Semester in Australia

7 November 2007: Packing up & flying home

2007-11-07T14:27:00.000+10:30

HELLO!!! Well its been a busy week trying to get ready to come home. I am completely done my semester with folios and exams done as well.. and its soo nice to have a few weeks to relax before I go. I have done most of my packing and I will be ready to take off on FRIDAYYY!!! It's been a GREAT semester, and I would do it all over again if I ever got the chance its a great experience and I am 110% glad that I did it. Thanks mom & dad.

So, what am I doing now?? Well I am just relaxing and enjoying the nice warm weather while I have it, because I know its not so warm at home in the states. Today, a few friends and I packed a lunch and went to the park for a picnic it was very nice and it was soo hott which made it even better. Tonight for dinna there is a barbie so we will get a chance to grill out and chill out with everyone tonight. Tomorrow most people living at halls are packing up and leaving to go home so it will be a quiet day I am sure. So, things are going to be pretty relaxing until I leave. I just need to go up to uni tomorrow to pick up a essay and exam from my teacher so I can get credit for it at Western. I also need to make sure that they have the correct address for them to send over my grades. But, tomorrow is my LAST DAY. Its soo crazy how time flies by.. I can just remember arriving here and now I am leaving. Sounds a bit crazy- its been an aweome adventure, one I will remember for years to come.

So, Friday I leave. I have to catch a taxi at about 7:15 to get to the train station and catch a train. Then I will get to the Melbourne train station by 9:30, and will have to catch the skybus which is the bus that goes to and from the airport every day.. I will have to catch this bus at 10 to get to the airport at 10:30 in time for my flight from Melbourne to LA at 12:20. Will be strange because I leave Melbourne at 12:20 pm and arrive in LA at 7:30 am... so I will a rrive before I leave. Will be LONG day.. but will be nice to see my family by the end of it at 9:30 pm. Then Saturday morning I will be flying to North Carolina to see Ryan for a few weeks & spend thankgiving with him and his family and won't return home until Dec 1st. Then Christmas time will be great seeing all my wonderful family, and Ryan is coming to spend christmas with me this year! So excited!! Anyways.. just wanted to update you on my plans. I still have alot to look forward to. I think I will go take a nanny nap before the barbie tonight.

Love you all & will be looking forward to seeing everyone!!

Halls Ball '07: 25 October '07

2007-10-27T17:24:00.000+09:30

Well, classes are offically over!! That went by sooo fast & quickly. Thursday we had what is called the Halls ball. It's a end of the year formal dinner & award ceromony-then dancing. It was alot of fun. We got to get real dressed up as a last night out with everyone from Halls. I wore my friend Hilary's dress, and Brit's shoes. It was a good time. Each hall, there are 3 of them, had a designed time to go over and get group photos taken of the hall. Our time was 5:20...we headed over to get some photos taken and had some chamagne and finger food while we were waiting (the formal didnt start until 6 pm). After a while, everyone decided to go back and hang out at their hall before the formal began. The formal began with a dinner, we headed over to our desigend dinner and had dinner and awards. It was good fun, and there was of course dancing after wards. It was a good time. I've added some pictures so you should take a look.

So I am in the last 2 weeks of my stay here in Australia! Its been such a great experience and I can not believe that it is over already, I feel like I just arrived. Most of my friends have gone home this week which is SWOVTAC--- its the week between the end of classes and the beginning of exams. Its a week where everyone goes home to study. But I have a pretty busy week as I will be working on getting my ceramic projects ready for assessment and doing a website to submit by next friday. So, things are going well on my side and I am pretty ready to come home and attend to my needs and wants in the states!

LOve you all,
Mandi

Realizing more about Australia: 19 Oct 2007

2007-10-19T14:18:00.000+09:30

Sorry it's been so long since my last post, I was in a rough spot with only days without sleep and nightmares to come...thoughts of Jess. I think its safe to say, I'm back on my feet again. It was a hard couple weeks. This week didnt really consist of much just work and more work. Today, I gave blood for the last time while I'm here and got the 2nd needle of my cervical cancer vacine. I offically have 3 days left of classes and I am super excited about it, but not excited that I have SOOO much work to get done before friday so I will be busy busy until then. I can't believe its all coming to an end, I have 3 weeks left in this wonderful country of Australia. The time flew by soo incredibly fast as everyone told me it would. I'm amazed by the friendships I have gained and the things I have learned while here. I have a new vision of things and see everything in a whole new way. I encourage anyone even just thinking of studying abroad to take the oppurtunity and go.. its a great experience.

It's so funny and true how once you are ready leave is the very moment where you feel commfortable with your surroundings. Everything is all becoming much more ordinary for me- and I know it took me a while but i finally understand what the "tall puppy syndrome" is, which I was told about at orientation in July. Basically this means taht australians dont brag about how well they are doing or how much sucess they have, they refer to everything as good. No one here talks about how they have been working hard or are doing well in their classes. No one gets excited after an exam before they know they aced it. All anyone says about such matter is, "yeah, it was good." This saying is used for alot. When I ask how people's weekends were I usually get the same response. So really, us americans cant tell how things REALLY are because the same response is given for something awesome and something soso- its just that the person doesnt want to brag about it. Really, its kinda annoying because the only way to find out if something awesome happened or didnt happen is to ask a million questions to finally get it out of them. I think its a pretty big shame because you should be allowed to be excited, life is worth it. Its even hard to keep conversations going after responses like, "yeah good".

Anyways that my speech for today! Haha.. I've really been noticing more and more about australia as the days lessen for the time I will be here. But for now, I have got to get started on some more work. But I miss everyone and will see you all soon.

Tons of love,
Mandi

4-8 Oct 07: Sydney, Cresent Head

2007-10-09T20:09:00.000+09:30

I finally made it to Sydney. We got there around lunch time on thursday. We took a taxi, shuttle bus to our Hostel, Wake up! We were able to shower and get settled before I met up with my distant family who lives in Sydney that I have never met before. Nicki and terry (Nicki's father) come to pick up Hannah and I around 2 pm. They showed us around the city of Sydney. We drove around as they ponited out different things, we went to Bondi Beach and took some pictures and then we went back to where they lived and got to meet Sylvia, terry's wife. We were back just in time for dinner. It was a good time. I am glad I met them, it was cool to meet someone related to you. Nicki seemed excited to meet me as well. She is a teacher at a primary school, and her mother is as well. Terry reminded me alot of Pop Pop.

We were exhausted when we got back, we both fell asleep at 8pm and didnt wake up until the morning and didnt even realize it. We checked out by 10 am, and put our stuff in the lockers until the Mojo surf bus came.

After we checked out, Hannah decided that she wanted to sit and do some work for about an hour before we went out into the city. So, while she was doing work I got online. But, I guess I shouldnt of done that because I got some terrible news that I still can't believe. One of my sisters in my sorority, Jess Hadden, passed away friday morning. I think I read the email about 20 times hoping it would change, I just couldn't believe it. I don't even know how to react about it all i could do was bust into tears hoping to see her one day again. I had to hear it from someone that it was true, and that what I was reading was true. I immediately called Ryan and the first thing he said to me when he picked up the phone was.. "Are you ok". He obviously knew what happened, and definatly knew jess and I were close. I wish it wasnt true, this world will never be the same again. Jess was one of those people who was always happy, seeing her smile would make you smile. Her personality was so bubbly and I guess thats why I'm so hurt. I don't understand why she didnt want to be on this planet, she committed sucide. I wish so badly that i could be home with my sisters so we could deal with the loss of Jess together. Its hard dealing with something this tough alone, and on the other side of the world. The wake was on sunday and the funeral was Monday and I hate that I wasnt there. I just wish i could be there, if not for anything else for closure. I loved her so much, and always will. I just don't really know what to think aas of now I guess. She was a good friend, a great sister and I will never forget her. I am glad I will be going to see my sisters the day after I get home, we all need to be together in a time in need. For now I just trying to stay as positive as I can, until I can be with my friends about the situation.

Anyways after I got the news Hannah made me go for a walk with her, and we just chatted. I am glad I have a friend like her here. We went and walked around Darling Hourbour and had some lunch and did some shopping until it was time for us to get on the bus at 5 pm. When we got onto the bus it ended up half the people signed up decided not to come, so we had a very light bus. Once everything was ready and we were set, the driver told us it was a 7 hour bus ride. We kind of flipped out because when we signed up for the trip Ian told us it was a 2 hour drive.

Our first stop was the bottle shop, we were told about a beach party that we were having saturday night and so we stopped if anyone wanted any booze. Everyone got off to make their purchases. Hannah and I split a 24 pack of Carlton. The next and last stop was dinner at Maccas and we headed down to Cresent Head, we arrived at 12 midnight and headed straight to bed. They had 4 rooms of bunk beds, but our group only filled 2. We went straight to bed, because we were meant to be woken up at 7 am to begin our surfing adventures. Kimbo, one of the surf instructors woke us all up at 7 am.. we had brekkie and a lesson and headed down to the beach. The walk down to the beach was quite a long one. Once we got down there, we put on our wetsuits and did some popping up practices before heading into the water. It really isnt as easy as they made it look but it was fun. I fell ALOT but I did make it up about 3 or 4 times which was awesome. I got some scrapes and bruises but it was from all good fun.

We headed back up to camp for lunch and had a seista, and they had a yoga class as well. Then at about 3 pm we headed back down for some surfing. It was hard surfing later in the day, we stayed out until 5 pm and then headed back up for showers and a Barbie (BBQ). After dinner we had a game of Jenga and what ever team lost had to do all the dishes, thank goodness it wasnt me! haha.. then we headed down to the Humpy which was the bonfire area so people at the camp can sleep. I went to bed after a few beers because I was just annoyed. There were some girls from Cali that were only about 17 and just got to Australia.. they were just very immature and annoying the crap out of me, they were so pissed and I couldnt be bothered with it. So I went to bed before I said something I regreted. I'm glad I went to bed early because the night turned into a big mess, and uncomfortable conversations and situations arose.

Sunday we were woke up at 7 am again. We had brekkie and had a surf until about 11 am. Then we come back and showered, packed and had lunch before we got on the bus for our 7 hour bus ride back. When we got back to Wake up! We stayed sunday night. When we got back we basically just passed out because we had to be up at 430 to catch a taxi to the airport. We got to the airport at 5 am, for our flight at 6 am and then arrived at Avaolon airport at 730 and took the sunbus to teh train station, and took the 9:15 train to Bendigo and finally a taxi to my hall. It was a long busy day!

Another good trip! Enjoyed it, and now its back to work. I have 3 more weeks of class and will be flying out of Melbourne on Nov 9th... But for now, I'm off to bed. Hope everyone is doing well and everything is well back in the states!!

