This past weekend was an experience that will not be forgotten. My friends and I rented a car and drove about an hour south to Byron Bay to celebrate Australia Day the proper way. It all started on Saturday morning when we woke up early and went to Surfers Paradise to pick up the rental car. Since I am the only one who is 21 I was the one who was in charge of driving. This was such a great experience. The drivers seat is on the right side of the car and they drive on the left side of the road. I thought this was going to be so difficult, but it actually wasn't difficult at all. It came pretty natural once I sat down in the driver seat.
We arrived to Byron Bay around 11 Brisbane time, 12 Byron Bay time. Byron Bay is the most eastern point in Australia and that is why they are an hour ahead of time. Once we got there we went to grab something to eat and then checked into our hostel. Let me tell you, a hostel is an interesting experience. It is a combination of living in a dorm and going camping in a cabin. Our room however, wasn't too bad. We had a balcony and a bathroom that was shared among 6 total girls, 4 of them being me and my friends. After we checked into the hostel and got all settled, Sara, Hayley, and myself went to the liquor store and got a bottle of wine. We sat outside on our balcony and had a great time. Even though it was raining, we decided that was not going to stop us from having fun. So we went to our other friends hostel where a bunch of people were there to celebrate Australia Day. Later that night we did a bar crawl and we got free drinks, free pizza and VIP access to 3 different bars. We had so much fun and it was such an experience.
On Sunday we had to check out of our hostel at 10 in the morning. We tried to go to Nimbin but because of the rain and the fact that Nimbin is in the mountains the roads were too flooded to get there, so we just headed home. Thank goodness we got back when we did. There is actually a cyclone happening right now. It is pretty much like a hurricane but not as dangerous. The wind is extremely strong and it has been raining for about 5 days now.
The winds are around 20-30 MPH and all the rain had caused MAJOR flooding. The lake on campus is completely overflowing and covering benches, walking paths, and the steps that take you down to the lake. We were supposed to have classes today but since the weather conditions are not good or safe the school canceled classes. My professor even emailed us saying that she lives up in Brisbane and it is worse up there than it is here in the Gold Coast and class might be canceled again tomorrow. It is supposed to rain the rest of the week but it seems like Friday it might finally be nice again. Just in time for the weekend!
Well wish me luck with this weather. Happy Australia Day! Cheers!
Monday, January 28, 2013
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Australia Adventures Continue
Wow! No other words to describe this week. Everything here has been hot, hectic, and "heaps" of fun.
Last week we started classes and some tutorials and they don't seem too bad. The way that school is done here is that you have a lecture with a larger class once and week for about 2 hours, and then on another day or same day, different time, you have a tutorial. A tutorial is usually with the same professor, but with a smaller group. This is where more discussion happens rather than lectures. I could do without the school part, but I guess that is part of the deal. Luckily I don't have any classes or tutorials on Friday.
This past Friday was the first pub crawl, hosted by Bond. My friends and I were on the green team which was the alien team. The other team was the blue team, aka the astronauts. We started the pub crawl at Don's at 4:45pm, which is the bar on campus and later went to 5 other bars. We ended up leaving the last bar at 1:00 in the morning and got back to campus around 1:30. Needless to say the next day we just need a place to chill, so we all went to Burleigh Beach. We laid out on the beach and just relaxed all day. I could totally get used to the whole beach thing.
Today was awesome. We went to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, which is where you can pet and feed kangaroos, as well had hold koala bears. We have an eventful but extremely long day. Tomorrow we start week 2 of classes. I cannot believe that tomorrow I will be here 3 weeks already. Where has the time gone?
Well, until later...CHEERS!
Last week we started classes and some tutorials and they don't seem too bad. The way that school is done here is that you have a lecture with a larger class once and week for about 2 hours, and then on another day or same day, different time, you have a tutorial. A tutorial is usually with the same professor, but with a smaller group. This is where more discussion happens rather than lectures. I could do without the school part, but I guess that is part of the deal. Luckily I don't have any classes or tutorials on Friday.
