Wrapping Things Up

G'day everyone. I haven't been blogging as nothing too big has happened until recently. I was glad when school was over, well I guess classes that is. I still have one exam to go, and I am taking a break from studying now, but I have turned in all of my papers and as of 4:15 on Thrusday, my time... I will be a free man! Unfortunately I will only have 8 days left in Oz to enjoy it, but I'll make the most of every second!

Just after school let out on the 29th, Lee, Lee's mom Ann and myself headed off to Sydney. We stayed there from the 4th through the 7th in a nice little condo right down town. Lee's aunt lives close to Sydney, so she and Ann played tour guide for the weekend. The first full day there, we hopped on the ferry from the harbour and headed out to the Zoo. The place was massive and we had a lot of fun. The ferry ride out there was pretty cool too, as we had great views of the opera house and harbour bridge. At the zoo we saw everything from giraffe's to meerkat's. There was even a new born baby elephant that was out with its mom. It didn't do much but hid under her legs, but it was still pretty neat to see. That night we went to one of THE BEST seafood restaurants I have ever been to. I ordered the surf and turf, which was steak topped with jumbo shrimp and lobster pieces. The steak cut like butter and the seafood was so fresh... it was just a beautiful meal! Then to top it all off, we had chocolate fondue served with marshmallows and strawberries. As if we weren't full enough, we indulged a bit more and it was SO worth it! The next day was a bit rainy, but we made the most of it. We went out and hopped on the monorail and headed down to another spot along the water. There were some cool ships and old boats around and so feeling inspired, we went and checked out the maritime museum. I myself geek out over every type of mode of transportation, and so I was excited, but the museum was actually really cool and I think everyone enjoyed it. After that, we went and ate a little lunch and did some shopping. We went back to the apartment to rest for a bit, then we were off again. This time, we just did some driving around. We made our way over the harbour bridge and off into a little suburb. Little did I know, we were headed of to where the Prime Minister lives when she is in Sydney. We were able to drive up pretty close and look at the house. She gets some pretty stunning views of the opera house and bridge, I was definitely jealous. After that little trip it started down pouring, so we just headed back home. One of Lee's cousins came into town that evening so we all went out to china town and had dinner. We had another big feast that night... not quite as extravagant as the night before, but it was still pretty delicious. Again it was drizzling and so we headed home. On sunday, the weather was absolutely beautiful. It was sunny and about 73 degrees. We couldn't have asked for a better way to end the trip. That morning we headed down to the harbour again and went to this place that Lee's aunt and mom and found before. It was a rooftop bar/restaurant and it had amazing views out over the opera house. We all sat there and ate lunch and enjoyed the afternoon for quite a while. Then we went down and looked at the open air market that was going on in the streets. Many of the roads were covered in cobble stone, as this was an area first settled when Australia was first found. We wound our way through the maze of streets looking at all of the homemade goods each vendor had to offer. I ended up getting something for myself as well as Shelby, the last person I had to buy for on my list! After the market we headed down to the water side. We snapped a couple of pics and started walking around the water. All of a sudden we stumbled across this jet boat company and Ann REALLY wanted to do it, so we all joined in. The whole concept of this boat is to A) Go really fast, doing all sorts of bobs, weaves, and spins and to B) get REALLY wet.... Oh yeah.. and get really good views. Anyway we hopped on the boat and all of the things above were accomplished. We got an excellent tour of the harbour and got wet along the way. It was a fun way to end the trip. After being completely soaked... Me not as much as Ann who received the brunt of it, we headed back to the apartment to change and pick up the car and head to the airport.

I had such a great time on the trip and we had so much crammed into one tiny weekend. I got to see all the sites a tourist should see when visiting Sydney, and probably a little bit more! I had excellent tour guides and I know that I had a blast! Now I am back in Melbourne and am getting antsy for this exam to be over. I only have to wait 24 more hours, but I can't wait.

I hope it isn't getting too cold back in the Northern Hemisphere. It is getting hotter and hotter down here. Tomorrow is supposed to be 87! Nothing else new to report really. I am looking forward to seeing everyone when I come home. I hope everyone is well and I will speak soon... until next time... no worries!

Summer Time!!

Hello all... so my body is totally out of whack... I am sitting on my balcony at the end of October, wearing no shirt and gym shorts. AND its 10:15 at night! It is SO beautiful outside and I am so glad summer is finally here! The only bizarre thing is that the Big W has started putting out their Christmas line and that is just crazy! It in no way feels like it is getting close to Christmas. I literally saw three decorated Christmas trees today and just busted up laughing. Though it was a joke at first, then realised that I guess Christmas really will be here before I know it.

Speaking of time flying, next week is the last week of school and I can hardly believe it! I have been working hard these past few weeks on getting my end of the year papers finished. I have three 2,500 word essays all due on the same day, so I trying to get them all done now, so I will just be finished with school! I also only have 27 days until I leave Australia and that is really starting to stress me out. I know that I'll be ready to go home, but the fact that I really only have 8 full days of freedom after exams are over kinda makes me sad! Best believe that I will be at the beach every single one of those days before I leave and head to the winter wonder land that I am sure will be blanketing the states upon my arrival... Nothing like a good, "hi ya, you are definitely NOT in Australia anymore, but welcome home.. p.s. its -20 outside!" Ok, maybe it won't be that bad, but coming from 90 everyday, it will not be fun!

Nothing too new really. I sprained my ankle on Monday, which meant I couldn't go out and do anything all week. My theory is that it was God's little reminder to stay in and do my work. All-in-all I think it was a blessing. I have basically finished my Irish history paper, which has truly been the bane of my existence. I don't think it is anything too revolutionary in thinking when it comes to making an argument about Ireland, but I at least have something to turn in. I only have one more paper to write about Ubiquitous Computing, exhilarating I know, but then I will be done with those and just have to take an exam on the 11th.

I was talking to Jordan the other day about how I wasn't homesick here, but I was really people and food sick. I am looking forward to seeing everyone around the holidays! I am also looking forward to putting ranch dressing on EVERYTHING I eat for like the next five months. Mom asked me to make a list of foods and I have really been craving Mexican, and Lasagna, really anything you bake in an oven. That is the one thing my apartment doesn't have and I never realised how many things I like to eat that come out of an oven... and really, in all serisousness I think I want a Dr. Pepper and a shot of ranch dressing waiting for me at the airport. I can't believe that Hidden Valley ranch in all its goodness has not hopped the border of America to spread its deliciousness with the rest of the world!

Ok... getting a little out of hand, so I'll bring it back home. I hope everyone reading is well and enjoying your fall into winter. I enjoy hearing from everyone on Facebook and Skyping with who I can. I'll try to write again a couple of times before I leave, but not making any promises. Until next time... no worries!

Spring Time

Hello all... So I sitting here at my computer having a spoonful of peanut butter and a glass of milk. I am absolutely craving a tim tam, but it is midnight and I have a whole fresh package of them and I know that I will eat more than one and don't need them, especially this late... any way, point of story is I am now writing this blog post to distract myself... after this, i'll just force myself to brush my teeth and then I won't have the desire to eat any more and it will be time for bed...

Anywho, the weather here is absolutely amazing! The sun has been out every day, the trees are budding, and people are EVERYWHERE! This past weekend, Casey and I went down to St. Kilda and laid out on the beach. Again, there were people all over the place, but it was nice. There was a lot of sport playing going on... cricket, football, Frisbee, we were dorks and didn't bring anything to do, but as it turns out, just laying out in the sun was just perfect. We decided that next weekend we are going back only this time we are packing a picnic and a frisbee.

Since New Zealand, not much has been going on. School is taking up most of my time. Classes are done on the 29th and I still have three research papers to write! I have started one, but the task ahead is still daunting. They'll get done, but I am ready for classes to be out! Lee and I have a trip to Sydney planned for the 4th to 7th of November. Her aunt lives there so that will be nice to get an insiders guide to the city! Sydney is really the last thing I have on my list of things to do in Oz, so once I tick that off of my list I think I will be complete. I only have 37 days left in Australia and I can hardly believe it. The good news is that I don't feel like I have missed out on any opportunities here. I feel like I have been taking advantage of all, or at least most of what this city has to offer.

