Sunday, March 22, 2009
Quick Update
Well, I've gotten my computer fixed for now after a complete reformat. Now it's on to writing papers as I have one due next week and then another due the next week. Last weekend I went to the famous Bondi Beach and a rugby game at the Olympic stadium. I'll get those photos up sometime this week. On Wednesday, I am going on a disco themed harbour cruise. Then, this weekend, I am going on a surf trip. Lots of fun coming up this week, so hopefully I'll have some great photos to post, including my first time surfing. I'll update this blog as soon as I can. Now it's back to my paper, Sex and Alcohol.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Windows Windows Windows...
Well, you would have thought I would have learned. Unfortunately I didn't and downloaded another Windows Update. What did I get this time? Viruses. I haven't downloaded anything in recent days except the update, so it has to be that. Needless to say, I'm pretty much done with Windows. Never in my life will I buy another Dell or Windows computer. I have had it with their lack of customer support and altogether ineptness at anything computers. For some reason, I can't get rid of this virus either. McAfee detects the virus and supposedly removes it, but it always comes up again on a subsequent scan. The virus is also blocking some anti-virus and spyware sites. The stuff that I am able to download will not run or install. I'm hoping Microsoft's safety scanner will be able to fix it, but I have my doubts. We'll see...
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Mythbusters - Part 1
Well, my last post consisted of a lot of ranting, so I figured I needed to have a fun post that shows I actually am enjoying Australia. From now on, I am gonna be posting a lot of the fun and interesting differences between America and Australia. Don't worry though, I'll keep you up to date on all the adventures that I go on.
The first thing you are all probably wondering about is the toilet flush situation. The word in America is that the toilets in Australia flush backwards, or counter-clockwise. To start, toilets in Australia have two buttons. The smaller button (or half-moon button) is for the liquid stuff. The larger button (or full moon button) is for the other stuff. The first time I flushed the toilet, I was utterly confused at this complex mechanism. After all, toilets are only supposed to have one option, flush. The make toilets this way so that they don't waste as much water because droughts are quite frequent here (I don't know how with all this rain). I, however, am not saving them any water because the half-flush button in my room doesn't flush in my my opinion.
Nevertheless, I'm going to let you watch a video of an Australian toilet flushing so that you can see for yourself the mechanism of the Australian flush:
Okay. So I think we can call this nice little myth about Australian toilets BUSTED.
I was very disappointed to see the Australian flush for the first time. Not only was I taken aback by the sheer force of the flush (well compared to American home toilets), but I was extremely disappointed to find out that they flush with virtually no directionally flow at all. What a buzz kill
The first thing you are all probably wondering about is the toilet flush situation. The word in America is that the toilets in Australia flush backwards, or counter-clockwise. To start, toilets in Australia have two buttons. The smaller button (or half-moon button) is for the liquid stuff. The larger button (or full moon button) is for the other stuff. The first time I flushed the toilet, I was utterly confused at this complex mechanism. After all, toilets are only supposed to have one option, flush. The make toilets this way so that they don't waste as much water because droughts are quite frequent here (I don't know how with all this rain). I, however, am not saving them any water because the half-flush button in my room doesn't flush in my my opinion.
Nevertheless, I'm going to let you watch a video of an Australian toilet flushing so that you can see for yourself the mechanism of the Australian flush:
Okay. So I think we can call this nice little myth about Australian toilets BUSTED.
I was very disappointed to see the Australian flush for the first time. Not only was I taken aback by the sheer force of the flush (well compared to American home toilets), but I was extremely disappointed to find out that they flush with virtually no directionally flow at all. What a buzz kill
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
O-Week
Well, I was excited to finally be in Sydney after many hours flying. Not that Cairns, the rain forest, and the Great Barrier Reef wasn't fun, but I just was ready to find out where I was going to be spending my next 5 months. What a disappointment it was.
