Only 10 more weeks left!

Since we've been back from Sydney, we have mostly been relaxing and concentrating on some homework. We got our first assignments back and whoever said the grading in Australia was easier was extremely wrong. The teachers grade so differently than at home, and we both haven't done as well on our assignments as we figured we would (and it's not because we've been drinking too much!). Apparently they don't have GPA's here and basically as long as you pass your course, that's all that matters-which isn't fair since our grades transfer back and affect our GPA.

Last Thursday there was a rave (fluorescent themed) on campus. Everyone dressed up in fluorescent colors and watched our dorm buildings play the other buildings in tennis. Then we went to the bar on campus for dancing. There are so many themed parties here which are fun, but it's getting so expensive to buy costumes! 

This past weekend Rebecca went to Bendigo to her friend Jenna's house with some girls off her floor. Jenna's family, and especially her sister, loved her american accent and kept showing rebecca off to her friends. American pronunciations are different and her favorite words that Rebecca said were aluminum, oregano, and parmesan (You can look up on youtube how Australians say them if you're curious). Jenna's parents also cooked for the girls Friday and Saturday night. It was so delicious-they had steak, homemade hamburgers, and fried rice! :) The weekend was really relaxing and a lot of fun to see the countryside more and get to know the girls better. Below is a picture of the countryside! THERE"S NOTHING OUTSIDE OF THE CITIES-it's so strange!

Sarah stayed at La Trobe for the weekend and hung out with some of the boys who also didn't go home. She went to another Australian Rules Football game and to one of their friend's birthday parties. She played a lot of video games like Call of Duty and Guitar Hero (she's such a boy) and had fun getting to know the guys a little better. It was relaxing since not a lot of people were around.

This week we've just been working on some more assignments and hanging out around the campus. It's been raining a lot here so hopefully there will be a few more warm days before the winter season starts!

SYDNEY!

hey everyone! here's a day by day account of our spring break trip to sydney!

day 1- our flight got in around 7:45 pm so we first went to our hostel to check in. it seemed really cool cause people were outside hanging out and drinking and everyone was really friendly. our room had one bunk bed, and the bottom bed was a double. rebecca and bianca slept on that one, and sarah got the top one. anyway, so we unpacked a little and then went out to explore the area that we were staying in called kings cross. kings cross happens to be the red light district of sydney, which we didn't know before booking the hostel. so when we left to explore, we saw a bunch of hookers and strip clubs and stuff like that. it was pretty cool. we were all craving mexican food for some reason, so we ate at this one place that had a special $11 for a quesadilla and beer. YUM! then we went to this outdoor bar/cafe to drink some more and we ran into this american girl beth who lives in menzies. seriously, what are the chances that we would see a girl who is 1 american and 2 from not just la trobe, but menzies. sooo weird. so then we got some drinks and ice cream, and we went back to the hostel.


day 2- in the morning we decided to walk around the area and do some touristy things, so we stopped by some outdoor markets and this house called the elizabeth house which is a colonial house that's now a museum. the architecture of the house was beautifullll. then we did some shopping, and took a walk to see the sydney football stadium where they play footy and cricket. that night we went out to some restaurants/bars/pubs around the area and had a fun girls night out.

day 3- we left the first hostel and checked into our second hostel, which was in bondi beach. bondi is sydney's most popular/famous beach. we spent the wholeeeee day on the beach. at night we went around to a bunch of different bars. they were right on the water and it had greattt views. sooo then this was the night that sarah got sick and woke up with horrible stomach pains. we ended up calling an ambulance because we didn't know what else to do! after 4 hours in the emergency room, sarah finally saw a doctor and got diagnosed with a UTI. she's on antibiotics now and is feeling much better!


day 4- well the majority of the day was spent in the hospital. after rebecca and sarah left the hospital we met bianca at the next hostel which is in the area where the opera house is. we spent the evening walking around this huge mall nearby (which was sort of difficult for sarah since it was painful to walk) and then decided to see a movie (17 again starring zac efron) since sarah couldn't exactly go out anywhere.

day 5- we walked around the whole day and saw a lot of things! we went to a famous cathedral called st. catherine's and the anzac memorial (for this war that the aussies had against the aboriginals) and the sydney observatory (AMAZINGGGG views) and the sydney aquarium. it was a really really busy day, but we got a lot of good pictures. at night we went to a pub for dinner and dancing. it was fun, but we left sort of early because creepy guys kept coming up to rebecca!

