it's been awhile!

sorry it's been so long since I've last posted.! I've been so busy. so much to say and so little time. NO snow,No cold weather(at least not like ours) I'm not sure that this Christmas will feel like a real Christmas. i think I'm kind of dazed at the moment.. i can't believe it's already December! and it doesn't feel right. so unusual. last weekend i was in shorts! it's not suppose to be summer it should be winter cold and wishing for snow! such a change. I've moved host families and i will have a Swedish Christmas which they celebrate on Christmas eve and then i will make my way back to Chris and Ken's for Christmas day lunch(Aussie style) with their family. oh and we are on summer holidays. did u know they give homework that has to be finished over the holidays! talk about ruining a holiday!=D
I've started to think when people ask about my family I now tell them I'm a lucky person because i have even more family than i thought ever possible rotary, blood, friends, exchange students, and host families. so many people! I don't think anyone realizes how large My family is now. =D i still don't have a full grasp on it.
well i've done so much in so little time i only have 6 short months left.
but with in my 6 months i'll do the rock to reef tour which is a 26 day trip and we have a lot planned for that(all inbound exchange students), bike ride(400or 500 kilm. which is around 200/300 miles.) i'll do this within a weeks time i couldn't do that in a day haha!
i'll go camping, sailing, fishing, and school some where in between all of this =D.
thats it for now i'll add some pictures soon
ta(thanks)
stay warm all! =D merry christmas and happy new years! <3xx

beautiful.=]

well i'd like to start this blog by saying thank you to my rotary club (in alleghany) for the card and money!! =]
now lets see Australia well is the most beautiful place you could ever see.! and i haven't see the whole country just yet =P. (but i will) .
i've say bloody hell now and beautiful,Mint(means awesome) and tut(i think thats the correct way of spelling and it also means thanks) =P
i actually enjoy coffee =] and i love avocado but they cant stop me from eatting p.b&j's =D <3 class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">American in me right.? oh i still haven't picked up the accent but they're all gettin' good at the southern accent haha. they learn fast too.
my teachers have all picked it up and i can't help but laugh at them all.
i've been really busy thats why i haven't had any new post lately sorry everyone..
this weekend i'm going to an aussie wedding.! it'll be good. can't wat and it'll be 30*C. i think thats around 80ish*F.. but i know it will be hot. yay!<3
right now it is spring and they truely have 4 seasons in a day if u don't like the weather one mintue then stick around a few more and it'll change for you.
this can be annoying at first it was for me but now i've gotten use to it carry an umbrella and sweater with you and dress in layers.
Summer will be another story i will live either in the ocean or the pool not sure which one yet =P haha. school is out dec. 5th but really school is out the 21st nov. =] exams.
i've also changed host families and they are great love them as much as i loved ken and chris (my first host family). I have 2 host brothers both in college and i seen them about twice a week and i've seen a few of their footy games and cricket matches . cricket is well boring! not sure why they like to play it.. =] i also have a host sister thats almost 19 she lives at the house and we get along very well we have the same interest so we hang out a lot even though shes older than me =D. so everything is going great love it here and can't believe its almost been 3 months! its going way to fast can some one press the pause button for me.!
but thats about it for now i'll write soon mates=D<3

