Well I know I just posted one yesterday, but having Mexican food in Australia is super important and definitely calls for its own blog!
If you recall from one of my earlier posts Thursday is shopping day here in Australia. Therefore, after class got done at 7pm I hopped on the bus and went to Jesmond shopping centre to get groceries. Well my mom had sent me some seasoning packets and therefore I thought that I should definitely get to work and start using them. In order to use them I needed to purchase ground beef, soft tortilla shells, lettuce, salsa, and cheese! They didn't have Mexican cheese so I had to make do with just white Cheddar cheese (tear), and well of course their salsa just doesn't taste right, but I needed some on it. Anyways though as I was making my ground beef two of my roommates passed through the kitchen and asked what I was making because it smelled so good! Haha it made me feel good about my cooking!
Finally dinner was served and I had put everything on the shell. I said grace and then dove into my homemade taco! IT WAS AMAZING! Seriously the best thing I have eaten since I have gotten here! HHMMM definitely hit the spot! Well really that's all the big news I have for you. I just wanted to let everyone know how much I miss my Mexican food and am glad I finally was able to eat some. Mom/Dad don't worry I still want the taco when you pick me up from the airport!
Friday, August 28, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
The Best Birthday Weekend Ever!
Well of course you all read my amazing skydiving experience which began my Birthday weekend in Byron Bay. After the checking one off the Bucket List, we came back to the hostel and changed for the beach. Our plan was to just lie on the beach since we had been traveling on a bus for the night before for about 11 hours. Since the wind was so strong though that we decided we would have been too cold to lie on the beach all day long. Therefore we decided to just take pictures along the beach and make the coastal trek up to the Byron Bay lighthouse and see the most Eastern point of Australia. The trek to the lighthouse took us about 2 hours. It was really pretty, but the walk from Bondii to Coogee was so much better! The lighthouse was pretty, but smaller than I was expecting. It was still well worth the trip up though. After our long walk back to the hostel we showered and went out to Hogsbreath for dinner. We found this amazing ice-cream shop on the way back to the hostel and of course I had to get a double scoop of some rich ice-cream. We had a pretty exhausting day so we just went back to the hostel and hung out on the deck with a bunch of other people that were staying there.
Saturday, August 21, we got up in the morning and prepared for our Grasshopper tour to Nimbon. The rainbow colored bus came to pick us up around 10am. The trip there was rather interesting because Kim had to share a seat with someone since the bus was actually over booked. A guy named Colman Casey sat next to her. He was from Ireland and was traveling Australia with 2 other mates. Colman was a pretty cool bloke. The group of us started talking about Ireland, the US, and even different places in Australia. We had quite a bit of fun asking each other questions. Finally after about an hour and half on the bus ride we arrived in Nimbon.
For those of you that don’t know or haven’t heard from it from me yet, Nimbon is a really, really, really, really, really hippy town! The whole town itself is only a street and about a football field in length! People though looked like they had come straight out of the 60’s and 70’s! Lots of dread locks, hemp made clothes and bags, tide die shirts, headbands, rainbow houses, and of course shops that everything under the sun. We took some funny pictures around town with the hilarious signs, which I will post some pictures of my favorite quotes and signs from around town.
After Nimbon we left to go to a waterfall nearby. The water was freezing cold; I mean after all what can I expect it is winter here! The jump from the top of the waterfall to the water was about 20 feet high. I made sure that I didn’t jump first because I wanted to make sure that other people popped out of the water alive! So when it came time for me to jump though I was so scared. I really couldn’t believe that I was more scared to jump off a waterfall than skydive or even bungee jump! Oh I made the jump though and I screamed bloody loud the entire way down! Trust me I still have my lungs and they are working quite well! I ended up jumping a total of 3 times from the top of the falls. Of course I screamed each time, but it was more of a fun scream the second and third time.
We got back from Nimbon and got ready for some dinner. Amber, Kim, and I finally settled on eating at an Italian restaurant. I ordered some lasagna. It was different than something I would have received at home though. It was served in a bowl with white sauce surrounding it verses red sauce just being in it. The lasagna might have looked different but it still tasted really good. Then of course we had to go to our amazing ice cream shop again, still tasted great! Finally, we went out to a place called Cheeky Monkey’s to go and dance!
