No Bounds.

Ok. So its been awhile. By awhile I mean about 2 months. I'll try to hit some of the highlights.

Max Brenners Chocolate Bar. It is the most amazing chocolate I have had on the face of this earth. The italian thick hot chocolate is like drinking pure amazing chocolate. There are 2 in the states. I would suggest revolving an entire trip around this place to go. You won't regret it. Everything you eat comes with a little cup of melted chocolate to dip it in. It's incredible. The other day I got chocolate cookie ice cream sandwich. Also amazing. I am hoping to have everything on the menu before I leave. It's very possible. I haven't had anything I don't like yet.

The visit. Callie cane and visited me for a weekend in May. We had so much fun just sort of living Sydney life. We went up to the Blue Mountains and climbed about 800,000 steps. I might be over exaggerating.. but it was a ton! It was so worth it though. The Blue Mountains are beautiful and hiking around them was a blast. After the Blue Mountains we went to Pancakes on the Rocks. Pancakes on the Rocks is about the only place that is open 24 hours here. They serve ice cream on the pancakes..which seems to be pretty popular. Mine were incredible. After that we just walked around the Sydney Opera House. I never get sick of seeing it at night time. Its so beautiful with all the lights. I also killed her at rummy. Finally.

School. June 16th I finished my last final. I am finally done with Australian school thank goodness. The exam was intense. They have proctor's walking up and down the aisles and don't let you bring absolutely anything in. They even check pencil cases and coin purses for phones. This one kid brought a phone in and when they found it they escorted him out. I found it slightly ridiculous and distracting. At least I only had one! Finishing that last final also meant I was done with my undergrad. Assuming I passed one class here I officially have a Bachelor in Accounting. Score.

Hunter Valley. My roommate, Candace, and I went on the Hunter Valley wine tour yesterday. It was beautiful and so so good to get out of the city. I also discovered that I think red wine is like drinking something musty and that I really like white wine. I also had a wine that I like to describe as liquid pop rocks. It was very fizzy. Anyway. It was so good to see the beautiful wine country. I also finally saw my first kangaroo in the wild! It was cool to see him hopping about. Australia has the best animals.

Royal National Park. Today Candace and I went to Royal National Park. It is the second oldest national park behind Yellowstone. Once we finally actually found the park it was beautiful. I'm amazed by all the untouched land that is in Australia. Which is saying something considering I come from Eastern Washington. Its all so green and there is so much vegetation. We hiked around the park for awhile and also found a little river. You could rent these things called "aqua bikes". Basically its like a giant tricycle in the water. It was pretty cool. My legs got a little tired though. I would definitely suggest it over a paddle boat though.

Other than that a lot of my time has been spent just spending time with people. Two of my friends from church, Lauren and Caroline, invited me to a party they had that was "Christmas in June". It was such a fun time. I was on sugar cookie duty and I had a stomachache for about 2 days after all the sugar I ate. It was so cool to meet some different people at Hillsong and have some fun celebrating American Christmas traditions. Especially since it feels like Christmas since it is getting cold! I have also been beating Candace at many games of cribbage. I even studied quite a bit in there somewhere. It has been a very eventful and fun 2 months. If I think of more highlights I may post them.

The decision. I also thought I would post a bit about my decision to stay in Australia. In the next week I will be moving out to Hills, which is about 30 min away from where I am now, and moving into a house with three other girls. In July I will start attending Hillsong International Leadership College. The first semester ends in December and I will be home for December and January and then most likely come back to Australia for another 6 months to finish out the first year. The College can be anywhere from 1-3 years. I haven't decided if I want to do more than a year yet. I will try to keep everyone updated on this. I'm hoping to have a better idea once the first semester starts. Contrary to popular belief I am not just trying to procrastinate the plane flight. Haha :). Hillsong is something I have really fell in love with. I have chosen to do pastoral leadership..mostly because I don't sing or dance and those are my other two options. Haha. Just kidding..kind of..but I am very excited about it. I wanted to do this for a few reasons. The first reason is I feel that I am going to learn leadership qualities here that I can't get anywhere else. Hillsong is really focused on serving and this will put me in many situations that I have to reach out of my comfort zone and take leadership in. This will prepare me for whatever position I am in when I have a job in the future. I truly think I will be a better leader and hopefully boss someday because of this experience. I also very much believe in Hillsong and what they are doing and I want to be a part of it. If I can take just a bit of Hillsong with me back to the states I feel that this experience will be worth it. I think this experience as a whole will benefit me in the future through how I grow as a person and by pursuing a dream I didn't know I had. I hope this maybe might explain it a little more. I just wish I could fly everyone here to experience it so you could understand what I am talking about!

Ok. So thats my update on my life. I will try to make it sooner than 2 months before I post again. I can't make any promises though.

Momma comes to visit!

