St. Kilda/ Mt. Dandenong

Sunday I woke up determined to find a beach and thats just what I did! After about an hour tram ride from my campus Julie and I arrived at St. Kilda beach. It was such a cute beach town and I am absolutely in love with it. There are lots of beach front restaurants and shops that we window shopped through. The beach and pier are beautiful as well.  It will definitely be our go to stop when the weather gets nicer, which luckily should be right around the corner! After freezing my buns off in high 40s to 60 degree weather I am ready to experience the Australian summer heat. This week has been in the low to mid 70's and it feels oh so magical. Monday I got to go on my first hiking adventure to Mt. Dandenong which is about 1 hour from uni. It was amazing to see the city of Melbourne from such a high vantage point but boy did it look a lot smaller from on top of a mountain. We also did a trail called the 1000 steps and let my sore little calf muscles assure you I did every dang step! Technically 2000 steps because we did have to go back down the mountain but that was a much more enjoyable journey for my chicken legs. Overall it was a lot of fun and I have a fun weekend coming after a long boring week of class! Tonight a popular DJ will be at our go to bar, and tomorrow is a tropical booze cruise on the Yarra River (runs through the city) with a group of friends!

Although I did have a great week and will have a great weekend I do ask if you read this to say a prayer for my friend Brendan who was involved in a bad accident last Saturday night and is now paralyzed for the rest of his life and needs all the prayers he can get. 

Miss you all!
xox Kenz 

Crawfish

Last night my friend Julie and I went to a Swedish crawfish boil! There is a fairly large group of Swedish students studying here for the semester and because they were going to miss the actual crawfish boil going on in their home country yesterday (its like a holiday for them) they decided to bring it to Melbourne. They sure went all out too! We had bibs with crawfish on it, party hats, and more food then you could think of. As you all know I am very picky about seafood but you will be glad to know I tried them and even know how to peal them the right way. I will admit they weren't horrible but they had no spice at all so I think I will enjoy the spicy cajun ones back home much more. To end the night it is tradition that they sing Swedish songs and then take shots after the song. It was hilarious hearing the American's try to sing along (and we all know I have the voice of the angel). My advice for you all is not to try Swedish liquor because they may have been the worst tasting shots that I've ever tasted in my whole life.

Missing You Murphy

May be in Australia but today my heart is in Illinois with all my family and friends. Miss you Murph

Great Ocean Road Surf Trip

Sorry for not blogging lately but the only thing I've been doing is going to class (boring), working out (and dealing with some horrible left outside knee pain grrr), and reading for class (even more boring). This past weekend was by far the best weekend I have had in Australia though! On Friday night I left campus with the La Trobe Surf Club. They take weekend trips often and invite any students on campus to join. I went with two of my Norweigan friends and one of my German friends. Friday night we left campus. The only rules on the trip were drink 6x as much as you do on New Years Eve and don't drown. hahahah so our first stop was a liquor store, and the second stop was Maccas (McDonalds). My kinda trip already. Then we made it to where we were staying, which was a huge log cabin like place with two rooms full of bunk beds, a huge kitchen, and a beautiful back porch that you could sit on and hear the waves crashing....but originally when we got there at night (so I had no idea we were near the ocean) one of my surf teachers told me that it was the sound of raccoons pissing and sadly I believed him. LOL.  We got to meet everyone and played some drinking games then were off to bed.  The weather was horrible all day Friday (raining, windy and about 45 degrees) so I really expected to freeze my tail off Saturday but much to my surprise it was beautiful Saturday morning when we woke up. We had breaky then were off to our first surf lesson.
Things I learned in the first 5 minutes of surfing
- The board is heavy and extremely awkward to carry if you have short arms like me
- You are going to feel like you are drowning more than once
-You drink half the salt water in the world every time you wipe out
- The leash that connects to your ankle is a pain in the ass and always seems to be twisted
But it still was soooo fun and I truly enjoyed it! I was able to stand up on Saturday but only for about 5 seconds, but Sunday I rode my first wave all the way in and was able to do it a few times so that was incredibly satisfying! It is quite the workout as well which my athletic self was happy for a challenge. Saturday afternoon we went to the city of Torquay which is home to Bells beach. For all you non surfers this is one of the most famous surfing beaches in the world and is home to the Rip Curl competition which is one of the most popular surfing competitions in the world. At 5 at night there were still at least 100 people surfing! It was beautiful, but then again everything on the Great Ocean Road is amazing and honestly the prettiest place I have ever been. Sunday morning we surfed again and then it was time to drive to the 12 Apostles! Something I had been looking forward to since before coming here and let me tell you the view did not disappoint. We were also again blessed with sunny non windy 68-70 degree weather which is extremely rare in August here (thanks Murph). First we went on Wilson's steps where you can actually get on the beach and see one of the 12 apostles. The waves crash so hard there that they foam and yes I made a foam beard like a champ and enjoyed running through it. We then went on to the actual park of the 12 apostles and lucky enough for us it was right at sunset so it was truly breath taking. The pictures I took don't even capture what I saw but below are some of my favorites. We then went on to eat at an Italian cafe and got back to campus late Sunday night. I am very glad I went and can't wait to rent a board sometime soon to get even better at surfing since I now know the right technique!

Bells Beach

First time Surfing!

Wilsons Steps

12 Apostles 

12 apostles after sun down

Me!

A couple more of the 12...look at that sky and water ah!