Election Day!

This morning, I met up with some of the other CAPA kids and we went to Manning Bar at Sydney Uni to watch the election results. (It was an event that one of the CAPA workers took us too) They were hosting a huge Election Spectacular Party, and had decorated all over! I will have to post pictures, it is crazy how patriotic it was. They had cut outs of the presidential candidates for you to take pictures with, free popcorn and fairy floss (which is what they call cotton candy-how cute is that!) and free hotdogs. It was such a fun day! They had a live showing of CNN on a big screen, and would randomly have people come up and talk about the results. We thought that it would be full of Americans, but we were the only Americans there. Australians get really into the election. They were all wearing Democrat buttons, and would cheer for Obama whenever anything would happen. Me, Rachel, and Kristi were the only Republicans in the room, and everyone would boo whenever Romney did anything. It got a little awkward at times, because the Australians were SO against Romney, and they didn’t have a lot of knowledge about it to back it up. That frustrated me a lot. They cheered SO loud even when votes weren’t completely decided for a state. All of us Americans just kept looking around and wondering why it mattered so much to them.  Around 1, Rachel and I left to go to this chocolate bar down the street and got a chocolate pizza, which was incredible! We came back and the results were getting closer. The bar was PACKED and everyone was screaming for Obama. When it was announced that he won, they exploded with cheers, screaming “4 more years!” I wanted to turn around and say yeah, but you don’t have to have him as your president for 4 more years.. I just didn’t understand why they loved it so much. I think it’s because they know that these changes will eventually impact Australia as well. Then, when Romney gave his speech, they were so rude, booing and making rude comments. I got so irritated with that, especially the people directly behind us. I don’t know if they knew we were American, and they definitely didn’t know we were Republican because they were making rude comments about Republicans and how ignorant we are. That’s when Rachel and I decided it was time for us to go. I have such a great day at the “Spectacular” though, other than just at the end when people got rude. It was crazy how much I loved watching all the results, and how much fun we all had while we were there. I really do feel like a learned a lot, and I also learned a lot about what other people’s views are about America. I’m glad I got this experience, to watch the election results while in another country. We left and headed to class, and on the way got soaking wet from rain. When we got to class, barely anyone was there because they had all decided to go to his earlier class, so he lectured for about 20 minutes, and then let us leave early! We got home, had dinner, and sat around and talked about our days for forever. I really feel so blessed to be here with these girls! 

Tuesday, November 6

Tuesday was a struggle day. First off, I snoozed my alarm too many times, so I didn’t have my full amount of time to get ready. So my hair was soaking wet when Morgan and I left the apartment. When we got to the bus stop, the m20 came but it was too full so it couldn’t let us on. We ended up taking a different bus to drop us off near Central, which took a much longer time. We finally got on the train and got to Bondi Junction, and had to wait for 20 minutes for our bus there. We finally got to work about 35 minutes late. I worked in Claire’s class today, but she was not there, so it was a different teacher, but the same aide. There was also another intern in that classroom, and he had already been in there for a few days, so he was used to the kids, which was nice. At recess time, one of the students who never does anything when you want him to, got on the trampoline for just a few seconds before he hopped right back off. I had finally coaxed him on there, and Judy (the teacher aide) said that she has never been able to get him on there. Even though he didn’t stay at all, it was a huge step that he tried to get in. I worked with the two girls throughout most of the day, while the other intern worked with the boy. There were only three students in the class today, which made for a fairly calm day, except for the one student in the class who constantly runs around and screams. After work, we went to go to class, but we missed our bus and then went to the wrong classroom. We forgot that the classrooms moved this week, so we were late for class as well. The nice thing was that she let us out of class early, so we got home around 7. We made dinner and watched some episodes of Friends before deciding we should all be productive and work on things. Oh-I also forgot to mention that today was Melbourne Cup, a horse race, which is a huge deal here! We saw so many people dressed up wearing crazy hats, and in one class at school, the students all got to pick a horse they wanted to win. The teachers also had an option to bet on a horse, and if you won first place, it would be a $70 prize. But you had to put in $5, and I didn’t bring any money with me, so I didn’t bet. The teachers were all in the work room watching it after taxi line. I didn’t get to see any of it, but it is a huge deal! Melbourne has a holiday on this day! It’s like our Carolina Cup, but much bigger and better. 

