Rain Rain Go Away

Sunday August 3rd, 2014

I woke up with another migraine. I ended up staying in bed until the afternoon. The weather is changing a lot so a lot of people are getting headaches. The afternoon was beautiful. So my housemates and I went on a walk and then went fishing. 

It started to get really cold so we headed in for the night. Chris was the only one who caught a fish. I cooked it up an we all tried a little. It was really good! After dinner, it was time to do some homework. Jackie and I sat at the kitchen table and worked on homework then Chris joined us to work on some questions for one of our classes. Luckily, it turned into a productive day after not feeling so great this morning.

Monday August 4, 2014

I woke up early to go on a run but I still wasn't feeling the best. I slept in a couple hours longer and then Chris and I went for our run. When we got back I took care of some bills and then I bought my ticket home. I walked out and told Lauren and we both started tearing up. It is going to be really hard to leave. This whole trip really makes me realise how precious time is. 

Eventually I did some homework. I had just finished some reading when Chris came running in and said he saw the campus koala. So we all ran out to go see it. It was so close!

https://plus.google.com/107577374683880825997/posts/Jmm5tdCpNFt

After all the excitement of seeing the koala. The koala was scared and we had to get ready for Anthony's birthday dinner. We went to the Royal. When we arrived we quickly realised that there was a ukulele club practicing. Hehehe.... clever me suggested that we get them to play happy birthday to Anthony. Luckily the Chris(s) were brave enough to go ask!

https://plus.google.com/107577374683880825997/posts/QN9yusZz5gb

Lauren started to draw goofy pictures too!

Then it was time to go cheer on Ashlee and the other Deakin dragons in basketball! They won easily. Ashlee may never invite us to come again though, we may have been a little embarrassing. 

Guess who got to drive home after basketball!!! I DID! It really didn't feel that weird. I have been here so long now that it is pretty natural. Plus, I was kinda cheating because I was in a German car. Everything is on the right side of the car but the turn signals and wipers are the same as the US. That will be an adjustment when I drive an Australian car. I was a very good and safe driver. Everyone was impressed! I don't exactly know what they were expecting it to be.

 Azra being goofy!

It was a fun night with great friends. Tomorrow brings another day of homework and an exam for me. 

Let's go Sharks!!

Saturday August 3rd, 2014

I tried to sleep in but I was unsuccessful. I got up and did some cleaning. Lauren called my name when I was walking out of my room. By the look on her face and the tone of her voice. I thought there was a snake in the house. Luckily it was just a raven eating a bunny on our patio. I know... it is unusual to be relieved at the site of that, but it is way better than a snake being in our house. Chris and I cleaned up the rabbit so everyone didn't have to see it being eaten. Everyone was us so we all just talked and ate breakfast in the living room. Then Chris and I started planning. I had been asked by Lachie to run a half marathon in September, but I was unsure if I wanted to. I mentioned it to my housemates and Chris jumped on board. I had decided to not do it but then Chris convinced me otherwise. We made our training calendar. 

 It's official. We will be running a half marathon on September 14th. Lauren and Jackie are pretty excited about being a cheering squad!

We quickly made lunch so we could go watch the Deakin Sharks play netball and footy. The girls did an awesome job winning in netball!

Just being Sharks after their awesome win!

Footy on the other hand... was very muddy. The guys ended up losing, but it was very entertaining to watch. 

Chris and I had to do our long run for the day after the games. With it being such a beautiful day we ran down to the whale watching platform.

Hopkins River mouth

Cool spider web

I finally have a few good pictures of these little buggers. I have been trying to get good pictures of them since I arrived and I finally have some. 

I was invited over to Ben's house for dinner with his family again and to watch the games. It was a good way to end the day. 

Let it snow!

Tuesday July 28th, 2014

It was a normal school day. I got up and went to the gym and then started to work on some homework before class. I am the only American in my Tuesday class and the lecturer likes to pick on me. After class I hung out with some of my friends before getting ready for Ben's Dad (David) birthday dinner. I went with Ben and his family to restaurant in town. It was delicious. Of course, the best part of the night was dessert.

Salted Carmel cheesecake

 Death by chocolate

David and his sundae 

After dinner, I went with Bettina and Ben to see the planet of the Apes movie. It was really good!

Wednesday July 29, 2014

Today was the crazy day for our experiment beginning at 9am we had to check our brine shrimp every hour. We ran into a few hitches... all our shrimp dying due to one of the steps in the procedure, but we were able to use some shrimp from other people. Unfortunately, I got a migraine later in the afternoon and was  miserable for the rest of the day, but I was able to make it to class and do my experiment. 

Our wonderful janky set up

Thursday July 30th, 2014

I still had a headache when I woke up in the morning. The weather was terribly. We had a storm that had extremely strong winds and monsoon rains. It explained my headache but it was a horrible day for it since I was in class all day. I made it through and got a free lunch too. When classes were finally over I went to sleep for awhile before getting things ready for Paige's going away party. It was a lot of fun! Many of them ended up going downtown but I headed to bed to rest up for the next day.

Friday August 1st, 2014

It was a early start to the morning. I weather was too bad for Ben an I to go whale watching. I am sure the whales were far away from Warrnambool anyhow. The swell was supposed to be 20ft the night before. I had to dress warm though because we were headed to the Pyrenees for wine tasting and there was a chance for snow.  

The first winery we went to... we tried close to 20 wines

Dalwinne... beautiful site even with the rain

By the time we got to Warrenmang... I needed some lunch. We had amazing food before going and tasting the wines. 

While we were doing the wine tasting it started to snow! I don't think I have been this excited about snow in 10 years! I was melting very quickly but I tried to get a picture.

 The snow up in the hills.

Then we headed to a smaller winery.

Last but not least. This one was probably one of my favourites! Plus it was absolutely beautiful!

I was exhausted by the time we started heading back. I could not keep my eyes open and Ben got this lovely snapshot. I will never live this down. 

When we got back to Warrnambool, Ben made dinner and then we watched the Commonwealth games with his family. Diving was on so that was exciting to watch. I had to get back to uni relatively early to check on my brine shrimp before heading to bed. By the time my head hit my pillow I was asleep.