Sarah and I have had some fantastic adventures. We first met in Adelaide Australia, just as we were both beginning a semester abroad. Our friendship was virtually instantaneous, but only grew stronger in our travels together. We took weekend trips to Melbourne (possibly the coolest city in the world), Flinder’s Ranges, Kangaroo Island and Claire Valley (our STA agent hooked us up with a wicked weekend stay at a country club; while there we biked along a small dirt trail, stopping at the local wineries for some tastings, and then we played a round of golf, which is when we saw the family of wild kangaroos).

Part of our studies while in the land down under involved an awesome opportunity to do fieldwork along the sandy and rocky sea shores of South Australia. We would wake up at four in the morning to collect data (including the temperature of the icy cold ocean). This picture is actually from one of these fieldwork adventures. We had stopped to check out this lake, positioned somewhere west of the Great Ocean Road. It has a beautiful pink hue due to loads of bacteria. I had just slipped and fallen in that lovely pink bacteria-filled mud (OK maybe mom was right – flip flops aren’t the everyday, everywhere shoe). You might even be able to see my butt-mark in the mud back there to the left. Luckily Sarah was there to help me up (which of course is a metaphor for our friendship).

Our travels together didn’t stop in Australia. A year later we met up in London. We took a few day tours, like Bath and Stonehenge, but mostly we spent most of our trip enjoying the diverse city of London. Sadly, that’s the last time Sarah and I have seen each other. But we’ve always talked about meeting back up in Australia for some more Oz-some adventures!