So I may have mentioned it a couple posts back, but I met this really cool group of people one night that I went out by total coincidence. One of the girls that I met was extremely nice and I ended up spending the entire night with her. Well ever since that night, we have become really close friends. We have been hanging out a lot and while getting to know her, I quickly realized how much we had in common! It was crazy how alike we were, because almost every time we would tell each other something about ourselves the other would just say, "no way! me too!" Her name is Tara and she is from Australia. She grew up in Gympie, which is a small town just an hour or so from the Sunshine Coast. Lately we have basically been spending all of our free time together, especially the weekends when we have plenty of time for adventures!
It has been amazing how close we have gotten in the past couple weeks! She is so nice and she has been so excited to take me to all these places I have never been to just so that my experience in Australia is amazing. We have been making lists of places I want to go and things I want to do before I go home, and she has volunteered to be the one to do them with. So she has basically been planning my weekends for me. She also has talked about wanting to come to America! So I told her it would be totally cool for her to come and stay with me! She wants to come in January 2012. She can't stop talking about how excited she is to go to America for New Year's, to see snow, and to do just as many fun things. So it is sort of a trade off, she will be my tour guide here while I am hers in Wisconsin. It will be so great!
This past weekend was the first of our many busy weekends ahead...we drove to a small tourist town called Monteville on Friday to go shopping and spend the day there. It was so cute and I bought some nice gifts/souvenirs. On Saturday, today, we went to the Australia Zoo! It was so much fun and I got to see so many cool animals. I got to pet a baby kangaroo and koala! :) There are pics on Facebook! Tomorrow we are going to her parents' house to spend the day and have dinner (tea). I will get to spend time with her family, which I have briefly met and they seem to be really cool! I am really excited because I miss my family and it is nice to be in a family setting...it makes me feel more at home here.
I am so thankful that I met Tara! I know I will have a blast while I'm here, and now that I have someone to have amazing adventures with, it will be really hard for me to go back home! :( But I can't wait to bring her home to meet my family. They already adore me haha so they will have no choice but to love her just as much!
Bottom line is that you never know who you are going to meet, an adventure like I am having could have turned out to go any which way. I thank God every day for how well it has been going and I don't regret anything I have done thus far! Going to another country can be an awesome experience, and going on your own can be challenging, especially when you don't know anyone....but if you keep a positive attitude and try to make the best of it, it can turn out to be unforgettable! It is definitely crazy to think about that you could have a twin all the way across the world....so study abroad...you may have one in another country as well! :)
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Exciting plans for break!
Ever since I knew I was coming to Australia, I promised myself that I would travel around since I was most likely only going to be there one in my life. I knew that I wanted to visit a lot of places, but a lot of [places costs a lot of money, so I told myself that if I had to choose only a couple places to go FOR SURE before I left, they would have to be the outback and Sydney! Growing up you can only learn so much about a country... You can study everything about it and know tons of facts about it, but you never truly know about a country until you actually visit it. I learn from my experiences in life more than anything else, so even though I had read about Australia in books, seen it in a few movies, and utilized Google for every question I had about the country, I still didn't really know what it was like or what to expect. What I did know for sure is that I had to see the infamous outback for myself...and who can go to Australia and NOT go to Syndey??
With this in mind I decided to visit the STA travel agency, which is an awesome place to book trips and tours that don't cost a fortune. I went there to simply talk to them and tell them what I wanted to do while I was in the country. Once I sat down and talked to someone about it, she got me so excited about everything that I ended up booking trips for my entire two week break right then and there! I told them that I wanted to go to Sydney to visit my good friend Ruby for the first half of the break. I also mentioned that I wanted to do an outback tour. So they helped me book my flight to Sydney and then a six day trip in the outback! This six day trip/tour was all-inclusive, which was awesome. From Sydney I would be on a flight to Alice Springs. Once I got there, I would be picked up from my hotel and the tour would begin....there would be experienced guides to take us through canyons, The Lost City, and the ancient Garden of Eden. Then we will head to Uluru, home to the famous Red Centre, where we would go on aboriginal walks (walkabouts haha), ride camels, and camp out under the stars. Then as we travel up the northern territory to Darwin, we would tons more exploring, canoeing, swimming in natural thermal pools, and visiting horse farms. I am so excited for it!
