Life...

I had so much that I wanted to write about but that was last night before I fell asleep so I've forgotten alot of it by now.
So I guess I'll start from after Australia..I have an email from my school that lets me know that I still have four credits that I still have to finish. Kind of a huge bummer for me. I thought that I would be finished with the whole school thing but I'm still in it I guess.
I applied for two different jobs while in Australia..both of them Admission counselor positions. One of them at Geneva and the other at Malone and unfortunately I didn't get the nod for either of them. But that's ok you know. It's just not what God has planned for me. I just wish that I knew what awesome thing he has in store for me and how long I'll have to wait to get it. I'm willing to wait you know, I just wish I knew how long.
I'm back on campus because I received a call from one of the professors here and she needed me to come and fill a position after it was vacated. And I'm really glad that I have the chance to come back after being in Australia. I know that not everyone has the chance to do what I'm doing right now. I'm thinking that I have the opportunity to end my college career at college and not half way around the world.
My girlfriend is incredible. I can't put into words what she means to me. Last weekend we went to the osu football game and we just had a blast. Even though I managed to lost my ticket before getting to my seat and we missed all the pregame festivities and the first half of the game was terrible...just being there with her makes it all worth it. I want to be everything she needs in a boyfriend and eventually a husband. The thought of possibly being able to marry this girl blows my mind. But I know that I still have things that I have to do to get ready for that. Like a job...and a place to stay..simple things like that...I know that she makes me happy and my hope is that I can do for her what she does for me. <3

Don't get crazy

I know it’s really early for this type of stuff…but I’ve graduated from college and looking at the job market this guy is kinda nervous about it. I’ve been searching for jobs that apply to my major and there aren’t too many available at this precise moment. Well there are some around that are looking for people that have a communications degree but none are actual broadcasting jobs. I don’t wanna be a guy that is doing a job in a cubicle without a window and isn’t happy doing his job. (no offense if that is you) But then again I don’t wanna be a bum either. This could be a career building job but I don’t know if it’s “the one.” I don’t want to give up on the dream so soon. I just got outta school.

Surprise!!

It’s been way too long and I apologize for that. The semester here is coming to an end and that means all the teachers are piling the papers and projects on us at the last minute. It’s been a pretty huge time away for me since the last time I wrote. The biggest thing would be last weekend. On Thursday, I left one of my classes early, hopped on a plane, and began my trek home. Another long series of flights and I arrive at home on Thursday around midnight. My sister had no idea that I was coming home so that was a great surprise for her. I stayed up pretty late that first night because of the time change and adrenaline still pumping through. Sleep finally came at 3 and I woke up at 6. Holly had no idea that I was coming back either and that is what I dedicated Friday to. I was in cohorts with her dad and her seesters. Holly ended up being in the shower when I arrived at her house so I sat on the couch until she was ready. After getting herself all beautified, her dad led her out to the living room where she sees this mass of blanket on the couch. Then I am unveiled and she begins to shake and her knees buckle and tears begin to flow…we meet each other at the middle of the living room and for the first time in three months we hug…one of the most if not the best feeling I’ve ever had. There’s nothing like being away for an extended period of time and seeing someone you care about earlier than both of you expected. For the rest of the day we were able to actually talk to each other. Skype had been letting us down lately so the only way we could “talk” was via instant messaging. We talked and made each other laugh; we attempted to take a nap but with the weather being so nice + my terrible ability to take naps= we talk outside in the warmth of the sun for three hours. We were totally fine with just enjoying each others company. I spent the rest of the day down there with her. In fact, I spent most of the weekend with her and seeing people that I haven’t seen in three months. I was able to walk in my graduation and surprise everyone else that was walking. My grandparents had no clue that I was coming either. Tyler got a nice surprise visit from me too. I stopped by his new church and said hey. Then Holly, my sis, tyler and I went to Starbucks and watched Iron Man II. All in all this was probably the best weekend getaway trip one could ever ask for.

