Post thoughts

Welp, it's exam week so I thought I needed to examine my life after being home a bit!

When I was in Australia about half way through my 4 and a half months there I wrote down notes on my computer that I would see everyday until I went home the first thing was the number of weeks I had left until I went home I think it was at 8 went I first wrote it down. The second thing I wrote was “Let change happen”, because when I was over there I didn’t think I was changing and I didn’t think anything was really changing, on the inside. I questioned how I was suppose to change, I told my boyfriend that I have really changed.. Even though I don’t think that I did. He told me from the sounds of my voice and how I talked wasn’t different, so I didn’t change. I told him just wait until I get home, you’ll see. Just trying to convince myself that this $20,000 dollar trip was going to change something inside for the rest of my life, for the better. I wrote “Let change happen” because I personally did not think I was changing. Everything seemed pretty normal, except the fact that I was literally the farthest place in the world away from my family, boyfriend, and friends. So yeah I knew that the trip was going to teach me about new cultures and that yes if you move far away from people you loved and grew up with, your going to miss them. Duh. Being home for some five months now I see just how much I was impacted by my experience, not wholesome overwhelmingly a new person, but in the little things. Learned some lessons that I will carry with me the rest of my life. 1. You can live out of 2 suitcases for 5 months and be very happy. Things do not make you happy, people do. Which reassures me that social work IS the major for me because you get to work with people everyday. 2. I LOVE TO TRAVEL, I LOVE NEW EXPIRENCES, I LOVE TRYING NEW THINGS.

Cheers!

Ally

Stuggles and Buggles

My life right now at the 3rd week of school consists of riding the bus, going to class, meetings, work, and friends. I put a lot on my plate by volunteering, working, and finding time for friends. I guess everyone goes through these struggles. I have been VERY blessed by having my college paid for, but I always never want to tell people that because people then will get the since that I don't work hard. Or they will look at me differently because I am not the "norm". This situation of not wanting to be looked at differently because of something that you had no influence over is something that I feel will effect me a lot in social work. I know my physical example is not comparable to a job loss or something because that is something bad while mine is good but the situation is the same. Things like loosing a job can just be pushed on people without their say and their embarrassed to admit it. I am a moderate conservative when it comes to things like social programs and yes, this is quite rare in the field of social work. But I have to say because of the way our education of this field is leaned it also is going to have an impact on my views.

Something that happened today- For a social work class were were assigned to a partner and head to heart-side downtown GR to interview people of that community about some questions we made up our selves. I was partnered up with a 30 year old women that grew up in GR and a 32 year old military man that just got back from iraq last year with two little kids (one just started kindergarten this year). We discussed the questions we were going to ask then we went off in search of community members. We found this cute coffee shop named Gojava in GR we got to talk to the owner and the barista of this shop. They both live and work in GR and had great insights to GR as a community.

People that are just willing to talk to us and give us what they think of the community and then for my partner that was in the military to purchase coffee for us all just makes me so glad that there are nice generous people out there. Sometimes you just need that reminder.

 I am on the GR transportation system everyday and I saw this in australia as well.. there is like this unspoken rule to 1. ignore everyone around you. 2. to get to where your going without smiling 3. get there as quick as possible. I like to call this the black tie affair. When I first used transportation in Australia something seemed so professional and so attractive to me about this group of people. I wanted to be like them I wanted to know the train system so well that I could be on idle as I go through my commute to work I wanted to be completely oblivious to people around me. I wanted to dress, talk, and walk like the people that were heading to their "big kid jobs". Why did I want this? I love the city but I also feel like "the black tie affair" is a big park of the city.
As I am riding the bus everyday I see the ugliness and the unattractive, boring gross side of transportations.  I just want to scream WHY IS EVERYONE SO LIFELESS?!

