ONE WEEK...!!!

I have one week left.
one week.
I really can't even believe it. Been having an awesome last couple of weeks. Gender bender at shorty pub was hilarious. I dressed up as part of the "barbershop quartet" group with a couple of girls which was great-mustache and all! Josh squeezed into my little skirt and wore one of my tanks and a stuffed bra--HOT.
My favorite part of the night has to be when we came back. Jake, Amy, Josh etc were all hanging out and suddenly a VERY drunk Conal comes back. He was like a 5 year old on acid-jumping all over the place giggling like a little kid cause he won a costume contest. Check out the video i put up on facebook. SO fucking hilarious.
Definitely getting down to the wire with my assignments... almost done with one but now I have to study and write another paper all before we got to Port on friday. But... of course I have been procrastinating all week. Just hanging out and avoiding it at all costs.
It has been SO hot here--it was almost 100 degrees and humid one day. So weird that it is in the 50's at home! I am not going to get used to that for a while!!!

I <3 Australia

Melbourne was amazing... just like everything else! A bunch of our friends from Australearn packed a lot into the three days we were there which was good. We spend one full day on the great ocean road with our sweet Mercedes-Benz glass top roof van and awesome tour guide Brian. The great ocean road is sooo cool. Got some amazing pictures of the 9 apostles and other sites. And the water--so many different colors of crystal clear blue. I have never seen water that pretty in my entire life, really looked right out of a movie or something.
Melbourne is such a fun city. The first night there we found some awesome night life (but with a horrible all-girl band!) None of us could believe how expensive the drinks were though-- 7 dollars for a TINY drink (probably half a normal size). But it was still fun out being in the city with everyone.
The girls and I did a ton of shopping on the Victoria Street market (which is similar to one in Sydney) with just a bunch of everything and anything you could imagine for pretty cheap! We all got some pretty amazing aboriginal artwork/digareedoo's and stuff which was really cool. My favorite part of the trip was feeding the wild parrots and other colorful birds! They just land right on your hand or even in your head! We got some hilarious pictures of everyone (except for Corey who shares Farida's unusual fear of birds! hahaha)
Now I am really down to the very end of our trip and I am getting really sad! We just had a block dinner tonight (roasted lamb,pork, potatoes YUM YUM!) and it is so weird that I am going to have to say goodbye to all of my friends here. They are like family now. I feel like I might be half australian and now I am going to be going home!
I am just making the most of my 2 weeks left here. Hanging out every night, bugging conal and jake, watching movies with them, adding to the quote board when we say stupid things, partying random nights, not worrying about my assignments, going to the beach, dancing in the rain with conal, sneaking into the pool at night, dreaming of wedges, sour cream and sweet chili sauce with amy...

I am taking advantage of every second.

unless conal and jake actually DO call a bomb scare at the airport and I don't have to leave...

ERA ball and "recovery" day!

First off, the events center where we had the ball was nicer than where my prom was held! It was absolutely beautiful and we had a live singer to start off the night. We all started hanging out and drinking around 5 after getting ready. It was so fun to see everyone so dressed up and excited in the quadd! The night was awesome. Drinks were really expensive but I had a little too much before we left anyways so it was all good. It was so weird to think about the people I am going to have to say goodbye to in about 3 weeks! It is insane how fast time has gone, and a lot of the night was spent remembering the past semester and events of the semester. There were a lot of good and hilarious videos and presentations that were really awesome.
After, all the buses dropped us off at Customs (most popular bar right in town on the beach). At this point it was about 11pm so I was already pretty tired from about 6 hours worth of drinking but we all continued on... a couple of my friends stayed out until about 4:30am swimming in the ocean baths!
I however did not quite make it there... my friend amy and I were kicked out of the bar (this is like the 3rd time for me... whoops) They are really strict here about not acting really drunk in bars. If anyone sees you stumbling or anything you get asked to leave. Each time I am kicked out I am not even that drunk which is pretty funny.... once I just lost my voice and was laughing because of it so I got the boot. This time Amy just took off her shoes and apparently "talked back" to the bouncer. I guess we americans like to cause trouble or something. lol.
If last night wasn't excciting enough today has been "recovery day" and by "recover" I mean with another... drink. Basically you get woken up at 10am to really loud party music to eat some breakfast and start the festivities all over again in the quad. I couldn't even think about drinking but it was pretty funny watching a lot of people being crazy... and they had a sweet bouncy house.... what more could you want? It was also SO hot today. It is so weird that I am going to come home to a New England winter and it is a balmy 85 here right now!
So...that is what I have been up to. I STILL have not done any work. But I figure I am certainly not doing any tonight after this weekend... I have all next week to start. hahaha. Nothing like procrastination.
In the meantime I am off to hang out and watch movies!

