projects

I have been ticking spots off on my literally drowning to-do list during the past couple of weeks. I have gotten my assignments in almost every subject which have been keeping me busy over on top of  socialising. And even after many days full of work I still cannot see the midway of this particular to-do list. It also occurs that I'm starting the final stretch of my exchange. I am borderline happy and borderline sad {as the song goes} about leaving Australia.

I am so so excited what's about to happen during these last months. I am filming a music video cover for film, television and new media class. We are almost done with filming which means the next week I'm going to spend editing, editing and editing. I was too eager to see how my vision would come alive that I already edited a little bit of the beginning which you can see in the end of this blog post.

In visual art studies we are currently working on fashion designing. We are supposed to come up with four different designs and then produce one of them. If you'd like to see my designs you can head to my Instagram feed to have a look and possibly follow the process.

Another thing which I am super-duper excited about is this little project of me and my host mum's. It is obviously involving photography but I think that is all I want to give away at this point. Stick around to find out what we're up to! ;)

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Gold Coast

Last weekend I attended a YFU orientation on the Gold Coast. For me it wasn't that much about the orientation since I'd gone through the same stuff already in New Zealand's orientation. I booked a surfing lesson for Friday afternoon and as soon as we arrived at Surfers Paradise I went and signed up for my lesson. There were two guys, Ro and Danny and one lady, Reneé who all were super nice. Before the lesson started I walked to Starbucks and had a delicious ham and cheese croissant and an ever so amazing vanilla frappuccino.

The surfing lesson was my second one and it went already better than the first one. The waves were bigger and it rained a bit but nothing could have stopped me... until I got stung by a jellyfish. I had just said I don't believe in Friday the 13th and look what happened. Anything could happen. I did continue surfing after I got over a slight panic attack caused not so much by the stinging but actually seeing that light blue fist size bubble floating right next to me. I screamed and I ran and it was overall embarrassing but little did I know the worse was yet to come.

The surfing lesson ended happily and when I walked down to the grocery store a big smile on my face I thought I was invincible. But when I was walking up the escalators I tripped and the sharp edge of the escalator step tore my my skin of my toes. It hurt, I have to say, and killed a little part of my good mood. At the end of the day, no one died so I survived Friday the 13th pretty well.

On Saturday we had an early morning because the day's trip was to O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat. The place was so beautiful and reminded me of those trips we did when I was a kid. We got to feed some birds, walk through the rainforest on suspension bridges.

The rest of the weekend was spent by shopping, shopping and shopping. I finally found bikinis after couple months of looking. It wasn't that successful though my bank account stayed alive so at least someone won.

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Sea World

On last Sunday the temperature climbed up to +30 and over again. We packed the car again and drove down to Gold Coast to visit Sea World. I didn't really know what to expect even though we did google the place the previous day. We got in really quick thanks to the vip passes. The view was beautiful, full of pools and the pools full of water animals.

The penguin encounter was our first stop and probably my favourite of all. I've never seen living penguins before so it was another remarkable moment. They are so beautiful animals, I just couldn't get over it. Me and my host brother could've stayed in the penguin house for the rest of the day but there was so much to see that we left after a while.

There are couple of rides in Sea World but unluckily the park was pretty much packed that day and the lines we're insane. I queued for a good ten minutes before I'd had enough and found my way to the shops {mainly to the air-conditioner}.

During the day we saw pretty much all the characters from Finding Nemo. I found it so funny and adorable how literally anyone knew the real names of the species - Disney has replaced biology. All though I am terribly terrified by fishes I have to say I enjoyed looking at the enormous aquarium, the fishes just floating in the water. It's a whole different world, astonishingly beautiful one.

Before we left we went to see the dolphin show. It was something very amazing, something I've never seen before. I am repeating myself but they we're so beautiful. The tricks, jumps... I don't even have words. You should see it with your own eyes.

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Taylor Swift inspired mini lookbook

Here are two outfits I absolutely adore. Lately a great inspiration of mine has been Taylor Swift. Her style is something to look up to. I have actually been gathering a Taylor Swift Pinterest board which has been really fun. I have also found a little bit of a new direction in the way I dress.

