Sports, sports, sports....

So, I have realized that practically all of my blog posts have something to do with sports. I really don't mean to revolve my posts around the sports here, but they are just so much fun! The new sport of the week is Netball! It is SO much fun! Netball is basically man on man basketball with no backboard, more players, and more rules. I played the position Wing Attack. Basically I could run everywhere except in the semicircle around my teams goal and the last third of the court toward the other teams goal. So, I ran constantly. Woah... Another difference b/t netball and basketball. It is as much running as soccer pretty much. I know basketball is a lot of running, but netball is actually more.

In other news, I have been trying to stay caught up with my classes, but it is so hard to do when I don't have tests! However, I am pretty much caught up in all of my classes except one. That class doesn't meet again until after break, so I have time to get caught up. (I don't have much else to do for it). Tuesday was so pretty that I just could not stay inside to do work. So, after I got out of class I put on my bathers (AKA bathing suit), packed some of my reading and a towel, then caught a bus to the beach. I enjoyed the gorgeous day, got a lot of work done (surprisingly), and got a good bit of Vitamin D as well.

I've also found a gorgeous place to run! I'm going to post a few pictures that I took of my afternoon run the other day. I hope everyone has a great end of the week and weekend!

Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day (like when I leave!)

So, I am sick of rain! It rained all week long pretty much. I will never complain about walking to class in the rain at PC anymore! When it rains here while I'm walking to class, it is pretty much guaranteed that I am going to look like I just took a shower when I arrive at my destination! Now, because it was raining all week, I really did not want to leave my room. That meant that I had to find things to do, so I got a lot of work done that I had been putting off! So, even though I felt like the rain wore out its welcome, it did make me a lot more productive.

Many of you know that I have been looking really hard to find a church to attend and someone to go with me without a lot of luck. Well, my luck changed Thursday night! I went to a meeting for the Christians who live in on-campus housing here. It was really great to get together with fellow believers, watch a NOOMA video, and discuss. I sure have missed my church family!!!

It finally stopped raining Friday but the wind took the rain's place. It was extremely chilly and windy. I did not bring hardly any warm clothes, because well... I guess I just figured it would be warm year round. Well, I was wrong. It was kind of cold. Thank goodness the rain stopped, because we went kayaking through a dolphin sanctuary Saturday! It was so much fun and in such a beautiful area! I did not get a good picture of the dolphin "Twinkle", because he was a tricky thing. He would come up close long enough for us to see, but not long enough to take a picture. Oh well! I enjoyed the experience! I have never seen a dolphin that close before!

Ceina and I ready to go! Well... kind of.

The beautiful view while we were kayaking! Notice the hills in the distance!

The "Amazon" that we kayaked through.

The next big trip will be in a little less than 2 weeks, and I am SO excited! We are going to New Zealand for our mid-semester break! The break is April 9-26, so we are going from the 9th through the 19th. Ok, so I am really excited about this trip! We are going to be backpacking! We are only bringing a carry on bag (aka my bookbag) with a few changes of clothes (as much as possible)! We are also renting a RV and driving across the South Island of NZ. So, we have booked our flights and put a down payment on the camper. :) After NZ, we are planning on landing in Sydney and driving the Great Ocean Road back to Adelaide. That means I will be out of contact for about 2 weeks. No blogs for that time; however no worries. I will be taking my journal and will do a big recap when I get back (with a lot of pictures!)

Well, that's all for now. I'm going to go get some work done (or try to at least)! Have a great week everyone!

Chocolate + Strawberry Picking= Perfect Combination

Alright, I'm going to try to recap my week/ weekend.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

So, yesterday I realized just how little sleep I got last weekend. I was exhausted! However, I had to get up early for swim training. It was the last early morning swim practice, because we had our swim meet tonight! Anyway, at dinner last night I decided that I was a little sleepy and needed a bit of caffeine to wake me up. Most of you know that I don't do caffeine very often which means when I have it, it hypes me up! I was just going to mix coffee with hot chocolate, but that was a little more complicated than expected. So, instead someone gave me the idea to put a shot of espresso in with my hot chocolate after I had a little of it. I decided to give that a shot. WOAH... I should never ever have espresso. I was as hyper as a 2 year old on mountain dew! It took about 4 hours for the caffeine to even start to wear off.

Anyway, tonight was the swim competition. It was a lot of fun although we didn't win (actually we placed last.) However, my even (just a novelty event... AKA doesn't count) placed 2nd! It was too funny swimming with a shirt on and trying to get the shirt off quickly. After that event, I was the only girl with 11 guys doing the biggest splash competition. Well, I wasn't the smallest splash (although I really think the judges took pity on me, because I got a higher rating than the biggest guy doing the splash. I don't know whether to be proud of that or ashamed... Hmmm...

