S'toon and Memories...

First off, Happy Birthday to Rob's good buddy Simon!! Ok I'll admit I can stand to be around him... and I guess he did look marginally more attractive today in spite of the pen up and down my arms.

Now I realize that I just posted two days ago but today is a momentous occasion... I HAVE BEEN IN AUSTRALIA THREE MONTHS!!!!! Honestly it feels like three days, but since three months would be a quarter of a year (and that's a big deal) I have decided to share with all my favourite people (I know you're my favourite people because you actually read this thing) my first memories of various people in Australia. Hopefully this will spawn comments on first memories of me from Aussies and Canadadians alike (oh, ulterior motives...)

Firthy: Second day in Australia. She came to the office with Worsley and I was told she'd be my tour guide. Honestly I thought she looked far too pretty and cool to ever want to be my friend (Boy, do I sound like a sad human being. I'm really not! I'd just never been the new girl before and was wicked self-conscious.)

Ed: First day of classes. Third day in Australia. She came to the office with Firthy. No idea why she came to the office, but I knew I'd like Ed right from the start. She just looked like a very cool person. Suspected that she and Simon were going out on the first day. Oh and another early memory of Ed. On my first Friday everyone was saying "See you on Monday" and Ed added "If you don't die before then." She's probably lucky I was in need of friends or boy would I have beat her up...and I could totally take her.

Simon: First day of classes. Explained the concept of a toque and a bunnyhug to him. Was proud of him the second day when he used "bunnyhug" in a sentence, ie "Hey, you're wearing a bunnyhug" (Because I was you see). Suspected that he and Ed were going out. Learned after a week that they, in fact, weren't... and I am going to get such slack for thinking that they were in the first place.

Sam: First day of classes. In the library. She, Hannah, and G were supposed to be doing "drah-ma" stuff. Thought she had cool hair and was a little insane (noted by the reaction when we told her that Nesbitt had given us the cupcakes we had)... but I really like insane. This you can be sure of by looking at Weyburn group of friends.

Mel: First day of classes. She came up to me and said "I'm Mel. I smell. That's an easy way to remember my name." And you know what? I do. Oh and she let me sit next to her in Maths effectively displacing Ellie.

Tharini: Second day of classes in Legal Studies. Mrs. Owens didn't show up and Tharini was acting as a moderator between me and Chris since Chris didn't seem to want to ask me questions to my face. I couldn't for the life of me remember for to pronounce her first name for the 1st week and a half.

Ellie: Third day of classes. Apparently I am the only one that thinks it's cool that she plays frisbee and that she was going to Boston. We sat together at my first year assembly.

The Group: Honestly first thought was "Holy Crap!" Firthy and I were walking from A block to B block and right before we turned the corner she said "We hang out in B block in the morning" Then we turned the corner and there were two dozen people there. Coming from a solid group of 8 I was wickedly overwhelmed. Also, in my experience, exchangies don't stay friends with the original people they are introduced to. I seriously prayed that I could stay friends with these people because I thought they seemed like good people, and not too far of a take off from my old friends... there were just heaps more of these guys.

So yeah, those are my earliest memories from Carlo. I feel like I really shared something here *tear* Now please reciprocate because you may have to rely on comments for a while. I'm not sure when I'm doing something exciting again.

Today's quote: "I value your friendship" *hand over piece of garbage*

Less than nine months to go :(

E(Liz)abeth

Exchangie weekend at The Basin...

OK, time for pictures from my weekend camping at the Basin with the other exchangies. The weather was crap. It rained the entire time, except for the ferry ride home, and we were freezing but we couldn't've had a better time if it would've been sunny and warm. I'm pretty sure I bruised a bone playing volleyball. Next time we will inflate the vollyball better before we get there. It also turns out that I am a natural at bowling for cricket. I knew I had to have skills in some sports- aside from synchronized swimming and five pin bowling of course.











Left to right: Maggie (US), Connie (Chile), me, Lailla (Brazil), Rebecca (Germany), Senni (Finland), Anne (Denmark), and Jade (Thailand). This was taken at the top of the mountain we climbed. 2.6 km in rain. Luckily we couldn't tell if we were sweaty or just wet.












Picture of everyone except Stephen (Belgium) and Morritz (Germany) (because they didn't come up the mountain) and Celine (France) and Johnny (Austria) because they weren't at the weekend. Kirk (Canadia), Anne (Denmark, stuck behind Kirk) , me, Doriane (Belgium), Rebecca (Germany), Julie (Canadia), Vadium (Russia), Gabriel (Brazil), Connie (Chile), Ylva (Sweden), Rasmus (Denmark), Nikolas (Germany), Ermo (Finland), Theresa (Austria), Senni (Finland), Nao (Japan), Jade (Thailand), Maggie (US), Lailla (Brazil), Leo (Brazil)
This is officially the reference picture. I am never doing all of the countries for group pictures again.












Morritz (germany) and Rasmus (Denmark). I told them to look attractive for this picture and got this. You can judge if they followed through.











The Canadadian crew. Kirk who hails from Regina, Julie from Quebec who lives on a street called Croissant de Pins, and myself from good ol' Weyburn.

