HELL WEEK

Finals.

Every college student's least favorite word..

Since our semester here is broken up into two halves we have the joy of getting 2 sets of finals.. the first of which was yesterday. ALL DAY YESTERDAY.

gahhh.

As you can imagine having a presentation on tuesday, a packet of journal entries dues the same day, a research paper due Fri and two final exams on the same day this week has been fueled by anxiety, caffeine and dread.

With all that school work we had for two (yes only two) classes it didn't leave much time for a social life.

So after finishing up our tests yesterday and watching the film classes' final project movies (SO good, I was really impressed because half the class had never made a movie before) I headed off to meet Lily for some after-work [and MUCH NEEDED] drinks at PhD.

After this hell week some bevvies at the Shelbourne with some of her co-workers was just what I needed. I had a lot of fun and now [today] I am waiting for Bess to wake up so we can go to our next surfing lesson on Maroubra Beach!

It was supposed to rain but I just peeked outside and its sunny so fingers crossed it stays that way :)

Also, I ran down to get the mail this morning and got my postcard from J.Wow

I adore getting mail!!!

Plus, as of last night at about 8pm we are officially on spring break! yeee, having 2 of them in the same calendar year is just frosting on my cake at this point.

Can't wait to see what shenanigans this whole week brings

More soon!

*I*

Surviving Port Stephens- a saga

Port Stephens.

The most questionable $400 I have EVER spent.

Where do I even begin?

On Friday night around 7pm half of our BU program shuttled onto a mega bus with Dingo Tasha, yes, that IS what we call her for our trip to Port Stephens for the weekend. Little did we know we were also joined by an equal amount of students (mostly from UMass) in a different abroad program called Capa. What this stands for I have yet to find out as none of the students I talked to could accurately explain it to me. We drove 2.5 hours up the coast to the town of Nelson Bay and ended up in this tiny area by the ocean in an adorable apartment complex that is pretty much nicer than our Melbourne hotel AND where we live in Sydney.. nbd.

We were all exhausted still from just returning from Melbourne and so Bess, Kelly and I retired to our rooms "early" and read til we fell asleep. Thrilling I know. I started (and finished) "The Ex-Debutante" that night and it is really good. totally entertaining and has a happy ending, just what I like.

The next morning we had an extremely early start (645am) in order to get breakfast and caffeine before loading up on the bus again and heading to the Australian Shark and Ray centre- or as Bess would say "the animal cruelty warehouse." It was basically this building with huge wading tanks with tons of different sharks [BIG and small] sting rays, schools of fish and one plastic crocodile.

^the fake croc^

We had to put on plastic shoes (in my case CROCS..barf.. because they were for children and I have midget feet) and gloves in order to wade into the tanks with the sea creatures and feed them shrimp in varying stages of life.. As you can imagine the smell was horrendous. I'm also terrified of sharks but I figured now is as good a time as any to "face my fears" or whatever.. So in I went..

It was actually pretty cool, once you got over the smell and I made friends with a particularly slow stingray who was having trouble finding the shrimp on the end of my stick. The GIANT stingray in a cage by himself, named George, also seemed pretty friendly because he swam over and sucked on my shoes for a few minutes even though the shrimp I had was too small for him to eat.

I petted the beige sharks in another tank, which looked like they had been given some Xanax because they were the most docile creatures i've ever encountered. Their skin was really rough and hard like sandpaper and they didn't seem to mind, or really even notice, that we were "petting" them. The little sharks on the other hand seemed to be ravenous because they attacked the shrimp on the end of my feeding stick like they'd never eaten before.. Slightly worrisome since we had no bodily protection on AT ALL.

Also, one of the first instructions they gave us was to NOT harm the animals in any way and 2 of the guys from the Capa program got reprimanded, one got actually kicked out for doing just the opposite. One, named Devon, held a stingray pinned to the floor of the tank w/ his feeding stick (obviously kicked out immediately) and the other [I didn't bother to catch his name] tried to bear hug/ wrestle a shark in its tank. ARE YOU INSANE? whatever you do, don't anger the beasts. This was the beginning of the downhill relationship we had with the Capa group.

