Tim Tams are delicious.

August 29, 2013

Tim Tams, a product of Australia, is a delicious chocolate wafer covered in a layer of chocolate. I understand now why people mention Tim Tams when speaking of their travels to Oz. I definitely plan on bringing some back home, yum!

Anyway, over the last couple days, I have started my classes: The Australian Wine Industry and Australian Culture and Society. Combined, I feel like I have days and days worth of reading. My wine class seems like it will be a lot of fun. My two teachers seem so friendly and knowledgeable--they owned a winery together for 12 years! The reading is a bit dry right now because it's about the climate and soil, though I think it'll get better. One of our assignments requires us to drink a glass of wine every week (for 6 weeks) and write about our experience. This should be interesting; I hope I'll be able to taste a difference. Oh and I found out, to my relief, we are not tested on tasting (phew!).

My other class is Australian Culture and Society. Everyone is required to take this class to learn about Australia. I can't say that I'm enjoying this class right now because we are currently focusing on history, which I've never been a big fan of. However, the Aboriginal people are actually an interesting, and ever present group, to learn about. That said, I did not enjoy our first reading which was essentially 15 pages (with two book pages to a sheet) about their skulls.

In terms of exploring my new home, I had a field trip today, where we briefly saw the Sydney panorama in the Customs House, the outside of the Museum of Sydney, and the outside of Macquarie Stables. We walked into then out of the NSW State Library and received a tour of Hyde Park Barracks. It was pretty interesting, but I definitely want to go inside the Museum of Sydney and explore the library.

During the week I've been here, one of my biggest struggles has been walking down the sidewalk and crossing the street. Here, people keep to the left. When you are walking toward someone on the sidewalk, veer toward the left. When you trying to cross the street, look right first, then left. I never thought it would be so disorienting. To top it all off, there is little street parking near our campus and the outermost lanes are for buses, who drive extremely close to the sidewalk. Apparently people have gotten hit by the side mirrors on a bus before. If you should ever visit Sydney, don't walk like a New Yorker/Bostonian because you will probably get hit.

That is about it for now. This weekend should be more exciting, but I'll update you on that when the time comes! Thanks for reading!