It still hasn't hit...

My time here is running out...and FAST! The strange thing is that it has not even hit me yet that I am in Australia-silly I know, but its true!!!!!!!! I hate thinking about leaving so much. It feels like just yesterday we were all walking around saying "where are you from, where do you go to school?". Now I am having to ask all my phenomenal friends "when are you flying home?". I hate that so much! Time here flew by way too fast, just like everyone told me it would...

Sorry for not blogging for awhile. The last few weeks have been nuts. I went to Surfer's Paradise a few weekends ago and came back and found my computer to have crashed when I was gone. I was heartbroken and thought I lost ALL of my pictures/videos/music/etc. I was so disappointed. I took my computer in and they replaced my hard drive and some how (some HUGE miracle) they were able to retrieve almost everything I had before, including all of my pictures! The technicians working there said they have never seen that happen before and that I was one lucky little girl. I would have to agree with them-I was screaming and shouting and all over the place with excitement! Between my computer crashing and finals being last week I have not really gotten a change to update you all.

School is out here-watch out! I am so glad to be done with classes, as far as I know I did pretty well in all of them.

Slowly but surely I am getting anxious to come home. Between missing graduations, Calli getting her drivers license, Amy/Calli sleepovers, motorcycling with mom/dad- I think I am getting ready to head back home. As much as I absolutely love it here, I do miss some things at home. My bed for example...and Taco Bell...and my puppies....and having a job (more so having money come in)....ALL of the adorable children I get to babysit for....just to name a few :) July 2nd is going to be here so soon! I actually fly out of Australia on the 26th of June but am heading to Hawaii for a few days! I am SO SO pumped!!! Rough life I know....

Tomorrow morning I am heading to Sydney for the night. My friends and I are going to this church called Hillsong. Apparently it is one of the most popular in Australia. I read that on any given weekend over 20,000 people attend! Pretty sweet eh?

Monday night we fly out of Sydney and are heading to the South Island of New Zealand. I am going with my friends Chase, David, Pat, Jill, and Paige. While there we plan on bungy jumping (at the highest one in the world), snowboarding in the mountains, and climb glaciers. I have a hunch it'll be a pretty sweet trip. I get back on the 15th and will be sure to let you all know how it went!

Miss everyone heaps! See you before you know it....

XOXO
Stac

Get some!

Why hello there,

Its been awhile since I have actually blogged-sorry! I just put up a bunch of pictures-hope that was not too annoying to look at. Last week was easily one of the best weeks I have had here, and nothing too eventful happened. Just spent lots of time hanging out with all of my amazing friends here. I cannot even begin to express how much I am going to miss them all.

It drives me crazy that I literally have a month left here. AHAHHHHHH! I hate that. I hate that so much. I don't want to leave. Life is so easy-going and relaxed down here. Imagine a life free of ANY stress for at 4 months at a time, because that is exactly how my life has been down here! Seriously no stress whatsoever. It is unbelievable.

Some of you may be wondering about classes. No worries-I may skip a few here or there to head to the beach or hang out with my friends but so far I have an A in every one of my classes! I am not kidding-I was pretty surprised myself :)

Classes finish up in 2 weeks, I cannot believe how fast time flew by! This weekend I am heading up to the Gold Coast with 13 other American students-I reckon it will be crazy fun. Then on the 6th I am planning on heading to New Zealand with a group of people, however we have yet to buy plane tickets.

Regardless the next month is going to be the best and worst time of my life. Best because I have a good solid month to simply hang out, without work/school getting in the way, with some of the coolest people on the planet. Worst because it won't be long before I have to say good-bye to them!

It is nice because all of my close friends here are from the states, so I will be able to see them pretty easily. However I also have quite a few Australian friends I don't want to leave, Sam and Thor being 2 of them. They are the coolest, most witty and charming fellas I know. The good thing about them is that Sam's dad lives in Minnesota so at some point he is going to HAVE to travel to the grand ol' Midwest and I reckon he will probably drag Thor along too! So at least I know I will get to see them again at some point.

