Holiday!

I have finally finished the first half of my semester! They call their break or vacation a holiday instead of spring break. Midterms week included three exams and an eight page economics paper but I am finally finished and off to New Zealand later today!! I couldn't be more excited! I have heard so many great things about NZ and have lots of friends going with me! We are going to the south island and visiting Queenstown, Fox Glacier, Wanaka, Shotover River (white water rafting!), Milfors Sound and Canterbury Plains. I will make sure to take lots of pictures!

Did I mention I am running in the Sydney half marathon? It is September 16th, so a week after I get back from New Zealand! A couple of friends and I are doing it, so it should be a lot of fun! We run across the Harbor Bridge, through the city and finish at the Opera House! Check out the promo video for it!

Lots of love, 

Steph 

Life is Good

Ah! Sorry I have been slacking with my blog posts! The days go by so fast here! The past two weeks I had a cold and could not kick it. I eventually went to the doctor and got some antibiotics and was better within days! It was interesting going to the student health center here. I walked in and the lobby was filled with people and I had to take a number before I was able to see a receptionist. I had an appointment, they don't really take walk-ins. I was seen by an Asian male doctor which was totally fine but he was kind of awkward and hesitant to check and listen to my chest. Thankfully he verified I didn't have anything more than a cold.

I had my first group presentation in class last week in my economics class. It was about the Great Depression on a global scale and how it affected each country. My group included two Chinese students, two Americans, and two Australians. So when we divided it up I was given America (lucky for me I have had plenty if US history and didn't have to do tons of extra research). The work here is more laid back and so I wasn't that surprised when some of our group members didn't show up until an hour after our meeting time was. Oh and once they showed up, they hadn't done their research yet. We finally finished our presentation and presented the next day in class – everything went well. Midterms are next week, which is hard to believe because that means spring break is right around the corner!! I am going to New Zealand – the south island- with other study abroad students to travel around and do outdoor adventure things (white water rafting, hiking a glacier, and other fun things) for ten days! It should be a great time and I am really looking forward to it! It will be nice to get out of the big city and go see some mountains and open space.

I am now officially PADI certified in scuba diving! Last week I went and did a course through Sydney Dive Academy and met some awesome Australians. I was a little hesitant because the week before we went to the Sydney Aquarium and saw the sharks exhibit! But I knew it was something I had wanted to do for a long time and I couldn’t let that change my mind last minute! They tell you in the class that the idea of sharks attacking people are a myth and rarely happen let alone attacking scuba divers! It was a great time, I am really glad I did it. I am looking forward to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef (we are trying to plan a trip now in middle/late October). At our dive spot on the second day we saw an octopus and stingray with lots of other fish as well. Oh and one of the best parts was that one of the Dive Masters (an instructor) was asking me about America and if I follow the NFL. We had a great 5-minute conversation about the Denver Broncos, Tim Tebow, and his favorite team, the New England Patriots!

Dive Group!

First Dive Site - Beautiful day, cold water! 

Yesterday the city had a “Welcome Home Australian Olympic Team Parade” downtown so a few friends and I went down to see it. It was a great time. They closed off George Street (one of the main roads downtown) and there were quite a few people that showed up on a Monday morning to see the Olympians! We were able to high five a lot of them and I really wanted to touch a medal (which I think we could have if we asked them) but by the time I thought about it, it was too late. There were not that many medals in the parade – Australian won 7 gold, 16 silver, and 12 bronze. We saw the “missile” but unfortunately he was on the other side. Overall, it was a fun parade and thing to experience.

Me, Maja, Jen 

Only in Australia 

Me, Joe, Jen, Maja

The Missile! 

I am going to try and blog more often like after a special fun event or something that I want to share. Trying to blog every week I always forget things and it takes a lot longer to type up! Football season is starting which I think might be the first time I get a little home sick (not really home sick but just missing the fact I can’t watch the games). I guess I will have to follow game stats and blogs! 

Anyways, sorry this next blog took so long to get up. Things have been going well and August has flown by! Next month I will be 21 – holy cow! Life is good and I am very blessed.

Lots of love,

Stephanie   

One Month...Already?!

These days go by so fast! I can’t believe I have been here for a month already! I am thankful my program is one of the longer ones, because if it was only three months, I would not be wanting to go so soon! There is still so much to do!

