This will be a quick one for you all because i have to jet to class in a few. Finally classes at Uni have started! They started yesterday (monday), but I didn't have any classes yesterday, so that was nice. Today I had my first class called Youth, Work and other Catastrophes, which seems like it will be a really interesting class, so I'm very excited. My friend Emily is in this class with me as well so it is nice to see a friendly face. I'm really excited to learn more about youth in this class and hope that it touches on some of the things I experienced this past summer working with Youth. Maybe it will even give me more direction and help me figure out if working with Youth is what I would like to do.
In about twenty minutes i have my second class of the year which is my philosophy class: critical thinking and argument (or something like that). This I hope will be interesting and not too boring. It is fulfilling a religion requirement for school back home at Luther. I also have my philosophy tutorial today (like a discussion group for the class) but I don't think we have them this week. The nice thing is that I didn't need to do any reading for today and i don't think I need to do any for my politics class either this week. Good stuff!
Besides classes starting, it was a very relaxing weekend, O'week finished and things got a little bit calmer, although loud music can usually be heard at any time of the day. My window got fixed yesterday too so no more cardboard window! I have pictures, and so once I get the internet in my room hooked up I'll either post those pictures (and heaps more) on here or just send them via email. well I should be off, so i can make sure I know where my class is. Have a wonderful day, evening, morning, whatever it may be when you read this! much love to all!
-smuder
Monday, February 28, 2005
Saturday, February 26, 2005
jiminey CRICKET!
no worries I will explain the title soon enough... but first i'm going to touch on a few things, like the end of O'Week. It is finally over, no more crazy stunts, or weird dressing up things to do. I don't know where I left off, but this week we had a cross dressing dance, our formal tea where we had to go to mass and then a nice dinner where they provided wine for us and yummy food. After the formal we had a barn dance, or as it has been called back at Luther - contra dancing. It was lots and lots of fun except I felt bad the band when they taught us dances and the drunk kids weren't really paying attention. Thursday night was the official Pub night where we spent the night at the Cathedral which is Aquinas' pub of choice. My American friends Rebecca, Amber and I left kind of early and went to get some pizza, and then being the pigs that we are we went across the street and bought a 2 litre thing of double chocolate ice cream which we finished off at the college. I have eaten so badly this week it's crazy!
Friday night I experienced what Aussies call a Pub Crawl. This is very much like bar hopping back home but planned, and i have never experienced this concept before. We went to five different pubs in one night starting at 8pm! When we got to the fifth pub we had trouble as Americans getting in because this pub (The London) is just picky about ids so it was kind of annoying, but once we finally got in I wasn't all that impressed. It was really loud and there was heaps of alcohol on the floor already. Plus the guys seemed a little dodgy and the weirdest thing was that there was a big screen that had Mortal Kombat playing on it. It was weird. Needless to say I stayed for only a short while and then made my way back towards O'Connell street to get some food with my friend Amber.
Saturday I spent with Amber and Rebecca mostly sitting around reading from the book America :-) which Aussies do not find as entertaining as us. We then decided to make a trip to the food mart so we could pick up snack food and Aloe for Bec since she was burnt from the trip to the beach the day before. (by the way, the beach was SO amazing and it was a gorgeous day friday!) We met up with Blair who is another IES student but lives in an apartment. We all hung out the rest of the afternoon in my room and then Amber and I went to Blair's apartment where she cooked for us and our friend Dave. It was nice to see Blair and her room mate Becca again. We then ended up hanging out with our friends at Lincoln College which was great!
Now on to the title of this entry ( by the way sorry if these get really really long, I'll try to shorten my stories! but I think most of you know how bad I am at that) So this afternoon (Sunday) my friend Fiona talked Rebecca and I into going to cricket practice. Now this game is so odd, it's like baseball but not, but I still find it really entertaining and quite intriguing. I didn't do much except bowl (like pitching). During this practice one of the girls that was hitting hit one over the fence of where we were practicing and broke a window in the building next to where we were, which is my building. So of course I went to check if it was my window...and sure enough it was. Luckily it didn't go through the window where my laptop was sitting but I now have glass all over my bed and my floor which can't be cleaned up at the moment because the power in my hall is out, how ironic is that?! So that is my story for the day. Hope you all enjoyed that! love you all!
