39 days. That is all the time I have left in the land down under. This may sound like a long period of time but in actuality, it's not nearly enough. Now that I have been planning out every last detail of my final month in Australia (which is going to be one of the most epic months of my life) I have realized something...I wish I had more time here. I am very excited to go home and see all of my friends and family don't get me wrong, but I kind of wish I really was just going home for winter break or something and then I could come back. Yes it is winter break (winter holidays?) that is approaching now in Australia. Today is a wonderful fall day. Yesterday was even better. I love how the air just gets so crisp when it starts to get colder. Breathing is so much more enjoyable when it's cold out compared to breathing in humidity all summer. It is weird here how people are saying how freezing it is and it just does not compare to Ithaca winters and, well I mean come on I went snowboarding this past January and it was -40. It is all about what you are used to I guess. No worries I will back in summer soon enough. Interesting I chose to be in summer for about 8 or 9 months this year when winter is my favorite season. I did not even consider weather when I picked Australia. I picked so quickly I really didn't care about anything except that they spoke English!
Anyways...My last 5 weeks in the land down under are jam packed- full of exciting adventures. Friday I leave for my roommates house in Port Fairy with about 8 other friends =] It should be a lot of fun. I will blog again soon after my trip. The weekend after that we have a footy match Saturday and a wine tour Sunday. The following weekend I will be in Sydney. Then the first weekend in June will be my time to write my final papers before leaving for Uluru Ayers Rock (camping in the real Australian outback!!!) which is happening the second weekend. And then I leave for the good 'ol US-of-A the following Sunday, June 20th.
It really is going by so quickly. I mean Survivor ends in 2 weeks and we have been watching here since the beginning! It is our Tuesday night tradition but I cannot believe I have been here long enough that a whole season of Survivor is almost over. I guess it is true what they say...time flies when you're drinking rum...or is it having fun?
Cheers mate
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
It's a hard knock life
Yes I know it has been far too long since my last post and I am terribly sorry. I don't even know where April went...the month just flew by. I had so much going on it was insane.
The month started off with my 10 day trip along the East Coast of Australia...I guess no matter what country I am in, I'm an East Coast kinda gal. I started the trip with 3 other friends- Laura, Emily, and Shannon. The group got smaller with every city I went to. The four of us started off in Cairns (pronounced cans) which is where we went to see The Great Barrier Reef! We got there the Saturday before Easter. It was pretty rainy but we made the best of it anyways. Easter Sunday we went out for a really nice brunch/ lunch. I had the best meal I may have ever had in my entire life. It was very thinly sliced steak with ham and cheese wrapped up in it, served over mashed potatoes with gravy. I inhaled that meal. The rest of the day was spent watching movies because we could not move after the large sum of food we all ate.
The following day was our big trip to find Nemo in the Reef! We took a boat out about an hour an a half until we were out far enough that we were out of the rain and the reef was beneath us. My friends and I decided scuba diving was the way to go instead of just snorkeling. It was so interesting to be under water for 30 minutes! Needless to say after being under water for that long I was craving some real fresh air! While we were under water we saw so many beautiful fish! Plus the reef itself was so cool to look at. It looks just like the movies! It was a little cloudy so maybe it would have been a bit brighter, but hopefully the weather will be better when I go back someday...also I hope to see a sea turtle next time too. I was disappointed we did not see one when we were there =[
Tuesday was another long adventurous day. We spent the entire day on a rainforest tour. It rained the whole time. Yes I know we were in a rainforest but still I wish it had a rained a little less! It is so cool how diverse all of the land is here. One minute you are riding along the ocean and the next you are in a thick rainforest that is fully of plants and...creatures. All our tour guide told us about in the first hour seemed to be plants that could hurt you and how in Cairns they ONLY have 6 of the 10 deadliest snakes in the world. Only. Not to mention all those spiders. Ugh. Luck for us we did not see any snakes! I was very pleased about that. We saw a lot of really cool trees, plants, and flowers. We also went hiking by some beautiful waterfalls. We saw in one fall called Milla Milla ( I may have spelt that wrong). It was so scary swimming under it, the water was coming down so hard, but it was so much fun. We stopped at some crater lakes and the guide explained how they were formed which I of course do not remember...oops. I guess I should have paid a little ore attention instead of taking a million photos. But I still think the best part of this tour was the tour guide himself. He was so funny and honestly what I pictured, stereotypically, an Australian to be like. He did not really wear shoes most of the time. He didn't have a watch and really did not care about time. He had a thick accent and an awesome sense of humor. He really made the tour way more fun than it could have been.
