Mojo Surf Trip!

This past week at school was "Bondstock," which is a week filled with all sorts of different social activities for the students. Wednesday night there was the "Fashion Parade" fashion show at Don's tavern to raise money and awareness for animal welfare that a few of us checked out. I've never been to a fashion show before, so it was certainly a fun experience. Thursday night a bunch of us went over to Emily's/Lizzy's again and played some more pong (I once again represented.. of course) and had a little dance party. Ashley, Brodie, Junot and others were there again and they're hilarious so it was a lot of fun. Some of Lizzy's Malasian friends also came over for a bit, and they were a lot of fun too and invited us to a party at their place next Friday so that should be a good time. Thursday night was also the Bondstock music festival at Don's, but apparently the bands are never very good and its not worth the money, so we decided to skip out and make our own little party back at University Place.

Friday during the day Steph, Emily and I went over to the Student Flights station on campus and looked into some trips, and Steph and I booked our weekend trip to the outback!!! I am so excited for it-- we're going the first weekend in November and we get to go hiking, climb Uluru, ride camels through the outback desert, camp out under the stars, watch the sunrise at Uluru, etc. It's going to be such an amazing experience and so different from anything I've done here so far.

Friday night we left for our Mojo Surf trip at "Spot X" in Arrawarra, which is about a 4-5 hour drive from the Gold Coast; somewhere along the coast between here and Sydney. The bus ride was fun at first- we passed the time by singing and playing catch phrase, but then we all got tired and napped the rest of the way. We arrived at the surf camp at about 1:00 a.m., and basically immediately found some bunks and went to sleep. I was in a bunk with Emily, Steph and Alysa, and luckily we got one of the bunks with a bathroom, but unfortunately the bunk literally smelled like a porter potty. We got our "wake up call" (surf instructors came and banged on everyone's bunks) at 8:00 am. We grabbed some quick breakfast and then got ready to go out for our first surf lesson at 9:30. We had a relatively quick surf instruction, stretched out a bit, practiced jumping up on our boards in the sand, and then hit the water. The instructors were really helpful at helping you catch the waves, and at first gave everyone little pushes to get on top the waves and be able to stand up. After a while, however, we all sort of got the hang of it and were able to paddle ourselves into our own waves and ride them out. We were out in the water until 11:30, then lunch was at 12. After lunch, we all hung out around the camp and just relaxed on the beach before going back out into the water for our second lesson at 3:30. The second lesson was much better-- the waves were bigger because it was a little stormy out and I stood up a lot and rode lots of waves in. After our second lesson, we all got showered and dressed for dinner. After dinner, the festivities began. Everyone at the surf camp, including all of the surf instructors, played all sorts of drinking games, hung out by the bonfire, sang and danced around and had an overall amazing time. The surf instructors were absolutely crazy and hilarious, and it was really entertaining to watch everyone get really wild. Sunday morning we had one more surf lesson. Our wake up call was at 6:00 a.m., and our lesson was at 7:00 a.m. It was absolutely freezing out and not everyone made it out there due to ..um.. complications regarding the after effects of the previous night's activities. It took everything in me to force myself into the freezing cold wetsuit and the freezing cold water, but I knew I would regret not taking advantage of every opportunity I had to get out there in the water and surf, so I went for it. The water was really calm in the morning so I only caught a few waves, but it was still a lot of fun and a nice way to end my surfing adventures. After our last lesson we all chilled out for a while around the fire pit and then had some lunch before loading back on the bus to head home. On the way home, we stopped in Byron Bay, which is a little surf town about an hour south of the Gold Coast. It was an awesome little boho town with a bunch of little shops and pubs. I loved the laid back vibe of the town and my friends and I are definitely going to plan to go back to Byron for a weekend sometime in the near future.

It was a really great weekend. I got to hang out with a bunch of really cool people and got to know everyone much better. Can't wait for more fun adventures coming up in the near future. I'll keep you all posted! Miss everyone from home a ton (especially you catie gmeiner).

Love,

Arlyn

First Week of Actually STUDYING Abroad!

