Realizations

So while I've been living the lazy life in Australia I have found that my life was not how I once saw it. I've come to realize the people who mean the most to me and the people who I thought were close to me were only there as long as I was. I found that my true friends stayed in contact with me throughout my adventure and wanted to know about what was happening. Going on this trip helped solidify friendships and reinforce the strong bonds I already had at home. I realized that my family means a lot to me and that they are the best party of me, they kept me strong when I am not.

This trip I found that people are the same all over the world. They can be generous, self-less, fun and engaging. I also found that people can be elitist, self-serving and oblivious. I was shocked to learn that some Australian's are so very similar to the "ugly American" that they too can be ridiculous about their homeland and a little elitist. However, there are others that are so sweet and generous about sharing their home with me and the knowledge that have learned about Australia. My trips across Australia have given me an insight to my life and made me re-evaluate what is important to me. I really do just want to be happy and enjoy my life. I am going to reach for things that I never thought were possible, because the worst thing that could happen is that I would fail.

Australia meant freedom to me when I left, now it means knowledge about my self. Australia has been a life altering event and I thank everyone for their support and love. What I'm looking forward to when I get home is:

My parents and my good friends!

A great Mexican dinner

Driving again, though I'm going to be a bit confused which side to drive on.

Walmart and how cheap it is.

Taco Bell...yum

Going out with friends

Bed, Bath & Beyond and my friends there.

My animals, especially Nikki my over protective and entirely lovable Rottweiler.

MSU and how amazingly smooth they function.

And of course the USA, I have seen flaws but I love it all the same

Next I'll be off to New Zealand! Look for an exciting up date there!

Royal Randwick Horse Races!

And after classes were over on Friday I was off to the horse races with everyone! About a couple of days before the races they went to half price which made them only 12 bucks so almost everyone went. Every one got dressed up and ate breakfast then we were off to catch a ferry to Sydney. From there we caught a bus to the Randwick stadium where the horse races are held. The stadium is gorgeous and very vibrant. So were the people every one was dressed up and all the women had hair pieces or hats on. It was quite a spectacle.

The races go on all day long and we got there shortly after the third race. After each race everyone goes and sits back down so for the fourth race we were in the front row at about 25 meters out from the finish line which is a very exciting place to be.

During the 4th race I was standing next to a woman who knew one of the jockeys. She yelled his name and got his attention after the race (which he won) she made $200 off of the one race. It turned out she went to school with him. It was interesting to meet someone who knew a jockey.

We watched a couple of races and by the 5th everyone was about to try their luck at betting. I bet ten dollars with 4 other girls and we went in on one horse to place. It was really exciting to yell for a horse you really hoped to win. Unfortunately, our horse cam in 4th instead of 3rd so we lost our money but it was a great time. For the 7th race multiple people were going in on horses and I decided to bet by myself and I put 5 dollars on two different horses. Neither of them placed or won, but one came in 4th again. So I called it quits with the betting and watched the 8th race which was a sprint and really fun to watch.

After the 8th race most of us left and got a bus back to the wharf . Ashley, Alex and I decided to take picture with the Sydney Harbour Bridge and The Sydney Opera House the pictures were amazing and I am so thankful that Ashley talked me in to taking them as I was all dressed up and they look amazing. Then we grabbed some Hungry Jacks aka (Burger King) and caught a ferry back to Manly. The rest of my night was quiet and I enjoyed the rest of my weekend before the chaos of finals started.

Week 11 of Classes = suck

So the last week of classes all of the work I have done for my Journal Article had to be done. It was a 3,000 word document in the body alone. In all the document ended up being 15 pages long and I finished the final touches the last day. It was on Human Resources and the Employee voice. It basically looked at typical human resources practices and examined how they could be changed for the better to incorporate employees in decisions made in companies and its benefits. Now I just have to wait and hope that I get a good grade on it!

The teacher that I had for English was a wonderful teacher. Her name was Valarie McMorran and she was a very inspiring teacher. She reminded me of teachers from home and it was a joy to go to her class every week. Another teacher I absolutely loved was John Powers my facilities management teacher, he was very through and I learned a lot from his class. If I could bring this teacher back to the states with me I would! Now I have to focus on his final in a couple of days.

I Got My Hair Done at The Hilton

So Friday April, 16th finally arrived and five of us girls who in the first week here purchased a voucher to get our hair done at The Hilton finally did! We took the ferry into Sydney and then Ashley and I got dinner at Subway on the way to get our hair done.

We arrived and they took us in and started the process. The place was really nice, the chairs you sit in to have your hair washed were massaging chairs and had a thing on the back of the chair so that water would not go down your back. And we got all unlimited wine and champagne all night.Unfortunately I forgot to bring my voucher so I had to pay full price for the moment but I'm going in to the city on Monday to get my money back.