Mandi

Back from Holiday: Recap of Fiji

2007-10-09T11:21:00.000+09:30

Hello, hello my friends. Well I am finally back from Holiday (they call vacation holiday here). Fiji, Sydney and Cresent Head were all amazing...but I must admit Fiji was the best of 'em all. I don't even know where to start, it was all just so awesome. I left Bendigo on Wednesday afternoon, and got to Melbourne that night. I ended up crashing on Kim's floor that night since Nicola and Hannah were trying to get some work done before we left for our early flight in the morning. My flight was an hour later than theirs because I booked at a different time then the girls, but it all worked out well. Hannah and Nicola didnt sleep that night because they were doing work until we had to catch a taxi at 6 am to the airport (their flight was at 8, and mine was at 9). Thank goodness all my work was due BEFORE holiday so i didn't have anything to worry about until I got back. Anyways we flew from Melbourne to Sydney and then Sydney to Nadi which is the main town or city in Fiji. When we got off the plane in Nadi it was blistering hot and we were all wearing jumpers and trousers because it was cold back in Melbourne. When we got inside we were to go through customs and immagration, and while we waited in these lines there were 4 figians that had the same guitars and played for us as we waited, it was awesome. They had tropical shirts on and blue sulus it was awesome to see when we got off the airplane.

Wow, at first sight fiji was even amazing. Fiji was 2 hours ahead of Australia, so we had to change our clocks forward two hours to make sure things ran smoothly. Once we went through customs, we were to check in at the travel centre where we could get all of our vochers and things for the trip. Then we waited for our transfer bus that would take us to Sky Lodge, our free night of accomadation that came with our package. When we checked in, they ended up havinng me staying in a totally different place than the rest of my group. So since it was a free accomadation I was able to switch to wherever I needed to be. So, all four of us ended up in the same dorm which was good. We took showers, and passed out for the night- we were to be up by 7 am and ready to jump on the awesome adventures bus that would take us to the boat to begin our trip.

At 7:15 we were all set and packed and on the big yellow bus called Awesome Adventures. Our program was through Awesome advantures, our particular package was called Ultimate Lei- Full Monty. When we got to the mainnland, where everything was set and organized for our trip to start the first thinng we neeeded to do was to check in. Since I booked seperately, I had my own vouchers and things and the girls had one. They gave us vouchers for every place we would be staying at and every activitity and event we would be doing, that came with our package. After we were all checked in, they put tags on our bags and told us to jump onto the Yellow Awesome Adventures Boat. This boat was huge, it had three levels and a bar inside. It was like a bus on water. It stopped on every island and if you had the voucher for that island you were to get off. We had a five hour boat ride, until we got to our first island so I pretty much stayed on the top deck and got some sun and took a nap.

DAY ONE- Coral view

At 1pm we got off the Awesome Adventures Boat and arrived at our first Island, Tavewa Island. We arrived at our accomadation, Coral View, at lunch time. We got off the awesome adventures boat onto a small fisherman type boat that would take us to our accomadation. When we arrived there were Figians coming out to greet us and giving us a welcoming glass of juice. It was very nice, and beautiful. When we came inside we all took a seat at the tables, and listened as they explained what was around and where things were and what the plans were for the next few days. Then we were served lunch- it was vegetable curry..very good meal. They seem to really love curry in Australia...and Fiji. I don't think I ever had it in the United States. We then checked in, I was in the dorm because I paid late and the girls were in a 3 person house called a Bula it was quite cute. But it was fun, I met some cool people in there and was able to be more social hah. Then we had the rest of the day to do what we wanted until dinner which was served at 7:30 pm.

Hannah, Nicola, Kim and I got situated in our rooms and then changed, getting ready for the beach. We decided to check out the beach. As we were taking pictures of the Bula and looking around, an old man came to talk to us. He was telling us that his wife was in the original Blue Lagoon movie, and that he's lived on this island for 20 years. I looked around and as peaceful and gorgeous as it is, I dont think I would be able to live on an island for 20 years.. much less 1 year. But, I guess its what you make of it. He also told us about this place, about a 15 minute walk around the island that sells homemade ice cream and cake. Nicola, being the sweet tooth that she is, was excited about this and thoughts maybe we would go find it later today.

We headed down through the trail to the beach, and on our way we saw some random cows it was quite interesting the thinngs you see on the island. The water was like bath water, it was crystal clear and sooo warm. I love it here!! We layed there and played in the water for a while...and then decided to go for a search for homemade ice cream. We finally found it, after walking 15 minutes around the beach! It was well worth it. $1 figian dollar for a big bowl of homemade ice cream! After ice cream we walked back, showered and got ready for dinner. There are NO hott showers on the island, but with the hot humidity really you didnt need a hot one. Dinner was at 7:30 followed by some Figian dancing and games. Then some drinks and a bonfire later.

DAY TWO- Coral View

Today we woke up at 8 am sharp for breakfast. We all had breakfast together for an hour. Then today we had an underwater cave trip to go to as part of our package. I was very excited about this trip. It was at 9:30 am, we all headed down by the beach and got into one of the fisherman's boats. The figian tour guides jumped in as well and took us to the island where Blue Lagoon was shoot. I think i would of enjoyed it more if I have seen that movie, but thats one I never got around to watching. When we arrived we all jumped out and followed the guides up some stairs that led down to the caves. One by one, we jumped into the water. After everyone was in, we swam around for a while in this cave watching the guides jump off the rocks and then proceeded to the first cavern which we had to swim through an underwater tunnel to get to. It was really awesome, very dark but awesome. We swam around for a bit, then the guide had us all sit in the corner so he could tell the stories of the caves. He explained the stories, trying to scare us but then saying all of these things can only be seen with Figian eyes. So basically he made up a bunch of stuff to try and scare us.. it was quite funny though. After the stories, we swam back to the first cave and he explained that one of the rocks was the very rock the lady was sitting on when she had her first monthly period, I'm assuming thats a big part of the movie. I wouldnt know, I never actually have seen the movie. After that we were all ready to get out, sea lice was getting us pretty bad so we all jumped on out and swam at the beach until it was time to go. While we were there, we managed to find a real blue startfish. It was real, I have never seen one in real life. It didnt really do anything at all, so it was no dofferent than a fake one to me, but it was still pretty cool.

We got back just in time for lunch, it was a good lunch. I can't exactly remember what it was that we had but I know it was good. The portions were tiny, but good. After lunch, Nicola decided to go scuba Diving. She was trying to get certified while in Fiji so she had a bunch of courses to do while at each place. Scuba Diving was extra, and i didnt want to pay for it. I was just fine with Snorkeling and such. So while she was diving, the rest of us went and relaxed on the beach. It was so relaxing it wasnt too hot, and definatly not too cold. It was good weather, I actually fell asleep on the beach and of couorse getting so very sunburnt because of it. I did put sunscreen on, but of course not enough. In Fiji you cant use anything lower than 30+, the sun is sooo strong and will burn you within 20 minutes. We were out on the beach for most of the day, I went in the water for some of it because again bath water it was. Gorgeous, and nice. I loved it. After the beach, we took our cold showers (although it felt so good because I was soo burnt) and go ready for dinner and games. After dinner Nicola went back to the room to try and get some work done for a paper she had to get done for when we returned. Kim was very burnt as well- she has pale skin and doesnt like to use sunscreen so she wasnt in the mood of doing anything but sleeping. Hannah and I stayed and played some games. One of the games we played was limbo and we won free cocktails because we won, it was pretty sweet! While playing Limbo, I broke my thongs (flip fllops=thongs in Australia) and they were the only ones I brought to Australia/Fiji so I had to use an extra pair Kim brought for the rest of the trip. Goodness, they were only $2 and from old Navy so it wasnt that big a deal. After the games, we had a bonfire down by the beach but it ended bad. By 11:30 it was over because it started pouring and we ALL RAN to our dorms for the night. It wasn't a good end to a night.

DAY THREE- Coral View/WannaTaxi Cruise

Day three, we didnt do much. Woke up for breakfast at 8 am and had to check out by 9 am and put out bags out by the front. Then we got to lay by the beach and such until we left at lunch time. We took the fisherman boat out to the "Big yellow Boat". About ten minutes after we got on the big boat, we had to switch to a smaller white boat because the yellow one was having engine problems. We all switched on and had some time sitting on this boat. Our next destination was Wannataxi cruise. It was cruise, but it actually didn't move at all which I thought was strange. This boat looked just like the big Yellow Boat from the outside, but inside it was different. It had an inside that was air conditioned with twenty four beds all bunked. Also, inside was a few couches and a TV to lounge around in if you didnt want to be outside. Down the VERY steep stairs, there was ONE shower ( WITH HOT WATER) and stalls for bathroom. Then upstairs from the beds was the upper deck. It wasnt much, there was a bar with a few tables and then a small area where the snorkle gear was located. We got on the boat at about 2 pm and had the rest of the day until dinner to do whatever we wanted. They had a bunch of watersports that were included we were able to use. Dinner was at around 7ish. During the day I didnt really do much. I took advantage of the snorkels and did some snorkeling under the boat which was pretty cool. The boat was pretty high from the water, so a bunch of us decided to jump from the top. It was a thrill for sure, it was real fun. Most of us spendt the rest of the day doing that and snorkeling. Its so fun, most of the people that were at Coral view traveled with us to the wannataxi cruise so it was great to have such a bbig group to travel with through the islands.

Everyone showered and got ready for dinner at 7 pm. We had dancing and games after dinner which were really fun. We had a quiz on Figian facts, and I actually found out alot of things I had no idea about. Alot of films were taped and filmed in fiji that i didnt know about. There are actually 360 islands in Fiji but only 41 of them are reachable and are inhabited. The two big towns in Fiji are Nadi and Suva. The $5 figian bill has the Wannataxi on the back. Bula (how people greet you) means hello and good by. There is no word for Cheers. The next game we played was "The balloon game". This game you blow up a balloon and for each round you put the balloon between you and your partner in a different place each time and the first group to pop their balloon loses. We were the first to get out, guess I'm not so good at that game haha. But it was good fun. Afterwards, we chilled out and had some drinks then headed to bed. It was a good night.

The next day, was good but not as good as the last few days. It rained for most of the day! We woke up for breakfast and then had the rest of the day to do what we wanted. Hannah and I did some Kayaking which was kool, hard work but was good. Although, I got eaten up by some coral after we fell over. It was heaps of fun. Then we did some snorkeling but that didnt last long because there was sooo much sea lice in the water. I think they only come out when its dark and bad weather. For the rest of the afternoon, I sat and played cards with Nora and David. At 3 pm, they sang their goodby song and thanked us for coming and we were off to our next destination.

DAY FOUR/FIVE- Waya Lailai

Next Island was Waya LaiLai Island. This was a nice Island. When we arrived we were took into this room and this lady with a very soft voice explained the details and things around the Island. Here I bought a T-shirt and looked around the Island. After lunch, Sanita and I went on a village visit...everyone else couldnt fit it in with diving and such. Nicola decided to do her diving and get certified, she had a bunch of chapters to read and tests to take and hopefully within two days she will be certified but it costs ALOT of money for all of that. Sanita and I left on the fisherman boat and they took us over to their village and showed us around. We were able to look into te schools and see what the village was like. We saw the teachers, the markets and I saw a Rooster haha. It was interestinng. Then we sat on the beach for a while. It was neat to see their village. Its alot different then a normal life. Then after lunch we went on a summit walk. This walk was a walk from hell. We were to walk to the very top of the moutain, which took an hour and half to walk there, and another hour and half to walk back. I asked the guide if it was ok just to walk in Flip flops and he said it would be fine and I ended up having to take them off and walk barefoot the whole time. My feet were completely cut up and by the time we got back I couldnt even walk. I guess the figians are all use to never wearing shoes thats its ok for them. My feet sure couldnt take it. So if you ever come and think it might be a good idea.. THINK AGAIN. It was horriable and everyone thought it was so funny about how I looked when I came back I looked like I had just been attacked. It was a good view, we saw the sunset and it was gorgeous! I also went on a reef snorkeling trip where I saw sharks, it was real neat.