A couple days after booking my trip, my friend Lucy and I found out that Keith Urban was going to be in Brisbane for a concert, along with Lady Antebellum! We HAD to buy tickets! So early one morning I sleepily stared at my computer screen, ready to refresh the page when the tickets went on sale....that way I could immediately buy them. We ended up getting two Gold tickets for only $130 a piece! It is on the 16th of April, which is the night before my flight to Sydney leaves Brisbane...so it was a perfect kickoff for my break! Now I can't wait for break to come. I will be heading to Brisbane for my very first concert, then to Sydney to spend an entire week with Ruby in the city (where we plan to live it up!), and then the outback for six days! WOOHOO!!!!
P.S. Keep a look out for new pics on facebook! :)
With this in mind I decided to visit the STA travel agency, which is an awesome place to book trips and tours that don't cost a fortune. I went there to simply talk to them and tell them what I wanted to do while I was in the country. Once I sat down and talked to someone about it, she got me so excited about everything that I ended up booking trips for my entire two week break right then and there! I told them that I wanted to go to Sydney to visit my good friend Ruby for the first half of the break. I also mentioned that I wanted to do an outback tour. So they helped me book my flight to Sydney and then a six day trip in the outback! This six day trip/tour was all-inclusive, which was awesome. From Sydney I would be on a flight to Alice Springs. Once I got there, I would be picked up from my hotel and the tour would begin....there would be experienced guides to take us through canyons, The Lost City, and the ancient Garden of Eden. Then we will head to Uluru, home to the famous Red Centre, where we would go on aboriginal walks (walkabouts haha), ride camels, and camp out under the stars. Then as we travel up the northern territory to Darwin, we would tons more exploring, canoeing, swimming in natural thermal pools, and visiting horse farms. I am so excited for it!
A couple days after booking my trip, my friend Lucy and I found out that Keith Urban was going to be in Brisbane for a concert, along with Lady Antebellum! We HAD to buy tickets! So early one morning I sleepily stared at my computer screen, ready to refresh the page when the tickets went on sale....that way I could immediately buy them. We ended up getting two Gold tickets for only $130 a piece! It is on the 16th of April, which is the night before my flight to Sydney leaves Brisbane...so it was a perfect kickoff for my break! Now I can't wait for break to come. I will be heading to Brisbane for my very first concert, then to Sydney to spend an entire week with Ruby in the city (where we plan to live it up!), and then the outback for six days! WOOHOO!!!!
P.S. Keep a look out for new pics on facebook! :)
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Making Friendships
Before I came to Australia I felt like that hardest part about the beginning of my journey here would be finding friends. I am usually very shy when I meet people at first, even the friends I have back home say that I am a way different person compered to when I first met them. I'm not very good at first impressions because it takes me a while to get to know people before I can really be myself. Because of this I was a little worried about coming all the way across the world not really knowing anyone at all.
At first, it was hard for me, luckily my roommates were really nice and almost everyone else I met were really friendly. I was thankful for that because it made things a bit easier. On the inside, I always feel extremely uncomfortable and vulnerable when I meet new people, but I always try my best to make sure others do not realize that it is how I feel. I say hi and introduce myself, and try to make small talk. Doing this only gives you acquaintances, unfortunately...so it is a lot harder to find a group of friends that you really click with and that really like your personality. I went the first week knowing my roommates and a couple people that I registered with on the first day. The next week I finally got reunited with Vanessa, so I had her and her roommates, who were all extremely nice! I did things with them from time to time and I always enjoy my time with them, but in the back of my mind I always felt like things didn't feel right...and I didn't want to seem like I was incapable of branching out on my own.
It wasn't until recently that I met a really cool group of people! I went out to a club, there were free shuttles going to the club from UniCentral. I went with Vanessa and her friends, but when the shuttle came, we all didn't fit so I ended up taking the second shuttle with a bunch of people I didn't know. They were basically all roommates in a big house together. I sat next to a girl named Tara who I talked to on the way there, and I met a few of her roommates that were sitting nearby. I quickly discovered that we were going to be very close : ) I ended up hanging out with them for the rest of the night and I had a blast!!! I was so excited that I found my own group of friends. I learned that no matter what, it will always be a process to find friends for me (something I don't have much patience for), but when it happens, it is completely worth it! I just have to put myself out there, go out and have a good time, and soon enough everything will fall into place. I am looking forward to the adventures ahead!
At first, it was hard for me, luckily my roommates were really nice and almost everyone else I met were really friendly. I was thankful for that because it made things a bit easier. On the inside, I always feel extremely uncomfortable and vulnerable when I meet new people, but I always try my best to make sure others do not realize that it is how I feel. I say hi and introduce myself, and try to make small talk. Doing this only gives you acquaintances, unfortunately...so it is a lot harder to find a group of friends that you really click with and that really like your personality. I went the first week knowing my roommates and a couple people that I registered with on the first day. The next week I finally got reunited with Vanessa, so I had her and her roommates, who were all extremely nice! I did things with them from time to time and I always enjoy my time with them, but in the back of my mind I always felt like things didn't feel right...and I didn't want to seem like I was incapable of branching out on my own.