Our last day in Cairns brought sunshine and hot weather. We spent most of the day hanging out by the lagoon. Lagoons are pretty popular here. They have one in Brisbane as well, we spent a long time the following day at the Brisbane lagoon. It is just a in-ground pool really that has sand in it. The one in Cairns was salt water- it is like swimming in the ocean without having to worry about sharks or jellyfish! It was fantastic. Later that day Emily, Laura, and I caught the plane to Brisbane and had an early night before heading out to the Brisbane lagoon. We spent most of our first day there and walking around exploring the city. It was another early night for us though because we were waking up early for our trip to Morton Island!!!
Morton Island may have been my favorite part of our Easter Holiday. OK so it was all my favorite, but Morton Island was amazing. It is a sand island right off the coast of Brisbane. We had another awesome tour guide- and man tour guides have the greatest life ever. We took a ferry to the island and then while on the island we had our awesome 4WD truck. There are no paved road on the island. It was off-roading the entire time! So much fun- we were bouncing around everywhere in the back. There was a big traffic jam too when some guy got his boat stuck in the sand road. While we were on the island we got to go sand boarding which was so much fun, but I have never gotten more sand on and in my body. You just lay on the little plank of wood and the tour guide pushed us and you slide on your belly face first down the hill. You get going pretty fast and it is so much fun! the not so fun part is walking back up the hill...sand is hard enough to walk in when it is flat! After sand boarding we drove along the beach for a while until we got our lunch spot. While the guides set everything up t eat we went to the fresh water lagoon in the middle of the island for a quick swim. Here is where we really got to meet some of the other girls on our tour. Hannah from London, and Kelsey from Oregon hung out with us the rest of the day and were so much fun to talk to. We went to see the lighthouse on the island after lunch and took a bunch of pictures. the views were simply breathtaking.
That night we went out on the town with Hannah. We went to a place one of the tour guides suggested to us. there was a live band that played really good covers and after he finished we went upstairs which was set up more like a club. here we danced for a while. It was a perfect night and a great recommendation for a place to go. The next morning after breakfast Emily and I made our way by train to Surfers Paradise which is in The Gold Coast. It is a very touristy place. It seemed almost like Miami. We got there rather late in the day but our hostel had a kitchen so Em and I decided to walk around for a bit and go grocery shopping. That night we did an amazing club tour of the city. Seeing as Surfers is like Miami it seems that the big thing to do there is go to the beach by day and clubs by night. The tour was $35 but that included VIP entrance to 4 clubs as well as a drink in each club. You will notice a trend here because my favorite club was the one with the live band. I love live music. I wish that was the last club we went to so we could have stayed there all night! The tour was also fun because it was with the people who were staying in our hostel. Emily and I met girls from all over the world. We spent most of the night with 2 girls from Austria and a girl from Sweden. I wish we had spent more time with them because they were a lot of fun to be around and it is very cool meeting people from all over the world.
The following day Emily and were on the beach from 10am until 4pm. It's a hard life I live. This was really our last day of vacation so we decided to end it by going out to a nice dinner. Down the road from us was this cute Thai restaurant. It was some of the best Thai food I have ever had. The restaurant also had a lot of decorations that gave a really nice atmosphere while showing off Thailand's culture.
The next day was really a travel day. We took a train back to Brisbane and then flew back to Melbourne. This put an end to one of the best vacations I have ever been on. I saw so many amazing, beautiful sights and had a lot of fun with some new people. I really recommend that everyone come to Australia at some point in your life. make sure you see The Great Barrier Reef, go on a rainforest tour (with On the Wallaby tour guides!!!) and visit one of the sand islands! I promise I will write again soon to tell of the adventures I had while Billy was here visiting me!
The month started off with my 10 day trip along the East Coast of Australia...I guess no matter what country I am in, I'm an East Coast kinda gal. I started the trip with 3 other friends- Laura, Emily, and Shannon. The group got smaller with every city I went to. The four of us started off in Cairns (pronounced cans) which is where we went to see The Great Barrier Reef! We got there the Saturday before Easter. It was pretty rainy but we made the best of it anyways. Easter Sunday we went out for a really nice brunch/ lunch. I had the best meal I may have ever had in my entire life. It was very thinly sliced steak with ham and cheese wrapped up in it, served over mashed potatoes with gravy. I inhaled that meal. The rest of the day was spent watching movies because we could not move after the large sum of food we all ate.