great ocean road. =D<3

Great ocean road. part one.=]<3
I went down the great ocean road. The weather is ever changing just like the ocean she has many moods and they change quite often and work wonders together(the ocean and the weather). Their moods changed from sunny inviting, then dark cloudy and rainy, with a few breaths it was windy (which it stayed that way the rest of the day) , then sunny but yet still windy and cold to the bone. My first glimpse of one of God’s most beautiful area’s. I want to paint a picture in your minds but its not that easy this view is well you’d have to see for urself. As I walked up the bushy path that I could barely see over. There was a mist that was carried by the winds coming of the ocean. I could smell the salt, inviting but caucuses at the same time. The mist, the view, the weather all of it added up together it put me in a daze that I’m not really sure im out of. It was all breath taking and it sure as (excess me but..,)hell knocked the wind and all the vocabulary out of me. I had no words, no thoughts I had to keep reminding myself breath. and it took me awhile to convince myself that wat I was really seeing was real. I think it was the quietist I’ve ever been in my life and longest too. =] Can u say unbelievable, glories , spectacular, amazing, breath taking, mesmerizing, picture prefect. Then again no of those words seem to even come close to or fit describing the sincere that I saw today. No picture could even show the beauty of the place I walked through and experienced. In order to get a full grip on the feelings, thoughts, or even what I seen you have to see it for yourself. Or be able to reminds=] Then again it could be different from what I felt and seen myself. as soon as we got to the coast and seen the first view I couldn’t even speak, I had no words in my vocabulary to even come close to this spectacular view that was set here before me. All I could say minutes later was wow, look!, and aww.. I didn’t know where to point my camera first I just started snapping photos. But not one photo suffices the views I seen today and experienced myself. photos can be beautiful but they don’t really capture the full beauty of it all. The expressions on your face the way it all makes you feel as your taking it all in for the first time. For me it was like I had never seen the beach, felt the wind on my face, the spray of the ocean carried by the wind as it rapped itself around you until you where capture in this scene never to be released. The wind in fact took my soul and heart with it, showed me what being free was really like and the true beauty of god’s wonderful creations like I had never seen anything before well at least not clearly. Everything seems new and clearer. So much out there that I need to see but so little time, I found that I love life more than most people allow themselves to ever do so in a life time. Maybe it’s because I know first hand that it can all be taken away from you at any moment. So why not follow your heart no matter how crazy it may seem. God works in mysteries ways, right?? Even if you live until your 100 years old do you truly do all you want to in life? 100 years may seem like a long time but it really does slip by you like a blink of any eye. Something that happens, so quick and so natural that you don’t seem to notice until after it has pasted and happened again. Each moment gone with out a real thought about it, how scary it that.? don’t get me wrong though I love my family and where I come from. it has all made me who I am today. All of it will always be a part of me a part of what makes me who I am. How can anyone forget that and put that behind them, and I know I don’t ever want to. =] but life blinks by to fast, gone and past you before you’ve had time to realize it or truly experiences it. But if ur lucky something like wats happened to me will knock you back and make you realize that time truly is precious so soak it up, take with both hands and your heart. And see what God has given you and make everything you can out of it and then some. Don’t waste it, do everything no matter how little it is. Looking back the little things will be the things you look back on and cherish most. Just as simple as a view of the ocean or a road trip could change your life. So take chances. Live a little laugh until your sore, and cherish every moment God has given you/ <3 thats it for now. so peace, love and sweet dreams=D




my 2nd and 1st veiws of the great ocean coast line<3(its backwards i know 2nd, then 1st)=D

12 apostles(well now theres only 7)=] and don't comment on this picture it was windy:P

flat out like a lizard drinkin'=D

g'day!
well i've been here a month! and even though i dnt have much trouble with the language i love it and every exchange student i've met has to! Rotary is the way to go people. =] and the camps are the 2nd best part of it so then u get to meet all the exchange students (inbound and out). and u connect with them on another level and u make friends that are like family b4 the 1st day has even ended.. but i'm really glad that i listened to everyone at home before i left. well almost everyone =]. the best thing to do on ur exchange is do as much as you can.! learn as much as u can, try as much new foods as ur belly will allow over the year and work =D. because trust me it doesn't matter where u go as soon as u step off that plane they think humm.. they need to eat! and the food will be never ending! but its good i've even tried a baby octopus ( i ate the WHOLE thing) it was actually good tasted just like chicken. haha. anyways i promised in my last entry i would tell y'all some of the slang around here. so as many of u no they use g'day. flat out like a lizard drinkin', good' onya(girl) which is my fav. one =D. sweet as, NO worries (also another fav.!) mate, cheers, bloody hell. thats just a few of the Ozzie sayings. and i like to use them as often as i can. =D anyways i love it here and i've only been here a month and everyone knows me already for having the gift 2 gab. but u have to be open, positive, out going, and open to others opinions. i now know for sure that i want to travel the world and i now have people i can visit around the world while doing so.! thanks rotary once again.

