Crazy Week!

I know I know... Im behind. But Im going to catch you all up right now so get ready!

Monday we went to see the Brisbane Broncos play at SunCorp Stadium. They are a rugby team with a real horse for a mascot!

Tuesday I found out that it was absolutely necessary to wear a hat to the horse races on

Wednesday so I spent the day at the local mall scrounging through craft stores... Wednesday was a public holiday for EKKA (which is sort of like a HUGE state fair). Essentially it is a huge drinking holiday for which everyone dresses up very formally and goes to see Thoroughbred races. Needless to say, after crafting myself a hat and headwear for the rest of the Americans... I went to bed early.

Then on Wednesday we all woke up at 7:30 for some breakfast and then got dressed and started with mimosas at 8am. Everyone had a great time and the races were alot of fun. I won like $2 on a bet... and lost a few but we saw alot of great hats!

Thursday was slightly less eventful. I only had class! But we talked

about American history in my politics class so that was fun because I knew the answers. Then we did have a formal dinner in the evening. I took a picture of the hall so you can all see!

Friday morning I received my package from home, and perfect timing too because I found the Steelers game on live in our commons room! So I had my jersey and snacks and a grand time! Later in the day we trekked downtown to meet our tour group to leave for our surf trip. We al

l piled into a bus and started the 5 hour drive down to Spot X. We didnt get there until 3AM! It was really cold there at night, but the night was so clear it was like looking at the stars at the Grand Canyon. Spectacular.

The next morning we were unwillingly woken at 8am for our first surf lesson. We got wetsuits and boards and after two attempts at standing up on dry land our instructor Rhys was like "okay dudes, in the water." WHAT?! Haha luckily there were lots of people to help and I got up fairly quickly. We spent two hours playing around in

the water and practicing before lunch. Then we hung out on the beach for a while and I found a stellar sea shell (which you know pleases me to no end). Later in the afternoon we went surfing for another two hours. We got to screw around on a surf board that had a camera built into it so we had footage of our surfing skills :) Later after dinner we had a bon fire and taught the Aussies how to play flip cup before we went to bed.

Sunday we woke just as early to go surfing again this time on some green (unbroken) waves. I had an awesome time and I think everyone was sad to leave, but we were all so sore. I felt like I had been put in a washing machine on permanent press for a few cycles. The surf was really strong and there were a few rip currents on the beach so it really took alot out of us. On the trip home we stopped in Byron Bay for a while and hung out.

Yesterday I booked some more of my spring break trip to New Zealand... but more on that later. As for this week Im hoping to get some homework done and rest up!

Noosa, QLD

So this weekend I went up to the Sunshine Coast to Noosa. On Thursday night we left UQ on a bus around 7pm and were dropped off 4 hours later on a street in some residential area. The trip was fairly involved with a bus to a train to another bus and another bus! But when we got there our friends had rented a house so we just hung out and played stupid campfire games. The place was pretty nice but because we got there so late I was relegated to the couch... still a step above the floor.

The next morning Marisa, Jess and I took the bus down to Sunshine Beach where we quested for our hostel. Yes hostel. As we were walking down the street we could hear the beating of a drum and then came around a corner to a fuchsia fence with Hindu figures decorating the walls. We checked in and walked past some burning incense and a man with dreadlocks playing a bongo drum at 10am. We had our own room which settled us down a bit but poor Jess didn't have the luxury of her own sleeping bag. She spent the next ten minutes freaking out about the possibility of bed bugs. From there we went down to a little cafe and had breakfast before hitting the beach.

Noosa is absolutely gorgeous and the property values are far undervalued if I do say so myself... hint hint anyone looking for a vacation spot. But really the place was stunning and we just laid on the beach for about oh the whole day. The waves were great too and there were tons of surfers, but the water was a little cold for my taste. But if this is winter Ill take it. Around 4pm we headed back to the hostel where we met up with Sydney who had made the epic journey up for the day. Then we quested for food. Harder than you would think. In these little towns it seems like everything closes at like 5 because its off season. But we did manage to find a nice pasta place with a movie/meal deal. I had pasta carbonara, a glass of red wine, and a movie ticket for $30. Not bad considering the movie tickets were $14 themselves. So we saw The Ugly Truth. I thoroughly enjoyed it... but its a little inappropriate Mom so dont go see it with Amanda! It was only rated M-15 here, but Im fairly certain it will be R in the States.

Anyhow we cabbed home and went to sleep in our comfy sleeping bags. Although we laid there "fake" sleeping for an hour before we all started chattering again. The next morning we rose at 7am and went for a beach walk/hike. At the end of our beach was a trail head into Noosa National Park which had a climb up to the top of a rocky cliff. The view was amazing! Highly recommend it. But after our walk back we checked out of our hostel and headed down to the Sunshine Beach Surf Club for breakfast, which was amazing by the way. After breky we went down to the Main Beach in Noosa where we hung out for the rest of the day before trekking home. All in all a pretty solid weekend Id say.

5 August 2009

Finally feeling better! Except there are three girls in my hall quarantined for Swine Flu... so Im pretty sure thats what I had too. Oh well, now I can say that I had and survived the great Swine Flu outbreak of 2009. Yesterday I went to a "come and try it" week program at the gym for fencing. We wore the little white pads and the neat helmet and got to fence each other. Im not sure I am actually going to take the class, but it was an amusing diversion.

I just got out of my first tutorial for my US and Global World Order class... and Im the only American in the class. My tutor was like "I guess you will be able to give us a unique perspective..." yeah you think? ANYhow. My friends and I are going up to Noosa (google it... its beautiful) this weekend and are staying through to Saturday. Ill post pictures!

Hi Lynn!

No I have not died... Ive just been sick so there really hasnt been anything new and exciting to write about. I went to the mall today and bought a sleeping bag to use when I do my community service weekend. Thats about the highlight of the weekend really. There was a back to school party on Friday that was themed "Into the Wild" and everyone got VERY dressed up for it.  I was convinced to attend for a little while just to see what it was all about.  I called it an early night because of my cold, but Im glad I went.  The costumes were ridiculous!  Hopefully my sore throat will go away so my week will be a little more print worthy.  Classes tomorrow... wish me luck.