June 24, 2010

Today I got the morning off from class. I didn’t have to be to Uni till 1:30 which was nice because I was a little hungover. Alissa and I got coffee and took a nice long walk on the beach. Than I hung out on the balcony for a while and decided to go for a run. It is so nice out probably around 80 degrees and the sun is shinning. The last thing I wanted to do was go to class. We had a guest speaker come in today and tell us about Queensland curriculum, it was really boring. Tomorrow is our last day of class FINALLY!! We have a test tomorrow so were all going to have a study session tonight. A few of us are going to go food shopping later to get some snacks for our outback trip! I can’t wait we leave Sunday. We all studied together tonight which lasted about a half hour and than a bunch of us decided to drink some wine and play soccer on the beach under the lights.

June 23, 2010

Today I was woken up by Alissa at 7 and she had a huge glass of wine that I had to chug! I made her do it too. Than we had to go visit 3 school from 8-3. We got our wireless internet today finally!! So when we got home we all set that up. Everyone threw me a surprise party in Kristina and Laurens room. It was so fun and I was so surprised! They had 4 shots lined up that I had to take right when I walked in. We had cake, hung out and drank for a while. Kristina got me a kangaroo pandora charm for my bracelet, and Alissa got me a bottle of champagne. Than we all went to dinner at Hogs Breath. It was so good they have really good steaks, and fun mixed drinks. Emily (Rudy) and I ordered the YES! Drink which was sooo delicious. By the time dinner was over we were all pretty drunk and just went back to the apartments to drink and watch the U.S Fifa soccer game. WE WON!!! It was a great birthday and will last until tomorrow at 2 when is over in the U.S ☺ Its going to be so weird to be 21 when I get home!

June 22,

Today we had class again at Uni. We had a visitor come tell us his story and than we went to tour the school Kristina will be teaching at. Tonight we went to OZ TAG, which is flag rugby. It’s similar to flag football. We watched a game to try and figure out the game and than just jumped right it and played! It was so fun. We have games on Tuesday nights. Tomorrow is my 21st birthday here!! I can't wait :)

June 21, 2010

Today we had class again all day 8:45 to 5. We had two visitors from their life and the different jobs they’ve had and where they have worked. When I got home Alissa and I went for a run and saw that a bunch of people were playing soccer on the beach so we joined them. It was so fun playing on the beach at night under the lights. I hope we play again soon! It really burns the legs running in the sand. Alissa and I made dinner tonight; we made spaghetti with butter and burgers. We pretty much ruined the pan we used to cook the burgers because all we had to cook them in was a pot. We watched a few episodes of Friends and fell asleep early tonight.

June 20, 2010

Today we went to the Steve Irwin Australia Zoo! We caught a free shuttle to the zoo at 9AM. It was awesome! I got to hold a koala, play and feed the kangaroos, get a little too close to crocodiles and alligators! I loved how close you could get to all the animals. The koala was a lot heavier than I thought it was going to be, smelled pretty bad, andddd it peed on me! haha Roo Heaven was amazing too, there were so many kangaroos all over, and they come right up to you and let you pet them and hold their hands. We also got some Roo food and fed them! So adorable! I also got to feed the elephants which I loved. I fed them 5 time. They ate huge pieces of fruit and vegetables. It was kind of gross because they would get snot all over your hands. We went to a wild life show where Kristina was picked out of the crowd to be a volunteer. It was hilarious they made her put her arms out wide and move her hips back and forth yelling CA CAAWWW CA CAAWWW. The whole day at the zoo was just so fun and it was great to see all the classic Australian animals!

June 19, 2010

Today was the first day we were able to sleep in! Alissa, Kelsey, Johnny, Brian, and Logan and I all hung out and relaxed for the day. We spent most of the day on the beach just lounging. Alissa and I went for a walk and worked out at the facilities on the esplanade. It was a pretty lazy day but it nice to finally not sit in that classroom for endless hours. It was really nice out high 70’s with the sun shinning. We didn’t go out tonight even though it was a Saturday night because we were waking up early for the zoo on Sunday and didn’t want to take the chance of being hung over! I love falling asleep to the sound of the waves crashing its so relaxing!

June 18, 2010

The past two days we have been visiting different schools that people in the program will be teaching in. All the schools are a like but so different than our schools at home. All the buildings are so small and the children spend a lot of time outside.. the perks of having nice weather all year long. They have a lot of breaks through out the day too for snacks and play and exercise. The little ones are so cute, and their accents make them even cuter. They are so polite and so interested in us! One group of little boys pointed to me and said “wowww she’s really pretty!” haha adorable. Another little girl said “there’s HEAPS of teachers!” All the teachers and principals are so welcoming and a lot of the schools give us food which is an added bonus. Some of the traditional foods we have tried so far have been lemingtons (coconut brownie like things), meat pies (mini pot pies), and scones with jam. We have been getting home between 5:30 and 6 at night. I have continued taking runs on the esplanade right on the beach and hanging out with everyone at the beach to watch the sun set! Its amazing! They have a little workout area down the esplanade which everyone enjoys using too. It’s a hard life living right on the pacific ocean ☺