This past Friday was the first pub crawl, hosted by Bond. My friends and I were on the green team which was the alien team. The other team was the blue team, aka the astronauts. We started the pub crawl at Don's at 4:45pm, which is the bar on campus and later went to 5 other bars. We ended up leaving the last bar at 1:00 in the morning and got back to campus around 1:30. Needless to say the next day we just need a place to chill, so we all went to Burleigh Beach. We laid out on the beach and just relaxed all day. I could totally get used to the whole beach thing.
Today was awesome. We went to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, which is where you can pet and feed kangaroos, as well had hold koala bears. We have an eventful but extremely long day. Tomorrow we start week 2 of classes. I cannot believe that tomorrow I will be here 3 weeks already. Where has the time gone?
Well, until later...CHEERS!
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| Pub crawl..team alien |
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| Sara, Hayley, Me..We made our shirts |
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| Hayley and me with the kangaroo |
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| Lots of kangaroos |
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| Kangaroo family |
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| Me holding a koala bear |
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Week One
So I have been here for a week already and it seems as if I have been here for a lot longer than that. I have done so much in just one week and I am excited to explore and do so much more while I am here. This is what I have done since I last posted on Tuesday.
Wednesday was a good day. Tanika, our Australian friend, picked us up at school and drove us around the town a little bit. We went to Burleigh Beach and had our first Acai bowl. Man is it delicious. I am slightly addicted to it now. She also drove us through Broad Beach where there are a lot of hotels, bars, and clubs, and where the night life is a pretty big deal. She also showed us where Surfers paradise is, which is a big tourist area and has more bars and clubs. Tanika then invited us to go to dinner and a movie with her and her friends that night. Tanika and all her friends work at Apple, and they are a really good time. They taught us more lingo and told us all the things that we need to do while we are here. They even said they would take us to the Wildlife place where you can see kangaroos and hold kola bears. After we all hung out they invited us all to this party that was happening Friday night at a bar in Broad Beach. It was a going-away party for a co-worker/ a birthday party for Tanika.
Thursday was the tight and bright party at Bond. Pretty much where everyone dresses up in neon colors and go to Don's, which is the bar on campus. Then Bond buses people to a club in Broad Beach called, East. This was our first experience at a night club in Australia and it was so much fun. The DJ was awesome and everyone was just dancing the whole night. We didn't get back to campus until after 2 in the morning and I was exhausted.
Friday we mostly laid out by the pool, and had a dinner on campus. I had kangaroo sausage and barramundi fish for dinner, which was all so delicious. That is where I met Hayley and another girl named Sara, who is from PA. They both go to High Point, but they are very sweet girls. Later that night we went to Tanika's birthday party. We took the bus to Broad Beach and had the most amazing time ever at her party. We met almost everyone who works at Apple in Robina, and they were all interested in what America was like. Everyone was so friendly and enjoyed talking to us American girls. We then went and got their version of a gyro afterwards. They call them kebabs but they are more like what we consider a gyro. After we got food we took a taxi back to Bond and went right to bed.
Saturday was Aussie beach day. Bond bused everyone to Broad beach for a few hours and we were able to go to the beach or go shopping or get food. It was a very relaxing day and surprising, I did not get sun burnt at all, but I only got a very little color. When we got back to Bond I was extremely drained from the sun and took a nap. We then went to Market Square, which is a little town behind the school property with cute restaurants. We had dinner there, and afterwards I came back and went to bed. I was still so exhausted from the busy week I had just had.
Today, my new friends, Sara and Hayley, and my other friends Rachel, Erin, and Sara, all went to Robina which is their mall. We went shopping and I finally got a beach bag. We shopped all day and came back and had dinner on campus. Afterwards, Hayley, Sara and myself went exploring on campus to find our buildings where our classes are going to be held. I then showed them my room and then we went to get ice cream. We sat our on the terrace and ate it and chatted for over an hour.
