$1500 and 13 Days later

Well I just got back from 13 of the best and most exhausting days of my life. Our “Spring” break trip was awesome, but now like someone on the trip said, I need a Holiday after my Holiday. I feel like I’ve been going non-stop and I haven’t had a good nights sleep in ages. Just a warning this entry is going to be extremely long seeing as I have two weeks of non stop adventure to update everyone on.

Out trip started Friday the 10th when Rachel Jackie and I got up at the crack of dawn for our shuttle to the airport. Our flight got us into Cairns early in the afternoon and then we just walked around and hung out at the Hostel for the rest of the day. There was a really nice pool and bar area which is where we ate dinner. It was $10 for your pick of mean (steak chicken fish) side salad, break and a drink. It was interesting because they just gave you the raw meat and then you had to grill your own, but it was delicious.

Saturday we got up early for our 2 hour bus ride to the Tully river where we did white water rafting. This was intense, our raft consisted of 3 strangers, our guide who didn’t speak very good English, Jackie, Rachel, Dana and myself. We did 2.5 hours in the morning, braked for a bbq lunch and then another 2 hours in the afternoon. It was grade 4 rapids which are pretty difficult, but it was nice because after each rapid we had a calm period to rest. About 15 minutes before our lunch break we were approaching a rapid that apparently had a cyclone on the right hand side that was pretty tough to get through. Our guide told us we should go left but after the first three rafts went right we just followed them. Bad idea, we got to the cyclone, stopped and knew we were doomed. Our raft went straight into the air throwing all of us into the water. I really don’t remember much because it all went so fast but I do remember not knowing which way the sky was. Eventually I came up, just quick enough to get a breath before another wave pushed me back under. Our raft flipped in the middle of the rapid so we ended up floating/swimming/ getting pushed down the remainder. They advised us that when your raft flips you should go into the float position which is on your back with your feet out infront of you. Yeah, well this is easier said then done. I was spinning around doing somersaults running into rocks while trying to get to that position. I remember floating past one of the other rafts that was trying to pull us in except they couldn’t reach me. Then eventually one of the guides in the other raft threw me the rope and pulled me in. Everyone in that raft said I looked horrified and they were all pretty concerned for me because they said our flip/swim through the rapid looked pretty intense. I got a nice cut on my knee and many bruises all over my legs but I’m fine and now I have an awesome story to tell. Our guide told us that he owed us beers at the bar afterwards since our raft flipped, but when we got there he never followed through with his promise, what a jerk. The afternoon went smoothly although we were all a bit apprehensive about getting back into the river after our tumble but all in all it was a good day.

Sunday we got up early yet again, this time to head north along Captain Cook Highway which has awesome views of the ocean. Our bus/tour guide Scotty was awesome and on the way told us tons of ways that you can die in Australia, the jellyfish and crocodiles were what he liked to talk about most. Our first stop was at a Rainforest Habitat where we got to see tons of wildlife and pet/feed Kangaroos and Wallabies. After that we got back in the bus to head up to Daintree National Park in Mossman George, here we did a rainforest walk and saw some more wildlife. After that was a stop at smaller beach where we had a delicious lunch before we headed north to the Daintree River. We took a “cruise” down the river in a small boat where we saw some crocodiles, birds, butterflies, and other wildlife. Back into the bus and another long drive until we arrived in Cape Tribulation where we spent the night. It was cool because our hostel was being remodeled so we got upgraded to the Cape Tribulation resort and spa. It was a really neat place, all of the units were kind of like little log cabin/tree houses in the middle of the rainforest. The best part was probably the bathrooms though, there were large glass showers AND hot water. We ate dinner at the restaurant there event though reception told us it was “a bit pricy” as if because we were students/backpackers we couldn’t afford it. they told us it would be very busy and they would try to fit us in which was bogus because the restaurant was half empty when we were seated. The food really wasn’t that great and somewhat expensive but I’m still glad we ate there because our only other option was a 20 minute walk down to the tiny grocery store in town.

