since the last time we talked....

this is penguin island. there were no penguins but that's okay

it was beautiful.

here is the majority of cleo's.
the other ones were off galavanting before we had to leave!

this is my favorite penguin. it was the best :)

well after the unexpected rainstorm ended it was a pretty normal week. but the weekend brought some great adventure. saturday we went sea kayaking. it was intense. we got picked up at 8 by the company and they took us for a nice drive to where we were going. we got there unloaded all pumped for our day. leah, my kayaking partner, and i were ready for this great adventure. we got on the water and oo boy was it an adventure. we were so lucky that it was a windy and cloudy day...NOT. we started out good but as we were getting further from where we started and not really any closer to where we were going, we started to worry. the waves were getting bigger, well okay i shouldn't exxagerate that much, the white caps were starting to pick up. it was getting scarier. we finally made it to the first of three islands, but of course we weren't allowed to get out of the boats, that wasn't till the third island. LAME.
after that nice little break it was time to go again. we just kayaked by the second one and had to go between these two big rock land forms to the third one. those waves were no joke between those two rocks. we actually had to get roped to the instructors boat to get guided and pulled in, it was hard and scary!! i did not like it haha but we finally arrived at penguin island and we were successful. it was beautiful there, although all the penguins were in the water fishing it was still pretty cool. we got to see a habitat of them and we got to see them eat so it was fun!
we are our lunch and we were ready to head back, it was cold and starting to rain. i wont go into detail but we made our way back, it was difficult, but lets just say leah and i ended up half way down the beach to where we started and had to pull the kayake to where we were suppose to meet. no big deal. we made it back safely.

moving on.....
the week that followed was good. sunday and monday were days full of writing a paper and trying to get through the first couple days of the week because today, wednesday, was our fremantle prison tour!! i just got back and man it was scary. i dont think im much of a scary place, haunted place type person. i did not like it. i was scared the whole time and i just dont think im cut out for things like that. whatever. i got through it and it was fine.
the only thing good about today is that i am officially and finally on spring break, or as they call it 'essay preparation week'. wooohooo im looking forward to that. tomorrow thursday we are going to see alice in wonderland finally! im excited for that. and friday is a national holiday, good friday. who knew? but we are looking forward to our easter weekend and the week ahead.

saturday hopefully we make it to king's park, a huge place in Perth that is beautiful and amazing! i am excited. and sunday for easter we are having a huge lunch dinner thing we around 32 people! some families are here and a lecturer is coming and some of our house mum's friends! we are looknig forward to it. then off on our down south road trip, where SO MUCH ADVENTURE AWAITS US!!!

so you are all probaly thinking 'my life is rough' haha well i am very lucky to be here, but as it approaches the easter holiday i miss home more and more and its hitting me that it will be my first holiday away from home. but if it all goes well, i am sure it will be a good way to spend my first holiday away from home. but till we speak again...i miss you all lots! talk to you soon!

xoxo

freo thunderstorms are ♥

Most of us girls at the first stop!Heather, Leah, Lacey, and myself.
♥

Lancaster Vineyard

The chocolate factory!!

us Portlanders embracing the rain!
let me tell you the picture does NO justice.

so its monday and what a monday it was, but i'll start with the weekend.

saturday morning we got up early and headed out to the swan valley for our long day of wine, cheese, chocolate, coffee, and beer tastings. it was a long day indeed. our first stop was at the sandalford vineyard. the lady put out a whole row of wines in front of us, starting with a light white and ending with a dark "port" red and basically said go. we went for it. i can honestly say i tried all of them and liked none of them. lets just say im not much of a wine person, i don't think i have that acquired taste bud. we went off to the next one called lancaster vineyard. this place was beautiful. although the first one was a gorgeous building and grounds, at lancaster we were out in the open vineyard and really felt like we were with the grapes. it was beautiful! that winery was a bit more organized and poured the wine for us and helped us think about the tastest more, but i didn't like that anymore than the last. at this point we were all pretty tired of the wine and we were ready to move on. the next stop. CHOCOLATE

the chocolate factory was beautiful and delicious! we tried all three of their chocolates in chip form and then went on from there. i sampled there caramel chocolate and also their cookies and cream chocolate. the caramel was DELICIOUS!! so exciting! and we got ice cream too! it was so good, but by the time that was over i was so tired and full! so full of chocolate and cheese (from the wine stops) that i was ready to move one. next stop coffee!

the coffee stop and beer stop get their own paragaph because i was basically dead through those two. im not a coffee drinker so during this stop i rested my head and sat outside with some others and enjoyed the sun. at the beer place as they were trying the beers, i was drinking a lot of water and enjoying the live singer. he was great! but at last it was time to go home! we finally made it after a real long and hot bus ride back.

sunday was the best beach day BY FAR. perfect. no waves, so we jsut floated so nicely, and no wind, so we didn't get pelted by sand. it was BRILLIANT! but then we saw a jellyfish right next to us and that was our cue to leave. it was still a blast!

