Week 5!

I never know what I'm going to write in these posts when I first sit down, but I have grown to appreciate the fact that I have to actively think about the past week and write down the details of what happened.  Though its a pain to sit down and write, I know I'm going to love looking back on all the pictures and things I did on this journey.   Last week started off beautifully, Tuesday was nice enough to go to the beach so a few of us spent the day soaking up the sun and I finally got a little color!

~

Upon arriving in Australia I knew I wanted to surf, I had been a few times in the states and loved it, but as New Hampshire is the tundra, I didn't really enjoy surfing in icey cold water.  So here its gorgeous and the water is around 73 F ( in the winter) coming from New Hampshire I was pumped to get right in and start learning how to surf for real.  The second week I scoured Gumtree (Craigslist for Australia) looking for a cheap surfboard and found one for 25$, which is an unreal deal. 

 The next day I was in the water flailing about with my good friend Jake who had no clue what he was doing either.  Needless to say we didn't get up… but thats okay practice makes perfect.  We went in the morning and were freezing about 45 minutes into our session, so we decided wetsuits were a necessity.  After that first time I didn't get out on the water for another two weeks, all the while I was emailing people trying to get a wetsuit online, but no one was emailing me back (Jerks) I decided to go without one this week and got absolutely tossed around, the waves are wayyyy bigger than anything we have in NH.  I have been trying to go out as much as possible, though its pretty intimidating when the swells are big.  (pretty much everything looks big though…)  Yesterday I went to the surf outlets and finally got myself a wetsuit! I was supposed to try it out this morning but the waves were choppy and the rip was dangerous, plus there weren't any other surfers out on the water, which is a pretty good indication I shouldn't go out either.   

 

Expectation

Reality

Ill let you guys know when I can actually get up and ride a wave, for now Im just doing my best to look like I know what I'm doing and not drown.

Fake it till you make it.

~

The Pan Pacific Swimming Championships!

When we found out that the USA Olympic swimming team were all competing in the Pan Pacs, in the gold coast, we were all over it.  The tickets were cheap because, face it.. no one watches swimming outside of the olympic games, which worked in our favor.  I was beyond excited to watch Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps, and Missy Franklin.  The gang all met at 7 am, cooked breakfast and had mimosas to start our day.  Of course we put on our most patriotic outfits and painted our faces up so everyone knew we were rooting for the best team.. USA ;)

The weather was miserable the day of the race but we didn't care because we were going to see Michael Phelps AKA the greatest olympian of all time.  We took our seats in an outdoor (completely uncovered) stadium, just as the rain really started to downpour.  I brought my umbrella so I thought I was set…. not the case.. I couldn't use my umbrella. Just my luck.  My friend Alek and I stuck it out for a little while without any raincoats, but the rain wouldn't let up, so we decided we needed to go buy ponchos at the concession stand.    

During the three minutes we weren't in our seats, WE. MISSED. PHELPS. SWIM.

I kid you not. I missed the greatest American swimmer of all freaking time because I just hadddd to get a rain poncho at that exact minute.  I was able to catch him climbing out of the water, so It wasn't a total waste, but still.  That would happen to me… Worst Luck.

My only consolation was that I got to see Ryan Lochte, AKA the sexiest man in swimming, absolutely murder his race.  Lochte is the third swimmer in with the white swim cap on.  Drop Dead Sexy even with a swim cap on.

It was pretty amazing to watch all the American swimmers absolutely kill the rest of the swimmers, the races weren't even close.  We were chanting and screaming the whole time, having so much fun rooting for our Country.  America just murders every other country in  competition swimming. 

~

Oh, and Alek and I ran into this Koala statue on the way home and you're not going to not take a selfie with a Koala statue so here it is in all its glory.

~

Sunday was a much nicer day, It was sunny and warm, a perfect day for some coffee on the waterfront with some good company. My friend Charlotte suggested we try black coffee roasters, that sits inside a lovely little market called Capri on Via Roma, just down the block from where I live.  The market was absolutely lovely, with all home made food and organic, health shops.  We drank our coffee on the deck overlooking a waterway.  Sunday coffee with the girls has become somewhat of a tradition and I couldn't be happier about it :) 

 The Coffee Kiosk itself was beautiful! I loved the wood siding, and the fact that you could see all the coffee bags and the roasters in the back, talk about fresh coffee. Im in Heaven

~

Im off to Brisbane, then down to Byron Bay for the long weekend so I'm sure Ill have plenty of new stories to share next week! 

Until then..

xoxo

-A

Week 4!

Sorry about the late post this week guys, In all honesty Tuesday was wayyyy too nice to stay inside and write a blog post.  I had to get to the beach to soak up the sun while I could because thursday-monday its supposed to be rainy again unfortunately :/  The latter half of last week was pretty miserable as well, living in the sunshine state, you would think it would be a little bit… you know…. sunnier… but I'm not complaining, I'm sure it will be gorgeous soon enough! But mannnnn I've got a bone to pick with whatever PSYCHO said that Queensland averaged about 5 days of rain a year, Complete Bull! haha enough of me ranting about the weather… I'm sure you all want to know what I've done the past week, well you're going to be disappointed cause the answer is: not much…. I'm lame I know.

     by the way… this is my sunset as I'm writing this blog… not so bad :)

The Highlight of my week was going to an AFL (Australian Football League) Game! The game was on Saturday at 2pm!  The teams were the Gold Coast Suns against the Adelaid Crows.  I went into the game not knowing anything about the game, they played with what looked like a rugby ball so I thought they were similar… I thought wrong.   Australian football is completely different from anything I've ever seen before and its incredibly hard to follow… my best explanation of it is 60+ guys on a field playing hot potato with a football while pummeling each other (seriously look it up).  Im sure the game would have been a heck of a lot more fun if the weather wasn't so atrocious.  Heres a video of the weather the morning of the game.

