World’s Best Cup of Coffee

So…. Maybe I haven’t found the world’s best cup of coffee, but I have been on the hunt for Manly’s best cup of coffee! My goal for this term has been to try every little cafe, and there are a ton, and see which one had the best latte. I have been spoiled since being …

Life in the Castle

After a few months of living in our beautiful ICMS castle, I still haven’t been able to get used to the fact that I am in Australia. Yes, I am going to school, studying, hanging out with friends, watching Netflix, drinking an absurd amount of coffee – the usual things that college students do! But …

I Am Thankful For…

This Thanksgiving obviously has been a strange one – being in a foreign country that does not celebrate Thanksgiving is a new one for me for sure! No one is yelling at you to stop playing Christmas music until after Thanksgiving (so for all you Christmas music lovers out there, come to Australia) which has been …

Aussie Quirks

Since arriving in Australia, I haven’t had much of a culture shock necessarily since it is an English-speaking, developed country. However, Australia does have its quirks – some commonly known to the rest of the world, others not so much! One of my favorite things about Australia is the laid back surfer lifestyle. “Shirts and …

Melbourne Cup

A couple of friends and I decided to spend the weekend hard at work… on vacation… in Melbourne! How could we not go when there is an opportunity to go to the Melbourne Cup? For those of you who don’t know (I was one of those people if I’m being honest), the Melbourne Cup is the …

Opera House Adventures

One of Sydney’s greatest treasures is it’s Opera House. Lucky for me it is just a hop, skip, and a ferry ride away from my beautiful campus. A few weeks ago, my program,TEAN Australia, hosted an event for all study abroad students in NSW that was a tour of the Opera House. I was THRILLED …

Surf Camp!

During orientation, we had a compulsory surf safety presentation (can’t get more Aussie than that!), and we were told about Surf Camp Australia. Two days of nothing but “SURF EAT SLEEP REPEAT.” Sounds great right? So we got a bunch of people to sign up and within no time we were off! With our bags …

First Week of Classes (Finally)

After what seemed to be ages of multiple orientations and time spent on Manly Beach, week one is officially here! Leading up to this week, I was so curious to see what my classes would be like compared to what I’ve taken at Hope. Finally, I could log into the ICMS app and my timetable …

The Castle on the Hill

The International College of Management, Sydney (ICMS) is located on what seems to be the tallest hill in Manly, Australia. Driving up to it after a weekend in the outback seemed like a dream. With only about 200 students living on campus at a time, it is a small but incredibly stunning school. Just to …

Orientation! …In the outback?

After 20-odd hours in multiple airports and various planes, I finally made it to Sydney, Australia! …only to leave this beautiful city less than a day later to fly to my program’s orientation at a resort surrounding Ayers Rock, also known to the aboriginal people as Uluru. For those of you who don’t know what …