Graduation

I finally got the chance to talk to the guys on my floor. Such a great opportunity:) I miss them heaps. When I did talk to them they told me that it is the final week of school and they have begun cramming for finals. I miss that and everything that comes along with it...late night food runs..energy drinks..late nights with no sleep...mariokart...late night runs to keep you awake..So many of those i've been so accustomed to for so long (3 years) and to not be there for the final go around and graduation...it's a really bittersweet moment. Hopefully they lived the moment up for me.

Good times

All of the A.S.Cer’s went on a trip; A trip to the Outback. This is the legit place with red dirt and heat that you’ve probably seen pictures of all the time. We left school on Monday the fifth and it was a so-so day. It was raining most of the week before and the forecast for the upcoming week was for more rain. We left the school Monday afternoon and we could see the sunshine on the horizon but we never knew when it would reach us. The drive was a gorgeous one. We drove past the Blue Mountains and saw a great view of Sydney and of what lay ahead of us. Two hours into the drive we had a lunch break and we all had the chance to stretch our legs. We get back onto the bus and I finally have a window seat in the front after many rides in the back of the bus in the aisle. I’ve been staring out of the window for about three hours now and my eyes are getting heavy again…(I tend to fall asleep very easily during car rides. Not so much when I’m driving though…) I’ve been searching the landscape for kangaroo for two months haven’t seen one yet even though others have…and boom! My heart skips a beat, I forget to breath, and I scream at the top of my lungs “KANGARRROO!!! KANGARROO TO THE RIGHT!!!” I look at the tree line in front of my window and I see a mob of 10~15 kangaroo grazing on the grass and I finally feel as if I am Australia. We end the first night in a city that I don’t remember the name of and 12 of us decide we want to play some ultimate Frisbee. Turns out that there is a park around the block from the motel that we are staying at and we play there. In the middle of the field there is a tractor. That’s right. A huge, farming tractor sitting right in the middle of a field. But it was a great game nonetheless. Towards the end of the game we could see lightning and hear the thunder roll in and became fearful for the rest of the trip. As we walk back to the motel after our game we talk to the owners of the place and they tell us that this is the first time that the city has seen rain like this in 100 years. That isn’t a typo. The next day we wake up and get back on the bus where we receive the news that the road to Burke (the place where we’re supposed to go) is flooded and we won’t be able to get there. We are supposed to make it there at the end of that morning, Tuesday. When I hear that news I am devastated. That is one of the main reasons I came here and being the first class not to go because of rain did not go over well. We make it as far as we can, Cobarth, and we spend most of the day at a museum there that focused on the Gold Rush of Australia. Not really what I wanted to be doing on our “Outback Trip.” We spend the night there hoping that the rain will stop and the sun will come out but that would never happen. We fall asleep to the raindrops on the roof of our rooms and we wake up to more news of the roads being flooded and no one really knowing what the new plan will be. We wait for a new plan in the dining room of the motel (which had very great food I should add. The dinner we had the night before was 30 bucks a head. Multiply that by 40 heads…they made a heaps load of money the two days we came. Because of us they actually had to put up there no vacancy signs.) and somehow Ian, the legendary driver, Melanie and Kimberly our ASC teachers know another place where we can go. Our new destination is Mt. Marunthumble. It took us another five more hours to get there but we did make it to the red ground of the Outback. We get off of the bus; look around and there isn’t too much to see. We look at the rooms and on top of our bed is a mattress covered in red dirt and cobwebs. At this point I almost broke. I was so close to being totally fed up with being out there and not doing what I thought the perfect trip would be. We end the night with a spaghetti dinner and a plague of locusts fell upon our campground. They leapt into our juice, leapt onto our plates, into our food, leapt down the shirts of so many people and down my pants. They were literally everywhere. They even jumped into our campfire while we sat around hoping the clouds would part so we could see the night sky, but it would not happen that night either. The only thing that saved the night was the life stories we began to tell each other. These were basically our testimonies but hearing what other people have gone through totally brought us closer as a group. We wake up Thursday morning with the sun on our faces. And we’ve all been rejuvenated. We eat egg in a basket thanks to Ian and start the day off with a bang. We were staying on 35,000 acres of property and the guys who own it took all of us out on a ride on the back of their Ute= truck. The ground was still wet so the roads we traveled on were still muddy so when we drove through the puddles we were all splashed with mud. AND IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! The Ute I was on was termed the party Ute because we were screaming at the top of our lungs any song that we could think of. Not to mention how crazy we went every time we see a kangaroo. We saw so many kangaroo riding around in the Ute. The best story I have from the back of the Ute is the two roo’s we see hoping right next to our Ute. We slow down a lil bit so they can get ahead of us and one of them does get ahead of us. We begin following that one and letting the smaller one hop behind us and over the fence. So there is a roo in front of us on the road and a fence to our immediate right. We’re flying, and screaming, “you can run you can hide but you can’t escape our love.” All of a sudden she tries to jump the fence to our right and she failed, but kept on hopping. A few feet later she tried again…and failed. This time her tail had too much of the road and we ran it over. And I have it all on video if you wanna watch it on facebook=-)

