So I realize that I am quite possibly the world's worst blogger as I post things about a month late and far and few between but things have been pretty busy as usual. Jordan and anyone else that doesn't feel like reading this novel of a post, there is a reader's digest version at the very bottom as promised and you can look at the pictures on the way down.. there's even captions just for you!!
But classes have wound down which is absolutely mortifying. I am completely done with classes, then we have a 1 week "study" break, followed by a 2 week exam period. Unfortunately, I have a few exams that are worth 70% of my grade and I wouldn't exactly call my class attendance rate a success but I'm sure it'll all sort itself out. I lucked out and have exams the 17th, 18th, and 22nd of November which leaves a week or two to just live the life before shipping out. However, I still need to call and try and push back my ticket if I can without selling a vital organ to fund it. I had this stroke of geniusness the other day and had the thought to cancel my ticket home and change my ticket to India so I left from here but of course I can't change any departures with my India ticket, just the travel dates. So the good news mom is that I have to come home! Unless I can't get my Indian Visa in time which at this point in time seems pretty plausible unfortunately. But we'll see how things work out, thanks to the Qantas strike resulting in like 20,000 people being grounded a week or so ago on top of another fleet being grounded once the strike was over due to a possible tampering issue it's been absolutely impossible to talk to anyone about changing my ticket so I plan on just going to the airport sometime this week to check out my options.
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| Aaron and Hazel jumping on my bed the day I moved out :( |
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| Eating ice cream down at the beach when I came back for a visit |
The big news this week is that I have a new humble abode. I was literally "that" girl crying on the train after I left Catherine and Ed's for the last time which makes me nervous for the poor lad that gets stuck next to me on the plane ride home.. the unfortunate soul will surely be covered in tears and snot and will probably just resort to sitting in the aisle to leave me alone in my despair.. but we'll cross that bridge when we get there I suppose. But I have officially moved into Carolyn (the house in Mt. Claremont) with my 3 British friends and Lindsey. As much as I wish I could've stayed with the host fam as they offered a spiderless house, amazing showers, and the most adorable kids to walk this planet, financially it wasn't quite feasible. I miss the Lumb family so much but have had the chance to go back and visit a few times to keep up my necessary doses :) This past weekend I was able to stop by and go with Cath and the kids to the beach where we got ice cream and watched the kids play on the play area. Hazel sat in Aaron's melted chocolate ice cream which resulted in a stain in the most unfortunate place which almost brought Catherine and I to tears from laughing. Aaron has turned into quite the adventurer and could jump off steps for hours it would seem. I was so incredibly blessed to find the best host family anyone could ever ask for and it's going to be so hard to leave them and go home. It'll be nice having this upcoming week off from classes so I can go back and visit for a few days. They have been the best psuedo fam I could have asked for and even gave me the "be safe" talk prior to moving out after there was a runner that got raped in Mt. Claremont coincidentally the night before I moved in. But no worries mom, considering the condition of the shower and lack of hot water at Carolyn I should be smelling pretty rank so I'll be safe from attackers for sure.
