I Live With Hippies

Not lying, I live with my landlady who is a certified hippie. She walks/drives/shops almost anywhere with no shoes, has a household decor from the 60's, and uses such phrases as "far out". Get with the times woman!

Stylish kitchen, right?

I apologize if I sound rude. I am grateful she is giving me a place to stay for my semester in Oz but at the same time, this is my blog, and I can vent if I want to. I'm ready for some up-to-date modern civilization, who's with me!?

Lismore Flood

We had some huge storms roll in off the coast and heavy rain settled in for nearly 3 days in Lismore. The wind gusts were up to 60mph and the creek flowing through downtown Lismore busted, overflowing into the street and soccer fields. Water in the street was over 4 feet high.

My house is safe & dry. We are located on top of a hill so there was no chance of us getting flooded but I was still apprehensive as I've never experienced a true flood before!

The rain has subsided for now and most of the water has been cleared from downtown and nothing but sunshine from here on out (I'm hoping). Here are some pictures of the aftermath!

Main street heading into the CBD

People floating on the water, car is submerged!

This WAS a soccer field!

Conversations with an Australian, Pt. 5

Australian: "Do you have to make deviled eggs to join a sorority?"
Me: "Is this a joke?!"

And the Winner is...

DEVILED EGGS!!! (start cheering, applauding, woo-hooing now)

I thought, why not make the one thing I've made for almost every Thanksgiving since middle school? And when I asked the Aussies if they've ever had one, they looked at me dumbfounded so there you have it! The picture up top for some reason won't let me rotate but that is my lecturer, Baden and my eggs. Please tilt your head to the left now.

This is my class. Countries represented in this photo: Australia, Spain, China, Japan, Germany, and of course, USA! I am going to miss this class very much because it taught me a lot about Australia and its history as well as the acceptance of other cultures around us. I learned so much from all of these people and I am so glad I got this experience. Thank you!

American Food-- Suggestions?

I am having my last lecture and tutorial for the course Australia, Asia, and the World this week. The final paper (that I already finished thank you very MUCH!) is due on Friday and then the class is officially over for the semester. So each tutorial we always bring in snacks to share with the class, makes things a bit more relaxed and let's people talk more openly about topics. Yeah food is pretty powerful in our class.

So for our last tutorial our teacher has asked us to bring in a dish that is uniquely tied to our country. What on earth can I bring food-wise that is represented by the United States? Please leave comments and let me know, I need some help with this one! Think American!

Race Day

What happens when you take Southern Cross uni students to a horse race with free drinks? Lots and lots of madness! Once each year, race day occurs and uni students take over the turf. We get dressed up and cheer on for those ponies. See it for yourself, our own "Kentucky Derby" in Lismore.

Conversations with an Australian, Pt. 4

Australian: "Peanut butter and bread, that is so American."
Me: "Well I would've added jelly but I didn't have any."
_______________________________________

Australian: (reading my t-shirt) "Is that a sorority? Gamma Phi Beta?"
Me: "Yeah, it is."
Australian: "Oh cool, so what's it like? Do they actually hit people to make you join?"