Tag: arosema93

By arosema93

At my ‘Uni’, the Australian National University, I have been living at a college for the last 7 months. And yes, there is a difference between a university and a college in Australia. They ARE different things, which can initially lead to some confusion. While a university is exactly what we would think of a university, a college is a residence hall on or near the university, similar to a dorm, but not always owned by the university. At ANU, international students and students from other states are guaranteed a spot at a college if they choose to accept it.

However, besides living in it, the similarities to an American dorm ends about there. First of all, every room is a single. Everywhere. Australians enjoy living in single rooms and find the concept of living with other people, sometimes random new people, to be extremely weird and uncomfortable. As GW students, we often think of people who choose single rooms as being quiet or shy or something along those lines. No one really wants a single room unless they are antisocial. In Australia, this is not the case due to the nature of what a college is. While colleges do feature single rooms, they also all have some sorts of central areas where large amounts of socialization take place. Instead of partying or hanging out in someone’s room, socialising takes place in a large common area with all the other residents. Sometimes, as in the case of my college, the common area can feature things like a massive kitchen where all the ressies cook and eat meals, a fully stocked bar, a lounge area, and a games room with pool and ping pong. ...continue reading "University, College, and Uni. Are they not the same?"

By arosema93

They say that you learn something new every day and this week it was something I never expected to learn before coming to America. I learned to drive a manual car! Apparently, something that I never realized is that most of the rest of the world still largely drives manual cars, partially due to their fuel efficiency. So, when I came to Australia, I was hit by the realization that I would only be capable of driving about 10% of the cars in the country. In Australia, some states require a separate license/test in order to drive a manual vehicle. However, an American license is 100% valid in Australia and also still qualifies me to drive a manual; despite the fact that I would have no idea what I was doing. ...continue reading "How to Save a Baby Kangaroo"

By arosema93

The last week was a little rough for me. For the first time in Australia, I got sick. I came down with a cold/flu sort of thing for several days. It was being passed around my college pretty quickly and I knew I would get it. As my college is a fairly close knit group of 500 uni students living in close quarters and spending the majority of their time together, things obviously spread quickly (think of the Thurston flu).

But after a few days I improved, and it was only necessary to take one sick day at work. My illness was further improved by the opportunity to spend two relaxing amazing days at the beach this last weekend. Despite being winter in Canberra, it was a sunny 75 degrees at the beach both days which was perfect for hiking and having a bonfire. It was a little chilly at night, but so worth it for the experience of sleeping under the stars on the beach in Australia.

During my time here, I have yet to find something better than sleeping under the Australian stars on the beach listening to the waves crashing in. Stars in Australia are pretty special, due to the fact that the ozone layer is much thinner over Australia than the rest of the world. While this can easily lead to a sunburn (or a nice tan) during the day, at night it allows millions of stars to shine through in a way that is not even possible in America. Added to that, is the experience of different stars from back home. For example, there is the Southern Cross, but no Northern Star, and Orion is upside down! It was also really weird to return to campus from two days at the beach and run into friends as they arrived back from a two day trip to the mountains and skiing.

As I am sure is interesting to nearly all GW students (seeing as we retook the honour of most politically active campus), Australia has an election coming up, and it sure is different than an American election. For starters, the election is not held on the same date all the time. Actually, it’s not even held every three or four years. It just has to be somewhere within that timeframe and the party in power gets to decide when they want it to be. Once the date is decided, Australians have about a month to enrol to vote, change their registration, or whatever else they need to do to ensure they are not fined for not voting under Australia’s compulsory voting laws. Also, instead of voting for a person to be prime minister, you vote for a party, the leaders of which then get to decide the prime minister. Sounds alright, except that they are allowed to change who the prime minister is whenever they want, as happened about a month ago. One day, they just decided they were sick of the prime minister and replaced her with a new one.

If that isn’t absurd politics then I don’t know what is. Just after writing this one of my friends showed me a piece of brilliance by John Stewart that really sums it all up quite well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx9eH3qOJXw

As this is my first blog posting, I am sure you are expecting to hear all about long travel times, excitement about arriving in a foreign country, and an update on how I am settling in. However, I have already been abroad for a semester so none of that stuff applies. I am studying at the Australian National University in Canberra and have just finished up the first week of classes of what is the second semester here. Having just come off of a nearly two month “winter” break I have had a bit of readjustment to do even though I stayed around Canberra and worked nearly the whole time. Many of my good friends were international exchange students as well, but unfortunately the majority of them departed after one semester. Wouldn’t be enough time for me. Saying goodbye was tough, but hopefully I will see them again one day and now we have a new group of incoming exchange students!! ...continue reading "Another Semester in Australia"