It wasn't until recently that I met a really cool group of people! I went out to a club, there were free shuttles going to the club from UniCentral. I went with Vanessa and her friends, but when the shuttle came, we all didn't fit so I ended up taking the second shuttle with a bunch of people I didn't know. They were basically all roommates in a big house together. I sat next to a girl named Tara who I talked to on the way there, and I met a few of her roommates that were sitting nearby. I quickly discovered that we were going to be very close : ) I ended up hanging out with them for the rest of the night and I had a blast!!! I was so excited that I found my own group of friends. I learned that no matter what, it will always be a process to find friends for me (something I don't have much patience for), but when it happens, it is completely worth it! I just have to put myself out there, go out and have a good time, and soon enough everything will fall into place. I am looking forward to the adventures ahead!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Keeping busy : )
So I have quickly learned that I have a lot of down time in Australia....since my classes only meet once a week and I don't have classes on Thursday or Friday, and I'm not working my butt off like a normally do at home. This gives me four day weekends and plenty of opportunity to hang out with friends, explore what Aussie has to offer and have a good time! So far I haven't done too many exciting things since I still am settling in and meeting new people...but there is a lot to do so I stay occupied.
Anytime I want to go somewhere off-campus, it isn't too difficult because I can always take the bus, plus my roommates have vehicles which is convenient. USC gave students a free trial of a "Go Card" with $70 on it which allows us to pay for bus fares, which I think is amazing because it will last me the entire semester and it is an expense that I don't have to worry about. I have gone to the beach a couple of times which I loved. You have to be extremely attentive when swimming in the ocean here because there are always waves. The water is also really salty so it becomes difficult to stay in for too long. It is nice though to go for a swim and lay out on the beach whenever I feel like it...not exactly a luxury I get at home : ) Plus, there are plenty of cute guys ; )
There is always plenty of cool wildlife to see as well. When walking down to the beach I saw all kinds of birds, lizards, and geckos. I have also gone exploring on my campus which can be cool because it is actually a wildlife reserve, so there are kangaroos all over! When I am simply walking to class, they will be laying in the shape and right alongside the pathways just chilling...I think it is so awesome! There are geckos all over UniCentral as well. It is kind of cool because I would compare their presence almost to insects in northern Wisconsin, because they gather around lights at night time. They are better though because they eat the bugs...and they are cuter because they are completely harmless.
Other things that I have done include going to the Sunshine Plaza (which is basically a mall, but some of it is outdoors because of the warm climate), the movie theater (I went to see I am number four today and I loved it! It was a pretty sweet movie, I recommend seeing it!), and out to the bars. I have only gone to the bars once, it was a lot of fun. It was Mexican themed the night I went, there was a lot of dancing and I met so many people. I really enjoyed myself : )
I plan on going to the Australian Zoo while I'm here as well. It is known for being the home of the crocodile hunter Steve Irwin. He is really big around here and he is basically the one that made the Zoo possible. I feel that it is something I must do while I'm here because I most likely won't get the chance again. As far as traveling goes...I plan to go to Sydney and visit my good friend Ruby Cook as well as see all the sights, I want to go to the Great Barrier Reef and go snorkeling, I really want to go out to the Outback and tour it...possibly stay out there for a couple days, and I want to go to Byron Bay where I can learn to surf and even skydive!!! Crazy, but I really want to do it!!! I would like to go to New Zealand as well, but I will have to see if it works out. Hopefully I can do all of these things and blog all about them.
Anytime I want to go somewhere off-campus, it isn't too difficult because I can always take the bus, plus my roommates have vehicles which is convenient. USC gave students a free trial of a "Go Card" with $70 on it which allows us to pay for bus fares, which I think is amazing because it will last me the entire semester and it is an expense that I don't have to worry about. I have gone to the beach a couple of times which I loved. You have to be extremely attentive when swimming in the ocean here because there are always waves. The water is also really salty so it becomes difficult to stay in for too long. It is nice though to go for a swim and lay out on the beach whenever I feel like it...not exactly a luxury I get at home : ) Plus, there are plenty of cute guys ; )
There is always plenty of cool wildlife to see as well. When walking down to the beach I saw all kinds of birds, lizards, and geckos. I have also gone exploring on my campus which can be cool because it is actually a wildlife reserve, so there are kangaroos all over! When I am simply walking to class, they will be laying in the shape and right alongside the pathways just chilling...I think it is so awesome! There are geckos all over UniCentral as well. It is kind of cool because I would compare their presence almost to insects in northern Wisconsin, because they gather around lights at night time. They are better though because they eat the bugs...and they are cuter because they are completely harmless.
