7 days to go...

Wow I cannot believe I have 1 week left! Just when it's getting warm and I'm making friends outside IH, I have to leave! I am soooo excited about going home and seeing everyone!!!! but so enjoying the sunshine here. I don't think I'll be sleeping much in the next week- just trying to soak in some rays before I leave. I made a friend here at the hostel in Canberra. Her name is Belinda and we went on quite an adventure to the grocery store tonight. It's nice to have someone to hang out with here. I'm fine by myself but I think she's been going a little nutty spending too much time alone. I think tomorrow night we are going to try some of the nightlife. There isn't much here but it's warm out and there are all sorts of people around. I'm wrapping up my internship tomorrow- so far I got really good feedback on the reports I've written. I just hope they are somewhat useful since it's taken me months to write them. When I go back to Sydney I have to face the music of PACKING! That is going to be awful- I have collected so much stuff. I have no idea how I'm going to get it all home!!!

Sarah Meet World, World Meet Sarah

I just got back from wandering around Canberra for about 2 hours. I went and saw all the embassies- so cool! I have never visited a US embassy before, but thought I should find it in case of an international incident or something. :P It was fun to see how all the embassies are built in the architecture of the country. The US is red brick, of course, sitting up and nice and imposing on a hill. I'm sure we wouldn't have it any other way.

Today was so much fun! I am so glad I'm doing this internship. It's been a little stressful at times but I think that's because of my cultural misunderstandings than anything else. But we had a really fun, 3-hour long lunch/ Christmas party at the National Press Club. Wine, steak, dessert all included! Andrew got me a really cute kangaroo for the gift exchange. Then we went over to a meeting at DFAT (Dept of Foreign Affairs and Trade = similar to the US State Dept) about IP in Australia's free trade negotiations. I really don't think I was supposed to be there but it was really cool. Andrew said he checked that it was okay to bring an intern- didn't really mention that I'm a US spy or anything, hahaha. So it was funny to hear them talk about the US position on things. I like being a fly on the wall. And since I look like everyone, they don't know I'm not AUstralian until I start talking. Although I did notice yesterday that I was losing my voice a bit because I'm sick and a bunch of people (Even australians) thought I was from here. Now I finally know how to do the accent!

I think tonight I'll just relax and watch tv. I met a really nice girl from Geelong last night watching trashy shows. I was introduced to "Gossip Girl" and other shows I've missed premiere in the last few months. Only a week left to go in this wonderful country- I have a LONG to do list!!!!!

Survey- what to do for my last night Down Under?

I am in the hostel for Round #4 of my internship. It's going really well- I had a great meeting with reps from Austrade (trade promotion) today. So nice and helpful! It's raining outside and I just finished a huge pasta and chocolate cake dinner because I am really sick and feel like I deserve it, hahaha. I lost a ton of weight this semester (through starvation- I knew the horrible IH food was good for something!), and I'm determined to keep it off so that will be the last time I gorge myself! Ugh don't feel so good now... :P

So I'm trying to decide what to do for my last night in Sydney! I still need to walk across the Harbour Bridge and hopefully my friend is going to take my kayaking this weekend. I can't decide what to do though- go to the beach, go dancing in Darling Harbour (won't be the same without Kerry and Saeed!) or just wander around the CBD. Hmm... I know I will be back to Sydney so it's not like I'm saying goodbye forever but I want my last night to be a memorable one. Got any suggestions?

Saying Goodbye

I will be leaving Sydney two weeks from today- what a crazy 5 months it has been! The last couple of days and weeks I have had to say goodbye to all of my new friends here. When I first got to IH I thought oh my goodness, these people are so much younger than me! They are so immature! How in the world will I survive? But we have really gotten close over the last several months seeing each other every day and eating every meal together. It has been hard to say goodbye to them because I don't know when I'll see them next. Some of my American friends like Kerry and Melinda live in DC and Philly so I know I'll see them again soon. It will be much longer before I see people like Pinky and Saeed. But we are lucky it has gotten a lot easier to stay in touch with email, Skype and Facebook.

When I was initially researching Australia and doing study abroad I found this graph below that explains your adjustment abroad and at home. I was thinking about it the other day and I seriously cannot believe how accurante this thing is! A couple of my other friends here have agreed.



