Is this real life part 2?

Another couple weeks have already gone by and each day seems to get faster and faster. Time just slips away and I never realize it. I have made some awesome accomplishments which has made me feel like I am doing something other than checking out cute boys and hanging out at the beach. I am the captain for footy which is so much fun and I have made some excellent contacts for doing business for social event with the footy teams around the area. I have begun volunteering as a therapy assistant at an assisted living center and I really enjoy helping the residents there.

I was part of Australian natural disaster history....well the Aussie's thought it was super bad but it is every day life for the Minnesotans. It rained super hard that no one in town new what to do. People freaked out basically, clearly no one knew how to drive in rain. Their drain system was so bad that people had flooding. But all of us loved that it was raining and went out to enjoy the puddles and the awesome lightening strikes on the horizon of the ocean.

This weekend was so much fun, on Friday we had a back to uni party at Metro, which is a club in Freo. On Saturday, I went on an Archaeological excavation through UNDA with my prof Shane Burke. This is one of the coolest educational experiences EVER. ;) I really did enjoy every minute of it. Finding artifacts from the 1800's was so amazing. Ever layer of dirt that we uncovered in a very meticulous way told a story and amazing things could be found. Nails, broken glass and plates, limestone, tools, etc. are just some of the few things we found. On Sunday we went to the Dockers game, which is the Australian Football League. This is equivalent to our NFL, so going to a vikings game. It was so awesome, I received free tickets and we got box seats, so it really could not have gotten much better.

I can't believe that this is the last week of march. I am so excited to head up north this weekend to visit the Aboriginals. I am able to mark off another couple things on my freo/perth to do list, which makes me so happy.

Miss everyone, going to get back to HW Love you,
~Kim

Is this real life?

So yet again I can not describe the excitment and energy that this country possesses. The past couple weeks have been breath taking, fun, adventurous and EPIC. I was able to visit the most beautiful park in Perth> King's Park, with my advisor. I saw the largest passenger Cruise ship in the world leave Freo port, the Queen Mary 2. Attended St. Patty's day in Freo after all my papers were done. Enjoyed Michaelen Lake's 21st bday party at a couple local pubs. Went on a camping trip last weekend and enjoyed every bit of Margaret River. There is still so much more that I want to see and do but I have finally begun my bucket list count down.

Camping on Margaret River was truly incredible. The group went surfing and hung out at the beach all day Saturday and Sunday we went and watched the surfing competition, women's finals. I have to say, looking at the stars and just hanging out was so much fun. I was able to surf which was so exciting, it is a very addictive sport and I cant wait to go again. The sunset was also a highlight of this trip, we stayed for 30min to watch the ball of fire sink into the ocean. It is awesome to think that at home, they are watching the sunrise.

This week a couple of the girls and I made dinner for the P&O, TACOS. They were surprisingly good. We enjoyed a thunderstorm in the midst of cooking which is very rare for Australia and definitely reminded me of home. Playing in the rain is so much fun and brings back awesome memories.

There is so many exciting events coming up that I can not wait to tell stories of.

Love you all,
Kim

Roos are so much cooler than deer!

It has been an amazing couple weeks. All the students walked in the Notre Dame parade, and walked around town. all roads were blocked off, we had a band, the town was cheering, and it was a TON of fun! We went to the Caversham Wildlife Park and played with the roos, koalas, dingos, wallabies and wombats.....hahahha I felt like I kid in a candy shop. We were all so interested in the roos, that we probably hung out with them for at least an hour if not more. We were able to touch them and feed them.

I am finally getting into the rhythm of school here, which is sad. The "honeymoon" is over.....and its down to business....hahahha well for the most part. We are all getting into a schedule and starting to do out own thing. I joined the Footy team, along with 6 others girls from the P&O, which is so much fun to play on wed and Fri evenings. I am the captain which makes it more fun, the sport is a combo of football, soccer, and volleyball.....i know very confusing. We went to our first professional game the other day which was so much fun to see. The stand were packed!!!

There is a lot I have yet to learn about this country and even just this little area. Going for a run along the beach I see all these buildings and places that are so interesting. I am excited to keep crossing things off my check list of things to do and so far I am doing a pretty good job, but time flies down here. You may feel like everything is in slow motion but then all of a sudden it is the weekend again.

I will be very excited, to write about my next couple weekends, which are packed with adventures. Bye for now, and much love.

Freo....is this real life?

So I cannot believe that I have finally made it all the way around the world, traveled to New Zealand done so incredible things and have begun school at the University of Notre Dame Fremantle.

I love my home, I am living in a historical hotel, which has been changed into a dorm, called the P&O Hotel. I love the people I am living with, there are 35 total- 24 CSB/SJU students and 11 domestic students. We have also begun to get tho know the other study abroad students living in the other 2 dorms.

My classes are great, taking; genetics, human growth & development, Austrlian History, Senior Seminar, and Acting......yes I know don't ask. The Australians and amazing so far, I have met a couple that are really nice. Th University is pretty small but definately simialr to St. Ben's. The school is right on the edge of town, basically every other store is either a cafe, bar or clothing store......AWESOME!

We go to the beach almost every day, and we normally go for a walk around town either to the market or to get a drink at a pub. The culture is so laid back, its incredible, so hard to do HW when all you want to do is go play ball in the park, or hit up the beach. Especially on these beautiful days that we have had.

I have joined the local footy team, which is so complicated to explain but fun to play. Bascially volleyball, football and soccer combined.