Well, I've really run out of things to say, so I suppose I better go brush my teeth and avoid the deadly tim tam box! If you haven't done so already, I posted the majority of New Zealand pictures on my facebook, so you should check them out. Talk again soon, and until next time... no worries!

Back in Aussie

Well I am back in Aussie now and let me tell you, this city has come alive!!! We left chilly NZ to come back to beautiful sunny 75 degree weather here in Australia, and there are people out everywhere. All of the cafe's are full and people are laying out in parks. Today, Claire, Casey and I went and played frisbee in a park that is close by, it is just so hard to not be outside. This new found necessity to be out enjoying the warm weather could prove to be bad when trying to complete schoolwork, but I suppose I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

So, where I last left you was in the stench of a town that is Rotorua, NZ. We all opted to sleep in the next morning and got up at 9. We ate brekky and checked out. It was raining out, but we still headed north to our beachy destination in hopes the sun would come out. We finally made it to Tauranga, and the sun never showed its face, so we didn't spend much time at the beach. After cruising around town, we just decided it would be best to head on in to Auckland. On our way there however, we did stumble upon where they filmed Hobbiton and the Shire in LOTR so that was pretty neat. Once we were about an hour outside of Auckland the traffic got really heavy and our two lane road finally turned into four. (the first four lane road we had encountered in NZ I might add) I was driving and Claire was navigating. Come to find out, Auckland is bigger than London and is like driving in LA, so needless to say I had never driven or encountered anything of that magnitude before. We somehow made it with ease though. I suppose it helps that both Claire and I are like walking GPS's. Once we found our hostel and unpacked we headed to the beach. We spent about an hour there just relaxing and watching these two kids running around chasing the seagull's. As it was our last night in New Zealand, we decided to go out. There was a nice bar in the basement of our hostel so we just went there. There was some good music and dancing and a good amount of people. We turned in early however, because we had to be up at 4:45am to make it to the airport on time. Everything on the flight was fine until about 30 minutes into it. I don't want to sound mean, but the plane was 75% full with asians and they were all screaming at each other in whatever they were speaking and there was one screaming baby in the row behind us, so needless to say our plans of sleeping on the flight home were down to nil. I love flying, but never in my life was I so ready to get off of an airplane. We finally landed and ventured back to our rooms. I tried to lay down and nap, but it never happened so I just went to the market and picked up some much needed food. I ended up fall asleep last night at 10pm. I was watching a movie on TV and just absolutely zonked out from exhaustion.

Today again was a beautiful day. Frisbee was fun and I have been cleaning for the remainder of the day with my balcony doors open, listening to the cars and birds as they pass noisly by. I am not looking forward to going back to school tomorrow, but what can you do... Fortunately I only have 4 weeks left as classes end on the 29th, but I still have four research papers due on the 8th of November, so I will still be busy this month. I only have 49 days left in Aussie and I know they are going to fly by! I am anxious to get home in some ways, but know I will be sad to leave. I think its really the comforts that one grows up with that I miss the most. You know, the things that you can just run out and get or do... basically everything that is familiar. I am sure it is the same with anyone who travels from their home land... There are just things that you know and miss. For me those things are mainly food... Like Dr. Pepper, Ranch Dressing, Mexican, and Good ole American Chinese food, and of course my family! But I have also really come to like Australia, and all it has to offer. Needless to say it is a catch 22, but I will survive when I come back to the States!

Well, it is my turn to cook dinner in the Sunday night ritual, so I guess I better go and get started! Keep reading, commenting and talking to me on FB I love hearing from home! Until next time... no worries!

Playing Catch-up

Ok, so my computer battery died and we have only had one or two outlets in our rooms and the heater takes up one and camera chargers rotating between the four of us take up the other…. So, point of story is I haven’t been writing and I have a lot to catch you up on!

Again, I would like to reiterate the fact that New Zealand is FREAKING AWESOME!!!!! Sorry… I didn’t mean to yell, I just love it here! Anyway, in Queenstown, Claire and Casey didn’t end up being able to go skydiving. After three attempts, it was just too windy for them to go. Cat and I were however, able to go ziplining. We went on four separate zip tracks through the mountains that gave us stunning views of the lake and mountains around it. The town itself was SO beautiful. It is a nice little costal town right on lake that was the same glacial blue as all the others sitting in between these huge snow capped mountains. The view from our hostel alone was spectacular. We had clear views of the lake and two different mountain ranges. One of which was the Remarkables, which are named for the fact that they are the only mountain range in the world that run due north and south. After our minor hikes and thoroughly exploring Queenstown and taking about a billion more pictures, we started our trek north to the Franz Josef glacier. On our way out of town there were two roads, the scenic route and the highway route…. Naturally we took the scenic route that got us to our mid way destination about 45 minutes behind the highway and the ominous road signs speaking of chained tires in winter and absolutely NO trucks allowed, didn’t stop us. Needless to say, we 100% made the right decision! With me at the helm, we wound and twisted our way up these mounatins and hills slowly heading north. Again, cameras were whipped out at every direction. One stop we came to looked back in over Queenstown and we even high enough that we were eye to eye with a landing airplane, to which I totally geeked out over. After that we kept on trucking along slowly twisting and turning up and down, luckily none of us got car sick. We finally wound our way through the mountains to our midway point of Wanaka. Again, this was a nice little town on the edge of a lake, with, of course, stunning views! We drove around the lake and stopped at this scenic overlook. We had the perfect weather, sunny and warm. I think I could have sat on the edge of this cliff overlooking the water for days. Unfortunately however, after some exploring we had to be on our way. On our way up the road, the scenery started to change dramatically. There were no longer snow capped mountains, but rather mountains covered in rainforest. Come to find out, it is an actual rain forest, but we couldn’t believe that the surrounding ecosystem had changed so much. We could see waterfalls flowing from high off the mountains and trees and bushes everywhere, it just had that “wet” feeling that you would imagine a rainforest to have. The only difference was that it was only about 60 degrees, so no jungle fever for us. Again, we found ourselves on curvy roads, but as we got farther towards the west coast we started to smell salt water. Then, out of nowhere, the mountains opened up and we emerged onto a road that ran just parallel to the ocean. It was amazing. It was about two o’clock when we had made it there so the sun was just visible over the water, making it even more of a sight to see. Again, we could have stopped for ages, but we needed to keep driving. The ocean didn’t last too long as we made our way back into the mountains for our glacial destination. There were two glaciers that we were going to see. One was Fox glacier and the other was Franz Josef, also the town we were staying in. We ate dinner at Fox Glacier and then went and hiked around the sheet of ice. It was pretty cool, you couldn’t get on it, but having never seen a glacier before it was pretty amazing. As the sun set, we decided it was time to go and check-in to our hostel just another 20 minutes up the road. Franz Josef was a small little town, literally only two roads and nothing open past 8 pm. We slept well and bounced out of bed early to check out the second glacier. Again, we couldn’t climb on it and we didn’t feel like taking an expensive helicopter tour just to get to the top, so we did the hour or so hike up to it and got as close as we could. Our next resting place was Westport, which was farther up the west coast, so after our hike we decided to hit the road again. We stopped at a couple of walking trails along the way, taking pictures of many waterfalls and scenic areas. Once we got a little over half way to Westport, we stumbled over an area called the pancake rocks. By this time we had gotten back to the coast and the rocks were so named because they have lines running along them that make them look like huge stacks of pancakes. What’s neat about them though is that their formation along the coast has made blowholes and as the waves come crashing into them, water is forced up and out of certain areas of the rocks. It literally looks and sounds like a whale is clearing its blowhole. Once on the road again, we made only one pit stop to get a smoothie from McDonalds. Unfortunately to say, as college kids on a budget, we have eaten at Mackers, as they call it, for breakfast everyday, and basically fish and chips (french fries) the rest of our meals because its the cheapest, but I digress…. Once in Westport, we stayed at this old renovated house, which was the only hostel in the whole town. It was a nice little place and the beds were comfy, but there was absolutely nothing do to there, except for a seal colony, so we went to see it. It actually turned out to be really cool. We were there around 6 pm so we looked at all of the seals sleeping, fighting, and flopping all over the rocks, then we made our way up the hiking trail to the top of this hill and sat in the grass and watched the sun set over the ocean. We stayed until the sun finally sunk below the horizon, and in hopes of seeing the green flashing light at the end of Pirates of the Caribbean 3, but it never happened. After that, it got super cold so we went back to the hostel and watched a movie. The next morning was a big drive to Picton where were catching the Ferry to Wellington, but not before horse back riding. Casey had been wanting to go horse back riding since day one, so we found a place that did a two hour ride for $80 (New Zealand) and we went. We all grumbled about it, but it ended up being pretty fun. We basically went all over the woods and along some fields and water. One river was the Buller river, which come to find out has the largest amount of water flowing through it second only to the Nile, so that was pretty cool. After that little adventure, we headed to the Sea port of Picton. We went back through the same rain forest type mountains, which we are all convinced is where the Jurassic Park movies were filmed. Once to Picton, we hopped on the ferry and parked our car and just chilled out for the 3 hour journey in the lounges upstairs. After our journey to Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city, we got lost for about an hour. Wellington is one of the world’s WORST laid out cities ever created. I was driving and Claire was navagating, and no matter what the map said, we kept hitting one way’s and do not enter signs and seriously could not get to where we needed to be! We finally made it and just crashed in our hostel and got up bright and early the next morning to get the heck out of there. We ventured into a town called Upper Hut and visited a couple of Lord of the Rings filming sites. One was a river, but the most exciting one was where they filmed Rivendell. I took tons of pictures and again, the landscape was just gorgeous. We then started to head up north to the town of Rotorua. On the way, we saw where they filmed the Black Gates and as we passed through this deserty area we saw a full rainbow in the field right next to us. Claire was driving and immediately swerved off of the road for us to take pictures. The North Island is completely different from the south. Here instead of long mountain ranges, there are rolling hills of green as far as the eye can see, with little plops of white sheep all over them. The north island is where they filmed the Shire in LOTR so if you are familiar with the movies, then that is where we are. As we headed up the road, we stopped at a place called Lake Taupo and ate dinner and did a little walking around. It was a decent sized town and the lake was beautiful. It was really clear and blue, although not glacial fed, it was still nice none the less. The green hills surrounded the whole lake and the sun again was setting over it, making our views unbelievable. After we tore ourselves away, we headed into Rotorua. Let me just start off by saying, THIS TOWN STINKS!!!!! Not stinks as in its boring, but as in the air stinks! This area is filled with geothermal hot spots so the smell of sulfur is rank in the air! I absolutely do not know how people live here. The smell is awful. Luckily our hostel is in a place where it is hard to smell it, but man some places in town smell like you have been swimming in rotten eggs for years. Anyway, we got into town last night (Wednesday 29, September) and did a little exploring. We stumbled across this amazing hole in the wall and got ice cream and ended up going back today for lunch. For $10 you got two pieces of fish, one sasuage (like a bratwurst), chips, and a seafood stick! It was amazing. I’m getting ahead of myself a little bit, but the food was just SO good. Anyway, we went to bed rather early and got up around nine and went to the one thing I have been waiting this whole trip to do… Zorbing! Zorbing was invented in New Zealand and its where you put your self in the big giant plastic ball and roll down a hill. Casey and Cat did the dry Zorb where you get strapped in and tumble down the hill head over heels all the way to the bottom. Claire and I however, did the water Zorb, where they fill a portion of the ball up with a bit of water and then you climb into it. They then proceed to roll you down this winding hill whilst you slosh everywhere! It was absolutely one of the most amazing things I have ever done in my life! If it wasn’t so expensive, I would have ridden a million times! Afterwards, claire and I froze our bums off and went back to the hostel to change. Once back we were trying to decide on an afternoon activity and settled on a hike through this redwood forest. It was about a two and a half hour hike and it had a pretty good rain going for the latter half of the trek, but overall it was pretty neat to see. The redwoods are just like those in California, except I don’t think they get as big around. We were also able to look down into a spot were there were a bunch of geothermal pools and we also saw one of the geyser’s erupting. Our long wet trek finally came to an end and we are now sitting back in our hostel taking a breather....

