Americans trying Australian snacks....uh oh

This was a video I found on Buzzfeed of Americans tasting Australian foods. I've tried Milo, Vegemite, and Smith's (not chicken flavored though). I'll write my reviews below...

http://www.buzzfeed.com/americans-taste-test-australian-snack-foods

Milo: Kind of the Australian version of Ovaltine. We have a container the size of a small child in each hall, and the girls drink it every night. Charlotte and I were taught  how to make it with the help of our boarding buddies (who are super cool year 12 girls). The powder floats to the top after mixing with milk and you eat the puffed up powder with a spoon. The puffed stuff tastes like aerated, milky malt balls. It's also crunchy like them too! Milo is good in my books (I have no idea what the Buzzfeeders were talking about....crazy). I will bring back a canister and bring it to the dining hall one lunch for sampling!

Smiths: They're potato chips. That are ruffled and really thick, but still light. I had plain, pepper, and tomato. Both plain and pepper were really good....tomato, not so much. I will keep an eye out for chicken now!

Vegemite: See previous post on the subject. Thank goodness I didn't eat it with a spoon.

FIXED

The timezone is now correctly set to Brisbane time, so you will see the time we actually post an article. Please also know that both Charlotte and I are writing posts, and the author can be found at the bottom of each article. Thanks! How are your weeks going? Miss us yet?

School

Hi everyone! Yesterday, Charlotte and I moved into the boarding house here at St. Margaret's AGS. We're staying in the Year 11 dorms, and both have one roommate. My roommate is named Phoebe and she's very nice. The rooms are very different than the ones at Emma, though! They're more like dorm cubicles. All the rooms on the year 11 floor are two girls to a room, with one desk, bed, floating cabinet, and dresser apiece. There is also a small privacy wall in the area between the desks, which is nice (it makes it feel more like your personal space). 

Fig. A) The walls between rooms don't go up all the way, leaving the boarding house nice and cool with all the fans, but also quite loud!

Fig. B) Our school-issues school bags. They are large duffels...quite awkward to carry around.

Fig. C) The lovely gifts from all of you! Even thought you can't see it, all the letters and pictures are on the corkboard in the "privacy screen" on the right of my desk. <3

Fig. D) Our school shoes. They are giant leather Clark loafers. I'm pretty sure they're men's style. 

I have blisters on my feet from the shoes, but I've had a good first day of classes shadowing Olivia. I am taking Year 11 English, Maths A, Geography (WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO), and Drama (hopefully WOOOHOOOOO). I will post more tomorrow! Have a great day!

Vegemite

According to Wikipedia, Vegemite is "a dark brown Australian food paste made from leftover brewers' yeast extract with various vegetable and spice additives". It's one of Australia's most iconic and popular food items. You put it on toast, crackers, really anything you want. It's dark brown and extremely salty, and  reminds me of the bouillon in a jar that we use at home. I made the mistake of spreading it on my toast like peanut butter, and I REGRETTED THAT. It was so salty, I had to spit it out. In my second attempt (which consisted of dotting it on and spreading in a thin layer), I was surprised. I wasn't a huge fan of the flavor, but it wasn't as terrible as some of my friends have said. So all in all, VEGEMITE: not my favorite, not the worst! Here's to trying truly Australian things!

How it should be done (unless you want a salt bomb)

The Past Two Days

Hello everyone! Sorry there wasn't an update in the past few days. I can't speak for Charlotte, but I've been spending equal parts of my time out of the house, sleeping/packing, and talking to people in New York! Olivia and I went to a birthday party yesterday for her friend Elissa's younger sister. It was Hawaiian themed, and the kids played games like pin-the-tail-on-the-toucan and musical towels. It was very cute. Today, we went to Max Brenner for brunch. Max Brenner, for those of you who don't know, is a restaurant where everything is chocolate. I got a dark chocolate and mocha frappe and a chocolate waffle (SO GOOD). Afterwards, we went to Olivia's friends' houses and swam. I got to snuggle with Emily's pug Stella, who was ADORABLE! 

She's very photogenic.

Olivia, Emily, and I came back to Olivia's and had an amazing spicy lasagna for dinner, made by Mrs. Toohey. We watched the Australia Day fireworks over Brisbane and the last minutes of the men's final in the Australian Open. I'm currently watching an episode of MasterChef and packing my suitcases up again! We move into the Boarding House tomorrow. I'm very nervous, but also excited! I'm post tomorrow (hopefully)!

Sydney Boat Adventure!

Hi everyone. Sorry that I've been out of contact for a few days! I was sailing around Sydney with Olivia, her father, her friend Elissa, and her sister Ella.

We sailed out of Newport and spent the day in a cove off of a river (but it was very salty). I'm not sure exactly where we were, but it was so pretty!

Mr. Toohey and Ella swam to a little beach (Elissa, Olivia, and I  rode in the dinghy) and climbed on the rocks. We went back to the boat and relaxed for a while, and then Richard (our skipper) made us dinner. We relaxed some more, and then I went to bed. 

