I am moving to Dubai to work for Emirates Airlines in less than a month. I can’t believe I have gotten this opportunity. I am so excited! This blog will probably change quite a bit, as my life is about to change drastically! But I hope you’ll still want to read my little updates now and then. Until I leave Norway on February 5th I have a lot of preparations to take care of. So I don’t know if I’ll have time to blog at all. But until next time – take care!
-Emilia
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I’m on the plane from Brisbane to Singapore. Then I take a plane to London. And then hello Oslo, hello Norway, hello GINA, HUAN, NHU +++ and HELLO HOME SWEET HOME ❤ I can’t believe I’m actually going home so soon! In a way I am really sad to leave, but at the same time I just can’t wait to get home. I love Southern Norway during summer, and winter is here now (although it’s not cold), so I think I can conclude with that I’m mostly excited to go home. Not too sad! All the people who make Australia so great are leaving soon after me anyways, and they all live in Europe (and a few in North America) so I’ll see them there in stead.
I realize I haven’t written in ages (again). So this will probably be a pretty big update. Ida has been way better than me to update (as usual) so take a look at her blog. But to start from the beginning:
1) Mid-semester break!
Tina, my lovely lovely Tina, visited me from Friday until Tuesday. I guess you can say that she really got to experience how it is like to be an exchange student in Brisbane. Parties every night. The first night we went out to eat with a big group of people to celebrate Henriette’s birthday, and then we went to a pool party. Erika and I were the first ones to jump in. I am very proud of that. We went to Southbank to swim and tan during the day on Saturday. And then we went to the 12 Vulture street semester break party. An interesting evening indeed. We went to Southbank again Sunday morning, and in the evening we took a trip to the Fox. On Monday we headed to Surfers Paradise to visit Andrea and one of her friends. And in the evening we decided to not party, and went out to a chocolate restaurant in stead. It was so nice to be with Tina again!
Ida and I went to Canberra for a few days as well to visit Rowan and some other friends of Ida’s from high school. I hope you all know that Canberra is the capitol city of Australia. We spent our days sightseeing and visiting museums. In the evenings we met up with people from Ida’s high school. They were all very nice.
For me, the highlight of the trip was probably the Justin Bieber concert. Oh dear GOD. He was incredible. He is 17, I am 23. Age is just a number, just sayin’. No but really, he was so good live. I used to be a “I only like JB because it’s funny” fan, but I really do like him now. He has a lot of talent. We even made tshirts to impress the little boy:
2) Every day life:
I have to keep reminding myself that I am not on a holiday down here. I am actually here to study. It’s easy to forget with all the fun things happening all the time. But the week after the Easter holidays was soooo busy. I have forgotten how many assignments I had to hand in during that time. But it was many, and they were all huge, important and time consuming. I made it though. And today I’ve had four weeks with summer holidays. Very nice! No one else has finished school yet though. Today is the last day of classes for everyone else, but they also have exams. So the days when everyone else has to go to school I just relax in the sun and read books in the garden. Not too bad! We’ve also been going to quite a few cafe’s lately, to a Greek festival ++
Klarte plutselig ikke å skrive på engelsk. Så dette er da oversikten over alle assignmentsene mine som jeg hadde dette semesteret. Herlig å ha krysset ut absolutt alt!!!
Tykjen & jesus at the Greek festival!
With some of my house mates at a cafe in the Valley!
3. Party party party:
There are several parties here every weekend. I can’t remember all of them right now. But I’ve been dressed up as a construction worker at some point, there was another massive party in 12 V, another International party was held where the house was packed once more ++ I’ve lost track. But whatever party we go to, we always end up at DUB afterwards! I love that place, and will miss it a lot!
At the international house party!
Costume party!
Shots at dubdubdubdubdub!!!
4. Surf’s up!
I’ve headed to the beach several times lately, mostly to Coollangatta. I love surfing! I remember my goal was to be able to stand up properly by the end of this year. I finally have a decent technique to stand up! It’s much fun to finally feel that I master this thing. I want to go surfing at least one more time before I go home. Then I’m going to try a short board! I am not good enough for it yet, but I don’t care. I just want to try! Wish me luck!