This past week was my first full week of being an actual STUDENT in Australia... almost forgot I'm here to study too! ;) My classes have actually all been really great so far. Mostly all classes here meet only twice a week- once for lecture and once for tutorial (a tutorial is equivalent to a recitation at OSU; just a breakdown of the larger lecture into smaller discussion groups). Last Monday I had my Australian Popular Culture lecture, which was about 90% Americans or other international students. Even though I won't be meeting many Aussies in that class, I'm still really glad I'm in it. The course readings and information are really interesting. Also, we get to watch tons of movies in the class, and considering I have no television in my townhouse, I'm super psyched about any opportunity to watch some movies. Today, during my second lecture, we watched the first half of Australia with Hugh Jackman (oh my god) and Nicole Kidman-- such a good movie so far. Last Tuesday was my first Love, Sex, and Relationships lecture which actually seems like its going to be extremely interesting. It approaches the topics from all different cultural perspectives and discusses attitudes toward "taboo" subjects and how they've changed back and forth over the last century.. definitely very interesting. You know its a good class when you enjoy reading the textbook! Wednesday was my first Australian History class. The professor spoke so fast and between her accent and accelerated speech I honestly had no idea what she was saying, so that should certainly be interesting. Luckily, we've got a book and powerpoint slides/notes to guide us, because I have a feeling lecture is going to be somewhat impossible to comprehend. Every Wednesday on campus they have a free bbq for all students with live music next to the lake. Its really nice-- always beautiful weather of course, and I love how the bbq brings everyone together and they just chill and eat some sausages with "tomato sauce" (not ketchup) and listen to the live music in between classes for an hour or so. Since it was the first week of classes, I didn't have any tutorials, so there was lots of free time for me to get back into my exercise routine, hang out with friends, etc. 

Thursday night we went over to Emily's and had a little pong tournament prior to going out to Don's tavern. Emily's Australian roommate Lizzy invited over her boyfriend and a few of her other friends. It was a lot of fun getting to know some of the Aussies better. My Ohio State friends will be pleased to know that I was the pong champion of the night, so fear not, I held my own and gave OSU the pong reputation it deserves. =D 

Friday was just a relaxing day. I don't have any Friday classes so I just took it easy for most of the day, hung out by the pool on campus for a bit, and then went out for Chinese food in Market Square for dinner. Saturday a group of us went to the beach- Surfer's Paradise. It was absolutely beautiful out, so again a very relaxing day in paradise! Saturday night, Emily, Steph and I got a call from Plan B Party Tours asking us to come out with them for another Pub Crawl, so we decided to go back out to Surfer's for the night to all the bars/clubs.  There were a lot more Australians on the crawl this week so it was a really good time. Sunday was again a nice, relaxing day. I did some house keeping-- laundry, getting my school work together, etc, and then Sunday night they had fireworks on campus which was a nice little way to end the weekend and get ready for week 2 of classes!

This week it began to feel much more natural to be living in Australia. It definitely takes some time to adjust to their style of living here and make some good friends and all that, but its all beginning to fall into place. I still of course miss all of my friends and family from Ohio and New Jersey tons, and send everyone my love. 

Thats all for now!! 

Love,

Arlyn

Orientation Week!

Time for my second post! This past week has been incredible. It was orientation week, aka "Bond Week", meaning BUSA (Bond University Student Association) planned all sorts of fun activities for new students all week long to help everyone adjust to the campus and get pumped about being a part of this university. Monday my friends and I went over to campus and checked out the enrolment hub, where they had Bond students and staff helping the new students and international students with getting their classes straight. I switched some of my classes around based on some recommendations, so I am now scheduled to be taking three classes- Australian History, Australian Pop Culture, and Psychology of Love, Sex and Relationships. The last class was recommended to me by several people-- apparently its extremely popular for international students to take and the professor is hilarious.. should certainly be interesting! After the enrolment hub, we went over to the library where we got our student ids and set up our Bond email accounts. Next, we headed over to the information hub, where all sorts of student clubs and events set up tables, and we got our orientation week packs, complete with two t-shirts and a backpack! (love free stuff) After we were through with getting everything squared away on campus, a few of us headed over to one of the local shopping centers, Pacific Fair, where we did big shops at the grocery store (Coles) and Target. It wasn't until after I was finished shopping that I realized that I was a huge idiot and bought exceedingly more than I could carry onto the bus and home, so I got extremely crafty and started tying bags onto me in every possible place, and put tons of bags in the laundry basket that I bought at Target-- I more or less looked like the stereotypical foreigner who got herself into a ridiculous situation on her first full day living at a school in a foreign country.. either that or a homeless person. Anyway, when I finally made it home, I made myself some dinner and then got ready to go out to Don's Tavern, the bar right on campus, for the Rumble in the Jungle themed party. It was TONS of fun and everyone got really into the theme. Apparently themed parties are really big in Australia which is extremely exciting to me because themed parties are my favorite by far. After the party, a few of us went back to my friend Emily's and hung out with her Australian roomate Lizzy and some of her friends. It was fun to hang out with a couple Aussies!

