Pictures- at long last!

So I finally got my internet to upload some pictures for you guys. Man that was an effort. I'll write a caption under each one. These are from my two weekend trips- to Sydney and Adelaide/Kangaroo Island! I hope you guys enjoy!! :)

My mom feeding a Wallaby!

Me feeding Wallabies!

My parents at the Remarkable Rocks on Kangaroo Island

Me at Pennington Bay- Kangaroo Island

Us climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge on its 78th birthday!

My dedication to my friends and family back home! Pennington Bay- Kangaroo Island

My parents at Pennington Bay- Kangaroo Island

Me at the Sydney Aquarium!

The parents and myself at the Sydney Opera House! :)

Koalas, Wallabies, and Roos, oh MY!

Hello! Trying again to update more frequently.
Just returned to Newwy early early this morning from Sydney. My parents and I had a really good time on Kangaroo Island this weekend! I feel like that is an experience not a lot of people get to have when they come to Australia- particularly when a local on the island said 90% of South Australians don't get to the island. Crazy! I have never seen so many Kangaroos, Wallabies, Koalas, and Possums in my life!

Well I'll start from the top. On Thursday I got on the train down to Sydney to meet up with my parents. The trip down was anticlimactic, so no big deal. I got there just after they did so my timing was perfect. Then I got settled into the hotel and we went out to a little pub for dinner. I had schnitzel. Pretty dang good. The next morning we got up bright and early for our flight to Adelaide. I'm really not a pro at sleeping on planes. I wish I was. Anyways, once we got there, we got our bags and rented our car! Now that was an experience. Dad driving on the right-hand side of the car, on the left-hand side of the road. What? He did really well though, except for a couple mishaps with the wipers instead of the turn signal, made it through!

So we drove about an hour and a half down to where the ferry would take us across the channel to Kangaroo Island. It was pretty cool to see that. They have a really simple method for getting all the cars onto the ferry easily and quickly. The crossing was pretty simple, no big waves, and we were talking to these really nice Aussie couples who told us where to go and what to see. Super nice people.

Once we got there, we went to a couple places like Pennington Bay- beautiful beach. If it was nice out at the time I would have spent all day on that beach. Fun place to take pictures too. We toured around quite a bit and then made our way across the island to check into our wilderness retreat. That was cool, because they have 'resident' wallabies and a kangaroo- Beanie, that you can feed. Fun stuff. Well we had dinner at the hotel and Mom had Kangaroo. Tasted very normal, and it's very lean so apparently very good for you. The waitress justified it too, because there are 3 roos for every 1 human in Australia. That's a lot of roos.

Anyways the next day we set out exploring. We went to Admirals Arch and saw seals, and then we went on to Remarkable Rocks. Both were really cool to see. I felt like a major tourist. Snapping pictures left and right.

We also walked around a caravan park where we saw a koala- passed out in a tree. It was so cool.

Then we went on this nocturnal walk, which was really really cool. These two girls worked at this place and just led us around so we could see the active animals. We saw a LOT of adolescent male kangaroos feeding together- that's how they learn their social skills. We also saw a TON of Wallabies. I have never seen so many in my life. I think she said there are 300,000 on the island. Crazy! We also got to meet the resident roo there- Amy. She's tame enough that she let us see her baby joey in her pouch. Sooooo sweet! Probably one of my favorite parts- apart from seeing a koala on the road up close and personal- it was super chill. Just walked to the side and climbed a tree. No big.

Anyways, the next morning, we left early to make our way across the island- and avoid the wallabies and roos that are out and about. I think we saw 48 on the way home. Crazy. Then we took the ferry back to the mainland and took a detour on the way to Adelaide. We went to this small German town called Hahndorf. We had lunch there and got some souvenirs. It was a pretty cool place- except it was raining.