Sunday, August 23, we woke up really early in the morning because I wanted to see the sun rise. So by 5am we were at the beach and all prepared to watch the sunrise behind the lighthouse on the beach. It was so pretty and I could not have asked God for a more beautiful birthday present! The colors were amazing a light purple with a dark sky while the lighthouse light kept circling around the bay. One of the prettiest things I have ever seen! After sunrise we walked back to the hostel and had to pack up because we had to be checked out of the hostel by 10am. From the hostel we decided to just go to the beach and lie out and soak up the sun since it was about 84 degrees out! Then we decided to grab a bite to eat at place called Orgasmic. I had read about it in my Lonely Planet Guide Book and it was recommended as one of the best places to eat in Byron Bay. Well I definitely enjoyed the food. It was a Middle Eastern restaurant that served mainly Egyptian food. I had this thing called a mega pocket. It had lots of vegetables, sauces, chicken, and a few other things in it. Hmmm tasty! Then of course for the last time we ate at the ice cream store before we caught the bus home!
My Birthday was fantastic though. I was able to see the beautiful sunrise, get a tan, and eat some amazing food! However, I have to say that I would much rather have been with my family because to be honest it didn’t feel like my birthday without being waken up by my mom in the morning with her glowing smile and of course the Sharp family birthday song that comes along with Grandpa’s homemade ice-cream and angel food cake! It’s okay though I guess I will just have to wait to have this experience again when I turn 21 next August. Thank you though for all the Birthday wishes everyone!
This week has flown by yet again. I am now finished with 5 weeks of classes which means that next week I have mid-terms… and means I need to open my books to start studying and writing the papers that are due. So I guess that means I need to let you all go and get at it!
Saturday, August 21, we got up in the morning and prepared for our Grasshopper tour to Nimbon. The rainbow colored bus came to pick us up around 10am. The trip there was rather interesting because Kim had to share a seat with someone since the bus was actually over booked. A guy named Colman Casey sat next to her. He was from Ireland and was traveling Australia with 2 other mates. Colman was a pretty cool bloke. The group of us started talking about Ireland, the US, and even different places in Australia. We had quite a bit of fun asking each other questions. Finally after about an hour and half on the bus ride we arrived in Nimbon.
For those of you that don’t know or haven’t heard from it from me yet, Nimbon is a really, really, really, really, really hippy town! The whole town itself is only a street and about a football field in length! People though looked like they had come straight out of the 60’s and 70’s! Lots of dread locks, hemp made clothes and bags, tide die shirts, headbands, rainbow houses, and of course shops that everything under the sun. We took some funny pictures around town with the hilarious signs, which I will post some pictures of my favorite quotes and signs from around town.
After Nimbon we left to go to a waterfall nearby. The water was freezing cold; I mean after all what can I expect it is winter here! The jump from the top of the waterfall to the water was about 20 feet high. I made sure that I didn’t jump first because I wanted to make sure that other people popped out of the water alive! So when it came time for me to jump though I was so scared. I really couldn’t believe that I was more scared to jump off a waterfall than skydive or even bungee jump! Oh I made the jump though and I screamed bloody loud the entire way down! Trust me I still have my lungs and they are working quite well! I ended up jumping a total of 3 times from the top of the falls. Of course I screamed each time, but it was more of a fun scream the second and third time.
We got back from Nimbon and got ready for some dinner. Amber, Kim, and I finally settled on eating at an Italian restaurant. I ordered some lasagna. It was different than something I would have received at home though. It was served in a bowl with white sauce surrounding it verses red sauce just being in it. The lasagna might have looked different but it still tasted really good. Then of course we had to go to our amazing ice cream shop again, still tasted great! Finally, we went out to a place called Cheeky Monkey’s to go and dance!
