The function at which the award was presented was held at Government House, which is this incredible mansion, surrounded by beautiful gardens, in the heart of the city. It’s quite a unique venue, and it was a lovely event. We got the best weather all week on the day of the event, and it made for beautiful scenery! Many thanks have to go to StudyAdelaide for preparing such a wonderful function!

                I won the award for my work in the community and it was a wonderful honour to receive it. I obviously didn’t do this work in the community in order to win awards, but nevertheless it is an accomplishment that I’m very proud of. For those of you who have read this blog in the past, you know my heart and what I’ve been doing in the community. If you haven’t read my blogs in the past, then I suggest you do! In case you need a refresher however, while here in Adelaide I’ve been working with Edge Kids, the Edge Assist Street Care Team, and the Childhood Cancer Association of South Australia. I strongly encourage you to read my earlier blogs for more information about those organizations, as they are all very important to me and they are doing amazing works in the lives of many. It’s going to be so difficult parting ways with them when I return to Canada!

                I just wanted to take a few moments to thank those around me for helping me get to this place of victory, so if you can bear with me, I would certainly appreciate it!

                Firstly, I have to thank my wonderful family for all that they’ve done for me. I could not have even made it Australia in the first place without your support, and it’s meant so much to have you backing me all this way. My Mom and Dad have been so supportive of me, and helped me through many trials along the way. I love you guys and I can never thank you enough for making all this possible.

                I also need to thank everyone from home for their support both before leaving for Adelaide, and once I arrived. The entire Milobar family was there supporting me through the darkest nights of depression, and I have to thank them for their influence on me. I also have to thank John and Kirby; my good friends who stood by my side always, and helped inspire me to greater heights. You are all the greatest friends anyone could ever ask for!

                Thank you to Ian, James, and Sally for meeting me in Sydney and making sure I was looked after during my first few days alone. Your generosity showed me what it’s like to help others with no agenda of your own, and I want you all to know how thankful I am for the amazing treatment that you gave me.

                Next, I have to thank the Scriver family for welcoming me into their lives here in Adelaide and helping me to get settled and comfortable when I first arrived, as well as being constant supporters of mine through this entire exchange. I’m really going to miss our weekly get-togethers and sharing my life with you guys. Please don’t ever underestimate the impact that you’ve made on me.

                I also need to thank James and Kathryn from Edge, as well as everyone else at Edge, for welcoming me so wonderfully and giving me a family atmosphere that I needed while so far away from home. For all of you who took to the time to get to know me, and who welcomed me into your homes for home-cooked meals and friendship, I felt truly blessed to be in your company, and your friendship meant the world to me. You all showed me kindness and generosity far beyond what was required, and it truly did influence me in wonderful ways.

                I won’t drone on forever, but there are so many more people I could thank! I just hope that everyone who reads this knows what a support they’ve been to me, and I hope that everyone knows that they played a part in my winning this award. This is for everyone who believed in me and motivated me to get here. I can’t thank you enough. 

The post International Honour appeared first on Study Adelaide.

Hi, fellow international students.

After days of showers, finally we have a glimpse of summer here in Adelaide! Yay!

As the days pass, I’m getting closer and closer to my public exams. This is the last week of my Year 12 journey and I’m extremely stressed (I would score my stress level 9/10, if you ask me). Walking home from the South Terrace tram stop, I took the good chance to enjoy the nice sunshine today after class. I found walking to be a good way to release my stress and to clear my mind.

The weather report said it reached 27 degrees today. I’m so looking forward to the summer!

Personally, I love the clear blue sky and the sunshine here in Adelaide. How about you? How do you think about the weather in Adelaide?

Keep in touch,
Sandy

The post Out in the Sun appeared first on Study Adelaide.

As International Students Ambassadors of StudyAdelaide, we had a rare opportunity to participate in one of the important events in the show, the Cow Milking Competition. Our StudyAdelaide PR Manager Lisa Toole and Operations Manager Tejinder Malhi took the leading roles in organizing our Cow Milking Team.  As the show organizers and the presenters needed to know the participants, Lisa sent us a questionnaire to furnish. These were the questions.

1. Which city or town are you from?

2. Did any of you grow up in a farm?

3. Did you have any contact with cows in your home country?

4. Have you ever touched a cow before? Have you ever milked a cow before? If you have milked a cow, were you good at it?

5. Do you have any funny stories about cows? (Maybe you were chased by one once?!).

She wanted to make our replies as interesting and funny as possible and encouraged providing as much detail as we wanted. We took a special care to provide the details together with many funny stories and Cow Jokes, so that Lisa could send them to the organizers in advance. The questionnaire was a clever idea to make sure that the presenters are well aware of our cow milking backgrounds when the completion begins.

