Traedogg Down Under

Just a quick note: I have changed all of my Sydney Pictures to “Snapfish” instead of “webshots” because with webshots I can only download 240 pictures for free. So here is the link to Snapfish:

http://www.snapfish.com/youraccount/t_=29761741

Once you arrive at that page, it might ask you for a user name and password if it doesn’t automatically bring up my pictures, this it!

USER NAME: Tlswartz@wisc.edu
PASSWORD: missyou

Then just click the “photos” tab for all of my albums!

The “Live and Learn” entries (because i’m sure there will soon be more than one) are going to include important lessons for the foreign traveler in Australia. My first noteworthy “Live and Learn” episode involves Marinara Sauce.

So, after a long day of wine tasting in the Hunter Valley (fun, but I’d be ok with not seeing wine again for a very long time), my roomate Alex and I decided it would be best to get some real food in our system. At arond 700 we wander into a very small, authentic italian resturaunt about 1/2 mile from our house. We order a small order of garlic bread as an appatizer and a small cheese pizza for dinner. After munching on the garlic bread and wishing i had a dipping sauce the whole time, I get this great idea to ask for a side of marinara sauce for the pizza b/c it was thin crust and didn’t have much sauce.

The server kind of looked at me wierd, and so i showed her physically with my hands what “a little dipping sauce” for my pizza would look like. She then nods, goes back to the kitchen, comes back and says…”yes we can do that for you, it will be just one minute while the cook prepares it.” When I heard that, I was like…shit.. the cook is preparing something!!? NO! And low and behold, the server came out with a BOWL (like the size that would have held an entree of spaghetti) full of sauce. And I said to Alex… great… now watch them charge me like $5 bucks for this sauce! I’m definately going to take the leftovers home! So we get a carry out container for the sauce (which was barely touched ofcourse) and ask for the bill. It finally comes… and nope…no $5 dollar charge for the sauce…THEY CHARGED US $7 dollars! I was way to tired to argue, and frankly found the situation just way to hilarious, so I just paid and left (no tip though, but they dont really tip in australia either). So needless to say, I will be using my 7 dollar pasta sauce on my 99 cent, store bought noodles this week! Oh well… YOU LIVE AND LEARN!

Since I’ve posted last, its been a mello few days. Me and the roomates have spent a lot of time with one another, and unfortunately time has been spent on SCHOOL. But, since we decided to forgo the Paddington Markets for the day because 1) we stayed out late last night in downtown Sydney and 2) the budgets are already getting tight after booking a massive spring break trip up the East Coast of Australia, I have time to reflect on a few things I’ve learned since being here. So here goes:

1) No one is EVER on time here. I’m sitting in class wednesday, and being who I am, I show up 10 minutes early for lecture and am not surprised to walk into a completely empty lecture hall. The class is supposed to start at 1:00 and run till 2:00, and after talking with my friend Rachel for 20 minutes, the teacher finally strolls in at 1:15. When she does arrive, she has forgot something that allows her to play a video she wanted to show us, so she leaves and comes back another five minutes later. When she does get back, she cant get the video projector working and it is now 1:35 when she decides to give up and start to lecture. She talked for about 10 minutes, gave the video another attempt, played it for about 5 minutes and let us go at 1:55. So apparently, 1 hour lectures here can be condensed quite nicely into 15 minutes:)

2) LOOK RIGHT! Upon arriving in australia, that is one of the first things you learn as an American. Look right when crossing the street. I realize it doesn’t seem challenging to cross an intersection without getting flattened by an oncoming car, but here, when the cars are driving on the left side, making left hand turns on red, and turning across traffic from the right lane, it gets pretty confusing. Not only that, but instantly people can tell I’m not from the area because on the sidewalk the first few days, I kept walking into people! Here I am minding my own business, walking on the right side of the sidewalk… trying to be polite, yet in a country where everyone walks on the left side of the sidewalk, I found myself running head on into quite a lot of disgruntled australians.

