Beaching and "Casablanca"

G'day everyone!

Well, it's Sunday... the day to catch up on all of the school work you should have done earlier. Thank goodness I've only had 1 week (aka 3 days) of class, so I just need to read a little. Updating a blog can count as "work", right?! ...Just say yes! :)

School last week went pretty well. Everyone says studying abroad is more or less "a joke" when it comes to schoolwork. But, for me, after 3 months of no school I'm actually pretty nervous! It's an entirely different culture, and although we speak the same language, you have to wonder if the style of writing and/or way of presenting projects is different here? All my classes have at least 1 hour of lecture and 1 hour of a tutorial or practical during the week. Almost every class at Macquarie records the lectures and post them on-line... therefore, most students don't even go to their lectures. However, the way I am around my computer (blogs, facebook, email...) I don't trust myself to sit down in my room expecting to learn everything over the internet. I'm going to need to go to these lectures to keep up!! 

Let's just cross our fingers I don't fall asleep again... I think I will start drinking tea, Jocelyn!  :)

After kinda sorta readjusting my schedule, I now might have to have a Monday night class (5-6 p.m) and a late Thursday night class (8-9 p.m.). But if that's what happens I'll still have a 3-day weekend with Friday's off which is better than how it is at Butler! I feel lucky enough for that.

Since I had the day off on Friday, myself and a few friends went to Bondi Beach for the day! It was absolutely GORGEOUS. It's known as the most famous, and touristy, beach in Sydney. Many times celebrities are seen there! Although there were no celebs, there was indeed a handful for topless women and a very old man in a leopard print g-string. Ugh. Seriously... SO WRONG! We were all laughing... kinda. We all threw up in our mouth a little bit as well. 

After the beach, I AGAIN went to a drag show on Friday night. It was entertaining, but I think that might be my last drag show experience for QUITE a while. I'm good friends with this Daniel Jensen, who is good friends with a whole bunch of the performers which is why I've been to 2 in the last two weekends. I think all my friends are ready for the straight club scene. However, we can't skip the HUGE Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade downtown Sydney which is known worldwide as a gigantic celebration. That should be fun!

Yesterday (Saturday), I was supposed to go to the aquarium with a couple girls who live at DLC with me. Afterwards, they were going to try to make it to the beach by noon and be back by dinner. But, they were leaving at 8 a.m. and I was exhausted from the day and night before and told them to go without me. Plus, I got a little sunburnt at Bondi, so the idea of being outside at the hottest hours didn't really appeal to me. I'll need to go to the aquarium sometime though... and there will be plenty of more weekends to hit up the beaches!!

I was pretty lazy on yesterday morning, but I did go for an hour walk at noon around my campus.  The sun was incredibly hot, and even with 2 layers of sunscreen on I felt like I was getting burnt after the first 5 minutes of stepping outside. 

Wild fact: The sun is much more harsh over Australia because there is an "ozone hole" over the continent! Pretty crazy.

Last night, I went to my friend, Kim's, apartment around 5 to help her make some pasta with chicken, tomatoes, and black olives! She had myself, Anna, Danny, and Danny's Australian roommate--Matt--over for dinner before seeing "Casablanca" at this park about a 20 minute walk up the street. I had never seen the movie before so I definitely enjoyed it! A truly classic romance. There were a lot of older couples watching at the park. It was very precious.

I'll leave you with some out of order pictures... as always!

Danny Gregory and Cassie with their cotton candy at "Casablanca"

The beautiful sunset and moon at the Kent Road park

Dora and I touring the campus together!!! This one is for you, Mom. :)

A view from the U@Mac building. It's our union with plenty of places to eat, study, a convenience store, and the bookstore. I'm not sure what the place behind the fountain is? Maybe some other campus housing? There are TONS of places to live here. It is a University of 40,000!!

Danny bought a Spanish guitar at Bondi Beach and serenaded Kim, Daniel, and I right to sleep! Hence the sunburnt...

