Can't believe I'm in my last week!!!

Well...it's hard to believe, but Cristina and I are in our last week of our internship! I realize it's been a while since our last post, but we've both been so busy with work and travelling!

During these last few weeks, I had the task of creating an Arrival Guide for new international students...I think I mentioned this in an earlier post. It was something never created before, but was greatly needed. After working with the marketing department of Macquarie International, it all came together. It was great getting more in depth experience with Adobe InDesign.

This week, hundreds of new international students arrive in Sydney for the start of Semester 2 in August. I'm helping the International Student Services Department get ready for Orientation Week, which begins this Friday (my last day!). There's been a lot of event planning, special interest session coordinating, etc. that I've been assisting with in preparation for this week...I wish I could actually be here to see it all happen! But, a co-worker has promised to take lots of pictures and will be emailing me over the next few weeks letting me know how everything went.

Here are some pictures of our time here over the past few weeks...will post again soon :)

-Sarah

Fair Trading (Sarah)

Yesterday, the ISS (International Student Services) team had a meeting with a community liaison office from the New South Wales Fair Trading Commission. At first, I was a bit lost as to what exactly the purpose of the meeting was. However, I soon realized that due to my automatically "priviledged" existance in the USA, I have neglected to consider a very important issue that faces numerous international college students (whether in Australia or the States) - the issue of fair trading.

When international students arrive here at Macquarie University, they face many challenges beyond just studying hard and performing well in their courses. Number one, there's the language barrier for those whose primary language is not English. This leads to a plethora of communication obstacles, and requires a great deal of patience from the professors and student affairs professionals working with them. In addition to this already daunting issue, is the challenge of finding a place to live, purchasing goods such as cell phones, computers, etc., and just living day to day.

Things that we (or at least, I) rarely think about back home are rights and responsibilities related to fair trading. Sure, in the USA (and in Australia) we may understand that we have "rights" but we don't always remember that with those rights come many, many responsibilities. One issue that Macquarie international students deal with often relates to accommodation/housing scams. Although Macquarie University does have on-campus housing available, the majority of Australian universities were not developed with this concept in mind. Many students from overseas (especially those in Europe) come to study here but live in off-campus housing. Sometimes they attempt to organize this ahead of time, before departing home, and due to their vulnerability, end up being scammed. Other students, such as those from China, come to Australia not knowing what it is to have those specific fair trading rights because their home country's government does not operate in the same way.

Therefore, the purpose of our meeting yesterday was to plan even more ways in which we can get the message out there to international students that they have rights and responsibilities when it comes to fair trading within Australia. If they feel they are being scammed with their housing, they need to know where to go and who to talk to in order to have it sorted out. If they purchase something from a store, they need to be reminded to keep their receipts in case that purchase breaks and needs to be refunded. These are all such simple, obvious things to me that I never even thought about before because I've grown up in a country where, not only do we have rights, but we know what they are.

I told Cristina about this after work yesterday, and mentioned how ignorant I felt for not even considering this before. She said, yeah we feel ignorant, but only because we're so educated...interesting point.

-Sarah

Some New Zealand Pics!

New Zealand & Internship Update (Sarah)

(Note: The pictures posted in this post are of Macquarie University, the campus and the building I work in...New Zealand photos will come in another post!)

So...as Cristina stated in the previous post, New Zealand was absolutely incredible! I did not expect to love it as much as I did (even though multiple people told me that I would). We only had 3 quick days in Auckland, but we packed as much in as we could.

On Saturday, the four of us (me, Cristina, Allen, & Taylor) went on a guided "Bush & Beach" adventure through temperate rainforests and along the coast of the Tasmin Sea. Although the day was rainy off and on, it actually made many of the sights even more spectacular. It started downpouring on our ride back to the city...so not bad!

