Finals...blah

It doesn’t matter where in the world you are... finals week sucks. I’ve been a good student this semester—went to classes, took notes, participated in class—much more than I have in the past and I still feel overwhelmed. I don’t know why I thought classes or even grading would be easier over here, maybe because everything else is so laid back and chill. My finals are worth more here than at the U (50%, 40%, and 50%) which makes them a little more significant and intimidating. I don’t know if I mentioned the grading system here before... its HD, D, P, C, F instead of A ,B, C, D, F and fail only starts at 50% here instead of 60%. This sounds great, you only need 50% to pass... except its 10 times harder to make the mark.

Take for instance, my presentation in Strategic Management, I thought I did reasonably well, maybe not the best in class but above average. I got a 30... out of 50! I found out one American got a 35, but everyone else was between 30 and 32. I’m nearly positive they don’t curve grades here either. This means my assumed GPA boost may not turn out to be one at all. Now if I’ve learned anything this semester, it’s that life is about so much more than classroom instruction and a GPA... and I guess I kind of knew that before, but it’s still frustrating. I don’t even want to argue with the teacher because I’m pretty sure his response will be “you should have prepared more and followed the rubric.” This is the same teacher that gave us the impossible midterm. In my opinion, if you’re going to grade ridiculously hard, you should probably prepare students for the material. His lectures are like story time with lots of real life examples, but nothing relating to what he actually tests on or expects from presentations. I’m a little scared to get our group report back.

Nothing I can do about it now... except study harder for the test, except I don’t know what its going to include. I made it to the beach for 20 minutes on Sunday before it started raining. Monday was overcast and eventually it thunderstormed so no good beach weather there either, maybe that’s for the best. I just have to keep looking forward to my Melbourne trip. My last weekend in Manly/Sydney wasn’t all that crazy, but it was relaxing and enjoyable. It’s weird to think about how little time I have left here. Trying not to focus on it, but the date, finals, and Christmas decorations are all screaming at me. Also, I changed my linen for the last time today. Weird.

Sorry for my rambling, I needed to let my finals frustration out. My week is full of flashcards and jamming to Brittney Spears, Pink, and Lady GaGa. Never thought I’d say that sentence in my life. Its supposed to be nice out today, my plan is beaching 9-5 with my notecards. Okay maybe not actually 9-5, but a good long while. Tonight PC is taking a group into the city to film more end of term video with the city Christmas lights and then its my last Jugs night at Shark Bar. I only started going half way through the term, but Tuesday night has been a great midweek social break for everyone at college. Oh yeah, last night we had pancakes and REAL coffee as a finals study break. SO good. Its been so nice hanging out with people watching movies and just talking this past week. I'm really going to miss some people here. Anyway, I should probably get on to the whole studying thing again. Hope everyone else that is studying right now is having better luck than I am... Happy Finals Week!

See you all in 11 days...

And another week flies by

I hope everyone has had a chance to read though my New Zealand posts.. if not, just look at pictures. They're beautiful.

This week went by so quickly. Tuesday I took some time to relax at the beach during the day. Tuesday night my marketing group met and that was about it. Wednesday Kah Mun and I went to Bondi Beach to do a coastal walk. I've been meaning to make it out there and haven't yet. I'm so glad I did. You think after seeing this much of the ocean it'd get old, but each beach is so incredible. See below!

Bondi Beach

Tamarama Beach... I could look at this forever

Thursday started off with marketing group work.. then dinner... then marketing again. Thursday night was "Auction" at school. Students were auctioned off to raise money for Bear Cottage, our school's partner charity. I was expecting people to go for $50... maybe $100 tops. Needless to say I was shocked when the bidding for the first girl started at $50. She ended up going for $180 and it went up from there. $300, $500, $600, $700... it was ridiculous. I don't know where students came up with this money. The General Manager came to support the event and brought the Mayor of Manly with him. While they were thanking everyone for supporting Bear Cottage someone yelled out "500 dollars!" The DJ started playing a song and all of the sudden the GM and mayor were dancing on stage and the bidding went up to $1000! I don't even know how to describe how shocking everything was this night. It was a lot of fun, but definitely not what I was expecting. Acts ranged from hip hop dancing to drag to stripping santas to Brady Bunch dancing to pole dancing. It was an experience, thats for sure. Lots of fun and it was nice to have everyone at the school together out of uniform. There were buses taking students to town for an afterparty but we still needed to put the finishing touches on our marketing project so it was marketing again for me. We finished at midnight and I was feeling pretty good about what we had done.

