It's Not Goodbye.

The day is here. I am leaving. It is very surreal. Even though I am sitting in an empty room surrounded by my luggage, I can't believe it. I wonder when I will believe it. All I know is that this is NOT goodbye, Australia. I WILL be back someday. I still have a dream of moving here; it's just more intense now.

I honestly couldn't have asked for a better last week in Sydney. It was beautiful every day, when originally it was supposed to rain everyday. For once, luck was on my side. Rundown of my last few days here:

Last last Friday: End of the semester party here in the village. It's amazing how much fun you can have partying with RAs!
Last last Saturday: It was Cait's last day in Sydney. Courtney, Cait and I ventured to the Opera House, walked across the Harbour Bridge, and walked through Luna Park all while taking gorgeous pictures. At the end of the day, we witnessed a rainbow by the Opera House and the Bridge. It was picturesque and one-of-a-kind! Then we had one last Chinese sit-down dinner. Beautiful ending to a beautiful friendship that started from day one with Cait.
Monday: Spent the day at the Botanical Gardens with Angelica and Sarah. It was my last Monday night poker night.
Tuesday: Courtney and I went to Coogee to take pictures galore and hang out on the rocks reading and sunbathing. I also enjoyed my last $5 Tuesday pizza and didn't have to see Mr. Creeper there either. Huzzah! That night we hit up Scruffy Murphy's and for once, I enjoyed myself! The highlight would have to be when Adelia, Abbey and I walked home by ourselves and stopped in the park to play on the zipline. Smart moves for 2AM.
Wednesday: Last minute souvenir shopping at Paddy's markets. That night we headed over to Marly to hang out with the guys, another enjoyable night.
Thursday: I really did nothing all day, but that's okay. One last hurrah at Kelly's for karaoke. I will miss that place! I have so many memories there. Oh, but this was the most awkward night of my life too.
Friday: We tried to go to Watson's Bay but failed due to ferries. Angelica, Sarah and I shopped around The Rocks and Circular Quay. That night, I went to Darling Harbour for the opening ceremonies of the World Cup and the first game. It was FREEZING but such a great experience! I wish the US was more into "football".
Saturday: Finally made it to Watson's Bay after talking about it for days! It was beautiful and a nice way to spend the day outside. Our IES Farewell Dinner commenced that night. Courtney and I had a blast together, including a drunk ferry ride back to the city. How many people can say they did that? :)
Sunday: My last $6 Thai for lunch. That means, no more Thai for awhile since Belleville is so expensive! Then we headed to the Olympic Park to miniature golf. I had been wanting to go there for MONTHS and it never worked out! We finally made it! It took us an hour and half to find the Golf Center though. And miniature golf was the lamest ever. It wasn't necessarily easy, but it wasn't challenging either. We made it fun though! Once we got back, we had an impromptu night of poker.

And now I am sitting here waiting to be picked up for the airport. AH! I'm sure I will make one of those "It's so weird to be home" blog entries once I get there. But I have to get home first. Ew, 14 hour flight, I hate you already!

Until next time, Sydney.

The Home Stretch

One week and 2 days left. We are in the home stretch. I just got back from taking my early Philosophy exam. Here's to hoping that I passed and never have to take a Philosophy class in my life again. I have one more paper before I can say that I am officially a senior, but first I have all of next week to spend time with people and do some last minute touristy things.

It's the strangest feeling thinking about coming home. Yes, I am very happy to see everyone I love- my parents, my sister and brother, all of my friends at home and at school. But yet, I am still sad. The other night, we were talking about how long we waited to go abroad. Personally, I knew before I even entered college that I would study abroad. Granted, the place changed a few times and there were quite a lot of obstacles along the way, but I finally did it. And now, it is over. Life is funny like that. You wait for years and years for one thing, and in a flash, it becomes only a memory.

You know what is strange? I have started swamping USA numbers and Skype names with my friends here. It's crazy to think that I will be saying goodbye to these people that I have seen almost everyday for 4 months. I have to say goodbye to Al tonight and Cait on Sunday.

Yesterday was interesting. For my last philosophy tutorial, our tutor held it in a bar, ordered us jugs of beer and let us philosophize and drink at the same time. Only in Australia. Then we went to Kelly's for another hurrah of singing. Al and I sang Jessie's Girl, and Sarah, Angelica and I sang Bad Romance. What a blast! Yes, that is what I did instead of studying for my final.

You know what is AWESOME about leaving? I am leaving a rainy winter for a second summer! I am calling it "Summer 2010 Part Deux!" I wish I still had a tan though.. maybe I will get one back now that I have been under the influence of Australian sun.

For the first time in my life, I feel WICKED...

My Australian experience is complete. I got to see Wicked from for the third time from the FRONT ROW! Best Wednesday night ever!

You see, there is this lottery every time that there is a show. You show up at 5:30, put your name in a drawing and wait until 6:00 for them to call names. There are 10 people called. If you win, you get 2 front row tickets for $30 each. Can you say fantastic deal?

Last week, when Natalie came to visit Al, I went with them to try to win. Naturally, Natalie won and the two of them went to the show. Abbey and I still wanted to see it though, so we went tonight. Abbey couldn't make the drawing to put her name in, so Al came along for an extra person.

At about 5:45, Abbey calls to say that she is on the way and hopes to make it to put her name in. Al decides to just write her info down and put it in, in hopes that she will make it on time. Of course, I think this is a bad idea for our positive mojo! What if she were to win and she wasn't there yet?

And guess what... that is EXACTLY what happened! As soon as her name was called, I looked at Al and slapped him on the arm saying "I TOLD YOU THAT WOULD HAPPEN!" Her name was passed up because you can't just claim you are someone else; you must show photo ID. From that moment, I thought I would not be seeing the show tonight.

MIRACULOUSLY, Al's name was called too! I "litrally" SQUEALED for joy! I was officially seeing Wicked from the front row! I felt bad for Al, even though he had seen it already, because if Abbey would have been there, he would've been able to go as well!

With some time to kill, we had some meat pies with mashed potatoes, gravy and mashed peas on top. Not that yummy, but an Australian delicacy. And we walked around the real Chinatown. Al eventually left us and Abbey and I went inside. We bought some drinks, basically just to get the awesome light up martini glass.

I was giddy with excitement the entire show! Once it was intermission, I wanted it to start over from the beginning! I didn't want it to end!

From My Front Row Experience:
*Flying monkeys are even scarier up close!
*Defying Gravity was absolutely stunning- I had to literally look up!
*You notice interactions between the ensemble that you do not see from far away.
*EVERYTHING IS BETTER!
*Elphaba was absolutely BRILLIANT.
*I should have pursued a degree in technical theatre.

OMG. CAN I PLEASE GO SEE IT AGAIN?

Now, I am going to stay up and listen to the soundtrack while writing the rest of my paper. I could go to sleep, but 1. I am too giddy still and 2. I don't sleep anymore. Might as well get the paper done!

Al is my favorite person ever now.

PS- I am not a very lucky person. Every person that I went with to win these tickets got their named called, except me. Coincidence, I think not. I blame the fact that I have never had an extra candle on my birthday cake, aka the luck candle!

Rain, Rain Go Away

It has been raining in Sydney for almost a week straight. I made the decision today that I would rather live in a place that has snow during winter than rain. We'll see how long I stick to that decision. It wouldn't be so bad, but it rained the whole month of October for me. More rain = yucky!

I am officially returning to the states on June 14 with a mixture of emotions. It will be weird to be back. I just hope I quickly settle back into my old life, but I doubt that will happen.

What have I done lately? Nothing of great importance. I finally had hot chocolate from this place called Max Brenners. It was delicious! I know we have them in the states, but I don't think there are any around me. Oh, I got to go on a tour of the Opera House with my class. It would have been very informative if my headset had been working, but it wasn't. So I just stood there pretending to hear and looking around at the architecture. Last Friday was quite an epic birthday party night. Let's just say that four of us were not quite certain of the details from the night before. Saturday, we went to Darling Harbour to go to the Maritime Museum. There was also a free jazz festival going on. We all got some Starbucks, sat at the Harbour and listened to jazz. It was bliss. That was the one good day of weather. Sunday, IES paid for us to go to a rugby game. Description? Large, bulky men with scary leg muscles that move in weird ways running around a field in very tiny shorts and no pads while tackling each other and only making backward passes. It was... entertaining? Our team lost, big time. The best part of the day was the accomplishment I felt from looking up the train schedules and getting us there. No, really, I was very proud!

