Exploring...

Today, Katie, Lori and I went into town to explore around. We took the bus; Katie explained how it works to me so now I know how to take the bus better than before! Wooo It was an exciting moment for me. :D We walked all around. We started out by walking up this huge steep street to see the view of the city and the beaches. We then kind of just went with our instincts and walked to where we thought the other beaches were. And we were right. We stumbled upon a few grassy parks that had AMAZING view of Newcastle Beach and the ocean. Oh, it was unbelievable. Lori had been to another park called King Edwards Park. It had a pretty little garden full of different flowers and benches to view the ocean. The park was a perfect picnic spot. There were a few couples and groups of friends doing just that. I have now added that on my to do list while here. Lori was also told about some place called the Bogey Hole. We then went on a hunt to find it and man! we are good navigators because we found it. It was soo cool. There was a sign on the way in that told us the history behind it. Commander James Thomas of the Military had a hole carved into the rocks to create his personal bathing area. It was later made for the public. It looked like a mini pool that was attached to the rocks and ocean. There were heaps of warning signs, but a few people still swim in it. I feel like a dip may be in my future. Huge waves crashed over the side and almost made it a wave pool.

View from the huge street!

Newcastle Beach

Katie, Me, Lori

Garden at King Edwards Park

Warning sign for the Hole

The bath carved into the side of the hill.

One of my favorite photos.

The bath.

Bogey Hole history.

Today was another one of those reality check moments. Seeing the ocean and Australia's beauty made me decide that I never want to leave! I am in love with the ocean and the beach. I cannot wait to see what the rest of Australia has to offer me. I leave for Sydney tomorrow to see my family! Yay! I will share my adventures when I can! Talk soon!

Music Festival

Hi guys!
This past week has been a bit crazy. Since the family comes in soon, I was trying to find a place to stay in Sydney to meet up with them. Sadly, that didn't work so I have decided to stay at TEDs and finish up some chores and have a few beach days! I will be taking the train down to Sydney on Thursday to meet up with my sister, mom and grandma. I am extremely excited to show them where I have been living and the Aussie way of life.

Anyways, this past weekend was a huge music festival called Fat As Butter. There were heaps of artists there that performed. I got to see Eiffel 65, Good Charlotte which were a flashback to my younger years, but still very cool. I also got to see some Aussie musicians play which was epic. One of my favorites was 360. He was so good, the crowd went wild when he came on the stage. I may have a new obsession. haha I went with a few friends; Grace, Emily, Hannah, Angus, Kevin and Jason. There were so many people there. It was the coolest thing. I would love to go to another one. Maybe back in America I will make plans to go see one...preferably a country music festival!

In the next few weeks I will be traveling around Australia with my family so I won't have much time to blog. I'll make it up when I get back and tell you all about my travels with my amazing family. Don't forget to comment! I love hearing your comments!

The girls!

Angus-Me-Hannah-Grace

360

Aussie Band

Good Charlotte

Until next time...

Outdoor Adventure...

Hey!
This past weekend a group of my friends and I had the brilliant idea to go camping! And oh was it an adventure to say the least. We drove an hour north of Newcastle to the Myall Lakes National Park. It was a beautiful park right on the beach. Once we actually got to the park, we spent about an hour driving around to try and find the perfect parking spot. Angus, one of the drivers, decided it was called "campsite shopping". Finally, we found the perfect spot. It was across the way to the beach, but right on the lake side. We had a few animal friends come snooping around also. We had a few ducks, and a wild turkey. Yes, I stood on the wooden poles that were in the ground because of the scary birds. (For those of you that don't know, I HATE birds.) But I did see one of my first Kookaburras which was cool. Anyways, we started unloading the car and setting up camp. We opened the tent and realized there was no actual tent inside...it was just the rain cover. :/ So one group went into town to look for a tent. Meanwhile, the rest of the kids that stayed behind, made and fire and attempted to make some kind of cover since there were scary black clouds rolling in. When the others got back, they were only able to find a tarp. So we all jumped in and tried to come up with a tent like structure. Surprisingly, we succeeded! Good thing we brought a few engineering majors with us! haha Camp set up was complete and the entertainment began. We hung out and enjoyed each other's company. As soon as we started cooking the sausages, it started raining. Perfect timing, hey?! Loick, Kevin and I stayed out in the rain and made sure dinner wasn't ruined. Thankfully, it only rained for a few minutes. The group enjoyed some delicious barbecued sausages. We sat around the campfire told stories, listened to music, and even made a trip to the beach. Since we weren't around all of the city lights, I finally got to see the beautiful starry sky of Australia. It was the coolest thing of the night, being able to sit on the beach and look up at the night sky. I was in heaven. The next morning we went to the beach one last time. It was a bit too windy to lay out and tan. So, Edgar, Loick, Angus, and I went on an adventure to the sandy hills right on the beach. It was like a scene straight out of a movie. I felt like it was a reality check like hey in case you forgot, you are in Australia! I felt like I should have pinched myself as if I was in a dream. I got some great photos of the area though. We left and headed back to TEDs. It was definitely a weekend for the books. And it must have been thrilling enough that the group wants to plan another weekend! Ahhhh Hopefully we will bring a proper tent next time. ha

