Catch Up!

I haven't blogged about anything in quite awhile, I apologize. Classes ended on June 2 for me and Dan, Mara, Nick and myself went to Sydney for a couple days. We did the typical tourist stuff and saw the bridge and opera house all that fun stuff. We stayed in a hostel called YHA Central, which was in the heart of Sydney. That was really cool and we met some amazing people, like we usually do. Nick, Dan, and I went there on Saturday the 4th and Mara met up with us the following day. Nick and I left on the 2nd and Mara and Dan left the following day. 

Since I've been back in Brisbane I've pretty much just been studying hardcore. My life sucks right now, I can't wait for finals to be over with! I'm very determined to do well on these so I've been studying hard. Fortunately I've had some people to go to the state library with and it helps things move along. The library is right on the river and over looks the city it's gorgeous. 

My last final is on the 24th of June and I leave for New Zealand the following morning. I'll be in New Zealand for 4 days arriving back in Minnesota on June 29. I'm not at all looking forward to the long and very tedious flight, but as they say 'you gotta do what you gotta do.' 

Now on to the more important news that my parents will probably flip on me for doing. I have conjured up the idea of studying abroad again! Yes, parents if you are reading this you have read it correctly. I, Adam Gross, plan on studying abroad one last time. Now, I'm taking a more sensible route this time, since I'll be doing my internship this fall I plan on being a stingy with my money in hopes of saving enough up. If I can save a reasonable amount and all that fun stuff, then I will definitely try to study abroad one last time. Before I become a workaholic, since I seem to do that when I get focused on something. 

To finish this off, England 2012? Hopefully. 

Fiji, Birthday and School

I just got back from my little vacation and it was AMAZING! I've been in Fiji for the last week, so I'll start off there. We got to the main island, Nadi, and had to find out how to get to our resort. After a little bit of time wondering around we found out company and they pointed us in the right directions. We stayed in a hostel that was similar to the one I stayed at in Cairns. We only stayed there for one night and then left in the morning. When I say we I mean Mara, Dan, Nick and myself.

 Our first roommate was a girl from Norway who was also studying in Brisbane. She was pretty cool and we all walked to what we thought was going to be a beach, but turns out to be mud and garbage. Anyway we took pictures and walked back to eat dinner. The next morning we got up for breakfast and got our meal that we already paid for. We had to catch a bus to take us to the marina and hop on a boat to take us to our island we were staying at. We thought we were going to be late, because it was taking them forever to get us our food. It arrived in the last second and we had to scarf it down; I doubt any of us tasted it. The bus then got us to our destination and Mara and I checked our bags while Dan and Nick checked us in.

Finally we got on our boat; off to Beachcomber island! It took about 45 mins to arrive and it was gorgeous. We all stayed in the giant dormitory; Dan got the bottom bunk and I had the top. Our first roommate was a guy from Canada, named Josh. He was really chill and was staying for two nights. We all meshed quite well and ended up hanging out the whole time. Our group got a little bigger at the end of the night when we met a girl from Denmark and two more that were studying at the Gold Coast. One was from England and the other was another American. Oh, I almost forgot we also met two guys from England and two more women from England.

The next day we all decided to stick together since the Gold Coast crew was staying five nights and ironically had the same flight as us on the way back to Brisbane. We laid on the beach and met two ladies, one was from Sweden and the other from England. It was awesome how many people you could meet by just traveling. We all hung out for the whole day. The same day Dan and I went parasailing; it was quite the experience.

I don't remember if we kayaked that day or the next, but we did it somewhere in there. It's funny how when I think back on it all the days just kind of blended together. Josh eventually departed to different islands. We decided to do this pub crawl to different islands which wasn't really a pub crawl most of island hopping. That night we all went swimming in the ocean at about midnight.

The next day we got another roommate; a guy from Manchester, England who went by the name of Dom. The guy was really cool and we all started hanging out again. That night we played some card games a few drinking games. It was raining the whole day so not much to do.

The following day was the day before my Birthday and we planned to celebrate it that night, because once the clock hit midnight I was 21 and that fact that I was leaving in the morning. Dom and I kayaked in the rain and wind, which made for a pretty good workout. The night was so much fun I don't think it would of been possible to have a better 21st. The people I was with made it that much better. I also met three ladies from Norway, who were really friendly. I pretty much loved everyone I met, maybe it's because everyone is so happy on vacation.

