Plane

Friday was fun!! My friends Luke, David and Meg met me at work at the end of my shift. We drove down to Bunbury (country town about 2 hours south of Perth) and David flew us back in a little 4-seater plane! He obviously has his pilots license :)

It was super fun, but super scary. Have you ever been in a 4-seater plane!!?? It's like smaller than my car!!!! And at one point, David shook the plane and I thought we were going to drop out of the sky. Luckily, we didn't. We had a safe and uneventful flight (aside from the shaking). The flight itself was really neat. We left Bunbury right after sunset and flew up the coast. Australia is very different to flying over parts of the US because there aren't many major/big cities that you can see. Instead, it's chock full of really tiny country towns separated by many kilometers. So you see little pods of lights, and lots of blackness. Then, as you approach Perth, you see kilometers upon kilometers of lights. And the centre city. It's soo neat and very pretty from the air! And, of course, you can see the shoreline the entire way!!!

Update

I've been working a TON of hours lately, both in Midland and in Victoria Park. We have just spent 3 days completely setting up the shop in Vic Park...exciting! I can't wait to actually start working there. It's much smaller, but in a decent area so we will get lots of business.

I bought a car! It's a bit old, but it runs pretty nicely. It's also manual, so that's a bit different. Getting used to the gear box and driving on the left side of the road...interesting but not as hard as I though it would be.

I went to my friend Luke's party the other night and saw a bunch of my friends who have been home on winter break the past 4-5 weeks!!! Missed them alot!! Uni started back up this week for them, so they're back in the city for a bit now. Should see them more often, but who knows how much with work and uni etc.

My application to Curtin is complete, so I guess I just have to wait a few more weeks now to hear back from them. Fingers crossed!!!!

The weathers been fantastic lately. 70s and sunny. I might be jinxing it, but it has not rained in a day or so. But it usually just sprinkles when it does rain, and I'm usually already at work by then, so it's not big deal. I am going to attempt to go to the beach tomorrow (have tuesday and wednesday off work)!!! I hope it's nice because I want to read and/or go for a jog...need some exercise since I'm not walking miles each day!!

Anyway, I think that's about it for now!!

Will update again soon

xx

Dome!

So I got the job at Dome! Yay!! Quicky description of what I do: I am a key staff member, which means that I have to train at the Dome "headquarters" which is located in a suburb called Midland. From my house in Cannington, its like a ten minute walk to the train station, and then a 15 minute ride to the transfer station, and then a 20-3o minute ride to Midland (depending on the train...local/express), and finally a ten minute walk to the shop. I have to learn all the position in front of the house (meaning the positions that the customer can see). So, I run the cash register, prepare cakes/cold drinks/hotdrinks to be taken out to customers, wait tables, run dishes, etc. It's busy and fast-paced, but pretty fun. It's similar to Panera...cafe atmosphere, coffee, food. My pay is pretty good for starters, but I get a raise very soon. Raises occur based on how many stations you are proficient in. Since I'm key staff, I need to be proficient in them all. I will eventually be working in the Victoria Park shop, but it's not open yet (brand new!!). I am in the first group of staff to ever work in this shop! Once we are in the shop, it's my job (along with the other 4 key staff members) to train all the part-time and casual employees on their stations. Yes I am full time, and yes out of 150 applicants I was 1 of 5 to be chosen as a key staff member! Our managers LOVE us so far, and praise us all the time. They're not afraid to tell us when we are wrong, but since Midland is where everyone is trained (key staff that is), it's not a problem because everyone is there to help you out. So works going quite well so far!

In other news...my friend David taught me to drive a stick shift care the other day!! I did pretty well...drove for over an hour around my suburb and throughout some other suburbs and into Curtin. I learned to reverse and everything! In all that time, I only stalled once!

I am looking for cars this weekend because I have off of work for the next three days. I am really hoping to find something soon so that I don't have to rely on public transport and walking (although it's really good exercise!!!) to get everywhere I need to go. I'll probably still take train heaps because it's quite easy, and I won't have to worry about parking in the city etc. But it would be nice to have a car to drive myself to and from work, especially if I open or close and it's dark out. I wouldn't want to be walking around Perth at night by myself. Not safe.

Well I think that is about it for now...I'll update about the car situation soon!!!

-Me

Job?!

So I have been searching and searching for jobs...applying for anything any everything. And getting declined. There is nothing like sending out 25 applications in one day and being turned down by them ALL. What is wrong with me and my resume!? Someone please tell me!! I actually am starting to think that it is my working visa...which almost makes no sense. On this visa, I am allowed unlimited amounts of work where I want to work...so take that employers!! You COULD have a hard working employee for as many hours a week as you like, but no! I think that the problem is that I can only work for them for a maximum of 6 months. I've tried explaining to them that I have applied to Curtin University, and am hoping to get on a student visa thus allowing me to continue my term of employment, but I cannot promise that I will be accepted/put on a student visa. Blast.

BUT...I did have an interview today! It was with a company called Dome, which is very similar to a Panera or a Starbucks. They serve coffee and food and have the cafe atmosphere. The woman who interviewed me seemed to enjoy my interview (short as it was), and said that I did a very nice job interviewing and she would be in contact with me early this week. While I'm very hopeful, she did say that they're interviewing 150 people for 40 spots. EEK!! I'm really hoping that my previous 2 years experience in Panera working as a barista/bakery assistant caught her eye!!

Anyway, wish me luck!!!

xoxo

BaLi BaBy

So for the past week, I have been in Bali, Indonesia with a group of friends. I was with Meg, Luke, Phil, Jack, David and Jace. We arrived Monday night. The whole group went out to dinner and ended up at a club called the Bounty. After clubbing, we came back to the boys hotel (The Bounty...not at all confusing) and swam in the pool for a while. Meg and I made it back to our hotel (the Wina) around 330 am.

