12 September '07: Still having a Blast!

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!

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!!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Hemocromotosis?

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

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

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


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

The Great Ocean Road: 18-19 August '07

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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



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

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


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

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

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

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

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




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



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

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


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

ENJOY!

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

Love always
Mandi

A Good Day!!!! - 14 August 2007

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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






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

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

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