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.