the managerial stranglehold over academia shows striking parallels to the disastrous financialisation of the world economy. The neoliberal superintendents of the new academic order are, in their little world, just as detrimental to the public interest as the high priests of Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs.

***

“baby hands” (Photo credit: by Ophelia photos)

Today confirmed two things in my head. Kids are awesome. And, by extension, being a paediatrician would be awesome. It started out at Nepean this morning where a few of the tutors brought in their kids as an opportunity for us to practice testing them for developmental milestones. And, I suspect, to give us practice in relating to children.  From getting them to roll over, to seeing if they could build block towers and hop on one foot, it was a lot of fun and something I could definitely see myself getting passionate about.  Perhaps it’s the similarity of maturity levels or attention spans.

So from that experience in the morning I was inspired to attend a talk in the evening about what it actually takes.  6 more years of study is the short answer. The first three of these are ‘general’ paediatric specialty years and then the next three enable you to specialize even further, whether that is into paediatric cardiology, paediatric respiratory or whatever. And, apart from GP specialty, six years of specialization is the going rate, so to speak. Get me involved. King of the kids, 2023. (Yep. 2013 + 2 more years of med + 2 years of internship + 6 years of specialization = 2023. Wow.)

Fra Filippo Lippi, Adoration of the Child with Saints, (detail) 1463

Professor Paul Hills of the Courtauld Institute, will be giving an interesting lecture in Sydney, Australia on May 13th entitled ‘Clothing the Word: Filippo Lippi, Donatello and Bellini’. It will examine “ the ways in which the Word made Flesh (i.e. the body of Christ) and the Word as Text (i.e. bible or sacred book) are wraped or clothed. It explores wrapping, veiling and unveiling as reality and metaphore in fifteenth-century Italian painting and sculpture.” Further details about the lecture are available on the website of the Power Institute and Sydney Ideasat the University of Sydney.

Does anyone know much about the admission process of Australian PhD programs? It seems so different from US programs, but I can’t be happier to know the GRE is not required (cuz my math sucked???).

Are they as hard to get in? Can people without research experience get in? And how is the employment prospect for its graduates? Do students get big enough stipends and tuition remission to support themselves? Do they have to take on TA or RAships?

I’m talking about top schools like Melbourne and Sydney. I really want to get a PhD and don’t want to have to go through the torturing US admission process again.

Last Friday, 8 March 2013, the Sydney Traditionalist Forum held its third documentary broadcast in its series of conservative educational films. This was the first function for this year organised by the Sydney Traditionalists for its members and associates; it marked the commencement of the 2013 calendar of Traditionalist activity in the Sydney region.

As many of our active members are university enrolled students and young professionals, the documentary series has thus far had a ‘campus flavour’. The first, which was held on Friday 8 June 2012, involved the screening of Indoctrinate U. It focused on the environment of student radicalism on American campuses and the difficulties faced by conservative students in the face of leftist harassment and discrimination. The second documentary, held on Friday 19 October 2012, was Expelled – No Intelligence Allowed. The theme remained on campus, however this time the focus was on academics working within the sciences who profess a belief in ‘intelligent design’, and the vilification they suffer as a result.

The Weathermen faction addresses a meeting of Students for a Democratic Society.

The subject of last evenings function was Sam Green and Bill Siegel’s The Weather Underground, which documented the growth of the U.S. terrorist organisation, “the Weathermen” as it evolved from a hard-line faction within the far left campus organisation Students for a Democratic Society. The film illustrated how the far left campus milieu, combined with the social and political crises of confidence among that generation provided a fertile environment for the rise of a domestic, violent reaction to the status quo. The film also provided a smooth transition into subject material which will be the topic of future presentations. These will be announced in due course, however the Sydney Traditionalist Forum can say that we will be discussing the manner in which the radical left of the turbulent 1960 created the bedrock for the so-called ‘mainstream’ left politics of today. Although many of these documentaries are produced in the United States, and are intended clearly for an American audience, the themes and issues are equally relevant to Australian conservatives.

