So I was bored in class and counting how long I’ve been in Australia and yesterday was my 100th day here. Once again the past week has flown by. I haven’t really done much of anything, I’ve been busy with a lot of school work. I cant’ believe next week is already the last week of classes.
Last Wednesday I should’ve gone to my internship but I took the day off with the plan to go to the library and read/study for my Econ class which is near impossible. I couldn’t concentrate in the library and it didn’t help that there was absolutely no where to sit, I actually walked around the entire place until I found a spot right by the stairs that was nice and noisy. I gave up after about a half hour and opted to go grocery shopping instead. I felt that my day was wasted, so I opted to go for a run trying to feel somewhat productive. About halfway through my Ipod froze and then it started downpouring on me. It just wasn’t my day I guess, when I got back my roommate Josh and his girlfriend were getting ready to go to Beer Bingo at the Ubar and asked if I wanted to go along. I’ve never been and the semesters almost over so I figured why not. It wasn’t really that exciting, Josh’s girlfriend won a game so she got a free jug of beer but other than that it was basically just hanging out/drinking in the Ubar. Jeff and I left a little earlier than everyone else because it was getting boring and we wanted to make it back for Master Chef which is my new obsession here.
Thursday I spent all day on campus, literally. I had my Econ tutorial at 9, lecture from 11-1, MKTG tutorial at 2 and then my other Econ tut. at 3. By the time I was done with all of that I was ready for a nap but that night we had our dinner for the Internship program. I showered and got ready and then headed downtown with Rachel and Cassie. The dinner was at the Australian Hotel where we tried all kinds of interested pizza. Kangaroo, Crocodile, Emu, Duck, Tiger Prawn, Pumpkin, and Veggie. I think I tired all of them and the only one I really didn’t like was the duck and the only reason was because it had some weird sweet sauce on it. Not my idea of a pizza. Reguardless though I miss the pizza from home, even “fast food” pizza here sucks. We’re not really sure why, I think it might be the cheese, but it’s just not as good as pizza from home.
Friday I went into work, sooo boring. I mostly worked on the database all day and talked to people on facebook. I know I’m such a good employee, but there really wasn’t anything else for me to do. We finalized most of the work for the Export Hero’s awards and the Export Awards launch was the night before so all of that work was done. I also processed a few new membership that came in but after half a day I was bored out of my mind and decided to call it a day. The weather was pretty shitty and by the time I got home I was too lazy to do much of anything. I made dinner and hung out with my roommates and then decided to get a head start on my enourmous paper that was due this week.
Saturday I woke up early, not on purpose, but since I couldn’t fall back asleep I decided to just work on my paper. After a while I took a break to hang out with/ talk to my roommates girlfriend. Who he left here for the weekend while he went a field trip for his Marine Biology class – kind of odd but she’s really nice so it wasn’t’ that awkward. The rest of the day was really uneventfuly, went too the library, sat on facebook, did some shopping, and then just watched a movie that night because the weather was shitty again and no one was really up fro doing anything.
Sunday we went to the Sydney Swans Futbal game which was pretty cool. It was one of my roommates program events but since him and one of the others from their group were on their fieldtrip his girlfriend and I took the extra tickets. The game was kind of boring but the day itself was a lot of fun.
Monday I was finishing up school stuff, my paper and starting to study for my Econ test. That night I had another GLP event, this one was on Career mapping and actually kind of interesting. Between that event and my Econ. class I sometimes reconsider my major/what I want to do when I grow up.
Tuesday I was having a good day until I went to my econ lecture and like usual was completely lost the entire time. The material is confusing and it doesn’t help that our professor is a horrible teacher. He’s one of those professors who are too knowledgeable and don’t’ know how to break it down for students. I was in a horrible mood after class but after talking to my Dad and Brian I was much better. Went to the library to finish my paper, turned that in and then came back before going back to campus for another GLP event. I thought it was going to be interesting because it was about Aboriginal Australians but the lecturer was really boring. Some of them try to include group discussion or little projects but she just sat there talking to us. She did show a dvd clip but that was pretty boring as well. I did learn something though, I didn’t’ realize how recent the problem was, and the severity/reality of stealing children. It was still going on in the 1970’s.
Yesterday I went to my internship again and this time it wasn’t too bad. We’re finalizing things for the event next week. Lisa’s kind of annoyed because the room we are holding it in is fairly ugly and she wants to make it look better but we have virtually no budge. I was looking into chair covers, and more table decoration so hopefully those enhance the room. Friday I’m going in, my last day, and we’re going to run to IKEA to get candle holders and a few last minute things for the event. I had my Econ test this morning, so I spent most of the night studying for that last night. It was another crappy, rainy day so I didn’t feel too bad about just sitting in the apartment.
I don’t really have any exciting plans for this weekend, if the weather’s nice Cassie and I wanted to go to Palm Beach but with our luck it’ll probably rain. I’ll probably spend a good amount of time in the library writing my internship paper and studying for my Econ final. It’ll be hard to concentrate though because Brain gets here in a week and I cannot wait! I just booked a wine tour and bed and breakfast yesterday so that should be fun. I’m hoping there is good weather for when he comes but right now it looks like high 60’s so that should be good, as long as it doesn’t rain. I still can’t believe what they think “really cold” is here. I wish they could experience the joys of winter in Wisconsin.
It’s less than a month now and I’m still having mixed emotions. Most days I’m super excited but then I also realize how much I’m going to miss it. Yesterday at work my boss Ian asked me if I’m going to miss them and I really am, even though I complain about it a lot I love my internship. I was just telling Brian yesterday I wish that I could’ve worked there double and dropped another class (specifically Econ). Right now I really don’t mind that time is passing quickly, I can’t wait for next Thursday!
I’ll see everyone in a month, miss you all!
Steph
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
School, Melbourne, and more school
Oops it’s been a while, I’ve been typing my blog on my computer for a while now so it might not make sense at some parts and I might repeat because I was too lazy to go back and read what I already wrote. This entry is enormous so you might want to make sure you have a lot of time before you sit down to read it….
