Hello all-
So its been almost two weeks since I've last updated, mostly because the past couple of weeks have been relatively low key. Last week was a regular week of classes. I gave my first presentation in Australia last week on Australian Sport, which turned out to be a great topic to present because it gave me the opportunity to be not quite as sports-retarded in Australia as I am in the states. Last Friday, Emily, Steph and I went to Broad Beach, which turned out to be one of my favorite beaches that I've been to so far here-- its really pretty and very relaxed. Last Saturday I went to my friend Ashley's sister Steph's 21st birthday party. It was fun to go to a house party a little farther away from campus, meet some new people, and escape from the normal scene. Apparently even though age 21 is a bigger milestone in the U.S., people still make a big deal out of turning 21 in Australia. It was a relatively big party for both family and friends, complete with decorations, balloons, and even a pinata filled with promiscuous things. Monday night it was my turn to have everyone over for family dinner. We cooked a feast of sausages and loaded mashed potatoes, and then all hung out for a little while before I had to kick everyone out to study for my Love, Sex, and Relationships midterm the next day. The exam went fine, and the rest of the week was pretty relaxed. Wednesday night we all went out to CBD for Brittany's 21st birthday, and Dicky (one of our AustraLearn orientation leaders) was in town and joined in the festivities. Thursday I hung out at Lizzy's for a little while but I had a bit of a headache so I came home early and just hung out. Friday, Bonnie, Alysa and I went into Surfer's, relaxed on the beach for awhile and then shopped around. This past weekend was the Indy, which is a huge international car race that takes place every year right here on the Gold Coast. Motor sport is a really big deal in Australia, so Surfer's was packed with fans from all over the country and all over the world. The tickets to get into the race were pricey, but it was neat to just be downtown in the excitement of it all, and to be able to hear the cars zooming in the distance. Friday night a bunch of us went back into Surfer's to Shogun Japanese Karaoke Bar for Becky's 20th birthday. The karaoke actually turned out to be tons of fun, and Steph and I dominated by singing Bohemian Rhapsody (without having to glance at the lyrics screen once mind you). The rest of the weekend was pretty calm. Alysa and I rented Dawson's Creek from the library, which is possibly the most addicting tv show ever created, so our Saturday night consisted of approximately 5 hours of Dawson's Creek, followed by a viewing of E.T. Today I caught up on homework, did some research on Ned Kelly (the John Wayne of Australia) for my paper due on Thursday, etc. Next weekend should be fun- its Halloween, and we're also hoping to be able to go down to Byron Bay for a night. From next weekend on I'll be traveling non-stop until finals! (the Outback, Melbourne, Sydney, New Zealand for two weeks, finals, then home!!!) I can't wait for my big trips to begin, and I can't wait to tell you all about them! Alysa and I just watched Lord of the Rings and got extremely psyched for our trips ot New Zealand- the scenery is absolutely breathtaking.
Miss everyone at home tons!
Lots of Love,
Arlyn
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Volunteer Trip: Mount Barney
Hello all!
