Monday, July 30, 2012
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Australia to America..
Here is just a little update of the past few weeks, I did have some trouble and confusion on getting back home but all turned out fine and I made it home safe and sound. It was the 2nd of July and my flight from Dubbo to Sydney was scheduled for 6am, so that meant a very early start for us if we had to drive to Dubbo from Gilgandra. The goodbyes were hard, saying goodbye to Stevie probably hurt the most. But anyways there was lots of tears. I was nervous and didn't want to leave. But anyways we got to the airport and some trouble happened. We were about to check in and then the said my name wasnt in the computer and that my flight wasnt scheduled for that day. So I rang home to America and talked to my mom to see what we could do half a world away and there wasnt much, so I was pretty stressed, but also there was a plus to that! I got an extra week in Australia!
We then went back home and to bed, had to explain to many people what happened and why I wasnt back in America already and we were just waiting and waiting for my travel agent to get everything re sorted out. She finally did and confirmed that my flight is on for July 8th, sooo I had 6 more days in my most favourite place on earth! In those 6 days I got to hang out with some friends, I went roo shooting and shot one, went yabbying, and rested up.
My last few weeks in Australia had been filled with farewells and farewell parties. My friends in the bay threw me a huge one and it was such a fun night! Was all a surprise too so that was a blast! My friends in Gil threw me a lil bonfire party after we went to Chinese, it was supposed to be a surprise but that kind of got ruined and I figured it out, haha. Ohh well it was alot of fun still. :)
July 8th, I got on that plane, and was on my way, I had 9,000 miles ahead of me to travel. The goodbyes were hard, once again. The bad thing about living in two completely different places for the year was that I had double the goodbyes which made it really hard on me, alot of tears were shed. Its difficult saying goodbye to people you may never see again.
The flight was so long. I had long layovers and I was just exhausted when I got to my last stop. I went from Dubbo, to Sydney, Sydney to LA, LA to Mineapolis, Mineapolis to Bemidji all by myself, sometimes when I had to get my bags checked into the next check in it took quite some muscle to pile up all my luggage and haul it around but I did manage. My Sydney LA flight was the longest, I tried sleeping but I didnt get to sleep that much, when I did I woke up and I was all confused thinking I was still in Australia while I was in the middle of the pacific ocean! I got to Bemidji Minnesota at 11pm, when I walked off that plane I had so many feelings going through me, I couldnt believe it was finally over. I was finally done being an exchange student, I was in shock by how fast it had happened. I was nervous, nervous to see my family I hadnt seen for a year.But also excited! Once I walked through the door and could see my family through the window I ran to them and my mom had tears in her eyes and so did my sister, I had quite a few family members there to see me. I was happy to be home but also still in shock, I just kept reminding myself that I wasn't even in Australia anymore and that I was back! Still in disbelief, but yup, I made it home. My 2nd day back I invited some friends over and we had a fun day on the lake, got the jetskii out and went tubing and swimming and the lake was so warm. It was really nice catching up with them.
I did come home with an aussie accent, everyone likes it but also thinks its weird haha. I go to australia and get ripped on for my accent, I come home and sitll get ripped on cause of my accent, just cant win! Im excited to start softball up again, and I got a waitressing job to keep me busy this summer. Still nearly 2months left of summer holiday then I will start up grade 11 at Park Rapids HS. Its nice to come back to some hot weather though, I was getting sick of the Aussie cold winter.
But I really do miss Australia, I think about it every day, I think about my friends, family, school, beaches, just plain Australia is what I miss. I'm a a bit homesick. But, hopefully it will pass soon. I skype my friends from there often, and keep in touch. Soon this week or next I will be giving my presentation to my Rotary presentation. Everyone here is glad to have me back, everyone was very welcoming so that helps. In a few weekends I will have a welcome home party for family, and I will have one for friends. So that will be good. Well thats about all I have to say, trying to adjust to life here, thnking about Australia every day. Miss you Aussies! Hope all is well with everyone. Take care!
-Bailee Jo xx
We then went back home and to bed, had to explain to many people what happened and why I wasnt back in America already and we were just waiting and waiting for my travel agent to get everything re sorted out. She finally did and confirmed that my flight is on for July 8th, sooo I had 6 more days in my most favourite place on earth! In those 6 days I got to hang out with some friends, I went roo shooting and shot one, went yabbying, and rested up.
My last few weeks in Australia had been filled with farewells and farewell parties. My friends in the bay threw me a huge one and it was such a fun night! Was all a surprise too so that was a blast! My friends in Gil threw me a lil bonfire party after we went to Chinese, it was supposed to be a surprise but that kind of got ruined and I figured it out, haha. Ohh well it was alot of fun still. :)
July 8th, I got on that plane, and was on my way, I had 9,000 miles ahead of me to travel. The goodbyes were hard, once again. The bad thing about living in two completely different places for the year was that I had double the goodbyes which made it really hard on me, alot of tears were shed. Its difficult saying goodbye to people you may never see again.
The flight was so long. I had long layovers and I was just exhausted when I got to my last stop. I went from Dubbo, to Sydney, Sydney to LA, LA to Mineapolis, Mineapolis to Bemidji all by myself, sometimes when I had to get my bags checked into the next check in it took quite some muscle to pile up all my luggage and haul it around but I did manage. My Sydney LA flight was the longest, I tried sleeping but I didnt get to sleep that much, when I did I woke up and I was all confused thinking I was still in Australia while I was in the middle of the pacific ocean! I got to Bemidji Minnesota at 11pm, when I walked off that plane I had so many feelings going through me, I couldnt believe it was finally over. I was finally done being an exchange student, I was in shock by how fast it had happened. I was nervous, nervous to see my family I hadnt seen for a year.But also excited! Once I walked through the door and could see my family through the window I ran to them and my mom had tears in her eyes and so did my sister, I had quite a few family members there to see me. I was happy to be home but also still in shock, I just kept reminding myself that I wasn't even in Australia anymore and that I was back! Still in disbelief, but yup, I made it home. My 2nd day back I invited some friends over and we had a fun day on the lake, got the jetskii out and went tubing and swimming and the lake was so warm. It was really nice catching up with them.
I did come home with an aussie accent, everyone likes it but also thinks its weird haha. I go to australia and get ripped on for my accent, I come home and sitll get ripped on cause of my accent, just cant win! Im excited to start softball up again, and I got a waitressing job to keep me busy this summer. Still nearly 2months left of summer holiday then I will start up grade 11 at Park Rapids HS. Its nice to come back to some hot weather though, I was getting sick of the Aussie cold winter.
But I really do miss Australia, I think about it every day, I think about my friends, family, school, beaches, just plain Australia is what I miss. I'm a a bit homesick. But, hopefully it will pass soon. I skype my friends from there often, and keep in touch. Soon this week or next I will be giving my presentation to my Rotary presentation. Everyone here is glad to have me back, everyone was very welcoming so that helps. In a few weekends I will have a welcome home party for family, and I will have one for friends. So that will be good. Well thats about all I have to say, trying to adjust to life here, thnking about Australia every day. Miss you Aussies! Hope all is well with everyone. Take care!
-Bailee Jo xx
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Homeward bound..
Well here it is, my last few days in my favourite country in the whole world. It feels as if it were only just yesterday that I was getting on the plane in Bemidji Minnesota with tears filled in my eyes and at the age of 15 entering a world fully unknown to me. I thought I was crazy for wanting to leave everything and everyone behind for a whole year so young. But I now realise that it was the best decision I have ever made in my enitre life. Doing this exchange has completely changed me. My cultural horizons are broadened. I have grown up. I have seen the world from different perspectives. I never really realised how big this planet was untill I set foot in a different place other than my hometown. I have learned how to make friendships and I have learned how to keep them. Things that were once so important to me back home dont seem to bother me much anymore. I have become a social butterfly. That shy little Bailee is no longer. This exchange has been a life changing opportunity, I have seen more of Australia and done more activities than more Aussies have. I have made lifetime friends which I will treasure in my heart forever. I have become a better person, all thanks to Rotary Youth Exchange.
The past few weeks have been very hard on me, it's almost like I don't realise that this whole beautiful experiance is coming to an end. I dont know where my year went. Time flies when your having fun aye. But anyways I have been quite emotional these few weeks. My mind keeps wondering what it will be like when I go home. My heart aches thinking I wont see my bestfriends every day. And my eyes water not knowning when I will back. Not knowing when I will be back in the country that I call my home, Australia. <3
I have the best friends in the whole world. I was so scared when I first moved to the bay. I was worried that no one would like me or no one would notice me and that I was just nervous about starting over again, I honestly never should have worried one bit about that. It took a few weeks but once I met, Georgia, Bronte, Kirra, Eden, Bridget, Sharla, Lisa, Kiarne and Sigrid it was as if we were bestfriends our whole lives. They have all touched my heart and will never forget them. We have had so many memories together, so many laughs, so many up and not many downs. I love those girls. Leaving them will be so hard. Last weekend they did something for me that was completely unexpected. They told me we were going to have a girls night at Georgia's house. So I was thinking alright this should be alright, a good weekend with my girls before I leave. But as soon as I got out of the car at Georgia's i heard so many whispers coming from the back yard, and people sayin shh be quiet. I started questioning the girls and was asking them what was going on, and as I stepped through the back gate nearly 50 people jumped out and yelled SURPRISE! They threw me the best going away surprise party in party history! I was so so happy I didnt wipe that smile off my face all night! There were so many people there. Friends from school friends from around the area. Couldnt believe how many people that I had actually made an impression on. It was the best night ever and I wish I could go back to that night, we danced, there was a bonfire, my friends made me this huge awesome picture frame with pictures of all our group on it. They made me the most awesome cake ever! It was shaped as a suitcase with "bon Voyage" on it. It was the best night ever! :):)
Thursday night was my farewell for Rotary. Bronte and Georgia were asked to come along and make a presentation on me to show the club. Lisa came along as well. I had put together a 20 minute video of my whole Australian Exchange. And wrote out a long speech. The girls made me a poem and read it out to Rotary that night this was it..
"Bailee you are the best friend we have ever met,
One so beautiful we will never forget!
The many memories we have made,
Ones I know will never fade!
I remember the first time we all hung together
We always knew this friendship would last forever!
we have stuck by eachother through thick and thin
Alot of people called you my American twin.
One day we will all be house mates again,
Although we would probably drive eachother insane!
So many laughs and crazy times we've had,
The airport is unimaginable, it will be really sad!
Your loveable laugh and smiling face,
Nothing will ever take your place!
You are special to us in every single way.
I bet you'' never forget the time you spent in the bay!" -Georgia Waugh <3
The club loved it, I loved it. I couldnt help but break down into tears cause I will miss them so much. My speech was also hard to get through, when I started talking about the lifechanging friends I have made the tears were rolling down my face and the whole room was filled with emotions. The told me it was very touching although I was embarassed. The Rotary Club gave me an Australian diggers hat from the army and they said that it was very rare. They also gave me a wonderful picture book of my ramble put together by george koncz. The Nelson Bay Rotary told me I touched all their hearts and their faith was back in American exchange students because they tend to have a bad reputation. All in all a good night, I will miss them. I am so thankful for what they have done for me.
Friday was my last day at Tomaree High School, the wonderful friends I have threw me another little party at school with streamers in the trees and party hats, lollies, cupcakes, fairy bread, and presents. Second break was really emotional, I handed out some letters that I wrote the girls and there were more tears. I wish I didnt have to leave them..But at least I know our friendship wont break through distance, they have made plans to come visit me. They mean so much to me now. I know what a true friendship is. <3
So this will be my last blog probably cause I will be back on American soil in 9 days.. Scary to think how fast that year went. If I had the choice I would be an exchange student for life. Its that amazing. I have gotten the most out of my exchange as I possibly could, hope I made my country and Rotary Club proud. I will never ever forget my life changing year in the land down under. Thanks again to everyone who has supported me through the good and hard times.
See you in 9 days America.
Farewell Australia, I will be back no matter what..
These last few days will be very hard on me, keep me in your prayers..
Love: Bailee Jo
xoxo
The past few weeks have been very hard on me, it's almost like I don't realise that this whole beautiful experiance is coming to an end. I dont know where my year went. Time flies when your having fun aye. But anyways I have been quite emotional these few weeks. My mind keeps wondering what it will be like when I go home. My heart aches thinking I wont see my bestfriends every day. And my eyes water not knowning when I will back. Not knowing when I will be back in the country that I call my home, Australia. <3
I have the best friends in the whole world. I was so scared when I first moved to the bay. I was worried that no one would like me or no one would notice me and that I was just nervous about starting over again, I honestly never should have worried one bit about that. It took a few weeks but once I met, Georgia, Bronte, Kirra, Eden, Bridget, Sharla, Lisa, Kiarne and Sigrid it was as if we were bestfriends our whole lives. They have all touched my heart and will never forget them. We have had so many memories together, so many laughs, so many up and not many downs. I love those girls. Leaving them will be so hard. Last weekend they did something for me that was completely unexpected. They told me we were going to have a girls night at Georgia's house. So I was thinking alright this should be alright, a good weekend with my girls before I leave. But as soon as I got out of the car at Georgia's i heard so many whispers coming from the back yard, and people sayin shh be quiet. I started questioning the girls and was asking them what was going on, and as I stepped through the back gate nearly 50 people jumped out and yelled SURPRISE! They threw me the best going away surprise party in party history! I was so so happy I didnt wipe that smile off my face all night! There were so many people there. Friends from school friends from around the area. Couldnt believe how many people that I had actually made an impression on. It was the best night ever and I wish I could go back to that night, we danced, there was a bonfire, my friends made me this huge awesome picture frame with pictures of all our group on it. They made me the most awesome cake ever! It was shaped as a suitcase with "bon Voyage" on it. It was the best night ever! :):)
Thursday night was my farewell for Rotary. Bronte and Georgia were asked to come along and make a presentation on me to show the club. Lisa came along as well. I had put together a 20 minute video of my whole Australian Exchange. And wrote out a long speech. The girls made me a poem and read it out to Rotary that night this was it..
"Bailee you are the best friend we have ever met,
One so beautiful we will never forget!
The many memories we have made,
Ones I know will never fade!
I remember the first time we all hung together
We always knew this friendship would last forever!
we have stuck by eachother through thick and thin
Alot of people called you my American twin.
One day we will all be house mates again,
Although we would probably drive eachother insane!
So many laughs and crazy times we've had,
The airport is unimaginable, it will be really sad!
Your loveable laugh and smiling face,
Nothing will ever take your place!
You are special to us in every single way.
I bet you'' never forget the time you spent in the bay!" -Georgia Waugh <3
The club loved it, I loved it. I couldnt help but break down into tears cause I will miss them so much. My speech was also hard to get through, when I started talking about the lifechanging friends I have made the tears were rolling down my face and the whole room was filled with emotions. The told me it was very touching although I was embarassed. The Rotary Club gave me an Australian diggers hat from the army and they said that it was very rare. They also gave me a wonderful picture book of my ramble put together by george koncz. The Nelson Bay Rotary told me I touched all their hearts and their faith was back in American exchange students because they tend to have a bad reputation. All in all a good night, I will miss them. I am so thankful for what they have done for me.
