during the day Tuesday where we tried some incredible wines and ports. We both bought a bottle of wine and appreciated the beautiful scenery of the mountain that outlines the valley where the grapes grow. Behind the hills sprawling from the mountains, you can see the ocean and the city of Gerringong. These pictures are great, but they don’t even begin to do the view justice. When we finally left the winery, we got on the first bus that came by the Gerringong train station (there was track work, so buses were being used in place of the trains). Turns out it was going the opposite direction than what we wanted, so we took a detour to the end of the line in Bomaderry where we had tea for the hour while we waited until the bus turned back around to go the direction we wanted. Despite our unplanned adventure south, we made it back to I-House in time to go to a friend’s trivia night fundraiser event. We didn’t excel in the sports section, but we held our own on entertainment and general knowledge type questions and had fun competing against the other fifteen tables. We stopped for tea at a friend-of-friends and played cards for the rest of the night before getting dropped back off at I-House. It was another night of laughs and fun, and I was so glad to get to share the great people I’ve met here with someone from home!

On Wednesday, I went back to classes while Jackie checked out Nan Tien temple before we met at uni to go to UniBar, yes, the university’s bar on campus! We had a drink with Kathleen, Chris, and one of his friends before Jackie went back to I-House and I went to my last class. When I got out, Jackie and I finally went for the Indian food that we were absolutely craving – and it didn’t disappoint! The mango lassi and chicken tandoori were heavenly, as was the garlic naan. We came back in time to get ready to go out to the Grand, but it was another quiet night and we came home early again. Jackie and I got up on Thursday to walk the beach and watch the waves, which were bigger than I’d ever seen them. There were plenty of surfers to watch, so we hung around for a fair bit and generally marveling at the fact that we were sitting on an Australian beach watching people surf on a quiet afternoon. We went back to Crown Street for some shopping before going back to I-House for dinner and pregaming for the week’s big night out, Hostage’s black light party. I-House filled up more than one party bus, and I finally got to show Jackie what going out in Australia is like. The club stayed pretty crowded the entire night, and the handful of I-House people were among the last to leave when the club closed, at which point Jackie, Mitchel, one of the Colorado guys we hang out with often, and I walked to Macca’s for a late night meal where we ran into another group of I-House friends who (thankfully!) offered us a ride home. Some of us split off to watch a movie in the Red Room to wrap up the night and went to bed.



Friday proved to be another quiet morning and Jackie and I packed up for our weekend trip to the Blue Mountains. Kathleen, Jackie, Mitchel, Cassie (a fellow Hoosier! not that I’m technically a Hoosier, but still), and I caught the train for what was an unforgettable train ride. After transferring trains in Sydney with our heavy, irritating luggage, we made it onto one of the older model trains to Katoomba Station, where our directions told us to get off. Turns out, it was the wrong stop, which we only found out after getting off the train in the foggy, cold mountain town with all of our luggage (which included food for eight people for the weekend) and trekking a quarter-half mile before realizing that the hotel where we were meant to check in was nowhere in sight. We doubled back to a small pub to ask directions only to find out that we needed to go another few stops into the mountains. So, we waited another forty or so minutes for the train to take us three more stops up the line into the Blue Mountains.

The stop where we actually got off was called Blackheath, and it was just as foggy and dismally cold as Katoomba, but even more dead. It was only around nine o’clock, but all the shops were closed up, as were a number of the restaurants. This is very atypical for the states, but things tend to close up much earlier in Australia than in the US, but there was still an eerie feeling with the fog and our lack of confidence in our directions. We made our way down the street of antique shops to what looked like the single traffic light in town and found the hotel where we were to pick up our key for our cabin. The five of us struggled our way into a restaurant/bar under the hotel sign and were handed our key and roughly drawn map by the woman behind the bar, amid endless stares from the fairly crowded bar and multiple “Are you moving in with all those bags? Hehe” kind of remarks. Once out of the bar, we deciphered the map and started our way to the cabin. Within a minute of walking, we were in complete darkness with streetlights far and few between and a stray car whizzing by on occasion. I don’t know who said it first, but it really felt like the start of a bad horror movie: five American college students in the mountains of a foreign country with all their luggage and a sketchy map who just left a townie-type bar where they were mocked before going outside to look for their cabin in the cold, dark, foggy night. We eventually found our street and walked all the way to the end, looking for our cabin number among the little cottage-y houses, then realized that the road stopped. Two small dirt trails led down the hill at the end of this road under a street lamp, and we could see a few lights down the trail, though they were obscured by the trees which started the forest that went we don’t know how far because the lighting was so poor. Cue creepy, high-pitched violins for the horror movie music…