So this past weekend was quite an adventure. I went on a volunteer trip to Mount Barney, which was one of the mountains in a large mountainous national park region in southeast Queensland. For those of you who don't already know, Queensland is one of the states of Australia, and it is the one in which I reside. So anyway, the weekend started off quite interestingly. There were eight students from AustraLearn on the trip. None of us knew what to expect, as they sent us very little information about what to expect of our weekend ahead. We were picked up at Bond Uni on Friday morning in a 4 x 4 by Kim, our tree-hugging, conservation loving, 8 week-pregnant guide for the weekend. From Bond we drove for about two hours, packed into the back of a Land Rover, until we hit a small town out in the middle of nowhere where we stopped to use the restroom and pick up groceries for the weekend. From there began the hour or so of the off-roading/ 4-wheel drive part of our trip. It was pretty crazy. (As I re-read my entry thus far, it seems as if I wasn't enjoying my weekend so let me just clarify that I was having a great time with all of the crazy adventerous aspects of the trip.) When we arrived at camp, we were greeted by Ben and Max, the owners of the land who were hilarious stereotypical Australian men who enjoy living the simple life, caring for their land, and speaking in almost incomprehensible Australian slang. The camp was WAYYY out in the middle of the mountains and it was so nice to get completely away from all sorts of modern technology and civilization. The camp was very simple: there were two bunks, one kitchen/dining room building, and two bath houses, complete with eco friendly composite toilets. Friday afternoon was spent helping Ben pick up logs in the forest in order to help prevent the spreading of forest fires. I should mention that out in the mountains we saw tons of kookaburras, which are the strangest, most feisty birds I've ever seen. While we were picking up logs, one of the logs split in half and out came crawling a gigantic scorpion. We were all circled around the scorpion, and within seconds of it appearing, a kookaburra comes flying down between all of us and devours it in seconds like a potato chip. (Side note: the kookaburras reminded me of my Grandma Irma and the song she used to sing to me about the kookaburra sitting in the old gum tree-- they actually were sitting in the gum trees!!) Friday night we all pitched in and helped cook a nice "barbie" (bbq), and then we built a bonfire and sat around drinking tea and getting to know one another. Saturday we drove to a different part of the mountains and helped pick moth vine, which is a species of an invasive weed. I was very proud of myself because I seemed to have an easier time than others identifying the weed.. some others had trouble distinguishing between the different plants, but i seemed to have a natural knack! =) Unfortunately I also got very familiar with the Nettle Plant, which is a stinging plant, and I personally got to experience the sting three separate times (how nice). After we finished picking the vines, we helped Ben pick up some loose rocks in the forest, which was another way that he helped to prevent the spreading of forest fires. Saturday night we all helped cook dinner again; this time a delicious pasta dinner. After dinner, we all took a hike through the woods (got plenty of ticks on us as well) and found a nice spot to sit and watch the sun set. Saturday night we had another bonfire, and did a good amount of star gazing. The stars that we could see were absolutely magnificent and almost surreal-- I've never seen such a clear view of space; it was so completely untouched by city lights because we were so far out in the wilderness. At night when it was time to sleep, it felt like it was approximately 0 degrees farenheit because we were higher up and not used to the colder temperatures, but luckily they had plenty of spare blankets, so I was able to sleep with three as well as in my hoodie. It was a really fun weekend-- so nice to get away from everything and experience the true Australian nature.
This week so far has been nice. Sunday and Monday nights were both just calm and relaxing. Tuesday night Steph and I decided to go out. We went to 360 Bar to see a friend of mine from the volunteer trip this weekend sing and play the guitar (please note Catie) and then we moseyed over to Bar CBD in Market Square and met up with some other friends for a few drinks before calling it a night. The rest of this week should be pretty fun- there's a couple parties planned for this weekend and I think we're planning on trying to make it over to the beach on Friday. Big news: I booked my trip to New Zealand!! I'm so excited. I'm going for two weeks!!! The first week I'll spend in Wellington with Di, and then from there I fly down to Christchurch and join a one-week tour of the south island. I'm doing the tour by myself and I'm actually extremely excited about it. The tour is specifically restricted for young adults and the travel agent said many people go alone and meet people on the way. I've never done a trip like that on my own and I can't wait to kind of force myself outside of my comfort zone a little bit and hopefully have a really great time and meet really great people.
That's all I've got for now! I love and miss everyone!