The next morning it was finally nice, but it was our time to leave. We said out goodbyes to Dom and got on the boat to catch our ride to Nadi and get back to Brisbane. I planned on going out to the city with everyone from my floor, but I had some serious doubts after the prior night. I managed to dig up enough energy to have a guys night and go out with them. We went to a couple bars and it happened to be another amazing night. I had the best week of my life and celebrated my birthday in two different countries within 24 hours. Lets be honest, how many people can say they've done that?

Now that all that is out of the way I'm staying up until 2:30 a.m. waiting for a phone call from my manager. I'm going to try to start some homework and my paper that is coming up. My family should be in Australia now making their way to Brisbane throughout the week. I'm excited to see them on Friday and hopefully I have enough to keep them busy for their stay.

I'd like to give a little thanks to everyone who made my birthday unforgettable! I love you guys!

One last thing, I can't believe I have less than two months left. Where has all the time gone?

Catching Up

Alright, I haven't blogged in awhile been super busy getting read for midterms and call. Now that I am done I will  catch you all up on my life so far. So, I had a midterm on Monday in Public Economics 60 minutes 5 essay questions; I think it went pretty good. I guess I'll find out soon enough; the questions weren't hard or anything the difficulty was getting everything I knew down on the paper in 60 minutes. I just got done with my International Finance midterm and overall I think it went well some things were a little tricky, but I'm hoping for a HD (A).

Tonight virtually our whole floor and probably all of the college are going out tonight for some celebration. I think  tomorrow a couple of us are going to explore the city a little more since I haven't really been able to do that. I want to see some museums, the botanical garden, and of course ride the City Cat at night.  On a side note our netball team is unstoppable. We haven't lost yet and we don't plan on it.

Next week I have another quiz in my Money, Banking and Finance class. It shouldn't be to hard the first one was rather easy and I've gone over most of this stuff in former classes.

My new small netbook is working pretty good and my normal laptop has completely crashed now, which resulted in a little panic. I had to get Microsoft Office installed on this so I can do my assignments that are coming up.

Only a week left until we get to go to Fiji! Dan get keen!!!

Melbourne

This past weekend I had to joy of going to Melbourne with some friends to visit out Canadian friend who is going to school there. She was kind enough to let us stay at her place, so we didn't have to pay for accommodation. We left Thursday night and were supposed to arrive just before midnight, well that didn't happen. I can safely say I won't ever fly Jetstar again, initially I thought it wasn't going to be pretty good. Our first flight was delayed for a hour. I could of lived with that, but when it was time for us to leave our plane was once again delayed for about a hour and a half for technical reasons.

We got into Melbourne around 1 am and got a shuttle bus to some random place, then a cab to another random road and finally Cassandra met us by McDonald's. Thursday we didn't do anything since it was so late, we sat around talking until about 5 am.  Thet next day, Friday, we took a train into the city to explore it. The city is AMAZING, but I think I say that about every city I've been to. We walked around the whole day and saw a bunch of interesting things. My favorite is probably the graffiti walls all over the city. I have picture of them on my Facebook and it's possibly the coolest thing ever!

Friday night we went to a AFL game (Australian Rules Football) and we had no idea how it was played or who the teams were. Canada (Cassandra) knew the most and tried to explain it to us. We decided to flip coins to see what team we were going to cheer for. I happened to get St. Kilda Saints along with Canada and Mara; Dan and Jenny got the Richmond Tigers. In the first period it looked like it was going to be a lopsided victory for the Saints, little did we know it would be a really good game. The second period the tides turned and the Tigers were up by like 10 or something. They held the lead throughout the third period and heading into the fourth we were only down 6, I think. The fourth period was by far the best and most exciting. The Saints started to look sloppy and were trailing pretty good, but we turned it around and tied it up and took the lead in injury time. It didn't last long though, the Tigers ended up scoring and taking it back and we were down 95-93. In the closing minutes we got two quick scores and tied the game and with second left it looked like we could squeeze out a win, but unfortunately they blocked the last attempt and it ended in a draw. Oh, and I was able to buy an authentic AFL jersey for the Saints for only $30!

