Byron Bay! Feb 26-28 SKY DIVING!

Well this trip started out a little rough... We had to wake up around 9am because our bus left at 10:23. So we all were up on time and everything. The travel agent had to bring over the rest of our bus tickets and vouchers. I called a taxi to take us to the transit station and we got their pretty early around 9:55. So we thought we were sitting pretty good. Well my friends got to the transit station about 10 and one of the girls still had to pay for her ticket so when she got there she went into the station to find that where they sell tickets was closed. We didnt know what to do so she called the travel agent to ask what she should do. Right away he said YOUR SUPPOSE TO BE AT THE TRAIN STATION!! NOT THE TRANSIT STATION! At this time it was about 10 after 10 and there were no cabs in sight! So he told us it was pretty far so if we had to walk there... RUN! so we ran to someone on the street and he gave us directions to the TRAIN station. He said it was pretty far as well and it was sprinkling out! so we took off our shoes and RAN!! We all had our backpacks on and we were running through the rain. Had to get there in about 12 minutes! Not sure exactly how far it was but at least a mile and a half. we made it exactly at 10:23! the bus didnt get there until 10:45! so we were still early but it was scary! we all laughed and said we finally got a work out in!
The bus ride was only an hour and once we got there it was very nice out! We went to the beach right away and I got pretty burnt. That night we went out to all these different bars that were really cool. none of us had to buy one drink because there are people all over the streets that give you free drink tickets to all the bars so that was awesome.
The next day was my room mate Reginas 21st so we planned to go sky diving! 2 of her friends from st. thomas were also in Byron for her birthday so they planned to sky dive as well. We were suppose to jump at 7:30 am on Saturday but there were storms so they kept pushing us back. Then it was 12:30 then they called us at 2 and said we can come now. We got there and it was raining off and on and so they didnt know if they could get us in. We ended up waiting for 3 hours!! and they never got us in on saturday so we signed up for sunday at 9:30 am.
We were only 5 minutes from the beach and there was word of the east coast getting hit by a tsunami so that was really scary. they closed all the beaches for the morning. Nothing ended up happening besides the tide being a lot bigger and stronger than usual.
So on sunday we finally got to go sky diving after waiting an hour and a half. It was an incredible experience that I think everyone should do!!! From all the waiting I stopped being nervous. But once I got in that small plane I started freaking out! Cried a little on the way up.. stomach was going crazy. in the plane you have to sit right in front of the sky diving instructor your jumping with, pretty much on their laps. And of course my instructor was the last one to get on the plane so we had to sit right next to the door! and we didnt shut the door until we were taking off! then they didnt even shut it all the way so when the door was a little open at 10000 feet in the air my instructor grabbed my hand and stuck it out the window!! that totally freaked me out!
I of course had to be the first to go... which my instructor lied to me about! said i wouldnt be! but once we reached 14000 feet he said okay, lifted up the door, and said stick your feet outside the door! So i am just hanging out the door freaking out and all of a sudden he jumped! I was free falling for 60 seconds! it was unreal! the only bad part was that my ears were popping the whole way which sucked. but still worth it. Then once he let the parachute go we had about 5 minutes until ground. it was right over the ocean! so incredible sights! Although... he kept making us spin, cuz he could control the chute. so of course since i hate spinning things I got sick... I said you need to stop making us spin cuz im going to throw up then he just laughed and kept making us spin so I yelled "I AM SERIOUSLY GOING TO GET SICK SO YOU NEED TO STOP MAKING US SPIN!" then I said Im going to throw up.. so at about 10000 feet in the air he gave me a little baggy and i threw up :) gross i know...
Even with the ears popping and the puking... i am soooooo happy I did this! once in a life time experience that you have to try!!!!! I'll never forget it!

2 days of class and thats it : )

Classes came and gone as I only have class on Tuesdays and Wednesdays :) soooo nice! I am taking an Outdoor education class that I can tell is going to be a HUGE challenge for me but I am very excited about! Two field trips to the great outdoors... sleeping outside for both... the bug situation is going to be a problem I know... but hopefully I'll survive! Another class is Perspectives on Australia. I like this class too so far because its all about the history of Australia. The good, the bad, and what not. Should be interesting. And my final class on Wednesdays from 4-6 is Math Education. Who hoo... ha I actually had to lie to get into this class. ha It was only available on Fridays by the time I found out I could take it so I email the professor and said I am an international student and I already have trips planned so could I please come into another class. It worked :) Seems like its going to be some work in the class but shouldn't be too bad...

