Mmm long time no see.

Well here I am, sitting at an internet cafe in New Zealand waiting for Modern Family to finish downloading, and (thanks to Matt) I realised I haven't blogged in forever. I'm not sure who still reads this but I'm sorry about that if you do! In my defense, however, I did write a blog on the bus the last day we were all together in the Gold Coast. It was on the way to my final at 7 am. It went a little something like this....

This is my last time riding the 750 bus to Bond. It is surreal. I can't even comprehend the idea of going home and not living in Australia. Goodbye 3 minute walk to the beach. Goodbye 2204. Goodbye free wifi at Macca's. Goodbye pacfair. Goodbye Coles. Goodbye watching LA Ink religiously with the roommates. Goodbye Briz Vegas and those crazy Australians we call friends (whom we saw every weekend for 4 months, btw). Goodbye squeaky sand. Goodbye luke warm water. Goodbye date nights at the Burleigh Beach Club. Goodbye looking the opposite way while walking across the street. Goodbye noisy cross walks. Goodbye public transportation and GoCard. Goodbye Ice, Cotton On, and Valley Girl. Goodbye being legal to drink. Goodbye Surfers Paradise. Goodbye what I've called home for 4 months.

(Before)

(After)

I'm sure I had more in there but that was what I could come up with on the top of my head. (The blog is currently on my iPod that has been dead for the past couple of weeks). Matt and I were lucky enough to stay in Australia an extra week where we traveled to Sydney. We stayed with Harrison and his roommates. What was supposed to be a 4 day trip turned into a 7 day trip when Matt and I missed our flight... it was totes worth it in the end though :)! We had some crazy adventures such as staying up all night waiting for Justin Bieber to play- but they ended up canceling the show because there were too many fans and they were getting too crazy. Silly 12 year olds. Also we headed over to Bondi where we took what was supposed to be a 1/2 hour costal walk which turned out to be a 2 hour walk. It was beautiful but we were definitely tired. Missing our flight was a whole thing, obvi and the biggest adventure of all was walking (more like power walking) 8km through bushes and over cliffs to find the cliffs that we could jump off of. We got there around sunset and decided to walk the road back since it seemed safer than walking back through the trail. We didn't take into account that the sun was going down and the road was a 3 hour walk... yeah. We ended up calling almost everyone we knew who was in Australia for a taxi that would come pick us up. We kept losing service and we were in a national park so no one really drove on that rode. Finally when we got to an intersection we were able to call a taxi- however it kept cutting out every time we tried to book it. So we kept walking and eventually hit another busy intersection where we tried hitchhiking for a 1/2 hour. God answered our prayers when an older couple stopped for us and drove us to the train station. We found out that it was a 25km walk which would have taken us all night. It was such a blessing.

At least we got to see the Opera House at sunrise :)

Bondi!

Shark Cove

Sitting on the ledge of a gnarly cliff.

APU in AUS !

Opera House at night.

8km walk.

Finally at the cliffs.

Leaving Sydney was sad, since that was the last time we would be in Australia for a long time. It is such a weird feeling knowing I won't be going back to the little Mediterranean ever again. New Zealand has been fun though! Sadly it's really cold so that has been kind of a bummer, but hey it's winter so I can't really complain. I'm stoked to go back to another summer though! That will be nice. Matt and I won the Rent lottery so we got to see the play in the front row, literally. That was awesome! We took a ferry over to Waiheke Bay which was beautiful. There we rented bikes and did our own wine tasting tour. It was a beautiful, perfect day. We also went to an ice bar called Minus 5. It was really cool (literally haha) because everything was made of ice. They gave us big jackets and gloves to wear inside. We only stayed for a little since it was so cold! Today we headed over to Mission Bay which was only a 10 min bus ride away. It was freezing today so it wasn't ideal conditions. We did, however, eat at the number 1 place to eat at in and around Auckland. It was so good. We had fish and chips and we had to fight off some seagulls who wanted some. The birds here don't mess around. They're crazy little guys. Tomorrow we're going to have dinner at the Sky Tower so that should be nice! And then we have to finish packing since we head home at 130 pm on Saturday! It will be nice to get the whole day back though since I land in LA at 630 am on the same Saturday. I can't wait to come home and see everyone and tell everyone all these stories in person! There is so much to tell :) Love you all and see you very, very soon!

Goodbye 2204.

