A Semester Down Unda': white water rafting!

hello all! i know i have not written anything in 2 weeks so this is going to be a lengthy one! i will just go through the past 2 weeks and highlight and the big events. starting off last saturday we went to an animal shelter and volunteered to walk dogs. the shelter is just a 10 minute walk down the road from us so a bunch of us got together and decided that we would take an adventure and see what happens. it was a rainy morning but it was really fun! the people were very thankful that a group of universtiy students were volunteering thier time and wanting to do something to give back. i have not been back yet as i was gone this whole last weekend and had classes during the week but i hope to make it back soon and pay the dogs a visit! there are also cats but i made clear to steer away from them and stick to the puppy section!
during the week there was terrential rainfall for literally 5 days non stop...needless to say waking up tuesday morning there were actually puddles 2-3 feet high and wide. on monday night a group of us actually went body surfing down along the underpass that we usually take to go to school but since it runs along a river and it was so high the whole thing flooded and was about 3 feet high. we all took a study break and went for a swim along the tunnel which was just crazy to think about. luckily we left when we did as in the morning we found out that 3 fences fell down, a couple trees snapped and were floating along the river and there were crazy water animals everywhere! it was so crazy to see. so waking up tuesday morning i made my way to my email to check to see if i had any "weather updates" and to my amazement all my classes were cancelled for the day! i am used to snow days but i was granted with a "potential landslid day" i was not upset at all just laughing all day long thinking about the fact that i was not going to class as for too much rain and all the danger that was associated. it has actually still been raining on and off and some roads and highways are closed down still as the rivers are overflowing and there are landslides happening. as long as i was not hurt or nothing to my abilities was hindered i am totally fine with what is happening! there has been talk about potential cyclones coming so that idea kinda scares me but the raining and flooding just made for good stories!
on thursday the 22nd it was my birthday and a couple of the girls here threw me a "mini party" and decorated thier room with streamers and got me a crown to wear for the night. nothing really crazy happened just went downtown for the night and got my groove on on the dance floor like normal! it is a birthday that i will never forget tho as i got to celebrate it here so that is awesome!
now all the anticipation is leading up to this past weekend...white water rafting! it was AMAZING! i would do it again hands down. we started off the weekend heading up over the mountains via sky rail and went to another city. along the way we got out to take pictures and take random tours around the rainforest. upon reaching the city we went into koala, bird, and butterfly land and got to play with all those animals and more. we got some free time in the city to walk around and do our own thing and then got bused to our housing--which was more like summer camp with bunk beds. it was nothing special but we were there for 8 hours so not really a problem. the whole weekend we had a local tour guide that wanted to take us to random places that were "off limits" and that we were not supposed to go to but he knew we wanted to have good memories and take cool pictures which was spot on! so sunday morning we woke up and went down to this railway that followed all along the mountain and had GORGEOUS views on the moutain and water falls. literally breath taking angles and pictures the whole walk. along the way we heard a train coming so we literally had to run and jump into the trees and hide our group of 12 as we could not have been seen by the train people or would have gotten into lots of trouble (for those of you who have read the hunger games i felt like Katniss!) so that was exciting. after hiking the morning and night we went to this little lake/river freshwater thing and went for a dip before going to our rafting start. for rafting we were put in rafts of 7 people, 6 of us and a guide and got out helmets, lifejackets, and secured footwear and were ready to go! i made sure to get the best guy (judging all upon his looks) and off we were the first raft of them all as i was not wasting time! the guide easily could tell that we were a group of young kids who wanted to have a good time and have as much adventure as possible so he made sure to bring us in the fastest craziest places ensuring for many laughs and great memories. it was something i will never forget and definetly would do again hands down. they said usually the river is a level 1-2 but since it had been raining so much and the water was up it was a level 2-3 when we went so it was a little more. so worth it and an all around awesome experience. now i sit here monday night realizing that i have work to do and classes start back up tomorrow so antacipating that my smile goes to a frown. i will post some pictures here of the weekend for a glimpse of what i went through! hope all is well back home and smile for the warm weather! peace and blessings <3