I should probably mention classes...

I realized the other day that I haven't said a single thing about school since I've been here so I wanted to say that I promise I am actually going to class. I'm taking four courses while I am here which are Marine Environment (we go on field trips including the Aquarium this weekend), Australian Literature, Australian Early History (It has a fancy title called The Fatal Shore), and finally History of Medicine. All my classes have been pretty good and none of the professors have thick accents so I understand all of them! The one difference between UNC and here is that some classes only have about 3 assignments the whole semester and their grading scale is a lot different then at home.

In Australian Literature we had to read The Man Who Loved Children and it was about 510 pages and I read the whole thing! It was pretty good but very different from British or American Literature. The stories we have read have been interesting but they definitely have an edge to them. For my history course we have gotten up to early Aboriginal meetings which seem to be very similar to American history at this point.

So that's everything about school!
Love,
Ashley

Harbor Bridge Walk

If there is one thing everyone should do in Sydney it's the walk across the bridge. The view of the Opera House is amazing and the sky was so blue yesterday when we went. You can pay I think about $200 to actually walk across the top but you can not bring your camera and honestly it is so windy I think I would be scared for my life. The bridge is about 3/4 of a mile and gives you almost 360 degree views from the Opera House and hill side to the huge buildings downtown.

Rugby Game!

Roosters vs. Rabbitohs (Bunnies)

And yes those are seriously the names

So walking into the Rugby Game I thought to myself this can't be that much different than football....oh was I wrong. I still really have no idea what was going on except the one thing I knew was the color scheme of each team. The point of rugby is to get to the goal line like in a football, but the difference here is that once the player gets tackled the other team gets off of them within a few seconds and the the player that was down can pass it to another member on his team. You can also throw it while running and when you score that is 4 points and then you can make a kick from the edge of the field giving you another 2 points if you make it. That is basically all I learned while watching and there are probably other rules, but I honestly can't think of them.

Another interesting thing is because there are no pads it does seem easier to get hurt. One rugby guy got a huge cut on his forehead and instead of being sent out of the game they wrapped his head in gauze gave him a clean jersey with no blood and he was tackling in the next play. We asked some Australians about this and they said as long as there is no blood on the jersey they can play, and that guy did, for the rest of the game with his head wrapped like a mummy.

Overall the game was fun and you got to see a lot more locals.

Koalas and Kangaroos!!!!

Last week was probably the most exciting because I finally got to see what everyone who comes to Australia wants to see ANIMALS!!!! They are probably some of the cutest things! We went to a wildlife place in Darling Harbor and I am gonna let the pictures speak for themselves. This wildlife exhibit only had animals that are known in Australia so that was nice because many of these animals I have never seen.

 

LOOK HOW CUTE