From Iowa to Oz: Life on Res

The beautiful view of the Hopkins River from behind the Sherwood buildings

If you've never met an Aussie, you're missing out. The kids here on Res are some of the absolute nicest and friendliest people that I have ever met. I've only been here for maybe two weeks and I feel so at home, like I've known them my whole life. There are a couple different places that you can live. First you have Nres, which is where most of the Australians live. It's a year long contract building and you must be a resident of Australia to live there...but even though I don't live there, I spend most of my time there. Then you have the Sherwood buildings. There are three in front called Kitchens because they have huge kitchens, then there are three behind that we just call Sherwood. These are where all the international students live and also some Aussies. (But the best ones live in Kitchens 3).

The campus is pretty small but that makes it so much better. I don't have to wake up super early for class. I know all the professors by first name, which is still a little strange to me. Also, You may have a lecture for a class maybe once a week, and labs are only about six times throughout the semester. School is very lax here, but I honestly think that's better. Back home, school was always a big part of my anxiety. I was always worried that I wasn't going to live up to what was expected of me, and not just expected of me by other people, expected of me by myself as well. They expect you to be able to fit so much into your day back home, classes every day, work, social life, and still stay sane. I don't really know how I'm going to do once I get back to Iowa State and start having to stress about everything again.

Anyways, this week has been Orientation Week and it's been super fun so far. I'll have an entire post about all the activities. But for now, here are some photos of this beautiful campus.

Here is my building and my window is the first one next to the door on the right!