What happened in Melbourne, stays...

Hi all!

To continue my ramble about Melbourne, there is only one more thing I remember from that stay.  I recall not getting back from a wild night out until 4 in the morning, and having to get up around 7AM in order to bus it to the Melbourne airport and fly to Sydney.

We all thought one straggler would fail to make it in the morning (I won't mention names, but he had a habit of adventuring solo and sleeping on the streets of major cities), and we were all so worried about him!  While boarding the bus, we all wait and within 2 minutes we see him stumble down the stairs and join us onto the bus!  Thank heavens, he made it!  A big hooray was called out for that haha.  Such a funny, reckless kid.

Here's some photos from our stay in Melbourne/the plane to Sydney (organized properly!):

Our lovely room, my bed on the right!

 

Someone couldn't handle the messy vegetarian pies!

Eclectic art

Wicker hut smack dab in the middle of the city!

The pub before all went haywire!

I reckon these photos pretty much sum everything up!

Now, onto my abrupt arrival into Wollongong!

For starters, the second we were off the bus with our luggage was probably when a wave of fear rushed over us all, as we had no idea what to expect next.  The rest, was left up to us.

Myself, Rorie, Becca, and Erin were then guided by a friendly gentlemen named Eshan, who is one of the mentors (Residence Assistant as we know them at universities in the U.S.).  Unfortunately, this friendly fellow was as much surprised to see us as we were him, and it was obvious he was not prepared to have us move in so early.  I could read his thoughts almost as if they were written in marquee above his head, "what in the world am I supposed to do with these people?".

About 2 hours and 30 minutes later, I was securely seated in my vacant room on the second floor of a large apartment style building, and at the end of the hall.  This was only after I was shown to the wrong spot initially: I would have shared a place with four surfer boys (and I doubt I would have complained about it, however there are strict rules and regulations about the gender ratios being uneven).  Also, the poor mentor had to go back and forth getting various keys from the accommodation booth at UniCenter (where I had to sign in to the University, ensuring my existence).  He was sweating by the time he fit me in the correct building.  So there I was with a sad looking heap of linen, 1 large, 1 medium, and 1 small luggage surrounding me in an empty white brick bedroom with a desk.

Panic kicked in.

It took me about 3 hours to figure out the phone situation, and to this day there is a confusing phone line in this room that acts like it works but I have not seen it prove itself all semester.  I finally got a mobile phone working, and I may or may not have called both my parents and Travis, with a rock of horror at the back of my throat and quivering tears behind my eyes.  "HELP ME I'M JET LAG-DELIRIOUS, WITH NOTHING THAT WORKS AND NO COMPANY, ALONE IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY!!!"

My poor, poor family and friends.

Lets just say that was the last time I cried for four and a half months.

Tilly, Me, Georgia - Straight flexin

Hakuna Matata

Frolicking on an island in the Outer Great Barrier Reef

- B

I know you want to hear more!

Brainstorm is complete.  

Here is how I will organize the next few blogs:  I will separate everything I have yet to show and tell about and title it “THEN” from what is current and important to reiterate before I forget it (because I have a minor case of Alzheimer’s) I will title as “NOW”.  Okay.  Also, I'll just include the major trips and events I took part in!

THEN
So I left off talking about the end of our stay in Sorrento, Victoria.  The last few photos (there are too many, I know - I will organize them better from now on!) are about the boat ride that we were taken on to get fish and chips and see the dolphins.  So beautiful.  Along the way, Kendal told us about heaps of different trips we could think about planning throughout our four month stay in Australia.  SO helpful, because I have done about 50% of them by today.  Somewhere along the ride, an argument broke out about the boatman's son/daughter and we couldn't agree on whether this precious child was a boy or girl!  I insisted it was a girl, but everyone was against me saying otherwise (there's a photo in the previous blog of the child with LONG blonde hair, with huge blue eyes and long eyelashes).  Whatever  the gender, the kid was drop dead adorable!

That was our last night in Sorrento, and a few of us traveled down the street to the short and went to the gazebo one last time to say goodbye.  We'd be leaving early after breakfast in the morning.