Friday was my last day at Tomaree High School, the wonderful friends I have threw me another little party at school with streamers in the trees and party hats, lollies, cupcakes, fairy bread, and presents. Second break was really emotional, I handed out some letters that I wrote the girls and there were more tears. I wish I didnt have to leave them..But at least I know our friendship wont break through distance, they have made plans to come visit me. They mean so much to me now. I know what a true friendship is. <3
So this will be my last blog probably cause I will be back on American soil in 9 days.. Scary to think how fast that year went. If I had the choice I would be an exchange student for life. Its that amazing. I have gotten the most out of my exchange as I possibly could, hope I made my country and Rotary Club proud. I will never ever forget my life changing year in the land down under. Thanks again to everyone who has supported me through the good and hard times.
See you in 9 days America.
Farewell Australia, I will be back no matter what..
These last few days will be very hard on me, keep me in your prayers..
Love: Bailee Jo
xoxo
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Homeward stretch..
Well this past month has flown by like crazy! Feels like it was just yesterday that I was coming home from safari. A few days after my safari I had that music festival called ‘Groovin the Moo’ it was literally one of the best days of my life! It was so much fun, alot of music, dancing, people, more dancing, and a day that I will definitely never forget. I wish I could go back and replay the day over and over again. Then I went to school for a few days, I haven’t been going all that much because I have been just too busy. But when I do I love seeing all my friends, that’s my favourite part of school now. A few weekends ago one of my friends had a birthday party and it was a bonfire sort of thing. That was a blast; again more dancing, my feet were sore the next day but definitely worth the fun night! The weather here is getting colder and colder so it was time to buy some new jumpers and I sent home some of my summer clothes. Two weekends ago I headed down to Sydney to visit my friend Mia from Finland. That was a blast; we spent all of Saturday shopping with a heap of other exchange students. And then we watched the Sydney Opera House Light Show. That was so cool! The whole harbour was sparkling with different flashing lights and figures. Then on the Sunday we went for a three hour horseback ride! It was amazing and even better because Mia and I were the only other ones on the ride besides our leader. We walked through rivers and through the jungle and past waterfalls all on horses, so incredible! That was a busy weekend and I was exhausted when I came back to the bay. Last weekend I and my friends had a cute dinner date at a Thai place and then we went back to my best friend Georgia’s house for a little girls night get together. It was alot of fun; I’ve been trying to spend as much time with my closest friends here before I have to leave. My best friends here are, Georgia, Bronte, Eden, Kirra, Bridget, and Sharla. I love them so much, they’ve shown me what it’s like to have true friends, and we’ve all become very close since I have been here. Last week on Friday me and Sharla went with the school to go play some field hockey, we were pretty excited! It was so much fun even if we didn’t win, the coach was really impressed with how I played and wanted me to play for his team as full back, and sadly I had to tell him I leave soon.
I’m starting to get used to the fact that I will be back in the states in no time. Pretty scary, and I’m honestly really nervous, and sometimes sad about it but I do think that it’s time for me to be home with family and friends again. I think the best thing I have gotten out of my exchange is definitely the friendships I have made here in the bay and also in Gilgandra. I just can imagine life without them now. And I know that no matter where in the world I am that we will always be good friends. I have learned alot about myself this past year too. And really have grown up and become more mature. Another scary thing I think about is that if I have changed so much during my year abroad and then I come home to all my friends who haven’t changed at all, it just makes me worry a little of how things will be. But I know that I will get through it. I am so excited to do my sport again when I get back home, and also looking forward to the warm weather, I’m not really liking the cold here all that much. Well I’m at school right now writing this during business studies, and school is nearly done for the day. Tonight I am going late night shopping with Bronte my host sister and my host mum. So I’m pretty excited for that, and tomorrow night I am headed to Maitland to go to an exchange student get together, so this will be the last time I see these people in Australia. There will be more and more tears coming as my time here dwindles away, it won’t be easy. I had never expected to make this many amazing friends on exchange. It’s funny to think that before I came to Australia actually my only worry was that I wouldn’t make friends and that no one here would like me, which should have been the last of my worries because the people here are that great! Have missed my American life a little bit and now it’s sort of an excited, nervous, happy, sad all mixed emotion s!
My exchange year hasn’t been just a year in my life; it’s been a life in one year.
My exchange year hasn’t been just a year in my life; it’s been a life in one year.
Thanks for reading! See you Americans soon!
-Bailee Jo
Xoxo
Thursday, May 10, 2012
CAPRICORN RAMLE 2012!
Well wow, where to start...
I just recently came back from my Australian safari! Three weeks traveling Australia with 30 other exchange students on a big coach party bus.. Best three weeks of my life! The ramble so incredible! Words cant even describe how amazing it was! We saw so many fantastic sights I made so many new friends and it just was the best time ever! I never wanted the safari to end, if i could be on safari for the rest of my life i would in a heart beat thats how amazing it was!
At first I wasnt really looking forward to the ramble just because i was having such a great time in the bay with movin into my new host family and hanging out with friends and being on holidays so no school. :) But the ramble was absolutely more than i imagined it could ever be! :D
We started on April 18th, the night before i had got all packed, i packed alot of jumpers and pants and socks becaues they told us it will get cold, and it did. Going to bed some nights with four jumpers on and three pairs of trackies i was still froze. Oh dont forget to keep in mind the safari consisted of camping.. Yup, camping. rain or shine.. Haha well anyways around noon on the 18th the big coach bus pulled up at the train station in maitland, half of the students were already on some of the exchange students from sydney had gotten picked up way earlier than us. Rotary had given us all big blue duffel bags for this trip and we werent allowed to pack over 20 kilos, so that was a bit of a challenge but it all worked out in the end :)
So we got picked up in maitland and everyone on the bus was a bit shy at first and were only speaking to their close friends.. that shyness lasted one night. Haha then it was as if we had all known eachother our whole lives which was a great start to the safari!
After about five hours of traveling plus bathroom breaks we had arrived in coffs harbour. It was dark when we arrived so we all had to watch the demonstation of putting up and taking down tents in the dark. Annick my bestfriend from Belgium and I shared a tent the whole trip! It was a blast. The first night we had the worst luck though, we got a faulty tent, or set up our tent in the wrong spot, or the rain was only pounding down on our tent.. but we got soaked! I woke up in the middle of the night in a big puddle, the rain somehow got in our tent and it soaked through my mattress pad, my sleeping bag, and my clothes. Plus our big blue bags were completely dripping wet, and all our other bags were soaked. So... we were not happy campers and I wanted to go back home already cause the first night was so wet and cold and miserable plus my ipod was in my back pack which was sitting in the puddle of water and that got wet and broke. :( So to start off safari i wasnt keen at all. But then i looked past all the negatives, got up the next day bright and early and tried to laugh it off to change the tone of my mood, it worked :) plus i hung out all my wet stuff at the next campground so it was dry within two days.
Day 2: April 19th, we woke up bright and early with our swimmers on already and we were headed to Byron Bay for surf lessons at the best surfing location around byron! I was so excited for this, I had only been surfing a few times and it definately is harder than it looks! So we all got changed into our wetsuits and the instructers were cute too so that was already a plus! haha, we headed down to the beach and they went through the basics with us like teaching us the right way to stand up and how to keep your balance then we paddled out to sea. The waves werent heaps big which ended up being a good thing for us starters. The instructers helped us catch the first couple of waves but after about 5 times standing up and riding the wave through we were ready to go on our own! Surfing was a blast everytime someone got up the whole group would cheer and it was just a super fun atmosphere to be in. Plus im pro surfer now ;) i wishhh haha. After a long day of surfing we just chilled on the beach got a lil tanand the we were to board the bus again to head back to the campground in byron bay. To our surprise once we got to the campground The tents were set up already for us!! The cook and the driver set up 16 tents on their own, that definately made our day because we wanted to get ready as soon as possible to head into town and do some shopping and sight seeing. Byron bay is thee coolest town ever! Its so hippy like with those big hippy vans everywhere and people with dreadlocks, everyone was just so chilled and they had the sickest shops. I would absolutely love to live in Byron Bay some day! :) It was beautiful too! Loved it so much didnt want to leave. So after we hit the town we had to try and find our way back to the campground, hahah we got lost and were late for dinner. After dinner all the exchange students just hung out and Annick and I stayed up heaps late. Actually nearly every night Annick and I were up till 2am laughing, or singing, or just talking. We were always having a blast so glad that we shared a tent :)
Day 3: April 20th - Today we head in to the fun capital of Australia today! We got up heaps early and the cook (Mel) made us pancakes for breakfast, that put everyone in a happy mood and everyone was so excited to head to Dreamworld! :D Dreamworld was amaazingggggggggggggggg! I loved it so much! So many amazing rides like the tower of terror or the giant claw! Had the best day of riding rides and hanging out with friends. Each day on safari i would say "okay today was by far the best day nothing can beat this!" and i ended up saying that like 20 times because every day of activities was so great! :) After a couple hours at dreamworld we head back on the big party bus and travel north up the coast to coolum beach where we set up camp and have a nice dinner cooked by our lovely cook :)
Day 4: April 21st - Today we head more north passing through the country towns of Nambour and Gympie. The sight of the Tropic of Capricorn marker signals that we are passing through Rockhampton, the beef capital of Australia. We stopped quickly for some photos. Today was just a long day on the bus with about nine hours of driving, We all suddenly realise how big australia actually is. The temeratures are getting warmer. After a long day of watching movies and trying to sleep on the bus everyone is excited when we finally reach our destination. Rockhampton :)
day 5: April 22nd - Waking up early to try and get on the road early but one problem, the bus breaks down and we have to wait an hour to get back on the road again. Just another long day of traveling! After about 8 hours of travel we finally start to see the crystal blue waters of the Whitsundays! :) Set up camp about 20 metres from the beach, fun night with the students around the city and fall alseep to the sounds of the waves :)
day 6: April 23rd - We wake up bright and early once again and everyone is keen as a bean for ocean rafting and snorkeling the whitsundays! Yaaaaay :) Ocean rafting was great! We couldnt have asked for more perfect weather it was a beautiful blue sky and completely sunny :) nicest day yet. we all got in the ocean raft and they gave a litttle bit of a ride swerving all over and going through waves it was great and we were also racing the other raft and they would make more waves for us to go over. It was a great feeling of such nice weather and the wind blowing your hair back and the atmosphere of all the excited exchange students was amazing:) best feeling ever. we then finally arrived to the snorkel spot, they handed out all the equiptment and off we were free to snorkel whereever we wanted for a few hours it was so cool! The water was so clear and blue and the fish were so bright and colourful! I took so many photos. We had to wear wetsuits here because there are little jelly fish in the water that sting you and i got stung a couple times, really hurts at first but after a while the pain went away and off again i was snorkeling :) after snorkeling we got back on the raft and were headed to the witsundays lookout where we hiked through the jungle and got the the most photographed scenery in australia. it was gorgeous! we could see the bright blue clear water and the beautiful sandy beaches and islands. it was literally picuture perfect! :) after this little walk we board back on the rafts and we are starting to get hungry we head to Whitehaven Beach (one of the top beaches of the world) I definately can tell why :) It was pure paradise! We had a picnic on the beach and swam and played touch footy on the beach and tanned and hung out with friends and relaxed! Had the best day! :) Whitehaven beach was amazinggg! I wish I could have stayed there for ever! The sand what whiter than white, the water was bluer than the sky and i was happier than ever just being there :) We had to eventually leave though, so we head back on the raft for the last time and they bring us back to where we got on at. We head back to camp and hangout with the studnets again with another nice dinner and desert :) another late night of course.. haha and we have to be up early again!
Day 7 : April 24th - Today we pack up camp and head back on the bus for a long day of travel heading to Cains, the tropical home of thhe Great Barrier Reef! Everyone was gettin keen for scuba diving! Set up camp again and head into Cains for a little loook around. I absolutely loved Cains it was so much fun. We didnt have to set up tents either, we were staying in bunks! Three nights in Cains, my favourite bit of safari :) had a fun night out in town then head back to the bunks for some sleep cause tomorrow would be a busy busy fun day!
Day 8: April 25th - Well we all know what today is.. the day I have been waiting for! SCUBA DIVE THE GREAT BARRIER REEF! :) Scuba diving and snorkeling the reef definately looked up to my expectations. A highlight of my life! <3
We woke up early again and we board the bus to head to the jetty for the fun filled day ahead of us :) We got on the boat and there were nearly 60 people there. We had a bacon and egg sandwich for brekky on the boat with fruit pieces. And for ages we just layed out on the top of the boat and just relaxed untilll the boat crew called everyone downstairs for the introductions and they had to splut us in into groups for the scuba diving. We had to go through the instructions of all the gear and all the safety. Then I was put into group number 2 out of 14, so Annick and I were first to dive! Yay :) We got all our gear on and a lead weighted belt, the the oxygen tank on our backs it ended up being super heavy! I didnt wear a wet suit because they werent required and they were uncomfortable. So we hoped into the water and followed our leader, the leaders here were also cute! Hahaa. We only went scuba diving for about half hour but it still was incredible! At first it was super weird when I went under for the first time and I was actually breathing. It freaked me out a bit and it took me a while to get breathing normal but after about 3 minutes i had it down and was ready to go on further to dive the reef :) lots of peeople that day saw turtles and sharks (the kind of sharks that dont kill you) but i never saw either so i was little bit disappointed but still without seeing them the fish at the reef are just amazing. truly undescribable! So bright! So colourful! So many! Different shapes different sizes. You could get close enough to the fish to touch them :) we also saw some clams when we were diving, it was cool cause if you would swim close to the clams and make sudden movement you would watch these huge shells quickly close up! I literally felt like a fish when i was down there, the water was so clear and the corals are beautiful too! So many different colours! Aw I just cant say enough good things about this day cause it was that fantastic!! I loved every single second of it! We got lunch on the boat too and they brought us to another part of the reef where we were free to go snorkeling on our own again. At first i was too scared to go on my own but after a while i preferred going by myself and i just kept swimming and swimming and it was so beautiful and peaceful. I loved it so much! So so so much! I am incredibly lucky to have been able to do what i have here in australia! Well after we got back on the boat and head back to our resort we all got nicely dressed up and headed into the city again for another amazing night out in cains :) Nothin could top this day! I will never forget this day! :)
Day 9: April 26th - Not thinking anything would top great barrier reef day this day came pretty darn close! Today we got on a tour bus and we went to the rainforests and went and swam in water falls. :) it was like picutre perfect! such a great day! and our tour guide was 36 but seemed like he was 16, he was a blast! he would pump his music in the bus and it was a constant party! the tour guide definately made the day! we got so many great photos this day:) swimming in the water falls were freezing but completely worth it ! for once i had an early night and was so exhausted after dinner i just crashed and had a really good sleep :)
Day 10: - April 27th - Today we pack up and head to the airport in Cains, off to Alice Srpings! (middle of australia) Everyone was sad to leave cains cause we had to most fantastic time there but also we were keen to experiance the aboriginal lifestyle and culture of australia that alice springs had to offer us :) it was about a 2 hour flight and we had lunch on the plane. where we were sleepin was in a dorm styled room. once we got to alice springs we met up with the other safari group and had a nice chat! i found more americans! i hadnt talked to another american in months so i was really excited :) after that our safari group had time to shop around alice springs, we went to maccas and got some postcards and some souvenirs :) Alice springs is bit of a rough community, the aboriginal communitiy is a little bit scary. but it was really interesting also! I loved alice springs, i bought some really nice aboriginal painting and got it signed. i was happy about that :) then just another chilled night around the dorm.
