Ambition

It's all still so surreal to me that I'm in Australia and that I've been here for 2 months! That means it's been 2 months since I've seen my mom and dad, it's been 2 months since I've seen the rest of my family, it's been two months since I've been to Reality LA, it's been 2 months, since I've slept in my own bed and cuddled my cat (ok, maybe it's been a little longer since I've cuddled with Chantilly, she's a goober!), it's been 2 months since I've had real Mexican food, and it's been 2 months since I've seen the sun set over the ocean. And it's been 4 months since I've been at USC! I talked about studying abroad in Australia for so long, and it still gets me that now I'm here. I literally have to say it out loud to myself sometimes, "I am in Australia!" And I have exactly 90 days left in Australia.

"So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom... Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days... and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!" Psalm 90:12, 14, 17.

"Ends" in our life are inevitable, whether it's a final exam, graduation or leaving Australia. So the question remains, how do you prepare? What do you do with your time? You can show up to graduation, but if you haven't prepared they're going to ask you, "Who are you? What have you done?", you can show up to the final exam with nothing to say or write, but the exam is still going to happen. And that's easy to say for a final exam or graduation, but what about life? We don't know when that is going to end. So we should treat each day like a holiday, a holy day, with a purpose, treating each day as if it is our last so that we live it in a way that counts. This is what the Psalm 90 sermon at the FOCUS Getaway was about, but to be honest, God and I had already had a business meeting. So now I have 90 days left and I don't just want to be another American exchange student who comes to uni for a semester and then leaves. What good is that? No, I have an opportunity by being in Australia, a reason I'm here and not at USC this semester, so I certainly don't want to squander it. I'm here because God wants me here. I'm here to serve rather than to be served. I'm here to do God's work. And that's exactly what I am, God willing, going to try to do.



Figuring out what that means exactly is another story. A lot of Australian uni students and especially exchange students get part time jobs because the pay is really really good in American standards. A minimum-wage type job here could be as much as $17/hour! That's definitely attractive to an exchange student from California, with one of the highest minimum wages in the country, who gets $8.75/hour. Imagine how many more souvenirs I could buy, how many more drinks I could afford, how much more traveling I could do! Extra pocket money would be fantastic! But how selfish is that?! So this semester I am employed by God. I looked at my class schedule and plotted out the hours of availability I would put on an application for a job and instead set those hours aside for God's work. Combined with church and Bible study, it's 16+ hours. If there are 168 hours in a week, I've set aside 10% of my time and I'm tithing it to God this semester. What He will do with it, I have no idea, but it will be more lasting and more rewarding that working at a shoe shop. Some days it means an extensive passage study, or intercessory prayer, or meeting up with other students and just showing love. It could be helping someone carry their groceries from the store to their dorm (since they get pretty heavy), taking out my neighbor's trash, or sitting down for a chat with a friend and Tim Tams. What I have to be careful about is making sure I don't use these hours for my own purpose like taking a nap, wasting time on facebook, going to the bank or grocery store for myself. Unfortunately, my efforts started out good and sadly the past two weeks have been a mess. I am an incredibly selfish person, not to mention I get distracted soo easily! But I have 90 days left. That's 90 days God could do amazing things! He can do amazing things with just one day, would you be willing to give Him even just that? And your prayer and support in this would mean the world to me! It's great knowing that I am not alone, even if I am thousands of miles away on the other side of the world! Thank you! :)

Above Average

This is just a cute short film called "Validation" that I was shown last summer in Traverse City, Michigan when I was on my Summer Project there. This film always gets me when I'm feeling a bit blue, so I hope you enjoy it and remember to smile... because you are wonderful. You are unique, and to me, you are very, very special! As my mother is famous for saying, "It takes so little to be above average". Even just a smile can make a world (while worlds away) of difference! :)

As Promised– Finally!

