This past week I've had a ton of "study" time and quite a bit of alone time too, which I have enjoyed quite a bit :) So there's not a ton to blog about honestly. I can't even remember what I've done this past week. But I'm going to try....
Last Thursday I spent the majority of the day just chillin, this is when I legit started studying for Exams. Most organized stuff and listened to missed lectures and such. That night I headed over the Justine's house for a lovely little Bible study// dinner with some ladies from church. She lives in Marrackville which is just one suburb over so it wasn't a long trek to get there. She has the cutest little house! It was like perfectly warm and she lit candles and it was probably the most fun Bible study I've ever been to in my entire life! There were about six of us total ranging from 21-28 years old (I was the youngest :) ) haha We started off the evening just chatting about life and catching up on particular love lives while eating a delicious lentil soup that Justine made herself. Other people brought chips, dips, pita bread, chocolates, cookies and delicious wine. Let's just say it was a bit of a feast :) After we had laughs over dinner we preceded to make Cake in a mug! Yes, it's possible to make cake in the microwave in a mug! We all got our mugs and added our ingredients and popped them in the microwave and watched the batter rise! They were actually terribly delicious cakes and we topped it off with some ice cream! After that we read a Bible passage and Justine lead the study, it was really interesting and laid back. We all just sipped wine together and talked about Jesus and his promises. Not just like Sunday school answers but in relation to real life, with real emotions. It was just so laid back and relaxing and encouraging. I loved it!
Friday & Saturday were chill study days. It rained the majority of those days, in fact the majority of this entire week. I miss the warmth of the sun! Although it has been amazing falling asleep to heavy rain every night! On Friday I wrote and entire final essay for my Love in Different Languages course. It was actually pretty awkward and difficult to write because it was on the transformation of gay/lesbian definitions of love into society. My professor is also a lesbian so it was hard making sure nothing I said would offend her, seeing how she would be the one grading my paper but at the same time I didn't want to sound super supportive of that life style. It was a hard medium to portray, but it's done. I am grateful for that!
On Saturday Church was having a 24 hours of prayer event going on and I signed up with my mate Hayley to pray for one of the hours. It was really awesome, I don't know Hayley all that personally so it was nice to just talk through life and pray for eachother. We were the only people in the room the whole time so it was just relaxing and chill.
Sunday, went to church. It was an awesome church day, I'm honestly going to miss this church and these people so much when I leave! It's crazy how much I've gotten so much closer to them in just the past two weeks! On the way to church I listened to Explosions in the Sky. I. Love. Them. It was just so relaxing and honestly just purifying. It was also raining and I love walking in the rain so it was a perfect morning. After church I lingered as long as possible, seeing how I didn't want to go get my study on. A handful of us just stuck around church for like an hour and just chatted and ate brownies. 'Twas a good time! After that they all went out for Thai food but seeing how I'm broke and really should study I decided to go with my better judgement and head home. I spent the rest of the day listening to more lectures and creating a study guide for my History of Psychology and Philosophy class.
Today is Monday and it is the queen's birthday. I appreciate the day off but I seriously think it is the dumbest excuse for a holiday, I mean really? A birthday? Haha I'm basically just frustrated that everything is closed and I'm out of food... haha I've been doing a lot more procrastinating today (hence the writing of this blog) because I need to finish the Philosophy side of my study guide and it's confusing so I'm ignoring the fear I have that I will never understand it and then fail this course. Philosophy's never been my thing... and I'm horrible at tests so the fact that it's worth 60% of my grade scares me even more. So fight or flight? I'm definitely a flighter. But I shall build up the mental confidence to conquer this Exam tomorrow morning! (prayers would be very appreciated...)
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
City Lights & Sunrise
This week is already going way to fast! I feel like these next two weeks are going to be gone before I know it, there's just so much to do in the mean time!
On Monday we had a little Spiritual Birthday party with Student life at AJ and Kyrin's place. They have a roof top with an awesome view of the city, it kinda looks like this:
Of course it was more amazing in real life, but that's just a snap shot! :)
Anyways the party was really cool, I had no idea what to expect because well I had never been to a spiritual birthday party before! Basically there was tons of food and treats and we were celebrating 6 different people from 4 different campuses who have given their lives to Christ through Student Life. What a cool idea! We got to hear each of their testimonies and they were given devo books, chocolate and cards that everyone signed. I volunteered to bake a cake... :)
It was a fun night to catch up with friends from other campuses that I haven't gotten to see since Connexions a few months ago. I'm so excited that I actually get to see them again when I go to the Mid-Year Conference! yay!
I woke up bright and early on Tuesday morning and caught a bus at 5:40 AM to head to Coogee beach to watch the sunrise! I took my journal, Bible and Ipod and it was all I needed! I climbed to the top of some rocks and sat there for a little over an hour just journaling, listening to worship and reading me Biblia. It was so refreshing, not to mention beautiful!! I have never actually gotten up to watch the sunrise on a beach before. It was perfect :)
Then I stopped by a cafe and had some french toast cuz it's my fav. and I've grown quite accustomed to sitting down and having a cup of coffee or a meal someplace random all by my self. I used to feel so awkward going out basically anywhere by myself and now I love it!
