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…

3) *A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.* (Lao Tzu)

I've been busy these past weeks studying for the TOEFL, and I have only one week left in the United States but I wanted to write a post about the wonderful city of Boston, where I've been plenty of times.

During the 3 months I spent here, I familiarized myself with this town and felt in love with its atmosphere.  At first I lost a lot of time seeking help to find my way in the subway network, but then I found my footing in this big town and I took pleasure in going for a walk in downtown Boston.

It’s a very nice town and I especially appreciate the harbor jetty, which is a real breath of fresh air. For a moment, you don’t feel like you are in the United States anymore.

Besides the town, I also learned to appreciate its inhabitants. Bostonians are friendly, smiley and outgoing. Each time I needed help, as I was unable to locate myself on the map, I could stop a passerby and he would give me information with a smile. A few times I engaged some people in conversation, while waiting for the subway, or sitting in the commuter rail. 

Here come some pictures of Boston, and some of my favorite places.

 
When arriving in Boston by car

 
Quincy Market, a very pleasant place to have lunch and enjoy watching many street shows

 
Go to Quincy Market and try some "French crêpes" !

 

 
Boston Common and its ice rink (unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to try it yet)

 
Beacon Hill, a really pretty part of Boston

 

 The Prudential Tower

 
 View of Boston, from the 50th floor of the Prudential tower ! (The Charles river)

 
 
 
Boston Public Library, a magnificent and very peaceful place

 
The harbor jetty

Cécilia studies at Embassy Boston Merrimack. Find out more on the Embassy website.

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!

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) * 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.

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.

 

 

Multicultural Festival

Yesterday I went to the Multicultural Festival at Roma Parkland with my friends. I found out about it from a newspaper advertisement that I saw, and then I searched for the website. Some friends who went there last year said it was a nice festival so you have to go there. So I went to the festival.

The festival was held at Roma Street Parkland on Sunday 17 October from 10 am to 5 pm. More than 94 cultures showcased their traditions with lively music, dance and acrobatic performances, and there were more than 100 food, craft and information stalls.

The festival's well-known cultural performers, like The View from Madeleine's Couch, The Twine, Blind Sight and Bollywood Dhamaka - alongside performers like the Ukranian Folkloric Ensemble and the Abyssinian Danve Group - made this one Sunday I will never forget.

My taste buds were spoilt for choice with diverse delicacies on offer incliding African donuts, savoury pancakes, samosas, rice dishes, curries, baklava, Hungarian fangos, haloumi cheese, Ethiopian flat bread and fritters.

I was impressed by Gereja Kristus Brisbane. It was a lively performance of traditional Indonesian dances  combined with an Angklung ensemble. Angklung music is made by playing a set of at least 14 hand-held bamboo instriments, each of which produces a particular note when shaken or 'trembled'.

Secondly, Bollywood Dhanaka was a combination of classical Indian dance, folk dancing such as Bhangra, and a bit of Arabic with western influences like hip hop, jazz and funk.

It was a fun, expressive way to see what the music means through graceful body movements.

I saw everything and then I came back home. Today I was very tired but it was interesting.