Internship, Coogee Beach, St. Patty's Day & Temple

I can't believe it's already been almost two weeks since my last post! Time is literally flying here in Sydney and sitting on my computer is definitely not at the top of my priorities. I'm here now though to let you all know what's been going on down under! I'm stopping the day by day recaps because who really wants to know what i'm doing EVERY day!? I also can't keep track so i'm going to try out something different in this post!

The "Study" In Study Abroad
Well, I'm currently sitting in my Live Entertainment & Popular Culture lecture so that should tell you something. Lectures are SO boring. It's two straight hours of powerpoints and I find myself on my computer the entire time barely paying attention. Oops. They don't even take attendance for lectures sooo why am I here again? I do like tutorials because they are much smaller and much more interactive. One hour classes fly by. Today I have two essays due which are my first big assignments that I've had to do here. Hopefully things go well with them! Citation is different here so that'll take some getting used to. We're already in our 5th week of classes which is crazy! Before ya know it it will be Spring break! Which technically isn't Spring break here... I guess it'd be Fall break? They call it mid-semester recess or Easter break. In terms of school back home, I just registered for my classes for Fall 2012. Stressful. I have changed my schedule almost every day since which is so unlike me. Currently I have one class with Sierra, Tara, and Lauren! Exciting. IF it stays this way!

Internship
About two weeks ago I started my internship at the Sydney Entertainment Centre! It's located in Haymarket which is downtown. It's across the street from Paddy's Market (a huge discounted marketplace) and about a minute from Darling Harbour. So far I've spent four days there six days (including today, cause that's where I am NOW... this blog post has literally been written over 4 days time) and each one has been great. Is it weird to say that I actually like laminating? One day I worked was the day of the Lenny Kravitz show (The Cranberries opened). All day I ran around doing day-of-show activities. I set up the VIP room, created centerpieces, and got a bunch of other stuff ready. It was fun hearing the soundchecks that went on all day. I stayed at work late that night and walked around taking photos of fans around the venue. My photos are up on their flickr and facebook now (only the fan photos are mine). They are nothing special but it's still kind of exciting just to say I did it. Tonight is the Evanescene concert and they asked me to photograph patrons again so I'll be doing that. I also got two free tickets for the show so Morgan will be joining me! My 12-year-old self is really pumped. This job is SUCH a resume boost. Wooooo!

Temple
So this is two weekends ago.... On the Friday night I actually went to Temple! Shocking? Maybe. Long story short... for those of you who don't know who Rabbi Bloom is he was our Rabbi in Rhode Island for a bit of time when Jen and I were younger. Last summer Rabbi Bloom came to Australia for part of his sabbatical, I think, and went to a synagogue in Woollahra, which he told me was in walking distance of Bondi Junction. What a coincidence! That's where I live! So I decided since I had no plans that evening that I would go to services! It was only a 10 minute walk from my apartment! So close! The temple offers two services; one that is more traditional and one called Shabbat Live that has live musicians like a keyboardist, drummer, guitarist, etc. I obviously attended Shabbat live! After Shabbat live I went an introduced myself to one of the younger looking Rabbis to find out if a friend of Rabbi Bloom's was there for me to meet. Unfortunately he wasn't, but Paul invited me to join him and some other 20 year olds from the congregation for a vegetarian potluck dinner at someone's apartment in Bondi beach. I had no other plans but to go home and drink wine with Morgan and the twins (and as exciting as that sounds, love you guys) I took up his dinner offer! The girl who owned the apartment was actually from Wisconsin and I met a few other Americans there; one was even from Chicago! I ended up not getting back home till almost midnight. I'm pretty sure Morgan thought I died. I'm so glad I went though because everyone was super nice! I think i'll definitely be going back again sometime!

St. Patty's Day
Despite the rain ALL DAY (it seems to always rain on holidays) it ended up clearing up in time for us to go out at night! We were all sporting our green which was more than difficult to find considering the mall near us has 5,000 stores. Morgan and I spent the entire day before searching and searching and searching for affordable green clothing. Finally when we were just about to give up we stumbled upon a store that had a ton of green and even a section in back focused just on St. Patrick's day. Thank goodness! Anyways, before heading out we did the usually card games and listening to music routine and then we caught the train downtown. Oh my goodness this train ride was CRAZY. Everyone on it, but us, was completely wasted and going nuts. It was chaos and SO loud AND this probably the extent of craziness for our night. We learned that St. Patty's Day isn't all that big here and some people called us "confident" for wearing green... whatever that means. We headed to 3 Monkey's where we planned to order a Guinness and the tab was broken. St. Patrick's Day fail. Instead we had the usual cider and danced a bunch. There was a cover band on and off stage all night... our favorite! They did play some great stuff. It definitely wasn't the St. Patrick's Day I was expecting and it kind of sent me into a homesick mode... or well, a "Chicago-sick" mode. I missed the green river and the parade... and of course mom's corned beef and cabbage!

