Cheers!

So here I am six weeks later, sitting on my bed typing one of my final blogs from this amazing experience. It’s about twelve hours until our first of three flights on our way back home. I can’t believe how fast it had gone. I can’t believe I am done with all my college assignments. I can’t
believe I will be graduating next Saturday. I can’t believe I will be teaching first grade back in South Dakota in the fall either.

I feel like I cannot thank my host family, the QUT staff, and the Morayfield East State School staff enough for this experience. It has been unreal. I have a feeling that even when I do return to the states I will realize even more things that Australia has taught me. I am definitely anticipating
those ‘ah-ha’ moments!

I do have to admit though; I am beyond excited to return to Minnesota to see my family and friends! I have to hit the ground running with plans in place and preparing for graduation weekend so hopefully jet lag doesn’t hit me too hard!

Here’s to a life changing adventure and to many more to come!

“Cheers!”

Student Teaching -- Check!

WOW! This week totally flew by! I didn’t even have time to write one post! I was keeping notes for myself throughout the week about what to blog about. Little did I know it would all catch up to me on Friday evening! I realize now that I will almost not have time to write again until I am home. Tomorrow we are going to Brisbane and then coming home in the evening to pack. Lord knows that will be quite the task! I am expecting some extra baggage fees coming my way.


This week began with Monday’s teaching being a bit shakey. It did get better on Tuesday, mostly because I was more comfortable with all the material I was teaching for the rest of the week. Each day in the classroom became easier and easier. My teacher told me today was the most relaxed she had seen me with the kids. I feel like that’s the story of a elementary education major’s life – You just get so comfortable and then oh, just like that you are done with that classroom. I am glad that the next classroom I have I will not have to leave for nine months! :)


On Tuesday of this week, the school had a commemoration ANZAC ceremony. It was really neat because the choir sang the New Zealand national anthem and then at the end of the service the whole hall sang the Australian national anthem. I was really excited when I realized I had heard
the national anthem enough to be able to sing along! Such a cool moment! For this special ceremony they had guest speakers, the band and choir were in formal uniform, and the school chaplain read the Ode. I really love the ANZAC Ode, this is what it says:


They shall grow not old,
As we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning
We will remember them.
Lest we forget.

These are all such beautiful songs, have a listen if you like :)

Australia’s National Anthem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B57QEEl97po


New Zealand’s National Anthem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dPcj_aC8fk&feature=fvst


I Still Call Australia Home: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pxvjXll0PI&feature=related


On Wednesday, Angie and Ashley picked Kari and me up at 3:30 am to go the ANZAC Day Dawn Service in Caboolture. This was a very touching memorial service to experience. A lot of veterans were present with their metals on their suit coats. We also got to see some of Australia’s military uniforms worn by current service men and women. We did experience some heart wrenching moments when we looked into the crowd to see many old men wiping tears from their cheeks.


After the Dawn service we stopped at Maccas (McDonalds) for a quick pick me up Frappe on our way to watch the sunrise at Deception Bay. It was one of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen. The coolest part was every time you turned around the colors changed just enough for us to “Ooh” and “Aww” each time. With a quick three hour nap on Angie’s couches we were ready to head to the parade in Caboolture. We got to the roadside just in time for Morayfield East kids to go by. We spent the rest of our day off in the comfort of our living room, just soaking in some
time off.


Thursday was the day all nine of us gathered to do our presentations. It was really great to see everyone’s perspectives on this experience. We shared ah-ha moments, inside jokes, laughs, and even tears. After we finished our presentations, we met with all of our cooperating teachers in the
library to gather around cake, fruit, and Tim Tams. Jenelle and Jenny (QUT Staff) gave us our certificates along with a book called Wombat Stew, which of course I can’t wait to read to my first graders in the fall! :)

It wasn’t even 8:15 am before my tears were sent rolling down my cheek this morning. Beginning our last day was definitely a bitter sweet moment. Jenny met with us to give us our evaluations, we took a group photo in front of the school and then said our goodbyes to her. I really lost it when we were taking pictures by the MSU banner hanging near the entrance to the school. Melanie (my roommate of the first three years of college) so sweetly asked me to take a picture with her. We have really been through so much together, it is unbelievable. And here we are, at the end of our college journey…. together… in Australia. We did it, Mel!


My teacher was kind enough to give me a half hour with the kids to shared pictures of home with the class. I showed them pictures depicting what we do for fun, traditions and we also discussed major differences between the two cultures.


Once I wrapped up my mini presentation, the class read me letters they had written to thank me for what I had done for them, they gave me A LOT of lovely gifts. And they even sang me a SONG! It went like this:

“We wish you a happy graduation, we wish you a happy graduation, we wish you a happy graduation and a very good career” (To the tune We Wish You a Merry Christmas)

It was just SO sweet, and totally creative. If I had known they were going to do something like that I wou ld have recorded it! It really was so sad for me to say good bye to these kids. I just wish there was an opportunity for me to come back and see the kids and Kylie again. However, Kylie and I plan to keep in contact. I can’t wait to get back to the U.S. and send them post cards, pictures, and videos!


We spent our last Friday evening in Oz with our host family, Angie, and Ashley. Angie and Ashley came over for supper. We had nibbles (appetizers), take out fish and chips plus two very American cheese burgers for Ashley and me. And if that wasn’t enough, we had the most delicious cheesecake for dessert! :)


It really was a lovely evening! One of the funniest things was that there wasn’t even a single Australian in the house! Bruce and Heather are from New Zealand. Angie is from Canada. And of course us girls are from America. We had a good giggle when this was realized. But, such is life… :)


As I said, tomorrow morning we are off to Brisbane with Angie to get a little more exposure to the aboriginal culture before we leave. It will be nice to see the city one more time, too.