Tomorrow we start classes which I am not looking forward to, but I guess it can't be all fun and games. I am looking forward to meeting new people and learning about the Australian culture.
Until later...Cheers!
Wednesday was a good day. Tanika, our Australian friend, picked us up at school and drove us around the town a little bit. We went to Burleigh Beach and had our first Acai bowl. Man is it delicious. I am slightly addicted to it now. She also drove us through Broad Beach where there are a lot of hotels, bars, and clubs, and where the night life is a pretty big deal. She also showed us where Surfers paradise is, which is a big tourist area and has more bars and clubs. Tanika then invited us to go to dinner and a movie with her and her friends that night. Tanika and all her friends work at Apple, and they are a really good time. They taught us more lingo and told us all the things that we need to do while we are here. They even said they would take us to the Wildlife place where you can see kangaroos and hold kola bears. After we all hung out they invited us all to this party that was happening Friday night at a bar in Broad Beach. It was a going-away party for a co-worker/ a birthday party for Tanika.
Thursday was the tight and bright party at Bond. Pretty much where everyone dresses up in neon colors and go to Don's, which is the bar on campus. Then Bond buses people to a club in Broad Beach called, East. This was our first experience at a night club in Australia and it was so much fun. The DJ was awesome and everyone was just dancing the whole night. We didn't get back to campus until after 2 in the morning and I was exhausted.
Friday we mostly laid out by the pool, and had a dinner on campus. I had kangaroo sausage and barramundi fish for dinner, which was all so delicious. That is where I met Hayley and another girl named Sara, who is from PA. They both go to High Point, but they are very sweet girls. Later that night we went to Tanika's birthday party. We took the bus to Broad Beach and had the most amazing time ever at her party. We met almost everyone who works at Apple in Robina, and they were all interested in what America was like. Everyone was so friendly and enjoyed talking to us American girls. We then went and got their version of a gyro afterwards. They call them kebabs but they are more like what we consider a gyro. After we got food we took a taxi back to Bond and went right to bed.
Saturday was Aussie beach day. Bond bused everyone to Broad beach for a few hours and we were able to go to the beach or go shopping or get food. It was a very relaxing day and surprising, I did not get sun burnt at all, but I only got a very little color. When we got back to Bond I was extremely drained from the sun and took a nap. We then went to Market Square, which is a little town behind the school property with cute restaurants. We had dinner there, and afterwards I came back and went to bed. I was still so exhausted from the busy week I had just had.
Today, my new friends, Sara and Hayley, and my other friends Rachel, Erin, and Sara, all went to Robina which is their mall. We went shopping and I finally got a beach bag. We shopped all day and came back and had dinner on campus. Afterwards, Hayley, Sara and myself went exploring on campus to find our buildings where our classes are going to be held. I then showed them my room and then we went to get ice cream. We sat our on the terrace and ate it and chatted for over an hour.
Tomorrow we start classes which I am not looking forward to, but I guess it can't be all fun and games. I am looking forward to meeting new people and learning about the Australian culture.
Until later...Cheers!
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Aussie Lingo
Very slowly I am learning the lingo. Here are some of the words that I have learned since I have been here.
A pitcher of a drink is called a jug.
Bad wine is called goon.
Shrimp is called prawn.
and New Zealanders are referred to as Kiwis.
A pitcher of a drink is called a jug.
Bad wine is called goon.
Shrimp is called prawn.
and New Zealanders are referred to as Kiwis.
Where to Start?
Wow the past 48 hours has been crazy. It is Tuesday night here right now and I am exhausted. I think the jet lag is finally catching up to me.
Well I arrived in Australia yesterday around 7:30AM. After getting off the biggest airplane I have ever been on in my life, I had to make my way through customs and border control. After that process was over I found this girl named Amy that was from New Jersey but goes to school in North Carolina. After we gathered our luggage we met up with a bunch of other Bond students. We all loaded our stuff on the bus and headed to Bond.
