Who's ready for part two of the mid semester break adventure?! Yah I knew you'd be anxiously waiting for the rest of the adventure.
We left Surfers at the fantastic hour of 4:30 to catch our 6 AM flight. We left the apartment clean and had to wheel our stole shopping trolley to the dumpster...where surprisingly we found a couple others and didn't feel so bad leaving ours there. We landed in Melbourne and headed to Jo's house. She is a girl from college who graciously let us stay in her house, which is GORGEOUS. It is an old Victorian house, I might even call it a mansion it was so massive. It had its own chapel in the basement, a full garden with fountain in the backyard, and a tower in the top. It was just an absolutely beautiful house and I of course took heaps of pictures ofi t. They will be posted shortly. Jo lives in one of the suburbs of Melbourne called Hawthrone and so we spent the afternoon exploring that shops and areas by her house. I helped cook dinner with Jo, we made hamburgers and chips (french fries for those who still get confused). I also baked some chocolate chip cookies which was also lots of fun. I miss having a full kitchen and being able to bake cookies or brownies whenever I want like at W&M. We had a low key evening at Jo's just lounging around her house, with her Spoodle dog (a cockerspaniel and poodle mix) named Mac. We watched Dirty Dancing and then went to bed.
The next day we woke up and had brekky and Jen actually tried VEGEMITE!! She said it tasted awful. I have yet to try it, but I'm pretty sure I won't do it until the last day because it just sounds awful. We took a train into the city and went to the Queen Victoria Market which was awesome! It had an entire section of fresh fruits, veggies, meats, cheeses, fish, bread, just everything food wise you could imagine. It also had a huge variety of souvineors and clothing and Australia everything. We had a fresh deli lunch after our shopping experience and then went to see the War Memorial. It was in honor of all the Australians who fought in the wars. It has a gorgeous view of the city, thus the reason we went, and got to take heaps of good photos. Afterwards we took a train to another suburb of Melbourne called St. Kilda where Anna lives. I want to move here. It is right on the beach and is this trendy, new age, laid back town. It was just awesome. Anna's house was amazing as well. Her's was really modern with the largest, most high tech kitchen I've ever seen. Which I found out was because her mum is a chef, as in has her own TV show!! I ate lamb, CHOPPED LIVER, dahl, Pakistan cuisine, EGGPLANT and probably some very amazing wine. All the food was incredible. For dessert we had ice cream and hand melted chocolate, which we later decided to make a fondu thing and dipped fruit and bread it. We were so full and happy!! Anna's family reminded me all of mine, lots of talking and eating and all around a wonderful evening. It was so nice to spend time with family, even if it wasn't my own. After dinner we headed back to Jo's for the night and decided not to go out in the town because we were going to have an early start the next day.
Our last day in Melbourne we woke up very early to head into the city and did more touristy things. We saw Flinders Street Station, an Aboriginal Art Museum and went along South Bank, which is a bunch of cafes / coffee shops along a river. Then my friend from home, Jon Garon, who is doing his study aboard in Melbourne meet up with me. I went back to his residential college, Newman, and met some of his friends, toured the place and had lunch there. Then we explored Carlton, another awesome part of Melbourne, which is notorious for great Italian food and subsequently Italian mobsters. Woo! Jon and I had a little afternoon treat at a chocolate bar which was a cafe where everything was made of chocolate....can you say heaven?! It was so delicious. We had chocolate covered fruit, cookies, chocolate cake, chocolate mousse and ice cream. As well as hot chocolate and an ice chocolate drink. Needless to say after we ate all this, we wanted to vomit. Haha! It was so good to see Jon though, it was nice to spend some time with him and get away from the girls for a bit (haha love you girls!!) I headed back to Jo's house and we made pasta for dinner and watched some TV before bed. Our trip along the Great Ocean Road started the next day and we had to be up at 5 AM. WOO for early starts!
YAY! Only one more part left!! I have most of the pictures up and I'm just writing comments on them so you all can know what they are. My goal is to have them finished tonight before we head off to watch Debating. YAY NICK! DEBATING! Haha it should be pretty funny apparently. Miss you all!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Mid Semester Break - Surfers Paradise
This will probably have to be a part series as I can't imagine writing everything that happened on this trip in one sitting nor can I imagine any of you wanting to read it. So this is part one when we were in Surfer's Paradise.