Diving in for my turn in the race

Biggest splash!

Friday, March 18, 2011

St. Patrick's Day was amazing. The bands were great and it made me really miss my car. Why would that make me miss my car you ask? Well, I always sing in the car as I'm driving (or if I'm riding with my family), so I don't have that time to sing anymore. I need to figure out another place and time that I will be able to sing! :) I can't even sing in the shower, because it is a hall shower.

I found a great place to run yesterday, so I will take pictures on my run one day. It is beautiful and is a trail on campus that I decided to try yesterday. Up until now, I haven't needed to find a place to run, because I have had a different sport practice every day. I wish someone would just tell me a time to work out, because it is so hard to make myself go running when there are so many places to see and things to do! Oh well! I'll enjoy running on the path once I get in a schedule. I just need to make sure I don't trip and fall over rocks. Many of you know how clumsy I can be, so we'll see how long it takes me to trip over something!

Sunday, March 20, 2011 (Today)

Well, after class on Friday, I all of a sudden got a major headache. It was so bad it was making me nauseous. So, I decided that I needed to get some sleep. I had a lazy afternoon and night. I watched some movies and went to bed early. I still had a small headache when I woke up Saturday morning, but it was a lot better.

Saturday afternoon I went to Adelaide Hills in order to go to Melba's Chocolate Factory and strawberry picking. Strawberries are one of my favorite fruits and chocolate is a huge weakness of mine. I just can't seem to turn down chocolate. Anyway, we went to the chocolate factory first and it was way too hard to make decisions. There were so many great chocolates to choose from. I decided on a small bag of dark chocolate and a small bag of milk chocolate (to mix it up a bit) and a chocolate in the shape of Australia (with kangaroos and koalas on it). I'm going to take pictures before I eat it! :) After the chocolate factory, we went to pick strawberries (a little healthier than chocolate). I LOVE strawberries, so it got pretty dangerous while we were picking. I had a pretty good system down: pick a strawberry and eat it, pick another strawberry and put it in my basket, pick a strawberry and eat it, and pick another one to put in the basket. Considering I had so many in my basket, I don't even want to know how many I ate. It's a good thing I didn't have much for lunch (my PB&J sandwich failed miserably). I also got some strawberry jam that was made right on the farm, because I needed some jelly that I like for my PB&J sandwiches. I tried to eat a sandwich for lunch, because I got bread from the cafeteria and decided that it was a good idea to just get peanut butter and jelly. Well, the jelly I ended up getting (which was right beside the grape jelly that I was aiming for) was called Blackcurrant jelly. It was the most disgusting jelly I have ever had! I just could not eat the sandwich! So, I now have strawberry jelly (very good jelly b/c I had a successful PB&J sandwich today).

Trying to make a decision at the chocolate factory

Yummm... Strawberries!

After picking strawberries, we went to a little town that the Germans colonized. There were bakeries everywhere and cute little shops. I got a pasty (potato and vegetable filled pastry type thing) for dinner and was good to go. Once I got back from the Hills, we all watched a movie and had another needed lounge-around night.

Oh... a little tip: strawberries do not mix well with a computer. I am still trying to get the strawberry juice out of my computer keys. I didn't mean to drop the one gushy, bad strawberry in the batch on my computer. It just happened. But, on the positive side, the computer is still good to go and all of the keys work! So, it just looks pretty messy right now. I will get it all cleaned up though! Well, I'm gone to get some work done that I have been putting off for days!

Google left out a really key part of directions: UPHILL

Ok, I'm going to try to recap what all has been going on the past few days. We had a LONG weekend for Adelaide Cup. Yes... there is a holiday for a horse race over here! I'm thinking SC needs to learn from that. So, since it was a long weekend, we were all really busy.

Friday:

The weekend started off with Formal Dinner. (A little side note: there is a magpie flying around the halls of fourth floor. The guys are chasing it with Nerf guns. It is definitely a funny sight.) Back to Formal Dinner now. Dinner started off with Twilight drinks on the terrace. That just sounds fancy. Anyway, dinner started at 7 PM and it was so good! I had salmon, lo mein, fresh pineapple, shrimp, and different types of dessert. It was a feast (at least compared to the portion sizes we've been having)! It was a night full of fun and dancing! Did I mention they were playing 80s and 90s music? I kind of miss that music. Plus, Daniel and I showed all of the Australians how to shag. I think we might have them shagging on their own by the time we leave (at least that is our goal).

