Living the life!

The official countdown to Dad, Mom, and Sara being here is 10 days. How exciting! AHHHH. The other night I made a whole week itinerary for them, sure hope they aren't jet lagged too bad because its going to be busy busy busy! I think the thing I'm most excited for is the wine tour we're doing! It's an all day thing and we go to 5-8 wineries, a chocolate factory, a cheese factory, and an olive tasting. We picked this one so that Sara could come along and enjoy it as much as Dad, Mom, and I since she's just a little youngster. Hoping we get some awesome wines from the vineyards because I am so terribly sick of this boxed wine bologna.

So, school started this week-wah. I really don't mind it that much I suppose because I only have 1-2 classes a day. My only problem is walking 20 minutes in this heat, OMG I die. I'm going to take the easy card and blame it on my hair because I think it's naturally just more hot in my head than anyone else's. And my only complaint about it is that my body doesn't sweat, just my head and neck. I look like the most out of shape, disgusting, drip sweating american around and it is not pleasant. Luckily the lecture halls I have had classes in have all been air conditioned so far but my one today is not. And guess what, its the hottest today it's been all week, AWESOME. I do enjoy my classes though none the less, they seem pretty fun and easy. All of the classes I'm taking here are 1000 and 2000 level classes but they transfer back to ISU as 300 and 400 level-SCORE. Over here they do things way differently though. In all of my classes we have one massive test that accounts for half our grade at the end of the year and a few quizes and papers along the way. Most of your grade depends on that one, 3 hour long exam. Lucky me, I'm a horrible test taker. But I can't complain too much about school because I have a joke of a schedule and I've already made friends in my classes/have friends from Iowa in them so it's nice.

We have an exciting weekend planned, starting today. Tonight I am going to my very first AFL game! AFL is Australian Football League and from what I can understand it's very similar to rugby with a few other rules and tricks. I'm going to try and read the rules before we go so I have a slight idea of whats going on! Tomorrow is our formal commencement dinner for International House. It's a huge dinner party where everyone gets really dressed up and ritzy and we go to a nice restaurant and bar afterwards. All the girls have been talking about their dresses since I've arrived so I've gathered it's a pretty big deal. And on Saturday we're going back to Sydney! Ah, I love going to Sydney!!! (mostly for the food but hey its alright) We reserved a room at a hostel downtown and were going to celebrate Mardi Gras in Darling Harbour. I've heard the parade and show are just awesome and its insane in the city. I cannot wait to see everyones costumes and what the parade is going to be like! Im so excited! And after this weekend its just one more week until everyone comes to visit! I'm such a lucky girl sometimes!

I'll put some photos of the football game up soon and pictures from Sydney this weekend hopefully!

Finally time to start school!

It is finally the day I have been dreading, the Sunday before classes commence. Been on a break from school for about 3 months now and I feel like it's going to a be a rough start getting back into the swing of things. I did luck out however and have a pretty big joke of a schedule so I guess I can't complain that much. At most, I will only ever have two classes a day and for the first two weeks I only have one class a day. Another cherry topping on my schedule, I only have class 3 days a week. Hello long weekend! I'm thrilled about this long weekend thing because now I can plan all sorts of trips to big cities and other beaches and a few wine tours as well;) Hoping to do a wine tour before Mom and Dad get here so I know how it all works and then I can get them some decent wine because I'm fairly certain they won't like my box of goon.

I have gone on campus twice now trying to find the buildings my classes were in and got lost both times so I'm hoping today I can figure it out so I'm not wandering around like a lost kitten tomorrow!

More Adventures in Newie

Well it is officially orientation week and I really don't think I'm ready for my vacation to come to a stop. I mean it won't really because I'm in Australia but class, ehhh blah.

So orientation here is a two week thing. Last week was just fun things for the colleges(dorms) and this week is the scholastic stuff-the boring stuff. We did a lot of fun stuff last week, there were several cooking classes and a few things to do in town. I re-learned how to make tacos, the mexican here is so sad. I miss El Azteca so much! I need some salsa in my life. Yesterday we had a compulsory information session and I thought I was going to die. It was SOOOOO boring, I fell asleep in the middle. I have NEVER fallen asleep during a class or anything before and I used to be an engineer so thats saying a lot! Before I fell asleep though I did watch some Aborigine people come and dance so that was pretty neat. I was on facebook messenger for most of it too so bless my besties hearts from home for keeping me entertained.