Another view of campus. I love this part of the campus. Look at how tall those trees are! :)

Truly soaking up the sun  at Bondi :)

Daniel Jensen and Kim making their way from the bus on down to the beach. See the cliff rocks way off in the distance in the middle of the picture? We didn't walk up there, but I guess there is a beautiful path and homeless people make their homes in little nooks on the cliff. I'll have to check it out next time! Maybe even make my own home!?

I hope all is wonderful back in the states, or wherever you may be reading this from!

All this hot weather here actually makes me miss the crazy snowy midwest just a littttttttle bit. But not really too much. Haha! 

Love you all!

xoxo,

Carly

School Begins

Again...

The dang pictures just always want to be on the top & refuse to move. You should still read my blog post underneath! Most of the time, my pictures don't have anything to do with what I actually write about! :)

View of my desk & my picture collection. Definitely makes me smile!

My nasty bulletin board that I dolled up with some colorful postcards from Julie Matthews & letters I've received before I left and in the mail.

My "bookshelf" containing very few books at the moment...

View into my room. Right now, that fan and screen on the window is my FAVORITE part about my room :) It is EXTREMELY stuffy in here and outside in this intense Aussie summer weather

My little sink area. This makes my life easy considering I don't have to haul everything down to the communal bathroom all the time.

My closet, which is actually pretty large!

Cassie, Kim, and Julie enjoying our lunch at Manly Beach. I opted for the " chicken kebab", which is easily my new favorite food

Not such an attractive picture, but hey! I met some aboriginals!!

My friend, Daniel, enjoying his insanely expensive bite-size piece of chocolate. Instead of going to the crowded bar, we went across the street to this chocolate shoppe in "The Rocks" on Saturday night. Definitely a wise decision!

Hello everyone! 

First of all... I'd just like to give a shout out to theSaxophone-Man living directly underneath me. He/She is just going to town on his saxophone solo... and for that... I'd like to salute him. I'm honestly dying a little bit. This is way TOO FUNNY!

Cindy Halfman (a Butler friend who studied abroad here at Macquarie a year ago) told me about her asian neighbor who sang Celine Dion out on her balcony, so I really shouldn't be surprised about Kenny-G showing up at my dorm this semester...

Well, that was hilarious... back to Australia stuff!

Today marks my second day of school here at "Uni" (Australians are too lazy to say the entire word--University)! It is wild to think my friends from back at home are quickly approaching Spring Break while I am just now getting my class calendar and syllabus. This semester I will be taking 4 courses: Australian Contemporary Arts, Marketing Fundamentals, World Music, and Introduction to Information Systems and Technologies. <-- Agh, about that last one. It just sounds nasty. 

I am proud (and slightly embarrassed) to say that I have inherited my father's skills of falling asleep at the strangest places at (sometimes) the wrong time--no offense Dad. Sooooo... I dozed off during my first class of the entire semester (Australian Contemporary Arts)!! I couldn't believe it. I had gotten plenty of sleep the night before. I am just convinced that it was the 200-person class in the badly lit room that made me do the "head bob" throughout the entire hour lecture.  I should start drinking coffee... or popping some caffeine pills like Jessie Spano in "Saved By The Bell". 

I received my first letters today in the mail! Thank you Mom & Tommy Engstrom for the lovely cards! It definitely made my day :) They are posted on my "letter bulletin board". 

I have also taken up my Mom's (aka Oprah's) suggestion of starting an "Appreciation Diary". Every night I write at least 3 things that I was grateful for during that day. I started last night, and it definitely helped me think positively and remember how lucky and fortunate I am to get the chance to study abroad in such a beautiful country. It takes me a little while to adjust to change, so hopefully this little diary will help me get through my "waves" of homesickness. :)

My friends here are wonderful. I met some of the best people at surf camp who I definitely click well with. Australians LOVE to drink, and although I like to have a good time every now and then, I definitely have no desire to "keep up" with their typical drinking schedule-- which consists of drinking whenever humanly possible. While others get "smashed" on weekday nights, I've seen a couple movies at the Macquarie Mall right down the road, and enjoyed an ice cream sandwich instead! Maybe it's the same amount of money as a few beers... but it definitely tastes better and I don't feel completely disgusting the next day! I don't mean to diss anyone that I've met here, but some of them are just used to a life that I don't care to have. Oh shwell! Such is life :)

