Tuesday, June 23, 2009

The Home Stretch

Tuesday was an incredibly boring day, I woke up ate breakfast, started to study and then went back to bed for an hour. It started to rain which gave me a no desire to leave the apartment, which was probably a good thing since I had to study for my Marketing exam that I had the next day. I also did some yoga/Pilates which I hadn’t done in forever so it felt good to get some exercise. I studied for a while then when Josh came home our electricity went out, I think we just had too many things going at one time. We looked in our circuit breaker which is in our apartment but nothing was out so then I thought maybe it was the whole building, but when I went upstairs I found Julie had power and it was just us. I had to go downstairs and use the main controls to turn our power back on. When I went upstairs to talk to Julie I found out the free internet “Netgear” was working so of course I came back down and spent a good hour or more on the internet, mostly on Facebook, although I did take a few online quizzes for my exam. The rest of the day was mostly just hanging out and studying, so exciting.

Wednesday I woke up early so that I could have a decent breakfast before my exam, then headed off in the rain to take it. It went pretty well I think, I can never really judge especially with multiple choice. After my exam I went to the Library to use the internet for a while, hung out there and ran into Emma. I came back and didn’t really do much the rest of the day, hung out with my roommates for a bit, read, and then went over to Jeff’s apartment to watch Master Chef.

Thursday I got up and planned on going for a run but had no motivation to do that. I went online instead but then after talking to Peter for a while he motivated me to go for a run, I did that and some yoga/pilates, took a shower and got ready for the day. I went to campus around 2 to participate in a research study which I got $15 for. I was surprisingly tired when I got back here and took an amazing nap while my roommates left to go see year one. They said it was pretty good but I really have no desire to see it. They were gone most of the night, hanging out with Jeff because he was leaving to go home the next day. I watched Master Chef and talked to Brian from upstairs for a while then read and went to bed.

Friday morning I got up and went upstairs to say goodbye to Brian, he was leaving for New Zealand later in the afternoon and wouldn’t be back until after I left to go home so it was the last time I’d be seeing him. After that I went over to Jeff’s apartment to say goodbye to him, it’s finally starting to set in that we’re all leaving soon and may never see each other again. Although I will see Jeff because I’m going to Pittsburg to visit and get a food tour of the city, including Primanti brothers. After saying goodbyes I headed into the city to do some last minute shopping and wandering. My plan was to go to the rocks market however once I got downtown I realized they don’t start until Saturday. They did have the farmers market so I walked around that for a bit, then stopped at the Museum on Contemporary Art but that was a bust because the “good floor” was being changed and only the other two wee open. After that I decided why not take a walk to Paddy’s Market, it’s probably a good 10-15 blocks but the weather was nice and I stopped at a few stores along the way. I also got lunch at Ogalos which was recommended by some of the guys here as being really good. It’s basically a burger/chicken fast food place but it’s Portuguese style chicken and it was delicious. I got a few more souvenirs and some food at Paddy’s and then headed back to the apartment. I was motivated and went for another run and did more yoga/Pilates. After it started to rain so my plan of staying in was confirmed and I just hung out with my roommates and watched master chef and the American “SYTYCD”. I also read my book “world without an end” which I’m almost done with and is getting really good.

Saturday I woke up to rain, which has been the forecast for every day since Brian left basically. Sat around for a while, working on some things, read, studied a little bit for my last exam. The rest of the day followed pretty much the same pattern, the weather really never cleared up which gave me little motivation to do much of anything. I talked to Marie for a while, she baked a funfetti cake so I had some of that which was delicious. I also read the boy in the stripped pajamas which Jeff gave to my roommates to read. It was a really good book and now I need to see the movie.

Sunday I woke up around 10 to a sunny day! Yes, rain was predicted but someone was looking out for me because I had planned to go to the market that day rain or shine, although we know I would have been crabby had it been raining. I stopped on the way to the market at a jewelry store and decided that I needed/wanted/deserved a necklace to match the opal earings that I got for my internship. Everything was half off at the place I went to which was awesome and the sales lady was really helpful, no doubt working on commission. I ended up buying a really cute little pendant necklace and when I got home realized it matches my earnings almost perfectly. After that I headed to the market, wandered around for a bit and bought the present for my mom that was the whole purpose of me heading to town. After that my plan was to get some Gelatto but I wasn’t really in the mood but didn’t want to head back to campus yet either. I walked around, headed to Darling Harbor and then storm clouds were rolling in so I decided it was time to come back. I got back to campus just as it was starting to rain, started to do a little studying and then fell asleep around 4 to the rain. Woke up around 5, hung out for a while before making dinner and sitting down for Master Chef. I made pasta with zucchini for dinner, pretty impressive for the amount of cooking I actually do here, and it wasn’t bad either. Watched Master Chef with my roommates, so sad I’m going to miss the finale of that show, I guess I’ll just have to watch it online. Then hung out/studied for a while before calling my dad at 12 to wish him a happy fathers day. Talked to my mom and dad for close to an hour, and then passed out.

