I started classes this week finally.. I think they are going to be pretty easy compared to some classes i've been taking back home. We'll see though, i've only had one day of them!

I had my first encounter today, in my bedroom, with a huge spider. I still am questioning how it got into my room because it is cement walls and it was too big to even crawl through the top...


It was so disgusting. It's dead now, that's all that matters.

Last night, a couple girls and I made burritos for dinner! I have been craving Chipotle aleady, it's hard not to, so it was the closest thing we could do. They were delicious! It was nice actually eating a real meal instead of having a couple potatoes for dinner, or even butter noodles.

Australia is finally feeling more like "home"...
It's still hard adjusting to food and places, but I think i'm getting used to their way of life here.

I was so happy I was able to sleep in on Sunday and have just a care free relaxing day. I was planning on lounging by the pool all day but of course it decided to rain. It helped with the heat, but I was a little disappointed. It was funny because last night all of us girls were starving and we had planned to watch a movie. We just sat there naming off all the incredible foods we have back home and what sounded amazing and we finally came up with NACHOS!! Out of our hunger, and boredom, we decided to quickly call a taxi and head down to the shops before they closed. We did some quick grocery shopping and made it back within a half hour. It was pretty impressing. So we made some GREAT nachos. So delicious. The meat was a little questionable at first but it grew on me. Then we watched the movie "Taken". Such a good movie!!

I just wrote a long blog post, then it got deleted somehow. Thanks internet, you're absolutely terrible here.

But yes, today *Saturday, February 20th* We went to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary which was on the Gold Coast, and also by Surfers Paradise where we are headed to next weekend! I can't wait! When we first walked into the sanctuary, all you could see were millions of tiny, loud, and colorful birds. The worker gave us all a little plate full of milk type liquid to hold and all the birds would just swarm to your plate. They landed all over my plate, arms, and even landed on my head. I was so scared at first because their claws are not the nicest thing you want on your head. But after a while it was really awesome to see all these birds flying everywhere landing wherever they wanted. It was definitely a good entrance to the sanctuary.
We then got to get our pictures taken with a koala and also a crocodile! Brooke got her picture with a koala since I had already done so in Cairns, but it was so adorable! He was a tiny one. The crocodile was just a baby one too. They had his mouth tapped shut so it wasn't anything to exciting!

We ate a "beef burger" for lunch. I believe that they put on way to many random toppings here. You don't really get the choice. It was a hamburger with bacon, beets, lettuce, tomato, bbq type sauce, and who knows what else. Let's just say I took off almost all the topics and stuck with the normal ketchup. The fries were good at least! I have yet to find something that I absolutely love to eat here. I do love the cheese though..

Anyway we also got to get our pictures with a lot of different animals. We got one with a huge eagle, and also a baby possum type creature. They gave us too much time at the sanctuary. All of us were ready to leave after a couple hours since we had seen everything. Luckily the bus was a half hour early so we could get out of that place!

The bus ride back to campus was very.. interesting. The bus driver was trying to make us laugh by playing the dumbest music. He played songs that the message was "don't come to australia because you'll get killed by a deadly animal!" or comedy skits. It was super annoying, and very awkward. Everyone was ready to get off that bus that's for sure!

Well, that's all I got for now! Talk to you soon!

Here is a picture showing our "costumes" for the alien party... I thought we did a pretty decent job considering we are thousands of miles from home :) haha


Today was a pretty relaxing day. I just woke up, talked to the parents, then tried to figure out plans for our two big trips coming up next weekend! I can't wait! This afternoon we went to the pool party that was at the local "bath" in Lismore. It was pretty fun, there was one big prize you could win if you made it on the floating obstacle course and actually made it through with a decent time. Kirstin was one of the runner ups! She lost by half a second. I wish I was joking! She could have one a free trip somewhere.. but of course an Australian had to win. :/ but GOOD JOB ANYWAY KIRST!! Now i'm just kind of sitting around, wanting to go explore around campus some more. We might just stay in and watch a movie tonight because we have to go to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary tomorrow at eight am! Well, that's all I got for now! Miss you all.