The following day was our big trip to find Nemo in the Reef! We took a boat out about an hour an a half until we were out far enough that we were out of the rain and the reef was beneath us. My friends and I decided scuba diving was the way to go instead of just snorkeling. It was so interesting to be under water for 30 minutes! Needless to say after being under water for that long I was craving some real fresh air! While we were under water we saw so many beautiful fish! Plus the reef itself was so cool to look at. It looks just like the movies! It was a little cloudy so maybe it would have been a bit brighter, but hopefully the weather will be better when I go back someday...also I hope to see a sea turtle next time too. I was disappointed we did not see one when we were there =[
Tuesday was another long adventurous day. We spent the entire day on a rainforest tour. It rained the whole time. Yes I know we were in a rainforest but still I wish it had a rained a little less! It is so cool how diverse all of the land is here. One minute you are riding along the ocean and the next you are in a thick rainforest that is fully of plants and...creatures. All our tour guide told us about in the first hour seemed to be plants that could hurt you and how in Cairns they ONLY have 6 of the 10 deadliest snakes in the world. Only. Not to mention all those spiders. Ugh. Luck for us we did not see any snakes! I was very pleased about that. We saw a lot of really cool trees, plants, and flowers. We also went hiking by some beautiful waterfalls. We saw in one fall called Milla Milla ( I may have spelt that wrong). It was so scary swimming under it, the water was coming down so hard, but it was so much fun. We stopped at some crater lakes and the guide explained how they were formed which I of course do not remember...oops. I guess I should have paid a little ore attention instead of taking a million photos. But I still think the best part of this tour was the tour guide himself. He was so funny and honestly what I pictured, stereotypically, an Australian to be like. He did not really wear shoes most of the time. He didn't have a watch and really did not care about time. He had a thick accent and an awesome sense of humor. He really made the tour way more fun than it could have been.
Our last day in Cairns brought sunshine and hot weather. We spent most of the day hanging out by the lagoon. Lagoons are pretty popular here. They have one in Brisbane as well, we spent a long time the following day at the Brisbane lagoon. It is just a in-ground pool really that has sand in it. The one in Cairns was salt water- it is like swimming in the ocean without having to worry about sharks or jellyfish! It was fantastic. Later that day Emily, Laura, and I caught the plane to Brisbane and had an early night before heading out to the Brisbane lagoon. We spent most of our first day there and walking around exploring the city. It was another early night for us though because we were waking up early for our trip to Morton Island!!!
Morton Island may have been my favorite part of our Easter Holiday. OK so it was all my favorite, but Morton Island was amazing. It is a sand island right off the coast of Brisbane. We had another awesome tour guide- and man tour guides have the greatest life ever. We took a ferry to the island and then while on the island we had our awesome 4WD truck. There are no paved road on the island. It was off-roading the entire time! So much fun- we were bouncing around everywhere in the back. There was a big traffic jam too when some guy got his boat stuck in the sand road. While we were on the island we got to go sand boarding which was so much fun, but I have never gotten more sand on and in my body. You just lay on the little plank of wood and the tour guide pushed us and you slide on your belly face first down the hill. You get going pretty fast and it is so much fun! the not so fun part is walking back up the hill...sand is hard enough to walk in when it is flat! After sand boarding we drove along the beach for a while until we got our lunch spot. While the guides set everything up t eat we went to the fresh water lagoon in the middle of the island for a quick swim. Here is where we really got to meet some of the other girls on our tour. Hannah from London, and Kelsey from Oregon hung out with us the rest of the day and were so much fun to talk to. We went to see the lighthouse on the island after lunch and took a bunch of pictures. the views were simply breathtaking.
That night we went out on the town with Hannah. We went to a place one of the tour guides suggested to us. there was a live band that played really good covers and after he finished we went upstairs which was set up more like a club. here we danced for a while. It was a perfect night and a great recommendation for a place to go. The next morning after breakfast Emily and I made our way by train to Surfers Paradise which is in The Gold Coast. It is a very touristy place. It seemed almost like Miami. We got there rather late in the day but our hostel had a kitchen so Em and I decided to walk around for a bit and go grocery shopping. That night we did an amazing club tour of the city. Seeing as Surfers is like Miami it seems that the big thing to do there is go to the beach by day and clubs by night. The tour was $35 but that included VIP entrance to 4 clubs as well as a drink in each club. You will notice a trend here because my favorite club was the one with the live band. I love live music. I wish that was the last club we went to so we could have stayed there all night! The tour was also fun because it was with the people who were staying in our hostel. Emily and I met girls from all over the world. We spent most of the night with 2 girls from Austria and a girl from Sweden. I wish we had spent more time with them because they were a lot of fun to be around and it is very cool meeting people from all over the world.
The following day Emily and were on the beach from 10am until 4pm. It's a hard life I live. This was really our last day of vacation so we decided to end it by going out to a nice dinner. Down the road from us was this cute Thai restaurant. It was some of the best Thai food I have ever had. The restaurant also had a lot of decorations that gave a really nice atmosphere while showing off Thailand's culture.