This weekend should be fun! I have no classes on Fridays, so I will be hitting up "Manly Beach" with some girls. Manly Beach is about an hour away, and you need a bus and a ferry to get there, but it's worth it! On Saturday, I'm going to the Manly Beach Aquarium because this girl, Tam, that I met wants to pay +$200 to swim with the sharks in the tank ................................................... humm... WHAT? I'm just going to take pictures! Then, later that night I'm going to see the movie "Casablanca" at a park up the road from Macquarie. It should be a lot of fun! 

This past Sunday, I went to Manly Beach and had a great time. The weather was beautiful and the water was perrr-fect. I did not even get sunburnt! Impressive, eh? HOWEVER, I did get caught in an ocean rip with my friend, Julie. We were just enjoying the big waves when all of a sudden we couldn't stand and it was extremely difficult to swim towards the shore! I even asked her, "Julie, are we caught in a rip right now!?" and she just laughed and say, "Oh, no way... ocean rips drag you out to sea!" Well, no more than 10 seconds later, a lifeguard on a surfboard comes up to us, asks how we're doing, and then informs us that we're in a rip. hahahahahaha. It really wasn't too dramatic, but it makes me sound like a total b@d@$$ that I survived a rip in Australia, so I had to tell you all. 

I promise not to let that happen again, Mom. :)

Again, the dang pictures are at the top of the page, so if you made it this far in my long blog post... CONGRATS!!! 

Love you all & miss you always,

Carly

Week 1 in Australia

Hello everyone!

Again, the photos are all out of order :) I must not be very good at this!

Anywho, I've now been in Sydney for a little over a week! It feels like much much longer than that though. Not in a bad way, but there are definitely times when I've been homesick. It's really strange being half way around the world and all alone! I'm met some great people, and I can already tell this will be an unforgettable semester.

This week has been insanely busy. DLC (the place where I'm living) has been keeping us busy with activities every night, and I can't wait to just relax and go see "He's Just Not That Into You" with some girls tonight. I've seen it with my mom... but it'll be fun to see again. The nights are fun, but after almost a few months of no work or anything to do, I'm so incredibly ready to start school and have a weekly routine and schedule. 

And now... since I can tell a story in photo captions... here are some pictures for you all! :)

Taylor, Daniel, Anna, and I. Thursday night Harbour Cruise for the International Students! 80's themed! Afterwards, Daniel took us to see a drag show on Oxford Street. Obviously my first drag show. They performed "Dreamgirls" and I don't think any of us stopped laughing the entire time! I was so sad my camera died right after this picture... no scandalous drag queens on this post--sorry everyone.

Kim, Anna, and I getting ready to board the Harbour Cruise!

My $10 80s one-piece and I in front of the Sydney House. It was a hit :)

Taylor, Kim, me, Julie, and Daniel at "The Ranch" up the street from Macquarie University

My surfer gal, Kim and I

DLC did a scavenger hunt around downtown Sydney on Tuesday. We had to stop at different locations and each team got points by doing a whole bunch of funny dares at each place. For example... we had to try to get someone to feel awkward enough to move to a different park bench by sitting extremely close to them without talking to them or touching them. It got pretty funny and slightly awkward!

Another dare: Sing and dance as a group on the steps of the Opera House.

The beautiful Sydney Harbour & Bridge!

Until next time, much love everyone. Have a great weekend!

xoxo,

Carly

My Address

For anyone who wishes to send me package once a week (haha), my address is:

Carly Miller

130 Herring Road

North Ryde

NSW 2113 Australia

:) 

First thing to do in OZ? SURF.

AHHHHH! I don't know how to work blogs. These pictures are supposed to be at the end so you read and THEN check out some pictures. Plus, they are ALL out of order! Well, I don't know how to fix this problem. Oops! :) Oh well... enjoy!