I had been planning on sleeping in Monday because I had nothing much to do other than study for my exam, however the dump truck outside had different plans for me. They were dropping off a massive dumpster for who knows what but were apparently having trouble with this process because they made a ridiculous amount of noise and of course it was right outside my window. I gave up on sleeping in and decided to just get up. I went online for a little bit, ate breakfast and then decided I couldn’t sit any longer. Went for a run because it was once again nice out, thank god the weathermen suck at predicting the weather here. After my run I was feeling motivated so I did some Yoga and Pilates, showered, and then resumed my position on the couch. I semi studied but mostly was on Facebook for a good hour before Tamara asked me to go to the mall with her. The plan was to study at Borders but she said she couldn’t concentrate and left shortly after. I stuck it out for a good hour, stopped at Woolworths for a few things and then headed back here. I studied for a while, read Gino’s blog and then made dinner (soup that I bought a while ago and needed to eat before leaving) and watched Master Chef, Desperate Housewives, and Brothers and Sisters. I really haven’t watched much TV here but Monday night is my TV night. I got back into Brothers and Sisters and Desperate Housewives is pretty much just a filler between the two.

Tuesday had my exam, hopefully that went well, it was three essay questions and I knew most of the parts on all of then so I should’ve done fine. After that I came back to the apartment and spent all day putting off packing. Worked out, showered, did some laundry, ate, went on Facebook, then finally started to pack around 5. It shouldn’t have been that hard because I just had to pack everything but it was still annoying. I finished though and then hung out with everyone in the apartments for my last night here.

Today got up early, hoping to tire myself out for the long plane ride home. Went for a run just as the sun was rising which was a perfect start to the day. I ran by campus and realized I don’t want to leave but I guess I’m okay with it. I really do miss everyone back home and can’t wait to see them. After that I showered, did some last minute packing, returned my key and now here I am typing my last blog in Australia. I leave for the airport in about a half hour and then 24 hoursish of travel before I’m home.

See you all soon!
Steph

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Tour Guide for a week

Wednesday the 3rd I woke up at 6am to head down to Canberra for the Export Hero’s awards that I had planned with my internship. After a 3 hour drive we arrived, in the rain, which I guess never happens in Canberra but we were just that lucky. We were going to check into the hotel and Kyle and I were hoping to take a nap but then we were told that our room would not be ready until 1pm. We had about 3 hours to kill before we could get into our room so we had to go do some sightseeing, Kyle had already been to Canberra about a week before so he didn’t’ really want to do anything, plus it was raining so we didn’t’ really want to walk anywhere. Our hotel wasn’t’ in the heart of the city so we walked to parliament house and figured we’d kill some time there, we took a tour of the place which was kind of interesting. After that we were going to go to the Art Museum but then we decided to just get lunch and head back to the hotel, hoping that our room was ready. After checking in we took a nap, in the most comfortable bed I’ve been in for a few months now and woke up at about 4 o’clock, just in time to get ready and then head to the dinner. The dinner/awards were a lot of fun but we also felt kind of stupid because we were just the interns and everyone else there was pretty important. There were free wine and drinks then we had dinner while the awards were presented. The only people that really talked to us were the guys from Nab bank who were pretty drunk and one of them ended up offering me a job and told me not to go home and to just work for Nab. Lisa and I decided he was full of it and was mostly just hitting on me.

Thursday morning I had an early start, caught a cab from the hotel at 5:15 to go to the airport and fly back to Sydney to meet Brian. Because of fog all flights were delayed and I didn’t end up leaving the Canberra airport until about 8:30. I was worried that Brain would end up waiting in the airport for me but his flight was delayed too, he actually had to land in Brisbane and then leave awhile later to fly to Sydney. We finally left the airport around 10 and then headed back to campus, getting here at like 12. I had 2 classes that day so we went to those, did some grocery shopping and then just hung out for the rest of the night.

