Wednesday and Thursday were both filled with beautiful weather and of course I had classes and meetings both days. Since it had been so nice we were planning on going to the beach Friday, only to wake up to cold, cloudy weather. Instead Marie and I decided to go into the city and just see where the day took us. We started by the Opera house where we were going to buy tickets to go see a ballet in May but the line at the box office was too long so we’re just going to do it online. After the Opera house we walked over to the Botanical Gardens. I didn’t realize how big they were. We walked around there for probably close to three hours and saw tons of cool trees, flowers, and other plants. There were also a ton of really cool birds and thousands of bats. It was so weird we thought there were birds making noise above us and then we looked up and just saw trees loaded with huge bats. I took lots of pictures so I’ll have to post those somewhere. The gardens were really neat and they were free so that was awesome. After that we were starving so we walked into the city to find something to eat. My eyes were definitely bigger than my stomach so I decided to get a Kebab and Chips, basically like a gyro and fries at home. Marie also wanted to go back to a cupcake shop we spotted on the way there so I decided to quit halfway through and save the rest of my Kebab for dinner. After stuffing ourselves we walked around and looked at some stores, I bought a white cardigan because it gets cool here at night and the office I work in is freezing so I need more layers.
Saturday we got up earlyish and went to the beach. It was cool on the way there but it ended up being a beautiful day. Originally it was only a group of 4 of the girls but people kept meeting us there and by the end of the day I think there were 15-20 people gathered there. While there we made plans to go out at night to celebrate Brittany’s 21st birthday. We stopped on the way back to buy alcohol, a bottle of captain here 700ml is like $35, what a rip. It should last me a while though. All of us girls got dressed up and then we headed downtown, we weren’t really sure what part of town we were going to. At first we were considering Kings Cross because there’s supposed to be some fun place around there, but it’s also the “doddgy” part of town. The biker gangs here have been active lately I guess and some big guy in one of them was recently killed so it was recommended to avoid kings cross for a while so we narrowed our options to either the rocks or darling harbor. After asking a few other people we picked the rocks and ended up at Argyle which is a pretty cool bar which reminded us a lot of a pirate ship, we also went to the Brooklyn Hotel but not for long, Lowenbraugh and a few other places.
Sunday was a lazy day, I went to campus to use the internet, and do homework except that didn’t happen. Then I kind of just layed around and pretended to do homework all day.
I had my internship on Monday and Tuesday and we’re starting to do preparations for the Hero’s awards. I’ve been calling businesses to get quotes for photography and audio services. Lisa also wants me to brainstorm ideas for table centerpieces, I thought of using the theme of “hero” and some how displaying the words that define a hero like leadership, determination, drive, etc. etc. on each table. I pitched that idea to her on Tuesday and she loved it so I spend the day looking up different ways to display the words on each table.
I just finished a research study here on campus. Students hang up posters all over asking for people to participate in their research and most of them pay pretty well. Today’s was some study on females and eating, they fed me lunch and paid me $20, not bad.
Tonight there’s a themed party at the Ranch which is the bar that’s about a block away from where we live but I have a test tomorrow morning so I don’t think I’m going to that. Also I’m doing another colloquia for the Global Leadership Program so I’ll be busy until 9 and then have to study.
This weekend we might be going to Luna Park which is like a Coney Island type place so that should be fun. Then Saturday is the “golden slipper” horse races, they’re supposed to be a pretty big deal and people dress up Kentucky derby style, big hats and everything so we might go to those. Hopefully I can make some good bets and win some money.
Break is in a week and I can’t wait for our trip, it should be a ton of fun, I’m just hoping for good weather while we’re gone. This week has been rain so far which is supposed to continue for the next few days. I’m hoping it’s done by Sunday so I can make it to the beach at least once this weekend.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Time Flies
Wow time flies when you’re not in Wisconsin. It’s almost April??? When did that happen. This past weekend was a lot of fun, but it flew by. Friday we went to the beach again, you would think that with how often we go I would be pretty dark by now but I really don’t feel that tan. I guess it’s just hard to tell because everyone around me is really tan. I love going to the beach, but honestly laying out is kind of boring. I usually bring some homework with me but that never really gets done. I did some reading and of course my ipod always entertains me. Friday night a bunch of us went down to Darling Harbor to go to Cargo Bar. I’m pretty sure that’s one of the bars they went to a lot on Real World Sydney but I’m not positive. It was pretty fun, kind of a mix between a clubby bar and a chill bar. There were tables and stuff to sit at and a small dance floor. I wasn’t very eager to spend $8 on a mixed drink but oh well. Later in the night we were on the dance floor and everyone thought I was weird when I was bent over picking things off the ground, but when I came up with 4 $2 coins they understood. Basically I got a free drink so that was kind of exciting. We left there and were going to go to this really cool bar called retro but they were charging $10 just to get in so we said screw it and met up with the rest of the group that was at Slip In.
