Photographs galore!

Well, things have most definitely gotten a little busier down here, but I wouldn’t have it any other way! Another week of class is done, and the third is underway. I still don’t have my books or my uniform. I’ve pretty much given up hope! If they try to give me my uniform in the sixth week, like they did for someone last term, I will say no thank you, I will take my thousand dollars you made me pay for a really ugly suit!

On Sunday the 17^th we had our sunset harbor cruise of Sydney…which, with our luck, turned into a cloudy-sky-with-spattering-rain-showers cruise. We still managed to have fun, though it seemed like we were sailing all the way to America. It was about a four hour long ride, and we just went from the harbor into the bay, and back and forth. Two hours of it would have been perfect, but oh well. I managed to get some decent pictures, even though we were on a moving boat in wavy water. They’re posted online, here’s the link:

http://gvsu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2182835&l=9ed8c&id=22414798

We got an interesting project in my marketing class last week: our marketing teams had to create a new toy for Mattel and pitch it to our teacher. My group of seven students ended up making Stackos, which we based off of those large cardboard bricks that used to be in the nursery at church (if you know what I’m talking about). We modified them into basically giant legos made out of stress-ball material. Our presentation went quite well, one other girl and myself did the pitch. I’ll let you know in the next post if my group won or not!

The rest of my classes were mediocre-my facilities management class we got an hour and a half to read in class. Wow, I don’t think I’ve had that since about 8^th grade. It was absolutely ridiculous and a complete waste of time. Some of these people would simply die in school in America.

On Tuesday evening I went to a small home group with some of the people that I met at church the Sunday before. It was nice to meet some people not from school and share our views with each other. We had dinner, did some bible study and took impromptu communion using champagne and white bread. (Our hearts were in the right place!) I think I’ll go back tonight.

Wednesday was the best beach day I’ve seen so far. It was ridiculously hot, and the waves were huge! I went down after my only class that day, from 8-10, and laid our and swam from about 10:30 until 3:30. That’s a really long time when it’s that hot out! It was pure bliss.

This weekend consisted of tons of sun! We went to the beach on Saturday and coerced the Australian guys to watch a chick flick with all us girls that night, binging on chips and salsa, hazelnut chocolate bars and Tim-Tams, my new favorite cookie.

Sunday was the ZOO! We left really early (okay, around 8:45) to catch a ferry and then another ferry to get to Taronga Zoo in Sydney. It was such a perfect day to spend walking around and looking at all the animals. Let me tell you, these animals have the best views of the city-no joke! Check out the backgrounds in the photos…another link is at the bottom. We saw all sorts of crazy animals, but no dingos. There were kangaroos, penguins, lions and tigers and bears (oh my!), meercats, elephants and giraffes, among many others. We could walk right through with the smaller kangaroos, but the elephants were definitely my favorite (big surprise right, like mother like daughter!). They were having so much fun, playing in the water for such a long time! The second time we went by the giraffes they were being fed, so that was neat.

There were originally near 25 of us that ended up meeting up at the zoo, so we broke off. After some miscommunication and waiting around, Perri, Kari (she’s from Central) and I decided to hop the next ferry. We were supposed to all have lunch at a place called Pancakes on the Rocks, (cheap and really good food), but we didn’t know if they would be there or not, and none of us knew where the restaurant was, so we headed back to Manly. Pear and I got some ice cream, and just had dinner at school. Church was at 6:30, then I met up with my marketing group to finalize our presentation that we had to give the following day.

All of Monday I was high on life. I had caffeine in the morning, which helped exceptionally, but I knew what I had to look forward to that night…a Motion City Soundtrack concert!! It was to be my fourth time seeing them. Opening for them were Mae, Sugarcult and Cartel…three more of my favorite bands. I knew it was going to be the show of a lifetime. It started at 6:00, and I had class until 4:30. As soon as I got out, my friends Andy, Chad and myself went down and caught the ferry into Sydney. The place where our boat ported was right next to the Queen Elizabeth II (think Parent Trap). We had a little time to spare once we got there, so we decided to grab some fish and chips from a stand. We got a dinner for two, thinking we could just eat it fast and run. However, we received such a massive amount of food that it was crazy! It was delicious, of course, as we burned our fingers with dripping hot grease trying to eat as fast as we could.