William Ayers, one of the driving forces behind the terrorist group The Weathermen (later to be known as the Weather Underground) launched Barack Hussein Obama’s Senate campaign, in his own home. Obama was them elected President of the USA before even completing his Senate term. The documentary does not make mention of this, but future events will explore these and other themes.

The next screening will be organised soon and we intend to have functions on a more regular and frequent basis this year. That however depends on available resources: as a voluntary organisation with no formal patronage or sponsorship, we rely on the support of our members, to whom we are grateful. No organisation exists in the abstract, and it is only its members who make that organisation what it is, or the movement that it could be. Be that as it may, Sydney Traditionalists have also been active in other events in the conservative calendar. More recently, some of our members attended the Sydney speech of Geert Wilders, the Dutch MP, Islam critic, immigration restrictionist and author of Marked For Death (Regnery, 2012) and also partook in the second face-to-face meeting of the “Conservative Cave”, the online FaceBook group for traditional conservative and paleoconservatives in Australia and abroad.

Aside from that, we are also happy to encourage Victorian readers to contact our Melbourne and Eltham counterparts. The work done by Mark Richardson of OzConservative and the people around the Eltham Traditionalists website is contributing to the growth of a vibrant traditionalist community there. Naturally, we wish them all the best and hope one day be able to create a serious conservative opposition to the liberal mainstream of both major parties. As the hard left radicals of the 60s have shown, such culture-shifts require large scale grassroots agitation by consistently building pressure from the bottom. Only an honest conservatism, one that does not take its cues from the faux-right mainstream, can achieve this.

The Sydney Traditionalist Forum would like to acknowledge the University of Sydney Catholic Chaplaincy for their assistance in providing a venue for the screening of The Weather Underground. We would also like to thank Mr. Sam Green for providing us with the formal permission to screen the documentary. We would also like to acknowledge the presence of executive members of the University of Sydney Conservative Club, and the producers and hosts of Carpe Diem Radio, who also attended this event. We look forward to working with these associations in the future.

- SydneyTrads Editors

SydneyTrads is the internet portal and communication page of the Sydney Traditionalist Forum, an association of individuals who form part of the Australian paleoconservative, “traditionalist conservative” and “independent right”.

In protest to this, we chalked anti-corporate slogans, and slogans drawing attention to the corporatization of education along Eastern Avenue. We stole corporate and banking propaganda from stalls, which we destroyed, as well as show bags with noodles and stationary inside which we later redistributed to people in the community. We also did leafleting and chalking in support of the upcoming GENERAL STRIKE at the university next week, on March 7. Apart from banks and businesses, the Young Liberals (SULC – Sydney University Liberals Society) also had a tent where they proudly displayed a life-sized cardboard figure of John Howard, former Prime Minister who, amongst many disgusting acts, agreed to aid the US in their invasion of Iraq. To top the day off, we stole Johnny from them. One of us distracted the Libs, one of us cut the tie, and one grabbed the figure and ran. The Libs immediately set off after him. One of us tried to block the path of the head of the Young Libs, Alex Dore, and was swung at as he ran by. They were very determined and aggressive in their pursuit, and the student who took the figure had to forcefully defend himself when some of them caught up with him. In the end, rather than give him up, Johnny had to be decapitated and the Liberals were left with the cardboard body of their former leader while we took his head. In the scuffle they threw us a few insults, ‘Communist scum’, ‘Get a job’. The Young Libs’ leader, Alex Dore (who ran for parliament last year) said to us, ‘Where are you form? Cos you’re a bunch of cunts. You know Abbot’s going to win the next election!’ Being insulted in this manner by these champagne-sipping toffs gave us a good laugh…

We hope that others that feel squeamish, overwhelmed, or impotent about the corporate spectacle of O-Week, as we did at the beginning of the day, will know that they are not alone, that some students, workers and people from our communities are willing to take action against the spread of the conservative market values and the shameless parading of a war criminal on our campus. Translating our frustration into action brought us joy and strength to continue challenging this imposed reality no matter how absolute it seems.