My test went okay I studied for a majority of the day on Tuesday and then went back to rest before I had to take the test at 6. I met up with Matt, Kyle, and Zach and then after the test matt told me he was going to have people over to his apartment for Cinco de Mayo. A few of us went over there and the guys attempted to make margaritas, not the best. I didn’t drink very much because I had my internship the next day but it was fun just hanging out.
Wednesday I had work all day, it wasn’t too bad, went fairly fast. I found out that I’m invited to go along to the Hero’s Export Awards which is the main event that I’ve been planning. The only problem was that it is on June 3rd and we would be staying overnight until June 4th, not getting back to Sydney till around 10 and Brian flies in that day at like 6am. I found a flight through Virgin Blue for only $65 so I emailed Lisa, my supervisor, and asked her if the company would be willing to pay to have me fly back. She checked with Ian who’s basically the boss and he said they would be able to do that. So I get to go and fly back early so that I’ll be at the airport to meet Brain.
Thursday I was on campus ALL day, I had my Econ tutorial in the morning and then my Marketing presentation that afternoon. The presentation went pretty good, we should be getting our grades sometime this week. I’m interested to see what I get on that, it’s hard to tell because the grade basically depends on what the tutor thought of your presentation and I feel like our tutor doesn’t like me very much, but who knows. Thursday night we were all hanging out upstairs and then a group of us went to UniBar. Rachel has a friend from home visiting so she wanted to take her out and show her the bar on campus. We met up with a bunch of guys from our spring break trip which was a lot of fun. Those guys are always in a good mood and fun to be around.
Friday there was a speaker at noon that everyone that’s doing an internship had to go listen to. He was talking to us about building connections and networking. His presentation was actually pretty interesting considering it was basically a one hour lecture. After that I stayed on campus for a while to use the internet, I was working on figuring out what I want to do when Brian comes to visit. I feel like there’s so much to do it’s going to be hard to fit it all into one week. That night Julie, Cassie, Kevin, Kim and I went to see the school’s production of Cabaret because we knew a few girls who were in it. It was a pretty good show, interesting topic but amusing. I think I’ve been spoiled going to Greendale though because any amateur theater I’ve seen outside of a GHS or GCT Summer performance isn’t even comparable. Just goes to show how awesome Greendale is. The show went until about 11 o’clock so no one was up for going to the city after that, except for Kevin but that didn’t happen.
Saturday I got up early even though I was planning on sleeping in, so I decided to try to be productive. First I finished the book I’ve been reading, Pillars of the Earth, it was really good, not something I would usually read but I liked it. I didn’t feel like walking anywhere to use the internet and didn’t want to read any of my textbooks so I decided to go for a run. While I was out I ran into Rachel and she told me they were planning on going to Bondi Beach and asked if I wanted to go along. It was a pretty nice day out so I decided to go with, it was nice on the beach until the sun started to go down and it got cold and windy. I was rushing to leave and forgot to take a sweatshirt so I wound up wearing Matt and Zach’s sweatpants and sweatshirt. it probably didn’t help that I had a huuuge ice cream cone, but it was delicious so I sacrificed being cold. No one was in the mood for going out that night, some people drank up in the guys apartment above me but I went over to Rachel’s to watch a movie with her and her roommates. We watched Pineapple Express which I’ve never seen, interesting movie, probably wouldn’t watch it again though.
Sunday was another attempt at getting some work done, I went to the library with Marie but didn’t really get anything done. That night Rachel wanted to go into the city to take her friend to Hugo’s which is a really cool club/restaurant that has “Sneaky Sunday’s”. It’s a 5 dollar entry fee but then they have delicious 5 dollar pizzas (which is super cheap here) and 5 dollar drinks. We made it a girls night and there were only a few of us there but it was a lot of fun.
Monday I had my internship again, Lisa wasn’t there so she left a list of things for me to do. I had to process a bunch of membership forms and put together their packets/certificates which I actually enjoy doing even though it’s kind of busy work. Then I had to finish up work for the Hero’s event, booking the photographer, finishing the slide show, and finding music to play during the dinner and awards. I also had to select a menu for the Export Awards Launch which is next week. That was cool because I got to select six different dishes from an elaborate menu. I actually had to google some of the dishes because I had no idea what they were. Hopefully Lisa likes the things I picked, I was kind of surprised she left the whole choice up to me. I left work early because I’m going back in on Wednesday to discuss some of the stuff with Lisa.
Tuesday I had to go to the morning Econ lecture because I had a global leadership colloquia that night. It was actually kind of interesting, about how to market a better you. Basically telling you how to promote yourself for job interviews and stuff and learning who you really are. Kind of cheesy but not as boring as some of the other ones I’ve been to. Wednesday I went to my internship, I really didn’t feel like being there, it was a long day and I ended up leaving earlier than I planned because I want to get my hours done before June but I was dying of boredom. I basically worked on stuff for the Hero’s event, everything is starting to get finalized. I’m excited that I get to go, it should be a lot of fun and it’s helpful that by going I’ll be at the airport just in time to meet Brain. Wednesday night I packed and got ready for our weekend in Melbourne.
Thursday morning we were picked up by the airport shuttle at 5:30am, not the best start to the day..waking up before the sun. I’m turning into more of a morning person but that is still very early. Our flight was on time we caught the shuttle to the Hostel but check in wasn’t until 11 so we had to wait for about an hour. After we got checked in we walked around the city and had lunch and this really cool place called Tjanabi, it was supposed to be more authentic aboriginal Australian food. They had duck and a lot of seafood, I decided to get the seafood risotto which was delicious, squid, oysters, scallops and fish. Kevin and my meals were taking forever and to make up for it the waiter offered us a free drink which was awesome, so I had a good glass of wine to go with my meal. After lunch we went next door to the Art Museum and walked around to look at some of the work. Everyone was dead tired by that time so we decided to go back to the hostel and take a nap before getting ready for the night. After a nap and shower Rachel, Julie, Cassie and myself headed to Wicked. The show was amazing, I was a little hesitant that the Actors were going to have Australian accents but they didn’t and I’m really glad I went. AT intermission they were selling “ozmopolitans” in these awesome light up martini glasses so of course we all got one, they were delicious. After the show we tried to meet up with the rest of the group but some of them were just drinking in a park with friends that they had met up with from their spring break trip and we didn’t’ want to do that so we went to the bar that was below our hostel and hung out for a bit before heading to bed.