Tuesday, the entire group walked into Kuta square for some shopping. Fixed prices...expensive! We ended up getting a cab into Denpassar to go to a mall. Meg and I encountered a HUGE problem: the toilet. I can't even describe to you the nastiness of this toilet. First of all, we had to pay 1,000 rupiah to use it. We were given 3 squares of toilet paper...not nearly enough!!...and walked in. I opened the first available stall and stood there staring in shock and disbelief. How the heck do I use this toilet?! After ten or so minutes of deliberation, Meg and I left the bathroom, blatters still full. After shopping, we headed back to the hotel for another swim. Luke was starting to feel really ill at the shopping center, so he took it easy for the rest of the night.

Wednesday, the group (sans Luke) went to a waterpark called Waterbom Park. It was good fun. The first ride was terrifying though. You stood by yourself inside a coffin-like apparatus. They shut the door, count to 3, and drop the floor out from under you and you go shooting straight down and eventually go around a loop (upside-down style!) and come out at the bottom with a big wedgie. Everyone screamed when it was their turn!! The rest of the rides were pretty fun, but I think my favorite was the lazy river. We all had good fun on that!! Afterwards, we all went to dinner (even Luke!) and then went out to the Bounty again. Luke stayed in because he was still sick. I ran into a friend, Chris, at the Bounty. We were going to do karaoke, but unfortunately we never got to our turn. When we got back to the hotel, we discovered that Luke had been taken to the hospital. We later learned that he had appendicitis and would have to have his appendix removed the next morning. That was a big downer, so we just relaxed the rest of the night.

Thursday, Meg and I got up early, ate breakfast, and decided to get ready for the day and go back to bed until the boys came around to meet us. Literally, as soon as we were both back in bed, the boys came knocking. We had to get to the hospital asap because Luke's surgery was at noon and we had to be there to sign release forms for him. We got there (after a nasty cab ride with no airconditioning) and found his room. It was SO small that we literally crowded around the bed and were touching the bed and walls at the same time. Poor Luke. Afterwards, we went back to Kuta and did some shopping and set up quad biking for the following day.

Friday, we woke up early and went quad biking. We were picked up in front of the boys' hotel and were driven 2 hours into the mountains and rice patties. We quad biked for 2 hours and had lunch. It was good fun! It rained a bit, so it was very muddy, which made it even better. There were some really steep parts where you had to keep your brakes on and just slide down. Scary, but awesome! Jace managed to go through 3 bikes: the brakes on bike #1 blew out on the steepest hill causing him to smash into a tree and get a scrape, and the tire on the second bike popped. Bike #3 seemed pretty good. We were all sooo tired and ridiculously muddy afterwards, so it was an early night.

Saturday, the boys rented motor bikes (like mopeds) to drive around town on. We did that for a bit, and then went into Centro, a bit shopping center in Kuta. After wandering around for a while, we went back to the hotel to swim and get ready for dinner. We were going to have a nice dinner out on the beach at a restaurant thats half in the water. On the way, we motor biked over to get our laundry done. Meg was involved in a motor bike accident which resulted in her being taken directly to the hospital to have surgery on her knee. Phil and Jack went along with her while David, Jace and I grabbed a cab to the medical center. We apparently went to the wrong one and called numerous other hospitals in order to find her, but failed. We went back to the boys hotel to wait. We tried to go to Jace and Jack's room, but their room key was signed out. We figured that either Phil or Jack had come back, signed out their room key in order to get my room key, which was in their room, in order to go to our hotel and get Meg's insurance information. Since neither of those keys were available, the three of us hung out in David's room, waiting for the others to return. The next morning, they still were not back.

Sunday, Jace, David and I had a sleep in (by accident) and hung out for a bit and went to pick up the laundry. We ate lunch at the place right next to where Meg had her accident, and the same girl can by to explain what happened since none of us saw it, and gave us her best. She was soo nice! Meg came back with Jack and Phil that afternoon, and we all just took it easy for the rest of the night.

Monday, the group just took it easy. We thought Luke might come back from hospital, but he didn't. We had an interesting ride from the hotel to the airport which included Jace yelling animal noises out the window at passers-by, lots of random singing, and Jack farting on my camara thus prompting the cab driver to start yelling 'more fart more fart!' and fart himself. I almost peed myself laughing. The airport was an adventure due to Meg's injury, but we managed after lots of stress. We are back home and safe now!!!

All moved in!

Well, I made it to Perth on Friday safe and sound! The ride over was less than desirable, though. From delays, to missing flights, to an uncomfortable seat…it was a VERY long day to say the least!

Kellie met me at the airport, and we went straight to her house to pack her things into the car. We then headed off to the realtors office and signed our lease!! Kellie’s parents and boyfriend, Mitch, met us at the house with a truckload of furniture and helped us move in and get settled.

The house is lovely!! It’s a 3-bedroom 2-bath with a large open kitchen/living room and a cozy den area. We also have a large back patio with a rose garden lining it. It’s larger than my apartment in Elon was!!

On Saturday, Kellie, Mitch and I went to the Carousel mall to run a few moving-in errands such as getting a small dresser for me, hangers, etc. I looked into getting internet but I have to have a bank account (Australian) first in order to do that…so Monday! Afterwards, I went to visit Rhys, Calum and Nathan for a few hours. We had a good time…watched the world cup games, ate dinner, watched some movies etc. Rhys then dropped me off at home and I went to bed relatively early (for me). Jet lag man….

Sunday, Mitch and I watched Avatar while Kellie studied for exams and before he went back home (he lives south of Perth along the shore somewhere). After, I watched another movie and relaxed. It was an easy-going day.

