Update

Sorry, again, that I have no videos for the past couple weeks. I have loads of clips on my camera but struggle to find time to upload them all on the blog. I have been preparing for finals the past week and have my first (of 4) exam on Wed. Genetics and Evolution of Life. Mr. VanHal and other old friends from SCS, i'd love to hear you tell me evolution doesn't exist now! HA! The other three exams are Comparative Animal Physiology, Biology of Australian Flora & Fauna, and Human Physiology. w00t

After I finish next Friday, I will have 7 more days in Melbourne to say goodbye to friends and celebrate my semester here. On Nov 28 I leave for Thailand with Claire and Corbin for 14 days. I can't wait! It will be an amazing trip to finish my semester abroad before going back to the good ol' USA. When I get back home to Seattle I should have more time to upload all the videos from my last month in Oz and Thailand.

Thanks, all, for following my blog! I appreciated the comments and emails from many of you. There is still much more to come, but I wanted to give a heads up that I probably won't upload many videos for a few weeks, if not a month. It's 40°C here this week, so if I break from studying I'm going outside to enjoy the SUN before I fly back to the pnw winter :) Good thing I go back to school in LA in January.......

Love to all you family and friends out there!

The Whitsundays and Whitehaven Beach

These next videos are mostly of our boat ride around the Whitsunday Islands. You can see it's low visibility because a ton of dust was in the air, but it was still absolutely gorgeous! I've never been on islands like this before! The definition of tropical paradise, i think. It's really windy so you can't hear a lot of my commentary (shucks!) but at least



The next two clips show us arriving at our island stay for 3 days, South Molle Island. All of the Whitsundays are national parks except for a few, which have hostels/resorts for tourists like me. Over half of South Molle was national park so I still took a bunch of short fun hikes to see the place.


Sorry, again, that you can't really hear much. I think I said something like, "this video only captures some of the beauty I'm seeing, and a tiny fraction of the fun."


Here's a shot of us before we arrive at Whitehaven beach. It's a massive beach with shallow warm water stretching out for a really long distance. Definitely one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in the world!


And this is when my battery dies............ so sad! I was an idiot and left my battery charger on the mainland for these 3 days. Thankfully, I was able to borrow a friend's iPhone to take some video over the next couple days. Unfortunately, though, these are the only two vids I got at Whitehaven. Next time I won't use all the battery while I'm on the boat!

Lake McKenzie and other clips of Fraser Island

Wow! This place was paradise! I have never visited a place as beautiful as this lake, and feel so lucky to have spent an afternoon enjoying the sun, water, and sand. This was the softest sand I have ever felt! We rubbed it all over our skin and in our hair and it felt amazing. NASA used sand from this island for a telescope lens or something because the sand has some of the highest percentage of silica in the world - or something like that haha. I learned there are nearly a hundred other lakes comparable to Lake McKenzie on Fraser Island, so next time I travel to Queensland I want to camp at least a few days on the island to check out the other cool locations.



One more clip of Lake McKenzie:


The view at Mohino Beach, at the SS Mohino crash site:


A shot of the wooded area covering most of Fraser Island:

Bus rides on Fraser Island

Once we disembarked our ferry on Fraser island, we immediately loaded up into this giant 4x4 elevated bus. Fraser island is made up entirely of sand, so all of the roads that go around the island are made out of soft sand. The island was originally inhabited only for logging, so big logging trucks cleared out these roads just big enough for the buses to squeeze through. It was pretty terrifying at first to see how fast and close the driver brought us to big trees and branches that could have knocked us over. The bus was made especially for this terrain, though, and it had the incredible capability to twist, rock, and bounce through the rough landscape.





The driver kept us entertained the entire ride. He was really funny and had loads of interesting facts to share as we drove through the island next to treacherous drop-offs and on the beach.



Here we are cruising along the beach. You can hear the driver explain why we drive next to the tide rather than on the soft sand like on the roads. He was flying!



Last clip of the insane bus ride, as we slowly make our way over uneven rocks. The camera doesn't capture the reality of this wild ride, but you get a general idea.