Day 11: -April 28th - Today we go and watch a flying doctor program, that was good. And then we headed to the reptile centre and i got to hold a python! that was great! Then we had the rest of the day to hang out in alice, it was a good day :)
Day 12- Farewell to Alice springs and we head to kings creek station and set up camp. we went to kings canyon on a 6 k walk around the canyon. it was beautiful! then back to the station and we have a bonfire and sing songs around the campground and we slept out under the stars! that was great, it was freezing but it was well worth it. the stars are beautiful.
Day 13- Today we got a little ride on a camel! It was so cool haha i liked it alot! Camels are so cute! We then have a long day of driving and arrive in Uluru. Set up tents and another chilled night out :)
Day 14- Early rise this morning and we have to choice to climb ayers rock or not climb it.. being the adventerous girl that i am, i chose to climb it :) people try and encourage you not to climb it because they reckon it is disrespecting the aboriginal culture, but i decided to climb it because i knew i would never get the opportunity to climb it again. and i dont regret it one bit. climbing it was one of the hardest things ive done in my life but once you reach the very top after about an hour and a half or nothing but hard climbinb up this steep steep rock when it is nearly 90 degrees out it was the best feeling in my life! the view was amazinggggggggg! it was so cool! i could see for ages and ages! there was about 8 of us students that made the decision to climb and it was a highlight of my life! it was worth it :) i was so proud of myself because so many times i had just wanted to turn back around cause i thought i was faint of dehydration or heat exhaustion but i made it! yay! i couldnt stop smiling when i made it to the top it was incredible :) :) :) one of my favourite days of the year!
Day 15- Today we headed east and then south arriving in coober pedy, where we slept underground. most of the houses in this little mining town are underground because of the extreme temperatures! it was quite an experiance, but it was a good one.
Day 16- We spent all day on the big bus, slept most of the day and watched a few movies. We finally arrived in Gladstone where we would sleep in a jail tonight. we had dinner in the jail and then after an old man took us on a ghost tour and it was so scary! the told us so many ghost stories and then sometimes if i was walking alone other kids would jump out and scare the crap outta me, i was happy to be leaving the jail the next day! what an experiance though haha
Day 17- Today we say goodbye to the gaol and we head south and spend an hour or twoish of shopping in adelaid. that was great! it was good to see actual people and cars again, back into civilization! :) We then keep driving and set up camp in naracoorte.
Day 18- Today we keep heading south down the coast of australia. we watched an amazin sound and light show explaining the history of the "ship wreck coast" spent the night hanging out with the others it was a really crazy fun night! :)
Day 19- Early rise today and we head down the great ocean road and stop many times to take photos and we see the 12 apostles and rising columns of rock surrounded by tracherous reefs and tides. we then head inland and arrive in the late afternoon at melbourne, the shopping capital of australia. set up camp and get a good nights sleep cause the next day it was time for shoppiiinnnggggg!
Day 20- Today we headed into melbourne and we visited the skydeck where we could see for so far out and we got heaps of photos and then the leaders let us go to explore 8 hours alone in melbourne! yayyyyy it was great! i loved the melbourne shopping we had to catch a tram so we could get to the good shopppig centre, i had sved up my money for melboure and got 2 jumpers, some boots, and lots of postcards and souvenirs was a really great day of shopping i had a blast hanging out with annick and mia (finland) :)
Day 21- Today we had a few hours at the victorian markets! it was really great there because we could bargain with the people and buy stuff for cheaper, i was pretty good at that. ask for a price, if they say no put on a sad face and walk away and then they came chasing every timeeee! :) hahaha so i got what i wanted at the victorian markets. we were then back on the bus for some more travel!
Day 22- last night was freezing cold it got to about negative 5, everyone was trying to keep warm on the bus too, today is our last day, everyone was sad to say good bye to everyone else. i got home at about 6, that was a solid 12 hours of traveling on that bus. was really sad to see safari over but happy to be home again :) i am now moved in with my new host family and i love it here :)
So all in all that was the most amazing 3 weeks of my life! And this took me over two hours to type so pleaseeee commment or ask any questions haha i would be more than happy to hear from all of you that read this!
:)
Tomorrow i am headedc to a big music concert in maitland with the girls, extremely excited! im all tanned up and ready for a fun day! :)
time is going by too fast! will see you americans sooon. take care! love you all!
your welcome for blogging :)
xoxoxox
-Bailee Jo
I just recently came back from my Australian safari! Three weeks traveling Australia with 30 other exchange students on a big coach party bus.. Best three weeks of my life! The ramble so incredible! Words cant even describe how amazing it was! We saw so many fantastic sights I made so many new friends and it just was the best time ever! I never wanted the safari to end, if i could be on safari for the rest of my life i would in a heart beat thats how amazing it was!
At first I wasnt really looking forward to the ramble just because i was having such a great time in the bay with movin into my new host family and hanging out with friends and being on holidays so no school. :) But the ramble was absolutely more than i imagined it could ever be! :D
We started on April 18th, the night before i had got all packed, i packed alot of jumpers and pants and socks becaues they told us it will get cold, and it did. Going to bed some nights with four jumpers on and three pairs of trackies i was still froze. Oh dont forget to keep in mind the safari consisted of camping.. Yup, camping. rain or shine.. Haha well anyways around noon on the 18th the big coach bus pulled up at the train station in maitland, half of the students were already on some of the exchange students from sydney had gotten picked up way earlier than us. Rotary had given us all big blue duffel bags for this trip and we werent allowed to pack over 20 kilos, so that was a bit of a challenge but it all worked out in the end :)
So we got picked up in maitland and everyone on the bus was a bit shy at first and were only speaking to their close friends.. that shyness lasted one night. Haha then it was as if we had all known eachother our whole lives which was a great start to the safari!
After about five hours of traveling plus bathroom breaks we had arrived in coffs harbour. It was dark when we arrived so we all had to watch the demonstation of putting up and taking down tents in the dark. Annick my bestfriend from Belgium and I shared a tent the whole trip! It was a blast. The first night we had the worst luck though, we got a faulty tent, or set up our tent in the wrong spot, or the rain was only pounding down on our tent.. but we got soaked! I woke up in the middle of the night in a big puddle, the rain somehow got in our tent and it soaked through my mattress pad, my sleeping bag, and my clothes. Plus our big blue bags were completely dripping wet, and all our other bags were soaked. So... we were not happy campers and I wanted to go back home already cause the first night was so wet and cold and miserable plus my ipod was in my back pack which was sitting in the puddle of water and that got wet and broke. :( So to start off safari i wasnt keen at all. But then i looked past all the negatives, got up the next day bright and early and tried to laugh it off to change the tone of my mood, it worked :) plus i hung out all my wet stuff at the next campground so it was dry within two days.
Day 2: April 19th, we woke up bright and early with our swimmers on already and we were headed to Byron Bay for surf lessons at the best surfing location around byron! I was so excited for this, I had only been surfing a few times and it definately is harder than it looks! So we all got changed into our wetsuits and the instructers were cute too so that was already a plus! haha, we headed down to the beach and they went through the basics with us like teaching us the right way to stand up and how to keep your balance then we paddled out to sea. The waves werent heaps big which ended up being a good thing for us starters. The instructers helped us catch the first couple of waves but after about 5 times standing up and riding the wave through we were ready to go on our own! Surfing was a blast everytime someone got up the whole group would cheer and it was just a super fun atmosphere to be in. Plus im pro surfer now ;) i wishhh haha. After a long day of surfing we just chilled on the beach got a lil tanand the we were to board the bus again to head back to the campground in byron bay. To our surprise once we got to the campground The tents were set up already for us!! The cook and the driver set up 16 tents on their own, that definately made our day because we wanted to get ready as soon as possible to head into town and do some shopping and sight seeing. Byron bay is thee coolest town ever! Its so hippy like with those big hippy vans everywhere and people with dreadlocks, everyone was just so chilled and they had the sickest shops. I would absolutely love to live in Byron Bay some day! :) It was beautiful too! Loved it so much didnt want to leave. So after we hit the town we had to try and find our way back to the campground, hahah we got lost and were late for dinner. After dinner all the exchange students just hung out and Annick and I stayed up heaps late. Actually nearly every night Annick and I were up till 2am laughing, or singing, or just talking. We were always having a blast so glad that we shared a tent :)
Day 3: April 20th - Today we head in to the fun capital of Australia today! We got up heaps early and the cook (Mel) made us pancakes for breakfast, that put everyone in a happy mood and everyone was so excited to head to Dreamworld! :D Dreamworld was amaazingggggggggggggggg! I loved it so much! So many amazing rides like the tower of terror or the giant claw! Had the best day of riding rides and hanging out with friends. Each day on safari i would say "okay today was by far the best day nothing can beat this!" and i ended up saying that like 20 times because every day of activities was so great! :) After a couple hours at dreamworld we head back on the big party bus and travel north up the coast to coolum beach where we set up camp and have a nice dinner cooked by our lovely cook :)
Day 4: April 21st - Today we head more north passing through the country towns of Nambour and Gympie. The sight of the Tropic of Capricorn marker signals that we are passing through Rockhampton, the beef capital of Australia. We stopped quickly for some photos. Today was just a long day on the bus with about nine hours of driving, We all suddenly realise how big australia actually is. The temeratures are getting warmer. After a long day of watching movies and trying to sleep on the bus everyone is excited when we finally reach our destination. Rockhampton :)
day 5: April 22nd - Waking up early to try and get on the road early but one problem, the bus breaks down and we have to wait an hour to get back on the road again. Just another long day of traveling! After about 8 hours of travel we finally start to see the crystal blue waters of the Whitsundays! :) Set up camp about 20 metres from the beach, fun night with the students around the city and fall alseep to the sounds of the waves :)
day 6: April 23rd - We wake up bright and early once again and everyone is keen as a bean for ocean rafting and snorkeling the whitsundays! Yaaaaay :) Ocean rafting was great! We couldnt have asked for more perfect weather it was a beautiful blue sky and completely sunny :) nicest day yet. we all got in the ocean raft and they gave a litttle bit of a ride swerving all over and going through waves it was great and we were also racing the other raft and they would make more waves for us to go over. It was a great feeling of such nice weather and the wind blowing your hair back and the atmosphere of all the excited exchange students was amazing:) best feeling ever. we then finally arrived to the snorkel spot, they handed out all the equiptment and off we were free to snorkel whereever we wanted for a few hours it was so cool! The water was so clear and blue and the fish were so bright and colourful! I took so many photos. We had to wear wetsuits here because there are little jelly fish in the water that sting you and i got stung a couple times, really hurts at first but after a while the pain went away and off again i was snorkeling :) after snorkeling we got back on the raft and were headed to the witsundays lookout where we hiked through the jungle and got the the most photographed scenery in australia. it was gorgeous! we could see the bright blue clear water and the beautiful sandy beaches and islands. it was literally picuture perfect! :) after this little walk we board back on the rafts and we are starting to get hungry we head to Whitehaven Beach (one of the top beaches of the world) I definately can tell why :) It was pure paradise! We had a picnic on the beach and swam and played touch footy on the beach and tanned and hung out with friends and relaxed! Had the best day! :) Whitehaven beach was amazinggg! I wish I could have stayed there for ever! The sand what whiter than white, the water was bluer than the sky and i was happier than ever just being there :) We had to eventually leave though, so we head back on the raft for the last time and they bring us back to where we got on at. We head back to camp and hangout with the studnets again with another nice dinner and desert :) another late night of course.. haha and we have to be up early again!
Day 7 : April 24th - Today we pack up camp and head back on the bus for a long day of travel heading to Cains, the tropical home of thhe Great Barrier Reef! Everyone was gettin keen for scuba diving! Set up camp again and head into Cains for a little loook around. I absolutely loved Cains it was so much fun. We didnt have to set up tents either, we were staying in bunks! Three nights in Cains, my favourite bit of safari :) had a fun night out in town then head back to the bunks for some sleep cause tomorrow would be a busy busy fun day!
Day 8: April 25th - Well we all know what today is.. the day I have been waiting for! SCUBA DIVE THE GREAT BARRIER REEF! :) Scuba diving and snorkeling the reef definately looked up to my expectations. A highlight of my life! <3
We woke up early again and we board the bus to head to the jetty for the fun filled day ahead of us :) We got on the boat and there were nearly 60 people there. We had a bacon and egg sandwich for brekky on the boat with fruit pieces. And for ages we just layed out on the top of the boat and just relaxed untilll the boat crew called everyone downstairs for the introductions and they had to splut us in into groups for the scuba diving. We had to go through the instructions of all the gear and all the safety. Then I was put into group number 2 out of 14, so Annick and I were first to dive! Yay :) We got all our gear on and a lead weighted belt, the the oxygen tank on our backs it ended up being super heavy! I didnt wear a wet suit because they werent required and they were uncomfortable. So we hoped into the water and followed our leader, the leaders here were also cute! Hahaa. We only went scuba diving for about half hour but it still was incredible! At first it was super weird when I went under for the first time and I was actually breathing. It freaked me out a bit and it took me a while to get breathing normal but after about 3 minutes i had it down and was ready to go on further to dive the reef :) lots of peeople that day saw turtles and sharks (the kind of sharks that dont kill you) but i never saw either so i was little bit disappointed but still without seeing them the fish at the reef are just amazing. truly undescribable! So bright! So colourful! So many! Different shapes different sizes. You could get close enough to the fish to touch them :) we also saw some clams when we were diving, it was cool cause if you would swim close to the clams and make sudden movement you would watch these huge shells quickly close up! I literally felt like a fish when i was down there, the water was so clear and the corals are beautiful too! So many different colours! Aw I just cant say enough good things about this day cause it was that fantastic!! I loved every single second of it! We got lunch on the boat too and they brought us to another part of the reef where we were free to go snorkeling on our own again. At first i was too scared to go on my own but after a while i preferred going by myself and i just kept swimming and swimming and it was so beautiful and peaceful. I loved it so much! So so so much! I am incredibly lucky to have been able to do what i have here in australia! Well after we got back on the boat and head back to our resort we all got nicely dressed up and headed into the city again for another amazing night out in cains :) Nothin could top this day! I will never forget this day! :)
Day 9: April 26th - Not thinking anything would top great barrier reef day this day came pretty darn close! Today we got on a tour bus and we went to the rainforests and went and swam in water falls. :) it was like picutre perfect! such a great day! and our tour guide was 36 but seemed like he was 16, he was a blast! he would pump his music in the bus and it was a constant party! the tour guide definately made the day! we got so many great photos this day:) swimming in the water falls were freezing but completely worth it ! for once i had an early night and was so exhausted after dinner i just crashed and had a really good sleep :)
Day 10: - April 27th - Today we pack up and head to the airport in Cains, off to Alice Srpings! (middle of australia) Everyone was sad to leave cains cause we had to most fantastic time there but also we were keen to experiance the aboriginal lifestyle and culture of australia that alice springs had to offer us :) it was about a 2 hour flight and we had lunch on the plane. where we were sleepin was in a dorm styled room. once we got to alice springs we met up with the other safari group and had a nice chat! i found more americans! i hadnt talked to another american in months so i was really excited :) after that our safari group had time to shop around alice springs, we went to maccas and got some postcards and some souvenirs :) Alice springs is bit of a rough community, the aboriginal communitiy is a little bit scary. but it was really interesting also! I loved alice springs, i bought some really nice aboriginal painting and got it signed. i was happy about that :) then just another chilled night around the dorm.
