Sunday, May 1, 2011
The Bush: Survivor Woman
This week we set out on a trip to the outback! I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, so my roommates and I packed for every scenario we might encounter. We rolled up to school with our huge duffel bags packed to the brim (and to our defense, out sleeping bags and pillows were in there) and everyone made fun of us and were laughing so hard! Seriously, I didn’t know what to expect! I was prepared to pull up to a desolate desert, red cracked soil, beaming sun, flies attacking you, nothing but shrubs and dirt for miles upon miles, no sign of civilization, and snakes on the prowl to suck your blood. We pulled up and I seriously laughed out loud! It was completely different than you would ever expect! There were trees everywhere you look, green grass, meadows, rivers and honestly it reminded me of Twilight, and was beyond beautiful. Don’t get me wrong, haha it still was a little rough, but I transformed into a survivor woman!
Here is a summary of the outback and how I became such an outdoorsy woman:
1. Dead lizard/salamander
As soon as we arrived we went on a walk down to the river. All of a sudden one of the girls in our group looks down and goes “oh hello there!” (Haha she was practically stroking this thing) and we looked down to find a deal salamander, like on Holes, dead, bleeding from the brain! We all had serious panic attacks, jumped so high in the air, and the boys pushed me right on top of it! Almost passing out, I had my first moment of weakness (5 minutes after being there) and from that moment on, I was determined to prove to everyone they were wrong about me being prissy.
2. Sleeping outside
We slept outside with no tent, haha in the actual outback, under the stars! All I can say is thank God I am a hard sleeper because I’m pretty sure I was cuddled up with a mouse all night long!
3. Fly Net Wearer
In order to ensure I wasn’t going to swallow a poisonous spider while I was roughing it, we rocked the fly nets! For some reason, with that thing on, I always looked like a dead mosquito haha.
4. Yabbie Catcher
A group of us went Yabbie catching (crawfishing)! We took raw meat and tied it in nets and threw them into this swamp. Paul and I got ours all situated and staked the string into the ground, and I flung the net into the water, but when I did, the stick broke and our net flew into the water and slowly started sinking! We panicked and were running around screaming haha because there was no way I was bout to get into that water! We convinced our teacher to put on boots and go wading into the water to get our net…haha basically she retrieved our net, but she may have contracted some rare disease! Oopsies!
5. Provider
After catching the Yabbies, I picked up the squirming creatures, helped cook them, snapped the bodies in half, cleaned and gutted the diarrhea stuff, and ate my hard work! Haha who am i? Basically I was the provider of our tribe!
6. Frog Woman
One night at the campfire, I felt something on my stomach and I thought my friend was rubbing my stomach because she was scratching my back! I looked down and there was a frog sitting on my stomach! I’m not sure if I was more concerned there was a frog on me, or if my stomach was big enough for it to be sitting there haha!
7. Australian Safari Lady
A group of us piled into the back of a work pickup to gather fire wood for that night, but on the way we went on an Australian safari. Red dirt was clouding around us and wind blowing through our hair as we went off-roading through the outback! “This is like we are on an African safari, only in Australia!”
8. Wood Picker
9. Axe Chopper
I even had my turn at chopping wood, and am happy to report I still have all my limbs J
10. Kangaroo Whisperer
On our safari, we looked up and there was a kangaroo! We sped up and saw four roos, bigger than us, standing there in the wild! There was even a red one, which is supposedly a sacred animal! Basically, I became the Kangaroo whisperer.
11. Dirty Girl
Haha despite appearing “high maintenance, deep down, I’m a dirty girl.” Haha on our tour through the outback, I got covered in red dirt! It was all over my shirt, in my hair, and stuck in my nails, and I didn’t even care!
12. Ant Houser
So in the wilderness, I look down because I felt something itchy in my underwear, and there were ants the size of dimes crawling all over my body! I may have battle wounds, but I like to say I was being self-sacrificing and gave the ants a place to play!
13. Animal Cannibalism Promoter
After lunch one day, we were cleaning up and the host goes “girls, will you take the leftovers out to the coop?” Sounds simple, right?! We hiked to whatever the coop was and found a pen of chickens! We had to feed them this bucket, but realized we ate chicken for lunch! I started getting worried and we had to fling open the gate as chickens were clucking, flying at our heads, rushing to eat themselves!