Today was supposed to be an "amazing race" day, yeahhhh. Slept right through that one! Thursday however I have my faculty day for business students that goes from 9-4, please kill me now. I think I'm going to be all alone in that one too so Ill really fall asleep. But the college is really nice and plans fun activities for us after all the boring stuff.

Sunday night was toga night.

Monday night was trivia and games, I failed miserably at that.
Tuesday(tonight) is pool party.
Wednesday is student night, bar crawl.
Thursday is Hawaiian.
Friday is nerdy school night.

So the rest of the week is looking up besides this boring school stuff.
Next week real classes start and granted I only have 3 classes a week I'm still not excited.

Until then, peace out.

Shout Out to my Nugget

Dear Samantha (a.k.a. Nugget), I miss you very much. It is so weird not having you sitting behind me and singing to yourself and watching countless hours of SVU or Grey's. I hope that someone is teaching you how to dress more like a mom and making sure your laundry gets out of the dryer and folded properly. Lamby told me to say hello to the kitty and she hopes that kitty still smells wonderful.

I'm currently texting you and I think that you will be pleased to know I have you in my phone as nugget, if Matteo had whats app and I texted him as well he would obviously be in the phone as Matteo because thats his real name.

As of lately I have been passing the time by looking up adorable little housewife things for our apartment. I'm beginning to think we need a kitchen table so you can cook me delicious meals/bring me home BWW every day. (There's no wings here, yeah I know, shoot me) And for wall decoration we can put up really pretty pictures in frames and have cool curtains on our massive windows! We could even get romantic little candles to light or just have scentsys everywhere, I like the scentsy idea a little better maybe.

I hope you have a wonderful Sunday evening because my Monday is looking up. Maybe I'll hit the beach;) Sorry I had to:)

Last but not least, here's a flight itinerary I took the liberty of finding for you.

Save your money, See you in May.
http://book.statravel.com/staglobe/AirFlightSearchResult.do;jsessionid=FE4EF062B96D0583DEC3DDEE265BF7AE?followAction=AirFlightSearch

The Goon

Yes, The goon struck again. Nasty stuff. For those of you who don't know what goon is, it's just boxed wine. Everything in Australia is far too expensive to buy so we buy the boxed wine. You can get 4 litres for $10, which is even cheaper than it is at home. Why is it so cheap? Because it's TERRIBLE! We've discovered that if you mix it with stuff it doesn't taste as bad so that will help some. And here's how it all started.

On Sunday night two of my best friends, Jake and Gary, from home came to Newcastle to stay for a few days. Nights with these boys always end interesting and with great stories. We had gone to dinner and movie earlier that evening with girls from our block and after the movie I legitimately thought that something had happened to these boys because they hadn't called me yet. Around 9:30 we get a call from Campus Security saying they have two friends of mine, ohhh great. Turns out they weren't actually in trouble they just got lost on campus and asked security for help, smart boys. We made them some PB&J sandwiches and they passed out on the lounges in our den. Monday night we met up with some of Jakes friends from the University of Iowa for some "casual drinks" and there was nothing casual about it.

Let me just say that australians are insane and love to drink. As soon as we walk in the door they made the boys each chug a glass of wine and take a few jager bombs. Steph and I just sat back in shock, it was so overwhelming having all these guys screaming at everyone and drinks were just flying. Gary and Jake had each purchased their own box of goon at the store earlier and Steph and I had our own boxes as well. Needless to say when we came back that night no one had a box anymore-oops. When we told the boys to go get goon they came back saying they couldn't find anything with the name goon on it but they found boxed wine, classic mix up. hahah. Gary didn't handle the wine very well but we managed to get some solid photos of the night.

All in all, it's so nice having the boys here. It's kind of like being at home so it helps with the whole home sickness factor, I'll be super bummed when they leave Thursday though. :(

Tomorrow is slip n slide day so better head to bed and rest up for that. I have a feeling its going to be pretty awesome with the hills and everything on campus!

