and to all: a good night!

the holidays were great fun this year as usual. this year i noticed things were quite relaxed and chilled. i think a big part of that is the fact that the youngest member of the family, on both sides, is 11. no little babies running around or toddlers (hopefully that'll be different next year cough michele cough!) but it was nice that the holidays can be relaxing, always a good thing. christmas was small with few presents, but, as my mom would say, in this economy it was great! i'm so glad and blessed that i can spend these holidays with all my family. now tomorrow is monday and the real world is knocking at my door. back to baby sitting, getting up early, and eating under 5000 calories a day! i want to thank everyone for spending this wonderful holiday with me even if it was only over a phone call or skype session! and i hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and is looking forward to the new year. i know i am!!

movies through the ages

while perusing through tv to try and find something good to watch, i came across 7 brides for 7 brothers. now that might not sound like anything to you, but it used to be one of my favorite movies! when i was really young and visited my grandpa and grandma in new hampshire, i would watch this movie over and over until i knew all the words and everything. it was made in 1954 and is still a classic. it's definitely still i movie i enjoyed watching. it's quite corny and its a musical but it's still pretty good. if you haven't seen it i would DEFINITELY recommend it. it was great to find it on tv and go down memory lane again. so thank you very much to grandpa and grandma who introduced me to this movie!

i'm the baby, gotta love me!

it's been about three weeks already since i've been back. it doesn't feel like that at all, seems much shorter. but i think i've been fitting in a little more. i've figured out that yes it is really cold here and it's not getting any warmer soon. but it is nice to be home. it's nice to see my parents on a regular basis and catch up with friends that i haven't seen in a long time. although my best part of being home was seeing people for the first time! i just came back from new mexico visiting my sister michele and her baby girl isabela. my niece is the most adorable person i've ever seen!!! i love her sooo much. i miss them both a lot already. and i must say, i think she liked me too! she's the most precious person, love you isabela!

home sweet home

well i've been home for a few days now and i must say i'm definitely enjoying being home. unfortunately the jet lag and the cold weather are definitely making me want to go back to australia. but that aside i have loved spending time with my friends and family again. even the past few days have reminded me so much of what i missed from home (yes i know i was only away for 4 and half months, but let me speak lol). my sister and her husband were here this weekend and we laughed and laughed and laughed. it was great. and soon i get to see my other sister and my new niece!!!!! yay!!! there's definitely some things, besides the weather i've had to get used to, like using my phone again and even american money. but all in all it is always nice to go back home. and i have still have friends in australia so they are keeping me updated on what's happening over there. so here are a few last pics from australia, i hope you enjoy!

yay!!!!!!

I'M HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

(pics are coming!)

bitter sweet

i only have one more week in australia. i can't believe it!!! i know i'm a little behind on pictures right now but have no fear when i get home and am missing australia i'll definitely put up pictures. right now i've been doing some studying for my last final, going to the beach all the time, hanging out with friends as much as possible, even saying good bye to a few, and just trying to soak in every last bit of this place. can't wait to be home, but don't want to leave. definitely mixed emotions.

countdown....

13 days. yes count 'em. 13 days until i return home. so many mixed emotions. i've had an absolutely an amazing time here and i know i still have a few places to visit, so i know leaving here is going to be horrible. the people i've met here will definitely stay friends for quite some time. i already know plenty of australians who already have trips planned to america and i don't live too far away from some of my closest american friends. everything here has been so great. i'm definitely going to be really upset when leaving. but then again i'm going to be so happy to come home. meeting my parents at the airport will be epic. then i get to spend thanksgiving at the savoy's as usual. i get to see my beautiful niece for the first time ever. i get to decorate the tree and buy presents for the family we will be given and be able to attend the wrapping party. i will be able to spend a great christmas eve and christmas day in new jersey. those are the things that i'm looking forward to the most. it will be a very interesting day when i have to leave here. these next two weeks will be spent on exams and cramming in anything i haven't done yet.

where the rainforest meets the reef

i know it's been a while since my last post but i think this one will make up for it....