14. All Natural
While in the bush, many of us participated in the No Shower Challenge! Lets just say I didn’t shower for 5 days, wore the same clothes all week, and had dreads so severe, everyone was horrified because things were nested in there! I smelled like a rose and had enough grease on my face that you could fry some bacon! The first time I took a shower, I stood under the water and the white tub filled with brown water…haha for 20 minutes!
15. The Ultimate Survivor Woman
Needless to say, this trip was about discovering a different side of myself none of us knew existed! It was seriously the best week ever and I wouldn’t trade it for the world! So if anyone ever plans to go to the wilderness, forget bringing Bear Grylls, bring me!
Monday, April 18, 2011
the great ocean road
April 8th, nine of us were on a plane for our first adventure in Australia. Next stop, Melbourne!! We were so excited and had so many things planned for our weekend! Haha yes I know, we were only there 2 full days, but honestly, it was well worth it!!
We landed in what I thought was supposed to be a huge city, and as we stepped off the plane, I noticed we were literally parked at a shed!! Not even joking, and it was FREEZING!! Two issues here, why is it you can see your breath in Australia?!? And secondly, Melbourne is supposed to be the 2nd largest city in Australia, and here we are, parked at a shed!! We quickly realized we were not in Melbourne, we were in a small town called Avalon, one hour from the city!! Haha so keep in mind it is 1:30am, were cold, hungry, tired, and now we have to figure out how to get to our hostel!! Don’t ask me why we were so unprepared, lol but what can I say, were college students!!
So we finally arrive at our hostel, and are wiped! As we were walking in, we quickly realized we were not in our element. Here, 8 girls come prancing in with matching Country Road bags, mine is practically ripping at the seams I have so much stuff! Then we find out we are in a 10 person room! We booked an 8 person room, which only means one thing….strangers in our room!!! We fling open the door and 2 people are sleeping in the beds, so we have to use our cell phones to navigate around the room. To top it off, we had to be up at 6am for a tour, which means, we had to lay all of our stuff out for the early morning. After changing, we climb into bed making sure we are bundled up because we were not about to use to the comforters because God knows what diseases they were crawling with. We got about 3 hours of sleep (and by that I mean we heard rushing water all night long, people slamming doors, and realized there was a man sleeping in our room!!) and then were up at 6am for our tour. We got ready in the dark again, so I had no idea what our room looked like!! Thank God is all I have to say; otherwise I honestly don’t think I would have slept in the room that night! When I finally got to see our room with the light on, I was horrified. There were patches all over the walls, broken down bunk beds, pipes running along the ceiling, and the most scarring thing of my life. We noticed on the pipe above my head dangled dirty, ripped, dusty boxers! It seriously was directly over my pillow and I started screaming!!! For all I know, they could have fallen off the pipe in the middle of the night and wrapped around my face, and I could have died!! Or at least contracted some weird disease from the skids! Can we say pink eye anyone!! Haha.
Despite the hostel from hell (like honestly, I’m not made for these things!! Call me high-maintenance but honestly, no one else was sleeping with used boxers and woke up with a bloody scalp!!) we truly had the most amazing time!! I will let the rest of this post be a photo journal of what we did, but we went on a Great Ocean Road tour and it was the most incredible thing I have ever done! We went to the surf capital of the world, saw wild koalas, fed parrots in the wild, hiked through a rainforest (and I’ll mention it was pouring rain), went to the 12 Apostles, saw the Royal Gorge (haha I don’t even know if that’s what its called), and saw the London Bridge rock formation!! We had every single season in one day, and by the end looked like complete train wrecks, but the sites were breathtaking, pictures don’t even capture the true beauty! The whole weekend was absolutely AMAZING, and made me realize how beautiful Australia truly is!!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Realizing I’m in Australia
This weekend we went on a field trip to Canberra, NSW! We heard from other students before going on this trip that it would be the most boring thing ever, but surprisingly, I LOVED it! We were up at 5am and drove all morning! Let just say I was beyond exhausted! It is ungodly to be awake while it is still dark outside haha! But, I had my headphones in looking out the window and it finally hit me. I have been here for one month, and Friday was the first time I actually felt like I was in Australia! It was seriously so majestic! I think that because we have been in Sydney this whole time, I was used to the city, and now that we were in the country, I realized I really am truly in Australia! And how you imagine Australia looking, is exactly how I saw it Friday morning as the sun rose!
