...and that's all folks!

Exams finished. Room packed. 2 full days left. What just happened?

Sitting on the airplane on the way here, I sat among dozens of study abroad students buzzing with excitement at the prospect of a new place and a new adventure. I remember sitting there thinking of how terrified I was, going to a new place, a new country and not knowing anyone but mixed with a sense of calmness because everyone else was in the same boat. Even though it was nearly impossible to imagine at the time, I tried to think about how fast time would go by. I would be sitting right back on that plane heading the other direction thinking "I can't believe I'm going home already."

So here I am, physically ready to board the plane home in just a few short days, unable to believe that my time in Oz is already over. Where did the last 4 and a half months go? Just the other day I looked at my calendar and received a quick jolt to the system as I realized I had 8 days left. Then 7, then 5, then 3...

A common question I get from fellow Aussie students is "are you excited to go home?" And let me tell you, this question puts me in quite the quandary. Yes, family and friends, you are very much missed and I cannot wait until I can hang out with a huge bowl of popcorn and sour Patch Kids with and catch up on life. But Australia's been good to me, it's hard to say goodbye to a place that has become home in the few short months I've been here.

What they say is true, you change when you study abroad. I have gained independence and a sense of adventure of going after what I want. A bright little lady once said that "life is too short to be comfortable." I don't know where I am going to be in a month, in a year, in 10 years so there's no time like the present! I'm just loving and living life.

Signing out from Australia!

studying is the worst way to spend my last 3 weeks in australia.

Australia, you've been good to me. Uni, you have ruined the goodness that Australia has provided.

June 2 was the last day of class for me. My first exam is on Thursday, the 17th. What did I do between these two dates? Well you know the Straddie vacation, but other than that it has been spent "studying". Never in the history of college have I ever had this much time devoted to study and preparation for exams. My education has failed in preparing me to be a studious studier for weeks on end. I just can't do it! So that means a lot of study breaks including catching up on some Gilmore Girls a random tim tam run and chatting with friends.



One person I was able to catch up with for the first time since I have been in Australia is the long lost exchange student Rachel! We met years ago when she came from Australia and lived with my neighbors to study at my high school for a semester. We haven't spoken in years for real, but we needed to make a get together happen because how often are you in Australia? I wanted to do something really Australian and I mean SO Australian because I was actually with one. Soo....we went lawn bowling.



Before you get really excited, let me just explain that lawn bowling is a more or less old people's sport that has strong similarities to Bocce ball. Let me just say that it is a great place for older fellas to come out and socialize while drinking a beer but not really a young person's game or hangout. But I had wanted to do this ever since I saw a very Australian film called Crackerjack.




Rachel and I showed up and didn't know what we had gotten ourselves into. She was probably thanking me for dragging her to a ridiculous retirement home game that she wasn't planning on joining for another 60 years. But to both of our amazement, we had a fantastic time with the members of the bowls club who were eager to teach us the game and who were surprisingly non-gray haired. I had the advantage because my team were professionals. They had actually played another club earlier that day and had won. Rach was stuck with two young blokes who were not particularly gifted. Beginners luck was on both of our sides though and we held our own very well.

Nothing like a bunch of people chatting, having a good round of bowls and being on the winning team to break up a long 3 weeks of studying.

Straddie

Hello hello :)


As of this afternoon, Emily and I came back from a overnight adventure to a beautiful off-the map place called North Stradbroke Island. Due to the "off season", there were not a lot of people around which meant a quite and relaxing holiday in celebration of the end of uni classes!

We left for the island a little before 10am. After a series of almost mishaps/unfortunate events, we made it to the island a little after 1:30 I believe? It seems like we had been one step behind the whole way. After almost missing our morning train, we made it to the town with the ferry only to find out that the next one didn't leave for another hour and a half. We decided a nice picnic lunch on the harbor was a wonderful idea. Then, after catching the bus we had to pay for as the free one pulls right pass us, we made it to the ferry and island without much trouble. :)



The afternoon we spent exploring the area around our hostel. The look out point was about a 40 min walk away so we trekked up and hiked on a trail around the point. It was beautiful!! Miles and miles of ocean out in front of us, not a cloud in the sky and the sun beating down made for a very pleasant walk. June and July is whale season, so we kept our eyes pealed for them, but to no avail. We did see a few turtles though! That was pretty exciting.



