On The Rocks

August 2nd

Today was much more exciting than the previous day. Later this week, the student’s parents are going to have the opportunity to come in during school in order to see what their kids have been working on. Some of the students participate in extra-curricular activities such as band, guitar, violin, choir, and dance. These students will be performing during Education day and in order to practice their performance, we had an assembly to come and watch them! First up was the junior band, and I must admit it you could definitely tell that these student had barely picked up their instruments, however as the various performances went on, they definitely got better. The dancers ended the assembly and they were by far my favorite. I was impressed to see how many options these students had when it came to these extra clubs and activities, we didn’t have any of these options till middle or even high school.

Later, we had plans to save Stephanie from her host family and meet one of Jill’s friends for dinner. Before picking up Stephanie we had heard a little bit of her host situation, however once we had her in the car she really started to let loose and tell us what all of the things that had happened. Apparently, her host mom/teacher told her that she wished she could have picked how she would have hosted because she would have chosen someone else, she bashed the way she taught and wrote her letters in front of the students and told her that she was going to mess them up, and told her that she couldn’t wait to cash the check she got for having her so that she could pay her mortgage. On top of all of this her host didn’t take Stephanie to do anything the previous weekend, and one of the first nights being there she woke up with a bug in her ear and had to take a trip to the doctors! In other words, things were getting to be quite ridiculous, and Jill felt so bad that she asked for Laura’s number (our professor) to call and let her know that she would be more than willing to take on another student to host if it could be arranged.

Eventually, we ended up making our way down to the Rocks to a pub called the “Observer” get some more cider, and of course wedges! We waited their till Jill’s friend Amanda met us there, and then it was time to try out this place called “Pancakes on the Rocks”. I must admit I am not much of a pancake fan; however, these were by far the best pancakes that I have ever eaten! I ordered “Blueberry Heaven” and it consisted of 2 pancakes with blueberry topping, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.! On top of all that, before we had eaten the pancakes Jill and I had split some chicken and mushroom crepes that were also quite delectable. I don’t know if I have ever been so full in my life!!...Ihop has some serious catching up to do!

On the way home we had to take Stephanie back to the dragon women that she was staying with, and I felt really bad having to leave her there, but at least we had plans to pick her up the following night as well. During the car ride, Jill introduced us to “Love Song Dedications” with David Mercer haha. The host has the deepest voice ever and is definitely a perfect fit for the saps that call in to dedicate songs to their “lovers”! Some of the stories that people call in with are ridiculously entertaining. Jill and I ended up rockin’ out to some Usher and Bet Midler “Wind Beneath My Wings” haha it was great.

Monday, Monday, Mondayyy

August 1st

Not a whole lot happened today, though after a long weekend I must admit I could tell it was Monday. I spent a lot of time helping the students finish up their fish projects by putting glitter glue on the lips, fins, and tail; the finished product turned out so cute! After school we had another professional development meeting which was once again quite boring. there was a group of the “American’s” seated at the back of the meeting and they did decide to pick on us a bit and ask us a question about our discipline procedures that are in place in the States, but none of us really knew the answer to that one, oops.

When we got back to the house Katie and I decided that we really needed to work on the homework we had due for that week since we had plans for the rest of the week. Our homework place lately seems to be down in the basement next to the fireplace, it’s so much warmer down there!! Even though we spent a lot of time down there I really didn’t get anything done, I was really struggling to focus on what I needed to.

Tugboats and Harbors

July 31st
Got to sleep in a little more today which is always nice! At around 1 o'clock we were meeting up with the rest of the students and their hosts that are at Rouse Hill Public School. One of the teacher's boyfriend has a tugboat and he offered to take us all out for a ride through the harbor. Though I have been able to see the harbor, Opera House and bridge from land, I must say it is just as breathtaking from a boat, and it couldn't have been nicer weather! The sun was shining and all in good company. Once we anchored the boat at a little beach area, we had a little buffet of various foods known in Australia. We were in charge of the candy (Jaffers, Fantails, Minties) or "Lollies" as they would call them, and others brought Lamingtons, TimTams, homemade desserts and other finger foods. So we all grazed about the food and read the trivia that was on the wrappers of the Fantails. Eventually, it was time to pull in the anchor and head back to the dock, but overall I am glad that Neil was generous enough to offer to take all of us on his boat/home.

Katie, Jillian (host teacher) and I :)

While we were on the boat we had been talking about what we did over the weekend and about our hosts, and I'm pretty sure that there are some that could be jealous of how lucky Katie and I got :)






Not much happened once we got home. We ate some pasta with mushrooms, spinach, and tomatos in it and then Katie and I headed down to the basement to do some hw by the fire. I really didn't get anything done but the fire was nice! haha Plus once Katie went to bed Wilson decided he wanted to join me on the couch :)

Blue Mountains!

July 30th
I finally got to sleep in a little today, even though I still got up a couple hrs before my alarm, which happens almost every morning for some reason. Anyways, today is the day we headed off to the Blue Mountains! We first stopped in this cute little town called Leura that had cute little shops that reminded me a lot of Lexington. We wandered around for a little bit and one of our stops included a little candy shop, which happened to sell some A&W root beer (unfortunately no Vernors). The previous day at the Fiddler we were talking about root beer and Vernors and whether or not they had anything like it here that would compare to it. So, Jillian decided to buy herself a can to see what exactly root beer was. Needless to say, you could tell by the look on her face that she had never had anything like it before, and was not a fan. I remember Helena and Vivian trying it for the first time in the states, and though Vivian loved it, Helena for some reason thought that it tasted like toothpaste haha. Jillian just thought that it tasted like medicine; neither of their comparisons I can relate to. After Jill took a few sips hoping to acquire a taste, she decided to give up and hand off the rest to Katie and I.

