Winter Break!

Well, after spending most of the month of June in my room, partially due to studying, and partially due to a self imposed quarantine to save the world from catching my cold, I can happily say that Semester 1 - Masters of Marketing is in the can!

I finished exams on the 17th of June, and have mostly been kicking back, and planning the next step in my journey, with the help of my game for anything (except heights, but we're working on that in New Zealand) roomie Elisabet! Exams went well, for anyone who is wondering, marks should be up July 6th, but I'm not concerned, I feel like things went well! Winter break lasts until July 25th, hopefully I'll have some great posts for you up ahead. Here is a little list of the things I will be doing over the next 8 weeks:

• Trip to small town Australia (Maleny) to stay in a REAL HOUSE! (very excited!)
• AFL Game
• Cabaret!! (In Brisbane)
• Rugby Game (Australia Wallabies vs. New Zealand All Blacks)
• Whale Watching
• Road Trip across New Zealand's South Island
• Exploring Gold Coast's smaller suburbs
• Dinner at Dracula's
• and whatever else comes along!

Hopefully I'll have lots of time to blog, to fill anyone who is interested in hearing what I've been up too! Time is flying by! Less than 6 months until my family is here, and home in less than 7!

Daily Excursions

So I'm back again. I have been busy since I last checked in, and no, not just with assignments (however, those have also went well). All my classes are done, and now I have a week to study and exams start June 11th until June 17th, then freedom until July 27th! I'll keep you posted on what I do with that time.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been taking in the sights and sounds of Gold Coast. I've explored some new suburbs (and frequented an AMAZING Sushi restaurant), visited a local theme park, and stepped out to see some of the surrounding scenery.

My first little excursion was to O'Reilly's Treetop Walk at Tamborine Mountain, in the Gold Coast Hinterlands. They are a beautiful stretch of mountains and rainforest, with a variety of different walking trails, including the Treetop Walk. We made quick work of the drive, or so the GPS told us, until we stopped a little old lady to ask her for directions and found out we were on the wrong mountain range! Doh. After some more driving up precarious mountain roads (think tiny, twisty, and barely room for 2 cars to comfortably pass each other) we made it to the Tree Top Walk. It is an approximately 30 minutes stretch of walking on suspension bridges high above the rainforest, and it is completely free (bonus!). It was a little rainy that day, so the forest was all misty and really quiet sounding, and I saw a bird digging a hole (weirdest bird thing I've ever seen? Yes). Our group enjoyed jumping on the bridges, to freak Ingvild (a glorious Norwegian gal) out. We found they have a 'tree top' patio, which requires climbing up 2 ladders. Straight up. I never thought ladder climbing could feel like an extreme sport, but the combination of a straight up angle, with a slippery ladder (remember, it was a bit rainy), was enough to get that little excited/nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach.

After the treetop walk, we heading to a gorgeous botanical garden, with a variety of global plants (mainly from the Asia-Pacific region, but there were some from South America, and the States). The entire time we wandered around the rainforest, I kept expecting a T-Rex to come barreling out of the forest, or one of those weird dinosaurs that shoots poison at you, like what happened to Newman (the big guy). Alas, the only wildlife we saw were odd birds, and fake snakes, another tactic to scare the glorious Norwegian. There are plenty of different mountain ranges in the hinterland, and a variety of walking trails, and I am excited to go back and do amore difficult hike.

Last weekend, I headed to South Stradbroke Island on a tourist voucher I got online from Scoopon (Australian Groupon). It was one of the most fun days out I've had since I got here. We got to ride on a huge catamaran for 45 minutes to the island. Seeing the size of the houses that are ocean front is amazing, and I'm glad I sat on the port (left) side of the boat! Once we go to the island, a huge lunch buffet was prepared for us, which is very exciting for any students. We got to feed some wallabies (tiny kangaroos), and played some competitive badminton. One of the best, and most unexpectedly fun, parts of the excursions was this hilarious rope swing we found. Everyone took a turn getting pushed, swung, and spun, much to the delight of all of us watching, and the local firemen who were amazed 20+ year old adults could find so much joy in a rope tied to a tree.

Then, the main event, a 4WD Tractor ride to a deserted beach, since the island is only accessible by boat, we were the only people there. At the beach, everyone was given a boogie board and we got to go Sand Surfing! It is the exact same as sledding, but on sand! So much fun!! Climbing the dunes was exhausting, but totally worth it. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my friend Alan for capturing an amazing action shot of me sand surfing. I bow down to his photo taking skills, and wish I could be as talented!

