“Nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.”- Oscar Wilde

This has been a quiet blog this week, since my classes are starting to pick up!

Just a quick update!

1.    "   I am going to be gone all weekend J Friday, I am going to Brisbane Forest Park for a research trip then I am going to learn to Surf from Friday-Sunday at MojoSurf. Lets just hope this cyclone doesn’t interfere! The swells the days we are learning to Surf are going to be about 12ft high. I am 100% positive that I have never even seen waves that high, never mind SURFING in them.

2.       I booked my flight to Fiji! My roommate Melissa, my friend Kelly, and I are going to be staying in Fiji from April 4^th-9^th! I am beyond excited! Never did I think it was possibility to actually go here!

3.       I actually have assignments due on Friday. One of my assignments is worth 30% of my grade ALREADY. Its hard because if you do bad on one assignment you are very likely to fail the course.

Enjoy the weekend! I hear its beginning to look/feel like Spring in Ma! I miss Spring! We are heading into our Autumn. But Brisbane’s Fall gets to a chilling 70 degrees. J

xoxo

"Eating Ants the Australian Way"

"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." -St. Augustine

This is just a quick post!

I wanted to keep everyone updated on a few things! I’m sure you love hearing about the life in Brisbane but I bet you would love to hear about my travel plans as well!

Each month I have about 2 weekends to travel. Here is my current itinerary so far and a little excerpt on what I’ll be doing during the trips.

19^th March- Biol Field Research Day Trip to Brisbane Forest Park

Brisbane Forest Park is a rugged national park that encircles the Brisbane region from the west.  This full day field trip offers a great chance to experience some of south-eastern Queensland's magnificent rainforest.  At Walkabout Creek Wildlife Centre you will  get to see a platypus, a wombat and mainland Australia's largest marsupial carnivore, the spotted quoll.  Other animals include various rainforest birds, freshwater fishes, turtles, snakes, lizards and local wallabies and kangaroos. 

19^th-21^st March- Mojo Surf, Surf Weekend ( literally departs 1 hours after Field Research)

This is an awesome way to start your surfing career and escape the city for the weekend. Departing every Friday evening you will head to one of our secluded purpose built surf camps where the vibe will wipe away the hustle and bustle of the city. By day you will be learning to surf on some of the world’s most pristine and uncrowned beaches. Saturday night is always a blast around the campfire telling tall tales, meeting new friends and experiencing the best lifestyle on the planet.

28^th March- 1^st April- Fraser Island 5 Day Research Trip

Fraser Island World Heritage Area is the world's largest sand island.  The 5 day BIOL2001 field trip to Fraser includes 4WD transport, accommodation and meals.  Activities include hikes and four-wheel drive excursions to various island ecosystems, ranging from the beaches to the towering inland rainforest.  Highlights include visits to spectacular freshwater lakes and giant sand dunes, as well as spotlighting for wild dingos.

2^nd -8^th/9^th April- Nadi, Fiji! ( we are booking this on Monday if the flight prices stay the same.)

First stop this morning is Wailolola Beach where your Guide and Driver will outline the Feejee Experience product. Then it’s onto Nadi Town markets to get some supplies and barter with the locals. From Nadi town we head south to our lunch spot and one of Fiji’s most famous beaches, Natadola Beach for sunbathing, body surfing and mingling with the locals all whilst your Driver and Guide cook a BBQ lunch. Early afternoon is the first cultural experience at Malomalo Village, where your Guide will explain traditional customs in a Fijian village. The last activity is on the Coral Coast itself - sand boarding the Sigatoka sand dunes! Later in the afternoon we arrive at our accommodation, Mango Bay - a beachfront resort, complete with free snorkelling, kayaking, pool, volleyball and loads of other free and paid activities.

22^nd-27^th April- Syndey

We just booked this today on a “happy hour sale” so we have no current plans but we will make some! J

I love and miss you all from home. <3

"One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating"- Luciano Pavarotti, Pavarotti, My Own Story

Food. This post is all about Food.

