Blarg.

This wonderful title is from my N-block neighbor, Trent. I wandered into his room and explained I needed to write a new blog post and he stopped me and repeated blog as if he coudnt understand what I was saying. After he repeated it he went on to explain how I say it wrong and spelled out how I say it. He spelled out b-l-a-r-g. So here is it, my new blarg post...

Well this weekend was as exciting as I thought it would be. It stated out with the Ball Friday night. It was pretty fun and filled with wine, mimosas, pictures, and dancing. It was overall a fun time except for the gash in my leg and two pieces of glass we had to dig out of my feet.
The next morning we awoke at 7am and headed to rockingham so we could visit Penguin Island. Apparently during low tide you can walk from the mainland to the island but after hearing some tried last year and got swept away we decided to pass. After arriving on the island we walked around and took lots of pictures. We then went to watch a penguin feed; the little guys were so cute! After that was a glass bottom boat tour where we found some sea lions. It was rather exciting. After all of that we decided to head back to college so we could catch some march madness basketball coverage. Saturday night I decided I couldn't be bothered going to the Senior Common Room opening and decided to take it easy.
Sunday morning was another early morning for intercollege softball. We ended up winning both of our games and have two more next weekend. After that we went and watched the Tommy More boys play cricket. I finally understand the game I think. Its obviously just too boring for America to have a team :)
That brings us to today. I woke up early so I could live stream the illini KU game online. Unfortunately we lost, but we put up a good fight. After the game I went to class, nothing too exciting. This week is just another 'normal' week. We are looking forward to the river cruise that Tommy has on Friday.

Thats it. I'll update soon-ish.

St. Patricks Day.

It's a new day here and I'm feelin' good. Last night we had our swimming carnival. It's basically a big swim meet that all the residential colleges participate in. It was pretty fun. Tommy did alright but I don't think we won. I won however and was the only winner from Tommy! I was so nervous to jump back in the pool and swim competitively again since I ended my career in high school, but I was signed up for the 50 breaststroke and ended up getting first place! The all girls college had some really strong swimmers but I beat their swimmer by half a body length apparently. I don't mean to sound too proud if that's what this is coming off as it was just a rush and so exciting! After the meet everyone headed to the Tav which is the campus tavern for drinks and socializing. It was a good night and we got to mix with the students from other colleges.

As for this weekend, it looks exciting. Today is St. Patricks Day and we are doing a little bit of celebrating. Tomorrow night is the intercollegiate ball which hasn't happened for 5 years so it seems like a big deal so I will be attending, I even got a new dress for it (pictures up later). Saturday is the opening of a exclusive senior room here so we will have a little get together for that. And lastly Sunday the girls are playing softball and the boys are playing cricket for the intercollegiate sports. I will update after all these events in another post on Sunday night. So be on the lookout!

Hope all is well in the states.

p.s. it is a HOT 91 degrees today...just thought you all should know :)

Sunshine.

Two of the finest RAs and myself

I feel like I should blog because its been awhile, but I feel like I don't have to much to say.

School is going well so far, no new updates there.

Residential college life is going really well, never a dull moment. We always find time to hangout in the JCR (junior common room) or time to go out on the town. This Friday night we also had our first formal dinner of the semester. We all had to dress up, attend mass and a 'pre-drink' session, and finally the actual dinner. It was really well put together and such a nice event! I think all the free wine and alcohol may have gotten to a few people though ha it was a memorable night! Today (Sunday) the Morons (St. Thomas More residents) are playing in an inter-college basketball tournament. Throughout the semester, the college offers many different sports for us to compete in against the other colleges. This coming Wednesday is swimming so I think I will give it a go. That's all for that.

Lastly, I shall talk about relationships and thoughts. There are a lot of great people here that I have had the opportunity to meet. Last night we decided to stay in after the exciting formal Friday night and watch a movie. After the movie Anna, a "local" and I had some good life chats. It is the new people and experiences like that which will impact my experience and life. I am just trying to make it a point to branch out because a good friend from home (Aubree!) wrote me a letter before I left with 5 rules/pieces of advice so i MUST follow them right? Other than that, I am just trying to make the most of every experience and take opportunities as they arise so that I can look back and know that I did everything right for a 'perfect' experience.

I miss everyone from home, I really do and I love when everyone sends me messages and comments randomly so I know that I'm not forgotten about hehe. Oh and the tsunami and earthquake didn't hit here at all for all who have been asking.

Until next time..

School.

Well, here I am in Australia. I've been here for about two and a half weeks. I think one of the things I have appreciated the most so far is the abundance of outdoor activities and 'adventurous' things to do. Playing with jellyfish, frequent visits to the beach, learning what stingers are, and surfing. Although these times were good, attending classes is inevitable. Now that classes have started my schedule has changed...I occasionally have classes which allows only half days at the beach!  :o) 

Classes have been good so far; they are not too different from the states. One professor does have a bit of a thick accent though so it makes it difficult to understand at times. There is one difference that I really enjoy, however. For one of my human movement/exercise science classes I have a fitness lab and we get to have it outdoors. Its amazing to be able to do that. A difference from U of I is that all of my classes are far from Tommy More. They are at the furthest building on campus so its about a 30min. walk every morning (not my favorite in this 100 degree weather).

I reckon that is it for now. (I'm trying to use my Australian vocabulary).