Finishing school at Westfield Sports High in 2002, Corey was one of the 2% of kids in South West Sydney to go to university.  His brother and he were the first generation in his family to do so and, largely thanks to the encouragement of his parents, it changed his life.

So rewinding to 2002, fresh out of high school and somewhat inspired by his brother, Corey enrolled in a Bachelor of Commerce and didn’t really know what to expect. He thought it would “provide me with the competencies to allow me to get a job” but he “began to realise, through the people I met and the opportunities I was exposed to, that uni was much more than that and it teaches you how to think and how to have a perspective”.  As he puts it, there are probably three things you can do when you come here. “Either it intimidates you and you drop out. Or you just come here and study and miss out on the whole experience of what Uni is about. Or you come here, you’re open to it and engage in it. You meet lots of people, make friends and learn stuff along the way. And that was the road I took, I was happy to go with the flow and be involved in it”. Coming from South West Sydney, “you just don’t know about these things. Who knows what a Churchill Fellowship is when you grow up in St John’s Park. I didn’t know these things existed, and all of a sudden you come to Uni…hear about different opportunities and you go and apply.”

Corey studied the first two years of his degree full-time, with his footy taking something of a backseat, but the challenges were hard.  When it ramped up and he decided that Rugby League was his calling, he scaled it back to study part time, but all the while he didn’t close his mind to the opportunities Uni had to offer.  Graduating in 2007, he had 2008 off just concentrating on his footy full-time, before his girlfriend at the time inspired him to go back and continue his study, so he enrolled in a Masters of Commerce in 2009, from which he has just graduated. He felt a lot more mature about his studies this time around, and it showed. He majored in entrepreneurship, had a distinction average and placed third in three subjects.

One thing that struck a chord with me was how Corey talked about sport and study being perfectly complementary. “Playing sport, you learn all these skills and you don’t necessarily know you’re learning them. Work ethic, dedication, perseverence, resilience, working in teams, communication, working to deadlines and working to goals. And you come to university, you get the vision and thinking capacity and you combine the two together. You work hard,  you’ve got an idea and you know how to bring it together.  The balance he found between the two, over many years, is impressive.  But it wasn’t always painless, with his studies often suffering at the hands of what he always wanted to do: play NRL.  How times have changed and priorities have shifted: “I guess that goal, that ambition has been achieved and through study, through experiences at university and people I’ve met has taught me a better perspective on things. I’ve got a different set of goals, different ambitions. that’s why it’s time to move on from footy and focus on the other parts.”

And there’s no shortage of other focuses. Corey runs Future Directions Network, a not-for-profit organization that “aims to raise the ambition and aspiration of kids from lower socio-economic and disadvantaged backgrounds about the importance of continuing their study. It’s about helping those kids and letting them realise what they’re missing out on and the opportunities that university can present in the long run”. It started in 2009, spurred by Corey’s own story growing up in South West Sydney (where he still lives) and going to school with “with a number of kids that had the ability, the smarts to go to university but just didn’t have the ambition, aspiration or expectation that they should”.

As Corey describes it, “Being able to combine my study with my sporting career has given me the opportunity and the profile to speak about the importance. I believe that uni has changed my life. I am a much more informed decision maker, a much more worldly person. not to disregard that I have a skill set to get employment. I just feel that I would have regretted not coming to university. I give these talks saying ‘well, this is what uni can provide’. I got together with a group of guys who were all first generation in their family to go to uni and we tossed around a few ideas and decided to do something a bit bigger than the occasional guest speaker.”

The rewards of running Future Directions Network go well beyond his 2013 NSW Young Australian of the Year award. “Working at FDN you wear many hats. you’re working on projects, raising money, working on legal structure, doing branding, doing marketing, communicating, HR stuff. and then you’re helping kids along the way. It’s my opportunity to give back and help kids from my area and it’s a bloody rewarding experience.”