Phew.. Ok, I know that is a lot for you to read, and man that was a lot for me to type. A lot has happened since I was last able to write and I’m sure I’m missing out on some things, but this is turning into quite the post! But, at least you are all caught up now! I would also like to mention that it is my mom’s birthday today, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! Tonight should be a pretty chilled out night in Rotorua as we are getting up early to hit up a couple more spots before heading into Auckland. This trip is just going by insanely fast and I can’t believe that it is already coming to a close. We really only have one more day left here, as our flight is out of Auckland at 7 am, but that should give us a chance to settle back into Australia time and come down off of our New Zealand high before starting school on Monday.

Hopefully all is well on the other side of the globe! Until next time… no worries!

Kiwi's and Sheep!

Fact: There are more sheep in New Zealand than Human.

Fact: New Zealand is Hands Down the most beautiful place I have ever been to in my life!


So we flew from Melbourne into Christchurch on the 23rd of September. We landed at 11:30pm so we didn’t do much that night. We were all starving from the flight because they didn’t feed us and so we just ended up going to KFC around the corner from our hostel. After eating and walking around the square we finally retired to our room and all fell asleep. The next day was early… We got up at 8:30 to pick up or car and head out. After picking up or beautiful White Nissan Sunny, we headed off to explore Christchurch. After a minor map snafu and remembering to drive on the left side of the road, we headed out to the beach. We stopped at pegasus bay and got out… The water was and icy blue and the sounds of the crashing waves was absolutely amazing. Only the even better part was you could be standing on the beach and then turn around to see snow covered mountains. I had never seen anything like that before and I had now idea of the views that were yet to come…

At around noon we decided it was time to get on our way to Queenstown. Claire drove us out of the city and towards our destination… We stopped in a town called Geraldine to where we found this amazing diner and had some pretty awesome Fish and Chips (fries) They had all homemade sauces and the food was absolutely delicious! After stuffing our faces, we were back on our way, only this time I was at the helm of the ship, which we have named Aeowin (SP?) to fit in with our tour of New Zealand/Lord of the rings Middle Earth. Heading farther east, we only got closer and closer to the ominous mountains, which looked absolutely breath taking. The clouds were floating around the tops of them while the snow blew in the wind. I couldn’t wait to get closer. As we were driving, the road we were on had two glacial lakes. As we topped over a hill the view we had was more than words can describe. The water was an icy pale blue and was just so pristine and gorgeous. Then, rising up from the coast of the water were the snowy mountains that fed them. We found a place to park and ventured down some rocks to the water. The wind was blowing heavily off the lake, but just such pure fresh smelling air that I didn’t mind. Once we got to the water and we had completed the ritual tourist pictures we all decided to drink the water… It just looked so clean we couldn’t resist. After getting over the shock of how cold the water was to the touch we each scooped up a handful and drank. As I had suspected, it was absolutely delicious.. Again, just as crisp and clean as the air! We finally pulled ourselves away to head to the next lake. It was just as, if not more beautiful than the first. After passing by that one, we made our way into the mountains. The path through wasn’t too bad… just a few curves here and there and some fairly steep climbs, but it stayed flat most of the time.

We continued to drive or 6 hour drive and when we were about an hour outside of Queenstown we stumbled upon this fresh fruit place with Cider, food and Sweets, so naturally we pulled over and went in. We hadn’t even eaten dinner yet, but after looking around, we new we had to get this custard cake, so Claire and I split it. It was literally one of the best things I have ever eaten. Both of the crusts were drenched in butter and coconut. Then inbetween was the most beautiful whipped vanilla custard you have ever tasted… I think we could have eaten about fifty more… but we refrained. We finally forced ourselves to leave and made it down the road to Queenstown. We checked into our amazing hostel, which truly is one of the best I’ve seen… We even have our own bathroom, so that’s nice, and then headed out to dinner. After eating some pizza we all came back to chill out here and sleep before our big adventure day tomorrow. Queenstown is the Adventure capital of the Southern hemisphere apparently, so we are adventuring… I’m not going as far as Claire… she is going skydiving with Casey and me and Cat are going ziplining… If you know me at all, I’m not really an adrenaline junky. :) Anyway, we are spending two nights here so we are going to try and do as much as possible. Along side our adventure, we are balancing out with the dorkieness of the group and hitting up a couple of Lord of the Rings sites they used for filming in this area. Once we are done here, we will be heading up the West Coast towards Franz Josef Glacier, which should be a site to see and I am so excited for it.

