Massages, boat cruises and allergic reactions...

BULA!!! (Hi & Goodbye in Fiji)

I have just returned back from my getaway vacation to the island of Fiji!! I woke up at 4:30 am and headed to Fiji last Friday morning. We arrived in the early evening and as we walked off the plane, court and myself were greeted with men singing and playing guitars as well as having a seashell lei put around our necks!! After coordinating our stay when getting there, without the vouchers we forgot and needed to get into our hotels and boat cruise, we headed to the hostel we would stay in that night!! When arriving at our hostel, instantly they asked us if we had our reservation voucher, and of course since we forgot it, we didn't!! So already we had encountered a problem. I then had to buy a phone card to call Kina back in Australia since, problem #2, our cell phones weren't working and asked her to run to the travel office and have them fax our information to Fiji, hah. SAVIOR!! Then after checking we headed to our room and went straight down to the bar after that long day of traveling!!! LUCKY US....there were "schoolies" in our hostel and so Courtney and myself thought it would be a great/funny idea to be "toolies" and join in on the fun!!
Schoolies=kids who have just finished year 12 and are on holiday
Toolies=kids who are "too old" to hang with the schoolies, hahah.
It ended up working out well, because we got ourselves bought a couple drinks and then went to bed!

Castaway Island

The next morning we woke up at 6 am to grab the bus to Port Denaru. When checking in to our boat cruise, I guess the boat cruise we originally were on, was filled up so they "had to" bump us up to a better one, THANKS! We then headed out to the island of Mana and hopped on to the smaller boat we would be spending the rest of the day on. The boat was filled with kids the same age as us and free booze was provided, so we took advantage of that!!! The first island we stopped at was the Castaway Island. As you can probably get from the name, it was the island where the movie Castaway with Tom Hanks in it was filmed. This island is an uninhabited island and it was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. The water was so blue, it was better than snorkeling in Cairns at the Great Barrier Reef. After walking around the island and taking a much needed photo shoot, haha, with any cool thing we saw, we laid on the beach and soaked in the HOOT sun. We then boarded the boat again and we were served with lunch and more drinks, yay!!! We then headed to another island where a village of Fijian people lived. The people who live on this island are so poor and literally have nothing. The way they acquire their money, is from the tourists and they work by making jewelry and other items for tourists to buy. While we were there, we attended a Kava ceremony. Kava is this root that grows in the ground and the Fijians smash it up, add water and drink it. Everyone afterwards tried this drink, but NOT ME, I didn't wanna drink dirty ground water, that had been smashed up by other peoples' hands and then shared communally for drinking, haha, I'll pass. We then walked around the markets, bought some souvenirs and headed back to the boat! On the way back, court and I met some awesome people and were talking with them the whole way home. It was then time to head back Nadi and we were picked up and taken to our resort on the Coral Coast.
When arriving at our resort, we were so excited, because it was such a change from the hostels that we have been staying at. The resort was amazing and we were guided to our own Bure!! We walked inside and it was huge, with an amazing bathroom with an indoor shower as well as an outdoor shower connecting to the bathroom that which you could shower under the stars or palms trees, ha! We then headed to dinner. Well....at dinner I thought it would be an amazing idea to go all out and get something nice to eat for a change. So, I decided, what the hell...I am going to get the lobster. Well after about 20 minutes had gone by after eating it I had a HORRIBLE allergic reaction to it. Not just a little one, but my heart started racing, my body was shaking and I felt extremely light-headed....GREAT..just what I needed. Two hours later and a $40 phone call to my mom back in the states at 4 am, I had finally fallen asleep and was glad to wake up without dying!!!