Day One -- Jenn, Laura, Devon, Hannah and I caught a 6 AM flight to Syndey and then a connecting one to the Gold Coast. We landed in the Gold Coast at 10 AM and checked into our beautiful apartment at the Blue Bay Resort. It was in an amazing complex with a swimming pool, spa, and tennis courts. Our apartment had two bed rooms, a full kitchen, dinning table, living room with a TV (which came in serious hand) and a balcony. It was just perfect. After settling into our apartment we walked up the street to the grocery store to buy things for the week. It was quite a hike up the street to the store, but the weather was sunny and so none of us minded. On the walk back, we decided that carry groceries would just be difficult, so we borrowed the shopping cart (of course) and pushed it back to our apartment. Clearly looking like a bunch of homeless girls, it was quiet amusing. That evening we cooked a lasagna we bought and enjoyed a relaxing evening in the spa.
Day Two --Woke up rather early in hopes of having a full day at the beach, but the weather had other things in mind. It was really windy and overcast, but we decided to head to the beach anyways. We went to Main Beach and the waves were just massive, water freezing (couldn't go in) and the windy was a killer. After attempting to lay out, we all realized how ridiculous we were being and decided to go explore the town. We went shopping for souvenoirs ad tried to stay out of the rain. We headed back to the apartment and cooked pineapple chicken for dinner. It was really delicious! Then we all got dressed and headed out to a bar in Surfers called The Bedroom where they had free drinks for ladies from 9 - 11 PM. It was a really cool place and even more exciting was FREE DRINKS! WOO. As we were leaving the bar we ran into Steve, one of the Americans from St. Marks! It was so random but so cool to see someone we knew!! We chatted for awhile, but the ran kept coming down so we decided to catch a cab home for the night.
Day Three -- I decided to wake up and cook everyone French Toast for brekky (my one speciality) and it was AMAZING! I forgot how much I missed french toast!! The weather was still pretty overcast, but we decided to try the beach again anyways. We got to Surfer's and there was (surprise surprise) a surfing competition!! We sat on the beach, bundled up in sweat shirts watching the competition until it started down pouring. Scratch the beach...we went shopping around Surfer's again and headed back to the apartment for the afternoon. There we actually got a US channel and got to watch a baseball game!! WOO AMERICA!! It was pretty awesome. Even with all the rain we decided to head out to the spa and sat in the bubbly warmth while it was raining. Haha. This basically knocked us out and everyone took a nap when we came back inside. For dinner we had pasta and salad. We decided to have a low key night and we played card games and watched two movies on TV -- 10th & Wolf and Igby Goes Down. Both were pretty good, though Igby Goes Down was pretty bizarre.
Day Four -- Still raining. Devon and I decided that we weren't going to waste another day shopping or attempting to go to the beach and went to an amusement park instead. We went to Dream World and rode some ridiculously awesome roller coasters. It was awesome because it wasn't raining that hard, but enough to make the lines really short (since no one was there) and it even got sunny for awhile. We also got to see Tiger Island where there was a show with tigers and trainers that was awesome. I have some great pictures of them jumping and doing some cool tricks. It was probably the best choice for the day. The other girls said it rained all day and they just hung out, went shopping and lounged around the apartment. That night we had all headed out to the city for a big night out. Went to a couple of bars and us girls ended up meeting some Irish guys in an Irish bar (go figure!) It was a hilarious night, mainly because their accents were ridiculous and the drunker they got, the harder it was to understand them!! It was all around a great night out.
Day Five -- Our last day in Surfers and how about it, SUNSHINE!!! And lots of it! We spent the entire day on the beach, watching the surf competition, building Hannah into a sand mermaid and even went into the ocean!! The waves were so intense and the under toe was really strong. Devon, Hannah and I were the only ones who went in and we just got knocked around left and right. It was lots of fun though. That night we cleaned up the apartment and decided to head out for dinner. We went to a Thai place that was just absolutely incredible. I had so much to eat and was so full and happy. All full of food and exhausted from being in the sun all day, we lounged around the apartment that night packing up our stuff and getting ready to catch at 6 AM flight to Melbourne.
OKAY! That's part one! I'm in the process of loading my 104389482482038 photos and will have them up ASAP!! I'll try and write the other parts later today! I have dinner at the High Table tonight with the Master and Dean and some other college students like Jemma!! So I have to get dressed up and look presentable! We get to have wine and cheese before dinner and port and dessert after!! Woo =) I am pretty excited! MISS YOU ALL!!
Day One -- Jenn, Laura, Devon, Hannah and I caught a 6 AM flight to Syndey and then a connecting one to the Gold Coast. We landed in the Gold Coast at 10 AM and checked into our beautiful apartment at the Blue Bay Resort. It was in an amazing complex with a swimming pool, spa, and tennis courts. Our apartment had two bed rooms, a full kitchen, dinning table, living room with a TV (which came in serious hand) and a balcony. It was just perfect. After settling into our apartment we walked up the street to the grocery store to buy things for the week. It was quite a hike up the street to the store, but the weather was sunny and so none of us minded. On the walk back, we decided that carry groceries would just be difficult, so we borrowed the shopping cart (of course) and pushed it back to our apartment. Clearly looking like a bunch of homeless girls, it was quiet amusing. That evening we cooked a lasagna we bought and enjoyed a relaxing evening in the spa.