…and then the relief, because nothing bad ever happens on the first night of the college students’ vacation in these kinds of movies, of course. We found our cabin tucked in a group of smaller cottage/cabins just before the end of the road and finally set our bags down. My shoulder had gone numb before we made it off the train’s platform forty minutes prior, but I was thankful for the relief. Until we realized that one of the bedroom doors, the room us girls had claimed, was in fact unlocked This shot would show the girls exchanging anxious glaces, then one of them saying something reassuring or a joke like, “oh what are you worried about, an ax murderer?” and everyone laughs and clams down, not yet understanding the dramatic irony. This conversation actually did happen, but we were too eager to get food, so we locked the door, cranked the thermostat, and headed back into town for a dinner of burgers and fries (the part where the Americans feel at home and at peace with something familiar despite the scary setting, lulling them into a false sense of security).

When we got back to the cabin, we realized that it was as cold inside as it was outside and bundled up while we tried to figure out what was wrong with the heating, though we never did get it working all weekend. When Elana and our two other friends made it to the cabin over an hour later (they’d left Wollongong later to avoid missing class), they found us curled up in blankets and sweatshirts, asleep on the couch with a rugby game on the TV. Some party animals we are! We eventually got our energy up and had a great time playing games and hanging out for the night before turning in to prepare for our hike the next morning (shown in our horror movie as the montage of the students laughing, joking, and having fun while the killer/monster lurks outside, the parting shot of this scene being of us sitting around the kitchen table, our laughter muffled as the camera zooms away from the window and the eerie music starts up again).



I’ll leave our adventure there for the time being since I’m lucky to be hosting Jenn this week, and we’re getting ready to go to UniBar for a cheeky drink before my last class of the day, because who doesn’t want to get a beer on campus at the university-run bar? More to follow shortly – I promise! Apologies on the delay with this post. From now on, I’m going to try posting more frequent, shorter posts. We’ll see how that goes. Thanks for following, and take care back home =)

Here and there,
Kiley

Nerf Guns + Cooking + Soccer = More Fun in Australia

Well, it’s been a bit longer since my last post than I had hoped, but I guess that means I have more to tell now. After posting last Sunday, I went to the shop expecting to get a simple Nerf gun and ended up coming home with an off brand, twenty-shot assault rifle style gun that was immediately put to good use as four of us went roaming the halls looking for open doors and people who weren’t already sleeping or consumed by homework. We had a few successes on the different decks, but the dozen people finishing Pulp Fiction in the Red Room had no idea what was coming when we snuck into the room and unloaded on them. They may not have been as amused as we were, but everyone was a good sport, and the only casualty was one of my Nerf darts. Not bad for an assassin’s first mission.



The three days of school went smoothly, and a small group of friends and I were able to plan our mid-session break trip through the STA office at uni. We’ll be flying out of Sydney the first Saturday of break and spending a few days relaxing on the beaches and doing some sightseeing around Cairns and maybe Port Douglas. Monday, we’ll take a catamaran out to snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef for the day, then take another few days to relax before our next excursion. Thursday, we’ll be up early to get out and do a day trip of white water rafting, then come back to the hostel for one last night in Cairns. Friday, we’ll go on a crocodile cruise through the rain forest and take some time to explore around and stay in a hostel in the rain forest. We’ll get up on Saturday to have a hike and find a quiet beach nearby to relax before heading back to a hostel in Cairns near the airport so we can make our early flight back to Sydney on Sunday. The trip is still seven weeks away, but I’m so excited already! We’ve told I-House about the trip, so hopefully we’ll get a big group together and have an even better time in Cairns than in Wollongong, although that’ll be hard to top.

Last week’s Wednesday night was my quietest so far; instead of going to the club, a small group of us from I-House went to a local friend’s house to hang out and watch movies. Instead of having a movie marathon like I had figured we would, we listened to our host and his friends tell ludicrous stories about growing up together, including ones about near car crashes, friends that kayaked 5k out into the ocean to where the boats sit just for fun, detours during a surf session to chase a group of whales, spearing a shark while on a surf board, drunken misadventures, and much, much more. I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard since I’ve been here! We had such a good time listening to stories that we didn’t manage to start the movie we were meant to until after midnight and only watched half of Inception before heading back home to I-House.



