"I Just Wanna Dance With Somebody"

Hi all! I am alive after writing 4 essays this week! I am so glad that it is over! My week consisted of working at a cafe as a dishwasher, and I then I catered a meal today! It is sooo nice to have some income so I can travel and do things around the city. This week was unbelievable, though! It made me fall even more in love with Speech Pathology because I got the opportunity to observe in a voice clinic here on campus. It was a WONDERFUL experience, and I am observing again on Tuesday. The Speech Pathologist that I shadowed was sooo wonderful and taught me sooo much. I am so thankful and blessed. The clients were amazing and really made me love my major. One of my essays was for assessing the language of a child, teenager and an adult, and the other essay was about how animals affect patients in animal-assisted therapy. Then I am working on one that is for my sign language class. I have probably written 25 pages worth of papers this week. By the looks of pinterest and facebook, you all probably think I don't have a life besides the computer. Ha! I do though! All week, my friend, Ashton and I have be running together because she would like to pursue a career in the Air Force. I have never ran in my life, and now I feel great. I eat like a hog ALL.THE. TIME. Speaking of eating, I have also been watching Master Chef Australia the whole week with my friends, and I am an addict. I admit it. Then my Pinterest page is FULL of cupcakes. Ha. Last night my friends and I went out dancing, hence, the title of my blog and facebook album, and we had a blast. Then, tonight, we watched the introductions of all the cartoons that we watched when we were children. It is amazing how time flies and how one misses childhood. So many memories came with the T.V. shows that we watched. It made me grateful for a great childhood and made me think of Kansas. This weekend was going to be spent at a friend's home, but she came down with pneumonia, and now we aren't going to visit her parents. Darn, but I guess it gives me the chance to study for some finals and just relax after a long, longggg week. I have been following the calendar, and I have just over a month until I go home. I am sooo excited to see my family and friends in the United States. I can't describe how excited I am. BUT I am going to make my days here count by traveling to Tasmania and volunteering. One of my Australian friends here told me that they consider me an Australian, and it made really think about what I have gained from this experience. I feel like I am a part of the Australian culture and will always be and absolutely love the feeling. Kansas is always going to be my home, and I love it, but I know that I will always love Australia. Hands down. I think I will definitely be a mix of American and Australian when I get back. ;)

Time is Flying

Hey guys! I am taking a break from writing a ten page paper about Animal-Assisted Therapy for my Human and Animal Anthropology class. This week is going to be nuts! I have a 1500 word paper due on Tuesday and this big one due on Friday. Then a 1500 word paper due on Monday. I am nervous about all of them and just want to do well. These past two weeks have been great, though. I have worked at the cafe on campus and have made some extra cash and have started a running routine with friends. We have been doing it about 5 days a week, and it TOTALLY helps the stress. I have been trying to have some fun in between work and school. One of my close friends here turned 18 this week, so we celebrated that. It was soo fun, and we had a party for her. I haven't been going into the city very much just because my homework has been keeping me busy! Ah! I can't wait for Tasmania! My friend from Texas and I are going on June 5 and coming back June 7th. We are going to take a ghost tour and are going to visit the Tasmanian Devils. Ha! It will be soooo fun! I can't wait because we leave the day after my biggest final. My last final is on June 16th, and then I will have 13 days free! I am excited to see the light at the end of the tunnel but feel sad at the same time. Homesickness has been hard lately because of all the events going on back home. Thank goodness for Nathan, my family and friends. They have all helped me lots! It is getting cool here, and I love it. I have a feeling, though, that a hot, Kansas summer will feel good, too! Thanks for all the support back home and sorry it has taken me soooo long to write.

Just Checking In!

