As I am writing this, I am currently on my way to Melbourne. Excited for another weekend filled with adventures and memories. It’s crazy thinking I will be home in 2 months…

Last weekend I hung around campus for the beginning of my long weekend. I wasn’t planning any trips this weekend mainly because I had a trip with my program on Sunday to Bryon Bay. Bryon Bay is located in New South wales which is south of the Gold Coast and about a little over an hour of a drive.

So what did I do in Bryon?

Around 9am our two program advisors picked up us at Bond and we were off! There are I think 28 students in my group so to do surfing when we are in Bryon we had to split into two separate groups. I picked to go in the first group, which was probably a good choice because it is a little tiring having to keep going back out into the water when surfing. Our instructor made sure were aware of the water safety and then taught us the moves to surfing, which are pretty simple. To start, first lay down and put your toes a tad over the tail of the board. Then, once you are done paddling put your knees together in the middle of the board and sit on them while placing your hands just out side of your knees. Using your hands help yourself balance and stand up making sure your back foot is in front of this mark on the board. Now just balance! Seems easy, right?! I went a few times and was up for a couple seconds. I guess we were out there for a while but it didn’t seem like it because I kept getting pushed by the waves. I would like to go surfing again because it doesn’t seem that hard just need more practice. It was nice having a couple instructors out there in the water with us because they would help us turn around and then tell us when to get ready to go. Also, to note my board was very big and hard to carry because I have short arms. One of the instructors saw me struggling on the way back after surfing and was nice enough to carry it back for me.

After surfing many of us were hungry, so a small group of us went to this Mexican restaurant called Miss Magarita. As most of you know I love Mexican food so it was the perfect fit. I got a strawberry magarita and a snapper and mango burrito, which were both delicious. Bryon has a small area of shops so I picked up some postcards and a pin of course and just looked around at the cute little shops.

\         

After my free time in the area both groups met back up and we went up to the lighthouse trail area and looked around there. The lighthouse, the trail, and beach were all beautiful. Many of us were adventerous and went on the rocks that were over looking the ocean, that were a little of the beaten path. I didn’t go too far though because it would have been a little ways jumping through the rocks to get back on the trail. After sightseeing we took the bus back home and well the bus was pretty quite from a long day.

Talk to you all in my next post, Melbourne!

Emily

Seems like it has been a while since I have posted, so I have lots to tell you. I even forgot to add Miami Marketta to my last post, which happened after my pool dive for my scuba certification. So just to prepare you this might be a long post.

     So on the Friday, the night after I finished my pool dive I hurried around and met up with a girl named Julie. I met Julie through try and the dive the week before. She asked me if I wanted to go to the Miami Marketta because there was free transportation provided by the Bond Exchange Club. So I said sure, it was a night to get some different food instead of eating on campus. Miami Marketta is in this little Alley way with some shops, live music, and mainly food. I got some nachos and then some gelato after. We left at 5:30 and the bus back wasn’t going to leave until like 8:30. There wasn’t much to do after you have seen a couple of shops that they have, eat, and listen to some music. So we ventured out around the Miami area. There was literally nothing to see. So we just walked and decided to head back a little after 8, so we would be there early for the bus. We got back at 8:10 and the bus was pulling away. We pulled up the Facebook page and the post says “THE BUS IS LEAVING NOW” at 8:10. Not cool. Luckily, when Julie and I were walking around we knew where a bus stop was so we could get back. From there we had to go out of our way to Broadbeach which is north of Bond and Miami is directly east of Bond. We went to Broadbeach station and transferred buses to get back to Bond. Took a little longer than the free transportation would have but hey at least we know how to get around the area.

Miami Marketta

     This past weekend I went on a trip to Moreton Island. It was a two day trip. Moreton Island is located east of Brisbane and where I am, Gold Coast is south of Brisbane. Brisbane is about an hour drive away by car and Moreton Island is an hour and a half ferry ride. The company I booked my trip through picked us up at the university and drove us to Brisbane to get on the ferry. I was a little shocked that it was going to take an hour and half, but I guess it would take longer because we were on a ferry. Moreton Island is the third largest sand island with Fraser Island (which is north of Moreton Island) being the biggest. So basically to get around the island you need 4WD if you are wanting to explore different part of the Island. On the bottom of the ferry many people brings cars over with them. Our tour guide already had his car there so we were already set. Apparently the police had been on the island that day so he didn’t want to put too many people in the sunrover so another girl and I just walked the beach to meet up with them. So we just met him somewhere so he could pick us up to take us to the desert to go sandboarding. Honestly, I was happy walking the beach because we saw so many starfish and it was just gorgeous walking on the beach.  