AND MONDAY!! today was amazing! it started out pretty warm and me with a headache. doesn't really surprise me. i went to the post office and sent off a package to family and was ready for class. after class i skyped with some friends and it was time to start cooking....or so we thought. the thunderstorm came in and it was amazing! some of us went out to the roundhouse to watch the lightening and thunder and got caught in the rain. on our way back we see some fellow portlanders running to meet us! we got our jackets and stood in a DOWNPOUR and rain and lightening and thunder for a good 15-20 minutes. it was EPIC. but the whole storm went on for about an hour. the sky was lighting up every other second with some epic thunder to follow. it was amazing. megan, kurt, lacey, and i all cooked dinner tonight also and we made a wondeful feast and some GREAT dips, hamburgers, french fries, fruit salad, and an american themed cake for dessert. MONDAY WAS SUCCESFUL!!!!

but. i do miss the cherry blossoms at school. good thing i brought a picture of them from last spring. i think ill get over it. talk to you all soon!!!

longest week yet

This is a beautiful snorkeling area! Just one of the many beaches on rotto!!

This is yet another beach with my bike buddies.

Leah, myself, Alli, and Lacey

Our life seems to be pretty good :)

Those really ugly quokkas. I did not like them.

Yes, it was pretty cloudy that day, but i definitely recieved some great tan lines from my helmet straps and my lovely tank top.

so it is finally friday of possibly the longest week of the trip and not only is it friday but it is just after 4:30 which means it is finally the weekend for me. my roomate megan and my friend heather are napping in my room while the rest of the house seeems to be serenly sleeping, as i sit here typing away my life. since i last updated you all on my life i have had some great adventures. i told you i was going camping at rottnest island in my last post and well we did just that. last friday came and we were all ready for that.

we left on the ferry over to rotto (as the locals call it) just in time for the sunset. we got there with a few girls waiting for us to escort us back to our campsite. there are no cars and really no lights so we used our flashlights and a sense of direction and got back well. along our way we met some nice new animal friends call the quokka, little rat like kangaroo jumping animals that only live on rotto and they just roam around. THEY ARE GROSS. i did not like them AT ALL. they were fearless also which sucked. the camping experience was lets just say not like my usual ones and it was a rough night to say the least. but the good news was it was finally morning for what ended up being a REALLY long night of tossing and turning.

our day started with renting bikes and eating some breakfast that we brought along. bikes are pretty much a necessity on this island and so we were off on our adventure. we decided to ride around the entire island, which took some longer than others depending on if they stopped at the beautiful beaches, but my friend alli and i, once we got started we were more than ready to make our way back. the whole trip ended up being about 15 miles long and man was it hard. the longest bike ride i have ever done...reminding you it was a one speed bike and there were many hills. oo such fun times. but we were done and we were ready to get back home to cleos and shower and sleep well. we took the ferries back and all had a little sleep. cleos was waiting for us just how we left her and it was fabulous to be back

the rest of the week was pretty miserable. we had a ten page paper due for our australian history course that was due thursday. our house looked like a library with the amount of books floating around. i officially started monday finishing pretty late wendesday night, without getting to celebrate st pattys day, but i was alright. thursday morning was full of revisions and footnoting and i finally turned it in feeling so relieved with a bit of a celebreation thursday night though.

i am just glad the week is over, but that means its just getting closer to when all the other papers are due, and i just do not want that time to get AT ALL. tomorrow is a wine, chocolate, and cheese tour and i am so excited!! we all deserve a little bit of a break! sunday though i am sure its back to work. just a couple more weeks till spring break (mid-semester break or even essay preparation week they call it because of all the essays due afterwards) whatever you want to call it, its coming soon i am so happy! but till next week hope everyone is good back home!
i miss you all a lot! come visit! this place is incredible!! love you!

Procrastination is key...

a mom with her joey

me feeding the kangaroo

me with the sleeping koala

my friend heather and i with the wombat!!

