brain shock

well, i have now had one and a half days of class! yesterday's class was awesome... it's about religion and media and how they relate to each other. yesterday we talked about twitter and facebook and next week's entire lecture is devoted to... TWILIGHT! yes, the edward cullen vampire books/movies :) and only because it was so entertaining, i have to point out that one of the boys in my class came yesterday with purple uggs, a super high ponytail and a ukulele. what?

today's classes so far have been way less awesome. i'm taking 2 bio classes and a chem class. getting used to the structure of australian schools is going to take a bit of getting used to. i'm not sure whether it's australian schools or big schools that are different from what i've experienced in the past, but it's way more self-led learning. my chem class has 1100 students in it... but "only" 450 in my section. it also has 35 lab sections! it's going to be a bit difficult because i was supposed to have taken another chem class during semester one that leads into the one i'm taking now. obviously i wasn't here semester one and i can't wait until next year to take this class, so i'm going to be playing catch up for most of the semester.

my bio class i had this morning is a little smaller... 350 students. i have another bio class this afternoon but have no idea what that's going to be like. the main problem with my bio classes is i was supposed to take one of them last semester and one this semester. instead, i'm taking them both at once. one of them assumes you've taken the other... and i will be in the process of learning things that i'm supposed to know already. ahh!

lectures are a little weird here. first of all, you can buy lecture notes at the bookstore. they cover all the powerpoints for the entire semester. also, instead of assigning you certain chapters to read for each lecture, they basically just tell you to read the entire book sometime before the midterm/final. instead of having lecture MWF from 1-2 or something every week, lectures are held at really weird, inconsistent times. it'll be held like tuesday 9-10 in building A, wednesday 1-2 in building B and friday 10-11 in building C. it's a little confusing. i'm pretty sure i'll have to carry my schedule/where all my classes are with me all semester.

labs should also be interesting. my chem class is so big that we only have labs every other week... whooo! in one of my bio classes, we're required to actually run the lab for our entire section once during the semester. we're graded on how well we teach the concepts/get kids through the lab... even though we'll have never actually done it ourselves. joy. and from looking at info on the website, my other bio labs are half done online.

i already can't wait until next year when i can start taking more specialized classes. this semester is really just full of necessary evils to get me to that point.

i haven't experienced too much culture shock yet, just class shock. everyone is super friendly (plus i lOvE the accent) and there are so many americans that it doesn't really feel much different. the main exception would be the fact that guys wear teeny tiny shorts and uggs. i may never get used to that. there's also the fact that everything here is SO. EXPENSIVE! too bad the exchange rate's not better! we have a formal dinner coming up for our college and all the girls have to wear cocktail dresses... dianne and i went shopping at a nearby mall and did not find a single dress for less than $90. i'm not even exaggerating. plus, dresses here are TINY! we stood in nearly every store and looked at half the "dresses" debating whether they were actually dresses or whether they were tank tops. we actually had to ask a couple times. they were dresses.

the uni is similar to an airline... seems pretty reasonable when you first sign up, but then they charge you for all the little extra things until you're bankrupt. you have to pay for internet based on how much you use it/how much you download... but all of the class information is online and i have to download all of my class readings, so i have to use it a lot. then they charge you to print things (which is reasonable) but it's going to cost me $25+/week just to print off one class's readings! you have to be a member of the bookstore co-op, which is an additional membership fee. you have to pay to take the bus... you get a discount but when you first get your "go-card," you're charged an additional fee because you're a student eventually getting discounts. it's totally ridiculous. sigh. goodbye money to travel the country, hello purchased internet so i can read my class assignments.

the past 24 hours have made me a bit cranky, but i think once i get into more of a schedule, things will be fine.