The next day was really a travel day. We took a train back to Brisbane and then flew back to Melbourne. This put an end to one of the best vacations I have ever been on. I saw so many amazing, beautiful sights and had a lot of fun with some new people. I really recommend that everyone come to Australia at some point in your life. make sure you see The Great Barrier Reef, go on a rainforest tour (with On the Wallaby tour guides!!!) and visit one of the sand islands! I promise I will write again soon to tell of the adventures I had while Billy was here visiting me!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
I live in Australia...
So I know it has been a while. I am sorry but I have been a little busy lately with school and exploring the city. Two weekends ago, March 13th and 14th, we took another little road trip to The Grampians National Park which is North West of Melbourne. It was about a 3 hour car ride. I am pretty sure it was the best camping trip of my life. The most serious night of camping I have ever done. The first night was fake camping because we stayed on camping grounds. For the next night we decided that we wanted to be real campers and sleep in the bush, yes the bush, it's not called woods here. Come to think of it neither of those names make sense you can find wood in the woods and bushes in the bush but there are lots of other things too. I vote for renaming them. I will come up with something later- I am not feeling all to creative right now. Anyways Saturday morning we woke up from our first night of fake camping and set out for our first day of hiking. This really turned out to be out first day of rock climbing- who needs a trail?! We started off on a trail to see the Venus Baths which was a natural creek that had red water (it looked rusty). Then from there we were going to take a trail to the Pinnacle look-out; however, we ended up on a little detour. We started climbing up these rocks a bit and it didn't look like it was too far to the top- about an hour maybe hour and a half later maybe two hours- who knows I wasn't paying attention (we were rushing up because of the excitement and adrenaline) we ended up at the top. It was absolutely gorgeous. The view went on for miles. There was everything within site. The small town -Halls Gap- where we had camped the previous night, a lake, mountains upon mountains, and of course some dessert looking spots. We ended up hanging out on top of the world for a while. Luckily we found the trail to the pinnacle was right by us, not that far down. we had basically just climbed over the mountain rather than taking the trail around the mountain. It was great.
The hike from where we got on the trail to the top was not as exciting as climbing up the rocks but again, the view was phenomenal. We sat for a while at the top to take a break but some of us were anxious to get back down and have something to drink and rest a little. It was a long hike down- we must have hiked over 13 miles total. But once we got to the bottom it felt great to sit in the shade. We could not sit too long because we needed to go find a place to camp before it got dark. We gathered all of our stuff from the car and set out back up the mountain to find a campsite. After about 20 minutes of walking my friend Kevin and I split from the group to look in one spot for a site. The spot Kevin had been thinking of was not flat enough so we just started sprinting up the mountain and off the trail until we found the PERFECT spot. Once we got the whole group there we set up camp. This ended up being one of the most epic nights. We just sat around a flashlight (no camp fires allowed!) and talked for a while. Then we turned the flashlight off...I do not think I have ever, no actually I know I have never seen that many stars. It was so beautiful. Some of our crew had gone off to bed so it was just me, my roommate, her boy Hugh, and the Frenchman David. laying under that stars listening to Supertramp, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd while drinking some wine. It was such an incredible experience. I was the Southern Cross! I loved it.
The following morning we walked back down to the cars and headed back to Melbourne. It was the end to yet another amazing weekend.
This past weekend we stayed in Melbourne. I have been exploring the city much more and I really love it. Did you know more people live in the suburbs of NYC than in all of Australia? 24 million people in the suburbs and 22 million people live in all of Australia. So to say the least this is not a crowded city. I love walking around especially down by the Yarra River. I will post another entry soon (I promise) about my adventures in the city. I need to get some school work done now- time is flying only 8 days until Easter Break and mid-terms are right after and some before!
Cheers
The hike from where we got on the trail to the top was not as exciting as climbing up the rocks but again, the view was phenomenal. We sat for a while at the top to take a break but some of us were anxious to get back down and have something to drink and rest a little. It was a long hike down- we must have hiked over 13 miles total. But once we got to the bottom it felt great to sit in the shade. We could not sit too long because we needed to go find a place to camp before it got dark. We gathered all of our stuff from the car and set out back up the mountain to find a campsite. After about 20 minutes of walking my friend Kevin and I split from the group to look in one spot for a site. The spot Kevin had been thinking of was not flat enough so we just started sprinting up the mountain and off the trail until we found the PERFECT spot. Once we got the whole group there we set up camp. This ended up being one of the most epic nights. We just sat around a flashlight (no camp fires allowed!) and talked for a while. Then we turned the flashlight off...I do not think I have ever, no actually I know I have never seen that many stars. It was so beautiful. Some of our crew had gone off to bed so it was just me, my roommate, her boy Hugh, and the Frenchman David. laying under that stars listening to Supertramp, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd while drinking some wine. It was such an incredible experience. I was the Southern Cross! I loved it.
