Spring break is in session!!!

My last day of class was technically supposed to be on Friday, but I decided to reward myself for all my “hard work” at uni (university—it’s how Aussies refer to school) and started my holiday (that’s what they call breaks in Oz) on Thursday instead. Haha, I actually only left early because the flight was cheaper. =P

Gosh, I just have to put it out there that I’m HORRIBLE at preparing for trips. I swear…ALL (there have been 4) of the trips I’ve gone on, I literally finish (sometimes not completely) packing 2 seconds before I leave my apartment. See, the first time it happened (on my Sydney trip), I was actually super proud of myself. My flight was really early on a Friday morning, and I went to an International Grand Gala the Thursday night right before it. That night didn’t end so well for me. At that moment, that night was the closest I had ever gotten to blacking out. I went to bed ridiculously early, and miraculously woke up on my own at like 4am and was like “CRAP! I need to pack!” So I drunkenly start packing for my weekend in Sydney/the Blue Mountains, and surprisingly, I didn’t forget anything! I even remembered to bring my cell phone charger. I was impressed haha. But unfortunately, I think that this led me to believe that I’ll be just fine every time I try to pack at the last minute. =P

On my rock climbing trip to the Grampians/Mt. Arapiles, I had a project due the day I was supposed to leave. So what did I do? I finished my project at about 6:30am and frantically started packing. I don’t own one of those backpacking backpacks so I was trying to stuff everything (clothes, a towel, toiletries, food, etc.) into my school backpack. Didn’t really work out as planned. I ended up having to weigh the importance of items against each other and thinking things like, “Shorts? I don’t need that” and proceeded to remove them from my bag. “Another pair of jeans? Don’t need that either. They’re just going to get dirty anyway.” =P

This past weekend was my trip to Straddie (North Stradbroke) Island, the 2nd largest sand island in the world. I had an assignment due on Friday, but my flight was on Thursday. I pulled another all-nighter, and finished my project with a good amount of time before I had to leave. But I still had to pack, shower, and do some work on this group project that’s due first thing after break but that I won’t get a chance to work on while I’m gone. As I’m working on my group project I notice a problem in our calculations and am sitting there trying to work it out as time keeps ticking away. I’m multitasking like no other—packing, getting ready, trying to think of how to solve the problem, and trying to print out my flight itinerary info. SHIT. The next thing I know, it’s 10:25am. The shuttle that I have to catch is coming at 10:30am, and I still haven’t turned in my assignment yet! My computer’s being a bitch and has frozen on me so I can’t print out anything. Luckily I already printed my assignment so I grab that and literally run all the way to uni and back. As I’m bookin’ it back to my apartment Whitney calls me asking me where I am and says how the bus driver wants to leave NOW. I tell her that I’m on my way, run up the stairs because I didn’t want to wait for the elevator, grabbed my bag which wasn’t completely packed, and barely caught the shuttle. That driver was PISSED. He was telling Whitney how they normally only wait 3 minutes and was grumpy during the entire drive. He must hate his job.

Anyway, I made it to the Gold Coast and Straddie Island just fine. There was a heck of a lot of riding around in a bus, but I definitely enjoyed the trip. The beaches I went to were probably the most beautiful ones I’ve ever been to in my entire life. The water was a vivid blue-green, and the sand was litter-free and so fine that it squeaked with every step that we took. Just amazingly breathtaking sites.

While in Straddie I had a couple of more firsts—first time surfing, sandboarding, AND sea kayaking. Sea kayaking was “eh.” I mean it was alright, but we didn’t go out for very long. Surfing was a lot better than I thought it would be. Before, I was super scared to even attempt surfing since I’m not a strong swimmer. But I got to give it a go in about chest-height water level so my swimming skillz wasn’t that big a deterrent. Although, I did swallow a mouthful of water when I was trying to go out and encountered a huge wave. It was ridiculous. The waves just didn’t quit. Despite the fact that I wasn’t that far out in the ocean, the waves were still a decent size and just kept coming in these continuous sets. In the end though I was able to stand up for about 2 seconds! Yup, I know. I rock. =P

Sandboarding was definitely the best activity out of all them. You’d think it’s like snowboarding, and it sort of is, but much harder to steer. You’re feet are only strapped in by straps that go over the top of each foot. So you basically just slip your feet in and go. I did well at first, but when I went down the longer and steeper slopes, that meant more time for my board to go completely perpendicular to my direction of motion, which caused me to eat it BAD with face-fulls of sand. Every inch of my face was covered and thanks to the many layers of sunscreen I put on, it was almost impossible to get the sand off.

We also got to go to Brown Lake, which is this awesome fresh water lake that’s brown because of the tea tree oil in the lake. It’s supposed to be a “lake of youth” or something like that because of that. I really enjoyed playing around in that lake, even though I didn’t notice a dramatic change in my skin/hair. Others claimed that their skin felt softer though. =P I just liked the peaceful setting of it. All in all, the Straddie trip was great! We had perfect timing because it was drizzling right at the start, and pouring with thunder and lightning at the end, but throughout our trip the whether was ideal. It’s kind of sad to think that I only have one more trip left with Arcadia. =( At least I’ll have one more with Melbourne Uni too.

I’m in New Zealand right now, and again, I ended up pulling an all-nighter before getting on this flight. But at least this time I finished packing with a decent amount of time to spare. Even so, I decided to stay up for the rest of the time because I was afraid that I wouldn’t wake up if I went to sleep. I’ve only been here for 3 days. I started off at Christchurch and didn’t do much the first day there. Just met up with Whitney, checked out the city a bit, and had dinner. Epack joined us the next day and we visited a botanical garden, a museum, and biked 20+k’s along the Avon river. That was super relaxing…well at least during the non-windy times. I swear, there were points when it seemed like regardless of which direction we were headed in, the wind was ALWAYS against us.