Finding out that we didn't have a tent...

"Rain cover"

Edgar keeping the fire going.

Kim and I in the wilderness...

The pole I stood on when the birds came...:/

The gang (sadly I had to take 1 for the team and not be in the photo...)

Wild Turkey

My reality check moment

Photo for my mom!

Kookaburra!

Lake!

Make shift tent

This coming weekend I will be heading to my first music festival called Fat as Butter! I am very excited. There will be a few American groups there that I know! Then I will be heading to Sydney to meet up with some friends then my family!! :D We will be traveling around Sydney, Cairns, and Newcastle. Can't wait to see them. Keep checking for more posts! Thanks for reading guys! <3

Hall Ball and Recovery Day

Hiyaa kids!
This week in the life of Kylie and Australia, we will be talking about Hall Ball and Recovery Day! Hall Ball is a formal dinner and dance kind of like prom that my dorm, Edwards Hall, has each year. This year it was the 40th year celebration. Everyone gets all dressed up in their fancy attire and head to the venue which was at a very nice hotel. We got champagne upon arrival. There was a nice meal and tons of dancing. It was such a fun event! I felt like I was at my high school prom all over again. haha

The group!

Arrival to the Ball!

Besties all dressed up!

Champagne!

I don't know what I'd do without her! <3

 

The day after Hall Ball, the dorm has an event called Recovery day. It is just a fun day to hang out by the pool, have some drinks, dance to the awesome music the DJ was playing which just so happened to be students of TEDs, and just relax. They had icees, a blow up obstacle course, and face painting! Amy, Grace, and I all got our faces painted. I felt like a little kid again! hehe We danced the day away...it was so fun!! So many people got thrown in the pool. Luckily, I was not one of those people chosen! Fewf!! Everyone just hung out all day and into the night! Super chill...nothing like anything I have done in the US.

 

 

 

Face painting!

The gang!

Recovery Day!

Steven with the girls!

Jimmy! :D

The girls!

Kimmy and Xixi (photographer/ sweetheart)  in my sunglasses!

Also, this past week, Kim and I are free on Tuesday and Wednesday! We have made it a ritual to head into town, do some exploring, and grab some yummy food or something. This week we got to tan at the beach! The weather was perfect...I even got a little tan line! YAY!!! There is a cute little shop in the building behind us in the photo with drinks and food and such. We got a yummy milkshake! It was heaps good! We went to Nobbys beach! The sand is beautiful and soft. The water was cold so we didn't go swimming, but oh boy do I love the beach! I could so get used to living here..right by the beach!! Ugh that would be the life!! It would be like my life long goal of being a beach bum...just maybe in a house rather than a tent...being able to wake up to the waves crashing on the beach! How awesome would that be?!

 

 

 

Lately, I have been talking to a few friends back home. They have been asking all about Australia and how it all works. I love sharing what I have learned with y'all! And I can't wait to share it with my mom aka mum (Australian spelling), Marli (my sister), and my grandma! They will be heading over the big blue to see me in twoish short weeks! We will be adventuring all over! They want to see Sydney, Newcastle, and I think we will be heading up to Cairns to snorkel at the Great Barrier Reef!! AHHHHH it has soo been one of my dreams to see the reef in person! You have no idea how excited I am to be able to do that!! Anyways, back to talking to friends back home...a few of them met an Australian and they said they were just mesmerized by his accent. I realized that I have already gotten so used to it! I forgot how much I used to be like them! I skyped one of my really good friends Brad and he said that I'm starting to say words different and I'm catching on to the accent, but I don't hear it! haha I know I'm picking up on the slang though! woohoo!