West Side of Moreton Island

     So we got picked up and started driving to the desert. Let me tell you, if you get motion sickness easily, walking may be better for you. The car rides can be rough because you are just driving on sand. If you are driving along the water you’ll be fine but in the middle of the island with the hilly trails and stuff it can be rocky, so if you get car sick easily SIT IN THE FRONT.

     Sandboarding was fun! It was scary a bit the first time because I didn’t know what to expect. The second time was definitely more enjoyable. You have to make sure you keep your feet up in the back and your board up with your hands. If you don’t hold your board of up with your hand you will most likely get a lot more sand in your face than you are already going to get (close your mouth lol). The worst part is hiking up that dune. My calves killed! I got a good workout that weekend from just walking in sand all the time.

https://instagram.com/p/8sf0oflN53/?taken-by=lilemmy7

     Next we drove on back to the west side of the island to go snorkeling around some sunken ships. But wait, hold up we got stuck first because a bus got stuck in the sand. Busses should not be allowed. Well and other cars get stuck too, but fortunately our tour guide was a really good driver. We ate our lunch because we didn’t know how long it would take but luckily it only ended up being ten minutes. Back to snorkeling… It was really cool to snorkel because coral had grown on the ships. There were lots of groups and groups of fish. I guess some people saw a couple smaller sharks, but I didn’t see any. They like to camouflage themselves into and under the ships. A couple girls said they saw one swim right under them. The water was so clear, a tad chilly, but it was still a gorgeous day out.

     After snorkeling we went to our campsite, where there were tents set up and a place to eat. It was really a nice set up. We just relaxed for bit on the beach which was right out of our campsite. We got to watch the sunset, which was beautiful. We then ate some burgers and went back to the beach after to look at the stars. There were so many, it was ridiculous how man you could see. After gazing at the stars we headed back to a camp fire where our tour guide, Rhett played some songs on the guitar. We were all pretty beat from the day so we went to bed early. Oh and I almost forgot to mention at night we saw some pretty big spiders. The big spiders do really exist here in Australia. BEWARE!

The beach outside our campsite.

     After sleeping in our tents for a night we got up and ate some breakfast. I had peanut butter with my toast and had a couple of oranges. I get happy when they have peanut butter! After breakfast half of us headed to Mount Tempest. The second group would come later. They past us on the trail as they were coming up and we were going down. The trail was pretty tough. Luckily we didn’t take the two and a half hour route we just took the forty minute one. Walking up sand is pretty hard as you can imagine so we all just kind of booked up the hill, taking a few small breaks. The top was gorgeous, you could see from all directions on the island.

 Mount Tempest

     Next we went to Blue Lagoon which was a fresh water lake on the island. Is was quiet. A few people ended up coming later but it was nice to hang out there for a bit. We then grabbed some lunch at another campground site that our tour guide company uses. We had a few last stops on our trip. We checked out the lighthouse area and then hiked around Honeymoon Bay which were both cool places. We took the afternoon ferry home and I was pretty exhausted just from those two days. I really had a great time and I am glad I had the opportunity to go to Moreton Island. Also, I didn’t know anyone on the trip and still really enjoyed it. For future study abroad students I strongly recommend going on a trip where you don’t know anyone, at least one. It makes the experience just that much better.

     Next week begins Week 6 of classes. Which means I am half way down with classes. That is crazy to think but most of my assignments are starting to hit in the middle of the semester and towards the end. In just a couple days I’ll be home two months from now. Well I better go now. I got to rest up for surfing tomorrow at Bryon Bay. Can’t wait to tell you about it in my next post.

Stay tuned!

Love,

Emily

This past weekend, I got my scuba diving certification! YAY!! So let me tell you about the process…

A week ago at the pool they had an event called try and dive. I went to that and thought it was pretty cool so I decided to get my certification!

Side note: A lot of places in Cairns (The Great Barrier Reef area) I’ve heard have a beginner intro dive and then have a small dive after. So, some places you do not necessarily have to be certified because they have an intro course. Being a certified diver I can go on with a group, instructor, or just go dive with a buddy. Obviously, I can’t go without going to a shop since I do not have my own gear.

