I'm alive.

So yesterday was a day to go down in history for me. I went rappelling down some cliffs in the Blue Mountains. If you don't know, I am DEATHLY afraid of heights. I hate going to the top of Busch Stadium. I can't watch the game cause you have to look down and I become so fearful of falling. Anyways, it was such a high. I chickened out on the last big one, but that's typical. I'm just glad I did the third one.

We had a 13 hour bus ride with a stop every 2 hours. I slept the ENTIRE time. Tylenol PM is my best friend on these long bus rides. But Trys woke us up as we were entering Byron Bay (where we'll be the next two days) and told us to the look to the right out into the beautiful ocean...where there were 10 WHALES! It's a dream here. Our hostel is gorgeous, ISV is really being good to us for booking our stays at the world's best hostel. I have a surfing lesson at 2. I'm sort of nervous but so excited. Wednesay we are goin to Frasier Island where we will have nothing. No phone, internet, stores, nothing. So if I don't update for a long time...that is why. I just wanted to say hello! i'm off to go find some breakfast. Much love!

dream.

So I left off Wednesday night. Thursday morning with the kids was very successful, we've been working in the same paddock for awhile now and it's pretty much covered with trees we've planted. It's really neat. After that, we headed over to Tower Hill to have lunch. We saw koalas in the tree. they are sooo cute, they have the cutest little butts and they just snuggle up in a tree. I want to hold one so bad. We had a bit of a debrief and talk about our project. We ended up planting around 14,000 trees, which i later found out is the most out of all the other ISV groups that were doing project the same time as us in surrounding communities.



Thursday night we went to a restaurant called Ramella's in Port Fairy with everyone, Barry, Rachel, Ben and Helen (from Rosi) and Jodi. It was very good. That night we all just hung around the hostel and shared some wine and packed a bit.

Yesterday was CRAZINESS and one of the weirdest days of my life. Probably because I woke up to the words "Michael Jackson is dead." My response...he died years ago. We packed up and headed to the Melbourne airport at 9 am. Saying bye to Barry was super sad. His departing words to us were "Be safe, if you can't be safe, be careful. If you can't be careful, name it after me." I'm already planning on naming my next pet Barry, so he's covered there.




Friday was crazy...to start off I woke up to "Michael Jackson died." We all loaded up in Rita (our van) and headed to the Melbourne airport, our last time with Barry. It was really sad saying bye to him. When we said bye at the airport his departing words were, "Be safe, if you can't be safe, be careful, if you can't be careful, name it after me." Good way to leave it Bar. The flight to Sydney was short and sweet (no literally, they handed out a great little cake on the plane).



Our hostel is incredible. It's rated the number one in the entire world, there's a dance club/bar underneath but we'll get to that in a few. Me Schaller and MK headed out for something to eat in Sydney and all of a sudden we all had a panic attack, it is quite crazy here. I say new york on acid. And I honestly feel like i'm in China instead of Sydney. So many people of the orient. But we're somewhat adapted now, thankfully. We were walking around trying to find a place to eat and we walked into this pizza place where it was semi-empty cause we were overwhelmed with all the people, and i'm in my oblivious state of mind of course looking at which chicken would taste most american and I hear Schaller and MK going "no...no...let's go" and I look at them and I see these 3 HUGE metal things holding all this raw meat and it's just rotating. I became a vegetarian for about 10 minutes. I was like "this is not okay" and ran out. We finally found a little place by our hostel and sat and had a chicken sandwich and a beer to calm ourselves wishing we had Barry there to tell us what to do.

We came back to the hostel and got ready and headed downstairs to the bar. Started out to be pretty fun, Jeremy and others came down and we were grooving...then the shots started coming and then we moved to the dance floor. Me, Jon, Sunshine, MK,Schaller, and Jeriam (Mariam and Jeremy ... i'm obsessed with them) all danced for like 2 hours in a circle together. It's the most fun i've had in so long. SO fun. Definitely paid the consequences of the fun this morning.

This morning we had our orientation with our guys, he's 26 and a good looking aussie. his name is trys and he seems pretty cool. our orientation was just talking about the next two weeks which got me SO excited.

Today we just walked to the darling harbor and had some lunch. I messed with the birds, it was great. The ones that are in finding nemo were there and they would hover over anyone eating at the harbor, so after i was finished with my food i started feeding them and they literally attacked me. I made schaller really really mad because she hates birds. all the locals were staring at me like i was so dumb, which i am but I just love messing with birds.