That night we called it early. After eating a personal trainer's favorite meal of soda, cheesecake and chips with dip, we retired early to play some cards and read a bit. Oh how I have missed playing cards...



Saturday morning proved very successful! After a failed attempt for yoga on the beach at 8:30, we found a cute little cafe for breakfast. We went back to our hostel to prepare for a day on the water then went to a hire place and got a kayak for half a day (this only after realizing that the waves were not epic enough for our skill...) Man alive, my shoulders and arms are going to be so sore. It was pretty exciting. I just want you to imagine two girls trying to get this two person kayak out to the ocean when waves are crashing to the shore with all of our valuables were IN the kayak. Like I said... very exciting. I must say, we were pretty good at it until we tried getting back in to shore...we may or may not have flipped over. Laying on the beach for a while after our adventure was just the right way to finish off our island holiday.



I also forgot to post about one of my favorite things I have done in Brisbane this semester... going to the races!! Emily, Chris and I got all dolled up (not really... but we would like to think we put an effort in..) and headed out to the raceway to see some horse races. People actually were wearing all kinds of fancy hats and feathers with dresses and heels like they do in the movies! Oh the fashion was fantastic! The horse races themselves were pretty awesome as well. The sheer power of those creatures are quite extraordinary.

To top off the awesome day was (for Chris, free beer taste testing and..) meeting some Australian celebrities from a show called "Packed to the Rafters"!! They thought it was pretty funny that we did not know who they were, but they still gave us their autographs. Pretty awesome.

Overall, it was a fantastic way to spend an afternoon because it was so relaxing and entertaining all at the same time. I wish we had these at home...

3.5 weeks left.
Cheers :)

normal life of a college girl

Ever since returning from Sydney, I have been getting more into uni work and college life. Since I haven't been traveling all kinds of crazy, I have been staying close to home and just living life. Emily and I try to do something unique to Brisbane every week, kind of a tourist in our own city. This concept has been working quite nicely!!

It's funny when I talk to those of you at home, asking what sort of crazy adventures I am up to. I really feel like I am disappointing you by doing normal things! But maybe my "normal" is interesting, even when I don't think it is. So here is all about my normal. :)

Like I said, uni work has been kicking my butt. All of my grades consist of three or four assignments, usually one being a research paper and one being a group project. Yuck. So I have been spending a lot of time working in my room, trying to do well on assessments worth 40% of my grade each...

College life has been different than back home. There are a lot of events for the college (aka residence halls) including Bandfest and cross country among other cultural and sporting activities. I must admit I have not been to a lot of them but I hope to get out to some more. Its a good way to hang out with some of the girls that I live with and get away from being anti-social in my tiny room.

Some fun adventures I have had recently (or in the last month...):
Professional Brisbane Broncos rugby game
Soccer matches
Mt. Coot-tha lookout over the city and botanical gardens
Art gallery-with a hat display!!(http://qag.qld.gov.au/)
Authentic Australian sausage sizzle (they just love those!) with my wing
Wandering around the city finding new things and places to see...including opera singers in the main shopping center
If you just go wandering, there usually is something to see or do everywhere in this beautiful city!

One good night was a few weeks ago when we had "formal dinner" where all of the Women's college eats together where our chef (Bill who is a Canadian and loves all things sports) cooks a fantastic gourmet meal. It happens once a week and this time was "American" themed. So all 6 of us Americans got to sit at the head table (big deal!)Since it is formal dinner,we wear our acca daccas which are the robes (very similar to graduation robes) over a dress and nice shoes. Being American night we got to pick our meal (smoked bbq chicken, pizza bagel bites, cornbread, cream of corn, cinnamon sweet potatoes, whoopie pie and best of all...Mt. DEW!!!) After dinner the Americans gave a presentation about our schools and what we miss from home. Lots of girls came up afterwords to tell us how much they enjoyed it and excited they were to go to the US. :) success.

