I am taking Biochemistry, Nutrition, Psychology for Health Sciences and Popular Music & Cultural Context. They all seem pretty interesting, and having Australian professors definitely helps! I know I'm in for a ride however with biochem and am praying I can make it through!
Life at the Village is pretty awesome. My roomates are Allison Meyers, Rachel Lawton, Kyle Legoll and Kevin Shrader. I love them all to death and we have so much fun together! A couple of us actually went on a fishing trip together in Coolangatta which turned into a crazy adventure. The man who sold us kababs for lunch told us about a great place under a bridge to fish and we walked about 30 minutes in the pouring rain to get there when the same man drove by and gave us a ride the rest of the way! I caught a tiny little fish that was too small to keep, but Allison caught one more that we kept and ate the next day! It was delicious, even if we only got one bite each :)
To continue with the seafood theme, Kevin got a job on a prawn (shrimp) fishing boat and we currently have enough prawns to feed a small army in our freezer. It was all free and is so fresh! He also brought back crabs, squid and octopus which was so cool! Let's hope he doesn't quit anytime soon!!!
The Village has an outdoor pool, basketball court, market, computer lab and a tv/gaming room that are all free! The only downside is they recently raised the price of laundry a dollar for the washer and dryer both! They put on lots of activities like free BBQ's and free breakfast for us which is a great money saver!
And every Tuesday is Ladies' Night where they give us a free busride into Surfer's Paradise and the girls get free drinks all night! It's such a good deal it's just about the only night I got out to save money! Beer here is SO expensive...it costs anywhere from 30-70 dollars for a 30-rack of beer.
Needless to say, none of us can afford it! Living in general here is much more expensive than back home so I try to be frugal where I can. My girlfriends and I go to the beach at Surfer's Paradise about once a week. The water is unbelievably warm here, so unlike the bitter cold water in Maine! We had so much fun yesterday playing in the waves, even if we did get beat up pretty bad by them! The water was so rough!
About two and a half weeks ago I went on a trip to Byron Bay. We lucked out and got to stop at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and go to see all kinds of animals again! We saw cassawaries, emus, kangaroos, tree kangaroos, and many others.
We went hiking to the most Easterly point of Australia which is a gorgeous lighthouse on the coast. It reminded me of Maine so much and made me miss home! The hike was pretty tough and consisted of a LOT of stairs up the side of a mountain. But my knee was able to handle it pretty well so I was pleased.
The second day we went sea kayaking and it was a great time until I threw up into the ocean...Not fun.
We got to see dolphins up close jumping in and out of the waves but man was I seasick. In addition it was pouring rain and an overall miserable time for me. But I survived it and we got hot chocolate and Tim Tams afterwards! Tim Tams are little cookies that are covered in chocolate and are AMAZING! There are so many varieties I can't wait to try them all!
The third and final day was SURFING! It was awesome and I can't wait to try again. It was really hard to do and I was exhausted by it but was so determined to keep trying. I know it's something that will definitely take lots of practice and I only got up about three times for a second or two each. I felt like such a surfer chick with my surf shirt on and my board strapped to my ankle :) I'm really anxious to rent one and do it again.
Byron Bay in general was a great little hippy town full of great shops. I bought a boomerang and some souvenirs for home. I also wanted a bracelet really badly so I bought some hemp and beads and made one myself, saving about 8 bucks! I made some really good friends in Byron and met more people that go to Griffith and live in the Village that I might not have met otherwise.
I have a few more adventure to write about still but they will have to wait to next time! :)
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