Surfing Round 2 and Gender Bender

This is a little late, since it was last Friday, but I just got the pictures off a friends camera.  We went surfing for the 2nd time for our Outdoor Pursuits class.  We went to a different beach this time.  It was a much nicer day weather wise, and wave wise.  It was sunny and warm this time unlike the last where it was overcast.  The waves were also much nice and you didnt feel like you were getting attacked when each wave hit you.  Out surf teacher said that these waves were much better surf waves. 

 Pretty:)

I stood up almost every time this time.  It was a lot easier the 2nd time around.  After the 3rd time surfing I will be an expert!! Next summer in Hawaii I will be teaching the rest of my family!! :)

 Yay Im up!!!!

 Oh yeah!!! :D

The "Res' or college or the place i live, lol, put on a party this last weekend in the common room.  It was called Gender Bender.  All the girls dressed up as guys and the guys dressed up as girls.  Yes it was pretty freaking funny!!  Some of the guys got really into it!  And now for your enjoyment!:)

Perfect Weather:)

Well not to rub it in for everyone back in hot Illinois, but Australia's weather is perfect.  During the day it is around 75.  It does drop quite a bit at night and get pretty cool, around 45-55 degrees.  But I cant complain because it is winter here :)  We always spend alot of time outside.  In the afternoon, a friend of mine brings his slackline(a rope like thing you connect to 2 trees and walk across).  I thought oh I was good at balance beam I should be great at this...haha no!  Its nothing like a beam, a bean stays in place when you walk, this does not.  I got pretty good after a while, I could take 5-6 steps without falling.  That made me pretty happy! lol  Everyone else bring their books and we just lay out and walk on the slackline and read or do homework.  I couldnt ask for better weather.

Just hanging out :)

 This is Mary attempting the slackline

Never Understand.....

So the few time that I have actually been up to go to breakfast, I get there and they have the most random things for breakfast.  A normal breakfast consists of baked beans, grilled tomatoes, and spaghetti. I asked some Australians if they find it at least a little strange that they are eating lunch and dinner foods for breakfast, and their reply is no, its good.  Needless to say for breakfast I eat lots of cereal (which is weird too, they dont have any good kinds) and fruit.  They have eggs and bacon, but they just dont taste right, they dont cook their bacon enough so its like still almost raw (gross) and their eggs have a funny dark yellow almost orange yolk color.

I thought everyone would enjoy a little piece of the Australian culture....how weird it may be! :) 

Surfing US....Australia :)

Today was our first surfing class for my Outdoor Pursuits class.  We took a bus up to Yeppoon, where we met our teacher, and our surfing instructor.  We then rode down with them to a beach where he said had good waves for beginners like us:)  We got there, got our wetsuits on, because the ocean is pretty cold since its offically winter here, but I wouldnt call it winter at all.  The water was around 60-65 degrees, so kinda cold.  The wet suit helps a lot and having to fight the waves crashing down on you warms you up, and wears you out!

I started off on a smaller board, which are very hard to get up on and stay up on.  I then went to the long boards which were much easier!!  I stood up a couple times.  I didnt realize how much it would wear me out!!  Im excited to go back next week to see what I can do!  Now some pictures for your enjoyment!

 Learning how to stand up :)

 Oh yeah! :D

 The board was like 2x bigger than me

 After surfing we were all worn out!! We got back had lunch, showered all the salt water off, and all passed out!  Tonight we decided we would go to the rodeo.  There was one downtown, and we figured why not!  It was a lot of fun!  Surprisingly I have never been to one, so it was cool getting to see it. 

 And now a picture for your enjoyment.... Rice Bubbles....haha! Totally cracked me up when i saw this!! :)

Birthday Fun!!!