As soon as we scarfed the food, we caught a cab to take us to the Metro, where the show was. What we didn’t take into account was the time, and it was almost 6:00. The traffic was horrendous. We rode about two blocks in 10 minutes and I was freaking out because we were missing Mae. I convinced the boys to get out and run the rest of the way. Dumb idea on my part…running about 12 city blocks with two rather fit and in shape guys…I was quite grateful when we got stopped at a crosswalk! We made it there in record time, dodging business men the entire time, and run inside and upstairs to find that a local band was playing before any of the big acts! Thank goodness we didn’t miss them. Celebratory libations were in order, then we walked right up to the second row on the floor-the place was pretty empty. I think we were among the oldest people there, most were about 16 year old kids. After the local band was done, Mae came up and rocked, followed by Sugarcult, who are getting so old and fat that it’s hilarious. One of the guitarists surfed into the crowd right by us and stole Chad’s beer! He gave it back though, and proceeded to take a huge swig of his own and spit it all of us…gross. Cartel was next, and by this point in time it had gotten more crowded, though there were probably only 250 people in the entire venue it was so small. Andy, Chad and I devised what we called “The Pyramid,” with me in the second row, and them right behind me so that we could keep our spots right in the front middle of the stage. Motion City was out of control awesome. I ended up being sandwiched in between these two guys in the second row, the one on my right trying to get into my space. The kid on my left, probably about 16, kept telling me to push him out of the way, and he ended up helping me with joint pushing. Oh concert fun! After the show was over (ending with “I’m on Fire,” same as all of the other three concerts I’ve been to!) we wanted to try to get backstage or at least find out where all the guys were going. We ended up meeting the singer from Sugarcult and got our picture taken with him.

After catching the very last ferry out of Sydney back to Manly, we sat on the back of the ferry outside, just the three of us, looking at the stars and the gorgeous glowing city. Once back in Manly, we got some pizza and made the walk up the hill. It truly was an awesome night! Here are the pictures from the zoo and the concert:

http://gvsu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2183932&l=0de64&id=22414798

Cheers and enjoy the photos!
MJ

Fun facts:
True blue=through and through or to the core
Mobile=cell phone
Full on=right on
Reckon=they say it all the time!

Here's what's crackin...

The first week of classes are officially over. I’ve got four classes, twice a week for two hours apiece. But in traditional, lazy (they say it, not me!) behavior, we get a 15-20 minute break during each class. My first class, principles of marketing, is a little bit intimidating. Though the name of the class would lead one to believe it, this is not an introductory class…We were split into groups and have to create a marketing plan for a bar in Sydney. It’s a fierce competition, and we have to do our final pitch to the owners of the bar. They choose their favorite and the winning pitch is sent in to Donald Trump. Much of the class is based off “The Apprentice,” so the school had to get permission from Trump. He took it an interest and wants the winning tape!

My other classes include a tourism class, rooms division management, and facilities management. They should all be pretty straight forward. My facilities management is a 100-level course, so I’m in the class with a bunch of first years…during our tutorial, the professor read a definition, and had to repeat himself three times so everyone could get it down-obnoxious! He said everyone needed to learn to write faster. That must be a skill you learn quickly, because we older students all had to sit and be bored. There’s a kid in my class who is always making smart comments, and so my professor finally told him to go up to the front and teach the next PowerPoint slide. The kid did alright, then my professor asked me to do it, so of course I completely owned it :) After I got done and the next student was up, someone asked if I have done teaching before! Probably half of my class taught a slide, and at the end of the class he mentioned that he hoped by the end of the semester that everyone could portray the equivalent of my charisma and confidence. (!) Pretty cool, huh?

