Entry 7

It’s crazy to think I’ve already been in Australia for a month! Most of the original shocks and differences have faded and I feel like I’ve fallen into the society and almost totally. I’ve even been asked for directions and probably/might have pointed that old lady in the right direction. This past week has been beautiful. Most days I make a big breakfast, read on our porch, go to class, then the gym, and still have time to lie out by the pool and chat with other local and international students. Accounting is definitely going to be my hardest unit. The first two months of class we’re working in groups on presentation assignments. I’m analyzing financial reports from Australian owned construction company; Leighton Holdings— Creating an upstart winery in International Business— and in International Marketing my group is exploring the international laws R.J. Reynolds tobacco company (from my hometown) faces when advertising cigarettes. On Wednesday this past week, the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, hosted a very classy reception for some of the international students from each of the universities in the city. We met at Town Hall at five thirty and were each given a nametag and a folder of informational guides, coupons, and helpful business cards. Town Hall was centrally built in the mid eighteen hundreds and is one of the most historic buildings in the city. After eating dinner, we were first welcomed to the event by the Chief of the local aboriginal tribe, the Cadigal’s. Australia is very devoted to recognizing the original people of the land at any major public event. An Uncle of the tribe came in with a smoking basket of coals or incense and blessed the space— clearing away the bad spirits. Then the Lord Mayor welcomed us and told us a bit about Sydney and her goals for the future of the city. Sydney is both the cleanest and safest city in the world. You almost never see trash on the street, and both crime and violence are rarities. Mayor Moore told us that a third of the international students that study in Sydney return later in life to either live or do business. The third speaker of the night was an international student from Washington D.C. who had studied at the same campus I am at, and moved to the city to work after graduation. The program ended with an open bar while dancers and a local jazz band performed and I exchanged stories with new friends I made from India, China, England and Japan. Unfortunately the weekend has brought erratic storms. The lightning and thunder has been nice to watch and listen to, but our hike to the Blue Mountains will have to wait for a dryer weekend.