The first few weeks here in Brisbane were excellent. But I already began feeling sick of eating the same things every day. The grocery stores are similar to ours but the food, well I can’t complain to much. I actually really enjoy all of the food here! Except for the mayonnaise, yuck. I asked my mom for a few easy recipes that I thought would be simple but Australia doesn’t have the little things!

For example, I wanted to make my moms delicious Stuffed Shells, (obviously NOT as good as hers,but I wanted to attempt) but for the past week, 3 grocery stores, and a fresh pasta market later…I’ve come to the conclusion that Australia, or at least Brisbane does not sell large shells. This was an unfortunate discovery but I am surviving. What else don’t they have? Well cheese is a bit different. They don’t have string cheese, or any of the wonderful laughing cow cheeses. Only the basics. It also seems like every flavor of cheese I get it called “Tasty” cheese. What is that supposed to mean?! This is labeled on my shredded cheese, my parmesan cheese, and my slices of cheese. I just want some Mozzarella!

On the other hand let me begin on the topic of Candy! Or as the Aussies call it, Lollies. I may have fallen a little head over heels for anything confectionery in this country.  Now, everything delicious and really unhealthy for you is way overpriced here, but about once a week I spend my change on some new treat. The first thing I bought was a package of starburst babies. This was a recommendation from the lovely Chris McCarthy, and I wasn’t allowed to leave Australia without trying these. So the very first week I decided to buy these” babies”. They tasted just like any other fruit snack but I think that these Aussies are a little out there. These fruit snack are literally molded babies! I’m sure some of you will be offend but when eating them I can’t really say anything but, “these babies are delicious” or “what flavor baby did you get?”. If heard in the wrong context, well you get the point.

This other delicious chocolate delight would have to be the TimTam. These are made with a variety of different chocolates, with wafers in the middle of them. I guess you could compare them to a Kit Kat, but less crunchy and more chocolaty. I believe there is about 8 flavors and I have had about 4 of them so far. They come in a pack of 8 or 9 and if your really craving the chocolate fix, you could eat them all in a sitting or two.

The third and final treat would be Pods. Pods cannot be related to anything in the US and I’m almost positive my dad would love them. Pods are bit sized candy similar to what you get at Halloween or something. They only have a few flavors, like twix and crunch bar. I have only had the twix so far and it was awesome! Okay, so imagine a bit sized twix, but the cookie is in a little cup form with the perfect amount of carmel and chocolate in the middle. This is the only picture I didn’t take, but I just had ot show everyone anyways.

Here is a few pictures of the lollies that I have been talking about. The pod picture is probably the best because: 1.) I didn’t take it  2.) There’s food in the picture and unfortunately my candy is gone by the time I think of taking a picture.

Fast Fact of the Day!

If you are looking for the cheapest meats. After about 4pm, all of the butchers and grocery stores give price reductions on meat. This goes for hamburger, to chicken to fish. I think this is one thing I won't be looking for a deal on.

P.S- If anyone is having trouble seeing the photos that I am posting here, if you click on  the photo, it will enlarge it! 

Love & Miss xox

"No part of Australia is more than 1000 km from the ocean and a beach. "

I have made it through my first week of Uni!

The Australian school system is so different compared to what I’m used to at Bridgewater State. I am not too worried about studying, and doing my work, its just the most difficult thing that I have found is during lectures. I cannot for the life of me, listen and take notes at the same time. Since the class sizes are much larger than 30 people, the lecturers can’t just stop for a question. During my first real biology class, I realized that I’m going to need some help if I’m going to remember anything from the lectures so I ended up going to Dick Smith, Australia’s electronics store, to get a voice recorder. By spending the money on the recorder, I can already see that it has made a difference to how my study habits will be.  It seems like for the three weeks I’ve been here, I’ve spent the most money this week on school supplies, books, and field trips.

