Hey All!

Just a few updates!!

1. My internship is going well! We just had our Good Friday Appeal benefit auction and raised $610,000 for the Royal Melbourne Children Hospital.

2. Uni is FLYING by… it’s already past week 8 of 12!

3. College is great, getting ready for the upcoming ball (yay!).

4. Easter has just passed and I feel ill from all of the chocolate I ate :/

5. Rowing at College has also begun, which is a good way to work off all of the aforementioned chocolate.

6. I will be back in America in LESS than two months! ( I am still in shock at how quick time flew by)

7.  Now that I am on Easter break, I will be exploring the Great Ocean Road, and will have a better post for next week with many new photos!

I hope everyone had a phenomenal Easter!

Greetings ALL! Sorry I have been MIA! I’ve been very busy with Uni & my internship! This past week was heaps of fun because I spent my entire weekend at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show! There were hundreds of vendors and tons of activities for  families.

While at the show, I was responsible for familiarizing show-goers with Villawood, but more importantly, stressing our support and sponsorship for our favorite artists from Kooper Tasmania.

Folko and his wife Maureen create amazing pieces of art, and I was very fortunate to view a very small selection of their work while at the show. They use materials such as stainless steel, bronze, glass, and sandstone. I was most impressed by their sculptures made out of steel, which were mostly of birds. Not only are Folko and Maureen  genuinely talented, but they are also very lovely people. It was a great pleasure to have the opportunity to meet them and show support for their work.

Steal Bird by Kooper Tasmania

Peacocks

More Info about the Artists:

http://koopertasmania.com/index.shtml

More Info about the Show:

http://www.melbflowershow.com.au/

Yes! I have done it! I have acquired a position as an intern! I am currently interning with a property development company, Villawood Properties in Melbourne, as an intern in their PR/ Event Planning division. Needless to say I am quite thrilled about my internship. As my first day approached, I prepared myself for the possibilities of endless coffee runs and being the recipient of all the grunt work, but, to my surprise, it was nothing like that. Not only are my bosses fabulous, but they actually care about me as a worker. Now, I am in no way shape or form saying previous bosses have dismissed me, but I think going off what I’ve seen in movies, and the depiction of the torture interns have to endure, I was very misinformed. It is only my second week as an intern, but I am genuinely enjoying it, and cannot wait to see what’s in store.

Yes, Apple has taken Oz by storm… You cannot go anywhere in Melbourne without seeing someone on their iphone or playing games on their ipad. I was riding the tram today and noticed that about 85% of the people around me had an iphone. Also, while walking through Uni almost everyone I saw had an Apple computer.  This post really has no significant point nor does it reveal a profound truth , I just found it interesting/amazing to see how a brand can transform into a culture.

Supporting evidence:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/apple-ipad-sales-hit-2-million/story-e6frgakx-1225874387322

http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/mobiles/apple-threatens-nokias-dominance-20100521-w0f7.html

I am once again back to the hustle and bustle of busy Uni life, and New Zealand is starting to feel like a distant memory… I had such an amazing time while in the land of the kiwis. I traveled  the North and South island for 17 days and had the most amazing experience of my life. My friend Tina (fellow Crusader) and I started at the top of the South island working our way further south all the way to Queenstown, and then up to Auckland in the North Island. While in New Zealand I went swimming with hundreds of wild dolphins, bungee jumped 440 feet on Australasia’s highest bungee, hiked a glacier, climbed an active volcano, and went skydiving from 15,ooo feet. Not only was my NZ itinerary full of fun activities, but I was also able to view some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. When I wasn’t sight seeing and jumping out of planes I was making tons of new friends from all over the world on the Kiwi Experience bus. It was incredible. Or as the kiwis say, it was “sweet as bro”!

