Noosa Heads and the Trip up the coast

So we left on Sunday the 29th, and arrived in Noosa Heads (Noosa for short) on Monday the 30th. The drive was long but very scenic. It's not every day that you get to drive down the pacific highway. On Sunday night we camped at a random camp-park, near a little town called Kempsey (where one of my roommates is from!) We arrived in Brisbane to pick up the keys to the appt. and then we were on the home stretch. It was a great feeling leaving the car for some solid ground. the appt was massive. It could sleep 15 people easy, all in beds! It was great. It ever had a pool! Noosa was amazing. BEAUTIFUL! The beach was clean and not too busy at all. all along the beach is a nice strip of shops and cafes. there is a lovely national park also. Overall it was gorgeous Also the beach was a short walk from our appt and that was nice. It rained the second night and the third day but Jeremy and I made the most of it. Rob Left us on the third day for Cairns. And Jeremy's cousin Hailey came up from Brisbane for a little visit. Hailey left at around three and because it was raining we went to the movie theatre, conveniently located accross the street from out appartment (also there was another strip of stores accross from the appt which was nice. On our last day in Noosa Jeremy and I went out for breakfast and i had an unreal yoghurt and muesli and fruit dish and then we hit the beach. It was gorgeous. We grabbed some sushi and decided to go hom eand sit out of the sun for a while. Jeremy took me out for dinner down by the beach again and then he took me to see 'where the wild things are' the movie.. sidenote: DON'T SEE THAT MOVIE IT WAS TERRIBLE. But yes. Sadly we left Noosa today, and made out way to Brisbane. On the way to Brisbane we stopped and spent the day at a little town in the mountains called "montville" It was great. It reminded me a lot of Niagara on the Lake. Very old fashioned like storefronts and bakeries... also there was even a store that was a christmas store year round! just like "Just christmas" in NOTL. I am not sitting in a MASSIVE house in Brisbane owned by friends of Jeremy's family. It is so beautiful. we have our own room and bathroom with masive shower, bathtub with legs and massive mirror.. (the mirror is not so forgiving with me these days... that will change when I get back to the gym at home) I will write more as the adventure in Brisban unfolds. I have WiFi now so thats nice. Tomorrow Jeremy and I are hitting up Brisbane city and going for a little shopping! G'day Mates!

Love,

Em

Off in a Cloud of Dust!

OK SO! Tomorrow my adventure begins! Goin on walkabout, or DRIVEabout! (Not sure if I have explained this already but walkabout is an Aboriginal Australian tradition where the young boys go out and become men.) Jeremy and I are driving all the way up the coast tomorrow to the sunshine coast. As we drive through Sydney we'll be picking up my good friend Rob White from back home, who has just arrived in Australia. I figured we'd give him some hospitality and friendship in a foreign country! So Jeremy, Rob and I will be traveling then from Sydney to Noosa (on the sunshine coast) with a nights rest in between. We plan on just pulling over to a strip of beach on the coast and tenting it for the night. I CAN'T WAIT for this adventure to start! Once we get to Noosa we've rented an unreal apartment for super cheap! I'll keep you posted! as for right now, I'm going to start getting some things ready!

G'day Mates!

Em xxox

Road Trip Ahoy!

The car has had a tune up and in one weeks time Jeremy and I will be going on a road trip up the coast. The plan is to drive straight up to the sunshine coast from Canberra. This takes about 13-14 hours! At the sunshine coast we have lucked out and scored an apartment for 50 dollars a night!! (Jeremy's moms got the connections!) So we will be staying in a fully furnished apartment and doing day trips to different places on the sunshine coast. After a few days there, we will be making our way back down the coast. The first stop will be Brisbane, where jeremy has family. After some visiting we will be moving on down the coast. and instead of just driving all the way home in one go, we will be stopping and spending the days and night at random coast towns such as Coffs Harbour, Byron Bay, Nimbin and more. For this, I cannot wait. I have never been on a true road trip before. hopefully it will live up to the high standards that I am have for it. I will also quite possibly be meeting my friend form Canada, Rob White, who is traveling to Australia along the way! I am very excited about this! I will update you as much as I can throughout the road trip! I have a funny feeling that, now that I am not in school I will have time for a lot more Blogging! Hurray!

G'day Mates,

Em xoxo

Moulin Rouge

OH YAH. YOU HEARD ME. MOULIN ROUGE COSTUME PAR-TAY. It was pretty unreal. It was a combined birthday party for Jeremy's parents and their two close friends. I was super impressed by the effort that everyone put into their costumes. I knew the Tupper family was going all out but I had no idea how much everyone else would put into it. I figured since Australia doesnt really celebrate halloween, that they would think dressing up silly. not the case. It was awesome. Sometimes when you go to a costume party, if you dress up and no one else does you feel silly. Well, at this party, if you didnt dress up you looked stupid and felt like an idiot. It was ballin. Jeremy's father's Band played, it was fantastic and kept us dancing all night, well until 1200 when we had to pack up and get out. It was a fabulous night for all.