Arrival in Newcastle! (aka school-blah)

Can I just say how nice it is to not be living out of a suitcase anymore? Geesh that sucked, backpacking is definitely not my thing! I hated not having any privacy and just moving my life around in 20 kg, blah. But on a positive note, I'm finally at school! I'm always excited for school in Ames but school here just seems 1092384x more awesome!

It's now my second full day in Newcastle and I love every little piece of it! The University, or Uni as they call it, that I'm attending is called The University of Newcastle and I'm enrolled on the Callaghan campus. I thought that the ISU campus was large and this is at least three times the size of that! It's set up similar to the University of Iowa in the sense that campus is like a town. There's several restaurants on both sides of campus and quite a few pubs, go figure, along with little campus shops and trinket places. We tried to walk around yesterday and find our classes and failed miserably. We walked into town almost and then on the way back got stuck in a rain storm, just my luck. We eventually found our way back and next time I will definitely take someone from here along with me so I don't get lost.

The colleges here are set up quite differently than they are at home. The college is actually the residence halls, so I live in International House College. The campus is the actual 'Uni' and no one calls it University, they love shortening up words whenever possible I have noticed.

My room looks a bit like a jail cell but I love it! Its a great size for one person and I have so much storage and shelving! Only downfall is that it doesn't have air conditioning or wifi. (I'm currently using an ethernet-kicking it old school) Pardon my mess but I can have my room set up however I want and the mess is cozy. :) I have a tiny little bed that is dire need of a memory foam topper but oh well, a huge wall desk with a massive shelve on it, and a large wardrobe that is extremely empty because I didn't pack hardly any clothes. Definitely need to hit the mall A.S.A.P!

Everyone here has been so nice and taken us to the shopping centre, which has The Big W and Woolie's (Wal-Mart and grocery store) in it, twice now. I finally have sheets and a blanket and towels, you know the necessary things. Went to the grocery store twice now and I think I finally have enough stuff to make a decent meal. I made yummy guacamole tonight for Steph and I. :) The produce here is wonderful, the meat-ehhhh not so much. Anything besides sheep and red deer meat is outrageously expensive compared to at home and cheese. Don't even get me started on how expensive cheese is BUT I bought some today and its glorious. I found a really cheap brand of soda I sort of enjoy and coffee too. They don't brew coffee over here unless you work in a cafe, all the coffee is instant. HATE IT, but I make do. While we were traveling someone told us this neat and absolutely amazing thing to do with your coffee. Over here they have these biscuits called Tim Tams and they are GLORIOUS, I'll probably send like 10 boxes home before I leave, but they're a chocolate coated wafer cookie. If you bite the ends of the Tim Tam off you can use it as a straw in your coffee and it gets all gooey and melted and absolutely amazing. I don't even care that I'm having a cookie for breakfast because its AMAZING.

Not only are Tim Tam's going to kill me but the chocolate here is soooo much better than it is at home. I love it. Everywhere we go I want another candy bar. I've discovered Cadbury pods which helps my cravings. They're a little chocolate circle with filling inside of it, kinda like stuff we have at home; they're bite sized so a little better for my craving.

Needless to say I love it here and will probably struggle to come home. I have a feeling I'll want to go home but then want to come back two weeks later. I wish it wasn't so darn expensive! But Dad, Mom, and Sara are coming in a month and I am SOOOOOOOO EXCITED. I only wish they could bring Libby with:(

As a nice little closing treat, these little creatures are roaming all over the college. Scared the living daylights out of me the first time I saw one.

Say hello to the Skink. Nasty little lizards. They range in size from an inch to a foot long-SICK.

Life as a Kiwi

Hello everyone! Finally at school now with stable Internet and an actual computer so the blogs should be coming at a steady pace-hopefully!

I'll try to fill everyone in from where I left off last time!

That gorgeous place is Milford Sound. Steph and I were so lucky with the weather on our travels and were there for another gorgeous day! It was AMAZING. There were hundreds of waterfalls everywhere and the sound actually opened up into the Tasman Sea! We took a cruise around in there and went out to the sea and then to an underwater observatory center. I cannot even begin to describe how pretty everything is in New Zealand but it was just absolutely awesome. This was a whole day trip, as it took us nearly four hours to get to Milford and another four back. So worth it though!