Since it’s winter here, I was expecting temperatures in the 40s and 50s with lots of rain. Surprisingly, it has yet to rain (knock on wood) and has been fairly warm out. I would say somewhere between 60 and 70 so far, and very sunny! While it hasn’t been cold, our house is freezing (no central heating), so we have been “rugging up” (bundling up), and turning on the space heater in the den. It doesn’t reach the entire house, so hanging out in the den is preferential! It’s really cold because all of the floors (sans bedroom and den) are tile, which doesn’t absorb heat…good for summer not winter!

Monday I got to hang out with a good friend Steve. We went to the carousel mall and hung out at my house for a bit. Nothing too exciting. Meg…another friend…stopped by for a bit, so we visited as well.

Tuesday was pretty drab : rained allllll day. Jamee came over for a bit. Was nice to catch up!! I also applied for a bunch of jobs around the area! Let’s hope something pulls through! Oh – it’s also Rhys’ 21^st today, but he studied all day for his exam in the morning, so I won’t see him until after that.

Australia...tomorrow!

SOOoooo I leave tomorrow, June 9th, for Australia!! I'm very excited to get back and see everyone again, though I will surely miss friends and family here in the States! My room mate, Kellie, and I have found a house in a suburb called Cannington. It's about a ten minute drive to campus, and it's right down the street from the shopping mall, food stores, and the train/bus station. I think I'll like it! Kellie, who is Australian, says that the house is quite nice!

I'll be looking for jobs once I get moved into my house, and also finishing my application to Curtin University's Master of Physiotherapy program. It will be a busy winter (Aussy winter, that is!)!

I have my new address, so if you're interested in that please let me know!

for now..

Life Update

(Pictures of good times from senior year)

So, as most of you already know, I am about to graduate from college! Wow...what a huge change!! As sad as I am to leave Elon, this place I have called home for the past 4 years of my life, it's time to move on to bigger things. I have had so many wonderful memories here: Derby parties, Halloween parties, girls nights, beach trips, and adventures into the city (just to name a few). I will certainly miss this adventurous and glamorous lifestyle! But alas...
What is the next step? Perth! I have decided to move back to Perth for a minimum of a year to pursue some life goals. My current plan is as follows:
1) Have my wonderful roommate, Kellie, find suitable accommodation in Perth (please hope that we get the house that we want and that it is as fantastic as it seems on paper!)
2) Say farewell to my Elon friends, who I will miss like none other!!
3) Head home for a few weeks to see friends and family/pack/get ready!
4) Get on a plane in mid-June
5) Find a job
6) Apply to graduate school (and hopefully get accepted)
If all goes as planned (I get into Curtin's Physio), I will be there for a minimum of 3 years!! I am really hoping that things go my way. While I have beet out on my own for the past 4 years, I feel like living abroad will really test me and I will know if I really am the person I think I am. We shall see...
I'll update again when I know what my definite plans are!!!

Sydney

Mom and I arrived in Sydney fairly early. We collected our bags and took the train to Circular Quay, near where our Marriott Hotel was. We were not able to check into the room right away, so we hung out in the executive lounge for a while waiting. Once we were able to check in, we realized that the hotel room seemed like a palace compared to the hostels we had been previously staying in. Luxury at its finest!! Once settled in, we decided to go explore the city a bit. We walked around on The Rocks, an area of town with lots of restaurants and shops and a street market. We stopped at a pub for lunch and talked for a while. Then, we headed back to the hotel. Mom fell asleep and was in for the rest of the night. I hung out with Matty and Layla later that night for a few hours, even though they were stayed down the street in a hostel.
The next day, Mom and I ate breakfast at Pancakes on the Rocks, suggested to us by my good friend Nathan. It was a really good breakfast, and afterwards Mom and I headed out agian to explore some more. On our way to meet Matty and Layla at a supposed observation center, we got lost. We were walking along the well-known icon Bridge, but could not figure out how to cross it!! Eventually, a man let us know that we had walked too far and needed to backtrack in order to cross. So we did. Eventually, we found Matty and Layla and continued on to find the observation area. After about 20 minutes of walking around up and down hills, we discovered that the 'observation tower' was really just one of those towers for planes. We were bummed out and walked back, only to find that the REAL observation area was a park with a lousy view of nothing.
We continued walking through the city over towards the waterfront. We ended up stopping for some lunch at a small cafe. While Matty and Layla were ordering, Mom and I found cute little birds. They landed on the table literally 2 feet from where I was sitting!! They were clever little birds and ripped open a sugar packet and ate all the sugar and then took a second sugar packet with them for later!
Once Matty and Layla got their food, we sat on the waterfront so that they could eat. We then walked to the Sydney Opera house for some prime pictures. The Opera House is smaller than I would have imagined, but still magical!


***Will update later***

Brisbane

Brisbane, while a very nice city in itself, is not my favorite city in the world. It is quite clean, but fairly busy for its size and it seemed there was not a whole lot to do. Mom, Matt, Layla and I were lost the first few hours in the city, not knowing what to do or where to go first. We ended up walking across the river onto the esplanade. There are some great views of the city, including the casino, which is lit up red at night. We rode the observation Ferris wheel, from which we were able to view the entire city. That night, we just crashed for the evening.
Our second day in the city, we walked around to see what there was to see in the daylight. We walked downtown to a street mall called Queen Street. This mall reminded me so much of the Hay Street and Murray Street Malls and made me think about Perth. This was about all that we did this day, unfortunately wasting much of the day.
The third day in Brisbane, we decided to get out of the city and visit Steve Irwin’s zoo, called Australia Zoo. Here, we watched a crocodile show put on by Terry, Bindi (aboriginal for ‘little girl’) and Bob Irwin. The show was quite neat, but I was glad to be seated in the stadium instead of in the pool with the croc!! He was a very large croc and a favorite of the trainers for his ferocity. Also, they put on a free-flight bird show that was absolutely awesome! Imagine parrots, cockatoos, and other ‘exotic’ birds flying “at will” around the stadium until ‘recalled’ by their trainers. We feed and petted kangaroos, watched Asian elephants up close and personal, petted koala, and were blown away by the Sumatran tiger show (they swim!!!). We also saw wombats (Mom’s fav), otters, wallabies, dingoes, camels, cassowaries (weird birds!), and many other crocs and lizards.
We stopped at a fresh local fruit market on the way back to Brisbane – pineapple, strawberries, and macadamia nuts – then asked to be dropped off at our favorite restaurant – the Criterion – for an early evening dinner. Afterwards, we headed back to the hostel and crashed for the evening.
The next day, we all decided to walk to the esplanade again, just to see some sights we had missed in the days prior. We came across some markets, but just walked through them since they were about the same as other market places we had been to on this trip. We called it an early night, after walking a few kilometers back to the hostel. Later that night, a few friends from Curtin university, Livia, Jaymes, Aurelian, and a few other, popped into the hostel to visit with Matt and I for a few minutes before heading out to the clubs. It was nice to see them for the last time before heading home.