I didn't want to color my hair so I got a gloss treatment that makes your hair very glossy, soft and very healthy. Then I got a scalp massage and a hot oil treatment. Next they brought me back to my chair to have my hair cut. I just basically got a trim, and let the hair dresser do what ever he wanted as long as he kept my hair long. He did a great job and now all of my split ends are gone and my perm has come out again.

After everyones hair was done we went to a bar in The Hilton because we had a voucher for a free drink. Then we headed off to check out some of the more talked about clubs and bars in Sydney, went were in the Ivy briefly and The Establishment but only stayed at both for about 5 minutes. Finally, we made it to Jackson's on George where there were 4 bars and they have 5 dollar buds. First time having a Budweiser in 4 months and I have to say America makes great beer. Then we went upstairs to a club type bar, but there was only about 4 people in it so we talked to the bartender who was from Canada he was awesome and gave us a drink on the house. Later, We left, then waited and caught the last ferry to Manly, took a taxi home and went to bed. All in all it was a good night.

Back to the Grindstone

So after a great, relaxing vacation I came back to two group projects and a thousand words due for my Journal Article. I wasn't feeling to bad about these two projects as I already submitted my parts well before I left for Melbourne. Sadly this was not so for everyone. This resulted in two late night sessions of Ashley and I working on the paper and the project and preparing a power point as we had to submit or plan to take Mirvac, an Australian hotel chain to another country. We had to convince the GM of the Citigate hotel to choose our location. Unfortunately we did not win, but we did earn a Distinction on our presentation which is the equivalent of an A.

My other group project was for MGMT 116 where we had to do a condition report of a facility and do a presentation on the facility. We chose the Manly ferry. Well my group was made of two 18 year old boys and a girl from Vietnam, only one of the boys was very helpful and the other two sucked. I ended up being the only one working on the paper, making sure that it was ready to turn in and I also made the majority of the power point presentation. I just checked my grade and I earned a Distinction! So I'm doing very well in that class, even though my grades won't transfer back to my school, only the credits will.

When it came time to writing the paper that was due on Friday, I had a had time as I was exhausted mentally from writing so much of both of the papers due earlier. So I only wrote 500 words out of the thousand, but at least I made some progress.

That weekend I did absolutely nothing. I stayed in all weekend, read a book watched some t.v. online and enjoyed not having to do a ton of work. On Sunday I did have to start working on a paper that was due Wednesday but it was only about a thousand words.

So that concludes week 9 of school, only leaving 5 weeks of school left!

A Day in Melbourne

So we got in to Melbourne about 7:30, and we all showered and laid down for a while because we were exhausted from our trip. This night we stayed in and got some rest so that we could get up and enjoy the city the next day.

We woke up around 9:00 am and got ready for the day and headed to the Victoria Markets which are basically like the Sydney markets but cleaner and not a smelly. They had some really good deals and I picked up a few souvenirs here.

We dropped off our goods at our hostel and locked them up, then headed to the other side of the city to go to the Skydeck. Which has the highest observation tower in the Southern Hemisphere. We went there and we waited because with our tour we got a coupon for a free "Edge" Experience. This is where we got put in a glass cube about 9 feet square, and it slowly extends over the street below. We were told not to jump or else the glass would break. It was a bit terrifying because when your first motoring out there the glass is fogged and when your completely out of the building there are cracking noises and the glass turns clear.

We were at the Skydeck for a couple of hours and then we went to Federation Square to get some pictures in the daylight then caught the free tourist bus to go see Captain James Cooks house. It is a quaint little cottage that in the 1900's it was shipped to Australia so that an exhibit could be made of it. We spent about an hour there looking at the garden and hearing about the tragedy that was his life. Cpt. Cook was murdered by the indigenous Hawaiian people because they thought that he was a god.

Then we caught the tourist bus again and walked over to the Old Melbourne Gaol, but they were only open for another hour and it takes about 2 1/2 hours to go through the gaol so we decided to walk back to our hostel. once we got there we sat down for a bit and were supposed to get ready to spend a night on the town but we were really tired so we laid around a bit and finally we got ready to go out to dinner and to a bar.

We ate at a really cute Italian restaurant in Federation Square.I ate a fantastic caesar salad, and some of Ashley's pizza which was phenomenal after eating fast food for so long. After dinner we headed down the main street. And while we were walking we saw a carriage being drawn by horses with Bunny ears on. He pulled over right next to us so we stopped to get pictures, I must mention that this guy was hot! He was an Australian cowboy ans Laura and I were happy to talk to him, and then we asked him a good place to go to for drinks and he told us Cookie. We thought that was a strange place to go but we walked down the street a bit more and we found it.