Other things that I have done include going to the Sunshine Plaza (which is basically a mall, but some of it is outdoors because of the warm climate), the movie theater (I went to see I am number four today and I loved it! It was a pretty sweet movie, I recommend seeing it!), and out to the bars. I have only gone to the bars once, it was a lot of fun. It was Mexican themed the night I went, there was a lot of dancing and I met so many people. I really enjoyed myself : )
I plan on going to the Australian Zoo while I'm here as well. It is known for being the home of the crocodile hunter Steve Irwin. He is really big around here and he is basically the one that made the Zoo possible. I feel that it is something I must do while I'm here because I most likely won't get the chance again. As far as traveling goes...I plan to go to Sydney and visit my good friend Ruby Cook as well as see all the sights, I want to go to the Great Barrier Reef and go snorkeling, I really want to go out to the Outback and tour it...possibly stay out there for a couple days, and I want to go to Byron Bay where I can learn to surf and even skydive!!! Crazy, but I really want to do it!!! I would like to go to New Zealand as well, but I will have to see if it works out. Hopefully I can do all of these things and blog all about them.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Long time coming....
February 26 2011
So I know I haven't posted anything yet, but for the longest time I didn't have internet and it was really frustrating, but now I do and here goes my first blog :)
I can't believe it but I am actually in Australia! It has been my dream for the longest time, and I don't know exactly why but it has bee on my bucket list to come here...now I am here for five months!!!! CRAZY! Anyways, it has been about two weeks since I got here, I have met quite a few people and have already started classes. So far it has been really great, but I look forward to it getting a lot better....
I have two aussie roomies, their names are Bek and Nic (Rebekah and Nicole, but it is very common for Australian to shorten everything...) and they are both 17. My other roommate is 21, his name is Josh and he is from Pennsylvania. They are all really cool and I was extremely lucky to have gotten random roommates that I like :) We each have our own room and bathroom which is really convenient. All the apartments are together and there are over 80 of them, all in which USC students live. The apartment are called UniCentral...I really like it. I am slowly but surely meeting now people and finding friend to hang out with, it is a frustrating process because it takes a while to find the right group of people you can feel like yourself with.
My first week of classes went well. Here in Australia, each class only meets once a week and there is hardly any piddly assignments like there often are back home. There are a couple major papers and possibly a presentation in each class. There is only one big exam at the end of the semester. I am taking two Psychology classes, an environment sustainability class for my upper gen. ed. credit back at St. Norbert, and a digital Photography class (which I find really amazing).
We get like a two week break in the middle of the Semester. In that time I plan to travel! I'm so excited and I have already figured out what I want to do and where I want to go while I'm here! Most of all, I cannot wait to have the time of my life in Australia! :-)
So I know I haven't posted anything yet, but for the longest time I didn't have internet and it was really frustrating, but now I do and here goes my first blog :)
I can't believe it but I am actually in Australia! It has been my dream for the longest time, and I don't know exactly why but it has bee on my bucket list to come here...now I am here for five months!!!! CRAZY! Anyways, it has been about two weeks since I got here, I have met quite a few people and have already started classes. So far it has been really great, but I look forward to it getting a lot better....
I have two aussie roomies, their names are Bek and Nic (Rebekah and Nicole, but it is very common for Australian to shorten everything...) and they are both 17. My other roommate is 21, his name is Josh and he is from Pennsylvania. They are all really cool and I was extremely lucky to have gotten random roommates that I like :) We each have our own room and bathroom which is really convenient. All the apartments are together and there are over 80 of them, all in which USC students live. The apartment are called UniCentral...I really like it. I am slowly but surely meeting now people and finding friend to hang out with, it is a frustrating process because it takes a while to find the right group of people you can feel like yourself with.
My first week of classes went well. Here in Australia, each class only meets once a week and there is hardly any piddly assignments like there often are back home. There are a couple major papers and possibly a presentation in each class. There is only one big exam at the end of the semester. I am taking two Psychology classes, an environment sustainability class for my upper gen. ed. credit back at St. Norbert, and a digital Photography class (which I find really amazing).
We get like a two week break in the middle of the Semester. In that time I plan to travel! I'm so excited and I have already figured out what I want to do and where I want to go while I'm here! Most of all, I cannot wait to have the time of my life in Australia! :-)
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