Finally the "study" part of Study Abroad has begun.
On Sunday, some friends and I went on a beautiful walking trail. About halfway through the trail was a small little deck. This deck held a prime spot for overlooking the trees and river, with the ocean in the distance. It was a fun little adventure that ended with us walking along the beach at the end. The whole walking tail took about 45 minutes, but the walk on the beach was around an hour. After all of that walking, we wanted some burgers. We went to Newy Burger Co. and ate burgers with chips (they call French fries chips). It was a fun way to end our basically 3 month long winter break before school started.
I do not have class on Mondays, so technically I did not start until Tuesday morning. I am taking a couple of Industrial Engineering classes, along with a social science class, and a film class. The engineering classes will definitely be hard, but I am excited for the challenge. It is actually kind of fun having school work because it gives me something to do. My friend Donna and I found a study spot very different then what we are used to in Arkansas. There are a few bars on campus that have a fun environment with students studying and/or socializing. We have a full day of class on Wednesdays, starting at 9am and going until 4pm. Because it was the first week of classes, Donna and I thought it would be refreshing to grab a quick beer between class. Once the semester starts to pick up, I don't know if we will get the chance to do this again because we will actually have to be focused on studying.
On my days off from class, I went to the beach. I don't think going to the beach will ever get old. The University of Newcastle has a free bus that will take students to NeW Space, their city campus. I take this bus in order to get downtown. The city of Newcastle just put in new light rails that travel along the street quickly for a few blocks. I'll take the light rail from NeW Space to the beach. It is fairly cheap and saves me about 20 minutes of walking. Because of cyclone Oma, the waves at the beach have been massive! I can barely go a couple meters into the water before I get knocked off my feet. I mainly just stay on my towel, drinking water, tanning, and listening to music.