


DC. I love DC. I thought one 320 GB hard drive was big enough to bring here. Boy was I wrong. I am down to my last 50 gigs and have been very selective about what I download. I love getting new music, movies, and tv shows.

I have learned a whole bunch of Australian words and lingo since I have been here and would just like to share a couple of my favorites as well as some just plain weird ones. Favorites: Heaps - meaning large amounts of anything, "I [hopefully] have heaps of friends back a Notre Dame reading this right now" Arvo - short for afternoon, "Hey can I borrow your homework this arvo?" Cheers - thanks, goodbye, basically the best way to end an email Annoying ones: Starting out any answer to any question regardless if it is answerable with the word 'yeah', Me: Hey how ya going? Australian: Yeah, good thanks. Saying 'hey' an obnoxious amount at the end of any sentence. "They're playing so bad hey" or "This is so good hey"

I have also learned that most Australian accents are not that cool and just really annoying, especially the females. Really not all they are hyped up to be. Trust me on this one.

I miss volleyball a lot. After going a semester without playing it competitively for the first time in eight year it really dawned on me how much I love the sport. I knew it was easily my favorite sport to play but it just hit me how much I do like it and gave me a taste of what will happen in a year and a half. I think I miss the camaraderie and my teammates more than the sport itself however. That is what really makes being on a team fun, not the sport itself.

I have learned that taking time out for oneself is harder than it sounds. I have never really had this much free time during a semester without all of my normal activities, like sports and work, so trying to fill that time has been a bit of a challenge for me. Or at least was at first. I have gotten a hang of it as the semester progresses and when it comes time to have almost everything scheduled into my day again it will be just another thing I have to adapt (or should I say revert) to

Not having a cell phone (kind of). I do have a cell phone that I bought here to contact my parents since our internet sucks back home and therefor cannot Skype, but I hardly ever use it here. I do not carry it around with me at all during the day and is just pretty liberating not being attached to one at all times. It will come in handy for travels however.

And number one. Some of you may have guessed it by now since it hasn't come up on this top ten list yet or in my blog in general really. The best thing that has happened to me since I have been here is finding someone special to share all the experiences with. Yeah I am not going to get all mushy on you guys but seriously meeting my girlfriend Kelly Nickodem has made the trip that much better.