Lessons from Study Away

After being in Australia for quite a few months, I have made some pretty close friends. We have travelled a lot and had a lot of adventures. The first friend I asked, told me a story about our adventure to a chocolate boutique called Max Brenner's. This place servers gourmet chocolate, and all sorts of other desserts and dishes related to chocolate. The food there is exquisite, and I had heard so many good things about it from other friends who had gone there. It was a Thursday evening, and we were going to go after she finished her practical (around nine). I had been begging her to go for about a week. Another friend had told me they were open until midnight everyday, so we were excited to get something sweet to eat before studying. So, she was in prac until pretty late because it was a dissection practical and I was waiting in the library. When she was done, we hopped in her car and started off towards Max Brenner's. On the way, she asked if I knew how do get there. I had been there once, but I hadn't come from campus so I wasn't sure. And I didn't think to look up directions. She laughed and said we'd find it. After a long time of searching and driving around, we finally found it. So relieved, we practically skipped up to the door. It wasn't very busy, and the few people that were there looked like they were getting ready to leave. A worker sweeping the doorway looked at us warily, and asked us if we were going to order something. We said of course. And he sort of smirked and said that they closed at ten on the weekdays. I was so disappointed! I had been looking forward to going there, and showing my friend how fabulous it was. We went home empty handed.

This story shows me I have a sort of dogged determination, but I am not always the best at planning. I have a goal in mind, but sometimes forget to take all the steps to get there. This story also shows me how nice my friend is, because she wasn't mad that I didn't know how to get there or that they closed early on the weekdays. It was a good night, even though we didn't get chocolate. And it's something that she likes to bring up a lot, for a good laugh of course.

Another friend I asked, told me a story about our trip to the Whitsundays. We were on a live aboard for three days and two nights. On one day, we spent the morning on White Haven - which has some of the whitest sand in the world. It's amazing, evening at high noon the sand is cool because it reflects the heat rather than absorbing it. The water was also very clear, it was picturesque. We laid our things by the water and I sprawled out on my towel. The next thing I knew I woke up. Apparently I had fallen asleep while my friends were taking pictures. We had a laugh, and got back to the boat. When we were changing the next day to go into the water, my friends pointed out that I had the most ridiculous tan lines. Since I had fallen asleep on my stomach, and was wearing a bikini the bow from the strings was tanned into my back! It was hilarious, and we all had a good laugh.

This story shows me that I can be a little absentminded, I suppose. Also, my friends like to point out that I sleep a lot. Sleeping is really comfortable, and I could fall asleep almost anywhere. I am also glad that my friends and I can laugh about things like this, because we are close. I'm really going to miss everyone I've met here.