Peace, Love, and I-N-D-I-A

(Jordan-your version is at the bottom)

International Impact trip to the Dominican
Republic in 2011

Throughout my college career at the University of Illinois, I've been blessed to have so many life changing experiences and could honestly say that I wouldn't have changes a thing over the past four years. One of the biggest life changers was becoming involved with a student organization called International Impact (ii). This amazing organization works with the various nonprofits abroad in order to send our members away over Winter and Summer Breaks for anywhere from 2 weeks to a few months. It was through ii that I was able to volunteer in the Dominican Republic my junior year and that I was able to have the opportunity to volunteer in India over this past Winter Break. Sonam, the president of ii this year also doubled as our group leader which worked out seamlessly seeing as she has family in the Delhi area where we would be volunteering. I honestly had the most amazing time and got to see everything from people sleeping and pissing in the streets to the Taj Mahal. I tried to keep a somewhat journal of all the activities we jam-packed into the few weeks that we were there, but anybody that knows me should already realize that for one, my memory is the worst, and that two, I can't really stick to a plan/commitment to save my life so things might be a little hazy.

Pre-India Briefer:

  When looking into plane tickets in January 2011 when this trip first started to come together, we had been expecting to see ticket prices around $1700 which would be the first of my expensive airfare purchases for the year but stifling nonetheless. I barely had that much in my bank account so I was already having a mini freakout about which organ to sell but was pleasantly surprised when we starting finding tickets along the lines of $1400. We immediately called a meeting for the next night to try and get our tickets before the airlines caught wind that they would be doing me a huge solid and were able to score tickets for about $1200.. with the only catch being that we would leave on Christmas Eve. This was definitely a detail I tried to conceal from mi madre who was already a tad upset that I would be planning on not only leaving her for a semester, but that I would be turning right back around and leaving on the ever cherished Christmas Eve. But all in all it worked out beautifully.. she finally forgave me and dropped me off at the bus the day before I left only three short weeks after getting back from Australia so I could spend my last night in the US in good ol' Chicago before shipping out the next day.

Week 1:

Our welcome to the Delhi airport

Michelle napping in Amman, Jordan

   After spending over 30 hours in an airplane just weeks prior to leaving for India, to say that I was less than enthused for the 21 hour trip to India would be a huge understatement. Fortunately, I discovered the open bar status of international flights from my last endeavor so I was able to keep myself mildly entertained as I no longer can sleep on planes.. even with the aids of heavy duty sleeping meds and O.D.'ing on Dramamine. But one of the most memorable moments of my whole India trip would definitely be the smell of the air after Sonam's cousins Nicky, Micky, and Dicky, picked up us from the airport. As we walked into the foggy haze that is Delhi at all times, the smell was completely indescribable. It was almost as if you could smell the pollution that hungover the city like a plague. The ride to the rest house in Gurgoan that we were staying at was also one of the more memorable, clarifying moments. I don't think it really hit me that I was actually in India until we were zooming through traffic on the opposite side of the road, with cars, rickshaws, trucks, and people on bikes in every which lane with Bollywood music playing in the background. It was then that I began to pick up the traffic patterns and picked up the phrase that would soon be the theme for the trip, "Only in I-N-D-I-A"..

Good ol' rickshaw ride through town

Brahman cows have free reign all over India and chill where they please  :)

A lady randomly invited us into her home when we stopped to
 eat some guavas from a street vendor and she was gracious enough
to show us her house including her daughter and the cot that
they shared as a bed outdoors

The traffic:  To say that the lines on the road didn't qualify as a mild suggestion would be a severe understatement. There are absolutely zero rules to the road. If you want to drive your moped with your two year old sitting on the handlebars and your wife and newborn on the back into oncoming traffic... go for it! Wanna take your camel drawn carriage on the highway?? Cool beans! The highways which were supposed to be 4 lanes across were at any given point 6-7 lanes deep as people honk their horns and drive every which way they please. Definitely an invigorating experience and one that I miss on the boring roads in Champaign/Urbana.

