ISA Blog Post 2: Beware of the Magpies

Magpies: a black and white crow looking bird. The following picture I got off of Google Images (I am too afraid to try to take my own).
 
In Melbourne these birds are notorious for swooping on people, causing not only fear, but also sometimes scratches on the person that they swoop on (another picture off of Google Images).

When I arrived here in Melbourne I was on the plane and saw what looked like a skunk (due to the black and white color) in the field next to the tarmac. I asked the lady sitting next to me if what it was and she said a Magpie and to be careful. I was really confused as to why I would have to be careful around a bird; I am bigger what is there to be afraid of. She proceeded to tell me that around October these birds tend to start what is called ‘swooping’. This is when I started to laugh. This lady was not kidding, these birds become very territorial around the area they make their nests, and will swoop around to protect the nest. Every once in a while you will get the Seagulls that stick around outside the many outdoor food establishments begging for food, and even landing on tables to steal food. This is a common occurrence because well, birds like food. Magpies are the evil ones though. People can never be sure as to where these birds have made their nests and this can lead for quite a surprise when swooped upon by a bird. People around Melbourne are encouraged to wear a hat, so that if a Magpie does decide to swoop that it is more likely to get your hat and not latch onto your hair. The picture I attached is one that I took on the University of Melbourne grounds.

This goes to show you just how serious this problem is, and how crazy these birds are. I personally have never had an issue, but multiple of my friends have. I am not writing this to scare you, but just to let you in on the life of a person in Melbourne. It is completely possible to go through your time abroad and never have a run in with these birds, which is what I am hoping for!

Long Time Coming

22/9/15


Hey y’all, I know it has been a while since I have written a blog. I have been crazy busy with midterm papers and catching up on reading and such. When they say that they are #44 school in the world they were not kidding, they mean business! The grades here are based of solely two things typically, a midterm either paper or test, then the final exam. I am not used to having the majority of my grade so dependent on such a small amount of work. It is very stressful. The other thing that I am not used to is not having as an open professors to go talk to about things that confuse me. I am getting a little more used to it, but that doesn’t mean it makes it easy. Now that my hell week is over it is time to move on to bigger and better things. This week I leave to go to Brisbane and do a 10 day tour up to Cairns! I am so excited to see more of the beautiful country that I am staying in, and getting to see the sun isn’t going to be too shabby! I am going with three other people that I know two from ISA and then one that I met at my living accommodation. I will definitely be posting another blog once I return from there to let you all know what I did! As for things I have done since my last blog post (besides homework), the ISA group went on a couple of fun trips including: Sovereign Hill, Family Feud taping, and Brighton Beach. Sovereign Hill is in Ballarat (which is where we went to see the kangaroos) and it is famous for its gold mining. Some of may know how much I hate history, but when you are at a place like this it is amazing. It reminded me of an old western movie with the little town and shops, it was something that my dad would have loved. Next was Family Feud, definitely nothing like the American version but still super fun! We got to see three different episodes taped two Australian and one New Zealand edition. Moving on to Brighton Beach, this is a famous beach about half hour out of the city by train. The main thing this is beach is famous for is the bath houses, little huts that are painted brightly. It was a 73 degree day and for being outside for like an hour I got sunburnt, not bad but a surprise. Pretty much the extent of what has been going on lately. Write more later after our trip! 

Hakuna Matata

Love you all

   Tegen

ISA Blog 1: 4 Ways to Get to Know Melbourne During Your First Week

26/8/2015

As I had posted in one of my previous blogs, I was chosen to write on behalf of the program ISA (the program I came here through). The below post is the first blog I have written for them. Quick shout out to my cousin Jenny for helping me edit, without you my life would be impossible (; teehee! Enjoy!

Melbourne, Australia has been voted the most livable city in the world five years running according to Economist Intelligence Unit. This just goes to show you how amazing the city and city life is in Melbourne! With so much to see and do and an entire semester to get it done, there are a few things to that you need to do within the first week you're here!
The first thing you need to do when you get here is to go to the Eureka Skydeck 88. This is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere, measuring up to 975 feet with 360-degree views of the city. It is a great place to look out on the city and to understand where everything is in relation to everything else. (The first photo I added is one that I took when I went up in the tower.) There is also an option to do what is called The Edge. This is a part of the building that is a glass cube that slides out from the building while you are standing inside. When you are in this, you are not allowed to bring your electronics, so I could not take a picture.
The second thing you should do is to take a guided walking tour of the city. This is a great way you get to know the city.  The guides tell you some of the cool places to go back to, and when the best time to see each thing is. This really helps you understand your host city and to know where the locals hang out! (The photo I attached is one from the tour of the famous Hosier Lane, which is a famous alley way filled with graffiti.)

