Study, study, study

I haven't done any posts for the last week because I've just been studying! I knew the party would end at some point. I have an exam tonight, papers tomorrow, presentations and exams next week. Fun, fun :) This Friday we are going to visit this Lebanese town somewhere in the suburbs of Sydney. Kerry also has a bunch of friends coming to visit from Brisbane. I'm pretty excited that now I have wireless so I can lock myself up in the library during the day but still have fun at night :) I will post more pictures soon, especially ones of me making some awesome tacos this past weekend. Everyone was very happy to have a home cooked meal.

Stargazing at the International House Cabin

Saturday afternoon they took a bus to stargazing at the International House cabin. We didn't see too many stars because it was overcast, but it was still a lot of fun. We roasted marshmallows! They taste really different here- chalkier. And there are no graham crackers for s'mores. Then about 10 of us actually spent the night in the log cabin, which was a blast. We went searching for kangaroos and actually found a dead and live wombat instead. Pretty awesome :) I hope we can go back there again when the weather warms up!

Around the fire...

Kerry, me and Saeed (can you tell we hang out a lot?)

I wish Saeed was smiling!

IH Cabin and van... they actually will let us borrow the van for trips on the weekend!

Quick Update

Last night Kerry and I went meet her family friend at a sushi restaurant. This girl, Channing, is from Chevy Chase, MD and was here for the last few months interning at the Four Seasons hotel. It was fun hearing about the experiences she's had. We also got stopped in the bathroom by a woman from Utah who has been living here for the past 2 years. She was very excited to meet Americans (I don't know where she's been hiding because I think I meet a new American every day) and actually thanked us for having good accents, which made me laugh. Kerry & I got confused on the bus on our way back and the driver said, very excited, "Are you from California?? Welcome to Australia!" hahaha.

We also met a guy last night who gave us a detailed itinerary of all the fun places to go in Sydney on the weekends (weekends being Thursday through Sunday nights). Kerry and I really enjoying going out and dancing so I'm looking forward to it. I don't think I can keep up with everyone who goes out Wednesday through Sunday- it's pretty crazy, I guess some people just don't have enough work to do! But we will spread out the fun over the next few weeks :)

Saturday night we are going stargazing at the International House cabin. It is somewhere in a national park about 2 hours from here. It looks like a group of us will be spending the night there too, which should be cold but a lot of fun.

In addition to my internship, I also got a small paying job, which I'm excited about. It's just taking notes for my class for disability services. I figure I have to take notes anyway so I might as well get paid for it. I've noticed job postings around campus like for things at International House they need help with on weekends. Wages are pretty ridiculous here (to help out at a campus fair or drive a city bus is $21/hour)! Hopefully if I pick up a few things here and there it'll give me some additional spending money for trips. Now that I have my work authorization, I don't have to worry about being deported!

Last Photos from the Blue Mountains...

I finally got the last photos from Saeed- he took some of the funniest pictures so I hope you enjoy!

Kerry and I trying to be penguins... I want to take one home with me!

Saeed making a pretty scary face...

Wildlife and I just don't mix- these birds were a lot scarier than they look in this photo. They were flying around our heads making all sorts of noises. I should just stick to the city

Our tour guide that looked a little like Adam Sandler

Saeed is such a ladies man

Hard to read but the sign says "Seat for Bored Husbands"

Our water and my milkshake

Paige (U of Miami) and me

Best lunch ever- vegetables with melted cheese and salad, yum yum :)

Trying not to fall off the mountain

Windy day

Enjoying the view

Aren't we so cute? :)

Caught me with my glasses on!

More Photos from Blue Mountains

Going home on the bus

I finally know what a wombat is! I hope this useful tidbit will help me beat Saj in Jeopardy one day :)

Me trying not to get close to the emu's claws!
Sleeping koala

Baby joey!

Perfect sign after being starving for weeks and then having a wonderful lunch!

Us enjoying the best lunch everSteep hike

Enjoying the view and sunshine

I liked the tree

Blue Mountains and Featherdale Wildlife Park

I was so excited to see a kangaroo up close!

Me excited and also a bit terrified. They don't look as cute up close with those huge claws!
Me praying he won't hop away!
I was sooo excited about the penguins! They are so cute- only about 6-8 inches tall.Yes, it was August 12 and about 75 degrees outside but the poor Australian kids deprived of snow think that shaved ice is just as fun!

Beautiful Blue Mountains- they look blue from the distance due to water evaporating from the eucalyptus leaves

Hiking into the valley

Kerry and I weren't matching on purpose, I swear!

There are houses in the area that have this view...

Saeed, Kery, Melinda, Me and Paige

Waterfall

Out in Darling Harbour

Kerry and I at Malaya at Darling Harbour
Australian guys

They were showing rugbee in the women's bathroom at the club!On the bus

Weekend Fun!

This past weekend was so much fun- I'm in such a better mood. I think I was a lot more homesick than I realized. I think just missing friends more than anything else. But I finally have found good food and am getting to know some good friends so I'm feeling much better about things.

