As the title of this blog states-my life is awesome. I have met so many amazing people that have given me the opportunities to visit so many new places and try so many new things. I am so grateful that these people are in my life and I cannot thank them enough for all they have helped me do and see. Recently I have been spending a lot of time about two hours south of Wollongong in a town called Nowra. There isn’t much in Nowra but it’s home to some of my Australian Uni friends. Last weekend Liz, Anna, Baillie and I did a road trip to Nowra to attend a farewell party for our friend Alex. Baillie is an Australian who lives on campus with me and has known Alex since high school. I met Alex my first week in Wollongong at a house party. Alex is heading off to the Australian military so we went to bid him a farewell. The road trip down to Nowra was through the Australian countryside and it was absolutely beautiful. The scenery reminded me of Indiana but with more hills, greener pastures and an ocean in view. I guess it was nothing like Indiana. Alex’s house was no disappointment as he had an amazing mountain view and wild parrots coming to feed off his feeder in the back yard. After the barbeque a group of us decided to check out the nightlife in Nowra. While Nowra is a scenically beautiful town, the people are a little different. Mullets, rat-tails and extreme body art were themes of the evening but we still had fun at a little club called Posties. The DJ played the best array of music I’ve heard since being in Australia and our group of friends had a fun time rocking out. After a night of fun we headed back to Baillie’s for some caramel slice (Australian desert that tastes somewhat like toffee).
The next day we hurried home as it was one of the best weather days we’ve had in Oz. The Fairy Meadow beach was packed with campus kids and it was amazing hanging out in the sun with the smell of a barbeque nearby. With all of my friends on the beach, Wollongong is beginning to have a spring break vibe. I’m realizing that it’s a good thing the weather wasn’t this good throughout the semester or else I would be failing all of my classes. Today was also the day Nick (Australian that I went sailing with in Sydney) decided to give me, Liz and Anna our Australian souvenirs. Instead of getting us boring little Australian stuffed animals like a koala, kangaroo and platypus, Nick decided to cut each animal up and reassemble them. I now have a Boxing Koalapus- platypus body, kangaroo arms, and koala head- while Anna and Liz have other fun animals. He not only made us our animals to remember Oz, but he created fact sheets for us about each animal that actually described us. My animal gets vicious with the scent of chocolate in the air and is known for being extremely loud and having a tan hide. Sound familiar? While he did make fun of each of us A LOT, the present was awesome and something I will never forget.
That night, after spending all day at the beach, we chilled out in the projector room on campus to watch the Australian Wallabies play the New Zealand All-Blacks in the rugby world cup. The All-Blacks killed the Wallabies but it was still a fun game to watch full of bloody noses and very attractive men.
Other AUSome things that I’ve been up to include eating breakfast at Myra, where my roommate Kelsey works, and attending a charity event put on by Liz for one of her classes. The event was called Rock In2Uni and local bands played in a pub to raise over $600 for university scholarships. I was a proud little momma that night! We celebrated later in the week by having s’mores. Australians don’t have s’mores but Liz had her dad send her a care package with Hershey’s and graham crackers so we got to chow down.
One funny thing that happened to me the other day was being woken up from my nap by a phone call from the head of campus east. I was a little concerned I was in trouble for something but then realized I’m perfect and never do anything wrong J Hmm… Anyway, instead of getting in trouble, I found out my name was randomly chosen from completing a survey and I had won a free 2-hour private surf lesson for me and 2 friends! The moral of the story is: always fill out surveys where you may win a prize.
The last of my most recent Australian adventures was a weekend trip to Jervis Bay. I had heard about Jervis before even coming over here and was stoked when I found out Baillie has a vacation home down there and he was willing to show me, Liz, Anna and Jackie around. We headed down for Jervis, along with Ben (another Australian I’m friends with) and spent two days at Baillie’s house. There we sailed in the Bay with Baillie’s dad and his dad’s friend Kieran. On the trip we saw dolphins swimming alongside our boat, swam in crystal clear water and had a picnic lunch on the boat. After a long day of sailing we went back to Baillie’s house where some more of our friends met up with us to play games and hang out. The next day we headed to Hyam’s Beach which, according to the Guinness Book of World Record’s has the whitest sand in the world. I wouldn’t doubt it-this place was beautiful. The sand was so fine that it squeaked when we walked on it and the water was so clear that when Jackie peed in it I could see her pee from 5 feet away. Kind of gross, yes, but it helps with the visual. We ended the day with a trip to a little bakery in town where we had amazing treats and beautiful views of Jervis.
I’ve been becoming more Australian recently and I’m loving it. I’ve been using Australian lingo in my everyday speech without even realizing it and I am abbreviating everything. I also played netball the other day and not only scored a goal, but was on the winning team! Certain Australian things don’t even phase me anymore such as driving on the left hand side of the road and seeing signs around Uni that say “Beware of swooping birds: Magpie season”. It’s an odd country, yes, but a country I have grown to love. I hate knowing that I only have 4 weeks left of my semester and I am dreading leaving. I’ve been soaking everything in, including the sun, and will never, ever forget these past four months. It truly has been AUSome.
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