The next morning we woke up early, well some of us, because we had to catch a 9 o’clock train. We ended up running to the station and missed the train by a few minutes. It was the only train that could take us to Philip Island in time to see the penguin march which is the major reason we were planning on going there. Kevin informed us that there was another train that would take us to some city where we could take a ferry over to Philip island and still get there in time. We put our faith in Kevin and tried this option, after arriving in Frankstown, a few stops from where we wanted to be, we found out that the ferry was shut down for the day because of bad weather. We were about to turn around and head back to Melbourne but Kevin was determined to get us to this island. He decided that our best option was to rent a van and drive there ourselves. Long story short, after about an hour and a half we wound up at Thrifty where we got a great deal on an 8 passenger van and were headed for the island. Some of us were hesitant about going but I’m glad we did. The hostel we stayed in, which I found was called the chill house and was basically a house renovated, added onto, and turned into a hostel. there was a courtyard with a pit for bonfires a nice bathroom, living room area and then two bedrooms with bunks. After the penguin march, which really wasn’t as cool as I was expecting, and really cold. We stopped at the grocery store, bought supplies for s’mores, which was hard since they don’t have graham crackers, and some drinks and then headed back to the hostel. The owners built us a fire and we hung out there for a while, went over to a Mexican restaurant because Julie was super excited about the margaritas, which were horrible, I’m not really sure if there was actually any tequila in them. After that we went back to the hostel again which was only about a block away and drank for the rest of the night and hung out with the two guys that ran the place, Mark and Paul who were really cool.
The next morning we got up early, drove off to see the nobies which is where there are supposed to be an abundance of seals but with our luck we didn’t see any, however the scenery was beautiful and it was free so still worth it. The island was pretty cold, and extremely windy so that made me a bit crabby but overall it was a lot of fun. We had to have the car returned by 1 so after that we left, took the car back and then caught the train back to Melbourne where we checked back into the hostel we had stayed in two days before. After that we had some time to kill so we took the free tram that takes you around the city and points out all of the “tourist” attractions. It kind of reminded me of the trolley tour in Milwaukee. After walking around one of the parks and part of the city we went back to the hostel where we hung out and then started to get ready. We were planning on going on a ghost tour at the prison in Melbourne however it was sold out so only 4 of us had tickets. The girls that didn’t have tickets, which included me decided to get ready and then go out to dinner in little Italy. We walked there and started looking at menus along the street of all the different restaurants. We got to one where there was a host sitting outside who pulled us over and gave us a 5 minute talk about why we should eat at his restaurant. Part of the “presentation” included that we would receive free garlic bread and a free glass of wine. We felt bad turning him down so we decided to stay. This guy was a real ham, kind of annoying but we gave him credit for being so persistent. The food was actually really good and so was the wine, also it was all a pretty good price so even though it was an awkward situation with him constantly talking to us and making sure we had everything we needed/pushing more wine it was worth it. After dinner we met up with the rest of our group who were done with their ghost tour and at a rooftop bar in the city. We hung out there for a while before returning to the Hostel to rest before our 6:40 bus to the airport.
Surprisingly we were all up and ready in time to catch the bus that took us to the airport. We had a van reserved at Avis which we were going to rent to drive the great ocean road. When we got there we were told that the van had engine problems and would not be available for us to drive. The guy tried to tell us that he could get us two cars instead but that’s not what we wanted and we only had one person who was really willing to drive. There were other car rental companies there so we tried checking with them but they had nothing available. We returned to Avis where we planned on demanding a great deal on two smaller cars because of the inconvenience. After about a half hour of talking we found out that they actually didn’t’ have two cars, one of the ones were manual and none of us could drive that and the other was a Rav 4 which apparently you can’t rent to someone under 25. Our next plan was to rent one car from Europcar and one from Hertz but we had to wait for the one from Hertz to come back which was supposed to be at 10:30. While waiting the guy from Thrifty came over and asked us if we were still looking for a van because he had found a set of keys in the drawer to a van that he had forgotten about and thought was being rented. We filled out the paperwork and left by about 10:30, after sitting in the airport for close to 3 hours. We were finally on our way thanks again to Thrifty. On the way out we stopped at Bells beach and a few other lookout points which provided amazing views of the ocean. There was a marathon being run from Lorne to Apollo Bay so we had to take a windy detour through the woods to get there. It was actually pretty cool and I don’t’ think it was much longer than the original route. We got into Apollo Bay around 3:00, checking into our Hostel, got some food, and then headed on down the road because we wanted to get to the Twelve Apostles before sundown. Unfortunately it was cloudy, we got there right as the sun was starting to set and the view would have been even cooler if there would have been clear skies, but it was still really pretty. After a few minutes there we got back in the car to return to our hostel. We all decided we were sick of eating out and spending money so we bought stuff to make a stir fry in the kitchen at the hostel. After that we just hung out and went to bed, ready to get up for another fun day of driving and traveling.
Monday we got up, loaded the car and headed for the airport. We really didn’t have time to stop anywhere because people had flights to catch and we had to have the rental car back by 11. Between all of us we were on three different flights so some of us had to wait in the airport for a few hours before coming back to Sydney. The flight went super fast and thankfully Rachel had schedules a shuttle to take us back to our apartment so we didn’t have to deal with taking the train. I was back here by about 5 o’clock, showered, ate dinner and then watched TV with the girls upstairs before passing out. It’s weird, both of the “vacations” I’ve been on here made me more tired than staying in Sydney. I guess that proves that there’s a lot to see and do here.
Tuesday I had a GLP colloquia which was one of the most boring things ever. It was about intelligence, basically we talked about the CIA and different agencies for 3 hours. Then after that I had an econ lecture which thankfully ended early. Now the rest of this week I’ll probably be living in the library since I have a huge paper due next Tuesday and then a test on Thrusday. I can’t believe how fast the time is going, Brian will be here in about two weeks, I have finals, and then before I know it I’ll be home. (Which I’m super excited for because I miss you all and it’s starting to get cool here so I want summer weather back!)