When we arrived here the first stop was for people who were living on campus. I thought I was living on campus but when I told this one girl, who is a current student, I was living in the Towers she told me to stay on the bus and that the Towers were located off campus. Me being the newbie, I listened to her and the bus dropped us off at the off campus housing, "The Towers". I walked in with a few other people and me and this girl Rachel showed our ID and they told us that we were not registered to live there. They told us that the Towers that we were looking for are located on Bond's campus. So we had to drag all our luggage, which was easily over 100lbs, about a mile to campus in the heat of the Australian summer. That was by far the worst thing I have ever experienced. The only good part about that whole situation was that her and I got to talk and I found out that she is from Michigan and plays volleyball.
We finally made it to campus and checked in and got our room keys. Her and I became really good friends after this long process and we are living in the same building which is even better. Everyone in my building has their own room and bathroom, which is so nice. After settling down into my room and unpacking a little I headed onto campus to enroll in classes and get my student ID. As I was waiting to enroll in class I met this girl Sara, who happened to be Rachel's friend. Sara and I ended up eating lunch together at what is considered the "cafeteria" here on campus. It is more like a deli. There is no such thing as meal swipes, but rather you just have money on your card and they swipe it and the money gets deducted.
After getting all of my things done I came back to my dorm and had a meeting with all the new students who are living in my dorm. They went over all the rules and requirements. Shocking to find out that they actually encourage drinking and going out and having fun. Rachel and I then went over to Sara and Erin's place. The 4 of us then went to this BBQ that was on campus and we met a bunch of other Australian girls who we all became good friends with, one of them being Laura. She is the one teaching us all the lingo and telling us what everything means. After the BBQ we all went back to our room to get ready for the toga party which was at the bar that is on campus. We had a lot of fun at this toga party. We met a bunch of people from the US and Australia. When the toga party was over we all went back to our rooms and crashed.
All of that fun happened just yesterday alone. Today was a little more laid back, but I am still exhausted. I had a very relaxing morning and basically was in bed all morning. Around 11 Rachel and I went to grab some lunch. After lunch she had to go get her student ID and I had to go get an adapter. After we both did what we had to, we met back up and her, me, Sara, Erin, and Laura all took the bus to Robina Town Square which is pretty much like a mall. They have a Target, but it is a little different than the American version. We got some things that we all needed, and also in this mall was two grocery stores where we got some drinks and snacks. We all took the bus home and got back to campus around 3:40. Rachel and I quick changed and went to this cocktail party on campus. They had some speakers that talked to us about our time here at Bond and the opportunities that we have.
While we were sitting down we ended up meeting these two awesome people. Louise, who lives in Canad is studying abroad here. He was so nice and it ended up that he used to live in PA when he was a really young boy. Tanika, who lives here in Gold Coast, was one of the nicest people I have met yet. She was telling us all about Australia and telling us every where to go and not go, what to eat, where to swim in the ocean, and even offered to take us to the beach tomorrow. After we all exchanged phone numbers and talked for about 45 minutes, Rachel and I left and went back to our rooms.
That is pretty much where I am at now. I am probably going to get into bed now and try and sleep off this jet lag. I am so exhausted. I am excited to see what the rest of the week brings. I am looking forward to everything that is about to happen.
Well I arrived in Australia yesterday around 7:30AM. After getting off the biggest airplane I have ever been on in my life, I had to make my way through customs and border control. After that process was over I found this girl named Amy that was from New Jersey but goes to school in North Carolina. After we gathered our luggage we met up with a bunch of other Bond students. We all loaded our stuff on the bus and headed to Bond.
When we arrived here the first stop was for people who were living on campus. I thought I was living on campus but when I told this one girl, who is a current student, I was living in the Towers she told me to stay on the bus and that the Towers were located off campus. Me being the newbie, I listened to her and the bus dropped us off at the off campus housing, "The Towers". I walked in with a few other people and me and this girl Rachel showed our ID and they told us that we were not registered to live there. They told us that the Towers that we were looking for are located on Bond's campus. So we had to drag all our luggage, which was easily over 100lbs, about a mile to campus in the heat of the Australian summer. That was by far the worst thing I have ever experienced. The only good part about that whole situation was that her and I got to talk and I found out that she is from Michigan and plays volleyball.