After eating lunch in Leura, it was time to make our way to the Three Sisters. The three sisters are three rock formations that stand on the Blue mountains and are part of an Aboriginal legend. The legend says that they caused a battle after trying to marry into a different tribe, they were turned to stone for protection but the elder that did this was killed in battle so they remained this way. Once we saw them from a distance it was time for an up close and personal visit to the three ladies to get some more pictures. As we were waiting to make our way down the side of the mountain (via built in stairs) there were people climbing up them that sounded like they had just run a marathon, and I quickly realized why. I'm not sure how far down they had climbed up from but the stairs were quite steep and uneven!


We finally made it to more of a path that went along the side of the mountains, and this part of the hike took about 1.5hrs or so. Though a lot of it was wooded area, there were lots of points that allowed you to peek through the trees and see more of the mountains. This whole thing was peaceful and very enjoyable to walk through. At one point we heard russling in some leaves and turned to look and find a fat mouse making its way up the hill. I took this opportunity to grab Katie's shoulders and she jumped and screamed so loud I don't think we had to worry about coming across anymore wild life haha. I'm not sure what scared her more though, me or the scenic railway that had to take us back up the mountain. This railway is apparently the steepest in the world and Katie was all sorts of freaking out; Jillian and I found this quite humorous! When we finally got off, the guy that was there to greet us told Katie that they sold drinks upstairs, and that she should celebrate her survival haha.


Once we got back outside, there to meet us were some um, very interesting aboriginal statues there to greet us. We took it upon ourselves to have a photo shoot with them !

The plan from here was to take the last path back across the mountains back to where we started. However, these plans were a bit dampered after we ran across some yellow caution tape and a sign that said that there had been some dibre that had fallen and blocked our path. Therefore we opted to take the road back rather than paying for a bus. We were all quite exhausted when we got back home and I managed to sneak in a bit of a nap before dinner. They call this a "Nana Nap" rather than a "Cat Nap"; I think that I will be using this terminology from this point forward haha. For dinner, we grilled up some of the steaks that Jillian won in her meat tray, and had some amazing cheesy potatos and a salad.

The day wasn't over yet tho! Now it was time to meet up with some of Jillian's friends (Marc, Adam, and Mitch) in Parramatta at a place named PJ's Irish Pub. When we were on our way in they bouncer noticed our ID's were clearly not Australian and said that the "special visitors" could go through a different door and get in free, rather that paying the $10 cover!! Gotta love being the foreign one!lol. Jillian's friends were I believe all from her Uni. and were teachers themselves. They were talking to us about how much they were in debt and were surprised to find that we paid like five times as much for college than we did and decided that they need not complain haha. They then tried to convince that we should just move here and make more money, esp since our dollar is really not helping me out at all here.

Eventually it was time to hit the dance floor, which is always a good time. At least until someone gets kicked out haha. While we were on the dance floor, there was a guy that decided that it was a good idea to turn the speaker into a corner because it was in his ear. Wellll...this made the sound even worse so I reached behind Marc to turn it back around and he helped me a little bit. After we got it turned around a bouncer came over and told Marc not to touch anything, and after denying that he had and that it wasnt his fault the bouncer decided to kick him out. Apparently it was time to go lol. We then decided to make our way back to Marc's house for a little while rather than heading home.

Before we left to go out for the night Jillian had told us that she thought Marc was getting the wrong idea and that he was trying to make moves on her. Well, Katie and I got to wittness this first hand and it was sooo clear that Jill was not interested but he was clearly not getting the hint. Man I hate when guy do that!! lol but I must admit it was a bit entertaining to watch when its not you! Eventually Jill had had enough and it was time to go home and passss outttt!!

M is for Mitten

July 29th

Since Jill's classroom was going to pretty much be doing spelling tests all moring, I decided to go check out one of the special education classrooms. This school has about 5 different classes that are designated special education, which I found to be quite a lot ! The one that I was in had about 8 kids in either kindergarten or 1st grade, all of which were diagnosed with some degree of Autism. I thought they were all great, and it made me wonder if I should have specialized in special education. One of the kids I was told didn't talk unless he thought it suited him, but apparently talking to me suited him just fine. He brought up a puzzle and started to name all of the animals that were on it, then not to much later he brought me a monkey and started to rub it on my face. H ewas too cute, I am hoping to be able to go back to that classroom before I leave.

After recess it was time for me to go back to the class that I have normally been in and do a little mini-lesson on where I am from. I read them the book "M is for Mitten", passed around some postcards, and the petoskey stone that I brought to give to my host teacher. While I was reading the book I stopped to explain the different things that it was talking about and was able to relate some of them back to familiar things that they could relate to here. I also got lots of hands up with different questions, some of which were relevant and many were not, but thats ok, I think they still enjoyed learning a little more about me and where I'm from (plus I sound funny lol).

On the calender in the staff room for today it says "Please Use Bins" which is code for PUB! haha They apparently use this phrase when talking about going out to have a drink after work or what they did on the weekends, just in case there are students around. So, after school today we all met up at a place called The Mean Fiddler to get drinks and of course WEDGES! I think I might have to bring home some sweet chili sauce :) At one point while we were sitting there, there was a man that came over to sell raffle tickets to win a meat tray. Jillian told the man that if she bought tickets she had to win because she NEVER wins thing, and low and behold she had the winning ticket! The man said that there was over $50 worth of meat on the tray, it was quite massive lol.

Once everyone had eaten they all pretty much just left, so I guess it was time for us to head back home as well. The rest of the night was pretty chill and we all sat around watching "The Sweetest Thing" for a while, until we all gradually headed off to bed. I think that I stayed up a while to skype with Madre which is always a nice way to end the night :)

Fish and Prossy Spotting!!