Drag routine at Auction

Friday morning we had our presentation at 10:40. After a few mishaps getting our report binded, and someone eating some of our project (fiber chocolate bars... chocolate with metamucil in it, whoever thought they were clever by stealing our chocolate probably paid for it later) we had everything ready and rehearsed our presentation. Our semester long efforts paid off, it all went really well. It was the best group I have ever been a part of. Group projects can really be a drag and cause lots of frustration, but that didn't happen this time around. I took a nap in the afternoon and then went to dinner. PC was asking for volunteers to be in the end of term video. I'm already in it a few times and was ready to go on a walk, but went anyway. We got dressed up as the ICMS choir, I sang Pink, and rocked out with a boombox on my shoulder in my walking clothes. Should be entertaining to see the final result. I'll have a copy so if you want to see it when I get home, that's possible. We also did a scene behind the bar and PC insisted on making us cocktails for props. Its still weird that a school accepts and even encourages drinking at times. After actually taking a walk with Deb, we went out to celebrate being done with school... except for finals. It was a good night.

"Fine Line Marketing" outside the "Trump Boardroom"

Cocktails in hand, ready for more filming

This morning I got up at 8:30 and headed into the city with Dana and Jolly. They wanted to take me to Chinatown before I leave for the term. Since I'll be in Melbourne next weekend, this was our last chance. We took the ferry over and rode the CBD shuttle to Chinatown. I don't remember if I've explained my frustration with Sydney's bus system... I got the ferries and trains figured out, but the bus system is kinda messed up. However, on Wednesday they started a new shuttle system that provides free transportation in a loop from Circular Quay to Central Station from 9:30a-3:30p so they're not losing money from rush hours, but reduce congestion in the city during the day and make the city more convenient for visitors. Melbourne and Auckland both have services like this as well... different than the States, but I guess things are different when the economy runs on tourism.

We found the Korean restaurant Jolly's friend recommended, Seoul-Ria, and went inside. It was my first time eating Korean food and honestly, it went better than I expected. We ordered a bunch of dishes to share... Korean sausage and ox intestine (yes I tried it), noodles in black sauce (no idea what the sauce was but it was good), kimchee pancakes, and my choice, teriyaki chicken with rice. I had to have a safety food. Turns out they also give you a variety of appetizers while you wait. There was soup, vegetables, pasta, kimchee, potatoes, and a few other dishes. Oh yeah, and I ate this all with chopsticks. Those of you who have seen me eat with chopsticks before know it can be pretty entertaining, but I really got the hang out it. The girls helped me out a bit.

Me and Jolly at Seoul-Ria

It was so much fun hanging out with them for the day. Dana is pretty homesick and was really excited to be in Chinatown and eating familiar food. When we finished, Jolly went to her friend's house in the city and Dana and I walked through Hyde Park and went inside St. Mary's Cathedral before catching the shuttle back to the wharf. It was a beautiful day, a little warm (94 degrees) but a great day for the park and looking at Christmas decorations. Side note: the banners here say "Happy Christmas" and have cockatoos on them. Weird, but there are normal Christmas trees throughout the city. We went to St. Mary's just as the service was ending, and looked around. It was enormous and so pretty. I really like old churches.