Saturday I tried to get some work done, basically ended up sitting online for a few good hours, but that’s ok, got to catch up with my bestie Brittany! I also planned on working out or going for a run but decided it was way to hot to do that. I had to be back and start getting ready around 3 because a group of us were going to the Waratahs vs. Crusaders Rugby game for my roommate josh’s birthday. The game was a lot of fun, shorter than I thought but that’s fine because my attention span at sporting events isn’t too long. Being in a big arena made me really excited for Brewers season, I can’t wait to tailgate and go to games. After that we went out on Darling harbor again, we actually split up from the majority of the group but found a few cool chill bars and just hung out. I didn’t want to stay out really late anyways because I knew I had a lot of work that I should get done on Sunday.
Sunday morning I woke at like 8 for no reason but decided to get up anyways because once I’m up I usually can’t fall back asleep. I was in the kitchen and heard some noise in the apartment, I was surprised that anyone else was up that early but when I walked around the corner I saw Josh outside on the balcony trying to get in through the window. Turns out he never made it home the night before, some birthday. Slept on the steps of the Opera House, swam in the Sydney Harbor and watched the sun rise. It sounded like they had fun, but I’m glad I came back early. Since I was up early I decided to make a trip to the market since produce is ridiculously cheap there compared to the grocery store. While there I couldn’t’ resists and bought a really cute new handbag. After the market I came back did some studying and then had to meet with my ECON group because we have a presentation this Thursday on population growth and it’s effect on economic development. Our meeting was such a joke, we just compiled the work we all did and then sat there talking for like 2 hours. The other three members in my group are all Australian so we were talking about some differences or perceived differences between here and the US. Basically we covered food, fat people, racism, drinking, and school differences. They were amazed by the dollar menu because they don’t have one here and also the fact that underage drinking tickets are over $200 dollars. Glad I could enlighten them on such important topics. haha
I’m also doing the Global Leadership Program here. It’s more of an intense program for students that are here all four years but they altered it for Study Abroad students so that we can get it done in a semester. It involves going to different workshops which cover all kinds of topics. The two I went to so far were “leadership” and then this last Monday was “Spirituality and social transformation”. They’re basically three hour lectures by some guest speaker, the first one was pretty boring but the last guy had an interesting background and asked us some insightful questions regarding virtue and personal values. He asked us to think about the one thing we want to be remembered for, kind of like what do you want people to say about you at your funeral. Those questions are always tough for me to answer but really interesting to think about. Anyways to finish the program you have to attend 10 workshops and then you get a certificate, it basically just looks really cool on a resume.
My internship is getting more interesting as well. Sometimes I feel like I’m just doing a lot of busy work, yesterday I had to assemble nametags and make a table arrangement for the breakfast event we had this morning but it’s stuff that needs to be done, and if I wasn’t there Lisa would be doing it so it’s not like it’s unimportant. We also had a meeting with the Judges for the Export Hero’s Awards which are in June so that they could select who the final 6 nominees would be. It was interesting to hear about what the judges thought about these people and also the people in general. The people nominated are all entrepreneurs who have devoted their life, or a majority of it to enhancing Australia’s International Export. One of the guys was the founder of Gloria Jeans Coffee which I didn’t even know was an Australian company. This morning I got to go to the breakfast which was pretty interesting. The only down side was that I had to get up at 6, before the Sun was up, and on a bus by 6:30.
Yesterday at work I was talking to the other intern Kyle who’s a senior and we were talking about classes/studying abroad/ our majors and stuff. He basically told me that if I get the chance I should study abroad again. Depending on how my classes transfer back and how many credits I have left to complete it’s definitely something I’m going to consider doing. I do want to go to Europe, he recommended Ireland which I think would be really interesting. Brittany if you’re reading this, how about you don’t go next year and we go first semester Senior year together!?!! Who knows though, we’ll see how broke I am after this trip.
Last night I also had my Economics test which I was kind of freaked out for seeing as I don’t’ really feel like I’ve learned anything and every time I try to study or read for that class extreme ADD kicks in and I can’t concentrate. The test was actually a lot easier than I was expecting so hopefully I did fine on it.
I guess that’s enough for now, have fun reading.