After feeding/ petting the sharks and rays we headed up to a nearby mountain for a little hike. When I heard that this was part of the itinerary initially I was pretty concerned and had a mild flashback to Academy outdoor adventure trips in Bear Canyon, but it was actually not too bad.

Guess who was the first to the top? Yours truly :)

Guess the incline workout on the treadmill at Sydney Uni has actually been worth the effort.

We took some pics at the top which had a gorgeous view!

^views from the mountain top^

It overlooks the beaches and whole marina area. After this little adventure we went back and showered to get the shark/ dead shrimp/ sweat smell off us and then headed to the dock for lunch and then onto a "moon shadow" cruise boat for a 3hr journey to whale watch.

I have never been so grateful for the fact that I don't get motion sickness. The boat was pitching around like a roller coaster on crack cocaine and it was basically negative degrees. Approximately half of our group got terribly nauseous and the bottom level of the boat looked like a scene from a disaster movie, people laid out looking inches from death.

We sailed for the full three hours and we saw probably a total of 5 min of actual whale. There were 2 adult ones that breached (aka only their fins came out of the water) right in front of our boat and then on the way back we saw a mother and newborn calf which was pretty cool.

^at the Vineyard^

After the whale watching we headed to a winery/ brewery near Nelson Bay for dinner and a wine beer tasting. It was nice and the vineyard was pretty, but not really anything that riveting.

When we got back to the apt. Kelly and I headed into town with Peter, Joe, Tom, Alexa, Bryna, Greg and Sarah for a beer at the local pub, which happened to be hosting not 1, but TWO "hens" parties (aka bachelorette parties) that night. God help me if I ever have my bachelorette party in a place like that.

We woke up the next morning (aka today -Sunday morning) to a torrential downpour and grey skies. There was no indication that it was going to let up and so Dingo Tasha asked the entire group if we wanted to go bowling first and wait to see if the weather cleared up (since all our day's planned activities- camel riding, dune boarding and go-karting <--to replace the jet boating which had gone out of business) and GUESS who ALL voted to not do that, and go in the pouring rain in the middle of the tundra in the early morning? Yep, EVERY SINGLE person from the capa group. They have 2 more people than our group and therefore had the majority. I wanted to kill them.

So we drove out to Anna Bay where we split up into groups and rode the poor poor camels out along the beach then switched and went dune boarding in basically torrential downpour. Both activities would have been really fun had the weather cooperated but unfortunately we got SOAKING wet and had to walk around barefoot and Bess is pretty much dying of sickness now because of it.

My camel was named "trooper" and he DEFINITELY was one. He was also the only one who growls insistently but the guide forgot to mention this while I was mounting him.. fml

^me and Trooper^

The Capa group was chugging boxed wine and yelling "liquid courage" while dune boarding. So classy.

We did get some good photos out of it though, so for that I'm excited.

After this debacle we all changed clothes-- I literally hopped into the underside of the bus where the suitcases were stored (aka it was nice and dry) to do so-- we got lunch in the Nelson Bay Marina [delicious fresh fish & chips] and headed off to bowling since it was STILL raining (aka no go-karting, thank baby jesus!!!)

This turned out to be really fun, partly because we were actually dry, but mostly because we played in lanes of 6 and our group was finally separated from the Capa group. I felt SO bad for Dingo Tasha, who is the sweetest lady ever, and was totally second-hand embarrassed for them because they all complained about EVERYTHING, the weather, lunch, why we didn't stop more for food, the choice of movie on the bus, you name it they yelled about it. It was so bratty and rude. Our group wanted to apologize for them. Peter told me that UMass is renowned for being nicknamed "the Zoo" which is totally fitting because the people we met were behaving more like animals than actual college students. It was mortifying.

Clearly this intense dislike from our group towards theirs led to a fierce competition during bowling to see who would have the person with the highest score. We obviously won-- Tom pulled through and got a 165 for the BU program-- I have never been so proud. I bowled a 112 exactly both games which is weird because 1- I'm not a very good bowler and 2-I haven't bowled in FOREVER. so that was exciting. Cal and Caroline --two of our program leaders-- were also on the trip and on my bowling team and I got to know them both alot better and have decided I ADORE both of them.

