Goodbye Aussie Land!

November 10th, 2008 by bfoley1 | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

This is my last blog, and i just wanted to take the time to reflect on my time here. I loved Australia. I have learnt so much, in general and about myself. I now know how to go food shopping, live on my own and be independent. I have changed and have started to see life in a new perspective than I have before. I know we came here to take classes and learn from our books, but Australia in itself has taught me more than any class ever could. I have made great new friendships, gone in the ocean and done things that I never though I would be capable of doing. Im going to Sydney with a friend of mine in three days and I would never before been confident that I would be able to go to a foreign city with someone other than my parents and be able to survive. I have proven myself wrong in so many situations that I have stopped with pre judging the situations that I have been put in and just go in positively. I like the person that I have started to grow into, and im thinking that I owe a big part of that to Australia. I do not know where else my life will take me, but I know that if its anything like Hawthorn, Australia, I have a lot to look forward to in life. 

Melbourne Cup DAY!!!

November 10th, 2008 by bfoley1 | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

The day started off early as my two friends and I woke up to the crack of dawn in order to meet up and start getting ready together! We had bagels, juices, and a huge assortment of different kinds of fruit. It was a good start to the day as we got our hair done and dressed up for the day in front of us. As everybody went outside to meet up at the designated time and place, I became reminissent of prom. It was funny as we all thought that those days were over and here we were, dressed up, posing and taking tons and tons of photos. We all got onto the train and made our way to the arena where the event was taking. It was rumored that around one percent of australia goes to the event this day, and I definitly found it to be true. People were everywhere, dressed up to the nines and ready to have a good time. I was entranced by the women who walked by with the biggest hair pieces I have ever seen and they all looked gorgeous. They were skilled at this. The men were all nicely dressed up, with suits and their hair combed back. Walking around, the food smelt delicious as it should have for the price and it was difficult to keep with a group as there were drunk people everywhere pushing their way through the crowds. Sitting down on the grass, we all just relaxed in the sun and listened to the announcer saying which horse was racing and who was winning. By the end of the day, we made our way up to the course to see the big race, which was exciting to watch. I don’t really understand horse races, but I was intrigued to see how it would turn out. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to take part in this huge event, and as we made our way back to Hawthorn with sunburnt shoulders and aching feet, I knew I did not want to be anywhere else rather than where I was right than. 

Going Back Home

November 3rd, 2008 by bfoley1 | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

    Re-entry to the United States will be interesting. When I lived in England, every Christmas and for the summer vacations my family would return to the United States and we would all look forward to it for months on end. In England, unlike Australia, there was no trace whatsoever of anything american. Reese Peanut butter cups held more value than money itself so when kids went back to the states, we would bring back bags full of them and than sell them to one another for around three times the price. Overall, living in Australia has been a little bit of the best of both worlds for me though. I have my favourite cheese from England, Red Leichester and other random british candies, and if you look hard enough you will eventually find American candy around here. Overall my point is that I have fit in very comfortably here in Australia for the extent of time that I have been here, but I am starting to realize that I would like to go home. Being the oldest of four children, I miss my brothers and sisters, my mom, my dad and my dog!! I miss halloween and thanksgiving and the trees changing colours and the first snowfall. Ive been away from home before but previously it was only for a month. I only really missed my summer vacation and not really seasons in general. Now that I have been missing out on some fun typical american events, I want to be home but I am torn as I still want to be here. Ive never been the person who can make up their mind and than stick to it. My opinons and ideas change constantly and as of this moment this is how I am feeling. I can’t wait to get back and see my friends, family and sleep in my really really comfy bed without hearing a train pass by at seven in the morning every morning! I want to have the donuts that my parents make and than put nutella on top and I want to drive around in my car with liz and christine and sing to Mika and spend hours at the arbouredum drinking loads and loads of coffee! I am so excited to see all my friends when I go back, but I know that I will miss Australia at the same time. I feel torn and some days I do not want to leave and some days I am ready to go to the airport and find someway to illegal sneak onto the next flight to Newark. I guess this is all a part of growing up and accepting what is new and learning to live a life differently than I have ever lived it before. I enjoy it but I really just want to be able to open the refrigerator and see food already inside of it!  Anyways, I know I will not want to be home tomorrow, Melbourne Cup Day! I am so excited as its a national holiday and we will be able to immerse ourselves into the Australian culture by just hanging around, looking at horses and having a good time. I am so excited so I am going to bed now so it will happen just that little bit quicker! 

