HOME! and fiji :)

im homeeeee!!!!! sitting in my room writing this last blog is so unreal to me right now. i feel like i am in a dream. i arrived tuesday night at 11 pm. i had told everyone that i was to be returning on wednesday night as i left fiji on tuesday but with time traveling and the way things work i got in tuesday night. my mom met me at the airport and it was like a flash of reality seeing friends family and driving on the right side! ill start with talking about fiji...its just like the movies! the white sandy beaches, the long walks going island to island, the native people who welcome you wide arms, and the endless amount of time spent laying on a hammock watching the horses run free on the beach. it was a place that was very relaxing and that is exactly what i went there for, the last chance to take in the entire past 5 months and reflect on what happened and what there is still to come. the cost for everything there was half of the dollar so paying 10 fijian dollars was like spending 5 american dollars. getting to know all the differnt types of currency and be literate enough to know the transfer rate and what i am getting for my money has been eye opening. i never had to think about the money i was giving to someone or having to compare prices from different locations but i definetly do that now. just seeing american money is still very strange and every other currency besides the US has dollar coins instead of dollar bills so i will need to get used to carrying those around. all together australia and fiji were by far without a doubt the best decision of my life and i would tell ANYONE to get the change to get out and travel. i have met so many great people and had such amazing experiences and done things that i never would have thought i could have done is so inspiring and makes me want to go somewhere else. the chance to get away from the everyday life and take a look back really makes the more important things in life mean the most and the other values dissapear. it was vey bitter sweet leaving and i still feel like i will be home for a week and then return back there next week with everyone and keep up with the routine i have there..but i guess that is not going to come true. i would love to talk to anyone and everyone about my experience and explain everything in detail as long as go through my thousand or so pictures that i took! thanks for reading my blog for the past semester and i am home for good now! will be working more than sleeping but until then finishing up important tasks and taking in the life that i have been so grateful to experience and say "been there done that!"
peace and blessings!

last blog from australia!

the time has really come! i never thought this was ever going to end and it would just last forever..i guess thats not the case. it is SO bitter sweet. i am so excited to come home but at the same time i could live here forever, the people, weather, culture, and entire atmosphere is just breaktaking and wonderful. it will be nice getting back into a routine tho and come back to the real world (with a paycheck!) i realize that i have not wrote a blog for like 2 weeks now but my time has consisted mainly of studying laying outside enjoying time with people and doing final things that i want to accomplish here..like hiking a moutain! last week a group of 6 of us got up at 630 am and made our way downtown to this moutain that is called "the pyramid" because it looks like one. this was the most painful exhausting work out of my life. i was sore for a week after! mainly cuz i have not been training here like i do at home but it was such an endurance adventure. it took us 2.5 hours to climb up and 1.5 to come down. at the top we took an hour nap and just took in the sight--and quite a sight it was. it was so worth it afterwards but during the 4 hour process i kept thinking to myself "why do people voluntarily put themselves in so much pain" like for real, at one point i was shimmering up rocks the size of my house making sure not to slip on the water for fear of loosing balance and taking a very long painful roll down the mountain. all in all tho it was a very good day and my heart thanked me for doing something productive instead of just laying by the pool all day! that is about the extreme for the past 2 weeks. we have gone out a couple nights to just say goodbye to all our australian friends and end on a good note.
oh yea school...i always seem to forget about that part! so far i have had 2 finals and i have 3 more this week still. they are going alright so far its just really hard finding motivation to study and retain information when i look outside and it is 70 with a breeze and BEAUTIFUL! thats like torture to make students study in that type of atmosphere! i am slowly beginning to pack and get all my stuff together before i head out. i leave saturday afternoon for Fiji and am there for 3 nights 4 days ish and then come back to good ole america! i am super pumped for fiji and just getting to experience another culture and see what is out there. i have been in contact with my hostel and it is just funny thier slang that i already have caught up on. it should be a good time and a nice way to wrap up the past 5 months and reflect on everything. my next blog will have the final trip adventures and my travels back home! it is seriosuly so weird how fast time has gone i just cant believe it. its really sad. if i had a job here i would be staying for the summer but parents are getting sad, the bank is calling me for money, and homecooked food (and good toilet paper) sound SO AMAZING! thanks for reading all my blogs and i would love to show pictures and tell tales about this adventure when i get back home. less than a week i will be back in the motherland--so crazy! peace and blessings to all see you soon :)

love you all!

