Caitlin Brianna Luke

NEW BLOG!!

2010-03-20T22:20:00.004-05:00

It's time to retire the whole "Cornfields-to-Kangaroos" Blog and start a new, grown up blog with my future hubby. SO, from now on, you can find my life at:

http://rcsweeney.blogspot.com/

Cal State Northridge

2010-03-16T09:31:00.002-05:00

Ryan got word yesterday that he's now also been accepted to California State University - Northridge. He's now been accepted to three universities, and we're hoping for good news from Duke! More schools = more choices but I know just how blessed we are to have options. Ryan has a friend who has applied for two years straight to PT and PA schools and has received nothing but rejection letters. After hearing that I was terrified that Ryan wouldn't get in anywhere and then what? But, thankfully, the Lord has a plan and knows what we can and can't handle. I'll tell you right now, I could NOT have handled that. :)

Parable of the Burned Biscuits

2010-03-09T12:36:00.003-06:00

Bishop Barrera occasionally sends me inspirational parables and such and I get so excited every time I see a new email from him. This is his latest and again, I loved the moral and thought I would share. Enjoy!

Parable of the Burned Biscuits

There’s the story of the mother who liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. One night in particular she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work.

On that evening so long ago, the mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of her husband. The little boy sat waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all the dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at the mom and ask his son how his day was at school. The boy couldn’t remember what he told him that night, but he did remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that biscuit and eat every bite!

When the boy got up from the table that evening, he remembered hearing his mom apologize to his dad for burning the biscuits. And he said he’d never forget what his father said: "Honey, I love burned biscuits."

Later that night, the boy went to kiss his dad good night and asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped the boy in his arms and said, "Your Mom put in a hard day at work today and she's real tired. And besides - a little burnt biscuit never hurt anyone!"

Life is full of imperfect things.....and imperfect people. I'm not the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else. But what I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each other’s faults - and choosing to celebrate each other’s differences - is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.

And that's my prayer for everyone. That you will learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your life and lay them at the feet of your Heavenly Father. Because in the end, He's the only One who will be able to give you a relationship where a burnt biscuit isn't a deal-breaker!

We could extend this to any relationship. In fact, understanding is the base of any relationship, be it a husband-wife or parent-child or friendship!

"Don't put the key to your happiness in someone else's pocket - keep it in your own."

The Lord has given us the perfect example of how to have a great relationship.... Now, and Always....

So Please pass me a biscuit, and yes, the burnt one will do just fine!

Weird Human Body Trick

2010-03-07T22:16:00.004-06:00

Ryan thinks this is really odd. I guess I've just always grown up with it, so you can be the judge. (Turn up your volume!)

Also, I went to the zoo with Marisa's family and Ryan on Saturday. Even though it's the one thing Omaha has going for it, I haven't been in about four years!

I just love this picture and the boys just love Ryan which makes me very happy. Apparently Riley at one point told Ryan how happy he is that he's going to be his uncle!

Fingers Crossed

2010-03-03T20:03:00.003-06:00

Ryan was bouncing off the walls today because he found out that he was selected to interview at Duke University on March 22! It has always been his dream to go to Duke and if he gets accepted that is absolutely where we will end up. So say a little prayer that they fall for his blonde curls and beautiful blue eyes!

Who Needs Caffeine?

2010-02-24T02:51:00.004-06:00

I've been up since 6:30 a.m. working on my grad project. I thought I'd be exhausted by now (it's 2:51 a.m.) but I'm still moving right along! These little friends might have helped. They might also have something to do with the sock/sliding races we were having down the hall at school right around midnight, which was right about the time we realized our project was due in 60 hours! I LOVE COLLEGE!

40 hours of my past week...

2010-02-18T21:16:00.005-06:00

Do any of you really know what I study or what type of things I do in school? Well, let me give you a little glimpse into my life. This semester is our final "Interdisciplinary Team Design Project" where we're split into teams with two structural, two mechanical, and two electrical engineers. Basically we go through the entire design of a building from start to finish. A few weeks ago we had to do an architectural design, then they gave us the real plans and I've been working on what is called the Schematic Design. In SD's you narrow down what types of systems you think you'd use, develop a heating and cooling load for your building, analyse cost, code compliance and noise concerns (at least that was the scope of this project). So I thought I'd share some of Joanna and I's progress.

The building we are working on is the new office building for a local Architecture and Engineering firm called DLR. It's actually located just a block from my dorms - I can see the site from my window! Anyway, the systems we're looking at are individual heat pumps being connected to either a boiler, chiller and water tower or a geothermal system that extracts and rejects heat into the ground. There's actually not enough space to do a full geothermal system so we'll have to do a hybrid that drills as many bores as will fit on the site and then makes up for it with an additional boiler and small fluid cooler (which is just a closed cooling tower).

So from there we had to lay out where our heat pumps would fall and zone our building. You split the building into zones by determining how much airflow is required by each. A program called Trace gives us a report that tells us how much cooling and heating is needed in the worst case scenario as well as how much air needs to flow through the building and how much of that needs to be outside air. This is a picture of the zones on the second floor:

We also had to coordinate with the structural system because they're using a system with cellular beams which are the giant beams with the holes cut out in the middle. I created this drawing in AutoCad to show how our systems will work together:

So yeah, we wrote a 12 page document describing our progress and we have a 10 minute group presentation and then a 10 minute individual presentation tomorrow. I can't wait for it to be over with!

Congrats Ryan!

2010-02-17T11:37:00.003-06:00

Ryan just found out today that he's been accepted to Stony Brook University on Long Island to study Physical Therapy!!

We have some big decisions ahead of us though because we're still waiting to hear back from Duke and Northridge in California. I seriously have no idea where we'll end up because I like NY and he likes CA. We'd both love Duke, but we're not sure if he'll get in. At which point, we'll both be a little heart broken, especially him. I'm not sure how much I like this whole growing up and making decisions thing!

A little bit of bragging...

2010-01-31T20:46:00.006-06:00

As absolutely crazy as my life is, I'm definitely the happiest I have ever been. Here is some of the amazing things that have happened to me in just the past few weeks (most in the past few days!)

This is my wonderful RA staff at our retreat at Coco Keys Water Resort in Omaha. As difficult as this job has been, I have learned and grown so much from it. I have such an amazing group of great young people with such bright futures ahead of them. I wouldn't trade the stress for anything.

On Thursday night we had a triple birthday party in Lincoln for Grant, me and Travis. I cannot get enough of this cutie. I was so happy to see all the nieces and nephews. Ryan and I miss them!

For the first time ever, I tried on my mom's wedding dress. She weighed 95 lbs. when she got married and seeing as how the last time I weighed 95 lbs was nearly 10 years ago, I just never got around to it. BUT, it magically fit!

Now onto the bragging... Ryan is... I can't even describe him. He's perfect for me and seems to do everything right. On Monday I got home from a day of work and class to find cheesy love notes all over my room. Many were in plain sight saying things like, "I love you," "I adore you," "You're the best fiance ever," etc. He also had four or five that he hid so I wouldn't find them right away. This one (sorry it's sideways) was in my bathroom with my makeup, etc. There was another in my dresser, my Book of Mormon, and so on. I could not wipe that goofy love-stricken smile off of my face!

On Friday I woke up and went to school to work on a group project. As usual, I forgot to eat and was getting light-headed. I asked him to please stop by the store so that in the future I could just grab a granola bar or something to tide me over. When I got home I found quite the array of snacks as well as a beautiful bouquet of flowers, perfectly arranged in my vase (not to mention a clean apartment)! He had also been helping one of my best friends, Lisa, move to her new apartment next door to me. So not only does his kindness influence me, he spreads it to those I love as well. What more can I ask for, seriously?

On Friday night we celebrated my birthday at Pearl's apartment. She made dinner for seven of us as well as a second Rainbow Chip birthday cake (my favorite). Now, Ryan does have a few imperfections (as seen in this photo). Pearl asked Ryan to bring candles and somehow he did not tie birthday and candles together. So after asking her what kind (she said bright and fun) he showed up with these...

After dinner we went swing dancing downtown where we met up with a few other people from the ward.

Saturday morning (my actual birthday) I went out to my car to go to a R.S. Service project and found this taped to my windshield. It was the first of 23 clues for my 23rd birthday that led me to our location for dinner as well as my birthday present!

In addition to the signs (that yes, are still hanging up in my room!) and scavenger hunt, he wrote me more messages on my mirrors. This one says, "Happy 23rd birthday! I'm SO in love with you. I'm so grateful our Heavenly Father put you in my life. I'll do everything I can to deserve you!"

And lastly, we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and then just cuddled up on the couch and watched one of our favorite movies, "The Proposal."

I am one lucky girl.

A month and a half later... REALLY?

2010-01-25T08:47:00.002-06:00

Well helloooo! It's been awhile, hey? I can't believe how times flies. Because this entry will have no pictures, I will try to keep it somewhat brief. I just felt the need for an update because so much has happened.

Finals week gets easier every year and I only had one final this semester so it wasn't bad at all. I was more worried about getting my approval to do my research for my grad project and it thankfully came on the very last day of classes - December 19. In case I haven't mentioned what I'm doing, I'll be going into two portables at Goodrich Middle School in Lincoln and testing the temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide levels to assess the indoor air quality of the rooms. It took awhile to find a classroom with Christmas break and all but I'm hoping to test one room this week and another next week. The final draft of my project is due February 26 so I need to get on it now so I'm not stressing later!

I haven't stressed too much this semester yet, but I've also been learning to use my time more efficiently. We have an interdisciplinary team design project where we two mechanical, two electrical, and two structural students and we basically go through the entire process of designing a building. Last week I spent 12.5 hours on that class (we have to log our time - that's the only reason I kno) and I will be spending that much if not more, each and every week until it's complete!

For the second year in a row now, I made a quick decision and bought a plane ticket for a trip over New Years. This year... HAWAII!! I was able to spend a full week on the beautiful islands of Maui and Oahu with Ryan, my BFF - Brianna, and her husband Andy. Believe me, I know how incredibly lucky I am to be able to travel like I do! Maybe New Years in Europe next year??

Sadly, that's pretty much my update for the past 50 days or so. Practically all of my time is spent either at school or with Ryan. We go on a lot of double dates with Rob and Melissa, and I try to spend time my other close friends, as well. Life at the dorms has been crazy. Rob and I have had to meet with 49 residents who have gotten in trouble since Christmas break. This year is absurd. We've evicted probably 5 people so far, and had an incident over the weekend where we will be evicting another person today. This is not normal. The kids this year are AWFUL.

Last thing I'll mention is wedding planning. We've gotten A LOT done lately which is such a huge relief for me! We're trying to pay for as much as we can now so that we don't have a huge cost all at once at the end. Since my last post we've pretty much finalized invitations and have bought the necessary supplies, our guestbook and engagement pics DVD are in the mail, most of the vases have been purchased for centerpieces, dance floor and linens have been ordered, addresses are being gathered, we wandered around Bed, Bath, and Beyond to start thinking about gift registration, our appointment with our florist is tomorrow... it's finally all coming together! I feel like everything lately has been reminding me of families and marriage and I cannot tell you how excited I am to be married to Ryan and start our own little family! Don't get too excited about kids, yet! He thinks I'm baby hungry and won't want to wait longer than 6 months, I have other plans. So we'll see!

That is all for now! I've enjoyed all of your recent posts and I hope mine didn't bore you too much. I know it wasn't one of my best. :)

Flirting

2009-12-10T12:57:00.003-06:00

Ryan just came into my room as I sit here at my computer and slowly hit me in the back with a pillow and said in a very monotonous voice, "That was my way of flirting. Consider yourself flirted. I'm sure it got you all hot and bothered." And walked out.

And yep, that's the Beatles. I wanted a pillow fight picture and this was the only one that wasn't girls in little-to-no clothing.

"Can Ben come over and play?"

2009-12-08T13:57:00.002-06:00

As of late, Ryan and I's time together consists of him sitting in my living room and possibly doing his little bit of homework that is required, but mostly watching ESPN, while I sit at my desk in my bedroom spending hours on homework. Even though it's not quality time, it's nice to even be in the same apartment as one another when we need a small break. It's obviously not enough for him, however. Yesterday, he peeked his head into my doorway and sheepishly asked, "Can Ben come over and play after choir practice tonight?" Knowing he needs more attention than I can give, I gladly obliged only to find out that he had already asked Ben to come over. If our children ever do that, they will be in big trouble! He then left to go run some errands when I get a knock on my front door and find my co-worker, Rob, and his roommate, Troy. As I answer, Rob begins speaking and says, "We know Ryan's not here. You can keep doing homework, we'll wait here in the living room for him." So the night went on. I left Rob and Troy in my room as I had to go get some homework help and then rehearse for the Christmas Program on Sunday. Ryan eventually returned home and the three of them played two of Ryan's favorite games, "Ticket to Ride" and "Monopoly Deal." After rehearsal, Ben and I then both headed to my apartment where they played more games and Rob and I went to RA meeting. At least someone around here gets to have some fun!

Engagement Photos!

2009-12-06T12:27:00.002-06:00

After the very saddening loss to Texas last night, Ryan and I received a most glorious text informing us that some of our engagement pictures are posted online! Our photographer puts up a few of her favorites on facebook so we can see before she sends us the entire CD. For now there are only 18 photos, with many more to come. When I finally get my CD, or maybe when she's done putting up her favorites, I'll post some on here. But for all you facebook friends, take a look. I LOVE THEM!

Young at Heart

2009-12-01T16:41:00.007-06:00

My life is as crazy as ever but I thought I'd take a few minutes to give a quick update. I cannot believe the incredible amount of stress I'm under these days. If I thought the last few years were bad, this puts them all to shame! The two jobs and grad school keeps me busy enough but trying to find time for Ryan and wedding plans and everything else makes me absolutely love having a color-coded planner. I really struggled a few weeks ago with looking way too far into the future and getting completely overwhelmed. I'm trying that whole "one-day-at-a-time" thing and it seems to be working so far. So far being the key words!

I do have a lot of little pleasures in life and a lot of daily laughter. I'm so grateful for those people I can always count on to put a smile on my face. I sure hope this next picture puts a smile on your face because I sure do laugh every time I see it. About a month ago we had a "Turkey Trot" Sadie Hawkins church activity. To everyone's surprise, I asked Ryan and we found these two beautiful identical size XL sweaters at Goodwill. We realized we were one Holiday too early, but who's really counting. My lovely mother told me that Ryan and I look like two children who just escaped from a mental hospital. I love you, Mom. :)

The following week was our Stake Conference. I was asked to direct a Stake YSA choir for the Sunday session and was excited to find out that Elder Oaks would be there! I have the best choir and they worked so hard and even showed up to extra practices (even when I forgot the music and Ryan had to drive 40 minutes round-trip to get it). I got to shake Elder Oaks' hand and when I sat down after directing the first piece he mouthed the words, "Thank you, that was beautiful." That's a once in a lifetime experience, I tell you what!!