And then there’s the Churchill Fellowship I mentioned earlier. A real honour and an unbelievable “opportunity to go and travel abroad and conduct some research into organisations that are doing something that’s important in your eyes. You put a project together, and mine is based around looking at organisations that use sport as a platform to engage kids in further education. I’ll go to Sao Paulo to visit the Ayrton Senna foundation, to London for The Princes Trust, down to Jo’burg to the Leadership Academy for Girls and hopefully to the Nadal foundation in Spain. I’ll just look at what they do, and how they use sport as a key theme to engage kids in further education. And more importantly, I’ll come back to Australia to help build programs that are similar and use one of the big sporting codes to roll it out.”

And where to from there? “Well FDN is in a phase where we are trying to build the endowment funds, continue raising money. we just awarded three scholarships, committed $54,000 to three kids, so $18,000 each over the next 3 years. We get these kids money, mentors and support to get them through uni. Then they’ll be the new role models at their high school and hopefully build a legacy of helping kids achieve at university.” Strength to strength, with Corey at the helm!

I always thought that the Google earth and maps was one of the greatest achievement of the modern times. I have spent hours on Google earth searching for some obscure landmass in the middle of a great ocean or some unknown scorching sand desert looking for signs of human habitations. There are hundreds or may be thousands of Google earth fans like me, who keep on searching the maps and have discovered a score of landmarks, long forgotten by mankind.

Yet, someone, somewhere, has managed to goof this great software, which I always thought was so perfect that if Google earth shows a feature on its maps, it must be there. Google earth shows a sizable, strip shaped South Pacific island, on Google Earth and Google Maps, positioned midway between Australia and French-governed New Caledonia. This island known as Sandy Island, also appears on marine charts and world maps.

Recently a team of scientists from University of Sydney went to the area ,where this Sandy island is supposed to be. They found nothing but deep blue ocean of the Coral sea. Instead of finding land they discovered ocean water 1,400m (4,620ft) deep. Dr Maria Seton, from the University of Sydney, who was on this 25 day voyage on board of an Australian ship, says that the team was expecting land, not 1,400m (4,620ft) of deep ocean, They wanted to check the island because it showed on Google earth, but navigation charts on board showed a water depth of 1400 meters.

Australia’s Hydrographic Service, which produces the country’s nautical charts, says that appearance of the island on some scientific maps and Google Earth could just be the result of human error, repeated down the years. According to them some map makers intentionally include phantom streets to prevent copyright infringements, but it was never done with nautical charts as it would reduce he user confidence in the charts.

After reading all this, I decided to check Google earth my self. The island is right there on the maps at the location 19d14’70”S and 159d55’52.55”E and looks like dark black shadow. Surprisingly the chart shows the elevation as -1foot, which technically means that the island is submerged under water at a depth of just 1 foot of water in the middle of an ocean. Things get more bizarre as there are even two photographs placed there by a guy, who calls himself as Stefan W and even has a panoramio account. This Stefan Wallner guy appears to be a genuine and has even a proper web address. One of the photographs shows tall tree trunks and the other shows a forest under snow cover. Both photographs have been picked up from Stefan Wallner’s web page.

This particular Google image says that it is from US Geographical Survey, Data SIO NOAA US NAVY NGA GEBCO. (Whatever that means!)

It is becoming obvious that someone has managed to hack Google earth, and Stefan Wallner’s web page also and is playing a big hoax using the name of Stefan Wallner. (Poor guy!) Strange stuff going on indeed! Poor scientists of University of Sydney, who fell prey to this hoaxer and tried to find the island that never was. See this island before Google earth removes it.

Harvard University has been listed first in the world and the University of Melbourne first in Australia in the 2013 Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings.

The reputation rankings are a spin-off from the Times Higher Education highly regarded annual university rankings. This is the third time it has been published.

