Even before the IFSA Butler orientation—even before I was done applying to British universities for study abroad—I’d heard the same thing about the educational system here so many times that I felt qualified to teach it: it’s a lot more independent, instead of having lots of small assignments spread out over the year a few big assignments or exams are responsible for your whole grade. (Ultimately, though, judging by the crazed and frenzied approach I took to my exam period, it probably wouldn’t have hurt if I’d had all the explanations repeated to me a few dozen more times.) It logically follows that updating this blog thoroughly now, now that I’ve handed in the last of my finals (I’m still at UEA, though!), is just the most ‘British’ approach I could take.

Okay, I hope that I don’t start giving the impression that I’m unaware of how obnoxious that sounds. However—and I’m not sure if this makes it better or worse—it was one of the actual explanations I gave myself when I was taking a long time to start writing here. My main excuse was that I would keep writing once the semester started. So, I arrived in London for IFSA Butler orientation. Semester hadn’t started. I moved into my room at UEA and emptied my suitcase. Semester hadn’t started. My unpacked suitcase started to fill again with random things like plastic bags because soon I’d been living in my room long enough to accumulate clutter (admittedly, for me this isn’t usually very long). The semester hadn’t started. My internal clock began ticking on Greenwich Mean Time. Classes, people, and the campus became familiar. But the semester hadn’t started, really.

Now, I can count the days I have left on campus. Classes, then finals, have finished and people started going home weeks ago. It seems like the semester may be starting.

It’s not (just) that I was lazy, it’s just that I was waiting to get used to something that has proved to be much too exciting to get used to. Spoiler alert, for anybody who intends on reading later entries (which is happening, I have them written out): this was a really great experience. I am really grateful to IFSA Butler, Amherst College, and University of East Anglia for letting me have this opportunity. Before I left home, I was really curious to read all the archived student blogs on the IFSA Butler website and I found them all very interesting. I hope that writing here about my experience with the study abroad process will give me a chance to offer something to people in the same place that I was.

Well this blog comes with plenty of good news! First off, I was just recently accepted to stay another semester in Melbourne. For those of you reading this that have any intention of spending a semester in Australia or anywhere abroad, I will say for one last time… DO IT!! Another piece of the good news is that my parents were here in Melbourne last week. It was a lot of fun to see them, especially for the fact that I now won’t be able to see them until December. They spent a few days doing touristy things and then I got a couple days to show them around my favorite parts of Melbourne. They really seemed to enjoy their time here and it was fun to have them stay with me and meet all of my friends here! One final piece of good news is that Yogi (our Butler rep) took our study abroad group on a winery tour last weekend, and we had a blast! Over the course of the day we visited three different wineries and tasted a great selection of wines, champagnes (officially called “sparkling wines” outside of France), and ciders. The tastings definitely raised my appreciation for good wines, although most of us couldn’t afford the $20-35 bottles that we were trying. Since the wine tasting fell on last Sunday, which happened to be Mother’s Day, a few of us decided to make a little gift for our mothers during the day. We took a good amount of pictures and recorded a few video clips to create this masterpiece. Here is the video, enjoy!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Although it’s hard to find anything negative after all this good news, we do happen to be coming up on the dreaded exam period. This coming Monday starts week 12, which is the last week of teaching this semester. After that, we have a week called SWOT vac, which stands for study without teaching vacation. This is basically a 9-day period of (ideally) non-stop studying to get prepared for our exam period. Final exams at Melbourne Uni are taken a lot more serious than at many US Universities. For example, 2 of my 4 subjects have a 60% weight on this exam, with the entire rest of the semester worth only 40% of our final mark. This is the case in many subjects and it definitely helps to have this extra week to prepare for these grueling exams. After SWOT vac the three-week long exam period begins. In week 10, exam timetables came out which is when we found out when each exam would be during this period. Two of my subjects have take-home final exams, mostly consisting of long essays or big projects, while my other two have exams with one on the 15^th and the other on the 20^th of June. These are both towards the end of the period, which will be good for studying purposes but not so good for traveling plans! Since I am now staying for another semester, I will have a one-month break to travel or work before our next semester starts at the end of July. I still don’t have any concrete plans for this break but I will keep you posted on here!

