So I know it’s been a while, but take that as a good thing. If I was sitting here every day writing a new blog, clearly it would come off like I wasn’t busy at all. So the fact that I’ve been having SOO much fun, and keeping SOO busy that it’s been hard to find time to blog is a positive quality and should inspire those thinking of going to Australia for a semester to go for it! (excuse? I think not.) First off, so far school has been great. I find myself keeping busy with class and schoolwork, but at the same time I have plenty of free time to explore. I had my first presentation last week, where I stood up in front of the class and talked about Apple’s allocation of corporate resources. First challenge; how was I going to take 20 pages of textbook information and turn it into a 5 minute oral presentation. Second challenge; how was I going to keep the class awake while doing so. Luckily, being from New York, the speed at which I speak excels that of the Australian standards…a lot, in turn keeping the class interested due to their constant attempts at trying to understand what I was saying. It actually turned out to be a great learning experience. I decided to study abroad to learn these kinds of things, like how knowing your audience goes just beyond the context of the material, but the way you present it. After class my professor explained how when he travels and makes presentations, he needs to adjust his speeches to match the speed of the culture he is presenting to, by using tactics like adding pauses, and talking a lot slower.
Went to surf camp last weekend, which was just unreal. It started off with a six hour bus ride to our destination. We got on the bus to find that Spicoli himself was our driver, it was a little frightening, not going to lie. There were times where I wouldn’t be surprised if, while still in motion, there was suddenly a knock at the door of the bus with someone delivering a cheese pizza, which of course he ordered via his shoe-phone. So about one hour away from our destination (about 12am at this point) there was suddenly a huge SMASH at the windshield and the bus driver pulled over and sprinted out. We had no idea what had happened but a real life game of telephone erupted from the front of the bus to the back. I was in the front, where we were hearing “I think a rock hit the window”, in the back of the bus however, they were saying “we hit a kangaroo, there’s so much blood!” Turns out it was a rock. Not only that but some 14 year old kid threw it at the bus. The poor kid was probably expecting some old fat man to be the driver, little did he know it was some young fit surfer dude who sprinted out to chase him down and eventually grabbed him. Once we got there, the next two days were an amazing experience of sunshine, beautiful beaches, and a butt-kicking workout.
Something I am extremely excited about is the fact that my Dad and little brother are coming to visit me a week from today! I can’t wait to see that little piece of home. As wonderful as it is being away, I really do find myself missing things that I knew I was going to miss, as well as things I had no idea I was going to miss. First off, I miss my family like crazy. Being at SHU, I was away, but knew my parents were always on call if I really needed them. Here it’s a whole different story. If I find myself stressed, homesick, etc, Mom can’t just get in the car and be here in two hours. I also really miss driving my car and playing my piano. There are also things I miss due to the fact that they don’t really exist in Australia, like New York pizza, Dunkin Donuts, light beer, the NHL, Glee, and bagels. Bagels are usually my go-to breakfast choice, here they just don’t exist. Now they do have these things called hot-cross-buns, which either sound like something from a nursery rhyme or something you would find in your Great Aunt Edna’s cabinet but don’t let the name fool you, they are delicious!
Can’t wait to show my Dad and brother around Sydney, because obviously by now I’m an expert ;) . Will post soon, until then, “All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I'm fine.”
By the way, here is some important information I learned in surf camp that I believe any swimmer planning to bath in shark infested waters should know:
...can't say I didn't warn ya!