The following morning we walked back down to the cars and headed back to Melbourne. It was the end to yet another amazing weekend.
This past weekend we stayed in Melbourne. I have been exploring the city much more and I really love it. Did you know more people live in the suburbs of NYC than in all of Australia? 24 million people in the suburbs and 22 million people live in all of Australia. So to say the least this is not a crowded city. I love walking around especially down by the Yarra River. I will post another entry soon (I promise) about my adventures in the city. I need to get some school work done now- time is flying only 8 days until Easter Break and mid-terms are right after and some before!
Cheers
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Folkie!
This past weekend I did another mini trip to Port Fairy. Port Fairy is my rommate, Libby's, home town. We left by train on Friday night. All I think about when I am on trains is The Polar Express. Next year I want to take that train! Although both of these train rides did have one thing in common...they both go to amazing places.
Port Fairy is a very cute small town. Libby's house, which is her second home, is about a five minute walk to the beach and a 15-20 minute walk into town. In town this weekend there was a huge festival called Folkie. Folkie is a big annual folk festival. The tickets to get into the main event cost over $100. I forget the exact amount but too much for me. There were two stages set up around the tow that had free music not to mention a whole bunch of markets set up selling all sorts of fun stuff. I bought plenty of souvineers this weekend for myself and my friends and family. For myself I bought this beautiful saronge which is like a tapestry but you can wrap it around like a skirt but what's cool is I can wear it to the beach an then use it as a blanket to lay on =]
By the way this big folk festival could also be seen as a big hippie festival. My Ithaca girls would have loved it so much and I wish I could bring them all to it sometime. The smell of hemp was everywhere as well as tons of "hippie" clothing. Plus the music was very good and I enjoyed listening to it. I had a great weekend with some great people and am looking forward to another great weekend coming up; I am going camping in the Grampians National Park.
So now about that whole study thing...My classes started last week. They are not as bad as I thought they would be. Business Finance will be rough but I have plenty of time during the week to study. Australia Now is a very interesting class. So far we have done a very brief introduction to Australian History. In our second lecture we watched a video on Gallipoli. Sport and Education in Australian Society is probably the most interesting course I am taking. We have covered some basic things about sport that I have heard before at Ithaca. Tomorrow we are going on a tour of the Melbourne Cricket Grounds with the class. We have a couple other field trips planned- like going surfing and to the surf museum! That is the best class. The last class that i am taking is Managing and leading in Organisations. NOT organizations. Yes they spell things differently here. That seems like an interesting enough course and not so difficult. overall I am happy with my courses here. The lectures for all of my classes are huge. Business Finance and my management course both have around 200 people in them. For all of my classes except the sport one we have a tutorial session that meets once a week with about 15-20 people in them. This is where you ask your questions and what not. The class size does not bother me at all in lecture. I like the school here. For a really large school it does not feel that big. I do feel a bit weird not having a million things to do outside of class. I have been going to the gym often and taking classes which are so much more fun than normal work-outs.
So that is all for now- sorry for the rather dry entry but I am a bit rushed at the moment. I miss and love all my friends and family =]
Cheers.
Port Fairy is a very cute small town. Libby's house, which is her second home, is about a five minute walk to the beach and a 15-20 minute walk into town. In town this weekend there was a huge festival called Folkie. Folkie is a big annual folk festival. The tickets to get into the main event cost over $100. I forget the exact amount but too much for me. There were two stages set up around the tow that had free music not to mention a whole bunch of markets set up selling all sorts of fun stuff. I bought plenty of souvineers this weekend for myself and my friends and family. For myself I bought this beautiful saronge which is like a tapestry but you can wrap it around like a skirt but what's cool is I can wear it to the beach an then use it as a blanket to lay on =]
By the way this big folk festival could also be seen as a big hippie festival. My Ithaca girls would have loved it so much and I wish I could bring them all to it sometime. The smell of hemp was everywhere as well as tons of "hippie" clothing. Plus the music was very good and I enjoyed listening to it. I had a great weekend with some great people and am looking forward to another great weekend coming up; I am going camping in the Grampians National Park.
