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