Should've just hitched a ride with these guys^

  For the most part we relied on either Sonam's family or auto-rickshaws for transportation however the metro is surprising really nice and convenient and cheap (we're talking pennies here!). The auto-rickshaws were an experience in themselves. Catching one is not the problem, especially if you look remotely foreign so they can charge you an outrageous fee, it's actually getting where you're going that's the problem and not having a heart attack in the process. My volunteer group didn't have too much of an issue since Rachit speaks Hindi but the other group had an issue where the driver didn't know where the place they wanted to go was so they ended up driving around in the rickshaw, picking up random people on the way, before being dropped off in some random location with the driver trying to charge them an arm and a leg. I think that most of the drivers are on some type of substance but it just makes the ride that more invigorating, but accidents do happen so be careful!

Auto-rickshaws designed to fit 3
semi-comfortably would be seen
with close to 10 at times

  The first day that we were there was by far one of the most jam-packed day of my life. We arrived at the Delhi airport at around 5am and were literally on the move until jet-lag shut us down at around 9pm. We met up with more of Sonam's family and went to a palace of a famous Bollywood actor and ate our first Indian meal, visited a breathtaking Buddhist temple, got to check out the Rest House we would be staying in, and went to see a few of Sonam's relatives. While we were driving down one of the roads there were definitely a few things that stuck out as being very different from the likes of the US and Australia. I feel like Australia and India are definitely two different extremes and the US would be somewhere in the middle so it was weird being able to compare and contrast all the cultural differences.

For one, the trash and pollution. Australia was a neat freak, some might even say she was OCD about it. There was never any trash lying around, the rivers and beaches were spotless, and the 'Go Green' movement was evvverywhere. In India, I think I saw a public trash can (rubbish bin for the Brits reading this) maybe once, and all other trash was on the ground, evvverywhere. Literally the streets and sidewalks were covered with it, and on these same trash filled sidewalks,

you would find people sleeping there, sitting outside of the their makeshift homes made from any and every loose material, or stray dogs, pigs, and cows picking through the trash. The air was a lot different as well. I went from the ocean scented air and blue clear skies of Australia to the polluted haze that permanently hung over Delhi to the point where you couldn't even see the hand in front of your face some mornings. But overall, I fell in love with the country completely. It was a totally different culture than I was used to and to steal the wise words of my brother Ryan, "I loved the shit out of it".

Makeshift home along the side of the road next to the
fields of mustard

Week 1:

Our lovely bathroom and "bath"

   We got settled into the Rest House in Gurgoan fairly easily and didn't actually sleep too bad on the cots and managed the bathroom situation fairly well. They don't have showers there, just a big bucket that you fill up with water, then use a smaller bucket to pour the water over yourself while you sit on a stool by the drain in the middle of the bathroom. We also quickly learned that they don't use toilet paper there.. at all. So carrying tissues around with you everywhere is must. Next to the toilet you'll notice a faucet which you use to fill your hand with and take care of things that way :)

Our group trying to introduce the game "Little Sally Walker"
to the kids which would end up ruining our lives for hours
at a time

  We also got to start working at SearchYears and meet all the great kids we would be working with. SearchYears is a nonprofit that provides after school services for kids in the area where they get to practice and develop the arts. They also are strong contributors in the community and put on theatric shows and also helped raised money so that one of their own could get the open heart surgery that he needed. The kids were so excited to have us there and welcomed us to partake in their salsa dancing classes (which I suck at), tai kwon do class (again.. suck), and would share their sugar cane as we sat singing songs and learning how to play a few of India's instruments.

Saree shop in Delhi Haat

  Apart from the school, we were able to go and explore what Delhi has to offer such as the Delhi Haat which is a gigantic market place with everything from scarves, tapestries, hookahs, bangles, and food from every corner of Asia. Everything was so cheap comparatively and I even got to work on my bargaining skills! I've come to realize that when it comes to being a foreigner, American especially, you're bound to get ripped off anywhere you go. With bargaining, you take the price they tell you, cut it in half and even that's more than the actual cost. But it's really only a few extra dollars to us and this is these people's lively hood so you just have to suck it up and realize that it won't be the last time that you get ripped off. But definitely a great experience at the markets and an amazing environment! We also got to go see a movie, Don II, which is the Indian equivalent of Mission Impossible. Even though it was in Hindi, it wasn't too hard to keep up. Staying awake on the other hand was the major issue as it was four hours long and jet-lag was still lingering.

