Sunday, March 26, 2017

Week 5: I've Got Rhythm

Hello, blogosphere!

So when I last left you, I was about to go to the beach. I ended up taking a detour through the Botanic Gardens with a couple of friends, but we did end up at Bondi Beach that day. It was lovely and here are some pictures.




Not much happened to me this week. I had classes, gave a presentation (shout out to my partner who probably won’t read this), went to some social events on campus, and studied. This weekend was fun, but also low key. I went to a community Shabbat dinner, a birthday party, but mostly the main library at my university (which is open to students 24/7).

This afternoon it was nice out again, so I ventured alone to Coogee Beach, where I actually went in the water! I couldn’t stay in long because no one was there to watch my stuff, but the water was just shy of too cold and I got to sit out in the sun to dry because I didn’t bring a towel. Here’s another picture of a beach!


So I really don’t have much to say this week, especially because it’s really late right now. But I guess that in and of itself means that I’ve found a rhythm here.

As a traveler, that saddens me a bit. It’s more of an adventure when you’re a little off-kilter. As a student, though, I’m glad to have figured out my surroundings and to have started to figure out my new normal. Even if it’s temporary, I’m living in Sydney. I can’t spend four months lost in the city and expect to get an “authentic Aussie experience.” There’s plenty of time in my schedule to explore, but I need some routine too.

To all my friends who are reading this during their own study abroad experiences, (first of all: hi!!! I miss you all so much!), I hope you’ve found your rhythm in your new city. And to everyone reading this, even if you’re in your hometown, I hope your surroundings stay fresh and wonderful.


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See you next week.
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Location: Redfern, Australia

Saturday, March 18, 2017

Week 4: Battle of the Time Zones

Hi again!

It’s been a month since I left the US. That’s wild. I know that time can’t actually speed up, but it feels like this month has been one of the fastest I’ve ever experienced. Or that might just be because February is so short.

Anyway, it’s Day 28. I’ve settled into life here in Sydney, made some friends, seen some sights, made some travel plans, and done some schoolwork. But I’m having a little trouble leaving home behind.

That’s not to say that I’m homesick. I miss my friends and family, sure, but I’m doing great here. Home, however, has other plans.

For those of you who don’t know (and some of you should maybe write this down) there is currently a 15-hour time difference between Sydney and New York/Boston. For reference, it’s 12:30 PM on Sunday here in Sydney. In New York, it’s 9:30 PM on Saturday. That’s a big difference to wrap your head around. And it’s only for the next two weeks. Then, we change the clocks here (fall back for autumn), and the time difference shrinks to 14 hours.

I’ve pretty much figured out the time difference, but I also have a dual clock on my phone that always tells me what time it is back home. What I’ve discovered is that no one ever looks up what time it is in Australia. They always ask me. Maybe it’s silly of me to be annoyed by that, but it’s so easy to find out (and honestly not that hard to calculate) what time is if you know the time zone (which is also easy to find out).

Usually, this ignorance of the time doesn’t cause too many problems. My friends and family are all aware that a large time difference means gaps in conversations. And most formal communication is done by email, so a few hours of waiting isn’t unusual.

Sometimes, though, things happen in the middle of the night. This week, Brandeis released the lottery numbers for housing selection. It was supposed to happen on Wednesday afternoon, which for me was super late on Wednesday night. I stayed up a little bit too late waiting, but the numbers didn’t come out until 12:30 PM (3:30 AM), after I’d gone to sleep. And that was frustrating, but it was only one night, right?

WRONG. There was a problem, so they had to rearrange some things. I stayed up until 4 the next morning waiting for the numbers to come out (they’d promised numbers would be out by noon EDT). I went to sleep a second time without knowing if my number would be good enough to get housing.

This conflict has been resolved (I can live on campus!), but it caused me so much stress over the last few days that I just needed to kvetch about it a little more. Thanks for putting up with my rant.

As a reward, here’s a picture of a used bookstore I found!

I’m off to the beach now, because the weather’s still good here and it’s the middle of the day. See you next Sunday!

Emily


Bonus Tip: If you want to be able to check out time differences, you can Google “what time is it in [City]". If you want to see what time it will be in that city at some future time (for scheduling purposes and the like), check out worldtimebuddy.com 
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Location: Redfern, Australia

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Week 3: Blue Mountains

Welcome back to my corner of the internet! I hope you've all had a wonderful week.

 I just had my first week of classes. It was a little different than I'm used to, but I don't really want to talk about school.

 This weekend, my program ran a trip out to the Blue Mountains, a national park west of Sydney. On Friday, we took a train out to Katoomba (a town that borders the park).