as for the fun things, i started yesterday morning off with a run along the lakes on campus and then the river. there's a dirt trail that runs alongside the river, so i ran on that and watched the sun rise in the process :) i also ran past the netball courts! haha, totally made me miss africa. hopefully i'll manage to get my butt out of bed with quite a bit of frequency so i can experience that more... and so i can wear previously mentioned tiny dresses! i definitely need to get into the habit of running/walking on the LEFT side of the sidewalks. i run into 3-4 people daily before i remember, "oh yeah. the right side is the wrong side here." yesterday i nearly got trampled by a middle school cross country team as i was running by the river.

tomorrow is market day, where all the clubs and sports teams have little stands and you can sign up for things you're interested in. i'm super excited because it'll be nice to meet even more people. plus, there are parties all week to kick off the first week of classes! haha tonight i believe we're going to the "down under" bar in the city for ladies night. friday night there's a big college party held at cromwell (another college) and apparently the entire college community + heaps of the uni students attend. the theme is "into the jungle" so i better start planning a costume :)

time for lunch and then i have to begin mentally preparing myself for my other bio class!

so have you been to a place like this? to see your breath as it paints against the sky. the fever is near. i wish you were here. i'm thinking ambitious. i've got this feeling things will be alright. --umbrellas

perfection

SUCH a good 24 hours.

before going out last night, i randomly got online to check my class schedule again and realized ONE spot had opened in an earlier lab on thursdays... i snagged it immediately SO I DON'T HAVE 6-9 LAB! so i get to join scuba club! AAAHHHHHHH so exciting!!!!!!!!!!! i still have class that day from 8-5 without a single break (looks like i'll be living off of granola bars on thursdays), but i get to look forward to dive club at the end of those horrendous days!!!!

hit the bars last night downtown with 2 aussie girls, dianne from DU and a guy from new zealand. we took the bus there (super barf) but took the ferry back. picture floating down the river with the stars above you and the city lit up around you.

today i meant to sleep in, but jet lag is still in effect--woke up at 6:30 after going to bed at 2. ahh. dianne and i wandered around campus and found the pool (with a big grassy area to lay out nearby... however, you have to pay to use it! how lame is that?), a couple lakes with fountains that i'm sure will be my new study areas, and the tennis courts (filled with cute aussie guys hitting). then we took the ferry downtown again to explore in the daylight. we got lunch and then wandered the shops. i found a LUSH shop, but sadly they are not hiring, so there goes that job plan :( we found some hysterical and random souvenir shops complete with kangaroo claw bottle openers (literally, they took the claws off kangaroos and attached bottle openers... so gross), koala backpacks, and inappropriate australian calendars. then we took the ferry back to campus.

once i arrived back, i checked my class schedule again and got into chem lab i wanted to as well! and yet again, i snagged the LAST opening. luck is on my side. still means 7 hours of class on tuesdays, but yet again, better times.

man. plus it's been sunny and in the 70's all week (except at night) so i'm totally digging that. so lovely. i'm leaving you with a link to some pics i've taken so far...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034902&id=30001879&l=934765d5ae

i forget that patience is a virtue. you're teaching me to hold on tight. and i don't know how the story ends, but i'll be alright 'cause you wrote it. and i don't know where the highway bends but i'm doing just fine 'cause you're in control. even when i don't know where my life's gunna go, you're keeping me guessing. so slow me down, show me around. i wanna see the world that i've been without. i am here and now; the future is out of my hands. i'm trusting you and how you move. i won't forget that patience is a virtue. you're teaching me to hold on tight. --francesca battistelli

life down under

g'day! sorry it's taken me so long to update. life has been quite a whirlwind since i left.

the flights over went decently. my flight to LA was uneventful. i met a girl who's living in perth for a year as a nanny for an australian family and we just chatted a little. luckily i didn't miss my flight like the last time i flew through LA, so i no longer hate that airport quite as much :) the flight from LA to sydney was... boring. the entertainment system that plays all the movies was broken, so no entertainment for us! however, i was pretty used to long flights with no movies as the air pacific entertainment system was terrible and i couldn't figure out how to work it on the way to tanzania. the only big problem was my broken reading light! it would have been one thing if it straight up didn't work, but it quickly came to resemble a strobe light. it would flicker on and off for a few minutes at a time then stay on or off for 30 minutes or so and then start over again. i don't know what was wrong with it (nor did the flight attendants) but take my word for it: a strobe light over your seat when people are trying to sleep doesn't win you any friends. luckily i was surrounded by a group of catholic priests in sandals and hooded robes with roped belts who were pretty chill. i got to sydney and made a pretty easy connection to brisbane. it cost me $370 to get my bags on that flight, which was a tad ridic, but i'm learning that australia is just beastly expensive in general.