-emily
Friday night I experienced what Aussies call a Pub Crawl. This is very much like bar hopping back home but planned, and i have never experienced this concept before. We went to five different pubs in one night starting at 8pm! When we got to the fifth pub we had trouble as Americans getting in because this pub (The London) is just picky about ids so it was kind of annoying, but once we finally got in I wasn't all that impressed. It was really loud and there was heaps of alcohol on the floor already. Plus the guys seemed a little dodgy and the weirdest thing was that there was a big screen that had Mortal Kombat playing on it. It was weird. Needless to say I stayed for only a short while and then made my way back towards O'Connell street to get some food with my friend Amber.
Saturday I spent with Amber and Rebecca mostly sitting around reading from the book America :-) which Aussies do not find as entertaining as us. We then decided to make a trip to the food mart so we could pick up snack food and Aloe for Bec since she was burnt from the trip to the beach the day before. (by the way, the beach was SO amazing and it was a gorgeous day friday!) We met up with Blair who is another IES student but lives in an apartment. We all hung out the rest of the afternoon in my room and then Amber and I went to Blair's apartment where she cooked for us and our friend Dave. It was nice to see Blair and her room mate Becca again. We then ended up hanging out with our friends at Lincoln College which was great!
Now on to the title of this entry ( by the way sorry if these get really really long, I'll try to shorten my stories! but I think most of you know how bad I am at that) So this afternoon (Sunday) my friend Fiona talked Rebecca and I into going to cricket practice. Now this game is so odd, it's like baseball but not, but I still find it really entertaining and quite intriguing. I didn't do much except bowl (like pitching). During this practice one of the girls that was hitting hit one over the fence of where we were practicing and broke a window in the building next to where we were, which is my building. So of course I went to check if it was my window...and sure enough it was. Luckily it didn't go through the window where my laptop was sitting but I now have glass all over my bed and my floor which can't be cleaned up at the moment because the power in my hall is out, how ironic is that?! So that is my story for the day. Hope you all enjoyed that! love you all!
-emily
Monday, February 21, 2005
O'Week, cockatoos and other stuff...
Well everyone it is the beginning of O'Week here at Uni Adelaide and let me tell you this is quite a production! Uni is full of a bunch of tents with all sorts of clubs and then places advertising tons of different things! This whole show of stuff at Uni is kind of like the day we have on the lawns back at Luther (what is that day called?) but on a larger scale. The one thing that you would all see here that you wouldn't see at Luther are the different tents and set ups for cheap beer! The drinking age here is 18.
In general O'Week seems to be just one big party for all of Uni. It's also a big deal back at the colleges. Each of the residential colleges have their own list of events planned for O'Week. Many of these events revolve around pubs and alcohol consumption. No worries I will not go get myself trashed! The past two nights Aquinas College, where I live, has gone out to the pubs. It is quite entertaining even when you are sober to partake in the dancing with those that are totally gone. Much laughter! Although there are some set backs, like broken glass on the floor which is no good for those wearing flip flops; beer and alcohol getting spilled all over, which is also no good for those wearing flip flops but is also no good for your clothes and hair. Yuck! Needless to say I had enough beer spilled on me the last two nights to fill an ocean! ok so not really it's just fun to exaggerate!
On to other topics that don't make us all sound like complete lushes... Today was exciting as I walked to Uni and saw what I believe were cockatoos in the park! How awesome is that?! I mean really?!?! Now cardinals and blue jays are pretty cool at home but when you see Cockatoos just chilling in the park, now that's pretty awesome!
Now on to my reason to walk to Uni... Today I have a preliminary lecture, at least I hope I do, which is a time to just kind of get together and hear about what the class will be like for the semester and maybe learn about what books and things we will be reading. So it's pretty much like the first few days of class back at Luther, except they actually have just a week dedicated to these kinds of introductions to class. Yesterday my lecture was cancelled and I am still boggled as to where I can get my reading and what exactly my reading is. It's quite ridiculous I think. Today's lecture is for my philosophy class, we'll see how that goes.