After a total of 3 hrs of sleep in 2 days, we stopped in a town called Bundanoon where they do not sell plastic water bottles! I know that sounds dumb, but its actually the first town in the world that band selling plastic water bottles, and went eco-friendly with reusable water bottles! We sat through the presentation and it was so fascinating realizing that a town of 2,000 people started a revolution that is taking over the world! We then got to drink from one of the water sites, super cool! Haha even though not going to lie, it was like a normal drinking fountain, haha but I told my self this was monumental! Haha in my picture I ended up looking like Gollum from Lord of the Rings lol!
From there we drove two more hours to reach our final destination, Canberra! As soon as we got there we enjoyed a picnic lunch and our numerous photo opp times! Haha my favorite pic of the day definitely was a reenactment of the lady I told you about, our guest speaker! Katrina, my roommate, was the armpit hair, haha seriously, it made my day because they did the exact face and pose that lady kept doing! PRICELESS!
Then we were off to Parliament! As soon as we walked in, my friend Amanda goes, “Wow, I like this place way better than the White House. Its like modern!” Haha seriously?! Who are you lol! But, we got to tour the whole building, sat in the Chamber where the representatives sit, and even sat in on one of the Parliament debates! Not going to lie, funniest thing of my life! Haaha summary: a senator was addressing the Minister, and the Minister kept ignoring him, playing Angry Birds and tweeting! Needless to say, it the senator got a little heated and started yelling at him and addressing us saying how dumb the Minister is and that he must be deaf that’s why he was not answering the question! I mean honestly, if this would have happened in the US, people would have had a cow!! Haha this is not politics! I mean, its more like a reality tv show!!
After an entertaining congress session, we visited the Aboriginal Tent Embassy where we talked to an Aboriginal woman who was protesting in front of the old Parliament house. It was fascinating to listen to her story, but it also raised many questions among us students. She was saying that they are protesting to have their land returned to them, but what are they expecting be done? You can’t just change 100 years of progress and development and make the land how it once was. The issue is much more complex and I left feeling confused on where I stand on this issue.
After heated debates on the bus, we finally arrived at our youth hostel after an exhausting day! I was dreading this part, because after my horrific experience in a Chicago Hostel on my COR trip, I was fully expecting this to be the same! Seriously, NOT EVEN A COMPARISON!! Haha I actually could shower, it was clean, no broken toilet seats, or bed bugs! It actually was really cute!! We spent our evening relaxing and had a big How I Met Your Mother marathon.
The next morning came way too early again, haha we were all walking zombies! We woke up and went down to breakfast, and I tried Vegemite for my first time people!! Seriously, I probably put a toothpick-sized dot on the whole piece of toast, haha so I loved it! It wasn’t nearly as bad as everyone has been saying!!
So, Saturday was our day of museums, museums, and more museums! Sounds super boring, I know, but it actually was so fun and we had some of the most hilarious conversations of my life! Haha I won’t go into details, but lets just say we saw more male genitals and hair than I ever have! Lol we were like immature kids, but it provided enough jokes to last us a lifetime! I have to write about one incident though, haha so sorry if it offends anyone! But, we were looking at a painting, and there was a man in it, with an “exaggerated” nude body (if you know what I mean haha), and behind the man was a goat! So, one of our friends goes up to girl in our group and they are just standing starring at the painting and this conversation came out of nowhere! Like honestly, you couldn’t have scripted the lines any better!
Her: “Oh wow, this is just breathtaking.”
Him: “I know, its like it slapped me in the face.”
Her: “Its just so big.” (The painting)
Him: “I know, it really gets me deep in my throat.”
Her: “Oh wow, its so hairy, I just really want to pet it!” (She is doing hand motions as if she were stroking the goat hahahhaha)
Haha for real, HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN!!! Haha the best part about this is she never caught on!! Seriously, this was funnier than a movie! We were laughing so hard we were crying!! Needless to say, our conversations the rest of the day were based off of this topic haha and it got out of control! Oh, how you gotta love our immaturities!! But, it is our immaturities that made this trip so memorable and seriously turned our weekend into an amazing bonding time and time of learning and growth!