Friday night we decided to take it easy and didn't go out and stayed in, it was a mellow night, but was much needed. The following day some of us went out to the country and the rest of us went back to the city. We visited the stadiums of the city, their new cricket/soccer stadium, the AFL one that was watched the game at and finally the Australian Open tennis stadium. Once we were done there we walked across the river to the CBD (central business district) and tried to find a place to get kangaroo. After searching and having no luck we were about to give up until the last restaurant on the road had it. We ended up getting it; the meal it self was alright the sauce they put on the kangaroo wasn't that good. It did cost us $25 and we hardly got any food for that too, but it was all about the experience.

Saturday night was the last night in Melbourne so we hit the city. We planned on not sleeping at all and just heading to the airport once we got tired of going to bars and stuff. A group of us went out and went to a couple bars; most of their bars you had to pay a cover fee. I wasn't to fond of that, but I couldn't do much about that. After about three or four different bars we decided to hit up the casino. Once we got there the security guy said we couldn't go in if we've been drinking, but decided to let us in anyway since we weren't drunk or anything, nice guy. Dan and I hit up the roulette table and started with $10 and hit a hot streak right away. Red was the hot color and we kept winning, at one point we were both up $120, but then a bizarre twist of fate and we ended up losing all of it plus some, that gambling. One of the guys we were with though borrowed $5 from Dan and put it on a random spot and actually won, so he got $175 and paid for our cab ride home. We stopped at McDonald's on the way home to get ice cream, Dave (the $175 winner) bought 10 Big Mac snack wraps and decided to share the wealth. We all got fat on Big Mac snack wraps.

After that we went to the airport at 4:45 am and literally sat/slept until our flight at 7:35 am, but out flight was delayed and we didn't leave till about 9:45 am, the time we were supposed to land. We landed at about 11 am and Jenny left us at the train station. So, Dan and I caught the next drain 30 mins later, because we had to put money on out go cards since I was at $-12.47. After we caught the train and got to the train station we got McDonald's again. Then we caught a bus back to campus and we finally arrived at 1:30 pm or something like that. It's been a long day and we haven't slept much, but it was awesome!

Assignments, Traveling, and Queens Street

Last week was slightly busy, I finally have been to all my lectures and tutorials. My first assignment was due last week and I'm hoping I get good marks on it; I'll be finding out on Thursday. I'm still getting used to things here and should probably start my paper/presentation that is due next week. On top of that I have a quiz in a week in the same class; this week should be pretty busy for me. 

So, a date has been set and plans have been made, we are going to Melbourne from March 31 to April 3. I'm pretty excited we are finally getting some traveling done. I've found it harder and harder to find days where everyone can go, definitely wasn't as easy as first anticipated. I'm still working on finding a weekend to make it to Sydney. There are a couple people on our floor who want to go to Fraser Island for like a weekend and we are working that out too. It would be heaps of fun, since we've all become really good friends and a camping trip would be nice. I want to go visit the Whitsundays maybe even sail them, but we'll see how that works out. I do still have New Zealand coming up before I head back to America, which I'm excited about. Fiji is about a month away and that should be a really fun time, super exited! 

This last week a bunch of us went to Queens Street and went shopping. It was a good time, I bought two pairs of jeans and a pair of dress shoes. Queens Street is pretty much their giant shopping street. It's pretty nice you can walk to all different stores and go into a mall like area and then go outside to the shops out there. It's in the heart of the city, so it's usually quite busy. 

We went to the valley this weekend too. It was quite the experience, even if we didn't really drink, everything is even more expensive there. The valley is where all the clubs and stuff are and downtown is where all the bars are; we spend most of our time downtown. This was the first time at the valley and my first time to a club and I enjoyed it.  

Oh, to wrap it up here I got tickets to the State of Origin game; it's a really big rugby game where Queensland plays New South Wales. They do it every year and it's a best of three; we are going to the first game. Other than that I think I've mentioned just about everything. 

