Bethany S

As the title suggests...you haven't seen bad traffic until you've come to Bangkok! Seriously this traffic is completely insane! I guess that’s why people take scooters around everywhere. I opted for walking, for fear of the craziness. Yesterday I took a cooking class. It ended up being a private lesson, but I had a lot of fun with the girls who own the restaurant. I cooked all kinds of things- curry, soups, hummus, sauces, pad Thai, spring rolls…and the best part…got to eat it all! Thai cooking seemed really simple to me that is if you have all the numerous ingredients. Today I got up early and went to the floating markets…definitely cool. We took longboats up the canals and then took a paddle boat once we were at the market. It was definitely eye opening ... read more

Well I can’t believe my time here in Melbourne is already almost over! The time really flew by. I’ve divided my time here into 3 chunks. The first part (summer) was great! We spent most of the time exploring, trying out new restaurants, and going to the beach. The second part was the middle of the semester and things seemed to drag on forever. It was a bit of a slump when winter started. Then I had a bunch of visitors at the beginning of the third part, which put me in a great mood and I’ve been having a great time here at the end. Most of my time has been taken planning for my trip to Asia and also attempting to force myself to study for my last finals ever! I guess I should ... read more

Last weekend I experienced a traditional Melbourne event...Australian Football, otherwise known as Footy. It's a big thing in Victoria, with multiple teams in the region, although there are also teams from other states. The game was at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds and was between Hawthorn and Carlton. I think they said there were about 67,000 people there! It was funny because in the States people dress head to toe in their team's colors, but here most people wore scarves and beanies in the team's color. Hawthorn was gold and maroon, which kinda reminded me of Harry Potter. Carlton was navy and white. The game was absolutely the most confusing thing I've ever watched! It's definitely not anything like American football. First of all, the players are all extremely fit and wear short shorts, which is a ... read more

This weekend Sergio came down from visiting his brother during the week in Sydney. Friday night we went to the Eureka Sky Deck, the tallest building in the Southern hemisphere. It was really beautiful to see the city at night from so high. I was super nervous, but Sergio made me go out on the Edge, a glass enclosed observation deck that looks straight down 88 stories. I was definitely scared looking down at first, but I’m really glad I did it! Saturday morning we got up really early and went to meet Sergio’s dads friend for breakfast near Chapel street. It was a funny experience looking back on it because we ended up having to walk/run a long way because all the trams were rerouted due to the Grand Prix. It took forever to get ... read more

So I have no idea how 47,000 students fit on campus, when there are only 30,000 students at UGA and it’s a small city, whereas Melbourne’s campus is about the size of Georgia Tech. It’s really packed during the day and sometimes you’re just being drug along in a sea of people. I have 600 people in my Marketing class, which seems insane, but it’s actually my favorite class. The professor is really energetic and excited about the subject. I also went to my cognitive development class today. I think it will be interesting to learn about what the brain is able to handle at certain ages and what affects learning/development. So it was supposed to be blazing hot today and instead it rained this morning and then the winds set in…and by winds I mean ... read more