I’m a little bit frustrated with the school right now on the matters of books. They knew how many students were going to be taking each course, but they failed to order enough books. It’s really irritating-I can’t read for any of my classes, and they won’t be in until next Wednesday or maybe even as late as Friday! I really like to read for my classes so I can be on top of my game, but it’s just not possible right now.

After recovering from a mysterious 24-hour bug that had me miserable in bed all day Wednesday, I went out to a place called Beaches Pizza on Valentines Day with Perri and my new Aussie friend Scotty (who I definitely think is the little brother I never had. He’s completely taken me under his wing to teach me how to speak what he calls English and I call Ozzie. I think I’m doing well, but he tells me I enunciate too much and need to stop saying my r’s). This place is always packed and they have the best pizza. We got a garlic and herb (emphasis on the H, they definitely pronounce it) and a pumpkin, chicken and spinach one. They were fabulous, along with our three dollar champagne.

Friday was my first official beach day! It was great. The sun is so hot down here, it’s unbelievable. Before we went to soak up the rays, Perri and I went to book our accommodations for Whitsundays, a cluster of 75 islands in the Great Barrier Reef. We’re going from Feb 28-March 4. So far there’s about 13 girls on our boat. We fly up and spend three days and two nights on our own boat, cruising through the islands, snorkeling and porting at a different island each night. Should be amaaaazing! (Just don’t think of the amount of class we’re missing…) That night, we had our icebreaker party at school, though we’ve already been here for so long. It was fun, they cleared out all the tables from the inside part of the cafeteria and had a really decent DJ. We met new people and danced the night away.

This morning (that’s Saturday), I went down to Manly to get a muffin and coffee, because it sounded amazing. There’s a market set up on the Corso (basically a strip mall) and in a school yard. Some stuff was thrifty and flea markety, but there was some really great stuff if you looked hard enough-especially the clothing! This afternoon was deemed another beach day, and it was gorgeous again. We walked up to North Head, a park/scenic outlook with stunning views, then headed to the beach. We were about 20 Americans all laying in the same area…we’re ridiculous. It ended up getting cloudy so we came to school, had a mini-BBQ and then dinner.

I’m attempting to upload pictures…if I don’t have any internet left and you don’t hear from me until March, I’m blaming everyone who keeps badgering me! :) This is the link…http://gvsu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2181908&l=9cb61&id=22414798

Happy days,
MJ

Fun facts:
How’re ya goin=how are you
Sarvo=this afternoon (yeah…)
D’n’M= deep and meaningful (as in a conversation)
What's crackin=what's up?
Blow in=when somebody butts into a conversation
Right-o buddy=self explanatory

First day of classes!

The last two days of O-Week were mainly surf safety and team building. On Thursday I participated in surf safety in the middle of what most of us would consider quite a severe thunderstorm. Maybe it’s just me…but shouldn’t a surf safety class include not going into a large body of water in the middle of a thunderstorm? Hmm… We walked down to Manly Beach and by the time we’d gotten there, we looked like we had already been swimming with our clothes on-we were completely soaked. It was such a cold rain, so we were all pretty grumpy. We listened to a beach safety talk…For instance you should always swim where the waves are. The calm areas are where the rips are and they will pull you away from the shore.

When they announced we were getting in the water we thought they were joking. It was still raining, but the thunder was more distant. Donning our red wet shirts, we walked down to the harbor carrying foam surfboards. Manly Beach itself was closed as the sewer plant had overflowed and the water was polluted. The harbor was completely calm, and we did relay races by country, practicing running into the water, jumping belly-first onto our boards and paddling around. Let’s just say that the Australians beat everyone from the States, but that we definitely killed the Scandinavians. It was pretty hard to get balanced and stay on the boards, but it was easy once I got the hang of it. Most people fell off, but I never did :)

There was an optional wine and cheese event at sunset. It was supposed to be outside, but it was of course raining, so we held it on one of the balconies in front of the school. Everyone dressed up and there was gorgeous back lighting for all of my photographs.

