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.

How you going?

So, in Australia, instead of saying "How are you doing?" Or "How are you?", they say "How you going?" Now you can imagine my confusion when I was first asked that and I didn't know where I was supposed to be going or how I was going. I thought about it and then it dawned on me what they meant. So, if I come back in July and ask you "How you going?" you will know what I mean by that! :)

Now, my days are starting to run together, but I'm going to do my best to recap all that has been going on.

Tuesday, Feb. 22 @ 10:02 PM

There was this really neat dinner for international night where they had food from several different countries. That meant that there was more food there than there has been all week. Thank goodness! I tried a lot of different foods but didn't eat much of them. I did like the sushi that they provided. :) There was also a really good gyro, but that was a meal in itself! Now, the food was good but the entertainment was even better. After we ate, they had dancers performing dances from different countries. My favorite were the Brazilian dances. Several of the moves were Zumba moves! (Thank you Lucia!)

Wed, Feb. 23

So, we rode a bus to the city today and it was absolutely gorgeous. I finally got a phone for while I'm here since everyone has been asking for my number so that I don't get left behind. However, well... I haven't had much time to get one since I've been here. So, while we were at the mall I ran to get a prepaid phone. While on the plane, I learned that Adelaide is known as the "city of Churches". There really were a lot of gorgeous stone churches throughout town. I took a few pictures of them but I mostly took pictures for the scavenger hunt we were doing.

After we got back to from the city, we went to a party called "GI Joes and Ms. Commandos". It was a lot of fun and everyone was dressed up in all of their army attire. Now, I don't know about any of you, but I have never heard the song "Eagle Rock". Well, there is a first for everything, and thankfully I was warned before the song came on. Every time this song comes on, everyone drops their pants and continues to dance to the remainder of the song with their pants at their ankles. OK! Now, there was no way I was going to drop my pants and dance to a song! So, awkward experience #1. All of the Americans were just standing around looking at the people with their pants at their ankles dancing.

Thurs. Feb 24

Today, the Hall provided lunch for all of the international students. They had several different types of food and drinks unique to South Australia. There was kangaroo (which was really pretty good), kabobs, Ginger Beer (Ginger Ale but smoother), Farmers Union Iced Coffee (iced coffee in a milk carton!), and several different unique desserts. Sabrina and I split a good bit of the desserts, because we wanted to try them but did not want to eat an entire one. Oh, there is also something called veggiemite. It is a type of spread for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that did not taste very good to me. Supposedly it is an acquired taste. I don't think I can acquire a taste for that (definitely not in only 4 months).

After lunch, we had messy games and then a group of us went to Marion Shopping Center to grab groceries and other necessities. On the weekends, the dining hall is closed so we have to fend for ourselves. Now, I have no fridge in my room. There is only the community kitchen fridge that smells SO bad when you open the door. I don't want my food tasting like that smell!!! So, I bought a few snack foods and a package of noodles. Looks like I'm going to be eating a lot of plain noodles for the next few months, because I can NOT afford to eat out a lot. Like I said, everything is really expensive! I did buy a bathing suit for swimming for a relatively decent price. I needed a one piece b/c two pieces are not exactly easy to dive in when you're racing. So, I can start training with them at 6 AM Monday morning! I also am playing tennis tomorrow morning. I love being able to play sports for the hall and it keeps me active! :)

Friday, Feb. 25

Tennis was amazing! I loved getting back into it and I haven't been able to do any exercise routine since I got here so it felt great getting back into a routine. I was a little rusty but started getting it back by the end of the practice. I had to borrow racquets because mine wouldn't fit in my suitcase though, so my parents are supposed to be mailing my racquet and I will hopefully get it soon! The hall provided a BBQ lunch for us again today (I'm taking advantage of the free food right now because there won't be any later!) A group of people on the hall had a nerf gun war tonight and it was hilarious to watch. They were running around on all of the floors for hours! I didn't have a gun, so they couldn't shoot me so I walked around and just observed (and gave a few hints) the entire time.