So I picked my mom up at the airport on Sunday morning about about 10:30 am. I actually think she survived the trip better than I did. We trekked up the hill to my apartment with her suitcase and just kind of had a hang out day. She brought me Harry Potter! I was so excited for this since I saw it everywhere here but I couldn't buy it because DVDs run differently here. She also brought some fun presents from home, including girl scout cookes from Stacie. It was so nice to have a little home here! That evening we went to church (Mom thought the music was just bit too loud. haha) and then just went back to the hotel. Since she has about 3 times the channels I do I chose to stay there and hang out and play some rummy before heading back to my apartment and going to bed. Monday morning we got up early and headed into the city. We went to the Sydney Opera House and went on the tour through the building. The history was pretty neat to hear. Apparently they had a contest for the design of the opera house and the winner broke many rules and wasn't supposed to win, and then after he did nobody thought the building would actually be possible. It was incredibly interesting and made me apprecate it even more. After the tour we had an amazing salmon sandwich. After lunch we headed out to Manly beach and walked around that area before heading back. I swear my mom also managed to bring nice weather with her because almost everyday she was here was gorgeous. Tuesday we got up and went to the Easter Show. Don't be fooled by the name. It has nothing to do with Easter other than the fact that it runs around Easter time. It is pretty much the Sydney Fair. It was still fun to walk around see the different booths and animals. I even bought a wool blanket which was perfect since I am starting to get pretty chilly at night! We also got snow cones which was cool because you actually got to kind of make your own sno cone and put whatever flavors you wanted it on it. Oh and this fair is a big deal. I had to explain to Mom that the train is never as packed as it was to get out there. We were kind of squished like sardines most of the time. Most of the time there is plenty of space for me to stretch out on my own seat. I am now very thankful for that! Wednesday we kind of took it easy and just walked around the Botanic Gardens which is probably one of my favorite places in Sydney. It is just so pretty and peaceful. After walking around we went back to the hotel and skyped Dad to make sure he was still alive. After that we did a little shopping for eating some dinner and heading back to the hotel to watch tv before going to bed because Thursday was an early morning! Thursday morning we got up early so we could head out to the Blue Mountains which was incredible. It was probably one of my favorite things so far. We hiked along some pathways in the mountain area and along the edge where you can see beautiful views of the entire valley. At one part of the mountain they have different skyways and railways so you can see the view from above. We chose to go down on the world's steepest railway! It is supposed to be like the one they used in the mining days. It was pretty neat! It also cracked me up a little bit because I sort of felt like in America there would be a few more safety precautions, but they just sort of stuck you in a seat and off you went without a seat belt or anything! There was even Indiana Jones music playing. It was neat! We walked around in the valley which is a rainforest area and then came up on the cable way which gave you an overview of everything. So pretty. After hiking around all day we were thankful for a 2 hour train ride to rest and then heading to bed early. Friday we went to Featherdale which is my favorite zoo like thing yet. Now i haven't been to a lot of zoos in the states but as far as I know they don't have animals wandering everywhere. Featherdale is really neat because there is so much open area where the kangaroos and birds and other animals are wandering around but there is still a place for them to go where people can't go if they just want to eat or sleep or something. anyway it is always cool to see kangaroos and wallabys and koalas so that was fun! I have actually definitely decided I want a pet wallaby. they are just adorable! They also have the cutest faces ever. So whoever wants is definitely welcome to get me that for christmas. (cousin exchange?) anyway after featherdale we went back to the mall to get dinner and found out that good friday is a true holiday here. Almost everything was closed, the only place open was the thai place so we got some fried rice before heading back and going to bed. Saturday we walked around darling harbour and walked through Paddy's market. Paddy's market remind me a lot of the markets in Hawaii where they are kind of closed in, and Saturday it was PACKED. This is the one day where it did actually rain and everyone decided to find shelter by shopping at the markets. After working our way through the crowd for about an hour we decided that was enough and went out to Watsons Bay. Watsons Bay has a bunch of different cliff walks which are so pretty. The color of the water as it crashes into the rocks is incredible. There were also some amazing views of Sydney from here. I love skyline of Sydney with the opera house and the bridge and this was a great angle to see it all. Sunday was Easter! We got up and skyped Dad to once again make sure he was alive and ready to pick up Mom on Monday morning. Then we headed to church, it was a pretty normal service but still pretty great! Then we took one more trip on the trains and headed out to Bondi Beach. Bondi is my favorite beach so I wanted to make sure Mom saw that before she went home. We walked around the markets and along the cliffs a little ways. It was crazy how much was open there on Easter Sunday! I forgot it was Easter most of the day. Haha. After that we headed back and watched more tv in her hotel, well I watched TV and she packed and left the next morning bright and early! It was a great week and very busy. I am so glad my mom got to get the chance to see where I am and I hope she saw enough to get a good feel of Australia! "Holiday" is almost over now so I am working on getting back into "normal" Australia life. Basically this means doing some homework and going to some class and making nightly Wooworth trips for tea and 50 cent cones with my roommates. I can't believe there are only 2 months left. I want to explore the city and the outskirts of Sydney as much as possible in the next 2 months. I guess this means I better finish up my papers so I can move onto more exciting things!