rotary! =]

ROTARY.
right now I'm on an exchange in Australia! Which i love.! =]
I have so many to thank for this. Rotary mostly and my mom.
Without Rotary i wouldn't be here and it wouldn't not have been this great of an exchange. everyone that is involved with rotary is touched and you never forget that person that took you to you 1st rotary meeting and helped you along with all the paper work!
Rotary is like a big family no matter how far a part they are always there waiting and willing to give a helping hand. =] I am here to be an Ambassador for Rotary and my country. I'm glad i went through with this Rotary will open your eyes to more than just an exchange and languages. But people and place that feel and are more like home than you could have thought possible. I've only been here a month and i love this place, the rotary club(which i go to every Thursday night). mostly i can't explain to you how i feel if i could let u into my head and so u could some what put your finger on what this exchange has and will do for me. =]
the next pist i'll fill you in on more about the school, my host family, my rotary camp(this weekend), my likes and dislikes, and there sayings =]

g'day=]

hello! =]
Being here in Australia has already started to change me. Fast I know and i can't believe it either but i have. I didn't relize this until my host dad"Kenny-boy" =] pointed it out to me..

It has made me look at my home, my country, my way of life and up bringing so much more than i thought possiable. in the interviews for applying for rotary i was asked how i would handle things like being questioned about religion, my way of thinking, how i would reacted to people asking, questioning and maybe even disapproving of my way of being and living.
I knew i could handle things like this. i fell that people have every right to their own oppions and it was there right to make them known. I wasn't worried about it and i still not worried about it. I have my own oppions about things here.
I've been amazed at how unrelgious they are here. In my philosophy class I felt like i was fighting for who i was. There where 3 people in my class of 20 that believed in god. and i wasn't scared to put my hand up in fact i was the 1st one to do so. but I guess for starters I come for America a country that is based on religion.. (kind of that could be debated at some points..) And also living in a small southern country town.. Although i dont go to church i still have my belifies, morals, and out look on life. And i'm sure a lot of people in my town would disagree with my thoughts and out looks on this subject. But i'm still dumbfound that there are so many people that believe there is no god of any kind. they think so different. i love to listen to their outtake on things.
i might be from a small town and southern but im not narrow minded or stupided.. And i'm a very opened minded person about most things.
But by being in another country here and looking at things from there out look. It's amazing feeling the way i do.

=] land of o.z

well good d'ay.! =]
i've been in fankston for almost 3 weeks now. I feel so at home.! I love my host parents!( ken and chris). and i've met all my other host families that i'll have and i think i'll really enjoy living with them all. i was kind of worried before i got here on how well i would like them and living with them all. but it's lookin good. =D in just 3 weeks i've already started using aussie slang.! quick but i like it, and im not catching it like i was last week. my fav. saying is "good on ya' " or "good on ya' girl"! =D
my school is a sister school to 3 different schools and then has a ton of exchange students through other programs(they dnt even come close to how good rotary is=D). Rotary has changed my life, and the people involved in rotary.! it's like one big family. all exchange students get told this but you don't realize it until your on your exchange how true this really is. i'm glad i didn't get suckered into another program because rotoary offers so much more and it's all in all GREAT! =]
anyways i like my school its a bit easier than my school at home. but i think i'll live. haha.
and the views are amazing (i guess its because i don't live by the beach). and its 2 days from spring! =D everyone says the summers are the best part of living here. so i can't wait i feel like a little kid on the way to a fair or something! lets just pray i don't get eattin' by a shark. lol
oh and i get to go sailing on my birthday! and the other day i ate a baby octopus! head, legs and all! it wasn't bad either lol =] and i'm starting to really like coffee besides the fact that i drink it at least once a day.
but thats it for now!
lil Aus$iE*