Array: The National Multicultural Festival: I know I've mentioned this previously in my blog, but I never actually told y'all what it is! Silly me! Well, the National Multicultural Festival is a chance to "sample the world in Canberra" (as the website says) and was the 5-7th of February, the first weekend I arrived in Australia. Each day was a little different based on what booths set up, but the walkways of the city centre were lined with food stalls, information stalls, travel stalls, and merchandise stalls. There were also several stages that hosted musicians, bands, and cultural dance groups. The city centre, which is otherwise quaint and peaceful was crawling with people! It rained a bit that weekend, but on Saturday the rain held off and there were so many people that you just had to find a thread that was moving the direction you wanted and hop in, like a huge congo line. It reminded me a lot of the Tasting Bees my Girl Scout troop used to participate in. The Tasting Bee was an event that we, as a troop, picked a country from around the world, researched it, and then made either traditional costumes or themed costumes and anywhere from 3-7 traditional or themed food dishes. It was sooo much fun! Probably my favorite thing about being in Girl Scouts! I had a sangria from the Spain, a potato pancake from Czechoslovakia, dumplings from China, a pineapple-lime splice from Mexico, and oh dear, I've forgotten what else I had! It was real fun though! I felt totally immersed and it was a great way to start off my adventure here in Australia!

Some of the food I sampled at the Multicultural Festival.

Throngs of people on Saturday of the Multicultural Festival.

Aussie slang: I continue learning more and more each day! It's quite fun really! I love how Australians are keen on using the word "keen". They also say "yep" a lot, but it's different than how Americans use it. Here in Australia is a real quick word, a filler or a nob in conversation, an affirmation, but no matter what it's pronounced as if all the letters were mushed into one. And they use the phrase "i reckon" heaps... which I've picked up and now say quite a lot. They also spell things funny like colour with a "u", centre as "re" and not "er", realise with an "s" and not a z... these are just a few of the many.

Addicted: I have a tendency to buy a book whenever I think it's reasonably priced and I can hardly help it if the price is right! It's both a good and bad habit... for instance, I bought a book the other night for $20 Aus (which I just realized is only about $17 American which makes it an even better buy!) because it's actually 2 books in one: "The Case For Christ" and "The Case For Faith" by Lee Strobel. The good is the price! :) The bad is that I had to buy it and could not exercise any self-control! haha Also, now I have a big book that I have to pack with me back to the United States and I've got limited luggage space at a limited weight! As Homer Simpson would say "D'oh!" and by the way, he's pretty popular here! lol And during market day at ANU (Wednesday afternoon is a chance for stalls to set up all sorts of things in Union Court, the center of the University) one week, I bought a chicken only cookbook and a cocktail recipe guide. They were only $5, not very big and I figured they'd come in handy for the rest of my life! ;) I'm also addicted to chocolate since they have some real, good chocolate here. Hersey's will never do it for me again! And TimTams, as previously mentioned ;-P

Art: Well, I'm now in my 4th week of Australian university and I can't believe that it's gone by as fast as it has. The first week seriously, flew! Maybe it's cause during the first week most of the classes didn't run for the whole allotted time which is good considering I've got 25 HOURS OF CLASS A WEEK! Shesh! So my 1st week started at 9am Monday morning in my Life Drawing class. It's quite different from a USC class. This class is a 4 hour class and we stand at our easels the whole time drawing. At USC we sit at these things call "horses" and prop our drawing boards against the back and the class is only 3 hours, which I thought was already long! Try a 4 hour class! But it went alright and there are a few supplies I have to buy, but not too much, so that's good. On Tuesday I go to my Cool Old Masters class at 9am. Before beginning this class I wasn't sure how much of it would be art history and how much art theory, but it's going to be a pretty traditional survey class of Renaissance and Baroque art. I could teach the class if I wanted, but I love the Masters and there is always something to be learned. Considering I don't have to stand for 4 hours and stare at naked people, and it's not 18 hours of class time a week, I think this is going to be my favorite class this semester. After all there is no final exam, just a presentation in my tutorial section (aka discussion/lab section) and a 3000 word essay that I have all semester to work on. Yay! Wednesday through Thursday is my "major" class which is Photomedia. 9am to 5pm Wednesday. 9am to 4pm Friday and 9am to 5pm on Thursday I'm expected to be working, though it's largely self-directed, with only the first hour scheduled as crit time. So Thursdays will range from shooting to processing to printing. Pretty intense class, huh? 18 hours! But I know for sure I will come home a better photographer than when I arrived! We'll be focusing on medium format cameras and the lighting studio. A medium format camera is a camera that records images on larger sized film; we'll be using 120mm as opposed to the normal 35mm. Medium format cameras are good for getting more detail and being able to get better close ups. Also, larger prints can be made at a higher quality from a larger negative. The lighting studio is as it sounds, a room set up with professional lights for more controlled shots, like that which would be used in fashions shoots. The knowledge I'll learn from this semester will immensely affect my photography for the good! My eyes will see better, as in notice and be aware of light more acutely. It should be good fun!

