30 August 2007

I'm going to F I J I in 21 dayyyyssss!!!!

Not much has happened this week... but its week 6 of the semester that means there is only 6 more weeks of class! Can you believe it? I sure cant...this trip is going by wayyyy too fast! Anyways its already thursday and most of the uni has already headed home for the weekend. This saturday is father's day...I know strange, you would think that it would be teh same day every where but nope. So most of the uni had headed home to be with their dad's for father's day. I am going to use this weekend as a catch up weekend. Try and get as much work done as I can so I can continue with my awesome trips I have planned.

Oh did I tell you the best news of all?? I'M GOING TO F I J I in 21 DAYS!!!! I'm sooooo excited... hannah, Kim, Nicola and I are going on a 7 day, 6 night trip to FIJI which also includes a cruise to 4 of the Islands in FIJI! How awesome.. I cant even begin to tell you how excited I am!! 21 DAYYYYSSS!! Then a week after we get back Hannah and I are going to Sydney for a surf trip!! We also talked about going to New Zealand in November.. but we'll see how that one works out! Ahhh I'm soo excited! So much to look forward to!!

This week I also got 2 pieces of mail. Another lovely essay from mom with a crazy picture of a dog on the front.. I love hearing all the where abouts and events going on at home. Makes me feel less out of the loop. To answer your question, I never got the cards to work.. ill just have to use them when I get home. I think I get more letters than most of the other girls that live here.. haha.. mail is a huge deal here and its awesome when I get a letter. Thanks for the letter, I love it and all 3 of them are taped to my closet door :).. so I can see them when I wake up every morning.. I need some color or something to my room. It adds something haha. I also got a package, my first package yet. It was from Mr. Wessner, Kry's dad.. thank you so much. It was a stuffed whale, he included a letter saying now I can always see the whales!! Haha.. when I went "whale watching" at the great ocean road we werent able to see any whales. Thanks for that d2!

Ryan and I are doing well... just in a hard spot right now. But, I KNOW without a doubt in my mind we will make it through. We just miss each other, and its causing anger because we want something we cant have for some time. But hes been the best support through my travels here and I wouldnt want to do it with anyone else.

As far as classes are going they are going well.. Ceramics just TRYING to make things and progressing on the wheel everyday. Its my most favorite class, and relaxing one. Its a good one. I turned in my 1st assignment for my webdesign class. I had to design a website about Mariah Carey. It was really interesting and fun- but frustrating at the same time. I really enjoy this class. Renassiance Art is only as fun as any lecture.. my least favorite class. Lastly, my graphic design class. I'm really overwhelmed with this one. It's just project after project. But I'm getting through and doing my best!

Lastly, because I was passing out ALOT lately I decided to go to the doctors because I wasnt sure what was going on...they did 2 blood tests on me and found that I had hemocromatosis...which dad has, and is a disease you get when you have too much iron in your body and your not releasing it properly. Right now they have me coming in 2 times a month to give blood for the rest of the time I am here. They said it should help release the iron efficiently and maybe when I get home I will have to go have a chat with dad's doctor to get treated at home.

Not much else happened this week, so I dont have much to report! Hope you all are having a good semester!! Can't wait to be back at WCU... I never thought I would say this but...I miss cullowhee and I miss those mountains we live in.

Hope all is well!!

Mandi

28 August 2007

24-17 August '07: La Trobe Uni Bundoora

This weekend I had planned on going to Melbourne to meet up with Hannah, who is doing the same program as me but she goes to La trobe in Bundoora. I wanted to see what it was like there, and I wanted to see her and hang out with her. Hadnt seen her for a while, and we kept talking about getting together so we finally did.

Laurs took me to the train station on the way to the supermarket, and I caught the 5:20 train to Southern Cross station which would mean I would get to Southern cross by 7:20. I met her on the corner of Bourke and Spencer street. It was great to see her, she jumped and gave me a huge hug.. and I was glad to be there!! She told me it was about an hour tram ride back to the uni from there- but that was fine with me. I just felt bad that she was on the tram for basically 2 striaght hours coming to meet me, but at least i will know for next time when I come. Hannah and I just chatted and caught up a bit on the tram and talkked about what was going on, what we have done and what we want to do etc. Hannah said she was going to Fiji with some friends for the spring break and invited me to go! OMG how amazing would that be!!?? At this point I wasnt sure, but i really wanted to go. So I thought her I would let her know when I get back on Monday- so i could talk to my parents. We finally got off the tram and it was about a 10 minute walk to her dorm, or as they call it here, college. She lives in Menzies college. When we got back her friend, Nicola (shes from Scotland), had gotten us 2 meals from the dining Cafe so we sat in the common room and enjoyed some food. We went out that night- to a bar in the city called Perserverence. It was 90's night, so they were playing 90's music all night long. It was pretty awesome. But Hannah and I agreed that next time we would have to pre drink for a place like that (we had to hurry and get ready since we got back to late!). It was still fun though, but by the time we finally left I was ready for bed. They didnt close until 3 am and we stayed until the end. When we got back Nicola, Hannah and I went to the common room and hung out with Steffen who is from germany. We just sat and drank some of his homemade brews. Pretty good if I do say so myself. By the time we actually got to bed it was 5:30 am. WHAT A GREAT NIGHT!!