Day 11: -April 28th - Today we go and watch a flying doctor program, that was good. And then we headed to the reptile centre and i got to hold a python! that was great! Then we had the rest of the day to hang out in alice, it was a good day :)
Day 12- Farewell to Alice springs and we head to kings creek station and set up camp. we went to kings canyon on a 6 k walk around the canyon. it was beautiful! then back to the station and we have a bonfire and sing songs around the campground and we slept out under the stars! that was great, it was freezing but it was well worth it. the stars are beautiful.
Day 13- Today we got a little ride on a camel! It was so cool haha i liked it alot! Camels are so cute! We then have a long day of driving and arrive in Uluru. Set up tents and another chilled night out :)
Day 14- Early rise this morning and we have to choice to climb ayers rock or not climb it.. being the adventerous girl that i am, i chose to climb it :) people try and encourage you not to climb it because they reckon it is disrespecting the aboriginal culture, but i decided to climb it because i knew i would never get the opportunity to climb it again. and i dont regret it one bit. climbing it was one of the hardest things ive done in my life but once you reach the very top after about an hour and a half or nothing but hard climbinb up this steep steep rock when it is nearly 90 degrees out it was the best feeling in my life! the view was amazinggggggggg! it was so cool! i could see for ages and ages! there was about 8 of us students that made the decision to climb and it was a highlight of my life! it was worth it :) i was so proud of myself because so many times i had just wanted to turn back around cause i thought i was faint of dehydration or heat exhaustion but i made it! yay! i couldnt stop smiling when i made it to the top it was incredible :) :) :) one of my favourite days of the year!
Day 15- Today we headed east and then south arriving in coober pedy, where we slept underground. most of the houses in this little mining town are underground because of the extreme temperatures! it was quite an experiance, but it was a good one.
Day 16- We spent all day on the big bus, slept most of the day and watched a few movies. We finally arrived in Gladstone where we would sleep in a jail tonight. we had dinner in the jail and then after an old man took us on a ghost tour and it was so scary! the told us so many ghost stories and then sometimes if i was walking alone other kids would jump out and scare the crap outta me, i was happy to be leaving the jail the next day! what an experiance though haha
Day 17- Today we say goodbye to the gaol and we head south and spend an hour or twoish of shopping in adelaid. that was great! it was good to see actual people and cars again, back into civilization! :) We then keep driving and set up camp in naracoorte.
Day 18- Today we keep heading south down the coast of australia. we watched an amazin sound and light show explaining the history of the "ship wreck coast" spent the night hanging out with the others it was a really crazy fun night! :)
Day 19- Early rise today and we head down the great ocean road and stop many times to take photos and we see the 12 apostles and rising columns of rock surrounded by tracherous reefs and tides. we then head inland and arrive in the late afternoon at melbourne, the shopping capital of australia. set up camp and get a good nights sleep cause the next day it was time for shoppiiinnnggggg!
Day 20- Today we headed into melbourne and we visited the skydeck where we could see for so far out and we got heaps of photos and then the leaders let us go to explore 8 hours alone in melbourne! yayyyyy it was great! i loved the melbourne shopping we had to catch a tram so we could get to the good shopppig centre, i had sved up my money for melboure and got 2 jumpers, some boots, and lots of postcards and souvenirs was a really great day of shopping i had a blast hanging out with annick and mia (finland) :)
Day 21- Today we had a few hours at the victorian markets! it was really great there because we could bargain with the people and buy stuff for cheaper, i was pretty good at that. ask for a price, if they say no put on a sad face and walk away and then they came chasing every timeeee! :) hahaha so i got what i wanted at the victorian markets. we were then back on the bus for some more travel!
Day 22- last night was freezing cold it got to about negative 5, everyone was trying to keep warm on the bus too, today is our last day, everyone was sad to say good bye to everyone else. i got home at about 6, that was a solid 12 hours of traveling on that bus. was really sad to see safari over but happy to be home again :) i am now moved in with my new host family and i love it here :)
So all in all that was the most amazing 3 weeks of my life! And this took me over two hours to type so pleaseeee commment or ask any questions haha i would be more than happy to hear from all of you that read this!
:)
Tomorrow i am headedc to a big music concert in maitland with the girls, extremely excited! im all tanned up and ready for a fun day! :)
time is going by too fast! will see you americans sooon. take care! love you all!
your welcome for blogging :)
xoxoxox
-Bailee Jo
Monday, April 16, 2012
First Week Of Holidays :)
Well over a week of no school, has been so good! Best holidays ever thats for sure! I have done something fun every day of then. Last week I was living with my counselors from Rotary and they took me to Barrington Tops with Bronte. Barrington Tops is like a big rain forest in NSW. It was absolutely amazing! Felt as if I was in a completely different country, there were vines hanging down everywhere and waterfalls and big trees like eight feet wide. Bronte and I were swinging on the vines and climbing the trees and walking on trees across the rivers and it was just absolutely beautiful there. We had packed a lunch and then we had a picnic. Was a really fun day. On Easter I went up Tomaree Mountain with one of my friends, her name is Kirra. That was really nice. We walked up the mountain and it took nearly 20 mins and then we stayed up there for a while and had another picnic which was really nice looking out on Port Stephens. Port Stephens (Nelson Bay, Fingal Bay, Shoal Bay) is literally like paradise. It is so beautiful! I am extremely lucky to spend half of my exchange here. :)
Also last week my counselors took me and Bronte and Georgia to the Sydney Royal Easter Show. This show is almost exactly like the Minnesota State Fair. It was a really fun day! We went on a few rides, watched some shows, walked around, bought stuff. Funny story.. Me and Georgia, my friend, were going on a spinny ride where the harness comes down from the top automatically once they press a button and just at the last moment I had realised that I should take off my shoes so I reached down to take them off and then the bar started coming down on my back and I got stuck like that! Hahaha. I was so scared, I started screaming and flapping my arms and legs in the air and then the ride manager came by and thankfully saved me. We were laughing so hard we were crying. Hahahhaha. It was the best! And so yeah that was a great day with Georgia and Bronte, so much fun, so many laughs. :)
For three days straight I stayed at my friends Lisa's house and we just been hangin out with friends every night and since its been rainy during the day we just chill and watch movies. Its been a blast. :) Go on my safari soon. Alls good here, moved into my new family. Its been great also. well thats about all I have to say for now! Hope everyone is good. Take care! Love you all. xoxo
-Bailee Jo
Also last week my counselors took me and Bronte and Georgia to the Sydney Royal Easter Show. This show is almost exactly like the Minnesota State Fair. It was a really fun day! We went on a few rides, watched some shows, walked around, bought stuff. Funny story.. Me and Georgia, my friend, were going on a spinny ride where the harness comes down from the top automatically once they press a button and just at the last moment I had realised that I should take off my shoes so I reached down to take them off and then the bar started coming down on my back and I got stuck like that! Hahaha. I was so scared, I started screaming and flapping my arms and legs in the air and then the ride manager came by and thankfully saved me. We were laughing so hard we were crying. Hahahhaha. It was the best! And so yeah that was a great day with Georgia and Bronte, so much fun, so many laughs. :)
For three days straight I stayed at my friends Lisa's house and we just been hangin out with friends every night and since its been rainy during the day we just chill and watch movies. Its been a blast. :) Go on my safari soon. Alls good here, moved into my new family. Its been great also. well thats about all I have to say for now! Hope everyone is good. Take care! Love you all. xoxo
-Bailee Jo
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Lovin life!
Hey everyone! I am so so so sorry that I havent been able to keep my blog up to date! Still have had limited access to interenet. So I will try and remember what I have been up to the past month here in the bay. :)
Well last weekend was a really fun weekend with the girls. I went to the movie Hungergames with Georgia and Kirra. Hungergames is like the best movie I have ever seen! It was so so good! And then after the movie there was about 8 of us that met up at Hogsbreath for tea. That was great to have a dinner with the girls. I love the friends I have made here! They are the best, I am completely myself around them and we always have the best time and theyre all so funny and just a blast to be around. :) Well after Hogsbreath we went to another friends house and hung out for a while and then I spent the night at Kirra's. So that was a really good weekend.
Last week on Thursday I had a rugby union tournament in Waratah. I had only had two trainings and I barely knew what I was doing but it was the best day! We had four games and we won our first two and lost our second two which was really good for us cause none of the girls on the team have played before! Haha. It was a blast though. It was alot rougher than I thought it would be. Rugby union is like full girl on girl tackel! At the trainings thats basically all they taught us how to do, was tackle. Haha so it was so much fun! Really rough game though, throughout the whole day I got a bloody nose, numb face, slip lip, headache, huge bruises on my elbows, bruised knees, and i had cleat marks on my legs. But was so worth it! And since we were in the top 2 teams of the tourney we will go back in June and play another tournament! Everyone is so keen on that. :) So am I! The next day I could barely walk I was that sore. But was fun anyways.
School.. ehh Im over it already. But thank god today is the first day of holidays! YAY! :) So two weeks off school and then I have my safari on the 18th which will last three weeks. :)
A few weeks ago I went to sydney for the day for a breifing for my safari, they gave us our duffel bags and went over rules and what we would be doing on the trip. So pretty keen for that also should be a blast! A few days after i get back after safari i will go to the music concert groove in the moo! Everyone in the bay cant wait for that so it should be a good day!
The other weekends in March I had a district conference in warren which was for rotary. That was heaps boring to be honest, but it was good to see the other exchange students and the host family i had for the weekend was the sweetest people i know! I really enjoyed that!
Tomorrow I will move in with my counselor for a few days till Tuesday when he will take me bronte and georgia to the sydney royal easter show. :) And then I will move in with Bronte and her family until July! I can not wait! The third host family I was supposed to have is moving to newcastle so my counselor surprised me with telling me that i will be living with bronte! Was the best surprise ever! Bronte is one of my bestfriends here so that will be so much fun! During this holidays the girls are planning on having a lilttle camping trip on the beach and a day of shopping in newy and a mexican night with tacos and all that. Im not too sure what im doing for easter yet, but anyways excited for these holiday. Also a rotarian said he would take me and a few friends deep sea fishing! Aw yay. Excited. Well been so busy havent even had time to think about home! But will be back july 2nd, time really just needs to slow down! Its flying by far too fast and its a scary thought of me back in the states already!
Well anyways, hope all is good with everyone! I should finish up this blog, and my next host family has internet so i will definately try and blog more often! Love you all and take care!
- Bailee Jo
xoxox
Well last weekend was a really fun weekend with the girls. I went to the movie Hungergames with Georgia and Kirra. Hungergames is like the best movie I have ever seen! It was so so good! And then after the movie there was about 8 of us that met up at Hogsbreath for tea. That was great to have a dinner with the girls. I love the friends I have made here! They are the best, I am completely myself around them and we always have the best time and theyre all so funny and just a blast to be around. :) Well after Hogsbreath we went to another friends house and hung out for a while and then I spent the night at Kirra's. So that was a really good weekend.
Last week on Thursday I had a rugby union tournament in Waratah. I had only had two trainings and I barely knew what I was doing but it was the best day! We had four games and we won our first two and lost our second two which was really good for us cause none of the girls on the team have played before! Haha. It was a blast though. It was alot rougher than I thought it would be. Rugby union is like full girl on girl tackel! At the trainings thats basically all they taught us how to do, was tackle. Haha so it was so much fun! Really rough game though, throughout the whole day I got a bloody nose, numb face, slip lip, headache, huge bruises on my elbows, bruised knees, and i had cleat marks on my legs. But was so worth it! And since we were in the top 2 teams of the tourney we will go back in June and play another tournament! Everyone is so keen on that. :) So am I! The next day I could barely walk I was that sore. But was fun anyways.
School.. ehh Im over it already. But thank god today is the first day of holidays! YAY! :) So two weeks off school and then I have my safari on the 18th which will last three weeks. :)
A few weeks ago I went to sydney for the day for a breifing for my safari, they gave us our duffel bags and went over rules and what we would be doing on the trip. So pretty keen for that also should be a blast! A few days after i get back after safari i will go to the music concert groove in the moo! Everyone in the bay cant wait for that so it should be a good day!
The other weekends in March I had a district conference in warren which was for rotary. That was heaps boring to be honest, but it was good to see the other exchange students and the host family i had for the weekend was the sweetest people i know! I really enjoyed that!
Tomorrow I will move in with my counselor for a few days till Tuesday when he will take me bronte and georgia to the sydney royal easter show. :) And then I will move in with Bronte and her family until July! I can not wait! The third host family I was supposed to have is moving to newcastle so my counselor surprised me with telling me that i will be living with bronte! Was the best surprise ever! Bronte is one of my bestfriends here so that will be so much fun! During this holidays the girls are planning on having a lilttle camping trip on the beach and a day of shopping in newy and a mexican night with tacos and all that. Im not too sure what im doing for easter yet, but anyways excited for these holiday. Also a rotarian said he would take me and a few friends deep sea fishing! Aw yay. Excited. Well been so busy havent even had time to think about home! But will be back july 2nd, time really just needs to slow down! Its flying by far too fast and its a scary thought of me back in the states already!
Well anyways, hope all is good with everyone! I should finish up this blog, and my next host family has internet so i will definately try and blog more often! Love you all and take care!
- Bailee Jo
xoxox
Sunday, March 11, 2012
UPDATE ON LIFE.
Well I havent been able to blog for the past three weeks, sorry! I havent had wifi for a while.
Soooo updating on my life! School has been going really good, all my classes are going well and I have gotten good reports from all my teachers, so thats a plus! School seems to be pretty easy so thats good. I keep making more and more friends at school and feel very at home at Tomaree High, so I am enjoying that alot. And I do like going to school, I just hate the waking up part in the mornings. Ive been so busy that I get caught behind on sleep.