After you go on the walking tour, you should take the City Centre tram, number 35.  It takes you around the city circle of the Central Business District of Melbourne. This is another way to look at the city. The tram that takes you on this route is a historical tram that Melbourne is known for. (I attached the picture of the tram.)

Once you have started to be comfortable in the city, the next thing you have to do is to go to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). According to the Sports Networker, Melbourne is the sports Capitol of the world, and most of those sports happen at the MCG. You may take tours of the MCG, which is what I highly recommend. That way when you go to a game you'll know what is going on behind the scenes and it makes for some fun pictures (like the one I have posted).


Overall, you are going to love all the things that there are to do in Melbourne, but the things I am writing about are the things to do in the first week.  They are designed to help you have a smooth transition into your new host city.







Hakuna Matata
Love you all,

Tegen

Life in Melbourne

20/8/15 (Australian way to write the date, gets me confused every time)

The last couple of days have been a little boring but good all the same. Highlights were that I bought a new coloring book, started drawing, booked my flight to Brisbane for spring break, and got to go to a taping of ‘The Project”. Although it hasn’t been constant fun, I am totally okay with it! I found out my cold turned into a sinus infection so I got on medicine and am feeling much, much better! Even though I no longer have a cold my foot is still giving me issues so I am having troubles getting around. I tried to go to the podiatrist, although the doctors office called and told me he was sick, so I have to wait just a little bit more to hopefully get better answers. It has been quite sunny the last couple days, which has felt amazing! Still chilly enough that you need to wear a light jacket, but nice enough that I was sitting up on the roof of my building reading, watching movies, coloring and drawing! I am not great at drawing, and I tried even to draw the landscape in front of me, that did not go so well. Sad thought of the day, I have to start working on a lot of papers that have deadlines coming up! But happy thought, I booked my flight to go to Brisbane for spring break! I cannot wait to take a break from reality to go on break and go up to warmer weather and take my first ever spring break trip! There have been those people that go on trips every spring break usually to warm places. For me besides going to St. Louis in tenth grade, I have never been anywhere for spring break, especially anywhere that is warmer than in my current city, if that makes sense. I am very excited! For this trip, I fly into Brisbane and we travel along the coast up to Cairns making a bunch of fun stops along the way. As far as people I know that are going only my two guy friends Matt and Will, and then I do not know anyone else, but I am looking forward to meeting more friends! Matt is going to Adelaide, but is originally from New York and makes fun of my supposed accent. Will is here in Melbourne, and originally from Alabama, and a definitely southern gentlemen. It will be super fun to get to go and adventure more of Australia! Next cool thing is that I got to be part of my first studio audience of the show ‘The Project’. It is a show that reminds me of ‘The View’. It was pretty cool seeing the sort of behind the scenes of a popular TV show. Now time to get to my actual homework. Ta Ta!

Hakuna Matata
Love you all,

Tegen

Another Week In the Books

9/8/15

Well hello again everybody, another week here in Melbourne is done! This week I haven't done much, my cold has been kicking my butt, and my foot has been giving me some problems. On the bright side I have been catching up on sleep and doing some extra homework! One thing I have done is that I got to Skype my whole family including Leanne, Trent, and both of Trent's parents. It was really great getting to see them and talk to them all! It was also the first time I got to see Jerred and Kyle, and they got to tell me all about the new house that they bought. Jerred was super interested in how the people here talk, and the two things he asked to know were zebra (zeb-ra) and then aluminum (al-e-min-e-mum) and that one for me was super hard for me to say but it cracks me up just thinking about it! It was great talking to everyone again, but it really made it hard for me realizing that I am not home, and life there is still going on and I don't get to be apart of it as much as I want to be. Moving on for classes, I finally set up my note takers in class, so I actually have someone who is holding me accountable for classes and to go to all things even my lectures, which are not mandatory, which I think is good! I also got some good news that I was chosen to be a blogger between different people who applied for it through ISA (the program through which I came here). The email said that it was pretty competitive, which made me feel good, even though I don't believe it was. So although I do not know what it is going to entail I am quite excited to share my experiences with students that are potentially thinking about coming abroad! It feels awesome to help people, as you all know I love helping people, or otherwise I wouldn't want to become a psychologist. Saturday was a really good day as well!  We as an ISA group got to go to a place called Mornington Peninsula, which is about an hour drive from Melbourne. It was a place that has natural hot springs, and it has the natural minerals from the earth that are supposed to help you relax. IT FELT AMAZING! There were probably 15 different pools, turkish baths, and saunas. The only down side was that we had to be up at 5am in order to make our reservation, and with the day full of relaxation it made for one long day! Today I went to the market and got a bunch of fruit to start making smoothies that I got from downstairs in the charity bin (don't worry mom I was and sanitized it all). I also did laundry which was long over due, I washed my blankey, and now it no longer smells like home, yes I have a blankey and now am a little sad that I can no longer smell it and think of home, but it still makes me feel safe! That has been the extent of my week! Pictures of the Peninsula are up on Facebook, and I will be putting them up on Snapfish soon! Speaking of pictures, today I did download all of my pictures on my computer so that I could clear out my phone and make room for the rest of my trip!  Yippee!! That is all for now.