Love you,
Steph
My test went okay I studied for a majority of the day on Tuesday and then went back to rest before I had to take the test at 6. I met up with Matt, Kyle, and Zach and then after the test matt told me he was going to have people over to his apartment for Cinco de Mayo. A few of us went over there and the guys attempted to make margaritas, not the best. I didn’t drink very much because I had my internship the next day but it was fun just hanging out.
Wednesday I had work all day, it wasn’t too bad, went fairly fast. I found out that I’m invited to go along to the Hero’s Export Awards which is the main event that I’ve been planning. The only problem was that it is on June 3rd and we would be staying overnight until June 4th, not getting back to Sydney till around 10 and Brian flies in that day at like 6am. I found a flight through Virgin Blue for only $65 so I emailed Lisa, my supervisor, and asked her if the company would be willing to pay to have me fly back. She checked with Ian who’s basically the boss and he said they would be able to do that. So I get to go and fly back early so that I’ll be at the airport to meet Brain.
Thursday I was on campus ALL day, I had my Econ tutorial in the morning and then my Marketing presentation that afternoon. The presentation went pretty good, we should be getting our grades sometime this week. I’m interested to see what I get on that, it’s hard to tell because the grade basically depends on what the tutor thought of your presentation and I feel like our tutor doesn’t like me very much, but who knows. Thursday night we were all hanging out upstairs and then a group of us went to UniBar. Rachel has a friend from home visiting so she wanted to take her out and show her the bar on campus. We met up with a bunch of guys from our spring break trip which was a lot of fun. Those guys are always in a good mood and fun to be around.
Friday there was a speaker at noon that everyone that’s doing an internship had to go listen to. He was talking to us about building connections and networking. His presentation was actually pretty interesting considering it was basically a one hour lecture. After that I stayed on campus for a while to use the internet, I was working on figuring out what I want to do when Brian comes to visit. I feel like there’s so much to do it’s going to be hard to fit it all into one week. That night Julie, Cassie, Kevin, Kim and I went to see the school’s production of Cabaret because we knew a few girls who were in it. It was a pretty good show, interesting topic but amusing. I think I’ve been spoiled going to Greendale though because any amateur theater I’ve seen outside of a GHS or GCT Summer performance isn’t even comparable. Just goes to show how awesome Greendale is. The show went until about 11 o’clock so no one was up for going to the city after that, except for Kevin but that didn’t happen.
Saturday I got up early even though I was planning on sleeping in, so I decided to try to be productive. First I finished the book I’ve been reading, Pillars of the Earth, it was really good, not something I would usually read but I liked it. I didn’t feel like walking anywhere to use the internet and didn’t want to read any of my textbooks so I decided to go for a run. While I was out I ran into Rachel and she told me they were planning on going to Bondi Beach and asked if I wanted to go along. It was a pretty nice day out so I decided to go with, it was nice on the beach until the sun started to go down and it got cold and windy. I was rushing to leave and forgot to take a sweatshirt so I wound up wearing Matt and Zach’s sweatpants and sweatshirt. it probably didn’t help that I had a huuuge ice cream cone, but it was delicious so I sacrificed being cold. No one was in the mood for going out that night, some people drank up in the guys apartment above me but I went over to Rachel’s to watch a movie with her and her roommates. We watched Pineapple Express which I’ve never seen, interesting movie, probably wouldn’t watch it again though.
Sunday was another attempt at getting some work done, I went to the library with Marie but didn’t really get anything done. That night Rachel wanted to go into the city to take her friend to Hugo’s which is a really cool club/restaurant that has “Sneaky Sunday’s”. It’s a 5 dollar entry fee but then they have delicious 5 dollar pizzas (which is super cheap here) and 5 dollar drinks. We made it a girls night and there were only a few of us there but it was a lot of fun.
Monday I had my internship again, Lisa wasn’t there so she left a list of things for me to do. I had to process a bunch of membership forms and put together their packets/certificates which I actually enjoy doing even though it’s kind of busy work. Then I had to finish up work for the Hero’s event, booking the photographer, finishing the slide show, and finding music to play during the dinner and awards. I also had to select a menu for the Export Awards Launch which is next week. That was cool because I got to select six different dishes from an elaborate menu. I actually had to google some of the dishes because I had no idea what they were. Hopefully Lisa likes the things I picked, I was kind of surprised she left the whole choice up to me. I left work early because I’m going back in on Wednesday to discuss some of the stuff with Lisa.
Tuesday I had to go to the morning Econ lecture because I had a global leadership colloquia that night. It was actually kind of interesting, about how to market a better you. Basically telling you how to promote yourself for job interviews and stuff and learning who you really are. Kind of cheesy but not as boring as some of the other ones I’ve been to. Wednesday I went to my internship, I really didn’t feel like being there, it was a long day and I ended up leaving earlier than I planned because I want to get my hours done before June but I was dying of boredom. I basically worked on stuff for the Hero’s event, everything is starting to get finalized. I’m excited that I get to go, it should be a lot of fun and it’s helpful that by going I’ll be at the airport just in time to meet Brain. Wednesday night I packed and got ready for our weekend in Melbourne.
Thursday morning we were picked up by the airport shuttle at 5:30am, not the best start to the day..waking up before the sun. I’m turning into more of a morning person but that is still very early. Our flight was on time we caught the shuttle to the Hostel but check in wasn’t until 11 so we had to wait for about an hour. After we got checked in we walked around the city and had lunch and this really cool place called Tjanabi, it was supposed to be more authentic aboriginal Australian food. They had duck and a lot of seafood, I decided to get the seafood risotto which was delicious, squid, oysters, scallops and fish. Kevin and my meals were taking forever and to make up for it the waiter offered us a free drink which was awesome, so I had a good glass of wine to go with my meal. After lunch we went next door to the Art Museum and walked around to look at some of the work. Everyone was dead tired by that time so we decided to go back to the hostel and take a nap before getting ready for the night. After a nap and shower Rachel, Julie, Cassie and myself headed to Wicked. The show was amazing, I was a little hesitant that the Actors were going to have Australian accents but they didn’t and I’m really glad I went. AT intermission they were selling “ozmopolitans” in these awesome light up martini glasses so of course we all got one, they were delicious. After the show we tried to meet up with the rest of the group but some of them were just drinking in a park with friends that they had met up with from their spring break trip and we didn’t’ want to do that so we went to the bar that was below our hostel and hung out for a bit before heading to bed.