Melbourne!..or "Melbin"

So last Saturday I boarded the plane to Melbourne with a stuffy nose (I'm sure the guy next to me was stoked), a pressurized head and a very very plugged up ear. I was a little nervous about being sick, but since Callie texted me a few days before and told me she was also sick i thought it was perfect! Great for bonding time. I left sydney when it was 70 degrees and sunny and arrived to Melbourne which was about 60 degrees and POURING. I actually wondered if somehow that tiny itty bitty tiger airways plane made some sort of detour to seattle. Regardless, I was still super stoked to see Callie and spend some time exploring Melbourne. The first night we just watched a little boy meets world (or bmw) and ordered some dominos pizza and talked. I am not sure either of us could really tell you any conversation we had that night since we were both on drugs and i could hardly hear and she couldn't focus on any conversation. We were only a slight mess. The next morning we woke up and went to the church Callie has been going to. It was really cool to see her church and meet some of her friends there. Australia church is just all around a good thing. After that we went to a "china town" kind of are and I had dumplings for my first time. They were super good! After lunch we just headed back and watched a little more bmw and then made some tacos and went to bed. Monday morning I got up and headed into the city. I decided to take Geneva on my adventure with me. I am pretty sure she had a great time if you can't tell from the pictures. I walked around Federation Square a little bit (the buildings are so cool!) then I just followed the river to see where it would take me. I saw some odd art..pictures will be coming on facebook. If anyone can help me out with what they are I would greatly appreciate it. The river lead me to the olympic park and I walked around where the olympics were when they were in melbourne. After that I crossed the bridge and walked around the Royal Botanic Gardens for awhile. I love Sydney, but I have to say the Melbourne gardens totally beat Sydney's. I didn't even have a chance to see it all but it was so cool. There was a pond area in the middle and so many cool pathways and trees. There is even a special part of the park that is just for kids. It has mini trees and mini little pathways. I thought it was so cute! I tried to take pictures of it but I realized that they don't look mini since its not compared to anything in the picture..so ya. Anyway the weather and the gardens were so beautiful. After walking around I decided it was time to find lunch. Melbourne has this amazing area called the Laneways.They are like Diagon Alley in Harry Potter. So. Awesome. As you are walking down this small side street you kind of look down what you think will be a tiny disgusting alley and BAM there are a bajillion little cafes to eat at! It is like magic. I had an amazing chicken burger, it had guacamole and bacon, so nothing could be wrong about that. After lunch I headed to St Kilda beach and walked around Luna Park (the one where Our Lips Are Sealed was actually filmed) shortly after I headed back to Callie's and we ate some dinner and went to bed. Oh! I would like to take this moment to say I do not like trams. From where Callie lives you take them to and from the city it is basically stop and go, stop and go, stop and go, it makes me a bit carsick. I will definitely stick to trains. Anyway. Tuesday I got up and just kind of hung out for awhile and headed into the city in the early afternoon. The first thing I did was see the Disney Exhibit that was at federation square. It was so so neat. They had some of the original drawings from some of the original disney movies like snow white, cinderella, beauty and the beast, the little mermaid... it was such a cool exhibit and i learned just a little more about disney. After that I just explored the city a little more before meeting up with callie for dinner. we went to little italy where we had an amazing italian dinner! I had seafood pasta which was incredible. After stopping for some gelato we headed back to her place because i had to get up at 5 am, yes, 5 am in the morning. So in the morning I hopped on the lovely tram and headed into the city as the sun rose. Once the tour bus picked me up we headed out of the city and to the Great Ocean Road. This trip was probably one of my favorite days in Australia so far. First we stopped at a beach, to be honest I don't remember the name, but it was super pretty as most beaches are. We stopped at a few other beaches, one of them was Bells Beach which is where ripcurl started and where one of the biggest surf competitions is. Unfortunately we couldn't actually go on Bells Beach because they were setting up, but I still saw it from afar. After this was lunch. Where I experienced something I haven't had since the US. UNLIMITED AMOUNT OF KETCHUP!  There were actually ketchup bottles on the table where I could use however much I wanted. I didn't even have to pay extra! It was a huge highlight of the day. After lunch was where the cool sightseeing started. First we stopped in a rainforest area and took a small walk, it was super interesting, especially when I saw the inside of a hollowed out tree! it was neat. Next we stopped at the 12 apostles, this is where the ocean has formed different structures from the land. (pictures on facebook, im not going to try to explain it) It was seriously some of the most incredible sights I have ever seen. When we stopped at the gorge I decided I wanted a self portrait. So I walked down to the beach and turned around..started to take picture..and all of a sudden a wave attacked me. I was soaked from my knees down..and since I was wearing denim that quickly made the rest of me wet. Luckily that was the second to last stop and then I just had to sit in it for the 3 hour ride home. Regardless, it was an incredible day where I saw so many cool things. When I got back Callie and I watched a little more bmw and talked a bit and then I was about to check in for my flight the next day, and I realized, I wasn't ready to go. Between me being busy and sick and Callie being sick we really hadn't gotten much time to hang out so I decided to stay and hang out for a few more days! The blessing of not having ANY responsibilities or plans. Ok well ALMOST no responsibilities, but I'm sure I'll get those papers done at some point! For the next few days Callie and I just took some time to hang out, watch a little more bmw, and I got to see the life she is living there. It was a ton of fun. The last night we headed into the city for one more italian dinner and went to the rooftop bar afterward. It was a great way to actually end the trip! I got up at 5 am (again) and flew out the next morning. I got home just in time to prepare for my Mom to visit! She got here safely on sunday morning! There will be more about her visit in the next blog! Which I will try to write sooner! Also. I apologize for being a little slow with the blog posts lately. I have started to get so used to being in AUS that nothing feels that special to blog about anymore. However I have heard people still think that it is exciting and want to hear about my "normal" life, so I will try to blog a bit more often!

