Cleland Wildlife and More

Update

Hi all, I am going to spend a few moments talking about my classes here in Adelaide. I am taking three classes which include Introduction to International Business, Fire and Society, and Business Independent Study. You may be wondering, what in the world is Independent Study? Basically, that class is designed in such a way that students participate in an online cross-functional business based computer game. Students form a fictional bicycle company and compete against each other by trying to accumulate the most share holder value. It is actually quite complicated and I am still trying to get a feel for the game. So far my other classes are relatively easy and only require that I go to class 9 hours a week! The good thing about studying abroad with foreign professors is that they want to spend time on the beach and not in classroom just as much as we do.

A typical school day involves taking a 20 minute walk between my apartment and the University of Adelaide Campus (the aussies call it the Uni of Adee). On my walk I cross through a beautiful park with Eucalyptus tress lining the outside, with Magpies and Parrots flying overhead. I then cross a major river (don’t know the name) and arrive on campus. Across the street from the University, there is a large outdoor shopping center called Rundle Mall. There are numerous food courts in which I can have lunch. A nice thing about the food courts is that they sell all types of foods including Indian, Thai, Chinese…etc and not just your average American burgers.

Moving on…

This past Thursday I had the opportunity to visit Cleland Wildlife Park with my Cal Poly peers. I can honestly say that it was one of the most thrilling days of my life and probably ranks in the top 10 experiences I have ever had. Anyone who really knows me, knows I love Zoos. Basically, this park was a giant interactive Zoo where you could actually approach and spend time with the animals. On arrival, the park let you purchase food to feed most of the animals. The first animal I interacted with was the Australian Bilby. It is this weird mouse looking thing that is actually a Marsupial (for those of you who don’t know, marsupials are animals that carry their young in a pouch). It had a funny looking nose and was about the cutest little thing I had ever seen… until I found the Kangaroos.

One thing I learned was that there are many different kinds of Kangaroos with many different personalities. The Red Kangaroos and Western Grey Kangaroos were by far friendliest. They approached you on arrival and seemed to like interacting with humans. We fed the animals right off of our hands and some kangaroos even let us spoon with them while they slept. We just hung out in a shade in a circle for a long time with the roos and enjoyed each others company. The Wallabies and Kangaroo Island Kangaroos were a lot more timid. It was rare that they would let you get too close to them and were very protective. On a side note, American Zoos and Wildlife parks are so stingy… they don’t let you get anywhere close to animals and there is no way you would get to feed them. The Adelaide Zoo let you get right up close to the animals and Cleland Wildlife park lets you interact with them while being unsupervised.

The next thing I learned was that Koalas are by far overrated. Don’t get me wrong, they are cute little buggers but they don’t do anything. They sleep 20 hours and day and just kind of sit there for the most part. I got to pet their legs but we was unable to hold them because we arrived during the wrong part of the day. Some other interesting animals I saw during my visit included wombats, Tasmanian devils, and Echidnas. You can see pictures of all the animals I encountered on my facebook.

P.S. I fed ducks by hand for the first time. It was weird, their beaks feel like little suction cups gripping your hand. Some of those little guys are aggressive!

Also, Kangaroos are now my new favorite animals.

Update

In the last couple days I have just been exploring Adelaide and its surrounding areas…Have I mentioned that I am in love with this city??? Anyways, a group of us went down to the beach and just had a fun time. Nothing too exciting, we just worked on our tans and explored the shops around the beach. The next day we visited the botanical gardens of Adelaide, while drinking wine and eating cheese, crackers, and sausages. We are quite sophisticated down under.

Knowing me, I had to make a trip to the Adelaide Zoo. It is quite convenient in Adelaide, and everything seems to be close by. The cities nickname is actually the 20 minute city. Adelaide is located in the state of South Australia, which is known for being the driest state on the driest country on earth. Water is a scarcity here. Anyways, back to the Zoo. There were some weird animals at this place, especially some funky birds that I have never seen in my life. It is hard to describe, but they were quite the lookers.

Differences between the U.S. and Australia

- There is no added sales tax to all purchases. If it says $5.00, it is $5.00.
- There is no need to tip when you are at a restaurant. Waitresses are paid around 25 dollars an hour.
- They drive on the other side of the road.

Hello Everyone!

Hello everyone, I am making this blog so I can update family and friends on my stay in Australia. I thought this would be easier to manager instead of using email all the time.

Although my travel time to Adelaide was about 20 hours total, my flight here wasn’t t bad. Air New Zealand is an impressive airline, and everyone had personalized touch tv screen in which you could choose between 80+ movies. The travel went by pretty fast and I even met an older Australian couple on the plane in which I conversed with.

On my first day in Adelaide, I was determined to find an electrical outlet adapter for American plugs (I needed it for the computer). Therefore, I trekked into the city determined to find one. It was quite a journey, and it took my forever to find my way around to find this plug! After hours of searching and bleeding feet (literally) I finally came back with one. Unfortunately, internet is costly here in Australia, I have unlimited usage in hours, but I only get 500mb of bandwith per month at home (which is hardly anything). I think I can upgrade my plan but I am still looking into it. At school, I have much more access to internet because I get more bandwith, although there is still some kind of limit that I am not sure about yet.

My second day was Orientation, it went pretty well and we learned about the program and took a tour around the campus and the city. I love the city due to the fact that is large (1.5 million), but has this amazing small town feel. You can walk or take a bus most anywhere and there is a great little shopping area around here. At night, a few of us went to go see a professional cricket game. The Redbacks vs. the blues! At first it was dull, but once we started to figure out the rules, it was a lot of fun to watch. I think I have a new sport I like! Unfortunately, the local Redbacks lost to the blues.
Well that is it for now. I started classes today and I will try to update soon. Good day everyone, and no worries!