School supplies..yay! Well down under, they don’t use paper that is 8 ½ by 11, its just slightly larger at 8.3 by 11.7.  Its not that big of an adjustment but its annoying that if I bring my notebooks back, they will be a different size. With all of my classes, I needed a total of three books, which was great. Many of the professors put their notes online because they do not want students to waste their money on material that they cannot sell back. The highlight of the week was paying for my field trips! Like I said in an earlier post, I will be going on 4 trips this semester, most of them day trips, and one 5 day trip.  Here are my research trips!

March 19th- Brisbane National Park Research Trip

March 28^th- April 1^st- Fraser Island Research Trip

May 7th- Lamington National Park

May 28^th- Australia Zoo ( behind the scenes! )

This past weekend week was a relaxing but eventful weekend! Since I have no Friday classes, my friend Emily and I went into the city, but then decided to go a different way to explore! Well in a few short minutes we found the entrance to Brisbane’s Botanical Gardens! It was such a lovely find, it didn’t seem like it belonged in the city! There were lakes, flowers,  tropical trees, picnic areas..everything! We enjoyed it because for the past 6 days or so its been raining and even in the misting rain, the Botanical Gardens were beautiful! There was so much wildlife, I couldn’t believe I was in the city! Giant bearded dragons, ducks, eels, (yes eels) it was awesome. Friday night was an early one because I’ve been planning on going to an event in the city for the past few months. It was Brisbane Welcomes International Students Day! So I got up and headed into the heart of the city with Emily and Chelsea. We got some great information about the city, we heard Brisbane’s Chancellor speak, and best of all I got to meet and speak with “Greatest Job on Earth” winner, Ben Southall!!!! That 100% made my day!

Sunday my roommate Melissa and I deiced that we were done exploring Brisbane and made our way to the Surfers Paradise, on the Gold Coast. Our apartment complex is in the perfect location beucase we rolled out of bed and caught the 8:03 train down to the beach right next door. The ride was about 45 minutes and then we hopped onto a bus for about a half hour to take us right to paradise. The ride was smooth! This is defiantly a day trip/ overnight trip. We got their early and it was BEAUTIFUL! The water was 74 degrees and the sand was so soft. Since we were their early in the morning we were able to watch some surfs schools, lifeguarding classes and swim team all in different areas of the beach! I was very impressed with the lifeguards.

 Watching them practice made me miss guarding a lot, but it was really interesting how they recovered victims from the ocean as opposed to a pool in the U.S like I am used to. As we were walking, I was also mesmerized by the swim team swimming laps in the ocean! This may not seem like a big deal, but the swells were at least 6 to 7 ft high and all of the kids just jumped right in! After sitting in the sun for a while we decided to take a walk around all of the different shops and food areas. It was a great area and the people watching was by far the best in Australia so far! We both put layers of sun block on but we still managed to get burnt. The sun is just so hot that after just a half hour you really feel like your baking in the oven. My burn isn’t bad though, its like a usual beginning of a summer burn that goes away in a day or two. We headed home at about 5 o’clock so  I would say it was a successful day trip! We are already thinking of going back on Friday!

Fast Fact of the Day! What is a Seppo? Well, Australians sometimes refer to Americans as Seppo's.Why? Because this is an abbreviation for 'Septic Tank' which is rhyming slang for Yank as in Yankee. If you dont get the lingo, it understandable because usually someone would have to explain where a certain name came from. 

Cheers from the heat!

Love & Miss.

"Australia is so cool that it's hard to even know where to start describing it. The beaches are beautiful; so is the weather. Not too crowded. Great food, great music, really nice people. It must be a lot like Los Angeles was many years ago. "- Mary-Kate Olsen

School is officially in Session!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I’m that excited about it. Why? Well it probably has to do with the fact that since December 18^th, 2009, I have had no schedule besides working at Best Buy. That’s a very long 2 ½ months for me not to be busy! Starting this past Monday, I’ve finally began a schedule!

