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!