One Month...

One month from today (the 27th) and I will have landed on U.S. soil for the first time in 5 months. It is so strange to think about. I do not want to leave this country; it feels like I just got here. I am so finally settled into Australia, its culture and people that the country finally feels like home. I often find a connection to many places, but here I have just found myself changing and in that sense I believe I will always think of Australia as an intregral part of me growing up and becoming my own, independent person.

We have one more week of uni and then there's a study week for exams, and then exams begin on the 11th. I do not have an exam until the 23rd so I am planning to do some traveling. I am going to Melbourne with my roommate Becca from the 3rd to the 8th of June, and I am going to try to go to Sydney some time after that. A friend Emily, from my New Zealand trip, who does exchange in Sydney (though she is originally from Oklahoma), will be up in Brisbane soon after my trip to Melbourne; I will hopefully see her when she comes up, and that should be a lot of fun. I am then going camping with Emily and Bella on the 20th and the 21st. And then of course is my 8 AM (fun times, getting to uni at 7 something AM!...not) exam on Australian Literature. I do have one more paper due for Romanticism in Literature due June 13th; I am excited to write it though and plan to write it next week so I do not have to worry about it during my trip to Melbourne.

Overall, I have enjoyed my studies here though they are very different from Lesley. I had been worried about not being able to concentrate or learn much with large lectures or tutorials, but since I chose smaller courses (the Arts here are not big; science and maths are more the things to study) my lectures and tutorials are 'small' in comparison to what I originally thought. It is definitely different but not bad and I think I could get used to it (though I do have to admit they are much harder graders here than in the States).

Yesterday, I had my tutorial for Creative Writing and then I hung out for the rest of the day with my friend Emma. Emma and I met through the UQ Free Thinkers club, which is a secular club on campus, and it also turned out my roommate Erica's good friend Aliza lived down the hall from Emma last year when she was on exchange. Small world! Anyway Emma and I headed to South Bank where I live and we got lunch, sat in the sun, and we also saw The Hangover 2. I have to say I liked the first movie much better, but The Hangover 2 definitely had hilarious parts. We then went food shopping because Emma and I decided to make dinner at my apartment and also have an impromptu sleepover. You guys...I ate 'roo (thats kangaroo, just to clarify). We bought kangaroo sausages, cooked them on the stove, made salad and garlic bread. Surprisingly...kangaroo was tasty! Emma then slept over and we went to uni today.

I am planning to have a quiet weekend of doing laundry, reading for class, reading for pleasure (I picked up a book or two from the library) and relaxing. Next weekend Becca and I head out to Melbourne so I am excited for a slow, quiet weekend.

Hope all is well and see you all in a month! Crazy but true!
xo
Rachel