Driving seemed like a breeze, both in a way, that driving a long haul drive on the left side of the road was actually no big deal, and also, that even though it was a long drive, the scenery was so dramatic and always changing, we were just always awestruck!

I’m just trying to write a day at a time and I’ll post when I can, but if it all ends up one big post in the end, I apologise.

On a side note, New Zealanders are called Kiwi’s and there slogan is “it’s the Kiwi way” but I have yet to find out why they are called Kiwi’s. So, If anyone has any info on this please share it.

I’ll just keep documenting my holiday, trying to write down as much as I can at a time… Until next time, no worries!

Irish Costume!

I think time speeds up in Australia?!

Hello all! So I know its been ages since I’ve last posted.... coming up on two weeks and for me it only feels like two days! My time here in Australia is just slipping away. Its already mid semester here, which I can hardly believe and I have had schoolwork out the yang. One paper due last week, and two more this coming Monday, none of them short mind you.... My shortest assignment is a 300 word abstract, which ironically is turning out to be the hardest to complete. All-in-all though, school has been good. Nothing really to complain about too much!

Balancing out the other side of the scale however, I have been having some fun. Don’t worry... I didn’t come all this way JUST to study! ;) Australians like to have a good time, and like I’ve said before, they really just work when it suits them... You could really find something to do any night of the week, but my friends and I have decided that just on Monday’s, Wednesdays and Fridays are we going out. Mondays have really been a thing since we got here. Every Monday, the pub next door to our apartment building, has good specials and after 10 pm they have a really good DJ. It doesn’t get too wild, seeing as its a Monday, but it is still a good time. A great way every week for everyone to get together and see each other. Last night was particularly fun however, the Irish threw a house party. During my stay here, I have become great friends with a group of Irish people, who are amazing. I know what you’re thinking... he’s traveled halfway round the world to be best friends with the Irish? Where are the Australians?... a question I have frequently asked myself. Being in the city its hard to meet a lot of locals, because they go home. Living in an apartment building with a bunch of International students makes it a lot easier to make for friends from Germany, the UK, and for me... Ireland, but I digress. Anyway, so the Irish had a big house party and we all had to dress up in something orange, green, or white, (the colours of their flag) or all three. When I heard dress up, and that there would be a prize for best costume, I was bound and determined to win it. So Claire and I headed off to savers, which is like Goodwill here. I had a rough idea of what I wanted, but what I found was gold! I walked out of that store with orange polyester pants, a 1960’s plaid green wool suit jacket and green stockings all for $15. So I turned the pants into shorts and put the green stockings on under them. I wore a white collared shirt and the green over coat with black dress shoes. I looked completely outrageous, but it was a pretty freaking awesome costume. So we head out and get to the party. The walk down the road was hysterical, everyone looking at me, but when we get there, needless to say, I was more Irish than the Irish. So, by the end of the night, I was chosen winner by the masses and collected my prize of Irish goods. It was a fun night had by all!

With it being mid semester and spring time for that matter, our spring break is coming up next week. We get two weeks off, Sept 20-Oct. 3. I am pretty stoked about it too, because me and a couple of friends are going to New Zealand. After much research and finding a bunch of different tours, we decided to just road trip it. We have rented a car from Christchurch, NZ and are touring the South Island, then hopping a ferry and Touring the North Island. It has turned out to be the best way to see the most for the least amount of money... and being the tight, cheap person that I am, I am even more excited. We have booked our flights and our hostels, as well as the car, which by the way is a sleek 2002 Nissan Sunny, which looks like it jumped straight out of the 80’s.... I think, due to its stunner looks, could be the reason it had “model year 2002” in big letters right under the picture, because at first I was like “I don’t care how much more I have to pay, I am NOT getting in that thing.” Then I looked at the year and more pictures, and although it isn’t the nicest looking car, it will do its job well, and it gets good gas mileage. Needless to say, I can not wait for this trip to get here. And for those of you who may be saying, “why is he going to New Zealand when he’s in Australia” I have three things to say.... Just google New Zealand and you will see how amazingly beautiful it is, Lord of the Rings (need I say more), and I have a trip planned to Sydney for mid October. :D

Besides the whirlwind of activity that has been the past few weeks, there isn’t much else new. The weather has been nicer lately, but the rain showers have been more frequent. The other day, I was walking back from class and was excited to see the sun... I even took off my jacket, because it had really warmed up. I got back to my place and dropped all my stuff. I then went to open up the balcony doors to let in the fresh spring air and much to my surprise, slash not really surprised anymore, it was POURING rain. Rain which only lasted ten minutes and the sun came out, but still... really?! It is not uncommon for it to do that 3-4 times in one day. Again, the weather here is on crack! I have also come to find out that it is the wettest and coldest it has been here in like 20 years, which naturally is my luck. I couldn’t have gotten here when it was Hot and in Drought? I am just thankful that the weather is starting to warm up now.

Other than all of that, I am just trudging along. Trying not to blink, because another day goes by. I know that I will be ready to go home come November, but for now I am just trying to cherish every day! Hope all is well with all of my readers! Until next time... no worries!

Just an Update

Well... today was butt shot day.... Its a real shame when that is the biggest event in a week for me. Anyway, so now that I’m acting like a big baby and laying in bed watching TV, avoiding homework, I thought I would put a little blog post. The only difference in my shot here is that they mix in a minor anesthetic, but I don’t really think it worked, because It is still sore and it just feels like they placed a brick in my butt cheek. But I digress....

The weather here has been crazier than normal. I have been having to keep my rain jacket with me at all times. When I leave for class it is sunny and hot, then when I leave class it is rainy and windy. The days have been warming up though, but when the wind blows it can be a bit cutting. I am still laughing at some of the people here talking about how cold it is. Today when I walked out of class, one of my group members turned to me and said “awwwww.. it’s freezing out here” I just started laughing and said, “yeah that wind is a bit chilly, but it isn’t too bad” What was the temperature you ask... 57 degrees. Not hot by any means, but definitely NOT freezing! I’ve been told that this is the coldest winter on record, and I’m thinking that if this is as cold as it gets here in the winter, I could handle that.

I think that a couple of friends and I are going to a place called Daylesford just outside of Melbourne. Sunday is SUPPOSED to be sunny and 60, so we thought it would be lovely to go and check out something new. We’ve read that there is good hiking and fresh mineral lakes and rivers there, and it is cheap to get to so we thought we’d give it a try. That is if the weather cooperates.

Not much else is new really... This week went by insanely fast. I feel like yesterday was Monday and it is already the weekend. Hope all is well wherever you happen to be reading this from. I have been told about many people reading the blog and I hope that you are all enjoying it. I am going to go and make some pasta here in just a bit. Guess that’s enough boringness for now... I’ll write again soon, until next time, no worries!

More Pictures

The Great Ocean Road

So this past weekend was absolutely amazing! I was able to get out of the city for a bit this weekend and spend some time with Lee and her family in Winchelsea and boy am I glad I did.

I left on Friday afternoon after class. I was a bit anxious about figuring out the trains at the station and being able to get down there, but I walked up to the ticket agent, told him where I needed to go, he told me which train to get on and $3.20 later, I was on my way. After being picked up from the train station, we headed the 30 minutes back to Lee’s house. Once there I met Lee’s Mum, Dad, and Boyfriend who I actually share a name with. Yes, that is correct there is an Australian Dallas. We aren’t anything alike, but he is a pretty cool bloke. Anyway, after being asked a bazillion questions, none of which I minded (especially since I’m a talker) we started eating dinner or Tea as it is often referred to. As our dinner of spaghetti progressed I had come to find out that Geelong was playing in a footy match that evening, which is the team that they barrack or root for, so it was going to be an interesting night. Side note... They say barrack as a term for cheer. I have also come to learn that by saying you root for someone would be taken as you had sexual relations with someone... as in “yeah.. me and so-and-so rooted last night.” Needless to say, I am never using the term “root” again. So... as the beer came out and 8:30 rolled around we all started barracking for Geelong. It got close a couple of times, but Geelong pulled out a win by 42 points. It was a great game to watch and a lot of fun to participate in the action.