Oh shoot, I almost forgot, on our way home we saw our first wild kangaroos!! Haha except they were just standing there, not jumping around of anything! LAME! “Jump, Jump, Jump around…”
Sunday, March 27, 2011
I like that kinda woman.
Ok so I have officially become that person. You know, the one who claims they are going to be faithful and journal every detail of their lives, but in reality they don’t! Haha yea, totally me! I would like to blame it on my sheer busyness, but maybe it had to do with some laziness! I guess I have been choosing sleep over writing, lol what a choice! But, I will apologize in advance for how long this may end of being! I mean, I can write a novel on just one day, so writing about 2 weeks, may be a little rough on the eyes!
Haha but ok, I don’t even know where to start. A few weeks ago Kristin and I had this brilliant idea to go to the city between our classes! Maybe a little shopping, coffee, you know, walking….haha so on our way back to school, I was trying to remember when we needed to get off the bus. (Keep in mind, this was like the first time I had ever ridden on this bus back to school.) I remember making a mental note earlier that day, it was the second traffic light I saw is where we needed to get off, haha so being the intelligent person I am, I counted 2 stop lights and rang the bell to get off the bus. Haha ok WOW! Seriously, we got off the bus, and I realized, oh shoot, were still in the city!! Lol I guess I just get anxious sometimes and want to ring the bell, but oh wait, now we had to stand outside for 45 mintues waiting for another bus! Meanwhile, we were standing there when I noticed something…its called a patch of leg hair the probably has never been shaved!! Haha I kept looking at it, more like starring at it, because it was unlike anything I have ever seen before! We started dying laughing and these little kids were just starring at us, and at that moment, Mrs. Doubtfire came into my head. “I like that kind of woman. Natural. Healthy. That Mediterranean type.” Haha seriously it was an abomination! But, it doesn’t end there! Ever since that little episode, I have seen more “hair” on women in unnatural places than I have ever seen before!
The next day we were on the crowded bus and this “he/she” came and sat down in front of us. Description: an older person, white/ yellow hair, bifocals, boobs, and oh yea, a straight up WHITE BEARD! Haha its not like I just saw one chin hair, it was a full out beard, like this woman forgot to shave!! As soon as we noticed, my roommate and I couldn’t help but laugh! Then when I looked down trying to gain composure and the lady next to her had hair as thick as a forest growing on her legs! Why God!! I sat there for a half hour bus ride laughing like an immature schoolgirl!
As soon as we got to school, I was sure to tell everyone about what I saw because it was so abnormal! So we went to class and there it was again. A guest speaker raised her arms, and it caught my attention. At first I thought it might have been a string hanging off her shirt, but wait, why was it like a clump of yarn? She quickly threw out her arms again and there it was. A bush like I have never seen before. Picture a wig, ball it up, and place it under your arm, and that’s what it was like. Not even joking, I was so distracted because I could not figure out how on earth this was real! It was worse than a man! Haha I DON’T UNDERSTAND THIS!!! Its called a razor Australia! I guess the women here like that natural look…haha or at least the people I encounter on a daily basis!!
Haha so basically, as you can see, I am becoming quite the cultured traveler! Haha I am witnessing things most people only see in the Guinness Book of World Records!