June 17, 2010

Today I went to my school Mooloolaba State school! I met the principal (David Turner), deputy principal, host teacher (Danette Flick), and substitute teacher who will be in my class the first two weeks im there Chris. My teacher Danette will be on long service leave for the first 2 weeks vacationing, but Chris seems really nice and like she’s a fun teacher. The students were so cute, and so excited to meet me. They had a present for me which included a stuffed animal bird, a deck of cards, vegemite, cookies, and an Australian flag. They also all sang me a welcoming song, and 3 girls read a welcoming poem. I can’t wait to start! They school was so different than our at home. Each classroom is in its own building and the kids have to walk around outside from building to building for different subjects such as art, P.E, Japanese, etc. And yes they learn Japanese at school. From Mooloolaba we went to Maroochydore State High School. That was a cool school too so different from schools at home. They fed us a lot of traditional Australian food there that was very delicious for morning tea. Morning tea is really big here and every school takes time out of their day for it. Its pretty much what we call snack time at home but all the grades do it not just in elementary school. Tonight we all went out for Mexican food at Montezuma’s. It’s right down the road. They had really good food and even better margaritas! I still get nervous ordering drinks because im not 21 even though the drinking age is only 18.

June 16, 2010

Today I woke up early to skype my mom and the Daleys! It was so fun and nice to see them. I had class again all day today… so boring. We learned more about there government system and education system. Kristina’s principal was our guest speaker today. He told us “his story” about how he became a principal. After class was over we all ran out of class and to the bus. We were so sick of class we couldn’t wait to get home and start happy hour. Our homework from Colin was to go to a local pub and watch the State of Origin Rugby game. It’s a huge rivalry game similar to our red sox vs. Yankees but they only play each other 3 times a year. The game is between Queensland (the maroons) and New South Whales (the blues). We all wore maroon and cheered for Queensland . Queensland won! A bunch of us went to McDonalds late that night I wish they had Pizza and More! On the walk home Kristina and I met this guy who was so smart. He knew so much on what was going on in the world. Kris and I were fascinated, and learned a lot in our drunken state. It was a really fun night with everyone and we met lots of people at the Mooloolaba Pub.

June 15, 2010

This is where we will have class for the next 2 weeks


Today was our first day of really class. Our two week class is from 9-5 at the University of the Sunshine Coast in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) building. We took the public bus to the University and as we pulled in there were 9 Kangaroos just hanging out on the grass! This was our first sighting of the Roo’s so we were all so excited! As soon as we got off the bus we went over to them to take pictures. They let us get so close to them, and were not scared at all. I didn’t even zoom the camera for the pictures you see posted! It was such a fun and exciting morning. The class is horrible. Its Colin lecturing us while we just sit and listen for 8 hours on the Australian government, and their school system. He kept us late until 5:30 too, we were all so pissed. I got brekki at the University which was pretty much just like McDonalds home fry but so much better. Thank god we go on school visits during class on some days or I would not make it through the two weeks. Once we got back to The Newport Apartments I went for a run along the esplanade. It was so nice to run right next to the beach. I might actually start running… and enjoy it too!

June 14, 2010

Today was the first day of our 2 week course taught by Colin. We started with Brekki buffet at the Surf Club. It was really good, and the restaurant was closed for just us. It was awesome we at brekki right on the beach with a beautiful view of the pacific. There were lots of surfers and boats out. Alissa, Kristina, and I tried the famous Vegemite this morning! Its this dark brown, bitter, and extremely salty spread that they use equivalent to our peanut butter. Everyone loves it here, but we thought it was disgusting! After brekki we met up with a lifeguard who taught us some important things to be aware of while in the pacific such as rips, sharks, stingrays, and jelly fish. From there we all got "go cards" or bus passes. We use the public buses a lot to get around. We all took the bus to the mall and did some shopping. The mall was an inside outside kind of place and was so big. After figuring out the buses on our own, and getting back to our apartments a bunch of us went on a long walk down the beach. Alissa dropped her phone in the ocean.. such a bummer. We met some kids that went to primary school near by and they showed us where some crabs and fish were. They were so cute with their accents. After the walk we all relaxed by the pool and hot tub. I was laying on a beach chair and out of the corner of my eye I saw this creepy animal a foot away from me. I freaked out! It was a possum!

June 13, 2010

Today was pretty gloomy and raining so the girls and I decided to just walk behind our apartments along the marina and get lunch. We ate at a place called Hogsbreathe Cafe. The food was good and the prices were cheap! We also did some more walking down the Esplenade which is like a boardwalk at home with a bunch of cute shops. We went grocery shopping for the first time at Coles and got some of the essentials for the apartment. We finally got internet too today! $37.50 per week per computer and that's with a 50% discount that our accommodations gave us! So expensive! Today was Jessica's birthday so we had cake for her and than went out to this club called 240V. Think of the most sketchy, grossest place and you'll picture 240. It smelled like pee, everyone was on heroine, they played techno and had crazy strobe lights. We didn't stay for very long because we all sobered up as soon as we walked in because we were so sketched out.

