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| so instead of studying i've decided it's time to blog. let's see... what's been happening since the sydney trip. well i found out that the missions trip to woorabinda (sp?) is like 200$ so i've decided that may not be an option but it is up in the air because my mom said we could still do it but at the same time i feel like that would be pushing it. i'll leave it in God's hands like everything else and see what he has to say about it. i am going on the backpackers or walkabout as my dad called it haha next week!! i'm super excited! i haven't really travelled that much during the semester because i still wanted to achieve good grades and i think i mostly succeeded at that except with health which was absolutely murderous. i hated it. i feel like i did really well on the final though, maybe a 100% but i guess that's up to the professor's discretion.
that's a funny word lol. i kept spelling it disgression for my lab report and i kept wondering what was wrong haha.
on a completely random but wonderful note, i'm totally getting this romance of the violin cd to play in my car when i get home. the music is just absolutely phenomenal and blows my mind. joshua bell is amazing!
okay so back to classes. genetics was pretty good and really made me think again about looking into genetics as something i might like to pursue in the future. i knew after taking it with dr. romstedt that i would have ill feelings towards it because he didn't really know what he was teaching and it really represented genetics in a terrible way. i didn't even really take the time to study because i didn't enjoy it or understand what he was saying. kevin, my professor here, really knows his stuff and i feel like he does a really good job preparing the material and what-not. everything is explained a lot better with him.
psychology is interesting. i think i could have really done well in it if that's what i had been here to do lol. i took it really easy on myself since it is study abroad and i only need to pass every class. i succeeded in that as far as i know. i really like some of the topics covered in psychology and i definitely was intrigued by the research outlook and doing the lab report. i feel like it really opened my mind to that field and also reminded me of something julianne pointed out to me which was that what may be easy for me may be hard for someone else. i had always said pre-med was the hardest, but i really got a dose of my own medicine in finding out that papers really do suck! they take a lot of time! they take a lot of other readings than just the article the prof gives you. it's been pretty intense.
statistics seemed too easy and i guess i'll see if i was right in my thinking that with this final next wednesday. i don't think i did that well on the lab report because i never went to see nicolene to go over what we needed on it, but i went straight off of the lab report slideshow we did so i hope i at least pass it with a medium/high credit. i'm nervous about the final because i feel like i know the stuff, but at the same time, i haven't really gotten to apply it very much. i'm going to do some practice problems throughout the week starting tomorrow to get a good handle on things. it's hard though because i'm also studying for genetics and wanting an hd in that class overall so we'll see how that goes.
i made my schedule for next year with really high expectations of myself. i'm going to take on my regular job at the library when i come home this summer and carry it over into the semester. i'm going to be a math tutor for at least 5 hours a week. i'm taking 18 credit hours and a summer course that's going to kick my butt when i get home. i made it into tri-beta so i'm sure i'll have some volunteer times to fullfill and what-not. i just have a lot of stuff going for my next semester. i think my favourite class will be... religion? you know... i don't really know about any of the classes, but either religion or histology. we'll see.
living arrangements! super excited to join my girls in a ministry house. unbelievably happy that God has worked everything out!! i can't wait! seriously! i love these girls so much and they're just completely amazing and i can't wait to be around them on a daily basis. it was really hard last year not being able to get to my car to come see them or get their early and it just makes it ten times easier. i can't wait to be surrounded by girls who love me and aren't going to talk behind my back or burn me all the time. i'm not saying it won't happen, but i think we're close enough that we'll be able to work things over pretty easily. i'm just completely excited and ready to come home now. | | |
| - head over heels (in this life) that's right. this weekend i went to sydney, australia. sydney was in sydney, australia and more importantly sydney park was in sydney park!!! of course it wasn't just sydney park, it was actually sydney olympic park but i say that still counts we just have different middle names. i also found sydney x-ray which is funny because my name is sydney rae. i wrote in my little notebook for all the way up until the last day because i didn't really have time the last day. i had intended to go to hillsong church sunday but was wayyy too tired from not enough rest the days before and i had been freezing each night downstairs on the couch so i didn't really get any good rest. anyways so i slept in and then woke up to no one being there so i just started walking. i made it all the way to centennial park and just walked around the whole thing doing what i do best- people watching. i was really relaxed by seeing people just walking and playing with their dogs in the park and people running and people gathering for picnics and such. it was a really beautiful day outside and i just really enjoyed being on my own on the day Jesus rose from the grave and just really reflecting on how much he's truly done in my life alone let alone the lives of others around me.