So today was my neighbor/friend's birthday.  So all the International students wanted to do something special.  We decided we would get cake, and also make jello shots, because she loves jello shots!  So me and a couple other girls went on a quest to find cake and the stuff to make jello shots.  We found the jello, cake, and vodka very easily.  But the little cups to make them in no so much.  No one has a car, so we had to walk.  We just walked store to store to try and find them.  After about 30 minutes of walking we finally found them!  We made them in a water bottle that had measuring lines, since we dont have a bowl or measuring cups.  It was quite an experience.  So this morning we all got up at 6:30 and knocked on her door to wake her up.  We had a cake with sparklers in it, and a card, and everyone sand happy birthday.  It was very early to wake up, but we surprised her so it was worth it.

 

Tonight was surprised her again with the jello shots, and a bunch of us went bowling.  It was a lot of fun even thought most of us were really bad a it! :)  Another group went to see the last Harry Potter. It was a lot of fun, and I kind of wish my birthday was while I was here :)

 

Keppel Island

 Yesterday (Saturday) we went out to Keppel Island.  It was one of the International girls' last weekend here, so she wanted to do something special.  Keppel Island is about a 40 minute drive northeast, then a 25 minute boat ride out to the island.  The island was absolutely beautiful!!  A group of about 20 International students came, so it was a lot of fun to hang out with everyone!  We kind of had to hike through a bunch of rocks, but once we got past them, this is what we found :) 

 Beautiful Right?

We spent the whole day just laying out, snorkeling, and kicking a soccer ball around.  They also had an American football, which no one knew how to throw the correct way, so I showed those boys how it was done :) haha  Some of the boys were throwing it like a "footy" ball, which is what they call rugby here.  I very firmly said that if they were going to play with an American football they must throw it like one :)  Now here are just some pictures of a bunch of us on the island.  The people in the picture are all the people I hang out with the most.  Katie, Maryables, and Chiria from the states, then we have Matti and Bianca from Germany, Anders from Norway, and Elina and Malin from Sweden!

L to R:(back) Me, Maryables, Anders, Bianca, (front) Katie and Matti

 Back Silvia and Matti

Front Me, Katie, Anders, Bianca, and Mary

 Me, Katie, Silvia, and Bianca

After the island, despite of everyone being tired, Silvya the girl who is leaving, who is from Denmark, wanted to go out.  So we ate, showered and got ready!!

Silvia and I

 Katie and I

 The 3 of us

 Matti and Katie, he said he couldnt smile :)

 We are going to miss her!!!

Weekend and 1st day of Classes

Well even though I didnt have a 3 day weekend like all you people back home, we still had a pretty fun weekend.  Saturday was not anything special.  We had another day of orintation, but it was all just a repeat of what we had already went over, so a couple of the other girls and I skipping out on the last couple sessions.  The night we just decided to hang out in the Common room.

I am not really sure why we decided this would be fun... :)

All of us :)

  On Sunday we had planned to go to Yeppoon to the beach.  But we found out that the college or "Res" as they call it here were planning a Res wide trip to the pub.  The had a bus to take us there and everything.  So if we wanted to go, we couldnt go to the beach.  So we decided we wanted to that, so we decided we would go to the mall instead.  So we plan it all out, with the bus schedule and everything.  Walk to the bus stop, sit there for about 15 minutes.  When no buses came, we pulled out the schedule.  The buses only run Mon-Sat.  OPPS! :/  So we walk back to the res college, and hunt someone down with a car.  We were determined to go to the mall, since we all had things we needed.  Over an hour later, we finally had a ride to the mall.

Waiting and waiting.....and yes I am aware of how unattractive this picture is...

Finding some very...ummm...interesting fashions.....

After a fun day at the mall, we head back to campus to get ready for the night.  I am not really sure why people here go out soooo early, but the bus left for the pub at 6.  So we all ate dinner quickly, then headed off.  We went to a really nice bar accross town.  The only problem was that drinks were crazy expensive, so well I had one, then just hung out the rest of the night.  It was fun to get to meet everyone who lived on campus.  I met people from Australia, Japan, China, and Denmark.  So here are just a couple pictures from the night.

