G'Day Mates!!!

Welcome to my blog! I am a senior at Baylor University and will graduate on December 18, 2010. Before I graduate though, I wanted to experience the educational system in another country…and have a little vacation at the same time :) When I was younger, I always said that if I had the chance to visit any country in the world, it would be Australia… That sounds corny but I’m not kidding. I actually have a survey from third grade that asked... “If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?,” and my answer was Australia!

Well, the opportunity arose through Baylor to study abroad in Brisbane, Australia, to teach and assist at Whites Hill State College (a middle school in Brisbane), to independently travel to Sydney and Cairns, and also to travel to New Zealand on the way back to America. The trip will last from November 9 to December 12. Needless to say, I am super excited to travel to Australia and learn about the people and culture in this country!!!

I hope you enjoy reading my blog and I look forward to sharing my adventures with you! G’Day mates! Let’s go to the land down under!!!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Brisbane Bucket List

Throughout our stay in Brisbane, we created a bucket list of places we wanted to go during our stay.
(Thanks to Deanna for this very detailed bucket list!!! haha!)

Here is the list:
  1. Nandos- Ate dinner at the popular chicken joint... it's good but it's no Chick-fil-a
  2. Baskin Robbins- We went to get some ice cream during our lunch break
  3. Carindale-  Hitched a ride from Deanna's teacher and experienced 'the cool place' to shop according to all of our students, malls in Australia close by 5:30pm weekdays. Late night is on Thursdays when the mall is open until 9pm.
  4. Botanical gardens- FAIL... but we did make it to the Botanical Gardens in Sydney!
  5. JoJos- Ate here  in the Queen St. mall area, wide menu selection
  6. City Cat- Took the city catamaran back from school one day, scenic and speedy ride
  7. South Bank- Went over to the Cultural Center to see West Side Story
  8. Canteen/Tuck Shop - Bought an Anzac biscuit at the school tuck shop during tea time. Tea time is more like a 20 minute recess and snack time for the students as the teachers grab a bite to eat and relax in the staff room. 
  9. Bowling- Played two games at the StrikeBowl bar in Queen St, $8 for the first game, $5 for the second...plus some free, good ole greasy popcorn...
  10. Cheesecake shop- Took an Aussie's advice and walked to the local shop after school, I got some the American Style Cheesecake and it was soooo good...
  11. Hold a Koala- Went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, held a koala, played around with the kangaroos and saw several other native animals
  12. Queen St. mall- Took several walks along the streets of Queen St. Mall, full of 4 shopping malls, food courts, restaurants, souvenir shops, etc. 
  13. Brisbane Hillsong- Long bus ride, 2km walk, made it just twenty minutes late for a Sunday morning service. Attending the Christmas concert at the church Friday night
  14. Play tennis on Medina's grass court-  I borrowed tennis rackets and tennis balls from a student, forgot the rackets at school, Deanna went back up and down the hills to get the bag, the courts were locked, Pauly unlocked them for us, and finally we relived our high school days and played some tennis overlooking the Story Bridge and city skyline!
  15. Learn some Aussie lingo and eat their food- Heaps and no worries are our favorite lines. Ate some Vegemite, Anzac biscuits, mangos and TimTams. No kangaroo meat for us!

We did a good job of completing our bucket list during our stay in Brisbane. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone at Whites Hill State College. We had a wonderful time getting to know the staff and students and will miss the fun times in the teacher's lounge. I made sure to video my students doing a sic 'em bears!! Here they are!



Although we were sad to leave Brisbane and Whites Hill, we were excited to start our independent travel in Sydney.  Time of departure: 3:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.
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