Well, I just got back from a nice run around campus! I forgot that everything is closed on Saturdays so I went to the main campus (where I knew people would be) since I wanted to run in a crowded area. WRONG! Everything (including all shops) were closed. So, I ran back to the hall and decided to run the main road toward the tennis courts. There were people playing tennis so I decided to run around the courts and other sports fields. That way, I knew there were people near. So, with all of the hills that I ran up, it was a pretty good workout! Now, we have a group getting ready to go to the beach for the afternoon before Scribble Party tonight! We are supposed to wear a white t-shirt and have everyone write on them.

Church in downtown Adelaide

Sunset on the beach! (First one I've seen)

Tea?

Ok, I mentioned earlier that the portion sizes are a lot smaller than ours. I'm thinking that it is because Americans have HUGE portions. No wonder they see us as pigs. (Someone asked me at dinner last night why I didn't get more food b/c I was American and was supposed to load my plate up.) Anyway, not only are the portions smaller. It is also really weird not seeing a fast food place every time I turn around. They do not have many fast food places at all! It is crazy (but not a bad thing)! Also, everything is extremely expensive here! Their minimum wage is $15/hour so their prices are also jacked high. Hmm... I might think about a job while I'm here. HA! So, we don't have anything especially big tonight except for the International students dinner. That means we have a lot of free time! I think I am going to go exploring (maybe go for a run).

Ok, so a little funny thing about today. I got to talk to Ellen (through skype) and the Blankenship family (on FB) this morning (this afternoon in SC), and I was so excited to be talking with them that I completely missed breakfast. Normally, not a big deal. However, when you miss breakfast here, you also miss lunch. You have to fix your own sandwich/salad/wrap at breakfast and then put it in the refrigerator for later. So, I missed TWO meals today. Oh well! It was worth it. :) So, since I missed both meals, I went to the vending machine and got a very nutritional bag of chips and a coke zero. Yep. That will really hold me over! HAHA!

Oh! Also, a little fun fact: Australians call dinner "tea". I had no clue what they kept talking about when they said that tea was at 5:30, so I finally looked at someone and said, "What is tea?" So, they kindly explained to me that it was the night meal and did not laugh at me (to my knowledge). HAHA! Anyway, the next few days are packed full with a lot of events and I don't even know when I will be able to go to the "shopping center" to get stuff that I need. Everything closes early here and it is really throwing me off! I guess I will learn to be a lot more laid back and go with the flow as well as get things done early! I need to learn how to avoid procrastination anyway!

One more thing, Australians swear A LOT!!! Every other word is a cuss word. Now, most of you know that I don't cuss and I get really frustrated when people cuss a lot. So, I'm not exactly used to this. However, it seems extremely common over here. I was walking with a group and there was a family (with kids) near us. Everyone was just cussing up a storm and I looked over my shoulder to see the family. I was immediately embarrassed and wanted to shush everyone, but the family didn't care at all. I guess they are used to it. Don't worry everyone! I don't think I will be coming back with a potty mouth!

Jet lag stinks!

Monday, 2/21/2011 10:52 AM (Adelaide time)/ Sunday 2/20 7:20 PM Darlington time

The Bush Dance was fun (there are no pictures b/c I wasn't dressed up and was running on a couple hours of sleep). A Bush Dance is what we call square dancing. Yes, I did participate! It was really funny, but fun to do. So, I lasted until my luggage arrived at 10 PM (longer than I thought I would). Many of yall know I love to dance, so I guess that helped energize me so I could stay awake longer. When my bags came, I left the dance to unpack, take a shower, and go to sleep. Ok, story on the shower: they are unisex and there is only 1 shower and 1 toilet. Weird! After getting a good 8 hours of sleep, I woke up refreshed but with my stomach killing me! I think it is still adjusting. I wake up starving at night but when I eat a the appropriate time here it gets really angry at me. Oh well, it will adjust.

So, we went to a meeting this morning and have a ton of things planned for this afternoon. Now, I'm just catching up on unpacking and getting in contact with everyone.