So after our walk around I went to a couple shops downtown, I bought a pair of jeans for 3 dollars. And they fit SO good.crazy right?

We met up with all the ISV groups tonight and went on a sunset cruise, it was so beautiful. It took us under the Sydney bridge and by the Opera House. It was great. Now we are chilling at the hostel, we have to get up so early tomorrow, driving to the blue mountains to go rappelling and then we drive to byron bay and we learn to surf on monday!!! i can't wait. it's gonna be a long bus ride. But i'm out of here, i think i may go grab a hotdog from the 711 down the street.

Oh I almost forgot...to mom: I found a bigmac. It was the best Bigmac of my life.

Lovely.

So Sunday was AMAZING. The prettiest place i've seen thus far. We went on the Great Ocean Drive....here is the link to the website, try to see some pictures if you can http://www.greatoceanrd.org.au/

It took all day but it was worth it. We saw some great beaches and different cliffs and rocks and then of course the 12 apostles, which there is only 8 now. It was just amazing. We all took lots of great pictures, which I will try to put up pictures when I get them on a CD buttt....I just found out that my computer charger is dunzo so i'm unable to turn it on. Once I get to Sydney i'll try to find one so I can get my pics up ASAP!

We went into a town called Timboone and I found this really neat shop where i got some souveneirs for some people. I'm excited, I keep finding some cool things. Then after that we went to a pub a little bit passed the town we were in and on our way back to Port Fairy. We met some nice people in there and a couple guys were sweet on Schaller and MK, they tried working up courage to get some contact information but they failed. haha.

Sunday night we drank Absinth. Which was pretty interesting. A bit overrated in my opinion though. Barry thought we were crazy, he came in and started laughing at us then walked outside. Then he came back in about 10 minutes later to tell us those 2 boys that were sweet on Schaller and MK had made the 1 hour trek to port fairy to "The Stub" (a pub in town) and wanted to come to the youth hostel and hang out. Well that is completely forbidden under ISV rules so of course they made that trek for nothing. Creepy boys. We thought that was a bit weird.

Monday we hung out with more school kids and got lots of planting done, woohoo.

Tuesday we went to Yambuk where there are wind mill farms and lots of sheep and cows and planted with the Green Corps. They were pretty cool. It was a long day. Monday and Tuesday nights we've been having some interesting discussions about land ethics and animal rights and what not. Barry likes to make us think and he does a good job, though it can get a bit frustrating when you ask him a question and he answers with another question.

Today we had more school kids, I saw the prettiest 11 year old girl ever. She was so cute. We had about a 2 hourlunch break on accident but I got all my journal writing done that we have to turn in tonight. And I played with some birds. So that was fun haha.

I'm in the middle of cooking dinner with sunshine and barry. I just about chopped my finger off while chopping up some carrots. Barry had a heart attack and said in his australian accent "Oh here's my friend lauren, she has 9 fingers!" it was funny.

Tomorrow in the morning we have another group of kids, until about noon, then we to go that place where we saw the roos and koalas the first day we had the bbq to have some lunch tomorrow then we have the afternoon off and everyone from ISV is going out to eat tomorrow night, on ISV.

Friday morning we're off to sydney and we're there til about monday! I can't wait. Then we go to the blue mountans to go rapelling and stuff. But ill blog about that when i experience it.

i better get back to cooking, i'm leaving the boys hanging! much love!!

save st. brigids!

So. Thursday night, after i blogged, we played some drinking games with barry in the dining area. It was quite hillarious. Whenever telling him about drinking games in the states he always tells us how in Australia they take drinking seriously and there are no drinking games here. Well we taught him circle of death and he loved it. And he killed us in it. I ended up having a liquid laugh. Schaller got a little woozy drunky. and Barry is just a tank. So we had a great time with him that night. he makes us laugh so much.

Friday was my least favorite day unfortunately. We went to the golf course, in the morning we planted trees on the side of the road by there for the OBPs and stuff which was fine. Then we had the best morning tea. there was hashbrowns, garlic chicken, and other chicken, and some fish. It was delicious. After morning tea we finished planting and then went up to another part of the golf course and started pulling weeds. that was the start of the downfall haha. i think everyone was really tired and crabby since it was friday and we just wanted a weekend break, and the things that we were doing the second half the day weren't really for the OBPs but more for rehabilitating the golf course, because it thrives off of volunteers. so we weeded and mulched and planted so many little plants for like 4 hours. by the end of the day no one had a smile on their face, not out of anger but out of exhaustion.

