The party never ends ;)

So much to say!!!!!!

Starting by finishing last weekend - There was this "unofficial" going away party held at Varsity where 10 different apartments were involved and everyone had to have a different theme and went all out... We spent 30 minutes in each house and then a whistle blew and we went to the next starting at 3pm and ending at 10pm (Noise curfew)... It was SO SWEET! Everyone had amazing decorations and outfits and were so into it! Maggie and I were actually just crashing the party, seeing as we didn't actually know the guy who was going away but it didn't really seem to be a problem :) We knew most of the home-owners so we're all family here!  Unfortunately the party got shut down around 7:00pm because there were more than 8 people in each apartment (more like 58!) and "House Rules" only permits 8 because of potential fire hazards... So lame but such is life! Cat, Maggie, and I went back to Maggs and made pasta - figures, me hungry!

Magnus's house: The North Pole

Bad Santa haha

The Jungle!

Just monkeying around ;)

Haunted House

Cops and Robbers

Hmm speaking of cops... 

Security shutting us down :(

So we fled to the volleyball courts!

Overall, it has been an amazing week - Cat made an awesome dinner for us and Maggie, I went to the beach on Tuesday with Maggie and Dennis then made dinner for the roomies, Sunshine Plaza (big shopping centre) on Wednesday with Shaho and bought a new dress :), pasta night at Suave, Thursdays are my crazy school days, today I have 4 hours of lectures plus starting on a few more assignments, and FINALIZING the rest of the bookings for our two week intra-semester break plans... I don't think I've told y'all about them - next entry for sure!

Cat's amazing dinner that we, like

always, ate before the picture! It was

Beef Stroganoff in a bread bowl - amazing!!!

and DESSERT!!!!

Which we, lovingly, 

shared with my roomies ;)

Beach with Maggs

Me, leprechauning it home!

Using our time wisely while

waiting for the bus ;)

My dinner for the roomies 

(minus Tate)

Amazing view of Uni!!!

Waiting for the bus on...

PASTA NIGHT!!!

Phew that's a lot! This week's been fun but not easy - It's crazy to me that I have been here for 7 weeks now... It's a lot to think about, living somewhere new with people, on the other side of the world... somehow, being the homebody friend-obsessed person I am, I'm still absolutely loving it!!! I can't tell y'all how encouraging it is for me when you tell me that your reading my blog and you're excited for the things I'm doing - I miss y'all so much and definitely helps to know that you're still here with me. 

Big weekend coming up - blog again soon! LOVE YOU

Sizzla's

This entry is completely revolved around food :)

First and foremost - THIS WEEK IS OVER!!!! Phew that feels good! This is proof, mom and dad, that we don't just party party party ;)

Just to make this week a little less stressful, we made sure we ate well... vital. My friend Chris, from the UK, made a list for me at the beginning of the semester of places I have to go and places I have to eat - the restaurants are dissipating quite nicely! 

Macaela, Maggie, Natalie (New Aussie friend), and I went to an "American" restaurant called Sizzlers on Wednesday. It's called "American" because it's a buffet - figures! Anyway, it was delicious!!! We just may have gotten 4 plates each... but that's what buffet's are for, right? :) 

We had such a great time talking, laughing, and dancing - perfect before a big night of studying!

The girls and me posing at Sizzler's :)

Plate #1

This is so depressing: One-person tables!!!!! 

Simply cruel.

After sitting and chatting for a 

while, we got hungry again...

this may be plate #4 - hehe

Dance party in the car!!!!

Friday was a fabulous night as well - Cat, Maggie, and I were SO relieved to have gotten everything completed and turned in, we decided to take ourselves somewhere nice. We went to an Italian restaurant called Augello's - it was amazing (and reasonable too)! I got a nice big Cajun Reef Fish Salad and took this rest home for lunch on Saturday.

Side comment: It is quite uncustomary for a restaurant to let you bring food home here. It's actually against the Food and Safety law because of people not putting things in the fridge = bacteria growth. Being from the US, this was certainly a shock the first time I was denied - how odd to not be legally allowed to get a doggy bag?!?!! Fortunately, Augello's was willing to break the law for me - lovely :)

Augello's -- yum yum!

