Things I forgot to mention...

So after returning from our trip up North, all 3 study abroad houses got to do a Torchlight Tour of the old Fremantle Prison. This prison was running for about 100 years and just shut down in 1991. This was not just an ordinary historical tour, but a dark, scary, haunted tour. We got to see the prison cells with everything intact, the recreation yard, the kitchen, and the gallows. 44 people in total were executed within the prison and the 1 female of the 44 was named Martha. Martha murdered her children by making them gargle hydrochloric acid. Martha has been known to haunt many buildings around Freo. What a coincidence that the ghost of Cleos was given the name Martha within the first week of the semester...The tour was a really cool experience. I got a good laugh (and scare) out of the actors who jumped out at you and gave a 'personal' account of what it was like being in the prison. Our tour guide Pete, ended the tour by asking why he hadn't seen any of us American students out at The Orient (the bar across the street from our dorm)...clearly we don't like hanging out at places with 50 year old men (sorry Dad). So instead of seeing him at the Orient, he stalked us at The Newport two nights later. Creepy.

walking into the prison tour; either Cat is a good photographer or the ghosts were after us on our way in...

Earlier in the day before going to the prison tour, all of the study abroad students took part in raising money for a Leukemia foundation. One of the Port Lodge students shaved him head and everyone donated a few dollars. Most of the Cleos kids died a streak of their hair and also got everyone to donate a few dollars. Overall our group raised about $220.

Thursday and Friday were fun nights out. Thursday we went to the Claremont. The upstairs part where we usually hang out was closed, but we made our own dance party on the main floor. Friday night my Australian friend Martha came out with us and we went to The Newport and the Clint for a little bit. There was a slight casualty involved being taken down out of a cubby hole in the wall by an intoxicated friend, and an injury along with it, but all is well, nothing too serious.

Brendan, Cory, Tai, and Cat at the Claremont.

Tai Georgia and I, drinking at the beach before headed to the club!

The girls in Cleos before going out.

Me, Phil, Rachel and Tai. I'm not ticklish at all...

Catching Up

BROOME: Broome has definitely been one of my favorite experiences since being here. The week was filled with so much learning about the Aboriginal people and getting a first hand experience of their culture. Colin and Maria Morgan are an amazing couple who have dedicated their lives to teaching anyone and everyone who is willing about their culture. We learned about things ranging from health care, politics and rights, to cultural aspects like the Dream Time stories and Aboriginal ways of life.
The colors of the outback are unreal. The red dirt in the desert, and the blue ocean is beautiful. 

We had two days between Broome and our North Excursion for Autumn (Spring) Break. Nursing students didn't have that week off, so I had class and tutorial on Tuesday and had to take our 2nd exam before leaving Thursday morning. The only exciting thing to happen in these 2 days was going to see the Titanic in 3D with Shane Burke, best history teacher ever.


SPRING BREAK: Thursday we were up and ready to leave by about 6:30 and walked to the train station to wait to be picked up by our tour guide. An hour late, the bus pulls up driven by Adam, our tour guide for the next 4 days. He was under the impression that we were a group of 16 Canadian nurses...so we just went with that. On the first day we drove for houuuuuurs. Only about an hour in we almost hit an emu running across the road. Our first stop was the Pinnacles, which is a desert full of pointy rocks sticking out of the ground. Nobody really knows how they got there or why they look like they do, but Adam's theory had something to do with fossilized tree roots...After the Pinnacles we kept driving for a while until we got to North Hampton where we stayed for the night. We stayed at a farm owned by our new friend Reg. There were also two Australian guys staying at the same place, so we taught them how to play King's Cup. It was a rough night for some, and I got to practice my nursing skills a bit... but overall a good night. We woke up (never had made it to sleep) at 4:00 the next morning to start driving to the next stop. We stopped along the way at Pot Alley and other look out points to take some pictures. We made it to Kalbarri National Park by about 10 and went for a nice hike through the park. Some people chose to go abseiling which I did not, but it was fun to watch. There was a beautiful stream running through the park once we had hiked down quite a ways. It was so hot so we took a break here before heading back up. We also got to see Nature's Window which is a big rock arch that looks out to the water. Then it was back in the van for a lot more driving. We made it to Monkey Mia but sunset. A wild dolphin came swimming right up to those who were standing in the water. After dinner, we met up with an Aboriginal man named Capes who took us to a sacred camp ground and taught us more about the Aboriginal culture. This particular land is called 'Gadhaagudu' which means 'land of two waters' in his language. This was probably my favorite part of the north excursion. I got the experience of throwing fresh fish on a campfire and cooking them for the group-they turned out delicious. I never knew you could just throw a whole fish on some coals, peel back it's scales and go for it. Capes taught us about medicine wood (sandalwood) and how it is used to ward off bad spirits as well as protect you from mozzies. He also told us the Turtle Dream Time story which tells us how turtles came to have the pattern on their shells. One of my favorite fun facts from the night was that in Aboriginal culture, a shooting star symbolizes one of their ancestors returning home. Day 3 was Shark bay, Stromatolites, and Reg's Beach House. Shark Bay was a short stop where we went to an 'aquarium'  and got a tour. Basically we drove all day with a couple short stops. When we got to Reg's house, he was ready to party. He knew how good of a time we had had two nights earlier at his other property. Another tour group was staying at his beach house as well. We went down to the beach after dinner and had a bonfire and everyone was drinking and having a good time. The next day we went to a wildlife park where we got to feed kangaroos, emus, horses, donkeys, rams, and all sorts of other animals. We got to hold a joey and play with dingos! The dingos were by far the best part. If i could bring one home with me and have it as a pet i would. Ending the trip at the wildlife park was ending on a good note. We made it back to Fremantle by about 7:30 Sunday evening. Back to school Monday morning, and back into the normal routine. 
Since the North trip, I've just been catching up on school work and hanging out in Freo. I can't believe I'm halfway through the semester already. I'm jealous of everyone back home who is just about finished with their semester. At this point, the weather in Portland is better than here in Freo some days. I'm afraid the beach days are dwindling. I'm missing friends and family back home! 2 more months and I'm back in Portland for the summer. I'm going to enjoy every minute I have left here in Freo (: 

