it's not over till the fat lady sings

opera house
and again
harbour bridge

last weekend my friend jenna and i made a huge trek to circular quay to visit the opera house and botannical gardens. amazing. the weather wasn't interesting. so the pictures don't portray the brightest sunniest day but it was still amazing. it took about 45 minutes in one direction to walk. it was a great way to spend the afternoon. although on the way it was a mini hurricane and we had to walk right into the wind, so that 45 minutes was a hard one, a doozey (amy i hoped your appreciated that word!). and yes the opera house is amazing. i have yet to be inside but it is gorgeous. and it's so cool that i was standing so close to such a staple of sydney, of australia. very cool indeed. heaps of fun that day.

"when you're facing a loaded gun, what does it matter?"

a few nights ago i watched the departed for the first. omg what a good movie. when someone first suggested we watch it i was like well i'm not really sure i'm in a mood for a movie like that. well i was wrong. i was pressed up against the computer (we downloaded it). it was amazing. i know i'm behind on the times, and so maybe you are too, so if you haven't already seen it, or haven't seen it in a while, definitely go out and watch it. it's incredible. it talks of good vs. bad, does it really matter? it talks of church and religion that and how that doesn't mean you're automatically good if you attend. it talks of loyalty and asks who you can really trust. it has an amazing cast and it a great movie. definitely one for the books.

formal attire

i just wanted to show everyone what i look like in my formal gown. twice a week we have formal dinners at john's where we have to dress up and wear this gowns. with a room full of people in these gowns we def look like a cult or something, but now i'm used to it. it's something like out of harry potter. hope you enjoy!!!

and thanks for commenting those of you who do. i love it!!!

love means nothing in tennis

so i've joined the tennis team at john's and today was our first match. we lost. i lost. but i did the best on the team. i lost 2-6, 4-6. so not horrible. i did a lot better than i thought i was going to do. when i first started warming up with my opponent my legs were shaking so much i didn't think i remembered how to move. thankfully that didn't last too long. she was a very good player. i was ranked third out of 6 girls on our team so that was pretty cool too. tomorrow i play and then on monday i play too. so hopefully i will continually get better. it was a lot of fun though to get out and run around and it was GOREGOUS day outside, i still can't believe that it's winter here. that's just crazy. i'll keep you updated.

go eels!!!

last weekend i went to my first professional rugby game. it was very cool and very exciting. it was a rugby league game (there is also such a thing as rugby union, but i'm not sure of the differences, it's just that the rules are different). the stadium was PACKED. it was crazy. when something good happened the crowd went nuts, of course i had no idea because i'm still not sure of all the rules but it was a lot of fun. we were sitting right in the middle of the fans, some tiger fans to one side and one eels fans to the other, so it didn't matter which team was doing well, everyone around was going crazy. very cool. it's always nice to go to professional games to see the players in real life to see how crazy huge they are and to see the nicely groomed field. it was a really cool place. the stadium reminded me of the nest from the olympics. and the best part was that my tickets were free because it was a field trip for class, good deal.

get my tan on

this past weekend was spent at the beach. the weather here is gorgeous! it was hot enough this weekend to lay out on the beach both days and actually get a tan and go in the water. the water was freezing but after a while you got used to it! on saturday i had a field trip for one of my classes to watch a netball game (it's like basketball for girls but you can't move when you have the ball). the netball game was in a town called marouba and the beach was within a 15 minute walk. so i spent about 2 hours that day at the beach. got some lunch and walked around for a bit. the first two pics are of marouba. the last three are of coogee beach. another famous beach in australia. i think everyone from john's went to the beach that day. apparently sunday set a record for being the hottest ever for this time of winter. it was great. we got to the beach at around 11am and left around 4pm. it was a great way to spend a sunday. it's amazing how i can already go to the beach. i'm sure there will be many future visits to the beach once it's REALLY warm out. on the way home i was lucky enough to get a ride home from someone else that lived in john's. it was funny because he drives the same car as me. it made me miss my little red car. but it was a really cool experience. they drive on the other side of the road, and on the other side of the car. it was scary at times, because i thought the cars were going to crash, but it was really cool. i hope i don't get too used to people driving on the other side of the road....

where did all the time go?

as of two days ago, i have officially been in australia for a month. absolutely crazy. i only have a little over three months left. and while that might seem like a lot, i know it's going to fly by. but i think that i've done a lot, as my blog would show. so i don't feel like i'm not utilizing my time here. i just have to keep it up. it's still so amazing, and i'm still meeting new people and learning the aussie way. it's always so much fun. class work is picking up now, but i really like all the classes i'm taking. especially the physical education class i'm taking. it's exactly what i want to do. we've learned how to expertly demonstrate basic skills, how to play different games, how to set up a lesson plan, etc. it's really exciting. i'm also on the tennis team now for john's so i have that to look forward to in the up coming weeks. that should be a lot of fun. definitely having a blast out here. who wants to come and visit?!?!?!?