We eventually made it back to college and drank a ton of water. I was so dehydrated. I took a nap and then went to dinner. My finals don't start til Thursday so I decided I could afford a night off and watched the latest Office episode with Deb. We then watched Princess Diaries 2 (which I was plesantly surprised with) and Mary Poppins. Quality Saturday night if you ask me. So there you are, another week gone. I have 13 days left here and am looking forward to each one of them. As the Christmas holiday draws closer I am really glad I'll be home for the holiday, and hopefully a white Christmas. Traveling around here would be nice, but seeing family and friends will be great.. and I might need some time to snap back to reality. Hope everyone has a great weekend:)

More on Auckland

If you haven't read the first part of Auckland.. do so first. There's a lot to read, this week should be pretty boring so you can take your time.

After crashing early on Saturday, we woke up at 8:30 for a quick breakfast and were on the way to Rangitoto Island. Rangitoto was the last active volcano in the area, erupting 600 years ago to form the island. Its uninhabited and protected by the government. We took a ferry over and hiked to the summit. The peak is 259 meters and it takes about an hour to walk. I underestimated the amount of physical work this would be. Luckily we wore our walking shoes. The view at the top was spectacular. The sun was shining again and we could see the city, other islands, the harbor bridge, and lots of water. We walked around the crater and headed back down. The ferry only runs three times a day so we sat on a bench and rested by the water for a while. It was perfect.

City skyline from the ferry
At the top with the city behind me
More islands:)
Hiking back down. It was a beautiful trail, and thankfully well shaded!
Me with Rangitoto in the background... I was at the very top!

After getting back into Auckland at 1:30 we grabbed Subway before the Santa Parade. Melissa is one of the pickiest eaters I know, we had to go with something familiar. The parade was unique, different than any I've ever been to. It seemed to be a mix of Christmas and Halloween. Instead of buisnesses having floats, they were groups of people, mostly children, either performing, or playing music, or just dressed up in crazy costumes. There were also cartoon characters and huge balloons. They figured 150,000 to 200,000 people would attend. It was fun to watch although we kept moving along the route so we could stay in shade. Kinda weird watching Santa and toy soldiers when its 85 and sunny.

Kiwi's playing a Christmas medly

No Christmas parade would be complete without the Grinch

We spent the rest of the day walking around the city. We found the Victoria Park Markets where I bought a few souviners. There are parks everywhere. The hiking, walking, and sun wore us down and we went back to shower and nap before finding some dinner. We ended up at a pizza shop that reminded me of Punch Pizza back home. We sat at a table next to some old couples from Florida. Americans seemed to be everywhere we went. After a delicious meal we walked around some more, saw someone jump from Skytower (192 meters of freefall along a cord) and three people get in the bungy ride that flings you up and whips you from the ground to 50ish meters and inbetween. This county is all about adrenaline rushes. I love that though, keeps things exciting. We made our way back to the hostel to rest for the night. We came back to a new roommate, she had just gotten in and was going to be traveling the country for two weeks. I'm jealous, but plan on doing the same in the near future. Hostels are great places to stay, you meet such a variety of people with so many different stories.

I was woken up by construction workers outside at 5 am. There is no 8am courtesy start here. I managed to lay around until 8 before packing my things and checking out. Seems so crazy that we were leaving already. Unlike the first two days, Monday morning was overcast and mildly chilly. We opted to walk to the Auckland Museum and I was glad we did. It was about an hour casually walking and we got to cut through Auckland Domain, one of the largest city parks. There were random statues and artwork throughout, lots of fun trees, and cute gardens. When we go to the museum, we found out "Sue" was the special exhibit. "Sue" is the worlds largest T. Rex who is normally on display at the Field Museum in Chicago. I saw her there this summer, which means I've now visited Sue in two different countries and hemispheres. The museum was full of Maori artifacts (they are the native people of New Zealand) lots of jewelery and wood work. The detail and design was incredible. That was probably my favorite part of the museum... next was the WWII section. Random fact: 1 in 5 New Zealand men fought in WWII. That is more, proportionately, than anyone else in the British Empire. They had so many artifacts and POW notes. There were also red poppys, and I read about Flanders fields which McRae told us about on Remembrance Day. The museum was a lot different than our first two adventurous days, but very enjoyable and a nice change of pace.