Happy Easter!

There are a lot of trends in Australia that I have noticed, and yet to share with everyone. First of all, so many guys here have rat tails. The best are the bleached rat tails...lookin' good. I don't get it, its not attractive, at all. Also, guys' shorts are just that-short. At first I thought this was weird, being able to see guys' knees and thighs, but I've gotten used to it. I guess we're just much more conservative in the States, especially the girls. The shorts and skirts are super short. Everyone dresses cute everyday. I have yet to see an Australian girl wearing sweats or athletic shorts to class. I have definitely picked up on this and become so much less of a scrub. High buns and pony-tails are another big trend, when I don't feel like doing my hair, a high bun is usually what I go with. It's a little more put together than my "I just got out of the pool bun", but not much. 

As for what I have been up to this week...I have tried to manage my time wisely and get homework and studying in along with having some fun. Sunday afternoon some of us walked over to a Didgeridoo shop in Freo and got an hour lesson on how to play and the history of a didgeridoo. We were more into playing and less into learning, so really the only thing I learned is that didges are made out of branches of wood that have been hollowed out by termites and they come from the Northern parts of Australia and are used in ceremonies.

 The big Australian History paper was due Thursday and I pretty much had it finished by the weekend, so I spend some time at Bather's Beach on Wednesday. Later that evening our Australian friend Martha came over and we watched an Australian classic called Castle. It's a really dumb/funny movie (Dad, I think you would like it haha). After the movie Tai and I went out with Martha all around Freo. We weren't expecting a big night out but started at the Orient and ended up at The Newport, then the Click when Newport shut down. I survived my first experience of the Clink, and it really wasn't as bad as I've heard it to be, but thatm might just be because it was full of the American Study Abroad students. Thursday Tai and I went into City West where the outlet mall is and did a little shopping. I'm loving the summer sales and stocking up so I have a summer wardrobe when I come home to summer in June (: After shopping we took the train one stop to North Fremantle and walked to Leighton Beach. It was a beautiful beach, but extremely windy. 

Friday Tai, Georgia, and I did our typical coffee shop studying. This week we went to Breaks Cafe and spent hours studying. I was working on my Theatre paper that I just finished. 

We leave for Broome this Wednesday, so all our assignments for the week have to be turned in by Tuesday afternoon, so this weekend has been pretty hectic. On top of getting ready for Broome, we had our big Easter Celebration in Cleos since we will be gone over the holiday. We had a massive feast, and ten or so guests over. We also revealed who our secret bunnies were. I guess mine right, Hannah gave it away with her nursing references. My gift was a Joey pouch purse with a travel coffee mug and a coupon to go have a coffee with Hannah sometime (: Afterwards some of us went over to the Chapel for Palm Sunday Mass.