July 28th

Today started out with a boring meeting before school lol. They just took turns talking about whatever anouncemets that they needed to make. As far as what we did in class today we pretty much just worked on an art project all day. I was a little surprised to see that, but I guess next week is "education week" and the parents are allowed to come into the classroom to see what they have been doing in class. They worked on a really cute fish, that had you put scales made out of cupcake papers cut into fours. Once they finished the actual fish, they painted a background for it on a piece of paper. Jill let me make one myself and gave me a copy of the cutout they used, so that I could have the option to use the project myself one day.

After school we went to the shops again to finish getting supplies for some other projects that she has planned for the rest of the week and next week. Then we had plans to go out to dinner with one of Jillian's friends but she decided to go to the movies or something instead; but we went out anyways. We headed into town and went to a nice little bar to get some Wedges, Sour Cream, and Sweet Chili sauce (my new favorite) and had a cider to go along with it. After that we decided to head to get some real food and eat at a Thai restaurant. I naturally ordered Pad Thai with chicken, but even though this was a really nice place I think I still prefer the little hole in the wall Bancok Star in Port Huron.

On the way home Jill pointed out the direction that she said she would normally go to get home but that we were taking a little detour through King's Cross to go "Prossy Spotting!!". Apparently this meant that we were going to look for prostitutes haha. So, as we creeped slowly in her car through King's Cross we managed to spot three "Prossys" ! One of which we were pretty sure was a man lol. After all of this excitement it was time to go home and get some sleep :)

Another School day

July 27th

Before school today all of the stage 1 (1st and 2nd grade) teachers got together to share some ideas, which I thought was great! I think it is important to collaborate and pass on ideas you have to one another rather than just locking yourself up in your own little classroom with your own students.
As the students started to make their way into the classroom one of them presented me with a very colorful  card that they made for me! I love when I get stuff like this :)First thing we did as usual was our reading groups. However, I must admit, I kicked some butt playing a homophone memory game with my reading group today haha. I've still got it! I remember mom use to hate playing that game with me ! After that they moved on to their Phonics routine, which I admit I find a bit odd. The teacher holds flashcards up with various phonemes and they all "chant" together the different sounds that it can make and then sometimes even say the number of letters it is to clarify things such as "f" and "ph". Definitely a new method that I'm not familiar with.

They also have this think called "sip and crunch". It is a designated time in class when the students are go get out fruits and/or veggies with water or juice while they work; in our class they get read to during this time. I guess this is to promote healthy eating? These kids also have scripture inlcuded into their schedule, which I found to be a bit of a surprise since this is a public school. The students get split up into groups based on their religion and those who don't have one or theirs isn't offered go to a room that is for non-scripture where they are just given busy work.

After school we headed to the mall so Jill could find some crafty items for the art projects the kids are working on. While she did that Katie and I headed to the bookstore to see if we could find some books with Australian authors. No such luck there but I did find a really cute book about fall that I'm really excited about for some reason. There falls here aren't the same as ours, even though it's winter a majority of their trees still have their leaves on them.

For dinner, Katie and I got to experience our first meat pie. I must admit I was a little nervous to try something called a meat pie, but it actually wasn't too bad! It seemed to me to basically be a pie filled with sloppy joe stuff. I told Jill this and she looked at me funny wondering what exactly as sloppy joe was. I guess here they call sweatshirts without hoods "sloppy joes" haha. I can see how this might be a little confusing. After dinner Katie and I decided it would be a good idea to go downstairs by the fireplace (its actually warm here!!) and do the hw that we had due that night and Sunday since we probably wouldn't have much time to do it the rest of the week.

Still Lovin' it !

Today I got to see more of what a normal day of school looked like. The students were in uniform, had actual subjects and there wasn't a Giant rugby player to distract them. I got to help with another reading group again today, and also with some of the math work that they were working on.I am hoping to actually teach a lesson or two before I leave, I'm just not exactly sure what or when; its possible I get to teach a science lesson :)

On thing I got to witness today was the students Mandarin lesson. Once a week they have a teacher come in at teach them Chinese for about 40minutes, but I must say it was quite interesting. The teacher that I am working with, isn't the biggest fan of it but the kids really dont seem all to interested and goof off a lot, so I could see why. This particular school actually has four classes that are considered bilingual and are taught in both Mandarin and English; they are expecting to have up to 6 of them by next year!

Once we got home Katie, Jillian and I just sat around and talked over tea (cran, strawberry, raspberry tea it was delicious!). Oh! and I also introduced Jillian to "peopleofwalmart.com" haha simply because there was someone in the staff room talking about it so I couldn't help but show her some of the ridiculous pictures that are on there. Eventually it was time for dinner which was some sort of roast and veggies which was really good! We also broke down and ate some ice cream later too :) Eventually I had to also do the interview with her that I have been putting off a bit. I'm really not liking the fact that I have 5 assignments to do before I leave, I really would just like to enjoy myself!

Funny story... While working with one of  the students with their math worksheet, I asked if I could use her eraser. She replied with "what!?" So I tried asking her again, and then a kid across from her said oh a razer like this!? as he held up a pencil sharpener. I then tried to explain that I wanted something to make the pencil disappear and they replied with..."Ooohhh!! a Rubber!!" haha I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that something so simple was called something else (with such a different meaning at that).

First day in an Aussie Classroom :)

I got to wake up nice and early today to get ready for my first day of 1st/2nd grade at Rouse Hill Primary School! Those of us who were placed here had a little talk with the principal and a tour of the school which is quite large with 900 some students K-6. The schools here are set up a little differently when it comes to how it is set up; rather than having one big building, they have multiple buildings that require you to walk outside to get from classroom to classroom. Also, their playgrounds have a roof over them in order to protect the kids from the sun, since skin cancer is such a big problem in Australia. The kids also are sometimes required to wear hats when they go outside. Once it was time for school to start all of the students were gathered for an assembly before heading to the classrooms, and at this they decided to welcome all of the American teachers from MSU that were there.

