Ok so we know that we aren't keeping up with this very well, but we'll try to post more. no promises though. :) The weekend of the 21st was again quiet.  It's hard getting used to the fact that most people go home on the weekends.  We just hung around friday night, but went to a friend's 21st on saturday.  We met the birthday boy the first week we were here on the international cruise.  He works for the international office and studied in the U.S. for a year at La Crosse University in Wisconsin.

Last tuesday we were "sick" from classes and went to Philip Island.  Rebecca fed a bunch of kangaroos, a donkey, and a goat.  We saw a joey in the mom's pouch! It was so cool! It wasn't like in winnie the poo when roo just sticks his head out of the pouch as the mom walks. haha The joey's legs and head at one point were sticking out just a little, it seemed like a very uncomfortable position.  We sat on the beach at Philip Island for awhile and watched a "penguin parade".  At night the smallest penguins in the world come out of the ocean to sleep in their little houses in the grass.  When they feel comfortable enough one swims out of the water and waits for its friends to follow.  Then they walk as fast as they can up the beach to their houses.  Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures so you'll just have to imagine what we saw.  On the walk back to the parking lot, you could hear the penguins in the grass, they sounded like ducks quacking.  It was so cute to see the little penguins walk right past our feet.

On thursday some of the aussie guys on our floor took us to an australian rules football game.  It's like football (kinda) without pads.  100,000 people fit in the stadium and apparently the game we went to see was supposed to be a really big game of the season (and the season opener) but the team that our friends wanted to win ended up losing by 100 points.  It was awesome to go to though because "footy" is a big deal here. If you click on this link, the youtube video shows how the game is played, it's a little blurry though. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-PFRrJQtew

On saturday we went to our friend's country football game.  It was cool to watch someone we know play and the game was so much different since it wasn't professional.  For dinner we finally got to eat what americans call "cheese" pizza! Australians love to put as many veggies and meat on their pizza as possible so it was especially delicious to have plain :)

Last week we also booked our flight and hostel to sydney for our spring break so that was really exciting!

We're still not in the school mode, but we have officially completed 2 essays for 2 different classes and we have a quiz on tuesday that we are actually reading and studying for! So yes, we're being studios here, sort of :)

We added a lot of new pics to our web site so check that out too! 

http://austdownunder.shutterfly.com/

Hi everyone! I know we're getting a bit lazy with the blogging but we haven't gone on too many interesting adventures lately. It isn't summer here anymore so the weather isn't hot enough to go to the beach everyday. We went to this party with all the girls that live in the buildings around us and the theme was tourism. We made shirts that said "yes, we're from the U.S. and no we're not obese" and "yes, we're from the U.S. and no I'm not a cheerleader". Half of the people there we're dressed in hawaiian clothing so it was more of an American themed night than anything.

Last weekend we went with our building and our sister building to Apollo Bay and to camp out. Of course the entire weekend we were there it rained the most it has in 3 years! The first night wasn't too bad and the storms stopped with enough time to walk along the beach and go for a freezing swim. The rest of the day was spent in 2 pubs in town since we had to get out of the wet weather. The second night of sleeping was horrendous. Before we went to sleep our blankets, pillows, and all of our clothes were wet so by the morning our tents were filled with water and a moat had formed around where we were sleeping. It was pretty miserable. However, we brought back a lot of funny stories from the trip due to the rain and the scavenger hunt we had to complete on the ride there. We took a picture with roadkill and stole a street sign.

Last Wednesday we went wine tasting at the vineyard on campus. Students learn how to make wine and it is sold at the bar on campus. We tasted 8 different bottles of wine and the director laughed at us for taking such generous pours from the bottle. We're now expert wine drinkers! We also saw our first kangaroo that lives in the grass next to the vineyard!

Our classes are going pretty well. We have to actually start doing work because we have two papers due next week. We're still not in the school mode but we haven't skipped any classes yet. :)

That's it for now. We'll let you know when we have more interesting stories for you to be jealous of :)

Hey guys!

Since last week was the first week of classes, we've slowed down on the partying (kind of). We've been relaxing with the people in our building, and making a lot of good friends. On Wednesday night there was a back-to-school party at our bar, which not a whole lot of people showed up to. It was still pretty fun though cause everyone from our building dressed up. On Thursday (which is a big party night here) after classes, we went to the main bar on campus along with everyone else who goes to school here. Despite the crowd, there was music and dancing which always makes for a fun night. 

On Friday night, we took it easy since we woke up at 7 am on Saturday. We went with an association on campus for a tour of the Great Ocean Road. We saw the lighthouse at Anglesea, saw koalas and fed birds at Kennett River, and saw the 12 apostles. 

On the bus ride home we've never seen so many farms. It's true that there is nothing to do away from Australia's coast. We saw more sheep and cows then we could count, and we only past small towns and local shops. It was so much different than driving on highways at home. We got back here around 8:30 and were exhausted! It's too bad that it took about 3 hours to get there, because it'd be nice to be able return back there on our own. It was a fun day being a tourist! 

We have class bright and early (10 am) tomorrow, so we probably won't be doing a whole lot for the rest of the day besides enjoying the nic

e weather and reading for class. We're still trying to get used to everyone going home on the weekends. It's weird with half of the building gone, but we've gotten closer with the select few who stay here.

We've updated the picture site, so be sure to check out all of the amazing pictures! (and try not to be toooo jealous).

xoxo,
Sar and Rebs

sorry we haven't written in a while, we've been super busy!

here are a few pictures from this past week's activities!

last wednesday night we had a retro-sports themed party with one of the other dorms. there were so many people there, and we ran into someone else who goes to ithaca! it was a lot of fun seeing everyone dressed up in their 80's sports costumes.

on thursday we went to the infamous eagle bar. someone said there was about 1,000 students there. every thursday is student night, so it's always packed with people. it was fun though. there was live music and lots of dancing.

friday morning we had to wake up early and went lawn bowling with the people in our dorm (it's similar to bocce ball). we started drinking there around noon (!) and around 3:00 the guys and girls split up to do their own pub crawls around melbourne. we went to 3 different bars, and then met back up at the 4th one. it was fun walking around the streets chanting our school's made-up theme song. by the end of the week, everyone was absolutely exhausted. saturday and sunday were strictly lounging around days. a lot of people in the building went home, so we really had nothing to do. it was good finally getting sleep.

yesterday we finally started our first day of classes. i know you all probably thought we forgot about going to class! we had press and society, which is all about australian media. our professor was wearing a skirt, which we thought was sort of odd. the lecture was made up of about 100 people so we'll probably meet a lot of new friends. the class seems like it's going to be pretty interesting. tomorrow we have sex, gender, and identity which is a sociology class. then on thursday, we have discover australia, which is all about australian history and culture.

if you want to see more pictures from our trip, click this link: http://austdownunder.shutterfly.com/

we have to end now, since we're trying to be healthy and attempting to go to the gym every day. we'll see how long that lasts. :)