busy week # 1

JESS and ELLE come to AUSTRALIA…the nitty gritty of it all!

Two weeks, three girls, one bed, ridiculous rain, too many pictures, lack of food, fun in the sun, Tim tams, tons of people, kangaroos, and many great memories!

March 16 – Monday

The girls arrive at the Brisbane airport at approximately 6:45 a.m. The plan is to take Col’s Air Shuttle to my apartment complex and to call me when they get here so I can discretely get both of them and all their luggage in my apartment building without causing a commotion. Well instead, I wake up to this ridiculously annoying noise and when I peak out my window to see what it is I discover it’s Jess and Elle dragging their suitcases, walking around the apartment complex looking for my unit!

I head to class, they head to the pool, and afterwards we make a trip to Wooley’s stock up on some food!


That night Asaka and Yumeno made us some Japanese food and they taught us some traditional dances. J and E did their fair share of teaching the girls some dance moves as well.


Out of nowhere and before we knew it, a monsoon hit! The rain was insane! Therefore we realized, duh, let’s go run in it! We ran to others apartments grabbed them, hopped the fence at the apt complex next door, and before we knew it there were about 17 of use running around and swimming in the rain!

March 17 – Tuesday

J and E go to Mooloolaba(nearest beach) for the day and luck out with some great weather! Tuesdays are cheap pizza nights so we had a big pizza party and probably all Uni students went out to O’Malley’s Irish Pub for St. Patrick’s Day!



We also explored the beach some, which is beautiful at night, and we walked around the Mooloolaba Esplanade. We ended our night at The Wharf and Fridays because the girls were itching to dance!



March 18 – Wednesday

The weather today is not too bad but the girls decide to check out the Sunshine Plaza for the day and head back to meet me once I am done with Uni. For supper that night we went to the wharf to eat at Hog’s Breath for supper. It was a decent meal! Would have been better with a view of the harbor instead of Underwater World!

March 19 – Thursday

Today the girls check out the infamous Australia Zoo! I had already been their but really was tempted to skip class and join them! However, I tried to be responsible and I let J and E experience the kangaroos, koalas, and home of the crocodile hunter without me.


Thursdays are Uni nights to go out and about, we hopped a free shuttle over to Woombye’s and the girls got to experience what almost every single Thursday night is like for those of us on the Sunny Coast. I will spare you all the details of the eventful night : )

March 20 – Friday

Then comes Friday and I am free from classes! We slept in some and spent the day at the beach. Well we attempted. Some friends came with surfboards and body boards, so it was nice to play around on those awhile until we got rained out!

That night we had a BBQ for Asaka and Yumeno because they were leaving to go back to Japan early that next morning! That evening J and E also went over to their new friend Kyal’s parent’s house for an Aussie get together!

March 21 – Saturday

Lucky for us, we were out wondering two days before and had scored ourselves a free surfing lesson for 9 a.m. today! It was early and we were tired, but it was a blast! The weather started out great, then we got rained on, then it was good again, and then we got poured on! We surfed through it all and enjoyed every minute. The waves were huge! Of course we challenged each other and competed to see who could catch the biggest waves or stay on the longest! We even all three did it in unison at one point : )

We joined the group for free sausages and Tim Tams and before we knew it, the sun was shining! We spent the whole day having a great time at the beach and getting burnt while we were at it! We slept and swam and got killed by the waves and searched for daiquiris and drank slurpees. It was wonderful!

That night we hung out at both apartment complexes and then a group of us headed out to the Wharf.

March 22 – Sunday

A large group of us took a day trip to Noosa, just down the coast!

It was a gorgeous day. We saw a surfing competition, hung at the beach, and hiked some paths of the national park. It was so beautiful!!

I could have just sat in one spot all day and watched and watched, whether it was people, the ocean, or the amazing surfing skills. In that day I saw more surfers than I have seen in my whole life!

March 13, 2009 - FRIDAY!

since i last wrote i have had a few things going on! first of all, this past weekend i was suppose to go to the gold coast for the Roxy Pro/Quicksilver surfing competition. i was really excited for that. however, the girls i was planning on going with decided to not make the trip...so it was a no go! that was a big bummer. to see a surfing competition with some big name surfers would have been a really great experience.

that friday i was able to go to the city(brisbane) for the night to get away! a couple guys just rented a car for the weekend so we headed there for a few hours. i saw some really amazing sights. they had a beautiful botanical garden, which was really just like a big park area in the center of town. there is also a man made beach right down town; it is called "streets beach" and it was really neat. i have never seen anything like that before! that night also happened to be their market night, so the sidewalks were lined with vendors and stalls of all sorts of great things. i saved my money however and resisted the temptations!

