"Carolina, you keep calling me home..."

Well, today we leave the Gold Coast. We're staying in a hotel in Brisbane tonight and then flight out for L.A. in the morning. It's so hard to believe that our time here has come to an end. We've had such an amazing trip and met some truly great friends. I would never give up the memories and lessons I've learned through this experience. I still can't believe I've made it almost 5 months without seeing my friends and family (You should all be amazing that I survived that!). Gold Coast really has been like a home to me, I can't stand the thought of never going to my f avorite shopping center, or the IGA across the street, or walk through the sand on one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen... I HAVE to come back here one day, though I know it will never be the same.  I have to say I would never have made it through this without my wonderful friends and room mates, they've been my strength and my caretakers through the last few months. We'll always have this experience to keep us together.  I should really get to finish packing up everything left (not much) and taking out our last trash... It's so hard to believe I am leaving here in less than two hours. Thanks to all of you who have followed me along the way, I'll post when I get home to let you know how that feels!!!

The Final Countdown

Well tomorrow we hit single digits... only ten days left in Australia. I am getting so anxious. I have not been able to get to sleep easily in over a week already! I am so unbelievable excited to see my friends and family, and of course eat some delicious food. Leaving Gold Coast will be sad, but we've had a good run. Looking back I would not trade this experience for anything, though I must say I don't think I would ever repeat it. I'll cherish the memories forever but man oh man do I miss my family and good ole N.C.  I am done with three exams and have one left tomorrow afternoon, sadly I am completely unmotivated to even start studying for it (I guess I'll do that soon). The girls and I are just trying to do our best to enjoy the sun during the day and try to keep warm at night, the temperatures are insane! But we're just hanging around the apartment and enjoying our time left here together. My time spent on the balcony will be adding up this week, I need to get some tan so I won't burn when I go back to work! I can't wait to be there though. That's about all for now... See you soon!!!

Procrastination is my LIFE!

My room mates on my Birthday at Melba's

Well, it's 11 p.m. my time here in Gold Coast and I am trying/pretending to finish up a take home exam paper. Out of ten questions I've done nine.... that last one is just escaping me! I figured I'd blog to waste the time productively! Well I really only have about 17 days left here in Goldie and while I am excited to head home it is sad to leave a place that has had such an impact on my life. I have learned so much about myself just by being here. I have learned that I can go 4 months without seeing most of my loved ones (who knew that was possible for a homebody like me?!), I can get through just about any obstacle/tragedy (cause lets face it, they've been frequent), I can go without a computer (I must have escaped the technology dependent generation after all!), I can make myself have a 'night life' even when I don't really want one, and most of all I will make it the next few years with some of the best friends and room mates I could ask for (we haven't killed each other yet!). I have done so many amazing things here and just lived a day to day brilliant life. I know I am so blessed to have had the experiences I have had here. While I venture home I'll remember the lessons I've learned, and keep the stronger me I have discovered as the real me. I cannot wait to get home and see my family and friends whom I miss so much... And I guess making a visit to bojangles won't be too bad either!!! See you all soon, xoxo

Crikey! We broke a world record!

Yesterday the girls and a friend of ours, Tom, woke up SUPER early and went to Brisbane... We took a short ballet class with the Queensland Ballet with over 2000 other people, this class broke the world record for the world's biggest ballet class and will be in the guiness book of world records!! It was so much fun, and really nice to get to dance. After the class we made our way up to Australia Zoo, home of the crocodile hunter! It was so neat. There were tons of crocs, birds, kangaroos, koalas, turtles, elephants, camels, and lots of other animals. I got to feed an elephant!! We had such a great time getting away from Gold Coast and seeing more of Australia. We're having an amazing last month or so here, it's sad how soon we'll be going home but we're taking every moment and making the most of it. Hope all is well back home. Miss you guys!

It's been entirely too long!!!!