Well I had another thought about something to write but it slipped my mind so I'll try to remember it tomorrow or later today. Much love to all!
smuder
In general O'Week seems to be just one big party for all of Uni. It's also a big deal back at the colleges. Each of the residential colleges have their own list of events planned for O'Week. Many of these events revolve around pubs and alcohol consumption. No worries I will not go get myself trashed! The past two nights Aquinas College, where I live, has gone out to the pubs. It is quite entertaining even when you are sober to partake in the dancing with those that are totally gone. Much laughter! Although there are some set backs, like broken glass on the floor which is no good for those wearing flip flops; beer and alcohol getting spilled all over, which is also no good for those wearing flip flops but is also no good for your clothes and hair. Yuck! Needless to say I had enough beer spilled on me the last two nights to fill an ocean! ok so not really it's just fun to exaggerate!
On to other topics that don't make us all sound like complete lushes... Today was exciting as I walked to Uni and saw what I believe were cockatoos in the park! How awesome is that?! I mean really?!?! Now cardinals and blue jays are pretty cool at home but when you see Cockatoos just chilling in the park, now that's pretty awesome!
Now on to my reason to walk to Uni... Today I have a preliminary lecture, at least I hope I do, which is a time to just kind of get together and hear about what the class will be like for the semester and maybe learn about what books and things we will be reading. So it's pretty much like the first few days of class back at Luther, except they actually have just a week dedicated to these kinds of introductions to class. Yesterday my lecture was cancelled and I am still boggled as to where I can get my reading and what exactly my reading is. It's quite ridiculous I think. Today's lecture is for my philosophy class, we'll see how that goes.
Well I had another thought about something to write but it slipped my mind so I'll try to remember it tomorrow or later today. Much love to all!
smuder
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
KI and settling in!
Well everyone...where do I start? It's been a crazy week! There has been so much going on that I can't even figure where to begin! Sorry for the laziness but I finally got my actual room but no internet connection is hooked up yet!
Well here's the deal... Last weekend our IES group took a trip to Kangaroo Island (KI). There we spent the whole day touring around the island on bus with some awesome tour guides Beau and Kate. We went to a Eucalyptus/Emu farm which was really cool. Eucalyptus is a great plant! It is very environmentally safe! On Saturday we also spent quite a bit of time by the ocean and I have many different ocean views on my camera. We saw sea lions at seal bay and some more later at Admirals Arch (these sea lions were New Zealand ones though not Australian like the ones at seal bay) - Admirals arch is this nice rock formation on the coast. Not sure which coast, but whatever it was cool! At the end of the day we went to Snug Cove, some private property that our guides have access too, except for the fact that the lock had been changed on the gate, but no worries the situation was soon fixed and we got in. The place was beautiful, nestled in some hills. We saw many Kangaroos hopping around. ( We saw some earlier too while driving around at a museum and also saw Koalas before that.) We had a little beach to ourselves at Snug Cove which was awesome! A few of us decided to go climbing around some of the rocks by the beach while dinner was being made which was super fun! I'll try to get pictures in soon. We all sat around a fire and ate and then had desert which was Tim Tams. MMMMM they are GOOD!
Tim Tams are a cookie, or rather a "biscuit" as Aussies would call them, and the original flavor is chocolate. Anyway I can't really explain them that well but I'll try. They are a rectangular biscuit with chocolate on the outside...mmmmm.. THere is also a "game" that goes along with these biscuits. It's called the Tim Tam Slam. What you do is bite off opposite ends of the Tim Tam and then stick it in a hot drink (tea, or coffee, in our case it was Milo) and suck the liquid through to let it get soft and then quick pop it in our mouth before the Tim Tam crumbles into the hot liquid. Oh...it was soooooo good!
The next day we got to go snorkeling in the cove and it was so beautiful! I've never been snorkeling and this was so awesome. Beau also tried teaching us how to play cricket on the beach, it is a crazy crazy game but can be fairly entertaining. The games can take days to play! We left snug cove and while we were driving along we found a little friend on the bus! A possum! we stopped and tried to get it off and it took at least an hour. It was pretty hilarious, Beau and Kate and Lauren (an IES student) were the ones that finally got him off the bus along with the help of a local guy that drove by and his shovel! We went to a light house after that and then had to make our way back to Peneshaw where we ate some pub grub and then caught the ferry again for the mainland. There was a GORGEOUS sunset while we made our way back. We all made it back safe and sound and very very tired!