The next morning we woke up early, well some of us, because we had to catch a 9 o’clock train. We ended up running to the station and missed the train by a few minutes. It was the only train that could take us to Philip Island in time to see the penguin march which is the major reason we were planning on going there. Kevin informed us that there was another train that would take us to some city where we could take a ferry over to Philip island and still get there in time. We put our faith in Kevin and tried this option, after arriving in Frankstown, a few stops from where we wanted to be, we found out that the ferry was shut down for the day because of bad weather. We were about to turn around and head back to Melbourne but Kevin was determined to get us to this island. He decided that our best option was to rent a van and drive there ourselves. Long story short, after about an hour and a half we wound up at Thrifty where we got a great deal on an 8 passenger van and were headed for the island. Some of us were hesitant about going but I’m glad we did. The hostel we stayed in, which I found was called the chill house and was basically a house renovated, added onto, and turned into a hostel. there was a courtyard with a pit for bonfires a nice bathroom, living room area and then two bedrooms with bunks. After the penguin march, which really wasn’t as cool as I was expecting, and really cold. We stopped at the grocery store, bought supplies for s’mores, which was hard since they don’t have graham crackers, and some drinks and then headed back to the hostel. The owners built us a fire and we hung out there for a while, went over to a Mexican restaurant because Julie was super excited about the margaritas, which were horrible, I’m not really sure if there was actually any tequila in them. After that we went back to the hostel again which was only about a block away and drank for the rest of the night and hung out with the two guys that ran the place, Mark and Paul who were really cool.
The next morning we got up early, drove off to see the nobies which is where there are supposed to be an abundance of seals but with our luck we didn’t see any, however the scenery was beautiful and it was free so still worth it. The island was pretty cold, and extremely windy so that made me a bit crabby but overall it was a lot of fun. We had to have the car returned by 1 so after that we left, took the car back and then caught the train back to Melbourne where we checked back into the hostel we had stayed in two days before. After that we had some time to kill so we took the free tram that takes you around the city and points out all of the “tourist” attractions. It kind of reminded me of the trolley tour in Milwaukee. After walking around one of the parks and part of the city we went back to the hostel where we hung out and then started to get ready. We were planning on going on a ghost tour at the prison in Melbourne however it was sold out so only 4 of us had tickets. The girls that didn’t have tickets, which included me decided to get ready and then go out to dinner in little Italy. We walked there and started looking at menus along the street of all the different restaurants. We got to one where there was a host sitting outside who pulled us over and gave us a 5 minute talk about why we should eat at his restaurant. Part of the “presentation” included that we would receive free garlic bread and a free glass of wine. We felt bad turning him down so we decided to stay. This guy was a real ham, kind of annoying but we gave him credit for being so persistent. The food was actually really good and so was the wine, also it was all a pretty good price so even though it was an awkward situation with him constantly talking to us and making sure we had everything we needed/pushing more wine it was worth it. After dinner we met up with the rest of our group who were done with their ghost tour and at a rooftop bar in the city. We hung out there for a while before returning to the Hostel to rest before our 6:40 bus to the airport.
Surprisingly we were all up and ready in time to catch the bus that took us to the airport. We had a van reserved at Avis which we were going to rent to drive the great ocean road. When we got there we were told that the van had engine problems and would not be available for us to drive. The guy tried to tell us that he could get us two cars instead but that’s not what we wanted and we only had one person who was really willing to drive. There were other car rental companies there so we tried checking with them but they had nothing available. We returned to Avis where we planned on demanding a great deal on two smaller cars because of the inconvenience. After about a half hour of talking we found out that they actually didn’t’ have two cars, one of the ones were manual and none of us could drive that and the other was a Rav 4 which apparently you can’t rent to someone under 25. Our next plan was to rent one car from Europcar and one from Hertz but we had to wait for the one from Hertz to come back which was supposed to be at 10:30. While waiting the guy from Thrifty came over and asked us if we were still looking for a van because he had found a set of keys in the drawer to a van that he had forgotten about and thought was being rented. We filled out the paperwork and left by about 10:30, after sitting in the airport for close to 3 hours. We were finally on our way thanks again to Thrifty. On the way out we stopped at Bells beach and a few other lookout points which provided amazing views of the ocean. There was a marathon being run from Lorne to Apollo Bay so we had to take a windy detour through the woods to get there. It was actually pretty cool and I don’t’ think it was much longer than the original route. We got into Apollo Bay around 3:00, checking into our Hostel, got some food, and then headed on down the road because we wanted to get to the Twelve Apostles before sundown. Unfortunately it was cloudy, we got there right as the sun was starting to set and the view would have been even cooler if there would have been clear skies, but it was still really pretty. After a few minutes there we got back in the car to return to our hostel. We all decided we were sick of eating out and spending money so we bought stuff to make a stir fry in the kitchen at the hostel. After that we just hung out and went to bed, ready to get up for another fun day of driving and traveling.
Monday we got up, loaded the car and headed for the airport. We really didn’t have time to stop anywhere because people had flights to catch and we had to have the rental car back by 11. Between all of us we were on three different flights so some of us had to wait in the airport for a few hours before coming back to Sydney. The flight went super fast and thankfully Rachel had schedules a shuttle to take us back to our apartment so we didn’t have to deal with taking the train. I was back here by about 5 o’clock, showered, ate dinner and then watched TV with the girls upstairs before passing out. It’s weird, both of the “vacations” I’ve been on here made me more tired than staying in Sydney. I guess that proves that there’s a lot to see and do here.
Tuesday I had a GLP colloquia which was one of the most boring things ever. It was about intelligence, basically we talked about the CIA and different agencies for 3 hours. Then after that I had an econ lecture which thankfully ended early. Now the rest of this week I’ll probably be living in the library since I have a huge paper due next Tuesday and then a test on Thrusday. I can’t believe how fast the time is going, Brian will be here in about two weeks, I have finals, and then before I know it I’ll be home. (Which I’m super excited for because I miss you all and it’s starting to get cool here so I want summer weather back!)