It was a really good weekend. Kirk's toenails are now a bright pink (it's why you never let girls into your tent when you're half asleep), I imparted the football dance on more people and my contacts lasted me the two days, which is good because I didn't take my glasses with me, nor solution or a contacts case. We got cake for mine, Leo's, Connie's, Senni's, and Doriane's birthdays and we played some really difficult mind games. Next official exchangie gathering isn't for another month. That's kind of sad, but most of us live close, and will see each other before.

And today's quote is from our darling German friends: "Try my hoe!!!"
Oh those Germans :)

E(Liz)abeth

Um... yeah, back at Carlo...

Out of the last nine posts, eight of them have had pictures so this one can be short and wordy (and no, that's not an oxymoron)

Second day into year 12. So far I'm finding it quite excellent. I miss modern history but the past two days of entertainment have been great because they mainly revolved around Blue Man Group. So, a big thanks goes out to Rob for asking if we could go see them in Vegas last Christmas. You can never forget rockstar movement #237 "taking the audience on a jungian journey..." and that's as far as I can go.
Earth and Enviro looks like it will be HEAPS better than Maths 2U. Nothing against my old maths buddies. I still love you guys. And now Mel can set her pace against Ed instead of me so *phew* the pressure's off.
And on Monday I can officially stop going to legal. I would just stop going now but I've never been truant before and dammit I will not start now!
I do love extension English but it is a sad realization when you look at your watch at 830 in the morning and realize you've already been awake 3 and 1/2 hours.
Oh and I shall now list the excellent bands I have been introduced to (and therefore am going broke buying CDs, so really thanks a lot guys... mainly Simon... and kinda Ed) The Whitlams, Bob Evans, Hunters and Collectors, MGF, Scissor Sisters, and Garbage. If any Canadadians are going to look into any of these I seriously recommend the Whitlams, but all of them are great.
Because I just opened my quote book in the thick of the CSI: section, the quote of the day comes from my favourite show: 'What's the most important component in poisoning?' '...Poison?'
Man I want season seven.
Pictures up after the weekend from the Basin.
Whaddaya know? This was so short after all.
E(Liz)abeth

Jindabyne, Sam 'n Simon's party, and Hamish Blake...

My goodness it's been a while. That just means this will be one exciting blog!!! (well as exciting as I can make it, and lets face it, I'm pretty tired right now)

First things first, I didn't win on my Oz lotto ticket. Now I'm actually going to have to pay for my safari.

Joy took me to Jindabyne in the Snowy Mountains for four days during this break. I even saw snow. Let's get one thing straight, Australian snow is not snow. However it was only nine degrees on the first day there and I was freezing. Good thing I got my bunnyhug back from Ed before I went.












This is the view from my apartment. We stayed at Joy's friend's place and they have three apartments in their house that they rent out during ski season. So yeah, I had my own apartment. That's lake Jindabyne in the back there.















We drove through Canberra on the way back. This is Australia's parliament house. I think it looks too modern to be Parliament but what can you do?

Then last night was Sam and Simon's Spicks and Specks Spectacular. I would just like to say that team 2 did in fact win (I'm only mentioning it because I was on that team) mainly thanks to Betsy's extensive knowledge of ghetto music and Pink's music videos. However no matter how I work it out 5% of nothing is still nothing... stupid record contract.











These are the two party people themselves.












I wasn't feeling very camera happy last night but here's a picture of Lachlan, Firthy, and me to keep mom happy.
All in all, good times :)

And finally...







This is Hamish Blake. If you are in want of a personal hero he's your guy. If you already have a personal hero, dump them and adopt Hamish Blake as your own. Basically I have come to love Hamish Blake (you can see him on such shows as "Spicks and Specks" and "Thank God You're Here" plus he has a radio show) Therefore I have several quotes of the day...
"So if you weren't asthmatic before you're almost guaranteed to not have it after."
"Who can? Floxicam!"
"I've got it! All of their last names could be first names. Michael Jackson- Jackson... Elton John- John... Ben Folds- nice one Foldsy."
"Philosopher's Stone is an album by who?" "- Not Harry Potter!"

These will seem a lot funnier to those who have seen these episodes of Spicks and Specks and Thank God You're Here because they have context, but Canadians trust me, Hamish Blake is awesome!

Back to school on Monday. Man, I was having so much fun not wearing the uniform.

E(Liz)abeth :)

My 18th B-day Party....

So yesterday and today I turned 18 (We're accounting for both of my home time zones)
I did buy lottery tickets. I can tell you on Tuesday if I won the Oz lotto.

Joy let me have a birthday party (and we love her forever for this!) And obviously since I turned 18 everyone just got trashed... there are still some people sleeping it off in the living room *just kidding mom* There was actually a lot of non-alcoholic fun.











S'toon and me. He got me an excellent CD to further my education... and he still can't draw a proper maple leaf.

Other excellent gifts include (but is not limited to, I just can't remember all of them now, but let me assue you they are all awesome) an Aussie teddy bear, an Aussie shirt, an Aussie flag (unofficial), and Aussie homesick pack (including gum leaves), an Aussie shot glass, an Aussie inflatable finger, an Aussie boomerang, an Aussie hat (complete with corks mom, t'would make you happy), an Aussie pencil case, and brazilian bracelets (Leo kinda deviated). Erin drew a REALLY good picture of me. Must find frame!