Soccer Game

Last night I went to my first ever soccer game; it was the Brisbane Roar and boy did they roar. The game started at 4 pm and went to about 7 pm and was filled with all sorts of excitement. I went with 2 Australians and 2 other Americans and we decided we wanted to have some team spirit and I bought a flag and Dan got a scarf. The game started out just fine and it seemed like it would be an easy win for us. The first half ended scoreless and when the second half started it was raining.

The rain only made it harder for the teams to score. There was several close calls and for a moment I thought they were going to score. The closest coming at the end of regulation when they got a break away and were wide open for a shot and the whistle blew to signal the end of regulation. I thought we escaped a close one, little did I know it was only to get more interesting.

It turned into over time with two 15 minute periods and the winner at the end would be crowned champion. The first period started and it seemed like we had a chance to score, but the tables turned. The opposing team scored twice in the first period of overtime; at which point everyone thought it was over, I mean it was scoreless for 90 minutes what are the chances we get two goals in a period. The first period ended 2-0 for the Mariners.

At the start of the second period of overtime it seemed like it was over. The Roar didn't seem like they were into the game anymore and the Mariners were just wasting time. A ton of people were leaving with about 5 minutes to go and we also started to, but right when we got to the gate to leave we heard the cheering of a goal and a mob of us ran back in to see what was happening. To our surprise we had finally scored a goal, but we still had doubts with 3 minutes to go that we would score again. At this time we had perfect seats since we ran back in and got on the lower level. With one minutes remaining we got a corner kick and scored our second goal off a header!!! Talk about suspense this put us into penalty kicks and the rest is history.

Here is a link about the highlights totally worth watching so make sure you do it!

http://www.foxsports.com.au/Football/roar-comeback-to-take-title/video-e6frf423-1226020741232?subcat=1111112039253&site=FoxSports

Easter Break and School

It has been awhile since I posted last, I had a cold and am just getting over it now. So, to catch everyone back up, I forgot yo mention I was going to Fiji for my Easter break. We have it all planned and paid for it'll be two other Americans and myself going and we have 1 night on the main land and then 5 nights on Beachcomber island. I'm pretty excited for it everything is set for use just need to show up at the airport! I'm doing that on April 24th and coming back April 30 (my birthday). I'll still be able to celebrate my birthday with everyone here on campus in Brisbane, which is kind of nice.

On to what I've been doing this last week; I've had a nasty cold and thankfully it's about gone, I just have a cough every now and then. Last night we were going to go to Pizza Hut for their buffet somehow we got messed up with the buses at Mt. Gravatt and missed it, so we just went into the city and hit up Queens Street to find a place to eat. For everyone that doesn't know what Queens Street is, it's the main street in Brisbane where all the stores are and places to eat. We roomed around there looking for a place to eat for awhile; there were long lines everywhere, but we ended up settling for Pig 'n' Whistle. I think that was the name, don't quote me on it. It was kind of expensive, but we were all just hungry at the time and ordered anyway. I spent $20 for a burger and some chips (fries). Even with missing the bus to take us to Pizza Hut, I still think it was an awesome night. I'm just keen to go to downtown Brisbane any night. I like living close to the city; it's a nice change from living in St. Cloud where I have to drive an hour to get to a real city. There is always so much going on in Brisbane. After we were done eating we walked to Southbank and looked around; I took some picture on my mobile phone, but I'm still figuring out how to get them on my computer.  

On Friday we are all planning on going to Queens Street for some shopping; I mean we all want to look fashionable. I'm pretty excited for that, get me some Australian style. Tonight I'm going to a soccer game; I'm not that big of a fan of soccer, but I'm only in Brisbane once might as well do it all! I also am getting a fair bit of assignment in class and I'm definitely not used to it. I'm still getting used to the self-teaching aspect of uni here. 

I also just got a gym membership here too. Our floor has been pretty good about it and we usually go for runs  at night, so at least we are trying to stay in shape. I think I'm going to try to get a ticket to the State of Origin rugby game at the end of May. I think we are going to Sydney in a couple of week and Melbourne. Hopefully we can get to Fraser Island. I'll try to keep up to date with my blogs. Cheer!

