home sweet home.

i'm back in the good ole USA.
it. is. weird.
i had the best time in NZ, one of the most beautiful places on the face of the earth. we saw the milford sound - considered to be the 8th wonder of the world...but i'm pretty sure the 9th, 10th, 11th & 12th wonders could also be found there.
it was great to see all my friends & family at christmas. mike & i went to chicago for new years, where we basically just ate great pizza all weekend. having yellowtail bubbly at midnight made me miss australia...and i do, a lot. now that i'm back to the daily grind of going to class, and the highlight of my weeks being thursday nights at plums, i am eager to do something else fantastic. next summer is in the works....bye bye beercart.
boston next week to celebrate spenser's 21st and reunite with my east coast loves i met at bond :)

XO. court

BULA.

i blinked & november was OVER. sailed with all the girls through the whitsundays, found nemo & went to fiji. i LOVED fiji. fijians are the happiest people i have ever seen and they have nothing...kind of makes you reconsider what's important. ditching hostels for a resort,endless banana coladas, massages, cloudless skies and water so turquoise it looked fake...perfect.

i can't believe I only have 19 days left here. as much as i need to see my family, especially ollie & chloe, i'm really not ready to leave. i could have easily done a year over here and wish i had. i guess i will just have to pick this whole thing up sometime next year, maybe come back for my masters or find some other excuse to avoid the real world.

this weekend i'm heading to new zealand for "study week," or "travel week" in our book. i'll report back with kiwi news in a few weeks. xo

p.s. christmas music is in full swing 24/7 in my life. i may or may not have spent 65$ at target on a plethora of santa hats, candy canes & garland...what? who said that.

love this.

caving.

I finally caved and made a blog. I figured someday, if I ever have kids, maybe they will want to read about my globetrotting adventures- OR maybe ill just let my family read it so they don't have to stalk me on Facebook. 



I'm 20 years young, studying abroad in Gold Coast, Australia with my 3 best friends....basically livin the dream.

 

We are already about half way through our time here & I am seriously considering never leaving. I've done so much already- scuba dived in the Great Barrier Reef of Cairns, hiked in the Daintree Rainforest, watched my first rugby game in Brisbane, and learned how to surf in Byron Bay. If I ever did take up semipermanent residence in Australia, I think it would be in Byron. It has a hippie, free minded surf culture that I think I'm in love with....along with great boutiques and gelati shops on every corner. what more could you ask for?  Jack Johnson having a beach house & being a a regular probably wouldn't hurt.

typical & I like it.

This weekend is Halloween...and oddly, people here do NOT wear a different costume every night of the weekend, eat 14 pounds of candy corn/carmel apples, trick or treat like its their job, or even carve pumpkins. This is a problem for me since I LOVE Halloween and am very dedicating to celebrating it. So, all of us americans are headed to the only place they do somewhat of a celebration- Sydney.

xo