On the bus ride back to Melbourne, a song came on: Send Me On My Way by Busted Root.  A perfect fit as the adventure continues!  Coming into the city, we passed by a field of men playing Collingwood, a senior rugby/football team and they were currently training in their pre-season.  Also about to pass the Yarra River in Melbourne as well where this is a rowing school that has an intense well-known team!  (Later in the day, as we were looking for bikes to hire, we stood in front of the rowing school as everyone rushed around in order to scope out a way we might sneak in on the fun and pretend to be a student just to go rowing!  This proved to be unsuccessful.)

Compulsory to wear: Helmets AND seat-belts in Australia, wherever you go.  You don't want to know HOW many times I forgot the latter.

We stayed in what seemed to be a 5-star hotel called Mantra on Jolimont Street, where each "room" made for 3 people had about 5 rooms!  An apartment basically.  We only stayed for one night but it was simply exquisite haha.  I roomed with Alli and Lauren.  After dropping our bags off here, we went on a city tour of Melbourne with Kendal and Katrina (Arcadia guides/"Mom and "Dad", as I will be referring to them often).

During the day, after exploring the city (see photos!) a bunch of us went to the pool and tried to figure out our classes schedules; one of our "assignments" by Katrina was to know what we were doing for the Uni's (our group had students going to University of Wollongong, University of Sydney, and University of New South Whales).  It was a bit complicated but we finally figured it out and rewarded ourselves with a nice hot tub experience!  While in the hot tub, we felt bad for intruding on a middle-aged couple but they insisted we join them.  After talking to them for a while we found out they were from New Zealand!  How exciting!  Little did I know right then that I'd be doing a stop over in New Zealand on the way home.  They told us the best places to go, and I asked about Nevis Bungee jumping and the prices and best places to stay and such.  They seem to be avid travelers who know what they were doing!  No children, just a couple in love, not even married just sharing a life together travelling around the world and learning.  Ahhh, how refreshing.

The nightlife was SO much fun, I look back and I wonder now why this ended up being my only visit to Melbourne.  We ended up splitting in two groups, and the girls I was with (Erin, Steph, and I) could not decide which group we wanted to follow so last minute we turned around and ended up running SO far barefoot just to catch up.  The other group was going to one club they heard about and the group we joined with in the opposite direction was going to a bar/hangout rooftop place.  Mind you, this place ended up being about 2 or 3 miles away by the way (whoever directed us to this place I'm still angry at!) and then to a club.  Let's just leave it at that.  Moral of the story was I learned the hard way (the embarrassing way) that the capital of Australia is Canberra and not Sydney...
Oh and I was also quizzed thoroughly on all the territories of Australia, which I got right so HA there.

I wish not to relive that moment so please if you see me refrain from mentioning it thank you!  At least now I'll never forget it.  Considering getting the above tattoo after that night actually... Just kidding mom and dad!  The person that made fun of me for not knowing (HIII I've only been in Australia for literally 2 days at this point) got what was coming to him, and "that's all that I have to say about that" - Forest Gump.

I'm getting bored of this (go figure) so let's just add in a few fun facts I've learned about Australian locals:
- Everyone is so friendly and so intelligent here but the majority talk so fast!
- Lays chips as we know them in the U.S.A. are IDENTICAL to the bags of chips here called "Smiths" (not sure if they taste identical, I have not tried them).
- Food is much more healthy here/organic tasting, which is not what you would picture being an isolated island that pretty much relies on imports...but I guess the land/soil is fertile here!  All except for iron, there is a deficiency in Australia and some people choose to take supplements.
- My favorite thing to make (since I live in an accommodation that we cook for ourselves) is guacamole!  Everyone that tries it loves it and I have considered selling it many times in order to make more money haha.
- Vegemite is a brown, salty spread (tastes like a mixture of soy sauce and beer) they put it on basically everything, not just bread.  Personally I thought it was the most grotesque tasting thing but I know plenty of people who are obsessed with it!  It's a 50/50 love/hate situation.
- The most interesting nights are the ones you share "Australian ways" vs. "American ways" with some new friends you made.
- Australia may or may not be 3 years "ahead" of America when it comes to fashion.  That's how it seems to me! (Had this discussion with one of my Australian friends, Tilly)

Many more exciting new snippets to come!

- B

Once upon a time...

I figured it's about time I began to write a blog about this amazing place.  First, I'll throw the disclaimer out there that I vowed to do everything in my power so as not want to spend even a one hundredth of my time behind a blog, camera lens (I tried my best, oops), or book for my entire adventure.  I wanted to actually see it.  To fully breathe in the extent of my travels.  Capiche?