Sunday, August 23, we woke up really early in the morning because I wanted to see the sun rise. So by 5am we were at the beach and all prepared to watch the sunrise behind the lighthouse on the beach. It was so pretty and I could not have asked God for a more beautiful birthday present! The colors were amazing a light purple with a dark sky while the lighthouse light kept circling around the bay. One of the prettiest things I have ever seen! After sunrise we walked back to the hostel and had to pack up because we had to be checked out of the hostel by 10am. From the hostel we decided to just go to the beach and lie out and soak up the sun since it was about 84 degrees out! Then we decided to grab a bite to eat at place called Orgasmic. I had read about it in my Lonely Planet Guide Book and it was recommended as one of the best places to eat in Byron Bay. Well I definitely enjoyed the food. It was a Middle Eastern restaurant that served mainly Egyptian food. I had this thing called a mega pocket. It had lots of vegetables, sauces, chicken, and a few other things in it. Hmmm tasty! Then of course for the last time we ate at the ice cream store before we caught the bus home!
My Birthday was fantastic though. I was able to see the beautiful sunrise, get a tan, and eat some amazing food! However, I have to say that I would much rather have been with my family because to be honest it didn’t feel like my birthday without being waken up by my mom in the morning with her glowing smile and of course the Sharp family birthday song that comes along with Grandpa’s homemade ice-cream and angel food cake! It’s okay though I guess I will just have to wait to have this experience again when I turn 21 next August. Thank you though for all the Birthday wishes everyone!
This week has flown by yet again. I am now finished with 5 weeks of classes which means that next week I have mid-terms… and means I need to open my books to start studying and writing the papers that are due. So I guess that means I need to let you all go and get at it!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Checking one off the Bucket List!
Well we arrived in Byron Bay around 8:30am Friday, August 21, 2009. It was a day that I will always remember! We found our YHA hostel; checked in; and then the moment I had been so excited for since I decided that I was going to study abroad in Australia finally arrived.
I knew ever since I arrived that I wanted to go away somewhere for my birthday. After lots of research and talking with travel agents I decided that Byron Bay would be the perfect place. Thus, being because it is known to have some of the most amazing sights for skydiving! Yes read correctly, skydiving was on my Bucket List! Therefore at 9:15am, Skydive Byron Bay Company came and picked Kim, Amber, and I up for one of the most amazing experiences that I will probably ever experience! We took about a 15 minute car ride to the place. During this time we were supposed to be filling out the forms and signing saying that if we didn’t land right, the parachute didn’t open, or yada yada yada would happen that we wouldn’t sue. Oh yeah we also had to sign a form saying where we would like our body sent in case of death. Well we thought we had signed all the forms correctly so we started taking funny pictures of us with the papers and “signing away our lives”. Well we arrived at the company and well go figure us three girls couldn’t follow simple directions because we had missed about 3 whole pages of signatures! Oh well, we could have done worse things like not filled it out at all!
I know it sounds silly, but after we signed away our lives, we paid the company so we could jump out of the plane at 14,000 feet. Of course after taking our money they agreed to get us all geared up for the jump. They handed each of us parachute pants to put on over our clothes and a body harness. After getting all geared up it was time for some instructions. One of the jumpers/instructors came over and had each of us get on the floor. Then in his thick accent he told us that the key to falling correctly was to be in a “big banana” shape. Therefore, after a demonstration he had us all practicing arching our legs, head, and back on the floor to be in the “big banana”. After mastering the banana shape we moved outside where we were shown how to push our legs under the plane and start the banana shape when we are leaving the airplane. Right after the instruction my tandem instructor grabbed my hand and shoved me into the plane all the way up to the front of the plane. As I later realized this was because I was going to be the last one jumping out of the plane. Once everyone was in the propellers revved to life and we began our take off.
The decent towards the beautiful sky was amazing! I could see the little town of Byron Bay (20,000 people), the swells of the blue Pacific ocean below, the light colored sandy beaches, the most Eastern point of Australia, Byron Bay light house, and the gorgeous countryside that the Lord created. Truly beautiful sights! The instructors kept asking each of us how we were doing, lots of thumbs up, high-fives, pound-its, and huge smiles were passed amongst us in the plane. Not a single one of us were scared to jump so the atmosphere was really just full of excitement!
