G'Day family and friends, it is Monday in Gold Coast and I have a few hours before class (we are watching Crocodile Dundee today) (seriously, i know, right?) and I figured it was time for another post. This weekend was pretty eventful and extremely fun. On Friday, a bunch of us packed up and left Bond for the train station on our way to the Gold Coast Titans semi-final match against the Sydney Roosters. This would be our second time taking the train to Brisbane, which is about an hours travel away so we were pretty sure we knew what we were doing. Just as we expected, things went much smoother the second time around and it was a fun ride. The train was packed with Titans fans and people were giving out free food at the train stations. We got to Brisbane with enough time to walk around a bit and follow the crowd. Once we got into the stadium, I knew we were in for an epic time. The seats were filling up and the place was getting pretty rowdy, especially where we were up in the nosebleeds. With this being said, there was not a bad seat in the house and we had a sick view of the field from our corner in the endzone. The Titans play in the NRL (National Rugby League) which is different from Rugby Union and Australian Rules Football (a rugby league unique to Queensland, where I live) so needless to say, we were a bit shaky on what was about to be played in front of us. Luckily a group of patient New Zealanders helped us out with the rules despite us being both ignorant American students and Titans fans. The Kiwis were cheering for Sydney so they had some fun laughing at us when we would cheer only to realize nothing of merit had transpired.
Unfortunately, our Gold Coast Titans were pummeled to a 34-6 defeat but nonetheless, it was an amazing game. Rugby is non-stop action, a lot like football, but without the pauses for play calling. You get six runs of the ball to make a try (touchdown) and you can only pitch the ball laterally or backwards. You can, however kick the ball forwards which is often done as a Hail Mary style 6th down play. The most exciting parts are when this is done creating a jump ball in the endzone. A successful try is 4 points and then a player kicks the ball (often from the sideline as a PAT but worth 2 points if made through the uprights.) Confused yet? Anyway, the crowd was crazy and the game was amazing except for the outcome. Definitely worth the ticket and the experience. Saturday we failed once again to see kangaroos and koalas. I don't even have a cute excuse this time, it was just rainy and sad. We hit up the beach since the waves were crazy and honestly, when there is a beach 15 minutes away, there's no excuse good enough to not go. We are still looking into purchasing a couple used surfboards. We have a shop in mind and all we have to do is pay them a visit sometime this week. Hopefully we can find some good prices. Anyway, I think that is all the eventful things that happened this weekend. I will be sure to keep you posted on future adventures! Have a great week! - Jeff
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
This Weekend and Done Deals
Hello America, I decided that I would make a short post as a trailer for the upcoming events in my life. Coming soon to Jeff's semester:
Expect a weekend summary post sometime Sunday or Monday. I am extremely excited for this weekend for several reasons. First of all, a bunch of the guys and I all were able to snag cheap tickets to the Gold Coast Titans vs. Sydney Roosters NRL Rugby Semi-Finals game on Friday! We were ridiculously stoked to secure these tickets because they are for the playoffs and the winner plays in the championship game. My first rugby match is being played at high stakes. I need to brush up on my rules/players/cheers beforehand so we can fit in. Since I have no class Friday, my roommate and I are planning on going surfing in the morning before the game because the weather looks fantastic. It's gonna be a crazy way to start off the weekend. On Saturday, we are planning on going to pet koalas and roos since our trip last weekend was derailed by rain. All and all, this is shaping up to be an epic weekend and I cannot wait for it to begin. I am also excited to tell you that many members of our group (myself included) all successfully booked trips to Sydney for Halloween, which we have been told, is a great place to be that weekend. We had a mid-week meeting to discuss all our desired destinations and the places that made the tentative list include, Melbourne, Byron Bay, Fraser Island, and New Zealand. Of course the deciding factor will be money, but on paper it looks like an unbelievable semester ahead! I have two classes today and then I am done for the week. I will blog again after this weekend. Love from Australia! - Jeff
Expect a weekend summary post sometime Sunday or Monday. I am extremely excited for this weekend for several reasons. First of all, a bunch of the guys and I all were able to snag cheap tickets to the Gold Coast Titans vs. Sydney Roosters NRL Rugby Semi-Finals game on Friday! We were ridiculously stoked to secure these tickets because they are for the playoffs and the winner plays in the championship game. My first rugby match is being played at high stakes. I need to brush up on my rules/players/cheers beforehand so we can fit in. Since I have no class Friday, my roommate and I are planning on going surfing in the morning before the game because the weather looks fantastic. It's gonna be a crazy way to start off the weekend. On Saturday, we are planning on going to pet koalas and roos since our trip last weekend was derailed by rain. All and all, this is shaping up to be an epic weekend and I cannot wait for it to begin. I am also excited to tell you that many members of our group (myself included) all successfully booked trips to Sydney for Halloween, which we have been told, is a great place to be that weekend. We had a mid-week meeting to discuss all our desired destinations and the places that made the tentative list include, Melbourne, Byron Bay, Fraser Island, and New Zealand. Of course the deciding factor will be money, but on paper it looks like an unbelievable semester ahead! I have two classes today and then I am done for the week. I will blog again after this weekend. Love from Australia! - Jeff