DAY SIX- Bounty

Our next Island was Mamanuca Island, home of Bounty Resort. This is the resort where Survivor was filmed as well as an Australian show by the name of Love Match- I think thats what it is called. We didnt have much time on this Island. We arrived at about 6:30pm and of course it was still raining. We were given room assignments and I got lucky because I was put in the only air conditioned dorm. The other girls were in the smaller dorm, which was not air conditioned. This was our last night with some of the group so we sat out and hung out drinking and such. I didnt want to spend so much money so I didnt stay out as late as the others. We were meant to leave by 9 am for our last day!

DAY SEVEN- Sea Spray

We took a fishermans boat to the big boat that took us the the sea spray boat. But, Hannah and Nicola never made it onto the fisherman boat so I was pretty worried the whole time wondering when they are going to meet up with us. this was one bad time with having cell phones not working. I couldnt figure out where they were or anything. But eventually they made it to the sea spray boat so I was happy. Here we went on another village visit, and saw the Kava ceromony and browsed around the market that the figian women had set up. Basically they just buy these things from Jack's and sell them for cheaper so earn money. We also got to lay on the beach where Castaway was filmed. It was fun, we tryed to find Wilson but had no luck. Afterwards we setted off back to the white bus- and we were off to our last Island

DAY EIGHT- Beachcomber Island

This was definatly the party Island. I haven't seen more Americans at any other Island. It was quite crazy. But too bad I wasnt feeling well when we were here, but thats good because I didnt want to spend money anyways. I feel asleep at 9 pm but woke up when the girls came back-they were all sick but it seemed like they had good time. But it was good and our last day was sooo hot it was even hot in the shade. People were getting sick and over heated. We caught the boat back at 5 pm and were able to lay out on the beach all day for our last day!

We got back to mainland, and stayed one last night in Nadi and flew out saturday mmorning! It was a great trip!! I loved not having technology for a week. No cell service and no one could get a hold of me, it was just great. I didnt have any worried except about where we wanted to lay on the beach! It was amazing, if you get the chance you should definatly go! It was soooo awesome and so worth the trip. If I had the chance I would definatly go again! I know this is the place mom would absolutely love. Anyways I hope all else is well back in the states. Sorry it took so long for an update on Fiji!! I'll add some pictures soon.

Love you all,
Mandi

20-29 September '07: Fiji was amazing

2007-10-01T14:02:00.000+09:30

Oh my lord, may I just say Fiji was absolutely amazing. I couldn't of even imagined a better trip. I dont have much time now, so this is going to be a short blog. But I Just got back saturday night from Fiji and am leaving thursday morning for Sydney until Monday. I am staying in Melbourne with some friends until Hannah and I leave on thursday for our sydney trip. I just wanted to write a short blog letting you know I am alive, hhaa. I will write a more detailed blog when I have more time when I arrive back in Bendigo on Monday.

Anyways, my trip was awesome it was a tour of the different islands and by the end of the trip I felt gross and smelly but it was all well worth it. We got on the "Big yellow bus" which transported us to the islands and activities that came with our package. We would go to one island stay for a night and then get back on the big yellow bus and go to the next island and stay there and so on. It was good fun and a well worth it trip. The sun was VERY hot and strong that you had to where 30+ or you would get touched. I got pretty tan and I am happy.

Anyways I'm off with Hannah, I will write more when I have time next week! Love you all tons.

Mandi

15 Sep '07: Silverchair & Powderfinger Concert!!!

2007-09-16T17:02:00.000+09:30

So last night I went to the Silverchair and Poderfinger concert and it was sooooo good!!! Silverchair is pretty well known in the US, but powderfinger I had never heard of until last night...both bof these Australian bands were awesome!

I picked up Kim, Hannah and Nicola from the train station at about 5, and we had about an hour to get ready until Laurs was gonna drive us to the concert since its way downtown. It started at 6, so we got there at quarter past and collected our tickets from the box office and headed in. It was held at the Bendigo Showgrounds which was quite small compared to the size of places concerts at home would of been held. But this is a sold out concert and every hotel is completely booked in bendigo because of it. Anyways we headed in and looked around a while to see what was around. Our first stop was the Tshirt and merchandise tent. Hannah and Nicola decided to purchasing tshirts- I decided against it because I didnt want to spend $40 for a tshirt that I wold probably never wear again. Since the band hadnt started yet, we decided to go to the bar and get a beer before they came on. As expensive as it was, we stopped at one and didnt get anymore. Plus, you were not allowed any alcohol in the actually concert...they had a seperate tent for the bar and you were not allowed to leave with alcohol into the concert. Alot different that something as Merriweather. Also, here in the concert there was only standing and no seats or anythinng which I also thought was different.

After we finished our VB's we headed into the concert. Silverchair came on first and they were amazing. They sang some old ones, some new ones and some famous ones. It was good. They were on for about an hour and while they were on, one of the singers proposed to his girlfriend Natalie on stage.. It was the cutest thing ever!!! Lucky girl she is. Another thing the guitarist played the guiatar with his tongue, and did it pretty well. It was pretty kool. During Silverchair we lost Nicola somewhere so during the break between bands Kim and I headed to the toliets and eventually found her at the burger stand so we decided to get some burgers as well...which actually werent that great afterall but I guess it kept us from being hungry.

We headed back in, Hannah still in where we were but we didnt end up finding her again so we all decided to meet at the "meeting place" which was the burger stand at the end. Powderfinger came on at about 8:45 and they were on for about an hour. Their songs were actually pretty awesome, i really enjoyed their music. I really got into them. They told us that because they didnt have anything cool to do like propose on stage, they were going to swim naked in the fountain in the centre of town which is not running because of the water restictions... haha. Who knows if they actually did. Anyways they were kool. At the end both bands came on and played together! It was freaking Sweet!!!!

After the concert we were going to this one love after party which ended up being pretty awesome. They had all kinds of Dj's, free drinks and cheap spirits. It was a good night. Trying to get there was a mess. After the concert we called for a taxi but it ended up that there was no taxi's for teh concert and we had to jump on this bus that was going to drop us off into town. Well, it ended up that this bus only stopped at the train station and went back and forth from the concert to the train station so we all had to get off there. Luckily, we met some guys who were on the bus with us that was confused as well as to why they werent going into town. We walked with them and found our way to the pubs. After our 20 minute walk to Black Swan, we showed our tickets and got in.

The night was awesome, to much to explain in detail... but we didnt leave until 5, and then we stopped at Zoo Cafe for some Poatato gems... the best drunk food made to man, it was awesome. Then of course we had to wait in the taxi line that always takes forever.. so we didnt get home until 6 am. But- man it was a good time, we met so many people and I do believe the girls had a good time as well...It was definatly a night to remember. So many memories and good times.. take a look at the photos!!!

Next: FIJI ON THURSDAY!

Oh and I wanted to add this tid bit: I got an internship for next semester. I will be working for a publishing company in Waynesville! :) I'm VERY excited.

12 September '07: Still having a Blast!

2007-09-12T18:42:00.000+09:30

HELLO HELLO!! Sorry it's been so long since my last post! Things are moving right along, smooth and fun. I really cant believe its already the middle of semtember, that means I only have 2 more months here. The time is really flying on by its crazy. Mom- I got another card from you last week! Thanks, i love it and so do all my friends. All 4 are taped to my closet door :).

Lets last week I met some new friends who are actually quite nice. We played singstar and it was absolutely fun, we spendt 4 hours doing that haha. For those of you who dont know.. its like guiarhero on playstation except instead of playing the guitar you sing. Its like a competetion. Its awesome!! Not sure if they have it in the US or not, im not big on video games to start with but its fun.

This past weekend I went to Melbourne again. Nicola and Kim headed over to Sydney for the weekend so I went and kept Hannah company. We didnt do much because everyone seemed to be gone for the weekend but we still had a very good time. I cought the 4:25 train and then caught to tram and met Hannah at Coles Market which was just a few stops from La trobe. We had an easy, quiet night friday night because everyone seemed to be tired. We ended up playing poker, I finally learned how to play. it took forever.. and I was 3rd winner which was cool considering it was the 1st time I have ever played. Lets see... then we went on down to Steffens room and watched Mr and Mrs Smith. It was a good one.. and always is when I watch it haha. then saturday we went to Maccas for lunch and just made it a lazy kind of day. Didnt do much really until it was time to decide what we were going to do tonight. Since no one was around it was quiet so it was just a few of us who just drank and had some fun. It turned out to be a good, very random night.

On sunday Hannah and Steffen didnt wake up until 4 pm so we didnt really do much today either.. haha. We played beer pong on sunday night and I ended up meeting some kid from Alaska which I thought was really kool. Its really interesting to learn and understand things from different places. I kept asking Steffen after Germany and dofferences just to get a grasp on how it would be if i ever went there. Its just intriguing to me I guess. Anyways I ended up taking the 10:15 am train out of Melbourne to Bendigo and slept the whole two hours- i was soo exhausted and made it to class by 2.

Tuesday night (last night) we all went out for Ashlynn's 20th birthday and Lauren's 23rd birthday! It was heaps of fun!! I took wayyy too many pictures and gained wayyy too many memories it was soo fun. It was good to see everyone out and have a good time. We went to the Broughie first which is just a small little pre drinking bar basically. Its nice there to just socialize and have a good time. Then we ended up at Scubar and just danced (yes, I danced... ) and sang and had a good night. Laurs and I grabbed a taxi back at about 2:30 am... and it was probably the best bit of the night. She told the taxi driver that I was from America and that we had been friends since preschool... and that he wasnt being nice enough. HAHA.. it was soo funny and on top of all that she was convinved he was African with Islamic language so she told me she had to translate for me. It was soo funny- it would be easier to explain this in person but trust me it was HILARIOUS!! It was such a great night.

I have soo much to look forward to in these next few weeks. I'm going to some local australian band play on thursday and then Hannah and Nicola are coming and we are going to the SILVERCHAIR concert on saturday nigth and then out with the rest afterwards. Then Thursday morning I leave for FIJI!!!!! YAY!!! SOOOOO EXCITEDD!! Then teh weekend after that is SYDNEY!! YAY!!