This past week has been full of some other orientation things, campus tours, and shopping at Rundle mall for whatever we may need. Rundle Mall is great it's a street full of shops and it's all walking, there are no cars that go up and down it and it's right next to the Uni. Oh by the way Uni is the University. College here means the Residential Colleges which are like dorms back home. Does this all make sense? Anyway ... I did a lot of walking all week going to Rundle Mall and shopping for whatever was needed and just walking in general. I met up with Will Christopherson this past week and he helped my friend Emily and I find phones and just kind of hung out with us. For those of you who do not know who Will is, he was a student at Luther a few years ago, he graduated my freshman year and is now doing grad work at the University of South Australia (Uni SA - right next to Uni of Adelaide) . He's a great guy and is my frisbee connection down here. That's another thing! I got to play frisbee thanks to Will and his girlfriend Karen and their awesome frisbee friends who have given me rides! I've only been to two practices and this week i might not get to go to much because of O' week here at the college.
To explain O' week... it's Orientation week. Many planned activities for our college and there is tons of stuff going on at the Uni too. I'll explain more about it when I know more, but basically it's the time to meet anyone and everyone! It's weird because I am considered a freshman here so I have to go through all this orientation stuff again! oh well!
Well I think I will leave you all with that. Right now I should probably be at some orientation stuff, but shhhh don't tell Amber and I are skipping out! We're soo bad! Once I get my internet hooked up I'll let you all know more. HOpe all is well everywhere! Love you all!
much love,
smuder
Well here's the deal... Last weekend our IES group took a trip to Kangaroo Island (KI). There we spent the whole day touring around the island on bus with some awesome tour guides Beau and Kate. We went to a Eucalyptus/Emu farm which was really cool. Eucalyptus is a great plant! It is very environmentally safe! On Saturday we also spent quite a bit of time by the ocean and I have many different ocean views on my camera. We saw sea lions at seal bay and some more later at Admirals Arch (these sea lions were New Zealand ones though not Australian like the ones at seal bay) - Admirals arch is this nice rock formation on the coast. Not sure which coast, but whatever it was cool! At the end of the day we went to Snug Cove, some private property that our guides have access too, except for the fact that the lock had been changed on the gate, but no worries the situation was soon fixed and we got in. The place was beautiful, nestled in some hills. We saw many Kangaroos hopping around. ( We saw some earlier too while driving around at a museum and also saw Koalas before that.) We had a little beach to ourselves at Snug Cove which was awesome! A few of us decided to go climbing around some of the rocks by the beach while dinner was being made which was super fun! I'll try to get pictures in soon. We all sat around a fire and ate and then had desert which was Tim Tams. MMMMM they are GOOD!
Tim Tams are a cookie, or rather a "biscuit" as Aussies would call them, and the original flavor is chocolate. Anyway I can't really explain them that well but I'll try. They are a rectangular biscuit with chocolate on the outside...mmmmm.. THere is also a "game" that goes along with these biscuits. It's called the Tim Tam Slam. What you do is bite off opposite ends of the Tim Tam and then stick it in a hot drink (tea, or coffee, in our case it was Milo) and suck the liquid through to let it get soft and then quick pop it in our mouth before the Tim Tam crumbles into the hot liquid. Oh...it was soooooo good!
The next day we got to go snorkeling in the cove and it was so beautiful! I've never been snorkeling and this was so awesome. Beau also tried teaching us how to play cricket on the beach, it is a crazy crazy game but can be fairly entertaining. The games can take days to play! We left snug cove and while we were driving along we found a little friend on the bus! A possum! we stopped and tried to get it off and it took at least an hour. It was pretty hilarious, Beau and Kate and Lauren (an IES student) were the ones that finally got him off the bus along with the help of a local guy that drove by and his shovel! We went to a light house after that and then had to make our way back to Peneshaw where we ate some pub grub and then caught the ferry again for the mainland. There was a GORGEOUS sunset while we made our way back. We all made it back safe and sound and very very tired!