-Em

Melissa

Melissa, is an American Exchange student. I mentioned her in my Floriade post. Well her and I have become extremely close over the past month and a half. We've gone on many an excursion around Canberra and endured some crazy class together. We enjoy breakfast for dinner, and board games. Over a month ago she started sleeping over every day haha, we were that inseparable. She introduced me to a lot of things and taught me about the importance of many things. Melissa is one of the most humble, thoughtful, caring, fun, people I have ever met. I cannot say enough about her. We love all the same things and we were probably the same person in a previous life. She is extremely beautiful, inside and out. She has become my best friend that I have met on this exchange. Now I am sad to say that Melissa Left Australia Today at 11:20 am. I saw her off at the bus station this morning at 4:00 am on her way to the Sydney Aeroport. It was one of the saddest goodbyes I think that I've ever had. We had some unreal times and I wouldnt trade my time with her for the world. She is amazing and wil be greatly missed for my last couple months in Australia. But I know that our goodbye wasn't really a goodbye, it was a See ya later. Mel, I cannot wait to meet up with you when I'm back in the Northern Hemisphere. Safe Travels, and Godspeed my friend!

Love ya mate.

Halloween

Believe it or not Australia does not celebrate Halloween. LAME, I know.
So Mel and I decided that we were 'bringin' spooky back'. We planned a pumpkin party. with orange pumpkins, carved. (their pumpkins are weird and green here....) We served all orange food with the exception of some chocolate cup cakes with ghosts, spiders and other halloween stuff on them. Other foods we had included, Orange Jello shots, Carrots and dip, Candy corn sent from Mel's friends in the U.S., Doritos, Cheese puffs, BBQ chips, Gummies, and mini chocolate bars! We decorated a common room and people came dressed up. It was pretty great. The shining happened to be airing on the flatscreen Tv in the common room, epic. Mel and I dressed like 'Bogans" which is an Australian Version of trailer trash lol. How do I describe a Bogan. Well they speak differently from normal Australians, They have more of a twang and incorporate a lot of profanity into their speech. Also they are prettttty uneducated and opinionated, which is never a good combo. They wear flannel shirts and flip flops. A lot have a massive Southern Cross tattoo somewhere. Mullets, Rat-tails, are great hairstyles for bogans. Girls wear trashy makeup and have a kid by 15 (ha.. ok thats only some.. tats the higest degree of boganism.) anyways. There you get the drift. I could go on for a while about that but I wont. I'll just say, Mel and I were Bogans. Jer and Chloe's costumes were unreal too! My flatmate Yuka (a Japanese Exchange Student) brought her friends and they dressed up too! it was great fun :)

Science.

I found out that i have a FIVE HOUR LONG science exam on FRIDAY THE 13TH. that is all. URGHHHHH.

The Lighthouse, Belconnen

G'day,

I don't think I've told everyone this yet, but I have a job now. I get paid 18 dollars an hour haha. I work at The Lighthouse Bar in Belconnen (the suburb where I live). I am a bartender (haha) and food runner. I have my own personal bottle opener. and I love it. I wish i didn't have to work in Australia, but alas, money problems are always there, hovering over me, so I work. It buys me groceries and I've met some new friends :) I've gotta take a picture of it sometime for everyone to see!

-Em

Floriade

Canberra has this famous festival that it does every year called Floriade. I went with my mom, aunt and Jeremy to see it this year. Its pretty awesome. There are stands with food and crafts and such, live entertainment, some rides and more flowers and plants than youve ever seen. I enjoyed it quite a lot. Later, about a week later (this festival goes on for almost a month) I went to 'Nightfest' (floriade at night ... it usually closes at 5 like the rest of Australia) with Melissa, an exchange student from Tennessee, USA. We scored free tickets somehow lol. Anyways, it was our first date. And it rained us out haha! but we enjoyed some hairspray on the big screen, very yummy chai lattes and honey doughnuts anyways. I may or may not have stopped by floriade about three times after that solely for their honey doughnuts and Chai lattes haha.

:)

Cairns

I feel like all of my blogs start with "I know its been a while", so I'm going to try harder to keep up with this thing!

