Northeastern University

Journey into Australia

NUin Experience

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

“To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch… to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!” -Emerson

The past 4 months, I have slaved over papers, emailed my parents, blogged, studied for exams while sitting at my desk admiring this quote. It stands for so much I’ve accomplished over the course of such. I know, it does sound corny…at least to me it does as I read my first sentence over again. But. It truly stands for so much. I’ve learned to laugh more. The people I’ve met here have opened me up to a whole part of me I didn’t know existed prior to arriving in Australia. I can be who I truly am with the new friends that I’ve made and I love them for that. The girlfriends I’ve made here have helped me discover who I want to be and how I have to live day to day like it’s the last. I’ve lived in Australia…honestly, AUSTRALIA my first semester of college and can proudly say I have taken it all in. I can appreciate the beauty it holds. Looking out the window of my messy, messy, messy apartment room…I love hawthorn. The sunrise (because I’m always up to see it..I’m crazy) is literally the perfect sunrise. The air smells like it still has the moisture of the night in it while the sun lights up the town that has hosted me for the past 4 months. I can say I look for the best in people now. The 28 of us are the wildest group of people I have ever met in my life but I love every damn person for that reason. We are each unique, but have this crazy adventure in common. I can proudly say I’ve succeeded and that is the beauty in this entire experience.

Melbourne Cup

November 9th, 2008 by lkovacs | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Cup Day. Ohh, cup day. To be honest, I will probably remember that day for the rest of my life. I was in the middle of hundreds of thousands of people, wearing a 1950’s esque outfit, drinking australia beer which added about 500calories to my day, and watching horse races. What? Honestly. What? There have been so many moment the past four months where I’ve just had to sit back and look at where I am, really take a deep, long, meaningful look at my location. Melbourne Cup was one of the moments. I’m 12,000miles (something like that) away from my home, in Australia, surrounded by drunk australians ALL dressed up, my feet hurt so bad I want to cry..but I feel the most alive I’ve ever felt my entire life. The best moment of the entire day was watching the boys lose money. Sorry guys, but betting just isn’t your thing. I, of course, didn’t bet because I knew I was too ignorant to bet well.. the guys of course lost money not betting well enough. I’m pretty sure our co-op (go eric!) was the only person to win money out of all 31 of us, which is pretty pathetic for NUin as a whole. Reflecting back on the day as a whole, I love thinking about the details. It was amazing seeing everyone in our group dressed up before we set off from Swinburne South. The picture we have of the beginning of the day are precious and I hope to see them as the NEU main portal picture very soon (cough cough any higher ups reading my blog). It was literally the perfect bonding day with the people I’ve gotten close to over the past few months. “Wherever you are, it is your friends who make your world.” New friends, old friends, I’ve always believed it is the people around you who truly make things worth wild.

Letter

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

Reading my letter, I did everything the 4 month younger version of myself wanted me to do. I accomplished all of my goals. I immersed myself in the culture, I traveled, I met some (few but whatever) locals, I learned how to cook even though I only eat veggies so what is there to cook?, I am confident in my major, I did well in school, and I made lasting friendships. Writing, like this letter, is something I always used to do. I have so many journals in my room at home full of the same types of lists. I always make goals for myself, so perhaps that is why I accomplished all I wrote? I know myself very well so I always seems to make goals I know I can reach. Living here, there wasn’t too much I couldn’t do…so I guess me in July knew all that I would be able to conquer by today. It’s amazing everything I have done since the day I wrote that letter. I know I can be up and down about this whole experience, but the overall picture is out of this world. When I wrote that letter in July, I had no idea I would be jumping out of a plane 14,000ft above the great barrier reef in late September. I accomplished so much within in each of my general goals written down in July. These past 4 months have been crazy looking back at it. I know as time goes on, I’m going to slowly appreciate it more and more.