Dusky Dolphins in Kaikoura

Volcano Hike

Glacier Hike

South Island

Bungee Jumping

Skydiving 15,000 feet

Kia Ora! Or if you don’t speak Māori, the language of the New Zealand natives, Hi! (Kia Ora is similar to “Aloha” in that it is used for both “hello” and “goodbye”) I am currently traveling around New Zealand with the very popular Kiwi Experience Tour Bus company. I’m having the time of my life going from city to city and hostel hopping. I have met so many wonderful people while traveling both on and off the bus. Fellow crusader Santina and I started our NZ adventure in the South Island and will conclude our travels in the North Island. Unfortunately, due to internet inaccessibility, I will not be able to post a detailed post whilst here. The minute I get back to Melbourne I’ll be sure to post a detailed itinerary with tons of photos. Till then, take care and Kia Ora!

As I had mentioned in my previous blog, Wilsons Promontory was rich with Aussie wildlife including kangaroos, wombats, wallabies, and possums. In order to get a glimpse of the surrounding critters, my friends and I decided to take a late night wildlife walk where we came upon many of the aforementioned animals, and to my friends and I’s surprise, we even spotted a deer. All of the Aussies in the group gasped “A deer!” and I sat there momentarily stunned until remembering that deers are uncommon here. It was a great time looking for native creatures, and I was determined to snap a photo of a wombat (which are probably my favorite, next to koalas). It was at the end of the walk that we finally spotted a wombat and like a tourist, I whipped out my camera…

Possum

Wombat "hiding" from our cameras

Up close and personal

Finally snapped a photo of the wombat

So, I started this blog on the 11^th in the Fall, so I thought it fitting to end it on the 11^th in the Spring. What’s happened?

June 3^rd- It was more real to me on the plane that I was indeed going home, but I still felt as if I was just going on another trip. My parents were waiting for me and my roommate came along to surprise me too! It was a bit of sensory overload as more friends came and visited- I definitely would not have had it any other way, I was so happy to see everyone, but it was weird because in my mind I felt I was still in Ireland, on Ireland time? I’m still figuring that one out…haha.

June 4^th- I woke up, way early- ah, so this is jetlag- thinking about when I should greet my friends in the apartment across the courtyard and then remembered that I was home; I felt at that moment how quickly the year goes and couldn’t believe that I was home already.

My weekend was filled with more visits from family and friends, which was wonderful and hard at the same time because the answer to the question “How was Ireland?” is never an easy one. You either want to tell everything or you have to keep it short and sweet. I found the latter is better (I can always show the family the pictures later).

I was very busy this first week back in the States, which in a way was good because it forced me not to be ‘homesick for Dublin.’ But today, I do miss Dublin. And I think that’s great. I certainly immersed myself within the culture, I look for certain things here in the States that remind me of Dublin, I’ve been told that I’ve been comparing Dublin with the States (i.e.- well, in Dublin we do… or in Ireland the way it works…). I say ‘cheers’ instead of ‘thanks’ still and add the occasional ‘like’ at the ends of my sentences and a personal favorite phrase picked up- ‘no worries.’ I will miss being able to walk everywhere, I will miss the rain (I still argue that rain in Ireland is very different from the rain we get here- insert your laugh here) and I will miss my friends. I can honestly say that studying abroad in Dublin was one of the best experiences of my life, I will always reflect on it and be thankful. When I miss Ireland on days like today, I find myself checking Irish news, music, and sports (I am in love with the band The Script and yes, who doesn’t love Rugby?).

I know I will be going back to Dublin, I just don’t know when.

I am very excited, though, to share my abroad experiences with my fellow classmates who were also studying abroad. So goodbye for now Ireland and hello again Holy Cross!

Cheers,

Megan   

Well, last full day in Dublin. I ran around Grafton St. getting last minute gifts, finished packing, and went to our favorite pub to say goodbye to friends. It was a great night, but hard to believe. I had established for myself another home and created a family of new friends; I was excited to go home but still couldn’t believe that I wouldn’t be walking past Trinity’s campanile or past the Arts Block or grabbing a coffee at the Science Gallery Café, following what had become my new routine in a new place. Off course this night I didn’t sleep because I was in a room that was now empty and it hit me that my wonderful, outstanding experience in Dublin was ending.