Speaking of, did I ever mention I am in a Life Drawing class? I would like to call it my “naked drawing” class. Oh wait, and did I ever mention I have never taken a drawing class before? Haha yea, awkward! So last week was my first experience with the “model.” I am in class, minding my own business, paying attention to our teacher, like every good student does, and am looking at what my teacher is drawing. I was super confused because she was drawing a lady that was naked, but I didn’t see her looking at anyone. It was then I saw a glimpse of flesh. I turn my head, and there stands our model, without warning, posing full frontal! Haha I am not used to such thing! The Glennwood locker rooms are the closest thing I had to prepare myself for what I was about to witness! I looked at the rest of our class and everyone had the biggest smiles on there faces and it seriously was super awkward. It got better as the class went on because I was too focused on my Picasso styled drawings with boobs that were apparently not “realistic.” I guess I was drawing an image that “people only fantasize about.” Haha lets just say, when I am done with this class, I am going to have a billion drawings of a naked woman in THE MOST awkward posses you could ever imagine...so if anyone is interested in buying an imitation of Picasso, just let me know J
But, this week, we learned how to be official “Aussies.” In our afternoon class, and Aboriginal man came to teach us how to play the didgeridoo, throw a spear, and a boomerang. A brief summary of the afternoon: playing the didgeridoo was a fail! There was spit dripping down my face, I almost passed out because I was trying to play it with all that was inside me, and there was a whole class full of people laughing. Throwing a spear, also a fail. Out of the 27 students in my class, my roommate and I were officially the worst! Not even joking, my spear didn’t even make it past the group of students! I guess I am just meant to hold it and look good! Haha not actually use it! And my favorite, the boomerang contest. He told us there would be a prize for the first person that caught their boomerang, and I was determined to prove I am really more “athletic” than everyone thinks! My group starts going and theirs were crashing into the ground. I got up there to throw it and the group was laughing because they knew mine probably wouldn’t even make it two feet! I quickly released the boomerang with all of my might and it went flying, and then it started coming back to me! I hear the laughs turn into cheers and everyone is so excited screaming my name because I have a shot to actually catch my boomerang! I took out running and at that moment, I watched the boomerang fly over my head and I start hearing the cheering turn into shrieks of horror. I quickly turn around, and there I saw 15 people laying on the ground, ducking, with their hands of their heads, in the fetal position! The second I turned around I started dying laughing! If only I had a camera to capture their faces! It was priceless! Who cares I didn’t catch my boomerang, I got to see a group of 15 “adults” laying on the ground all because there a was a fly away boomerang haha!!!
Back to my life stories! So everyday since I have been here, the weather is dependant upon my schedule. The days it is absolutely gorgeous outside, I have class from 8:45- 7:30 at night! Not even joking. Then the days I am free to go to the beach perhaps, oh wait, it’s a trenchal downpour. You may think I am exaggerating, but I am not!! So Kris and I had this brilliant idea to wake up early on our only day to sleep in to go to the beach! After 2 hours of travel, we are on the ferry and an announcement came on that made people come inside because the swells were too big! Literally, the second we got off the ferry, it looked like a hurricane outside! Needless to say, 4 hours of my day were wasted on a stupid half an hour in a coffee shop while I watched the streets flood. But, this week I finally got one nice day at the beach! As soon as class was over, we headed to meet some friends and were off to Coogee beach! It was a beautiful day and as soon as we got there and set down our stuff, a massive rain cloud suddenly appeared over my head! Not even joking, I have a picture to prove it! You see blue sky all around, and a black cloud above me! Lets just say I still had a fun time, but am the only one on the beach that went home looking white! Gotta love it! Haha this is so my life!!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
“I have a question…”
Why is it that I have been in Sydney for one week now, yet still feel just as confused about life as I was when I first got here? Haha not going to lie, you see the word tourist written all over my forehead (not that the maps in my hand are any indication). Taking the bus to and from EVERYWHERE you go is a lot more difficult then I would have imagined. Not only am I running to the bus stop everyday because I frequently miss my bus, I have to hail a bus and I am practically waving like an idiot at the driver so he stops, but I also have to read stupid time tables to figure out where I am even going. Its difficult to plan where you are going because I have NO idea where each bus leads you, haha like I can’t even remember what direction I live from the city! Due to my lack of knowledge in the transportation field, or anything foreign more or less, I constantly have to ask for help. Everyone here makes fun of me because I walk up to strangers always saying the exact same thing. “Um excuse me! I have a question.” Then I ask my question. Haha never realized before today how dumb that sounds! I have a question!??! Haha no duh, that’s why I am coming to the person for help in the first place! The locals have to think I am seriously the dumbest blonde alive, but that’s not the issue!! I can’s stop saying that when I ask any sort of question. It’s like a bad habit or something, so now that I am thinking about it, and it comes out of my mouth, I start laughing, making myself look even dumber!
