I want to fly a kite

So there's this song that they play in every club, bar, pub, clothing store, cab, restaurant, shopping mall... and it's called "Pictures." Australia is known for its bad music, and I think this one takes the cake. However, every time we hear it, we all go crazy and sing and dance and can't wait to hear it again. It's a little silly, but we're Americans trying to blend in and this seems to be working.

We're doing a really great job settling in here, tonight we made dinner for some friends and I spent most of the day doing laundry. It's how things have to be when the dryer is the size of my left foot - we're still making good use of the drying racks.

This weekend we walked to Bondi Beach - its about 3 miles up the path along the cliffs that I've been running on and its a fantastic walk. The beach is much bigger than Coogee, where I live, and the waves tend to be much more surf-able. It's still a bit cold out, but we were the obnoxious girls in our bathing suits for about an hour. Australians are still wearing parka-esque coats and we're running around in long sleeved t-shirts! I guess 'winter' is a relative term.

Today is my flatmate's birthday so last night we got dressed up and went out for a fancy dinner and dancing in Darling Harbour. We went to a crazy club at first that we are pretty sure was a gay bar (or at least 70%) and then ended up at a fairly classier place with cuter boys and less headachy music. They played a lot of fun music and we danced until late.

I am in the process of planning Spring Break Thailand with my flatmate Emily and our friend Barrett. There is so much to see in Thailand, we only wish we had more than a week off of school! At this point, the trip is going to involve a little exploring of Bangkok, a rafting trip, visits to the floating markets, exploring temples, a night in a treehouse, riding an elephant and maybe a day on the beach. It's tentative so far, but we've been looking at a million tours, guidebooks, and photos and are so excited to finalize the plans.

In other, non-related news: my flatmate has introduced me to Planet Earth. Its a documentary series about the amazing natural wonders on the planet and then they tell you how they got the amazing shots that they have. I'm hooked. If you have a chance to watch one, I highly recommend it.

I have finalized my schedule of classes - its really nice to be at an English-speaking institution and have as much flexibility as I could want. I am taking Global Media, The Messiah Complex, Aboriginal Australia, and Australian Cultural and Social Environment. So far its a lot of reading, the classes are mostly big lectures and each has a 20 person tutorial session that is a little more personal.

I met the Chabad rabbi from Bondi, he comes to our campus each Thursday between my classes (lucky me!) and sits with students on the quad. He was great to talk with last week and I can't wait to see him again on Thursday.

Those are the pieces of my life for now, send me lifeupdates, please!!!

xo, Rach

Say a Prayer and Let the Good Times Roll!

I feel like I might be overdoing it a little with the posts, but it will slow down when classes really pick up, so I'm doing my best to transfer everything I can about Australia before I forget to keep posting.

This past weekend we went into the city to an area called Circular Quay (pronounced 'key') for the annual "Aroma Festival." We didn't realize quite how huge it was going to be, but there were hundreds of people around over 50 tents representing the best coffee, tea, spices and chocolate shops in Sydney. Circular Quay is the name of a section of the harbour where you can catch ferries to other places, have a great view of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House and where you can find the area called "... On the Rocks" (the restaurants are all called ---- On the Rocks, "pancakes on the rocks is famous for decadent 24 hour pancakes, I'll let you know when we make it out there). We also discovered the Market on the Rocks which is open each weekend and is like Eastern Market in DC but with more booths and very Australia-themed. I got a travel journal there and we're all planning to go back soon for gifts, knicknacks and general authentic, beautiful Aussie memorabilia. There are a lot of open air markets on weekends in the city, we're going to try a new one every week or two.

This is the view from the beginning of the path along the cliffs - so far, its my favorite place to go for a run!

I don't think I've mentioned Australian nightlife yet, so let me try and explain. Australians love loud techno music, American music and cover bands. There are a lot of pubs which are strictly American and Aussies who want to pick up American girls. Australian dancing looks a bit like early 90's bar mitzvahs - people stay fairly far apart, and we broke out a few classic moves like the shopping cart and running man for fun (and were only moderately out of place, if we had played it cooler no one would have noticed). In general, its a really fun experience to go to the nightclubs and dance around. Make sure you put on your most 'hipster' outfit though, these chicks are pretty trendy (and gentleman, you can't go wrong with a heinous patterned zip up hoodie).

