08/23

So I am a little behind on my blogs but I will try to fill you guys in the best I can before blogging about my trip to Brisbane and Frazer Island. My Manly beach trip was amazing (I posted pictures of this trip on facebook a couple of weeks ago). I went home with a friend of mine (who lives in Manly) and my roommate from Wilmington came along for the adventure as well. I was able to catch the sunset over the Manley harbor on one of the lookouts from a cliff nearby as soon as we got off the ferry from Sydney. It was absolutely breath taking. You couldn’t have asked for a better view or a more unique set of colors. It was cool to watch the sun set behind the tall buildings of the city and be able to look down and watch the surfers catch their last couple of waves for the day. The next day we kayaked from my friend’s house to the main harbor in Manly. In the meantime we got stuck in a torrential down pour, which was miserable to say the least. We froze on the beach waiting for the rain to pass but as soon as it did the biggest most vibrant double rainbow came out that stretched from the north to the south head of the Sydney harbor. It was by far the best rainbow I have ever seen and something I know I will remember for the rest of my life.

All I could think about was how I wanted all my family and friends right there beside me just so they could witness the same sight and experience the same feelings I had after experiencing one of God’s gracious gifts of natural beauty. I took photos from all different angles but I knew no one back home would be able to get the same feeling or even see the same sight I was lucky enough to experience. This was one of the first times it hit me that traveling is truly a personal experience. You do it for yourself. No one else will be able to see and experience the same particular things you encounter on your journey and at times, this can be very frustrating. You want everyone at home to experience what you experience and to know the feelings you have had and all the things you have done, but that thought and that wish has to be let go. I have learned to truly appreciate and value my experiences for myself and accept the possibility no one else will ever know about it or be able to re-live that same experience. I can feel all of these different personal experiences adding up. I already feel like I am made up of so much more than before I left for the trip.

 After the rain had completely stopped we all got in the water and snorkeled around for a while. The water was crystal blue and I was able to see bunches of reefs and many different types of colored fish (including a clown fish!). To finish the day off before heading back to Wollongong we took a dive to the north head of Sydney harbor. This was also an indescribable view. You could see the whole city of Sydney and the Manly harbor all in one glance.

The next day we decided to climb Mount Kiera (a mountain in Wollongong walking distance from main campus). This was a very challenging hike that none of us expected but the view at the top was more than worth it. You could see the entire city of Wollongong. The entire coast (including both the light houses) all the way to the downtown area. After stopping at all of the different lookouts we decided to take the hike back down. Taking this hike or even driving to the top of the mountain to see the view is something I can definitely recommend to anyone if they are in Wollongong.  

Stay tuned for my blog about Brisbane and Frazer Island. I have so much to tell and I can’t wait to write it when I get some more time! However I am please to say I scored a HD on my Psychology exam that I took today (that is like an A- back home). Who knows how I managed that after spending the 5 days before on vacation leaving me almost NO time to study. But I was able to cram a lot today and pull off a good grade. School is actually getting busy for a change so I think I need to suck it up and realize I am still a full time student over here! Haha!

Can’t wait to tell everyone about my trip! Look for the pictures I posted on facebook for a little sneak peak! J