3) “A night out” in Sydney will always be interesting: Last night when the roomates and I decided to go into the city to the bars, we learned very quickly that “The bar scene” in australia is not limited to college students. More then half the bar patrons were men and women between the ages of 40 and 60, that were not just out to sit with friends and have a beer. They were SLOSHED, dancing and (when not in the company of a significant other) hitting on younger women and men! I couldn’t help but thinking of my own parents and grandparents out side by side at the bar with me and my friends. Kinda wierd;) Not only that, but the bus system is an EXTREMELY popular and safe way for the drunks to get back to where they live. .. so needless to say, each bus ride home will have a story of its own I’m sure;)

4) (my personal favorite) GUYS TAKE AEROBIC CLASSES!: I show up for my first class “Body Attack,” (apparently outlawed in the states b/c it is so intense… or so they say;) ) Thurdsay evening with my friend Alex (a girl), and was shocked to see nearly half of the class were men! In my American fitness classes, if a man was anywhere CLOSE to the Aerobics room, he was just scoping out the ladies in spandex. Even more impressive, was that the class required an incredible amount of rhythm and coordination, and these guys were just nailing the routine! I was floored! Although, in all fairness, I do have to add, these “men” were not jocks, BUT STILL!!!!!!!

So there you have it! There are SO many other things I have learned about the culture, but I have rambled on quite enough for one day. (get used to the word “quite” in my vocabularly) They use it quite often here and that is one thing I am really picking up on! Tomorrow my roomates and two of our friends Rachel and Gina are going on the Hunter Valley Wine tour before a long second week of school! Miss everyone at home…keep sending the updates!

Well, its Wednesday in Australia… and supposedly I’m on day three of school, but like most first weeks in college-this week has been a joke. No discussions (tutes) or labs meet this week, only lectures, so I have only had two classes on Monday, and one more today to cap off my “First week” of class! My two classes seem managable (marketing and Australian women writers) although the marketing class will be a lot of work, and the writers class a lot of reading.

Upon entering my first 200 person lecture, I was SHOCKED to see nearly 75% of the class were Asian-with Australian accents! (not exactly what I pictured when I thought of “going to school with australian students- but apparently a great number of australian citizens are asian due to the close proximity of the two countries). It is SO strange to be in the minority as a white American, but a good learning experience! I wasn’t exactly the most popular person in class;) At least not the first day!

But since I barely have any class this week and my internship hasn’t started yet, Britt and I decided to make the most of our time and go explore Sydney. We spent all of Tuesday exploring the city with her friend Gina (also from madison) who is in Australia for a few weeks visiting her Aunt. The three of us began our long day of walking at around 1:00 when we went to Mc Donalds for a light lunch. I know you are all thinking.. MC DONALDS.. GO SOMEWHERE DIFFERENT! But McDonalds here is SO different. They are called “Mc Cafe’s” and surprisingly have very few burger options, and a TON of deli-sandwiches, smoothies, cereal, muffins, coffee drinks (like fraps).. etc.. its really kind of crazy. If Mc Donalds in America were more like that, it would be the next big thing!

From Mc Donalds, we continued our travels on the two main streets in downtown Sydney “Pitt” and “George” street.. and from there proceeded to the Botanical Gardens… which unfortunately were less then outstanding seeing as though Sydney is in the middle of a drought and it is “Winter” here. We saw a lot of dying plants;) hahah;) We continued our journey to the harbor front where we saw the opera house, darling harbour, circular quay (main tourist attractions in the city). Then we we got this great idea to try and see the University of Sydney which is in a suburb of sydney (glebe). It is only about a 10 minute car-ride from the city center, but an hour + of walking! By the time we made it there, it was already dark and we couldn’t see much of the campus, but what we did see was BEAUTIFUL! (I’m jealous!) Just making it there on foot after a long day of walking was quite an accomplishment for us, so we rewarded ourselves with a cab ride back into the city where we eventually caught a bus back to Coogee. But not before a quick trip into Woolworths (like a target ) to grab a pack of Australias renouned cookies “Tim Tams”. (pictures of this entire day can be found on my web shots!)