Friday morning, some of us did a scavenger hunt (a ‘scavie’) around Manly. We divided into groups of four and had to find the most random things in the town: a Thai restaurant with a take-away menu, the post office, getting a photograph with 10 strangers all at once, etc, etc. The hardest one was getting a parking ticket at exactly 11:44. The way you were to do it was all stand on the spot in front of the parking ramp so that your weight would register as being as heavy as a car. However, my group didn’t get it to work, so one of the guys had the idea of going to the police station and asking them to issue us a fake parking ticket. I couldn’t believe it-but it worked! They totally gave us one, and my team ended up winning the scavie, and got 10 free tickets to the cinema in Manly, which run about $15AU apiece, so it was a really good prize!

That afternoon, I had teambuilding. We divided up (by making animal noises…strange Aussies…I was a cow) and began competing. It was the cows against the sheep. We did random events including tug of war, a blowup obstacle course that was completely filled with water and mud inside, big-ball-volleyball (using a huge red ball that was probably 6 feet in diameter), and another which I can’t even begin to explain. It was loads of fun, and the cows won every event! It was great.

Friday night we discovered exactly how outrageous prices could be in Manly. We went to a place called Henry Africa’s (a really swanky lounge) and all of the girls decided to get cosmos…which ended up being $17 AU each!!! Absolutely ridiculous. That kind of killed the evening, to say the least.

Saturday morning we had a tour of Sydney. In the rain. Everyone is so sick of the rain! We were on a bus, but it would have been great if we’d actually been able to get pictures of things. We saw the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, and went through Kings’ Cross and Chinatown. That night, we got news that we could all claim some money for the hassle of our lost baggage. Good news! We decided to go early Sunday morning.

We went to get ice cream to celebrate. Copenhagen ice cream is AMAZING, just as you said it would be Tom. I think I’m fully addicted.

Our taxi came at 8:15 that morning to take us to the airport. After enough complaining and bartering, we all got $350! It felt great to have some unexpected extra money that I’ve decided to save to travel with. Well…except the money I spent to buy a muffin and coffee. Speaking of coffee, I’ve been forced to quit caffeine cold-turkey. Going from a pot of coffee a day to absolutely not a drop wasn’t fun, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The headaches have ended :)

After brunch on Sunday (my new favorite meal!) we went down into Manly to buy some school supplies. We went to church that night at St. Matt’s, at the 18:30 service which is a contemporary service for young adults. It was quite good. The chaplin for our college plays the bass in the band, and I was talking to two blokes during the “G-day time” and it turns out they both listen every week to the services at Mars Hill where I go to church every Sunday. What a small world!

This morning we had an all-student assembly for all the new students at 8am. It was probably the most boring thing that we’ve done yet. We had a woman named Shane something-or-other as one of our speakers who was apparently a huge swimmer back in the seventies, winning all sorts of Olympic medals.

Alright, it’s time for me to go get some lunch and go to my first class. I’ve got marketing and ecotourism today, rooms division management tomorrow, ecotourism on Wednesday, operations management, marketing and rooms division management on Thursday and then operations management on Friday. Whew. Should be fun!

I’ll keep you posted!

Cheers,
MJ

Fun facts:
Happy days=good times
No worries=you’re welcome
Sunnies=sunglasses
Unnie=university
Trekkies=tennis shoes
Trackies=sweatpants

Address

Just in case anyone wanted to send me any packages or love notes, my address is:

MJ Makay #14109
ICMS Room # 318
151 Darley Road
Manly, NSW 2095
Australia

G'day!

Well everybody, I’ve made it down under! And based on the adventures we had just getting down here, I’m positive there won’t be a dull moment this entire trip.

The flight from Grand Rapids to Dallas was scheduled to leave at 3:35 on Saturday February 2nd. Perri and I said goodbye to all of our friends and family and waited to board our flight. We met Jillian and Joanie, two other girls originally from Grand Rapids who go to school out in LA. They were also heading out to ICMS. Their flight had been delayed, which was leaving from our gate, hence ours was delayed.

After boarding our for our flight finally began, we were patiently waiting to hear “group 3” to board. The intercom clicked on and instead we hear “Will passengers Makay and Neirman please board the plane; the gate is closing in one minute.” Oops! Once the plane was de-iced, we were on our way.