It is now officially our last week in 2204. We paid our last rent yesterday. Now all that's left is to pack up our stuff, clean like crazy, and take our last exams. Molly, Nanae, and I all have an exam Saturday 24 April at 8 am. After Matt and I are flying to Sydney till the 28th then back to Brisbane till 1 May where we then head to New Zealand till 8 May. Then home sweet home. It's still so weird to think that it's almost over! Molly and I finally pulled out our ping pong net and paddles this past week. It's been fun having little ping pong tournaments on our little glass table. We've also been spending a lot of time at the beach lately, even though it's been a little chilly and windy. Gotta soak up the last few days living right across the street from the beach. We're all heading down to Brisbane tonight for an AFL game to watch the Brisbane Lions play. I'm excited since the last footie game we went to was just a scrimmage. This is the real deal in a big stadium and all. I'm sad though cause this is our last night all together in Brisbane with Jamie and Scott. I'm gonna miss those fools. Scott comes to LA the same day Matt and I land so that will be cool/weird to see him in the states. 4 months went SO fast! I really can't even explain how I'm feeling about it all. I don't think it has really hit me yet that we're leaving in less than a month. Weird. Well I can't wait to see everyone! It's gonna be a wonderful reunion :)

Cheers!

Sunshine Coast

Famous pub with Meredith :)

Cooly.

ps; Here is some of the Aussie slang I have picked up while living here for 4 months. If you hear me say it this should help you to understand.

Carpark - Parking garage

Rubish - Trash

Reckon - Like 'I think' or 'I believe'

Keen - Basically like 'I'm down'

Heaps - A lot of

Fair Dinkum - For real

Bloke - Dude

Mate - Friend

Cheers - Thank you

Note - Money (bill)

Pissed - Drunk

Hire - Rent

Chemist - Pharmacy

G'day - Hello

Lollies - Candy

Uni - University

Maccas - McDonalds

No Drama - No worries

Oz - Australia

11,000 Words.

I haven't blogged in forever... story of my life. I'm home in a month. Weird. It's very bittersweet. I'm ready to be home, since it's been 3 months- but I don't want to leave. I absolutely love it here and since my family just left I could stay another few months ;). It was lovely to have my parents here! It's been a hard past few weeks so it was comforting to see them. Some things I am looking forward to when I get home are: InNOut, Chipotle, BJ's (particularly the lettuce wraps), Taco Bell, Sweetarts, Urban Outfitters, Forever 21, my friends (obvi), my pup, being able to drive anywhere I want, and last but not least TiVo (aka more than just 3 channels). I feel like a fatty since most of those things on the list are food- but hey, food here is just different! Well, here are some pictures to blog for me. They're more exciting than reading what I have to say anyways. Cheers!

Easter lunch at Hogs Breath. 18 hour steak place.

Looking out over Miami Beach.

Summers on the roof with Alisha.

Love the weekend crew.

Burleigh Beach with my sister :)

Currumbin!

One of my favorite pictures.

<3

Molly's sisters came to visit!

Brizvegas

Well, well, well more weekends have passed and, like always, there are stories to tell. I'm not really sure where to start from my last blog so I'll just start with my sister coming to visit! It all started when Meredith and I went to good 'ol Nerang station to pick up my sister. I wasn't sure what time her flight was coming in, since I hadn't checked my facebook for a couple of days, so I took my roommates advice and went at 11:30ish. Little did I know she came in at 7:10 am and got to the station at about 10. After looking around for about a 1/2 hour I finally got a phone call from the reception desk at our hotel. My sister was on the other end explaining to me her morning and how hectic it was. I decided to take a cab back since the bus wasn't coming for another hour. After Meredith gave the cab driver directions to our home, we ran in the rain to the lobby where my sister was surrounded by all her bags with an exhausted look on her face. It was so weird seeing a familiar face in Australia! Anyways, after getting her all settled in, my other friend from home who was staying with us finally made it to Burleigh! It was already a full house with Harrison and my sister there- but we didn't mind adding two more. When we got him all settled in we decided to make a 7-11/BWS run for some ice and beer so we could kick off our BBQ right. When we got back we all decided to play some beer pong which turned into Matt and I dominating the table 6-0.

After some nice burgers and chips we all called it a night since everyone was tired from a long day of traveling. The next day we took a nice little trip to Bond since I had a presentation due Wednesday that I hadn't started working on yet. That night we all took a trip to Surfers since it was Josh and Zac's last night in Australia (they had been studying here for 3 months as well) and my sister had never been! We went to Waxy's where we ate and hung out for a few hours and then decided to go play Laser Tag since both my sister and I had never played. An Australian couple was playing at the same time as us so we did boys against girls. It was really intense, but super fun. Since my sister was leaving for Sydney in the morning we all went back and went to sleep. Tuesday basically consisted of an adventure to Robina and an all nighter with Meredith. Wednesday was St. Patricks day and sadly I had to spend the whole day at school- but once it was over we all dressed in green and went in search of a fun Irish pub! We found just that. One with live music and a lot of Australians. It was a lot of fun and one of my favorite nights here.

Thursday my sister came back early in the morning and later we took a trip to Cooly. It was a perfect day which was exciting since those have been very scarce lately on the Gold Coast. It was a lot of fun swimming around, eating Nandos, and looking for shells. However I did get stung again... those Blue Bottles just know how to find me.