I actually quite like Sydney now. Maybe that is because I know I am leaving soon and I want to savour it, but I finally feel at home.

Rewind of the Past Two Weeks

So much for saying that I was going to blog on Sunday about the past week. Now I have two weeks to review. *sigh* I'm a horrible blogger.

Last week was highly eventful. I met more Aussies last week than the amount I have met in 2 months. Sad, I know. Now I have to leave them all!

Courtney and I had been continuing our walking. We finally walked all the way down King Street to see what there was. Some really cute expensive stores and food. The end.

Wednesday nights now have a tradition of hermit crab racing! There is this local pub in Glebe that does it every Wed. Basically, you buy a crab for $2 and name it. One week mine was Kim Possible and this week it was Guido. If your crab is in the top 6 then you have to participate in some contest. The first week I went, Cait's crab won. She had to eat a donut covered in chocolate. Yum, right? Until they pour salt all over it! It was HILARIOUS. But I can't laugh too much because this week I had to do it as well. What a fun time! I secretly loved it. There are other contests such as blowing up a balloon until it pops, hula hooping, eating a large saltine and trying to whistle. All in good fun! I love the atmosphere of that pub and we've been spreading the word amongst friends. Although, I did get attacked for saying the words "I don't like Sydney." It's not true- it was just taken out of context! This past week was awesome though because Guido got second place over all, winning me a Jack Daniel's hat and bandanna. Two dollars well spent!

Adventures from last week also included meeting Australian band boys and scoring free tickets to a concert for Sunday. We're not sure if we are going anymore. But some Aussies really do love American accents.. no idea why! Courtney and I did the BRUTAL walk from Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach. It was beautiful, but a total work out! I was so tired that I was asleep at 9PM.. then I went out. Saturday we hung out at the Botanical Gardens for awhile. It was great weather and I just enjoyed relaxing. Ah, Sydney life, isn't it pleasant? Oh wait, until a creeper started following us and wanted pictures with us. Why does this always happen when I'm around?

Finally went dancing again last Saturday too. I really had no idea where we were most of the night, but it was fun! Then we saw an epic Jersey Shore style fight in Maccas. (McDonalds, no lie, they call it that!) This fight started in Maccas, went out to the street, to on top of a police car. It was some crazy shit.

Rest of this week? Met Cait at her school. We went shopping on George Street. Karaoking again last night. Just a bunch of hanging out most nights.

All in all, I'm very content with my life right now. Sometimes Australia feels like a dream, but I know it's not. I just don't believe I am here and living it up in the land down under.

My Future Home: Melbourne

Not really sure why I have been putting off blogging about Melbourne, especially since I adored the city! I've just been busy I suppose.

We left last Thursday at 9PM. We arrived in Avalon, about 45 minutes from the city, at 11:30PM. We just took a cab to our bed & breakfast. The driver drops us off in the pitch black darkness. There was one light guiding the way. We have no idea where to go. We were told by the people that we were in room number 1 and the key would be in the door. We start to approach what we assumed to be the main area of the place. PITCH BLACK. Al opened the door and we realized that we had to find our room in the dark. We all got out our little handy cell phones to light the way. They did jack shit! It was seriously like a horror movie. I thought we were going to die within 5 minutes of our trip starting. We found a room, which we assumed to be ours. Al opens it, realizes there is stuff on the floor, realizes there is someone in bed, and shuts the door. I feel very sorry for that person. I hope they didn't realize what was going on!

We continued to walk around the perimeter for about 5 minutes. We had no idea where to go. This B&B was seriously out in the middle of nowhere. If I didn't know better, I would have thought I was in hickville or Millstadt, for a closer reference to home. We finally found our correct room. Then there were bugs in the bed, crazy lights and cars driving by complete with weird noises outside. It was an adventure, that's for sure.

On Friday morning, we picked up our rental car from the airport and started our drive to The Great Ocean Road. The nice man at Thrifty even gave us an upgrade to a pretty sweet car! Only problem: I had to drive the whole way. *shhhhhh, this didn't happen*

The Great Ocean Road was basically the Headlands of San Francisco on steroids! IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! I couldn't get over the natural beauty! It's amazing how blue the ocean looks when the sun is shining too. We drove all the way to Port Campbell, about 4 hours from Melbourne. We got to see the famous Twelve Apostles, London Bridge, and Loch Ard Gorge. Basically, giant rock formations rising out of the ocean that were created millions of years ago! They are phenomenal. No idea how they are still standing! Port Campbell National Park really was like heaven on earth.

We made plans to sleep in the car on Friday night. WORST IDEA EVER. It would have honestly been fine if it wasn't sooooooo cold! We found a little parking lot in Port Campbell to stay in. We played some card games, walked around a bit, random things to make the time pass. We finally got in the car around 9:30 because we were exhausted. Well, sleeping was another story. I barely slept- maybe 3 hours that whole night. I even journaled at 5AM. I would fall asleep and wake up freezing, so my body wouldn't allow me to sleep anymore. Needless to say, we didn't sleep much. We got back on the road around 6:30AM.

We saw the sunrise and our first wild kangaroo ran in front of our car! It fascinates me that kangaroos are just like deer for Aussies. Cray cray! We made it to Melbourne in record time which meant that we had quite a few hours to mosey around before we could even check in to our hostel. We stopped near this lake and it was the spitting image of Chicago. We all felt it. We also walked through a zombie parade that was going on! I've always wanted to experience one and now I have.

That night we headed to Phillip Island to see the Little Penguins come home! Basically, you pay to see penguins come back from a day of swimming in the ocean and come home for the night. IT WAS AWESOME! Who knew penguins could be so entertaining?! The side of the beach that we were on had an epic battle between the penguins and the seagulls. The penguins would get scared and waddle back in to the ocean. It took this group about an hour to get back! Poor penguins! We got to "hear" some penguin hanky panky. The night sky was simply phenomenal out there as well. I didn't see any shooting stars, but then again I never catch them! They also warn you to check under your car for penguins when you leave. Sadly, we didn't have any. On Phillip Island, we also saw about 4 more wild kangaroos. Success!

Saturday night was the best night sleep in the history of night's sleep since we were all exhausted. We spent Sunday just roaming around Melbourne. I LOVE THE CITY. Part of me wishes I would have studied there. Although, I do like Sydney Uni campus more than Melbourne Uni. The city just has more personality and it suits my personality more too. The architecture is random- some modern, some historical. It's gorgeous! It is easier to walk and I just felt more at home there. I'm not going to tell you what we all saw this day because it was a lot. I enjoyed everything about it though!

Our plan for Sunday night was to stay in the city until late and then head to the airport because our flight was at 6AM. We ended up seeing Iron Man 2, which came out a week earlier here, and that made the time pass rather quickly. Thank goodness! We drove to the airport, only to find that the gates were closed until 3AM. Well, back to a parking lot to hang out for a few hours. I was so sick of that car by the end of the trip. But all in all, everything worked out. I had a bunch of fun, found my future home, and saw lots of wildlife & wonders of nature.

I've had quite the eventful week, but I will blog about that another time. Maybe tomorrow?

Calling Sydney Home

Ever since we arrived here, I have heard from multiple people about how they only travelled to Sydney for a short amount of time, fell in love with it, and then moved here. Up until Saturday, I just really didn't understand why.

We walked from Coogee Beach to Maroubra Beach along a beautiful Coastal path. Although sometimes this path was climbing over rocks, it was an adventure. I love the houses by the beach. And this is where I decided that if I moved to Sydney, I just wouldn't live in the city. Living in the city has had its perks, but I have learned that a big city isn't really for me.. at least not one this big. Chicago even looks dinky compared to Sydney, and Sydney is very hard to become acquainted with. If I were to move here, I would live in the suburbs by the beach. In fact, I picked out a few houses I liked on Saturday.

I can officially see why people fall in love with this place. It's not always the city they fall in love with but the surrounding areas.

Oh, and Happy ANZAC *let's get totally fucked* Day!

PS- I'm not getting totally fucked, if you were wondering.

Spotted: Largest Cockroach in the History of Cockroaches

My four day weekend has already begun with a bang! After a strenuous week of papers and presentations, I decided to surround myself with good people and fun last night. Let's just say, a few virginities have been stripped away. (That really isn't meant to sound as raunchy as it does.)

Today, I did absolutely nothing of importance. I slept in until 12:30PM. That was crazy, and then I spent all day watching movies and TV shows. Hey, I deserved a relaxing day.