Amusing first day: My first day of photo was funny though. Everyone came in and it seemed to me that they all knew it other. I was right, they did. In fact all the students move through the program together as a class. So all the kids in my class this semester were first years together and next year will be third years together (the 'year' I'm in is second year). So I introduced myself to the people in my vicinity and then the teacher came in. He introduced what the year was going to be about and we all went through the course outline and syllabus. And then we finished. And that's when he turned and spotted me and said, "And who are you?" Haahahaha it was soo funny! Everyone chuckled a bit and even more so when after I told him who I was and why I was in my class, he turned back to everyone else and introduced me, "Hey everyone, this is Andrea. She's on exchange from California", by which point everyone knew already. There are about 15 of us second years, by the way.

Attitude: Though it a lot of class hours and it's a pretty dense schedule (with only 3 classes, no less!), I have a really good attitude and outlook on my semester here. Studying abroad is a really good experience and if anyone reading this is considering studying abroad, I highly recommend it! I am going to get marks (grades) here from ANU, but when it transfers back to USC, it'll only show up on my transcript as credit/no credit depending on if I pass. Realizing this has really taken the pressure off and allowed me to concentrate on the reasons I'm here; to learn! Being the foreigner, I'm ok with asking a lot of questions, getting help and not necessarily being the best. I'm not here to impress anyone. My diploma is not coming from ANU. I can learn and make mistakes without feeling like I'm doing horribly. It's a really good feeling, and freeing too! So I'm going to make this semester one of the best; I'm going to learn heaps and be excited about it, make Aussie friends and travel everywhere I possibly can! Woohoo!

Autumn: When the weather changes 30 degrees in a day, you know it's autumn! Now a days it's 8C in the morning and 22C by the afternoon... that's 46 to 71 translated for y'all! Cold weather is coming sooner than I thought! Boo! And it makes it a pain getting dressed in the morning cause I've got to dress warm, but in layers so that I'm not overheating by the afternoon. Because of this (hahaha, like my excuse!?), I went shopping! Yay! I bought an adorable turquoise cardigan and a purple sweater-wrap. They're light weight enough to carry with me all day and add the something else to my outfits that a USC sweatshirt (which is what I brought) can't. The cardigan was only $10, so I think I may end up buying one or two more in different colors cause that's a great price, even for the States! I've also bought several scarfs which are oh-so cute! Just some of the perks of being a girl ;D

[Get]Away: Getaway was a FOCUS retreat that I went on last last weekend, the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th, out at Tuross Head, NSW (New South Whales, an Australian state). 1 state down (NSW), 5 to go (Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australian, South Australia)! 1 territory down (ACT= Australian Capital Territory), 1 to go (Northern Territory)! So anyways, this camp was AMAZING! Soo much fun! it was forecasted to rain all weekend and while we did get some rain and icky grey skies/clouds, God totally blessed us with a beautiful sunny Saturday! Since my class on Friday doesn't get out til 4pm, I had to leave with a later car, so we didn't leave Canberra til 7pm and drove most of the way in the dark. On the way there, we were flagged down by a van of guys trying to grab the attention of passing cars, so we pulled over. It wasn't anything serious, they just wanted someone to take a picture of them on top of their van since they were a rugby team on their way to Baitman's Bay. They were a rather drunk rugby team, but were certainly enjoying themselves, so I hopped out of the car, seized the moment and asked if I could join in the picture, I mean, how often will I, Andrea, and American, have the opportunity to take a random picture with a random rugby team in the middle of Australia? Those are the kinds of stories I'll be telling my children's children of my time in Australia. Hehehe. So the next day it was quite the surprise to wake up and then see where the heck I was, and it was a b.e.a.utiful morning. And I saw my first kangaroo!!!! Followed by 12 other throughout the weekend. The lead pastor from Crossroads In the City Church was a speaker for the weekend, who taught us about God's timing, God's protection and God's greatness through Psalm 90, 91 and 92. Psalm 91 is actually my favorite passage of the whole Bible, so I was pretty stocked to learn even more from it, and it did not disappoint! But I'm still not sure why I never took the time to read the psalms before and after my so-called favorite psalm, cause they were great and I'm glad I got to study and learn from them too! Truth is, God is great and I can't say that enough. Saturday afternoon, we all went down to the beach (which we could see from the camp!!!) and celebrated a baptism and soaked in the sun and clear blue water. It was my first time in the Pacific Ocean... on an EAST coast! For me, the Pacific Ocean is always west, but we actually drove east to get to the Pacific Ocean, lol. Unfortunately, I subbed my pinky toe on the rocks and the nail may eventually fall off, which is gross. And it sucks that it happened now as the weather is cooling off and people are starting to transition from sandals to shoes. It hurts to wear shoes with my bum pinky toe. On Sunday during free time, my friend Joanna, also an American from Hawaii, and I went down to the beach sans-sun and explored tide pools. Lucky for us, we were able to collect soo many beautiful shells. Sunday night, the whole camp played capture the flag in the rain, but we used potatoes and the team with the most potatoes at the end, won. Smart me, I decided to hide the potatoes by sitting on them which worked for a bit, until the other team realized I was sitting on them and attacked me to get the potatoes. I quickly gave that up but the seat of my pants was all brown and muddy! haha it was so much fun though! And no, I did not get sick from playing outside in the rain (though now, a week later, I am getting sick. It's been going around my dorm floor). Overall, it was a beautiful weekend in a beautiful place with great people and great food and a great God!