Other than that, I really am just taking in the daily life of an Australian student. Just hanging out and livin' life. Girls here are pretty lovely all in all and its been good to have people around to eat dinner with, go to events with and hanging out with. :)

My journey is slowly wrapping itself up. I must admit that I am looking forward to being done with uni, but I'm not sure how I feel about coming home yet. There's just so many awesome things to do here in Australia that I wish I could stick around for. But of course, I miss you all, but mostly, I miss the freedom of my car. Yes, my car. The picture of the boat is the City Cat (or affectionately called the City Kitty)that I take home from the city. Its a great way to travel, on the Brisbane River, but its hard to get used to following time tables! So much planning. One thing I realized about myself, I am not a very good planner. I let Emily figure out how we get places. Gotta love her.

Love love. As I move into winter in sunny Queensland, I think of all of you moving into the summer months. Can't wait for summer in Michigan! It's a beautiful thing.

Cheers!

"P. Sherman, Wallaby Way Sydney. That's where I'm going."

Nope, I didn't find Nemo. But hey, it's a big city.

I just came back from a 6 day trip to Sydney. What a wonderful, busy, and diverse place the city is. Emily B and I went last Thursday and spent the first day exploring, eventually reaching the Australian Museum and the Sydney Opera House and Harbor bridge. It was a fantastic way to start the trip. We traveled to the Blue Mountains for an overnight trip and hiked around a lot. (I don't want to look at another hill for a very long time.)

Coming back to the city, we traveled to some famous beaches, Manly Beach and Bondi beach, and watched some surfers in action. I so wished I could have been one of those people on the waves...

Emily M. came up from Melbourne to hang out with us for the remainder of the trip. Each day was pretty much filled with traveling and seeing the sights. We saw a lot of museums, art galleries, Luna Park, an aquarium and a Lindt chocolatier. Four out of the six nights we participated in one of my favorite activities: dancing! :)

It wasn't necessarily the location that made this trip so successful. We stayed in hostels, which is where there's 2, 4, 6, or 8 people in a room with one shared kitchen for making your own food. (definitely set up for backpackers) We mostly stayed in a 6 person room, so we met a lot of different people. Its amazing the people you meet in a backpacker's hostel. Some of the countries represented: Netherlands, England, Germany, France, China, New Zealand, and of course, Australia. One of my favorite people that I met was a guy from Holland, Netherlands. I told him all about Holland, MI with its Tulip festival and surrounding towns. He thought it was really fascinating that there was a miniature Holland somewhere in the world, especially a person that new a lot more Dutch folklore than himself. Now if only I could have conversed in Dutch with him..

Most of these people have been in Australia for months, and were staying between 6 mths to a year just traveling around. Talking with all of them, learning a little bit about them and where they had gone made me realize that there are a lot of cool people and places in the world! One lady from Sydney told us that she worked in England twice and traveled all over Europe and was planning on going to South America next. How awesome. Someday I hope to do this. And surf. Travel and surf... :D Livin' the dream.

So Sydney was an epic success! We had a great time and walked more than I would have liked...but hey, poor college study abroad student. What can you do?

Lots of love :)
Chels

"Be a traveler, not a tourist" (Ad in Sydney)

livin' the dream

Last week Friday, a huge Coach bus came and picked up a large portion of the Australearn group for a weekend of surfing and sun. That was 8:30pm. Several hours later, we arrived at Mojo Surf camp in Arrawarra Beach at Spot X at 3 am (their time, which really was 2 am our time.) After a not so quick sorting into cabins and so forth, we were finally in bed at 4 am. One random thing was that one of my fellow Hope students was here to surf too! Jori came up for the weekend so that was pretty fun as well.

The weekend may have started out rocky, but boy oh boy was it completely worth it! I had the absolute time of my life. We had three surf sessions, one at 9 am Saturday, 4 pm Saturday and 7 am Sunday morning. Saturday morning's was pretty tough, I was really tanking and ingesting a ton of salt water (which does not feel good at all) but by the second session, I was up and surfing!

One epic moment of that session was when Emily and I were surfing the same wave and attempted a high five. That didn't happen because another girl tried to join our party, but it was still awesome.

Saturday night was pretty chill, hanging in some hammocks, relaxing and taking a stroll on the beach. The stars were all out and it was pretty quiet. This made me miss long walks along Lake Michigan...

Sunday morning's session was so beautiful because the sun was low on the horizon and I was starting the day playing in the ocean. I wish I could do this every morning. Although, my entire body was pretty sore from the beating it took from the ocean as well as using arm muscles that aren't accustom to being used so intensely.