All and all it was a fun day–but HELL on the feet! (I got to scrap my heels!) This weekend we have trips to the paddington markets (a big market extravaganza in a local suburb) on saturday, and the Hunter Wine Valley Tour on Sunday planned, so I have a lot to look forward too! Hope all is well in the States!

The roomates and I decided to “get out there” and explore not only our suburb and surrounding suburbs, but finally the city of SYDNEY! We kept telling ourselves-this is our home for the next five months, but no matter how many times we said it, it still wouldn’t sink in! For the day, we were not residents of Sydney, but definitely American tourists. Even today I remain in awe at some of the breathtaking sights I saw while exploring.

I wanted to upload pictures today SO bad, but unfortunately I am having massive internet issues. At our house, we will be getting broadband in a few days, but for the time being we have dial-up and only one roomates laptop is connected so I cant upload pictures that way. Then I walked all the way to campus, but it was DEAD. I literally saw no one the entire 1/2 hour I was there, and the internet server was down in the 24 hour computer labs and the library was closed for the day. (The day before school starts). Then I wandered to a “wireless hot spot” and realized I had to pay over 49 bucks a month for access to that, so i proceeded finally to a little internet cafe and I’m on one of the oldest computers I have seen since the 1980’s and it doesn’t have a USB port! (Australia is def. not as technically advanced as in the United States, especially where internet is concerned) So needless to say, the pictures will be coming in a few days I hope. I took a lot of great ones!

Back to my exploring: All of my five roomates and I began the day yesterday with “the walk” from coogee beach (our city) to bondi beach (one of the most popular tourist beaches around). The route is about an hour and 1/2 walk along the coast, yet it took us close to two because literally every two steps we stopped to take a picture. It was like nothing I had ever seen before in my life. The sheer beauty of it all is undescribable. Once we got to Bondi, we boarded a double decker tour bus, that for 30 dollars gave us 24 hours to ride a circut around bondi and its suburbs and all the main attractions in Sydney. (of course we sat on the top of the bus) We could also unboard and re-board the bus as many times as we wanted in the 24 hours, but we just elected to stay on it the majority of the afternoon and orientate ourselves to te area.

We ended up getting off in the heart of Sydney, and somehow never had to pay??? So after a few hours of wandering in and out of stores in the Queen Victoria Building (The most ornate shopping mall I have ever seen in my life) and stopping off at the cutest coffee shop for the best mocha I have ever tasted, we decided to splurge on dinner at a nice italian resturaunt in the heart of the city. By that point, we were wiped out and ended up cabbing home (only 20 bucks from the city for a 20 minute ride with no tip… if only the cabs in madison were that cheap) and I was in bed by 8:00p.m. JET LAG IS BRUTAL!:) I will post pictures of this trip, my house and city, and all of my roomates on web shots as soon as possible! As for now, I’m off to lay out on the beach for the rest of the afternoon! Might as well relax while I can…school starts tomorrow!

“Give Way” is what is written on a “Yield” sign in Australia instead of “Yield.” It is just one of the many things I have gotten the biggest kick out of since arriving here. Rubbish is one of my other favorites for trash. Australia is similar to the US in theory, but SO different. Its BEAUTIFUL here! From the moment I stepped off the plane I have felt nothing but relaxed, at peace, tranquil, and however many other synonyms you want to use for the word. The country is undescribably wonderful.

Yesterday and today I have had two 1/2 day orientation sessions, which were both so helpful. They filled us in on a bit of history and politics in the country, so we weren’t completely ignorant, but the rest of orientation they just bombarded us with things to do. Travel information for everywhere you can practically dream of, clubs to join, events at the union, sports to go see, etc. Its very overwhelming.. and surprisingly, five months will never be enough to see everything I want too! And it’ll be real interesting to see how far my money is going to stretch.

