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