The rainforests were quite interesting, mostly because we never had to worry about encountering dangerous animals of any kind. There literally are no predatorial animals in New Zealand's rainforests, nor snakes, or poisonous plants. There are many, many birds and absolutely every shade of green tree you can imagine. We went to the tiny surfing town called Piha on the Tasmin Sea. This reminded me a lot of the northwest USA, especially the coastline of Oregon (for those of you who've been there). However, it still was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

We all commented how sad we were when that day was over. Standing on the beach in Piha, I made a promise to myself that I would come back to New Zealand one day...and spend at least a month touring this beautiful country!

As for an update on my internship:
Things are going great! I've been focusing mainly on two major projects. First, I am helping to coordinate the Amazing Race event for Diversity Week. This is a fun, social activity organized for the new international students who will be arriving in late July for the semester that is to begin in early August. The Amazing Race will mirror the TV show, and will take teams of students all around campus in order to have them accomplish tasks that will assist them in their orientation to campus. It requires a lot of work, as well as my fast learning of Macquarie's campus...I'm working with a co-worker in the ISS office as well as an international student. It should turn out great, though, I'm bummed that I won't be here to see/help with the actual event and Diversity Week. We head home the week before...but, I've been promised that I'll be receiving many pictures :)

The second project is a "Survival Guide" for newly arrived international students, which will be given to them at the airport upon arrival. Based on an assessment that was done just before I started working here, international students struggle with certain things right away, even before classes begin. Therefore, I was asked to create this sruvival guide, which will hopefully answer all those immediate questions, give them suggestions for getting settled in, include tips from current international students, etc. Again, I am super excited to be using my background in editing and publications...it's really the best of both worlds! And, unlike the Amazing Race event, I will be here to see the final product!

Hope you all are enjoying the summer weather back home! We are currently in Sydney winter-like conditions, 60s during the day and COLD at night! I do miss that warm summer weather...

-Sarah

New Zealand: Day 1

I want to start by saying that I cannot say enough about how much I loved New Zealand. I wish I could head straight back to Kiwi Land for a few more weeks, years, or maybe forever.

We (Sarah and I as well as our two American friends: Taylor and Allen) only had 3 days in Auckland and the surrounding areas, and we made the most of it!

We arrived late on Thursday night and headed straight to our hostel. Friday, we rented a car! I actually drove on the left side of the road. It was terrifying, but awesome. We drove 3 hours Southwest to the Waitomo Caves area. On the way, we saw the most beautiful rainbow I have ever seen in my life. Actually, we saw tons of rainbows in New Zealand. It was great!

We saw 2 limestone caves: Aranui and Waitomo. The Aranui Caves were very cool, but they do not even compare to how amazing the Waitomo Caves were. In Waitomo, there are thousands and thousands of glowworms that hang from the ceilings. We climbed down into the caves and rode in a boat on a small river that runs through the caves. The guides then turned off all the lights and we floated down the river while taking in the amazingness of the glowworms. It was so beautiful it felt fake. It looked like someone hung up the netting Christmas lights that people hang on bushes.

Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures (as if they could have done it justice anyway), but it really was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.

-Cristina

Bondi and Manly Beach

This weekend we visited the beaches, and although it is "winter," we had a great time.

Saturday, we saw the famous Bondi Beach. It is gorgeous, and for all of the rain we have had, the weather was not very cold. There were quite a few surfers in the water. We ate lunch and headed home right as the rains re-surfaced.

Today (Sunday), our friend Taylor and I volunteered at the Manly Beach Food, Wine, and Sustainibility Festival. It was basically a taste fest that promoted sustainibility. We had a great time eating, drinking wine, and volunteering. :) It rain quite a bit toward the end of the day and we had our fair share of inside out umbrellas.

Next weekend we are heading to New Zealand, and I can't wait!

Hunter Valley

Hello all! Cristina and I visited the Hunter Valley wine region last weekend. It was gorgeous, despite the wet weather! Here are a few pictures...