Saturday was a late start for everyone!! haha.. we got up around noon and Steffen, Nicola, Hannah, Connar and I all walked to Macca's for some lunch. It was exactly what I needed after a night of drinking! YUM! After that we walked back and sat at some picnic tables that were near where Hannah lived. It was gorgeous out so we decided to soak up the great weather. It was 23 degrees today... which is 76 degrees at home. I am soo happy its finally getting warm out! I LOVE IT!! We decided to have a Barbie (BBQ) tonight because it was so nice. So then Steffen went to get some work done at the Library and Connar, Hannah, Nicola and I went to the bottle shop and to Coles to pick up some stuff for tonight. We got a case of German beer for Steffen and got what we wanted and headed next door and picked up some sausages, hamburgers and some bread. We agreed to meet around 7 for the events! Hannah and I went back and took showers and then went and hung out with Nicola in her room until the boys were ready. It was the perfect time for Hannah and I to figure out our flights and plans for Sydney for our surf trip that we signed up for during the program introduction. We got it all planned and booked. I am planning on taking teh train in wednesday night, oct 3rd so we could travel to sydney together. I'm really excited for this trip!! Its about 6 weeks away... :).

Finally everyone was ready for our BBQ. We took some drinks and some food and sat outside and chatted and hung out. It was definatly a good night for it. After eating and having a few drinks we decided to venture over to the hot plates because I didnt know what they were and I should know...and must I say... HOT PLATES ARE AMAZING!!! They are just these cement plates that well are hot. They have some sort of piping and ventilation under them that makes they hot all the time. It was really cool. So we just hung out and sat on them and goofed off and socialized with each other. We told stories from our home countries and just talked... and I was talked into staying an extra night bbecause there was some sort of beer pong tournament on sunday night. It was a low key night, but a great one at that.
The highlight of the night was when Hannah accidently gave Steffen a bloody nose. It was sooo funny and now we all say he got beat up by a girl. HAHA.. it was awesome. Because we started drinking around 8 pm, we all were tired and went to bed early.. well early as in 1 am.

Sunday Hannah and I hung out in the city all day! It was a great day. I went to my first ( and probably last for this trip, because next weekend is the last one) footy game. I saw the Bulldogs and the Hawks...the Hawks completely killed the bulldogs!! This game really is a totally different sport than anything that I am use to seeing at all. Its really nothing like US football at all. If I had to compare it to something it would probably be a mixture of rugby and soccer. The layout is set up like soccer and when you score its called a goal. Its 6 ponits if you get it through the middle gap, but only 1 ponit if you get it through the other 2 gaps. Each team has this group of people who are in charge of "cheerleading" but not real cheerleading. They just use these giant pom poms to get teh attention of the crowd and get the crowd involed in the game. Its really cool to see them move from the other side. Anyways, there are 4 quarters but they are very short ones. I think the whole game took about 1 hour and a half from start to finish. Its much shorter than US football. The refs bring water to the players while they are on the feild playing.. I thought that was very interesting. They also can push and throw each other around in anyway you want. It was funny to watch opposing teams pushing each other away. But all in all it was an interesting game to watch. After that Hannah and I walked around the city for a while and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon. While we were there we saw a horse in carriage.. I thought it was sooo cool. I dont think I have ever seen one in real life!!! We ended up taking the 6:30 tram back to uni and got in about 7:30. It was a good day!!

When we got back we got to have some free BBQ because it was Open Day and they were cooking all sorts of food.. and it was all going to go to waste if it wasnt eaten!! So, it was nice to get a free meal out of the weekend. Tonight was beer pong...you signed up as teams and played against others. This was an annual event that some study abroad students from America started.. who would of thought. It was alot harder to play though because they werent solo cups, they were much smaller...and alot of the Australians didnt know how to play or thoght they did but didnt. So there were all types of rules goinng on.. but it was a good time. Hannah and I each bought a jug of Carlton Drought and played two games. By the end of the night we were getting free beer which was awesome. I played one on one beer pong with Steffen... and we played germany vs US. So we were bashing each other for everything. It was quite funny. Then we came back and all ended up in Nicola's room. We were just talking and hanging out. I learned one thing.. THEY DONT SPEAK SCOTTISH IN SCOTLAND.. ahha. But I wasnt the 1st person to ask her that! It was another great night.. and it ended somewhat early. I'm so happy I stayed the extra night.

Monday morning I woke up at 9, and left by 9:30. I wanted to be on the tram by 10... to catch the 11:15 train back to Bendigo. I planned it really well. I got to Southern Cross train station about 20 minutes early. So I bought a water and a meat pie and headed to platform 5 to wait to board the train. It was a good train ride, and I basically slept the whole time. What a great trip it was!!!

When I got off the train... as we were all walking through I saw Di..It was so funny we were both on the same train and had no idea. I wish we would of known and saved someone the trip. Ash picked up Di and Sarah was here picking up me. Sarah wanted a frozen Youguart from the marketplace so we stopped in there before heading back to the halls. I got home at about 1:30 with a half hour to spare before ceramics class. I got in and saw I had 6 messages from Ryan who was soo very worried about where I was. I told him I was going to be home sunday so when I didnt call he got worried that something happened.. but really I was having too much fun and stayed an extra day!! I called him and headed off to class.

I must say, this was definatly the best weekend yet!! I had sooo much fun!! I will probably end up going back alot! I love it there...


well I hope all is well at home...things here are going by way too fast!! Miss you all.

Hemocromotosis?

Hello, Hello. Sorry its been so long since my last post. I have been busy.. can you believe this semester is already half over? I sure can't- and I have soo much to look forward still!

okay, so last week was another tough week. I started passing out again so I went to see the doctor. It's been happening alot and I am not really sure whats happeninng. Some days I am perfectly fine and others I am so weak I can't even move. So, I made an apponitment with the medical center. They asked a million questions and eventually did a blood test on me- passing out doing that as well. I went and got my results today from the blood test. Everything was fine but my iron. I have an EXTREME amount of iron and the nurse said I probably have hemocromotis (however you spell it). She explained what it is and that it is genetic and the only way to get rid of it is to give blood. Then I thought about it, I think this is what Dad has. He gives blood every 2 weeks and has high iron. I have an apponitment with the doctor tomorrow to discuss what the plan is from here. While I was at the doctors I made an apponitment to get the first shot of the cervical cancer vacine. I will be able to get 2 of the 3 here so i thought it would be a good idea to get done- and its free. I'll just have to catch up with my doctor at home with all my records to be able to get the last shot of the vacine.