Typically the students would be required to wear a uniform to school, however today was apparently a really big day in the fact that a famous Rugby League player named Jarryd Hayne was coming! Many of the kids were all dressed in their blue and yellow jerseys and anything else that had to do with the "Parramatta Eels". One of the kids in my class was all decked out in a full on mini uniform since his Dad is apparently one of the coaches for the team (he was too cute!). After helping with the reading groups first thing, they were all excited that they got to decorate a poster to hold up for when this Jarryd guy came into the classroom. It's funny to see people get all worked up about a player and game that I no nothing about! I had to explain to one of the girls that I had never even seen a Rugby game because it's not really that big in America.

Eventually it was time for Morning Tea/Recess. The kids got to eat some of their snack in class and then take anything left out to recess with them while Jillian and I went to the staff room for our own morning tea since we didn't have recess duty. I don't remember the exact amount of time that we had but i remember thinking that it was a fairly long little break that we got! Then only an hour or so later it's time for lunch which was also quite long compared to the lunches that I'm use to in school. After school we had to go to a professional development meeting, which apparently happens every Monday. Though the meeting was a bit on the boring side I think it's great that they have these sorts of meetings that often, it's a nice way to see that everyone is on the same page.

Finally the meeting was over and we all got to go home. We came home to find Margret and Granny gone and just Don and Wilson relaxing at home. Today for dinner we had some sort of spaghetti and meatballs with curry ? I'm not exactly sure what it was but it was good! I had a glass of wine with dinner and we all sat around talking about education and various other things. I have to interview Jillian by wednesday but i feel like I have been doing that since I got here! I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to ask, but I should probably get going on that!

Meeting of the Host Family :)

July 24th
Today was the day that I got to move out of the dorms and meet the teacher and family that I will be staying with for the next few weeks ! I must admit standing around the corner waiting for them to tell us to come find the nametag of the person we would be staying with was a bit nerve wrecking! However, I was pretty sure that I was going to like them even after a few minutes of talking to them. My host is a 27yr old 1st and 2nd grade teacher named Jillian who lives with both her parents and their dog Wilson (who is also pretty cool). After our brief meeting and morning tea we were off to see how much luggage we could cram in to her moms car, then it was off to see our new home.

Jillian had a field hockey team to play in after they came to meet us so her mom was the one to drive us to our new home. The car ride back to their house was really weird simply for the fact that I was in the passenger’s seat, which is our driver’s side! Not only that but there was often a moment of panic when I thought she was turning into the wrong lane! Their house at the end of a cul-de-sac and is super cute! Katie and I both have our own rooms and will be sharing a bathroom. It is a bit odd though, due to the fact that the toilet is in its own little closet like room and the shower and sink are across the hall. Also, they don’t keep the heat in either of those rooms, so I dread sitting on the toilet seat because it is so freaking cold!! Their backyard is also pretty cute. there is a little deck and fish pond, and then near the fence they have lemon, orange, and cumquat trees!

Once we were settled in a bit, Margret (Jillian’s Mom) made us some lunch which was pumpkin soup! I had never had it before but it was actually quite good! Not too long after, Margret and Don (Jillian’s Dad), took Katie and I on a little hike through the bush (finally found out what she meant by this in her email) at the end of their road. The trail through this wooded area was I must say quite beautiful. Even though it is winter, most of the trees keep their leaves so it is still very full of life and running water. I cannot wait to go back their again and take pictures while making my way through everything! We didn’t see any snakes or spiders while we were out there though, which they said that they rarely see any snakes; so no worries Mom! J We did see however some pretty cool birds, birds which make ours seem pretty pathetic. We saw some kookaburras, cockatoos, and other colorful birds that I don’t remember the names of lol. 

Shortly after we arrived back at the house Jillian came home from her game and we made our way back into the house and basically chitchatted about a lot of random things just trying to get to know one another. Jillian’s “Granny” was also at the house. Her Granny and Mom are leaving tomorrow to go on a cruise, which Margret feels terrible about leaving us here, but I guess they booked these plans before they knew that we were coming. There family is too cool though, especially Granny. They kept telling her what to do and picked on her a bit but she was pretty feisty and was able to give it back; which reminds me a lot of my Grandma and I love it!

Eventually it was time for dinner and we all made homemade pizza together with all sorts of different options for toppings. I eventually gave in and had a drink with them while we were waiting, and chose sweet cider which was very good; so was the pizza! Jillian couldn’t stay long after dinner though because she had another field hockey game later that night that she had to make her way to. After talking some more it was eventually time to head off to my room and write my blog for today, which I had to write in a word document because they couldn’t remember what their wireless password was. Getting pretty excited to head be in a classroom tomorrow though!

Sydney Swans!

Win for Sydney Swans over the Western Bulldogs!

Finally caught up on my days, and blogging!

Today we actually got to sleep in a bit! Then it was time to attempt to find our way to the arena that would be holding an Australian Football League (AFL) game or "Footy" as they like to call it here. We weren't really sure where we were going so we were sure to look up and write down all of the trian information that we needed before we left. Except, there seemed to be something wrong with those directions; when we got off at one of our transfer spots we noticed that there were people wearing Sydney Swans gear that were still sitting on the train, so we quickly jumped back on since we figured that they knew where they were going more than we did! Come to find out that one of the girls was sent an email saying that the location was changed but apparently we were the only ones that go this memo. We decided to creepily follow what the people wearing red and white were doing and eventually one of them turned around and asked if we were following them, and we confessed! However, they were very nice and made sure that we followed the right way and eventually struck up friendly conversation with us about where we were from and what we knew about Footy (which was pretty much nothing). So they tried to fill us in a bit about what would be going on .