The next day, we planned on going to Sydney, but the waves were too big outside of the river we were on, so we just sailed to another cove-like area. We spent the day there. There were HUGE jellyfish in the water (as big as my head), so I was really freaked out.

Olivia and Elissa told me that they can't sting but I didn't believe them. We spent the day napping, reading, attempting to fish, and watching How I Met Your Mother on the TV. We had steak and sausage for dinner.

On Thursday, we were up and about very early because we thought we were going to go to Sydney. Alas, the waves and wind were, again, too violent, so we decided to lower the small motorboat into the water and go tubing. It was SUPER difficult to hold on, and Elissa and I both got thrown off several times. Olivia managed to hold on every time! I was very freaked out because I didn't want to get anywhere near one of the jellyfish, and after a few rounds, I got back in the boat. We drove around the cove a bit, and returned to the big boat. Ella and I found a Say Yes to the Dress marathon, and since there was nothing else to do, we opened up all the windows and plopped down on the couch. We had curry for dinner, and since we needed to go to Sydney to catch our flight the next day anyways, we decided to get up early and start back to Newport so we could explore the city.

We left the cove around 7:45 on Friday morning and arrived at Newport around 9:30am. We said goodbye to Richard and arrived in Sydney around 10:45. We stored our bags in a storage unit, and went up the Sydney Tower to the observation deck. The view was amazing!

We could see the Opera House, the parks, even the airport! We took quite a few pictures, and I got a souvenir penny (yay!). After the tower, we set out for Circular Quay and the Opera House. The harbor was packed with cruise ships and water taxis, but we had a great view of the Opera House, and we took a TON of pictures.

We stopped for a drink at the Opera Bar (don't worry, just seltzer!), and went up to the Rocks, the oldest part of Sydney, built on the cliffs looking over the harbor. We had lunch at a restaurant called "waterFront" and relaxed for about an hour after we finished lunch, killing time in the shade. We headed back to the storage place, picked up our stuff, and went to the airport. We landed in Brisbane at 6:45pm on Friday, and I'm now sitting in my room at the Toohey's, unwinding, but feeling a bit homesick. The trip was amazing, but felt like a vacation, so now I feel like I should be on a flight home...ah well! Something else to conquer!

I had a great few days, and look forward to going to St. Margaret's on Monday!

Huge Australian Achievement!

Today I reached a major milestone in my Australian experience. I ate kangaroo! Not only did it look impressive when served but it was also really good.

First Day at the Beach!

I just had my first beach experience in Australia! Today I traveled with Sarah's family to Broad Beach, Gold Coast, where we will spend the next couple of days. As soon as we arrived we dumped our stuff at their ocean-side house and ran down to the beach. We had a great time running and diving through the waves. The weather was really warm and sunny but a brewing cyclone in the north ment the waves were huge but this only added to my excitement. Here is a picture of Broad Beach.

 

IMPORTANT

Hello again....sorry! Just something to note. The time it says on the bottom of each post, the one saying when we published it, is on the wrong time. I'm not sure which time zone it thinks we're in, but I will fix it shortly! Thanks

Off to Sydney!

Hi everyone! I'm over my jet lag, and am off to the airport with Olivia, her friend Alyssa, her sister Ella, and her father. We're going to spend the next few days sailing around Sydney Harbor and up the river! It's going to be such a great way to see the city! Now I've just got to finish packing...!

In Brisbane

We landed at 6:50 Brisbane time this morning! Surprisingly, I'm not very jet-lagged. Olivia, Sarah, Charlotte, and I are headed into Brisbane to explore the city, set up phones, and have lunch! This should be a fantastic first day! The surroundings are gorgeous!

Today's Weather
Currently 84 degrees Fahrenheit
Very humid
Sunny

Leaving LAX

We have about one hour until we depart from LAX...our original itinerary snafu was dealt with and we are all set to fly! We did have FANTASTIC hamburgers at "Umami Burger" in terminal three. I had the "Truffle Burger", which had truffle cheddar cheese and truffle glaze on it....oh my GOSH it was SO good! Totally made all the running around worth it! The next time I update, it will be from Brisbane!

At the Gate

Hi it's Charlotte and right now Tori and I are sitting at the gate in JFK, craving French fries and and eagerly awaiting our flight to LAX.

We fly out tomorrow! So excited to finally get to live on the other side of the world for three months!

Six days to Australia! I'm super excited!

8 days! 
More facts:
The average maximum temperature in January and February is 28 degrees
There are 62 sports stadiums in Brisbane
Queensland has more than 1000 native vertabrae, many unique to the region

Only 9 days until Charlotte and I leave for Brisbane for three months! So excited!

Some quick facts about Brisbane:
It is Australia's third-largest city, with a population of 1.8 million
The oldest building was built in 1828 by the convicts
The most rainfall occurs during the height of summer (  -____- )
It is the third largest capital city (by geographical area) in the world!

We're getting everything packed and ready to go! ALMOST THERE!

We have 15 days left before we take off for Brisbane! I'm very excited!