June 12, 2010

This morning we all got up early again. We went to a cafe near our hotel for breakfast. I tried to get a coffee but that didn't work our so well. They have terrible coffee and I don't know how to order or what to get... definitely not like Dunkin Donuts. Our director over on this side of the world Colin who will also be our teacher for 2 weeks, and tour guide on our 2 week outback trip picked all of us up from our hotel in Brisbane with a charter bus. Once again we loaded up all of our luggage and proceeded to the Brekki Creek Hotel for lunch. (Brekki is what they call breakfast here) We got to eat outside in the beer garden and had some interaction with some people at the bar. After lunch we all got back on the bus and traveled to Mooloolaba. We are going to be living in apartments right on the pacific ocean in Mooloolaba. We were all so anxious to get settled into our new homes. When the bus pulled up to the apartments everyone started freaking out. They were so nice! Alissa and I were speechless when we walked in. It was so nice 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 balconies... It finally hit us that we were in paradise.



The view from our balcony! --->

June 11, 2010

We all woke up around 5:30 today wide awake and unable to fall back asleep. The girls and I decided to walk around Brisbane again and actually enjoy the scenery. We walked around a cute little park with lots of art, and colorful stairs. As we were sitting on a bench enjoying breakfast we noticed a box labeled "Used Needles" Yup.. it was for drug users. Apparently they don't approve of the drug problem in Australia but they except it as a problem. We went to the Queen St. Mall, walked through King George Square, saw the City Hall, and had our first experience on the Central Railway.



A group of us to the train to the famous XXXX Brewery. It was a long tour of the factory which was fun to go through and at the end you got to try 4 different 4X beers and got dinner too :) The Summer Ale was a favorite for the girls and the brewery is one of the only places you can get it on tap. Once we got back to dt Brisbane we walked around a little longer and hit the hay early again.

June 10, 2010

We finally made it to Australia!! The plane landed in Sydney at 7:00 am. We had to go through customs which were no big deal, than take a shuttle to our gate for our next plane which was to Brisbane! We had to go through security again where my bags and suitcases got checked because I had food in them.. ha. We had a 2 hour layover, which actually ended up being a 3 hour layover due to wind conditions. The plane to Brisbane was much smaller and there was a lot more turbulence. This flight was only an hour but turned into an hour and a half because the plane before us hit birds on their way down so they had to clear the runway. So while they cleared the run way we circled Brisbane while the pilot described the area around us.

We finally got off the plane, and went to the baggage claim. All of our luggage made it safe and sound! From the airport Alissa, Kristina, Lauren, Johnny, Brian and myself all took a Mexicab to our near by hotel in Brisbane. The poor little driver had to load all of our luggage into the van and didn't even get tipped for doing it because Australian's don't tip! Our hotel was pretty nice, very cheap, and over looked downtown Brisbane. Brisbane is pretty much a smaller, cleaner N.Y.C. The first thing we wanted to do was find a way to tell our families that we had landed but that wasn't as easy as it sounds. With internet being so 1995 slow and costing $2.00 for 15 minutes it was hard to contact them. As we were walking around downtown Brisbane we found a 7/11 that sold calling cards. We each bought one but of course they didn't work! After getting a bit to eat we continued to walk around and finally found a Vodafone store. A few of us got a pay as you go phone and called home right away. While we were walking an Australian stopped us and asked if we were from America. When we answered yes he yelled "OMG ITS SOOO OBVIOUS!" It didn't take long for the New York crew to stand out. We all headed back to the hotel and tried to stay up late to avoid jet lag.. well 7:00 rolled around and I was out like a light.

June 8, 2010

Today I left for Australia! I met Alissa, Kristina, Lauren, and Johnny at JFK airport for our 6:55pm flight to the Los Angeles airport. This flight seemed so long and it was only 6 hours, I was nervous for the 14 hour flight ahead of me. The plane was HUGE! It had 2 floors but first class was upstairs so I didn't have the luxury of seeing what it looked like. The economy section on the other hand was nice and cozy with 10 seats across, 2 aisles, and a ton of bathrooms. Each seat had its own t.v with newly released movies, games, t.v shows, and other forms of entertainment. Alissa and I mostly chose to watch the plane tracker station to see where we were, and how far we had to go. They fed us a lot of interesting food on the plane, so we got a head start on the weird food in Australia. We landed at LAX at 9:30 (with the time change). We had a layover but our next stop was Sydney Australia! 14 hours on the plane with 2 meals dinner, and breakfast, a big snack and 10 hours of sleep. I pretty much only woke up when they told me it was time to eat. Its funny flying to Australia because you loose a day. It suddenly went from June 8th to the 10th right before our eyes.