On friday I also met with my advisor...I'm having trouble in one of my classes and was hoping to get some help! I just feel totallyy overwelmed with the amount of work, and not enough time to get it done. So she sat down with me and we figured out some things and talked about what needed to be done...I have so much work in this class that even when I go away I think about what needs to be done and how I am going to get it done. I am going to meet with her again to try and work things out.


....time to get back to the books...hope all is well..

19 August 2007

The Great Ocean Road: 18-19 August '07

Hello, Hello from A-U-S-T-R-A-L-I-A!!!! I hope everyone is doing well back home as alot of you are getting ready to begin school this week...it's so strange not being there at wcu to start school with everyone else tomorrow. I hope summer was good and you enjoy the semester!

This past weekend I went on an AWESOME trip down to the Great Ocean Road. This trip is done through BSA, and it usually ends up being all international kids on these trips. We took a bus and went to a bunch of different sites. It really was great. To tell you the truth, I didnt really want to go to begin with because I wasnt going to be with people who I even remotely care to share a weekend with especially since 90% of them cant even speak english...but I always think back to when my advisor told me before I left "If you see a bus, jump on it and experience the most you can!"...so I went, because that is a main goal of mine.. to experience as much as I can. In the end, I had a great time!!!!

Anyways, the trip began by meeting over at Rob & Andrea's house at 7:30 am. Since they live right near me, near the dining hall they offered to meet up that way I didnt have to walk up to uni early in the morning for the 8 am departure. It worked out really well. [Andrea is the head of the BSA- and Rob is her Fiance and in charge of the halls.] We got to carpark 4 where we were picking the rest of the crew up at about 8 am. Andrea made sure everyone was counted for, and handed out some information about the trip and we were on our way. There were 18 students on this trip including myself, most were from India, China and singapore. It was basically all of the international students from the orientations that i attended at the start of the semester, along with a few new faces that I soon got to know better. By 8:15 we were checked in and on the road.

9:30am marked our first stop of the trip. We stopped at a town called Daylesford, but only for about 15 minutes. This stop was for the toliets and to grab some goods at a local bakery called "Modern Bakery". We were told it was going to be our last stop until we get to the 12 Apostles for our helicopter flights at 1:00 pm. I grabbed a hot chocalate and a sandwhich and headed for the bus. The hot chocalate was very watered down and really wasnt tasty at all, so after taking a few sips to warm me up I ate the rest of my breakfast sandwhich and decided to take a bit of a nap for the next 3 hours. We stopped a few times for toliet breaks, and another time because of a girl from India who had naseauaand forgot her meds who started getting sick and had to "let it out" if you will...but eventually we got to our destination.

We arrived at the 12 Apostles heliport at around 1:30pm.

Here we were put in groups of 3 to be put on the helicopters to see all of the 12 Apostles by air.
We saw the Shipwreck Coast and the Port Campbell National Park from the air. This included the 12 Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge, London Bridge, and the towering limestone cliffs. As we were in the helicopter, the piolet also gave commentary on the history of the Coast. It was sooo amazing!!



This was my 1st time in a helicopter, and it was amazing!! SO smooth and relaxed. It was great and everything looks soo amazing from up there, I was in awe and amazement the whole time. I had such low expectations that I was in total amazement when this actually was how it was. If you ever get the chance- dont pass it up!

Anyways, at about 2:30 we left and went on to our next destination which was Loch Ard Gorge. At this spot there is an interesting story that goes along with how it got it's name. I won't tell you the whole story, you will have to come see it yourself one day. But basically 52 people died after the sailing ship, the iron clipper Loch Ard, rammed into the sheer cliffs of muttonbird Island in stormy weather just days from completing a 3 month voyage from England to Melbourne. The Island is near the entrance to the long, narrow gorge. This gorge and its tiny beach saved apprentice crewman, Tom Pearce and young passenger, Eva Carmicheal who were both 18 years old. The stories are all sooo neat and interesting!!! I wish I could tell them all but it would take hours to type it all and im sure not all of you would be so interested in them...so I'll leave it at that and include some pictuers that will hopefully interest you more.

It was now 4 pm, and next on our agenda was a 2 hour drive to our accomadation but not before we stopped at the whale watching to see if by chance we could see any whales. Of course we didnt, not that that is all that interesting to me anyways. What you see of them isnt that interesting and you only see them for a minute or even a second so I didnt really care. My enjoyment was watching the beach, I could be there for hours just watching the waves (although it would be better if someone I know was here with me). I spendt my time writing in the sand and hanging out by the beach.

So, now we were 5 minutes away from our accomadation. We stayed in a place called Warrnambool Beach Backpacker it was on Stanley Street. This was a really nice hostel. We had 2 rooms for the 18 of us, so luckily enough we had a room for the boys and a room for the ladies. We unpacked our stuff and made our beds (in a hostel they just give you sheets and you are required to make your bed). Since we had an hour and half until we had to meet for dinner we just hang around. In the common room there was all sorts of different board games, there was computers (for 10 cents a min you could use the internet...but i decided to stay away from the computer), a pool table, a bar... they had alot to offer. It kept us entertained until we had to go. I walked around a bit and found a map... it showed the relationship of size of Australia compared to other countries. I took a few pictures of it. A few weeks ago, Ryan and I had this argument. I was trying to tell him that After being here I realize Australia ia just as big as the US, but he didnt agree and said it was much smaller...well babe, I hate to say this but I TOLD YOU SO. haha. The green is Australia, yellow is the other country.