Melbourne

On June 25, I flew into Melbourne from Perth. Mom, Matt, Layla and I decided to travel together for 2 weeks before returning to the States. I met mom in Melbourne in the morning, and we went around town and found a hotel to stay in for the night. Matt and Layla did not join us the first day/night. Since we arrived so early (my flight got in before 6am, hers around 9am), we had plenty of time to get to the hotel, shower, and get ready for the day. By the time we were both situated, it was noon, even though we both felt like it was about 7pm! We decided to get some lunch and head to the aquarium.
The exhibits were fabulous!! They had the cutest penguin exhibit I have seen in an aquarium!! They were absolutely adorable, and mom and I both loved them!! We also saw a variety of jelly fish, large fish, sharks, sting rays, sea turtles, frogs, scuba divers, star fish, urchins, crabs and seahorses.
Afterwards, we were both fairly tired, so we headed to the hotel for the night. It was weird sleeping anywhere without my friends around, since we all lived together the entire semester!! I definitely missed them that night.
The next morning, Matt and Layla made it to Melbourne. We all checked into a hostel and got ready for the day. We walked around town a bit, through the esplanade, and settled at a cafe for lunch. We then headed to Eureka Observation Tower to get some views of the city..which is much larger than Perth, and also quite fabulous! Afterwards, we walked around town a bit and hoped onto a free bus that takes you to all the touristy destinations around the city. It gave us a good idea of what the city is like. We hopped off the bus and walked back to the hostel to rest (we were all tired) before dinner. We walked into town for dinner at a really nice italian street restaurant. Afterwards, we all crashed for the evening.
The next day, we took the bus out to St. Kilda beach. There are markets here, but only on Sundays. Luckily, it was Sunday and we were able to scan all the vairous booths and see interesting works. We also got to walk on the beach and docks a bit and get a great glimpse of the city from a few kilometers away!! While walking back along the docks, we found a tiny penguin in the rocks that form the ledge between two pathways. He was so tiny and adorable..and blue!! We ended up eating dinner in St. Kilda and hanging out at the restaurant for a few hours chatting. Once back at the hostel, we started up a game of rummy 500 and made a few new friends around the place.
Monday, the 4 of us went on a tour called the Penguin Parade. We started out at an Australian Garden, stocked with only native Australian plants...alot of what you would find in the outback and bush. It was neat to see what the native plants look like because you can't find many of them in the wild any more. Next, we went to a chocolate factory. It was hands-down the best chocolate I have had!! Yummy!! They had lots of free samples, and lots of artwork all done in chocolate. The next stop was a Koala conservation. Koalas are not new to me, since I have been in Australia for 5 months, but it was still exciting to walk through the trees and spot the cute creatures nestled among the branches. We then went on to a natural formation called the Nobbies. These are small islands off the coast of Phillips Island. Among the Nobbies live many sea lions!! unfortunately, we did not see any of them, but it is neat to think that they are there!!
The last stop for the day was the Penguin Parade. The idea is that everyone sits in this semi-stadium located right on the dunes of a beach at night time. The only lights allowed are the stadium lights, which are blunted. The tiny Fairy Penguins swim into shore every evening, coming out in groups between 10-30. They are absolutely adorable!! This is one of the most amazing events I have seen! The little guys would pop out of the sufr and wait there for the rest of their group to come out of the surf. Then, one brave little penguin would waddle towards the dunes to make sure its safe, followed by the rest of the herd. Once on the dunes, the each went their separate ways to their dens. As we walked back, the penguins were all around the paths...within petting distance, although it's illegal to touch/photograph/film them for fear of blinding or harming them.
Tuesday, Matt and Layla took the day to explore more of the city. Mom and I took the Great Ocean Road Tour of southern Melbourne. It was a great day tour..though quite long!! We got picked up at 740 am and drove out to Bells Beach, which is apparently quite popular for surfers. While I cant remember the exact order of what we did, these are the events:
- Lorne - very expensive beach resort area
- Apollo Beach - nice beach area with cute shops and cafes
- 12 apostles - rock formations in the ocean
- London Bridge - rock formation that formed a natural bridge into the ocean..part of which fell 20 years ago
All of these are worth seeing, but unfortunately it rained on us for a few of the sights
Tuesday night, we were all fairly tired, but I got to skype with Rhys, which was a good time!! We had to get up at 430am wednesday morning to catch our flights to Brisbane, but I only got to bed at about 130am. After laying restlessly in bed for a while, the girls next door began screaming incredibly loud, body slamming into doors, etc. After about 15 minutes of waiting for this to stop, I decided to go see what the commotion was. Turns out, it was just a few inconsiderate girls. As soon as I knocked on their door, the noise stopped for the rest of the night and I was able to sleep in peace..for about an hour and a half until my alarm woke me up!!