The scuba dive club spots filled up pretty fast, so I did not think that I would be able to get certified. I went on the wait list and was able to get in! Friday, the first day of the certification, I started at the pool where I learned skills with about a three other people for a good three hours. We learned skills such as how to deflate our BCD when descending and when ascending we deflate but inflate at the surface of the water. We learned how to take our masks off under water and how to get the water out of your mask if you are under water and it falls off. If we lose our regulator, we learned how to grab for it on the back right side, how to check our air, take our gear off and on in the water, we practiced using our buddy’s alternative regulator, and learned many other signals.

On Saturday we headed to Tweed River. We took few cars to the shop and got all our gear situated and headed to the river. We learned more skills on the two separate dives we had that day while also seeing and feeding fish on the dive. A few of us saw a shark that was hiding back in a cave, which was pretty cool. A third year (a senior), who leads the scuba club has a GoPro which is basically an underwater selfie stick that is high quality. So he took pictures of us on Saturday which was nice of him so we didn’t have to worry about taking photos. Between all the days we also had a few quizzes to take online and in the shop. On Sunday we had two more dives at Tweed River where we only had a couple skills left to do. Keeping in mind these days were long and tiring. The gear is heavy and it is hard to get in and out of the water. By Sunday everyone was really getting the hang of things! Unfortunately on Sunday my mouth piece was broken on my first dive so I had to come up a little early with my buddy but on the second dive I was good, I ended up using my alternative regulator.

One of the girls from the shop who has her masters in scuba diving was super nice to me. She knew how I felt on my first dive that day, she said she was a mess on her dives for her certification. She said our group was doing really well except for the fact that they thought they lost one guy on Saturday. Short story, pretty much the guy lost his buddy and came up and looked around for 5 minutes and then went back down to find his buddy. That is a big NO NO. You do not go back down in the water. The instructors almost had heart attacks because they thought they lost him. They gave him a pretty hard time and said that next time he needs to wait for an instructor to come up. On Sunday I made a boo boo though. I was changing my air tank and my tank fell over onto the girl instructor from the shop. She had been so nice to me and I felt so bad. Luckily, I do not think she broke it was just very sore. There I go, I’m always breaking things!! BEWARE! 🙁

It was a pretty tiring weekend but I took my written test on Sunday and passed! I’M NOW CERTIFIED!

I’m onto week 4 of classes. Workload is starting to increase a little more but other than that I’m loving it! Hoping to do some fun stuff Wednesday thru Friday, like a beach day or just explore around the Gold Coast. The public transportation is so cheap and hey the beach is FREE!

Going to Moreton Island this coming weekend. It’s an island off of Brisbane where I will camp with a group overnight Saturday to Sunday.

Talk to you all later! Love you much,

Emily

Hey all,

So Wednesday through Friday is probably when I am going to be posting most of my blogs posts. The reason for the end of the week is because in the beginning of the week I have classes and schoolwork. I will be posting once a week to keep you all updated.

This past week I had my first full week of classes. Well a full week as in my normal Monday thru Wednesday class schedule. Like I said in my last post I am enjoying my classes so far and they are pretty interesting. I am already learning a lot in my design communications class. We learn about terms and art in lecture and get use to photoshop in the tutorial. I’ve already picked up some basic tools in photoshop and cannot wait to learn more in the next 11 weeks!

Last week on Saturday I went to Broadbeach with my Australian friend Georgia. The beach was pretty rough so we mainly just walked the beach while we were there and hung out. Georgia got in the water but she said the waves were very strong. I just dipped my feet in. We then took the bus back to campus which was only like a 15-20 minute bus ride away.

This past Sunday I visited the The Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. This trip was included in my program. So the bus picked us up at Bond and it took us like 15-20 minutes to get to there. The first thing most of the group did was get pictures with a koala. Wow, was that an experience! They were so cute!! They had one out that people were holding and taking pictures with but then they got a second one out. I do not understand how they pick which koala to bring out but they brought out the one that was sleeping. Maybe they think they are more calm. The koalas seem pretty laid back there though. All I know is that I got the one that they just woke up and it started pooping. The woman was showing me how to hold the koala ( you put your hands together as if you are going to lift someone in cheer) and it started pooping so before I held the koala I let go because it was pooping. The lady was said, “That’s what they do, they poop.” I knew that! It just wouldn’t stop pooping. Anyways she let me pet it on the back and then I held it. They are pretty soft but they are a tad smelly. They have this sour sort of smell to them that just lingers in the area which they live.     