However there is a group of Australian girls in one of my classes that are fantastic and the sad thing is that I may never get to see them again. They totally took me under their wing in my class and made me feel right at home. One of the girls, Steph, has helped me go over my papers and everything!!!!!!!!! She is so nice! They all are-yesterday they took me out for pizza, for no particular reason, just because. They are SUCH sweethearts and I am so glad I met them. I just wish there was more time to hang out with everyone...and am heaps sad that I am going to have to say good-bye soon.

Ok this is getting pretty long. I should probably get started on my homework.

Miss you guys at home. I will see you soon though. No worries.

Still living the dream :)

XOXO,
Stac

Living life the right way!

Adriana, Michelle and I trying to take a picture-we have SO much fun when we are all together- can you tell?? Hahaha I absolutely adore these 2 girls and miss them already....

Adriana, David and I out at one of the dance clubs :)

We LOVE to dance...

The girls breaking it down!

Some of our guy friends cooked dinner for us one night! It was delicious! And in the process of cooking for us, they may have had 1 too many drinks....

Monster Truck Rallies are just as hick in Australia as they are at home!

The fireworks at the end of the show were pretty cool!!

The crazy Demo Derby-everyone thought it was so crazy, but it was pretty weak compared to the ones at home! Still heaps of fun to watch...

The crew I went with: Jill, Kristy, Max, Kyle, Jess, Eddie and Stefan. We had quite a few laughs that night!

The super sweet Jet Van!

The Scooby-Doo Monster Truck


There just so happened to be a Monster Truck Rally in Newcastle the weekend I stayed here-and it just so happened I had nothing going on that night. Since I have never been to one I thought "Sure why not!" It ended up being crazy fun! There was Monster trucks, motorcross races, a Jet Van, Demo Derby, and much more! It was quite the experience!

Grilling at Betsy's House

Jess and I-thankfully she lives in Wisconsin so I will be able to see her often!!!!!

Charlie and Betsy goofing off-again-2 of the coolest people I know! Everyone here is so much fun!

Kira, Alissa, and I hanging out! More fun people that I am going to miss...

Sara, Katie, and Michelle-they are ALWAYS so much fun! We never stop laughing when we all hang out!

Jess, Michelle, and I-I already miss them and we have not even left yet!!!!

Cheers to the Gov'na

Some of my friends hanging out before we went dancing! We were playing a game called Cheers to the Gov'na. It is a super fun game!

Me with 2 of my favorite boys-Chase and Pat. They are HILARIOUS!

My loves Adriana and Michelle with me! I am going to miss them SO much when we go back home...

Ads and Patty Wagon-Australia would suck without them around!!!

Deej (his real name is David but we all call him Deej) and me taking a break from dancing.

Stockton Beach- Aka skipping class and hitting up the beach :)

The boys were goofing off while playing football

Pat, David, and Chase after we buried Michelle in the sand

My good friend Michelle and I-this picture was taking right after Chase drove through a HUGE puddle and we all got drenched. It was hilarious and so much fun!

The boys and I hanging out

Check out the sweet view we saw while driving home!


So last Wednesday, the 5 of us decided it would be a good idea to skip all of our classes and head to the sand dunes. We had heaps of fun!!!! We played football, buried Michelle and Chase, and drove around on the dunes. It was good fun until we got stuck and the sun was going down. The boys were getting so nervous it was hilarious. Michelle and I were not worried at all, just a tad cold. After like 25 times trying to get up, we FINALLY got over the big hills and went on our way. SUCH a fun day :)

Time. Should. Freeze.

Why hello again. I keep forgetting to blog and get side-tracked all the time. There is always so much going here. I feel like it could take me a year just to catch everyone up with my past week-oofta!