Australian rules football is really a mix between football, soccer and even a little volleyball. There are four poles at each end of the field; two taller poles in the middle and two smaller on either side. If the ball is kicked between the middle two poles its six points and if it hits a pole or is between the outer two its one point. The ball can only be kicked, lightly tossed or "punched" (kinda like volleyball) to other players, and you cannot run to far with the ball without bouncing it once and a while. This is a full contact sport and you are allowed to tackle one another, however keep in mind that they wear no helmets or padding at all! This sport seems to require much more endurance and athleticism than the NFL; these guys are solid muscle! One guy told us that they can run up to 10miles in one game. And I must admit have very nice rumps :) haha. Needless to say this game was very fast paced and a lot of fun to watch!

After the game we made our way back to central station and found a place to eat, which apparently wasn't such a great find. One of the girls that was with us has a very stricked diet to follow due to some sort of stomach issue and they were quite rude to her and eventually the rest of us. They were quite slow, even though they weren't all that busy, and managed to get a lot of our orders wrong in some way or another. We were discussing the fact that though there are endless amounts of friendly people around Australia, people in services tend not to be, and we were wondering if it had something to do with the fact that they are not tipped at all like we do in the states.

Now It's time to pack up my stuff here at Macquarie Uni. I am meeting my host teacher tomorrow morning and will be staying with her the majority of the time I have left here. I'm a bit nervous! but excited to finally get into the classrooms this monday :)  



Day of the Bridge Climb!!

The top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge!

July 22nd

Though we didn't have class today, my day started even earlier than it would if I did. Megan, Emily, Katie, and I were all scheduled to climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge at 9:05! We got there a little early but it wasn't long before they had us in a room signing papers and preparing us for the climb rain or shine. We got to put on these really goofy jumpsuits and then since it was raining we had to put rain pants over top. As we moved on to the rest of the accessories, they all were attached to us in some way or another; complimentary hat, beanie, hanky, gloves, fleece, raincoat. We also were required to take a breathalizer test and had to walk through a metal detector; it was pretty intence! lol  Before we got to do the real thing we had to do a simulation climb to practice how to attach ourselves to the cable and climb up and down the ladders the right way...then it was time for the real thing!
Height 134m
Length 1,149m
Stairs 1,390
Steel 52,800t
Rivets 6 million
View 360 degrees
The guy that led our climb was a pretty awesome Aussie named Joe. He was so high spirited regardless of the whether and pointed out various things to take a look at along with some random facts. He also stopped us at various points and took pictures of us both individually and as a group (they were to purchase later since you weren't allowed to bring your camera on the climb for safety reasons) The best was when he was talking about how Australians love their "barbies" but Americans were really the pros but they call it "tailgating" lol the four of us started cheering! Then at one point he was asking us about football and said that Michigan has a pretty good football team but we were all very quick to tell him that it was Michigan STATE that had the good team and that you have to add that word onto the end of it for that statement to be true :) We don't want those Aussies to be confused now do we!
I must admit I wasn't really sure if it was gonna be worth the money I had to spend to do this, but it was definitely something I am glad that I got to experience! I was however extremely bummed that it rained almost the entire climb.

After the long climb we were starving!! So we decided to wander around The Rocks (first area of settlement in Australia) and find somewhere to eat. We ended up at Zia Pina, which was the pizza place that I had eaten at earlier in the week. When we left we were headed out to find Paddy's Market again to get the souvenirs that we had left to get for people, and on the way we ran into Jen (our prof) and she tagged along with us. Paddy's market was just as overwhelming as it was the first time, with all of the venues and items all crammed in next to eachother. I was able to get most of the stuff I was looking for, however I forgot to make a list like I had planned before I went so I forgot a couple people. But I still have over 3 weeks to pick up stuff for them.

Megan and I wanted to go out since we would get to sleep in the next day and would be one of our last nights in Sydney, but no one really wanted to and by the time we discovered that we weren't really feelin like it either. We instead decided to head to a little place called The Ranch down the road from Macquarie to get some dinner. We were seated when we got there, but as we sat there we began to wonder if this place had actual waiters...come to find out they didn't! You actually had to go up to this counter where the kitchen was and order the food yourself and they gave you a buzzer to let you know when you could come pick it up. Then if you wanted anything to drink (even water), you had to go up to the bar to order that there. We found all this quite odd since it was a pretty nice place.

It was then time to head back, and it was kind of nice to have a night to catch up on the things that I haven't had much time to do; like write in this blog!

IMAX and Harry Potter

July 21st

Today was the last day of class for the week, and I really wasn't too impressed with the speakers we had so I was pretty excited to get out early and get movin. We headed to the mall for some cheaper food, then was able to come back to the dorms to try and catch up on this whole blogging thing and skype a little :)

Tonight's plans were made in advance to make our way to the biggest IMAX theatre in the world to see the finall Harry Potter movie in 3D! I would not consider myself  much of a Harry Potter fan; I have only read the first three books and I have only seen the first four movies and the first part of the last movie. But I went to see it anyways since I did see the first part, and besides that, when else am I going to get to see a movie on the biggest screen in the world!? Regardless of my thoughts on HP though, I must say I thought it was actually pretty darn good! The screen was absolutely overwhelming and the 3D affects were actually worth having there; there were literally parts that made you feel like you were in the movie!

Megan and I were debating on meeting some people out after the movie got out, but decided against it since we had to get up early to climb the bridge in the morning :) ....Oh, and it was down pouring again today, I really wish it would stop!!!

As side note of things I have noticed...

