Adjustment

One of my favorite things about Australia is that for $2.70, I can get on a tram and go to the beach. And there's ocean, right there! When I left for college, my core group of high school friends gave me a really hard time for being the only one who couldn't "touch ocean". I challenge them to get to a beach faster than I can now! Its really lovely to be able to pack up my homework and take a train to Brighton Beach, and spend the afternoon studying and playing. Getting work done can be a bit difficult, though. :)

I am getting settled in to a routine, though it has been difficult. I think the majority of my trouble is that I don't pack a lunch in the morning, so my midday trek back to my apartment makes leaving to study in the afternoons less appealing. I am trying to figure out what to do about that - I'm a bit lazy and getting up even 15 minutes early to make my lunch sounds like way too much work! It helps that the weather is lovely, so I've been doing some studying outdoors with friends. The school work is much easier than I am used to, though some of that might be the whole I-never-have-to-turn-things-in thing. Its hard to be motivated when my reading doesn't seem to inform my lectures, and my problem sets are for my benefit only. I am doing it (don't worry, mom and dad!) - its just more self guided than I'm used to. I do miss Grinnell in my discussion classes, though some of that might also be the whole 100 level subject problem - the students don't quite know enough to have the type of discussion I've been craving. I do really like my Australia and America discussion class - its the saving grace of my Tuesdays (which are interminable). There are a few students who remind me of Grinnellians, and I love it. (Just don't ask me about how Brittney Spears informs American religious and political life; an Aussie in the class said something about it, and the Americans were so stunned we couldn't even react).

I think the hardest thing about studying abroad is that I am no longer surrounded by Grinnellians. I know that other friends who are abroad, and those who have graduated, are struggling with this as well. Kate and I talked about how utterly terrified we are to leave Grinnell and the community we love. For all we complain about the Grinnell bubble, it has been the first place I've really felt able to be most fully myself, and I miss that here. I censor myself here; I feel like a guest, unable to critique in someone else's home. I tiptoe around things Charlotte says that I would never allow a friend, or even a roommate (back home, at least), to say without some sort of criticism. The ultimate community is fulfilling my need for Grinnellians somewhat - the sport seems to draw intelligent, liberal people like a magnet, but I miss the intellectual atmosphere in the lecture hall and discussion room.

This is not to say that I am unhappy here; far from it. Its an adjustment period, and part of that lovely graph they showed us back in Grinnell about home-sickness and culture shock. But it is hard. I'm pretty solidly independent here, for the first time, and I've gotten past the "wow! Independence!" phase to the "I am so not prepared to be an adult" stage. (Part of that might be the realization as I was writing about making lunch that I do NOT have food for lunch tomorrow). Its a weird double vision thing: even as I am thankful this is just a sort of trial period, I think Melbourne is really cool and I'd love to live here live here - but as a grown-up. I feel like I am constantly looking around, saying "Where are the grown-ups?" and then two seconds later, realising that I am supposed to be an adult. Eek. Thats a terrifying thought for you!

The first photo is Kate and me at Brighton Beach, on the pier there. The second is me, studying at the park at University Square. The third is a shot of Port Philip Bay from the pier at sunset.

Ballarat!

This weekend I went to Ballarat, which is where regionals for ultimate were held. Ballarat is about a hundred km north-west of Melbourne, more in the interior of Victoria. It rained all weekend, which was a bit rough, but also needed. I drove up Saturday morning with two other Honey women, and we stayed at someone's grandpa's house! It was about 12 degrees on Saturday, or low 50s, with lots of wind and rain, but it did get sunny by the afternoon. Today it fluctuated between about 10 and 12, depending on wind, rain, and cloud cover. It was, in other words, pretty chilly - especially for this Minnesotan who didn't really pack layers! I had a great time, though, and got to know a lot of the players better. Ballarat is famous for its historical gold fields, and I would like to go back some time - I've heard its a pretty fun weekend trip.

Disclaimer: This post, from here on, is almost solely about ultimate. See very bottom for photo descriptions.

This weekend, at regionals, we went 0-5, but played super well, and grew a lot as a team. We had ten Honey Bees, and picked up three junior players from Geelong (one was 14, the other two 16), another player from Geelong who will be playing with us at Nationals, and two others - I don't know who they normally play for. The juniors were a bit hard to get used to, though they were nice and had a lot of raw talent and energy. We hadn't played together before, so working as a team was really hard at first, and we got better at it throughout the day on Saturday. On Sunday, the junior Geelong girls didn't pick up with us, and we lost one Honey, plus the two extras, so we played with nine for the first game since the tenth player had car trouble. We picked it up a lot on Sunday, playing harder and better, and with a lot more flow. This is the basis of the team that will go to Women's Nats, and once we've practiced together a bit more, I think we'll do well.

