Today is my last day of regular University classes! I have a few more assessments to finish up and then I am done with the semester. Yes, I know that’s quite a shocker – but I actually have University and am not always on full-time vacation mode here!
These past few weeks have been a bit like finals week with all of my final assessments being due. The next 3 weeks are study break/finals week, but fortunately for me I don’t have anything during that time so I get to spend my last month abroad traveling!
On Monday June 4th I leave for New Zealand for a 6-day adventure! After a sudden change of plans, my cousin, Arianna, will now be flying from the states to New Zealand and going on the trip with me! We are both excited for a vacation together, although we’re less excited about the current winter (and snow) status in Queenstown, New Zealand. Nevertheless, we will have a blast!
Upon flying back to Australia together, we will spend a few days in the Sunshine Coast before flying to southern Australia. Arianna, Erin, Becca, and I will be visiting Melbourne, Victoria from June 14-18th. We’re all excited to see the artsy city and explore more of Southern Australia.
Then I will be back in the Sunshine Coast for a few days before Alison arrives on June 21st to start our adventure together! We will be spending a few days here, then flying up north to Cairns for the Great Barrier Reef, and then ending our trip for 4 days down south in Sydney. Then on July 2nd we will both be flying back to the U.S. together!
I am so excited for the adventures and traveling these next 5 weeks – the time will fly by and before I know it, I’ll be back in Minnesota!
Besides homework lately, the most fun thing was turning 20 years old this past Monday! Over the weekend, Erin, Michael, Luke, Lauren (Luke’s girlfriend), and I took a train to Brisbane for a day trip! We began the day walking through a beautiful garden at Roma Street Parklands. It was sunny and a perfect temperature. So we all just enjoyed soaking in rays, seeing water dragons, and beautiful plants.
Then we walked to South Bank (a suburb of Brisbane, actually where Sharon and I were for the festival) and saw lots of old buildings. Then we stopped at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) for a little bit, and wandered around there to see some art they had on display.
After this we were all getting very hungry, so we decided to head to the main event: the Chicken Nugget Festival. We hopped on the train to Fortitude Valley/Bowen Hills (another suburb of Brisbane) and arrived at the Nugg Festival. Unfortunately, upon arrival the weather decided to get cloudy and pour on us. It was also pretty crowed there so that was a bit annoying too. We waited in line for a while, quite soaked, and finally got our chicken nuggets! I got taco chicken nuggets and then Erin & I shared chicken nugget parmigiana – they both were pretty good! We decided to head to a bar to just hang out and take shelter from the continuing rain. The bar was quite cool since it had old arcade games and a large shelf full of board games. I ordered a glass of wine and we played the game What Do You Meme! After that, we got some Krispy Kreme donuts at a 7-Eleven, and we all agreed that we were tired out and ready to catch the train home. It was nice to go on an adventure (especially a food one)! The rain could’ve held off, but owell, what can you do? Instead, just enjoy this picture of us soaked with rain and happy with our nuggs!
On Monday for my actual birthday I spent time talking with Logan and my mom in the morning, and then hanging out and relaxing during the day. Then in the evening, we celebrated with a delicious BBQ at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital where Alex is at. His new ward has an awesome rooftop garden with grills! So we brought steaks, hash browns, eggs, corn on the cob, and kangaroo sausages and fried them all up! And for dessert, Michael, Luke, and Lauren all made brownies and chocolate cake – needless to say, we all had food babies after eating that night haha! We then lit some sparklers, waved them around, and had some good laughs. Afterwards, we headed to the bar to end the night – ended up going to another game bar with Uno, Truth or Dare, and giant Jenga! It was a wonderful 20th birthday – I am so thankful to have spent it with such wonderful people in this amazing country!
I hope everyone is enjoying the hot summer back home! I am definitely missing the lake and am looking forward to being home in a short month. But for now – many amazing adventures to come!
Another Point of View 
😎…..enjoy NZ. My friends have Two more weeks there and over their time dog sitting have seen and done some amazing things!
Each day is a gift….. Peggy
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Thank you! I am very excited to explore some of New Zealand!
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