This past week was fairly uneventful with a few days of class and then a few rainy days which kept us from the beach. I gave my presentation on Wednesday and it went off without any huge guffaws. I did have one embarrassing moment this week though. . .I had a tutorial at 10:30 am on Wednesday morning. This tutorial has about 20 other students in it and the Tutor for the course is a fairly intimadating woman from Eastern Europe. I arrived to the class at exactly 10:30 and opened the door to go in. As I walked in though, the entire class turned to look at me and gave me (what I thought were) kind of judgmental leers. It almost felt like they had just finished talking about how tardiness was unacceptable and all tardy people should be ostracized (although, I must point out that I was NOT late). Anyway, I got a little flustered and wasn't thinking clearly and I ended up just turning around and leaving. . .Now this isn't the end of the world because attendance isn't compulsory and I had already turned in my assignment for the day electronically. But it is still quite embarrassing because everyone in that room knew that I was supposed to be in that class and they all witnessed me come in and then just turn around and leave again. I'm not sure how I will show my face in that class next week. . .
That night (Wednesday) some friends and I played trivia at our local pub. It was a team effort, but lots of the questions required an intimate knowledge of Australia. . .seeing as we only had one Aussie with us, we did not fair too well. It was still a very enjoyable night though.
Thursday nights we have an event each week at International House called "Global Visions". We usually have speakers or discussions about current global issues. This week some different members of I-House talked about their home countries and the current issues. We heard about Hong Kong and Ireland and I learned lots of things that I did not know. For example, did you know that until 11 years ago Hong Kong was controlled by the British? China reacquired Hong Kong in 1997 (I think) and now it is slowly being blended back into China, but they will maintain quite a bit of sovereignty for another 40 years.
Today (Saturday) it was time for another adventure. Seven friends and I jumped on a 10:23 am train to Kiama, a small town about an hour south of Wollongong. Kiama has multiple beaches that are absolutely gorgeous. We saw a lot of surfers out there, so we will probably head back another weekend with our surfboards. In Kiama, they have a big produce market the last Saturday of every month. Once we arrived we checked out the market, which was quaint, but full of good free samples. Kiama is also well-known for its "blow-hole". The blow-hole is a hole in a large rock formation along the ocean that erupts with water when large waves hit the rock. It almost looked like a geyser. We spent some time taking pictures of the blow-hole and then did a little rock scrambling on some of the cliffs.
After walking around the town for a little longer we hopped on the train again and headed south another 15 minutes to Gerringong. Gerringong is a tiny, tiny town, but we wanted to check it out because we heard it had a very nice winery. Once we arrived in Gerringong, we asked for directions and found that the winery was at the top of a 400 meter long hill. So, we began hiking. We made it up to the top and did some free wine tasting. . .they make all of their wines right on site. We all felt very classy and cultured as we sipped on our wines and pretended to know what we were doing. It was around 3 pm by the time we were done and we decided we wanted to catch the 3:08 train back to Wollongong because the next train did not come in until 5:08. We began hustling back down the hill and right as we entered the town again, the train pulled up. At this point we were at least 100 m away from the platform and so we began sprinting-- backpacks, purses, flip-flops and all. Right as we arrived at the platform the train began to pull away. . .we were all defeated and upset, but luckily the conductor saw us and stopped the train for us. I forgot to mention that only 5 of us had sprinted to the train-- the other 3 were lolly-gagging aways behind us. So, the 5 of us just hopped on the train and it left without them! The 3 boys we left behind were convinced that we would all miss the train, so they just didn't even try. It's 5:04 right now, so they will be getting on the train in just a few minutes. . .Hopefully they enjoyed their afternoon in Gerringong.
One more thing. . .Gerringong is sometimes referred to as the "Lower Gong" making Wollongong the "Upper Gong". . .only in Australia.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Ready, AIME, Fire
This weekend we took a break from grand adventures and hung around good ol' Wollongong. We spent some time at the beach, tried to study, and celebrated a friend's birthday. On Sunday I went to an all-day training session for a mentoring program called AIME (Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience). Australia has a very ancient indigenous population which is said to be the oldest cultural group in the world. These aboriginals face a lot of the same problems that Native Americans face in the US. They are lagging far behind other Australians in regards to health, education, and income. Although they only make up around 2% of the population, they account for about 20% of incacerated people. The reasons for these short-fallings are a source of much debate and disagreement. However, what is indisputable is that indigenous students need help so that they can get the education they need to be successful. That's where AIME comes in. It's a program in which Uni students volunteer to mentor, tutor, and build relationships with indigenous middle and high school students. I thought it seemed like a valuable program and a good way to spend 1 hour a week, so I signed up. I was disappointed to learn that the program doesn't start until May 1st and therefore I won't be able to spend much time tutoring, but I am still very excited for the program.