Saturday:

Most of my morning was spent on the phone or skyping, but spent the afternoon on the beach. Ahh... It was beautiful!!! and HOT! We stayed on the beach all afternoon, and when the others left, Jess and I ate tea (dinner) and watched the sunset. The sunset was amazing and absolutely breathtaking. God really knows how to paint. It was perfect.

After the sunset, we caught the bus back to the hall (well... after waiting for a LONG time).

Sunday:

I'm really trying to find someone to go to church with me, because I don't know anything about Adelaide or the area yet. However, I'm thinking that I'm just going to go somewhere this coming Sunday, because I'm really missing church. I've been watching NewSpring sermons online, but it is just not the same. Anyway, I went to the cricket game and to get some groceries from Marion Shopping Center on Sunday. I really needed food since we have to fend for ourselves every weekend. But no worries! I got peanut butter and jelly (which Australians think is an odd combination). I also got a few snack foods (Grain waves, granola bars, and tiny bears). I should be set for the next few weeks. I did not get any bread, because I have a plan. We have to fix our lunch every day at breakfast during the week. Well, a lot of people fix 2 sandwiches (most of them guys, but oh well!) So, I'm going to fix a sandwich and grab 2 pieces of bread to stick in a container for the weekend. That way I will be all set for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the weekend (toast, PB&J sandwich, and maybe another sandwich). Anyway, let me just say that Cricket is probably the most boring sport you will ever watch. I don't see how people can actually play and watch it on a regular basis!

Monday (Adelaide Cup Day): So, Sunday night was a late night since we decided to go into town and make a late night run to Maccas (AKA McDonalds). I felt like I was in Clinton again (except I wasn't driving everyone. We walked). But, after a late night (with only 4 hours of sleep) someone kindly woke everyone in the Hall up with a fire alarm at 8 AM by burning their toast. Oh well. It got the group up so we could go to Cleland Wildlife Park! Woo hoo! Kangaroos and Koalas! We got some breakfast (Thanks to Rob who fixed us all eggs.) and headed to the bus. So, since it was my idea to go to the wildlife park, I was the one who planned it. I had it all figured out: bus schedules and all. We had a choice to either catch a bus at 8 AM so we could catch another bus or walk 30 minutes after the final bus stop to the park. Well, Google maps told me that it was only going to be a 30 minute walk. What they failed to say was that it was a walk UP Mt. Lofty. Yes, a walk up the mountain. It also did not take 30 minutes. It took an hour and 15 minutes! So, I love hiking, but I was not prepared for it nor was the road we were traveling on. We walked on the side of the road (no sidewalk, no paths, and cars going 80K). Yeah... it was great. Thankfully, the road wasn't an extremely busy road.

The walk almost killed us, but the views were amazing. Once we finally got to the park, we all had so much fun looking at, petting, and feeding the animals. We were having such a good time that we forgot to eat lunch until around the time we were going to make the hike back to the bus stop (at 3:05). Well, they stop serving lunch at 3:00 and did not take pity on us. So, we all ate a bag of chips (or a granola bar for me) and prayed that it would hold us over. While everyone was eating their snacks, I decided to go ask the workers about the bus schedule (maybe we would get lucky and they would have more busses since it was a public holiday). Well, guess what! I made a new best friend, because the worker informed me that there would be a bus leaving from right in front of the park at 4:38 and would take us to another stop where we would catch another bus to the city 1 minute later. Oh my goodness! I could have hugged her I was so happy. I love hiking and exercising, but I was not looking forward to the long trip back. Plus, I was in flip-flops and we had not had any lunch. God was definitely looking out for us.

When we arrived back at the hall (after a power nap on the bus), we made spaghetti and garlic bread. I really think I ate my body weight in spaghetti because I was so hungry! Here are some pictures of the Australian wildlife!!! (For more, look at facebook).

Starburst Babies?

I apologize for being slack in posting blogs, but I just can't seem to sit down long enough to update. Most of you know that I am very active. Well, that hasn't changed since I've come to Australia. I absolutely love to go places, try new things, and try new sports. So, I have decided to try ALL of the sports that the hall has to offer. (Well... aside from footie, but I would do that too if they didn't tackle! For some reason, I don't think that would go well with my pacemaker.) Anyway, I just finished tennis, I am currently swimming, and I have just started cricket and indoor soccer. So much fun!

