Sunday 19 October 2014

Week Fifteen

Interesting installation at the NGV

Memorial to King Edward VII

Stained glass ceiling at the NGV

Me and some other international students at a banquet


Hello again everyone! Welcome to the Week Fifteen entry for JayceDownUnder, which means this is my next to last blog post. Time has truly passed rapidly the entire time I've been here in Australia! With now slightly less than two weeks left, the first stages of my preparation for leaving have begun. So, I think for this week's topic, I will be discussing the last phases of my semester down under.

Well, as I write this post, it is Monday in Australia, and the final exam period here at Charles Start University has officially begun. Fortunately, my first final isn't until this Friday, so I have plenty of time to study and prepare. To be honest, I could definitely get used to having two whole weeks off of class to prepare for finals. And on top of that, I have only two finals to prepare for. Therefore, my stress-level during finals is at an all-time low.

As is customary here at my blog, I will take a brief moment to explain the photographs I've included above. The first photo is of a very interesting art installation that I came across in the sculpture/scent garden at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). I'm not sure whether it's a wall painting or what ,the technical art term is for such an installation, but I did find it very interesting. The second photo is, as the caption would suggest, a memorial to Edward VII, who was king of the United Kingdom from 1901 to 1910. While both Australia and the United States have a similar heritage as former colonies of Great Britain, I find it quite interesting how Australia is far more proud of their English heritage than we are in the US. I suppose the fact that Australia remains part of the British Commonwealth, coupled with the fact that they obtained their independence peacefully, might have something to do with that. Which brings to me to my random observation that Australian culture very often feels like a hybrid of its west-coast American and English counterparts. 

Anyways, back to the pictures. The third photo is of the beautiful stained glass ceiling at the NGV. I've been trying to include more photos of myself for  my last blog entries, so I thought I'd include a picture of myself and some other international students at a banquet I attended that was specifically for internationals. This banquet took place over a month and a half ago, but it was a good picture and shows some of the friends I've made during my stay, so I'd thought I'd post it for my readers back home.

So, back to the specifics of what I'm doing for my last two weeks in Australia. I realise (see what I did there) that me explaining my plans for my final days here are not that interesting (especially to those of you reading here in Australia) but as I'm running out of things to blog about, I apologise as is this is my only recourse. My final on this Friday is for a business management class, and my second final is a history exam (essay form) that takes place on next Wednesday. So, needless to say, I've got a lot of writing to do before I leave this country.

Well, I think that's going to be a wrap for this week's entry. So, that means we've only got one blog post to go. I remember thinking about my Week Sixteen post during the beginning of the semester, and thinking it seemed like an eternity away. And now, it's nearly here. Wow! Anyways, you still have at least one exciting (but not really) account of my adventures to look forward to. So for the last time, I'll say: see you all next week!

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