KI and settling in!

Well everyone...where do I start? It's been a crazy week! There has been so much going on that I can't even figure where to begin! Sorry for the laziness but I finally got my actual room but no internet connection is hooked up yet!

Well here's the deal... Last weekend our IES group took a trip to Kangaroo Island (KI). There we spent the whole day touring around the island on bus with some awesome tour guides Beau and Kate. We went to a Eucalyptus/Emu farm which was really cool. Eucalyptus is a great plant! It is very environmentally safe! On Saturday we also spent quite a bit of time by the ocean and I have many different ocean views on my camera. We saw sea lions at seal bay and some more later at Admirals Arch (these sea lions were New Zealand ones though not Australian like the ones at seal bay) - Admirals arch is this nice rock formation on the coast. Not sure which coast, but whatever it was cool! At the end of the day we went to Snug Cove, some private property that our guides have access too, except for the fact that the lock had been changed on the gate, but no worries the situation was soon fixed and we got in. The place was beautiful, nestled in some hills. We saw many Kangaroos hopping around. ( We saw some earlier too while driving around at a museum and also saw Koalas before that.) We had a little beach to ourselves at Snug Cove which was awesome! A few of us decided to go climbing around some of the rocks by the beach while dinner was being made which was super fun! I'll try to get pictures in soon. We all sat around a fire and ate and then had desert which was Tim Tams. MMMMM they are GOOD!

Tim Tams are a cookie, or rather a "biscuit" as Aussies would call them, and the original flavor is chocolate. Anyway I can't really explain them that well but I'll try. They are a rectangular biscuit with chocolate on the outside...mmmmm.. THere is also a "game" that goes along with these biscuits. It's called the Tim Tam Slam. What you do is bite off opposite ends of the Tim Tam and then stick it in a hot drink (tea, or coffee, in our case it was Milo) and suck the liquid through to let it get soft and then quick pop it in our mouth before the Tim Tam crumbles into the hot liquid. Oh...it was soooooo good!

The next day we got to go snorkeling in the cove and it was so beautiful! I've never been snorkeling and this was so awesome. Beau also tried teaching us how to play cricket on the beach, it is a crazy crazy game but can be fairly entertaining. The games can take days to play! We left snug cove and while we were driving along we found a little friend on the bus! A possum! we stopped and tried to get it off and it took at least an hour. It was pretty hilarious, Beau and Kate and Lauren (an IES student) were the ones that finally got him off the bus along with the help of a local guy that drove by and his shovel! We went to a light house after that and then had to make our way back to Peneshaw where we ate some pub grub and then caught the ferry again for the mainland. There was a GORGEOUS sunset while we made our way back. We all made it back safe and sound and very very tired!

This past week has been full of some other orientation things, campus tours, and shopping at Rundle mall for whatever we may need. Rundle Mall is great it's a street full of shops and it's all walking, there are no cars that go up and down it and it's right next to the Uni. Oh by the way Uni is the University. College here means the Residential Colleges which are like dorms back home. Does this all make sense? Anyway ... I did a lot of walking all week going to Rundle Mall and shopping for whatever was needed and just walking in general. I met up with Will Christopherson this past week and he helped my friend Emily and I find phones and just kind of hung out with us. For those of you who do not know who Will is, he was a student at Luther a few years ago, he graduated my freshman year and is now doing grad work at the University of South Australia (Uni SA - right next to Uni of Adelaide) . He's a great guy and is my frisbee connection down here. That's another thing! I got to play frisbee thanks to Will and his girlfriend Karen and their awesome frisbee friends who have given me rides! I've only been to two practices and this week i might not get to go to much because of O' week here at the college.

To explain O' week... it's Orientation week. Many planned activities for our college and there is tons of stuff going on at the Uni too. I'll explain more about it when I know more, but basically it's the time to meet anyone and everyone! It's weird because I am considered a freshman here so I have to go through all this orientation stuff again! oh well!

Well I think I will leave you all with that. Right now I should probably be at some orientation stuff, but shhhh don't tell Amber and I are skipping out! We're soo bad! Once I get my internet hooked up I'll let you all know more. HOpe all is well everywhere! Love you all!

much love,
smuder