Week 3

I can't believe it's already been 3 weeks in Australia! The past weeks have gone by so fast, the only time time doesn't fly is during school sometimes because I'm a little lost in some classes due to hopping in in the middle of the term. When the exams come up in a couple weeks, I'm gonna take the exam and just try my best for most of them, though not quite sure what will be done with them. Math should be alright, though, I'm just about caught up to the class, and except for the trig and calc, I've done it all, and with the calc, I'm already caught up with the class.

Last week, school went along as normal, and Tuesday I went to Cadets again, another normal night. Then Wednesday, I did maths all day before going out to lunch at a local cafe, where I had a great burger that I actually couldn't finish due to its size! Afterward, Geoff took me up to some park somewhere 30min away from Moruya, that I don't remember the name of, but it was very nice. It was very serene and beautiful and I finally saw a kangaroo in full detail, close-up. The kangaroo paused only about 20 feet (about 6m) and stood there looking at us for about a good 2-3 minutes! Later, on the way out we saw several kangaroos right outside the car and a group of wallabees later on. When we were almost back in town, we even saw a wombat! They are kind of like overweight gophers but pretty cool and can run pretty fast.

Friday, my great counselor, Carol (just for you, Carol) picked me up to bring me to Tuross for the orientation weekend for all of the inbounders and outbounders (inbounders = exchange students from elsewhere eg. Me!, outbounders = exchange students going to another country). Friday night was just for the inbounders so we can get to know each other and hang out. It was great to meet everyone, and had tons of fun. That night myself and the other inbound boys stayed up till about 1 playing texas hold'em until it was just three of us and we decided it was too late. Saturday morning the outbounders arrived, including my sister, Hannah, who by the way, is going to the USA!!!! Wooh! During the day, it was mostly aimed at the outbounds, with a couple short activities geared to both. One of the activities, they paired up the inbounders with the outbounders going to their country so they can ask whatever questions they wanted about where they are going. Although, that didn't quite work out because Hannah and I live with each other and can ask questions all the time, so we didn't have much to talk about.

That afternoon, we had a surf safety lesson, though, to make sure that none of us die at the beach in Australia, which is good I guess. After the lesson though, we went down to the beach and originally just 3 of us (later more joined in) went for a swim in the 12 degree water (56 F). It was just a little frigid, and after about 20 minutes, the waves were starting to come farther and father in between, and my feet were numb, so I got out, while the Norwegian, Sondre, of course stayed in for a half hour! Once we got back to our accommodation, and finally warmed up, it was time for a formal dinner, where we all (the inbounders) wore out Rotary blazers, afterward exchanging pins, signing flags, etc. as well as having a mini party, until 11 when we were told we were supposed to be in bed already. Afterward we all went back and hung out in a room way too small for the amount of people, but it made all the fun! At that point, the poker game was also finished, by myself and Phillip (from Germany) both going "all-in" blind, because we wanted it to be over. The result was him winning by a higher pair. Then we all (inbounders and outbounders), that didn't already go to sleep, stayed up socializing until 1, when the girl's counsellor decided it was too late. When everyone finally went back to their "dorms," it wasn't until after 2 that my room actually went to bed.

The next morning was a short meeting with inbounders, outbounds, parents, and even a couple rebounds (those who came back from exchange). The rebounds told their stories and offered advice and then it was time to go home around lunch time. Instead of going home with my host parents, though, Rohan took me to meet Rob Richmond, my other counsellor (the one to do fun things with, as it was explained to me), and then he took me to a Rugby League game! It was nice and fun once I started to understand how the game worked. The Moruya Sharks won to move on to the semi-finals, which I guess is a good thing. It was a pretty fun afternoon, before returning home to stay past midnight to finish my speech for Rotary. I finally did finish it, as well as my slideshow, and feel confident for the meeting Wednesday night.

2nd Week

I may miss some things now that I haven't posted in over a week, but here we go:

Last weekend I moved in with my first host family, the Whitings! Geoff, Kathryn, and Hannah were all very nice and welcoming and only a week later, I feel right at home as part of the family. They even have a cat, Winnie, that reminds me of my own cat back home. I still don't feel like I adjusted quite fully yet because I've had a very full, yet fun-filled week, but I imagine that it won't be long.

This week at school, the kids in my year were back from their snow-trip so now I met everyone in my classes and was able to see how to school functions on a normal day. Its a bit smaller school so most of the classes are a bit smaller as well, but I like it. Because I'm in year 11 and don't take the extension courses, I get to take Wednesday off from school, which is really nice to only have school 4 days a week, although this week I only had 3 days due to MUNA (Model United Nations Assembly), which I will get to later in this post. Also, the school buses here are much different from the buses back home. Here they use basically coach buses with bench seats instead of individual seats, and are pretty nice compared to ours back home.

