Welcome!

Below you will find a copy of the main e-mails that I have sent out so far. As well you will find at the bottom of the last two postings several pictures. You can click on the pictures to make them appear in a full screen format. As well you may save them to your computer and print them out if you so desire (mostly for my family).

I think that I will post all of my messages on here from now on and just send a short e-mail out to everyone when a large posting goes up. If you would rather recieve the messages in e-mail format please let me know and I will send them to you that way (however you won't get any pictures).

And don't be discouraged by the apparent length of the postings; I know my e-mails were long but this just makes them look even longer.

Hope all is well and please e-mail me (schaefer@gwu.edu). You may post a comment if you want, but e-mail is best.

I do have 99% access to the internet so I am more available and accessible.

Hope all is well

Jon

Australia E-Mail #2 (2.27.06)

Hello,

It has almost been a week since my last long e-mail, and I have done a lot.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I finished the International Student Orientation. This involved sitting through numerous talks and demonstrations intended to orient me to the University and Sydney. By the end I believe that I did in fact know more about how the University works and more about Sydney. As well, by the end I finally had it confirmed that I was enrolled in some classes and I got my fantastic student ID with possibly the worst picture ever taken on it.

After Orientation on Tuesday, a few friends and I went to go find some Thai food for dinner. It is without question that Thai food is the most popular and numerous food in Sydney. We walked a few blocks West from where I live to a place called King Street. King Street is a very interesting place, and we ended up walking down most of it because we could decide on a cheap place to eat. King Street is just that, it is a street, and it is lined for a few miles with little shops and restaurants. In the area we covered in about thirty minutes, there must of have been at least fifteen Thai places and a bunch of bookstores, music stores, shops, convenience stores and other restaurants. It looked like a fun place and looked to have a bunch of great food. I am sure I will find myself back there often.

On Wednesday Orientation was done by mid-day and I was able to run some errands and do some clean up work. I also got a chance to take a peak at one of the two University run Museums that are on campus and what I saw was fantastic. I spent just a little time in the Nicholson Museum, full of great antiquities, but it was a surprisingly enjoyable experience. I usually do not read the descriptions in Museums, but rather browse. However, the descriptions in this Museum all contain very interesting and neat stories about each piece.

At 4:00pm some friends and I took a tour offered by the University. It was called A Walk to the Water. We paid five dollars and got a walking tour from the campus through back neighborhoods, which I probably would not have ventured through if I had not been made aware of them on the tour, all the way to Darling Harbor (this is Sydney’s second big inlet, after Sydney Cove, and it houses the convention center, where many Olympic events were held, as well as many trendy bars and an IMAX. If you are looking at a detailed map it is directly West of Sydney Cove and the Harbor Bridge and Opera House). On the tour we passed through a very interesting neighborhood called Glebe. It has a great flea market on Saturdays (which I did attend on Saturday) as well as many popular, yet somewhat hidden, bars, coffee shops, book stores and restaurants. Next we walked through some other nice neighborhoods and then passed part of downtown Sydney. Finally we arrived at Darling Harbor and received a beer for our troubles at the Cargo Bar on the wharf. As I said earlier Darling Harbor is home to a few massive convention centers, which housed many Olympic events in 2000. As well, it is the location of the famous Aquarium, an IMAX, at least two dozen popular bars and restaurants, as well as a maritime museum and a large shopping center.

Although the tour ended there, two of my friends and I decided it would be nice to walk to Sydney Harbor and watch the sunset instead of walking back the way we came. So we grabbed a quick dinner on the water in Darling Harbor and got some great directions from our tour guide. Instead of sending us directly to Sydney Cove, he directed us to a popular neighborhood pub, which is well hidden from tourists. This pub not only had a great view of the Harbor Bridge, but also out back it had a wonderful view of the sunset over Darling Harbor. After watching the sunset and quenching our thirst, we wondered through the streets under the Harbor Bridge (an area called the Rocks) until we found our way to Sydney Cove (also called Circular Quay). On our trip we found many more hidden bars and restaurants and got a better feel for the area. After spending some much necessary rest on the water outside the Opera House, we headed home for a good rest.

