April Fools

UNC makes it to the National Championship!!! But I'm 10,000 miles away from Chapel Hill...I wish this was an April Fools joke. We play Gonzaga on Monday night, USA time, which is Tuesday morning for me. I have such a mix of emotions: absolutely heartbroken that I'm not there but also thrilled for the Heels! My friends were feeling my pain as I stressfully tried to live stream the Oregon game on my phone, while on a bus in the middle of nowhere. They all put UNC as winning the whole tournament so they are cheering with me! I will be skipping my classes Tuesday morning to watch the championship (sorry again Mom and Dad, priorities). 

Speaking of class, I have found that USYD is a bit harder than UNC. In my Australian Politics class, I am already struggling. Not to mention, the amount of times I have been asked about Donald Trump *cringe* Also, someone asked me if I own a gun. Lol. I sit in the back of my 20-person tutorial and Google every word our teacher says. Although our systems of government are similar with state and federal powers, Australia has a Parliamentary system, which I've never studied before. 

Last week in class, our tutor asked us if anyone knew how many seats are in the House of Representatives. He asked three times over and no one answered. I had just googled the Senate vs. the HOR and knew the answer. I slowly raised my hand and said, "150?" My teacher laughed and said "Well, thank goodness the American in the room knows the answer!" 

I was in his office hours the following morning asking about the Labor Party, the Liberal Party, the Greens, why they still follow the Queen, etc. I'm still confused but I'm working my way. Campus is so beautiful that it makes it easy to be there all day long. 

Daylight Savings happened yesterday for Australia- which has been a bit confusing. When I arrived in February, it was a 16-hour time difference from North Carolina. Then, the U.S. had daylight savings and it was 15 hours. Now, with another time switch, we're at 14 hours. 

I definitely feel at home here now. I love the lifestyle--adventure is everywhere! Last weekend, I went to a surf camp in Gerringong, which is about a 2.5 hour drive south of Sydney. It was SO much fun. The surfing instructors were great and they definitely fit the stereotype, throwing up the shaka frequently. The small city of Gerringong was an adorable beach town. And most importantly, I learned how to surf! We learned the motions of how to stand up on the board, adjust your stance to accelerate/decelerate and how to turn. The day and a half of lessons was awesome and I was able to get up several times! I will probably rent a board at the beach sometime and practice with my friends. Although it was fun, surfing is exhausting. It's a full-body exercise and I was starving at the end of each 3-hour lesson. 

Speaking of eating, I eat a LOT here. I'm so active that I need to eat a solid three meals a day. It's affecting my wallet but a girls gotta eat! Not to mention, the coffee is phenomenal. I drink a cup every day, usually iced lattes since it's hot outside. Oh, and the dessert... We all know I have a big sweet tooth and my friend Mallory has it even worse. The two of us have gotten gelato several times together and are excited to try more dessert places around the city! 

This past weekend, we took a trip to Melbourne to do the Great Ocean Road and it was incredible! One of my friends from Carolina is studying abroad there so we were able to stay with her. Our flight Thursday night got cancelled because of the cyclone that had hit the Gold Coast last week so we had to go back home and get on the next flight out Friday morning. (Life lesson learned: how to be polite but very assertive).

Unfortunately, we only had one day in Melbourne but we made the most of it by exploring downtown, the gardens and going to an AFL game! Aussies Rules football is exciting to watch because it's a very quick-paced game. The AFL started in Melbourne so they are huge on the sport and have multiple teams. Luckily, Melbourne's Western Bulldogs played the Sydney Swans! It ended up being a really close game and it was awesome to experience the rivalry amongst some dedicated fans. 

I was also able to squeeze in dinner with a friend of mine, Jade, who was in my pledge class! She was an exchange student at UNC my freshman year. Jade is a year older than me but it was so great to catch up. I understand now what it was like for her as an exchange student at Carolina.

Melbourne is a lot different than Sydney. I would say it's similar to Boston/NYC and Sydney is apparently like LA. Melbourne is known for their art and music culture. I loved it! I wish we had spent more time there but we left early Saturday morning to do the Great Ocean Road. 

Our tour guide was great because he taught us all about the history of the road. It was made after World War 1 as a memorial and also to give the soldiers work after returning from war. We stopped at the Kennett River and a parrot flew on my shoulder! I was so caught off guard and my friends laughed at me as I cringed with this bird on my back. 

I've been traveling with a great group of friends- Hailey, Chandler and Mallory. Hailey and Chandler go to UC Berkley and Mallory goes to UW Madison. We've had so much fun together! 

During the Great Ocean Road, we saw the 12 Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge, the fallen London Bridge and much more. The views were breathtaking. We stayed in a hostel Saturday night in a 6-person bedroom. Since there were 4 of us, we got matched up with 2 other people on our tour. They were two 60 year old women from the U.K. At first we cringed but then they walked into the room and said, "how old are you guys?" When we said 20, they busted out laughing and said, "We were right, we're three times your age!" Jill and Winnie were hilarious, we loved them. They were on a retirement trip and we drank wine with them in our tiny room with 3 bunk beds. Definitely a highlight of the trip. 

On Sunday, we toured The Grampians. It was a bit chilly, opposing the 70 degree weather in Sydney. We went to Halls Gap, a kangaroo park and hiked at Mackenzie Falls. Again, the views were incredible. 

When we arrived in Adelaide, we found an Italian restaurant and had a nice dinner there. We had been on a bus for 2 days so we decided to ~treat ourselves. The four of us had a great weekend together. We are all very adventurous but organized so they were awesome travel buddies. I've only know them for 6 weeks but we're already so close! We are already planning a trip to Berkeley and they want to come to Chapel Hill for a basketball game too! 

It has been an incredible past couple weeks. I am SO happy, I never want to leave! I feel myself growing into a more independent and confident person, as I've learned so much here already. 

Back to reality- now I'm off to write a paper about the likelihood of success of a referendum proposal in the Constitution (???)....and meet with my Market Research group project. Cheers mates!

xx, Em