Hey guys! How’s it going? Not much happening here. I’m on day 4 of Waikiki in Hawaii and it’s pretty amazing. Definitely going to have to visit again later in life (hint hint). Anyway, I’m staying at Waikiki Beachside Hostel which, unlike most hostels, has a noon checkout, therefore a 3pm check-in. I got into the airport around 7am local time, and figured check-in would be at noon. I slept as much as I could in the airport then grabbed a bus over to the hostel. I got here, and the staff was really nice and stowed my luggage, so I just hung out on the beach for awhile. It was gorgeous. Nothing like watching surfers out in the distance while catching some rays:)
On the drive from the airport, I was aware of the little differences in the US and Australia. First of all, I withdrew some of our boring money. All one color. Really? Where’s the fun in that? And we drove by a football (of the gridiron persuasion) stadium, which made my stomach flutter with happiness. Then I went to Subway the first day to grab some food. I was really confused when I didn’t see my bright yellow Baked Lays, so I settled for Ranch Doritos (how do we live with all these choices of chips here? In Australia there were about three choices!). Then, today I went back and took a closer look at the chips on the top row. I was met with “New Look, Same Great Taste!” I go away for a semester and they change the packaging on my favorite potato chips?!? How mean! Then, to add to the annoying little changes, I no longer have any idea what I am going to pay for something. The US of A really needs to take a page out of Australia’s book and include taxes and everything in the advertised price. It makes life so much easier!
Moving on from my ranting: I got the semi-private room, because I was supposed to share with another girl from Australearn, but circumstances prevented that from happening:( I stuck with the room, and the only bad thing about it is that you have to go through another two person room to get to it. Wouldn’t be so bad if I was sharing with girls, but I’ve been lucky and not had sketchy boys. The first night I was here there were two German guys, and I only saw them once. The past two nights have been these two (pretty attractive) Aussie surfers from Melbourne. Lucked out on that one, even luckier that they weren’t here when I was sick yesterday :P
Speaking of that, I was really worried I might have gotten swine flu for a bit. I had been feeling bad ever since missing lunch at the airport, but I just thought that was why. Then yesterday I couldn’t get out of bed. I did run down to the ABC Store (convenience stores located on just about every block here in Waikiki) and grabbed a thermometer. I had a slight fever and decided that if I was still feeling like crap today I would go to the doctor. Luckily it passed and I was fine this morning. I even made it to the beach by about 8am! I did mistakenly think it was 10:30am though, so that might have been the reason I didn’t go straight back to sleep…lol.
Today was basically relaxing. I booked a tour of Honolulu and Pearl Harbor for tomorrow, which should be really nice. After that, I watched the sunset over the beach and mountains, then I went out to dinner at Cheeseburger In Paradise. I had my first legal USA drink, which was a Mai Tai…pretty tasty (hurray rum!). I sat at the bar and watched poker, because otherwise I would have waited forever for a table for one. Sad day. Then walking back to the hostel I was a little sad that I didn’t have a friend or boy with me. Especially when I saw a guy buying a lei from a street vendor lady to give to his girlfriend. Ah…definitely a place for romance and couples…one day, one day;)
I’ll quit my whining and head to bed. It hasn’t been too bad being a single traveler as I make it seem. I can’t wait for my tour tomorrow, and then possible one for Saturday. You know what that one is? A LOST tour!!! Can I be any more of a LOST nerd? Maybe if I send in a video of me in front of one of the sets to Jay and Jack…definitely have to remember to do that:)
Love you and see you soon!
-Jess
PS – Due to the high cost of our live aboard, I decided to skip out on the dive trip with the boys (according to Aaron that’s why I got sick:P), which is a total bummer. On the plus side, I talked to mama today and she says that we’ll be going to the beach a week after I get home! I don’t know how Myrtle Beach will look after all of my Pacific island adventures, but it’ll be nice to hang out with the girls of the family for a week!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Fiji!