I went to cairns with my mommy and Aunt Joanne. It was loverly. I was a nice change from the colder Canberra winter/supposedly spring. It was about 28 and humid every day. The first day I got a sunburn in about ten minutes at about 830 am, on the way to get sunscreen! epic, seeing as I don't even wear sunscreen at home when I'm laying in the sun for hours! The second day that we were in Cairns we got right down to business and took a trip with Passions of paradise tours out to the great barrier reef! I tried, drumroll please, SCUBA DIVING. It was awesome, accept when you smile all this salt water gets into your goggles ... and I was smiling A LOT. Then we did a little snorkeling and I enjoyed a nice cool pure blonde beer on 1.5 hours trip back to the shore. Lovely.

The next day We enjoyed a little trip up into the rainforest, no big deal lol. It was awesome. I held a koala, ate some yummy food, saw unreal markets and enjoyed an unreal passionfruit-someotherfruit gelato lol. Our last day is Cairn was kinda a lazy day, we just chilled out around the town, by the pool and what not. It was kinda cloudy with a little bit of light rain now and then, so I decided to take a break from slapping on heaps of sunscreen which I hate doing so much. FAIL. Bad idea. I GOT A SUNBURN, IN THE RAIN. Oh Australia, you never cease to amaze me.

G'day folks!

p.s. I'm gonna be on here for a while lol. I've got some serious updating to do on my life!

We Found NEMO!

For More Pictures see my Facebook! www.facebook.com/m.a.jean

My Life On on the Fast Track

HEY I know you havent heard from me in a long while but, things are tough over here down under! So since you've heard from me last, I was sick with a swine-flu-esque illness. it knocked me out for over a week! but anyways, since then I went to Sydney for the weekend to see Jeremy's cousin off as he went home to France. I stayed in a hostel in Bondi (my first hostel experience!) that was SUPER close to the beach, honestly like a two minute walk. So that weekend I didnt really see much BUT bondi because I arrived at about 8pm on saturday night and I left at about 4pm the next day. so really, I wasnt even there for 24 hours haha. then I went home, and was swamped with all the schoolwork I missed when I was sick (I still have some, its brutal.) Then the school break started on the 5th of sept. but for the first week of the break I was tied up with my science class. i did way too much science and I REALLY dont want to spend any time talking about it, so lets just say that its over and Im glad. Now, this friday I travelled to SYD fora second time, this time I stayed on my own in a hostel. It was the creepiest experience Ive had for a while... then the next morning I left for the airport and met my MOMMY and AUNTIE who came all the way from Canada to see me (and australia) We spent the day walking around looking at the markets and the different sights of sydney harbour. I write to you now from my hotel in SYD whilst my mom and aunt sleep. seeing as its 930 at night, I am not sleeping, but also, seeing as its 2 dollars for 15 minutes of internet time, i think i'll be sleeping soon enough. (I only have 9 minutes left ... from 30 lol) i ate steak for dinner tonight for the first time in a LONG while. It was heaven. Sydney has been super warm this weekend (30 degrees C) but tomorrow i leave for a much warmer place, Cairns. I am super pumped. we plan on doing the barrier reef, and the zoo and I plan on relaxing on the beach and getting my tan on (because i look like CASPER, and if i dont get a tan soon i wont be so 'friendly' anymore...) anyways! i shall update you all about cairns when i am back! BY the way, I dont know if you all have me on facebook, but if you do, my camera got sand in it at surfcamp and is broken, SOOO i've been using Jer's and i need to figure out how to upload the pics, so more pics WILL be coming soon enough, patience is a virtue. So i only have 5 minutes of lousy internet left. and i had better save and post this now because the internet is slower than mollasses running uphill in january. (thats slow) so i will say my goodbyes, and make my way up to the 19th floor to sleep on my TERRIBLE cot lol. (you can feel every spring...) Maybe I'll take the stairs to the 19th floor. seeing as its 936 pm and i need to have to SLEEP when i get there haha. Anyways, G'day mates! hope you all are well!
-Em xoxo

Swine flu?

Sooooo I think I have swine flu.. NOT kidding. I blow my nose every 20 seconds (my room mates probably hate me) and it is always blocked, I cant breathe out of it. My face hurts. My body hurts, My head hurts. my throat feels like sandpaper, I can hardly stay awake. I cough like a loud fool. It is SOO brutal. I am going to the doctors tomorrow after my FOUR HOUR lab.. thats IF i survive the lab. I managed to go on a field trip today to Yankee hat (an aboriginal ground) I dont know how I managed but I did. I walked for like 3 hours to and from a rock with some aboriginal drawings that are like 800 years old. but i walked for 3 hours over all. the way there it was sooooo long and went on a massive detour so we decided, hey lets just cut across the plain and walk the 'easy way' turn out half of it was bog land and I got to the bus home and my shoes and feel were SOAKING WET. now I know why there is a path. So if I didnt have swine flu when I got there. I probably have it now. Brutallll.