. Your Light Will Shine In The Darkness .

Last weekend I got the opportunity to go to Colour Conference, which is basically a women conference through Hillsong Church. It was incredible. It was huge, the Sydney entertainment center was packed, over 10,000 women. The key speakers were Jeanne Mayo, Craig Groeshel and Lisa Bevere. The funny part is, they were all American so I felt right at home. Jeanne Mayo has done youth ministry for 40 years and is a crack up. She started both talks off with fantastic jokes. So pretty much I loved her. Craig is the pastor of lifechurchtv which is the fastest growing church that also has an online service. He had some fantastic things to say. Lisa Bevere wrote a book about the lioness, basically talking about how we as women need to be strong but also compassionate.They were all fantastic speakers that gave me a lot of things to think about. I also admire what Hillsong does as a church, and the organizations that they work with. One organization they work with is to help with human trafficking. They started this house called A21 which is a place for women to go that are able to get out of human trafficking go before they head into the real word. A21 restores their dignity and builds their education. They make it so these women are able to truly start over and not get sucked back into the life of human trafficking. They also help fight the men that are setting these things up, and these men are finally going to jail. It is really really cool to see how they are aren't just helping the situation, they are changing it. Hillsong also works with an organization that gives women full face reconstruction that were involved in situations in Africa with the child soldiers. They are very focused on restoring the dignity of women they can feel beautiful inside and out. It's amazing. 
The conference was really the highlight in the past week. Other than that it was good to spend a little time in the city and around Darling Harbor. My roommates, a few girls and I also decided to try out this cute tea place in the shopping centre on Wednesday. It is called T2 and there is a little store across from the actual restaurant. In the store they make sample mixtures and there was this one that was apples and cinnamon mixed with toffee. It was incredible and the best tea I have tasted in my life. I am hoping that I will be able to buy some so that I can have some when I come home.
Tonight I went to Chatswood for dinner with a few friends from church. Every thursday night there are markets where they have all different types of food. I had indian food for the first time in my life and I LOVED it. It was so amazing. I don't remember exactly what it was called but it was basically chicken with some vegetables in some pita bread with some sauce on it. It was delicious. For desert I had dutch pancakes which are mini mini pancakes with powdered sugar and chocolate sauce. It was also delicious. Very successful night!

. Life Can Do Terrible Things .

Alright! Its been quite some time since I have blogged and some people seem to think I am a bit behind. So school has been going fairly well. I feel like Sydney is like Spokane in some ways. It will be nice and about 75 degrees..and then all of a sudden it will just start pouring out of nowhere. This has happened many times and I get stuck on campus in shorts and a tank top walking through the rain. Stuck is kind of a strong word though since I love the rain and it doesn't get all that cold. I am pretty soaked by the time I get home though. Anyway. Probably the only thing that exciting that has happened in class was sitting next to these 2 Australian guys in my human resource management class. They were amazed I was from United States and couldn't understand why I would come to Australia. They wanted to know if parties in America were just like they are in the movie American Pie (I actually get that question a lot). They also wanted to know if I see "stars" a lot and then asked if I have ever seen The Rock. It cracked me up, I am sort of starting to love the different stereotypes Americans have. I also really love the reaction people have when I tell them I am an Accounting major. They kind of give me this odd look...and then say oh..but.. you are American..because apparently 90% of Accounting students here are Asian. I guess they don't realize that Americans also need to do accounting!
Let's see here what are the other highlights...
A week ago I decided to do the responsible thing and skip school and head to the beach! The day was absolutely beautiful. I laid out and just enjoyed the sunshine. I planned on doing my homework but I thought catching up on my book on CD was good enough. :) School is just so hard to do with the beach so close and the weather so warm!
Last Saturday my roommate and I took the train about 30 min to Koala Park Sanctuary. It was kind of like a mini zoo (pictures are on facebook) my favorite part was I got to play with a kangaroo! They have some animals just fenced in but you are able to go in and pet them and feed them. Kangaroos are super cute and soft! I am planning on bringing one home with me for sure. I also got to pet a koala. They really aren't as soft as you might think. When they sleep in the trees they really look like they are just stuffed animals sitting there. They sleep 18-20 hours a day. I want to be a koala!
Last Saturday my room mate, Candace and I got up at 5:30 am to go to a surf camp! We met a group in the city, mostly other Americans, and then headed out with a program to another beach in a national park. The beach was absolutely gorgeous. It was a quieter beach and the people that were there were there to either surf or fish. Unfortunately after getting up at 5:30 am and being in the sun I sort of crashed around noon and didn't really want to do any physical activity. I also realized that surfing is HARD. First of all. You have to fight the waves and the current to just get out there. Which is very hard when you have strong currents and the ground is coming out from underneath you. Then. you have to try to find wave that is good enough..turn the board around super quick. and then jump on as fast as possible..start paddling..then a litlte harder..and then attempt to stand up..and if you are lucky..you will get 10 seconds of a fun ride!..Needless to say to me this wasn't worth it. I stood up a few times and figured that I got my money's worth it and called it a day. Especially since the last time I attempted it I sort of did a nose dive and sort of flipped under the wave and got a bunch of salt water up my nose. I decided right then that that was the end of my surfing career! I won't complain too much though because the day and the beach were gorgeous :)
I think those were the main points. Other than that things are going well. I am getting along super well with my roommates. Especially since one of them has made a cake every day for the past 4 days. I really like her.
A few random Aussie facts I have learned:
they are very stingy with their ketchup or "tomato paste"..if you ask you can get like one packet and most of the time you have to pay to get anymore than that. Voting here is compulsory, meaning that if they don't vote they will be fined.
People actually like Mericans!
Thats all i have for the moment.
Other than that I would just like to say that my prayers really go to everyone in Japan. Everything that has happened is just unreal. Between Japan, New Zealand and the floods in northern Australia it sort of feels like we are surrounded. Every time we turn the news goes on something new has happened.
Anyway! I should maybe think of quit procrastinating and finally do my homework..