Love,
Ally

I don't want to give up on myself. But I feel that things in our society today makes it easier and easier. Maybe just "our society today" because I hate when people say that, just like saying "kids these days". With things like Facebook, twitter, and instagram being the main staples of the world of distractions today. I do want to be different and I do want to accomplish things that I aspire for myself. That is why this semester I will be deactivating my Facebook, twitter, and instagram accounts. As much as I adore them they do keep me from things that I want to achieve this semester and over the next two years for a social work program. I mean it seems quite simple, you have something distracting you from what you achieve for, so you eliminate that from your life. It doesn't come without its consequences. All my organisations, groups, and friends from abroad are on facebook and that is the only means of communication which has got me in the past to take the plunge and get back on the social media roller coaster. As always with me social media has been a love hate relationship, I have deactivated my account now 3 times each lasting around a month to 3 months. So I want to make this commitment to myself to stay off of it and to find alternative routes to communicate such as a letter! How exciting is it to get a letter in the mail?! ok.. this may not happen but I'm not ruling out all my options. Of course I still have texting, email, phone calls, and netflix to distract me!

I wish there was an app that limits your time on social media sites, that compleatly blocks you down from it after using 10 mins of it a day. Most of you would all call that self control, but I guess I'm the only one that can't stop from clicking on that little icon to see if anyone missed me. -- no one really ever does.

blah blah blah.

byebye

Not abroad anymore

I find myself missing writing. Typing out my thoughts and letting go of some things I hold back. I constantly find myself stressing about not writing, not documenting my life enough. All who know me, know that I always take lots of photos.. but I never really excel to get them developed or in this modern age "edited"and sent out digitally. I need to make myself do this more.

Going into the new school year I just heard a message that I heard about 3 years ago, repeated to me. That in life (or school) you need to be "ugly" don't try and be cute to impress or make yourself look like you don't care because that is what is going to make us not succeed. Yet, you need to be ugly to really succeed. I find the guy that was trying to get this point across was of course raised in the slums and now rose above it and got his doctorate and we should just aspire to be like him? I just don't understand him. Yes, I believe that life is about working hard, but I don't believe its always suppose to be about school. Maybe I'm just in that part of my life that some people take that year off and travel.. and I have to say that sounds pretty attractive to me when thinking ahead and knowing that I have to get my masters to possibly even get a job as a social worker. I often ask myself I'm sure with a lot of others.. Is this really what I want? A slip of paper saying that I can use google, cram for tests, and struggle through papers. Am I the only one that is always trying for the easy way out of school because I want to enjoy my "real life" of watching netflix and enjoying food?

I tell myself that it is okay for me to sit in bed and eat my heart out and let myself go because I can't do that in my day-to-day life, so when I get a chance to its a nothing off limits day. (cookies, movies, sleep) I mean we all need those.

Why is everybody okay with being alone when its appropriate, but so weirded out when I want to do something like going to the beach by myself, where thats considered a "social event". Because honestly I feel like sometimes I have a hell of a lot more fun by myself then I would with other people. I see the strain in social events when there spaces not to talk, when to leave, and when to eat, or ask to stop.

I miss traveling, I miss days by myself even though when I was by myself I wanted to be back home, here. I don't think I changed who I was with other people when I studied abroad, but I change who I am when I'm alone with myself. I am the kind of person that has always enjoyed my own company but I never realised how much I loved traveling with myself.

I don't know who will read this. Not sure if I want my family or friends to.

Love,
Ally

Coming to a close.

Hello all,
I just wanted to start by saying thanks everybody who has followed me on this journey and I am so thankful! I would like to give one that update, because I now have only 9 days ahead of me before I start my journey back home! :) I am so excited!

