Sydney and other things...

Yo.

Sorry it's taken me soooooooo long to update my blog. I had a pretty rough week with schoolwork. I had a HUGE paper due in my history class and my final for my marine environment class. If you couldn't already guess, I spent a GREAT DEAL of time in the library this week. While you may think this was boring of course us kids here in Brizzy made the most of it. I haven't laughed so much in so long. Kim, Sean, Mel and I have been spending EVERY SECOND together and it's been all fun and good times. We can make eachother laugh at ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. I was laughing so hard in the library the other day that it made my stomach hurt. Don't worry though. I got my work done. About two weeks ago (I know it seems like FOREVER ago) I went to visit my friend Pat O'Reily in Sydney!! I've never flown by myself on a plane so that was a first! I actually got around the airport and terminals quite easily (haha unlike on family vacas when at least one person gets stopped in the security check). Pat is a friend from U of I. I was soo excited to see him. I haven't been around many friends from home in awhile and it was nice to see and be surrounded by a familiar face. Pat lived on my floor freshman year in the dorms and he is also a part of the fraternity my sorority spends a lot of time with. If you couldn't already guess...We had a good time! We went bowling, had bbqs, spent time on the beach and I met all of his awesome friends!! He doesn't live quite in the city of Sydney but a few miles off in a town called Coogee Bay. It's such a cute little town! I really enjoyed myself. His friends were all super nice as well...very welcoming and fun to hangout with. We all had some good nights and memories together. Crazy thing is that one girl who I became super close with named Jess actually is from Chicago. She went to grammar school with one of my really close guy friends from U of I...in saying that...we plan to hangout A LOT when we get back home. I'm super excited to get back together with everyone I've met. Reunions will be so awesome. Pat's other friends went to University of Michigan and University of Wisconsin so we plan on making trips up there as well. :) The best part about the trip to Sydney was the day Pat and I spent downtown. He took me to Darling Harbour (where Real World Sydney was filmed), the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House! It was BEAUTIFUL! I've always dreamed of visitng these places, so it made the day that much more special. We had a good day together...taking pics, being dorks and eating some good food. It was great! Pat also took me to see his campus one day. He goes to the University of New South Wales. It's a very nice campus...very retro...and very different from my campus. I'm not gonna lie..I like my campus better hehe. After the weekend in Coogee, I'm so very happy I made the choice to study in Brisbane. I just feel like I fit so much more in the Brizzy atmosphere than the up-paced Sydney lifestyle. Good job amanda! haha. The coolest part about Pat's location though was how close he was to the beach. You could LITERALLY see the Coogee Beach from his balcony...it was 2 minutes from his place. We walked there everyday. Beautiful sites! After a great weekend in Sydney, I was very excited to come home to Brisbane, my house and my friends!
This past weekend I spent with my Brizzy friends. We went to the movies to see "Angels and Demons" which was ok (the book was SO much better). Saturday we spent the day on the Gold Coast. We went to a little town called Burleigh Heads. It was gorgeous there! The beach was so awesome and we had a great day laying out, playing soccer and volleyball and goofing around with the waves. We also did this nature hike into the National Park of Burleigh Heads. Beautiful sights. Just spent the day being goofballs. I love my friends.
Today, May 21st I got to watch my sister graduate from high school. My mom informed me that D230 had put a live feed camera at graduation and that I could watch it via the internet! I was SOO excited about this and that it actually worked!! I was getting sad early this month that I was starting to miss all the important things going on in my family's life and this just made it so much better. It was like I was actually at the graduation (I probably had a better seat than most people haha). I went to the library on campus to watch the graduation and it was quite funny because at different points I actually got pretty emotional. The people sitting around me had to be wondering why I was crying while staring at my computer. When the choir sang "My Wish" by Rascal Flatts I broke down (haha I'm the mushy type). The boy sitting next to me started to laugh at me. Haha. It was sooo incredibly cool to see my cousin Michelle and sister Jen cross that stage and accept their diplomas. It honestly made my day. So that was cool.
I got a card from my best friend Kerry the other day in the mail (which made my day). The quote said "Live in the moment and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering." I loved this quote and plan on living the rest of trip based on this quote! That is all for now!

Love you all.

P.S.--> Gramma just so you know I'm going to start fighting you and Mom for the seafood at family get togethers. I love it!! Haha.