Hervey Bay beach and ferry to Fraser Island

Sunset at Hervey Bay (pronounced Harvey):


Ferry ride to Fraser Island:

Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo

Here are a bunch of vids from my day at the Australia Zoo. It was really fun because I visited here about two years ago with the OGC (choir). I didn't notice any changes since then, especially in the crocodile feeding show. I had a great time! Australian animals rule.

Sleepy Koalas:


Roos:


Petting a roo:


They are nocturnal, after all. Lazy roos:



They look cuddly but they are ferocious!


Birds:


More birds:



This croc could snap us in half. Steve Irwin's wife was really excited, 3 death rolls!


Here's a Tasmanian Devil, they're actually a lot smaller and cuter than most people expect-


I also love cassowaries but didn't take any video of them. Later I'll add a pic. They look like a hybrid between a turkey and an emu.

Ormond Basketball Grand Final

Here are a few clips from the Intercollegiate basketball grand final (aka in America: championship) between Ormond and University College. There were 12 teams in the tournament, and we were seeded no. 1 in our pool after winning the league games. We crushed every team that opposed us (by a lot). This game was the closest game of the whole competition and we still won by 12! I was one of four US-born guys on the team, and we had a couple other guys who played a lot of ball when they were younger. Aussie's usually grow up playing footy instead of basketball so having a 6 men with solid fundamentals definitely gave us an edge against the other colleges.

I'm wearing my lucky number 32 and you can see me score an easy basket as I'm fouled in this clip right after the camera zooms away from the scoreboard. I brick the 3-point play free-throw :-( but at least forced a steal right after the rebound! And even though the 3-point line is a few inches farther back than in the states, I still got the touch and dropped one from downtown in the second half :-)



Next clip shows the end of the game and you can hear someone shout "where's 32?!"



This last clip captures Ormond fans and players gathering after to sing our college's anthem and cheer. This was a really exciting experience! Go Ormond!



I accidentally put the clip on twice when I compressed the video file to fit on the blog. If it's not already obvious, the second half is the same as the first half!

PS. Thanks Kaitlyn for shooting video and taking pics during the game!

Update

Hi everyone!

Sorry it has been forever since I have posted anything. I was gone on a dream vacation through Queensland for the past 2 weeks and have more video than I know what to do with! I literally shot over 3 clips per day..........

They will all be up very soon! Thanks for your patience

Hawthorn vs. Essondon

This was the best game I have seen so far! It was the first time I got to see my team (Hawthorn Hawks a.k.a. The Happy Men) play live so we got decked out in Brown and Gold and cheered them on at the MCG!




This next clip doesn't show much, except to prove that I saw this fight happen live. One guy from the Hawks got tackled hard to the head and was taken off the field on a stretcher, a large fight between at least half the team members ensued... the umpires didn't stop the game for about thirty seconds- in true Aussie Rules style! It was a big deal because the Hawks were winning the entire game until Essendon took the lead after this fight (3rd quarter) and ended Hawthorn's season at the final buzzer. Tough to watch my boys go down like that!




Check out this youtube video to see media coverage of this fight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI7z6v93Wo0

Bondi Beach

Last day in Sydney relaxing by the beach! Couldn't be a better way to wrap up our fantastic weekend.

Saturday in Sydney

Hyde Park:




Mrs. Macquarie Point:



Mrs. Macquarie Point again:





Royal Botanical Gardens:

Sydney Opera House

Nearing the end of our LONG day Friday, we went to the Opera House to see the Sydney Symphony in the main concert hall. What an experience! Everyone on the trip with me can attest that I was on a serious high after the show. I was blown away! The first piece was Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 (in E-flat, Op. 107). Very exciting piece with incredible writing for solo cello. The second piece was Symphony No. 3 (in C-minor, Op 78) - called the Organ Symphony for its use of the pipe organ. I had never heard this piece before and it was especially moving, as it started softly and reflectively before working it's way to a climactic thunderous finale. Check it out if you haven't heard it already!



We had seats behind the orchestra and I tried to take a short video during the Shoshtakovich concerto but my battery died! I need to prepare better for these things........ Here's that short clip-- sorry it's not the best view because I was trying to be discreet, just listen closely!