The Weekend of Nice Weather & Wine
This past weekend we had GORGEOUS weather. Finalllllly! The days it's nice i'm always stuck in class or at my internship so the sunshine was very appreciated. We set our alarms Friday and Saturday to make sure that we didn't waste any ounce of good weather! On Friday it was just MK, Morgan, and I. We headed to Coogee beach since we (embarssingly) hadn't been yet! The sun was perfect and at first the water was freezing. I swear someone told me the water was warmer here... FALSE. However, Morgan and I managed to get in! We played around with the waterproof camera... best $35 i've ever spent. Eventually we made our way over to this rocky cove-like area which was gorgeous. There were huge rocks and the waves were crashing on them. It looked like a scene from The Little Mermaid. There were also a ton of puppies walking around and swimming. If you climbed these stairs a bit you had an amazing view of the entire beach. I can't believe how gorgeous the water is here. It seriously looks tropical! We finally headed home after a long and fantastic six hours at the beach to face our night full of essay writing. SAD. The next day though we made sure we went back! This time it was Me and Morgan and Jenna and Chelsea. We swam in the cove and climbed some rocks. Lots o' exploring. Before going home we got some gelato. I had one scoop apple pie and one scoop coffee. Delish. They have gelato EVERYWHERE here. Where is my froyo!!?! We got sushi for dinner (yep, still addicted) and then showered up and got ready. It was the usual night of wine and card games. OH, MK made me wear these ridiculous heels. Proud to say I didn't fall butttt my feet were killing me by the end of the night! We were going to have a lowkey night and go out in Bondi but when we showed up at not only one but TWO practically empty bars we decided this was not the place to be. We decided to take a bus to Oxford St. Somehow Morgan and I separated from the others and hopped on a bus without them. We stumlbed upon a bar and went in for a couple drinks. It was a super chill place that was so tiny. A small bar and then slot machines... weird. Once MK and twins arrived on Oxford St., we met them at the Oxford Art Factory and danced the night away!

The Hunger Games
This doesn't really need a whole section but I'm not sure where else to group it. We went to the midnight showing (so we got to see it wayyy before all you Americans). The theater we went to was SO NICE. The seats were large and comfy and the concession area looked like something from the future. It was like, all self service stuff and just really modern looking. The movie was fantastic but I definitley enjoyed the book more. I won't bore you with my commentary.

Okay. I think that's all the important stuff. St. Patty's day... check. School... check. Internship... check. Beach... check. Hunger Games... check. K, I don't think I have anything left for you all!

OH, we booked flights for Melbourne! We'll be there from the 19th of April to the 22nd. April is going to be CRAY. So. Much. Traveling.

I'm also pretty congested right now. I'm hoping it'll pass soon though. I HATE sinus headaches. :(
We're supposed to have nice weather this weekend again! Sunday I'm heading to Port Stephens with Morgan, Chelsea, and Jenna. I've heard it's beautiful! I'll be posting about that shortly!

Also, pictures to go along with this post will come soon. I'm not on my laptop so I do not have the pics right now & I should probably post since it's been over two weeks!

Random comments:
Walking on the left side instead of the right still feels weird. I'm not sure if it'll ever feel okay.
They say "Cheers!" so much here. I love it.

With love from Sydney <3

Boring Lectures, Sunny Days, Darling Harbour and even a Play

The usual posting on Sundays was working out but with classes in full swing now it doesn't seem to be the best fit. Sunday nights = homework nights just like any other semester. Posts will come whenever. They may even be short with just a random thought. We'll see! Hey, I'm just proud I've gotten this far with it! The days are starting to blur together but i'll do my best to sort them out just for YOU! 

Let's see... 