Added to my international travels: Fiji. The place we stayed at was about a 2 hour drive from the airport, plus a drive down a really long driveway that wound around mountains and descended to the resort and beach below. Well, when we were getting there for the first time, it was dark. And Julia and I just looked at each other, saying, “This can either be really sketch or really good.” It ended up okay, but for all we knew, we could have been being kidnapped to the middle of nowhere!
We got there and met up with Emily, who I’d be sharing a room with. This place was definitely set up for couples looking to be secluded. We hardly saw anyone else, except at mealtimes. There were two Australian couples (two 19 year olds in one…the guy loved gridiron), a travel writer from Austria (expat Australian) and her younger son, and some random guy. Other than that we were on our own.
The first day we sat around the pool and just napped, getting over our travel tiredness. We sipped coconut milk from a freshly opened coconut and I had a Fiji Bitter, which is a really good beer if you ever get the chance to drink it. The slogan is The Sportsman’s Beer, which I think may be a bit biased…lol.
The beach was really nice and, on the second day, there were a couple of bamboo rafts floating in our bay, so we decided to jump on them and make fools of ourselves. It was really fun…but then I had to leave so I could get back to the airport in time for my flight. The lady at our desk told us to be there 3 hours before our flight (I couldn’t check in until 2 hours before!) and added to the 2 hours to get there, I had to leave by 4:30pm. Well, the shuttle was making a run at 2pm, so I had to take that one. I ended up watching Phantom of the Opera while guarding all of my stuff, I missed out on lunch so I felt like crap and the line to check in took forever. I was about 5th in line to check in, and I had to wait about an hour after they started checking people in. Fiji time. Not convenient. By the time I got on the plane I couldn’t really sleep and I felt pretty bad. My body doesn’t like not being fed for 12 hours while it’s awake.
I’m really bummed that I didn’t get to go to the nearby village, and I really didn’t get the full Fiji experience, or even have time to dive. I can say that I’ve been there though!
-Jess
PS - I got sick when I got to Hawaii and thought it was just because of all my traveling...then I just found out that everyone got sick about the same time I did...good old Fijian stomach virus!
We got there and met up with Emily, who I’d be sharing a room with. This place was definitely set up for couples looking to be secluded. We hardly saw anyone else, except at mealtimes. There were two Australian couples (two 19 year olds in one…the guy loved gridiron), a travel writer from Austria (expat Australian) and her younger son, and some random guy. Other than that we were on our own.
The first day we sat around the pool and just napped, getting over our travel tiredness. We sipped coconut milk from a freshly opened coconut and I had a Fiji Bitter, which is a really good beer if you ever get the chance to drink it. The slogan is The Sportsman’s Beer, which I think may be a bit biased…lol.
The beach was really nice and, on the second day, there were a couple of bamboo rafts floating in our bay, so we decided to jump on them and make fools of ourselves. It was really fun…but then I had to leave so I could get back to the airport in time for my flight. The lady at our desk told us to be there 3 hours before our flight (I couldn’t check in until 2 hours before!) and added to the 2 hours to get there, I had to leave by 4:30pm. Well, the shuttle was making a run at 2pm, so I had to take that one. I ended up watching Phantom of the Opera while guarding all of my stuff, I missed out on lunch so I felt like crap and the line to check in took forever. I was about 5th in line to check in, and I had to wait about an hour after they started checking people in. Fiji time. Not convenient. By the time I got on the plane I couldn’t really sleep and I felt pretty bad. My body doesn’t like not being fed for 12 hours while it’s awake.
I’m really bummed that I didn’t get to go to the nearby village, and I really didn’t get the full Fiji experience, or even have time to dive. I can say that I’ve been there though!
-Jess
PS - I got sick when I got to Hawaii and thought it was just because of all my traveling...then I just found out that everyone got sick about the same time I did...good old Fijian stomach virus!