Finally after about 5 minutes of climbing, we had reached the “drop zone”… They opened up the side door and the next thing I knew people were just disappearing out of the side of the plane! I said goodbye to Amber and Kim, then just a few seconds later my instructor was telling me to make my way over to the door. I pushed my feet under the plane and arched myself into the “big banana” shape and then with my okay we fell towards the Earth. I am not 100 percent sure, but I felt like I did a front somersault before we stabilized in the air. The air was so cold that it felt like little icicles hitting my face. I was hardly able to notice that though when the rush of falling over 120 miles per hour towards the surface of the Earth and the breath taking view before me was so captivating. It was one of the best gifts that God has ever placed in my life! We free fell for about 60 seconds (10,000 feet) before we had to pull the chords for the parachute to come out at 4,000 feet. Parachuting was just as fun as the free falling. We did some circling around and goofed off some. At this point I was able to see Kim and Amber floating around preparing for landing. Lucky me I was last so technically I was in the air the longest and got to absorb more beautiful scenery! After about 5 minutes it was time to land so I pulled my legs up to my chest and we slid in on our butts on the ground.
Unfortunately, that was the end of one of my Bucket List activities, but I know I will always remember that experience. More importantly now I am determined to get my family to do it with me sometime. It could take my Dad some convincing because he sees no point in jumping out of a perfectly working airplane, and well then there is Lindsay with her fear of heights, but I think I might be able to convince them. Except I would like to be somewhere a lot prettier than Illinois when I get them to do it… so I guess that means another trip will be in the future!
I knew ever since I arrived that I wanted to go away somewhere for my birthday. After lots of research and talking with travel agents I decided that Byron Bay would be the perfect place. Thus, being because it is known to have some of the most amazing sights for skydiving! Yes read correctly, skydiving was on my Bucket List! Therefore at 9:15am, Skydive Byron Bay Company came and picked Kim, Amber, and I up for one of the most amazing experiences that I will probably ever experience! We took about a 15 minute car ride to the place. During this time we were supposed to be filling out the forms and signing saying that if we didn’t land right, the parachute didn’t open, or yada yada yada would happen that we wouldn’t sue. Oh yeah we also had to sign a form saying where we would like our body sent in case of death. Well we thought we had signed all the forms correctly so we started taking funny pictures of us with the papers and “signing away our lives”. Well we arrived at the company and well go figure us three girls couldn’t follow simple directions because we had missed about 3 whole pages of signatures! Oh well, we could have done worse things like not filled it out at all!
I know it sounds silly, but after we signed away our lives, we paid the company so we could jump out of the plane at 14,000 feet. Of course after taking our money they agreed to get us all geared up for the jump. They handed each of us parachute pants to put on over our clothes and a body harness. After getting all geared up it was time for some instructions. One of the jumpers/instructors came over and had each of us get on the floor. Then in his thick accent he told us that the key to falling correctly was to be in a “big banana” shape. Therefore, after a demonstration he had us all practicing arching our legs, head, and back on the floor to be in the “big banana”. After mastering the banana shape we moved outside where we were shown how to push our legs under the plane and start the banana shape when we are leaving the airplane. Right after the instruction my tandem instructor grabbed my hand and shoved me into the plane all the way up to the front of the plane. As I later realized this was because I was going to be the last one jumping out of the plane. Once everyone was in the propellers revved to life and we began our take off.
The decent towards the beautiful sky was amazing! I could see the little town of Byron Bay (20,000 people), the swells of the blue Pacific ocean below, the light colored sandy beaches, the most Eastern point of Australia, Byron Bay light house, and the gorgeous countryside that the Lord created. Truly beautiful sights! The instructors kept asking each of us how we were doing, lots of thumbs up, high-fives, pound-its, and huge smiles were passed amongst us in the plane. Not a single one of us were scared to jump so the atmosphere was really just full of excitement!