Monday, March 5

Went to campus early to buy books/do homework. Live Entertainment & Popular Culture lecture from 10-12. Management tutorial from 12-1. I'm the only American in this tutorial so the Australians thought that was pretty neat. After class a girl came up to me and was like, "So, you're really from American?" Haha. I hung around campus for a while after I was done with classes with Morgan and MK. I just love this campus so much, especially in the nice weather. I could lay out on the green for hours. Ugh, it's just beautiful. I came home and had SUCH a good work out and then I even went in the hot tub and sauna. Super nice. 

Tuesday, March 6

Media, Culture & Everyday Life Lecture 9-11. Live Entertainment tutorial 11-12. We basically talked about the Kardashian's some more and Harry Potter among a few other things. I read during my break and then had my Media tutorial from 2-3. I really like this tutorial and there seem to be a lot of nice people in it! After class MK and I met up and got some food before our Management lecture from 4-6. Oh my gosh SO BORING. We'll definitely be skipping this in the future. After class we went to the Roundhouse (the venue on campus) for Uni flicks. They were playing Scott Pilgrim so we met up with Morgs and Steph and Joe were there too. It was a relaxing movie night with free popcorn. I was EXHAUSTED by the time the movie was over. I was on campus for about 12 straight hours. Ooof. 

Wednesday, March 7

YAY No class. I slept late and hung around. I headed downtown around 3:30 because I was meeting with a lady at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. We talked for a bit and she gave me a short tour around the venue. This is where i'll officially be interning for the semester. I can already tell that I'm gonna learn a ton and c'mon, this will look SO GOOD on a resume! After my interview I walked around downtown for a bit but it started pouring so I ended up shopping from store to store until I met up with MK and Morgan. We searched for somewhere to eat but everything was so expensive. We ended up at a little place where I had my first chicken burger. After dinner we got some delicious gelato and it was off to the Opera House we went! 

Because I'm keep this super fantastic blog TEAN is rewarding me with some tickets to cultural events throughout the semester in Sydney (in turn I have to blog about the event so forgive me if I seem to go into more detail than you'd like to hear). Tonight was our first one: a play at the Opera House. It still sounds weird to say that i've been IN the SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE for a PLAY. The theater was so much smaller than I was expecting. I never really thought about the fact that the opera house has multiple theaters inside of it. Our play was in the Drama Theater. We saw Midsummer (a play with songs), which was definitely interesting. There was no set change and only two actors so it was a much smaller production that I was expecting. We didn't really understand many of the jokes because we didn't completely understand the European humor (the play is set in Edinburgh) that took place in the play but the parts I did understand were funny and entertaining. You can classify Midsummer as a romantic comedy and it was definitely that. I did really enjoy the play but it left me with a feeling of emptiness and I was definitely moments away from tears at a few different times. The female character had an Elmo stuffed animal on her bed, which obviously made me think Jen and how much we just left Elmo. Hilarious. The characters also played live music on their guitars (or ukeleles) and sang. I really enjoyed the songs and their voices. The play was fantastic but it seeing anything in the opera house would be amazing. I still can't believe it! Here is a video I found on YouTube of the opening of the play and this is a video of them performing one of the songs unplugged.

When we got back to Bondi we freshened up and headed to The Eastern (the bar that is like 3 minutes away from us). Travis McCoy was DJing so we figured we'd go. Not gonna lie, his set was pretty bad and I barely liked any of the music he used. However, after his set the music got a lot better. It was a decent night. Almost everyone there was getting on my nerves but it was definitely cool to see Travis DJ!

Thursday, March 8

A pretty chill day. MK and I ran a few errands which consisted of me spending $30 at Cotton On but I bought two skirts and a top so I think that was a pretty good deal. We really just hung out the rest of the night and worked on homework. It was a really low key day and definitely felt nice!

Friday, March 9 

Morgan's sister arrived! When I woke up I met up with them and we just laid outside in the sun here at the apartment. I did a lot of reading for my homework. We went to Arthur's Pizza for dinner. It was decent but it definitely wasn't the best pizza in Australia like its website claims. MK and I shared a pizza with spinach, olives, and feta. Delish. We really did have intentions of going out that night but we were just so comfortable and lazy and decided to stay in. I eventually went down to Morgan's room (since i've been storing my ice cream in her freezer since our freezer literally has no room and I wanted some). I ended up being there for so long while we brainstormed trips and laughed a ton. Some nights staying in is way better than going out. 