This past week has been full of some other orientation things, campus tours, and shopping at Rundle mall for whatever we may need. Rundle Mall is great it's a street full of shops and it's all walking, there are no cars that go up and down it and it's right next to the Uni. Oh by the way Uni is the University. College here means the Residential Colleges which are like dorms back home. Does this all make sense? Anyway ... I did a lot of walking all week going to Rundle Mall and shopping for whatever was needed and just walking in general. I met up with Will Christopherson this past week and he helped my friend Emily and I find phones and just kind of hung out with us. For those of you who do not know who Will is, he was a student at Luther a few years ago, he graduated my freshman year and is now doing grad work at the University of South Australia (Uni SA - right next to Uni of Adelaide) . He's a great guy and is my frisbee connection down here. That's another thing! I got to play frisbee thanks to Will and his girlfriend Karen and their awesome frisbee friends who have given me rides! I've only been to two practices and this week i might not get to go to much because of O' week here at the college.
To explain O' week... it's Orientation week. Many planned activities for our college and there is tons of stuff going on at the Uni too. I'll explain more about it when I know more, but basically it's the time to meet anyone and everyone! It's weird because I am considered a freshman here so I have to go through all this orientation stuff again! oh well!
Well I think I will leave you all with that. Right now I should probably be at some orientation stuff, but shhhh don't tell Amber and I are skipping out! We're soo bad! Once I get my internet hooked up I'll let you all know more. HOpe all is well everywhere! Love you all!
much love,
smuder
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Down Under!
well everyone I made it down under! After a very long plane ride I made it here! It's great and I love it! Adelaide is super amazing and so is Australia in general. I can't make this a long post because I have about three minutes left on this computer. I am temporarily in a room and will not get my actual room til next week so I don't have any phone or internet connection yet! :-( but that's ok cuz I'm doing well and I LOVE it here. Everyone is so nice and it's just amazing! we had a weekend orientation trip at Kangaroo Island with all the IES kids and it was AWESOME! again...LOVE it! but I must go before I get cut off and this doesn't post. Just wanted to say hello and let you all know I got here! Thanks for all the messages from iowa and home! love you all!!
-smuder
-smuder
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Leaving on a jet plane...
Tomorrow is the big day! I'm leaving on that jet plane...but don't worry I know when I'll be back again. (July) I've been going crazy all day trying to finish packing and making sure that I have absolutely everything I really need. My joy that I found in being able to pack everything into one suitcase was quickly taken away when we weighed my suitcase and it was a hefty 90lbs! Needless to say I had to transfer some of the weight into the duffel bag that I was planning on using for extra stuff on the way home. There still is quite a bit of space left but, hopefully I don't buy anything to big for some of you crazy hooligans while I'm away!
I don't know if I quite believe it yet that I am going away for almost six whole months. Maybe it's more like five, but really...this concept is still boggling my mind. I'm hoping to God that nothing goes wrong with travel documents and the planes! I keep thinking of what it's going to be like when I get there, but I'm sure it will be nothing like what I am thinking of. I can't wait to see it for myself! Words can not express!
So here's to hopefully a peaceful night of sleep and a safe flight! I probably won't post again until I get to Australia which will be the 11th but I'm not even sure how soon I'll have access to internet because we are going on an orientation trip and won't be sent to our housing right away, plus I have to get a new internet hook up when I get there so bear with me! love you all!
much love,
smudes
I don't know if I quite believe it yet that I am going away for almost six whole months. Maybe it's more like five, but really...this concept is still boggling my mind. I'm hoping to God that nothing goes wrong with travel documents and the planes! I keep thinking of what it's going to be like when I get there, but I'm sure it will be nothing like what I am thinking of. I can't wait to see it for myself! Words can not express!
So here's to hopefully a peaceful night of sleep and a safe flight! I probably won't post again until I get to Australia which will be the 11th but I'm not even sure how soon I'll have access to internet because we are going on an orientation trip and won't be sent to our housing right away, plus I have to get a new internet hook up when I get there so bear with me! love you all!
much love,
smudes
Monday, February 07, 2005
Before I Go...