Finally after about 5 minutes of climbing, we had reached the “drop zone”… They opened up the side door and the next thing I knew people were just disappearing out of the side of the plane! I said goodbye to Amber and Kim, then just a few seconds later my instructor was telling me to make my way over to the door. I pushed my feet under the plane and arched myself into the “big banana” shape and then with my okay we fell towards the Earth. I am not 100 percent sure, but I felt like I did a front somersault before we stabilized in the air. The air was so cold that it felt like little icicles hitting my face. I was hardly able to notice that though when the rush of falling over 120 miles per hour towards the surface of the Earth and the breath taking view before me was so captivating. It was one of the best gifts that God has ever placed in my life! We free fell for about 60 seconds (10,000 feet) before we had to pull the chords for the parachute to come out at 4,000 feet. Parachuting was just as fun as the free falling. We did some circling around and goofed off some. At this point I was able to see Kim and Amber floating around preparing for landing. Lucky me I was last so technically I was in the air the longest and got to absorb more beautiful scenery! After about 5 minutes it was time to land so I pulled my legs up to my chest and we slid in on our butts on the ground.
Unfortunately, that was the end of one of my Bucket List activities, but I know I will always remember that experience. More importantly now I am determined to get my family to do it with me sometime. It could take my Dad some convincing because he sees no point in jumping out of a perfectly working airplane, and well then there is Lindsay with her fear of heights, but I think I might be able to convince them. Except I would like to be somewhere a lot prettier than Illinois when I get them to do it… so I guess that means another trip will be in the future!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Where do the weeks go? (August 17-20)
Well I have a ton to post to all my fellow readers out there, but I don't have time to do it all at once. Therefore, hang out, take a Australian chill pill and give me a few days to get all the wonderful stories out to you!
Last week flew by... I went to all my classes, which just seem so boring and I keep falling asleep through the some of the lectures. Oh well I guess I will just have to start my "hard" studying this week before the mid-terms which start next week. Anyways last week I spent a lot of my time in the STA travel office planning my 17 day spring break trip with my grandparents and oldest sister Lindsay! I seriously can't wait to see my family. After about 10-14 hours of trip research and booking in the office everything is all planned out except for New Zealand. I also did some final planning for this past weekend. Kim, Amber and I decided to go to Byron Bay for my birthday weekend. So last week we got ourselves ready by booking our round trip bus, Nimbon tour, and reading up on Byron Bay's sights. Well and of course I also slept worked out and prepared for the weekend by trying to get things done. Well Thursday finally came and we left to get on the 11 hour bus trip up to Byron Bay. We left Newcastle station around 9:20pm. I was so incredibly excited for the weekend that it took me a couple of hours to calm myself down so I could actually fall asleep on the magnificent bus seats!
Well I will continue to write about my birthday weekend tomorrow I believe I should be able to devote some time to it. As for now though I have to say goodbye! Sorry for such the quick update!
Last week flew by... I went to all my classes, which just seem so boring and I keep falling asleep through the some of the lectures. Oh well I guess I will just have to start my "hard" studying this week before the mid-terms which start next week. Anyways last week I spent a lot of my time in the STA travel office planning my 17 day spring break trip with my grandparents and oldest sister Lindsay! I seriously can't wait to see my family. After about 10-14 hours of trip research and booking in the office everything is all planned out except for New Zealand. I also did some final planning for this past weekend. Kim, Amber and I decided to go to Byron Bay for my birthday weekend. So last week we got ourselves ready by booking our round trip bus, Nimbon tour, and reading up on Byron Bay's sights. Well and of course I also slept worked out and prepared for the weekend by trying to get things done. Well Thursday finally came and we left to get on the 11 hour bus trip up to Byron Bay. We left Newcastle station around 9:20pm. I was so incredibly excited for the weekend that it took me a couple of hours to calm myself down so I could actually fall asleep on the magnificent bus seats!
Well I will continue to write about my birthday weekend tomorrow I believe I should be able to devote some time to it. As for now though I have to say goodbye! Sorry for such the quick update!