A Letter from Me

November 2nd, 2008 by bfoley1 | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

      Before embarking on this journey that is Australia, we all in the northeastern group were given the assignment to write our future selves a letter with the goals we wished to achieve while living in Australia. As we were handed back our letters, I had completely forgotten about them and was quickly thinking about what I had included in my letter. I was so excited to rip open the envelope and see what I had written to myself. As I was reading my letter, I was overwhelmed to see how many of my goals I had reached and it also seemed that I have matured a great deal as well since being over here. I reached my goal of swimming in the ocean, making myself uncomfortable by trying new things that Ive always wanted to do and being friendly to everyone that Ive come across. I feel like I have completed the majority of things that I had wanted to achieve while over here in Australia. I feel like I have taken full advantage of my time in Australia and had a great time while doing it. I know that I have definitly grown as a person and am proud of myself for doing so. I am happy with the overall outcome of how I have been able to expirence another culture on my own and grow from it consequentially. 

Land of Lorne

October 27th, 2008 by bfoley1 | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

     So this weekend, a bunch of my friends and I all decided to go to Lorne. As much as we loved being in Hawthorne, it seemed like the perfect time to escape and go somewhere where we could relax, enjoy the beauty of Australia and just have a good time. Surprisingly, this was very easy to do. With fifteen dollars, your able to take a 45 minute train and than a bus, which was around an hour and a half to Lorne. This town is on the Great Ocean Road and is a cute little town which pretty much consists of camping ground, a couple stores and an awesome beach. Me, being a little weird, I really just don’t go in the ocean. The vastness freaks me out, but mostly its the idea of weird slimy fish coming and touching me and I don’t like it. I sucked it up though and went in the ocean which was crystal clear. I didn’t see any fish either! Once I got in the ocean too I realized that it really wasn’t a bad place to be and I’m still here to talk about it. Nothing bad happened proving my theory of how evil fish are wrong. I still don’t like fish though, but I will deal with them. For food, we cooked skewers on a barbeque and it was all fun until I got stung by a bee for the first time ever. It just hurt, but it really wasn’t that bad. My middle finger today is still about double the size of all my other fingers. Overall, the weekend was exactly what I needed and I had a great weekend, maybe one of the best since I’ve been in Australia. 

The Final Countdown!!!

October 27th, 2008 by bfoley1 | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

    Looking forward, we have all started to realize that we have about three weeks or so left here in good ole Australia. Three weeks seems a while, but I know it will pass by faster than I can even comprehend. By living in Australia and exploring life independently, I have grown to learn many things about myself, most importantly that I enjoy being self-sufficent and being independent. Going home will be sooo exciting but really weird at the same time. There has been many things here that I’ve grown accustomed to doing myself. For example, when I want something done I just do it. Instead of having to go to the grocery store and buying food for the next couple of days to make sure that I don’t die of starvation, I will be able to go home and there will be food already in the fridge!?! This seems like a really weird idea to me right now. I won’t have to worry about what I will be cooking for dinner, because hopefully my parents won’t be so impressed that I’ve survived this long without starving and make me cook dinner for them, and they will still cook dinner for me. Also not having to worry about a curfew and being able to do pretty much whatever I want whenever I want is pretty nice. I have no idea how this will run with my parents while Im home for the month of December. I have a feeling that as excited as I am to go home and see my family, friends and dog that it will take some getting used to. One thing I am starting to get sad about is that I will not be able to make the annual trip up to Buffalo and have our family thanksgiving. It’s my favourite holiday of the year as I don’t live anywhere near the majority of my family, so it presents itself as an opportunity where I get to see my amazing family and spend a whole entire weekend with them. I have pretty much the best family anyone can ask for. When we go up to Buffalo, my family of six (and my dog!) all squish into a car for an eight hour car trip. I tease and test my little brothers and sister, which is entertaining to me, but probably not so much for them. At least it keeps us all entertained. As soon as the car ride is over though, I have two aunts and an uncle which take us all in. Us meaning my brothers and sister because my parents check into a hotel. My aunts pretty much spoil us to no extent the whole entire time we are there. They are the nicest aunts that anyone can ask for. If we ask for ice cream, they give us an ice cream store. We all meet up the day before thanksgiving at Duff’s which is the most AMAZING buffalo wings anyone can have. I do not have the foley capability of having the extremely awesome talent of being able to eat the hottest wings, but I have to say my Uncles are the only people that I think I know that can handle it. Once thanksgiving comes around, I get to spend all day with my cousins and family shoving my face of the best pumpkin and pecan pies anyone will ever taste. I LOVE THANKSGIVING. I love what it represents and what I usually do on that day. Do not get me wrong. I am excited to have a new expirence of having thanksgiving in a country where it means nothing whatsoever to the locals. It will be a fun event where we can just find an excuse to eat more than we normally do anyway. Personally, I am extremelly excited to have thanksgiving here, plus theres always next year! 