Love,
Steph
Saturday I tried to get some work done, basically ended up sitting online for a few good hours, but that’s ok, got to catch up with my bestie Brittany! I also planned on working out or going for a run but decided it was way to hot to do that. I had to be back and start getting ready around 3 because a group of us were going to the Waratahs vs. Crusaders Rugby game for my roommate josh’s birthday. The game was a lot of fun, shorter than I thought but that’s fine because my attention span at sporting events isn’t too long. Being in a big arena made me really excited for Brewers season, I can’t wait to tailgate and go to games. After that we went out on Darling harbor again, we actually split up from the majority of the group but found a few cool chill bars and just hung out. I didn’t want to stay out really late anyways because I knew I had a lot of work that I should get done on Sunday.
Sunday morning I woke at like 8 for no reason but decided to get up anyways because once I’m up I usually can’t fall back asleep. I was in the kitchen and heard some noise in the apartment, I was surprised that anyone else was up that early but when I walked around the corner I saw Josh outside on the balcony trying to get in through the window. Turns out he never made it home the night before, some birthday. Slept on the steps of the Opera House, swam in the Sydney Harbor and watched the sun rise. It sounded like they had fun, but I’m glad I came back early. Since I was up early I decided to make a trip to the market since produce is ridiculously cheap there compared to the grocery store. While there I couldn’t’ resists and bought a really cute new handbag. After the market I came back did some studying and then had to meet with my ECON group because we have a presentation this Thursday on population growth and it’s effect on economic development. Our meeting was such a joke, we just compiled the work we all did and then sat there talking for like 2 hours. The other three members in my group are all Australian so we were talking about some differences or perceived differences between here and the US. Basically we covered food, fat people, racism, drinking, and school differences. They were amazed by the dollar menu because they don’t have one here and also the fact that underage drinking tickets are over $200 dollars. Glad I could enlighten them on such important topics. haha
I’m also doing the Global Leadership Program here. It’s more of an intense program for students that are here all four years but they altered it for Study Abroad students so that we can get it done in a semester. It involves going to different workshops which cover all kinds of topics. The two I went to so far were “leadership” and then this last Monday was “Spirituality and social transformation”. They’re basically three hour lectures by some guest speaker, the first one was pretty boring but the last guy had an interesting background and asked us some insightful questions regarding virtue and personal values. He asked us to think about the one thing we want to be remembered for, kind of like what do you want people to say about you at your funeral. Those questions are always tough for me to answer but really interesting to think about. Anyways to finish the program you have to attend 10 workshops and then you get a certificate, it basically just looks really cool on a resume.
My internship is getting more interesting as well. Sometimes I feel like I’m just doing a lot of busy work, yesterday I had to assemble nametags and make a table arrangement for the breakfast event we had this morning but it’s stuff that needs to be done, and if I wasn’t there Lisa would be doing it so it’s not like it’s unimportant. We also had a meeting with the Judges for the Export Hero’s Awards which are in June so that they could select who the final 6 nominees would be. It was interesting to hear about what the judges thought about these people and also the people in general. The people nominated are all entrepreneurs who have devoted their life, or a majority of it to enhancing Australia’s International Export. One of the guys was the founder of Gloria Jeans Coffee which I didn’t even know was an Australian company. This morning I got to go to the breakfast which was pretty interesting. The only down side was that I had to get up at 6, before the Sun was up, and on a bus by 6:30.
Yesterday at work I was talking to the other intern Kyle who’s a senior and we were talking about classes/studying abroad/ our majors and stuff. He basically told me that if I get the chance I should study abroad again. Depending on how my classes transfer back and how many credits I have left to complete it’s definitely something I’m going to consider doing. I do want to go to Europe, he recommended Ireland which I think would be really interesting. Brittany if you’re reading this, how about you don’t go next year and we go first semester Senior year together!?!! Who knows though, we’ll see how broke I am after this trip.
Last night I also had my Economics test which I was kind of freaked out for seeing as I don’t’ really feel like I’ve learned anything and every time I try to study or read for that class extreme ADD kicks in and I can’t concentrate. The test was actually a lot easier than I was expecting so hopefully I did fine on it.
I guess that’s enough for now, have fun reading.
Love,
Steph
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Still no Kangaroos
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were disappointing…rain and cool weather. I would say cold but I know I would get yelled at by many people, but hey it was kind of cold for me. I’m excited to get more into my internship, I did some event planning on Tuesday and it was more interesting. Now I’m thinking I might want to change my major, I’m not sure if I’m into finance or not….
My Microeconomics class is kind of tough, it’s weird because we have 2 hours of lecture and then you pretty much are responsible for teaching yourself the rest outside of class. That’s the class I didn’t buy the book for because it’s available in the Library so it looks like I might be spending a lot of time there.
Wednesday we tried to go to the beach but after being there for about 10 minutes it started to rain and we opted to go home. I ended up taking a nap and just hanging out all day, rough life I know.