Below are a few pictures from both this blog and the last. There are a few from my trip to Rochester and Bendigo, as well as a few from our rainy days in Cairns! I threw in a few extras from other events too, enjoy!

The first time I ever heard of Galway was when I watched the movie P.S. I Love You when the main character sings the song Galway Girl to his future wife in an Irish pub. From the moment I saw that scene, I knew I wanted to see Ireland but I had no idea that I would some day be living in Ireland, let alone seeing Galway for myself! Very cool.

To get from Belfast to Galway, we decided to take the train so that we could officially cross that mode of transportation off our list and the ride (which took us about 6 hours) was actually really fun. The train was a fun event, in and of itself, so we had a great time looking out the window at all the beautiful Irish scenery and the sheep. As we got further and further into the countryside, I remembered yet again why I love Ireland so much! While in Galway, we dined on traditional Irish food (lots of potatoes) and wandered around the shops looking for souvenirs for our families and had a very fun “traditional weekend.”

Of course, our main reason for visiting Galway was to see the Cliffs of Moher. Featured in movies such as The Princess Bride and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the Cliffs of Moher are fabulous cliffs that really show how picturesque the Irish landscape is. I have included pictures below which are nice but cannot even come close to capturing how wonderful the cliffs are. Someday, I’d love to go back again and spend an entire day just sitting on the edge of the cliffs and looking at the Ocean. It’s THAT beautiful!

After we got back from our wonderful mini-vacation, we headed back to Belfast and were finally able to score tickets to the Titanic Exhibit. Since April was “Titanic month” due to the 100 year anniversary of the Titanic voyage, the Titanic Exhibit in Belfast (the largest Titanic viewing experience in the World)  opened its doors. Due to its insane popularity, it had been booked solid since the day it opened. Luckily though, we were able to get tickets for last Monday!

And the exhibit did NOT disappoint! It was absolutely spectacular and quite moving to follow the Titanic all the way from being built in Belfast to its voyage across the Atlantic. Since I’ve seen Titanic (the movie by James Cameron) about 4,000 times (twice in 3d in theaters), I considered myself quite the Titanic expert. However, I had no idea that everything in the movie was so accurate right down to the characters (apart from the 2 main characters) and I was shocked that I learned so much from the museum. It was a great day and I’m glad I got to experience it while I live in Belfast, the birthplace of the Titanic!

The Cliffs of Moher

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So yeah, I AM SO HAPPYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.  This country is exactly where I want to be, and I currently have a surprisingly fantastic work/exercise(well this part is slightly questionable)/sleep(!)/friends ratio going on right now, and it’s just brilliant.  Plus I still fell insanely lucky to be going to Oxford, along with a million other things.  And I have excellent (though annoyingly unspecific) travel plans for this summer, and I’m even excited to go home for a month before going back to Kenyon.  So life is really, really good right now – and this term is flying by.  (The weather, though, has been abysmal.)

Some highlights from this term so far have included the Blues and Colours football awards ceremony and Oxford Holi.  You know how in period movies when they’re at parties you always see those footmen holding trays of wine?  THEY HAD THOSE GUYS AT THE FOOTBALL AWARDS CEREMONY.  In a spectacular show of history nerdiness, I freaked out.  And drank wine.  The ceremony was more like a cocktail party with speeches and certificates, but it took place in the beautiful, glass-ceilinged Natural History Museum.  I was milling around next to the last dodo skeleton in the world for a few hours.

Holi was even better.  For those of you who don’t know, Holi is an Indian holiday where you get loads of coloured powder, mix it with water and throw it at people.  Everyone wears white, so you get extra colourful.  It was seriously the BEST THING EVER.  It was mad…people running everywhere…colour still stains the ground where it took place and it’s been weeks.  It was really funny because I’d see someone who I’d met only once, and they’d be like “oh hi again” and then chuck green water in my face.  Best holiday idea in the world.  I would do it every day if I could.

