Getting into classes, plans for break, and the age of drinking

Over the past few weeks nothing major has really happened besides the beach, school work, a few nights out, and watching House online...

Beach - According to Aussies... March is the end of summer, I beg to differ! It's finally starting to be nice and enjoyable weather here. During the day 80-85 with a slight breeze and cooler at night so you aren't sweating in your sleep. The beach has been gorgeous the past couple weekends and I spent this whole weekend at the beach enjoying the weather. Now that I have my snorkel and mask here I take it with me to our favorite beach, Cottesloe, and snorkel around looking for shells because it is right near a jetty and the beach is usually pretty calm with minimal waves. We've pulled out some pretty cool shells and most likely everyone will be getting some as gifts :-) I also was officially called 'mom' here because I pack my lunch to the beach and come prepared with all sorts of stuff. Thanks mom for making me always be responsible for myself, I never really have to ask anyone for anything. So I plan to keep on making weekend trips to the beach to keep working on my tan even if it is a little cooler, it's enjoyable weather and a beautiful view!

School work. Well, as my roommate from Elon and I discussed... it's hard for us to motivate ourselve to do work here because we have so little and we are used to turning in assignments every week back home so we are in 'school mode' all the time at Elon. Here, well, we are in enjoy life to the fullest mode. Thankfully I don't have any major assignments due until after I return for break so I can get my grades back on the few small assignments that I have turned in which will help me gage where I need to put in more effort. For the most part though my classes are interesting, and while my sociology development class sparks my interest I also enjoy taking field trips for my Australian Studies course.

Most recently we visited Freemantle, which is what I am doing my first paper for that class on. One popular tourist place there is the Roundhouse that was built in 1831. It was used as a gaol and prison until about 20 years ago and there was only ever 1 hanging there. One of the things our teacher pointed out was that the first building built there was the jail, then a church which showed their initial social order. There is also a really cool whaling tunnel that I've now been to twice. It's neat to see these places and how they are still in place today, and also to learn how they were used throughout history. When they stopped the whaling industry there, it was then turned into a bomb shelter during WWII, and now it is a walking path to one of the beaches. Now 'Freo' as it is called here has a very laid back and friendly atmosphere with markets, pubs, breweries, nightlife, fishing, fish and chips, and a pretty interesting history.

This past Saturday we actually went down to Freo (about an hour by bus) for a night out to dinner and then to a popular club in town. It's great because almost all of the restaurants here are BYO wine etc. so we all split some bottles of wine and food and had a good night out. The town itself has a nice atmosphere even at night, and was definitely calmer than many of the nights that we have witnessed around the city of Perth when we go out there, so it was a good change.

As we started talking to some people around us we realized that we all felt old. Mostly because we are all almost 21 years old, and to us 18 year olds are 'young' back in the states. But here in Australia, you can't tell a difference between those that are 18 and those that are 21... because you can drink at 18. In the states there is an obvious divide between 18-20 and 21+, when in all reality those ages are all college students. It really seems like the drinking age being 21 back home has really made a rigid divide between these age groups, and limits the number of friends that you can go out with... and not that going out determines friendships, but what happens on the weekends and who you hang out with can have a huge impact on groups of friends, especially in college. Here there is a lot less emphasis on age and grade level at the university, where as back home there are pretty obvious lines of age and grade level difference. It's great to not have those social constructs and/or social norms of sticking to your own grade, and we've met a wider variety and age of people which I think is largely in part to the fact that the government does not draw a huge line of responsiblity and capabilities between the ages of 20 and 21. But enough about that, it is what it is and maybe someday it will change in the US, but until then... I'm enjoying it here.

Besides that, I've been catching up on the seasons of House online and enjoy House's sarcasm. I've also convinced my guy roommates that 'So you think you can dance' isn't that horrible of a show, and although they don't like to admit it, they enjoy watching it with me on Sunday evenings. (I know this because today, they turned the results show on without me even asking... they must like it.)

And I'm reading books too, I'm waiting for my student advisor to bring me some more so that I don't have to keep buying 30 dollar books here because well... the library is the last place on earth I want to go here, it is possibly the worst, most unorganized, piece of nonsense library I have ever stepped foot into. It's useless.

Last thing is I'm in search of a new ipod since mine decided to stop working on me at the gym one day... who said Apple was reliable?!

Thursday I leave for 2 weeks - 1 to Bali and 1 up the west coast, so I'm sure I'll have some more exciting adventures and news upon returning...

Love and miss everyone back home!!