I flew up to Gold Coast last Wednesday to meet up with one of my oldest friends from Michigan. Jessica just finished her postdoc in Melbourne and is moving back to the US tomorrow, so this was our last trip together in Australia. Most people head to the GC either for the beaches or the [...]
Full Story »A Weekend on Kangaroo Island, South Australia
Kangaroo Island is Australia’s third-largest island and definitely worth a visit for the beautiful beaches and adorable wildlife. Although I’ve been to many beaches in Australia already, every new one I see is just as gorgeous as the last one. KI did not disappoint. The first view upon getting off the ferry in Penneshaw: Sadly, [...]
Full Story »Australian Vacation / Holiday 2012
I recently returned from two weeks of travelling around Australia. A friend from Arizona, Michelle, came to Australia for the first time and we decided to visit all of the major tourist attractions. We went to Sydney and Melbourne, drove along the Great Ocean Road, enjoyed a few days at the Great Barrier Reef and [...]
Full Story »Australia in the Asian Century: Focus on Mandarin, Japanese, Indonesian and Hindi
The Australia in the Asian Century White Paper was just released on Sunday, and it contains 25 major goals for Australia, some of which pertain to language learning. Essentially, the paper states that every Australian student (in primary or secondary schools) will have the opportunity to learn one of the four priority Asian languages: Mandarin, [...]
Full Story »404 Days in Australia: On my way to Permanent Residency
As I am diligently working on my PhD research and starting to write up my preliminary results, I haven’t had much time to devote to the website or blog. My one year anniversary of arriving in Australia came and went in the middle of finally buying a car, learning to drive on the left, moving [...]
Full Story »On textbooks, moving, and being cold in Australia
Sorry about the lack of updates lately! I have now been in Australia for one year, which means (supposedly) I am a third of the way through my PhD already. My days are filled with reading textbooks (all eighteen of them) and analysing vocabulary lists, which I know sounds incredibly tedious exciting. I’m also currently in [...]
Full Story »ANZAC Day
April 25 is the anniversary of the Australian and New Zealand forces landing on Gallipoli in 1915. Now it is a day of national remembrance to honour those who died in military operations and wars. Learn more about the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Day tradition at the Australian War Memorial site.
Full Story »Happy Australia Day!
Happy Australia Day to my Aussie friends! Australia Day commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788. The Commonwealth of Australia was officially formed on January 1, 1901, when the colonies federated but this date is not widely known as Commonwealth Day since it is already a public holiday (New Year’s [...]
Full Story »Cost of Living in Australia: My Personal Experience
I was warned about the high cost of living in Australia before moving here, though luckily it is not as bad as I thought it would be. Perhaps it is because I came directly from France rather than the US, but I feel as though the only expense that is very high in Australia is rent. Yet [...]
Full Story »Trains and Planes in France and Australia
Traveling by train is still a pretty nice experience in France, and even though Australia is just as big as the US, long-distance train travel across the continent is quite enjoyable Down Under too. I have taken the high-speed TGV and slower regional TER trains in France numerous times, and when I first arrived in [...]
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