Photography awareness

So Tuesdays this semester are going to be really straining because i have 3hrs of sociology with a prof. who looks like an older/goofier version of malfoy's father in harrypotter wearing islander clothes. he is going to be a really tough prof and is already requiring us to read 200pgs in the first week ( of textbook and journal acticles). but it is ok, because at the local grocery mart, they have TIM TAM Tuesdays, and sell timtams for halfprice which will make tuesdays wonderful. immediately after sociology, i have photography for 3hrs but i think that will be fun because i will get to play around with the camera for 2 of those hrs. I already learned about aperature and shutter speed and am now aware of what those funny numbers mean on my real camera.

Today, (thurs.) i would normally have class but it was not meeting the first week which gave me a free day to get some errands accomplished. A store in the mall is going out of business so the whole store called Crazy Clarks, was 50% off. I stocked up on the essentials for much less than what they would normally cost, so that was a very successful shopping trip. today we are suppose to have a "social sports" sign up session which was originally set for last week but got moved for some reason. so i am hoping that it actually happens today, because i really want to play some soccer. Saturday i am going on a day trip to several different places in northern queensland so i will have pictures posted from that in the near future.

Not much else to report... Until next time, Cheers!

The Heritage and Fairy Floss

So Saturday night marked the first time that i set foot inside a club, one called the Heritage which was actually kinda nice. they had separate areas from the dance floor and bar that were open air and there was absolutely no smoking, so i appreciated that very much. All i have to say is that it was an interesting experience and that its really not my scene since i don't care to intoxicate myself or meet others who are already intoxicated and wouldnt even remember my name. However, it was quite entertaining from a psychological point of view to watch everyone, which is something i like to do anyway. I deff. will not be making it a habit but i would probably go again just to hang out with my friends and help them if they need it.

This weekend, it was quite gloomy and extremely rainy, which i was told is the sign that we are now in the transition process for the rainy season..oh joy, but today was wonderful again and i appreciated it so much for the first day of classes.

Sunday, i went to night church and it was cafe night, so they served us dominos pizza which tasted so fantastic since it had been a while since having any type of pizza. The service was wonderful to, the message was from I Sam. 7 and the youth director preached. But before church a few of my friends and i were dropped off at the place called DFO which is a big discount factory outlet mall. It was so cool, but we didn't have time to get around to everything since everything closes at 5pm...and not just on sundays ( that has been hard to get used to.) But we came across this store called "American Cargo" and to my surprise, all the clothing in the store was all American Eagle clothes at extremely reduced prices....i just think its soo funny...on the clothes tag where it says "American Eagle" it has been crossed out with sharpee. Anyway, i bought a nice"Jumper"--aussie slang for sweater :) for like 10$ instead of 35$

After the church service they served icecream cones and other wonderful homemade treats that were sooo good. We discovered that they make a "TimTam" icecream cone (Tim Tams are the best Australian Cookie EVER) so i am on a mission to find one.

Afterwards, we all went to one of the guys house to watch "Get Smart". For their type of hangouts, they drink red bull instead of alcohol and eat candy and all sorts of junk food...it was quite refreshing to hangout with such a group of young adults. They thought it was funny that we call cotton candy,"cotton candy" whereas they call it "Fairy Floss" so that's a new one to add to the list of different vocabulary :)

Today was the first day of class, and it went very well. my physics prof. is really nice and kinda in his later years but he deff. is very knowledgeable about the subject and is going to relate alot of stuff to sports which should be interesting. my ecology prof. came in wearing no shoes and very casual clothes. He's a younger guy who seems really laid back but strict at the same time. He said we are going to be doing alot of field work for our labs, so it should be interesting to get to know the surrounding area in a different way. The class rooms are different because the chairs with desks attached to them are not in any organized manner or rows...they are just kinda scattered in a room and that just adds to the class's laid back ambiance.

I'm looking forward to see what my other classes are like, tomorrow i have photography which i am really excited for, and sociology.

Until Later Mate ~ Cheers!

Yorkey's knob and drizzle

Yesterday, Friday, i biked with a friend to Yorkey's Knob which is a cute little residential beach that was not crowded at all. so far this is my favorite beach eventhough it takes about 30min by bike to get there...get your exercise in before and after fun times on the beach. It was a great day because we got our lunches packaged for us which made me feel like someone had made my lunch for school because it included a sandwich, a piece of fruit, and a juice box. nothing like holding on to your youth. After that excursion i was so exhausted from all the sun and biking that i took a really long nap and got up just in time for dinner. then after dinner we watched some local tv which is always interesting and later a "new" episode of so you think you can dance-U.S. came on and it turned out to be about 6 weeks behind the real show. i thought it was really funny because they cut out the part about the numbers for the contestants and they give the results at the end of the show.