WE ahve some awesome trips coming up, which I cant wait to go on. Lots going on, lots to do and so many stories to tell.

Love AUSTRALIA!

Travel Bug!

So the past month and a half have been so incredible. I have seen the east side of Austrlia, staying in Sydney, Callaroy Beach, and Brisbane. We walked all over Sydney, saw the Harbor Bridge, Opera House, the Gardens and some of the city. Callaroy Beach was just awesome because it was a giant beach and we just layed out for a couple days, like some beached whales. Brisbane was by far my favorite, the city was beautiful. We took the local farry down the river, celebrated Jake's birthday at the festival, went to the Brisbane museum and went to a club one of the nights which was so much fun. Brisbane reminded me of Chicago so much and the people were so nice there.

New Zealand was probably the best memories of this entire trip. we did just about everything you could do in less than 3 weeks. Stayed in Christichurch, Kaikoura, Greymouth, Franz Joseph, Wanaka, Queenstown, Te Anau, Akaora and then back to Christchurch.
~Kaikoura was a cute, little, old fashioned town with a couple attractions, hotels and local bars. We did an all day hike and got to see all the sea lions and the east coast of Zew Zealand. We went sea kayaking....which was not as much fun for me...sea sickness :( and we played triva at the local bar.
~We took the tranz alpine across new zeland to Greymouth, where we rented a car. AHHHH!!! Jake drove the entire time, which was because Brad and i weren't of age and Nicole didn't feel like it. In Greymouth we went north a bit to see the pancake rocks, which was also amazing. We drove the car south then to Franz joseph, stopping at a few spots along the way, which were just fun.
~Franz Joseph was so much fun we climbed a glacier and slept on a beach....CRAZY!
~From Franz Joseph we went to Wanaka, which was ok...I did not like Puzzling World but the guys did. We did go to this awesome movie theater that had couches everywhere instead of movie seats.
~From Wanaka we went to Queenstown and enjoyed the city for the night. The next day we visited Milford Sound which was just gorgeous. We took a cruize through the sound and had some lunch. On the way back we hiked a bit.
~We did not make it all the way back to Queenstown so we stayed in Te Anau that night. This is where the Kepler trek would leave from. That night we had some awesome pizza and just chilled in our car for the last time. hahahahaha :)
~We drove back to Queenstown that day to return the car. In Queenstown we went up the Gondola and did the Luge, which was just a giant slide. Nicole and I saw a cultural performance that we got to take part in and we had Margaritas at the top of the MT. looking over the entire city.
~We then returned the car and tooka bus back to Te Anau, where we began the Kepler Trek. The Kepler Trek was insane, beautiful, incredible, a workout.....every positive adjective out there. We spent 3 days walking through lands that you would only normally see on discovery channel, or in pictures on google. I got a chance to get to know the group very well and have alot of fun with them.
~We made it back to Te Anau just in time to watch the superbowl...how cool, to watch the American Superbowl in New Zealand. Took a bus back to Queenstown the next day to get some adrenaline rushes.
~Queenstown, we did some shopping, went out to eat a couple times and saw the city. We also did the insane things, like sky diving, bungy jumping, whitewater rafting, and Jake took me Mt. Biking....which was alot harder than I thought it would be. We met up with some of our friends and did a pub crawl which was fun but man not worth the 20 bucks.
~We had to head back to christchurch and Tony was nice enough to give us a ride back. We stopped at Mt. Cook on the way and climbed one of the Mt. Holy cow that was the hardest climb I have ever done in my life, but the view was breathtaking. I slept so well that night, even though we were in a tent in this wind storm....hahaah.
~We also went to Akaora which was just funny. It was kinda a crapy day but we made the most of it, by taking a walk and trying to see as much of the town as we could. Drove back to Christchurch the next day and got everything reday for our flight to Perth.
~Christchurch was fun, we went to the wildlife center and a pub that night to watch the olympics. It also happened to be Valentines day, which was funny because it was Jake, Tony, Nicoel and I, with all these couples hanging out.
~The last day in New Zealand we spent in Christchurch and it was just relazing, had coffee and headed to the airport. Bye New Zealand...Hello Fremantle Australia!!!

Only 45lbs......you have got to be kidding me!

Ok so last night I was packing my bag, and it was a lot harder then I thought it would be.....I can ONLY have 45lbs. LAME, but I made it happen.

SWIMSUITS> CHECK
DRESSES> CHECK
SHORTS> CHECK
TANKTOPS> CHECK
SUNSCREEN> CHECK
MAKING SURE I SAY GOODBYE TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY> CHECK

I am very very excited but a mixture of emotions at the same time. I am very excited to fly with Nicole and Brad, my travel buds. Australia is going to be amazing!

This weekend consisited of many goodbyes, never have been good at saying goodbye. I was at St. Ben's on friday night, sautrday night went to my cousins baby shower and other cousin's place, and last night I said goodbye to all my neighbors and my BFF Katy Gunderson. I will miss everyone so so so much.

Leaving the US

~So I leave in a week. It has been quite the rollercoaster these past few weeks but its now coming down to the final bits of getting everything ready. It still hasn't hit me and I have been told that it won't till I am acutally there. But I am very excited and nervous at the same time.

Flight leaves next monday at 3pm, HOLY COW!!! I am joined with Brad and Nicole on the plane and we meet up with Jake in Sydney, Australia!! AHHHHHHH