A Hard Ending

The last few weeks of my study abroad trip to Curtin uni brought about many mixed emotions from me as well as the group of amazing friends I have made here. I am so sad to leave them, even heartbroken. While I love and miss my friends back at home and at Elon, the friends here I will cherish the rest of my life! We formed such a close bond so quickly, and it seems that it was stripped from me entirely too quickly.
The last few weeks, we were able to hang out alot more often, since everyone was done fairly early with their finals. We played a few pick-up games of footy and soccer, and went out a fair bit. In the last week all together as a group, 2 people celebrated their birthdays: Rhys turned 20 and Renae turned 18! The entire week was a long birthday celebration for the 2 of them consisting of going out to the pubs and clubs, since Renae is now legal!! Everything we did that week was so fun and so memorable..it was the last time that we will have that exact group of people together to go out and have fun :(
Anyway, people began slowly leaving for home and holidays, and I became increasingly sadder. I am sure some of these people have walked into and out of my life for good, though I hope I come across them again at some point! Towards the end of the week, I went to Albany to stay with Rhys at home. While there is not a ton to do in Albany, we found things to do together such as a Walk Among the Giants, in which u walk the suspension ramps up to 40 meters high in the Tingle Trees (excellent views!), go to Denmark to the beaches and to see where my friend Jamee comes from, go to see Transformers II, and drive around Albany a bit. It was a slow-paced week, but I cherish it!!
The night that I left Albany is one of the worst nights I can remember. I was not ready to leave WA and definitely not ready to leave Rhys! I cried the entire way from Rhys' house to the airport, the entire wait in the airport, and almost the entire hour-long flight to Perth. Once I got to Perth, 2 good friends Matt and Calum were there to meet me with my luggage. I am forever grateful that they were there because I was too upset to deal with the issues that I began having when I tried to check in. My luggage was almost 30 kilos over the limit for domestic flights, and for every single kilo over the limit you have to pay a fine of 10 dollars. I was ultimately going to pay about 300 dollars to take my luggage to Melbourne with me, so instead I repacked my bags and left a bag in Perth with the boys. Matt will bring it back to the states with him when he returns towards the end of July.
After a sad goodbye and thank-you to Calum, he and Matt left me in the airport to catch my flight to Melbourne. Goodbye WA, I can't wait to see you again!!

<3<3

Study abroad dinner and Swan River Cruise

Friday was the last day of classes at Curtin, so the school threw a huge party for the campus at the Tav. My friends and I always meet there fridays for lunch, so we got there at noon as usual. The place was PACKED!! Instead of leaving and coming back later for the party, we decided to stay at the Tav and wait around for the party to start. I left around 4.30 to get ready for a dinner in Perth with the study abroad group with all our advisorss while the rest of my friends stayed at the Tav.
We all got on the bus to head to Perth, going the way that I know best to get to Northbridge. A bunch of the people coming with us had no idea how to get to the restaurant we were going to, so I told them to follow me because I knew exactly where we were heading. No one believed me!! So, instead of arguing with the large group, I told Matt and Komal to follow me and that we would get there with or without the rest of the group. The rest of the group reluctantly followed me, complaining the entire way that we were going in the wrong direction. Ignoring them, we continued to walk towards Northbridge in the right direction. Only after we arrived at the restaurant (without having taken any detours or getting lost) did everyone realize that I did know where I was going!!
For dinner, I ordered pumpkin soup, potato gnocchi, and a chocolate brownie. It was really good...and free!! We had some good conversation with the rest of the group and the advisors, saying our final goodbye's to some members of the group we would not be seeing again as they are leaving early for home. Once the meal was over, Matt, Komal and I were going to walk across the street and take the train back to school. Some other girls decided that they were coming with us and demanded that we take the free bus instead to the busport and take the bus home from there, which we ended up doing. After lots of complaining (and Matt and I regretting that we ever listened to these girls at all), we got to the bus station and found out that the next bus wasnt for over an hour! Having had enough of these annoying girls, Matt and I left the bus station, draggin Komal (who felt bad for the girls) with us to the Perth underground. Long story short, we got home before the annoying girls even got on the next bus home.
Saturday, a large group of us went into Perth city for some shopping and lunch. We hung out around town for a few hours, signed a petition against cutting down a rainforest somewhere in Asia, then headed back to campus. 4 of us...Matt, Rhys, Layla and I...were all going on a boat party cruise up the Swan River for the end-of-the-year bash for Kurrajong Village, which is where Matt and Rhys live. It was cocktail attire, so I finally had an excuse to wear the cocktail dress I brought along to Australia with me!! The boat was a TON of fun!! I knew alot of the people that went along on the cruise, including my student advisor Sean, so I had a lot of fun socializing with everyone one last time before study week. On the boat, we were given dinner (subway, chicken, sushi), had a dance party, and were able to walk out on the front of the boat and overlook the city. Overall it was very fun and we are all glad we went!
After the boat cruise, Rhys and I walked downtown and caught the bus to a bus station about 2km away. From there, we walked to the Burswood Casino to watch some rugby with his South African friends. South Africa played against New Zealand. I didn't understand most of the game and was really tired and cold (yes cold!!), so I was a bit grumpy at the game. We eventually got a cab back to campus at about 2am.
Sunday, a bunch of us all went down to Fremantle to show Kelsey's friend Drea (visiting from Elon) around. We ate lunch at a fish and chips place, walked around town a bit, and tried to go on a tour at a Submarine museum, but all the tours were full. We headed back to campus for the rest of the day. Back at campus, a friends sister came by to do "beauty day" with the girls. I got my eyebrows waxed for 6 bucks!! Pretty exciting considering it costs around 20-25 to get that done regularly (which is MUCH more expensive than at home where I pay 5 bucks).
After dinner, I was washing up some dishes. I didn't realize that one of the cups I was cleaning had a crack in it (which I had seen days earlier and didnt think anything of). Unfortunately, as I was cleaning the cup, it broke and gave me two nice cuts on my pinky finger, which didnt stop bleeding until monday morning. It's still sore :(
Today, we are going to try to get a bunch of friends together to play some a pickup game of footy before some people head home for the week for study week.