For Thanksgiving Ryan and I headed west to Utah. He was able to meet both sets of my grandparents and we did dinner with some of his old mission buddies as well as the missionary who taught him during his ridiculously long 2.5 years of investigating. As you can see in the picture, there is some definite Elder love going on. SIDE NOTE: My iTunes just started playing the Disney Princess collection which is definitely the first cassette tape I owned and used to listen to on our long drives to Utah as a child! Continuing... I was able to see Ashley, Shelby, and Whitney as we went wedding dress shopping in Salt Lake. After all our efforts I ended up finding the one I love when I stopped somewhere all by myself. We sure did have fun jamming to my Glee CD, though.

On Wednesday we froze our little tush's off as we took our engagement pictures near an old abandoned train car and graffiti's power plant near the Great Salt Lake. I cannot wait to see them!! It was after that we stopped at Grandpa Hyer's and made sure to buy the best chocolate donuts - Dan's Donuts before heading south to visit a friend in Orem and then Ashley in Payson. We continued on and ended up in St. George with Ryan's "adopted" family. He's totally one of the family and even has a corner on their table which they cover with glass and put pictures underneath. It's just precious. There were 12 of us in a tiny house which made for some good times, I tell you what. We ate a lot, played a lot of games, and just enjoyed being in a home environment.

I fell in love with the city of Beaver, Utah. Actually just with the gas station. The attendants are so nice and come and wash your windows, or help with whatever you need, there's a big rocking chair, the "Eager Beaver" car wash, and the best candy selection I've ever seen! Ryan has been talking about Zots probably since the day I met him. It's this hard candy with a fizzy center. He's darn lucky I listen when he talks because as he was using the potty I glanced down at the candy and low and behold, there they were! With a grin on his face like a child on Christmas morning, he stocked up and we also found Dad's red Certs that we used to always buy him as kids.

Now I'm back in Omaha trying not to freak out. Two of my classes are done and I just have one more class and my nightmare-ish thesis. We've been praying and fasting for a breakthrough because if something doesn't happen soon I might have to start something new at semester.... but we're not thinking about that! One day at a time. :)

Oh, and Ryan got an interview at one of the PT Schools up on Long Island, so that's exciting news!

ALSO, is anyone else having problems with their pictures? I used to be able to click on it and change the size or drag it to the location that I want and I can't seem to do that anymore... thoughts?

Bling

2009-10-29T23:00:00.003-05:00

Everyone's already heard, but I thought I'd inform the entire blog world that I'm officially getting hitched to Ryan Scott Sweeney on June 12, 2010 (Exactly one year after we met!) I had no idea that there was someone out there so perfect for me. In retrospect, this was truly a match made in heaven. Not only with how well we get along, but the timing with so many things was truly set up by our loving Heavenly Father. I am so excited to spend the rest of my time here on earth and the eternities with him! And to have the most beautiful blue eyed, curly blond-haired babies (but not for a few years).

In other news...

The fire alarm went off for about 30 minutes last night so I was up from 2:30-3:30 and then got a call at 4:30 a.m.

Draft #2 of my thesis is due next Friday.

I'm slowly going blonde again.

I made Dad's homemade chocolate cake and frosting on Monday. It was moistly wonderful.

I want to go see Michael Jackson's new movie.

I run into a wall with my shoulder, elbow, hip, knee, head, etc. at least once a day.

I keep finding random bruises. (correlation?)

I now have 4 matching wheel covers on The Lawn Mower (my car).

I'm addicted to Glee.

Beer?

2009-10-06T23:20:00.002-05:00

Or maybe just IBC.

Weekly Routine

2009-09-28T18:58:00.005-05:00

I never talk about what I do on a day-to-day basis so here you go. I've more or less finally gotten into a routine and here it is:

Monday

7-11a.m. Work at the Army Corps of Engineers

12:00-1:15p.m. Class: Professional Practice I (Accounting Principles)

1:30p.m. Lunch with Rob to discuss the weekly RA meeting

2:30p.m.- Discipline meetings, random errands, avoidance of homework with the final buckling down of homework (and now a lot will be thesis research instead of normal homework)

10:00-11:00p.m. RA meeting

11:00p.m. Finally see Ryan until I'm so exhausted that I normally pass out on the couch

Tuesday

8-10a.m. Attempt to use the morning wisely by maybe getting to school to work

10:30-11:45a.m. Class: HVAC III

12:00-1:00p.m. Lunch

1:30-2:45p.m. Class: Indoor Air Quality

3:00-5:00p.m. Usually more discipline meetings with an attempt at homework

5:00p.m. Dinner with Rob

7:00-8:30p.m. Institute (Preach my Gospel)

8:30- Once again attempt homework, RD work, hang out with Ryan, etc.

Wednesday

Repeat Monday except I meet with Rob and JO (my boss) on Wednesdays and we don't have the RA meeting at night

Thursday

Repeat Tuesday except replace institute with going out with the missionaries. Ryan and I last week went to see an investigator named Richard and we're going again this week. I've never gone out with the missionaries even though I've wanted to. It's nice to have them there and Ryan there for support as I practice sharing my testimony because I'm still not super comfortable doing it with nonmembers.

Friday

7:00-12:00p.m. Work at the Corps

12:00p.m.- Waste as much time as possible being completely unproductive after a long week.

So there you have it. I've been really exhausted lately so in those big breaks lately I've been taking 1-3 hour naps because I fall asleep and cannot wake up for the life of me! I'd like to blame the mono, but I don't know if I still have that as a cop-out.

I did get my new thesis topic approved. I will be researching portable classrooms and their indoor quality and thermal comfort. I'm in the process of contacting schools in Omaha (hopefully high schools) that have them and I will survey the students and teachers to see if they notice any problems with the portables. I'll then go into the classroom and do actual measurements and compare them to the industry codes and standards to see if they are acceptable. It's then my job to give any recommendations for improvement. Draft #1 is due in 2 weeks and it is the literature review part of the thesis so I'm currently reading through past research and design requirements. As much as I am not a fan of engineering these days this does interest me because of the actual field work I will be able to do. I'm excited to really get in there and see how the systems perform. That's enough of that. I'm sure I'm boring you to tears.

Here's a few pictures from the past few weekends. Last Saturday I had breakfast with Schuster and then Ryan and I went down to Nebraska City for the annual "Apple Jack Festival" but the only thing apple related we did was drink some cider. We hung out with Rob and his family while they bashed a car to raise money for cancer research. They invited us over to their house for the depressing Husker/VT game. We then drove to Council-tucky for the birthday part of Tommy's dad. (Tommy is Ryan's friend that he's living with). From there we were supposed to have date night and go out to a nice dinner but I was exhausted and passed out.

Just this weekend we went to an annual YSA fireside and dance. A few years ago Josh Pryor and I decided to make it a western theme and it's very slowly spread over the years. On Saturday morning Schuster's boyfriend was in town so instead of just the two of us having breakfast, the boys joined us as well. I made coffee cake and scrambled eggs while Schuster made bacon. Mmmm I love our family's coffee cake! I've eaten way too much of it. I spent the day working on RD stuff and made a valid effort to cross all the random things off of my to-do list. That night was the R.S. Broadcast so I went with a few friends (Pearl and Maegan) and then we were joined by another friend (Chelsea) and went to see the movie Fame. Sunday was Ward Conference and the choir sang and I just realized this entry has no personality and for that I apologize and am ending it now that it's back to Monday. THE END.

Pick-me-up

2009-09-22T21:14:00.002-05:00

Ashley's video inspired me to post one of my favorites. If I'm EVER down, no matter what is going on, the beloved David Hasselhoff in this sacred work of art never fails to cheer me up.

Back to the beginning...

2009-09-14T19:39:00.005-05:00

Thesis Update: It's been an absolute roller coaster and after getting all sorts of approvals and then disapprovals I think I'm having to now start again with a clean slate. It has been so incredibly frustrating and stressful and I've almost reached my breaking point. But everyone keeps reminding me that it'll be worth it in the end. I sure hope so.

On a lighter note, I somehow manage to find time to be social despite school. I've always been pretty good at that (mostly because I'll take any sort of distraction I can). Labor Day weekend Ryan and I discovered this beautimous "car art" as well as many others at an ice cream shop in downtown Omaha. Ricky (one of the Brits) came back into town so we went to late night donuts at "The Donut Stop" which is only open from 10pm to 10am and is quite the unique place. Friday I went to the Britney Spears Circus with some gals and on Saturday I took Ryan to his first Husker game at Memorial stadium and then CRASHED at about 8pm and was out for the night. Choir started again yesterday, and I forget how much I love it. I'm so grateful they put up with me and my quirkiness because I am just a goofball when I get in front of them.

In the end, despite all my stress with school, I am so truly blessed. Today was incredibly rough but I was thankful to remember all the wonderful family and friends I have in my life to help me through it all. The Lord definitely uses all of you to keep me sane, so thank you!

A change (a change!) will do you good...

2009-09-03T16:55:00.002-05:00

Now that song is stuck in my head. I don't know if I'd rather have that or the new Sean Kingston song that is normally rattling around up there. And moving on... I hate taking pictures of myself but people want to see my new hair and seeing as how there have been no fun occasions to speak of but school, I've not had any photo opps. So there you have it. I went a little wild this time. Stuck with the dark, but put a blonde panel across the whole front. Then on top there is "Rocket Fire" streaks and red-violet panels. The purple is the same level as the brown (4 in case you wanted to know and actually know what that means...Whitney) so it's a little more difficult to see. You just get a little tease every now and then.

On a different note, I found a thesis topic that actually interests me and I'm surprisingly excited about it. I just need to get the professor I want to be my adviser and I'm good to go. I'm going to study our AE students (both past and present) to look for patterns and trends in retention, specialties, etc. It should be really interesting and the department would love to have that kind of information. Hooray!! I cannot tell you what a relief this has been. Now I just hope it works out as I see it going in my head.

Yep, I'm alive.

2009-09-01T09:08:00.006-05:00

Yeah, so it's suddenly September. I guess I can provide a quick summary of the past two months and then hopefully start posting on a semi-regular basis. But to backtrack... Between Texas, Nauvoo, Kansas City, and Arkansas I was gone every weekend in July. My days were spent at work while my nights were spent with Ryan when he was here and then on the phone when he wasn't. Then I realized that RA training was a week away and was not yet planned. So suddenly my life became consumed with the dorms and I spent massive amounts of time with Rob, the other Resident Director. Then I spent 7 straight days with the RAs going up to the Niobrara and then having our official training back here at the dorms. Then Ryan came back. Then 480 residents moved in followed by a week of move-in activities. Then 160 more residents moved in. Then school started. Then I got mono and stopped going to school and my internship. Then I got mostly better and now here I sit needing to catch up and hoping that I don't stress myself out enough that the mono acts up again. My goal for today is to receive some divine revelation on what to do for my Masters thesis. It will literally need to be divine revelation because I haven't figured it out yet on my own. Oh, and I just bought Britney Spears concert tickets for Sept. 11 in Des Moines.

Photo Summary

2009-06-29T20:20:00.004-05:00

Saturday 6/20: Shakespeare on the Green with Belb and Sarah

Sunday 6/21: Lisa came home for Father's Day as well.
Tuesday 6/23: We got a little rained out at LSU v. Texas Game 2
Wednesday 6/24: Our LSU buddies at LSU v. Texas Game 3
Friday 6/26: Camping and playing in the muddy river
Saturday 6/27: The most beautiful baby ever at Whit's reception.

Tiempos Divertidos

2009-06-18T08:12:00.020-05:00

I've been putting in a lot of hours at work lately. A lot of hours. I worked 44 at the Corps last week and probably about 15 at the dorms. Yep, that's almost 60 hours of work. HOWEVER, when I'm not working I'm being social and having fun (although I should be finishing my Peace Corps application, picking a thesis topic, etc). But basically, summer is amazing. I've gotten to spend time with so many people from all of my different friendship groups! I've even started mixing my groups, which is something new for me. Lisa and I have started "Musical Mondays" where we invite a bunch of girls over every Monday night and watch a musical. It's the bomb. But I love it because it's a mix of RAs, residents, my church friends and random other friends from school or wherever. Hooray for missionary work!

Last Friday night we had a YSA Luau and I just let loose and had an absolute blast, as you can see! This picture is mostly the church group that I've been hanging out with lately (+- a few).

This is Pearl. Pearl is really good friends with Josh and Kyle. I'm really good friends with Josh and Kyle. She hung out with them all the time. I hung out with them all the time. Somehow we never started hanging out together until a few weeks ago. At that time we discovered the universe must have attempted to keep us apart because it was not ready for the trouble we'll cause. We're now on the verge of becoming besties. Or something close to it.

So there was the Luau on Friday, on Saturday I worked and worked and then Me, Lisa, Pearl and 2 RAs (Michelle and Lauren) went and saw a sneak peak of "The Proposal." Pearl and I were on the verge of tears because we were laughing so hard. Sunday morning we had a camp move into the dorms and we did not have keys ready or access cards and I was stressed and irritated. Then I went to church, went home for Jordan's birthday and gave him the most awesomest shirt ever, came back to Omaha and went to a game night with some church peeps. I stayed up a tad too late and haven't made that sleep up yet, so work hurts. (And yes, I am currently blogging at work. They don't have tons of stuff for me to do at the moment, so I have to find something to pass the time!)

Monday, Monday, Monday... I... worked and oh yeah, had Musical Monday! Pearl, Lisa and I made homemade guacamole and two others came over and we watched West Side Story. Gotta say, not a huge fan. Except Pearl and I loved the quote, "Oh why don't you go walk the streets with your sister!" Quality, right there. Tuesday I got my hairs did!! It is DARK and I love it. I think blonde is my favorite but I like the change. It also has some bright red pieces up front in my bangs. The cut is awesome and very low maintenance. I'm very pleased! I then had RA meeting where peple did not recognize me and after that I watched the movie, "What Happens in Vegas." There were a lot of awesome one-liners in that one like, "If I could kill anyone with my mind right now, it'd be you." I'll be using that one from here on out.

I guess that brings me up to yesterday now. I had the pleasure of losing my College World Series virginity thanks to my friend Ryan. I've just never really been in Omaha so I've never had the opportunity to go. You know the night is going to be awesome when you get to see this sweet as mullet for the whole 4 hours and 46 minutes of the game. I went on a double date with Ryan and then his friend Chancen and our mutual friend Ashley. Chancen and I both chose to root (or barrack if I were on Oz) for Arkansas while the others chose Virginia. In case you didn't watch (and since it is all girls who read this blog, I know you didn't) the game was pretty boring up until the 9th inning. Arkansas tied it up in the top of the 9th and then held off Virginia in the bottom of the 9th with an amazing double play sending the game into extra innings. They then then held Virgina through 3 more innings and won it in the 12th with one more run making the final score 4-3. But I doubt any of you really care. So enjoy my last 2 pictures and I will keep you posted on my super fun life!