Identity Crisis pt. II

So another thing i've been thinking about lately. Well not really thinking about but a kind of reality that has hit me recently...people look up to me? Really? That is something that i never expected to tell the truth. For the longest time I never wanted anyone to look up to me. I'm not a role model, i'm not a saint, i haven't saved anyone's life, why would anyone look up to me?!? One of my roommates, Trevor (who takes awesome pics btw) recently said that he looked up to me when it comes to the relationship that i have with my girlfriend and that took me by surprise. I've never done this before...this is my first relationship and i'm trying not to screw up to royally and i'm a role model because of it? Another aspect that has taken a while for me to get used to is age. I'm one of the "older" people here both in school and age. I'm graduating next month :-O and not to many people here are above sophomore status and over 21 and that's weird for me. Most of the time I have been the younger or youngest person to do something and now to be an elder statesman of a group, I don't know how to react. People automatically look towards the elders just because they are elders...I still think i'm a youngin but maybe it's time to accept the role...i dunno just throwing the content of my mind out there..

Identity Crisis

This past Friday we had the opportunity to go to Canberra which is the capital city of Sydney. The dilemma…I had to get up at five in the morning. Now I haven’t slept well lately so sleep is very precious to me. Always has been, always will be. And I know for some of you this is a very easy thing to do. You have my up most respect. So I wake up at 5 and start getting ready and Trevor who has been up for an hour now comes into my room and begins talking to me. Dilemma two…I’m not a morning person…I’m not a five in the morning person. All I wanted to do was get through the morning, talking as little as possible. Trevor was up an hour before anyone else so he was already good to go. Needless to say he dominated the conversation and every question asked to me was answered with either yes or no…even if the question was not a yes or no question. I was beat. Anywho fast forward to Canberra. We get there and the first place we visit is the New South Wales Art Gallery. We have an hour here to walk around and see what we can see…and that wasn’t much. This place was huge and to see all that it had to offer you needed at least three hours just to give a glimpse to all the photographs, paintings, and movies here. Next was the Indonesian Consolate. There we have the chance to talk to two ambassadors for the Indonesian government. They had thick Indonesian accents and it was kinda tough to understand what they were saying but it was nice of them to come and talk to us. The next stop was the New Zealand Consolate and he was awesome. Funny guy and made foreign affairs between New Zealand and Australia very easy to understand as well as enjoyable. We stopped at the aboriginal consulate which didn’t have a building. The only thing they had was tents in front of the Australian Government Building. The land in front of the building was given back to the Aboriginal people, but that is a nugget compared to the land that they have lost. The people staying on the small piece of land in front of the building are there everyday pleading for the government to do something about the land the Aboriginals do not have. (blog on the similarities of Native Americans and Aboriginals to come.) The final stop was the hostel we were staying at for the night. At this point everyone is exhausted and wanting to eat and go to bed. But the day doesn’t stop there. Arranged for us is a class debrief of everything we saw as well as what we think about two songs, Waiting on the World to change and American Idiot. The night ended around 11.30 and sleep didn’t come easy even though I was exhausted. Underneath the hostel was a bar with an outside lounge. People were loud and the smell of alcohol and cigarettes filled the room. With the missed opportunity of sleep the not so happy feelings of the day past stayed with me. The whole day I was feeling not so me like. I was a bit of a loner and just wanted to be off by myself. We visited the New South Wales Portrait Museum, not to be confused with the first place we visited; as well as the Australia History Museum and the War Memorial in closing. All of these places could have been more fun but it seemed like we were herded from one place to the next. “It is nice to have a schedule of things to do but let us enjoy it our way.” Being by myself most of the day gave me time to think about home and family and friends and missing people…it all came on like a landslide and I couldn’t really stop it. I’m glad it happened though. I was kinda wondering if it ever would…it reminded me of a first week of school. I look back and see how long it took for me to be comfortable back at Malone. It took a while for me to find my comfort. I had been there for three years and I knew how things went down. Now I’m in a new place with a group of new people. I’m now seeing how well I can adapt to new surroundings. This past weekend I remembered that it won’t be the same as everywhere else. I haven’t been here for three years so I’m not automatically going to be friends with everyone, I’m not going to trust everyone here right off of the bat. At times I may feel lonely, but I also need to remember that I’m not the only one that feels that way, so am I really alone? Crisis avoided.