urghhh

Melbourne

I had a trip to melbs a few weeks ago. I went to a birthday party for my friend who lives there. Jer and I flew with tiger airlines to melbourne and arrived at our friend Patrick's house around dinner. We got unreal curry for dinner and then the party began. At around 430 am I left with Jeremy to go to stay at his friend Ben's house who had an empty bed. It was a hell of a better choice than sleeping on the floor with like 20 other people lol. We stopped at 'hungry jacks' (australian burger king) on the way to Ben's, and i got into bed around 5am. Crazy. the next day everyone was pretty tired so we just went out for lunch and chilled out. Jeremy and Alex Wilson and I watched the cricket.. (well Wilson and Jer did.. I more so slept and waited for the break..) when the break rolled around (10:00pm) Jeremy and I headed down the street to the shisha cafe a couple blocks away from Pattys house, there we had a peach shisha and followed it with a double apple and watched australia win the cricket on a big flat screen Tv. overall a good chilled out night. the next day we went back to the shisha cafe in the monring, this time joined by Wilson, then had a quick lunch of japanese food and hopped on the plane home. So in a nutshel i didnt havemuch time to actually SEE Melbourne but what i did see made me want to go back and stay for longer! I'm excited to hit up the Melbs once more in the future! G'day mates!

-Em xoxo

Surf camp

SURRRRRF CAMP! On July 31st Team North America (which consists of my new friends Amanda, Ayla, Bridget, Erin, Melissa and me) hit up surf camp in a little surf town just outside of Wollongong on seven mile beach. We paid 235 bucks each, this included the ride up there (on an unreal hippy surf camp bus), food, accommodation, three surf lessons and a Tshirt. the photo cd was 50 bucks extra and you get a surfer dvd too. anyways. it was honestly one of the best weekends I have ever had. i know people say that as an expression "best Ive ever had" but i am not exaggerating it was literally one of the best weekend of my life. I set foot in the pacific ocean for the first time, and I SURFED on australian soil... (well.. sand) the food was delicious and I COULD NOT believe how much I ate. it was redic. Surfing is honestly the most intense workout ever. I want to do it everyday. I'd be a straight up smokeshow. anyways. surf camp= UNREAL.

Gday my mateys

Love,

Em xo

Uni Hath Begun

Hello all :) So it has been a long while since I have written you last! Not too much has happened since then, but I shall tell the tale of the thing that have! I have started university here in Canberra. So far I have only had lectures (and one tutorial) and i have found out the hard way that lectures are cancelled here often. The first two classes for "Music Teaching Workshop" were cancelled which is terrible news, because that is the class I was most looking forward to. ALSO i got up last friday for my 830 am lecture (!) and i left the house with enough time to get there 5 minutes early like a good little student. I got lost in the bitch ass cold for about 20 minutes and was only about 1 minute late.. but when I finally got there after my hectic morning, it was cancelled. other than that my classes have been A ok. :) Jeremy's parents came home and I had my first meal with his dad, who is awesome. They brought me some amazing presents from Paris (which totally caught me by surprise!), firstly they brought me some caramel tea (which I fell in love with at their house and apparently you can only get in in France...) then they brought me the perfume "J'adore" by Dior. It's amazing!! I love it. It was SO nice of them. I also ate RABBIT or the first time at their house and ABSOLUTELY loved it. I will always look forward to eating dinner at Jeremy's :) haha. I have also gone out to the bar TWICE in the time i have not spoken to you. this is momentous, seeing as i hate the bar and never go. I have a funny feeling that my friends will be happy when I come back because I will be more open about going to the bar, because I can bet I will get my bar practice here lol. Surf camp is this weekend. I cannot wait. I still need to find a bathing suit.. boo.  I also went to the botanic gardens with the girls and Jer, it was amazing. Just absolutely gorgeous, and I will be spending many a lazy day there in the future. Ive seen more Kangaroos, and a Kookaburra FINALLY. Today Jeremy Brought me a Tv for my room, and yesterday i bought some candles, and last week my room-mate seth gave my a plant so my room is looking pretttty snazzzy. (and im not sure if you all remember but) from the last blog but I talked of a crazy fashionista woman with a plaid skirt and a sheepswool jacket.. she happens to be in one of my classes. oh how I laughed. I have also booked a flight to Melbourne for the weekend after surf camp to celebrate my friend Sarah's birthday with her, I'm pretty excited for that... also excited for the fact that Melbs has starbucks lol. But yes, that is my life on the fast track! As of right now I am headed to bed, I've gotta rest up for my TWO days off! lol Actually tomorrow i think i am going job hunting. sweeet. I can't wait till I have a job. Ok guys, have a G'day! I miss you all!

PS. My Australian P.O. Box (I am using Jeremy's families PO box..) IS          

PO BOX 309

CURTIN 2605

ACT

AUSTRALIA. 

