On the three month mark...
Door: Carine
10 Mei 2008 | Australië, Adelaide
Today I have been Australia for three months already. This Monday I will be exactly halfway through my exchange. It is one of those turning points. Less to go than what’s already been. And these past few months already seemed to have disappeared just like that… This exchange has so far been surprising in many ways and I have learned so much once again. I never knew uni could be as interesting as my two Women Studies subjects have made it so far. I’ve learned so much about the world, about Australia, about Holland and about myself through them. It has made me wonder about things I never really knew or thought about before. Think for example about the seemingly trivial fact that skin-coloured band-aids are only skin-coloured for white people. Or about the shocking fact that there are more indigenous people in Australian jails than there are in tertiary education. Or about the fact that gender equality is still a long way from reality despite appearances. I mean, why is it for example that more girls are in uni and finish a university degree than guys, yet it’s often still men who hold the top positions in business?
Anyway, uni is not all there is, even though these past few weeks since my break have sure made it seem that way. I finished my gender & advertising essay on Tuesday and got a High Distinction mark (8.5-10) back for my other essay that same day, which I was obviously very happy with :) Wednesday was of course the Dutch Queen’s Birthday, which had to be celebrated in style by all the Dutchies on campus, haha. So me and the four other Dutch girls living here at Flinders made our way down to this Belgian bar (it was the closest thing to Dutch, haha) in the city, dressed in orange clothes, singing Dutch songs on the back seat of the bus and therefore getting weird looks from the other passengers on the bus, haha. And when we got to the bar, we were welcomed by a pretty big orange crowd of fellow Dutch people celebrating Queen’s Day… Good times :) We were back in Holland for a few hours, or at least that’s what it felt like. Especially when a Guus Meeuwis song came on or when someone started the national anthem and the whole bar joined in, haha. Fun fun fun!!
Since then I have again been really busy studying. Had a really big presentation last Monday for which I still had to do all my research and write a coherent story as well. Friday night I had a housewarming party though from Laurel and Andy, which was a great night and a great escape from all the reading I had been doing. Saturday was filled with researching again until Sarah and Bubu decided to watch a DVD and Pip and I decided to join them :) Somehow that one movie turned into a whole evening of hanging around doing nothing in particular… It was a good night!! Eventually Monday came and went, never spent so many consecutive hours on main campus in a row as on that day, but the presentation went well and I was happy to have it over and done with. Had another presentation on Tuesday arvo though which also required a bit of preparation, so Tuesday was another long long day on campus. Had a Grey’s Anatomy marathon on the two days that followed (watched 11 episodes within 24 hours, but spread out over two days) and it was lovely!! Also meant I really had to get back into studying again today though for another deadline I have for Monday. It never stops unfortunately… Or not for another five and a half weeks anyway, which is when my semester will be finished!! I’m in the process of figuring out my plans for after the semester, and I think it will include maybe a month in New Zealand. Will be cold, but I’ve heard it’s beautiful and it’s been on my wish list for a long time now :) Nothing’s definite yet though...
In other news, I saw yesterday that Tim Winton’s new book is in stores. Even though I probably won’t be reading it for a while still, the fact that there’s another one out is exciting to me :) I also bought a new CD yesterday by this Melbourne artist called Whitley and I love it. There’s nothing like discovering new music… My new housemate Alex, me and some others are probably going to the Angus & Julia Stone concert here in Adelaide at the end of June, so that would be something to look forward to!! And I guess that’s all my news for the moment… There’s lots of things coming up in the next few weeks, but you’ll hear about them as they happen. Anyway, I always love to hear from all of you too, so please leave a comment if you want to. All you people on the Northern hemisphere, I hope you’re enjoying yourselves in the nice sunny and warm weather. All the rest of you reading this, I hope you’re enjoying yourselves despite the more and more frequent lack of aforementioned weather, haha. All take care!!
Much love.