^bowling^

Anyways after we gloated just a teensy bit [ok, maybe more than a "teensy" bit] about our group's bowling triumph we finally headed back to Sydney. I have never been so excited to exit a bus, take a shower, see my bed, have internet or leave a group of people behind in my entire life.

Lets just say it was a weekend full of highs.. and very lows.. but entertaining none-the-less. Now I'm exhausted and we have a whole week of finals coming up which I just cannot wait for.. :/ If you want to see all the rest of the photos check out my tagged pics/ my new album!

Okay, my novel is over for the moment..

More soon!

*I*

My Melbourne Weekend: grub, graffiti & new shoes

From Sydney to Melbourne

I know, I know i've been seriously slacking on the blog updates lately but everything has just been a complete whirlwind so cut me some slack please :)

On Sunday our whole program flew to Melbourne (its really only a 1.5 hr flight) as part of our "Australian Culture" class. How awesome is that? We arrived at our hotel called Mantra on the Park, because it looks over the Carlton Gardens/ Park.

^view from our balcony^

As my friend Peter put it, if Toronto, Boston and San Francisco had a love child it would be Melbourne. Its basically the younger more artsy cousin of Sydney with a little more relaxation and a little less pretension. So fab.

After we got settled in our gorgeous apartment (i'm talking nicer than our apt. in Sydney!) and checked out the balcony views of the city we took a walk with our professor Daryl down to the Australian Center for the Moving Image (ACMI) museum. It's right in federation square which borders on the Yarra River.

^the ACMI^

^costume from Moulin Rouge @ ACMI^

We walked through Chinatown on our way back and scoped out all the good restaurants. The rest of Sunday was pretty chill, we ended up at this weird karaoke bar and then this bar masquerading as an internet cafe but Peter, Mara and I decided that Mc Donald's (aka "Mackers") sounded like a better idea and called it a night around midnight.

Monday morning we went on a 4 hr long tour around Melbourne's "laneways" which is basically Aussie for "alley" but apparently even those are more chic here. As you may have already noticed from my pictures there is a TON of graffiti/ street art all around both in Sydney & Melbourne so Pascal (yes, good ole P.Durr) trotted us around and around looking at the different bars, clubs, cafes, stores, murals and artwork of "underground" Melbourne.

^our first laneway adventure^

We ended the outing at this divey bar/ restaurant called Bimbo Deluxe. We got a tram ride experience and $4 pizza so no complaints! Afterwards Bess and I walked around this main drag called Brunswick St. which is chock full of these amazing / weird vintage shops.

For dinner Julian, Greg and I went to this Shanghai dumpling place that was SO great. I got hot & sour soup, 15 dumplings and tea for $10. The food was un.real. That night we went out with our friend Kelly-from London but studying in our program- and her friend (also Kelly, confusing I know) who is studying for the semester at Melbourne Uni and is also fab, her brother Joey who had just arrived that night and her classmate Julian.

--pretty sure every guy we meet here is named Joe or Julian. V. disconcerting--

We went to this bar called Blue Moon and had the most amazing shot with creme de cacao and some other yummy things I don't remember called a "Snickers Bar" which literally tasted like a liquid snickers in my mouth. AMAZEballz.

^the group at Blue Moon^

^the Kellys^

We migrated to this bar/ club called Turf after which was also fun. Some random Aussie guy bought the hoodie that Julian was wearing from him for $50. This country continuously surprises me. All in all it was a fun night out.

Tuesday was our free day so after -finally- getting to sleep in Bess, Alexia and I walked to the Queen Victoria Market and then around Federation Square shopping a little bit.

^standing in front of the Queen Victoria Markets^

I had my heart set on finding a pair of going out heels but it was just not my day even though I snagged a new pair of sunglasses. Bess found a ton of great stuff though including a basket-weave floppy hat (I'm searching for a black felt-ish one), some great tops and 2 pairs of shoes (beyond jelly). Alexia got a great maxi dress in a grey/neutral snakeskin print. Sportsgirl and Dotti are fast becoming my Forever21 Aussie replacement stores. We were so exhausted from the night before that Bess and I walked to this kitchy Italian restaurant for dinner and then for ahhhhmazing gelato for dessert.

