Elena - Day 21 (26.3.) GOOD FRIDAY

On Good Friday we went to Anglesea to the holiday house of the family. 

We went there with Patrice's mum, aunt and grandparents. It took us two hours to go there because there was so much traffic on the streets. After that we had a rest because we were really exhausted. Then we went to the supermarket and bought stuff for dinner. For dinner her aunt made tacos. Their were really delicious. After dinner we watched the movie "The devil wears Prada". I already watched it at home but not in English.

Today I woke up at 10 am. I just went to the bathroom and then we left the house. We went to all the surf shops in Torquay but I didn't find anything. It was very nice anyway. Then we had breakfast at "The Breakfast Club". I had French toast with maple syrup and peaches and a banana smoothie. That was soo good! 

Then we drove back to the house and went with Patrice's aunt and a friend of hers to Lorne. It took us two hours because of traffic again, normally it would take you 30 minutes to go there. 

We walked along the beach and we've been to the pier. First the weather was really nice but then it became foggy. 

Then we went to the sea food restaurant at the pier. I just had chips because I don't like sea food. It was really funny when we left the restaurant a waiter said something in German to me and I was very surprised! 

And we also had a look at the shops in Lorne. We were really tired after that and drove back home. On the way home we stopped at a cafe to have coffee and cake. On the way back I slept in the car because I was so tired. We had a rest and then we drove to the golf club for dinner. It was very nice I had schnitzel. 

And we saw some kangaroos! 

It was a very lovely day. The last thing we did was watching a movie. It's called "Grease". It's an old movie but very good.

Tomorrow we will go to the Anglesea market and after that we're driving home.

Nikita - Day 23 (28.3.) SAYING FAREWELL

Today was my third last day in Melbourne (28th of March 2016). I woke up at about 10:30 today. We had a cheeky sleep in because my host buddy Timmy had 4 friends over for a “farewell – sleepover”. I had a great time with Timmy´s friends as we went for a walk to the park first and had a really fun FIFA tournament after that. Timmy has some great friends and I bonded very well with them. So after we woke up and had breakfast Timmy´s friends went back to their houses. After we digested our breakfast, we had a shower and put on some classy clothes as my host mother Jasmine took the family out for a lunch. 

We had lunch at a Chinese restaurant called “Gold Leaf”. 

The food there was very traditional, so some of the food I have never eaten before. An example they served us are the Chinese dumplings or the deep-fried Won Tons. I was really full after we ate however it was delicious. 

After we returned home after lunch we organized to meet up with some other exchange students at Watergardens shopping centre. Watergardens is a popular shopping centre where a lot of students who live in the area (Taylors Lakes, Keilor & Hillside) would shop, chill and hang out. (Here is the link to the shopping centre: https://www.watergardens.com.au/). 

So then we met Roman, Leon T., Leon H., Kenan and their exchange students. We walked through the mall together and bought some souvenirs for our families back in Germany while Timmy went to get a haircut. After about an hour he was finally done with his haircut. Then the group of us got some food and sat together on a big table at the Watergardens food court. We ate and talked to each other for ca. two hours before the other boys parents came to pick them up.

Soon after the others left my host mother came to pick Leon T., his exchange student Tom, Timmy and me up. Leon and Tom came to our house because Timmy invited them to go in his Spa.

By the time we got home it was pretty late, the sun was just about to set. It was around 7 o´clock when we got home. So we changed our clothes and went to the Spa which was pretty heated. Then we played music and had a deep and meaningful conversation. Afterwards Timmy´s mother called us for dinner. We ate nice dinner and towards it Leon and Tom got picked up by his host mother.

After this relaxed but also exhausted day I was happy to go to bed and prepare for my last full day in the maybe most beautiful city on this planet!

Last but not least I would like to introduce some new words that I have learnt in Australia:

1) Snags – Australian word for sausage

2) Board shorts – swim shorts

3) Banter – having a joke

4) Arvo- afternoon

5) Servo – gas station

6) She´ll be right - it will be okay

Jason - Day 17 (22.3.)

Today the mainly and most interesting thing happened in the evening.

After waking up at 7:30 in the morning some German exchange students (me included) and Mr. Eicker caught the train at the train station “Watergardens”, which is located next to the shopping mall “Watergardens”, at 8:53 for being at the arranged meeting point (state library) at ten o’clock. 

We had to take out sheets for the scavenger hunt with us for answering the remaining questions. One of our exercises was finding the two guards of the clock. In the first moment we didn’t know what that means but what we found then was a big clock in a shopping mall surrounded by giants GOG and MAGOG. 

