28 Feb

where did this week go?!  and the month of february?!  well, this week has been quite the emotional roller coaster... haha, but those stories are more for a box wine/no-pants party so i will save them until that time comes.  i started doing pilates this week, and it is kicking my butt (literally!).  i am still sore.  and kathryn and i went for a run yesterday as well which may/may not have been a good idea.  you see, i haven't run in quite some time now (since i've been here, at the very least, that's like 7 weeks).  so we ran for 30 minutes (approximately 3 miles if you are a slow runner, which i am).  however, i got lost on the way back and went straight instead of taking the turn down the dodgy little alleyway that kathryn went down, so it took me a litttle longer than originally anticipated.  however, i made it home just as the rain started falling, so good for me.

in other news, i had a final in love, sex and relationships and got an A!  go me.  here there don't have grades, they have "marks" so an A is actually a Distinction.  i don't quite know how grades transfer back to the states, or if they even do...?  we will see.  

yesterday, kathryn and i went to get bikini waxes (my first ever, ouch!), and then went to this sweet little cafe in market square because i was cravingg some caffeine.  that, too, is becoming one of my new favorite places in the world.  we had breakfast/lunch there again today. yum.  then casey and i went to the beach by justin's park in burleigh heads, which is slowly but surely becoming my new favorite places in life.  we laid on the beach for a while, and then walked around the CBD a bit because we've never actually been down anywhere but the main road where the bus drops us off.  may or may not have done a teensy bit of shopping.  it's veryy cute.  there was even a shop called kids clothes caffeine that is a kids clothes store/coffee shop.  cute idea.

last night we had a party in our common room because we haven't done so in so very long.  the fun thing about the common room is that if you sit there long enough just chillin and playing music eventually people just begin to show up and start hanging out with you.  so we got out our iTunes, played some tourettes (my new favorite card game) and drank some wine.  well, of course we got some visitors after a bit, one of who, turns out, was having a birthday party!  i love a good birthday party, so we of course decided to take the party out to varsity tavern, a short walk from the AC where i live.  fun night.

today i am just chillin, trying to stay out of the sun (even though it is a beautiful day out there!) because i got a little sunburned in the whitsundays last weekend and i am peeling in some less than attractive locations on my body.  i have some schoolwork to get done, and then we might go to a movie, or just stay in and watch a movie, because we have to get up early tomorrow to go to the Australia Zoo!  i am very excited.  i have already promised a number of people pictures of kangaroos, koalas, etc.  i, myself, would like to see a sea turtle (since i did not see one in the whitsundays =( ) and also i would like to see bindi irwin.  i promise to take a ridiculous amount of pictures.

23 Feb

i made it back from the whitsundays last night!  i was just reading through the itinerary that i posted on thursday, and it is really hilarious because there is almost nothing on there that is the same as what we actually did!  well, we did all of those things, but not necessarily in that order (at all!).

on thursday, like i said, we drove to brisbane in a double-decker bus (about an 1 1/2 hour drive) and then flew from brisbane to airlie beach (about an hour flight) where we stayed at the koala adventure resort (don't get too excited, it was a hostel).  i stayed with two of the girls i came here with and two more girls that i have since become friends with, one from boston and one from west virginia.  we didn't know that we were all going on this trip together so that was exciting.  we were all pretty exhausted after all the traveling, so we went to the hostel's bar, morocco's, for some drinks and karaoke, and then went to bed.  

the next morning we had to get up super early, eat breakfast, and then get on our yacht for an all-day sailing adventure!  it was a little crowded as we had to fit about 70 people on the boat, but it was the nicest, sunniest day possible so i got a really great tan/sunburn and hung out on the yacht all day.  we ate lunch and then went snorkeling in the great barrier reef and it was beautiful!  we saw all kinds of coral and fishies, but no sea turtles which is what i really wanted to see. =(  hopefully i will get another opportunity.  then we sailed to south molle island, which is currently under construction because they are turning it from a family resort area to koala adventure island, an 18-35 year old party island.  so the island is currently shut down, so we were the only people on the entire island!  it was pretty crazy.  the island was beautiful, but there wasn't much to do so when we got there we had some showers and then had some dinner and drinks at the outdoor bar.  later on we got a little tour of the resort from one of the tour guides, and then went for a dip in the pool.

then next day we had the day to ourselves so we went and hung out by the pool from 10 am to 5 pm.  i was already pretty tan (and by tan, i mean sunburned) from yachting the day before so i tried to stay in the shade as much as possible.  still got some sun though, that's for sure.  and the pool was a nice change from the salty, sticky ocean that i'm used to swimming in.  saturday night we had some more dinner and some more drinks at the outdoor bar.