Monday we got to sleep in a tiny bit, 7:45 pick up, to head out to the Great Barrier Reef. We all got on board a boat and headed out to the reef which was about an hour away. It was awesome to relax/suntan on the front of the boat during the drive out there. When we got there we had an introduction about snorkeling and then they let us out into the ocean for about 2 hours to explore the reef. I’ve never been snorkeling before but it was awesome. We saw pretty much all of the wildlife they talked about, coral, fish, sting rays, turtles, and even a reef shark. Some of the girls said it wasn’t as beautiful as some of the snorkeling they’ve done in the Caribbean and other places but that’s because the Reef is slowing dying/disappearing because of all the pollution in the world. I’m just glad I got to see it before it’s gone. In between snorkeling we had a break for a huge lunch and then after we headed back to land where we caught our bus for a 2 hour ride back to Cairns where we returned to our wonderful Bohemia “resort” hostel. We had dinner there again, this time it was included in the trip and instead of one of the meat selections you got a small portion of all three. After that everyone packed and got ready and then we all played drinking games by the pool until it was time to get on our bus at midnight to head down to Airlie Beach. This was probably one of the funniest nights of my life. We played Kings Cup and with all the rules we added it was a ridiculous game, not to mention there were like 20 people in on one game that just made it insane. We didn’t’ realize at first that we had to get our own transportation to the greyhound terminal so we ended up calling taxies to get us there. The last taxi was running late and according to greyhound rules you have to be at the terminal 20 minutes before departure. The last taxi with about 5 people from our group arrived at 12:30 which is when we were supposed to leave, and our asshole bus driver left without them even though we begged him to wait. They all were drunk and retarded arguing but it really sucked for them because they ended up having to take a taxi to the next town where they could catch a different bus.

The bus ride was ridiculous, we stopped at 3am for a meal break, not sure what meal that’s supposed to be, but some of the drunk kids got off to get snacks. After that it felt like we stopped every hour for a break or to pick up more passengers. We finally arrived around 11 to Arlie beach and had no idea where we were supposed to go. Josh, one of the guys on our trip was amazing at organizing things, he helped the stranded bunch of kids get to Arlie beach and figured out where we were supposed to go when we got there. Once we arrived in the office we found out that we were only allowed a small backpack of things for the trip and that we were supposed to leave the rest of our luggage in their hold room. I wish I would have known this before because I just took my large travel backpack and then a tiny cloth backpack. I ended up stuffing everything I needed in there and then we had the day to hang out in town before getting on the boats. It would have been a lot of fun except that we were all tired from the lack of sleep we got on the bus the night before and it was raining so no one really wanted to walk around o explore the town. We were supposed to leave at 1 but since the group that missed the bus was still on their way we were postponed. Then at 3, our second scheduled arrival time we found out that they were fixing the “freight train” which is the sailing yacht that I was supposed to be on, that made me feel good. Finally everyone got there and the boat was ready and we ended up leaving around 5. It was still raining so it wasn’t that much fun to be on the top of the boat, for me at least, I hate being cold and wet so I just went under the boat and hung out. Our sleeping arrangements were very interesting. It was like bunk beds in the side of the boat, and I was on top. It was hot and kind of smelly but I’m still really glad I did it, it was an awesome experience and made a great story to tell. The way out was a bit rocky, and I was a little nervous but I got used to it. Our skipper was Jason and then we had another guy Patrick that was supposed to be the diving instructor but he was basically in charge. Then there was Erica who was the cook for us, I can’t believe the meals she made in that tiny kitchen with limited resources, while sailing. The first night we had spaghetti and garlic bread which was delicious. The rain stopped so we sat up top for a while, and then we went to a bar on one of the islands. We stayed there till 12 but it was a pretty chill night because all of us were pretty much exhausted from our long day. The most annoying part of it was that we had to walk to the bar, and Patrick told us that we didn’t’ need our shoes because it was just a short walk. Well he was wrong, it was a long walk through mud, and rocks, all of us were tiptoeing through these rocks screaming every time we hit a sharp one. This guy Patrick was pretty cool but could also be a complete asshole.