Anyways after taking a look at this, I sat down and played the Simpsons board game with a girl from France, and 2 Australians to waste the time. It was a little confusing at first but we figured it out- if you ever played the game Trouble it is EXACTLY like that haha. So, we sat there drinking our hot tea and playing board games until 7:30 rolled around and it was time to move on to dinna.

For dinner we went to a place called "BoJangles". I thought this was so funny because at school my favorite place to eat is BoJangles except there it is a fast food chain in the south...haha. Here is was a semi-fancy sit down pizza resturant.


Dinner took us 3 hours to get through. I guess its under standing considering there were 20 of us, and most of us ordered pizza's...and Large ones at that. I, of course, ordered my normal Hawaiian pizza. But on this pizza, the ham was sheeded.. like you would shreed cheese.. so I didnt eat much of the ham. But, I was starving as we all were by this ponit. Most of us ordered large pizza's and thought we would bring the rest back for a midnight snake or something. But in the end most of us finished our large pizza's.

I think what took the most time at dinner was Caitlyn and her bets with the French boys. She had a bet that she wouldnt be able to finish her whole pizza plus some. And I guess the type of person she is, she wasnt going to brake that beat. So she ate her whole pizza (same size as mine) and then ate 5 pieces from someone else's pizza. She actually did all that and licked her plate clean. The boys were amazed and awarded her $5 for her work. crazy. I couldnt do it. I was full enough with my pizza and felt like a total pig- I'm glad we had to walk a bit to get to the bus.

When we got back to the hostel, we had the rest of the night to ourselves to do whatever we pleased. We had breakfast at 9 am, and were to be on the bus by 10am. So we all changed and washed up for bed, and then decided to play some more games because it wasnt quite bed time yet. I played upwords with Caitlin and a few others who were from Canada and we actually did very well until we decided to not go back ANY of the rules.. haha. Bbut it was a good game, and I decided to call it a night by midnight. Most of us did, but some stayed up playing until 1 am.

The next morning, we had breakfast at 9 and had an hour before we had to be on the bus again. I sat around and talked to some people and asked them where they planned on going and about what Bill Byson talks about what is good and bad in the book I'm reading. We all kept asking each other things about each other's countries it was a very informative conversation and I enjoyed learning different things about different countries. Then someone asked Caitlin if she could name all the states in the US (which people either think there are 48 of them or 52)... so we informed them about the FIFTY states. caitlin wanting to waste time grabbed paper and pen for us both and we tryed to see if we could name all 50 states. It was really interesting because she is from the other side of the country so conbined im sure we would of gotten it quicker. After combining our lists, we both ended up missing the same state...oddly enough UTAH. It was quite thrilling and entertaining to start off the day.

We arrived on the bus at 10, and headed to the whale watching centre to see if we could see any more whales this morning. Sadly, we didnt see any tonight either. We were staying here for 45 minutes so I played on the beach some, but mostly just watched the waves and thought about summertime on the beach. Sadly, I didnt have much of it this year. I took some beach photos and just listened to the waves. It was just very relaxing and calming, something I could do all day if I wanted to.




From here, we took a few more stops to take mmore pictures and look at some more limestone rocks.. I was tired of it, but tryed not to act it. I'm sure Ryan would appreciate these rocks way more than I ever would, probably a big part of why I took so many pictures. By the end it all looked the same to me. Anyways we stopped at about 3 more places and stopped in a town for lunch and then continued on our journey back to Bendigo.



It was a great trip... tiring and exhausting! But I learned alot and enjoyed it alot. I met alot of awesome people from different places and intriguied my mind by talking to them about their hometown instead of it being the other way around. Its really interestinng to hear things from other places that i am not really that use to or know anything aboout. All in all the trip was awesome and for $85 I got my money's worth plus some. These trips are awesome and I am glad that i took advantage of this one. I took a mizillion pictures that im sure you all want to see... so if you want to see more pictures from this trip here is the site:

http://wcu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040210&l=f07aa&id=44100664


http://wcu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040211&l=1b3aa&id=44100664

ENJOY!

It's also really interesting because at the time of going to the Great Ocean Road, I am reading thsi part of my Bill Byson book of when he travels here so its interesting to see what he thinks when im here. But anyways.. its been a long day!!! I hope everyone has had a good weekend and I hope to hear from you soon!!

Love always
Mandi

14 August 2007

A Good Day!!!! - 14 August 2007

What a good day!!! I know I just posted on sunday, but with a day like today I couldn't help but post again!! I havent really done much this week except for work on project for my graphic design class, I mean it is only tuesday night.

Okay, so why was today such a good day??? Well I got an email from my best friend and a card from my mom is the same day!! It was soo awesome and made me feel so great. I woke up this morning at the deathly hour of 8 am (because I was in bed asleep by 10 pm last night) and checked my email and to my surprise got a wonderful email from my bestest friend!! Its so lovely to hear from her because shes not really a computer person so its great to get something from her every now and again- its really the best way to communicate here.

Anyways, for the next few hours I played around in photoshop working on designing my tissue box. I got alot of it done, and knew I would probably be able to complete it by the end of the day. One less thing I need to worry about this week. Anyways, I waited until 11 am (my time). Thats when Ryan was calling, it would be 9 pm there and we would get to catch up on the days activities before he heads to bed before another 6 am start.

After talking to Ryan, I headed over to the dinning hall for lunch at noon, I had some rasin toast ( my favorite!) and an extra long hotdog! HAHA. They have this awesome toaster, you just lay your bread in and its takes it through a conveyor belt type thing and its done within 30 seconds. Anyways...then it was time to head to uni to get some things done. I decided to wonder my way to uni on the trail that I found out about this weekend, Hil showed it to me on the walk to the walk on saturday morning. I decided that since I didnt have to be there at a certain time, it would be the perfect time to find my way there in case I get lost. It turns out it wasnt bad at all, and it was quiet a nice walk actually. It was a trail and pretty interesting walk not just walking on a sidewalk. I'll probably stick with this trail for the rest of the semester!!