Birthday in Australia- It was so weird not being with my family for my birthday... but now that I am 20 I feel as if I should get use to the thought of not being with them as I start my life and find myself in new places instead of in lowell every year for my birthday (hopefully). For all who wished me a happy birthday, thank you! If you were wondering about my day, here it is: I woke up at 8am skyped for 2 hours, went back to sleep until 11am.. GOT FLOWERS, skyped another 2 hours, showered, ate lunch, went to classes, came home ate, got ready and met up with my friends at Max Brenners for some chocolate pizza, then went to the library! It was a pretty layed back birthday but I still enjoyed myself none the less. My beautiful flowers were from randy and a package from my wonderful parents.
The real way I celebrated my birthday was really celebrating the last day of being a teenager, so what I do best I did some exploring!
 I woke up at the crack of dawn on the 27th of may and headed out to do a 6 hour coastal walk! I packed a lunch, camera, towel, bathing suit and I was on my way! I absolutely had the best time and loved every second of it! I ended the day with some wine, cheese, and a good friend watching the sunset on the harbour bridge and the opera house. It will be a day I will always remember to say the least!

For my birthday my roommates surprised me and got me an Australian flag that everybody at my birthday party got to sign! I am so in love with it and now I will get to hang it in my room when I get home/ my apartment at school. It will always be an awesome memory! I am so thankful I have such wonderful roommates!

Good news everyone! I looks like I am going to pass all my classes! I am done with 3 out of 4 of my classes & I calculated it and I only have to get an 17% on my final exam for my last class to pass the class! YAY! I was VERY busy finishing up papers, presentations, and debates. To give you some sort of how busy I was: in the last 4 weeks I had 7 papers, 2 presentations, and a debate. It was a CRAZY 4 weeks. Now that, that nonsense is over with I can sit relax and enjoy my last week in AUSTRALIA!

For the ending class for my Aboriginal Australian studies they had aboriginal students come in and do a dance for the class. It was really cool to see people within the school of Macquarie that are aboriginal and are proud of who they are and where they came from. They got to talk for alil bit about where they came from, what tribe, and what kind of dances they do. I have learned alot from this class that I wouldn't have even thought about before & I am so glad I took this interesting class. In the class we went over how the aboriginal lived before the europeans came, and then how they have been treated since they came. It is crazy the amount of mistreatment they still endure today.

Vivid Sydney is DONE- saddly, but the day before I left for Melbourne I got to go see this musical fountain that I got some pretty cool pictures of..

Some travels- I was suppose to do an 11-day travel up the east coast, but plans changed 4 days before we were suppose to leave.. so I decided to travel to the city of Melbourne (pronounced MEL-BIN) not specifically but sounds that way in an Australian accent. I was originally going to travel alone for 5 days, but at the last minute my friend from grand valley joined me! (when I say last minute I mean he booked everything the night before and we left in the morning!)
We stayed in a hostel, which is like a place to stay for cheep you get a bed with fresh sheets and shower facilities. I was in one big room with 16 beds and mixed gender room. It honestly felt like a hospital room. The first night I woke up to someone puking in their bed into a plastic bag... so that was an experience. Other than that it was dirty and I learned people literally live in hostels for months at a time.

What I did in Melbourne: explored the city, saw azac memorial, saw wild penguins, beach houses that costs 200,000 to own, met some nice people from england, met up with a girl that graduated from lowell that has lived in Melbourne for 8 months, shopped, looked at amazing street art, watched a Rugby game at the best british pub in australia, went to victoria markets, took a tour bus around the city, saw a wild koala that i could get 1 ft from, and went on the great ocean road! To say the least I was exhausted by the time I got back. All my days were fun filled and I really enjoyed my time there!

Melboune is the cultural capital of Australia and everyone says Melboune is a place to live while Sydney is a place to visit. I am still in love with Sydney, but I think that is because I love it being surrounded with water. Melboune kinda remind me of Grand Rapids also by its architecture and all around look and feel of the place.