.A Little Behind.

Alright! It has been awhile. Let's see. What have I been up to?
We started classes this week. This is just a different experience in general. I have never really gone to a bigger University so the concept of "lectures" and "tutorials" is new to me. For most classes I am supposed to attend 2 lectures every week and then one tutorial which is just like a discussion group. The classes are based mostly off of essays and them some have a few tests. Overall I don't think it will be too bad. I am just very ready to be done with school for awhile! I just have to make sure I pass one class to get the credits..just kidding Mom..I'll pass all of them. :)
The week was pretty uneventful. Mostly just trying to find classes and trying not to look like a total American at school. I think I accomplished this since some people asked me where things were on campus. I sort of knew the answer. In one class the professor had everyone stand up and then said if you have lived in Australia for 3 or more years sit down. There were about 10 of us left standing and he started to go around the room and ask where everyone was from. The first person was from China and he said anyone from China sit down, there were about 4 of us left. I soon realized I was the only American..which was just kind of a weird concept for me. When he asked where I was from I said the United States..and I swear I heard someone behind me say "oh she thinks she is cool". I could have been wrong..and I really hope I was.but still. I laughed. It should also be interesting to hear Australia's take on the US in my political class. He already said we will talk about if the alliance with the US really does Australia any good.
Thursday evening my roommate and a few friends decided to go to the beach in the evening. It was gorgeous and the sunset on the water was neat. The water also seemed really warm compared to how chilly it was outside. Although not so cold that we got 9 inches of snow! I  don't miss Spokane right now! On Friday I don't have classes..which is just the way it happened to work out! I went and bought my books and then we went to the beach! It was nice and sunny and the water was super refreshing. Basically just living the dream :). It was a nice relaxing day complete with nutella gelato. Which I swear is a little piece of heaven. It was absolutely amazing! Today my room mate and 2 other friends did a little more sightseeing. We went to the olympic park which I just thought was awesome. It would be so cool to be here during the olympics. It was kids day out so a lot of the arenas and everything were closed off but I look forward to going back! You can also swim in the olympic pool there and they also have a pool with a waterslide and fun toys in the aquatic center so someday we will go back and go swimming! Anyway. From what I can remember that is the past couple days! Hopefully something more exciting will happen this week!

.Let Love Keep My Will On Its Knees.

Lets see here! Friday evening I did speed friendship..which was interesting. There was free food! However i am not exactly sure what I was eating..and i didn't like it..which is saying a lot for me. Especially since it was free. When the actual friendship part started it was..interesting. The music was very loud and since it was all international students in one room it was very hard to understand anything anyone was saying. I nodded and smiled a lot. All in all. It was pretty fun. A good experience and I met a few people.
Saturday I woke up to the sun finally shining! It was beautiful. At 9 am we headed straight to the beach. It was a great day of lounging and getting some sun.
Random Fact: I LOVE that everywhere I turn there is a thai place. I plan on getting so sick of thai that I can't stand it when I get back. It's more common than McDonalds. I love it so much.
Anyway! The water was beautiful, the sun was out and the beach was amazing. A little too amazing. My back is definitely feeling the burn today. So worth it though, its so nice to have the beach so accessible for nice days. Today was also a gorgeous day, but I thought it was probably good to stay out of it for a day. There were also some awesome entertainers there! There were these guys doing a bunch of break dancing and just great entertainment. I have a video of them on facebook you can check out. There was also this adorable boy, probably around 12, playing the guitar and singing. He was SO talented. I was so impressed. He was adorable.
After the beach we decided to head back into the city to Darling Harbor to watch the fireworks.They were awesome! It was a super nice night and so we walked around the harbor for a bit before heading back. I also love all the street entertainers in Sydney. Some of them are slightly lame but I love how you can just walk around and find something to watch.
Well I think that is it! Tomorrow is the first day of my last semester of college. Ever. In Sydney. Could it get much better? I think not.

