The Adventures Never Cease

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, so I naturally have a lot to say. It’s been an awesome few weeks, and there’s so much I could talk about! I’ve cut the list in half for the sake of anyone reading this and will just recount some of my favorite moments. 

Mystery Gang

Halloween in Australia was nothing short of awesome. Not because Halloween is big in Australia, but because my housemates made it big. We threw a house party at our place and to say it was awesome doesn’t even do that night justice. So many people were at my apartment, including people from all over the world and some who had never celebrated Halloween before! I was Scooby-Doo, and some of my other exchange friends were the rest of the Mystery Gang! The party was unfortunately shut down when the electricity to our apartment was cut off by the RA because we were too loud. Whoops. But, I would say it was successful if they had to turn our power off to make the party stop...Just saying. 

One random day me and two of my Aussie friends decided to go on an adventure to the Botanic Gardens located in Canberra. It was a nice chill day with friends and gorgeous scenery. We mostly explored the rainforest section of the gardens, and while it was awesome, having the Daintree Rainforest to compare it to made it seem not near as real. That night, I went with a group of my exchange friends for Mexican food and margaritas. This was the first time I’ve had Mexican while in Oz, and to say I’ve been craving it for over 2 months is probably putting it lightly. Most of you probably know I pretty much visit Soccer Taco weekly, so going 3 months without Mexican and margaritas was just hard. The food and margaritas were great, and I enjoyed hanging out with friends all night!

Blue Bottle Jellyfish from Beach Day

The next morning (Saturday, November 3), I got up early to travel to the coast for Beach Day! We went to Broulee Beach. This was an event that the exchange coordinator planned, and it was definitely a good day! There’s not much to say except I spent the entire day laying on a beach hanging out with friends. It was a nice day getaway from Canberra, and I’m glad I decided to go! That Sunday, several of the exchange students had a picnic lunch on a dock by the lake near campus. It was such a perfect day for a picnic!

I’m not really sure that I’ve mentioned International Dinners, so just in case I haven’t...Throughout the semester, exchange students from different countries have made a traditional dinner that represents their country or State. So, this past Thursday, my Tennessee friend and I hosted Tennessee night! It was super successful, and we introduced fried chicken and sweet tea to multiple countries. I’ve never made so much fried chicken in my life...We bought two HUGE family packs of chicken from Aldi, and I think it took us around 2 and a half hours to get it all cooked, but we did it, and the food turned out yummy and it was fun! It was just an awesome night.

McKenzie Beach

This weekend, me and 3 of my exchange friends headed to Bateman’s Bay for a beach weekend! Saturday we went back to Pebbly Beach, which was where we went last time we were at the coast (It’s the one with all the kangaroos). That night, we went over to an Aussie friends’ house and went out in Bateman’s Bay. It was cool to see an Aussie house, as lame as that might sound. Haha It was a fun night out, and we met up with those friends the next day at McKenzie Beach. I am currently super sunburned, but it’s all good. Also, I drove in Australia for the first time while we were on this trip!! I have missed driving SOOO much and driving on the left side of the road isn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Sure, it takes more concentration than it does back at home, but I am so glad I finally got to drive here! 

So, basically, I needed to write this blog because pretty soon, I’m going to be doing A LOT of traveling, and I wanted to go ahead and say all those things before I have other adventures to talk about. I also got my cartilage pierced in the last couple weeks, and I am so glad I can say I got a piercing in Australia. It just makes the piercing that much cooler. I only have a little over a month left here, which just is not ok. My goodbyes to some of the coolest people I’ve ever met will begin all too soon. I was a mess leaving TN knowing I would be back in 6 months, so I dread what it’s going to be like not being able to say “See you in a few months.” While I have no doubt that it won’t be goodbye forever, it might be a few years before I see some of the friends I’ve made here. Luckily, I will have my TN friend to go visit, so I have someone nearby who I can see! And we can miss Australia together...Anna, get ready...

It’s weird that it’s November, and I can wear shorts all the time. It’s weird to think that Christmas is actually pretty near and it’s not getting colder, but hotter. A Christmas song came on while we were playing my iPod at the beach, and the fact that it is actually Christmas music season was so weird because it was so hot out. Everything is just backwards. Driving, seasons, Christmas...It’s a reversed life down here. 