At a Stand Still

Thanks to everyone that has talked about how they are doing. Its good to hear from ya’ll. I miss you guys heaps and heaps. This past weekend was pretty awesome. It started off on Friday evening. I will be at home with just my home stay family every Friday just because the other two guys have other things they want to do. So I did some homework and I finished most of the homework for the upcoming week. Then Sue (the mother) asked if I wanted to try Thai food…I said yes. We went out and picked up some Thai and ate it at home. They all fell asleep pretty early and I watched the television. Kung Fu Panda was on and that equals a good way to spend the night by your self. Saturday consisted of some Spiderman cartoons and breakfast cereals. The whole day it was forecasted to be cloudy and thunderstormy. I had plans to go to the beach and rain or shine I was gonna go. And I did meet two other brave souls and we traveled to the beach called Bondi. We were waiting for the storm to come and the only thing we saw that day was the blue sky and the sun that is seven times shinier than in the states. We threw the Frisbee around and jumped a couple of waves and five hours later we decided we were hungry. Back in the city of Sydney there is a restaurant call Pancake on the Rocks. Imagine IHOP but three times better. The food that is in the picture of the menu is the actual food that you get in front of you. They have a blueberry pancake special, a chocolate and vanilla pancake platter served with chocolate ice cream on top, and the delicious chocolate pancake with chocolate syrup and chocolate covered strawberries. Bingo Bango…afterwards we walked around the Sydney Harbour and sat in front of the Opera House and watched the moon slowly rise. Sunday came and me and one of my roommates Trevor, spent the afternoon back at Bondi and threw the Frisbee around. At around five we came back home and watched movies on tv: Gran Turino, Flubber, and One Missed Call:). Great way to end another pretty good weekend.

So it’s been almost a month now… a whole month has almost past. That is amazing to think about. It has gone really fast already. We haven’t even done our trips to the Outback, Canberra, or New Zealand; and we still have two weeks off for Spring break and Easter!!! Time is just gonna fly by quicker and quicker. I’m having a great time here getting to know some Aucka’s and the other students that came with me, its hard for me to realize that things are still going on back home. I’m trying not to miss all the fun that is happening without me…all the things I want to be a part of but can’t cause I’m half way round the world you know.

