Back to School!

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I can't believe I just finished my first week of school in Australia... it still seems so surreal here!!

I'm taking 4 classes this semester, while it seems most Australians take only 3, so I'm hoping I can handle it! I'm taking all classes for mymajor, which are: Thinking Politically, Intro to Global Politics, Australian Foreign Policy, and African Politics and Globalization. I only have 2 classes on Mondays, which are at 9am and 11am, so I'm done by noon, which is nice. Tuesday is my busiest day of the week where I'm basically on campus from 9am til 8pm, with a couple of 2 hour breaks in there. No class on Wednesday. Thursday I have class from 10 to 3 with an hour break for lunch. And... no class on Friday! All of my classes so far seem awesome and the teachers seem extremely intelligent and enthusiastic about their classes, which makes it more enjoyable for me as well. My professor for Global Politics is extremely enthusiastic and charismatic, I think I'm really going to enjoy that class! My professor for my African politics class is from Sierra Leone and seems pretty cultured... he has an Australian wife from Sweeden 😊 My professor for Aus Foreign Policy has been an Australian politician for a long time and seems to know everything and anything about politics, so I think I'm going to need to pick up an extra book to read in my free time so can learn more about Australian government. Overall, my first week is done, and I'm still really exited, so that's a good sign 😊

After much debating, I decided to see what I could do about switching apartments. The 4 Asian girls I was living with were basically non-existant. They never came out of their rooms, and if they did, it was very hard to keep a conversation with them because they didn't really seem interested in making new friends, since they have all been living together for awhile. So, I moved this morning into a new house just across the sidewalk basically, and I already love it so far 😊 I have met 2 of the guys I am living with... Milly, from England, and Akil, from India!! I've already talked to them more this afternoon than I had with all 4 of the Asian girls combined! Haha. And it's nice here because it's NOT quiet. I can hear everyone's music and human being ACTUALLY conversing, so I feel like I'm actually living in a house with people. I am directly across from my previous neighbors house, which is good since I'm basically over there all the time. But I think that now since I have a place where I don't feel awkward living, I will actually be able to hang out here!

I applied for a job to be an RA, interviewed and everything, and didn't get it, but no worries. I am going to try and spend most of the day at the mall tomorrow looking for a job. My friend Ami and I are trying to plan our trip to Melbourne so I need a job to pay for my plane ticket! We met a guy from Argentina (may have mentioned him in a previous post) that we are looking forward to visiting down there, and some other people we know as well. I'm really exited to get a job because I don't know what to do with all this free time on my hands!! I also can't wait to start traveling... but since I'll be here for atleast a year, I know I don't have to pack it all in right now. My friend Chris, who is basically my new best friend, we hang out every day, anyways, he lives in Hong Kong and said I have to come visit before I leave, so I need to start saving up for that! One friend from home, Jim, is going to be heading to Beijing soon to teach at a University for a year... and a friend from Jr High/Iowa, Mary, is going to be teaching English in Bangkok this October... so I'm going to have some connections if I ever want to head up that way!

Lately I have been craving Mexican food like NO other... they have a nacho place in the mall, but nowhere has good queso or nacho-like cheese. The Asian food, of course, is amazing everywhere. My friend Nick and I ate on campus at the huge cafeteria they have, and we ate at this Asian place, which was pretty good, but was $9.50... But that's actually average here (yuck). Chris usually invites me over at some point in the day to make food. The other night we made some decent tacos, last night was made pizza, this morning he made me sweet white rice with peaches, which was SUPER good. He said they eat that all the time when he goes to Thailand (he's quite the traveler). The food isn't bad here at all, I just feel like it lacks a lot of flavor that American food has. But you definitely can't deny the deliciousness of a $2.15 cheeseburger from Hungry Jacks (same thing as Burger King)!!

Alright, all this food talk has made me hungry, I need to head down to my kitchen and make me some food!! Tomorrow I will be job hunting (wish me luck!) and then my friend Ami from the city is coming in to visit. Saturday we'll head back into the city so I can see some of my friends, and then Sunday morning at 9am I am doing a 14k walk for charity called City2Surf, it goes all around the city of Sydney and ends at Bondi Beach, where they throw a party! It should be a great time as long as the weather is good! Miss you all!!

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Photos

My Home!
What our apartment buildings look like!!

My Home!
Another view of Maquarie Uni Village...