Braving the Elements

Sorry for such a late post! I try to get these written by Friday night but this one totally slipped my mind for some reason. This week's post will center around the theme of "braving the elements". I'm finding out that the weather here can be quite unpredictable at times and can get quite wild! On Tuesday (the 25th), the normally picturesque blue sky turned grey and unleashed a crazy downpour that lasted for a few days! Up until that point I had only experienced one or two small rainfalls but this was a doozy. Some of you may have seen the video that I posted on Facebook. That post was made about halfway through the storm and it got much worse afterwards!

*The front of Hutton House --> where I live

 



*Front of Hutton

 

I loved the downpour of rain and it provided a nice, grey day perfect for curling up with a good book! During a slight pause in the storm I went outside and enjoyed the view from our patio.

 

 

** This little guy came out for a bit during the break as well!

 

On Thursday the storm finally ended. That night a group of us went to Stockland's (the local mall). There's a shuttle that runs from campus to the mall every Thursday night and Saturday morning for a couple of hours. I go every Thursday to pick up groceries since I am self-catering. I have been able to experience lots of different, new foods and experiment with my microwave cooking skills. To be honest, I'm more of an oven, stove-top kind of person but I said I was going to widen my horizons while I'm here and that's exactly what I'm doing haha :) Speaking of other housekeeping type details, we have a couple ladies that come in and vacuum our rooms, etc... once every two weeks. It's a requirement that we keep our rooms neat and orderly so that the ladies are able to do this. This is one detail that's different then the schools back home. There, they don't care what your room looks like as long as your able to get out of it if there's a fire! I do laundry here once a week. Laundry is free (thank goodness)  

**The poor man's laundry basket.

 

On Friday, my Outdoors Pursuits class once again went out to Yeppoon where we learned how to stand-up paddle board. I wish I could have gotten a picture of this but it was sprinkling at times so none of us really had our phones or cameras out to take pictures. I did way better at this than I did at surfing! The key is balance and keeping your knees unlocked so you can recover quickly when you paddle over waves! All of us wiped out a lot at the beginning but I quickly got the hang of it. I think this is because of my vertical height impairment haha I have a low center of gravity! My favorite moment was after I had paddled about half a mile out from shore past the breaking waves where the water was completely still. The sun had come out and I was just standing there on a surfboard listening to the birds and the sound of the ocean. It was so very peaceful. I just thought to myself: wow- I'm here. I'm in Australia! It's one of those places that you think of "well I would love to go one day, I bet it would be amazing"- and I made it here! At that moment I just had to reflect on how thankful I was and am to be here. And to all the people in my life that has supported me and help make it happen. I think that moment standing on the ocean is a memory I'll cherish for a long time. Anyways! After class we had a half hour or so until the bus arrived to take us back to Rockhampton so my friend Marina and I walked around a bit in Yeppoon's downtown shops. We bought some fresh fruit from an organic shop and browsed the tourist trinkets! I think I'll head back to Yeppoon sometime this week to do some gift buying! Also on Friday it was Marina's 21st birthday so a group of us had a lady bake her a cake and we held a small party for her! She was very appreciative especially since being away from home, friends, and family for such an awesome occasion!

*Marina & I outside the campus library

 

This week the (31st- the 4th) is "spring break" week so there are no classes! I decided to forgo the traveling as I wanted to save money. I'm planning on taking a bus to Yeppoon and have a beach day and treat myself to some local seafood cuisine! A friend and I are also planning on having a Lord of the Rings marathon so I'll have that to look forward to as well. :)

 

In an email recently, my Aunt Angie inquired about my classes here. I took a picture during one of my lectures on Monday to show you all really what it's like.

 

*My Personality Psychology lecture (24/03/2014)

 

The large white screen is where a PowerPoint show displays chapter highlights and notes for us to remember for the exam. The smaller screen to the right shows the lecturer presenting from a different campus. My lecturer for Personality is based in Adelaide, Australia. Fun fact: South Dakota was mentioned during this lecture! We were learning about a psychologist named Erik Erikson. He studied the Sioux tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1938.

 

On that note, I believe I shall be done for now! I hope everyone is doing well!

 

Adios,

 

Tina