TWO DAYS, FRIENDS! I can’t even believe it! I am beyond excited to get home --- not so much as excited for the three different flights it is going to take to get there.


Love to you all,
Xoxo
Megan

Last Full Weekend in Oz

Kari and I woke up Saturday morning to an invite from Ashley and Nina to join them at Bribie Island. With nothing else to do except homework, we gladly accepted the invitation. Angie (Ashley’s host mom) picked us up around 11:30 and off we went. As we pulled up to the beach Kari mentioned that we should go check out the tattoo place that we saw last time we were
here. Ashley, Kari, and I had been contemplating the idea of getting a tattoo here in Australia for a few weeks now, so before we even sank our feet in the sand we headed to Surf Side Tattoo.

Basically it all went down like this: The four of us walked into the shop, Ashley asked what their minimum was for a tattoo. She and I discussed what we wanted with the tattoo artists and they said they would have time for us right then.

Ashley got a tattoo on the back of her shoulder that says, “Life ain’t always beautiful, but it’s a beautiful ride.” That line is from a song by Gary Allen. I got a tattoo of a little boomerang on the inside of my ankle. I chose a boomerang to represent that no matter where I travel to in the world I will always return home. There is a small design on the boomerang which is the indigenous, or aboriginal, people’s symbol for the word “journey.” I absolutely love it. I don’t think it could have turned out more perfectly. But boy did it HURT! It hurt worse than the first one I got on the top of my foot. Kari was kind enough to let me squeeze her hand. Basically for the entire tattoo it felt like he was either sticking the needle into my ankle bone or right into my achilles’ tendon! I had pricklies running all over my head and especially in my ears the while he was doing the tattoo. I was thankful it didn’t last more than ten minutes!

After Ashley and I were set with our tattoos the four of us headed to the beach! The sun was so nice and warm. I’m pretty sure all of us fell asleep on our towels at some point. With a thanks to Melanie for letting me borrow her book, I snuck in some reading of The Lucky One by Nicolas Sparks. This is just one of my absolute favorite summer time activities. Max is shaking
in his boots about me coming back and dragging him to that movie. I told him if he wasn’t going to let me enjoy the movie I’d find someone else to go with me. Haha. I haven’t heard him complain too much since then ;)

And as you could probably guess, we headed to the Surf Side Shack for some hot chips and ice cream. Kari and I remembered how HUGE the portions had been the last couple of times we had been there so we just got a small to split between the two of us. Nina and Ashley hadn’t been there before so they ordered a medium to split. We couldn’t help but laugh when the fries
came out wrapped like a huge fish would be wrapped in paper! All four of us were betting that there was no way we would finish all the fries. By the time Angie came to pick us up, there
were only four measly little fries left on our table. Oops! Should we be proud or ashamed? I guess that lies in the eye of the beholder… All I know is with my ice cream, it was damn good :)


I set myself up for Sunday to turn into a homework day. I needed to plan for the week, work on my presentation, and go through my financial aid exit counseling. I had the privilege
of talking to my parents for a bit on the phone today. I lead them through my pictures on Facebook to show them that I had gotten a tattoo. Mom’s reaction was, “Oh Meggie! It’s so cute! I don’t like it…” Haha. By the end of the conversation she did say she loved it though.

Well, I took a brain break from homework to write this blog. I need to get back to working on my presentation. For this assignment we are supposed to do a presentation on our experience as a whole in Australia. In the past, a lot people have done power points, some people have shown their blogs, and others have written songs or poems. From the encouragement of my mom, I came up with the idea to turn my presentation of my experiences into a children’s book!
It’s kind of a lot of work, but I’m excited to see how it turns out. I am hoping to finish typing it up tonight so then the rest of this week I can work on the pictures and putting it into the
book-like format.

One week from today I will be on the airplane (sleeping hopefully!) on our way home!

Hugs and love to each and every one of you!

Xoxo

TGIF!

Wow. So I guess I haven’t posted since Monday! Here I am on a Friday night watching the Australia vs. New Zealand Rugby League game. I’m thankful for this time to rest my mind and my feet since both have them have seemed to be “on” for the past five days.

This week began with a stressful sense. I think all the girls here at some point this week were feeling a bit overwhelmed. I know for myself I felt like I was in “survival mode” teaching. I’ve never stepped up to teach feeling so unprepared. Most of the unpreparedness came from me feeling like I didn’t know the kids well enough to teach them effectively.

My lessons did go well this week. I ended up teaching all but one hour of the day on Tuesday. It was quite a surprise how it unfolded that way, but it worked. This whole semester I keep recalling what my mom told me, “You just gotta do it to get through it.” That phrase has held true for the past several months of my life. So THANK YOU MOM! J

Jenny met with us on Thursday after school to check in with everyone. We were all thankful for that because it gave us an opportunity to all sit down together. All nine of us girls getting together doesn’t happen very often, especially when we are in school, so we were glad to have this opportunity. Jenny (our QUT supervisor) offered to come observe me today (Friday) to see if she could help relieve my stresses a bit. I thought that was just so kind of her. When we talked on Friday she mentioned how worried she was about me at our meeting because not only was I hardly saying anything, she said I actually looked pale! Ha, I’ve always known I’m like an open book. My emotions can always be seen!

Anyways, Jenny came to my classroom on Friday to observe me teaching a math lesson. In this lesson the students were working on learning different ways to find a simple fraction of a whole number.