What else?  A week ago today I was at the Warner Bros Harry Potter studio!  It was the actual place where they shot everything with a set, and they also had props from the films.  They had everything from the cupboard under the stairs to the Burrow to the philosopher’s stone to the Gryffindor common room to the Ministry of Magic to Diagon Alley.  Overall it was really fun to go there, but at the same time it was kind of depressing.  I guess I just expected a film set to be more…epic.  But in reality it was basically one ENORMOUS building with tons of different places from my imagination stuck into corners.  It just goes to show how freaking amazing the human imagination is, and how much better books are than films.  Anyway, I bought a copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard and resisted a Slytherin scarf and flag.

Ohh, I feel like I’m leaving so much out!  I guess I’ll just go on to more everyday life stuff.  So, academics.  They’ve been great this term, as usual.  Children’s literature is my primary tutorial, and I can’t tell you how fun it’s been.  Just an example – two weeks ago my assignment was the first Harry Potter book.  Also, I care about children’s literature way more than any other kind of literature, so it gives me way more personal satisfaction to study.  My tutor is REALLY COOL – she’s from New Zealand and she’s a DPhil student.

My secondary tutorial is also going very well – it’s the “The Troubled Reign of George III” with Kate Watson, the same tutor I had for French Revolution in Michaelmas.  I still really like her, and last time we spent like half of my tutorial talking about my story instead of the American Revolution.  She kept saying how interesting it was, and how she couldn’t stop thinking about it, which obviously made me want to cry with happiness.  She’s going to give me much-needed sources for historical research, and she gave me BRILLIANT ideas about the origin of the house.  BRILLIANT.  I can’t even write about this anymore because I am getting too excited.

Again, I feel like there should be more…but there isn’t, I guess.  I was worried about this term because football is over, but that has been a surprisingly easy adjustment.  I’ve been going to random friendlies and college practices anyway, and I’ve been running with Rosie (my football friend and summer travel buddy) too.  Also, Asiyla is back in England so I’ve been hanging out with her.  LIFE IS GOOD.

Well, I guess this is my second to last post about Oxford!  Amazing.  See you next time…

Ari

P.S. I now have my official plane ticket home – July 25.  It’s exactly two years from the day I went to England for the first time. :’(  SOMEONE WILL HAVE TO DRAG ME CRYING ONTO THE PLANE

Ilkley Moors

Mixed emotions. That’s the best phrase I can use to describe how I feel lately. In just four weeks I’ll be headed home, and I cannot begin to explain how much I miss my family. Home sickness didn’t really start for me until a week ago. And even now, I don’t know if what I feel is homesick, or just an overwhelming excitement to be with my family again. Because at the same moment, it’s hard to imagine leaving England with no definite plans of coming back. I love it here. I’m going to miss the cities, the history, the people. I’m going to miss being surrounded by their accents and yes, I’ll even miss riding the bus…although, I can’t say I’ll miss it very much. The past four months have been the greatest experience of my life. Yet there is so much more I wish I could do. There is so much more I wish I could see. How can I be so happy and sad to leave all at once?

I guess the only thing I can do is cherish the good in both. Cherish the excitement that keeps building up until the day I get to hold my family instead of just seeing them on the screen of a computer. Cherish the four weeks left and use every opportunity to soak it all in. Cherish the memories I have made and the friendships that won’t be torn apart by 4,000 miles. Cherish the dream that someday I will be back.

There are so many promises held in the hands of someday. Jesus, please cherish our somedays.

Anyway, moving on to events of this weekend!  Our weekend opened with a bang Thursday night when our flat hosted a “Fright Night” themed party.  Now, you may be wondering how Thursday was our big night rather than Friday; I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but every single person in our flat has no class on Fridays, so we’ve all been spoiled with three day weekends the entire semester (something that I never have achieved, and never will be able to achieve at Valpo).  We all decided to dress up, if a bit reluctantly (myself included….I’ve just never been really into costumes), but, looking back at the pictures, I’m so glad that we did because it ended up being lots of fun and we took some pretty funny photos.

Friday was rather low-key, but then Saturday was our IFSA-Butler volunteer day.  We left Dunedin at a totally reasonable hour (9 am) and arrived at the Orokonui Eco-Sanctuary about a half-hour later.  Now, for whatever reason, this particular event had a substantially smaller showing than any of our other program activities ever had.  There’s roughly 40 of us all together, but only 13 people made it our for this day.  I don’t know if it was because people were busy with finals or traveling or what the deal was, but they really missed out on a great day and I feel sorry for anyone who couldn’t come.