A few weeks ago one of my friends invited me to a Newcastle Knights footy game in Newcastle. Footy as in rugby, and it was my first rugby game so I was pretty stoaked to go to that! It was a really fun night, except for the fact that is was cold and rainy, the knights lost but was still a night to remember. I went to that game with Amy, her parents, and Bronte. It ended up being a late night but was definately worth it. Over the past few weekends I have been hanging out with friends, going to the beach, did a little bit of shopping, tanning, hanging out with more friends and yeah thats about it. Has been alot of fun. :) I love the weekends, theres never a day that I'm not doing something so its really good to keep busy. And then Friday made the long bus trip over to good ol Gil! :)
Six hours on a bus, and finally back in Gilgandra again. Feels so good to be back! See old friends and family and just the town. Have missed it alot. Last night was the Deb, a Deb is a debutant ball in which girls who are 16 years of age get all dressed up in white dresses and have a partner and do a dance and it means they are coming out to the world or something like that? Im not too sure, but anyways I went because all my friends from here were in it. They all looked beautiful! And their dance was all amazing! Was such a good night! We danced until midnight and then everyone just hung out afterwards. :) Was so unbelievably good to see all my friends again and Im excited to go back to school this week in Gil. It feels as if I had never really left, like I was just on a holiday, idk its weird. But I am happy to be back. :)
So every thursdays have beeen going to rotary meetings and i give a little 3 minute speech on how my week was. Monday nights I have HASH. Tuesdays if I dont hang out with friends after school I do my homework. Wednesdays i get done with school at noon and then go to brontes and we have hockey at nights. Thursdays are my movie days or hang with friends. And then Fridays I go stay the night at a friends and then its the weekend. :)
The safari is coming up soon, pretty keen for that! But then again I will miss all my Gil and Bay friends but it will be so worth it. My camera has finally broke. :( I was so sad! So I definately need to get a new one before safari. This week on Monday Tuesday Thrusday Friday I will go to school here, yay! And wednesday going shopping in dubbo with my Aussie mumma! Gee I missed her! And then on Friday arvo I am getting picked up to go to the District conference in Warren for Rotary, so will be good to see allmy exchange friends! And so yeah thats about all on my update of life! Time is flying by way too fast, I would surely appreciate it if somehow someone will SLOW IT DOWN! Haha. Cause I am having the time of my life, Australia is my home I love it here more than anything! <3
Well hope all is well with everyone and their families, thanks for reading, love yous!
See ya soon Americans!
Love: Bailee Jo :)
P.s. People keep commenting on how Aussie I sound compared to how I sounded when I stepped off the plane! Yay! Aussie accent! :)
Thanks again for everything everyone has done for me and thanks for reading my blog! :) Will try and keep everyone more updated lately!
Soooo updating on my life! School has been going really good, all my classes are going well and I have gotten good reports from all my teachers, so thats a plus! School seems to be pretty easy so thats good. I keep making more and more friends at school and feel very at home at Tomaree High, so I am enjoying that alot. And I do like going to school, I just hate the waking up part in the mornings. Ive been so busy that I get caught behind on sleep.
A few weeks ago one of my friends invited me to a Newcastle Knights footy game in Newcastle. Footy as in rugby, and it was my first rugby game so I was pretty stoaked to go to that! It was a really fun night, except for the fact that is was cold and rainy, the knights lost but was still a night to remember. I went to that game with Amy, her parents, and Bronte. It ended up being a late night but was definately worth it. Over the past few weekends I have been hanging out with friends, going to the beach, did a little bit of shopping, tanning, hanging out with more friends and yeah thats about it. Has been alot of fun. :) I love the weekends, theres never a day that I'm not doing something so its really good to keep busy. And then Friday made the long bus trip over to good ol Gil! :)
Six hours on a bus, and finally back in Gilgandra again. Feels so good to be back! See old friends and family and just the town. Have missed it alot. Last night was the Deb, a Deb is a debutant ball in which girls who are 16 years of age get all dressed up in white dresses and have a partner and do a dance and it means they are coming out to the world or something like that? Im not too sure, but anyways I went because all my friends from here were in it. They all looked beautiful! And their dance was all amazing! Was such a good night! We danced until midnight and then everyone just hung out afterwards. :) Was so unbelievably good to see all my friends again and Im excited to go back to school this week in Gil. It feels as if I had never really left, like I was just on a holiday, idk its weird. But I am happy to be back. :)
So every thursdays have beeen going to rotary meetings and i give a little 3 minute speech on how my week was. Monday nights I have HASH. Tuesdays if I dont hang out with friends after school I do my homework. Wednesdays i get done with school at noon and then go to brontes and we have hockey at nights. Thursdays are my movie days or hang with friends. And then Fridays I go stay the night at a friends and then its the weekend. :)
The safari is coming up soon, pretty keen for that! But then again I will miss all my Gil and Bay friends but it will be so worth it. My camera has finally broke. :( I was so sad! So I definately need to get a new one before safari. This week on Monday Tuesday Thrusday Friday I will go to school here, yay! And wednesday going shopping in dubbo with my Aussie mumma! Gee I missed her! And then on Friday arvo I am getting picked up to go to the District conference in Warren for Rotary, so will be good to see allmy exchange friends! And so yeah thats about all on my update of life! Time is flying by way too fast, I would surely appreciate it if somehow someone will SLOW IT DOWN! Haha. Cause I am having the time of my life, Australia is my home I love it here more than anything! <3
Well hope all is well with everyone and their families, thanks for reading, love yous!
See ya soon Americans!
Love: Bailee Jo :)
P.s. People keep commenting on how Aussie I sound compared to how I sounded when I stepped off the plane! Yay! Aussie accent! :)
Thanks again for everything everyone has done for me and thanks for reading my blog! :) Will try and keep everyone more updated lately!
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Weekend with the Alchin Family. :)
Well this weekend was so good. I had so much fun it was definately a weekend I will remember. :)
Friday night after school I got ready to go to the Maitland fair with Bronte and Lisa, Maitland was about an hour drive away and we had gotten there at about six. So we walked around, went on some really fun rides, ate too much fair food, had too many lollies, felt sick to my stomach, watched a rodeo and had a really really fun night with the girls. :) We ended up getting home at around 12:30, and I didnt get to bed till 1, and was up at eight in the morning to get ready for the Alchin family from Gilgandra to pick me up. They came to the bay to do some boat shopping and so I just hung around with them. Once they picked me up we went to Roman Terrace to go look at the boats and then after that we came back to the bay and grabbed something to eat for lunch then headed back to the motel place where they were staying to go for a swim at the beach. :) So Joe and I went swimming and then after swimming in the ocean we went swimming in the pool, then just hung around the motel for a bit and then went for a walk along the beach. It was really nice. :) After that we went back to the marina to grab a pizza for tea and came back to have tea out by the pool. Joe and I had stayed up pretty late just talking by the pool and then some girls came by at around eleven at night hopped the really big fence and they were pool hopping, so that gave us a laugh, it was pretty funny.
Then this morning we went for another swim at Shoal Bay, the water was freezing cold! My whole body was numb after I got out, afterwards we went out for breakfast at the Marina and then strolled around Nelson Bay main street for a bit. After that they had brought me home. It was a really nice weekend with them, I had enjoyed it alot. And only in 19 days I will be back in Gil! Yay! I am so excited to be home again. :) And Ill be staying for a week, so I definately cant wait for that! I will be counting down the days!
This past week has been great too, its gone by so fast cause Ive been keeping so busy. Ill give you a rundown of how my week went!
Monday:School was really good, all my classes are really easy except Chemistry, but ohh well Ill keep working on that. After school I got ready for HASH, which is that running group thing, I did get named! Everyone at Hash has a nickname and they all have a little story behind their names, alot of the hash people had found out about my skydive adventure and gave me the name "Last Chance" haha so thats what I will be called now whenever I go there. I had to go in the middle of the circle and tell the whole skydive story and then pour the drink of soda on my head and I was so sticky afterwards but it was a really good night!
Tuesday: After school Bronte came over and we hung at the beach. Was so fun! Her and I have become so so close! :) Its really good.
Wednesday: After school went to the beach with friends, went surfing for the second time ever! I did really well! Then after Bronte and I went to field hockey which was alot of fun too. :)
Thursday: School, then after went to the beach and then got ready for my Rotary presentation. I gave my half hour power point presentation. Everyone absolutely loved it! So i was pleased with that. :)
Friday: well that all begins at the begining of this post. :)
I had just found out the day I will go home is July 2nd. When I found out I started to cry, I cant even imagine leaving Australia and all the amazing friends I have made. It almost feels like it isnt real that I will have to leave this country at some point and time. It will be thee hardest thing I will ever have to do, I know that for a fact. I do miss everyone from home, but its just almost like I belong here. It holds such a special part of my heart now. <3
Well thats my update of my week! Hope all is well, take care, will update again next week! Love you all! :)
-Bailee Jo
Xoxo
A big thanks to Rotary again! These past six months have been so amazing, they really have been a dream come true. :)
Friday night after school I got ready to go to the Maitland fair with Bronte and Lisa, Maitland was about an hour drive away and we had gotten there at about six. So we walked around, went on some really fun rides, ate too much fair food, had too many lollies, felt sick to my stomach, watched a rodeo and had a really really fun night with the girls. :) We ended up getting home at around 12:30, and I didnt get to bed till 1, and was up at eight in the morning to get ready for the Alchin family from Gilgandra to pick me up. They came to the bay to do some boat shopping and so I just hung around with them. Once they picked me up we went to Roman Terrace to go look at the boats and then after that we came back to the bay and grabbed something to eat for lunch then headed back to the motel place where they were staying to go for a swim at the beach. :) So Joe and I went swimming and then after swimming in the ocean we went swimming in the pool, then just hung around the motel for a bit and then went for a walk along the beach. It was really nice. :) After that we went back to the marina to grab a pizza for tea and came back to have tea out by the pool. Joe and I had stayed up pretty late just talking by the pool and then some girls came by at around eleven at night hopped the really big fence and they were pool hopping, so that gave us a laugh, it was pretty funny.
Then this morning we went for another swim at Shoal Bay, the water was freezing cold! My whole body was numb after I got out, afterwards we went out for breakfast at the Marina and then strolled around Nelson Bay main street for a bit. After that they had brought me home. It was a really nice weekend with them, I had enjoyed it alot. And only in 19 days I will be back in Gil! Yay! I am so excited to be home again. :) And Ill be staying for a week, so I definately cant wait for that! I will be counting down the days!
This past week has been great too, its gone by so fast cause Ive been keeping so busy. Ill give you a rundown of how my week went!
Monday:School was really good, all my classes are really easy except Chemistry, but ohh well Ill keep working on that. After school I got ready for HASH, which is that running group thing, I did get named! Everyone at Hash has a nickname and they all have a little story behind their names, alot of the hash people had found out about my skydive adventure and gave me the name "Last Chance" haha so thats what I will be called now whenever I go there. I had to go in the middle of the circle and tell the whole skydive story and then pour the drink of soda on my head and I was so sticky afterwards but it was a really good night!
Tuesday: After school Bronte came over and we hung at the beach. Was so fun! Her and I have become so so close! :) Its really good.
Wednesday: After school went to the beach with friends, went surfing for the second time ever! I did really well! Then after Bronte and I went to field hockey which was alot of fun too. :)
Thursday: School, then after went to the beach and then got ready for my Rotary presentation. I gave my half hour power point presentation. Everyone absolutely loved it! So i was pleased with that. :)
Friday: well that all begins at the begining of this post. :)
I had just found out the day I will go home is July 2nd. When I found out I started to cry, I cant even imagine leaving Australia and all the amazing friends I have made. It almost feels like it isnt real that I will have to leave this country at some point and time. It will be thee hardest thing I will ever have to do, I know that for a fact. I do miss everyone from home, but its just almost like I belong here. It holds such a special part of my heart now. <3
Well thats my update of my week! Hope all is well, take care, will update again next week! Love you all! :)
-Bailee Jo
Xoxo
A big thanks to Rotary again! These past six months have been so amazing, they really have been a dream come true. :)
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Who says the sky is the limit? Not for me.
SKYDIVING was the most incredible amazing undescribable thing I have ever done in my whole life!
It was definately a HUGE highlight of my exchange year. :)
So we went yesterday, some Rotarians came and picked me and Clairea and Jorge up to travel to Maitland where we would make our dive. :)
We got there and they had to go over our paperwork and make sure that was all set and they had asked us if this was our decision and that we were being pressured into doing this. Haha. We said no way, bring it on!
We got changed into our red jump suits and the sky dive people had helped us into our harnesses. We were so excited! We just couldn't wait, and so they made us wait about forty five minutes waiting for the first set of people to go up and jump. As the time came closer for us to go up I was getting nervous.
And then all of a sudden we were running out the plane and they were tightening up our harnesses again and told us to hop in the plane. It was me with my tandem partner, Claire with her tandem partner, and then two solo divers all in this little plane. I had to sit in my guys lap. And it was about a twenty minute plane ride climb up to reach the mark of 14,000 feet. As we went up we could feel the air gettig colder. Every thousanth foot up it gets 4 degrees Celcuis colder.
The whole time in the plane ride I had a butterfly feeling in my stomach and was so nervous as I put on the goggles and when my partner was giving me instructions and was clipping us together.
We were the last to go out of the plane. So as one by one I was everyone else jump out of the plane. Its just a crazy sight to see, like its definately not something you see everyday so this gave me enough time to freak myself out and when I had my legs dangling over the plane with the door wide open I was screaming and saying like Oh my god oh my god! I dont wanna do this. But then the man on my back was like"Here we go!"
He had pusshed us right out the door and there we were free falling thousands of feet through the open air! The air was freezig cold, I got a brain freeze from it actually. The wind was blowing my cheeks back. My mouth was wide open. My arms were spread. That butterfly feeling in my stomach had gone away because it was all happening so fast! We were supposed to free fall for just one minute, but then we had some difficulties...
Our first parachute FAILED! I never knew what was going on, he didnt tell me, I had just kept on screaming off the top of my lungs but you couldnt even hear it cause we were falling so fast and the wind was coming at my freezig fast so fast. So yeah our first shoot had failed and he had to cut it off and once he cut it off I could feel us falling faster and faster and then I see this parachute hitting the ground that came off us, and had asked the man what that was. He was like Ohh that was just our first parachute. I pretty much freaked out! But by this time he had the backup parachut out and we were safely on our way down over looking the Hunter Valley it was incredible. I felt like a bird, my arms were spread out, huge smile on my face, wind blowing gently, looking out on everything. It was so incredible!
And then we came closer to the ground and had to land. It had stormed all day before we had made our jump so there were huge mud puddles everywhere and thats exactly where we landed. Haha I was soaked, the landing wasnt as rough as I thought it would be. But I ended up with mud on my face and my hair was absolutely crazy and wow it was all just such a rush and it happened all so quickly!
It was so amazing! Like unbelievably amazing! And when I came down everyone was asking who was it that had problems up there cause the first parachute usually doesnt fail, so the odds there were pretty low of that happening and it happened to me! Thank God the second one worked or I may not of been here writing this blog about it and I probably wouldnt have liked it as much. Haha. But yeah it was incredible, and then right after I landed and rang my mom back home and was probably talking like a million words a minute cause I was still on an adrenaline rush!
Can check "SKYDIVING" off my Aussie Bucketlist. :)
Amazing experiance, I wouldnt change it for the world, was definately worth every cent of it.
So there ya have it, my skydiving in Australia experiance. :)
-Bailee
It was definately a HUGE highlight of my exchange year. :)
So we went yesterday, some Rotarians came and picked me and Clairea and Jorge up to travel to Maitland where we would make our dive. :)
We got there and they had to go over our paperwork and make sure that was all set and they had asked us if this was our decision and that we were being pressured into doing this. Haha. We said no way, bring it on!