YAY for NOT doing work when you are supposed to!

So... basically I still have not started ANY work that I am supposed to. But I figure that is okay since this week has been pretty darn awesome. Went shopping with Adrienne and Amy yesterday for the ERA Ball. Of course, we started out saying okay we are only going to spend about 50-60 dollars. In the end we all spent about 150... whooops. But we def. have some really cute dresses for the occasion!

My block is SOOO quite right now. Sarah moved out, not that we really saw her all that much but Eric is now also not here during the week because he has prac (basically an internship). So it is Conal, Jake, Josh and I basically. Although it is weird, it is also kinda nice cause we are basically having a great time together. We all went to the inter-college (inter-dorm) talent show yesterday night. Josh was persuaded to sing and he won for best solo voice! yaaaaay! It was pretty cool hearing everybody sing and stuff. A lot of fun!

Today I am going to the beach with the girls, and getting a bit of a tan before the ball. Can't wait to post on how the ball goes... should be pretty EPIC.

Miss you all!
ps. can I just say how much Uconn sucks? Not really... i love uconn... I just mean the administration. So I am trying to figure out where to go to grad school and gage what I have to do to get in. So I emailed Uconn about 4-5 weeks ago about the Psychology program. I JUST got on answer and it is brief and does not answer my questions. It basically is the standard email they send out to anyone who emails the graduate psych department: saying basically look at the website if you have questions. yea did that. great. thanks.
However, the head of the graduate psych department at Assumption college (a college who has no idea who I am) emails me directly back, with a lengthy personal email answering ALL of my questions and more AND just sent a follow-up email offering a personal meeting and tour when I get back to the states.
Yea... so basically Assumption is looking pretty good right now...

New Zealand

It has been forever since I have posted! I had been away for two weeks but its mostly cause I was laaaazzyyy!
New Zealand was amazing! I can't believe how fast it went by though. We did so much! The flight over was about 3 hours, and when we got there we got picked up by the car rental company and paid for the car and took off! It was a little scary driving on the other side of the road at first. Josh went into the wrong lane a few times... whooops. But he really got the hang of it and by the end of the trip was a pro. First off, the south island is basically deserted! The "main highway" most of the way there was like a back road. There was one section where we were driving for about 4-5 hours on a "main highway" and passed only about 15-20 cars the entire time! Most of the south island is exactly like the pictures: snowcapped mountain after mountain after sheep after intesnse forest after sheep after mountain after forest after huge river after sheep after snow capped mountain.... The scenerey was amazing. We did a lot of good hiking--about 3 days of all day hiking up some pretty intense trails. We went on a jet boat ride through this awesome canyon which was sooo fun. These are the best jet boat drivers in the world so they take you as close to the cliffs as possibile in order to freak you out. We went to these natrual hot springs which were sooo nice. It is still really cold down there even though it is coming up on summer because it is so close to antartica. But these springs are natrually heated and they basically feel like a hot bath. We pretty much stayed in there one full day!
NZ booze is much more like the US... they don't anally measure a shot into each drink! So finally we got some good strong drinks...
My favorite thing that we did was swimming with wild dolphins! They took us 45 minutes out to sea and then we went in the water to snorkle with them! It was FREAZING mind you, only about 12 degrees Celsius which is only about 52 degrees! We had full body suits on so that helped a bit but my hands and feet were frozen by the time I got out. The dolphins were amazing though. They are totally interested in you and swim all around you close enough to touch! I bought an underwater camera which worked really well so I have some awesome pictures. Basically it is a childhood dream come true so my life is pretty much complete...
Now that I am back at uni, its back to reality. I have a ton of work to do but only about 3 1/2 weeks to do it in! I only have 25 days left in Australia! I really can't believe it. Time goes by so fast it is crazy. I am really going to miss being here, but as much as I love it--its not home and I really miss all my friends and family! I am so excitied to come home and have thanksgiving and christmas with my family then get ready for my last semester!!!
I just decided I want to go to grad school for psychology. I have been thinking about it for a while and have figured out thats what I am going to go for. The whole reason why I liked my English and Comm classes were for the parts that explored peoples behavior/attitude/thoughts etc. I am actually really excited about my future for once instead of confused so I figure that is a pretty good sign. Unfortuantly that means loading up on a ton of psyc courses next semester and then taking some continuing courses during the summer after I graduate. Hopefully I can get started next fall though either part or full time. I am glad I have a plan now and am excitied.
In the meantime I am going to enjoy the rest of my time here, and I still have fiji to look forward to! This Saturday is the ERA ball which basically means drunkfest 08. Pretty stoked.
I'll try to put up some pics asap... I am just so lazy and I have sooo many. It is a daunting task right now....

