extreme temperatures

for my celcius friends, take a look at the temerature in WA for today:

granted australians must be used to it, but i'm definately not.

for the people who use farenheight, look at the temperature:

72, not so bad. but look at it a little closer. do you see what i see?

it will feel like it is 104 degrees. ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR.

is that even possible?

just for laughs, let's take a look at what the temperature is at home in the lovely richmond, MA:

i rest my case.

i love australia.

postsecret

i have a secret.

if i could, i would extend my visa and stay here for another term.

i knew i would enjoy myself here, but i never realised just how much i could enjoy myself.

every day, i'm happy here.

as seen reclining on an ocean swell...

every morning i wake up, look outside, and feel extremely lucky.

these pictures are just from a random weekend at the beach.

i can go to the beach whenever i want.

because of this, i may never leave this country.

transatlanticism part 2

on february 19th, i was the happiest person alive.

i am not exagerrating at all.

i was sitting in the grass with my roommates, patten, and sarah listening to deathcab and it finally hit me that i was in WA. i can't even explain what feeling came over me, but all the tension was released and i was hit with the most pure feeling of happiness ever imaginable. it was, by far, the happiest i have ever been in my life.

right then and there, i decided to keep that feeling with me always.

i am here to enjoy australia, and that is exactly what i plan on doing.

transatlanticism is my favourite death cab for cutie song. they played it as their encore and, standing in the grass, i almost started crying. it is one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded and being able to listen to it live in australia was incredible.

until next time. xx

transatlanticism

tomorrow night, i am going to see deathcab for cutie in freemantle.

let me repeat that--DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE.

let me list the reasons i am excited:

-first band i'm seeing on oz (hopefully a first of many)

-i saw them in may of last year but it's been awhile and i can't wait to see them again

-it's death cab!

-chris walla; need i say more?

but before i see the show, i have two classes.

my first class is an 8:30AM one, lame! definately could be worse, though--at bridgewater our earliest class is at 8. Atleast i get an extra half hour to sleep in, eh? it's a workshop, which is a hell of a lot better than a lecture that early in the morning. it's my 'learning through the arts' WS which i'm pretty excited about--minus the time.

my next class is my biology lecture which i'm much less excited about. it's from 2:30-3:30 so it's only an hour, thank god! i had my lab scheduled for yesterday but it turns out labs don't start until week three. i was so relieved/excited/happy.

then after class, my official weekend begins!

what better way to kick off a weekend then with death cab, right?

i rest my case.

break is over

i started classes yesterday. crazy, right?

it definitely sucked at first--realizing i wasn't only in australia to vacation and have a great time, but in the end, to go to school was the reason i came here.

in australia, you take three 'units'. for each unit, there is a lecture (with 100+ students) and a workshop (with 30+ students).

my units are 'learning through the arts', 'principles of language and literature', and 'enviromental biology'.

yesterday (monday), i had two lectures. my 'learning through the arts' lectures was pretty cool. i sat next to an australian girl named naomi who didn't even realize i was from the states until i told her (did she not hear my obnoxious accent?)

the next class, my 'principles of lang. and lit' lecture, was slightly awkward. it was only 45 minutes long, but i couldn't hear ANYTHING. i don't think my unit coordinator (professor) knew how to talk into the microphone. it was also slightly overwhelming being in a classroom with over 150 people--that lecture hall was full. at bridgewater, my biggest class is 30 students.

today, i had my 'principles of language and literature' workshop at 10:30. I, being extremely smart of course, woke up at 8:30 thinking my class was at 9:30. It gave me time to go to the bookstore and get all my books, though, so some good came out of it. The workshop went a lot better than the lecture. I am the only international student in the class. all the rest are australian, which is awesome, because they seem pretty interested in obama and the states in general.

they also seem interested on why i don't spell color like colour or favorite like favourite. organization or organisation? enroll or enrol?

it will definitely take some getting used too, but i absolutely love this place!

my roommates are stellar! i have two roommates from singapore named angel and lynn, kaylie from massachusetts (who's boyfriend is from the town next to mine--small world), and laura from finland.

alright, i should get going--i've got some reading to do. sucks to be in school, eh?

sunrise, sunset

if the sunsets here aren't the most beautiful thing i've ever seen, i'm not sure what is.

g'day, mate!

i'm finally here! it's actually ridiculous how busy i've been, so i feel bad i haven't been able to update as much, but seriously, this place is fucking beautiful.

i have been here for three days and have snorkeled in the great barrier reef, held a koala, pet a kangaroo and went to a bar--all of which i can't do in the states.

it's crazy how hot it is down here, but i'm totally enjoying it because back home it's freezing. one of my friends from school told me that bridgewater had to be closed down because of the weather. when bridgewater was being closed down for too much snow, i was watching aboriginals dance and sunbathing on a sailboat in a bikini. life is sweet.

the thing about cairns is it honestly rains during the wet season like...every day. it's humid as hell but perth will be different. definitely not as rainy, definitely not as humid. sweeeet.

i fly out of cairns tomorrow and head to ayers rock, then finally perth where i move into my apartment. it's gonna be pretty sweet.

i'm pushing through jet lag pretty well, considering it's 15 hours ahead here. i was DEAD tired when i got off the plane, but i can't complain--i'm here!

last update in the states

Above are some of the pictures from the LA bus tour i took--it was pretty cool, i'm glad i did it. it gave me something to do before i had to go to the airport.

i'm at LAX right now and i met my group members--i love every single one of them, they're great and we all seem to mesh pretty well. if i like them now after only knowing them for a few hours, imagine after a 14 hour plane ride, eh?

it's 1:20am at home, but in LA it's after 10. i'm not even tired but once i hit that plane seat, i'm pretty sure i'll fall asleep :)

the next post will come from australia--get excited, because i am!

los angeles, i'm yours.

at Logan Airport in Boston:




so i got into LA at 8:15 lastnight there time, so 11:15 my time.

i was DEAD tired but i tried to stay up as late as possible so i could almost garuntee me sleeping on the flight to oz.

the flight to LA was uneventful--no one sat next to me, but a couple of seats down a man who was going to hong kong was watching david letterman the entire flight. I WAS SO BORED ON THIS FLIGHT. it kind of made me worry--six hours and i'm bored, imagine the 14 hour flight awaiting me tonight.

i found my bags and took a shuttle to the holiday inn, where i stayed lastnight.

Thought i'd show you guys some pictures of this place:


And the View:



now, take a second and look at the last pictures of landscape i took.
HOW SWEET IS IT THAT THERE IS NO SNOW IN LA?