Off To Oz: O Week

Hey everyone! So much has happened and it’s only been a few days! I am in the middle of “O Week” (orientation week) here at UWA, and it has been a whirlwind.

This past Monday, all of the international students met on campus for a day-long run down of logistics about school. It was a long day with lots of sitting and talking and more sitting and listening, but definitely very helpful and useful. The highlight of the day was when a UWA Professor named Martin Forsey gave a presentation on “The Australian Way”.

His hilarious presentation came complete with a lesson on how to “speak Strine" (australian for "Australian"). I’m including some pictures from his slideshow—see if you can understand what all the slang means! I had better be fluent in Strine by the time I leave here haha :)

The standard Australian greeting, and how to make small talk

"So I met a real Australian, studying to be a journalist, who asked me to come to her barbecue. She told me to bring some cans of beer, some repellent for the mosquitoes, and some sunglasses and a swimsuit because there is going to be a pool. I'll meet you at the university, grap a cup of coffee at the cafe, a meal from McDonald's, and a beer. Then we'll go over with my parents to the party."

Massive organ in Winthrop Hall at UWA

Winthrop Hall (UWA)

On Wednesday, after registering for classes (which was an absolute nightmare), we attended a “Taste of Australia” dinner hosted by Tommy (the college I am living in). The dinner offered a range of traditional Australian foods, like emu, kangaroo, alligator, and a sweet dish called pavlova for dessert. I nibbled on each of the animals, feeling incredibly guilty and sad while doing it, but I was determined to just taste each one for the experience of it. When else will I ever try emu? Know what I mean? I will say that I didn’t really like any of them, which in a way was kind of reassuring, but I was proud of myself for trying everything :)

kangaroo :(

Pavlova--SO GOOD

After dinner, all of the Americans got a real didgeridoo lesson! The didgeridoo is an aboriginal instrument native to Western Australia, that is essentially a hollowed out log. When you blow in the log a certain way, it makes a unique, vibrating sound that is unlike anything I’ve ever heard. Our teacher explained the legend behind the invention of the didgeridoo: Once when an aboriginal group of hunters were out looking for game (using boomerangs of course), they were unlucky in finding anything so they sat down on some logs to eat the termites in the logs. The termites had hollowed out the log, so as the aboriginal men were eating the termites, the bugs crawled deeper into the log. Wanting more, the men blew into the log to try to get the termites out. When they blew into the log, they found that it made a sound…So there you have it, the invention of the didgeridoo!

didgeridoo champion

Our didgeridoo instructor!

Clearly, I can play the didgeridoo like a professional

Following the didgeridoo lesson, everyone living in Tommy went to local hotspot Captain Stirlings, or “Cap S”, which is a bar down the road. We spent the evening getting to know everyone on the dance floor, and lets just say that we Americans discovered that Australian cider is the best drink that has ever existed, and we are going to be the ones to indtroduce it to the rest of America when we get back in November :)

Today (Thursday) was one of the best days of O Week—all of the international students went to Caversham Wildlife Park just outside of the city. It was about a half hour drive, and as soon as we arrived, we were turned loose to go and explore the park. My favorite part of the day was playing with kangaroos there—I had never seen a kangaroo before, so this was incredible!! We got to go right into a field to play with, feed, and pet them. I had the BEST time there. There were baby kangaroos in their mom’s pouches, as well as others that were different colors and sizes. It was such a cool experience—my friends and I spent the majority of the day with the kangaroos :) In addition, we saw koalas (SO CUTE AND CUDDLY), alligators (not as cute and cuddly), dozens of species of birds I had never seen or heard of, dingos, peacocks, emus, llamas, bats, iguanas, etc. You name it, it was in the park.