So we pulled out or id's and the bouncer looked at Ashley passport and says loudly "Oh, Americaono! Go on in!" With out even looking at our ids. For once it pays to be American. Let me just tell you this bar was awesome the wait staff were friendly and fun to talk to and they picked out beers for us. Plus the beers were cheap only five bucks! So we each had a few then went up stairs to the 7th level of the bar and had a beer, talked to some nice Australians and then left for the night to go back to our hostel because we had a 7:00 am flight.

Last Day of the Tour

So today was the last day and we got to sleep in until 7:30 a.m. We got up and went to the rain forest near the Grampians. These rain forests are cold weather rain forests and they have very different animals and plants than what we're used to thinking of as a rain forest.

Our our guide Jen told us about these black snails that comes out when it rains, and it was lightly raining that day. So we got to see them. These things are vicious though and she warned us not to pick them up because they are carnivorous and if you put them on your skin the will bite you with very tiny teeth and then spit a venom in you to paralyze you. If you were a snail it would climb on the other snail, then drill into the shell spit venom in, and then suck out the body of the paralyzed snail. Gross I know. They creeped me out. When Laura picked one up by it's shell it started to come out of it's shell to try and bite her. They were nasty little creatures, and only found in Australia.

Then we headed back on the bus to look at more spectacular views at Kennet River! Here we got to see Koala's in the wild! And quite a few of them. We were Koala hunting with our cameras, but all of them were high up in the trees until we walked a bit further up the road be hind a camp site area and spotted one not eight feet off the ground! We got the best pictures! The Koala was very lazy and didn't want to wake up for our pictures, so our tour guide scratched his back and he liked that and woke up.

After hunting Koalas we dove on the Great Ocean Road all the way to the start where we got out and spent some more time looking at the sites. Unfortunately, we could not go to Bell's Beach because there was a surfing competition and music festival going on that weekend. So we drove up the road to where Rip Curl and Billabong were founded to do some shopping.

Laura, Ashley, and I went to Sub Way and ate for dinner because we didn't want to have to go out in the city after we got back. We all got back on the bus for the last time and headed back to Melbourne where we were dropped off at our hostel for the night.

Second Day of the Tour

So today we had to be up, fed and ready to go by 7 a.m. For a hike up the Grampians Mountains. We started out and it was nice and cool out, we had to climb over rocks to keep to the path. It's about 2 km up to the top of this look out point. We took many periods to stop along the way as the hike was very strenuous. It took us about a hour and a half to get to the top. But it was worth it! The look out was beautiful especially that early in the morning.

Up at the pinnacle we took a ton of great photos an enjoyed the view. We were hungry after the hike so Laura, Ashly and I delved into the bag of Dorito's I bought. When all of a sudden a bird lands about five feet from us. This bird was about a foot tall and black and white, with a two inch beak. So we tossed him a couple of chips,and he scooped them up. So we started to throw them closer to us until we finally got the bird to take a chip out of Laura's hand. After he had consumed a copious amount of Dorito's he had Dorito beak and was trying to rub off the cheese on the rocks. It was sort of sad to watch but eventually he found some water and washed his beak.

After a bit we started our decent down the mountain to go back to the bus so we could go see the Twelve Apostles. After about an hour and a half's drive we went to lunch in a small city where we Laura, Ashley and I ate at KFC. It was positively the best tasting KFC I have ever had Then headed back to the bus to go 20 minutes down the road, while on the way there our tour guide told us that they offer helicopter tours of the Twelve Apostles for 70 dollars. So Laura, Ashley and I did it! It was amazing I had the best time and got some great shots of the rock formations. It was most definitely the high light of my trip. Then we all loaded back on the bus and went to some more look outs which included an amazing story about two survivors of a shipwreck. Their names were Tom and Eva and their story was tragic and never ended happily.

At sunset we went back to the Twelve Apostles though there are only 8 of them left, for some fantastic pictures. Then we headed to our hostel in Port Charles where we stayed at a beautiful new building and I would of had a great nights sleep. But to girls one from Canada and one from England (who will be referred to as Canada and England from here on out) came in at 2 am and talked for an hour about people on our trip and thanks to these girls I learned the entire tragic history of one of the guys on our tour. Then we had a mystery guest knocking on the door for about an hour, some one the girls had invited back but really didn't want to see.They also unplugged my camera from its charger. These two were such great roommates.

Interesting side note. Canadians to not like to be thought that they are Americans. They feel that it is degrading and will immediately tell you they are from Canada. Though one guy on our trip was from Toronto and was delightful. When traveling its better to ask if someone is from Canada rather than the States. Isn't that awesome! Not.