Tornado Watch vs. Warning

2009-06-08T00:39:00.002-05:00

UNO recently installed speakers into all the dorm rooms to make large campus-wide announcements such as weather precautions, etc. However, some real genius out there failed to put one at the front desk. This means that we, as staff, remain completely oblivious to any warnings the students receive. It's even better when UNO announces tornado warnings that don't really exist.

Tonight I was at the front desk at about 11:45 p.m. awaiting rounds when I got a call from one of the RAs saying that the computer-generated woman was broadcasting a Tornado Warning across all the speakers. Moments later I walked out of the front office to find all 80 residents of the UNMC camp (staying at Scott Hall) looking frazzled and lost. I directed them to the tornado shelter and proceeded to figure out just what the heck was going on. Another RA called to say she opened the shelter in Scott Village as residents decided to pile on in. In checking the news and internet, I could not for the life of me find a Tornado Warning for Douglas County. Wonderful. With the UNMC RA's bugging me to sort out this mess I decided to call the ever-so-helpful UNO Campus Security. I'm still not quite sure why the warning announcement was made because they assured me we are only under a watch. Everyone was sent back to their rooms and you'd think this is the end of my joyful night, right? WRONG. Remember the first sentence of this paragraph? I still had to do rounds.

Being the genius I am (but not the genius who did not install the speaker) I decided to wear a full-length dress to church today and to keep it on for duty. I also decided to bring my massive purse to the office with me, but made the awesome decision to take out my umbrella. I'm a thinker, what can I say. At this point, the thunder rolls, the lightning strikes. Another love grows cold on a sleepless night. Or not, but I had to throw a little Garth in there. The thunder and lightning as well as pouring rain bit is true however. All I could do at this point was hike up my dress and run. Heidi and I booked it from building to building barefoot and splashing in puddles. Then the moment of truth came, I turned a corner and slid full speed on my right hip like I was heading to home plate and my life depended on it. Skirt in the dirt, baby! And that's about where the fun stops. Heidi laughed at my gracefullness and we finished our rounds. The rain slowed by the end and we were able to walk back, hair dripping down our faces, my butt soaked.

GO TEAM.

The life of a Graduate

2009-06-06T16:33:00.004-05:00

I really don't know what to say right now, but I feel like it's time for a post. I've been keeping incredibly busy since graduation, but it's amazing how many hours are still left in the day for relaxation. I've been working about 36 hours a week at the Army Corps of Engineers because I still am on duty about once or twice a week at the dorms. I am ALMOST done fulfilling my RA responsibilities and I cannot wait. This whole double duty plus internship thing is rough! But like I said, I still have time to relax (I'm just sleeping only 5 hours a night).

I moved into my new dorm with my friend Lisa after school got out but she was gone for a week so I caught up on an episode or two of Grey's Anatomy every night until I finished the season. Then, the next week I had a BBQ night, sushi night, BBQ at the lake, Worlds of Fun, a day of rest, a BBQ down in Pawnee City, and a week long trip to Utah for Whit's wedding! Lisa and I are finally back together after all our vacations and we've watched 4 movies this week, made homemade stir-fry, and I went to a Royal's baseball game and camping for a night. I love summer.
Lisa and I were going to take a picture with our diplomas after we'd showered and gotten all pretty but we thought this really captured the reality of our lives after graduation.

The Return of My Wit!

2009-05-20T10:12:00.005-05:00

First, when you read that title, it should be read "The Weturn of My Wit!" because as soon as I wrote it, that's how it sounded in my head. No, I haven't developed a speech impediment, I just think it sounds better. Get over it. And yes, I'm just awfully silly today and everyday this week. Whitney figured it out. When I'm not in school I can use my brains for much more entertaining purposes than calculating voltage drop, static pressure, t-tests, etc. So for your entertainment, here's what has been making me laugh lately.

Me to Kyle: "My roommate from oz just called me which means she's at the pub, she's drunk and soulja boy is playing. I love my friends."

Me to Kyle (Speaking of work): "I waste plenty of time and they're still impressed with my productvity. They set the bar high obviously!"

Me to Jenn and Melissa: "Bahahahaha I just saw a lady at work wearing an oversizes denim shirt and leopard leggings."

Jared to Me: "We are also joining a kickball league that starts the first week in june so we are going to be practicing that a lot too"

Me: "poooooooop"
Rob: "Poopy farts. but on another note do you have my notebook in your car by chance?"

Matt to Me: "I just got a call from my aunt, who handed the phone to their tech guy to ask me questions. I was tech support for the tech support FML"

Jared: then me and polar bear usually go work on our cannonballs
me: haha that's a nice end to the day. i wish i had a pool. JO really should work on that
Jared: its a absolute dream. yeah that would be awesome.. i would come back and work as a life guard and live in a little hut by the pool
me: and rescue me when i have a few too many margaritas and fall in
Jared: that is just the story of your life .. you're a regular tequila queen
me: i'm such a lush

This was a quote I found from a website but it something I would totally say:
(608): Multitasking record: pooping whilst putting on shoes and cleaning ear with q-tip. All while texting. (608): Update: fell off toilet, one shoe on, q-tip still in ear. Not a pro.
AND LASTLY... FOR ADULT EYES ONLY!!

Me to Whitney: "I was writing on your wall and saw your friend with the last name "matsubara" but that's not what registered in my mind!!"

NEWSFLASH: I Graduated!!

2009-05-18T07:52:00.002-05:00

I was honestly a little nervous that I wasn't going to graduate because I had a few things that got mixed up with the whole study abroad process but I was glad to see this this morning at the end of my transcript:

Requirements completed for Bach of Science, Architectural Engr
You have successfully completed all academic requirements for this program. Congratulations!
------End of UNO UNDERGRADUATE ACADEMIC TRANSCRIPT---------

BOOM. Update.

2009-05-17T12:14:00.010-05:00

It's been over a month since I've really said anything about what's actually going on in my life. So, seeing as how I am a list person, here's what's been happening:

I...

Got accepted into the Master of Archictectural Engineering program at UNL/UNO (pending I graduated... which I sure hope I did. I guess I find out at the beginning of June when they mail out the diplomas!)
Gained a new brother as I've spent so many hours with Rob (the other Resident Director). He has now become accustomed to sassy Caitlin, mega-organized Caitlin, grumpy Caitlin, super-tired-and-silly-because-I-should-have-gone-to-bed-3-hours-ago Caitlin, burping Caitlin, multi-tasking Caitlin, etc. He's really put up with a lot and it's only been about a month!
Blew away the other choirs at our Stake Choir Festival
Moved from my room in Nerd Castle to my summer room with Lisa
Laughed uncontrollably when Rob said, "Lisa, I don't know how to put this politically correct but your driving makes my butt pucker." HAHAHAHA I'm laughing again now as I write that. (There will be plenty of stories between Rob and Lisa this summer, I'm sure)
Cried for the first time since coming home as I said goodbye to my international friends
Got asked to plan the kick-off activity for our Stake Youth Conference (it's been a looong time since I've been around youth!)
Bought "big kid" pots and pans, knives and cutlery :)
Created a sweet 35 page document (with the help of my group) that will be entered into a nationwide competition for ASHRAE
Used my crockpot not once, but TWICE in one week
Didn't sleep much
ROCKED my finals. ROCKED, ROCKED my finals.
Decided I don't want to go to Sweden because I don't want to go to school anymore. So back to the Peace Corps it is!
Made smoothies at 12:30 a.m. and wrote this post when I now have to be at work in 6 hours. I LOVE COLLEGE.
LOTS more but I can't remember... I'll try to do better!

PEACE OUT.

The Knack

2009-04-21T20:49:00.001-05:00

My teacher showed this in class today:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/410397/dilbert_the_knack/

The mother has every right to be crying. I feel her pain.

No Sleep Til Brooklyn!

2009-04-21T00:51:00.002-05:00

Apparently I have a thing for song titles as my entry titles. It might have something to do with the fact that I'm always listening to music. Anyway, I just thought I'd whine a little bit more about my new nocturnal habits. :) Last week I did a good job of getting into bed around or even before midnight (amazing, I know!) but my annoying body clock woke me up most mornings at 6 a.m. Thankfully, I could fall back asleep. Then, I worked the overnight shift on Saturday into Sunday and it's all just snowballed from there. I got 3 hours of sleep before church, then I decided to be social all day and night before finally starting my homework at 11 p.m. I hate doing homework on Sundays, but it had to be done. I was wide awake at 5 a.m. today and since then it has just been one thing after the other. It's now 1 a.m. and I'm starting my homework. 17 Days.

Navy Seals

2009-04-15T12:22:00.003-05:00

I'm sure you have all heard about those bad a. Navy Seals taking out those Somali pirates. If you haven't, you must live in a bubble. Anyway, I was thoroughly impressed with their mad skills and I would love to have some thrilling career like that instead of engineering. So, in honor of my admiration, I just purchased this shirt:

Icebreaker Anyone?

2009-04-14T00:35:00.004-05:00

Tonight we had all the old and new RAs meet for a little mix and mingle type deal. Rob and I were put in charge and despite attempting to plan the meeting ahead of time, we just flew by the seat of our pants (I think this is going to be a common occurrence for us... it's just how we both roll). I did, however, come prepared with food and an icebreaker. I don't know how many of you have had to do icebreaker type games before, but I cannot even tell you how many I've done in my life and they get old and unoriginal and just not very much fun. Luckily, I stumbled across one that turned out to be a blast. We gave every person fake dollar bills (the instructions said to give 10, I have 6 because I was sick of cutting them out). From there, they had to go around to different people and challenge them to either a thumb war, rock-paper-scissors, or flipping a coin. If they lost, they had to give away a dollar bill. While it may not have been an activity that forces you to get the know the person, it brings out a lot of laughs which is the first step to friendship in my eyes.

In the end, the game was a big hit, everyone loved the food (I made dirt cake with the oreos, pudding, gummie worms, etc) and Rob and I definitely started things off on the right foot. Hoorah.

Oh, Celine.

2009-04-12T23:46:00.004-05:00

On my drive to Lincoln today for Easter I decided to pop in an old friend of mine... My Celine Dion "All the way... A Decade of Song" disco compacto. My music taste when I was younger was strongly influenced by my siblings and I can thank Marisa for this one. And boy am I grateful. Celine is still on my iTunes today and normally I skip her songs when they come on. But man oh man, when you listen to that whole CD at once, you can't help but love her and want to love someone. My direct text to Miss Brianna Nye tonight was, "So I'm listening to my Celine Deion cd and I want to make love during this album haha." Too much information? Nah, you know you feel the same way.

Muy productivo

2009-04-08T20:56:00.004-05:00

I got so used to the lazy Aussie way that I forgot how much I can get done when I'm uber busy. If it is in my planner, it gets done. Because every hour is scheduled I'm much better about reading my scriptures, praying, working out, etc. I know it's a little (or a lot) sad but I even have to schedule in social time. It ensures that I see the people I want to see!

So while I'm a little bummed that I've practically fully conformed back to the fast-paced American lifestyle, I'm quite happy and have no complaints!

It's Official

2009-04-06T22:43:00.006-05:00

"Come my minions,

Rise for your master,

Let your evil shiiiiiiiiine!"Das right, Rob and I will be RESIDENT DIRECTORS next year!
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Life is a Highway

2009-04-02T22:28:00.012-05:00

I didn't know what to title this entry, and then this good ol' Tom Cochrane came on my iTunes. Personal revelation? Doubt it, but it is a fitting song for me in general. Life is a highway and I DO want to ride it all night long. Though lately I feel like I'm being dragged along instead of actually riding it! Since Monday I have spent 48 hours either at work (either the Corps or the dorms), in class, doing homework or school-related things. Some day it'll be worth it...right?

On a lighter note, part of the reason for the stress this week is because I took the entire weekend off of homework to go to Denver...FINALLY! I can't believe it's been over a year since the last time I lived there. My original flight was canceled Thursday night due to their foot of snow but I made it out early Friday morning and spent the day playing guitar hero, watching Batman Begins, then we went to my favorite Pizza place, clubbing downtown and more guitar hero until 3:30 a.m.! After sleeping in on Saturday we lounged around until we went downtown again to the library for an exhibit on Henry Lowenstein (a Denver set/costume designer), dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, the symphony performing Rodgers and Hammerstein music, us "Oklahoma" in the middle of downtown, yummy shakes for dessert and we finally ended the night with "Thoroughly Modern Millie" which I need to watch again because I passed out. (Belb, I'm sure you're very disappointed in me!). On Sunday we went to church and made the most amazing fondue I've ever had before they unwillingly kicked me to the curb at the airport.

We love self-timers.

Also, this next picture is just too good to pass up. Have I ever mentioned how much I admire the creativity of Relief Society Presidencies? Mel and Noell helped with their ward enrichment and their "Thank you" was this porcelain bird on a nest made of popcorn, raisin bran, pretzels, rice krispies, pull'n'peel twizzlers and who knows what else...

I finally had "free time" at about 8:00 p.m. tonight and I've spent it cleaning my entire room, doing dishes, and now this. Soon (and yes, it is almost 11:30 pm) I'm off to make buttermilk pancakes with some of my residents. I know I'm going to regret it when I go to work at 7 a.m. tomorrow.

Mad Skills

2009-03-23T23:15:00.003-05:00

I've always wanted to go into into graphic design but seeing as how they get paid crap and the job market is non-existent for them, I'll stick with engineering. However, I get to make fun T-shirt designs and flyers for work. Below is my latest work for the annual "Date Auction" I'm planning. Just thought I'd share. Enjoooy!

Flyer

T-shirt Front and Back

Rudolph

2009-03-21T21:48:00.004-05:00

Can you see the sunburn?

This entry is going to be in reverse chronological order, or maybe no order because I chose a title that pertains to today. You don't care, I'll just continue. I never expected to get my first sunburn of the year in mid-March but it was well worth it. I spent 2.5 hours outside today completely unprotected in the blazing sun. My run was phenomenal and what's even better is it was my third run of the week! Sadly, that might possibly be my highlight of spring break. Just kidding, the Missy Higgins concert I went to on St. Patrick's Day was. She is absolutely amazing, I'm almost cried. No j. (No joke for you non-abbreviators) I almost cried tonight because I laughed harder than I have in a long time at our "girls night" dinner. That might have been better than Missy or the running. Although that 4 hour nap on the couch at Mom and Dad's was pretty dang awesome. I can make one decision for sure and that is that working full time at the Army Corps was not the best part. Or working 13 hours straight at the dorms (including an overnight shift). Although, I was able to watch HSM3, The Princess Bride, Mama Mia and catch up on a few episodes of Chuck, Grey's Anatomy and the Office. Another happy moment is when I bought my favorite Paul Mitchell mousse so I am now able to leave my hair curly again. I also purchased a perfectly fitting $100 pair of jeans for only $20. Oh! I also had two old-school sleepovers this week. So maybe my Spring Break wasn't filled with beaches and beer like the average college student's but I'd have to say it turned out pretty dang good. And now I'll hopefully have money to spend on a fun trip another time. Or grad school. LAME.

