Except for this very moment... It just so happens to be pouring outside.

But that's okay, because I spend a good amount of time outside and in the ocean today.

Oh, the ocean. I think I love the Pacific Ocean. It's very clear... For the most part. And it's very warm... Except initially. The waves are pretty strong, as are the currents in general. It's a great work out.

Speaking of workouts, there are about a million and a half steps on this campus. Yes, you read right, a million and a half. My legs are going to be so toned by the end of this semester that you won't recognize them (you know, considering you were able to recognize my legs in a leg line up... Or something...).

Anyway, back to the beach. I love it. I've never really considered myself a beach person. When I was little, all I ever wanted to do when I was on vacation was go to the pool. I'm kind of rediscovering that 'fish out of water' thing. I get tired of lying on the beach. It's boring. Being in the waves and getting beat to hell against the bottom and almost drowning is so fun. So is shell collecting. I'm quite enjoying that, but who wouldn't? Okay, here's your chance to call me an old lady.

I bought a "Virtu

al Pet" today... Or, in other words, a knock off Tamaguchi. I figure I need to blow my money on something, since most (maybe not most, but a lot) of others are blowing theirs on alcohol. Yes, that lack of desire to drink is still instilled in me, regardless of the fact that I'm legal. Whatever. I'd rather have a fake Tamaguchi than an alcoholic beverage.

Right now I'm kind of procrastinating on packing for my SUPER SWEET EXCURSION tomorrow. It's cool though, we don't leave until 2:30, and I plan on getting up at some unheard of hour (say, 7 AM?) to get my laundry done so I have a few clean bathing suits... And clothes too. I'm praying for the weather to hold out, considering there are surfing lessons, snorkeling, hikes and sand boarding in my future. In case you've been either un- or ill-informed I am going to Stradbroke Island this weekend with all the Griffith GC/N

athan, UQ & QUT students. We get to paint boomerangs. Sweet? I think so.

I saw Alice in Wonderland on Tuesday with the 6202 girls* and Fabian & Alex and Alex's roommate. It was okay. I mean, it was true to Burton's past: creepy and fantastically weird. It wasn't the same Alice in Wonderland you're used to. But I guess you'll have to see it to find out what I mean. But I would suggest waiting until it's out on DVD. Or at very least, don't go wasting that extra few bucks to see it in 3-D... It wasn't THAT 3-D.

So I guess you guys are wondering about my classes, right? Here's the break down.

This course is BORING. I mean, I really am not a fan of politics to start with, so why am I taking this anyway? Oh well. My convener (lecturer) is Italian. Daniela DiParmo. Like, legitimately Italian. She has this crazy Italian/Australian accent that I can't understand for the life of me. We talk about Australian politics and American politics and how it interacts with business. I haven't had the tutorial yet.

It's a very interesting course. Our first class go cancelled because there were flooding creeks or some nonsense. Anyway, the "second" lecture we talked about words. I like talking about words. They're interesting to me. The tutorial was really fun. Our professor is legally blind and has an adorable yellow lab guide dog named Perry! She is funny and likes to have an interactive tutorial. She makes blind jokes! Yes!

I was terrified of this class before I came here. I'm still a little weary because I know next to nothing about Australia, but it's fun. The prof, Tom is really cool. He's the quintessential I-don't-give-a-shit-if-you're-in-class-or-not-but-if-you're-not-don't-come-to-me-for-help-before-the-exam professor. It's great. There isn't a tutorial for this class, thank God.

How horrible does this title sound? About ten times less horrible than the actual class. It's all about HR. I don't want to do HR. I could care less about HR. Yuck. No one likes HR. Except my professors. The tutorial is boring too. We just go over the case studies we have for homework, which is never any fun. Boo. This class is boring.

Okay, I think that's it for now. I'm sure no one actually wants to read this much. I should probably update this blog more often. I'll try.

Tschuss!

♥ caitlin

*6202 girls - Anja, Jessica & Melissa

1. Walk at a slower pace, it keeps you from getting as sweaty.

2. Don't look up. Looking up rarely turns out well. I feel as though every time I look up there are rain clouds somewhere in the distance or an enormous spider.