.Oh How He Loves Us.

Yesterday wasn't too exciting. In the morning I got almost all my classes figured out.all 3 of them that is. I am still waiting to get completely enrolled but I am sure it will all work out. After this was taken care of I did a pretty big load of grocery shopping. It was pretty entertaining because Callie and I walked up and down every aisle just looking at the different products. My favorite part is the variety of starburst products. The picture is on my iphone but I will post it here soon. I got starburst snakes this time. They are delicious! Also, they measure things in here in "energy" instead of calories. It makes me feel like everything I eat is giving me energy and nothing is bad for me! Great! After shopping Callie and I enjoyed the sunshine while playing rummy. We had a running total going.. I believe she beat me by about 800 points. It was really close. In the evening there was a harbor cruise for the international students. The night was absolutely gorgeous and clear. The lights from the city and the Sydney Opera House were amazing. Unfortunately I forgot my camera..again I have some pictures of my phone which I will post later. Anyway, the night was so incredible and it was a great cruise.

Today was more of a lazy morning. I got to skype Geneva! That was pretty great. After kind of getting ready and organizing my stuff a bit more I decided to use my last day on this train ticket and visit the botanical gardens. It is so beautiful and peaceful. The entire park faces the water and there are benches everywhere to just sit and relax. I took my Bible and read a bit from that and a bit of A Hole in our Gospel, which we had to read parts of for core but I decided I wanted to go back and read of all of it. It was a perfect little outing. I also tried a "flat white" which from what I understand is like a latte..but no flavor. I couldn't decide how I felt about it. On my train ride back I got very excited about being here. I have decided that I love this city. I love all the different culture, on the harbor there are so many types of people and languages and accents all around. I also love that I feel safe here. It is a city but I feel very comfortable traveling the trains by myself (in the daytime) which is so cool. It's also beautiful and I love that I can look at the Sydney Opera House everyday. I feel blessed to be here and I am excited to see what God has planned for me. Thank you everyone for all of your prayers and support. I really do have the best family and friends ever, so I could never stay here for good. :)

.Finally a Little Sun.

So I am a day behind on blogging which I promised myself I would not do since I knew I wouldn't want to start catching up. but thats ok, there isn't too much to tell in the past couple days!

Manly Beach. Yesterday I went with the school to Manly Beach. It was kind of mass chaos. It was also the international students leading the international students. Which eventually just got entertaining. All the accents were just sort of mixing together into one giant ball of confusion. Rather than just get frustrated I decided to just sit back and chuckle. It was great. The beach was gorgeous. It ended up being sunny and perfect weather so I got a little burnt! Which was nice. haha. I think I prefer Bondi Beach over Manly beach but it is still beautiful water and beautiful sand. So I'll take it. :)

Today was just a wonderful day. We had orientation so I am now on information overload. Once my brain settles down a bit I am excited to get involved in a few things. One of things is a global leadership, where all you have to do is go to 10 lectures and they will give you a letter of recommendation and a cool certificate. I am pretty excited about this because the lectures sound pretty interesting and it will be cool to hear about Australia's perspective on what is going on in the world! I also think it would be pretty cool to get involved in Cricket. So hopefully that will be a thing.

Also! One thing I do not like about Australia. Everything closes at 5! I prefer to do my grocery shopping late at night, and to have my late night fast food runs. I suppose I will have to adjust my lifestyle. :)

.Today I saw lots of aminals.

Today was a big day! With lots and lots of walking. Again. (yes I am starting to get whiney) First we walked around campus a little bit so I could get a feel for it. I pretty much loved it. It's a beautiful campus and I am actually a little excited to start classes! (Weird I know) I also signed up to go on the beach trip tomorrow to Manly so that should be fun! After that Callie and I headed for the Taronga Zoo. The zoo is on a hill and you just sort of work your way down. All the animals were pretty cool! I haven't been to the zoo since I was about 5 so it was pretty much a new experience for me. Haha. The highlight was looking for a platypus. As I was looking I put my hand on the rail and said oh Shi......and then looked at my hand and said..literally...there is actually crap on my hand. Some fresh bird crap! I found the nearest bathroom and scrubbed my hands. It was really pleasant. Other than that my favorite part was probably the koala bears. They were super cute. Plus. They sleep up to 20 hours a day because apparently eucalyptus is low in energy. I wish I was a koala bear! After the zoo Callie and I headed to the aquarium, but lunch definitely came first. We both scarfed down some delicious fish and chips. Then we went to look at the fishes we just ate. The aquairum was SO COOL. There are two parts where you walk through and its like a tunnel so the sharks and the fishies are swimming all around you. Then there is another area where there is a glass floor so they are even under you. It was pretty neat. Plus they had cool lego murals and statues everywhere which were super neat. After the aquarium we walked around the harbor and The Rocks just kind of wandering. It was pretty cute because it was valentines day so there were a bunch of couples out and a bunch of guys running around with flowers in a suit. It ended up being a pretty nice night and it was just good to be outside. Other than that I can't think of too much else that has happened today! Hopefully tomorrow brings a lot of sunshine for the beach!

.Hebrews 11:1.

