Enjoying Australia

Hey everyone!

Sorry it's been awhile. I've been amassing things to write about since I've been pretty busy with classes. If you aren't too busy with work or school feel free to write me and email or comment! I love hearing how everyone at home is doing.

Last week I went into the city and stopped at Hungry Jacks for dinner. When Burger King first came to Australia they couldn't get the rights to the name for some reason so they changed it to Hungry Jacks. I wasn't planning on getting anything but it turns out they have veggie burgers! Sometimes being a vegetarian can get kind of boring when you cook your own food and are trying to save money so it was nice to have something different. Australia is actually pretty vegetarian friendly. The other day we went to the Village's Path Party and they had some really delicious veggie burgers with melty cheese inside.

For the past two weeks my "acting" class has been focusing on big voice and comedy. Two days a week we worked with our professor, Caleb, on stand up and sketch comedy. Comedy is super nerve-wrecking and requires a suprising amount of energy. Sketch comedy is alot easier because we mostly worked on improv exercises, but stand-up is terrifying! The first day we had to get up in front of the class and tell an embarrasing story. (Lindsey, it was the "Getting a penny are we?" story) It's exhilerating when everyone laughs but awful when all you hear is silence. I was surprised at how well everyone in our class did. Apprently I have a dry humor persona.

I've been trying to read as many Australian plays as I can get my hands on. For the most part I haven't found anything that really interested me but the other day I read a play called Speaking in Tongues by Andrew Bovell that I really loved. It told the story of two couples who cheat (or almost cheat) on each other with a person from the pair. The four actors change parts for each of the three sections and the story builds and twists.

I've also managed to aquire about 100 songs from various Australian artists. Most of it is really good. If you are interested and can find it check out Missy Higgins, The Living End, and The Presets.

The other day I got an email from John Green, the head of the theatre department at Butler, saying that he would be leaving at the end of this semester. I'm disapointed that he won't be at Butler for our last semester but I think it will be good to work with someone else as well. In a couple of days I have to start deciding what classes I want to take next year. I also want to look into various types of interships. I'd love to get an internship that would let me work with film editing but I don't know if there is anything available in Indy. Otherwise I think I'd like to do a stage managing or acting internship.

This past weekend I went to the beach and didn't burn! We went pretty late in the afternoon so the sun wasn't as hot. I was hoping to even out the awful streaks I've got on my right leg but to no avail. Later that night we went into the city with some of Jeff's roommates and went clubing. One of the clubs has a night called "Flashdance" and only plays music from the 80's and 90's, so I can grantee that we'll be going there soon.

Just two more weeks until my mid-semester break! We are still getting plans finalize but we will be spending some of it at Melbourne. This week in my acting class we are working on clowning. I'm not sure what that is going to entail but it sounds like it'll be fun.

Don't forget to leave me a comment or write me an email! I wanna hear from you guys :)

Getting an Education

My butt is sore and my neck hurts but I absolutely love my classes! There is a lovely feeling of security that I get from knowing I'll only be here for a semester. I can relax and not become so consumed with grades and judgment and trying to work towards a goal that will mark me as a "better person." Instead I can simply enjoy my classes, try to hold nothing back, make mistakes. No pressure. I think in the end I'll get more out of the experience than if I was trying super hard to succeed, to get the A+++, to have the most credit hours, to cross the most things off my list. It's very freeing.

Monday mornings I have my Film Form & Analysis lecture. This week was all about editing, which I found fascinating. I never really realized how movies were filmed and cut together or things like the process of continuity. I'd really like to learn more about editing and possibly get a chance to edit some film on my own. (We will be doing a group project that involves editing together stock footage). I think if I don't go into acting, film editing would be my second choice. I think I would be good at it because it sounds like it would be something that's a little bit tedious (which I actually enjoy doing) and would allow for some creativity but would also have the guidance of the directors vision.

In the afternoon I've got my tutorial for the Film class. The professor (teacher's assistant, maybe? Not sure what the term should be.) seems a little intense and highly efficient. It's a fairly large group, but the people seemed intelligent and interesting.

The source of my intensely sore muscles comes from the acrobatics class I have on Tuesday mornings. Everyone in Drama Centre is split into two groups (First and Second Years/ Third and Forth Years) for movement three days a week. For an hour and fifteen minutes we wrestled, jumped, tumbled, cartwheeled, attempted funky backwards rolls, and did a couple of simple lifts. It felt good to be doing something physical again. I'm looking forward to the daily dose of extra exercise. I'm hoping to be able to leave the class being able to do a handstand and a round off.