Love xoxo

8/01

So classes have started and I ALMOST feel like a student again. I was really lucky to get a good time table for the semester which consists of classes only Monday through Wednesday…leaving me plenty of time for long weekend travel. I am in three courses here at University of Wollongong: international media/ intercultural communication, Psychology of Personality and a marketing course (advertising practice and creative strategy). These courses will all be able to be transferred and accounted for back home in Wilmington. Wollongong’s campus is beautiful. It is about the same size as Wilmington but has a lot more diversity in terms of the layout, building design and landscaping. There are a lot of bridges, ponds and huge grassy lawns that still manage to stay green in the dead of winter. Many areas look like you are walking through a rain forest with bight colored birds and vegetation.  The buildings and classrooms are very modern. The library is probably one of my favorites; thank gosh because that’s where I will be spending most of my time ;). It is a huge 4 story building made almost completely out of glass. The recreation center is nice as well, with a HUGE heated outdoor swimming pool, multiple rugby fields, tennis courts, racket ball and badminton. I decided not to go with a membership there but with the gym at campus east (more convenient). I have been going to the beach a lot (surprise, surprise) because the weather has been amazing. During the day it gets to about 62 and this week it is suppose to get even warmer! Unfortunately it is still very chilly at night! One of my friends just brought down his extra wetsuit from Sydney so we are going to start surfing together soon. I have continued to meet bunches of people everywhere I go. I can’t get over how friendly everyone is here. It is true, Australians are some of the nicest people on Earth. I am getting use to all the weird lingo and phrases, although some still catch me off guard and I manage to hear something new every day. Some new words include: Dunner- comforter for your bed, “get a feed”- go out to eat, Coldie- a beer, Ay?- Followed by every single word said.., Trackies- shorts, Boardies- guys swim shorts, Joggers- Tennis shoes, Thongs- flip flops, Gumboots- rainboots, Chips-fries, Heaps- A lot (also said about every other word) Lollies- gummy candy, Mackers- MacDonald’s, Goon- box wine (aka the only affordable alcohol), Uni- University, Kabob- A wrap made with shaved meat and salad(veggies). That’s all I can think of now but there is so many more. They basically could make up a word or a phrase and no one would say anything and continue to go along with it (but heaven forbid I slip up and say “yall” or “dang” or “it’s cold out” because then I’m pretty much a redneck haha). I can tell I have grown so much from this already. Just knowing that I have gotten this far this quick; making friends, figuring out all the public transportation systems to get around town and Uni, setting up my bank account and booking flights for my next traveling trip. I never thought I could do all of this by myself or at least be settled in and feeling more at home this quick in to the experience. I miss home and my friends and family more than anything but I know I will be back so that has allowed me to enjoy what is in front of me: my new friends and my new “family” and of course the beautiful location I am lucky enough to now call home. I am so lucky to be given this experience and I know I am going to grow so much from it. I hope everyone is doing well and is staying healthy ( I am trying to even though it seems the entire campus east has a cold and sore throat right now after a long orientation week full of fun and NO sleep). My next couples of weekends are pretty eventful. Ulladulla, NSW this weekend (about 2 hours south of Wollongong on the coast). It is one of my new friend’s hometown and he is going to take me and my friends camping and hiking. It is suppose to be small farm town with beautiful mountains and beaches. I should get to see some more kangaroos! The weekend after that I will either be back in Wollongong or in Sydney. The 18^th-22^nd I have a flight booked for Brisbane which I am VERY excited about. I am going with my friend Beth and my Wilmington roommate Jackie and maybe a couple more. We will be visiting the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (home of 100s of Australian animals and you can even hold the Koalas!), The Botanic Gardens, see an AFL (Australian Football League) game and spend a night or two at Frazer Island (which is supposed to be absolutely beautiful, look it up if you are not familiar with it!). It is the largest sand Island in the world and the only place in the world where tall rainforests are found growing on the sand dunes. I will be sure to post after all my adventures!

Love you guys very much!          

7/21

So I have been here for over a week now and I have had an amazing time. It was hard leaving familiar friends and moving in to a place not knowing anyone but things have gone better than I have expected here at Campus East. Everyone is SO nice. If you pass anyone anywhere they automatically give you a smile and a “G’day”. The only challenge is coming in to a place half way through the year because a lot of the people already know each other and have their “groups”. But there are surprisingly a lot of new people and even the people who have been there for a semester have been really welcoming. I have made two really good girl friends from Indiana and we have been doing a lot of things together. I have met hundreds of people but I am working on establishing a close group. I can just remember all these feelings moving in as a freshman in Wilmington. Everything is so exciting and new but I learn to see that as the adventure part of it. My roommates are still not here yet. They have both been here for a half a year now and everyone I have talked to here says such good things about them. I have two roommates and they will both move in this weekend. Maggie is American and is doing all 3 years of study here in Australia. The other is Amy and she is Australian. I’ve heard such good things about both and can’t wait for them to move in!  In Sydney we went out both nights which was a blast. The nightlife is amazing there! I also got to meet up with my roommate from Wilmington (Jackie, she is studying at Sydney Uni). It was so good to see her and to travel around the city. I saw the opera house, Sydney Harbor Bridge and we took a day beach trip to Coogee beach. It was all so beautiful but it made me miss the mountains and coast at Wollongong (I definitely feel more at home in Wollongong). After getting settled at Campus East back in Wollongong we have had a lot of activities planned for orientation week. Themed parties and pub crawls every night as well and some sports activities that have unfortunately gotten cancelled because of rain (yep…COLD wet rain the past 3 days…why did I leave summer??). Oh yeah, we had orientation for the actual school part of this trip as well. It was good (okay enough about school).  I am supposed to hike Mt. Keira tomorrow if the weather holds up so hope for me it does. I love everything so far and the people here are amazing. I hope everyone is doing well and has gotten a chance to see my Australia picture album on facebook.

I’ll post again soon!