5. May 17th Celebration:
I love celebrating our national day abroad! I become so patriotic. Perhaps too patriotic. Anyways, we had a lovely breakfast with all the Norwegians in the house in the Morning. We popped some passion pop and enjoyed quality Norwegian cuisine! Then we walked in the parade, sang, spent some time in the Beer Garden, danced folk dance, headed home for some more drinks and ice cream, went to a massive dinner arranged by ANSA with 150 happy Norwegians and then in the end ended up at dub (of course)! Such a great day! And I’ve heard rumors that Silje (a girl I live with) and I were on TV!!!!!!! Awesome!!!!
6. x-Factor
Lisa got us free x-factor tickets! It was so much fun! We didn’t expect the royal treatment we experienced- we got VIP seats just behind the judges on the second row. Not bad! I saw the cameras were filming us all the time. So we’re definitely coming on TV! Hurraaayyyy! PS. The judges were Ronan Keating, Mel B and some unknown Aussie girl! Good times!
7. Ida’s getting married:
The latest news is that Ida is getting married! We had her bachelorette party last weekend. We went out for dinner first, then we headed to a strip club! Awesome!
Ida and her maids of honour!
One of the sexy strippers!
I am so fed up with blogging now. It takes forever to upload the bloody pictures, and all I want to do right now is to eat and drink some nice gooooooooon! So I’m going to stop here. I think I’ve covered the most important things anyway. I will hopefully blog some more before I go home. But no promises though.
Until next time- HOOOOOO ROOOOOO!!!!
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I turned 23 19 last Wednesday. I celebrated the event in style (?) all through the week.. After all you only turn 19 once, right?
This is probably the first birthday in years, when I’ve had the whole day off to do whatever I wanted to. It was sunny as well. So I went to lovely Southbank, which recently opened for business. Linn came with me. And we spent the whole day just chilling in the sun and checking out sexy men in speedos.
Ida had a reserved a table for us at the Pancake Manor in the city in the evening. My new all time favorite restaurant in Brisbane for sure. It tasted almost as good as my beloved pancakes from IHOP. We were about 20 something people. It was so nice that all of them wanted to come and celebrate with me 🙂
After enjoying a nice meal we went to my favorite pub in Brisbane: DUBDUBDUB! You should all know what that means by now. If not you can scroll down to any of my posts under. I got free birthday drinks, birthday shots, some nice “presents” (beer glasses, jugs etc.) +++ The night was awesome. I ended up going home way too late once more. It all ended with a French young boy swimming naked in the fountain by the Cultural Center. After that I was carried home. Just sayin’…
I was supposed to go surfing with Lisa and Kaszia the next day. But I was completely passed out. I ended up chilling in the sun in the backyard. To be honest, I’m not quite sure what I did in the evening. All this alcohol has an enormous impact on my ability to remember details…
Friday was spent at Southbank with Ashlee, Ellen, and some other girls/guys. I’m so happy that it’s still sunny and warm here in lovely Brisvegas. Before heading home to the Princhester, Kia and I went shopping for punch ingredients. She, Andy Candy and I celebrated our birthday later that evening. The theme was mustache and wigs. It was cool to see that so many people actually bothered to dress up. I wore a mustache, which I’ve always had a secret dream about doing.. Good times! I have a feeling that Kia and I drank most of the punch on our own during a game of goon pong. I have some lovely videos of a naked, hairy, British boy.. And that was quite early in the evening. After he broke a chair, we sent him home. And I think (????) we went to DUBDUBDUB right after this incident? I am, however, not 100% sure… How did we get to dub? I don’t know… What happened at dub? I’ve seen some pretty disturbing pictures. So I choose not to think too much about it. When did i get home, and how? I believe Ida and walked home. And picked up some lovely souvenirs on the way. Of course!
Some of my lovely house mates and I.
Goon pong!
The naked boy!
Cecilie is playing the field at dub.