Horseback riding

After waking up, court and myself headed to get breaky and pretty much do nothing ALL DAY!! Well actually we did have a pretty busy day, after tanning for a good two hours, we decided to participate in the water aerobics class in the pool and play a little pool volleyball....which I dominated at!!! After tanning for another 2 hours, we had to get up and do a SUN DANCE, haha. Every day the Fijians do a sun dance with all of their guests and sing along to a song and dance for the sun to return everyday, haha, I have never laughed so hard, it was HILARIOUS! We then got lunch (I decided to stay away from anything that lives in the sea), and after waiting a good 25 minutes, just to order, because everyone is EXTREMELY SLOW in Fiji, hah, we then went to our massages!! The massage was so amazing and much needed from all the stress I have been encountering at school!!! That night we had dinner (I had chicken, of course) and there was live entertainment at our resort as well, polynesian dancing!! It was amazing, I have never seen girls shake their hips so fast and the two boys twirled batons that were lit on fire, it was so amazing. I was in LOVE with Fiji. Every person is so incredible happy, friendly and nice. It was so incredible to see how content and happy these people were, when they live in such a run-down, poor country.
The next morning, we woke up especially early, so we could get in a few good hours of tanning before we had to leave for the airport. Before that, we walked along the beach, Courtney went snorkeling as I watched and picked up hermit crabs on the sand, haha, and then she took a horseback ride, as I yet again watched!! The horse used for horseback rides looked so worn down and frail, that I wasn't sure how much longer it was going to make it, haha, but Court make it back in one piece and so did the horse, hha.
We then laid out a little longer and it finally came to an end. We had to say BULA to our beautiful resort
and the beautiful island of Fiji! This was such a great way to end all of my traveling here in Australia and I definitely will be heading back to Fiji in the future.
We then arrived at the airport at hit up the DUTY FREE...oh ya, finally cheap alcohol...NO MORE GOON, at least not for a while, haha!!

Look forward to much more to come.....BULA!!!

Boats, Snorkeling and finding Nemo!!

Aye Aye Maties!!

Our boat-Powerplay

Sorry for taking so long with posting another blog, but I am finally back from my most recent trip to the Whitsunday Islands!!! This past weekend, 10 girls along with myself heading to the Whitsunday Islands for a weekend on the waters!! We arrived to the strong winds, heavy rain and were told the Whitsunday Islands hadn't received this much rain in 75 years.....GREAT, thats just why I came here!! After taking our coach and being told by the driver, that if the rain persists the roads may flood and we would most likely be stuck here, we finally made it to our hostel that we would be spending the night in. When entering my room, I realized that I was right above the bar and it pretty much sounded like I had my own, private concert in my room, because the music was so loud, haa. After finally falling asleep, we all headed to the marina where we would then get onto our boat, Powerplay it was called, and live there for the next to days and nights. We first met the crew, Mikey (Dive instructor), Dunan (the skipper/so cute) and Natalie (the "boat mum"). We then headed out to sea and were ready for a great adventure ahead of us!! We first sailed to a couple different places and were able to go snorkeling and diving. The reef and the underwater life was absolutely amazing, I had never seen anything like it before, even though I had been to Cairns, this was different, it was so amazing the coral was so colorful and vibrant. When snorkeling, all the fish would follow me and my snorkel buddies (Meggers, Jenners and Tim) all around. They would swim right up to our masks and I even touched a few of them. It seemed as though they weren't afraid at all and were so intrigued by what was in their water!! After a day of relaxing, eating, swimming and snorkeling we all got ready for the evening. When I mean get ready for the evening, I mean taking showers that consisted of ONE MINUTE, where the shower was in the same place as the toilet and sink and we had to use the extendable hose connected to the faucet. It was pretty much the smallest/grossest thing ever, so that day I decided I could live without a shower for 2 days and let the ocean be my shower, EWW!!!  That night, we had a barbie and watched a movie in the lounge (oh, which also happened to be my bedroom as well as 7 other peoples' bedroom).
SIDE NOTE: We watched this movie called "Shark Waters" and it was an incredibly informative and emotional documentary that showed the defining of sharks that are cut off them and sold in the market to Asian countries for the use of their "shark soup." The population of sharks has decreased by 90% in the past couple years and it will continue to decrease if people continue to kill sharks for their fins. It was WAY crazy and sad to learn about that.