Then I took a wee nap and spen the arvo doing a bit of deep cleaning& studying.
Around dinner time I headed over to Erin & Jess' place and Marlon joined us, we did some groceries and made and devoured a delicious meal. After dinner we just hung out listening to music and working on a certain little surprise for a certain friend of ours :)
Today's been a chill day. I've organized everyday for the next two weeks:
It is color coded and all. The purple highlights fun things I get to do and the yellow is all Uni work. Not much fun in my future! haha
Well off to write an Essay now!
On Monday we had a little Spiritual Birthday party with Student life at AJ and Kyrin's place. They have a roof top with an awesome view of the city, it kinda looks like this:
Anyways the party was really cool, I had no idea what to expect because well I had never been to a spiritual birthday party before! Basically there was tons of food and treats and we were celebrating 6 different people from 4 different campuses who have given their lives to Christ through Student Life. What a cool idea! We got to hear each of their testimonies and they were given devo books, chocolate and cards that everyone signed. I volunteered to bake a cake... :)
I woke up bright and early on Tuesday morning and caught a bus at 5:40 AM to head to Coogee beach to watch the sunrise! I took my journal, Bible and Ipod and it was all I needed! I climbed to the top of some rocks and sat there for a little over an hour just journaling, listening to worship and reading me Biblia. It was so refreshing, not to mention beautiful!! I have never actually gotten up to watch the sunrise on a beach before. It was perfect :)
Then I stopped by a cafe and had some french toast cuz it's my fav. and I've grown quite accustomed to sitting down and having a cup of coffee or a meal someplace random all by my self. I used to feel so awkward going out basically anywhere by myself and now I love it!
Then I took a wee nap and spen the arvo doing a bit of deep cleaning& studying.
Around dinner time I headed over to Erin & Jess' place and Marlon joined us, we did some groceries and made and devoured a delicious meal. After dinner we just hung out listening to music and working on a certain little surprise for a certain friend of ours :)
Today's been a chill day. I've organized everyday for the next two weeks:
Well off to write an Essay now!
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Life is Vivid
Survived the rainy season! yay!
This week's been pretty low key. It was the last week of lectures and tutorials. This next week is our Student Vacation before we have 2 weeks of finals. I only have 3 finals and one final Essay to write. I'm not too stressed about them seeing how I only need to pass my classes. Plus I'm a procrastinator at heart so come this time next week I may indeed feel differently... but until then I shall enjoy my happiness!
The best word to describe this week would just be fun! Tuesday night I headed over the Erin & Jess' apt and Hayley came over and we made a delicious homemade chicken soup and olive and mint bread. I felt pretty legit cooking an entire meal from scratch... even if Jess was the only one who really knew what she was doing ahah. Then we all headed over to church for prayer night, which is always refreshing!
Wednesday I ended up skyping my mother for a good 3 hours which was pretty amazing. That woman is such an inspiration to me. Words literally cannot describe how honored I am to be her daughter. Seriously. I just love talking about her to people here too, so people can actually understand how amazing my mother is! The phrase "she is my hero" is so generic but that's how I feel. That and so much more! So that was really encouraging. Then I headed to work for the rest of the day/night.
Thursday was my very last day of classes! yay! After wards we had our very last Student Life meeting & dinner. It felt so weird just knowing that it was going to be the last! I feel like it was just yesterday that I walked into the first meeting all nervous and now I'm the one welcoming strangers! It was the perfect way to end to semester regardless, we just had time to share what God's doing in us and just take time to encourage and pray for one another. I seriously love my Student Life family! Then I went over to Jenny's appartment for a lil sleep over! Hung out with some of her flat mates, played some old skool N64 Mario Kart, oh yea! haha
Friday I stayed at Jenny's till about noon, then I headed home. I decided to go on a little adventure into Marrackville to find this shop called Supre. I was in a shopping mood but I wasn't in a big city mood so I headed to the suburbs! It was about 30 min out on a bus. It was a pretty dodgy area but I had hope! I eventually found this like factory outlet supre store where everything was ridiculously cheep, right from the factory! They had like dresses & tanks & sweaters for as low as $1!! I kinda went crazy there... haha then I headed home lugging two large bags. I got weird looks on the bus haha. After that I headed over to Zach's apartment & Mikul, Gavin Jenny and I learned how to make homemade pizzas! They actually turned out ridiculously good, like I would say one it was in the top 5 best pizza's I've ever eaten in my entire life. That good! After that I headed to work the night away!
Jenny stayed the night at my place and we spent the morning together again, it was nice to have a roommate again! :) Then I got ready to go see... Yo Gabba Gabba LIVE at the Sydney Opera House!
:D My friend Dave was kind enough to go with me so I wouldn't appear to be so weird going alone haha. It was actually really fun seeing it live! My dream has come true! haha
Then wen headed to Luna Park (the entrance looks like the pic above... it was horrifying...) which is this amusement park on the North side of Sydney Harbour. We hung out there until it was time for the Vivid Festival to begin which has been like this 3 week festival in Sydney with different artists (Yo Gabba Gabba was a part of the festival) and art instilations all around the general theme of Vivid colours and bringing colour to Sydney! So we caught the train back to the Harbour. We got to watch this HUGE projector light up the entire half of the Opera House, it was SO COOL! It was really hard to capture because we were standing really far away for the best view... but this is kinda what it looked like...