On Saturday, we played Honey A, Team Box, and Bush. Bush is the Tasmanian team, and they had a few ringers we couldn't shut down, though the rest of their team was still quite good. Team Box won the tournament handily, and beat us very quickly. Honey A took second, and beat us handily as well - they are, after all, our A team!

On Sunday we played two games against Indies, and I don't remember where they are from. We scored three points in each game, and got a lot more competitive against them. The scores didn't reflect the games we played, which was frustrating, but we'll do better next time. They were the team that we best matched up against, and these were both our best, and most fun, games of the weekend. We ended up placing dead last, but we are headed to Nats in Perth in April!

Its been a huge learning experience so far to play with a new team. Almost everything they do is set up at least slightly differently than what I'm used to with Stickies, so I'm getting a lot of ideas for discussion with captains next year. Its hard, though. I'm used to setting up the field in certain ways, and I have to think really hard about really simple things - like where to be for the dump. I am definitely learning a lot, and I think I'll come out of this a much better player. At the very least, I'll be more fit - fitness training is really emphasized on this team. I really like it, though. Honey Bees remind me of Stickies, and they are all really nice and inclusive. I have the feeling that these will be some of the friendships that stick around, and make my stay in Melbourne memorable.

Photos: The first I took on M8 Ballarat, the highway between Melbourne and Ballarat, as we drove up, right before it started pouring. The second is a team pic after our last game, on the sidelines of the Honey A-Team Box final, wrapped in our sleeping bags. I am sitting in the tan blanket in the front row. Left to right, the players in the front are: Alice, Bec, Jen, Maddie, Mon. In the back row are: Jude, Amanda, Lauren, Carolyn, and Tiff. The third picture is Tiff, giving her "end of tournament" speech, and awarding most improved and most valuable "bee". She's one of the captains, along with Jen and Jude.

Rain!

It rained this week! Several times, actually. In proper arid-area fashion, the grass and flowers immediately perked up, and the city is much greener today than it was three days ago. What was not so cool was the pouring rain as I walked to class or took a tram to practice (and subsequently practiced). But it was needed, and whats a little rain-water?

My second week of classes is over. I seem to have a magical inability to arrive to my first lecture of the day on time, no matter how much extra time I think I'm giving myself. I'm still in the Grinnell mindset - even though I know better, I still think I can leave ten minutes before class and get there in plenty of time. Fat chance. I really need twenty minutes or so. My classes are good, and going well. I'm not a huge fan of Probability for Statistics, but I'll survive. We had a guest lecturer in Australia and America, and he was not very good. And he is the United States studies guy at Uni. I'm hoping that it was just an abberation, and the other lectures will be good. I know the readings are fascinating - the current bunch are about the stolen generations in Australia and the US, which is depressing, but fascinating, reading. I had my first tutorials on Monday, and it was such a relief to have actual discussion, even if the tutor had to do some major prodding - there were some definite crickets in the rooms! Classes are definitely going well.

This weekend I am headed to Ballarat to play regionals with Honey Bees. I have a jersey and everything. I'm pretty excited. We'll be seeing different teams than our last tournament, which is always a good thing! We had a "practice" game against one of the division one league teams on Wednesday (in the rain), which went really well. I think we'll play well together, even though this weekend will be the first time we've all played as a team.

Other than a fair amount of ultimate and reading, I haven't done much this week. Its been a bit of a relief to be a homebody, actually. I discovered the "for fun" library in the Student Union a few days ago and have been back already for new books. There are signs posted everywhere that say "Please, do NOT study!" or "No studying!". I have enjoyed the books I've checked out so far. It might seem really obvious, but its an entirely different selection of books than at any library back home, which is nice. The "American" authors and books are puzzling to me - I can't figure out why they picked who they picked. But I'm trying some Australian writers, and so far so good! There's also a large DVD collection, which I'm definitely going to check out the next time I have a free weekend.

Hope all is well with all of you, wherever you might be! I miss you all!

Earthquakes and the beach!