Monday, September 20, 2010
Pub Crawl and Surfers' Weekend
Well it has been about a week since my last post so it is time for me to check in and prove that I am still alive. Today was the start of the second week of school and I just got out of Australian Pop Culture (really strainin the brain Down Under) Tomorrow I have a new class called Dreamtime to Dust which I have been told is a science class focused on Australia and Aboriginal influences but I will keep you posted. I dropped a Journalism class that was essentially the same class I took last year at SLU in order to fit this into the schedule. The prospect of knocking out a science credit with a class with "dreamtime" in the name sounded too good to pass up. I also signed up for "Res Wars" which are dorm vs dorm intramural tournaments with each week featuring a different sport. I will support the AC's Red Devils with all of my God given athletic talent in a myriad of sports throughout the semester.
This weekend was very eventful and filled with adventures in new places. Friday we went to the school sponsored Pub Crawl where Bondy's like us were shuttled to 5 different bars from around Robina and the Gold Coast. The night was a whole lot of fun and it was great to see some new places and party with new friends. On Saturday my roommate, friend Jon, and a couple of the girls decided to go to the beach as we had been planned since last weekend despite the less than favorable weather. While it didn't rain, it was definitely not sunny so we mostly just hung out in the sand, threw a frisbee, and watched the waves. While we would have liked to get some surfing in, we put that on the back burner for the next time we make it out.
On Sunday we had planned to go to a wildlife preserve where we could feed kangaroos, hold koalas and have other crocodile hunter style encounters with the local animals. Unfortunately the trip was cancelled due to the koalas being so cute and cuddly that the reservation exploded. (Also it was raining) Instead, we went down to an area called Surfers Paradise which while being an ideal place to surf (who knew?) is also filled with lots of cool shopping and food options. We spent the entire day walking around and ended up finding our way into a glow bowling alley where we spent part of the night as I put on a regular bowling clinic impressing all onlookers. As we took the bus back to Bond I couldn't help but think that despite our plans being shuffled around due to poor weather, it was still a very good weekend. Anyway, that is all I can think to tell you at this time so for now I wrap this post up and hope for a better weekend of weather this week. Until next time! - Jeff
This weekend was very eventful and filled with adventures in new places. Friday we went to the school sponsored Pub Crawl where Bondy's like us were shuttled to 5 different bars from around Robina and the Gold Coast. The night was a whole lot of fun and it was great to see some new places and party with new friends. On Saturday my roommate, friend Jon, and a couple of the girls decided to go to the beach as we had been planned since last weekend despite the less than favorable weather. While it didn't rain, it was definitely not sunny so we mostly just hung out in the sand, threw a frisbee, and watched the waves. While we would have liked to get some surfing in, we put that on the back burner for the next time we make it out.
On Sunday we had planned to go to a wildlife preserve where we could feed kangaroos, hold koalas and have other crocodile hunter style encounters with the local animals. Unfortunately the trip was cancelled due to the koalas being so cute and cuddly that the reservation exploded. (Also it was raining) Instead, we went down to an area called Surfers Paradise which while being an ideal place to surf (who knew?) is also filled with lots of cool shopping and food options. We spent the entire day walking around and ended up finding our way into a glow bowling alley where we spent part of the night as I put on a regular bowling clinic impressing all onlookers. As we took the bus back to Bond I couldn't help but think that despite our plans being shuffled around due to poor weather, it was still a very good weekend. Anyway, that is all I can think to tell you at this time so for now I wrap this post up and hope for a better weekend of weather this week. Until next time! - Jeff
Monday, September 13, 2010
Bond Uni
Had some free time today (no classes on Tuesdays!) so I figured I'd keep this blog moving. This post is going to revolve around an attempt to describe the campus and surrounding areas that I have visited. First of all, the suburb of Gold Coast that Bond resides in is called Robina. From Robina, the beaches and suburbs of Broadbeach, Burleigh Head, Main, and Surfers Paradise are all easily accessible from the bus. I've been taking the bus a lot to jump from place to place whether we have been going to the beach or buying groceries for the room. So far, my favorite beach has been Burleigh Head which appears to be the quietest with the best waves and cheapest surf boards. Broadbeach is full of shopping centers and nightclubs and has been the area I have been to the most, however (our University Beach Day was held here as well).