First, I will explain all about my tennis experience. So, we left for the tennis courts at 8:30 AM Sunday morning. I'm usually up by then anyway, so that didn't bother me. We arrived at St. Marks (another university about 30 minutes away) to see that the courts we were going to be playing on are grass courts. Ok, I thought only professionals play on grass courts. Well, I was wrong. So, grass courts do not have near as much bounce as clay and hard courts. The ball hit the ground and died. First strike against me. Second thing is we were playing against girls who were REALLY good (like played for State good). So, for someone who hasn't played tennis in about 4 years this was a shocker! However, I was so excited to play. I ended up playing in 3 of the 4 matches (1 being singles and 2 of them as doubles). Well, we started playing and I was feeling pretty good. I mean, we were losing pretty bad but I was having fun! Ok, I'm a little stubborn (or a lot depending on who you talk to) and thought that I could serve just as hard as I could 4 years ago after only 2 practices. Boy was I wrong! I woke up the next morning SO sore. But, it was worth it!

Now moving on to cricket. HAHAHAHAHA!!! For someone so used to playing softball and occasionally joining in on some baseball practices, cricket is really hard to get used to. They were teaching me how to bowl (AKA pitch). Well, it is kind of like a backwards windmill. So, it is the complete opposite direction than what I am used to. Also, you are not allowed to bend your elbow. Try telling that to my arm that has been throwing a softball/baseball (with a bent elbow) since I could walk! So, you can imagine how it turned out for me. However, after several practice bowls, I started to get the motion down. It still feels REALLY awkward but it is getting there. Moving on to batting. Oh yeah! The ball also has to bounce BEFORE it gets to the batter. There are no balls and strikes. Weird. This ball is about the size of a baseball and pretty much as hard. However, the batters are all padded up. They wear pads on their legs (up to their thighs) and gloves. Boys get to wear helmets but the girls don't wear them. As I'm getting all of this information, I'm thinking "Wait. Rewind. No helmet, but more padding than football players? This just doesn't make sense." I have been hit by pitches going a lot faster than these bowls on my arms, legs, stomach, etc. But, I don't really want to get cracked in the head. However, I will go with what they are telling me! Another thing about cricket is that they do not use gloves in the field. I already said that this ball is as hard as a baseball. No gloves while fielding but you wear them while you bat? I just don't understand this sport.

In other news, I have been enjoying the beach as much as possible while the weather is gorgeous and I don't have too much work to do. That way, when I come home in July to lifeguard my body won't be in complete shock over the harsh sun. Plus, I just love the beach.

Also, have I mentioned that I love the campus atmosphere? There is always some kind of music playing and there are little shops everywhere. However, the library closes at 5 PM and is not open on weekends. This semester is either going to help get rid of my procrastination habit (b/c I have to get things done early) or will add to it (through the beach and other fun things). We'll see how this goes.

Lastly, a little explanation of the title. I went down to the vending machine (w/ the mid-afternoon munchies) and decided to try starburst babies. Now, these things taste like starbursts but they are gummies. However, they are in the shape of babies. I just don't know how I feel about these. They taste really good, but I can't get the whole idea of "eating babies" out of my head. It reminds me of a project we did in Mrs. Thompson's english class my Freshman year at Mayo. Thanks to my lovely roommate, I remembered that we were reading "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift. At first, I could not remember the title to save my life. I remembered what it was about, and I vividly remember the project. We had a paper plate with a baby doll and a plastic fork, knife, and spoon around it. It was kind of disturbing. And these gummies are giving me the same reaction.

So, I know I just jumped around like crazy, but I seem to have a good bit of energy right now. So, my mind is going all different places. (No... I'm not hyped up on caffeine.)

Until next time,

Elizabeth

The building behind the courts. It looked like a mini castle!

See the grass?!

Decisions

All of our lives are full of decisions. We make them everyday: the decision to get out of bed in the morning, the decision of what clothes you want to wear that day, the decision what to eat for breakfast, etc. Then, there are the bigger decisions that are spread out throughout our lives: the college decision, the decision of your desired major and future career, the decision to not give up in hard times, etc. The best decision of my life was made when I was 11 years old: the decision to open my heart up to Jesus Christ. That decision continues to change my life. However, the next best decision that falls way behind the first but way above the others is the decision to study abroad. Now, my decision to study abroad was made unlike all of the other major decisions of my life: completely spur of the moment. I usually plan ahead and make my decision YEARS in advance! Now, I didn't just go to the study abroad office randomly one day and come out studying abroad (well... not quite). I have always wanted to go new places, meet new people, and experience new things. But, I never really planned to study abroad this semester as soon as I was given the option. Six months ago, you could have never convinced me that I would be sitting in my room at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. It's not that I didn't think about it, but I never thought I would actually make the decision to go through with it.

