Never Leaving

So what has been happening? Well, school started! Horray? Hah, but really. It’s nice to have a little bit more structure in my days instead of lazying around. Thankfully don’t have school on Mondays/Fridays so most days I go to the beach and/or lay out and read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Now because I haven’t blogged in forever, something I promised myself I would stop doing, I’ll just give you some highlights J

1.  FUTURE MUSIC FESTIVAL

            The day started off splendidly getting 80s and sparkled out. I had my floral 80s swimsuit and snapback on and was ready to go. Before heading in with my friends we met some dains for a pre, which involved my climbing over a fence and yelling their names to see if that was who was on the fb exchange page mentioning the pre. Thankfully it all worked out! Marin, Rune and Shannon are now my new best friends and we all stuck together in the venue. Walked in, no breeze, and saw Pharell, Hardwell, Phoneix, Macklemore as well as some other techno rave bands. During Pharrel I got on my aussie friends shoulders, a brand new friend met just that day, and was able to grove like I’ve never grooved before. If you want to see more of that I have an awesome video of it. It was beautiful and spectacular. I also was about 10 feet away from Phoenix later that night because everybody was busy aweing over Deadmau5. It was totally worth it. Throughout the day, too, the dains bought be beer b/c I was still moneyless, and I nomed on a personal pizza. We also saw a guy pee on a tent then get punched, which was interesting, as well as many body parts that should normally be clothed. (If you want more stories on that, just ask me personally).

That night I then came back to my flat with Sophie (my amazing roomie) throwing a rager with her Korean friends, with one passed out in the bathroom. We ended up picking him up by the legs and dragging him to the appropriate sleeping spot. With Sophie alright, the Festival crew then went out to a bar with Shannon pushing me in a shopping cart as transportation. Sadly we weren’t able to get into the bar because it wasn’t a “wife beater night” and all the boys were wearing them. But secretly I was glad because I was beat.

2. GORDON’S BAY    

            Now I’ve been to Gordon’s bay a few times, an amazing secluded beach on rocks, with the bluest water you could imagine. So beautiful! Every time I go there we swim out to the other side and explore the rocky beach, or just come back to our little rock island and lay out. It’s also a lot more chill then Coogee which is nice, meaning less people and more playful dogs. Let me tell you, the thing I probably miss most down here are my dogs. Dog induced depression is a real thing.   

3. BLUE MOUNTAINS

            The girls, plus Kevin, and I took a weekend Groupon trip to the Blue Mountains! It’s about 2 hours away, but so worth it! We had a very energetic bus driver that wouldn’t keep quiet, even though he said he would, which made trying to sleep on the way there after our 6am wakeup call very hard. Once we go there, my tired eyes couldn’t believe what I saw. Our bus climbed to the top of the mountain to overlook what seemed like heaven. A vast expanse of mountains and cliffs, almost like a green grand canyon. We were high above the clouds and I didn’t want to come down. We first stopped to see some traditional aborigines dancing, took a picture with a life size koala, then opted for some other Kodak moments before hopping on the bus to our next destination.

            The main part of the Blue Mountains was an hour plus hike where we could choose our own adventure, all leading to the same end. We saw wild cockatoos and many more wild Australian animals. We hiked to a waterfall then to a lookout to see the 3 Sisters, a rock formation of 3 huge bluffs. There’s an aborigines story about how they were turned into stone by their witch father. After our hike we were all pretty tired and famished, so we had a quick bite to eat in town. I had a veggie sandwich which consisted of a bit of lettuce, carrots and beets, but the taste was made up for with my side of chips (fries).

            My favorite part of the Groupon, though, was the wildlife sanctuary we visited. There were kangaroos roaming free EVERYWHERE so of course I took it upon myself to take as many selfies as I could with them. We fed them some kangaroo food in little ice cream cones, which they absolutely loved! Saw a Tasmanian devil, some penguins, koalas, dingoes, crocodiles, flying foxes (my favorite) and 2 quokkas!!!! If you don’t know what a quokka is, Google it. You won’t regret it.

            After our exciting day I fell asleep on Kevin on the bus ride home, a rarity for me, but not for long b/c we also visited the Olympic Stadium from when the Olympics were held in Australia. Then came a HUGE thunder storm which was nice, seeing as it had been a bit dry lately. We finished off the day in Darling Harbor where we had dinner at Margaretville and then watched free fireworks at 9. Truly a wonderful day!