This morning was my first day of class! The school has over 40,000 students and my classes so far are mostly Australians. Its hard to meet people in big lectures, but each one breaks down into a 20-ish person tutorial (tute) group that meets once per week and should be a great place to get to know people. So far "The Messiah Complex" and "The Use of Language" seem like good classes, I'll let you know about "Global Media" and "Australian Cultural and Social Environment" after tomorrow.

The building you see here is my apartment. 6th floor facing the beach is ours :)

I've met a lot of really great Americans through my orientation program and the groups that my roommates came with, we're still working on meeting Aussies, but that will come with time.

My friends and I are planning some great adventures too! There's something big each month: sailing and diving in the Whitsundays in August, spring break Thailand in September, surfing weekend in the Gold Coast in October and probably stopping in Fiji after finals are done in November. In between we're trying to plan day trips to the Blue Mountains outside Sydney, a visit to the capital in Canberra, a visit to our friends at the Uni of Melbourne, a trip to the wine country of Hunter Valley.... and then of course exploring as much of Sydney as possible - the Harbour, the Bridge Climb, the Opera, the markets, the zoo, a rugby game. It's unbelievable how much there is to do on this continent.

No worries, Rachel

Pictures of Aussieland!

check out the photo albums!!

http://american.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2065210&l=58bd9&id=7406782

http://american.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2065213&l=06084&id=7406782



more soon, as always :)
Rach

The coldest winter in 20 years. Great.

I'm sitting in my apartment wearing a couple of sweatshirts, looking out over the beach watching the biggest waves I've seen in this quiet little bay and listening to the wind howl through my not-perfectly-sealed windows. I guess it can only get warmer from here!! (and it's a great excuse to make stir-fry and watch movies with my roommates tonight.)

I've had a little more time to explore Sydney since the last post. A bunch of us went to the Sydney aquarium in Darling Harbour (I have to change the spelling settings on my computer so 'harbour' becomes acceptable and I don't fail my classes for spelling errors.) Anyway, the aquarium was really fun! There were about 15 of us, so we got a student group rate and ran around the place for a few hours. The shark exhibit was pretty impressive, AND they had a whole section of the aquarium devoted to Nemo and friends.

We also walked around Market street downtown, Sydney is really beautiful, kind of a mix between London and New York. Last night we went on an adventure to a club in North Sydney (which we found out is VERY far from our apartment) and drove by the Opera House and over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

At orientation for UNSW they spent a lot of time selling us vacation packages for spring break and free weekends, there is so much to do around here, it's going to be tough to get in all in! I am signed up for a surf trip at the end of October, probably Fiji on my way home at the end of November, maybe Thailand for spring break at the end of September, sailing in Whitsundays at the end of August... now I just need to find time to get to the Outback!

Ok, its time to brave the cold ~ I'll post pics when we get real internet next week!!

~ Rach

A Land Called Oz

I think I could get used to this laid back lifestyle. The most common phrase I hear around Australia is “No worries.” It’s a way to say thank you and it’s a way of life. The people here are incredibly laid back and friendly, we’re constantly meeting people and everyone is great about helping one another out. Even the bus drivers, when asked if the bus stops at our road, answer with a smile and “cheers,” even if it’s the wrong bus. It takes about 10 minutes to get a cup of coffee at a coffee shop, but with this environment, there are no worries and it’s perfectly acceptable to slow down and enjoy your drink.

Quick coffee note, I’m going to quickly fall in love with “flat white” coffee. It’s like a latte with less foam and it’s delicious! “Long black” is a standard cup of coffee, “short black” is espresso, and of course you can order lattes and things like that as well. We’ve noticed that it’s a little pricey out here, I guess no more than in the US, but the exchange rate just isn’t good enough to let us pretend that the pretty colored money is much different than the green stuff back home. (Right now it’s about 90 cents to the American dollar.)