I woke up late late late on Saturday. All I had time to do was shower and eat before a big group of us girls went to see the most amazing movie ever: JUSTIN BIEBER- NEVER SAY NEVER! I am, if possible, even more in love with the most handsome lammekjøtt in the world. I think the beer goggles came on half way through the movie. I had brought some lovely goon, which Cecilie, Kaszia and I enjoyed while enjoying some quality eye candy & music. Not bad! After the movie the three of us and Lajla went to Paula’s birthday party. The first thing we got when we walked through the door was a vodka shot. Before we left the party for dub we had JB = Justin Bieber written in a heart on our chest, I had stearic on my face and a few more vodka shots had been enjoyed… I don’t remember much from dub, surprised? All I know is that I didn’t spend a dollar all night, and we drank more alcohol than our bodies could handle. Before heading home, Lajla and I stopped by the Casino. We got $50 from some random old men. We gambled. And we lost it all. On our way home we picked up some more lovely souvenirs…
OK, I’ve apparently written a novel again. I’ll stop now. I guess what I wanted to say is: you only turn 23 once, and I definitely got to celebrate the big day more than enough.
Many hugs to you!
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Hello hello hellooooo.
This weekend was awesome. ANSA had its yearly scavenger hunt (=rebusløp in Norwegian). Cecilie F, Cecilie P, Ida, Kia, Linn, me (and Anna) were TEAM CHARTER FEBER! Good times! What we pretty much did was to go from one funny task to another, drink goon/beer/what ever you felt like, crash weddings etc. It all ended at the Z Bar / Down Under Bar for an after party. Our team came second all together, we won the category for best pictures and Ida won the best costume award! Not bad! Our prize for the best pictures were $100 worth of drinks (I spent my part of the prize right away!!) and Ida won Sky diving. I drunkenly promised to joined her. But I took that promise back when I sobered up. She can jump out of that plane alone, but I’m happy to watch her though!
Team Charter Feber (Anna is with us here, but she was so hungover, so she left right after this picture was taken!)
Ida looked so pretty after having finished the first task.
We found some handsome construction workers and posed with them outside the Gabba.
The 2 liter goon bottle is nearly empty. And Cecilie and I found a nice stroller. We should have kept it!
We also found a nice trolley. We should have kept this one as well.
I can’t remember how many weddings we decided to join. But I think it was 4 or 5! Cecilie fell asleep in the middle of a wedding reception as well. So maybe that makes it 6 weddings then?!
Our amazing macarena performance!
My Danish housemate Kia and Moi at the after party (before the free drinks)!
Coupon for freeee drinks!
Linn, Cecilie & I cashed out our coupons right away!
Then we had to dance a bit on the podium at DUB (Down Under Bar- get used to “forkortelsen” ppl)!
After a while I found Ida passed out on the floor. I sent her home… 😉
I met one of my other Danish house mates, Sara, and decided that she needed to look as pretty as me. So she got a nice tan line as well! (Don’t ask me where that water came from?!?!)
All of a sudden everyone was gone, only Lajla from Croatia and I were left. We went a DUB for a few hours hunting Lammkjött before I went home and spoke with Gina on skype.. For how long? I don’t know. She made a looovely video of our convo, so that’s cool.
It was such a fun night! I would love to do it again.
On Sunday I spent most of my day sleeping the alcohol off. In the evening I had dinner with Ashlee and Cecilie before we went to the cinema and watched the new Adam Sandler movie: Just go with it. So much fun!
I’ve been a good student for once these two days. I studied by the pool yesterday. And I actually made it to my 8 AM tutorial this morning. Not bad!!!! How ever, I was 10 minutes late. That didn’t go down well with my teacher. You see- they treat us like primary school kids here. They mark the bloody roll every morning, and in this particular class attendance equals 10% of my final grade. So if my name doesn’t get marked off the roll, I am one step closer to failing. Which would be nice to avoid. I understand that my teacher doesn’t want to mark the people who arrive 5 minutes before the class ends. But I was 10 minutes late. Come on!!!!???? He marked me off the roll in the end, but I had to provide him with a good reason. I overslept, so I told him that. I think he liked my honesty. But still. COME ON- I AM NOT SEVEN YEARS OLD! Ahhhh the Australian school system is so backwards sometimes!
Other than that I have a loooot of assignments due in the coming weeks. Oh joy. Or not. But looking on the bright side- 3 weeks until our easter break! And after that I only have 1 week of school left (and 6 assignments to hand in during that week!!) hahaha oh lordie!
HOO ROO FOR NOW!