We got changed into our red jump suits and the sky dive people had helped us into our harnesses. We were so excited! We just couldn't wait, and so they made us wait about forty five minutes waiting for the first set of people to go up and jump. As the time came closer for us to go up I was getting nervous.
And then all of a sudden we were running out the plane and they were tightening up our harnesses again and told us to hop in the plane. It was me with my tandem partner, Claire with her tandem partner, and then two solo divers all in this little plane. I had to sit in my guys lap. And it was about a twenty minute plane ride climb up to reach the mark of 14,000 feet. As we went up we could feel the air gettig colder. Every thousanth foot up it gets 4 degrees Celcuis colder.
The whole time in the plane ride I had a butterfly feeling in my stomach and was so nervous as I put on the goggles and when my partner was giving me instructions and was clipping us together.
We were the last to go out of the plane. So as one by one I was everyone else jump out of the plane. Its just a crazy sight to see, like its definately not something you see everyday so this gave me enough time to freak myself out and when I had my legs dangling over the plane with the door wide open I was screaming and saying like Oh my god oh my god! I dont wanna do this. But then the man on my back was like"Here we go!"
He had pusshed us right out the door and there we were free falling thousands of feet through the open air! The air was freezig cold, I got a brain freeze from it actually. The wind was blowing my cheeks back. My mouth was wide open. My arms were spread. That butterfly feeling in my stomach had gone away because it was all happening so fast! We were supposed to free fall for just one minute, but then we had some difficulties...
Our first parachute FAILED! I never knew what was going on, he didnt tell me, I had just kept on screaming off the top of my lungs but you couldnt even hear it cause we were falling so fast and the wind was coming at my freezig fast so fast. So yeah our first shoot had failed and he had to cut it off and once he cut it off I could feel us falling faster and faster and then I see this parachute hitting the ground that came off us, and had asked the man what that was. He was like Ohh that was just our first parachute. I pretty much freaked out! But by this time he had the backup parachut out and we were safely on our way down over looking the Hunter Valley it was incredible. I felt like a bird, my arms were spread out, huge smile on my face, wind blowing gently, looking out on everything. It was so incredible!
And then we came closer to the ground and had to land. It had stormed all day before we had made our jump so there were huge mud puddles everywhere and thats exactly where we landed. Haha I was soaked, the landing wasnt as rough as I thought it would be. But I ended up with mud on my face and my hair was absolutely crazy and wow it was all just such a rush and it happened all so quickly!
It was so amazing! Like unbelievably amazing! And when I came down everyone was asking who was it that had problems up there cause the first parachute usually doesnt fail, so the odds there were pretty low of that happening and it happened to me! Thank God the second one worked or I may not of been here writing this blog about it and I probably wouldnt have liked it as much. Haha. But yeah it was incredible, and then right after I landed and rang my mom back home and was probably talking like a million words a minute cause I was still on an adrenaline rush!
Can check "SKYDIVING" off my Aussie Bucketlist. :)
Amazing experiance, I wouldnt change it for the world, was definately worth every cent of it.
So there ya have it, my skydiving in Australia experiance. :)
-Bailee
Monday, February 6, 2012
My weekend. This post got cut off from the last one.
Over the weekend the weather was finally sunny and nice! So I took the kids to the beach and then we just hung around the pool and sunbaked. On Saturday arvo I had Bronte come over and spend the night. We didnt get much sleep, but it was so much fun! :) I love hanging out with that girl, weve become really close within the past two weeks so thats always good. And then Sunday morning I went to church with Bronte, her mum, and my counselor, church was interesting, definately different, and I had felt a little bad since I hadnt gone in Six months but ohh well. So yeah church was good, lots of singing, got introduced to alot of different people. And then Thursday I had my first Rotary meeting. That was good also, they made me feel very welcomed and got me involved so that is good, I will give my presentation to the Rotary club next week I reckon. So I am looking forward to that. Its been really rainy weather here and pretty cold so I havent been able to go to the beach at all, which sucks. But I have been watching Harry Potter non stop now, haha I kind of like addicted to it! Tomorrow after school Im going to hang out with Bronte and then we are going to field hockey. Then Friday I am going over to Claires to stay the night and then in the morning we are going.... SKYDIVING! I can not wait! I am absolutely stoaked! :) I am so excited for that, and then afterwards Ill just come back to the bay, ready for another week of school. Well thats about all for now, this was originally alot longer but then somehow three quarters of it got deleted and Im not in the mood to write that all out!
So this will have to do till next time! Will write soon, thanks for reading, love you all!
-Bailee Jo
Xoxo
So this will have to do till next time! Will write soon, thanks for reading, love you all!
-Bailee Jo
Xoxo
I'm a Tomaree High girl now.
Hey everyone! Sorry I havent been able to write in a while, I havent had internet access. But anyways yesterday was my first day of school! It took about a week for me to get all registered and that was just a big mess but we finally made it. So I was the new girl again, except this time the school was five times the size of my old one. It was so scary and intimidating at first, I was seeing all new faces and meeting so many new people. I had got my uniform, we wear a plaid skirt and a white blouse with black tie shoes. For my subjects I am taking Bio, Chemistry, advanced maths and English, and then just sporty classes. So my first day I had definately gotten alot of stares, but at least I had my friend Bronte with me most of the day to show me around and help me out and introduce me to people. So as usual, the first day of school is always a bit awkward and weird and not that great cause your still trying to get used to things. But it went alright, I definately miss the little school of Gilgandra, Tomaree High has about 1,300 kids! It's just crazy. But yeah I have met some really nice people at school and have some friends already. :) My biggest worry was that I wouldnt make any friends, but I think I just over stress on stuff like that! On the first day I had heaps of h omework too, so I wasnt too happy about that but ohh well, it happens. And so today was my second day and it went really really well, starting to become better friends with some girls, and at the breaks I learned to play handball. And there was music and classes about meditating and stuff like that today so it wasnt like a normal school day but it still was really good. :)
Friday, January 27, 2012
Fingal Bay.
Hey everyone, I bet your all wondering how I have done with the switch, getting settled, new family, new house, new atmosphere.
Well I have been doing pretty good actually. :) Yesterday, on Australia day I went to the Aussie day festival in Nelson Bay and helped with the Rotary club selling drinks and food. And then I met up with a girl from Tomaree highschool that is going into year eleven, same as me, and we hung out and went swimming and just chilled. Her name is Bronte, and I have a feeling we will become very good friends, it will be good going to school knowing at least one person now. :) Well anyways after we brought her home my counselors John and Jenny Shaw brought me over to Fingal Bay to where my first host family over here lives. Their names are John and Ella Clarke, theyre about in their sixties and have one daughter, their daughter is a teacher at my school and has two kids, ages three and seven, a girl and a boy, theyre lots of fun and are obsessed with me it seems like. Haha. But yeah the house is a three story house, really nice, can see the ocean from their house. They have a pool also. It is about a two minute walk to Fingal Bay Beach which is a very popular beach around this area. It is very nice. My host dad is very much so into fishing, and he is a retired school teacher and he now writes best seller books for the bay area on fishing and oysters and the history and all that. He is a very nice and fun man to be around. His nickname around here is "Stinker" because of all his fishing. Ella is the administrater at the Nelson Bay college. They are very nice people and my room is nice too, with a big bed and a mirrored wall. I have it all decorated with photos from home and my banner from Gilgandra. Ohh another thing about this couple, Ella was born in Gilgandra and thats how they met! Pretty ironic I reckon.
So today I had a nice sleep in cause I was so busy and tired from yesterday unpacking and getting settled and all that. Once I got up I went to the school to try and get registered, but for some reason they will have to call us back and I will have to go to interviews and possibly wont be starting school the first day back when all the other kids start. But I did get my uniform, the uniform consists of a plaid blue skirt and a white polo blouse. It looks really nice, and since I am a senior now (eleventh grade) my blouse is a different colour to the rest of the underclassmen. After that I came home and threw on my swimmer for a dip in the pool with the kids. And after I had a walk down to the beach and just layed there listening to my ipod watching the waves, completely relaxed with absolutely beautiful weather. :) Was almost picture perfect!
Once I get the wifi set up to my laptop here I will post photos of the place that I am staying. From here on out its like a completely different exchange. Im ready for anything that comes my way now!
Thanks for reading, will update life soon!
Love you all.
-Bailee Jo
Xoxo
Another BIG thanks to Rotary! Without Rotary I wouldnt be where I am today, so again, I thank you. :)
Well I have been doing pretty good actually. :) Yesterday, on Australia day I went to the Aussie day festival in Nelson Bay and helped with the Rotary club selling drinks and food. And then I met up with a girl from Tomaree highschool that is going into year eleven, same as me, and we hung out and went swimming and just chilled. Her name is Bronte, and I have a feeling we will become very good friends, it will be good going to school knowing at least one person now. :) Well anyways after we brought her home my counselors John and Jenny Shaw brought me over to Fingal Bay to where my first host family over here lives. Their names are John and Ella Clarke, theyre about in their sixties and have one daughter, their daughter is a teacher at my school and has two kids, ages three and seven, a girl and a boy, theyre lots of fun and are obsessed with me it seems like. Haha. But yeah the house is a three story house, really nice, can see the ocean from their house. They have a pool also. It is about a two minute walk to Fingal Bay Beach which is a very popular beach around this area. It is very nice. My host dad is very much so into fishing, and he is a retired school teacher and he now writes best seller books for the bay area on fishing and oysters and the history and all that. He is a very nice and fun man to be around. His nickname around here is "Stinker" because of all his fishing. Ella is the administrater at the Nelson Bay college. They are very nice people and my room is nice too, with a big bed and a mirrored wall. I have it all decorated with photos from home and my banner from Gilgandra. Ohh another thing about this couple, Ella was born in Gilgandra and thats how they met! Pretty ironic I reckon.
So today I had a nice sleep in cause I was so busy and tired from yesterday unpacking and getting settled and all that. Once I got up I went to the school to try and get registered, but for some reason they will have to call us back and I will have to go to interviews and possibly wont be starting school the first day back when all the other kids start. But I did get my uniform, the uniform consists of a plaid blue skirt and a white polo blouse. It looks really nice, and since I am a senior now (eleventh grade) my blouse is a different colour to the rest of the underclassmen. After that I came home and threw on my swimmer for a dip in the pool with the kids. And after I had a walk down to the beach and just layed there listening to my ipod watching the waves, completely relaxed with absolutely beautiful weather. :) Was almost picture perfect!
Once I get the wifi set up to my laptop here I will post photos of the place that I am staying. From here on out its like a completely different exchange. Im ready for anything that comes my way now!
Thanks for reading, will update life soon!
Love you all.
-Bailee Jo
Xoxo
Another BIG thanks to Rotary! Without Rotary I wouldnt be where I am today, so again, I thank you. :)
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The transition over to Nelson Bay, Chapter 3
Well wow, what a few days it has been! On the 21st I moved to Nelson bay, which is about an hour north of Newcastle, this is where I will live for the next six months. :)
On the 21st Greg and Paula Flux (Rotarians) came and picked me up from Claire's house, and we went to their daughters for a bbq. And then it was about eight at night when we got home and I got all situated, they lived maybe five minutes from the beach, their house was very nice and my room was huge. So I got all unpacked, realized I have way too much crap and need to start shipping stuff home soon!
So then the 22nd, on a Sunday I woke up super early. Like 7! That never happens, I dont know whats gotten into me. Haha, cause I love my sleep ins. But anyways I woke up that early, Greg, Paula and I went to Shoal Beach for a morning swim. The water was so nice. We were the only ones swimming at this time of day. I wasnt planning on getting my hair wet because I had it nicely done, but then all of a sudden a huge wave came and smashed me into the sand. It was pretty funny, and embarassing, Greg was laughing at me. After that we dried off and went to a cafe for brekky and a cuppa. Was nice, then went back home and got dressed to go out yachting with another Rotarian family! I was pretty excited, the yacht was 42feet long, and like a luxery boat. We went out at ten and got back around three. We spent lunch on the yactht, and we even got to see dolphins! Was so cool!
Well then in the afternoon my really good friend from Gilgandra, his name is Joe Alchin, him and his family came to the bay for their holiday. So I went to where they were staying and hung out and we went to the beach and watched movies and had a bbq with them it was really nice. :) I really enjoyed it.
Then on Monday, I woke up early again, and headed over to the Alchin's again. They were staying at an apartment about 20 metres from the beach, and there was a pool there too, so whenever we got done swimming in the ocean and were full of sand from body surfing and getting smashed by the waves we would wash off in the pool. Then later that afternoon Greg and Paula picked me up and brought me to HASH. HASH is this group of people, really really fit people! Who meet up once a week, there is a group of like 80 people. And they go on runs/walks for an hour or two, then have drinks, and dinner and just a social thing. I was dumb enough to decide to run the dang thing. Up and down steep sand hills through trees and brush across a nude beach. With blisters in the making and a rolled ankle. Haha, geez that was a rough run. But... I managed to survive! And after the run when everyone was having drinks like everyone got in a big circle and the leader spoke and had all the Americans go in the middle of the circle.. *cough cough* (ME) :/ HAha. But yeah I went to the middle of this big circle and told them about me and then they had this HASH song they sang and I had to down a drink as fast as I could and what I couldnt drink during the time period of the song I had to dump on my head. So that was pretty funny, I did manage to drink most of it. And then I got a tshit and they all call me Miss Minnesota. Because everyone there has a special nickname and you cant call anyone by their real names. Idk its werid but yeah, I just went with it, it ended up being a really good night. I was exhauseted and came straight home to bed!
Then on Tuesday I was up early again! I went for a morning swim with Paula and her friends and then got dropped off at the Alchins. :) Was another lovely day with them, we swam and went on a walk and went out to dinner with their family at a Thai place. It really was an awesome day! I didnt want to say goodbye to them, but will definately be seeing them soon. :)
Then today has been a very busy day too! I woke up early and packed up all my suitcases and then went to help with a Rotary fundraiser at Salamander Bay Shopping Centre. We were selling sausage sizzles, that went well we raised 1,000 dollars for Rotary. :)
Afterwards I got dropped off at my counselors house, Their names are John and Jenny Shaw. They really are lovely people, I get along with them so well and have only known them for a few hours. I have my own suite here with a bathroom huge room and they live literally 30 seconds from the ocean in Fishermans Bay. It is so nice here. I definately will be here more often, theyre great people to be around and even though they have never had an exchange student they can understand me very well. :)
So anyways! Tomorrow is Australia Day! It has been very rainy and crummy weather and its supposed to be like that for tomorrow too. :/ Im going to Nelson Bay to the festival and then move on the my first host family for here in the bay. Will be good to finally get settled in after a month and half of moving to place after place! Cant believe summer holiday is almost over, I start school at Tomaree HighSchool on Monday. Am definately nervous for this start because I wont know anyone, what I liked about Gilgandra was that the school was so small like everyone had added me on facebook before I arrived and I had at least gotten to know a few kids. But hey all apart of the experiance, hey?
Well I will write soon!
Thanks for reading!
Love you all.