 

Another thing I have noticed is that they have some weird food and candy! Kim, Steven, and I ran to the shops the other day. Kim and I were extremely entertained by the types of candy they had and the flavor of chips available. They eat gummie babies....like gummie bears...but they are BABIES!!!!! How weird is that?! Kim and I went on forever with jokes! They have chip flavoring like honey baked ham, and other odd meat flavors. Nothing like I have ever seen in the US. Oh and instead of sour cream and onion, they call them sour cream and chive. I have no idea why I find that interesting, but I do! haha

 

Well that is all I have for you today...I look forward to reading your comments! :D

AFL videos!

mhttps://www.dropbox.com/s/e64ymizj7l0dtvw/DSCN0948.MOV?m

Here is a little clip of AFL!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zqbu9h6pce6b4zi/DSCN0954.MOV?m

This is a clip of the end of the game. Every team has there own song. You should be able to hear the song in this vid!

Ahhh the footy!

I had the pleasure of flying to Melbourne this weekend to meet up with some friends that are from Adelaide. Why Melbourne? It is one of the bigger cities in Australia. It houses the "Colosseum" of Australian Football League and other sports and events...the Melbourne Cricket Ground! The guys I went with, Jason, Stoney, and Aaron refereed to it as that also "The G". They were EXTREMELY excited to be able to see a game in the MCG as it is commonly refereed to as. And oh boy was it a site to see! Aussie footy is an interesting sport and nothing like I have seen before. It is a rough sport since the players don't wear padding like American football. In order to pass the ball, the players either kick it or hit it with a closed fist kind of like volleyball. There is HEAPS of tackling and running around. It is a very fast paced game. The goal is to make the ball in between the two center poles to earn 6 points. If they make it in either of the two outer poles, it is one point. The refs have a love/hate relationship with the fans. The nickname they were given was the "white maggots" since they used to wear all white, but the uniforms have changed to lime green. They are still refereed to as the maggots though. Like in basketball, the ball is "tossed" or bounced and the rucks are the players that try to hit the ball to one of their other players starting the game. There are 4 quarters that last around 30 minutes long, no timeouts! There are a bunch more rules that go along with the game, but that is the basics that I learned and understood. haha

Strawberries from the market!

Besides the two games that I went to, I did get to do some touring and walking around the city. We went to the Queen Victoria Markets. It reminded me of the flee markets back home, but WAYY bigger. They have just about everything there: produce, meats and fish, clothing, toys, jewelry, and much much more. It was really cool to walk through it. After we adventured through the shops, we went to Federation Square. It is a cool place with different cafes and such around along with the Australian Centre For the Moving Image (acmi). There was a free gaming exhibit that displayed the history of digital culture in Australia. We saw the beginnings of TV, Internet, news, and video gaming. I got to play the old Nintendo 64 video game. So cool! After that, we walked around the city some more to check out the big buildings and some of the shops. On our walk, we passed the huge train station with beautiful architecture. They had some food places on the way and I spotted a funny thing. This store had a fridge with soda in it, but the price tag said international drinks. They had Dr. Pepper, A&W root beer, and a few others. I found it pretty comical.


Starbucks and Jason!

Fun Fact: Being in Australia, I would have thought that there would be heaps of Aussie things like flags and clothes that represented the country. However, I have found more American flag things here than in the US. haha

Fun Fact #2: Starbucks is not big here at all. It actually failed, but on a lucky chance you will run into one like I did. I just had to get a drink, duh! Turns out they had the insulated cups that they make for every state in the US, but it was Australian. I had to get one of those too! Ahh it is my new baby! :D

On our shopping adventure, the girly girl came out when we walked past Tiffany & Co. So of course I dragged the guys in with me! haha They weren't too amused, but that's okay...IT"S TIFFANY'S!!! I also had to take a picture with my diamonds for my sorority back home since our stone is the diamond and Tiffany's is a BIG thing with us!

We had dinner at the hotel we were staying at then headed to the second game. After the game, we went out on the town and hit up a few bars. Nothing too crazy or exciting, just a chill night with friends. I also got to try more of the Australian beers which was neat too. I love my beer! It was heaps good. The next morning I had to catch an early flight back to Newcastle. I had such a great weekend! Footy is definitely a sport I will keep on my list of favorite things here! And Adelaide has made the list of things to go visit so I can see my friends again!

First game!

Queen Victoria Market!

Chocolate Truffle

Jason being silly at the markets

Huge Train Station as mentioned above

MCG

Soda from the world...

ADPi and Tiffany & Co

2nd game!

The boys and I at the 1806 Cocktail bar

Footy!

Melbourne

Federation Square