Today I have had many moments where someone could look at me and truly question if I was legit dumb. It all started with a bathroom. I walk into the bathroom at school and shut the stall door. Normal, right?! (So the locks on the doors here turn to lock, so you cant just slide the lock in and out.) I go to lock the door, and as soon as it locks, the handle broke and fell out!! Haha not even joking, it was laying on the ground in front of me! I tried to slide the lock, but oh wait, you need to handle to get out! Haha so I am going to the bathroom laughing to myself when I hear Kristin in the bathroom too, so I explain what just happened. I was like great, now I am going to have to crawl under the stall door, and she goes look down. Haha the crack from the bottom of the door to the floor was only 3 inches big…couldn’t even fit my head under there! So I started to panic I was going to be locked in the bathroom stall and would have to kick the door down or something. Seriously, lets be real! Can you picture me kicking down a door?! Lol um no! Something bad would happen. Long story short, I somehow managed to push the gears in and unlock the door, haha but it was traumatizing because I was stuck in there alone with a spider right next to me!
So, this evening a group of us all met up for dinner and then headed to Max Brunner, the most amazing Chocolate PALACE in the whole world! But, before I got to heaven on earth, we were eating and went to pay. One thing you have to understand about Australia is their currency is so weird. They have like $2 coins that are the size of pennies and 20 cent pieces the size of a half dollar. I often have money in my hand and have to ask the cashier for help. But tonight I thought I had it covered. I open up my wallet and hold up a small coin and asked my typical question. “um, I have a question. Is this a $5 coin?” All the girls started dying laughing and I had no idea why! Haha then I look down and I am holding a nickel! A NICKEL!! Haha for real, how do I even pass school? I am blaming it on the heat and my exhaustion from taking the bus everywhere! Like I am concerned for my own well-being. It is a miracle I am still alive!
But, this night was full of laughs that made me feel a little better about myself. My favorite story of the night I have to write about is when we were talking about embarrassing stories when we felt dumb, or were actually dumb. Our friend Amanda then shared a story that I will always remember, just thinking about it is making me laugh. She said in high school she had a boy sit next to her everyday and he would stare at her all the time. She wasn’t afraid of confrontation, so one day, she decided to march up to him preparing to shut him down. She goes, “excuse me, I noticed you have been staring at me for a couple weeks now, and I know you have a crush on me.” Before she could continue what she was saying, he interrupts her and goes “oh I’m sorry! I have a lazy eye that wonders and I don’t know where it is looking sometimes!” We were dying laughing, like so hard I almost threw up!! Haha who says that?! But you have to love her! Needless to say, she made me feel way better about myself!
Haha moral of the story, the whole “I have a question” thing, and then assuming people are willing to listen, isn’t always a good way to approach someone; especially if you are approaching them in regards to having a crush on you. At least before you do, make sure they don’t have wondering eyes lol.
Monday, February 28, 2011
what I “realised”
I woke up this morning, at 6am (haha this is a usual thing…sleeping in for me is about 7am due to the time change) and decided to take an early bus to school to meet some friends for early morning coffee and Skype sessions. Due to the fact we don’t get Internet at our home stays, and there are not free wifi places here (other than McDonalds, aka Maccers), we have to be on campus to get any sort of mediocre Internet connection. This is something we are ALL going to have to get used to, and not going to lie, kind of sucks. Coming to a major city I anticipated Sydney to be a lot like the United States, but to be honest, it is behind the US (technology wise) 5 or 10 years. Seriously, why can they not have wifi EVERYWHERE!? It is making blogging, facebooking, emailing, skyping, and even google research extremely difficult. But, this was only the start to my 21st birthday!
Rushing out to stand at the bus stop, I saw cars driving by with their windshield wipers on and thought that was odd considering it wasn’t even raining. Not even joking, one minute later was a torrential downpour! Haha because I carry a thousand things with me everywhere I was digging for my umbrella, but before I could get to it I was already drenched. Honestly, I have “realised” I have to give up EVER looking good here. By the time I walk a marathon to school, I am pouring sweat, the humidity makes my hair frizz and I’m so greasy, others don’t have to use a mirror to see their reflection! Haha welcome to my life in Sydney! So after an hour travel to school we went to a coffee shop right down the road hoping to Skype. I “realised” there was no Internet, typical. So I decided to get a coffee instead. That’s when I “realised” you can’t even order a coffee here. All the drinks are called something weird such as a “short black” and a “flat white,” so I had to spend a half an hour just asking what the whole menu was! Then I tried to enjoy an éclair for breakfast. Literally the first bite I took, all the cream fell into my lap, on my white dress I might add! What a perfect start to my day!!