I have touched cows on many occasions, but never milked a cow. Once I tried to milk a cow. As soon as I touched the cow, she went berserk and started kicking in the air. I got really scared and did not attempt milking afterwards. So the cow milking competition was something I was looking forward. The whole team of student ambassadors had never milked a cow before. Once we went to the Royal Adelaide Show ground, the event organizers showed us the cow we are going to milk. She was a small but healthy cow called Olivia. She was fully tame and friendly, and we were really lucky to have her. As we all knew nothing about cow milking, the owner of Olivia gave us some tips. The owner was a friendly and smiling young boy who took a genuine interest to explain the delicate procedures of cow milking. He was very helpful and we all liked him very much.

We were given 5 minutes of warm up time. I could not believe it when I got some milk out for the very first time. After we all did our warm up, the organizers gave each of us 2 minutes in the competition. We were able to get a lot of milk in two buckets and were confident winning the competition.  Right after the bell rang to end the competition, Olivia kicked one of our buckets. We would have easily won the competition, if we had that bucket too. We blamed ourselves for keeping the buckets very close to Olivia. But, it was a competition after all, and we had to accept the win and the defeat alike.

After the competition, the presenter walked to every team and talked to everybody. As he knew many things about us thanks to Lisa’s questionnaire, the discussion was very informative and full of fun.

Even though we didn’t win, all of us had a great day. Every one of us milked a cow for the first time in our lives and we were indeed successful. We all were proud of ourselves and ready to milk a cow once again!

The post Cow Milking Competition at the Royal Adelaide Show appeared first on Study Adelaide.

See link to a map below:

https://maps.google.com.au/maps/place?q=Cleland+Conservation+Park,+Cleland,+South+Australia&hl=en&ftid=0x6ab0cc947e249b65:0xf03365545ba7d30

As soon as you enter the park you feel like you are far away from your everyday busy life. Within the park you find many animals native only to Australia wandering freely. Most of the animals are friendly and allow us to feed them as we wish. Below are some of the animals I met on my journey.

Koala:

Every day at Cleland visitors can get up close to and even hold a koala. Koalas are one of the most recognizable Australian animals across the world. Now there are only 2000 to 8000 koalas in the world. The population of Australian koalas has dropped by 90% in less than a decade.

Kangaroo:

There are many types of kangaroos in this wildlife park. They are Red Kangaroos, Western Grey Kangaroos and Kangaroo Island Kangaroos. All the kangaroos in the wildlife park are friendly and they all allowed me to feed them. Having lived in Australia for almost two years and seen many of them in the wild, I always enjoy their beauty and their innocence.

Wallaby:

Wallabies are pouched mammals just like kangaroos, but they are a bit smaller than kangaroos. There are two types of wallabies in the Cleland Wildlife Park. They are Yellow-footed Rock-Wallabies and Swamp Wallabies. Just like kangaroos, wallabies in the park also allow anyone to feed them.

 Potoroo:

A Potoroo looks like a blend between the kangaroo and the rat, but with the size of a rabbit. Potoroos wander freely in the whole park. Whenever I gavethem food they ate without fuss. They look as cute as rabbits, but never scary as rats.

Dingo:

Dingo is Australia’s wild dog. Dingos are predators not pets. They kill animals even if they are not hungry. They eat their prey only if they are hungry. They just leave it otherwise. Dingos live in small packs which only contain their own family members. The parents and cubs live together in the pack.  Unlike wolves they don’t accept outsiders into their pack. Dingos are also kept as pets in some households. They will be loyal to their masters, but given a chance, will kill other animals in the household as they are predators.

Echidnas:

Echidnas are sometimes known as Spiny Ant Eaters. Their skins are covered with coarse hair and spines and live in holes dug into the ground. They are the only mammals laying eggs. Their diet mainly consists of ants and termites. They look very similar to the hedgehogs and porcupines seen in Sri Lanka.

Tasmanian Devil:

This is the most wonderful animal I have seen in my life. The cartoons I have seen as a kid gave me an impression that Tasmanian Devils can eat anything and everything they come across. It was very nice to see some of them in their natural habitat.

The Tasmanian Devil is black in colour and the size of a small pig. Their large and ferocious mouths are very unusual and out of scale. A male devil is usually bigger than the female and weighs around 12kg. If a Tasmanian devil weighs 10kg it will eat more than 1kg every day. There are about 30,000 of them living in the wild in Tasmania. They can eat an entire wallaby including all bones and fur. They have very sharp font teeth to help them crush and eat the bones. They also like to eat carcasses of sheep together with all bones.

