Students at Embassy

Gold Coast theme parks

The Gold Coast is a large city to the south of Brisbane and we can go easily by train and bus. This city is a magnet for tourists and boatloads of beautiful beaches (including the famous Surfers Paradise), shopping centres and an exciting nightlife.

It’s also a spot with a large concentration of theme parks, we can count at least 5 in a small area: Dreamworld, Movie World, Sea World, Whitewater world, Wet’n’Wild…

If your favorite heroes are Batman, Superman, Scooby Doo and Loony Tunes, and if you like rollercoaster rides, you will definitely enjoy Movie World.

Otherwise, if you prefer heroes from Nickelodeon like Sponge Bob, interactive shows and animal attractions, go to Dreamworld.

To enjoy many fast water slides, wave pools or just to get wet and have fun at the same time, you can go at Wet’n’Wild or Whitewater world.

Finally, if you are fascinated by dolphins, marine animals, polar bears and penguins, and if you like rides too, Sea World is for you.

Since I arrived, I was at Dreamworld and Wet’n’Wild, and I spent two beautiful, really funny days with my friends.

Dreamworld includes 5 worlds (or areas): for younger visitors, there are Wiggles World (it’s an interactive cartoon famous in Australia), the World of Wildlife (with a rare white Bengal tiger) and the World of Family Fun.

But my friends and I really preferred “the big 5”: it’s 5  fast and tall thrill rides that are guaranteed to get your heart beating. Look at the Tower of Terror: you are sat outside and you fall backwards from 100m. I advise you to not try this ride just after your lunch, or to have a good stomach…

 

My favorite thrill ride was the claw, you are swinging and spinning 360 degrees at the same time and into the air. It feels fabulous!

And the last world is the world of Nickelodeon with Dora the Explorer, the Rugrats and Sponge Bob. For fans of Sponge Bob, you can meet him in person, buy everything you can’t imagine with this character or take flight aboard a giant jellyfish!

I believe I can fly!

A quieter slide

 

The other theme park I have also tested is Wet’n’Wild. It’s a water park, so, if you don’t like getting wet, it’s not for you. And that day, the weather was really bad, it rained all day but it doesn’t matter because we were already wet! To give you an idea of different water slides, there is one really terrible one - it’s AquaLoop. You begin standing when the trapdoor is released under your feet, you fall into a vertical transparent tunnel and you end up by doing a looping. Really really terrible!

After that if you haven't had enough, in the extreme H2O zone, try the Tornado slide. We are 4 people in a clover-leaf tube, catapulted in a storm. But my friends nicknamed this slide ‘Toilets’ because you have the feeling that you are in a toilet's flush.

The Gold Coast is Australia’s theme park capital, it’s also a paradise for children and teenagers…

Christmas Eve at Embassy

“We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.”

I hope for you that Christmas celebrations were wonderful with your family, friends or Homestay family; and that the poor turkey was delicious! Here, for the 25th, no turkey, but a fantastic Christmas BBQ with my Homestay family.

In Brisbane, for the last week of the year 2010 and the last day just before the Christmas holidays, the school organized us full of surprises!

Friday December 24th, to celebrate Christmas, we began at the school by a few reviewing of Christmas carols. In my class, we tried to find (or guess) missing words to the lyrics of "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer". It's a very funny song, listen:

It made us all laugh!

After, unusually, courses stopped earlier, at 10.30am and ...

Let's go! It's ready for finding Christmas candy hidden in the  school's hallway: the one who catches the most wins the game, and it was a Brazilian girl friend who succeeded to find over a dozen, yummy!

After, go to the 6J room to enjoy Christmas treats and arbitrate a cooking competition of international food, we could taste: grandmother's cookies prepared by an Australian teacher, Taiwanese ravioli, a Korean recipe, and an apple pie ... a French version cooked by Loic and I, re-yummy! Look!

Then, we could choose between lots of different activities:

• Cards and origami: many beautiful christmas cards, and thank you Tom for teaching us the traditional Japanese art of origami. We could create a star, a crane, a ball...
• Board games
• Learn to sing Christmas carols
• Christmas trivia and games with prizes

Cards and origami

The Christmas tree with origami, so cute!