Anyways once I got to uni I headed to the SU to go to the BSA desk and pay for my trip this weekend! I filled out a health form, and got an itinerary and was all set for this weekend! Good thing I came in to pay today because there was only one more spot left after me! So excited, I leave saturday morning!! Then I walked over to the multimedia lab where I finished my tissue box and sent it over to media services to get printed. Paper sizes are soo different over here, they dont really label the size by the width and height and if they do its in cm's so its hard to distinguish what I actually need. But, luckily for this project he told us to print 90% on SR-A3 paper so this time I knew what I was doing. I really have no idea what A3 means but it worked for what I needed it to. I got it printed successfully, and paid the $3 for the print.

I was done at uni for the day, so I took my print and walked on back to the halls. When I got there I borrowed Di's scissors and glue and talked her while I folded up my tissue box to hopefully make it look like a tissue box. The paper was a heavy weight paper, so it should work just fine...and it did. I am proud that I made and designed a tissuebox hha. Now that, thats done I gotta start on my next project due on fridayy!! I think I have to design some sort of logo- not sure I have to look at the assignment!

Today at tea I got a letter from mom!! I absolutely love getting mail, because i never expect it!!! My RA distributes our mail to us every night at tea and I never get anything but today I did. I love it!!! My friends were amazed by the amount of stamps on it...5 stamps. I didnt even know it took that many to get here! Good to know haha. I know its a $1.50 to send a postcard home haha. The card was another one with a crazy, silly looking cats.. So funny! My friends enjoying seeing the crazy cards you send, and so do I... so keep writing!!

Mom.. or shall I say "mum"- sounds like you were busy this year with lots of teenagers! I'm very sad I couldnt be in on the fun this year at deep creek, maybe next year I mean I will be graduated!!! Glad to hear that you had heaps of fun. I'm soo glad you enjoy reading my blogs and keeping up, makes me want to write more and more!! Keep reading and I'll keep writing!! Mom, you asked for some photos of my dorm room.. so here they are! It's not much, really it has everything I NEED...and I'm not in here all that much. When I am in here, I'm usually sleeping or in bed on my laptop. But anyways, as requested here are the photos...






So, as you can see its not much!! But it has just enough for what I need.

Also, mom thanks for the extra cash...I'm really hoping they will work here though! But, I'll have to get you or maybe Ryan to activiate these cards for me since you have to call a US number to do so. Also it says "Use your gift cards at over a million buisnesses in the US where American Express Cards are accepted"...so I'm hoping I can still use them outside the US.

Thanks for the love and support!! I love hearing from everyone, and I'm sad I wont be starting school on Monday with all my friends at WCU! I miss ya'll and can't wait to see everyone in January!!! Keep reading and the comments coming! I love you all and miss you tons!!! Have a GREAT week.

12 August 2007

BIG WEEKEND: 9-12 August 2007

It's been a fun and tiring week, and I have a lot to fill you in with...I'll begin with Wednesday!!

WEDNESDAY:

okay, so as you all know I had some kind of sickness on tuesday and my plan on wednesday was to get up and have lunch and go work up at uni in the graphics lab all day to get this project knocked out. So, I did just that except I didnt eat because I was hungry so I walked up to the uni and went to the library to try and find some images to scan for my tissue box design that has to be done by friday. As I was walkiing there I found myself sweating so I took my jumper off and was sweating with just a tshirt on, and it was still about 45 degrees out. I knew I was still sick but I had to get this stuff done. As I was researching for my project I found myself getting dizzy and lightheaded again- I wasnt sure what i was going on. I decided it would be a good idea to get some food in my stomach even if i wasnt hungry so I went to use the ATM- only to find that it doesnt work. But as I was using it, I blacked out again from getting dizzy and lightheaded so I decided to sit down a minute until I got some color back. I didnt know what to do because I knew I had to get this project done but I also knew the best thing for me was to lay down in bed until I got better. I ended up running into Sair, who lives with me and she took one look at me and decided she was going to take me back to the halls. She took me back and I went to bed until tea time, I talked to Lisa Paulie and Kiimba before I headed to my room and really I dont think I have ever felt like this- but we agreed that it may be some type of cultural shock. I told them that I tryed getting in to see the doctor, but they told me it would be another 2.5 weeks so I was just going to get some rest to fight this off. So I headed to bed until tea time.

When I woke up, i felt alot better and I was happy. I was very hungry since I hadnt eaten all day... and was ready for tea. I decided I felt ok enough for the Shibang tonight, so I was excited for the nights activities!! We went over and ate some tea but ate fast because everyone had to be dressed in blue and ready by 6:45 and meet in the lower common room...I threw on some blue jeans, a blue tshirt, and wrapped some blue material that I bought at spotligght around me to make me look even bluer. Everyone loooked soo awesome, we took pictures and headed out to where this shibang was tonight. I couldnt wait to see the other halls dressed up as well" Pryor hall in red, and Scott hall in green.

When we got there, we were assigned a designated area and hung up our signs and got pumped for the competition. We started with a game called scarecrow tag which is their version of freeze tag, then moved on to 3 legged race, obstacle course, dance or cheerlead routine,tunnel ball and some others. It was a fun night, and a good one. We came in last place and Pryor won but we were the smallest hall so it was excepted!



