Home Stretch..

I really don't have much to report right now but I figured it's been 10 days since I last posted and I should at least put an update in.

I turned in my last paper on Tuesday; now I only have two bits of schoolwork left. I have to write a 1000 word reflective essay and take my history final. I've started working on the reflective essay, but I don't expect either it or the final to be anything too complicated. My final is a whopping 3 questions, one of which I already know (Assess the film Gallipoli as an interpretation of Australia during World War One). Basically, school is almost over for real this time!! Most likely, by the next time I write, I will be completely done.

So what am I doing with my time? Sleeping, mostly. I've been doing some reading and some movie watching too. Caitlin and Steph are in New Zealand right now so I can't bother them - not that I would be able to, they both have legitimate finals that they're going to have to study for.

Tomorrow and Sunday I'm going to attempt to go to the beach - the Pacific is lovely no matter what time of year, I've decided. We went to the beach last Saturday and played in the water. The tide was really low so we walked out really really far and it was still only up to our knees. Because it was warmer in the water than standing in the air, we laid down in the water and would push ourselves up when the waves came. It was a lot of fun. Also, because it had been raining and storming for about a week and a half prior to us showing up, there were some awesome shells. My quest to find a shark tooth is probably never going to be realized, but I have found quite a lot of awesome shells.

Now that the semester is winding down, there is a lot of talk about going home. The earliest that I know of someone going home is my friend Alyssa - she's leaving 16 June because she has to start summer school. There are a ton of people going home in mid-July. I love Australia and I definitely want to come back, but I miss home a lot. I've pretty much planned out everything about my return trip home (I have my outfit picked out, a ride to the airport, and I've imagined what it's going to be like to see my little sister (and rest of my family :D) and Bella after so long away). I'm sure that once I get closer to the point of actually leaving, I'll be a little more reluctant, but I'm ready to see everyone once again. I've made some good friends here, but I think that I've always realized that this was a temporary thing, so I haven't invested myself too hardcore in anything.

One of my Australian friends asked me if I was ever going to come back to Australia, and my answer was "OF COURSE!" I love the attitude everyone has here - when you're here, your motto automatically just becomes 'no worries'. It's a great way to live and I'm way more relaxed here than I probably have ever been at home (except for maybe when I was like, 5 or something), but I realize that I'm going to have to return to the real world and be all mature. It's likely to be a bit of a shock, but I'm sure I'll adjust. I'm sure that I'll end up reflecting more closer to the time of when I leave, but right now I haven't got much of anything else to do.

On another note, right now it's Study Break so we've had this entire week off. Everyone I know is hardcore studying for maths and other engineering exams, and I just sleep til 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Here I'm classified as being in the "arts" school (not creative arts), which has a reputation for not being a legitimate major. I don't suppose the fact that I don't have to work very hard helps that stereotype. I tell everyone that back home, my major is totally legitimate and I would usually be working just as hard as all of them come finals, but here my classes aren't as intense. Oh well, I love my major regardless of what anyone says.

I want to try to do a few more things with my time here in Australia - I have yet to do all the touristy things in Sydney, so I'll make an effort to do those (I'm thinking in between my beach days) soon. I also want to attempt to hike Mt. Kiera, one of the mountains right behind uni. There are also lighthouses here that I want to go look at and a few parks too. Unfortunately, it's supposed to rain all next week, which is not very conducive to me doing anything outside.

We'll see how things turn out.

Oh, I forgot! I did something really productive with about half an hour or so of my time yesterday. A long time ago, I was out at the beach one night with some friends playing in the water and I found a shell that had a part of it that I'm assuming was...eroded...by the ocean, which made it perfect for a pendant! So I made a pretty necklace of it. Maybe I'll add that to my outfit for returning home...