• One thing I noticed that I also noticed when I was in Germany, was that people don't typically say excuse me when trying to make their way by you, or if they bump into you. I wonder why that is? I remember having to ask Helena how to say "excuse me" in German because there were so many times I wanted to use it.
• I also noticed that they contract the words "might" and "not" to mightn't ! It wasn't just one person that I have witnessed using this word but even our professor has used it a few times! I just found that to be a bit odd I guess.

Hyde Park & Botanical Gardens

July 20th

Today we had Jen as our professor (she's from MSU), which was a really nice break! We got to go in at 9 rather than 8:30 AND got out an hour early! We talked mostly about the different hw assignments we are going to have once we start living with our host families and joining them in the classrooms. Which I am really starting to excited for! I can't wait to work with 1st and 2nd graders with cute Australian accents! haha...Oh! I also got to try TimTams which are like a cookie sandwhich thing covered in chocolate, and I honestly don't think I'm a fan. Apparently there are a variety of flavors, but the only one I really wanna try is the mint chocolate kind. I'll have you let you know if I end up liking that one any better.

There were actually people playing!

The plans for after class were to head to Hyde Park, Botanical Gardens, and to get our tickets to the Sydney Opera House. Hyde Park was a lot more enjoyable than I thought it was going to be; it was gorgeous...even if it was raining (go figure). We spent most our time there looking for the "life size" chess set that we were told was there, and tho it was pretty big, we all were expecing it to be a lot bigger haha. After that we made our way to the Botanical gardens. Upon entering, Katie and Amy decided that they wanted to just wander around them rather than making their way to where you are able to get both the Harbor Bridge and the Opera house in the same picture. I was able to get some really good pictures, especially when I climbed some rocks along the shore line!

We then were off to the Opera House while looking for Amy and Katie at the same time; though we never did find them! We ended up getting tickets for August 5th to see Randy Newman with the Sydney Symphony. Since we gave up on trying to find the other girls, Lauren, Emily, Stephanie and I headed to the Rocks to find this place that we kept hearing about called Zia Pina. It was a cute but very crowded little Italian place and though the pizza was good, I think it was built up a little more than it should have been. Eventually we headed back to the dorms and once again I returned drenched!

Pylons and Monsoons!

July 19th

Today was the second day of class and there was one particular speaker that I really enjoyed. He was a principal in a primary school and I thought that some of the stuff his school does for the kids was awesome! There are a group of kids with behavioral problems in his school that they take sailing! The purpose of this is to get them to relax and get rid of some of their anxiety, along with getting them alone with one on one time to talk to them about anything they would like. Apparently after starting this program the student's suspension track record decreased a lot! They also took a group of Aboriginal students to the beach...which apparently they had never seen before! They were very curious and as they walked in they eventually immersed themselves and began rolling around in it, wondering where it came from! I thought it was great that this school had programs were able to do such things with their students! I also found it great that a lot of this was funded by the Government, I feel like this would never happen here. They also pay their teachers a lot more here. Apparently if i wanted to move here after I became certified, I could come here for a year and earn about $70,000! If only that were the same case here!

After class a group of us headed off to the Sydney Harbor Bridge to climb the Pylon. We got to walk across the bridge to get there and then up about 250 stairs to get to the top. I wanted to pay the small amount of money to do this, before I decided to pay the expenses to actually climb it! I must say that the sight from here was quite amazing and at first I wasn't quite convinced I should do the real thing, but actually seeing a group climbing it while I was up there was a bit more convincing.

We really didn't stay in the city long since we were planning on going out and meeting some people later, plus we wanted to get to the mall to get cheaper food before it closed. The mall here closes pretty early (about 5-5:30) which is very inconvenient lol! Once we found something to eat we went to a store to get a drink called "Passion Pop" which was like a berry flavored champagne I think? We came back to the dorms to get ready then headed out to the Shangri La hotel; which has a bar and the top that apparently has a better view than the top of the Sydney Tower. At this point in the night it is absolutely pouring outside, so when we finally got to the hotel we were completlely soaked! I was a bit bummed to find however that once we got to the elevator, all of the people we were meeting there were getting off! Apparently since it was raining so hard you couldn't really see out the windows, and the cheapest drink was like $10. Then it was off to a place called Scruffy Murphy's, and more walking in the rain...my feet were quite soggy at this point.

This place was nothing special but they had a live band so I was definitely happy :) Plus I was just glad to have a roof over my head! I tried a drink called a "Snake Bite" (was suggested to me) and I must say it was pretty tasty! However; I am not really sure what was in it lol, I think beer and something raspberry?  Megan and I decided not to stay too long though since we had class in the morning and wanted to make sure we caught the last train back to our dorm. I'm just glad we have space heaters in our rooms to help dry shoes and clothes at the end of the day!

First day of Class and Wandering

July 18th

Today was the first day that I actually had to do something for the 6 credits that I will be getting while I am here. Starting today we have class at Macquarie University from 8:30-2:30 but only till Thursday this week. Today we had 3 different speakers come in and talk to us about various areas of curriculum that are used in Australia. I was not all to impressed with the first speaker but the last two definitely brought up some interesting information. One of the things that is put into the schedule during our class time is "Morning Tea"! It's basically a 1/2hr break with snacks, coffee, and tea and it definitely makes it easier to sit through class with that break in there. One of the things that our professor brought for us to try were Lamingtons (Australia thing), which is like a white cake square covered with chocolate and coconut. She also made us Anzac cookies, which were apparently something that were commonly given to Australian soldiers during WWI. I found the Anzac cookies to be much more appealing!  I guess they even have this time set aside in the schools as well, so that should be interesting to experience once I get in the classroom.