Out of all the people who have worked with me in the past four years, I have never had anyone spend so much time working with me. She was there for the entirety of my lesson (which took about an hour) and she stayed over 20 minutes after to discuss my lesson with me. A lot of university supervisors always have so many other things to get to; they have a hard time staying for the entire lesson, let alone staying to discuss your teaching skills after the lesson.

She gave me such fantastic feedback; I don’t think I will ever let go of her sheet of paper FILLED with positive and encouraging comments. She even discussed with me my “presence” in the classroom and how it is so calm and engaging, in comparison to hers which is more of a, “I’m so entertaining you don’t want to look anywhere else in the room because I’m so funny you wouldn’t want to miss this!” Haha. (Those were her words, not mine!) No one had ever pointed that out to me before, so it was comforting to know how much she was paying attention to the details.

Jenny has this gift of making anyone feel better and encouraging them to continue to give it their all. She told me I had nothing to worry about, that I was such a fantastic teacher. She said there were multiple times in my lesson where she was shaking her head because she couldn’t believe I was ever worried about how I was doing. I was so relieved by her feedback and support that by the end of this reflection, I was almost in tears because I was so thankful for her.

We continued to discuss how to deal with my perfectionist problem. She noticed how hard I am on myself and explained how it is okay to let some things slip from time to time. We talked about how it was hard to comeback to the business end of this trip after having two weeks of holiday. I also told her on top of that, I had just found out a few days before coming back that I was offered my first grade teaching position. I told her how difficultit was to concentrate earlier in the week because I have been looking forward to seeing my friends and family, celebrating graduation, starting my summer job,and then preparing for my own classroom.

As you can tell, I am feeling SO much better about taking next week by the horns. I am ready to rock the faces off those kiddos! Haha. We’ll see if I’ll still be saying that once I start planning my lessons! I am teaching everything next week. We do not have school because it is ANZAC day. ANZAC Day celebrates Australia and New Zealand joining forces in Gallipoli in 1914. They had to go straight at the cliffs to get off the battleships to fight Turkey in the First World War. Eighty to ninety percent of the soldiers were killed. This was the start of Australia and New Zealand always coming togetherto fight in war.

One of my newly discovered sweet treats that I’ve found inOz are ANZAC biscuits! They are like a light little cookie. All they are made out of is rolled oats, salt, flour, coconut, baking soda, golden syrup, and butter. These “biscuits” or, cookies as we wouldcall them, came to be because the women back in Australia during the FirstWorld War wanted to make a cookie to send to the soldiers that would last the whole voyage and still be edible for the men when they received them! I justlove learning about the culture in Australia! The things that I get most excited about learning are the things I would miss if I were only here for a short time. I love how immersed into the culture we have been. So blessed!

This afternoon half our class went to compete in “Sport.” I don’t really know what goes on when those students are at Sport except for the fact that they compete in different sports against different schools in the area. The other half of the students that were left at the school did an ANZAC Day project and participated in Sport related activities for the rest of the afternoon. Now, clearly this would never happen in the States. Sports take place after school and on the weekends. The only students who have to miss school for sports are generally only in high school and college and if they miss school, it’s their responsibility to keep up with their work.

One differentiation technique that my cooperating teacher uses is little gold star stickers on the desks of students who need extra help.The classroom is set up with a supportive community, so all the students know that these students are allowed to work with a partner and ask other students questions on their work.

Our time is running out here in Oz. I need to remember to buy some Australian children’s books while I’m here! I’m also hoping to get back to a couple of stores before I leave to pick up a couple of souvenirs for myself. J Tomorrow will be spent catching some rays in the morning and afternoon, then it will be on to planning out my week, completing a reflection assignment, and hopefully making some good gains on my presentation that is due on Thursday.

So here’s to a “Working Weekend.”

Now I can finally say, see you soon, friends! Nine more days!!

Xoxo

First Day of Term 2

Last night it was hard to go to bed early, and this morning it was even harder to get up early. I was so tired this morning at school, I could hardly function. Yuck. Fortunately, my energy level picked back up in the afternoon. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.


Each day I am finding it harder and harder to focus on teaching. I have some Serious Senioritis Syndrome going on down here. I was just telling Melanie that I can’t think about anything besides getting home, celebrating with family and friends on graduation weekend, summer time, and teaching first grade! With all of those exciting things about to take place, is it hard to
imagine that I would be having a hard time focusing? I didn’t think so! :) Thankfully I had Melanie to remind me to soak it in while we are here, because we will be leaving before we know it! Which is SO true, but it’s just SO hard!


So tomorrow I am teaching a math lesson on percentages, decimals, and equivalent fractions. My teacher gave me a power point to go through with the students, so I’m feeling a bit more comfortable with taking over more lessons. One Wednesday I’ll be teaching math and reading. One interesting thing is that my Year 6 students are working on percents and facts and opinions
this week. Those are the same subjects that I taught to my third graders back in the States.


Some of us student teachers are feeling a bit frustrated and overwhelmed because we feel like we have such limited resources. We don’t have usernames or passwords to get on to the computers, we don’t have internet access, and we aren’t able to print anything either. So if we want to do anything for a lesson we have to ask our teacher to walk us through every step. That’s really
hard for us because we are all pretty competent teachers. I just can’t believe we only have seven and a half days left in the classroom…


I am finally about to finish Eat Pray Love. You’d think I would be finished by now considering the fact I think I started reading the book in September. For some reason, whenever a more appealing book came along, I’d pick that one up and put Eat Pray Love on pause. Once I came upon the end of the book, it got to be really good and now I’m bummed that I can’t stay up
late into the night to finish it! Mel is going to let me borrow The Lucky One tomorrow. I'm really excited to start reading that. She said she absolutely loves it. I just can't wait to finish it before I get back to the States so I can drag Max to see the movie with me! ;)


A couple more Aussie words that I don’t believe I’ve mentioned are:

Brekky - breakfast

“I reckon” – a phrase used when we would say, “I think”

Petrol – gas for cars (So they say they need to get petrol,
we say we need to get some gas.)