Day Two --Woke up rather early in hopes of having a full day at the beach, but the weather had other things in mind. It was really windy and overcast, but we decided to head to the beach anyways. We went to Main Beach and the waves were just massive, water freezing (couldn't go in) and the windy was a killer. After attempting to lay out, we all realized how ridiculous we were being and decided to go explore the town. We went shopping for souvenoirs ad tried to stay out of the rain. We headed back to the apartment and cooked pineapple chicken for dinner. It was really delicious! Then we all got dressed and headed out to a bar in Surfers called The Bedroom where they had free drinks for ladies from 9 - 11 PM. It was a really cool place and even more exciting was FREE DRINKS! WOO. As we were leaving the bar we ran into Steve, one of the Americans from St. Marks! It was so random but so cool to see someone we knew!! We chatted for awhile, but the ran kept coming down so we decided to catch a cab home for the night.
Day Three -- I decided to wake up and cook everyone French Toast for brekky (my one speciality) and it was AMAZING! I forgot how much I missed french toast!! The weather was still pretty overcast, but we decided to try the beach again anyways. We got to Surfer's and there was (surprise surprise) a surfing competition!! We sat on the beach, bundled up in sweat shirts watching the competition until it started down pouring. Scratch the beach...we went shopping around Surfer's again and headed back to the apartment for the afternoon. There we actually got a US channel and got to watch a baseball game!! WOO AMERICA!! It was pretty awesome. Even with all the rain we decided to head out to the spa and sat in the bubbly warmth while it was raining. Haha. This basically knocked us out and everyone took a nap when we came back inside. For dinner we had pasta and salad. We decided to have a low key night and we played card games and watched two movies on TV -- 10th & Wolf and Igby Goes Down. Both were pretty good, though Igby Goes Down was pretty bizarre.
Day Four -- Still raining. Devon and I decided that we weren't going to waste another day shopping or attempting to go to the beach and went to an amusement park instead. We went to Dream World and rode some ridiculously awesome roller coasters. It was awesome because it wasn't raining that hard, but enough to make the lines really short (since no one was there) and it even got sunny for awhile. We also got to see Tiger Island where there was a show with tigers and trainers that was awesome. I have some great pictures of them jumping and doing some cool tricks. It was probably the best choice for the day. The other girls said it rained all day and they just hung out, went shopping and lounged around the apartment. That night we had all headed out to the city for a big night out. Went to a couple of bars and us girls ended up meeting some Irish guys in an Irish bar (go figure!) It was a hilarious night, mainly because their accents were ridiculous and the drunker they got, the harder it was to understand them!! It was all around a great night out.
Day Five -- Our last day in Surfers and how about it, SUNSHINE!!! And lots of it! We spent the entire day on the beach, watching the surf competition, building Hannah into a sand mermaid and even went into the ocean!! The waves were so intense and the under toe was really strong. Devon, Hannah and I were the only ones who went in and we just got knocked around left and right. It was lots of fun though. That night we cleaned up the apartment and decided to head out for dinner. We went to a Thai place that was just absolutely incredible. I had so much to eat and was so full and happy. All full of food and exhausted from being in the sun all day, we lounged around the apartment that night packing up our stuff and getting ready to catch at 6 AM flight to Melbourne.
OKAY! That's part one! I'm in the process of loading my 104389482482038 photos and will have them up ASAP!! I'll try and write the other parts later today! I have dinner at the High Table tonight with the Master and Dean and some other college students like Jemma!! So I have to get dressed up and look presentable! We get to have wine and cheese before dinner and port and dessert after!! Woo =) I am pretty excited! MISS YOU ALL!!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
It Glimmers Like Gold
So things have been pretty quiet since I last posted, sadly just been slaving away a presentation and two papers. What kind of stuff am I studying over here? Is it harder than William & Mary? Hmm...well let me tell you about my presentation and papers...