That’s not to say that I was thrilled during the entire experience.  When we arrived there in the morning, it was pretty cold and windy and I don’t think anyone was particularly excited to plant for two hours.  However, it ended up not being rough at all since the planting sessions were rather sporadically done for probably about twenty minutes to one half-hour at a time.  Also, when you were concentrating on the work rather than the cold, it was not bad at all.  We were also (as usual) sustained on a diet of coffee and chocolate, which was more than enough motivation for all of us to go on.  It was also a particularly fun group of people who were there, so we all ended up having a great time joking and laughing and playing in the mud.

Our group was also lucky enough to be given a free mini-tour of sanctuary during a break from our work digging holes and planting trees.  We saw tui and bellbirds and a few others whose name escapes me.  Unfortunately, our visit to the sanctuary came just days before they were set to receive a few of the rare Takahe.  Luckily, we had seen them less than week before in Te Anau, so that wasn’t as much of a disappointment as that otherwise may have been.

We were all also able to get our animal fix in since the rangers had a little dog, Jess, who was a Border Terrier mix with them during the entirety of our working experience.  She was very friendly, and ecstatic to have a dozen people all offering to pet her throughout the day.  Jess was a retired working dog; when the sanctuary had bigger issues with pests, she was responsible for catching the stoats, rabbits, cats, and possums that plagued the native plants and wildlife.  Since the sanctuary has been pest free for over five years now, her “job” was (thankfully) no longer a necessity, so she gets to spend her time being adorable.

After we concluded our work at the sanctuary (around 12:30 pm), we were loaded back into the bus and headed over to a Marae for lunch.  It was a really nice experience; we always love free food and it’s always so interesting to hear about the different traditions and stories that each Marae holds.  This one had some particularly impressive carvings on the front; I was obsessed with the dolphin on the front (as you’ll probably notice from the number of pictures I post of it).  There were also some GORGEOUS views out in front of the Marae of a beach that I need to get back to at some point before I leave because it’s looks absolutely unreal.

We headed back to Dunedin at around 2:45, were home by 3:30 and then left with the rest of the day.  A few of us actually commented on how we were sad to be done already; it was such a lovely day and honestly definitely one of my favorite IFSA-Butler activities to date.  It really makes me sad that in less than two weeks, we’ll already be having our farewell dinner and then the semester will really be drawing to a close.  This was our last major event, and thus slightly bittersweet.  BUT I shouldn’t be getting too sad yet; my countdown until Brigid arrives is down to 4 days and I AM SO EXCITED!! So, be prepared for an epic post as I rediscover Dunedin and Queenstown!

Also, the beginning of this album has a few more pictures of the Dunedin Botanic Gardens.  Enjoy!

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On Saturday, we hit it off right away by having the best porridge I’ve ever had. Granted, I don’t eat much porridge as it is, but now that I’ve had Sarah’s (my host mom), that’s the version I’ll be making for myself from now on. Good thing that breakfast was deliciously hardy because we spent the day biking through forest around Loch Inch and canoeing on the actual lake itself. While Eunji (the other student with me this weekend from Brighton) set off with Peter, Sarah and I created rumors of a new monster in a Loch, with my helmet decoration, while biking through the woods. We stopped for lunch beneath the base of the Cairngorm mountain range and headed back to the house for a canoeing afternoon on Loch Inch. Of course, that resulted in being completely soaked through and we ended our day quietly reading in the sun room that had been heated throughout the day.

Sunday was an even better day! Eunji and I started off with a walk around the loch on our own, just taking in the absolutely beautiful sights of Kincraig. Obviously, the pictures describe it better than I could, but it was wonderful to have to time to appreciate the view. In the afternoon, Sarah and Peter led us up a hill across the way from the house. I could actually see the hill from my bedroom window and when we reached the top (very self-satisfying after the steep ascent), the house was directly beneath us. On this walk alone, we saw ospreys in the nest, an eagle, red squirrels and a herd of deer seeking shelter from the approaching storm that night) in the forest. We also came upon the stone ruins of what was once clearly a village on the hill on our descent.

It was honestly amazing to spend the weekend in Kincraig; my hosts were very welcoming and gracious and the landscape was a wonderful alternative to London. After my weekend, I rushed back to London to get ready to welcome my own parents to London, which you’ll hear all about next week!