Time is flying by way too fast here. I don't like it at all!!!!! We all keep telling ourselves that we still have half our trip left but realistically we are way over half way done :( Since Easter break it has been even harder to be motivated to get schoolwork done. It just put even more of a travel bug in me and my friends. Don't worry though-I am getting all my schoolwork done in time! It is just done the night before by pulling an all-nighter.

Hmm well I will skip everything I have been up to before Melbourne (there is just too much to try and get into it...sorry!) This past weekend Adriana, Betsy and I went to Melbourne. We left Thursday night and was picked up at the airport from a friend of Adriana's, Mark. He went to UF last year and the had been facebooking back and forth. We ended up staying at his house all weekend, well his parent's house. Ads, Bets, and I had heaps of fun there....his family spoiled us rotten! His mom literally gave us breakfast in bed!!!! Anywho, on Friday we didn't wake up until noon-no joke! I think all the traveling the day before really wore us out.

Friday after we finally rolled out of bed we decided to go to this Penguin Parade thing. It was like an hour and a half drive to the country. We had high expectations for this place which was not the smartest idea. I mean, it was pretty cool, and sunset around 60 little penguins came out from the sea and waddled to their homes on land. We had the impression it was going to be hundreds of them, but oh well. We made the best of the situation and still had a blast!!!!!

Saturday was footy day! We went into the city around 2pm to meet up with David, Alex, and Jason. We planned to meet outside the MCG stadium, which is the largest stadium there. While we were waiting for the boys to come, a man came up and handed us 4 free tickets. We were SO pumped!!!!!!!! The boys met up with us and got tickets for the game (at first I felt bad they had to buy tickets, but then they told us that the night before they won like $300 at the casino, so I didn't feel so bad!!) We all headed into the game and had a blast. The teams that played were the Richmond Tigers and the Brisbane Lions. It ended up being a really intense game. And the boys won money at the game-you can place bets at the stadium about who will score first, win overall, get most points, etc.

After that we headed to the casino at the Crown Hotel. This place was beyond amazing! The hotel part was huge and gorgeous, it was super surreal. As we were walking in us girls were talking about how this would be the most amazing place to get married, and just as we said that a bride and groom were walking down the grand staircase. It was super cute, and we were VERY jealous haha. The casino part was unbelievable. It was one of the first times I have ever been in a casino, but I still have yet gamble there. Maybe next time....

We were at the casino for like an hour then we headed to our 2nd AFL game of the weekend. Mark got our tickets early and we got to sit in a huge suite area. He works there part time and got us amazing tickets. There was even a dress code to sit where we sat!! His boss told us to order what ever drinks/food we wanted and he would cover the tab. By the ended of the night our tab between the four of us (David/Jason/Alex did not come to this game with us) was easily over $500. His boss kept coming up and asking if we needed anything else. Hahaha we kept joking about how we better enjoy this lifestyle because it is not something we will ever see again. After the game we headed out for a night on the town-heaps fun like always.

Sunday we spent the day roaming about the city. I absolutely love Melbourne. It's small town vibe blew me away, if I was ever to live in a big city Melbourne would easily be it. The small cafes and stores were super captivating. We never wanted to leave....

We came back home on Monday. Already we are trying to plan were we can go next. This weekend I think I will probably just hang out in Newcastle, it will be the first time in over 2 months that I will stay here for a weekend. Next weekend we are talking about taking the train up to the Gold Coast-it is only like a $60 train ride. The Gold Coast is suppose to be one of the most beautiful places in Australia. We'll see if we actually make it up there. New Zealand is also on the top of our to-do list....

I hate that I feel like I am running out of time here. But I am. I have less than 45 days here. Ick! I hate that. I hate that so much. Don't get me wrong-I am anxious to see everyone at home. However I am unbelievbly sad to have to be leaving all my amazing friends. Everyone that I have met here is so chill and fun to be around. It is going to be super hard saying good-bye and not knowing when we can hang out again...I don't like that one bit.