This morning we had a dance class in the place of acro. I'm excited about this class because I'm a crap dancer and I'm hoping this will help me get better and faster at picking up dance routines. I joined the First/Second Year group today but I think I'd rather be with the Advanced group. I handled the first group pretty easily and I'd like to be able to challenge myself. Today we did basic contemporary like movement. Nothing too difficult. I only had trouble because I was near the back of the large group and sometimes had trouble seeing.

Fridays we get Yoga, which I'm super excited about because I love Yoga. I'm terribly lacking in flexibility and I'm hoping consistent practice will help loosing up my hamstrings a little.
For our "acting" class Jeff, Nate, and I were placed with the third years in the comedy/clowning class. We'll be doing 2 weeks of stand-up comedy and 2 weeks of clowning. I'm not sure what that's going to consist of exactly (I think we'll be putting on a performance during the break) because for the past two days we've been working with a woman on what they called "Big Voice." Basically she is working on helping us with our projection.

Flinders uses a different voice system than we learned at Butler so it's tricky trying to learn the new warm-up exercises and trying to understand the vocabulary they use. Some of the methods are really different from what we taught, but I think I really like their system. Today we had to perform a small monologue we prepared and after working it with the professor for a while I had an awesome break through. I think a lot of what I was saying at the top came into play during the class. I was less nervous because I wasn't putting as much pressure on myself. I was able to commit and go big. It was a really good feeling.

We've also been placed into a first year class called Video Tech. We will be working in the TV studio learning how to handle the cameras, boom and operating boards. I'm really looking forward to this class because we don't get anything like it at Butler (as theatre majors). I think it will correspond nicely with my Film class by letting me have a little bit of hands on experience.
It feels really good to be busy and in classes again. I was starting to get a little bored and homesick but today I was thinking about how sad I'll be when I have to leave Australia. I am going to learn so much and have so many awesome experiences in my classes. Sometimes I worry that I was foolish to pick theatre as a career but after class I can't stop smiling and giggling to myself. I may be exhausted and sore but I've got high spirits.

Pub Crawling

On a less educational note, last weekend I went on a pub crawl with the DJ Village and had a blast. I got to meet several new people and got to dance and party in the city. At the end of the night the bus took us to McDonald's (which they call Mackers here) and we walked through the Drive-Thru (I guess this is common here as well). Last night I was back in the city, at the Garden, celebrating the birthday of Carissa. (A third year at Drama Centre)

Katie and I are talking about going to see a Fringe show this weekend and I'd like to go back to the beach before it starts getting cold. I hope everyone had good spring breaks (or will have good spring breaks).

Recovery Breakfast after the Pub Crawl (Diana, Angela, Cameron, Katie)

Surprising Tastes

I really love to grocery shop. I'm not sure why, but I think it's really fun. Probably because I get to make a list. Grocery shopping is even more fun in Australia because the brands are all different. Things like mustard are hard to find and they are classified as "American Mustard". The other day I saw a box of pop tarts at a lolly shop for $9.95. At our last shopping trip I bought a can of peas and the other night Katie cooked up some Mac & Cheese and I heated up the peas. . . not the same as American food. I mean canned peas and Macaroni are not a delicacy to begin with but these peas were large and mushy and the Mac was tasteless.

My most unpleasant experience with Australian food happened on my second day. The DJ Village (the housing complex where I'm living) was hosting a breakfast for all the people who had just moved in. They had bagels and a bunch of different spreads out: Butter, cream cheese and a bowl of something dark that looked like Nutella. Thinking it was this really good (but terrible for you) hazelnut spread, I heaped it onto my bagel. I was expecting something sweet and chocolaty and instead was shocked with the bitter, salty taste of Vegemite. Vegemite is popular among most Australians and is something that will put hairs on your chest. It's made from yeast extract and is not something I will be trying again in the future. I guess you are supposed to spread it on sparingly. It is a taste you have to acquire.

Not all the food has been bad though. I've had some really good (but greasy) fish and chips as well as some extremely delicious ice cream. I found out that if you want a milkshake, you have to order a thick shake. Otherwise you are basically getting strawberry milk. I have yet to sample any kangaroo meat, but Jeff and Nate bought some and were going to make tacos out of it. I'm thinking about breaking my vegetarian diet to sample it.