While I wish I could spend longer writing this and making it sound better, I have a huge assignment due this week that I’ve yet to start, so I just wanted to quickly write since it has been quite some time since I posted.  This is the last week of classes, which is just insane. I feel like they just started! I have to make it through this week, and on Thursday, I’m heading to Melbourne! Just because I can, I’ll give you an idea of what the rest of my time in Australia will be spent doing! 

November 15th-20th: Melbourne

November 23rd: One of my two finals I have

November 27th-30th: Uluru

December 4th: Last final

December 5th-12th: New Zealand

December 13th-14th (or close to these dates): Hopefully a trip to the coast to spend my last few days in Australia with my Aussie friends

December 17: Back to the States

I have a packed month, but it’s going to be awesome! I’m excited to visit all these places and live it up my last month here! 

Horses, Flowers, and Surfin' Aussie Land

It’s been an incredible couple weeks, and I once again cannot believe some of the things I’ve experienced. I am not living in reality right now, and when I come back home and have to actually care about things, reality is going to hit me harder than it ever has before. Oh well, I still have almost 2 full months to live in my fantasy world in the land down under.

Horse races!

The Friday after we got back from Spring Break was Horse Racing day! The horse races were in Canberra, and they are a big deal from what I gathered from everyone. So, while in Cairns I prepared by buying a big floppy hat. We started off the morning by having breakfast at a friends place before heading to the races. The races were fun, and it was fun to see everyone so dressed up! Not going to lie, I expected there to be lots more floppy hats around, but people went for fascinators instead of hats.  I enjoyed hanging out with all my Australian and exchange friends the whole day! The horse racing part wasn’t actually too exciting for me, it was more about the people I was with (Sorry to all my horse loving friends for saying that).

Floriade

That Saturday, I went to something called Floriade with 2 of my friends. It is just a big flower show thingy with lots of flowers and shops and food. The flower beds are all in designs, and it’s actually really cool! I had gone at night before our Spring Break, but it was hard to see, so we decided to go during the day. It was a nice relaxing day filled with pretty flowers! That night, the exchange girls had girls night. We all got fancy and went to Civic for a night out. It was such an amazing and fun night with lots of my closest friends here. It was definitely one of my favorite nights out in Canberra!

Pine Island

This past Wednesday, my housemates and some other Aussie friends told me they were going to a river nearby. Although I had dedicated Wednesday to homework, who can really say no to laying out in the sun with friends? Definitely not this girl. So, 5 of my Aussie friends and 1 of my exchange friends and I all went to relax and play in the river! It was a nice, unproductive day and a lot better than doing homework on such a beautiful day. 

Surfin' Aussie Land!

And now, for the best part of my two weeks...SURF CAMP! As I sit here typing, it hurts so bad to move. I am sooo sore all over, but the soreness is definitely worth the experience. I have a newfound respect for surfers and what they do, because it was hard enough for me to catch a baby wave. By the end of the first day, I had stood up one time for around 10 seconds, which was amazing. Before that, I was getting so frustrated because everyone around me seemed to be doing great, and I couldn’t even catch a wave. I was actually just laying on my board being way frustrated and not even trying when I ended up standing. I had my head down on my board, and I heard one of the instructors yelling at me to start paddling. Next thing I know, I’m riding the wave and then I’m standing up! It was sooo awesome! After that, I had a lot of close attempts, but always ended up on my knees, which is a no-no in surfing. Oh well, I had fun kneeboarding! 

Huge surf boards!

Sunday I got up one more time for like 2 seconds. It wasn’t long but still so exciting! I had lots of half way up moments, but I always fell off my board before doing anything more than crouching. Still, I can now say I’ve been surfing! Yet another new experience. It was such an incredible weekend! I remember first hearing about Surf Camp before I had even left the US and thinking “Wow, that’s so far away.” I can’t believe it’s now over. I don’t know where the past 3 months have gone, but I need these next two to just slow down!

Once again, I don’t think this blog even begins to explain all the fun I’ve had the past two weeks. I leave out heaps of the small details of everything that makes some of the experiences so great because it involves conversations or just completely random things that happen. So, sorry if this all seems boring, but it’s a nice collection of my favorite memories for me to look at. :-)

I know in one of my first blogs I mentioned how I didn’t think I would ever get used to the whole driving on the left side of the road thing. That is now becoming relatively normal. By the time I do come back, I’m going to be completely used to driving on the left and then I’m going to have to switch my thinking back to the right. It’s just confusing to think about. 