Overall I was happy I got out of the apartment and experienced something new! The day was also spent with good company, Josie and I met up with a bunch of European international students, we all had a good time trying to figure out exactly what was happening at each turn in the game.

We all bought general admission tickets that were not under a roof of course, but we managed to sneak up to the covered section for the second half of the game.

PS: Gold Coast lost….. probably would have been more upset if I had a single clue what was going on.

Earlier in the week some of the other students in our building found a way to get up to the roof top of our building so of course we all went up to take some pictures of the city.  ( Im badass I know, you don't have to tell me)   The view is absolutely incredible, I  can't believe live in such a beautiful place.

On to more important things… Coffee.

As promised, I have continued my quest to try out all of the coffee shops around and I've even made it out of surfers a few times, down to Broad beach and up to South Port.  I want to try different types of coffee but caramel/ hazelnut cappuccinos are just too good.  Ive even applied to work a few days at some little coffee shops down here, but they take coffee so seriously most places REQUIRE you to go to formal barista school… I don't even think we have barista school in the us. Crazy, we will see if I get a call back from any of these places though.

Till next time darlings..

xo

   -A

Week 3

Sorry guys but there is not a whole lot to report back about this past week.  It was much more mellow than the last few weeks, I am all settled into my new home but I still can't believe how lucky I am to be here.

Overall the weather was pretty sub-par this week, many of the days were cloudy and only 60-70 degrees.
(but that definitely didn't stop me from going to the beach, every. single. day. ;)








This week was pretty laid back because many of the internationals were feeling sick.  I think most people are getting burnt out from going out 4+ nights a week.  Its just absolutely terrible for your body to do that every week.

I am loving living in Surfers Paradise, living in a city is so different than what I am used to at home that it is hard to compare the two.  At home its a 15 minute drive to the nearest grocery store, here I walk one block to the closest convenient store.  Everything in the city of Surfers Paradise, including all the nightlife is within walking distance which is very nice.  On the other hand its very hard to get out of this city without a car.  I honestly can't be bothered to try and coordinate bus routes to get out and explore so I haven't been out of the city once this week.   We will see if I make it out next week.

The gang went to a bar called Melbas on Friday night for a back to school party.  Saturday night we got out of Surfers paradise and went to a night club called Love in Broad Beach.

Katie and I Friday night!

Josie and I

 The beach has always been my favorite place, living here I am finally able to wake up to the sound of the waves crashing each morning.  I'm out taking walks on the beach no matter the weather, I have even tried to study a few times on the beach but that didn't work out the way I had envisioned…. Sand blowing everywhere and papers flying… wasn't exactly the ideal learning environment, but it was worth a try.













                   Cappuccinos are breaking my bank…. can't stop, won't stop.
They are wayyyyy too good… I don't know who taught these Aussies how to make coffee but somebody needs to come to the states and show our Batista's a thing or two… CAUSE WE ARE DOING IT WRONG.

                                                            Until next week!
                                                                        xo
                                                                             -A

Week 2!

I am slowly settling into my new home and I could not be happier with my choice to take this leap of faith and travel so far to study here.  Australia is even more amazing than I imagined! I wake up every day and have to pinch myself because it feels like a dream.  I go to class Mondays, Wednesdays and every other Friday, school has started but it doesn't feel like school back home.  There are barely any assignments, its more reading on your own and small (very small) papers due at various points in the semester.  So it looks like ill be spending a great deal of time taking advantage of the gorgeous coastline that sits next to my new home.

Classes Started last week so it was a much more mellow week.  Wednesday night the Australian bachelor started and I got together with a bunch of other international girls to watch it.  We were stocked with snacks and drinks and had an absolute blast chatting as we watched the drama unfold.

                                            Race Day!

As many of you know, Ive been infatuated with horse races ever since I went to the Belmont Stakes earlier this year.  When Josie and I heard that the student guild at Griffith was putting on their 16th annual Race day at the Gold Coast Turf Club we jumped on the opportunity to dress up with our new friends.  The same group of girls that got together for the bachelor all went to the races and we had an absolute blast!

Josie and I with our big hats and hair pieces, even though she didn't want to wear hers (She was definitely forced into it)  Though we found out when we got to the races that it was not necessary to wear a head piece.  American races are much more strict on their dress code than the Aussies.

We stared off the day with a little morning Kiwi and Melon Champagne sangria type drink, which was absolutely delicious.

Josie and Helene :)

Fortunately for us our Race Day student ticket included a buffet and free drinks all day long.  Saturday is what I like to call a marathon, you gotta go slow and steady all day or you'll never last.  The other students were clearly not thinking of the day in the same way, because by around 3 or 4 the "classy girls" at the event were wobbly in their heels falling all over the place.  (but a full day of drinking will do that to most people)

We placed some small bets on the horses with the best names and our favorite numbers, but none of us won big or lost anything significant.  I am so glad I got to go to the races with such a fun group of girls.  Next time I think we will try a polo match! :)

                               Aussie BBQ on Sunday 

On Sunday I went over to Mekila and Nicks house to have an authentic Aussie BBQ.  It was amazing! We had so many different things including different salads, kangaroo, sweet potatoes, and potato salad. ( I had attempted to make Kangaroo for a few of my friends in the apartment and lets just say it didn't go over well….. I was skeptical about trying it again but Mekila cooked it to perfection and I loved it!  I was very happy to finally meet her whole family!  

On our drive home we stopped by a neighborhood where there were a bunch of wild wallabies! I was overjoyed to see all the little guys hopping around all over the place! They are so adorable I want to take one home so bad!