After getting to bed around midnight, we were up at 8 the next morning to head out on an Australian car tour. With Ann, Lee’s mum behind the wheel and Lee and I as passengers we headed out. For about an hour we went up and down and all around in this forest or the bush as it is referred to in Australia. We curved on these tiny little roads and every now and then the trees would open up to these beautiful rolling hills with sheep and cows and green grass everywhere. Being that high up in the mountains revealed some of the most stunning views you had ever seen. As we started to approach one corner Ann told me to look to the left. As I kept looking, waiting for the trees to clear to see what she wanted me to see, they opened up to reveal the deepest blue ocean you can imagine. I certainly wasn’t expecting it, but it was an absolutely stunning site. As we wound our way down the mountain side, we found ourselves at a little beach town along the coast. As we headed up the road we stopped at a park called the twelve apostles. It got its name from these twelve big tall and skinny rocks sticking up out of the water. Three have fallen over, so there is really only nine apostles left, but it was still a sight to see. We had gotten out to take a few pictures and have a walk around.



We were worried about the weather because it had been pesky all day. It would go from hot and beautiful sunshine to the coldest darkest rainy day. As we ventured down the footpath I snapped a few pictures with the fog in the background and just as we got to the end of the path, it started to pour rain. We turned around and ran back to the car, I had a rain jacket on, so only my jeans were getting wet, but that is still a nuisance, wet jeans are never good. Anyway, just as we got back in the car and drove away the sun came back out. We just laughed it off and it made for nice pictures at the next destination.

We ate lunch at a nice little pub on the water that afternoon around three and headed back to the house after that. Even with the sketchy weather, it was still an amazing day. That night we had tea at a local pub with Lee’s family and cousin that was down to visit. We had some good food and a good evening of chatting. We mainly talked politics as that day was an election day. It is compulsory in Australia for all citizens to vote, so their elections are every three years on a saturday. Just to make sure that everyone can make it to the polls. Their form of government is way too complicated for me to try to bang out an explanation on here, but at its core, the results are still undecided and no party in government is in control and they don’t have a prime minister as the power goes to the party in control. In essence, they vote for the party not the person directly.

Sunday morning I awoke to bacon, eggs, toast, and OJ waiting to be devoured by all. It was a lovely Sunday breakfast, or brekkie as they call it and It was a nice way to spend the morning. I had to catch a train at three so after a quick drive around the coast and some more pictures of the mountains and sea I am back home, safe and sound.

It was an absolutely amazing and much needed getaway. Other than my trip to Sorrento, I haven’t been outside Melbourne since I got here and so it was nice to see some country side. I am NOT looking forward to class tomorrow, but what can you do. The weeks go by so quickly, so it won’t be that big of a deal, but class is still class and I would rather not attend. I only have 95 days left in Australia, but I’d really not like to think about that... Hope all is well on the home front. I will try my best to post again soon, until next time... no worries!

Notice Board

G’day all... Sorry it has been so long since I’ve posted. I have been wrapped up in school and friends and thus have neglected to post some updates for you all to read.

Now that I have spent one full month in Australia (I was flabbergasted when I realized this fact) I have decided to post some things I have noticed. None of the following remarks are necessarily good or bad, they are just things I have observed whilst I am staying here... (First observation... they say Whilst a lot)

Ok... Here they are:

Australians are EXTREMELY obsessed with sports. Mainly Footy, here in Victoria, the state Melbourne is in, but they like rugby a lot around Sydney... Now, when I say obsessed I mean like all out defend your team aggressive, every article of clothing has to have a logo on it, and teams foster a sense of pride and unity.. the list goes on.. I mean I have met some die hard Cardinals fans, but these people LOVE their teams, and love sports. I think too, sports here create a sense of Nationalism.. like this is something Australians can find a common bond in. Kind of like American Baseball as America’s favourite past time, but bigger..

Australians have an uncanny ability of knowing which way doors go and Americans don’t. It doesn’t matter what door I go up to, I always go the wrong way with it and end up just looking like an idiot. To make matters worse, you hardly see signs that say “push” or “pull” on them... also, on top of all that they have doors that slide! and they just look like every other door! They also like to lock one door in a double door entrance or exit and I ALWAYS guess wrong as to which one it is... It is a crazy door mind game that has taken over the country!

Australia has a high volume of Asians... I see more asians than I do Australians.

Every other restaurant is an asian restaurant and asian supermarkets are EVERYWHERE and just in case that isn’t enough there is a China town...

Draft, as in draft beer, is spelled Draught ( if you can find an F in that word I will give you a million dollars)

They think Melbourne weather is freezing cold. Every time I talked to someone up in Northern Australia, they always said “your not gonna like it there it is freezing cold” now keep in mind Australia is in the heart of winter... its basically January here. The temperature hasn’t gotten below 50 degrees more than a couple of times since I’ve been here. I hate to break it to you Australia, but it’s not really that cold...

Many people here only work, when it suits their need, as in they’ve ran out of beer money. Work gets in the way of play and that is unacceptable

They are Sneaky studiers. They will tell you they haven’t read an article, or worked on a paper, but they have.

Australian pool is different. There are only yellow and red billiard balls and then a single eight ball. also, if you miss you get to take another try... they’re just friendly like that

There are even more asians here

All of the guys style their hair. Which puts pressure on me to do something with mine so I don’t stand out...

There is no Dr. Pepper

Tim tams are amazing

They have ranch dressing, but it should be arrested for being an impostor. It is really just like creamy Italian

Melbourne coffee is spectacular

Tea time is a great way to have delicious treats in the middle of the afternoon

they drive on the left side of the road

orange juice tastes completely different. Probably because it is made with real oranges and no preservatives

there are no hot dog buns, and every time there is a BBQ or “barbie” as they would say, there is always sausage and it is served on a slice of bread.

only McDonalds has ketchup, the rest of the country has tomato sauce (pronounced "tomahto"), which, in my opinion, is WAY better than ketchup.

Australian bacon sucks and is more like ham, and “rashers” as it is called that looks like American bacon is thicker and tastes like a pork chop...

They have Whole, Skinny and Lite milk

everything is insanely expensive, probably because their minimum wage is like $17 per hour. And just in case you are wondering that’s ten more dollars than in America

Their health care system is Awesome. There is a lot less paperwork and all Doctors agree that the American system is complete rubbish. For example.. Today I went to the doctor’s office to get my throat checked for strep. I walked in, asked if I could make an appt. the receptionist said I can get you in now (this would NEVER happen in the states... especially at 3:30 in the afternoon) I was seen ten minutes later, then walked out with a prescription for penicillin. I then proceeded to the pharmacy, I gave the girl my prescription and then no more than five minutes later I walked out with my meds... It was awesome!

Portion sizes are smaller except when it comes to cake. You can get like five tons of desert but you can’t get a free refill... and yes, that’s correct.. no free refills ANYWHERE in the country

internet is expensive

mobile phone service is expensive

there is little to no crime... There is actually a crime show that is Australian and it relies on crime data for the past 25 years. Leave it to America to be able to produce an entire series of shows off of the crimes held in one day...

I have an accent, and by that I mean, they don’t have an accent, I do. Only its funny because they always ask if I am from Canada or the US. Apparently Canadians get offended if they assume someone is from America, so they always just ask which of the two countries you are from.

They don’t really wear tennis shoes here for everyday footwear. You’ll find more dress shoes with jeans or sneakers/converse...

contrary to popular belief, Australians don’t speak English. They have their own slang and phrase words and I have been caught once or twice just smiling and nodding, not knowing what they have said. They say "How you going" instead of how are you, arvo means afternoon, petrol is gas, cuppa, is a cup of tea,

they like nick names. they usually just put an O on the end of a name.. like Jake becomes Jake-O

They use "but" as a filler word, but instead of it being used at the beginning or middle of a sentence, it is used a the end.

