A Normal Week

Since my blogs have been chaotic, disorganized, and all over the place, I feel it is best followers know what an average week is for me.

Monday:

My day starts sometime between 7:00 and 8:00 am.  I wake up and turn the TV on to watch the morning news, which is very similar to the Today Show.  After giving myself sometime to wake up, I start off with a healthy breakfast.  I normally eat Frosties covered in yogurt, glass of orange or apple juice, banana, raisin toast, and maybe a fruit bar. After my morning breakfast, I head out to go surfing around 10:00 at Bar Beach with Jared, Elouen, Carstan, Ulrich, or David.  Depending on the surf, we normally spend 2 hours at the beach before heading back.  Its really nice knowing Elouen, Carstan, Ulrich, Jared, and David because they have a house 5 mins away from Bar Beach.  I can leave my surfboard at their house along with my wet-suit.  Its also nice that they have an outside shower.  I can get all the saltwater off of my wet-suit and body.  After cleaning up, I will sometimes buy a meat pie from the Darby Bakery.  Afternoons are spent in relaxation.  

Tuesday:

Tuesday start off around 7:00 am.  Again I get up and watch the morning news with eat my breakfast.  After breakfast I get ready for school.  Before my classes, my study abroad group meets at 11:00 for a group session.  After the group session, I head over to NUSA for some free lunch, which normally includes sausages on a piece of bread and a vegetarian meal.  My first class is ABOR 1110 - Intro to Aboriginal Studies from 1:00 - 2:00.  The professor is interesting and really laid back.  After ABOR, I'll spend time hanging outside or in the Shortland building, which offers a wide variety of places to grab food and relax.  My next class, MNGT 2002 - Business Venturing, goes from 3:00 - 5:00.  After that I head back to the train for the apartment.

Wednesday:

Wednesday starts off at 7:00.  I do my normal morning routine of news and breakfast.  Class starts at 10:00 with ACFI 3140, or International Finance, and ends at 11:00.  After ACFI, I head to Shortland to meet up with some international friends for lunch.  After lunch, I waste time by listening to music for my next class.  The next class is ACFI 3140 lecture from 1:00  - 3:00.  After that I head for the train for the apartment.  Wednesday nights are spent out on the town or chilling in the apartment.

Thursday:

Thursdays starts off like every other school day.  I get up at 7:00, watch the news, and eat breakfast.  Class, ABOR 1110, goes from 9:00 - 11:00.  After my class, I head to NUSA for a free lunch, which includes a sausage and some other snack.  Next, I spend time on campus waiting for my next class at 2:00.  MNGT 2002 starts at 2:00 and ends at 3:00.  After class, the Mountaineering Club normally holds a bbq around 6:30.  After the bbq, I head for the train and for the apartment.

Friday - Sunday:

Friday through Sunday are pretty much the same.  Since I have no classes for the next four days,  I spend the weekend surfing at Bar Beach.  If for some reason I have homework, I will spend time on it.
Depending on my food situation, I will take my awesome bike and go to Woolworth's for food. I acquired my bike from Dan the Bike Man.  I paid $73 for it and I will get my money back at the end of the semester.  Woolworth's is pretty much your average food market.  Very similar to Festival or Pick n Save.  It's very expensive though.
                                       

School and Kangaroos!!!

Dear followers,

On August 15th, I will have lived in Australia for one month.  It's hard to imagine that I'm living in Newcastle, Australia.  With only having classes on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, it seems like a vacation.  I have kept myself busy by surfing, hanging out with friends, and enjoying the sites of Newcastle. Don't worry though, my first goal is school.

School:
Its the start of week 3 at the UNI and I'm excited for what classes will bring.  International Finance is exciting and I hope to further my knowledge in the financial world.  Business Venturing is also exciting because I get to see if my ideas for businesses can work.  I am a little upset thoough because my tutor said we can only have $50K in investment, no more debt or financing.  WTF!!, you can't start a restaurant for that.  The third class, Intro to Aboriginal Studies doesn't interest me what so ever.  It's just a waste of class time that could be spent on classes that are important and count.  I can learn about this stuff on the internet, the only reason why I'm taking this class is that it's required for the program.  Other than that, classes are going pretty good.  I think my experiences in Minnesota and Platteville has prepared me for life in Newcastle.

