Friends!

Hey Everyone!

Things are going great down here! I honestly couldn't be happier right now! After a very fun weekend in downtown Brisbane, I went to Orientation Week on Monday and my prayers were answered within the first five minutes of being there. I was standing around waiting for the doors to the auditorium to open and this girl comes up to me (I was unsure at first whether she spoke english or not because you have to be aware of that down here haha!) and she introduced herself and we honestly hit it off right from there. Her name was Melissa and she goes to school in Tampa. She introduced me to her friends and within the first 10 minutes of being on Campus I had seriously made 8 friends! Mel (Melissa) and I are so much in common it's crazy, she's someone I could totally see myself having hungout with back at school. Other people I met and now consider really good friends down here include Jason (who's from Elmhurst and knows some of my friends back at school..small world right), Sean, Becca, Aditi, Theresa and Kim. Another girl I met is Brittany. She's from Minnesota and she's crazy fun. I could totally see her fitting into my sorority and we have a lot of fun together. It's so great to have people to hangout with and talk to everyday! I honestly met them Monday and feel like I've known them forever already. We all get along VERY WELL. Ahh just writing this makes me smile. They invited me over for a BBQ that night where we had burgers, hotdogs, veggies and some boxed wine (yes, we kept it classy haha). It's only Thursday and I've already had numerous sleepovers at their apartments, it honestly feels like they are friends that I've known for years. I LOVE IT! It eases the stress on mom too now that I have friends, haha I know she was worried. Tuesday we all decided to go to Southbank Beach and spent the day tanning in the sun and walking around the shops. We also went to Taco Tuesday later that night at a local pub where they have $2 Tacos, $4 Burritos, $4 Coronas and $4 Margaritas...Mexican night in Australia...pretty ironic but loads of fun. Wednesday we had Market Day, which is where all the clubs on campus have booths and information packets, so we spent the day on the campus and that night headed out to a local dance club for some music and dancing! This weekend we all booked a trip to Noosaville, which is north on the Sunshine Coast. We plan to adventure into the National Park, hit the everglades and relax on the beach. It should be loads of fun. I love them all already and they have really been so welcoming, I couldn't ask for a better group of friends. :) Ohh!! I also met my roommates! Andy and Naman (haha at least that is what I got from it). They are both from China and are super nice as well. We had a house dinner tonight (Thursday) and got to know eachother. It's nice to just know I have other people living in that house with me now. Everything is really settling into place and I feel like this is where I'm supposed to be right now. I love it down here and cannot wait to get some pictures up here within the next week so you all can see what I've been up to. Love you and miss you all!
Love from the Land Down Under

Manda