But first, here is a snapshot of a little something I started to write way back when.  Try to refrain from laughing at how pathetic it is.  Only I am allowed to.  Haha.  Will pick up later, trying to brainstorm the best way to play catch-up!

Blog 1:  February 27^th, 2013

Hello, everyone!

My name is Brittany Bouffard and I am currently a junior at RWU.  I have a major in psychology and a minor in biology, and will soon have a core concentration in public health.  I chose to study abroad in the first place in the hopes that I might face real opportunities to stretch my comfort zone.  I could not wait to dig deep and broaden my horizons on what I want to do and who I wish to be for the rest of my life, and I knew studying abroad would be the perfect way to do so.  Then, I chose to focus specifically on Australia because of how similar in culture they seem to the US, and I wanted to explore that further being a curious psych-minded individual.  However, the minute I stepped foot on Australian soil I knew that theory could not be more wrong.  Allow me to blog about the similarities, differences, and just my general experience here at the University of Wollongong, Australia.  I’ll try to avoid retelling everything in a play-by-play of events as much as I can help it (Note: Wow, wasn't this a lie!).

Day 1 AKA 16^thUSA/18^thAUS  First off, right from the start I knew the hardest part of my travel was going to be saying goodbye to my mother and my boyfriend and leave them behind to board our first plane.  Together, my friend Erin and I took a flight from JFK to LAX in California, which departed at 6:30pm on the 16^th.  We were not prepared for being alone at LAX for the 3 hour layover.  For some reason we were under the impression that someone from Arcadia would meet with us upon arrival and take the group flight with us.  However, we luckily ran into nearly zero problems, which is surprising because of how delirious the first flight alone had made us.  Little did we know this feeling would be nothing in comparison to the 16-hour flight that we had in store!!! 

So a week before I left for Australia I decided to become a vegetarian after watching a few very disturbing movies about the harsh mistreatment of animals during meat production.  The images and ideas just did not sit right with me and I vowed I would never be able to eat chicken or beef or any other animal products (with the exception of fish)…we shall see how long that will last but so far so good (Note: And its already June and I'm still going strong!).  While sitting on the steps at the airport waiting for the right time to go through security, Erin was talking about how she wanted to purchase a big juicy hamburger.  So naturally, I responded “Sure – I’ll split it with you!” completely forgetting a minor factor.  Since then though, it’s been fairly easy to remember and I have not broken a single rule and do not plan on it.  Erin reminds me of this moment every chance she could get!  Such a good friend!

Once finally arriving in Australia after a long and exhausting 22 hour journey, the first thing my friends and I do when we step off the plan is change clothing.  Considering the 95°F temperature (35°C), we immediately rummage through our carry-on’s to find pairs of shorts, flip-flops, and tank tops and toss them on.  We then all survived through taking the tedious but necessary steps of getting our photo ID’s taken, picking up our luggage, and passing through customs.  Unfortunately, a few students had gotten their food products thrown away, but other than that nothing too serious or unmanageable had taken place.  Walking alone through the custom exits, the first Arcadia staff member I met is named Kendal, who pointed me in the right direction toward where the rest of the group was gathering.  All students going through the Arcadia program introduced one another, swapping conversation and just getting acquainted.  We were then directed to say adios to our baggage one last time, chucked it all in a loading van, and then began to embark on our orientation adventure.  We boarded a coach bus and were off.   Our first destination is the city of Melbourne. 

Once in Melbourne, we were given 2 hours free before we had to meet back at the bus, on our own in the land of Australia for the first time.  Directly across the street from where the driver dropped us off was a mini cooper full of Red Bull with barely clothed girls passing cans out.  Of course all of us stopped to take one each (and the boys led the way haha!) and they insisted on taking a group photo of everyone, which probably bettered their advertising business or whatever.  Right off the bat, I noticed the locals are so much more social.  If we’re lost or looking for directions strangers will stop and help you instantly (universal symbol for seeming lost is standing frozen in one spot staring at a map, by the way).  Not only will they point you in the right direction, but also speak for 5 minutes in order to give a further and more confusing explanation. 