Classes

Now that I have a week of classes under my belt I can talk a little more freely about it. The classes are just giant lectures most of the tutorials starts in weeks 2 and 3 so I'm still waiting to attend those. I'm more interested to see how the tutorials are and assignments. I'm slightly worried about the assignments I don't exactly know what they want. I'm hoping my professors will give us more detail on what they like, but I have a feeling that won't be happening. I'm going to give it my best shot and I still have to buy 3 more books, which is depleting my funds unfortunately.

I did have this mishap with my Corporate Finance class. Supposedly their corporate finance class and ours are different. The one here is like our Managerial Finance course or FIRE 371 for you SCSU people and Advanced Corporate Finance is the same as our Corporate Finance. I had to find a new class and go to the International Office and talk to the study abroad people to show to them that I have already taken the class. Once she agreed I was able to sign up for a different class nothing that I was really interested, because there was another prerequisite that she didn't know if I met or not. I ended up getting into International Finance, which is fine I'll live. I was worried at first, because the tutorials that were available overlapped a lecture I had earlier in the day, so I sent an e-mail to the professor asking if I could squeeze into a later one. He replied with a no and that I should keep my eye open for spots that may emerge. Well, that sucks is pretty much what I was thinking and I looked for a new class to take that would fit my schedule better. I found Sustainable Investing and this was the class I was referring to earlier that I needed another class as a prerequisite. The lady didn't know and told me to e-mail the professor of the class with the description of the class I had taken at SCSU and see if it was suitable. To sum it up the professor never e-mailed me back and luckily a tutorial opened up for my International Finance class. Even thought one spot did open up it now overlapped the tutorial to a different class; I took the tutorial anyway and was able to move the tutorial of my other class to an earlier time and now my schedule is complete. What does suck though is that I've missed the first lecture for my new class, we'll see how that goes. All in all it was a headache of epic proportions, thankfully it is over and I can finally focus on school.

Now on to my normal life here or what is left of it. Our whole floor went to the movie Unkown in Southbank last night and it was actually pretty good. Tonight I think we are all going to The Vic, but we'll see one of the guys talked about going to this backpackers bar, maybe I'll end up there. I don't have classes tomorrow, so I'll spend the day buying my last few books and doing some homework that has been assigned to me. Cheers!

What was anticipated

So, I've finally came across someone that simply despises me; not for who I am but from where I come from. I have to say it has taken me by surprise, it's not exactly someone you'd expect. I'm perplexed, surprised, astonished, bewildered, anything you could possibly think of. I mean I would never categorize a whole population based on stereotypes.  I've only tied to be nice and talk, yet I've been denied and bashed every time I've came in contact with the person.

This is really puzzling to be honest, I've always viewed myself as an open minded individual; where I put prejudices and stereotypes behind me to truly embrace an individual. So, when I come across someone so ignorant as to only follow the stereotypes then it puzzles me how one could live your life. To me only the uneducated make irrational decisions about other without meeting someone. I would never hate all Iranians or North Koreans; sure we have differences but almost always is because of the media bias. If you aren't willing to get to know someone because of where they are from then I have deep sympathy for you.

This is a situation that I have expected to come across; did I know how I would react, no I didn't. How have I reacted? I've maintained my sense of pride and compassion,. I won't stoop to the level that some of us have and throw hatred out there. I will leave my arms open in hope that one day they will see that we aren't all the way TV portrays us. In reality everyone should have a chance, different opinions, ideas, religions, cultures, should be embraced not hated. We are all people, here for the same purpose.

What my government does does now reflect who I am as a person, if you can't accept that fact and only see me for what America does then I'm sorry for you. If some how you have been done wrong by the U.S.A. then I apologize; remember it wasn't me, I didn't do it. Don't hate me for what my country did. If you want to hate me, hate me for what I've done as an individual . That is the only fair way, we aren't all perfect nor should someone ever expect us to be. We are humans prone to make mistakes, what differentiates us from others is how we react.

This may be my first experience, I doubt it will be my last. We aren't exactly the most beloved country in the world, but everyone should separate government and the citizens. We all deserve fair chances and that is all I'm asking for, a fair chance. If I've wronged you in away, then tell me. I didn't come here to anger individuals, I've came here to embrace the cultures and mold myself into a better person.