Other than that... Tuesday was a gorgeous day but super hot! And wednesday was only like 75 with no sun and some rain.. which was actually a nice change. Thursday night we have a Toga party at the UNI bar so that should be fun. And we were going to go to surfers paradise island this weekend but just decided to cancel it and probably just going to go to Byron Bay for the weekend. Its Reginas 21st on saturday (my roommate) and she already had a trip planned there to meet some of her St.thomas guy friends, so going to do that with her instead! Hope everything is good for you! Love you!

First day of class! Feb 23 2010!

So finally I had to realize that I am not just on a long vacation... Today is the first day of class and I have four!! I just got done with the first one which started at 8 am! (Never did I think I would take a class this early after high school!) I wanted all early classes though so I could do things in the afternoon. Although I made all my classes for Tuesday and Wednesday which is awesome so I can travel as much as I can! 

   First class today was Perspectives on Australia. It seems like a great class that I should be interested in because its all about the history of Australia. My next class is Outdoor Education. Everyone told us to take this class because it is suppose to be great. We have to go camping twice tho! which terrifies me because its in tents and I guess we get dropped of in the wilderness and there is a group of like four of us and we have to pretty much survive for the night! Im just hoping I survive the bugs! Should be an interesting class. Still trying to figure out the third class I want to take... still trying to hear back from st. cloud to see if a math class will transfer correctly so cross your fingers for that!

My first week down under! Feb 12-21 2010

Well the first week and a half had gone great. After four plane rides in about two days we finally made it! It was a very long trip but right as we landed we knew it was worth it. All of our flights went well. Perfect weather at every stop. When we landed in Brisbane we had the bus waiting for us. It was about a two hour bus ride but amazing scenery all the way to Lismore.

Once we got to our campus we had an hour to find out where we were living and throw our stuff in our rooms. My apartment is nice, my room is a good size. Lots of closet space so that is great. Not a cloud in the sky and at least 90 degrees we had to take another bus to the shopping center to buy food and little things for our rooms.

The whole first week of being there was called O-week aka orientation week. It pretty much is a week of getting to know everyone that you live with and that are in the same apartment complex. Mine is called Orion. We have a pool which is awesome because it gets sooooo hot!! The first three days were clear blue skies and super hot but actually the last few have been pretty rainy, but I'm not complaining because there is no snow :)

There is a bar on campus called the Uni Bar that is where everyone goes almost every night. They have themes every thursday and the first Thursday was Alien theme so everyone dressed up as aliens as you can see in mine photos.

My first Saturday here a bus took us to Byron Bay. Which is this amazing beach on the ocean only about 45 minutes from the university. The place is absolutely beautiful because it has moutains on the sides of it with the ocean in the middle with the whitest sand on the beach! I wish I had pictures but I didn't have a camera the first couple days but I will be going more so you all can see it!

The second saturday, Feb 21st we went to a wild life sanctuary near Brisbane! This place was awesome because it is much different than a zoo in the states. The animals are pretty much free to roam around the whole place. Well besides the ones that would kill you. But the Koalas and Kangaroos were all over! I got to hold a Koala which was awesome! the cutest animal ever! The kangaroos were sweet too, they would just hop along the roads right by you! I also did something I never thought I would do in my life which was hold a snake! and a poisonous snake for that matter! It was a crazy feeling because I could feel it slither through my hands which was disgusting but super cool at the same time!

That is all I can think of for now for the first week! Mostly just meeting people and partying a bit at night : ) (sorry momo and daddy-o) Definitely the worst part about being here is the bugs (obviously!) they are every where! I have never cleaned and sprayed so much bug spray in my life! haha I think im going to go through a can a week! There was a HUGE beetle that i found on my pillow one day which terrifies me that that could be walking on me through the night! Still not complaining (just explaining!) :)

Sorry this is so long but just thought I'd some up the first week or so! Hope everything is good at home! Be sure to look through my pics!

Love and miss you all!