Friday we got up and headed into the city. We walked over the Harbor bridge which was really cool, and then walked around the harbor and up by the Sydney Opera House. After a few touristy pictures we went to the Botanical Gardens, walked through and wound up at Martins place station. There we caught a train back to the stop that’s by my work and went to visit all of my coworkers. Everyone was excited to see me again and to meet Brian, we had a few glasses of wine and then Lisa gave us a bottle of wine and told us to go out to dinner and find a BYO restaurant. We walked around for what seemed like forever before we finally found somewhere that said they would “make an exception” for us. We got a pizza to share that was pretty good, and then headed back to my apartment after a long day.

Saturday we woke up to another beautiful day and decided it would be a good day to head to manly beach. When we got there we found that there was a wine and food tour going on so there was a ton of people there. Some of my friends from my apartment were also there so we met up with them for a while. We also ate meat pies, I have yet to try one and I figured Brain should as well so we went to what my roommate says is the best place to get a meat pie. I knew I wouldn’t’ like miced beef so I got a chicken and vegetable and it pretty much just tasted like a chicken pot pie, not bad. We had to leave Manly semi-early because it takes over an hour to get there and we had to come back and get ready for the Rugby game that night. We went to the Sydney Football Stadium to see the wallabies which is Australias national rugby team play the barbarians which is the National team that’s made up of players from all over the world. The game was pretty good, wallabies won. After the game we went back into the city, I tried calling a bunch of people but because exams are coming up no one was in the city. We went to Friend in Hand which is supposed to be one of the oldest pubs in Sydney although there is controversy because a different one was physically there before it but not serving alcohol. Anyways there was live band covering tons of American songs which was pretty cool so we hung out there and had a few beers before coming back to my apartment.

Sunday we slept in a little bit before getting up and heading into the city for a day of shopping in the markets. We started at The Rocks Market which has more expensive things and lots of nic nacs. We found a few cool things but most of it was overpriced so it was more window shopping and getting ideas. Next we went to Paddy’s market which is the discount market, did a lot of souvenir shopping and bought some fruit since it’s a lot cheaper there than in the supermarkets. By the time we were done shopping we were starving so we headed to Chinatown to get something to eat, which I’ve been meaning to do all semester but haven’t yet.

Monday we knew the weather was supposed to be nice so we planned on waking up early and going to Bondi Beach. On the way down I remembered that there was a Jazz festival at Darling Harbor to celebrate the Queens birthday so we changed plans and headed to that instead. We got there before the music and stuff actually started so we went to a café on the harbor and got breakfast first. I had my first French Toast since home and it was delicious, we also walked around and saw the rest of the café’s, bars and restaurants, listened to a few bands and then decided to head into the city and see what else there was to do. We were going to do the Sydney tower but decided that it wasn’t really worth the price and walked to Hyde park instead. We laid down to relax and enjoy the sun for a while and then decided to go to the Olympic park and see everything they used in the 2000 Olympics. There are a bunch of stadiums and the area is pretty cool, a nice park, fountains, hotels that probably barely get used anymore, and restaurants. After walked around we headed back to the city to Darling Harbor to catch a few more bands and take advantage of Happy Hour. It was another long day so after a few drinks we came back to my apartment, enjoyed some left over Chinese and called it a day.

Tuesday I was planning on going to campus to study for my econ class but when my alarm went off I decided that sleep sounded like a better idea. After lounging around for a few hours we got ready and went to Taronga Zoo. You take a ferry to get there so it was a cool ride across the harbor and then the whole zoo is on a hill so you can either take a sky safari, a ride that reminded me of the sky glider at state fair or summerfest to get to the top or you can start at the bottom and walk up. We opted for the sky safari and then worked our way back down to the bottom. It was pretty cool, saw some kangaroo’s, koalas and then the typical animals you see at any zoo. After the zoo we went back to the city and then caught a bus to take us to Little Italy for dinner. We shared a pasta trio that we meant for two and it was pretty good. After dinner it was two more buses and back home. I swear I spend half of my time on public transportation here. It was funny, on about his third day here Brain told me he was sick of the bus ride. The bus that I’ve probably taken over 100 times being here, I told him he had to be kidding.