There are a lot of asians... I’m only joking, and I have nothing against asians, but I was not expecting this amount of asians

Australians are very friendly

Smoking is prohibited everywhere except in the street

you can get fined for just about anything

and to top it all off... you can never really dress appropriately for the weather

I’m sure there is more to a new culture than this measly list, but they are just a couple of observations I’ve had since I’ve been here... Everything else is going well for me. School is good and I am trying to balance work and fun. I was able to purchase a mattress pad today as well and I am super stoked to try out my new comfy bed. The past three days have been rainy and I think that’s why I’m sick. I am getting over it now, but I am gonna take all of my medication just to be on the safe side. Hopefully it won’t take so long for me to post again, but we’ll see.. Missing you all and keep the comments up and the Facebook talk. I love hearing from you. Until next time... no worries!

Cultural Crash Course

Well hello all! Its been a bit since my last post, but with school and Jordan being here, I have found a free moment to write a quick post. Granted it is 1 am but don’t worry, I don’t have class until 2:15 tomorrow, so I will get my recommended eight hours of sleep! Anyway, Jordan and I have been having a blast! It has been a whirlwind of activity, but it has been so nice to have her here. She is leaving Friday morning though, which is sad. We have done so much in the small amount of time she has been here. We went to St. Kilda which is a nice little beachy area and then that evening a bunch of people showed up and we did a little pub crawl. We also toured downtown Melbourne and Jordan was able to take her first street car tram ride. We did some shopping... I didn’t buy anything, but Jordan got some souvenirs. I totally could have broken down and bought this one whole outfit however. We walked into this one store because I wanted to try on a shirt that I thought looked nice. Well... you would have thought that the King of England had just walked in, as the two women working in the store were bringing me clothes left and right. I would walk into the dressing room and then three shirts would appear. This happened EACH TIME! At first I was getting a little freaked out, because I wasn’t going to buy anything in the first place and I only wanted to look at this one particular shirt... anyway as time went on I kinda started liking the pampering so I just let them bring me clothes. I was putting on jeans and shirts galore that the first lady was bringing me and then I had changed into all sorts of different shoes that the other girl was bringing me. Each outfit was better than the next and I was really starting to fall in love with everything I put on. Unfortunately, but luckily I suppose, reality hit when they started talking prices. I finally just told them that I would have to think about what I wanted to buy and just come back. They weren’t too happy with that, but then again I didn’t ask for the service. I just wanted to try on one simple blue button up shirt. The rest was just a fun game... After I surfaced from my visions of grandeur in high end fashion we checked out a couple more shops and caught a tram back home. Everyone will be happy to know I spend all of $0 on that shopping spree. I was feeling pretty good. Minus one pair of black jeans that I will probably be going back for at some point in time.
Sunday was a really dreary day with super cold temperatures and a lot of rain, so we opted to stay in. Monday was pretty lax as well with just a couple of strolls downtown. Tuesday night was fun however. We hit up a couple of local hangouts and then went to a comedy club. The people were pretty funny. There were several comedy acts and when they found out that there were Americans in the room they all got pretty excited and started ragging on us. It was all in good fun and was overall a good evening. Tonight we went and checked out a casino. There is a massive complex here with heaps of restaurants, shops, High end stores like Louis Vuitton, Prada and more.... Then there is like a five story casino. Jordan and I spent five dollars on some random slot machines. I would rather play poker, but the poker tables they had open were already pretty full and I don’t really have the money to gamble away... but overall it was an awesome experience. I have never really gambled outside of an occasional poker game at home. It was neat to just be in a casino with flashing lights and “place your bets” noises coming from all around.
After our walk about and our five dollar loss we went to a bowling alley to meet up with some friends. Jordan and I and a couple other people didn’t bowl, but it was fun just to hang out. It was a pretty cool venue called Strike. It was all underground and there were different sitting areas with cool looking bars. All of the lanes were blacklit and really cool. It was just an overall good evening with friends, both new and old. After that and watching a couple of the boys from our group play an intense pool tournament we headed back home to the village. Tomorrow, or later on today if your really want to get technical, Jordan and I are heading to the museum to do one final cultural adventure before she leaves. I have been to one section of it before and it is pretty awesome! What’s even more amazing is that it is free for students so that is a super bonus!!
Friday marks two full completed weeks of class which means I only have 10 left, which is absolutely crazy to think about. My time here is going by insanely fast! I know I’ve said that before, but when you look back and think... Wow it’s already August, in five days I will have been out of the USA for an entire month and I only have four months left... I don’t think I can get everything I want to done!
Well... thirty minutes later and I’m still just typing away. I should probably get some shut eye. Until next time, No worries!

An Australian Meal with a Kick of Roo

Well... Jordan has made it to the land of Oz. It is definitely nice to have her here, she’s just a little piece of home. After she was re routed through Cairns she made it to Melbourne only three hours late. After I picked her up, we had a bit of lunch (pre-packaged frozen lasagna) and then I had to go to class. As she washed the previous 20 hours of flying and travel off of her and got cleaned up, I was learning about the History of Ireland. People were spouting off facts left and right and I knew nothing but the capital of Ireland and the difference between Northern Ireland and Ireland. After class was over I went and talked to the professor saying I knew absolutely nothing about Ireland besides its geographical location and apparently its capital city and she just seemed absolutely delighted. As if me being able to learn from everything she could teach was better than teaching the others who already knew a pretty fair amount about the subject.... Anyway, after calming my fears about Irish History, I took Jordan to the grocery store. I promised that our previous frozen lunch wouldn’t be what I’d make her eat on a daily basis. So, it was back to the Big W. After a walk about the store and trying to find the cheapest deals on food we walked out of there with a $67 grocery bill that we split, which I didn’t think was too bad for the next 10 days for two people. Certainly cheaper than eating out, where the minimum on any meal is around 18-20 dollars.

After getting back to my place, Jordan started pumping up her air mattress, which I have to say looks quite comfy... I may have to find a way to use it in conjunction with my bed, but I digress... any way, whilst she was doing that I started to cook our truly Australian dinner. As a bit of a welcoming meal, we purchased two Kangaroo steaks. Now, I hadn’t tried this either, so this was a new experience all around. I googled how best to cook them and it looked as if dicing them up like beef tips and cooking them in butter or oil until they were medium rare to medium was the best way to do it. I obviously chose butter because it tastes better, but details, details. So I seared the little Roo just until it was pink in the middle and took it off the heat. I topped the meat with sauteed portobello mushrooms and a side of green beans and buttery toasted bread. Yum... I’m hungry again, just talking about it. As we both looked skeptically at our plates, we found the best way to eat it was to simply dig in. It was a bit chewy, but I suppose that comes with any gamey meat, but the over all taste was pretty good. I can’t really compare it to anything I have ever had before. You could taste a bit of steak flavor just like in a beef steak, but it didn’t taste like beef. I was really expecting it to taste like deer, but that wasn’t it either. It was unique all on its own. And, seeing as we both ate every last bit of it, it must have been pretty good! I think what really made the meat flavorful, besides the butter, was the fact that we bought it pre marinated in garlic and herbs. I think it made it a lot more tender and delicious than it could have been otherwise.

After dinner, Jordan just wanted to go to bed, as if the last 30 hours of her being awake was some sort of burden on her liveliness, but being the good friend that I am I made her stay awake! After watching some Australian TV, where Jor marveled at the constant talk in an Australian accent, I finally broke out some hot tea and my personal favorite, Tim Tam’s. If you don’t know what a Tim Tam is, don’t worry I will be bringing plenty home for people to try... That is if I can get them past my mother, who if given the chance would probably be keeper of the Tim Tam’s (love you mom). All-in-all it was a very Australian, very pleasant day with good company, who only complained a little bit about tiredness.

On a side note, I can’t believe I have already been in the land of Oz for twenty days now. In some regards it feels like I have been here longer, but looking back (especially the fact I have completed an entire week of classes) I only feel like I have been here for a couple of days.

Well it took Jordan all of about 2.8 milliseconds to fall asleep, so I suppose I better catch some Z’s myself. Until next time, no worries!