Hope all is well, sorry this was a vague post! I'll post again soon. Love you all and miss you tons

Mandi

1 September '07: Figuring out the bus!

2007-09-02T13:37:00.000+09:30

This weekend was a quiet but good one. Its one I think I needed. Lets see.. Friday i went to class, and keep in mind this is class that I thought I was falling behind in. Come to find out I was ahead of everyone and my project graphically was all completed. I changed a few things with the help and suggestions of my teacher. I was glad to be on top and ahead of things here. I decided to plan out my weekend to try to get my 3d projects donne. Since everyone had gone home for father's day there wasnt many people around so I was left with no choice but to try and figure out the bus system- although i hear its not a great one.

Saturday morning I woke up and was out the door by 11 only to find out that the next bus to Bendigo doesnt come until 12:50. So, I went back inside and dilly dallied until I could catch the bus. The bus only comes once every hour to bendigo from Spring Gully.. which is where I am. From here I found out that I had to get off the bus at Mitchell street and get on another bus that would take me to Eaglehawk Rd which is where Spotlight is. Spotlight is a craft store that i planned on getting the materials for my project at. At this point I wasnt sure how I was going to get back, but thought id just worry about that when it came time to. Of course me, being my, I missed the stop for spotlight so when we got to a red light I asked the bus driver to let me off here, because I missed my stop. I had to walk aways, but finally made it up the hill into a store called Spotlight. When I walked in, I just kinda walked around trying to find where things were and get ideas of what I needed to make the creature logo that I created in photoshop 3D. I took a picture of the printed piece just so i didnt forget anything to make him. I got some paint, some cardboard letters, some black string, moveable eyes, and a medium sized strofoam ball, some paint brushes, some luggage tags and some tacky glue. After getting all I needed, and spending too much money at a craft store and for an assignment I started thinking how unfair it is that we have to provide all our own materials for projects such as these. Art is such an expensive course!

After getting all I needed from spotlight, I made it down to the bus stop about 20 minutes before the bus came. I paid my $1.80 for the bus and hoped off at Mitchel street. From here, I had to walk home because the last bus came at 1:30 to go back to Spring Gully. It was alright, I found my way to Big W and got some pasta and water for tonight's meal and headed back past the train station and cemetary to get to the halls.

Once I got back to the halls, I realized my light was burnt out. I was going to have to wait until Monday to put in a maintence request for them to come change it out. But for now, I was going to have to work quick if I wanted to get my project done before it got dark and I wouldnt be able to see anything because the sun would no longer give light to my room. So, I painted the ball and made the eyes and let it dry until the morning when I'd be able to see better. For the rest of the night, I got some rest and watched some Family guy until I made it to sleep for the night.

Sunday, today, I woke up at about 8 am and called Ryan. He is up at Cullowhee this weekend because he had a job interview in Waynesville on Friday. HE GOT THE JOB!! So happy and proud for him. He starts in 2 weeks and will be making $30,000 a year. Now finally he's got a real job and he's so much happier. I think he's ready to make the change in his life. Hes moving to Waynesville next week staying with one of his brothers until he finds a place of his own...

Anyways, after I got off the phone with him I decided to do some more work on my project. HAH.. I stuck the eyes on and added the letters. Now, all thats left is the staple the mouth on. Not a hard project once I got the materials. Now I just have to find a ride to the hardware store- there is no bus that takes you out that way unfortunately! I have to get a piece of timber (wood) to paint my sign that I made in Illustrator onto. I'm going to find someone to take me this week and i'll be completely up to date with everything done.. and I can go along with my plans and go to Melbourne on friday to see the girls. and boys :) hhaa..

Well I'm going to make some dinna and get some work done.. but I love you all and miss you tons!

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

2007-08-30T18:13:00.000+09:30

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

24-17 August '07: La Trobe Uni Bundoora

2007-08-28T18:47:00.000+09:30

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?

2007-08-28T18:32:00.000+09:30

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..

The Great Ocean Road: 18-19 August '07

2007-08-19T19:33:00.000+09:30

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

A Good Day!!!! - 14 August 2007

2007-08-14T21:02:00.000+09:30

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.

BIG WEEKEND: 9-12 August 2007

2007-08-12T18:48:00.000+09:30

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...

Why me? Gah.. hate being sick.

2007-08-07T19:05:00.000+09:30

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

A quiet Weekend: August 3-5, 2007

2007-08-05T22:26:00.000+09:30

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 :)

Uni Week 2

2007-08-03T19:43:00.000+09:30

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!

Phillip Island- July 28 & 29th

2007-07-29T22:38:00.000+09:30

This past weekend, Caitlin Dan and I ventured off to Phillip Island and I think it was a well worth trip. Exhausting but exciting at the same time. I'm following through and checking things off my list of things to see and its only been a month since I have been in this amazing country. I'm trying to make the most of this experience so with every trip I feel more and more accomplished in doing so.

I set my alarm for 6 am because Dan, another international student, was picking me up at 7 am sharp. I met Dan at the International student orientation, he is from Singapore and was in the military before he came to Australia. He has very good english and knows the strangest facts about birds and trees but i guess thats what you get for being an outdoor education student. Anyways, as soon as my alarm went off I decided It was way too early to get up so I layed in my bed for the next 20 minutes or so. Then I got up to call Ryan before I changed and whatnot. Unfourtunately, he was busy still at work so we didnt really have a chance to talk before I left for the weekend. He asked when he would be able to talk to me next and I told him I would call him when I got in on sunday but it would probably be the early hours of the morning then. Chances are we wont talk until I wake up monday morning, but thats just how things go. I am in another country and want to experience as much as I can and thank goodness he understands and supports me on that 110%.

Dan pulled into the halls a little after 7am, we loaded my stuff into the back of the car and headed out of town. We were staying over night somewhere and I wasnt sure of what the arrangments were going to be like so I made sure to grab the comforter off my bed. After everything was loaded in, we all got in...and again I forgot Dan had to get in on the right side because thats the drivers side. Thank goodness Dan is use to driving on the left side because thats what they did on SIngapre as well! It really didnt matter I guess for me as Caitlyn was in the front giving directions and all I had to do was sit back and relax until we got there which was just under 4 hours. On our way there, we were lucky enough to see "Hanging Rock". I read about this, but really it wasnt all that exciting. Its just a sacred rock of the Wurundjeri people. They made a book about it and I think they even made a movie. But, I dont think either were very big because I hadnt even heard of either one. But, I guess Hanging Rock is just another one of those things to check off my "I've been there & seen it" list.

As we continued down the freeway or highway- I dont really know the difference but here they have both, we came to some objects on the side of the freeway which I guess would be considered art because Melbourne is all about art and we were almost through the city of Melbourne. Anyways on the left was some bright yellow part arch that just came straight out in an angle. On the other side were about 6 red pilliars which were all different lengths. I dont really understand what it was, or why they felt the urge to put it on the freeway but they did. It all seemed very strange to me. We continued down the freeway trying to make sense of the way Australians cummute. Freeways turn into highways with the same name (not that i ever knew there was a difference) and highways turn into freeways with the same name. Almost all highways are marked with a letter and a number...M420 is the one one we needed the most.

We arrived at Phillip Island in just under 4 hours, which was the exact time the tour book told us it would take. As we got to the Island we decided to drive across the Island to the Penguin Parade to get our tickets and figure out how that works first since it was our main reason for the trip. Once we got to the Penguin Parade we parked in one of the 5 carparks (known as a parking lot in america) and wondered inside trying to figure out what package we wanted to purchase. There was a 3 parks pass which included tickets for the Penguin Parade, the Koala Conservation Centre and Churchill Island. But unfortunately, the others werent too big on seeing Churchill Island so we decided to skip that and just buy general admission ticket for the Penguins which was about $20.

If you ever make it to Phillip Island, I would go to churchill Island. Maybe sometime i'll make it back here to go but there was so much we wanted to see, I guess not going to that wasnt all that big a deal since the others didnt want to go. But anyways Churchill Island is a farm. It was where the first agricultural came from in Australia and the first house erected by white settlers. The history just all sounded really neat and interesting to me, but not many people are into the history of another country but their own. I just find it intriguing.

After getting our tickets for the Penguin Parade we poked around the building a little to see what else we could find. The lady at the front desk told us we needed to be back by 5 pm because they unlock the doors then and it could take up to an hour for the penguins to be brave enough to come out of sea and to run home. Anyways we poked around to see what was around. The beach was closed for the winter so unfortunately that was out of the question. We went to the gift shop but we were planning on coming back around 4 so we knew we would have some time to spare and there would be time for that then. So the only thing left to do was go through the penguin exhibit in which we could look through glass holes that look into their burrows to see if there were any penguins home. It was neat, but I think I only got to see one or two because penguins go fishing and swimming all day long and then they come back at night to their burrows.

Next on our agenda was to go look at the Nobbies and Seal Rocks since we were already on this side of the Island, it made sense to go and take a look at this. These rocks were home to Australia's largest Colony of Seals. But, unfortunately we didnt see any seals and I think it was just because it was winter and it was VERY windy out. We werent in the best conditions for walking around on the cliff, and to add to that I wasn't dressed for it either. But nevertheless, its another thing to add to that list of things I've done even if the weather wasnt the best. I enjoyed looking around on the cliff and I even got to see some penguin burrows.

Next, we jumped in the car and headed to the complete opposite side of the Island then we were currently at. We were planning on going to the Koala Conservation Centre next. This was nothing like what I expected but I guess for $9 it was what I got. Basically you just walk along the boardwalks to see if you can spot a Koala. they had signs and facts about them along the way. But, I think seeing them in the zoo in cairns was much more interesting and exciting. Because Koala's sleep 20 hours out of the day its hard to find any activity but for what we saw I think we came out very lucky. We saw some sratching and some eating so we were lucky. Also I found it interesting that they only live to be 12 years old. For them to reproduce is like a one nigth stand for humans, very quick and will never last more than 2 minutes. No personal attachment- when its over they move on to sleeping for the rest of the day.

Because we were all soo hungry, we ventured off to Cowes which was the north end of the Island. We found a nice Fish and Chips place and had a bite to eat. I'm not really sure why i got the fish & chips because I didnt eat the fish at all. The fries were VERY Salty, the chicken fingers were chicken fingers but very dry and bland to my tasting. Calameri rings were also served with this meal which were very good. I'm more use to fried Calamari- but I guess any calamari will work. To top off this meal they didnt have Ketchup or Tomato Paste which they call it- because Australians arnt fond of spreads or sauces on their foods. After filling ourselves up, we headed down Churchill street which was about 2 roundabouts from where we were. Cowes Caravan Park was the one advertised in my tour book so we decided to stick with that one. This is the part where I was really lost, i mean I didnt really know for sure what a caravan park was. I thought maybe we were going to be staying in some sort of cabin. But, that was not the case. Dan had a tent that he was going to pitch and caitlyn and I were just going to sleep in the car. This will definatly be an experience, because I cant say I have ever slept in a car before this trip! But in all actuality, if your going for cheap its the way to go.