7/15

Getting off the plane in the dead of winter was a bit shocking but it is BEAUTIFUL here. I have been staying with a friend that studied abroad at Wilmington last year because not many students have moved in to where I am staying this semester. So far I have visited some amazing beaches: Caves beach, Hyams Beach in Jervis Bay NSW, Fairy Meadows and a couple of others I can't remember the name. Caves beach is amazing. There is a spot called the lookout that that walks out over the mountain and looks over the beach. It is absolutely breath taking to see mountains and beach in the same view. We walked down on to the beach and went in to some of the shallow caves that you can find in the cliff walls. Hyams Beach was unlike anything I have ever seen. It is a huge tourist attraction because it is in the record books for having the whitest and finest sand in the world. You could pick your feet almost completely up and the sand would still squeak as you walk because it is so fine. And the water was crystal blue. The only thing that came close to comparing this beach to would be the Bahamas but still, this beach blew that out of the water (..AND it is only about 45 minutes from where I live now!). Fairy Meadows beach is about a 5 minute walk from my dorm room. It is of course beautiful like every Australian beach but it is known for its light house on the point. There is also a running track that stretches for miles along the entire beach that follows all its twists and turns (I can't wait to run that!) I went to my friend's hometown in Nowra NSW where he showed me around his farm. He had sheep, cows, horses, chickens…the whole nine yards, even kangaroo! So, over all I have had a blast and still can't get over how beautiful everything is and that this is my new home. I am currently in Sydney visiting a friend from home who is on study abroad as well. We plan to do some traveling around the city tomorrow. I will get more settled when I officially move in to my place when orientation week comes around and I look forward to talking to everybody more then.
Much love!
Ps- I ate kangaroo the other night. AMAZING! (we even cooked it our self!)

7/11...getting there

 So I am on the international flight to Hong Kong right now and I figured this would be a good time to make my first EVER blog post. Now, I don’t know how updated this blog will be though out my trip but I am going to try my best to keep everyone informed about my new adventures. I wish I was this amazing writer but that’s not going to happen. I am just hoping to get some of the important things down on paper. 

I woke up this morning (or Sunday morning, I’m  not sure what day it is right now) and I was really expecting to have mixed feelings about the trip. I had thought about the morning and night before the trip multiple times before it actually came and I knew it was going to be tough.  Surprisingly, I felt very calm about the day and trip ahead. Mom and I met dad at church for service where I was told more than once I would be in their family’s prayers and that my journey overseas be safe and full of new adventure. It was nice to feel so much support from people I haven’t seen or talked to in a while and to be reminded that God would be there with me every step of the way.

So after I finished repacking all of my bags (sorry dad) and eating my last Jimmy Johns sub I knew I would have in a while my mom, dad, sister and I headed to RDU. I was beginning to get a bit nervous but the excitement was right there with it to balance it out. After the minor catastrophe of realizing I forgot the jacket I was planning to wear on the plane I was standing in front of security ready to check the rest of my bags and say my goodbyes to the people I love the most.  I broke down of course but it wasn’t because I was scared or felt I was going to be alone. I knew my family was going to be right there with me though this journey whether they were in physical presence or not. I could feel the support from them as they hugged me goodbye. I knew they were going to miss me but I also knew they felt the same confidence that I had in myself to accomplish this amazing journey. I couldn’t ask for a better set of parents. Mom and Dad, I want to thank you again for letting me do this. Thank you for all your support and trust. It means so much to me to be given this opportunity to see the world and grow so much as an individual. I know I will come back with a completely different mindset. I know I will go through hard times on this trip where I am scared and miss home but this experience is going to give me a new sense of self confidence I will carry with me for the rest of my life. It will show me I can get though things, by myself, and that is something I really want for myself.

So a little bit about the flight...1)Dad there is NO way I am going to be able to fly coach after  this..sorry you set yourself up for that one and 2) Have you ever really had fresh squeezed orange juice? Yeah, I thought I had to but there was no chance..this is the REAL stuff. After reclining my chair, kicking my feet up, snuggling up in a cozy goose down blanket  and watching 2 episodes of East Bound and Down (David one of my new favorite shows) I was offered a drink of my choice and a meal. I decided to go with the white wine and the light meal because I was tired and knew I wanted to get some sleep soon. After wiping my hands with a hot towel and finishing my warm nuts as an appetizer they presented me with my dinner. Not only was the display beautiful but the food was AMAZING. I got a salad with grilled shrimp, asparagus cream soup (which was amazing), a buttered roll, fresh raspberries, blackberries and strawberries and a raspberry mango cheesecake for desert which was to DIE for.  After I ate I turned on a movie and reclined all the way back with Marty (my stuffed zebra for those of you who haven’t got the pleasure to meet him) and it wasn’t but about 5 min when I fell asleep for about 8 solid hours. I now have about 2 hours left on the flight to Hong Kong. I couldn’t have asked for a more comfortable trip and I thank you Dad for all the years off your life you gave for me to have this.

So to sum up this long blog I would like to thank everyone who has allowed me to go on this trip. I know it’s going to be an amazing experience and I can’t wait for it to begin. David, I want to thank you for how supportive you’ve been as well. You have helped me transition so much already and I know you are going to continue to be there for me along the way. I couldn’t ask for anything more than that. I will miss so many people though out this trip but I will be in contact with everyone and be back before you and I both know it. Please keep me in your prayers and you will be in mine as well.

I love everyone very much and I will try to update once I get in to Sydney.

Take care…breakfast is being served J

xoxo