Culture Shock?

October 20th, 2008 by bfoley1 | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

    One of the topics that us NUin kids are supposed to talk about in this weeks blogs is the subject of culture shock. Honestly, in the last couple of weeks, I’ve only expirenced it once and that was when my teacher for my Australia in a Global Context teacher asked all his students if we would be cool with going to the pub next week with him after class to get a pint. I kinda looked around in awe, because I knew if this was to go on in America, there would be severe consequences for the teacher. Everything here just seems to be so much more relaxed and they seem to live a much more enjoyable life. I wish America was more like in Australia in that persepective as everything is always rushed and not appreciated in America. I know for a fact that I will not be living in America as soon as I finish University, but that is pretty much the only thing I know about my life thus far. Another problem that I have encountered this week is the fact that I have somehow screwed up the amount of money on my debit card, so as of now I have no money. This has been an interesting change of life for me as I always knew that I could access money if I needed it, but by knowing for a fact that I can’t, has led me to be more thoughtful about eating out and spending money. Instead of going out to eat a couple times a week like I have been doing, Ive started to eat in my room with whatever food I have left. I think it’s actually kinda fun. Ive made a game out of it with myself, seeing how long I can preserve certain food until it goes bad and seeing how I can use a food, such as peanut butter, in as many ways as possible. Ive had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, peanut butter and apples, peanut butter and crackers and probably many other combinations that I do not know if they sound as appetising. At least we still have our weekly dinners! Im looking forward to the SupaBar again! 

This One’s For George

October 19th, 2008 by bfoley1 | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

    So pretty much, my friend Jessica and I would go to see this incredible man named george for our community service hours. The two of us would wake up early on Tuesday mornings, grab a coffee from Starbucks and than catch a tram up to the next town, Kew. We would talk about what George had said last week and about what pictures out of his photo book we would get to see this week. Sadly, George died this week. Whoever is reading this blog, I don’t want the impression to come off as if I am just using the death of George to take up one of my required blogs. It’s not that way at all. I just want to talk about how if I was having a bad week or missing home, George was one of those types of people who would just be able to put a smile on your face everyday. I haven’t known George for a very long time, but it did not seem that way. On George’s calendar, there was nothing written on it, except every tuesday he had it marked down as, “American Girls are Coming.” Every time we entered into his room, he had trouble standing up but he would get up any way and give us a warm hug, kiss our hands and cheeks and have a huge grinning smile on. We would spend time looking through his photos and all the amazing things that he had accomplished during his life. He had moved around with his wife all around the world and had also fought in World War two. We heard stories about his family life here, and how their great grandaughter was a fire dancer. It was his birthday about two weeks ago, so Jessica and I both knew exactly what to get George. We bought him a frame to place a photo of his many adventures in. As soon as we handed it over, we knew he loved it as a smile gleamed across his face. A few years ago, George had also suffered from a stroke and consequentially had trouble speaking, so whenever jessica and I made our way over to visit, his wife would be there as well to help us understand what George was saying. Multiple times George got frustrated and have tears running down his face in his effort to have us understand what it was that he was trying to say. George came to affect my life in the fact that even though he was old and was stuck in a nursing home, everyday he would get up and put on his best clothes and make sure that day would be a good day. George became someone I would look forward to seeing every week and made my time here in australia a little bit more exciting. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute I sat and talked with George and I know that he took advantage of his time here and has reminded me not to waste the amazing opportunities given to me. George was a celebration of life and I know I was priveledged to be some part of such an amazing mans life. 

Mini-America!

October 13th, 2008 by bfoley1 | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

