AUS10- The Burning Mellow

Since I have a very culturally diverse friend group over here, I get to try many new foods! Ri brought us a couple of dutch things to try the other night.

1. drops -a.k.a. salty licorice

2. stroopwafles -a.k.a. heaven

ahh so much wonder!

I went for the dutch drops first. Mostly because I knew with about 99.999% certainty that I would not like it. You can't say that you don't like something if you have never tried it, right? I put half of a drop in my mouth, bit down maybe twice, and then ran to the trashcan. I have a very expressive face. Everyone in the area had a good giggle.

I am just glad that at least something positive came out of that experience. Free ab exercises for all!

One of my favorite lines is that misery loves company. I filmed three other girls try this "treat" and boy do I wish I could show you. All in all, half of us loved it and half of us wanted to puke. I felt like we were doing the whole blue and black/ white and gold dress deal all over again. You like that??!?! You don't?!?!??

INSERT RANT: this wifi deal is so crazy! I only have a certain amount of internet available per month. After it runs out I can buy more but only in time quantity, not speed. The internet that I get is so crappy. I can't watch videos or anything (so long youtube/netflix/happiness). I even have a video and quiz FOR SCHOOL that will not open due to my lack of internet speed. ARG. My point is that I have great videos of people trying the licorice and other videos relating to previous blog posts that, unfortunately, y'all won't get to see. Sorry guys! Maybe I can steal some of the school's quicker wifi speeds and upload some tomorrow.

Let's move on to the holy mecca that is the stroopwaffle. I can't explain it in words other than OO's and AHH's so I am just going to insert what the all-knowing wikipedia says.

The stiff dough for the waffles is made from flour, butter, brown sugar, yeast, milk, and eggs. Medium-sized balls of dough are put into a heated waffle iron and pressed into the required uniformly thin, round shape. After the waffle has been baked, and while it's still warm, it is split into thin layered halves. The warm filling, made from syrup, brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon, is spread between the waffle halves, gluing them together.[1]

I had one regularly and then one that was warmed in the microwave (per dutch suggestion). Don't make me choose the best way to eat it. I CANT DO IT.

We decided that we'd like for each person to make native foods so we can all try out all of our home-countries dishes. How exciting is that?! SUPER FREAKING EXCITING. I KNOW.

I was thinking, "oh yeah i should do some gumbo or étouffée." I then realized, "oh yeah, you don't know how to do that." Turns out they just want something american so mother's burger recipe will take the cake. I don't think they would like cajun food anyways as a couple of them were sweating over the pico de gallo on taco night **scandanavians-cough cough**! I also thought of finding things for s'mores as nobody has heard of these either! A life without s'mores...I don't even want to imagine. Doesn't that sound like the title to a very sad documentary? "A Life without S'mores: the Burning Mellow"

I went to the grocery all excited about s'mores. Turns out they don't even have graham crackers and a small bag of marshmallows is $5. Hell to tha no! You know what else is crazy? $20 for grocery store mascara. I digress...

I took a few pictures around the grocery store just to show you guys an Aussie food shop!

I should've tried a panorama to get all the cheese in

It is basically a food group

International section

This aisle is the cooliest of cool grocery aisles. There are columns for all the different nationalities. Okay, not all of them. Americans were left out :( . Our food is probably so unhealthy it is all illegal here anyways **sigh**. They had sections such as mediterranean, spanish, new zealand, dutch, european, and indian all down the row.

Can't get enough of the "australian 4 leaf blend" greens :)

I hope to get better at grocery shopping. Right now, it is still very difficult with brands that I am not use to and foods I am unfamiliar with. I can't even go by the label because everything is listed in KiloJoules instead of calories. I resort to reading ingredient lists and going by that. So much effort only to buy some yum yums, goodness me. Unless of course, I see chocolate-- just throw it in the bag!

Uni (again w the cute short names for everything) started this week!

First impressions of courses go as follows

• Learning and Outdoor Education: When I signed up for this class, I thought the emphasis would be on "outdoor". It seems as if the focus is on "Education". I have never taken an education class before and bless my soul it is just not my type of course interaction. The first day of class encompassed everyone getting into alphabetical order without speaking and another activity which seemed like the blind drawing portion of the board game "quelf". I get why it is being done and how it helps to have interaction and build relationships but it just wan't my cup of tea. I like science lectures wherein someone tells you stuff and then you write it down. It is just what I am accustomed to, I guess! The good note is that this course involves a 3 day hike into the blue mountains later on in the semester. You can make it, Brooke!

• Diet and Nutrition in Sport: Delightful. Just delightful. First lecture was cancelled and in our "tutorials/tutes" (SI sessions) we labeled the digestive tract with titles such as mouth, esophagus, large intestine, etc.

• Education in Sport: When I signed up for this education class, I again thought the emphasis was on sport. This time I was right! Our first lecture consisted of learning the rules of rugby and watching a ten minute clip on the best tackles in the league. We have a school "field trip" to a rugby match tomorrow evening. We are supporting the Sydney roosters against some fools from Canterbury. Where is the body paint? It is going to be televised as well! If any of you have live international rugby viewing abilities look for ya girl!

• highlights of roosters' last rugby match

• History of Australia (conflict and transformation): pretty dang cool. I ended up in this class out of pure curiosity. How did this place become a jail? How did it transform from a jail into what it is today? I will be able to tell you guys in about 6 months. We have only had two lecture so far and I already feel enlightened. I love the professors teaching style as well. We are provided with slides and she just lectures on them straight through for an hour. She knows how long to spend on each slide and always ends up right on time. This is how I take notes. I love it. The only downside about this course is the large amounts of reading that have to be done for class. I am not one of those people who enjoy reading so this will be a challenge for sure.

Nemo voice: First day of school!

7/31/15

#AustraliaTrip