Anyway, uni is not all there is, even though these past few weeks since my break have sure made it seem that way. I finished my gender & advertising essay on Tuesday and got a High Distinction mark (8.5-10) back for my other essay that same day, which I was obviously very happy with :) Wednesday was of course the Dutch Queen’s Birthday, which had to be celebrated in style by all the Dutchies on campus, haha. So me and the four other Dutch girls living here at Flinders made our way down to this Belgian bar (it was the closest thing to Dutch, haha) in the city, dressed in orange clothes, singing Dutch songs on the back seat of the bus and therefore getting weird looks from the other passengers on the bus, haha. And when we got to the bar, we were welcomed by a pretty big orange crowd of fellow Dutch people celebrating Queen’s Day… Good times :) We were back in Holland for a few hours, or at least that’s what it felt like. Especially when a Guus Meeuwis song came on or when someone started the national anthem and the whole bar joined in, haha. Fun fun fun!!
Since then I have again been really busy studying. Had a really big presentation last Monday for which I still had to do all my research and write a coherent story as well. Friday night I had a housewarming party though from Laurel and Andy, which was a great night and a great escape from all the reading I had been doing. Saturday was filled with researching again until Sarah and Bubu decided to watch a DVD and Pip and I decided to join them :) Somehow that one movie turned into a whole evening of hanging around doing nothing in particular… It was a good night!! Eventually Monday came and went, never spent so many consecutive hours on main campus in a row as on that day, but the presentation went well and I was happy to have it over and done with. Had another presentation on Tuesday arvo though which also required a bit of preparation, so Tuesday was another long long day on campus. Had a Grey’s Anatomy marathon on the two days that followed (watched 11 episodes within 24 hours, but spread out over two days) and it was lovely!! Also meant I really had to get back into studying again today though for another deadline I have for Monday. It never stops unfortunately… Or not for another five and a half weeks anyway, which is when my semester will be finished!! I’m in the process of figuring out my plans for after the semester, and I think it will include maybe a month in New Zealand. Will be cold, but I’ve heard it’s beautiful and it’s been on my wish list for a long time now :) Nothing’s definite yet though...
In other news, I saw yesterday that Tim Winton’s new book is in stores. Even though I probably won’t be reading it for a while still, the fact that there’s another one out is exciting to me :) I also bought a new CD yesterday by this Melbourne artist called Whitley and I love it. There’s nothing like discovering new music… My new housemate Alex, me and some others are probably going to the Angus & Julia Stone concert here in Adelaide at the end of June, so that would be something to look forward to!! And I guess that’s all my news for the moment… There’s lots of things coming up in the next few weeks, but you’ll hear about them as they happen. Anyway, I always love to hear from all of you too, so please leave a comment if you want to. All you people on the Northern hemisphere, I hope you’re enjoying yourselves in the nice sunny and warm weather. All the rest of you reading this, I hope you’re enjoying yourselves despite the more and more frequent lack of aforementioned weather, haha. All take care!!
Much love.
-
09 Mei 2008 - 17:42
Froukje:
Hey Carine!! Leuk stukje weer en zo herkenbaar allemaal! De tijd is wel snel gegaan, maar je hebt ook al een hele hoop gedaan in drie maanden! Heel veel plezier nog gewenst de aankomende maanden!! Liefs -
10 Mei 2008 - 19:50
Papa:
Dag Carine,
Whitley is 23 mei in Adelaide. Moet je daar dan niet naar toe?
De paar nummers die ik via internet gehoord heb klinken goed. Nog 3 maandjes en dan kan ik de iPod weer bijvullen.
Liefs Papa (en Mama) -
12 Mei 2008 - 08:27
Lydia:
Hey Carine!
Zelfs koninginnedag geviert dus :P Haha.. klinkt echt super! Ik ben net terug uit Ierland.. was echt top! Ben nu wel moe, dus ga lekker in het zonnetje zitten (echt zooo mooi weer hier in NL!!)
Geniet nog van de laatste drie maandjes!
XLied -
14 Mei 2008 - 02:23
Kyle:
so much orange!
Hmm NZ, sounds good. Make the most of being in this part of the world i guess!
much love -
14 Mei 2008 - 02:24
Kyle:
and what does that pop up thing actually say?haha i figure something like thank you, your msg has been added... -
18 Mei 2008 - 23:18
Kim:
glad you are enjoying gender studies so much:)
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