As to not be outdone by someone from the south, I'll write up a first entry here also.

I'll write about how much I am panicking about fitting an entire 6 months into two suitcases. Anyone that has been in my room at home or at school knows the amount of clothing i have! You all also know that i am immense trouble parting with ANYTHING... would i call myself a pack rat? NO i just understand the value of memories and if i throw something away I might forget it ever existed (okay yes, i see that i have a problem.) But Rome wasn't built in a day (trust me that saying applies right now!)

Back to having to put my life in two suitcases... AHHH!! I think it will be good for me to see that i can live without all the junk in my life and maybe I'll be able to translate that into my life back in America (assuming I ever come back.) But for now I am just making lists and lists of what I absolutely NEED to bring... right now the only thing on the list is Birth Control but more will be added after my birthday party tonight :)

Many of you have also wondered why I am going to New Zealand out of all places and my answer is simple... It is beautiful and they speak English!

I will be at the University of Auckland which is a coastal city, it is one of the biggest cities in New Zealand because despite wanting to experience the beauty of nature in New Zealand I do not think i could live in the middle of nowhere just yet.

The classes I am taking are:

Hobbit 101

Introduction to Elvish

One Ring to Rule them All: Turning Points in Middle-Earth History

HAHA not really, I just feel like I have to get out all of my Middle-Earth jokes now before I leave!

I am really taking:

DRAMA 302

Performance Skills

Classes in stage acting, improvisation, movement, voice and character, taught by professional tutors. Students will present a solo or duo short performance.

So pretty much this class is a combination of all of the classes I take a semester at UArts into one!

MAORI 190

Kapa Haka 1

An introductory course for beginners or others who have only a minimal knowledge of traditional and contemporary Maori performing arts. The course is strongly practical. It will stress the fundamentals of performance and the various social, cultural and political settings that give it meaning.

So pretty much that'll kick ass!

I'm also taking a class on Films and a New Zealand History class that I'm too lazy to look up right now!

So that will be my life, thank you so much for reading and keep coming back I'm sure it'll be fun!

Auckland!

Love,

Marianne!

first real entry

So for my first real entry I thought I would answer some of the questions that people have asked me about where I am going and why. In about 18 days from now I set off to Brisbane, Australia. Brisbane is located on the north east coast in Queensland, but first I will be going to Melbourne for an orientation. The flight to Melbourne will be about 15 and half hours (good thing I have seen Lost, so I am prepared to go). I leave of the 15^th of February and arrive on the 17th, sorry Julie and Caroline for missing your birthdays. I will arrive at end of summer, go through fall term, and will leave right when winter is just starting, but with temperatures averaging somewhere in upper 60’s to the mid 70’s I don’t think winter will be to hard to rough out. While the warm weather was something that was deciding factor when I picked where I wanted to study, the fact that Griffith has theater classes didn’t hurt either. I am going be taking…

1. Actor & Director in Cont Theatre: This course introduces the student through practical and theoretical workshops to the main influences on theatre, its actors and directors.

2. Contemporary Australian Theatre: This course provides an introduction to the study of contemporary Australian theatre. Students will read and discuss the plays of significant Australian playwrights. (I am hoping this will be Toby class just in Australia)

3. Ghosts and the Gothic: Ghosts and the Gothic traces the history of the Gothic genre from its origins in the ghoul-infested castles and spectralised landscapes of 18th century art and literature through to the 'punked-up' suburban blood suckers of Joss Whedon's 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. From the beginning the Gothic has been a popular and controversial phenomenon that has drawn its energies from the darker regions of the imagination and the borderlands of taste.

4. Audiences: This course investigates the key debates, interventions and sites of conflict in the field of audience research, and examines the ways in which the media and cultural industries conduct and use audience research.

As for Griffith University itself

Opened

1975

Student Population

37786*

International Students

8847 (from 119 countries)

Staff population

3563 FTE

Campuses

5 - Nathan, Gold Coast, Mt Gravatt, Logan, South Bank

I will be living on the Nathan Campus. “With more than 12,000 students and situated in tranquil, native bushland on the edge of Toohey Forest, Nathan campus is a short walk or bus ride from our Mt Gravatt campus or a 10 minute drive from central Brisbane. Public transport connects the campus to Mt Gravatt, Garden City shopping centre and the Brisbane CBD.”

The more I think about it the more I realize that I have no idea what is in store for me over the next 6 months. But then again I really had no idea what was in store for me at Uarts. All I had was one of those guided tours… So yes, I knew what the school looked like, but you can’t really prepare someone by just telling them what happens at Uarts, they have to experience it for themselves. (The yelling, the kicking, the screaming, and the singing.) It’s going to be strange sitting in classes where we have actually have desks. I am going to be surrounded by hundreds of kids that I do not know, and will never know. Am I actually going to have to call my teachers Professor? Everyone at Uarts is used to just calling everyone by their first name. Will there be the equivalent of the 6^th floor lounge where I can catch up on gossip and pray for the weekend?

It’s a little strange to think about how comfortable a place becomes to you after 3 ½ years. But we all have to leave sometime.

So has the flight attendant on my flight back to Arkansas said “Let’s just cross our fingers and hope for the best.”

Chris

Testing One two three testing....does this work?

Chris