Other cool/strange little Australia things: there is no tax or tip added at restaurants. People are paid well enough that it’s not necessary and it’s actually a little taboo. We don’t have a dryer in the apartment, and neither does anyone we know, we think we’re going to rent one.

I have a cell phone! It’s hideous and light pink and is somehow associated with Brittney Spears, but it’s a phone and it works. I know that you miss me a lot, so break out that int’l calling card and give me a ring at +61 401031759 (61 is the country code for Australia, the number is how you dial from the US). Remember, to figure out the time difference from the east coast, subtract 10 and add a day. From the west coast, subtract 7 and add a day. Yeah, I pretty much see the future. Also, if I show up online, say hello, it doesn’t happen often, so take advantage of it! We haven’t yet set up internet here (we found one found one that we can kind of steal from in my apartment-mate’s room)… it’s a little complicated to get started, but we’re thinking the renta center is going to be our best friend.

All of my roommates have officially moved in and they’re really great girls. We have limited food right now until we hit up the fruit/veggie markets tomorrow but we managed to make a cute little dinner and got to know each other a little more tonight. My roommate, Kendra is from the University of Rochester and seems very down to earth; she came through another group program and finished her orientation this morning. Emily has been here a few days with me an goes to school at Colgate, we have been getting our orientation group friends together (she came here through yet another group) and having a ton of fun. Allie goes to Penn and flew in from the US this morning. Overall, everyone is really easygoing about our shared space and what we’re all doing in Australia and I think it’s going to be a great semester.

This afternoon we went on a walk towards Bondi, the huge, touristy, surfing beach to the north. We left a little late so we turned around before we made it the whole way, but it was enough to see that this is going to be a regular way for us to get out and get moving – in addition to the 20 min uphill walk to campus. Going to the gym at school seems like a miserable idea when there’s a solid walking path complete with stairs and intense hills that begins at my doorstep and winds along the coast.

The apartment we’re in is one of the nicest places I’ve ever seen, and will continue to improve when they fix our sliding porch door and the marble floors don’t keep the cold in and make it 20 degrees all the time. I will post pictures soon because this place is indescribable, but imagine a sliding glass door opening to a porch that looks directly over the bay from the 6^th floor. We’ve looked at our friend’s nearby apartments and houses, and we think we’re the luckiest of all.

Oh yeah, and they call this country “Oz.”

Cheers, Rachel

….. I realized I didn’t exactly mention the ‘school’ thing, we have orientation on Thursday, I’ll talk academics then ;)

Sydney, Australia

I have an apartment with a balcony facing the beach, 1 roommate so far, sheets, towels, a class schedule, and a lot of adventures ahead of me.

Just wanted to say a quick hello and let yo know I've arrived safely. I'm at a tiny internet cafe on the beach right now (i think this computer is from the last ice age...) I'll write more later from a keyboard that can keep up with my typing!!

xo, Rach

I Hugged a Koala!

Okay, now that I have a little bit of time to debrief, here’s what’s been going on in the land down under.

Right now I’m in a town in northern Australia called Cairns, (pronounced “cans”) the town has about 100,000 (up from 45,000 before the airport opened in 1994) and has a huge industry for tourism and sugar cane. Our bus driver this morning explained a lot about the sugar cane process around here. The entire production is self sufficient, using the non-sugar parts of the cane for mulch and energy that exceeds the needs of the factories. The cane producers actually put electricity back into the general grid. (pointless facts, maybe, but still pretty cool).

We’re staying at a place called Gilligan’s, it’s the nicest hostel I’ve ever seen! The rooms are fairly modest, but super clean and there’s a pool outside and a club/bar downstairs, nice kitchens and a lovely internet café on every floor.