THURSDAY:

Today was a busy day!! I had class all day! I switched out of my multimedia class because I was learning the same stuff as I did in my production class last semester at Western. Anyways, I switched into a webdesign class, I was really excited about this one and learning how to make a website is something I have always wanted to learn. Anyways this class was at 9 am so O got up in enough time to get ready and meet the others who have 9 am class. We were all going to walk to uni together...unfortunately as we were leaving it started to rain so Lisa decided she was going to drive and Di and I rode along. Webdesign began at 9...and we all sat there for an hour waiting for the teacher to show up. They dont have any rules like they do at western were if the teacher isnt there after 20 minutes you can leave. Another teacher finally came in and told us he got an email from our teacher saying he will not be coming in today because he was sick. So after sitting there for an hour we left. I headed to the library to do some research for my project and scanned some images and sent them to my email. Then I went and met Jess, Ash, Jenn and Di for lunch at 12, because we all had class at 1. This class was the most boring class and it was sooo hott and it doesnt fit everyone in the class room.. its a tight room so I struggled to stay the whole time. But, I did and I was done at uni at 4 and walked on back to the halls to have a bit of a lay down until tea time.

When I got back to my room, I had a message from Georgia.. I was suppose to go and have drinks with her tonight at her place. She ended up being sick as well, so she had to cancel. But tonight there was this thing going on up at the SU, which is the student union. You were suppose to come in your pajammas and you could listen to the band they had play. They had a local band from Sydney called Sun Poilets come and play. We got there early and snagged some comfy chairs and made our spot. We listened to a student play for a little while because it was open mic until about 830. Itwas a fun night.. we all cozied up and ate lollies.I tryed sooo many different types of lollies.. hehe they were all soo good!! Lollies is what they call candy here. While we were there, Andrea who the head of BSA trips and tours told me that the trip next weekens is taking a bigger bus.. so I can go!! I am soo excited, a 2 day trip in a helicopter on the great ocean road!! AHH I can wait!!!! Its $85 to go, but its SOOO going to be worth it!! Anyways, We stayed until abouut 11 pm and then headed home for some SLEEP!!


FRIDAY:

Today i didnt go to class. I ended up emailing my professor when I was sick and told him that I couldnt get the project done because of my fainting spells. He told me not to worry about deadlines when I am ill and to just go and take care of myself. He told me to eat lemonn and honey and choclate to get my energy and health better. But he also told me not to come in on friday because it wouldnt be waste my time if I hadnt had the project done. So today, even though I was feeling alot better I didnt have to go to class :).

So today I went over to the dinning hall for some lunch, and then Di Ash Hilaary Lisa and I decided to go into town. We were trying to find the screen printer that is making our Mills Hall tshirt. Every hall gets a tshirt made for the year with everyone's name and a design of their choice. So this year we are having them on a polo footy tshirt and there is a footy layout on the back. It really is pretty cool. I'm excited about these shirts, another suvenior :). Anyways, the directions we were given were no good and didnt get us to where we needed so we ended up going into town and stopping at the information center and finally found our way there.


Kareoke night was tonight, the 1st night of "Big Weekend". It started at 7 pm and there was a bonfire before hand! I think its really funny and different how each event that is put on is done by Ressie Services.. which is the residenntial living here. During each event, alcohol is being sold or involved. That would NEVER happen back home- I think its pretty cool. Anyways a bunch of us just hang out by the bonfire hanging out and drinking until the Kareoke began, it was pretty fun and laid back. Kareoke begun and there was a pretty good turn out! It was fun, I had about two UDL's which is basically flavored Vodka. Once the show began I didnt want to leave, it was really funny watching everyone!! The show ended about midnight and everyone headed off to bed.

SATURDAY:

Today, I woke up with pink eye! My eye was all crusted and red and was very bothersome that I couldnt sleep. But nevertheless, Today was the second day of Big weekend, today there is sa 1/4 mile walk and a pub crawl tonight. The walk started at 11 am, so we had to leave around 10:30. Most of the hall didnt want to do it and was too tired...but Kalaan, Hiltop and I decided to go for it. We were the only one from our hhall that did it!! The walk finally began around 11:30. It was a pretty hard walk but it was the Walk for Cambolia... its a place that doesnt have much money. They try every year to raise money to help this town raise money to build a school for their children. I didnt raise any money, but I gave some donations as my help!!

Anyways the walk was up one tree hill. It is basically a hill that goes around and around with very step hills the whole entire ttime. You really get a work out even if you walk it with this. The first person who finished it, ran it in 33 minutes (male) and the second ran it in 50 minutes (female). Its pretty tough, it took us about 2 hours for everyone to finish it...walking or running. It was a good time though, I just walked and talked with everyone!! At the end they had a BBQ with eggs and bacon but i decided against this because I felt if I ate it, it would be a waste of the walk.. HAHA

When I got back to the hall, I went with Ash to pick up Di from the train station and get some lunch!! I was very hungry by this point. We just went to the market place and got some chinese, and then I picked up a few things at Big W that I needed. Then we just hung out and goofed off until later that night when we decided to get some beevies (beverages for the night). We didnt go on the pub crawl because it started at 8 pm and that was too early to go out so we meet up with people later and go out there later. We bought somme wine and some cruisers for the night.. and what a great night it was.

Because most of the halls was going to a ball for the footy club that most of the boys play for, we didnt think much of us would be together.. but it was soo fun.. We meet up with everyone after their ball and had a great time.. we went to Scu Bar first, but we didnnt stay there long because its really way too crowded there.. and then we ended up at a place called universal which is still very crowded but its bigger. We stayed out drinking and dancing until about 3 am.. when Sair and I decided to get a ride home because we were tired!! (Bars here dont close until 5 am). We had to wait in a taxi line for about 30 minutes before we could get a ride home.. and finally we did. We stayed up talking and drinking more for a while before heading to bed.It was a good. long night and I am glad I went out.




