Week Three

Hello and greetings once again from the Lucky Country! In this week's blog post I will be discussing a weekend trip me and some of the other international students took to the Botanic Gardens here in Wagga Wagga and a few more random musings on the differences between Australian and American culture.

Last weekend, me and a few of the other international students (three Americans, one Swede, one Canadian, and a Frenchwoman) took a trip to the Botanic Gardens in Wagga Wagga. Well, not exactly in Wagga Wagga. Wagga's public transportation (actually a lot better and more frequently used than it would be in a town of its size in America) dropped us quite a ways from our destination and gave us the opportunity to walk through and explore some of Wagga's suburbs. The neighbourhoods we walked through were all quite nice and pleasant. In fact, they definitely could've passed for a typical American suburb in one of the bigger cities (as the houses were quite close together, uncomfortably for so for my tastes). One thing, however, that definitely separates the architecture of Australian family homes from those of American ones, is the fact that Australian houses have either tin roofs or tile roofs. My grandmother lives in Phoenix, so a tile roof is nothing new to me, but a tin roof on someone's home would be seem quite absurd and probably be deemed ugly by most Americans (especially in this part of the country). I have yet to have seen a single shingled roof, and I have to admit I do find the tin roofs (not the tile ones) quite displeasing to the eye.

But anyways, after we had taken a pleasant morning stroll through the Wagga Wagga suburbs we finally arrived at the Botanic Gardens. It was earlier in the day, but the weather was pleasant, and  there weren't many people there so it proved to be a very relaxing walk. I only included four pictures in this particular blog post for the sake of space, however, if you would like to see more photographic evidence of my adventures, feel free to view them on my Facebook page. There have been absolutley gorgeous sunsets here in Wagga over the past week, but no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to do them justice with my iPhone. The pictures I've posted here on this blog entry turned out fairly nicely, though I would've liked to have taken slightly more scenic photos.

The Botanic Gardens consisted of a lovely nature walk through uniquely Australian floral and tree arrangements, there was also a Chinese pagoda, and a Shakespeare garden (though I was bit let down by this one, it was really just a small area surrounding a fountain in the middle of a hedge). There was also a lovely rose garden and numerous pathways for people to take very relaxing walks. The zoo, which included mostly animals native to Australia, was good fun and pictures of the kangaroos, peacocks, and other creatures can be found once again on my Facebook page for public viewing. There was also an incredibly pleasant outdoor chapel, where outdoor weddings and the like could take place. The trip was definitely a delightful excursion and I will more than likely go back when spring arrives here in Australia shortly.

Overall, the trip was a delightful one and I had a great time. Speaking of trips, I will be taking a trip to Sydney this weekend and as you can probably guess, that will be the subject of next week's post. Expect lots of cool pictures (hopefully) and nice anecdotes. I have finally found a method of uploading pictures that works reasonably well, so that frustrating aspect of blogging has mostly been eliminated. As I hope you can tell, I'm starting to get a better feel for this blogging thing with each passing week, just pray that my progress continues. More updates coming soon, have a nice week!

Week Two



The main entrance to CSU- Wagga Wagga campus

Hello! Greetings once again from Down Under! In this week's blog post I am going to discuss some of the differences I've already noticed between Charles Sturt University and Missouri Southern, as well as some of the differences between American and Australian higher education in general.

First off, before I get started, I would like to address some things about this blog. I am very new to Blogger and to blogging in general; so I am far from mastering the website's functions and nuances. I expect to have much nicer looking entries by the end of the semester, but until then, I would like to kindly ask everyone to please bear with me. Uploading pictures is still a bit of hassle on the school library's computers and once again, the quality of the pictures is only as good as my iPhone will allow. I assure you the photographs I've taken hardly do the campus or the town justice, but I'll try to do as nicely as I can.

One of the first things I noticed before I even arrived at CSU, was the fact that Australians refer to universities as "uni" rather than "college" as we Americans so often say. There are a myriad of differences between CSU and MSSU, and probably many differences between CSU and just about any other American university. One of the very first things I noticed, and one that stands out to me in particular, is the issue of "timetables". I had heard the term "timetable" mentioned in several of my dealings with CSU officials prior to my arrival here, although I wasn't exactly sure what they entailed. Apparently, at Australian universities, or maybe just CSU, the times and days on which the classes meet are not set in stone until after the first full week of class. This is highly unusual to me and most likely due to the fact that times of the classes are not determined until after students have signed up for them. By the time all of the international students had enrolled in our classes, there were actually many timetables clashes and scheduling conflicts with many of our classes overlapping. As you can imagine, this was highly frustrating to many of the students, as a few of them had to re-arrange what classes they were taking entirely. As for me, I had only real conflict, which was easily resolved by me substituting one history class for another one at the exact same level. As you can tell, such a concept is strange to me, because back in America, the students build their own schedules around when each class is offered, allowing them to eliminate all scheduling conflicts easily (in my personal opinion, the American system is far superior to the one used here at CSU).