Also, I will not even need to go to the gym since I live on the fourth floor and will walk practically a mile uphill to class every day! Whoever said Australia is flat lied to me! It might have something to do with campus being in the middle of the Flinders Ranges. I'm going to have some major calf muscles! It's ok though, I like my exercise and the place is beautiful! Oh, but a little fun fact: Adelaide is pretty much the desert of Australia. So, it is really hot during the day but cold at night!

2/21 4:35 PM

So, there is a little bit of a difference in portion sizes here! They are a good deal smaller than in the US! I mean, I had a mini spring roll and a mini quiche for lunch. Yep! That is lunch here. They also say that Americans are pigs because we eat too much. Hmm... I'm beginning to think that they need to work on their portion sizes as well b/c I do not eat as much as a lot of Americans and this is not enough for me! Also, Adelaide is extremely laid back and go with the flow. They don't do a whole lot of rushing around. Plus, everything closes at 5:00 PM except for on Thursday night when they stay open until 9:30 PM! Woah!!! There is nothing open except for bars. No fast food, no walmart... nothing. It is so different! Well, Daniel, a girl from Hawaii, and I decided to walk around campus after our international students meeting instead of going back to the meeting we were supposed to be in for the hall. The campus is beautiful! Well, I'm getting ready to go to tea (so weird!), dinner, and the beach tonight!

Here are a few of the pictures I took around campus today. I will be taking more when I have more time!

"It's ok if you lose a day today, because you'll gain it back in 4 months"

Ok, so bye bye USA! Hello, Australia! I have officially landed and started moving into my room in Adelaide (started being the key word... you'll get more information on that later).

Feb. 18, 2011 8:19 PM (Eastern Time)

Well, I have been on the plane to LA for about an hour and a half now. To start off with, I was extremely nervous. However, I kept telling myself that it is safer than riding in a car. That really didn't help much. It's my whole issue with control. Obviously, I don't know how to fly a plane so I have no control. Maybe that is one of the lessons God will be teaching me on this adventure.

So, to start off with, my parents and I left around noon for Charlotte. We stopped for a yummy lunch at Bigs and then went on our way. Let me just tell you how little my parents and I know about flying. We were completely lost (A little side note with what is going on right now: TURBULENCE!) Anyway, we went and checked my bags in. My scale at home is not completely accurate, because it weighed 58 lbs NOT 48 lbs. But, thankfully the nice woman in baggage was tired and wanted to go home so she checked my 2nd bag in free of charge! After checking my bags in, I noticed just how long the security line was becoming and felt like we should probably start the process. My mom, however, did not feel the same way. She was trying to make me miss my flight!

Once I finally talked my mom into getting in line, I waited for about 30 minutes. Once I got to the gate I just knew they would let me go through the scanners. Wrong! Apparently they don't want to take chances that someone will pass out on them. Come on now! I think they need a little excitement sometimes! :) Anyway, I had to wait for a female security guard to pat me down. No, I do not feel violated, but I did feel really weird! Anyway, now that I am on the plane, I have gotten really thirsty! So, I have had about a bottle and a half of water. When you're on a plane, that is not necessarily a good idea! But, oh well. You live and learn. Going to read and do a few crossword puzzles. Plus go to the restroom YET again.

3:23 AM (Eastern Time)

So, I am now on the plane to Sydney after almost having a breakdown, because my flight was 50 minutes late arriving in LA and I needed to get through the international customs and board in 5 minutes! Plus, no one seemed to want to give me directions or help me at all. People in LA do not know "southern hospitality"! Anyway, thanks to the very nice international flight attendants, I was able to board the plane for Sydney even though I was extremely late to the gate. I arrived at check-in and was escorted through security (another pat down people!) and was on my flight!

I just had dinner (yes... at 3 AM) and am doing my best to stay awake until it is time for Australia to go to bed. However, I am exhausted! I am on my 2nd episode of NCIS and plan on trying to get some sleep as soon as they take away my meal and turn the lights off (come on people, don't you know it is almost 4 AM in Darlington?!)! Alright, hopefully bedtime soon!

