Shayla vs. The World

University is not an easy task, no matter what your focus may be. I know I can speak for anyone who has done any field of engineering in saying that it is a pain. I very seriously need one of these. I'm just now finding this post that I started in September. I can say for sure that I've definitely felt like this throughout the entire semester, and continue to feel as such even though classes ended weeks ago. I'm still waiting for my final mark in one class. Marks were officially released LAST THURSDAY. After that the lecturer sent an email apologising claiming that the marks would be there on Monday or Tuesday at the latest. Tuesday has come and gone, and now it's halfway through Wednesday, and still nothing (the irony of the situation is that the class was "Professional Engineering" and was all about communication and how to be professional in the workplace). In another class all of us received way lower marks than what we were expecting. My other two c...

This was originally typed in an email but I decided to post it here because I feel everyone should know how wonderful my parents are. I just wanted to thank the both of you. Today I played probably my best game of volleyball ever. The passes and sets were perfect so my timing was perfect (something we've been drilling over and over again since March) and I was absolutely unstoppable. I honestly didn't know I was capable of hitting like that. If I had this kind of team in high school and had gotten even halfway close to this good my volleyball career would have turned out quite differently I believe. But anyway, I wanted to thank you, because after the match the only thing I could think of is how I couldn't wait to tell you about it. I thought back to all of the sports I did. Every weekend you were there bright and early, ready to drive me and any teammates that needed a ride to the furthest of places. You guys literally came to every game and tournament I had. You prac...

Internships are a necessary part of my education. At UNSW Industrial experience is required for engineers to graduate. This coming summer is my last chance during my degree to get one. So I've gone in to full application mode. I can't even sleep it's stressing me out so much. I WILL have an internship this summer, even if it means settling for a not as good paying one at a company that wasn't towards the top of my list. This, is a huge deal. After this semester I will be doing an internship, which will then lead to my thesis and final year of uni (at least for now). Once I've secured an internship I'll just have to start going through the stress of applying for real jobs. Holy cow. A real job is actually within sight. As much as the application process is stressing me out I am jumping out of my seat with excitement. Not only am I finally going to be done with uni (again at least for now), but I'm actually making it my goal. The result of all of the hard ...

Between work, school and trying to find an internship I'm pretty busy these days. After our month off everyone kept asking me what I did on break. My answer is always "Break? What break?" And this time especially it was too true. Once the semester finished all that other stuff that was less important than uniwork all of a sudden became the priority. There was absolutely no shortage of it. One very short and busy month later I have started again, (and am in my third week of classes already!). The busier you get, the more easily amused you become. It doesn't take much to get me excited to take a break. And this past week it came in the form of a Gold Class movie. Guardians of the Galaxy was released in theatres this past week here in Australia. So I bought tickets in advance for a Gold Class showing of it on Sunday. Sesh and I walk up to the theatre and the guy taking tickets looks at ours and says "Gold Class, just that glass lounge up there." We enter a n...

It's officially been over 6 months since I have been home. This is the longest I have ever been away from my family by far. This time last year I was home enjoying summer in Iowa and all the usual activities. This year I'm receiving pictures of those activities and messages saying everyone misses me, and I'll honestly admit it's getting really hard. It's hard for me to admit how homesick I am. Not because I'm stubborn, or am trying to act cool about the whole ordeal, but because I fear if I admit to myself how homesick I am, this place will no longer be worth it and I'll want to go back. Right now, deep in my heart I can tell I'm not done with this place. Not yet (and maybe I never will be, only time will tell that one). So it's easier (and a lot less stressful) to just deny how homesick I am most of the time. But, there are times when feelings do need to be addressed. For me that time is now. I am really homesick. And the stubborn part of me painf...

People are always asking me where I am from. Every single time I'm asked I always make the person guess before I answer. It happens most often at work so there are times when I get an entire table of guesses. It quite genuinely interests me where people think I may have come from. I've discovered because of picking up on various different accents I'm surrounded by, I have quite a strange one myself. People have guessed both Scottish and Irish before; and the other day I got Norwegian for the first time. About 95% of the time people guess Canadian. I feel all of these are justified as I majorly struggle with my O's. Australian's pronounce their vowels quite differently sometimes and I can't quite manage to match how they say their O's. Every single time they guess Canadian and I respond "American" they feel the need to give me this explanation. "I almost guessed that! I'm never sure, and so I always go with Canadian because it's the s...