The festival also had many other buildings lite up and had different designs that moved and became 3D, the coolest was the building that would like change exterior colors, it was the most 3D design of them all.. so cool to watch!
Then we headed into the city for some good ol' pub food!
Today is Sunday! Went to church this morning, which is always a blessing. I love the fact that I have to walk to church. It is just the perfect amount of time to like clear my head/heart for church. I've probably said this before, but it's just great! Especially when like the sermon was exactly what I was thinking about the entire way to church!! We had some new Aboriginal women who came to church, I got to talk to one of the quite a bit. They were really nice and they're planning on coming back so I'm pumped to get to know them better! I've been learning so much about the Aboriginal history more through both sides of the looking glass. It's really interesting and to be honest so heart breaking. There's so much that even Australians don't know or understand about it. It really makes me realize how much potential this country has. Like there's just so much in store for it I can literally feel the anticipation, and not just on a spiritual level. Anywho after church I went out to thai with some church mates!
I love it here. All of my friends that were once studying abroad are now at home with their families. At first I was expecting this to make me miss and want to be home even more, but it's honestly just making me love this place even more than before. Just thinking about saying goodbye to all the amazing friends I've made here brings tears to my eyes, even though I still have 2 months left here I just feel like 2 months is not enough time!! haha Oh well, I'm just going to pray that God brings me back here... sooner rather than later.... :)
This week's been pretty low key. It was the last week of lectures and tutorials. This next week is our Student Vacation before we have 2 weeks of finals. I only have 3 finals and one final Essay to write. I'm not too stressed about them seeing how I only need to pass my classes. Plus I'm a procrastinator at heart so come this time next week I may indeed feel differently... but until then I shall enjoy my happiness!
The best word to describe this week would just be fun! Tuesday night I headed over the Erin & Jess' apt and Hayley came over and we made a delicious homemade chicken soup and olive and mint bread. I felt pretty legit cooking an entire meal from scratch... even if Jess was the only one who really knew what she was doing ahah. Then we all headed over to church for prayer night, which is always refreshing!
Wednesday I ended up skyping my mother for a good 3 hours which was pretty amazing. That woman is such an inspiration to me. Words literally cannot describe how honored I am to be her daughter. Seriously. I just love talking about her to people here too, so people can actually understand how amazing my mother is! The phrase "she is my hero" is so generic but that's how I feel. That and so much more! So that was really encouraging. Then I headed to work for the rest of the day/night.
Thursday was my very last day of classes! yay! After wards we had our very last Student Life meeting & dinner. It felt so weird just knowing that it was going to be the last! I feel like it was just yesterday that I walked into the first meeting all nervous and now I'm the one welcoming strangers! It was the perfect way to end to semester regardless, we just had time to share what God's doing in us and just take time to encourage and pray for one another. I seriously love my Student Life family! Then I went over to Jenny's appartment for a lil sleep over! Hung out with some of her flat mates, played some old skool N64 Mario Kart, oh yea! haha
Friday I stayed at Jenny's till about noon, then I headed home. I decided to go on a little adventure into Marrackville to find this shop called Supre. I was in a shopping mood but I wasn't in a big city mood so I headed to the suburbs! It was about 30 min out on a bus. It was a pretty dodgy area but I had hope! I eventually found this like factory outlet supre store where everything was ridiculously cheep, right from the factory! They had like dresses & tanks & sweaters for as low as $1!! I kinda went crazy there... haha then I headed home lugging two large bags. I got weird looks on the bus haha. After that I headed over to Zach's apartment & Mikul, Gavin Jenny and I learned how to make homemade pizzas! They actually turned out ridiculously good, like I would say one it was in the top 5 best pizza's I've ever eaten in my entire life. That good! After that I headed to work the night away!
Jenny stayed the night at my place and we spent the morning together again, it was nice to have a roommate again! :) Then I got ready to go see... Yo Gabba Gabba LIVE at the Sydney Opera House!
:D My friend Dave was kind enough to go with me so I wouldn't appear to be so weird going alone haha. It was actually really fun seeing it live! My dream has come true! haha
Then wen headed to Luna Park (the entrance looks like the pic above... it was horrifying...) which is this amusement park on the North side of Sydney Harbour. We hung out there until it was time for the Vivid Festival to begin which has been like this 3 week festival in Sydney with different artists (Yo Gabba Gabba was a part of the festival) and art instilations all around the general theme of Vivid colours and bringing colour to Sydney! So we caught the train back to the Harbour. We got to watch this HUGE projector light up the entire half of the Opera House, it was SO COOL! It was really hard to capture because we were standing really far away for the best view... but this is kinda what it looked like...
The festival also had many other buildings lite up and had different designs that moved and became 3D, the coolest was the building that would like change exterior colors, it was the most 3D design of them all.. so cool to watch!