The magnificent Missy Higgins and her marvelous melodica. (No worries, she is s real musician who plays the piano and guitar and sings B-E-A-utifully). Oh, and did I mention she's Aussie? <3>

Mmmmm chocolate overload ice cream and The Office. (Wow, I totally just realized we were watching The Office IN the office!) Can you tell I'm tired, yet?

Another perk (besides money) from working everyday was that I got to see the gorgeous Nebraska sunrises on the drive every morning.

Hot Blondes Anyone?

2009-03-05T23:07:00.006-06:00

I LOVE SWEDES. I think I found my perfect opportunity. And while you may think I'm kidding, I'm not. I can get a Masters Degree in Sustainable Energy Engineering for FREE in Sweden.

http://www.energy.kth.se/index.asp?pnr=15&ID=222&lang=0

This is my wonderful Swede, Johan, that I found in Australia. I can't wait to find more where that came from!! :)

Putting the Pieces Back Together

2009-03-04T08:34:00.003-06:00

I just got the urge to put together a puzzle. A big, challenging one. 1000 Pieces-ish. I LOVE PUZZLES. The END.

My title made it sound like this was going to be a really good and thoughtful, possibly juicy entry, huh. Gotcha.

PAYBACK

2009-03-01T09:14:00.006-06:00

Two years ago for the RA retreat we were on the paddle boats at Mahoney State Park when Malachi (an RA) found a floating dead fish in the water. Despite our gag-filled objections, Malachi picked it up and threw it at another boat full of RAs. As it landed the guts splattered everywhere spreading the second worst smell I've ever experienced. (First was the 10-yea-old rotten milk in the apartment above Travis' dentist office). Lisa has tried for years to get Malachi back but has always failed miserably... until now.

Last night we planned our monthly RA retreat and had all intentions of going bowling until we got there and all the lanes were full. That's when the combined masterminds started scheming a plot to prank Malachi.

Two frozen fish were purchased from WalMart

Two industrial size rolls of Saran wrap were used to wrap anything and everything

RA Bonding at its finest

Wrapping the bed

Wrapping Nick to the bed

Stuffing the room full of newspaper

Hydrating the poor boy

The girls with our newspaper ink war paint
"Burrowing" as we wait for his arrival
He took it like a champ

I have the best job and coworkers ever.

P.S. You may have noticed my hair is slightly darker. I got an all-over brown yesterday with some blonde highlights on top. I thought it was a lot darker than it actually is! Oh well, me likey.

It's the little things

2009-02-27T09:45:00.005-06:00

The smallest things lately have been making me laugh and putting me in a good mood for the rest of the day (and anytime I think back on it!). For example, on Monday I needed the bathroom as I was in the library so I went. No worries, this is not going to be a dirty story! I normally never set off the sensors on automatic toilets. Sometimes I even wave my arms like a crazy woman but to no avail; I end up having to push the button myself. This was my first time in these bathrooms so I expected the same. However, this was not the case. It flushed once as I reached for toilet paper. It flushed a second time as I just sat there. It flushed a third time as I stood up. It flushed a fourth time as I exited the stall! I was laughing out loud by myself in the restroom and walked out with a big smile on my face. I do not want to know what other people were thinking about me at that point!Just a few minutes ago I had a similar experience. I don't know what it is about work, but I go to the bathroom at least once an hour. Therefore, I know from many experiences that I have to push the button to flush. Hence my surprise as it flushed twice on me as I just sat there! THEN, the sink started running. Now I was almost positive that there was no one else in the bathroom with me, but I've been wrong before. I'm beginning to think there was a ghost in the stall with me pushing the flush button (because we know it wasn't dancing around setting off the sensor) and then moving to the sink because as far as I know, I was alone! I got a pretty good laugh from this as well.

And lastly, I was caught redhanded yesterday laughing to myself. After class I was sitting by myself working on some homework and I had been texting a few friends. I received a funny response which caused me to emit a short burst of laughter before I caught myself but apparently the goofy smiled stayed on my face long enough for my friend Danny to see. He totally called me out on it, but admitted to being like me where we will randomly start thinking about a funny past experience and laugh while no one else has any clue what's going on.

I LOVE MY LIFE.

Someday, Somewhere, Somehow

2009-02-25T21:01:00.002-06:00

I will live overseas again, I will. I don't even want to say the word "if" because it is such a "when" in my mind. I think the peace corps is a pretty solid plan if nothing else comes up. I can't imagine they would reject me with a Master's in Engineering. Today, however I was presented with the idea of possibly doing my Master's overseas. I have not looked into any universities or really thought about it all that much but I do think it would be a worthwhile endeavor. While it would be so nice to be done with school next May, if I studied and did my thesis on an engineering topic somewhere else in the world, that would hopefully make me more desireable to the international job market. Now, I don't want ya'll to think that I have anything against the US. That is not the case at all. I'm just young and very single and now is my time to explore. If I have the guts for it, why not.

"The ice looks really slippery tonight"

2009-02-23T23:38:00.004-06:00

Sporadic Caitlin strikes again. I spent all of 24 hours (give or take a few) in the blessed state of Wisconsin on Thursday and Friday. A school group (ASHRAE: The American Society of Heating, Ventilation, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers) road tripped up to the land of cheese and cows to tour a chiller manufacturing plant. None of you appreciate how interesting it actually was, this I understand. But we had a lot of fun on Thursday night as we hit the booming metropolis that is La Crosse, Wisconsin in our sweet 15-passenger vans. Oooh, the memories of "The Beast." After a late night and an early start to tour on Friday, it was no wonder we all crashed on the way home.

I made a quick turnaround after arriving home and went out bowling with my friends Rachel and Derek from church and their friend Paul. I am all over the place with that game. I rocked my first few frames, sucked it up the rest of the game and picked it back up again for the second and third games. It's all luck, I'm sure of it.

Saturday started bright and early once more as I headed to Schuster's for breakfast, to the SAC museum to pick up Logan, a quick shower before the PKI (Peter Kiewit Institute) open house. I gave Logan a computer and a TV and he was fine entertaining himself while I "worked." I would proudly like to note that this is the 5th open house that I have volunteered and I have proudly sat at the registration table for each and every one. I have successfully avoided ever giving a tour of PKI in all my years of volunteering (a truly impressive task). Buddy and I then ate in the oh-so-wonderful cafeteria and beautified ourselves for the hockey game. I put on a scarf as usual and decided Logan needed one as well. We tried a few and decided on the pink and boy did he rock it. TJ Jones joined us for the game and my friend Kyle came as well. It was there that I made my wise comment of "The ice looks really slipptery tonight." We played Notre Dame and it was hands down the best hockey game I've been to (even though we lost). IHOP was our last destination of the night where TJ and Logan sucked lines of salt and imitation sugar through a straw and finished off an entire bottle of Blueberry syrup. Once we got home, I'm not sure if it was a food coma or lack of sleep but Logan and I both crashed on my couch before I threw him a pillow and I curled up into my bed. I thoroughly enjoyed a full 10 hours of sleep before going to an hour of church and then took Buddy to the airport.

Last night I then did nothing but sit and eat pistachio after pistachio after pistachio while watching the Oscars. Not a bad weekend. Not bad at all.

FUNnel Cakes

2009-02-18T19:50:00.005-06:00

My life is pretty low key these days hence the slow updates on my blog. My snow day was just what I needed; I took a nap and spent the entire night watching Chuck Season 1 with Graham. Saturday I worked the office for 7 hours while doing homework. Valentine's night I went to my friend Rob's where a group of us made dinner and watched The Princess Bride. I was also attacked by snowballs while sitting in the kitchen then later thrown completely in the snow and locked out whilst barefoot. I love guy friends. My choir sang on Sunday and they are so amazing. I can't help but smile everytime I look up at them!

I didn't have to work on Monday so I did homework instead (boo), went to class, did more homework, went to my social dance class (which I thought about dropping because I don't really have time but it's so much fun!!), went to RA meeting and went to Nashcake's for the new episode of Chuck! Tuesday was just as busy as I had class, class, class, lunch, class, class, organ lessons, institute and then FUNNEL CAKES! It was one of my resident's ideas so I found a recipe online and we gave it a shot! It worked pretty darn well and I'm now the proud new owner of an electric skillet. Stir fry or scones, anyone?

SNOW DAY!

2009-02-13T13:14:00.004-06:00

I was a little irritated when OPS was canceling school this morning before the snow already started, and then UNO closed at noon while I had to go to work still. WELL, lucky me, they sent us all home from work early and paid us for the remaining hours!! Time to do NOTHING. :)

Nose to the Grindstone

2009-02-08T21:20:00.005-06:00

I don't really know what that saying means, but I think it applies to me lately! School has been kicking my trash as homework has begun to take over my life. To keep my sanity I make a point to see be social and this week I was blessed with the Superbowl party at the dorms, a birthday surprise from the Brits, laser tag with other Architectural Engineering students, "he's just NOT that into you" and youtube videos with B (Brittany Pranke from church)...look up "David after Dentist right now... seriously. Saturday morning continued the new tradition of breakfast with Schuster (Megan, a school friend) and a night of sushi with Nashcakes (Matt Nash, a former RA) followed by a homework and old school music videos. (I highly recommend "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" by Whitney Houston).

I should also note that I am also taking organ lessons which are offered by our stake and a social dance class through school. I was also able to find time to go running twice this week because I could not resist when the weather is 60 degrees! Maybe my life isn't completely filled with homework but dang, there are NOT enough hours in the day.

Maturity

2009-01-31T23:43:00.003-06:00

I was blogstalking some people and it's so interesting to see how different everyone's lives are. Mainly, it's interesting to see how different my life is from everyone else my age with which I grew up. (Melissa, I originally ended that sentence with 'with' and recognized my error and changed it just for you!) I look at my most recent post of my ridiculous slide show and can't help but think that I must appear very immature and childlike. And you know what, I am. I think my maturity has digressed in many regards recently. But, I'm okay with that. I've always been told I'm very mature for my age (and I know I still am) but I'm glad I've lightened up a lot. One day I will finally move out of the dorms and be forced to grow up, but until then I'm going to enjoy doing whatever I see fit whenever I see fit!

Office Fun

2009-01-28T10:10:00.003-06:00

My boss, Jonathan has been in the hospital for about a week now with celulitis (I think?). Either way, it's pretty bad. After a full weekend of homework, I refused to do any last night and what a better way to pass the time than by painting with the Crayola Magic Lightbrush Santa got me for Christmas! Poor Rob had to work the office so I provided him with some distractions as well. This is the result.

engineering humor

2009-01-26T17:29:00.002-06:00

I've spent literally the entire weekend and today working on my electrical lab assignment and was glad when my friend caused me to laugh out loud as I sat cooped up at my laptop surrounded by drawings and calculations.

Me: "Do you know how big transformers are? Like dimensions."
Steve: "Optimus prime is really big."

I hope you enjoyed that as much as me. If not, maybe these cartoons will make you laugh. Sometimes I feel like the kids who solved these problems.

Reality Bites

2009-01-25T23:29:00.009-06:00

I'm finally back to the old pre-Australia Caitlin where the madness never stops. Last semester was a nice slow transition back to real life, I guess. Then on January 12 I showed up to my new job at the Army Corps at 8:00 a.m., went straight to class afterwards, and it's all been downhill since then. My life is speeding by and I'm not sure how to deal with the stress anymore. It's been over a year since I've had to actually spend hours and hours in class or work and then fill my nights with homework. I know I shouldn't complain because that was my first 2.5 years of school, I'm just having to adjust again.

Despite my jam-packed days and sleepless nights, I'm still finding time to socialize. I go to B-Dubs (Buffalo Wild Wings) every Thursday night with Graham and the Brits and last week I went out with them to a place called Espana afterwards and danced the night away (until I realized I left my keys in my coat which was in my trunk...) The weekend was filled with an RA retreat and I got a paid holiday on MLKJ Day! I also had to say goodbye to Caitlin Brow who headed to England for her big grand life adventure. I know I had my fun, but I'm still incredibly jealous.

I did no homework that first week which bit me in the butt this past week. Yet, I was still able to go out for wings again on Thursday and then spent the whole night making a late night breakfast for my residents. I made banana bread, coffee cake, monkey bread, our Christmas breakfast casserole and bought cinnamon rolls. Most of it went wrong but ended up tasting fine. It was a loooong day. But I had 32 out of my 40 residents attend which is unbelievable.

On Friday, I worked all day but was blessed with a lunch visit from Jordan and his family. I wish we were all as pleasant and smiled as often as that little one. Friday night I had a Girl's Night with the girls I work with - Bonnie and Libby who work the office, Courtney is one of the Resident Directors, and Lisa who one of my favorite RAs. We gossiped while enjoying food at P.F. Changs and laughed our heads off afterwards at Bridewars. (I know people who say it's terrible and yes, it is extremely predictable but I needed some senseless humor, thank you). Saturday morning I woke up early and headed to Megan Schuster's for breakfast. We have decided this is our best option of a consistent time to see each other. Odd time, but it works. Saturday was filled with homework, lunch with Marisa and Travis, more homework, a disgusting loss at the UNO hockey game, and more homework. Then, when I finally wanted to go to bed, I discovered my heater is broken. It's not that it doesn't work, it won't shut off from full blast. I couldn't sleep in my sweltering bedroom so I moved to the couch for a few hours rest where it was slightly less tropical. This finally brings me to today where I did more homework (I hate doing homework on Sundays but I really didn't have an option this time), went to church, did more homework and celebrated Australia Day with my floor while watching "A Very Duggar Wedding" on TLC.

Whew. This might have been the longest two weeks of my life and I wish it were an exxageration. Let's pray I survive the next 14 weeks.

For Mom

2009-01-18T20:02:00.004-06:00

Pretty much everyone who reads this blog is on facebook and has seen these pictures but Mom requested so here you go. I'm not going to write about it though because that takes too long.

Brandon and I at Grand Central Station
Brandon, me, Anthony and Andrea at Rockefeller
Times Square
Empire State Building

Day 2 with the Norwegians - Hilde and Vibeka

Sophie, the Brit joined us as well

Mom, this is the amazing salad I told you about!

New Years Eve

The New Years Day recovery
Jojo, Christine, Joannie and I

Poutine!

Christine, Joannie and Jojo in Old Montreal

Sledding on Snowboards in Ottawa

Beavertails in Ottawa

Did you know?

2009-01-14T11:43:00.003-06:00

FACT: Spanish is the number one language spoken in the church.
FACT: The human being's thigh bones are stronger than concrete.