Courtney, Cait and I had already made plans to have a nice dinner together. We ventured out to buy some nicer wine than the $10 goon that is supposedly made of fish eggs. *Barf* And headed to one of our favorite Chinese places to eat. Only this time we did the unthinkable, we ate there! I don't think the wait staff knew how to handle us, seeing as we always just get take away. The dinner was delicious and relaxing. Sometimes I just get bored with going out and partying. I like to kick back and drink, but not feel the need to be drunk.

After we finished, we indulged ourselves in some gelato. This was acceptable because we walked quite far to get this gelato. Can't you just see how our minds work? The evening air was pleasant, and I had missed the sounds of bats flying overhead since I have not walked through the park at night in a few weeks.

Once we got home, we decided to watch The Girl Next Door. I had never seen it, or so I thought. I came to the conclusion that I saw it once upon a blue moon, but just did not remember seeing it.

The three of us were just enjoying a wonderful scene when all of a sudden a cockroach the size of my wallet went crawling across the wall! At first we thought it had gone out the window and we were just going to close it. Wrong! It was crawling up the side of the window. Cait quickly grabbed the insect spray (which was almost empty!) and attempted to spray the giant roach. Instead it fell on Cait and the three of us went screaming and running around the living room. As we attempted to find its location, it came crawling out from under the couch.

Cait: KIM! GRAB THE SPRAY!
Me: Where the hell is the spray?!
Cait: I don't know! I threw it over there somewhere! *points in the direction of the window*
Me: *scrambling to find the spray bottle and finds it next to the couch that I have to climb over to get* YOU THREW IT THE FARTHEST AWAY POSSIBLE!
Cait: Just kill it!!

I chased the cockroach in circles with the spray as Courtney and Cait screamed some more. Finally, Courtney convinces me that he is dying. I didn't notice even though he was drowning in a puddle of insect spray.

After about 5 minutes, one of their flat mates came out of his room. I asked him why he didn't come out to help us when he heard us screaming. His response: "Oh, I just thought you guys were drunk."

I deserve the award for killing the largest cockroach in the history of cockroaches.

A Week in Review

Nothing much to say. Sometimes I just feel like I should blog more. So here is a bit of Kim's life in Sydney:

*I haven't done much work all week. The "network" is the greatest invention ever.
*I started working out with Courtney. Sometimes we walk together or go to a class at a local gym. It feels great.
*I slowly have started cutting meat out of my diet. I began right after New Zealand, but then I got a little sidetracked in Cairns. Now, I'm back on schedule. I have been eating a lot healthier, and it feels great.
*I have watched a lot of Gossip Girl and The Big Bang Theory.
*We went to a "Football Pros and Tennis Hoes" party. Angelica and I went as hoes and left as pros. (That was a fun sentence!)
*I am tan- partially real, partially fake. I just bought a lotion with a subtle tanner, but it works and doesn't look awkward like some lotions.
*I learned that Australians are beginning to change their prejudices against Americans because of the awesome types of people, like yours truly, that have started coming to study here for semesters and years.
*I no longer have a yucky ear.
*OH! I almost singed off a guy's eyebrow.

Seriously, that's about all the semi-interesting information that I have to offer for this week. I just need to get past next week, aka devil week for me, and then I will be set.

Cairns & The Great Barrier Reef

Disclaimer: Even longer entry than New Zealand. A week is a long time, people!

Well folks, it is that time again for a super duper long entry about fall break/mid semester break/our equivalent of spring break. I really have no idea what to call this past week. Some of us are referring to it as "celebrating Easter for 8 days". In essence, that is what Australians like to do. Believe it or not, Easter Sunday was a huge let's go out and drink night. Crazy.

I'll start from the beginning.. way way long ago last Saturday.

SATURDAY
We had to get up bright and early aka 6AM and arrived in Cairns before noon. We checked into our super sweet hostel called Gilligans and then had free time until dinner. A group of us made our way to some food, and then ended up at these really awesome markets. They had tons of produce and jewelry. I spent money on presents for people.. perhaps too much money. Gah, I don't want to think about that really. Saturday was the longest day of all of our lives since we had gotten up so incredibly early. Some of us ended up napping for a bit before dinner.

Dinner was one of my favorite parts of the trip. On our schedule it said "Aboriginal Culture Dinner". We were all expecting to have an authentic dinner with some Aboriginals, get our faces painted, dance a little and listen to the didgeridoo. Wrong. Instead, we had an hour bus ride through the windiest roads in the world to this restaurant. We had to hike a little along a path guided by torches. When we arrived, there was a large open pavillion with fancy tables set up, candles, and chandeliers. This was the second (or perhaps first) most expensive meal that I have ever eaten. (The other meal being the fine dining experience Sissy & Naz provided me for my 21st birthday.) The only thing "Aboriginal" about this dinner was the type of food we ate. We had kangaroo (taste like bacon), crocodile (taste like chicken), lobster, trout, and steak. Words cannot even describe how delicious this meal was! My favorite was the kangaroo. Yum yum! Best part of the dinner? Open bar! All the wine and beer you could drink. As you can imagine, give 50 American college students free alcohol during dinner, everyone is going to get a little buzzed. The bus ride back was torture for some of those people who drank a little too much.

When we returned, Angelica and I went out briefly to see some Coyote Ugly dancers at a pub. Everyone else bailed on us because of being tired. Pfft, what's up with that?

SUNDAY
This is where the trip began to take a turn for the worse. We were scheduled to leave for the Daintree Rainforest. Unfortunately, this did not happen. Cairns had been experience constant rain for almost a month. All the roads to the rainforest were flooded and we were not going to be able to make it there. We even heard about a bus that had to get rescued from the flood waters when the driver tried to drive through it. Everyone was super depressed; honestly, I'm still really sad that I did not get to see the Daintree. Instead, I almost died.. multiple times.

Instead, we spent the morning in Kuranda village visiting more markets with cheap goods. Kuranda does have a rainforest, just not the one we were expecting. But that story is for tomorrow. After our brief visit to Kuranda, Lee (our guide) had scheduled us for white water rafting. Lee was truly awesome. She was only our chaperone because the group of us was split in two. Thais, who usually coordinates everything, was with the other group on the boat. We all felt really bad for Lee because she had to work her ass off to find things for 20 of us to do for two days (when things were booked up because of Easter break) since the rainforest was out of the question. She was stellar though!

Al, Courtney, Cait and I were like "cool, we are going white water rafting again". It was no biggie to us. We were going on grade 3 rapids, and us being skilled rafters had already done grade 5 in New Zealand just a few days prior. Angelica was freaking out a bit, so all of us were trying to calm her down saying it was no big deal. At one point, Cait said "Watch all of us fall out of the raft and you end up staying in." As we began the journey down the river, we all realized this was a little bit rougher than NZ. The river almost got closed down because it was too high. The rapids were crazy with lots of rocks jutting out, unlike NZ that just had some waterfalls but no rocks at the bottom. We got through a couple of rapids unscathed, but then the trip quickly became scary. There was one rapid that we all had to walk around because it was just too dangerous. We were slipping and sliding along the rocks for a little hike. I have lots of bruises from this. So we finally jump back in the rafts, watch a few go down the rapid and then it is our turn. I bet you can all guess what happened.. Our boat hit the rapid at the wrong angle, forcing us over a large rock and making Al, Courtney, Cait, our guide, and myself all fall out. Guess who stayed in? Angelica! Cait predicted that one! Cait and I took a very long time to come up. I swear to god I thought I was going to drown. IT WAS NOT FUN AT ALL. After I finally came up, I looked around and saw the boat. Our guide is yelling at us to swim. I'm swimming. Nothing is happening! I'm just quickly approaching the next rapid. I start freaking out!! Luckily, another guide threw out an oar and I just grabbed onto it with all my life. Eventually, Al dragged me into the raft. I was shaking. I literally thought I was going to die. Our guide just kept saying how fucking awesome it was and blah blah blah. NO IT WASN'T. Cait and I were legitimately scared for the rest of the time. At one rapid, Angelica and Cait got out because a previous boat had flipped and they lost the boat down the river. I stayed in, and I told them if we went in again, I was going to cry. We made it out... me still shaking in my water shoes. The next rapid, we got stuck on a rock! Our guide told us to quickly get to the front of the boat. I couldn't really move. We start sinking. The only thought in my head is that we are going in again, and I just wanted to cry. Thankfully, we got loose without falling in. By this point, I was ready for our trip to be over. Once we got to land, the rest of our group was saying how awesome and fun that was. Cait and I are still shaking.. not really finding the whole ordeal very fun. This may have scared me away from white water rafting forever now. I have now renamed the Barron River as DEVIL RIVER.

