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 »Off to Perth for a Teachers of French Conference
I fly to Perth, Western Australia, tomorrow to present at the Teachers of French Association Conference. My presentation on the vocabulary coverage of French textbooks will include the beginning stages of my PhD project. I will report back on all of the presentations and everything new I learn about teaching and learning French in Australia [...]
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 [...]
Full Story »Catalan Tutorial, Affiliate Program, and Australia Photos
Thanks to Jonathan, we have another Romance language tutorial on ielanguages.com: Catalan! Catalan is spoken by 11.5 million people, mostly in eastern Spain (Catalonia, Valencian Community, Balearic islands) as well as in southern France, Andorra, and Sardinia, Italy. Barcelona is the largest Catalan-speaking city, and Catalan is recognized as a co-official language with Spanish in [...]
Full Story »First Impressions of Australia
I arrived in Australia a week ago today! These were my first thoughts: This is winter? Everyone speaks with such an adorable accent. It’s not that expensive. After two pleasant flights with Etihad Airways that seemed to go by extremely fast (I highly recommend them!), I arrived in Melbourne last Tuesday night. Customs went smoothly, [...]
Full Story »Moving to the Other Side of the World, Part 1: Leaving France
I’m moving to Australia in one week! I’m almost completely packed and have taken care of most of the paperwork with regards to leaving France. Since David (and yes, Canaille) are staying in France and moving back to Annecy, I don’t have to take care of everything or even move everything right now – though [...]
Full Story »Six Countries in Fourteen Days: Vacation 2011
I had a great time on my vacation this year. We visited six countries – Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Greece & Turkey - and I took over 600 photos! This was also my first time on a cruise, which was a neat experience that we will definitely be doing again. I started by taking the train [...]
Full Story »Greek Isles Cruise Update
Hello from Royal Caribbean’s Splendour of the Seas ship! We are at sea today and we have already visited Kotor in Montenegro; Athens, Santorini, and Mykonos in Greece; and Kusadasi and Bodrum in Turkey. Tomorrow we have a stop in Split, Croatia, and Friday morning we will be back in Venice, Italy. I have plenty [...]
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