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.