We finally made it to campus and checked in and got our room keys. Her and I became really good friends after this long process and we are living in the same building which is even better. Everyone in my building has their own room and bathroom, which is so nice. After settling down into my room and unpacking a little I headed onto campus to enroll in classes and get my student ID. As I was waiting to enroll in class I met this girl Sara, who happened to be Rachel's friend. Sara and I ended up eating lunch together at what is considered the "cafeteria" here on campus. It is more like a deli. There is no such thing as meal swipes, but rather you just have money on your card and they swipe it and the money gets deducted.
After getting all of my things done I came back to my dorm and had a meeting with all the new students who are living in my dorm. They went over all the rules and requirements. Shocking to find out that they actually encourage drinking and going out and having fun. Rachel and I then went over to Sara and Erin's place. The 4 of us then went to this BBQ that was on campus and we met a bunch of other Australian girls who we all became good friends with, one of them being Laura. She is the one teaching us all the lingo and telling us what everything means. After the BBQ we all went back to our room to get ready for the toga party which was at the bar that is on campus. We had a lot of fun at this toga party. We met a bunch of people from the US and Australia. When the toga party was over we all went back to our rooms and crashed.
All of that fun happened just yesterday alone. Today was a little more laid back, but I am still exhausted. I had a very relaxing morning and basically was in bed all morning. Around 11 Rachel and I went to grab some lunch. After lunch she had to go get her student ID and I had to go get an adapter. After we both did what we had to, we met back up and her, me, Sara, Erin, and Laura all took the bus to Robina Town Square which is pretty much like a mall. They have a Target, but it is a little different than the American version. We got some things that we all needed, and also in this mall was two grocery stores where we got some drinks and snacks. We all took the bus home and got back to campus around 3:40. Rachel and I quick changed and went to this cocktail party on campus. They had some speakers that talked to us about our time here at Bond and the opportunities that we have.
While we were sitting down we ended up meeting these two awesome people. Louise, who lives in Canad is studying abroad here. He was so nice and it ended up that he used to live in PA when he was a really young boy. Tanika, who lives here in Gold Coast, was one of the nicest people I have met yet. She was telling us all about Australia and telling us every where to go and not go, what to eat, where to swim in the ocean, and even offered to take us to the beach tomorrow. After we all exchanged phone numbers and talked for about 45 minutes, Rachel and I left and went back to our rooms.
That is pretty much where I am at now. I am probably going to get into bed now and try and sleep off this jet lag. I am so exhausted. I am excited to see what the rest of the week brings. I am looking forward to everything that is about to happen.
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| This is Rachel |
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| Left to Right: Me, Laura, Rachel, Sara, Erin |
Saturday, January 5, 2013
And So It Begins...
Today is the day! I am leaving for 3 and a half months to study abroad in Australia. This is the most terrifying thing I have ever done in my entire life. I have so many mixed feelings: happy, sad, nervous, anxious, but most of all EXCITED.
It all started at 5:50am when I could no longer sleep. I packed up the car and got ready to head out to the Philadelphia airport, where the first leg of my trip would take place. My mom, dad, and Aaron drove me to the airport, and a little before 9am I was through security and on my way to this journey I am about to take!
As I sit here at the gate waiting for my first flight, I am still trying to process everything that is about to happen to me. I can not possibly wrap my head around the fact that in less than 48 hours I will no longer be in the United States, but that rather I will be "Down Under". This is by far the most terrifying feeling ever!
I am writing this blog to account for all the activities and adventures I will take in the next 3 and a half months. I am more than happy to share my experience with anyone who wishes to read this blog, but please know that I will not be updating this blog every day or even every week.
I hope you all enjoy reading what I have to say and what I have done, and I will see you all again on April 21, 2013!
CHEERS!!!
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