Now, when we first booked our flights, we only had a 50 minute layover in Dallas, so by the time we landed, we literally had seven minutes to make our way across the entire airport...After being told the wrong gate number, we figured it out, jumped on a tram and crossed our fingers. Our gate was completely empty by the time we got there, and we asked the desk clerk if we’d missed our flight. She radioed out to the plane, but they’d given our seats away. But she found us two seats, so we ran on and started looking for them. We realized very rapidly that we’d been bumped to first class.

I sat on the window, enjoying the absolutely delicious complimentary food and drinks. (Did you know that they charge for food now in economy on domestic flights? Three dollars for a bag of cashews. Reeeediculous.) My seat folded down all the way into a bed, so after dinner I just slept, since Perri was on the other side of the plane.

Once in LA, we met up with about 20 of our new friends, all flying out to ICMS. We were scheduled to take off around 10:20; once again we were delayed, then sat in the plane on the runway for quite a while. I slept well for parts of the night, and watched movies on my in-seat TV. We had some crazy turbulence in the night; turns out we were on the edge of a cyclone. After about 14 hours in the air, we landed in a very rainy Sydney at 8:20 in the morning on February 4th.

Then began the wait. The wait for our luggage. (The wait that ended up lasting THREE days.) About half of the people from our group of about 22 had their luggage, so we told them t ogo and tell our bus driver what was happening.

It became pretty apparent our luggage wasn’t coming through as we watched the same six pieces go in a circle. So we went to fill out our lost baggage claim tickets. There was another flight coming in from LA so we decided to wait for it to see if our luggage was on it. But...it wasn’t. We did however find two other girls from Grand Valley who were going to ICMS as well. Out of the seven girls from Grand Valley, six of us lost all of our luggage! We must have a curse. After we deemed our luggage a lost cause we went out to find our bus—Which had left us! We got in contact with the university, which told us we would have to find our own way.

A nice airport shuttle said he’d take us. We’re hoping (but doubting) that the school will reimburse us. Our driver was great though, as we zipped along on the opposite side of the road, for 45 minute until we got to Manly, he told us fun facts and even gave us some watermelon that could potentially rival Doc’s!

We checked in at school, got our room numbers (I’m in 318 in the castle if you wanted to come visit!) and ate a much needed lunch. The school is beautiful, though everyone refers to it as “Harry Potter’s Castle.” The bedrooms are...quaint, maybe would be the nicest word I could use, though sparce and depressing are much more apt.

We took a bus into Manly to buy some essentials, since so many of us had absolutely nothing. We had to bum and share things as much as possible. Manly is a beautiful little town, lots of stores and interesting restaurants.

After returning to school and taking the world’ most amazing (and probably most needed) showers, we had dinner and listened to an acoustic guitar player. Bed time ended up being about 8:00.

Tuesday and Wednesday have been filled with Orientation activities. Last night we had our cocktail reception as our official welcome to school, and then all went down to Manly that night. Today I had some down time and walked down the hill to Manly and did a little more shopping. It was finally sunny today and it was wonderful. So many of the girls got really sunburnt. (No, not me). We had a traditional Aussie party, so for dinner we had all the normal barbeque foods: lamb, prawns, chicken skewers and more. It was fabulous. Then we watched some Aboriginals traditional dancing, and had a reptile specialist (read: crazy Steve Irwin wannabe) come in a do a presentation.

We were in the middle of watching the dancing when we got the glorious news that our luggage was there! It’s just such a relief to actually have my own belongings. Everything is damp like they left it sitting out in the rain, but as long as we have it, that is fine with me.
That’s about it; sorry it got so lengthy. Until next time...
Love, MJ

Fun facts: Aussies do not only drive on the opposite side of the road, they walk on the opposite side of the sidewalk. It’s not a pitcher of beer; it’s a jug. Contrary to popular belief, kangaroos are not hopping around everywhere. A magpie bird sounds like a cross between a dying child and a sick goat-and they start singing very early every morning.