Anyways the next morning we got to sleep in until 7:30 am! finally!

First Day of the Tour

At 7:30 am Laura, Ashley and I took off with 8 other people to pick up another family and then we drove for about a hour and a half to our first stop which was in the Grampians Mountains. We stopped and took a walk out side to see Kangaroos in the wild. While we were there we also got to see Emu's roaming around in the wild also. This spot offered beautiful views and we went in to the Brambuk wildlife center and aboriginal center where we learned about how the Aboriginals were treated by settlers and the government. Even up to 1960 aboriginal children were being taken from their parents to go to live with someone else so that they would become more 'white.' This was very sad but true. After this we all headed back on to the bus to head to a scenic look out of The Grampians. We spent some time there taking pictures and then we headed back into a small town for lunch. After lunch we went to McKenzie Falls which has been my favorite place so far.

McKenzie Falls was absolutely amazing, when you get there you walk down a lot of narrow steps that gradually lead to the bottom of the Falls. This is one of the most scenic and beautiful places I have ever been to. I really didn't want to leave! But eventually we did and that is when we went to another site to look at the Grampians which was very scenic and beautiful also.

After this we drove back to the town we ate dinner at and the 8 of us doing th 3 day tour were dropped off to meet up with our tour guide for the next 3 days. Unfortunately, Ashley decided to drop us off early so that he could get back to Melbourne faster. So our group was left in one of the cabins. Well about an hour later a tour guide shows up and says we are staying at another hostel and that his people are staying in the cabin so we have to get out and wait for our leader outside. We do this reluctantly, as they had us move around the camp multiple times because we were in their way. after about an hour more of this we started calling the tour company to see if in fact someone was really coming for us. After speaking with an idiot on the phone for 30 minutes we gave up and decided to see if someone really was coming. At about 7:30 pm our Tour guide Jen showed up. So by this point we were out side for 2 and a half hours. I'm not bitter or anything. But Jen took us to our hostel we spent the night there and had spaghetti for dinner. I was out by 9:30. Because we had to be up fed and out of our hostel by 7 am to go on our hike.

Spring Break!

So Spring Break finally arrived on Tuesday March 30th. And I'm proud to say I almost got all of my homework done in advance so I'm not completely freaking out right now. Anyways we took a cab to the Wharf because it was raining here all day Tuesday, caught the Ferry to Circular Quay and the train to the airport to catch our flight to Melbourne. We got to the rain station to buy our tickets and only the kiosks were open. We didn't know which ticket to purchase, luckily a really nice guy behind us helped us out. Turns out he lived in the States for 6 years. Once we got to the airport we checked in. We flew with Tiger Airways and they were very strict about the weight limits of you bags mine weighed roughly 14 kilos so about 30 pounds, I was pretty close to going over. But it went through then we headed to an airport cafe for a cider while we waited for a hour and a half for or flight to be to board.

During the hour and a half they changed our gate so we had to go over to the other side of the airport to board. You could defiantly tell that it was a budget airline as I had to walk out on the tarmac to go up the stairs to board the plane. The flight was interesting though, as I had three pre-teen boys behind me who were pretty rambunctious. But the two flight attendants were hilarious and most obviously gay made the trip so much more enjoyable as they made jokes the entire time. The flight was only about and hour and a half long and we got off then caught a taxi to our hostel, which was about 30 minutes away.The taxi was pretty expensive about 45 dollars.

We checked in to the hostel, I was in a separate room than the two girls I traveled with. We got in at about 11:30 pm. I went to my room and people were already asleep so I had to be really quiet getting up to the bunk which was the squeakiest bed I have ever heard. If I so much as blinked an eye it would squeak. at about 2 am some dumb girl turned the lights on to get dressed for bed. the light was 2 feet above my bed. Awesome. The next morning the same girl ans a guy got up at 5 am and turned the lights on for about an hour and carried on a conversation. How sweet of them. Luckily they left and I had to be up and out by 7:20 to be picked up for our 3 day tour any way.

The picture is of my hallway, on the left are the toilets, and then the showers. This is taken from the room I shared with 7 other people :)

Preparing for Melbourne!

I have less than a week until I get to escape to Melbourne for the week! Thank goodness homework is really starting to pile up and I have to get it almost all done before I go because it's all due when I get back. I have two 3,000 word business reports due with 10 minute presentations due in week 9 when I get back as well as about a 1,000 words due for my Journal Article and a test. Ahhhh! So much work. I most defiantly will not be doing anything but homework this weekend. So I'll be in hibernation until it's all done and I won't be bringing my computer with me to Melbourne so I'll have to update everyone when I get back!

Blue Mountains!

