McDonalds is AWESOME

It is 9:30 am and I have been here at the beautiful golden arches, which besides the library is the only place of free wifi here in the Sunshine State's (queensland) city of Brisbane. By the way, as I wrote the Sunshine State I couldn't help but laugh because I learned two days ago that they actually changed the name to the Smart State....really?! I guess it is nice to be smart though...

Anyway, the update:

Day 3:

Although I did not have to wake up till 830 am or so this morning I couldn't help but wake up much earlier due to the fact that I went to bed at 9:30 pm the night before. This morning we went on a "My Australia Tour" that was actually really fun. Our guide was this really funny, enthusiastic guy named Alex who had just cut off all his dreds and LOVED australia haha. We spent 2 hours walking around Brisbane learning about the history of brisbane and australia's roles internationally. The tour ended at the botanical gardens, which were beautiful and right next to the University of Queensland campus...i know where I would be everyday as a student! After our tour we booked it back to our hotel to get on the bus for Australian Zoo about an hour and a half away. I got to eat my beautifully crafted turkey and cheese sandwich that brought me back to making pathetic lunch sandwiches for myself at the end of high school, but thats ok because I sat next to Christie and we literally spent an hour putting sentences together with australian slang and laughing uncontrollably. The zoo was awesome and Steve Irwin's face was everywhere (even his daughters). We saw the birds show and crocodile show and walked around, similar to what you do at every zoo but hey, this is Australia so it was even better. Every crocodile area had a double fence and one of the signs had this guy sitting on the outer fence throwing a ball over and then it had a death skull sign...apparently if you throw a ball at a crocodile you die. good to know.

The only other event for the day was a mandatory movie night. Half the group did it the night before and said it was really rough (boring etc) so all of us were just super excited. Allie, Christie and I attempted to find food before the movie so we headed out and found that almost all food courts and restaurants were closed or closing, it wasn't even 7 pm yet! But no worries, we found this hole in the wall japanese restaurant that had pictures as the menu...just like in Japan ahah. We first watched "Rabbit Proof Fence" about the attempt to make aborigine girls into white women and then a cane toad movie that just was partially funny and partially awful!! ha The movies left everyone so tired and there was no way I could rally so we walked around with our TA, who showed us late night eatery areas for the future and I tried starburst babies...they aren't the best i've had but hey...they are buddha-like baby gummies so that was fun?

Nothing else for that day but surely a success

Day 4:

Long long day ahead. Starting at 8 am we had lectures till 3pm. I made sure I got my coffee at Zi Bar. Zi Bar is my new favorite hang out and it is just like Walkers during the day (for all you Athens people reading this). It has $2 coffee (any type) and great food and an awesome atmosphere. For at least 2 days I have swung by and gotten the cheapest coffee fix i know of so far. Anyway, we walked to the conference centre where we have our classes and I sat down in the seat that would become my home for 4 lectures. First lecture was fairly enjoyable and interesting- the history of australia. The second, a little rough but I learned a lot- Urban sustainability (talked very little about sustainability though ha). The THIRD was just...i'm not sure if i remember? ha no just kidding. After lunch lectures= in and out napping. But I got through it and the 4th lecture was an Art history lecture. All in all, I enjoyed the classes and I definitely learned things I did not know before so yay. After the art lecture we went to the Queensland Art Gallery for about an hour and then everyone ran off to get dressed, buy alcohol, and get ready for the Broncos vs. Titans rugby match. After most of our group became frantic due to lack of open BYOB places, we settled down on the porch of our hotel restaurant thanks to the bartender's A-OK. There must have been at least 40 of us on the porch and I had an absolute blast since I got to see people I hadn't been able to see since they are in the Biology of photography groups. After a few wrong turns, running through Queens street traffic..literally, and looking like a bunch of crazy americans, we made it to the game! The game was ripper good and when it was done we walked with a crowd for at least 30 minutes and somehow ended up right on the streets we recognized. Asking a few locals for a good bar, we ended up at O'malleys. O'malleys had a band playing some classic great songs and then another area with latin dancing (REALLY?!) I WAS SOO HAPPY. All I wanted to do was dance naturally so I dragged Brad on the dance floor and made him salsa with me as everyone sat down to drink. I even broke my flip flop dancing...sadly...I had to carry my shoes and pretend like they weren't broken the rest of the night (especially since barefoot at bars is not reallyyy allowed). The day/night was great and I think UGA brought athens to brisbane just a little bit, but we soon found ourselves back at the hotel and zzzzz. :D

Day 5:

I have sat at McDonalds now for um...2 hours? maybe less. Writing and calling people on skype. I have 2 lectures today and a quiz so not too mind-blowingly awesome but i'll be sure to update again soon.

Peace, love and Wiggles

A few things:

1.this place feels just like america but some accents, I can't wait to get to the outback

2. Asians asians asians...everywhere

3. Brisbane is the 3rd largest city in australia and 70% of the entire population lives in 10 cities (little fun tid bit)

umm YUP