Monday was the Adelaide Cup so a bunch of us went down to the beach for the day. Despite my application of sunscreen I managed to get pretty toasted. Australia has a hole in the ozone layer apparently. On our way back to the apartments, as we were crossing the bridge between the main campus and the housing village, we saw two guys rigging up some ropes onto the bridge. One of the guys was standing on the other side and was about to bungie off. We stopped to watch and take pictures and then the guys offered us a turn. I'm terrified of heights and knew even thinking about it too hard would give me a heart attack so I quickly declined. But to everyone's surprise Nate immediately accepted. At first they were just going to lower him down on the rope, but he decided to go ahead and swing off like the first guy did. It was pretty awesome and we got some great video.

Vacation Time

From my view in the library right now, I can see a baseball game going on, a ton of trees, the skyline of Adelaide, and a deep blue ocean. I love walking to school and being able to see the water. Too far to see the beach or anything like that, but it's still a gorgeous view.

Class started last Monday but until the 16th my schedule is extremely light. On Monday I had my Film Form and Analysis lecture. I thought the class was going to be about learning how to use a camera, edit films, etc. However, it's more of a discussion based class about the elements of film. I wasn't sure if I was going to stay in the class but I think it's going to be really interesting. The class isn't going to teach me the hands-on practical knowledge that I'm most excited about learning, but it will help me understand the thought process behind making films. It will give me a creative vocabulary and an understanding of film structure. The class consists of a 3 hour lecture/film screening on Mondays and then an hour long tutorial. I'm not sure what's going to happen in the tutorial, but I think it's basically a small discussion group.

I didn't have another class until Friday. On Fridays I've got Contemporary Australian Drama with Nate, Jeff and the fourth year drama students. It's a fairly small sized class and should be really interesting. The classroom itself opens to a courtyard so when it's warm out we can have the door open and enjoy some sun. I really like the way the class is set up because I think it takes into account various learning styles and doesn't seem like one of those plug and chug kind of things. Every person is assigned one play to research and one play to direct a one hour rehearsal. We are required to give a presentation on the play we research and then write a short paper. At the end we will write a longer paper about any three plays we wish (of the ones covered in class). It's a nice system because you are able to read as much or as little as you like and you can choose to read plays that interest you. I plan on reading as many of them as I have time for. The library has most of the plays on our list along with a ton more. I think it would be beneficial to have read a plethora of Australian plays because it will give me an interesting pool to draw from when and if I decide to direct something someday. I'm hoping to maybe find something to direct in my senior year.


Downtown Adelaide

Yesterday Diane, Angela, Katie and I went into the city to see the South Australia Museum. It was pretty small and not one of the better museum's I've been to. The part about the Aboriginal culture was interesting, but vague. They also had some stuffed animals, but they weren't nearly as nice or as plentiful as the ones in the Field Museum.


Katie kissing a llama.

After the Museum we walked around Rundle Mall for awhile and then ate dinner at a little cafe/restaurant. Most of the restaurants on Rundle Street didn't open their kitchens until 5:30. The system for ordering food is also different. Instead of having a waitress you order your food at the counter. Someone will bring you food and fill your drinks, but it's not as personable. I think this practice is pretty common at most restaurants in Australia. You also aren't required to tip the servers because they get decent pay.

Tomorrow is the Adelaide Cup Day (which I think is a horse race) so we don't have any classes. I think we are going to go to the beach and enjoy the sun and warm weather. Once my other classes start I'll let you know more about them. I don't have class again until Friday so I'm hoping to use this week to explore some more of the city, go to the beach, read, and hang out with my friends. It's nice to have this break to be able to settle in and get used to Australia before I have to start doing work!

Haven't gotten to homesick yet but I miss everyone back home! Hope everyone is doing well! Anything going on exciting for spring break? I hear the weather is pretty nice at home.

Fringe Fest and Wildlife

It’s been a week since I arrived in Adelaide. Sometimes it’s almost hard to remember that I’m half way around the world because things are really similar here. The landscape could be somewhere possibly out West (never been so I can’t be too sure), everyone speaks English (except for my roommates), the food is pretty much the same (different brands and the shopping cards have strange wheels and are really hard to steer around corners).