Story- My friend that came with me (Connor) & I on our first day in Melbourne were looking for these famous beach houses. I wanted to go to these so badly because one of my friends that visited Melbourne had pictures of them and they looked so cool! So we went on an adventure one day to find them! At first our plan was to ride bikes to this beach, then we got to a bike shop and they were closed that monday because of the Queens birthday (yes Australians are still part of the commonwealth so they everyone gets that day off of work). So that plan was scratched, then we tried walking in and about an hour into walking we wanted to ask someone how much longer we had.. we had about another 3 hours walk ahead of us if we wanted to walk. So then we took a cab which costs us $20, I just ASSUMED that the cab driver would know where these houses were and he said he did, so he dropped us off on the side of a road and told us the houses were on the otherside of the road and down by the beach. We thanked him and went off. We went down to the beach... no beach houses. We just again assumed that he did not drive us far enough, so again we started walking.. about 20 min into the walk we ran into someone and asked them if we were going the right way. We were not, but then she offered us a ride to the houses. AND OF CORSE we took it because as I have learned you always take rides from strangers in Australia... ha no. She seemed like a very nice lady and had a dog that we got to cuddle and play with.. so i guess that makes me trust people? Guess so because she took us right where we needed to go. FYI I would have never done this in America and would have been alot more cautious. Oh well we got to where we wanted to go! it was and ADVENTURE

List
-I love lamb
-When I get home I have 5 FULL days to enjoy my summer before I start summer school at GRCC :/
- There is free alcohol on my flight home
-I am scared everything is not going to fit in my suit case... we will see
-  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNEeq5qGh8I
-Melbourne has the second largest greek population in the world following Athens.
-Australians drive on the left side (not sure if I have said that before) I also have drove my friends car on the other side... very slowly but I did it!
-Australia has over 7,000 beaches

I am so excited to come home! I am trying to enjoy my last days by hiking, exploring the city as much as possible, spending time with friends and enjoy the drinking age one last time before I go another 11 months without being legal to drink!

Love always,
ALLLLY

Day in the life (mashup)

Hello! I wanted to do an organised "day in the life" over here but it has just kind of turned into a mush of photos I have taken over a period of time.. So here it is!

Going on the trains, buses, anywhere in the city you will see children with uniforms going to school. Its such a weird concept to me because A. we did not have to wear uniforms growing up and B. we (students) did not take transportation that the general public also used.

Well of course there are birds everywhere here. But like literally everywhere. They wake me up in the morning, they will be sitting outside our front door just waiting for something to be thrown out.

This is a piece of toast with vegimite on it. 80% of Australians have it in their cupboards. It is absolutely gross. It tastes like a very salty brown paste.

They serve melted chocolate in a cup here! My favorite!

I call this "hell hill". Up this hill is where I live, and down it is uni, train station, groceries, gym, pretty much anything else I need I have to walk this hill.

Part of my walk home thought the other apartments of "east side" before I get to where I live on the "west side"

this campus is very motorcycle friendly

2 Dollar coins! I love them and what you are looking at now is $10 and some pocket change can really pay for a meal!

Gas here is in litters...

Bunny rabbits everywhere!

"west side" of the village & where I live!

151! My home sweet home these for 5 months.

Panoramic. Kitchen, door, table. 

abnormally large birds always line themselves up on top of our houses.

When ever I go into the city I get to go across the Sydney Harbour Bridge!

In the chocolate shops here you can get a chocolate shot! (no alcohol included) + gummy bears!

They have brown water in all their toilets

A main walkway through campus!

These are pancakes for "pancakes on the rocks" a famous restaurant in Sydney!

I have tried kangaroo! Very tough meat!

Pretty birds like this are everywhere!

Just thought this was funny, when australia and new zealand are no longer "down under"

They just love relaxing.. I guess I can relate.

You may see an owl outside every once and awhile

Sydney at dusk!

One of my lecture halls.

There is fall here too!

A beautiful Australian flower that I picked & it stayed alive for 3 weeks!

A walk to one of my classes

I see this car everywhere and I want it. Its some weird brand they dont make in america.

Another place I walk every week.

Let me tell you! It is sooo hard wearing a backpack to class and not be dripping in sweat once you get there.

LET ME TELL YOU. This guy. This guy let me have an $7.50 meal for no cost and told me to "pay him next time" that I was there. & I did about 3 weeks later, but I just thought it was so nice and wouldnt of happened in the states.

no parking meters here, You "pay and display" pay this machine and then get a ticket and put it on your window.