sunday we had to wake up early again and eat some breakfast, and then catch some high-powered jet boats for a ride out in the ocean.  it was super fun, except that it was pouring rain and since my friends and i were sitting in the front of our boat were were getting pelted with rain.  i felt like i was on deadliest catch or something, but the boat guide gave us some snorkeling gear to wear on our faces so we could keep our eyes open and see all the islands around us.  there are 72 islands in the whitsundays and we got to see a lot of them, although most of them are deserted so there is nothing on them, but you can go camping and hiking on a lot of them.  the islands are beautiful though, they look like scenes out of jurassic park or something.

so after some boat riding we docked at whitehaven beach and had a bite to eat and then sat in the rain for a little while.  the beach is really beautiful, and would probably be even better in the sunshine.  we also got to hike up to one of the most photographed places in the world, the look-out at the top of the whitsundays national park.  it was veryy beautiful.  then the boats took us back to our hostel on south molle island, where we picked up our bags, got back on the boats, and headed back to airlie beach.  we had about an hour to change out of our wet clothes and get some food before getting on the bus back to the airport.  then we were on our way home...  

we got back last night at about 10:30.  all of my stuff was soaking wet, so i definitely need to get some laundry done or my room is going to start smelling like aquarium.  other than that, no big plans for the rest of the week. i have a midterm in my love, sex & relationships class tomorrow, so i'm going to have to do some studying for that today.  i don't think it will be too hard though.  then kathryn and i want to go into surfer's on thursday or friday and do some shopping, as we have not really done any of that yet.  then on sunday it's too the australian zoo; i hope i see bindi irwin!

Whitsunday Island Adventure

Thursday:

We take a bus from Bond to the Brisbane airport.  Fly from Brisbane to Mackay.  Spend the night at Beaches Airlie and have a BBQ.

Friday:

After grabbing breakfast, the start of our sailing and island adventure begins.  Our vessle today is not a sailing yacht, but a couple of high powered cruising machines!  If the ride doesn't wake you up, the beautiful locations we see will! Take a dip in the clear water in the crystal clear water on Whitehaven Beach, go searching for elusive turtles and take in the beauty of the area -- at 60 kph!  Whitehaven is a Whitsunday icon, seen in television commercials the world over, with sand like sugar.  After a wet and wonderful day we'll cruise into our Island home for dinner and a great party night.

Saturday:

Today is your day to get to know this island paradise, or just lie on the beach.  Undertake one of the included activities like a small catamaran, paddle ski, tennis, or take one of the awesome hikes on the island and check out the local wildlife.  It's your day to play however you choose, but make sure you save some energy for tonight!

Sunday:

Today we board our Maxi yacht to complete the must-do's of the Whitsundays!  We'll glide around some more of the area, then make a stop to get in the water and do some exploring with a mask on.  Here you'll also have the opportunity to strap on a SCUBA tank and spend some quality time with the locals.  We will spend some time in the afternoon here just soaking up the atmosphere and the sun on our multi million dollar vessel, before our final leg of sailing back into the marina.  We will head back to Airlie Beach to get our bags and then fly back to Brisbane.  Then, a bus back to Bond.

16 Feb

i was debating whether or not to actually write in my blog, but obvi i decided to do so.  it's been raining a lot lately so i feel like i haven't been on a lot of adventures or anything.  i guess there's a hurricane out there in the ocean, which is what caused the flooding in cairns, but now it is moving down the coast and we are feeling the repercussions.  i've heard it makes for really good surf, but that does not concern me so i just have to sit here and watch the rain from my window.

um... on thursday there was a "supposedly" famous australian dj, john course, that came and spun at don's tavern.  that was fun.  there was dancing. on friday kathryn, casey and i went to see He's Just Not That Into You at the pacific fair theatre.  casey and i were really proud of ourselves because we knew exactly how to get there after our first adventure.  then when we got back, we watched the movie eraserhead for some reason i still have no explanation for.  it is the worst movie ever, if you ever have the misfortune of being submitted to that torture, i am deeply sorry. i cannot say any more...

on saturday it was still raining so i attempted to do some homework and laundry, but that did not go well.  saturday night a big group of us went to melbas in surfers paradise.  we called a cab that fits 7 people for a group of 12, so you can imagine the chaos that ensued.  it was a fun night though.  there's a bunch of vendors right around the corner from the club, so when we were waiting for the cab home (and by cab i actually mean maxi taxi) we got kebabs and pizza.  delish.  so far, kebabs are the only thing that seem like an "australian food" to me.  don't be confused and think shish-kebabs cause that is not what they are.  it's like... a bunch of vegetables (and meat, if you like) wrapped up in this pita-type thing and then covered in some sort of ranch-cucumber sauce.  they kind of remind me of gyros.  kind of.  but better.  anyway, they're everywhere so if you ever come to australia you absolutely must try one.  and when you try one, you will want to have more...