I thought the day would only get better, because after all, this was a monumental birthday! Haha I’m not quite sure you could call it “better,” I guess more like “memorable.” We were finally able to Skype for our first time when all the kids in our student union started yelling and freaking out! I look down and there were 3 cockroaches running towards us and my bags were open on the floor! Panicking, I made Kristin jump up to step on them, but all it did was make them seize on the floor! Haha so nasty!
But, what made my day most memorable was this was my first day of classes! Kris and I are taking a Design Studio so we are trying to find class and the password we have to unlock the door didn’t work so we were banging on the door 15 minutes before someone heard! What a way to start off our first class of the semester. We have to walk in as the teacher is talking, and sit in the front row, literally next to the teacher. So awkward. Then the students proceeded to tell me I have a “whiney” accent, which made me oh so happy. Late, sweaty, and whiney. Perfect first impression! But, just wait, the day got even better. We learned basically the highest grade teachers give out is the equivalent to a “C” in the US. There goes my GPA. And then we were bombarded with information for 3 hours trying to learn what paper sizes they use in Australia and the rest of class was spent trying to figure out what in the world they were talking about! It honestly was like they were speaking Chinese…they might as well have been because I wouldn’t know any more than I know now. As each minute passed, I felt dumber and dumber. They would call on me to answer questions (because in Australia, their first week of classes, you actually have to work) and I had no idea what was even going on so they probably thought I was a retard. I didn’t even know what a “service station” was, so I said a gas station to clarify, and they were still confused because they call it petrol here. Haha can this get any more confusing. Well actually, it does. So for our projects in the class we will be making promotional packaging and brochures. I asked if I can type how we do in America, but that was shot down with “this is our home territory, so you do it our way.” (The teacher telling me that was from Cali, FYI! Lol how dumb.) So for all of you who have no idea what I am talking about, welcome to my world! I found out they write in Old English here and spell words like color with a “u” and realize with an “s.” I don’t even know what words you do that to, so basically I am just praying to pass haha forget anything else! So, my first class in Australia I spent having heart palpitations.
Luckily, Kristin’s host family made my day a lot more special. I went to their house for dinner and they had the house decorated with “21” stuff all over. They made the BIGGEST meal even and even had homemade personal banana cakes with a “21” candle. It was so sweet and I am so glad I got to spend it with a family that tried to make it feel like home!
After dinner, we went to meet up with some friends at Majors Bay for some gelato (we are celebrating my birthday Friday night) and when we were walking in an alley way (sketchy, I know) we saw rats running in front of us and we all started screaming!! Then, cockroaches covered the ground and we were wearing sandals! We were so terrified we started to book it, and over the fence 2 pit bulls started barking like they were going to kill us! Needless to say, I never have run so fast in my entire life, and for the record, this is not exaggerated!! (for once lol.)
But, this is turning into a novel, so I will end it as this was the most memorable 21st birthday anyone could ever have! I never expected to come to Australia and it feel so foreign, but what I have “realised” is Australia is a lot more different from the US than I had thought. One thing that is the same, is it still was my 21st birthday and will be a day I will never forget!!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
first time to the beach
Saturday was our first day to truly explore Sydney and get accustomed to everything here. None of us have had cell phones, so we decided to all meet at the mall to get phones. Little did we know, it was a HUGE ordeal. I told my friends I would meet them outside Target at 10:30, but still don’t know how to read a bus timetable, so I missed my bus. I ended up waiting at the bus stop for 45 minutes in the blazing heat with no way to contact them to tell them I was late. A thousand thoughts were running through my head thinking what if they leave me because they don’t think I’m coming. An hour later I finally made it and we went to the Virgin Mobile store. No joke, we were in there for 3 hours because there were 10 of us buying phones and their network crashed!! We were all so cranky from exhaustion and not eating by the time we left, but decided to still head to Manly beach. We all jumped on a train to take us to the city and were trying to figure out or phones while driving. When we approached our stop, we were all frantic and got off the train, and one of the boys left his buss pass on the train which is worth $600. Because none of our phones were working, he had to leave us to figure out how he was going find that train without having to spend all that money for a new one. Meanwhile, the rest of us took a ferry to Manly beach and it was the cutest ferry ride! When we arrived we walked through the town and saw a row of pine trees blocking our view to the beach. How weird is it they have pine trees on the beach? But, the beach was so crowed with surfers, red bodies, and lifeguards. We all laid down our beach mats but by the time we went to tan, it was already 4pm, and after being in the sun 5 minutes, we all were burned. Ha needless to say, our trip to the beach didn’t last too long. That night we ate at a bar at the Wharf (first time to get carded lol) and it was adorable! Everyone was so dressed up and we all looked like bums in our beach attire. Oh well, they never will see us again! But, that night us girls took the train back to our houses and when we got off it was so loud and we looked up, and no joke, at least 1000 birds were in the trees and flying around!! It was like the movie Birds! We were all running and screaming, freaking out!! The day was so eventful, but I was exhausted. Lol I don’t think I can deal with this laid back atmosphere!!