times coming to an end!

i realize i did not write a blog last week but there has not really been anything interesting or fun happening! last weekend was our final going away dinner with our orientation group so we went to a really fancy restaurant and ate out--it was awesome! between then and now i have had my final week of classes and started studying for finals! we have this whole week off dedicated to studying as finals start in the 2nd-this saturday. the weather has sadly not been the nicest as its technically the end of fall/beginning of winter here. just today i was laying by the pool and someone walked by and was like "wow it is really getting chilly out here i am going to have to buy some more jumpers!" as i was laying by the pool suntanning...talk about a change of culture! the evenings do get pretty brisk but nothing more than jeans and a long sleeved shirt are necessary. i have continued to keep meeting weird crawly creepy creatures that i somehow must not have seen the first 4 months or are more paranoid now! again today as i was laying by the pool some girls were talking about how a python was slithering next to the gate about 20 min before i arrived...i dont think these people realize how much i HATE snakes and they keep telling me how close they are too me--not an easy thing to fall asleep to at night. not to mention the endless spiders, daddy long legs, and lizard things that like to keep making apperances in our apartment. 3 weeks left!
it is crazy how fast time as slipped by and it really seems like yesterday i was moving in here. i am trying to take time to reflect back on the entire experience and make sure to take it all in as i dont know when i will make it back!
i booked my hostel and events for Fiji so its official i will be going there! looking into beaches and things to do are getting me SO excited--another place i will be able to say i have been and have memories with. with finals coming so close there is not a lot of things planned for the next couple weeks. we are hiking a mountain/pyramid tomorrow so that will be a fun (and exhausting) experience and we will have to see where the rest of the time takes me! hope all is well back home and i hear the weather is starting to get nicer so smiles for that :)

this is my orientation leader and i at our last dinner. she is so wonderful!

scuba diving!

sorry im a little late on posting this blog...my internet has been HORRIBLE in my room so i have very limited access to get online and when i do its usually to do homework stuff. the past week has been involving my beginning preparation for finals and going to the great barrier reef! we had planned to go on the reef on saturday and we got a call friday night saying the boat had broken down and we would not be able to go the next morning. luckily, there were spots on the sunday boat so we went that day instead. it started with boarding the boat at 730 am and we got served breakfast (an egg and ham, woohooo) we then proceeded out to the reef. the beginning of the day was overcast and not the nicest but it got a little nicer throughout the day which was great. when we were at the reef we were placed in groups and told to get suited up as i was in the first group! upon putting my wetsuit, eye mask, and flippers on i was so jacked and ready! the instructor knew right away that i was very comfortable in the water and ready to be on my own. when the oxygen pack got loaded on i was feeling so ready and could not wait to get in the water. we had to do so boring safety skill stuff first and the instructor was like even though you seem like a great swimmer and ready for this i need you to follow me...i did for the most part! it was tricky at first getting the whole breathing thing down and being able to breath in and out with no problem. because we were first time scuba people we were only supposed to go down like 6 meters but because im me and love pushing the limits i went down to like 9 meters which is about 28 feet. seeing the reef up close was just awesome! we saw a shark (maybe three feet long) swimming around the coral, saw a baby turtle, lots of cool fish, sea cucumbers, many clams (some the size of my upper body!), and other sweet things that i dont remember the name of! the dive lasted about 30 minutes and then we had to go back as there were many groups. when we were done, sarah and i went snorkeling for about an hour and once again veered way off from where we were supposed to go--it was so hard seeing the direction we were headed as i was looking under water and would get distracted by something and swim alongside it or follow it by the time i looked up we were in front of the boat 100 yards when i was intending on going behind it! it was all fun tho. after we got served lunch we headed out to another spot of the reef and went snorkeling again. by this time my ears were feeling all the pressure and water build up and i was getting a massive headache and ready to head back to the boat. we ended up being out at sea for like 5 hours and then went back to the pier where we were all exhausted and ready for bed! i went to sleep at 8 that night...
other than that this week has been quite typical with class, going out a few nights, and just laying by the pool and going to the lagoon! this weekend should be a bit more eventful with a going away dinner, we are going to a concert saturday night, and then hiking a mountain on sunday! following will be pictures of the reef and some of the things we saw!
peace and blessings to all and a month exactly till i get home! <3

i saw my life flash before my eyes..