Monday, August 17, 2009
August 12-17th
So the rest of my school week went really fast and not as smoothly as I had wanted. My group for the project and presentation on Thursday did absolutely nothing. I had to write the entire 1000 word summary analysis by myself and carried the weight of the 40 minute presentation by talking for over 15 minutes about information because the first two girls didn't prepare enough information to take up the correct amount of time. I ended up talking to my tutor instructor and got him to allow me to switch to a new group for our next presentation in the class. Therefore, by Thursday I was completely exhausted and decided that I wanted to take a personal weekend!
Friday I decided that I had kept myself from malls or in the Australian terms a shopping centre for too long now... it had been a long time because I didn't really allow myself to shop all summer long at home because I wanted to save money for Australia. I went to Katora shopping Centre. Their shopping centres are different here in the respect that they have their grocery stores connected to them as well. So you do all your shopping at once. I ended up buying myself some 'Australian' style clothing: long blouse shirt, leggings, and a leopard print top. I wanted to buy some shoes, but of course had problems finding them in my size. That night I was still super tired from my exhausting week as well from my cold that I had gotten. So I watched a movie with Jenna and then called it an early night.
Saturday I worked out in the morning before grabbing my towel, Lonely Planet Guide Book, and some paper and headed to Newcastle Beach. It was so relaxing to just do some travel research for my upcoming 17 day Spring break trip! I just laid in the sun from 1pm-5pm (since it is winter and the sun is not out till 8pm like it is at home). The temperature was like 72 degrees F so it was one of the warmest days we have had here! It was just beautiful! I loved it. That night I went back downtown with Catie and a couple of other girls and played a game of pool and hung out with some other Aussie students from campus.
Sunday I talked to my wonderful family for a couple of hours, played some tennis, worked out, and went to church.
Today marked the first day of the beginning of week 4 of classes. It went rather smoothly by finishing up our lab with the sheep's brain and listening to my Organizational Change lecturer. In about an hour I am getting together with Kim, Amber, Catie, and Je'Ray to finalize the plans for Byron Bay this weekend. I am super excited for this weekend; it could potentially be one of the best birthday weekends of my life!
Friday I decided that I had kept myself from malls or in the Australian terms a shopping centre for too long now... it had been a long time because I didn't really allow myself to shop all summer long at home because I wanted to save money for Australia. I went to Katora shopping Centre. Their shopping centres are different here in the respect that they have their grocery stores connected to them as well. So you do all your shopping at once. I ended up buying myself some 'Australian' style clothing: long blouse shirt, leggings, and a leopard print top. I wanted to buy some shoes, but of course had problems finding them in my size. That night I was still super tired from my exhausting week as well from my cold that I had gotten. So I watched a movie with Jenna and then called it an early night.
Saturday I worked out in the morning before grabbing my towel, Lonely Planet Guide Book, and some paper and headed to Newcastle Beach. It was so relaxing to just do some travel research for my upcoming 17 day Spring break trip! I just laid in the sun from 1pm-5pm (since it is winter and the sun is not out till 8pm like it is at home). The temperature was like 72 degrees F so it was one of the warmest days we have had here! It was just beautiful! I loved it. That night I went back downtown with Catie and a couple of other girls and played a game of pool and hung out with some other Aussie students from campus.
Sunday I talked to my wonderful family for a couple of hours, played some tennis, worked out, and went to church.
Today marked the first day of the beginning of week 4 of classes. It went rather smoothly by finishing up our lab with the sheep's brain and listening to my Organizational Change lecturer. In about an hour I am getting together with Kim, Amber, Catie, and Je'Ray to finalize the plans for Byron Bay this weekend. I am super excited for this weekend; it could potentially be one of the best birthday weekends of my life!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
Beginning of August 3-11
Well I reckon everyone has been waiting on me to post something new for a while, so I will try to make this interesting for all of you wonderfully, eager, readers. Well last week marked the second week of classes for me... my lectures keep getting more and more pointless in the sense that they seem to just read from the PowerPoint and not go into any details and then when it comes time to the labs or tutorials I feel as though it doesn't retain to anything that we go over in the lectures... or that is really worth learning... oh well though there are only 12 weeks total of classes... so only 10 more left! Friday was Autonomy Day here on campus. Basically Autonomy Day is a day celebrated because it signifies the day that Newcastle Uni broke free of New South Wales Uni. Basically though it's just another reason for them to all get drunk by 6am Friday morning. I went to the beach that morning with the kids from bible study. We played some Frisbee as well as took pictures. While taking pictures I happened to get soaked by a wave with Matt when Ashleigh was trying to take our picture. It was quite humorous. The rest of the day I did some studying for my presentation that I gave Monday evening for Organizational Change and planned Kim, Je'Ray's and I's trip to Sydney for Saturday and Sunday.