Since we were all checked in, and had time to waste until we had to be back at the Penguin Parade Caitlyn, Dan and I decided to walk down to the beach. It was alot different than any beach I have ever been to in the US, but I can now say I have been to an Australian beach! Of course it wasnt warm enough to lay on the beach so we just played around a bit. I touched the water, and played with the sand. I took some photos to document my short experience on this beach. The sand here was alot thicker, and the color was a more orangey color. It was covered with seaweed and many, many rocks that I just knew Ryan would love to tell me about if he was here- dont worry I took some pictures for you! Dan, Caitlyn, and I tried to get a picture with us all on our Australian beach, but of course had a bit of trouble. We tried an autotimer, but only manged to get our legs and feet. Eventually a woman came by and gladly took our picture for us.

We headed back to the Penguin parade and arrived around 4, we now had an hour to spare before the doors opened to the beaches. After shopping in the giftshop a little, and laughing at Caitlyn getting her picture taken with some Penguins I went and talked to the woman who sold us our tickets- just to waste time. She explained that a saturdat night would have a tirn out in thousands of people. She was right, even at four the place was already filled with people. With nothing left to do, we were the first lined up at the doors about quarter till. We just chatted a bit before the ranger explained that there is no photography or film allowed at all on the beaches for the penguins protection. She also explained that it could take up to an hour for the penguins to get brave enough to come out of the water and waddle up to their burrows. She said that they may make several attempts before they come out, because they are scared of their surroundings- and I would be scared too if I saw 1000's of people watching me waddle home everyday.

Once we got onto the beach, we were lucky to get a good seat on the actual sand at that. Most people had to sit on bleachers and benches which were all soaked from the rain, and the sand was wet but not as wet. It was hard to wait in the FREEZZZING cold for the penguins to decide when they wanted to come out of the water. It was winter so it was cold and raining- but at least now I can check yet another thing off my list and I have been to the Bass Strait.

We, being the tourists that we were waited to see a couple groups of about 10 penguins cross as well as one brave little soldier who crossed all alone. After seeing the little loner, we decided to make our way across the boardwalk to see them settling into their burrows for the night. As we were leaving and heading to the Carpark the Ranger advised and reminded us to look under our car before we leave because Penguins have burrows between each carpark and can easier be misguided. Fourtunatly, we were ok and so were the penguins and everyone made it out safely.

By the time we got back to the campsite, it was only 7 pm. Because it was such a small Island there wasnt much to do, even on a saturady night. I was hoping for a bar to be able to sit at in the heat and just relax- we couldnt even find anything like that. Eventually, looking through guidebooks and maps we came across some sort of bowling entertainment place, we we decided to check it out. We bowled on game, in which i was terrible at...kinda embarrassed to tell you my score. I know Ms. Sharon wouldnt be so proud of me for it, but I'm right on your level Ryan. It was a whopping 62!!! Yeah, cant even remember the last time I actually went bowling. Anyways, from bowling we moved on to air hockey. We each played 2 games before our hands and arms hurt from smacking that damn puck around. We ended the night with some ice cream and hung out on the couches inside. As the night neared 9 pm- we all agreed it was time to go back to the campsite and park it for the night.

i wasnt all that excited about sleeping in the car, but I didnt really have any other options so i went with it. Dan set up his tent in a matter of minutes, and I offered my suppport pretending like I knew what he was doing and if it looked right. Caitlyn and I pulled down the backseats so we both could lay side by side stretched out in the back. Dan provided us with some under sheets we could lay on, and we used our blankets off our beds to keep us warm on this cold, COLD night. It wasnt as bad as I would have thought, but I did wake up quiet a few times because of how cold I was.. and I was sleeping in my wet jeans from the rain which I'm sure didnt help.

Plan was to leave by 9 am, and get to Melbourne by 11. I did learn something while "camping". Since I was up to watch the sunrise, I saw the red sky and apparently that means its going to rain all day if it is red. Anyways, Dan wanted to stop in some shops in Melbourne for some grocery shopping. Dan, being from Singapore, ran into chinatown and found it exactly what he needed. He went into a chinese grocery store and got 2 bags full of groceries. After about an hours time, we were back at the car ready to finish off our trip.

On our way back Dan and Caitlyn found an AFL footy game being played over the radio and so we listened to it the whole 2 hours back. I was already on the verge of doosing off, so this put me right to sleep. Maybe if I was more awake I could listen and try to make sense of what is going on. Maybe one day soon, I will plan to go to a footy game before I leave. Probably sooner than later, and I think its only on sundays. I'll have to research that.

We arrived back in Bendigo a little before 3, and I was soo happy to be back. I told my belongings and zomby like walked in and colloasped onto my bed. I was hungry because I hadnt eaten all day so I made some easy mac and talked with some of the girls from my hall and eventually headed back into my room for a well deserved nap. i didnt do much for the remainder of the evening. Played around online and took a shower- which I desperatly needed. Eventually, I looked at the time on my computer and realized it was only 9 am on sunday. So, I called my mom and wished her a happy birthday. She was soo happy to hear from me, so I guess I made the right decsion in calling. She was up at deep creek with 6 teenage boys, 4 dogs and some adult friends- must be a happening place today! Mom, hope the rest of your day went well!! Happy birthday! She also expplained to me that she had been keeping up with my blog as well as Nora and even Kyle. Well, Thank you guys for supporting me and following with my travels! It means alot to know I'm not just writing this for nothing... keep reading and even comment if you like. Thanks again for keeping up with my travels!!! Hope everyone is doing well back in the states!

The first week of classes

2007-07-27T21:24:00.000+09:30

Well, classes have offically begun! I cant believe I have already been through a week of classes. Now that I look back at it, the week went by so quickly. Well the beginning of the week went by so slow because I didnt really have much to do but towards the end I was pretty busy. I started off the week with a 2 pm Ceramics class, a 3 hour class. It was great because I could sleep in and it wasnt too hard of a class- its a nice way to start the week. Anyways, we started in a classroom for the 1st hour of the class so he could explain how this class was going to run and do some housekeeping before the class actually started. He explained that there would be a total of 3 assignments throughout the semester. Then we moved into the Ceramics studio where he demonstrated the use of the pottery wheel. It was really neat to see him from sratch make a pot. i started getting really excited about this class but worried at the same time. I hope from everything I make, I can bring everything home...that it will fit in my bags. In this class I made a friend, her name was georgia. Or here in Australia you would say "She was called Geogia". Anyways she lives in a flat, known as a house in America on OSbourne street which is right where I am staying. After class I was planning on talking to her and hopefully making a connection with her so maybe she and I could go together to get some of the supplies that we needed for class. Unfortunately, she sat and talked with the teacher after class for quiet some time so I figured I would just wait to talk to her till next class.

Tuesday i didnt have any classes and basically layed around all day- it was nice though. Wednesday I had a class at 8 am, or so I thought. When my course coordinator wrote it in on my timetable, she wrote it as an 8am class. I got up and ready for class and go there at 8 just to find out that NOTHING opens until 9 am. The buildings are open, but none of the offices are and very few classes meet at 8 am. I sat in the computer lab and played around until my class at NINE. When class finally met the teacher went over some housekeeping and what the class was about, explained teh 3 projects or "briefs" we would be doing and showeed examples. It wasnt until she was explaining the projects and programs used that I realized I was enrolled in the wrong class. I mean i could of stayed in the class but it was of much higher level and I would of been struggling all semester considering I was in a class where I had no idea what any of the programs she talked about even were.

After class I decided to email my course coordinator and the head of the graphics art department and explain my sistuation. Later that day I head back from the head of the graphics art department and he told me that I could switch into his class which met at 930 am on friday morning. He explained to me that we would be working with Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign and QuarkExpress all of which I am very familiar with...well all but QuarkExpress but he wasnt surprised because most students dont or never have used it. This is more of a print based class, more of what I am interested in. So, I worked it out and planned on attending his class at 930 friday morning.

Thursday I had a 3 hour lecture from 1-4 called Renassiance Art. This I knew to be probably my least favorite of them all. I ate lunch with some of the girls at the dinning hall and then headed up to uni. I wanted to leave a bit early because I was going to a building I had never been before or even seen before for that matter. But after asking around a bit, I finally found where I needed to go. We met in a slide room which definatly didnt have enough room for the whole class but i guess it didnt matter all that much, our teacher had broken his tooth in half somehow and was unable to open the class and had someone else stand in for him and take role. He said he would be back by 2:30 so we were all to return around then. When we did return another guy came in to inform us that our teacher was stuck at the dentist and would not be able to make it. What a waste of a day!!

Finally, Friday.. which in my case was my worst day. I had 2 classes both 3 hours long. I had design 4-print (the one I switched into) from 930-1230 and then Multimedia 2 from 1-4. It was a busy day for me. It turned out that the class I switched into will probably end up being my favorite class. It was right in my feild and interest, so Im glad I made the choice to switch. This guy was very friendly and ind and since he hasnt taught me he asked who I was and then he made she I knew and understood everything throughout the class, I really appreciate kind people like that. My next class started at 1, in the next room over but when I got in there there was a note saying that course outlines were in the room across the hall and that we would meet next week. I guess I lucked out today.

All in all, the week of class went well and now its the weekend. Tomorrow caitlyn, Dan and I are planning on take a trip out to Philip Island. I'm sure I will have more to tell when I get back sunday night.

My view on Australia thus far

2007-07-25T18:07:00.000+09:30

So, I have almost been here in Australia for a month. I guess the time really does fly by and these 130 days are passing by ever so quickly. But with my time here already I have learned so much and I just cant wait to see what will come next. When I first arrived here in Australia things looked just like the states, but when I looked closer I realized everything here is quite different and mostly backwards really.

First and foremost, they drive on the left side of the road here, and almost every car is a stick-shift. The birds here don't cherp, they squawk and at 5 am that is very loud. This is something I cant wait to get away from. To turn the lights on in a room, you flip the switch down, not up. When you write the date, the day comes first, not the month. When you flush a toliet, you have a half flush or full flush in which you press the botton down on top of the toliet. In opening a door, the door handle turns the other way than the states. The smallest coin in size is valued at the most, and the biggest is valued at the least (thanks Mike for warning me about this one). A BBQ is called a Barbie. Any type of meal is called "tea"- either morning tea or afternoon tea.

Also, speaking Australian is almost like speaking an entirely different language. If there's not a different word, there's a different way to say what you're trying to say, and then there's certainly a different pronunciation. Bathrooms are toilets, a jacket is a jumper, gas is petrol, and a pitcher of beer is a jug. The way to say a word that ends in "er" is switched with the way you say a word that ends in "a," so Smooter is 'Smoota,' and idea is 'idier.' They also say "I reckon," just without the southern accent. To call someone you simply ssay, "ring her" instead of "call her". Messaging someone is refered to in America as a text message.

As for the people themselves, Basically, some people are shy and awkward, some vibrant and interesting; some people are friendly, others don't seem to want to talk; some drink a lot, some... well, they are all different, kinda like America.

All that being said, it's definitely a different culture here but I think that's what makes getting to know a bunch of them such a cool thing to be doing with my next four months.

A bad night for some at Scuba

2007-07-25T17:48:00.000+09:30

For those of you who keep up with my everyday travels, I appreciate it and I'm sorry its been a while since my last post. Classes have begun and I'm trying to organize myself the way I should. I actually do have alot to say though about classes but I think i will wait until I have been to them all and tell you about them all in one post- on friday. For them I'll tell you about something else.

