Texas is in Arizona

The headline we have were asked by our new roomies...yea we got new roomies again! Is it something we said? hehe but we like them better than the pervious two so all is good!

So what exactly have we been up here down under? Well we are glad you asked!In the last two weeks we both have been swapped with school. The study part in study aboard kinda erks us. We thought we were signing up for a 5 month vacation...where does it say we are studying... our parents are rolling their eyes right about now!

Haha but yea in those two weeks we have also been enjoying Brisbane! This city never gets boring and neither the people. We went to a party where the theme was PHD. You basically come dressed as something that starts with one of those letters, so Cristalle went as a paperboy with no paper and Maria just threw on a phoenix jersey and called it a day. Other people were much more creative as you will see by the pictures.goodtimes.

Other than that its been business as usual. Maria did go to Movie World which is basically Universal Studios on a smaller scale. She also did go to Mnt. Cootha which is a mountain here where you can go on and see the whole city. Very Beautiful, but the pictures didnt come out so she got a video.

Some updates of what we are doing in the next couple of weeks. Next weekend we are going to Morten Island with some of our friends to go camping and then the week after Maria's Mom and Aunt Olga are coming downunder...WE ARE EXCITED!!!!! Hopefully the weather will be better and less humid!

We love and miss everyone and we will be seeing you soon!



Posing



mnt. cootha




Drivin

Byron Bay

Quiz Time! When is the worst time to find out you are ultra sensitive to sea sickness? Is it:

A)After having spent 20 years in the desert?(We can only image how Moses would have reacted after 40 years, this proves shes half a Jew..)

B)After taking 2 days of dive classes,to only find out the third day

C)On a tiny boat in the middle of nowhere

D)All the above

If you guess D then you are correct and understand what Maria went through this weekend. This true desert rat discovered she was prone to sea sickness that not even the strongest medicine could cure. Of course this was discovered on the third day out at sea after training in the pool and class work. It was not a good last days, so she could not get certified. However in theory Maria could dive! Cristalle on the other hand passed with flying colors and she got certified. Congrats Cristalle!

The trip was not a totaled loss. Both of us did get to see sharks, fishes, nemos, dolphins, and Cristalle saw a Sting Ray, tons of shraks, Corals, and alot of underwater things.

Other things we did was Maria got to drive a boat(the guy said it would help cure her sea sickness...lies). We did enjoy the most eastern part of Australia and the view espically from the light house, which was a hike in itself. You saw the whole small city. Byron Bay might be a small town but its beautiful. Expensive, but beautiful. We did get a great meal of stake, chicken, drinks, salad, and cheesecake which was 35 dollars combine. You cant do better down under.

Well that's about our trip to Byron. We got back to Brisbane god awful early to a house Mattyless :( He went back to Germany, but if anyone wants to donate to the bring him back to Brisbane fund, just give us a call! We hope everyone had a Happy Easter and we will be seeing you soon! Cheers!



Byron Bay



Sun Set

When The City Shuts Down..We Still Party!

So when Brisbane shuts down because of Easter what is two American girls suppose to do? Well you party! Well sort of...

Friday the whole city seemed to have shut down. Only a couple places were open, but Cristalle still had to work. No worries though because later that night we went to a BBQ at our friends place, which we had to walk up a hill to get to because the usual bus stop was close due to the holidays. However it was still alot of fun espically being one of their birthdays and we had the best cake known to man. You got to love Germans!

Saturday we couldnt leave the city at a decent hour to enjoy our road trip so we instead went to our first rugby game! We joined the Red Army(not that one) and went to see the Queensland Reds! Didnt know exactly what was going on, but we loved it!However, sadly, we got our bootys kicked! But we still enjoyed it! GO REDS! GO REDS!

Sunday we finally got to leave to Mooloolaba to meet up with our roommates Matty and Phil in their van which is ummm intersting looking(you got to see the pictures). It took us 3 hours by bus and train to get there(which included us running through the station) However Mooloolaba was beautiful but rainy(surprise) so we decide to see 300(it finally came out here) THIS IS SPARTA!!! It was amazing we recommend to go see it! We then spent the next day at the beach and then back to Brisbane!

We took tons of pictures and videos so please enjoy! In other news,we are staying in Brisbane a couple of days and then off to Byron Bay to dive with the sharks!!! We love and miss everyone!



Red Moo



Red Games!



Red Part 1



Red Part 2






Sunrise

We Didn't Fall Off The Earth

We know it has been forever and a day since we have updated, but life in the city can become crazy and gives you no breathing room. We final got a little breathing room with a week off for Easter and now an update. School is school, no matter what country you live in. It has tests, projects, pointless paper, you know the list.However it is a bit of a reality check because we thought we are goning to Australia, how exciting!?!?! And it still is, but now its school and we cant use the excuse well we aren't from here. You either adapt or be left behind. We know that sounds harsh, but as is life. In happier news we are still having a great time here! We learn something new almost everyday(like the city shuts down for holidays) and the people are still amazing We of course we have a new addiction of Tim Tams aka the best cookies ever invented!It gets lonely at times and we become homesick, but in end we dont regret coming here!