I am trying my very hardest to be so grateful for my time here and not dwell on having to go home. I mean-look at how blessed I have been to have had the opportunity to come here. I need to be optimistic and appreciate my time I have had here and the time I have left instead of being sad about leaving. Don't worry-I am definitely taking this experience to the fullest and not missing out on any opporunities that have come my way while living in Australia. It still is going to be terribly sad to leave though.....

Well I better get scooting-I think we are heading to Stockton Beach today to climb the sand dunes. I know I know, what about classes? Well my classes today were canceled so I am taking fullest advantage of that situation and taking a mini-roadtrip :)

I hope that all the moms had a fantastic Mother's Day!!!!

I miss everyone heaps. Love lots!

Stac

More of Melbourne :)

Gotta love the Gators! The kid who we stayed with in Melbourne studied abroad at UF last year. Adriana and him kept in touch and then he took us under his wing when we came to visit. We stayed with his family and him and they spoiled us rotten! His mom even served us breakfast in bed-no joke!!!!!!

Where the Australian Open takes place-heaps neat!

Melbourne is easily one of my favorite cities ever. It is large but it has such a relaxing atmosphere that you can hardly tell you are in a big city. We felt super safe walking around and everything was gorgeous!!!!! We definitely fell in love with this city....

So at our 2nd footy game of the day we were spoiled some more. It turned out that Mark, the guy we were staying with, worked at the stadium, thus we got free drinks and food the WHOLE game. It was crazy! We racked up over a $600 tab between the four of us that his boss covered-I know I am so spoiled!!! But I am super grateful for everything if thats any better :)

Betsy and I goofing off at the train station "Woot woot, trains comin"

Melbourne Photos

Somehow we ended up getting FREE footy tickets! We were super excited!!!!

The boys (David, Jason, Mark, Alex) chilling at the footy game!

My new obsession-I loved watching the footy games. Yes games- we ended up going to 2 that day, neither of which we had to pay for :)

D.U.D. inside joke :)

Betsy, Ads and I goofing off while shopping...

Jackie's 21st

Andrea, Adriana and myself before heading to Jackie's surprise party.

Easily my favorite fellas

The gals chilling with Jerod.

The birthday girl (Jackie) and the host (Michelle) :)

Ads and I goofing off-we were heaps excited that the boys' hoodies we borrowed matched our dresses :)

Michelle threw Jackie a super fun surprise party. Jackie had no clue! After hanging out at their place for awhile we headed to the bars for a night full of dancing. Such a fun night!!

Blue Mountains

The group I went to the Blue Mountains with- Charlie, Adriana, Betsy, and Drew. We had a blast!!!!

The SkyRide that took us between the mountains, the view was incredible!

The "3 Sisters" is one of the most famous tourist attractions in the Blue Mountains, it is based off an Aboriginal story.

Leura Cascades-probably one of my favorite places in the Blue Mountains

Heaps of Barbies...yes this needs an explanation-so Bets and I went to this old toy museum/mansion. We were quite skeptical going there, we weren't sure how many toys there would be. The mansion was FULL of toys from as far back as 1912! Like heaps and heaps of toys, every single room was filled with antique toys, it was so fun to see them all. We kept on saying how much our parents and grandparents would love it even more than we did. It was really cool to see, especially the Barbies (earliest ones were 1940s) and the old train sets. We had a blast there, it was one of those places were you could look around in there for hours and still not see everything! Aw it was so neat.....

As for the Blue Mountains-I was in awe as to how amazing they were. So pretty! The best part is they were only a short (5 hours) train ride away, and it was pretty cheap to get there. We had a blast walking around the small town and seeing all the sites. Hopefully we will make it back there again to do some more hiking if we have time. As for everything else-the pictures do not do justice as to how amazing they are! Heaps gorgeous!

it is official....

yep...here it is...i truly have fallen in love...with Australia that is. Not just in love with the country, in love with the lifestyle, the people-both locals and my international friends , where I live, the ocean, and the list goes on and on. I wake up every day and realize how blessed I am to be living such a fantasy life! I still cannot get over how much I love it here. I feel so at home, so happy, so free...cheesy I know but so true. It is so hard to explain things though...no one can understand what it feels like unless they experience it! I really cannot speak highly enough of my experience here and I am getting super sad that my days here are limited...