It starts out with the honeymoon period where everything is new and exciting, then you hit the culture shock. I found a thing online that said at this point you may be finding faults with your new surroundings and will be contacting family and friends at home more often. It said that "Bear in mind that you seem to reach out to them only during your low points so try to remember to call them when you’re feeling better so they won’t worry"- sound familiar? Hmm... let me think of how many of those phone calls I made!

I think I underestimated going through any of this because Australia is such a developed and advanced country- it's not like I was going to live in Zimbabwe or something. And also they speak English here, so surely it couldn't be that different! I am reading online tonight about cultural adjustment and these are some of the things that now I can relate to:

-Not getting innuendoes.

-Not understanding what people are saying even though they are speaking English.

-Thinking no one likes you.
-Ordering chips and getting fries.

Then you go into adjustment. "Recognize that you are making it through the storm, and revel your successes, new friendships, experiences, travel, etc.! Your survival seems assured!" and finally you reach acceptance where you are able to function in both environments.

I am hoping this graph also comes with an explanation about why you get really awful grades when studying abroad, haha. I studied a lot but still think my grades are probably going to be horrible. Part of that is because my exams in the first half of the semester were atrocious so it was hard to make it up in the end, and the other part is that grading in Australia is really different. Students here don't need to get good grades to get a good job- they just need to pass. So whereas most students in the US aim for an A or B, students here just aim to pass. As a result, the whole grading system is really different and I personally think impossible to adjust to when the US system is so ingrained in you. Or so this is what I'll be telling myself when the final marks are released ;) As long as I graduate next year, I'm not worried too much. In the meantime I'll be enjoying my last few weeks of Australian summertime!

Sarah's Intro to Asia: Malaysia and Singapore Fun!!!

Here are some selected photos from my trip to Malaysia and Singapore. In 9 days, we visited Kuala Lumpur (KL), Cameron Highlands, Georgetown, Langkawi, Singapore and Melaka. It was an amazing trip! Melinda and I took about 1100 photos combined- on No. 900 Daniel started questioning what he was thinking going to Asia with two girls!


I was sooo excited!!!! At the Sydney airport


Cool fountain in Kuala Lumpur- me and Daniel (he's lived in Singapore and Brunei and was our personal tour guide- I don't think we would have survived without him!)

Merdeka Square

Tallest flagpole in the world- I am the little pink dot at the bottom of the pole

At the KL Butterfly Park

Peacocks at the KL Bird Park- we were lucky to be there during mating season so we saw about 10 male peacocks struttin' their stuff! It was really amazing.. that's me behind the bird!

Nightime in KL

View from our room in Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands

Day trip to the tea plantations

Daniel, Melinda and Me

View of the valley from a lookout point- it was amazing being above the clouds!

Trekking in the Mossy Forest- a few weeks ago they found an entire tiger family in the highlands which is very rare

Enjoying some afternoon tea at Boh Tea Centre

Beautiful butterfly at Butterfly Farm #2

Hibiscus flowers

Canopy walk on Penang Hill- don't look down!!!

View of Georgetown from Penang Hill

I think I would have made at excellent soldier! At Fort Cornwallis in Georgetown

Riding on the back of Lasah the elephant in Langkawi. It was so awesome!

Feeding Lasah- can I take him home??

We ran across this cute little guy on the side of the road and I got to feed him!

On the ferry going back from Langkawi to Penang

Sunset over the Straights of Malacca- I think this is my favorite photo from the trip

Melinda and I went to Singapore without Daniel. Will we survive??

We caved and ate Western food!!! Sorry Daniel!

Little India in Singapore- we stayed right down the street

At the Singapore Night Safari (don't worry- the crocodile is fake ;)

So much fun!

Back in Malaysia- in Melaka

Apparently I became the tourist attraction...

At the replica of the Sultan's Palace

Petronas Towers- I am the jolly green giant! :)

Passes for walking across the skybridge

Good bye Malaysia- hello Sydney! Taken at 6:30 am this morning outside the airport. We survived! Malaysia, I will back one day! :)

Penang > Singapore > Melaka, Malaysia > Kuala Lumpur

I think this has been the fastest paced trip I have ever done. We knew it would be ambitious seeing half of Malaysia and part of Singapore in 9 days but I didn't realize how exhausting this would be!! Oh well, we are on our last day in KL and are heading back to Sydney on the red eye tonight. We have done too much to list it all so here are some of the highlights!