Along with orientation, I also walked around a neighboring suburb of Randwick with my friend from madison, and roomie Britt. It is such a cute little town. There are practially no sit down resturaunts, and lots of little shops. NO CHAINS except McDonalds and Subway in this city. (including clothing stores). It is just very unique. We were the most smitten with the grocery stores and literally spent HOURS there. They have some of the same brands as the US like nestle, coke, doritos, kellogs, Lipton, but the product line is SOOO different in most cases. They have rice krispy’s and frosted flakes, but they are called “Rice Bubbles” and “Frosties” in the same, exact packages. They unfortunately do not have Special K with Red Berries (My favorite), but have Special K with Peaches and Apricots and Apples and Cinnimon. Another unfortunate finding is that the peanut butter, eggs, and all dairy products are VERY expensive compared to the US. ($5 bucks for a container of yogurt and peanutbutter) What is GREAT is that calories is written in Kilo-Joules so for the next five months, calorie counting will not be an option!

Tonight study abroad is hosting a party for all of the international students that me and my roomates are attending. My roomies are GREAT girls- i really could not have asked for a better situation. We are working on getting internet in our house, and when we do, I will upload pictures of the house, my campus and the girls! For those of you who have already written me, thanks! I will appoligize in advance for not getting back to people sooner, but I make it to the computer lab once a day (if that). Hopefully once i get internet at home, keeping in touch will be much easier!

Well,

My arrival in Australia was quite a “shock”, literally, as one of the first things I did after 15 hours of flying was electricute myself trying to plug in a blow dryer in my new place! (excuse my spelling, although it is only 3:15 in sydney, my body thinks its 1:00am!!!) This entry will be short and sweet since I’m already running around from registration to registration but a few updates: I live in a cute house with 5 other girls (anna, alex, britt (from Madison), jennifer and brianna) and I have my own room! (YESS!! aside from britt and I, the other girls have to share!)

I also signed up for two classes, a general marketing class and a contemporary womens writers class that will allow me to finish my womens studies minor at madison… sot hats great! I also will find out about my internship in about 1/2 hour when I go to my first meeting about it… so LOTS going on. If I can force myself to stay up untill 8:00pm tonight (Australia time.. approx 4:00am America Time) , hopefully I will get all the reading done from my 1 million packets I was just handed. Tomorrow I have orientation all morning for international students, which is good b/c I’m sure I will get lots of useful information.. I’m just going to be SOOOOO TIRED! But as they say here, “no worries!” I will catch up on sleep somehow!

If there is one thing I have learned in college, I’ve learned how very little I know. Higher education is incredibly humbling. It has managed to strip me of that blissful childhood ignorance, while showing me the vastness of knowledge and how much I have left to learn. It has sent me through internal struggles, not only about “what I want to be when I grow up” but more importantly “who” I want to be.

Three years at Madison quickly burst the “Brookfield Bubble” in which I was peacefully confined for so long. It has fueled my desire to venture out and learn about the world and myself first-hand. And what better place to continue my education then Sydney, Australia- the land of “no worries.” Maybe a thick Fosters and the Carpe Diem attitude of the Aussies is just what a self-proclaimed worry wart needs to lighten up a bit;)

Along with my worrisome nature, I have learned many other things about myself. I can have a hard time letting loose. I am often too intense. I tend to shy away from life’s toughest challenges. I put needless pressure on myself. I’m scared of failure. I take life too seriously.

And out of all the humbling things I’ve realized, these are the most valuable, because they are what I hope to change. Change, but not erase…for although these flaws are unbecoming, they will always be a part of who I am. But hopefully, after 5 months in Australia, a very small part;)

I am incredibly fortunate to have this opportunity, and I intend to make the most of every last minute. It will challenge me in ways I cannot fathom; but then again, life’s toughest challenges often hold the greatest rewards. For as a good friend told me: You only get one shot at life, so you might as well make the most of it the first time around;) And thats exactly what I am going to do.