The next day what was it Thursday the 16th I woke up pretty early, before anyone else and went up on top the boat. I was just in time to catch the end of the sunrise which was GORGEOUS, I got some good pictures of that and then while I was waiting everyone else woke up and we had breakfast. We sailed out to Whitehaven beach which is again another beautiful place. Everything on this trip was so pretty and amazing it was hard to take it all in. I’m sure you’ve seen pictures of this beach in magazines and on posters and stuff. It has the whitest sand I have ever seen in my life and it’s so fine. The only problem is it gets in everything, we were constantly covered in sand and they warned us to be careful with our cameras because the beach has been known to take the lives of many digital cameras. I was careful because I’ve already lost one camera to sand damage and did not want to loose another one, especially in the middle of this trip. We got to the beach at like 8:30, did the touristy picture thing at the lookout and then just hung out there until about 10. We left early because we had a 2 hour trip to another area of the islands where we were doing snorkeling. On the way to that we all just hung out on the boats, the weather was gorgeous, sunny and warm so all the girls were sprawled out on the deck tanning. When we got to our next location we had lunch, which was so good, I was expecting basic meals on this trip but we had potato salad, roast chicken, pasta salad, bread, and some other things. After that we went snorkeling for a while, but the water was kind of murkey from all the rain they had the day before so it wasn’t as good as it should have been. After this we just sailed to anther area where we stopped to anchor for the night. We all started drinking “good’ (it’s what they called boxed wine here) on the way and just hung out the entire night. It was crazy, we were blasting music, singing along, dancing, all in all a great end to the sailing trip. The skipper also thought it would be a good idea to do a snorkel bong. it’s kind of like a beer bong, basically you just fill the tube of a snorkel with wine and then chug it. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and the first one was fun, the second one not such a good idea though.

Soo I woke up the next morning not feeling so hot, I think the mixture of hangover, smelly wet people that hadn’t showered in two days, and sea sickness was a deadly combination. I made my way up to the deck and puked overboard, it was a great start to the day. We had breakfast soon after that and Dana told me tea should settle my stomach and I figured a piece of bread would be okay to eat. Well I was wrong again because both came up within a few minutes. I’m pretty sure I saw some fish eating my puke. Sorry to anyone with sensitive stomachs but I figured I’d include all the details. We didn’t spend much time on the water that day, just headed back to Arlie beach where we had the whole day to sit around, waiting for our next overnight greyhound bus which left at 8pm. The first thing we did was showered and washed our clothes at the facilities they had by the marina. That was one of the best showers in my life and I didn’t even have a towel to dry off with, I just drip dried and then put on my swimsuit, since it was the only clean clothing I had with me. After that we found what they call the Arlie lagoon, which was pretty much just a huge public pool. Rachel and I weren’t really hungry but after a while decided that it would be better to eat something than have an empty stomach all day. I had Mc Donalds for the first time (except ice cream of course) in probably 2 years,maybe more, and it was a big let down. It was beautiful weather again and we hung out there until about 4 which is when we had to pick up the rest of our luggage from the sailing office. After that we just went to a bar and got drinks and dinner while waiting for our bus. We all made it on time this time, thankfully, except the bus ride still sucked. I feel like I didn’t sleep at all however the time passed pretty quickly so I must have just been in and out of sleep a lot.

