Days like this...

Bather's Beach!!!

15 days....I have been out of the country for 15 days. I am definitely missing some of my favorites back home. Cheeseburgers. A juicy cheeseburger sounds amazing. My bed, with my pillows, that also sounds amazing. But you know life goes on. Megan and I converted are really cool comforters into a second pillow and it made sleeping ten times better. So we are working on things. But a good cheeseburger, that will make the cravings go away, that might take some time to find.

I am having a blast though. The first week of classes are finally over. I am officially way more nervous than I thought I was going to be. This semester is going to be a lot of time spent in the library and reading. Two things I am not too good at. Today was Friday and it's my longest day of classes. Nic, our house mom, made a delicious breakfast this morning for us. We all had our 8:30 class this morning so it was a good start to a HOT day. Finally made it to my last class, I was not looking forward to 3 hours, but the good news was that our teacher let us out 2 hours early. Life was good.

It was way hotter than it ever should be today and last night we had the most intense thunder and lightening storm I have ever seen. Its funny because I woke up and definitely thought it was all a dream because you would have never known it rained.

I hope to go to the beach more next week. It was a pretty overwhelming week with class and all. On Monday though we went to Bather's Beach. It is just a two minute walk from our dorm. Amazing. Tomorrow there a few possible things to do. Zoo? Shopping? Who knows but it is Kurt's birthday so a fun night will be had. Time to go get out of Cleo's for awhile. It has been a long hot day. Hopefully outside will be a little cooler than our room!

1 week down, 17 to go!!

This is my side of the room!

This is the group at South Beach

(The man that took it was trying to be artistic?)

South Beach!!

More South Beach!!

♥

I made it through my first week in Australia. It was a whirlwind and I loved every minute of it. This week was orientation and it was hectic. Tomorrow is the last day of it and I am thankful. Tuesday was our first full day here and we had such a blast getting to know South Beach. South Beach is just a free bus ride away and it was amazing! Huge beach and not that crowded. We laid out and got a lot of sun! When we got home we had a good barbecue with the other international students and then came back for our family meeting. Tuesday was a pretty sweet day. Wednesday was our tour around Freo and I really fell in love with the city. There is so much packed in to such a small city, but I really love it. I really feel like there is tons and tons to do and we will never really have a dull minute here in Freo. Thursday (today) was a long, hot day in Perth. We had an "Amazing Race" type of contest around the city to get to know it, but let me tell you, my group was not all for it. We had no ambition in this 100 degree weather to run around a city we knew nothing about. But we finally finished it and made it back to our home at Cleo's for a nice evening. We got a free dinner at the Orient, which is the bar across the street, and it was definitely edible. I did not finish it all but it filled me up. After dinner we played this really awesome game called Bananagrams, its a really awesome form of Scrabble. I bet I would beat my Grandma Loretta at it. You basically play a game of Scrabble with yourself but you race with the other players to end sorta. Its really fun! After that we went to this really cool place and we got Churros and Chocolate. I got the kids meal thing, so I got sprinkles. It was a good end to a long, hot day. This first week was full of firsts and it was pretty amazing!! I love it in Freo and I am ready to see what it has to offer me these 4 months.

For those interested, my dorm is called Hotel Cleopatra, Cleo's, and I love it. I love it so so much! There are 14 girls and 1 guy from UP and 4 great girls from Saint Mary's College which is in Indiana. I share a room with Megan and we get along really well! I love Cleo's so much! It is nice and small and just a lot of really amazing little things that make it great!

School starts Monday and as nice as this 2 months break has been, I am ready for classes again. But I am nervous. I am taking a nursing class, an ethics class, a children's literature class, a sociology of childhood class, and the australia history class. They all seem really interesting and I am ready for them to start! Well off to bed! But I can't wait to tell you more about my time here! Talk to you all soon!

Arriving and Settling

The beautiful Sydney Opera House.

The Whole Group at Bondi Beach

All of us at the top of the bridge!

Lacey, Kurt, Megan, and I infront of the bridge.

(We climbed all the way to the top!)

So we made it. The four words I have been waiting to say for a long time. We are here in Freo and settled in to our new home at Cleo's, it was definitely a long journey. The flight to Sydney was not as bad as I though it was going to be, 15 hours was definitely going to be a long time, but with the right plan of attack it was just fine. You should have seen this plane....it was HUGE!!! I am so use to the little planes that shuttle me between Portland and Burbank so to see this huge plane, I was in shock.

So we got here at 6 o clock on Saturday morning. Let me tell you, this is the most humid place I have ever been. It was gross. The two days we had in Sydney were the longest and most filled days of my life. It was crazy how much we had to do in two days. Some highlights were seeing the Sydney Harbour for the first time, the Opera House and the Bridge, the crazy busy city, Bondi Beach, and of course climbing the bridge was the most memorable! Climbing up the bridge was unreal. 134 meters above sea level, (thats about 1.5 football fields above the water) and 1,337 stairs. This was incredible. But so tiring, but def. worth it. The only downside to Sydney: the weather. Hot, humid, sticky and rainy. Horrible horrible horrible. But in all the two days in Sydney were unforgettable.

But finally we made it to Perth and Fremantle. We landed at around 8 in the morning Monday morning and it was about 22 degrees celsius. I am loving this weather! We got on our shuttle and made our way to our new home in Fremantle, Hotel Cleopatra. This place is beautiful. It it unlike Sydney is so many ways, it is a relaxing town unlike a bustling city, it is beautiful and sunny unlike rainy and humid, and it feels good to be called our home. We unpacked and settled in, we explored a little bit and had our first family dinner and meeting. The first day here was pretty unreal. I think I am going to like it.

More adventures to come soon!! But now its beach time and errands time! Talk to you all soon!

Here are two links to more great pictures!!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=191135&id=1062450116&l=de76e5c9aa

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=191138&id=1062450116&l=143248f60e