August 8: This was the first day of classes technically, but I only have class Tuesday through Thursday. I went to the gym and then the library to use their Wi-Fi. I also did laundry, made some food, and caught up on my journal from the weekend in Sydney. August 9: I had my first Sustainable Communities lecture that afternoon, and it was interesting. The professor seems passionate about the subject, and I’m excited to see another country’s views on conservation. That evening was trivia night. The theme was the Olympics and Australia in general, so our team of international students didn’t do the best. However, that didn’t stop us from getting our free pizza and chips (French fries). Our team had a pretty good time trying to figure out the answers. August 10: I had my first Introduction to Nutrition lecture in the morning. I think I’ll enjoy learning more about what we should eat each day and how what we eat affects and fuels our bodies. I also had my first Sustainable Communities tutorial. That was much smaller, and we got to discuss things in more detail. Not having free Wi-Fi at my residence has really made me appreciate the free Wi-Fi and computers on campus. August 11: My first Indigenous History and Identity lecture and tutorial. I think this class will be different than what I was expecting, but I hope it’s informative and interesting. I hope to learn more about Australia’s past and how that affects the country today. Kiley and I are in this class together, and another exchange student from Finland is in that class with us as well. I also had my first Introduction to Nutrition lab which was great. We compared our normal portion sizes with a serving size. I think I’ll like my teacher for that lab. August 12: I don’t have classes on Fridays, so I went to the gym in the morning. I checked out a textbook from the library to study over the weekend. There was a scavenger hunt for exchange students at 2:30 around Canberra. We met and split up into teams with a student ambassador driving in each car. Our group had 2 girls from Germany, Kiley and I, and a University of Canberra student. We decided at the beginning that we wanted to win because we never win these things. We ran everywhere every time we parked at a new destination. We had to collect all kinds of Aussie things like Vegemite, a kangaroo (toy), a boomerang, and more. We also had themed pictures at each destination we had to drive through. We had a great time seeing everything in Canberra and taking crazy pictures. We ended up winning too which is awesome! We got a travel adapter and a $20 gift card to Coles (a grocery store). After the hunt, everyone met up for a barbeque to hang out and eat some food. We went from the barbecue to Cold Rock (an ice cream shop at the mall). I got some with peanut butter and Tim Tams in it. We all enjoyed our ice cream while getting to know each other better. August 13: I tried to sleep in but didn’t sleep well that night. That afternoon Kiley, Nicola, and I walked along the lake by Weeden Lodge. It was a lovely day for a walk. Most of the time we talked about autumn and winter and Christmas. We talked about things that we’ll miss about fall and our family traditions that we’re excited for at Christmas. After our walk, we were pretty tired. We got back to our apartment and just watched TV while studying. August 14: We left to go hiking in Tidbinbilla around 9:15am. It was about a 40 minute drive. We went to the visitor’s center first and saw some animals that were stuffed and learned some things about the native animals. From there, we drove to a koala sanctuary. Unfortunately, almost all of the Canberra koalas were killed in the bush fires in 2003, so now they’re trying to re-introduce them. We went on a little walk in the sanctuary and saw some wallabies. When we got back to the front where the koalas were, one of the joey koalas was out of its pouch. The baby was super adorable. After the koalas, we went to see some platypuses. They would come up for water every once in a while, but they were much smaller than I thought they would be. Next, we went left to go to the big hike. The hike up the mountain was kind of steep but not too bad. I had a great time getting to know new people and enjoying the views along the way. At the top, there were some amazing views. We spent some time eating some snacks, drinking some water, and taking in the scenery. The hike down was faster but somewhat steep at times. We had a great time, but by this point in the afternoon, we were all pretty hungry. We drove to a nearby park to play some sports and have a barbecue. We played catch with a Frisbee and football. After eating, some of us played a group game of soccer which was pretty fun. On the drive home, we were all pretty tired from the hiking and being in the sun all day.
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AuthorA.J.Sporrer Archives
December 2016
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