So we dipped our feet into the ocean, and as we strolled along the beach I noticed there were vibrant blue alien-looking jellyfish of all sizes spread along the shoreline.  I’ll admit I was getting a little nervous, not knowing just how dangerous Australia really is.  Having seen some of the Australian beach shows that air in the US like Bondi Rescue, the unknown became more of what I feared.  We then sort of got inevitably split up and formed 3 smaller groups.  From there, my group walked down the pier to a shack at the end, where I bought myself my first Australian meal; a salmon pita wrap.  Explored around a little bit more, then got back on the bus and continued on toward Sorrento, Victoria.  A little ways before we got to the hotel, the driver stopped the bus again and everyone was to get off and go walking through the large open fields!  We were all very exhausted, some very sun burnt already (including myself), and now we were going to trudge our way through weeds and wooded areas.  It made it all worth it though when we spotted a family of kangaroos hopping along!  I took so many pictures and videos, and if you zoom in closely you can just make out a baby joey in one of the mother’s pouches. 

Back on the bus, everyone was in desperate search for some water.  Dehydration was definitely an issue, and no one thought to refill our water bottles since we had no idea what was planned for us.  Luckily the hotel was no more than a half an hour away from the big field we walked through.  Personally, I could not wait because I literally felt like a dried up sponge.  Once we got to the Oceanic Whitehall accommodation, we were given some time to ourselves to freshen up, go to the beach, try out the hotel’s salt water pool, or shower.  I ended up doing all of the above!  From the top of the hill a ways down the road from our hotel, I fell in love immediately when I saw the beautiful view of green land, coast, and sand; it took my breath away it was absolutely astounding (see photos below!).

 

Blog 2: 8^th of April, 2013 (The order of how Aussie’s write dates!)

Hello again!

I apologise/apologize immensely for the delay in my blogging, but as you can probably imagine I have been getting a bit carried away lately with my love for this country and it’s beautiful inhabitants!  However, I will attempt to pick back up where I left off, as difficult as that will undoubtedly prove to be.  Now…I need to throw in the brief but necessary statement that I cannot quite mention everything in here, I need to censor myself a bit for purposes you definitely can imagine (rock gigs and pub crawls, that sort of thing).  Sincerest apologies.  You understand.

I cannot believe I neglected to carry you all through more than our first accommodation adventures!  We also stayed in Melbourne, then Sydney where we caught our flight over to Wollongong and then the scariest thing happened; we were dropped at the University and basically on our own forever!  Separation anxiety definitely sunk in for me like a rock in my throat, as I realized I was away from any person who knew what they were doing and why I was here and what to do next and yada yada.  Scary stuff.  My entire family can attest because of my cries on the phone to them once I was finally settled in my room and figured out how to use a phone.

Back to where I was: we stayed at Oceanic Whitehall for a few more nights, and no one in our group really got “pissed” (drunk at night) or anything.  We pretty much met for breakfast had a few activities set up by Katrina and Kendal for us such as quiz questions, and a few group meetings.  One of which took so long but was so interesting about food and how we were brought up so differently from one another (whether we were spoiled at our respective Universities and what have you).  The lady that spoke there, I forgot her name but she started Arcadia and the program used to originate at her home, she would host all the study abroad students right in her own humble abode!

Okay I’ll be honest it’s 11:30pm here right now; I have an early morning lecture that last 2 hours (I feel bad complaining at all - I'm so lucky).  I need some sleep!  Tuesdays are my worst lecture days, since I have some back to back to back.  I promise I will continue these long stories that are totally worth hearing but also much more worth it to experience!  It’s tempting to want to tear myself away from reminiscing and just create more memories!  Sorry if my blogs are like this for the remainder of study abroad, but I honestly don’t know any other way to manage it except in brief increments of information.

If a current update is what you seek, tonight I had my floor meeting at 9:30pm with my unit/flat mates.  I live with ONE Australian out of the 4 others I share this 2-floor apartment with (which is HUGE)!  Two of them are oriental males, one from Asia and one from China, and the other male is from Iran and he continues to tell me he came here after "the revolution"...? But his family went back and he chose to stay.  It’s interesting to say the least!  We had our first bonding time in over a month on cleaning the fridge, since Wednesday is our cleaning inspection we are going to meet again tomorrow night at 8:30pm to have a cleaning party!  How exciting…  But it’s good to have a place to come home to sleep, eat, and shower since that is basically all I do here!  And it is a completely independent living situation, meaning we all cook our own food, gather our own groceries, and take care of ourselves pretty much.  Otherwise, I am always out and about exploring and running errands when I’m not here.  Until next time guys!

- B