:)

HI GUYS-*warning* Long blog!

OHHHHK SO. I havent been able to get on blogger lately because it wasnt letting me sign in! I have not been neglecting you all. I have heaps to tell you and have been wanting to for a WHILE now. OHK so the last time you read about my little adventure over here I was waiting for Jeremy to get home from Melbourne. Well he returned and he came bearing gifts! He brought me-from the official store in Melbourne- my very own pair of classic tall, chestnut authentic australian Ugg boots! I am VERY pleased to say the least. I have been holding off on wearing them, but tomorrow I can start because they have now been sprayed with official Ugg protection spray lent to me by my new friend Erin! Anyways. Since that fateful Ugg filled joyous day, I have accomplished a lot. For instance, I have moved completely into my residence. I spent my first night here last night. It is bizarre knowing that this is my HOME for the next few months. having moved in, I have had a lot of various shopping to do. I spent roughly $270.00 aud on groceries, school supplies, dorm supplies, and other necessities yesterday. I wanted to cry. Life here is insanely expensive. however, now I am moved in with only a few more small things to purchase. I am taking advantage of all the free food on campus this week, for instance ive been to two sausage sizzlers and had a free indian lunch and a pancake breakfast and a morning tea so far. haha. I am literally a starving student. enjoying this free food with me are my new mates: Ayla, Melissa, Amanda, Bridget and Erin. All of these ladies I have met at the various exchange exercises we have had to attend. All of them are from various parts of the U.S. and Ayla is from good 'ol Canada. Theyre pretty sweet, and I forsee us getting pretty close over the course of the year! My res is pretty awesome. But the walls were white, so they looked very plain. I made it a bit more home-y by putting some pictures of my favourite friends and family from home all over my walls with "whitetac" (sticky-tack). I am still missing a picture of my Mom which makes me sad cause I would REALLY like one up. I have two small ones, One of my lovely Grandpa and one of my sweet Grandpa but they are just SO small! So mom (I can assume that you are reading this) It would be absolutely unreal if you could send me a picture of you and a full size picture of both grandparents, because I miss you all dearly. (I printed pictures of Ava from her facebook like a creep. lol) Yes, I've got plenty of pictures hanging about my walls, but I think I might need to get even more to make it feel a little more personalized. I've met one of my roomates (the rest havent moved in yet) (...well one other one has moved in but no one sees her... although shes claimed a bathroom... weird.. Nick and I have found out with our extreme Lurking expertise that her name is Yuka ..anyways yah I dont know if shes been here for the past couple of days lol) Anyways, I met one of my housemates, his name is Nick. He is Australian and lives in a small town about 5 hours from here. I was putting pictures up in my room and I heard him playing his guitar and singing so I made the trip down to his room and asked him if he would kindly move into my room and play while I hung my pictures. Why would I be such a creep you ask? (other than the fact that I just am a creep and thats how life is..) HE IS UNREAL. He's So good! he sings SO well and plays just as well! I think I've lucked out in the housemate department with him, he seems neat, tidy, kind, friendly, sociable but at the sametime somewhat reclusive (like me lol) and just a cool guy. and he is so talented in the music department. and when hes home he is often on his guitar and singing, so I can just turn my itunes off and listen, which is nice.  My dorm is very clean at the moment. I am hoping it stays like this. I am surprising myself with keeping my things clean and tidy.  I guess its only been a little bit of time, but I feel like since the room is so small I cant mess it up. Nick and I have agreed to keep our things clean as best we can so I hope our other housemates comply when they move in too! Yuka seems to be clean as well, no one has seen her yes, but no one has need a mess from her either ;). SO yes that is my life in residence so far. Cool housemate, White walls covered in pictures, New friends, free food and too much money spent on supplies. The weather has been chilly in the mornings, then beautiful in the afternoons then back down in the chilly range at night. I am planning on going around with my new friends and taking pictures of my dorm room and the campus (which is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS, its like going to school in a jungle.. I saw kangaroos just chilling on campus yesterday.) and posting them on facebook. Tomorrow I have the outright pleasure of going to that unreal theatre again to watch none other than HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE. I could have seen it all day today or midnight last night, but Jer couldnt come and I want to drag him out, so me, being so considerate, waited for him, lol. (side note: I would just like to let you all know that at the moment I am once again, being a weirdo and listening to music that my macbook is picking up from other peoples iTunes in the buildings around me... I have 7 other peoples music I can listen to right now lol I am loving life. Lets put on a little 'Lifehouse', shall we?) Yes so, there are some other things that I was surprised to find out about australia. Some Fun Facts for you guys: Australia's mobile phones are NOT charged for ANY incoming texts, or calls (even international ones) I was thinking about how funny this is seeing as one of canada's plans that I was thinking of switching to was a plan that had no charges for incoming anything.. its funny how its just how it IS here.. lol. Australia doesnt have Kraft Dinner, ONLY easy Mac, which depresses me. Nor do they have alldressed chips. (which are my fave). My Straighter does not work here. It doesnt matter that ive got a plug converter thing.. but that doesnt convert voltage, So my friend Amanda, purchased a cheap ceramic straightener for 30 bucks and I will be using it lol.  (I am now listening to Mandy Moore). That concludes my random facts section. I'm sure it will be continued.  Random thing to say (I think Kristin would most appreciate this) I saw a woman today (high 40's perhaps?) Wearing: A red kilt, bare legs with realy lame knock off uggs with fur all over them, a FULL fur (more like sheep wool) jacket, a fuzzy hat, and a tucked in yellow shirt. I took a picture and pretended to take a photo of my building but she was in it.. but yes it will go on facebook lol.  Currently there is a room somewhere BLARING dance beats and the baseline is like pulsating through my body and its been like that for a while and I am getting very annoyed trying to listen to my sappy mandy moore over here. BUT YES. ONE more thing I think I should share with you all before I possibly invesitgate this stupid noise; I AM GOING TO SURF CAMP. From July 31 to Aug 2nd I will be learning to surrrrrf! I am SOOOO stoked. ANyways all, I am going to figure out what this stupid noise is, and I may of may not read some harry potter... you just take a guess what the outcome of that will be. SO guys, I hope you have enjoyed my very long update! Now that i have kind of figured out how to sign into blogger, hopefully I can get on here soon with another update! G'day Mates!