SUNDAY:

Finally, its sunday...TODAY. Today was the footy match that started at 10:30 am. I wasnt going to go because when I woke up I had a huge headache and wasnt up to it... but Lisa ran up and down the halls banging on everyones doors.. making everyone get up...because its fun and you cant miss it. So we all go up and as a hall headed to Maccas.. but I decided for subway instead! Then when we got there, they had us sitting in the shade and it was SOOOO cold. So we watched one game which we won and headed back to the halls to grab some blankets and jumpers. Now that we were bundled up we could enjoy the games. I tryed as hard as I could to try and understand the rules of Aussie Rules football. A score or at home in NFL would be touchdown is 6 ponits and then you can get 1 point for everything else. Its pretty confusing. But eventually we were allowed to get some food from teh BBQ they were making. I had some food and drank some water...they had free goon at teh footy match in which you could take at your own dispense. Alot of people didnt drink because last night was a big night for alot of people- but others were still drunk and kept drinking. I cant keep up with it! Anyways, I came home after the 2nd game and took a nap for about 4 hours and then got up and ate. It was another good night.

WHAT A GREAT WEEKEND!! Hope you all had a good one as well, next weekend I will be on a trip but ill tell you all about when I return. Miss and love you all...

07 August 2007

Why me? Gah.. hate being sick.

There always comes a time of sickness when going to school or Uni, and low and behold I have caught it. You know I use to never get sick, but now it seems like I am getting sick more and more. AH oh well- its life. I'll begin with yesterday's events...

Yesterday, Monday, was obviously the first day of class for the week. It really wasnt a bad day given the fact that I was up until 2:30 am only because I was talking to my best friend at home, Megan, who I havent talked to since I left the country. Anyways, I got up and had some lunch over at the dining hall and then relaxed a bit until Georgia got here to pick me up for class. When she got here, I grabbed my kilo of clay and my pottery set and headed out the door. We chatted a bit in the car, and she explained that its her boyfriend's birthday next monday and his family is coming to surprise him so she wont be coming to class next week. Anyways, we were a bit late but its ok because he just talks and talks and never really makes any point without going in circles so really we didnt miss much. He explained how to mix colored clay into white clay and then we had our first go on the wheels. Let me just tell you- these things are not as easy as they may look. Everytime I tryed to make something it either got too thin and broke or got too wet and slipped off the wheel. Hopefully with time, I will get better at it. But, by the end I was covered in clay and he headed to tea and a hall meeting. In the hall meeting Lisa explained our plans for the Shibang on wednesday it is an event with all the halls kind of like an obstacle course from what I gather- its all a competition and each hall has to dress in a different color. We got blue.

...Oh and I almost forgot, I got a phone. Lisa went to town today and bought me a SIM card package and and old phone from home. So now i'm in the loop of connection. I have a phone, and they helped me to instal MSN- which is their version of AIM.

Today, tuesday, I didnt really have anything to do since I dont have class on tuesdays or wednesdays.. but unfortunately I woke up very sick. When I called Ryan when I woke up he could tell something was wrong- I could barely talk. Of course, with my luck if I am going to get sick it would be this week- the week when I had the most to do. I woke up with a runny nose, ears that wouldnt stop popping and and sore throat. What a wonderful start to this day it was. I layed in bed until lunch time when I then slipped on my crocks and walked out the door. When I got there I tryed to eat some lunch and all I could get down was some rasin bread and some carrots (too bad they werent the brown sugar ones mom makes.. they are the best ones I have ever had!)...so then I went back and layed down for a while. At 2 pm, Lisa Paulie Kimba and I went to Spotlight with was like a party store to get some stuff for the Shibang-I was really not feeling up for anything so I just followed and got what I needed. When I got back I came back and tryed to take a nap but of course my sickness kept me up so I just layed there with my head on my pillow because it relives my head ache some.

Tea time came and we all gathered together and headed out the door. As soon as the line started moving I started get light headed and within a moments time I couldnt see in front of me. Ash said I looked very pale, and when I got up to choose my dinner I couldnt even see what my choices were so I just took the first plate I saw and went straight to the table to sit down to try and get some color in me. I tryed to eat it but for some reason lost my appetite, so I wrapped it up and took it back and havent gotten my appetite back yet. Its just not been the best day, I was going to go out for Laims birthday tonight but with the looks of things its best I stay in and get some rest.

As I am writting this its only about 8 pm and I am thinking about turning over for bed. I have some medicine that Ash gave me and hopefully it will help me sleep. I hope this wears off soon because the rest of the week can not be missed. Thursday I am going over to Georgia's for some drinks and games and friday "Big Weekend" begins. Kareoke on friday night, Pub Crawl saturday and 1/4 mile walk...and footy match with free Goon on sunday. It will be an eventful weekend. As for me, I'm off to bed to knock this sickness away! Hope everyone is doiing well... miss you all

05 August 2007

A quiet Weekend: August 3-5, 2007

This weekend was a quiet one, but a good one at that. You see, most people go home on the weekends here so most weekends will be very empty here at the halls. Most dont have classes on fridays so most everyone heads out on Thursday. From as far as I can find out, this weekend is alot of people's last chance to go home for a while because those that party have some pretty big weekends coming up. So, this weekend it was pretty dead around here. It was only Diane ( we all call her Di) and I here on the bottom floor and about 4 people here upstairs in all of our hall. It was nice though because I got to get to know the few girls that were here.

Saturday, no one really did much but sit upstairs in the common room and watch TV and sleep and such. Then Di, Lisa and I decided to go for Tea and then later catch The Simpsons Movie. We went out and got Pinky's Pizza for tea it was good and of course I tryed my favorite Hawiian Pizza. It was very different, very sweet and bitter but it was still pizza I persume. Di got some BBQ type pizza- doesnt sound tasteful to me but who knows. They had all types of crazy toppings and names for their pizza's but apparently the best pizza there was the Margarita Pizza...didnt even ask what was on that but oh well. After sitting upsatirs in the common room and stuffing ourselves we only had about an hour until the movie. So we got ready and headed out.