Crappy hotels don't matter when you are this excited

Just wanted to do a quick post!  We are at a hotel right now right near the Sydney airport!  The hotel is a little ghetto (we couldn't even figure out how to turn on the lights and their "free wireless internet" was really a 5 dollar internet cord and 8 dollars per hour of usage) But we are totally excited to leave!  Our wake up call is at 4:45 tomorrow morning--bright and early! 

We will get to Christchurch by 1pm and then we start our epic drive!  I am not sure how often we will be able to talk on skype/aim or how often i will be able to post but if we stop at a wireless cafe or hostel then I will try to post and stay in touch with everyone.

Well I am off to shower and then get a good night sleep before tomorrow comes all too soon!

Can't wait!

Miss you all, talk to you soon!

Jindabella Heaven

This past weekend I think has been the best weekend yet. Absolutely amazing! We had signed up for a volunteer weekend of conservation work and I was a little worried about it. I wasn't sure where we would be staying or what we would be doing. We went with a bunch of American friends. So we piled into the conservation van having no idea what to expect or where we were going.
We drove for about 1 1/2 into the deep country and up the mountains. The scenery is absolutely beautiful in the Hunter Valley. It kind of reminds me of Vermont-a lot of beautiful farm land, rolling hills, big mountains etc. When we finally pulled into the driveway we thought it was a joke! It was the most beautiful house I have ever seen on a 85 acre property with the best view in the entire world. We couldn't believe it. It is called Jindabella and a couple Ross and Marianne recently bought it to do conservation work and rent out to tourists looking for a mountain retreat. Some retreat! It was basically a resort! The most beautiful yard and garden area on the most beautiful piece of property. A complete wrap around porch overlooking the huge rolling hills and mountains in the distance.
Our job was to plant 400 trees on the bottom part of their property. The area had been choked out by a lot of unnatural/foreign plants and the family was trying to get it back to temperate rainforest which it is naturally. It was pretty relaxing work except for the fact that it was SOO HOT. It was the hottest weekend yet-in the upper 90's on Saturday. The family had the best dog named Max who just loved people, he would come up to you and whine until you pet him and just plop down in your lap!
It was pretty awesome especially because the family was so nice! They took us swimming on Saturday to this beautiful little river. It felt like we knew them forever it was so fun. Everyone was swimming and playing with the dog, Ross splashing everyone! On Saturday night Ross had everyone shooting his guns in the backyard and attempting archery which was hilarious. Then his 25 year old son had us playing "Bush Croquett" and took us star gazing. We all had so much fun, it was such a relaxing weekend. It was the first time I really felt at home since I had been there, and really immeresed in Australian life with this family.
On Sunday we finished planting all of the trees and then they took us cliff diving! We went to a beautiful national park (even farther into the country!) to some really deep pools and jumping cliffs! It was so scary when you were up there but I finally did it after nearly peeing myself! haha. All the boys were having an awesome time! Marianne was nuts, she is probably almost 60 and she was one of the first ones to jump! Josh has some hilarious video of this that he will have to put up soon!
I was really sad to have to come back to Uni; Ross and Marianne seemed sad too. They said we could come back anytime and stay with them and they would pick us up at the train station. I may have to take them up on the offer! I absolutely LOVED it up there in the mountains. That is exactly the kind of simple life I want (plus a horse or two maybe!) I have some pictures rotating of the weekend up at Jindabella now that I FINALLY figured out how to do that haha. Also, I have a ton of pictures up at
http://picasaweb.google.com/Amanda.Beardsworth

Facebook is being lame and not letting me put anything up so you have to check them out!
And now... New Zealand in 2 days! AHHHH...

oh boy!