After the 6 hour training session I was pretty burned out, but it was one of my good friend's. . .so I headed to the grocery store to buy some cake. We went to a local Thai restaurant for dinner (there are about 1 million Thai restaurants within a 2 mile radius of our dorm) called Coconut Thai. I ordered Tofu Pad Thai and it was delicious. Lots of my friends ordered their meals with kangaroo. . .I tried a little bit and it actually wasn't that bad! People described it as a "gamey" meat similar to elk. It is quite strange because the Australians celebrate their native animals, like kangaroos and emus, but they also eat them. However, my Aussie friends inform me that it's really only tourists who actually eat things like kangaroo. After a very satisfying dinner we went to one of the local pubs and listened to the live band that was performing there. All in all, it was a very nice evening.
Today the sun is shining, but I have to catch up on some of the homework that I put off all weekend. I have my first presentation this week, which I would be freaking out about back home, but presentations here are pretty laid back. I'm not too worried about it, but I still need to do some work on it!
I hope all is well and that everyone is enjoying the milder weather!
After the 6 hour training session I was pretty burned out, but it was one of my good friend's. . .so I headed to the grocery store to buy some cake. We went to a local Thai restaurant for dinner (there are about 1 million Thai restaurants within a 2 mile radius of our dorm) called Coconut Thai. I ordered Tofu Pad Thai and it was delicious. Lots of my friends ordered their meals with kangaroo. . .I tried a little bit and it actually wasn't that bad! People described it as a "gamey" meat similar to elk. It is quite strange because the Australians celebrate their native animals, like kangaroos and emus, but they also eat them. However, my Aussie friends inform me that it's really only tourists who actually eat things like kangaroo. After a very satisfying dinner we went to one of the local pubs and listened to the live band that was performing there. All in all, it was a very nice evening.
Today the sun is shining, but I have to catch up on some of the homework that I put off all weekend. I have my first presentation this week, which I would be freaking out about back home, but presentations here are pretty laid back. I'm not too worried about it, but I still need to do some work on it!
I hope all is well and that everyone is enjoying the milder weather!
Monday, March 16, 2009
Bumps, bruises, and burials
Hello my cold-weather friends,
This morning all of the Aussies I encountered claimed that it was "cold" outside. I had trouble comprehending this because the sun was shining and it was still warm enough to be comfortable in shorts. A guy in one of my classes was actually wearing a scarf! I would like to see them try and survive Minnesota in March.
Course work is beginning to pick up and I am really enjoying the history course I am taking about the post-Cold War period. However, it is difficult to force myself to study when the sun is shining and the beach is only a 10-minute walk away.
I have been doing a little surfing everyday since we bought our board. I hate to admit it, but I am actually getting worse! Each time I get out of the water I have a new bruise or scratch to add to my already battered body. But I am still absolutely loving it! It's such a great way to get out and enjoy the ocean and every once in a while when I am able to stand for a second or two-- it's brilliant. I am going to keep chugging along because I definitely cannot get any worse at this point. . .
On Saturday, I had a brief lapse in judgment and I agreed to allow 3 of my guy friends bury me in the sand. I was completely covered head to toe and was incapable of moving (luckily I could still breathe!). After they had all had their fun and had taken numerous incriminating pictures. . .they forced me to crawl out myself (typical boys)! It took me a good five minutes to get my arms unburied and then I had to dig my body out as well. They all stood around and had a good laugh as I emerged from the sand covered head to toe in a fine layer of sand. . .needless to say I have learned my lesson!
Today we decided to check out one of the local thrift shops where it was rumored that there were $5 wet suits. We had a gay-old time trying to squeeze our bodies into impossibly small wet suits, but almost all of us managed to find one that actually fit. I walked away with a beautiful red and blue wet suit (circa 1980) for only $8. I am confident that I will be the chicest surfer at the beach. . .
This weekend some friends and I are contemplating a trip down south. We want to check out some of the towns south of Wollongong since we have only been north at this point. There is a nice little town called Batemans Bay where we might actually be able to see kangaroos and other native animals. . .I'm sure I will have many stories to tell if we actually make it down there!
This morning all of the Aussies I encountered claimed that it was "cold" outside. I had trouble comprehending this because the sun was shining and it was still warm enough to be comfortable in shorts. A guy in one of my classes was actually wearing a scarf! I would like to see them try and survive Minnesota in March.
