Even Paradise Has School

I woke up bright and early Monday morning to go out on the green and get my yoga on! It was a perfect morning for yoga and it motivated me for my first week of class in over two months. The first week of class here is called O'Week (orientation week). The booths for all of the societies (clubs) are set up every day and there's tons of free food! Stephanie and I spent the morning walking around and signing up for clubs before getting free lunch. I'm thinking about joining clubs such as the Bhakti Yoga Club, Musical Society, and the Drama Society.

My Yoga View

On Monday's I only have one lecture: Intro to Vocal Studies. The first week of classes here are fairly boring because no real information is given out, but also stressful because you realize how much work you have for the semester. I'll reiterate the point that I've been making since The Ohio State University decided to make the big switch: Semester's suck. However, the last 10 minutes of class our professor had us all stand and warm up. She then put on Many the Miles by Sara Bareilles. I was pretty excited (I've only seen her in concert three times now...) and I instantly started to sing along. It wasn't long before I realized that I was pretty much the only person singing because 1. we were just supposed to be listening to learn the song and 2. there were no lyrics on the screen yet. Apparently I was the only one who knew the song by heart. Nonetheless, it was a perfect first class in Oz because I had a bit of home to help me through it :)

Tuesday it my long day of class. I start at 9a and finish around 5p. I also have both of my difficult classes on Tuesday. I started out with a gender studies class titled Naughty Boys Bad Girls: Gender and Discipline at Home and at School. I'm very excited for this class because I think it will give me a lot of insight as to what forms of discipline do or don't work and how best to work with children. My second class for the day is a sociology class called Activism and Social Change. I've read a lot about social movements in other classes and I was particularly intrigued by the Occupy movement last year, so I'm hoping to gain a better understanding of social movements as well as how to become more active in non profits throughout this course. Even though I'm taking two 300 (senior level here) classes while I'm abroad, I'm excited about both of them, so hopefully the time commitment will be worthwhile!

Tuesday night we walked over to the huge field/lake area and watched the second half of Casino Royale which was playing on a large screen. There had been food vendors set up from various clubs, but by the time we arrived only the Bhakti Yoga Club was there selling indian food. It was delicious! I love trying new foods while I'm abroad and I would not mind eating different asian foods every day while I'm here!

Bird I Found!

Wednesday is a much easier class day with only my Vocal Studies tutorial (recitation). We were asked to sing two lines of any song we could think of so our tutor could get an understanding of where our voices are, and the first thing that popped into my head was Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid. When I started to sing there was a bit of a murmor, and I wasn't sure if it was because of my clearly american accent or because Disney is universally loved! I'm asked daily where I am from, and most people are thrilled to hear I'm American. It's a completely different experience to know that when you speak in a crowd everyone is instantly going to judge you from your accent.

After class, Wayne, Alex and I got free lunch and then went to the Mac Center (the mall on the other side of campus) for groceries and things for our apartment. I then went to the Musical Society welcome meeting and met a few new friends! We decided to stay after the meeting for the performance Bend it Like Broadway. The show was cabaret style and it was a compilation of famous songs, however they were all song by the opposite gender than was originally supposed to sing them. For example, Bitch of Living by Spring Awakening was sung by all the females in the show, where as So Anyway's from Next to Normal was sung by a man. The songs were humorous and heart wrenching and the show was well put together. I went back to the village and got ready to go to The Ranch with the rest of the villagers. The Ranch is a local hotel with a bar attached with great deals on Wednesday nights. We all had a great time getting together and talking about our first few days of classes!

Crazy Birds on Campus

Thursday is the last day of classes for me this semester, and I only have my dance class! I'm taking a modern dance 2 class. It was great to be able to dance and let loose and have fun in class while meeting aussies. I somehow always seem to meet other study abroad or exchange students in my classes too! After class I did a bit of work and then a few of us hung out and watched Silver Linings Playbook. It was a perfect way to unwind after our first week.

On Friday I had an orientation for the Global Leadership Program. In GLP I'll be going to 5 colloquiums as well as a large group outing and learning about a broad range of topics. A lot of local students do this program so I'm very excited to meet others while learning about wordily issues and how to truly be a global citizen. I then stopped by for the Drama Societies meeting and learned about their year to come! It's always great to be among other theatre people who are just as crazy and weird as you :) Friday night we had another movie night, this time watching Grownups. I think we had too much excitement the first few weeks and now we're trying to relax.

Saturday was the huge Mardi Gras festivities in Sydney! In Australia, Mardi Gras is actually their Pride Parade. We all trekked to the city late afternoon and walked around a bit before making our way to the parade route. We didn't get the memo that apparently everyone stands on stools or crates to see the parade so we couldn't see much, but it was still exciting to be there! We eventually found the main square and the large screen so we were able to see some of the parade from there!

Our Pitiful View

On Sunday I woke up feeling fairly under the weather. I hadn't felt great waking up on Saturday, and spending the day in the rainy city didn't seem to do much good for me. I spent most of Sunday in bed and doing homework so that I could have a speedy recovery for everything else I have planned!

I'm starting to fall into a routine here, but hopefully my posts will stay exciting! Keep taking pictures of snow and sending them my way, they help me appreciate the sun and rain here so much more!

Bethany

Time and Change Will Surely Show How Firm Thy Friendship OHIO