Hugs and love, friends!!
Xoxo

Lake Kurwongbah

Kari and I ended our two week Aussie holiday with Nina and her host family on a lake. They picked us up before 10 am and off we went for atubing and skiing adventure! They actually have access to a “private” lake. There was a locked gate to get into this lake and only members of the ski club could use it.

One cool thing was that they wear wet suits when they go tubing and water skiing. I was wondering; why the HECK don’t we all have wet suits back in South Dakota or Minnesota? Lord knows we have colder water than Australians do! Definitely something to look into! They were awesome, relieved a bit of the shock from hitting the water, even though the water was pretty nice anyway!

Nina, Kari, and I were all on the same tube. We had a great time laughing at each other’s ridiculousness. Kari was screaming the whole time, I was yelling “Yeah!” in obnoxious ways, and Nina couldn’t help herself from falling off.

It felt like we had a little taste of home today. Nina’s host family consists of three grown children, two of their significant others, and two young children. Family friends also joined us at the lake for the day. We all sat around visiting. They asked us a lot of questions about America. We had
a picnic for lunch too. I felt like I was back in South Dakota for the summer. Cars just pulled up around our site, the Sun Shade (a canopy to protect us from the sun) was set up, and we all sat around on collapsible chairs while the boat came in and out to pick up riders. My South Dakota lovies will understand why that would feel like home to me.

Later in the afternoon we tried skiing. I have skied before, so I was super excited to have a go with it. Nina hadn’t done it before, so we had a good time teaching her how. She got up after four tries! Although, this did revive the love I have for water skiing. Maybe in the next ten years I’ll be able to afford my own boat! Ha, dream big!

It’s back to school for us tomorrow, and believe me, my brain is NOT ready for it! Only nine more days in the classroom though. So crazy!

Xoxo

Australia Zoo & Broncos Rugby Game

We started off our Friday morning around 7 am because we needed to get ready for our adventure to Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo and then later to the Brisbane Broncos Rugby League game!

Before we went into the actual zoo, we stopped by the animal hospital where we saw them working on an arachnid and then saw a couple of koalas getting help too. One koala even had an amputated leg! :( Poor little guy.. But he was so cute to watch walk around!

The Australia Zoo is on a HUGE piece of land. It is full of awesome animals and activities too! (Be sure to check out my pictures on Facebook if you haven’t already!) I got to feed an elephant, hold a baby crocodile, pet and feed kangaroos, pet koalas, and attend the Croc Show! We fed the elephants witch chunks of melon-type fruit about the size of my palm. It was the weirdest
thing EVER! Their trunks are like little vacuums! He just sucked the fruit up and tossed it back into his mouth! So crazy!

We did have one little incident when we were feeding the kangaroos. I wasn’t really thinking and I held my hand out too high for the kangaroo to reach easily. This kangaroo used its hands to grab mine. It kind of hurt because they have some kind of claw type fingers. Haha. Anyways, you aren’t supposed to pull the food away from the Kangaroos though, so I didn’t know what to do!
Eventually I just closed my palm over the food and walked away to feed another kangaroo. But then the same kangaroo came over by us when we were feeding a different kangaroo. Then the one we were feeding started growling while Nina was feeding it! Then mine was eating out of my hand again but when I tried towalk away it like hopped after me a little bit! I kind of freaked and just threw the food on the ground to get away from it! Haha. So embarrassing but no other kangaroos had acted like that. Needless to say Nina and I left those two alone after that. Haha.

We were lucky enough to go to the Zoo over the school holiday so Steve Irwin’s wife, Terri, and two kids, Bindi and Robert were there to perform the Croc Show! To get the show started the staff had us stand up and pay tribute to Steve by giving a big thumbs up and yelling, “Crikey!” I felt themost entertaining part was seeing them interact as a family, especially after
their devastating loss of Steve.

Terri said something about America while she was talking and of course all of us girls cheered pretty loudly. She looked up at us and asked us where we were from. We all yelled back that we were from Minnesota of course. Then she said, “That’s where the mall is right?!” And again, we all said yeah and cheered. It was so neat! I caught part of that interaction on video too.

A few times throughout the day the girls and I had discussions on how sometimes it was sad to be there because there are pictures of Steve everywhere. His quotes are posted throughout the zoo as well. Those are pretty inspiring. On the other side of the sadness is the fact that his family and the people at the Zoo are all working so hard to keep his dream alive. You can just feel the passion for the animals in the atmosphere while you are there.

We left the Zoo at 4 pm to catch the train to Brisbane for the Broncos Rugby League game! It took about an hour on the train to get to Brisbane. It was really neat because downtown it was just like being in the cities for Twins game. Everyone was wearing Broncos gear and the atmosphere wasreally neat. Unfortunately, it was raining on our walk there, which made it a bit chilly. We we re hoping the rain would clear though because it was an open air stadium.

When we got the stadium a few of us stopped to buy a shirt for ourselves. We grabbed food for supper and then headed to our seats. I had the most delicious chicken sandwich ever! (Here they call it a chicken burger). Nina was nice enough to share her fries with me. We couldn’t get over how perfectly salted the fries were. Haha. Stadium food always seems to hit the spot! I even
thoroughly enjoyed my Coke I had and I don’t even like Australia’s Coke! It tastes different than ours! We got to our seats that were in SECOND ROW. It was amazing! The players were like RIGHT THERE! Nina and I sat on the end of the group. We had a great time chatting between our spouts of trying to figure out how the heck Rugby worked! Of course we were comparing
it to our football the whole time. It was definitely an experience of Culture Shock being one of nine girls in the stadium of over 30,000 who had no idea what was going on and everyone else did!