Hakuna Matata,
Love you all,

Tegen

Week 1 of School Done

3/8/2015

Well even though it is Monday here, I survived my first week of classes, but not until this Thursday will I have had every class yet. One huge transformation is going from a small 3,200 student school to a 55,000 student school, making lectures 300+ students. Hopefully as I continue I will get used to having big classes, but I like having smaller classes where the professor actually knows me. This university is very based on independent study and for me, that is going to be hard, but I am gonna have to move on and get used to it! Luckily all my lecturers are okay with me using American English,  so I don't have to worry about spelling as much! I am enrolled in four classes here and they are: Sex, Gender, and Culture, Cognitive Psychology, Managing Human Resource Management, and The Psychopathology of Everyday Life. Each class meets once a week for a 2 hour lecture (another huge change) and then another time for a hour or two hour tutorial which is about 20 students, so more like home. This week I also went to my first Footy game! That is Australian Rules Football, so it is not American Football, or soccer. It is constant motion from one end to another, and they can hit, throw, or kick the ball. Since most of the teams are from Melbourne, just different suburbs, most of us that went cheered on our coordinators team, the Richmond Tigers. Whew, I was screaming and cheering, and I had so much fun! Even though I still am pretty unclear of the rules, I understood enough to find the game very interesting, and now plan on going to more games! That was the majority of fun from the last week! I will be posting photos of the game and our Saturday fun night out on Snapfish here soon!

Hakuna Matata.
Love you all,
Tegen

Aussie Life

7/21/15

Hey everybody, I am sorry it has taken so long for me to post another blog since my last one, it has been busy and its hard to remember to blog! The last two weeks have been jam packed with activities, and meeting new people! Last week on Tuesday we started the orientation for ISA (the program I came here through) and we had students from Perth, Adelaide, and Melbourne all here, totaling 23 students. It was an amazing experience and we got to do so much in just 3 short days! Some of the things that we got to do were, take a walking tour of Melbourne from an experienced tour guide who grew up here, so we got awesome information. Later on Tuesday we went up in the Eureka Sky deck were you can see 360 degree views of the city from the tallest building in Melbourne, then to end the night we got to take a tram car ride where we were served dinner, and I had my first legal drink just some champagne and wine, which were both nasty! Once we got back to the hotel we were all staying at a small group of us ended up going out again to a bar in central station. When we got there, we had to go through security, which was just a bouncer and we had to show them our IDs. Out of the 8 of us that went, I was the one person who didn't know what they wanted or what pretty much anything was on the menu, so me being curious, asked the bartender what she would recommend and she said a mojito. (Everyone thought it was so weird that I asked, but I didn't really care.) Not a huge fan, but I do like hurricanes, which somebody in our group got one to share! Wednesday has been one of my favorite days here so far! We all took a hour and a half bus ride to a city called Ballarat, where we took a tour of a Wildlife Park, this park had hundreds of kangaroos just roaming around to pet and feed, SOOOO COOL!! They also had other animals such as koalas, Tasmanian devils, wombats, and crocodile, it was super fun. That night we had a night out again, nothing too fun, just hanging out. Thursday we toured the Melbourne Cricket Ground or MCG, our tour guide was super funny but you could only understand like half the things he said. That night was super fun, we went downstairs to the bar attached to the hotel and we sung some karaoke. I haven't sung in front of people since I was probably 7, man it was super fun though! Then this past week we had orientation for school, so we figured out class times and what books we needed and all sorts of different information that would be helpful for the semester. You could attend which ever sessions you wanted that were going on, and me being me I attended most of them! Its crazy to think I have been here almost three weeks, and that classes start today, AHH! Well it has taken me a good week to write this post and I apologize if you have been waiting, I warned you guys that I wouldn't be the best at remembering! Well I am gonna head to campus and start reading my book before class! Look for a post at the end of the week. I posted pretty much all my pictures on snapfish!  (:

Hakuna Matata
Love you all,
Tegen

I Made It!