snorkel buddies

Well the next day I woke up around 6:45am with a sore neck and to find that I was wet because the window in the ceiling had leaked and was dripping on me all night!! GREAT! We then sailed for a couple hours and went snorkeling again!! This time, I saw so many fish that were so beautiful and I FINALLY FOUND NEMO, and his mom, dad and maybe a couple cousins, hah. I was waiting for this day to come!! When we swam over to the anemone we saw all of them swimming around it and poking their heads in and out of it, it was so amazing!! I also saw rainbow fish, parrot fish, a stupid fish (which thinks that you can't see it but you really can) and a HUGE fish with BIG Angelina Jolie type lips, hah!! After we were all done snorkeling and our hands and feet were wrinkly, Duncan sailed us over to one of the top ranked beaches and the most "eco-friendly" beach in the world called White Haven Beach. This beach has NO SAND. White Haven beach is made up of silica which is formed from tectonic plates grinding together and it felt amazing to walk on. When we arrived, the water was turquoise and we saw 10-15 sting rays and little baby sharks, AHH!! We took hundreds on funny pictures (which you will soon see on facebook) and then headed back out to sea for one last and final night :(

SUN!!

That evening, Mikey thought it would be a good idea for all of us to participate in a game on the boat and the game was to pick up a box on the floor with your mouth without using and hands and you couldn't go down on your knees (well here goes nothing). I ended up being one of the last people remaining (along with Court, Cath and Emily) to pick up a flat piece of white paper on the floor of the boat (pretty unsanitary if you think about it, haa) and it was really fun. We then had a "sausage sizzle" and ate dinner! We were all SO tired from the massive day we had earlier that we tried to watch a movie but none of us could stay awake.
It was finally the morning of of the day we had to leave and we woke up around 7 am, went snorkeling again (in the rain) and then headed back to the shore. The sun FINALLY came out for a couple hours and the whole group including myself laid out on the front  of the catamaran and tanned.
We finally arrived back at the marina, said our goodbyes to the awesome crew and 5 others including myself headed back home that night.....where I finally got a decent shower,  and I am pretty sure I looked like a bum with a rats nest of hair, who smelled like wet dog by the end of that weekend, but I didn't care it was so amazing and can't wait to return to the Whitsundays again!!!

STAY tuned.....FIJI on Friday!!! Can't wait.
xx

YUM....Halloween & Sydney

Its about that time...

So this past weekend, I was in Sydney and arrived on Thursday evening. Kina and I were lucky enough to stay in her friend, Kendall's house in Sydney for free and the house was great!! The night we arrived, we threw our stuff down, got ready and headed out. We ended up going to a Emo/ "I like to slit my wrist" type of bar to sing Karaoke, haha. The bar ended up to be a really good time and we finished the night by singing "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey and having people walk out of the bar with their ears plugged. I don't know why they would be doing that, because we are pretty much AMAZING singers, hah.  The night had come to an end and I needed to "hit the hay" for a big day tomorrow. 

After accidentally sleeping in and getting an amazing breakfast from a cafe around the corner, the girls and myself heading out to see the Opera House as well as the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It was great seeing both of these things, because I had seen them my whole life on TV and movies, but I never thought that I would actually end up standing right in front of them. The opera house was beautiful and it over looked the harbor and a wonderful park right behind it. It was beautiful outside and Kina, Kendall and myself spent the day walking around Sydney ,to find an amazing food market where we had samples and bought our lunch and sat right near the markets. We then headed back to the house to get ready for a "risky" night of business, ha, get it?? 

We then dressed up for the Halloween boat cruise that we took on the Sydney harbor and headed down there around 7:00 pm. I was dressed up as risky business, Kina was a ballerina, Kendal was a bunny and some of the other girls were a Devil, Koala and a cat!! We then met up with some more of the american kids who were going on the cruise and spent half of the night on the boat with free drinks provided all night and an amazing view, with fireworks finishing off the night. After getting off the boat we went into this bar car Cargo Bar which was right on the water and it was so much fun! 

