Bad Luck

Allocation. Why do I feel like that is the most commonly used word in Australia? It means to distribute, and apparently it applies to everything. I first heard in while choosing my classes; I had to allocate them to a day, time, and tutor. The program used to do that is called Allocate and I really thought it was just a computer program.  Wrong. I hear it at least three to four times a day. "Have you allocated yourself to a group?" "We need to allocate a place to eat." "Take out your allocated text book." "Sit in your allocated seat." I never hear that word in the states, but I may be bringing it back. It is definitely rubbing off on my friends and I. 
Moving on, I had quite the eventful weekend.  It started on Saturday when my friend, Janine, and I decided to go to the grocery store.  The grocery store, Coles, is not to far from our residence halls but it does require a short bus ride.  We have done it a million times and it usually not very chaotic.  We got to the store, made our purchases, then caught the bus back.  We have been here about two months, and we should know what stop to get off at. Negative. We missed our stop by two and felt like complete idiots.  Due to our heavy baggage, we decided to run across the street to catch the bus back.  This is where things went wrong.  I noticed I left my bag on the bus with my bus pass, passport, credit cards, room keys, and gym membership.  Luckily, I immediately called the bus station and later that night they let me know they had found my purse with everything inside. Janine and I decided that we are a bad combination together and will probably never go to the grocery store alone together due to our inability to function in the grocery store (we walked down the same aisle a few times before we noticed we were only looking on one side when the thing we needed was on the other) and our lack of a sense of direction.  After the relief of my passport, etc. being found, we continued with our evening.  The next day, my friends Amanda, Mary, and I decided to go into the city of Melbourne.  We have only been in the city at nighttime for dinner or nightlife and we wanted to go to the Victoria Market.  The Victoria market is full of fresh produce, specialty food, wines, meat, and cheese, antiques, knickknacks, and clothes.  You could spend hours upon hours there.  On the way to the city, we decided it would be a good idea to stop at the  bus depot before catching the train.  I assumed it would be open because buses still run on Sunday.  We get there to find it was closed. Seeing there was nothing I could do, we just caught the next bus to the train station and arrived in the city.  We were all starved so we decided to get lunch at Hungry Jacks (the exact same thing as Burger King). Healthy, I know.  I then went about my usual routine of checking my blood sugar and taking insulin like I would any other time.  I took my pump out of my purse and saw that screen no longer worked.  There was no way for me to check my blood sugar or take any insulin.  I needed to fine a pharmacy and syringes immediately.  Seeing that we were in the middle of the city, there were a lot of pharmacies around.  I wasn't sure if syringes needed a prescription, but it couldn't hurt to ask.   We went to four pharmacies and none of them catered to diabetics or carried syringes.  Not good news.  We then decided that we should just head to the market and check out a pharmacy around there.  The first one we went into had 5 syringes to give me, which I believe were used to give to heroine addicts.  It was better than nothing. I took them and we left and went to the market.

Inside the market we were amazed about all the wonderful things you could buy. We didn't have much time though, we got there at 3:30 and it closed at 4pm.  We still made the most of it.  I bought a pair of "ugg" slippers for very cheap. They aren't real, but apparently they are "Australian made sheep skin." They are the most comfortable shoes I own at the moment.  We also saw a wig booth there, and decided that we are coming back, purchasing wigs, and then going out in them. When this happens, I will be sure to post pictures.

 

After the market, we took a long walk down Elizabeth St. a stopped to take funny pictures, drink the "world's greatest juice" and buy Amanda a new camera, seeing that she has lost two since being in Australia.  We walked all the way to one of the tallest residential skyscrapers in the world, Eureka Tower, and went up to the sky deck.  It is 88 stories tall! No Sears tower, but it was still amazing.  We finished our night out at a nice Greek restaurant.  Greek is big here. Australia has the second highest Greek population, other than Greece.  It was a great day, despite the minor set backs.
The rest of the week went and is still going ok.  I got my passport, etc. back, I was able to buy and abundance of syringes, and tonight I am going on a floor dinner to an Italian restaurant. It will be a nice way to bond with the people who live around me.  Right across the hall from me live my friend Allison.  She is also from DePaul and a psychology major.  Since we came in the middle of the year, we missed out on having our door decorated with name tags by the RA.  We decided to make our own name tags, and add on by drawing each other pictures. Every week we are going to draw each other a picture to decorate our doors, so by the end of the year our doors will be beautiful masterpieces of art.  I am quite excited.
Now that I have been here about two months, there are things I have grown to love and miss:
I miss live music. All that is here is techno and club music.
I miss my bed.
I miss living in the city.
I miss Chicago bars. I'm growing sick of nightclubs, and the music that comes with them.
I miss bonfires.
I miss good food.
I miss my mom(s). **
I miss being intist'd.**
I miss Costco.
I miss driving.
I miss turkey jerky.
I miss dryer sheets.
I miss having a private bathroom.
I miss having my own apartment.
I miss regularly going to the movies.
This list is making me sound homesick, but I swear I'm not. There are also a lot of things I love here, mainly the people, the sweet chili sauce, not needing a prescription to get syringes, the friends I have made here, the abundance of Asian food, goon, free laundry, new lingo, and the city of Melbourne.  Being here has given me so many opportunities for meeting people and traveling, and I have to say it is one of the best decisions I have ever made.  I am not going to want to leave, but I only have 3 months left! I wish there was a way to slow down time.
This weekend, I am visiting Darwin with about eight of my friends.  I'm very excited because the weather will be nice and warm and there are beaches and crocodiles.   I leave Friday night and come back Tuesday morning. It will be a nice vacation from the suburb we live in, Clayton.  Hopefully I will receive my camera in time, mine is still broken but my mother was nice enough to send me a new one, because it would cost more to repair than to just buy a new one.  For some reason, I have terrible luck when it comes to electronics. I hope all is well with everyone back at home! Miss you.