We arrived back at uni Sunday night and I was in bed at 9 pm. It was a wonderfully long weekend and I was completely wiped out.

rock. tree. grass. mountain.

This past weekend brought another QUEST trip. This one, up to the Hinterlands on the Gold Coast for a little fun in the Springbrook National Park.

Our first stop was to The Forest of Dreams (sounds like a place to be right?). This is where we learned a little about glow worms and headed in a cave like thing to see them. First off, I am scared of the dark. Secondly, I am afraid of worms. Why did I think this was a good idea?
But the worms were really cool to look at. They emit a blue light out of their tails to attract insects. With all of them up on the one wall, it looked a lot like a starry night which was quite beautiful when I didn't think about what was creating the light...

This is where we also fed the pretty little birds. At first they were quite shy, but how could they resist free food?

Next we went off to a the national park for a 4 km hike to 2 waterfalls. This was awesome. There is something so majestic about water tumbling down a cliff which is absent when water and a cliff are riding solo. I took a lot of pictures, and off course, my camera died, but all is well. I think I captured my excitement of the hike pretty well.

After spending a good chunk of the afternoon there, we headed to the "natural bridge." This was basically a cave that had a waterfall through the roof of it. There were bats just flying around in the cave which surprisingly enough, was easier to handle then the glow worms...

So that was my weekend. It was pretty great. The end of last week I went out to a man made beach in Southbank (10 mins on the bus away) and spend some time catching some rays. It was quite relaxing.

Now I'm fully back into the swing of classes again and needing to work on a research paper. Unfortunately, there is also work in Oz.

Crikey!

Today was a magical day, even without Disney World.

But I'll start with yesterday. My friend Emily and I went hopped on a train and rode for an hour and a half out to the Gold Coast to a wonderful place called Surfer's Paradise. What a place! The beach was absolutely gorgeous with the finest sand I've ever felt before. Even with the strong wind and the rain coming and going, it was a great day out on the ocean.

Now today.

At the start of the semester, the uni had a market day where all of the uni groups/organizations/clubs were at the great court for us new students to look at. I joined a student society called QUEST that basically is filled with Aussie and international students that travel locally on discounts. So today was the first QUEST trip ever to the Australia Zoo, home of Steve Irwin.

The bus driver on the way to the zoo told us that we needed to say two things today, "G'day" to those you meet and "crikey" when you see something crazy/exciting/startling. Needless to say, Emily and I were taking full advantage of this new adventure to say "crikey!" at every moment. It was quite fun.

The zoo itself was founded by Steve Irwin's parents in order to give rescued animals a safe environment to live. Walking around today it was evident that the zoo is very concerned for animal conservation, respecting and appreciating wildlife. It was quite interesting to hear the staff talking about Steve in a very affectionate way. From what I gather, Steve was a kind and easy going guy who was very involved in the zoo and its employees. I couldn't help but walk away from the zoo with a vigor for animal conservation and awareness.

Needless to say, I had an awesome time. I have always loved the zoo and learning about new animals and other parts of the world. After meeting some elephants, my new desire is to go to Africa and Thailand to see these beauties in their natural habitat. All in good time.

I posted more pictures on facebook so check them out.

one month.

It's been a month since I hoped on a plane and headed into the unknown of a new and wonderful place. Today it's sunny and perhaps an solid 82 degrees... This is what I thought of when I was preparing for my semester abroad. Sunny skies and tank tops with shorts in the middle of March. What a beautiful thing.

I am happy to be here. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to grow as an individual and discover myself and Australia, it's people and culture. Sometimes I get caught up by how blessed I am to be here, living in a place I've wanted to come to for a very long time. I've done and seen a lot of things that are fun and and awesome and met some cool people.

But it's not easy, nor should it be.

This month has brought a roller coaster of emotions for me. Here, things are so similar to home. So many things look the same when you are observing from the distance, but when you look close up, you realize that they aren't the same at all. Food is similar, but the vital parts of my diet like Reeses and Mt. Dew have vanished out of thin air. The campus looks quite like one found on a sunny day in Michigan, but the relationships between student and professor is slightly off. Chapel gatherings four times a week became a quest to find ONE church on Sunday to attend to be in fellowship with believers.