Bottom around clockwise: V, G, Leo's hand and Smitty
Notice the excellent use of red and white in their clothing.












Mel and Firthy with teddy bears made (that's right, they have Build-a-Bear in Australia) for me and Leo by V and Betsy. Leo's has the hat, mine has the bows. That's Julz in the background.












Me and the Ellies. I actually got Ed laughing for this one. We shall never speak of how again. (Except I can probably guarantee Ed will speak of it in comments)












A group shot of everyone! (OK, not everyone because actually getting everyone in this group together is next to impossible but y'know, everyone at my birthday party. I'll give names because I have nothing else to do today. I'm going approximately on rows but that's hard so I'll just trust you Canadian people to infer judging my people you've already seen. Alrighty: Ellie, Nick, Firthy, Leo, Betsy, Selva, Tharini, Simon (in my glasses), Mel, V, G, Julz, Sam, Lisel, Ed, Smitty, and me!

So now I shall create a picture. Think all of these guys screaming (they might consider it singing I guess) "Happy birthday" under a closed roof. It was loud and awesome. Carlo High is an outdoor school for a reason, these people don't belong indoors.

Now for my happy birthdays:
Happy birthday Erin!!!!!!! (today)
Happy birthday Sam!!!!!!!! (October 10th)
Happy birthday Anna!!!! (October 12th)

And finally my quote of the day comes from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) because I realized last night when I couldn't sleep that I actually have this memorized- "...in the context of a prenichian society to the totality of a jejeune circular relationship of form contrasted with the complete otherness of metaphysical cosmologies and ethical mores entrenched in the collective subconscious of an agrarian race." Didn't know I had it in me :)

I'M AN ADULT!!!!
E(Liz)abeth

Please read on for excellent pictures of some people.

EXTREME CLOSE-UPS....

I have to decided to dedicate the second post to extreme close-ups that were taken (not by me) at my birthday party.












Mel












G












Smitty
















S'toon











Ellie

:)
Love, E(Liz)abeth

Ice Skating, Exchangies, and Rotary...

Hey y'all everybody. This might be a long one so please be prepared (And by might I mean pretty damn sure it will be)

Yesterday morning I did the unthinkable, the unfathomable, the (find a thesaurus and keep going) I cut my own hair, layers and all! Here was my thought process "Man, I have split ends... Hmmmm, I wonder if I can do it myself. You know I have curly hair so it wouldn't show if it was uneven. Simon can do it. Ed can do it. Sarah and Rob have been known to trim their bangs (aka fringe, that wasn't a part of the process, but I'm translating for aussies) Screw it. I'm not spending $30 on a professional job. I'll do it myself!" And I did and it doesn't look bad! Go me!

Last night I went ice skating. Now I know what most of you are thinking "Who comes to Australia to go ice skating?" Well the answer would be me and I actually had a really good time. It was Firthy and Leo's brithday party and even though I haven't skated in 5 years, I did not bad. Atleast I didn't fall like Mel did (I can say that because she fell twice and only one was my fault)

Now today was an interesting day indeed. First I went out to Circular Quay to meet several exchange students. One was from the next district over. It was quite possibly the most unorganized exchange student outing ever and apparently that was my fault (because somehow I became organizer. I used $6 of credit and all they can do is whinge... MAN), but let's be honest, exchange students have fun no matter where they are.











This is a picture of (left to right) Signe (Denmark, she's from next district over) Leo (Brazil), Lailla (Brazil), Maggie (America), yours truly (Canada, obviously), Vadium (Russia), Celine (France), and Doriane (Belgium). Kirk from Regina is taking the picture. That pretty building in the back is the Opera house (just in case you live in a cardboard box)

Then Leo and I had a very interesting time on city rail with no help from S'toon. Basically we went through Wynyard station three times in a half hour. For those of you not familiar with Sydney rail lines, that's not good.
Then I came home to three, count 'em three, letters. One was from grammie, one from Mom (Thanksgiving card :) ) and one was from Sode. She sent me an awesome necklace. It is so pretty. Sode, you are an excellent person. Love you heaps!

Then tonight was Rotary. How much do I love that organization? First they gave me a REALLY excellent chocolate cake. Seriously, it almost beats out DQ cakes. Then at the end I was called up and President Trish presented me with *dramatic pause* a bridge climb!!!!!!! I'm so happy. I seriously jumped up and down and possibly crushed Trish with my hug. I'm going on a bridge climb!!!!!! Rotary rules!!! Seriously, I love every single Rotarian just ever. Right now we're thanking great-grandpa King for first getting involved because that subsequently ended in me being here. The exchange program is the best thing to ever happen to this planet earth. I mean c'mon, all these Aussies get to meet me (naturally) and I get cake.

Quote of the day comes from the depths of my quote book, back to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "I'd much rather be happy than be right"

Haha, that's all for now. Expect another on Friday. I think I'm blogging too much.
Oh well, it makes mom happy
E(Liz)abeth