Pictures!

My pictures on photobucket.com are pretty much all up to date! Finally! They don't include Aquarium or Mardi Gras pics but that's really not a big deal seeing as though I'm not in any of them. Hopefully I will be able to stay on top of it! I have my trip to Jervis Bay this weekend, so I will do a big post after that!

One Month Down...

I can't believe I've already been here for a month. With 3 left, I still have so much I want to do! I'm excited for Tara to come in 2 weeks! I'm excited for Spring Break! And by then... this whole thing will be halfway done. It's pretty unbelievable.

The past week was a good one. Classes still suck. I have some work I need to get done, but whenever I try to, I find myself doing nothing instead. But that's how it's like at home, right? For next week I need to write a mini essay (I have to do it every week for my stupid film class - it's kind of ridiculous.), an article for Marine Environment (current events because we're in middle school - but I won't complain if that's all the work we do for the semester), and I need to get started on my first project for Writing that's due next week. That shouldn't be hard, though... as long as I actually sit down and do it.

Right now, I'm actually going crazy from mosquito bites that cover my feet, legs and arms. I don't think I've ever gotten them this bad but I just wish I could rip my skin off and start over. I've been scratching like crazy for the past two days. So... if I come home all scarred up, you'll know why.

Since I last updated, I went downtown with Caryn last weekend to go on a Jews Cruise. Turns out it was a bad plan and we decided against it. Then a bird pooped on me. After I cleaned off, we walked around an area called The Rocks which was nice - right next to the Bridge. We got lost a little, but ultimately found a fun pancake house. After we ate (too much) we found a street fair going on and hung around there for a little. The rest of the week consisted off class, going out, the beach, and a whole lot of nothing too. I'm good at doing nothing.

Between Wednesday and Thursday, half of my house left to go to Melbourne for the weekend for the Grand Prix...F-1? Something like that. While I would have loved to go, I realized it was too much money to waste on something I wasn't interested in (i.e. car racing). I stayed back with Samir and the two Germans, Chris and Andy. Even though it's been quiet, it's been a fun weekend. Thursday and Friday nights I ended up trekking down into Sydney with my friend Brian and we checked out a lot of different bars. Usually whenever we go out here, we know a huge crowd of Study Abroad people going to the same place. We had no plan this time though and were surrounded by Australians. Last night I had a Study Abroad event - a St. Patrick's Day Harbor Cruise (aka a booze cruise). It was a LOT of fun! We left the boat around 11 and headed over to a bar and then went home.

I guess that's it for now. Actually, I forgot to mention my camera broke. It still works, actually, just the LCD screen is cracked and I have to blindly take pictures. Hopefully I'll be able to work something out with that. In the meantime, I'm STILL trying to upload pictures. I will definitely get more up Monday and/or Tuesday.

I miss you all!

Third Week Update

The second week of classes have ended and I'm feeling pretty good about them. They're mostly kind of boring, but seem pretty easy and I guess that's all that matters. My writing class is still pretty retarded. Australian TV is okay but we watched an hour + silent film and I slept through it all. Then I had that Live Entertainment class and I'm pretty sure everyone slept through that. It's pretty awful. My new marine class is good though and I think I made the right switch.

I met with the internship coordinator today and if I can get in touch with them, I'll hopefully be interning for The Real World. I'm not getting my hopes up at all. The chances of getting something like that seems pretty ridiculous. His other option for me was this travel show called Get Away (I think?) which I should look up. Didn't sound awful - I help with production when they're in the area and research while they are away. We'll see how it goes. I'd probably drop Live Entertainment in that case.

Nothing crazy worth mentioning has happened. I had a pretty bad night at the parade because of dehydration but things have been looking up since. This Sunday I have a Jew Cruise with the Jew Club here - it's pretty cheap and comes with lunch on "Shark Island." (I'm still not convinced that's a real place.) For St. Patrick's Day I'm doing another cruise with a nice dinner with the school. I'm also going on an organized trip with Study Abroad to Jervis Bay the weekend of the 24th, which, if I'm right has really nice beaches, nature trails with kangaroos all around, dolphin cruises and aboriginal performances. Tara booked her trip so she'll be headed here on April 2nd. By then, my trip would already be almost halfway over. While I'm definitely missing home every now and then, I really am having a good time with some really nice people.

I have a ton of pics waiting to post but now my flash drive is broken so I can't put them up on another computer. I hope hope hope it'll be fixed soon!!!!!

We were about to go to the beach but once again it's about to thunderstorm. The weather is ridiculously unpredictable here!

Hopefully I'll have some great stuff to update you all on soon. Until then...

The Semester Has Finally Started!

I can't believe I'm back in school. I've felt like such a drop-out since December. The first week of classes are over and they went over pretty well. Tuesdays I have Writing for Digital Media at a different campus which is a short bus ride from main. My class is all Australian, so it's a little awkward. Other than that, it's pretty ridiculous what we've done so far, which included mad-libs. And there are post-grads in my class. Hmmm... Wednesdays I have a long day. From 10-1 I have Australian Cinema & Television. I liked it - the professor seems like a nice guy and I have a couple of friends in it. The only problem is that he kind of expects us to not only make the 3 hour lecture and the 1 hr recitation, but he's setting up extra screenings of movies weekly. I don't think anybody will be attending them. We watched this crazy movie this week in class about aborigines that I just did not get at all. We'll see how that one pans out. Even worse is Live Entertainment and Popular Culture, which is later that day. I know it sounds easy... and it most likely is... but - at least for the first lecture - the professor didn't use any powerpoint slides and talks so low and in such a monotone voice that most of us fell asleep. That one can only go up from here. Last, on Thursdays, I had Cities: Experiencing Sydney. It was actually not that bad and seemed ridiculously easy. One of our big assignments was to go to any place in the city and... just write about it. While it sounded great, my housemate Jamie was in a Marine Environment class at the same time. There's only one exam and it's on the last day of class and it includes 3 field trips. Plus, I think I get credit for it towards my science requirement and the Sydney class was just an elective. So hopefully things will work out. I don't forsee too much work in the future.