Sunday morning, the majority of our IFSA-Butler cohort woke up bright and early to be on the bus by 6:30 a.m.  Even though I showered and packed the night before, I still managed to be counted among the stragglers who ignored the “be there at 6:20” notice and instead arrived moments before the bus left.  Once we were all settled, most people fell right back to sleep, with some occasional chatter, for the roughly five-hour drive to Manapouri.  We arrived in Manapouri around noon, were fed a quick lunch (which made me not as grumpy after sitting uncomfortably in the bus for too many hours), and then we were boarded onto a boat for another foty-five minutes, complete with free tea and coffee (which I took full advantage of), and then we were loaded onto yet another bus for one last thirty minute ride (which had nothing but sandflies to offer), before we FINALLY reached the Navigator, which we were to call home for the evening and following morning.

Once on the boat, we were quickly rewarded for out traveling.  After showing us our rooms (which were adorable and clean, if a bit snug for four people, though a couple people were lucky enough to be upgraded to first class because there was too many os us), we were given a quick snack of muffins and fruit.  We then had about two hours to wander around the ship and take pictures before it became too dark and wet for us to risk ruining our cameras.  The crew then fed us (again!) delicious soup and bread.  Probably in preparation for the next activity, which would take place in the cold rain.  We were given two options: (1)kayaking through Doubtful Sound (2)riding a tender boat through Doubtful Sound.  I originally (as in, before I actually knew what the weather was like in the fjord) was all for kayaking, but the realities of water and my camera led me to choose the boat instead.  Which was not the greatest plan, since it was, by this point, down pouring and I couldn’t take any pictures anyway.

So, I’ll do my best to describe the boat trip without having any photographic evidence of that activity.  The boat could hold eighteen people, and fifteen of those on the boat were a part of the IFSA-Butler program.  I honestly wish I had pulled my camera out because it was absolutely priceless to look across from me and see the identical expressions of misery on everyone on the boat.  Each person had their hood pulled up, and we were holding a poncho over our legs in a (bad) attempt to keep them dry.  I was lucky in that I wore shorts, but people wearing jeans were completely drenched by the time we made it back to the Navigator.

However, I paid my dues in other ways.  Let me preface this with the following: if you ever study abroad in or visit New Zealand, buy a rain jacket that HAS A HOOD.  I almost didn’t even bring one at all (thanks, Mom for that last-minute shopping trip) and that would have been a HUGE mistake.  Clothing here is, for the most part, quite a bit more expensive than in the states, so try to bring everything you need from home.  Anyway, continuing on with the story, I had on shorts, a t-shirt, a polar fleece zip-up with a hood, and then my (hoodless) rain jacket.  I stupidly wore the fleece hood up and thus, while it did initially keep my head and hair dry, it acted as a sponge in the rain and eventually all that water went through the hood and halfway down my back.  By the time we made it back onboard the ship, my entire upper body was soaked.  At least my feet were dry, thanks to my waterproof hiking boots (which were also a last-minute purchase…I was clearly beyond prepared to leave the country).

Okay, so I’ve probably made this little excursion sound pretty miserable (which it was, to a certain extent), but it also was really interesting and I would have been really upset to have missed out on it.  We were lucky enough to see a raft of penguins, (yes, that is what it’s called, not a flock) and they were adorable.  I guess it’s highly unusual for them to swim that far into the fjord, but the ocean was rough and they were taking shelter there.  Those waterproof feathers would definitely make sitting in the rain less problematic.  Our guide also told us a lot about the different mosses and trees that lined the water and even stuck his entire arm into a cliff without hitting any rock; that’s how many layers of moss can grow.  Pretty interesting stuff, though I probably was not as fascinated by those little tidbits of information as I would have been if the weather had been a bit more accommodating for us.

Once we arrived back in the boat, people were given the option to jump off the boat into the water.  I did not take that offer; I was already cold and wet enough and I don’t think that I’ll be kept up at night back in the states at the thought of not having swam in Doubtful Sound.  But, the people who did it enjoyed themselves (some even claimed they felt warmer afterwards; yeah, I’m sure that was the case…) and good for them.  The rest of us changed into warmer clothes and then claimed a table for dinner (after scarfing down some more tea and coffee first of course).