First off. Hillsong was amazing. Callie and I got up at 8 (which is still very easy for me since that is 1 pm US time) and rode the train then took the bus which took us to the Hillsong Church. Right when we got there we greeted, and not just the fake greeting that people give you at the door where you can tell it is just there job. A genuine greeting, the people honestly cared we were there and were so excited to see us. I even got the chance to talk to someone who studies at Macquarie University (the Uni as she called it) and she let me know that Hillsong does a service and other activities there. The service was incredible. Everyone was up out of there seat dancing and just so excited to be at church and worshiping. The music was amazing (of course) and it was so cool because we got to hear some of the songs from the newest album aftermath. Which I definitely recommend. The message was awesome as well. I'm not sure if what the speaker had to say was great, or it just sounded awesome in an Australian accent, either way.. I listened! Just everything about church made me so excited. I am stoked to go to the Macquarie service every week and get plugged in there.  I really can't explain much more than that but it was just an incredible experience and I feel so blessed to be able to go to the actual Hillsong Church.
After church Callie and I headed to the beach, even though once again it was a bit cold and rainy, and once again I didn't bring a jacket. Whatevs. The sand and the beach were beautiful. I can't wait to go back on a sunny day and just soak it up and do some people watching. We also walked around the markets, and I have decided that from now on all of my clothes shopping will be coming from there. That just seems awesome, and I like to be awesome. After wandering a bit we started to walk back to the bus stop, and then got very sidetracked by the gorgeous view. There is a pathway that goes along the coast and it is all super rocky and so pretty. You can see the waves crashing into the rocks and the water is such a pretty color. The beach we were on is called Bondi beach and is one of the more popular beaches in the area.
The day ended with some great skyping with the parentals and card playing with Callie. Which I lost horribly. All in all. Fantastic day. Hillsong made me super excited to see what magical adventures Australia has to bring me. Tomorrow is zoo and aquarium day!

.Today was Callie's Birthday!.

Today was a great day! First of all. I got to celebrate Callie's birthday with her before anyone else! I think that is pretty awesome. We started out the day by doing something awesome. Getting phones. I feel much more connected to the world, even if my only contact is Callie. The guys at the phone station were super nice, although one admitted he probably shouldn't be at work because of everything he had done the night before. The other guy responded with "we have no shame". Oh Australia. After this we did something else awesome. Got me some internet! It is awesome. I feel so much more connected and it is great to be able to message and skype with people. Even if it is measured in broadband and I have a limit. I will take it! After this we went shopping so I could get a few necessities. Like a toothbrush and toothpaste...because apparently mine were lost somewhere along the line. Some of you might be trying to do the math to see how long it would have been since I brushed my teeth. Don't. It's gross. I would also like to mention that I am pretty sure we went shopping at the Walmart of Australia. So that was a big step for me. Once we got all of these important things done we started exploring Sydney!
We started with getting our passes and taking the train to the harbor. Oh! I forgot to mention something I love about Australia. When you are at a crosswalk you push the button and it goes *beep*beep*beep*...until it goes *dingalingaling*click*click*click* and that means you can start walking! (im not quite sure what the clicks mean although it makes me feel like I am being timed so I try to walk faster) It makes me feel like I am in a video game! Everytime. I love it. ANYWAY...so at the harbor were the chinese dragon races. Apparently this is quite a big deal. I meant to upload pictures of all of this but that didn't quite happen, hopefully soon! We watched that for a little bit and then wandered around the harbor. All around the harbor there is this like river fountain thingy. Again, I will have pictures later. It is super cool because all the little kids were playing in the water (even if it wasn't that warm out) I am hoping to go back someday when the sun is out and watch them. It was super cute! From there we went to the Chinese Garden. This was super pretty and peaceful, but mostly Callie and I just talked about how great of a time Devin will have in China. We decided it was about lunchtime at this point and went to lunch in a food court in Chinatown.
Oh! Other side note. Everything in Australia is EXPENSIVE. Granted there is no tax, so that is nice, but it is really really hard to accept the cost of everything. Although there are no pennies, so they get a point for that.
Anyway! After forcing some pad thai down my throat for lunch (apparently a part of jet lag is loss of appetite, who knew?) we walked around Paddy's market. This seems like a very nice place to get some souvenirs later in the trip. From here we walked around the fish market and then took the train to The Rocks, which is pretty close the opera house! Again, pictures later. This was pretty cool to see and just be so close to, it made it feel like we were actually in Sydney. After snapping a few pics we walked around the shops and market in this area but it started to POUR. I didn't really dress for the day (shorts and a tank top) so after awhile we decided to just head back to the train and come home. We finished the day with a great dinner and some emails and skyping! All in all. Pretty successful day. It was good to really be around the city and to get a feel for the transportation system. Tomorrow we are headed to the Hillsong Church and the beach! Hopefully the weather is a little better, although maybe I will pick out my outfit a bit more carefully. Alrighty. Good night!

.Quite the last...however many hours.