Last saturday alot of the girls and guys from my hall decided they were going to go out that night, I was planning on going but i was soo exhausted from walking all around Melbourne the day before that I sat it out this time. Sat in my room and went to bed early it was probably best because classes were coming up and I wasnt sure what to expect. Anyways, in the end it was a really good idea that I didnt go- well im glad that I didnt. When I woke up on sunday I went into the commons room and talked to Sara who went out that night. She was telling me stories about the night. She told me that she thought that the $2 champagne that they give you at Scuba (This was the place I went to last time I went out) may have been spiked or somethinng. She went on to tell me that her and Brit only had some goon (wine) and a few cruisers before they left and I talked to them before they left and they seemed fine. Anyways, they had 2 glasses of this champagne and was completely gone. They didn t know how it happened but it did, and 2 glasses definatly should of not done that. Sara went on to tell me that she cut open her head and she didnnt even realize it until she woke up with blood every where on his pillow and such. She is fine now, but was in alot of pain when she woke up. Everyone was fine and is fine, but I guess just a scary night.

This is what i think makes me not want to go out, but I know I should because I'll meet people that way. But I would rather be safe than sorry- I guess ill just have to be real ccareful when i go out there again.

First day in Melbourne

2007-07-21T12:30:00.000+09:30

Yesterday I was quiet tired, tired enough I couldnt give enough energy to walk 2 steps or put a sentence together so i decided to walk until morning to write this post. Needless to say, it was a great day...a very ventureous and adventurous day as well. Caitlin and I had planned on meeting at the train station to catch the 7:50am train. Therefore, I got up at 6 am got dressed, washed up and buddled up for the cold and the 30 minute walk to the train stration I had ahead of me. After all that I just had a bit of time, so I called Ryan just to say hello, and see what he had planned for the rest of the day. I told him I would be gone all day and I would call him when I got in- which would be very late where he was. He still insisted that I called when I got in, just so he knew I was safe and I agreed because I do the same when he goes out.

It was now time for me to leave, I bundled up (and by bundling up, I mean a long sleeve shirt under a short sleeve short and a hoodie-because thats all I have)...and plugged in my ipod and headed out the door. I found that the walking really goes by easier when I am listening to my ipod...maybe nicer than a bike would. I enjoyed the walk to the train station, there is this huge cemetary that I pass and it puts me in awe everytime i pass it as to how huge it is. Maybe next time I make it out into town I will take a picture of it on my way- I dont know if I would be able to capture something so huge though with a camera.

When I got to the train station, I wasnt really sure where I was going or where I needed to go. I walked around to something on my left that looked like part of the train station but eventually realized I was on the wrong side of the train and I hadnt gone through ticketing yet so I walked back up to the road. As I walked back up, Caitlin was on my right so it seemed like we made it in perfect timing. From there I just followed her because she had been here before and knew what she was doing. We walked in and bought a $14.70 one way ticket to Melbourne and headed to the train and got in and made ourselves comfortable for the next 2 hours.

The train ride wasnt a bad one- a good one in that because to be honest i dont remember the last time I took a train somewhere so it kept me intrigied. The only thing that bothered me was that the farther we got, the more clouds I saw and the more I was afraid the rain was going to ruin our day. But to keep our minds off of that, Caitlin and I looked through our travel books and what is suggested and what is going in Melbourne (the large Australia book I got from AustraLearn). Anyways we looked and talked about what we planned on doing and what we wanted to see today. We decided to go to the Melbourne Aquarium first because it was close to the train station and maybe once we were done the rain would pass by a little bit. We also wanted to see this famous river that they talk about alot, something they must be very proud of. We talked about maybe the zoo, some art exhibits, some shopping and definatly the Royal Botanical Gardens and if we had time we wanted to make it to the main campus of La Trobe in Mebourne called Bundoora. Now that we had some ideas on what we wanted to do, we would just see where the day takes us.

After arriving at the Southern Cross train station, it was raining and cold but that was an even better reason to go to the aquarium first. We crossed the street, and ventured out to the aquraium which was realativly close to the train station as I said before. Before heading in, I used the ATM that was just outside. I was afriad at first because this was the first time I was using my US bank card in Australia but it was fine and gave me what I needed. We headed inside and were able to get a student discount so we paid $16 to see the aqurium which was actually quite good because it had alot in it and even had 3 levels. To me this acquarium was amazing, they had so many different animals all of which were really awesome to look at. Caitlin kept talking about her aquraium home in Oregon and how it compared to this one- seemed to be alot larger at home. But, I was quiet content with the one here, and I was really enjoying what I saw. The animals were so huge and exotic and it was really neat to see the things that I saw. We saw some fish, most of which were larger than me, and some sharks that were even larger. We even got to see the certified scuba divers feed the sharks and stingrays which were really awesome to watch. Interesting enough, sting rays have their eyes and mouth on the bottom side of them so they kept bumping into the divers. It was really interesting to see this demonstration. They said they were feeding turtles too but I never once saw a turtle so I was very, very dissapponited- and if you know my love for turtles, you would understand. The demonstration was in the middle of a huge aquarium.. you could see fish swimming on top of you and on the sides, it really was pretty neat. We also saw some sea horses, many different types of Jelly fish, tree frogs, starfish, and clams all of which were vibrant of color! It was a wonderful. Eventually we saw a turtle, but he was laying on the top of the water and didnt really move much. He wasnt the best turtle I have seen. I have to say my favorite display of turtles have to be the ones Ryan took me to see near his house. They were incredible.

After the aquarium, Caitlin and I just kept walking. We walked on Flinders street along the Yarra River which was a means of raw sewage until 1990 which sounded quiet disguishing to me but it explained why it was so brown and gross looking. We looked through our travel book and decided to try and find federation square. Itv was talked about alot so i was expecting to find something huge with alot of attraction. But really it wasnt anything big, just some cool looking buildings really. But now I can say I have been there. Who knows maybe where we were wasnt even federation square..who knows. I guess we will never really know. Caitlin and I then decided to cross the street and do some shopping and get some lunch. We stopped into a suvenior shop and got a few things for family and friends to bring back home. Along the strip we saw some fast food that we thought we would recognize.. there was a Hungry Jacks (known as Burger King in America). There was also a Macca's (known as McDonalds in America) and a KFC. We decided to try the KFC. KFC was alot diffrent and the only thing similar was that it had chicken, so I was sad when I couldnt get the coleslaw that i usually get. But oh well, I guess that comes with not being in America. While we were eating, some pigeons and bords came flying in and no one even gave it a second glance. It was all so strange to me. I guess Australians are all so friendly that they open their doors to anything that wants to join them.

After lunch, Caitlin and I went back outside which had stopped rained and was quite nice in the sun. It was only the shade and wind you had to now worry about. We decided to go past federation square and see what else we could find. We wanted to get to the Royal Botanical Gardens, but on our way to find it we stumbled past an exhibit for Pixar so we went on in and checked it out. It was held at the Australian Centre for Moving Image. It was very interesting and I am glad that we found it accidently. We went on it andpaid $15 for a ticket, in which I paid with all coins. But here thats not hard because they have $1 and $2 coins which I had a million of by this ponit. After buying our tickets we headed down the hallway to the exhibit. They had so much to see and some of it was absolutely umbelievable. As we walked through we outlined every movie made by Pixar. They included originaly sketches and ideas and what was eventually the final. It was really neat to see the different stages from start to finish. The exhibit explained the process of making a film, which really kept me interested but at the same time wondered why the exhibit was here and not in America. About 90% of the people listed were Americans and none were Australians so that kept me confused but something I didnt care enough to actually ask about. They showed the stages of teh charcters through clay models. It was really funny to see what they thought someone was going to look like to what it actually looks like now. They showed these stages and processes from movies such as Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, Cars, and even their newest one that just came out Ratatouille.

After the exhibit, we went upstairs to get pictures with Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc and continued back on our journey. We continued on Flinders street until we wondered onto something new. We found ourseleves on Batman Avenue, this headed towards the arena in which they held the Australian Open so we kept walking until we found it. Because it wasnt summer time and there wasnt anything being held there now there wasnt really much to see. I took some pictures of the buildings including the Olympic rings and some statues and things I found interesting but didnt really find much else. I guess it was just one of those things to say you have been there. From there we found ourseleves completely lost and turned around, but in my opinion thats the best part in exploring a new town. The streets here are really strange and dont really lead us in the direction we needed to go. We wanted so badly to find the Royal Botanical Gardens but never found them. It searched and asked and walked and never found them. We saw just about every other garden. But, I guess thats something we will have to leave for another day.

We saw so much today but there is still so much I wanna see! It was about 4 pm when we finally made it to the train station, and our next train the Bendigo was at 4:15. We were both so exhausted and tired and I was happy to sit for the next 2 hours. Caitlin on the other hand was very restless and wanted to get off the train. We finally made it to Bendigo after about 7 or 8 different stops along the way. I walked my 30 minutes back to my hall at about 6:30- kinda late and very dark but I made it back just fine. As soon as I got back, I laid down and checked my email and was happy that the wireless finally worked again in my room. At about 7 pm I made myself a english muffin with jelly because I forgot that there wasnt any catered meals on friday nights. Soon after that I washed up for bed and laid there relaxing for the remainder of the night. I knew tomorrow would be perfect time to relax because I didn't have any money (well not until i finally get my NAB bank card) and I couldnt do much. Sleep will be in order.

Sorry for the LONG post, but it was a great day and I had alot of fun. Thanks for the support and love and keeping up with my travels!!

Making my way into town

2007-07-19T15:09:00.000+09:30

Well orientation is offically over, although it was completely helpful and useful information I'm glad it was over! I think this is the first time in history that I have been excited to start school or uni as it is referred to here. I'm excited to see how things compare to those back in the states! It should be interesting. I'm finally all set for classes, finished the last of things yesterday including getting my user name and password as well as my Ressie Card.. which is like my Cat card at Western. Its basically my student ID card. I'm ready to get going to what i was meant to do here. If you need to get in touch with me you can always use my email but you can get in contact with me at am2stevens@students.latrobe.com.au as well. The Student ID card is probably to most simpliest card I have ever seen. Has a very low resolution picture of me with a couple lines through it- black and white. It also includes my name and an ID number and the logo for the school. Very simple indeed with no color to it at all. So after I got these two things done I was done at uni for the day- I begun my venture back to the halls. It was still very windy and cold today so this walk wasnt too pleasent and I was happy to be back when I reached my dorm- or hall.

When I reached my hall, I decided that a nap was definatly in order because I havent spent nearly as much time there as I would like within the past couple of days. I was very exhausted from the past three days of orientation and just needed to rest my body before anything else. I woke up just in time for tea, it was a bit later today we werent getting served until 6:30 so I got to sleep a little longer than I thought. Dinner was a bit different tonight. We had a table full of students from Hong Kong that were visiting the country and spending a few days traveling each town with us for 2 days. This dinner was for them. We sat at tables covered with white table cloths and set with nice glass china and a bottle of red wine at each table as well as a bottle of white wine and there was orange juice also for those without the alcohol taste. It was very nice actually there 4 tables...us, the guys, the hongkong people, and the kitchen staff. Each table got a turn to go up and get food for dinner. I had chicken wrapped in bacon with potato balls and veggies. It was a very good meal, I really enjoyed this one. After dinner, David- who is the head of residential services made a speech. He welcomed all the kids from hong kong and welcomed me. He talked about the importantance of international cultural connections and said that Latrobe was very lucky to have me as well as the kids from hongkong.