Also most people here do not get their licences until they are  21 or older. They have to go through processes of getting their P's.. and its confusing.

Motorcycles part free everywhere! 

One of my debate classes

Coffee place on campus called Wally's... wish it was called Ally's

Fall is upon us!

Hell hill once again

MEN wear uggs here! I would say more men wear them here then women. Also did you know uggs were made for men?

Just hanging out at the on campus bar.

Sydney has beautiful sunsets.

My room decals :)

Sometimes you walk behind people with koala ears...

2 dollar coin vs. 50 cents! crazyyyy

Court down to my birthday T-1.5 days!.. but thats not what this post is about its an update!

HI HI

Count down till I come home is now in the 20’s! I have been pretty busy over here, mostly with schoolwork. The last two weeks I have had 3 papers due and a debate. This week I have a presentation and the next week I have another 3 papers due. Then it’s the end of the semester (July 7^th)! From the end of the semester I have about 10 days to travel until I have an exam. My Australian friend and I will be going back to her hometown to get her car & then road tripping! We will be taking a 9 hour drive to her god fathers avocado farm in Byron Bay and he also owns a place on the beach in gold coast (an hour from Byron Bay). So between the two we will be at each for a couple of nights. I will get back around the 18^th of June then I have around one and ahalf days to study for a final political science exam on the 20^th! Yippy! After the exam I will be celebrating a whole lot because I will be officially done with the semester! So I have from the 20^th-24^th of June to see everything I want to see in Sydney before I head home early on the 25^th of June!

Okay my debate that I had to do was pretty interesting. We got to pick what topics we wanted, but we didn't get to decide which side we were on. So, I randomly picked gay marriage. The topic was "We should legalise gay marriage". I was put on the opposing side and had to fight against that statement. I have to say being on the opposing side was very hard and challenging at points but I have learned so much about civil unions and the rights inside Australian law! So yeah that was cool also when I was giving my 5 min speech I started by stuttering.. then i was fine after a couple seconds of stuttering.. Mind you my hands were not shaking like normal, but half way through my speech my leg started twitching.. soo that was fun! HA and I'm the only american in the class and I know I will never see these people again.. but idk i have never been that nervous before a speech it was weird. 

Also awful news, my birthday is this Tuesday the 28^th and I will no longer be a teenager. That’s right I will be celebrating my 20^th birthday here in Sydney, Australia. Do I have any big plans? Well considering my last birthday night was spent in an emergency room and the two before that were spent being grounded. I would like a calm 20th birthday this year (I can only hope). I will be going to the famous chocolate shop Max Brenners to celebrate! Also going out in the city on the weekend. 

When my brother was here my friend Gab that studied abroad at grand valley but goes to Macquarie took us on a day trip around a nature reserve. We rented a boat and went exploring. We found an island with literally hundreds of crabs with purple, blue and cream bodies. It was so cool! They were scared of us so when we go close they ran away and if we go too close to them they covered themselves under the sand, which was kind creepy to think I might have been walking on them the whole time. We got enough courage to pick them up and take pictures with them. She also took us to a point where the ocean was on one side and an inlet was on the other and there was a very skinny slice of land in between. It was so awesome and I am very appreciative of her doing that for us. 

Also when my brother was here we went to a AFL game (Australian Football) ahhhh this is definitely in my top things to do here. Its quite hard to explain how they play the game because I went to a game and I still don't fully understand it myself. They kick the ball alot and its nothing like soccer or football in the states. The players do not wear any padding or helmets, but they slam into one another as hard as they would in football in the states. A tradition here is to wear scarves of the teams to the games so my brother and I both got scarves and the team we were rooting for, the sydney swans won! WAHOO lol yeah it was fun!