day 6- we spent the morning in this park and just laid on the grass and talked. then we went to this barracks museum and saw where convicts used to be held hundreds of years ago. that was really cool. then we walked to the opera house and the harbour bridge. we took a tour of the opera house and got to see the inside even though we couldn't afford tickets to see an actual show. then we sat in a park and watched the sun set over the harbour. it was soo nice and relaxing. at night, bianca and rebecca went out to some bars while sarah stayed at the hostel and slept since her stomach was bothering her.

day 7- we woke up lateish and then went on a walk across the bridge. rebecca and bianca were going to spend like $150 to climb it, but neither of them brought sneakers with them so they couldn't! we got some good pictures on the walk since we were pretty high up. then we did some shopping, and pretttttty much did nothing the rest of the day except relax in the park. it was really nice not walking around the entire day, and we did a lot of girly bonding!

day 8- we left the hostel and spent our last day on a beach nearby the city called manly beach. we got our 2 friends who drove us to/from the airport picture frames and then we printed pictures of the 3 of us and put them in it. they appreciated the gifts i think. at night we sat by the harbour bridge which is now our new favorite spot in australia. we were really sad to be leaving! we went back to the hostel to get our things, and headed to the airport. we expected the international airport to be open 24 hours, but when we got there we discovered the terminals were all closed until 4 am! we had 4 hours to kill, so we sat in this sketchy room with other people who were waiting for the terminals to open as well. bianca fell asleep, but rebecca and sarah were too nervous to close their eyes. finally 4 am rolled around, and we took a cab to our terminal. the plane ride was very smooth since we all fell asleep, and we landed in melbourne before we knew it!

this week we don't have that many plans. we have a press and society quiz tomorrow, and on thursday night is an event called rave where everyone wears bright colors and dances. it should be fun. we miss everyone!

don't forget to check out our pictures from the trip! http://austdownunder.shutterfly.com/468?size=All&startIndex=0

good'ay mates! :)

Nothing interesting happened this week. We just did work before mid-semester break.  We're off to Sydney on friday so we'll post about our trip when we return!

love and miss you!

helloooo!

Last saturday we watched our dorm buildings compete against the two other buildings in australian rules football (footy) It's such a different sport than american football so it was fun to watch.  After our college girls and boys both won, we went to the bar on campus to celebrate!

On monday we did a lot of reading and essay writing because on tuesday we had to take a quiz in the class that gives out impossible quizzes. BUT our quiz went MUCH better this week and we both got above a 90 so hopefully the quizzes will stay easier from now on.  After the quiz we took the tram into the city and had a very touristy day.  We just walked up and down the city streets without much of a plan as to wear we were going.  

Of course we bought some jewelry and accessories, but we also went on a behind the scenes tour of popular movies (The Shining, The Matrix, Australia, and The Terminal to name a few).  We saw all the planning that goes into producing a film and how they use the special effects.  They had a living room set from the movie Australia and the actual model from the movie The Terminal.  The models were probably the coolest part because they were so detailed.  We were proud of ourselves for doing something educational as well as shopping!  For dinner in the city we ate Subway because we both were craving turkey and when we were sitting on these steps outside to eat it a pigeon flew down, hit Rebecca's sandwich, and stole a tomato from it! Since she was starving she ate the rest of the sandwich anyway, but that was one greedy bird!

On wednesday we helped out at the exchange fair on campus and told a bunch of people about Ithaca.  Of course Ithaca didn't send us enough brochures so we only stayed for half the time because we ran out.  We did it with this Australian girl who studied at Ithaca for a year so it was cool to talk about her experience in the states.  That night we also went to a reptile show.  This man showed us the 5 deadliest snakes in the world that are all in Australia and we got to hold some pythons, lizards and frogs which was fun.

Thursday we went to a bar off campus with a bunch of people from our dorm building. Everyone got dressed up and there was a live band, dancing, and free transp

ortation which was a lot of fun! Beers were only $2.50 a glass which was finally cheap here!

 

This weekend is full of homework because next week is the week before break and we have 2 essays due and some reading so we're trying to get that finished while people are gone and the building is semi quiet.

talk to you all soon!