I don't want to be the stereotype, I'm not who you see on the TV shows. I came here to break the stereotype that was given to me. I'm not a stupid American, I'm intelligent, driven, hardworking and here to make a difference. If you stereotype us all you miss out on a generation that is accepting of others open to change and willing to make a difference in the world. To me that is foolish; we aren't your enemy I never did anything to you why punish someone for something they have no control over.

My words of wisdom:
Be who you want to be, don't hesitate, don't second guess, we live once take, advantage of every opportunity you have and give everyone a chance. You'd be surprised by the people you meet and where they are from, don't let stereotypes cloud your judgement of a whole society. You don't just miss out on all those wonderful people and the culture they are willing to share with you, but also the lessons you could learn. Life is a learning experience, not a challenge; embrace it and roll with the punches, you'd be surprised by what you discover.

End of O-Week

O-Week officially ends tonight, kind of sad. We have a formal dinner in a couple of hours at an unknown location; most likely somewhere good, hopefully a place with kangaroo; I still want to try it. Last night our bar on campus opened, called the Uni Bar. Jim Beam was sponsoring it, which to me is pretty cool since I doubt they would ever sponsor an event at my school. They gave away free stuff and I got a pair of sunglasses, a singlet and a hat. It was pretty awesome if you ask me. Tomorrow classes finally start and my nice little 3 month vacation is over. No more partying time to focus on some school work, which sounds good to me. I've actually kind of missed going to class; ironic right? I still need to buy books, which I plan on doing tomorrow they recommended we wait until after out first lecture to see if we actually need a book. I'll buy them any most likely I just like to be prepared and it gives me something to read to help study.

So, I got really sunburned after the day at Gold Coast and I'm finally starting to turn tan. I've pretty much put aloe vera on at least 5 times a day and it has lead to me not peeling; at least not yet. Wet n Wild was also pretty fun yesterday. One thing did suck and that was that a couple of rides were closed. We ate dinner at Little Singapore and it was pretty good for the most part.

We have a formal dinner tonight, so I'll make sure I'll blog about it and classes tomorrow.

Differences

We had a pub crawl yesterday for part of O-Week it was pretty fun like everything here is. I haven't really talked about the differences I've experienced, so I thought I should spend some time doing that. First off, it is a lot like America and I didn't experience a lot of culture shock if any. That might be due to me being extremely independent, maybe it'll hit me later or something.

It's been interesting trying to adjust to the lingo here, I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. Oh, and the coins, they have 1 and 2 dollar coins instead of notes; I always have a ton of coins now it's slightly annoying. The bus pass is pretty neat here you get this Go card and you swipe it when you get on and swipe when you get off and are charged for how long you are on it. Now SCSU needs to take a page from the Australia's universities, we have such a garbage orientation it's embarrassing. You do so many fun things here that help everyone get to know each other way more; it's so helpful in meeting new friends and just getting to know your floor better. My Australian university is always renovating and building new buildings to keep the campus up to date and to attract new students. A whole week of orientation is actually a great idea!

I'm excited for classes to start on Monday, I missed this orientation that was during the week so I have to go to it again on Wednesday, o well. I have to run now I'll write again later tonight probably.

Scavenger Hunt

Today we did the scavenger hunt, which was designed to get us more acquainted with the city. It was scorching hot out so I was like dying with every step; I'm talking 90 degrees with 100% humidity. We started out on Queens Street which is the big shopping area for Brisbane and eventually made our way to South Bank. We had to do some crazy tasks and stuff like switch t-shirts with a stranger, kiss a stranger, ride a cannon, act like a kangaroo, take a picture of buns in a bakery, and crazy things like that. I was literally trying to stay in any place that was shade or A/C, I mean come on I'm from Minnesota I don't deal with this heat.

After that we got food and played this game called bowls, which is kind of like bocce ball except that the balls are weights an you roll it on this turf stuff; needless to say I wasn't to good at it. The food here is AMAZING though, I don't think I've had a meal where I was displeased. I'm more excited for tomorrow when we have our toga party! I will have to admit it is a little weird having the RA's encouraging us to drink, but hey it's college. We also have a market day tomorrow (I mentioned it earlier). I'm anxious to get free stuff from it so my room won't be so plain. I also did my laundry finally and  I have quite a few clothes, but I still want to go shopping. They have a little different style then we do in America so why not try to blend in. I just wish things were so damn expensive, but I'll live.