Monday, November 5

Monday mornings are never fun. Today was one of those days. I finally got up and ready to go to work, and Morgan and I were actually on time for once! Two months later, and we have officially figured out a good system to work. It’s just so hard to time a bus, a train, and another bus, and get somewhere on time. I worked in Pen’s class today, which is a secondary classroom. This is the class that has Chad, who loves me, Stephanie, who is a drama queen, Dommy, who is a sweetheart, Brandon, who doesn’t listen to me, Matty, Lucie, and Craig. This is a really fun class to be in, because most of these students are very responsive. Chad is the loudest out of all of them, and constantly tells me how much he loves me. I normally help him one-on-one in math, but today I didn’t. They started out eating their morning tea, which is just snack, and then moved right into math with one of the other classes. I did work with Dommy and Andrew today a little bit in group work, working on shapes. But after math, it was time for recess. I helped on the bottom playground today, which is the secondary playground. I love the bottom one, because most of these kids talk to you and want to be around you. The kids that are on the trampoline every day always call me over there and act crazy, and there are a few others that like to interact with me. There are a few students that need one-on-one attention, either for behavior issues, or if they are susceptible to seizures. Today, I was on Bradley, who is the cutest 10 year old boy. He is in Linda’s class, so I have probably talked about him before. He normally is really rough, or doesn’t listen, but today he was very communicative, and very sweet. I enjoyed having him today. After recess, Pen’s class all piled in the school van and we made our way to Cole’s, the grocery store. Each adult for the classroom is assigned a student to partner with, and we go get the things we need for the week. I was with Brandon, who constantly runs away from me because he thinks it’s funny. We ended up getting all of our things and made it out safely! When we got back to the school, it was time for them to swim, and me to go eat lunch on my break. I took a few minutes to call my parents and then went to eat my lunch in the Staff room. After lunch, I had duty for recess on the top playground, which is fun because the kids are so sweet. There are a couple that are a handful, and one little boy runs around and constantly takes off all his clothes. Other kids sit around and eat the dirt. Just an example of what my day consists of. J After this, Morgan and I left early to go to ACU for wifi, so we could register for classes. We stopped to get our grocery cards and then met up with Rachel and Jessi to register. I got all my classes! That has never happened for me, so I was very excited. I’m excited for my schedule next semester too, except that it means I actually have to go home. After we registered, Morgan, Rachel, and I went to Darling Harbor and walked around, did some shopping, and went to this delicious chocolate shop for ice cream. We ended our outing with Starbucks, and then headed back to the Meriton. Morgan got dinner ready while Rachel and I went and did the week’s grocery shopping. We have gotten to be really good cooks! We ended the night with writing blogs and having a quiet night in. We’ve all gotten really behind on blogs. We’re planning on going to bed early-ish, because these work days are SO long. 

Sunday, November 4

Rachel, Bree, and I went to Sculpture by the Sea today. Neither of them had been, and I loved it, so we decided we’d go. It was a perfect day out. The water was clear bright blue and the sun was shining, so it was burning up! I was so glad when I saw tables set up with free sunscreen, because we had all forgotten to put any on, and here you HAVE to. It was really crowded though because it was the last day that it would still be set up. When we finished going through the sculptures, we continued on to the Coastal Walk, just like Morgan, Evan, and I had done a few weeks ago. This time, it seemed harder, and I think it’s because it was so hot. After a few hours, a few stops at beautiful cliffs, and seeing three whales out in the ocean, we finally made it to Coogee Beach. When we got home, we freshened up and then went to the 7 pm service at Hillsong. Of course, I completely enjoyed it. The music is always incredible, and tonight the speaker’s title of his sermon was “Look at us, don’t look at us.” He talked about how we need to draw people’s attention so that they can see how good God is, but then once they see that, we need to point to God, not to ourselves. It was a great message, I’m really glad that I went. After church, we came back to eat dinner and had full intentions of going to bed early, but of course Rachel and I stayed up late talking, we like to solve all of the world’s problems late at night.  