after all the work we had a putting contest, i was right on. woohoo! but i didn't make it in the hole, i was in line for second place. i bet your proud, dad!

friday night was great! we went to the pub for the first time. try to imagine an irish bar sort of over in europe. that's what it reminded me of. lots of colorful people. expensive drinks! and i had a couple shots that tasted like a b52. so that was yummy. there was also a little music act in the corner, which was AWESOME. the music scene here is great. i think i keep saying that but it really is. me and sunshine ended up splitting the cost of the CD. so i'm excited.

yesterday (saturday) we woke up and had a lazy morning, then we went to waranmbol for some shopping. the mall there was probably a 1/4 of the size of chesterfield mall. but that's okay. i got some cool slipper boots. then we went to the downtown area which was lined up and down and across with so many shops. it was neat, nothing like i've ever been to. i didn't spend any money there though, i'm waiting until i get to sydney and what not to get my souvenirs, cause i'm sure not many people know what port fairy is over in the states. ha.

after we came back from shopping, i took a long nap. woke up and got ready for the concert. basically the concert was trying to save the community by keeping it's old building/church (st. brigid) alive, it's up for sale by "the big guys" and the community doesn't want to suffer from it, they were telling of so many memories and family stories based around the church and it was really sad. but i think the concert was definitely successful.

the music acts were all wonderful! there wasn't one i didn't enjoy. a lot of harmonica, mandolin, acoustic guitar, violin. it was awesome. a couple aboriginees played too and told of their stories which was a bit emotional i think but neat to hear nonetheless and to be in their presence and see what they've gone through is unbelievable.

after the concert we took the bus back and hung out here for awhile then headed off to bed. i had a great night.

today i think we're going on this thing called the great ocean drive and seeing all these different attractions that seem to be really neat. so i'm excited for that, not really for being in the car that long but oh well.

i can't believe we only have a week left here, i can't even fathom the next three weeks after that, it's going to be so much fun!

okay well i'm off to make some breakfast! much love to you all. and as a musician said last night..."i wish you all peace, comfort, and happiness" not much of an original quote but i liked it of course. <3

jodie's such a slut

Hello all :) I left off saying I was going seed collecting (again please don't mind the typos, this keyboard is a bit different).

Seed collecting day was wonderful. We went looking for bidgee widgees. and other plants i forgot the name of. :) it was very relaxing. we spent most of the day at this park called Yambuk. if you can, google it. It was so amazingly beautiful. There was a huge slide that went down a sand dune and steps that led up to it and even higher so you could see over the lake and into the ocean.

we had lots of fun racing up the sand dunes and making fun of the women in charge of us that day. her name was jodie, and we didn't like her. haha. but thats okay, it made for a good laugh. (see title of blog)

after the park, we went to this road and jodie got all serious and mad and was like you guys must listen. we were by a swamp so she was yelling for us to stay in a certain place so we wouldn't fall into the swamp drop off but not to step too far back because there was an electrical fence right behind us. cool jodie. also to our left there was a field of water buffalo, and when barry saw them he started saying all sorts of curse words so i was a bit like...hm, death trap much? but here i am. alive. but not liking jodie.

Yesterday we went back to Rosie. It was an awesome day. we had a wonderful morning planting trees and cleaning up a bit. Then we had some delicious morning tea, with sunshine (a boy here that we call him that because he looksl ike sunshine from remember the titans, btu really hsi name is nick) and racheal (the header of the project) were playnig the guitar and eukelele. after that we planted a bit more. and then ben and helen (the couple that owns the cottage and land) made us a beautiful barbeque. it was delicious. we had sausage/hot dogs, veggie burgers, and some good chicken. also lots of veggies.

after lunch we went on about a 4 mile hike looking for orange bellied parots. but we did not succeed. we did see a fox and another endangered bird though that OBPs out with. and the hike was right by a beautiful lake. on the ocean. everywhere here is so visually pleasing it's unbelievable.

last night i cooked some chicken pasta with sunshine and barry. then after dinner we sat for hours and talked with barry and a few others just about life. great night.

today we worked with the SCHOOL KIDS! my favorite day thus far. they were so freaking funny. they curse more than i do when i'm drunk or mad. and they are very mature for their age. but cursing for them is appropriate here. so whatever. we planted some trees on the otherside of the locke that is across from ben and helen's and then we had morning tea. after that barry took us to the beach to have lunch and then we had a relaxing afternoon and got off early.

when we got back to port fairy, we went to "The Hub" which is a little diner or something here. i really wanted to sit and have a coke so we did that. It was nice. now im sitting here chillin with my glass of wine, blogging, and what not. i'm almost out of wine, i only have a half of glass left so i may run to the store now.