As for campus, I live in a 4 story dorm with mostly other American exchange students. I believe there are about 15 SLU kids, but I have met lots of people from schools in the NorthEast such as Bentley, SUNY, Qunnipiac, and Fordham. My room looks like a hotel room. When my roommate Adam and I first walked in we we're overjoyed to see that our beds were made for us already and we had a full bathroom which we had not anticipated. Even better, we found out that we have a housekeeping crew that cleans our room and bathroom every Tuesday. They even stock us up on toilet paper, change our sheets and make our beds, its insane. If they did our laundry I would never be able to leave this place. As it is, I'm already behind on laundry with the added issue that everything I've worn is sandy (not really an issue in Cincy or Stl.)
All four of my classes are in the same building which is easy enough. I have only had one so far which was Australian Popular Culture. The class is held in an auditorium which was pretty full. As I found out after a few minutes almost every single person taking the class is American. I guess we Americans share a desire for knowledge about what Australians watch on tv. The class looks pretty cool from what we heard on the first day. The class is about 3 hours long and each day starts with an hour lecture and then a viewing of a movie or show. We then meet in smaller tutorial sections later in the week to discuss what we saw. Tomorrow I have Crime and Deviance in Australia, and the rest of the week I am taking an Aussie Lit class and an Aussie Media class, which sounds interesting since we are required to read the local newspaper daily. I'm interested to see how the Australian teaching system differs from the American college experience.
The on campus food options have been very good so far. There aren't too many items on the menu but I have not been disappointed with anything I have tried. A couple things are recognizably different here than back home. To begin with, forget about free refills, (but water is free), french fries are called chips and they like to serve them with a type of garlic sauce which is actually really good. Most of the options on the menu are more fancy than what you would expect for a college cafeteria. It's definitely not just hamburgers and chicken strips. Other than that, most of the food is not too different than what you could get in a restaurant in America.
Anyway, this was my first attempt at giving my beloved readers a glimpse into college life at Bond. I appreciate that you care about me (or are bored enough to) read about my semester. I'll try to keep the posts coming! - Jeff
As for campus, I live in a 4 story dorm with mostly other American exchange students. I believe there are about 15 SLU kids, but I have met lots of people from schools in the NorthEast such as Bentley, SUNY, Qunnipiac, and Fordham. My room looks like a hotel room. When my roommate Adam and I first walked in we we're overjoyed to see that our beds were made for us already and we had a full bathroom which we had not anticipated. Even better, we found out that we have a housekeeping crew that cleans our room and bathroom every Tuesday. They even stock us up on toilet paper, change our sheets and make our beds, its insane. If they did our laundry I would never be able to leave this place. As it is, I'm already behind on laundry with the added issue that everything I've worn is sandy (not really an issue in Cincy or Stl.)
All four of my classes are in the same building which is easy enough. I have only had one so far which was Australian Popular Culture. The class is held in an auditorium which was pretty full. As I found out after a few minutes almost every single person taking the class is American. I guess we Americans share a desire for knowledge about what Australians watch on tv. The class looks pretty cool from what we heard on the first day. The class is about 3 hours long and each day starts with an hour lecture and then a viewing of a movie or show. We then meet in smaller tutorial sections later in the week to discuss what we saw. Tomorrow I have Crime and Deviance in Australia, and the rest of the week I am taking an Aussie Lit class and an Aussie Media class, which sounds interesting since we are required to read the local newspaper daily. I'm interested to see how the Australian teaching system differs from the American college experience.
The on campus food options have been very good so far. There aren't too many items on the menu but I have not been disappointed with anything I have tried. A couple things are recognizably different here than back home. To begin with, forget about free refills, (but water is free), french fries are called chips and they like to serve them with a type of garlic sauce which is actually really good. Most of the options on the menu are more fancy than what you would expect for a college cafeteria. It's definitely not just hamburgers and chicken strips. Other than that, most of the food is not too different than what you could get in a restaurant in America.