Augello's is located in Mooloolaba - walking back to the Car Park (that's what Aussie's call a parking lot) this is how high the tide was - insane!!!

Well, the rest of the weekend is for the next entry - I have one last quiz tomorrow so I'm off to do some more studying. Love each of you dearly!

Celebrations!

It's only Wednesday and my week has already been a whirlwind!

Starting with the good: our good friend, Erik's 21st birthday was Monday! They were still exhausted from their Brisbane trip but we had a good time nonetheless. Sini, Samara, and I went to Sunshine Plaza to get a present for Erik from us and Maggie (and a few things for ourselves :) ) I think we went into every store in the plaza... literally. Needless to say, we had a great time! 

Should we get them?

BAGS = successful shopping!

Erik is big into basketball and is excepted into Queensland Unigames in September - BIG accomplishment! So we got him a ballin' Puma gym bag for the event and baked a delicious cake. We had a bbq that night and presented him with his presents afterwards - I definitely think he appreciated them!

Birthday Surprise!!!

Happy birthday Erik!!!! Love you!

His card summed him up well ;)

My loves :)

On to the stressful: I left the bbq early because, like I said in the Eumundi Markets entry, I'm drowning in school work this week. I had a Nutrition 322 assignment that I turned in today, phew, an ICE (Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship) report due Friday, Accounting quiz also on Friday, and a Nutrition 211 quiz on Monday - TOO MUCH! But the time will come and go and I will get it done.

Saturday is celebration day for us - Officially celebrating Erik's birthday and celebrating the completion of 'Assignment 1' for various classes. I can't wait! We're going to the beach all day, going to restaurant called Buderim Tavern, and clubbing at Erik's favorite place, "Friday's" We're going to have a great day :)

That about sums it up on my side of the world - off to complete my ICE report and start on Accounting. Still thinking about each of you daily, love you so so much!!!

Eumundi Markets

Well... Let's just say when I woke up Friday morning, I knew Brisbane was no longer an option. I was still feeling quite sick so I called around and informed the crew. Fortunately there was someone to take my place at the hostel so I didn't have to worry about paying - my friends are so good to me :) For those of you that know me, saying no was so stinkin hard... I just hate to miss out! Luckily enough, my loving roomie, Macaela, was sweet enough to make my stay home enjoyable.

I just slept all day Friday and watched too many movies. But Saturday, Macaela was so sweet and took me to the Eumundi Markets. They are about 40 minutes away and they set up on Saturdays and Tuesdays. They are a huge attractions with thousands of visitors weekly. It was so fun while still quite relaxing. It was like a festival with tents of crafts, photography, and fair-type food, but no blow-up bouncers or loud music. There was a women manning a tent with amazing canvased photography of local Australia. I wanted to buy every picture, they were amazing! Conveniently enough, she also sold a book with nearly 100 pages of the photos with descriptions - even better! Needless to say, I bought it and a SWEET new pair of Ray Bans (sunglasses) :) It was a perfect morning. 

Original Eumundi Markets!

Real Passionfruit halves!

Macaela and me

Macaela headed to work when we got home and I worked on a few assignments due this week. My illnesses atrocious timing may have actually been a blessing in disguise because I have two huge reports that I... well, haven't quite finished... But they're coming along quite nicely now :) 

Later Saturday night, Cat invited Macaela and I over for a delicious lamb dinner! I brought the pasta and salad - Macaela insisted on bringing something so her contribution was Salt and Vinegar Chips! We're saving them for later though ;) Cat's lamb was unbelievable, she added this cream sauce which was simply to die for - Go Cat!!! Unfortunately we ate our food and cleaned up before I remembered to take a picture... whoops!

We licked our plates clean ;)

Sunday mostly contained studying... I need to see the sun again soon, I'm starting to miss it! Everyone came home from Brissy around 6 and wonderfully bombarded me - I was so glad they did, I missed them so much! They had an amazing time so we will definitely be back. They did the test run... the real trip is to come ;)

Not too much else here - my friend Erik's 21st birthday is tomorrow so we'll definitely do something fun for him. Not nearly as big a deal here as it is in the states though! We have a breakfast date at his place at 8am so off to bed for me! I love y'all so much - send your prayers for success with my first assignments and quizzes!!! 