We took the train from Newcastle to Sydney and arrived at Central station around 9am Saturday. We found a map from a hotel on a street and walked all over Downtown Sydney to all the famous points. Including Hyde Park, Royal Botanic Gardens, Art Gallery of NSW, Farm Cove walk, Bennelong Point, Sydney Opera House, Circular Quay, The Rocks, Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Sydney Market, and Darling Harbour before we stopped to find a hostel for the night. Then since we walked from 9am-5pm we dropped our stuff off and went to find a nice dinner. Sunday we woke up and went back to Darling Harbour to do the Sydney Aquarium. The Aquarium was cool because it mainly had just Australian fish. It also had two underwater tunnels that allowed us to see into two huge fish tanks full of sharks, sting rays, and lots of fish. After that we caught a bus to Bondi Beach because I wanted to walk the Bondi to Coggii coastal walk. It was a gorgeous coastal walk that took us about 2 hours to complete. I would like to go back to the beaches perhaps late October when its warmer! We took the bus back to Darling Harbour and ate our fish'n'chips on the steps of the harbour while the sunset. Then we caught the train back to Newcastle. It was a fun filled weekend that involved lots and lots of walking! We all had a great time and I will definitely be traveling with those two again!
I gave my first presentation last night in Organizational Change. It went really well. Now I am preparing for my next one on Thursday evening... this one is going to involve more work out of me unfortunately since my partners stink. Well I hope you enjoyed the update and I will keep you posted on how the rest of the week goes!
We took the train from Newcastle to Sydney and arrived at Central station around 9am Saturday. We found a map from a hotel on a street and walked all over Downtown Sydney to all the famous points. Including Hyde Park, Royal Botanic Gardens, Art Gallery of NSW, Farm Cove walk, Bennelong Point, Sydney Opera House, Circular Quay, The Rocks, Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Sydney Market, and Darling Harbour before we stopped to find a hostel for the night. Then since we walked from 9am-5pm we dropped our stuff off and went to find a nice dinner. Sunday we woke up and went back to Darling Harbour to do the Sydney Aquarium. The Aquarium was cool because it mainly had just Australian fish. It also had two underwater tunnels that allowed us to see into two huge fish tanks full of sharks, sting rays, and lots of fish. After that we caught a bus to Bondi Beach because I wanted to walk the Bondi to Coggii coastal walk. It was a gorgeous coastal walk that took us about 2 hours to complete. I would like to go back to the beaches perhaps late October when its warmer! We took the bus back to Darling Harbour and ate our fish'n'chips on the steps of the harbour while the sunset. Then we caught the train back to Newcastle. It was a fun filled weekend that involved lots and lots of walking! We all had a great time and I will definitely be traveling with those two again!
I gave my first presentation last night in Organizational Change. It went really well. Now I am preparing for my next one on Thursday evening... this one is going to involve more work out of me unfortunately since my partners stink. Well I hope you enjoyed the update and I will keep you posted on how the rest of the week goes!
Saturday, August 1, 2009
My First week of classes & Sand Surfing (July 27-August2)
G'Day Everyone!
So this past week I had my first week of classes. I am not like most study abroad students here because I am actually taking classes that count towards my major instead of just filling graduation requirements. I am enrolled in Biological Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Organizational Change, and International Human Resource Management. I think they will all be good classes. I have lots of group projects and 40 minute presentations, but I think they will be okay and as for my psychology classes I have some dissections, papers, and tests to finish for the semester.
So a few facts about life here. Wednesday night is definitely their party night. My dorm hall (consists of 350 people) held a back to school uniform party at a pub about a mile away from campus. So basically it was Halloween for them here... or at least that's how they dressed! It was weird, but I had fun hanging out with some people.