the past few weeks have been quite busy. i am not officially done with school, i just have exams and papers left. i can't believe how quickly the semester went by. but the end of something like this means lots of celebrations. john's has been having a bunch of parties to celebrate and all the seniors are itching to get out while also trying to have as much fun as they can for their finals days here. there was also fresher initation. basically all the freshers get their academic gowns, the ones we have to wear to formal dinners, cut. that's how you can tell who is in what year. the sleeves of the gown get cut. but unfortunately, being someone who is only here for a semester i wasn't able to get my gown cut because i have to give mine back or pay 200 bucks. so i think my parents would thank me for not getting mine cut! but i was still able to partake in the festivities. it was all very fun. then the best part of the week.... i got to spend the weekend in cairns visiting the great barrier reef and the rainforrest. it was awesome. on friday we spent the day on a boat, traveling into the deep sea, and exploring the gbf. the weather wasn't great. it was cloudy and coldish and very windy so that made for a very choppy ride over (my dad would definitely not have liked the boat ride). after two hours of traveling we made it to the gbf. and i took my first ever scuba dive! it was awesome! i was a little freaked at first but i made it through!! it was awesome. i got to touch a giant clam and hold a sea cucumber (photos of those are making their way to me!) i got to sea nemo in his original habitat and see all the beautiful coral. great stuff! i loved scuba diving!!! then on saturday we had breakfast with the birds at a zoo. then we went on a walk through the rainforest with an aboriginal tourguide who showed us different types of huts they lived in and all sorts of tools and food they used to use when they were living directly in the rainforest. then we took a trip to mossman gorge which was a little river for us to swim in. it had huge beautiful rocks and little waterfalls all over. then on sunday we spent the morning jungle surfing (zip lining) through the rainforest. very cool. i even got to do it upside down! that was very cool. we then spent just a little while at cape tribulation. this is probably the most beautiful site i've seen in the whole world. it's where two world heritage sites come together: the reef and the rainforest. it was absolutely amazing. the water was like a bath ( my mom would even be willing to go swimming in it!). but because it's so warm there are an abundance of jelly fish and crocs so you can't really go swimming. it was magnificent! then we took a cruise ride on the daintree river to try and find crocs. we only saw one but it was cool to see one in the wild. then it was back to sydney. it was a fun filled, very packed weekend. now i'm back at school and getting ready to start my finals. the countdown to home has officially started: 21 days. i can't believe it. i'll be extremely sad to leave but at the same time very happy to see my family. it's been a great experience so far and i know i still have a few tricks up my sleeve!

gbr and cape trib

jungle surfing and cape trib

some education

i think aunt joan would be proud because i finally went to my first art gallery this week. i know it only took me thee months but i finally got to one. my art history class had out tutorial for the day in an art gallery. so i used the public transportation is get around sydney and to the art gallery. it was very cool, but quite small. definitely nothing like the met or moma or something. but yes it was quite nice. it was cool to see the actual paintings we had been talking about. they also had an AWESOME modern section. we didn't spend too much time there because we haven't gone over it, but it was seriously really cool. i'm definitely really into modern and pop art type stuff. speaking of, in the next class we talked of cristo, the guy who wrapped those islands in colorful sheets and did the gates. the whole class was saying that it wasn't really art and blah blah blah because he wasn't the one to actually make his art but i explained to the class that once you've actually seen it, you'll probably have a very different feel. i definitely remember visiting the gates, they were magnificent. and i definitely credit the artist because he was the one behind the plan. that was an awesome day, and a great way to spend a birthday.

what comes before part b?

well there are now only two more weeks left of the semester, i've been here for three months already, and this is all making me a little upset. but lets not dwell on that because i still have a little over a month here in australia. because the term is coming to an end john's has many social activities and parties planned for the next couple of weeks. the seniors are itching to get out and the rest of us are just looking to have some fun. last week sort of started the festivities. it was our formal and recovery day. the formal was great, everyone was dressed to impress, i was able to bring a friend from outside of john's and the best part there were bumper cars!! that was really cool. they call them dodge 'em cars here. lots of dancing and good food and maybe a drink or two even! definitely a lot of fun. recovery was awesome too. music was playing starting at 7am to get everyone down to the quad, although my friends and i didn't make it out until 10 (7 is just too early for me! lol). this was a day of just relaxing and hanging out with everyone from john's. there was a big lunch outside, a moonbounce (which they call a jumping castle), kite flying, races, and just some good old fun. then everyone was so tired from the past two nights that john's was silent by about 8pm. good times. can't wait for more upcoming events. (unfortunately i only have one good picture from the day, my friend hasn't put up her pics yet so just hold on! sorry mom!)