Just thought I'd share two piece of wisdom I learned yesterday. :)

Book vs. Movie

2009-01-11T21:04:00.002-06:00

We all know that books are always better than the movie but I was thinking the other day and couldn't come to a conclusion. Is it better to read the book before a movie or after? If you read it before you sit and criticize and oftentimes cannot fully appreciate the movie. But, if you see the movie first it's hard to use your imagination as you read because you see the characters in your mind as they are portrayed in the movie. Thoughts? I'm stumped.

Vegas

2008-12-23T20:25:00.007-06:00

Immediately after the reception we drove down to Vegas. We being me, My, Khan (My's cousin), David, Jenny and John (friends from AU as well), and Brandon and Britton Beckham (Beckham was an elder in Melbourne).

I was so happy to see palm trees again!

Random foreigner named Ron and me.....New York, New York

The Girls

Excalibur......................MGM Grand

The gorgeous Chihuly ceiling and Christmas decorations at the Bellagio

The Fremont Street Experience

Coney Dogs: An American Tradition!

One of these is not like the others...
Who sticks out like a sore thumb?

John, Britton, David, Brandon
Jenny, Khan, Me, My

Utah

2008-12-23T16:12:00.007-06:00

Here are the results of my random trip to Utah! I got in late Tuesday night and stayed with Brianna and Andy. On Wednesday we went to Park City and just wandered around the outlets and the cute little ski town.

I stayed with Ashley on Wednesday night...

And hung out with Shelby on Thursday. But she was sick and doing homework so I hung out with her replacement, Genevieve.

Then after driving through this:I got to see my entire reason for going to Utah... MY!

Homemaker in Training

2008-12-15T18:08:00.003-06:00

Lately I've resorted back to being 12-year-old Caitlin who babysits and is crafty. It was only a few years after that that life got way too busy to do either and I felt the creativity being sucked out of me and replaced with numbers, variables and all sorts of logical thinking. BUT, I'm returning to my roots and the way my Mama raised me.

Ya'll saw my lovely Christmas ornament decorations and these are my many crocheting and knitting projects (some finished, many unfinished) I've recently become obsessed with.

On Friday night I got the pleasure of babysitting six of the nieces and nephews. It's hard to believe that I used to babysit Savannah as a newborn and now she's 9!

Then I decided to rock the glasses on Saturday like the olden pre-contact days while I went ice skating with my floor in downtown Omaha before the weather turned into this yucky freezingness that it is now.

Oh, and like many tweeners I finally saw High School Musical 3 and was this excited:

Impulse Decision

2008-12-03T16:41:00.002-06:00

I was having a conversation at dinner with some of my residents last night about how we want to be more spontaneous and impulsive. We want to just take off for a weekend when we get the urge. With that being said... I just bought a ticket to fly to Utah on December 16th once my last final is done to see some Aussie friends who will be there (and Bri, Ashley and Shelby hopefully)! We're then road tripping to Vegas and I'm flying back on December 21. There's spontaneity for you.

Tis the Season!

2008-12-01T20:25:00.003-06:00

So I broke the rules and decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving this year but it was so worth it to get back to my dorm room to see this. It just puts you in the holiday spirit, doesn't it?!
I got crafty and decorated these glass ornaments myself by putting various berries, leaves, pine branches, tinsel, etc. :)

So close!

2008-11-25T14:02:00.002-06:00

That title seems to be referring to a lot of things these days...
-Thanksgiving Break is almost here. I'm done with class but can't leave the dorms until Wednesday.
-After Thanksgiving I only have 2 more full weeks of school and then finals.
-The Christmas program is sneaking up on me (Dec. 14) but the choir has been doing so amazingly well. I'm extremely proud of them!!
-My advisor thought I was a few credits short of my Bachelors degree in May but I'm safe.
-I should be getting an internship here shortly...
-Christmas is in a MONTH!
-New York in just over a month!!
-My Birthday in just over 2 months!

So many things to get me through the misery of school!! :)

Why I love MY major

2008-11-17T14:43:00.002-06:00

In contrast to Shelby's essay questions which are complete gibberish to me, here are my assignments:

Reinforced Concrete Homework #6: Design a corbel with minimum dimensions per ACI 318 to support a beam shown below (sorry I'm not including the picture). The corbel is to project from a 16-inch square column. Restrained creep and shrinkage shall be assumed to create the minimum horizontal force per ACI 318 (see ACI 11.8.3.4).

Building Energy II Lab #5: After sitting in the boiler room of my engineering building we were assigned to:
1. Draw a schematic diagram of the hot water primary systems, including boilers, pumps, airseparator, expansion tank, water treatment device, exhaust, valves, bypass pipe, supply and return pipes.
2. Equipment schedules, including boilers, blowers, pumps, expansion tank.
3. What kind of boilers are they, condensing or non-condensing?
4. Boiler efficiency
5. Investigate the approximate square feet of PKI and calculate the current heating capacity per square foot; project the design heating load per square foot for this building (assume the heating load has a linear relationship to the outside air temperatue) and analyze your result and compare it with that of the typical office building.

FUUUUUN STUFF HUH? The ironic thing is I can do the concrete homework, no problem but that lab for HVAC (which is my new emphasis...) was a whole other story. Our teacher lectured us today on how we did everything wrong when he never taught us what we needed to know in class and probably still won't teach us (we're apparently just supposed to know these things because we're going to be engineers and we're problem solvers). Anyone know of any good books that will teach me what I need to know? The one he assigned teaches us even less than he does. Good times in Architectural Engineering. :)

"Under the Weather" or is it just the weather?

2008-11-11T20:24:00.002-06:00

All I want to do is sleep these days which works well with my previous entry of being completely and totally bored all the time. I took a 3 hour nap today and I'm not sure if my body really needs the sleep because it's fighting off diseases or if it just sees that it was dark and damp and cold today and decided that it wants to be in bed. Sleep seems to be the trend around the dorms these days which is quite opposite from how it usually is.

Here I am Again.

2008-11-10T23:42:00.006-06:00

The fact that I'm posting a second time today is a prime example of my Mondays. I finish class at 10:30am and have until 10:00pm to entertain myself. As of late I have had zero homework so today I set up my new webcam... and that was the only productive thing I did. I then went to Hobby Lobby and bought knitting needles and yarn, turned on the television upon returning home and sat. I do believe I knitted and watched TV for 4 hours today... how disgusting. What has my life come to?

I did learn a few things though:
1. I'm madly in love with Chuck and I want him (or an equivalent) to be my husband.
2. I do not want sextuplets or even twins.
3. I love kids and want them more and more everyday but contraceptives are a MUST. I am not having 17+ children.
4. I'm glad I have standards without being extremely weird like the Duggers.
5. A Honey Mustard Shake is a terrible idea (Graham and I decided to combine our love of Honey Mustard and Ice Cream but sadly the two just do mix)
6. I should have actually gone to bed an hour and a half ago when I said I was going to go. Goodnight!

More Sharing of our Culture

2008-11-10T11:28:00.005-06:00

I spent almost my entire weekend with the Brits again. On Friday I got free tickets to the Omaha Symphony so I took my fellow RA and friend, Lisa, as well as Graham and 3 of the Brits. A very attractive and talented tenor, Mario Frangoulis, sang with them and it was superb. I could not wipe the smile off my face. I love the symphony. That night I also exposed Lisa to the greatness that is Strictly Ballroom. I do believe her quote was, "This might possibly be the worst movie ever but I love it!"

Saturday morning Graham, Caitlin Brow, the Brits and I packed our bags for Kansas City. If I'm with the Brits, I'm usually with Caitlin and Graham. (To avoid confusion, I'm always Luke now and she's Caitlin). Anyway, last weekend we went to dinner at her house so this weekend we drove down to have KC with Graham's family (and only paid $1.93/gallon for gas in Omaha and $1.84 in Kansas!!). His dad made us some proper KC BBQ ribs that fell right off the bone and melted in your mouth. Delicious. After dinner it was like the olden days where after dinner families would gather in the front froom for live music. They all sat around in a food coma as I entertained them with my wonderful piano skills. Ha. We then had a good ol' sleep over with 8 of us in blankets and sleeping bags in his basement. His mom brought us down cinnamon rolls as a starter for breakfast and when we got upstairs they had biscuits and gravy, fruit, toast, bacon and were taking special orders for omelets! WOW. Talk about an American breakfast.

Ricky, Iris, Caitlin, me, Graham, Katie, Izzy, Sophia

Preparing for the Cold

2008-11-07T11:10:00.003-06:00

I, Caitlin Luke, have an addiction to winter clothing. Correction: FASHIONABLE winter clothing. I have fallen in love with hats and scarves and gorgeous coats. I've been wanting the purple coat for awhile now and I finally caved and I'm not regretting it at all! It was weird the other day when my friend described me as "chic." I never thought that word would be used in reference to ME but oh how things change.

Roller Coaster

2008-11-02T20:57:00.003-06:00

Sorry it's been awhile, things really have been a roller coaster lately. Speaking of roller coasters, I went down to Worlds of Fun a few weeks ago (October 10) with about 60 people and even did the rip cord. You know me, I can't pass up an adrenaline rush. The weekend after that I drove out to Illinois with my friend Jared to see Whit and Buddy. It was a perfect vacation - full of lots of sleep and laziness. On that Saturday we drove down to the St. Louis temple where I made a big life decision: I switched my emphasis in Architectural Engineering from Lighting Design to Mechanical. I know it may not seem like that big of deal, but it is. This is the rest of my life we're talking about! Reality is just around the corner and I'm not ready to face it. Anyway, the next weekend - now we're up to October 25 - was the Fundamentals of Engineering exam. A standardized Nationwide test that covers everything I've learned in the past 3 years. It went better than expected and hopefully I passed. The next day our ward choir sang (did I mention that I'm now choir director?)

And now to this week. After the stress of the past few weeks, I decided to be really social to make up for it. I hardly slept and was completely unproductive. Wednesday was madness. A new Wal-Mart opened just right up the street from the dorms so my crazy friends and I went exploring right as they opened. Then I had class, work, and a Halloween Dance at the dorms which I was in charge of and which seemed to have a lot of things going wrong at the last minute. Everything turned out okay and to add to my many late nights in a row, 30 of us went to IHOP at about 1:00 a.m. after it was over. That led me to sleeping through my Native American Studies test on Thursday (don't worry, the class is a joke and if I bring food to class I get credit for the test). In addition, I decided not to study for my HVAC test on Friday which ended up kicking my butt as well as everyone in the class (including those who studied). I was on duty at the dorms on Friday - yes, Halloween - and even had to work the overnight shift because the usual staff called in sick. I was on duty again yesterday and even though my to-do list is ridiculously long, I cannot bring myself to do anything. So it's now Sunday night and I have homework to do, emails to send, etc. but I don't want to and I'm not going to. Tomorrow will be a new bump on the roller coaster as I catch up on life. I went to the YSA fireside tonight and he quoted Salvador Dali and said, "Intelligence without ambition is like a bird without wings." It's time for me to find that ambition again.

Abuse

2008-09-29T12:06:00.003-05:00

I look like such an abused child today! I played a bit of football last night and destroyed my finger but luckily they say it's not broken. Then I have these lovely bruises on each arm. Beautiful, hey?

America at its Finest

2008-09-22T15:22:00.008-05:00

With the weather being absolutely fantastic this weekend I did not want to be shut inside all day so I called Marisa to see if I could head down and go fishing. She and Trav kindly obliged and also allowed me to bring four British exchange students with me! We got to Pawnee City and they commented on how they felt like they were in a movie. There truly is nothing like a tiny Nebraska town. When we got down there we realized we didn't have fishing licenses so we pulled out the guns and went shooting instead. None of them had ever fired a gun and I doubt they'd even really seen one before! Ricky, being a boy, loved it of course. The girls were quite amusing to watch especially poor little posh Izzy who now has a big ol' bruise on her shoulder from the shotgun. Marisa made us tacos for dinner and apparently that was a new experience for them as well! I love helping them out and introducing them to new things. I feel like it's my responsibility since everyone was so lovely to me down under! I'm just repaying the favor.

.

Apocalyptica

2008-09-19T13:17:00.007-05:00

Last night I went to a super sweet band which Logan introduced me to - Apocalyptica. It consists of four Finnish, professionally trained cellists who do covers of Metallica and other hard core rock/metal songs. Two band members had long flowing locks perfect for head-banging and I got a little jealous! It drew quite the variety of people and was a brilliant place for people watching. Take for example, this guy with this amazing haircut. Whit, I think you should bring back this style on all the males who use your services. :) The concert was a last minute thing and I was glad I could recruit a few others to go with me - Paul and Justin who live on my floor and also Ricky who is an exchange student from Leeds, UK. None of them were familiar with the band, but can appreciate musical talent and they all came out loving the band. Ya'll should listen and fall in love, too. <3

Newest Life Plan

2008-09-17T02:17:00.002-05:00

I don't know how many of you know this, but I'm no longer super excited about being an engineer. It's not an awful career, and I won't mind doing it when the time comes, but I'm not PASSIONATE about it. Therefore, I want to put off the real world for as long as possible. My most recent plans are to move to Alaska this upcoming summer and be a tour guide with Brianna (whom I miss soooo much) and to also join the Peace Corps after graduation. I reckon there are so many jobs in engineering, that even if I don't get an internship and do all the things I'm "supposed" to do in my path towards a career I'm still going to be able to find a job when the time comes (but who knows when that time will actually come!)

BAD IDEA

2008-09-11T13:35:00.002-05:00

So I woke up a few hours after my last post to go to class and was definitely regretting that shot of syrup because up it came along with my meal! I know it wasn't really necessary to pass this information along, but I'm now looking forward to just curling up on my couch the rest of the afternoon and taking it easy...

I don't sleep

2008-09-11T03:26:00.002-05:00

Yes, it's 3:32 a.m. and I should be sleeping seeing as how I have class in 4.5 hours but here I sit for now the second night in a row. I would say my average bedtime these days is about 2:00 with me very rarely making it into bed before 1:00. Tonight, just after midnight, I went to Denny's with some friends and as is tradition, we did syrup shots. Seeing as how I haven't had caffeine in like 5 years, that much sugar is enough to get me super wired and all jittery. But, I think it's worn off and I'm about to crash. Gooooooooodnight.

Back to the big O!

2008-09-06T10:39:00.006-05:00

So here I sit now having finished 2 weeks of school already procrastinating the ONE homework assignment I've gotten so far. This semester is going to be a breeze compared to the last 3 years (and minus the joke of classes down under).

I got back to the states on July 28 and after a few rough days of adjusting, everything is back to normal. Within weeks I was already playing dress up (I love the 90's) for RA training...and playing in muddy rivers as I went camping down near Nebraska City.