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To start with: I’M STILL ALIVE!
It has been way too long since I updated anything on this blog. I’ve been busy I guess. And a bit lazy as well. But here we go, let’s jump three months back; to December, Nhu & KM!
We spent a lovely week in Sydney. Sightseeing, eating, partying + beach time was on the itinerary. We also celebrated New Years Eve there, which was incredible. We went to the Botanic Gardens at 10 am, and didn’t leave until after the world famous fireworks over the Opera House & Harbor Bridge had finished. It was hot, and crowded. An experience I always will remember and love!
After that we went to Brisbane. One of our first stops were Stradbroke Island. We went camping with the Pope & Chris. The plan was to stay for two nights. But our tent got completely flooded the first night, so we decided to leave early. We spent an extra day in Brissie in stead. Visiting museums, and relaxing. We also went to Australia Zoo, which was awesome!
Our last days together were spent in Byron Bay. The weather cleared up and we got to spend some time on the beach. We took a surfing lesson as well.
Then the infamous flood hit Brisbane. I tried to get back to save my most important things. But all roads were closed. I had no chance of getting there. As the water levels in Brisbane kept rising, my house mates got evacuated as well! The boys broke into my room and saved my lap top and passport. But I couldn’t meet them to pick my things up. I had two choices: stay at a hostel for how ever long it will take for the water levels to go back to normal and for the landlord to fix the damages in the house, or go home to Norway. My mom supported me financially with the last option. So I said good bye to Australia, and hello to good old Norway for five weeks. It was good to see everyone at home. But I am very happy to be back here now.
After my return to Australia in the middle of February a lot has happened.
1) We (Ida and I) have moved into a new house. We were evicted from 12 Vulture street along with the rest of our old roomies. Our old landlord wanted us to move in again, but Ida and I decided that that would not happen. The Princhester, our new place, is so much nicer! We are “only” 16 people here, 8 in each floor. We are 10 Norwegians (!!!!), 4 Danes and 2 guys from Iran. Nice mixture. I feel so comfortable here. I wouldn’t want to move back to Vulture street. The only thing I miss about the old place is all the big parties. We are allowed to have parties here as well, but only the people who live here are allowed to attend. Then it’s not really a party, is it? Haha. Oh well, I can live with that!
2) Flash floods!!! We thought we had gotten away from a water damaged house and into a safe place. On our third night at the Princhester it started raining. A lot! All of a sudden water started pouring in through the front door. Within minutes the whole lower lever of the house was flooded. The water only rose about 15-20 cm. But it got into my room, and into my shelves + closet etc. Not so good times! We cleaned it all up, and figured we would never experience such a thing again. But oh no… A week later it was raining a lot again. While I was out partying with some of the girls in the house, Ida (who stayed in) sent me a message telling me that we had another flas flood. It wasn’t as bad this time. Only Iben’s, Sara’s and MY rooms were flooded. Oh joy. I just love cleaning the mud, leaves and dirt after a flood. Hopefully it won’t happen again..
3) O-Week. Lots of parties and opportunities to get to know new people. The highlight of this week was definitely the Island Dreaming Orientation Camp. We were 100 exchange students staying at a resort on Stradbroke Island. I shared an apartment with Nicky (Scotland), Chelsea aka Texas (USA), Ashlee (USA) and Elisabeth (Norway). Nice group of girls. We all had so much fun! We went hiking, surfing, extreme kayaking, swimming, bbqing, partying +++++. I got to know so many people! Best weekend ever! (I also got stung by three (!!!) jellyfish. It really hurt in the beginning, but it passed quite fast. I was hoping it would leave a scar. But it sadly didn’t.)
Texas, Me, Ash & Nicky at Point Look out 🙂
4) Quicksilver pro Surf Competition. Yet again a big group of exchange students set out on a new adventure together. We all went to Coolangatta to see some of the world’s best surfers in action. Loved it!
5) Parties. We have been partying so much. I keep mixing them up. We had a pub crawl. Which was awesome! Linda was here for that, which made it even more awesome! We went to lots of bars/clubs in Brisbane, and met many people here as well! Texas invited us all to a St.Patricks day party. And a few weeks ago we went to an International House party. They had invited more than 200 people, and the house was PACKED! Coolest thing ever. That’s the kind of parties I love! We’ve had a few pre-drink-parties here at the Princhester. And gone out way too much. More than my liver and my poor wallet can handle to say the least!