After such an eventful day, Cait and I went out. We met up with one of the rafting guides; thankfully not ours, or I might have hit him. We had come to the conclusion that he knew what he was doing on that rapid, and did it on purpose. Tom, the guide we met up with, told us Jizz (yes, that was his nickname) always went into the river. If someone would have told me that, I never would have gotten into a boat with him. Better yet, remind me to never get into a boat with someone named Jizz again! We ended up getting about 15 people to go out with us that night. Tom got all of us in for free at The Woolshed. Omg, so much fun! We were all dancing on tables and just having a blast. I took a few tequila shots. Hey, I deserved it after that day!

MONDAY
Another awful day. Seriously, most of this trip was just a little less than fun. Ron, our sexist and racist bus driver, dropped us off in Kuranda so that we could do an 800 metre walk to the Barron Falls. This 800 metre walk turned into an hour hike through the jungle and flooded river. Did I mention that we were all dressed for wine country? We start the hike, and it wasn't bad. Until we came to a part of the path that was flooded. After much debate, we all agreed (some more reluctantly than others) to go through the water. Leeches and crocodiles were the only things on my mind. The girls in dresses hiked up their skirts and we all strode our way through the water. It wasn't too bad.. until we had to do it a total of 5 different times. We finally get to the end of the walk. Guess what? We are at the opposite end of the Barron Falls! We have no way to contact Ron because Lee forgot her cell phone. We ended up at a cute little train station. Oh wait, the trains are not running because of WEATHER CONDITIONS. Seriously?! After about an hour more of a debacle, we finally find Ron and get back in the bus. Everyone is pretty peeved at this point. We go to this little town in the middle of nowhere for lunch. Ron's famous words: "The Aboriginals around here hang out at the hotels (bars) too much, so I wouldn't start up any conversations with them." Oh dear. After lunch, we go to a distillery for a tour and free tasting. Lame. The best part were the cats roaming around. On the way home, we actually stop at Barron Falls, only to find it is too foggy to even see anything! What a waste of a day! That night, we went to some more markets. HA. Go figure, eh! OH, and we got CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH from Baskin Robbins! This is the only place that we have found in Australia that sells it! The grocery stores don't even have it. SO GOOD!

TUESDAY
We transferred to the boat for a 3 day, 2 night cruise on the Great Barrier Reef. All of us woke up ready to go and were hoping that we would get to our boat and be able to hop into bed for a nap, seeing as it was 7:30AM. Wrong, again! No one told us that we would be on a DAY boat until about 4:30 before transferring to our regular boat. On the day boat, we would be snorkeling and diving.. but we would have more opportunities too. I'm pretty sure I was the only one who wore their swimsuit on board. Everyone was just a little pissed that we didn't know what was going on. In addition, this boat was the worst boat ride in the history of boat rides! Multiple people got sick. I, fortunately, was wearing a patch for seasickness and it helped a lot. I only went snorkeling this day. Oh, and I got sunburnt. There is just something about me and boats and the sun. Thankfully, all is well with the burn.. I haven't even peeled!

The Great Barrier Reef was amazing! I can't believe I was actually there. Although, I almost cried when I would see dead parts. It takes about 10 years for one centimetre of the reef to grow. Therefore, it is going to die before it can rebuild itself. How depressing! At least I can say that I saw it once in my lifetime. And not only did I see it, but I snorkeled and dived in it and lived on a boat for three days! Oh, and I saw Nemo!! Unfortunately, I didn't take my underwater camera the day that I saw him, but oh well. We all know what he looks like.

Living on a boat, however, is not for me. I never got sick, thanks to the patch. But I HATED the feeling of always rocking back and forth. Tuesday night was a rough night for me. I could not get comfortable. It was bad. Remind me never to take a really really long cruise. Bleh.

WEDNESDAY
I woke up at 6:30AM to take a dive with Al, Abbey, and Fraser. The dive was awesome!! I am very happy that I paid the extra money to do it. Luckily, I didn't freak out like I did the first time I went scuba-diving. (Thanks Sissy for prepping me!) I did have problems popping my ears. I saw so many neon colored fish and just amazing sea life. I can't wait to get my pictures back, but we all know how crappy underwater cameras are. After my dive though, I felt nauseous so I went back to bed. Happy to say that I still didn't get sick and was better after more sleep. We laid out for awhile too. I was careful not to burn my back anymore, but instead I just burnt the front of my body. Ha, life as a ginger. Never fear, it still isn't the worst burn I have ever gotten.

On the boat, I did a lot of sleeping. I couldn't read because I always felt blaaaah from all the rocking. So I basically would dive, lay out a little, and sleep. It was nice and relaxing. We watched the sunset on Wednesday night and it was GORGEOUS. Later on, Al and I watched the stars for awhile too. Two of the most perfect things to do while you are on a boat. It was a spectacular end to the day.

THURSDAY
This time, I voluntarily woke up early to watch the sunrise! Also beautiful, but the sunset was better. Al and I hoped to see some dolphins like they did the morning before, but no such luck. I didn't get to see dolphins, sharks, sea turtles or jelly fish on this trip! Many many people got stung by jellies, so I guess I should feel special that I never even saw one. I escaped death this time! We were transferring back to the smaller boat that would take us back to Cairns around 3, so we all just laid around and hung out a lot on this day. From Justin to Kelly was on TV, and I made everyone watch it. They all hate me now, but I still *love* that movie! The ride back to Cairns, luckily, was not as bad as the ride out there. Hardly anyone got sick that time. I was very happy once we reached land! No more boats for me!

FRIDAY
We had a "free" day in Cairns. We just went to the lagoon to swim and then revisited the markets for those who wanted to pick up a few more souvenirs. The day was kind of lame. By this time, though, most of us were ready to head back to Sydney. Traveling is fun, but it takes a lot out of you. Also, when your plans don't go as you plan, you get a little fed up. I was a little fed up by the end.

All in all, the trip was fun but it didn't live up to its expectations. My hair is really light now, though, and my skin is a little darker. Yay! I look like a person and not a ghost! (On my way to being black, Amber!) Unfortunately, my return to Sydney hasn't been that great either. I currently have an ear infection, or so I think. My equilibrium is still way off. I am still swaying like I am on a boat, and it's not just occasionally- it's constant. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, so we will see what they say. Also, I had to fork out some money to buy an external hard drive because my computer literally had 0 bytes left. Oh money, how I loathe thee.

Next time, I am going to make Cait write my blogs. Hers are funnier. Also, I hate that I ALWAYS feel like I have left something out. Until my next near death experiences, cheers!

New Zealand Love

Disclaimer: This entry is going to be miles long. If you have a short attention span, I suggest you just get the cliff notes version from someone.

FRIDAY
Longest day of my life. I woke up early because we had been having problems with our rental car and since it was in my name, I needed to fix it. Honestly, it being Monday now. I don't remember everything I did, but I was on the go from 9AM to 1:30PM. And I even got some homework in, which benefited me because I didn't have to do it when we returned tonight.

Our flight left Sydney at 6PM for Auckland, New Zealand. Check in took FOREVER. The line for carry on baggage only check in was just unacceptable. We arrived to Auckland around 11PM. As soon as we stepped off the plane, I was a nervous wreck about our car. I just had this fear that something was going to go wrong and we were going to be hitch-hiking around NZ instead of driving. Thankfully, our car was there and waiting! No problems there. Getting out of the car park at the airport was another story. Al was the first up to try his hands at driving on the "wrong" side of the road. All was good and dandy until the machine was faulty and it wouldn't eat his card. Oh, good laughs late at night in a foreign country. We made it to our first hostel unscathed, Base Auckland. It was right downtown, with plenty of bars around us. Too bad we were all tired and starving. So we ate Wendy's! That was exciting! I don't even think Australia has any of those. We didn't end up going to bed until 3AM, which worked out great considering we were getting up at 6AM.

SATURDAY
We left Auckland bright and early to begin the trip to Taupo. Al, Courtney & Cait were scheduled to sky-dive. I wish I could have participated, but it was not in the funds for me. New Zealand is B E A U T I F U L. I didn't sleep one time in the car because it's just too gorgeous to miss. Everything about it equals love. While those three were jumping out of an airplane, I took the car and drove around Taupo. I walked amongst the shops in search of sunscreen, and then I headed to the beach at Lake Taupo to read. I didn't do much reading. I did more picture taking and listening to the water. A m a z i n g. Oh, and driving on the other side of the road is surprisingly easy to pick up. I was scared to death at first, but it was no biggie. We all did it at some point, and we didn't die nor crash. Success!