Hey guys! I am just checking in! I have been super busy with essays here lately, and I have been hanging out with some friends. On Sunday of last week, I went to church with a friend from Indonesia, and it was so nice to have a friend to go with!  On Thursday of last week, we celebrated one of my close friend's birthdays, and we went out for pizza and then dancing! It was amazing, and I was sooo excited because I bought her a mint chocolate cake! I couldn't hardly keep the secret. Haha! This past weekend was spent reading the "Hunger Games" and working on a 4 page research paper for my Culture and Globalisation class. Then my Australian friends introduced me to a cooking show called "Master chef Australia."Everyone is crazy for this show here, and I am finding that I am becoming addict myself. Don't tell anyone. ;) Today is the day for buying my plane ticket for Tasmania, and then my friend from Texas and I are going to the Cadbury Chocolate factory in Hobart! We are both excited and will probably leave with a chocolate coma. Butttt, it will be worth it! Then I have added an exercise routine into my schedule with some friends, and we see a bat every time we are out at night. We named him after Edward Cullen, and now, he is just "Eddie." The routine is used by the Air Force and eases a person into running. You run a certain distance one week and then move up a little the next week. Yesterday, I along with friends, doubled our running time. It felt good to run off stress. Last night, I Americanized my Australian friend's calendar and penciled in "D-day, Pearl Harbor, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, Veteran's Day, 4th of July and Epiphany" (My birthday) ;). I am rubbing off on one of my close friends here. She used to look at me funny when I would ask to use her "skillet" when they call it a "fry pan." Now I find myself saying "fry pan," and she says "skillet."Then I have caught myself switching back and forth from Aussie ligo to American ligo in the same sentence. Here, they call Ketchup "Tomato Sauce." So one day I go, "Ashton forgot tomato sauce, so we need to bring her Ketchup." I know I sound like a Speechie nerd, but I love hearing the dialect differences. It is amazing. Chisholm College had their own "Master chef" competition last week also, and I helped my friends make Vegetarian Curry. I am not much of a Curry eater, but this was good. But, we didn't win. Tower 6 did. Darn. This weekend, I talked to Chantel, Cody, Collin, Nathan, Logan and Katie on Skype. Then I talked to my family too. Everyone is getting ready for finals, and Chantel is getting ready for her art show. Her work is awesome, and I am so proud of her. I can't believe that she is graduating! I am sooo happy that I have gotten the chance to spend time with her in Manhattan while she was there. Matt is getting ready to graduate from Junior High. I can't believe how fast he has grown up. He told me the other day that he has his paper work for Driver's Ed, and I am thinking..."Oh boy, my car is at home unattended while I am in Australia..."Then there is Elaina! She had her first communion, and now she has her dance recital on Mother's Day!!!! I wish I could go! I am soooo proud of all three of my siblings. BUT I am in love with Australia and just enjoy going to classes here. I know it is not traveling, but I believe that the opportunity to learn from others in a foreign country is a privilege. The fall air is refreshing, and the trees are showing signs of fall. It is gorgeous. Yesterday, I had the funniest thing happen to me. I was in Australian Sign Language, and my teacher asked me what university I went to back home. I signed to her, "Nebraska,"and she signed back "You're a Husker. I like." Haha! UNL is always with me wherever I go. ;) Then my Speech Pathology teacher last week was a Stuttering Specialist, and one of my professors at UNL is a Stuttering Specialist. I asked her if she knew him, and she goes, "I read his research all the time!!! I can't believe he is at Nebraska."Traveling 30 hours to get to Australia really made the world feel HUGE, but really, it is quite small. I love Speech Pathology, and I love the teachers for it here. Then I told that same professor that I was from Kansas, and she told me that a Speech Pathologist from a University in Kansas visited last year with students. I asked her what the colors were, and she goes, "Purple and Silver."I laughed and guessed, "Kansas State University." I was right. I am proud to be a Kansan/Nebraskan. ;) It is soooo cool how all of these universities have global connections. Now, it has gotten me hoping that I get to come back for some Speech Pathology research. :) I know I will want to come back. Australia is and will always be my third home. I love the atmosphere, and I have made friends who have made the experience unforgettable. Period. I am blessed.

Busy As Usual! :)

Hey guys! I just finished a crazy week! I had a paper due today, a Sign Language speech on Monday and I had to read A LOT this week. I did not realize that Anthropology classes came with so much reading! Oh well! My tutor says that I am doing great in the class and that she loves to read about small town, Hanover, Kansas. I found out that I did well on a test for my Speech-Language Pathology course, and I absolutely LOVE  the class. We are talking about how the brain controls speech, language, swallowing and motor skills. It is extremely hard but SO fascinating. Tomorrow, I am working on more homework and will start planning my trip to Tasmania. It is starting to become very cold here, and my heater in my room does not work. So, I have my very own personal nest in my friend's room. Haha! I spent four hours in her room yesterday, and we read and watched "Grey's Anatomy." We have our own little "Grey's Anatomy" club that meets every Thursday night. I also found out when my finals will be in June! My last final will be June 16, but I think the trip to Tasmania will be after that. :) This wonderful experience will end on a wonderful note. My Australian friends know that my sister is getting married, and they asked me if I could  invite them to my sister's wedding so that they could visit. It was soo funny! I am so thankful for my friends here, because homesickness has been bad here lately. They have made me laugh and realize that I need to enjoy the people here and Australia before I leave. I am only here once and need to invest in my relationships. I found out that my Australian Sign Language final is going to be difficult. I have to produce a 10-12 minute long speech and then tell what a signer is saying. I am nervous but excited for it. Signing feels a lot like acting, and I love to act. Tonight, I watch a cool French film with my Australian friends and funny YouTube videos. On Sunday, I am making Puppy Chow, and it marks that I  come home in two months! Where has the time gone? Well, that's all for now! :)