Yesterday (Wednesday) we went on the official "Graffiti tour" around the city, so basically I've seen every side street and alley in the entire city. It was long but our professor had some really interesting things to say about the artists and the whole business of doing graffiti that I've never even considered. Mostly it was just pretty to look at.

After the tour we wandered back to "Central Place" for lunch and I had the most amazing chicken schnitzel baguette sandwich that was only $3.50!!!

#winning

We had checked out of our hotel that morning so I ended up sitting with Lisa killing time in Starbucks and found out that she's a total sweetheart. Then with a stroke of luck while on our way back to the hotel we found this shoe store called Novo- having a bogo half off sale- and so obviously I found 2 gorg pairs of heels.

^my new purchases!^

Not as tall as my usual purchases but I figure the strappy-ness/ colorblocking makes up for it. :) Basically I learned that Melbourne is full of food, wine and shopping. Remind me again why I don't live here yea-round?

We headed back to Sydney last night and arrived back at the Apts around 1030pm.

Never been so happy to have my computer in my life ha. Yes, I am addicted to social media, I'm working on it.

Today we had a tour with Daryl of the ABC, same corp. we went to see Q&A at earlier in the month. We got to go into the TV studio sets, hair and makeup, costuming and the radio broadcast studios. It was actually really cool! But it's back to packing, and I haven't even unpacked yet, because tomorrow night we leave for Port Stephens until Sunday night!

Tough life right?

But okay I have pretty much written a novel so props if you got through the whole thing!

More after I return, of course

xxx

*I*

Monday Too Soon

Weekend Wrap-up

So where did I leave off? Oh yes, so Saturday night I went out to Argyle (this club/bar) with Vincent and Co. and it was super duper fun! Its more upscale than the ones we usually go to, and y'all know how much I love to dress up :)

Found out that their Uni campus is right across from this really awesome horse racetrack and next Saturday there is a kind of derby thing that we might go to! So exciting... I need a huge hat and a parasol pronto.

Today was super relaxing, took an impromptu trip down to Cronulla Beach. Had my first train adventure and am totally proud that I didn't get lost and/or get on the wrong train ha. Went for a leisurely walk around the boardwalk/beach area and got some icecream [strawberry with sour gummy worms], yummmm, plus the company wasn't too bad either ;) Cronulla is like a little beach town an hour south of Sydney City and I'm glad I got to see it, it was GORGEOUS.

^where I spent my lazy sunday^

Pretty much this week coming up is going to be HELL though, because they dumped all our assignments on us at once before we leave for Melbourne (on Sunday midday). Plus, I have my interview with Edelman PR on tuesday. OMG. so nervous. Fingers crossed for me puleaseee.

Getting up early to watch the Jets-Cowboys game tomorrow morning with Joe so I can assess how my fantasy team is going :)

I'll let you know how it [the interview & the progression of everything else] goes!

*I*

The Artsy Side of Things

52 Suburbs & a walk around Newtown

So this week we've had the first couple of field trips for our newly formed "modules" in class. I'm in the one called "Un-popular" cultures where we're learning all about some really fun groups like punks, bra boys, rockabillys, bogans, drag kings and drag queens just to name a few.

Our first trip was to the Sydney Museum to the exhibit by a woman named Louise Hawson who started out just taking pictures for a blog she created looking for the "beauty in the 'burbs" and it's turned into a phenomena in Sydney. As the name of the project/exhibit suggests she visited 52 suburbs all around Australia and she posts her pictures in cool diptychs (aka one next to the other) based on similar composition, coloring or just personal taste. Louise actually came and spoke to our class before we saw her exhibit so we got a really personal taste that I enjoyed.

Here are some of my favorite photographs from the museum.

