Nearing the End of Classes!

Hey yall!

I have been SO bored lately! All of my friends still have assignments due so they're working hard on those while I'm being a bum. I guess that's the downside to having classes only three days a week.

Speaking of which, this is our last week of Uni!! I only have three more classes left and then finals. I have three finals to take. They'll be the 5, 10 and 18 of June.

It's getting really cold here. And it's only going to get colder. We're kicking ourselves for complaining about the cold a month ago. Our house is so poorly insulated that sometimes it's colder in our house than it is outside...strange yeah? We've found that turning on the heater in our living room and all of us hanging out in here is the best way to stay warm and efficiently use our electricity.

Because it's so cold it also makes it kind of hard to want to go out and do stuff. Natalie and I have been trying to plan stuff to stay busy.

On Tuesday avro (afternoon) we went into town to do some shopping! I needed to buy a jumper (aka hoodie sweatshirt). After town we went to a free dinner that TUU Housing was putting on for all the students who rent from them. :) It was just some nasty pizza but hey, free food is free food.

Wednesday was pretty boring...nothing exciting happened.

Thursday Joey, Natalie and I all went to some of Joey's friends house. We watched Talladega nights. It's always good to watch a movie other than the few that I brought with me!

On Friday we just hung out during the day. We went into town that arvo just to have something to do and because Joey needed to do some gift shopping. That night Joey, Natalie and I all watched a movie at Nat's house. Then we went and caught up with all of our friends at one of their houses.

Saturday and Sunday were the most boring days ever. Okay, I'm exaggerating. I did get to talk to both Dad and Momma on skype though so that sure was nice! But after these two days I'm looking forward to going to class tomorrow so I have something to do.

This Wednesday Natalie and I are going up to Launceston. I don't think we have anything planned to do yet but I'm sure it'll be exciting!

Sports, Sports, Sports!

Hello hello!

The weekend/beginning of the week after Mom and Curtis came I was busy busy with school. But now I'm done with all of my assignments! It's such a relief.

On Wednesday after my classes I went up to Launceston.

The trip was full of sports and exercise!

Wednesday night I went to watch Marc's basketball game...they won! Yay.

After the game Marc's friend Fraser came over and we had hot chocolate. The marshmallows here are so gross. You can taste the food coloring in them it seems like (they have pink and yellow ones).

Thursday Marc and I did some grocery shopping.

We hired out the movie Zombieland. It was pretty good! I wasn't too keen on seeing it but I actually liked it.

That evening we went up to Uni Gym and worked out for about 2 hours. Marc knew the girl who was working up there so I didn't have to pay to get into the gym. It is normally SO expensive here. If you don't have a membership (which is about $300+) then it costs $9.50 each time you want to go. How insane is that??

On Friday Tarni, Marc and I went and played volleyball up at the Uni Gym. Every Friday they have a group of people play volleyball. Tarni and I were kind of nervous because we had no idea what to expect. It turns out that we were the only girls there. Everyone else was a bunch of old guys or guys who didn't speak any English. It was fun though! Tarni didn't have too much fun though, shes still learning volleyball so she wasn't too comfortable playing with other people yet.

Saturday Malcolm, Marc and I played some footy. I was SO much better this time! I think it helped that I had my tennis shoes this time...it made kicking the ball much easier. It still really hurts to punch the ball though. After our "kick-about" we went home and watched a movie with all the house mates.

That night, Tarni and I took Marc to his basketball game. Then she and I went to a football party that one of Tarni's friends had invited her to. It was way out in "whoop whoop" (aka the boonies). Tarn's friend, Emma, was really sweet! We're going to hang out with her again next time I go up there. :)

On Sunday I got to skype with Lauren and all the family. Everyone was together to celebrate her GRADUATION!! Hip hip hooray! :)

Marc went up to the gym to do some basketball training. After Tarni and I ate breakfast we walked up to Uni and she went to the library and I went to meet Marc at the gym.

I didn't want to pay the $9.50 so I paid still ridiculous amount of$3.80 to just go to the basketball court. I was going to play volleyball but I forgot to bring my ball up there and it costs money to borrow one from the gym. Since I didn't want to spend more money I decided to play basketball with Marc. He was doing his training though so mainly I just helped him with his drills and rebounded for him.

Malcolm just bought a thing where he can watch television on his computer so everyone in the house is pretty excited about that. We all watched a couple of shows together that night. Before bed Tarni, Marc and I watched Full Metal Jacket.

Monday was pretty uneventful. We just watched some sports. Marc is SO excited that he'll be able to watch the NBA finals.