I’m currently at Lake Tekapo (teka-po’) but am going to leave tomorrow morning for Queenstown. Lake Tekapo is an unbelievably stunning turquoise lake that’s next door to snowy mountains and a tiny town. Its flamboyant color is from “rock-on-rock” grinding between glaciers and the lake’s basin, resulting in rock-flour sediment that floats in the melted glacier and refracts the sunlight. I’m so sad that my camera’s broken right now. I don’t know why, but when I take pictures with it, the images become overexposed and have horizontal streaks going across it. I’m still going to try to take pictures, and if anything I’ll just end up stealing pictures from Epack and Whitney. =P It’s only 8:30pm NZ time, but I’m surprisingly tired. I don’t know what I plan on doing with the rest of my night, but I can’t wait to continue on with my Spring Break adventures tomorrow. =D Hopefully I'll be adding pictures in the near future.

Holes to fill

I have holes in my life—holes regarding what I've been doing for the past 2 months in Australia, new holes in my adventure/outdoor-go-to jeans, and a hole inside me that got dug up and emptied quite some time ago. I have holes to fill.

I'm studying abroad at the University of Melbourne at the moment and have been here since mid-July. I already have so many stories that I don't know where to begin. This whole experience has been an accumulation of "firsts," (first time out of the U.S., first time abseiling, first time rock climbing [harnessed and outdoors], first time having to be self-sufficient, first legal drink, first time a random person has bought me a drink, etc.) and the list continues to grow. A quick recap of all the things I've done thus far are 3 zoo/wilderness park visits, a trip to Sydney involving a Sydney Bridge climb, abseiling in the Blue Mountains, sight seeing, going on pub crawls, attending footy and rugby league matches, meeting tons of new people, and rock climbing in the Grampians and Mt. Arapiles.


The Great Escape: First time out of the U.S.


First Legal Drink


me, Emily, and Sarah. Emily's one of the wittiest people I've ever met. She's also gender-conscious and knows what a diva cup is, which gives her 20 cool points. Sarah's fun-loving, sweet, and one of the funnest drunks to be around. She's also my workout buddy and loves to dance as much as I do!


Sarah, Epack, and Stacey. Epack's my roomie, and I'm so thankful for it. We get along well, have the same friend group, and she's quite the character. She's super chill, a 12-year-old boy at times, and someone who you do NOT want to piss off or mess with because she WILL carry out her threats. Definitely a good source for stories haha. Stacey's one of the sweetest people ever. She's also British, rides a motorbike, likes to do extreme sports, and studies maths (so weird how they refer to it in plural form). Basically, I think that she's a badass underneath her sweet, British exterior, and all the guys are after her.


An Adorable Joey!


Sydney Bridge Climb. It was FREEZING up there.


Abseiling in the Blue Mountains


A typical Aussie pre-night. Epack, Sarah, Whitney, and me. Whitney's the oldest in our group (a senior) and kind of acts like the "mawm" (she's from the midwest) of our group. She's down-to-earth, adventurous/outdoorsy, and I really enjoy talking to her.


Rock climbing at Mt. Arapiles (Bjorn up top and Ingrid to the left of me)

I'm definitely trying to make the most out of this once in a lifetime experience while it lasts. I want to do and see EVERYTHING. It's hard though because everything's so expensive here. So unfortunately for my stomach, that means an increased intake of ramen. Not to worry though. I am trying to still be health conscious as well by throwing in frozen mixed veggies and eggs (for protein) into the mix. Oh, and occasionally fish for those omega-3's. =P

Being in Melbourne is a big change from Claremont. It's so nice to be able to just walk into the city and get around without a car. The Vic (Victoria) Market's also a cool place. You can buy all sorts of things—cheap produce, souvenirs, clothes/shoes, and whatever else your heart desires. As for classes, mine aren't as big as I thought it would be for a school that has 40,000+ students. It's so crazy to see that the majority of people here all commute to school and will wake up at like 6:30am to catch a 9am class. Also, not having homework due multiple days a week is a pleasant change, but I can definitely see this "independent learning" coming back and kicking my ass. (I have more time to go out, but this is time that ought to be spent reading up on the material on my own. =/ But I'm in AUSTRALIA! Can you blame me?)

Rock climbing was just this past weekend, and I had an AMAZING time. There were a range of difficulties for various climbs, and while I was easily able to complete most of the climbs, I definitely struggled on others. The physical and mental struggles made reaching the final summit of the mountain all that much more rewarding. I definitely have scrapes and bruises along with bigger/new holes in my jeans, but it was all worth it. Working my way up to awesome and calming scenic views, especially on the arduous climbs, made me forget about everything else going on in my life.

With regards to stories of my Aussie adventures, I've got them, but don't want to go into much detail explaining them. If you want me to elaborate, then ask...but here's a taste of what a few stories include:

• my roomie, Epack, getting lost in our room
• me not knowing my own strength (must be because I play rugby =P)
• my friend Sarah and I having to literally run away from this crazy guy
• my terrible gaydar

Before I came to Australia, one of the reasons why I thought it would be good for me was because I'd have time to cope with the hole inside of me that was dug up a while ago. (Cliche, yes, I know. Feel free to skip over this paragraph.) I thought that time plus the lack of interaction with the one responsible would cause the hole to get smaller and hopefully disappear. I've realized now though that this hole will always be present in me. Australia hasn't made it smaller; it just covered up the opening—allowing it to sit there like a trap. Australia's just been a distraction, granted a very enjoyable distraction, but when I'm reminded of the current situation it's almost as if the hole gets deeper and darker. I think that the only way I'll ever get pass it is by finding someone who can help fill this hole just as well (if not better) than the last person who did.