Saturday, March 10

Another sunny day which means laying outside and reading. Yay! At night we went to dinner on Darling Harbour and we had a fancy dinner night! We ate at Blackbird which is where we ate the first night we got to Sydney. This time I ordered chicken avocado linguini which also had artichoke, tomato and other deliciousness. Ugh, it was soooo good!. After dinner there were fireworks right at the Harbour so we watched those. One of my goals was to see fireworks in Sydney so now I can check that off the list! I just love fireworks! After dinner Morgan and her sister headed home but MK and I decided that since we were already out and downtown we'd stay out. We got gelato and hung out in this really neat playground. People were literally having so much fun at this playground... like grown adults. We did some fantastic people watching all night. We eventually ended up at a pub called Three Wise Monkey's which was actually a ton of fun. It was about four floors and on the very top floor was an awesome cover band that we watched for a bit. After their set was over it was just DJ music and dancing. Of course MK met someone from Maine (the Americans always find her) while I danced with a guy from Australia. We had a fun group and we jumping around and signing so much because this bar was literally playing THE MOST random music. For example: Who Let the Dogs Out and Cotton Eye Joe. They also played Ignition (Remix) which is like my all time favorite song from circa SIXTH grade. It was fantastic dancing around like idiots to this music. MK and I always have fun when it's the two of us out. We're a good team. It took us forever to figure out how to get home and by the time we did we didn't feel like waiting for the bus anyways. Welcome to cab life. 

Sunday, March 11

ROSE BAY! Yay! I love Rose Bay so much. It's gorgeous and I just love the vibe down there. It was cookout/social event for the sailing clubs with UNSW and two other universities in Sydney. We ate lunch and while Morgan and her sister went paddle boarding MK and I went kayaking! It was the first time I got to use my new waterproof camera and the quality of the pictures came out pretty great for a $35 camera. After we completed our activities we laid out for a little bit and then took a walk in the water. Most of the water is pretty shallow and there are a lot of sandbars so it's great for a beach walk. There are also dogs everywhere (I know I talked about this last time I wrote about Rose Bay) which is the greatest things. Puppies playing fetch in the water = <3 I just love love love Rose Bay and the people we've met through the sailing club. When we got home I went for my first outdoor run since we've been here. It felt so great running outside and exploring a little bit. I didn't get lost! There are a ton of hills around us though which is annoying for mapping runs but I definitely hope to run outside more! 

Monday, March 12

Live entertainment lecture: watched clips from Wizard of Oz. Management tutorial. Done at 1. Home to do homework. Exhausted. Ate delicious sushi for dinner with Morgan and her sister. Hit the hay.

Tuesday, March 13

Tuesday's are seriously SO LONG. My media lecture is so boring and so is my management one. I really like my tutorials though so that's good. I met up with MK for lunch and ate one of those delicious spinach and feta rolls and got some chips (fries) with sweet chili sauce (so much better than ketchup). During my second break of the day I sat outside and read a little bit. Tonight we made burgers and baked a cake. Deliciousness. 

There we go! I think I remembered everything!

I'm off to bed now!

Tomorrow is Day 1 of my internship! I'm nervous but super excited!

OH, I almost completeley forgot! MK and I booked our flights for New Zealand! We'll be going to the North Island (Auckland) from April 8th to 16th. SO excited. AND our flights were SO affordable. #winning

Classes, Rain, Bar Hopping & Mardi Gras

Every week I find more and more I love about this city. Sydney is a truly beautiful place despite all the rain we've been experiencing this past week.


Monday, February 27
First day of school, first day of school! The way classes work here is that each class has a lecture and a tutorial. The lecture is huge and the tutorial is much more personal with about 20-25 students in it. For Week 1 each class only meets during the lecture time so this week was pretty light. I only had one class today from 10-12 and it was my Live Entertainment & Popular Culture class. The first 20 minutes of the class we watched a presentation our teacher put together about Britney Spears. Not complaining. We also talked about the Kardashian's and watched the Super Bowl half time show. After class Morgan and I became the ultimate poor college students and walked 20 minutes to a liquor store that we heard had reasonable prices. It was a success.

