Entry 10

Biggest week yet by far! So much has been going on I feel like I’m being dragged behind a boat trying to keep a wakeboard under me. Tuesday was the Study Abroad Info Fair— all of the international students got a chance to answer questions about their home countries and talk to prospective exchange students about the experience. I talked up the dub as much as I could. After the fair the Study Abroad advisors at UWS had a meet and greet for past exchange students, current ones, and UWS students who had been accepted to a program for next semester. I remember last October I was so excited when I got my acceptance letter, I rode my bike in circles around campus for an hour. We played a game of international trivia, and yours truly won first place and three boxes of tim-tams (which is an Australian candy). Wednesday I headed into the city and took a walk around Hyde Park, then the botanical gardens. Hyde park is really beautiful— statues, fountains— the air was saturated with the smell of cut grass and the sounds of grade school tour groups headed to the art museum. I followed the kids in their uniforms to the free museum and spent a few hours looking at the classical and then modern exhibits of art. My favorite piece was relatively new— Cadence #1 by Robert Owen. Thursday I caught a flight to Melbourne and met up with Shannon to see a few comedy shows during Melbourne’s annual international comedy festival. The shows were hilarious— afterwards we went back to our hostel and met other backpackers from all over the world. Staying in a hostel was a lot like staying at Laurel Ridge— people are very friendly, the beds are horrible, and the showers never have warm water, but it was still a great time! Friday, Shannon and I went to the Museum of Victoria and saw lots of classical art, as well as an original Warhol in an exhibit inspired by the sixties. We went shopping in the Queen Victoria market and had some fish and chips in the food court. On Saturday we took a tour of the Great Ocean Road. Our first stop was a small surfing town where some of the most popular Surf brands were started. Ripcurl, Quicksilver, Billabong, and Roxy all had their headquarters in the small town. We went to a koala sanctuary, but they were all sleeping in the tops of trees. Koalas aren’t bears for one thing, their technically marsupials— they have a pouch to hold their babies and are nocturnal. We hiked through the Victoria rain forest and got to see the only species of meat eating snails in the world. Finally we headed back to the coast and saw the Twelve Apostles, which is hands down the most breathtaking view I’ve ever seen. Sandstone sediment and compounds of marine life created twelve formations that stuck out of the ocean, but three have collapsed back into the sea due to erosion. We also went to Loch Ard Gorge, were a famous shipwreck left two lone survivors of a fifty-four-passenger boat to sleep in the gorge’s cave for the night. It was a long day and an early morning getting back to Sydney but I’m very glad I got to see Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road. This is the last week of class before fall break— I may not have internet next weekend, but check back in two weeks for a wild update that will hopefully involve my experience on the back of a camel!