Anyway, this was my first attempt at giving my beloved readers a glimpse into college life at Bond. I appreciate that you care about me (or are bored enough to) read about my semester. I'll try to keep the posts coming! - Jeff
Sunday, September 12, 2010
The First Post
Welcome to my Australian blog! I had wanted to start this blog as soon as I got here but of course I would procrastinate until my first day of classes to get it started. I may be in another country but its the same old me. I wanted to start the blog off with some of the random thoughts and lessons I have learned through my first week here so here we go:
1. Just like people drive on the wrong side of the road here, they walk on the wrong side. I am constantly thrown into awkward face offs with people who are keeping to the left side of the street. 20 years of conditioning is making this a hard thing to change.
2. No one has said G'day to me yet. (I also have yet to see a kangaroo) ALSO: the toilets do not flush the opposite way. These are American misconceptions of Australia that I am sorry to have to break to you.
3. Everyone here is your mate. "Mate" has to be the single most uttered word by Aussies. I love it as a title because we don't really have an equivalent that works for everyone. In the US we kind of have to sidestep over "man, dude, or bro" after considering who we are talking to. I'm bringing mate to the States.
4. The birds are crazy here. There is one bird who sits outside my window and screams his heart out every morning. His call sounds like a woman screaming which really threw me off the first morning.
5. It's winter and it's gorgeous. With the seasons swapped, we are transitioning into spring here but every day has been in the 70's and up. The weather has been wonderful (we've gone to the beach 4 times already) With this being the worst the weather gets, I may never leave.
6. Unlike at SLU almost none of the buildings have names. I live in building 9 and go to class today in 6. SLU would never allow this to happen considering they would name every bathroom in the library as long as the donation money was there.
7. Unfortunately, everything here is expensive. Just walking through a convenience store you can notice the differences. My student card has flex points similar to SLU, but you are lucky to make it out without running up a 10 dollar lunch.
8. Things Aussies don't have/have never heard of: sunflower seeds, dryer sheets, sausage on pizza, forward passing.
9. This reminds me, rugby and Australian Rules Football (Footie) is really cool but sort of confusing. I'm still working on the rules. Cricket seems awesome. I'm in need of a bat.
10. Vegemite is disgusting.
11. We surfed yesterday for the first time. It was awesome and easier than I would have thought. We are thinking about buying a couple used boards and going as much as possible.
Finally 12: Words that are different here that I find humorous: elevator=lift, garbage=rubbish, breakfast=brekky, flip flops=thongs, beer bottle=stubby, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some great ones.
This was a long post. I'm sorry.
1. Just like people drive on the wrong side of the road here, they walk on the wrong side. I am constantly thrown into awkward face offs with people who are keeping to the left side of the street. 20 years of conditioning is making this a hard thing to change.
2. No one has said G'day to me yet. (I also have yet to see a kangaroo) ALSO: the toilets do not flush the opposite way. These are American misconceptions of Australia that I am sorry to have to break to you.
3. Everyone here is your mate. "Mate" has to be the single most uttered word by Aussies. I love it as a title because we don't really have an equivalent that works for everyone. In the US we kind of have to sidestep over "man, dude, or bro" after considering who we are talking to. I'm bringing mate to the States.
4. The birds are crazy here. There is one bird who sits outside my window and screams his heart out every morning. His call sounds like a woman screaming which really threw me off the first morning.
5. It's winter and it's gorgeous. With the seasons swapped, we are transitioning into spring here but every day has been in the 70's and up. The weather has been wonderful (we've gone to the beach 4 times already) With this being the worst the weather gets, I may never leave.
6. Unlike at SLU almost none of the buildings have names. I live in building 9 and go to class today in 6. SLU would never allow this to happen considering they would name every bathroom in the library as long as the donation money was there.
7. Unfortunately, everything here is expensive. Just walking through a convenience store you can notice the differences. My student card has flex points similar to SLU, but you are lucky to make it out without running up a 10 dollar lunch.
8. Things Aussies don't have/have never heard of: sunflower seeds, dryer sheets, sausage on pizza, forward passing.
9. This reminds me, rugby and Australian Rules Football (Footie) is really cool but sort of confusing. I'm still working on the rules. Cricket seems awesome. I'm in need of a bat.
10. Vegemite is disgusting.
11. We surfed yesterday for the first time. It was awesome and easier than I would have thought. We are thinking about buying a couple used boards and going as much as possible.
Finally 12: Words that are different here that I find humorous: elevator=lift, garbage=rubbish, breakfast=brekky, flip flops=thongs, beer bottle=stubby, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some great ones.
This was a long post. I'm sorry.
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