i arrived at the airport and a cute old man was waiting for me to drive me to UQ. we made it over to union college in about an hour after dropping off 3 other girls throughout the city. a cute aussie guy helped me lug my bags up the stairs (haven't seen him since... he's probably sprawled out in his room with a broken back) and i started unpacking. in typical story-of-my-life fashion, neither my room phone or internet worked. while i realize my last post was about my newfound hatred of technology, i'm going to go ahead and eat my words. it was a little lonely for a while there as i had absolutely no way of communicating with the few people i had made contact with before i got here.

a lot of the past few days has been spent running around the suburbs and trying to get stuff for my room. i even took a city bus to kmart... twice. haha. i also had the distinct displeasure of trying to purchase a cell phone from the world's most bipolar kiosk employee. she kept coming up with all this new paperwork i needed in order to get a phone plan, so it took me 5 trips to the kiosk (ten bus trips back and forth... thank god i brought a hefty supply of dramamine) and 4 trips to the bank to get this random paperwork. i was a tad frustrated. then once she finally decided i had all the paperwork, she spent over an hour talking about how much she loves laguna beach, the city, and the hills (mtv reality tv shows). apparently she even called mtv australia to see if they'd star her in a show called "brisbane river." (there's a big river that runs through brissy). i waited until she had handed the cell phone over to let her know that i'd never been around LA or met lauren conrad.

on one of my countless bus trips, i met another international student from the states. she asked where i was from and when i told her MN, she goes, "oh, are you from anywhere near edina? basically my entire school goes there." she goes to DU. talk about a small world. so dianne and i have been hanging out a lot and slumming it on the city bus together! :)

i think i've attended more orientation sessions this week than i have at my past 4 schools combined. we've got the typical orientation sessions... how to make friends, how to register for classes, etc. on top of that, we've got "safety down under" (where we learned about jellies, cone shells, sharks, snakes, spiders, kangaroos that jump in front of your car, how to swim on beaches properly and avoid riptides, which way to look when you cross the street, who to call to receive antivenom, how to distinguish between different species of poisonous animals), "working while studying" (making sure you're within your visa rules, how to file aussie taxes, how to find minimum wages), "adjusting to life with australians" ("if we make fun of you or give you a hard time, we like you. we also like beer. and parties. and beaches. and sunshine. welcome to australia!") and a lot of other random things like that. oh and i learned a little tidbit at one of the sessions: apparently the US is no longer the fattest country in the world... australia recently took our place. whoo! way to go guys. the aussies are only just beginning to get to school as they've all been on holiday, so i've really mainly met internationals so far.

the diversity here is insane. there are 2000 international students at UQ this semester, representing 160+ countries. the international student population alone here is the same as CC's entire student population. students from egypt, iran, switzerland, the US, UK, canada, spain, tanzania, fiji, brazil, norway, chile, italy, china (424 students from china alone!), japan, denmark, malaysia, france, india, germany, iceland, mexico, samoa, countries i've never even heard of, the list just goes on... it's SO cool. there are at least 5 different countries represented just in my hall.

