The Guild, Byrdee's & Other St00f

Last night was the International Student Welcome party at QUT. The night started out at the Student Guild bar on campus - pretty cool place: lots of pool tables, dancing floor (though no one used it), bar, nearby places to eat, seating areas - nice fun college atmosphere. There was a DJ; he was okay but kept mixing the songs to the next one too soon, if you ask me.

We played pool for a while. Pool here is a little different from pool back home; for instance, the balls are smaller here, and there are lines marking areas on the table here. Any way, I gave it my best shot and quickly learned that I prefer pool back home, haha, because I only made one ball go in the pocket through an entire game. It was a lot of fun, though! Here's me lining up a shot that I'm sure I missed:



Neil, Inga and I posing for a photo in-between our turns:



We decided to take some group shots. In this one it's Richard, Rudy, Inga, Neil, yours truly and Ian:



Another group shot. This one is of Patrick screaming about something, haha, Rasmus, Mijah (pronounced Mya - I was spelling it wrong before), Neil leaning over, then Thomas and I huddling below everyone:



Around 10 there was a bus from the Guild Bar to Byrdee's (a cool bar/club in Fortitude Valley - the bar/club strip area of Brisbane). The bus ride was a lot of fun! Here's a shot of a bunch of people clambering over seats to get in the photo, haha! Rasmus is leaning over Judith; Neil is standing behind me, Ian is by Neil in the back, Richard is right next to Inga:



Me and Inga took some photos together (she was SO happy last night!):



At the Guild Bar folks were giving away Wicked Camper's temporary tattoos, haha. (Wicked Campers is a company that rents vans to tour around Australia or wherever - they have beds and kitchenettes built into them. I'm thinking about checking them out for a potential trip with Adam.) So everyone had these WC tattoos plastered on them, haha! Here's all the ladies of the house with our tats (Judith, girl from Florida but forgive me because I can't recall her name?, Mijah, me, and Inga down in front):



Lastly, yet another group shot we took once we got our drinks at Byrdee's. Rudy, Inga, me, Judith, Mijah and Richard in the front:



It was a fun night. Not a bad deal for a $15 ticket; the ticket got us dinner at Tinpantini Time, 2 free drinks at the Guild Bar (I used one and gave the other to Ian, but everyone was fighting over it, haha), transportation to Byrdee's, and free entry to Byrdee's. Of course the company was great, so we all had a great time!

In random news: I quickly noticed that a good number of Australian women wear these things called sockettes with their Mary Jane/baby doll shoes. I have a black pair of Mary Jane flats and decided to invest in some fun sockettes. I bought some lime/blue, hot pink, white and black pairs. Here are my hot pink ones, hehe!



In the QUT library there is a huge computer lab that is open 24/7 (why doesn't Purdue have a lab like that?!). The lab is great, friendly staff, easy to use printers - all the good stuff. PLUS! Some of the computer stations have really comfy seats! How cool!



My Mom has been inquiring about what my house looks like. Here she be:



Brisbane has a free daily newspaper that I like to pick up whenever I can; it's called Mx. The other day I was sifting through the various articles and found this one randomly interesting:

"Forgetful Story Fishy - Food Beacon ::: A 15-year-old South Australian school student has busted the myth that goldfish have a three-second memory. Rory Stokes, from the Australian Science and Mathematics School in Adelaide, taught a small group of fish to wim to a beacon by establishing a memory connection between the beacon and food. After an initial three-week period, Rory removed the beacon. But six days later, when he once again placed the beacon in the water, the fish swam to it in 4.4 seconds."

Ha! Who knew? Any way, found that interesting and wanted to share.