Arlyn
So this past weekend was quite an adventure. I went on a volunteer trip to Mount Barney, which was one of the mountains in a large mountainous national park region in southeast Queensland. For those of you who don't already know, Queensland is one of the states of Australia, and it is the one in which I reside. So anyway, the weekend started off quite interestingly. There were eight students from AustraLearn on the trip. None of us knew what to expect, as they sent us very little information about what to expect of our weekend ahead. We were picked up at Bond Uni on Friday morning in a 4 x 4 by Kim, our tree-hugging, conservation loving, 8 week-pregnant guide for the weekend. From Bond we drove for about two hours, packed into the back of a Land Rover, until we hit a small town out in the middle of nowhere where we stopped to use the restroom and pick up groceries for the weekend. From there began the hour or so of the off-roading/ 4-wheel drive part of our trip. It was pretty crazy. (As I re-read my entry thus far, it seems as if I wasn't enjoying my weekend so let me just clarify that I was having a great time with all of the crazy adventerous aspects of the trip.) When we arrived at camp, we were greeted by Ben and Max, the owners of the land who were hilarious stereotypical Australian men who enjoy living the simple life, caring for their land, and speaking in almost incomprehensible Australian slang. The camp was WAYYY out in the middle of the mountains and it was so nice to get completely away from all sorts of modern technology and civilization. The camp was very simple: there were two bunks, one kitchen/dining room building, and two bath houses, complete with eco friendly composite toilets. Friday afternoon was spent helping Ben pick up logs in the forest in order to help prevent the spreading of forest fires. I should mention that out in the mountains we saw tons of kookaburras, which are the strangest, most feisty birds I've ever seen. While we were picking up logs, one of the logs split in half and out came crawling a gigantic scorpion. We were all circled around the scorpion, and within seconds of it appearing, a kookaburra comes flying down between all of us and devours it in seconds like a potato chip. (Side note: the kookaburras reminded me of my Grandma Irma and the song she used to sing to me about the kookaburra sitting in the old gum tree-- they actually were sitting in the gum trees!!) Friday night we all pitched in and helped cook a nice "barbie" (bbq), and then we built a bonfire and sat around drinking tea and getting to know one another. Saturday we drove to a different part of the mountains and helped pick moth vine, which is a species of an invasive weed. I was very proud of myself because I seemed to have an easier time than others identifying the weed.. some others had trouble distinguishing between the different plants, but i seemed to have a natural knack! =) Unfortunately I also got very familiar with the Nettle Plant, which is a stinging plant, and I personally got to experience the sting three separate times (how nice). After we finished picking the vines, we helped Ben pick up some loose rocks in the forest, which was another way that he helped to prevent the spreading of forest fires. Saturday night we all helped cook dinner again; this time a delicious pasta dinner. After dinner, we all took a hike through the woods (got plenty of ticks on us as well) and found a nice spot to sit and watch the sun set. Saturday night we had another bonfire, and did a good amount of star gazing. The stars that we could see were absolutely magnificent and almost surreal-- I've never seen such a clear view of space; it was so completely untouched by city lights because we were so far out in the wilderness. At night when it was time to sleep, it felt like it was approximately 0 degrees farenheit because we were higher up and not used to the colder temperatures, but luckily they had plenty of spare blankets, so I was able to sleep with three as well as in my hoodie. It was a really fun weekend-- so nice to get away from everything and experience the true Australian nature.
This week so far has been nice. Sunday and Monday nights were both just calm and relaxing. Tuesday night Steph and I decided to go out. We went to 360 Bar to see a friend of mine from the volunteer trip this weekend sing and play the guitar (please note Catie) and then we moseyed over to Bar CBD in Market Square and met up with some other friends for a few drinks before calling it a night. The rest of this week should be pretty fun- there's a couple parties planned for this weekend and I think we're planning on trying to make it over to the beach on Friday. Big news: I booked my trip to New Zealand!! I'm so excited. I'm going for two weeks!!! The first week I'll spend in Wellington with Di, and then from there I fly down to Christchurch and join a one-week tour of the south island. I'm doing the tour by myself and I'm actually extremely excited about it. The tour is specifically restricted for young adults and the travel agent said many people go alone and meet people on the way. I've never done a trip like that on my own and I can't wait to kind of force myself outside of my comfort zone a little bit and hopefully have a really great time and meet really great people.
That's all I've got for now! I love and miss everyone!
Arlyn
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Times Flies at Bond Uni!
I can't believe tomorrow is already the start of my fourth week of classes at Bond University! Time is flying. This past week was a lot of fun but relatively low key. I stayed on campus all week and weekend, went to my classes, hung out with friends, etc. We finished watching the movie "Australia" in pop culture. It was a really good film-- extremely long but worth the watch if you're up for it. We discussed it afterward in class and its actually a fairly accurate depiction of the Australian legend/"bush" legend and also of the indigenous culture and the aborigines-- definitely very interesting.
This week my roommates and I decided to break down and rent a tv for the semester. It ended up being relatively inexpensive. We only get about 10 channels or so, but the library on campus has tons of movies that we can rent for free, and our tv came with a dvd player, so it was definitely worth it.
