Perth Take 2: Leighton Beach & Freemantle

The second day we woke up pretty early and set off to Woolworth's where we got bread, peanut butter, bananas, granola bars, apples, and a huge bag of oranges. This was going to be our food for the week. I had two peanut butter sandwiches a day for five days. #hostellife

We took the train to Freemantle where we found Leighton Beach, a beach recommended to us by one of Katie's friends from back home. We just wanted to relax after the day of travelling we had.

We decided to get in the water because it was significantly warmer than the water back in Warnie. Although this seemed like a good decision, we quickly realised that the waves were basically sand waves and our whole bodies were covered in sand that we couldn't rinse off. I think I had sand in my hair for two days afterwards, even after two showers.

We then decided to go into the city of Fremantle to find some lunch only to find out that there is a street arts festival going on. There were jugglers, acrobats, magicians, artists, vendors, musicians, and dancers. It was such a great vibe and we were so happy to have stumbled upon it. 

Near the vendors, we came across this massive bus. When we walked past, the guy said "Hey ladies, do you want to go in the bus?" We looked at each other, and both quickly said, "No, thank you." He then replied with, "It's a lolly shop." No questions asked, we both took off inside. So much for not taking candy from strangers in creepy vehicles.

We came across this guy beatboxing the didgeridoo on the curb. 

Then, in true flashmob form, these four guys and four girls broke out in old style swing dancing. It was one of the greatest things I had ever seen and I couldn't stop smiling while watching it. The really tall guy (second from the left in the bottom 3 pics) was really goofy and was doing awesome manoeuvres with his legs. The blonde one with the glasses (all the way to the right) looked like a young, Notebook-esque Ryan Gosling. My favourite girl was the one in the pink and white dress. She had dreads that she had pulled up into a "beehive" type hairstyle. It was an excellent performance.

I then spotted a group of "hippies" sitting on some blankets on the sidewalk. One girl was doing hair wraps and I have been wanting one for EVER (right Sarah?) I was going to do it myself but this was so much better. The girls were from France and have been travelling around Australia. I also got a couple bracelets from them as well because I wanted to support their travels.

After the arts festival, we headed back to Perth and went to get some dinner. We ended up going to Nandos, which I've been wanting to go to seeing as it's Niall Horan's favourite restaurant (please, no comments on my 1D obsession, I've already heard it all). The food there was actually really good. This trip was a really great opportunity for me to try a lot of new foods. I am proud of myself for that.

We then walked to find the church that we were going to be going to for the Easter Service the next morning. It was a huge cathedral that looked very majestic lit up at night.

On our walk back to the hostel, there were fireworks being shot off that we stopped an watched for a bit because Katie won't be home for Fourth of July so she won't be able to watch the fireworks back home.

Perth Take 1: Travel Day

For those of you who don't know, this is Katie. She was my "travel companion" this last week. She's another American (from Wisconsin, but originally Iowa) studying marine biology down in Warrnambool with me, although she's here for a year rather than just a trimester. 

Now that you've been formally introduced, here we go. I will warn you that excessive photos were taken, so be prepared for more visuals than writing. 

Our journey began on Friday, April 18th at 6:30 am...well that's when I woke up at least...Katie was already here and ready by then. We double checked our bags and Sarah (who was going home to Melbourne), Katie, and I started the walk to the train station out in front of Uni. Before we left we noticed that it was sprinkling a little but weren't too concerned seeing as the walk isn't that long...that was until it started to down-pour sideways. By the time we reached the platform, it looked as though we had all just climbed out of a swimming pool. We found Owen, Gemma, and Daniel waiting at the platform as well and we all agreed that sitting soaked for four hours on a train was going to be torture. Once on the train, we hung our clothes on the luggage rack to dry...although they were still damp by the time we reached Southern Cross. Also, I think we can all agree that I am not the prettiest sleeper...

Once we reached Southern Cross, before all going our separate ways, we ate lunch at a nifty little burger place called Grill'd. After that, Sarah was off home, Daniel was off home as well, Gemma and Owen were off to Jake's (?), and Katie and I were off to the airport. Once there we went to get our boarding passes, thinking that we were going to have to wait there for 8 hours for our flight at 8:45 pm, but the nicest guy at check-in named Jon (who was very flamboyant and called us "doll") got our flight moved up to 5:45 pm, which was such a relief. We boarded the plane to find out that we had epic TVs in front of us with choices of movies, tv shows, music, and games. I ended up watching the Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (little bit of a homesick decision) and then a couple episodes of Friends...which I ended up laughing really loudly on accident and I'm pretty sure the people next to me hated me. We also got meals that were surprisingly not bad, and had chocolate mousse for desert.

After the long flight, and then a taxi ride, we had finally arrived at the hostel in the middle of Perth. The atmosphere of the hostel was so welcoming and not at all what I had expected. I thought hostels were dingy looking places where you had to keep all of your belongings padlocked and sleep with your arms looped through your backpack. This hostel was three floors, had a workout room, two kitchen areas, an outdoor pool, and a bar and cafe. We stayed in a six person room with four other girls that came and went throughout the week. Definitely a 10/10 would recommend for the YHA in Perth.

Since we had just arrived, we decided to go scope out our surroundings, and hoped to find a grocery store. Apparently, everything in Perth closes at a ludicrously early hour, so we were at a loss with the groceries, but we ended up seeing some awesome street art (by now you should all know that I have a particular fondness for street art). There was also this cactus looking "statue" that we found. Apparently it's famous or something because I saw it on a postcard later in the week, and if something is on a postcard, it must be famous. After wandering, we headed back to the hostel and I think my tiredness must have encompassed my body because that was the first night in months that I've slept through the night without waking up numerous times.

HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN!

If you aren't apart of my family or related to someone whose last name was or still is Fahlgren...then you're not going to understand most of this post.



As Easter gets closer, I know that all of my family on my mom's side are going to start their journey towards our mutual favourite party house in Burlington. Words cannot do the ache in my chest justice when I think about how I won't be there this year for Easter. I truly don't believe that I've missed any of our holiday gatherings (*cough*Tomika*cough*) and it hurts me just thinking about the badass dance party that you're all going to have in the kitchen.  Brenden and Ben will be the terrible twos by 9:00 and B will be laughing at every joke Ben makes, even if it's not funny. Taylor's face will be red as a beet by 10 and Tomika will be telling us way too much about herself. ;) Kenz, Jaz, and Tal will be contacting some boy in some way haha (don't be mad, you know it's true!). Sam and Tianna will be consuming copious amounts of popsicles and soda. Sophia's going to eat too much candy but have more on herself than in her stomach. Ava is going to be forcing people to let her play with their phones. And Elise will be slyly charming everyone into doing anything that she wants them to do. Grandma will party for a while before going to bed...although we never stop the partying then...sorry Grams! Maud and Melena will be full force and making the funniest comments in the world. Eric and Darci will be plotting their next prank in the corner, while Dave and my mom are plotting their next prank. My dad will be "resting his eyes" wherever he's ended up and Rich will be watching some sporting event on TV. Just know that I'll be thinking about you all the whole time. You mean the world to me and nothing will ever change that. You've always been my number one supporters and it has always made me confident in myself knowing that I have you all behind me. I love you all so much more than you know. Leave Granny D's with more food eaten that you had the entire week, hangovers that could kill you, and the knowledge that we'll always be there for each other. We're more than a family.