This semester...

... is a new start, in two new units, in a new degree...

Therefore i am going to reinvent myself as a student.. I am going to be a good, diligent student who doesn't waste valuable time away on facebook. I am going to keep up with all the readings, powerpoints, online quizes, activities and assignments. I am also going to get some sticky notes and organise things first by unit, and then by subcategories, all into colour coded sections. My textbooks will be a labrynth of coloured hilights, and cross references.

This semester i am going to be the student that i should be...

... although i am posting from the Utas library and really must get back to studying... As it is week two and i am already two weeks behind on my lecture watching/note taking, textbook reading and all things study that relate to my two units!

House sitting

While Nana and Papa were in Adelaide a few weeks ago Kiara and I house sat for them. We were on Uni holidays so it was perfect!

Admittedly we were a little spooked at night, waiting for killers to jump out of cupboards and grab us from under beds... It didn't help that the first night it was a massive storm outside and it sounded as though the roof was going to blow off. We said good night to each other and parted ways. I asked Kiara if she was scared, and if she was then she could sleep in my bed (the double). She declined. A big gust of wind then blows, howling through the trees and sounding like it is ripping up the pavement. She then screams and races in and leaps into my bed!!

Aside from that we had an awesome time.

Believe it or not the stuff in those bags is almost all food!!

It rained pretty much non stop the entire time that we were there... Which was kind of nice as we had an excuse to stay inside in our pj's all day long :)

I ventured outside during a break in the rain to snap a few pics.

We loved being by ourselves, and the fact that we could do whatever we wanted as we had no studying to do!

I was singing a song about chicken here...

We wasted some of the days away watching this:

And eating lots of this:

And this...

And playing Super Mario bros on the Wii - which Kiara and I both equally suck at.

We also went and watched "Bridesmaids" at the movies, which would have to be THE funniest movie i have ever seen! We almost wet ourselves laughing!!

When the rain cleared i dragged Kiara to my favourite spot for a nice walk and some pics. Which prompted her to ask "don't you EVER get sick of taking photos!?"

Sometimes.

They got progressively sillier :p

Too much of a good thing? Maybe. But it was fun.

the end.

Changing Direction

As you may or may not know, i started the year off enrolled in an Arts degree at Uni, with the intention to become a social worker. This came from working within the Edmund Rice program when i was at College. The camps that i have participated in as a leader over the years and also other events at St Pats increased my sense of social justice, making me more determined to help people who are less fortunate than I.

When we were in grade twelve we participated in a 24 hour tri-athlon with all the money going to our sister school - the Edmund Rice school in Arusha, Tanzania (Africa). A teacher of ours presented a slide show and spoke about his time teaching in that school. The way he spoke about the experience really touched me and made me think that i wanted to experience something as dramatically life changing as what he had.

The idea first came to me though, when our friend Dara taught in a school in Vanuatu. She also showed us some pictures and told us all about the experience.

I guess in the back of my mind i have always wanted to teach overseas but always had a reason why i shouldn't/couldn't do it. I think the main thing that was stopping me is the exact reason why i want to go - to go to a third world country or poorer part of a country and teach the people there.

After a LOT of thought and prayer i know that this is what i should be doing with my life, and that studying right now, to do this in the future is exactly what i need to do right now.

So, as of last week, i am officially enrolled in an Education degree!

I am excited for the new semester to begin on July 11th so that i can begin taking the small steps on this journey to a destination i am SO looking forward to.

Life among the frogs...

Do you remember this post? ... Consider this a follow up post.. (p.s. i can't believe that was two years ago!!)...

When we are little kids, especially little girls, we are told fairy tales. We grow up with visions of finding the perfect prince charming to marry and become princesses. We have hopes and dreams of falling in love and dancing around castles singing beautiful songs all day.

We watch movies and read books that depict handsome princes riding in on horseback (at sunset no less!) and saving us from all the perils and heartaches of our ordinary lives, whisking us away into a new life of romance and beauty.

Something that most fairy tales have in common is the fact that you need to kiss a few frogs before you find one that will actually turn into a handsome prince.

I seem to have been living my life among the frogs for a while now. Alone - as all of my princess friends have already been snatched up by their princes.

Most princesses don't seem to have to wait too long for their horseback riding princes, unless you are Rapunzel - that girl was waiting a life time!

But then again - all princesses seem to have blonde hair, so maybe we don't actually have all that much in common after all ;)

(Photo by Lisa King Photography)

Another thing that they all have in common is the fact that no matter what, there is always a happy ending. I prefer to believe that life is like a fairy tale and that one day i will eventually find a prince, and although I am sick of kissing random frogs and wish one would change into a prince (or at least a pauper!) i will just keep on kissing frogs until i find one ;)