We were supposed to get into Hervey Bay on Saturday at like 9am. Somehow the bus made up a ton of time and we got in at like 6:30. The hostel thankfully provided a courtesy van, but since we were so early they weren’t ready for us and we had to hang out at the hostel for a while before we could check in. Everyone was dead tired from the drive, some of us just hung out by the pool and some decided to go find a place to eat. We sat around until about 8:30 when they finally had us check in. The rooms were really cool, it was like a little apartment with a kitchen, living room and two bathrooms and then like 6 bedrooms. There were 19 people per unit and my unit was all people from our trip which was really cool. After we checked in we had the whole day to ourselves to just hang out, we went to the beach because it was another beautiful day. The beach was really nice, not too busy and the water was pretty shallow for the first part so it was a good beach for just hanging out. The boys bought a soccer ball, Frisbee and football so we played games for most of the day. We went back and got ready and then people from the hostel took us on a booze run so that we could stock up for that night and our camping trip. I really didn’t want to drink that much so I just got a box of wine that I was planning on sharing with Dana. After we all went on our run we came back to the hostel where they had a bbq dinner for us, it really wasn’t that good, just their sausage type hot dogs that I’m not really a fan of. After that we hung out in our apartment thing and played some drinking games, then headed down to Hollihans an Irish pub on the beach. They had a live band doing cover songs of a ton of American music and the group of guys I was with was insane. The guys were dancing with all of the older women there, and they were loving every minute of it. One of the women had a video camera with her for some reason and ended up recording some of guys dancing because they were so ridiculous.

The next day we had to be checked out of our Hostel by 6:30 and then down in the meeting room for our briefing for Fraser Island. They had us watch a movie on all of the basic rules of camping, as well as how to drive the trucks that they give you. We thought the trucks fit four but it was actually made for 10, there were the two in front and then the back of the trucks were bench seats on the sides so that you could fit 8. You had to be 21 in order to drive the trucks so that took out like half of our group and then we found out the trucks were manual and there were only a few people that knew how to drive stick. We had a girl try to drive our truck but stalled it like 3 times on the way to where we packed up our camping equipment so they decided to send a driver with us. At first we were all mad because we thought the driver was going to be strict and keep us from having fun but we were completely wrong. They ended up sending two people because the one guy didn’t want to go out alone. We had 12 people in our truck and one of the other trucks only had 8 because they were all separate from the STA group. The first day out Rachel and I rode with them because we thought it would be easier than stuffing 12 people into our truck. That kind of sucked because we got separated from the rest of the trucks for the majority of the day and didn’t think that we would ever meet back up with them. On the way to the campsite I told Rachel it would be awesome if we got there and all of our stuff was set up with dinner cooking. She told me not to even say that because it would get her hopes up, but when we pulled up that’s exactly what happened and it was awesome. We had spaghetti and I cracked open my wine to go with it. We found out that we couldn’t have a campfire in the area we were set up at (which I actually knew already since I watched the video at orientation) but this came as a shock to everyone else when they realized we’d just be hanging out in the dark. We sat by the beach except I was freezing and didn’t’ really feel like drinking so I think I ended up going to bed pretty early.

The next morning we woke up to find that the Dingo’s ate all of the meat from our coolers, so we didn’t have much food for dinner that night. We decided that we would camp at the same location that night so that we did not have to pack up all of our camping gear and then unpack and set up again that night. We left around 8 because you have to drive when the tides are low and we headed up the east coast of the Island. The ride was a bit scary, it’s so weird driving in sand you just swerve back and forth and with all of the weight we had on the top of our truck it felt like we were going to tip over. There were a few spots where the tide was pretty high so we almost got stuck in some of the water. there were also spots where we had to go over rocks which was pretty intense, and kind of scary. After we got over one patch the park ranger stopped us and told us to be safer because he didn’t want another accident like the one they had the day before, that freaked me out a little bit. After about 2 hours we got to the top of the Island to what they call the champagne pools, it’s an area where the ocean washes over rocks and creates neat little pools of water. We hung out there for a while and some of us started drinking, some may have thought it was early but we reasoned that it was okay because it was 5 o’clock at home. We packed back into our trucks and headed south again, stopped at the Maheno shipwreck which is basically just a rusty ship that washed up on shore. After that we went to Eli Creek which is a really neat shallow creek that runs into the ocean along the beach. We walked up and down that and then hung out there for a few hours because we had to wait for the tide to be low again so we could drive on the beach. I laid down to tan and ended up taking an amazing nap on the beach, I guess the wine/sun combination made me a bit tired. The rest of our group was playing football in the creek so when I woke up I joined in with that. Some of the guys thought it would be more fun to play football with me so one of them picked me up and they started passing me around. It was actually really funny and kind of fun, most of them were joking that I would be covered in bruises the next day because my legs were basically one big bruise as it was because of the white water rafting. Once the tide was low we headed back to camp where we made some delicious sandy grilled cheese sandwiches, chips, and any other random food we had. The other groups had some extra sausage and cheeseburgers so they also shared these with us. That night the Dingo’s must have remembered where the food was because they came back for a friendly visit. All of the guys thought it would be a good idea to go Dingo hunting so they tried to make spears and one of them picked up a shovel. I think they ran around for a while but then they just gave up and continued drinking and acting like retards, pretty much normal behavior for those guys but extremely amusing. I went to bed early again that night, as did most of the group, long days of sun, 4 wheel driving, and drinking will do that to you.