Saturday rolled around and we got up went to the Gleeb Markets, where they sold, jewelry, clothing, art, food and much more. We then had an amazing breakfast and headed to the famous Bondi Beach. When headed to the beach, I didn't realize how long it would take, but after taking a train, to the bus station, then waiting for that bus for about 35 minutes, I was pretty sure I would be tanning in the dark!!! After the bus FINALLY came, we arrived at the beach to see that there was pretty much no remaining space on the beach because it was so crowded. Bondi Beach was absolutely beautiful and the water was crystal blue. Cliffs surrounded the beach and there was beautiful houses built on the cliffs overlooking the water. After getting onto the beach, the first thing that welcomed me was a woman in a thong swimsuit!! Awesome what a welcoming, haha! We then spent the rest of the afternoon into the early evening at the beach and where we watched people surf incredibly large waves and we threw around a football!  The night then rolled around and we got ready to have a girls night out and we headed to a BYO (Bring Your Own) Italian restaurant which each of our own bottles of wine!! After we all ate so much that we felt like we each had our own "food babies" we headed to George St., a great place to go out at night in Sydney. After watching a live band at a bar and seeing all the people dressed up in halloween costumes we decided it was time to head back to the house!!! Sydney was so amazing and I realized how much I missed the feel of a big city. It was definitely a place that I would like to return to soon and see what more it has to offer!! 

Next weekend....Whit Sundays!! Keep looking forward to more stories!!

YUM...xx

PS. Katie Dodge!! 

Sunrises, shopping & surfing

Hey dude, how you going? 

Sunrise

This weekend myself as well as 40 other people from the states/Arcadia group when to Lennox Head and Byron Bay for the weekend. Byron Bay is a small "hippie" town about an hour away from Bond University that has recently attracted many tourists, because of its great shopping, beautiful beaches and small town feel. Friday afternoon came around and we headed off for Byron Bay. We arrived in the late evening and then headed to our rooms, just to remember that we had to make our own beds with the sheets we had to bring from our own bedroom at Bond....oh and there was NO pillow either!! Great, sleeping on a bed in a hostel, with one sheet, NO pillow and dirty blankets that have been provided and probably not washed for about...EVER (in the end we did get a pillow). After that, we headed to the beach for a evening stroll and watched the stars and the moon. 
We then went to bed around 11:00 pm to get only about 5 hours of sleep because we had to wake up at 4:30 a.m!! I also didn't help that I pretty much stayed awake the whole night, because my pillow was WAY to puffy which kinked my neck and kept on slipping off the hostel bed and onto the floor! We then all woke up at 4:30 pretty much walking around like zombies, looking like death and headed to the bus for a 20 minute ride to the most easterly point of mainland Australia to watch the sun rise. After arriving, there was this amazing lighthouse at the top of the cliff that was so cool and beautiful. It was amazing, we were all waiting around for the sun to finally rise and to be the first ones to see the sunrise on October 23rd, 2010. While we were watching the sun rise, we even saw whales swimming and one even jumped out of the water for everyone to see....well except me of course, who knows what I was doing, probably passed out on the grass from exhaustion, ha! 

lighthouse

Then we were on our way back to Lennox head for a full day of activities. We stopped at this amazing coffee shop and we all got breakfast and I ate the most AMAZING chocolate croissant ever, I wish I could have them all the time! It was so flaky and buttery and the chocolate was dripping everywhere, even on my shoe, of course! 
Then we headed back to our hostel and got ready for SURFING!! Hang loose dude. We met up with the surfing instructors, who were the spitting image of what you would imagine a surfer in Australia to be like. We then hit the beach and were taught the proper way of catching a wave and how to stand up. Then it was time to hit the water, I put on my wet suit and strapped on the ankle strap of the board and caught some "gnarly tubes," well actually if you wanna consider falling in the water about ten times before that, then yes I caught some gnarly tubes, ha, but finally I did stand up about 5 times and it was awesome. Surfing was amazing and I definitely appreciate that sport much more after trying it. After that activity was done, we had just enough time to change and hop on a bus into Byron Bay for the rest of the day to shop, get some lunch and sit on another beach. While in Byron, me Kina, John, Shaun, Evan, and some of the other boys went to Hogs Breath to get some lunch. Lunch was amazing and we sat outside on the deck with a view of the water and the wind blowing against us, just another normal day!! After that, shopping was a must and then we headed to a park to have a Barbecue. Being the very responsible and helpful girls that we are, Kina and I helped out Mazz (our leader) cooking the hamburgers, kangaroo sausages, and the steaks! It was an awesome cookout and everything was really good!