Later!!

Birthday,

Today was my 21st Birthday!! Mom and Rick were in town, so they took me and a bunch of friends on a Swan Valley Wine Tour. I have never been on a wine tour, so the whole experience was new to me. We were picked up in Perth and were driven into the valley. We went to three differrent wineries where we tasted around 6 types of wine at each place, along with nouget and cheese. I didn't find too many wines that I enjoyed, so I guess I won't become a wine-o, as mom puts it!!.
We were then taken to a german brewery where we each had a glass of beer each. We got to pick from a list of about 4 different types of beers. I tried a pilsener and was not too fond of it, so I swaped with mom. Her beer was a little bit better. At the brewery, they had german sausages there for everyone to sample as well which were REALLY good!!
After, we went to Margaret River Chocolate Factory. This factory is famous for its quality chocolates all over the world. The chocolates were veryyy good!!! Everyone was given a sample chocolate, and then I bought an ice cream and a small box of hazelnut chocolated covered peanuts, which are REALLY good!!
Then it was back to Perth for dinner with everyone at a pizza shop!!
Overall, a very fun and unique birthday!!!!

Footy

One of the student advising staff members bought tickets for the study abroad students within my group to attend an Aussy Rules Football game on Friday. Not as many abroad students as expected actually picked up tickets to attend the game, so I was able to gather enough tickets for my friends to come along. The game was held at the Subiaco Oval in Perth City. Fremantle Dockers, which was the home west coast team from Perth, was playing against the Hawthorn Hawks, who are from Melbourne area. The game was really fun and exciting to watch. It is fairly similar to rugby I am told, but I don't know anything about rugby either, and is much faster pacedthan American Football is. Unfortunately, the Dockers lost the game, but it was a fun experience to see an aussy-rules game in Australia!!

Some updates

Friday, a group of about 18 friends (including me) went paintballing. This is the first time I have ever been paintballing, so I wasn't sure of what to expect. After getting lost (the place is about 45 minutes away from Curtin), we arrived at the course. The instuctor had us all fill out a waiver and get into some jumpsuites and masks. He then proceeded to inform us on how to use a gun and about the different areas we were going to be gaming in. I was scared out of my mind by the time he was done explaining everything to us. Then it was time go onto the first course. For the majority of the course, I hid behind a tree, terrified to get hit. I saw alot of people from the other team surrendering and walking off, so I thought I might be able to move away from my hiding spot. As soon as I moved, I was getting shot at!! Terrified, I began shooting all the people I saw around me. I got a few people to surrender, but eventually got shot as well...right on the tibia (shin) bone. OUCH! BUT the paintball did not explode, therefore I was not out yet!! I made it through the first game alive!
In the next game that we played, I had to surrender because I ran out of ammo. As I was surrendering (raising the gun up so people know NOT to shoot at you), I got shot 3 times...once in the thumb, once on the left thigh and once on the right knee. It was painful!! These hits yielded HUGE welts which eventually turned into nasty ringed bruises...blue/purple/red/white rings...literally!!
By the end of the day, I was ready to quit!! We played many different games on different courses. It's fun, but terrifying!! I suppose I will never ACTUALLY shoot guns because holding a weapon was scary enough...not to mention the 50 other people on the courses holding guns and shooting at me!!
Other news: I finally got a grade!! Only halfway through the semester..ya know. Anyway, it was on my Cell biology test that I took before the 2-week break. I got an A! Yay!! Told you I studied..