The next morning we had to get up and pack up all of our stuff before we headed out for Lake McKenzie. It was about a 2 hour drive but once we got there it was beautiful. The lake had the bluest water I’ve ever seen in my life and some of the softest whitest sand. It actually squeaked when you walked on it, I’ve never been on a beach that’s done that before. The water was a bit cold, but having not showered for 2 days it felt amazing. While most of the girls laid out in the sun the guys invented a new game, human beer pong. Basically they stood in two lines about 30 feet away from each other and then took turns throwing a football, footy ball, and Frisbee at each other. If you got hit with any of these you were out, but you were also out if you flinched as one of them flew at your body. I must say it was quite amusing to watch. We left there around 1 and ate the rest of the food that we had left, I had my apple and a peanut butter and jelly, which I didn’t mind at all. Some of the guys were complaining because there was only whole grain bread, but then they found a package of hot dog buns so they ate their PB and J on that.

Completely off topic but talking about PB and J made me think of this. They don’t have Jelly in Australia. It’s either Jam or preserves, so when one of the girls here told a local that she loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches they thought she was crazy. Apparently what we call Jello is called jelly here, so they thought she was making some crazy new sandwich.

Anyways back to the trip, after lunch we headed back to the west side of the island where we had to meet the barge which would take us back to Hervey bay. Once back we had to unpack all of our gear and check back into the Hostel. This was an interesting point in the trip, 31 filthy smelly people and limited showers. Our room had about 11 people from the trip and one shower, we took turns and unfortunately we all got a cold shower. The hot water at this place seemed to run out ridiculously fast. As I showered sand was constantly pouring out of my hair, it was ridiculous, and despite the fact that it was freezing cold and I had to dry off with the dirty towel I had been using all week it was still one of the best showers I’ve taken. That night the hostel set up a deal where you could pay $10 for all you could eat Dominos pizza. I wasn’t really that hungry but I did it anyway because everyone else was and there were really no other options for dinner. That night was spent on the balcony of our room drinking and once again acting like complete idiots. I had a stomach ache and wasn’t really in the mood for alcohol so I just hung out with everyone. I’m actually really glad I didn’t drink because they provided the best entertainment I’ve had in a while. The guys did a great rendition of backstreet boys, follow by the girls doing spice girls. Around 10:30 they wanted to head out to the bars but I was dead tired so I just went to bed. I was woken up at 12 by them returning home and was once again provided with a few good hours of entertainment. I also collected all of the valuables, ipod, speakers, and phones that were left around the room. Many people thanked me for that in the morning.

The next morning everyone got up and started packing, sadly it was our last day of the trip and we had to check out of our rooms by 9:30 and be at the airport by 12. The flight home went by pretty fast, I slept for about half of it, read a chapter and we were there. We had scheduled an airport pickup so that we didn’t have to mess around with taking the train. Because we had so many people it wound up being about the same cost, a lot faster, and a lot more convenient, I am hoping I don’t have to travel on the train at all with luggage, I can only image what a pain that would be. It was good to be back but I was a bit disappointed when I walked into a messy, empty apartment, thanks roommates for leaving the garbage full, dirty dishes in the sick, and shit all over the living room. It was awesome though because I had two cards in the mailbox, thanks mom!