Love you,
Steph
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Back to Reality
I thought once I got back from my trip I would have time to relax, but that hasn’t really happened yet. I couldn’t sleep in the first day back since I had to go to the dentist and get my tooth fixed. I left that excitement out of my last post, a few hours after getting back from our trip I was sitting in my room eating and my fake tooth broke off. Not really the best ending to the day, not to mention all of my roommates were gone, and it happened after the medical center on campus closes so I had no idea what to do. I went to campus to use the internet and found out there is a dentist in the shopping center which is a few block away from my apartment so I planned on going there first thing the next day.
So no sleeping in for me Thursday morning, I woke up at 8 so I could get to the dentist right away. They thankfully had an opening but it wasn’t until 3:30 so I had all day to walk around looking like a hillbilly. It actually worked out because I had a group meeting for my Marketing presentation scheduled for 10:30 so I was still able to go to that, even though I really didn’t want to talk to anyone while missing one of my front teeth. The dentist wound up being one of the nicest people I have ever met in my life, he really turned my mood around 180 degrees. Before going in I was worried about the whole situation but he was really understanding and assured me everything would be fine. I’m still waiting to hear back from my health insurance company, with the international student health cover you have to pay up front and then file a claim which they review and decide if they want to pay for anything.
Friday I decided that something had to be done about this apartment, it was a mess. I vacuumed, swept, washed the floor, took out the overflowing recycling and trash, did the dishes, and even washed the bathmats. After that I went to campus to use the internet, I had to set up my classes for next year, check my bank statement and e-mails and book a flight to come home. I did all of that, and by the way I’ll be home June 24th at around 7pm. Friday night there wasn’t much going on, a lot of people were still gone on break and the rest of us were all exhausted from our trips so we just hung out.
Saturday was Anzac day which is a big holiday here. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian in WWI. There’s a mass at like 4am, but mostly it’s just a day for people to go into the city and drink/celebrate. Joe, who lives upstairs, birthday was on Sunday so we decided to celebrate Saturday in conjunction with Anzac day. The plan was to get ready and start drinking at noon and then head to the city because there was supposed to be live music and stuff in the afternoon. As usual no one was ready at 12, we all met up in Joe’s apartment around 2, hung out there for a couple of hours and then headed into the city. We went to a bunch of different bars and then later in the night we all met up with people from our trips and most of us split up. The group I was with decided that the rocks wasn’t fun and that we should go to Bungalow8 which is on Darling Harbor and a good 20 minute walk from where we were. I’m stubborn and didn’t want to pay for a taxi so we walked the entire way, which was probably a stupid idea since my knee still hurts from white water rafting and I had flimsy sandals on for walking. We got there eventually and it was actually a lot of fun, pretty similar to Cargo bar, which is also on Darling harbor but it was cool to see someplace new.
Sunday I tired to be studious and go to the library, got there around 1 and didn’t really get that much done. I checked facebook, e-mailed my mom, and researched a few articles for my paper but couldn’t concentrate enough to actually read them all. I woke up craving Mexican food so Marie and I decided to make tacos for dinner, which were delicious. The finale of the Australian version of So you think you can dance was on so Marie and I watched that and by the time it was over I was ready for bed, especially since I had to get up for my internship the next day.
By Monday my lack of sleeping was catching up with me, I had to hit the snooze button a few times and struggled to get out to the bus stop on time. I made a poor decision in wearing heels and my feet/knee were killing me by the time I got to work. I figured work would be decent since I hadn’t been in a few weeks and theres internet there so I could always facebook if I was bored. Well just my luck, the internet was “down” so I got the awesome job of putting together 40 binders for a conference they were having later in the week. Around lunch time the internet starting working again and it was funny because within minutes my supervisor was on facebook so I figured it was okay for me to do the same. Then she asked me if I wanted to do some shopping because we needed gift bags for the wine we were giving to presenters. Again, this would have been fine except that I was wearing stupid heals, and my knee still hurt so the walk during lunch wasn’t so enjoyable. I did get an extended lunch though so it all evened out. I feel like I had to wait for eternity for the bus that night and got home about ten minutes before I had to head out for my meeting with my Marketing group. We wrote our speech for our presentation but gave up soon after that because we were all tired and hungry, I came back ate some food, watched the new show Master Chef, and attempted to work on my paper.
Tuesday was a much better day, I got up before my alarm, showered and had breakfast (which I usually don’t do before work). We had a staff meeting at work which was pretty boring until the power went out around 10. I guess this is like the third time in the last month that Sydney has had a blackout. It lasted for about an hour so we just sat there, kind of continuing the meeting but moreso just talking about random things. The rest of the day went pretty fast, I had to write a Media release announcing the Export Hero’s for 2009 so that was kind of cool.
Wednesday I thought I would finally get to sleep in but woke up at 8:30 and then again at 9:30 so I just got up. I was at the library pretty much all day, group presentation; paper and huge test all in the next two weeks. It would be fine but the test is in my ECO200 class, the one that I barely understand so I have to study a lot. I didn’t buy the book so I have to go to the library to read it which you would think is a better place for studying than my apartment but the library here sucks. There’s really no good place to study there, and it drives me crazy that they allow you to eat because when I’m trying to read and it’s quite the sound of chewing drives me insane. If you know me at all you know how much this annoys me.
Thursday is my busy day as far as classes go. Luckily I didn’t have my ECO tutorial this week so I didn’t have to start until 11 which is my Econ lecture. I actually like that professor and although it’s somewhat boring the 2 hours go fairly fast. My marketing tutorial was completely pointless this week but gave my group time to work on our presentation that we have next Thursday. That night no one was really doing anything, school’s finally catching up with everyone. I watched Harry Potter with Jill and was yelled at because I’ve never seen any of the movies, I didn’t mention to them that I haven’t even read the books. I might do that this summer though, seeing as I own them all. Speaking of reading I’m almost done with the Pillars of the Earth, it’s really good and I just found out Julie upstairs has another one of Ken Follett’s books so I might borrow that from her when I’m done with this one.