"we're sydney softball girlies!"

if you are reading this, then you know a member of the best college softball team in australia.

yes, you read that right. this past week we had spring break and i joined the softball team for a trip up to the gold coast where we got to play softball for a week. a competition between 44 different universities bringing in 7,000 students, and the softball team came out on top. now i must admit there were only 4 softball teams including us and they all pretty much sucked BUT it was still very cool to win the gold and call myself, an american, one of the best softballers in australia. pretty cool. while there we also got to relax on the beach, meet a bunch of new people (some from softball and others just from sydney uni), go out at night, and of course kick some butt during softball. i even pitched a game and we still won ( for those of you who don't know, i haven't pitched since i was about the age of 9, so that's a big accomplishment!). some nights had themes to them that we dressed up for to go out in like bright and tight or super heros or bogen (which is like their country style theme). it was pretty cool. other wise we wore our team shirts that you can see in the photos. it was an amazing trip. it was great to have a break from school, yes i do go to classes (sometimes jk mom i haven't missed one yet!), and to get to relax a little by getting out sydney and playing some ball. it was a great weekend. the girls i met were awesome and we're already thinking of reunions, very cool. i've invited them all to come visit me in america (sorry again mom!). it was really a great time. it was quite different from my regular spring break that happens at trinity, which was also kind of nice. it's good to be able to switch things up a bit. and now it's tuesday and we are in week 10 of school out of 13. insane that school is almost over, that this trip is almost over....but SHHHHHH we don't like to talk about it!!!!!

yellow haze

just some info about some current news. yesterday sydney experienced the worst dust storm they've had in 70 years! it was crazy. when i woke up, the whole sky and everything was yellow. people who got up really early said that first it started out at red and then orange and then it turned to yellow. all trains and ferries and even the airport was shut down because the visibility was so low. i've never seen anything like it. when you walked to class you could feel the dirt in the air and sometimes, if you were unlucky, you got a little taste of it too. but as the day went on, the sun came out and the rest of the day was beautiful, although the wind was kind of windy (yes, that one was for all you stoltenbergs out there who might still be reading!).

straddie

the excursions in september continued this past weekend with a trip to stradbroke island. in order for me to get there i had to take a bus, to a train, to a plane, to a ferry. it took a while but it was definitely worth it. i thought this trip was even better than the blue mountains. the first day we learned how to surf. it was very cool and something that i've always wanted to do. however i wasn't so good at it. but i was able to get up, even if it was for only 2-3 seconds! then we played with more boomerangs and this time i got to paint my own and keep it which was pretty cool. the next was action packed. we went snorkeling, then sea kayaking, then sandboarding. after all of that, i'm very sore. sandboarding is basically like snowboarding but on sand. i will say that i'm not a huge fan of sand, as anyone who goes to the beach with me can confirm, so i didn't try too hard at all because i didn't want to wipe out and fall in the sand but it was really cool. it was at this place that was just a huge sand pit, i've never seen anything like it. and the ocean was an amazing blue and we got to see some whales breach the surface. it was a very exciting and very tiresome weekend. but i loved being in the sun and at the beach. it was great!

elizabeth, michele, katherine

well september is full of trips for me. two weekends ago i went to the blue mountains with the program that i came to australia with. it was a fun weekend to catch up with people i haven't seen i a while and to get out of the city and see some gorgeous landscapes. while there we met an aboriginal who taught us about some aboriginal customs and he taught us how to throw boomerangs. his name was goomblar. he was a pretty cool person. we also went to another zoo and here i have a better picture of me petting a koala. pretty cool. (that picture is for amy and lisa. i think they will love it. and i have plenty of more pics to show you guys when i get back!). i also went abseiling (repelling). that was awesome. we started on baby cliffs but ended the day with a cliff that was a little more than 100 feet straight down. it was crazy. i don't know if the pictures do it justice, but let me just tell you that it was really really really high up. pretty proud of myself for doing that lol. then we eventually made it into the mountains. we hiked a little and took some gandolas that soared over top mountains and forrests and waterfalls. beautiful. and then we ended our day at the three sisters. three rock formations. pretty cool. seeing as in my family we have three sisters. i thought that was pretty cool. that's what's in the background of the picture that i'm in. they were quite magnificent, just like in our family!

a taste of reality

so basically i've been on a two month vacation in australia, and i still have another two months to go. but today has brought me back to reality a little. it's september 11th here and nothing has been said. no moment of silence, nothing on the tv's, and no headlines. it's a little weird. in fact, i watched a skit that my college put on and they even made a joke about 9/11. it was so crazy and a little offensive. but it just goes to show the cultural differences. 9/11 obviously didn't affect these people the way it has in the states. i would like to think of this as my remembrance for that day, 8 years ago. this is my moment of silence.

heaps hectic

just some pics with some friends, i figured my mom would appreciate this!

botannical gardans