The drive to and from Canberra is just a lot of countryside. Yet, this countryside seems so different from Tennessee or anywhere I’ve seen in the States. I can’t explain it, but it just seems so much more peaceful or something. The trees that were once so weird looking to me seem normal. It seems normal to see windmills in the distance. It seems normal to be driving on the left side of the road. It seems normal to see heaps of sheep. I say all this to basically say: Life is normal here now. Sure, there are still tons of differences from back home, and some things still come as a surprise to me. But, I’m to the point where I’m probably going to think things are weird when I come back home.

This week is something called Stoneweek. It celebrates the founding of the University of Canberra and is just a huge party week. I’ve asked multiple people what you do for Stoneweek, and the only answer I’ve really gotten is “You get drunk.” I still don’t really understand it, but I know partying has commenced. Today was nemesis day and you tie yourself to another person. You two go everywhere together and every time your partner drinks, you drink. You basically drink until one of you can’t anymore from what I’ve been told. Sounds like a good idea, right? Other things go on throughout the week, I just don’t know what. This is my terrible week in school life, and I have so many assignments to work on, so I will not be partaking in much of Stoneweek, if any at all. And that is ok with me. I think this is a good example of Aussie drinking culture...Drink all day, every day, and the reason is basically school related. Anyways, that’s my understanding of Stoneweek. Aussies and their partying. I love and hate it all at the same time.

Ok, I now must go write actual papers. Blogging is my way of productive procrastination, but it’s time to actually be productive. :-) 

Sunset on the way to Surf Camp

Saturday schedule

Spring Break: Aussie Style

I’ve been back in Canberra for a few days since returning from Spring Break, and I am still in disbelief at all that I experienced in a week. Last week was easily one of the best weeks of my life, if not the best week of my life. Honestly, a lot of my week cannot be explained in words. They were things you just need to experience for yourself to fully appreciate the beauty of everything that is in our world.

Cairns Lagoon at sunset

For the break, I went with 4 other students to Queensland. Our week started off with a flight to Cairns. We had heard of the Lagoon that was in Cairns, and our first day there, we set out to check it out. Turns out, it was a man-made pool because beaches in Cairns are non-existent. The shores are just a muddy, icky mess, so you definitely don’t want to go swimming there. We only had one full day in Cairns before we headed up to Cape Tribulation.

Daintree River Cruise!

Bright and early Tuesday morning, we began our journey to Cape Tribulation. We booked a tour that would take us up to Cape Trib. On the way there, we stopped at plenty of places and experienced the Daintree Rainforest on our tour, which is the oldest tropical rainforest in the world. Our first stop was at the Wildlife Habitat, which had all Aussie animals. Highlight of the Wildlife Habitat? I got to hold a koala! In New South Wales, you aren’t allowed to hold koalas, but since we were in Queensland, I got to hold one and have my picture taken with him! So awesome! Our next stop was for a Daintree river cruise. We loaded up on a boat and went cruising on a river in search of crocodiles. While we never got to see an adult, we saw 3 baby crocs. I had watched something on crocodiles before coming to Australia, and I actually find them quite fascinating. They are really smart and just intriguing to my mind! After the cruise, we stopped at a lookout real fast then continued on to have lunch. After lunch, we went on a jungle boardwalk through the middle of a tropical rainforest. Just hanging out in a rainforest. No big deal. We were then dropped off at the Cape Tribulation Beach House, where we stayed for the next 3 nights.

Home for 3 nights!

Rainforest plants

Our cabin was literally a 2 minute walk from the beach, yet we were still in the middle of the rainforest. We just took a jungle path down to the beach, and all of a sudden, there’s nothing before you except water. Ocean when you look out, and turn around and you have the rainforest. It was my own little heaven. It was so beautiful, and pictures cannot do it justice. We went out to the beach the first night we were there, and while it was a partly cloudy night, the moon was SO bright. I didn’t know the moon was that bright because I am always surrounded by at least some other lights. But, there was literally NOTHING in Cape Trib, so it was solely the moonlight I witnessed. It was a moment which made me so thankful for the life I live. I will never understand why of all the people in the world, I get to live this unbelievable life. I feel like there are so many people out there so much more deserving of this life, yet I am the one experiencing everything. I can’t wrap my mind around it, and as I stood out there with my friends, I was so happy. It probably sounds weird, and I can’t explain it fully. I wish everyone could stand on that beach and see the moonlight and stars as we saw them. So breathtaking. 