Hello all! Well bad news is my computer won't be getting fixed. The poor thing just didn't want to keep kicking. Haha I guess as long as the computer is the only casualty of Australia then we're good! I am still having a fantastic time here down under. I just got back from break in Sydney and Melbourne last week and it was absolutely perfect. We had such an amazing time. In Sydney we saw the opra house, the sydney harbour bridge, saw a movie at the largest imax screen in the world, went to china town, went to the blue mountains (in the rain and fog, no mountains were seeen! haha) and spent time all over the city. Sydney was absolutely beautfiul!!! In Melbourne we took a trip down to the great ocean road and saw the 12 apostles which is my new favorite place it the world, it is so beautiful!!! We had an amazing break with so many good times and memorable experiences. I am so, so blessed to have been able to do everything I wanted to. Other than break and fun times, it's been business as usual. I've been making it through school, we have only four more weeks of class till study time and exams. The semester has been flying by so fast - I don't even want to think about leaving yet! I thought I'd be so happy to go home (and I will) but the closer it gets the more I realize how attached I am to this place. It's become like a home to me! Hopefully I'll get to return one day... we'll see! Well I will try to be better about updating from now on, things should return to some sense of normalcy for a little while around here! Thanks for all you guys do to support and encourage me! Love you all!

A bit of a catch up on life!!

Well.... Still no computer! I'ts been weeks since I've been up here so I figured I'd update you all on what has been going on down under.

Alex's birthday was a few weeks ago and we celebrated all weekend! The three of us went to build a bear (like all 20 year olds should do for their birthdays) and made australian bears! So cute! We went out to a nice dinner and had drinks with a bunch of friends. The next night we went on a pub crawl around surfers paradise and met some pretty cool people. Very tiring though!

Mid terms have come and are in full swing. Yuck! The actual study part of studying abroad is THE WORST! I've had  tests and papers for the last two weeks and it's been a lot of work. The good news is the grades I have gotten back have been pretty good!!!

Over all things are going well here. We're down to 75 days and it's getting sadder to think about leaving all the time. Though, I must say I have my eating agenda all planned out from the minute I land in North Carolina! To Bojangles we go! I'm missing my favorite foods a lot lately! I'm also missing people more. I haven't gotten to skype more than once in the last month or so and I'm really missing catching people on facebook chat when we're on (I'm never on!). It's definitely been a challenge not having my computer these last weeks but I'm making it through.

Spring break is in about a week and I am absoultely thrilled! I cannot wait to travel and see more of Australia! We're planning on doing some really great things and having an amazing time! It's going to be the best early birthday present I could possibly ask for. Traveling the country will be the opportunity of a lifetime.

Well that's about all I have right now. Back to school, school, school! Hope all is well back home!!! <3

Surfing at Spot X

Well this weekend was absolutely AMAZING! The girls and I loaded up on a bus with lots of other weekenders to Spot X. Spot X is one of Mojo Surf Australia's best surf camps down in Arrawarra, New South Wales! It was a beautiful place to learn to surf - and that is just what we did! We stayed in a cabin right by the lesson area with a few other students from Griffith and another school. We had three surf lessons throughout the weekend and they were all great... Good news, it's official, I can surf!!! I was so nervous that I would not be able to actually stand up on the board but I did. Not only did I stand up but I was pretty good! I also had the opportunity to tandem surf with one of the instructors on a long board. It was so much fun to be able to do something like that (not to mention he was VERY attractive!). Samantha, Alex, and I had such a great time. Learning to surf was one of my goals for this trip and I have to say, it feels amazing to have accomplished that. It is such a fun sport and I definitely plan on continuing on and becoming better through the coming years. I am buying some pictures taken from the weekend and I will hopefully have those up here soon (things are delayed because my computer is still in the shop). I think surfing may just be my new favorite hobby!! I cannot wait to go again and keep the fun going!! SURF SURF SURF!!! Love to all back home, hope you're doing well!

COMPUTER CATASTROPHE!!!!