That night we attempted to go out... which started out good when we went to a karaoke bar, but then turned out not to be the best night. The next two nights were following the same pattern. Which to read about the Brisbane night you can go to Matthew's blog. He explains it very well. Alisha and I did make it to the Wildlife Park near our house on Saturday which reminded me of Cairnes! It was fun. We saw some things that I didn't see when I was in Cairnes so it was a different experience which was nice :).

I'm sad my sister is gone, but it was a fun having her here! Now time to get working on school. One more paper and I'm done with my hard work for the semester!

It's been a while.

Well... where to begin. A lot has been going on since I last blogged. We had Tsunami warnings that apparently everyone around the world knew about since I woke up to a text from my mom and Matt's mom and I got a few messages from people on Facebook. Thankfully it didn't come because we would have definitely been hit hard by it since we live right on the beach on the Southeast part of Queensland- which was where it was directly heading. The past two weeks have been really gloomy and raining which has been kind of a downer. Thankfully once the weekend came the rain started to let up so we were able to enjoy our time with our friends from Brisbane! Thursday Me, Matt, Molly, Nanae, and our friends from Bond all went to the Mermaid Tavern for some dinner and then went back to our apartment to hang out. It was a lot of fun. On Friday Matt, Molly, and I decided to go to the beach- even though the sun wasn't out- because we hadn't gone in a week. After laying out for a bit we decided to go in the water... with my luck I probably should just stick to the sand. While we were playing around I felt something hit my leg and wrap around it... yep another Blue Bottle. The ONE jellyfish that lives at our beach found my leg and stung me. Thankfully it didn't hurt as bad as the last one, but it was still very uncomfortable and my time in the water was cut short. Later that night, after a nice trip to the sauna, our friends from Brisbane came and we all just hung out at home. On Sunday we all went to Wet'N'Wild, which is equivalent to Hurricane Harbor or any other water park in America, which was really fun! Scott got us $20 tickets from his work which was really nice considering the fact that they usually are about $50. We got to go on almost all the rides and I faced my fear and went down the super tall, gnarly body slide. It was a successful day. Last night the roomies and I finally went and played Putt Putt. We've been talking about doing this since we lived in Surfers. Putt Putt is everywhere around here! It was fun and we bought two games so we can go back anytime and play again! Matt and I made a bet- and I won- which was a very proud moment I must say :). Well that's my past few weeks in a nutshell! Sorry it's been so long since I've blogged.

Molly got a hole in one... not impressed.

We love Putt Putt, yes even Trap does too.

:) Domination.

What can I say, I'm blessed!

And let me tell you why...

I live approx. 3 minutes from the beach. One of my favorite places in the world. It has been my dream to live right on the water since I was little. I can't even explain to you how much I love sitting and listening to the waves or waking up and looking off my porch to see the clear blue ocean. It's perfect. Let me tell you a little about the beach that sits right across the street from my home. Well for starters the water is AlWAYS the perfect temperature. There is no arguing that. Two: the sand squeaks when you walk on it and it is blinding white, but in a good way. Three: there are millions of shells that line the waters edge- especially when it's low tide. I'm keeping a collection on the table beside my bed. Four: there are barely any blue bottles directly outside of our house so I am not scared to go in the water! It's a huge deal. Five: the water is really clear and sometimes you can see things swimming around your feet. Six: it may look calm from the shore, but it's definitely not. The waves are a lot stronger than they look and a lot bigger once you're standing directly next to one. Seven: there are a lot of rips, which can get pretty strong, but the life guards are on duty and they post flags for people to swim in so it's safe. (I should probably learn to swim there... but that's a story for later). Eight: the sunsets are beautiful - even though it sets on the other side. Nine: the waves have been amazing lately giving Matt perfect waves to surf on and Molly and I perfect waves to practice on. And lastly, it is the perfect place for long walks with my boyfriend either after school or at sunset. It's one of my favorite things to do. It's so cliche, but I really do love long walks on the beach. After reading this it's really okay to be jealous, I would be too :) haha just kidding.

Anywho! So I really should be studying for my psych midterm... I kind of already have so this is my break. This weekend was a really, really, really good one. I had so much fun spending time with my wonderful roomies and our friends from Brisbane! We pretty much spent the entire weekend at the beach getting tan and practicing surfing. I attempted to teach Molly how to paddle out which was an experience. While she was out braving the waves, I stayed a little more shallow and yelled directions at her. I'm not sure if coaching is one of my strong suites. Sunday Shwayze came to the Gold Coast so of course we had to go see him. It was SO much fun. I loved every minute and the fact that I knew most of the songs thanks to my boyfriend who is obsessed. Oh and I pretty much almost drowned one of the days cause I got caught in a gnarly rip tide - but thankfully Matt was there to save me. I can honestly say I'm still scared to go back out, but I'm working my way in slowly. Lets see... what else... well I'm ready for this week/weekend to be over! (never thought I'd say that). I'm dreading my midterm Saturday. Thankfully it will be over at 6pm and we can all go out and enjoy the last bit of our weekend! Well I'm done with my break so I'm gonna go back and study. Hope everything is going well. Love and miss you all tons!