Aside from that, I really am having a fun time. My house (Jamie, Dan, Sam, Linden, Samir, Andy, and Chris) is great. I've met a lot of really nice people. I'm going out a lot. Too much. But it's been so much fun! I'm pretty sure that in the two weeks I've been here, I think I've only stayed in 3 nights: the first because I was so damn tired, Sunday because the house just decided to hang out together, and Monday because I watched the Oscars. I'm sure things will slow down once we get more into the semester. Who knows.

In other news: my friend Tara might be visiting me which sounds amazing! I really hope she can make it but I know her schedule is crazy. I'm not getting my hopes up, but if her butt doesn't fly to me, the friendship is over.

Also, I'M GOING TO FIJI April 8-14 for Spring Break with my friend Caryn from the plane. Really?

I'm a little upset that some of my shows aren't on the free website that I thought they'd be anymore. They took down Survivor, which hurts the most. I still have yet to see Lost or Grey's... and actually have no idea what's happened on them since I left. I HAVE seen some of the latest Idol performances and I'm still pulling for Melinda.

I guess there's not much else to talk about... we're headed out to Darling Harbor tonight, which is a really nice area with bars and clubs. Tomorrow is the big crazy Mardi Gras. So I'm definitely keeping busy.

I love hearing from everyone - emails, calls, etc. - so keep 'em coming!

Oh, and as far as the picture situation goes, I don't know why it is such a hassle. Facebook uploads so fast, but it seems like all of the photo sites take hours. If anyone knows a good quick one, let me know! Otherwise, I'll keep posting them whenever I get a chance.

Photos

For the first batch of photos, check out www.photobucket.com and in the search box put "michaelkoppel" - it should direct you to my album. I still have a lot to put up, like the zoo and the aquarium but it literally takes forever to do it. Bear with me. A bigger update will come later.

Having Internet is Amazing!

I finally have internet! It might not be the best and it's limited, but it definitely makes life 1000x better here. Not being able to communicate lately has been a killer but this is definitely a big help! So now everyone can Skype me and I can answer and hear your voices!

I WILL have pictures up soon. I promise! I just think it's gonna take up too much memory to do it here so I'll have to on campus or something.

I went into Sydney today for the first time with my friend Caryn and it is soooo nice and clean. Saw the bridge... saw the Opera House - now I really feel like I'm here. Being at the beach is amazing but getting into the city was definitely needed to feel like I'm really in Australia. We took a ferry to the Taronga Zoo and it was amaaaaazing. I took so many pictures of everything, including a bear going to the bathroom in mid-air. It was pacing back and forth across a log and I realized it was just like Teddy and Kolby before they're about to explode. Anyway, that was fun - so was seeing the middle of a ridiculous gorilla fight. Saw kangaroos and koalas for the first time here - along with the apparently "cuter-than-cute" Bilby - and the usual lions, tigers, zebras, and the most photogenic giraffes in the world.

I'll definitely update more later - although there hasn't been so much going on - or maybe there has and I've just had too much to drink and forget it all. That's happening way too much in too little of a time period but I'm sure things will slow down once classes start.

It's Hot As Hell Down Here!

G'day everyone! It's 5pm here on Wednesday. I've missed American Idol and am trying to cope with that but I think I'll make it. I still don't have internet yet but hopefully will by this weekend. I am seriously going insane without it! I do have a cell phone though, so if anyone ever has a phone card and wants to call, my number is... 416813538 - but you have to put the country code and all before that. I think you add something like 01161 before but don't trust me with that. My mom knows and the internet probably knows, too. So get at them.

It's so damn hot and humid here but I'm having a great time. Monday I got in and got my classes situated. Then got home and passed out. Yesterday I got up, met some friends at the Study Abroad Office and bought phones. Then I went out with my housemates to one of their friends' houses and had a lot of fun and met some really nice people. Granted I drank way too much and had not eaten since about 11am - it wasn't pretty. We headed out to a bar called The Palace, which apparently is the hot spot for students here. (I can't believe I just said that - I sound like I'm 90.) I don't remember much there... except sleeping next to the toilet and then throwing up over a wall onto the beach. I probably shouldn't talk about that but it was pretty funny. Then we all sat on the beach for a little and went home. Today I went to the beach and laid out for a while. It's so nice there! I have pics and will post as soon as I get some damn internet!

That's basically what I've been up to so far. Tomorrow is orientation so hopefully I'll meet a lot of people. I don't remember if I mentioned my house yet, but people are still moving in. Everyone so far has been great, though, even if our house is a beast. Dirty as hell... dead (mostly) cockroaches laying all around. We actually did get a brand new fridge today which is great. The other one was covered in mold.

Hopefully my next post will come from my room (which has a TV in it - randomly - the only one besides the one in the common room) with pics and all. As much as I love it here, I miss everyone so so so so so so much and love to hear from you. So comment here, email me, text me (i can get them on the cell phone number i wrote before - i might not always be able to respond because it costs like 25 cents a text but I'll definitely try).

By the way - I have yet to see any kangaroos or koalas. I thought they were supposed to be at every corner! What's up with that?!?!?!

And another thing: this is the hilliest place I have ever been. I swear if walking as much as I do every day does not get me in shape, the world is against me!

Until next time!!!!
Michael