Thursday is my busy day, I have 3 classes and then I went after that to book my trip for “fall” break. I decided to do the trip through STA, it’s a 13 day trip starting in Cairns which is where the Great Barrier Reef is and then you travel south over that time. It includes a bunch of stuff like white water rafting, a tour of the great barrier reef, sailing, camping, and some food. I also decided to add the skydiving option because I figured doing that on the GBR would be an awesome experience. Thursday night we went to a few bars in Chattswood which is a short train ride away. The original bar was supposed to have live music but it didn’t and it was kind of dead so then we just walked around exploring and ended up at a pretty sweet place that had a “vip lounge” with free snacks and slot machines.
Friday I got up early to go to the beach, it ended up not being the best beach day, on and off showers. I ended up leaving around 2:30 and then on my way back walked around downtown exploring a little bit. That night we went back to Manly which is the beach I was at earlier to go to a little café/bar that had a jazz band playing. It was a really cute little place, looked like something you’d see on Brady Street in Milwaukee. It took almost an hour to get there/back because of connecting buses so some of the girls decided we wanted to catch the 11:30 bus and not wait until the next one that came at 1am. We asked the bus driver to tell us when our stop was and he told us we “couldn’t’ miss it” it was supposed to be Ballgowah st. but we got to the end and hadn’t gotten off yet. We decided to just backtrack until we found the stop and thankfully it was only one back. We had to wait for the next bus for a good half hour and it wouldn’t have been so bad except that I had to pee incredibly bad.
Saturday I went to the beach again, this time we decided to try Bondi. It takes two trains and a bus to get there but it’s a pretty nice place and the time traveling went by pretty fast. It was a beautiful day but the beach wasn’t as crowded as I thought it would be. One thing that was interesting at Bondi was that they have people walking around trying to sell water/cold drinks and popsicle type things. It reminded me of vendors at sporting events, I’m not sure why anyone would want that job, walking around in sand all day lugging a big cooler, not fun. We didn’t get home from the beach until around 7, and once again I was tired and kind of burnt so I just hung out with the girls upstairs and then went to bed kind of early.
Sunday I was going to be productive. It didn’t work as well as I had planned. I spent a few hours in the library but didn’t get a lot done. I couldn’t concentrate on my Econ. homework, partly because it’s too hard, and party because I was cold hungry and tired and just didn’t want to be in the library. I gave up and decided to go to the mall instead, mainly for groceries but I did stop in a few cute stores.
This week my internship is getting more interesting. I started projects that lead up to the Hero’s awards in June which are going to be held in Canberra and hopefully I’ll be able to go to them. The event is to recognize individuals who have devoted their life to export and trade. they have to be nominated by someone and then there are about 6 people honored at the event. On Monday we compiled a binder of the final nominees, 16 in total, to be sent to the judges who will select the final 6. I also did some membership processing and put together welcome packets. Next week there’s a breakfast lunch/meeting thing and they said that the interns are more than welcome to come along. I’m excited about that except for the fact that it starts at 7:15 which means I have to leave around 6… I guess I’ll be taking a nap later that day.
Well this is getting incredibly long due to the fact that I haven’t been on the internet in a few days and I just keep adding to it in a word file. Hopefully the weather stays nice so we can make it to the beach a few more times, my tan is slowly improving, I don’t look quite so albino anymore!
Oh one more thing, if anyone feels like sending me mail - cards i've started decorating my wall with them...only 3 so far kind of pathetic. Anyways, my address is 009/141 Herring Road, North Ryde, NSW 2113 Australia.
Love you, Miss you!
Stephanie
My Microeconomics class is kind of tough, it’s weird because we have 2 hours of lecture and then you pretty much are responsible for teaching yourself the rest outside of class. That’s the class I didn’t buy the book for because it’s available in the Library so it looks like I might be spending a lot of time there.
Wednesday we tried to go to the beach but after being there for about 10 minutes it started to rain and we opted to go home. I ended up taking a nap and just hanging out all day, rough life I know.
Thursday is my busy day, I have 3 classes and then I went after that to book my trip for “fall” break. I decided to do the trip through STA, it’s a 13 day trip starting in Cairns which is where the Great Barrier Reef is and then you travel south over that time. It includes a bunch of stuff like white water rafting, a tour of the great barrier reef, sailing, camping, and some food. I also decided to add the skydiving option because I figured doing that on the GBR would be an awesome experience. Thursday night we went to a few bars in Chattswood which is a short train ride away. The original bar was supposed to have live music but it didn’t and it was kind of dead so then we just walked around exploring and ended up at a pretty sweet place that had a “vip lounge” with free snacks and slot machines.