Back to the US of A

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

I am ready. God, am I ready. I want everything American. I want American college. I want Northport, New York in the fall. I want friends that have known me since I could barely walk. I want my sister, who makes me laugh harder than anyone I’ve ever met. I want all these things but on top of the wanting, I’ve been having anxiety about my re-entry back into my own country. I know the little things are going to throw me off ontop of adjusting to the US as a whole. The money, the driving, the food, and of course the people in my left I left thousands of miles away. I left in July in a past relationship resparked. To sum that up, I left my guy of 4 years in july. Over the past months, the relationship has managed to sustain some life but nothing compared to what existed prior to arriving in Australia. I have anxiety from it. Returning home, a new person.. because I know I have changed, will the relationship be the same? Will it be better because I gained so much from this experience? Will it be better because we get to catch up on 4 months of our lives? Anxiety. I want to share everything with all of my friends back home. My friends are my world. The past year all of my girl friends have been through so much, I just need them. It’s weird, especially living these 4 months right after I graduated high school. In the past year, I applied to colleges, didn’t get into my desired college, signed with Northeastern, signed up to travel to Australia, graduated high school, spent 3 weeks saying goodbye to everyone I love, said my last goodbyes, spent 4 months living in a foreign culture, lost friendships back home, gained new friendships here, and lived almost too much. Now I’m traveling back to a country I’ve lived in for 18 years after adjusting to this one. Re-entry wise, I just can’t wait. I can’t wait for everything despite the anxiety. Gone in 3 weeks.

Stress

October 26th, 2008 by lkovacs | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Alright so. I’m blogging because I have a huge critical thinking exam tomorrow and I’m procrastinating. These “all nighters”. I am curious about such a thing. Honestly, I need one right now. But how the hell does a college student pull one off? If i stayed up all night right now, I would be so tired…andd probably not do as well on my exam becauase I would be sleeping. BUT if I go to sleep at a descent time, i might miss studying a specific topic that may be the focus of the exam tomorrow. What am I suppose to do? Drink 10 redbulls throughout the night? I would die and probably faint again from dehydration or something ridiculous like that. Blah. Perhaps currently, aka right this second.. the topic I’m studying just isn’t interesting. That is one thing I can’t wait for. 3/4/5 year courses. The sciences courses I will be taking. I will love everything. Despite the work load, it is interesting to me. I love learning how a certain type of cell produces a specific chemical reaction within my body which gives me life. Ugh, critical thinking is NOTHING like that right now. I could really care less if while constructing an argument I perform an invalid pattern. If I deny the antecedent, will anyone notice? No. My frustration comes right out of high school. High school drove me crazy the same way freshman courses to. I need to be kept busy, really busy with something I love. 2 more weeks of class. Mmmm couldn’t sound better right now. Attempted all nighter. Go.

Friendship

October 26th, 2008 by lkovacs | Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Back home I have one friend that has been through it all with me. Thick and thin over the past 10 years, I know we’re going to be friends for the rest of our lives. My mom has the same situation. Since I can remember, I have memories of her friend from high school visiting us in New York. They still stay in touch, meeting in New York city every few months. The city is half was between my mom’s friend’s house and my house. Ugh, it makes me so excited for everything that is going to come over the next few years. Everything is hard right now, school wise, but looking at the big picture…it’s all over in 2-3 weeks and I’m free. I only have 5 more years of college left. FIVE YEARS OF MY ENTIRE LIFE. I love that I already know some of the people that I know will be there for me the next important steps of this life. Today, skyping my mom.. we started talking about how I left for school, how my sister is leaving in about a year, and then we suddenly jumped to my sister and I starting families. I love that I can sit here and know that some of the people I have met through this program will be in my life then. I know that Megan will be at my wedding. Sounds so cliche just because Theresa said it at orientation and we thought it was so unrealistic, but I can’t ever imagine not being friends with her. We’ve both been through so much over the past 3 months from deaths, to breakups, to living in a foreign country. My mom when she was 20 went to Europe with that same friend from high school. She lived it all with that one friend. I know I can say Megan and I in 20 years will be looking back at this all together. One of the best moments from this entire trip was during our white water rafting tour. Literally in the middle of the rainforest, the instructor said we could get out and float down the river. Megan and I jumped out, no one else did. We were riding the Tulley River in northern Australia at age 18 our first semester of college. WHAT THE HELL. I was screaming. “MEGAN WHERE ARE WEE RIGHT NOWWW?!?! WHERE ARE WE?!” I will forever remember that feeling. The feeling of a new friendship turning slowly into a friendship you know will exist forever and just living your damn life to the best of your ability with that same person. Despite if she winds up running her own business or I’m working 36hour days at a hospital, career struggles are nothing to compared to what we’ve conquered here. I’ve always been the kind of person who takes years to open up to someone completely. Honestly, I think Megan knows just as much as my one friend knows about me back home and I’ve been friends with her for 10 years. It’s almost a feeling of renewal. She knows my past, but both of us together started a new portion of our lives. Let’s see what happens next.