After their crazy plane adventures, we jumped in the car to head to Rotorua. We were originally going to go to the Thermal Wonderland, but by time we got there, it was closed. I was depressed. This place really sold itself well in the brochures as one of "New Zealand's best volcanic areas with colours and hues everywhere." Sigh, at least we got to see the boiling mud pools. I have never taken so many pictures of mud in my life. After being in Rotorua for a bit, we were accustomed to the rotten egg smell of the place and hit up the thermal pools. For just $12, we relaxed in hot, natural pools. It was the best experience and the cheapest spa type place I will ever be at. Okay, it wasn't really a spa but it might've well as been!

We ended the night at Cactus Jack's Backpackers hostel. It was themed and all! I'm not sure what the theme was- Western most likely. It was the cheapest and greatest atmosphere of all of our hostels.

SUNDAY
Not quite as early of a start, but the first activity was White Water Rafting! OMG, I WAS A NERVOUS WRECK. I was so scared! I mean, me and extreme sports have a habit of not mixing well. But IT WAS FUCKING AMAZING. I can't wait to do it again! What a rush! Once I got over the fear, I had a blast. The four of us got our own raft with two guides, Wade & a handsome 18 year old named Tory. Can you feel the love already? Wade enjoyed us Americans and decided to give us a chant. Whenever we accomplished a rapid or right before, we held our paddles in the air and he yelled "TEAM AMERICA". Of course, we responded with a hearty "FUCK YEAH!" All of the other rafts were jealous.. I just know it. The rapids that we went on were Grade 5, which is the hardest that you can do like this. Can you see why I was so scared? We went down a 7m waterfall! That was the best part of the whole trip. Luckily, we didn't flip but we did get to see a boat flip. I was just happy to survive the waterfall intact. Wade also let us do a bajillion other fun things that most of the other rafts didn't do. Courtney rode on the front Cowgirl Style down a rapid. All four of us jumped out and went for a swim, only to have Wade tell us that we would be going down the next rapid with only our bodies. AWESOME! Cait and I got to "white water surf". Basically, I sat at the front of the raft facing the back on the floor. Wade then pushed the raft against the rapid and made the water fly over my head and soak everyone. It was hilarious! I couldn't stop laughing, while trying not to drown. Tory said that I was completely covered by a wall of water at some points. Don't worry, we paid the money for a CD of photos. They are the best! I was just proud of myself for not falling out, nor getting hurt. Huzzah!

After that, we went to Hobbiton aka where they filmed the hobbit parts of LOTR. I am ashamed to say, I have never seen the movies. But now I can say that I saw parts of where they were filmed. Oh, and we may or may not have seen construction for an upcoming movie which they are not allowed to discuss but everyone else knows about anyways. (If you don't know what I am talking about, that is sad. Even I knew!)

We headed to Waitomo after that to find our final hostel, Juno Hall Backpackers. This place was nice as well. There were hammocks! Which Al and I hung out in for a bit after our adventure of getting lost. We went to get dinner at the "two second town" and then we were going to go see the black sand beaches. Well, we did not quite make it there. Instead, we wound around and around for 45 minutes before deciding to turn back. The most adventurous parts were Cait running over a rabbit (I tried to make her feel better by saying it was on a suicide mission.. not funny?) and the talk of how we were in a scary movie & we shouldn't stop for anyone.

MONDAY (aka today)
Our final adventure in the Canada of Oz was Black Water Rafting. Let me just say, I was completely naive about this. I expected to just sit in a tube and float down through the caves while looking up at the glow worms and relaxing. Wrong. This was the most strenuous activity yet! We legit went hiking through a cave in wetsuits and helmets. I knew I was going to have problems from the moment that I couldn't get my wetsuit up and I needed a hike up from the muscular tour guides. To clarify: A hike up means that two men lifted me off the ground (feet dangling and all) by my straps to pull the suit up. Sadly, there was no documentation. After a crazy hike to the caves, we climbed our way down. We had to jump off a waterfall backwards with our bums in our tubes. There were some relaxing parts where we floated around in a long chain in COMPLETE darkness with only the glow worms guiding our way. It had the appeal of the night sky at points. The whole thing was phenomenal. I can't even describe in words how wonderful it was. Everyone should go black water rafting at some point in their lives. Of course, it would be better in New Zealand but just go wherever you can.The whole experience was exhausting, claustrophobic, cold, and fucking amazing!

Sadly, this is where the weekend came to an end. We had to jet our way back to the airport in time to catch our plane. We all had doubts for awhile if we would make it, but it really wouldn't have been the end of the world. We all fell in love with NZ, even more so than Australia. We did not want to leave at all. Gah, parts of this weekend are already a blur. Great people. Great fun. Great drives. Great scenery. Great activities. Everything was just amazing.

THINGS I LEARNED IN NZ: Kiwi men are sexy and very manly. I want to marry one and become the wife of a white/black water rafting instructor or something similar. Glow worms are really maggots that glow when using the toilet. Yum! Glow worm caves sound much better than glow maggot caves. Good job kiwis. I want to live in NZ more than Australia now. I never thought I'd see that day.

Well, I feel like I have forgotten about a million things to say. But this entry is miles long. I miss the adventures. Can I have them back? Oh wait, only 4 more days until Cairns & the Great Barrier Reef for spring break. I love the way we planned our trip.

A Reason To Blog

During a 50 minute snooze fest lecture about writing an essay, I realized I needed to blog. With nothing exciting to say, I have come up with a list of some things that I will miss about Australia.

*Australian techno music. It is everywhere, and I surprisingly love it. They usually take American music and add some crazy techno to it, but then sometimes it is completely unique and Aussie too.
*Barefooted Aussies galore. They roam everywhere barefoot. Lectures, tutorials, the grocery store.
*The hole in the Ozone layer. Believe it or not folks, I enjoy the hole being above Australia. It is making my hair lighter and my skin darker. Granted, I may get skin cancer but I think I was already getting that before I came here.
*Accents. Need I say more?
*Thai food on every corner. We need more in Illinois. Granted, Chicago has a lot but Belleville and Bloomington-Normal are very limited on their selection of Thai restaurants.
*Nice pants! My god, all of the men here wear GREAT pants. It's like a nice pants heaven for me.
*Not having to drive. I enjoy long drives, such as to and from school, but for the most part, I hate driving. I'm enjoying walking and public transportation.
*The "wrong" side of the road. I am getting so used to the wrong side of the road that I don't even know which side is right anymore! Today I literally was walking down the sidewalk using hand motions to try to figure out which way Americans drive on the road.

Obviously this list will get longer. I do still have 3 more months here, but this is all I could come up with during my lecture. I'm such a good student, eh?

Next update: My adventures in New Zealand. We leave Friday!

Trains & Jobs

I ventured to North Sydney this evening for a job interview. My favorite part about today was riding the train by myself. I love trains; they are much better than buses. More relaxing. Easier to navigate. Better smelling, most of the time. Unfortunately, though, I have yet to encounter crazies on the train. I await the day!

My job interview turned out to be a group interview, with 15 other people. You think they should have told us, eh? I have no idea what to expect out of it. I did meet a redhead who lives in my building. I have decided that the SUV administration put all the redheads in Old Stockade (aka the shittiest building). They are hair-acist. After the interview, a couple of Aussie girls were asking me about America. I love being questioned. And I learned that no matter where you grow up, you are not happy with it. They all want to leave Sydney and find it amusing that I love it here.

Yes, I really just used the word love. I am becoming quite infatuated with the city. I suppose I should ride trains more often to give me this state of mind.

I think tomorrow will be my first ever St. Patrick's day celebration. This week is hectic and wonderful.

Surf's Down

Yesterday I got to experience the life of a surfer chick. Let's just say, I don't foresee myself becoming one any time soon.

First, let me say that I did not kill myself unlike the last time I tried a new sport. *cough skiing cough* Yay! I was incredibly nervous and scared before our lesson, but in the end, surfing isn't scary. It is just super HARD.

I could barely balance on the board while lying down, yet alone attempt to stand up. But I gave it my all. Okay, maybe not really my all, because I just realized I couldn't do it. I wish I could say that I have some gnarly bruises and cuts, but all I have is achy muscles.