We stayed in Queenstown for a total of 6 days and it honestly wasn't enough. I absolutely loved it there, it had a little bit of everything. We were lucky enough to not have to switch rooms at any point in the stay so we let our bags explode all over the room a bit-oops. While we were in Queenstown we did a little bit of everything. We bungy jumped, as I previously mentioned, which was awesome. The bungy just wasn't enough for us though so we went canyon swinging and that was the perfect mix of awesome and terrifying at the same time. I tried to upload a video of it soo if it works, watch it, if not ehhh oh well.  We went out with the friends we made on the Kiwi bus almost every night which was always fun. Everyone was from different countries so we all danced differently which always made the nights interesting. One night didn't end too well for Steph and I however. They have a lot of boxed wine in New Zealand and Australia and they call it goon-terrible stuff. The word Goon comes from the aborigine word for pillow because when the bag of wine is empty it blows up into a pillow, how creative! So Steph and I managed to drink the whole box(4 litres) and had massive headaches the next day. Oops. We decided we were allowed one crazy night though! We did a lot of shopping and went to the beach, basically just enjoyed the town a lot. On our last night we went on a little date to a nice restaurant and treated ourselves to seafood.

It was definitely the most interesting plate of seafood I have ever received. I wish I would've snapped a photo of it before I ate it all-shoot. But everything came in shells and the prawns still had their heads on and everything! I had NO idea how to even begin to dig into my food, total tourist move! Look at all those shells! Needless to say the food was amazing.

We met so many awesome people on our trip so it was sad to leave everyone we met on the bus and in Queenstown, but it had to be done. We left Queenstown on the morning of the 6th and traveled to a tiny tiny town called Geraldine. We didn't actually stay in Geraldine but traveled to a little farm about 30 minutes outside of town. All the farms in New Zealand are just MASSIVE and are actually called stations. The little old man that took us out to the farm was telling us about how everything worked. His family had owned the land for over 150 years and their station is about 15,000 acres! I couldn't even imagine farming that much land, and they only have 6 people that work on the farm! Talk about hard work! Most of the farmers there have sheep, red deer, beef, and field grass. Since the land is very hilly the animals just roam as they please and come back in for winter, just mind boggling.

ANYWHO. So we went to this farm and stayed in the Rangitata Rafting Lodge. It was in the middle of no where but such a cute little place. For the rafting package we booked we received three meals, a hot dessert, a ride to Christchurch, a place to stay, and the rafting tour. It was a nice little deal, and the rafting was awesome! Weird thing about it was that they had group showers instead of individual ones and the dorms were 9 sleepers so the bunks were three high! I would've been so scared to sleep on the tip-top!

The rafting was really really fun though. We rafted on the Rangitata River, which is formed from glacier run off so the water was ice cold but a super pretty blue. We actually had to raft ourselves instead of a guide doing everything which made it more fun I think. After rafting we got to swim in the rapids and float down the river and do some cliff jumps. I oddly became a bit of an adrenaline junkie on this vacation!

After rafting we went to Christchurch to get ready to fly back to Australia. The city suffered a MAJOR earthquake last summer and the devastation is unreal. The city has just died, it was so sad to see everything.



If only I had a video recording of what I am about to tell you, you would all laugh hysterically at us. We made the mistake of taking the train to Newcastle with all our luggage. Dumbest idea I think I've had in a  long time. I had three rolling bags and two hands, if you can visualize this in your head just imagine the biggest struggle ever. The 10 minute walk to the train station turned into a muscle building, sweat accumulating, blister forming, 40 minute pure torture walk. Trying to drag my bags through an extremely busy Sydney train station was hell. By the time I got to the ticket stand I was dripping in sweat and my arms were pulsing with pain. It took us another three elevator rides and 20 minutes before we even got on the train. Needless to say that when we fly back out I will be taking a taxi the whole way to the airport. I hate luggage officially now.

I am finally in Newcastle though! It is amazing to be settled-ish into my room and the campus is gorgeous. I love the privacy and the set up of the dorm. I'll clean my room and take pictures of it so you can all see later. Forewarning: it looks like a jail cell from the 70's kinda. But I'm enjoying it and that's all that matters, right?