I dedicated my bedroom and also my entire floor to Australia and spent a lot of time making decorations...
and forcing my residents to wear my cheesy hats.
I've had so much fun back at the dorms singing karaoke,playing sand volleyball,dressing up as a cheerleader,and wreaking havoc on friend's rooms.I also got to spend labor day weekend at home with the fam picking peaches,shooting with the bros,
and experiencing my first roller derby with Dad and Whit.As much as I miss everyone that I met in Australia and all the good times I had, I've been genuinely happy with no complaints whatsoever since being back in Nebraska. What a nice surprise.

Whitsundays

2008-06-29T01:14:00.002-05:00

Hey all! Just wanted to let you know I survived my first sailing experience along the Whitsunday Islands! I may have survived, but I came off smelling wretched...no shower + swimming in the ocean + heat + 3 days = BIG YUCK. Ya'll will be glad to know that there was no puking, no fear of the water, I found Nemo, swam with a manta ray and came out with only a slight sunburn on my nose and more friends and good times. Once again, sorry no pictures, they probably won't come until the very end! PEACE OUT!

No pictures.. yet

2008-06-25T02:11:00.002-05:00

Hello hello hello!! Guess what I just did about an hour ago? HELD A KOALA!! It wasn't in the wild, it's at a wildlife sancturary here on Magnetic Island and I also held a little crocodile, a python and a bird ate a seed from my mouth (I just had it pursed between my lips)! But, I forgot my cord to upload pictures so those will have to come at a later date, I apologize. I will give a quick update, though!

I flew to Cairns on Saturday afternoon after a very tearful goodbye (yes, I cried AGAIN) to Joannie, Jojo and Vicky who bless their hearts drove to the airport with me and sat at the gate all the way until I boarded. (Security is much less strict here!) I checked into my hostel about 9:30 p.m., met my roommates, took a walk around town (there's not much to it) and went to bed. On Sunday I laid out for a few hours, got some food, and was overall very lazy. Monday I went on a day trip to the Great Barrier Reef and it was quite the experience! They said the seas were a little rough, but that was the understatement of the century. I made the mistake of sitting on the top deck but before I realized just how big of a mistake it was, it was safer to stay up top and get completely soaked then dare let go of the boat for fear of flying off. I'm not kidding, I feared for my life. So me, a German and a Frenchman just laughed our way through it. I then threw up, snorkeled for a bit, but the seas were very rough and I became quite terrified of the water so I got back in the boat and threw up again. Then, I dove with a tank and everything and loved it. I rented an underwater camera and the disk is being mailed home so keep an eye out, mom and dad! The water was a bit murky, but it was very cool nonetheless! After throwing up a third time when I got back onto the boat (I think it was a bad combination of the rocking boat, nerves and not having eaten breakfast) everyone went snorkeling again but I stayed in and chatted with a nice English girl. I dove with her Dutch friend earlier so the 3 of us held hands and suffered through the bumpy ride back to shore. I also hung out with them and their Canadian friend that evening.

Yesterday, or Tuesday, I went on a day trip to Cape Tribulation which is the rainforest. There really isn't much to say about it. We went on a boat cruise down the Daintree river and saw some crocodiles, I licked the butt of a green ant that tasted like lemon, and was the only one brave enough to swim in a freezing cold gorge. The rainforest was beautiful, especially where it backed right up to the beach. I hung out with the same three girls as before and caught a Greyhound Bus at 12:25 a.m. arriving at Townsville at 5:35 a.m. I slept the entire way there.

I caught a ferry this morning to Magnetic Island and layed on a beach for most of the morning. Then I went to the sanctuary where I played with all the animals (so not like me, I know). Now I'm catching up with the world, waiting to see sundown.

So yeah, that's it so far! I don't know if ya'll enjoy all the details or not but once I get going, I don't stop. Just a few random comments... everyone thinks I'm Canadian because there are HEAPS of them out here and very few Americans. Also, please don't worry about me traveling alone. I promise I'm doing just fine and I'm meeting people everywhere I go.

LOVE YOU ALL!

NO MORE SCHOOL!!

2008-06-18T21:41:00.002-05:00

HOORAY!! I'm finally done with the "real" reason I came to Australia and I'm about to begin the rest of my adventure. Exams were fine, I only really stressed about one, and I better have passed my classes in the end. I still have so many things that I want to do in Melbourne, but I'm out of time. Here's my travel itinerary for the next few weeks so you'll at least know where I am because I probably won't be online much.

Saturday June 21: Fly to Cairns
Sunday June 22: Cairns
Monday June 23: Dive the Great Barrier Reef
Tuesday June 24: Cape Tribulation Day Tour
Wednesday June 25 - Thursday June 26: Magnetic Island
Friday June 27 - Sunday June 29: Sailing the Whitsunday Islands
Monday June 30 - Thursday July 3: Fraser Island
Friday July 4 (HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!) - Saturday July 5: Brisbane
Sunday July 6: Byron Bay
Monday July 7-... Sydney

From there I will be meeting Jojo where we will go to the Blue Mountains, Canberra, Wilson't Promitory, the Great Ocean Road, the Grampians, Adelaide and Kangaroo Island. We will then go to Bendigo one last time, then fly down to Tasmania July 21-26. After some very quick goodbye's back in Melbourne I leave on July 28!!! It seems so close, but so far away considering everything I'm jamming in before then. I'm STOKED to see it all and to see everyone when I get home!! Love you and I'll post some pics when I can!!

Phillip Island

2008-06-03T21:45:00.004-05:00

Phillip Island is home to the world's smallest penguins and we've been wanting to go for awhile but haven't done it, yet. So I took the initiative and called to book a car to make it actually happen! I went with Eva (NY), Joannie, Jojo, and Andrea. We let Jojo drive the car out of the city while I navigated. I got us a bit lost but always knew exactly where were going. :) Basically, we were just confused about getting onto the freeway so we just had to turn around and try it again. Despite the the island having breathtaking beaches and yes, the world's smallest penguins, we might have been the most excited about having a car. After months of public transportation it was so nice to be able to go anywhere we wanted whenever we wanted. And surprisingly, I had no problem at all driving on the left side of the road. I pay attention and I'm a fast learner. It's not that difficult.

But this is the 5th entry that I've written today and I'm not feeling clever to write anything else. I didn't really take that many pictures yesterday, either. I let the others do it. I had a blast, don't get me wrong, but my lack of sleep finally smacked me in the face and I had to fight through it. Now, after my 6 day weekend I need to start being somewhat productive because exams start next week and I leave to travel in 2.5 weeks!!

The Weekend Continues...

2008-06-03T21:19:00.003-05:00

On Saturday night I went to dinner at a Chinese Restaurant with Jenny Thai from church and a group of friends from her work. As much as I love Jojo, Joannie, etc., it was nice to be with completely new people. I slept about 6 hours that night but had to wake up to be at church at 9! A woman from church, Joanne, picked me up and when I got in her car she handed me a bowl of soup and homemade bread to take inside for lunch later. I was totally taken back (and very grateful!) by how thoughtful that was! Church was really, really good. It was fast and testimony meeting and sometimes people can get a little off track in this ward but it was right on and the Spirit in the room was phenomenal. In Relief Society we talked about strengthening our homes and families and I was overwhelmed with emotion. I am so grateful for the amazing family I have grown up with and I also felt so blessed to have a family here in Australia among the other members of the church. I tried to fight the tears, but they flowed despite my efforts.

I was once again reminded how much I am loved as I watched a DVD when I got home with some of my favorite girls Jojo, Joannie, and Vicky. Then, I had to leave to finish an assignment due in the morning. I didn't think I was procrastinating because I'd already done a lot of the work. However, I did not realize just how much work I still had left!! By the time 4:00 a.m. hit, I knew there was no point in sleeping at all so I unleashed the perfectionist in me and pushed through. Luckily Scott (the other NE here) was also working on the same project so we could periodically text or visit one another to keep our sanity. I finally showered about 8:00 a.m. and was happy to have received a phone call from Mom and Dad when I got out! I couldn't talk long though because my group was coming to get me to finish that assignment once and for all.

I continued the day with an unusual amount of energy considering I'd had 9 hours of sleep in 3 nights. I met up with Jane Thai (Jenny's twin sisters) and the missionaries for a little outing. We didn't know where we wanted to go and eventually ended up at another garden. However, it was mainly just a large green field lined with trees. It was lovely nonetheless and was once again near my favorite part of town.... Brunswick Street! We went to lunch at a fabulous pizza place and then all hopped on the train back to our wonderful suburb of Footscary... I mean Footscray. :) About 2 hours later we were all reunited at Family Home Evening where I had the privilege of teaching the lesson. I was still all chipper and had a wonderful time chatting with everyone. The night ended like most nights with a DVD in Jojo's room.

The Start of Sleep Deprivation

2008-06-03T20:44:00.005-05:00

After St. Kilda on Friday I went to spend the night with a bunch of girls from church. I got caught up on all the gossip which meant that I didn't go to bed until 4:00 a.m. Even though I had to wake up at 6:00 to go to the temple, the lack of sleep was definitely worth getting to know them better. They're all Vietnamese or Chinese (but have grown up in Australia) and most are converts. I love getting to know people so different from me but finding out that we really are all the same. It was so nice to be able to be in the temple with them as well. It reminded me once again of how sad I will be to leave everyone!

Jenny, Han, Jenny, My, me and Jane

After the temple I showered quickly and headed to the city to meet Christine for lunch. I made us sandwiches, grabbed some fruit and veg and off we went to the Royal Botanical Gardens. I cannot get over how beautiful everything is here. Now that the dry summer is over everything is green but the leaves are changing and falling for autumn. I feel like I'm out of adjectives for this place and just my life these past few months. It's sad that no one at home will ever truly understand or appreciate these six months of my life.

Over the Yarra River on the way to the gardens.

We sat on a bench (it's too little to see) right in that patch of orange leaves.

St. Kilda

2008-06-03T20:16:00.005-05:00

The weather has been so nice lately and since classes are over until exams, I've been taking advantage of it. Joannie, Julie and I took around St. Kilda on Friday afternoon. To describe St. Kilda I'll quote from my travel book, "The former seaside resort of St Kilda has an air of shabby gentility, which enhances its current shcizophrenic reputation as a sophisticated yet seedy suburb..." It was so calm and peaceful that I couldn't help bus smile the entire time there. The beach itself is not very attractive, but the pier and the view of the city is breathtaking. We also went to Acland Street where there were so many cake shops with the most amazing creations I've ever seen. It's starting to hit us just how unique Melbourne is and how much we are going to miss it.

Art, Architecture and Jazz

2008-06-03T19:50:00.006-05:00

Thursday night was the start of my wonderful 6 day weekend! Joannie had heard about an art display where local artists open their homes to show their artwork. Her friend had gone to one and had an amazing time so we decided to give it a shot. It took us 2 hours via public transport (it should be no more than an hour) and was so lame! We stayed for 5 minutes maximum before we headed out to enjoy the beautiful suburbs of Fitzroy and Collingwood. Fitzroy is the oldest suburb of Melbourne and is absolutely beautiful (I mentioned Brunswick street before, it's in Fitzroy). I love the architecture of this place! Too bad I've never taken the history of architecture classes so I can't describe the style... I think it's Victorian? I really should do some research.It's the little details like this that I love.

Or that I can find this painted onto the sidewalk...

We made our way back to Brunswick street where we had some cake (rhubarb and apple for me...mmmm...) and hot chocolate. As we were about to catch the tram when we heard live Jazz music playing so we stepped inside and lounged on the couches while just taking it all in. It was such a relaxing night and I truly was happy and content.

A very English weekend

2008-05-25T23:52:00.004-05:00

Maybe not a VERY English weekend, but sort of... at times... whatever, I'll explain in a bit.

ANYWHO... I've just been doing a lot of school work lately and by school work I mean I sit on the internet chatting with people or I pull out my Australia travel guide and read about all the wonderful places I'll be going in a few weeks. Slowly but surely, some work gets done as I begin to feel guilty and unproductive and sneak in a few sentences or calculations here and there before once again returning to something much more entertaining.

Enough nerdiness, I went to another footy game on Friday with Alex, her Mom and sister, Jojo and Erin. This one was at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds so it was outside and eeeeeveryone thought it was soooooo cold. Wimps. It's around 15-19 degrees Celsius everyday (50-65 Fahrenheit for you weirdos) but it is surprisingly a bit chilly at times. I can't complain if this is winter though. They would die if they had even a taste of Nebraska's bitter winds. Wow, my mind is just saying whatever it wants right now. Moving on...

The English part of my weekend began after the game when I watched a movie with Jojo and Vicky who are both from England. We watched one movie (though I can't remember what it was...) before watching Notting Hill... an ENGLISH movie! After my computer died in the middle of it, we called it quits at about 2:00 a.m. Saturday was spent "doing homework" for a bit, then Jojo and I went somewhere... wow my life is a blur... oh yeah, to the library to do "homework" i.e. catch up on our emails and facebook. We got too hungry go do any real work so we went and grabbed some Subway.

I finally decided to shower for the day and I went out to the city that night with a bunch of us and for once I wasn't outnumbered by Canadians and Jojo wasn't the only one from England! I also felt very English because I was wearing Jojo's cardigan, earrings, and hat. Everyone said the hat looked good, but I still don't know if I can pull it off. Opinions from you very opinionated friends and family o' mine? :) The English theme continued as I finished watching Notting Hill that night when I got home. I can't sleep lately... I stay up til all hours of the morning.

Tracey(NY), Jojo, Me, Casey(NY)

This is a really long entry about nothing, I apologize, but it's still not over! Sunday was an interesting day because I accidentally missed church when the choir was singing in Sacrament meeting!! My ride texted me that morning saying he couldn't give me a lift that day so I called around for a bit, only getting no's or voicemails and I fell back asleep waiting for replies. By the time I woke up, church was halfway over... OOPS!! I felt soooo bad. I ended up staying in bed all day and I read an entire book cover to cover. I get so addicted to reading which is why I never do it. The English weekend finished with Jojo and I's Sunday tradition of Grilled Cheese sandwiches and Tomato Soup and the watching of Notting Hill one more time. Man, I'm one big lazy bum.

Cancelled Credit Cards!!

2008-05-19T22:03:00.002-05:00

Look at me, writing two days in a row! Anyway, can I just say how annoying the bank has been since traveling?? I informed them before I left and once I got here that I will be in Australia yet they still continue to freeze my debit and credit cards when I make "unusual" purchases. It's happened multiple times and I fear it might have just happened again. Jojo and I are booking flights for our post studies travels and first my card was declined so I had to try a different one and then when we were booking a second flight hers was declined but mine somehow went through! UGH, the things I have to put up with. :)

Whoopie Cushions, Chick Flicks and Thai Food

2008-05-19T00:20:00.006-05:00

I wanted to go out and see and do something this weekend, but homework and cold/rainy weather kept me inside. I spent Wednesday night, Thursday night and literally ALL day on Friday doing homework that still isn't done, but at least I now understand what I'm doing.