Friday I got up early to go to the beach, it ended up not being the best beach day, on and off showers. I ended up leaving around 2:30 and then on my way back walked around downtown exploring a little bit. That night we went back to Manly which is the beach I was at earlier to go to a little café/bar that had a jazz band playing. It was a really cute little place, looked like something you’d see on Brady Street in Milwaukee. It took almost an hour to get there/back because of connecting buses so some of the girls decided we wanted to catch the 11:30 bus and not wait until the next one that came at 1am. We asked the bus driver to tell us when our stop was and he told us we “couldn’t’ miss it” it was supposed to be Ballgowah st. but we got to the end and hadn’t gotten off yet. We decided to just backtrack until we found the stop and thankfully it was only one back. We had to wait for the next bus for a good half hour and it wouldn’t have been so bad except that I had to pee incredibly bad.
Saturday I went to the beach again, this time we decided to try Bondi. It takes two trains and a bus to get there but it’s a pretty nice place and the time traveling went by pretty fast. It was a beautiful day but the beach wasn’t as crowded as I thought it would be. One thing that was interesting at Bondi was that they have people walking around trying to sell water/cold drinks and popsicle type things. It reminded me of vendors at sporting events, I’m not sure why anyone would want that job, walking around in sand all day lugging a big cooler, not fun. We didn’t get home from the beach until around 7, and once again I was tired and kind of burnt so I just hung out with the girls upstairs and then went to bed kind of early.
Sunday I was going to be productive. It didn’t work as well as I had planned. I spent a few hours in the library but didn’t get a lot done. I couldn’t concentrate on my Econ. homework, partly because it’s too hard, and party because I was cold hungry and tired and just didn’t want to be in the library. I gave up and decided to go to the mall instead, mainly for groceries but I did stop in a few cute stores.
This week my internship is getting more interesting. I started projects that lead up to the Hero’s awards in June which are going to be held in Canberra and hopefully I’ll be able to go to them. The event is to recognize individuals who have devoted their life to export and trade. they have to be nominated by someone and then there are about 6 people honored at the event. On Monday we compiled a binder of the final nominees, 16 in total, to be sent to the judges who will select the final 6. I also did some membership processing and put together welcome packets. Next week there’s a breakfast lunch/meeting thing and they said that the interns are more than welcome to come along. I’m excited about that except for the fact that it starts at 7:15 which means I have to leave around 6… I guess I’ll be taking a nap later that day.
Well this is getting incredibly long due to the fact that I haven’t been on the internet in a few days and I just keep adding to it in a word file. Hopefully the weather stays nice so we can make it to the beach a few more times, my tan is slowly improving, I don’t look quite so albino anymore!
Oh one more thing, if anyone feels like sending me mail - cards i've started decorating my wall with them...only 3 so far kind of pathetic. Anyways, my address is 009/141 Herring Road, North Ryde, NSW 2113 Australia.
Love you, Miss you!
Stephanie
Sunday, March 8, 2009
I feel like this is the first time I’ve sat down to relax for the first time in days. I’m typing this in my apartment again so I’m not sure exactly where I left off with my last blog. Last week my internship and classes all went pretty well. I decided to switch my Marketing Tuturial to Thursdays and that way I only have my Marketing lecture on Wednesday and that seems pretty boring or like I can get all the info out of the book so I might end up skipping, another beach day? haha I’m still debating getting a job here too, theres tons of stores at the mall and working a few hours a week would give me good spending money for the weekend. I can’t remember if I said it before but minimum wage here is like $16 an hour, so we’ll see what I find.
Wednesday there was a Toga party at “the ranch” which is the bar that’s like a block from where I live. I wasn’t planning on going but then around 9:30 a bunch of people in my building were getting ready so I decided to join. The ranch really isn’t that great, a lot of sleezy guys and it gets really crowded, so I’m not sure if I’ll be going back anytime soon, especially since I have a 9am class starting this Thursday.
Last Thursday I went on another cruise on the Harbor, this time it left from Darling Harbor which is a little south west of where the last one was. It was $20 for tickets but it included pizza, beer, and wine so it was well worth it. The views from the Harbor are so beautiful, it’s times like those that I actually realize where I am. I was talking to some other girls and we were saying sometimes it doesn’t seem like we’re really in Australia, or even that far away from home. Oh and Shane, here’s your shout out, and boo to you for not answering your phone the TWO times I called you!