After visiting the Koalas I went with a couple girls and looked at snakes and lizards. I’m not a huge fan of snakes so I didn’t take many pictures of them plus it was dark in that area. Side note, there are lizards everywhere which is kind of cool. After that we hopped on the train which can take people to many different stops. We got off at the third stop which was were the kangaroos were. MY FAVORITE! They were all just chilling in the grass when we got off the train. I saw some hopping but most of them were pretty mellow. So we got some pictures and selfies with them. They are soft and just the cutest creatures ever! We also ended up going in an area where they had more kangaroos it said they were red kangaroos. There was a cute little joey we got to see and one of the workers said it was about 8 months old. We also saw some other animals, even wombats! I’ll put some pictures below of them. Lastly we watched an aboriginal show which was cool. They performed a few  dances and played the didgeridoo (most likely the world’s oldest instrument).

KANGAROO SELFIE!

JOEY 🙂

Talk to you soon,

Emily

     This past week I moved into Bond University (they call it Uni here)! The campus is gorgeous and even has a lake that comes through a part of the campus. The lake is said to have bull sharks in it but many of us Americans still aren’t sure if the Aussies are lying to us. Aussies do have a sense of humor here so it can be hard to know when they are being sarcastic or not.

     The week consisted of relaxing, exploring, and settling in. This past week I made a few trips to the mall. This mall here is huge! It is so frustrating because the layout of the stores is all over the place and everyone really just wants to get in and out of there. I did not buy an insane amount of things it was just essentials like laundry detergent (nothing too fun to buy). I made another stop at the mall to buy a SIM card for my phone. Basically what a SIM card is, is it has your carrier in it (like Verizon). So I got a new SIM card at Vodofone which is an Australian carrier. They have a packaged discount for students at Bond University. That deal allowed me to get unlimited calling and texting to Australian numbers as well as international numbers. I also got more data (internet) for being a student. I will have plenty of data which will be nice when traveling.

     A group of us took the bus to Burleigh Heads to visit the national park and the beach. Another great thing about being a student is that I get a discount for the bus. So I got a card that I load money onto and it can take me to several beaches, a train station, and many other places. Anyways, we first went to the national park which is on the edge of the beach. Entering the park, the trail starts to go up on an incline that leads you up to beautiful lookouts. On the way up to the lookouts we spotted turkeys and lizards. The turkeys were a little different looking so we asked a worker in the park what they were called and he said they are called brush turkeys. When we reached the top lookout you could see the edge of the water and farther down where cities were along the coastline. My group were rebels and jumped the fence to be on the rocks to take some cool pictures and to soak in the sights of Australia.

     We then headed back to the beach. Going up the trail in the park we got pretty hot so we thought getting in the water would be refreshing. I thought it might be cold but it was like the lake. I just eased in the water and it felt great! We wanted to go and ride the waves, so we did! The only bad thing is when you get out to the waves the current takes you with it. They have flags where the swimming area is so I just made sure I stayed in that area. I was having trouble getting out to where the rest of my friends were but they told me that I just had to get a little farther out to not get taken by the current as much. After swimming I went to lay on the beach but the weather was starting to get cold and we were all hungry so we stopped at a local restaurant and took the bus home.

     This week there were events going on for O-Week (orientation week). I went to a themed party called Tight and Bright at Don’s Tavern on campus. I had an outfit in mind but then my roommate gave me these tie dye pants to wear and it was perfect! The party was nice because I was able to talk to a few Australians which is always nice.

     Something about Australia to note is that they are for the most part pretty chill. The service here though isn’t as rushed as it is in America. They aren’t rushing around trying to get everyone’s order out if there is a line. Like I said earlier a lot of them have a good sense of humor. For the most part our service at restaurants has been good. Two things to note about when going out to a restaurant: do not tip and food is not brought out all together. In Australia they are getting paid however much the restaurant is paying them. That can obviously have its pros and cons but that is just how it is here. Many places I have been to in Australia the food doesn’t all necessarily come out at the same time. For instance, in America they usually wait until all the entrees are ready to be served to the table. Those are just some things I have noticed since I have been in Australia. I’m sure I will have more to tell you in the future.

This week is my first week of classes. I am taking Public Relations, Australian history, Crime and Deviance in Australia, and Design Communications (Adobe software using Photoshop and Illustrator). I have classes Monday, Tuesday, Wedensday, and do not have classes on Thursday and Friday. So far the classes have been very interesting. All my professors are Australian and have great backgrounds of the field of which they are teaching. I can’t wait to see what this semester brings!