Earthquakes? In Melbourne? You bet. Friday night, just after 9, we had an earthquake - 4.6 on the Richter scale! Apparently some buildings suffered damage, but nothing severe or anything. I was sitting at my desk when the building started to shake. It lasted maybe half a minute, and then it was gone. I heard other places had some pretty big aftershocks, but I didn't feel anything. It was pretty weird - and something I thought I'd left behind when we moved from San Francisco! Earthquakes are fairly rare here, and I heard its the largest one in a long time, so I'm not too worried about any other shakes. It was definitely an adventure, though!

I finally made it to the market again. It was a great way to spend my Saturday morning, though in the future I will remember how crowded it is and go on week-day mornings! Aside from an astounding variety of produce, the market also sells live birds, which I don't know what to think about! Some of the birds are laying hens, but others are definitely for eating. Its something I've never seen at a farmers market back home, that's for sure. I did find peaches that seemed to be pretty ripe, which I'm really excited about.

This afternoon, Olivia, Ray, Mans, Natalya, Laura, and I took the tram to Flinders Street Station, and then the train out to Brighton Beach. We walked on the beach and went shell-hunting. There were a lot of jellyfish washed up on shore. The jellyfish were much more blue than I expected - I thought they'd be clear, since that the color of the bits of tentacle that wash up on shore. It was a fairly grey and windy day, though the sun broke through a couple of times, so we had the beach more or less to ourselves. Brighton Beach is famous for its bathing sheds, which are basically brightly painted sheds. We saw one with a boxing kangaroo painted on it, one with sea horses, and one painted like a rainbow. Apparently they've been there for years, and many of us had read about them in guide-books.

Ray, who is from Hawaii and goes to the University of Puget Sound with Olivia, Mans (Ray's Swedish roommate), Natalya (from Alabama and attends a Claremont school), and I wandered into Brighton to get some fish and chips. I introduced Ray to the concept of vinegar on your fish; I think it was a hit. In my book, fish and chips are just a vehicle for vinegar and salt! Olivia and Laura (who goes to a small school in her home state, which escapes me at the moment) headed back to Melbourne without us, and so the four of us had a leisurely walk back to the train station, critiquing and praising the beachfront houses we passed. Like most of our outings, it had its near-accident-due-to-us-looking-the-wrong-way moment, but we got to the train station just fine! We took the train back to the city, and then the tram back to RMIT. It was a really great way to spend an afternoon, and I definitely want to go back sometime - if you plan the trains right, its only about a half hour away.For reference, Olivia has the black hair, Natalya has the really curly brown hair, Laura is the red-head with long hair, Mans has blond curly hair, and Ray has black hair.

Week One

Well, my first week of classes ends tomorrow. My finalized schedule is: metric spaces, probability for statistics, Australia and America, and Famine in the Modern World. I, unfortunately, have lectures every day of the week - I have friends here who have a four day weekend every week. I had some massive scheduling conflicts that I finally got figured out. I had three lectures at 11:00 on Wednesdays, which clearly wasn't going to work out so well - especially since two of them were maths lectures. So I dropped two subjects, and added two new ones. I think the new ones will be fantastic, though. I went to my first Famine in the Modern World lecture today and I think it'll be interesting (and sobering).

All my subjects here are broken into two parts: lectures and practicals, or tutorials. Some have two lectures a week, and Probability for Statistics has two practicals, but I spend what feels like a lot less time in class, and a lot less time interacting. In Grinnell, my only "lecture" style classes all had mentor sessions, where I could talk to a science major who took that course about homework. Most of my other classes were lectures with a place built in for discussion and questions. Here, I take notes and don't talk. It was most noticable to me in Famine in the Modern World, which is an anthropology subject - somewhere I'm very used to having discussion that can sometimes over-run the lecture. Its very different, and I think I prefer the Grinnell-style. Its only the first week, though, and my tutorials and practicals don't start until next week. That may change my mind some.

I am starting to get less lost when I venture out, which is really great. I seem to have a wonderful ability to get home from wherever I am, even if I can't make it to where I wanted to go. I'm perfectly happy with this arrangement! Uni campus is still a rabbit-warren I can't make sense of, though I am starting to be able to routinely get to the same place using the same route - and even beginning to figure out shorter ways to get places.

I am more and more able to navigate the city on my own, which is lovely. I bought a 10x2hour pass, and am using that to get around. I take the tram to Ultimate practice, to buy non-market grocery items, and to venture into the city. I have even begun to understand the layout of grocery stores, which has so far stumped me. I can now enter and find what I need fairly quickly. I am also a bit in love with the Australia GST (general standard tax), which is 1) included in prices already, 2) not on essentials like: bread, dairy, eggs, noodles, juice, meat, tortillas - pretty much everything I eat, and 3) not on boxed tea. Its beautiful. Tea is considered an essential household commodity. I love Australia.