Well hello everyone! So this is my "blog" I'm going to be using this to let you all in on what I'm doing while down under.(note the somewhat lame title of the webpage...I definitely have kind of stolen the title from Will Christopherson for those of you who know him and have read his site about Australia)
If you're reading this you most likely got my email or you have found a different way to get a hold of it, either way I hope you enjoy!
Well my journey begins to Adelaide, Australia on February 9th, where I leave the Minneapolis airport at about 12:30pm and travel to Chicago, then L.A. and then I land in Melbourne, Australia February 11th, and then take a quick flight into Adelaide. Now some of you may be wondering where February 10th is in this whole mess. Well...truth is, I don't exist on February 10th this year because while I am flying to Australia I will be crossing many time zones and I cross the International date line and thus I lose a day. I don't know quite how it works, but it happens. If any of you are wondering, the time difference between here (the midwest/Minnesota) and Adelaide, Australia is 16 1/2 hours. Well at least I think, that is if I counted correctly. According to information given to me by IES (the study abroad program I am traveling with) if it's 5:30pm on a Saturday in Chicago, then it is 10:00am Sunday in Adelaide...you do the math ( counted on my fingers! )
With the few days left here in Minnesota I'm trying my best to bet things done! (ok well maybe not my best...but I'm trying at least a little) The past few days I have been constantly spending money on things for my trip and visiting with people from school and home. I dropped over $300 on a digital camera plus accessories for it which actually isn't too bad considering some cameras are $1,000 by themselves! Today was luggage buying time! I am hoping to God that I can fit all I need in this suitcase! This is going to be one hard packing job! Tomorrow I begin the packing and finishing of things that need to get done before I go. I must admit that I am very excited but also very nervous about this trip. My greatest fears are missing flights because I get lost in the airport, or delays, or freaking out on the long trip from L.A. to Aussie land, along with travel documents not working, or forgetting important documents and or losing them! Whew! Pretty much all the fears you can come up with, if you have any others I'll let you know if I have them!
Well I'll keep posting for the next few days before I leave and fill you all in on more info that you might want to know. Thanks for reading!
much love,
smuder
If you're reading this you most likely got my email or you have found a different way to get a hold of it, either way I hope you enjoy!
Well my journey begins to Adelaide, Australia on February 9th, where I leave the Minneapolis airport at about 12:30pm and travel to Chicago, then L.A. and then I land in Melbourne, Australia February 11th, and then take a quick flight into Adelaide. Now some of you may be wondering where February 10th is in this whole mess. Well...truth is, I don't exist on February 10th this year because while I am flying to Australia I will be crossing many time zones and I cross the International date line and thus I lose a day. I don't know quite how it works, but it happens. If any of you are wondering, the time difference between here (the midwest/Minnesota) and Adelaide, Australia is 16 1/2 hours. Well at least I think, that is if I counted correctly. According to information given to me by IES (the study abroad program I am traveling with) if it's 5:30pm on a Saturday in Chicago, then it is 10:00am Sunday in Adelaide...you do the math ( counted on my fingers! )
With the few days left here in Minnesota I'm trying my best to bet things done! (ok well maybe not my best...but I'm trying at least a little) The past few days I have been constantly spending money on things for my trip and visiting with people from school and home. I dropped over $300 on a digital camera plus accessories for it which actually isn't too bad considering some cameras are $1,000 by themselves! Today was luggage buying time! I am hoping to God that I can fit all I need in this suitcase! This is going to be one hard packing job! Tomorrow I begin the packing and finishing of things that need to get done before I go. I must admit that I am very excited but also very nervous about this trip. My greatest fears are missing flights because I get lost in the airport, or delays, or freaking out on the long trip from L.A. to Aussie land, along with travel documents not working, or forgetting important documents and or losing them! Whew! Pretty much all the fears you can come up with, if you have any others I'll let you know if I have them!
Well I'll keep posting for the next few days before I leave and fill you all in on more info that you might want to know. Thanks for reading!
much love,
smuder
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