Then after we shopped a bit, we got back in the car and headed back to Adelaide to get on our flight back to Sydney. Then we stayed in the hotel and woke up SUPER early (3:45) to catch the train- my parents to the airport, and me to Newcastle. It was hard to say goodbye when I know I won't see them again until I'm home- with the exception of Skype. But I'll just have to get into a routine and know I'll be better off for it. And now, here I am, 9:18 PM, about to write my paper, and I still haven't slept since 3:45 this morning. I. am. tired. But alas, I figure better to sleep normally than mess myself up by napping.

Anyways, after this busy week of working on lots of papers and getting schoolwork done, I get to go on Spring Break! Yay! Sailing in the Whitsundays, chilling on Fraser Island, and learning to surf in Byron Bay will be so much fun! Plus I found out Casey is visiting me and Lindsey and I are going shark diving! Woo! :)

I hope everything is lovely back home. I miss home a lot. Take care of it for me, and don't be shy to drop a line! Or your address. I need addresses so I can send postcards folks! :)

I fail. :(

Apparently I'm only good at blogging frequently when I have nothing to say- versus when I do have lots to talk about, I rarely find the time.

First things first, my parents are down under! True, they are currently in New Zealand, but I did get to see them this past weekend, which was fantastic. Plus, I'll get to see them this upcoming weekend when we travel to Adelaide and Kangaroo Island. I'm super excited. :)

But I should probably back up.
Ashlee and Stef came to visit me from Lismore, and made an 8 hour trek via train all the way to Newcastle. It was a sweeeeet weekend. I had so much fun. (I miss you guys already- come back!) They loved Newcastle, and kept saying they wanted to transfer. I wish they would. We did tons of stuff. We went shopping, we went out on the town, and we had a good solid couple of beach days. The weather was gorgeous, and there were lots of laughs and adventures (and mishaps) involved. We went to Hotel Delany, which was super fun. It had a live band, and they played pop music- American of course- so it was really fun to sing along and dance to. The next night we went to CDP, which was a little more interesting scene. Much more for the artist/hippie types. Seemed like everyone was on something.

Then, I did the normal week at class. Class is so different here. I walk about 5 minutes to the train station, ride the train for about 10 minutes, walk a solid 10 minutes to get onto campus from the train station, and then another 5-10 minutes to get to my actual building. Talk about a commute. STORY: this week, in art, I had to draw a nude girl. Like, for real. We went into this room and this girl was sitting in there, and I was like oh we're just doing figure drawing, like she'll keep her clothes on, because she was wearing a simple outfit. Oh no, she was completely nude. I didn't know what to do. I think I kept my composure really well. It was super awkward for me though. Fortunately noone was immature about it, since we're all 'artists'. I knew there was a reason I'm not super into art haha!

But yea, so there was a normal week of class, and then I took the train to go see my parents in Sydney! I was so excited, I felt like I couldn't move fast enough. Sydney is a crazy city, but it's really beautiful. Our hotel had fantastic views of the harbor (we could see the bridge and the opera house) and was right across the street from a Maserati and Ferrari dealership. Clean living eh? My parents and I went out to dinner and had fun catching up, while I filled them in on Aussie lifestyle. Like, for instance, everyone walks on the left side of the sidewalk. As well as when you hit the button for the crosswalk, it beeps slowly, and then when it's your turn to cross, it like trills at you- so if you're not paying attention, it gets your attention! :) Little things like that.

The next day, we woke up early and climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge! Sweeeet! It was so so so cool. We got to wear these ever-so-attractive jumpsuits, and got hooked into these harnesses. My calves still hurt really bad from climbing all those stairs. We would stop every so often to have our picture taken. I'll include one here. We actually got to climb it on the 78th birthday of it opening! How sweet is that! Heaps awesome I tell you. :)

Then we spent the rest of the day touring around. I got to see the Opera House (they had done that the day before while I was in school), and then we went to the aquarium, where I got to see real live Dugongs! (Relatives of Manatees guys...) It was awesome. Then we went to the hotel and chilled a little bit before dinner again. The next day we walked around a bit and then hopped on the bus to head home. The trains were unfortunately shut down due to track work so we had to take a coach bus- which wasn't terrible, just hot. Then we got to spend the day touring Newcastle. It was fun to have them see where I live and the town I live in. They really liked the beach, and the fact that the sand squeaks. Yea, it squeaks. :) All in all, it was a pretty chill weekend, but we got to see and do a lot.