Finally, this Wednesday was Elisabet's birthday, so I wanted to make sure she had a great day! We started out going to the gym (ok, not the best start) and then relaxed around the apartment until she had to go to class at 2pm. It was then I made my trek to the local cupcake store to get some celebratory birthday cupcakes!

The cupcake craze has yet to hit Iceland, so this was an educational cupcakery experience for Elisabet. We got: Chocolate Mint, Peanut Butter Chocolate, Mocha Mudcake and Vanilla Springtime. I am happy to say all the cupcakes were thoroughly enjoyed. We spent the night at the theatre, engaging in their 'Master's of Hollywood' series. It was Fiddler on the Roof night, and Elisabet and I picked up some sweet new dance moves to take to the clubs. On Friday a group of us went out for dinner at Vapiano to celebrate Elisabet, then decided to go bowling in our fancy duds. Elisabet had birthday luck on her side, and won the night with 2 strikes (honourable mention goes to Joe, who only lost by 1

point).

With that said, I am going to sign off for now. I've been told by a few that I am not updating this blog enough, because inquiring minds want to know (who knew!?). So, with that said, I will try to amp up my bloggings, and will tell you about the mundane activities of my day to day life. Strap yourselves in folks, its going to be a mediocre ride.

Whitsunday Islands

Hello family and friends, apologies its been so long. Don't worry though, I haven't been doing anything interesting. Just plugging away at school. So far I am about 5 assignments in, and I'll have you know I've got marks of distinction (honours) on all of them. Just need to keep it up for about 7 more months, and I'm well on my way to graduating with honours again.

So now that you know why you haven't been hearing from me, I'm going to regale you a little with my mid semester break vacation. I decided to go to Whitsunday Islands, after hearing them described as 'Paradise on Earth.'

They were truly gorgeous! Lush green landscapes, cool teal water, and white sandy beaches. The rain I had for the majority of the trip wasn't enough to put a damper on my experience. I knew this would probably be the only time I would get to explore this place, so I put on my yellow raincoat and went crazy.

I was on a sailboat tour for 2 days and 2 nights, which took me to a variety of beaches, snorkel spots, and quiet bays for the evening. I got to snorkel in the ever attractive stinger suit, a bathing suit the boat provided that was like a thin wet suit, to protect me from the very deadly jellyfish they get in the area. I didn't see a single one, but the suit was a comfort when given the knowledge of stingers in the area. Snorkeling was fun, but I only lasted about 20-30 minutes. I take after my mother and prefer to swim a little bit away from the reef and fish, looking from a distance, and since the tide was low the reef was RIGHT THERE, and the fish were very curious. I was happily done when one swam into my face.

The boat was great, I've always loved the rocking motion, and I slept like a baby in the tiny cabin they stuffed my party of 3. We were in very close proximity of each other for the whole trip.

We got home Friday around 5, and were able to enjoy the Royal wedding along with the rest of the world. All in all it was a great experience and I enjoyed the sailboat thoroughly. My only disappointment was that I didn't get to see a sea turtle, but I have a trip to Cairns (the Great Barrier Reef) with the family over Christmas to do a little sea turtle finding on. I'll be back sometime near the end of the month to let you know about my day trip to Stradbroke Island, its booked for the 29th. I can't wait to go sand surfing!!

I'm Alive

Just checking in blog, don't worry, I'm still here. Things are a little busy lately with school, so once things let up, and I start experiencing the things I have in the hopper here, more posts will follow

Byron Beautiful!

This weekend marked my first getaway to Byron Bay. Just an hour south, it is a gorgeous little beach town, also known as the most easterly point of Australia. Italso has a great lighthouse that still runs at night, filling the town with light.

We got there around 4:30, checked into our hostel, and heading to Aztec for a DELICIOUS, but very long mexican meal. I recommend the cheese dip, it was amazing, but apparently the guacamole was delicious as well. Then we decided to head to a local home, a friend of a friend, to get the details on the nightlife in Byron Bay. But, to get there we had to drive, and since I had opted for just water at dinner, while everyone else had margharitas, I got to drive a car on the Aussie streets (and navigate driving on the wrong side of the road) for the first time. The Outcome: Not as terrifying as I thought it would be, and something I'm looking forward to doing again.