Course work is beginning to pick up and I am really enjoying the history course I am taking about the post-Cold War period. However, it is difficult to force myself to study when the sun is shining and the beach is only a 10-minute walk away.
I have been doing a little surfing everyday since we bought our board. I hate to admit it, but I am actually getting worse! Each time I get out of the water I have a new bruise or scratch to add to my already battered body. But I am still absolutely loving it! It's such a great way to get out and enjoy the ocean and every once in a while when I am able to stand for a second or two-- it's brilliant. I am going to keep chugging along because I definitely cannot get any worse at this point. . .
On Saturday, I had a brief lapse in judgment and I agreed to allow 3 of my guy friends bury me in the sand. I was completely covered head to toe and was incapable of moving (luckily I could still breathe!). After they had all had their fun and had taken numerous incriminating pictures. . .they forced me to crawl out myself (typical boys)! It took me a good five minutes to get my arms unburied and then I had to dig my body out as well. They all stood around and had a good laugh as I emerged from the sand covered head to toe in a fine layer of sand. . .needless to say I have learned my lesson!
Today we decided to check out one of the local thrift shops where it was rumored that there were $5 wet suits. We had a gay-old time trying to squeeze our bodies into impossibly small wet suits, but almost all of us managed to find one that actually fit. I walked away with a beautiful red and blue wet suit (circa 1980) for only $8. I am confident that I will be the chicest surfer at the beach. . .
This weekend some friends and I are contemplating a trip down south. We want to check out some of the towns south of Wollongong since we have only been north at this point. There is a nice little town called Batemans Bay where we might actually be able to see kangaroos and other native animals. . .I'm sure I will have many stories to tell if we actually make it down there!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Riding the Waves
I made a command decision yesterday. I decided that I wanted to get a surfboard, so my friend and I went on a little shopping adventure today. We were able to find a relatively cheap, used surfboard at a local shop. The shop is willing to buy the board back at the end of the semester for half-price. Two of my friends and I are sharing the board which makes the board a very cheap, but hopefully fun, investment.
I tried to surf a little bit today and actually had some success. The waves, however, were not very good and I spent a lot of time trying to hold onto my board and stay standing. I am pretty excited to have a new goal to accomplish while down here. Hopefully I will be a pro by the time I head home in July!
I also bought a plane ticket to New Zealand yesterday, which is where I will be spending my spring break. I will be flying into Christchurch with 2 or 3 friends and from there we will see some glaciers, bungee jump (them, not me!) and try to see as much of the country as possible. I have heard the New Zealand is absolutely beautiful, so I am really looking forward to this trip.
One last thing. . .I signed up to run a half-marathon in May. One of my friends here is a cross-country runner and asked me to run the race with him (I made sure he knew that I would be miles behind him the whole race). It will be my first half-marathon, so I am trying to get myself in shape to avoid making a complete fool out of myself!
I tried to surf a little bit today and actually had some success. The waves, however, were not very good and I spent a lot of time trying to hold onto my board and stay standing. I am pretty excited to have a new goal to accomplish while down here. Hopefully I will be a pro by the time I head home in July!
I also bought a plane ticket to New Zealand yesterday, which is where I will be spending my spring break. I will be flying into Christchurch with 2 or 3 friends and from there we will see some glaciers, bungee jump (them, not me!) and try to see as much of the country as possible. I have heard the New Zealand is absolutely beautiful, so I am really looking forward to this trip.
One last thing. . .I signed up to run a half-marathon in May. One of my friends here is a cross-country runner and asked me to run the race with him (I made sure he knew that I would be miles behind him the whole race). It will be my first half-marathon, so I am trying to get myself in shape to avoid making a complete fool out of myself!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
The Blue Mountains
I just returned from a fun-filled weekend of hiking in the Blue Mountains. The Blue Mountains are about 2 hours west of Sydney and about a 4 hour trip for us by train. Nine of us boarded the train in North Wollongong on Friday afternoon and headed to a little town called Blackheath. We arrived around 8:30 pm and spent a little time searching for our cabin. For our first night we had a 4-bedroom cabin with a large living area. The town of Blackheath is tiny and contains only a few restaurants, 2 pubs, and a grocery store with 3 aisles. After ordering some pizza and settling into our cabin, we spent the rest of the night relaxing at one of the local pubs.
The next day we set out on our first adventure. We caught a train to Katoomba, a small town about 15 minutes away. Many of the "touristy" parts of the Blue Mountains are located in Katoomba. We were able to see the Three Sisters which is a pretty neat rock formation. I was looking forward to seeing this all week because I wanted to take a family picture :) Unfortunately, the rocks were not quite as beautiful or chatty as my sisters.