Tuesday night, I officially joined the local Australian Army Cadets (AAC) and received most of my uniform. The people there are a very welcoming and it is a bit more relaxed than I am used to, but the change is why I am on exchange, so this should be good. It's fun to go crawl around in the bush for a couple hours!

Wednesday, since I don't go to school, my host-father, Geoff, took me up to Batemans Bay so I could get an adapter for my laptop charger since the one I brought over here, I realized, wasn't grounded. So we got that, had coffee/ hot chocolate, and head back home. It was a nice drive and a good start to the day. When we got back, I ate lunch then head off to school to practice for MUNA because we scheduled a practice debate with 2 other schools in the area to help us prepare. At the practice, we realized that we really needed to do A LOT more work to prepare for the weekend, which we did, and it worked out. After, I took the bus home, and prepared for MUNA. In the evening, it was then time for the weekly Rotary meeting, which is nice to go to because its good food and is usually interesting.

Thursday was more preparation for MUNA after school got out and I was up till almost 2 just doing my research. Then Friday morning, my group, consisting of myself; a friend, Sam; and my future host brother, Will; representing Malaysia, set out from our school to Australia's capital, Canberra, along with a nearby school, representing France. We stopped for lunch along the way, where I tried my first meat pie! I don't remember having them before, but it tasted oddly familiar... Once in Canberra, well just outside the ACT (Australian Capital Territory), where we were staying, we checked in and relaxed for a little while, socializing with other teams that arrived from other areas of Australia, such as Victoria, Queensland, and Tasmania. Then, we were off to Canberra for a tour of ANU (Australian National University) since they are the major sponsor for the event. We came back to the lodge, had dinner, then got a very interesting talk from someone, who's name escapes me right now, who has had 42 years experience in foreign affairs. Then, we voted for the resolution we would debate over the weekend. The order was set for the resolutions: the Sovereignty of Palestine, Renewable Energy, Conflicts in Africa, and LARs to be debated on Saturday, with "The Situation in Syria," and Nuclear Disarmament on Sunday. Saturday, our group, spoke for the later three resolutions, letting the first give us the idea of how the process of debating worked. We had a designated spot as the Second For Renewable Energy and Sam took the reigns to debate that topic. I feel she did well supporting the resolution and in the end the resolution passed without much against it. Will spoke for the resolution on Africa, speaking very well, and I spoke against the resolution on LARs (Lethal Autonomous Robotics). At the end of the day, all of the resolutions were passed, mostly without much opposition, even with much debate. That night, there was a nice formal dinner at Bruce Hall in ANU. Present at the dinner were many Rotarians and sponsors of the event, as well as some diplomats who made time to come support the program and the kids representing those nations. It was a nice meal, and a professor at ANU spoke on NGOs, and was very interesting and I enjoyed it, other than him delaying dessert. At the end of the night, we went back to the lodge and had an okay night of sleep. Wake-up was at 0630 so that we had plenty of time to shower, dress, and clean up the rooms after the weekend before breakfast at 0730. After breakfast, we went back to the Old Parliament House, where we were debating, and began our fifth session, this one being on the Situation in Syria. Speaking as Malaysia, I took the reigns from team to debate in favor of this resolution and, in my opinion and that of some others, debated very well. In the end the resolution was passed 13-7 (with 3 abstentions). After, we had a short recess then returned to debate the final and most popular resolution, Nuclear Disarmament. Will did the most work on this resolution so he was in charge of the debating this one. He did very well and even used a "Point of Information," which was the first for our team. This was again passed through, though with 12-9 (with 2 abstentions). It was close, but successful as we noticed that there were some teams that did actually change their minds during the debate. These last two sessions were the most controversial and therefore, the most lively. This made these the most fun, and the most popular. On both of these resolutions, the second more so, some people didn't get the chance to say everything that they wanted/intended to due to the popularity and nature of these resolutions. Overall this was a great, fun-filled, mind-testing weekend where I met many great people who made the weekend all the better. I wish I able to do stuff like that more often.

A+4

Last night was my first Rotary meeting here in Moruya, where I met some more very fine people and gave a short intro of myself to hold some curiosity until my presentation to the club at the end of the month. Among the new faces, I also realized that my counselor, Carol, deserved a much better description than I gave her last time. She's a very kind lady who is also a great deal of fun to be around. (You're welcome Carol.) Moving on, at the meeting I thought it was very interesting the way that the club fines it's members for the things that should've done differently, some silly, some not. I feel that's a much more fun way of doing things rather than just giving it up to the club. It was a nice night and I look forward to the next meeting.