So as I sit here with a very full belly, I am contemplating how to start this 10 page paper. It is tough, especially since the teacher just left after having dinner here and I am so full I don't think I can focus. But yes, tonight a few girls invites Shane over for dinner, he's our Australian History teacher and a very funny man nonetheless. We had stuffed french toast and yogurt parfaits for dessert. It was a fabulous community meal. As one group of girls left for a night out, one group is watching a documentary about the Aborigines, one other group is watching lost, and I am in the unfortunate group of trying to start this paper. But of course, I decide to update you all on my fabulous weekend at the Wildlife Park.

Caversham. Only the greatest place ever. Saturday was a big day out. We boarded the buses early and took a pretty long trip to the park. We got there and immediately we got to the farm show. We learned how to round sheep up using the dog and then how to sheer a sheep. It was insane to watch them sheer it! It is such a precise process so it all pretty much comes of in one peice. It was way cool. Then we got our tour. We went to the sheep and baby sheep first and saw some really precious dogs also. The next stop was the Kangaroos!!! We got to go inside the huge area wih the kangaroos and feed them and sit next to them and pet them and do anything!! It was so much fun to be in their environment. Next we went to the Koalas. They sleep 22 hours a day so we had to be careful of which ones we touched and what not. But we got to get really close, it was amazing. Next was the wombat! We just got to pet it, no holding, but we got a pretty cool picture. It was so much fun at the park! I really enjoyed it, but the bus ride back we all knew was going to be long and hot. It was pretty much exactly that.

Sunday and the beginning of the week was pretty normal. Not much was going on. The weeks are really just flying by, it is insane! One day it's Monday and before I know it, it is Thursday. I am having so much fun. This weekend we are camping at Rottnest Island and I am so excited. It is a pretty cool island and there are no cars and we ride bikes everywhere and just enjoy being outdoors. I am so excited. We have something to do for every weekend until end of April, so we are def. keeping busy. Sea kayaking, chocolate and wine tasting, spring break, down south, and then BROOME! Broome is our big trip for a week where we go up north and stay with an Aborginie host family and do all this amazing stuff! They won't tell us yet but I am so excited. We are going to ride camels though on the beach at sunset, so we are all looking forward to that!

But 27 days since I have been home and man do I miss a lot! My cell phone! I do not miss having one, but I miss MY phone. It's weird. Also my dogs. I miss them a lot. Good thing I got some pictures before I left. Of course my family, but thats anytime I am away. Last but not least home. I miss my bed. The bed's here aren't bad, they are just firm and we only have one pillow. It's pretty bad. But the weather reminds me a lot of home so its nice. Fremantle is such an amazing place. I wish my family could visit. Its fabulous.

But I guess it's time for that paper writing to start. I don't wanna. O well. I guess it's the "study" part of study abroad. Let me tell you, I like the abroad part a hundred times more. Talk to you all soon!

guitars and singing

One of the cooler scupltures

Another cooler one

The night we all went out for Kurt's birthday

Full-moon party!!

wow its been a while since my last post so i thought i would update you all on my life. since the last time i "blogged" its been a whirlwind of a week! the second week of classes commenced and they were just like the first. hot and long and boring. i'd rather be at the beach. saturday was kurt's birthday and we went into perth and went to the deen which was so much fun! we had such a blast for his birthday! sunday was the same ole' sunday. we went to the market got our fresh prodcue and we were ready for the week. monday began the week with a REALLY hot nursing class. we were miserable. HUGE lecture hall no air con. MISERABLE. the rest of classes were good though. i think i am going to enjoy most of them, except ethics. im not much of a philosopher. the week progressed well and fast.

monday night was also a full moon. it was great. at one point in the night we all painted our faces and dressed insanely!! we went to the beach and danced all night to some funky music and probably scared some people. it was probably the greatest night ever. tonight (thursday night) was inter-hall basketball and although we didn't win both games we won one and coming from a dorm of 19 girls, we did pretty well for ourselves. i was proud! also today was sculpture by the sea which is this really cool experience at cottesloe beach where artists put their artwork out on the beach and they were awesome sculptures! it was so much fun! tonight megan sat in our room and played the guitar learning some new songs. it was so much fun! i love guitars and singing!

this weekend we are going to caversham wildlife park and i am so excited. we get to feed the kangaroos and hold wombats. hopefully we get to see some koalas too! the rest of march is pretty packed for us on the weekends and i am looking forward to it! camping on rottnest island, surf camp, wine and chocolate tour, and kayaking! march is going to be a packed month that i am ready for!

well tomorrow is friday and its my early morning. australian history and sociology of childhood. SO FUN!! i can't wait to tell you all about the koalas and my fun weekend! till then good bye!!