12:51 PM 2/19/2011 (Eastern Time)

Want to know what feels the weirdest right now? That it is breakfast on the flight, but lunchtime in Darlington. The flight attendants have not come back for orders yet and I am starving! Not only will I need to adjust to the different times in order to sleep but I also need to get used to the eating times as well! I have to train my stomach! So, there are only 3 hours and 30 minutes left on my flight to Sydney. I am running on very little sleep. Window seat, aisle seat, middle seat: they're all uncomfortable for 15 hours!

6:56 PM 2/19/2011 (Eastern Time)/ 10:57 AM 2/20/2011 (in Sydney)

So, I am now on my last flight of the longest day ever! I have no luggage, because my bags did not make it to LA in time to be moved (hence why I can't stand to be late!) So, I am hopefully going to get my bags at some point today. The biggest problem is that I don't have contact info for when I'm in Australia yet. The only thing I have right now is an email address. Ok, so my clothes are not here, and my biggest worry is that I have absolutely no summer clothes with me. I did pack a change of clothes in my carry-on, but I was not thinking when I packed jeans! And it is HOT! I also wanted to go for a run so that I don't pass out in the middle of the day b/c it is really the middle of the night in Darlington. But, guess what NO shoes or shorts. But, like I said, hopefully my bags will be here later today.

Moving on to a different topic: CUSTOMS. I waited in line for 45 minutes so they could check and make sure my meals bars and Andes mints are not a danger to anyone. They may be dangerous to my weight, but other than that I think they are pretty safe. Also, they had to check my clipboard. What in the world am I going to do with a clipboard?! Beat someone on the head?! However, I am finally on my flight to Adelaide after losing a whole day. The good thing is that I ran into Daniel (who goes to PC and will be at Flinders with me for the semester) and we are on the same flight! Finally, a familiar face! So, I am now on a much smaller airplane that tends to shake a little more than the others and it is kind of making me nervous. Plus, I need to get money (I have no Australian currency right now). I did use my debit card for something to eat b/c my stomach still thinks I'm in the US. I paid about $13 for a water and a chicken wrap! That's a rip off. No more airport food for me!

Sunday, 2/20/2011 3:38 AM (Darlington time) / 7:09 PM Adelaide time

Yep! I am finally here! and aside from being completely exhausted and having no clothes to wear, everything is going great! The campus is gorgeous (judging by what I've seen) and the weather is great. However, the weather is great if you have shorts and flip flops. I have neither. So, we had this big barbeque with our O-groups (orientation groups) tonight and guess where it was?! Outside b/c it is gorgeous but also hot as fire! However, I really am going to stop complaining about not having luggage. It really could be worse. I'm just exhausted so it seems huge right now! So, now I'm waiting to go to the Bush Dance (one more chance to complain: I don't have the clothes that I packed to wear to the Bush Dance!... ugh... I promise that's all the complaining I will do!) So, anyway, now I am trying to get everything caught up and then will head to the Bush Dance. I think I might make it for an hour or a little more, but I'm starting to feel like I'm walking on air I'm so tired.

Ok, when I got to Flinders, there was an orientation staff there to greet me (kind of like PC!), and they seemed really confused when I got out with only my bookbag. HAHA! Anyway, I did all I could before the barbeque so that when I do get my bags I won't be unpacking everything all at once. My bed is made and I have everything set up. I had to pay $60 for internet! What in the world! That is crazy! Anyway, internet fee is paid and orientation pack is bought (which means I need to go get more money out of the bank). Man, Australia is expensive! So, I have everything ready for when I completely crash in bed tonight. Hmm... It might help if I look and see what time I need to be somewhere tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll unpack a few things out of my suitcase and finish tomorrow! Anyway, gone to the Bush Dance! I will update later.

The view from my window! Overlooking campus!

The view from my window of the gorgeous sunrise on the flight to Sydney.