We got to the Cinemas (never refered to as a Movie theater here) and stood inline for the 7:30 showing of The Simpsons Movie. I must say movies are VERY expensive here, and I probably wont see another movie here. We were able to get a consession discount price, which is like a student price. But, even with a student ticket our tickets were $12 each. THATS NOT EVEN FULL PRICE!! I thought that was just absurd for one movie ticket...so of course we just went straight to the movie not even thinking about consessions. The theater was small but we were able to find 3 seats together in the middle section up top so we sat down and got comfortable for the movie.

After the movie, we talked about it and decided that they shouldnt play so many ads for movies anymore. Really all the good parts were shown in the ads so its kind of ruined it...but lucky for me, I dont watch barely any TV to have seen many of the ads so I thought it was good. Anyways, we got back and warmed up some more pizza and finished it off and watched Catch me if you can as it was playing on the Telly when we got in- we were all exhausted from doing nothing today that we headed to bed around 11pm.

Sunday was another quiet day and actually I didnt leave my hall at all today. I got up and talked to Ryan for a bit as it was about 8pm there and he was heading into his night job and wouldnt get off till 3 am. Then I went back to bed until about 11, thats when all the high schoolers were coming through for open day. They were showing 2 rooms one which was across the hall from me, Aaron's room and I could hear everything that they were saying and explaining to the kids and then they walked down about 4 doors and showed another room. This happened every 20 minutes from about 11 until 3. I stayed in my room with the exception of making some lunch until it was over.

Then Lisa, RA Lisa, came to my room and told me she had grabbed an old phone from home so I could use it while I was here to keep in touch with my friends. I thanked her gratefully and asked her about her weekend and her date. Now I can go to the supermarket and buy a SIM card package for A$20 and use it as pay as you go to keep in touch with friends here. It was nice of her to think of me while she was home, and she told me I had to come home with her before I leave. I agreed.

After talking with Lisa I went up and watched some footy in the commons room with Di and Lisa and then went and got Maccas (McDonalds) with them for tea. When we got back we ate and watched Australian Idol- haha. It was good but its the beginning so their are alot of bad people.. but its so funny watching this one compared to American Idol with Simon.

Anyways..next weekend should be fun. Its this weekend called "Big Weekend" and its something campus does. Their is Kareoke on friday night, footy game on sunday, a pub crawl saturday night and a 1/4 mile marathon I think saturday during the day. So it should be a good weekend!! Also, I think we are all going out tuesday for Laim's birthday.. so looks like I have alot going on! Hope its fun!

Hope all is well back home, miss you tons. I've offically been here for a month :)

03 August 2007

Uni Week 2

This week was a good one, not too much happened but it went fast. Because I was so tired sunday night from my trip to Phillip Island it made it soo hard to get up Monday. I got up and had tea with the girls before heading off to ceramics- my only class of the day. A soon as I walked into the classroom, I was greeted by Georgia. Her and I got to know each other a little last week and had some of the same opinions of the class. Since we had a few minutes before our hour long slide lecture, we chatted and she showed me of another (shorter) way to get to Uni from the halls. She lives in a flat (a house) on Osbourne street which is very close to where I am staying. She offered to give me a lift home after class, and I thanked her and appreciated it. After the lecture we watched the professor in a throwing demenstration,and then a molding demo. Next class we have to decide which technique we want to use for our first project.

Tuesday I didnt really do anything but hang around the halls and watch some TV with some of the others. It has become a regular thing to watch "Neighbours" after tea each night. This show is drama central-but its really just stupid so I laugh at it. I enjoy the company of the girls, so even though i dont really understand what is going on in the show I try and figure it out. Wednesday even though I didnt have class, I needed to go to uni to work on a project that was due at the end of the week. My assignment was to design a two page newspaper spread for the "Uni News"- the University's newspaper. It took me quite some time to finish this in its perfection, but I finally got it done and was happy with it. When I was walking out the door, I ran into Georgia and she gave me a lift home again and we planned on meeting on Keck street- where she parks- tomorrow after my class. We have planned on going downtown to the art supply store to get the pottery kits that we needed and go to the supermarket.

Friday, today, was a rough and LONG day. I had my graphic design class in the morning. We continued to work on our designs for Uni News and he gave us our next assignmennt. This assignment was to design a tissue box according to four random words that he gave us. Mine are Germany, food, sports and Brown. I have no idea what I am going to do for my project but I have a week to get this one done- well I have a week for all the projects for that matter. My next class started at 1:00 in the next room to where I was. There was only two people in this class- me and another girl. The class didnt meet last week so I wasnt sure what to expect. But after attending the class I think I may email the teacher or talk to him about switching into another one of his classes...maybe webdeisgn. This class is EXACTLY like the video class I took last semester at Western and find it pointless to take a class twice. While I am abroad I plan on learning new things and not repeating the old. So, I will let you know how that works out.

Now it is the weekend, and I can already tell that it will not be a big one. Most people in the halls have already left to go home for the weekend. Last night I sat up and watched "Chopper" with some of us left in the halls. It is about this guy who kills millions of people with knives- even his best mates. I know exciting, right? It was a hard one to get through. Sunday is Open Day for our campus so our hall was nominated for walk throughs- there are going to be high school studennts walking through every 20 minutes. Its going to be annoying one...considering sunday's are everyone's sleepinng days hhaa. But oh well. I plan on keeping my self occupied with my book that I just recently bought. Its by Bill Bryson-he travels everywhere and each place he trtavels to he writes a book about it. I am reading the one about Australia and learning alot. It's called "In a Sunburned Country".

Just a small side note for my readers: Sorry if in some entries I sound like I am complaining or whatever. I am trying to give you the full experience of my experience. See the good and the bad. Know what to expect if you ever decide to come here!! So I just wanted to apologize if ever I sound like I am not enjoying myself. I could have not asked for a better experience, and things just get better from day to day! I am very proud of myself to brake out of my shell and make it to where I am and I am just learning everyday!