Take care! :)
Xoxo
-Bailee Jo
On the 21st Greg and Paula Flux (Rotarians) came and picked me up from Claire's house, and we went to their daughters for a bbq. And then it was about eight at night when we got home and I got all situated, they lived maybe five minutes from the beach, their house was very nice and my room was huge. So I got all unpacked, realized I have way too much crap and need to start shipping stuff home soon!
So then the 22nd, on a Sunday I woke up super early. Like 7! That never happens, I dont know whats gotten into me. Haha, cause I love my sleep ins. But anyways I woke up that early, Greg, Paula and I went to Shoal Beach for a morning swim. The water was so nice. We were the only ones swimming at this time of day. I wasnt planning on getting my hair wet because I had it nicely done, but then all of a sudden a huge wave came and smashed me into the sand. It was pretty funny, and embarassing, Greg was laughing at me. After that we dried off and went to a cafe for brekky and a cuppa. Was nice, then went back home and got dressed to go out yachting with another Rotarian family! I was pretty excited, the yacht was 42feet long, and like a luxery boat. We went out at ten and got back around three. We spent lunch on the yactht, and we even got to see dolphins! Was so cool!
Well then in the afternoon my really good friend from Gilgandra, his name is Joe Alchin, him and his family came to the bay for their holiday. So I went to where they were staying and hung out and we went to the beach and watched movies and had a bbq with them it was really nice. :) I really enjoyed it.
Then on Monday, I woke up early again, and headed over to the Alchin's again. They were staying at an apartment about 20 metres from the beach, and there was a pool there too, so whenever we got done swimming in the ocean and were full of sand from body surfing and getting smashed by the waves we would wash off in the pool. Then later that afternoon Greg and Paula picked me up and brought me to HASH. HASH is this group of people, really really fit people! Who meet up once a week, there is a group of like 80 people. And they go on runs/walks for an hour or two, then have drinks, and dinner and just a social thing. I was dumb enough to decide to run the dang thing. Up and down steep sand hills through trees and brush across a nude beach. With blisters in the making and a rolled ankle. Haha, geez that was a rough run. But... I managed to survive! And after the run when everyone was having drinks like everyone got in a big circle and the leader spoke and had all the Americans go in the middle of the circle.. *cough cough* (ME) :/ HAha. But yeah I went to the middle of this big circle and told them about me and then they had this HASH song they sang and I had to down a drink as fast as I could and what I couldnt drink during the time period of the song I had to dump on my head. So that was pretty funny, I did manage to drink most of it. And then I got a tshit and they all call me Miss Minnesota. Because everyone there has a special nickname and you cant call anyone by their real names. Idk its werid but yeah, I just went with it, it ended up being a really good night. I was exhauseted and came straight home to bed!
Then on Tuesday I was up early again! I went for a morning swim with Paula and her friends and then got dropped off at the Alchins. :) Was another lovely day with them, we swam and went on a walk and went out to dinner with their family at a Thai place. It really was an awesome day! I didnt want to say goodbye to them, but will definately be seeing them soon. :)
Then today has been a very busy day too! I woke up early and packed up all my suitcases and then went to help with a Rotary fundraiser at Salamander Bay Shopping Centre. We were selling sausage sizzles, that went well we raised 1,000 dollars for Rotary. :)
Afterwards I got dropped off at my counselors house, Their names are John and Jenny Shaw. They really are lovely people, I get along with them so well and have only known them for a few hours. I have my own suite here with a bathroom huge room and they live literally 30 seconds from the ocean in Fishermans Bay. It is so nice here. I definately will be here more often, theyre great people to be around and even though they have never had an exchange student they can understand me very well. :)
So anyways! Tomorrow is Australia Day! It has been very rainy and crummy weather and its supposed to be like that for tomorrow too. :/ Im going to Nelson Bay to the festival and then move on the my first host family for here in the bay. Will be good to finally get settled in after a month and half of moving to place after place! Cant believe summer holiday is almost over, I start school at Tomaree HighSchool on Monday. Am definately nervous for this start because I wont know anyone, what I liked about Gilgandra was that the school was so small like everyone had added me on facebook before I arrived and I had at least gotten to know a few kids. But hey all apart of the experiance, hey?
Well I will write soon!
Thanks for reading!
Love you all.
Take care! :)
Xoxo
-Bailee Jo
Friday, January 20, 2012
Life Lessons Learned.
Frown less, smile more.
Talk less, listen more.
Judge less, accept more.
Watch less, do more.
Complain less, appreciate more.
Fear less, love more.
<3
Talk less, listen more.
Judge less, accept more.
Watch less, do more.
Complain less, appreciate more.
Fear less, love more.
<3
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
First surfing experiance! :)
Yesterday I got to go surfing! This was one of my goals for the year, was to learn to surf! Well Im not all that good yet, haha but it was still accomplishing a goal! It was so fun. I loved it. I had a friend that has been surfing since he was six teach me. I got up a few times, and I also wiped out a bunch! And swear I swallowed half the ocean. Haha but it was definately worth it, hopefully I will be able to go surfing more in Nelson Bay, move there in three days. Well I am off to the beach with Claire, Nicole, and Jamie.
Will write soon! Love you all!
Thanks for reading! :)
-Bailee
Xoxox
Will write soon! Love you all!
Thanks for reading! :)
-Bailee
Xoxox
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Five months in Australia!
Bailee Jo Jerger, My host clubs have been the Narromine Rotary Club for the first four months and I will now soon be hosted by Nelson Bay Rotary Club.
School in Gilgandra has been great, I absolutely loved it. It was very small a school of only 300 students but that way I got to know everyone and become very close with many. I was able to try some new subjects like aboriginal studies, cooking, art, and got to experiance a whole new schooling system that I like alot better than the American one. I will be moving to Nelson Bay in a few days, my school there has about 1500 kids. Im pretty excited actually but then a bit nervous too.
Since my host Rotary Club was forty five minutes from where I lived I had only went to one Rotary meeting at my club and that was where I gave my presentation. I have given my presentation to a couple different Rotary Clubs, host family, my class mates, and family friends. I have it memorized and has come together very well, I keep adding to it after every presentation.
I have met so many Rotarians that I have lost count of the number, but they have all been wonderful to me and definately appreciated my presentation.
I don't really have regular contact with my counselor. My first host Club didn't get to know me very much because I only went there once, which was the only time I was invited, also the drive was a problem too.
For my personal experiances, I havent been sick yet so that's a plus. Knock on wood. Haha.
in Gilgandra i sorta just had been hanging out with friends at school, I have managed to make it to a few get togethers after I had moved and they have been a blast! Lots of fun.
Travel-Since I lived in the outback I didnt get to travel all that much, I managed to get to Sydney Australia a few times with school for excursions, and a trip even further in the outback which was definately different we got to see some of the unique wildlife and go yabbying and ride the bikes in all the red mud. One day we went to a koala park where we got to pet the koalas and that was so cute! Me and my host brothers spent a fair bit of time down at the river spear fishing, that was fun. We fit in one weekend of camping which was an absolute blast, where we went to a concert a some mountain. I went to a big concert in Sydney with my classmates and that was one of my best memories. But sadly Due to a sickness of my host father we had to cancel some holidays that were planned, which is understandable though, I know I will have many more opportunities to see Australia. Living outback Oz for four months and the rest of the time on the coast isnt something many students get to do. But I have the privelidge of doing so.
I have had visits with other exchange students, I am currently living with my best friend from Canada, we just met a few months ago and I live with her until I move to Nelson Bay in a a few days, previously I was living on a little alpaca/goat farm up in the hills with a lovely couple from Rotary and that was for about two weeks right after Christmas. It was so good living there I really enjoyed it, I helped out with farm work and then it was only a bit of a drive to the beach and I went there a bit. The beaches here are absolutely gorgeous! And the shopping centres are great! I have bought far too many clothes so I will have to ship some home soon. At my next town I really hope to join some sort of sport, maybe swimming. But also one of my goals before I go is to learn to surf! I will do that soon! Sometime in February me and my best friend from Canada are going sky diving! That's going to be so exciting. Also something that is awesome is that I am picking up on the accent here, the other day I was at a party and someone asked me to speak the hear the accent and they reckoned I was an Aussie! I was so excited. Haha. In May all the exchange students will go on something called "The Capricorn Ramble". Its a safari, and we will travel half way around Australia and see so much of it in three weeks. We will be camping and busssing with one plane trip. I am so excited for that!
The holidays here are like the same back home, except they dont celebrate thanksgiving, so I made dinner that night. Christmas was great, my host family had like twenty people over and the family treated me like family. It was as if I had known them my whole life. Christmas was perfect. I didnt get homesick at all over Christmas and New Years.
Although when I moved from Gilgandra, to six hours away to Newcastle for the summer holidays (Just to spend time on the coast) I got very homesick for Gilgandra and it was a rough couple of days but I just tried to stay busy to get over that as quick as possible and also my mom was a big help with that, since she knew exactly what I was going through just messaging her helped me alot.
I cant believe how fast five months has gone by. It will be five months on Tuesday and then it kind of is the down hill trek of me coming home. My visa expires July 5th so maybe I will come home around the 3rd so I will be able to spend it with all the family at our family get together. I have missed them alot, but then our relationship has definately gotten stronger from me being away. I love Australia that much that I am thinking about coming back for college.
It is going to be so hard to leave this beautiful country, I have made so many friends that I know will stay my life long friends. I have so many memories, so many laughs, I have become such a strong, independent, responsible young lady. I have become more open and bubbly, and talking to people and making friends is easy now and I love doing that kind of stuff. This experiance has been a once in a lifetime opportunity. I am one of the eight people that was lucky enough to get sent to this wonderful country and sometimes I still find myself in shock that I am here. But hey, this is actually reality. I have grown up so much from this exchange. I have learned so much and I have done my best to share as much as I know about America and teach people about my home and where I come from and what I do back home. I have done my absolute best to represent The United States of America. I love Australia. Through the ups and downs I have become such a better person from these past five months. If I were to look back on myself five months ago I dont think I would recognize me, as in my personality, the way I look at life now, the way I look at people and new opportunities.
Smile, cause life is so good. Some people don't realize that. I am so thankful for everything Rotary has done for me! I would not be here without Rotary. Doing an exchange has been the best choice I have ever made in my life.
Best wishes to everyone else! I hope all your exchanges are going as well as mine.
This was my Rotary update of the past five months. Hope you enjoyed reading!
Love you all. Miss you!
Bailee Jo
Xoxo
School in Gilgandra has been great, I absolutely loved it. It was very small a school of only 300 students but that way I got to know everyone and become very close with many. I was able to try some new subjects like aboriginal studies, cooking, art, and got to experiance a whole new schooling system that I like alot better than the American one. I will be moving to Nelson Bay in a few days, my school there has about 1500 kids. Im pretty excited actually but then a bit nervous too.
Since my host Rotary Club was forty five minutes from where I lived I had only went to one Rotary meeting at my club and that was where I gave my presentation. I have given my presentation to a couple different Rotary Clubs, host family, my class mates, and family friends. I have it memorized and has come together very well, I keep adding to it after every presentation.
I have met so many Rotarians that I have lost count of the number, but they have all been wonderful to me and definately appreciated my presentation.
I don't really have regular contact with my counselor. My first host Club didn't get to know me very much because I only went there once, which was the only time I was invited, also the drive was a problem too.
For my personal experiances, I havent been sick yet so that's a plus. Knock on wood. Haha.
in Gilgandra i sorta just had been hanging out with friends at school, I have managed to make it to a few get togethers after I had moved and they have been a blast! Lots of fun.
Travel-Since I lived in the outback I didnt get to travel all that much, I managed to get to Sydney Australia a few times with school for excursions, and a trip even further in the outback which was definately different we got to see some of the unique wildlife and go yabbying and ride the bikes in all the red mud. One day we went to a koala park where we got to pet the koalas and that was so cute! Me and my host brothers spent a fair bit of time down at the river spear fishing, that was fun. We fit in one weekend of camping which was an absolute blast, where we went to a concert a some mountain. I went to a big concert in Sydney with my classmates and that was one of my best memories. But sadly Due to a sickness of my host father we had to cancel some holidays that were planned, which is understandable though, I know I will have many more opportunities to see Australia. Living outback Oz for four months and the rest of the time on the coast isnt something many students get to do. But I have the privelidge of doing so.
I have had visits with other exchange students, I am currently living with my best friend from Canada, we just met a few months ago and I live with her until I move to Nelson Bay in a a few days, previously I was living on a little alpaca/goat farm up in the hills with a lovely couple from Rotary and that was for about two weeks right after Christmas. It was so good living there I really enjoyed it, I helped out with farm work and then it was only a bit of a drive to the beach and I went there a bit. The beaches here are absolutely gorgeous! And the shopping centres are great! I have bought far too many clothes so I will have to ship some home soon. At my next town I really hope to join some sort of sport, maybe swimming. But also one of my goals before I go is to learn to surf! I will do that soon! Sometime in February me and my best friend from Canada are going sky diving! That's going to be so exciting. Also something that is awesome is that I am picking up on the accent here, the other day I was at a party and someone asked me to speak the hear the accent and they reckoned I was an Aussie! I was so excited. Haha. In May all the exchange students will go on something called "The Capricorn Ramble". Its a safari, and we will travel half way around Australia and see so much of it in three weeks. We will be camping and busssing with one plane trip. I am so excited for that!
The holidays here are like the same back home, except they dont celebrate thanksgiving, so I made dinner that night. Christmas was great, my host family had like twenty people over and the family treated me like family. It was as if I had known them my whole life. Christmas was perfect. I didnt get homesick at all over Christmas and New Years.
Although when I moved from Gilgandra, to six hours away to Newcastle for the summer holidays (Just to spend time on the coast) I got very homesick for Gilgandra and it was a rough couple of days but I just tried to stay busy to get over that as quick as possible and also my mom was a big help with that, since she knew exactly what I was going through just messaging her helped me alot.
I cant believe how fast five months has gone by. It will be five months on Tuesday and then it kind of is the down hill trek of me coming home. My visa expires July 5th so maybe I will come home around the 3rd so I will be able to spend it with all the family at our family get together. I have missed them alot, but then our relationship has definately gotten stronger from me being away. I love Australia that much that I am thinking about coming back for college.
It is going to be so hard to leave this beautiful country, I have made so many friends that I know will stay my life long friends. I have so many memories, so many laughs, I have become such a strong, independent, responsible young lady. I have become more open and bubbly, and talking to people and making friends is easy now and I love doing that kind of stuff. This experiance has been a once in a lifetime opportunity. I am one of the eight people that was lucky enough to get sent to this wonderful country and sometimes I still find myself in shock that I am here. But hey, this is actually reality. I have grown up so much from this exchange. I have learned so much and I have done my best to share as much as I know about America and teach people about my home and where I come from and what I do back home. I have done my absolute best to represent The United States of America. I love Australia. Through the ups and downs I have become such a better person from these past five months. If I were to look back on myself five months ago I dont think I would recognize me, as in my personality, the way I look at life now, the way I look at people and new opportunities.
Smile, cause life is so good. Some people don't realize that. I am so thankful for everything Rotary has done for me! I would not be here without Rotary. Doing an exchange has been the best choice I have ever made in my life.
