Laid Back Week

This week has been pretty laid back. Because there are exams in just over a week a lot of the students at school are all studying as well as in class all we are doing is review so for me it has been pretty boring. I am lucky and happy to not have to worry about exams. Although i have to do them they don't count towards anything so thankfully i can just relax!
Apart from school i have not been doing too much, after gaining what i think was half my body weight, i proudly can tell you that i now go one runs everyday and so far so good! It has been hard dealing with the weight gain here but the way that i think about it is that "every" exchange student gains this weight and than loses it once they get home!
I have been staying in the town Barwon Heads and really loving it here, its my favourite town!!
Oh! Tomorrow is moving day! Im going to host family 3, i still cannot believe that it is already 1/3 of the way through my exchange!!!
Today i also spoke to my dad, it was great seeing him after so long. Anyone, feel free to let me know if you ever want to skype, i'd be happy to share my adventures with anyone willing to listen!
Well, ill let you know how the move goes.
I hope that the weather isn't too cold for you guys, it was a beautiful 28 degrees here yesterday! Woohooo!!!

xoxo

Rotary Presentation

Firstly, as of today i left home four months ago... it's hard to believe that i am 1/3 of the way done my exchange already! So far i have been really happy about all the things i have accomplished here both mentally and actual things that i have done.



Yesterday I went to the Rotary lunch as i normally do but today there was a difference. Today was my turn to do a presentation about myself in front of everyone. I talked about things that had to do with home, friends, family, work and Canadian winters! Everyone seemed to enjoy the presentation that i had done. I also quickly talked about my exchange so far and showed some of my pictures then briefly i talked about my trip to Tasmania. Over all i was pleased with how i did and felt confident standing up there in front of about 70 people.

I hope that everyone at home is doing well, i miss you all!

xo

Tasmania

The past week from October 15th to the 22nd, i was in Tasmania. Weeks ago i was asked to go along with another Rotarian and his wife on their trip to Tasmania. Of course i jumped at the idea of going to see yet another place in Australia. I was very excited even though whenever i told a friend their reaction was "....oh......that should be ...um... fun" but! Although their "excitement" was just a little too much for me, i was so happy to be going. We flew down there on a cramped plane, much smaller than the plane that i came to Australia in. We got there and it was beautiful despite the rain, the mountains in the distance with the water between us were incredible. There is no doubt that Tasmania has become one of my favourite places to go. Each day i saw new things from going on walks down to a huge gorge (Cataract Gorge), to going on a drives through mountain ranges and forests to the southern most part of Australia that you can get to by car, to going onto a cruise boat along Bruny Island where the escarpment was so unbelievably cool, making me feel so insignificant. It is definitely a place that you would want to go if you are outdoorsy. Apart from all the scenery i went to a market that was huge and full of Aussie things. I also saw some wildlife including penguins, Australian and New Zealand Fur seals, peacocks and starfish. It really was something that I am soo happy i did. Oh, within 24 hours i was on top of a mountain in the snow-not much but still, AUSTRALIAN SNOW!- and then walking along the beach with the ocean and mountains in the distance. I really don't know a pretty place that i have ever been to.
The weather wasn't 100% all the time but for the most part it was not that bad. Probably about 15-18 each day so i was not complaining one bit!

Overall i had an amazing week and im so thankful for having the opportunity of being there.

Fun fact: if you were to flatten out all the hills/mountains in Tasmania, it would be larger than the rest of Australia .... if you look on a map of the size difference between the two before, you can just imagine the hills i saw!

This Year for thank giving im thankfull for helmets

On Sunday i was at barwon heads, which is like a town that is right on the ocean and its mostly cottages and my host have a cottage there so we were there for the weekend anyways! I'm just being healthy riding my bike along this path, on one side is the ocean and the other side of me ...is the road.. and in Australia you HAVE to wear a helmet or else if you get caught its something like a 200$ fine... so i was looking great riding along with this dorky helmet on... and so all of a sudden something hits my helmet and all i see is this shadow of this bird, a BIG bird... flying... AFTER me! and swooping at me, and keeps hitting my helmet.... so I'm freaking out.. biking as fast as i can, looking like an idiot... hahahah it seriously scared the crap out of me! apparently if you go close to their nests they will "come after you" so i guess i rode past one... it was so scary, thinking back its funny but boy oh boy was i ever scared!

so now for thanks giving, i am thankful for that dorky helmet, and ill never think twice about wearing one here again!

happy thanks giving everyone!!!

oh ya, i forgot to mention that thanksgiving is not a holiday that is celebrated in Australia unfortunately

Back to School

These past few days i have been back at school and so far so good. The weather on Tuesday and Wednesday was pretty warm for the most part. Tuesday it did start to pour rain, and i mean buckets of rain. There was flooding everywhere and guess what! My teacher thought that that would be a nice day to go for a walk in gym, well... it wasn't. When we finally arrived back at school i was drenched. My hair was soaked, my makeup was not looking good, and my uniform was very wet and cold. All and all, it was not fun. After school though i did stay-in my wet uniform i may add- and helped with a filming project that a couple girls had to finish. They needed a few actresses and asked me to help so i did.
Thursday and Friday this week have been freezing cold. We are now in our summer uniform which consists of a dress and we can wear our jumper, but it is just not warm enough. It has been about 16 for the past two days which is freezing when you barely have enough warmth. Come on! this is Aussie! Where is the warm weather eh!
School it self is not too bad, the work isn't too busy and I'm actually enjoying some of the stuff that we are doing right now. We have had to do a lot of oral presentations in front of the class lately and thankfully i have gotten over my fear of public speaking.
Its only one more week until i head off to Tasmania and I'm so excited! I'm surprisingly even excited for the plane ride, and you would think after my last flight i wouldn't want to fly ever again!
Everything has been going really well and i cannot believe that I am already 1/4 of the way done my exchange...

xox

Over the weekend i went to a lot of the bike races. I don't know what it was, but i loved going to watch the races, whether it was because i like being surrounded by people, or being able to cheer on my home country. I thought that it was great though. On Sunday i was actually able to meet a family that had moved here from Toronto. We spoke for a while about why i was here, and how we both liked it. They have been living here for 11 years now, but they still had Canadian spirit and we all waved out Canadian flags together!

Over all i really enjoyed the race. Now I'm back to school, in my summer uniform and hopefully on my way to a tan! I doubt it, but a girl can hope!

I hope that the weather isn't too bad over there, it sure is getting to be beautiful here!

xo

LETS GO CANADIANS!

This past week has been full of bike racing. Currently Geelong is being the host city for the UCI road cycling world championships. There are hundreds of riders in Geelong racing in different events that started last Wednesday and go until Sunday. I have been to the races a couple times this week and watched each of the different countries race by. Every time that Canada goes by i wave my flag and cheer them on, today i even had my Canada t-shirt on to represent where i am from. So far Canada has only placed once, yesterday in the men's race which was over 150km! We actually tied for third with an American, they couldn't figure out which person came in first. I think that if i was going to go all this way to race for world recognition i would be disappointed if i tied with someone.

Also, on Thursday night i had a friend stay over at the house. Her name is Mathilde and she is here with Rotary on exchange from France. She was in Melbourne for a couple of days and normally lives about 4 hours from Geelong so we asked her if she wanted to stay the night and she did. We talked about a lot of different things and i was very happy that she came over. On Friday in the day we met up with another exchange student from Geelong- Fred from Denmark- and the three of us went to the movies and out for lunch. I really enjoyed seeing them because we don't get that many chances to see them which is really unfortunate.