Tuesday was much less hectic than Monday. In the morning my friends and I walked over to Market Square, which is a really nice area with shops and restaurants located directly next to campus and within easy walking distance, and signed up for our student spa packages!! =D For $60, they offer new Bond students a spa package with four massage sessions, manicures/pedicures, facials, etc. We all thought it was a great deal and thought since you get four sessions it'd be a nice way to treat ourselves once a month and relax a little from all the traveling running around I'm sure we'll be doing. After that we went over to campus for a study abroad info session. The professor in the session kept using the phrase "think outside the square," which I thought was funny, since its outside the box in the U.S. Anyway, after that I took a little time for myself in the afternoon and went to the gym and did a little bit of solo exploring around campus which was nice. For dinner, Emily, Alysa, Steph and I (three of my good friends here in Australia) went back to Market Square and got pizza and pasta for dinner. On Tuesdays, the pizza place runs a great deal where you get two large entrees for the price of one, so it ended up being like $2-3/person for a nice meal in town. We decided that will be our Tuesday night tradition! (One thing that is really nice about Australia is that you don't tip ever-- not at the bar, not at restaurants, not in taxis.. nowhere-- which ends up saving you lots of money.) After dinner, we headed back over to campus for a hypnotist show. The hypnotist's name was Mark Anthony, which I thought was funny, and he's apparently the best in Australia and pretty well known internationally. It was a hilarious show.. definitely a little strange and inappropriate at times, but still very funny. 

Wednesday morning we had several international student info sessions that we had to attend on campus. For lunch there was a free poolside bbq/sausage sizzle on campus. After lunch we took a tour of campus, which literally took about 20 minutes. Its so strange to adjust to such a smaller school when I'm used to OSU. There is literally one building where essentially all the classes are held, which is such a contrast to the dozens and dozens of classroom buildings at Ohio State. Wednesday night we just relaxed and stayed in, and Steph and I did a little research online about trips to take in Australia, trips to New Zealand, etc. 

Thursday was finally beach day!! A couple of us rode the bus over to Surfer's Paradise, which is a big beach town that is very well known in Australia. It is a big tourist attraction, but right now since its not peak season yet the beaches and town weren't too crowded at all. We spent the whole day at the beach, lying out for a while and then walking around the town afterward and browsing through the surf shops. Thursday night was another themed party at Don's tavern.. this time it was the 80's/TIGHT and BRIGHT party. The outfits that people put together were absolutely hilarious, and it was once again lots of fun.

Friday we decided to go to the beach again. This time we tried out Burleigh Heads beach, which is much less toursity and really nice. Friday night was a relaxing night. It was "movies under the stars" night, so they set up a big screen on one of the lawns on campus and played Knocked Up. We don't have tv's in our houses, so it was actually really nice to just relax and watch tv for a night for the first time since arriving in Australia. 

Saturday was when I experienced my first round of the true Gold Coast night life. A bunch of us bought these bar and club passes for the semester, which give us unlimited access into all of the bars and clubs in the area as well as a ticket into a pub crawl every week if we'd like (although we'll probably only do the pub crawl a couple of times). Saturday at 4:30 pm, everyone who bought one of these passes met at a bar on campus. From there we were all bussed out to Surfer's Paradise, where we went to our first bar of the night. From there, we walked over to the ocean, where we got onto our boat/booze cruise!! It was nuts-- the boat was packed and everyone was dancing and drinking and having a good time. After the booze cruise, they took us around to a few more bars and clubs, before we all called it quits at about 12 (starting at 4:30 makes you tired early). 

Today has been a relaxing day. I took a trip by myself over to Robina Town Centre, another one of the local shopping centers, which turned out to be an enormous mall. I did a bit of grocery shopping and it took every bit of strength in me not to go trying on all of the clothes in the mall-- they have some really great stores but I'm resisting the urge to shop because I know my money will be better spent on travel! Later in the afternoon, a few friends and I walked over to campus and checked out where our classrooms are for tomorrow. Tonight a bunch of us are going out to a Japanese restaurant in celebration of wrapping up orientation week and getting psyched about classes starting tomorrow!

I still of course miss everyone at home tremendously. I watched the terribly disappointing football game online today-- my sympathies go out to all my OSU friends.. that was a big bummer. I can't wait to update about all my classes and my first real week of being a student in Australia!

Love you all!

Arlyn

Program Introduction

Well hello!

Where to begin?! These past few days have been so amazing. My journey began Tuesday (Sept 1) morning when I departed from Philadelphia to L.A. We stopped in Phoenix on the way over, so with the time difference and all, I arrived in L.A. at 2:30 p.m. California time. I sat around in the airport for a long time and slowly other AustraLearn students finally started to trickle in. Soon we all began talking, getting to know each others' names, hometowns, schools, etc. We played some good ol' catch phrase to pass the time, and before we knew it it was time to board the plane for our 11:40 p.m. departure to Brisbane! Luckily I slept for more or less the entire 14 hour flight.  When we arrived in Brisbane (6 a.m. Thursday morning in Australia) we took a flight immediately from there to Cairns, where our program introduction took place.