on sunday it was finally sunny!  we went to coollangata to a beach called green stone or something, which i haven't been to yet.  it was really nice, and i want to go back to look around at the shops and stuff some more.  i guess one of the founder's of billabong lives in a mansion on some hill there.  i saw it from the highway.  billabong is a really big deal here, there's a billabong store on nearly every street corner, i kid you not.  it's so expensive though, a little part of me dies every time i pass one.  anyway... we only got to stay at the beach for about an hour because then it started to RAIN AGAIN!  ridiculous.  

at this point, we were really needing to come up with some creative ways to have fun, so we went on a walk around campus in the rain.  it was nice because it never really gets cold here, so even when it rains it was still pretty warm.  also, the campus is a lot bigger than i originally thought.  or something, i don't know, but i really had no idea where i was...  then we watched the sixth sense which i haven't seen since it came out.  i believe i was in middle school, maybe even younger.  it was still scary though.

today is monday so i didn't have any class.  i had some homework to get done, and a group presentation to finish since we are presenting on wednesday.  i hope the weather clears up soon because we are going yachting in the whitsunday islands and SCUBA diving in the great barrier reef this weekend.  i hope i see a sea turtle.

11 Feb

i hate to say it, but i've actually been enjoying my classes this week.  granted, i only have three of them, but each class has a lecture and tutorial, so technically i have 6 classes every week.  yesterday (tuesday) i had sex, love, and relationships and we learned about sexual behaviours and sex positions.  when our lecturer got to the "advanced positions" (and yes, there were pictures and diagrams) she said something like "if you're talented to figure out these ones, you don't need to be taking this class!".  it was hilarious.  i haven't had the tutorial yet (that's this afternoon) but my roommate already told me that we discuss the pros/cons of the different sexual positions.  we also watched a video about scientists who tried to play matchmaker by matching people's DNA and face shapes.  it was veryy interesting, even though in the end it ended up not working out so great.

in my australian pop culture class we are learning about the significance of the beach this week.  we watched a documentary called Bra Boys about one of the largest and most powerful surf gangs in australia, the bra boys.  it was very intense and interesting and i highly suggest seeing it, especially if you're interested in ever traveling to australia.  surf gangs are one of those things that most people just straight up don't have any idea exist.  at least, i didn't.  also, my group for this class gives our presentation for this class about australian tourism next week.  i just spent 45 minutes in the library working on the powerpoint by myself.  i know... i'm impressed too. =]

even my sensation & perception class, which is a two-hour long lecture and then an hour-long lab class, is interesting.  possibly because i feel like i'm actually learning something, besides just listening to the prof. (ahem, kovack-lesh) ready off of a powerpoint for an hour.  although, i'm not going to lie, i left after the first hour today...

so... i was having a chat yesterday with some other american study abroad students about how strange we feel like our experience is compared to our other friends who are abroad.  i've been looking at a lot of my other friends pictures of old building and day tours they've been going on, and i don't have any of those kinds of things.  mine are mostly of parties and the beach and an occasional hike in byron bay.  they seemed to think that we weren't getting an "australian" experience while we were here, but i think that's so strange.  we're going to an australian university, meeting all kinds of australians and other people from around the world, and yeah, the differences between australian culture and american culture are subtle, but they are definitely still there.  

that is all... xoxo

9 Feb

went to burleigh heads beach on saturday and laid around for a few hours.  it was magnificent.  a little windy, so once again i was completely covered in sand when i got back to school.  i don't know how that always happens to me.

got invited to a party in the common room of the Accommodation Center, where i live by some girls who live down the hall.  it's really adorable because we've met this girl, jorja, a couple of times now and think she is just the greatest.  it just melted my little black heart that she would think to invite casey and i to her shindig.  so she and her roommate, kasey, were the ones hosting the party.  well, on the facebook invitation it said "champagne, chocolate, strawberries, and chick flicks" so i was expecting some girly bonding night with a plethora of 17-year-olds.  however, about an hour into drinking and eating the $95 worth of snacks jorja provided a bunch of other kids started showing up and it turned into yet another booze-fest in the common room.  we played "never have i ever" (never a good idea when making new friends) and hung out until the wee hours of the night.