Tuesday, February 28
Early morning. I had Media, Culture & Everyday Life from 9-11. The whole time I was thinking that the teacher looked SO familiar. Before class ended he showed us his twitter page and asked us "Who knows who my profile picture is of?" It was Jacob from Lost. He looked SO much like Jacob from Lost and I guess people tell him that a lot and he doesn't like having pictures of himself on the internet so he just uses a picture of Jacob. I was okay with this. Because we didn't have tutorials this week, I did't have anything to do till 4. I hung out on the quad on campus for a while but it was SO HOT. It hit 93 degrees. I decided to move into the library and catch up on my emails, etc. It was the perfect time to be on because everyone at home was on too! I was able to talk to my mom, sister, Allegra, Susan and finally email Tara and Emerson back! The time actually flew by. Before class I got a spinach and feta wrap from one of the cafes on campus. I think this is my third one and we've only been on a campus a couple of weeks. So delicious. I also got a super intense ice coffee which also had a scoop of ice cream. I just kept thinking about how much my dad would enjoy this refreshing snack! From 4-6 I had Managing Organisations and People. I was so exhausted by the time I got home. MK and I (mainly MK) cooked stir fry for dinner which was so delicious. We watched some Gossip Girl and had an incredibly relaxing night which also included watching random videos from Freshman year.

Wednesday, February 29
NO CLASS! I was already ready for a day off. I'm clearly out of shape for this whole going to class thing that's happening. I woke up and went to the gym. I'm still trying to get used to the whole kilometers  thing. (Same with using celsius instead of fahrenheit.) After my workout I video chatted with my parents FINALLY (and Greta and eventually Jen, too). Morgan and I went to the market to get stuff for dinner. We decided to make fajitas. Every outing we have is always such an ordeal filled with stupidity and laughter. For example, not realizing the elevator doors opened until they were closing. Guess you had to be there. After dinner we gathered in Morgan's room to watch 10 Things I Hate About You. It was pretty fitting considering it stars Heath Ledger and as we all know he is... was... Australia. It was an even more perfect viewing than normal!

Thursday, March 1
First can we discuss how crazy it is that it's March!?! I can't even believe it. It feels like I was just getting ready for my trip to Israel and now my Study Abroad adventure is in complete full swing! Today I had one class: Music and the Mind. This is the class I'm planning on dropping once everything with the internship falls into place. I really didn't want to go and it kind of felt like a waste of time. It's also super awkward because we got placed into groups for a group project that'll be ongoing during Weeks 2 and 3 but i'll be dropping the class before then so it's just sort of awkward. The class definitely seems interesting but I learned after this past semester in my Emotions class that psychology seems great until you get overloaded with heavy ready and projects that prove the class isn't what you thought it was going to be. Maybe that's just Columbia but now I'm pretty turned off from those types of classes. Anyways, after class I headed home and hung out for a bit. We ate the rest of our fajitas for dinner and then ended up playing a lot of cards games with Morgan and her roommates Jenna & Chelsea (the twins from Cranston) and Naina and her boyfriend Josh. It got pretty heated during Spoons and eventually we sat down and watched Night at the Roxbury while Jenna, Chelsea and I stalked some Cranstonians and figured our some weird mutual connections. Small world.