Catching up... again!

Sunday, October 28:

We slept in kind of late today. We have had a very busy weekend! We all ended up going to the café to work on homework. Around 4, we left to head to the Hillsong Live Recording Concert! We had to take a bus, then a train, then another Hillsong bus, but it was SO worth it. I got chills at this concert. One of my favorite songs they sang says, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, chains are broken, eyes are open. Christ is with us”. I loved this one! It was so cool, because the songs that they sang at the concert have not been released yet. When they come out and start being played at church I will be freaking out! It was such a special experience and I am so blessed to have been a part of it. We made our trek back and had dinner and of course, watched New Girl!

Monday, October 29:

Morgan and I stayed home today to take care of Rachel because she was sick, and because we were exhausted! We caught up on blogs and watched movies. For dinner, we met up with some of CAPA and one of the CAPA workers for a free Chinese dinner in China Town. It made Morgan and I feel a little sick, so we came home and watched Life as We Know It with Rachel. It was a very relaxing day, and much needed for the busy week ahead.

Tuesday, October 30:

Today at work I was in Claire’s classroom with the secondary students. Claire was gone, so her husband, who also works there, was her substitute. It was a pretty easy day, and nothing super exciting happened. After work, Morgan and I made our way to our arts class. Tuesdays are always so busy, sometimes I dread it.. And I didn’t type this blog up until later, so obviously I forget things because the day just drags on!

Wednesday, October 31:  

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! This morning, we woke up and Morgan had decorated our kitchen and written a note saying to prepare for tonight because she had big Halloween plans for us. At work today, I was in Linda’s classroom, which is my favorite one to be in! The kids went swimming first thing in the morning, which is so fun to watch. They act like completely different people when they are in the water; they are so relaxed and they love it! After swimming, we went back to have Morning Tea and Morning Circle. Linda had bought witch hats for the kids to wear and had gone around to all the teachers and given them “lollies” (candy) to pass out to the kids when we came to their door. So we got to go trick or treating! It was so fun. One of the kids, Bradley, who is seriously one of my favorites, picked the witch hat with hair, it was so cute! He was being sweet today, he came up and kissed me on the cheek and stole my headband and put it on his head. I wish I could just video tape a day with him because it is so hard to describe the way he acts. All the kids loved trick or treating! At recess, one of the boys, Charlie came and sat on my lap and played with me. It was so sweet because I haven’t had any interaction with him really. After work, we went to the mall to find a dollar store for Halloween goodies, and then we headed to class. After class, we headed home to get ready for Halloween. We raided our closets for anything that we could use as costumes for Halloween and got dressed up! We went to our friends’ apartment for a little bit and then came back to carve our WATERMELON. Our grocery store had run out of pumpkins, but actually the watermelon turned out so much better! First of all, we got to eat it as we cleaned it out. Second of all, it was easier to carve and it ended up looking beautiful! We told ghost stories, ate junk food, and watched The Other Boleyn Girl to finish up our night.

Thursday, November 1:

Finally, a day to sleep in a little bit! Me and Rachel went to class, and after we went to Circular Quay to get a snack. We ended up going to Starbucks and bringing out drinks out to a bench just to sit in front of the Opera House. I still just love to look at it, and Rach does too. We sat there for a while until it started raining, and we headed back to the apartment. We finished watching our movie from the other night, and then I had to work on a paper for the rest of the night.

Friday, November 2:

IT’S FRIDAY! Today, I worked in Linda’s classroom again and loved every minute of it. I really enjoy working in her class. After work, Rachel and I met up at Central to go and do something fun, but ended up just going straight home because we were exhausted. We got dinner ready and some of our CAPA friends came over to hang out for the evening.