Skype has been a lifesaver. Without it my feelings about my experience might be slightly different...i love getting to talk to my family and friends at home! It makes things easier when I can see them and talk to them. Don't get me wrong-I miss everyone at home but still love it here SO SO SO much.

I am bouncing off the walls with excitement and happiness-about what you may ask. Well the answer-I have no idea. I feel like I am just on a constant high on life, it is super crazy. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it here!

The worst part about falling in love is that eventually your heart might get broken...my heart is going to shatter when I leave here...and unfortunately that time is coming sooner than I would like to admit. The next two months are going to fly by WAY too fast! Because of that I will continue to enjoy each and every minute I spend here!

No worries-I am living life to the fullest every day!

God Bless :)

XOXOXO
Stac

Playing Catch Up...

So I know I mentioned I was going to try and explain my vacation, but I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that a.) I don't have time to blog about it b.) nothing i can say will do justice to how amazing it was and c.) pictures speak 1000 words, so you can kind-of grasp how amazing the trip was just by looking at some of the posted pictures. Plus, I am sure no one would have time to read that novel of a blog-it would be tremendously long!

Long story short-it was by far the best 10 days of my life. I would not trade that trip for anything. Our group was beyond amazing-had zero problems and the boys were HILARIOUS!!!! There are heaps of inside jokes from that trip that will stick around for awhile I am sure...

Last weekend I went to Wollongong, 1 hour S of Sydney or 5 hour train ride, to visit my friend from home, Marissa. It was her 21st birthday so I decided to come down and help her celebrate. Wollongong was pretty neat, but I am heaps glad I came to Newcastle!

I am still loving it down here way more than I ever could have imagined I would!!!! I am SO happy living down here and know it will be tough leaving this place....

My flight home is finalized-I will be home July 2. I am leaving Australia on the 26th of June but am stopping in Honolulu for a few days to stay with my brother Nic's friends from high school. I am super excited for that-I think Adriana is going to do a stop-over there as well, I am sure it will be a good time!

Well I better scoot, but miss everyone heaps and cannot wait to see you all again soon!

XOXO
Stac

Sleeping on the Beach with Ads

Our view in the morning-how gorgeous?! And get this-just as the sun was rising we saw a bunch of dolphins swim by! Heaps cool!

We were SO excited when the sun finally came out!

Adriana and I trying to stay warm-it was surprisingly heaps cold out!

So we thought for the longest time (well I guess I thought) that this was somebody creeping on us, little did we know it was just a garbage bin. Haha

Ads and I jamming out to Disney songs (Hakuna Matata, A Whole New World, etc.) before all of our evening visitors came by. A bunch of our guy friends stopped by throughout the night to make sure we were ok, to see if we really were going to sleep on the beach, and to try to talk us out of staying out in the cold alone. Two of our guy friends, Sam and Thor, even surprised us around midnight with cookies :)


So in case you haven't noticed-all of my pictures are totally backwards in order on here but oh well! haha...anyways so I got back from Wollongong last night and had this HUGE urge to sleep on the beach. So I called up Ads and of course she was game!!! Everyone doubted that we would actually do and survive the night along but we had NO problems whatsoever-and ended up with SEVERAL laughs! David, Jerod, Chase, and Pat stopped by and played football with us for a bit-they even brought us TimTams. Our friends Drew and Charlie stopped by later to see how we were doing and to hang out for a bit. Then after midnight our 2 favorite Australians, Sam and Thor, stopped by with cookies, water and extra blankets for us. Yeh I know-we are spoiled. Needless to say Ads and I are pretty tired today, oh well-it was worth every single second being in the extremely cold weather!!!!! I have a hunch we might be trying it again sometime soon...I will keep you posted! And no worries-we were safe and alert the whole time :)