<3 me

Albany

For the second week of April break, my friend Kelsey and I went down to southern WA to Albany to visit my friend Rhys and his family. We had to take the bus from Perth, which took about 7 hours. Once we arrived, Rhys and another friend, Nathan (who had been there all week - also from Curtin) picked us up and we went to Rhys' house to settle in. We went to Rhys' friends house that night to hang out and were going to go to a nightclub in town but decided that the line was too long and just went back to Rhys' house to hang out for the rest of the night.
The second day, we did some touristy things such as see the Natural Bridge formed by rocks and the Gap...a huge gap between rocks. The pictures are a better explanation. That night we had an awesome BBQ for dinner and some of Rhys and Nathans friends from Curtin stopped by the house while on a road trip through SWA. We hung out with them for a bit, then they left
The next day, one of Rhys' friends' brothers took us to the TV set for a TV show that plays in Australia. I have never heard of it before and can't remember the name at the moment. The cast and crew were on holiday for the week, and Matt (who took us there) works there as set design crew. We got to see the entire set and help bring props in to be set up!! I have pictures of this, but I am not allowed to post them online, so if you want to see ask and I can email you.
Afterwards, we stopped for some lunch and went to eat on the beach. It was really windy, and there were tons of seagulls, so we ran to the car. As we left, we put all the food we didnt eat in the paper box it came in, stuck it under the car and drove away to see if the gulls would eat it. We drove approximately 15 meters one way, went around a driving circle and drove back. It took us about 30 seconds...by the time we came back the food was gone...even the box was missing!
The next day was really great weather, so we decided to go to a nice beach which the locals called the Waterfalls. On the way, Rhys decided I needed to learn how to drive. This proved very interesting because a) they drive on the opposite side of the road, b) Rhys drives a large pickup and c) its stick-shift. SOOO he pulled into a parking lot, turned the car around and I got into the drivers seat. I turned on the car (always always always remember to keep the clutch and brake in!) and Rhys put the car into gear. I stalled within seconds and had to restart! I eventually got out onto the road and drove (a very rocky) 20K or so to the beach.
The beach itself was soooo nice!! It was tucked away amongst huge boulders. We hiked through some woods and over some boulders to get to a more secluded beach. There were about 8 of in total...Kelsey and I were the only girls AND the only ones who had never done this treck before! We climbed some HUGE boulders (I thought I was going to die) over to sit on a sloping rock, then slid down to stand on a rock that was out in the water a bit. The water around this rock was at least 10 ft deep, but CRYSTAL clear and with very little current. I wish we had beaches like this at home...nothing at all compares! Anyway, after sitting there for about 30 or so minutes, we decided to go back to shore. The only way back was to dive in and swim back...so that is what we did. 2 of the boys went first, then Kels, then me. I dove in and as soon as I looked up I was like..'where's Kelsey!?'. She dove in maybe 10 seconds before me and already she was jetting ahead of everyone to get back to shore!!! (She is TINY too!). It was probably about a 3-400 meter swim back to shore, but it was very refreshing!!
The next day, Rhys had a dentist appointment so his mom decided that the three of us (me kels and nath) should go to Whaleworld..where they used to hunt, capture, and kill whales. We sat around for a bit at the house waiting for another friend, Jamee, to get to the house from Denmark, a town about 45 minutes from Albany. She got there, and Rhys got home before we left the house, so we went with him instead of his mom. It was a pretty neat exhibit...we enjoyed playing on the large ship they had at the museum. Nathan and Jamee then headed back to Perth while the three of us went to go see some natural Blowholes (which we didnt actually get to see, even after a 1.5 K or so walk down a hill...and back up again). We also saw Salmon holes, where salmon fishing and surfing are both popular.
The last day we spent in Albany was fairly relaxing. The three of us went to another tourist atrraction where they had alot of war remnants. The price was 6$ each, but I think the woman taking our money thought Kelsey was a child and let her in for free!! Quite funny because she is actually the oldest of the three of us!! (She is 21, I am 20, Rhys is 19). We saw lots of canons and Rhys got a kick out of being able to spin some around and act like he was shooting me. Typical boy.
Afterwards, we just hung around Albany for a bit and chatted with Rhys' parents, who are very interested about our lives in the US and how everything is so different from here!! It was fun telling them about some of the things that are different and things that we like to do around PA and NC.
That is all for now!!
<3 me

Ningaloo Trip!!

So this trip started out very interestingly. I had my alarm set for 7am, bags packed (sans toiletries) and everything ready. 7:32am rolls around and I get a text from my friend Kelsey asking if I was ready to head out to meet the group. This also happened to be my wake up call, unfortunately!! I forgot to set my alarm for Saturday, so it didn't go off!! I had to scramble to get all my toiletries in order and run out the door...without brushing teeth/hair or changing out of pjs. We made it to meet the group a few minutes early, so I went in to the bathroom to change into regular clothes and freshen up. This is when I realized that I forgot my hairbrush AND toothpaste. I did, however, remember the essentials such as mascara..go figure.
SOO then the bus pulls up. It's this old VW-looking blue bus with the MOST uncomfortable seats EVER! 13 of us pile in. It's about 8:05 and we are missing some people - we had strict instuction to be prompt. Nathan, our tour guide, calls the missing members...who happen to be in the middle of breakfast. Let me get this straight...I hopped out of bed, forgot a ton of necessities, made it to the bus AND changed in under 30 minutes while these girls are having breaky?? I didn't even get breaky!!
ANYWAY...we eventually take off!! First stop was the Pinnacles Dessert...about a 4 hour drive from Perth. It was a neat dessert with eroded sand/soil forming large rock-like protrusions from the ground. After the Pinnacles, we drove for a few minutes until realizing we had blown a few tires on good 'ol Oliver, our van. We had to pit stop for about 3 hours at a gas station that was unable to help us. We continued our travels towards Northampton Farmstay. It was literally a farm!! It was a fun place, though, and I bunked with 5 others.
Day two consisted of a drive up the Kalbarri National Park. The scenery here was soo pretty!! Red rock cliffs on the ocean..very nice! Then we took a hike around Mushroom rock for some more pretty scenery. We stopped at Shell Beach, which was made completely of tiny shells and was completely infested with annoying flys. My friend Toni and I had a fly-killing contest. We both won.
After, we went to the beach at Kalbarri and walked around the town a bit. The water was way too cold to swim in, but the town was a good alternative. Then, we loaded up the bus for a few hour drive to Monkey Mia. This was a pretty neat place...it was a backpackers resort (every place we stayed was a hostel/backpackers resort). Resort is a very loose term, but it worked for us! Nice beach with sting rays and dolphins right on the shore!! We all woke up relatively early to watch a dolphin feeding on the beach (7am), then took a power nap until about 945am when we departed for Coral Bay.
It took a few hours to get to Coral Bay, but it was well worth it!! We arrived fairly early and had breakfast at a small shop on the beach. A few of us decided to lay out on the beach for a while. It was ridiculously hot out (north = HOT!), so Kelsey and I got in the (shallow) water. We walked out probably 300 meters and the water was only hip deep. HUGE (1/2 meter long) fish were swimming all around us, so we decided to rent snorkeling gear and check out the reef that was just a few more meters out. It was SOO neat!! We saw marine life such as tropical fish, octapus, jelly fish, sting rays, coral, eels, etc. I would definintely do that again!!
After a few more hours on the beach, the group headed to our over night accommodations at another backpackers resort. We had dinner and decided to go to the beach lookout for the sunset, and the hang out at the beach hotel bar, which sits right on the beach. We all went to bed at about 9pm because we had to be on the bus and ready to depart before 550am!!
Once on the bus, I took nice pictures of the sunrise and the Australian Outback. You do not realize how barren Western Australia is until you drive through it. There is literally NOTHING here!! It's crazy. We drove over 7 hours and saw nothing more than bush.
We drove up to Exmouth, our final destination. Some people went scuba diving/snorkeling on a guided tour, but I wanted to see the Ningaloo Reef, so I stayed with the group and went on to Turquoise Bay. It was really nice to just relax on the beach!! The Reef was not as impressive as it was in Coral Bay, but it was still fun to snorkel over for a few minutes. I fell asleep on the beach and got about 5 shades darker!! I was very excited!! Once we left the beach, we toured the visitor center and the light house. I got some really pretty pictures of the Bay area/reef. Then we headed to the backpackers resort and hung out by the pool for a few hours. 3 of us decided to go sandboarding. We never actually found where we were supposed to sandboard, so we settled for a sand dune on the beach. It wasn't as fun as we though because the dune was short and not that steep, but we had a good time nevertheless!
This is about the end of the trip, unfortunately. It was a really good time and I highly recommend a trip up the Western coast of Australia to anyone!! The next day, we had a 12 hour drive back down to Northampton, back to the Farmstay for the evening. We had a good time that night catching up with each other and some of the other tour groups staying there for the evening. The next day, we had about 7 hours drive back to Perth!
Thats all!!!!