First, the Macquarie person that was supposed to pick us up in the airport was 45 minutes late. Then, the weather was absolutely dreary, unlike the fantastic weather that we were all expecting. The ride to our apartments wasn't too bad. The highlight was crossing the Harbour Bridge and seeing the Opera House for the first time. Our apartments on the other hand left a lot to be desired. It's not that they're that bad. It's just that the pictures online show completely different apartments. Better apartments.
Moving in, we found that the inside of the apartments were no better than the outside. They apparently were "professionally" cleaned before we arrived. I'm sorry, but a 2 year old can clean better than that. Regardless, after we got past our high expectations for these apartments, they aren't actually that bad. After moving all of our stuff in, we were off to the admin building to get sheets and pillows and towels for our bedrooms. That's when we found out about the west side.
The apartment complex is separated into two parts, the east side (where we live) and the west side (with the admin building). The west side apartments were the nice apartments, and were the ones that we were expecting to live in. Nonetheless, we were back at the admin building later for orientation which was boring, as expected.
After orientation came our first experience with a real Aussie barbecue. Well what a disappointment it was. A piece of bread and a sausage. That's your authentic Aussie barbecue. That's it, nothing more. I've been to two other barbeque's and it's the exact same. Sausage and bread. I don't know where this myth about aussie barbeque's being the real deal came from, but it needs to be shot down, and swiftly.
The first couple of days in Australia were spent cleaning the apartments, taking inventory of the apartment (which were in complete disarray), and stocking the cupboards. Each apartment has 5 bedrooms, each with their own bathroom. I was the first to move into my apartment (on Sunday). When Tuesday finally came around, I still was the only one in my apartment. Most everyone else already had all of their roommates. I finally got 3 more roommates on Wednesday, but I was disappointed to find out that they were all American. In fact, almost everyone on the East side is American. I later found out that they put all the Americans in the east side because the apartments are crappier, and thus more suitable for Americans because all Americans party all night, every night, and trash their place constantly, didn't you know. I don't know why they think this, but the fact of the matter is a lot of Americans come to Australia to get away from Americans, not form a mini American colony in Australia. All I want is to be integrated into the Australian way of life. Instead I'm stuck in a mini America. It hasn't gotten any better either. It seems as if all of my classes are full of Americans. It's not like I'm taking easy courses either.
Anyway, not that I got that out of my system (well not really), on Thursday we had our academic orientations and received our schedules. The morning session started off with an Aboriginal speaker named Uncle Greg. Guess what the first thing that came across my mind was? Stuck, think youtube. Still stuck, think Bailey's Irish Cream. If you don't know by now, well you'll have to watch the youtube video of that creepy character named Old Greg. Nonetheless, I couldn't take Uncle Greg seriously after that. Neither could a lot of Americans I talked to. About the only thing that anybody got out of his speech was that he wanted a grandson, because so far all he had gotten were granddaughters, and let's face it, what good are they?? Anyway, the morning session, was boring, drawn out, and had very little useful info.
As for scheduling, we didn't actually get to do that ourselves. We were handed a sheet with classes that we supposedly got approved to take earlier on our pre-approval forms that we submitted. Well, I don't know what kind of drugs they were on when they made my schedule because they only got 2 out of 4 classes right. I hate studying politics, so why would I sign up for a politics class? There's also no way I signed up for an astronomy class, nevermind a 300 level one. Regardless, I got my schedule figured out. The only downside, I have classes 5 days a week, which apparently is not common here. Most people don't have class on Friday. If they do have class on Friday, then they have another day off during the week. But not me. Oh well, I have Friday off next semester.
Now for the fun stuff. Thursday night was the International students harbour cruise. Oh, and did we tell you, it's 80's themed. Surprise. You better have a costume. That's what they sprung on us a mere 4 hours before the cruise was supposed to depart. Like anyone packed 80's stuff. Well guess again. A lot of people apparently reserved room in their suitcases for 80's gear. Then again, maybe they were told of the theme earlier than we were. Anyway, the cruise itself was nothing special. Don't get me wrong, the harbour at night is a cool spectacle and all, but it gets boring after the hundredth time going around the harbour. The harbour is not as big as I expected it to be. I took my video/photo camera with me on the cruise. It does not take great pictures at night though, so you'll have to wait until I go on another cruise on the 27th for better pictures.