GOG and MAGOG

A British legend says that the giants GOG and MAGOG are the guards of London.

That is actually what I did the whole morning until 12:20pm. That was the point when the working time changed into free time. Some boys of our group and I went shopping and we had to catch the train at central station at two o’clock. 

Some of us stayed in the city until the house performances. In this time I stayed together with Bjarne and Nikita and we had lots of fun.

House Performances 

In the evening the house performances took place in a big building at Southbank.

The students of the Overnewton Anglican Community Collage are assigned to one of the four houses. The four houses are:

- Curie (red)

- Newton (blue)

- Edison (yellow)

- Pasteur (green)

The House Performances are a competition, in which the the students have to present what they developed the weeks before (dancing, singing, acting, …). After the students of the houses present their work, judges evaluate the performances. 

This year the red house (Curie) won the house performances which was good for me because my exchange student Ethan is part of Curie.

This night was very interesting because I haven’t ever experienced something like that before. I was very impressive because what I saw this evening is comparable to performances in German theatres.

I think this evening is one of the things of the time in Australia I won’t forget.

In Australia I learned many new words. Three of them are:

Insomnia: describes the feature not being able to sleep. I learned the word in one of the German lessons in school. In that lesson we talked about what the student want to be or to do in the future.

Billabong: “Billabong” is a typical Australian Word. It describes something like a waters and has its origin in the aboriginal culture. I heard this word first time in the song “Waltzing Matilda” and wanted to find out what it means.

Arachnophobia: is the technical word for fear of spiders. When we went to Sydney zoo,  Ethan used this word because I told him that I don’t like spiders.

Yasmin - Day 4 (9.3.)

Today we were in the city again. We met at 8:45 am at Canowindra, so I had to hit the road at 8 o’clock. It is a big detour, because I already live in the city. When we arrived at school (Canowindra), we walked to the train station (Watergardens).  About 40 minutes later we arrived in the city at Parliament Station, which is right in front of the Parliament House. We had to finish our Scavenger Hunts from the day before.

From there we took the City Circle. 

We saw most of the important landmarks in Melbourne and there was a running commentary about the landmarks. I could show my friends my house at Docklands. 

Half an hour later we got off at Melbourne Central Station. We had time for shopping and I bought a perfume at Sephora. 

After an hour it was time to go to the State Library of Victoria. It is an old building with very interesting architecture. There is a high room called reading room. It was very ornate. 

After that we went to the Old Melbourne Gaol. 

This is where Ned Kelly, a famous bushranger, was hanged. It is creepy but interesting. In every cell is a story about a hanged prisoner or some information about the gaol. 

There are three separate cellblocks ad two hospitals. Every cellblock had the same special system. The prisoner had to think about their faults. Downstairs were little cells for only one prisoner. No speaking was allowed - only thinking. Once a week the prisoners could go out, but with a silence mask. They could't see each other's faces and they couldn't speak. When they acknowledged their crime, then they could go upstairs. There cells were bigger and fitted up to 9 people and the prisoners were allowed to speak and to work in the prison. There was another way to help them realize what their fate could be. When they went inside the building or upstairs they faced the gallows.  It was very hard.

After the tour of the gaol we went home. For dinner we had shark, which is called flake in Australia. It was yummy.

Bald geht es los!

Heute konnten wir endlich den letzten Blogpost vor dem Trip posten. 

Nil hat dafür ganz schön lange gebraucht!

Die Aufregung wird immer größer und es erreichen mich einige Nachrichten mit Bildern von Klamotten und den Fragen: 

"Darf ich das so anziehen?" "Kann man das in der Schule so tragen?" "Wie viele Hosen brauche ich wirklich?"

Bisher konnte ich alle beruhigen, denn die ausgewählten Sachen waren toll. 

Wahrscheinlich mussten trotzdem noch einige in die Stadt, die Waterfront oder zu den Outlets, um noch passendere Kleidung zu kaufen. 

Aber wer muss schon lange nach einem Grund fürs Shoppen suchen?

Am Freitag geht es endlich los. 

Bis dahin müssen noch die Koffer gepackt werden.

Morgen haben wir unser letztes Treffen vor dem Abflug und ich hoffe, dass wir dann unsere extra angefertigten Polos, T-Shirts und Hoodies in den Händen halten können! 

Drückt die Daumen, dass es rechtzeitig klappt! 

Ein Bild gibt es dann natürlich auch :)