  One of the things that I soon figured out about India was that there security was a lot tighter than ours surprisingly enough. I've always complained about our airport security and how unfair it is that due to my dad my brothers and I get "randomly" checked for shoe bombs, nitroglycerine traces on our hands, and privately searched and patted down whenever we travel. But just to get into the mall, movies, and onto the metro you have to get felt up and send your belongings through a metal detector. They won't even let you take coffee into the train station, and there's no garbage cans so you just have to put it with the rest of the trash lining the sidewalks and walk away and ask good ol' Baba Ganesh for forgiveness.

Us all after successfully making it through the mall security
to go bowling for the night at one of the seventy malls
in Gurgoan

Week 2

Group of kids the other group gave a health presentation to

  The group of eight that I went with unfortunately had to be split into two different volunteer groups in order to accommodate for all of us. As I mentioned earlier, I was in the group working with the kids while the other group of four were able to follow medical students as they worked at a clinic in the slums of Delhi. They learned everything from how the two main killers of infants is tetanus and anemia due to their lifestyles and how the husband's mother has more of a say in the prenatal and natal care for the mother than she does. In the US, it's preached that the first breast milk to be produced is by far the healthiest as it provides the baby with the most antibodies and nutrients. In India, despite the doctors and medical students telling the young mothers otherwise, the mothers-in-law don't allow the first breast milk to be used as it is viewed as dirty and unclean. It was a real eye opener to hear how traditional parts of India still are. One of Sonam's cousins was discussing how the abortion rate for unmarried women was somewhere around 90% while a recent article I read in the New York Times found that the majority of mothers under 30 aren't even married in the US. Once again, traditional values difference at it's best.

Me, Michelle, and Kevin (K-Fed) at Strikers,
a"Chicago style" bar in Gurgoan

 Fortunately for my group working at SearchYears we were able to have Mondays off which we made sure to take full advantage of. We would do yoga in the yard in the mornings, venture out on the metro system which was surprisingly better than Chicago's in my opinion, and explore what Delhi had to offer. We went to Khan Market which was another large market area in which we could pick up beautiful Indian clothes and I even found a bookstore where I could get books for about $2. They had amazing restaurants and a hookah bar and we ended up going back to Khan Market quite a few times.   Throughout the week we would spend our days at SearchYears writing a newsletter for the organization and then playing with the kids all afternoon. The evenings were spent going to karaoke bars that only played good ol' American music.. we even made a few friends that insisted we sing some Cranberries with them before we left. We also got to celebrate New Years with Sonam's cousins and friends which was amazing to say I brought 2012 drinking KingFisher Strong and eating butter paneer and naan. So far I've been abroad for the past two years to bring in the New Year so if anyone has any ideas about how to top India for next year let me know!

The "toilet" at SearchYears

 By this time my stomach was really angry with me to say the least for all the Indian food that we'd been devouring and the water in our rest house had been off for a few days. The toilets in India are pretty much just porcelain holes in the ground that you squat over so you really get know yourself on a hole new level :) Our bathroom kinda turned into a running joke without running water which made things fun. We would go a few days without water, the staff had no idea what to do about it and "sent a plumber" two or three times. We woke up a few mornings at 3am after the water had been off and we hadn't bathed in days to water pouring out of every single faucet 'Exorcism of Emily Rose' style which reeeeally freaked us out. Britney also made friends with someone that had climbed on the roof and was looking into our bathroom window while she was changing which was a fun day. If we were really desperate for a bath we would venture to the guy's bathroom which was whole nother experience. Any faucet you touched shocked the sh*t out of ya... not just an unpleasant buzz.. but a pretty decent zap. So you had to get creative with ways for turning the water on and off. Only in I-N-D-I-A..

  On the weekend we went to Jaipur in Rajisthan where Rachit has family at. Jaipur was a breathtaking city and definitely a big change from Delhi. Jaipur didn't have the grogginess and pollution that Delhi had. Jaipur also had the most beautiful forts that were centuries old and way up in the mountains, I highly recommend visiting it if you're in the area. We had the opportunity to drive up half the way to one of the forts, then take an elephant up the rest of the way. We also went to the Chowkidhini Festival where we had a traditional Rajisthani meal, got our palms read (Jesse Childress.. sorry bout it but we're getting married apparently), road a camel, played hide n' seek, and got to buy some more artwork. It was an amazing weekend spent dancing on stages with the traditional dances, dodging stray cows and pigs in the middle of the road, and trying not to get ripped off too bad.