Just been planning the trip to New Zealand! We are renting a car and driving around the entire south island for 12 days. We just found our route and planned some things we want to do along the way including... swimming with dolphins in the wild! I have wanted to do that since I was probably about 8 so I am really excited! Check out the website of where we are going--there is an awesome video and it looks amazing--www.dolphin.co.nz I can't believe we are going to be able to do that!
We decided we are really going to rough it so we don't spend too much money on hostels and food that way we can do and see as much as possible.
We are pretty much going to sleep in the car most nights... except when we decide that we need a shower and a decent nights sleep lol. And we are basically just going to buy some bread, peanut butter and other cheap food as we go. We are going to get to see SO much so it is def. worth it.
Also pretty excited about the exchange rate there right now. I am planning on spending no more than 1000 NZ dollars and that is only about 650 US dollars right now! YAY! I am going to try REALLY hard to come home with at least 1000 dollars... otherwise I think I am going to be FUCKED... I can't believe in several months I have to think about job, apartment, car etc. AHHH...
But until then I will think about my dolphins in New Zealand...

Why yes, the Summer breeze make me feel fine...

Oh I just had to do a quick post because it was SO warm today and I am so HAPPY! The past month or so it has been pretty cool, but the sun has been nice and warm during the day. Today the air was really warm and breezy and the sun was hot! It was probably about 75-80 during mid-day. Perfect temperature!
Tomorrow is Tuesday again which means: BEACH!!

Can't freaking wait.

Melting pots.

I have come to the conclusion that Australia is a big mixture between European and the western world mixed with an Islander lifestyle and Asian influences. I have eaten more Thai food here than I think I have in my entire life. A very interesting mixture of things I guess. It really is a European counterpart floating in the asia-pacific.
One thing that I haven't seen a lot of however is diversity. Almost everyone is white except for in the cities where probably half the population is Asian. Even though the countries first inhabitants were black, there are hardly any blacks anywhere. I probably have seen a small handful the entire time I have been here. It is not like America that way. In America you can walk around a mall, hear at least one other language, see african, white, hispanic, asian and everything in between.
In one of my classes they were talking about the upcoming US elections (they seem to all know more about it than me! They are really focused on it because everyone here hates Bush) and they said that Australia is way less likely to have a black or minority President.
I guess that is one thing that I really do like about America. There is so much diversity. Although there is still a more powerful white majority, things are slowly changing and I think American's are much more receptive to diversity.
Just a thought as I put off my homework...

Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains were incredible! I have never seen anything that amazing in my whole life. What I didn't realize was how far away they are! Josh and I took a train to Sydney on Thursday afternoon (which is 3 hours) and then had to take a train from there to the Katoomba (the village we stayed in at the BM) which was almost another 3 hours. We left a little after 3pm and got there a little after 9pm! We stayed in a pretty "crunchy-granola" hostel--we didn't really even know who was working there versus who was staying there which was a little weird but it worked out well.
I can't wait to be able to put up pictures. On Friday morning we got up early and signed up for a pass that let us see the BM's via the skyrail and stuff and did some hiking around.
The mountains are HUGE... it is basically equivalent to the grand canyon but with trees and waterfalls and a temperate rain forest! The cliffs were massive! The pictures we have are amazing but don't do it justice, Josh and I kept saying "It's never as good as what it looks like it real life!"
We did some hiking which was pretty intense I guess a couple of years ago an International Student from Newcastle got lost in the mountains for 3 days without food until some climbers happened to find him! Luckily, that wasn't us... we didn't do anything too crazy but we really want to try and go back if we get a chance to see more of it and do some more hiking.
On Saturday we had a day tour of the Janolen caves. I have never been in anything like these caves. It took over an hour to get out to them (the bus we were on was teetering on the edge of the windy mountains). We then got a tour of the largest cave-called the Lucas cave the tour took an hour and a half. It was massive! The first people to find it must have been so amazed--it goes on forever and there are beautiful crystal formations everywhere. The cave was formed hundreds of million years ago by a river. Anything being around that long is mind boggaling to me.
We had to come back Saturday night which was a pain becasue of rail track work! We had to take a bus and transfer all the way from Sydney back to Newcastle. NOT fun, but it was worth it for the amazing weekend we had. Now that we are back we really have to start mapping out NZ and packing! It is only 11 days away! In the meantime, I have to actually start doing some of my assignments... grrr.