Monday’s- I have all day free, because my first class of the day actually starts at 6:00pm. My first lecture is on Television and Popular Culture. I was a nervous on my first day because the lecture room held about 150 people but there were only about 80 students. Yes, 80 students, still seems a lot but I was relieved at that number! My course head, Lisa, began the class and like every other first week of school, she just went over what is expected and what we will be doing for the semester. She was different to say the least! Flaming dyed red/orange hair and think rimmed bright red glasses, and of course you have to add on the Australian accent.  The lecture each Monday is 1 ½ hours and then I go right to my tutes. ( a.k.a Tutorial). This is where I feel much more comfortable, since the class size it’s about 20 students.  Luckily I have the same professor, Lisa for my tutes and she makes it fun! I’m very excited about this class, I’m one of three American students and we had to introduce ourselves. Long story short, since it is a Television and Popular Culture class, they asked me if I watched the Jersey Shore…and I was proud to tell them NO. We are also working in partners for a project, and my partner is Emily, an already graduated Law student but she is currently working on her Bachelors for Arts.  I think we will be good partners, since we are doing our project on Crime shows, so of course CSI Las Vegas comes up and both of us agree. Perfect.

Tuesday’s- This is my semi busy day, its weird because I have to commute everyday from my apartment. On the bus. It’s only 7-10 minute ride, depending on the time of day. My roommate Melissa and I are both in our 9am, Australia’s Terrestrial Environment. It’s a biology class and is geared for students who are on exchange for a semester. It’s a big class because….we have field trips! It seems like a very interesting class, my professor Steve is a vertebrate Paleontologist, so its great to listen to him lecture. Only down side, I can’t write that fast! So I had to buy a voice recorder because the class is much larger then usual. So! My Field Trips! We go on three day trips and a 5 day trip. My day trips are Brisbane Forest Park, Lamington National Park, and “behind the scenes” tour of the Australia Zoo ( Steve Erwins zoo). The big field trip is the week before our semester break and it’s to Fraser Island, the biggest sand Island in the world. This link will direct you to a previous semester’s trip to Frazer Island, check out what I’ll be doing! (click--> BIOL2001) Of course, there trips come with reports that we must do, but  at least I get to see different parts of the city and learn!

I also have Australian Popular Culture on Tuesdays, but so far its not very exciting. We only went over the syllabus and the highlight of this class so far is that we have to watch a movie every week and discuss it. I think I can handle that. This is a boring class compared to the biology class.

Fun Fact of the Day!

You may be wondering why I am referring to my professors or lecturers by their first name. Well, in Australia everything including the classroom is casual, so the professors want to be called by their first name. They believe that they are not above us or special, of course they may be a doctor, or have their masters, but they don’t boast about it. If you call them Professor, they just give you a weird look and remind you what their name is. 

"It's like we're studying at a Hogwarts, just without the Great Hall, we have the Great Court."

This is my first school post! It's hard to believe but I AM studying here! If you don't already know, I am going to be studying at the University of Queensland at St. Lucia. I could go on about why I chose to go to school here but heres a few of my top reasons why I chose UQ over 25 other schools in Australia.

1. The weather! Sorry Massachusetts, but I hate SNOW. I'm the happiest in the summer or in the sun. In Brisbane, QLD, the coldest it gets is around 70 degrees in their winter. So for all your New Englanders...THIS WEATHER IS AWESOME.

2. University of Queensland is ranked one of the top schools in the world. Its ranked in the top 8 in Australia and as opposed to Bridgewater State College, this school has classes from Undergrad to PhD. They have research stations all over Australia and huge breakthroughs have happened here. Who wouldnt want to go to a school with such an amazing atmosphere.

3. Networking. If I meet the right people here and get my name out, being able to have networking oppourtunities in outher countries is a gift. I've already started that by joining the UQ Management Society, our first big event is "Speed Dating" which companies such as Loreal, Cadbury,  Ernst & Young and other global businesses will be there to talk about their company and just for the Undergrads to be able to learn how to hold professional conversations.

4. The city of Brisbane. This city is an up and coming young city. In the early 80's this place was considered the "country" and it has come far. Theres beaches, great public transportation, shops, open markets, street performers, clubs and anything that could fit a 20 somethings tastes. Each day of the week there is something to do, and if you really get that bored, we have Street Beach. A beach that was man made next to the river, but it has sand and palm trees. I literally have my own beach in my backyard.