Saturday/Sunday- flew from Penang to Singapore on Singapore Airlines. Is it bad that one of my favorite parts of Singapore was the airline flight? Haha. It was a really nice flight. We wandered around the city, did the Night Safari at the zoo (highly recommended if you ever go to Singapore!), did some shopping, hit some museums and then took a bus back to Malaysia Sunday night. Daniel met us at the Melaka bus station.

Monday- wandered around Melaka looking at all the colonial buildings, old fort, temples and mosques. Apparently I am also a tourist attraction! I had some Malaysians (very sweet) ask if they could take a picture with me. I found this bizzare but Daniel didn't think it was weird. Melinda also pointed out that all the old Chinese men were staring at me in Singapore. I think it's just the blonde hair :) Then we took the bus to KL! Got some naan and teh tarik

Tuesday- Got up around 7 am, showered (with lizards) and are heading to the Petronus Towers before shopping! We are taking the red eye back to Sydney tonight.

Pictures will be posted soon!

Life is Beautiful

First of all, I should say thank you to everyone that writes comments on my blog! I am hoping that my adventures encourage others to get out there and explore too. But overall it just makes me really happy knowing someone is reading this, haha :)

So I am sitting downstairs of Crystal's Guesthouse in the heart of Chinatown in Georgetown, Penang. We were lucky to find this place- the owner is incredibly nice and it's so clean! A big plus after sleeping with mice our first two nights :) We are packing up and looking up bus schedules trying to figure out how to get to Singapore. But I am avoiding packing and blogging instead!

Today was absolutely amazing. We got up early and took the 3 hour ferry ride over to Langkawi, which is a popular tourist destination near the border of Thailand. Unfortunately we could only the stay the day since we are trying to see half of Malaysia and Singapore in 9 days. Ambitious schedule but so far we are doing it! The ferry ride was beautiful... unfortunately so beautiful that I got caught up in the experience (apparently I do this often- Melinda and Daniel have made comments about me "wandering" too much- oops!) that I didn't put sunscreen on and didn't realize we were outside for over an hour. Now I'm more sunburned than I've ever been in my life! I will pay for this tomorrow...

Anyway, we ran off the ferry, hired a taxi ('hired' = rent in Australian english) and went to ride Lasah the elephant!!! It was WONDERFUL! Life long dream fulfilled for sure. And apparently it is possible to have 2 lifelong dreams fulfilled in one day because then we were walking to the beach, and we just happened to see a man feeding some friendly monkeys. And he gave me some peanuts to *feed the monkeys*. I officially am over the moon. It held my hand and pulled the peanuts of out it. Absolutely amazing.

We wandered around the beach and hung out for about 2 hours. I tried to stay out of the sun but I just love the water too much. Then we wandered over to the marina and tried to get a taxi back to the ferry. Of course, there were no taxis going our direction so just as we were starting the 2 km trek back to the last location we saw cars, a nice man pulled up and gave us a ride! Fortunately I had done this in Costa Rica so I wasn't freaked out- I think Melinda had a mild heart attack but she'll survive :)

To finish off the wonderful day, we were able to watch the sun set over the Straights of Malacca. I don't think I've ever seen the sun set while out in the water before. The only thing that came close was the sun setting in Maui when the family went there several years ago so it brought back good memories.

I am starting to get a stomachache from all the crazy food Daniel has been making me eat. Last night's Indian food (slightly different than the traditional Thanksgiving dinner!) was probably what put me over the edge. I guess it's something about being foreign and blonde in Little India that gets you 5 waiters and eventually with enough help we figured out something to eat. In general though, I noticed people are really friendly here, always smiling. Anyway, Daniel has been trying to get Melinda and I to eat from the food stalls outside and tonight he finally succeeded. I didn't eat too much because the squid hanging outside was a bit unappetizing but I did have the satay chicken, coconut milk (from a coconut) and I tried the ice cream/ bean/ jello/ ice combination before deciding my stomach is not going to hold out any longer. Tomorrow just Melinda and I are going to Singapore (leaving Daniel for the day in KL) and we will be running to pizza! The first thing I am eating in the States is a burrito! I can smell those black beans and salsa from here ;) More stories to come soon!