Friday, March 2

Woke up and went to the gym. I got there at the perfect time. There are only 2 treadmills and literally 3 minutes after I walked in probably 6 other people came in. I had a fantastic run! I went to the first meeting for the photo club which seemed pretty cool. Basically it'll be like taking free photo classes which is fine with me. I probably won't go every week but it's good to know I can if I want to! For dinner we made the most delicious burgers. MK had a veggie burger while Morgan and I feasted on some kangaroo burgers. Just delectable. We also made potatoes and while we were waiting for our burgers to be done we put a cover over them to keep them warm. BAD IDEA. Next thing we knew the cover was suctioned in to the pan and we could not get our potatoes out. We tried everything. We froze the pan. We banged the pan. We poured oil on it. We even tried using a wine opener to open it. The handle broke off. We embarrassingly went down to the front desk to ask their advice. FINALLY we got our potatoes out by simply reheating the pan and then pushing and pulling, etc. on the cover. By this point we were too full from our burgers to even eat them. FAIL. Friday night we did some serious bar hopping which wasn't even our plan at all. We decided that'd we stay in Bondi Junction and go to a bar called Tea Garden which is literally 3 minutes from our apartment. We were there for a little bit, someone bought Morgan a shot and we danced around. Morgan, MK, and I ran back to the apartment briefly because (just being honest with all my readers) we weren't even tipsy and we were not in the mood to spend a ton of money on alcohol at a bar and our shots were awaiting us back home! One problem: no entry into the baar after 1 AM. We tried to get back in because the twins were still there but there was no budging on the bouncer's end. They kept telling us if they let us in they would be fined $10,000 and there were cops all around so we accepted that fact and headed to The Eastern which was another 2 minutes away. LAME. Oh my gosh it was practically empty. We walked around Bondi and a cop came up to us and said "Are you guys looking for bars?" we admitted that we were and they told us about a few places in an area called Kings Cross which is downtown. The last train into the city was leaving in minutes to we rushed to the station and bought tickets only to find that the gates were open so we paid for no reason... ANNOYING. The five of us were going into the city completely clueless of where to go. This was definitely not the night we were expecting. We sat across from a group of guys from Brazil on the train ride so that was pretty entertaining. When we arrived in Kings Cross a lady was handing our wristbands for a bar/club place called Tunnel so we ended up going there. It was pretty fun, drinks were discounted because we had the wristbands, and the music was good. However, the DJ was OBNOXIOUS. Every 10 seconds he'd yell "OHHH SHIIIT!" for absolutely no reason. There were also gay guys everywhere since it's Mardi Gras weekend so that was obviously entertaining. We danced here for awhile and then decided we'd try and go to SOHO which is the bar that the cops suggested to us. Once we got there we realized there was a $10 cover charge and normally that'd be fine but it was already about 2 am and we knew we wouldn't be out much longer so we decided to go to a bar called Goldfish which had no cover. This place was pretty classy and neat but we weren't here very long. By some miracle we found a bus from Kings Cross right back to Bondi Junction FOR FREE. All the driver asked for was a train ticket which WE HAD FROM EARLIER (because we didn't have to use it, remember?) Everything worked out and we made it home in one piece by about 4 am. MK and I obviously ate toast and watched Dawson's Creek before hitting the hay. The usual. 

Saturday, March 3

Well, the first time I woke up it was 10 AM and after going to be past 5 AM I knew I needed more sleep. I think I finally fell back asleep around 1130ish and then slept till after 1. It was fantastic. I made eggs and relaxed for a bit. Before we new it it was time to start getting ready! Saturday night was the huge Mardi Gras parade which is in Sydney is basically a gay pride parade. It didn't start till 8 but we wanted to get down there early. Our goal of leaving at 5 was a fail and we didn't catch a train till 7. Oops. It was also raining so that was pretty annoying. We didn't have much stuff to dress up with and we didn't really want to spend money buying ridiculous accessories for just one night so we kind of just wore bright colors and didn't really try matching our clothes. We got downtown and walked around forever to get to the parade route. It was a really weird system and it was PACKED and raining. We saw a few floats but decided to give up on this whole parade thing and catch a cab to Kings Cross since we were planning on meeting up with the kids from the sailing club later on anyways down there. Morgan, MK, and I took one taxi and the twins took another since the cab drivers here don't like squeezing people in to their cars. Pretty annoying. So the three of us get in the cab and tell him we want to go to World Bar. This is baasically the dialect for the next 5 minutes...

"World Bar, please." 

"Okay, World Square."

"No, World Bar. How much do you think it'll cost?"

"$20 to World Square."

(We knew this was way to high for where we going so we sat in the car slightly confused. The bar we were trying to go to is in Kings Cross. We see a sign that says Kings Cross pointing right and he turns left.) 

"Um, World Bar is in King's Cross." 

"You said World Square." 

"No, we said World Bar. How much to World Bar from here?"

"Well, now it's going to be $25."

"Nevermind, let us out here."