After dinner, we were all very tired and exhausted and all the girls gathered around in the bottom common room- the kids from hongkong were up in the top one. We decided to make it a "coloring in" night. Its funny when you colour in a coloring book its called "coloring in" here. So we all colored in a picture of my little pony and stuck it to our door. It was so funny how serious we were taking it, just as if we were kids again. As 10 pm rolled around, most of us headed to bed and made it an early night- especially me. I was exhausted, even after my nap.

Today now...I didnt really have much to do, basically the time until Monday is left for ourselfs. I didnt have any more obligations- I was set. So today, Caitlin and I decided to venture into town. I had not made my way there yet so Caitlin decided to venture to the halls from Orde House and we would go together. It was a nice walk, took about 30 minutes but It was a good walk. It was better walking with someone but it was a good walk. On our way there I saw the biggest cemetary I have ever seen in my life. It went back and covered the whole hill. It was deep and long. It was just HUGE! But anyways we did some shopping. Went to safeway and picking up some food so I wouldnt starve on the weekends since the dining hall isnt opened. Just got some things for the weekend because I will probably come back to town myself whern I got the time. I bought a watch so finally I will have something that has Australian time on it. I also went and looked in Target for a bike. I found one for about 98 bucks so I may go and buy it next time I am in town but for now we were just there so I could see where things were basically. Ohh and I bought a pillow- the one they gave me was and is as hard as a rock. I was trying to deal with it and what I had but it hurt my shoulders and I was sore for days after so I thought it best to get a new one and im sure it will feel like a million bucks when I lay on this one- so I am excited. I'm glad I finally found my way into town, thanks to Caitlyn and know where to find some stuff.

Tomorrow is going to be another good day. Caitlin and I are going to catch the 7:50 train into Melbourne! Well thats all for now,,,

Orientation @ La Trobe (Day Two)

2007-07-17T16:10:00.000+09:30

Today it was FREEEZZIINNGG!!! Well orientation begun at 9:30 for morning tea... otherwise known as breakfast. I left the halls at 9, because of course its a 30 minute walk. Ten minutes after I left the rain came down like a MONSOON and of course I had to continue walking in it because I had no other way to get to uni. So I kept struggling along.. hoping I wouldnt get a cold by the end of it. I finally got to uni by 9:20...and it felt like I had been walking for hours. My legs hurt and I was SOAKED. Thank god I was able to eat when I got there. My legs felt frozen and numb. I was wearing jeans and they had totally changed colour because they were so wet and of course they stayed wet for most of the day so I just got colder, and colder throughout the day. HA and they say it never rains.. haha.

So today we had some more people come and talk to us and tell us about things we hope to find out about or know about for the semester. Then we got a tour of the city of Bendigo, and they told us where the best place was to buy this and that it was actually very helpful. Then we went to the China Dragon Muesum. Bendigo was founded on a gold mine in which the Chinese found so this muesum told the history of Bendigo which was really interesting to me. They have a parade every easter for it and its extrodinary and massively huge which is crazy because the town really isnt that big. After we did that we headed back- and thankfully they dropped me off at my hall. I didnt have to walk 30 minutes again in the Rain.. and HAIL!!

Now I am just waiting for tea.. or dinner whatever you perfer. Watching this movie, its an Australian film called "Mermaids". Its interesting to watch! Well I think I'm gonna get off here and finish the movie, head to tea and hang out with my new friends :)

Orientation @ La Trobe (Day one)

2007-07-17T15:20:00.000+09:30

So its been a very busy couple of days!! Orientation or "O'week" as it is referred to here has begun. This is the week of orientation, and I just have event after event of activities welcoming me to the school and the town. Its been very fun, but very exhausting as well. We actually have one more day of orientation whiich i am sure will be just exhausting as the last two, but oh well!

Yesterday was probably the busiest, most exhausting days I have had here yet. Orientation begun at 10 am and we had to be over at the IronBark building at that time. It is kind of annoying for me because I live over at the halls so its about a 30 minute walk since I dont have any acess to any other type of transportation or in Australian terms "transport". Once I got there I saw Caitlyn...she is the other american girl who is also studying at La Trobe University, Bendigo. I am glad I finally got to meet her because everytime I went into any office on campus to get essentials done they would ask if I had met her. I always said no. I hadnt met her although she seems like a wonderful girl. So today I finally met her, and she is very sweet and kind. We immediatly got along great, it was nice to finally see someone who can relate to you in most ways being from the same country. We stuck together and got to know each other today. There were "heaps" or alot of people who came in and talked to us about numerous things that we may need to know about in the future. Then we went on a library tour where the librarian took us around and showed us how to use everything and told us where things were. Then we did a treasure hunt, and this is where I begun to feel like a little kid. We were given a sheet that had about 20 questions on it, and we were to walk around campus filling in the answers to these questions. They had the most random questions on there like "How many benches are outside the waterfall?". Silly things like that, but I guess it was good to find out where things were for the semester. But whoever got all the questions right would win some sort of prize at the movie and pizza night that they were having fun us later that night.

Caitlyn and I turned in our "treasure hunt" and decided to head back to Orde house where she was staying for the semester. It was much more convient since the halls was a 30 minute walk and we only had about an hour to relax before the pizza and movie night begun. Orde House is about a 5 minute walk. I was actually suppose to stay there but changed my mind at the last minute because I wanted my meals provided. But after seeing this place, I should of just stuck with it. Its alot nicer than the halls and its all international students so it would be a great learned experience to live with others like that. But the rooms there dont have heat and the wireless is weaker the farther down the hall you are. So although they are nicer facilities in the end I am glad I am where I am. The people here are great and always ask about me when im not around, and we have heat in each room which makes sleeping soo much nicer. Also, I can get the exercise I have always wanted here by walking everywhere.

Then it was time to walk to the common right near the units which is another residence on campus- the closest one to campus. We had an pizza and movie night there. I joined the international club a couple days ago so a lady from that came in and talked about things pertaining to that club. When the pizza arrived we were all ready to eat. I found it very much different than american pizza. This pizza was called Pinky's pizza. It was in a rectangle shape and the sauce was a sweet sauce. It was a good different, just very sweet and tart I guess I would say. I wasnt use to it, I was expecting a circle shape and tomato sauce. But I enjoyed it, had to at least try it. We had a raffle in which I won a little keychain and Caitlyn and I won a prize each for our treasure hunt. The prize was a bowl with the australian flag..haha. But still cool. I dont know if I should be proud or embarrassed that we won this trasure hunt haha. Then they put on the movie "Happy Feet". Since I had seen it a million times, I decided to leave and venture onto my walk home. It was about 8 pm anyways and I had to walk back alone so I thought it was probbaly a good idea to get going.

I fell asleep at about 11pm and slept hard! It was a good day and I met alot of people from all over the world including Africa, Asia, China, US, and France.

First night out in Australia

2007-07-16T19:45:00.000+09:30

Well today was definatly a busy, busy day! It was the first day of orientation! But let me just tell you first about saturday night. Okay, so saturday I was getting really lonely and upset because I didnt know anyone and I was getting tired of just laying my bed, not really doing anything. So of course me being me, I took it out on my best friend, my boyfriend. I didnt mean to but it happened... but in the end he made everything make sense and I knew classes were startinng soon and that I was being stupid anyways. I pretty much was being stupid- missing home & my rountines & of course him. So of course, he was out having fun with his friends and I didnt want to ruin his fun so I told him to go have double the fun and pretend I was there and to call me before he went to bed. So after I calmed down he listened and told me everything would be ok, which he was right as always.

A couple hours later, two girls from the hall came knocking at my door and welcomed me to the halls and told me how excited they were to have me on the halls with them this semester. After talking a bit, they asked me if I wanted to join them for tea, which in Australian terms means dinner. So we went and got some Subway- I felt so at home as I was eating this meal. Although, I told myself I would not have any of these American foods while I was here, I felt I needed it. I felt right at home and felt I deserved it as I have been eating nothing but healthy foods- not complaining at all, because it is all really good food but nice to know its there.

Anyways, that night I ended up going out with the girls and guys from the halls for Brit's 19th birthday. It was a good night and I'm glad I went, things were alot different but just things I will have to adapt to. The music they play is american music from like 5 years ago, so its really funny to hear it being played out at a bar. The girls kept asking me if I knew this song every time one would come on. Dancing is basically just rock back and forth...haha I can do that! If you dance like an american, they automatically think you want to have sex with them so good thing I dont know or dont like to dance like an american. After the bar we were wait for our driver and we had some Potato gems.. they were sooo good! Basically Potato wedges with cheese and gravy on them! AMAZINGG!!

The night was good, and I was so happy I went out. I got to know some of the people from the halls, which were all awesome!! If any of you are reading this, thanks for a GREAT 1st night out... I'm sure there will be many more to come.

Settling in at La Trobe Uni

2007-07-14T10:15:00.000+09:30

I'm hoping that this blog post will get us all updated on where I am now. I am finally all settled in, in my room in Mills Hall room 10. My accomadation is like a dorm, or as Allie says from the pictures its like a jail cell. It is a very small room, but I have a room to myself. Actually its thought of absurd to share a room here in Australia. So its nice to have my very own space. As I unpacked I realized that I definatly didnt bring enough winter clothes down with me. Its SOOO cold here, and the building is even colder. But the good thing is that all the rooms have their own heaters, so I will probably leave that one 24 7 and be ok. But I never wanna leave my room because its soo cold everywhere else and I dont have enough warm clothes to keep me warm which sucks in the long run. So if anyone is feeling generous your welcome to send me some warm clothes to keep me warm, although it will take about 3 weeks to get here!!!

Mandi Stevens
Mills Hall, room 10
LTUB PO Box 199
Bendigo 3552 Australia

As for getting around, I've just been walking everywhere and that is alot. My accomadation is the farthest way from the campus but its the only one that has provided meals mon-fri so thats why I choose it here. The meals are not like normal campus food either they are AMAZING meals and I absolutely love the dining hall and from what I hear it seems to be a favorite among most students living here. They serve lunch and breakfast from 8-1pm which is a help your self kind of thing. Usually I have a sandwhich or something. But dinner time is the best. They serve dinner from 5:45-6:30 and you have to get there when the doors open to get the best meal. They serve two meals everyday and usually if you get there after 6:00 the best meal is gone, and your stuck with the one no one wants. So far I have some really great meals such as Spegetti, white seasoned chicken with veggies and this thing that looked like a hashbrown but inside it was mashed potatoes! It was awesome. But dinner time is my favorite time of the day because since I dont really know anyone its nice to chat and get to know the kitchen staff. The Kitchen staff are really nice and at dinner they sit down with everyone and eat themselves! Its nice, because I can get to know them and they have been nothing much kind and helpful to me since I got here! I'm so happy to have this time of the day.