Whenever I stood, I was a diva and raised my arms as if to say, "I am pro". Well... I always fell shortly after. OOPS!

Instructor Winnie was so proud :)

Intensity. Totally rad.

Our surfing team (Teamo Supremo) doing the "Baywatch" run! Bernie, "shorty", Ben, Winnie, Kim, Me, and Danny.

Instructor "Winnie" (Justin Winn) and I. I look pro. 

Danny, Kevin, Ben, me, and Bernie in front of the SurfCamp truck

Kim and I found this cutie playing with crabs. BAREFOOT. He embraced his inner "divo" for this shot. He had no fear! Also...love the helmet.

Totally "ripcurl" of me...

Our walk out to Byron Bay- Gerroa, Australia for Surf Camp!

My battle wound... I was stung by a blue bottle jelly fish! See just the little bit of red? I guess this makes me a badass?! :)

Matt (met at the airport), Jess (fellow Butler Uni student), and I trying vegamite. Verdict? Disgusting. 

Getting ready to leave home with my "Dora the Explorer" traveling companion! Thanks mama :)

The beautiful sunrise on the way from LA to Sydney.

Hello everyone!

First of all... it's been a tiring weekend and a long night so I might not make this terribly long!

Friday was a fantastic day here in Australia!!! It was raining on and off, but since it's been so hot in Australia their entire summer, all of the natives are LOVING the rain. Anywho. I went to a campus BBQ at around 1 p.m. It was at the bar on campus. Oh yesssss. There is a BAR on campus! I sat and had a couple beers with some people before trying a little taste of a traditional "Aussie barbie". No "shrimp on the barbie", but the sausage was phenomenal (that's what she said). 

Afterward, I went back to my room and packed for surf camp '09, fools!

We met at the international building on campus (only about a 5 minute walk from my place) and left around 6 p.m. for Gerroa, Australia. Gerroa is about 2 hours south of Sydney, so with rush hour into the city and RAIN (ew), it took about 3 1/2 hours. 

By the time we got there, everyone was exhausted... after sitting for hours??.... including me! Time for bed! :)

Wake up call was at 6:45, with breakfast at 7 a.m. We were already living the life of true aussie surfers! After a little cereal and nutella (yummm), it was time to throw on a full body wet suit that made in the skinniest women from Norway and Germany look at least a few months pregnant. Basically, we were all looking like rockstars. 

I wasn't so hawt at first. There were PLENTY of bellyflops into 3 feet of ocean and at least a few pounds of sand in the hair. I got the hang of it, and by early the next day I was standing up on my surfboard *almost* everytime. :) It was a blast, but it was DEFINITELY a workout. My arms are limp and I have bruises on my ribs from (un)gracefully flopping on the surfboard! At least we could laugh at ourselves! By the 3rd hour or so, we all had the surfer attitude and was just loving life, even if it was pouring rain on us. Heck... you're gonna get wet anyway!

I love you all! Time for bedtime. :)

xoxo,

Carly

First day in Australia... no kangaroo

Hello family and other lovers of mine!

First of all. Totally forgot to brush my teeth before getting in bed to write this. Agh. So silly. I'm all comfy too. Super lame. 

Okay, back and refreshed. I'm so glad I told you all to "hang on" in a blog post! :) All lame joking aside, Australian toothpaste tubes are a TON skinnier than US toothpaste!! I feel slightly jipped right now. I also learned today that Australians look at you funny and react like you just told the world you have 20 serious STDs when you ask where to buy eye contact solution. After a little hesitation and a seriously concerned face, the man told me that I would need to "find a chemist for that stuff". Hahaha, Aussies must have great vision...?

Well, after a painful 19 or so hours of sitting on a plane, we landed in Sydney!!!!! Unfortunately it was raining when we arrived, and is still raining now, but **fingers crossed** this will pass by tomorrow.

I feel awful but it took me a good 10 minutes to write those last couple sentences and keep my eyes open! 

More to come later (& pictures!)

I love you all

xoxo-

Carly