Re Cap

Haven't been keeping up with my blog much after everything that has happened.
I am getting ready for my semester break, and so I will just do a recap of some events with a picture :)

Blue tongued lizard outside my window
The boys (Myles & friends) caught it in a pillow case to show to me
apparently, like all things in Australia,
 its jolly rancher blue tongue is poisonous

pranking mai's toilet with
a rubber snake :)

Formal
Mai, David, Me, Georgie (my roomy)

Formal with friends

Me and Myles

Formal, Paris themed

McGregor College 40th anniversary
Tana, Me, Houda

USQ Club
Hollywood Night; Mai and I

4X beer, the official drink of Queensland

Crow's Nest Waterfall

The International Gang
Me, Lean, Linn, David, Matt, Mai, Des, Dani, Kate

Queen Mary Falls, Warwick

QM Falls
Janne, Silvana, Me, Eva, Tim, Dammo

QM Falls

parrots!!

Cowboys and Indians Party
Mai, Georgie, Matt, David, Silvana, Me, Kate, Rebekka, Emily

Crocks at the Aussie Zoo
(the Stever Irwin zoo)

the coolest snake ever

fed an elephant!!

Oi! Crikey! 

!!!!! PYTHON !!!!! 

view from the Brissie hotel
with the Cathcarts

Linn with her two didgeridoos at Eumundi Markets
band practice starts next week 

Linn, Me, and Rebekka at Sunshine Coast

Linn walking away from the beautiful sunset at Sunshine Coast

Learning the didge
Didn't get pregnant though!

Me, Linn, Rebekka, AJ eating
after a day on Sunshine Coast

In Loving Memory

Emily Spickler was a fellow American exchange student, my McGregor J Block neighbor, and one of my close friends. Tragically, she passed away August 15th from a rare blood disease. These past few weeks have been some of the hardest of my entire life. There is a supportive and loving community over here, and all of USQ has been helping me and the other international students through this. It has been a roller coaster of emotions, but, we are all trying our hardest to become stronger people from this experience, and still live on for Emily.

Beautiful Em at Surfer's
Always wanting to spread her wings and fly :) 

Candle light vigil

Doorstep memorial 

To a lively, spirited, hilarious, and ambitious person. A beautiful girl, a beautiful life, a beautiful friend. You have touched all of our hearts and will remain in them forever. All my love to your friends and family back home.
In loving memory of Emily Spickler.

      

McGregor Devils

Cricket, a gentlemen’s Leslie game

We have three residential colleges on USQ’s campus. Every week, we have a different competition between each of the colleges. Last week was Trivia Night and I had previously met an Aussie named Myles who asked me to play on his team.  Knew absolutely none of the questions I was supposed to (ie NBA basketball teams, when the Americans first landed on the moon, the day the Titanic sunk, basically all the American questions) but I still met a bunch of really nice guys and our team came in third, although McGregor came in last overall.

my trivia team
Aden, Tonto, Laura, Nick, Micker, Martin, Myles
This week the competition was cricket. The afternoon before the match, we all met out on a cricket pitch outside and played with real gear. The ball, small and hard, the bat, ridiculously heavy and awkward, and the rules were all difficult to understand. Thankfully some of the kids from trivia night were there to help me and my Danish friend Mai figure it all out. I felt as if I was re-enacting Brian Regan’s stand up about playing baseball when he was little. There was a moment where the cricket ball came flying at my face and I was so scared and it happened so fast that I just fell backwards and sat on my butt. Everyone was so happy and started clapping and I said, “Why are you clapping? Did I score a point?!” and they said “No, because you moved your head out of the way of the cricket ball!!” Good eye Leslie, good eye. When we actually played in the competition, it was indoor cricket, and we played with plastic bats and a tennis ball (which my face was incredibly happy about!) and it was much easier. I actually wasn’t too terrible at bowling (pitching the ball) and on my last pitch, all of the McGregor’s’ started chanting Les-Leee, Les-Leee and I got the other girl out by throwing the ball at the wickets! I was pretty terrible at batting through (but got slightly better when I got the advice to hit the ball with the other side of the bat), and could never determine when to run or not. Most of the time I was hovering in between the two sides of the pitch until someone yelled at me to run. But, they let Mai be my partner, so we made fools of ourselves together! It’s supposed to be a “gentleman’s game” but I thought it was so much fun that it could be my game too!   

Mai and I before our cricket match, reppin McGregor devils

home sweet home :)