Linda, me & Stine at the Pub Crawl.
Marte & me at the st. Patricks day party.
A random guy joined our pre party last saturday!
6) Byron Bay. A big group of exchange students + Linda and her friends went together. We all stayed at the same hostel and hung out together. Good times! We went to the beach during the day, partied in the evening. And Iben (Danish flat mate), Ida & I went surfing for a few hours before we went back home to Brisbane.
7) Dinner parties + bbqs. We’ve had quite a few bbqs here at the Princhester. Always nice and cozy! Cecilie invited Ida, Janicke and I to dinner at her place as well. Finally a different meal. Ida and I only know how to make a few dishes. We’re going to her place again tomorrow for more nice cooking!
8) Wet ‘n’ Wild. A group of Norwegians and Danes went to my favorite place on the Gold Coast: Wet ‘n’ wild. A massive water park. We ran around the whole day, and acted like kids in all the different slides! It was so much fun. Sadly I don’t have any pictures of the event though,
9) Fraser Island. Ida, Cecilie, Henriette (Noreg), Ingrid (Noreg), Lisa (Canada), Lisa (France) and I spent two days on this beautiful Island. We got to see so much. Lake Wabby was our first stop. Then we got to see the ship wreck. And the last thing before we went to our camp ground was Eli Creek. We all shared a tent in Dilli Village. Our first stop the next morning was a very unhealthy breakfast table, before we went to Lake MacKenzie & Central Station. Everything was amazing, and so incredibly beautiful. My favorite was definitely Lake MacKenzie though. The water was so clear. And so warm. Ida wrote a looooong post about our trip, you should read it HERE!
10) School has of course happened as well. And every day normal things. There is never really a boring day here. You always have someone to hang out with and meet. My schedule this semester is almost ridiculous. I have school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Tuesdays from 8 am until 9 pm. That is definitely brutal! On Thursdays I only have school from 8 am until 10 am. So I know I shouldn’t complain. But I didn’t really come here to study. I want to have fun. And spending hours in front of the computer screen, typing up looooong essays is not my idea of having a good time!
I had a group presentation last week. Our class had to give us feedback. And one of the guys had written “Emelia” (guessing that is moi) under the section which said “what did you like about our presentation?” He had left everything else blank. I feel so special 😛
Anyways, I should return to the books now. I will try to update this blog a bit more in the future. TRY! It is easier said than done, that’s for sure.
Much Love,
Emilia/ Milla/ Millie / Jesus!
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I’m going to Sydney tonight! Nhu & Kirsten Marie are arriving early tomorrow morning. It will be so much fun to see them again! It will probably be a while until I update this blog again (two weeks or so). So HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope you’ll have a wonderful celebration. My only wish for NYE is to watch the fireworks over the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge. Exciiiiting!
Bye for now,
Milla!
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The three weeks I got to spend with my mamma are over. It was very sad to see her leave yesterday. But life must go on, isn’t that what they say? Kirsten and Nhu are coming on Wednesday morning. I managed to book my flight on the wrong day, so I get to Sydney on Tuesday. Haha. Well done! Anyhow, I am looking forward to the two weeks we will have together. All I know about our plans so far is that we’re going to Sydney for New Years Eve. After that? No idea. We’ll figure it out when we meet in Sydney!
I wanted to tell you about the three weeks with my mum. We had a lovely time together. Relaxing, going to the beach, reading lots of books, eating good food ++.. I loved being with mamma again, and it made me miss home a bit. If you don’t count the weeks after my grandmother’s death I haven’t been home sick at all, which is kind of strange. But now I am. But it will pass, as I get used to the idea of being on my own again!
1) We spent our first week in Byron Bay. My favorite town in Australia! I believe my mum liked it as well.
Mamma! ❤
We spent our days relaxing at the beautiful beaches!
2) Surfers Paradise! We stayed at the Crown Hotel. During the days we went to the beach. And in the evenings we went shopping!
Mamma in the big waves!
We spent a day at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary..
… we got to see koalas,
kangaroos and…
Aboriginal dancing! Fun!