-Em xo

Helllo Mateys!

Gd'evenin' mates! ha. ok I may or may not have taken that one to far ha. So you all haven't heard from me in a while, eh? oh have I ever been busy. Actually I just lied to you. I havent really been all, hence there has really been nothing for me to write to you all about. Jeremy has been gone so Caramel the puppy dog and i have been having girls nights every night since he have last spoke. One included white wine and some girly television series dvds, rented from the local blockbuster, and the other included pasta and some girly television series dvds rented from the local blockbuster. I know, I know you cant even contain the excitement you feel for me right now. but alas. I am in AUSTRALIA, so I dont care if my days have been less than eventful. Actually, yestreday afternoon I had the pleasure of hanging out with a couple of friends of mine that i met while in Budapest of the winter hols with Jer. Patty (Jer's Long time friend), Sarah (Patty's girlfriend) and I enjoyed lunch at My Cafe in a part of Canberra called Manuka. Then we went to Canberra Centre, Canberra's big mall, where Sarah Looked into flights back home to England for her sister's wedding and patty bought some new shoes. We enjoyed some yummy fresh fruit together, and I had the best Kiwi I've ever had, and tried passionfruit for the first time! then we went to the cinema and watched the movie Bruno (I expected more from Sacha than what Bruno gave me..) and aussie movie theatres make our movie theatres look like garb. the seats are HUGE arm rests roll up so you can cuddle wiht your date, you can buy alcoholic drinks to bring in. they are SOOOOO nice like they are luxurious.. actually.. but movies are 12 bucks a ticket...  and the one I went to, you BOUGHT your seat.. no price differences between the seats, but your seats are pre selected. It was nice. I can safely say it was the nicest movie theatre I have set foot in. After the show I was dropped at home and spent the night infront of my macbook watching mindless tv.  ANYways. Jeremy just got home and I am going to run to the store with him and the dog! Talk soon!