 The international students

 They had this window set up for the 4th, so obviously all the Americans had to get a picture!!

 Today was my first day of class.  I had 2 classes.  The first one I think is going to be kind of challenging, its a science class about genomes and genetics.  My other is the Conservation of Australia.  I think it should be a relatively easy class, but the only problem is, that my professor is Chinese and very hard to understand.  Hopefully my classes the rest of the week wont be to bad!  I will keep you updated!  Have a great week!!

Mailing Address

Hey everyone! So Here is my mailing address incase anyone wants to send my any goodies! :)  Literally anything is welcome, becuase everything here is like 3 time more expensive than in the states! Thanks in advance! :)

Lauren Rathke
CQUniversity Australia
Capricornia Student Residence
554-700 Yamba Road
Rockhampton, Qld 4701
Australia

Orientation Day

Today we had orientation day for the International Students.  We went around and introduced ourselves, and did a little ice breaker.  Then they went over some things we would need to know, they fed us lunch, then we did what they called "Cultural Awareness".  I dont really know if I would call it Cultural awareness, but they talked about the Aborigines, which are like the American Indians.  They were the first people in Australia.  It was interesting.  They told us that we were going to go throw boomerangs, but we get there and have to go through this hour tour of a museum before.  It might not have been so bad if that is what I had expected to do.  But oh well.  The one good thing that I got out of today, was that I met a couple more people.  Another girl from Sweden Malin, and a girl from Utah, Katie.  So at the end of the day we decided we would have a movie and wine night.  So we walk to the liquor store which was about a 20 minute walk and get some wine.  We are looking around at all the other drinks they have and holy shit alcohol is expensive!! A Smirnoff Ice, ONE, was 6 dollars, and a 4 pack was 22!! UGHH! If anyone reading this doesnt know a 6 pack in America is around 7 dollars.  A fifth ranged from about 45-55 $.  When I get back i will never complain about how expensive alcohol is EVER again!!!  Needless to say, We will continue to drink cheap Australian grown and made wine from now on!!!

Katie and I with our cheap box of wine in our backpack :)

 Striking a pose on the way back to our rooms :)

Today was fun except for the whole sitting through a museum thing :/  Tomorrow is yet another day of Orenitation :(  But on Sunday we decided that we would go to Yeppoon Beach about 3 miles up the coast :)  I will keep you posted!!

Ocean and Farm :)

Today, I had a meeting for one of my classes, Outdoor Pursuits.  In the class we are going to surf, scuba dive, sail, and kayak.  I am very excited, and my teacher seems very cool.  After that the girl that I met from Sweden, Elina, has some friends who works on a farm near us, so they came and picked us up, and we went to Emu Park.  This was a park right by the ocean.  It was really beautiful, but crazy windy.  Kind of made things not as enjoyable.  The dinig hall will make you a sack lunch if you let them know you wont be there.  So we got a lunch made, and ate by the water.  The wind made it kind of difficult but it was still nice.

Here I am in front of the ocean.  As you can see it was very windy.  Which also may the ocean a yucky brown color :( 

 Elina and I on the Look Point at the park

 This statue was at the top of the look out place....

 Australia <3

 The ocean :)

After the beach, we went to the farm that Elina's friends work on.  They had everything.  From goats, to chickens, to pigs, to horses, to camels, to llamas, to dogs and cats.  It was fun to walk around and see all the different animals and help feel them.  My favorite was Gustav and little black goat whose mom abandoned him.  So he hung out with the humans and dogs, and thought he was one of us too! :)

This is Gustav :)

 He followed us everywhere :)

 They even had 4 camels....

 The horses were helping each other out

 I made a new friend :)

 So it was a fun day, and it was really nice to get off campus for a bit.  This weekend we have orientation, which i dont think will be so fun :(  But I think on Sunday we are planning on going to Yapoon Beach, which is a really beautiful beach ab out 30 mins north of here, so that should be very fun! I will keep this updated!