Escapades Abroad

Every hit movie has a sequel. While the vast majority of sequels are atrocious, occasionally one finds that the sequel is in fact, much better than its parent film. This finding brings us to today’s topic: Jurassic Park II. I don’t know if all trips into Australia’s wild Blue Mountain region require passage through the wild and unruly herds of Aussie critters in the Featherdale Wildlife Park. Seeing as how I’d been out Salsa dancing until 3 a.m., I was thoroughly unprepared and not as sharp as I usually am when I am faced with battling bloodthirsty wombats and such. I awoke at 6 a.m. to warm up and to apply my Drop-Bear repellant, ate breakfast, boarded the mini-bus with my fellow BCA students, and wondered how many of my comrades I would lose on this ... read more

My loyal readers!!! A thousand apologies for the lack of updates. Perhaps a witty speedy tour of events will catch us up to date. We begin with The fundamental life altering question: What is Art? Frankly, I’m not entirely sure, I’ve had some deep philosophical statements churning in my gut about the issue, which my trip to the Museum of Contemporary Art did not resolve, and in many ways, further complicated. Rea, Brian, Johanna, and I boarded the downtown bus with ambitious plans to cover both the MCA and the Art Gallery of New South Wales in one day. The Biennale of Sydney was happening and all the galleries were having special exhibits. Special is most definitely the most precise adjective to describe the vast majority of the exhibits at the MCA. Contemporary art never did ... read more

*Cue Newsroom beeping noise* We interrupt our regularly scheduled post to bring you this breaking news…. So its not really news per se, but I must record this evenings event while its fresh in my memory. A curious habit of Australians, at least the ones here at uni, is that they go out during the week, and then stay in on the weekends. Personally, I have found this a little frustrating to an extent, as I generally am in the habit of staying in during the week, and venturing out on the weekend. This makes for quite the boring weekend, as one is doomed to venture out alone. I was hoping for some low-key plans this weekend, nothing too crazy and not too many Americans. A large contingent of our study abroad group here had plans ... read more

Sorry music lovers, this is not a post about track 12 on the Belle & Sebastian’s most recent album… Anyone who has spent any amount of time living in close proximity to myself can attest to the fact that I drink massive amounts of hot tea. By massive, I mean on average 3-5 cups a day, sometimes much more, depending on the weather and current life events. Getting a cup of tea in States usually follows the described procedure: Amy: “I’ll have the English breakfast tea please.” Cashier: “We don’t have English Breakfast, is normal tea okay?” Amy: “yes yes, that’s fine.” Cashier: That will be $1.50” (on average…many places its quite less…at the Blue Bean Café its only 55 or 60 cents. The most I’ve seen is 1.90). The Cashier then hands Amy a paper ... read more

G’day my loyal readers. I hope you are all going well. My apologies for lack of updates, I’m still adjusting to life here and attempting to get into some sort of routine. I promised a post about last Sunday, and since it’s now Sunday once again…I’ve decided to rival a certain Mr. Dickens and present you with “A Tale of Two Sundays” It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. The food was terrible, the public transit unreliable. The dorm was quite wild, the Uni still quiet. Despite all these cons, I awoke like a pro, ready to take on the day. Liam and Monica were coming once again to chauffer me around Sydney. This time we ventured onto the motorway into the Hills. Seven Hills to be exact. I have usually ... read more

In the beginning, some cities were planned. This means that a bunch of smelly old men like William Penn sat around a table and decided in an orderly fashion where streets would go. They usually laid out the streets in a grid pattern, and came up with some clever system for naming and numbering the streets so that future peoples would never get lost. It’s incredibly clear before your plane touches the airstrip that Sydney is not a planned city - the houses and streets appear to be tossed together in a chaotic stir-fry. Everybody knows that Australia was first colonized by European convicts. The vast majority of convicts were not smelly old men, and its obvious they never gave thought to the transportation and navigation needs of their descendants. Trying to drive in Sydney is ... read more

I haven't much time at the moment, but I thought I would update briefly while I am on the Macquarie Uni campus with free wi-fi. Last Friday I went to Taronga Zoo with the others from my program, which was incredibly fortunate, as that means it was free. Taronga zoo appears to be an island and the general populous can only access its wild wonders by ferry. As the 20 minute ride came to an end and our boat reached the island, a wave of deja vu overtook me...I was in Jurassic Park... Obviously I've never been to Jurassic Park, as far as I know you can't climb into movies. But our entire group was overtaken with the general sort of feelings you get when approaching a jungle island full of creatures who are dying to ... read more

I’ve decided the best way to record Australia is topically, which renders me unable to make posts that follow the “this morning I woke up at this time and did this thing with these people.” I wouldn’t want to read that, so I will make a valiant attempt to spare you from my day-to-day trivialities. Big W = KinderSurprise Heaven KinderSurprise eggs one of the most enjoyable lollies (lolly is Aussie for candy) you will ever partake of, if you are a lucky enough to obtain one. They are large white and milk chocolate eggs with a small plastic container inside. The plastic container holds a ridiculous toy generally requiring assembly. Personally, I believe that KinderSurprise eggs are an incredibly satisfying confection, as they are undeniably delicious, and the toy usually provides at least a few ... read more

Moving to the other side of the world has a curious effect on one's body, hence the reason I woke up at 6 am this morning. As I tossed and turned attempting to assure my body that it was 6 am Wednesday and not 4 pm Tuesday, I noticed something fabulous...my laptop had charged overnight! As you will soon read, I've had many technical difficultlies, so this development was fairly epic. I promptly hopped out of bed, and brewed a cup of tea in my amazing kettle. One of the mugs I bought is amazing, its they very classy black and white photo of a Parisian cafe with people at little tables, which wouldn't be very special, except for the fact that between all the tables strutting out of the door of the cafe is massive ... read more