7/9/15

Hi from Australia everybody! I made it safely to Melbourne (pronounced Mel-bin). The flights here were not as bad as I was anticipated, and it helped that since I have a boot on my foot that I had an escort waiting for me after each flight that took me to the next gate, which made things go very smoothly. When I landed in Brisbane the escort waiting for me was named Tegan so it was really funny and confusing they were super surprised I called her by her name when in fact I was asking if she was waiting for a Tegen, that being me. She helped me go through customs and all new security which gave us access to the fast lanes and made everything a lot smoother! I freaked out a little bit because I had to take a shuttle from one airport to another in Brisbane and I quickly realized that the bus was going the wrong way around the roundabout and then realized here they drive on the opposite side of the road and of the car. When I landed here in Melbourne I was quick to find my luggage but took me awhile to find my driver, who had left to go get food. Once I found them I was joined by a couple other students either attending University of Melbourne, La Trobe, or the University of Victoria. One student was from Nashville and then the other was from Indonesia, which was pretty cool to meet him, he was very helpful and nice! It was about a 25 minute drive from the airport to my residence, during which I also realized I do not like the driving here, I am too much of a country kid to drive in the cities in MN, much less here, THEY ARE WAY WORSE! The person who helped me check-in here was very nice and answered all my questions I had. I am on the first floor of my building, but I still have to take the elevator up, because I have a key card that grants me access to the building, but also to make sure no random people end up on the floors. My room is a studio that is shared by two people although my roomie is not here yet; has its own bathroom and little kitchenette. I was provided with my own bedding, and a kitchen pack that had all the essentials to cooking. One thing that I was warned of is that in Australia if you set off a fire alarm and the fire trucks come, and it is a false alarm the fine is up to $1000 or so, CRAZY, I know. also in the building we have study lounges, a tv room, and access to the roof which is like a little hang out area that has two barbeques or barbies. Yesterday was my first full day here and I started to explore a little. I tried to find a grocery store, which I found but it was little one so I need to go to a different one to get food, but with my foot it is hard to go a half a mile to go get food and then back carrying the bags. I also tried the trams, which was definitely an adventure in itself. I went about 15 minutes on the tram to meet up with the resident director I will be working with here. On the way home from her I went a different way to explore more, and I got my phone switched to an Australian number, found a McDonalds, and a Subway. I also stopped at a little tourist shop and picked up some postcards. By the time I got back home yesterday I was exhausted but I had to make myself stay up longer or my body would be skrewed up, but I only lasted until 7pm. The day I got here I went to bed at 7 and woke up at 5:30, which worked cause I got some skyping in with Trent and my parents. Today I woke up at 7, Skyped Trent for a bit and then went back to sleep until 1, hopefully I can stay up and get on the right schedule! That is about the extent of my trip so far, nothing too exiting, just trying to take it one day at a time and not overwhelm myself. Off to go find the bigger grocery store and post office! Talk later! If you would like my address you can ask my parents or facebook me, also for my skype name, and for my texting number! I will be posting some photos here soon as well so go ahead on snapfish and look for those!

Hakuna Matata
Love you all,
Tegen

Just Over A Day

7/4/15

First of all I would like to wish you all a very happy Fourth of July. Having it be the Fourth of July it marks that I have just a little over a day until I leave for Melbourne. As happy as I am to go on this experience, I am really having a hard time saying goodbye to my family and friends. I had been doing pretty good not crying until I had to say goodbye to two of my brothers, Jerred and Kyle and of course my nephew Dexter (the dog). This was yesterday and even thinking about it yet today I tear up. To everyone that I haven't personally said goodbye to I would like to say now, goodbye and thank you for all your love and support. I am so blessed to have the support system I do, I do not know where I would be today, without you all! Today's agenda is to hang out with Trent, and my parents, possibly going to find fireworks, and just spending my last night with those I love, and to pack up my carry-on bag. EEEK I AM SO NERVOUS! But I am just as excited. Otay, well, I am gonna stop writing and spend my time with fam! Bye all, I will write when I can!

Hakuna Matata
Love you all,
Tegen

6 Days and Counting

6/29/15

Today marks 6 days until I embark on my journey abroad. I would just like to say that I am not that great when it comes to writing, or grammar quite frankly I suck. That being said, I am also a very bad procrastinator and I can not promise that I will write, everyday, or weekly even, but I can promise I am gonna do my best. I cannot believe that it is only 6 days away until I grab my packed bags that contain all of my things, leave all my family and friends and go to Australia for 5 months. Today I have been working on cleaning my room and separating the things that I will be taking with me. I thought I had pretty bad anxiety, well turns out its a heck of a lot worse when I try to pack. I just wanted to make this sort of official and write my first post. I am also attaching a picture of me and the kangaroo that my mom and second mom Marge got me at a garage sale. It was a fun surprise that I got to have at my going away party. Well time to go continue packing and cleaning, hopefully will be able to post soon.

Hakuna Matata
Love you all,
Tegen