...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 :)