The rankings based on 16,639 responses from academics living in 144 countries to an email survey conducted by Thomson Reuters in March and April last year.

Only selected senior researchers are invited to take part in the email survey, according to a press release issued by Times Higher Education.

“This ranking is based purely on subjective judgement, but it is the expert judgement of those who know excellence in teaching and research better than anyone else,” said Phil Baty, editor of Times Higher Education rankings.

Harvard University was followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University.

The same institutions have appeared in the top six since the World Reputation Rankings began in 2011 and 43 of the top 100 in 2013 were US universities.

The University of Melbourne was Australia’s top ranked institution, with a placing of 39, up from the 43rd spot last year.

The Australian National University was next with a ranking of 42, up from 44 last year.

The University of Sydney was placed 49th, up from 50th last year. The University of Queensland was ranked in the 71-80 band, the University of NSW in the 81-90 band and Monash University in the 90-100 band.

The University of Tokyo was the top ranked institution in Asia, ranked ninth.

Gwilym Croucher, Higher Education Policy Adviser in the Office of the Vice-Chancellor
at the University of Melbourne said that Australian universities have struggled at times to gain international recognition of their quality.

“We’ve sometimes done better by objective measures than is reflected in our reputation,” he said.

“It is best to always take any ranking with a grain of salt. But as far as they go, rankings are another useful barometer for the health of higher education in Australia.”

Mr Croucher said older and bigger universities are often at an advantage in reputation rankings.

“It is nice when Australia is acknowledged on the world stage. But thankfully government funding decisions are not off the back of reputation rankings, which can be very fickle,” he said.

Dr Andrew Norton, director of the Higher Education at the Grattan Institute said he was sceptical of university ranking tables “but they do have some influence on institutional behaviour and staff and student choices.”

“Some international students consider university rankings when choosing universities. The improved position of some Australian universities will help them attract students willing to pay high fees,” he said.

“However it remains true that no international university ranking is a good guide to teaching quality. The Times Higher Education rankings include a teaching component, but there are no globally comparable measures of learning or student satisfaction. Input measures such as student-to-staff ratios are an unsatisfactory alternative.”

This article by Sunanda Creagh was originally published at The Conversation.
Read the original article.

Herald Sun

The Times Higher Education Reputation Rankings have placed six Australian universities in the world’s top 100, based on the opinions of 17,000 professors from around the world.  The University of Melbourne, at 39, once again came first among the Australians, moving up four places since last year.  The University of NSW and Monash entered the top 100 for the first time, joining Australian National University (equal 42nd), Sydney (49) and the University of Queensland (71-80).

Monash vice-chancellor Ed Byrne said his university’s move into the top 100 was attributable to its international footprint, which now included graduate academies in India and China, as well as offshore campuses and study centres.   The university also signed an alliance with the high-ranking Warwick University in Britain last year.

UNSW vice-chancellor Fred Hilmer said the ranking is s “just an opinion poll”.

Why did we make it into the top 100?  Clearly because people like us more this time than last time around. It’s impossible to work out the deep dark machinations of ratings agencies…What should be important is that students have a good experience and academic staff have the freedom to do the work they want to do.

See

Melbourne Uni rises in prestigious list

Harvard leads world, University of Melbourne leads Australia in Times reputation ranks

Australian unis lose ground in QS World Rankings

I am in love with custard and puff pastry. And so it happens I am in a serious relationship with danishes. However my recent unemployment makes the $4 (minumum, I have paid up for $6) almost unjustifiable. Like always, I decided I would try to make my own. 

Inspired by: Croissant d’Or, Potts Point. Sydney.

In browsing my cookbook library I discovered there are so many variations; cream, milk, marscapone. I decided on a classic french vanilla custard that used milk. I chose right… this custard is delicious (but not so nutritious). 

My first batch I made mini-custard tarts, the thought of a single 12″ of custard was too daunting. When in the miniature form I can grab-and-go, share with my sisters and enforce  some sore of moderation. The downside… there was excess custard mixture. I say this in a sarcastic tone because as I said… I love pastry and I love custard. 