This weekend....tomorrow we're going to the pub after work, saturday we may go see an australian football match and then saturday night wer'e going to a concert!! i'm super excited for that. then sunday we're giong on a drive to see the 12 apostles. WOO so much typing

almost time for dinner so i'm out! i'll update again soon. much love

think of something bad.

Hey guysss! :)

So yesterday we went to Rosie, the name of a property that was cleared for a farm but they are trying to rehabiliate it since animals aren't surviving, they're plants they eat are going extinct and the Orange Bellied Parrot (the bird that is endangered that is one of the main reasons we're here) is consequently dying everyday. there are about a 100 left. SO we as a group planted about 700 plants and guarded them to keep rabbits and such away that would eat them. so now the orange bellied parrots have a place to hide.

On the land there is a couple who has bought an old cottage and are renovating it. They were super nice and very appreciative of what we're doing. they made us afternoon tea. in australia they have morning tea and afternoon tea and evening tea. sometimes dinner is called tea. tea is huge here, which is good for me. because some think i'm an alien for how much tea i drink. so in the afternoon we got to hang out with them a bit. i absolutely love talking to the locals. everything here is so different (not wrong as barry would like to point out) just different. the couple had a vw van. in green. my dream car. it was amazing. got a couple pics by it :) there was also a hammock right by it so i was in heaven.

rach our project leader is great. after lunch we played a couple games of ultimate frisbee and some other random games and she brought over her eukelele (spelling?) and played it. it was lovely haha. i think i may buy one when i get back to the states.

after the day of work we went back to port fairy. i went into town to get post cards for everyone back home. also, i went into this one shop, and i would just like to say my search for the perfect fedora has stopped. i found it. and bought it. only 30 dollars. YAY


last night we had lamb for dinner. i'm pretty sure it was my first time, it was pretty good. it was kind of in a stir fry. then after dinner we had a group discussion with barry which was awesome. i love him. we did the discussin on basically going green and making the decision to change your ways and how the responsibility lies within to change. then he ended with us and how wer'e taking responsibility since we busted our ass to get here. everyone is used to saying "we need to do this..." and "if we want change we all have to..." but no, it's "I..." and then things will start happening. very cool to think about. and thinking about why i'm here is kind of an assignment barry has assigned so we're writing in our journals and giving them to him so he can read our thoughts and give us some feedback. a little educational component here, but one i don't mind.

today we're going seed collecting for a little bit and seeing what past ISV grous have done. I'm really excited about that to see how those plants and stuff have matured. then we're going back to rosie to do some things to get ready for wednesday. on wednesday we're goign to rosie with school kids and helping them and hopefully teaching them some things. also the couple is having a barbque for us :)

everyone update me on your life...email me at lnskr9@mizzou.edu.

much love!

vegamite..gross.

HEY all. So i gotta go quick because we're about to have a get together in the dining area of our hostel.

so yesterday we landed and things went smoothly. the flight was great actually, maybe a little too long but they had awesome movies, games, and music on tvs. I met tons of people in different ISV groups and some that i will be with in Fiji, everyone seems so nice and fun.

we met up with our project leader after we went through all the airport crap, his name is Barry. he is absolutely wonderful. he has a great sense of humor and his accent doesnt hurt. (there will be a lot of typos because australian keyboards are weird sorry). we all got in a van and drove 4 hours to our hostel. we stopped midway for lunch at a little pub i guess (pub here is a bar) and had some lunch. there was a little fire going in there and the food was good, ketchup is a little weird tasting but at least they have it.

my intial impression of australia so far is that its very quaint and everything is localized. it's not too different from america customs but it has it's own uniqueness. it's lovely. very lovely.

we arrived in port fairy (where we're staying for the next two weeks) and it's an adorable town. the hostel is quite cozy. we're right on the ocean, and right by a lighthouse *ive never been around a lighthouse before*and we did a little roaming around and i cooked dinner with a few other people. then we hit bed really early. the time difference is hard getting used to, we're 15 hours ahead of home.