After class we came back to the dorms for a little while, before heading out to Darling Harbour to do some exploring with Katie, Stephanie, Amy and Lauren. We managed to figure out how to take the right train combination to get there and one of the first things that we saw when we got out of the train station was the Sydney Harbor Bridge and Opera House! We all took our time taking lots of pictures of both, but once we got to the Opera House it started to rain! Luckily it didn't rain the whole time we were out, just a little bit here and there. I was also bummed that it started gettin dark out already because I was having a hard time getting some good pictures with my camera, but I think I was able to get some pretty good ones. It's crazy how early it gets dark out here! Since it is technically winter here right now, it's pretty much dark out around 5pm just like our winters. However, since just a week ago it didn't get dark out till like 9 it has really been throwing me off as to what time it is and I feel like I have been getting tired a lot earlier than usual.

After all of the picture taking we decided we were starting to get hungry, but didn't really want to spend too much money. The food (along with everything else) is so expensive here!! We decided to eat where we ate the previous night and split some stuff; Amy and I decided on a salad, but had to get the wedges with sour cream and sweet chili sauce that we had the day before since they were so good! Once we ate we really didn't know what else to do so we decided to head back to the dorms and catch up on blogs and sleep:)

Finally Rested!

July 17th

I think I slept about 12hours, and it was probably the best sleep ever since I finally go to sleep laying flat rather than upright in a plane seat. We were all suppose to meet up around 11am and make our way to the Aquarium at Darling Harbour. The 5 of us that were on the late flight managed to make our way to the mall down the street and found a Target and get the things that we wanted to the night before. I was surprised to see how pricey things were here!! I needed to get shampoo and conditioner which was $6 a piece and then I ended up buy a pair of yoga pants and they were $35 !!! for Yoga Pants! but it was better than freezing my butt of like I did wearing my shorts the day before.

 The first thing that we got to see upon entering the Aquarium was a real live Platypus! haha It was really hard to see though due to the fact that it was really crowded and there were kids everywhere! I also realized at this point that the night before, I had taken the chip out of my camera to upload photos to my computer and forgot to put it back in my camera! So the amount of pictures I could take was limited (my favorite one is at the top tho!). There were a couple different opportunities to walk through tunnels that were under large tanks that had sharks, manatees, sting rays and of course Doris and Nemos! What I really liked though, were the different displays that had lots of coral and tropical fish, it just got me more and more excited about getting to scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef in a few weeks!

After taking our sweet time getting through the aquarium, we were quite hungry so those of us that were left decided to get some food at a place on the harbor that looked decently cheap, and as an added bonus there was live acoustic music :) Stephanie and I ended up ordering potato wedges, which apparently come with sour cream and sweet chili sauce...and its delicious! This is apparently something common in Australia and it reminds me of that dip you have around christmas with some sort of chili sauce poured over cream cheese. Oh, and their ketchup is called tomato sauce and tasted more like bbq to me or someone else said Canadian ketchup.

Now that we were all filled up and ready to keep going, it was time to head off to Paddy's Market. I kept hearing how I should wait to buy any souvenirs here because they are a lot cheaper; and low and behold they were! lol I wasn't really sure what to expect when we got here though, and I must say, it was quite overwhelming. There were different venders set up side with not much space to move between them and all of the people that were making their way through. I definitely need to make my way back to this place. I was able to get some things for some people however, since I was a bit overwhelmed I felt as if I just needed to get some ideas and then make a list later of all the people who would be lucky enough to get something from me haha. I managed to get myself a zip-up hoodie that says Australia and has their flag on it, along with a bag that has Aussie like things on it for really cheap!

Once we managed to make our way through the chaos, we decided not to head back quite yet and just wander around a bit. We found various fountains and took some pictures but didn't really do anything imparticular. Then it was time to see if we could figure out how to get back to our dorms via train, since this was our first time figuring it out on our own; we didn't see, to have any problems tho. We were hoping that when we arrived back at the dorms that we would find our luggage waiting for us, but we were quite disappointed to find that it was STILL in Dallas!? So once again, I am stuck washing my underwear in the shower...cool.

Upon Arrival

July 16th

We were all very excited to finally be on the ground at our final destination! After getting of the plane we were headed to the longest line ever for customs, which we all seemed to be a bit nervous about, not knowing what we could and could not bring with us; however we all made it through just fine. Then it was time to stand and wait for our luggage, and as time went on we seemed to be the only people left standing their waiting for our luggage and the next flights started to come through...of course why would something happen the way it was suppose to!? So after talking to someone from the airport, they directed us to the baggage desk only for it to be confirmed that our luggage had not arrived in Sydney with us. We had to give them our information and we were told that our luggage would be delivered to the University the following day around noon. Then it was off to find Laura!

Once we told Laura what had happened to our luggage we went to see if we could get vouchers from Qantas to use to pay for some new clothes since I was wearing shorts and it is technically winter at about 60 degrees. However since our flight had been changed to an Air Canada flight, Qantas was unable to help us out with anything. We then headed to find the bus of the other people on the trip, so we could be off to the Featherdale Wildlife Park.

Featherdale was awesome! Most of the animals there were all native to Australia and not only did I get to pet and get my picture taken with a Koala (don't add the word "Bear" they get mad for some reason), I got to feed Kangaroos that were just hopping all over the place! You could by an ice cream cone full of "Kangaroo food" for $1 and they really had no problem coming right up to you; some of them even tried to grab the cone right out of your hand. This was just what I needed after everything we had gone through the last couple of days, I may have been exhausted but after doing all of this it started to sink it that I had finally made it, and was really in Australia. One of the other things that I thought was neat here were the Dingo puppies that were there! They were super cute and were all wrestling around with eachother.

After leavin the park we went to Manly which was a little town that was right on the ocean; it kind of reminded me of Scharbeutz, which was this little town by the sea that Helena's family had a "get-away" apartment at. Not only did the set up of all the little shops and places to eat remind me of it, but I got a chicken Kebab with Tzatziki sauce on it, and Scharbeutz was the first place that I had experienced this food! There were also a lot of people along the beach surfing and playing volleyball which was surprising since it wasn't exactly warm outside. We were only given a little time to find some food to eat before it was time to head to a place called (I think) North Point. This was just a little trail through a wooded area that lead you to a cliff with a great view of the ocean and a distant view of the harbors.