More Information:

My first visit to the Cleland Wildlife Park was an amazing one. I wish to visit the park many more times in the future in order to enjoy the beauty of the park and to explore more wildlife. Those who wish to visit the park may obtain more information on the official website at:

 www.clelandwildlifepark.sa.gov.au 

The post A visit to Cleland Wildlife Park – South Australia appeared first on Study Adelaide.

After dinner, we sat down at Gelatissimo on Gouger Street, which is located right next to the ANZ branch in the China Town.

Want to try all the flavours of gelato in store?  This giant stack of gelato, Coppa Bambino would be perfect for you to share with your friends. It has 32 mini scoops of gelato (which is EVERY SINGLE FLAVOUR they have in store) combined with chocolate, nuts, strawberry, wafers and whipped cream. As a chocoholic, I love the Belgium chocolate gelato there. If you prefer sorbet, I would recommend you to try the lime flavour.

Besides gelato, Gelatissmo also offers hot drinks, cakes and flavours of macaroons.

Well, what can be better than enjoying gelato with a bunch of friends at night?

For the latest information and promos about Gelatissimo, you can visit their web-site http://www.gelatissimo.com.au/

With <3 ,
Sandy

The post You scream, I scream , Everybody ICE-CREAM! appeared first on Study Adelaide.

I was extremely inspired by the winner of the ‘International Student of the Year’ who has GPA 6.95 out of 7. I had the chance to ask these outstanding international students about their study secrets. Here are the valuable study habits I obtained from them. I hope they will be helpful for everyone’s study for upcoming exams, and well into the future.

1.Self-discipline: Don’t let other things to take priority over studying, attending lectures and tutorials.
2.Have a study timetable: Be task-oriented and clear about what you want to achieve.
3.Be realistic: Don’t try to do too much in one day and have regular breaks to keep refreshed. It is impossible to write 5,000 words in one night.
4.Be organized: Prepare well for lectures and tutorials. Keep up with assignments. Don’t leave the assignments until the last minute.
5.Make full use of the University’s resources: If a study problem arises, it is very helpful to discuss it with lecturers, tutors, the University’s Learning Centres, as well as peers.
6.Have a nice study area: Good lighting, comfortable desk and chair and sufficient stationery are essential for study.  All Universities have facilities for this purpose, which can be less distracting than studying at home.

Good luck for everyone’s final exams and assignments! Best wishes for those students who have already graduated or are in the process of graduating.

Remember study never stops, knowledge never sleeps and Adelaide always welcomes you to start, continue or re-start your educational journey!

The post Successful Personal Study Habits appeared first on Study Adelaide.

Eventually, the word of this amazing discovery reached the other parts of the world and kayaks today serve as the world’s most popular self-propelled watercraft. Kayaking is a popular water sport in Australia and many Australians kayak in their leisure time. Many South Australians have kayaks.

London Olympics-2012 was a tale of success for Australian Kayaking. The Australians were glued to their TV screens to watch David Smith, Tate Smith, Murray Stewart and Jacob Clear cross the finish line to win the Men’s Olympic Gold Medal for K4 1000m event. Jessica Fox won the Silver Medal for Women K1 Slalom event. Starting from 1996 Melbourne Olympics, Australia has won a total of 22 medals to date for kayaking. These included 3 Gold, 8 Silver and 11 Bronze medals. This record shows the popularity of the game and the commitment shown by the Australian sportsmen and women to this game.

Men’s Olympic Gold Medal for K4 1000m

Silver Medal for Women K1 Slalom event

How did I have an opportunity to engage in this popular water sport? As a part of the international student ambassador training programme I was invited to take part in a kayaking expedition at Port Adelaide. Kayaking was a part of the Team Building Skills Workshop for the StudyAdelaide Student Ambassadors and TafeSA Ambassadors. During the day we were taught about team building skills by our instructor, Tom. We were asked to talk about what we think about team building and who we think is a team leader and all those serious things.

After the lunch came the most exciting event - Kayaking! We were separated to groups of two and asked to kayak as teams to accomplish certain goals. The goals included taking photographs with ships or any other vessels and with dolphins. As soon as we went to port Adelaide we saw the dolphins. We were so excited. Before going on to the water Tom, as expedition leader, gave us some tips on kayaking such as how to steer the kayak, how to peddle and most importantly how to survive without falling into the sea as it was one cold day.