I'm a little surfer girl.

I officially feel like I am halfway to being aussie now that I have finally surfed!!! The weekend was so much fun. We spent the weekend up at Crescent Head through a surfing company with a bunch of friends from Evatt. Friday was incredibly windy and rainy so surfing on Saturday was intense! It was so hard! The waves were really big (10 foot swells) so we had all the really rough surf from that. Saturday afternoon I finally began to get the hang of it and stood up! I was so proud of myself. Josh figured it out a little quicker but I wasn't has horrible as I thought I may be! It is a really cool feeling becauase you are looking down at the board and paddling, and when the wave hits, you travel with it and it feels really cool once you figure out how to stand up without loosing your balance! Saturday night was a huge campfire with all of the crazy instructors and everyone which was really fun, took some interesting pictures at the beach... lol.
I can't wait to go out and rent a surf board next time we go out to the beach at Newcastle. It was really fun and I want to keep trying. Hopefully next time I go the waves wont be massive and the surf wont be really rough so I can really get the hang of it.
I can't believe our trip to New Zealand is two weeks away! Time goes so fast it is unbelieveable. Josh and I are going to be planning our route and what exactly we want to see and do there so we can see as much as possible. I really wish that my parents could come out and visit. Emily and Lance (some friends of ours) have their parents down right now... they are so lucky. I would love for people to be here and show them all the cool stuff there is to do here! But... $2000 dollar plane tickets are a huge problem! ugh!
I really miss everyone! I wish that I could split myself in half so I could be two places at once... but I know I will be home before I know it which is going to be really weird. Time goes too fast!
Next week I think we are going to round up some people to try to go to the Blue Mountains. They are supposed to be beautiful and have some amazing hiking trails/waterfalls/rock structures. Going to be so busy until NZ with school work, my internship, the blue mountains trip, volunteer trip, packing etc! So much to do in 2 weeks!

Sydney round 2

Another awesome weekend! Went to Sydney early Friday morning (after the room crawl which was NOT fun getting up--josh being still drunk and all). We stayed in a hostel right in the heart of the city which was so fun--a close walk to everything. We went to a 3D Imax right in Darling Harbor which was awesome (but made josh really nauseous lol) Shopped around a lot, went up Sydney Tower which had a great view, went to a bunch of open markets in china town, walked along and saw the opera house up close... it was kind of a cold and overcast weekend which was a bummer but we had a lot of fun just being in the city. It is actually a pretty small city and I feel like I know my way around the main harbor area really well now becuase we were walking around sooo much. The weekends always go too fast though which really sucks. Classes come around too soon when it feels like you are on vacation!
Going on our surf weekend trip next weekend! I am hoping it will be a nice weekend otherwise I am going to freeze. It is going to be really fun though, I am hoping that I am not tooo horrible at surfing! Hopefully I will be able to at least stand on the board by the end of the weekend.... I have a feeling my center of gravity is too high... lol

My throbbing headache is a result of...

Wow, last night was insane. Adrienne's birthday celebration turned into a shit show. Pre-gamed with everyone in C 1st (different block in Evatt) then took the train to town. SO drunk... The thing with Goon is that it hits you all of the sudden. I thought I wasn't drunk and then I go to get on the train and its just like ohhh my god... Customs house opened the upstairs dance area which was awesome. So much dancing, we were there forever but it is all just a blur that seems like 20 minutes to me. WORST headache this morning and 30 dollars later...

Tonight is the room crawl, and I am going to try really hard to take it easy seeing as tomorrow Josh and I are getting up super early to go to Sydney! We catch a 7:15 train, getting up is not going to be fun. ugh. But I am so excited to go back to Sydney because I loved it there last time. We are staying in a hostel in the heart of the city so hopefully it will be good. We want to try to go to Bondi beach which is a pretty famous and it's about 20 minutes outside of the city. (OMG Colleen, they have this show here called Bondi Rescue, it is basically a reality TV show of lifeguards at Bondi. Lots of people drowning, almost drowning, sharks, falls onto sharp rocks, fights, drunks... it is SOOO addictive, you would love it.)
I think it is supposed to be a pretty beautiful weekend. Maybe I will actually go in the water... ...maybe.