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| good ol' back porch |
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| Lindsey and mines room :) |
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| The lovely kitchen |
Another blessing is that I have made the most amazing friends here and John, Will, and Tom offered Lindsey and I the mattress in the living room as a rent free space. Ryan and Jordan don't worry, there's nothing shady going on... Lindsey and I have exchanged cooking occasionally and cleaning for their generosity. Living in Carolyn is what I would like to call extreme indoor camping. Its quite possibly the best living situation ever as what could be better than living with all your best friends under one roof, and the house gives it a special touch. The living room, aka our bedroom, has a few leaks in it which gives it character but it also has it's own ecosystem which is pretty cool. There's little lizards running around on the windows everywhere as well as spiders. Yes there are Huntsmen spiders which are the most lethal in Australia but they aren't aggressive so as long as we don't roll over on them while we're sleeping we should be good. The only concern I have for the house is the fact that there is only one window that faces the sea which means that here in a week or so when the temp gets above 30 degrees celcius we are surely screwed. It's going to be very very hot in the house but we've already discussed the matter and have a "no judging" policy when it comes to walking around the house in swimsuits or lack of clothes 24/7. I have a feeling that most of our time will be spent on either the back or front porch with the obscenely large lizards and snakes that are lurking in the yard since they haven't mowed it at all. But all and all I'm really excited to spend my last few weeks there. It never gets old waiting to see what major life fail has happened for Will whenever we hear the patented "ah ah ahhhh" from Will's room. So far he's missed an exam or 2, found out the night before about a 3000 word essay or just the general water spills or wardrobe malfunctions. John walks around in his boxers about 80% of the time he's home and Tom is just indescribable.. he always reiterates that its "exhausting being Tom Russel" and will ask you to lift the cup for him since he can't be bothered lifting it himself to take a drink.
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| Will with the bike we found down the street.. best. day. ever. |
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| The latest addition to the Nygaard clan.. Ryan and Jordan be scared |
Soo in other news we carved pumpkins a few weeks ago! They aren't the orange pumpkins like we have at home but Lindsey and I thought that it was time we celebrated October proper American style. We also got Simone our Italian friend to join seeing as he has never carved pumpkins before but he toootttally loved it and has promised to spread the trend when he goes home. Mission accomplished. Other events from the week include a pub quiz with a burlesque theme with Lachy and the Engineering Club which was pretty interesting even though we lost. The engineers here are a complete 180 from the engineers at home. For one, they aren't 79% Asian and two, they drink. I lucked out and met Lachy (pronounced Lock-ee, short for Lachlan) at an international student event and he couldnt resist my salvation army clothes I was rocking and I was instantly drawn in to his trash-stache he was sporting. Fortunately the mustache got shaved after he was done competing for uni games over our break. We also went to the Guild Ball later that week as well which was absolutely amazing. But more photos from the roadtrip have started to pop up so here's a few more to share!
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| If you look closely we managed to spell out "Australia" |
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| The sea turtles doing their thing |
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| Tropic of Capricorn!! We all signed the back of it as well to leave our mark :) |
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| Waterfall at Karijini National Park |
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| A view from the hike up Mount Bruce |
We also had the End of Semester events this past week which made for a nice end to the semester. I still can't believe it's over, I have no idea how it went by so fast. I made Sam and Maria promise to backhand me if I turned into "that" girl crying in the corner at one of the end of semester events. Thursday night we had a cocktail party at the Subiaco Hotel for all the international students which was way past fun. Apart from Maria and I losing our phones and Sam and I slicing our feet open on broken glass it was an absolutely amazing night. The people that I have met here are all such amazing individuals and I can't wait to cross paths with them again in the future. On Friday there was an end of semester event on Oak Lawn which is
comparable to our quad at the U of I which was absolutely amazing as well. They had tents set up and a band and everyone from uni could come and just hang out on the lawn all day listening to the music and catching up. I got the chance to catch up with Shmanda finally which was amazing so definitely count that as a win for the day. Later that night we all headed to a rave that the Lawyers Faculty hosted which was an amazing time as well. Unfortunately due to my feet being tore up the night before I couldn't wear shoes which resulted in a few more pieces of glass being lodged in my feet but fortunately Lachy's step mom was nice enough to tear off some of their aloe vera plants so I've been putting that on mixed with his rugby tape and they're healing quite nicely :)
As for now, I am currently procastinating on registering for my last semester of classes :( I never really thought this day would come and I'm so not ready for the future. As we're starting to plan more stuff for the India trip I can't wait for that although I'm scared about my stomach dropping out. Catherine helped me start getting used to curry by making a few curry dishes and ordering some India food while I was there but I'll have to do major stomach conditioning when I return home. Tom graciously offered to just not cook a chicken all the way through in order to prepare but I think I might pass. I also made it to the final interview for Teach for America so that is exciting as well. I also plan on applying for the PeaceCorp still as well as a few teaching or au pair jobs abroad and a 15 month accelerated nursing program with other Sarah as I can't imagine not enduring the pain of nursing school without her. I apologize for the lengthiness.. the guys don't have internet at their house and neither does Lachy so the only access to internet is at uni and I don't have a converter for to use my laptop so I can't upload any photos but hopefully this will suffice!