Friday night we went out to a Malaysian restaurant at Darling Harbour for this guy's birthday (he just turned a whopping 21) and then we went out dancing at Pontoon and Sidebar. Kerry and I love dancing together so that was a lot of fun.

Saturday we went to Paddy's market. I'm not sure what I was expecting- I think more of a flea market environment, but it was basically just Australian clothing & souvenirs, wigs, leggings and lingerie. I kid you not, we are in this big open warehouse, and I think there were at least 5 lingerie stalls, 3 wig stalls and 2 legging stalls. It was hilarious.

Sunday was the Blue Mountains! I just loved it out there. We got lucky and had some beautiful weather- probably about 75 degrees and sunny. We left Sydney CBD (central business district) around 8 am and first drove through the Sydney Olympic Park. There's not much there now although they use it regularly for sporting events. I can just imagine how awesome it was when the Olympics were here. Then we went to two different lookouts at the Blue Mountains. We stopped at had lunch at this really cute village, Leura. Then we hiked for about 45 minutes down the valley to see the Three Sisters, and then we took this really scary, almost vertical train ride back up to the top. For the rest of the afternoon, we went to Featherdale Wildlife Park where we got to touch and feed kangaroos, koalas and wombats.

When we got back to IH, to top off the night, we watched "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert", which was absolutely hilarious. Overall, it was a really fun weekend! Oi mate! (not sure I'm using that in the right context yet but I'm getting there...) Now it's back to school work :)

Travel Plans!

Last week I was looking for cheap tickets to Melbourne because I'm hoping to go there over the semester break, and I ran across a sale on tickets to Kuala Lumpur. I originally had no plans to travel outside Australia just because it is so expensive. But after some serious thinking, I took the plunge and bought the tickets! My bank account is really not happy with me right now, but I figure when else am I 1) going to have this much free time that I can travel so much and 2) will be back in Asia Pacific. Plus, it will actually be about the same price for me to go to Malaysia and Singapore as it would be the Australian outback. So I probably will not make it to Uluru as I originally hoped, but I think I'll still see plenty in this region. These are my travel plans so far- I'm so excited!!

Aug 12: Blue Mountains (they are right outside Sydney)
Sept 21-26: Melbourne (tentative)
Oct 26 - Nov 1: New Zealand! (with Lisa Chang from TX)
Nov 18 - 27: Malaysia & Singapore!
Dec 1 - Dec 16: Cairns to Sydney (tentative)

When will I actually be studying during all of this? Good question, I haven't figured that part out yet ;)

Observations

Some interesting items I have noticed:
- Mascara costs AUD$18 at Kmart ($15.5 US dollars)
- At bars, they put straws in bottles of Smirnoff Ice
- A normal size bottle of Jose Cuervo costs AUD$45 ($38.5 US dollars), but you can find a good bottle of wine for AUD$4 ($3.4 US dollars)
- It feels like there isn't as much pollution. This statement is not so scientifically based on the smell of bus exhaust (really not that bad here) and the cleanliness of my hair (so soft!)
- Americans love Australians. Not all Australians love Americans. This is evidenced by the number of stories I have heard about actual fights (one Canadian was hit because someone thought he was American) or near fights I have seen (A guy started yelling "Yankee" at our friend walking down the street and a fight was only avoided by getting in a cab)

Yay!

I'm really excited because I finally found a good class to take! I decided econometrics was too easy (and boring) so I'm switching that to international public management. Not something that sounds like the most interesting topic, I know, but the professor is amazing! I've been kind of disappointed with my other classes so far (just not as interesting as I thought they would be) so I'm really excited about this one. And better yet, it is full of grad students who are interested in public policy! Yay! My kind of people :) It has been incredibly difficult to change my classes with the university- I have to get every change approved by 3 different departments and it looks like they lost my form in the mail. Oh well, hopefully that will get straightened out!

It is raining today and tomorrow so I will probably just stay in and do some reading. I am finally on Harry Potter #7 (after re-reading #6) and I have a lot of reading and a quiz. A lot of the other grad students here are just starting their studies so they are going through the transition of handling the postgrad workload. I'm really glad I've been in school for almost a year and a half now so I'm used to the work. Everyone else is pretty overwhelmed but after reading a book a week last semester, my classes now feel like a piece of cake! (maybe I won't be saying this a month from now:) I'm glad to finally feel like I'm settled in here. I really like my roomate a lot. I have never had a good roomate so I was a little worried, but she is wonderful! I also am busy planning my trips for the semester break. I have 10 days that I think I'm going to split between Melbourne and Adelaide. There are some companies I'd like to meet with in Melbourne for my internship, and then I think some of the other girls here in the Int'l House might also be there during part of the week. I'm also planning to visit my friend Lisa Chang in New Zealand for a few days before finals start! Then hopefully I will be able to go to the outback over a long weekend during the semester and eventually go up to Cairns after classes are over.