Cape Tribulation

The fruits we tried

While in Cape Trib, we did a lot of relaxing. If it wasn’t raining, we were on the beach. If it was raining, you would probably find us playing cards at the bar. We chose to do a tropical fruit tasting one day. There are so many fruits I’ve never heard of! And they are all so good! A husband and wife grow their own fruits and do fruit tastings every day. Their story is actually really amazing, but for the sake of everyone reading this, I’ll skip that as this post is already going to be so long. Just know...A tropical rainforest has a lot of fruits to offer, and fruits go much farther than bananas, apples, grapes, oranges, and all the other ones we are used to! 

Ready to scuba dive!!

Nemo and Marlin were home

Friday, we headed back to Cairns. Saturday was the big day I’ve been waiting for for years...The day I would visit the Great Barrier Reef! Once again...Words cannot explain. While I’ve always just wanted to snorkel the GBR, I also decided to scuba dive. Unbelievable. We went to two different sites, and I ended up diving at both. The first, Michaelmas Cay, didn’t have as many fish as I wanted, but had heaps of coral. After finishing my first dive, I was contemplating going at the second site and was convinced by one of the crew members after she told me it was so much better. So, at our second site of the day, Hastings Reef, I dove again! There were so many more fish there, and it was so amazing. We found Nemo and his dad! They were swimming happily in their anemone home! Finding Nemo was always an awesome movie, but when I watch it now, I can say “I’ve seen him and him and him!” It was so amazing. We rented a camera for the day, so I do have pictures, but they do not at all do it justice. NOT. AT. ALL. There are so many people I know who have said they want to go to the GBR. My advice: Just go. You will not regret it. It might be really expensive, but I promise that in the end, you’re not going to miss that money. You’re just going to be thankful you got to see one of the natural wonders of the world in person. At the beginning of the day, I was thinking this would probably be my only trip to the Reef. Afterwards...I don’t know when, but I will be back. I could spend everyday on the Reef, and I still don’t think it would be enough.

Sunday was spent at the Cairns Lagoon and shopping. Monday we unfortunately had to head back to Canberra. I doubt this blog even begins to make anyone reading this understand just how great this week was for me. Visiting a tropical rainforest and seeing the Great Barrier Reef have been on my bucket list for years, and I’ve now done both of them. I also had a great time with the girls I was traveling with, and we had some ridiculously funny and awesome moments that I never want to forget.

*You can find more pictures of my trip at the end of this blog or give me a few days and all of my pictures will be on Facebook! 

Now that I'm back in Canberra, I have school to think about. I have so much to do, and I am becoming very frustrated with the way my classes are run. All except for one is so disorganized. There is always heaps of confusion with every assignment that I have to turn in. I never really understand what is expected of me, and I don’t know how I’m getting the marks I’m getting because all of my assignments have involved me just typing and seeing what I end up with. In one of my classes, the lecturer has been out all semester sick, so we’ve just had grad school students lecturing. Not going to lie, they don’t even seem to know what they are talking about, therefore, I have no idea what they are talking about. The tutorials are beyond pointless for that class as well.  Things are just run here so differently and assignments are set up so differently. In my counseling class today, we actually took a few minutes and talked about the American system and everyone in my class was so interested to hear how things differ. They all said our ways sound terrible, but I told them I’m not a fan of their system. 

My time here is over half way over, which is crazy to think about. I have so many more trips to plan and go on before leaving! We still don’t know when our finals are, and that is also frustrating because depending on when I have finals depends on when I’m going to where. I’ve already booked plane tickets to New Zealand, and we leave on the Wednesday during the last week of finals (finals are for 3 weeks here). If I have a final on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday of that week...Well, let’s just say that’s just going to be problematic. I need to decide when I’m going to Melbourne. I’ve decided Uluru is a MUST. I’ve been undecided about that one for a while, but it’s going to have to happen, even if it turns into a weekend thing where I skip class if I need to. I need to experience the Australian outback while here and that takes priority over school, right? I would like to make it to Brisbane and the Gold Coast, but if that doesn’t happen, life goes on. So much traveling and so little time!  