When it comes to handbags {and shoes} I am quite picky. I have been looking for a perfect handbag, which I know to be an urban myth, for several years now. One evening I was going through Instagram and saw these super classy looking sunglasses Louse of Sprinkle of Glitter has had for ages and which I've always loved. I did some research and found the sunnies on River Island's online store. As I clicked to add the sunglasses to my shopping basket I decided to check out their bag selection. I gasped when I saw this gorgeous bowler bag. So after couple weeks of consideration I finally ordered both of them and haven't had any regrets. 

Taylor Swift images are from Pinterest.

After I received River Island's parcel I have been gathering some looks around them. First I want to introduce the tee and shorts combination. I saw Taylor wearing a very cute combination tee and skirt. I was looking for a mono colour one but then I came across a green flower pattern one in Glassons and as soon as I tried it on I know it was what I'd been looking for.

The second look includes the {same} bag and sunglasses as well as this gorgeous white shirt dress. Taylor has one which, I think looks very simple but stylish. I was trying to find one for so long so when I finally saw one hanging on the rack in Sportsgirl I just grabbed it and ran to the fitting rooms. It was a bit pricy but looked so nice that it didn't really leave me any other options. I am very very happy I ended up buying it.

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Australia Zoo

As I have Mondays off my host mum took me and Julia {exchange student from Austria} to Australia Zoo. On the way it was raining a bit and we almost turned around but luckily we kept going because we were about to have an amazing {and informative} day. As we arrived at the zoo it was lightly raining and it wasn't crowded. I don't feel comfortable when there's a lot of people around me so I was beyond happy the park wasn't packed and so I was able to fully enjoy the experience.

First we jumped in to a safari shuttle and headed to 'Africa'. I was so excited to see giraffes and zebras for the first time in my life. I have to tell you I love giraffes and have always wanted to see one so now I feel like one of my dreams has been granted. Another dream of mine was to hold a koala and pat a kangaroo and of course I did. We also got to feed the kangaroos and just casually hang with them on the grass.

A definite highlight of the day was the bird & crocodile show they had in the Crocoseum. Australia is full of more and more beautiful species. As we saw the animals I just added them to my 'I need this as a pet' list. Just imagine to have a koala to sleep with.

Overall it was a beautiful day but also a very exhausting one. Once I got back home I honestly fell to the floor because my feet hurt so much from all that walking. I really recommend everyone to visit this zoo even just for the exercise.

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life without air-con

image source »

It is pretty impressive how much the heat affects us. You just brace yourself when you're phone says it's going to be another day with 35 or so degrees which equals we're all gonna boil to death. Here are some of my personal experiences in this 'death trap' also known as the Australian summer. And we don't have air-conditioner.

I thought it was hot in New Zealand in December. It was 30 degrees and I was constantly complaining how hot it was. Turned out my friends in New Zealand were right when saying I'm going to die in Australia. And so apparently I hadn't seen anything yet. 

I found a tweet saying you know you're Australian when you say 'it's only 29 degrees'. I said that last week while sitting in my room with a sweater on. As I said - it is pretty impressive how much the heat affects us and especially our mental health. If anyone of you has seen danisnotonfire's video about sunstrokes - I feel like that all the time: outside, inside the house, daytime, nighttime. My brain is melting inside my head and I'm just waiting for the moment it's all gonna drip from my ears and I become a lunatic. Wearing a sweater in 29 degrees doesn't count as lunatic, right?

You'd think everyone would be always out and about with a big smile on their face but the reality looks very different. Sure the ones crazy - or used to enough pack their bags and go to the beach every day. For me it's just a nightmare. So in the mornings I wake up, get ready as fast as possible, jump in to the car and go to the mall. The purpose of mall has changed a lot since I came to Australia. The shopping becomes a secondary priority, way behind the fact that there is a air-con in the mall. Nowadays I'll go anywhere if they just have air-con. This includes the already mentioned mall, cinema, friend's house, school... practically anywhere.

I have never ever before appreciated something so simple as air-con. I also think I'll never ever have to complain about the heat when I leave Australia. There seriously cannot be anything 'worse' than this. At least not the summer in Finland. So people with air-con or mild climate, please appreciate what you have because you don't even want to think about another kind of reality without it.

I want to say I love Australia and time to times I also really enjoy the sun and the unbearable heat {that would be when I think of all those people freezing in Finland}. Australia is such an amazing country and there's no place I'd rather be. As a human I live to complaining. 

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