Thursday night we went over Emily's and Lizzy's again for some pong and pregaming before going out to Don's again. It was a lot of fun and we all had a good time, steph in particular (see pictures on facebook for details). Unfortunately, Emily sprained her ankle while we were out so that kind of put a damper on things, but hopefully she'll be back on her feet soon. Friday night we had family dinner at Emily and Lizzy's. Then, Emily stayed in because of her ankle, but Steph and I went with Lizzy and Brodie over to "Mick and Nick" (the Malasian brothers.. great names I know) for a little gathering. Saturday we had a Mexican themed night at Emily's and Lizzy's, complete with tacos, chips and dip, Corona's (which is one of the most expensive beers in Australia incidentally because of the cost to import it from Mexico), and of course our good friend Jose Cuervo/margharitas. Mexico night eventually turned into catch phrase night, which of course was a ton of fun.
Next weekend I am going on a volunteer trip to Southeast Queensland Parks and Reserves. To be honest I don't really know what I will be doing exactly, but I know a few people going on the trip and I'm sure I'll meet others so I'm excited to get away for a weekend and do something to give back to my host country!
Some bad news I received today is that one of my roommates, Michelle from Missouri, is leaving on Tuesday to go back to the states. She has been sick for the past week or so with severe stomach issues, and they got her results back from the hospital today that she had two different kinds of parasites and that she will have to have surgery to correct the damage that the parasites have caused in her intestines. She was uncomfortable with having the surgery here, so she is leaving to return the states and have the surgery there. It's a really big bummer but everything happens for a reason I suppose and I wish her the best.
Tomorrow Emily and I are going to student flights to book the flights to New Zealand which is very exciting so I'll keep you posted with more details on that as soon as I know them.
Right now there is exactly 12 minutes in east coast Australian time until Samantha Erin Bloom turns 21!!!!! So here's a little shout out to Sam- have the happiest 21st! I love and miss you and wish I could be there with you, but I know you'll have a great time and can't wait to have a belated celebration when we're together again in the winter!
Okay, that's all for now. Miss you all!
Love,
Arlyn
This week my roommates and I decided to break down and rent a tv for the semester. It ended up being relatively inexpensive. We only get about 10 channels or so, but the library on campus has tons of movies that we can rent for free, and our tv came with a dvd player, so it was definitely worth it.
Thursday night we went over Emily's and Lizzy's again for some pong and pregaming before going out to Don's again. It was a lot of fun and we all had a good time, steph in particular (see pictures on facebook for details). Unfortunately, Emily sprained her ankle while we were out so that kind of put a damper on things, but hopefully she'll be back on her feet soon. Friday night we had family dinner at Emily and Lizzy's. Then, Emily stayed in because of her ankle, but Steph and I went with Lizzy and Brodie over to "Mick and Nick" (the Malasian brothers.. great names I know) for a little gathering. Saturday we had a Mexican themed night at Emily's and Lizzy's, complete with tacos, chips and dip, Corona's (which is one of the most expensive beers in Australia incidentally because of the cost to import it from Mexico), and of course our good friend Jose Cuervo/margharitas. Mexico night eventually turned into catch phrase night, which of course was a ton of fun.
Next weekend I am going on a volunteer trip to Southeast Queensland Parks and Reserves. To be honest I don't really know what I will be doing exactly, but I know a few people going on the trip and I'm sure I'll meet others so I'm excited to get away for a weekend and do something to give back to my host country!
Some bad news I received today is that one of my roommates, Michelle from Missouri, is leaving on Tuesday to go back to the states. She has been sick for the past week or so with severe stomach issues, and they got her results back from the hospital today that she had two different kinds of parasites and that she will have to have surgery to correct the damage that the parasites have caused in her intestines. She was uncomfortable with having the surgery here, so she is leaving to return the states and have the surgery there. It's a really big bummer but everything happens for a reason I suppose and I wish her the best.
Tomorrow Emily and I are going to student flights to book the flights to New Zealand which is very exciting so I'll keep you posted with more details on that as soon as I know them.
Right now there is exactly 12 minutes in east coast Australian time until Samantha Erin Bloom turns 21!!!!! So here's a little shout out to Sam- have the happiest 21st! I love and miss you and wish I could be there with you, but I know you'll have a great time and can't wait to have a belated celebration when we're together again in the winter!
Okay, that's all for now. Miss you all!
Love,
Arlyn
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