Thursday proved to be a lazy morning despite my best efforts to do homework, and the afternoon was spent at the beach. After the beach, Kathleen and another American friend and I went to Woolworth’s, the grocery store known as Woolie’s, to pick up ingredients for a cake, pizza, and brownies to make. The cake was a difficult, sticky mess, but it was great to have some classic American junk food! There was another dub-step night at Hostage, and for the first time in a while, Elana, Kathleen, and I were all healthy and ready to go out together. We took the party bus and joined into the I-House songs that I’ve now learned and love! Instead of staying at Hostage for the whole night, we bounced to another club, Illawarra, for their retro night where we continued to dance to songs like “I’m Blue” by Eifel-64 and some of the great boy bands of the 90s. Needless to say for anyone that’s seen my iPod, I was in nostalgia heaven and had the best time rocking out. We danced with a group of I-House guys who pulled off impressive shuffle moves, then caught a ride home with them, but not before a Macca’s run. Full of French fries, I went back to my room and crashed, happy as could be.



I woke up on Friday ready to do homework but was again not nearly as productive as I would have liked, so I did the only thing that seemed logical and went to the beach instead with about a dozen people from I-House. We juggled on the beach and lay out, then I broke off with a smaller group to go play pick-up soccer like the house does every Friday and Sunday. We played with five or six on each side for over an hour, and it was great to get back out and just play. It’s been so long, and I’ve really been looking forward to playing since I got here. There are some great players, too, so it should be a good and even somewhat competitive game every time. After soccer, we had dinner and a quiet night back at I-House as we made pizza and brownies. Unfortunately, due to the lack of oven space, one of the pizzas had to sit out for a while longer than we intended and it rose pretty rapidly in the hour of wait time that we had. We ended the night with The Matrix, but – shocker – I fell asleep during the first crucial hour, so I still can’t say I have a clue what happens in that movie. Whoops!



Saturday proved to be one of the most physically taxing days I’ve had since being in Australia. Already a bit sore from soccer the day before, a group got up to climb Mount Keira, the mountain within walking distance from the house that’s partially responsible for the crazy weather changes we get in Wollongong. The easiest way to sum it up would be to say that we climbed a mountain. Like, literally. Steep hills, winding paths, on all fours climbing rocks and finding footing up rocks where a stream ran down, the whole bit. The climb up provided a number of gorgeous views of the city and ocean below, and I kept thinking that it couldn’t get any better at each viewpoint, but I was wrong every time. It was utterly incredible! To the left, the mountain continued and went out of sight at the sharp bend that looks almost like a peninsula jutting out into the ocean at the north end. To the south, the lighthouse is visible on another peninsula-looking bend with the beach and the rest of the city and forest that covers the mountain splayed out before us. Joking, I asked where I-House was, and the Aussie that organized the hike was able to point it out to me! He gave us some fun information about the local wildlife along the way and pointed out some of the indigenous plants as we went, too. The walk down, as he had warned, was more strenuous than I anticipated, and I was dead tired by the time we reached the bottom. Still, the journey was well worth the view, exercise, and company! The rest of Saturday was quiet as well, and I was actually able to sit down and do some much neglected homework. (*I tried to upload a video with a scan of the view, but it didn't work, so it will be up on Picasa instead!)



The dolphin cruise that was meant to happen during O-Week had been rescheduled for Sunday, but between my exhaustion from the day before along with the weight of my homework bearing down on me, I decided to snooze my first alarm and spend the day at uni with Elana. We worked for the morning, and I was able to coordinate the trip we’re planning for the Blue Mountains for the next weekend with Kathleen. After a few hours of work, Elana and I went to the gym for a go on the elliptical and some ab work. On the way back from uni, we ran into some of the boys from I-House on their way to the soccer field for another pick-up game, so I ducked into the house to grab my cleats and got back on the field. There was enough for seven on seven this time, which was even more fun, and I now all I want is to play a full sided game on a proper field! After dinner, I tried to do more homework but was largely unsuccessful and though I had a presentation and workshop for a story draft on Monday, I chose to go out for a few hours with a smaller group of people. When I came back that night, I hung out with a few people from my deck in Rob’s room next door to me before calling it a night.