First, the Macquarie person that was supposed to pick us up in the airport was 45 minutes late. Then, the weather was absolutely dreary, unlike the fantastic weather that we were all expecting. The ride to our apartments wasn't too bad. The highlight was crossing the Harbour Bridge and seeing the Opera House for the first time. Our apartments on the other hand left a lot to be desired. It's not that they're that bad. It's just that the pictures online show completely different apartments. Better apartments.
Moving in, we found that the inside of the apartments were no better than the outside. They apparently were "professionally" cleaned before we arrived. I'm sorry, but a 2 year old can clean better than that. Regardless, after we got past our high expectations for these apartments, they aren't actually that bad. After moving all of our stuff in, we were off to the admin building to get sheets and pillows and towels for our bedrooms. That's when we found out about the west side.
The apartment complex is separated into two parts, the east side (where we live) and the west side (with the admin building). The west side apartments were the nice apartments, and were the ones that we were expecting to live in. Nonetheless, we were back at the admin building later for orientation which was boring, as expected.
After orientation came our first experience with a real Aussie barbecue. Well what a disappointment it was. A piece of bread and a sausage. That's your authentic Aussie barbecue. That's it, nothing more. I've been to two other barbeque's and it's the exact same. Sausage and bread. I don't know where this myth about aussie barbeque's being the real deal came from, but it needs to be shot down, and swiftly.
The first couple of days in Australia were spent cleaning the apartments, taking inventory of the apartment (which were in complete disarray), and stocking the cupboards. Each apartment has 5 bedrooms, each with their own bathroom. I was the first to move into my apartment (on Sunday). When Tuesday finally came around, I still was the only one in my apartment. Most everyone else already had all of their roommates. I finally got 3 more roommates on Wednesday, but I was disappointed to find out that they were all American. In fact, almost everyone on the East side is American. I later found out that they put all the Americans in the east side because the apartments are crappier, and thus more suitable for Americans because all Americans party all night, every night, and trash their place constantly, didn't you know. I don't know why they think this, but the fact of the matter is a lot of Americans come to Australia to get away from Americans, not form a mini American colony in Australia. All I want is to be integrated into the Australian way of life. Instead I'm stuck in a mini America. It hasn't gotten any better either. It seems as if all of my classes are full of Americans. It's not like I'm taking easy courses either.
Anyway, not that I got that out of my system (well not really), on Thursday we had our academic orientations and received our schedules. The morning session started off with an Aboriginal speaker named Uncle Greg. Guess what the first thing that came across my mind was? Stuck, think youtube. Still stuck, think Bailey's Irish Cream. If you don't know by now, well you'll have to watch the youtube video of that creepy character named Old Greg. Nonetheless, I couldn't take Uncle Greg seriously after that. Neither could a lot of Americans I talked to. About the only thing that anybody got out of his speech was that he wanted a grandson, because so far all he had gotten were granddaughters, and let's face it, what good are they?? Anyway, the morning session, was boring, drawn out, and had very little useful info.
As for scheduling, we didn't actually get to do that ourselves. We were handed a sheet with classes that we supposedly got approved to take earlier on our pre-approval forms that we submitted. Well, I don't know what kind of drugs they were on when they made my schedule because they only got 2 out of 4 classes right. I hate studying politics, so why would I sign up for a politics class? There's also no way I signed up for an astronomy class, nevermind a 300 level one. Regardless, I got my schedule figured out. The only downside, I have classes 5 days a week, which apparently is not common here. Most people don't have class on Friday. If they do have class on Friday, then they have another day off during the week. But not me. Oh well, I have Friday off next semester.