Tomorrow is the awesome toga party I'll post another update about that and the rest of the festivities later. I'm pretty tired tonight it has been a long day, I mean I was woken up by a megaphone. What is this Van Wilder? Maybe....

O-Week has started

So, people finally moved in yesterday and it made things so much better. I met a bunch of Aussies, which was exactly what I've been waiting for. It's actually pretty ridiculously hot, so I've bought 2 fans and have them on full bore to try to keep me modestly cool. There is supposed to be a heat wave tomorrow and it'll get up to 40 Celsius, I might die. I also bought an alarm clock and some water.

Funny story, I was shaving the other night and my razor died, so when I went to charge it it got fried. I had a half shaved beard and no shaving cream, tragedy. Luckily Mara brought over some woman shaving cream and I was able to finish the deed. I ended up going to the mall the next day and getting a new electric razor and shaving cream in case something terrible happens again, but I'm hoping for the best.

Besides that we started O-Week yesterday and had a couple activities like tea brunch, BBQ, floor meeting/icebreaker and not to mention speed dating. Today we have to make flags and then are playing capture the flag tonight. Tomorrow we have a scavenger hunt of Brisbane and then laser tag at night; I'm pretty excited for the scavenger hunt it should be quite fun and I get to explore the city more. Then on Tuesday we have a Market Day which is like Main Street at SCSU. Tuesday night is what we are all looking forward to we have a toga party which is the first night that we can drink on campus, it'll be crazy. Wednesday is a pretty chill day nothing to special and on Thursday we are going to the Gold Coast and then have a pub crawl in the afternoon which should be a lot of fun if it's like the last one we did in Cairns. Friday we have Jello wrestling and a eating challenge should be pretty interesting. Saturday we have a water park at the Gold Coast and then the bar on campus opens, which they call the Uni Bar. Sunday is just a hangout day and then we start class on Monday; I can't wait.

Finally at Griffith

Sorry for not being able to get on anytime sooner. I've had a hectic week and finally have Internet so I can continue blogging about this unforgettable experience. The question is where do I start, so much has happened in the last week it is unbelievable. I'm absolutely in love with this place everyone is so friendly. The first week I stayed in Cairns, which is really just full of tourists, but fun nonetheless.

The Great Barrier Reef is truly AMAZING!!! That was by far the highlight of my time here. I was able to snorkel and scuba dive it. It is a whole different world down there it is hard to come up with words that actually describe it; just so surreal. I also did some volunteer work planting trees and a local farm/nature preserve. I was also able to see the rainforest and had a duck boat tour which was interesting. Oh yeah we did a party bus/pub crawl deal and it was a great time, I had so much fun. I'll leave out the juicy details since my parents and such and reading this, sorry.

I just got to campus on Thursday, which was Wednesday for you guys. The campus is bigger than SCSU and has a lot of wildlife on it. It's crazy how the animals just roam around and get within a foot of you. I'll take pictures of some when I can and when I see more. My feet are pretty shredded from all the walking I've done in the last week. I'm finally staying in tonight for the first time since I've arrived; we've had some pretty crazy experiences to say the least.

Now about today, I did some shopping got some school supplies, shampoo, body wash, deodorant, Tim Tam, and the other guys got their phones finally. That made things more simple since we are able to just communicate that way instead of setting a time and a place to meet. I'm really enjoying it here and using a night for reflection is probably for the best. I'll leave this one at that talk to you all again tomorrow.

The Night Before Departure

How do I start my last blog entry from the confines of where I've lived for 20 years? I couldn't tell you; what I can tell you is that up until tonight I wasn't hit with the nervous, anxious, excited, sad bug. The more I think about it the more I yearn to explore. Don't get me wrong I'll miss my family and friends immensely, but I'm ready to explore this wonderful place we call earth.