So, this past Sunday I got to go with a group form my school to the Blue Mountains. These are mountain ranges about two hour out side of Sydney. They are absolutely beautiful. We all had to be ready to go at 7:30 a.m. as we were supposed to leave at 7:45 but the bus had some problems and was 30 minutes late so at about 8:15 we took a tour bus to the Blue Mountains.

We drove an hour and a half we drove to a place called Featherdale Wildlife Park, here we got to play with Kangaroo's, Koala's, snakes and see even more animals than we did when we first arrived. This place had a Tasmanian Devil, who the entire time we were there ran in circles around his home. The had Dingos and bats and all sorts of birds but my favorite was the albino wallaby. Which is basically a smaller version of the kangaroo. He was so cool! He was beautiful. We left here by about 11:30 a.m.

Then we headed to a small town where we grabbed lunch, and by this time we were hungry because we hadn't gotten any breakfast, as the school doesn't serve brunch on the weekend until 10:30. My friend Ashley and I got fish and chips from a small take away store. It was cooked fresh in front of us and was really good. The French Fries reminded me of Eastwood's during the summer. :)

After lunch we headed out to Echo Point Look out where we got our first glimpse of the the Blue Mountains. The reason they're called the Blue Mountains is due to the eucalyptus plants which grow on the mountains they give off a bluish vapor and from a distance it looks as if the mountains are blue. While we were there we met an older man that was full of stories about the mountains and most importantly about the Three Sister's which is a rock formation at Echo Point.

The tale of the three sister's in one version is that three women of one aboriginal tribe wanted to marry three men from another tribe. But the tribes leader did not like this and in order to stop them from marrying the men he turned them to stone. In the pictures I'll post you'll be able to see them.

After going here we headed off to Scenic World where we all scaled down the mountain it took about 45 minutes to walk down. It was terrifying because all we had to keep our selves from going down the side of the mountain was our feet and a railing. The walk down is really hard on you knees due to the steep angle of the mountain and the repetitiveness of going down the side. Going down we got to see multiple water falls and get to be with in ten feet of one. once we got to the end of the trail our tour guide talked to us about the mining that used to take place in the Blue Mountains and then we hopped on the steepest train in the world. And by 'train' I use the word loosely as it was a seat that was sat at about an 45 degree angle and we were caged in by metal on two sides with no set belts. In other word it was terrifying. It was probably one of the scariest things I done in a while!

After we got to the top we got back on the bus and headed to Princess Rock which is a beautiful sandstone rock where we got to see yet another water fall and chill out there for a while.After this we had a 2 1/2 hour drive back to Manly and we were all really tired by the end of the trip. My roommate and I were both in bed by 10:00 that night.

The Blue Mountains were beautiful and there are no words or pictures that will ever do them justice. You'll just have to come see them for yourself.

School

So far school is going well I like a lot of my classes and really dislike one. I have Globalization in the Hospitality Industry which is taught by an American teacher, he is really awesome and the class is interesting the only drawback is that in two week I have to turn in a paper and do a presentation on it in class as long as a group project that will be 4,000 words long. I'm not looking forward to either of these two classes.

The next class I have in Management 116 which is a Facilities management class. I really like this teacher too! He is from Australia and about 55 years old he has worked in many industries and he has a lot of experience in many fields. This class also has a large project that is due in about 5 weeks that is 3,000 words.

Another class I'm taking is Contemporary Issues in the Hospitality Industry, which is essentially an English class where I get to write another 3,000 word paper all by my self! YEY! Unfortunately, I have already taken this class so I get to do it again. the teacher is a typical English teacher and a bit crazy, but I really like her.

My last class I do not like very much it is really similar to a class I've already had and all I can do is hope that we start learning something I don't already know. We are doing an interesting project where you track the prices of hotels to watch the prices change. What I've learned so far is that expedia.com has better prices! This project is due in about 6 weeks.

So as you can I have al ot of work to do and I hope to get it all done before Spring break. The weather has turned cooler so it is only about 70 degrees and it's been cloudy and rainy as of late. Hopefully, this clears up and I get to go to the beach tomorrow!

Sydney Mardi Gras

So after a long week of learning I headed into Sydney on Friday night with some friends to celebrate the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. This is the largest celebration of Mardi Gras in the world and I got to witness it.

On Friday eight of us took the ferry into Sydney and then the bus to inner Sydney to meet up with one of my friends Mary. Friend from the States who are studying abroad at the university of Sydney. After a while of being on the bus we started to wonder if we missed our stop because we were looking for a bar. One of the girls suggested pushing the stop button for every stop...jokingly.The bus driver overheard this and offered to tell us when to get off at our stop so that we wouldn't hit the button every time. While we were on the bus we talked with a lady who lives in Sydney and thought that we were all beautiful and young and was really excited to talk with us, as she was leaving she remarked to her husband that she wished she was young again. We didn't this lady was awesome and we invited her to go out with us but she had plans with her husband that night so she declined.

