On Saturday, Nichole, Brenna and I went on a wine tour through the Yarra Valley! It was an amazing day and I can't wait to do it again when Mom and Barry come to visit :) We loaded onto the bus in the city around 930am and headed out to the valley. Our tour guide's name was Richard and he played really good music on the ride to the valley. He played Hotel California (the live version...the BEST version), Queen, some other stuff...BUT he doesn't like the Moody Blues (Sorry Dad...I'm on your side, Moody Blues are awesome!) It was a [View Full Entry]

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Hey Everyone! So, I did a bunch of stuff this weekend that I NEVER would have done! I'm proud of myself! A bunch of us joined the Mountaineering Club and went on their "big weekend." which means we go camping for a weekend in the Yarra Valley area and do a bunch of outdoorsy campy things. It was definitely a challenge....especially with my minor fear of heights. We got there Friday evening and set up camp, which consisted of me and the other girls I went with picking a spot on the ground to put out sleeping bag on. We slept [View Full Entry]

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Hi everyone! On Saturday Nichole, Brenna and I went to the city to check out Fitzroy Gardens. I've made a habit of going through my travel book and ticking the places I want to see, then we figure out a place we all want to see and at the end of the day I can check off a place in my book! Fitzroy was on that list so that's where we headed this weekend. It was beautiful! For all you Richmond people, Fitzroy Gardens is kinda like Maymont but BIGGER and greener. There was a conservatory just full of flowers. Roses, [View Full Entry]

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Hey everyone! I FINALLY have internet in my room! If you have Skype, feel free to contact me! If you have a webcam we can even see each other! I talked to Mom on Skype and also Dad today, so it was nice to see them as well as talk to them. I'm settling into classes fine and reminding myself everyday that I'm here to STUDY abroad and not go explore all the nook and crannies of this place all the time. My friends Brenna and Nichole and I are hoping to go on a camping trip with the mountaineering club [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everyone! STILL no internet in my room! It's coming along slowly, but it's definitely going to be a process. Sorry! I promise that as soon as I get internet, pictures will be up and updates will be sent out! We had O-Week (orientation week) last week and they had stuff planned for us every day. I'll give you a few highlights. Porter's Challenge: We ended up having to run around all of the other colleges (dorms), doing jumping jacks, sit ups, the whole thing. Then we get to this mud pit and with a ladder over it. We had to [View Full Entry]

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I'm here! So much to tell, but I'm not sure how much time I have. I won't have internet in my room until next Tuesday (agh!) so I'm in the library at the moment trying to catch up on everything before I head out again. I guess I'll start from the beginning. My flight out of LA was really long. haha. I sat next to an older couple named Tony and Joyce that were really sweet and made it a little more bearable. They had movies on the backs of all the seats so we could watch a bunch of different [View Full Entry]

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I was in Richmond for the last time this past weekend and said goodbye to most of my friends. It was bittersweet, but we had a lot of fun. Friday night, everyone went out to dinner to one of my favorite places (Cous Cous!- yum!) and enjoyed a good meditteranean meal. I learned how to make indian food, banana pancakes, played some Guitar Hero, got lots of hugs, and relaxed....AND I made it through the weekend tear free! That was the best part...I'm probably saving those tears for when I have to say goodbye to my parents at the airport on [View Full Entry]

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I thought I would go ahead and get started before I actually leave so I can get into the groove of this. I leave for Australia in exactly one month and 4 days. The way things have been going lately, that's going to go by extremely fast. I'm so excited, but at the same time, I feel like part of me isn't ready. This whole studying abroad thing started out as a bit of a whim. I decided one day that I needed a change in a big way, and I had always planned on studying abroad for a summer through [View Full Entry]

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