July 2005 My First Week in Aussie!

Well my first week has been very busy, I arrived on Monday, a little tired and Jet lagged, but very excited...because I was finally in Australia. I checked into my apartment and got settled in preparation for orientation the next day.

Orientation was great, very informative and actually very funny; they took us on a tour of their very modern campus and patiently answered every question that I had.  There are about 250 international students from all over the world, places like Chile, Peru, Germany and Japan.  Everyone is so excited about meeting new people and really enjoying their semester here.

Some of the international students and myself at the Australia Zoo.

After about 2 days of orientation, Friday arrived and all the international students were able to have dinner together at Underwater World, which was planned by the school.  Underwater World is similar to aquariums in the US.  Dinner was wonderful and I got to meet more people from many different countries.  On Saturday the school took the international students to the Australia Zoo, home of the Crocodile hunter, Steve Irwin.  This Zoo is large and surpasses many US zoos, it is about 70 acres now and in 5 years it will be about 315 acres.  There are many wide open spaces for their diverse display of animals, which include Elephants, Snakes and Crocodiles.  There are also many interactive places, where the visitors can pet Kangaroos and Koala Bears.  The zoo has many great shows that are also amazing, including a crocodile show and tiger show.

Me petting a kangaroo!		Koala bears are sooo cute!

On Monday classes will start, but they are much different because they do not meet as often as classes meet in the U.S.  They also offer classes at what they call the Innovation center, which is a really modern looking convention center.  At this building they offer yoga, Tai Chi and Karate.  The Innovation center also hosts many expos in the community; here the college and the community are very closely linked.

Over all, this place is excellent, there is plenty to do and I am so excited to see it all in the next few months! 

Danielle