Wednesday was a bit colder but it was the last day before our travel passes expired so we made the trek to Bondi Beach. I say this because it takes 3 trains and a bus to get there and takes close to two hours. Once you get off though it’s an amazing view and really cool place to be so I guess it’s worth it. It wasn’t exactly the best day to be at the beach, we found out later it was the coldest day since last October. I was wearing a sweatshirt and boots, never thought I’d go to the beach in that weather. Needless to say the beach was a little empty, other than suffers and tourists. We walked around, took some pictures and got lunch and then decided that was about all there was to do and made the trip home. Once we got there I decided that I should probably study for my exam so I went to the library and left Brian to amuse himself in my apartment. That night we walked over to the ranch which is the bar basically across the street from my apartment. After being there for a while some of my friends showed up so we all hung out until around 12 when Brian and I decided to leave because we had an early start the next day.

Thursday we had to get up early for a 3 hour commute to Newcastle. It would have taken less time but they were doing trackwork on the train line that we had to take so we had to get off after 2 hours and then take a bus for like a half hour and then get back on the trains. Overall it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be and I got a good chunk of my book read which was good because I haven’t gotten the chance to read that in a while, I’m almost done too, only 250 pages left to go. Once we got into Newcastle Loraine from the bed and breakfast came and picked us up. The place was really cute, typical overkill on the decorations but pretty much what you’d expect from bed and breakfast. After relaxing for a while we headed into town for another beautiful day. Despite the fact that it’s cooler and windy we were really lucky all week with sunny days and no rain. Newcastle is a smaller town, not really a lot to do but there are some amazing views of the harbor, nice beaches and some really cool ocean baths which are basically swimming pools right on the beach that the ocean overflows into.

Friday we had another early start to the day, breakfast was served at 8, which was delicious, I got banana pancakes with maple syrup and whipped cream. Then at 9 Tex picked us up for our wine tour. It was just Brian me and one other older lady on the tour which was kind of nice so that there weren’t tons of people everywhere. Hunter Valley is a gorgeous area, lots of rolling hills, and wineries. We stopped at about six wineries total plus a really neat village area with shops and café’s where we had lunch. The final place we went to is known for their “dragons breath” which is chili schnapps. Definitely a unique product and not something that I ever really want to have again. That night we had to make the long journey back home which was really annoying especially since the train we were on decided it didn’t’ want to stop at Epping which is where we were supposed to get off to catch a connecting train back to the university stop. We had to go one more stop, wait 15 minutes for a train and then head back to where we just were. By the time we got back to my apartment I was exhausted, took a shower, ate and sat down to study for my exam I had the next day. I was so tired I could barely focus and decided to go to bed and make an attempt the next day.

Saturday morning I got up and the whole day was pretty much devoted to school. I went to the library, checked out the book I needed for my econ test and then sat down to study for about 2 hours before heading to my exam. It turned out a lot better than I was expecting. I have never felt so unprepared for a test in my life and was literally expecting to fail, but I feel semi-confident that I at least passed the test. I really hope I did because even though it wouldn’t be a big deal I really don’t want to have to retake that class.

Sunday was another lazy day, after the past week I was exhausted and still had more reading and studying to do for my last two exams. The weather was also not looking very promising so we decided not to spend money to go into the city and just hung out around the apartment. We bought food and I actually cooked dinner which I rarely if ever do here because our apartment is so shitty and we have nothing to cook with. That night my roommates Josh and john realized that it was Brians last night and said they were going to have a guys night. A bunch of us were going to go to the ranch but then I remembered that it closes at 10 on Sundays so the guys ended up just drinking in the apartment, playing hall cricket, and hanging out until about 3 am.

This morning we got up, Brian packed and we headed to the airport. I took the train into the city and then sent him off to the airport, I’m sure he’s looking forward to over 20 hours on planes and in airports. I know I can’t wait to do the same next week. Now I’m in the library, catching up on emails and putting off studying for my marketing exam. It’s on Wednesday and hopefully won’t be too hard. After that just one more and time for me to come home. I’ve been talking to everyone from home more recently and I can’t wait to see you all. There are so many things I want to do this summer and so many people that I want to spend time with. Thankfully I don’t’ start classes again until the 8th of Sept. so my summer isn’t too short.

2 tests, 9 more days, the dreaded packing, 20+ hours of transportation and I’ll be home!

See you all soon,
Love you