Beautiful Burleigh!

This week is Griffith Universities mid-semester break or what we would call it back in the states "spring break."  People back home get kind of confused when I say i'm on spring break because it is September.  I have to remind them that the seasons in Australia are opposite from the U.S.

Unfortunately I have no big plans for my break but that does not mean I am not determined to have a good time.  I'd say my break has started off pretty good!  

This weekend my friend Austin and his friend Zach came to visit from Melbourne and I had a great time showing them around the Gold Coast!  And on Sunday my parents booked two flights to Australia at the end of November which I am very excited about!

Yesterday (Monday), Carly and I took a shopping trip to Pacific Fair which was a lot of fun.  I probably shouldn't have spent money but I have had my eye on a certain pair of shoes since arriving in Australia and I decided to splurge a little and buy them.  I have been very good about keeping my shopping to a minimum so I decided it was okay.

Today is Tuesday and Carly's friend from work (and now a new friend of mine), Katie, picked both Carly and me up for a little adventure to Burleigh Heads, a town slightly south of Surfers Paradise.

Burleigh Heads has a few trails that can be hiked to reach a small beach at the other end.

Katie and Me

Beautiful Burleigh

After our hike we went into the town of Burleigh Heads for some coffee and window shopping.  We settled on The Pantry Cafe and Katie and I ordered Cafe Latte's and Scones.

 They were delicious!

After our snack we walked around the shops in Burleigh for a little while.  Because of my purchase the day before I decided I was only allowed to look which was still a lot of fun!

It was a fun day out with the girls!  Hopefully my week ends just as great as it started!

Anna

On top of the world!

As I mentioned at the end of my last post, my friend Austin who is currently going to school in Melbourne Australia came to visit me on the the Gold Coast this last weekend.

I wanted to think of some fun things we could do that can't be done anywhere else in Australia and the only thing that really came to mind was to take him to the top of the Q1.

The Q1 is the tallest building on the Gold Coast and it only costs $15 for students to go up to the top!

My roommates and I hadn't gotten the chance to go up yet so I figured it was a perfect opportunity!  We planned it so we would be up there for the sunset which ended up being a great idea because it was gorgeous!

At the top of the Q1 there is a 360 degree view of the Gold Coast and it was so fun to look out and see it all at one time! 

View of Surfers Paradise

View of Broadbeach

roomies!

Austin and me!

Just when I thought the view couldn't get any better the sun set completely and it turned into night time.  

the city lights were gorgeous!

It was so much fun being able to take my friend up to get a view of the entire Gold Coast and he later told me that he was really glad that we did that!

It was a fun weekend and I was happy that I was able to show my guests a good time!

Anna

Catching up on life down under

Okay so I realize it has been quite awhile since my last post but that is because I have been extremely busy.

In the last two weeks I have had one paper and two tests!  Heavy load huh?

Alright so there really is no excuse for the absence of my blog posts except for the fact that I have been enjoying myself so much that I have not gotten around to posting.

I have finally decided that it is time to buckle down and let you all know exactly what I have been doing with my time here in Aussie land.

As I said earlier, within the last two weeks I have turned in a paper and taken two midterms, which seems to be such an inconvenience.  I constantly have to remind myself that I am here to go to school and if I were back in Chico the work load would be ten times heavier than it is here.

Other than school I have been spending my time reading and going to the beach.  The weather has really started to turn here on the Gold Coast and it is becoming quite warm which has made for PERFECT beach weather.

Last week I finished the book The Help by Kathryn Stockett and boy was it good!  The book takes place in the early 1960's in Jackson Mississippi when African Americans were still extremely oppressed.  I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone!  It was very entertaining and really makes you think!

The Help was recently turned in to a movie so of course having just read the book, I really wanted to see it!

Last Friday I decided that I was going to see it.  I didn't care if anyone wanted to go with me, I was going to see that movie.  When I told my roommates Kevin and Clint that I was going to see the movie by myself they offered to come with me, even if it was a girly movie.  They are so sweet!

We arrived at Birch Carroll & Coyle Cinemas about thirty minutes early for our movie, the boys didn't mind though because it left time to play some video games :)

Finally it was time for the movie!

The movie did not disappoint!  The boy's even agreed that it was a very good movie!

On Saturday Carly and I were invited to attend the horse races.  Every Saturday the Gold Coast Turf Club has a horse race and this is the second time we have attended.  The first time being Griffith University's Annual Race Day.

Prior to the races we were invited over to someones house to hang out and have a couple of drinks before the   race and the view was breath taking.  

I definitely would not mind living here

After, it was off to the races!

It was a very fun filled weekend and it is only going to continue.  Tomorrow is my last day of class before I have a week long break from school.  I assume my days will be spent at the beach relaxing and reading the second book of the Millennium series by Stieg Larsson.  And tomorrow my friend Austin is visiting from Melbourne!  

Anna

Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi!

Rugby is a very popular sport here in Australia and it would just be wrong to not attend a game during my time here.