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Sorrento Beach

Classes Commence

Hey everyone, How ya going? Last night was a bit of a restless night... Today was the start of classes and I was a bit anxious. Just laying in bed, thinking or praying desperately to let my first day go well and let my first two classes be fun. I finally fell asleep (with the help of one Tylenol PM) I awoke to my alarm, at 8:00 am mind you, ready to go. As I was getting my things together for the day I said one last prayer and knew today would turn out in one of two ways. 1) I would be completely shut down and absolutely ready to go home, or 2) I would be glad to be back at school and everything would be great. Thankfully it was the latter. My first class, contemporary issues in Australia, was a riot. First of all, the professor looks like Einstein and is absolutely hilarious. He kept talking with his hands and when he noticed what he was doing he apologized for french miming and doing odd ballet moves. I think this will be a good class... My second class of the day was Internet Meets Society. It is all about how the internet and specifically social networking has changed the lives of society as a whole. The professor here is kinda punk rockish and is super cool. He’s Canadian so I can understand him better than some of the Australians so that is nice. I also forgot how much I really do enjoy University campus’s. All of the students milling around and people sitting in the grass or on benches reading text books. Even the smell of the little coffee stands as you walk by them. They all let you know that you are back at school and everyone there is present to achieve the same things.

Anyway, today was an over all good day. As I walked do the sidewalk on my way back to my flat I couldn’t help but smile as Dynamite by Taio Cruz came on my iPod. The part where he says “I came to dance dance dance dance” I thought about how I just need to go with the rhythm of life here. Not that I need to physically dance my way through life in Australia, but to just go with the flow here. Let each day be a new dance, new rhythm and just play along. I think if I just stick to that, I’ll be just fine here and home before I know it. On a side note and digressing to way less serious stuff... it has come to my attention that I am attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is under the cover name of The University of Melbourne however. As you will see in the pictures I’m going to upload the campus is insanely gorgeous.

I’m also going to upload a couple of pictures from the beach. Yesterday I met up with Lee and for those of you in my family you will know who I am talking about. Lee, her sister Jane, and I all went to a town called Sorrento. It is right at the bottom tip of Australia, South East of Melbourne. You will have to google map it to see the exact location, but it is a really touristy town and a lot of older people go there to retire. It was really beautiful, and full of nice homes. It was an absolutely sunny and perfect day for a stroll along the boardwalk that was full of shops and stores. We also ate lunch at this nice pub that overlooked the water. That too was just an amazing day! After that, we just drove up the coast all the way back to Melbourne.

Not too much else to mention. I am just hoping that my next two classes tomorrow are just as good as the ones today. That would make for a great semester. I’ll try to post again soon! Keep up the chatting on FB I love hearing from home!! Until next time... no worries!

Footy Match

Hey all... How ya going? That’s what they say here instead of How are you doing? Anywho... the last couple of days have been pretty dull. A couple more orientations and some long lines to wait in, but I think i have about 90% of the things I need to have done settled so I can begin class on Monday, and the other 10% can be sorted out after that... On the up side to standing in line for an hour waiting to get a class sorted and another 20 minutes to get my student ID, I was able to charm my way into getting a student transportation Concessions card. Which means I get huge discounts on my public transport. Study abroad kids aren’t supposed to get them, but due to my amazing people skills and charming wit, I walked out of the Student center feeling pretty good about life.

The afternoon wasn’t much more exciting. Apart from being able to finagle two dollars off of a kilogram of portobello mushrooms I just watched TV and chatted with a friend. It wasn’t until about 5 O’clock that I got a call from another friend who said there was a footy match on at 7:40 pm. Now footy refers to a game that is very unique to Australia. I thought it was referring to “football” or Soccer as we call it, but boy was I wrong. Much like how NFL football is only played in the US, footy is only played in Australia. The game is played with a football that looks like an american football on steroids. The rules are similar to soccer, and the running around looks like soccer, but you can carry the ball. The ball can be kicked, passed, dribbled, or tossed in any way to pass it to your teammate. You can also tackle people just like in American football. The play is continuous and is divided up into four, thirty-minute quarters, or there about, depending on how much time was lost due to injury or out of bounds. Any way, the match was super intense, the two teams playing were big rivalries. It is also a pretty high scoring game due to the fact that there are four posts and if you make it between the middle two you get 6 points and if you make it between the outer two you only get 1. With a six point shot right in the last 20 second’s St. Kilda tied Hawthorne 81-81 and that’s how it ended. They don’t play over time. Seriously though... everyone should look up AFL footy matches on youtube or just google it and watch what I’m talking about, because it is unlike anything you have seen before.

After the hype of the game wore off, we all came back to “The Village” as we call the place where we stay.. It’s really called RMIT village, but we like being “the village people.” We are planning on going to watch Inception tomorrow at the IMAX. It has been all over the Australian news as a must see, so we are must seeing it! Hopefully I’ll have some more pictures to update soon. I am waiting for a sunny day to take pictures of campus and it has just been rainy and cold and the campus is much prettier in the light.

Until my next post... no worries!

Just a couple Pictures!

Info Sessions Galore

Sorry for the Lag in updates... This past week has been nothing but Flyers, posters, meetings, orientations, more flyers and handouts and A LOT of new people. We have been shuffled around to all of these international student briefings and I have met more people from around the world than people who are actually from Australia. Classes start on the 26th so I still have a little time still before everything gets going to sort of process all of the new info being thrown at me....

Beyond that, I am totally in love with this city! There are cafe’s everywhere, places to shop, touristy things to do... basically everything you could possibly want out of a city and more. I think I’ve finally settled in. I gave in though and bought a heater for my room. I thought I could stick it out and just wear warm clothes, but last night was the coldest since we’ve been here and I just couldn’t take it any more. They had one for $13 at the Big W which is the big grocery store here. I didn’t think $13 was too bad for a little extra comfort. Everything in this city is insanely expensive though... I still can’t really get over it.

The university is so beautiful. It looks like something out of Harry Potter. We’ve all decided to dress up in Hogwarts robes for halloween. There are huge open grassy places to sit and there are some huge trees with bright pink flowers on them. I’m anxious to get classes started and get into a routine of things.

I feel like this is a bit of a lame post, but there really isn’t much to say. Just a lot of new info and city exploration. Just trying to get my bearings. I will try to put up some pictures soon... I have to pay for internet per MB so uploading pictures costs quite a bit so I will try to pick out some good ones to share.

Missing you all and I’ll post again soon.. until then, no worries!

Finally in Melbourne

Well... I’ve finally made it to Melbourne! It is a lot colder here than in Cairns. The temps are around 55-60 degrees, depending on the weather.... Which actually changes a lot. I thought Missouri weather changed quickly, but Melbourne weather is like Missouri weather on crack. Today’s forecast was literally this: Morning-sunny with high’s in the 60’s this afternoon cloudy with temps in the 50’s late afternoon rain with high winds and this evening cool and clear skies. You can basically plan on not being able to plan for what the weather will be like, so you just take everything you may need in a day.

Adjusting to life here was a bit rough especially after being in Cairns for a week. Our group leaders definitely took care of us with food and activities, but after we got off of our plane here we were basically on our own with no food or grasp of where anything was, we simply had a place to sleep. However, if I were choosing from a list of necessities, having a warm place to sleep would come before food, as I can sort that out later. Speaking of warm places to stay though, Australia is very environmentally friendly and very conscious of how much energy and water they use so buildings here don’t have heating or A/C so you are basically up to the mercy of the weather of the day. I have to sleep in a hoodie and sweat pants to keep warm at night but its all good. They also are very conservative on water here because it is expected that by 2050 water will be a scarce resource here. Therefore in the showers, they have hourglasses that are on a 4 minute timer so you don’t take too long of a shower. Toilets also have separate buttons for #1’s and #2’s so the same amount of water isn’t used for both. Also toilet water is just recycled grey water so it really isn’t clean. Their philosophy is that why would you use perfectly clean water just to flush the toilet? Which actually makes sense to me!

As for food here, I finally got that all settled. There is a HUGE open air market that is just a 5 minute walk away and you can buy anything you need there. There are all kinds of fresh meats, veggies, cheeses, and my favorite... breads. For all of your other needs like soap, crisps (potato chips) butter, milk and more, there is a store called Woolworth's or “The Big W” which is a Target/Wal-mart hybrid for all of your grocery needs. Those are the cheapest places to shop and saving money is very important here. The generic brand here is called “Home Brand” it is like Great Value in the states. Minimum wage here is $20 per hour so everything costs a lot more and it’s hard to find bargains. Luckily the US $ is stronger than the Australian dollar so that helps a bit.

