Because I'm so bad at blogging I'm going to do a bullet point entry to shine a light into what I've been up to the last couple of months:

My Classes/Schedule

My classes thus far have been a bit of a joke, as there hasn't been much work to this point. I've handed in an assignment for each class and got 2 D's (a good thing here! equivalent to a high B+ at home) and a Very Good (that professor doesn't stick to the standard grading where you, you know, get a grade). Coming up in the next few weeks I have a lot of work but hopefully it won't be tooooooo bad.

Cairns/The Great Barrier Reef

March

-Found ourselves back in the tropical climate, like Fiji... sooo hot but absolutely gorgeous

-Bungee Jumped from 40 metres up into a little pond... SO wild!

-Went on a jungle swing through the rainforest, called the Minjin Swing

-Went diving and snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef! So cool, despite the seasickness! Got to see giant seat turtles, Giant clams, Stingrays, a bunch of gorgeous coral and little colourful fish.

-Did a Full day white water rafting trip through the rainforest... My favourite part of the weekend... got to cliff jump a bit too.

-Visited an ecopark where I got to hold a Koala and feed Kangaroos for the first time

-Went on a croc-watch down a river in the Daintree rainforest

-Visited a little river and a beach which were both serene and gorgeous--did loads of frolicking and such.

-Saw a Cassowarry in the wild (look it up!) such a crazy animal

Blue Mountains

April

-Drove up to the mountains and got to see loads of beautiful cliffs and rock formations

-Went for a skyrail ride down a mountain through the rainforest

-Did a bit of a hike and then rode the steepest/fastest railway back up the mountain--SO scary

-Went to another ecopark (number 2) and fed more kangaroos and emus

Melbourne

April 3-8

The Beginning of our Spring (Mid-semester) Break... Went with 2 friends for 5-days before our big NZ experience!

-Drove the Great Ocean Road in our rented C0rolla (I miss mine!) and saw the 12 Apostles at sunset, on top of many more amazing views

-Went to a Footy Match (AFL game) at the biggest AFL stadium in Australia, the MCG. Geelong vs. Hawthorne... Cheered for Geelong, who ended up winning a really intense game

-Hung out with a bunch of fun people at the Greenhouse Backpackers' hostel that I was staying at, met Viv from England, and a couple others from France, Ireland, Italy, and Germany

-Went to a Penguin march on Phillip Island... Watched them move from the beach to their burrows at sunset. SO cute. Smallest penguins in the world, called Little Penguins (how appropriate!)

-Went to a nighttime Animal park (number three) and fed more kangaroos

-was bit by a spider and nearly had a heart attack/thought I was dying

-Visited the markets and ate the most amazing food EVER (goat's milk yoghurt with figs and pears, thai red curry with squid, meat pies, etc.)

-Did a museum tour--went to the Museum of Moving Pictures and the Melbourne Museum

New Zealand

April 9-17

-After staying a night in the Base hostel (sketchy), we rented a van (Donna) in Christchurch with paintings all over it for the week of travel. We parked it every night and slept in a big bed in the back. We had storage for food and a little mini kitchen in the trunk.

-First, we drove to Dunedin. We walked around for a while but there wasn't much to do there as it was afternoon when we arrived so we drove to the Parakuani Falls conservation campsite. We stayed the night there, having no idea where we were but we saw the most stunning night's sky I've ever seen and woke up to the waves crashing--we were on the beach and had no idea! We wandered around the beach and saw a wild sea lion that was HUGE before leaving.

-Next, we drove to Queenstown, the place that all of my Aussie friends had been raving about. It is a little ski town right on the lakes (absolutely GORGEOUS views) and we went out that night and met some crazy Kiwis as a couple bars on the water. We got a pseudo-Mexican meal complete with sombreros and a Kiwi having us eat guacamole and nachos out of a little dip in his sombrero...pretty silly. Had an amazing Kiwi margarita (appropriate), as well. ALSO, I tried Scrumpy (Danielle and Liz! for those who don't know, it is a cheap hard cider that comes in a plastic soda-like bottle).

-The next morning we ventured through Queenstown and did loads of souvenir shopping. Ate at Hell Pizza (amazing!) and then hit the road.

-We left for Wanaka from Queenstown but after getting lost and realizing that we didn't have the time we thought we did, we turned around and backtracked to Fox Glacier where we spent a night. In the morning I met with a Kiwi teacher named Jonathan who has been corresponding with a classroom in the school where my mom works. He showed me around the tiny little school that he teaches at and we talked about the differences between the American elementary school systems and those in New Zealand. It's amazing how different the two are!