I came, I saw, I didn't conquer surfing.

     This past weekend I went on a trip through the Great Ocean Road.  It is as the title describes, a long road along the ocean. There was about 75 of us who went on this oceanic journey.  The theme of the first day was surfing. Yes, the weather was rainy and about 45-50 degrees Fahrenheit with horrendous winds, but that didn't stop us.  The program included a "surf lesson" but really, they just gave us a board and sent us off into the ocean in our wetties (Australian for wet suit).  I personally suck at surfing and did not get up much more than on my knees. Luckily, I love the waves and the water so I didn't mind.  I had a great time, and now I can tell people I went surfing in Australia.  We also went to the world's largest surf museum, which was not very large at all.  I saw a bunch of old surf boards and a prehistoric whale fossil, that's about it.  We stayed in a hostel, which was pretty nice.  It was my first hostel experience, and I am sure there will be more.  It was a nice way for everyone to bond and make friends.  At night we went to a local pub, and I think our group brought the only business.  Since it is not quite surfing season, or warm out, the Great Ocean Road was sort of dead.  The next day we traveled further down the road and made stops at the 12 Apostles (see picture), saw wild koalas, hiked in a rain forest, and visited some other gorges and beach fronts.  It was beautiful, despite the rain and wind.  The weekend was a success, and I have bruises to prove it.
     On a different note, this past week I have had my first three papers due! Between my traveling, social life, and classes, I am always busy.  It's nice though because it keeps my mind off of the things I miss at home (mainly the food, turkey jerky, and dryer sheets).  I have learned a lot about Australian history and politics, and I never realized how much of an issue racism is here against the Aboriginals.  The election for the new Prime Minister is current right now, so that is a major focus.  The current Prime Minister Julia Gillard (the first woman Prime Minister/Atheist) for the Labor Party is running against Tony Abbot for the Liberal/National party. Voting comes up on August 21 and it's predicted that Gillard is going to win. I guess Tony Abbott is seen as a "bloak." Other than that, not much is new.  I am enjoying myself here and time is going by fast. Too fast.  In the next couple weeks I will be heading up to Darwin and into the outback, Broken Hill.  There are still so many places I need to see but I feel I don't have enough time! I can't wait for "spring" break because I will be scuba diving, white water rafting, bungee jumping, and sky diving around Brisbane and Carins. I still hope to visit, before I leave, Sydney, Perth, Tasmania, New Zealand, Figi, and Thailand (why not since I'm already pretty close). Well I must conclude because I'm off to go watch Dumb and Dumber with some friends.  I miss you all!
P.S. My camera is broken so thanks to those I stole pictures from :)

12 Apostles

London Bridge

Do we look man enough?

Cross-dressing party

My first Australian blog...

So I've been here, at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, one month.  Time flies.  I suppose I should start at the beginning to fill everyone in.  Starting with the flight from Chicago, it wasn't bad.  Long, but not unbearable.  I met a few people from DePaul that would be partaking on this adventure with me.  I have to say we all became pretty fast friends, something that I was not necessarily used to.  When we arrived at the airport in Melbourne, everything seemed to go smoothly, that was until the dog sniffed by bag and found my turkey jerky.  Apparently that is illegal here in Australia.  I almost had to pay a $200 fine for lying to the Australian government about my meat smuggling, but they let me go with calling me ignorant and naive. 
Since I have been here a month already and I am kind of behind in my reporting, details are a little hazed.  Whilst I have been here, I have met a ton  of people from all over the world.  I have friends from all over the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Australia, which is convenient for me because now I have places to stay when I travel the world.  Every night with them, especially in the first couple of weeks, has been quite rowdy.  Drinking every night is an understatement.  People here know how to rally.  Because the first couple weeks I was here we did not have class, I participated in the irresponsible behavior, but now that class has started I've cooled down a bit. 
During my time here so far, I have been to the largest mall in the Southern hemisphere (Chadstone), I've hiked and swam in the beaches of the Gold Coast (Surfers Paradise), which if I had to compare is a lot like Ft. Lauderdale, FL, cheered at an Australian Football League Game, and have been to a dozen(s) clubs, pubs, bars, and themed parties.  
To talk a bit about school, I am taking four units (classes): Australian Idol, which is like an Australian anthropology class with field trips, Ancient Religions, Jewish Philosophy and Kabbalah, and Addiction Studies.  All is ok but a little different.  Grades depend mostly on one paper and one exam rather than DePaul, where grades depend on a number of assignments, papers, and exams.  It has been easy to get used too, though. They have been keeping me busy which I am happy about.
Enough about my classes.  Australia, although on the opposite side of the world, is not much different at all.  The city of Melbourne is a lot like Chicago with lots of shopping, restaurants, bars, and activities.  It takes me, from my campus in Clayton (a suburb) around 45-one hour to get downtown by public transportation. It kind of sucks :( but I have grown used to it.  Australia is also VERY expensive, especially alcohol.  Since we are all broke college kids here, we stick to drinking "goon" which is boxed wine.  Disgusting, but cheap.  But Australia does make up for it with the no-tipping tradition and no extra tax when you ring your things up at the counter.  If it says $4.95 on the tag, you pay $4.95. More Australian culture norms include calling McDonald's Maccas and saying "How are you going?" instead of "How are you doing?"
All in all, I've made a lot of friends, have been learning a lot about Australia and in my classes, and myself.  I know it has only been a month, but I feel like I learn something new about myself everyday, and I definitely have a travel bug!  More adventures and travels are to come so keep reading.  I'm off to a cross-dressing party now. Miss you all.