Weekend Plans

I have some weekend/birthday plans now! On Friday night a couple of my friends are going to take me out....it's quite sweet of them because they know that Katie/Dana/I are celebrating together in a couple weekends but they also know that 21 is a big year in the states. Then on Saturday morning I am leaving for Chillagoe until Sunday evening. I don't know much about Chillagoe...just that it is in the outback and has a population of 200 and used to be a mining town. I've done a lot of reef and rainforest things and I fell in love with the outback when I went to Undara so I'd really like to make one more trip out there. We are going to be doing a lot of exploring in the caves and get to see a lot of the pretty outback sights...like the huge balancing rocks. We also get to stargaze which is amazing in the outback because there is no pollution or lights to interfere with view of the stars. Over orientation we learned how to navigate using the southern cross...so maybe I will put my skills to good use. I signed up to go on one of the international student trips and as of now I don't know anyone else who's going..so it'll be an adventure. In my other journal I was just writing about how not knowing anyone really puts you out of your comfort zone which is difficult...but it's those experiences that really are the most beneficial and change you the most....so it's a good thing! I got bored with studying so I wrote in my journal for a couple hours....I wrote a couple things that I kind of like so maybe I'll post them as blog entries if I get hard up for material in the upcoming weeks. I have my first exam tomorrow (in photography) and I'm kind of nervous since it is worth 50% of my grade, but I've studied a lot this week and I think that I'm ready. My actual grades don't even carry over to Saint Mike's...but I have to do well for myself and it'll look good if I want to get into any graduate programs in Australia. Also, today we had the international student farewell meeting. The international student staff just talked to us about how it is difficult to go home and difficult once we get there as well. I had been thinking that it is going to be a little hard to get back into the swing of things because the life style is just so much more laid-back here. They said it's also hard to go back because your friends have moved on for 5 months without you and have shared experiences that you have missed out on....so it's a bit difficult to just suddenly be back in that social network because it's somewhat inevitable that you will feel a little left out. I've changed a lot while I've been over here...so it'll be interesting to see how things fall back into place for me in the states. On the brighter side, they gave us some Aussie souvenirs like a little packet of Vegemite and some yummy chocolate with an echidna on the front! This is really random and probably shouldn't be in this post...but I saw a bunch of wallabies today when I was studying in the rainforest (...literally, there are picnic tables set up in the rainforest that you can study at)...and one came within 6 feet of me and it was pretty awesome. I scared him away when I waved to him though....stupid idea! It was kind of funny though because I scared him and he jumped like 4 feet in the air! :(