One month

I can't believe I leave Brisbane in a month . . . I'll still be traveling in and around Australia with the parents (so excited!) for three weeks after that, but I only have one month left here. When I first got here I just missed home and thought 5 months was going to be so long. Now I'm sad that I have so little time left here. For the next month I'm going to really try to open my eyes to the details more and write about it in my blogs so I can read them when I'm missing Australia and remember how truly amazing this place is.

Yesterday I spent the entire day in my PJs. It was fabulous. I stayed on the couch working on my projects and didn't move for hours. Late in the afternoon there was a hugely strong storm. They come out of nowhere here and last for maybe about 20 minutes. We had all the doors to the porch open because it had been such a hot day. Instantly the wind slammed the doors wide open and rain was flying in. The roomies and I had to run around the house closing windows and doors. I went into the kitchen (which has a tile floor) and literally had to grab the door frame and pull myself to the door against the wind to close it. Then the hail started. I ran to get my camera and tried to capture some of the action. It was so loud we had to pause our movie and ride it out. The boys made me watch Lesbian Vampire Killers. It was actually kind of funny.

I spent most of today working on projects again. Ok thats a lie. I spent some of the day working on projects and the rest working on HALLOWEEN!!!!! I got to campus early and bought tickets for me and the roomies to go to a Halloween party at a castle! I then went to work on my halloween costume. I decided to be a ballerina this year, mainly so I could buy a fun frilly skirt. My hot pink flats will go perfectly and I got some ribbon to lace up my legs. Now all I'm missing is a top.

Although I still hold to the fact that I get along better with guys than girls, a lil girl time is crucial especially when living with 4 guys. I made plans tonight with Jackie and Mel (two American girls) for dessert and drinks. I decided to take the water taxi to meet them which is about a 15 min walk from my house. I love that I can walk so much here. Its warm and the smells are becoming familiar. I can recognize certain trees and flowers now. As I was walking in the park close to the river, I saw a creature in my path and stopped in my tracks. My first thought was: raccoon. Then I realized I'm in Australia. It was a possum and I was sad I didn't have my camera. I have pictures of Sparky (our house possum) but I still think they are all adorable here. As I got closer, I saw it was actually a momma with a baby on her back. SERIOUSLY, the very few times I forget my camera something awesome always happens. Sad, but I watched them walk away and had a huge smile the rest of my walk. I caught the City Cat, met up with Jackie and we headed to Freestyle. We had some appetizers and then the most fabulous desserts. Jackie had the chocolate cake with rasberry sorbet, Mel had the chocolate sundae and I had cheesecake in a butterscoth sauce with macadamia nut ice cream. I couldn't even finish it all but it was a-mazing.

I caught the City Cat back to the park and then walked the 15 minutes home. I got pretty nostaligic on the way home. I mean how many places can you live that you can take a boat to class, the city, dinner or to visit friends? I get excited EVERY time I ride. When I got in the park I was walking up the stairs from the dock and a possum was on the trash can chowin down. Gah they are so cute. The possums at home bring me to screaming tears and here I just want to cuddle one. Walking home I tried to pay more attention than I usually do. I noticed the sky was sort of a light purple but clear enough to see all the stars. And the wind was just enough for a slight chill but a relief from the intense heat we've had lately. There's a man that's been working on redoing the front stairs of his house and he's made so much progress since I moved here. I got a little tense walking by a certain house that has a somewhat ferocious dog, but luckily he wasn't outside. I have to climb up a pretty substantial hill on this walk home, but I don't even breathe heavily anymore. Why don't I walk more at home? I'll try to incorporate that into my routine when I get all my ducks in a row.

I may have tons of work to do the rest of this week . . . but I'm feelin some lagoon Saturday. Gotta make sure I'm nice and tan when I get home :)