That night was a lot of fun we all bought real hard alcohol for the first time in a month which proceeded to but most of us in the bathroom by the end of the night or hungover the next morning. one of my friend even lost her pants. We could not find them the next morning, at all. The reason we do not drink hard alcohol is because it is so expensive! It's at it's cheapest about $35.00 a fifth. I went dancing, had fun the went to bed to be ready for Mardi Gras.

The next morning, or should I say 3 hours later we got up and went to breakfast and the started to get ready for Mardi Gras. Most of us got sparely sequined dresses or very colorful ones. We ate McDonald's for lunch in Darling harbor and then caught our 'booze cruise' for the afternoon. had I been feeling better I'm sure I would have enjoyed the harbor cruise, however I did not and felt as if I were trapped on the boat for 3 and a half hours with a bunch of drunk people. Finally, at 6 p.m. we got off the boat and they bussed us near the parade so that we could watch. However, because we got there so late we really couldn't see the parade. Luckily after being there for about 15 minutes a really nice older woman let me stand up on her stool so that I could see some of the parade. It was really interesting. Mostly there was a lot of nakedness and people running around in rainbows or cross dressing. I have never seen anything like this before.

The parade last for a long time but by about 9:30 p.m. I was completely wiped out and wanted to leave luckily so did some other girls and we walked back to the ferry's. The only bad thing about Mardi Gras is that there were no beads. It isn't a big thing over here like it is in the U.S. So that defiantly means I'm going to have to take a trip to Mardi Gras in new Orleans! I got back to my room at about 11:00 p.m. got on the internet then passed out in bed and slept the hardest I have ever slept. Then woke up on Sunday morning and went to breakfast.

Overall, Mardi gras was an experience that I will never forget and I'm thankful to be able to have gone.

New Zealand!

So today I booked my flight from Sydney to Auckland! Me and at least two other girls will go to Auckland for a couple of days, one of which we will swim with dolphins! Pretty exciting stuff. However, this means that I won't be back in the states until May the 10th. But I'm really excited right now! Now off to class..... :(

The Sydney Aquarium

So today another group of us ventured into the city to visit the aquarium. With our discount the price is only $22.50 which is pretty reasonable for Sydney. But first we went to The Rocks which is the oldest part of Sydney where they have markets every weekend with handmade crafts, candies and novelty Australian souvenirs. There were many things I would like to purchase but as usual most of the items were expensive, I mean it was a craft sale.

But there was one thing that was absolutely out of this world. It was corn on the cob. It was piping hot and they put butter salt and pepper on it for you. You also got to choose a coke, diet coke or a water all for 5 bucks. Probably the greatest deal all day long. I most of us got one and enjoyed it.

Soon after we decided to go to the aquarium because at 3:00 the feed the mini penguins but some of us got sidetracked in a super cute and cheap store for a while so our group split up. While some of us were waiting we went into Krispy Kream for a donut. One original glazed donut was $2.50! I know right absolutely atrocious. But I got one anyways after smelling them what else could I do.

So here we are again back on track to see the aquarium we met up with the rest of the group and walked through it. Of course there is always the one bratty kid you want to spank for the parents and today was no exception. She was a complete brat. Thankfully we escaped her when we left the sharks to go to the coral reef. Then on the other hand there was an adorable little girl who was posing for her picture when just behind her a huge shark came up right over her head. She screamed and took off like a bullet. It was probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

After the aquarium we ate at a place called Blackbird which had fantastic fish & chips, then we walked back to the harbor and caught the next ferry to Manly. It was a good day of walking an site seeing and I was tired when we got back so I crashed as usual.

First Trip to the City!

It was Saturday the 13th when a group of us took our first trip in to the City for the first time. We took the Ferry from Manly harbor which was amazing because it gave us a time to take great pictures of the Sydney Harbor and the Opera House, and The Sydney Harbor Bridge. We got off the ferry at Circular Quay and the first thing we did was hit Starbucks. Yup, we are defiantly tourists but you just can't find iced coffee here like you can at home.

After indulging in the rich coffee of Starbucks we headed to George Street. The main thoroughfare in Sydney strait to China Town and the markets under the mall. Every thing was extremely cheap compared to Cairns and Manly's prices. I got a cute top for only 5 bucks!

After Exploring China town we walked to Hyde Park where we sat down and took a load off our feet. While we were siting there we were approached by two young people and they talked to us about a deal the Hilton is putting on for a hair cut and pampering day. Most of us decided to do it and we are going to schedule a day to go to the salon have our hair done by the head professionals and get a cut color and style for our face shape. All the while being served unlimited champagne, this night we're going to stay in the City at a hotel and go out that night for dinner and dancing. It should be a great time.

