mmmmh Kangaroo

Hey mates,
another week has passed and I'm still happy and alive (I declared war to every spider).
Luckily the rain has stopped and I'm slowly feeling better again (due to the stupid rain I catched a bad cold/flue). Although the wind is still very cold you one can see that everyone is enjoying the sun and the absence of rain. Suddenly the parks on campus are filled with students studying, sun-bathing, eating or doing whatever and I feel like I'm on a typical University.
Since a few asked me how the courses in Australia are I'll give a short introduction. Students take about 4-5 units every semester. I'm taking : Microeconomics, Tourism Management, Interpersonal Communication and Australian Studies. One unit usually has about 3 contact hours a week, which are split up into a Tutorial and a Lecture (1 1/2 lecture and 1 1/2 hour tutorial or something like that). The lectures are the same as in Austria (About 200 people and no attendance required) But the tutorials are pretty much like school, which means you are in small classes and get to do all the fun stuff as writing assignments, doing group projects and oral presentations. So students actually have to do much more during the whole semester than in Austria. Another challenge is understanding some Asian students or also tutors since their pronounciation of the English language differs quite a lot from the mix that I'm used (Australian, American, British, and Skandinavian English)

Talking of different nationalities. I've finally met an Austrian!
Well, it was Wednesday, very early in the morning and I was sleeping. Suddenlty my flatmate woke me up because I had a phone call. Everyone who knows me a little knows that I'm not a morning person! So still tired I went to the phone and was really confused when someone told me that someone from Austria wants to talk to me..... after I while I remembered that I once talked to someone whose flatmate was from Austria and since then they have tried to get a hold of me. And the funny thing is that he is from Graz as well. Although I was still very tired I managed to arrange a meeting with him and it was really nice talking to someone from Graz. He is much older than me and writes his diploma thesis here, but it's still very nice to have someone from home around ;)

For those of you who have seen my pictures and love kangaroos as much as I do: I had one of those lovely creatures for dinner ! I kinda feel bad admitting it, but they are actually very good. but for my defence: I was invited for dinner. As you all know the Olympic games started on Friday 08.08.08 at 8.08 p.m. (yes, even the original time has a meaning) and according to the number 8 we were 8 people having dinner and watching the Olympic opening ceremony. And my friends cooked kangaroo and since I hardly ever have a real warm dinner I just couldn't say no ;)


doesn't it look delicious? ;)

Since I'm already posting pictures, why not one more: me in my room. Lots of Love from Perth ! Irene