Yesterday (Wednesday night) was the alien theme party at the unibar. At first I was laughing at whoever came up with the theme as to dress up as aliens.. but after a while it was actually a lot of fun. We all went into town yesterday to try and find aluminum foil and outfits to wear. But the fun all started when we waited for the shuttle for almost two hours, which never came, and then started walking down the gigantic, long hill to get into town. Luckily, our Australian friend Sam drove by and we hitched a ride with him. It was not the best start to the day but that's okay!

So i'm finding it easier to walk into second hand stores now. Like a Goodwill back home, but they are called different names here. I've been having to buy pots and dishes from them because I didn't want to waste money on them by going to big stores and getting brand new things and leaving them in Australia. But I don't get AS grossed out when I walk into them as I used to. It's still really dirty though. We ended up buying some neon green face paint and aluminum foil. Nothing to exciting but didn't want to waste the money on an alien outfit we'd wear once.

I think almost everyday i've been in Lismore, we have ended up at the mall.

The unibar was really fun. Everyone just looked ridiculous in their costumes, and kind of let loose for the night. It was fun meeting new people and just having a good time for once. I haven't felt that stressed out lately which I love. I kind of just go with the flow of things here. That's all you really can do when they have such a laid back style.

It was funny because Brooke and I wanted to leave and we didn't want to walk up the TORTURIOUS hill back up to Orion. So we paid $11 just for a cab ride up it. How lazy are we :)

I've been in Australia for two weeks now, and i'm just about getting used to the culture and just being here. This week we had orientation, which was extremely boring except for when I won a goody bag at the trivia game, and also the HEAPS of free food. I'm excited because we are planning our first getaway to Surfer's Paradise next week for fun and also celebrating Kirstin's 21st birthday! It's a higher class area of Australia and has amazing beaches. I hear it's got great night life! I can't wait to get out and travel Australia! Then a couple weeks after that Eddy and Duane are coming to start an adventure in Sydney! This should be a great next month!

I'm also really missing the food and pop back home. Here, pop is not cheap. I have yet to see Dr. Pepper. How depressing for me. And we also made spaghetti last night, it did not taste good at all. The sauce was not anything like back home. It will take sometime getting used to the food changes. Everything just tastes...fishy.

There was a man at the shopping mall yesterday with half an ear. I wish I was kidding

Oh yes, Brooke, Kirstin, and I went to the mall the other day and we were starving so we got some McDonalds of course. The normal size for them is a happy meal size. I couldn't believe it! And a medium was a small American size! Their fountain pop tastes so disgusting. Be glad that you live in the United States just to have amazing fountain pop. Brooke's tasted like she was drinking straight alcohol but it was supposed to be diet coke. Not only was the pop gross, the french fries were fried in some random oil, which made them taste like fish. So gross. It was an interesting stop at MAKKYS *as they call it* that's for sure.

Another weird thing about this place is that every time you leave a store for the most part, they check your purse and your bags. I thought this was weird considering we only do that if we work at retail stores *SOMETIMES* I guess it's a good thing they can prevent all the stealing and theft that happens here.

Even though Australians speak English, everything here is different than back home. Their culture is so laid back, and they are in no rush to do anything. I'm so used to working two jobs, school full time, never have time for a social life, and this is just a whole new world over here. It's really hard getting used to, but I know we'll respect it in the end of this trip.

Hey Everyone..Soo i'm beginning my second week here in Aussie.. For the most part, i'm absolutely loving it. The heat gets to be a little much at times, but it still beats living in Minnesota. Today we had orientation and it was a little overwhelming. So much information crammed into a few hours. I'm really mad about how they run their internet around here. First you have to pay to use the wireless in your dorms, and also it's run by how many megabites you use. They pretty much told us not to use skype and the video call to call back home. Only use the voice. That's just ridiculous. I already have a phone so sweet guess I can't be doing that or i'll have to pay more money for megabites. GRRRR! Wish that was a little easier since this is the main form of communication we got! The campus seems so confusing to get around right now. We were lost the entire time. But it's so small that I don't see how we could. I'm hoping things get better quickly. As of right now, I have all my roommates except one. Two Australians and three Americans so far. They seem really nice so that's a plus. We are started "O" week, or orientation week, and I guess everyone likes to party A LOT during this week. We'll see how it goes.