Haha by the way, sorry this is so scattered. There has been too much to remember and I am overwhelmed lol.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
my journey to oz
Two days ago was my first step into a country I would call home for four months. This is my journey to AUSTRALIA! It all began when we rushed off to the airport from our house, on the way discovering Kristin forgot her ipod! Tears later we made our way to DIA where we realized my bag was 2 pounds over weight. Frantically digging through my suitcase trying to figure out what was not an “essential” for our trip and sending it home with my mom, Kris and I said our happy/sad goodbyes to our parents and were off having no idea what would be in store for us. We landed in LAX, and to be honest, I was already tired of flying haha and that was only a two hour flight! Getting our bags we had to “switch” terminals, which entailed us carrying our own bags (haha a 50lb suit case, winter coat, 20lb backpack, camera bag, and purse) onto a bus where we got lost! Everyone was starring at us because I couldn’t even lift my bag onto the bus. After asking 3 people for directions we finally found where we were supposed to meet our group in an hour. We ended up eating dinner and talked through every possible way of walking up to the group because we were so nervous!! Truth be told, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had anticipated! We finally boarded our plane and I was blown away by how HUGE the plane was! Haha this was the type of plane you see in movies. We each had our own personal tvs with free movies, games, tv shows, music, basically anything you could ever want while traveling!! One movie later I was out for most of the flight! The only times I woke up were to eat! First time I have eaten a meal on a plane since I was 5!! It seriously was the coolest thing ever, haha it was like I was a kid in a candy store!! The 14 hours finally became a reality and next thing I know, I was in AUSTRALIA!!! Meeting our ASC members, we left on a bus to school, and this was the first time getting to see Sydney. I didn’t really come here knowing what to expect, but I can say it is totally different than I imagined (haha even though I don’t even know what that was).
Our whole group has been exhausted and severely jet lagged, and on top of that we have been going through orientation. Our second day here we met all the “first year” students at our school and were sent into the city for a scavenger hunt! This is my first time seeing the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House! Seriously AMAZING! Pictures don’t even do it justice! But this truly was a day we will never forget. Half way through the day Kristin started feeling sick and ended up throwing up 6 times all over Sydney. She christened the ocean off the Dock of the Sydney Opera House just as we were boarding a boat for a harbor cruise! The sites were so incredible, but Kristin and one other girl in our group ended up spending their evening in the bathroom both being sick. Not a way we all thought our trip would start, but definitely has made us all a lot closer.
Coming to Australia, I was shocked to find: the street signs are MASSIVE, every kid you see wears a uniform, Australians actually love Summer Heights High (because its exactly how it is here), you eat 6 times a day, you get 2 breaks throughout the day for morning tea and afternoon tea, everyone is REALLY friendly, everyone takes public transportation, there are tons of oriental and Thai restaurants, there is a park every block, our school is just like the movie Step Up, there are spiders bigger than both of your fists, they don’t have AC, I love TIM TAMS, everyone loves our American accents, and my host family has 3 chickens for pets!! Haha so weird, but so cool!!!
I know I have only been here for 3 days, but it makes me excited for what’s in store over the next few months! “This is not my semester, this is our semester.”