<3 me

Grant visits

One of my good friends from home in Lancaster came to visit this weekend!! Grant is studying abroad in Brisbane, which is on the East Coast towards the north. I took a cab to meet him at the airport, found him, and took a cab back to campus. Cabs are not cheap. We then walked to the Tav to meet up with a bunch of my friends. We hung out and played pool for a while before deciding to head over to Don Watts (where some of my friends live). This is where Grant was going to stay for the weekend because they have couches there and it's much more spacious.
Once we got to Don Watts, we all changed and got ready for the beach. We went out to Cottesloe beach, which is a really pretty beach here. It was also apparently Heath Ledgers favorite beach!! We hung out on the beach for a while and played footy (aussy rules football...much more fun that american football) and swam.
We left the beach to head back to school around 6 and showered, ate and got ready for a night out in Northbridge. On the way home, I took Grant through Perth city so he could see some of the things Perth has to offer such as the Swan Belltower, the ferris wheel, the Swan river (the city sits on top of the river), a glance at Kings Park (we didn't get up there), the street malls, and the Perth Kangaroos.
Grant forgot to bring his passport, so the only ID that he had to get into the clubs was his Pennsylvania license. We luckily ended up getting into a club, although my friends and I don't always like this club. It ended up being a good night for this particular club, though, and we all had a good time. They had a live band that night doing covers of popular songs!
Saturday, we all hung out, played some footy and ate lunch. We went to a BBQ at my friends boyfriends house. He lives in Fremantle, so it was about a 20-minute car ride. A bunch of us took public transport since we only had one car about 15 of us went. Public transport took an hour and a half.
Once there, we met Chris' friends and hung out around the fire pit. Chris grilled up some food (sausages, burgers, potato salad, veggies, etc) and we all ate. It was a pretty fun night...new people, good music, fire..all fun. We camped out in Chris' back yard in tents and swags. A few people went back to Don Watts because it was kind of chilly out. I toughed it out in a swag. They didn't turn off the music all night, but I eventually fell asleep only to be woken up the next morning by Chris and his friends flipping my swag. It was 630am. Music was blaring again. They are crazy!!
We ate breakfast and packed up the car and went back to Don Watts. Because we all were woken up at a ridiculous hour, we were all tired. We watched Transporter 1 and 2 and vegged out until about noon when we decided it was lunch time and went to subway. We then watched footy all day. Grant had to catch a cab at about 3 to make his 5'o'clock flight. After he left, we watched more footy and then went to pick up our friend Calum at his friends house. Rhys and I went in the car with Jamee, the driver, because we had not left the house all day. We watched more footy when we got back. What a lazy day. Then I helped Steve and Nathan study their physiology. I'm a pro at physiology. Not really, but I know my stuff pretty well after having about 4 physiology classes. I felt smart.
I went to bed last night (sunday night) before 9pm since I didn't get much sleep the night before. It was all in good fun though.
That is all for now!
<3 Me

Cirque du Soleil

Last night (wednesday), Livia, Komal, Kelsey and I went to Cirque du Soleil!! This is probably one of the most amazing events I have ever attended in my life!! The people are ridiculously acrobatic/flexible/balanced!! SO crazy!! I absolutely recommend it to anyone into dance/performing arts.
Some of the stunts that they performed included:
- juggeling with a combination of 9 pins and balls while doing flips, spins, turns, etc.
- balancing on balls twice the size of the person while doing flips, spins, turns onto/off the ball and balancing on each others shoulders
- a trampoline act involing like 10 people, 2 large trampolines, and high walls. They jumped off the walls and did ridiculous flips onto/off of the trampolines, ran up the walls and fell, etc. So cool
- one girl got up on a round platform that was probably 10 ft off the ground and had only about a 4 ft diameter. on the platform was a tiny little balancing bar. she balanced on the bar with ONE hand for like 15 minutes doing absolutely crazy handstands/airsplits/body cortorsions. she was amazingly flexible
- one couple did a gorgeous duet on material hanging from the ceiling. they each had their own piece of material and they did variations on wrapping their body in the material and falling back to the ground...they were not attached to ANYTHING...they just depended on their material wrapping skills. that act alone made the entire show worth seeing.
- girls in pointe shoes balancing on balls comprapable to lightbulbs. they balanced on each other shoulders...while on point on these balls...up to 3 people high...without falling. take it from me...pointe isnt easy even without anyone balancing on top of your shoulders...i can't imagine anyone (let alone 2 people) balancing on my shoulders while on pointe and balancing on balls. wow.

Anyway...the show was definitely worth seeing!!! I loved it and decided I am joining it!

<3 me