Best wishes to everyone else! I hope all your exchanges are going as well as mine.
This was my Rotary update of the past five months. Hope you enjoyed reading!
Love you all. Miss you!
Bailee Jo
Xoxo
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
SWEET SIXTEEN IN THE LAND DOWN UNDER! :)
It was such an amazing birthday! Finally sixteen, I cant believe! I have accomplished way more than I thought I would by this age. To travel 9,000 miles away on my own, to complete strangers, to live for a year. I have had accomplished in learning to make life long friends, I have learned to be more outgoing, and have took in so much information about this country and have taught many people about back home. I have learned to cope with homesickness and get over that. I have lived, I have loved, I have been hurt, and I have survived 16 years of life. <3
Well for my birthday, I spent it with my Canadian bestfriend, her name is Claire we met a few months ago here and have become very close, she lives near New York back home. Anyways, on Mnday, the day before my birthday Claire and I got all cutely dressed and went to Charlestown shopping centre, its a huge huge mall! So we went shopping for a little bit with a friend and then we were off to a party. It took us two buses and a train ride to get there but somehow we managed. I have no idea how, haha but two foreigners managed! The party was with a bunch of other exchange students, like kind of a goodbye to all the outbounds and to say happy birthday to me. Well that was all good fun, it was a blast so many memories made, so many funny stories to tell, definately started my birthday night off great! Then Claire and I got picked up by some friends and we went for a swim at Redhead beach, which was a forty five minute drive but we got there and that was just a blast, the moon was full and the water was nice, the air was warm, and then I turned 16 at midnight on the beach. Was so good! :)
Well Claire and I went back to hers and we slept and woke up with sand absolutely everywhere from the beach the night before, haha we had only got a few hours of sleep, and then we got up and ready and then went over to friends house to hang out and watch Rambo, that was good then we went to Maccas (McDonalds) for some ice cream and then back to Claires where Denise (my host mum) picked me up and took me to the Rotary dinner that was at a surf club on the beach. We socialized, had dinner, and then went for a sunset walk. It was the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen, and then me and some friends went for another night swim. The water was so nice again, and that was how I ended my sixteenth birthday in Australia. It was perfect. :)
Even though I was missing family and friends from home and Gilgandra, I pushed through that and made the most of what I could. Which was a good idea because I know I will never forget this birthday.
We are having the cake today that Denise made me, I thought that was very thoughtful of her to do that. :)
I have a busy few days coming up. Shopping and beach tomorrow, Sydney and party Friday, Saturday I move in with Claire for a week! And then another going away party and all next week I will be doing something every single day most likely beacause Claire just doesnt stop. Haha she is alot of fun to be around. :)
Well then it is ten more days until Nelson Bay, I used to be scared about moving, but now I am so excited to make new friends, with the new atmosphere, new families! Very keen! :)
Also I called my family yesterday just to talk to them and hear their voices on my birthday. The first sentance I said," hey how are you?' Brooke (my little sister goes) OMG! YOUR ACCENT! Hahaha and so did the other siblings, Erika reckoned I sounded weird, gee thanks Erik. But I was so excited to know that Im picking up on it! :)
Well that is about all I have to write about this time, sorry I havent been able to post photos, as soon as I have wifi with my laptop I promise I will post photos from the past month! :)
Love you all! Thanks so much for the birthday wishes! Was greatly appreciated!
Miss you all.
Best wishes!
-Bailee Jo
Xoxoxo
P.s. Happy birthday grandma Skinny! <3 Love you!
Well for my birthday, I spent it with my Canadian bestfriend, her name is Claire we met a few months ago here and have become very close, she lives near New York back home. Anyways, on Mnday, the day before my birthday Claire and I got all cutely dressed and went to Charlestown shopping centre, its a huge huge mall! So we went shopping for a little bit with a friend and then we were off to a party. It took us two buses and a train ride to get there but somehow we managed. I have no idea how, haha but two foreigners managed! The party was with a bunch of other exchange students, like kind of a goodbye to all the outbounds and to say happy birthday to me. Well that was all good fun, it was a blast so many memories made, so many funny stories to tell, definately started my birthday night off great! Then Claire and I got picked up by some friends and we went for a swim at Redhead beach, which was a forty five minute drive but we got there and that was just a blast, the moon was full and the water was nice, the air was warm, and then I turned 16 at midnight on the beach. Was so good! :)
Well Claire and I went back to hers and we slept and woke up with sand absolutely everywhere from the beach the night before, haha we had only got a few hours of sleep, and then we got up and ready and then went over to friends house to hang out and watch Rambo, that was good then we went to Maccas (McDonalds) for some ice cream and then back to Claires where Denise (my host mum) picked me up and took me to the Rotary dinner that was at a surf club on the beach. We socialized, had dinner, and then went for a sunset walk. It was the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen, and then me and some friends went for another night swim. The water was so nice again, and that was how I ended my sixteenth birthday in Australia. It was perfect. :)
Even though I was missing family and friends from home and Gilgandra, I pushed through that and made the most of what I could. Which was a good idea because I know I will never forget this birthday.
We are having the cake today that Denise made me, I thought that was very thoughtful of her to do that. :)
I have a busy few days coming up. Shopping and beach tomorrow, Sydney and party Friday, Saturday I move in with Claire for a week! And then another going away party and all next week I will be doing something every single day most likely beacause Claire just doesnt stop. Haha she is alot of fun to be around. :)
Well then it is ten more days until Nelson Bay, I used to be scared about moving, but now I am so excited to make new friends, with the new atmosphere, new families! Very keen! :)
Also I called my family yesterday just to talk to them and hear their voices on my birthday. The first sentance I said," hey how are you?' Brooke (my little sister goes) OMG! YOUR ACCENT! Hahaha and so did the other siblings, Erika reckoned I sounded weird, gee thanks Erik. But I was so excited to know that Im picking up on it! :)
Well that is about all I have to write about this time, sorry I havent been able to post photos, as soon as I have wifi with my laptop I promise I will post photos from the past month! :)
Love you all! Thanks so much for the birthday wishes! Was greatly appreciated!
Miss you all.
Best wishes!
-Bailee Jo
Xoxoxo
P.s. Happy birthday grandma Skinny! <3 Love you!
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
BEACH.
Well the past two days I have spent at Nobby's beach in Newcastle. Has been so good! An absolute blast, I went with some of the exchange students, we all met up. I got plenty of sun though, the first day my whole back side ended up getting burnt then today was the front side, geez just cant win with this Australian sun. Haha, but Im definately going to start wearing the sun screen as I am quite sore today.
Tonight I am staying at a friends house, her name is Laura, she is going to be living in Canada soon this month. Tomorrow Denise is taking me to Nelson Bay to check everything out. Then hopefully Friday Stevie will take a bus over here and spend a few days with me, that would be good!
Birthday in six days. :) Bit excited, except that Im still waiting on my Christmas package to arrive, that seems to be taking ages. :/
Well anyways, the beach was great, I ended up drinking like half of the ocean! Was pretty funny though, and the guys were teaching me to body surf the waves, its like where a big wave is coming and you start to swim into the shore and then let the wave take you in to the shore heaps far. And sometimes your body would just get over taken by the power of the wave and it was just tumbling me around. Haha it was great though, I love the beach and it definately got me excited to be living in Nelson Bay.
I got offered a holiday with one of my exchange student friends to go to Canberra for ten days starting the first of February, so hopefully if I get all the permissions okayed I will be set to go! Pretty keen. :)
Well I guess that's all I have for now, will write soon. Love you all!
Thanks for reading!
-Bailee Jo <3
Xoxo
Tonight I am staying at a friends house, her name is Laura, she is going to be living in Canada soon this month. Tomorrow Denise is taking me to Nelson Bay to check everything out. Then hopefully Friday Stevie will take a bus over here and spend a few days with me, that would be good!
Birthday in six days. :) Bit excited, except that Im still waiting on my Christmas package to arrive, that seems to be taking ages. :/
Well anyways, the beach was great, I ended up drinking like half of the ocean! Was pretty funny though, and the guys were teaching me to body surf the waves, its like where a big wave is coming and you start to swim into the shore and then let the wave take you in to the shore heaps far. And sometimes your body would just get over taken by the power of the wave and it was just tumbling me around. Haha it was great though, I love the beach and it definately got me excited to be living in Nelson Bay.
I got offered a holiday with one of my exchange student friends to go to Canberra for ten days starting the first of February, so hopefully if I get all the permissions okayed I will be set to go! Pretty keen. :)
Well I guess that's all I have for now, will write soon. Love you all!
Thanks for reading!
-Bailee Jo <3
Xoxo
Monday, January 2, 2012
Chapter Two...
Well here I am, over at the coast, half way done with my exchange year. Such a scary thought! It went by so fast. But it has definately been the best six months of my life! So it was on Thursday that I made the six hour bus trip to Newcastle. The goodbyes were very hard, I cried for a few hours, missed Gil and friends and family alot, and got a little homesick. But I brought as much as I could to little town Gilgandra, and it's amazing to see the impact that I have had on so many people. The day I left there were dozens of facebook statuses about me and how they will miss me and that is was so great to know me, made me feel very good to know that I have touched so many lives. <3
I loved Gil to bits and pieces, the friendships and memories that I have made there are absolutely going to stay with me my whole life. I will grow old, telling my grandchildren the great stories of good ol' Gil. Definately holds a big place in my heart.
I would like to thank the Gardiner family again, you guys are such amazing people. Like on the Christmas gift, you are crazy, fun, sarcastic, caring, loving, perfectly imprefect and my second family. <3 I love you all so much, my six months here spent with your family was unbelievable, through the ups and the downs, we made it out with such an incredible bond. Thank you so much, for just being yourselves and accepting and opening your home to a complete stranger for half a year, Time flew by, the goodbyes were difficult, but always will each and everyone of you hold a dear spot in my heart and will stay in contact for ages. Plus! Start saving, cause you will all be flying over for my wedding! ;) Haha love you guys.
So the bus trip was long, but it was good, packing my whole room into three suitcases was a bit hard, had to leave some stuff behind but I managed to get it packed up, I should probably stop buying clothes... Not! Good joke. Haha. Well anyways I got to Maitland at about eight at night and then Denise and Jack picked me up, I was so tired that day that I just got home and went to bed, I was a bit homesick and sad but in the morning I woke up with a new attitude. I decided that Im not going to live in the past, and that I am going to make the most of my next six months cause I know that it will go by way too fast!
So your all probably wondering how the family is? Well they are great people! So nice. It is very quiet around here which is a big difference, haha. But I have gotten used to it. I am living on a farm right now, there are six alpacas, three goats, two birds, and a dog. The house is small but it is so gorgeous! And the view is incredible! We spend alot of time just sitting out the front looking at the view. We live forty five minutes out of the big city Newcastle, so we go into town once in a while. But when were out here the days are full. I barely have time to watch tv! The other day I was helping shovel the alpaca poop into the trailer then into the garden, Ive been helping with the gardening, and taking care of the animals, theyre in the process of building a chicken coop so Ive helped them with that. All has been good, for New Years Denise took me into Newcastle to show me around and we went to the beach. Wow the beaches are so nice! It gets me a little excited about moving to the coast! We also went to the mall to go shopping. That was fun too! Bought some more clothes, haha go figure. And we also watched some people take off on para sails, Ive decided to put that on my list of things to do before I go. So hopefully I will be able to manage that! Looked amazing!
Then for the night time we went back into the city to watch the midnight fireworks over the harbour, they were pretty good too!
These past two days have just been relaxing and helping out around here. Tomorrow and the next day Ill be heading to the beach to hang out with friends. Then Friday, Stevie will most likely take the bus over to spend the week with me! I am so excited about that, and then in just eight days will be my sweet sixteenth! :D Sunday, me, Claire, and Stevie are heading down to Sydney to shop and beach and imax theatre should be a good day! Then stay the night at Claires, theres an exchange student party the next night, and then my birthday where we will get to do whatever Denise reckons. So I am very keen for the next few days to come!
So thats all I have for now, loving life at the moment.
Happy New Year!
Love you all and thanks for reading.
Best wishes, Bailee Jo. :)
Xoxo
I loved Gil to bits and pieces, the friendships and memories that I have made there are absolutely going to stay with me my whole life. I will grow old, telling my grandchildren the great stories of good ol' Gil. Definately holds a big place in my heart.
I would like to thank the Gardiner family again, you guys are such amazing people. Like on the Christmas gift, you are crazy, fun, sarcastic, caring, loving, perfectly imprefect and my second family. <3 I love you all so much, my six months here spent with your family was unbelievable, through the ups and the downs, we made it out with such an incredible bond. Thank you so much, for just being yourselves and accepting and opening your home to a complete stranger for half a year, Time flew by, the goodbyes were difficult, but always will each and everyone of you hold a dear spot in my heart and will stay in contact for ages. Plus! Start saving, cause you will all be flying over for my wedding! ;) Haha love you guys.
So the bus trip was long, but it was good, packing my whole room into three suitcases was a bit hard, had to leave some stuff behind but I managed to get it packed up, I should probably stop buying clothes... Not! Good joke. Haha. Well anyways I got to Maitland at about eight at night and then Denise and Jack picked me up, I was so tired that day that I just got home and went to bed, I was a bit homesick and sad but in the morning I woke up with a new attitude. I decided that Im not going to live in the past, and that I am going to make the most of my next six months cause I know that it will go by way too fast!
So your all probably wondering how the family is? Well they are great people! So nice. It is very quiet around here which is a big difference, haha. But I have gotten used to it. I am living on a farm right now, there are six alpacas, three goats, two birds, and a dog. The house is small but it is so gorgeous! And the view is incredible! We spend alot of time just sitting out the front looking at the view. We live forty five minutes out of the big city Newcastle, so we go into town once in a while. But when were out here the days are full. I barely have time to watch tv! The other day I was helping shovel the alpaca poop into the trailer then into the garden, Ive been helping with the gardening, and taking care of the animals, theyre in the process of building a chicken coop so Ive helped them with that. All has been good, for New Years Denise took me into Newcastle to show me around and we went to the beach. Wow the beaches are so nice! It gets me a little excited about moving to the coast! We also went to the mall to go shopping. That was fun too! Bought some more clothes, haha go figure. And we also watched some people take off on para sails, Ive decided to put that on my list of things to do before I go. So hopefully I will be able to manage that! Looked amazing!
Then for the night time we went back into the city to watch the midnight fireworks over the harbour, they were pretty good too!
These past two days have just been relaxing and helping out around here. Tomorrow and the next day Ill be heading to the beach to hang out with friends. Then Friday, Stevie will most likely take the bus over to spend the week with me! I am so excited about that, and then in just eight days will be my sweet sixteenth! :D Sunday, me, Claire, and Stevie are heading down to Sydney to shop and beach and imax theatre should be a good day! Then stay the night at Claires, theres an exchange student party the next night, and then my birthday where we will get to do whatever Denise reckons. So I am very keen for the next few days to come!
So thats all I have for now, loving life at the moment.
Happy New Year!
Love you all and thanks for reading.
Best wishes, Bailee Jo. :)
Xoxo
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