It was a pretty tame night out, I had 1 beer overall, some of my friends had a little more, but we went to Aquarius Backpackers Lodge for a few minutes, then everyone migrated to the Beach Hotel, but, having a few people lagging behind, I waited for them, and by the time we arrived at the Beach, they were no longer letting people in, as they close down at midnight. So, the three of us who missed out stopped by a Dominos for a little pizza, and then after 15 minutes caught up with our crew again. Everyone else was hungry, so we went to the most hilarious kebab shop: Abrakebabra. After that, most of us were pretty exhausted, so we walked back to the hostel for a little shut eye.

Sunday was our day to explore. We had a disappointing breakfast at Fix Coffee, and then looked at all the great shops for a few hours. My friend Alan who was with us confided in us that he is scared of the 'artsy types' that frequent Byron Bay, because they 'creep him out.' That

provided the rest of us with plenty of cannon fodder to make fun of him for the rest of the day. For lunch we stopped in at a little sushi place. It was delicious, and sushi here is so cheap! Must be the proximity, I guess! We spent an hour on the beach relaxing, and then headed to the Lighthouse to check it out.

It was so beautiful, and on the walkway to the most easterly point in Australia, we got the extra special treat of seeing a whole school of wild dolphins swimming in the break.

It was a great weekend getaway, and fantastic to relax as I will be going pretty heavy on the school work for the next couple of weeks.

Let the Learning Begin!

First week of classes done! Only 15 more to go until I am halfway done the school part of this adventure!

This is where the blogs are probably going to get pretty uninteresting, as the exciting things I do become less, and the learning becomes more. But, I'm excited for the learning!

My week was pretty productive, if I do say so myself. I spent Monday reading the first chapters of my textbooks, except for one, as it didn't even arrive in the bookstore until Thursday the 3rd. I don't have any lectures Monday or Wednesday, so I get a 3 day weekend every weekend! And, a whole lot of time to do readings. I have lectures from 1-4 and 6-9 on Tuesdays, 4-7 on Thursday, and 3-6 on Friday. Most of the classes in my program are offered at night, because a lot of people take their Masters part time, so I too will be a night owl.

So far, I am pretty excited by 3 out of 4 of my classes. Branding seems really exciting, and the professor is so passionate! Advanced Consumer Decision Making is right up my alley, as it is a bit of a mix between the psychology and marketing, and I am a huge fan of my professor in that class too. She is the head of the entire Masters of Marketing Program, and already in the first lecture I could tell she has some hilarious stories to tell. My Internal Marketing Professor was also really funny, and had us do a pretty original ice breaker activity that I hadn't seen before. The course material seems a little more dry than the other 2 I've spoken about, but I think if anyone can make it interesting, its this guy. And finally, Strategic Marketing. I hate to say it, but dull! It was just the first class, so I'm sure it will get better once we get into the meat and potatoes of the thing, but I have never had a lecturer in my life who spoke with such a monotone. He seemed like a very nice man, but there was no life to his voice. But, for the next 2 weeks, 3 of my professors, including Strategic Marketing, are gone at worldwide conventions presenting their work, so I will have 3 completely different lecturers for the next 2 weeks, so who knows!?

I have some pretty good groups so far for group projects, a few Canadians, some Finnish people, a girl from China, some Danish people, and a couple people from Germany make up the groups for most of my classes. It'll be great to get some diversity and see how marketing is interpreted through other cultures.

It's been a quiet week here for me. I hurt my knee last Saturday, after making a poor choice to climb my balcony when I was locked out rather than calling security to unlock it. My knee ended up getting infected, so I've pretty much been laid up since then. Now I'm on antibiotics, and the knee is looking, and feeling, much better.

I had a pretty quiet weekend as well. On Friday, a few of the Aussie girls I've met took some of us foreigners to the 'Hogs Breath Cafe' for the 'Best Steak in Australia.' I had the calamari steak, and it was pretty damn good. Now, since I've had so few steaks in Australia, I'm not sure I can claim it was the best YET, but look for this common theme on the blog as the months go by, and by the end of my trip, I will crown a 'Best Steak.'

Saturday was rainy, so I spent to day reading textbooks and setting up formats for my many papers this semester, as did most of my roommates. I think most people around here were feeling the need for relaxation, as the Village itself was pretty quiet all weekend. On Saturday night, a few friends and I went out for some yummy pizza, and saw a movie at the local cinema. Big props to Alana, who has driven me around a few times now, and my car-less self would be lost without her. After the movie, we went back to a friend's apartment and played N64 Mario Kart till 2am. The little things in life!

