Vegemite, Tea and Tim Tam Slams

So many of you will be wondering what on earth this post is talking about. Trust me I would be too, but not to worry I am about to explain everything.
Vegemite: the most interestingly salty junk that you will ever wish you hadn't tried just to say you tried it. It is some sort of yeast extract from meat, that Aussies put on toast. Everything you ever heard an American say about it is true. After both Kaylyn and I had our share of a nibble on some toast we promptly agreed it was terrible and thus confirmed our status as Americans and failed the test to see if we might possibly pass for Aussies. We failed miserably. I will however say try it just in case because there is not point in ever saying something is going to be awful if you have never tried it. Good luck!
Tea: for all you Texans out there reading this back home tea is not iced or full of sugar here. It is served hot in varying flavors usually with milk or sugar.
Tea: also called dinner for those of you living in the southern or from the southern part of Sydney. It gets rather confusing so you have to listen to your context clues you hopefully learned in English a long long time ago.
Tim Tam Slams: possibly the greatest invention ever.  Two chocolate biscuits (cookies) coated in more chocolate with chocolate or caramel or mint in the center. The slam part comes later, you get a nice steaming cup of tea or in my preference coffee and you take your Tim Tam and bite off the ends then while holding the Tim Tam stick one end in the beverage, using as a straw and once you get the drink melted through the center ( so your beverage actually reaches your lips through the cookie) you slam it all at once ( shove the whole thing in your mouth). Its sooooo wonderful. I'm probably coming home with ten packages of them.
D :-)

Sydney

Well everybody, we've been here for about four days now and its been such a lovely time so far. Yesterday was our first day to be able to spend some time outside of orientation and actually explore on our own. Kaylyn and I went out with Sue (our homestay mom) and explored Sydney Harbour which included the Art Gallery and the Royal Botanic Gardens. I wish that I could upload photos without it taking forever so I will only give you one or two of the really good ones to show you. I hate to tell you all that I will not be able to update this as much as I had hoped because the internet here is rather slow and they pay for it by the megabyte. :-( Anyways I will do ,y best to keep ya'll up with writing, I know its not as interesting as pics but get over it. If you don't like it don't read my blog :-)  So there you have it. Again I love you guys and will update again soon.

These are some beautiful Rainbow Larikeets that came to our table when we got our coffee. They smelled our sugar and stole our packets from us. We didn't give them any but still enticed them with the empty packets. Poor little guys. They were so much fun and so beautiful.
D :-)

Its Raining!

So guys, I just wanted to let you all know that I finally made it safe and sound to Sydney and am about to meet my homestay family. After an almost 3 hour flight to LA which was rather boring but began late with possible engine trouble ( not to worry we made it alright),  I arrived to LAX and began the scavenger hunt for more Best Semester peeps. I found Lauren from New York, to begin with and we were on our own for about two hours until we finally decided to venture out and discover the rest of the food court in the small Tom Bradly check in area in hopes of finding more students. We soon found a quaint little group of them all quietly reading the books we had to read for homework. From there on out it was a sitting, waiting and searching  game until 8:30 that evening (local time) to meet up and get our tickets to go through security. Which we soon did and then found ourselves waiting again to board our plane, which was late also leaving the ground. The flight was long and boring as most are and I was unexpectedly very queezy and I think i was having a bout of motion sickness so after a very quick prayer in the bathroom returned to my seat and fell asleep up until the last two and half hours of the flight. I was very blessed. The ride to our touchdown was another matter. I think i"m still queezy from that. I now know that I WILL be taking Dramamine on my way home. Anyways....We're here at the school getting debriefed and are now waiting again to get picked up by our homestay families. Laters!

D :-)

Let the Packing Begin!

Well, its finally time to start packing guys. I went out with my dad and my sister tonight and got my huge awesome duffle bag that moonlights as a backpack on the weekends, and my carry-on backpack at the great REI and was so thankful that I got good stuff and that daddy bought! Tanks a million pops.
Tomorrow actually holds the grand packing adventure so stay tuned on how this will all work out. I have to pack  lightly for an entire semester abroad and it needs to weigh under 50lbs. Prayers are much needed.  I'll be sure to let ya'll know how packing goes and continue to update as I undertake this journey to Australia.

D :-)

Just for kicks

Hey guys, I finally created my blog for all of you who I have been telling I would... well I finally got around to it and here it is.
I know its not much but hopefully as time goes on it will get better. This will be where I'll try and keep ya'll up to date on all my adventures and everything that I will be learning while In Sydney. Hopefully there will be some fun stuff and lots of things that I will be learning that I can tell ya'll about. I will put up lots of randomness and tons of what God will be showing me through this grand new adventure.
So here we go, ready or not!
D :-)