Talk to you later,

Emily

Hey all! A few days ago I made it to my temporary home, the Gold Coast! All though it is like paradise here I am going to tell you about my past weekend in Sydney!

So on Friday I arrived in Sydney and was very tired and exhausted from a 15 hour flight. Even though I slept the traveling was pretty tiring. On the plane I met a girl named Brooke who was also in my program. There were a few other students from my program on my flight. After getting through the busy and confusing part of customs I picked up my bags and met up with my group and on site director Jackie!

Jackie is awesome! She is like my group’s Aussie mom. Jackie lives in the Gold Coast as well as another team member, Keith of CISAbroad that was staying with us in Australia.

On Friday the group and I stayed at the Sydney Harbour YHA (Youth Hostelling Association). The hostel was in an area called “the rocks” which is the older part of Sydney by the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. When a group of us got there we just chilled out at a bar and looked out at the gorgeous sites of Sydney. We were waiting on a couple of other groups from the airport to meet up with us before lunch. We headed out into the city to lunch at a place called Bar100 where I got a chicken burger. I think chicken burgers are a popular thing here because I have seen many restaurants with that on their menu. In the afternoon the group had a scavenger hunt where we were suppose to do or find certain things. For example, we had to take a picture with an employee at an art museum. So two of us took a picture with a hot Aussie. My friend was having trouble taking the picture because he was so good looking. We explored the area by the Opera house gardens and had a grand ole time doing that. Next we went to the Pylon Lookout, which is next to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We took a lot of stairs up to the top but the view was definitely worth it with a site of the bridge and the Opera House. Later that night we went to dinner at The Australia Hotel where I tried Kangaroo pizza. I really do not know how to explain what it tasted like but they put a sauce in the pizza that made it taste like barbeque sauce. Kangaroo does not taste like chicken or beef. Ok more like beef I guess but I can definitely tell it is not beef.

On Saturday we hit up Bondi Beach and tried some Aussie style pies. When I mean pies I do not mean fruit or cream pie. I mean these pies have all sorts of ingredients in them. The one I got was the classic and was one they recommended us to try. It had peas on top, mash potatoes, gravy, and of course the crust around it. I wasn’t a big fan of it but did eat some of it because I was very hungry. The weather was pretty cold that day so we walked the trails, around the beach, which had some awesome lookouts. I think Aussie’s could tell we were tourists because we went too close to the waves and got bombarded by them. They also had these ocean swimming pools on the ends of the beach. They were very cool! Huge waves would come over the edges of pools and the people that were trying to do laps wouldn’t be swimming as straight anymore. After that we just explored the shops around Bondi beach and headed back for a night out with the group. My friends and I looked around and found a nice place to eat.

            On Sunday we took a ferry (Circular Quay: Wharf. 3) and headed to Manly. We kayaked on the Harbour taking a few stops to hike up to a lookout, we ate lunch, and explored a museum where they talked about how they dealt with diseases by putting people in quarantine. We were all so hungry that we ended up eating at our second stop and then by the third stop they hooked all the kayaks up to the back of the boat and let us cruise on back to the dock. We explored manly beach area but were ready to head back soon after because we were wet from kayaking and it was quite chilly out. Our last night out in Sydney was a great one! We had walked past the restaurant the night before and everyone was all dressed up and ready to party. That night was a little bit more laid back because it was Sunday night. The place was awesome, they had a live band and a great DJ. I got a burger and fries but the burger had something different on the bottom like sautéed onions or something which made it very different but good. My friends and I got a few drinks and stayed later than the rest of the group enjoying our last night in Sydney.

Talk to you all soon,

Emily

            I am excited to say that I am officially on my way to Australia! Today did not start as smooth as I had hoped but I cannot really complain since I am having this great opportunity of studying abroad. Basically what happened in a quick nutshell is that my visa did not match my passport. The airline and the embassy tried to help but could only help me to a certain extent. I found a way to fix my visa and well that was solved luckily. Unfortunately I missed my flight from South Bend to Chicago but fortunately my parents were both able to drive me to Chicago and say our goodbyes there. As I currently sit on this flight to San Francisco I am constantly reminded of how lucky I am to not only have this opportunity but the support from my parents and family. I cannot wait to share my experience with you and I look forward to spending the next few days in Sydney.

Emily