I'm going to NZ in a Spaceship!

T-minus 4.5 hours til departure to New Zealand. Then I become an astronaut this spring break...

Along with a group of 7 friends, I will be traveling the country of NZ for 12 days. We will arrive in Auckland in the North Island, drive the entire country, and leave from Christchurch in the South Island. The trip will begin with adrenaline-filled excursions and then be balanced with adventurous discoveries in nature. Here is a map of NZ below...

So you may be wondering how I will become an astronaut?! We will be traveling in a sleepervan that is referred to as a spaceship. The spaceship appears to be a minivan from the exterior, but the inside includes a bed for 2.5 and a stove. Between our 8 astronauts, we will have two spaceships. So 4-6 will sleep in the spaceships and the rest of us will be sleeping in a tent next to the spaceship. And get this....each spaceship also has a nickname. If we're lucky, we will be traveling in either "ET" or "Uranus." Will destiny bring us together?! Only time will tell... And finally to add to all this, there are space stations strategically aligned throughout NZ. At these space stations, we will receive travel advice, meet other spaceshippers, and trade DVDs. Weird enough for you yet?! Haha, I wish my mind was creative enough to make this up, but it is all true. Here is a photo of our new ride...

Liftoff! Much more to come very soon on the NZ enterprise. However, I will be without internet for the next 12 days in space. Here are some other quick highlights of the trip:

1. Black water rafting
2. Zorbing
3. Thermal Wonderland
4. Tongariro National Park
5. Pancake Rocks and Blowhole
6. Wild Foods Restaurant
   
7. Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers
8. Wanaka
9. Queenstown Bungy
   
10. Milford Sound

And....I leave you with some fun NZ facts that I was recently enlightened by (compliments to a close friend).

• NZ is the first country to see the sunrise
• Lord of the Rings was filmed entirely in NZ
• There are 9 sheep to every human in NZ
• NZ was the first democracy in the west that gave women the right to vote
• Bungee jumping, zorbing, and jet boating were invented in NZ
• NZ hs the world's biggest flightless parrot, oldest reptile, biggest earthworms, smallest bats, oldest trees, and the only native land mammals
• Andy Wiens and Sean Lawlor have been to NZ
• NZ is the closest you can be to Antarctica without being there
• New Zealanders are referred to as "Kiwis"
• Possum is not only roadkill in NZ but is also eaten

The LEGEND comes true

Throughout the semester I have overheard tales of a legendary day...

You will wake to car honking at 6 am. All students will rise and join together. Your first beer will be cracked open by 6:01. Although you all will be at school, no student shall attend a class. Instead, a full day party will ensue. Free breakfast will be served. Yard games will take over the village grass areas. There will be a ferris wheel, bumper cars, and a festival in the center of campus. Performances by Australia's best homegrown bands will fill the air with music. If you're still awake by 4 pm you're doing well. At 8 pm, you are a champ. And if still awake at 1 am, then you didn't party hard enough. This is closest our generation will be to woodstock. This is "Conception Day."

This is how Macquarie Uni caps off the end of midterms and initiates the start of spring break. It brings the famous motto to life "Work hard, play hard."

Conception Day begun as an annual day to celebrate the birth of the university and has since earned its now legendary reputation. Initially I thought the tale must be greatly exaggerated. How could any event live up to all the hype, much the less a school-sponsored event?? But now I can pleasantly say tale is true. Yesterday was Conception Day and it was everything the legend proclaimed and more.

You can't get much better than casually kickin' back with the entire student body for a whole day. I played all kinds of yard games (washers-esque), shaved 6 mohawks for friends (7 if you count my own), and experienced my first mosh pit. The headliner band was "Wolfmother." You may have heard their song "Woman" in Guitar Hero. The day was absolutely awesome and a great way to start spring break. Here are a few pictures from the day...

WOLFMOTHER!