Friday I went to the beach with a bunch of people and got a nice burn. I’ve been sick of not getting any color so I didn’t put sunscreen on right away. The burns already turning and I’ve been putting on lotion so I don’t think I’ll peel or anything. Friday night some guys in the next building over decided to throw a beer/wine pong tournament. I wasn’t even sure if I was gogin to play because my roommates weren’t going, but then Kevin from upstairs didn’t have a partner so we teamed up. You had to have a theme with your twin so we went with hippie. I think there were 16 teams, and Kevin and I ended up winning it all!
Saturday was a lot of fun, it was the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras celebration here. A big group of us left here around 2 to head down to the city. We went to Kings Cross which is actually the red light district of Sydney but there was a good irish pub that had $6 pitchers so we went there and had a few drinks before the parade. There were a ton of crazy outfits and people all day, we got a pretty good spot for the parade. I was getting antsy because we’d been standing around for like 2 hours waiting for it to start, and after the sun went down it was getting kind of cold. We ended up leaving early and going to get some dinner because we hadn’t really eaten all day. I had a delicious kebab, definiltey going to have to get one again. I love how the restaurants and cafes here are so open, they’re all really small but right on the street and pretty much all of the food is in a display case type thing in front of you. It’s pretty cool. I’ve yet to try a meat pie and I guess those are supposed to be pretty good and really popular here.
Today we went to the market because I wanted to get some cheap produce. I think I spent like $10 and got apples, sweet potatoes, carrots, zucchini, grapes, bananas, and a fruit and nut mix, oh and ice cream and fries at mc. Donalds. I just can’t pass up those 30 cent cones! Now sitting here I’ve realized that I actually have some homework to do so I should probably get on that. I was at the library earlier but it closes at 5 which is retarded so I had to come back here and I’m doing whatever I can without the internet….like pre=typing my blog. ha
Ok now i'm updating Monday afternoon, I went to work today and the main lady i'm working with called in sick so more data entry! yay haha not really.... I decided to do a half day since I was doing the boring work and I had to get back here to do some homework and stuff. She's supposed to be back tomorrow and I guess they're getting another intern so we're goign to discuss which of us does what. I guess that's all for now, time to work on my impossible Economics homework.
I heard it’s getting Warmer in Wisconsin, hopefully it’s here to stay!
Miss you all!
Steph
Wednesday there was a Toga party at “the ranch” which is the bar that’s like a block from where I live. I wasn’t planning on going but then around 9:30 a bunch of people in my building were getting ready so I decided to join. The ranch really isn’t that great, a lot of sleezy guys and it gets really crowded, so I’m not sure if I’ll be going back anytime soon, especially since I have a 9am class starting this Thursday.
Last Thursday I went on another cruise on the Harbor, this time it left from Darling Harbor which is a little south west of where the last one was. It was $20 for tickets but it included pizza, beer, and wine so it was well worth it. The views from the Harbor are so beautiful, it’s times like those that I actually realize where I am. I was talking to some other girls and we were saying sometimes it doesn’t seem like we’re really in Australia, or even that far away from home. Oh and Shane, here’s your shout out, and boo to you for not answering your phone the TWO times I called you!
Friday I went to the beach with a bunch of people and got a nice burn. I’ve been sick of not getting any color so I didn’t put sunscreen on right away. The burns already turning and I’ve been putting on lotion so I don’t think I’ll peel or anything. Friday night some guys in the next building over decided to throw a beer/wine pong tournament. I wasn’t even sure if I was gogin to play because my roommates weren’t going, but then Kevin from upstairs didn’t have a partner so we teamed up. You had to have a theme with your twin so we went with hippie. I think there were 16 teams, and Kevin and I ended up winning it all!
Saturday was a lot of fun, it was the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras celebration here. A big group of us left here around 2 to head down to the city. We went to Kings Cross which is actually the red light district of Sydney but there was a good irish pub that had $6 pitchers so we went there and had a few drinks before the parade. There were a ton of crazy outfits and people all day, we got a pretty good spot for the parade. I was getting antsy because we’d been standing around for like 2 hours waiting for it to start, and after the sun went down it was getting kind of cold. We ended up leaving early and going to get some dinner because we hadn’t really eaten all day. I had a delicious kebab, definiltey going to have to get one again. I love how the restaurants and cafes here are so open, they’re all really small but right on the street and pretty much all of the food is in a display case type thing in front of you. It’s pretty cool. I’ve yet to try a meat pie and I guess those are supposed to be pretty good and really popular here.
