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!