On Sunday, we went to one of the local themeparks, Dreamworld, and I forgot to bring my camera! So, no pictures of that, BUT, it is cheaper, as a resident, to get an unlimited pass ($60) instead of a day pass ($79), so I can go to Dreamworld, and White Water World as many times as I want until June, so I am sure we will go again, and I will try to remember my camera. It was a great day out, and a nice break from my solitary confinement of Saturday. Had a quiet Sunday night in, and here we are at Monday, another week, and more school to do.

I'm going to Byron Bay this weekend, which we were actually supposed to do this last weekend, but the delightful new friends I've made put it off for a week so I could heal up and be in fine form for beaching (no one wants sand in a cut!) So, I will hopefully have some beautiful pictures and fun stories to tell.

Now, it's been a pleasure, but please excuse me while I get back to studying!

Skydiving and Village Life

Today I went skydiving, and it was amazing! They made us fill out a bunch of paperwork and sign our lives away. Elisabeth was a little nervous, because she has some issues with height, so we decided to get her to jump first, so there would be no time for hesitation. Our instructors were awesome, so friendly, and Elisabeth's kept making cracks about us dying on the way down. Ha?

We got in the bus to the airport, and when we got there, both Elisabeth and I tried to get out of our seats without undoing or seatbelt. Safe to say, our minds were probably elsewhere. Once in, we all started making fun of the pilot, which is probably not the smartest thing to do. Elisabeth was really happy when I pointed out all the duct tape 'holding' the plane together.

Usually you are only in the air for about 10 minutes, but we had to circle around for about 30 minutes because planes kept flying underneath us, and apparently you aren't supposed to free fall past other planes; freaks them out a bit. It was an awkward 30 minutes since I was all strapped up to my dive instructor. We had to keep shifting around to sit comfortably, which meant I was sitting on his lap for about half the time.

Once we got the go ahead, Elizabeth and Steve moved into position. Her scream when she jumped was epic, and got me really excited to go! Then it was time for Muttely and I to take the plunge. With one last parting insult to Nick the pilot (your driving's crap, mate!) we were out the door and free falling.

The free fall lasted about 45 seconds, and included some funny faces at the camera, then he pulled the parachute and we drifted slowly for about 5 minutes. During this time we watched Elisabeth fall, Muttely pointed out the scenery to me, I drove the chute for a bit, and we talked about how Muttely dropped our of business school to be a parachute instructor. Sorry, Mom and Dad, maybe I'll do that instead!

We came in quick on the X and were able to do a standing landing, which was rad because then I didn't have to land on my butt.

The experience was exhilarating, exciting, and completely fantastic! I am so happy to check that off my bucket list! Plus, it was a great way to bond with my roomie Elisabeth

Besides throwing myself from planes, things have been busy adjusting to live here in the village. I've met a multitude of people from all around the world, including (but not limited to): Iceland, Paris, South Carolina, Australia (duh), Norway, Denmark, South Africa, and so on. I have yet to meet a person I haven't liked, everyone here is so happy. We'll see if that lasts once the exams roll in.

My days have been spent finding my way around campus, going to orientation sessions, searching out the local banks, supermarkets, restaurants, looking for a job, prepping for school, and meeting as many people as I possibly can. I've been to the beach a few times, into Surfer's Paradise with the Village on Tuesdays, because they have a bus that takes us there and back that night, and had a few movie nights in, because Elisabeth is a master movie downloader. I am having a great time, and I hope that everyone back home is having just as good a time as I am! If not, you should get here ASAP, because its great!

All my roommates have moved in now. I've got 2 roommates from Sydney (originally India), one from South Carolina, and Elisabeth from Iceland. And, since Elisabeth and I are the only girls, we get our own bathroom! Fantastic.

Real life starts on Monday, so I am going to spend tonight (Saturday) with a few of friends I've met here, before I have a 10 am wake up call tomorrow to have another Skype session with the whole family, Grandparents included this time.

Once I get into school I am still going to try to keep busy exploring this new city around me. The Hinterlands were amazing from that one tour I've done, and I've had a couple people express an interest in going back to Springbrook Park to do the 4 hour hike that takes you behind a waterfall. I will let you all know when I do anything exciting, until then, no worries!

Here is a link to some of the skydiving photos.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=623403&id=570255133&l=0114fd0479