The other day we went grocery shopping and we noticed that they don’t always refrigerate the eggs at the stores and most of the eggs are brown. The people seem to be pretty big on ‘going green.’ Currently a ban on plastic grocery bags is going to be starting soon and Katie’s roommates told us not to buy Australian made rice because the industry is drying up the already low river.

There is this bird that I think sounds a little like Count Dracula from Sesame Street. I think it’s a mocking bird. It sounds like he’s laughing at you and at the end of the day they sound Dracula-esq.

On Friday we went into the downtown city of Adelaide. Katie’s Australian roommate, Cameron, has a car so he drove and gave us the tour. We went to the Central Market, which is basically a farmers market with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Katie and I got some ice cream at a place called Wendy’s which is a chain ice cream shop in Australia. And then we ate lunch at one of the food courts in Chinatown.

Similar to the bean in Chicago. They called it the balls of Rundle Mall.

The streets were getting pretty crowded because it was the opening night of the Adelaide Fringe Festival. People were doing previews for the various shows that are happening during the next month or so. We walked through an open air mall and then watched a street performer at the Garden of Unearthly Delights. He was funny but his tricks weren’t very impressive (he kept dropping things and he mostly did a lot of fluff before doing the actual trick).

At 8:00 the Fringe Parade started. We were at the very end and it was so crowded we couldn’t see that well. The parade was pretty spectacular. I tried to take some pictures but it was getting dark and people were in my way. (I’m kind of short) The costumes and bikes they rode around on were amazing. People were on stilts and unicycles and rolling around on huge hamster wheels. There was a woman in a huge lift singing opera. They had a bunch of people dressed up like characters from Alice in Wonderland, there was Latin dancers and musicians, people wearing huge baby heads and girls on roller skates. It was one of the best parades I’ve ever seen. The crowds were enormous. I was exhausted by the time we finally got home.

Performers in the Adelaide Fringe Parade

Saturday was fairly lazy. Katie and I braved the bus system on our own and went grocery shopping. We didn’t really think our purchases through very well because we had trouble getting home with so many groceries.

On Sunday we has signed up to go on a trip planned through the International Students Office on campus. Our first stop was the Cleland Wildlife Park and is probably my favorite experience so far. The park was like a petting zoo but with Kangaroos and Wallabies. Once you entered the park, you walked into a gated field where kangaroos roamed free. Katie and I bought a bag of pellets and the roos bounded up to us and ate from our hands!! I couldn’t believe that we were allowed to get so close to them. They were adorable and extremely soft. They had a bunch of different kinds in different gated areas; It was crazy how many there were. My favorite was a little wallaby. He hopped over to us and hung out with us for a long time. He kept putting his paws in my hand. We took a zillion pictures.

I love the look on both their faces.

We also got our pictures taken holding a koala bear. Katie and I got lucky because the koala’s were only out for about an hour. They have to keep switching the koala’s because they sleep something like 19 hours a day and they would get fussy if they were out too long. Apparently they can’t see very well during the day and see mostly in shadows so their hearing is extremely acute.

We saw a Tasmanian devil, who was running around in a huge circle. We saw these little guys that looked like huge mice. One of Katie’s favorite animals was the emu who was walking around freely.

After the wildlife park we went to Mt. Lofty, which is the highest point near Adelaide. Unfortunately it was pretty cloudy so we didn’t get very many good pictures. Our final stop was at one of the beaches in Adelaide. It was too cold and windy to go swimming so Katie and I got some fish and chips for lunch and walked along these rock cliffs.

We had a really fantastic time on the trip. I’m glad we decided to go. Hopefully we’ll get to go back some time before our trip is over. I also heard about an open range zoo where you drive around in tour buses in the animal enclosures. So we might go there some time.

Today was our first day of classes. I only had one class today: Film Form and Analysis. I originally thought this class was going to teach me out to shoot film and edit together movies, but it turns out it’s more of a discussion based class. I think I’m still going to like it a lot though. I think this class will provide me with some interesting vocabulary and knowledge that will be helpful for not only film production but theatre as well.

I don’t have any class until Friday this week because Drama Center doesn’t start until next week. I don’t know what my performance classes are going to be yet, but I’m excited to find out.

Hope everyone is doing well at home. I know spring break is coming up soon! You guys are going to be done with school before I’ve hardly even started. Thanks everyone for the messages and picture comments and skyping.

Check out these pictures from our trip: Here and Here.