Auckland Museum (orange signs are for Sue!)

Maori boards... each man had his own personal design

It was noon so we headed out and went by a few of the big churches in Parnell, the "Uptown" of Auckland if you will. We walked around before catching the bus to Sky Tower, our last activity. Auckland's public transport system makes so much more sense than Sydney's. It was comforting knowing someone in down here had it figured out. Sky Tower is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. Kind of similar to other places I've been, Empire State Building/Sears Tower, you ride an elevator to the top and look around. It was a little different because have glass panaling so you can see below, and also offer base jumping from the sky deck and also a sky walk, where you walk along the outside. The view from the top, despite the cloud cover, was incredible. It was crazy looking over to Rangitoto Island knowing that yesterday I was looking at the Sky Tower from the summit there. Everything was decorated for Christmas and the employees were wearing Santa hats. I'm starting to get into the Christmas mood.

Well that ends our New Zealand adventure. It was way too quick. We caught a bus back to the airport and waited around til departure. It was so quiet, calm, and clean... airports here are so nice. When booking flights, we looked for the cheapest option around the time of day we wanted to fly. We chose Emirates for the way home, and good thing we did. Our flight there was nothing special... 4 hour international flight without so much as complimentary water. Way home we had a full meal, movies/tv/games, pillows, drinks, and the nicest flight crew. It was a flight enroute to Bankok and Dubai which may have had something to do with it. Everything was in English and Arabic. I was told Middle Eastern hospitality was the best in the world, and after this flight I think it might be. We made it back for the 730 ferry and walked back up the hill to college. It was an exhausting but incredible weekend. I kinda want to go back.

Things I need: A better camera!

Also, the internet has been awful and uploading pictures to both blog and flickr has been difficult. I'll keep working on it.

Ahhh December!

So I was checking in for my flight back to Sydney today when I realized... its December! Where has time gone? Oh yea, and I made it home safely. I have so many stories and experiences to tell about (and 224 pictures to prove them). I'm on cloud nine right now... or ten if possible. I had the most amazing weekend in New Zealand. Absolutely phenomenal. From Sydney airport to Sydney airport, the trip was only 72 hours. We packed each day full of adventure, and crashed each night. More details and pictures to come later... maybe even another few posts, I have a lot to say.

A little background... we (Melissa and I) booked this flight mid October already. We picked Auckland because it had the cheapest flight, no other reason. I planned our itinerary on Wednesday and we just kinda went with it. I didn't have too many expectations, people say New Zealand is beautiful, but I just wanted to get out of Manly, away from ICMS and homework and finals. Well it is beautiful, I did get away, I never once looked at homework... and it exceeded all expectations.

Friday night our flight was scheduled for 6:45pm. We left school by 3pm because we weren't quite sure how long public transportation would take and wanted to be there in plenty of time for our flight. Well we checked in and found out our flight was delayed an hour so there was a lot of sitting and waiting. Weather threatened to delay us even more, but luckily we were able to get out before the next storm came into the vicinity. Except for a little turbulance it was a good flight and we got in at 12:30am. Got through customs in no time and were on our way to the hostel. Both Sydney and Auckland airports are incredibly clean and calm. People are very friendly... complete opposite of my experiences with LAX. It was 2 am Auckland time before we got settled in our room and we went to bed. Our first adventure began at 9:30am!

Saturday morning we woke up at 8:30 and headed out for our canyoning trip. We stopped for breakfast at Starbucks (original, right?) and looked around a bit before meeting our ride. While waiting I saw a man in a Minnesota Twins jacket and hat. Then we met a girl, also waiting for canyoning (different company), from Bird Island, Minnesota! What are the odds that the first person I meet in New Zealand of all places, grew up less than an hour from my hometown. Her name was Kate. Our ride came and it was 40 minutes to Piha Beach (see below) and the canyons we were going to abseil.