Culture Shock

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

My stage of culture shock is semi confusing to me. I know I’m way beyond irritability and hostility. I’m not having “difficulties” in Australia because of it’s culture difference anymore. I personally, think I’m in the ”Adjustment and Integration” phase. Adjustment and integretation because I am DEFINITELY seeing bad and good elements of both my old culture and my new culture. I am absolutely not completely comfortable with Australian culture because I STILL haven’t experienced it due to my current enrollment in a international school that barely has any Australians in it. I mean, I’ve experienced the culture, obviously because I am living in Australia. I don’t want to sound stupid right now. But. I feel like I’m missing out on alot because I’m surrounded my non-Australians. Going away for a week over spring break, I met more people than I have here. I met them, for one night each, and then had to move on to my next location up the coast of Australia though. So, I never really got to “experience” their culture, because I never really got to know my vacation friends. I have the ability to function in this country, yes. But I hate it too. Lately, I’ve just been over Australia.. which is why sitting here, I can’t even slightly think that I’m in the last phase of culture shock. On my flight home from Tasmania this morning (I’ve been up for 14 hours and it’s only 6:26pm ps), the flight attendent welcomed me at 6am with a “GOOODMORNINGGG!!!!!!!!”. It is 6am, why the hell are you so happy? Obviously, flight attendants are payed to welcome the people (me) onto the plane but I feel like New York fight attendents just say hello, Welcome aboard. Regardless, the way that annoying little man said hello to me this morning started me on a huge rampage of how nice people are in Australia and how I miss the mean, cold aspect of New York. GOD I MISS IT. I honestly don’t think I’m ever going to be “biculturally content” living here. There is a part of my NY pride that won’t let me, and I would rather be associated with New York any other day of the week. SO moral of my blog: I am still trying to get used to Australia.

Tasmania

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

This weekend I had the luxury of escaping good ol’ Hawthorn and voyaging off to Tasmania. Thankyou, Mom and Dad for paying for my second vacation over the $30,000 grand you dropped for one semester of my 10 year education plan. I love you both. The downfall of this adventure was that it began at 3:30am Saturday morning. I swear to god my roommates where still up and drunk eating while I was showering and beginning my day. We (Julia and I) caught a 6:30am flight and made our way to Hobart, Tasmania. Since I’m writing my independent travel paper on this adventure, I’m going to leave huge chunks out in my blog. (that was a side note for whoever is reading this) Saturday, we biked down Mt. Wellington which was awesome mainly because I haven’t rode a bike since 2000. I was very proud of myself at the bottom of the mountain to say the least. Mt. Wellington is the highest point in Hobart, so they view from the top was amazing. I still can’t figure out how to add pictures to my blog, so “amazing” will have to suffice. At the top, I was peeing/crying sadly to myself because of my pre-biking nerves but thankfully, 5 minutes in I had adjusted. After biking, I kayaked the harbor and literally saw the entire town from the water’s perspective. It was like weirdly hot/cold the entire day but a good time was had. We went to bed at about 9pm and spent all of Sunday doing fun/random little things. Dinner Sunday night was perfect. We ordered Cosmopolitans, which couldn’t have been better. The waiter was so nervous serving one to me once I actually said I was from New York. “Try it, and let me know if it tastes like it does back home.” Of course I’ve NEVER had a Cosmopolitan in New York City so god knows what they are actually suppose to taste like. Being the nice underage drinker back home, I told him it was the perfect NYC Cosmo. Actually dinner consisted of literally a perfect plate of fish. Let me explain it so whoever is reading this can be jealous. (Sorry Eric or Lauren? Or some random back home.) Blue Eye = a deep sea fish. So. Blue Eye, chargrilled in a soy/ginger/garlic sauce over sauteed vegies and sliced potatoes. Literally, the best piece of fish I’ve had in Australia so far. Hmmmgadfjhgkjfdg I want it right now. After spending 50+ on a delish meal, we crashed in our hostel which was bed bug free THANKGOD. I checked the matress before sleeping in it because I still have scars from the bed bugs in our Gold Coast hostel. Tasmania was fun stuff. I have to go edit my Hofstede paper now. Cheeeeers