This morning I started school at Moruya High School and found mostly everyone the most welcoming. The school is a little different than my school back home in the atmosphere. Most of my class is away on a snow trip at the moment so I can't say really how it is, but I imagine that it won't be that much different in between classes, just the classes themselves will have more than 5 people in them. Even with full attendance, the school only houses 700 students in years 7-12 with mine back home having 1300, years 9-12, so a bit smaller and I think I might like it. I'm not quite sure yet how to feel about the campus. It's different being outside and 4 seperate buildings but still a smaller campus, of course, than mine back home.

It feels a bit odd getting out of school at 1515 instead of 1400 but I won't argue with school not starting until 0830. After getting back home, I relaxed until dinner where I got to eat Australia's symbol. Kangaroo! It's tastes a bit like beef but it's a little tougher and leaner. It tasted well and was enjoyable. Come to think of it, I don't think I've encountered an Aussie dish that I haven't liked. The Vegemite is a bit salty but still good as well as everything else I've gotten to try.

A+3

So yesterday I went out with my counselor, Carol, and got myself enrolled in school at Moruya High to start Thursday. While I was in the process of enrolment, one of the teachers came by and gave me my first assignment! He wants me to read the papers he gave me for MUNA the weekend after the next. MUNA is Model United Nations Assembly where I'll be going to Canberra with my future host brother, Will, and his cousin as a mock delegation for Malaysia to debate as the UN! That should be a fun weekend. Now tomorrow I just need to show up, sort out the uniform, and I will be all set to start enjoying school in Australia! After, we started to sort out my banking in Australia, which will be finished later this week. We had some tea at a nice cafe and along the way I met some nice Rotarians. It was an enjoyable morning where I returned home to go for a nice 10 km run around the town to explore and get my bearings straight. I took a relaxing afternoon before visiting the local AAC, Australian Army Cadets, to see about them and I think I might join them for the year. Last night seemed pretty fun, crawling around in the bush for the first time.

Now today I slept a little later, (I think the jet lag is finally behind me) and then Rohan took me up to Batemans Bay while he ran errands and to show me around. Its a nice town about the same size as North Haven but during the summer I guess it attracts a large crowd to the beach. We had a nice lunch up there and I saw my first pelican! It was nice day, that will end with my first rotary meeting with the Moruya Club, where I'll just give a brief introduction of myself until my presentation later this month.

A+1

The day after I arrived in Australia and I think I may have beaten jet lag. Yesterday I was able to stay awake with not much opposition until it came to a normal bed time and I woke up bright and early at 7, after gaining 10 hours of sleep. The truth will come later, but as of right now, I'm in Australia and feeling great! :D It's winter right now, so a little chilly, I think I can compare the current weather to late October back in CT.

After showering and getting dressed, I sat down to breakfast with Rohan and Pauline, and tried vegemite for the first time! My thoughts about it: its definitely different, but its not bad. Upon my first bite I thought it was nice, but not something I would like to eat regularly, but after then it did seem to taste better. I think it's something that I will have to get used to but won't be bad. I feel like my first bite wasn't the most pleasant because it was so different and new to my palate.

Now, back to my arrival: I really enjoyed my flight. It was a 14 hour plane ride, but it went by pretty quick and the 2 meals Qantas served were great for "plane food." I think they were even better than some restaurants serve back in the States, definitely better than diner food. All the crew were very friendly and welcoming and made for a pleasant ride. When I landed though, things didn't go quite as smooth, I got through Customs and Immigration nicely, but not through baggage claim. I waited at the carousel for about 40 minutes before it was made known that there were no more bags on the plane, and mine was not there. So I had to spend the next 15 minutes claiming it, and at least I received $100 mastercard from the airline. But the bags will be in today, I just found out!

Upon getting all that straightened out, I was greeted warmly by Rohan, he brought me back to his hotel so I could shower (finally, after 3 days!) and change. Then we briefly explored around the Opera House and harbor, before taking a nice, but long, drive down to Moruya, my new home! For this week I'll be staying with Rohan and Pauline, who have been very kind so far and have made my first day very enjoyable. Pics will be up later.

A-0

This is the day I've been waiting for since I was first approved for Rotary Youth Exchange! I AM ON MY WAY TO AUSTRALIA! This morning when I got up my parents and brother (only in it for the food) went out to IHOP for breakfast before going back to my house to say goodbye to my aunt and cousins, one of which wanted to tell the TSA that I was a terrorist to keep me from going! 

After that my brother went to work then my grandparents accompanied myself and my parents to the airport. After checking in, we just stayed outside the security checkpoint for an hour because my grandparents couldn't come through. Once that was over, my parents saw me to the gate and I took off to Dallas, which is where I sit now. The flight was a little bumpy with some turbulence, but I managed to get some sleep.