I'm kind of in love with skydiving...

It would be raining the day I decided to go skydiving again. Luckily it was a light drizzle and by the time we made it to Wollongong, it was clear skies. I went with Brittany, Candace, and Jenna... there were also three study abroad students from the States going to a school in Sydney that rode with us there. We got out of the bus and were suited up on our way to the runway within 15 minutes. There was little time to think, but that was ok. I was so ready to go, and I'm not sure the other girls would have made it if they had any more time to think about it. My tandem instructor was Dan. He's done over 2000 jumps and also does BASE jumping which is much more intense than skydiving. I'm not sure why I trust strangers with my life, but I did and it was well worth it.

The result:

Me, Candace, Brittany, and Jenna all suited up

Me, Dan, and the plane I jumped out of. I didn't actually scream, it was more of a "wow this is amazing sort of look. Hard to tell when you're falling at 250 km/hr.

More free falling:)

And then there was parachuting... oh yeah, I was floating over the ocean and an amazing beach!

There are few words to describe how much I enjoyed skydiving. The view was incredible and it was so cool to free fall for a minute and then enjoy parachuting down. They give you a voucher for a discounted or free dive if you bring friends with next time. There are a few more Americans that want to book, if its a day that I don't have class, I might seriously go again. I was really bummed when the weather didn't work out the first time, but I think it was for the best. It was so much more fun having the other girls along. The weather was 100% better today too... bright sun, still too windy to land on the beach (we landed right behind it), but we got to jump from the maximum height of 14,000 feet. The view was breath taking, and honestly, the only time I was really nervous was when the first guy fell out of the plane. You can see it in the video... fun to laugh about it now. The day was truly amazing.

I got back and played Monopoly with Sop and Lou before my 6pm class. I won! It's taken me five times to even get close. I went to class with McRae (mind you I skipped her 8 am to go skydiving) and surprisingly she didn't give me too much shit. Just a "yeah its easy to get sick for those 8 am classes." There were 18 people missing out of 45 in our night class because of the Melbourne Cup horse races. A few people that did come were still dressed up for the races (they dress up to go to the pub and watch the race) and she nearly flipped out on them for being out of uniform. I figured she can't say anything to me anymore.

My midterm was reevaluated and we have two substitute questions for the vocab that we didn't learn before the test... we'll see how that goes on Thursday. Other than that, I'm looking forward to the rest of the week. Danielle, my friend from St. Thomas studying at Gold Coast, is in Sydney this weekend so I'm hoping to meet up with her. I'm also going whale watching on Saturday! I love Australia. Don't worry, eventually I'll run out of money and have to come home. I miss you all, but having time for myself to relax and enjoy everything this country has to offer has been more than I could have ever imagined.

Tomorrow I get to go to the beach and watch election coverage... if you're reading this and haven't voted yet, please stop and do so!