Saturday, November 3:

We slept SO late today. When we finally did wake up, we put in Dirty Dancing and laid around until really late in the day. Finally, we realized we needed to go run some errands and get ready before the Opera House show tonight! Rachel and I went to the store to get groceries for our fancy meal, and then came home and we all got ready. Morgan and Jessi started cooking and Morgan had moved our table out onto the patio. We put a sheet on it for a tablecloth, set the table, and had candles. We had a very fancy dinner! J We ate lemon garlic chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, green beans, and bread. It was such a delicious meal. We’re getting really good at this cooking thing, right before it’s time to leave! After we ate, we got our things and headed to Circular Quay to go see Pixar in Concert at the Opera House. I didn’t know what to expect, but the inside of the Opera House is so beautiful. The architecture inside is just as unique as the outside. We got our seats, which were in the back, but right in the middle, so they were perfect, and waited for the concert to start. I didn’t really know what exactly it was before we got there, all I knew was that it was going to show Pixar clips. Well, the Sydney Symphony played the scores of famous Pixar movies while they showed clips of the movies on the big screen. It was fantastic! I had no idea I would enjoy the symphony so much. Finding Nemo was obviously my favorite one that they did. And we all cried during Up. You don’t realize how much the music really does play a part in the movie until you go to something like this. I was so sad when it was over. Afterwards, we stopped by the store and got stuff to make fondue. It didn’t turn out so great. We bought great dippers: pound cake, strawberries, and bananas, but the chocolate got burned. We still enjoyed our dessert, and talked about what a fun night we had, and how much we never want to leave! 

Birthday Week!

Saturday, October 20:

Today, I went with Rachel to Bondi Junction to find a dress to wear for my birthday! After hours of searching, we found the perfect dress at a department store called Myer! We grabbed lunch and then ran into Target, which is not at all like our Target back home. It’s almost like a department store, and it’s really expensive. We finally headed back home to have dinner and have a movie night. We watched What to Expect When You’re Expecting, which is such a good movie!

Sunday, October 21:

Rachel and I got up this morning to go to the earlier service at Hillsong. We had never been to that one before, and I really loved it! I didn’t love getting up at 8, but it was worth it because we had the rest of the day to catch up on homework. After church, we came back to have lunch and then packed up our homework to go study at the library in Surry Hills, which is just a ten minute bus ride away. We had to research Luna Park for a paper, but we couldn’t find anything at the library, and the wifi wouldn’t work, so we left and went to the cutest coffee shop to work on homework. It was called Frames and it had empty picture frames all over, which doesn’t sound that cute, but it really was! We stayed til they closed at 4 (places close so early here!) and came back to work on more homework, laundry, and watch movies.

Monday, October 22:

Today was a pretty boring day at work. I worked in Penn’s class, which is the class with older students. We took a field trip to the grocery store and one of the students that is always so dramatic pretended to have a seizure, and caused quite an uproar in the store. I wasn’t there to see it, but I heard all about it. After work, Morgan and I had to work on our art project that we would have to present on Tuesday.

Tuesday, October 23:

IT’S SCIENCE DAY AT WORK! We got to work and I was in Linda’s class again, which is my favorite! It was science day, so we moved around to different stations in different classrooms all morning. It was so cool to see the students in these different environments. Many of the students are Autistic, so they love hands on and sensory activities. One room was just full of hands on activities, so the students were in Heaven. One of the other rooms we went in, they got to eat ice cream, so of course they were happy. The last room we went to was full of dry ice and gas that could be poured on the kids. One of the students especially loved having it poured on her. She was so calm during it too, I wish that we could do that anytime she gets nervous or freaks out. After work, Morgan and I headed to Art Class, which we had to give a presentation in. During our presentation, our teacher kept interrupting, so it took forever to get through. When we were done though, it felt so nice to be finished with it! After class, Morgan and I wandered around Surry Hills to find Domino’s because we had a craving! We ended up finding an Eagle Boys, which is a pizza place. Then, we came home and I had to work on a paper for the rest of the night.