school is definetely underway and the lecturers have no mercy! i feel like every teacher has plenty they want the students to be doing. i am going to have to really buckle down and get organized....especially because on monday i have two friends from back home coming to visit me! which will be really great and i hope we get a lot of activity in while they are here.

this past week was rainy and windy everyday, almost all day! back home was a blizzard and here was a tropical storm. i still think i would pick the storm :) it was a result of cyclone hamish, which was taking placing right of the coast of queensland, thank goodness it ended up going the other way! also, even more recently there was an oil spill just down the coast. hopefully there isnt too much damage!

but the rain and the wind stopped and i was able to do some surfing this morning. it was really great! i enjoyed it thoroughly. unfortunetely right after that my brand new board shorts got misplaced/lost/SOMEHOW fell out of my bag. so that was a huge disappointment. oh well, money grows on trees right?! i blame the fact that it is friday the 13th and bad luck is bound to occur.

a beach moment

me and a bunch of Germans! there everywhere :)

going out and about

heaps of fun

March 4, 2009

I can not believe it is already March! Of course it helps that February is a short month, but still…in some ways I feel like I just got here and in others I feel like my time here has already been so long.

School is well underway this week and I will have had each of my lectures and tutorials by 3:00 o’clock on Thursday! Yes, Fridays are free and make for a long weekend! The beginning is a little rocky because everything is so new and all the teachers have different styles. The setup of how they run their courses is different from UND. I will have completed a lot of presentations by time this semester is over.

Last weekend was pretty quite, however on Sunday I was able to head to Dream/Water World on the Gold Coast for the day. It was Carina, Josie, Regina, Michaela, and my self. Carina drove us down and her and Josie and had discount passes for us, so that was great! It was a really good day, enjoying each others company, the weather, and the rides. It was nice to get away for the day that is for sure.

On Tuesday it was my friend Pat’s birthday so a group of us went out to Montezuma’s, which is a Mexican restaurant down at Mooloolaba. After supper we walked the beach and it was soooo beautiful. The buildings, the lights, the moon, the beach, the water; all of it! Those are the moments when I am truly amazed at nature and how God could have possibly come up with something so wonderful.

Lastly, I just came from making some plans for my Easter break, which will take up a huge chunk of April and it looks like I am going to New Zealand! Even better I will be there on my birthday.

- the glass house mountains -

school starts!

It has been a week today and I am now starting to realize this is my home for the semester! It has seemed much like a quick trip or vacation so far. I am starting to catch onto some of the cultural differences, the traditions, and just in general, what it is like to live in Australia and on the Sunshine Coast. Australians really love and treasure their country. I am excited for school to start next week, but it will be hard considering I have had a very long break from it! Structure for my life will be nice however.

All though school is starting I am hoping to start some planning for trips! Just weekend visits to other big cities, hiking trips, or to see some friends. Yesterday the school prepared a trip to Kondililla Falls. It is located about 30 min away and it is beautiful! It is a very long waterfall with hiking paths winding in and out all around it. A few of us stopped to jump off the cliffs into the “rock pool” so we weren’t even able to take the whole trail. I hope to go back sometime! On our way home we stopped at a small local café that is located on the edge of the rainforest and information center. The rainforest!! Almost just as you would imagine; a lot of green, plants, bushes, crazy trees, and hanging vines. Unluckily we didn’t come across many animals.
It was really hot all day today. But once it started getting dark, the rain just started pouring down really hard!

This past weekend some students took a trip to Fraser Island that the school put on. It was full very fast however and i was unable to go. I plan on venturing up that way another day because i hear it is absolutely wonderful!

On Sunday, my German friend Regina and I went to Grace Christian Church, which is just down the road from USC. It was a very warm welcome from the pastor and a refreshing experience. Many people heard we went and would like to go next Sunday with us, so that is awesome! I am sure God will work in a way of his own through me and through that church to reach out to students, local and international!

School started this week...Monday, Feb 23. Not like I can complain, but it is a big change! Of course it is a different country and different school so the systems are a little different. Which will be a good experience, but a little stressful to make sure to do things correctly. I am sure once we get in the groove it will be no sweat, well i hope atleast! It will be nice to be on a schedule again. So far the classes have been well and some even very interesting, which is always a plus!

If i am not on campus i typically spend my time walking around, hanging out on the porch enjoying the weather, in the pool or at the beach, going for a run, grabbing some groceries, and an occasional trip to the shopping plaza.