i'm going to go a little off topic because just today one of my good... no great friends is finally at a point where she wants to experience christianity! i'm so excited and scared at the same time. i've never helped someone in their faith and i don't really know how to go about it. it's definitely going to take a lot of work on my part to be ready to guide her and not over explain things. i think that gestapo game kind of made me realize that i go way too in depth way too quickly. i just need to stick with my story and go with that. i just don't know where to begin and i don't want to push her away so i'm trying hard to figure out what God wants me to say to her and how to go about this. i'm just so excited at the same time and she wants to wait until i get home but i'd like her to go without me. i'm going to chat this up with amy of course to get a second opinion so we'll see how that goes. i'm soooo excited for her, but i need to remember that she is in a bad place right now. she sounds completely depressed and just down a lot. i know God can accomplish a lot in a short time, but he always works with his plan and not ours so i don't know how to explain that things won't instantly get better without turning her off. ahhhhh i just need to talk to amy. anyways that's way besides the point. back to sydney.
so i spent the day in the park and saw people with white horses which of course reminded me of katie and made me happy. i really hope she's doing well. i miss her a lot and we haven't gotten to talk very much since i've been here. me and natalie have gotten a whole lot closer though which is opposite what i left. when i left me and katie were really close and me and natalie not so much. weird how things happen right? i spent most of my day in the park and then i got a pide from this little cafe down the street and the guy cooking was really good looking lol. needless to say i ate there for dinner with bry later that night haha. then i went to catch my plane and i though i was being really early but i only waiting about 10 minutes after i was checked in and everything and then we boarded and i was back in the gold goast by like 9:20pm. it was crazy. then came the stupid, stubborn, mean sydney part. sooo ashley was also travelling about the same time but she had a little later flight. i had assumed they would be a little backed up since it was night however they were early like i said before but at the same time i was thinking i should try and find the bus station as soon as possible and she'll probably catch a cab anyway. mean of me i realize now, but at the time i was just worried about if i could get home and i had no minutes! i walked around for about 20 minutes at night by myself- STUPID! i finally got to a point where i admitted to myself i didn't know where the heck i was and i needed help and out of no where this guy in one of those orange pullover thingy's pops up. i ask him where the bus station is and he gives me easy directions. i find it! i get on the bus and make it home by midnight! it was just crazy because i had to switch buses at pacific fair and i waited there for almost an hour. i didn't know if i would have to walk a whole lot. i got home to my wonderful roommate who was telling me about her pinched nerve lol. she thought her leg may have been reacting to the leech bite a few weeks ago and i was telling her it really sounded like a pinched nerve. she's so funny and fickle sometimes. so that was last night and my feet were killing me. i had scratched the one so when i wore flip flops all day it rubbed and started to hurt and then really hurt after the 20 minutes aimlessly walking around. i have blisters between my big toe and the second toe from wearing flip flops around centennial park, my legs in general are sore from walking so much and my shoulders ache from holding my baggage. luckily all of this is after the big trip and none of it was during. wonderful. absolutely wonderful. tomorrow is classes again and bcc at night that i don't know if i want to go to. i was thinking about their teachings and i don't agree on some things like for instance the other day when we were talking about why we believe in Jesus and i was like well he's done so much for us yes but it's because we love him and it's something we choose. i think that's a really important point to make is that we do choose to love back even though the love from him is always there. they stressed the point that there was the reward of eternal life for us and i think it just sounded... not right in my mind. yes the reward of eternal life is there but we have to emphasize living the way Jesus did. there's so much more to it that they just clearly didn't represent there. it really made me uncomfortable how matt just gave me this look like i was stupid when i answered the question that way and i didn't like it at all. we'll see what happens. | | |
| - Lowi'm just so lucky to have such a wonderful family first and foremost. my mother is completely amazing and i'm so thankful that we are able to talk on such a friend basis and just laugh with each other about the stupidest things lol!! she cracks me up!!! i love her sooo much. i really don't know what i'd do without her- obviously i wouldn't be here without her but it's a lot more than that. she's such a huge part of my life and i think after we went through our distant spell, i've really realized how depressed i was during it. i think it's really helped me remain happy now that our relationship is so healthy again. i just never want to lose her like that again and i'll do anything in my power with God's permission to make sure that doesn't happen!!!
my dad is completely hillarious!! peanut butter with no salt or sugar?!?! wtf mate?! lol!!! i love him so much and i just can hear in his voice how he misses me and wants me home :(. i miss him a lot too and i can't wait to see him and give those big bear hugs again lol! he always grunts when he hugs me haha!! a squeeze would be the correct word!! it's so fun how we talk about mimi for seriously half the conversation haha. she's a huge part of our lives and mom's too!! i'm just so fortunate to have parents that loves pets since they are my passion. i'm completely lucky! i feel like dad and i have gotten a lot closer over the last couple years with college and i'm not sure why exactly that happened but i definitely feel a stronger connection than i used to. God does things sometimes we have no clue about until later on. it's like the big bouncy ball across the street lol!! alex taught me this little analogy about how we always want the small bouncy ball... and actually i already mentioned this in another entry so i'll stop haha. anyways it's pretty much my favorite analogy now for God's plan for us.