Nina’s host family was able to go to the game so they lead us to the best train station to take so we could have seats on the train ride home. The ride home took forever for some reason. We were all dead tired once we got home from our long, exhausting, but totally awesome day!

I feel as though I need to tell you all something. Since you have been so kind to read my blog, I feel you deserve to know about a recent event in my life. Here it is: I have accepted a position as a first grade teacher in Huron, South Dakota for next year! I am very excited about this opportunity! I loved the principals and the superintendent after talking with them in my interview. (I did this interview over Skype at 4am the night we returned from Sydney!) So it seems that when I get back I have a bit more to celebrate over graduation weekend! :)

I got to use Facetime with Janaya and Keely tonight! It was SO fun! I LOVED talking with them! Except I can just tell we have SO much to catch up on! Haha. Reuniting with my roomies will be so great!

15 days until I’m home, friends! The next two weeks I will be back in the schools. I don’t know if my body is ready to get back to work after two weeks on Holiday, but I supposed it’s going to have to figure out a way to survive!

Love and hugs to everyone!
Xoxo

Sydney :: Wednesday

Again, Kari, Kim, and I were up and gone by 8:30 am. We got breakfast at you-know-where and then walked over to Darling Harbor. First we went to the Sydney Aquarium. This place was neat because it started out with small sea life and then got better and bigger as you walked through. We saw HUGE, fat crabs, bright colored starfish, penguins, and Great Barrier Reef plants and
animals. Kim and I told ourselves that this will have to do since we couldn’t make it to the Great Barrier Reef this time around.


After the Aquarium we shopped around again. Mostly we were looking for graduation dresses for Kari and Kim. No such luck though. While in the mall we snapped a picture outside Sydney’s Hard Rock Café. After we had covered that mall, we walked to the Chinese Friendship Garden. While we were there we saw signs for Patty’s Market. We had heard a tour guide mention that
earlier in the day, so we figured since we had time to kill we could check it out. We had to walk quite a ways and just follow the signs. Soon enough though, we came upon this HUGE warehouse type looking building that had to be multiple football fields in size. This place was packed with markets. There were so many little vendors selling wonderful Australian stuff for half the price of what you would find on the Sydney Harbor. So of course we were in heaven. I splurged quite a bit on myself here because the prices were so good, there was no way I could turn them down!


Around 4 pm we started heading back to the hotel. Once we got there, we rested our feet but when we realized we had over an hour to wait around there was no stopping us from going around the corner to the Max Brennan Chocolate Bar. This time I ordered the chocolate dip with strawberries. Seriously, I’ve never tasted anything better! As Kari would say her catch
phrase of the trip, “LOOVED IT!”


Unfortunately, we had a hard time arranging a ride to the airport that evening. After the concierge making multiple phone calls to help us out, we resorted to taking the train to the air port. This wasn’t so bad except it cost over $15 per person to ride the train for less than 20 minutes. But we needed to get there somehow.

One thing that I was so proud of on this trip to Sydney was how us girls proved how independent we could be. We didn't even come close to getting lost once and we used maps and public transportation to get us where we needed to go. I know it doesn't sound like much or it would be that hard to do but just the fact that we did it and we did it together is way cool for me.

One thing I do want to add to this blog post before I forget is about how the buildings were set up in cities. I haven't experienced this anywhere else, but I also haven't traveled to very many large cities. There was SO much going on under ground in Sydney. One time we went down THREE levels of escalators from ground level to get to the platforms of the train station. Other sky scraper buildings all had malls and shops on the ground and basement levels. One time we went down stairs on one side of the street and then came up stairs on the other side of the street. We realized while we were shopping we had gone under the road that the cars were driving on! It was so crazy to me..

So here we are safely back in Morayfield for 17 more days. Tomorrow we are off to the Australia Zoo and then a Rugby game in Brisbane. I’m really looking forward to that big day!


I love you all SO much! I know I’ll be home sooner than we all think, but I still miss you all like crazy! Take care!
xoxo

Sydney :: Tuesday

We excitedly started off Tuesday morning with a tour of the Sydney Opera House. With my dance background, I loved every bit of seeing the theatres. My most favorite part though, was watching the short video clips explaining how the Opera House came to be. They showed pictures of models that had been submitted to the competition but none of them even came close to how unique the Opera House is now. Using my Dad’s side of my brain, I also really enjoyed watching videos of the building being constructed. They really built the plane as they flew it. Construction began and they weren’t even sure if the building was actually possible.

After we grabbed our Starbucks (again!), we spent some time finishing up our souvenir shopping. A lot of the shops had all the same things but some shops had lower prices than others.


After we had been through the shops we wanted to see, Kari, Kim, Jordyn, Andrea, and I walked across the Sydney Harbor Bridge to see what we could find on that side. Low and behold! It brought us to Luna Park. Luna Park is your typical carnival type area on a pier. There were rides and fun games. It just so happened that the movie Battleship staring Rhiana was having its Australia Premier that evening. The red carpet had been laid out and the gates were put up. Even three hours before the premier beginning, people were lining up along the gates to see Rhiana.


When we returned to our side of the bridge we meandered through some high end shops such as Coach, Dior, Tiffany’s, and Luis Vuitton. I felt like I was in Sex and the City! Everything was so classy and sparkly.


