Students at Embassy

3) Circular Quay!

It was a lovely day,  so I went to Circular Quay with my friend.

Circular Quay is the place where you can see Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.  I just wanted to eat something while spending a tranquil time gazing at Harbour Bridge.

We bought a hamburger.

 

 

 

Suddenly as I opened it, several seagulls flew at me. It was really scary thing!!!

I had to be careful not to let the seagulls attack my hamburger!!!!!

This is a picture of the seagulls and me feeling tense!

 

 

 

After eating our hamburgers we just enjoyed taking in a night view of Circular Quay. How wonderful I can see these things! If you are in Australia please come to Sydney! Sydney is the best place in Australia I think : D

 

 

 

 

Want to follow Hae Mee's advice and see Sydney for yourself? Find out more about Embassy Sydney.

2) Blue Mountain!

Hi everyone! Sydney is getting hotter and hotter. Normally it must be very hot, but  it is still a little bit cool some days. It is said that this November is the coldest for 60 years. I hope the real summer is coming soon in Sydney! 

Have you heard about “Blue Mountain”? If you come to Sydney you should go to Blue Mountain. 

One of my university friends, who has been in Brisbane for 7 months, came to Sydney. She wanted to go to Blue Mountain and we booked with a travel agency immediately. 

I didn’t understand why the blue colour was used for a name of mountain until I saw it. It was really blue.

The light reflecting from eucalyptus leaves, which koalas eat, is the reason why this mountain looks blue.

 

 

You can only tell that this mountain is blue when you look at it from a distance. These pictures are of Blue Mountain. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take pictures of it very well: you should go there yourselves!

And this picture is Three Sisters.

 

The story about Three Sisters  is too long to write here, you can Google it if you are curious about it!! Haha

We walked down from the top of the mountain to “Scenic World” and walked up again.

Unfortunately we didn't realize how far we had walked down so the way to the top was really tough. We just did climb the mountain!!!! If you walked down please use one of  the railways.

 I saw Witches Leap, this is it.

 

Look at the wall of the waterfall - doesn’t it look like a human face???

Furthermore you can observe an amazing waterfall. This is the picture.

 

 

It was a really great day. I tell you one more last time: the best thing is for you to go there and observe it yourself !!!!!

Hae Mee is studying at Embassy Sydney. See our website to find out more - you could be strolling through the beautiful Blue Mountains yourself!

 

 

2) * Make voyages! Attempt them... there's nothing else.* (Tennessee Williams)

I undertook this trip to the United States with the objective of soaking up American culture and experiencing the American way of life. Therefore, I definitely had to attend a sports event given the importance of sports in American people’s lives !

Baseball

First, I attended the last baseball game of the season, which took place at Fenway Park, where the Boston Red Sox played against the New York Yankees. Even though I still need to perfect my knowledge of baseball rules, I really had a great time and especially enjoyed the atmosphere in the stadium.

 

 

The Red Sox/Yankees rivalry is very strong, and moreover the championship title was at stake for the Yankees, therefore all the Bostonian spectators in the stands were wearing a Red Sox cap or t-shirt, were booing at the players and singing supporting songs. (The few Yankees supporters were being very discreet ! )

 

 
A guy proposed to his girlfriend during the game !

American Football game

I also attended two of my host brother’s American football games; in some way it is similar to European “rugby”. It was spectacular, and so “American”. At each touchdown, the spectators would stand up, shout, and hug each other. The mothers would cheer their sons on, and at the end of the game go down on the field to distribute hugs and homemade cookies.

 

 

 

Hockey game

Finally, I experienced two hockey games at Merrimack College and loved it! It was so pleasant to support our team and share this college spirit with other students. However, I didn’t expect hockey to be as violent; the players skated very quickly and often pushed each other onto the picture windows lining the ice rink. They got hit in the face with sticks and almost fought with the opposing players!

 

 

 

At each of these sporting events, I was pleasantly surprised by the patriotic fervor; when it was time for the American national anthem, most of the people would stand up, hand on heart, and sing it, whereas in France the “Marseillaise” is sometimes booed during football games.

In order to carry on with my discovery of American sports, I am planning to attend a Celtics basketball game, in Boston !

Cécilia studies English at Embassy Boston Merrimack - read more about the school and its courses on the website.

It´s almost time to say goodbye

I've been studying for about four months at Embassy, and the time to depart is coming now, I´m leaving but full of friends, memories and definitely with a better level of English, the Embassy campus in Perth is awesome and for sure I´m going to miss having lunch with friends outdoors.

I´d never studied before with people from other countries and this experience has been one of the best in my life, I´ve learned a little bit of geography, history, religion, currencies, weather and culture.

I also want to thank to my teacher - Jacqueline- who with her wide knowledge, not just in English but almost in everything, made my experience a lot richer. People are finishing their courses all the time. But it´s only when you are due to finish, that you realize that time goes fast and it´s time to say goodbye and continue your journey.

Now the challenge is testing my English in the daily life and of course the experience doesn´t finish here. Perth is full of people from all around the world who are always willing to talk and make new friends.

I hope you have enjoyed my blog posts and I´m looking forward to reading new posts from other students.

One more time goodbye.

Diana

Hello! Nice to meet you : D

Hi, everyone!! 