Canyoning sounded like fun, but honestly I had no idea what we were getting into. First we got suited up in full body wetsuits, booties, shoes, harness, and a helmet. Then we walked 20 minutes on a trail uphill through the forest. Its a good thing I've been walking and going to the gym here, otherwise I would have died on the walk alone. Along the way Tony, our guide, pulled some leaves off a tree and had us try them. Supposedly they're good for toothaches... some herbal remedy. They tasted all right. We finally reached the top and went through the basic technique of rapelling down a cliff. Jump in a cold river, walk down a ways before getting to a 25 meter cliff. Tony tied the rope to a hook on the rock and makes the loop for the first guy in our group. Before I could think twice it was my turn. I started inching back until I got to the ledge and then looked down. There was a waterfall running next to me and yes, I was supposed to trust my life to rope and harness to lower myself down the vertical cliff. Once I started going, I realized it wasn't scary at all, and I didn't pay much attention to the actual rapelling part... I was too busy looking around. The waterfalls, forest, canyon... most beautiful place I've ever been. I hit the bottom and couldn't wait for the next one. It was only 10 meters and we landed in the water. Next was the 50 meter cliff. Waterfall beside (you can see in the back of our group photo.)

Our group after making it down our largest cliff

It was so nuts... we all made it to the bottom and had some lunch before the real fun began. Our final abseil was only 15 meters but it was cut into the canyon and we were in the waterfall. This one was my favorite.

Getting reading to decend

I wasn't kidding when I said I was in the waterfall

We got to the bottom and had to squeeze through a hole, swim over to an island and then jumped rocks until we got to a dead end. So we jumped. It looked like a tight squeeze but in hindsight it wasn't too bad. 15 foot drop to the water. 4 of the 8 made it (the others wimped out and walked around). Then we were at another waterfall, this one was a more shallow slope and we got to ride down on our backs holding onto a rope. After that was another hole we wiggled through head first and a 20 foot jump that was wide open. We continued walking through the canyon and eventually wound up where we started off. It was intense, but SO much fun. You're all thinking "This doesn't sound like something you would have picked out." But hey, when in New Zealand, do as the Kiwis do. (I said "New Zealander" to a guy in our group and he corrected me, they're "kiwis") The adventure itself was a blast, but our group made it even more fun. We had a couple from Auckland, a couple from China, and two students from an ESL school- one Finnish and the other Swiss.

We made a pitstop at Piha Beach on our way home. It has black sand because it's volcanic. I made the mistake of trying to take my shoes off.. turns out volcanic sand is really hot, especially on hot days. Did I mention the weather? The weather was perfect. We could not have asked for a better day. We made our way back to Auckland. Lots of sheep farms on the way. New Zealand has a larger sheep population than human. After showering and a short nap in the hostel, Melissa and I went down for dinner. The hostel provided a "free meal" which was actually just a sandwich that tasted so bad we couldn't finish it. Instead we found a kebab place (they are as popular in NZ as they are here) and walked around the city a bit. We grabbed a beer at the hostel bar but it was really loud and obnoxious. The day had worn us out and I was sleeping by midnight.

Me at Piha Beach

Piha Beach from above

I'll save day 2 and 3 for tomorrow. This got to be pretty long already. Although there are a few more things I'd like to say:

-I love traveling. Even more than before. For the first time I didn't feel anxious or worried about anything. I feel confident finding my way through unknown cities and meeting random people to find out what to do and where to go.
-I love New Zealand. I won't say I regret studying in Australia, my adventure abroad is not about regrets. But I think I would have enjoyed New Zealand a great deal. I plan on going back some day, especially to see South Island. Everyone in Auckland said it is even more scenic and fun. That can't happen until...
-I have a new goal. I am going to make it to all 6 livable continents before my passport expires on January 8, 2018. That gives me 10 years and I've already got two down.
-No matter how much fun I have traveling, I love hearing other people's stories and adventures to find out what else is out there. I caught up on all my friends' blogs before even checking facebook when I got back.
-I have an idea of what I am going to do when I graduate... more on that later maybe

Ok and finally... some NZ vocab/things:
kiwi=someone from New Zealand, also a bird found there
lid=helmet
lift=elevator (same as Australia)
Double Happy=fast food chain serving European and Chinese cuisines
Burger King... its not Hungry Jacks like Australia

There are/will be ridiculous amounts of pictures on Flickr if you'd like to see more!