After taking some pictures, the plan was to go back to Manly where a lot of people planned to go out for the night. We however were completely exhausted and still had yet to see where we would be staying for the next week. Once we dropped everyone off, we went with Jen, Laura (our professors) and Laura's son Jesse to the ferry in order to get to the train that we needed to take to get to the university. Our plans were to get somewhat settled in, shower, then head to the store around the corner to get shampoo and other essential things that we needed. This plan did not follow through at all though; we all were too tired to go anywhere and I ended up sleeping by 8:30.

After leavin the Park we went to this place called ...... it was just this little trail through a wooded area that took you to the edge of a cliff

Lets start with our flight debacle

This actually happened between July 13th-16th (never seeing the 15th due to time change)
I know it's long, but a lot happened lol

After staying the night in Detroit with the lovely Nicole Bartlett, it was time to take me to the airport and say our goodbyes, who would have thought the adventures would literally start before we even left!? After checking in and meeting up with Stephanie, Lauren, Amy and finally Katie we soon found out that our plane was delayed an hour. This wasn't that big of a deal until not too much longer they announce that it has now been delayed another hour and that our plane would be landing at 9:50 and our connecting flight was at 10:00. We then spent a lot of time talking to people at the desk trying to figure out how we are gonna get there if we miss our flight...which was very likely. At one point they told us that the soonest they could get us there was Monday which would have been a whole three days late!! However after calling our travel agent we managed to have a better plane. Now the plane is to stay the night in Dallas, fly from Dallas to Vancouver, then Vancouver to Sydney and arrive a day late But regardless we are going to attempt to make this connection.

The plan was for me to get off the plane as fast as I could to get to our next flight and attempt to have them hold it for the rest of us. The man that sat behind Lauren and I was very helpful and showed us a map of the airport and how to take the tram to our next gate. I swear though that everyone on the flight knew that we were going to Sydney and were cheering us on and there were even a group of older ladies in the back that had a prayer session for Katie (who did very well on the plane for being so scared! haha). Unfortunately however, even after all of this our flight didn't land until 10:15 and by the time I rushed of the plane they already had our new itinerary of flights printed out for us. We were stuck in Dallas.

We were given a hotel to stay in, some 2 food vouchers and transportation to and from the airport, but they were reluctant to let us have our baggage.  We tried to catch the shuttle that was suppose to come pick us up but after waiting 20min in 102 degree weather we called back only to find out that they weren't gonna come. So, we caught a taxi and payed $32 just to get there, in hopes that they will reimburse us later. The hotel wasn't too bad but nothing special; they ended up giving us all our own room with two double beds (with the exception of lauren who ended up with two boarding passes), but we all ended up bunking together leaving Amy with her own room. We did get lucky though and the hotel offered breakfast in the morning and a shuttle for us to take back to the airport.

Once the shuttle dropped us off, I quickly realized that I had either left my purse at the hotel or it was still on the van that was driving away from us. After calling the hotel we found out that it was left there on the couch and that we would have to wait for the shuttle to come back at 10 if i didnt want to pay over $60 for a taxi to get it. This didn't seem like too big of a deal since we didn't have any baggage to check in and our flight wasn't till 11:25. However, we had to take a tram to another gate to meet her, she was 15min late, we had to take the tram back, and the guy that checked me in took forever because he was trying to make sure our baggage was going to arrive with me. This all made us a little worried or at least Amy, Lauren and I. Katie was sort of freaking out so I told her and Stephanie to go ahead and check in while we took care of all of this. Though we were pushing it pretty close, we managed to get their with about 5min before they started loading passengers.

This flight wasn't too bad, I spent most of my time relaxing and reading my book Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins which I did not want to put down! Being on this flight was reassuring that we were going to make the next one since we had a 10hr layover in between this flight and our flight to Sydney. We debated leaving the airport to go explore a little bit, but after all that had happened we decided to play it safe and stay where we knew we would make our flight. After eating, we found the gate that we would be at and pretty much made it home for the next 8hrs. Luckily there was free wireless, so some of us were able to skype our families and kill time with that and facebook of course. This day ways quite long, and after having to deal with 2 different time zones already I had lost all track of what time and day it was.

Eventually we were able to board our flight, but because we were all squeezed on at the last minute and the flight was full, none of us were able to sit together and all had middle seats. I was sat between a 10yr old little boy and an older women. The little boy, Marcus, was quite the talker, and I found to be quite intelligent. He was telling me all about his dad's kickball league, his video game "scribblenaut", and what things that are different in Australia like our Jelly is actually Jell-o to them. After we were fed some chicken and rice stuff (which was actually not too bad), Marcus fell asleep and I read my book a while but eventually settled to watch a movie "The Lincoln Layer", which I told Adam I would watch first if it was one of the options, and I'm glad I did because it was a great movie. I did however have to stop it a little over halfway through do to the fact that I kept dozing off. I tried to sleep a few times on the plane, but I really have a hard time doing so when traveling. I also ended up watching "Unknown" with Liam Neeson and that was also a pretty good movie. I really wanted to finish my book on the flight but between movies, attempting to sleep, and Marcus talking I unfortunately didn't quite get there. One thing I found really odd was the fact that they had to spray some sort of insecticide on the plane before we were allowed to get off the flight.

Overall the flight really didn't seem to be all that long, especially since our original flight was suppose to be over 20hrs long. Instead, after about 16hrs we had FINALLY arrived at our destination in Sydney...only to soon find that our luggage had not