Australian Slang for today:
*too easy = simple
*choof off = to leave or depart

Some noticed Australian differences:
*Australians obey the crosswalk signs
*Australian bouncers are really hard core
*clerks always check ID and signatures when you make a purchase
*women often wear skirts and dresses day-to-day
*Australians drive on the opposite sides of the road (I thought the US was the only place to drive on the right side of the road but I learned that, aside from England, most of Europe drives on the right side of the road, too - not sure how accurate my source is, but I'll take his word since he's from Europe. Any way, he thought Australia was backwards for driving on the left-side, too, haha!)
*style here is crazy; age is nothing: older women can be found wearing teeny-bopping clothes - it's a strange sight to behold, I tell you
*classes here start at 9am and NOT 7:30am
*QUT's version of SSInfo is AMAZING; it's called QUT Virtual or QV for short
*QUT's Webmail is much better than Purdue's (come on, Purdue, let's take a page from QUT's book, huh?)
*tax is included in the price of an item at a store; no adding 5% of the total to the amount owed - easy peasy!

Tonight Inga and I have decided against going out to a house party themed around guests wearing mix-matched clothes. Neither of us feel like partying tonight so we're going to watch a movie. Not sure if we'll go see one or just watch a DVD here. Regardless, it should be a nice relaxing evening, hanging out with my favorite girl here in Australia! = )

Here is a weekly view of my class load here at QUT:



(If you can't see the time or labels very well, just click the image.)

Yes, you are seeing that correctly: no class on Tuesday or Friday! Yippee!

Question of the blog: has anyone read The Other Boleyn Girl? There's a movie coming out about it soon (Scarlet Johanssen (not sure how she spells her last name) and Natalie Portman star); I think it looks great but wanted to read the novel first. Just wondering if anyone wanted to share their opinion. = )

That's all for now, folks. Check back again soon!

-Amanda

For My Sunshine, My Only Sunshine

This post is for Adam. It was hard leaving him to go on this trip, but after tons of emails, photos, instant messaging, video-chatting, letters and post cards the flame is going strong. Being far from him makes my heart ache but I keep him in my thoughts always. I often think of fun times we had before I left from New Year's in Chicago to beating him in checkers to him whooping me in chess (I wish I was making that part up) to watching movies all snuggled up together on the couch. These thoughts bring me so much joy.

Along with thoughts of my baby, seeing his photo around my bedroom always puts a smile on my face. I put up some very special photos he and his roommate, Alex, took for me for Valentine's day - they are all around my room. One on the mirror to see when I'm getting ready for the day, one by my bed to see before I fall asleep, by my desk so I can see him as I'm working on this or that, and with my other photos of friends and family back home.

Here are the Valentine's Day photos he sent me (my favorite is the black and white one):













Adam has been sending me some of his artwork he's drawn for his Art & Design class back at Purdue. I'm really proud of his work! Here are a few of my favorites of his:

This one is so dreamy - a beautiful woman with flowers and dragonflies swirling around her face:



An awesome profile sketch of a wizard:



Most recently he sent this next one. It's of a picture of a woman but he had to do the sketch as if the photo was torn - this is my favorite of his so far!



I saved the best for last. Here is the most exciting news for me and Adam: he is visiting me in May!!! If all goes according to plan he'll be purchasing a flight ticket soon, and I'll be happily working away at planning a full itinerary for when he's here. There are wine and coffee cafes I am dying to check out with him; we want to learn to surf with the dolphins down along the Gold Coast; we want to spend a couple nights on a sailboat at the Whitsunday Islands. Of course I can't wait to introduce him to my housemates and show him around Brisbane! When he visits he's going to bring me some very important items such as CheezIts, Tootsie Rolls, Oreos and other things I'm missing from back home, haha! Oh, I can't wait to rush up and kiss him when I meet him at the Brisbane airport! I love you, Adam! XOXO!

I Happen to Have Two Phenomenal Brothers!

I want the world to know that I have two phenomenal brothers. I miss them dearly, and I want to share some things about them with my blog readers.