When we arrived in Cairns, we were greeted at the airport by our three introduction leaders, Michelle, Russell and Dicky. We all gathered our luggage and then boarded the bus to Bohemia Resort, the backpacker we stayed in. When we got to the backpacker, we were all extremely hot so we all decided to jump into the pool for a few minutes before the traditional Aussie Sausage sizzle and ice breakers. Next we had an introduction session in town at the Rydges Hotel plaza, received our cell phones, and then all headed over to Blue Sky Brewery for some beer and dinner. We all stayed and had a few drinks, but headed in early because we had to be ready to for breakfast the next morning at 7:30 a.m.

Friday we headed back over to Rydges for breakfast and a quick info session, but then departed early for a day at the Rainforestation! Here I got to pet kangaroos, hold koalas and snakes, see humongous crocodiles, talk to parrots, and see a disgustingly huge spider (not part of the plan). We also went on an army duck tour on one of the original army ducks and got to see a traditional aboriginal performance. We even learned about how to properly play a didgeridoo, how to throw spears, and how to throw a boomerang so that it actually comes back to you! Shortly after some lunch we departed back to Bohemia, where we all took naps and then got ready to go out for a night on the town. A group of us went to eat at a fantastic pizza place on the waterside in Cairns, where we had some Hawaiian pizza and pesto pizza, accompanied by a few pints of Strongbow (yum!). Afterward we all met up with the other AustraLearn students at Gilligan's bar and club, where we all drank a bit more, socialized with some Aussies and danced. We had a great time, but headed back to Bohemia relatively early because we had a long day ahead of us!

Saturday we woke up, ate a quick breakfast at Bohemia, then took the bus down to the Marina and boarded the Passions of Paradise boat to the Great Barrier reef! It was a 2-3 hour boat ride out to our destination in the middle of the ocean. When we arrived, I was in the first scuba diving group. Diving was absolutely amazing. It is definitely a strange feeling to adjust to breathing under water, but once you acclimate it is so fantastic. The reef was beautiful and colorful. There were so many fish and so much coral. I have a battle wound on my right hand and on my left knee from scraping against the sharp coral, which i must admit I'm pretty proud of. Some of the coral was clearly very sharp, but then Dicky (our diving instructor) was able to point out some super soft and squishy coral which we were able to feel. We also picked up sea cucumbers, which are these strange bright/hot pink plants in the water that are shaped like cucumbers, saw all kinds of fish, and saw a few huge purple clams that closed shut when you tapped then. After my scuba was over, I snorkeled over to this little island in the middle of the ocean, which was also really amazing, and then snorkeled back to the boat to grab lunch and relax on the boat for a while with the other AustraLearn students. We spent all day out in the sun on the boat, going in and out of the water all day and just all talking, eating and drinking and having a great time. Later in the day when we got back to Cairns, we went back to Bohemia to freshen up and then headed back out to Rydges for our last info session/pizza dinner. Afterward, a bunch of us signed up for a weekend surf trip in a few weeks which should be amazing-- but more on that later. We then walked around a bit for our last night in Cairns, got some ice cream, watched a fire torch show that happened to be going on down at the water, and then went for a quick swim in the Lagoon in town before deciding to retire back to Bohemia.

Today (Sunday) we flew back to Brisbane and then drove to the Gold Coast so we could finally arrive at Bond University!! When we got here, we all settled into our accommodations. I am living at University Place, which is a complex of 2-3 person villas. I am SO glad I decided to live here-- I love it!! Its so pretty and my villa is so spacious for just three people, and its just a five minute walk to campus. My roommates are two other girls from AustraLearn-- Michelle from Missouri and Alyssa from Maryland (but goes to Roanoke). They're both super nice, so it should be a really fun house! I got all settled in, unpacked, and then headed over with a big group of other kids to walk around campus for a little while before the big welcome/orientation week Sausage sizzle. Afterward, we headed over to the "bottle shop" where we all got a few bottles of wine and alcohol to begin stocking our houses with, and walked around the little town area right next to campus. The town and the campus are ABSOLUTELY beautiful. There's a gorgeous lake in the middle of campus, and everything looks brand-spankin' new and awesome and its just absolute paradise to think that I will be living here for the next 4 months. When we got back to University Place, a few of us went over to my friend Emily's, drank a bit of sparkling wine to celebrate arriving at Bond, and then planned out tomorrow and a general idea of what we are going to do over the next week. We don't begin classes until next Monday, so this whole week is all fun orientation activities. 

I am having a fantastic time and I can't believe I haven't even been here a full week yet! I've met some really great people here so far, but I'm looking forward to meeting even more people, particularly people from Australia and all over the world. I truly miss my friends and family back in Ohio and NJ so so so much, but I know this is the experience of a lifetime and I'm about to live it up!!! =D

Thats all for now! 

Love,

Arlyn