Today we went to the market because I wanted to get some cheap produce. I think I spent like $10 and got apples, sweet potatoes, carrots, zucchini, grapes, bananas, and a fruit and nut mix, oh and ice cream and fries at mc. Donalds. I just can’t pass up those 30 cent cones! Now sitting here I’ve realized that I actually have some homework to do so I should probably get on that. I was at the library earlier but it closes at 5 which is retarded so I had to come back here and I’m doing whatever I can without the internet….like pre=typing my blog. ha
Ok now i'm updating Monday afternoon, I went to work today and the main lady i'm working with called in sick so more data entry! yay haha not really.... I decided to do a half day since I was doing the boring work and I had to get back here to do some homework and stuff. She's supposed to be back tomorrow and I guess they're getting another intern so we're goign to discuss which of us does what. I guess that's all for now, time to work on my impossible Economics homework.
I heard it’s getting Warmer in Wisconsin, hopefully it’s here to stay!
Miss you all!
Steph
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Busy few days
Friday was a long day. In the morning I had my interview for my internship downtown, I had to be on a bus by like 8:45 to make sure I got there in time. I ended up being a little early so I looked around in the souvenir shop that was across the road. My interview went great and I got the job! The internship is for credit so it’s basically working 10 hours a week for the semester rather than taking a class. I’m really glad I got it because I walked out of my Accounting class 30 min after it started so I’ll be dropping that tomorrow. The internship’s with the Australian Institute of Export and I’m not really positive what work I’ll be doing yet, it’s a smaller office and they have a few different projects going on at the same time. I could be working on their e-newsletter, website, research, event planning, or just common office work. I’m pretty excited about it, she also said I might have the opportunity to do some weekend conferences with them or make a trip down to Canberra with the president or something. More than likely I’m also going to get to go to the Export awards which is one of the events I might help plan. Anyways after my interview I came back to the apartment and decided to join two of my roomates who were going to Coogee beach. Josh and John are here with “GSE” and they have a bunch of day trips, but this time they said anyone could go along so I did. We had a barbecue, pretty much sausage but they call them hot dogs and some crazy chips. We laid out on the beach most of the day, well the guys and a few girls played a little cricket but I was too lazy. I went in the water for a while but gave up on that after I was completely under, my suit was falling off and I got a mouth full of saltwater. Their guide Dave took us on a walk along the beach, much longer than I thought it was going to be but pretty cool. We had some great views of the ocean and back to the beach, it wrapped around to two more beaches, and this area that was like a tide pool because the rocks held in some of the water. It was pretty cool. The only problem with the beach is that is was two bus rides and over an hour to get there. By the time we got back we were al way to tired to do much of anything other than shower eat and go to bed.
Saturday morning I got up early because I signed up to go on a bushwalk. The day turned out to be very interesting. We left early and had to take like 3 train rides and a bus to get to this place called Mt. Colah. It was pretty much a hike through the bush of Australia. The beginning was kind of boring, the most exciting thing we really saw were some nasty spiders, which we almost walked directly into a few webs. After an hour or two we got to Kuring-Kai Chase National park where we took a nature walk, kind of reminded me of the where nature center at home except we saw a wallaby, kookaburras, and some other crazy birds instead of Wisconsin wildlife. We also saw a 3D slide show which just about put me to sleep after the long morning. We took a short break for lunch before our long afternoon. We walked down to Bobbin Head where we took another short break before heading out for the longest part of the day. We thought we were headed to the bus, but little did we know that was over 5km away. The Guide was definitely a character and I don’t think he enjoyed/understood my sarcasm of the afternoon. We knew there was somewhat of a climb at the end of the walk, but he definitely under exaggerated this. Jackie and I ended up leading half of the group of the cliffs while he waited behind for the rest. We weren’t really sure where we were going but he just told us to follow the white dots on the trees/rocks. We finally got to the top and were waiting for a while, until someone decided to go see where they were. Come to find out our guide was sitting/resting a ways back because apparently he thought he had food poisoning. We waited until almost 5:30 but then half the group decided to leave because we knew we were supposed to catch the bus, who knows where, at 6pm. After a winding trail and asking some hikers which way to go we found a nice neighborhood and spotted some hippy boy standing at a bus stop. He told us the bus would be there in 2 minutes and went to the train station, the only problem is that was the last bus for the day. Only half of our group was there and we had no idea what was going on with our guide. Jackie and I didn’t see the point in staying there with no plan on how to get home although the rest of the group felt bad leaving the other half behind along with our guide. They decided they would try to get help from the neighbors and ultimately called an ambulance, Jackie and I missed this excitement though because we put ourselves before them (selfish maybe) but I did not want to be stuck over 2 hours away from the Uni with no plan on how to get home. I found out later they called the school which sent taxis for them. Saturday night I was way to tired to go out so I just hung out with my roommate Sam and the girls across the hall.