This rest was much needed as I had a bike tour the next day that was organized through the program that brought me here. My bike tour started a little after noon, following a short lunch on top of Observatory Hill (aptly named for its observatory and it being a hill). I had chosen the advanced bike tour, which meant more of a distance at a faster speed. We started by biking across the Harbor Bridge, an amazing ride on a beautiful day, and then biked through Milsons Point. Milsons Point is a very effluent neighborhood on the North shore of Sydney. It not only houses Luna Park, a seventy-five year old amusement park on the Harbor, but also is home to the Governor of Australia (a figurehead position above the Prime Minister) and the Prime Minister. Both of whom have spectacular, million dollar, taxpayer maintained mansions with a great view of the Harbor, Bridge and Opera House. After biking through Milsons Point and Lancaster neighborhoods on the North shore, we ventured back across the Harbor Bridge, down Observatory Hill and through many of the same neighborhoods I had walked through the day before. We took a ride on some old wharfs that had been converted into million dollar apartments while integrating many original pieces of the wharfs and docks. Next we biked right through downtown Sydney at rush hour (very thrilling and chaotic, especially on a bike, going up hill). Hyde Park was our next stop. It is a three block long, two block wide park right off from downtown Sydney. It is home to the ANZAC Memorial (Australia and New Zealand Army Corp) and many great places to lay out in the sun or the shade. We continued passed the Australian Art Museum and through the Royal Botanic Gardens, which are located right next to downtown Sydney and are beautiful in their own right, but are even more so when seen contrasted against the massive steel skyline of Sydney. From throughout the Gardens we looked out onto several suburbs of Sydney and had great views of the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge. After spending some time in the Botanic Gardens we made are way to the Opera House where the tour ended. One of my friends was lost on the tour, but it only took about two hours of my time to find her and her stuff and get her back to our College. In the two years this bike company has been around, she was the first person to ever get lost! I am sure she is writing home about it right now.

That night the Student Union threw a free party for all International Students at the campus bar and it was lots of fun.

The next day I woke up a little later than usual, but after doing some errands I was motivated enough at 3:00pm to explore some more of the city. Most everyone else I knew had already headed to either Manly or Bondi Beach, but I declined to go (I will go soon; I hear they are both beautiful and are open all year round). Instead I decided to walk from campus to Hyde Park and take a little more time looking at the beautiful churches that lined it (especially St. Mary’s Cathedral, it is unbelievable) and the other attractions in the area. By the time I had made it to Hyde Park most Museums were closed (everything closes by 5:00pm here), but it is for the best, as I have been advised to leave the Museums for rainy days. Next I walked to the Botanic Gardens and got to spend a little more time walking through them and along the water. Then I walked through Circular Quay/Sydney Cove (passed the Opera House and Bridge) and walked through the area called the Rocks and up Observatory Hill. From the Hill I watched the sunset, unfortunately it sets to the West (obviously) and not over the Opera House or Bridge, but nonetheless a beautiful view. Then I continued on to Darling Harbor hoping to grab something to eat, unfortunately I was too sweaty and underdressed for the hip Friday night crowds. So I continued through Darling Harbor and took the same route through the back neighborhoods that the walking tour had taken me on. Finally making it back to campus a little before 9:00pm, I grabbed a quick dinner and proceeded to pass out. The nine mile or so walk had worn me out, especially after the previous two days of exercise.

On Saturday I spent some time getting things together and then wondered over to the Glebe Street Flea Market, which was huge and very interesting. I did not buy anything this week, but I can see it coming in handy at some point during my stay here. Then I had to get home and get dressed because the kids from my group were throwing a house party for one of my friends here who turned 21. The party was fun and we all got to meet some new Aussies and even some Germans. I even met someone from GWU.