Our next field trip (yesterday) was to the part of town in Sydney they call Newtown its kinda like a hipster meets punk meets rocker meets vintage part of town that is full of some awesome graffiti art. We went to this street called May Lane that is just FULL of amazing pieces. Admit it, our field trips are cooler than yours :)

Last night we went out for a bit and met up with some of our instructors from surf camp. Scubar is this super small like underground dive bar that we tend not to go to but last night was the Surf Camp opening party so it was poppin' and we had a lot of fun!

^bess and one of the "divers" for the party @ Scubar^

Christian and I

This morning I shared in Bess' first acrylic nail experience. I love getting my nails done as y'all well know so it was nice even if it wasn't from Cindy. Miss that woman.

Anyways we ended up with the little nub size barbie nails that I adore.

Mine are hot pink with gold flecks all over (big surprise) and Bess' are blood red and totally femme fatale-esque. Also picked up this book "Air Kisses" from the library here this afternoon and am already halfway finished with it! So cheeky and totally my style. I highly recommend.

We've got a really busy week with school coming up and we're going out clubbing hopefully tomorrow so more soon!

xxx

*I*

Go Sydney Roosters Go!

Footie!

So we finally made it to the NRL (national rugby league) game on Sunday night.. We went to support the Sydney Roosters. It was their last game before the semi-finals and they absolutely crushed the competition! So fun.

Bess was not as much of a fan as I was of the whole rugby thing. I've decided i liked watching it more than baseball but definitely not as much as football. Probably because in theory I understand what's supposed to be happening but it goes so quickly and is so completely violent that you can't tell what's happening AT ALL.

^So ridiculous^

So basically we just cheered when everyone else cheered and looked excited haha

the stadium was really big and kinda a trek from our apartment (we stopped for a beer with everyone before the game) PASCAL came too lol.. but i thought that overall it was a good experience to have while in Sydney since these people LOVEEEEE their rugby. They have 3 different leagues just for it! (basically like having 3 different versions of the NFL)

^stadium^

I'm not sure i'll be attending many more of the games however, because unfortunately they are in the finals now and the tickets are pretty expensive. I don't love rugby that much.

The rugby players are nicely built though.. VERY easy on the eyes.. much like all of Australia actually.

I definitely appreciate. :]

Week 2

okokok.

I know i've been lagging on posts so here is a recap of the last week..

Monday- woke up late with my body dying from surf camp so chilled out til class from 1-5pm.. then did an early dinner [ramen.. surprise] and caught up on my ZZzzs

Tuesday- So basically tuesdays are the worst.. Mass media class from 1-5pm which is interesting but sitting in the same room is SO hard to do without wanting to gag yourself on a spoon.. then from 530-830 [in the SAME room] we had the worst most boring class ever - Australian culture and society which really should be renamed- Aussie history because all we've learned about so far is like the landing of Captain Cook and the destruction of the aboriginies. kill me now. Mark our professor also informed us that the "quiz" we have on the reading thursday will take approx. 2 hrs! WTF. what kind of quiz takes 2 hours. its like inhumane.

Then after the quiz we had the most breathtaking dinner with our floor director Pascal at this bar/restaurant- Landsdowne Hotel-it was fun and i got this amazeballz pic with him.

PASCAL!!!!!!!

Wednesday- We were pretty tame, went to the gym with Joe and then spent the rest of the time before class finishing up all the readings for thursday's quiz. So exciting i know. After class Bess and I walked down to starbucks and had the most amazing "coconut loaf" which tasted just like shortbread. OMG we need to get this stuff into our starbucks at home!

Went to the bar on the corner- called Broadway Bar- that night with Bess and Joe just to chill out and have a beer [well not Bess, since she only drinks Vodka] while playing pool.. I better come back a SHARK at pool because every single pub/ bar has at least one table and we play constantly.

Thursday- Had a field trip for our mass media class, we were supposed to go on a tour of the ABC studios but it got messed up so we went to go see this australian film called "Red Dog" instead. It was actually really good- kinda like an aussie version of Lassie but better-

I honestly dont understand how they get animals to do such good acting.. its nuts lol

It also had the hot country guy actor from Sweet Home Alabama in it so that was some good eye candy :]

^SO hot :]^

Then back to the apt for more studying and finally took the 2hr quiz. Think I did ok since it was open book, but he made it super tricky and EVERYONE spent the entire time flipping maniacally through their textbooks trying to locate really obscure answers. GAH. but at least it's over!