Homesick Round Dos

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

So lately I’ve been receiving a second wind of home sickness. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to go home, it’s just that I miss the United States for what it is. The politics of Australia have been frustrating me, the over pricing of Starbucks (worse than it was in the US), and yes, the accents. There is one girl, at least 2 years older than I am, in my Critical Thinking class that just talks and talks and talks. I hate her now. I hate her because her accent makes me want to vomit. I think that’s a blatant warning that I need some U.S. of A in my life. I miss the details. I miss my friends and my family. Right now my friends in American college are sleeping soundly in their Northport, NY beds, expecting a Monday morning of……nothing. Wonder why? Because they get to celebrate Columbus Day. I want to celebrate Columbus Day. All of my girlfriends came home this weekend, all hung out, all got to see each other after the first month of college, got to point out who gained weight already, got to illegally drink, and I got to do my Media and Politics presentation (Yes, I am still frustrated about it.) I’m basically really over Australia at this point because of my classes. We have 4 more weeks. In those 4 weeks, I have about 10 final papers/research projects/exams due. Frustration and stress is taking over my life. Currently, I’m viewing going home as a vacation which is such a sad sentence. Honestly, this experience has been amazing…but I secretly just want to the hell out of the country. I want to vote in a voter’s booth in November, eat my mom’s pumpkin pie, celebrate Halloween and Columbus Day weekend, enjoy the radio back home, go pumpkin picking, sit in my car on the dock overlooking the harbor in my town while listening to Iron & Wine watching the leaves fall from the trees, and be normal. Month and a half left and I couldn’t be more excited for Northport, New York.

Venting

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

I’m going to take this blogging opportunity to vent a bit about my Media and Politics course. I am currently struggling to research for a presentation I have on Wednesday with 4 other NUIN members. Us 4 are all struggling. The presentation is basically (summed up) a 40 minute bit on an issue discussed during the 2007 Australian Federal Election. Side note: I don’t really know what the Australian federal election is.  Each of us 4 are assigned a different newspaper where we have to find 20 articles from last year on our issue (Australia’s involvement in the Iraq War) and then answer about 10 very long questions/form graphs discussing whether or not the newspaper was biased at all during the election. Let’s pause for a second. This assignment seems easy explaining it. I myself feel like I’m making it sound easy. IT IS NOT EASY. First off, we are the dumb Americans in the class. I swear to god my tutorial teacher even thinks we’re all stupid. We spent the first 4 tutorial classes thinking their ”left liberal party” was a liberal party. Oh wait no, it’s conservative. Everyone else in the class is Australian, about 3-4 years older than all of us, and have taken both the TWO prerequisites for the course. We are 18 year old Americans who learned about the U.S. government for the past 4 years of high school. Literally, every time any of us try to answer a question in that class, we are wrong. I’m not joking. I am frustrated. I have been on the same website trying to find articles for the past literally 9 hours. I have been sitting in front of my damn computer for 9 hours researching the australian government to pass a class on how Australian politics influences Australian media to help me in 10 years when I am hopefully in medical school. Why AM I TAKING THIS COURSE. On top of everything I’ve explained, we also have a 3,000-4,000 word research paper on our presenation topic due November 21. My eyes are so tired, I have a headache, all I want to do is research something involving Medicine, and it’s time for me to end this blog before I really offend someone.