That arvo Marc and I skyped with his mom.

Then Tarni and Marc took me up to the bus station to head home. :(

Back in Hobart I went to catch the bus back into Sandy Bay but there wasn't one for another 25 minutes. I decided to go on ahead and walk to Sandy Bay. I stopped at Subway and ate a sandwich real quick. Then headed on towards my house. I decided to check at one of the bus stops to see when the next one would be there. Right as I stopped the bus that I would have waited 25 minutes for was pulling up. AWESOME!!!! And it was even the bus that stops on my street. You gotta love it when that happens!!

Today, Tuesday, wasn't too bad.

I went to my class...one of the last of the semester! We only have this week and then one more before finals start up. My finals schedule is good...I have then on the 5, 10 and 18 of June.

After class Natalie and I went into Hobart because I needed to buy a sweatshirt and sweatpants that fit me. I had the hardest time finding pants! But I did find a sweatshirt. :)

Tonight we had a free dinner at the TUU because we live in their housing. It wasn't the greatest food but it was free.

Now we're all back at home watching our television shows.

I hope everyone is doing well at home! It is getting so close to the end.

Stacey, my roommate, leaves on the 11th! Can you believe that? That's less than a month away. I have just over a month left here. So, I'll be seeing yall soon! :)

Thanks for following my adventures.

Love from Oz.

Momma & Curtis' Visit

May 1, Saturday

This morning I woke up at 11 when Natalie called me about going to the market. By the time Natalie, Joey and I all got up and showered and were on our way to the Market it was a little after noon.

At the Market there was a creepy lady who was painted white and was in a long white angel gown. She was posing and when people gave her money she would bless them. It kind of weirded me out.
It’s funny because it always has the same booths every weekend but we still go back and always look at the same places. However we vary rarely buy anything. This week the only thing I bought was a flower to have on the bedside table for Momma. I got her my favourite kind of flower here...it’s called a Protea Pink Ice. I’m not sure if we have them in the States but they’re really cool looking.

On our way back home we stopped at Coles for Natalie to do some grocery shopping. Then we headed back to my house to drop off her stuff before going down to meet Momma and Curtis!

Natalie and I went down at about 4:30 to wait for Momma and Curtis to get in. They got to Wrest Point a little after 5. I was SOOO happy to see them! J We rolled their bags down the hill from Wrest Point and then up the hill to the Cottage of Nelson Road (aka my house).

As soon as we got back here I showed them around my house...the tour took a grand total of less than 5 minutes. Then I started cooking them dinner because after a long day of travelling they needed some food! I cooked them spaghetti. Natalie abandoned her vegetarian ways for the meal! I was so proud. We all relaxed and ate dinner and watched television.
Joey was at a party at Metz. Stacey and Marina were on a day trip to the Tasman Peninsula. So it was just Momma, Curtis, Natalie and I.

Mom and Curtis were able to stay up fairly late...I kept telling them to try to stay up as late as possible! Once they went to bed I wasn’t far behind them. I was SO tired from staying up late the night before.

May 2, Sunday

Hooray for having Momma and Curtis here!!

Today we woke up and went down to Sandy Bay to get breakfast. We ate at Banjos. It was pretty good...I hadn’t been there yet!

After that we went into Hobart and walked around for awhile. We went to the museum...they have a new modern art exhibit.
Then we went down to the harbor and looked at all the boats. There was a full rainbow...it was so beautiful!! We ate lunch at Mures, a fish and chips place on the pier.
We went to the visitor’s centre and got some information about what we can do to stay busy here! J We’re going to have lots of fun things to do.

That evening we just came back home and chilled out. I can’t remember what we did for dinner this night.

May 3, Monday

Today I had to turn in a paper so we went up to campus for me to do that.
Then we went into Hobart and got lunch at the mall.

That afternoon we went to the Cascade Brewery! The brewery is so gorgeous. It’s a huge sandstone building with beautiful gardens around. Cascade is the oldest brewery in Australia...pretty cool huh? At the end of the tour they gave us three tokens for free drinks. Momma tasted her first beer EVER. That was so crazy! Of course she didn’t like it but she tried.

Once we made it back to my house Momma and Curtis took their stuff to go check into their hotel room. We met up not long after to go and get dinner at La Bella’s.

May 4, Tuesday

This morning Momma came over and we went to my Gender Studies class. She wanted to see what my favourite class was! I think she enjoyed it. She got to meet my friend Angelique.
After that class I had a test so Momma went to the coffee shop on campus while I went to that class. I think my test went okay.