Now for the fun stuff. Thursday night was the International students harbour cruise. Oh, and did we tell you, it's 80's themed. Surprise. You better have a costume. That's what they sprung on us a mere 4 hours before the cruise was supposed to depart. Like anyone packed 80's stuff. Well guess again. A lot of people apparently reserved room in their suitcases for 80's gear. Then again, maybe they were told of the theme earlier than we were. Anyway, the cruise itself was nothing special. Don't get me wrong, the harbour at night is a cool spectacle and all, but it gets boring after the hundredth time going around the harbour. The harbour is not as big as I expected it to be. I took my video/photo camera with me on the cruise. It does not take great pictures at night though, so you'll have to wait until I go on another cruise on the 27th for better pictures.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Australearn Program Introduction
Well, after reformatting my computer twice, I'm finally back online. Now I have to play catch-up to get up to date with this blog. The uploader finally works, so here are the photos. Enjoy
The first three and a half days in Australia were spent in my program's introduction. When we arrived in Cairns, we were met by our Australearn leaders in the baggage claim. They took us by bus to where we would be staying for the next three nights. It was called Gilligan's and it wasn't as bad as I had initially thought it was going to be. There was a night club on one side of it, a pool in the middle, and the actual hotel part of it on the other side of it. I stayed in a room with 4 other guys, but only 2 of them were going to the same uni as me.
After settling in, a group of guys and I headed out to find something to eat because we were starving. Because this was in the afternoon, most places were not serving any food because they were taking a break between lunch and dinner. On the way around, we came across a pretty impressive tree.
We finally found a place called Outback Jack's. I had kangaroo and crocodile kabobs, which were really good. I liked the kangaroo better. After heading back to Gilligan's, we met up with the people who missed their flight in Brisbane. The whole Australearn group, all 74 of us, went to eat at a brewery. The food was just alright. We hung there for awhile, then headed back to Gilligan's. We had every intention of going to the club that evening, but we fell right asleep on our beds as soon as we laid down. Jet lag is not fun.
The next day, we were woken early and had a session with our Australearn leaders. Then, we headed up to the rainforeststation. There, we split into 3 separate groups and headed off to our first activity. My group's first activity was feeing the kangaroos and seeing some animals they had there. Most of the kangaroo/wallaby pictures are in a previous post, but here are some more:
We also had the opportunity to put a snake around our necks, so here is my photo with the snake. It really was not that big of a snake, but it was cool nonetheless:
After feeding the kangaroos for awhile, a ranger showed us some of the other animals that they had. The following pictures are of some lizards. One of them had a blue tongue and I got a photo of the tongue, which was really hard to get cause he only stuck it out for a second:
After looking at the lizards, we headed over to the crocodiles:
After seeing the normal crocodiles, we went over to where the infamous Jack the Ripper crocodile is kept. It got its name because it killed about 9 female crocodiles that were put there to mate with it. It also killed numerous cows and other animals while it was in the wild. It was a big crocodile!
Next came a bird. I'm not sure what it is:
And then finally we reached the koalas. The have the greatest life you can think of. The spend 20 hours of the day sleeping, and then spend the other 4 hours finding and eating eucalyptus. They also spend all of their life high because of the effects of the eucalyptus. What a life
After viewing the animals, we headed over an outdoor theatre to watch some aboriginal dances. It was quite interesting.
Then it was time for a group shot:
After watching them dance, we went and watched them demonstrate how to throw spears, play a didgeridoo, and throw boomerangs. We got to try playing the didgeridoo and throwing the boomerang, but not throwing the spears.
Our final event for the day was riding around the rainforest in one of those boats that can also drive on land. We saw some pretty interesting scenery in and out of the water:
I would be lying though if I said that that was all we did, because there was one thing that we did, that for most was the highlight of the day. We all got to get our picture taken while holding a koala:
On the way home, we stopped at an overlook to the city and land below:
Day 3 started quite the same. We had breakfats bright and early at 6:15AM and then headed off to the Great Barrier Reef. Most people went scuba diving, including myself, and others went snorkeling. I was the only certified scuba diver in the group that was able to go (the other couldn't go because of asthma). One of our program leaders was also certified, so I got to go with her and the dive master. The other people that had never dived before were in groups of about 10. I haven't gotten the pictures developed yet, but when I do, I will get them up on here.
