Update: No Blogs for a While

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Hi Everyone! Just sending out a quick note that I won't be blogging for a couple of weeks--we are taking a trip to Broome, which is waaay North of Australia (but still on the West Coast). It's in the Kimberley Region in case anyone is interested. There we will be interacting and living with a community of Aboriginal Australians. They haven't told us many details of what we will be doing; in fact, the only thing they have told us is to beware of the poisonous snakes, bugs, sharks, and crocodiles= ( But don't worry, I'm sure I could fight a croc off if I had to (yeah...I bet that's reassuring!) Eric and his group leave tomorrow and the Notre Dame group leaves right before they get back. Unfortunately for my schedule, our group is going over Spring Break so I won't get much time off. Also unfortunately, I have 4 papers due the week I get back = ( Sooo, I will be extreeemely busy this week, next week, and the week after, either working on my papers or camping in Broome. I have also not being doing too much of anything interesting lately because I've been trying to do work and go to bed early. BUT--one story to leave everyone with before I go! I ALMOST DIED. Okay, that MAY be a bit of an exaggeration as I probably didn't even come close, but, for a millisecond the thought "I am going to die" did cross my mind (yes, it was a bit of a dramatic moment for me, what can I say?). Yesterday Karla, her Australian friend Ben, and I all went to Cottlesloe beach (which is a REALLY pretty beach that's only a short train ride away) and decided to go swimming. Well, we barely got waste deep when both Karla and I got stuck in rip tides! I swear that one second I was with the two of them and the next I was 10 feet away and unable to get out. I screamed for Ben to come help me, and like a good Aussie gentlemen, he did just that (Karla got saved by a random surfer dude--a way cooler story)! The weird thing was that we weren't far out at all-when the waves weren't bad we could even touch down on the bottom! But it still took about 5-10 minutes of fighting the tide to get out (I'm not sure why Ben chose this method as I realize now that I could have just swam sideways for a while and gotten out of the rip that way)! Anyway, that is my exciting story for the day! The moral of the story is that I now take the ocean WAY more seriously than I did before (not that I didn't take it seriously--but I had never been caught in a rip before) so I think I will be much safer from now on. If I had to have a learning experience, I'm glad it ended with me in one piece = ) I can't wait to update everyone on my Broome Trip!

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