Ah sorry I got so behind on this! Been a busy last week of classes and study break. Tuesday I had my last Marketing lecture and psychology class. On Wednesday they had Mexican Night at the Tav so I headed over with a few of my flatmates. Thursday night one of my mates plays in a band and had a gig in the city. A huge group of us went to see them perform at The Bird in Northbridge. They are called Crooked Colours, check em out :) After that we headed to a pub in Northbridge and just spent the rest of the night hanging out there. On Friday they had the End of the Semester Bash at the Tav. I can't believe it is already the end of the semester bash! Seems like just yesterday we were heading to the tav for the Orientation beginning of the semester bash. We walked over and they had an area with bands playing and another area with a DJ. There were so many people there so it was pretty packed. On Saturday, my friend Zane took Kerryn and me home with him to Bunbury (1.5-2 hours south). We got to his house and met his parents. His mom made chicken curry and it was so nice to have a home cooked meal. That night we just stayed there and hung out with a few of Zane's friends. On Sunday Kerryn and I went for a walk along a river behind Zane's house, watched the footy game and then they took us into Bunbury to the top of a lookout to see the view from up high. Our friend Ben has a beach house in Binningup, which is only 15 minutes from Bunbury so we headed there for the night. A few of our other friends joined us so we had a big group. On Monday morning I woke up early and walked down by the beach. We've been having really nice weather so it was nice to walk along the beach in the morning. That afternoon our friends Owain and Liam took Kerryn and me south to Margaret River. We went to a cute ice cream shoppe in Dunsborough and then to the jetty in Busselton. The jetty is super long and took us about half an hour to walk to the end of it. We watched the sunset from the jetty and then went into town to get dinner. Today and Tuesday I have started studying for my exam next week. Not sure what to expect but trying to put in a lot of time since it is my own final. Hope everybody is enjoying these posts! Hard to fit everything into such a small blog but I am glad I can share a few of the things I am doing :)
May 2012 Archives
Last week of classes! But, let me scoot back to this past weekend. On Friday, I went to a BBQ with Dave and then that night went to his friend's house that lives in the city. He lives in a penthouse that is on the 24th floor of a building in the city so the views were beautiful!! Perth at night is so pretty. That night we went to a few pubs that I had never heard about and really enjoyed going to places that I would have never gone to if it wasn't for them. Saturday night our housing area had a masquerade rivercruise. Anybody could come so a group of about 20 of us made masks and then got all dressed up. We pretended it was like our "Aus Prom 2012." We took a bus into the city and got on a really nice boat. It had two levels, a bar, a dj and tons of food. After that we all came back to our flats and hung out. On Sunday I spent the day in Fremantle. Kerryn's boyfriend and his parents came to visit so Kerryn and I took them on the train to Fremantle to show them around. We walked around the markets, by the beach and ate at a really good seafood restaurant. On the way back we stopped at Cottesloe Beach, which is one of the more popular beaches, to watch the sunset. We had such nice weather so it was perfect temperature for watching the sunset over the ocean. Today I just had my last class of Australian Studies! Our teacher made us all sing the Australian National Anthem! Still a bit of homework to get done :/ but so weird I am almost done with classes!
Hello everyone! It is so weird to think that all my college friends at home are done with school and starting summer! Only one week of classes left and one final for me though! Can't believe how fast school went. On Monday, I started out by skyping my mom for Mother's Day (It was still Mother's Day in America). I got to talk with my mom, dad, brother, sister and her boyfriend. Made me wish I was home to celebrate and be with all of them. Later, we headed into the city for a tour of Northbridge for Australian Studies. Our tour guide was a man who used to live in Northbridge so he told a lot of personal stories that were interesting. That day was Daniel's actual birthday so we got dinner and ate outside. The weather was soo nice and the sun was hot! A bit of a change from all the rain. On Tuesday I had to give a presentation and then worked on my last few papers for the semester. On Wednesday I hung out with Dave, my older sister Laura's friend from when she was here. I got in contact with him and he said he would love to show me around. We drove east of the city out to a small town called York. We had lunch there and ate outside since there was such nice weather. Then he took me to an area called the zigzags that is really high up and has a beautiful view of the city. It was weird to see the city from so far away cause usually I am in the city looking out. We could see everything from up there. It's called the zigzags because a road goes down the hill back and forth. That night Dave took me to the drag races. Dave and his two friends have really nice cars and have done a lot of work to them. We went south of Perth to a track for drag racing. A ton of cars lined up and then when it was their turn, two cars would pull up to the line and wait for the green line. They were timed based on how long it took for them to start/release and then get to the finish line. We were there for about two hours and just watched constant races. Some of the cars were insane and all decked out. Today, I had have class this morning and am attempting homework.. Beautiful day out again so I might have to enjoy that before the rain comes again!