the campus is gorgeous. huge sandstone buildings with carved columns and tunnels... it's pretty cool. i'll put pics up when i get around to taking them. the food at union sucks, but it's all part of the uni experience i suppose. the weather has been wonderful. warm and sunny during the day and cold at night... a little too cold sometimes though! i wasn't expecting it to be THIS cold. i sleep in a hoodie (with the hood up), long sleeved shirt, tshirt, sweatpants and socks! i haven't been downtown yet (by the way, to get downtown you take the FERRY!), but dianne and 2 aussie girls and myself are going on a little pub crawl this evening. i'm learning that australia is super expensive. dianne and i nearly passed out when we got to the liquor store the other day and learned that a bottle of smirnoff costs $40!! and a 6 pack of corona is $20! the guy working at the store laughed and told us that all americans react like that the first time they buy alcohol down under.

i'm excited for next week. the whole student population will finally be back so i'll be able to find that hot aussie boy of my dreams! (just kidding. kind of.) but union college (my "dorm") is holding all sorts of parties next week and on wednesday there's a big fair called "market day" where all the clubs and sports put up booths so you can see what's offered. unfortunately, i already know i can't join the scuba diving club b/c they meet thursday nights... and i have lab from 6-9. i could not possibly be any sadder about this fact. i have literally been moping all afternoon. i am getting depressed just thinking about it right now, so on to the next paragraph.

i keep forgetting that i also have to start class next week. i'm taking 2 bio classes, a chem class and a religion class. i can't even imagine what life would be like at US colleges if they ran like AUS unis do. the kids who are receiving a bachelor of marine studies (i'm receiving a bachelor of science with a marine science major so it's a little different) will not take a single non-science related class in all four years they are here. they have a few electives they get to take, but they all have to be program-related. where are the classes about counting poop, madonna and reading about va-jayjays?? i was hoping i'd be able to ease back into the school process, but no luck. 3 out of my 4 classes have lectures, tutorials AND labs. meaning they each meet 5 times a week for 1-4 hours. on tuesdays i have 7 hours of class and on thursdays i have 9 hours... starting at 8 am and ending at 9 pm! i also have 8 ams three days a week and a 9 am on friday. ugh ugh UGH!! did i say UGH yet?!?! haha mainly i'm just upset i won't be joining the scuba club. sigh. now i just need to fit in some volunteer work, a job, tennis?, a church group?, a choir group? i think i'll be lucky if i see the light of day outside of lab. every kid i've talked to who's studied abroad down here has said that classes are "SOooOO easy." what! ahh.

anyway, time to go shower then head out. hope everyone is sleeping wonderfully :) ...

maybe it's not my weekend, but it's gunna be my year. i'm so sick of watching while the minutes pass as i go nowhere. and this is my reaction to everything i fear. 'cause i've been goin' crazy, i don't want to waste another minute. --all time low

soon.

there is a massive blog update coming, i swear! too tired to post now though... trying sooo hard not to fall asleep right now.

transistions

it's sometimes hard to believe that fiji and africa even happened. as i transition back into this so-called "real world," i find myself wondering if the past few months were just a dream. the people i hang out with, my house, my job... everything seems exactly the same. yet i feel so completely different.

i got home and had a few weeks to recuperate before work started which was a huge blessing. while i'm not out on court coaching full-time, being the tennis director is heaps more stressful. i get to deal with the high maintenance edina parents (no, your 7 year old will NOT make varsity within the next year... and don't expect much from your 4 year old, as they can't even see over the net yet!), the late or ditching staff members, hiring new staff, the paperwork, etc. so having a little time to recover from traveling before throwing myself into work was really nice. that being said, not having to run around for 12 hours a day in 90+ degree weather is quite wonderful! 

the first couple weeks back were especially hard. trying to remember how to live in a world filled with cell phones, shopping malls, celebrities, and roofs over my head took some serious adjusting to. it still is in fact. i used to be addicted to my cell phone. in fact, if i left the house without it, i felt completely naked. now i want to throw it out the window every time it rings and frequently just let voicemail pick it up. do you know how well you can get to know a person when there aren't any cell phones distracting you? now i find myself going out to meals with or hanging out with friends who spend the entire night texting other people and i can't help but want to throw their cell phones out the window as well. especially when we were on the island, we got to know each other SO well. we didn't fill our conversations with stupid celeb gossip or zone out from the conversation because we were busy texting. we were fully present and fully there. it was a beautiful thing that i find myself missing everyday. isn't it weird? all these technology things are supposed to make our relationships stronger... and yet, you can have an entire relationship without saying a single spoken word.