This past week, I spent more time on campus and made a conscious effort to meet other international or Australian students. I have an hour between my classes on Tuesday where I went to the Quad Food Court and grabbed some Chinese food. I walked around to look for a seat and ended up sitting with a nice girl. I soon learned her name was Stephanie and she was also studying accounting and finance! It was fun to talk with her and learn more about Maroubra Bay (where she lives) and she also suggested some fun places to go in the city! I have learned that when you go up to anyone and start talking to them, they are always interested and eager to find out more about America and what it’s like. Another thing I have appreciated since being in Australia is how great of a country the United States is. Everyone is so interested in learning more about America and what it is like. On a side note, when I say I am from Colorado some people say “oh, like where that massacre was?”. Unfortunately bad people can taint a perception of a state or country but I share with them how beautiful and fun Colorado is. When that happened a few weeks ago, it was all over the news here and on the front page of most of the papers – making international news.

Anyways, this past Tuesday I went to Aida at the Opera House! I have never been to an opera before and I didn't really go in with any expectations and I had a great time! It was so cool just being in the Opera House and seeing an opera was awesome. It was a love story in italian with english subtitles. Boy those men and women can sing! It was a long show, three hours, so after a full day of classes I was ready to go home by the end. It was an experience I will always remember! The view from inside the Opera House of the Harbor Bridge was absolutely beautiful!  

Jen and I went to a fundraiser one of the clubs on campus was holding. It was at the Kensington Bowling Club and it costs $10, that’s about all I knew. So I made sure I was wearing socks under my boots and hoping I would break 100. Haha when we showed up, I quickly realized it was not the bowling I was thinking of. It was more like bocce ball. We met some students that we ended up hanging out with and talking to most of the night. They taught us how to bowl and it was a lot of fun! The first time I rolled the ball I rolled it way to hard and it went well past the small white ball we were trying to get close too. They kept telling me it was “too much weight” or “too tight” (meaning I didn’t angle it out enough). It was a fun night filled with lots of laughs and new adventures. One of the guys in this group was from Steamboat, CO. He had come over to do his whole degree at UNSW and it was fun to talk with another Coloradan and here about how much he loves this place.  

Classes are starting to get harder and I have finally cracked open my books. I really like my international finance and global business environment classes. Both are focused on the global scale and I am learning a lot of different currencies and how different countries do business. At DU I have not had a class focused on international business so I enjoy the new challenge. I start presentations and papers are due next week!

We are lucky to have a working TV in our apartment and a channel where the Olympics are broadcasted so that has been a fun bonding activity for all of us. The network here obviously are all focuses on the Australians so it has been hard to keep with the US athletes. However they did interview Phelps after he won his 19^th medal which was pretty sweet.

This weekend was so much fun! I can’t believe it is already Monday! Saturday morning Jen, Jesse, Carolyn, Nicole, and I went to Paddy’s Markets in the city. It was a shopping center that was four levels with the bottom floor being the markets. So the top three levels were stores you would find in Park Meadows but the bottom floor was a huge area where vendors were set up and selling their goods. There were a lot of trinkets and tourist items/gifts for cheap! They had everything from watches to phone cases to NFL jerseys to Australia scarfs and shirts to hair wigs. It was fun to walk around and see everything they had. Jesse and I tried on a wig or two and it’s safe to say I would not look good with short brown hair! Too bad she would not let us take a picture…

Towards the back of the markets there is a produce and meat/fish area! I ended up buying some really good cherries and a few oranges! After the markets in the morning we went over to the Sydney Museum to meet our group for a chocolate tour! We walked through Sydney and went to five different places where we learned about chocolate and got to have some samples! It was a lot of fun but by the end of the three hours or so I was so sick of chocolate. I don’t think I am going to have more chocolate for another two weeks! But I had a great time!

Sunday I woke up early to meet at campus at 7am where a group of us were headed to the Blue Mountains and Featherdale Wildlife Park. It was a beautiful day as we went on “bush walks” and saw the Three Sisters and some beautiful waterfalls in the Blue Mountains! By the way, these are not mountains – nothing like the Rocky Mountains, more like hills, but it was nice to get out of the city and see another part of Australia! After the Blue Mountains we went to Featherdale Wildlife Park where I saw my first Koala and Kangaroo!! It was so much fun! The Koala is my new favorite animal, they are so soft, but apparently they sleep for 20 hours in the day so we were REALLY lucky to have one of them up when we visited!! The kangaroos were not as exciting as I thought they would be, we did see one hop but all the others were not moving at all.

As you have seen, I have been running around doing all fun things non-stop and my body is starting to notice. Friday night I started to lose my voice and I still can’t talk normal yet. I didn’t really have time to rest this weekend until last night but I went to the store and got some medicine and mint chocolate chip ice cream so hopefully that will help! Today I only have one class so I have been able to stay in bed longer and rest!

Lots of love,

Stephanie