4. NEW CASTLE

            Well this weekend I had the amazing opportunity to visit Newcastle, I place I have decided will one day be home to me, at least for a little while. I made a friend at Future Music Festival that said I should come down, so OF COURSE I took him up on his offer. The day was incredible.

            First, the only bad thing, is that Newcastle is so far away that I had to get up early and take the bus to get there in order to get the most out of my trip. It’s about 2.5 hours so you can imagine my alarm clock. We started the day with lunch at a lookout point that is INCREDIBLE! It overlooks Merewether Beach, a secluded surfers paradise, as well as a lot of green untouched land. It really was so beautiful. To make lunch even MORE spectacular we dined on pizza, garlic bread brownies and beer. I was definitely a happy camper.

            After that we drove around for a bit and I really got to see Newcastle. It’s just a very chill beach down with a good atmosphere and happy people. My kind of place. I also heard from my friend there’s lots of young people and a nice music scene, which is even MORE perfect. After driving around for a bit we went to Bogey Hole, a little seaside natural pool that’s just shallow enough that only my head comes out the top. With it being right on the shore the waves come up and crash, spraying everywhere and making a big fuss. It was, again, perfect.

            However after our long day we decided to take it easy for the afternoon and watch some NRL (National Rugby League), of which I’m finally understanding at least a little bit of the rules. He also challenged me to flip cup, a game I thought I could easily win due to my American drinking superiority, but I was sorely mistaken. Aussies go hard, and they’re good at it.  

            Sadly left later that night when I was so not ready to leave, but it was alright. For the bus ride home I got the most AMAZING falafel wrap of my life. Getting on the bus with it by my side made the journey a bit easier. Watched Fast and Furious 6 and before I knew it I was back in Sydney.

So as you guys can see I’m basically never going to leave Australia, so this is my goodbye letter to home. Just kidding… But really. If you would like to see any pictures just let me know! Sadly left my camera --> computer cable back home so need to borrow one of my friends. But for now xoxo.

The Warm Fuzzy Feelings

     Hey everyone! So I know I've been crap and haven't blogged in oh, 3 weeks now, but I will blog later today to catch everyone up! In the meantime, I just had to share this story from yesterday.
     I was in the city picking up my money from work and was waiting on the corner to cross the street for the bus when this little old woman came and stood beside me. I looked over and smiled, and she smiled back and said something, so I took my earbuds out to listen. She said, "at least it's not raining that bad today." I nodded and agreed with her, because for the past couple of days it had been raining pretty hard. But since it was still drizzling, I just put my hood up from my raincoat, got out my umbrella, and put it over her. She smiled and said thank you and interlaced her arm with mine as we crossed the street. She moved pretty slow so I had to take down my mph a bunch, but I didn't mind. She was frail and sweet and had an awesome bright orange trench coat on.
     Once we got across the street our bus pulled up, about 50 yards away, and she yelled at me to go on. But I couldn't leave her! So I ran ahead and caught the bus for the both of us, her coming about 10 seconds later, and all was good. She then sat in the front of the bus and scooted over, and I asked if I could sit beside her. She looked up at me and smiled and said of course, that why she sat there in the first place!
     For the 20+ minute bus ride we found out a lot about each other. Her name is Pat and she came here for vacation 30 years ago and never went back. Sounds a lot like my future, eh? She hails from Scotland and has family all over the place. A sister in the states, a sister in New Zealand, and some family scattered about Asia and all over Scotland. She asked me about my schooling and travels, and I was telling her how much I love it here and I can't wait for Spring Break in Thailand. She's been to Japan, China, New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Mongolia, as well as many other places around the world. Even Russia! She is my future view of myself because I really hope to be as cool as she is one day.
     Amidst our conversation she told me to keep a hold of my stuff and be careful because you never know when someone could grab it from you. I then smiled and said, well, about that, I actually had that happen to me about 2 weeks in so I know the feeling. She looked very worried but I said it was alright because 1. they didn't steal the picture of my dad in my wallet and, 2. I have good friends over here that kept me afloat for two weeks when I had no way to get money and was completely broke. She asked how much I had lost and I said, oh, about a weeks worth, but it's ok because things happen and now that I have a job I'm starting to earn some of that money back.
     So right before I got off, with me just smiling and talking to Pat, she reached into her purse and handed me two $5 bills. My mouth dropped and I said I couldn't possibly take it from her, but she just shoved it into my hand and pretended she didn't know what I was talking about, saying that this would help for some of the money that I lost. I wanted to cry at that point. I then asked her if I could give her a hug, so right before I got off I gave her the biggest one I could muster without crushing her. I then hopped off the bus but made sure to go by her window to wave a blow a kiss. She waved and blew one back, then rode off into the sunset. I really hope that I can meet Pat again one day.
     It's things like this that just make my heart so happy. I told my dad that anybody would do what I did, and he said no they wouldn't, so I then countered that everyone SHOULD do what I did. As animals we do have a very competitive nature of looking out for ourselves only and being selfish, but as humans we have such a large capacity for compassion. I honestly think that if you see someone in need, like Pat without an umbrella, or see someone that may be having a bad day, you should talk to them or help them. They may be strangers to you, but in their eyes you might be their saviors. I could talk about this all day but won't get too deep on the subject. Just wanted to share my story and show that a little compassion goes a long way.