Within the last week and a half, I've been doing endless amounts of homework and being lame. Last week on Thursday a group of us went to see the Hunger Games; it was fantastic as expected. 
Friday was a pretty low key day. I had Australian History in the morning and we had a meeting about Broome. After that we watched a movie called "Rabbit-Proof Fence" which was really eye opening to a bit of Australia's past and I learned a bit about the Stolen Generation and what that was all about. It was really interesting; really sad but a good thing to be aware about. Later in the evening on Friday I went on rounds with Maddie. While we were in Port Lodge a couple of the boys were singing and playing the guitar, practising for their busking they would be doing the next morning. I fell in love with a French boy named Jeremy. I wrote him a love letter and gave it to him the next day while he was busking at the markets. Going into this, I knew he had a lady friend, but I was still pretty excited about professing my love for him. I got a nice rejection text, but I had a witty comeback and am now pretty famous among the other dorms. 
Saturday night we went out in Perth. It went to Northridge I believe...to Aberdean street? The club we went to was called The Dean. It was really big and had many different rooms. Besides there being a weird amount of older men there, it was a pretty fun place. We had a good time dancing and hanging out as our Cleo's group. Cat and I ventured upstairs for a while and found some couches to relax on outside the "oldies" room. The first song I heard up there was Shania Twain, I Feel Like a Woman...so that was pretty fun! A random guy came up to us asking about some advice for his mate. After that convo he told us about Greek gods and how each finger represents a different god and what that can tell you about a person if they wear a ring on that finger. Later we ran into our Port Lodge friends and took the train back with them at the end of the night. 
We started an Easter "Secret Bunny" thing around Cleos and we all picked names for our bunnies. We are supposed to do kind acts for a our secret bunny throughout the week, and on Sunday we are exchanging gifts during our big Easter Brunch! I am going to make Magga's cranberry marshmallow salad because it is one of my favorite things ever and will remind me a bit of home since I won't get to celebrate Easter with the fam this year. 
The weather is starting to get a bit cooler, but no complaints about that because it is still very pleasant! Tomorrow is supposed to be a little warmer that its been the past week or so and I'm hoping to go to the beach for a bit since I haven't been in a while. I'll probably just take the play I have to read for Theatre or some other reading and just go relax. 
I got a letter from Erin today and it absolutely made my day (: I really appreciate everyone who has been keeping up reading my blog and sending me emails and letters. I can't wait to see you all when I get home! Time is flying by and I never imagined it would go this quickly. 

Netball and Rottnest!

I cannot believe I have already been in Australia for one month. Sometimes it feels like I just got there, and others it seems like I've been here forever. Earlier this week I was invited to play netball with some cool Australians. It is kinda like ultimate frisbee and basketball put together, and that is still about all I know about it. I played the position of Goal Shooter (GS). Basically I ran back and forth on the lower third of the court and shot.  We lost, but we had a good showing. We may not have won, but at least we looked good. This week I had my first Golden Gay Time experience. I was a bit confused when Maddie said she would tell Ian to get Clara and I Gay Times after the game. Up until now, Golden Gay Times have been my favorite Australian indulgence so far. I think I may even like them better than Tim-Tam Slams, but it's a close call. Hopefully we'll get recruited again for this week's game.

Other than playing Netball and enjoying some golden gay times, the rest of the week was filled with working on an outline for my Australian History Essay, which I have still yet to finish. I have met with Shane (the lecturer) already and have another meeting tomorrow afternoon to go over what I have so far. Shane is very interested in learning about the NBA and the Blazers, so I was pleased when I got an e-mail from him requesting me to share all of my knowledge with him. (Defs getting on his good side already!)
Thursday night, a group of us got dressed up and took the train into Claremont. We went to Hotel Claremont and went dancing. It was probably one of my favorite places we've gone out to so far. It was really chill and the guys weren't as creepy as some of the other places we've been to. It seemed like everyone there as just out for a good time, and it was an uneventufully good night. Until the end, my foot got stomped on and started bleeding everywhere. Lauren and I went home earlier than the rest of the group and met the "Claremont Rapist". We were safe under the watchful eye of the TransPerth security guards though, kinda.

Tai and I locked ourselves in a library study room for 4 hours and Friday afternoon and attempted to be very productive on these essays. Never have I put so much effort into an essay before. (So hopefully that pays off).

Saturday we caught the early morning ferry out to Rottnest Island where we camped for the night. A few of us rented bikes and went about exploring the island all day. This was our first or second stop around the island. We rode around all day stopping at different beaches. 

This was at Parker Point where we met the rest of the group who went around on the bus all day. They stopped at a few more beaches than we probably did, but we at least rode our bikes by and got to see them all (: 

So before my camera fell in the sand, we captured this lovely photo. We're missing Brittany, Kelli-Ann, and Maddie, but its a pretty good group shot from the weekend. 

The night ended with some good group bonding at the camp site. A few card games, skinny dipping, and a St. Patrick's Day that I won't remember. 

I CANNOT WAIT FOR THURSDAY. THE HUNGER GAMES IS COMING OUT! 

