But is it legal to be stressed in Australia?

It’s getting harder and harder to write blogs about what I’ve been doing, when I haven’t been doing much out of the ordinary. I originally thought this was going to be a slack-off-and-explore semester, but I’m finding it more and more difficult to explore when I’m stressing about schoolwork.

Classes here count towards my GPA, and the grades I get in each class depend on 3 or 4 assignments each. And these assignments are HUGE. It feels like my summer has been never-ending, and all of a sudden I’m thrown into 2 weeks full of papers, presentations, and quizzes. In my previous posts I’ve talked about doing tons of homework. Honestly I think I was just writing that in there to try to convince myself to get a head start on assignments—but if you know me, you know that I procrastinate till the absolute last minute for every single thing I ever have to do. A terrible habit, I know, but I’m trying to fix that………. Starting after this post. ;)

As for what I’ve been up to since my last blog, it’s been a pretty chill week.

My roommate and I went to Surfers Paradise beach to catch some rays after her class, and we got a nice little nap in on the beach. Then our friends met up with us to shop around for souvenirs and grab some dinner. We ate at a hot air balloon themed restaurant called Pancakes in Paradise, where I had THE most delicious black forest pancakes—double chocolate batter with strawberries, blueberries, whipped cream, and ice cream on the side. I added a fried banana to top it off. It’s safe to say I wasn’t very hungry after that meal. :)

Every Tuesday morning  Kiersten, Baylee, and I have been going to a workout class called Cardio Blitz. It’s the most intense workout of my life! But it’s a great way to start my week since I only have classes on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Last Saturday I did something I thought I’d never do… I got a tattoo! I know how a lot of people feel about tattoos, but this one is *super* small and is also meaningful to me. I wanted to get a tattoo in Australia just so I could say that I did, but then I really started thinking about what I would get. I was going to get the outline of Australia, but then I realized that I would have to get a tattoo of every other country I will visit just to be fair—and what if I didn’t like getting tattooed? So, I settled on a tiny (and I mean tiny… He said he couldn’t make it any smaller) airplane tattoo. I’ve developed such wanderlust from this adventure, and I never want that desire to travel and learn new things to fade away. Every time I look at my ankle now I’ll remember this trip and the awesome desires it’s planted in me.

Last Wednesday my adventure tourism class took our last fieldtrip—sailing around Lake Orr! Sailing has been on my bucket list since watching Charlie St. Cloud… I mean, what girl wouldn’t dream of sailing on a boat with Zac Efron? So I was expecting that we’d all be on one big boat, or maybe two smaller boats, with an instructor who knew what he was doing. We’d enjoy an afternoon in the sun and a sausage sizzle afterwards…  OH BOY was I wrong. It was a stormy day and our boats were tiny little plastic boats (think - paddle boats) with a sail attached to them. We were divided into pairs, so my partner and I went to get life jackets before choosing a boat. As we were standing in front of our cute little light blue sailboat, someone pointed out that it was only for one person. Of course with my luck there were no doubles left. So, I set out on the lake (in which I’ve seen bull sharks, sting rays, and eels) by myself in a tiny boat which I didn’t know how to sail, just hoping that the wind or a shark wouldn’t tip me over. I was having a really hard time, but eventually I pulled the ropes and my boat started doing donuts. So, I sat there by myself going around and round in circles because I didn’t know what else to do. One of the instructors told me he’s never seen anyone do that before, and that he enjoyed watching me… Maybe that was a good thing? Anyways, I survived and had a delicious sausage sizzle afterwards. It turned out to be an eventful afternoon to say the least!

This past weekend I went to Brisbane with my friends Jackie and Olivia for the Good Food and Wine Show. Jackie and I are in a wine studies class, so our professor recommended we visit the festival to try a bunch of wines on the cheap. That’s exactly what we did. Spit receptacles were provided at each booth, but nobody was really using them… By about 2pm we were ready for a nap. ;) Before we went back to the hostel we took a ride on the Wheel of Brisbane and were able to see gorgeous views of the whole city. That night we went to the Eat Street Markets with an AFL player that Jackie had met the weekend before. We had delicious food and eventually caught the train back to the Gold Coast that night—but the buses weren’t running anymore and our phones had died! Luckily there was a cab sitting around the corner from the bus stop otherwise we would have been stranded!

The night before the wine festival I was able to meet up with Chris, the DCE that graduated from Concordia. We had some good Italian food and talked about his job and how the church works in Australia. Churches here are more relaxed, much like the rest of the Aussie culture. Chris said that Christianity isn’t a popular thing in Oz, but they keep their churches growing by focusing on the un-churched population and making them feel welcomed. I got some great ideas about ministry by talking with him and I’m SO grateful that he took the time to meet with me! I’m definitely considering doing my internship in Australia after senior year… If I can afford the plane ticket that is!

As time goes on I’m feeling less and less like an outsider. I’m getting used to the way things work in Oz- from the lingo, to the public transportation, to the chill culture,  to the tomato sauce! Part of me wants to be an Aussie for the rest of my life! This country is so breathtaking and so unique… and it’s changing me for the better. I’m learning to appreciate the small things in life and the mates I have here and back home. I can’t believe that just two short months ago I had no clue what this journey would have in store, but I’m liking the turnout so far!

This Thursday marks the beginning of my month of adventure! We head out for our Whitsunday Islands cruise on Thursday, hop the Fiji islands next week, visit Noosa and the Australia Zoo the weekend after that, and New Zealand is two weeks later! Then it’s one week of finals and adios, Australia! I can’t believe how fast this semester has gone so far. Cheers to making the most of the time I have left!