It's that time of year again. Sydney's Vivid Light Festival was on. I'm not going to say much in this post. It'll be mostly pictures. First we started at Martin Place. Random lit up dome thingy Lights on Building The tree started small and grew Blurry photo of me I wanted to put my head in the thing, but the line was too long :( Then we made our way towards Circular Quay. Decided we needed some food. Found a fabulous place called Bridge Street Garage. The type of place that makes you believe in good food again. We had sliders to start. Two different types of burgers. They were SO good. I struggle to eat burgers (or any type of beef here really) because compared to the beef I was raised on it just doesn't taste any good to me. But these burgers COMPLETELY changed that view. Definitely the best I've had in Sydney. I don't want to say the best I've ever had, but they were definitely near the top. Even the wedges at this place were...

I'm pretty obsessed with the sunsets we can see from our balcony. I just wish the building in front of them were more attractive. April 8th April 22nd May 19th June 2nd Good Stuff. Now back to my studies :(

I have such a wonderful volleyball team. Really. Recently we had a weekend tournament in Wollongong. On Saturday we had a 4 hour break. It was a BEAUTIFUL day out so naturally we went to the beach. Didn't know this was being taken. I was actually sad we didn't have our suits. It was so nice and the water wasn't horribly cold either. But instead we went and had a delicious fish and chips feast. So. Good. (Left to Right; Back to Front) Monica, Christy, Margaret, Me, Jessie, Jess, Vickie and Lisa I seriously love these ladies (The amount of effort that went in to this selfie is incredible) After our games Saturday we showered and headed to our reservation at the Lebanese Restaurant near our Motel. Jess had made the reservation and since she lives in Wollongong she was meeting us there. Well weirdly enough there was 2 Lebanese restaurants across the street from each other. We ended up at the wrong one (which was mostly my fault) but it worked o...

Got an email the other day about a scholarship/internship opportunity from a really big mining company here. I was SUPER excited about it because it's a great opportunity and it's about time I work out an internship since I will be graduating at the end of next year. So I spent multiple hours filling in the application and writing up a good resume to submit. I had completed the last page and went to save it (as I would double check everything before submitting it in the morning). One of the questions on that page was if I was an Australian Citizen or Permanent Resident. Since I am neither I checked no. Now I get this... It gave me a little message that for tax reasons I am not eligible as I am not a citizen or don't have PR. NO WHERE in the description of the scholarship did it say it was limited to Australian citizens. I'm pretty devastated. So I'm proceeding to take out my frustration on looking for other internships to apply for. BHP if you don't want me...

Volleyball is what's up lately. April 12th and 13th we were in Manly for State Cup #2. Both the Division 1 team and the Honours team took home Silver. Here's some photos :) It looks cool but I think I'm too slow to where I need to be. Beautiful Div 1 ladies. This past weekend we were in Newcastle for State Cup #3. Due to 2 of the honours middle blockers being unable to make it I played in all of the honours matches. This was quite nerve wracking for me as I'm the youngest player. But we were able to bring home silver anyway :) Division 1 ladies lost our bronze medal match but it was still a great weekend for both teams. To be fair, the net was a good few inches short. Action shots Lovely Honours Ladies

Dad - You have such an incredible respect for everyone and everything in this world. Growing up helping you out with so many different things, both indoors and out, showed me how to go about life treating everything in this world with respect, and that nothing can be taken without giving even more in return. Mom - You always pushed me to do and experience everything I can. Even when I didn't want to try something new, you reminded me there's always something to be gained. You never stopped encouraging me to follow my dreams wherever they may take me, and to never regret where I have been, because EVERYTHING happens for a reason. Josh - You and Mitch have both been in my life for so long I barely remember life before you. I am so lucky to call you my brothers. You, Josh, are the kindest person I know, someone who would truly go out of their way to help any friend or stranger without question. There are not enough people in this world like you. If I could help out even a f...

Well technically afternoon but yeah... I'm amused by the little things. At my parents house it was always fun seeing the birds out on our bird feeder. The hummingbirds out back were especially amusing. This morning I was sitting at my desk getting some study done. There's a tree below my window so I'm VERY used to hearing all the birds during ALL the hours. But this morning the chirping sounded much closer than normal. I rolled up my window shade and was delighted to see this... They just wanted to say Hello They peaked in at me for a bit. Hopped around a bit, then flew off. They're called Rainbow Lorikeets for anyone who cares. I see them a lot, but it was pretty amusing how they were looking in at me through my window. A random update on my life... not much of anything is happening. Been doing a lot of studying and working and trying to heal a minor back injury so I can get back to volleyball. I had a little chuckle at myself last night when I discovered how...