After this we decided to go to dinner in Darling Harbor. I have little to say about dinned other than the food was amazing but the service was awful. I can defiantly tell the difference between American serving and Australian service. We left dinner and headed back to the ferry and it started to down pour like you could not believe. It was crazy. Luckily by the time we got back to the ferry it stopped raining and we had a great view of the city at night. It was a good day. Even though my feet hurt like hell after all the walking we did. I couldn't wait to go back to the city!

Surf Trip!

So I completely forgot to blog about the surf trip. It was AMAZING. On Friday night a huge green coach bus picks about 40 of us up to go up the coast about 6 hours away for fun and surfing. The people running the camp are all surfer guys who look like they're stoned out of they're minds from the waves. They put on someones ipod and were on our way.

For the first hour and a half every one is chatting and getting to know people on the bus, then we stop at McDonald's to dinner, even though we've just eaten at the school we all buy something because we have a long drive ahead of us. We all drive and watch movies but I put in my ipod and crashed. I was awoken bus a friend when we stopped at our last destination before the camp. A bottle shop to buy booze for the entire weekend. This is when you learn how expensive a 30 pack of cans can be...$50.00. And thats a pretty low price. Bonus is that Australian beer has a higher alcohol content. After forcing about 70 people in the bottle shop which is the size of a closet we all load our purchases back on the bus and take off for the camp.

At about 1 a.m. in the morning I'm woken up again because we have reached our destination! We all unload and follow the surfer dudes to where we will be staying. It's a building with no a/c, used to this by now. Carpeted and has about 25 beds in it, with 4 inch foam mattresses a sheet and a duvet. The other room has bunk beds in it Most of us change our clothes and crash because we have to be up at 7 a.m. for surf lessons. Some stay up and hang out around a fire a drink with the instructors.

At 7 a.m. we are woken up, we change into our suits, eat breakfast and line up to grab a board and head out to the ocean. The boards are very heavy. And for walking longer distances it's easier to share carrying two aboard with a friend. We all get in a circle and practice getting up on a board. And the we spread out and go for it. We were out in the ocean getting pounded by waves for an hour when it started to rain and the tide shifter and started to bring in massive amounts of blue bottles. I was stung on my stomach, legs and arms. When the instructors heard we all got out and waited for the tide to shift eventually it did and it left us 30 minutes to try again. At 10 the other group came down and we all left to wait for lunch.

After lunch we went back out again for 2 more hours where I actually rode a few in on my board! There is nothing that can compare to this feeling of gliding in on a wave. After our turn the other group came out and we went back to take showers and hang out. We played card games and busted into our alcohol preparing for tonight bonfire, even though it was raining at the time. Dinner came and I don't think I have ever been as hungry as I was that night. Everyone drank talked to each other and generally had a great time. Some people got wasted and others like myself got tipsy and passed out in my bed, because I was so tired from surfing it was one of the hardest things I've ever done physically, and we had to be up in the morning to go back out

The next morning I was so tired I though that I would only surf for a half an hour but I ended up surfing for about all but 20 minutes this time I got up and road a wave in for a while it looked awesome. Unfortunately, it had started to sprinkle so the camera guy went to get an umbrella and never got a picture of me standing up on my board. After this we all went back took showers and packed up everything for the trip home.

The surf camp was put on by Mojo and it was defiantly the highlight of my month!

First Day of Classes

So after a week of fun times and beaches it was time to get back to reality and school. I've now been out of school for two wonderful months. But back to the grindstone. The one major complaint I have about ICMS is the fact that the school does not let you create your own schedule they do it for you, you do however after your enrolled in a class get to change the time. It took nearly a week of haggling and emailing a guy in the IT department to be enrolled in 4 classes that were approved and will transfer back to my school.

It's now 7:15 and I go to breakfast with my roommate and then head off to my first class. It's a good class. Called Facilities Management. The teacher is a really cool older man from Australia and he likes to talk so the class goes by fast and we get out early. This is also when I find out that classes are starting 15 min early and ending 15 late because some kids have to walk up the hill to get to 2 classrooms that are a fifteen minute walk.

After my class I stay in uniform, because if I want lunch you must be in it. Which sucks because our cafe is outdoors. But I am happy to say that the food is pretty good. After lunch about 8 of us go to the beach to lay out and soak up some of the Australian sun. :) Then after a couple of hours come back up for showers and dinner.

It was a good day, and by then my schedule was set and I was looking forward to the term, minus the uniform.