So now about that whole study thing...My classes started last week. They are not as bad as I thought they would be. Business Finance will be rough but I have plenty of time during the week to study. Australia Now is a very interesting class. So far we have done a very brief introduction to Australian History. In our second lecture we watched a video on Gallipoli. Sport and Education in Australian Society is probably the most interesting course I am taking. We have covered some basic things about sport that I have heard before at Ithaca. Tomorrow we are going on a tour of the Melbourne Cricket Grounds with the class. We have a couple other field trips planned- like going surfing and to the surf museum! That is the best class. The last class that i am taking is Managing and leading in Organisations. NOT organizations. Yes they spell things differently here. That seems like an interesting enough course and not so difficult. overall I am happy with my courses here. The lectures for all of my classes are huge. Business Finance and my management course both have around 200 people in them. For all of my classes except the sport one we have a tutorial session that meets once a week with about 15-20 people in them. This is where you ask your questions and what not. The class size does not bother me at all in lecture. I like the school here. For a really large school it does not feel that big. I do feel a bit weird not having a million things to do outside of class. I have been going to the gym often and taking classes which are so much more fun than normal work-outs.
So that is all for now- sorry for the rather dry entry but I am a bit rushed at the moment. I miss and love all my friends and family =]
Cheers.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
The most epic road trip EVER.
On Sunday night I arrived back at RMIT village at about 10pm. I exhausted yet the excitement that was still coursing through my body would not let me sleep. I had just gotten back from probably the best day of my life.
It all started at 9AM Saturday. Chelsea, Emily, and I woke up ready to go on a roadtrip which our friend Kevin had planned. We didn't see anyone outside yet so we waited. Finally our friend Hugh, who was also going on the trip, came up to us and told us it would be another hour. Another hour later we found out we were going to have to wait longer. So we did for a little. Then we found out it was going to be even longer. I was starting to get a feeling that the lack of planning may effect the trip and I have to say I was having my doubts. Regardless of what the boys were saying ("they will be here in another hour, just one more hour...) Em, Chels, and I went to the grocery store.
So with 6 people in each car, a bow of whine, some gummies, and a box of snack-o's later we were ready to go! We hit yet another bump on the way when we got pulled over for having too many people in the car. No worries mate we waited at the McDonalds down the road while 2 people went to the train station to go back home. It was a little frustrating but on the bright side the car was much more comfortable. So we continued our journey to Anthony (one of the drivers) house. We were spending the night there before heading back the following day on The Great Ocean Road. When we got to his house his "mum" was there and she had bought food! We were not expecting the elaborate dinner which she had made. We had a barbie, because that's what Aussies do. It was great to be in a house again. We sat around the table talking for a while. Anthony's mom made us all taste Vegemite. Vegemite is some Australian paste-like thing that they put on toast, usually with butter. It tastes like salt and yeast. They love it so much but I just do NOT get it. I will be bringing some home for anyone who is interested in tasting it.
We woke up the following morning refreshed and ready to go. I had no idea what we were in store for. Our car had Anthony, Hugh, Emily, Chels, and me in it. It was an excellent car ride just because the people were so much fun to be around. We embarked on a 13 hour road trip which involved many stops. The first stop we made was at a beach in Warrnambool which is the town Anthony is from. It was exciting because a triathalon was starting while we were there. Besides the excitement of the race, the views were amazing! There were rocks all around the ocean and we, OK mainly me, climbed all over them. It was so much fun! From there we headed off to the best part of the entire trip (in my mind). We went to Cudgee which is kind of like an animal conservation farm. We held koalas!!!!
It was amazing. They are so soft and cute. They have very sharp claws though so you must be careful. We had to hold the koala on a blanket so it didn't get us. The baby koala was happy as long as he had his drugs ;) He sat and ate leaves the whole time while we took turns holding him and taking millions of pictures. Another really cute animal was following us all around while we were looking at the other animals. A baby kangaroo! This kangaroo was almost like a dog or a cat. he loved to be pet and hopped behind us everywhere we went. I loved petting him. He liked to bite my hair! I really wanted to take him home with me. It was awesome. There were also some monkeys there who seemed really nice. One monkey spotted a bird on top of his cage and moved quicker than I knew a monkey could. Before you knew it he had caught the bird and was eating it! It was kind of gross but cool at the same time. I did not know monkeys could hunt like that.
So the next stop on our journey was at London Bridge.