All-in-all I am doing good. I just have to keep moving and stay active. That helps fight the homesickness. There are apparently four stages of culture shock/homesickness and stage two is the worst so we are all just trying to fight stage two and just by pass it to the recovery and acceptance stage, or stage three. I just know that this semester is going to go by insainly fast and I need to make the most of my trip so that helps. I have met tons of people and am making new friends. I am anxious to meet more Australians, as it will be nice to learn more about the culture in which I am living. I am also anxious for Jordan to get here... I am kinda ready for a friend from home! It will be nice to have someone I know here to visit! :) Anyway, that’s about all I have for now. Tomorrow I am going to explore the Uni (University) and check out the lay of the land. I have parts of the city down, now I just need to get the hang of school. Please feel free to leave comments here, I would love to hear from people at home! I’ll try to post my address as soon as I know what it is. Until then, no worries!

Kangaroos, Koala's, Aborigines and Boomerangs

Today we went to a place up in the rain forest in the mountains. First of all, the views were absolutely amazing! You could see out over town and the ocean. Once at the zoo, we were able to pet all of the animals including Kangaroos and Koala's and snakes and all sorts of indigenous animals. I got my picture taken with them all, except for the snakes. I ALMOST did it, but then it started crawling down someones shirt and that did it for me. I touched it but that was as far as I got! After that we learned how to throw a boomerang and it was totally awesome. The guy showed us how to hold it and then throw it and it actually circled around and came back. They told us they are used for killing birds in flocks, so that was pretty cool. After our boomerang lesson, we went and were showed how to throw a spear and this guy flung the spear and it hit a coconut from on top of a log... it was pretty awesome! Then we got to see a native aboriginal dance and I have some video's but I will post them when my internet connection is faster and I'm not paying $1 for 15 minutes!

At the end of the day I got to hold a Koala and get my picture taken with it. It was very soft and its claws were super sharp. He started to really hold onto my shirt and it made me a bit nervous because he started to clamp on tighter, but his cuteness totally pushed out any worriesome thoughts.

Now we are all back at the hostel and I am sitting by the pool. Tomorrow I am just going to the beach with a couple of friends. We have a free day so we can all just go wherever we want. Then on Saturday we head to Melbourne! I am way excited to get down to where we are going to be living and just unpack. I have clothes eveywhere now and I am NOT looking forward to packing it back up and then unpacking it all again.

I suppose that's about it for now. Just wanted to send a little update.. Until next time, No worries!

Welcome to the Land Down Under!

Two days, Two continents and three flights later, I have finally made to Australia. I’ve actually only been in Australia a total of three days now, but it seems like the journey and time here have been much more than that. I left the states on Saturday July 10 and arrived in Brisbaine, Australia on the 12th. I then took a flight to Cairns (pronounced cans) that same day in Northern Australia. Once we all arrived in Cairns, we were transferred to a youth hostel where I am currently writing this post. The first day, there were many activities... basically forced movement so we all couldn’t go to sleep... things like a BBQ and meet and greet, and then dinner together. After all of that we could finally sleep.

The next day was early, we were up at six and on a boat by 7:30 headed for the Great Barrier Reef. This was one of the most incredible days of my life to date! It took us about two hours to sail out to the reef and after a lot of sea sickness (fortunately I never got sick) and some snorkeling instructions we had made it to our destination. Having been a seasoned snorkeler I was one of the first to jump in. The water was such a deep royal blue and so clear you could see the entire reef laid out before you. The amounts of bright colorful fish swimming around and choral on the reef was just stunning. There were yellow’s and deep and bright blues, followed by red and even orange. I was able to see a sea turtle and even some fish that looked like Nemo and Dori! It truly was an amazing experience! After we finished at the reef, we set sail for land and we had a light afternoon tea, which has turned out to be a daily occurrence and I love it!

The next day, (today the 14th) we were all rounded up to do a community service project. We went up into the mountains and stopped at this lady’s tree farm. For the past fifteen years she has been planting trees and doing some environmental work, so we learned about the local vegetation and then went out and planted some trees at a local school next to their football (soccer) field. It was a great afternoon and an awesome way to just give back to the community and Australia as a whole.

Tomorrow we are going to the zoo where we will be able to pet a Koala and a Kangaroo and just look around with a free day in the evening and another free day on friday before we pack up and go to Melbourne on Saturday.

All-in-all I am having a great time. I have already made some good friends and am very much looking forward to the experience ahead of me. I haven’t had any homesickness so far, but I am sure that will come in time. I am looking forward to school and life as a whole here in Australia. The people here are amazingly friendly and just super laid back. They also have a very unique sense of humor and I find it pretty funny. Australians also really like to pick on people and the more you are picked on, the more they like you and the less they like you, the more they just leave you alone. So, it will be neat to become more integrated into their way of life.

Looking to have a pretty chilled out evening tonight. A group of us went out last night for dinner and some dancing so we are all gonna sit by the pool and just chill out.... Speaking of, It is literally the “heart of winter” here and everything is green and lush and it is super warm. ALSO, due to the hole in the Ozone layer the sun’s rays get at you MUCH faster than in the states so constant sunscreen application is a MUST!

Well... on that note, I think I am gonna chill out for a bit and call it an evening. I will try to write again soon.. Until then, no worries.

Welcome to the Land Down Under!

Two days, Two continents and three flights later, I have finally made to Australia. I’ve actually only been in Australia a total of three days now, but it seems like the journey and time here have been much more than that. I left the states on Saturday July 10 and arrived in Brisbaine, Australia on the 12th. I then took a flight to Cairns (pronounced cans) that same day in Northern Australia. Once we all arrived in Cairns, we were transferred to a youth hostel where I am currently writing this post. The first day, there were many activities... basically forced movement so we all couldn’t go to sleep... things like a BBQ and meet and greet, and then dinner together. After all of that we could finally sleep.

The next day was early, we were up at six and on a boat by 7:30 headed for the Great Barrier Reef. This was one of the most incredible days of my life to date! It took us about two hours to sail out to the reef and after a lot of sea sickness (fortunately I never got sick) and some snorkeling instructions we had made it to our destination. Having been a seasoned snorkeler I was one of the first to jump in. The water was such a deep royal blue and so clear you could see the entire reef laid out before you. The amounts of bright colorful fish swimming around and choral on the reef was just stunning. There were yellow’s and deep and bright blues, followed by red and even orange. I was able to see a sea turtle and even some fish that looked like Nemo and Dori! It truly was an amazing experience! After we finished at the reef, we set sail for land and we had a light afternoon tea, which has turned out to be a daily occurrence and I love it!

The next day, (today the 14th) we were all rounded up to do a community service project. We went up into the mountains and stopped at this lady’s tree farm. For the past fifteen years she has been planting trees and doing some environmental work, so we learned about the local vegetation and then went out and planted some trees at a local school next to their football (soccer) field. It was a great afternoon and an awesome way to just give back to the community and Australia as a whole.

Tomorrow we are going to the zoo where we will be able to pet a Koala and a Kangaroo and just look around with a free day in the evening and another free day on friday before we pack up and go to Melbourne on Saturday.

All-in-all I am having a great time. I have already made some good friends and am very much looking forward to the experience ahead of me. I haven’t had any homesickness so far, but I am sure that will come in time. I am looking forward to school and life as a whole here in Australia. The people here are amazingly friendly and just super laid back. They also have a very unique sense of humor and I find it pretty funny. Australians also really like to pick on people and the more you are picked on, the more they like you and the less they like you, the more they just leave you alone. So, it will be neat to become more integrated into their way of life.

Looking to have a pretty chilled out evening tonight. A group of us went out last night for dinner and some dancing so we are all gonna sit by the pool and just chill out.... Speaking of, It is literally the “heart of winter” here and everything is green and lush and it is super warm. ALSO, due to the hole in the Ozone layer the sun’s rays get at you MUCH faster than in the states so constant sunscreen application is a MUST!

Well... on that note, I think I am gonna chill out for a bit and call it an evening. I will try to write again soon.. Until then, no worries.