The Next Few Days

Mostly in the upcoming days I went to the beach with friends checked out Manly and went to orientation meetings that didn't last too long and we checked out each other's rooms. On Tuesday night there ways a welcoming ceremony for new students and after a cocktail party with free alcohol and appetizers. There was Champagne, red wine white and beer with unlimited refills. Needless to say everyone was pretty dunk and had a good time afterward almost the whole school went down to Shark Bar for a party and dancing. I didn't get in until about 1 that night but I met a lot of people and had a lot of fun.

On Thursday my group had a surf safety course where we learned what we should do on the beach and what we should not do on the beach. Then we grabbed a board and we to Shelly beach to learn how to paddle in and out. It was a lot of work but really fun at the end we had a relay to see which group could do it the fastest and my group won even though I wasn't very good at it. I could swim faster than I could paddle in and out. This night I stayed in and got things in my room organized.

During these days I also got fitted for my uniform which is hideous and I hate. But it does make things easier to pick out in the morning.

First Day in Manly

So this week we have to dress in business casual clothes, so of course this was the last thing I looked at packing and decided I didn't need anything. So Heather, Jackie, and I went to target to get everything we had all forgotten. For example, dress clothes for me thick heeled dress shoes and a curling iron the won't blow up if I plug it in to the socket as Australia uses 240 volts and the US uses 110 to 120. I also bought school supplies, though I'm having trouble finding two pocket folders. We took the bus there and accidentally took the scenic route through the city that too 40 minutes and costs 3.30 each way. When we got off the bus we had to hike up the hill to take our goods back to our room. This was the second time I hiked the hill and the first time that day. Luckily, we were in a group that didn't have anything to do until Tuesday afternoon so we had the whole day to ourselves. About ten of us decided to go to the beach and lay out.

The Australian sun has no ozone to go through it which means that its really easy to get burnt here. Fortunately, I haven't burn't yet! It was really hot when we left around 2 p.m. and the hike up the hill sucked, really steep and hot. But the beach was amazing very light sand with not very many blue bottles. We all came back and took showers and got dressed for dinner. The food here is really good and it's presented as a meal and not slop like back at home it looks really appetizing. We left dinner and went to watch some of the guys play basketball and cheered and heckled them then got dressed to got out. We walked down to The Warf to get gelato but 3 of us couldn't find the others we were meeting and we walked passed a Copehagann Ice Cream so we decided to get that and then meet up with everyone else. At this point Heather realized she left her i.d. back in the room so we walked along the surf and came to the decision to go back up to get it. We went up and got her i.d. finally met up with half of the guys and walked down to the bar.We went to the one bar in Manly called Shark bar it was deserted and we had the club to ourselves, then later we went downstairs and joined all of the guys who played basketball in the hotel bar where we met some really cool Australians and had fun. After 3 or 4 hours a couple of people left and we all decided to leave and go back up the hill. At this point Heather and I walked up this huge hill at about a 35 degree angle and 1/2 mile long 4 times. Talk about a work out! But we went to bed and I slept like a baby.

Arriving in Sydney

So we all get up at 6 a.m. go to breakfast, pack and load our stuff on a bus that will take us to the Cairns airport. We have to go through security where I am chosen for a random check so I get swabbed down with a stick and so do all of my possessions. Then we get to wait for our 9:35 a.m. flight which is delayed due to a baggage issue in Sydney. It arrives 20 minutes late and we board the plane at 9:55 a.m. As were walking down the terminal I look at this guy who seems vaguely familiar and I realize that he is the owner of the Ultimate Party Bus that we participated in last night. I said hi to him and asked if that really was him he said yes and said he was glad we all made our flight.

Sadly, this was also the time we all had to say goodbye to others that weren't going to ICMS but to Murdock and Canberra, it was really sad and I wish we all could have stayed together and had fun here, but we couldn't so we boarded the plane and flew to Sydney we arrived in Sydney around 12:30 p.m. and then loaded our stuff on the bus for our 40 minute drive into Manly while our bus driver pointed out the Sydney Opera House and all of the best place to go for fresh sushi, and cheap clothes.

We arrive at ICMS around 2 p.m. and we are escorted to a room where we sign our house rules and are given our room keys and room assignments, I'm rooming with Heather DiGirolamo from Connecticut a friend who went to Cairns with everyone. our other roommate has not shown up yet. We get checked in and go drag our luggage up the elevator and to our room. I might mention that this is the only time we get to use the elevator is for check in and move out and that I live on the 4th floor in which to get to you must climb up the spiral stair case.

So the majority of us get settled in and go down to Manly Beach for the first time.It was amazing and the pictures of my school look like postcards. We all climb back up the hill after an hour or so and crawl in to bed exhausted trying to get some rest before tomorrow which is the first day of Orientation also known as O week.