Day 4 we were again woken up early. Breakfast was at 6:45. This was the day that were flying to our unis. The flight today, however, all worked out for everybody. A couple of guys and I got a photo in the airport with one of our program leaders, Michelle. She was also the one that I dove with while scuba diving.
The last photos I will leave you with are from the plane and the trip to my uni.
The first three and a half days in Australia were spent in my program's introduction. When we arrived in Cairns, we were met by our Australearn leaders in the baggage claim. They took us by bus to where we would be staying for the next three nights. It was called Gilligan's and it wasn't as bad as I had initially thought it was going to be. There was a night club on one side of it, a pool in the middle, and the actual hotel part of it on the other side of it. I stayed in a room with 4 other guys, but only 2 of them were going to the same uni as me.
After settling in, a group of guys and I headed out to find something to eat because we were starving. Because this was in the afternoon, most places were not serving any food because they were taking a break between lunch and dinner. On the way around, we came across a pretty impressive tree.
We finally found a place called Outback Jack's. I had kangaroo and crocodile kabobs, which were really good. I liked the kangaroo better. After heading back to Gilligan's, we met up with the people who missed their flight in Brisbane. The whole Australearn group, all 74 of us, went to eat at a brewery. The food was just alright. We hung there for awhile, then headed back to Gilligan's. We had every intention of going to the club that evening, but we fell right asleep on our beds as soon as we laid down. Jet lag is not fun.
The next day, we were woken early and had a session with our Australearn leaders. Then, we headed up to the rainforeststation. There, we split into 3 separate groups and headed off to our first activity. My group's first activity was feeing the kangaroos and seeing some animals they had there. Most of the kangaroo/wallaby pictures are in a previous post, but here are some more:
We also had the opportunity to put a snake around our necks, so here is my photo with the snake. It really was not that big of a snake, but it was cool nonetheless:
After feeding the kangaroos for awhile, a ranger showed us some of the other animals that they had. The following pictures are of some lizards. One of them had a blue tongue and I got a photo of the tongue, which was really hard to get cause he only stuck it out for a second:
After looking at the lizards, we headed over to the crocodiles:
After seeing the normal crocodiles, we went over to where the infamous Jack the Ripper crocodile is kept. It got its name because it killed about 9 female crocodiles that were put there to mate with it. It also killed numerous cows and other animals while it was in the wild. It was a big crocodile!
Next came a bird. I'm not sure what it is:
And then finally we reached the koalas. The have the greatest life you can think of. The spend 20 hours of the day sleeping, and then spend the other 4 hours finding and eating eucalyptus. They also spend all of their life high because of the effects of the eucalyptus. What a life
After viewing the animals, we headed over an outdoor theatre to watch some aboriginal dances. It was quite interesting.
Then it was time for a group shot:
After watching them dance, we went and watched them demonstrate how to throw spears, play a didgeridoo, and throw boomerangs. We got to try playing the didgeridoo and throwing the boomerang, but not throwing the spears.
Our final event for the day was riding around the rainforest in one of those boats that can also drive on land. We saw some pretty interesting scenery in and out of the water:
I would be lying though if I said that that was all we did, because there was one thing that we did, that for most was the highlight of the day. We all got to get our picture taken while holding a koala:
On the way home, we stopped at an overlook to the city and land below:
Day 3 started quite the same. We had breakfats bright and early at 6:15AM and then headed off to the Great Barrier Reef. Most people went scuba diving, including myself, and others went snorkeling. I was the only certified scuba diver in the group that was able to go (the other couldn't go because of asthma). One of our program leaders was also certified, so I got to go with her and the dive master. The other people that had never dived before were in groups of about 10. I haven't gotten the pictures developed yet, but when I do, I will get them up on here.
Day 4 we were again woken up early. Breakfast was at 6:45. This was the day that were flying to our unis. The flight today, however, all worked out for everybody. A couple of guys and I got a photo in the airport with one of our program leaders, Michelle. She was also the one that I dove with while scuba diving.
The last photos I will leave you with are from the plane and the trip to my uni.
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