The exciting part is what we did TODAY. This morning after our academic info session and goal setting with the Australearn program, our group headed off to a place called the RainForeStation (think Rain Forest Station) and it was incredible. We walk in and the first thing we see is a kangaroo just walking around on the path in front of us. From there we saw koalas, dingoes, wombats, wallabies, crocodiles, snakes and exotic birds. We got to feed the kangaroos (their fur is really soft!) and take pictures holding a huge snake! There were fruit orchards to see and we took a “duck tour” on a 1940s tank/boat through the lake/swamp and rainforest! We also saw an aboriginal dance group and one of the dancers taught us how to throw a boomerang, how to make and play a didgeridoo (the insides are hollowed out by termites) and how to throw a spear. We got to toss boomerangs, its tougher than you think! Mine didn’t quite come back, but it was fun to “Have a go” as the Aussies say :) There are different types of boomerangs all over the country depending on the different tribes and the usage. Some of them are pretty deadly. At the end of the day, we got to hold a koala and have our picture taken with it!!! They’re really soft and smell like eucalyptus. Overall, it was a fantastic day, Australia is more beautiful and exciting by the minute and I can’t wait to see more of it!

We leave tomorrow for Sydney and I’ll be moving into an apartment, meeting even more people and getting settled.

That’s it for now, much love, Rachel

G'day! How you goin?

Hello from Australia!!!! After a brutal 1+15+3 hours flying we finally made it to Cairns, Australia for orientation. The flights were fine, we had games to play, people to meet and a plethora of movies to watch. When we finally arrived we spent some time with basic get to know you games and information about studying abroad.

This country is absolutely breathtaking, the mountains are green the water is blue the people have hilarious accents and overall are really really nice. General politeness gets you a long way out here, as does intense sarcasm and the ability to take a joke (if they make fun of you, it means they like you.. think 1st grade on the playground).

We spent today snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. Its amazing when you can cross off one of the things on your "Lifetime To Do List." The Reef was beautiful. We took a boat out to a small island that looks right out of a cartoon and is also a bird sanctuary (there's a roped off area for people and the birds kept their distance, I didn't panic). Anyway, its the middle of winter but the water was still warm enough to easily snorkel with a shorty wetsuit. I'll admit, pixar over exaggerated the colors a little, but for the most part, they were right on with the Reef images in Finding Nemo. We saw a TON of fish, a sea star, a clamshell bigger than my head, brightly colored coral.... I highly recommend it.

TOMORROW however, might be even more exciting. We're headed to the rain forest to feed some kangaroos, hold koalas, check out an aboriginal dance or two. I'll send more details after we go there!!

Anyway, I just wanted to send out a quick hello, let you know that I'm here, safe and happy. I hope you're all having a great summer!!

xo, Rach

Ready or not, here I come!

Before I leave and have unknown internet access, here's a quick "how to find me" guide in case something really really important or hilarious happens and you have to tell me about it asap.

1. Email: Simple enough, you know how it works. rachel.schwager@gmail.com

2. Land Phone Line: They say I'll have one. I'll let you know if that comes true.

3. Snail Mail: Address envelopes and goodies to look something like this
Rachel Schwager
27/23 Baden Street
Coogee NSW 2034
AUSTRALIA

(Check out the google maps satellite of the place.... its literally right on the beach, amaaazzzing)

4. Google Talk. You can call for free AND leave voicemail. I fully expect you to take advantage of this.
Quick instructions: Go to google.com/talk at the bottom of the screen it says "Download the Google Talk Client" download it. Install and open the application. Make sure your microphone and speakers are plugged in (headsets are practical options too). Sign in as you would for gmail. Hold your cursor over my name, a box will appear to the left, click on where it says "Send Voicemail" listen to the silly English lady and leave me a message!!

That's it for now - I'm procrastinating getting all of this packing done, more soon!!

~ Schwags

Brought to You Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue:

This week in DC was nothing short of phenomenal. If you ever have the opportunity to spend July 4 in the nation's capital I highly recommend it. With all of my friends off of work and literally the entire city focused on barbecuing and celebrating and braving the crowds on the national mall, there was definite excitement in the air. I can't say how much time we really thought about the War of Independence and how the founders of this nation have impacted our lives and the present state of the world - but overall, we celebrated America's birthday in style.