 

I choose the Christmas trivia and we laughted a lot.

There were several teams of 4, I was in the team "Pearl Harbour" with Swiss and Brazilian friends. And the game was to recognize the characters of Christmas, answer quizzes ... while being fast. And we won the first prize: Tim-Tam (it's a delicious chocolate cake) Re-re-yummy!

Christmas is not Christmas without Santa Claus and Christmas presents.

So going Santa Claus home: before each student had to buy a small gift and we exchanged that day. For my part, I offered a small plush and Santa Claus brought me a fish purse.

Friends and I with Christmas presents, I love my lovely fish purse.

Finally, Christmas cards created by students were delivered to their owners.
And for those who wanted, in the afternoon, there was a Christmas movie and free popcorn.

It was a very good start to Christmas.

Mt Coot-tha

Hello!

Brisbane is a great and beautiful city, and to prove it, I'll take you for a ride on the side of Mt Coot-tha.

But,  first, what does Mt Coot-tha mean? I looked it up for you on the  internet and Coot-tha (Ku-ta) is an Arboriginal name which means honey. Aboriginal people used to come to the mountain to collect honey  produced by bees, so Mt Coot-tha is “the place of honey”.

Mount Coot-tha has an observation deck located in the eastern suburbs of Brisbane and it’s easy to access. You don’t need to bring your hiking boots and to climbs for hours!  You just take a bus in the city and the bus climbs to the top of the mountain for you.

Choose a day when the weather is sunny and clear, and once you reach the top you will be impressed by the landscape. You can admire a panoramic view of Brisbane.

The look-out is not just a place, it includes a restaurant, café, gift shop and on the deck, with powerful binoculars, you can see all city details.

And after, if you have the courage to walk a bit and have some time, I'll take you to discover the extremely awesome Brisbane Botanic Gardens and the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium.

Follow me! It’s here !

Uh no, we killed anyone in our way…

The botanic gardens at Mt Coot-tha are 15 minutes' walk from the lookout.

It’s a subtropical botanic gardens and it’s arranged in thematic and geographical areas:  Bamboo Groove, Japanese Garden, Bonsai House, Exotic Rainforest, African Region Plants…
There is also a Lagoon and a Tropical Diplay Dome.

Japanese Garden: so neat!

A fern: It’s a green flowerless plant that grows in moist air.

The peaceful lagoon

This botanic gardens is an ideal place for lovers, it’s very quiet and romantic. And we met a lot this afternoon in the park. Shhh!

The Botanical Gardens is also the home of The Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium where you can learn about the cosmic, moon, stars and the sky and see picture from space observatory systems. In addition, the Planetarium's skydome projects an artificial night sky.

Before you sleep, watch the stars, like this astronaut, to have sweet dreams…

Bye bye ;o)

Southbank

Cécilia studies English at Embassy Brisbane.

 

Hi, again!

Today, I would like you to discover my favorite Brisbane district: Southbank.

Southbank is situated in the middle of the city, on the southern side of the Brisbane River. And this place is magic, everytime you go at Southbank, you are sure to meet a friend. It’s the place to be. You can find all that you need: restaurants, shops, a library, museum, garden, cinema… But the most exciting is the beach, a true inner-city beach with white sand, palm trees and a crystal clear lagoon. We can swim in front of the Brisbane River and Central Business District.

A paradise !!

After school and with sunny weather, my friends and I enjoy relaxing at the beach, and sometimes we like to organize a BBQ. It’s really easy because there are several barbecues across the Parklands.

An other pleasant thing is the Lifestyle Market, every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we can go for a walk through the different markets and find local souvenirs, gifts, arts, crafts, exotic items, fashion clothes, food… Everytime you can’t resist and we bought something, the last time it was for a beautiful headband.

I like also to walk across the garden and it’s very surprising to bump into a Nepalese pagoda or a rainforest just after the road.

In front of the Nepalese pagoda: I'm in the middle!

And the rainforest.

And a symbol of Southbank is the arbour, it was made with columns of steel, each covered with a violet bougainvillea plants. It’s a splendid arbour and my friends and I enjoy walking inside. We often encounter people biking or rollerblading.