On Sunday a bunch of my friends had a barbeque (or barbi) on the roof of a friend’s apartment and then we all made our way to the Sony Tropfest at the Dominion in downtown Sydney. The Sony Tropfest is the world’s largest short film festival and it has been going for fourteen years. This year they held it simultaneously in six cities across Australia and had an estimated 130,000 people watching live, outdoors (90,000 were at the Dominion in Sydney). The film festival is meant to be a jumping point for rising Australian film makers and the winner is sent the US to work with bigger film makers and all sorts of other things. There are only three rules to enter the Tropfest; first the Tropfest must be the first time the movie has ever been shown, second, the movie must be seven minutes or less, and finally, the movie must contain, at some point, the Tropfest theme. This year the theme was bubbles. We had to sit, pretty bored, for about an hour and half, as the Aussie ‘humor’ before the movies was not quite up to par. Finally though, we got to watch the movies. We watched the first eight movies (there are sixteen finalists out of seven hundred submitted), which were great, three especially. However, it had been overcast and raining for most of the night. I was under a tree and did not feel most of the rain; however by the third movie of the second half the skies opened up. It rained so hard that it was impossible to sit it out and then lightening and thunder came. Shortly after the downpour and lightening, they had to shut down the Sydney venue and this sent 90,000 people scrabbling for shelter. It was quite an experience as my friend and I ran for cover, trying to keep are valuables dry with only one small umbrella and no jackets. By the time we found some shelter we were both soaked and finally made our way to a bus stop where we caught, for the first time, the one bus that goes from downtown directly to the door of our College. It was a long, wet night, but an interesting one. I am hoping that they put the short films online so that I can not only see the last four, but also so anyone interested can watch them. When I find out the answer I will let you know.

That pretty much sums up my week. I will try to write slightly more frequently in the future so that I do not continue to write three or four page e-mails.

In the coming week I have Orientation for the University, as well as Matriculation for Saint John’s College. I will finally start classes next Monday and I have an adventure weekend to the Blue Mountains with my program coming this weekend and will be traveling to see Canberra the weekend after (I am told there is not much to see, but I feel a need to go to the Capital).

I now am slowly getting more access to the internet and certainly more frequent access to e-mail. As I mentioned in my e-mail from yesterday I am going to try to set up a web page blog so that I can not only post these types of messages on it but also I can easily post tons of pictures for all who are interested. Thanks to some very helpful advice I have been turned onto several different options for doing this and will hopefully have it up and functioning soon.

I hope this finds you all well and again thank all of you who have read my messages and have taken the time to write back. I had never fully appreciated receiving an e-mail until I came here. It really is a great thing; it is almost as good as getting a letter.

Best Wishes,

Jon

Harbor Bridge from Palisades Bar

Part of Darling Harbor

Harbor Bridge At Night

Opera House At Night

Biking Across the Harbor Bridge

Opera House and Harbor Bridge (Bike Ride)

Skyline from Botanic Gardens

St. Mary's Cathedral

Interior of St. Mary's Cathedral

Skyline (Biking Tour)

Sunset from Palisades Hotel

Harbor Bridge from The Rocks

The Opera House from the Rocks

Skyline from Botanic Gardens

Australia E-Mail #1 (2.20.06)

Hello Everyone!

It has been quite the week. But I am safe and sound in Sydney and having a great time.

On Monday afternoon I left from JFK Airport at 2:30 PM and made it smoothly to LAX Airport (despite the two feet of snow on Sunday) by 5:30 PM. Then I had the pleasure of waiting in the bleak and food-less International Terminal at LAX Airport. However, I was fortunate enough to make some friends quickly, as several people made the same mistake as I did and were stuck in the terminal for six hours. Attached you will see some pictures of some of the friends I made. In total there are 80 students attending the University of Sydney through my program, IFSA-Butler. The plane left close to on time and it was one long plane ride. Out of the fourteen hours on the plane, I was able to get about six hours and spent the remainder of the flight discussing Australia with the Ryan, the Australian I met at the airport and sat next to. He was very helpful and explained around of differences between the U.S. and Australia, as he just spent the last three months in the US. He lives in Sydney and studies Law in Brisbane and was very friendly.