Making the decision to study abroad, I can honestly say without a doubt, is one of the best decisions of my life. Through this decision, God is showing me beauty I could have never dreamed of. A sunset on the beach, the amazing view from my window, and even beauty in myself and those around me. It has only been close to 2 weeks since the day I arrived in Adelaide, yet I have already learned and seen so much! I can only imagine what else God has in store. Look out Australia!

Energy sounds so much better than calories

Ok, so I have established that there are a few things that Australians do differently. First, they go by the metric system. Ok America, did you decide to stray away from the metric system to confuse us when we go abroad? Come on! Well, another thing I have noticed is that on food packages, they label the amount of calories as Energy. Let me tell you, that sounds so much better than calories! I don't feel so bad eating different foods when it counts as energy! :) They also measure in kilojoules. I have absolutely no idea how many kj are in a calorie or anything. That could be a bad thing. :) Anyway, everything seems to be a lot healthier here. I got some Vita-Wheats (supposed to be equivalent to WheatThins) the other day. They are not like WheatThins. They are 100% natural with no salt added. You can see the grains in them. They aren't bad. Just different. Also, a few people got a donut (I'm not a huge fan of donuts so I got iced coffee instead) from the mall the other day and they don't have near as much sugar on it. So, I feel like that is about as healthy as a donut can get.

Ok, enough of the food differences. I haven't posted in a while, because I have been extremely busy with classes starting. So, i will do my best to cover all that has happened in the past few days. (I am keeping a written journal, so I can easily look back at that).

I skipped a few days in my journal, but I promise I will recap. :)

Monday, 2/28/2011 @ 10:28 PM

So, O-Week is over, and I hated to see it go. Now, I must do what I came here for: Study. Too bad this couldn't be a 6 month vacation. Here's a little breakdown of this weekend's events:

Saturday night: Scribble Party. At Scribble Party, we had sharpies and signed everyone's shirts. Well... I made the mistake of washing mine (because it needed to be washed!) and a lot of the signatures came off of mine. I do still have a few though. We also danced all night long.

After dancing all night Saturday night, we got up for the Amazing Race on Sunday. Now, don't think that we actually went to the Amazing Race (Mom...). We had one of our own. We ran for 3 hours straight all across campus performing other tasks at each station. Let me just say, whoever came up with the brilliant idea to build a university in the hills (where both to and from somehow seem to go uphill), was obviously not thinking about our race (or the walk to class for that matter.). My legs were so sore the next day! After the Amazing Race, we ended the week with pizza and movies. Very good decision to have a relaxing night after that race!

Monday morning started off bright and early (6 AM) for me, because I decided to go to swim practice! :) Now, most of you know that I have never swam competitively before. I have been swimming since I was 2 and love the water, but I have never been on a team. Whew... I am out of shape. The pool we swim in is an olympic size pool. That is way bigger than the little Darlington YMCA pool. I kept expecting to get to the other end way sooner than I actually did! Though I realized that I am out of shape, it did feel good to start my day off with a good workout. After swimming, I went to my first class. This campus is like a maze! You go through one courtyard to get to another and then another and another until you finally find the building you're supposed to go in for your class. Whew... I did find my class without too much trouble. The class went well, and I think I'm going to like my Cognition class. I still haven't quite figured out the way my schedule works yet though. I don't have all of my classes every week, and there is only one session a week for each class. It is really weird, but I will figure it out. After class, I did laundry, sent postcards/letters, and got my books and supplies. By the way, I only had to spend $40 on a book. That's right... ONE book! The rest of my classes do not have textbooks, only articles online. I like that!

Tuesday, 3/1/2011

I made it through my second day of class, and I successfully managed to put off my reading for the entire afternoon. I did eventually need to do everything that I did in order to procrastinate! So, it wasn't too unproductive. :) We went to Marion to get meal packages for dinner over the weekend (we have to fend for ourselves on the weekend) and milk that does not need to be refrigerated. The milk kind of worries me. I think I'm going to refrigerate it anyway. After we got back, I was supposed to go to tennis, but they accidentally double-booked the courts. So, no tennis unfortunately. However, after dinner we did go play some soccer. I had planned to go back and get my reading done and update the blog afterward, but soccer sounded so much more fun (plus I needed my workout for the day!) No one can say that I'm being lazy while I'm here! HAHA!

Wednesday (Today) 3/2/2011 @ 9:30 AM

So, I got up for swimming again today. I have one class today, and then I'm going to try cricket! Apparently they don't have many girl players right now, so the person in charge of the Hall athletics told me I should come try. So, we'll see how this goes. On the plus side, the bat that you use is bigger than a softball bat.

Ok! That is basically everything that has gone on the past few days. I will update as soon as I can, which will probably be sometime this weekend.