Freo Life!

After a long 3 month Christmas Vacation, I have finally arrived in Freo (Fremantle), and start class tomorrow. Being in Freo for the past week has been a blast! It is such a cute little city with tons of shopping, fun pubs, and great cafes. Everyone is very laid back and happy. We are staying at a complex called the P and O Hotel, which holds all 27 of the CSBSJU students, as well as a few from Boston College, Notre Dame, Sienna College, Portland, and Drake. I have already had the opportunity to meet a lot of cool people, both locals as well as people from other schools in the states! The P&O is a very cool building, with a balcony looking over Mauot Street and beautiful stained glass windows everywhere.  500 steps to our right, we have a beach called Bathers Beach, and about 300 steps to our left, we have a bar called the Orient. I think I’m going to like this place!

My first week has consisted of lots of sun, sweat, water, and orientation. We have a few hours of mandatory Orientation every day, but when we are not doing that we are at the beach. It has been about 100 degrees here every day, so everywhere you go is extremely hot! I don’t think I’ve ever drank so much water in my life! Also, our rooms are not air conditioned, so taking a cold shower is one of the highlights of my day! It is supposed to cool down in the next week or two, which will be nice. I feel slightly bad complaining about the heat since I know it is still freezing at home, but I’m quickly learning to get used to it!

 On the weekends, a giant market opens up where various venders throughout the metropolis area sell all sorts of goofy stuff, as well as some good produce! Since fruits and vegetables are so much less expensive at the markets, going to the markets will have to become part of my Sunday routine!

School here will be very interesting, as it is much different than what I am used to. I am taking 5 classes, and have each class only once per week. My grades depend on a midterm, 1 paper, and 1 final exam, which will be difficult. At orientation, the director tried to scare us by saying no one gets good grades here, and as long as you have a passing grade you should be happy with your efforts. Also, she made it clear that putting the correct answer down for a test won’t get you a passing grade; we must elaborate on every answer to expect a grade. This information is quite intimidating, but many others who have done the program say it’s not as bad as they describe, but we will find out shortly! The good news is that we won’t have a lot of homework, which allows us plenty of time to explore and travel! We have a few excursions planned for us through the school, one of which will take place with the Aborigines in the Kimberly Desert, but we also are planning a ‘study break’ trip to Bali, a weekend at Rottnest Island, and a trip to Margaret River to become wine connoisseurs J

I will post pictures on face book soon of the first week of Freo life!

Oh, and We  have quickly learned that no one should go swimming at night, as two people have had ‘jelly fish related’ incidents! We’ve also heard that sharks like to creep up towards the shore at night too--- so no night time swimming for me!

And I finally have a picture of our scooter team from Queenstown!