The past let's say week or so it has been raining constantly. I usually power-walk it out of my classes to get back to my apartment before the rain clouds burst. However, everyone else just seems to stroll their way between destinations. The other day it occurred to me, the slower you walk, the less sweaty you become, and that is why these people walk around so casually. Who would've thought? Obviously not me. However, I still manage to walk at a rather fast pace (it's just too difficult to walk slowly, and let's be real, I don't really care if I'm sweaty and gross), and it's unlikely I will give that up any time soon.

This spider thing has happened to me twice now. The first time, it was our first day at the Village. Hailey and I needed... Well, everything. You name it we needed it; from toilet paper to tortellini. A very nice Australian girl gave us a lift to the Supa IGA (and no, I do not mean "super"), but told us we'd have to make it back on our own. No problem, right? WRONG. Not only was it about 10,025° at approximately 4PM, but it was almost all uphill from the Supa IGA.

Now, in case you're unaware I am not a fan of spiders, however I can usually kill them on my own (but those thousand leggers? Forget that.). Hailey, on the other hand, hates them with a fiery passion. As Hailey was walking underneath a street lamp I happened to look up at it. There, laying quietly in an enormous web, was an equally enormous spider. All I could say was, "Hailey, don't look up." She sped up, and asked me why as I hurried under the lamp post, and then she looked up and saw it.

Encounter #2 takes place after an early evening class. We had just been let out of Government and Business Relations in Lecture Theater 1. I was walking down a set of stairs making my way back to my apartment when I decided to look up. Right at that moment an Asian kid walked under another one of these behemoths. I walked along the opposite side of the stairs as quickly as I could without tripping... Or vomiting.

Supposedly these terrifying arachnids are harmless and very common, but I just can't get over the size. They're positively scary.

Well, I hope that if you're ever in Australia you take these two things into consideration. Another couple things you should probably keep in mind?:

- drinking is a lifestyle

- partying is a lifestyle

- Australians have morbid commercials

- "Bondi Rescue" is among the greatest shows one can watch here

- The people on "The Biggest Loser: Australia" are not nearly as large as they are in the States

- Always carry an umbrella

- The more times you try Vegemite the more appetizing it becomes

- They have an abundance of Vanilla Coke here

- Kangaroos are the equivalent of deer in Pennsylvania, it's okay to eat them

- Bras are fashionable

- So are rat tails

- Eat at Nando's. Just do it. You will love me for it.

- Ask an Australia to say "cooler". Then ask them to say it like an American. The result is worth it.

♥ caitlin

So, travels plans haven't really taken shape yet. All I really plan on doing is a quick trip to New Zealand, as I'm pretty much covering everything else with my parents over Easter. Next weekend I'm going to North Stradbroke Island, or "Straddie" with the UQ, QUT(?), and Griffith students. It's bound to be a good time (what isn't fun about kayaking, snorkeling, and painting your own boomerang?).

Remember when I was really nervous?

Me too.

I'm still trying to figure out why. It's not as hard as I thought it would be. I was a little homesick once we got to Griffith, but everything's evened out now. I have a schedule, and I'm aware of when most people are online, and I've made friends. Lots of German friends... And Canadian and Swedish too. No Americans, and I'd kind of like to keep it that way.

Guys here really like rattails. Remember rattails? That little chunk of hair on guys that was longer than the rest? Yeah, it's pretty popular here, but equally disgusting as it was in the 1990s. Girls here dress kind of trashy. They like to wear semi-sheer tops with black bras. And showing bits of your bra isn't a big deal at all. And short skirts/dresses? Go for it, I'm sure everyone wants to see your butt. It's definitely different from the States.

That's about it for now!

♥ caitlin

So, I'm finally here. I've been here since Wednesday, but I haven't had an internet connection. I've moved into my apartment. Hailey & I are living together. We have American roommates, which was kind of a disappointment.

Wednesday - We landed in Melbourne and from there went to St. Kilna for lunch and some nice beach time. After St. Kilna we went to see kangaroos in the wild! Finally, we went to Sorrento. We had apartment style housing and I stayed with Hailey, Erica and Georgia. That day we met the kids going to our schools and split up by state. After our sessions we had dinner and went on a night walk to the beach. I saw the most amazing stars. We could see so much from Mornington Peninsula.