Internships

I know Sarah and I have posted a lot of pictures from our trips, but I promise, we are also working here! This is a picture from Macquarie University's weekly International Club's Weekly Student Breakfast.

This breakfast is put on through the department that Sarah works for, but I came along for the free breakfast (I mean to help serve food). :)

These students LOVE toast. It was crazy. We had 3 different types of toast and countless spreads from Vegemite to peanut butter to nutella.

Vivid Sydney (Sarah)

Hope you all are enjoying our pictures! For those of you who are also our Facebook friends, there are many more photos posted there (and hopefully, more videos soon).

Tonight, Cristina and I are meeting up with some people for the start of the Vivid Sydney Festival. Here's the URL: http://vividsydney.com/ We are meeting up with two other American interns and a Spanish PhD student. Should be fun to see the lighting of the opera house!

I have been working hard on finishing the first draft of the Life After Macquarie brochure. It went to the designers yesterday, so I'm looking forward to seeing the draft on Monday. It's been a great experience working on that because I've been able to look at it from the perspective of an international student - I can tell my input is valid and appreciated! Next up, I'm working with my supervisor to edit the "Pre-Departure" website. This is the site that incoming international students visit in order to prepare for their journey to Macquarie. Again, it REALLY helps that I am an international student myself; the ideas and suggestions are flowing!

This morning, Cristina came with me to the iClub Breakfast Club that my department hosts each week for international students. The special today was crumpets with honey. For those of you who don't know, crumpets look and feel like pancakes, but they are not sweet, more like a moist english muffin. Delicious. We are still hesitant to try VeggieMite, though, we have purchased a jar and will be sampling it at our house, on a weekend, when we have the alternative option of going out for breakfast :)

On another note, did we mention that we have no dryer in our house? We have a washer, but no dryer...and it's been raining every day. So, no dryer, mixed with damp air and bedroom, makes for a none too easy time of drying our freshly washed clothes. I don't know how these Sydneysiders do it! Luckily, we've met another American intern, Taylor, who has access to both a washer and a dryer. We only have to walk a mile to use it, so not bad!

This weekend we're going to Hunter Valley. It's basically the Napa Valley of Australia (or at least, eastern Australia), so wine/cheese tasting it is! Our new friends Taylor, Allen, and Ignacio will also be coming along, so it should be a great time. We'll be sure to post pics!

-Sarah

Response

In regards to the last post, I cried when I saw the baby kangaroo in the mother's pouch. It was honestly the most adorable thing I have ever seen.

-Cristina

Blue Mountains

Here are some pictures from our trip

-Cristina

Sydney Harbor Bridge...every day! (Sarah)

What a week! The first week of my internship was overwhelming, busy, and overall, pretty great! For the most part, I worked on editing/adding to a brochure for the "Life After Macquarie" event. This is the event that occurs the morning of the "Farewell Function", the mock graduation for international students. The brochure I've been working on is quite lengthy, as it gives graduating/departing international students information on job hunting both in Australia and around the world, what to expect when they go home (reverse culture shock), and alumni relations info, etc. Not only have I been editing what is there, I was also told to change/add whatever I wanted. I get the feeling that the budget for my particular department is pretty high...with the amount of publications they send out, marketing, the free breakfasts they host for international students each week (I got to help out this week)...there's a lot of money there!

The commute has been interesting, mostly because it's been raining every day this week. Luckily we're on a train for most of the trip. Our train goes over the Sydney Harbor Bridge every day! What a sight that is! The opera house, the harbor, the ferries, it's incredible. So, that hour commute really doesn't seem bad at all.

Tonight, Cristina and I are going on a Ghost Walk in The Rocks, the most historic part of Sydney. Sounds spooky :) Should be fun! And tomorrow, we're going to the Blue Mountains. Can't wait! There's just so much to see and do here, it's hard to put it into words, but we'll do our best!

-Sarah

(S-1) Please stop raining Australia!