One might say, Chels, that's just growing up. Life isn't like Hope College in West Michigan.

I know. But sometimes I wish.

I have found that listing to the podcasts (http://grow.hope.edu/gathering/index.html) from Hope has linked me back to my home and has given me encouragement. Some words of Tryge on Jan. 24th were "remember who you are, Who's you are." These words have resonated within me and have given me some peace in a time where I desperately need it.

I am finding peace in Him.

sun here contains high UV

It has been raining heaps here since arrival, which is particularly odd since the rain usually passes within an hour. But it has been sticking for the duration of the day today and yesterday. I suppose it makes me feel like I am more at home since Michigan comes with its fair bit of rain.

Today marked the first day of classes. It's weird that all those people at home are almost to Spring Break and I am over here just starting my semester. The classes that I am taking here include: intercultural communication (so I can communicate in my new surroundings...), an anthropology introduction, and discovering archeology (so I can seek treasure). You might be wondering what my major is, well, let me just say that I am a very well rounded student.

These classes make a very awesome schedule; I only class Monday through Wednesday. I don't know what I will do with all of my free time on the weekends, but I'm sure I won't have a problem filling up my time.

Something that struck me today was how difficult it was to get back into the swing of school after 2 and half months off. Part of me loves the routine that it will bring to my life, but the other part of me has gotten extremely lax. I'm praying that my old drive for learning comes roaring back soon because it seems to have hopped on a plane back to the US.

Pictures soon to come. I finally bit the dust and bought a battery charger to recharge the batteries that I may or may not have zapped with Australian voltage....

Cheers!

home at Uni

Just to clarify...I am 15 hours ahead of you, not 13. I don't know what I was thinking.

So I made it to Uni yesterday afternoon. At first, I was really overwhelmed because I didn't know where anything was, people aren't all over to ask, things are a lot more expensive here and my room isn't homey. AH! So I decided the best thing for me to do was go to be early and start over today.

This morning I walked around Uni, opened a bank account, and had a Aussie girl here take me around in Brisbane. It was the first time I've taken a city bus I believe. Its quite big here in Brisbane, definitely not Holland anymore!

The place where I am staying is called the Women's College. When I first got here, it looked like a prep school and I was terrified that it was going to be really strict. But everyone is really friendly and helpful so I feel much better today. It sounds like they get a lot of college parties together and mingle with other colleges (dorms). So hopefully I picked a good spot.

I'm off to put my room together. I finally got hangers. I am really starting to appreciate a lot of simple things. How wonderful. Cheers!

Taking on the Jellies

Today was really awesome…Great Barrier Reef day!! We headed out this morning at about 7:30a and went down to the marina to catch the boat. Its about a 2ish hour boat ride out to the reef. Once there, our guides then showed us how to snorkel properly and also a quick lesson on scuba diving. Off we went, 80 Americans out to enjoy the pristine beauty that Australia has to offer. I snorkeled and scuba dived. It was crazy awesome! I saw lots of fish, Nemo, different types of coral, sea cucumbers, starfish, and even a shark. Now, now, it wasn’t a dangerous one at all...no worries! Oh yeah, of course, there were lots of jellyfish. I got stung twice, but they felt like little pin pricks that stung for about 5 minutes then went away. Quite the experience.
Later that afternoon, we went to a different location next to a bird sanctuary island. They said that up to 50,000 birds can be on the island at once. Even though the chances of getting pooped on were exponentially high, I managed to luck out and escaped just as clean as I went in as…
This was absolutely beautiful. It looked like something straight out of a magazine. Sandy white beach, crystal clear water and the reef...what more could you ask for!? (Especially in February) After snorkeling a bit more, it was off to sunbath on the boat for a couple hours while we headed back. I have the burn lines to show it…
I’m still trying to get used to Australian humor. They all seem to joke sarcastically with a completely straight face. Its quite hard to catch, at least for me.
Tomorrow I leave for Uni. I’m pretty excited to live in my own space and not out of a suitcase in a cramped room with 5 other girls. It is a beautiful place here up in Cairns; I am sad to go. But it’s hot all the time and I think it will be great to get into the city and finally meet some Aussies for real.


p.s. I just realized that it is free for all incoming calls to my new phone. So therefore, if you would like to talk to me, please feel free to call me anytime! (well, not anytime, be aware that I am 13 hours ahead!) My number is 0451609969. I believe Australia’s country code is 67 and you may have to drop the 0 in my number. So I think its 67451609969. yeah, call me!