On Friday I got up early and did some workouts with my great friend Kim. Then came back talked to the family for some time, did some of my first studying, and then went to the soccer games between the different residential colleges. They told me I could play for the girls team, so I went and go ready, but they never put me in. I was so mad! O well though.
Saturday Kim, Amber, Tracy, Cullun, and Kyle all went to Port Stephens and went sand surfing. It was so much fun! we were able to surf for about 3 and half hours! We each took some great wipe outs and ended up with sand all over our bodies. It was such a blast though. We basically tried going do the sand dune every way they would let us. The sand dune was about 50 meters long and was actually really steep! Let me tell you my calves got a good workout. Then we got back to campus and we had to go to this formal dinner thing where we had to wear these black choir robe like things to. Then we were going to go to the Knights rugby match but the dinner got done too late and by the time we would have caught public transportation and got to the game there would have only been like 20 minutes left in the game at most. I was sad we didn't get to go to the game. Maybe it will work out for us to catch one of the other games.
Today I am going to do lots more studying because I really haven't studied much. Also going to do some working out, and then tonight go to church on campus. Which by the way I have met some really nice people through church and bible study! I am so blessed from God! Therefore, as a little update before I leave you once again waiting for newer information. I am doing so much better. I have been meeting some really fun people to hang out with, God is really guiding me through a process, and I am definitely not as homesick, even though I still miss my family terribly. I am realizing though that this semester will fly by and the next thing I know I will be back at home with just some more traveling done in my life. I realize there will be ups and down to while I am here but I will learn to embrace them and continue to grow as a person. Thank you so much for all your prayers everyone, I really needed them and still will need them. Just to let you know I am thinking of each and everyone of you as well!
So this past week I had my first week of classes. I am not like most study abroad students here because I am actually taking classes that count towards my major instead of just filling graduation requirements. I am enrolled in Biological Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Organizational Change, and International Human Resource Management. I think they will all be good classes. I have lots of group projects and 40 minute presentations, but I think they will be okay and as for my psychology classes I have some dissections, papers, and tests to finish for the semester.
So a few facts about life here. Wednesday night is definitely their party night. My dorm hall (consists of 350 people) held a back to school uniform party at a pub about a mile away from campus. So basically it was Halloween for them here... or at least that's how they dressed! It was weird, but I had fun hanging out with some people.
On Friday I got up early and did some workouts with my great friend Kim. Then came back talked to the family for some time, did some of my first studying, and then went to the soccer games between the different residential colleges. They told me I could play for the girls team, so I went and go ready, but they never put me in. I was so mad! O well though.
Saturday Kim, Amber, Tracy, Cullun, and Kyle all went to Port Stephens and went sand surfing. It was so much fun! we were able to surf for about 3 and half hours! We each took some great wipe outs and ended up with sand all over our bodies. It was such a blast though. We basically tried going do the sand dune every way they would let us. The sand dune was about 50 meters long and was actually really steep! Let me tell you my calves got a good workout. Then we got back to campus and we had to go to this formal dinner thing where we had to wear these black choir robe like things to. Then we were going to go to the Knights rugby match but the dinner got done too late and by the time we would have caught public transportation and got to the game there would have only been like 20 minutes left in the game at most. I was sad we didn't get to go to the game. Maybe it will work out for us to catch one of the other games.
Today I am going to do lots more studying because I really haven't studied much. Also going to do some working out, and then tonight go to church on campus. Which by the way I have met some really nice people through church and bible study! I am so blessed from God! Therefore, as a little update before I leave you once again waiting for newer information. I am doing so much better. I have been meeting some really fun people to hang out with, God is really guiding me through a process, and I am definitely not as homesick, even though I still miss my family terribly. I am realizing though that this semester will fly by and the next thing I know I will be back at home with just some more traveling done in my life. I realize there will be ups and down to while I am here but I will learn to embrace them and continue to grow as a person. Thank you so much for all your prayers everyone, I really needed them and still will need them. Just to let you know I am thinking of each and everyone of you as well!
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