Sun, beach, and my white skirt.

Another awesome day at the beach yesterday-just reading and writing at the jetty again with Josh. It was so warm, we definitely got some sun, but it was so worth it. Of course, the one day it was swimming weather I didn’t have my bathing suite with me and I was too chicken to risk going just in my undies. Darn. More big waves but it wasn’t high tide so they weren’t quite as impressive as last time. It is pretty crazy though, you don’t realize how big they really are until you see someone surfing of body boarding—and they look so tiny!
Then I was really bad—we walked around Newcastle a bit and went into some shops. Josh then convinced me that I needed to broaden my fashion horizon and buy something really different than I usually wear. So… I bought this really nice long white skirt with wooden buttons down the front and a really cute cropped jean jacket and spent WAY too much money. It’s all Josh’s fault I swear. Hehehe. I really love the skirt though, it is old fashion and I love that style but have always felt like I look like a weirdo in stuff like that. But the fashion here is much more eclectic than at home. People take way more risks with what they wear—sometimes they look retarted sometimes they look amazing… hopefully I look amazing… lol. People wear leggings ALL the time... everywhere... probably more than jeans, which I don't really get into. They also LOVE their scarfs here. People wear them all the time even when its not cold at all... so I figure I HAVE to find a really cute scarf to go with my little outfit. ;)
I am SO happy that this is my last week going into my internship for two days! THANK GOD. Josh thinks I am just a whiner and maybe that is true but I cannot stand it here. Apparently I might be helping Mike (another american intern) do some of his marketing project (which basically consists of going around to shopping centers to have people complete surveys). So... basically I may not have to even come in here much more which would be awesome. I can't wait for 4 day weekends!
A lot to look forward to this weekend. Going out to the bar tonight with-our friend Adrienne is turning 21! Yay! Then Thursday night there is a room crawl at josh’s block (basically like a pub crawl but just going from room to room with a different theme/drink in each room). Then on Friday is a “mock marriage” of two people on campus (just another chance to get all dressed up and party).
We may not end up going to Fridays ‘wedding’ event. May go into Sydney or Port Stephens instead so we have a full weekend at either place. It is so fun being here because I just want to do as much as possible, and while I am watching my money I am also just not worried because I know it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It is a pretty cool feeling to have so much to do and to not feel too guilty for spending a lot of money! (although when I get home I may not be saying this!) I just don’t want to regret anything or wish I had done something, or been worried about money the whole time.
So far so good.
Especially with my white skirt. :)

all i need

Great day at the beach today.  Most of Evatt house was going on a wine tour but since we had already done one (and the fact that it was 30 bucks) Josh and I decided to just go into Newcastle for the day.  

So Josh and I walked along the beach then down the jetty.  The waves were huge-smashing into all of the rocks, spraying us.  We were just laying on the rocks watching the water and talking about jenny, watching some crazy people try to surf and body board in the huge waves, and taking pictures.  I think tuesday we will go  back and try to do some music/writing out there since we don't have class until 5pm. 

 We ate at Customs house-we were starving and the food was sooo good, and it was great sitting outside-pretty warm with not a cloud in the sky, just us.  I love days like that, I wish everyday could be that relaxing and peaceful... it is all i need...

PR = death

Man oh man.
quick post just because today SUCKED. Worked on a public relations assignment (btw Farida, PR is NOT what you think... get out now!) for about 10 hours. I can't even think! What a horrible past few days, between my two days of HELL internship and full day of homework. At least it is the weekend, but it is not even supposed to be nice--cold and rainy! sigh.
Hope everyone is glad to be going back to school... I am looking forward to the mid-semester break which is about a month away! Going to New Zealand! but more about that some other time...

Yes, of course I am writing grants...