We then went to the hotel to meet Curtis. We went into Hobart to get some lunch at Dome. They had potato soup there and I was SO happy!
After lunch we just walked around town a bit.

I went back home to do a little homework and nap.

Momma and Curtis came over that night for pancake Tuesday! J Natalie cooked the pancakes as usual and I made some scrambled eggs.

After dinner we just watched a little television before Momma and Curtis headed back to their hotel.

May 5, Wednesday

Today I had a full day of classes so Momma and Curtis went on a day cruise to Peppermint Bay (this always makes me want to sing the Shirley Temple song “on the good ship lollipop...”).

I went to class all day long. I met with one of my professors about an assignment that I was confused about.

That night for dinner we went to Taco’s to celebrate Cinco de Mayo! Yum!

May 6, Thursday

This morning I had to wake up super early and meet Momma and Curtis at their hotel at 8. The bus picked us up there and we were off on our adventure!

We went to Cadbury first. It was pretty cool...we learned how they make chocolate. The chocolate here is so good because they use Tasmanian milk. Interesting, yeah? They just showed us a video and then took us to taste some chocolate. It was a little disappointing...I wish there had been more. But we had kind of been told that was what to expect.

After that we went on a harbor cruise. Momma had to run to the store to get some gifts for people because we realized we wouldn’t have any other time to do that. So Curtis and I went on that lunch cruise. It was pretty! Really cold and windy up on top of the boat but we were able to stay on the inside.

Next we went to Bonorong Wildlife Park. There was a baby wombat named Mable. She was 6 months old; her momma had been hit by a car and they found Mable still in her pouch. She was just precious. I decided that I really love wombats. I bought myself a little stuffed animal one! There was also a really funny Kookaburra who had a feather stuck on its beak. It kept hitting its beak on a piece of wood trying to get it off. I think it was jealous that everyone was paying more attention to the wombat than him. Momma and Curtis got to feed wombats and kangaroos! They also got to take a photo with a koala bear. They weren’t able to hold it but they got to pet it and all. J

Our last stop of the day was Richmond, one of the old towns here. There they have the oldest bridge in Australia. It was a pretty little town!

We got back into town around 5 and stopped at the store so Curtis could buy some crumpets...he had just discovered that he likes them. We then wanted to get some authentic Tasmanian dinner...so we went to Macca’s. At the McDonald’s here they have an awesome family box deal that they should totally get in the States!

Momma and Curtis went back to their hotel. I went back home to get my big coat and do a little homework.
At 8 I went down to the bus stop to meet Marc.

We then went over to the hotel and Marc met the family! We sat and talked for awhile and then decided to go downstairs to the casino.

Momma and Curtis had won $16 the night before so we split that between us to play with. Marc said he didn’t gamble though so we split up his share. Once we got down and were playing the penny machines Marc decided he wanted to play. We called him out on not gambling and he told us he was just being “ironic” earlier. Mom was like “ironic? Don’t you mean you were lying?? Haha.” So, that quickly became the running joke!

Marc ended up winning $20 off of $1 though...so that was good! I unfortunately didn’t do as well! It was still fun though!

May 7, Friday

This morning I had to wake up at 5:45 to shower, make lunches and breakfast for everyone today. Marc and I had to be over at the hotel at 7:15.
The bus picked us up there at 7:30.

The first place we went today was Richmond, the old town that we had been to the day before.We hadn’t realized yesterday but there is a really pretty old church there...the oldest catholic church in Australia.

The next stop was for a Tasmanian Devil road sign...the only area in the world where they have those. A lot of Tasmanian Devils have a cancer on their face that is spread when they eat. Many of the conservation groups try to collect as many of the devils as they can and heal them of the disease before releasing them back into the wild. The place where the sign was is an area where a conservation group had release a number of devils who for sure didn’t have the disease.

Next we went to check out the dog lines that were set up to make sure prisoners didn’t escape from Port Arthur. They set up lines of mastiffs what would attack the escapees if they tried to pass by.

We then made a couple of stops that had awesome scenery. We stopped at Devil’s Kitchen which was gorgeous. I don’t remember the names of the other places but they were all in the Tasman Peninsula.

Our last stop of the day was Port Arthur. We went on a cruise around the harbor to see the boys reform island and the Isle of the Dead, the place where they buried everyone who died at Port Arthur; 1100 people are buried there.
We checked out the houses of the guards and commandants, the church, the living areas, the asylum and the separate prison. A lot of the building has been burned down during bush fires so it was a little hard to imagine everything. I wish they would’ve built it back up.
They had a place where you could search to find out if any of your relatives had been sent to Port Arthur...it seems very likely that I could be related to someone there! We found John Lake, James Lake, Thomas Lake, and I think it was Henry Stephenson. Crazy!
They had a cool thing where we were each given a card and we could were all different convicts who had lived there. I was a soldier who had been sent there for stealing two saddles. Curtis just so happened to get a black guy...we thought that was pretty ironic!

