sydney!

One weekend here in Australia we took a trip to Sydney. The trip was organized through RMIT, so we were able to travel with other students from the school. We got to spend 3 full days there. The first day we explored the city and got to see the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour bridge. The second day we traveled to the Blue Mountains and were able to see a few sights there. And the last day we went to Manly Beach and Bondi beach. Overall, it was a great trip and I was glad to be able to see the Opera House in person (something I've always wanted to do!)

anzac memorial in the city

sydney opera house

syndey harbour bridge

three sisters in the blue mountains

bondi beach

Great Ocean Road : Kangaroo Island : Grampians

Over the mid-semester break I took a trip with Megan, two guys from Denmark, and a girl from Sweden along the Great Ocean Road up to to Adelaide, to Kangaroo Island and then down to the Grampians. I absolutely loved this trip because we rented a car and were able to stop wherever we wanted along the way, and really just enjoy all of the things that we got to see. The Great Ocean Road has some of the most amazing scenery that I have ever seen. I think my favorite spot along the G.O.R. was Loch and Gorge. We stopped for a day in Adelaide, but there really wasn't too much to see there. After Adelaide, we traveled over to Kangaroo Island. On Kangaroo Island we got to see a wide variety of things. We saw seals in their natural habitat, Little Sahara, Flinders Chase National Park which included the Remarkable Rocks, and lots of other beautiful sites. We also camped out one night on Kangaroo Island. From there we traveled to the Grampians which is a mountain area. Here we went hiking, saw waterfalls, and lots of kangaroos! Overall it was a really amazing trip and I'm glad that I got to see such a wide variety scenery.

12 apostles along the Great Ocean Road

loch and gorge

Remarkable Rocks on Kangaroo Island

hiking in the Grampians

kangaroo and joey in the Grampians

hello melbourne!

Megan and I arrived into Melbourne on the 10th of July. Sadly our bags did not arrive right along with us. Thankfully they did end up arriving the next day. For the first 3 days we haven't had anything particular to do so we've been out exploring the city. The view from our room is amazing! We have a great view of the city. the view of the city at night from our room

The first day we took the tram into the city. We found a Big W which is just like a Walmart and a Woolworths that's a grocery store. I think we were both so tired that night we ended up going to bed at 6pm. The second day (sunday) we decided to just walk around the city. The architecture here is amazing! all of the buildings are so interesting and unique. We found the Queen Victoria Market that has all sorts of things: fresh food and vegetables, clothing, souveniers and so much more. They were starting to close when we got there and we dont think all of the places were set up since it was a sunday. This is definitely a place we will be going back to. Today we walked around the city some more. We were going to go back to the market but it was actually closed today. We ended up finding a park, Flagstaff Gardens, which was pretty and definitely will be a nice place to go when it warms up.
We then found our way to Victoria Harbour where a really nice outlet mall is. The harbor itself is also really beautiful

After spending some time there we walked back to Melbourne Central which we found out is a much larger place than we first realized. There are about 5 levels with shopping, food courts, a movie theater and more.
After walking so much we got a little something to eat and sat outside the State Library of Victoria. This is right beside RMIT University. We then ventured back to our place. So far we are both loving it. Tomorrow is the first of 3 days of orientation so we'll see how that goes!

drawings from d.c.

washington, d.c.