Then we headed into the city for some good ol' pub food!
Today is Sunday! Went to church this morning, which is always a blessing. I love the fact that I have to walk to church. It is just the perfect amount of time to like clear my head/heart for church. I've probably said this before, but it's just great! Especially when like the sermon was exactly what I was thinking about the entire way to church!! We had some new Aboriginal women who came to church, I got to talk to one of the quite a bit. They were really nice and they're planning on coming back so I'm pumped to get to know them better! I've been learning so much about the Aboriginal history more through both sides of the looking glass. It's really interesting and to be honest so heart breaking. There's so much that even Australians don't know or understand about it. It really makes me realize how much potential this country has. Like there's just so much in store for it I can literally feel the anticipation, and not just on a spiritual level. Anywho after church I went out to thai with some church mates!
I love it here. All of my friends that were once studying abroad are now at home with their families. At first I was expecting this to make me miss and want to be home even more, but it's honestly just making me love this place even more than before. Just thinking about saying goodbye to all the amazing friends I've made here brings tears to my eyes, even though I still have 2 months left here I just feel like 2 months is not enough time!! haha Oh well, I'm just going to pray that God brings me back here... sooner rather than later.... :)
Sunday, May 29, 2011
A Heavy Ration of Rain
So, I know you're all so curious as to what our adventure was attempting to discover last Saturday...
We started out at a beautiful lookout about an hour or so out of the city, it was cloudy but it was still a pretty sweet look out over Sydney. Then we made our way to Dee Why Beach where we planned to explore the land to discover where this treasure might lay.
We looked high and low, in the ocean, across the sands and even through the near by bush but alas there was no hope. What is this treasure you might ask? Ok so it's not really treasure... well kinda but not really. So Erin and Jess have been watching AU Master Chef and one of the contestants are rather good looking....
He works as a life guard at Dee Why beach and we were hoping to find him there... hahah I know we're stalkers but it gave us a really entertaining laugh to attempt to actually find him!
After that we made our way up the northern beaches, to Whale Beach, Palm Bach and a few others. Basically spent the whole day walking on beaches, watching sailors and finding hiking trails. It was an absolutely gorgeous day (apart from the clouds) ! We even stuck our fingers in sea anemone's, it feels soo weird!!
We ended the day with going out for steaks (except for I don't like steaks so I just got veggies & mash). I discovered that I finally like green beans!! I have never liked them EVER but now I do! yay!
Sunday I went to church, the worked. Kinda a boring day... Then I finally caved in a got new tea...
Vanilla and Rooibos = love.
Today I went to lectures & tutorials. It's the last week of classes! Whoo!
It has been cloudy for like 5 days now. I miss the sun. It's be POURING rain for about 24 hrs now. The streets and side walks are literally rivers. I walked down to my gelato shop for some hot chocolate and my greek gelato mama gave me more gelato and cookies and gelato... I told her she was making me fat... her reasoning for making me fat is that now when I go back to America I won't be blown away in all the tornadoes! hahaha I love her.
Now I'm off to check out an African Eatery with David!
Let's hope I don't drown in the side walk! haha
We started out at a beautiful lookout about an hour or so out of the city, it was cloudy but it was still a pretty sweet look out over Sydney. Then we made our way to Dee Why Beach where we planned to explore the land to discover where this treasure might lay.
We looked high and low, in the ocean, across the sands and even through the near by bush but alas there was no hope. What is this treasure you might ask? Ok so it's not really treasure... well kinda but not really. So Erin and Jess have been watching AU Master Chef and one of the contestants are rather good looking....
He works as a life guard at Dee Why beach and we were hoping to find him there... hahah I know we're stalkers but it gave us a really entertaining laugh to attempt to actually find him!
After that we made our way up the northern beaches, to Whale Beach, Palm Bach and a few others. Basically spent the whole day walking on beaches, watching sailors and finding hiking trails. It was an absolutely gorgeous day (apart from the clouds) ! We even stuck our fingers in sea anemone's, it feels soo weird!!
Sunday I went to church, the worked. Kinda a boring day... Then I finally caved in a got new tea...
Vanilla and Rooibos = love.
Today I went to lectures & tutorials. It's the last week of classes! Whoo!
It has been cloudy for like 5 days now. I miss the sun. It's be POURING rain for about 24 hrs now. The streets and side walks are literally rivers. I walked down to my gelato shop for some hot chocolate and my greek gelato mama gave me more gelato and cookies and gelato... I told her she was making me fat... her reasoning for making me fat is that now when I go back to America I won't be blown away in all the tornadoes! hahaha I love her.
Now I'm off to check out an African Eatery with David!
Let's hope I don't drown in the side walk! haha
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Surprises & Melbourne
So glad to report that I successfully survived all of my homework assignments!! Unfortunatly that was indeed ages ago so I have a lot to write about!