Sigh... at the internship again. I have no idea what I am supposed to be doing because nobody gives me any direction! So I basically sit here trying to be productive but I really have no idea what I am doing or even what I am supposed to be doing. Sucks.
I am starting to get a little sad that everyone is going back to Uconn... I miss everyone so much! And I miss Uconn. I like school here but it just isn't the same... Uconn has a certain vibe that you just can't replace. Hope everyone is having a good time getting their apartments and rooms all situated and set up! I can't wait to come see where everyone is living once I come back in November. We are all going to be spread out but at least we will have lots of different places to party!
My roommate Conal's 21st birthday was yesterday (turning 21 is actually a big deal here even though the drinking age is 18) so we had a giant wine and cheese extravaganza which basically trashed our block. We try to be all classy and then just end up throwing food and knocking over everything in sight while playing "nipple ball" volleyball. Aussie's love a little food fight.
Oh god...It is not even 12 o'clock yet which means I have more than 5 hours left here. I have no idea what I am going to do for 5 HOURS. Knit a sweater maybe.
The beach was great yesterday, warm day in the high 60's/low 70's. I can't wait until it warms up more and then I will be swimming every day. The waves here are pretty big, and I guess there are some pretty bad rips so I'll have to be careful so I don't drown or anything... but a bunch of people have already been in the water-including Josh. I am too much of a wuss apparently.
I will have to get in the water soon though-we are going on a surf weekend September 5th which I am SO excited for. A bunch of our friends went a few weekends ago and had a great time. We are brought to a private beach and get to spend the weekend learning how to surf, hanging out, and getting drunk on the beach with a bonfire and crazy aussie instructors who are partial to being naked apparently. Should be good. ;)
Today is Wednesday-the big drinking night of the week but I don't think I will go out seeing as I spent $45 dollars at the bar last wednesday. I hate how expensive alcohol is here. It is absolutly crazy. When I go home I am going to stock up becuase I will think everything is so cheap! I wish they had dubra here!
sort of...

How you going?

Went horseback riding at Port Stephens over the weekend with Josh which was incredible! We got to go through all of these awesome trails through the woods, do water crossings etc. We saw a koala in the wild too which apparently is really rare! Absolutely beautiful. I forgot how much I miss riding until I was back on a horse again. Josh had a great time, a little less comfortable than me. He was afraid the whole time he was going to fall off or get thrown. But he handled it like a champ.
Port Stephens is awesome. It is pretty much stereotypical Australia which I actually haven't seen much of yet. White beaches, crystal clear water, tons of stuff to do: touristy-beach life. We are thinking about going back this coming weekend but may hold off as it is supposed to be cloudy, cool and possibly rainy. I really want to go dolphin/whale watching there! Hopefully it will warm up soon and I will have an opportunity to swim with them!
We went out to the bar last wednesday (which is there big drinking day for some reason) and I found myself saying a very aussie phrase without thinking when I was drunk. "How you going" instead of "whats up" or "hows IT going" haha. I was so proud of myself because I did it without even thinking. Other than that, I haven't picked up an accent. I can't even pretend in the slightest... I start sounding Scottish or something.
We are starting to finalize plans for the upcoming mid-semester break. We are going to fly to New Zealand and rent a camper van for about 10 days. It should be amazing, I hear the hiking is awesome and there are a lot of natural hot springs etc.
I am starting to realize how fast this trip is flying by. It is already coming up on the end of August. We are planning on leaving early/mid November. That only gives us about 2 1/2 months! Time is already flying by so I know we are going to be boarding a plane before we know it. It is also really weird to think everyone is starting school soon! Ed, Colleen and Tom are already up at school, and everyone else will be too! Farida, are you so psyched? You are going to be leaving REALLY soon!!!
All in all, still having an awesome time. Josh, Jake (one of my roommates) some aussie girls and I all went to the beach on Friday night which was so fun. It was 10pm and we all decided it was a great idea such a clear but windy night. The waves were huge and of course Josh felt the need to strip down and jump in even though it was freezing. I love living so close to the beach. I think I am going tomorrow since I don't have class until 5. Reading some Jane Austen on the beach sounds great to me!

Random thoughts while I should be writing grants...