We hiked down a massive stair case after seeing the 3 sisters and by the time we got to the bottom I was shaking. The stairs went right down the mountain and were a little frightening (but I'm glad we were going down and not up). Once we made it to the bottom we hiked a few miles to the world's steepest incline railway in the world. It was basically a backwards roller coaster. We loaded into cars and then were pulled backwards up the mountain. This was also a little terrifying because we were not strapped in. . .but the ride was definitely worth it.
We called it a day after that and grabbed dinner in a small cafe in Katoomba.
Sunday morning we decided to do some real hiking, since we took it pretty easy the day before. We settled on a 3-4 hour hike that would take us through the Grand Canyon (seriously, that's what it was called). It was probably the most beautiful hike I have ever been on. We hiked down into the canyon and were surrounded with a canopy of trees, ferns, and bushes. Most of the hike took us right alongside the tiny stream that carved out the canyon. We saw waterfalls and caves and heard a lot of birds. The second half of the hike consisted of climbing out of the canyon, which is no easy task. I tried to take a lot of pictures of the hike, but my photography skills did not do it justice :) We think we hiked at least 10 km on Sunday, so most of us are sore today!
I think I have caught the travel bug because I already want to start planning my next trip! Autumn break is coming up quickly and I will be heading to New Zealand with some friends. I hope you are all doing well. . .feel free to email me (hoconnel@gustavus.edu) or skype me!
The next day we set out on our first adventure. We caught a train to Katoomba, a small town about 15 minutes away. Many of the "touristy" parts of the Blue Mountains are located in Katoomba. We were able to see the Three Sisters which is a pretty neat rock formation. I was looking forward to seeing this all week because I wanted to take a family picture :) Unfortunately, the rocks were not quite as beautiful or chatty as my sisters.
We hiked down a massive stair case after seeing the 3 sisters and by the time we got to the bottom I was shaking. The stairs went right down the mountain and were a little frightening (but I'm glad we were going down and not up). Once we made it to the bottom we hiked a few miles to the world's steepest incline railway in the world. It was basically a backwards roller coaster. We loaded into cars and then were pulled backwards up the mountain. This was also a little terrifying because we were not strapped in. . .but the ride was definitely worth it.
We called it a day after that and grabbed dinner in a small cafe in Katoomba.
Sunday morning we decided to do some real hiking, since we took it pretty easy the day before. We settled on a 3-4 hour hike that would take us through the Grand Canyon (seriously, that's what it was called). It was probably the most beautiful hike I have ever been on. We hiked down into the canyon and were surrounded with a canopy of trees, ferns, and bushes. Most of the hike took us right alongside the tiny stream that carved out the canyon. We saw waterfalls and caves and heard a lot of birds. The second half of the hike consisted of climbing out of the canyon, which is no easy task. I tried to take a lot of pictures of the hike, but my photography skills did not do it justice :) We think we hiked at least 10 km on Sunday, so most of us are sore today!
I think I have caught the travel bug because I already want to start planning my next trip! Autumn break is coming up quickly and I will be heading to New Zealand with some friends. I hope you are all doing well. . .feel free to email me (hoconnel@gustavus.edu) or skype me!
Monday, March 2, 2009
My Address
A few people have asked for my address, so here it is:
Hayley O'Connell
International House
University of Wollongong
Wollongong, NSW 2522
Hayley O'Connell
International House
University of Wollongong
Wollongong, NSW 2522
Sunday, March 1, 2009
The Hardest Way Possible
Hello Everyone!
Well, I am officially an Australian student. I had my first class this morning and it turns out that the first day of class is “syllabus day” no matter what country you are in. I don’t have any other classes today because not all courses meet the first week. It’s a very strange feeling to be in class when you feel like you are on vacation. I think that I will find my courses very interesting though.
After our exciting adventure in Sydney on Friday, we decided to lay low for most of Saturday. I took a quick trip to the mall with some friends and then spent the afternoon at the beach. The waves were the biggest I’ve seen them, so we all had fun body surfing them J
Sunday we decided it was time for another adventure. The tallest mountain (or it might be a hill) in Wollongong is Mount Keira. It’s about a 35 minute walk from the dorm. So, four friends and I began our trek to the mountain at around 10:45 Sunday morning. We had heard that the hike got a little long, but shouldn’t be anymore than 3 hours. Lots of people warned us about the leeches. . .apparently most people who hike Mt. Keira end up with at least a few leeches attached to their ankles by the time they get off the mountain. Before we left we grabbed a couple handfuls of salt packets in anticipation of the leeches—fortunately for us we never needed to use them.