Presentation:
For my Anthropology class -- Popular Culture -- presenation on -- Fashion. Yes that's right, fashion. My friend Karri and I did a whole entire presentation about Fashion, Barbies (yah we had an entire class discussion on Barbie for awhile too) and trends around the world. I think it was a solid presentation if I may say so myself =)
Paper One:
Also for my Pop Culture class. It was to be 1500 words (about 5 pages) on a multitude of questions. I decided to tackle "Describe the emergence and life cycle of a subculture and what a globalization perspective might effect this subculture." Toughy right. Well I wrote about Preps, yup good old New England American Preppys. For those who watch Youtube on a semi-regular basis will recognize this video -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTU2He2BIc0 -- which a majority of my research was conducted from. I also had to research for visuals and thanks to Google picture found some good Prepster pictures. Woo USA!
Paper Two:
Okay paper two is not nearly as much as these two...it was for my history class and involves Charles Darwin...borinnnggg...and to be honest I don't think many of you care that much about what papers I'm writing about. I know you want more kangaroo and wallabee stories. Well that's what all of you have to look forward too because at 4:30 AM tomorrow I will be heading off on SPRING BREAK!!!!!!
Here's our itinerary:
April 16 - 21 Gold Coast -- Surfer's Paradise. Staying in the SWEETEST Apartment that is walking distance for the beach! Shopping, surfing, tanning and having a fantastic time.
April 21 - 24 Melbourne -- staying a friend from College who lives in Melbourne. I have a friend from home, Jon Garon, who is studying aboard at Melbourne Uni so I'm hoping to meet up with him while I'm there. Lots of sight seeing and shopping and exploring our first BIG Australian city!!
April 24 - Day One of the Great Ocean Bus Tour -- Great Ocean Road is famouse for its surf beaches, massive rock formations, ancient rainforest and stunning coastal scenery. Day one will involve Helicopter flights are the 12 Apostles (third most visited natural site in OZ), exploring ancient rainforests, fern gullies and gum trees!! We are also seeing koalas and feeding native birds, and staying the night in Warrnambool Victoria.
April 24 -- Day Two -- day filled of bush walking, exploring and playing with Australian animals! We will go to Tower Hill and Grampian Nation Park which is reowned for grand and rugged ranges, wildlife and fauna. Then we will get to get up close with Australian birds, KANGAROOS, emus and koalas!! (Prepare for me to steal a couple...put your orders in now). Then We will head to McKenzie Falls and Reeds Boroaka Lookout. After that we head ot the rambuk Aboriginal Cultural Centre (YES HISTORY!!) and spend the night back in South Australia.
April 26 -- Day Three -- WOOO SUPER EXCITING DAY!! Checking out Fossill Caves and ADVENTURE CAVING!! We get to explore Naracoorte World Heritage Listed Fossil Caves and get to do ADVENTURE CAVING!! What is that?! Well apparently we get to GET DIRTY crawling, sliding and scrambling through tunnels and chambers with helmet, LIGHT, overalls and kneepads!! WOOO =P After that we will check out the Wonambi Fossil Cantre and see fossils of giant kangaroos, wombats and snakes. Then we get to go horse riding and wine tasting!! We will cross over the Great Murray Rive and through the Adelaide Hills back home to Adelaide and the end of our sweet Australian adventure!!!
I will not have internet for the entire trip unless I can find some internet cafes or something like that. I can't wait to come back and tell you allllll about it and post pictures!! Hope all is well with everyone. Good luck with finals W&M kiddies and all the other colleges kids too because school is coming to an end for you guys!! And I'm only half way through mine.... LOVE YOU!
Presentation:
For my Anthropology class -- Popular Culture -- presenation on -- Fashion. Yes that's right, fashion. My friend Karri and I did a whole entire presentation about Fashion, Barbies (yah we had an entire class discussion on Barbie for awhile too) and trends around the world. I think it was a solid presentation if I may say so myself =)
Paper One:
Also for my Pop Culture class. It was to be 1500 words (about 5 pages) on a multitude of questions. I decided to tackle "Describe the emergence and life cycle of a subculture and what a globalization perspective might effect this subculture." Toughy right. Well I wrote about Preps, yup good old New England American Preppys. For those who watch Youtube on a semi-regular basis will recognize this video -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTU2He2BIc0 -- which a majority of my research was conducted from. I also had to research for visuals and thanks to Google picture found some good Prepster pictures. Woo USA!
Paper Two:
Okay paper two is not nearly as much as these two...it was for my history class and involves Charles Darwin...borinnnggg...and to be honest I don't think many of you care that much about what papers I'm writing about. I know you want more kangaroo and wallabee stories. Well that's what all of you have to look forward too because at 4:30 AM tomorrow I will be heading off on SPRING BREAK!!!!!!
Here's our itinerary:
April 16 - 21 Gold Coast -- Surfer's Paradise. Staying in the SWEETEST Apartment that is walking distance for the beach! Shopping, surfing, tanning and having a fantastic time.