After defrosting puff-pastry from the freezer, allowing a quick short-bake then filling it up with custard and organic berries I made my very own french vanilla custard pastries. 

Inspired by: Taste Baguette, university of sydney.

I have provided both the homemade pastry and the frozen pastry options below.

Overall, these tarts are phenomenal and cost me close to nothing. I am so glad to uncover how easy danishes/tarts are to make. These will definitely be something I bring to my next picnic or luncheon.

Next on the list… learn how to make my own pastry. 

After over 3 months of holidays I was about to become a madwoman, so I’m super glad to be back. Also, my uni (the University of Sydney) is super pretty so I don’t mind being there at all. Supposedly there’s a strike on Thursday and no lectures or classes are on, which is kind of annoying. I want to learn!

And you’d think that being busy after 3 months of freedom I would be saving some $$$ but alas, food exists. And there are some really bitchin’ food places at uni. Also awesome mango smoothies.

My boyfriend also goes to my uni so this will be the first semester that I’ve had someone to hang out and frolic with in between classes.

Let’s see how long it takes for the usual mid-semester apathy to kick-in.

Stickers and graffiti were scrawled across the stall, with statements such as “political free speech is bullshit if it extends to arseholes”, as well as other obscene and abusive words. Yellow “pro-choice” stickers were plastered all over the  stall signage as well.

The trashing of the stall comes a day after a student had already vandalised the club’s banner by sticking a sticker on it. According to LifeChoices, due to the adhesive on the stickers, the club’s banner was ruined and will now have to be replaced.

National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) members at the University of Sydney will strike for 24 hours  Thursday  7 March over enterprise bargaining.

“This is the first strike in a decade and shows just how riled our members are at management’s arrogance and its lack of commitment to the enterprise bargaining process,” said Branch President Michael Thomson.

We logged our enterprise bargaining claims on August 7 last year. Management took ages to respond. Its main thrust since has been a serious attack on working conditions. While management has now backed down on removing protections around intellectual freedom, it is offering less job security, wants to reduce sick leave entitlements, cut workload and work hours provisions and requirements to properly classify general staff positions.

If there’s noagreement’ by mid-March, the NTEU has foreshadowed a further 48 hour strike on 19-20 March .

• Pierre and Marie Curie were radiating enthusiasm.
• Einstein thought it would be relatively easy to attend.
• Volta was electrified and Archimedes, buoyant at the thought.
• Ampere was worried he wasn’t up to current research.
• Ohm resisted the idea at first.
• Boyle said he was under too much pressure.
• Edison thought it would be an illuminating experience.
• Watt reckoned it would be a good way to let off steam.
• Stephenson thought the whole idea was loco.
• Wilbur Wright accepted, provided he and Orville could get a flight.
• Dr Jekyll declined — he hadn’t been feeling himself lately.
• Morse’s reply: “I’ll be there on the dot. Can’t stop now must dash.”
• Heisenberg was uncertain if he could make it.
• Hertz said in the future he planned to attend with greater frequency.
• Henry begged off due to a low capacity for alcohol.
• Audobon said he’d have to wing it.
• Hawking said he’d try to string enough time together to make a space in his schedule.
• Darwin said he’d have to see what evolved.
• Schrodinger had to take his cat to the vet, or did he?
• Mendel said he’d put some things together and see what came out.
• Descartes said he’d think about it.
• Newton was moved to attend.
• Pavlov was drooling at the thought.
• Gauss was asked to attend because of his magnetic personality.
• JP Clark & Siegfried the Deerslayer Wanna-Be

School of Physics, University of Sydney

The “Conservative Cave” has become a nexus for traditionalist conservatives of various types throughout Sydney and New South Wales, where topical issues are discussed and campaigns are planned. The group has been so successful that it has significantly increased its international membership this year alone. Although having an internet presence is vital for the exchange of ideas and campaign strategies, something more tangible is needed to create a socio-political movement which can stand up against the general liberal trends in the media and the academe.