Went out with a bunch of the BU people to this rooftop bar in the Glenmore hotel in the rocks, Julian put the excursion together as part of his "Tucker Thursdays" which was fun but like pretty chill.

^Julian Julia and I^

We ended up leaving and going to a more fun place called Cruise in Darling Harbor which was poppin and had really fun salsa dancing! I danced with our gbf Peter for ages- who is one of my FAVVV people on the program so far- and then Bess and I called it a night.

^Peter and I on our way to Cruise^

Friday- Bess and I spent 9 hours.. not even exaggerating Nine freaking hours shopping and just walking around exploring on George St. I actually lucked out and got a pair of knee high black boots with a heel and a gold side zipper for $50!!! Best purchase of the trip besides my shearling this far :] --see the first pic of this blog for a visual-- I also got this interesting light pink going out top but its pretty breezy so i'm going to wait and wear it out when its a bit warmer.

Then we watched "The Help" and omg i cried SO HARD. I was literally bawling my eyes out for the last 45 min of the film. totally notebook status. After that ordeal we def weren't in the mood to go out and we were saving our crazy for Sat anyways so when we got back to the BU building at like 9pm we just chilled and talked etc.

Saturday- ZOOOOOOOO DAY! omg i absolutely adored the Taronga Zoo.

Bess and I at the Zoo

Bess and I spent a good 2 hours going around and taking pics of every single animal. My favs were obviously the kaolas.. although they were mostly sleeping and not close enough for me to touch them, let alone hold them baby style..sad day. We also saw some cool kangaroos and basically ALL of the cutest kids in the whole continent were at the Zoo that day. I sneak attack took a pic of my fav baby of the day. [see below]

Also, side note there were a bunch of these like little girls running around, they reminded me of girlscouts but Bess said they looked like little Abigail Breslins haha, who apparently camped out on the lawn there the night before. WORST FIELDTRIP OF ALL TIME. You couldn't pay me enough to sleepover at the zoo ha. Also this was kind of concerning since some of the animals.. like the kangaroos for example weren't in actually enclosures so they could just hop out and wander wherever and whenever they felt like it. Highly questionable. But you have to take a ferry across the harbor to get there so the views are spectacular.

^view from the Sydney Zoo^

Koala sleeping

pygmy hippos also sleeping.. there was definitely a theme going on at the zoo..

Saturday night [aka last night] wow. It started out as me and Bess wanting to go clubbing maybe with Vince and his friends.. to avoid the struggle of going out with the 70 BU people in our program. but apparently its his school's break right now so they didn't end up coming and so we just went down to Joe/ Julian/ Greg's room to play a little bp and continue pregaming while we came up with some new plans..

8 undefeated games later we decide to make it to Broadway Lounge which is a few blocks away for some bevvies and karaoke. At this point basically 80% of the BU program has mad their way into Joe's apt so it became an interesting group outing to say the least.

Sat night shenanigans

Basically it was a fun night full of Britney Spears sing-alongs and of course, some games of pool, but as usual there was SO much drama. Entertaining for sure.

Bess also lost her 2nd phone last night and her key card [which we found in the boy's room this morning] but the phone is for sure gone. :( so unfortunate. But since she didn't have her key card to get into the building last night when she came back an hour before us, she made BFF's with our security guard- named Harmeet. :]

Bess and Harmeet

He is literally the sweetest person ever and he let her watch Slumdog millionaire with him while she waited for us and told her all about his life since leaving India.

Most presh thing ever.

Bess and I this week at dinner :]

Anyways...

Now it's Sunday and also my mom's bday --Happy Birthday Mommy!-- and i've just been to the gym and am about to head off to a rugby game with Bess and Drew [remember his?] and some others in our program! I'm actually really stoked about it.

OMG i almost forgot to tell you, Hayden, and friends

^aka hot surfer coach from camp^

are coming to the city this week, probably on Tuesday.. we've been texting about it! Yeee, girls more on this obvi to come. :]

xoxo

*I*