I have been thinking about what I want to do with my life. And pretty much I have no idea. That is a really scary thought when you are about to graduate college. I am supposed to be starting my career but I have no idea what I want to start. People tell me all the time, "oh that's okay you still have time to figure it out, you are still young..." but those people know what they want to do!
Recently I have been looking into gerontology... working with the elderly... I like working with people, I want to make a difference and I think elderly care in this America is horrible and really needs to be looked at. Not to mention I can always get a job in it... haha. But I am not really sure about that either. Josh says I am just afraid to fail... but isn't EVERYBODY???
I am being really bad right now and doing this at my internship. Which I pretty much hate. Basically: sitting at a desk all day is NOT for me. go figure. So I am graduating with an English major-a degree which basically is made for a desk job. super.
For all of the "opportunity" that is open to people now, I still feel trapped and overwhelmed. Most people I know are graduating with massive debt. How many people actually get a job doing something they love? Maybe I am just being pessemistic...
You know my ideal life? Running my own little bed and breakfast in the country with some horses and other farm animals while raising my kids close by friends and family. I dream about that. But realisticly a bed and breakfast would make me zero income so I have to figure out what to do for the next 40 years so I can afford to do that eventually.
Lets just all go back to hunting and gathering...

Life in Australia

Hello everyone!
I finally got around to setting up a blog so you all can see what I am up to! Things have been pretty crazy here. The Aussies are nuts!
But before we get to that... When we first got to Australia we went up to Cairns for our orientation. Cairns is way up north (where it is very hot and tropical). We got to meet other students studying abroad in Australia and basically have a blast. We went the great barrier reef the first day which was amazing! Josh and I both decided to go Scuba Diving which was really scary at first. It is the weirdest feeling being able to breath through your mouth underwater... but once I got used to it I was so glad I decided to do it! We saw a turtle, sting rays, nemo! and other really colorful fish and coral. It was absolutely amazing. I felt like ariel. I WANNA BEEE WHERE THE PEOPLE AREEE... except I wanted to be where the fishes were. but anyway.
We stayed in a really cool hostel in Cairns called Gilligans. Basically at night we all went out to the bars and got drunk getting to know each other which was so fun.
Up in Cairns we also went to the rainforest and got pictures with tons of animals-giant snakes, kangaroos, we got to hold a koala bear! It was pretty amazing but really surreal--I keep looking at the pictures just to make sure I actually did all this stuff!
Now that im settled at the Uni things are a little more low-key...not. The aussies are absolutly insane! Our first week here (we had a week before classes start) Evatt house(the housing unit im livingin on campus) calls "O week" and basically the plan is to just get black out drunk everynight! lol. They had stuff planned all week (heavy drinking everynight) from wine tours (3 winery's and one brewery... you can imagine how smashed everyone was by 4pm) to beach days (I live right outside of newcastle city which is a really beautiful little city right on the beach) to shorty pub (which is basically when Evatt house rents out a bar and does really bad drunken karaokee in the most rediculous costumes), to just drinking in the Cat room (the cat room is the common room building for all the people living in Evatt house...which we TRASHED). Its hilarious... basically anything goes here. We could NEVER just all get so drunk in the common rooms at Uconn!
What I have noticed about being here is that Evatt house is like a big family. Evatt house consists of about 8 units and 2o people in each unit. Each unit is basically like an apratment... everyone has there own room but shares a kitchen, bathroom, and common room with the others. I live with 3 aussies-conal, eric and sarah and one american, Jake, who goes here full time. They are all awesome... Sarah isn't around much so it is basically like living with all guys especially with josh always around... it is hilarious... but a little messy... haha
Josh and I got to go to sydney 2 weeks ago, and that was amazing. It is a beautiful city... its got the excitment of NYC but it is smaller, cleaner, warmer!, and sooo pretty. The harbor is gorgeous... with the sydney harbor bridge and opera house! There is a lot of really good shopping too! We went to the sydney aquarium and saw some HUGE sharks and turtles and massive sting rays... I can't wait to go back... my next stop is bondy beach (farida you will be happy to know paris hilton was there a few weeks ago...lol)
ohhhh yeaaa... classes... im taking two classes and I have my internship and they all.... SUCK. My classes are sooo boring (worse than most uconn classes i have taken). My internship is at the hunter wetlands center (which is a non-for-profit organization in the area) and i basically just search and apply for grants all day. ugggg... but i guess it gives me a break from all of the excitment everywhere else!
Sorry this was so long, just needed to catch up since it took me so freaking long to get internet access... I miss everyone! Let me know what you guys are up to! I am on AIM a lot. Or get skype! I can't believe im going to come back and only have one more semester... when did we get so ooooollld!!! I don't like it! I don't want to graduate!!!!! lol. Anyways, ill talk to you guys soon! Miss you all!
~Manderrr