So my birthday was on the 12th of May and little did I know that it was about to honestly be the best birthday that I've ever had in my entire life! In the beginning of the month I was a bit sad that I was going to have my 21st away from home, family and friends so I had just planned on getting together with a few friends for a little Mexican dinner then going salsa dancing with whoever else wanted to come along (this is basically what I do for all of my birthdays.... lets be honest, it's the only time I can get people to actually try salsa dancing!). The day of my actual birthday was quite stressful because I had a presentation I had to do alone in one of my classes, but it ended up going really well so I was on cloud 9 the rest of the day! That night Carrie came back to Sydney and planned on staying for week and a half! That Friday night Carrie and I were able to go on a cruise, basically for free using my student credit so we danced the night away under the Sydney Harbour lights, it was amazing! The next day we had planned on going to the beach but knowing our indecisive selves we ended up just have a lazy day at my place. That night we headed over to Erin's place where I had planned on having dinner with a few close friends. When we go there I could smell the food from down the stairs so I had assumed that they had started cooking without me... little did I know that Erin was going to lead me into a dark room, wher upon turning on the lights a ton of people screamed "suprise" at me! I was so ridiculously overwhealmed I had no idea what to do with myself! Erin and Carrie had planned an entire surpise party without my knowledge! I still to this day don't understand how this was even possible! Anywho Erin's roommate (my future housemate) even made me a koala cake!
After the party came to a close some of us went out to a salsa dancing club! It wasn't the same as good ol' Famous Daves or The Loring Pasta Bar... no one knows how to salsa like Minneapolis! Well ok... maybe South America, but other than that... haha
The next morning I woke up & headed to church then Pancakes on the rocks with my Canberra buddies, then spent the arvo chilling in the harbour, then worked at night!
The next week Carrie and I went on multiple adventures! On that Tuesday we took a day trip to Katoomba where the Blue Mountains are located. We did a 4 hour hike through the mountains and got fantastic views of the Katoomba falls and The Three Sisters, here are some pix:
Here's my nerdy tourist picture with the Three Sisters:
here's a photo of the falls after 2 hrs:
The hike was pretty intense... we had to go up 47948394853489 stairs and down 4857398437 stairs. Our calves hurt for a good 4 days after this hike! After the day we were pretty tired, slept on the train home and all. We went to bed early becase Carrie had a big day ahead of her....
The next day Carrie went sky diving! Our friend Michael (aka Zebra Cakes) came up from Canberra to go sky diving with Carrie, I'm saving up my money for bungee jumping when I get to New Zealand so I decided to sit this one out. I got to be their personal photographer for the day, which was actually pretty fun! It was so pretty to watch them fall from the sky (that sounds horrible... but look, it's pretty!)
Then afterwards we headed to Zebra Cake's house! His family is from El Salvador and his mother made us some delicious food, it was sooooo good! We hung out there for a bit and took a look at Carrie & Zebra Cakes sky diving videos!
On Thursday I acutally had to go to my lectures & tuts so I did so, after that Carrie & I headed to the Student Life meeting & dinner. Carrie had to say her goodbyes to everyone there because that was the last time she would be able to see them! After dinner we did some final packing then we were off to Melbourne! It was quite hectic at the airport... we decided to fly really cheap... but unfortunatly with cheap flying comes cheap service...the flight before us was cancelled so by the time Carrie and I got there, there were many upset customrs, it was like a mini angry mob... and we were scared that our flight was going to be cancelled too... luckily it wasn't! We got on our flight at 10:30pm and landed at about 11:30. The family we stayed with were kind enough to come and pick us up at such a late hour, even though they live a good hour away from the airport!
This family was honestly one of the best parts about being in Melbourne. They are friends with one of Carrie's aunts and didn't even know us but they were kind enough to invite us into their home and so much more! We had an A-maz-ing bed to sleep in and our very own room! Rob & Lynn basically became our parents for the weekend. They made sure we had a homecooked meal or some sort of food for every meal and even bought us tonsss of snacks throughout the entire weekend! On Friday Carrie I caught the train into the city and just spent the day exploring and looking around. We checked out Federation square and the many allyways filled with packed coffee shops. I even introduced Carrie to Macaroons, my new all time love. I'm straight up hooooooked! Then we just had a lazy Friday night snuggled up in bed watching movies. It felt really good just to snuggle in a bed in a house hold with hot chocolate! The next day Rob & Lynn filled the car with snacks and took us down the Great Ocean Road! I think we drove for about 7 or 8 hours total the entire day, but we stopped often to take pictues and stopped in Apollo Bay for lunch on the shore. Here are some pics from the drive!
After the long drive we headed back home where all of Rob & Lynn's children had prepared a meal for us! On Sunday we headed to church, then after church we hit up the Rose Street Markets where there are tons of local artists who sell photography, clothes and much more! We spent some time just walking around the area and checking out all the cheque and indie stores. After that we headed back to church for a youth service and ended the night getting gyros and just chillin. I was pretty tired by the end of Sunday!
Our flight wsa on Monday morning so we were able to say our goodbyes to some of the family in the moring, then Lynn drove us to the airport. We got back to Sydney around 1ish and we were both so tired! Carrie did some final packing, then we headed to Central Station so she could catch her bus back to Canberra! I said goodbye to her at the station... I won't see here for another two months now! That is the longest we will have ever been apart! I know it sounds pathetic but its going to be really wierd....