It used to all be connected but then the middle part fell down. It made me think of the song "London Bride is falling down, falling down...". It was really beautiful to see. The water was way bluer than I thought it would be too. It really was gorgeous even though the sun was not out while we were there it didn't even matter. The cliffs just come to an end where the water begins. It seems to be the end of the world which it kind of is seeing as there is not much south until you hit the south pole. very cool experience. From here we drove about 2 minutes down the road and stopped at another look-out point but I do not remember what the name of it was. here is a picture of that:
After looking at the beautiful rocks for a while, they were just amazing to see I couldn't get enough of them, we attempted to get to a canopy walk in the rainforest before it closed. I loved how we were driving down the coast and then all of the sudden we were in the rainforest! It was awesome. Well their rainforest is not exactly what I would picture a rainforest but it was way awesome anyways. The canopy walk ended up being kind of expensive so we just kept driving around on a winding road through the forest. eventually we stopped and climbed around for a while in the trees. It was so much fun. I took a million more pictures. From there we drove to yet another beach to take more pictures. I will find out the names of these beaches at some point! We headed off to another beach and on the way I saw a million views. We were driving right next to the ocean it was really great to see the coast. It is nothing like the East Coast of America that's for sure. We finally got to the last town/ beach. Some of the group wanted to go to dinner but I was not hungry along with Kevin, David (from Paris!) and Laura, so we decided to swim in the ocean while the others ate. It was freezing out but I had so much fun. Once we were in the water it wasn't that bad but when we got out it was very cold yet again.
That was our last stop which was sad =[ it had been a long exciting day though and I was tired. We headed back to RMIT so we could get a good nights sleep before our first week of classes. I will write again soon about classes but for now that is all. I know I tried to put into words the most amazing day of my life. I doubt that I explained it that well compared to how awesome it truly was. Anyways thanks for reading and I will write again soon!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Getting Settled
How are you going? aka how are you doing....no one cares where you are going.
It is weird how I have only been here for 15 days yet I feel like I have been here forever. I have to say I am quite comfortable in Melbourne.
Classes are going to start Monday, finally, it seems like I haven't been in school for months! Oh wait, I really have not gone to school for months! It is going to be interesting getting back into the swing of things. My class schedule is not too bad. I was hoping for a day off either Monday or Friday so I could do some long weekend trips but that did not happen. Monday I have class from 9-11AM, Tuesday from 4-7PM, Wednesday from 9-12PM, Thursday from 4-5PM, and Friday from 11-1PM. I am taking Sport and Education in Australian Society, Business Finance, Australia now (which is only open to international students) and Management and Leadership in Organizations. Business Finance should be the only one that is hard, or so my advisor says. I have to say I am still not looking forward to the study part of study abroad.
So on Sunday we went to the beach as planned. St. Kilda is a very busy, but very nice beach. They had a ton of little tents set up selling all sorts of handcrafted goods. I gave in and bought a leather bracelet but I love it so much. We walked around the town a little bit looking for a good spot to eat lunch that my friend Chelsea wanted to take us to called "Lentil as Anything". It is such a cool little hippie restaurant. My Ithaca ladies would love it. All of the food is vegetarian and the coolest part is that you pay what you think your meal was worth. I only had $5 on me but I wish I could have left more. Oddly enough going to the restaurant I was all excited because I was going to be able to eat lunch with the only cash I had on me, but when it actually came time to pay I felt bad that I did not have more to leave them. It was one of the best meals I have had in Australia so far. I had vegetables with a sweet curry sauce on them. It came with some rice on the side and some yogurt. I was skeptical about eating it at first, I like steak and potatoes, but it was delicious. All of the food there was great and I really hope I get to go back again. Also I hope I can leave more money. It is such a cool concept and I really want to support it.
Most of this week has been picking classes and orientation type stuff. The orientations have, for the most part, been fun and helpful. I got a ton of free stuff at a "carnival" which was basically a trade-show. Our village also had a few comedians here one night which was so much fun. It was funny to hear/ watch their sense of humor because it is different from the American population as a whole. It is hard to get used to but they make fun of people all the time so if you ever come to Australia and someone makes fun of you supposedly it means they like you. Kind of like when you are 5 and a boy pushes you on the playground but the adults tell you it is because they "have a crush on you". Never understood that one. Moving on....I joined the gym here and have been going a lot. There are so many cool classes to take so that should be fun. In Ithaca sometimes I hate working out because I work at the gym so it is nice to only be at the fitness center when I want to be! Oh and a very exciting thing actually happened this week- I went on my first pub crawl! It was really fun and we had a tight and bright theme so everyone was dressed up in funky outfits. Today I had the best iced coffee in my life. Iced coffee in Australia means coffee with ice cream in it! Who knew?! It was delicious and I will be going back. There is a road that has lots of Italians cafes and restaurants. the one we went to has so many desserts. After lent I am going to try everything there! Tomorrow night we have a superhero party, I will be dressing as Catwoman. I have been getting a lot of opportunities to meet people who live in the village which is great. It is looking like it is going to be a very fun and exciting semester! My friend Emily and I have started planning our spring break journey. We are going to fly to Cairnes (pronounced "cans" by Australians) to see The Great Barrier Reef and go to some beaches. From Cairnes we are going to fly to Brisbane and meet up with two of our other friends for a few days before coming back to Melbourne. It will be a 10 days trip and should be a lot of fun! I am also trying to plan a long weekend in Sydney- maybe mid March? We shall see and I will keep you all updated. Whoever you all are reading this...