Happy Thanksgiving!

My Thanksgiving is almost over, for most of you it is just beginning. Thanksgiving is an American holiday, but we convinced the school into making Thanksgiving dinner anyway. So yes, I did get a Thanksgiving meal... turkey, gravy, potatoes, pumpkin, and an attempt at pumpkin pie. Not the same as back home, but the effort was much appreciated.

I feel like I've been meaning to blog all week but just haven't gotten around to it. Classes are winding down, not a ton going on, but its been another thinking and reflecting week. I managed to get some decent sun on Tuesday and did a whole lot of trip planning on Wednesday. I leave for New Zealand tomorrow! So excited. On the agenda: canyoning, volcano islands, a Santa Day parade, tallest building in the southern hemisphere, hostel with spa and sauna, and a whole lot of exploring. Its going to be a fun filled three days. I'll be sure to tell you all about it:)

I'm starting to think extreme homesickness is actually a contagious disease. I don't know if it's because this Thanksgiving is most people's first holiday without family, or its just that stage in our trip where people are ready to go home. Either way, a whole lot of people are getting really homesick right now. I love and miss you all... but I'm going to be home in three weeks, I'm not going to start dwelling on it now already. I believe I can thoroughly enjoy my time here, and miss people from back home all at the same time. It's been happening a good part of my time here. There are constantly reminders that my time in Australia is coming to an end... my shampoo is running out, December starts on Monday, I'm done with classes (only 4 hours of review and a presentation, plus 3 finals). I'm trying to ignore them and enjoy each day I have left.

Today was my last day of lectures with McRae. She told us that "10 weeks is all you get" and she would not be teaching next week. Fine by me. I'll get home from Auckland Monday night, still have time for yoga before working on my marketing presentation. The only class I'll have next week is from 10-noon on Thursday, and my presentation on Friday morning. Oddly enough I was a little sad to be done with her classes. We had a great discussion in cross cultural management about work motivation. We had to write down the top five motivators for our personal work life. Everyone had different answers and many had cultural ties I never would have thought of. It was really interesting. I was the only one that had purpose or service to others in my top 3... turns out its a very American thing. I learned that Australian's don't have any service work programs like Americorp or PeaceCorp. She made a few American generalizations and I just let them go, I think I would have felt jipped if she didn't make at least a few cracks at me on the last day. While I don't agree with a lot of the things she says, once you figure out that she's not malicious in her actions, its kind of entertaining.

In my second class with her, managing workplace conflicts, we spend a lot of time talking about conflict, feelings, fear/anger, etc. She felt it would be good for us to share what we had learned about ourselves this semester and then formally appreciate our classmates. Now I hate to say it, but honestly, there was a lot of personal development in this class. Many students felt they had finally confronted and moved on from major conflict in their personal lives and had increased confidence. I still don't agree with all of her teaching methods (especially humiliation) but the end sort of justifies the means.

The big shock came at the end of class. We were passing around a ball formally appreciating each other. I never ended up getting the ball, not a big deal, but someone pointed it out and McRae told me that I was "charmingly Midwestern, analytical, and a thinker... different from the other Americans." She also said she appreciated my sense of humor. So there you go, maybe all of her fuss was just to get me going. I don't forgive her for making me sing the Star Spangled Banner, or many of the other things she said/did... but its nice to know she has some respect for me as a person. It's the third time this week someone has pointed out how Midwestern, Minnesotan, or "different from the other Americans" I am. I didn't think it was that obvious, not sure if its meant as a good or bad thing... but I'll take it as a compliment. I guess no matter where in the world I am, I'll always be Midwest at heart.