Surfing takes lots of practice. It's really a skill that you have to teach yourself. Do I have the patience to do that? No, nor do I have the muscles.

But hey, at least I can say I went surfing once in my life. Check off my "To Do List Before I Die".

Our Apartment is Shitty

The title says it all. Angelica and I have a dump of a place. Don't get me wrong, everyone we live with is nice. But I am sick and tired of the shittiness of this place.

Tonight, we came back to a non-functioning door. The key slot has been acting up, and well, it definitely wouldn't let us in. We looked like idiotic Americans at 1AM, trying to get in. We had to call security, but she was very friendly- especially when her key wouldn't even work. I felt so bad for the RA who had to come let us in. When will our apartment just function correctly and look good?!!

Also, even in Australia, we have bad nights & plans don't go as planned. The end. I'm ready for a little relief. Although, Al & I did go to this place called "The Ivy". I don't even know how to describe it. It was the coolest, fucking bar I have ever been to. There was even a pool. We definitely don't understand how we got in dressed in jeans; we were way under-dressed.

Oh, and I ate McDonalds here. I'm really upset by this because I *forgot* that I made the promise to myself. But from now on, NO MCDONALDS.

Life As Usual

I have no idea what to blog about, which is why I don't very often. Everyone seems to think I am leading this EXCITING and ADVENTURESOME life. Well, to be honest, my life is pretty normal. The only difference is that I am in Australia and y'all are in the United States. I go to school, and school is school. Although, I do have waaaaay too much free time on my hands. I have yet to find a job, but did get an interview for one that is too far away for me. But I get bored.. a lot actually. Right now, I am doing laundry. TOTALLY EXCITING.

So yes, I don't really have too much to say. I did have quite the scare the other night when we went out. I thought I lost my room key, but in reality I just locked myself out. No more drinking on a Tuesday night for me. Australians drink EVERY night of the week. I can't handle that.

I am going to New Zealand 26-29 of March! YAY! I didn't plan on traveling there, but it will be a super jam-packed weekend of fun! And then we have one week before spring break in Cairns & the Great Barrier Reef (courtesy of our program).

Life is gooooooooood, even if it is a little boring. :)

Uni & Classes

Before I begin a long entry about my first week of classes, I have a fun fact for everyone. Fun Fact #1- Australians do not bump & grind. Yep, that's it. Dancing here is difficult and weird.

I can officially say that I am back in school, and I have never been happier. Uni here is different. Let me explain. Classes are broken up into lectures and tutorials. Lectures are, you guessed, just like in the states. Most classes have 2 hours of lectures per week, but one of my classes only has 1 hour. Then you have tutorials, which are smaller group sessions where you discuss the readings for the week. Tutorials did not start this week, but I do have a bunch of reading to get started on. All in all, I do not hate my schedule yet. I do have a lot of awkward breaks. I just usual bring a book and my iPod and find a spot around campus to sit and read. I am falling in love with our campus more and more.

I am taking four classes, just like at IWU. Australian Theatre, Film & Learning; Land & Nation; Reality, Ethics, % Beauty; and American Literature. My theatre class is going to be awesome; it is an education class. We get to go see performances and such. Plus the teacher is a good looking Aussie man. Can't beat that! Although, I do find it extremely difficult to look past the accent and focus on what he is saying during lectures. Oooooops. The first day of Land & Nation scared me because I despise history courses. But then the second day I realized EVERYTHING I was learning was new to me. I really know nothing about Australian history. I am nervous about the debates later in the semester. As for Reality, Ethics & Beauty, I would never be taking this class if I didn't still need an AV gen ed at school. I may struggle a bit because I am not a philosopher of any kind, but I think if I work hard it will pay off. And finally, American Literature wasn't my first choice for a LIT class. I wanted to take Australian Literature but then it was no longer being offered. I do think it will be interesting to read the books and have them talked about from an Australian perspective. And I like that we are actually reading things that I have not read before, minus The Great Gatsby.

My first day on campus was OVERWHELMING. Uni has sooooooo many more students than IWU. It didn't really hit me until I saw everyone walking around that first day. I'm adjusting to it now, but it is still a very large change for me. Also, most of my classes have upwards of 100 people in my lectures. I've never been in a class of more than 30. I just keep telling myself that this is what I wanted. I don't hate it; just have to get used to it.

What else? Angelica wants me to go blonde. I found a place on campus that serves bubble tea; only boba is called pearls here. But tea is way cheaper than coffee, so that is my new obsession. Oh, we officially have all of our flatmates. Stephanie is a redhead too. 3 out of 5 of us are redheads. Coincidence? I think not. Totally planned. However, we still have a mound of junk that is not ours. We will be going through it and taking what we want and throwing the rest away soon.

It's been raining a lot here. Boo.

Tsunamis & Bugs

Well, Australia is under a tsunami warning thanks to the earthquake in Chile. It really is nothing to be concerned about, just have to stay away from the beach. Funny, we were going to go to the beach today too.

My room is becoming infested with bugs. Surprisingly, I am adjusting to it well. There has been a spider on my ceiling for two days. Believe me, I would get him down if I could reach him. And then this morning I woke up with a cockroach on the ceiling too. Bugs & tsunamis, I am living the life!

I can officially say that I have experienced Sydney's Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, while being drunk at 5PM. (Mom & Dad, I wasn't too drunk, just pleasantly happy.)

Angelica apparently met another flat mate named Sharon yesterday. I have yet to see her. We think the mess is from her and her bf, who seems to be living here. It's not an ideal situation, but as long as I can use my kitchen, shower and sleep, I am fine.

The lot of us started watching The OC season 1, and now we all have addictions. I forgot how much I love that show.

CLASSES START TOMORROW!

Move Along

I suppose it has been a few days since I wrote, eh? I haven't been up to too much excitement. Pretty basic travelings around and what not. We still only have one flat mate. I get along with her fine, and she said we can use her pots and pans. Thank goodness. Her friends are having a little get-together here tonight. I just plan on staying in my room (unless they invite me out) and watching the last few episodes of Lost that I have missed.

Wednesday, Angelica and I hung out with some of our "baby" Aussies. Every Aussie boy that I have met thus far has been 18 or 19. They are all so tiny! Later that night, we all tried to go out to a 3D party that a bar on our campus was sponsoring, but it was pretty lame. The night was a bit of a dud.

Thursday night, we grabbed some food. Indian for some, including me. Watched New Moon and swooned over Jacob Black while eating ice cream. Ended the night with funny YouTube videos. It was relaxing considering I was plagued with allergies all day and spent most of my time sleeping in bed.

Today, Friday, we went to Cronulla Beach. The weather was very unpleasant, but we still had a bit of fun sleeping in the sand. I am going to be a beach bum before the end of this trip. Now, if I could only learn how to not get sand E V E R Y W H E R E. Oh, but I did buy my first frivolous items today. I bought 2 dresses while in Cronulla. They are definitely not my usual type, very Aussie looking. I love them. I am wearing one tomorrow night for the Mardi Gras parade! (And I have one on now because I thought we were going out tonight, and I have just been too lazy to change out of it.)

Flat Mate!

We met a flat mate today! Her name is Peony (sp?). And to top it off, Angelica and I are NOT crazy. She said that she had begun moving things in a few days ago, but no one was ever here when she was. There has been someone else in this apartment! Sad thing is, she has no idea who else was living here and made the terrible mess. I am afraid that we may not have gotten off on a good foot with her yet, but she is probably just confused by the large pile of crap on our kitchen table. I hope she is nice.

One down, two more to go.

Epicness of Monday

Let me just clarify- Monday was not epic in a good way. Everything that happened between the hours of midday (or so) and 5 was a catastrophe.

The day started off splendidly. I went to Gloria Jeans to upload photos and was able to Skype with multiple people. The only problems I have with my internet situation is that I cannot upload photos and Skype more regularly. Oh well, I am getting used to it. After GJ, I came home to the apartment. Within a few minutes, the cleaning ladies came to clean our kitchen. We finally have a functional kitchen with a fridge full of food! Granted, we still have yet to meet our flat mates and we just set their dishes and appliances all over the living room. We do not want them in our clean kitchen until they are cleaned! The cleaning ladies were quite fun. They made fun of our flat mates and called them slobs. With a clean kitchen, Angelica and I started to believe things were turning around.

WRONG.