3) A few days in Brisbane. Where we spent most of our time at South Bank and shopping at Queen Street Mall.
My mum got fascinated by the ambulances at South Bank.
4) A week on Hamilton Island. This was definitely a very relaxing week. We woke up, enjoyed a free and marvelous breakfast buffet, then we spent the rest of the day at the beach before we had dinner in the evening. Loved it! We spent Christmas Eve on Hamilton as well. It was a very different, but cozy Christmas. I’m glad my mum was there with me to say the least!
The view from out Hotel Room.
Somehow Rudolph didn’t fit into this summer/Christmas picture at all. At least not in my mind!
Mamma at the beach!
I have a lot to do today. So I’ll stop writing now. My mum is still traveling towards Norway, hope all her flights are on time. Wouldn’t be fun to be caught in the snow chaos!
Miss you, Mamma!
-Milla
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What a strange feeling. Christmas in Australia. Haha, this feels as far away from Christmas as it possibly can?!? We have a plastic Santa hanging from a palm tree, some rudolphs covered in flashing lights placed in between some exotic plants and a man in a Santa costume walking around, sweating on the beach. Haha. I can’t believe anyone can get in the Cristmas spirit down here? Oh, well. Thank God my mom is here. Otherwise I think I’d get depressed.
So what are we doing today? (It is early morning on December 24th here.) Take a look at this:
This is the view from our hotel here on Hamilton Island.
Otherwise I can announce that this must be the wettest Summer Australia has ever seen. There have been floods all over the country. We have been very lucky though, and have escaped the heavy storms and bad weather where ever we have been.
I am planning to put on this beautiful movie when it is 8 pm here, and 11 am in Norway. Then I’ll be watching it at the same time as all of you. Askepott ❤ ❤ :
Merry Christmas to all of you, wherever you might be!
Warm hugs from Milla!
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G’day people!
My dad and Anne-Lie have left me. Instead I’m in Byron Bay with my sweet mother. She arrived early this morning. She’s fast asleep in the room next to me- snoring zZzZzz nice! It was wonderful to see her again. I’m sure we’ll have three lovely weeks together!
Anyways, before dad, Anne-Lie and I separated on Saturday we had a few more adventures together. We spent many relaxing days on the beach in Kalbarri. I have decided to go on a detox. No alcohol for me until Nhu and KM are coming! I’ve had too much to drink this semester, and I know the next semester will be just as bad. So a little break feels just right. I’m doing my best to stay away from chips and sweets as well. Good Girl.
Well, let’s get back on track. Our adventures in Western Australia: Kalbarri, and then we also went for a drive further north to Shark’s Bay which is a World Heritage Area. We spent two days there. Really nice! What we did was:
1) The Stromatolites. The earliest signs of life on earth. They looked like ordinary rocks, but are actually the start of all living life on earth. Very interesting indeed.
2) Shell Beach. There was no sand on this beach, only tons and tons of little shells. So beautiful.
3) Monkey Mia. Seven dolphins came to the beach every morning to get fed. They were really precious! One of the dolphins had just given birth to a baby as well. I believe the little one was two weeks old.
4) Little Lagoon. A beautiful salt water lagoon.
5) Eagle Bluff. We could see sharks and other marine animals swimming in the shallow waters. We also had a great view over Eagle Island, where tons of eagles nested.
6) DUM DUM DUM DUUUUUUM – – – – SHARK!!!!!!!! While we were in Monkey Mia we saw so many marine animals; stingrays, sea turtles +++ It was while swimming after a sea turtle we encountered a beautiful 2 m long shark. We all survived. All though I believe the shark would’ve enjoyed a bite of my dad’s legs.
Well, my mom and I are spending a week in Byron Bay now. The weather forecast doesn’t look promising. But we’ll make the best out of it. Then we’re staying in Surfers Paradise and Brisbane for a week. And our last week together will be spent on Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef. Wonderful!!
Hope you’re all enjoying the snow chaos back home! No snow here, but plenty of rain. Large parts of New South Wales (the state where Sydney is) is flooded. Horrible! Bring me the summer sun we had in WA, please!
Until next time, Hoo Roo Mates!
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I am the Turtle 