Now, I'm just keeping busy trying to get a lot of schoolwork done so I can have fun and relax at Kangaroo Island this weekend. It'll be awesome- I can't wait. Then, the weekend after, SPRING BREAK. It's going to be so cool! A 10 day trip down the east coast of Australia. Oh yes. It's going to be awesome. We're going sailing in the Whitsundays, spending a couple days on Fraser Island, and then learning to surf in Byron Bay. Woohoo!

I'll try to do a better job to keep you guys updated on stuff in the future. It's just been crazy busy lately! I'm sorry!

Let me know how you're all doing!! :) :)

((Okay so pictures are going to have to wait- my internet is not liking me right now!))

I fail.

Oh. My. Goodness.
I haven't updated in so long! I'm terribly sorry about that one!

So I'm currently out of internet at my apartment, so I'm here at the City Hub using their free internet (I really should be here much more often). I currently have two friends who attend school at the University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire back home (But are studying in Lismore, Australia) visiting me here! They're currently napping- We've had a busy couple of days. It's been really fun though- I like playing tour guide. :)

I promise I'll work on getting some more pictures up. I just get so caught up in actually doing things that I forget to stop and take pictures of them, and then it's much harder for me to take time to sit down and upload them. Golly.

As far as school is going, I finished my second week, and I can sense a routine starting to form, which is a promising thing. :) I think it'll be a pretty interesting semester. I have a feeling I'll really like my Psych course, even though I feel like I know everything already. Hm...

My plan for this week is to work really hard to get ahead on everything so when my parents come to visit (YAY!) I can focus on having a good time with them. I'm super excited about it. I have many adventures coming up!

Spring break will soon be upon us, and I cannot wait. It'll be such an awesome experience! Traveling down the east coast of AUS! WOO!

But for now, I'm currently enjoying my city of Newcastle with some friends. :) I'll try to give you guys a longer post with pictures soon! :) :)

Word up!

Beachhhh.

I'm going to the beach tomorrow morning for the sunrise!
Yessss.
Pictures to follow.
:)
Also, art was cool today. I drew a carrot.

I miss the fam.
And the friends.
I've been having a really really good time so far, and I'm finding out a lot about myself and what I like and don't like and what I'll tolerate. I know I'll probably come back as a different person, but I still miss home regardless of how awesome it is here.

And yes, I know I'll have my bouts of homesickness now and then. This is the longest I've been away from home- ever. (And the furthest- 8,953 miles.) But then I think about it again, and I'm really proud of myself for coming this far. A lot of the time I feel like I'm the only one who misses home, or the only one who struggles with it. I have to be reminded that not everyone has the life I do back home, or that they just don't showcase it as willingly as I do.

So I just wanted to say thank you to everyone back home- you guys have made my life everything that it is, and for that I am forever grateful. (This includes everyone I've ever met mind you- good or bad- so if you're reading this, it's for you.)

I'll try to bust out a post that tells stories here soon.

I love love love love you all.

This post is huge.
Okay, I guess I'm overdue for a nice-sized post.

So O-week is over, and classes have officially started. (Wow I'm behind!) I am taking Art (Printmaking and Drawing), Australian Experiences History, and Advanced Developmental Psychology. I think it'll do a good job of keeping me busy, even though I do only have class three days a week. I had my art class yesterday, and I think it'll be pretty cool. I hope I don't run out of creative juice though. :) The only thing I really didn't like about yesterday was that it rained hardcore for the first time since I've been in Australia. My friends and I decided the weather was sad we had to go back to school. I wasn't dressed for it to be rainy and 'cold' (65 degrees) so I was a little uncomfortable for the day. I only have class Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, so it's nice to have a little break in there, and then a long weekend. It'll make it easier for me to travel in the long run.