Quick Update on our upcoming week. We are going on a mini road trip and then off to Byron Bay to dive. Hopefully Maria comes back with all her limbs and Cristalle doesn't get stung!

We miss everyone and hope you all have a HAPPY EASTER. HAPPY PASSOVER! Pictures enjoy!



Some More

What Have We Done?

I know it has been some time since we last posted, but with school now starting full force, we have been busy with that! Can you believe it has almost been 2 months since we left the states? Wow its crazy. So you might be asking, what have you girls been up to? Well we actually have been staying in Brisbane aka BrisVegas aka Brissy for some time, soaking up the city and the events. Recently there were protests against the war, but then the next day was St.Patty's Day, which was big here.They had a parade and then huge celebrations through out the day. It was amazing and we had a blast! We are still in love with it and definitely picked the right place to come to school.

We also been soaking up the beach as much as possible when it hasn't been raining(they say they have been going through a drought, but we have see nothing but rain for a couple of weeks). Its really cool to be able to just take a train, bus, or car to a beach only a half an hour away as appose to seven hours!

We also being getting new roommates as of late. Why?were not sure, maybe it is something we said!

Other than that we have just been enjoying Brisbane and going to school. Who knew with study aboard you would have to study? The name doesn't give it away at all! Cristalle also got a new job, while Maria is just enjoying Brissy, being she only goes to school two days a week(but in her defense her classes are harder so psh)

As for upcoming events, we might be going to the beach for a weekend stay,but what is for sure is that for fall break we are diving the great barrier reef! EXCITING! maybe we will see sharks...haha

We hope everyone is doing well and we miss you! Oh and heres some pictures of what we been up to.

PS~Maria's Arizona SIM card broke(we don't know how, but with Maria if there is a will there is a way) So she needs numbers like asap!



The Latest

Melbourne

Melbourne...it wasn't one of our favorite cities which was a disappointment.We heard good reviews of the city, but we were not too impressed.The city seemed like alot of other European cities,however it lack the spunk. There seemed to be something missing. Also it was so cold and windy which we Arizana girls dont do well with. However do not always take our word for it because I think we are the only people in this country who do not love Melbourne. Maybe it was us. Anyways in Melbourne we enjoyed their flea market, Victoria Market, which there you could buy clothes, maps,food and anything your heart desires for cheap. The catch...its all about 3 years old so its a give and take. We then took a cruise on the Yarra River which had two major differences.One side was very country more feel and the other side is all industrial where alot of their shipping happens. We later walked around the city and then watch a comedy show at our hostel. It was really funny espically when one of the comedians started talking about his hispanic mother(so true what he was saying...sorry Mrs. Konopken/mom. We later went out to St. Kilda, but it was sadly dead for it was a Sunday. The next day we went to the Rialto tower to see the whole city and it seemed while we were up there, the temp dropped 30 degrees and started to become windy...We didnt have sweatshirts because in our mind its still SUMMER!!! It later warmed uo but not alot so it wasn't the best situation. We walked around the city some more, but it really cold for us in our tank tops so we went back to the hostel and then to the airport to Brisbane...Its good to be back!



Melbourne



Us in A PArk

Sydney

Let us start off by saying this...we didnt like Sydney...WE LOVE IT!!!! This city was amazing. So much heart and character wrapped into one city, its kind of hard where to start...we arrived to Sydney early Thrusday morning(when I say early I mean like 10 am, but for dramatic affect it was earlier) Anyways the hostel we stayed in was intersting to say the least, but it was in the middle of everything so nothing to complain. First thing we went was the Sydney Opera House. It was a bit surreal seeing something we have only seen in books in person, but it didnt disapoint. We went on a tour of the opera house and decided to go see an orchestra concert, Brahms to be exact(Mr. Nichols would be shocked to hear his two favorite pupils did such a thing...haha) We then went the botanical gardens and the Sydney tower at sunset which made the city more amazing espically the harbor. The next day we toured the city seeing old town, more of the harbor, harbor bridge, kings cross and then later that night went to the orchestra where we sat right behind them(it sounds a tad expensive, but in reality it was only 18 American dollars) The next day we went to BONDI beach which was a bit crowded, but beautiful. We of course swam, tan and walked around the sites. We really wanted to stay longer, but we had to leave later that night to Melbourne, however we will be back!

*Alot of pictures so you might want to click the link below)



Sydney



Coke Toss



Sydney 311