The rest of this week has been pretty usual, on Wednesday there were really bad winds and raid so I decided to take a personal day. I literally stayed in my room and just relaxed and skyped home allll day. It was really rejuvinating and just what I needed! I feel like my time here is honestly turning me into an introvert. I legit enjoyed staying in a room by myself for an entire day! So unlike me, but I really really loved it! Last night after the Student Life meeting about 10 of us headed to the movies! Normally movie tickets are about $22 but we got some super student discount thing through Sydney Uni so we were able to go for $9!! We decided to see Pirates of the Carrabean 4. Seeing a movie in Oz was one of the things I get to cross of my Oz bucket list yay! Then four of us girls headed over to Jenn's appartment and had a little sleepover, silly dancing, movie making, giggling and all! It was really nice to be able to get to know some of these girls better! :)
This morning we all got up and made oments and tea together, some of the girls had to leave pretty early but I was able to just chill with Jenney for most of the morning. Then I caught the bus back to Newtown, gave my roome a thourough cleaning then headed over to Erins, where I am currently! We're going to spend the arvo together and head out to town for dinner! Then my friend Kathryn from church is having a birthday party out at Sydney Harbour so I'm gonna get a pretty and hit up the city! :)
Tomorrow Erin Jess & I are planning on doing a massive hike on the coast line a few hours from Sydney... we're on a hunt for something... I'll tell you what it is next time... gotta leave you waiting with something to look forward to! :D
So my birthday was on the 12th of May and little did I know that it was about to honestly be the best birthday that I've ever had in my entire life! In the beginning of the month I was a bit sad that I was going to have my 21st away from home, family and friends so I had just planned on getting together with a few friends for a little Mexican dinner then going salsa dancing with whoever else wanted to come along (this is basically what I do for all of my birthdays.... lets be honest, it's the only time I can get people to actually try salsa dancing!). The day of my actual birthday was quite stressful because I had a presentation I had to do alone in one of my classes, but it ended up going really well so I was on cloud 9 the rest of the day! That night Carrie came back to Sydney and planned on staying for week and a half! That Friday night Carrie and I were able to go on a cruise, basically for free using my student credit so we danced the night away under the Sydney Harbour lights, it was amazing! The next day we had planned on going to the beach but knowing our indecisive selves we ended up just have a lazy day at my place. That night we headed over to Erin's place where I had planned on having dinner with a few close friends. When we go there I could smell the food from down the stairs so I had assumed that they had started cooking without me... little did I know that Erin was going to lead me into a dark room, wher upon turning on the lights a ton of people screamed "suprise" at me! I was so ridiculously overwhealmed I had no idea what to do with myself! Erin and Carrie had planned an entire surpise party without my knowledge! I still to this day don't understand how this was even possible! Anywho Erin's roommate (my future housemate) even made me a koala cake!
I was physically like shaking the entier night because I couldn't believe my eyes! There were friends from Uni, Church, SUV (where I live) and even some friends from other Uni's too! They prepared and entire taco meal that we ate, followed by cake and ice cream! Then Erin announced another surprise and ushered everyone into the sanctuary (Erin, Jess and Ricardo live in the appt in the chruch so we had access to the whole space). We all sat down and I nervously awaited what was going to happen. Then the screen lit up and there were videos from all of my friends and family at home! Some of them were hillarious (part of what was so funny was that everyone was watching my crazy friends to weird things that no one understood but Carrie and I! haah) but some of them were extreemly touching. I was basically either crying or laughing through the entire thing. Still in shock that not only everyone around me here in Oz knew about this party but also everyone at home! I felt truly universally loved! After the videos were over a few of my aussie friends, Carrie & Erin gave speeches about me! I could not handel the love! It was so encouraging, words cannot explain how amazing this entire night was! Then we took a group picture, here's the majority of the poeople that were present:
Then some friends from Canberra came up, even they knew about the surprise! After that we all just hung out and talked... and even made a fool of ourselves... all in great fun....
The next morning I woke up & headed to church then Pancakes on the rocks with my Canberra buddies, then spent the arvo chilling in the harbour, then worked at night!
The next week Carrie and I went on multiple adventures! On that Tuesday we took a day trip to Katoomba where the Blue Mountains are located. We did a 4 hour hike through the mountains and got fantastic views of the Katoomba falls and The Three Sisters, here are some pix:
Here's my nerdy tourist picture with the Three Sisters:
The next day Carrie went sky diving! Our friend Michael (aka Zebra Cakes) came up from Canberra to go sky diving with Carrie, I'm saving up my money for bungee jumping when I get to New Zealand so I decided to sit this one out. I got to be their personal photographer for the day, which was actually pretty fun! It was so pretty to watch them fall from the sky (that sounds horrible... but look, it's pretty!)
Then afterwards we headed to Zebra Cake's house! His family is from El Salvador and his mother made us some delicious food, it was sooooo good! We hung out there for a bit and took a look at Carrie & Zebra Cakes sky diving videos!