Byron Bay Beach

We then headed back to the hostel to get ready for another big day. After sleeping decently that night, we all woke up and headed to Byron Bay to meet up with some aboriginal people to learn about their land and their culture. We took a hike, swam in the ocean again and went kayaking. I was so excited to kayak, until I found out that it had to be girl/boy groups and OF COURSE, Zach had to be my partner. Zach, the one who tipped over the kayak about 5 times in Cairnes while kayaking with Megan and could never seem to get back in (just kidding zach) you were a great partner! We kayaked for about a good hour and a half and after first kayaking into the wind on the way there and against the current on the way back, I am pretty sure I am DONE kayaking for a LONG time! We had finally finished and the weekend had come to an end, Byron was amazing and I am definitely going to head back there again before I go. 
Talk to you all soon, look forward to my adventures in Sydney this upcoming weekend for Halloween!!! SCARY!! 


Hang loose!! xx

Whitehouse, Brisbane, Yum Cha & food!!

Hello Mates, How you going??

So, these past couple of day were so busy. After the week had passed and the weekend (Thursday) rolled around it was time to start all of the festivities again!! Thursday we headed to the bar (Don's) on campus and socialized until it closed. After sleeping in until and woke up about, oh 10 minutes before my class. This is the first time I have had Friday class since my first year in Uni, so this is unusual to me and OF COURSE it has to be when I am in Australia! Then after class, I headed to the mall and went on a shopping spree (well, not really spree, because everything is so freakin' expensive here. So I only ended up buying some earings and a dress, haa). Then after doing all that shopping, I worked up quite an appetite and Kinda, Rachel and myself all headed to Market square which is right by the Blocks (where I live) and shoved our faces at our FAVORITE place called Royal Yum Cha. I am pretty sure the people who work there think that me and Kina are some kind of fat, american weirdoes, because we are obsessed and go there all the time. After the second time of being there, they handed us a card to get stamps, and pretty much looked at us, like "you will be needing this," haha.

The girls at Whitehouse!

After all this it was time to get ready for Whitehouse, ANOTHER party that Bond University had set up for all of the students.  Whitehouse is an event once a semester that all the students go to and everyone wears white (as you can probably get from the name). After curling 2 other girls' hair including my own, Kina and I, along with 4 other girls crammed into a car to be dropped off at the buses because it was pouring outside. Whitehouse was held at this awesome location right on the water and there were free drinks provided all night, once again, and waiters were walking around the whole venue with little "nibbles." Whitehouse was really fun and the after party at East was super fun as well! After the night had finished at I made it home, I went straight to bed to get ready for Brisbane the next day!
After waking up MUCH later that I anticipated, I finally rolled out of bed (looking like a mess with my hair all over the place, ha) and got ready for Brisbane. Kina and I hopped on an hour long train ride to Brisbane. I was so excited to finally get out of the Gold Coast and go into a big city!! We finally arrived into Brisbane, and the first thing that I saw was Starbucks!!! OF COURSE, I had to get one. This was the first time I had a Starbucks since I had been here and it was like drinking liquid gold...soo good!! We then proceeded to head into the department stores and look at all the expensive items that we wish we could have afforded. After doing a little shopping, we went to look around for a place to eat. We finally came across this place called, Vapiano *Muah*! At this restaurant, they made everything fresh, I mean EVERYTHING!! You saw them making their own noodles for pasta and you walked up and ordered what you wanted and they made the pasta fresh right in front of you. So, I took great advantage of this and Kina and I decided to split the most AMAZING tomato and Mozzarella bolognese and Caprese pizza!!  The mozzarella just melted in my mouth and the pasta was done to perfection, (hah I feel like a food critique). I felt like I was in the movie/book, "Eat, Pray, Love," when the woman is sitting at the table eating the most amazing Italian Pasta ever and "hallelujah" music is playing in the background! This was one of the most amazing places I have ever eaten at and it was so simple, and creative!

