City of Perth and Tree planting

Only SOME of the trees we planted!
Some new shades I have been sporting... :)

G'day!

I am finally getting a little more settled in here..the first week was so chaotic! I am used to the time change, where before I would be falling asleep at 6:00 at night and then be wide-awake at 4 in the morning. Classes start tomorrow! I am so excited to see what it is like.. I have Cinema studies at 8:30 in the morning.. we will be writing scripts and making movies! I have always wanted to take a class like so why not do it in Australia :) I am so happy that I have been able to talk to my parents, friends and christopher so much.. I thought it would be difficult but skype is working out great. Martha and I made our first dinner a couple nights ago... We made pasta and salad..the next time we made grilled cheese and soup.. that is pretty much as far as our cooking abilities go. I think a frozen pizza is in store for tonight. The boys in our group look like gourmet chefs compared to us!! They are cooking steaks and putting huge meals together..we usually "test" their food to make sure it is okay ;) Laundry is on the outside deck. It costs 3 dollars per wash and a dollar per dry (you have to dry it three times though!) 

Since I last posted here is what I have been up to!

Still in Orientation week, we were put into groups of 7 or 8 students (From all international schools) and had to do "The Amazing Race Around Perth" - like the t.v. show.

We were given a booklet of clues and had to race around the city of perth finding the answers, once completed we had to run through the finish line. Let me tell you it was NOT easy! Perth is about half an hour away on a train and is the second largest city in Australia! It took us a total of 8 hours to finish the entire race... we were ALL over the city..to every single point! For example, we had to find certain statues and take pictures by them, take a ferry boat to the Perth zoo, go to three music stores and find out how much a certain CD was at each...

So my group was doing great..no problems at all..we thought that we just FLEW through the race. Well, somehow we ended up in DEAD LAST! i guess we weren't as good as we thought! The first prize winners got digeridoo's ( really cool Australian instrument).. for last place we got a key chain ha! After the day-long race, we were SO TIRED. We did end up going out for a night on the town though!

Yesterday-

As part of Orientation week, we were involved in a volunteer project. All of the international students took a bus to a wilderness camp were we planted over 800 baby trees! We were dreading the day but it actually turned out to be really fun! Martha was my planting partner..we got the hang out it pretty quick! After spending the day at the park, we had a few drinks at the Orient with a couple of girls who are also studying abroad..they are from New York and have the best accents!.. we decided to go into Perth that night and find the clubs of the city. There are SO MANY fun clubs! it was fun to be with our whole group and have a night out.. We boarded the train at closing time (2 am) and came home!

Today-

I wish I liked to shop. There are HUNDREDS of little stores all over our town. Clothes are the only thing I cant stand spending money on.. hence my lack of wardrobe. Girls have already bought so many clothes! I might venture out of my box someday haha! 

Another thing I found today- GELATO. Probably the best thing I have ever tasted. It is going to get me in some trouble!! I have only had chocolate so far...but will have to try some other flavors soon. 

I will write again soon!

Love Abbie