I take the advantage of this four-day weekend to talk about how I experienced my first weeks in Australia!

First Australian accent was pretty hard to understand during the first weeks. Australians use a lot of slang words and specific expressions. You have to know that:

- A barbies = a barbecue
- Arvo = afternoon
- G'day = Hello
- I reckon = I think
- Macca's = McDonald's
- Tea = Dinner

About English, courses are not easy to understand either, because teachers speak fast specially for the lecture. However the content of the courses is not very different from France, it is the comprehension which is unapparent. 
For each topic I have one lecture and one tutorial. The lecture is the formal instruction, a lecturer talks to a large class and there is little or no group discussion. Tutorials are the smaller classes where you can ask questions, clarify what you have learnt, participate in activities, and present set "homework".

This weekend is Easter! So I decided to go to the Botanic Garden in Adelaide. It is located in the heart of the city and it is 16 hectares of beautifully landscaped gardens. With the different gardens and different universes we can admire the diversity of plants from across Australia and the world. 

I hope you are enjoying your weekend :)

See ya!

Alexia

Hey everyone! !

Just a quick post for you to remember that you can access my photos with this link :

http://aroundthelandofkangaroos.tumblr.com/

You can still click on "Photos Tumblr" on the right, it is the same blog !

Xx

Alexia

Last Sunday I have been to a trip with international students of Flinders like me. I first visited the Cleland Wildlife Park where we can see free-roaming animals such as kangaroos or wallabies but also a lot of non-free-roaming animals. I have had the chance to approach kangaroos and koalas too, it was an amazing experience!

After the Park we went to the Mount Lofty Summit. The Majestic peak of the Mount Lofty Ranges in the Adelaide Hills overlooks some of the most beautiful scenery in South Australia. So we could have seen a spectacular panoramic view of Adelaide because we were 710.1 metres above sea level and it is the highest peak closest to Adelaide.

Finally we have been to Port Noarlunga Beach which is located 35km south of Adelaide on the Fleurieu Peninsula. It is well known for its sandy beach and aquatic reserve.

It was a great day of tourism.

(You can watch the video in HD by clicking on the HD button and after click on "watch in HD now")

It has been over a week since I arrived in Adelaide now. When I arrived someone from the university came pick me at the airport to go to my accommodation on the campus of Flinders University, so it was comforting! 

The Flinders University is a public university located in Bedford Park close to Adelaide, South Australia. It was founded in 1966, the name of Flinders came from the navigator Matthew Flinders who explored the coast of South Australia in the 19th century. the university is mostly known for its teaching and research.

The university counts about 24 700 students including 4000 International students from over 100 countries different. We can study a lot of disciplines when we go to Flinders, indeed it offers more than 160 undergraduate and postgraduate courses. There are 4 main faculties, in which we can find different schools: 

• Faculty of Education, Humanities and Law
• Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
• Faculty of Science and Engineering
• Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (I'm in this one in the Flinders Business School)

About Housing, Flinders offers two options for on-campus accommodation: Deirdre Jordan Village (which is a self-catered accommodation where we live in apartments with other students) and University Hall (which is a catered accommodation where we live in a single room). I live in the University Hall.

Last week was the O’week, which is the orientation week and one of the biggest events of the year. Several activities were organised such as challenges, sportive events or BBQs. On Monday we had an outdoor cinema, it was a bit chilly (it had been 42 degrees the weekend just before so it was a big change) but anyway it was very nice! With the university hall we had also some stuffs organised in order to get to know each other because most of the residents are freshers, it means that they are first-year students.

This week is the first week of class. I took 4 topics which are Social Media Marketing, International Marketing, Management People and Organisations and finally International Business Context. I will talk about my courses later when I will take my mark.

PS: You can check my photos with the link on the right of this page (Photos Tumblr) or click here

Here we are, I just bought my plane tickets ! I will leave Lyon on the 18th of February and, after approximately 29 hours of flight and two transits in Dubai and Melbourne, I will arrive at Adelaide Airport on the 20th. 

I also managed to have an accommodation on campus . At first I made an application to have a shared room but I guess there was no more available shared room for me because I received an offer for a single room. However, even if it is more expensive I am very glad I'll live on campus. Here is a little glimpse of where I will live :

I still have a few things to prepare but for now I have to start a new job in order to make money to finance this semester abroad.

See ya !