NINE days until i leave for australia! i've been busy busy busy getting ready to leave. i've shipped a few boxes with sheets, towels, dresses, shoes, sweatpants, etc ($540... RIDICULOUS! if i had known it was going to cost so much, i would've bought a friend a plane ticket and had them help me cart everything down there!!) and will *hopefully* begin packing any day now. of course, i say that now, but i probably won't pack until next week. i've also been busy trying to find out info about bank accounts and transportation from the airport and registering for classes and the list just keeps going on. and now it's time for a slightly pathetic, embarrassing confession: i'm not sure which i'm more excited about... the fact that i leave for australia in 9 days or the fact that the new harry potter movie comes out in 8! hahaha. but in all seriousness, i AM really excited for OZ. it's a new feeling for me. out of the past 4 schools i've been to, i haven't really been excited for a single one of them. hopefully this is the start of something wonderful :)

some of my avid blog-followers may recall that i met a guy in arusha whose daughter attends UQ. i've been facebooking with her a little bit and asked her what sort of stuff i should bring and what it's like there. her response? "well, bring heaps of dresses (cocktails and formals, especially for the races), trackies, and be prepared for your liver to hate you!" 

obviously i needed a little translation. apparently girls there don't wear pants. ever. i've looked at her FB photos and have not seen a single girl in pants. no wait, that's a lie. there was one picture with about 40 girls in it and one was wearing pants. also, they attend horse races. yes, true story. they wear formal dresses and big hats, so that's something to be excited for? i had to ask alice (a family friend in adelaide) what the heck "trackies" are and apparently they're sweatpants. as for the liver hatred comment, apparently i'm living at the "fun" college. whoo! i really need to start learning my aussie slang so i don't give everyone a blank, wtf stare. tristan, one of the blue ventures staff members who happens to be from sydney, tried teaching me a few new words. when the lady from the bank called me, i had to ask her to repeat herself no less than 14 times. 

while it's a tiny bit nerve-wracking to know i'm about to step off a plane across the world and not know a single person, it couldn't be any more exciting. i'm at a crossroads and my life can go any direction i please. it's time for a fresh start. when i first got home, i was jealous of all my graduating friends for about 9 seconds. then i realized i'm moving to aaauusstrraallliaa! AUSTRALIA. australia. AUSTRALIA!!!! man. i may be behind in school, but i've probably gotten to see way more the world has to offer than the some of those people. i'll most likely be updating come wednesday night when i'm panicking and still avoiding packing, but if not, i'll update once i'm down under :)

if she wanna rock, she rocks. if she wanna roll, she rolls. she can roll with the punches as long as she feels like she's in control. if she wanna stay, she stays. if she wanna go, she goes. she doesn't care how she gets there as long as she gets somewhere she knows. --eric hutchinson

she said, get outta my way cause i'm goin' somewhere. this is not where i wanna be. you can say what you want, you can tell me i'm wrong, la dee da, la dee dee. get off of my back, stop sayin' that 'cause i am not afraid of heights. i may never get where i'm goin, yeah, but then again i might. i'm standing on the edge, yeah. i know it's a long way down but you can't walk the wire for anybody else. i might hit the ground but at least i'll have a story to tell. --brie larson

it might be time for you to go. it might be time to change, to shine out. i want to repeat one word for you: LEAVE. roll the word around on your tongue for a bit. it is a beautiful word, isn't it? so strong and forceful, the way you have always wanted to be. and you will not be alone. you have never been alone. don't worry. everything will still be here when you get back. it is you who will have changed.  --donald miller, through painted deserts