Fruity (non-alcoholic) drinks when we arrived...The four of us...View of the beach
Looking back at the resort from the beach...Me at the beach
We're in Fiji! And crazy shenanigans on the beach
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Live Aboard
So, exams are over and life is much less stressful! I studied non-stop from Sunday through Tuesday night…and thought I was going to pass out during my 6pm psych exam. Intense. But it’s done and now it’s time to move on to more fun things!
Julia’s mom came over to visit Australia, then take her home. The three of us ended up doing a 2 night live aboard on the Great Barrier Reef. It was really fun, and basically wake up, eat, dive, dive, eat, dive, dive, sleep. It was insane. I only did about 3 dives a day, and I was way too tired to do the morning dives. Oh well...guess I’ll have to go back again!
My favorite dive by far was the one where we saw sea turtles up close and personal. It was one that Julia and her mom had decided to sit out, so I went with this really cool Irish girl as my buddy. We just hung out with a sea turtle for a long time, and I got tons of amazing shots!
Speaking of meeting cool people, we met a bunch of people of all ages from different parts of the globe. There was a British family, two Spanish guys, some Irish girls and Australians. It’s amazing to see how so many different people can be connected by one thing, such as a love for diving:)
Not much else to say about the live aboard, because the pictures speak for themselves. I still suck at breathing though…got to work on not sucking air:P
Miss you!
-Jess
White-tip Reef Shark...Nemo...Representing Clemson
Super cool Nemo shot...Me...Cool fish picture
Trying to get a good Clemson shot without hitting coral...and hitting a dead end in the reef maze!
Our room...Dive buddies...Coral
Turtle...Me looking like I know what I'm doing...View from the boat.
Two of my favorite turtle shots...getting ready to dive.
Diving off the boat...view from the boat...filter feeding fishy
Me...Another Nemo...Flat fish.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Procrastinating...as usual
Hey!
Not much going on in my part of the world at the moment. I've been locked up in my room attempting to study and ending up wasting more time than usual! In our two weeks of scheduled exam time, all three of mine end up on Monday and Tuesday of the second week! Oh well...short and to the point.
I'm writing this blog, because I was reading one of my new favorite blogs Stuff Christians Like and saw a random entry for a prayer request for some of the same things I faced when I was getting my study abroad stuff together. We all know I was super frustrated at the time! Anyway, I sent her a comment and noticed a piece of scripture on her site:
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. (1 Peter 3:15-16 NIV)
In my March blog, I didn't really devote much writing to the actual impact the Young Adults Camp had on me and instead talked about a lot of the fun things we did. I have to admit that, at the time, I was thinking how my friends and people back home would think I was going "religiously nutty" and think I was getting weird. Thinking about that now really makes me realize that I don't live the most Christian lifestyle. I'm not horrible by any means, but I don't broadcast my Christianity either. Everyone's always afraid to insult the person next to them, and I'm no exception. A lot of my friends don't go to church (I don't go a lot either and I tend to use that extra morning as a chance to catch up on sleep) or aren't religious, so it's not often on the forfront of my mind. It takes me awhile to make friends and I've never really gotten superclose to people at church, or I've felt like an outcast/crazy Pharisee. I've always felt that many people in the churches and groups I've gotten involved with completely condemn those that don't follow everything to the T, and end up becoming hypocrites.
Back to the camp story: the church I go to here is pretty much the same as back home, except that there's a big emphasis on speaking in tongues while you're praying. Now, I was taken aback a bit when I first heard that, and the thought of practicing speaking in tongues is still a bit off to me. If God wants you to speak in tongues, I feel like He'll just *BAM* make it happen. Anyway, when we went to camp, the last night the pastor called out a few of us and said what God had told him. Now, I'm slightly skeptical about this type of deal most of the time, but in this case, I was one of the ones called out. Not really a big deal until he said what he said, which was something that had been hanging out on my heart for awhile. Little joke about finding an Aussie boy, then about how I would be a foundation in a church, even if I wasn't the one in front of the congregation every Sunday. Now, some of you may say that it's completely generic and all that jazz, but at the time, it was what I was needing to hear and it had been on my heart for awhile. Anyway, since then, I've been trying to study the Bible as often as possible, and in the past 3 months I've read and actually comprehended and taken notes on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and most of Numbers, as well as 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings. Those last four are random, because I just felt some random compulsion to read 1 Samuel, home of the story of David and Goliath. Now I'm back at the beginning, and my goal is to read and take notes on the entire Bible. Hopefully I can keep it up when I get back home, because it's been really rewarding, and I feel better about actually reading it because it's been one of my goals for a long time.