Last night our house hosted a going away party for one of our housemates that is moving back to Ireland on Monday (Did I mention 15 people live here) It was a great time, and I got to meet a lot of other foreigners as well as Australians. If it hadn't been raining the whole time, we could have utilized our roof top deck!

I think Sarah and I will most likely end up being museum-goers today since that will keep us dry. At Sydney Wildlife World, apparently you can get pictures taken with koalas. We will post some pictures later for sure!

-Cristina

Today and this weekend

I've started to get into the swing of things at my internship now, and I have begun working on a few projects.

Yesterday I started working on marketing campaign for the Career Service department.

Today, to the expected pleasure of a certain professor, I participated in an assessment project. The department is assessing student evaluations from an event geared toward students who desire a career in banking. Today we started coding. Fun fun.. :)

Tonight we are going for some after work drinks with other interns. Our placement company hosts this event everything Thursday. I am excited to meet some of people working here; I wonder if they will be Americans.

Tomorrow Sarah and I are going on a ghost walk in The Rocks, the oldest neighborhood in Sydney. I'm excited!

Saturday it is supposed to rain...boo.

Sunday we are going to the Blue Mountains! This is what we can expect: http://www.professionalpathwaysaustralia.com.au/blue-mountains.html
I honestly can't wait for this trip. The Blue Mountains are supposed to be spectacular. I just hope it doesn't rain!

Macquarie Internship

As Sarah mentioned, we both started our internships yesterday. I am working in the Campus Engagement office at Macquarie University.

My internship is going to include a wide array of activies with 2 weeks in the Career Service office, 2 weeks with the office for Student Groups, 2 weeks with Marketing, 2 weeks working on the campus' Diversity week, and 2 weeks somewhere else. I am excited about all of the opportunities I am going to have over the next 10 weeks.

My supervisor, Dez, is quite the character. He has a thick Australian accent, but I think he should be fun to work with.

As things progress, I will keep you updated on my participation at Macquarie.

This weekend, Sarah and I would love to head to the Blue Mountains if the weather cooperates, otherwise, we should have a fun weekend in Sydney!

It has begun!!! Sarah's first two days...

I’ve just completed Day #2 of my internship at Macquarie University! So far, it’s awesome. I’m working in International Student Services (ISS), which is a smaller office within the large department known as Macquarie International. There are about 8 people right in my office (ISS) and roughly 100 within all of Macquarie International. The University has around 30,000 students, and 1/3 of them are international students, so I guess it makes sense that the office is so large.

Macquarie International encompasses many different areas including: marketing, communications, admissions, etc. My office (ISS) has 3 international student advisors. Unlike academic advisors, the international advisors assist students mainly on issues regarding their student visas, and complying with the Australian government on different issues regarding higher education and studying abroad. One of the first projects I’ll be working on involves comparing the old regulations with the new, and predicting what trends we may see as a result.

My supervisor, Kim, is awesome. She is the head manager of the ISS department and oversees the international student advisors, as well as the administrative assistants within the ISS office. She has made it clear that she wants to make sure the internship allows me to learn as much as possible in whatever areas I am interested in. It’s nice because she’s allowed me to research a bit more about the different services offered by ISS, and then let her know where I want to gain experience.

At this point, I am interested in the following areas: Orientation, Farewell Function, Life After Macquarie, iClub, Buddy Program, and Diversity Week. I’ll explain briefly about each of these areas.