Dinner was delicious.  There was more than enough food for everyone, even with the forty starving college students taking full advantage of free food.  There was also six different desserts, and by the end of the meal, I was really happy that I was wearing sweatpants.  We were collectively overfilled, and me and a couple of other people who went to the slideshow presentation following the meal sat at the backed and groaned as if we were in labor for a good forty-five minutes after.  There is no way to describe it better than a food baby.  I think the fact that we all eat minimally while we’re in our Dunedin flats leads to all of us gorging ourselves when we’re at any of the program events.

We went to bed shortly after the presentation (after a few quick games of Connect Four and cards), and we woken up about 20 minutes earlier than we were told (they said 6:40…it was more like 6:15 in reality and you all know how I feel about waking up before 7 AM) we would be when the ship’s engine turned out.  Our porthole’s cover was vibrating like a jackhammer but once we shut that, a few of us were able to get a couple more minutes of sleep before getting dressed and heading down for breakfast.  There was (yet again) an impressive spread of food but I was still pretty full from dinner the night before and thus probably did not appreciate that food as much as I ordinarily would have since I was still pretty full from the night before.

Following our last meal aboard the ship, we were lucky enough to see a small pod of dolphins swimming near the ship.  There was one baby, a mom, and a couple of juveniles and, though my camera failed to take a good shot (though maybe I should blame that on operator error rather than the electronic itself) other people were able to take some really nice photos.  They were beautiful and even put on a little show for us when they started surfing and jumping in the ship’s wake.  That twenty minutes made the entire trip more than worthwhile in my mind.  I don’t think I’ve ever grown out of my love of dolphins, and I’ve swam with them before, but this was the closest encounter that I’ve ever had with wild ones.  We also saw a few seals on the ride back to the dock (but, in case my family is wondering, I refrained from whipping my sunglasses in the water with them).

Once we left the Navigator, we were in for another bus and boat ride back to Manapouri.  We stopped for lunch in Te Anau and then went to a bird sanctuary, where I proceeded to make a fool of myself (as per usual).  This sanctuary held three of the very endangered native Takahe and we were lucky enough to be given the opportunity to see them up close and personal in their enclosure as long as we were quiet.  Somehow, I ended up walking toward the front of the group, and I managed to face-plant after tripping on a dip in the ground. I then proceeded to start laughing loudly, which was going totally against the grain of being quiet so that we could see the birds.  Not my finest moment.  There’s a reason my family calls me “Dick Van Dyke” and my dad’s favorite way to describe me is as a “bull in a china shop.”  We did see the Takahe (though they were pretty shy) in addition to some kia, a native New Zealand mountain parrot (and according to the lady working, the smartest bird in the world, which I thought was the African Grey but I could be wrong), a wood pigeon, an owl, and some other little green parakeet type things.  It was a fun little side trip, but by the time we boarded the bus, a cumulative lack of sleep had caught up with everyone and the bus was pretty quiet the entire way back.

Anyway, that about sums up the second half of my weekend!  This trip was definitely one of the best parts of the IFSA-Butler program so far and I am so happy that we were all given the chance to experience the overnight cruise.  It’s a pretty expensive endeavor to book on your own, and probably would not have been possible for many of us unless it was included in our program.  I should have a quick turnaround with blog entries again next time; we have a Marae visit and volunteer day this Saturday, so that should be fun.  And then, a week from this Thursday, one of my best friends in the world, Brigid, will be flying in from Chicago and spending two weeks in New Zealand!  I am beyond excited to see her and explore some of the places in Dunedin and Queenstown that I didn’t before.  We’ll be doing the Cadbury Chocolate Factory tour, the Speights Brewery tour, visiting the peninsula, and FINALLY I will have someone brave enough to go bungee jumping with me!  It’s going to be amazing.  As most things in New Zealand end up being.

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Hey all,

Click below for a little update of what I’ve been up to over the past few weeks – busy busy as usual:

A Bristol Update

Also, as I mention in the video, here’s a picture of my flatmates and I (minus Matt in this one) down by the harbour:

Find more videos like this on Institute for Study Abroad – Butler University