I will start out by saying Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful mother :) I wish I could be home to celebrate. Anyway, Friday night two of my American friends were celebrating their 21st birthdays so we went to their flats and then into the city. 21st birthdays are a big deal in Australia and usually Aussies will have big parties with their family and friends to celebrate. It kind of symbolises becoming an adult here. Saturday evening Kerryn and I took the train into the city and walked around downtown Perth. In Northbridge, a close suburb of Perth, they had an outside movie theatre showing the movie The Goonies. We decided to get kebabs and sit on bean bags there to watch the movie. It was really nice weather and very relaxing. Today Kerryn, my flatmate Emma and I headed to Swan Valley which is about half an hour out of the city. The Swan Valley is located along the Swan River and is known for its vineyards and wineries. We first stopped at a chocolate factory where they had free samples and we could watch them make the chocolate. After that we stopped in a winery for wine and cheese tasting. We also got to walk around the and look at the vines. Then, we headed to a place that had honey samples and an area where you could watch the bees. Next, we headed to the WA Reptile Park. We got to hold lizards and snakes. The guy placed the snakes on our shoulders and then we just let it do whatever it wanted. After a while I wasn't scared and was able to move the snake around. It even slithered up my face and licked my nose! We also got to see dingos, kangaroos, crocodiles and peacocks. There is plenty to do in the Swan Valley that we couldn't do all today so we might head back to do more tours.
I realised on my last post that I put the month in as April! Wow, shows how fast time has gone by! Yay for Friday today! Last day of finals for everyone at UMD! Congrats :) I have one more lecture until my weekend starts! The past few days I have been relaxing before I have my finals papers due and a group presentation in the next two weeks. Wednesday we headed to the Tav for their "wicked wednesdays." Thursday I had a morning tutorial and then worked on my presentation. Thursday is late night shopping day of the week. Usually the malls and shopping centres close at 6 during the week. On Thursdays they are open until 9 so people can have one night to shop. It is hard to get used to the fact that everything closes so early. We have a shopping centre right next to our flats and it is completely closed on Sundays and closes very early on Saturdays. Definitely different from our shops that are open 24 hours! Not sure what I am doing this weekend, since it is Mother's Day a lot of my friends are going home. Wish I could be going home for the day, too. It's only 63 degrees out but is very sunny so it feels nice. Hope you all are enjoying the beginning of the summer!
So Friday evening we celebrated two of my friends' birthday by all going to their house and having a get together. On Saturday it was a bit rainy so we didn't go out anywhere. It was Cinco de Mayo so that night we made nachos. Nobody here celebrates Cinco de Mayo or even knows what it means so only the other Americans and Canadians were celebrating. We walked around the grocery store for 10 minutes trying to find queso dip and could not find any! Most of the taco ingredients are in the international aisle, so it is weird how different it is. Sunday we took the train into the city and went to Harbour Town. It is the pretty much the outlet mall, even though their "cheap" is like our normal prices. They did have some pretty good deals compared to the other shops we have been at. After we went into the city and walked around and ate. Monday we were supposed to have an excursion for Australian Studies but it got postponed so we had a lecture. In class we watched the Australian movie Red Hill. It's been pretty rainy here and has really chilled down. It only got to 70 degrees today but was really windy. It is currently 60 degrees at 8:00 pm so it would be pretty chilly to go outside. Well hope you are enjoying my posts and good luck to everyone at UMD taking finals this week!
This week has not been too exciting, just been busy with classes and homework. On Monday we watched the movie Heartbreak Kid in Australian Studies. On Tuesday, I had two classes and then spent the night hanging around my flat and watching The Voice with my flatmates. Wednesday is my day off so I worked on a paper and did some readings. That night we hung out with a big group of friends. Thursday I had a tutorial in the morning and then worked more on my paper. Today, I had a class this morning and am currently waiting for my next one. Since it is getting closer to the end of the semester a lot of assignments are getting close to being due. Lots of papers to write :/ It has been pretty rainy here too so not many options to go places due to the weather. Their winter is pretty much just all rain. A couple of people have been asking so I figured I would just say here that my plan is to arrive home on June 18. We have three more weeks of classes, a week of study break and then two weeks of finals. Nothing too exciting to say, just thought I would check in! PS Happy Birthday to my brother today!