Somewhere in the middle of the kitchen cleaning, I noticed that my computer adapter was no longer charging. (I just realized that I may have gotten mixed up on the order of things. The cleaning ladies may have been after GJ. No idea.) Anyways, I started worrying about why my adapter was not charging. I tried switching outlets in my room because I have about 10 of them. None worked. Then I moved to the living room. Nothing. As soon as Angelica came back, I asked if I could try her adapter since she has a Mac as well. NADA. Of course, I start freaking out because my computer was already dying and I had no way to charge it. Angelica and I then trekked our way to the CBD via the bus to go to the Mac store. (We later found out there is a store closer to us as well.) We get to the Mac store just fine and dandy, taking bus 422. It stops right outside the store as well. Score! We go in and the lady tells me that they do not have any Genius bar openings until SUNDAY. Hello, it was Monday. It was impossible for me to not have my computer working until Sunday. The other suggestion was to drop it off with the Genius bar, which I reluctantly did. I'm very protective of my baby, of course. After all was said and done, we walked around trying to find the bus. Let me just say, I despise the Sydney bus system right about now. We took the 422 to get down to the CBD, but to get back, the 422 does not stop on the road we got off on. We took a couple buses, ended up walking forever, and finally got back.

Once we are back to King Street, we stop at Franklins to buy food. We were both very thrilled to be able to finally buy food and stop going out. I spent way too much money this past week eating out because we didn't have the capability of refrigerating food. We shop as quickly as possible because after our 3 hour trip to the Mac store and back, we are exhausted and hot. (It is unbearably hot right now to the point where you step outside and in minutes you are soaked with sweat. Talk about sexy, right?) We finally get back to our apartment like what 5 hours after we left? I don't really know if it was that long, but it sure did seem like it.

Now, here's where the fun REALLY starts happening. As we begin putting away our groceries, I notice that the fridge is not running. Neither of us understand why and we are not happy at this point. We pull out the fridge. It is plugged in just fine. We thought perhaps the cleaning ladies accidentally unplugged it. Nope, all good and dandy there.

Angelica then comes out and says "Kim. You're computer is fine."

I'm like "What?"

"None of my outlets are working, which would explain why the fridge is not running either!"

"WTF? ARE YOU SERIOUS?"

I was like speech less at this point. We then call Maintenance but it is their off hours, so we have to trek our way over to reception to speak to someone. Maintenance comes back with us and shows us how to work the circuit breaker.

But basically, the whole time our outlets were not working. The reason we did not notice is because our lights worked fine. It was just the outlets. Therefore, I had dropped off a completely functional computer at the Mac store for no reason at all. By the end of the day, we were both just like "WHEN ARE THINGS GOING TO GO RIGHT!!"

Obviously, I went back this morning to get my computer back. Seriously, the Genius bar people probably thought I was insane when I said "We just had a misunderstanding with the outlets in our apartment." Who the fuck has misunderstandings with outlets? All I can do now is laugh about the whole situation. Although, I still don't understand Sydney buses. I even looked up the buses before I left this morning, and there were no bus stops on the street it told me to go to. However, I made my way back in a little less time than we did the previous day. Someday I hope to understand this public transportation thing.

All in all, everything worked out. Clean kitchen and fridge. Food in the fridge. A working computer that can charge. Just a bunch of useless fiascoes for absolutely no reason at all.

Need less to say, Newtown Pub Crawl last night was a success for this ginger right here. My first true night of partying in Australia. :)

PS- Still no flat mates. They must be dead.

Year of the Tiger

Tis Monday morning, I do believe. My days are getting confused. Every day is another adventure, long and tiresome. I would really appreciate some consistency now. Luckily, classes start on Monday! I have never been this excited to go to class before, but almost 3 months off has done this to me. Plus once classes start, I will have more opportunities to meet new people- Aussies and all.

Saturday, Cait, Al, and I traveled to Manly Beach. We took the train for the first time, and of course took pictures like tourists. Manly is a 30 minute ferry ride from Sydney, but the ride is beautiful. I didn't feel like I was standing on a ferry for that long. Manly was just terrific. It was a beautiful day for the beach. I even ventured farther into the ocean and did some wave surfing! What a blast! We also walked around the shops for a little. Souvenir places are most definitely cheaper in Manly than Sydney. I bought some post cards and hope to send them out soon. I just need to figure out the post system still. *writes on to do list*

Yesterday was the beginning of a two week Mardi Gras festival for Australia and Chinese New Year! Lots of things to do. Mardi Gras here is not a religious holiday. It is a GLBT festival- for two weeks. It kicks off with Fair Day. Fair Day was hot. We weren't there for very long. There were lots of dogs and dragqueens. These are the two main things I noticed. I would've enjoyed it a little more if I hadn't been pouring buckets of sweat. For Chinese New Year, we went to the CBD (City Business District). There is no such thing as "downtown" here; it's the CBD. We ate at a Chinese restaurant and caught some of the parade. Then we headed to Darling Harbour for fireworks! Fireworks above Darling Harbour set to a Chinese soundtrack was A M A Z I N G! Although we dealt with way too many crowds yesterday, I am happy that we experienced Chinese New Year.

Today I am taking it easy. The lot of us are making breakfast for dinner, and then there is a Newtown Pub Crawl. That is why I am taking it easy. :)

Angelica and I have yet to meet our mystery flat mates. We have almost been here a week, and school starts next week. Where are these people? This morning we took every thing out of the kitchen cabinets and placed it all around the table and living area. Maintenance is coming to clean the kitchen and fridge. Thank god! We will finally be able to start cooking, but these people are just messy! We found the key to the windows in the sink this morning. WTF? I will be ecstatic when this mess is figured out. I'm beginning to believe Cait- our flat mates were either abducted by aliens or killed by the Sydney Spider.

Bats & Rats

I forgot to mention the awesome bats that fly around our campus at night, and the giant rats too. YES! Actually, the bats are pretty fascinating creatures to watch. Tonight, Cait and I went for a little walk through campus, after grabbing some gelatto of course. First off, everyone should know that parts of our campus look like Harry Potter. We legit have a "Great Hall" which is identical to HP. We decided to take a stroll through campus via a different route than we usually take. I haven't quite had time to explore and take pictures yet, but definitely soon! I'm thinking Sunday or Monday, but next week there are lots of events taking place for "O-Week". I still have one class to switch too, and then I'll have my official schedule. I'm crossing my fingers for Fridays off. Anyways, after we walked through campus, Cait and I watched some bats diving into the pond at Victoria Park. We sat to talk on a bench for awhile as well. Sydney is beautiful at night. The stars were out, and we may have seen a planet. I need to look that up.

As for what else I have been up to.. for the life of me, I cannot remember what I did Wednesday. I'm assuming more exploring and what not. Last night, we rode a bus to Sydney Harbour which is GORGEOUS at night. We were planning on hitting up the bar life, but that fell through. Today during the day, we hit up Coogee Beach for awhile. I'm a little burnt on my back, shoulder, and foot, but they are just splotchy ones that don't hurt. I'm doing well so far! My hair is becoming lighter every minute and my skin is adapting to the sun and gaining a little colour. Who knows maybe I will be black by the time I return to the states. Oh, we also made a little spaghetti dinner tonight at Al's place. It was delicious and cheap. My goodness I cannot wait until I can cook in my own kitchen! Hopefully Tuesday will be the day for that. Angelica and I have yet to meet our "ghost" flatmates. I swear, they come here when we are not around because things seem to be moving! Okay, I realize I am just paranoid but I would really enjoy meeting these people some day.

Tomorrow, the lot of us are heading to Manly Beach for the day. Manly is one of the larger, touristy beaches. It should be a good time. We get to ride a ferry! I hope the ferry doesn't crash and I drown like Meredith from Grey's Anatomy. My life would be messed up after that. Although, if Patrick Dempsey saved me, my life would be complete.(Amber, that part was for you!)

I feel like I had more funny, witty stories to tell such as the one about bats and rats, which wasn't really that funny. But I'm at a loss. I miss tweeting funny things via text messages! It doesn't work- I tried. Boo.

I can't believe I haven't even been here a full week as of this moment. Crazay.

Sassy American Kim

Tonight, a group of 4 of us were sitting on a bridge overlooking Darling Harbour. A man walked by, pulled up his shirt, and said "Hey! Look at these abs, girls!"

My response: "You don't have any!"

Classy American Kim.