On the bus ride back to the hotel we watched a video about Tasmanian Devils. I ended up taking a little nap! I was exhausted.

Mom and Curtis checked out of their hotel and we headed back to my house. I cooked chicken strips and mashed potatoes for dinner. I packed one of my bags to be sent home. We all went to bed fairly early.

May 8, Saturday

This morning Momma and Curtis had a taxi pick them up at 3:45 AM. Marc and I both got up to see them off.

Marc had to leave at 10:30. So I walked him down to the bus stop.

Once he left I went back to sleep. I’m not used to having so much excitement here...it wore me out.

Tonight I went to see How to Train Your Dragon with Natalie and her roommate Kris. It was a really cute movie!! I liked it a lot. I’m really excited about the Toy Story 3 movie coming out!

After the movie we got dinner at Dome. I’m so happy that I’ve found a place to get good potato soup! J Of course it’s got nothing on McAlister’s soup but it’ll have to do for now.

Curtis and Momma as prisoners at Port Arthur!

Marc and me by the Tasmanian Devil sign.

Marc and me at Devil's Kitchen (I think).

Curtis, Momma, me and Marc

Momma and Curtis in Richmond by the oldest bridge in Australia

Curtis feeding a wallaby at Bonorong.

Momma feeding a wallaby at Bonorong.

Mable, the baby wombat!

Curtis and me outside the Cadbury Chocolate Factory.

Momma and me at Cascade Brewery.

Safe Arrival

Momma and Curtis made it here safely!!!

I cooked them supper when they got in and now we're spending time relaxing and watching tv. :)

Cheers!!

excited!!

Hey yall,

Sorry I haven't updated all week! NOTHING exciting has happened. Next week I have a paper due Monday, a test Tuesday and two more papers due Friday. That just so happens to be the week that Momma and Curtis will be here. So that has been my week; I'm trying to get a head start on all of those!

Momma and Curtis are on their way! Curtis is on his flight to Sydney and Momma is on her way to Fiji! Haha, if you haven't heard about that mess, basically there was a HUGE mess-up with the travel agent. So Momma gets to spend a couple of hours in the Fiji airport.

They'll be in at 4PM Saturday. I'm SO excited!!! I'll be sure to let yall know when they make it in safely. :)

Cheers!

photos from the wknd

Here are some photos for yall from Monster Trucks and the Footy game! :)

Malcolm and I at Monster Trucks! Malcolm now loves his flannel.

My favorite truck, Samson.

Marc and I at Monster Trucks. Bogan or normal? ...this is normal. Minus that scarf haha.

At the house before we left for Monster Trucks!

Marc and me at the footy game. The Hawks colors are brown and yellow, how ugly is that?

Monster Trucks & Footy!

April 21, Wednesday

Today I woke up at 7:45 so I could shower and get things sorted for my trip before my tutorial.

I walked all the way up the awful hill and to class. There were a couple of us sitting in there when a lady came in and told us that our professor wasn’t going to be able to make it and to go to a different tute.

I trekked back home and decided that I’d go ahead and head to Launceston because I didn’t want to make Tarni wait until after 4, when the next tute would be, to leave. So we quickly got all of our stuff together and headed the Launy!
The car ride was pretty quick. I didn’t sleep this time! I think that made Tarni happy. Haha.

When we got to Launy Marc was at the door to welcome us! Really he was just going outside to fix the electricity that was turned off for some reason. They had had a massive storm last night and the electricity went out from it.

Once Malcolm got home we all went to Wooly’s together to do some grocery shopping. We then watched James Bond: the Golden Eye. The boys are on a huge James Bond kick right now.

Just before the movie was over, Marc and I had to bail to go to his basketball game. Fraser picked us up in his awesome orange VW van. You know how some cars match perfectly with their driver? This is one of those situations. Haha.

Marc played really well. They were up against a team that had beaten them last time so they were out for revenge! They ended up winning by 12 points. It was tons of fun! I really enjoy going to his games...I miss basketball.
Speaking of, GO MAVERICKS! I hope we get it back against the Spurs!

April 22, Thursday

Thursday was a lazy day! After waking up I watched Let’s Go to Jail with Marc. Then we ate lunch and were going to study but decided to watch another movie. We were lazy literally all day.