Kari, Kim and I then made our way back to the Opera House to take some pictures we forgot to snap when we were there that morning. It was nice evening weather so we decided to rest our feet on the steps of the Opera House before heading back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

The three of us went back to the hotel to change for dinner. We went to this restaurant we had been passing all week called, “Jackson’s on George.” We all got steak, chips, and salad with a glass of wine. We had a nice time chit chatting in the city restaurant atmosphere.


After supper we headed to my heaven on earth: Max Brennan Chocolate Bar! The three of us ordered the Fondu for Two which comes with bannas, strawberries, marshmellows, and banana bread! It was SO fabulous. It was the most perfect melted chocolate I have ever tasted! The rest of the girls met up with us there and we all enjoyed some sweets together. Kari and I said that no
matter what if we ever get back to a Max Brennan Chocolate Bar that we have to try something new every single time.

Please continue reading "Sydney :: Wednesday"

Sydney :: Tuesday

We excitedly started off Tuesday morning with a tour of the Sydney Opera House. With my dance background, I loved every bit of seeing the theatres. My most favorite part though, was watching the short video clips explaining how the Opera House came to be. They showed pictures of models that had been submitted to the competition but none of them even came close to how unique the Opera House is now. Using my Dad’s side of my brain, I also really enjoyed watching videos of the building being constructed. They really built the plane as they flew it. Construction began and they weren’t even sure if the building was actually possible.

After we grabbed our Starbucks (again!), we spent some time finishing up our souvenir shopping. A lot of the shops had all the same things but some shops had lower prices than others.

After we had been through the shops we wanted to see, Kari, Kim, Jordyn, Andrea, and I walked across the Sydney Harbor Bridge to see what we could find on that side. Low and behold! It brought us to Luna Park. Luna Park is your typical carnival type area on a pier. There were rides and fun games. It just so happened that the movie Battleship staring Rhiana was having its Australia Premier that evening. The red carpet had been laid out and the gates were put up. Even three hours before the premier beginning, people were lining up along the gates to see Rhiana.

When we returned to our side of the bridge we meandered through some high end shops such as Coach, Dior, Tiffany’s, and Luis Vuitton. I felt like I was in Sex and the City! Everything was so classy and sparkly.

Kari, Kim and I then made our way back to the Opera House to take some pictures we forgot to snap when we were there that morning. It was nice evening weather so we decided to rest our feet on the steps of the Opera House before heading back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

The three of us went back to the hotel to change for dinner. We went to this restaurant we had been passing all week called, “Jackson’s on George.” We all got steak, chips, and salad with a glass of wine. We had a nice time chit chatting in the city restaurant atmosphere.

After supper we headed to my heaven on earth: Max Brennan Chocolate Bar! The three of us ordered the Fondu for Two which comes with bannas, strawberries, marshmellows, and banana bread! It was SO fabulous. It was the most perfect melted chocolate I have ever tasted! The rest of the girls met up with us there and we all enjoyed some sweets together. Kari and I said that no
matter what if we ever get back to a Max Brennan Chocolate Bar that we have to try something new every single time.

Please continue reading "Sydney :: Wednesday"

Sydney :: Monday

We started Monday off nice and early by getting up at seven. We wanted to grab breakfast at Starbucks and spend most of the day using the Hop On Hop Off Sight Seeing Tour Bus of the city. This bus takes you to all the attractions in Sydney. Your ticket can be valid for 24 or 48 hours and then you are able to “Hop on” and “Hop off” at any of the specific bus stops around the city. We rode the whole tour for the first 2 hours and 10 minutes of our day to see what there was to see. Then we made notes of the places we wanted to go back and visit during our stay.


The first place we hopped off was the Australia Museum. The museum was HUGE and AWESOME. They had minerals, skeletons, birds, and dinosaurs. There was a nice kids place that us teachers enjoyed looking through too.


We walked quite a ways to find a Subway for lunch. When we finally did, we were in the Kings Cross side of town. We had been warned about this place at night but were also told that it would be fine during the day. Yes, it was “fine.” However, it was still a bit of a rough patch in the city that we did not return to on the rest of our trip.


Next we headed to the Royal Botanical Gardens. This was a huge park with all kinds of different flowers and walking paths. There were also statues and green houses. People were every where doing park like activities. One side of the park lined the Sydney Harbor, so in the sunlight this garden was absolutely beautiful! Oh! I can’t forget to tell you about the MONSTEROUS BATS we saw. They were HUGE – like bigger than the average bird you would see in America! And the nastiest part was how FURRY THEY WERE. Eww!! I hated bed under the trees they were in! (Ick! I get the creeps just typing about it!) While we were all looking at the bats and expressing our feelings about them, a group of seven or eight guys walked by. Then one of them says, “Are
you girls from America?” We always think it’s kind of funny/nice when people recognize our accents. Another fun part is that we get to share with them why we are in Australia. These boys were part of a Christian group were doing a mission trip for two years in Sydney and they were from all over. One of the boys had even lived in MN for five years. He also lived in 41 of the States
throughout his life. The other boys were from New Zealand, Fiji, Singapore, and even Brisbane.


As the evening began approaching we decided to use the other Hop On Hop Off bus tour that takes you to Bondi Beach. This tour takes you to other parts of Sydney. It drives you by one of the most famous beaches in New South Wales. You also get to see wonderful skylines of the city.


That evening we came back to the hotel with pizza on our minds. We ordered three pizzas, garlic bread, and a liter of pop for the five of us. We laughed at our classic American moment we had: sitting in a circle on the hotel floor and devouring our pizza.


We ended the absolutely beautiful day with some relaxed girl talk in the hotel room. We liked to spend our evenings in so we could prepare for the next full day.

