Already two weeks in and I still am in love with this place. For a country that started off as a penal colony the people here are incredibly friendly and welcoming. I haven’t met an Aussie I didn’t like thus far. We went to a bar on campus to have a couple of drinks and after an hour I found myself surrounded by Aussies telling me “man you have to do this, and you have to check this out.” I made friends instantly with good guys and girls who were all willing to offer me a lift to anywhere I needed to go to experience their great country. Many of them even tried to persuade me to move out here after graduation. This past weekend we traveled down to Sydney and I fell in love with the city. With its skyscrapers I was reminded of NYC, with its old architecture I was reminded of Boston, but everything else was nothing like back home. First of all it is crowded but not overcrowded like you would find New York. Also, the city was very clean and fresh looking, even the old architecture looked as if it had just been built. I find Sydney to be a very international city with as it appears much more outsiders than locals. The Sydney Opera House was absolutely majestic, it was a real treat actually walking up to it and having my picture taken alongside it. I found myself just speechless and in awe of the massive structure. Sitting down by the harbor and listening to some jazz music at sunset was nothing short of spectacular. The whole group of people I was with all had the same ear to ear smile on and nothing could ruin our mood. Then as we got back to reality and started our second week of classes I’m starting to feel more like an outsider. In my business courses the teachers speak of the local economy and local business and “its all Aussie to me.” In my Australian Indigenous studies course I’m seeing how the colonization of Australia wasn’t really too different from how America was colonized. As we learned about the treatment of the Aborigines I couldn’t help but draw a connection to the treatment of the Native Americans. The course looks like it will be very interesting, along with the rest of my courses and I’m looking forward to the rest of the semester. I’m also really excited about a philosophy course I’m taking here, Mind Meaning Metaphysics. There are three professors teaching the course, which is very strange to me but common here as another of my courses also has three professors. The philosophy professors are a Frenchman, and Englishman, and an Aussie, and all three have a passion for the subject that is inspiring. In only their opening introductions I felt like I was on the edge of my seat wanting to hear more of what they had to say, and I walked out of the class with the feeling that I couldn’t wait for next week’s lecture. Again all is very well here down under, I’m definitely starting to get used to the local customs and there is definitely no feeling of homesickness.