my grandparents- where to begin right? they're completely hillarious!! my grandpa is like always asking me if i've seen an alligator and today my grandma asked me if i'd been to this forrest on the coast of Sydney and i was like grandma i'm on the gold coast and she was like yeah the coast and i was like nooo... grandma that's not right hahah!! Sydney is 8 hours away from me hahahaha!!!! she's so funnyyy!!! i love her sooo much!! it's really difficult without my family. i think that's the hardest thing being here and i hate it that i'm missing their 50th anniversary, but i think a video will be nice and i can celebrate with them when i get back. it didn't even cross my mind when i switched my plans until after i'd already done it. i really hope God's hand was in this move because i've felt guilt over the situation a few times. at the same time it makes me feel like usually when i go to events like that grandma and grandpa are really proud of me and they kind of spotlight me so maybe since i'm not there they'll be able to really stand in the spotlight without me and maybe then be able to see how wonderful they are!! i hope that's what's going on in God's plan. anywho i love them and i'm going to send them a video for their anniversary that i'll have to think of something cool to compose it. i might ask ashley to help me with that. i might get my friends to help me!!! that'd be awesome!!!
this week has been really hard!! i had two presentations and three assignments due and they were all pretty huge grades so it was a lot of pressure for one week. i think i pulled through quite well though. i was a little worried about my presentation today and by a little worried i mean freaked out haha. my teacher told me i did very good though which means a good grade so i shouldn't worry about it anymore and i should read this sentence a million times haha! well it's getting late but i just wanted to reflect on how blessed i am to have such an awesome family!!! i love them to death!! | | |
| - catch your wave today was absolutely amazing. i started out really worried because for the past few nights i've been furious and so just on edge about how i was going to get this guy to stop being so clingy towards me without being completely rude and avoiding the poor guy. he is a nice guy, but i just don't do the clingy thing and i'm soooo not ready for a boyfriend lol. now i sound egotistical, but if you saw how he acted around me, you'd probably say the same thing haha. anyways so i was fretting about that really bad because now my friends weren't going to be with me on this trip because they all went to brisbane for the weekend so i was pretty nervous about going. then i called lucy to see if she could back me and she could so i was relieve as all can be and then when i arrived this morning and she wasn't there i started to spaz again, but no worries. as soon as he started to hug me and what not i was like i'm not comfortable with you touching me and he backed off instantaneously!! he did sit by me at the picnic, but he ended up moving because i was ignoring him for the most part. i just wanted to really get the point across that i'm looking for nothing more than friendship while i'm here and unless God tells me otherwise, that decision rests lol!
with that out of the way first thing i got to enjoy the entire day in just a relaxed state. the ocean was absolutely gorgeous and the waves were so much fun. i learned a great deal about my new buddy liam and how he feels about his faith which is awesome to hear. i think we could both learn a lot from each other while we're here and he's a really nice guy who's totally in love with the Lord- i mean praise parties?! lol!! he's so hillarious. so anyways we swam in the ocean with jimi for a while and then had some lunch- sausages and steak go figure. they always have that. the sausage wasn't to bad i have to say, but the steak well... i got in trouble for not eating it by G lol! not really but he did comment that there weren't very many steaks and i should've eaten mine, but i'd tried it and not liked it so i wasn't going to force myself to eat it! oh wells. kelly was arm wrestling everyone against her will lol and then erin was too. it was just a fun time.
i met the nicest girls one name aurora who is crazy in shape and does cheerleading. she is friends with the girl who owns the farm in new zealand where lord of the rings was filmed and i just awed at being in her presence haha! she was telling me how at first it was just a farm with lots of sheep and they weren't getting a whole lot out of it and then they had wanted to film lotr there and they were like sure and got oodles of money and now they are just the entertainers- elves and hobbits for the tours. aurora has been all around the set and she said they have a guy who looks just like orlando bloom who rides a white horse around haha! she said she wanted to get on the horse with him for "a picture" hahahaha! she was so funny and really nice! the next girl was grace and we didn't get to talk a whole lot but she had a cool hat! lol!