    This week, there were a bunch of us that had the awesome oppertunity to go in to the american consulate to watch the presidental debates. Having previously lived in England, we went to the American Embassy to renew our passports but I have a really bad memory and for some reason could not really remember it. I knew it was not a big deal, but it was more the idea of going to the “American Consulate.” It sounded very professional and we were all kinda hoping that there would be a mini food court with a taco bell in it. It would have pretty much completed my life. Anyways, we took a whole complicated system of trams to get where we needed to go and probably would not have gotten there without Nino who worked out what trains would arrive where at the exact timing. As I tend to be a little forgetful, I had not told Nino on time that I wanted to go in to the American Consulate to watch the debates. I more like told him the day before making everybodys life difficult. So we did not hear a reply that would say if I was allowed into the Consulate to watch the debates. We were waiting in the security line and I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw that my name was on the list. I than continued on to breath a sigh of patience as we were too early and needed to go and chill out in the cafe around the corner. After another half hour of patiently waiting, we were finally left inside. As we made our way through security, we walked upstairs towards this room where there was a ton of noise. As we entered, it was a bunch of men in suits. I looked down at myself and felt like an inadequate college student. No one judged though. Everyone quickly sat down and there was tea and cakes and sandwiches offered throughout the room. The man in charge made a small speech and than continued on to turn on the debates. Everyone sat in silence as we watched the two nominees battle for the title of president. It was awesome to watch in the Consulate as you could feel the tension running through the air. As soon as the debate ended, there were two men sitting in the audience who than continued to stand up and present their ideas on the debate and all that had just happened. It was good to hear other peoples opinions about the debate and their views on what had just happened. All I have to say though is that Obama brought down the house :) 

How do you put the Great Ocean Road into Words?!!

October 12th, 2008 by bfoley1 | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

 

Waking up at eight o’clock in the morning seemed like an annoying task for a Saturday morning because that was supposed to be our day to sleep in! Putting that thought behind me though, I kept positive and thought about how amazing the trip was going to be even though I had no idea what the great ocean road was going to be in the first place. First off, all I knew was that we would be spending around fourteen hours on the bus and secondly, whenever I asked any aussie friends of mine to describe what the great ocean road was, an image would be drawn up in my mind of a long stretch of road with randomly placed towns that we would probably stop off at for around fifteen minutes and than carry on our way.  It sounded like a pretty boring day and I was expecting myself to be sleeping the whole entire ride. Starting off the morning, we all climbed into the bus and chatted and started to turn on our ipods because it would be a two-hour trip just to get to the great ocean road. I started to close my eyes and daze off. Probably around two hours later, Julia who was sitting next to me and tapped me to wake up. I didn’t know why she was interrupting my zen state in which I was sleeping, but as soon as I looked out the window, I knew that I owed Julia a lot for not letting me miss this sight. I have  been to many coastlines around the world, but this one was spectacular. I have no idea how to explain how breathtaking it was. The cliffs jutted out of the water and were red and clay like, but leading up to the cliffs were these rolling hills of farmland and it was one of the most amazing things I had ever seen. Driving along the bendy roads though was not as enjoyable as I have a history of easily becoming car sick. Consequentially I was not able to appreciate the view as much as I wanted to, but would occasionally open my eyes to make sure that I didn’t miss out on that much. We stopped in the most amazing viewpoints and everyone got off the bus to take tons and tons of pictures, but unfortunately, my camera was broken because I somehow managed to get sand into it and now it won’t work. Thankfully I have really good friends who are willing to take pictures and give them to me so I don’t completely miss out. We stopped at multiple surf towns as the waves we saw were huge and there were surfers everywhere. We stopped for lunch and eventually made our way to the major spot where there were the twelve apostles. This is a whole bunch of rocks that jut out to the water and are separated from the coastline. The water was this shocking shade of electric blue and the coast was bright orange and clay like. We all walked around the coast and took pictures and just let the view set in. I was literally unable to comprehend how beautiful it was. I would walk around and just be able to say, “This is so cool!” I want to move there and die there to put across how much I loved it. The weather was perfect and the whole entire trip was perfect. Another thing about the trip was that we had so much time on the bus that I was able to think about a lot of things. The whole time, I started to realize how fortunate I have been in my life. Not many people live up to eighteen and have done as much as I have. My parents have been so giving and made sure that their children have been able to see the world. I have been all over Asia, to Africa twice, lived and traveled all over Europe and now they have given me the opportunity to live in Australia.  My life has consisted of seeing things that people wait their whole life to see and I am only eighteen. I have come to appreciate all the opportunities that have been presented to me throughout my life thus far. Adding on to that note, I have also recently read my friend Ryan’s blog and he talks about how he believes everybody has been brought here for some sort of reason. I thought long and hard about this and I completely agreed with what he said. I have noticed that since I have been here, I have completely changed as a person, in most parts for the better. I have become more independent and am now capable of taking care of myself, which I never thought I would be able to handle. I have a calmer way of thinking and tend to not get as stressed out about petty little things that don’t matter as much as I used to. I have a more relaxed way of living and looking at things around me in a new light. By coming here, I have learnt many new things about myself, some good some bad, and I want to continue learning myself and am thankful that I have been given this opportunity in which to learn about me. 

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