to elaborate on the title of this blog more i was walking to class on tuesday morning when all of a sudden i  look to the side of the sidewalk and see a PYTHON slithering  alongside me. now a little background to this happening...earlier last week i had heard that a teacher had found a python on the middle of the road and picked it up (now why someone would do this i dont have that answer) but he proceeded to bring it to school and show as many people as he could. so i heard that there was a 16 foot 40 pound snake with this guy but i had not heard the news that he LET IT GO in the woods so it could "find its place back home". well he should have informed the entire city because here is jessica walking quietly along the path just trying to go to class and look down and see this literally 5 feet from me. now snakes are the one thing in life that freak me out and i was not about to be this little fellas lunch. so here i see it do a triple take and realize i need to get the heck away from where i was. so i started with a brisk walk to the opposite direction which quickly turned into a sprint to the campus so i would not be around any type of forest. come to find out that the teacher just wanted to return the snake to its original habitat--i mean im all for this but give the people a slight heads up or something...jeez that was quite a start to me day. then on thursday we went to dinner at our complex like always and there is always a menu board that has the food for the day on it. well that day it had said "octopus". now im thinking alright maybe like a little flavoring or like a tentacle on top of a roast or something...no. it was the full on head, body, and 8 legs all sitting there waiting to be injested. well of course i had to try it. everyone was saying you just had to take it at one time and not go bite by bite so i threw the thing in my mouth and just as fast and it went in it came out. just imagine the feeling of tentacles with suckers on them and then a big juicy head with a meaty body..yep thats why it came back out. i was not having it and will never again try it. one more animal story (this one is better); on sunday i had a field trip with my biology class and we went up to Port Douglas which is about a hour drive north of where i am in cairns. we were going out to a point where there was 3 specific places of habitats for various animals. on this we were treking through muddy puddles, thigh high water ways, and standing on top of coral. it was a beautiful sight and we saw/found some amazing animals including a tiger shark, large octopus, crabs, sea cucumbers, and other various things that i have learned about but cant pronounce/spell thier names! it was definetly a new type of field trip where back home they are to museums and parks and here i was in the middle of the ocean putting my arm down holes and seeing what types of creatures come out. very neat experience.
another highlight of the week was doing a lawn bowling experience with my study abroad group. this is kinda like bocce ball but the balls here are weighted more on one side so there is a skill and trick at getting the ball down the lane to get close to the smaller ball (here called the jack). it was so cute seeing all the old men teaching us and being all happy in thier area of expertise--made me miss my residents at the nursing home! after this we got to go to dinner which was awesome cuz any time we get food that is not cafeteria food its a good night! on saturday night a group of us went salsa dancing as well. we have been meaning to do this for a while but have been putting it off but finally made it there on saturday. it turned out being zuck-lumbara (i dont think thats how you spell it) dancing which is some weird style but it was still fun and of course we were the youngest ones doing it and all the older couples were having a hay day watching us stubble around and attempt to look the part. i was feeling pretty good about myself and was going to send a video to Derek Hough and tell him to get ready for me on the next season of dancing with the stars!

overall another great week...i think only 4 full weeks left which is very scary and makes me want to make the most of everyday so off to the beach i go! this will be my 4th day in a row going there and it is just paradise. hate to share my expereince to you all who are in the hail and rain but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do! peace and blessings to all!

it rains everywhere...

another monday morning here i am reflecting back on the past week..all i really can think of is that it rained. rainforests really do mean rain i guess. there was one nice day last wednesday which was ANZAC day (similar to our memorial day) so we had the day off school. one of my friends/roommates here has found an austrailian navy man so we got up at 6 am to go to the ceremony and see all the festivities. it was really cool to see all the different branches of the service and the ceremony was interesting as well. especially when they sang thier national anthem and i tried singing ours...the rest of the day was dedicated to service men and them letting loose and having the day off -- aka drinking. let me tell you sailors know how to drink! it was so funny seeing everyone in the day in their uniforms but they all made sure to take thier name tags off in case a boss or someone saw them. it was a fun day overall. nothing more exciting happened this week unfortunetly. i have about 6 or so weeks left i think (im not trying to keep count!) so i am trying to get all my bucket list things off before i leave. i booked my ticket to Fiji so i am for sure going there at the end which im assuming will be an awesome way of ending the trip! ill put some pics up of ANZAC day and other randoms. sorry i dont have anything else to add ive just been doing homework and papers :( sad part....