Well folks... I'm sitting here in the computer lab trying to stay in contact with family and friends. Why am I not in my room you might ask? Well the answer is simple!!! My laptop screen is on the fritz! It has a short in it apparently. What a lovely addition to the trip! I guess we should incorporate that in the list of things that went wrong that was made back in my first post in the country!! Well here's the kicker - Samantha's computer did the SAME thing, on the same day! Who knew our computers were so in sync?! We've gotten a $300 estimate which simply brightened the light that was already just SHINING on my quickly draining bank account. Fortunately for us Meredith College has agreed to cover all repairs needed since if we were back in Raleigh we would have it repaired by our tech services team free of charge. We're so lucky that we attend such an amazing school back home. I'm missing it there sometimes (mainly when I have to walk twenty minutes to class instead of two). So hopefully those laptops will be back in action by the end of next week so it'll be back to communication as usual.


On a brighter note I started the 100 day photo challenge on Facebook which will count down the one hundred days until I return home to my loving family and friends... and all of the food I'm missing so dearly (I'm not sure which I miss more the people or the food... just kidding guys it's definitely YOU!) So I'm now on day four which was supposed to be "Day 04 - A picture of yourself and a family member"  well of course I didn't want to pick just one person so I tried to incorporate as many people as possible. I decided to use a photo of all of my grandparents and our 5 piece Chickens (aka Jenkins) clan from Peyton's graduation. So for those of you out there who were in that photo YOU'RE IN THE COUNTDOWN! Feel honored - really. :)  This leaves us now with 97 more days in the beautiful Gold Coast, Australia.


This weekend Samantha, Alex, and I are venturing down to Byron Bay for our surf weekend. We are learning to surf at Spot X on some of the greatest waves in Queensland. Byron Bay is supposed to be one of the really neat cities around so I'm excited to go. I'm also ready to learn to surf. My uncle Brad taught me how a looooooong time ago and I caught ONE wave back then (Thanks for your effort) so hopefully this will turn out better for me! haha. I'll be sure to let you know how the weekend goes and post some pictures a bit later when I get the computer back!


G'Day until then mates!!!

It's Saturday!

Well we're done with week three of classes and I cannot believe how quickly it's going. I've been gone for well over a month now and that just seems insane. We're still having a blast. Saint Patrick's day was this week so we spent that night out at the tavern with some friends. Sadly I must report there was not green beer on tap... Bummer.

Today I found out that my little baby Layne bought her first car.... or should I say large truck! Things like that make it harder being gone. I guess that's just one of the big things I'll have to miss out on being away. But she's so cute and she loves her new truck. So I'm on the hunt for the perfect Aussie car decal for her!

Not too much is going on down here. Just lots of classes and not so much beach time since it's been bad weather down here in the Pac regions.  I should also mention that with all of the earth quakes in Japan and near the Solomon Islands we are still in a low danger zone according to the Australian government. So, No worries mates!

Sea World!!!

Well this weekend was my first visit to SEA WORLD!!!! It was amazing. I mean, they don't have a whale like they do at other Sea World parks but they do have lots of other pretty cool animals. I saw sharks, dolphins, polar bears, penguins, star fish, sea cucumbers, and lots of fish! I just loved seeing all of them. I wish I had gotten to take pictures on my Nikon but silly me.... I left the battery at the apartment... oops! We'll be back there soon though, we bought the season pass cause we're Queensland VIP's!!!! YAY!

I guess not too much else is going on around here... I got my ear pierced last week and mom says I am DONE DONE DONE with piercings... hahaha we'll see. :)  Other than that it's just business as usual, school, beach, and having fun!!!

I MADE IT!