-We drove to the actual Fox Glacier and hiked up to get better looks. It was beautiful there!

-That afternoon we drove up to the northern part of the South Island to Abel Tasman national park (it took about 8 hours, so long!). The next morning we went for a short hike and then switched campsites so that we could wake up and go sea kayaking the next morning. When we arrived at the second site it was POURING so we took advantage of the facilities and did laundry/showered/sat in the kitchen for hours playing cards with two British guys that we met. It was refreshing to be able to relax and get our clothing washed.

-That day (wednesday) we went sea kayaking in the morning, which was my favourite part of the entire trip. I was in a kayak with the kiwi guide, as there was an odd number of us, and we spend the entire couple hours chatting about differences between America/Australia/New Zealand. He tried to convince me that Kiwi guys are the best in the world, which was absolutely hilarious. We went for a long, steep hike after a brilliant lunch on a gorgeous beach, and then got to ride a sea taxi back to our site. We decided to get some driving done that night and headed to Kaikura while jamming out to a 1997 soundtrack and then went to bed exhausted.

-From Kaikura we drove to Hanmer Springs where we enjoyed an afternoon in natural hot springs/sulfur pools and warmed our aching selves after the active day before.

-From Hanmer Springs we drove to Christchurch and decided to park Donna a day early. We spend 2 nights in Charlie B's hostel and adventured around the city. Our first night there was insane--we went bar/club hopping and had a pretty late night with some new American and Scottish friends that we made. The next night I spend a few hours catching up with people on the hostel internet and went to bed early before our departure on the 18th.

-Returning home to Sydney was amazing--I had a great time in NZ but I missed everyone so much. I've made some incredible friends this semester, it'll be extremely difficult to leave come June 25.

This weekend:

-Had some crazy nights with the boys in the village, at the Ubar, and at Tracks and The Ranch

-Went to the Taronga Zoo

-Baby Elephants are ADORABLE

-Ate at a place called Pancakes on the Rocks and then had the most stellar Gelato ever

-Had a girls' night/day with a friend Melissa

-watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (amazing) and The Box (terrible)

-ate loads of pizza and garlic bread (mmm...)

-Ate Vegemite for breakfast today and actually enjoyed it

-Ate at my FAVOURITE Vietnamese restaurant of all time for lunch (I will miss it insanely when I come home)

-Went to the Sydney Aquarium in Darling Harbour (saw Dugongs and HUGE sharks... and the biggest sting ray I've ever seen... I LOVE aquariums)

-Had afternoon tea at the Lindt Chocolate Cafe in the Harbour... dark chocolate milkshakes are AMAZING there. Had some yummy pastries too

-Saw Iron Man 2 on the biggest IMAX screen in the world. It was exactly how it sounds.

All in all it was a pretty stunning weekend. Tomorrow I'm either headed into the city again (3 days in a row!) or going to the beach by myself, depending on the weather. I'm realizing that I need to grab Sydney by the horns for the last couple of months that I have here... I haven't explored it nearly enough! Also, I've realized that my life here basically revolves around eating. I'm going to be a whale when I get home in 2 months!

I've been hanging out with some AMAZING Aussies all semester... I've frequented the Ubar with them all, while venturing into the city and just relaxing around campus. Sasha comes over when I'm homesick and he makes me feel better, while Chris is around nearly all of the time hanging out in the village or bringing me out for amazing meals in the city. Melissa is my new second half, especially after this weekend, and Alison is my Aussie link back to America, as she lives in Detroit with her girlfriend. Ty is one of my absolute best friends and we have great motorbike adventures to Ben and Jerry's in Manly, he's always there for me, as well. I couldn't come close to listing all of the people that have changed my life while I've been here, but that is just a start. Sydney is possibly becoming my favourite city in the world, and my plans are to see as much of it as possible before leaving. I'm getting to know loads of people who are planning on visiting the states, or who came here from the states but are returning, meaning that I'll have loads more Aussie adventures, even after returning home. I've had stints of homesickness, and I miss my family more than anything, but I'm trying to push that aside while enjoying the last of my tim here. I wish I could be home to celebrate Krissy and Brett's engagement (Congrats!) and see Helen and Josh before they head off on their summer cross-country adventure. I wish I could be at SMC to witness all of the changes that have occurred this semester, and to attend the graduation of some of my closest friends. Despite all of these things, I know that when I get home in the summer I'll be able to really appreciate everything that I have there, and I'm excited to be able to do that.

Here, I still want to:

-See the Outback

-Learn to Surf

-Walk around Luna Park

-See Canberra

-Visit Byron Bay