Spring Break!

we meet again! this time i have some new news that doesnt deal with stuff here in cairns. this past week was americans spring break and australias fall break (as its the fall here) but either way we had the past week off from class and got to do a little traveling. my group of mates here and i went down to the gold coast which is on the east side slightly south of Brisbane. we flew in there saturday afternoon and just walked around for a bit and made our way to the hostel that we were staying at. now this was my first hostel experience and yes i have seen the movies and thought that i was going to be staying with bugs and crazy russian speaking jocks that stunk up the bathroom..well it wasnt that bad! we got checked in and went to our 6 person dorm style room and saw that 2 of the 6 beds had clothes and stuff on them. so us 4 american girls just thought oh its just 2 other females no big deal...once we started to analyze their clothes and style we quickly realized they were boys! none of us remembered that the rooms were co-ed so this came as quite a shock to us all. trying not to let that idea affect us we went to walk around town and see what was around us. the first 2.5 days were overcast with not the greatest weather. so those days were spent just meeting people and finding out what activities were in the town. on tuesday we rented scooter/mo-ped type things for the day and got to scooter around town. now this was a blast dont get me wrong but we brought along our 2 german male 18 year old roommates figuring they would have some clue as to the rules of driving in australia--bad assumption. all i can say is im glad that i have some driving experience and am a professional snowmobiler because i was using hand signs looking at people moving over so cars could pass us stopping for the red lights and other helpful skills of the road. not only did the 2 germans have not a clue as to the driving regulations here (as i didnt either) but there was 7 of us total and no one besides me had ridden a scooter before so it took a good hour or so for the group to realize how to work the blinkers, look in the mirrors, and communicate with other drivers. having a couple near death expereinces and having to calm down a few fustruated drivers we turned the scooters in for the night and hit the town (well we did that every night!)
the next day we went to an amusement park type thing similar to those back in the states. there were rollarcoasters and a water park that we spent the enitre day at wearing ourselves out acting like complete children!
i think the best memories of the trip were made living in the hostel...between the beds sqeaking when anyone moved, to the screams and yelling of drunks coming home at 4 am, to the rain pouring down in the night that we could hear everything, to living with boys and the excitment they bring at night/early morning! we were actually really lucky with our roommates getting 2 men from ireland the first night, the 2 german boys for a couple nights, 2 female nurses, and  then 2 girls living here but are from Atlanta. overall it was a good experience that will not be forgotten!
on thursday we went surfing! now this was not only i think the best workout ever but the most painful sport ever. i have so many bruises scrates and sore muscles even a week later! we took lessons through some guy and it was really helpful. i am a professional at getting on my knees but the whole "jumping to your feet" gets me every time! the board was so slippery and everything was happening so fast that by the time i realized that the wave was coming i have the strap of the board wrapped around my foot, the board going sideways, and nosediving to the bottom. the instructor said he had never seen so many people do the things and positions we did! i guess ill take that as a compliment...after the pain and suffering that brought us we spent the remainder of the day laying on the beach in awe of the people that could just pop up on the boards...i think ill just stick to swimming!
on friday we got on a train and went north to brisbane for the night. we had tickets to a rugby game and stayed there for the night. this town was beautiful! the landscape and buildings are  very unique and just awesome to look at. the game was very interesting in that i had no idea what was going on, there were men running around jumping on top of one another and people were yelling and booing at times i thought something good happened...thank god for the guy sitting next to me who was trying to help me and explain some things while the game went on. it was a good expeience tho and im glad i got to see iit happen in person. the stadium was fantasic and we had AWESOME seats for the price we paid. i was very much surprised.
upon returing to the gold coast on saturday afternoon we spent one last day at the beach taking in as many rays as possible and just enjoying the location we are in! we had to wake up at 4 am sunday morning to catch the shuttle back to the airport to fly back to cairns. coming back felt good to be in my room again by myself with no men seeing my every move and being able to shower with a door! it was a great break and i am so happy that i was able to make it happen. now back at school and trying to get back in the mindset of schoolwork and homework but its just so nice here everyday all i want to do is go to the beach and lay by the pool! the work will get done when it needs to in the mean time ill just enjoy the beauty and awe that i see every morning!
hope all is well back home and remember its getting closer to summer for y'all! peace and blessings