On Saturday night, Kirstin and I experienced our first legal bar experience. Mine was a treat. We took a cab to the club downtown, and I only had my international student card with me. I guess they don't like to use that as a form of I.D. What a great start to my night. So I had to take a cab all the way back up the hill to campus just to get my passport and drivers license to simply get into a club. I couldn't believe it. 20 extra dollars later, I got into the bar, and we just had one drink and were way to tired to do anything else. But it was really cool, they had a live band, and a night club upstairs! Lismore is a pretty small town so it was cool to see everyone just hanging out at the same place, and are super relaxed and talk to everyone.

First days in Lismore...

On Thursday, I finally flew back to Brisbane and took a three hour bus ride down to Lismore, the city in which i'm staying for the next four months. It really was nothing what I expected. The campus is on a hill, and our views from our dorms are incredible. Just tons of amazing scenery. Like everywhere in this country. My dorm has six people living in it, including me. The first night I was all alone so my friend Gretchen came and slept in the room next to me, because we were feeling a little homesick and scared for the new place where we would be living. I unpacked everything so it made my room feel more like home, but still it's not there yet. My bed is nothing like back home. It's a twin. With a little fleece blanket. But seriously I don't even use a blanket it's way to hott. There is no air conditioning either by the way. The first night here we just wandered around campus, meeting new people and the Australians. They are really fun people so i'm excited to see how this semester goes. I live in the biggest college (or dorms, they call them colleges here) that the campus has, it's called Orion. It has a swimming pool in the front that overlooks the amazing view of the mountain, and has a rec center with games and laundry room, etc. There is like 22 buildings for my college. It's crazy. But yet the campus is so incredibly small, I think only 4000 students. The second day here we just went downtown to shop at the second hands stores. Not my first pick, but money is too important now. I got a pot, plates, cups, spoons for only three dollars. Can't beat that. haha. We also had a huge bbq that the college put on for us. It was just a sausage with bread. AND COKE! yes pop! I was excited. Everyone here is very friendly and love meeting Americans. They think some of the things we say are just ridiculous. For instance, they don't understand what budging in line means. I encountered that today haha. Or they hate when Americans abbreviate everything like OMG or BRB! So it's going to be hard getting used to that's for sure. I was excited today because Brooke and Kirstin finally arrived! I was shopping in the grocery store at the mall and all of a sudden I see two girls that looked familiar and I look over and there they were! I dropped all my stuff and ran to them. I can't even begin to describe how happy I was to see some familiar faces, especially those two! I'm hoping this semester will be amazing for all of us and we'll have the time of our lives. Right now it's just really hard to comprehend that we are actually living in Australia, and getting the fact that we are homesick out of our heads. I miss everyone so much already, and i'm going to try my best to stay in contact with everyone back home. I need to get some sleep though, Good night!