Since these all seem like wonderful reasons to come here. I can't summarize how much of an impact my University has. Insted of me going on about it. I have a little Wiki excerpt.

"The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in Brisbane, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the older university in Queensland and the fifth in the nation. UQ is ranked among the top universities, both in Australia and the world. UQ research led by Professor Ian Frazer pioneered a vaccine for cervical cancer. The vaccine Gardasil protects against an approximate 70 perfect of human papilloma virus related cervical cancers. The 274 acre campus also includes sporting fields, gardens, duck ponds, and cycling tracks. The athletics centre features 21 floodlit tennis courts and Olympic standard swimming pool, a three-level gymnasium and a multi=purpose indoor center. The university is served by a CityCat wharf, two bus stations and is also served by the Eleanor Schonell Bridge providing pedestrian and bus access across the river to Dutton Park. " - Thank you Wikipedia! 

Okay, so now that you know a little bit about my school and how pretty much amazing it is, I’ll tell you my perspective! So yes, this is the most amazing and beautiful campus that I have ever seen but it’s defiantly a difference from the US Public school system. The biggest complaint I have it that at UQ, they want you to learn on your own, which includes how to pick classes. I have been so lost at picking classes and I’m usually really good at it! Let me just tell you how strange it is. Okay, so I can take 4 classes, because that is considered a full class load, as opposed to 5 classes at BSC. Now, we meet for up 1, 2 or 3 days in the week but when we meet, we have different times and different topics to discuss. Each class has a “lecture” or “contact” that is required. The some classes have a “Tutorial” that has numerous different hours/sections to pick from. So you have to pick a lecture and a tutorial and sometimes a practical, which is similar to a tutorial but apparently it’s different? But when you are picking your classes and everything is full, you email the course head and tell them you want to be in this class, and if enough people do that, then they open up a different section. It’s annoying beyond belief and most of you know me, I love picking classes, but not here. There are no advisors to help you, and if you do find a student center staff member, they just tell you to email the course. Everything is self taught. I just want my classes! Meh.

Fact Fact of the Day!
Did you know that I have a Ferris Wheel in my backyard? Well I didn't until we passed it for the first time on the way to my apartment! It was a plesant surprise! This is the Wheel of Brisbane! It stands 60 metres tall ( much smaller than the London Eye's 135m.) but it give tourists a bird eye view of the beautiful city! I love it at night because each capsule is lit up with bright blue LED lights and just adds to the city. Here is it during the day, I hope to get a picture of it at night soon!


Good day! 

"O-WEEEEK.! Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi! "

I’m not going to go into detail about classes, I know, it’s the boring stuff. But! I will go into my orientation week or O-Week as it’s called. All this week is O-Week and there are things to do every day. They do not have Greek life in Australia but wow, hazing is 100% legal here. For example, each college on campus ( dorms) has different things that they have to do throughout the day. Take Emmanuel College, they have to be up at 5am, the hall leaders wake them up and make them run around the campus screaming absurd chants that often include F-bombs and ridiculous singing. They all have to wear sailor hats with nicknames on them, and if a leader sees you around campus without your hat on, then they write your nickname in permanent marker on your forehead. Crazy right? Another college, Women’s college, has weekly dinners that they wear “dress robes” to and they live like Harry Potter ( only thing I’m jealous about!) but during the o-week they are required to wear their houses Polo and navy shorts. I’m not sure if this post is getting the message across, but every day you KNOW who lives on campus, because they are the ones doing ridiculous things. These examples may not sound that bad, but honestly if you saw it, it would be a different story. See, this may seem fun, but at Uni, most people that live on campus are ages 17-19. So if I was a freshman, I may have thought this was awesome, but my friends that are currently living on campus, say it’s more of a chore at 20-21 as a junior or senior in college.


Fast Fact of the Day!(Maybe I’ll do this each blog, what do you think?)

