Ashley Renee: Miss me yet?

WOW...I can't believe it's been almost three months since I've arrived...so much has gone on since my last post. Hopefully I can catch you up quickly :)

I'm having an amazing time at college...the people are excellent, the courses are great and the church is simply wonderful. Every day I have a wide range of experiences and emotions....I'm still encountering a lot of new things but settling in quite well!

My housemates are lovely. We often walk into the house saying "hello family" simply because that's pretty much what we are. We're all away from our own families back home so it helps to have an Aussie family to fill in the gap. Movie nights, Gilmore Girls marathons and shared dinners are definitely a common pass time!

I'm learning so much in all of my classes...and my core tutorial group is amazing. We just had a two big women's conferences called "Colour." Thousands of women came and sat in on the sessions. I particularly enjoyed Priscilla Shirer from Texas...such a powerful speaker! I helped with the student attendance for the first conference and all of the first year female students got to sit in on the second one...which seriously was such a huge blessing.

On some of our days off we have taken some fun trips into the city or to the beach! I've only been to Manly beach so far...I'm hoping to go to more though before it gets too cold (it's fall here but the weather is as warm as Nova Scotia's best summer days lol)! I went to Sydney yesterday and sat along the waterfront for lunch with one of my housemates then walked though the beautiful Botanical Gardens (see pics below). Of course I've seen the Opera House and the bridge, took a ferry ride to Darling Harbour and walked around the city shops!

I'm having an incredible time and am so excited to see what other things are coming up in the next few months.

I love and miss you all...feel free to leave a comment any time...I love hearing from home!
xoxox

Beautiful ferry ride in Sydney!