 After visiting Jaipur we were able to venture over to Agra which was a few hours away and see the Taj Mahal. Everyone had always talked about how amazing the Taj was and how you couldn't leave India without seeing it so when they told us that we were in Agra I thought they were joking. It was actually dirtier than Delhi and seemed a lot more worn down which seemed like quite a bizarre place to house one of the Seven Wonders of the World. So if you ever go, make it a day trip only. I highly recommend not staying in Agra and just renting a car or taking a bus to go for the day. But the Taj was absolutely breathtaking. It was built by Shah Jahan and it took twenty two years to build. He built it for his wife as a testament to his undying love after she died giving birth to their like fourteenth kid. It's a truly breathtaking sight as it is completely made of white marble and the ground has been dug out some twenty feet behind it so it appears to be the only thing on the horizon... simply amazing.

Jaipur, aka the Pink City, market entrance

Dancing with the traditional Rajisthani dancers

Giant sundial

Our group with Rachit's family

  Week 3

 This was definitely a tough week as we all realized that it was our last week in good ole I-N-D-I-A. It was tough going into the school everyday and spending time with the kids knowing that our days were numbered. Just like in the Dominican, there's always a few kids that you get ultra attached to and it makes it that much harder to say goodbye. On the last day, I gave the kids a presentation on Australia as they were all interested on where I had studied abroad at and Michelle gave one on Columbia as that's where her mom is from. Poor Michelle has the most beautiful complexion that could be confused as being Indian so she was always getting weird looks and creeped on especially hard core on the trains and in bars. But the kids loved the presentations and when we asked if they had any questions, they only wanted to know if we could teach them the words to the dancing game we played with them for hooouuurs called "Little Sally Walker". It was so tough saying goodbye but we were able to spend our last day with the kids playing music and having dance offs... the sprinkler toootally made an appearance :)

  We spent our evenings and last days off going to mosques and temples and local attractions. We went and meditated in Lodi Gardens, visited the Swaminarayan temple Akshardham which in my book may have been more astounding than the Taj Mahal, and got trapped in an auto-rickshaw for two hours as a gigantic procession with a full fledge band and speakers in the middle of the road blocked traffic completely. We also got to go see a Broadway style Bollywood show which was absolutely amazing between the colors and dancing and enjoyed the food court with food from every corner of India.. love love love.

A mosque at the Lodi Gardens in Delhi

The Swaminarayan Akshardham is a Hindu temple that I think may have been
more astonishing that the Taj. There are no cameras allowed and as you walk
through the granite halls barefoot you'll never feel more at peace with life. It's
and absolute MUST if you're in the area. Plan to spend hours there exploring!

The 11 ft gilded murti of Bagwan Swaminarayan, the deity to
whom the complex is dedicated to. 

  It was so hard to leave as I've never been more at peace with life. It was definitely a nice change of pace as the culture is so vivid and lively compared to the laid back culture of Perth. Throughout all of the clamor of people literally being everywhere all the time, it was truly beautiful to see how the country works together. If you put that many Americans or Australians together in that amount of space in those conditions, someone would die and brawls and fights would be rampant. There were definitely arguments that you would witness numerous times a day whether it be some beggar grabbing you while you sit in the rickshaw at a stoplight or someone cutting in the lines that they don't have.. but after it's said and done it's done. There's not a huge brawl with everyone stepping in, it's just an altercation and then life moves on.

Jam Sesh at the music teachers house
after volunteering 

  I definitely plan on going back to India one day but after reading the life-changing book Shantaram which was recommended by a friend in Perth, my next trip will definitely be to Bombay and hopefully in the capacity of volunteering in the slums which are apparently Slumdog Millionaire status. But only time will tell. I had the most amazing experience with the most amazing people and my stomach didn't even fall out entirely thanks to 72 tablets and 2 bottles of Peptobismal :)


Peace, Love, and I-N-D-I-A

Reader's Digest Version for Jordan:
 You may or may not have noticed but I left the country for a few weeks.. no biggie. I volunteered at a school, picked up some cool Hindi phrases, road an elephant and a camel, went the bars, saw the Taj, am looking to convert to Hinduism.. be ready for that shit storm if grandpa catches wind, and took a picture of a cow for ya. Charlie would have a hay day, since they don't eat beef there the cows run rampant and just chill out with ya. My stomach fell out for the last two weeks and the toilets are holes in the ground with no toilet paper which was an experience to say the least. But I'm home now so it's time to start planning our next adventure.