I was given the back seat and was responsible for steering the kayak. We completed all the tasks given to us, except the photo with the dolphins. It was because the weather was a bit cold and we were also scared to go closer as that might hurt the dolphins. Then came the most challenging task. Tom asked all the ambassadors at the back to blindfold. We thought he was just joking but apparently he was not. I was so worried that I wouldn’t be able to steer the boat correctly but my partner, Melissa, did a great job by giving me the directions. So we went to the given target without any problem. The lesson of this task was ‘effective communication ensures success’. What a serious topic it was.

All ambassadors had so much fun that day and also learnt the importance of working as a team. Most importantly, I wish I could kayak more often, as I enjoyed it very much.

Blindfolded Kayaking

Today Kayaking is gaining popularity in my home country, Sri Lanka too. It has many rivers, lakes and lagoons providing perfect environment for the sport. My country is also filled with mountain ranges and cascading rivers filled with sparkling waters. These rivers are used for “Whitewater Rafting”. The whitewater rafting expedition in Kitulgala on the Kelani River attracts many tourists. This is because this particular stretch incorporates the bridge site of the famous movie “The Bridge on the River Kwai”. With the little experience I gained at Port Adelaide, I wish to try the Kitulgala Expedition when I go home in November for the three-month summer vacation.

The Bridge on the River Kwai

Whitewater Rafting in Sri Lanka

The post Kayaking in Port Adelaide appeared first on Study Adelaide.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! 中秋节快乐！According to Chinese culture, the round moon represents reunion of family members. The festival is also celebrated in other Asian countries too.  Last Sunday 22,000 people came to Elder Park (in the Adelaide CBD) with their family members and friends to share this lovely night with the community. This event was timed to coincide with Adelaide’s OzAsia Festival, an annual Arts and Culture showcase which brings professional performing artists from across the Asian region to Adelaide. The Mid-Autumn Festival celebration is renowned for the lantern parade and stunning fireworks display, which is impressive even by Chinese standards!

StudyAdelaide had two lanterns in the parade. Our International Student Ambassadors, as well as our friends, carried the lanterns from one side of Elder Park to the other. The two lanterns expressed the warm welcome Adelaide extends to past, present and future international students. A lot of creative lanterns were made by schools or community groups. While I was waiting for the exciting parade, I had a opportunity to gain a close look at the lanterns. My local friend, Michael, and I decided to do something special. We had a “competition” to see who can do the most creative pose with the lanterns. My lovely readers can leave a comment with your opinion. O(∩_∩)O~

The post A Beam of Moon Lantern appeared first on Study Adelaide.

I recently had the opportunity to go on a short trip to the beautiful Flinders Ranges, which certainly lived up to their billing!

The ranges were a long bus ride from Adelaide, but we made sure to make several stops along the way, which broke up the drive nicely! We did a beautiful hike on the first day, which brought with it some amazing scenery. Later that night we arrived at our accommodation, and had a nice dinner before turning in for the night.

The next day came with a very early wake-up call, but one that was well worth it when you consider the excellent day we had! We went on another beautiful hike, and then did some driving through many of the gorges in the area that are absolutely spectacular! We also saw some Yellow Tailed Rock Wallabies in their natural habitat, which was a great find since they tend to hide from people, and they were once almost extinct!

By the time we got back to our beds, we were all completely exhausted, as it had been a really long day! I slept like an absolute log that night, and I think that I easily could’ve gone for many more hours!

The final day was pretty much just driving back to Adelaide, and we made one short stop in the Clare Valley to do a little bit of wine tasting. Even as I’m writing this, I’m still recovering from the trip!

We had a great time, and I really encourage anyone who’s reading this to take advantage of the StudyAdelaide tours that are available!

The post Flinders Ranges appeared first on Study Adelaide.

We were paired with a small, but spunky, cow named Olivia, who liked to move around a lot during the competition. Olivia was a very pretty cow, and we were lucky to have her!

It was the first time milking a cow for everyone on our team, so we were all a little confused as to the best technique to use to get the maximum amount of milk to come out! Luckily for us, we got some coaching from Olivia’s owner and we were on our way!

I must admit that the first time that I got some milk to come out, I was pretty proud of myself. It was much easier to do once you got started, and keeping your hand wet was really important so that you didn’t pull too hard! Olivia certainly wasn’t afraid to let you know when you were doing something wrong, as she’d kick or move around pretty quickly.

We quickly learned that the entire event was a farce, with the goal basically being to cheat as much as possible. We had about two buckets filled with pure cow milk (and nothing else…) until Olivia kicked over one of our buckets right at the end! That may have made the difference between us winning and losing, but we had a good laugh, and a good day overall.

So, as a piece of advice to anyone who is considering applying to be an ambassador with StudyAdelaide next year, start practising your cow milking now, and put that on your resume! After coming so close to victory, we’re looking to take home the prize next year!

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