Friday I went into work because I want to make up some hours. I’m hoping to finish a week early and I know that I’m going to be missing a few days when I go to Melbourne. My boss told me not to bother coming in until the afternoon because that way I could stay and have cocktails. Work was actually kind of fun, I thought it was going to suck at first because one of the computers was broken so I didn’t have one for the day but then we re arranged and I did have one. I confirmed the booking for the photographer and audio systems for the Hero’s awards in June and then I started working on a slideshow of all the Hero’s and past Hero’s that’s going to play during the dinner. They got out the wine at about 4 and I thought I would just have a glass and then be home by 5. We were sitting in the board room drinking and talking about before I knew it, it was 6 o’clock. We were talking about how expensive University is in the states and all kinds of random stuff, it was actually a lot of fun, I’m going to have to start working more Fridays. that night when I got home everyone was hanging out upstairs in Joes apartment so I went up there, we left soon after to go across campus to some other girls apartments and we all just hung out there for the night.
Saturday I decided to tag along with the CEA group to go to the Blue Mountains. CEA is just the program they are studying abroad through, basically they paid a little bit extra and then have prearranged trips every once in a while. We went up to the Mountains but on the way stopped at a aboriginal place and tried throwing boomerangs and then learned about their culture. After that we went to a few lookout points and then started our hourish long walk. The guide, Murry, told us we’d be climbing down some stairs and that it was a pretty long walk and then we’d take the train back up the mountain. The stairs were extremely steep and there were more than a “couple” I think the whole walk was 2km, kind of long and my knee still is sore but it was an awesome experience with some amazing views. Along the path we met a bunch of people that had numbers tapped to them. Turns out there was a race in the Mountains, they started at 8 am and were hoping to finish by that time the next day. In total they were doing a 100km hike all around the Mountains, non-stop through the night. Personally I think they are crazy but they were doing it as a charity even to raise money and awareness some wildlife foundation that’s trying to preserve the natural beauty of Australia. It was actually pretty cool talking to some of the people, you could tell they were really passionate about it. When we finally got to the bottom we were waiting for the train to take us back up, turns out it’s the steepest train in the world, we thought it’d be a good idea to sit in the front row...kind of scary. After that we had lunch/dinner in town and came back, I was exhausted so I just hung out, typed my blog, updated pictures, and did some reading. I have a huge test on Tuesday, and presentation on Thursday so I’ll probably be living at the library for the next few days.
Sunday I went to the Market with a few people, mainly to get some fresh produce. We also walked around for a while and since I was cold I decided to finally buy the Australian Zip up that I’ve been wanting. It was only $10 and actually decent quality which I was skeptical of since it was at the market and so cheap, but I like it. Kim and I bought a ton of fruits and vegetables because we’ve decided that we’ve been eating like crap here and we were both talking about how much healthier we are at home, just living in general, and we want to get back on track. Joe found a store that sells North Face fleece and jackets incredibly cheap so I’m going to have to go back there and probably buy something. That night I had a meeting with my marketing group to work on our presentation which is this Thursday, after that it was pretty much tiem for bed.
Now here it is Monday, I’m taking a break from studying. I have to check the book I need out of reserve and you can only keep it out for 3 hours at a time so I did that and read from 9:30-12:30. Soon I’ll have to go back in and hopefully the book is there for me to use.
Only a month till Brian comes to visit me and then not long after that I’ll be home! Can’t wait to see you all!
Love,
Steph
So no sleeping in for me Thursday morning, I woke up at 8 so I could get to the dentist right away. They thankfully had an opening but it wasn’t until 3:30 so I had all day to walk around looking like a hillbilly. It actually worked out because I had a group meeting for my Marketing presentation scheduled for 10:30 so I was still able to go to that, even though I really didn’t want to talk to anyone while missing one of my front teeth. The dentist wound up being one of the nicest people I have ever met in my life, he really turned my mood around 180 degrees. Before going in I was worried about the whole situation but he was really understanding and assured me everything would be fine. I’m still waiting to hear back from my health insurance company, with the international student health cover you have to pay up front and then file a claim which they review and decide if they want to pay for anything.
Friday I decided that something had to be done about this apartment, it was a mess. I vacuumed, swept, washed the floor, took out the overflowing recycling and trash, did the dishes, and even washed the bathmats. After that I went to campus to use the internet, I had to set up my classes for next year, check my bank statement and e-mails and book a flight to come home. I did all of that, and by the way I’ll be home June 24th at around 7pm. Friday night there wasn’t much going on, a lot of people were still gone on break and the rest of us were all exhausted from our trips so we just hung out.
Saturday was Anzac day which is a big holiday here. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian in WWI. There’s a mass at like 4am, but mostly it’s just a day for people to go into the city and drink/celebrate. Joe, who lives upstairs, birthday was on Sunday so we decided to celebrate Saturday in conjunction with Anzac day. The plan was to get ready and start drinking at noon and then head to the city because there was supposed to be live music and stuff in the afternoon. As usual no one was ready at 12, we all met up in Joe’s apartment around 2, hung out there for a couple of hours and then headed into the city. We went to a bunch of different bars and then later in the night we all met up with people from our trips and most of us split up. The group I was with decided that the rocks wasn’t fun and that we should go to Bungalow8 which is on Darling Harbor and a good 20 minute walk from where we were. I’m stubborn and didn’t want to pay for a taxi so we walked the entire way, which was probably a stupid idea since my knee still hurts from white water rafting and I had flimsy sandals on for walking. We got there eventually and it was actually a lot of fun, pretty similar to Cargo bar, which is also on Darling harbor but it was cool to see someplace new.
Sunday I tired to be studious and go to the library, got there around 1 and didn’t really get that much done. I checked facebook, e-mailed my mom, and researched a few articles for my paper but couldn’t concentrate enough to actually read them all. I woke up craving Mexican food so Marie and I decided to make tacos for dinner, which were delicious. The finale of the Australian version of So you think you can dance was on so Marie and I watched that and by the time it was over I was ready for bed, especially since I had to get up for my internship the next day.