Back to the beginning of the week. I have the biggest crush on DC. Flying into Regan airport at night with a window seat so you can see the monuments gives me the chills every time. The combination of the city's rich history and current implications for the future make it a place that I'm in perpetually in awe of while being completely comfortable in.

Most of this email is a play by play of the week, if you're not all that interested, skip to the bottom ;) I'll get better at more frequent updates so I don't feel obligated to write about the little boring things.

I arrived on Monday night and made my way to Brianna and Kerry's new apartment in Bethesda, MD. It's an adorable place, great location, lots of space, perfect for my favorite pair of recent grads. Anyway, it was wonderful to catch up with them and spend some much-needed quality time with Bri. The girls had work early Tuesday morning so I kicked off the moderate jet-lag and headed to the city to run some errands and see some friends. The afternoon brought more time with Bri, Kerry and Allie and we met up with a bunch of others (LeahMo, Morgan, Karen, Beth and more) in Midtown for July 3 festivities. In a city of college students and young professionals, a day off of work is an excuse for a few days of fun. We ran into a ton of our friends out there, it was a great way to say a quick hello and goodbye to some people I'll be missing a lot in a few weeks.

July 4: I started the day at 4212 River Road, where my roomates now live. We had a mini suite reunion with Britt, Kyra, Caroline and myself, and it was wonderful to catch up with the DG's and friends I hadn't seen yet. As strange as it is to watch the house change hands, it is very much the natural order of things. 4212 will always be 4212, it feels the same, it smells the same, it looks pretty much the same, and I call the couch by the window when I get back.

I also made it to the dchi boys' new house near campus to say hello to my old neighbors and friends. Congrats on the house guys, its really beautiful, I know you're going to make it an AU classic and I can't wait to spend hours and hours and hours there next year!

Then it was time for downtown. Leah and I trekked out to D street northeast and walked by a burned out car and heard kids' fireworks that sounded like gunshots... until we got to the adorable new house that Karen, Morgan, Beth and Jess live in. After a tornado warning, the national mall was evacuated and we waited out the rain until the mall was reopened and we walked to the Washington monument. The mall was crowded, security guards were swarming (bag checks at all of the gates, Israel-style, but Americans are really hostile about it), the lines to the port-0-potties were astronomical, but the people were excited to be there, the music was good, we got a GREAT spot by the Washington monument and the fireworks were absolutely beautiful. I don't think there's a better way to spend Independence day.

Thursday was another beautiful, albeit rainy, day. I saw some old friends in Georgetown, walked around a bit, hung out with Kristie, cooked a delicious dinner with Leah and settled down for one last wine and cheese night with my girls.

Overall it was a wonderful week, thank you all so much for being part of it and making time to say even just a quick goodbye. I can't say for sure that I'm ready for Australia and whatever adventures are in store for me in the upcoming months, but its comforting knowing that I'll be returning to all of you in a place that I love.

I'm back in the desert now until Tuesday, enjoying a few days with my family and the summer monsoons. More lifeupdating soon, with fewer mundane details, I promise.

~ Rach

Here we go again!

I'm about to embark on another adventure, so it seems only appropriate to restart the LifeUpdates.

You are someone who I wish to keep in touch with while I am abroad and I can't wait for updates on your life as well (email, aim, google talk voicemail - I'll try to stay connected)! Please feel free to send the link along to any other mutual friends I may have forgotten to include. In addition to this blog, I will be sure to send periodic email updates, but instead of filling your inbox, I'll record my semester here.

I leave tomorrow to spend a few days (including Independence Day) in the District and then in just over a week I will board a plane for the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia. I will be spending the semester in Australia taking classes and exploring as much of the South Pacific as possible. There are 5 other students from AU going to UNSW, including Liza and Jamie and we will be meeting up with a few dozen other Americans on the AustraLearn program for a retreat in Cairns before moving to our universities.

I don't know where I'm living, I'm not sure what classes I'll be taking, I don't know what internet access is like there, but I do know that I'm in for an incredible couple of months.

If you're in the District this week, give me a call ~ July 4 in the nation's capital, here I come!!!

More updates next weekend, when I'm back in the desert!

~ Rachel