Anyways, getting off topic. Back to the scripture above. "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." I don't know how I would answer that to someone who doesn't really believe in what God's saying. God is good, gave his son to die for our sins (reading the Old Testament has made me realize just how forgiving He is since giving us Jesus)...that's a pretty darn good reason...but I don't know how well it would fly with some people. I mainly started reading the Bible to give my faith a more solid foundation, but the more I read, the more questions I have, and I definitely don't feel confident being one to instruct others on Him. I hope that one day that will change, but I've got a lot of personal growing to do before then!
Completely random post done for now...back to studying for finals. Wish me luck!
Not much going on in my part of the world at the moment. I've been locked up in my room attempting to study and ending up wasting more time than usual! In our two weeks of scheduled exam time, all three of mine end up on Monday and Tuesday of the second week! Oh well...short and to the point.
I'm writing this blog, because I was reading one of my new favorite blogs Stuff Christians Like and saw a random entry for a prayer request for some of the same things I faced when I was getting my study abroad stuff together. We all know I was super frustrated at the time! Anyway, I sent her a comment and noticed a piece of scripture on her site:
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. (1 Peter 3:15-16 NIV)
In my March blog, I didn't really devote much writing to the actual impact the Young Adults Camp had on me and instead talked about a lot of the fun things we did. I have to admit that, at the time, I was thinking how my friends and people back home would think I was going "religiously nutty" and think I was getting weird. Thinking about that now really makes me realize that I don't live the most Christian lifestyle. I'm not horrible by any means, but I don't broadcast my Christianity either. Everyone's always afraid to insult the person next to them, and I'm no exception. A lot of my friends don't go to church (I don't go a lot either and I tend to use that extra morning as a chance to catch up on sleep) or aren't religious, so it's not often on the forfront of my mind. It takes me awhile to make friends and I've never really gotten superclose to people at church, or I've felt like an outcast/crazy Pharisee. I've always felt that many people in the churches and groups I've gotten involved with completely condemn those that don't follow everything to the T, and end up becoming hypocrites.
Back to the camp story: the church I go to here is pretty much the same as back home, except that there's a big emphasis on speaking in tongues while you're praying. Now, I was taken aback a bit when I first heard that, and the thought of practicing speaking in tongues is still a bit off to me. If God wants you to speak in tongues, I feel like He'll just *BAM* make it happen. Anyway, when we went to camp, the last night the pastor called out a few of us and said what God had told him. Now, I'm slightly skeptical about this type of deal most of the time, but in this case, I was one of the ones called out. Not really a big deal until he said what he said, which was something that had been hanging out on my heart for awhile. Little joke about finding an Aussie boy, then about how I would be a foundation in a church, even if I wasn't the one in front of the congregation every Sunday. Now, some of you may say that it's completely generic and all that jazz, but at the time, it was what I was needing to hear and it had been on my heart for awhile. Anyway, since then, I've been trying to study the Bible as often as possible, and in the past 3 months I've read and actually comprehended and taken notes on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and most of Numbers, as well as 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings. Those last four are random, because I just felt some random compulsion to read 1 Samuel, home of the story of David and Goliath. Now I'm back at the beginning, and my goal is to read and take notes on the entire Bible. Hopefully I can keep it up when I get back home, because it's been really rewarding, and I feel better about actually reading it because it's been one of my goals for a long time.