Today I hung out with Curt, Steph, and Ryan; it was a wonderful time and it'll be weird walking up and not seeing them since I've pretty much lived at Ryan and Curt's place this whole break. Tonight it finally caught up to me, I'm actually leaving. I'm not just a short drive away from home I'm on a completely different continent with complete strangers in a place that is alien to me. To be honest, I've never been more excited in my life; this would normally take people out of their comfort zone, but not with me. I've came to conquer this challenge they call life and I'm taking it by the horns.

I truly believe that it is essential for people to travel to get a better grasp on reality. I'm going into this with a completely open mindset, willing to make the most of every opportunity that I get. I'm literally leaving the state of Minnesota for a solid year and that is finally starting to set in. I mean, I've virtually been in the same location my whole life and ever since I graduated high school I wondered what my life would be like when I got older, well now I get a little taste of the real world. I know to many people that aren't willing to step out of their comfort zones and it's a shame, live a little. The world is far to big to stay in one place your whole life.

Now after sitting here staring at my computer for 5 minutes and not typing I'd have to say this may be the greatest feeling ever......pure bliss. I finally feel like I'm doing something that is life changing; I've worked hard for many years and in 2011 it is really starting to take shape. If someone would of asked me 3 years ago if I think I would be going to Australia and interning for IBM in Washington DC in the same year I would of called you crazy. It is still a littler surreal to me, but here I am the night before I leave for Australia sitting in my basement with my booking confirmation and my acceptance letter from IBM. This might be the moment in time where I sit there and say this is why I did what I did, this is who I want to be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BZlgCIhyXU

5 Days Remaining

The cyclone that was worrying me has passed and everything seems to be fine in Cairns. They did move some of the orientations to Brisbane; the people that arrived between Feb. 4 and Feb. 9 were moved to Brisbane. Luckily I'm arriving after that and get to go to the Great Barrier Reef still, you have no idea how excited I am! 

The last couple of days I've been trying to see everyone I possibly can before I leave, which means I've been running around visiting people left and right. I went to a job fair yesterday just to pass time; it was interesting. I did end up getting to see one of my friends who I haven't seen in FOREVER since she was doing an internship abroad (lucky right). 

As for packing goes, well I haven't gotten that far, yet. I'm thinking when Monday rolls around I'm going to try to get everything packed and see if my luggage is the right weight and so on. Until then I want to take it easy before I have to start this crazy year I have ahead of me that couldn't make me more excited. I'll be doing plenty of traveling outside and inside of the U.S.A. it'll be an adventure. One thing I have done is I'm trying to get my iPod up to date before I leave; that is one long plane ride/s I have in store for me. It's important to have good music, I might go crazy otherwise. One artist I must recommend to EVERYONE is Israel Cannan. He's from Australia, and I just love his stuff. 

I think that is it for now. 5 days and counting my next post will probably be on Wednesday the night before I leave. The anticipation is killing me.

10 Days and Counting

Out of pure boredom I decided to start my blog early and give everyone a little heads up of what I'm thinking about. I initially planned on start it the day before I leave but I'm impatient and Zac told me to start early.

As everyone knows (or should know) Australia has been hit with some flooding, as in some I mean a lot! To make matters worse on top of their endless rain they just got hit by a cyclone and have another one coming that is being called "the biggest to ever hit Queensland" great, just great. It is predicted to possibly hit Cairns, which would really put a damper on our orientation. If I recall correctly it should touch shore by Wednesday I think. I'm hoping everything goes smoothly and nothing terrible happens between now and next Thursday. I'll post and update when the time comes.

As for my nerves, I guess it really hasn't set in yet that I'm actually going. I've start packing, a very sorry attempt at it to say the least. I pretty much have shorts, t-shirts, swim suits, and some dress pants. I have intentions of wearing shorts there and my light jacket. Currently my luggage sits open in a heap on my floor, I'll get to it eventually.

I've already picked classes and am all registered I'll be taking: Corporate Finance, Money Banking and Finance, Public Economics, and Economic Growth and Sustainable Development to be quite frank I'm quite excited to be taking the last one. There classes are different than ours from what I've understood so far. Each class had a lecture and a tutorial, the tutorial being a smaller group and taught by a TA. I don't exactly know, once I've finally had class I'll write more about it.

I have intentions of trying to do this everyday, but I'll be more realistic and say I'll try to get on here once a week when I'm there.