Rainforestation

One of the first things we got to experience while in Cairns was the Rainforestation. It was like a huge zoo in a way like back home. First we got to hold one of the biggest snakes in Australia, and take a picture with it. For me, this was a huge deal because I absolutely hate snakes and do not want anything to do with them. But I figured I need to try everything while i'm here so I decided to hold it. Also, we had the privileged of getting our picture taking with a real koala bear. It was probably the cutest animal i've ever seen. When we held it, we had to hold its bottom because the koalas feel like they are falling off you if you don't and they will latch on real hard with their claws if you don't. Luckily, my picture the koala was actually looking at the camera, and it turned out amazing. It would hold onto you like a little baby. It didn't smell the greatest though I won't lie. After doing that, we got to feed and pet the kangaroos. They obviously were tamed, and were mostly female because they need to be in this zoo type location. A lot of the kangaroos had their babies in their pouches, and the baby roos would pop out every couple minutes to check out the humans. They were so little and cute. While feeding them the kangaroos would just hold on to your hand and eat so gently. They reminded me a lot like dogs. They would eat the food, lick your hand trying to find more, then sit back down and relax and love the fact that you were petting them. They didn't have any male kangaroos there because they grow to be big animals, and are much more aggressive in the wild. We also got to see a performance by an aboriginal group from Australia. This is what most regions of the country are about. Different diverse groups of people. They taught us how to throw a boomerang, and also how to throw spears. It was very interesting, but I think you had to be there and experience it to believe so. We also took a tour through the rain forest. They use the army duck vehicle from the world wars to get through the hills and water in the rain forest. The truck turned into a boat while driving. It was really cool. I mine as well mention the bus ride up to the rainforestation. It was up a really tall and huge mountain. It was probably the worst drive I have been on in a while. It is winding roads all the way up to the top. On top of that, they drive on the wrong side of the road, so that didn't help the situation any. It made me more dizzy and give me an even bigger headache. And yes, on top of that, the bus driver was driving really fast around these turns. It was not a pleasing ride at all that's for sure. So I started my day off feeling very sick to my stomach. But overall it was a great experience, the rain forest is an awesome place, everyone should see it at some point in time.

The Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef has absolutely been the highlight of my trip so far. We took a boat out two and a half hours into the middle of the ocean. Randomly, you see this tiny island just full of birds, sand, and some grass on the top. I never would have pictured the reef to be set up in the middle of the ocean, with a little island as the center piece. The boat dropped us off on shore and we got to snorkel out as far as the reef went. It was so incredible. The ocean water was a bright blue color that I have never seen before. I was used to seeing brown, dirty lake water back in the states. Everyone was in complete shock at how amazingly beautiful this really was. We snorkeled and also scuba dived all day and it never got old. There were tons of different fish and we also saw a sea turtle up close, and a couple stingray. The sharks that are out there in the reef are actually scared of humans, so we didn't get to see any up close. On the boat they also served us an entire buffet meal which was very good. All of the food here tastes a tiny bit different in some way or another. Everything from the bread, to beef tastes so different yet the same. It's hard to describe really unless you try it. Also, on the boat, there were tons of fish that would swim up on the side of the boat and pretty much circle it. Some of us started throwing bread crumbs over the side and the fish went crazy! It was like they have never ate anything before. It was so funny to watch because every time we threw a piece out, more fish would come. It was quite entertaining. We went to two different locations when we saw the Great Barrier Reef. One was the island as I talked about before, but the second location was literally in the center of the ocean. There was really no way of telling that it was part of the reef unless you were in control of the boat and actually knew. The water was still very blue, but you could tell that the water was a lot deeper. We then jumped out of the back of the boat and snorkeled in the middle of the huge ocean. It was amazing to look around and see nothing but water. The second location was even better than the first. The coral and everything was brighter and a lot bigger. I couldn't believe that it was actually in front of me. On the boat ride home, the scenery was also amazing. All you could see was mountains in the distance and the ocean surrounding it. I didn't stop looking for the whole two hour ride back. A bunch of us girls still say that we can't even believe we were just at the reef. It seriously doesn't feel that we just saw one of the seven wonders of the world.

I haven't been able to come onto the internet much in the pa st week, but so far Australia is simply everything I thought it would be.
On Thursday, I left for LA and I have never felt so sick in my entire life.. The thought of leaving family and friends really got to me, almost wanting not to go. I flew out of LAX to Brisbane, which was a 14 hour flight. *Believe me I don't remember how I passed the time at all* Took some sleepy time and passed out for a good half of the flight. It didn't seem real to me that I was in Australia until I got off the airplane, and a huge burst of humid and hot air came my way. I came from 10 degree weather to 98 and counting! After that flight I flew to Cairns and that's when all the fun started!