Hello Mates!!! Well I'm just here to tell you all that I have made it through the first full week of class! WHEW! There was a point there (You remember? Back in the beginning when everything was going wrong!!??) when I wasn't sure I'd ever live to my first class, much less finish out the entire week. Well folks, I did it! YAY! So the uni is pretty nice and all of my classes seem like they'll be at least a small bit interesting! I've been making it through the rest of what the world has to throw at me with only minor freak outs.... well except for this one day that I was convinced I had armpit and tonsil cancer.... haha. Maybe I'm a hypochondriac, does it make me one for wondering that? hmmmm. oh NO! Gold Coast continues to be an interesting place to live and a wonder to navigate. Tonight we walked to subway. Our lovable Finnish roommate assured us that the shopping center subway is in is "about a 15 minute walk" HAAAAA try 30 or 35 minute walk. Let's just say... we all got foot longs! Walking everywhere that we can has truly provided us with some serious adventures, and about a 20 combined weight loss in the last few weeks! Apparently that exercising thing works? Who knew! Well I'm off to bed before our intended walking workout in the morning! Catch you all later!

These pictures are from about a week ago when we went to Tallebudgera Creek, it was beautiful!

G'Day

Not too much is going on down under as of late. We've been settling into our new schedules with classes starting up. I think I'm going to like the set up here with just one lecture a week and then having one tutorial to follow. My schedule is pretty relaxed so it should be a good semester! I'm loving Griffith Gold Coast so far!

Monday: Love, Eros, & Truth lecture 4:00 - 5:50 pm
Tuesday:  Love, Eros, & Truth tutorial 11:00 - 11:50 am
                International Change and the Social World lecture 2:00 - 3:50 pm
                International Change and the Social World Tutorial 4:00 - 4:50 pm
Wednesday: The Global Environment tutorial 8:00 - 8:50 am
Thursday: Psychology for Social Science lecture 10:00 - 11:50 am
                Psychology for Social Science tutorial 6:00 - 6:50 pm
Friday: The Global Environment lecture 10:00 - 11:50

First Day of Class at Griffith Uni!!

Today was my first official day of school at the Uni here in Gold Coast. Not too much excitement to share with you all but I made it through my 110 minute lecture! YAY! Love, Eros, and Truth may just take up all of my brain power this semester. I already read a speech from Plato's Symposium tonight.... I guess I'm a student again after three months off! School down under may be a bit challenging!!! 

My first day of class!

Off to the Uni!

Sam before our first class!

Off to class!

Alex before her first class!

On her way!

My new Oakley backpack!

A Day at the Beach and a Night in the Jungle!!!!

Soooooo yesterday I spent the day in Surfer's Paradise with Samantha and our friend Alan. It was such a beautiful day. We ate the most delicious Kebabs (pronounced: Ke- BAB not BOB, there is a difference here!) and laid on the beach for a few hours and shopped for a bit. So simple but such a good day.  When we got back to the village we had NOTHING to cook for dinner so we thought we'd head over to the nearest IGA... through the woods. Well now it was dark outside, we think surely Alan will keep us all safe!  So Sam, Alex, and I grabbed Alan and venture towards the path... as we approach we realize just how creepy this experience is going to be....We would have turned back but we ate the last Tim-Tam and drank the last Glo juice box!!! So we began our trek into the forest.... We made it about half way through the woods in our group of four with only one mini maglight, before the BIGGEST spider I have ever seen dropped out of a tree. It was ready to attack. The four of us (Alan included) screamed like 4 year old girls who had just seen their first insect. Not a pleasant moment. We shivered the rest of the way through the woods at a brisk pace until we reached the clearing. What a relief! We grocery shopped blah blah blah, I spend way to much money blah... and then we had to come back THROUGH THOSE SAME WOODS.... WITH THAT SAME SPIDER. Goodness help me. So Samantha grabbed a stick and walked in front of us waving the stick to break up any spider webs and hopefully protect us from the rest of the nasty wildlife that Australia has to offer. Well Samantha's efforts failed and I got bit by a four inch spider.... hahahahahaha JUST KIDDING guys... sorry that was mean. But we all made it back completely intact and with a very clear understanding that we'll only be grocery shopping in the day light from now on. Smart girlsssss!!!!

Great Barrier Reef Pictures!

I got my photos back from the Great Barrier Reef today! Not too much else going on here so enjoy these!