-Em xo

This and That

So there isnt much going on around here in good 'ol Canberra at the moment. Jeremy and Loic (not Loric as I've been saying... lol) are currently Camping on the coast somewhere on the way to Melbourne. I am here housesitting and babysitting the dog. I was supposed to go but the girl who usually house sits the house and the dog was unable to stay past thursday, so I decided that I would stay here with the Dog so Loic (who is only in the country for two months) could have a longer, more worthwhile trip, instead of driving 7 hours, only to turn back and drive back two days later...  So here I am watching a show on the Australian Disney Channel about three mermaids, one of which whos name is Emma... ANYWAYS. I know you know how exciting that is, so I'm going to stop telling you about that and talk about something else. I've decided that I'll talk about new things I've discovered here that we dont have back in Canada. First on my list are Tim Tams. They are these cookies here and they are really hardish and crispy on the inside and coated with chocolate and with a chocolate centre. mmmm. so here is the catch. if you bite the corner off of one end, and the opposite corner of the other end, and then put one of the severed corners in milk and the other in your mouth you can use the cookie as a straw!! annnd when youre done, the inside is all mushy and yummy. AND the chocolate doesnt melf in your hands. AH I just love them, theyre brilliant! Hmmm secondly, There is this pop called 'solo'. I have never been one for carbonated drinks, but this solo is like fresh and yummmy. It's like carbonated lemonade. It's delish. and ALSO apparently there is another lemon pop drink that's even better, called lift.  I am quite pumped to try it.  I love the birds, but you all know that. I just still can't get over the fact that there are parrots just chillin out outside my window. That blows my mind. And cockatoos just fly around eye level in the park. Magpies sing all pretty and such but they swoop down and attack the unsuspecting bike rider. and these pink breasted birds (name is escaping me) just hand around on telephone wires. (ps... the mermaid show is over and now ive flipped the channel and there's something about kangaroos on so i kept it cause theyre cuuuute) So also i love this cereal called Weet-Bix Berry bites. its delish. they are big sqares of bran cereal type stuff with bits of fruit-to-go pieces in it. its yummy yum yum. Um that's really all I can think of right now...  I am sitting here and I'm breaking out in hives, perhaps because the dog is NOT a non-allergenic dog. and I get hives with cats soooo I'm not surprised if these hives are from the puppy dog cause I've been cuddling her all day.. ahhh. So for now I am out of here to watch some more disney channel (I got bored of the Kangaroo show).  I find it noteworthy that I get scared when I house-sit at night, esp in another country on the other side of the world with killer spiders.. eek. Should be a good night :S maybe you'll hear from me again if I need to come back and get my mind off of things!  oh boy. g'night mates!

-Em xo

My Home Away From Home

G'day all! This morning I got the key to my new apartment residence and the key to my room in said apartment. For a university residence it is UNREAL. I love it. I found out today that it s Co-ed. and Bria was the first to point out that "That's generally how university residences are :P" however I dont just mean the whole residence.. I mean, well for example Village residence at brock is co-ed, and also apartments of 5, but girls stay in one apartment, boys in the other. In canberra boys and girls are in one apartment. ANYWAYS. its gorgeous. and clean and i'll post pictures when I have it all set up and ready. the weather here is collllld. I woke up this morning and it was -2. so i am QUITE pleased that i brought my jacket. I have put it to good use. and now, MOM, this part is for you cause I doubt that anyone else cares lol. I read on the website that it's a King Single bed. and I went out to buy King single sheets, so I am assuming they should fit :) Jeremy is lending me a "doona" or a duvet type thingo... LOVE you.

G'day Mateys of mine!

-Em xo.

P.S. My uncle the Baller (that means hes just overall unreal) and my cousin Ross the playa just left today. I said a farewell after they helped me move into my "ressie". I will miss them a lot. and my uncle has helped me TREMENDOUSLY with this adventure I am about to embark on and I could not be more thankful. 

Updateeee

I am currently sitting in Jeremy's living room whilst he is out for a beer. I am listening to the Mass of Notre Dame by Guillaume Dufay. Willingly. Because I want to. I hope you are laughing right now Kristin.  ANYways. So yesterday I went to the parliament. It was pretty unreal.  It was very modern, and smelled like chlorine. It was beautifully decorated and filled with marble and hardwood. very classy. Then from there we came home and ate some pasta haha. afterwards we went to Red Hill park and saw a giant 'pack' (i dont know what to call them...) of KANGAROOS. NO big deal over here, but a big deal to us Canadians who are only used to beavers, moose, polar bears and such. haha. While we were out we saw some of the local birds. They are ridiculous.  I love them. they are so different to birds in Canada. They actually sing like crazy notes and stuff. There are random parrots and massive cockatoos just chillin and flying around the skies.  It's pretty unreal.  There are these big black and white birds called magpies.. apparently in spring they swoop down and attack humans to defend their babies.. and its bad news to be a biker in spring. You hear the flapping of their huge wings and then youve gotta duck. intense. anyways, yes that was my day yesterday. well unless you'd like me to tell you about how we went out to coffee and I spilled hot water all over myself, and scalded my leg and finger.. and the tea I drank looked cool, and smelled nice, but tasted a little bit like urine... anyways. TODAY, I woke up bright and early and had a long walk with my uncle. it was very nice, we took in the local flora and bird watched haha then we sat in a sunny courtyard and had a lovely chat. I love my uncle. when we returned home the boys were just waking up and eventually we got a move on with out day at around 2. We went to the mall, where my uncle kindly bought me some supplies for my residence. We got some bed sheets, two pillows, a plate/bowl/mug set, some silverware and some tall glasses. After returning home we made some tacos and now I write to you from the couch. Tomorrow morning I am beginning to move into residence. EXCITING. ANYways, im going to go to sleep, even though its only 930 at night. i've gotta be up bright and early tomorrow! Goodnight all!