School this week was a bit more brutal, and I’ll really have to start buckling down in all of my classes if I want to do well while I’m here. Still, I like all my subjects and my professors too, so I have high hopes that I’ll manage to get my head around things and stop myself from going out instead of being responsible and productive! That having been said, instead of doing more homework for Tuesday and Wednesday, I chose to go to Crown Street Mall on Monday night with a friend from my deck to check out the bookstore that was going out of business. I hate to see a bookstore go under, but I do love the $5 for ANY book! Monday night was also the futsal final for the I-House team, basically indoor soccer with four on four plus keepers on a gym floor; since one of the girls was injured, I got asked to fill in for her! It’s been a while since I’ve played anything competitive where there’s something on the line, and it brought back a great rush of excitement that I hadn’t noticed I’d been missing. I think I’m hooked again! We started with the semi-final and won by a reasonable margin, then had a game to wait before we played the finals. The other team played dirty and it was a rough game, but the initial I-House crowd of fifteen or twenty from the semi-finals game had expanded to closer to thirty, I’d say, and the cheering was the best! I had the team’s first assist, and the team pulled off an extraordinary win with some beautiful goals by the guys on the team. My room is starting to fill up with knick-knacks and odds and ends I’ve collected so far, but my one of my newest favorite decorations is the trophy!

This week at the house, there are a number of birthdays, so Wednesday night was such a big night that we filled the first party bus, seats and standing room. The I-House songs were louder than I’ve heard them yet, and everyone was ready to have a good time, which we definitely did. There was more shuffling and dancing on the floor to what’s always good music. One of the Aussie guys brought a few glow sticks this time, which really lit up the floor and everyone had a good time trying to glowstick (if you’ve never seen anyone glowstick, please youtube it!), and a random from the club borrowed a few and pulled off some serious glowsticking moves while shuffling to the music—great entertainment! Our American techno fan got out there with some glowsticks too, making for an even better show. We spent the rest of the night dancing or catching our breath on the patio outside before catching the first bus back to the house with a big group from the house. Back at the house, I went with Kathleen to another friend’s room who was diligently doing homework when I left them before going to chill in the Red Room to watch a movie before bed.

Today, Thursday, I got to Skype with the family for the first time since being here, and even without sound from my somehow buggered speakers/microphone, it was the best to see my parents and Abby, as well as a surprise appearance by Aunt Karen. My pup Emmy licked the computer, completing the call, and I hung up with my family and have plans to reschedule for tomorrow morning. I spent the day doing homework on and off and was most pleasantly surprised to see a letter in my less than frequently checked mailbox from none other than my bestie and roomie BRoy! The letter made me laugh out loud, and my eyes filled with tears at the picture she sent from freshman year, the three of us roomies sitting on the couch under the IPFW flag before the soccer banquet. It’s now my favorite room decoration and the only picture I have here in Wollongong. You’re much loved, roomies! Needless to say, I spent my night not doing homework, but writing a response letter and this post after receiving some kind words about the blog. So for this post, a special shout out to BRoy! Expect your letter soon, friend! Meanwhile, I’ll be expecting Jackie’s arrival in Sydney on Saturday, which will begin a week of what I’m sure will be epic adventures in Australia! Hope all is well in the States, everyone =)

Here and there,
Kiley

Week One and Wonderful Times

Another busy week. I keep thinking that things will settle down, but I have to admit that I’m glad it’s still hectic and non-stop around here. It means there’s always something to write about, at least =) But getting back to last week…

Harry Potter was great, just as expected, and a surprisingly large group from the house went. The next morning, another big group met to catch the train into Sydney for our tour of Chinatown and the China Gardens. It was another miserably rainy day, but I remembered to bring an umbrella and managed to keep fairly dry for the day. Our tour guide spoke mainly about the history of the Chinese in Australia, and he gave us some fun facts, but the weather was so distracting I feel like I didn’t retain a whole lot. The poor guide’s awful tangents about his brother and a Chinese girl he’d had on a tour once were difficult to listen to, and the anecdotes didn’t help the group’s focus, either. Still, the gardens were pretty, and it was my first time really seeing Sydney, so I’d still chalk the morning as a win. The afternoon was an interesting adventure, getting back from the Qantas building and onto the correct train in Sydney – feel free to read about that fiasco here.



After getting back from Sydney, I went straight to dinner where they were beginning to set up for Bush Dance, which I understood to be the equivalent of a square dance in the US. Though I was urged to check it out by some SDO/mentor friends, I ended up hanging out, chatting, and having a drink as I desperately procrastinated and avoiding packing for surf camp. Eventually I did make it to packing and caught the bus with Kathleen, one of my American girlfriends, and we were on our way to camp. Only four people from I-House went to the camp, so we had a room to ourselves. Saturday and Sunday morning both started early, at 7:30, and we were given three two-hour lessons in the water, as well as a lesson on surf etiquette if/when we choose to go surfing in the “real world.” I managed to stand up and the instructors even got some videos while we surfed, so it was an incredible, exhausting, fun weekend.



