11,371 miles,
25+ hours in flight,
7 airports,
5 time zones,
and 2 oceans later…..
And that’s only the total travel time. That does not even include the months of anticipation, the arduous application process, the stressful decision period, the tedious orientation classes, and the final frantic days of packing.
I have arrived.
I am in Australia.
This is actually happening.
After all of that, our actual arrival was somewhat anti-climactic. We flew into Perth the evening of Monday, July 21st to find a city that was cold, rainy, dark, and somewhat empty. We were sleep deprived from the countless hours spent cramped in economy (aisle seat for days….literally) and disoriented from switching so many time zones. It all seemed like one, long, drawn out dream.
That dream is now a reality as I now have two weeks abroad under my belt. I’m even tempted to say that I’ve settled in to life here in Freo (that’s how the locals refer to Fremantle). When we weren’t in long and dull orientation meetings, our first week was full of exploring/blundering around like only a group of American college students could. We discovered the cafes, the beaches, the markets, and the nightlife. We learned how to order coffee in Australian – I like to alternate between ordering a long black (an Americano) and a cap (cappuccino) – and how to cross the street without getting run over (hint: look to the right, and no, pedestrians do not get the right of way).
25+ hours in flight,
7 airports,
5 time zones,
and 2 oceans later…..
And that’s only the total travel time. That does not even include the months of anticipation, the arduous application process, the stressful decision period, the tedious orientation classes, and the final frantic days of packing.
I have arrived.
I am in Australia.
This is actually happening.
After all of that, our actual arrival was somewhat anti-climactic. We flew into Perth the evening of Monday, July 21st to find a city that was cold, rainy, dark, and somewhat empty. We were sleep deprived from the countless hours spent cramped in economy (aisle seat for days….literally) and disoriented from switching so many time zones. It all seemed like one, long, drawn out dream.
That dream is now a reality as I now have two weeks abroad under my belt. I’m even tempted to say that I’ve settled in to life here in Freo (that’s how the locals refer to Fremantle). When we weren’t in long and dull orientation meetings, our first week was full of exploring/blundering around like only a group of American college students could. We discovered the cafes, the beaches, the markets, and the nightlife. We learned how to order coffee in Australian – I like to alternate between ordering a long black (an Americano) and a cap (cappuccino) – and how to cross the street without getting run over (hint: look to the right, and no, pedestrians do not get the right of way).
The second week marked the first week of classes and a whole new set of learning experiences. Classes here are different. They only meet up once a week, and since I have two on Mondays, I get Wednesdays off (a little mid-week siesta). To compensate, they run for three hours total – a two-hour lecture with a short break in the middle followed by an hour-long tutorial (if they don’t teach me stamina and endurance, I don’t know what will). Busy work also does not exist here. Most classes only have a couple assignments for the whole semester and then finish with a final exam that is worth literally half your grade (you heard me right, 50 whole percentage points). To make things worse, only a handful of A’s are awarded in each class. To receive an A, or according to the Australian system, a High Distinction (HD), your work must be highly academic and even “publishable.” The professor must also defend your HD against a board of examiners who crosscheck all HD’s awarded in an intense effort to limit grade inflation.
So basically I really will have to study while I am studying abroad here.
Cheers to that, mates!
Maggie
So basically I really will have to study while I am studying abroad here.
Cheers to that, mates!
Maggie
LESSON #1 Australia is not always hot and sunny.
Winter here means wind and rain and cold. This really becomes an issue because the whole phenomenon of central heating has not really caught on here. Everything, from the classrooms to the coffee shops and the residence halls, is cold. Good thing I packed planning for an endless summer. That aside, Australian winters are still quite pretty, and they don’t include any of that nasty white stuff we call snow.