Can't Sleep...So Blog!

Hey guys! I am behind again and promise that I will starting doing this everyday again. I have been reading Anatomy all day and have two papers due this week. I think the stress is keeping me up! Thank goodness for my friends here though! We watched "Valentine's Day" tonight together, and it was wonderful. Then last night, my Aussie friends and I watched "The Lion King" on YouTube in French, German, Japanese and Italian. It sounds really pretty in Italian! :)  Then I told my Australian friends that I am going to make Puppy Chow for them, and they looked at me and said, "Like dog food?" They don't have wonderful Puppy Chow over here! Then I making them my Grandma White's apple pie. :D I think my friend and I are going to be planning a trip to Tasmania in June, and I am SOOO excited! I did my first speech in Australian Sign Language today, and boy was I nervous! BUT it went well, and the speech just had to be about me. I told them that I love to shop for shoes, purses and jewelry. I am my mother's daughter. Haha! Well, I better head to bed! Thanks for the support at home! :)

Long Time No Talk

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't written in a while. School has been keeping me busy all week, but a lot of miracles have happened this week. I FINALLY found a job at a catering center on campus, and I will be waiting tables. I can't wait to learn more about the culture by waiting on Australians. Homesickness has been kind of bad here lately, butttt I still love it here. I am bummed that I have to start doing homework again after my wonderful trip to Cairns. But I am SO thankful to be here. On Tuesday, I had my first day of work, and we catered an event for the College of Business and Law. I got to meet the associate dean of the college, and I talked to him for a few minutes about Speech Pathology. My boss is really nice and my co-workers were great! On Tuesday, I also got to perform my first Oral Facial Examination on a child, and I did one on an adult on Sunday. Speaking of Sunday, I found a Catholic church not too far away from here, and I met a lot of Italian women. Wednesday, I got my first "A" over here, and I could not contain my excitement! haha! My tutor is happy with me, and I am starting to figure out what they want. Then yesterday, I assessed Fran's speech off "The Nanny" for class!! Hahaha! It was totally awesome. My week ended really well because I found out that my FAVORITE band is playing here in Melbourne on June 9th!! TRAIN! I am going to see them one way or another. Then I think a trip to Tasmania is in the cards later on. It is hard to travel a lot here, because Australia is a HUGE country, and everything is spread apart. Haha! You guys may not hear a lot from me in May because I have five essays due during that month. They are going to make time fly, and pretty soon I will be coming home. :( / :) I can't decide if that is good or bad because I have met wonderful people here. BUT there is NO place like Kansas. :)