The guy was such a jerk and he's lucky we even gave him $5. We found another cab and got there for $7. The twins decided to go home but the three of us decided to meet up with the guys from the sailing club at Hugo's Pizza. MK and I were totally expecting to show up at a pizza place that resembled Pauly's Pizza or something of the sort. WRONG. We were legit at the classiest bar/pizza place EVER. There were huge comfy boothes and private birthday parties all over the place. It was $5 pizza which rocked so we split two among the three of us. For $5 pizza it was pretty delicious! We'll definitely have to go back! We sat with Hubert who is originally from France and a couple of his friends. Eventually Ajay who is basically the leader of the club arrived. We ate and then headed across the street to World Bar. We got free entry somehow which was fantastic. This bar was GIGANTIC. I think were at least 3 floors and probably 6 bars. At least. It was gigantic and everywhere you went different music was playing. There was a pretty large group of us which was fun. At World Bar they sell these teapots that are full of alcohol and like juices. It's basically a mixed drink that you take shots of. The first pot that the three of us got gave us 15 shots. But each one didn't have much alcohol. I swear we weren't out of control. All of a sudden our table had about 12 teapots on it and we drank them non stop till they were gone. These guys are seriously SO nice. Australian's in general are super nice and everyone always buys for each other and eventually it's your turn. It's a fair system and it's pretty cool I think. We also met another kid from Chicago who is in the club which was neat. We all started losing each other about half way through the night due to events such as meeting Australia guys, choosing different areas of the bar to dance in depending on music, going to the bathroom, etc. I couldn't find Morgan anywhere for like 45 minutes causing me to climb up and down the stairs of these bar probably 10 times. Eventually we found her and she was completely fine, obviously. Somehow one of my tank top straps ripped while at the bar so I had to quickly make my shirt a tank top. I swear this event happened completely on its own. Before we even left for the night there was a tear and I was just hoping it would make it through the night. Let down. It was only my first time wearing it too. Thanks Target. Finally a group of us gathered together again: MK, Morgan, Clint, Patrick, Ajay, and Justin (the boy from Chicago) and we were trying to find a cab back to UNSW. Ajay worked some serious magic and got us a Maxi Taxi which fit us all. We cut in front of like 30 people who were waiting for us. The cab ride back consisted of hilariousness. I wish I had it all filmed. I think the driver thought we were CRAZY. We went back to Ajay's dorm and hung around the common area for awhile and some other people met up with us too including Liam who was probably drunk for his first time since he just turned 18 a couple of weeks ago. He was hilarious and I just adore his Australian accent. Finally around 3 AM we decided we'd call it a night since we needed to find a cab home anyways. Being on campus at this time was definitely interesting. Finally our FOURTH cab ride of the night and we're home. Again, MK and I ate toast and finished season 1 of Dawson's Creek. We had a fantastic night. Everyone I've met through the sailing club and been so incredible nice. I'm so glad I'm meeting students who aren't American. I mean, the kids in our program are cool and all but I really wanted to meet "locals" so I'm glad it's sort of happening!

Sunday, March 4

Today I was planning on sleeping late but around 10:30ish announcements kept going off about a power outage in the building and in all of Bondi Junction. Since we were awake and there wasn't much else to do we decided to go lay out in the sun since today was literally the first day we had sun in a week. It's been raining SO MUCH. Blegh. At least I can sport my super cute new rain coat! Anyways, we were outside for awhile until it got too windy. Morgan and I succumbed to our craving and went and got some sushi. We are addicted. No exaggeration. I've already had it I think four times since we've been here. It's just so good and rotating sushi bars are so neat and they are EVERYWHERE. We hung in her room until we decided to make burgers for dinner since we still had buns and lettuce and avocado. They were delish per usual. Since dinner we've just been relaxing and I've been writing this blog/uploading photos for hours. The internet is awful here and it takes forever to upload anything. Blegh. 

Everything has been great except for all this rain. At least we had some sun today except I am going to bed with my legs completely burnt. They are partly tan, partly white, and party burnt. MK told me they look like Neapolitan ice cream. I can't even get mad because it's the most accurate description. This weekend was fantastic but now it's time for classes to pick up and homework to start. EW.

Hopefully this entry is appropriate for all my readers and I apologize to any family members who are caught off guard, hhaha. I mean, it is study abroad and I'm just making sure I keep you up to date with everything! 

Oh, a few more things I have learned this week: 

Whinging is what they say instead of complaining. 

"Let's queue up" instead of "Line up." So queue = line which I obviously knew but they never use the word line here.

Also, the song of the weekend: Call Me Maybe

Okay, I think i've covered everything for now! It's 2:30 AM and my alarm clock is set for 7 so I should probably get some shut eye.

Goodnight from Australia! <3

Fish, Sunsets, Bondi Beach and Ben

Here are some pictures to go along with the previous blog entry! 

Fishes @ the acquarium

Jellies!

Shark teeth!

Starfish! 

The greatest photo ever. 

Green screen fail. 

Sushi obsession

Sunset from our apartment!

Bondi Beach

THEY SAY BUBBLER IN AUSTRALIA. Not bubbla BUT close enough.

The Enmore Theater in Newtown where we saw Death Cab!

Oh hello Ben!