Please continue reading "Sydney :: Tuesday"

Sydney :: Easter Sunday!

Bruce took Kari, Melanie, and me to the Brisbane Airport just after 7 am. The three of us walked into the airport to hear the loud speaker saying it was the last call for our flight! We rushed through getting our tickets from the kiosk and up the stairs through “security” and then basically
ran down the concourse to fall in line as the last passengers boarding our flight! Once we were safely on the plane we were all laughing at how close we cut it. The flight wasn’t very full since it was Easter Sunday; so Kari, Melanie, and I enjoyed having seats between us while we chatted during our flight.


I mentioned “security” because in comparison to our security back in the states, it’s a bit ridiculous. All you do here is send your bags through the security check. The biggest concern is aerosol containers. I had a big hair spray bottle in my bag. When I got to the line I asked if I needed to throw it out and they said, “No all we have to do is check it for corrosion.” Are you kidding me? It was a HUGE hair spray bottle.. That would NEVER happen in the states. Kari even got through security with a full liter of Mt. Dew in the outside pocket of her back pack!
I’m not sure if this is common for all airlines in Australia or if it was just JetStar; but to load the plane, passengers walk on the tarmac to board the plane. On top of that, there is a front and back door that you go through depending on where your seat is on the plane. So weird, right!?


Once we got to Sydney we took a Maxi Taxi Van. The driver pulled up and got out of the car to help us with our bags. He came around the car and seemed a bit surprised as he said, “Seven girls…” Ha, we all laughed. $58 dollars later we arrived at The Menzies Hotel. We had three rooms between the seven of us. Almost everyone had their own bed because each room had two double beds. Not long after our arrival we headed out to explore! We picked up lunch at McDonalds, walked to the Harbor and the Opera House (which was hardly a 10 minute walk from our hotel).



Mel, Lynn, and I walked over to the bridge and then came upon the Markets at The Rocks. The Rocks is a place near the harbor where the streets are lined with all kinds of shops. Of course us girls spent a large majority of our Sunday afternoon there before we headed back to relax as the hotel before supper.


We went to a bar that was just around the corner from our hotel. It was called 333 Bar. I had fish and chips with two different beers I hadn’t had before. First I had Cascade Light and then I had Pure Blonde. Both were very good! I think I almost liked Pure Blonde better than my trusty old Bud Light. Supper was great. It was nice for the seven of us to sit down, talk, and laugh together.


Back at the hotel that evening we entertained ourselves in a bit creative way. We made videos of ourselves being silly basically. We hung our heads off the sides of the beds, covered our faces with shirts except our mouth and chin. Then our art teacher who is with us drew eyes, noses, and even glasses on our chins. I’m hoping to get these videos on Youtube if we all deem them appropriate! Haha. Of course we think they are funny.

Please continue reading "Sydney :: Monday!"

Sunshine Coast :: Mooloolaba!

On Friday our host parents took us to the Sunshine Coast, or more specifically, Mooloolaba. It was by far the best place we have visited yet. The shops were neat, but the beach was SO wonderful. So we spent the day shopping, eating, got ice cream (which has turned into a daily event for us), and then headed to the beach. The beach was so different on the Sunshine Coast
compared to the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast had a lot of room to lay out on the sand. The Sunshine Coast had rocks and more rugged terrain along parts of it. It still had sand to lay out on, but there were more places where the waves would crash up on the rocks and make big splashes. And you must understand how exciting this was for a couple of Minnesota girls. It was just Kari and me for the day so we spent a lot of time taking pictures of each other with the
fantastic scenery behind us.

We came back to Morayfield in time for a Good Friday church service. It was at a church that neither Bruce nor Heather had been to before. It was an interesting experience to say the least. Unfortunately, it wasn’t geared toward the meaning of Good Friday too much and there wasn’t a consistent message throughout the service. So needless to say, I am a bit homesick for the
Easter traditions my family follows back in the States. I’m sure tomorrow I will mostly be missing the songs of praise and the rejoicing atmosphere. I guess I’ll just have to sing “Jesus Christ has risen today, alleluia!” on the plane tomorrow morning!

Kari and I were creating some entertainment for ourselves on Friday night by leaving videos for people from our blocks. By the time we got to the sixth and seventh video we were laughing so hard we had tears in our eyes. I even had a headache when I laid down for bed last night because we had had so much fun. I have really been enjoying all the memories we have been
making here. I can’t wait to bring them back to the States to share with everyone!

Today was full of unexpected events! One of the videos Kari and I left on Friday night was for Ashley’s host mum, Angie. She is just an angel. She is more of a mother hen for the nine of us. She makes sure that we are all taken care of and makes sure that we are all having a good time while we are here. This is the lady that went to a tourist place and picked up ten sets of brochures and bags for all of us to have so we can plan adventures. Anyway, since we left her a video the night before she talked to us via facebook and told us she could pick us up tomorrow if we wanted to go to the mall. We were definitely down for that because we needed to get some things
together before we took off for Sydney. Low and behold, you must know that if you get into Angie’s car it is never a direct drive to and from. So when we shared the news that four of our girls were sky diving that afternoon, she said, “Well we better go watch that then!”

It was really neat we pulled up to the place and surprised the girls. It was quite the process for them to actually get into the air and jump, so Kari, Angie, and I went to the mall for a bit.
We returned to the beach with about forty minutes to spare. We talked with Jenny (who is a QUT staff AND Kim and Jordyn’s host mum) and then we all took pictures and videotaped the whole ordeal. It was super cool to see and definitely exciting to know our good friends were the people falling out of the sky!