Now it’s back to reality, I had a group meeting today with some kids from my marketing group because we have a presentation/paper due in a little over a week. This week I have another paper due and then a huge test the week after. I also have to register for classes for next year in La Crosse, sort out the details of my lease, and figure out traveling plans. I have a flight to Melbourne with about 5 other people from my apartment building for May 14th so we have to book our hostels and activities for that. Then I have to figure out what I’m going to do with Brian when he comes….juuust kidding, I can’t wait for that, only 2 months!! I also booked my plane ticket home, June 24th, get excited! And start planning my party!!!

Well I guess I should wrap up this novel. I’m typing it on word right now and I just got to page 8 so I think that’s probably enough to talk about. The weather has started cooling off here, not too excited about that. I just got an awesome tan on this trip and now it’s probably going to fade because I don’t think it’s going to be warm enough for beach days anymore in Sydney. I’ll probably be living in the library for the next few days, usuing the internet to talk to everyone, update this blog, figure out classes, oh yeah, and do homework. Wish me luck with my tests, I’m still not used to being in school!

Love you and Miss you,
See you soon!

Almost halfway

Time's flying by here, I was just realizing that i'm halfway done with classes, and once I get back from break i'll be half done with my entire time here, roughly. I can't really tell if it's going too fast or just right. I'm enjoying myself and haven't felt rushed to do anything, so I guess it's going good. I was talking to someone the other day that said they heard of a lot of people who are really homesick and some that even moved their flight home to an earlier day because they're anxious to get home. I think it's mostly that everyone is ready for a break, school is stressful in that I have no or little motivation to study or do my homework since I know I only have to pass. The other problem is that in two of my classes the test averages so far were right around a 50% and the professor said that was good! I dont' get it, I guess the major differnece between here and home is that at home when the class average is that low the professors just curve it to bump everyone up, not the case here. Although i have little motivation I still do the readings, go to class, and study, but it's tough to focus when there are so many other things on my mind/ that i'm wanting to do.

We made it to Luna Park last Friday and that was a lot of fun. The special was "friday frenzy" and you got an unlimited ride pass for $25. It was worth it because otherwise rides are $10 each, kind of rediculous. The only problem was that I get motion sickness pretty easy and a majority of the rides were spinning. After a few I was done for. Me and spinning just don't get along very well. We ate dinner down there too, I had Calamari and chips and it was delicious, then as if I hadn't eaten enough we opted to get some ice cream, which was also delicious.

Saturday was a slow going day, we didn't do much of anything. Everyone was overtired and studying/preparing for all of the stuff that was due this week. I actually dont' have a hard week this week but when we get back from break I have 2 tests a presentation and a paper due so I've been trying to keep up with that knowing that i'll get nothing done over break. Saturday night I hung out with the girls upstairs and we got to talking about high school/college and just all kinds of random stuff. It was a nice relaxing night, something I think we all needed.

Sunday we had plans to go to Manly beach for Beth's 21st birthday. Despite the fact that it was kind of cloudy/cool we still went. It wasn't the best of beach days, but we stuck it out. I'm reading "The Pillars of the Earth" right now which I borrowed from my roomate John. It's about 1000 pages long, but it's really good so far, and i'm about 1/4 done.

Monday and Tuesday I had my internship which i'm enjoying. I found out that I will be able to go along to a few conferences in May. One of them is to Coffs Harbor which is suppsoed to be beautiful so that'd be cool if I could take a free trip out there.

I'm getting anxious to plan what i'm doing when Brian comes to visit, but i'm not even sure what days he's going to be here for sure or what the weather is like so I guess i'll leave some of that till after break. I also would like to know when my finals are so that I can figure out waht my schedule is going to look like for June and when i'm going to be coming home. Right now it looksl ike if I don't have finals towards the end i'll be coming home on the 23rd or 24th, but if I have finals that last week i'll probably wait until the 28th or 29th becasue flights are a lot cheaper then.

My next post probably wont' be until after my "fall" break but i'm sure it will be a long one talking about everything I did. My wall is filling up from the cards i've been getting so thanks to everyone that has sent one so far, I love getting mail!

Love you all, take care
Stephanie

Rain Rain go away

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.

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

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

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

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!