the funny thing, or should i say, one of the many funny things about Uni in australia is that kids here graduate from high school when they are 17, so they are freshman here when they are 17.  however, the drinking age isn't 18.  doesn't stop them.  they're just like freshman in the states, except 17.  so i have found myself hanging out with a lot of 17 and 18 year olds lately.  which is hilarious for so many reasons, not least of which that my younger sister is older than about half of them.  you know what though, i don't even mind it.  until they start talking about how excited they are for their 18th birthdays.  then it gets a little weird.  i just have to keep telling myself i'm not REALLY hanging out with high schoolers...

also, i got an email from my mother asking me to inform her of my whereabouts seeing as there are some pretty massive natural disasters happening around here these days.  however, do not fear.  the bush fires are in Victoria, a state much farther south of me, around melbourne.  the flooding is in northern queensland, which is much farther north of me, around cairns.  however, my friend kathryn and some other people have been in cairns all weekend and are safe as far as i know, but may be stuck there long than expected due to the flooding.  keep all those people that have been killed in the fires and floods and their families in your thoughts and your prayers, but don't worry, i'm safe.

7 Feb

on thursday night the business faculty hosted "Palaver: Vegas".  you may be asking yourself, "what is a palaver?" as i was doing, and continue to do, the exact same thing to this day.  however, thanks to urbandictionary.com, i may have an answer.  they list three possibilities:

1. fuss/bother

2. idle chat/idle talk

3. a meeting. a brainstorming or counseling session.

now, do any of these possibilities sound like a fun thing to do on a thursday night?  absolutely not, which is why i am still incredibly confused about the event i attended.  however, if i had to guess (which i often do) i would go with option 3, as it sounds the most business-like. 

this palaver even was vegas themed, so don's tavern was decked out with some pretty intense decorations, including an eiffel tower, a little white wedding chapel, and black jack tables.  also, everyone had to dress up in their best vegas-y attire.  it was kind of like prom/formal except that for the $35 ticket we got free booze for 3 1/2 hours.  nice.  at 11:00 buses picked us up to take us to the "official after-party" at the drink nightclub in surfer's paradise. i've been there a couple of times now, and it's not my favorite, but i was in a dancing mood so...  the free buses don't bring us back to school until 3:30 am and there has only been one night so far that i've made it that late.  so, i had to catch a cab home, after picking up some delish pizza to eat on the ride.  our cab driver was a very hilarious middle-eastern man who was cranking hannah montana the entire ride home.  when i commented about his taste in music he explained that he made his daughter burn him a copy of the music she was listening to so he could check it out, and then somehow he felt he was keeping a close eye on her.  i assured him that if his 16 year old daughter was listening to miley cyrus he really had nothing to worry about.  looking back, that could have been bad advice...  

needless to say, friday morning was a rough one.  casey and i had big plans to go to the beach, but the thought of riding the bus anywhere made me want to crawl back into my bed in the fetal position.  we optioned to lay by the pool instead, which really, not such a bad plan b.  it was a really hot day and i got my first sunburn since i've been here.  it's not bad, but still a little embarrassing.  you never see any of the aussie's tromping around with a sunburned... anything.  

as it turned out, we were not the only ones who were having a rough day yesterday, so it seemed most of the campus was taking friday night easy.  this is when we decided that we were going to see a movie.  not just any movie.  i really wanted to see twilight.  i've recently become obsessed with the books after reading the first one on the plane ride here.  i'm now about 1/3 of the way through the second.  anyway, as usual, this supposedly wholesome activity had to turn into a bit of an adventure, as does anything i seem to do these days...

the movie was at 9:20 at the movie theatre attached to the pacific fair mall.  in order to get there in time, we checked the bus schedule which said the bus left here at 8:58.  perfect.  well, we got to the bus stop and that schedule said the bus didn't leave until 9:05.  okay, it only takes about 10 minutes to get to pac fair as long as there aren't too many stops, so we should still be fine.  the bus finally arrives and we hop on, hoping that we still make it to the movie on time.  we arrive at the mall with about 10 minutes till the movie starts, and we're pretty impressed with ourselves at this point.  until we get off of the bus and realize that the mall is closed.  locked, in fact.  so we decide we need to find this movie theatre by foot, and begin to walk around the side of this mall, which, did i mention is the biggest mall in the southern hemisphere?  right. well, we get about halfway around one side and come across another entry. locked.  so we head back and by now only have about 3 minutes until the movie is supposed to start.  luckily there's a bus sitting at the stop, so i hop on and ask the bus driver where the theatre is.  which one? she asks me.  um, the one at this mall you idiot (i left the you idiot out of it, i think).  luckily there was another man standing there talking to the idiot bus driver so he pointed us in the right direction which, turned out, was right behind us.  when we finally made it to the theatre, there may have been cheering and high-fiving.  it was that exciting.  and, also luckily, nothing around here ever starts on time so we didn't even miss any of the previews.  the movie itself was deec (the book was better, obvi) but the wholesome night itself was such a success that i may have to try it again soon...