We did celebrate Autonomy Day on Friday, August 9th.  Autonomy Day is the day the University of Newcastle gained their independence for Sydney University.  Students start drinking as the sun comes up and continue all day.  I was no exception, I stayed over at a friends house the night before and we got up so we could see the sunrise over Nobby's Beach

We started with a couple glasses of wine with a beer and headed to the Bar on the Hill, which is located at the UNI.  After paying $10 for entry fee, I meet up with some international friends and we continued to drink and have fun.  Around 2, I went back to the apartment and caught a few zz's, especially since I only had 4 hours of sleep the night before.  After my rest, I thought it was best to head to the MoneyPenny for a drink by the harbor.

Kangaroos:

On Sunday, August 8th, the Study Abroad group and I went to Oakvale Farms to check out the local wildlife. We had the opportunity to feed kangaroos and we also had the opportunity to pet them.  The farm also presented the opportunity to walk among wallabies, which are small kangaroos.  They didn't like humans very much, they jumped away.  The farm also had dingoes, birds, camels, water buffalo's, and a peacock.

Shout out to my MOM, this dish comes from you;

Cooked sweet potatoes w/onions and cheese
Chicken Fingers with a red pepper

and take and bake bread

First week of classes

Hello followers,

I would first like to say sorry for not blogging earlier.  I have been pretty busy with getting ready with school and surfing.  What have I done since the last blog?  Well, I have gone surfing, which is awesome and hard, tried the local pubs and food, and started classes.

Newcastle:
The city of Newcastle is located in the NSW, the heart of coal country.  Newcastle is the largest port for coal ships.  Everything is EXPENSIVE!  Food, drinks, tickets, everything is expensive.  I spent $18 dollars for breakfast one day, for french toast and coffee.  I guess minimum wage is around $16/hr.  There are many other factors that lead to high prices, but you can't count out the high minimum wage.  One more thing, houses are ridiculously expensive.  A small one like my sisters in Marshfield would cost 300k, minimum!

Surfing:
I went last Saturday at 10 in the morning.  I went with three other guys, Jared, Elouen, and Ulrich, the same order as the picture.  Elouen is from Switzerland, Jared is from Platteville, and Ulrich is from Austria.  We paid $35 for 2.5 hrs of surfing and I can tell you it was worth it.

I was able to stand up, the very first time, funny thing is though I flew right into Jared.  Surfing is fun and a great workout.  I will be purchasing a wet suit and surf board in the coming weeks and plan on going as much as I can.  I'm only 15 mins away from most of the beaches in Newcastle.  Speaking of beaches,

This picture here is Bar Beach.  There are 4 beaches in Newcastle and I'm 15 mins from three of them. Nobby's Beach, Newcastle Beach, and Bar Beach.  The fourth one I always get wrong so I'm not going to spell it.

School:

Classes this week are pretty much like any other University in America.  We get introduced and leave early, for the most part.  My classes are scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  Each class has a lecture and tutorial.  Tutorials are canceled the first week of classes but lectures are still on.  I hope to get pictures of the campus for everybody to see.  The campus is BIG!  There are roughly 35k students.  For me, I have to take a 10 min train ride then I have a 10-15 min walk to my classes.  I am very excited for my Business Venturing Class and International Finance Class.  I am not excited for Intro to Aboriginal Studies, that's just stuff I can learn on the damn internet, but it was required.  I have meet some pretty awesome people since I've been here.  I have meet a lot of Germans, a few English, and not to many Australians yet.

I need your help,
Comment on how I'm doing and what changes I should make to improve my blog, if needed :)

2nd Day in Newcastle

I finally have my phone working.  I had to buy a new sim card and I buy minutes to add to my phone every 28 days.  My Australian phone number is 0401 591 020.  I have 250 minutes to call back to the U.S with unlimited calling to anybody OZ, or Australia.  Right now, everybody is signing up for classes.  Lucky for me, I'm done :).  With the time I figured I would post for my followers. 

To get to campus, I have to take a train, which is around 25 mins to campus.  The campus itself is awesome.  It's right in the middle of the bush, or country.   It is nothing like walking on an American campus, where you can see buildings left and right.  The UNI, or University of Newcastle, is spread out.  After arriving on campus by train, I have to walk through the bush to find buildings.  There is not a building insite for a good 5 minute walk.  Its really something.  With my phone working, I hope to take pictures of campus.  Tonight we have a group diner with our coordinater and later we should be going to a pub. 

Thanks for following,

Cheers mate.