Taylor, Brian and Alex at LAX

Our flight landed around 9:00 AM Brisbane times (they are in the same time zone as Sydney, but Queensland refuses to do daylight saving time). After landing and meeting our program people we all loaded a bus and drove two hours north to a place on the coast call North Noosa Shore Resort (it is located in Noosa Shore National Park). We spent three days at the Resort, spending the time meeting the people in our group, adventure activities and orientation sessions. In order not to bore you all, I will not tell you everything we did, but rather just summarize the big stuff. On the second day I got to get a surf lesson. This was my first time swimming in the Pacific Ocean and it is unbelievably warm and beautiful here. I am used to Maine water at 60 degrees and it had to be about 90 degrees outside and 75 degrees in the water. I did very well, if I may say so myself, at surfing. I got up the first three times and then was able to move out farther and catch the bigger waves. It was a lot of fun and I am already making plans to continue surfing while I am in Australia. There were only two problems while surfing, first there were jellyfish on the beach called blue bottles and are about the size of a human thumb. When they sting your skin they only sting for a while but are luckily not deadly (one of the few things in Australia that isn’t). I was lucky not to get stung (some others did) but there was one bigger problem. About an hour into being in the water, I was pretty far out and noticed that everyone else was tired in out of the water. However, when I turned to look for the instructors they waved me in and I caught the next wave. It turns out that there was a huge school of fish a little past me and the school was attracting a lot of sharks. I found this out when I got to shore and as well I realized I had cut both of my feet and was bleeding. So I count myself as lucky, but also it was surprisingly thrilling. I wasn’t let back in the water, for obvious reasons, but surfing was great nonetheless.

The next day we spent the whole day taking a trip to Fraser Island, which is a World Heritage Wildlife refuge and is the largest sand island in the world. The amazing day trip started with a bus ride on the local major highway. That local highway happens to be the beach. It was high tide, so it was a thrilling/scary ride involving a lot of dogging of waves and swerving. Our driver was very funny and friendly and was gracious enough to explain all the times we were near death and why. After the two hour or so drive, we arrived at Fraser Island, which is one of the most amazing places I have ever been. The island itself has five separate environments, including a rainforest, jungle and beach. We continued to drive for another hour or so, however we went from the beach to a very small, tight and bumpy path through the jungle. I learned tons about the island and the history of it (which to know yourself you will have to visit yourself). Our drive took a break at a natural lake located in the sand dunes of the island. It seems impossible, but easily explainable with the appropriate time. Attached you should also see pictures of this lake. It is one of the seven best places to swim in the World. The PH level is so low that it is equivalent to shampoo or conditioner and the water, combined with the starkly white sand, makes for a free top-rate spa treatment. You are only allowed to swim in the water for an hour, in order to help preserve its delicate environment. After the swim in the lake we stopped in the rainforest and saw the most endangered fern in the world (there are only 24 left and seven are in the Fraser Island rainforest), I also saw a rare Fraser Island bird and a fresh water eel. The trees on Fraser Island vary amazingly and some range to over two hundred and forty feet and approximately ten feet in diameter. Attached you will also find some pictures from the rainforest.

We finished the trip by having a terrific lunch in the main town on the Island and making the drive back to our “resort” while making a few more stops on the way back as it was low tide and easier to drive. Also you might be interested that the airport on the island is also the beach and their planes can land and take off in sixty feet apparently. We made it back to the “resort” fine and had dinner and watched an Australian movie under the stars. Oh and by the way the whole resort was full of roaming kangaroos and they are amazing animals, but extremely dangerous apparently (as are most things in Australia). We left early the next morning for Brisbane Airport and took a short flight to Sydney. I arrived at St. John’s College (my home for the next five months) at around 5:30 PM and was greeted by some students at the college. However, there are only about 15 students living in the College now because classes haven’t started yet. Soon there will be around 180 students living here. I live in a single (with not such a great view), but I have my own sink and am right next to the co-ed shared bathrooms and the laundry room. There are seven other students from my program that are staying here and three of them are very friendly and I spend a lot of time with them. Unfortunately I don’t have internet for a while (writing from a café) and we don’t get served food for another two weeks. It is sometimes lonely and confusing here, but it gets better everyday as I get a hold on more things.