First Entry About 5 Days Late

Well, here I am in beautiful Sydney, Australia. I have been here for 5 days, and boy have they been hectic. I can't even begin to settle down yet. There are just too many little things that need to be accomplished. This is probably going to be a very long entry because I would like to catch up on what I have been doing. I finally have an internet connection in my room, but apparently Skype doesn't work on the University internet. I have yet to try it out, so we'll see. Internet is way too expensive here. I won't be on it as much as I am used to. It will take some getting used to.

THURSDAY- I left STL around 6:30PM, spent four hours on a plane to SFO, had a two hour layover, and departed SFO around 10:40PM for Australia. I was on a plane for roughly 19 hours that day. It was insane. The 14 hour plane ride wasn't as horrible as I was expecting. I definitely slept more than I thought I would be able to, and there was an Australia man sitting by me who offered some good conversations. He even gave me his number for if I ever visit Brisbane. Don't get too excited, he was my sister's age with a wife and kids. Oh, there was a very cute Aussie at the airport, but I didn't get to talk to him. Instead a girl named Cait started talking to him. Well, Cait is now my go to girl. Funny how that happens, eh? We roomed together at the hotel for 3 days, and now we are in adjacent buildings. We get along very well.

FRIDAY- Lost in the abyss somewhere. I was above the ocean. February 12, 2010 did not officially exist for me.

SATURDAY- We arrived in Sydney around 9:30AM. We were a little delayed getting off the plane because someone else was in our gate. All I have to say is, do not make people who have been flying for 14 hours stay on a plane even longer!! That was the antsiest (which apparently isn't a word) couple of minutes ever! I was able to find my luggage relatively quickly and then I went through customs without any issues. It was easy peasy for me, thank goodness. After I left the gate, I started looking for a sign that said IES. I had a little trouble at first finding them, but then I migrated towards all the young college people with large suitcases. Smart, eh? We were ushered to buy a Vodafone right away. I still don't know how to use my phone fully. I basically just call my friends here. I would send texts to people in the US, but it will cost you guys more than me. We headed to Coogee Sands Hotel for a 3 day stay during orientation. I roomed with Cait and Chelsea. Saturday was the longest day of everyone's life. By about 3PM, we were dying to fight off the jet lag. AMAZINGLY, we all stayed up until about 10PM and went to bed normally. We had lunch as a big group and just sort of mingled. It was hard to mingle with everyone during orientation because there were large groups of people who already knew each other. That made it harder for us who didn't know people, so we sort of formed our own group. After lunch we had a little bit of orientation and then we were free for the day. A group of us went down to the beach and did some rock climbing. I have awesome pictures, although it was rainy and cloudy. Then we made our way to dinner at an Italian place. We keep having extremely long dinners because here you have to ask for the bill, and we always forget! They won't kick you out or bring it to you. So this night we had a 3 hour dinner, but that was because a crazy couple next to us talked our ears off for 2 of them. They just wanted to keep telling us things to see and do. It was great, but we were exhausted! I thought I was going to die. We got some ice cream as a reward for such an extremely long dinner and then headed back to the hotel for rest.

SUNDAY- Well, this was an informative day. We learned that pash means to make out, root means to have sex, and crack onto is to hit on. My Aussie language is now complete. :) Aside from the language lesson, we headed to Darling Harbour for the day. We got to go to the Sydney Aquarium and took a jet boat ride on the ocean. Unfortunately, I was on the jet boat that broke down so our ride was cut short. However, I was still able to see the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. I hope to go with Cait to the Conservatorium of Music soon because it is right by the Opera House. I want to take better pictures. At night, we went to Chinese for dinner and brought a box of wine along with us. A bunch of us just hung out a bit and then I went to bed fairly early.

MONDAY- The first sunny day since we had been here! After our orientation in the morning, we headed to the Featherdale Wildlife Park. We saw all the classic Aussie animals and even got to pet them!! The kangaroos wouldn't eat our food though. They are way overfed, but I took some pictures pretending to feed them. I'm sure I will have plenty more opportunities to feed the kangaroos. I just hope to actually see one in its natural habitat sometime soon. Next we headed to the Blue Mountains for a fabulous hike with the cooky Lester. He was a real crazy. The end. We ended the night with pizza on the roof of our hotel. Yet again I was too tired to go out for some night life.

TUESDAY- Move in day! We moved into Sydney University Village, our permanent homes until the end of June. I live in a 5 person suite, with one other girl from the IES program, Angelica. We do not know our other "flat mates" yet. However, when we got here, there was already crap everywhere. The kitchen is a total DISASTER. We talked to reception today to find out the deal, but we are going to need a professional cleaner. I guess you could say that I am less than happy by whoever has been living here/moved in. I don't feel at home at all because I stay in my room. It smells in the lounge areas and we can't cook food in our own kitchen. Oh, and let's not mention all the dead bugs in the freezer. I am very unhappy right now with our apartment situation. A bunch of us took a trip to the closest (or so we think) mall to get needed supplies. Let's just say, things are way more expensive here and I have no idea how this is going to work. I plan to get a job, but I can't until I have a full schedule, which sucks. Oh, and for some reason, no one puts prices on things here!! WHY? I am definitely starting to notice the differences between here and the US. After a crazy day, we all went out!! YES, FINALLY I WENT OUT IN AUSTRALIA! We went to this really awesome "backpackers" club where almost every guy was gay. No joke. I loved it! I had a great time minus the fact that my feet were KILLING me. We walked waaaaaaaaay too much yesterday. I might need a comfortable pair of shoes that aren't tennis shoes. I don't really know what kind of shoes that leaves though. We'll see what I can find.

All in all, I have already gotten to see and do a lot. I'm ready to be comfortable though and have this feeling like home. It's going to be a process. I am unpacked, but not completely organized. I can't wait to finally feel like a local and meet some more Australians. It's been hard being with all Americans right now. I love the IES friends that I have made, but I would really like to branch out now. I am excited to live in a big city, since I never have before. One of the main shopping roads, Kings Street, is right by SUV. It's amazing!

Oh, and I already got sunburnt. It was the day that it rained all day long. Yes, that is how strong the sun is here. My burn isn't/wasn't bad. I don't even know if I still have it. I'm trying to decide if I am getting tan lines or what they are. I'm not red enough for them to be sunburn lines. Although, I can't buy sunscreen any higher than 30 here. Strange. So all my money will be going towards sunscreen. Goody!

Well, I know I am probably forgetting a ton of things to say, but this is long enough. Props to anyone who actually reads all of this. My entries will not be this detailed from now on. Well, they might be. Back when I used to keep a Xanga, I was quite known for extremely long and detailed entries about my life. But I am also keep a journal for myself, so we'll see what ends up on the blog and what's in my journal. Peace out for now. Just know that I am well and alive, just a little overwhelmed and anxious to be settled completely.

TODAY!

THE DAY IS FINALLY HERE! I leave in 2.5 hours for the airport. First plane to San Francisco is at 6:30PM. Plane to Sydney isn't until 10:40PM, SF time, but it is coming from New York.. so that should be interesting considering their weather right now. I get to spend 18+ hours on planes, and that's not counting travel time. It's going to be crazay! AHHHH!

My next update will be the start of my Australian blogs! GET EXCITED! :)

ALMOST HERE!

That's right folks. The time is approaching quite rapidly now for me to say goodbye to the United States and begin my adventure in Australia. It is finally starting to seem real. Ahhhhh! That's really the only sentiment I have as of lately. Tonight my mom came into my room and as she looked around out my various packing piles and luggage she said, "You're going to Australia. That's so far away!" I think it is finally starting to hit everyone else, too. Oh, and one of the most exciting things that I found out this week is that Lost is shown in Australia! They don't have every show that we have, but Lost is one of them. The only catch is that I will be a week behind everyone here, but when I get there I will be a week ahead of them.

I have some Australian money now!

Isn't it pretty?!

Oh, and just for fun, here is one of Marco in my suitcase. That little [bugger], insert bad word here.

Cooking

Finally accepting the fact that I still have 3 weeks before I leave. I want it to go by quickly, but then I know once it is here, I will be sad to say goodbye. Have I ever told you that I hate goodbyes? Well, I do.

I have begun cooking my way through my College Cookbook that Sissy & Naz bought me for Christmas. I love it! I figured I need to learn a little something or I will starve while in Sydney because I have to cook for myself. This book is definitely making the trek with me to the land down under.

I look forward to my first real post from Sydney! GAH!

Duh duh duuuuuh.

Just testing out the blog to see how I like it. I thought maybe this would be easier than Wordpress, which completely confused the hell out of me. 1 month, 2 days until I leave for Australia. Could it be going by any slower?