April 21 - 24 Melbourne -- staying a friend from College who lives in Melbourne. I have a friend from home, Jon Garon, who is studying aboard at Melbourne Uni so I'm hoping to meet up with him while I'm there. Lots of sight seeing and shopping and exploring our first BIG Australian city!!
April 24 - Day One of the Great Ocean Bus Tour -- Great Ocean Road is famouse for its surf beaches, massive rock formations, ancient rainforest and stunning coastal scenery. Day one will involve Helicopter flights are the 12 Apostles (third most visited natural site in OZ), exploring ancient rainforests, fern gullies and gum trees!! We are also seeing koalas and feeding native birds, and staying the night in Warrnambool Victoria.
April 24 -- Day Two -- day filled of bush walking, exploring and playing with Australian animals! We will go to Tower Hill and Grampian Nation Park which is reowned for grand and rugged ranges, wildlife and fauna. Then we will get to get up close with Australian birds, KANGAROOS, emus and koalas!! (Prepare for me to steal a couple...put your orders in now). Then We will head to McKenzie Falls and Reeds Boroaka Lookout. After that we head ot the rambuk Aboriginal Cultural Centre (YES HISTORY!!) and spend the night back in South Australia.
April 26 -- Day Three -- WOOO SUPER EXCITING DAY!! Checking out Fossill Caves and ADVENTURE CAVING!! We get to explore Naracoorte World Heritage Listed Fossil Caves and get to do ADVENTURE CAVING!! What is that?! Well apparently we get to GET DIRTY crawling, sliding and scrambling through tunnels and chambers with helmet, LIGHT, overalls and kneepads!! WOOO =P After that we will check out the Wonambi Fossil Cantre and see fossils of giant kangaroos, wombats and snakes. Then we get to go horse riding and wine tasting!! We will cross over the Great Murray Rive and through the Adelaide Hills back home to Adelaide and the end of our sweet Australian adventure!!!
I will not have internet for the entire trip unless I can find some internet cafes or something like that. I can't wait to come back and tell you allllll about it and post pictures!! Hope all is well with everyone. Good luck with finals W&M kiddies and all the other colleges kids too because school is coming to an end for you guys!! And I'm only half way through mine.... LOVE YOU!
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Halloween in April
Yesterday was Garden Party!! Tony and I decided to dress up like two parts of a heart. We painted our entire bodies red...and I mean face, ears, legs, hands, feet...all red. Then we had these cardboard hearts hanging from us that when you put the two together they said "I LOVE ST. MARKS" Haha it was digustingly cute. There were some really good costumes, a group of girls dressed up as the McDonald's crew, like the Hamburger Stealer, the purple guy, Ronald I mean the whole nine years. Another group of guys were Snap, Crackle and Pop from the Rice Crispies cereal. I mean lots of effort and thought went into these costumes. There were girls who dressed up as Trolls and who did their hair all the way up...I mean epic. I didn't take pictures because my red hands would have dyed my white camera, so I will steal Jenn's pictures and post them. Because this outfits were awesome and I know you all want to see me covered in red paint.
Today we the boys and girls cricket finals for college. We were in the finals for both, but we ended up losing. The girls game was a good effort and we lost to Flinders University. The boys game was really rough, we were so close to winning, we trying to hold the other team as much as we could, but they won by one run. We lost to our biggest rival too so it was a really big loss. Ah, it was a really good match though, very intense and exciting, and apparently that NEVER happens in cricket.
This is the last week before mid-semester break and it's going to be a rough one. I have two papers and a presentation all due, so I have to get back to doing some homework. We had daylights saving last night, so I gained an hour but it also puts me back to being 15 1/2 hours different than home. I hope that everything is going well at home. I love all the emails that I get from you guys, it really makes me so happy and makes being away a lot easier. I will post more pictures soon =) BACK TO WORK!! =P
Today we the boys and girls cricket finals for college. We were in the finals for both, but we ended up losing. The girls game was a good effort and we lost to Flinders University. The boys game was really rough, we were so close to winning, we trying to hold the other team as much as we could, but they won by one run. We lost to our biggest rival too so it was a really big loss. Ah, it was a really good match though, very intense and exciting, and apparently that NEVER happens in cricket.
This is the last week before mid-semester break and it's going to be a rough one. I have two papers and a presentation all due, so I have to get back to doing some homework. We had daylights saving last night, so I gained an hour but it also puts me back to being 15 1/2 hours different than home. I hope that everything is going well at home. I love all the emails that I get from you guys, it really makes me so happy and makes being away a lot easier. I will post more pictures soon =) BACK TO WORK!! =P
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