Daravi

There is a Cambodian exchange student that is staying with us here in Aussieland. Her name is Daravy (pronounced just like you read it da-rah-v) and she has been working on a 250 page thesis for her Masters degree in hydro development to take back to her home in Cambodia. We were talking about her home land at dinner Tuesday night and this is part of her story. In the 80’s the Cambodian government was overthrown. Genocide spread through the country. 2.5 million people were killed because they were educated. One of those people was Daravi’s aunt. The few ways you could live in the country were to somehow hide the knowledge you had while being inspected or you would die. How could the government know you were educated? If you knew English…the rich were the only ones to have any say in the country. The rich were the only ones with food; meanwhile the poor are starving to death. Daravi tells a story of students like her receiving scholarships to go out of the country to continue school and while overseas the Cambodian government would offer jobs to the students so they would come back. The students would come back and once landing on back on their home soil realized that it was a trick to get them back…these students were killed also. The Cambodian government rules all media of the country: tv, radio, newspapers…any criticism of the government is not tolerated. Such is the story of Daravi and her uncle. He was a reporter for one of the newspapers and he leaked much information incriminating the government showing how corrupt it is. A couple days after the article was released her uncle and his son finished running and while on the way back home were shot and killed. The paper claims that one of the friends of the son got into an argument and he is the one that shot the two men. The government is so corrupt; they had two Prime Ministers in the same year. The first won by election…he was assassinated by the man that was next in line and he would then become the next Prime Minister…this stuff is still going on over there right now.
The mind blowing part is that she wants to go back. She is engaged and her future husband to be is still living there. Everyday they live in fear of what can happen to them just because they have gone to school. Daravi says there are many students that she talks with that go to school in a different country and never comes back. If everyone does that then who will stay and attempt to rebuild the country? She wants to be one that helps rebuild the nation. I don’t know if I could do that. I mean there is a certain level of fear that we live in back in the States, but it’s not to the level of wondering if I will die because of being smarter than the government is. I respect Daravi so much for what she wants to do for her country even though the government has done such wrong to her for such a long time…
And that’s just part of her story…

I Need a Little Help from my Friends

So I want to hear how you guys are doing as much as you want to hear from me. How do I have a list of blogs that I can go to? Do you know what I mean. Like a subscription list? I'm just slightly blog illiterate...

Mine is bigger than yours

This is my typical day here in Sydney. Wake up at 5.45. I don’t know why this happens. It just does. It’s been like this for a while now and instead of fighting it trying to get back to sleep I just roll with it and start the day off strong. Roll out of bed, do a couple push ups to get the blood flowing, and say a prayer while I’m pushing. Then go to the bathroom. Eat some breakfast at 6.15 as well as fill the water bottle and prepare something for lunch. Brush the pearly whites and put on some clothes and I’m out the door around 7.15. Walk to the train station and that probably takes five to ten minutes…probably closer to ten. Our train arrives around 7.45 and we (me, Trevor, and Eddie my homemates) stay on for two stops. We hop off the train and wait at the bus stop. Yeah for public transportation!!
It’s is really nice here just for your information. Everyone, and I mean everyone takes it. You don’t really need to worry about guns here because they are outlawed. So kids on their way to school are taking buses and the trains to school.I know that we can’t say that to be true back in the states. There are a TON of kids going to school via the buses and they all have ipods. Every type you can imagine they have. I’ve been on the bus for a little while now and I’ve got mine in my pocket and a song that I don’t like comes on. So I reach into my pocket and all the kids standing in front of me all turn and look at me and I’m wondering why. Then the person sitting next to me I can see a smirk coming on her face cause she can see my ipod and she’s thinking to herself, “HAHAHA, silly American with his puny ipod. Mine is bigga than yoaurs.” (That was my best Australian accent attempt.) But everyone knows that its not the size that matters. It's what is on the inside that counts. You can have 3 movies on your ipod and have it be filled, or you can have 857 songs like me and be perfectly content...Any who back to me:) Depending on the traffic it can take a very short time as in 25 minutes to arrive at Uni. (that’s university in Aussie speak) Or if traffic is bad it can take up to over an hour. That is why I will try to get to school relatively early just in case. Because I get here kinda early this allows me to check the email, skype if I can, you know, the essentials…so if I have your skype address and I see that you are available then watch out cause I may give you a ring (that’s aussie for call) I’m out of class on Monday at 1.30, Tuesday and Friday at 5, Wednesday at 2 and Thursday at 4. Then to get back home I take the bus back to the train station and then two stops later I hop off and walk back home. Shouldn’t take more than 45 minutes to get back home. We eat dinner together at 7 and we eat and talk about our days and joke around with each other. Shower and homework happens until about 9 and by that time I’m exhausted. I end the day with a little devo and hit the hay after that.