I think it is my bedtime now. Have a good night or umm good day? Love and miss you all!
Bags = our version of shotgun
Time table = Schedule (I made my time table for my classes)
Also they say keen and heaps all of the time here. Same meaning as in the US but you don't hear that said very often back in the States.
It is weird how I have only been here for 15 days yet I feel like I have been here forever. I have to say I am quite comfortable in Melbourne.
Classes are going to start Monday, finally, it seems like I haven't been in school for months! Oh wait, I really have not gone to school for months! It is going to be interesting getting back into the swing of things. My class schedule is not too bad. I was hoping for a day off either Monday or Friday so I could do some long weekend trips but that did not happen. Monday I have class from 9-11AM, Tuesday from 4-7PM, Wednesday from 9-12PM, Thursday from 4-5PM, and Friday from 11-1PM. I am taking Sport and Education in Australian Society, Business Finance, Australia now (which is only open to international students) and Management and Leadership in Organizations. Business Finance should be the only one that is hard, or so my advisor says. I have to say I am still not looking forward to the study part of study abroad.
So on Sunday we went to the beach as planned. St. Kilda is a very busy, but very nice beach. They had a ton of little tents set up selling all sorts of handcrafted goods. I gave in and bought a leather bracelet but I love it so much. We walked around the town a little bit looking for a good spot to eat lunch that my friend Chelsea wanted to take us to called "Lentil as Anything". It is such a cool little hippie restaurant. My Ithaca ladies would love it. All of the food is vegetarian and the coolest part is that you pay what you think your meal was worth. I only had $5 on me but I wish I could have left more. Oddly enough going to the restaurant I was all excited because I was going to be able to eat lunch with the only cash I had on me, but when it actually came time to pay I felt bad that I did not have more to leave them. It was one of the best meals I have had in Australia so far. I had vegetables with a sweet curry sauce on them. It came with some rice on the side and some yogurt. I was skeptical about eating it at first, I like steak and potatoes, but it was delicious. All of the food there was great and I really hope I get to go back again. Also I hope I can leave more money. It is such a cool concept and I really want to support it.
Most of this week has been picking classes and orientation type stuff. The orientations have, for the most part, been fun and helpful. I got a ton of free stuff at a "carnival" which was basically a trade-show. Our village also had a few comedians here one night which was so much fun. It was funny to hear/ watch their sense of humor because it is different from the American population as a whole. It is hard to get used to but they make fun of people all the time so if you ever come to Australia and someone makes fun of you supposedly it means they like you. Kind of like when you are 5 and a boy pushes you on the playground but the adults tell you it is because they "have a crush on you". Never understood that one. Moving on....I joined the gym here and have been going a lot. There are so many cool classes to take so that should be fun. In Ithaca sometimes I hate working out because I work at the gym so it is nice to only be at the fitness center when I want to be! Oh and a very exciting thing actually happened this week- I went on my first pub crawl! It was really fun and we had a tight and bright theme so everyone was dressed up in funky outfits. Today I had the best iced coffee in my life. Iced coffee in Australia means coffee with ice cream in it! Who knew?! It was delicious and I will be going back. There is a road that has lots of Italians cafes and restaurants. the one we went to has so many desserts. After lent I am going to try everything there! Tomorrow night we have a superhero party, I will be dressing as Catwoman. I have been getting a lot of opportunities to meet people who live in the village which is great. It is looking like it is going to be a very fun and exciting semester! My friend Emily and I have started planning our spring break journey. We are going to fly to Cairnes (pronounced "cans" by Australians) to see The Great Barrier Reef and go to some beaches. From Cairnes we are going to fly to Brisbane and meet up with two of our other friends for a few days before coming back to Melbourne. It will be a 10 days trip and should be a lot of fun! I am also trying to plan a long weekend in Sydney- maybe mid March? We shall see and I will keep you all updated. Whoever you all are reading this...
I think it is my bedtime now. Have a good night or umm good day? Love and miss you all!
Bags = our version of shotgun
Time table = Schedule (I made my time table for my classes)
Also they say keen and heaps all of the time here. Same meaning as in the US but you don't hear that said very often back in the States.
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