This week I've just been trying to find my way around and getting ready for classes to begin. I was able to register for classes early because my academic advisor is going out of town for O'week (orientation week). So I registered for 4 classes and got everything set. Its nice though because you will never have the same class twice in a week. They classes here are all only once a week for about 2 hours a day. So my class schedule is really awesome.

Monday: Ceramics Media Workshop from 2-5pm
Tuesday: NO CLASSES!
Wednesday: Applied digital design 4 from 8-11am
Thursday: Renassiance Art from 1-4pm
Friday: Multimedia 2 from 1-4pm

Its awesome only having one class a day for 3 hours here unlike back in the states having up to 3 classes a day 3 times a week! I love it here!

But like I was saying before I havent really been doing much just been walking around trying to find my way around. Its about a 30 minute walk to the university (they call it Uni). But, I found some shops which are only about a 5 minute walk from the uni so I started a bank account and got some things that I needed. Now, all I need to do is figure out my way to town to get the rest of the things I may need before school starts but its ok orientation starts on monday and I think they will tell us then.

Goodbye Cairns, Hello Bendigo

2007-07-13T20:39:00.000+09:30

Now its off to the next adventure on my amazing trip. Next stop: Bendigo! We all, all 80 of us, arrived at Cairns airport at roughly 10:30 am to make sure everyone made their final flights on time. I think their were a few different groups with earlier flights which is why we had to arrive so early. My group, students attending La Trobe University, had a flight out at 1:30pm to Melbourne, Australia. This flight was about 3 hours so just enough time for a meal, a movie and some rest time! It was a quick flight!

When we arrived, we hearded straight toward the baggage claim conveyer belt which was hard to get to and had rows of people trying to peer over the person in front of them and catch a glimpse of their bag. This didn't bother any of us American kids, since we were Super-excited to be arriving at our final destination after almost a week of traveling!! When we found the driver, there was one for La Trobe University and another one for Mandi Stevens. It was really funny, but it was because I was the only student attending La Trobe University in Bendigo as the others were all going to La Trobe University in Bundoora.

When I finally got my baggage, my bus driver (Alf) and myself walked out to his car and loaded the baggage. As I was heading to get in, Alf reminded me that I needed to get into the left side as that was the passenger side in this country. I got in and from there we had a 2 hour car ride to the campus- so I sat back and relaxed until we reached the town of Bendigo!!! It was a small little town but nothing I wasnt already used to at Western. I was so excited to see everything as we neared the town, things were so pretty and building were shaping in interesting ways that grabbed my attention.

When we got to campus Alf dropped me off at my dorm, Mills Hall room number 10. They had a grocery bags full of grocerys and linens and sheets waiting for my arrival. They told me that the dinning hall wasnt open and that they hoped what they supplied would be ok for dinner for the night! I immediately thanked them and of course they replied with "no worries mate". I knew I was in Australia to stay!

Orientation- Saturday July 7th

2007-07-13T16:30:00.000+09:30

Today on our second day of orientation we got to go snorkeling and scuba diving on the great barrier reef. I was soo excited about this experience, this is something many people want to do before they die and most australians have never done before and they live here. I got to do it at the age of 22. It was absolutely amazinng, simply incredible!!! I couldnt believe this was really happening...AMAZING!!

The boat left with our crew of 80 some students are 8 am...and we then sat back and relaxed for the next two hours as it was a 2 hour boatf ride out to the reef. It was nice though because we all had the chance to get to know others and enjoy the surroundings and even some got the chance to sleep. It was absolutely gorgeous and the water was soo clear, I was incredibly amazed at my surroundings.

Then it was time to snorkel, I couldn't wait to see what people from all over the world come to this very reef to see. As far as I could tell from this moment, it wasnt anything special. But, I put on my wetsuit, grabbed some flippers and goggles and jumped right in. It was a little hard to get used to the whole snorkeling thing at first. It was something I have never done before and I didn't exactly know how it was done. But eventually I calmed down and throughly enjoyed being in this unimaginable place. It felt like I was in a dream, swimming next to sea turtles and sting rays and seeing Nemo up close and personal was just amazing. I dont think there would be any other way I could experience that.

Orientation- Friday July 6th

2007-07-13T12:05:00.000+09:30

The introduction weekend was a pretty nice idea and a great way to introduce us American kids to the Country of Australia. It was more of a vacation than anything else for any of us. We did some great things and learned alot but it all just felt like a vacation for us, it hadn't hit me yet that i would be staying here for 5 months. Our orientation program lasted the weekend and each day we had a program session to attend that lasted about 2 hours. It was annoying, but in the end they probably will help us adapt to this place we will be calling home for the next 5 months.

Today we had a short orientation session in the morning after breakfast and then we all piled onto the buses to go up the mountain to a place called the Rain ForeStation. Here we got to see all the wildlife that Australia is known for. The first thing we saw was a Kangaroo named Bob. These were sooo friendly mainly because they were trained to be around humans since it was a zoo. Bob was soo soft and loveable. He just wanted to be part of the group. I loved it. I thought it was neat how the Kangaroo used his tail for balance while walking or boucing around. Next we saw a Dingo- this guy look like a puppy dog. He was a cute little fellow, but I think he was tired when we saw him because he didnt move around too much.

After seeing all the other animals this zoo had to offer we all got in line to hold the koala bear and get our picture taken!! It was sooo cute, although his claws dug into my skin a little but the little guy was so adorable! After the zoo we headed over to have lunch and fun at a local Aborigine park. We got to see their traditional dances and learn about their culture and religion. We also go to throw boomerangs and Spears. It was really neat, although the dancers smelled horribly!

Today was a long, exhausting day...and now I'm going to make a phone call with the phone card they give us and head to bed! Tomorrow we get to see the Barrier Reef!!!

My Travels to Cairns, Australia

2007-07-12T19:29:00.000+09:30

Fourteen hours is an extremely long time to be on a plane. I was very lucky to be flying at night so that I had the possibility to sleep, although it wasn't as easy to sleep as I thought it would be.

Everyone who talked to me about international flights talked them up big time-saying they take care of you and make the trip exceptionally comfortable. For some reason this made me picture a first class situation for a flight, with moving room and chairs that laid back farther or something. But, it turns out that the plane is actually just a really big version of a normal airplane. You still had tight leg room and seats that only reclined about 3 inches backward.

That made things a little less exciting, not that I wasnt still excited to be getting to where I was going. The airline made us as comfortable as they could with meals, TV and even hot towels. We had two really great meals, some snacks, and a million TV shows and movies to choose from on our personal monitor in the headrests of all the seats which were all free of charge. These monitors even had a flight map in which you could follow along to how much longer we had in the plane and where we wer ein the sky at that very moment. It was nice to follow along and see how far we have gotten from time to time. I sat in the middle room which was a little uncomfortable considering I didnt have a wall or side to lean on to sleep but thats alright I still made out just fine. This being my 3rd plane right of the day, I knew I would make it just fine. I was sitting in the second to last row on the plane in between two girls, Amy and Hannah, who actually were part of my Australearn program so it made the ride over a lot less boring.

We left LA at 10:30 and arrived in Sydney at 6:05am after crossing the international dateline so on our way over we lost a day. By now 8 of us that were all going to La Trobe were all traveling together, so it was nice to have the company and meet the people I have been eagerly talking to on facebook without actually meeting. Our next flight didnt leave until 9:30am and it was only 6:30am when we landed.. but Sydney was a very confusing airport and took alot of time, so it was good that we had the three hours to spare. As we all got off the plane we and everyone else on the plane headed directly into the line for Customs. We all waited in the line and followed it through just so they could check our passports and make sure we were elligable to arrive in Australia. Then we had to grab our checked luggage from the canveyor belt and proceed through another line that was the line for Customs. I was very surprised because looked at all my new friends and their luggage, I packed VERY light and I was worrying and hoping that I didnt pack too light although now I think of it, I think I did. After grabbing our luggage we went through the customs line and put our checked luggage back on the conveyor belt after it went through Customs. We then continued through security again. After everyone successfully went through Customs and Security we all got on a tram/bus that took us to the correct terminal of where our next flight was going to leave from.

We finally got to gate 4, where our flight was leaving from and had about 30 minutes to spare before we had to board another plane. I took this time to call home to let dad and my big goon know that I had successfully made it to Australia. Trying to get my international US phone card to work on an Australian pay phone was a trip in itself. Eventually finding out that US phone cards dont work in Australia- so buying them from the US was a waste of money. As I was trying to figure it out a guy came over to me and asked me if I needed help. He then told me US phone cards dont work because they have an extra number on them. He had been in Australia for a while and was now traveling to Tailand. From then I had to make the call using my debit card which in the end costed me about $60 for a 10 minute call. But, in the end it was worth it because I didnt know when I would be able to make a call next. I called dad, and I called Ryan so they knew that i was safe after that 14 hour plane ride. It was 9:30 where I was, and 7pm where they were in the states.

We boarded the last plane of the day to Cairns (pronounced Cans). It was a short one, of only about three hours. Just enough time to watch Blades of Glory for the 3rd time! It was a nice ride and an exciting one since we knew we would finally be at our destination when we arrive. We arrived in Cairns at 12:30 pm/noon (which is about 10:30 pm in the states). We followed around to baggage claim when we arrived to the airport. Walking out through the terminal was gorgeous as it was all glad doors and you could see out to gorgeous Cairns. It was REAL hott and I of course was wearing flip flops, jeans, a tshirt and sweat jacket. But I didnt want to carry anything more than I already had so I left it on.

Once we got to baggage claim, there were two guys in red shirts holding a sign titled, "AustraLearn" which was the program that we were going through for our study abroad program. We were told to sign a sheet of paper so they could count us in of being here and after getting our baggage proceed to "The big green bus". After I got my baggage, I went to use the bathroom excited to see the toliets flush the other way. To my surprise this didnt happen. Here they have either a half flush or a full flush to save energy and the water doesnt spin it just splashes up and flushes down. I thought it was soo interesting to find that out, since even since I could remember people have told me, "In Australia the toliet flushes the other way" when in reality that is not true.

Ok, so I headed out to the "big green bus". There were about 90 students in the program - so they had to fit us all on the "big green bus". We were told to leave our luggage with the driver so he could fit it all in the bus cubby. Just my luck, my handle on my large suitcase brakes- I guess it was just being held with too much weight. Kinda sucks because it was expensive luggage- oh well mom will find out when I return in November. Anyways, after we dropped our luggage we were handed a landyard with a name tag attached to it and we got on the bus. It was about a ten minute drive to our hostel- "Gillians backpackers".

On our way there I was so surprised with things around especially how they drove on the wrong side of the road and cars drove on the wrong side towards us.. it really did amaze me.

I've got more to say thats going to have to wait until next time, because I'm exhausted and probably will just fall asleep soon. But, I promise to get you completely updated by the end of the week! One cool thing that has stuck out to me is that instead of saying "your welcome" here, everyone says "no worries mate." It's sweet.