So there you go... done with school. First time I've gone to school on Thanksgiving Day, but if it means I don't have to go after, I'll consider it a fair trade. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. Enjoy your buffet style dinners and family gatherings. Remember to give thanks. I am thankful for the opportunities I've had to study and travel abroad, for the new friends I have here, and for my family and friends that support me back home. I am thankful for my good health and safety overseas, and so much more. But alas, its almost 1am... no longer Thanksgiving and I should probably sleep.

Birthday parties and weather updates

So Thursday night we went out for my friend Sofia's 20th... and then Friday went out for Deb's 21st. It was a lot of fun to finally push homework aside and go out, but after two days I'd had enough. Friday night was also karaoke at school. There were 9 contestants and it was more like ICMS Idol than karaoke because the screen was behind them and they more or less performed for the crowd. It was nice to have the SandBar open again. After the competition the American guys went up to sing "Born in the USA" and a group of girls sang "Time of my Life"... everyone kind of looked at them like they were nuts. Apparently group karaoke is an American thing. The school hired a coach bus to drive us down the hill at 10:30. Not only were teachers and faculty at the karaoke event, they came out afterward as well. Still weird.

PC starting off the karaoke event. He also MC'd all night in his shiny purple coat. He's awesome, one of my favorite faculty members here.

Lana, Chelsi, Deb, and I at Shark Bar for Deb's birthday!

Saturday night it was freezing! I know Minnesota is still colder, but I guarantee even people in Minnesota would complain about 50 degrees with 20mph winds in June. I stayed in to watch The Holiday and drink champagne with Deb and Linnea since Saturday was Deb's actual birthday. Amy came later with fun fetti cake. Deb's mom sent her cake mix and Amy was able to go to a friend's to bake them. They feed us desert with meals, but its just not the same as fun fetti cake. Seriously delicious. Amy said her friend's parents were appalled that we would make cake from a box mix. This is a foreign concept in Australia, adding it to the number of reasons I'd never be able to survive here long term. The others are ranch dressing (BBQ sauce is my substitute, one of the girls from Texas actually had her mom send a bottle of ranch here), and Chipotle. So maybe I'm exaggerating a little. But within 24 hours of returning to the States I will eat boxed cake, ranch dressing, and Chipotle.

Sunday it rained... again. I've managed to go to the beach on the few nice weeks we had early on, but it was kinda crappy all weekend and looks to be raining all week again here. I don't know if this is typical of Sydney or not. I went to the city anyway to finish souvenir/Christmas shopping at Paddy's Markets. We took the train there but were able to walk back because the rain stopped. I realized it'll be one of my last times in the city. This weekend is New Zealand, one inbetween (I might head to Canberra for a day, or go into the city), and then Melbourne. After that I'm back home. 25 days... whoa. Its coming too fast, but I'm excited too.

Christmas decorations popped up everywhere here. Its hard to think about Christmas without snow. They don't wait til after Thanksgiving here because, well, they don't celebrate Thanksgiving. A few people were going to go talk to the chef about making some turkey and stuffing on Thursday because of the overwelming American presence on campus this term. We'll see how that goes over. Found out Australians don't make pumpkin pie either. Which is odd because they eat pumpkin all the time.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Enjoy the short week ahead:)

Many thoughts

Nothing too crazy or exciting happening this week... mainly just going to class, group meetings, and working on final papers. I went to yoga on Monday and tried dance class again on Tuesday. The theme of the week was salsa dancing. You're probably thinking "Tanya you're the most uncoordinated person ever, how did you manage salsa dancing?" Well your thoughts are correct, and I wasn't very good. But I "had a go" as the Aussies say, and it was a decent time. This dancing venture was followed by a night out. It also happened to be the night the Today Show was filming in Manly because of the new Australia movie coming out. I saw the set but didn't stick around to watch the filming or be on TV. A few of the Americans got on the air which was pretty cool. The red carpet premiere event happened in Sydney and a few friends of mine were able to check it out. They had a great time and actually got to meet Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackson... I had class, bummer. Everyone here is pretty excited about the movie even though it has nothing to do with Sydney... its a big thing for the whole country.