So, to sum it up...School sucks. Life is great. I don’t want to come home. I’m addicted to traveling. I found Nemo. I went to a tropical rainforest. I held a koala. I saw wild baby crocodiles. I have awesome friends from all over the world. SO. MUCH. AWESOME. 

Travel buddies for the week! Shelby from Kansas, Anna
from Tennessee, Mandy from Canada, and Katie from Maryland

Lizard that was right outside
our cabin

First day in Cairns

Hahaha Awesome sign!

Pretty day in Cape Tribulation

Where we had lunch on our rainforest tour

More rainforest views

Star Apple

Look close and you can spot a baby crocodile

You mean I'm here to study?

I realize it has been quite some time since I’ve updated. That’s mostly because nothing too exciting has been going on. After Sydney, I spent the next two weekends in Canberra. One day, I walked around Lake Ginninderra with 2 other exchange friends. I thought it was a very small lake, but turns out...It’s not. It took us about 2 and a half hours to walk around it. We took lunch with us and stopped and had lunch by the lake. We also stopped to play on a zip-line and spider-web thingy. It was a little chilly the day we did that, but it was still fun and it was nice to explore that area. The next weekend I went to a science museum with some friends. It was actually really cool and a lot of fun! Yay for being a nerd on a Saturday. Other than that, those two weekends were full of movie nights and hanging out with friends. 

Pretty Australian sunset

Also during that time, I got to celebrate my birthday for a total of 39 hours. Who out there has had a 39 hour birthday? Yea, probably not many of you. Be jealous. It was weird because I kept getting Facebook notifications until like 2PM the day after my birthday had ended for me since it was still my birthday in the US. I liked it though. :-) The Wednesday night before my birthday, we went out to the Lighty (the bar near campus). Thursday was my actual birthday.  I had class and then when people were done with class, some of us went to get ice cream. I knew my housemates and exchange friends had been planning something for that night, but I wasn’t exactly sure what.  They planned a house party for me, complete with decorations, a country theme, and KFC for dinner because “Kentucky is close enough to Tennessee” in the words of my housemates. It was so much fun! Definitely one of my favorite birthdays I’ve ever had! So, thanks to my housemates and exchange friends who took the time to plan my party! I appreciate it!

Pebbly Beach sunset

Freddie!

This past weekend, I went to Bateman’s Bay with a group of friends. Bateman’s Bay is about 2 from Canberra. It’s on the coast, so it was a beach weekend! We went to Pebbly Beach on Saturday. Pebbly Beach was super pretty, and my Pebbly Beach experience was complete after seeing kangaroos on the beach! When we were leaving, we saw a group of kangaroos, and naturally, we had to take pictures. These kangaroos were really awesome and let you get super close to them! In fact, I had a kangaroo hop to me and get about 2 or 3 feet away from me! I REALLY wanted to touch him, but everyone has told me wild kangaroos are aggressive. I reached my hand out to him, and he started reaching his head out towards my hand. I freaked out when he was like 6 inches away and pulled my hand away. I was afraid he was going to turn all aggressive, and being that close I could see he had some pretty massive claws. We named him Freddie, so I now have a kangaroo friend named Freddie out on Pebbly Beach!

Wimbie Beach

Sunday we got up pretty early and headed to another beach. We kind of just drove around until we found something that we liked, and we ended up on Wimbie Beach. The weather was so great that day. The water was a little chilly, but definitely warmer than at Pebbly. The waves were also much calmer at Wimbie. Overall, it was such a fun weekend. I once again did not want to come back to Canberra. That seems to be a recurring theme. Leave Canberra, and never want to return. Don’t get me wrong, Canberra is great and I love the people I’ve met here, but it’s always so much fun traveling and coming back to Canberra means study time. Ick. Who actually wants to study on their study abroad experience? 

Sunday I will be flying to Cairns for Spring Break! They don’t call it Spring Break here, but it’s Spring and it’s a week long break from school, so I define that as Spring Break. We have everything booked! After staying in Cairns for two nights, we’re doing a tour of the Daintree Rainforest, and that will take us to Cape Tribulation, which is about 2 and a half hours north of Cairns. We’re staying there 3 nights before heading back down to Cairns for 3 more nights. While in Cairns, we’re going snorkeling and scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef!! I am so beyond excited! It’s going to be great! So, my next blog post will include all the details of that trip!