On Thursday I acutally had to go to my lectures & tuts so I did so, after that Carrie & I headed to the Student Life meeting & dinner. Carrie had to say her goodbyes to everyone there because that was the last time she would be able to see them! After dinner we did some final packing then we were off to Melbourne! It was quite hectic at the airport... we decided to fly really cheap... but unfortunatly with cheap flying comes cheap service...the flight before us was cancelled so by the time Carrie and I got there, there were many upset customrs, it was like a mini angry mob... and we were scared that our flight was going to be cancelled too... luckily it wasn't! We got on our flight at 10:30pm and landed at about 11:30. The family we stayed with were kind enough to come and pick us up at such a late hour, even though they live a good hour away from the airport!
This family was honestly one of the best parts about being in Melbourne. They are friends with one of Carrie's aunts and didn't even know us but they were kind enough to invite us into their home and so much more! We had an A-maz-ing bed to sleep in and our very own room! Rob & Lynn basically became our parents for the weekend. They made sure we had a homecooked meal or some sort of food for every meal and even bought us tonsss of snacks throughout the entire weekend! On Friday Carrie I caught the train into the city and just spent the day exploring and looking around. We checked out Federation square and the many allyways filled with packed coffee shops. I even introduced Carrie to Macaroons, my new all time love. I'm straight up hooooooked! Then we just had a lazy Friday night snuggled up in bed watching movies. It felt really good just to snuggle in a bed in a house hold with hot chocolate! The next day Rob & Lynn filled the car with snacks and took us down the Great Ocean Road! I think we drove for about 7 or 8 hours total the entire day, but we stopped often to take pictues and stopped in Apollo Bay for lunch on the shore. Here are some pics from the drive!
We even did some planking..... for those who do not know here is the definition of planking:
Planking is the act of lying face down with arms to the sides of the body, in unusual public spaces and photographing it.... look it up... it's hillarious...
Our flight wsa on Monday morning so we were able to say our goodbyes to some of the family in the moring, then Lynn drove us to the airport. We got back to Sydney around 1ish and we were both so tired! Carrie did some final packing, then we headed to Central Station so she could catch her bus back to Canberra! I said goodbye to her at the station... I won't see here for another two months now! That is the longest we will have ever been apart! I know it sounds pathetic but its going to be really wierd....
The rest of this week has been pretty usual, on Wednesday there were really bad winds and raid so I decided to take a personal day. I literally stayed in my room and just relaxed and skyped home allll day. It was really rejuvinating and just what I needed! I feel like my time here is honestly turning me into an introvert. I legit enjoyed staying in a room by myself for an entire day! So unlike me, but I really really loved it! Last night after the Student Life meeting about 10 of us headed to the movies! Normally movie tickets are about $22 but we got some super student discount thing through Sydney Uni so we were able to go for $9!! We decided to see Pirates of the Carrabean 4. Seeing a movie in Oz was one of the things I get to cross of my Oz bucket list yay! Then four of us girls headed over to Jenn's appartment and had a little sleepover, silly dancing, movie making, giggling and all! It was really nice to be able to get to know some of these girls better! :)
This morning we all got up and made oments and tea together, some of the girls had to leave pretty early but I was able to just chill with Jenney for most of the morning. Then I caught the bus back to Newtown, gave my roome a thourough cleaning then headed over to Erins, where I am currently! We're going to spend the arvo together and head out to town for dinner! Then my friend Kathryn from church is having a birthday party out at Sydney Harbour so I'm gonna get a pretty and hit up the city! :)
Tomorrow Erin Jess & I are planning on doing a massive hike on the coast line a few hours from Sydney... we're on a hunt for something... I'll tell you what it is next time... gotta leave you waiting with something to look forward to! :D
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Oh my Peach Pie!
Yesterday was the day of turn around for me!
Started off the day with getting out of bed late but I'm glad that I did because I had perfect timing for walking to church! On the way to church I pass this park and every week there are families with their young ones have a breaky picnic (which is apparently pretty common here). This week I could hear a kid singing at the top of his voice so I looked around trying to find out which kid was singing, it took me about half a block of looking before I realized that he was in the tree right in front of me singing directly at me and his parents were watching and laughing from afar! It seriously made my day it was so funny! It also got me thinking about how fun it would be to sit in a tree and just sing to the people who pass you by. How lovely! :) It also made me really want to have a family of my own one day.
Church was really good this week. It was a bit overwhelming during the service, oddly enough the subject of focus was blessings on marriages so during worship I was just praying about my future husband and just clarity as far as relationships go as I'm coming to the end of my fasting time (I've been fasting from romantic relationships for a almost a year and a half now). All of a sudden at the end of one of the songs the pastors wife gets up and grabs the mic and looks right at me and says, "as I was worshiping I looked back and saw Dinnah and just saw anointing oi just flowing over her head as she was worshiping and I think that we should just pray for the renewal and new chapter that God is bringing to her life" !!! She asked the people around me to lay hands and the entire church prayed for me right in the middle of the service! I was so blown away I like didn't even know what to do! It was pretty cool just to receive that encouragement... from the entire church ahah
After church there was a shared lunch so we all ate together. We sat and talked for a good 2 hours, it was so lovely & refreshing after spending so many days alone in my room! Afterwards Jess (who lives in the apartment attached to the church) gave me a ride home and insisted that I took some pie home with me. I agreed and about five minutes later she pulls it out of the oven. I had no idea that she had just baked it! It was really delicious... it didn't even make it back to my room... I ate it within the 5 min car ride home haha I forgot how amazing peach pie truly is!!