Christian Louboutin Shoes!

After that we sat there for about 10 minutes trying to get up and leave, but failing, because we were so full. We then did some more shopping and decided that was enough shopping for the day, especially when you are so full, and we headed back to the train station!!
We finally arrived back at Bond Uni around 5 p.m. and decided that once again we need one last meal of the day and headed to, of course.....Royal Yum Cha!! As we entered they greeted us as though we had been friends for ages and we ordered the same thing that we usual order!!
It was quite a event filled weekend and now I have to return to my normal life. I am so crazy busy with school and need to try and get many things done before I head to Byron Bay!!!

Talk to you all soon!! Look forward to many more stories to come.
Catch ya later!! xx

Nightlife, nightlife, nightlife.....school!

Kina and I at Bond Music Festival

Well since I have already been here a month, I guess I have a lot to catch you up on and a lot to tell. As you can tell from the title, since I haven't been doing a lot of traveling I have been spending my time experiencing the great nightlife in the Gold Coast, along with doing a lot of * cough* studying *cough.* During the first week that I was here, Bond set up a huge week of events, called BONDSTOCK for all of the new students to participate in and get to know each other. Most of them involving alcohol and parties, hah. The first event that I went to was called Tight N' Bright. I wish that I would have known that there were all these events, so that I could have brought the proper attire, but I guess a tied died shirt did the trick!! After getting ready, Kina and I decided to go down to "animal house", because it was extremely noisy and we wanted to join the fun! That was the first night that we met all the awesome aussie guys and started to become friends with them all!! After that night had finished and I had slept in pretty much all day, like the lazy person I am, I was ready to go again!! This night everyone from Bond was going to this house/mansion which was turned into a bar in a place called, Sufers Paradise. This event was called "Illegally Bond," and it was quite cool and very fun! The house had many different rooms and it felt like the whole of Bond University had attended that party since it was so crowded. I then proceeded to leave and go back to my lovely room!!
Another event that Bond had set up was called The Secret Location Party! For these events, you have to buy you ticket ahead of time and then there are drinks provided the whole night and since it was a secret location, nobody knew where we were going. I am so excited to go to all of these events, because it is very unusual for many Americans to attend these events, but since I had made so many new aussie friends, I felt like I was a part of the gang, hah! Upon arrival, I realized that this was at Jupiter's Casino, which is right down the road from Bond, and it was a pool party!! (I knew there was going to be some kind of swimming involved, because they told us to bring our "bathers.") Isn't that funny??? They call them bathers!! This place was amazing, there were about 5 different types of pools and 2 different spas. They had people walking around with nibbles (appetizers) and they also provided towels!! This was one of the best parties that I have been to and the venue was amazing! A couple days later and another BONDSTOCK event to go, there was a music festival in the Bond gym and then there was Students Ball!!! I was so excited about this, because it felt like I was going to my high school prom again....minus the HOT DATE, hah! I had my mum send me a wonderful dress for this event, thank you mom, and I got all "dolled" up for it. I was so excited, because I was one of the few Americans that were going to this Ball. I was lucky enough to be asked to sit at a table with all aussies and I was so exited to get the night started!! The event was held at the same Casino that the Secret Location Party was held, but inside in one of the banquet halls!! When arriving at the Casino and standing in line, we were handed wine and champaign and it felt to elegant!! We then went inside, ate dinner and danced like crazy!!! Bondstock week was amazing and it allowed me to meet so many new people and I feel like I have actually attended this school since the beginning, since I know so many people, also due to the fact that there are 5,000 people total (undergrad and postgrad) that attend this school, hah!!