this morning we woke up and got breakfast and did a little more walking around. then we went to a barbq/orientation of what we'll be doing for our project. it was at this park where theres a volcano...i forget the name. but it was a beautiful park. on the drive to the picnic area barry spotted a koala so we stopped of course for that. then at the picnic area, me schaller and mk (she's awesome) went out on our own (don't worry mom) and we saw a koala walking and we got right up to it. it was so cool. then we spotted from afar a family of kangaroos and we bolted up the hill through all this shrub and trees to them. we got super close. i was freaking out but secretly wanted to get punched by one just so i could say "i got punched by a roo" haha. then after exploring we went to eat, i tried kangaroo, it was good but it felt weird since i was just right by one.

the orientation was neat. we're working with DSE --department of sustainability and energy-- andt hey're a government agency focused on improving the environment and they're all so passionate. it's really neat. they don't have a lot of funding, hence where us volunteers come in so theyre all very appreciative of us. we'll be doing some really neat things which i'll blog about later. i'm running out of time...its coin operated internet!

so after that barry took us around a little bit to other surrounding counties...we went to this whale look out and we got to see a whale that was migrating. then he took us to this one dock area and we saw a seal, it was right up to the dock by all the people so it was neat.


we came back to the hostel and had some dinner and a little meeting. westart our work tomorrow, i'm so excited.

hm...what else...
there are 12 people in my group, theyre all awesome and nice. since it's a hostel there are others coming and going...it's cool seeing all the different people. oh i tried vegamite..it's disgusting. it's like a gooey soy sauce. that's the only way i can even begin to describe it.

welp...iguess i'll end here. i only have 4 minutes left. much love and i'll try to update again in the next couple days!

Swamp Scrub? Tim Boone.

HELLO ALL!

So today has been full of laughter...but here we are sitting in LAX and have a couple more hours until our flight (p.s. weirdest aiport EVER...and we haven't seen Speidi...was really hoping for that, i think they're still fighting the devil to stay on that TV show)

Had a nice flight, first time in first class. Except I slept during the food deliveries. woops. When we arrived in LA we (me and schaller baller) were a bit confused when we were directed to the international terminals...because well...it was just that...very international. Foreigners everywhere. Got me a bit flustered....there was no buffer zone of some americans and some mexicans. Nope-they just through us straight in with the philipines and china. Also, going around this dumb aiport you hit secluded, empty, and dark dead ends everywhere. it's creepy. However, everyone here is super nice and lovely.

We went to a sit down restaurant at the airport since we had 5 hours to kill and we met a couple girls from Canada who are on our flight and in ISV, but they're doing Swamp Scrub. What's Swamp Scrub? Tim Boone. Oh wait, don't know what that means? NEITHER DO WE. And i've never felt so dumb, especially since we sat down and they go "Oh thank god, someone who isn't 19 or 20...you guys are 21 right..." um, nope sorry eh! Someone check if swamp scrub is canadien for planting trees. Oh woops. The canadiens are standing in front of us as we type this.

So after a sufficiently awkward convo and a glance at the 20 dollar turkey sandwich menu, we booked it over to good 'ol mcdonalds. and for those of you who know me, you'll know this next thing was heartbreaking for me. --A CONDIMENT LIMIT. 1 sauce to a 6 piece chicken nugget. NO THANK YOU. three ketchup packets made for a very frugal eating lauren.

So after grubbing, we came up to our gate and now we're sitting next to two women in their elder years that are on our flight and who happen to be right from st. louis--chesterfield and pacific. and one of them taught at Eureka and knows all my teachers. what a small world.


Well, i guess i'll go. sorry this has nothing to do with anything, but i'm a bit loopy! Much love to you all.

T-Minus 13 hours until I leave.

Hello all!

Thanks to Jordon's brilliant idea of blogging about my trip to keep those who care updated, I am setting this thing up. I leave tomorrow (Thursday) at 4:40 p.m. and head to LA (it will be my first time setting foot on the grounds of Cali...woo) and we have a two hour wait until we head off to Melbourne. We arrive Saturday morning I believe and get to check out our project site and get settled in the Hostel.

For those of you who aren't familiar, I am not studying abroad, I am going through an organization called the International Student Volunteers. We'll be doing I guess what you could call habitat or green work, and also working with an endangered bird. I am also getting the privilege of site seeing as well-this will all take place in a 4 week period. Then i'm going to be in Fiji for 6 days after that for a little vaca before I head home.

I guess that's it for now. I love you all, and thanks for taking the time to read this blog...i'll be updating it as much as I can.

p.s.
DO NOT CALL MY PHONE. email me at lnskr9@mizzou.edu (yes g-ma that is my correct email address) or facebook me. :)