Well the adventure started at about 7:00 pm on Wednesday. I shut off my phone. To all the people who know me know that this is a huge deal. Somehow I managed not to curl up in the corner in the fetal position although I still feel a bit empty without my lifeline to everyone. At 7:45 we flew out of Seattle and landed in LA with just enough time to board the plane to Sydney. This 14 hour flight consisted of: 3 episodes of Modern Family, a little sleep, Going the Distance (meh. not great), a little more sleep, Due Date  (didn't really like it much at all), and a little more sleep, and then breakfast and Sydney! PS. Plane food is disgusting. There was this really fantastic part of the flight where this little kid during breakfast said "this smells like yogurt and I am NOT going to eat it". I have to give him a little credit though, at that age on a 14 hour plane flight I would have been cranky too. Callie was just proud of me for not whining almost at all. Almost.

As soon as we got to Sydney it was a blur of customs and getting our baggage. This is where the troubles started. Callie and I had to separate because she couldn't ride my shuttle, which means we had no means of communication and didn't really know how getting back together was going to go. We thought we would be able to communicate through wireless and email..because..well..who doesn't have wireless everywhere? Apparently Australia. On the way to the apartments I heard some people talking about the fact that we didn't have wireless internet..this began my freakout. I got to my apartment with no means of communication with Callie or anyone else and in an entirely different country with different people and this all started to hit. But I did make it to my apartment. I threw down my stuff, changed my clothes and started walking to the shopping center just a few blocks away. I thought..there has to be a coffee shop with wireless..that just has to be a thing! I ran around the mall with my phone glued to my hand refreshing it every 30 seconds just trying to find wireless. Eventually I asked someone who paused..and said I don't know.. (more panic on my end) and then he remembered the coffeeshop where you could get wifi. I ran upstairs, bought a bottle of water and begged them for their internet. From there I was able to text a few people, email Callie, and feel a little bit better, even if I was shaking the entire time. After realizing there was no more I could do I went back to my apt where I met my roommates. One is from Wisconsin and one is from Austria, they both seem really laid back and nice so that was very comforting. Candace (the one form Wisconsin) had a braodband connector so Callie and I finally had contact and met up!

After those few hours of awfulness it was pretty uphill. We walked around the shopping center and figured out which phones we are getting. It was also super fun to sit by the train station while I waited for Callie and watch all the kids coming out with their uniforms on. The people here are ridiculously nice and want to talk to you about living in America..even when its not necessarily what you want to do. Even though we are in the city everything feels very safe, even safer than Spokane! haha. Of course the accents are awesome.  I am really hoping to pick it up before I come home! It was a roller coaster of a day and I can't believe I am here. I am hoping more food and rest and a little less jetlag will equal an awesome day tomorrow.

.This is the first day of the rest of your life.

So. Tomorrow is the day. Tomorrow I will begin to adventure to do things in Australia.

I'm excited, nervous, happy, sad, basically every emotion imaginable for a situation like this. I keep trying to remind myself that no matter what God has it under control..but sometimes I just kind of want to say.."are you sure you know what you're doing?" haha. I am so very excited for this opportunity and also excited to see how I grow and change (but not too much no worries) as a person.

The big, hard part that I have been procrastinating as long as possible came yesterday. The goodbyes. I cried as soon as I said goodbye to everyone in my house. They are super amazing and it made me so sad to leave. They all better be reading this and better keep in touch in the next few months. Kathy, I will be expecting a message on my wall every day! :) I also bawled again when saying goodbye to the best friend. I have been in constant conversation with Geneva since we became friends in august. She has become my other half. I kind of don't know how to leave her. I will miss her a lot. I hope she doesn't adventure to do many things without me. Bottom line. I have the best friends and family in the world and as I'm leaving I sometimes think I am crazy to leave all these people to go to a place with a bunch of strangers. I'm hoping that there are still some awesome people in Australia. haha.

So now that those are done I'm basically just ready to go. No more waiting around and thinking about how weird and scary this all is. I just want to GO. As soon as I get the chance I will let everyone know I am safe and settled. Here we go!

.Things are gonna change now for the better.

Post number one. I leave for Sydney in one week and I am almost kind of sort of ready. I'm not packed or anything like that of course. However, I do know where my passport is, I feel like that is the most important part. The goodbyes have begun and really aren't terrible. Luckily I feel like technology makes this world seem a bit smaller and I know that the people I am saying goodbye to will be reading this blog as well as contacting me in whatever way possible. I also know that when I am back in 5 months I will see everyone again. I'm pretty blessed to have such awesome people in my life. I will miss the amazing burrow, it has been such a great house with a fantastic group of girls. I couldn't have asked for a better situation for my last semester in Spokane. Anyway, I may feel differently Monday but right now I am mostly excited for my adventure.


I only have one major worry, that I will not make most of this fantastic opportunity that is given to me. I feel very blessed to be able to spend 5 months in a totally different country and I hope that I am able to make the most of it. I do not want to be on the plane ride home thinking about all the things I didn't do or that I wish I would have made more of my time. My goal is to experience as much of the country as possible and feel like I did everything I possibly could.

Anyway, those are just a few thoughts I have the week before I leave. I suppose maybe I should go start packing and getting ready to go. Wow. Sometimes it is hard to believe I am really going. I can't really be in denial about it anymore though!