Jordan- Here is your Reader's Digest version as promised:
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| Sam's dog that has become pseudo-Syd |
I moved out of my host fam's a few weeks ago, definitely cried over that one. Moved into Mt. Claremont with the 3 Brits and are currently living in their living room. Picture your house, now add a working laundry machine, and take away the infested couch and add a few poisonous spiders and that's basically what we're dealing with here. I'm super pumped for you to come down in a few weeks and I think all of my friends are sick of my countdown I have going. I carved some pumpkins, fell in a pool, have glass lodged in my foot and lost my phone but someone walking their dog found it and returned it. My class attendance is comparable to yours but I guarantee and am willing to bet a tattoo on the fact that I will still get better grades than you. I miss you, please tell Syd I said hi and I miss him too.
Another blessing is that I have made the most amazing friends here and John, Will, and Tom offered Lindsey and I the mattress in the living room as a rent free space. Ryan and Jordan don't worry, there's nothing shady going on... Lindsey and I have exchanged cooking occasionally and cleaning for their generosity. Living in Carolyn is what I would like to call extreme indoor camping. Its quite possibly the best living situation ever as what could be better than living with all your best friends under one roof, and the house gives it a special touch. The living room, aka our bedroom, has a few leaks in it which gives it character but it also has it's own ecosystem which is pretty cool. There's little lizards running around on the windows everywhere as well as spiders. Yes there are Huntsmen spiders which are the most lethal in Australia but they aren't aggressive so as long as we don't roll over on them while we're sleeping we should be good. The only concern I have for the house is the fact that there is only one window that faces the sea which means that here in a week or so when the temp gets above 30 degrees celcius we are surely screwed. It's going to be very very hot in the house but we've already discussed the matter and have a "no judging" policy when it comes to walking around the house in swimsuits or lack of clothes 24/7. I have a feeling that most of our time will be spent on either the back or front porch with the obscenely large lizards and snakes that are lurking in the yard since they haven't mowed it at all. But all and all I'm really excited to spend my last few weeks there. It never gets old waiting to see what major life fail has happened for Will whenever we hear the patented "ah ah ahhhh" from Will's room. So far he's missed an exam or 2, found out the night before about a 3000 word essay or just the general water spills or wardrobe malfunctions. John walks around in his boxers about 80% of the time he's home and Tom is just indescribable.. he always reiterates that its "exhausting being Tom Russel" and will ask you to lift the cup for him since he can't be bothered lifting it himself to take a drink. 
Soo in other news we carved pumpkins a few weeks ago! They aren't the orange pumpkins like we have at home but Lindsey and I thought that it was time we celebrated October proper American style. We also got Simone our Italian friend to join seeing as he has never carved pumpkins before but he toootttally loved it and has promised to spread the trend when he goes home. Mission accomplished. Other events from the week include a pub quiz with a burlesque theme with Lachy and the Engineering Club which was pretty interesting even though we lost. The engineers here are a complete 180 from the engineers at home. For one, they aren't 79% Asian and two, they drink. I lucked out and met Lachy (pronounced Lock-ee, short for Lachlan) at an international student event and he couldnt resist my salvation army clothes I was rocking and I was instantly drawn in to his trash-stache he was sporting. Fortunately the mustache got shaved after he was done competing for uni games over our break. We also went to the Guild Ball later that week as well which was absolutely amazing. But more photos from the roadtrip have started to pop up so here's a few more to share!