after lunch we went to the town and explored the shops and everything. they had this really cool ladybug store and i got a ladybug cap for my toothpaste there lol. liam got this little ladybug vacuum for his mum and it's just a really small ladybug vacuum that sucks up little things and cleans the laptop! it was reaaally cool and i wanted one too but the toothbrush thing was something i needed because i left my toothbrush cap at home. apparently while we were in the store ashley saw these protestors nude on motorcycles covered in paint. unfortunately for them, we couldn't figure out what the protest was for haha. i guess it's nothing uncommon there though for people to run/ride around nude and we see a couple girls topless on the beach which was awkward. liam pulled his towel over his head and said we should go up to her and give her a nipple cripple lol... i paused and was like titty twister? and he was like yeah same thing i think so i motioned and he was like yeah same thing. i thought it was funny. we basically just walked around a long while until the sun was setting and then we went to the lighthouse and watched the sunset. it was really pretty and there will be lots of pictures by other people because i totally forgot my camera haha. i don't think a picture could really do the sunset any justice though. i know it couldn't when i was in chicago. just being there and taking in the sun setting and the waves crashing- it was gorgeous as a whole. i got really thankful for everything when i was standing there and just started thanking God for the amazing experiences he was giving me and just providing me with so much more than i could ever think of deserving. it was completely revelationary. i don't think that's a word, but i'm pretty sure if it isn't i just invented it haha. that was at the eastern most point of australia which made it so cool because i could point on a map where i was! so cool!
next we drove home because with the beautiful sun gone, it started to get cold. i hadn't eaten at this point so i asked to stop at mackers- mickey d's lol. they wouldn't take either of my credit cards and i was completely distraught until i realized that my money my mom put in probably won't get in until monday. i'm hoping that's the case and i'll find out monday i guess. mom, dad, grandma, and grandpa all gave me money for birthday since they're so awesome! i'm so thankful for all of them and how they've made all this happen for me! i couldn't ask for a more giving, loving, and so caring family. they're all i could want from a family! anyway so my cc didn't work and i had to borrow money from sam and then i spilt pop on his seat which i hope was a seat cover but i'm not so sure now and i felt bad... still feel bad. i really hope it comes up. i reached over to grab my book and it spilt so it wasn't intentional but i should've been more careful. sam and charlene were so nice about it though and completely helpful throughout everything. obviously i'll pay sam back on tuesday at bcc once they money's in.
so here i am writing now and i just took a shower and got out of my sandy clothes haha. i'm extra crispy after the beach today with burnt cheeks, nose, forehead, upper chest, back, and a little shoulder haha. it's pretty hysterical because i had wanted to get rid of the tan line across my back from club sign-on day and it remained even with being burnt. pity. i'll live though haha. that's all for now. | | |
| today a bunch of us bcc kids went to brisbane to hear this world renowned healer and the songs were really good but he preached a lot on tithing and of course when you go to any evangelist speaker, this is like a portion of it, but this guy spent the majority of his time on tithes and then was like oh i guess we have time for a short sermon :O! it shocked the poo out of me. sermon should come first and then tithing. not the other way around. that doesn't make sense to not be spiritual fed and still tithe. i gave because he was rather persuasive and i'm still easily shifted on some matters such as tithing because at my current church we don't do it which i still need to discuss with amy because i don't understand why we don't do it yet. besides the point, he also made note during his sermon to represent prayer as a higher power to God like prayer was a "God" that could change God's mind... it was really sketch. i stayed the whole thing because i didn't really think anything of it and afterwards i realized everything had went in one ear and out the other because he went so fast during the sermon that i couldn't keep notes or anything! it was pretty ridiculous. the other people i went with had real problems with his sermon, but they didn't discuss them with me which kind of upset me because you would think they'd let me know their take on things, but i guess i'm just going to always wonder. after the sermon, we got to have fun though.
we met up with liam and anni after the sermon had finished completely and we went to the city inside of brisbane. we got food their and i had chinese that didn't go too well with my stomach, but it kept me full for a really long time. then we walked to the court house to meet up with lucy, kelly, bryanna, and ashley and looked around the court house a while then walked beside the river and i became a photographer instantly lol! i saw this gorgeous shot in my mind of me standing on this siding and kicking my foot and then i grabbed lucy and was like take this picture so of course she did! it turned out really cool and they ended up having phil stand on the other side to even it out haha. i think he was kind of embarassed and awkward but i don't think it was a big deal or anything. we took like a million pictures seriously. then we all went back to the city and got these things called pearl teas where it's tea but there are little starch balls called pearls in them and you suck them up when you drink the tea and chew on them... it was really weird! i know it sounds weird too, but actually trying the stuff is even weirder. i told lucy i got used to it after a few pearls but i was still very much opposed haha! i finished the tea but not the pearls.
after that we went up to see the view from on high and again took about a million photos but it was so gorgeous that there needed to be a million pictures lol! hopefully when me and kerri go we can get some good pictures of sunrise and sunset because we didn't really get good pictures of the sunset this time.
lastly we went to grab some food at red rooster and of course an ice cream from baskin robbins which was right next door haha! i got cotton candy this time and it was absolutely amazing! i can't wait to have more next time. that is all.
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