Orientation is pretty straightforward, and requires a great deal of planning. Orientation for the next semester will occur about a week after I’m done in the internship, but I will hopefully be involved in the preparation and planning. The Farewell Function is a mock graduation for international students who will not be able to attend the Macquarie graduation with the rest of the students. This will take place on June 28, so I’m excited to be assisting with this! Life After Macquarie is an event that takes place on the same day as the Farewell Function, and is meant to prepare international students for their return to their home countries. Tomorrow, I’ll already be working to edit a brochure that is to be used for the event in June. I already have a background in writing and publications, so this is really great! iClub is a social club for international students. The club also consists of numerous student volunteers who help to plan events and activities, especially during orientation and Diversity Week. The Buddy Program is a mentoring-like program that connects current Macquarie students with international students. I’m not sure what I’ll be doing with that, but I have an appointment with the advisor responsible for coordinating it. Finally, Diversity Week occurs at the beginning of the semester, just after orientation. I believe Cristina and I will both be working on this, as both of our departments are involved with its planning and implementation. One project that I’ll be working on for Diversity Week is planning an “Amazing Race” activity. If you know the TV show, you know what I’ll be planning…only for teams of international students!

So…as you can see, I will be VERY busy over the next 10 weeks!!! It’s great to be in somewhat of a routine each day, though our hour-long commute on the public bus and train is a bit crazy. It has rained our first two days too, which has made the commute oh-so-lovely. But, it’s still worth it, of course.

One quick note for all those student affairs readers out there – I was having a conversation with Sinead today, the woman who coordinates iClub and plans activities such as the weekly Breakfast Club. She mentioned that she always invites faculty members (or “academics” as they call them) to join in on the activities with the international students. But, it is a challenge to get them to come. I asked her about that divide between academic affairs and student affairs, and she assured me that the divide absolutely exists at Macquarie. It’s something that they want to work on…

Hope everyone's doing well!
-Sarah

Taronga Zoo!

Another day, another great adventure. Yesterday, Sarah and I went to the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. I can’t even describe how amazing this zoo is. The following pictures do not even do it justice. The zoo is situated on the other side of the harbor from downtown Sydney, and there are spectacular views of the cityscape from various exhibits in the zoo. We saw a baby elephant, giraffes, a snow leopard, an incredible bird show, wombats, and more.

The zoo has exhibits called ‘walkabouts’ that allow you in the animals’ enclosure; it was incredible.
Because everyone told me I had to pet a kangaroo, I did it! I was also introduced to the wallaby, an animal I am now in love with. Sarah is going to post a video on Facebook of us petting the kangaroo and wallaby because apparently videos to not work on this site (or we can’t figure out how to post them). 

We also met another American at our internship orientation. His name is Allan, and he is from Virginia. Since he is here by himself, he ended up joining us at the zoo. When we returned from the zoo, we rode the ferry at dusk, and the views of the city were indescribable.

Today we are heading to Manly Beach. This beach is reached by a 30 minute ferry ride that is supposed to have the most incredible views of the harbor imaginable. We can’t wait!

Sydney Opera House & Royal Botanical Gardens

Well, despite feeling the jet lag, we ventured out into Sydney during our first full day here (Thursday). We're living in an area called Surry Hills, a suburb just south of downtown, but definitely still in the city. We live in a townhouse, shared with about 9 other international students/interns. I don't think we've met them all yet, as we've been gone from breakfast until bedtime, seeing as much as we can, and forcing ourselves to stay active until we drop at night. On our first trip downtown, we attempted to take the city bus. We waited at the bus stop until we saw the number we needed, and despite looking directly at the bus driver, expectantly, he passed right on by. We realized that we had to literally flag the bus down each time we wanted to get on. Finally, we made our way down toward the water. We began our sightseeing at the Justice and Police Museum. This was very interesting as Sydney was originally used as a drop off place for British convicts. Plus, until about 20-30 years ago, there was a ton of corruption and organized crime in the city. Next we made our way over to the Royal Botanical Gardens, which are situated around Farm Cove. The Government House (where the governor lived until the mid-90s) is more like a castle, just beautiful. At one point, we were walking around the grounds, and Cristina went to walk along the ledge circling the garden. I watched her step up to the ledge, trip over her feet, and then fall flat on her stomach! It was painful but comical to watch. Luckily, she was okay, and stood up both laughing and wincing in pain. She scraped up her knee and scratched her camera. We laugh about it now, but at the time… Shortly after Cristina’s mishap on the ledge, we were walking along and both happened to turn around at the same time to see…the Sydney Opera House through the trees! It was an amazing feeling. To see the opera house meant that we had finally arrived, officially! A sight you see only in pictures or on TV, and we were standing right in front of it. I’ll never forget that moment. The Royal Botanical Gardens were gorgeous! A little red train takes you around the whole park for $10 and a 25 minute ride. There were unique birds, trees, and even bats hanging upside down above us. Amazing. So far, I’ve been blown away by what we’ve experienced. It’s still hard to believe we’re here. I keep reminding myself how lucky I am to be here, to be seeing things that not many Americans get to see in person. I wish you all could see this! That’s why I’ve already taken a bunch of pictures and videos to share with you all! That’s all for now… -Sarah

