Four Months in Oz: October 2009

Hello! This week marks the beginning of the second half of the semester. My brand advertising and promotions class starts tomorrow and my internship starts on Tuesday. There are almost exactly nine weeks left on this journey and even though I am missing home dearly I am sad to think that we are already on to the second half of the trip. These next weeks are probably going to go by really fast too. It's okay though! When I get back to Boston I'll have new friends to hang out with, in my LAST semester of undergrad (I wish I had met them earlier in my college-going career)...what!! This has been a crazy time here enjoying Australia while thinking about what I am going to do once school is over. Making my last undergrad schedule was a little sentimental, ha.

This spring break was mostly spent sleeping until 3pm and watching movies, overall I'd rank it as successful, and I still have another spring break to perfect my sleeping, movie-watching form- glorious all around.

Well time to go to bed early, class at 9:30!

a picture taken during the dust storm, Coogee Beach

Sorry for the lack in postings recently.

Melbourne was amazing. It is such an architecturally stunning city and I generally found it much more enjoyable than Sydney. We went to see the fairy penguins on Phillip Island about two hours from Melbourne. They were so cute... and loud! They emerged from the ocean in bunches and if they hesitated near the water waves would knock them down. They're the smallest penguins in the world and when we were walking on the boardwalk near the ocean we saw them up close running to their burrows. Some were calling out from the hills looking for their mates, they mate for life. On the way to Phillip Island we stopped at a koala sanctuary and saw some koalas eating and sleeping... that is basically all they do ha. The drive to the penguins was filled with rolling hills, sheep, cows, and coastline. Some of the fellow travelers said that it reminded them of Ireland... if so I really need to head to Ireland! In Melbourne we visited and toured around the Melbourne Cricket Ground, it is home to both the Melbourne Cricket Club and Australian Rules Football, which was actually invented there. It is right next to the Rod Laver Arena (where the Australian Open is held). It was hard to imagine the intolerable heat of the Open in the 60 degree F and rainy weather. We also toured around the Australian Center for the Moving Image (ACMI) at Federation Square. It has this new permanent exhibit that explores the history and development of film and television. There were interactive exhibits where you could make your own picture flipbook and another where you walked into a small room with video cameras all around and you made your own animation. I could have spent the entire day in the exhibit but we only spent a couple hours.

Last week was spent writing papers and studying for finals. It is amazing that the first part of the program is over and internships are going to be starting soon. Right now is spring break where we get the next week off before our class and internship starts.

I'm going to be interning at the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). SBS is a public television station on Australian TV. I'm going to working with a variety of shows and will even have a day where I will be assigned to some directors with the possibility of actually directing a promo myself, crazy right?? It is definitely going to be an amazing experience and interesting next two months. While I'm at my internship I'll also be taking one class- Brand Promotion and Advertising. I was originally signed up for another class but had to switch to accommodate my internship, no problem by me. It is kind of unfortunate that there are no TV classes offered in the second half of the program but I'm sure this class will be interesting.

On another note, Grandma and Grandpa you've both been in my thoughts these past couple of weeks and I'm so happy you both are home together again.

I will try a little harder to stay up to date with this blog and keep in touch.

Talk soon!
Ellen