stupid jetlag

i've been meaning to write this post forever but have pretty much just been wayyy too lazy/jetlagged to sit down and do it. i'm almost back to a normal sleep schedule, but up until last night i was still pulling 4:30 am-6:30 am bedtimes. yuck. if it weren't for work, i'd just stay on that schedule until i got to australia :) 

okay, where to begin? well, i finally got to dive!... and it was INCREDIBLE. i only got 11 dives in, which sucks since everyone else got in 30+, but the dives i did do were amazing. i actually should have done more, but of course, once my ear cleared up we got hit with some major waves/wind, which meant aborted dives. so goes the story of my life. i did one dive where we saw 5 stingrays and an enormous puffy pink starfish that looked like a cartoon. i did another dive where we saw 7 white tip sharks and another where we saw 5. we saw turtles, jellyfish, and fish bigger than picabo. i did a dive where we saw a porcupine fish that was about 4 feet long. it was SO cool. i ended up not doing any survey diving... by the time my ear cleared up, i just didn't have time left to get my advanced open water certification, do my in-water fish/species/benthic id tests, get trained in how to do the surveys, and then pass the test to show that i knew how to do the surveys properly. it ended up being okay though because i got to do almost all recreation dives! i did have to miss out on doing a homestay in a nearby village though to get my AOW certification, so that was definitely a bummer. the staff knew though that i was kind of sad i didn't get to do as many dives as the others, so a couple times a staff member would take just me out on a private dive :) the other thing i got to do more than other people was manta boarding. tristan (one of the staff members) had a manta board made that we could tow behind the dive boat. it's basically a piece of wood that you hold on to while being dragged behind the boat. you wear your mask and snorkel and keep your face in the water, looking for new dive sites. the best part is that you can angle the manta board down and go really far underwater. so you're being dragged behind the boat while 10 feet under the surface. it was really cool. then we got to dive some brand new divesites where nobody's been before!

obviously i decided not to stay the extra three weeks. while i miss fiji more than anyone could possibly imagine, i just didn't think i would have to stamina to stay. well, it was more like i wouldn't have the stamina to come home. basically i would stay for three weeks, then come home and have one day to recover before i started work. i'm taking on even more shifts this summer than last summer, which means i'll be out teaching tennis from 8:30 am-8:30 pm monday-thursday and then from 8:30-4:30 on fridays. then i would work those ridiculous hours right up until i left for australia. i do sort of wish i had stayed though. i can't believe i turned down 3 weeks in paradise.

island life was amazing. 2 dives went out every morning... one at 7:30 and one at 10:30. i basically hung out with the people that weren't on the dive or chilled in the hammock in the morning. in the afternoons we either had classroom lectures, watched a movie, helped map the island and surrounding area, snorkeled, walked around at low tide, did laundry or just hung out with each other. most nights were spent stargazing (best stars i've ever seen) or watching movies or talking about life. saturdays were our party nights. there was an island rule that you couldn't have more than 2 beers, 1 drink with hard alcohol, or 5 bowls of kava the night before a dive, so weekday nights were pretty tame. however, sunday was a totally free day so saturday nights were always INSANE. since i wasn't diving i was nominated to be the sole member of the party planning committee. the party i planned was a reverse rubik's cube party. basically, everyone came dressed head to toe in one color. the goal was to exchange clothing/accessories with people and be wearing as many different colors by the end of the night as possible. the twist was that in order to get an article of clothing, you had to partake in a dare of the wearer's choosing. it was pretty entertaining. our first saturday we had an ice breaker party with lots of games, our second saturday we did the reverse rubik's cube party, then we had an anzac day party (it's an australian holiday), then we spent a saturday in levuka, and our last saturday night was a priscilla, queen of the desert party, based on the australian movie about transsexuals. haha. we all went shopping in levuka at a second hand store the week before and bought costumes. the guys got way into it, wearing everything from pink miniskirts, to glitter head to toe, to blue silk camis, to bras stuffed with balloons. oh, and howard, one of the staff members actually wore a thong, which we only know because his white skirt was a tad see through :)