Me and girls before Students Ball

In addition to all these school sponsored events, the nightlife outside of it is really fun as well! We pretty much go to the same areas each weekend and they are mostly nightclubs. Australians just love to dance I guess, hah!
On another note, school has been going well and since I am a senior I am taking a little more difficult classes than other study abroad students. My classes are pretty difficult and the teachers could care less whether you are a study abroad student or not, sot that makes traveling quite hard to do!! This is definitely not like London, where I didn't have school on Fridays or Mondays until 6:00 p.m., ahhhh, I miss those days!!!  I study all the time during the week and just had my first assessment (quiz) in my Marketing class, which was quite difficult, since they do things differently over here!!
Well the time has come and I am going to leave now, but I'll write again soon!! I will be heading to Byron Bay in two weeks time and then Sydney for Halloween weekend, which I need costume ideas for if you  have any!! Then I will be heading to this place called the Whit Sunday Islands the second weekend in November and after that FIJI, so look forward to many more stories to come!!!

School, Cairnes and Nightlife

G'day!

Me at the Great Barrier Reef

I know this has taken me a while to put up a blog, but I guess better late than never..right? So a lot has happened since I have been here since the start of September and I catch you up on what you have missed. I arrived in Melbourne on September 3rd and stayed there 2 nights with all of the kids I came with. We traveled to a town called Sorrento, which is a lovely vacation town for wealthy aussies in the summer (or summa, which is how the aussies pronounce it). Right before that, we stopped at a national park to finally see what we were all waiting for....Kangaroos!! It was so exciting, we hiked though tall brush and bushes to sneak up and see the roos and it was so amazing to see thousands of them bouncing around, ha.
We then spent the rest of our "orientation" learning about aussie culture, listening to aussie folk bands and eating australian cuisine, which I don't really care for.  We then were on our way to the magnificent Gold Coast, where we would spend the rest of our time "studying" here in Australia.
Upon arrival, I couldn't believe where I was, it felt like I was at Pepperdine, where my sister attended in Malibu, CA. I felt like I was at a resort, this was not a school. It has a water fountain out front, beautiful weather everyday and the best part of all....a bar/night club on campus, hah. After taking this all in, I  headed to my accommodation center, where I would be living. When approaching the building, I knew this is not what I signed up for. There was a little problem, not just a little problem.... First of all, I as well as my friend Kina, got separated from our entire American group and pretty much were put into a jail cell!! AHH! I walked into my room,  after dragging my 2 huge suitcases up 3 flights of stairs, I instantly walked right out. I was NEVER was going to make it living in this accommodation center and sharing a bathroom with 8 other girls. I was determined to get out of this place!! But, after a while of thinking it through and speaking with the parents, thank heavens for them, I realized that this may be a good thing  after all, it turned out to be. I now have more Australian friends than I do American and have learned so many new things and been so many new places because of them!!! I live on the third floor and love all the girls that are in my corridor. I also live above many awesome aussie guys who live on the first floor and love to party all the time, they call their corridor, "The Animal House," haha, how funny is that??

Holding a Koala!

Since being here at Bond I have traveled only to one place, which is so funny, because at this time being in London I think that I had traveled to about 3-4 places! Cairnes was amazing and the weather was extremely beautiful since it is even further north than the Gold Coast. The first day there, we took a huge boat out to the Great Barrier Reef and went snorkeling all day long, we then continued to lay out and tan until the sun started to go down and we were then handed glasses on champaign as we headed back in....what a day!! The following day, we went to a wild life santuary and ate breakfast with exotic birds and then were walking all over out tables, EWWW!! We then proceeded to take a tour around the sanctuary and after that I got to hold a KOALA beat!!! It was so exciting, even though I had to pay $16 dollars, it was well worth it. She, "Lucky" was so cute and fuzzy, I never wanted to let it go!! After that, we then took a bus trip deep deep into the rainforest and stayed the night there and slept in little cabins (which was extremely scary, because there were spiders all over the place and I was afraid to go to bed). That morning after we had woken up, we went sea kyacking and it was so amazing looking out from the ocean at the rainforest and all its beauty, couldn't ask for anything better. After this weekend, I was ready to head back home to my "humble abode" and start experiencing all the Bond and the Gold Coast had to offer!!!


I'll write again soon!

Hugs & Kisses...from down under!! xx