For a little bit of culture, near the opera, there is an Art Gallery, a huge library, a science museum and the Goma (same as Moma in New-York). The last exhibition was the Valentino retrospective, the famous Italian fashion designer. I was there and the exhibition traced all Valentino’s career, with the wonderful dresses worn by celebrities.

To finish a perfect day, I advise you to go to a chocolate bar. The menu is crazy: crepes, waffles, fondue, chocolate pizza, ice-cream… All is prepared out of delightful chocolate. For a chocolate addict like me, it’s a permanent temptation. Hum, dark chocolate!

Yes, chocolate is good for you!

So, now, I think you can understand why Southbank is my favorite place.

See you soon...

Wow! Want to see Southbank for yourself? Sample some of that chocolate pizza perhaps? Find out more about studying English in Brisbane on the Embassy website.

Australian Zoo day trip

“6.00 am dring dring!”

It’s time to wake up. Today, it’s a special day: I'm leaving at dawn to spend an incredible day at the Australian Zoo. But before arriving at the zoo located at Beerwah, we have an hour's drive to go. I joined my friends at Roma bus station in Brisbane.

“9.00 am Opening doors” Where shall we begin? Australia Zoo is a huge park and this year, it’s the 40^th anniversary since its establishment. The park spreads over 70 acres, with 1,000 animals and it's Australia’s number one tourist attraction. Every day, there are a lot of showtimes and the choice is hard: we can feed tortoises/otters/elephants, see a wildlife warriors show, learn about koalas and crocodiles, see the tigers play. The park is divided into 7 territories, each with their animals. My friends and I first see crocodiles, each crocodile has a name and many of them have been caught by Steve Irwin. Steve is the famous Crocodile Hunter and the entire park pays tribute to his memory.

Next, we continue with koalas, cassowaries, dingoes, binturong… and we really appreciate that you can almost touch them.

“11.00 am Wildlife Warriors Show” It’s an essential moment in the park. We go to the crocoseum and the show begins. We are very impressed by the presenters, they play with a snake and a crocodile, I was afraid for them!

“12.00 Lunch Time” A good break, we walked a lot during the morning.

I enjoyed that the non-dangerous animals are almost free, we could touch kangaroos, koalas, birds and took pictures close up.

I don’t know why, but when I took a photo the animals posed, didn’t they?

“4.00 pm we finish with the shop”. Before leaving, tired but happy, we make a little detour to the stores. And we end up falling asleep on the bus!

Welcome!

Cécilia is our new blogger at Embassy Brisbane.

Hi everybody and welcome to my blog! I'm very enthusiastic to start this blog and share with you my new Australian experiences in the coming weeks.

First of all, who I am? My name is Cécilia and I’m 24 years old. I’m from Paris in France, I have always lived in Paris and I’m sure you know Paris for its Eiffel tower or the Champs Elysées.
My job is physiotherapist, I've been working in a hospital for one year and I take care of invalids after their chirurgical intervention. I’m really enjoying my work and I appreciate also shopping (like all girls I think!), cinema, cultural events, cooking and reading. My favorite sports are roller-skating, diving and skiing.

So, why have I come to Australia? Four months ago, I decided to take a break for3 months to improve my English and discover a country. And the Australian people are reputedly open-minded, cool and friendly. I had already been to Australia four years ago, and I was charmed by this country.  I thought that Brisbane was a good choice because I had never been to this city before and it’s near the Gold Coast with its beautiful beaches and its good weather.

For my accommodation, I choose a homestay because I’m really happy at the idea to share the daily life of an Australian family and celebrate with them Christmas and the New Year. And I could practice my English and exchange about cultural differences.

My courses at Embassy began 5 weeks ago and I have already met many friends of different countries. The teachers are very motivated and always there if you need any help or advice. I’m sure that they will communicate to us their knowledge.

My first party at Embassy was for the Melbourne Cup; it's a popular event in Australia where men bet on horses and women vote for the best hat! I post my first picture to show you the vote for the best costume.

I hope you’ll be interested to discover Brisbane with me. See you soon…

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.

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!!