By the time we rode the bus back on Sunday evening, I was dead tired and ready for bed, but everyone at I-House was ready to go out again. My refusals were refused and in the end, I ended up catching the party bus with what seemed like the rest of the house and went to Abbey’s, another club in Wollongong. Despite soreness from surfing, not wanting to go out in the first place, and the dread of my first Australian class at 9:30 the next morning, it turned out to be a great night. I’m beginning to think that there’s no such thing as a bad time in Australia.

Even my classes were bearable this week, and I think I’ll really enjoy all of them. I’ve signed up for an advanced fiction writing course, a writing seminar-type course with a mini-thesis, an American lit course, and an upper-level French language course. Everyone from my writing courses clearly all know each other, and I felt a bit awkward in my fiction class among a group of old friends. Still, even though fiction isn’t really my forte, I loved my intro to fiction, so I have high hopes for the course! The seminar class is basically a combination of all the upper-level writing courses, so I’m with all the same people and then some from my fiction course, and they all know each other, as well as the teacher. He actually walked into the class and looked around, stopped at me, then pointed and asked plainly, “Who are you?”
Being caught off guard, I answered (dumbly), “Um, I’m new.” I forgot to mention that I came down with a cold this week, so I said this with a thick throat in between sniffles, since I forgot to bring tissues. Great way to make friends.
Since it was obvious that I was new, the instructor rephrased his question so even a simpleton couldn’t answer wrongly. “And your name is..?”
I answered “Kiley” simply enough, and I efficiently responded to his questions about where I’m from and that I’m here for the semester, studying abroad. At this, he had the 30-40 students in the room introduce themselves to me in turn, so I learned everyone’s names quickly along with some varying form of “nice to meet you.” Awkward as I felt, it was nice to be introduced and welcomed into the group, and I spent the rest of that lecture thinking about my project for my mini-thesis final, but really I was just focusing on not coughing all over the poor two people next to me. This was also my primary focus in my American lit class, which I hope will be interesting to hear about the US from another country’s standpoint, as well as French. My ten person class also all knew each other, except for a friendly Aussie guy who took a year off and happens to have a brother living at I-House. All in all, I think my classes will be really great, and I’m so looking forward to them!

Party-wise, this week was much tamer than the last. I made it out on Wednesday again, but caught the first bus back since I was feeling so poorly. Thursday was a calm day off, since I only have class Monday-Wednesday, and I spent most of the morning reading outside in the Australian sun with Kathleen and Elana, both American girls I’ve been spending most of my time with. Friday turned out to be the big party night, known as the plex party, hosted by former I-House residents just a block away. It was another fun but short and uneventful night for me. On Saturday, I got a surprisingly early start and spent the morning watching shows with a friend on my deck, complete with a run to Chicko’s where I got the best chicken burger and fries I think I’ve ever had.


After fully recovering with TV and greasy food, we went to the beach to meet a group from I-House and relax. To be able to call sixty degree weather where you can comfortably sit on a beach in the sun in a swim suit just doesn’t count as winter, but I’m perfectly happy to be here in this weather. Eight of us in the group got to play soccer on the beach. Low tide gave us a great, flat and slightly hard ground to play on and, even though my team lost, it was a good work out and so much fun, as beach soccer always is.

Saturday night was as lazy as ever. We were able to claim the Red Room, a large room with over a dozen couches and a TV, and had a movie marathon where probably over twenty people filtered in and out over the course of the night. After a late night Macca’s (MacDonald’s) run, I passed out on a couch to Finding Nemo, then made it upstairs to bed. Today has been calm as well, aside from my first rugby game ever. Still trying to understand the rules, but St. George Illawarra Dragons (our team in Wollongong) are apparently pretty good, despite their loss today, so I expect I’ll see many more rugby games. Still on the agenda tonight is a shop run for a Nerf gun – necessary for living on C Deck, it seems – then this week we’ll hopefully plan our mid-semester break to Cairns (pronounced like “cans”) and the Great Barrier Reef. Should be another great week! Thanks for keeping in touch and continuing to read to everyone at home =)

Here and there,
Kiley

O what a WEEK

O-Week may have been one of the busiest, most hectic, most fun/best weeks that I've ever had. Perhaps a bit dramatic, but there it is. Someone told me today that if you’re ever bored at I-House, then you’re doing something wrong. He was the second person to tell me this, and after this first week of non-stop action, I’d have to agree. I hear things are going to slow down significantly now that school has started, but I can't imagine there will ever be a dull moment around here. But I’ll pick up where I left off with you last Tuesday night! (At least I think it was Tuesday, and not Monday…)

Tuesday night was the I-House bowling trip, and it turns out Australian bowling is exactly like it is in America. Except I seem to be an even worse bowler over here on the other side of the world. I lost both of our games with stellar scores of 87 and 114. Not consistent or impressive, but still fun. At least they blared Spice Girls and had black lights so we glowed in the dark.