In Australia is someone asked what college you’re in, that actually means what residence hall you are living in. If they ask what you are studying, you tell them University of Queensland. If they ask what area, that is when you say your major. Example time! So I do not live in a college, I live in Southbank. I’m studying at University of Queensland and my area of study is marketing. Doesn't seem to complicate but when you’re in a conversation, Australian’s give you a look like you have five heads if you tell them you go to college at UQ and your major is Marketing. Little culture gap there!

Okay, so besides the whole hazing and living on campus thing, which doesn’t really involve me, I just find it amusing. I have to tell you guys about Market Day! Market Day is the best day ever! Market Day at University of Queensland is amazing, it is when EVERY SINGLE CLUB OR SOCIETY comes out with a table for people to get more information about a certain area, sign up, or just get free things from different vendors! These pictures don’t really do it justice, since they were on my phone but all of these white tents had different clubs. At UQ each club you join has a fee, so if you want to participate you pay the membership fee, and if you have no interest your student fees don’t go to something you don’t have interest about! Over 250 tables were there to look at. There were tables for sports teams, law clubs, translink ( the public transport), the local police, IKEA, cell phone providers, Apple, choirs, student unions, different religious clubs, alumni association…pretty much if you ever thought of joining a club, they have everything possible to offer you. I ended up going on my own, because I love getting free things, it may sound terrible but if you look hard enough, free is right there!

I was in all my glory! I got calendars and post it notes, water bottles, reusable bags, I won a t-shirt ( which I said during my previous post), candy, cokes, pens, pencils, other various food items, stickers, important info , ice cream, ect. These may not sound very exciting but I got as much info out of these people as possible so I knew what was in the area and so I could be knowledgeable and hold a conversation other than “sooo you’re an international student” to another student. I ended up joining 2 clubs which I’m very excited about. Both only cost a $5 membership fee too! The first organization I joined is the QUEST Society, which is a group of multicultural students from around the world but we all share a common interest of learning more about Brisbane and the state of Queensland in general. We have discounted day trips, as well as a student’s perspective on where to go out at night, or to eat a cheap meal to nice areas to just enjoy the scenery.

I am excited about this because we are already finding really local spots that most travel books never even mentioned! Another society that I joined was the UQMA which is University of Queensland Management Association. It is a not-for profit organization for students that are looking to pursue a more professional side and to be able to be connected with quality networking opportunities’ throughout the semester. With my membership card, I also get discounts at different restaurants and free entry to clubs and bars. This is hopefully a society worth joining because even at the table I felt like I fit right in. The UQMA is for any Business, Economics, Commerce or Law majors so I was right at home!

There is a 3rd club that I am hopefully joining. What is this club you ask? Well, it’s the DIVE TEAM! Not as in 1 meter diving, but SCUBA diving! I didn’t have the amount of money to join today but I am going to a BBQ tomorrow night at their dive house that is located right next to UQ’s outdoor swimming pool. Don’t worry family! I have a friend that is doing it with me, his name is Chris and he also is a student from the US and both of us are really excited about this dive team! I’ll have to keep you posted on that but I would love to be able to join a club that I otherwise would never be able to join at Bridgewater State. 

Cheers!

"and he said... "Do you come from a land down under? Where women glow and men plunder? "

While I was at my orientation in Cairns, N. Queensland, they told me that the first few weeks of being in a foreign country are always the “honeymoon stage” which pretty much means that you’re in love and then you start to realize, it’s not what you expected. I’m already heading into week 3 and my “honeymoon stage” has yet to be complete. Honestly, I don’t think I will leave this so called “honeymoon stage”

I believe that I have become quite adjusted to living in Australia. The first night was the hardest because I was in a completely foreign city! Even after reading all of my survival guides to Australia, it didn’t help the fact that I was totally on my own with no direction on which way was up. My apartment is in a very beautiful part of the city and I have come to realize that South Bank (the different areas in Brisbane, such as “the north end” or southie in Boston) is a rich and up and coming area. When I met people and tell them I live in South Bank, their reaction is always the same; it’s the “OHHH wow. That’s wonderful!” or “Really? Goodness you have it made!” I’ve finally gotten a hang of the city and the streets and how to get around with the public transportation.