Speaking of travel, my parents will be visiting in about 3 weeks! And before that, my friend(s) are coming down from Lismore to visit for a weekend! I'm so excited to have visitors. It'll make me really happy. I'm excited to see people from home. (Even though I live with people from home, it'll be nice to have a little change of pace- plus I can show them around!) My parents will fly into Sydney, and then I'll train it down to see them for a weekend (and we'll visit Newcastle in there somewhere so they can see my place.) Then they fly to New Zealand for 4 days while I attend class, and then when they return, we all fly to Adelaide to see Kangaroo Island, which will be really cool! I'm excited. Then- it's back to Sydney, where I depart for school again and they jet off to Cairns. Then again, back to Sydney, and from there, they head home and I return yet again to school- just in time for Spring Break. Not sure what I'm doing for that yet but I might have some ideas. :)

Anyways, I'll get back to talking about the past week. We went on our excursion on Saturday which was really really fun. We started off the morning with a dolphin cruise- which I loved of course. We got to see dolphins surfing in the wake of our boat- just having a grand old time.

Surfing away!

We also saw a sea turtle, which was something else. Really majestic.

Turtle! Greatest picture ever!

I'm still trying to figure out what type is was. Then after our animal spectating portion of the cruise, the boat crew let down a boom net at the back of the boat, and let us sit in it while they cruised along. Really cool. I want to live life like that everyday. :)

Boom Net!

Then, after all our adventures on the water, we docked back at Port Stephens and had lunch. Then we all boarded our large coach buses (I was on the only awesome double decker, and yea, I sat in the front on the top- felt like flying!) and headed to the Oakvale Farm and Fauna World. There, we got to see all sorts of native Australian species, among other things. I pet a Koala, and fed a Kangaroo. Needless to say, it was a really good day, albeit exhausting.

Happy Moment!

I think it looks like I'm going to Homecoming or Prom with a Koala. :)

OH and I almost forgot, due to the earthquake in Chile, we were under tsunami warning. Talk about exciting. When you're used to living in the Midwest of the United States, not many people can say they've been under a tsunami warning at any point in their life. Yea, we're used to tornado warnings and thunderstorm warnings. Whoop-dee-doo. It was really exciting, needless to say, and I wasn't ever really scared of it. You remember that giant hill I live at the bottom of? Yea, pretty sure I can run up that to save my life if any giant waves come my way. Plus I'm also a ten minute walk from the beach, so I think I'd have time to get away. It was nice to know that everyone back home was concerned though. I'm glad you guys still think of me. :) But alas, nothing happened. We saw no tsunami. I think the only thing we ever got was a one or two-meter high wave... which is barely anything at all. Thanks be to New Zealand, who was conveniently in our way. :) It was really cool nonetheless. It's a story I'll tell for awhile to come.

Now, I'm currently sitting at the student hub, where internet is free, and I'm never NOT surrounded by people. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the rest of my day, but I think I'll clean my room up and try to get organized for class tomorrow. I slept in really late today. I think I went to bed at around 1 or 1:30 (a bunch of us were watching a movie) and woke up at noon. That never happens, so I guess I need to consistently get my 8 hours- my body is sending me a message.

Tim Tam update: I have worked my way through 3 flavors of Tim Tams now: Double-coated, Dark Chocolate, and Caramel. So far, Caramel is the front-runner, followed by Dark, and then Double-coated. Next up is Cookies and Cream. Looking forward to that one.

Anyways, I miss everyone from home, and I'm trying to do a good job of keeping in touch with everyone. Since I don't have classes on Tuesdays, around dinnertime on Monday your time would be a good time to Skype me, as I probably won't be doing much. :) I love hearing updates from home, and I'm really sad I have to miss birthdays and family gatherings and such. (Bailey Boo, I know your birthday is coming up- I'm sorry I can't be there!) :(

I hope all is well at home. If you see my dog, hug him.
And for Pete's sakes, keep me updated! :)
Love you guys.