It was an experience that must be lived to fully understand. But it was one of the coolest days I have lived first hand. Although alcohol assisted, the day was sooo much more. Spending an entire day with a group of friends is one of life's simple wonders. It really doesn't happen as often as one would think. People have hectic lives and conflicting schedules. Days like Conception Day, 4th of July, Thanksgiving are all special. Everything in life is put on pause and full enjoyment of each others' company can take place for several hours straight. The gift of celebration should be cherished. Life is short, live it up. And have fun doing it!

And to close, I leave you with another poor attempt at a home video. The video is from inside the mosh pit. Unfortunately, this event marked the death of my already-ill camera. You will see that the lens only opens half way and you can only see a portion of the scene. Still, I feel it captures the moment. Lastly, I advise those who easily suffer from motion sickness to please not watch. You may experience nausea.

Australia and the U.S.

Australia is the only continent that is also a country. Australia only gained independence a little over 20 years ago. Many things in Australia still have a UK-esque feel to them. Many things in Australia also remind me of home in the U.S. However, there is plenty of contrast as well. Here is a simple list of observations and some differences from the States.

Let's start with the obvious...

• Australians drive on the left side of the road
• Outback Steakhouse is not Australian. Australians don't even recognize it.
• No one in Oz seems to drink Fosters "Australian for beer". (apparently it's big in England though)
  

Now some language differences...

• Rubbish = trash
• Petty = gas
• Chips = fries
• Chips = also chips (tricky)
  
• Gridiron = American football
  
• Esky = a cooler
• Aluminum is pronounced "al-looo-min-YUM"
  
• Gum Tree = Eucalyptus tree (also gumtree.com is their craigslist)
• It is not spring break here. It is "midsem break." (short for mid-semester)
  
• "Mate" seems to primarily be used by males. A substitute for "dude."
• G'day is not said near as much as advertised

And some random observations...

• Their voting system is whack...above and below the line voting, plus preferences
  
• Everyone throws trash and recycling into the same rubbish can. Supposedly someone sorts it later.....sounds a little fishy though
• There is no contact when dancing in Australia
• Electric music is popular...sounds similar to techno
• 18 and up -seem to be much more independent than in the U.S.
• It's normal to take a "gap year" after high school graduation. Used to travel and see the world
• There is a lot of unique architecture and beautiful buildings throughout the country
• There is a rivalry between Australians and New Zealanders (Kiwis).....also New South Wales and Queensland
• Full-time students are initially a little hostile toward exchange students. Understandable though...we are only here for a semester, why take the time to get to know us if we will be leaving soon.

More to come later...

Gone Abroad...

I have entered my 8th week in Australia. I just took my first midterm exam. I have a philosophy paper due on Wednesday. Spring Break (or midsem break as it is referred to here) looms at the end of the week. The experience is now flying by, so I wish to take a moment and recap some simple thoughts...

Here are a few things I really like about my abroad adventure....

• I like the diversity of Macquarie Uni. It is truly an International University. There are students from countries all around the world and I love the diversity. I have cooked an Italian dinner with an Indian, tossed the frisbee with a Vietnamese guy, shared life perspectives with Australians, surfed with Germans, been beaten in video games by a Chileano, deep sea fished with Americans, talked about the ladies with the English, laughed with the French, and struggled through 2 hour accounting lectures with Chinese students. I think it is good for the world to live together and better understand one another.
• I love San Diego and I am always a Torero at heart, but over the last 3 years I've had a little urge to live away from San Diego. In high school I was vocal about going away to college, and then I stayed in San Diego. I've loved USD and I found ways to make Linda Vista be away, but a piece of me has struggled with not doing what I said I would. I'm grateful that this voyage is giving me a second opportunity to act on that urge and finally live closer to what I said I would do.
• Australia is known for their great outdoors. And although my outdoors experience is recent (thank you Mammoth and friends for the spark), Australia has helped me discover that I do really enjoy nature. I have fun finding places I have never been before. I like to sleep in tents and on the ground. It's cool to see animals in their natural habitat. I love the peacefulness of being away from cities and the bonds it can create. And I like the outdoorsman's beard I can grow when I don't shave.
• Good for now...
  