Wednesday, October 24:

BIRTHDAY! Today’s the day!! 21! I woke up and my sweet flat mate, Jessi, had gotten up an hour earlier than she needed to, to make me breakfast! So that started my day off right! Me and Morgan made our way to work and when we got there, it was also one of the Swedish interns 21^st birthday, so we of course celebrated together. I worked in Linda’s class today, but she was not there so there was a casual (substitute). I felt very needed, which was nice! I knew the schedule and the students’ needs, so I helped the casual a lot. I was supposed to work during the first recess (which is when Coffee Shop goes on), so I went out for duty. I’m not sure if I have explained Coffee Shop, but if I haven’t, the older students that are more capable of things work with one of the teachers and make cakes and goodies, and it is $3 for us to get in. It is during our “morning tea” break on Wednesdays. They also serve coffee and tea. So, I was on duty at recess, but someone came and got me and Marta (the other birthday girl) and brought us into Coffee Shop. They had decorated, had party hats, birthday cake, and they sang to us. It was so much fun! It made me feel so at home. After coffee shop, we went back to our regular day’s work. All the kids knew it was my birthday, so a couple of them would tell me happy birthday every time I saw them. It was such a fun day! After work, Morgan and I met Rachel in North Sydney for cupcakes! We all had crowns on and they made me wear a sash. We then went to class, with our decorations on still. The teacher let us out early for my birthday! He’s pretty good about letting us leave early. We came home and made tacos for dinner, and then I opened my presents with my flatmates. After that, most of the CAPA students came over for cake and ice cream. It was so fun to have everyone over in the apartment. Then we headed to Bar Rialto, which is our favorite pizza restaurant. I ordered my first legal drink, and we just enjoyed our time at the restaurant. It is such a relaxing set up, there are couches! It was fun to enjoy my day with some of my closest friends. (But I still missed my friends at home!)

Thursday, October 25:

On Thursday, I got up earlier to head to ACU so I could use wifi and skype my parents! When they answered my skype call, they were wearing crowns and sang to me. It was so sweet to be able to talk to them, I really missed them on my birthday! It’s weird being so far away on such an important day. My mom also opened her presents from me, because her birthday is Sunday! After skyping, we headed to class for the next few hours. It was such a beautiful day, it was hard to be inside all day! The weather was absolutely perfect! When we got home, we all napped for an hour or two. I didn’t mean to sleep that long, but when I work three days straight and then have class, I get so tired! We watched a movie and just had a chill night in. It was very relaxing and much needed.

Friday, October 26:

Friday, my art class had a field trip to Sculpture by the Sea. We headed to Bondi Beach, and there is a coastal walk from this beach to Coogee Beach. You walk along the coast, up and down hills, and onto cliffs. It is such a beautiful walk! During Sculpture by the Sea, there are sculptures all throughout, and artists from all over participate in it. I’m so glad I got to go to it! We walked through all the sculptures, and my favorite was called “How Close We Are”. It was a giant eye of a needle that was in the earth, and you could climb through the eye. The actual needle came out of the earth in Denmark, so it goes through the globe. Every time someone climbs through the eye, the needle lights up in Denmark. Such a cool idea! After we walked through all the sculptures, Morgan, Evan, and I continued the walk and did the rest of the Coastal walk to Bondi. It took about two hours, but it was so worth it. It was beautiful! I will try to post pictures later. When we finally got home, we were lazy and watched a movie. We then got all dressed up and ready for my birthday dinner! We went to this hotel restaurant on George Street in Sydney. It was a really cool place and we got such great food! We came home and went back out with some of the CAPA students and walked around Sydney. It was definitely a fun night!