Australian rugby team + me!

The stunning view I woke up to!!

Me at the beach at Tuross Head, NSW in the Pacific Ocean from the east coast!

KANGAROOS!

Adventure: Well, the reason Getaway was this past past weekend was because of Canberra Day, which is a public holiday that only Canberra gets and not the rest of the country. It commemorates the birth of Canberra as the Nation's capitol city. To celebrate, the city plans a week-long Canberra Festival which concluded this past weekend. Saturday was "Celebrate in the Park" which transformed Commonwealth Park into festival grounds with rides, amusements, pone rides, and carnival food! And musicians such as Dragon, Cassie Davis and Eskimo Joe played on stage 88, an outdoor amphitheater, like the Hollywood Bowl. But my day started before the sun was even up! I had planned this epic bike tour of Canberra around Lake Burley Griffin, but I've since postponed it until Saturday the 27th. Nevertheless, my friend Yumaine, a Canadian, and I walked down to the lake shore at 7am to watch the hot air balloons drift across Canberra. Hot air ballooning is pretty popular here in Canberra and eventually I want to take a ride, it'd be a pretty cool experience to add to my list of cool things I've done in Australia. We walked to the other side of the lake to the launch site, ate a nice hot breakfast, wandered over to the National Rose Garden outside Old Parliament house and then back to ANU. Later in the day, I walked down to Commonwealth Park, met some friends, enjoyed the concert and ended the night with fireworks! It truly was an awesome day. I'm looking forward to the bike riding version of it next weekend!

Appreciation: Being in Australia is definitely widening my horizons and teaching me to appreciate even more cultures! For a girl who's now been to all 50 of the United States and 19 countries, I didn't think this was possible! But it is and I love the world more and more each day! This past Thursday, B&G put on a huge Holi festival. Holi is the Indian Festival of Colors. Our program board provided everything, even food for everyone who went. ok, well not everything. We were told to wear white, so the colors would of course show up more, but I didn't have anything white that I wanted to ruin, even though they told us it washes out. So I went out and found a $10 white sundress and I love it now with all of its colors! I don't think I'm ever going to wash it! But the dress did start out white. So we all went down to the athletic fields, ate curry for dinner and then had this massive color fight! We started with tubs of colored water that we took in cup-fulls and threw at people. Then we moved on to the colored powders. It was mad crazy, but sooo much fun! If you eve get the chance to celebrate Holi, embrace it and go for it!

The frenzy of Holi, the Indian Festival of Colors, courtesy of my friend Joseph

The aftermath, courtesy of my friend Frank, studying abroad from The Netherlands

Abbrev.

Yup, that's all this is going to be and I'm terribly sorry about it! I'm going away this weekend to Tuross Head, NSW on the Getawat retreat with FOCUS. It'll be sooo good to do a bit of traveling around Australia and go to the BEACH!!!! YAY! I'm really excited about this.. except for the fact that it's raining this weekend, shucks! I guess that's why God sent us the Son! ;)

I've got more to post, but not time right now to do it. When I get back from the weekend I will surely post more... and have more to post about, so really it's a win-win situation! Thanks for being patient with me, you're the best! :)