Reoccurrence

Not too much to state for this week plus I'm not feeling well so this will be brief.

 Cat lovingly took Maggie and me out for ice cream Sunday night. They have a place called Cold Rock, similar to Marble Slab and Cold Stone. It is quite delicious - my favorite way to have a taste of home :) 

I've gotten a lot of paperwork done this week, banking and rent, and Sini and I booked a trip to Brisbane (Or Brisvegas, as they call it!) this weekend. 

We had our first taste of rain yesterday followed by a glorious thunderstorm - love it! Maggie and I were quite excited!

Last night Shaho, Kurtish, organized a dinner at a Turkish restaurant for a group of us. I got Lamb Shish and it was amazing.

I've been feeling off the past few days but today I was so miserable that Cat took me to the doctor. Aussie's have this crazy fear of Swine Flu so, in order to get an emergency appointment, she told them I had it. We had to sit in a separate part of the waiting room and wear masks, but we got an appointment right away!! Too good! But, figures, just another sinus infection. She recommended that I get an appointment with an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist when I get home because my infection is so bad- no fun...

SWINE FLU!!!

I've just been resting all day and trying to drink lots of water - Brissy tomorrow!!! I should have lots of wonderful pictures to post soon. I hope y'all are staying healthy - steer clear of swine flu!!!!!!

To the Moon and back

So much is going on in my part of the world! 

As far as school is concerned: Last Sunday, I dropped my History course and enrolled (or enroled, in Aussie words) in a class called Cor 110, better known as Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship (ICE). First of all, history is not my thing, but more importantly, I believe that ICE will actually benefit me in my career. The class is going well so far. We have our first big assignment due next week so I’m hoping to finish it up for revising tomorrow. There is so much happening though because each class has intense reports/assignments/assessments due in the same week! I’m not too concerned though ;)

 Maggie and I studying away

On to more important things!!!

Yes mama, my life still revolves around food here just as much as it did at home… and I love it! We cook and bake everyday – I must have been enrolled into a culinary institution because these people are amazing. In the past week I’ve had salmon, kangaroo, native Finnish sweet buns, lots of cookies, and SUSHI!

The family!!!

AMAZING salmon-boat!!!

(Don't worry daddy, 

not as good as yours ;)

My first taste of kangaroo!!!

Pretty good! Gamey, like deer

My somehow salvaged fried rice wayyy

too early in the morning/ late at night

-Hey! My hunger never ceases!!!-

Homemade cookies!!!

Not so homemade but 

AMAZING cookies another night :)

Native Finnish buns, 

made by Sini

Absolutely awesome!

I was nearly in pain it had been so long since my last sushi meal. We went to the main mall in the Sunshine Coast to the Sunshine Plaza in Maroochydore and got sushi to go. It wasn’t the best quality but temporarily satisfied my quench. If only I had my bamboo rollers I could make my own… sounds like a wise investment J

 Not terribly classy

but SO worth it

I think this past week was the first week that did not feel like total vacation. We have all been quite spoiled but it was nice to start with some structure. It was a little intimidating realizing that assignments are due within the next few weeks. One nice thing about USC is that, because it is a fairly small university, a lot of us have similar classes. It’s always helpful to have a study buddy and someone to keep you motivated. Fortunately, we managed to squeeze in a beach day amongst our studies. I think we may have called it a “study break”. Quite needed! We all have Tuesday afternoons off so I do believe we may have started a pattern. When we can’t get to the beach we also have two beautiful pools we lay out and… and study…

 New beach adventure -

Alex Beach, Sunshine Coast

Maggie and I enjoying our ice-cream

lovingly supplied by Magnus

Resort pool at Varsity

This is the life :)

On the roof at a penthouse party

 Overlooking Mooloolaba

To all of you – I am so sorry that I haven’t gotten in touch with you individually. It’s so complicated with the phone and internet fees and the crazy time difference. But it certainly doesn’t mean that I’m not thinking about you. I love y’all so much and think about you everyday. I love getting Facebook comments so even when I’m not responding, know that I am reading them J

 

I love you all so so much – I promise my next update won’t take quite as long ;)