That night Marc’s friend, Mark Townsend, came over for dinner. He is a lot of fun. He reminded me of Scott Heft; yes, he’s a red head too! Marc made an awesome pasta dish...it was so good. I’ve got myself quite the cook. J
However, every time we go to the grocery store to buy stuff for meals Marc and I have to go over the fact that I don’t like vegetables. Each time he’ll think of a new one and say “artichokes, you have to like artichokes! ...NO!?! Okay zucchini, you like these do you?...NO!?!” haha it’s like he’s shocked every time he finds out there is yet another vegetable that I don’t like.

After we ate dinner I baked a chocolate cake. Yum. We played Apples to Apples. It was quite fun. J

April 23, Friday

Rain, rain go away! It has started raining lots here! I don’t like it one bit.

This morning Malcolm, Tarni and I went into town while Marc was working out with Fraser. We went to a couple of jewellery shops trying to get Malcolm’s watch fixed. I bought a volleyball while we were in town because I’ve really been wanting to play!
We ate lunch at this place called Burger Got Soul. It was so yum. I got a cheese burger with avocado on it and the chips were nice and seasoned...yum! It was pretty reasonably priced as well.

After town we went home and changed out of our wet clothes! Then headed up to the gym to play some volleyball and meet up with Marc.

Malcolm and Tarni had never played volleyball before so I had to teach them. We didn’t have a net or anything; we just hit it around a bit. They did really well...there were of course some times when Malcolm would swing his arms while bumping the ball and it would hit the ceiling but all in all it was good! Marc and I were peppering back and forth and he spiked the ball so I got low to dig it; unfortunately a low spike for him and I are a little different. Low to someone who is 6’5” is apparently about the level of my face. Thank goodness he hadn’t hit it too hard! It didn’t really hurt but I like to give him a hard time about it now. Haha. Another time Marc went to backwards set it and missed the ball completely and it hit him in the face. Even?
After volleyball we played a little bit of footy. Then we played a bit of baseball. After baseball they taught me how to play cricket! I actually really liked it...since there were only four of us there was always something to be doing.

Once we got home from playing heaps of sports we all took turns showering and making supper. Then we decided to hire (aka rent) out a movie from blockbuster. We got Wolverine because the boys hadn’t seen it yet.

After the movie we went over to one of the boys’ mate’s houses, Andrew. We watched a little footy with him and just hung out.
I learned an interesting fact: Australian Football League has no regulation field size. Each field is just as big as the team/builder wants to make it.

April 24, Saturday

This morning Marc and I both had to study. I spent more time on Skype than I did studying though. I got to talk to Momma, Curtis, Rachel, Lauren, Dad, Nanna, Durwood and even Uncle Tommy! It was quite the happening day in the Skype world.
After my time skyping I did actually buckle down and get some reading done. I’m trying to get ahead on my work because momma and Curtis will be here in ONE WEEK!!! AH!

Tonight Malcolm, Marc and I went to MONSTER TRUCKS!!! We had planned on dressing as bogans but as we started getting ready Marc and I both realized we were actually just going as ourselves. I wore jeans, boots and a flannel shirt. He wore a jumper (aka hoodie), zoo york hat and skater shoes. The only one who was actually “dressed up” was Malcolm and by the end of the night he had grown quite fond of his flannel.
Monster Trucks was awesome! My favourite truck was named Samson and the driver was from Alabama. There was another driver from Salt Lake City. We were really looking forward to seeing the motocross freestyle jumps but the ground was too slippery for them to be able to go at it. That was a little upsetting. But the night was still fun. It was FREEZING! Goodness I can’t wait until I have my big coat!

Once the show was over we walked down to Macca’s to give Tarni some time to get over and pick us up. We ate some supper and got some hot chocolate to warm up with! It was tasty. .

April 25, Sunday

Marc and I had to do some homework after brekkie. Ugh, so boring!

Around 5 we went up to the footy game! It was pretty fun. The only bad thing is that we had general seating...which means standing. And the stadium is really small...it looked like a high school baseball stadium. The field wasn’t build down into the ground like it always is in the States. Anyways, it was really hard to see what was going on. Half the time I couldn’t even see the screen! And it was cold!! Even though I seem to be complaining about it...it was fun! It was really interesting getting a glimpse of Australian professional sports. ...it’s very different than in the States. In the States there are food places built into the stadium...here they’re just little tents. In the States the crowds are yelling the WHOLE time...here they only cheer when something good/bad happens. In the States they have an announcer at the game...here they DON’T, that was quite upsetting for short little me. It was a good experience.

Back at home Marc and I made pizza for dinner. We then did a little bit of homework.