And now, time for the Australian differences section of my blog. I mailed one of my friends a birthday card, and when I bought the envelope, they placed something where I would usually write the return address. I was a little confused, so decided to ask my roommate exactly how to address an envelope. They write the address that it’s going to on the side of the envelope and to left. The return address is written on the back. Who would have thought I would have to ask how to write out an address? Also, they use a different paper size. It’s a little skinnier and then a lot longer than what I’m used to. They also spell things differently, which can be annoying when writing papers. I’ve set my language to Australian English, so that’s definitely helpful. Instead of behavior, it’s behavioUr. Instead of center, it’s centRE. Instead of counseling, it’s counseLLing. Considering the paper I just wrote has each of these words multiple times, it was annoying because I messed them up every single time. All I can say: Struggles of a study abroad student.

It’s crazy to think that when we get back from our Spring Break trip, my time here will be half way up. I can’t believe it’s been almost 2 months since I left. It’s unbelievable. Time is flying by, and in trying to plan so many trips, I’m realizing how few weekends I really have left here. There’s still so much I want to do and so much I want to see.  I’ve booked plane tickets to New Zealand! That’s not until December, but man, I can’t wait! More and more I’m realizing that right now is my time to live it up, go on as many adventures as possible, and do the things I want to do. Sure, there have definitely been some hard times while here, and the past few days have been my hardest days here due to some circumstances at home. However, even with all the stuff going on at home...I know my family wants nothing more than for me to have a great time.

So, as the ending of this blog...I’m dedicating this blog entry to my Aunt Betty. My world has shattered this week, but she would have wanted me to keep enjoying my time here. I’m heartbroken to realize I’ll never be able to share all my pictures with her. I’ll never be able to tell her about my many adventures over here. She was so excited for me before I left, and one of the last things she said to me was that she was so proud of me and that she loved me so much. She was such a great lady and loved seeing everyone happy. She wouldn’t want me to waste the rest of my time here regretting that I’m not there for my family right now. So, I’m pushing on through with the thought that she’s still here with me, and if even physically I will never see her again, she’s in my thoughts and memories. I’m thankful that I have such great memories of her from throughout my life, and that my final memories of her were of her being so happy. So, Aunt Betty...Know that you were and are still so loved by so many people. You touched so many people, and I’m still in disbelief that this is real. I love you, and thanks for being the lady you were! 

It's already been over a month!?!?!

**Warning: This is going to be a REALLY long post. Get ready.**

As of 2 days ago, I have been in Australia for a month. In some ways, I feel like I’ve been here much longer, but in other ways, I feel like I got here maybe a week ago. The past two weeks have just been amazing, and I’m not sure I can make you understand how great they have been just from a blog post, but I will do my best! :-)

2 weekends ago, I stayed in Canberra and hung out with friends a lot.  Friday night I went out downtown (they call it Civic) with my roommates and some other Aussie friends. That was the first night I had gone out in Civic, but it was such a great night! Saturday during the day, I went with a couple exchange friends to the Australian National Museum, which is located in Canberra, and even better--it’s fo’ free! That night, we were celebrating a birthday, so a lot of exchange kids got together and surprised the birthday girl with a little party before some of us headed to Civic for a night out. I originally wasn’t going to go out since I went out the night before, but I am SOO glad I went. It was such a great night with exchange friends! I can’t even really say this night was great for <insert reason here>, it was just great and so much fun for no particular reason. It’s just a lot of fun to hang out with people who are from all over the world...That’s definitely something that always makes things great! Sunday nights, exchange students have been having international dinners, so I went to my first one of those this week. It was Canadian themed, and we had yummy pancakes and then something that was really good, but I don’t remember the name. I am super excited for when we have Tennessee night! There’s another girl from Tennessee here, so we will get to plan together, but we are both thinking fried chicken (of course)! The plan is to have dinner each week with someone different making it each week!

Sydney Opera House!