Other than this minor difference, CSU and MSSU have a lot in common. CSU is slightly bigger, in terms of both student body size and campus acreage, but the library, the dining hall, and the way the classes are conducted bear strong similarities to what I'm used to back in the States. So far, the lecturers at CSU have been extremely kind and helpful. Every single one of them is very approachable, in addition to be very knowledgeable of their respective subjects and quite good at lecturing in an interesting manner. Most of the lectures here at CSU meet once a week and are scheduled for two hours (though the full two hour block is rarely used). While the timetable system struck me as a bit inefficient and un-organized ( it seems that the school's administration is somewhat inferior to MSSU as well), overall, I have had a good first experience with my classes here in Australia.

A couple more random observations: In Australian culture, it is customary for students upon graduating high school to take a "gap year" where the student takes a year off from school to travel and experience new things. Because of this, most few year students at "uni" are 19, rather than 18 like a traditional American freshman. I assume this is because general education requirements do not exist in Australia, students are expected to specialize in their field right from the start. I suppose more American students who are unsure of what they want to study in college, or whether they want to attend college at all, could benefit from taking a "gap year".

My final observation on the differences between the American university experience and the Australian one is the difference in the spelling of certain words. For the most part, you can read something written by an Australian or an English person, and have no idea that person is not American. However, as I have been told, Australian English is preferred when submitting essays at CSU. Therefore, organization becomes "organisation", color becomes "colour", program becomes "programme" and enroll becomes "enrol". Needless to say, that's going to take some getting used to. I've already had fits trying to decipher the Australian dating system. As you can expect, the date 22/07/14 makes little sense to me. Cheers!

A strange sculpture-like thing behind the CSU Library

Week One

This is my first blog post since arriving in Australia. I have now been in the country for nearly a week which has given me time to reflect on my situtation and formulate some first impressions of Australia and its people. Here are some of the first photos I took from the plane on the way into Sydney. The first photograph is of the uninhabited wilderness that surrounds Sydney and the second photo of the Sydney skyline actually includes the iconic Sydney Opera House in the background (though due to the limitations of my iPhone camera I was unable to make it clearly visible). The Opera House juts out into the harbor and is relatively isolated from the other buildings. In the picture, it is the small white building that lies just behind the bridge. My very first impressions of the country were those of delight and excitement. I have never been outside the continental United States, so the mere fact of being abroad anywhere is very new and exciting to me. Even before I reached my destination of Wagga Wagga, I had great experiences with Aussies. I really enjoy the fact that Australians are so friendly and outgoing, everyone seems to look you in the eye and be very friendly and cordial. I don't think I've seen a single person with their eyes completely glued to their phone like I see so often in the States. And also very fortuntately, I have yet to have met a stand-offish person. As for the landscape, Australia is far and away the most naturally beautiful place I have ever visited. The Charles Sturt University campus is filled with eucalyptus trees and plam trees, and the amount of exotically-colored birds and yes, wild kangaroos, makes you feel as if you're in the Australia exhibit at the zoo. I find taking walks around campus is incredibly refreshing; just to look at the beautiful trees and see all these exotic animals is exciting. The Charles Sturt University campus is located roughly ten miles from downtown Wagga Wagga, which in many ways, has the feel of a typical Midwestern town like my hometown of Joplin. The city is fairly large ( I have been given rough population estimates of anywhere from 60,000 to 80,000 people). The city is inland, however, the Murrumbidgee River is nearby and there is a lake called Lake Albert in the general area as well. I have been told by students at the univeristy ( the "uni" as they all call it) that Wagga is considered a country town, as it is surrounded by "properties" (the Australian term for farms). The first night I arrived in Wagga Wagga, I stayed at the Astor Motor Inn in town. One of the first things I noticed in Australia, was how expensive everything was. The Australian Dollar is currently about 10 cents weaker than the American dollar, however, the cost of living is much higher than it is back in Missouri. I assume this is due to the beauty of the countryside, though I can't imagine how expensive things must in big, coastal cities like Sydney and Melbourne. Orientation Week went very smoothly, I immediately felt like I was important and that my needs as an international student had been taken into strong consideration. The International Student Support Officer here, Ms. Jacqueline Blomfield, has been extremely helpful in getting me and my fellow internationals settled in and provided for. So I can safely say that, overall, I have had a great first impression of Australia. And yes, it is the dead of winter Down Under, and the temperatures during mid-day hover in the low to mid-50s with occasional rainfall and cloudy skies. However, the rainfall is never anywhere near the levels of the torrential downpours we see so often during spring or winter in Missouri. So, for those of you that are curious what an Australian winter is actually like, it is in fact quite mild and closer to a typical Midwestern fall or early spring, although native Australians appear to be freezing.