Home Sweet.. Wait where's my room?

Mom picking me up from the airport from Australia 

Soo the road to recovery and re-adjustment after returning home from Australia was quite the tough one. While it was so amazing to see my mom at the airport, it doesn't completely counteract the trauma suffered from leaving such an amazing place. Over the course of the 31 hour flight, I cried for about 3 of them, slept for a whopping total of 6 hours, and then drank through the rest (open bar on international flights!). I was also fortunate to be surrounded by the Australian youth boy's basketball team for two out of my three flights which only contributed to my drinking tendencies more as they insisted on asking to me the whoooole flight asking if they could pass as 21 year olds in Vegas and not just a prepubescent 9 year old.. I sadly broke the news to them that not only did they not have a chance in hell, but also that their prized TimTams were unavailable in the States so they might as well save their new winter coats and head home for next 11 years. But other than that my flights were pretty decent apart from missing one of them and then sitting behind a foul smelling guy wearing a tshirt and shorts to Chicago that took up two seats. The first thing that I did upon arriving at O'Hare was get a big ol' Peppermint Mocha Latte from Starbucks. After being Starbucks-deprived for the past 5 months it was just the pick-me-up I needed before beginning the search for mi madre and Rheanna. It was so good to finally see them and I was very glad when they didn't find offense in my sleeping the whole way home after being awake for a full 25 hours. The night only got better when my mom surprised me by taking me to Monicals when we finally got back to Rantoul and had my whole family waiting there. It's the small things in life like Monicals, Starbucks, and family that mean the most :)

Christmas 2011 we the whole gang

 While I was only home for 3 weeks, I was able to see a lot of my friends and family and was able to recover from the crippling jetlag after about 2 weeks and even went to see Jordan in Missouri for a week. But while it was good to be seeing everyone that I'd missed so much.. it was definitely different being home and even now a full two months later it still doesn't feel like the past 6 months were real. I am so envious of my friends that were able to stay in Australia for a full year and have lived vicariously through them as they backpack the East Coast and go everywhere from Bali to Tasmania. I know that one day I'll be able to go back though and experience everything that I missed and so much more. I think the only thing that kept me from having a complete breakdown those long three weeks was the promise of India and new adventure it would surely bring with. I also was able to see my family and friends that I had missed so much and things began to slowly feel like home again. With me leaving Christmas Eve, Jordan living in Missouri, and Ryan living in Canada, we decided to have Nygaard Christmas early to appease all the schedules. Apparently I missed the whole "bring your significant other to Christmas" memo and felt like the tides had finally turned as Ryan and Jordan (yes, Jordan!) brought their lady friends along and it was so great to get to spend the holiday with them as well. But as can be expected, the weeks whirled by and it was time to go again with me doing my traditional pack-the-day-of technique that has worked so well in the past. So with my mom dropping me off at the bus stop I said goodbye to her and Champaign/Urbana yet again (and definitely not for the last time) to begin a whole new life journey.

  

Ameriwhat?? Nope, not me

So there's good news and bad news. The bad news is that there are apparently gigantic earthworms of mass porportions lurking in the aussie soil that grow up to 3m long and you can hear them move under the soil if you step over where their tunnels are. I can deal with the snakes and lizards and waking up to giant cockroaches chilling on my bed and hanging out in the kitchen as well as the spiders larger than my fist.. not even a big deal.. the snails I've been able to manage aka Lachy carries me from the car to the door every night when they're out.. but giant earthworms... oh hells no. Not up in here. At first this was horrifying and devastating as it means that I could never sustain a permanent residence here, but the good news is that Lachy pointed out that we have them in the US as well and I somehow survived that so I guess coming back to Australia permanently isn't completely off the table.. as long as I stay as far away from the East Coast as possible.. which is coincidentally where Perth is located. Woman and children please shield your eyes as the image displayed below may be highly troublesome and invoke nightmares and profuse bedwetting.