Welcome to Australia

If you are reading this then you are awesome…if you aren’t reading this then you’re just ok…don’t get me wrong you’re still pretty cool..but not as cool as those actually reading it. I hope you know that I miss you guys and hope that everything is well back in the states. So just so you know I did make it to Australia just fine…Other than dealing with the popping of my ears during the decent of the airplane in both LAX and Sydney. And yes I did sing Party in the USA after stepping off of the plane in LAX. Am I ashamed about it?.....I’m still not exactly sure about it. Everyone else here was doing the same thing. The people doing this program have been awesome. It’s killing me that I don’t know everyone’s name. The girls know my name and all the names of the other guys. Albeit there are only seven guys and thirty girls so it’s easier for them to know ours than us to know theirs. I’ll have them down by June so I’m not worried about it:) It is so beautiful out here and the roads are paved with palm trees and smells of flowers are everywhere…I’ll put some pics up and talk about some of the things that we have done in the first couple of days here. Miss you all more to come once I figure out where my classes are:)

Thoughts...

I love music. I love it alot.
In recent news there has been two of my favorite artists that have come into some recent problems. Tye Tribbet and Da Truth cheated on their wives. Truth did it with Tye's wife and Tribbet did it with one of the girls of his choir. When I heard this I was crushed. These two guys are people that a lot of people look to for leadership. They are frontiers men on the music front and gave many a needed understanding of theology. When I heard this news I couldn't listen to any of their music without getting discouraged. How can I listen to be encouraged by music that is made by someone that cheats on their wife????
That was in November...
After some thinking I realized that nobody is perfect. If we all had our dirty laundry out there, our lives would fall apart.
My church has said that we should ban the listening of their music. I disagree with this. I don't believe that we should leave these men when they need us most. We should gather around them in their time of need instead of kicking them to the curb.

Just thoughts during a lazy afternoon...

For the longest time I've felt like I needed to catch up on things that I've missed out on. Being home schooled was an awesome experience and I'm really glad that I had it. I thought I was missing out on so much that alot of other kids went through. I had missed making the middle school transition. It may have been a very awkward and terrible time but I think I would want to endure it. The terrible freshman year everyone complains about, I know nothing about. Coming into my first year of high school all I wanted to do was catch up on all of that stuff. You can't really replicate those things though. It is something that needs to happen on its own. Now I can look back and say I'm glad things happened the way that they did. You can't rush time. It will always catch up with you in a strange way.
I read this a couple of weeks ago in Genesis. The people making the tower of Babel were all speaking the same language and were able to work together and make this tower that was capable to make it to the clouds in the sky. God came down to the earth and said,"If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them." Gen 11.7 Really makes me wonder what good we can do now if we all work together now.

Positive sides of a magnite...

THESE TWO THINGS SHOULD NEVER BE TOGETHER!!! Chocolate and mint..and i look at it like this...when i see chocolate i think sugar, sweet, tasty, goodness, bad for teeth, dirty. When i see mint i think refreshing, cool, goodness, clean. So when you go to the olive garden and pay for your meal and you get those mints after wards...i can't eat em. i think they are horrible. either give me a mint, or give me chocolate don't give me something with both mint and chocolate in it. Or how about mint chocolate chip ice cream?? nope..that's not acceptable either. Another thing i don't see working well together is the combination of salty and sweet=nuts in ice cream. nuts are just terrible in general and should not be placed in ice cream. They are things that should be kept apart like positive sides of a magnite.