Rachel's Bushwalk: Update of the Past Month in Canberra!

Hello! I apologize for the long delay, but Google just did not seem to want to work in Canberra. No worries all is well now! A lot has happened since I landed here, but I will give you a brief update. I am currently living in Bruce Hall, which is a dormitory with both boys and girls. They treat their dorms like fraternities and sororities. The first week I arrived we had an Orientation Week that was full of planned activities. During the day there would be icebreaker games and at night they would have a themed party.

My home for the next five months!

Canberra is a lovely place. Many people do not like the capital city because it is so quiet compared to Sydney and Melbourne, but I am enjoying this after being in LA. The campus is surrounded by mountains and parks, which makes for great running trails. Speaking of running...I am currently training for this competition between all the halls called Inward Bound. There are seven divisions based on distance starting at 25km going all the way up to 100km! You are placed in teams of four and at the night of the competition everyone is dropped off at this secret location. Teams have to use navigational skills to get back to campus. I have been training with the group from Bruce Hall, which has been a blast. I love being able to run with a a team again.

Parliament House!

Some notable places I have been: Parliament House, Botanical Gardens and National Museum of Australia. Canberra has many museums to keep me busy. The Parliament House was amazing! A group of us went and we were able to sit in and watch Question Time with the Prime Minister. At the Botanical Gardens, I was able to see my first kangaroo! They come out usually at dawn and dust, so you have to keep your eyes peeled for them.

First kangaroo I saw, but hopefully many
more to come.

I have began to travel around Australia. Last weekend I went up to Sydney and stayed at Coogi Beach, which was gorgeous. I missed being by the ocean and forgot how beautiful it is. We stayed at the beach all day Saturday and on Sunday the group did a bit of exploring around downtown Sydney where we saw the Sydney Opera House. I am going back to Sydney in two weeks to do more exploring!

Coogi Beach. A bit crowded, but the water felt great!

This post is a lot and I promise to update more frequently, but all in all I am having a wonderful time in Canberra. I have met people from all over the world and the other students from USC are wonderful. Classes just started, so I must find time to fit all the lovely reading I have been assigned already into my schedule! Now I will leave you with some pictures to look over! Cheers!