I called it quits at 5pm on Friday when I went to the grocery stores with Alex, Trin and Erin to get dinner. We had "party pies" and "little boys." Which mean mini meat pies and little wiener sausages. But the sausages were yucky. Their hot dogs taste nothing like hot dogs and they have the plastic red skin on them still! After our nutritious dinner we found ourselves quite entertained by a whoopee cushion until Erin broke it. No worries, duct tape fixes all. As if we hadn't eaten enough at dinner, I treated the girls to Puppy Chow and we watched "A Walk to Remember" and I actually had a few tears. Like I said, I'm a different person!

On Saturday my choir sang at the Adult Session of Stake Conference and they did alright. They sounded amazing in rehearsal right before but couldn't manage the same results for the performance. Oh well, they still sounded lovely. That night I went to dinner at an amazing Thai restaurant with Joannie, Jojo, Jess (Pennsylvania) and Julie (France). We then went to Brunswick Street which has a really hippie/indie atmosphere and then caught the last tram home and found about 25 other international students who had been out on the town as well!

Sunday was Stake Conference again and then I went to visit my friend Lauren from church. She lives on the complete opposite side of town so it took me 2 hrs. via public transport to get there! The BYU Ambassadors were in town so we went to a fireside with them and then I just stayed the night at her place and returned this morning to go to class! Yippee.

The Twists and Turns of Life

2008-05-07T20:41:00.002-05:00

For those of you who know my good friend, Megan Schuster, she is studying in Austria right now and we are having many of the same thoughts on our futures. We've both always been planners and have the rest of our lives more or less planned out with how we'd like them to go. But oh, how a study abroad can change things.

Without getting into detail, I've had my life turned completely upside down since coming to Australia... in a hard but good way. I'm having a blast, don't get me wrong, but it's also been some of the hardest months of my life thus far. I am truly learning who I am and what I want in life. This may come as a shock to some of you... but I discovered I have feelings and emotions... I'm a girl! I've shed more tears here than my other 21 years combined. I don't say this for you to feel sorry for me, but to realize how much I truly have changed!! The biggest thing I've learned through all of it so far is to stop planning. Since coming here, I've thrown all my plans for the future completely out the window and I'm taking it just one step at a time. I may not know what I'm doing, but the Lord does.

Puffing Billy

2008-05-05T00:33:00.003-05:00

I had another productive weekend and it felt good! Friday was a girl's night in with Jojo and Joannie and we just cuddled up in Jojo's bed watching DVDs and having girl talk. It's so nice having people who are in the same boat as me and share similar thoughts and feelings about it all. The 3 of us have become such good friends that we know practically everything about each others lives back home! We talk about our friends and family on a first name basis so much that I could probably go to England and know everyone in Jojo's life and vice versa!

Jojo and I woke up at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday to head to the Puffing Billy Railway. It took us 2 hours via public transport to get there, plus another 4 hours on that train and another 2 hours home. Despite all this, it was totally worth it. Puffing Billy is a steam engine train that takes you through the Dandenong mountains which are east of Melbourne. It was a bit chilly to be in outdoor carriages, but we didn't mind. It was so nice seeing forests and rolling hills and trees changing color for the fall. I felt like I was a little kid again at Prometory (spelling??) Point in Utah!

We got back to the city with enough time to shower and head to the city for our friend Laura's 21st birthday. We surprised her at the top of the Rialto tower where they have a 360 degree viewing deck and we could see the entire city at night... amazing to say the least. She cried, we laughed, and then more of us met up where we danced the night away (literally... I went to bed about 7:00 a.m. and had church at 9!) Surprisingly, I wasn't tired. I was just in that really goofy, crazy, silly stage. I'm now off to my last class of the day and I'm still going strong! Hooray for being young and loving life.

Just Like Home

2008-04-30T07:42:00.006-05:00

Last week I had a lot on my mind so it was very nice to get away for the weekend. It was ANZAC Day (Australia New Zealand Army Corp... I think) on Friday so we didn't have Uni. ANZAC Day is like the American Veteran's day from what I understand. Either way, I went to a small town (90,000 people) called Bendigo with my flat mates, Alex and Katrina, then Jojo and her flat mate, Erin. Alex and Katrina grew up near each other in small towns (Alex is from Bears Lagoon and Katrina is from Jarklin) which are just outside Bendigo and about 10 minutes from each other. Alex's dad is a sheep farmer and Trin's dad has both sheep and cattle. It was so nice to be out in the middle of nowhere again. We all know I'm a country girl at heart! I was longing for my cowgirl boots....

We took the train to Bendigo where Alex's mom picked us up and we had a quick tour of their farm. We then went to a family friends to see their lambs and horses. I know I hate animals, but these lambs were so incredibly adorable. I took a liking to a particular lamb named Nicholas. I fed him from a bottle and everything! Australia is changing me... seriously. This is a prime example. But moving on, the next day I had a day in the life of a true Aussie. First we met Katrina's family and saw their cattle. Then, we went to watch Alex play Netball (it's like basketball with no dribbling and no backboard... more or less) and the local guys play footy. The tradition is to eat a meat pie with sauce (ketchup) while watching footy and this I did! It's a brilliant sport, I'd love to play. I kicked the ball around afterwards and even made a goal. I don't remember if I've talked about it yet... I don't think I have. It's a weird mix of American football, rugby, soccer, etc. I've been to 2 professional games and luckily I sat near an Australian at the first so I understand the majority of the rules. I might understand it more than American football even! Basically, there are 3 posts and if they kick the ball between the middle 2 it's a goal worth 6 points but if it goes on one of the 2 sides, it's only worth one point. There is no throwing; they can kick or "handball" the ball to each other. To handball is like serving underhand in volleyball. Sounds fun, huh?

It was just so nice to spend the weekend with a family and away from the city. We even made ourselves a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast, baked beans and on Sunday morningI had such a good time and I love those girls so much! When we got back on Sunday night we had what we like to call a "Foyer Party" where we sit in the entryway to our flat and curl up on the floor and watch DVDs on the laptop while eating a lot of junk food. It was a perfect night. We watched one DVD, made our wonderful dinner consisting of the traditional Sunday treat of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, and then watched 2 more DVDs while eating caramel and peanut butter Hershey Kisses. Does life get any better than that?

Misty's Diner

2008-04-23T02:31:00.001-05:00

I've been kinda bored here so what did I do? I got a job! It's at the only American Diner in town, fancy that, eh? I'm actually sitting here online at work right now. The owner is fantastic. She is from Arizona and makes all the food from scratch. She loves to just feed me. Whenever I walk in, she starts putting something new in my mouth to eat. It's soooooo good.

For some additional updates... I got back my Structural test that I took last week and I passed. I actually got a grade much better than passing which is very excellent news. I have another group project due tomorrow in my A/C class but I'm taking charge this time and doing the majority of the work myself! I shouldn't, but oh well. I'm a perfectionist.

I can't really think right now, so that's about all I have to say!

MY Uni Sucks

2008-04-13T23:32:00.002-05:00

I don't remember if I've talked about this before, but I need a quick venting session. Apparently Victoria University (which I attend) is not a very good University and I can tell. My teachers have no logical order to their instruction and I do not feel like I am learning anything. The students are so completely unmotivated because they only have to achieve that 50% passing grade. I turned in my HVAC assignment this morning and it was probably the lowest quality project I've ever completed in my life. I decided to not be the total perfectionist that I am so I left the final details up to my group members to finish... bad idea. I looked at our report this morning and they inserted pictures in incorrect locations so I'm referring to images that are the wrong one or just don't plain exist; parts of it are single spaced while the rest is double, I asked them to fix one of my citations and they didn't so it is totally wrong. Sad thing is, they don't care. All they have to do is pass. Are the students leaving this university really going to be the working class of Australia someday? Scary.

But I'm off to go study for my test now. Luckily I met a nice boy in the Library today who is in my class and who gave me a sample test from last year to help me out. It's going to be a long night...

Tacky Tourists - Part 2: Uluru, etc.

2008-04-10T20:47:00.007-05:00

We spent one night in a hostel in Alice Springs and then we continued onto the next 3 days of our journey. It was a separate tour guide and separate group but there were about 8 of us from tour one that were all on this second part together. It was a blast because we already had a ton of jokes from our first 3 days together so this last little bit was "happy days" (this is a random saying that we used all the time. I think it came from the crazy Danish tourists!)

Kata Tjuta (the Olgas). I know it's just more rocks but it was all really impressive to be there!

A rock wallaby!! It didn't move. We had to go around it!

BEAUTIFUL

Jojo, Me, Fred (France) and Johanna (Germany)
Sweaty and exhausted after our hike.

Kata Tjuta from afar...

Uluru (Ayer's rock)!!

Uluru at sunset.

Uluru at sunrise. It glowed soooo red. Everyone asks if I climbed it and I did not. It was closed to climb because it was too windy and I wasn't going to climb it anyway. It's very sacred to the Aboriginals and they prefer that people not climb it. So out of respect for them, I wouldn't have anyway.

Traditional Aboriginal kangaroo dance. :)

How outback is this photo?

Crap, I'm missing a picture here of King's Canyon and it was so beautiful! But I'm on a computer at the school so I don't have my pictures with me... dang. We went on a 3 hour hike around this canyon and the first 500m were straight up a huge hill. It was rough, man but so worth it.

The Garden of Eden (so named because the explorer was so excited to finally find water). Too bad it's now infested with e-coli and very dangerous to swim in.
The stupid Danish tourists! I loved these guys, they were hysterical. The 4 of them all found out they brought Denmark soccer shirts with them so they wore them on the last day of tour. But seriously, we met Danish people everywhere we went. The joke was that they're taking over the Northern Territory.Our group on the second half. This time we had people again from Denmark, England, Canada, and Germany and then Japan and Korea and I was still the only American. I didn't meet anyone else from the states on this trip!Dinner again after the second half. Our tour guide is in the white. He is a proper "ocker" meaning he is VERY Australian and uses all the slang, etc. He was good on the tour about speaking "English" but we saw him again the night after our tour and I could hardly understand him!

So sad to be home in Melbourne where it's "cold." I think it was about 19 degrees (Celsius of course) when we got back to Melbourne compared to the 27-35 degrees everyday throughout our tour.

I have so many more pictures and stories from these tours but there is no way I can put it all on here! If you want more details about any of it let me know and I'll try to tell you more. Overall, it was just so amazing. You cannot imagine how beautiful the stars were. I actually saw the Milky Way! And we saw at least 3 or 4 falling stars every night. I'm so glad I came here over break instead of the beaches in the east like a lot of others did. This is Australia.

Tacky Tourists - Part 1: Darwin to Alice Springs

2008-04-10T19:09:00.008-05:00

So my last two posts were all about Uni... blah blah blah and I have to laugh because I'm supposed to be in my statistics tutorial right now but I decided it wasn't worth my time (and this apparently is!)

Anyway, here are some pictures from the tour! Jojo and I started in Darwin which is just as hot and humid as NE. We then got on a tour bus with 22 other people and drove down the long Stuart Highway (the only highway that connects the North and the South) for 3 days to Alice Springs making a few stops along the way.

Katherine Gorge

There are a total of 13 Gorges and we saw 2 of them on a boat cruise. I believe this is Gorge #2.

I don't think you can tell but Jojo and I are barefoot...she's a bad influence. I never wear shoes anymore!

We had a bit of extra time so our tour guide made a detour and we hiked up (barefoot again) to a waterfall. We didn't bring our swimsuits but we really wanted to go in so we stripped down to our shorts and tanks.

The tropical part of the Northern Territory

Daly Waters Pub is this random pub in the middle of nowhere but all the tourists stop there and leave something behind.

Check it, yo! No Nebraska though. :( But there's Alaska for you, Bri and there was also Illinois!

Workers in the area used to leave their money here because there was no bank. They would sign it and hang it on a wall behind the bar and to get it back they had to match the signature.

Nikolaj (from Denmark) and Jojo.
We got to sleep outside in swags under the MILLIONS of stars.

Devil's Marbles - a total of 5,000 big rocks just sitting in a pile in the outback. There's some geological explanation about how they formed but I don't remember...

Jojo's really not that tall, I don't know what happened!

The flies were EVERYWHERE. Luckily they were little ones and not the big nasty horse flies.

Aren't these hats fantastic? Mine is a classic Australian hat to keep the flies away and Jojo's has a solar powered fan and slide down sunglasses!! We got them from my roommate, Katrina, and we promised her we'd wear them. We're dorks, okay?

Emma (England), Yael and Anat (Israel) and me and Jojo
This is just to prove that we did make friends.

But Jojo and I are still best friends. :)

I have this obsession with ice cream since coming to Australia. Jojo and I ate it at least once a day. These are called "Golden Gaytimes" and we just thought it was quite amusing.

The whole group from the first leg of the tour at the Tropic of Capricorn. We had people from Denmark, England, Canada, Switzerland, France, Germany, Australia, Israel and me... the only American!

Out do dinner the after our last night. People got a little big drunk (or a lot). And some of them had to wake up with us the next day at 5:30 a.m. to leave on our next tour!

Uni Sucks

2008-04-10T01:31:00.003-05:00

First off, I have to say how impressed I am at my two sisters - Ashley and Marisa - for updating their blogs almost everyday. I guess it would be easier if I did that instead of trying to write big long updates ever week or two. Oh well, I can't be bothered.

Anyway, school started back up on Monday after my 2 week break and it sucks... big time. Eventually I'll go into detail about my trip with pictures and everything but basically it rocked and I want to go back to the outback and middle of nowhere instead of sitting here putting off my design of an air conditioning system. Everyone back home has been asking me if I actually go to school and learn anything or if I just travel and have fun. Well, up until now it was a total vacation. Now it's hit me (and hard!) that I am here to learn.

I have a huge group assignment due on Monday in my HVAC (Heating, ventilation and air conditioning) class and I've been trying all week to get some motivation to do it but I think I left all of that back in Nebraska. Thank heavens I'm a Luke and we are the masters of procrastination and working under pressure. Besides that project, I have an in class assignment on Tuesday in my structural class. This is worth 40% of my grade and I currently understand maybe 10% of the material we have been given thus far. It's all similar to what I learned back in Nebraska but it has been translated into Australian and I'm now completely and utterly lost.

No worries...after 12pm Tuesday, it'll be all fun and games again until final assignments are due at the end of May and final exams in June. :)

Sorry I'm a slacker!

2008-03-19T04:24:00.010-05:00

I'm so lazy. That pretty much sums up my life in Australia. I'd like to tell ya'll that I've been off doing crazy things which is why I haven't had time to write, but that's a big fat lie. Basically I sleep in, eat, go to class, eat, hang out and go to bed early (midnight). Oh and when I have large chunks of time I make my way to the city to explore or the beach. Yep, that's about it.