Saturday, October 27:

Luna Park, here we come! Today, we slept in (of course) and got ready to head to Luna Park with some of our CAPA friends. We found a deal online for buy one get one free tickets for after 6, so we went and did Coney Island first (it’s a separate ticket). It was so fun! They had these slides that you go down in potato sacks, and a mirror maze, and barrel roll. It was basically all kids there, but we just embraced our inner children and had so much fun! Once 6 rolled around, we went and got our tickets and started our rides. I seriously could go there every day. It was so fun. It was kind of chilly, so it reminded us all of a fall festival at home! We rode a ton of rides, but my favorite was the Tango Train. They played music while you went around so fast, and the first time we rode, they played Gangnam Style (which is a song that has a dance along with it) and we all went crazy! Such a fun day! Funniest part of the day: Jessi is terrified of birds, like really terrified. We got our dinner and a bird landed on her head. She thought it was one of us grabbing her head, but when she moved, the birds wings flapped and she freaked out! It was the funniest thing I have ever seen. And of course, it would happen to the one person who is scared to death of birds. Also, when we went through the mirror maze, which is pitch black, and you have to find your way through by touching the mirror walls, our friends Bree and Kristen went through first, and told all of the scary clowns and people me and Rachel’s names. So when Rachel and I were trying to find our way through, the people were calling out our names. It was terrifying! Throughout the park, all the workers were dressed up, and some of them were really scary. Well I guess that I have a sign on my forehead telling people to come scare me, because I am always singled out. Even people that didn’t work at the park were coming to scare me. We stayed til about 10 and when we got home, we all just passed out. Riding rides all day can really take it out of you! 

Spring Break

Saturday, October 13: 

We got up at 4:00 to catch a taxi and get to the airport for our 6:30 flight. Needless to say, it was a very rough morning. We got to the airport, grabbed breakfast, and got on our seats. I sat by two older ladies who were eating chicken wings. It was 6 in the morning, so I was very confused. Me, Bree, and Morgan got to switch around so we could sit together. I slept most of the way. When we landed, it was SO hot! We got a cab and headed to our hostel. I really thought it was a joke when we pulled up to this place. It had nails poking up around the gate and barbed wire around it too. Needless to say, we were very nervous about where we were staying. We went inside and paid and found out we could not check in until a few hours later. They locked our luggage in a “luggage closet” and we went on to get food and wander around Cairns. It was about 9:30, but we found this great burger place and were craving a milkshake and fries. So, we basically had a burger, fries, and a shake for breakfast. After we ate, we wandered around and went back to our hostel. When we were taken up to our room, we felt a lot better about staying there. It was really clean and not scary at all! We stayed in a room with bunk beds and had five other girls in there. They were all foreign and very nice! When we got our beds figured out, we took a nap. I know, so lame, but we were exhausted and had gotten no sleep, so we slept all afternoon. When we woke up, we showered and got ready, and went to grab a pizza. After we ate, we made our way to the other hostel that all the other CAPA students were staying at. It was just a ten minute walk down the road. Their hostel was really rough, so I was glad that we didn’t have to stay there. We all crowded into one of their rooms and hung out for the night. It was a lot of fun. After, me and Bree walked around the Esplanade, which is like the street by the beach. There is a big lagoon as well, which is a salt water pool, because you can’t swim in the beach (it’s only a few feet long). It was beautiful!

Sunday, October 14:

Bree and I got up very early to go and meet the other CAPA students at their hostel for SNORKELING! When we got there, we all walked to the port that we would be taking off in our boat. We had to wait for a while and pay another fee, but we finally got on the boat! It was much nicer than I expected, with a snack bar inside, and long tables with nice bus-type chairs. There was also a lot of deck area, including the top of the boat where you got sprayed so badly with salt water. When you would dry off, you would just have to wipe off a ton of salt off your body, it was crazy! We sat inside at the tables for the beginning and watched the waves through the window. It took us about an hour and a half to get out to the first reef. During that time, the workers gave us our equipment and talked through protocol. They also taught us the motions for if you see a certain sea animal, such as shark, jellyfish, octopus, and turtle. It was really fun! When we got to the first reef, I was beyond excited! The boat ride was fun in itself, but I actually was going to get to swim in the middle of the ocean! I had never done that before, I’ve never been farther than neck deep in the ocean! We got our equipment on and hopped right in. It was BEAUTIFUL! I couldn’t fathom the fact that I was actually swimming over the Great Barrier Reef and seeing things that I never thought I would ever see! My lips got so salty, and I was bad about going down too deep and water getting in my snorkel, so I would choke. They gave us noodles if we wanted one, so I didn’t get super tired swimming, but it was definitely hard with the fins! We spent about an hour swimming around the reef, and finally got out for lunch that was provided for us. It wasn’t great food, but there was a ton of it, and it was included! We ate lunch on the boat, and then laid out on the top while we rode to the next reef. This was some of the most fun times I have had on the trip, because it was so relaxing to be on the boat with all of my friends. When we got to the next reef, it was even more beautiful than the first! The colors were much more vibrant at this one, and it was bigger. It looked more like what you always picture it looking like. When we were on the edge of the boat about to hop in, there was a school of fish swimming right at the top of the water, so I had to jump right in with these fish. It was insane! Right when we got in, I really thought I saw a shark down at the bottom, but most of the other people told me it wasn’t. I saw some of the coolest fish here, and I saw Dory about a thousand times. It was awesome to see the fish going in and out of the coral. I seriously could not believe I was doing this! I kept popping up and telling whoever was around me that this was the coolest thing I’ve ever done. I wish I could keep reliving it! When we were finished, we got back on the boat and laid out on the top of the boat again! Then, on the way back to the coast, they offered us free cheese and fruit, and one of the guys played guitar and sang for us. It was so relaxing! A lot of us fell asleep on the way back, it was a really exhausting day! It was the greatest day I have had! When we got back, Bree and I headed back to our hostel and found Morgan. We showered, got ready, and headed to a restaurant to eat! We then met up with some of the other CAPA girls for ice cream and we wandered through the night markets. We spent a lot of time walking around, and then headed back for bed because we were exhausted!

Monday, October 15:

Today is the day that Morgan and some of the other girls skydive! I went with two of the other CAPA girls to this zoo in Cairns where it is legal to hold a koala. We wandered around the zoo and I got a really great phone call! My brother got a job in Greenville, and he and his wife are moving back! I was SO excited! After I talked to him, and we walked around the zoo, it was time to hold Pavlova, the koala. We waited in line and each took our turns. The koala was so cuddly and it was magical! I loved cuddling with that sweet baby! After we left the zoo, I met up with Bree at the lagoon and we laid out for a little while. The weather was absolutely perfect, it was so hot! We swam for a little bit too, and then we made our way back to the hostel. When we got back, the girls that were skydiving met up with us and we watched all of their videos in our hostel. It was so funny to watch them, and now I want to skydive so badly! We got in trouble for having guests at the hostel, so they left and we all got ready to go to dinner. We got dressed up and went to this restaurant called PJ’s which had $12 meals, including a drink. In Australia, that is an incredible price! At the other hostel, they got vouchers for $5 meals instead of $12, so they grabbed us some and we only had to pay $5! So worth it! After dinner, we walked around the town, went and watched at the Casino for a little bit, and got ice cream with some of the other girls. It was such a fun night.

Tuesday, October 16:

Morgan and Bree decided that they wanted to go hold a koala too, so we got up and went back to the koala place! There was beautiful scenery, and we sat and had our lunch. We then got to hold the koala, Harvey! Of course I paid to do it again because I am obsessed with those cute cuddly babies! After we did that, we walked around and shopped a lot in the area! After shopping, we went to Domino’s for dinner and headed to the airport. We were very early, but it was nice to just relax and wait. We got to move around and get seats next to each other again. We had to take a cab home, which was pretty expensive. When we got home, Rachel and Jessi had decorated the apartment for my early birthday! It was so sweet and it was nice to be able to catch up about our Spring Breaks!

Wednesday, October 17 and Thursday, October 18:

We were SO lazy these two days, it’s not even worth talking about! We slept late, watched movies, napped, ate, did homework, and that’s about it. We walked around Surry Hills some, and we got our nails done on Thursday. Very relaxing few days!