When we returned home for the evening Bruce and Heather weren’t too far behind us from work. This is a special evening for us because the plan was to go pick up food for supper. Heather wanted to get KFC for supper. She took Kari and I along to make sure she ordered right. We got a
family pack of course and the price displayed on the menu was about $30. But when we ordered the clerk said the total was only $25. The three of us looked at each other and Heather said, “Well isn’t it supposed to be $30?” The clerk responded, “Well yes, but I gave you the senior discount.” Heather looked kind of taken aback and then said laughing, “But I didn’t even show you my card to prove it!” We all had a good giggle though because that was the first time Heather had been given the senior discount without being asked to show her card… Oh the milestones we have reached in Oz.

So we spent the evening packing for Sydney tomorrow. I will be there until America’s early Wednesday morning. I am not taking my laptop so I won’t be able to blog until I get back. However, I’m sure I’ll have heaps of stories to share with you when we return! (See! I used the word heaps!)

Hugs and love to you all! Miss you all SO much!

Gold Coast :: Surfer's Paradise

Hello Friends! I’m sorry I haven’t been blogging much this week because we are on Holiday and Kari and I have just been keeping it pretty relaxed this week. Of course, I do have a few thoughts to share with you.

Yesterday, we had plans with some girls to take the train to another beach. We all met up in the late morning at the train station. The train arrived and I stood up, walked to swipe my Go card, and went to take one step onto the train when all of a sudden the hydraulics lifted and the train
doors closed. I jumped back and gasped. Kari even tried to open the doors again but the train just took off! All six of us missed the train. It seriously had stopped for maybe five seconds. It really sucked because the next bus wasn’t for another hour and the next train was an even longer wait. The other four girls were staying at a hotel at this beach, Kari and I needed to come back that night because we had plans the next day with our host family. If Kari and I would have waited and gone on the next bus or train with the girls we would have just gotten to our destination and then had to come right back to Morayfield. So we made the executive decision to just go back home and lay out in the yard.

Today our host family took us to the Gold Coast and Surfer’s Paradise. On our way there we stopped at a large outlet mall. I found a really awesome coral colored dress there. I think I’m going to wear it out Saturday evening of graduation weekend.

It was nice to go and see the beach. The waves were huge, powerful, and there were SO many of them! We had a nice walk along the beach and a refreshing stop at a McDonalds for…. A chocolate milkshake and fries! (Imagine that!)

When we got home Heather and Bruce got news that they have a new grandbaby girl! It’s kind of neat for us to be here at this time because when we first came here, Heather and Bruce had just returned from New Zealand where they had been helping with another new grandbaby girl.

Kari and I were sitting at the dining room table tonight when we saw two young people walk up to our host home’s door. Bruce answered it and it was two 17-18 year olds asking if we wanted to come over for a drink at the neighbors. Bruce of course made a joke saying they were half dead and he didn’t know if those kids would want them around. Then one of the kids said, “Well
what about the girls? Would they want to come over?” Heather and Bruce said, "Well it’s up to them," and Kari responded, politely, “Maybe later.” Haha. Maybe NEVER. The kids were five years younger than us. Low and behold, four hours later Kari and I creeped out the windows watching these drunk kids horse around in their front yard. How lovely.

In other news, in Australia, they play Christian music on almost all the radio station. It’s mixed right in with all the pop, rock, and oldies music. I really enjoy this because it’s a nice little reminder throughout your day of what we are all here for. As we all know, we almost never hear that back in the States. You know, because we wouldn’t want to offend anyone. (Rubbish). This holds true over here in the schools as well though, because as I have mentioned before, the public schools here have formal religious education in them. So I have just been enjoying the PUBLIC Christian music as we go through Holy Week. Tomorrow evening we are going to a church service for Good Friday.

Take care loves! (Almost 3 weeks until I'm home!)

Miss you all soo much <3

Xoxo

Let Our Holiday Begin!

Sunday was spent sleeping in a bit, reading my book, uploading pictures on to Facebook, relaxing and then we went for a walk around the neighborhood.

This was the first chance I had to wear my new tennis shoes. These shoes are TOTALLY awesome. Thanks, Mom and Dad! ;) They even made me want to go for a run sometime… Key word being ‘sometime,’ now this could mean before I leave Australia or before summer ends!

I read my novel in less than a week. I absolutely LOVE books like that. I love them even more when I actually have time to read them too! The book was The Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin. If you haven’t read her books, you should! She wrote Something Borrowed, Something Blue, Baby Proof, and Love the One You’re With. All of which, I have not been able to put down!

I realized that I had my pictures marked on Facebook so that I was the only person who could see them. So, if you haven’t checked them out yet, go look at my Australia 2012 album!

Monday – Bribie Island

Six of us girls headed out to Bribie Island for the day. The sun was out, the skies were so clear, hardly a cloud in sight! We laid out, read our novels, and went for a dip whenever we were feeling a little too hot. I even made a conscious effort keep applying sun screen throughout our time
there. No worries, my back is as a lobster. Better luck next time I guess. I do know though, that with my skin, it will fade into a tan before I know it .

After spending a couple hours out in the sun, we meandered to a shop for some hot chips and ice cream. Hot chips are French fries of course. Believe it or not, these fries are so good you don’t even need ketchup! My milkshake was more of chocolate milk than ice cream but I didn’t even care. I just wanted the chocolate to balance the salt of the fries… Best beach meal EVER!

I'm impressed with myself keeping this post a bit short. I feel pictures would do a better job of describing my day than words.

Later this week we are hoping to see Surfer's Paradise, The Gold Coast, and the Sunshine Coast. Then Sunday it's off to Sydney! I could really get used to Aussie Holidays.