I'm really glad to join here. At first, I want to introduce myself a litte bit! : D 

My name is Shim Hae Me, I'm 23 years old, and I'm from South Korea. I've been in Sydney for 4 months and I'm really enjoying it!

  
This picture was taken in front of Opera House!

 

My major is "Japanese translation and interpretation". I want to work in an airport as ground staff. The reason why I hope to work with utilizing my major, Japanese. I thought if I worked in an airport I could utilize my Japanese language skill. 

I should become good at not only Japanese, but also English, if I want to get the job. Therefore I decided to study English more and go to Australia.

It's going to be just like my diary. I hope you enjoy mine!!

See you soon bye! :D

----

Hae Me is studying English at Embassy Sydney.

 

 

1) * The world is a book, and those who do not travel, read only a page.* (Saint Augustine)

Bonjour à tous!

My name is Cécilia, I’m an 18 year old French girl. I live in Lille, in Northern France, with my parents and Mathilde, my 21 year old sister.

But currently, I'm lucky to live in Andover Massachusetts in the United States, and attend classes at the Embassy language school in Merrimack College. I'm hosted by the Rayner family, composed of Cindy (my host mother), Felicia (one of Cindy's friend), Talia (my 15 year old American sister), Gabi (my Columbian sister) and Stéfani (my Brazilian sister).

Stéfani (on the right) and I

Three main reasons compelled me to become involved in the exchange student program.  My wish to reach a fluent level in English constitutes the first of these reasons. As English is spoken by many people throughout the world, being bilingual would enable me to exchange with many people of various nationalities. Furthermore, when I return to France my long-term goal is to try to enroll in journalism school and being at least bilingual is essential in this field of study.

The second reason which motivated my decision to come to the United States is that I was reluctant to undertake serious studies before having taken the opportunity to travel. I am convinced that this is the best way to divest oneself with common thoughts and other beliefs. Studying here in an international language school enables me to meet students from all around the world and get to learn plenty of things about South American, Arab, or Asian countries which I hope I will have the pleasure to visit one day.

The third and last reason is a more personal one. In a certain way, I took the initiative for leaving my warm reassuring family cocoon and came here to try to “find myself.” By spending several months abroad on my own, I hope to gain strength of character, overcome my personal doubts and return to France being more self-assured.

Cindy, my host mother and I

It's been almost two months since I got off the plane, and started my American adventure, and no doubt these have been the most pleasant and enriching months I’ve yet experienced. The main reason for this is the wonderful host family with which I am lucky to live. Cindy, Felicia and Talia  immediately made me feel part of the family.

Unfortunately, I only have 6 weeks left in the United States but I hope that through my posts, I’ll be able to  share some of my American discoveries with you, and make you feel as if you were travelling by my side.

So ... A bientôt !

A scary Hallowe'en

Hallowe'en just passed!! It's something I do not celebrate in my country but I liked it. In my country we celebrate something called "Dia de muertos" (Day of the death), but it is entirely different.

The school always prepares fun activities and this time we went to a haunted house! It was really fun, even the teachers went.

The Haunted house was a "hospital" and the dead receptionist took us to the dead doctor; the cafeteria had arms and legs hanging from the ceiling; and  later we met the crazy psychiatrist and his alien patients. It was scary but fun, and we all had a great time!!

Watching soccer

Hello! (:

I like soccer, to play but also to watch, and my American host family brother likes it too. The other day he took me with his wife and kids to a match where the soccer team from Seattle were playing against Chicago (I think... I don't remember) and it was really fun.

During the game I heard that the Sounders were gonna have a match against a Mexican team (Chivas del Guadalajara). I got very excited and I really wanted to go to that match; my brother wanted to go too.

He got 3 tickets for the match, therefore I went with him and one of his sons. The day of the match, when we got to the Qwest field it looked like  we were in Mexico. Lots of Mexicans with the national t-shirt on were walking everywhere. At the end the Sounders won 3 - 1, but I had a really good time and my brother did too.

Even though Chivas didn't win, I got a free haircut, beacuse everytime the Sounders score 3 goals you get a free haircut. That was a plus.

Lone pine zoo

Two weeks ago, I went to Lone Pine Zoo with my friend. I was looking forward to seeing a kangaroo and koala for the first time. We took the bus for around 25 mins.

 

As soon as I arrived, I knew that here is the Lone Pine Zoo, because there's a big sign. So we took a picture and then went inside.

We didn't have a long wait, because we had already bought our tickets at an agency. Inside the zoo, there were slightly strong smells, and first of all we saw snakes and birds.

We walked further inside where we could see the koalas. I saw one for the first time. So it was novel and very cute. But most of the koalas were asleep. I don't understand that:  it wasn't sleep time.

We took pictures together with the koalas. We went inside, we met a kangaroo. It seemed to be a little small. I heard that a lot of the kangaroos at the zoo are the smallest kind of kangaroo.  I saw for the  first time a kangaroo fallen asleep. We bought kangaroo feed.  I tried to feed the kangaroo. My hands were covered by spittle of a kangaroo.

We moved on to the other animals like parrots, dogs, koalas.... If you take a picture hugging a koala, you have to pay $16. I didn't want to do that, but my friend did. She told me that a koala is a bit  heavy.

We saw all around the the zoo and then we ate a snack. We waited for a bus around 30 mins, and then we went back to the city.