Thursday - Today we had some sessions in the morning. After the sessions we went to the beach and walked on the rocks while the tide was low. It was so beautiful. We were on our own for lunch, so Erica, Georgia, Hailey & I went into town, got the makings for lunch and walked to the beach for lunch. It was great, minus the seagulls. We had a few more sessions, then we took a nice little cruise and had fish (shark) and chips for dinner. It was a lot of fun, very pretty. We then had talks, separated by sex. Very interesting.

Friday - Today we went to Melbourne, what a gorgeous city! It was so much fun. We took a walking tour of Melbourne and were then let loose. We grabbed lunch, I got sushi (yum!) and we ate in a graffitied ally way... But it wasn't sketchy, I promise. Everyone got phones today (I already had mine though). That night we went out and ate at Nando's, a Portuguese restaurant. It was so good! And the manager was hilarious! After Nando's we just ran around Melbourne and took pictures. Poor Jeff, we made him our official photographer of the night. There was also a street performer that Hailey & Cresentia were really enjoying, so we listened to him for a while. In the meantime, some Aussie was getting people walking around to look on the ground while he pulled his pants down and his butt was there for everyone to see when they turned around. It was pretty hilarious. Some of us called it an early night, and went back to the hotel. That included me.

Saturday - Saturday we left Melbourne for our schools. We boarded a flight to Brisbane, and I slept most of the way. Once we got there, UQ and Griffith students split up and we made our way to our new homes. GUV (Griffith University Village) is nice. Lots of international people. Two and a half bathrooms, five bedrooms, kitchen and a common area.

Sunday - Hailey and I went to Surfer's Paradise today to do some shopping for both our apartment, and ourselves! It was a lot of fun, and really hot. We ate at Hard Rock Cafe for lunch and went to Macca's (McDonald's) for a Frozen Coke. Delicious. We also met our new roommates today. We met a few people down at the basketball court too, two girls from Australia, a boy from Dubai, a girl from Arizona, and a boy from Zimbabwe. We chilled with them for a bit, then went to bed.

Monday - Today. We went to get our student IDs today so we can get discounts (Woo!). We then went back to our apartment and chilled. It was much needed. At two, we had the study abroad and exchange student orientation. They gave us free drink vouchers for the UniBar, and we met a lot of people there. I met THREE Germans! We're about to go to a barbeque, and afterwards we're maybe going into Surfer's for some kid's birthday party? I don't really know.

So that's all for now. I'll update as much as I can!

♥ caitlin

It's not quite sunk in yet that I'm actually leaving. I went to campus last night to spend the night and go to church today. It was a lot of fun. I got to see Beth and Emily as well as Andrew and Katie. Again, it was a lot of fun. It was hard when I left after church today. I cried a bit. More like a lot. Which is why I didn't say goodbye to some people: I hate crying in front of others. Other than my little crying incidents everything was great. I really enjoyed seeing almost everyone once before I left.

My things are packed... Except some of my carry ons. I'm excited. I'm (mostly) ready to leave.

♥ caitlin

I don't have too much to say right now, I didn't do too much regarding Aussie today.

This is a picture of Byron Bay that I took in 2006.

I am nervous/excited to be going back to campus for a brief, probably-less-than-24-hour, visit. I think it will open (semi)old wounds. I'll just have to deal. I did it once; I can do it again.

My packing is finished! Woo! Who isn't excited about that? Three days to spare and my packing (except for what I'll need up until Monday) is all done. I've managed to fit all my clothes and shoes in one, thirty pound bag. Are you impressed? I am. I'll still be bringing two bags with me though. My other one has toiletries and such in it. In other words, I have TONS of room for souvenirs. :)

Being as packing was the accomplishment and highlight of my day, I didn't actually do anything else.

I am definitely, at this moment in my life, feeling SIGNIFICANTLY better about all of this. As much as I don't want to be rude about this, I am ready for a change of pace. It's something I'm just realizing. I've been doing the same thing day after day for the last year and a half. A change is in order. A change for the better.

♥ caitlin