Chucky has found his place in life after high school. With much joy and excitement he has taken up being a strong part of the Purdue University Naval ROTC. I received exciting news from him the other day during a chat conversation: he is planning dates for his Cruise this summer! Even though he may be on the cruise when I return to the US, I am still very happy and excited for him! I have heard great things about the trip from some of my fellow midshipmen who went, and I'm sure Chucky will make the most of the Cruise. I'm so proud of you, Chuggy! (PS - you were right: the book only lasted a day in my hands!)

Sammy has awoken from his slumber. An article written about Sam and his awesome wrestling at the Indiana State Meet said Sam was the sleeper of the #145 group as he silently worked his way to wrestling under the spot light for the State Title! I must say that I was completely sad to have missed the event as I'm half a world away. Adam joined in the events that weekend, and I like to think he was representing my support for Sam, too. = ) Sam gave the match his all, taking second place! Sam, I'm so proud of you! Here is one of my favorite photos of Sam wrestling at the meet:

Hodge Podge - Part 1

Wowzers! I'm a week behind! Let's see if I can't catch you all up on the fun adventures I've been having in the last week!

Wednesday: a big group of the housemates and I went to see The Bucket List. Before the movie I asked Inge to take a photo of me in my first bit of Australian clothing: a cute little garden dress. It has these awesome pockets and I love the colors and pattern. Of course I managed to get pomegranate juice all over it but I was quick enough with the laundry zap stick that it washed out!



The movie was great! I loved it - but did not cry - I'll admit I had tears welling, but there were no tears. It was a really touching movie. Jack Nicholson is his cooky self and Morgan Freeman is great. I recommend it if you want to watch something funny, meaningful and touching.



Thursday: I got to see the Andy Warhol Exhibit in the Brisbane Gallery of Modern Art (aka GOMA)!





Towards the end of the exhibit we walked through the kid's corner. We created a picture relating to a particular letter in the alphabet. My name, Adam's name, Andy Warhol's name and the word awesome all start with the letter A so I went ahead and chose A. = ) What I drew was a lacy heart with music flowing out of it. On the heart was written "A is for Adam. A is for Amanda." over and over again. At the bottom of the page there was a space for "[insert chosen letter here] is for ____." I put "A is for a song in my heart." Aren't I clever?

Friday I didn't do anything too exciting: maybe a run to the market for some food, I think I hopped online for a bit, read some. Nothing extraordinary is coming to mind for Friday.

Saturday, however, was a full day! Inge, Nick, Richard, Ian, Sam and I got up early, packed an overnight bag and went to the Gold Coast, Surfer's Paradise specifically. The trip there took 2 hours: 1 hour by train, another by bus. On the train the guys sprawled out and go nice and comfy in our cabin. Here's Richard taking it easy:



When we got there we had to check into a hostel - there were tons to choose from. We wound up picking the worst, I'm sure. Cheers. Ha, cheers, indeed! Not. We get there and have to wait until 11 to check in - okay, that makes sense - give the previous room tenants time to check out, etc. They say the cleaners need 20 minutes to clean the rooms before we settle in. Oh, okay. A full hour later we hassle them enough that they finally clean our rooms. By now it's noon and I am craving some relaxation at the beach.

We trek to the beach - the weather is B-E-A-UTIFUL! Here is a picture of some skyscrapers to show how blue the sky was, and not a cloud in sight:



We get to the beach - the place is even more B-E-A-U-TIFUL! Here's me and Inge excited to have finally made it to our destination:



Here is me next to the Surfer's Paradise sign:



We dropped our stuff on the beach and ran straight for the crystal blue water! Inge and I had a ball catching and riding the waves! Here's a shot of me on the sand line:



We swam for a bit, re-applied sunscreen, and laid out for a bit. During this time I read a good bit of my novel and soaked in some rays (not too much, but I'd rather get what I got than get burned and look like a blonde tomato). The ONLY thing that wasn't perfect was that there was quite a breeze which blowed grains of sand against us such that it was almost painful. I had to put my beach bag by my head so sand wouldn't blow into my ear, haha. Not that it mattered too much because by the end of the beach visit we had sand everywhere any way. Inge got tons of sand in her camera case even, haha!