Many of the local members of the “Conservative Cave” are students at the University of Sydney and University of Technology Sydney and the somewhat more distant University of New South Wales. Face-to-face and so-called “real-time” meetings such as these are vital to ensure that the traditionalist community exists not just as an online cyber-phenomena, but as a vibrant movement of conservative resistance to the dominant liberal culture on campus and politics generally. The first face-to-face meeting was held at the Great Southern Hotel on Friday 14 September 2012; the success of that meeting proved that there is a need for such networks in the greater Sydney metropolitan region. Last night’s success, in turn, showed that the local traditionalist lobby is a healthy, organic and growing force, particularly among university students and young professionals.

The Sydney Traditionalist Forum was of course present at this meeting, and looks forward to working with our associated groups and networks in 2013. The “Conservative Cave” is a moderated online group and can be contacted through the Sydney Traditionalists via our Contact page.

- SydneyTrads Editors

SydneyTrads is the internet portal and communication page of the Sydney Traditionalist Forum, an association of individuals who form part of the Australian paleoconservative, “traditionalist conservative” and “independent right”.

A movie poster for the American Film “The Morgue”. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So this morning turned out to be a bit more confronting than I’d expected. As part of our anatomy/pathology study (and general getting-used-to-death study) we were required to attend an autopsy session at the morgue, and write up one of the cases we observed.

I suspect the issue was my dozing during the briefing lecture, or the fact it was an 8am start, but I wasn’t ready for the visual and olfactory shock that was the cool, metallic morgue room.  The patients (are they still called that) dead-set looked as though they were about to wake up and the combination of professionals doing their job were apparently numb to both the smell and the background stories stuck to the whiteboard behind each bench.  These narratives were what struck me the most, because when it came to the actual bodies, our science study kicked in and it became an intriguing investigation into a physiological malfunction.  Especially once the organs were removed and examined individually. But yeah, the stories behind the 6 victims were the heartbreaking things. Even the small details, like who found them, what their last meal had been, what their jobs were. It happens to all of us, one day I guess.

As a learning experience, though, it was priceless.  Our small group of 10 (our PBL class) got through it together and gave us someone to talk to about it. Now it just needs to be written up.

That night, we went down to Urbanest where we met up with some friends in their laundry room. They were all sitting on top of the machines playing catch phrase and drinking wine from the box. After everyone was buzzed and had finished their laundry, we went up and waited while they got ready for the night. We pre-gamed a little more in the apartment and then walked to sidebar. 

When we originally got to the bar, I thought it was going to be really lame because I couldn’t see anyone inside. But as we got to the front I quickly realized that the club was in the basement. Dancing there was an absolute BLAST. The only bad part of the night was when this one aussie guy grabbed me, made me dance with him (which was fun), but then he was all over me, tried to shove his tongue down my throat (which I evaded), and I made a quick escape with only the marks of some slobber on my face. After getting thoroughly exhausted, Erin and I made our way home around 12:30.

The next day was schedule day. I was a little hungover, so I went to Hoochie Mamma’s with Brian, Adam, and Brad for breakfast. I had this delicious little turkey tomato and avocado sandwich for like $5, which isn’t too bad for Sydney prices anyways… and it soaked up all the boxed wine remnants!

 My schedule wasn’t everything I wanted, but it is in the process of being changed right at this moment. We got free drawstring Usyd bags and a free T-shirt, which I mean… who doesn’t love free merch? I got back to my apartment, skyped Meagan for a long time (I miss her so much!), and then went for a run around campus. I made it through campus and to the back side of Victoria Park before I started to overheat. It’s so humid! I spent the rest of my time out doing an alternating run/walk, but it is just so hot here that sweat pours down my face! 

I went to burger night put on by Sydney University Village, but that’s all I did for the night. I didn’t really feel like putting the effort into myself to go out that night.