the facilities were sufficient. it took a little getting used to the fact that we only sporadically had electricity and that the water was frequently turned off in an effort to promote conservation. by the end though, you didn't even notice when you were showering by flashlight or worry about the fact that it took 3 days for your ipod to fully charge. in fact, it was actually pretty weird to get back to the capitol and be able to turn on the lights at 2 in the afternoon. the only time water was a problem was when they turned it off while you were in the shower, which definitely happened to me a couple times. at one point, my hair was covered in conditioner, my body was covered in soap, and my legs were covered in shaving cream when all of a sudden the water sputtered to a trickle and then completely turned off. a stupid lady at rei had convinced me to buy this micro-fiber towel before i left... which was great except for the fact that it only covered about 1/4 of my body. so there i was, stuck with no real towel to wrap myself in, covered in soap, and with no water. i had to stand there until i thought i heard someone walk by and then yell at them to find someone to turn the water back on. good times.

i was in a little wooden box with a tin roof with 2 roommates. the 6 of us uni girls were placed in one house with 2 rooms (there was a thin piece of wood separating us... but there was no real point in it being there, as we could hear everything that went on in the other room and there were gaps at the top so you could see the others), about the size of my first dorm room. they were pretty basic, but it didn't matter since we were only in there to sleep. we learned to battle hoards of red ants, jumping spiders the size of an open hand, and mozzies carrying dengue fever. it's weird being home now and in enclosed spaces. the restaurant on the island was a thatched roof over an open air area, as was the bar. even the bathrooms were basically just ceilings. i think we all had a bit of a panic attack when we got back to the capitol and found ourselves in enclosed spaces. we all got especially antsy when we got on the airplane and realized that we had to go 11 hours with no view of the ocean. 

the food was really good, but not all too healthy. it included a lot of white bread, white rice and fried... everything. a typical day of food would be: breakfast-2 pieces of white bread and a homemade doughnut. lunch-a bowl of white rice, 1/3 of a banana, fried vegetables. dinner-a bowl of white rice, potato/carrot curry and a bowl of soup. french fries were also served regularly. because it was pretty much all carbs and it came in teeny portions (try cooking for everyone on the island in a kitchen the size of... a tiny room), everyone was always hungry. people would legitimately fight over food and the people who finished first would watch everyone still eating like a hawk, determined to take any leftovers. i was pretty convinced that all the fried food and carbs were causing me to gain weight, but i actually lost just over 10 pounds. that may be due to the fact that i was tapering off of my graves disease meds while i was there, but hey, i'll take it! the guys dropped heaps of weight... some of them were struggling to keep their pants up by the end of the trip.

the people were great great GREAT. well, most of them. the people i got along best with were a 28 year old guy from the UK (petey), a 19 year old girl from seattle (tamara... who may transfer to macalester this fall!!!), an 18 year old girl from asheville (leah), a 30 year old guy from the UK (duncan), and an 18 year old girl from the UK (georgie). there were some people who definitely got along better than others, but for the most part, everyone got along pretty well. it was hard because everyone was always hot, sleep deprived, and craving 10 minutes of alone time, which was pretty hard to come by. i already miss a lot of the people. in fact, i missed them by the time i made it through security in LA. 7 of us flew together (we all got into the same exit row! what are the chances??), then split up once we got off the plane. i re-checked in (but not before missing my connecting flight) and was immediately looking around for people to talk to. i got so used to giving a running commentary on my life and the people's around me to the others that suddenly i didn't know how to go more than 15 minutes without conversing to one of like 20 people. the last like 48 hours of the trip, i think i spent maybe... 6? hours apart from petey... and those 6 hours were spent sleeping, so it was weird to suddenly be alone. the cool thing about the island is that it is also a tiny backpacker's resort, so anytime someone would come check in, we'd get to know them pretty well. i met a girl from brisbane, some other guys from australia, and a guy named mark from sydney, who i ended up hanging out with when we got back to Suva at the end of the trip. one of the best parts about traveling the past few months is that i've met people from all over the world. i'm super excited for new year's this year because i'm hosting a fiji reunion at my cabin! we talked about doing a reunion and then realized that everyone either lived in a dorm room, a 1 room flat, or at home with their parents. so i suggested my cabin. i gave them ample warning on weather conditions in january in minnesota :) seeing as how much i miss everyone now, i can only imagine the state i'll be in by january!