On the way back to the hostel Inge and I took a couple more photos of us at the beach, but this time in the shade:



We showered up and headed to our dinner reservations at the Hard Rock Cafe, Surfer's Paradise. This dinner was my favorite part of the evening, even though my shirt undid itself briefly, haha - no worries - everything was well hidden and Inge helped me with my recovery, haha! It was pretty hilarious, actually. Any way, my close-to-American-big-juicy-bacon-cheeseburger was delicious! Along with my Tropical Rock (pina colada with a twist of lime) drink:



Naturally Inge and I took tons of photos. Here is one of me with Richard and Neil:



And one of me and Inge:



The group:

Hodge Podge - Part 2

After dinner we went back to the hostel and hung out. I played my first drinking game! It was called Yee Haw and was loads of fun! I tried some flavored beer (I managed to drink a glass' worth - on my honor - I drank beer!), received a cowboy hat and glow stick for the bar hopping to come over the course of the Saturday night! $30 through the hostel got us a free drink at the hostel and at each of 3 clubs we were heading to - we got free entry to each of them, too. Not a bad deal at all! Here we are at Cheer's hanging out and playing Yee Haw:



Me and Inge had an absolute blast with our hats and making faces. A favorite photo from the evening:



All the boys kept tipping their hats at me and Inge as they said, "Howdy, Ma'am." They're such gentleman! Rudy tipping his hat:



Actually, he was really into the cowboy hats, haha. We stacked all of ours onto his and he reminds me of the Mad Hatter (partly because I just read about the Mad Tea Party in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, haha)



Inge and I decided to give smoking a go with our glow sticks (by now she was getting a bit tipsy - I, on the other hand, only had a little to drink):



Adam, this next photo is for you! Here's a cowgirl kiss for you with love from Australia:



So that was the Gold Coast. Surfer's Paradise, overall, isn't that great if you ask me. Very touristy and just has a crazy vibe to it. It might have been my not being in the party mood towards the end of the evening when we were still bar hopping, or maybe not, but I didn't think the party scene was that appealing. I much prefer what I've experienced back in Brizzy to Surfer's. It's just a big hot spot for people who want to get absolutely slammed. Any way, it was still a great day, and I'm glad I went to check out Surfer's Paradise.

Sunday: unwind. Finished The Black Dahlia at this point. Started Alice's Adventures. I'm almost done with it now - I positively love it! Not sure what I'll read next. I've got a few in mind.

So uni (aka classes) started this week! I love the schedule I wound up with: Monday I have one class from 6-8pm. Nothing Tuesday. Full day Wednesday from 10am-8pm but I made it today and I'm sure it'll be just fine (better be as I can't juggle any of the classes around). Thursday I have an hour class from 9-10a. Nothing on Friday! Sweet! It's basically a 4 day weekend if you count most of the day on Monday!

German is going to be awesome. Technically it's my third language, not that I'm fluent, haha. I really like the class so far. I'm going to work really hard at it and hopefully will be able to hold conversations with all my German friends I've met here.

Project Management should be interesting. Sounds like my group project will be on making the taxi cab systems more efficient. It's more involved than what it sounds and I think with my group members it will be pretty cool.

Lastly, Australian Society & Culture is going to be great! It's light and will be really interesting as it's all to do with Australia! The teacher is great fun and I'm in looking forward to giving a presentation on food next week, haha. I'm in a group with a guy from Norway and a girl from Germany and we'll each talk about our homeland food and then give a few minutes on Australian food. Should be quite interesting to hear about all the differences!

Okay, time for random stuff! First off: new candies tried: Flake, Twirl and Fling.

I was wrong. When I originally posted that "Twirls are good. They remind me of Milky Ways. Yum." I thought they were something else called Twist, I think. Twirls are like Flakes but they've got chocolate confection in them. I am not a big fan of the confection stuff.



Wasn't a fan of the Flake Mint bar - the mint stuff wasn't in my liking.



