Letters From Down Under: Living in a Land Down Under

It’s the beginning of week four in Fremantle, Australia! I’m sorry I didn’t start this blog sooner but better late than never. I have been adjusting to my new life in Australia, I can honestly say that studying abroad was one the greatest decisions I have made. I feel so blessed to have this amazing opportunity and I’m going to blog once a week to share the adventures that I’ll be having for the next few months. First I’ll start with a review of my first three weeks:

(The plane, the service was amazing!)

Week One

The group of Iona students arrived to our new home located a nice 3 minutes walk from the beautiful beach. We are tired, exhausted and in desperate need of a shower. Travelling for nearly a day is exhausting. We flew from JFK to Germany, Germany to Singapore and finally Singapore to Perth, Australia. It was a shock how hot the weather was, the trees are very skinny and tall. Our first mission was to find a taxi for the six of us. I walked up to an airport traffic operator and he said in the coolest accent that I have heard, “You are gonna’ need a maxi taxi, walk down to the other corridor”. I cheerfully thanked him, we walked with all of our heavy luggage to the “maxi taxi” line. Maybe I should have listened to my dad, maybe I over packed just a little. But when you are travelling across the world for four months, you have to be prepared.

In our new home we all have single rooms, we a nice breeze because we are oh so close to the nice blue water and white sand. For the following days we had orientation. I mingled with my fellow Americans but I was truly eager to start school and met Australians. They have many funny acronymns, such as “sunnys” which mean sunglasses, “Could you turn on the aircon?” (aircon = air conditioner) and the even the place we live in isn’t called Fremantle, its Freo.

The highlight of week one was our Scavenger Hunt all over Fremantle and the big city Perth. A throng of study abroad students gathered in the main student office building as each eagerly read the list on the walls to see what group we were in.

I was assigned to group 4, there were about 12 of us, I met students from Ohio, Wisconsin, two nice girls from France and our nice Australian guide (I sadly don’t remember his name) were there to guide us to make sure we boarded the right trains and busses to go to our destination. During the hunt we had to do the strangest things like have everyone do handstands, all at the same time. We had to take a photocopy of someone’s hand; luckily I found a convenience store in Perth and with a copy machine! We had to find a paper menu, to be fair this task seemed ordinary but a friend and I never found one. The most rewarding and tiring part of our six-hour scavenger hunt was walking to King’s Park and the Botanic Garden. First we had to walk up Jacob’s ladder which about 242 steps. We walked up the steps in our 95 degree Fahrenheit, which is about 35 Celsius (I need to get used to Celsius and the metric system). But once we made it to the top, it was worth it. It is the most beautiful park I have ever seen.

At the end of the week, I was glad that we had Sunday to ourselves. So finally we went to the beach! It was fantastic!

Lastly, I wanted to cry out with joy when I received my class schedule. I got into all my top choices and I have a lovely two days off. However, during the next two weeks I realized that time we really be to spend nice long dates with my books in the library and learning how to use my DSLR Nikon Camera for Digital Photography class.

Week Two

It was my first week of school and I felt happy to be back to some structure. It is definitely, a different structure from the United States. The first week was an introduction to how our classes will be in Australia. The chancellor of our school nearly scared of us as she stressed the importance of independent study and how challenging the course work in Australia will be compared to the United States. An Australian girl told us that her experience studying abroad to America, that felt, “no offense, you guys are a bit spoon-fed”. Keeping her words in mind, I felt more determination to prove that would do well academically.

Take a look at my first photography assignment; we have a key word each week. The keyword was “Street”.

(My lecturer like it!)

Here's my small description:

Moments after the keyword “Street” was mentioned during lecture, I thought about objects reside on the streets of Fremantle. As I was walking one day from the Co-Op bookstore, I saw this small gray alley cat walking past an ostentatious motorcycle. I think this picture captures to different walks of life; this small four-legged animal struggling to survive next to a flashy two-wheeled motorcycle used by a person to cruise the streets of Fremantle. I hope this photo reflects that the streets are shared.

I found these two beautiful birds, while I snapping photos for photography class.

After my first week in school, a group of friends and I went to Perth to experience what the nightlife is like. Unlike the clubs in America that have ventured to, there are band that play live music, they sand covers of popular songs in America. Overall, it was a fun night out. The streets are much more narrow and buildings a many stories shorter than what I am used to in New York City.

Week Three

Class, I mean lecture is a little different from America. I usually have lecture for two to three hours then a break in between to make my lunch. Making instead of swiping my convenient meal plan card, is certainly an adjustment. I sure do miss the home meals that my Dad cooks for my mom and I.

I had my first homework assignments due. For Introduction to Australian History I learned about the conflicts and different viewpoints of how Australia came to exist. It’s a little more complex than just being a continent that the British shipped convicts to.

During the weekend, I ventured to Perth with friends. It's so much fun to be a tourist, especially when people everywhere are so friendly.