Today, saturday, was the first rainy day that i have experienced since being in australia. and unfortunately it was kinda depressing..it would rain/ drizzle for a little then stop, then pour down rain for a few minutes and then stopped and it did this pretty much all day. so in the morning i tried to watch a little "kids tv" and then went to the gym for an intense work out to raise the endorphin levels. then a friend biked down from trinity beach and we tried despartely to watch a movie but my computer wouldn't accept the dvds and only played the audio, oh side note, australian dvds are different than american ones and will not play on american computers...i found this out the hard way. anyways, after many attempts of trying to be technologically savy, we gave up and decided to bike back to her apartment where we played rummie for awhile until i biked back. its been along time since i have been biking so im still getting my muscles used to it...i think it will take some time though before i don't feel the burn on the simpliest of rides.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow because we have nite church in the city and it is supposed to be cafe night. Moday i start classes so i suppose that my summer is officially over but i have no classes on fridays so im hoping to have a few trips planned for the future.

thats all for now, i think there is a big Aussie Rules Football game on tonight, so im going to try and watch it and see if i can make sense of it.

~Cheers!

10 things i like...

I like many things, but as requested i shall name 10 in no particular order.
1. Australian Accents!
2. Cairns Tropical Weather for the winter
3. fresh fruit
4. working out
5. the beach...any and every beach.
6.independence
7.talking to my mom
8.TIM TAMS! the best australian cookie ever!
9.photography
10. laughing

Hope this confirms your request...

"please use underpass..."

This is the sign that directs me to go under a potentially sketchy underpass to school in which i have already had to walk through at night twice but it is pretty well lit and there is supposed to be 24hr survelience whether that is true or not.

Today i received subject approval for a photography class and i am extremely excited to take this class. It turns out that the schedule in which i have finally settled on will actually be more beneficial to me back at winthrop than what i had originally intended to take. the final listing of classes that i will be enrolled in is : Ecology, Physics, Photography and Sociology of health and medicine. the first three i actually get credit toward graduating and the last one will prob just end up as an "extra" class that doesn't really count for anything but i think it will still be interesting. Oh and the best part of all is that i do not have any classes on fridays! i have yet has such a schedule that includes no classes on fridays so i hope that i get to take advantage of that and go on some short 2day trips around the area. we shall see.... I went to the student association office today and they have about 5shelves of used textbooks. Luckily i actually found 2 of the three that i need both of which were extremely reduced in price. I am so glad that i found them because originally they were 110 and 80$ each. i'm not sure if they have a used books place online here but im not sure how much shipping would be to get it here.

In other news, I joined an australian gym which is right across the road from my room...i stare at it everymorning and i just couldn't go all semester without taking advantage of the convienence. I went today for my program introduction and the trainer Max, originally from portugal set me up with an intensive work out in which they monitor and add to once it becomes too easy. So i am extremely excited to take advantage of that membership. i wish i was one of those people who were completely self modivated and could go bike 30 miles or run for an hour but i just physically and possible mentally make myself do that. thus i declare that i am a gym rat and am proud of it...though i also intend on biking occasionally but i will rely on the gym as my main means of exercise.

Thats all for now...more to come! ~Cheers!

Sunday Blessings and Monday adventures

Sunday was so wonderful atleast after the bus finally arrived...a friend and i went into the city 13km away and attended cairns pres. church. the people were so nice and im pretty sure we met half the congregation in one morning. we also met an american missionary family who were in australia figuring out their visas and they invited us over for a splendid lunch. after that my friend and i went to walk around the city and later attended the "nite church" which is more geared for young adults who are out of school or going to more school. needless to say we met all of them and i can remember most of their names :) the first song we sang was "grace like rain" and that is one of my most favorite songs so i was extremely thrilled. after the service they all invited us to go get coffee with them and hang out. This is exactly the type of interaction i have been waiting for since i have arrived here. i wanted to meet some local aussies who were christians. I can see God working in so many ways its greatly humbling. several of the kids live near the uni so they offered to take up back to our lodge and even said that they would come pick us up if we needed a ride into church. on tues. they have "Nexus" which is their young adult bible study so i am extremely excited to attend that. So i don't think i have ever had a more fulfilling sunday, atleast not in a long time! when i came back one of my suitemates had arrived that day so i got to meet her. she is from colorado and goes to a christian school in texas so that is promising :)
Monday i got up to eat breakfast with my suitemate and some people that she knew. we all went to palm cove which was another beach about 40min away on the bus. we all had alot fun and got lunch by the beach. i got a cheeseburger and as i was warned there was a heeping slice of a beet on it...which i removed politely...no need to mess up a good cheeseburger...lol . I got to know one of the other girls in the group really well and i suppose she is a christian too because she was really interested in the church i found so that was pretty convincing .
I was anxious before coming about being the lone christian and having to keep up my standards when everyone else seemed to have none but i can see now that God is faithful and though i never truly doubted Him, its nice to know that he provides for my needs and is protecting me in ways that i don't even realize.
tomorrow, (Tuesday) is orientation day and is will be quite busy but i am excited because i get to meet my professors who i will be calling by their first name because they are so laid back here, they just keep everything personal and at a first name basis...should interesting for sure.
until later, Cheers Mate!

correct photo linkage

this should be the right links to see photo albums:
http://picasaweb.google.com/eaglchk/20090718NatureWalk?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ2jkMHF-JDT1AE&feat=directlink


http://picasaweb.google.com/eaglchk/20090717TrinityBeach?feat=directlink