Today I went into the city, by myself!, to buy notebooks and other school supplies. I took the tram from Uni, which is not where I'm used to getting it, and got into the city just fine. I took the wrong tram out of the city, but figured it out, and was able to catch the right tram further down the line. I was (am) very proud of myself, especially since the last time I missed my tram stop, I ended up having to walk several blocks to figure out where I was. Its a really small thing, but really important for me, that I can get around by myself. This weekend, my big adventure is going to be taking the tram to St. Kilda's Beach by myself. Or at least figuring out how to do it by myself. I'll probably invite a friend or two along. I promise photos in the next post!

Canberra and Ultimate

This weekend (I just got back), I flew to Canberra, the capital city of Australia, for an Ultimate Frisbee Tournament. I've picked up with a women's team here called "Honey", and this was my first real experience with them, though I did join them for training on Thursday.

But let me back up a bit. This week was both orientation for Melbourne Uni and O-week (orientation week) for RMIT student apartments, where I'm living. I spent a lot of the week getting lost on the Uni campus figuring out my schedule, which, although classes start tomorrow, is still a mess. When I wasn't on campus, though, I was doing O-week with RMIT. We had a night of comedians (they weren't very good, but it was still fun), a nineties party, and a pub crawl during the evenings, and a variety of activities during the day. I went to St. Kilda's beach, which is about a half hour away by tram, and have decided that I need to spend some more time there on another weekend - it was beautiful even though all the Australians kept telling the international students that it wasn't a great beach. I'm not that picky - the water was clear, the sand seemed clean, and it was sunny, so I was happy. The nineties party was a lot of fun - it was held in our courtyard with a cover band playing all sorts of music from the nineties. My group of friends and I danced for several hours, and then went with a much larger group to a pub about a fifteen minute walk away. It was a great night.

On Wednesday night, instead of going to the O-week activity, Laura, Olivia and I went to the Queen Victoria Night Market. Its held the same place as the day market, but has food stalls instead of produce, and a lot more clothing and knick-knack stalls. I (finally!) had fish and chips, which were pretty darn good, and then the three of us split these funny deep fried dumpling-like things with vanilla ice-cream and chocolate on top. It was fantastic. We also heard some live music and watched a free dance show and then dance class - it was all about Cuban dances! Unfortunately, it was the last night of the Night Market, since it runs during the summer - November through February.

Anyway. Back to the weekend! On Thursday, I went to training with Honey, and met most of the team for the first time. I (successfully) took a tram by myself there and back. They all seemed really nice and it was great to meet some of the team. On Saturday morning, I got up at 4:45 to shower and then catch a taxi to the airport for my 7:05 flight to Canberra. I got in at 8:05, with three other Honey players on my flight. We met up with a fifth player and took a cab into the city to have breakfast at a cafe. We were picked up by teammates at 10:30 ish, and went to the fields for our 12:30 game. Since a team dropped out at the last minute, we only had 2 games on Saturday. We lost both of them, though our first game was much better than our second. It was really hot and dry - I drank four bottles of water in the two games. The teams were from Canberra - Machine Girls- and (I think) Sydney - Sultry. We got back to the cabins we were staying and all jumped into the pool, which felt lovely! We then went to the tournament dinner, and then stayed for part of the party. Since a number of us had gotten up very early to fly in, we had an early night, and I was in bed before midnight. This morning, we got up and went to the fields. We played a team called Wildcard. They were really, really good - they took second at Women's Nationals last year. We scored once against them, but it was a good game, and we really stepped it up. Our second game that day was the first of the semis, and so we actually played Wildcard again. We sort of fell apart during this game, and played fairly poorly, but managed to end on a good note with it. Our next game was against Sultry. At this point, all the women who drove up had left, so there were only five of us. Sultry gave us the players who weren't going to nationals so we could field a team, and it ended up being the best game any of us had played all weekend. We won the game, so our final record was 1-4. We also won the Spirit Award, which came in the form of chocolate bars. Several of us were flying back on the same flight, so we all went out to dinner, and then took a taxi to the airport. We drove past the parliament building, as well as a few other famous Canberra monuments, though I didn't get a chance to take any pictures. I arrived back in Melbourne at 10:30, and am now quite ready to head to bed and get some much needed rest!