April.

To kick this month off, we went to a Traffic Light Party (if you've never been to one, essentially you wear green if you're single, yellow if "it's complicated" and red if you're in a relationship). Usually you wear coloured shirts but this one was dress in black and you get coloured glow sticks. We had a pretty good night but the venue wasn't that great so halfway through we bailed and left to go to our favourite nightclub.

Bre, Tarrena, Me, Priya and Lou ready for the Traffic Light Party.

Unfortunately April saw me settle down with a bit more Uni work that I had to do. I keep forgetting about the main reason I came here and that it can't always be parties every night and catching up on my sleep during the day (maybe). So the partying lifestyle took a bit of a backseat this month with me trying to save up money for a trip to Cairns (Queensland) at the end of the semester too.

My building sometimes has activities for the residents to go on for free, and the first one me, Priya & Tarrena decided to go on was Go Karting & Laser Quest. We were split into 2 groups for the Go Karting and I came 5th out of our 7 in the race... I blame it on the no power steering, that was bloody difficult! We then went for a game of Laser Quest where I came 2nd out of 15, hell yeah.

So a guy from our Uni here decided to throw a party where he lives on a farm. He hired a DJ, put on a bonfire (with marshmallows), there were lights everywhere and there were many games of beer pong. The whole night is just one big blur to me but what I do remember is a lot of drinking, a lot of dancing and a lot of roasted marshmallows. At around 5am I eventually managed to get a little bit of sleep - 1 hour curled up next to the bonfire on a pile of soot. The hosts parents then made us all bacon and egg sandwiches which was amazing. Soon after we all piled back onto the bus and made our way home. All in all it was a brilliant night.

Priya, Tarrena & I after waking up next to the campfire in a field at 6am.

So yet again, we decided to go to another international boat party. You were encouraged to come in your national dress/colours, so I went in my navy top and tied some red and white ribbon to my wrist, then tucked a Union Jack into the loop of my jeans. It was a good night and after a lot of dancing on the boat we then made our way to the party bus to be taken to our favourite club, Billboards.

Tarrena (Australian), Priya (Canadian) and Me ready for the Boat Party.

The morning after the boat party, Priya, Louisa and I needed to be at the Uni campus at 9am for a trip to Phillip Island (this is where the Hemsworth brothers grew up). However after a night out, this can be quite difficult. And after a phone call from Priya at 8:55 that woke me up, I was very surprised that I even made it.
Once we made it to Phillip Island we went for a coastal walk along the beach and then up along the cliffs. The views were gorgeous. On the way back however I managed to cut my foot on a rock (as we were walking along the beach we all decided not to wear our shoes). Typical me. So then I had to walk back a mile with sand getting into my cut. Not very pleasant. When I was patched up we walked to the sand dunes where some of the others slid down on boards into the sea. After that we made our way to the Penguin Parade, where every night penguins walk 4km back to their little homes. They were adorable!

Group photo with Woolamai Beach in the background.

So I obviously wanted a permanent reminder of my first big adventure, so I went to get my first tattoo. I had a bit of an entourage/support group that insisted on coming; Kiri, Nikole, Priya and Tarrena came to cheer me on/laugh at my pain. The joke was on them though, it didn't really hurt. I got the map of Australia not only as a reminder of this awesome opportunity that i've had, but because it's also a reminder that i'm stronger, braver and a lot more capable than I ever thought. I've already said if you went back in time and told younger me that I was living here I wouldn't believe you, and I think this has made me grow up so much as a person. Don't get me wrong, I still have the brain of a 5 year old sometimes, but living here has already taught me so much.

Goodbye tattoo virginity!

So that's April. I can't get over how incredibly fast this has all gone. Here's to my last 2 months Down Under!

𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕒𝕓𝕖𝕝