After the intermission (they call it "interval" here) a few of us slipped into the $90+ seats in the front-middle section. My excuse was that it sounded better acoustically for us to hear the organ, but they were amazing seats, regardless!

Manly Beach

The sun was hiding again at this point, but still thoroughly enjoyed this afternoon. Manly actually reminded me of many beach areas around LA.



Apparently the word of the day was "beautiful". Sorry, i didn't realize i was using the same word so frequently! I promise I usually make use of a larger vocabulary, which includes more than one adjective, in normal conversation.





WARNING: the next video contains language that may be unsuitable for young children or others. I'm including it so you can really see how much i loved this beach. sorry you had to hear that, mom <3

Sydney Harbour*

*note the "u." If it hadn't been made it clear already, I'm not in the US anymore. The novelty never wears off, haha!



The sun was hiding behind the clouds during the ride, but you still get a good idea of what it's like to take a ferry through the Sydney Harbour. We took the ferry early Friday afternoon to Manly beach (no, i'm not trying to sound more gay. it's just the name of the beach) and spent the rest of our sunny day walking the beach and soaking in the sights!

Here's another view from the ferry ride:

Sydney

This video was taken around 8 in the morning after our early morning flight from Melb on Friday Aug 21.

Gorgeous weather in Sydney with warm temps in the low 70's. We stayed in the middle of downtown for 3 days so crammed in lots of sights and had an incredible weekend! Plenty of video documentation-

Chinese Gardens:

To my fellow Ormondians,

This is Picken A, B, and C with the Picken Lawn in the foreground. What a beautiful area for students to hang out! I may have said some misguided comments in an earlier video about the residential halls other than Main Building. This recording is my response:

Also- If it isn't obvious already, i made a note at the beginning about how I appear to others while I take these videos. Let's just say I don't look cool.




geeeeeez the thumbnail always captures an awkward facial expression....

Another AFL game

Sorry for the delay everyone! The internet comes and goes at Ormond, unfortunately, so I was disconnected from the world last weekend. It's nice to be back......

Here's a couple shots from a game at the MCG. I have another short clip from the beginning of the blog when I visited the cricket grounds during welcome week; take a look how different it looks full during a game at night! Student tickets are in the nose-bleeds but cheap so I hope to catch a few more games before the season ends








I'll try to stop using the zoom so much. Clearly not effective!

View from the Athletics fields

Here is another video showing you Ormond and the north side of Uni Melb campus where all the residential colleges are located. It's a bit boring but gives you another idea of what things look like around here!

School is in full-swing by now as we just started our 3rd week. Keeping busy but still loving it here!

Dear Diary @ Ormond

This one also shouldn't need explanation. Just a quick update and virtual tour of my room at Ormond. Classes are in full swing now and I'm looking forward to the rest of the semester! I really enjoy the course subjects i'm taking. Lots of work ahead, but no doubt great experiences along the way too--

Outside Ormond College

Hello again. I finally worked out the proxies and worked out the internet in my dorm room. They charge about $10 per GB of usage here, isn't that ridiculous?! It's okay though, i can get wireless on campus when I'm in class for free and take care of most of my work there. And i'm learning to be conservative and not waste time surfing the net or watching youtube videos!

This clip is pretty self-explanatory- it is the same walk up to the college when I first moved in last week. Enjoy!

Technical Difficulties....

I have a few more videos of my new home, Ormond College but having trouble uploading them. I'm going to take my laptop to a cafe with wi-fi tomorrow and hopefully get some of them up!

Some things to look forward to seeing in the near future:

University of Melbourne's campus
The Tower at Ormond (the best view of the city on all of campus!)
Waterfront at the Yarra River
The CBD and downtown

Until next time!
<3

Footy!