Wednesday proved too rainy for the day trip we were supposed to take, so I ventured around campus to find my classes with a few other new Americans, Emily (one of the Americans), and an Australian from C-Deck, my floor. We looked through the uni shop which only has a small selection of jumpers (hoodies) and tshirts, stuffed animals, and trinkets – sorry to all of you who want your own, different shirt when I come back, you’ll probably all get the same! – then my new Australian friend helped me find all the buildings where my classes are. Turns out there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to the order of the numbering, so even though I’m in buildings 19, 20, 24, and 25, they happen to be basically nowhere near each other. Peachy, right? Either way, we finished up in time to go rock climbing, which took the place of the cancelled day trip. Oddly enough, rock climbing is also the exact same as it is in the US; it just turns out that there seem to be more natural places to go climb here than near Cinci, as well as more people willing to climb. Everyone seems to be into extreme sports in some fashion over here.



Everyone was eager to get back to the house to get ready after rock climbing, because not only is Wednesday the biggest party night here (it’s the cheapest night for drinks for college students, so it actually does make some sense!), but O-Week Wednesday is also the night of the Gala where our house raises money for charity. A lot of the people here performed as entertainment, and I was completely impressed by the amount of pure talent. A number of people played multiple instruments, and played them well. One group that didn’t have time to rehearse just got into position, shrugged, and turned out some of the best music of the night, in fact. Completely impressed! After Gala, everyone went back upstairs to trade in the semi-formal Gala attire for club clothes. Emily, Kathleen, Elana, and I got ready in Elana’s room and drudged through the endless rain to get to the party bus where I heard the first of all the I-House drinking songs – I’ll post lyrics once I learn them, because they’re that funny but a bit inappropriate to post here! Once we arrived at the Grand, everyone filed inside and it was crazy crowded! Everyone from I-House mainly stayed together, which seems to happen most of the time, and I felt really safe and very much a part of the group.

A note on Australian dancing/music: the music choice here was pretty similar to what you might hear in a club in the US (bad hip-hop/rap/R&B/I don’t know the difference), but here, everything is set to a bumpin techno-esque beat that just makes you want to dance. It’s less appropriate to dance bump-and-grind style here, so people generally do their own thing. I’m hoping that by the end of this that I’ll have learned some sense of rhythm from going out and dancing, but I don’t have such high hopes for my helpless self. I came back on the party bus with a different group than the one I left with and went to an Aussie friend’s room for posties (an after party beer), then finally went to bed around 3am. I can’t say that this will be a typical Wednesday night for me, but it was definitely a great way to go for the first Wednesday night of the session (semester).



Thursday morning came rather quickly, and I woke up to go on the rescheduled trip from Wednesday, which included a trip to Nan Tien (pronounced n-ah-n TEE-en) Buddhist temple – the largest in the southern hemisphere, then the Nowra Wildlife Park, then the big blow hole in Kiama (kee-AM-uh). Check out the pictures from these trips to get a better idea of everything I saw and did. Because I totally pet a koala, kangaroo, and wombat, and it was AWESOME.



That night, despite being incredibly tired, I went out again with other people from the house to Hostage where they were having their dub-step night, which as far as I can tell is a style of techno. I know that’s not quite it, but the strobe lights, lasers, mirrors, and smoke machines totally scream techno, so I’m going with techno. All in all, another fun night of dancing and hanging out – drink prices (still lower than normal, but still too expensive) and my budget have helped keep me from drinking too much and getting myself into any trouble, so no worries there, you can relax, friends and family ;) Still, I came back and had a postie and turned in to wake up early on Friday for the daytrip to Sydney and the China Gardens. More to follow on those and surf camp, but for now, I’m off to see Harry Potter (again) with I-House!

As far as I can tell, there are as many and as big a Harry Potter fans here as in the states. Looks like I’ve got competition with these fans, and I’m only too eager to test my own knowledge against theirs!

Here and there,
Kiley