Since I have been talking about how I’ve gotten to know my city better. Here are some interesting facts about Brisbane that you most likely won’t find in travel books. Some of them are quiet pointless, but I was either very happy/excited/ interested that I found them out!

1.The streets in the city are labeled in either men or women’s names. So if you are looking Adelaide or Alice Street, they will be running parallel to Queen Street, the main street; if you are looking for Albert or William Street, those streets will be running perpendicular from the women’s streets! It makes everything so easy!

2.Never buy fruits or vegetable from supermarkets. Buy them from local markets and to find the local markets…ask the locals! They are so friendly and willing to help whenever I tell them I just moved here. When going to the local markets, wait until the end of the day to purchase your items. I actually did this and I was able to get 12 pieces of fruit for $5! By the end of the day, the locals want to make a profit and still sell their fresh goods!  For an example, I ended up getting 3 peaches, 3 plums, 2 lemons, 1 lime,  and other fruits ( I forget the name because it was Aussie grown!) and I had plenty of fresh fruit! I was BEYOND excited about this. In the stores each of those items would be double or by a certain weight, and they make EVERYTHING expensive in the grocery stores.

3.Plastic Bags cost money, similar to places in the US, but I love the fact that Australia is all about being Eco-Friendly. Let’s just say that within 2 weeks, I have received a total of 7 reusable bags during various orientations…yay for free bags! And yay for the environment!

4.Aussies love competing. I fit right in! They compete for anything! For example, I won a t-shirt from my university because I beat the Apple employees in a game of iPod touch air hockey. ( they were cocky, and I was happy I beat them since I watch the 5 people in front of me lose)

Did I mention I actually have a tan now? I’m getting really dark because every day is sunny. This makes people in such better moods! The down side is that if you forget to put sun block on, you WILL be burnt within the hour. Yes, I wish there were more downsides, but honestly that is the only one.

Posting will continue soon! Cheers Mates!

"Brisbane's unique Queensland architecture, riverfront setting, perfect climate, cultural diversity and unrivalled employment growth make it one of the most attractive cities to live in on almost any angle. "

So many plane rides!

So Thursday afternoon, I finally arrived in Brisbane. From Cairns it was a 2 hour plane ride which was a walk in the park compared to 13 hours! I’m done with planes for a few weeks!!!!

I got back in Brisbane International with all the AustraLearn kids and there were separate busses to take us to our final destinations of where we are living. A total of 15 AustraLearn students were living in Urbanest, where I am so we were the first stop. My apartment complex looks identical to the pictures online!!! I absolutely love it! I walked in with a fully made bed so I didn’t have to buy sheets, and my very own bathroom! And my building is all black, green and white, my windows frame is bright green!

I am living with 3 others girls and they are all the same girls that I roomed with for the past week in Cairns which is awesome because they are the girls who I got along with the best! Two go to American University and one goes to West Chester. Yes, you read right, American University…where Dan goes! How is it, that my world somehow gets smaller even thought I am 10,000 miles away?!

But we each have our own room and bathroom; we are literally in a 5 bedroom, 5 bathroom apartment! There is one extra room in here but no one is going to be living in it.

I immediately got settled in to make my room more homey, and for the fact that I was sick of living out of a suitcase! I love love love my room, I printed out pictures and brought my cards from anyone who wished me luck here. In the afternoon, all of the kids that were living in Urbanest decided to go into the city which is a beautiful walk from our Apartment! We walk right around the river, through the gardens and the beach, so its like we have our own city, without the hustle and bustle of the city..get it?

We went to a giant 6 story mall, which was mostly underground to get soap and cleaning supplies and just little odds and ended that everyone needed. It was werid because everything started to close at 6pm, only restaurants and liquor stores stay open later which means we have to plan our whole day around going shopping. MY favorite store so far…The Reject Shop, where it is basically Australia’s dollars store, that is where most of us got our bathroom stuff and hangers from. 

More pictures will be coming soon of the city :-)