Anyways, getting off topic. Back to the scripture above. "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." I don't know how I would answer that to someone who doesn't really believe in what God's saying. God is good, gave his son to die for our sins (reading the Old Testament has made me realize just how forgiving He is since giving us Jesus)...that's a pretty darn good reason...but I don't know how well it would fly with some people. I mainly started reading the Bible to give my faith a more solid foundation, but the more I read, the more questions I have, and I definitely don't feel confident being one to instruct others on Him. I hope that one day that will change, but I've got a lot of personal growing to do before then!
Completely random post done for now...back to studying for finals. Wish me luck!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
SwatVac (aka Study Vacation)
Hey guys!
Here at JCU, you get a week off from classes in order to study for your finals. Which is a great idea ***coughclemsoncough*** if you want to travel or have an exam the first Saturday of exams. Most of the USA kids decided to go on their adventures this week, and I was no exception. Julia, Leandra and I went to Melbourne and Sydney (where we met up with Emily). It was a pretty cool trip overall, and I wish I was in the fall weather of Melbourne right now!
MELBOURNE
So, I pretty much loved Melbourne. I didn't realize that I would miss cold weather, but when we stepped off the plane and I was chilly in my shorts and hoodie, a little part of me got excited. Jeans and hoodie weather? That's my style!
We got to our hotel and checked in to get a good nights sleep. The next morning we headed out to wander around Melbourne. Here, you ride trams around the city (and to get lost! lol). The first day we did some souvenir shopping, stayed at a random fountain to take pictures for way too long, and went to the Melbourne Museum, were we also spent way too much time! lol...then it got dark and we jumped on a tram to go home. But it was apparently the wrong one...we got rudely kicked off at the end, walked to a nearby police station and got directions. A good hour and a half delay. But on the plus side, in big cities, there was a 24-hour McDonalds and Subway (where 24 hrs = open until 2am) right near our hotel. Here in Townsville, nothing is open past 5ish on a late day!
On the second day, we did a tour. We decided to go see the little penguins that live about 2 hours south of Melbourne on Philips Island. On the way, we stopped at the Royal Botanical Gardens, a chocolate factory (where we got free chocolate!) and the Nobbies. It was pretty cool, though we didn't get to take pictures of the penguins, because it would confuse them.
I wish we could have spent way more time in Melbourne, but I think that if I come back to Australia, I will definitely have to spend a good bit of time there!
Melbourne leaves are falling!...waiting for a tram...beautiful city baths building. Love it!
Pretty fountain...Melbourne Museum...Diprotodon (biggest marsupial ever!)
Royal Botanical Gardens...Chocolate Factory...Kangaroo sanctuary
Clemson girls at the Nobbies...Me at the lookout...and Me cheesing.
SYDNEY
On the way to Sydney we had a bit of a flight snag. Our flight from Melbourne was just doing a quick stop in Sydney before heading to Hawaii, so it was international and we had to go through customs (yuck!). Well, it wasn't noted on our tickets, so we didn't know until we tried to check in. If you've ever flown out of the country, you know that you have to have your passport to go through customs. I was the only one with a passport, so Julia and Leandra had to pay an extra $120 to get another flight, because they're pretty strict about these things. I didn't get much of the story, because I had to head through customs as soon as I got my ticket.
When I arrived in Sydney, I got to go through the super cool thermal detectors to make sure I didn't have a fever/swine flu. Melbourne is the Australian capital of swine flu at the moment. And I totally went there. I'm currently past the incubation period, so I'm pretty sure that I didn't catch it:)
Back to Sydney. We did all of the typical touristy things: the Opera House, Sydney Harbor Bridge, Darling Harbor, the Sydney Aquarium. The Sydney Aquarium wasn't nearly as exciting as I had hoped it would be though...my favorite part being the dugongs. Oh well. On the last night we ate out on Darling Harbor (see the picture below...beautiful at night!). It was pretty fun, but like I said earlier...I really like Melbourne!
Tiger's representing...another shot of the OH and Bridge...Sydney from the Opera House
Me and the OH again...us goofing off on the steps.