 When we got there, we dropped our stuff at a hostel and went to the Echo Point lookout. From there, we could see across the massive Jamison Valley and into the mountains. We were there in time to watch the sunset, which was breathtaking.

 I don't think I can adequately describe this valley to you, but as I am writing a blog, I'm going to try anyway. Imagine you're on a cliff, overlooking a sea. Instead of water, though, the waves are made of treetops. The canopy is dense and the green of the leaves changes as the clouds overhead cast shadows on them. This body of trees stretches back until it blends into the mountains on the other side. And for the record, the Blue Mountains do look blue from a distance.

This morning, I threw a boomerang. (For the record, I did get it to come back to me. Even though I had to throw a righty boomerang with my left hand.)

 The last thing I did before coming home to Sydney was go abseiling, known in the US as rappelling. I've rappelled before, but it's always an exhilarating and slightly nerve-inducing experience. First, they took us to a 3 meter (10 foot) cliff for practice. After we all learned the ropes (pun intended), we got to move on to a 15 meter (49 foot) cliff. The last cliff they brought us to was over 30 meters (100 feet). This one was a little different. Instead of a mostly vertical cliff face that you walk down, the rock jutted inward after about 10 feet. This meant that we were hanging. That sounds scary (and it is a lot more intense), but it means that you can twist around and look out instead of just at the rock. To be able to see a valley from the air is one of the coolest things I've ever gotten to do. And this valley was spectacular.

 Now that I'm back home and writing a blog, I'm supposed to come to some conclusion about my weekend, so that I can wrap it up in a nice little bow for all of you back home (or wherever else in not-Australia you may be). I won't. I believe that to experience nature, you have to be in it.

 Obviously, it's not realistic of me to expect you all to be able to come see the Three Sisters (pictured below) in the Blue Mountains of Australia. It's also not possible for all of you to go rappelling, or to go on a nature hike. You might not want to do those things. But I still can't explain nature to you. We all connect to it differently, but we're all a part of nature, and nature is a part of all of us. I'm glad I got to get away from the city for a little while and recharge.

 Thanks for reading about my nature weekend. Now for the pictures!

(Hint: this next one has multiple photos. You can scroll through them.)
I'll see you next week!

 Emily
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Location: Redfern, Australia

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Week 2: O-Week

Full disclosure here: I totally forgot to write a blog post today. It’s currently 1 AM on Monday, which isn’t such a big catastrophe because it’s still Sunday for most of the world. And, as my night-owl friends back home like to say, it’s not Monday until I’ve actually slept.

This past week was my first full week in Sydney. A whole lot happened, but if I listed every important or interesting event, this would be a very boring blog. So instead, I’m going to do something else.

Let’s talk about transitions. A little over a week ago, I moved into a new apartment over 9900 miles (nearly 16,000 km) away from home. In Australia, they drive on the other side of the road, they speak differently, and their lemonade is carbonated. Tomorrow, I start classes at a school that has more undergraduate students than my hometown has people.

Adjustment is hard. And this week, I found myself in a lot of new situations that I didn’t know how to handle. For example, O-Week at the university. At home, orientation is just for the first-year students. They come a few days early so they can move in, meet each other, get a vague idea of how to navigate campus, and form a community with their class year before returning students flood campus.

O-Week was definitely not that. It was a massive 3-day club fair, complete with corporate sponsors, concerts, and school-sponsored parties (at an on-campus bar, another new one for me). There was a day of new-student orientations before that, but I still wasn’t prepared for the tornado that was O-Week. It was totally life-shattering!

 Okay, no it wasn't. 

But it was difficult to take it all in. I spent a lot of time this week adjusting. For me, that meant taking breaks when the O-Week crowds got to be too much and finding smaller ways to introduce myself to campus. That being said, I did find ways that worked for me. Some clubs had meet-ups where I got to meet Australian students who have the same interests as I do. Some more clubs have meet-ups this week, which I will definitely be attending. But I also went totally out of my comfort zone and went to a few parties, which I actually enjoyed more than I expected.

The week really culminated last night with Mardi Gras. In Sydney, LGBTIA pride season is around Mardi Gras. It’s actually a whole festival with lots of events over a few weeks, but it ends with a parade which everyone calls Mardi Gras. I went with a few friends and we had a great time (and got glitter bombed). It was a pretty amazing cultural introduction to this city where I’ll be living for the next 4 months.

It’s getting really late (and this post is fairly long) and I have my first day school in the morning, so I’m going to sign off here. I hope you enjoyed this little foray into my mind at 1 AM (and if you didn’t, thank you for reading to the end anyway). As a reward, here are some pictures from this week.





See you next Sunday!

 Emily
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Location: Redfern, Australia
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