Here's a short clip as we walked up to Etihad Stadium in Southbank, Melbourne. Aussie Rules football is by far the most popular sport in Melbourne and most of Australia. Check out the rules and more details at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_rules_football

It's a fun sport, I was first acquainted when I stayed in Melbourne with a kid at my home stay during the Glee Club Australia tour '07. The boy was so enthusiastic about the sport, so I already had an idea of some of the rules. They have stadium etiquette during the games, which requests everyone to stay seated until quarter/half times. As I said before, most AFL teams are from Melbourne and the surrounding suburbs. This night was the Essondon Bombers vs. the Western Bulldogs. The bombers had the most fans by far and led the game the entire first half, but the bull dogs took charge in the second half and ended up winning by about 105-60. It was a great game!!

Here are more clips from the match




Please ignore the awful commentary


Here is the end of a short fight. It gets intense! There was probably about 5 fights this game, take that ice hockey!




hmmm i sound obnoxious, sorry. Cool clip of a player scoring a goal though. And Claire getting annoyed with me taking video of everything

Eureka Tower

Tallest observation deck in the southern hemisphere! The building also breaks the record for the highest standing residential building in the southern hemisphere. Pretty cool! Sorry for you nerds out there, I don't know the exact height but you can look it up online if you're curious :-) It's located on the southbank of the Yarra river, a 20 minute walk from Uni Melb's campus.

Oh ya, The Edge is mentioned near the end of the clip. It was $12 extra so I opted out of that, but it looked like quite a thrill!

Melbourne Cricket Grounds

This clip is a brief showing of the MCG, the largest sports field in Australia. Every national AFL championship is held here, whether or not the teams are from Melbourne - though 10 of the 16 national teams are because it's a BIG sports city. The venue also hosts matches for rugby, cricket, soccer, music concerts, and public rallies. We had the chance to see the National Australian Sports Museum before this (no pictures allowed) and tried to play a bit of footy (AFL/Aussie Rules/craziest sport on earth).

Sorry the clip doesn't have much commentary, i didn't want to sound like a wanker standing by myself in front of the other tour groups!

Good Morning

Here is a post from my third day at Trinity. You can see that I am behind on my video clips (this was taken July 15). I should catch up soon, seeing that I have convenient internet access now. Not having wireless really bugged me the first few days, but now that I have an ethernet cable it's not so bad. Still frustrating, though!

Sorry the post ends abruptly, my camera ran out of battery!

Note: learning about the price of booze is a key part of Australian culture. With that and AFL I pretty much have got this country figured out....

Here I explain a bit more why I chose to do the video blog rather than a regular blog. You can see the decorations of the person who lived in my room during the school year (it's their "recess" aka winter break) hanging above me.

University of Melbourne: Trinity Residential College

Here I am at Trinity College, where I spent 5 days with other international students. The weather reminded me much of a sunny winter day in the northwest, so I felt right at home! The time change is 17 hours ahead of west coast so I missed an entire day flying to Australia and at this time my body had no idea what time it was. I think it was about noon on Monday in Melbourne, while it was 7pm Sunday in Seattle/LA.

First morning in Oz!

This was taken as I waited for the tram to take me to a different terminal right after landing in Brisbane. I was on the plane for a solid 14 hours of nighttime and I landed with the beautiful sunrise in Queensland, Australia.

Introduction

Hello all!

I finally settled into my permanent residence at Ormond College on University of Melbourne's campus. I spent 5 day at Trinity College doing a welcome week with 120 other international students to get acquainted with each other and the city. The campus is located about 2 km north of the CBD (central business district) and the city center, so there are many places to visit and fun things to do nearby! The public transportation system in Melbourne is the best in Australia and it makes getting around the inner city and suburbs very convenient.

I know myself well enough to know that I wouldn't be very good at keeping a regular blog throughout the entire five months of my exchange so instead I am choosing to update you all with short video clips. I find it difficult to frequently post journal entries and I know sometimes it's daunting to read huge posts so the video clips should provide a cool alternative. I did many tourist things during the welcome week so I have a lot of clips from the past week, but I doubt I'll post as frequently in the future. Everytime I travel or see something new I try to get at least a short clip, so you can all see what I am seeing.

Okay, so the next few posts I'll briefly explain the clip but they should be mostly self-explanatory. I miss you all, and I hope you enjoy reading/watching about my travels and adventures!