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Published: September 12th 2007
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Teams
Argentina (blue and white) and Australia (green and gold) walk onto the field. I am constantly reminded that I am not at home anymore and the past few days have been no different.
Well, Monday came and I got up WAY early (as in 7 am) to call home to wish my brother Mark a happy birthday even though it was still 2 days away from the actual day back at home. I got to talk to the entire family that day which was a really good feeling. I had not talked to my brothers (outside of emails/facebook with Mark) since I left 7 weeks ago. So, to say the least, it was long over-due. However, he told me that he wanted to know some of the "juicier" things I'd been doing here- I don't know what else to tell him. Sure, I've done my fair share of drinking while I've been here, but I think that was to be expected- after all, I am of legal age and I am probably carrying the least amount of "work load" of my life right now. However, I do have to say that I am beginning to miss the days of my rigorous schedule, I miss meeting with people on campus, I miss needing my
Scoreboard
The Scoreboard/Jumbo-tron planner pad to plan it all out...I know, I'm a freak. Oh well, I better enjoy this work-free, stress-free lifestyle while I've got it because it will be gone when I get back to the States.
After talking to the family, I went back to bed for a few hours and then woke up to begin studying for my test on Wednesday. I also worked on creating an outline for my paper that is due on Friday. Then, after walking down to the store right next to my building, I fell again. I did not re-hurt my foot, don't worry. However, I did re-open one of the spots in which I had gotten rug burn when I fell down my stairs at home a few days before I left. So, I did a little bandage/cleaning work and took a nap to sleep away the pain. Plus, I was miserable over the fact that I had fallen again, so I decided to just go to bed. I woke up to a call from Craig/Stef/Tom telling me to hurry up because it was time for the High School Musical Party. So, I went over to Craig, Tom, and John's to watch
Field
The field at the MCG High School Musical 1 and 2. I had seen 1 a million times, but this was the first time I had seen the second one. I left their apartment and came back over to mine and fell asleep.
Tuesday, I got up pretty late (around noon) and spent most of my day finishing my outline for the paper and studying for my test on Wednesday. Then, last evening I went to an Argentina vs. Australia soccer game at the MCG. It was pretty cool to once again be at the MCG which was not even close to being filled to capacity, yet there were still almost 71,000 people there...that place is so huge! It holds like 120,000 or something crazy like that! Australia lost 1-0 which was actually really good because they were supposed to get their butts kicked! They played defense really well and were able to hold Argentina to only one goal.
Tuesday was also the 6 year anniversary of 9/11 as all of you know. I wrote an article for the school paper back at BU about my experiences on that day, so I will just copy and paste that here to let you know how that day went for me. It was a hard day, but a good experience for me to always remember.
I knew that I would have the opportunity to experience a different lifestyle while studying abroad here in Melbourne, Australia, but I was not ready for the feeling of isolation on a day that still brings back painful memories for me six years later. This year, I experienced 9/11 in a different country and was shocked to find that the day has been forgotten in many ways. Each morning when I wake up, I check the local paper here in Australia and on the morning of September 11 I expected to see an article on 9/11; however, as I searched through the paper, I only found one short article which was taken directly from the Associated Press. As I watched Oprah that afternoon, it was an episode about a woman who lost her husband on 9/11. My roommate emerged from her room and asked what Oprah was about and when I told her, I did not get the reaction I was expecting. She simply got her bottle of water from the refrigerator and walked back to her room. There I sat on the couch, wondering how someone could not be interested to hear this woman’s story. Then, as I watched the evening news in hopes of hearing a mention of remembrance for the people who lost their lives on this day six years ago, I heard nothing. As the day progressed, I found myself feeling very isolated in a country full of people. There I was, experiencing and feeling emotions that many Americans still feel on that day and no one around me could understand what this pain felt like. I realized that not every Australian has forgotten what this day means, but I quickly understood that I was now in the extreme minority of people feeling the intense emotions that this day brings on for most Americans. I truly began to understand why experts say that 9/11 is the historical event that will shape this generation for the rest of their lives. As the day went on, all I could think about was how on that day six years ago, I sat in my Spanish II classroom during my sophomore year of high school and tears ran down our faces as we saw what was happening in NYC, Washington D.C, and in Pennsylvania. All I could think about was going home that night, sitting with my family, and just watching the news coverage on television for hours. I remembered my grandmother going down to Ground Zero as the leader of the Salvation Army’s crisis counseling team. I remembered it all like it happened yesterday, but this year I spent my time realizing how much that day will forever have an impact on my life, even if I am thousands of miles away from home. Then, finally, today is Wednesday. I woke up this morning and went and took my Critical Thinking test. It went okay, but I think it could have gone better....after all, nothing is ever good enough, we all know that. I always walk out of a test saying I could have done better, but I'll be interested to see how I really did- because I'm actually really up in the air about it. It's one of those subjects that you either did it completely right or completely screwed it up! Guess I'll find out in 2 weeks! I came back to my apartment and decided to just relax for a while, so I watched Oprah and Days of Our Lives and then took a nap. Now, here I am updating you all and then I'm going to begin writing this paper that I have been making the outline for over the past few days. The paper is due Friday by 5 p.m, but I'd like to be able to just review, edit and revise the paper on Friday and turn it in before noon....we'll see how that goes!
Well, I'm off to go change my laundry over to the dryer and then get a move on this paper of mine. It's actually going to be tough- I only have 1000 words to say what I want (about 3 pages) when really, I feel like I could write an 8 page paper with the amount of material I have to cover and resources I have to back it up...oh well, guess I'll need to just cut it down to 3!!
Until next time,
Love,
Katie
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