So last Thursday I ventured to the city and took some lovely photos because I haven't posted any yet! Melbourne is so big and beautiful. It really is a great city to live in. It is just bursting with the arts, festivals, music, fashion and culture. Downtown is interesting because there are a lot of old buildings (Flinder's Street Station, churches, etc.) with classic architecture and then there are a lot of new buildings (Federation Square) which have been built in the past 10 years to "revamp" the area. Take a look! :)

Yarra River

Federation Square

The very common school uniforms

Picnic in the Royal Botanical Gardens with Jojo and her friend Anna from England

Pretending to be Vietnamese at World Culture Night with the ward

The Americans :)

This will be my last entry for about 3 weeks because it is our Easter Break. I'm supposed to do a roadtrip along the Great Ocean Road starting tomorrow but we procrastinated in renting a car so that may not happen. Either way, I'm flying up to Darwin on the 26th for a tour through the outback and to Ayer's rock. I'm pumped!!

Happy Easter, everyone!

Photos

2008-03-10T21:30:00.009-05:00

Joannie and I on the bus from Geelong to Torquay

Christine, Andrea, Joannie and I

Sunscreen is SOOOO important!

I could get to my knees quite often

And sometimes my feet!

SURF'S UP!!

2008-03-09T19:33:00.004-05:00

That's right, I finally did what I came to Australia to do... SURF!! On Friday morning me and 3 Canadians (Joannie, Andrea and Christine) hopped on a train and then a bus to Torquay - the surfing capital! Oh and I'm no longer happy with public transportation. We waited FOREVER for a bus, ran to our platform and arrived just in time to get on the train which was luckily a few minutes late. When we arrived in Torquay it was raining, but we kept our hopes up that it would be a beautiful day. It was a very random trip and we didn't book any lodging beforehand. We went to the backpackers hostel first, but they were completely full. They let us sit in their lounge and gave us a bunch of places we could call. Most of them were very expensive but we found a motel that was in our price range. It was just down the street and we were quite impressed with how cute it was. I think we were all just so excited for surfing that nothing could get us down.

The rain had stopped at this point so we went to get breakfast (Christine and I found another amazing chocolate place and had pancakes with strawberries and chocolate...mmmm) and then we wandered around all the surf shops. Then, it was off to the beach for lessons! A worker at the hotel gave us directions and we started walking. About halfway there he actually drove up in his van and said he's give us a lift. Three of us got in the back and then Andrea was left to sit shotgun. She did what she was used to and went around to the right side of the car. She climbed on up (even grabbed the steering wheel to get in) but didn't notice she was now sitting in the driver's seat. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen and the driver absolutely loved it. Apparently we were entertaining enough that he offered to come back and get us after surfing!

The people at the surf shop were super helpful as well. We got there right in time to get down to the beach for the next lesson. However, the beach we were going to was a 5 minute drive and too far to walk. So the wonderful people called us a taxi to pick us up. We were in a lesson with 6 other people but the beach was completely empty besides us. I would not say I'm a natural surfer, but I did get up a few times! The waves were tiny, but perfect for beginners. It's a lot harder than I thought it would be, that's for sure. It is addicting, and I want to get really good. It's tiring though! My arms ache like crazy from paddling.

After our lesson we went back to the hotel, showered and got all dressed up because it was a Friday night and we felt like looking cute. We were all wearing dresses, had our hair and make up perfect and then we went to eat a greasy, greasy, fish and chips shop! We were craving some good old fried food and it was delicious. We had seen one of the workers at the hostel that morning and in talking to him found out that he was from Montreal as well. He invited us to go hang out with all the backpackers and we took him up on that offer after we changed into more comfortable clothes. We just sat around talking with the boy from Montreal, 3 Swedes, an English bloke, a Californian and a man and woman from Holland. I love meeting people from all over the world...except for when all the Canadians started to speak French and the Swedes were speaking Swedish and I sat there not knowing any other language. I feel so boring only knowing English.

Man, I've written a lot so I'll wrap it up. We woke up on Saturday and it was cloudy so we went shopping for a bit. There is a whole row of surfing/skater shops like Rip Curl, Billabong, Roxy, etc. Rip Curl and Billabong actually originated right there in Torquay. We then returned to the beach to give it another shop on our own. The beach we learned at was called Point Addis and had small waves as I said. Torquay is a world famous beach so we were a little nervous to go there on Saturday. However it was a "no surf" day meaning the waves were small and perfect for us. But, the beach was really busy which made it difficult to surf. The waves were much bigger than what we learned on and I got up a few times but I kept hitting little kids swimming or people body boarding. It was so frustrating. They need to separate everyone or there could be major injuries! Despite the irritating people around me, I still had fun and definitely want to go back. It only takes about an hour and a half to get to this beach and with wetsuits, you can go year round. So I will definitely be back!

The blogger server will not let me post pictures right now and I need to get some from Andrea because we used her camera most of the time so no pics for now, but soon!

The commencement of Uni

2008-03-03T20:40:00.002-06:00

I started school last Monday but it's very important apparently that I call it Uni not school. School ends at year 12 apparently. The material covered here is more or less the same as back home except that I'm designing to Australian codes and standards to which I'm not accustomed. The main difference is grading. In Nebraska I would typically have 2 or 3 exams each worth about 20% of my grade, a final exam worth around 30 - 40% and homework worth 10%. Here, I have one or two assignments worth 40% and then a final exam worth 60% of my grade! As a result, the work load seems a lot lighter here because I don't have homework that I'm required to do. However, I'm spending a lot more time actually in the classroom here. We'll see how I like it when the semester is over. For now, I get extremely bored in class and occasionally want to poke my eye out. :)

I did not have any class last Wednesday or Friday so I explored the area on my own. Wednesday afternoon I headed to a local beach to soak up the sun. It's not a surfing beach, but it was so beautiful just for laying out. A group of us went back on Saturday and I already have a lot of color in my skin. Man, I love holes in the ozone layer!! I spent pretty much all day Friday grocery shopping. I went to the city to the Queen Victoria Market and was completely overwhelmed! It is a huge market that sells anything you could ever want from produce, meat, shoes, clothing, to boomerangs and Australia shaped clocks. It is all ridiculously cheap so I loaded up on fresh fruits and veggies and 2kg of ground beef. I then went to Highpoint (the mall) to look for a pair of black flats (shoes) and to finish my grocery shopping. Everything is SO expensive here. Shoes at Target, Walmart and Payless were all at least $35 but the same crappy quality as back home! I swear I went into every single shoe store and finally found a pair at the very last one. They were only $40, good quality leather, and cute! By the time I got groceries as well it was past 5pm.

It's a good thing that I have heaps of time here because you cannot do anything quickly when public transportation is all you have. I love the fact that they have it, don't get me wrong, but it is not fast by any means. Grocery shopping also takes me twice as long because of not only different brands but different foods completely. Apparently chili is not big here which is really disappointing! They only had one kind in the store and it was $4/can! They also only had one kind of tortilla chip and it was the original Dorito's which no one buys back in the states. I was really confused when shopping for cheese because it's all white... even their cheddar. It tastes the same but is albino! I guess if this is the majority of my culture shock, I'd say I'm doing okay.

Last week wasn't anything super exciting so I won't say much else. I need to take more pictures so you can get a better picture of exactly where I'm living. I'll work on that. Meanwhile, ya'll enjoy your freeeeeeeezing temperatures and I'll keep laying on the beach. :)

One week down!

2008-02-24T21:36:00.008-06:00

Well, I survived my first week in Melbourne. Not that survival skills were really needed, it was a blast actually. After I wrote on Thursday I went to the city with Jojo and met up with a Canadian friend we met named Christine. In our wanderings through the city we found an amazing chocolate shop and could not resist. Many of you know I'm not a huge chocolate fan but this stuff was incredible. We were in heaven, it was so lovely.

I slept until about noon on Friday which is rare for me as well and then we had a Scavenger hunt for O-Week which kept me out until 2:30 a.m. and then all morning on Saturday. Jojo and I then went back to the city with Christine on Saturday night for a free outdoor concert of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. The weather has been quite chilly so it wasn't the most ideal situation, but it was still very lovely. (There I go saying lovely again, everyone says it here all the time!)

On Sunday I went to church where I was immediately asked to be the choir director! They were rehearsing at the time so I went in to be introduced and was told to start conducting... right there... on the spot... for their performance THAT DAY. They are such an adorable bunch of people. It is a very multi-cultural group so many Chinese and Vietnamese as well as Aussies and the occasional Philipino, etc. My favorite part is I can hear their accents when they sing, it's so precious!! They all love me already (of course, everyone does) and are trying to figure out how long I can extend my visa.

Sunday night I went to a YSA fireside with about 150 or so people! The chapel was packed (with many beautiful boys). I chatted it up with some people afterwards and then I headed to someone's house for more fun and games. Apparently all the boys are all going to want to date me because 1. I have an accent and 2. I'm studying engineering. They are the ones with accents, but if they like my hick talk, I reckon I can handle that. :)

Oh how I've missed the Internet!!

2008-02-20T18:46:00.005-06:00

Sorry it’s been awhile, there isn’t internet in my dorm and I’m doing surprisingly well without it, actually. It’s nice to be away from it all.

But I arrived in Melbourne on Saturday night and did not have a very good start. First, the University was supposed to pick us up and didn’t, our taxi driver couldn’t find our dorms, then the credit card machine to pay for my dorms was not liking my credit card, and because we got there so late the stores were all closed and I had to sleep the first night on a bed with no sheets or blankets. BUT, none of that matters anymore.

The atmosphere here is very similar to the dorms back home where everyone is out and about mingling and meeting each other. There is a nice mix of international students and Aussies so I’ve met people from all over the world. The main difference is that alcohol is very prevalent and part of the ResLife activities even. Despite how much they all drink, they can hold it and they're not obnoxiously drunk so I think I'll manage. They are surprised at how much fun I am while being completely sober all the time!!

I had orientation on Monday and figured out how to get to campus and how to get around. On Tuesday I enrolled (or enroled as they spell it) and I’m pretty much good to go now! It has been so warm here and a group of us were going to go to the beach yesterday but of course it was cool and rainy. Australia is in a freaking drought and the first day I have time to go to the beach, it rains… of course. It turned out okay, though. I went to the Melbourne Aquarium and got to know downtown a little bit.

As part of the nightly activities provided by the ResLife team at the dorms they are having MXRC – Most Extreme Resident Challenge and of course I’m participating! I have to wear the same t-shirt for the entire 2 weeks and carry an egg around with me from 5am to 5pm. There are then challenges each night. The first night was the “beep test” which is a fitness test I used to do back in elementary/middle school where you have to run 40m or so before the tape beeps and they get progressively faster. Last night I had to eat 2 hot dogs and skull (chug) a drink. I made it through both, but last night was close! I fear any more eating competitions will be my downfall…

Gosh, I really hope this made sense. I feel like my thoughts are all over the place. I have so much to say and I don't know to pull it together so that you get the facts while still remaining entertaining.

Enough talk, here's some pictures.

My roommates: Katrina and Alex

Some of my favorite people so far! Johan (Sweden), Alejandro (Mexico) and Jojo (England)

The equivalent of my RA, Arun. But I'm older and have more ResLife experience than him. :)

This is where you begin to get jealous...

2008-02-15T00:14:00.013-06:00

Yesterday, I jumped off a bridge. :) I'm trying to get the video uploaded but I'm having difficulties, please be patient with me!!

Here are a few other pictures of things that I've done. On the 14th when I was waiting for Scott to get here I went to the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Even though it's called a war museum there is a lot more than that in there so it was quite enjoyable, and it was raining outside so a museum is a perfect place to be. Once Scott got there we went to SkyTower which is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. The view was spectacular but once again the clouds made it a little dull. We then ate at Denny's (we missed America, okay?) and it was quite amusing watching people go there on Valentine's Day! Ooo how romantic, right?

Yesterday started off quite exciting as you can tell and slowed down from there... (which explains why at 7:00 pm on a Friday night and I'm sitting here on my blog. Now I understand why people have these, it's kind of addicting.) Anyway, after Bungy Jumping we had this grand idea of taking the "Coast-to-Coast Walkway" which extends from one coast to another, duh. It's a total of 16km and we finally found a map around 2 and headed out. Well, for the longest time we couldn't find this darn trail for the life of us. When we finally did, it was still incredibly difficult to follow. Not to mention the entire thing was full of blasted hills! Along the way we started seeing some cute little New Zealand boys in the school uniforms. Then, they surrounded us. Hundreds of them kept streaming down the sidewalk, most going the opposite direction as ourselves!! As we looked around, it all was explained - there were 3 all boys schools right in a row. Too bad I was sweaty and disgusting... I probably could have gotten a few more head turns than I did! But back to our nice little walk, we continued on to Mt. Eden which is one of 49 volcanoes surrounding Auckland and is the highest natural point in the city. It's a very touristy location and was of course full of adorable little Asians! The mention of touristy Asians takes me on a random tangent... I'm amazed at how surprised people get when you offer to take their picture. It's silly to see them rotating between being the photographer and model, so of course I offer to take one of the two of them together. People get so genuinely thankful, I love it! It's not like it's a difficult thing for me to do. On our way back to the hostel we stopped in Auckland Domain which is a gorgeous park-like area very close to the city center, though you wouldn't know it when you were there. I felt like I was in the middle of the jungle, not in a very large metropolis.

Now, for those of you who want me to pick up an accent, you're in luck. I've started to think but not quite speak in one, yet. However, I'm picking up an English accent because most of the people in my hostel are from England. No worries, I'm sure the Australian will come quickly once I settle in to Melbourne! Cheerio, mate!

The Disappearance of Feb. 13

2008-02-13T14:02:00.003-06:00

I wish I had some exciting pictures or something to post, but I don't yet. I'm just sitting in my hostel and bored, so I thought I'd write. I left Nebraska at 9:55 am on February 12 with stops in Denver and San Fransisco. After my awfully long 6 hour layover in San Fran I hopped on one last plane to Auckland at 7:00 pm. There were SO many old people on the plane. I had no idea that such an immense number of the elderly traveled to such distant lands in their old age. I want to be rich and retired, too. Anyway, as soon as I sat down I was asked by a cute couple to switch me spots with one of their friends across the way. The man I switched with was incredibly grateful (I didn't think it was that big of a deal) but nonetheless he completely embraced me in a giant hug to say, 'thank you.' Such friendly people, I'll tell you what. The new couple I sat next to was from San Fran and we chatted for a bit. About 3 hours into the flight, the woman started hyperventilating or something of the sort! She was croaking and couldn't breath - not an ideal situation to say the least. I then moved seats again so that she could have extra room. My new seat was in the very last row of the airplane in a row reserved for the crew, but I got it all to myself. Finally, after the 12 hours on the plane and crossing many time zones, we arrived at 5:00 a.m. in Auckland on Valentine's Day. I just lost an entire day of my life. Good thing it's leap year, right?