so, longest post ever, but i was sort of slacking while i was away. despite the world's most persistent ear infection, the past 6 weeks were hands down the best 6 of my life. add in the time in africa and the past 3 months have made me the happiest girl EVER! :) all of my friends are graduating right now, which was hard for about 45 seconds and then i remember, "i just spent a month in africa, 6 weeks in fiji and i'm about to move to australia for the next 2 or 3 years." really? how upset can i be? loving my life.

ps-i just bought my ticket yesterday for australia! i leave july 16. so much to do before i go, but i'm so excited. scuba diving in fiji certainly helped me get in the mood for some marine biology. and by the way, there's a mad sale on tickets to sydney at the moment. if you leave after july 20, you can get tickets for under $500. that's right. $500. i expect visitors!

3rd time's a charm

i just visited the hospital for a third time and great news! I HAVE REGAINED HEARING IN MY RIGHT EAR! whooo. they hardcore cleaned it (super gross) but now i can hear again. i have yet to go diving and was told by the doctor that i should wait until i finish my antibiotics (thursday) before i start diving again. however, the doctor also didn't know how to work the blood pressure cuff, so i'm fairly confident that monday will be sufficient.

things have been fun, boring, frustrating, and relaxing all at once. it's been nice to have some time sitting in the hammock looking at the gorgeous ocean, but it's definitely been difficult hearing everyone come back talking about seeing sharks, turtles, huge fish, sting rays and today, dolphins. so, if my ear clears up, i'm thinking about joining the next expedition and staying in fiji for an extra 3 weeks. 9 weeks in fiji? not bad.

my experience has been vastly different from the others, but it's been pretty good. hopefully by the beginning of next week i'll be out getting my advanced open water certification. then i have about 5 trillion in water tests to take and i have to learn/practice doing survey dives. the good news is that they're going to let me dive more than once a day, so i'll be super busy :)

one of the things i got to be involved in since i wasn't diving was planning a kids conservation club at a nearby island's primary school. we kicked it off by doing our own rendition of the harry potter puppet pals show (i'll post our version when i get home), then doing a rap, then splitting into small groups to chat, then doing a relay race in fins, mask and snorkel. so fun.

the people here are incredible. i love almost every member of our group, which is good because the island is so small that you physically can never be alone. there are a few exceptions, but i basically just steer clear of the people that make me want to jump in the ocean while wearing nothing but a weight belt. i think everyone is learning the value of patience and it's been fun watching some of the younger girls start learning how to grow up. almost everyone on the trip is in a life transition phase--changing jobs, moving, transferring schools, taking a gap year before uni... i've certainly never been in a situation like this and it's fascinating to hear and experience everyone's stories as they try to figure out the right direction. i have no idea how i'm going to be able to say goodbye to everyone in 2 weeks.

while not diving has been so frustrating, i'm getting better at looking on the bright side. i mean, cmon. i'm in FIJI. the water is the brightest blue you can imagine, the sun is brilliant, and the stars at night are breathtaking. plus, a few times now the water has had bioluminescence... no idea how to spell that... personally, i like to inform people that the "water is sparkly".... but basically, when you run your hand through it, it looks like there is a trail of glitter or sparks in the water. one of the best moments i've had is when petey, a volunteer from the UK, and i took a kayak out at midnight and looked at the stars above us and the stars in the water. it's hard to ever feel stressed here.

alright, the internet cafe is about to close. we're spending the night in levuka (a nearby island that almost counts as civilization) so we're about to get dressed up and go out to PARTY!