Exhausted, but we're finally here!

I second that post from Cristina! The loooong flight was better than I thought it would be, though, the middle 9 hours of attempting to sleep was a bit difficult. We had at least 100 movies to choose from on our individual media screens, and the food was great. But, trying to stay awake now is a bit hilarious. We'll post pics/videos soon!

-Sarah

We made it!

Sarah and I are in Australia!

It is currently 2:21pm on Wednesday here, and I think it is around midnight in Michigan.

The 15 hour flight was not terrible actually. The service and food on the plane were awesome. Also, they have individual tv screens on each seat with a ton of movies and tv shows to watch.

We are doing everything we can to stay awake until bed time, but it is very difficult. We are hoping to make it to at least 6pm tonight.

Tomorrow we are going to head down to the harbor, and once we have some great pictures/videos, we will post them!

-Cristina

Sarah's Expectations

At this point, I am not really sure what to expect, mostly because there are so many elements to this adventure beyond just an internship. I've never travelled outside the U.S. (besides Canada and a cruise in the Bahamas). So, that alone is a huge thing to contend with. Luckily, we'll be arriving in Sydney the week before our internships actually begin. I'm hoping that will give us time to get our bearings, acclimate to our new living environment, go grocery shopping, figure out our laundry situation (we'll have a washer, but no dryer, haha), recover from our 15-hour jet-lagged flight, and of course, get used to the 14 hour time difference! That's a lot to do before we set foot on the campus of Macquarie University.

My hope for the next 3 months is that I can immerse myself into a new culture, and really grab hold of its uniqueness. I am extremely excited that I'll be working in the International Student Services Office at Macquarie University. I can't imagine a better working environment for...an international student! Not only will I be interacting with Australian students, I will also be working with college students from all over the world. I look forward to learning a new work environment and seeing how student affairs in Australia compares to student affairs here in the U.S.

And then there's the whole other side of this adventure - living in Sydney! I can't wait to visit all of those places that I've only ever seen in picture or on TV. The Sydney Opera House, the Blue Mountains, Bondi Beach, Sydney Harbor, etc. We'll be sure to post lots of pictures!

Okay, back to organizing and packing I go...

First post! Cristina's Expectations

I have high expectations for this trip to Australia. I keep hearing others talk about their over-reaching expectations and let downs when everything could not be accomplished, but I can’t help it. I expect the world from this experience.

I have two sets of expectations. The first set is for my internship. I am excited to learn about a new area of student affairs. I am working in the campus engagement office, and this office focuses their work on sustainability and healthy living on campus. I really hope to learn a lot from being an intern in this department about student affairs, but also the work their department does.

Secondly, I want to experience Australia. 11 weeks will not give me time to do everything, but I want to do as much as possible. From tourist hot spots to the local hang outs, I want to do it all, even if that is over-reaching. The company we are traveling through offers an extensive amount of weekend excursions to various places in Australia, and I fully intend to take advantage of these opportunities.

In the end, I can’t wait for this trip, and I know I will come back changed. While I am there, I hope to take in as much as I can and learn about Australia and student affairs in the process.