Bondi Beach

This past weekend, I went back to Sydney with a group of exchange friends. It was such a fantastic trip! I did not want to come back to Canberra at all. I had originally planned to come back Sunday night, but that changed to Monday because I was having fun and didn’t want to miss out on Sunday. When we got there on Friday, we just kind of explored around the area our hostel was located. We went to a place called The World Bar that night, and they served their drinks in teapots, which was really cool. I don’t remember the name of the drink I had, but it was soo good. Saturday we all got up and headed out to find Bondi Beach. It was sooo beautiful. Looking back at pictures, there are some that don’t even look real to me because it was so pretty there. We hung out on the beach for a while and got lunch while there. After the beach, our group split up to do different things. I went to see the opera house again, and then we explored the botanic gardens. That night, we went out for a little while, but ended up back at our hostel just hanging out. It was a fun day and night! Sunday, some of us decided to head to shops called Paddy’s Market. You can find all kinds of stuff there for super cheap! After shopping, a couple of us were going to go take a tour of the government house, but that turned into let’s go take a picture in front of it so we could catch an earlier ferry to head to Manly. We got to Manly, got lunch, and ate while by the ocean (always a good plan), and then walked to an area called Shelley Beach, where we eventually met up with everyone from our group. We laid out, read, played frisbee and threw a football around with some guys we met on the beach, took a dip in the ocean (it was really cold!), and just had a great time! We watched the sunset from the beach and just hung out for a while even after it was dark. We stayed in Manly for dinner, then took a ferry back to Sydney and headed back to our hostel.  

Manly at Shelley Beach

I left on the 10AM bus Monday morning to make it back for class. It’s such a sad moment when I realize I’m in Australia to go to school and not just on a 5 month vacation. The weekend was sooo good, and I kept forgetting that when I went back to Canberra, I would be the typical college student who needs to do homework, write papers, and go to class. I should be doing something school related right now, but this sounded better. :-) I really feel like when I type out what I’ve been up to, it doesn’t sound that great. But seriously, this past weekend in Sydney was one of the best weekends of my life! 

So, that is what I’ve been up to the past two weeks. It has all just been so great! When I think of all the things I’ve done, all the people I’ve met, and all the friends I’ve already made, I absolutely cannot believe I’ve only been here a little over a month! I’ve had my moments of homesickness, but I feel like that is just normal. Seeing all the pictures from UT is so weird, and now that it’s football season, I feel as if my Saturdays should be spent tailgating and going to games. I miss my mom, my friends, my cat, my car...There are so many things I miss, but I would not trade my decision to come here for anything! On the bus ride back to Canberra yesterday, I was looking out the window and thinking how many people never get to experience something like this, and it made me sad to think that! I was looking at all the native Australian trees and plants, the animal life, and the scenery and thinking how it’s still crazy to think that I’m actually here living this life! 

Of course, I have some Australian differences to mention. I think all my blogs will have to contain some culture lesson, so that maybe people will actually get something out of reading them. Haha So, here’s the culture lesson: Australian’s add the letter ‘r’ to the end of words and take out the r from other words. So, here’s some Australian words: idea(r), pasta(r), Australia(r), usually words ending in an ‘a’, they pronounce with an ‘r’. But, when talking about Melbourne or Cairns, you leave those r’s out. So, you end up with what sounds like Melbin and Cans. Silly Australians and their r’s. Also, I brought some notebooks with me, and I needed a 3-ring binder to put everything in. I went to the school bookstore, and could only find 2-ring binders. I looked at some peoples paper in my classes later that day, and noticed their paper has like 7 holes instead of 3. Who would have thought things like that would change in a different country? Also, I’m trying to get used to walking on the left side of sidewalks, which is challenging. I guess you just go to the side that you would drive on, but since that is backwards for me, I get confused. I also still freak out when I’m in a car and we turn into the wrong lane in my head. I always think I’m about to be in a head-on collision!

Almost done! I am officially going to Cairns for our Spring Break! They don’t call it Spring Break here, they just call it the Week 8 break, but it’s Spring and a break from school, so I’m calling it Spring Break. I booked plane tickets with 4 exchange friends a couple days ago, and I AM SO EXCITED! If you don’t know what Cairns means, it means the Great Barrier Reef, rainforests, and beaches! Seriously, just so excited!

And last, but not least, I will give you all my address in case you feel the urge to write me a letter! I would love to get mail, and I’ll write you back if you want!

Brook Beasley 

LPO Box 5264

University of Canberra

Bruce ACT 2617

Australia

PS-My birthday is next week. :-)