Long time no blogging!!

Long time no blogging....SORRY! After having a short summer I forgot how time consuming school is-especially here! Here is an update on the things that are happening here:

SCHOOL:

I have found a group of friends and feel comfortable. Apart from the occasional "are you new" comments I fell like I am fitting in. It turns out that Australians really like Americans and their accents. People have asked me a lot "have you seen famous people just walking around?" They are disappointed when all that I can tell them is that I went to a Justin Beiber concert.

Why Mosen High is different than Culbreth:

• It is a High School, everyone is more mature and there are people from ages 11-19
• My classes are different everyday~ I have gym once a week, math 4 times...
• If you finish early during a lesson you can pull out your iPod and listen to it
• We are let out early every Wednesday and go to school late every Thursday
• When we eat we can sit anywhere around campus
• There is no cafeteria or gym-but there is a place to buy food and a big court outside for gym
• Teachers don't have their own classrooms, they go to different classrooms for different lessons. For example: one day I have Math then Japanese (yes Japanese) in the same room with different teachers
• Almost every room has a SmartBoard
• They learn differently, in most subjects I am ahead, but in some I am behind

But one of the big differences is all the freedom. For example: once a week about 30 of us plus a few teachers walk (about a 1 mile walk or 2 kilometres walk) down to Balmoral beach (a really pretty beach that also has a big field) and play a sport for our "sport class". Then I ride a bus with a few friends to get wherever I need to be after school. Everyone here thinks that it is normal, but coming from Chapel Hill there is nothing more different.

LIFE:

After being here for a MONTH Australia is starting to feel like home! Our family has gotten really close to each other, and I have learned a lot about each one of them. In our tiny apartment you can't hide!  We have no cable, only the books from the library, and only one TV, so we have spent a lot of time down at a park, which they call an oval (a 5 minute walk from home and by the water).

I have started to pick up some of the things that the Australians say. For example: an eraser (I now call) a rubber. As for the accent I sometimes have it after being with Australians, but that is about it. Who knows, I might come home with one! Even so I still feel comfort in our American ways and enjoy going down to the oval and playing the American game of softball.

So much has happened and I can't cover it all. But, if you want to know anything email me or leave a comment. I still can't get used to actually being here. Pinch me!