Entry 5

The first week of class went better than expected! Classes seem less demanding than the semester I took last year, and I have no Friday classes. Because I’m majoring in Business Marketing I’m taking: International Marketing, International Business, Consumer Behavior, and Managerial Accounting. Half of my grade for each course is dependent on the final, and the majority of the rest of my average depends on a mid-term exam. There is an on campus News Paper taking submissions from International Students about their experience. The campus is really beautiful and feels a lot like Wilmington— the heat and the brick buildings. Surprisingly they don’t have a gym on campus so on Thursday I joined a gym in the city that my roommate goes to. I’ve noticed Australians are very active, generally very health conscious, and very competitive when it comes to sports. Cricket, Rugby, and Net Ball are very popular here. The weather has been very hot or very wet. Like in Wilmington, its not uncommon to wear a bathing suit to class, and I’ve gone through more sunscreen in a week than I would normally use the entire month of July. Instead of the cold winters and hot summers we’re used to in N.C. Summer here is known as the wet season and winter is typically dry. One day it’s eighty-seven and humid and the next is constant rain from morning till night. Public transportation is extremely convenient in and around Sydney. I downloaded an app called tripview that provides real-time data on where the busses, trains, and ferries are, and what their estimated time of arrival is. I also applied for a public transportation ninety-day pass that the government provides international students at a discounted cost. The slang here sounds like everyone grew up in the seventies— keen and mate are popular terms— they call everyone from America a yank, even if they’re from the South. My roommates have been great. They eat kangaroo— which can be bought in any grocery store. I’m sure I will try it before I leave. In reading the book, Down Under, which I got for Christmas from my Secret Santa at work, I learned Australians are the only population that eats the national animal of their country. Otherwise everything I’ve eaten has been familiar to me or Asian. Next weekend is the Future music festival— very excited!