I spent the rest of the afternoon in the library doing research, then headed back to my place for dinner and writing. After about 3 hours of consistent writing I got soooo unmotivated... around midnight I decided to nap, then wake up at 3am to finish my assignments...accidentally set the wrong alarm and woke up at 6 instead... :/ So I was able to finish one assignment but the other is just going to have to be handed in late...
I was able to skype my whole family, including cousins/aunts/uncles all at the same time this morning! :) It was mothers day at home and they all were celebrating at my house so I was able to see them. It was so fun, and quite enjoyably hectic skyping so many people all at the same time!! haha
Tonight: Work till 11 then finish paper #2!
Started off the day with getting out of bed late but I'm glad that I did because I had perfect timing for walking to church! On the way to church I pass this park and every week there are families with their young ones have a breaky picnic (which is apparently pretty common here). This week I could hear a kid singing at the top of his voice so I looked around trying to find out which kid was singing, it took me about half a block of looking before I realized that he was in the tree right in front of me singing directly at me and his parents were watching and laughing from afar! It seriously made my day it was so funny! It also got me thinking about how fun it would be to sit in a tree and just sing to the people who pass you by. How lovely! :) It also made me really want to have a family of my own one day.
Church was really good this week. It was a bit overwhelming during the service, oddly enough the subject of focus was blessings on marriages so during worship I was just praying about my future husband and just clarity as far as relationships go as I'm coming to the end of my fasting time (I've been fasting from romantic relationships for a almost a year and a half now). All of a sudden at the end of one of the songs the pastors wife gets up and grabs the mic and looks right at me and says, "as I was worshiping I looked back and saw Dinnah and just saw anointing oi just flowing over her head as she was worshiping and I think that we should just pray for the renewal and new chapter that God is bringing to her life" !!! She asked the people around me to lay hands and the entire church prayed for me right in the middle of the service! I was so blown away I like didn't even know what to do! It was pretty cool just to receive that encouragement... from the entire church ahah
After church there was a shared lunch so we all ate together. We sat and talked for a good 2 hours, it was so lovely & refreshing after spending so many days alone in my room! Afterwards Jess (who lives in the apartment attached to the church) gave me a ride home and insisted that I took some pie home with me. I agreed and about five minutes later she pulls it out of the oven. I had no idea that she had just baked it! It was really delicious... it didn't even make it back to my room... I ate it within the 5 min car ride home haha I forgot how amazing peach pie truly is!!
I spent the rest of the afternoon in the library doing research, then headed back to my place for dinner and writing. After about 3 hours of consistent writing I got soooo unmotivated... around midnight I decided to nap, then wake up at 3am to finish my assignments...accidentally set the wrong alarm and woke up at 6 instead... :/ So I was able to finish one assignment but the other is just going to have to be handed in late...
I was able to skype my whole family, including cousins/aunts/uncles all at the same time this morning! :) It was mothers day at home and they all were celebrating at my house so I was able to see them. It was so fun, and quite enjoyably hectic skyping so many people all at the same time!! haha
Tonight: Work till 11 then finish paper #2!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Defeated
I was sooo keen on pulling so many all nighters this week and and DEFEATING school, when in reality I just ended up getting sick and therefor completely defeated by sickness and school. Double whammy.
I was able to totally murder my Pych 1001 essay but the day after I turned it in I woke up feeling horrible. I've spent the majority of the last three days in bed, drinking tea, eating oats and attempting to gather up some brain energy to work on my other major papers due this week but it's mostly been a fail.... there's just too much sinus pressure in my head. It basically hurts to move my body or my head and my throat's soar so eating & breathing hurts too. I just keep telling myself that in exactly one week all of my assignments will be done, turned in and presented, I will be feeling all better, Carrie will be back to visit and it shall be my birthday! So much happiness in one weekend, it's overwhelming to think about it! :)
Until then it's back to bed & more reading & writing. This is the first weekend in a longggg time where I literally have absolutely nothing planned (not including one shift at work). It's peace and rest time.
I was able to totally murder my Pych 1001 essay but the day after I turned it in I woke up feeling horrible. I've spent the majority of the last three days in bed, drinking tea, eating oats and attempting to gather up some brain energy to work on my other major papers due this week but it's mostly been a fail.... there's just too much sinus pressure in my head. It basically hurts to move my body or my head and my throat's soar so eating & breathing hurts too. I just keep telling myself that in exactly one week all of my assignments will be done, turned in and presented, I will be feeling all better, Carrie will be back to visit and it shall be my birthday! So much happiness in one weekend, it's overwhelming to think about it! :)
Until then it's back to bed & more reading & writing. This is the first weekend in a longggg time where I literally have absolutely nothing planned (not including one shift at work). It's peace and rest time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)