Time flies...

I have been so busy since I last posted. It's hard to believe that I'm over halfway done with my time here. I stand by the fact that this country is amazing, and there's no way that I won't be back here at some point in my life. The more I explore the more I keep wishing there was some way I could stay here forever.

I still haven't posted about my Fall Break with IES (it's Fall in Australia), so check back in a few days and hopefully I'll have that entire trip posted about, it's gonna be a long one.

Highlights from the last few weeks let's see... 

Well classes are going pretty well. I might as well touch on that. They grade a lot harder here than they do back home, but I'm doing well as far as I know. I've got a few essays due next week, and I'm actually looking forward to a little bit of stress and structure for the next couple weeks. Yesterday in my Vertebrate Zoology class a Zoologist from the Taronga Zoo in Sydney brought in a few different animals, which was an awesome change from normal lab (which is still way more interesting than anything I've ever taken at Ithaca). The best animal was an Echidna named Brian, and it looked like a cross between a porcupine and a platypus and it was so awesome.

Last Wednesday was Anzac Day, which is basically Australian Memorial Day, to remember all the troops that died fighting in World War I and all the other wars Australia has fought in since. We had a bunch of people over to our building and had a cookout in the backyard. It was a pretty good time. This weekend we're actually having a cookout for Cinco de Mayo so we seem to have an endless amount of reasons to grill which is great. 

This past Sunday I went wine tasting in the Hunter Valley, which is about two hours North of Sydney. I'll put a few pictures up on facebook soon, but it was a lot of fun. I went with a group of about 10 people from the states, and a few Frenchies and a Brazilian kid too. We stopped at a chocolate shop to try some fudge (it's just as good here as it is in America) and chocolate, then stopped off at a vineyard that makes this wine called Tin Soldier which we tried a few of. I liked white wines more than red, but it was interesting trying different types of wines that were actually pretty nice. We also stopped at a cheese shop called The Smelly Cheese Shop, which had more kinds of cheese than I've ever seen before. I ended up buying a cow feta cheese with sundried tomatoes and garlic, so good. Then we went next door to another winery and tried some really really nice wines. 

After that we went to another winery (I wish I remembered all the names, but the thing is that most of the wineries in the Hunter Valley are so small that they don't produce enough to export, so most of the wines can only be bought directly from the wineries. And no, I never tried yellowtail haha). I found out that I like sweet wines and white wines. Verdhelo was my favorite wine I tried I think. After the last winery we went to The Hunter Valley Brewery and tried a couple really nice beers that they brewed. It was cool to be able to sample all the different kinds that I never would have tried on my own.

Check back soon for my Break posts!