We've got our tickets and are ready to go (: 

Week 3

Last weekend was a fun relaxing weekend. A group of us went out to dinner at Little Creatures and enjoyed a cider to go along with our kangaroo. I'm glad I tried kangaroo before ever encountering one, although I still would have tried it at some point while I'm here. You can't go to Australia without trying kangaroo...After dinner we took the train into Perth and walked to King's Park and stayed to watch the sunset. It was beautiful and you could see right into the city from the park. 
Week two of school started off nicely with a public holiday. If I was still at Portland this would mean I wouldn't know it was a public holiday because I would still be in school...but thank God Australians like to celebrate national holidays and include the Uni kids as well! Monday was Labour Day and I already forgot what I did that day, but I'm sure it was fun. This week was pretty mellow, lots of reading and homework to be done and lots of time was spent at the library or just in my room. I made it to the beach a couple times considering it was about 100 degrees all week.
Wednesday morning all of Cleo's was up nice and early to participate in the Bather's Beach Triathalon. I was on one of the two Cleo's teams with Phil and Andrew. It started with the swimming leg of the race and I was the last one in the water and to the buoy, but the 4th or 5th one out of the water. Phil then ran and brought us in 2nd, Andrew then did the novelty even which involved filling a bucket of water with a container that had holes poked in the bottom. Our team came in 1st out of the study abroad houses we were competing against and 2nd or 3rd overall in the race. It was fun and made me feel a little better about missing the 2012 Beaver Freezer (Dad I hope Team 1-2-3 Adventure still makes an appearance. Maybe Bethany can swim in my honour!) 
Wednesday night a group of us went out to Newport in hopes of dancing and maybe meeting some nice Australian friends; unfortunately it was some weird random rap night and the only people in the club were some Navy guys. But they had a curfew of about 11, so we didn't talk to them much. Thursday night we tried to make an appearance at Metros, which is another club just down the street, but there was a lack of people there that night too, so we gave up and came home early and got some sleep.Friday I did homework ALL DAY after Australian History because we had so much planned for the weekend.

Saturday was spent at Caversham Wildlife Park. I got to pet and feed kangaroos and pet some koalas!

 The koalas were my favorite. In the afternoon we went and saw some farm animals and we all got to milk a cow, it's a good thing I already hate milk cause I would have after that experience. It was unbearably hot (105 degrees) which made the day very long and exhausting. Thankfully on Sunday we were in the water all day. We took sea kayaks out to Penguin Island. On the way we stopped by Seal Island and Shag Island where we saw some sea lions and the biggest pelicans I've ever seen. Tai and I shared a kayak and we got really close to one of the sea lions, we could almost touch it. When we got to Penguin Island we started off with a walk around it-it's super small and took about an hour. Then we got to watch the penguins get fed. The penguins are properly named "Little Penguins" and looked like little babies. We had lunch, then went snorkeling. Unfortunately the snorkeling was not very exciting at all. On our way back in we saw some fish feasting on a dead Octopus, which was interesting but I was hoping to see an octopus that was still alive...There are blue ring octopus that turn blue when they are agitated and they are poisonous and can cause people to consciously suffocate, so maybe it's good we didn't see a live one. My favorite part of the day was just being out on the water kayaking. Maybe I'll do some more kayaking when I get home (Dad and Steph...). (:
Tomorrow I have my first presentation in Modern Theatre. It's a 20 minute presentation on the play A Doll's House. Sooo hopefully that goes well! Next week I have an Ethics presentation, and 2 after that the big Australian History paper is due. So besides all the fun, I'm still going to school and studying, A LOT. Probably more than I would be in Portland...
Looking forward to spending St. Patrick's Day camping on Rottnest Island with the whole Cleo's family!

Oh yeah, School...

First week of school=success! Already been to the library twice for some long reading sessions. Australian's are pretty serious about this whole college thing. They specialize from their first year and do not have to take "core" classes like we do. I am taking Ethics, Children's Literature, Australian History and Society, Sociology of Health and Illness, and Modern Theater. My favorite class so far is probably Children's Lit, although I think it is going to be difficult because it is a 300 level class. The theater class is a joke. Everybody in it is actually a theater major and enjoys acting. All us Americans thought it was going to be the study of theater...not the study of theater plus acting and performing...Not really my thing. All of my classes and tutorials are on Monday and Tuesday, besides Australian History on Friday mornings. Wednesday and Thursdays have become mid-week weekends which is great because Wednesday is a big night to go out here. As for the weekend, I am sick so I'm taking it easy and not going out. Tomorrow's plans are to lay out at the beach, do a little swimming, and get some reading done for school. Later we are taking the train into Perth and going to King's Park, which is the largest park within city limits, and watching the sunset. There are also plans to go out for dinner and Perth and try Kangaroo! Sunday we might take part in Sunday Sesh and go to Cottesloe. Australians drink ALL day Sunday, every Sunday. And since Monday is a public holiday here is Australia (and they actually observe that and its a day off school) I figured it would be a good weekend to participate. 


(Sorry for the lack of pictures, they are all making it on Facebook!)