Wednesday I worked on papers all day. It was the one month mark for my trip back to the States. I spent most of it being frustrated with my marketing assignment, and freaking out about the realization that for the first time in over a year I have to look for a job AND a summer internship. The selection is looking slim right now. I'm also contemplating my major(s)/minor combination and wondering if its really worth the trouble or maybe I should just graduate early. Ever since deciding to come to Australia, figuring out study abroad has been my only focus. I would put off planning my future and just focus on the present. Well now my study abroad experience is coming to a close and planning the next year or so of my life is becoming critically important. I know I shouldn't be worrying about this stuff, but its kind of my nature to do so. I'm not worrying myself sick, just had a lot of time to think about things because I couldn't go to the beach (rain) and needed something to occupy the time while I was procrastinating.

I released my tension with a nice walk and a night at the movies with Deb and Amy. We saw the new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. Good flick. I hadn't been to a movie in a real long time, but this one was worth it. Few odd things about Australian cinemas... the chairs don't have a fold up bottom nor do they recline. Just a normal padded rigid chair. They also don't have cup holders. Granted this was just one cinema... but Amy said it was typical. She was in Perth for 6 months before joining us at ICMS. They can also advertise alcohol in the previews. Finally, their rating system is different. Bond was rated "M"... no idea what that means.

I'm currently on my two hour break from Thursday's class marathon. Its probably a good thing I had this schedule here because my schedule next semester back home will be very similar. Its been a pretty typical week in class... few interesting discussions and stereotypes about America as usual. In Workplace Conflicts we had a discussion about how women are at a disadvantage when it comes to top management positions. It was the opinion of a few men that a woman's only way to the top was to sleep with their managers, and they did this because they felt incapable. I'm not going to go into the fit of rage that put me in but I didn't have the energy to fight it at the time. In Cross Cultural Management, McRae read us an article about the state of America's economy. Now I'm not arguing that there aren't some significant issues right now, but American's use of credit and borrowing on mortgages to finance education is not the end of the world. It was also brought up that Australia is the land of mediocrity and has a "tall poppy syndrome" of cutting people down that are viewed as having an advantage. Distinctly different from America.

Now today McRae was talking about Americans lack of humor and how we're all too literal. She was making a lot of generalizations I thought were a bit off and mentioned that Americans are not all the same and geographical location may play a part in ones cultural upbringing. I cannot identify with everything she says is "American" because her only experience in America is Harvard and Washington DC. I'd argue the Midwest in general is a bit different from Harvard, much less Stearns County where I've spent the better part of my life. This was of no interest to her and I let her keep talking. I'm from "one of those states no one pays attention to and just flys over" so it didn't really matter. And yes, that is a direct quote.

After finishing up my marketing project and writing my last section for a group paper, I'll be done with homework for the semester. Then comes finals. I still have trips to New Zealand and Melbourne to look forward to. Deb's birthday is this weekend so we're planning on a BBQ and maybe even a bon fire at Shelly Beach. I hope the weather is nice.

I had a few discussions this week with friends back home and had a look through my pictures from the past two months (I have over 600!!) and it made me realize what a wonderful opportunity I've had here. I heard time and time again, that studying abroad would be one of the best decisions I could make, and I agree. It hasn't always been easy, lots of frustration... but the new environment and challenges I've faced have allowed me to better understand who I am and appreciate what I have. It has given me a chance to slow down, relax, and enjoy the present. I've changed, probably more than I even realize. Little changes but they're there. We've been talking a lot about reverse culture shock in class... I hope its not too bad. I'm excited for my last few weeks here... also very excited to see family and friends when I return to the States. I can't wait to share pictures and stories. Thankfully my schedule will allow for many coffee and lunch dates... as my friend Hanna says, "face time". E-communication is just not the same.

Congrats to whoever is still reading at this point... its a pretty spontaneous train of thought. I've had a lot of time to think this week. I reckon its a good thing to do. Yes... I just reckoned.