And as I part with this blog post, I leave you with a little video. I call it.... "The Farmer's Stampede." Some may be able to make comparisons to The Lion King or the running of the bulls in Spain.

No one led these cows!! At 2:30, they just knew it was time to be milked and they knew where to go on their own. Crazy, I know!

Hey, at least I don't have crabs...

Have you ever....been listening intently to instructions of a new task when you suddenly get "that itch." You slip your hand down, give it a little scratch, and you think nothing else of it. Then that itch comes back! After a series of itch-scratch repetitions, you realize it just ain't going away. So you slyly turn away from the group and take a peak below. This is the moment I knew....

I have ticks!! This particular one was a fatty on my right hip (first of two). The little,scabbish-looking thing seemed to be of no concern, then I realized it had legs. I experienced a minor internal panic while simultaneously struggling to pay attention to instructions. Then I realized the situation was kinda cool (pending no disease follows). I have never had a tick before. Hell, I thought I was immune. But now I have had not only my first tick, but also my first Australian tick! I've left boyhood and become a Manly Man. The last weekend previously was my weekend of cows, but now it's the weekend that gave me ticks!

But hey, at least I don't have crabs....or lice.

Volunteers live weekend with nature...and a wild wombat!

Last Friday, 8 Macquarie students loaded into a van for a weekend of volunteering. We drove along the southcoast of Australia and found our site on a dairy farm in the Kangaroo Valley. Our mission for the weekend: de-weed a section of the farm that had become overrun by the “wild tobacco” plant. Wild Tobacco is different from other well known tobacco products. Instead of getting the munchies, when cows eat this plant their insides rot from the inside-out until they die (sorry if too graphic). Thus, this is NOT the plant you want on a dairy farm.

First glimpse at the work site was overwhelming, but after 2 days I was proud of the work we accomplished. Plus, no one died from a snake or spider bite (always a good thing!). To add to the experience, we got to hang out with a lot of cows...that surprisingly smelled alright. Every afternoon at 2:30 came milking time for the cows. We watched hundreds of cows piling down the road. A few even stopped to stare me down (I may have lost this battle, but I will win the war).... Yet it was the calves (baby cows) that were my favorites. I was able to get close enough to hug a calf that was born only a few days prior. I call her Daisy. Here’s a picture of Daisy and a few others of the dairy volunteering experience.

Beyond volunteering, the second half of the weekend was its own experience. CVA (Conservation Volunteers Association) combines all of their volunteer opportunities with late afternoon sightseeing. Our bus driver Michael first took us to HYAMS BEACH. The beach is recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the whitest sand in the world. I don’t know how this is verified, but it was very white and I filled my water bottle with the sand. Next, Michael led our group on a couple hikes around Morton National Park. We hiked high to see great views of some of Morton’s lakes, the dam, and a waterfall. It was so peaceful sitting high above the National Park and taking in the scenery. I could have stayed all day...

The final highlights of the weekend came at our accommodations. We stayed in a cabin in the woods and we were lucky enough to see native animals in the wild. We quickly spotted wild kangaroos and we also saw a few wombats and lyre birds. Nathan led the way to pet the wild wombat (maybe not the best idea, but it turned out really cool). Lastly, it was great to experience the weekend with an 8-person group. It really is the perfect small group number. We all got to know each other closely through van rides, group cooking sessions, and of course….we played several games of Mafia! (If you haven’t played before, it’s a game of deception that plays off people’s personalities) All in all, the weekend was arguably my favorite in Australia. We gave back to the community through volunteer work, lived with wildlife and nature, and spent time with an awesome group of 8. It even sparked an adventure that I want to embark on in the next 12 months (but that is for another time). Here are a few more photos to top of the weekend…

Australia is known for hosting the majority of the world's most poisonous creatures. Click on the Australian Flag above and enjoy a short song/video called "Come to Australia." It's catchy!