I haven't really had much to talk about lately on this blog. The days seem to be going by really slow all of a sudden. It's my second week of class and for some reason I am already sick of it. The only class I am excited for is Outdoor Education. We have a trip coming up in a week and a half. We are going to a place called Meebunn-bia, and we will be camping and hiking. All that fun stuff! That should be a good but interesting time as well. We have to carry our own huge backpacks all day while we travel and cook our own meals. It will be good to get away from Lismore again.
It's been raining every single day since we got back from Surfers Paradise. It's irritating because all we can really do is sit inside. And believe me, with no TV or homework, this place gets boring real quick. I've been wanting to get out and go for a run or something but I don't feel like getting all muddy from the rain.
On Friday, Brooke and I are heading out on the train to Sydney to meet Eddy and Duane. Very excited for that. Our train ride is 12 1/2 hours though, so it's going to be a rough one. Well, that's all I have for now. Once something exciting happens, i'll be sure to let you all know!

A weekend in Surfers Paradise...

On Thursday, February 25th, we finally made our way to Surfers Paradise. We took a two and a half hour bus ride and got there at night time. At first we had no clue how to get to our hostel from the bus station, then we found a sign for it and it led to a closed garage door. We seriously thought this was how we were to check in to our room. It was hilarious but later on we found a door and yeah it was funny.
Our hostel was nothing special, but it was not the worst i've been in. Luckily we had our own shower in the room there. We had a couple of random people stay with us in the rooms, one was from Japan, and the other was from New Zealand so that was interesting.

The first night we just walked around the town, it was like a mini Vegas in itself. Just tons of shops everywhere and tons of food! The main things were ice cream and Kebabs I felt like. We ran to the beach that night, didn't care how dark it was. It was amazing! Tons of buildings just lit up in the background it was gorgeous.

On Friday, it was the only sunny day so we decided to go sit and lay out on the beach all day. Before we got there we got stopped by some girl who was trying to talk us into doing a club/bar tour. We ended up doing it, paid $40 dollars because it sounded way cheap instead of paying cover charges, and we got a free drink at each of the 5 clubs we went to. At first I thought it was a pretty sketchy thing considering these stands are everywhere and people like force you to talk to them. Oh how businesses run these days. But anyhow, we ended up paying for it, and Kirstin didn't have to because it was her 21st birthday.

The clubs were awesome, we went to the Beer Garden, Strike, Cocktails and Dreams, Sin City, then finally the Bedroom. It was funny because we were in a huge group of like a hundred people walking bar to bar. I bet we looked hilarious to people on the streets that night. It was an all around good night though and we had lots of fun celebrating Kirstin's 21st Birthday!

On Sunday, it was raining all day pretty much and they had the beaches closed off because there was a Tsunami warning in affect. We literally sat around different picnic tables all day until it was time to go to the bus station. Also, I found my first can of Dr. Pepper since i've been in Australia!! It was in a candy store out of all places it could be. It was $3.00 for one little can. But I didn't care I had to have it! I was happy :) haha.

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 :)