We arrived at the mountain around 11:30 and the trail was pretty much vertical from the get-go. Luckily the climb wasn’t quite so steep the whole way. It didn’t take long before we got to a junction where we had to choose from a few different paths. We consulted a map and trotted down a trail that looked promising. The path promptly turned into a vertical climb over rocks and through thicket. Unfortunately, I was with four determined boys (actually, I was just as determined myself) and it took us about 1 km to finally admit that we had lost the trail. We climbed back down the rocky slope practically on all fours and got back to what appeared to be a path.
After multiple wrong turns and about 2 ½ hours of hiking, we finally made it to the summit only to find out that they don’t have water at the top. We ate our lunches though and took some beautiful pictures. The view was quite amazing and definitely worth the journey. After a little rest we began our trek back down. We hopped onto a little back trail that we though would deliver us down the mountain, but once again we found ourselves lost. We finally got to a point where we hit a dead end and admitted defeat. We stopped a car that was passing on the road and he pointed us in the direction of Wollongong. Little did we know that it was probably the longest possible way to get back to town. We finally made it into town around 4 pm and discovered that we were still an hour away from our dorm. It was at this point that we found a bus stop. The bus ride brought us to within around 20 minutes of our dorm. We were so tired by this point that we barely said 2 words to each other ask we walked the last 20 minutes.
We were all pretty proud of ourselves by the time we were finished. As one of the guys said, “We didn’t take the easiest route to the top- in fact we probably found the hardest possible way to get there.”
We are thinking about going to the Blue Mountains (a range about 2 hours west of Sydney) next weekend, but we learned a valuable lesson from this hike: Walking uphill does not always bring you to the summit and walking downhill won’t always bring you home.
Well, I am officially an Australian student. I had my first class this morning and it turns out that the first day of class is “syllabus day” no matter what country you are in. I don’t have any other classes today because not all courses meet the first week. It’s a very strange feeling to be in class when you feel like you are on vacation. I think that I will find my courses very interesting though.
After our exciting adventure in Sydney on Friday, we decided to lay low for most of Saturday. I took a quick trip to the mall with some friends and then spent the afternoon at the beach. The waves were the biggest I’ve seen them, so we all had fun body surfing them J
Sunday we decided it was time for another adventure. The tallest mountain (or it might be a hill) in Wollongong is Mount Keira. It’s about a 35 minute walk from the dorm. So, four friends and I began our trek to the mountain at around 10:45 Sunday morning. We had heard that the hike got a little long, but shouldn’t be anymore than 3 hours. Lots of people warned us about the leeches. . .apparently most people who hike Mt. Keira end up with at least a few leeches attached to their ankles by the time they get off the mountain. Before we left we grabbed a couple handfuls of salt packets in anticipation of the leeches—fortunately for us we never needed to use them.
We arrived at the mountain around 11:30 and the trail was pretty much vertical from the get-go. Luckily the climb wasn’t quite so steep the whole way. It didn’t take long before we got to a junction where we had to choose from a few different paths. We consulted a map and trotted down a trail that looked promising. The path promptly turned into a vertical climb over rocks and through thicket. Unfortunately, I was with four determined boys (actually, I was just as determined myself) and it took us about 1 km to finally admit that we had lost the trail. We climbed back down the rocky slope practically on all fours and got back to what appeared to be a path.
After multiple wrong turns and about 2 ½ hours of hiking, we finally made it to the summit only to find out that they don’t have water at the top. We ate our lunches though and took some beautiful pictures. The view was quite amazing and definitely worth the journey. After a little rest we began our trek back down. We hopped onto a little back trail that we though would deliver us down the mountain, but once again we found ourselves lost. We finally got to a point where we hit a dead end and admitted defeat. We stopped a car that was passing on the road and he pointed us in the direction of Wollongong. Little did we know that it was probably the longest possible way to get back to town. We finally made it into town around 4 pm and discovered that we were still an hour away from our dorm. It was at this point that we found a bus stop. The bus ride brought us to within around 20 minutes of our dorm. We were so tired by this point that we barely said 2 words to each other ask we walked the last 20 minutes.
We were all pretty proud of ourselves by the time we were finished. As one of the guys said, “We didn’t take the easiest route to the top- in fact we probably found the hardest possible way to get there.”
We are thinking about going to the Blue Mountains (a range about 2 hours west of Sydney) next weekend, but we learned a valuable lesson from this hike: Walking uphill does not always bring you to the summit and walking downhill won’t always bring you home.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