Last weekend I got to go to my australian roommates (Camilla) hometown of Dubbo! It was about a 6.5 hour train ride from central station in Sydney. Camilla has 2 sisters, both younger than her. One is doing an exchange for her year 12 of school in europe. The other was having her 20th birthday while we were in town! Camillas family was so nice and was so welcoming to me while I stayed there for the weekend. The first day friday- Camilla drove me about the town in her car. Showed me where she went to school, where she hung out and her neighbourhood. The second day we went to Australia's biggest zoo which is located right in Dubbo. We actually rode bikes from her house to the zoo because its so close. I got to be a koala up very close. Mind you a koala that was not eating or sleeping which is VERY rare because they sleep for around 21 hours a day and the other time is mostly spent eating eucalyptus trees. ALSO I got to pet a wallaby.. which looks exactly like a kangaroo but smaller. It was so cool and on my facebook there are pictures! That night we celebrated her sisters birthday and went out to a tapas restaurant and then went out in the city of Dubbo. Which has one club! lol it was fun. The next day her family had a gathering with all the aunts, uncles, and grandparents for her sisters birthday, then it was off to the trainstation to head back to Sydney. 

Only being away for one weekend from Sydney and I already missed it. I cant imagine how I am going to feel when I leave for good. I would really say that Sydney feels like my home more than where I go to school (macquarie).. I really can't even explain how much I love being in the city except say that I love being in it. Also when I was away for the whole weekend I was only with Australians which was a change of pace and weird. I'm use to a Pakistani German Austrian or American most the time. 

I just wanted to make a point to say how many languages I hear a day. On any given day I will hear german, Arabic, Austrian german (WHICH IS DIFFERENT THAN GERMAN) chinese, or alot of the other times I cannot tell. There is no way I would hear this much diversity on an everyday basis at Grand valley. I like it. I like it alot. Except when I don't know if they are talking about me in their different language. 

I am soooo excited for tomorrow! I am going to go do a beach walk I have been wanting to do for a while now it takes about 2.5 hours to walk it but I'm giving myself 6 hours I might just keep going but I plan to stop whenever I want. I am bringing a bathing suit even though its only going to be 63 degrees tomorrow and books a towel. After I do the walk from the beaches I am going to meet my friend Camilla in the city. Get a bottle of wine and go to the gardens where you can see the opera house and bridge and watch the sun go down between them. It will be a fantastic day that I have been looking forward to for a long time now. Its kind of like a birthday present to myself! 

Vivid Sydney

So I am sure you have seen some stuff from vivid on my Facebook page. Vivid is like Grand Rapids art prize but with only lights and music. So its just like light took a huge vomit on Sydney for 3 weekends straight. There are a lot more tourists here for it and Sydney has been very crowded (more than usual). I wouldn't say that the light shows are spectacular and something to travel over here for but they are pretty cool to see. The opera house is the main "screen" for this event as it has interactive light shows. The Harbor bridge is only lit on one side and you can control the lights yourself at one point in the show. 

I recorded some of the words I heard that people in Dubbo used that were new to me----

skull- chugg

shout- you got the bill

Ute- truck

Mozzie- mosquito

Breakie- breakfast

give it a go- try

lollie- any kind of candy

bloke- australian male

sheila- australian female

mate- buddy or friend

walkabout- long walk 

random list

-no one has guns in australia.. except for the police

-there has not been one thunder storm since I have been here.. only rain

-It is offically colder here than at home

-the sun sets at around 4:50 now and getting earlier

- I got a new roommate her name is Sarah and she is from Bahrain

- I have eatten 2 LARGE chocolate bars in the last week

-I have watched over six movies in the last 3 weeks (all australia related!) soaking up the culture!

-I am horrible at surfing I know for sure now that it is not my thing

-I am working on a day in the life.. just day by day collecting photos!

If you read this far... what do you guys want as souvenirs?!?! -- well I assume I know you if your reading this. 

-&& I am so glad I am studying abroad I am learning so much

Love

ALLY

P.S Enjoy the pictures!

 This is the first night that our new roommate sarah came Umair drove us to a lookout of the city close to where we live