So when my roommate Clint told me the season would be ending within the next two weeks I saw my dreams of seeing an Australian rugby game slowly going down the drain.  You see, there is a game next Saturday during the day and that just happens to be the day of my first midterm :/  This is also the last game of the season.

Luckily, Clint did some research and found out that there was going to be a game on Friday night between the Canadian National Team and the Australian Barbarians.  Apparently, the Barbarians are a team compiled of club rugby players and some players from the Australian National Team.  It was more of just a practice game which was fine by me.

The game started at 7:30 pm so we got on the bus around 5:45 pm and headed for the Skilled Park Stadium which is located south of Surfers Paradise.

I could hardly conceal my excitement as we approached the stadium!  I just felt like I was taking part in something truly Australian!

Once we were in the arena our first priority was beer.  I mean come on,  what is a rugby game without beer?

With beer in hand we took our seats and enjoyed watching the Australian team warm up.  Or at least I enjoyed watching them warm up haha.

Haha what is this guy doing?

They only filled up one side of the stadium because it was a practice game.

It was an exciting game and the Barbarians ended up winning 27-14.  Go Barbarians!

After the game we headed for the bus stop, as did the entire stadium!  It began to rain and I think the question on everyone's mind was...will there be enough buses to get all of these people home?

After waiting about 15 minutes in the rain a man from the stadium came out and broke the bad news.  There would only be one more bus coming.  There must have been at least 100 people waiting for one bus..how is that going to work?!

Luckily we seemed to be standing in right spot and we were able to get on the bus immediately when it came.

I'm not sure if everyone made it on the bus but man was it full!

 

This little stinker in the green sweatshirt kept pushing the stop button!  I thought the lady in front of him was going to smack him!

Finally it was time to get off the bus.  I couldn't have been happier to get home!  I was so tired and hungry!  Overall it was a very fun event and now I can say I have been to an Australian Rugby game!  

Anna

Clint's Bday!

On Tuesday I decided to give up my usually "me" day to prepare for Clint's Birthday.

Our friends from Brisbane decided to make the trip to Surfers Paradise for the festivities so my day was spent cleaning, grocery shopping, and making the birthday boy a cake :).

Brithday Boy!

Silly boys

Originally we had planned to have a barbecue outside but a storm blew in late Monday night and had not cleared up yet on Tuesday.  So we decided to have Taco Tuesday instead!  Our friends from England and Malta, who visited, don't eat tacos very often.  I think they were impressed :)

After dinner it was time to sing happy birthday to Clint!

The rest of the night was spent playing games and hanging out with friends.  Hope you had a great birthday Clint!

Anna

Trip to Brisbane!

Last Friday Kevin, Clint, our new friend Justin and I decided to take a little adventure to Brisbane.

At around 2 pm we hopped on the bus toward Helensvale Railway where we would then catch a train to Brisbane.

All of us on the train!

On our orientation field trip to Byron Bay we made some friends who attend Griffith Universities campus in Brisbane.  They were nice enough to provide us with a place to stay for the night. 

Once we got their our hosts cooked us some sausages and hamburgers, on the barbie, and we washed those down with some Korean beer that had a very interesting name.

Think it really gives you clean skin?  I doubt it.

After dinner it was time to set out for a night on the town.

On the bus headed for the city

Some of the boys

The next morning Kevin, Clint, Justin and I woke up and headed back into the city to get something to eat and check out Brisbane.

Our first priority was to find a place to eat.  After walking around for awhile we found a Mexican restaurant and we decided we would give Australia's Mexican food a try.

The boys had burritos and beer.

While I had nachos,  which were actually pretty good...

and a diet coke!

After lunch we walked around the city of Brisbane for a little bit.  There was a market going on and I really wanted to look at all the different booths....but the boys didn't seem to have much patience for that so I had to refrain.

And in the middle of the market hung a man on a unicycle...

View from opposite direction

We also walked past a man playing a didgeridoo!

He wanted a picture with me...

He made me wear those ridiculous glasses!  I couldn't see a thing!

And because they don't have beaches in Brisbane they have to make their own.

On our way back to the train station  Kevin, Clint and I had a strong craving for some ice cream.  The first place we saw was Movenpick Ice Cream Shop.

The ice cream was a little over priced but who am I kidding...EVERYTHING is over priced in Australia!  Nevertheless my Creme Brulee hit the spot.

We made it to the train station with about three minutes to spare.  However, we realized that we were on the wrong side of the tracks for the way we wanted to go and we had go all the way around to the other side to catch our train.  We literally had to run, ice cream in hand, to make it on the train.  

We would have been fine, had we missed the train, because another train would be coming 30 minutes after this train but we were all tired and didn't want to have to sit in the cold for 30 more minutes.

We were all able to breath a sigh of relief when we sat down in our seats.

It was a great trip and we all had an amazing time!  I may just have to make a trip back to Brisbane on a Saturday, without the boys, so I can spend sometime at the Lifestyle Market!

Anna