Wednesday was such a great day! I slept in and then went with Erin to go get our access cards, submit add/drop forms, and look at the club tents. I joined the Wildlife Society and Vets Beyond Boarders immediately. I perused the others but didn’t make any hasty decisions in what else I wanted to commit to.

After getting back from the club fair Erin and I decided to go to the beach! And boy was it a day full of adventures…..

We had to walk to Redfern station to catch a train to Bondi Junction. We tried following the street signs to the station, but ended up getting a little lost and had to ask a bartender for directions. Round trip fare to Bondi was only $4! Once we arrived at the Bondi station, we had to purchase bus passes for about another $3 (roundtrip) or face an hour walk to the beach. 

Bondi beach is absolutely beautiful! As well as the village that surrounds it! I had an absolute blast at the beach. The water was a little cold, but there was an off shore storm that was rolling in as we left, which explains why the ocean was so cold and choppy. 

On the way back from the beach we decided to explore the town of Bondi for a bit. I was obsessing over all the fresh seafood while Erin was drooling over all the fresh fruit selection. The markets like that are definitely the way to go in Sydney, especially if you’re looking to live on a budget but still eat healthy. 

As we were trying to catch a bus the rest of the way to the train station, they kept passing the stop due to full loads. Eventually we decided to cross the street, get on an empty bus, and take the scenic route through all the stops around the city. But as we got to the other end of the beach, the bus emptied completely, and the bus driver shouts back to us “Why aren’t you getting off?” Apparently, this particular bus was terminating here. However, after explaining that we were just trying to get to the train station he goes “I can take you back, but I’m turning off the lights because I’m not supposed to be in service” In that moment, I felt like such a stereotypical dumb American, but at least the guy was nice enough to take us back? 

We got home around 9, made dinner for ourselves and both of us probably passed out by 10:30. 

Today I slept in SO late. Well…. 9:30, but that’s late for me here (The jetlag has made me a morning person!) I went with Erin and Brian back to campus. Erin and I both signed up for the Bushwalker Society which is essentially a hiking&camping club with free weekend trips to places like the Blue Mountains. 

While we were walking around there were some Coke Zero representatives handing out free cans. I was walking past a guy with cases of them on a dolly and I thought out loud, “Man I would kill to just HAVE one of those.” The guy with the dolly literally looked at me and handed me a case for free! Best thing ever! 

It started raining, so me and my roomies retreated to our apartment and watched Pitch Perfect. I kinda sat around on my computer until boredom hit me so hard I went grocery shopping. I got a few things and came home and made some pasta with ground lamb and tomato sauce. 

Everyone was going to the casino tonight, but I didn’t feel like getting ready in the rain. Erin and I decided to walk all the way down to Darling Harbor. It was absolutely beautiful to see the city lights on the harbor underneath the clouds in the sky. 

We found a Starbucks down there and went inside to compare coffee menus to what we’re used to. On their merch shelf there was a clearance section of all their old summer items (weird). So I got a new mug for $3! Which will go perfectly with the french press I ordered online today. 

The walk back was a struggle because it was raining much harder than the sprinkle like when we left. We walked past this asian lady screaming into a payphone and was causing a scene. If only I knew what she was saying…. We walked past a sushi place that had been tempting on the way down, but now they were closing and since they have everything made fresh daily, they were doing quick sale on the rolls from that day for $1 each! I bought 3!!!! Call me a fatty, but tomorrows lunch is going to be amazing. 

Now I’m home, dry, and getting super drowsy. I’m excited to see what events the weekend brings!

Things different from America: I have an overwhelming sense of being safe here. I mean I’m not going to adapt risky behaviors or anything, but I literally have never felt threatened by anything in this city… no matter how late it is. No one has a gun, and I’ve probably seen a total of less homeless people in this huge city than I see on my commute to U of A in the morning. I love this city so much and I’m looking forward to the 4.5 more months to come.