Sunday I got up and decided to go get my travel pass because I knew I would need it for work on Monday. I texted Noel and we decided to go into Sydney and explore, we started at Paddy’s market which was really cool. We’re gonna go back sometime to buy tons of stuff, if anyone has idea for what they want for a souvenir let me know. We left there and walked through China town and then over to the Chinese gardens. It was a beautiful day so we decided to walk around Darling Harbor and spoted a few nice restaurants overlooking the Harbor that we want to go back to. We ended up back at the Queen Victoria Building which is in the center of the CBD and looked around at the shops before catching a bus back to campus. The stores there are a little out of my price range, Coach, D&G, Versace, and tons of others but it was cool to look around.
Today I started my internship, I had to get up at like 7:30 to catch the bus by 8:20. The main lady that I’ll be working with is out of the office on a conference in Melbourne today and tomorrow so she left some work behind for me to do. It was kind of boring data entry stuff but I didn’t really mind, nothing too hard. I got an hour for lunch which was awesome because I work less than a block from the Harbor so I went down bought a sandwich and sat on a bench that overlooked the Harbor Bridge and Sydney Harbor, it was awesome.
Tomorrow I work again and then I have class at night and on Wednesday and Thursday. I’m not sure when I’ll get to update again, I’ll probably wait until after the weekend.
Love you all and miss you!
Saturday morning I got up early because I signed up to go on a bushwalk. The day turned out to be very interesting. We left early and had to take like 3 train rides and a bus to get to this place called Mt. Colah. It was pretty much a hike through the bush of Australia. The beginning was kind of boring, the most exciting thing we really saw were some nasty spiders, which we almost walked directly into a few webs. After an hour or two we got to Kuring-Kai Chase National park where we took a nature walk, kind of reminded me of the where nature center at home except we saw a wallaby, kookaburras, and some other crazy birds instead of Wisconsin wildlife. We also saw a 3D slide show which just about put me to sleep after the long morning. We took a short break for lunch before our long afternoon. We walked down to Bobbin Head where we took another short break before heading out for the longest part of the day. We thought we were headed to the bus, but little did we know that was over 5km away. The Guide was definitely a character and I don’t think he enjoyed/understood my sarcasm of the afternoon. We knew there was somewhat of a climb at the end of the walk, but he definitely under exaggerated this. Jackie and I ended up leading half of the group of the cliffs while he waited behind for the rest. We weren’t really sure where we were going but he just told us to follow the white dots on the trees/rocks. We finally got to the top and were waiting for a while, until someone decided to go see where they were. Come to find out our guide was sitting/resting a ways back because apparently he thought he had food poisoning. We waited until almost 5:30 but then half the group decided to leave because we knew we were supposed to catch the bus, who knows where, at 6pm. After a winding trail and asking some hikers which way to go we found a nice neighborhood and spotted some hippy boy standing at a bus stop. He told us the bus would be there in 2 minutes and went to the train station, the only problem is that was the last bus for the day. Only half of our group was there and we had no idea what was going on with our guide. Jackie and I didn’t see the point in staying there with no plan on how to get home although the rest of the group felt bad leaving the other half behind along with our guide. They decided they would try to get help from the neighbors and ultimately called an ambulance, Jackie and I missed this excitement though because we put ourselves before them (selfish maybe) but I did not want to be stuck over 2 hours away from the Uni with no plan on how to get home. I found out later they called the school which sent taxis for them. Saturday night I was way to tired to go out so I just hung out with my roommate Sam and the girls across the hall.
Sunday I got up and decided to go get my travel pass because I knew I would need it for work on Monday. I texted Noel and we decided to go into Sydney and explore, we started at Paddy’s market which was really cool. We’re gonna go back sometime to buy tons of stuff, if anyone has idea for what they want for a souvenir let me know. We left there and walked through China town and then over to the Chinese gardens. It was a beautiful day so we decided to walk around Darling Harbor and spoted a few nice restaurants overlooking the Harbor that we want to go back to. We ended up back at the Queen Victoria Building which is in the center of the CBD and looked around at the shops before catching a bus back to campus. The stores there are a little out of my price range, Coach, D&G, Versace, and tons of others but it was cool to look around.
Today I started my internship, I had to get up at like 7:30 to catch the bus by 8:20. The main lady that I’ll be working with is out of the office on a conference in Melbourne today and tomorrow so she left some work behind for me to do. It was kind of boring data entry stuff but I didn’t really mind, nothing too hard. I got an hour for lunch which was awesome because I work less than a block from the Harbor so I went down bought a sandwich and sat on a bench that overlooked the Harbor Bridge and Sydney Harbor, it was awesome.
Tomorrow I work again and then I have class at night and on Wednesday and Thursday. I’m not sure when I’ll get to update again, I’ll probably wait until after the weekend.
Love you all and miss you!
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