The Fling was okay. I was expecting something more like a Twix but this was like dried pudding and the cookie from a Twix bar, but covered in chocolate. It was okay.



Inge and I watched Kangaroo Jack the other night. My grandparents gave it to me to watch since I was leaving for Australia and that's where the story is based. It brought on laughs and we enjoyed it.

Funny thing that happened to Inge and I through a conversation we had over the weekend. We were sitting by the pool at the hostel, dipping our feet in, and she was saying something about a word that meant nothing. She said to me, "you know, nothing, nada, squattly doodie." I took a moment and said, "Squattly doodie?" She said, "yeah. what?" I said, "It's funny you say that because we have a word that means the same thing but we say doodly squat." At that point her eyes widened and we burst out laughing because we realized that's the word she meant all along - it was quite humorous, but maybe you had to be there. Just in case you didn't have to be there, go ahead and say "squattly doodie." No, really, say it out loud. See? It is funny. = )

In other news: my ATM card is finally in and I'm no longer bound to the branch's working hours! This is a big deal as not everywhere takes a credit card. Still no Internet in the house. Ugh. Still no phone. Ugh. (But kind of nice not having to deal with it, haha.) Behind in my journal by 2 weeks. Ugh. I've been so busy everything. I need to slow down. Sweet - I have nothing to do tomorrow! I know, but my Thursday class doesn't start until week two! Hehe!

Time for some Ozzie slang:
*Bananabender - person from Queensland State (Queenslander)
*sammy = sandwich

And now I leave you with a question specifically for my readers: what has been the highlight of your day? Leave your response in a comment! It will make me so happy! My day's highlight was catching Adam online and Skyping with him for a bit.

All right. Until next time - cheers!

-Amanda

New Photo Album Up

A few random sets of photos from the trip over here and from when I first got here and settled in: http://purdue.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2328618&l=b66f8&id=13700420

Two Albums Up

Here are the links to two albums:

First Week in Brisbane:http://purdue.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2327801&l=d9c3c&id=13700420

Second Week in Brisbane: http://purdue.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2327808&l=0af55&id=13700420

Pre-Departure Photos Up

Pre-Departure Photos Link: CLICK HERE

Enjoy!

PS - Mom is supposed to send me the remaining photos from the Going Away party (*nudge, *nudge to Mother!) since my camera conked out and I ended up using hers. = )

-Amanda

The Victory & Other Stuff

Last night at The Victory for the QUT Orientation River Cruise after party we all had a blast! Lots of fun music (a lot of Australian club/bar music is the same as it is in the US: pop, R&B, and techno), lots of dancing, and lots of pictures. Here are some of my favorites from the night:

Inge, Judith, Neil and Nick:



Me and Neil:



Me, Richard and Ian:



Neil and Rudy:



Me, Mya, Judith and Rasmus:



Dancing it up:



Me and the girls:



And, lastly, Mya, Sarah, Rasmus and yours truly:



I had such a good time with all of my new friends. Everyone is really friendly and we're starting to become a tight-knit group. Each of us is so different with different backgrounds, customs and ways of being, and yet each of us has the common thread of being in a new environment and branching out.

In other news: tomorrow there's an orientation function and I have to go inquire about adding a graduate-level course to my course load. Crossing my fingers that they will make an exception for me!

Nothing planned for Friday. I might check out the Andy Worhol exhibit with Inge, Sarah, Judith and Mya - and whoever else is interested, really. I'm not sure if the guys would be interested or not? Or, maybe Friday everyone will be heading to the Gold Coast. Sam mentioned going this weekend - maybe Saturday - I'm not sure. Oh, there was mention of throwing a "barbie" this weekend, too. Who knows what will go down, haha!

For now, I gotta get going. Time to grab a few things from the store, journal, upload these blogs and photos and maybe upload some albums to Facebook, too. And, of course, I gotta do the email thing. TTFN!

-Amanda