The first night I went to a friends building, which has an amazing roof top view of the Sydney skyline. Next, a bunch of friends and I went to a local bar, which has a five and ten dollar menu when you buy a beer (cheap food and beer, a favorite already). The following day, Saturday, I went for a little necessary shopping and explored the campus area. At night, some friends and I had a BBQ on the roof of their building, which has an amazing view as well. After dinner we took the bus down the Circular Quay (pronounced Keey), which is right on the harbor between the Sydney Bridge and the Opera House. The night was amazingly beautiful, a perfect temperature of about 75 degrees and a light breeze. The Sydney Bridge and Opera House were even more beautiful than I could have imagined. They were awesome and we spent about an hour at the Opera Bar, which is right on the water under the Opera House.

Today (Monday here in Sydney) I started Orientation for International Students. From 9:00 AM until 4:00 PM I had information sessions and activities to attend. It was actually very nice, mostly because it was something organized to do and because it helped make me feel like I was a little more in control of the things I have to do. I still haven’t figured out paying for internet here, it is very strange they pay by the download so every web page is a certain amount of space and thus it limits the amount of web pages you can go to. I almost understand it, but it is very confusing and illogical, especially when we American college students are so used to using the internet whenever and however we want.

Tonight some friends and I will be going back to the local bar for a cheap dinner and then watching a movie so that we have plenty of sleep (I and everyone else wake up every morning at around six or seven because we haven’t gotten over the jetlag yet) for the second day of our orientation tomorrow (Tuesday).

I am sorry that this was so long (or that I skimmed over some things, depending on how much you were interested). If you have any questions or comments or anything please feel free to e-mail. However, please don’t be insulted if I do not respond immediately, as I will not have internet readily available for a few more days. Also, when I do have e-mail I will most likely be limited in my usage and might not be able to use internet phone services, but I will let those that are interested know my situation when I do.

I hope this finds you well and again I would love to hear from all of you. Also, if you don’t want to get these long summary e-mails from me, please just let me know. I won’t be insulted or hurt. The same goes for the photos I attach, if they are too big for you to keep getting, just tell me and I won’t send them to you.

Also, if you were wondering, it is free for me to receive calls from anywhere in the world at the cell phone number I sent in the first e-mail. So if for some reason you have an international phone card and feel like talking to me, please call (just remember the time difference!).

I do have to go now and I will hopefully be able to write you all again soon and possibly use better grammar (sorry) and more interesting writing style then.

Love,

Jon

(the rest of the pictures are below)

Kangaroos!

Driving On The Beach

The Ferry To Fraser Island

The Fraser Island Jungle

Lake McKenzie

Pre Departure


Hello Everyone;

I am only a day away from leaving for Australia so I wanted to send you all some information before I leave. I will have this e-mail address the whole time if anyone wants to write and below you will find my mailing address and my cell phone number while in Australia (not relevant for most of you).

Over the six months I will try and send periodic updates of my traveling accompanied by photos. If you want to be taken off the mailing list at anytime, just let me know.

Also, in case anyone was wondering the time difference between the East Coast of the US and Sydney is 15 hours ahead. That means if it is 10:00PM on a Monday night in New York City that it is 1:00PM on a Tuesday afternoon in Sydney; Melbourne and Brisbane are in the same time zone. However, New Zealand is even further away and thus is 17 hours ahead and it would
be 3:00PM on that same Tuesday afternoon. Hope you all got that.

I hope to hear from all of you and my best wishes while I am gone (I will be back in the US [Hawaii] on July 25th, but back in Hamden on August 14th). Also, I will keep the same cell phone number once I am back in the US in August.


Have a great six months.


Jonathan Schaefer



Mailing Address:

Jonathan Schaefer

St John's College

8a Missenden Rd

Camperdown, NSW 2050

AUSTRALIA




Cell phone number: 0433613788

To call from the U.S., dial:


011-61-433613788