Rainy Sunday

Today was a fantastic day. After a night of learning Aussie lingo, going out to dinner and going to bed at about 9 pm., I was ready to go for my first real day in Australia!!

They get us up early here...we had brekkie at 7:30 at a hotel this morning. We had some down time, so a few girls and I walked around in the city here in Caines and stopped at a open market. It was quite cool. They had all kinds of fresh produce, clothes, jewelry, or even a massage for those who felt the need. I tried this really strange fruit that had red rubbery spikes on the outside and was different than I have ever tasted. The texture was strange, I didn't like it because of it, but hey, it was worth a try.

After walking around, we all hopped on a bus and drove up the twisty road up a mountain that brought us to a magical place called Rainforestation. Here, I held a koala, wrapped a boa constrictor around me like a shawl, and snuggled up with a few kangaroos. We also were introduced to the aboriginal people and poorly threw a boomerang. So much touristy fun here.

When we came back, two other girls and I walked to McDonalds to find free wi-fi. Yeah...it about over a 30 min walk, which would have been fine except we were all carrying bags and its hot. I think its probably about 80 degrees but its really humid (it has been raining most of the morning.) I can't wait for the sun. I have a free day tomorrow so you'll be able to find me at the pool. Oh its going to be great.

Later this week we are going to the Great Barrier Reef and I will finally get to go to the ocean. Oh how beautiful it will be. I'm already excited!

Now its time for some ice cream. I probably shouldn't sit here in Mc D's and use free wireless and eat my own cookies..thats just bad form... haha.

Hope you are all well and I will post again hopefully soon.

Love :)

G'day!

Hello everyone!
I have made it here safe and sound after a seriously long day(s) of traveling. Over 30+ hours in the airport or in the air. It all went very smoothly...I'm just sick of airplanes!! The neck pillow that Steph suggested was the best thing ever...definitely worth the 9 bucks Mom!!

So...Australia is wonderful! First impressions is that it is hot, has gorgeous landscape and lots of friendly people. Everyone says "no worries" to you. Apparently I am a very worried traveler or something. They drive on the left side of the road that I had forgotten about...that was funny and with all those roundabouts...haha. I hope someone will let me take their car for a spin! (just kidding..that wouldn't be legal...)

Internet is definitely different, I have to pay so thats why this is short.
We arrived at our hostel about an hour ago so I am eagar to jump in the shower and feel normal again.

Talk soon! (no worries..haha)
Chels

P.S. the one disappointment so far is that when I went to flush the toliet, the water came straight down so I couldnt even see it spin the opposite way!

one more day

I've spent most of the evening packing, trying to figure out what bag(s) to take, deciding to leave this or that item at home and sitting/pushing on the suitcase to make it all fit. After years of waiting, the moment when all my dreams come true is almost upon me. But now I'm starting to think that after all this time, I'm not ready. Apparently, two months of break was not enough to prepare myself.

Now that I think about it, when will I be ready? I have no idea what to expect leaving all that I know behind. It's a strange feeling, leaving the security of comfort for the feeling of adventure. Maybe there is comfort in knowing that I don't know anything? Whatever. I won't try to analyze too much, but just try to take it all in stride. It's going to be great!

Tomorrow is my last day here in the States. Unfortunately, I can't work on my base tan here in Florida because of the rainy weather. I know, poor me....sorry to all of you Michigan people hit by the snow! So instead of laying out, I'll be zooming around the Cape, picking up last minute things for my travels. If there are any good book suggestions, I'll take 'em...

leaving.

Hello world. (er, Mom who may be the only one reading this...)
Who knows if I will keep this up, but since I hear internet is expensive in Australia, it may be more economical to post my experiences for all to see rather than emails..

So I'm leaving February 11, 2010 out of Fort Myers. Big stuff. First, its the first time I will be traveling out of the country (alone no less!)Second, this is the first time I will live anywhere but West Michigan. Needless to say that my upcoming journey is both exciting and nerve racking.

As for now, just work and friends to keep me occupied during my extended break. Wonderfulness :)