TTFN ta ta for now (tigger..)

-Em

ps. my uncle is so far taking the win for the sign off line.. he thinks it should simple be g'day mate. :) he is a baller.

A Canadian's first few days in Canberra.

WELL HELLO FROM AUSTRALIA. I have successfully landed after my epic 15 hour flight. I waited in the plane for them to spray down the plane with pesticide as to kill any viruses us gross Canadians were planning on bringing into their country! and then I cleared customs, got my bags from the baggage claim, and went to the car rentals counters... too bad all the cars were sold out though.. even though there were like 8 different counters.. SO we went out and caught a 3 hour bus to Canberra form Sydney. So my travel was insane. I left my house in Niagara to drive to Pearson International at like noon. then took off at 4... flew 5 hours to BC... waited 5 hours IN BC, then flew 15 hours to canberra, spent about an hour and a half at the aeroport, then caught a 3 hours bus to canberra and drove like 15 mins to Jer's house. E-P-I-C.   I went to bed at like 6:00 at night haha. and slept till 1130.. intense. The first thing I did when I got in was shower... then I went to get changed, I opened my suitcase only to discover it was the wrong one.. luckily I packed three suitcases..  we called the areoport and luckily got it all sorted out.. lucky for me, unlucky for "Donna Mah" of alberta.. lol. Oh well, her clothes were terrible anyways.. maybe she bought some new instyle ones... ha. ANYways, my bag was delivered today so thats sweet. Then this morning as I stood brushing my teeth I glanced over at my towel and noticed a black spider on it.. I got closer to see that the spider had a white tail.  the Whitetail spider is one of the most deadly spiders EVER. I COULD HAVE DIED. I am going to live in FEAR for the nest six months. my first morning there is a deadly spider just CHILLING on my towel. SWEET. holy crap I'm terrified just thinking about it. please google whitetail spiders... akfheaughekuauavaehguirhfhrgseeeek. ok new subject please. ANYWAYS. after my shower I shook out my towel.. *shudder..* ok THEN we went out to the national museum. By we I mean Jeremy, My cousin Ross and Uncle Roger (who accompanied me on my journey and are staying in Aus for like a week or so), Jeremy's cousin Loric and myself. The museum was SO sick. the architecture was among the coolest I have ever seen, very symbolic The name of the architect is escaping me right now, but i'm sure that after you google whitetail spiders, you can google Australian National Museum and look at it and figure out the architect. It was pretty unreal. From there we went to a trendy little cafe called Babar and I had an interesting chicken carbonara.  Then we explored the mall and went to Mount Ainslie and got an unreal view of the city.  So Currently I am back at Jeremy's and I might head out to an 'authentic' Aussie barbeque!  and before I go I shall tell you all my Australian Mobile, it is +61433790139, make sure you include the plus though, cause it's an international phone.. I sent about 4 texts before I realized that.. ha. ANYways have a good day guys!

.. hmm now i have to think of a sign off line from something..

"you know you love me...xoxo"

-gossip girl... whoops. I mean Em :)

ps. still havent seen a freaking Roo.

Loving Life at the Aeroport!

So after catching my flight to BC and being in the air for four and a half hours, I have been patiently waiting to depart to Sydney. I cannot WAIT to get on this 15 hours flight! Can you blame me? I think you would be itching to get on too. Itching to breathe in that stale, bacteria infested, swine flu carrying, dry plane air in. be Jealous. So yes. I'll update you when I get there! Jeremy's house doesnt have internet at the moment because.. well I actually have no idea why, but it doesnt right now there's some sort of problem. whatever though, anyways I will get back to you as soon as I can.  Wish me luck on the longest flight I've ever been on and probably will ever be on! 

"Thanks for stopping by"

ha... maybe if I just use sign off lines from other shows and movies and other such things i will eventually come up with one on my own. lets see how that works out.

loooooveee,

Em

ps..

ps. 

It's not 5:32, or whatever the time on that last blog was.. I have NO clue how the heck to change the time on this this... oh well I shall learn... I think I might need to come up with a sweet ass sign off line.. I'll get on that asap.

you stay classy....

no? ok, I'll keep thinking.

So it Begins.

Hi. So Tomorrow I leave for Australia. My biggest adventure yet. This is my FORMAL invitation to follow this delightful little blog. Sound awesome? I would just like to inform you that i have terribly poor typing skills. So if there are typos, and my I's aren't capitalized, you might just have to deal with it!

I hope I can actually keep up with this blog. Sometimes I tell myself I'm going to do things, and then I just don't do them, like studying for exams par example. Well we'll see, won't we?

Anyways, It's still the night before I leave.. this trip of a lifetime is but a fetus. Soon the excitement will begin.

Muahahahahahaha.