My Trip to Cairns

Hi guys! I just got back from Cairns, which is a city in Queensland, Australia. It was a wonderful trip!  The day of our arrival was disappointing because our hostel wasn't as nice as what we thought it would be. Then we went to this restaurant that the hostel said to go to, and it was terrible. But after a night full of laughter about everything, we realized that things really weren't that bad. We just rolled ourselves up in the sheets for caution against bed bugs...ugh. None were found though! The second day was wonderful! We went out on the Great Barrier Reef, Moore reef to be exact, and I got to scuba dive!! The trip out to the reef was a bit choppy, sooo a lot of people became sea sick. They didn't take the Ginger tablets that were offered by the crew! I don't get their logic! Then I had my scuba diving briefing with an instructor and three other people. It was a little confusing because the United States measures air in psi, and Australia uses the bar system. Then decompression was measured differently, and I became really nervous. After getting to the reef, we finally suited up in our equipment, and my nerves were killing me. Then one instructor, a God send, told me that this water was going to be a piece of cake for me because I learned how to dive in a sand pit. He told that the visibility would be a lot clearer and that I would float easier here because of the salt. That talk really made me feel confident. Grandpa sent me a friend when I needed one. :) After getting all the equipment on, we went under the deck onto a platform in shallow water. Then we swam to ropes that led down to the reef. After putting our regulators in, we went down. It was soooo beautiful!! The fish were beautiful, and I wish I could have done another dive. I can't even describe the beauty that I saw that day! While diving, I got caught in a huge school of beautiful fish! Now, I wish that I was a Marine Biology major! I want to know the names of all the fish I saw. Then I ran into Wally, the HUGE blue fish, who is the mascot of the cruise we went on. He was this HUGE fish that knew he was a cutie, and he would let you touch him. He was a sweetheart, and he had a ego. He knew he was a pretty boy. It was cute! We got our photo taken together! I feel like I am advancing in my diving, though. I was able to keep neutral buoyancy ( not touching the ocean floor or going to the surface), and I was able to keep up with the dive instructor around all of the coral! This experience changed my life because I worked sooooo hard to become certified just for that dive. It was TOTALLY worth all of the work, frustration and tears. My first certified dive was at The Great Barrier Reef, and you could believe how big my smile was went I wrote that into my dive journal. I just want to thank everyone who supported me during my certification, because I experienced that beautiful dive because of you all. After coming up from diving, we ate lunch, and they served us shrimp that still had their black eyes. I found out that I can't eat anything that is starring at me! haha! Then Ashton and I went out to the reef and snorkeled for a while! I liked scuba diving better because people didn't run into you!! People were kind of rude! But the sights outweighed the people issues. We saw a HUGE blue fish eat coral, and then eat the fish in the coral! It was fascinating, and I got caught in five schools of fish during my snorkel. It was a fantastic day! Chantel wrote on my facebook yesterday about how I used to be scared of water, and now I love it. What is fear? It is nothing when you make the decision to overcome it. Ashton and I spent the second of our trip at the Cairns Tropical Zoo, and it was absolutely amazing! We started out the day by feeding the kangaroos. The zoo held the kangaroos in a huge paddock that housed probably 60 kangaroos! While all of the other tourists tried to lure a huge group of kangaroos with food, Ashton found her and I our personal kangaroo. The kangaroo was sitting in the corner away from all the rest of them, and Ashton lured him with food! We had our own private photo shoot with him, and then the other tourists found out our scheme. Darn. haha! After the kangaroos, we went to lunch, and we had a visitor. Ashton and I were sitting down and enjoying our lunch. Then Ashton says, "There is lizard under the table next to us." I really didn't freak out because tiny lizards had been following us all day. Then I look over at this Water Dragon that is two foot long!!! I about jumped out of my chair and shrieked! Ashton knows of my fear of reptiles, and she was like, "I wondering why you were staying sooo calm about the lizard!" Then we found out that lizard was the cafe pet. The owner came out and fed the lizard cantaloupe! Haha! Bizzarre pet I'd say! Ashton almost got attacked by a baby crocodile!!! She was the first person to hold the crocodile, and I think he must have woke up on the wrong side of the bed. He, even with his jaws taped shut, tried to bite Ashton!!! Ah!  I went to get my picture take with the koala, too! Ashton's koala was an older one, but I got to hold a baby girl. Her name was Lana, and she was the sweetest little girl ever! I could have cuddled with her for hours and hours. She was soooo precious!! I think the zookeeper said that she was 6 months old. :D That night, Ashton and I went out for some Italian food, and it was amazing but spicy!!! It was hot and humid that whole time we were in Cairns. I was used to it because summers in Kansas can be extremely humid. Our third day was spent by going into shops around Cairns, and I found wonderful deals on gifts for people at home. We went to "Cartier," "Louis Vuitton," and "Rolex" because I never have before. I just wanted to go because I have never seen them before!! It was sooooo cool and everything was beautiful! They were kind of pricey...haha! Then we went to the beach and ate at "Hog's Breathe Cafe" the last night! It was yummy! I had a grilled steak sandwich, chocolate fondue and wonderful fruity drink! The next day was filled with gross flights!!! Three flights!! We finally made it back to Melbourne at 10:25 on Wednesday night! It feels great to be back, but now I go back to school on Monday. Ugh. Cairns was wonderful, and I wouldn't have gotten there without support back home! Thanks everyone! :)