Byron Bay

casey and i left for byron bay at noon on friday.  it was quite an adventure to say the least...  we had to take a bus from bond to surfer's paradise (which is "town" basically) and then we ate dinner while we waited to catch the surfer's/byron bay express at 2:00.  we arrived in byron at about 4:30 and then we had to find the "bus" to the aquarius backpacker's motel where we would be staying for the weekend.  so we were wandering semi-aimlessly (theme for the entire weekend, turns out) and we come across a van that says aquarius on it.  so we kind of stand there staring at it, and this german man comes up to us and says, "need a ride?  get in."  we have no other options, so we jump into the van.  luckily, we made it safely.

once we arrived at aquarius we unpacked our stuff, "met" some of our "roommates", who i think were german and didn't speak any english, at least not to us.  the girl winked at me.  more than once.  once we were all checked in and everything we trekked into town to have a beer because travel is exh

austing.  we passed the great northern hotel who offered us $5 coronas, and who can pass up such a deal?  certainly not 2 famished backpackers.  so we h

ung out at this hotel bar for a while, watching locals and people playing pool.   finally we realized we were starving so we walked down to the beach hotel, which we got a small taste of the last time we were in byron.  we ordered the most delish nachos i have ever tasted, and then there was live music which just about makes me the happiest person alive. 

so we're standing near the stage, swaying to the music and there's this very strange group of boys/men (?) sitting near us and casey looks over and says she thinks one of them is pretty cute.  she must have been making some major googly eyes or something because he comes up to us and asks if we want to sit down.  i was perfectly content to continue swaying, but casey accepted so we sat down at this table.  he introduced us to his friends, but i'm not so good with the names.  he's the only one i remember (byron bill) besides his very attractive friend i dubbed "sexy m" (i think his name is matt).  well, byron bill chatted some more, and i sat there pretty entranced by the music and staring at sexy m.  somehow the conversation got around to what we were up to the rest of other weekend, and byron bill insisted that he give us a surfing lesson.  now, i'm all about trying new things in my life, but the last surfing lesson i took did not end well so i was hesitant.  casey, however, was all about going to the beach the next day so she gave him her number and then we left shortly after, not really expecting this strange man to actually call.

we got back to our hostel eventually, after wandering down to the beach for a while, and went to bed.  the next morning we woke up to some veryy strange sights that i am positive can only happen at a backpacker's.  casey and i were sleeping in top bunks across from each other, and i pointed down to the bunk below her and informed her that there were two people sleeping in the bed below her.  spooning.  i don't know if you've ever slept in a hostel before but these beds are small and not comfortable, so i do not know how or why you would be sleeping in bed with another person.  plus it was about 100 degrees and there was no AC so it was really hot and sticky.  which is probably why the man sleeping on the bunk under me was naked.  

so i got up to shower and when i got out casey informed me that byron bill had, in fact, given her a call and told her he would take us to "a place overlooking the ocean".  creepy?  maybe to the average person, but this sounded like a really fun idea to us.  once we got ready we went to main beach where we met byron bill, sexy m, and the rest of the posse.  they surfed and body boarded and casey and i sat on the beach and watched because it was winding and the water was freezing and to be honest i'm not a big fan of water sports.  then came time to go to broken head - the place overlooking the ocean.  so we hopped into byron bill's truck (if you are sitting there reading this and thinking i die at the end of this story, do not worry, i am still alive) and he drove us up and around this windy road until finally we came to a "hiking trail" where we then walked up some more.  there was a small time during this adventure that i thought to myself, we have no idea who this person is, he is probably going to kill us.  but then we got to the top, byron bill laid out his towel, and cracked open a few beers.  everything was going to be okay.

we returned safely back to town just in time to grab some lunch at some Oz-Mex restaurant where we got the most delish burritos ever.  we had already taken off our shoes and were walking around the streets barefoot, so the only next logical step was to take a seat next to some skateboarders eating pizza and gorge our faces with burritos while onlookers stared at us like the crazy byron hippies we wish we were.  after the burritos, some very serious beach time followed, and then we went back to get ready to go out for the night.  we went to cheeky monkey's for dinner and free champagne, then checked out the club scene (not so good) and then ended the night back at the beach hotel because, really, it is my favorite place in the whole entire world.  sunday we had to go home, and i have to say i already want to go back.  if i drop out of school and move to byron bay, no one would judge...