 This past week was fortunately our "study" break in which we have zero classes and can prepare both mentally and physically for our exams to come over the next two weeks.  Naturally instead of studying I went on a last mintue trip down south by Margaret River. South of Perth is completely different from its cousins up North that we toured on our roadtrip.. for starters, it's green. Instead of the red dirt covered plains up North,  the Southern part of WA offers numerous vineyards and the livestock isn't just chilling in the middle of the road like up North but in contained fields where they look actually healthy. The drive done was absolutely stunning as was our resort we stayed at. We lucked out and Emma's aunt that lives here booked a room for Emma and her cousins but unfortunately they were unable to go so we made it a girl's fake-weekend and Sam, Lauren, and I made the journey.

 Def a lot different from my last roadtrip as this place had an actualy jacuzzi spa and two huge double beds, full kitchen, a tav less than 500m away and the beach within a 5 minute walking distant. We were able to just hang out and drink bottles of wine in the jacuzzi after playing/attemping pool in the tav the first night and were lucky enough to meet up with a group of our other international friends that went on a real roadtrip down south a week earlier. They hadn't showered in a few days so they were pretty happy to crash in our room. We were able to all catch up while playing a few games and it made for such a nice escape from the reality of finals approaching. The beach was amazing however it was a little chilly so only a few of us actually went in and attempted to surf, it also helps that someone got eaten by a shark down at Margaret River a few weeks ago so we all weren't overly keen on jumping right in. But now that we're back in good ol' Perth it's back to business.

  This week I have an exam Thurs, Fri, and my worst one next Tues. At first I was pretty stoked about my schedule since I had extra time to study but now that everyones finishing up by Wednesday for the most part I'm realizing the extent of how devastating my Tuesday 70% of my grade Bioenergetics exam could be. It's so sad because everyones starting to plan their summer trips or their going away parties so in less than two weeks everyone will be literally all over the world which means goodbye. I've started studying for the bioenergetics exam now (yes over a week in advance.. my life is in shambles this I know) so that I can try and make as many as the events as possible as it may be the last time I see so many of these amazing people. After calling the airlines there's a glimmer of hope that I may be able to stay until Dec 10th which would be amazing. I miss so many people back at home, especially my mum, Stevo, and other Sarah and so many more but I figure this will be the last time I'm here until I graduate so I might as well make the most of it. Lindsey and I have looked into maybe flying out to Melbourne on the 1st, getting a rental car and doing essentially what we did for the Northern Adventure and just making our way up to Sydney to fly out around the 9th. There's so many great things on the East Coast such as the Blue Mountains and the 12 Disciples rocks that would be amazing to see. Even if I can't make it to the East Coast it would be so worth the extra money just to spend an extra 10 days here in the warmth before returning to the frigid cold. However, all of this depends on the immunizations needed for India and whether or not I can just drug myself up in that short amount of time or if I can get what I need here.. hopefully I'll be able to figure that all out in a few days. Otherwise I have about two weeks left which will surely fly by especially with  Jordan and the fam to coming down and explore the little piece of heaven that is Australia for themselves which I'm super pumped about. But I should really stop procrastinating and do some actual work. I'm still waiting to hear back from Teach for America, I got pushed through to the final interview round which was exciting but I found out about it about 3 hours before the 2 hour exam that needed to be completed for it was due so we'll see how that works out.. hopefully the liquid courage pumping through my veins helped a little bit.. only time will tell. If not South Korea here I come!!

 Jordan-  I went down South to Margaret River where hopefully I'll be taking you and the fam when you come down :) Only about a weekish left, get excited!! Except there's giant worms here (refer to horrifying picture above) so please try and bring Sydneykins to sort that out. I have exams, they're gunna be rough but I'm still willing to bet that tattoo that I still get a better GPA than you this semester. BTW the minimum for a tattoo here is $120.. so hopefully I win this bet. But see ya in a week! Don't forget tomato soup, only 2 cans left!!





Change in Scenery/Standards

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.

Aaron and Hazel jumping on my bed the day I moved out :(

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.

good ol' back porch

Lindsey and mines room :)

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.

Will with the bike we found down the street.. best. day. ever.

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!





If you look closely we managed to spell out "Australia"



The sea turtles doing their thing




 

Tropic of Capricorn!! We all signed the back of it as well to leave our mark :)

Waterfall at Karijini National Park

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:

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.