By Monday my lack of sleeping was catching up with me, I had to hit the snooze button a few times and struggled to get out to the bus stop on time. I made a poor decision in wearing heels and my feet/knee were killing me by the time I got to work. I figured work would be decent since I hadn’t been in a few weeks and theres internet there so I could always facebook if I was bored. Well just my luck, the internet was “down” so I got the awesome job of putting together 40 binders for a conference they were having later in the week. Around lunch time the internet starting working again and it was funny because within minutes my supervisor was on facebook so I figured it was okay for me to do the same. Then she asked me if I wanted to do some shopping because we needed gift bags for the wine we were giving to presenters. Again, this would have been fine except that I was wearing stupid heals, and my knee still hurt so the walk during lunch wasn’t so enjoyable. I did get an extended lunch though so it all evened out. I feel like I had to wait for eternity for the bus that night and got home about ten minutes before I had to head out for my meeting with my Marketing group. We wrote our speech for our presentation but gave up soon after that because we were all tired and hungry, I came back ate some food, watched the new show Master Chef, and attempted to work on my paper.
Tuesday was a much better day, I got up before my alarm, showered and had breakfast (which I usually don’t do before work). We had a staff meeting at work which was pretty boring until the power went out around 10. I guess this is like the third time in the last month that Sydney has had a blackout. It lasted for about an hour so we just sat there, kind of continuing the meeting but moreso just talking about random things. The rest of the day went pretty fast, I had to write a Media release announcing the Export Hero’s for 2009 so that was kind of cool.
Wednesday I thought I would finally get to sleep in but woke up at 8:30 and then again at 9:30 so I just got up. I was at the library pretty much all day, group presentation; paper and huge test all in the next two weeks. It would be fine but the test is in my ECO200 class, the one that I barely understand so I have to study a lot. I didn’t buy the book so I have to go to the library to read it which you would think is a better place for studying than my apartment but the library here sucks. There’s really no good place to study there, and it drives me crazy that they allow you to eat because when I’m trying to read and it’s quite the sound of chewing drives me insane. If you know me at all you know how much this annoys me.
Thursday is my busy day as far as classes go. Luckily I didn’t have my ECO tutorial this week so I didn’t have to start until 11 which is my Econ lecture. I actually like that professor and although it’s somewhat boring the 2 hours go fairly fast. My marketing tutorial was completely pointless this week but gave my group time to work on our presentation that we have next Thursday. That night no one was really doing anything, school’s finally catching up with everyone. I watched Harry Potter with Jill and was yelled at because I’ve never seen any of the movies, I didn’t mention to them that I haven’t even read the books. I might do that this summer though, seeing as I own them all. Speaking of reading I’m almost done with the Pillars of the Earth, it’s really good and I just found out Julie upstairs has another one of Ken Follett’s books so I might borrow that from her when I’m done with this one.
Friday I went into work because I want to make up some hours. I’m hoping to finish a week early and I know that I’m going to be missing a few days when I go to Melbourne. My boss told me not to bother coming in until the afternoon because that way I could stay and have cocktails. Work was actually kind of fun, I thought it was going to suck at first because one of the computers was broken so I didn’t have one for the day but then we re arranged and I did have one. I confirmed the booking for the photographer and audio systems for the Hero’s awards in June and then I started working on a slideshow of all the Hero’s and past Hero’s that’s going to play during the dinner. They got out the wine at about 4 and I thought I would just have a glass and then be home by 5. We were sitting in the board room drinking and talking about before I knew it, it was 6 o’clock. We were talking about how expensive University is in the states and all kinds of random stuff, it was actually a lot of fun, I’m going to have to start working more Fridays. that night when I got home everyone was hanging out upstairs in Joes apartment so I went up there, we left soon after to go across campus to some other girls apartments and we all just hung out there for the night.
Saturday I decided to tag along with the CEA group to go to the Blue Mountains. CEA is just the program they are studying abroad through, basically they paid a little bit extra and then have prearranged trips every once in a while. We went up to the Mountains but on the way stopped at a aboriginal place and tried throwing boomerangs and then learned about their culture. After that we went to a few lookout points and then started our hourish long walk. The guide, Murry, told us we’d be climbing down some stairs and that it was a pretty long walk and then we’d take the train back up the mountain. The stairs were extremely steep and there were more than a “couple” I think the whole walk was 2km, kind of long and my knee still is sore but it was an awesome experience with some amazing views. Along the path we met a bunch of people that had numbers tapped to them. Turns out there was a race in the Mountains, they started at 8 am and were hoping to finish by that time the next day. In total they were doing a 100km hike all around the Mountains, non-stop through the night. Personally I think they are crazy but they were doing it as a charity even to raise money and awareness some wildlife foundation that’s trying to preserve the natural beauty of Australia. It was actually pretty cool talking to some of the people, you could tell they were really passionate about it. When we finally got to the bottom we were waiting for the train to take us back up, turns out it’s the steepest train in the world, we thought it’d be a good idea to sit in the front row...kind of scary. After that we had lunch/dinner in town and came back, I was exhausted so I just hung out, typed my blog, updated pictures, and did some reading. I have a huge test on Tuesday, and presentation on Thursday so I’ll probably be living at the library for the next few days.
Sunday I went to the Market with a few people, mainly to get some fresh produce. We also walked around for a while and since I was cold I decided to finally buy the Australian Zip up that I’ve been wanting. It was only $10 and actually decent quality which I was skeptical of since it was at the market and so cheap, but I like it. Kim and I bought a ton of fruits and vegetables because we’ve decided that we’ve been eating like crap here and we were both talking about how much healthier we are at home, just living in general, and we want to get back on track. Joe found a store that sells North Face fleece and jackets incredibly cheap so I’m going to have to go back there and probably buy something. That night I had a meeting with my marketing group to work on our presentation which is this Thursday, after that it was pretty much tiem for bed.
Now here it is Monday, I’m taking a break from studying. I have to check the book I need out of reserve and you can only keep it out for 3 hours at a time so I did that and read from 9:30-12:30. Soon I’ll have to go back in and hopefully the book is there for me to use.
Only a month till Brian comes to visit me and then not long after that I’ll be home! Can’t wait to see you all!
Love,
Steph
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