Formalities

The blog skin didn't look like it had pink when I chose it...

A couple things about this blog:

• I'm happy to welcome you to my learning abroad blog. I did this for a couple of reasons. First, I did it to give back to the learning abroad office sponsoring my trip. Second, I did it because I knew I would've jumped on any chance to look at someone undergoing the experience of learning abroad in a different culture especially one that I would have been going on in the future to really help me prepare for what I was getting into. That being said, I did not have that. I had some very entertaining and helpful souls that came in from James Cook University to talk to me about Australia, but no University of Melbourne student could make it.... so in other words, I'm going pretty blank slate which is thrilling and nerve racking all at the same time. Third, I'm doing this for me as well... for my experience... to reminisce all the embarrassing and dumb mistakes I make over the course of five months
  
• I will keep this blog updated as possible. I'm pretty good at keeping up with blogs.
• My entries are long, and if you're me... you're most likely searching for pictures! Trust me, I will take pictures. I went to California for a week and took over 400 pictures... I will upload as much as I can when I can.
• This blog will have a laid out pretty selfishly. I'm not use to doing direct entries about living out experiences. Rather, I live in abstraction meaning two things: First, I will modify my usual entry to accompany those who want to read about experience but second, I will be very much entrenched in abstraction. Every third or fourth blog will encompass a concept or experience that's drawn on more generally or without a usual format of "This is what I've done this week in Australia!" You will know these entries when you read them and you're not obligated to read them. They're meant for personal reflection and more of comparable study of cognition in a differing culture. I ask you to please bear with me through these abstract entries as they are my specialty.

A couple things about me:

I think you'll figure out more about me through reading this thing than through this entry. That being said, I've read enough blogs to know how most people fill about an 'About me' section and I think they're quite funny really. So here's one thing you'll learn about me... I like to engage in 'play' with convention which doesn't mean I react against it necessarily but I do like to point it out and offer up something a bit different to engage with. So here is what I think are the most cliche 'About me' sections:

• The "I'm Mike. I'm 5'9'' and 130lbs. I like running and reading... etc etc." I've never met a person who needed an anthropometric measurement of a person to 'know' something about them. Also I think it's funny that they list their interests. I can only imagine someone screaming 'Oh my gawd, he runs! He's so interesting!'
• The "Enthusiastic, friendly, calm, collected, quiet when first meaning but then crazy when known... etc etc." Because pop psychology has encapsulated the masses, I will never subject you to a personality psych.
  
• The "I'm not your typical such and such" or "I'm an average guy." I think its interesting that people will choose some typification to define themselves as or against. Because you can only be something or not be it in this binary culture(/sarcasm).

I hope never to remain within convention... and hopefully am able to provide something new and interesting for all of you to read. I hope you will follow me through my battles against the microwave and my failures to cook. I hope you also follow me to and away from the pubs, the museums, the history, the clubs, the sporting events, or where ever I choose to take you.

..........One month and refraining from counting............