Me and the Bridge...Go Tigers!
Dugong!...Nemo...and someone I wouldn't want to see on a dive.
Nemo sign...Darling Harbor by night...and the places we went.
Here at JCU, you get a week off from classes in order to study for your finals. Which is a great idea ***coughclemsoncough*** if you want to travel or have an exam the first Saturday of exams. Most of the USA kids decided to go on their adventures this week, and I was no exception. Julia, Leandra and I went to Melbourne and Sydney (where we met up with Emily). It was a pretty cool trip overall, and I wish I was in the fall weather of Melbourne right now!
MELBOURNE
So, I pretty much loved Melbourne. I didn't realize that I would miss cold weather, but when we stepped off the plane and I was chilly in my shorts and hoodie, a little part of me got excited. Jeans and hoodie weather? That's my style!
We got to our hotel and checked in to get a good nights sleep. The next morning we headed out to wander around Melbourne. Here, you ride trams around the city (and to get lost! lol). The first day we did some souvenir shopping, stayed at a random fountain to take pictures for way too long, and went to the Melbourne Museum, were we also spent way too much time! lol...then it got dark and we jumped on a tram to go home. But it was apparently the wrong one...we got rudely kicked off at the end, walked to a nearby police station and got directions. A good hour and a half delay. But on the plus side, in big cities, there was a 24-hour McDonalds and Subway (where 24 hrs = open until 2am) right near our hotel. Here in Townsville, nothing is open past 5ish on a late day!
On the second day, we did a tour. We decided to go see the little penguins that live about 2 hours south of Melbourne on Philips Island. On the way, we stopped at the Royal Botanical Gardens, a chocolate factory (where we got free chocolate!) and the Nobbies. It was pretty cool, though we didn't get to take pictures of the penguins, because it would confuse them.
I wish we could have spent way more time in Melbourne, but I think that if I come back to Australia, I will definitely have to spend a good bit of time there!
Melbourne leaves are falling!...waiting for a tram...beautiful city baths building. Love it!
Pretty fountain...Melbourne Museum...Diprotodon (biggest marsupial ever!)
Royal Botanical Gardens...Chocolate Factory...Kangaroo sanctuary
Clemson girls at the Nobbies...Me at the lookout...and Me cheesing.
SYDNEY
On the way to Sydney we had a bit of a flight snag. Our flight from Melbourne was just doing a quick stop in Sydney before heading to Hawaii, so it was international and we had to go through customs (yuck!). Well, it wasn't noted on our tickets, so we didn't know until we tried to check in. If you've ever flown out of the country, you know that you have to have your passport to go through customs. I was the only one with a passport, so Julia and Leandra had to pay an extra $120 to get another flight, because they're pretty strict about these things. I didn't get much of the story, because I had to head through customs as soon as I got my ticket.
When I arrived in Sydney, I got to go through the super cool thermal detectors to make sure I didn't have a fever/swine flu. Melbourne is the Australian capital of swine flu at the moment. And I totally went there. I'm currently past the incubation period, so I'm pretty sure that I didn't catch it:)
Back to Sydney. We did all of the typical touristy things: the Opera House, Sydney Harbor Bridge, Darling Harbor, the Sydney Aquarium. The Sydney Aquarium wasn't nearly as exciting as I had hoped it would be though...my favorite part being the dugongs. Oh well. On the last night we ate out on Darling Harbor (see the picture below...beautiful at night!). It was pretty fun, but like I said earlier...I really like Melbourne!
Just be happy I didn't make you look at all of my picturs of the Opera House/Bridge combo! lol
Tiger's representing...another shot of the OH and Bridge...Sydney from the Opera House
Me and the OH again...us goofing off on the steps.
Me and the Bridge...Go Tigers!
Dugong!...Nemo...and someone I wouldn't want to see on a dive.
Nemo sign...Darling Harbor by night...and the places we went.
That's about it for now...love and miss y'all!
-Jess
-Jess
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