You can't rain on my parade

     Happy Mardi Gras! Happy Pride!!! I'd never been to a Mardi Gras parade, or Pride parade for that matter, but let me tell you. EVERYONE NEEDS TO EXPERIENCE IT. It was amazing and crazy and wild and fun!
     A group of us decided to trek it downtown, with the buses filled to the brim, in order to get a good spot near the action. Not only did we not find a good spot at first, we lost 80% of our group within 10 minutes. Yes, it may have been because I stopped to purchase a gay pride flag for $2 on the way in, but it was SO worth it! With just Jess, Mansoor, Natty and me left, we ventured off into the rainbow! But before we did that I bumped into a cute guy named Timmy and his date Steve. So presh! We held hands while looking for our lost friends, then OF COURSE made a photo op out of our new friendship. Although Timmy, or Timmeh as he put it in my phone in honor of South Park, and I parted ways, he will forever be in my heart as an integral part of my pride experience.
     After we said our tearful goodbyes to our new friends, ones that also knew what "Summer Heights High" and "Ja'mie: Private School Girl" were, we SOMEHOW ended up finding our friends in the thousands of people. What are the odds? They all decided to stop in front of a HUGE projector to watch the parade but, per usual, I was not content with that being my pride experience so I hatched a new plan. I weaseled my small frame between to men on crates, because everybody stood on crates to see the show, and was just 3 people away from the front line. But as luck would have it, a woman let me share her crate and I SAW EVERYTHING! IT WAS AMAZING! The colors, THE OUTFITS, the music and the atmosphere! Couldn't ask for more! While I was up there I also introduced myself to the two men a squeezed between. They were a couple from Florida, named Lebron and Stephon, who were just as sweet and hilarious as they could be. I talked them into letting my buddy Mansoor, aka Manny, squeeze into the action so he could have a look. Can't leave a brotha behind! So while the rest of the group bailed, Manny and I stayed for the amazing duration of the parade, taking many pics, which I will post eventually.
     As I said, nobody rains on the gays parade, so LITERALLY the second it was over the skies opened. But thankfully Manny and I ducked into a Kebab/Pizza place for a bite, him buying me a slice b/c I'm still poor for the next 7-10 business days. We then miraculously caught a bus before it rained too hard and went straight home!
     Today has been pretty mundane compared to yesterday, though. Tried to go to the beach, but it started raining on the way there, so Jess, Manny and I ducked in for a bite to eat at El Galo. It's this chain of restaurants, which remind me of Pollos Hermanos, who serve mostly chicken burgers. The chick fil-a of Australia. Again, bc i'm poor, I didn't eat anything, but because the owner didn't want Manny to eat alone he brought us free french fries. BEST DAY EVER. After our chance lunch we went back home, watched some Howl's Moving Castle and made some delicious fried rice.
     And now is where you find me. Blogging at 12am Australia time, 6am US time. Although classes technically start tomorrow, I'm on a T-Th schedule, so my vacay is extended one more day. Cheers!

Shit happens

     Hello everyone! Sorry that I've been a horrible blogger since I've arrived, but I promise i'll get better! Now since so much has happened since my last post I suppose I'll just give you a rundown. After this I hope to blog more religiously on a day to day basis :)
     Since arriving, most days have consisted of going to the beach, a hard life let me tell you. The walk is about 25 minutes, which is wonderful for two reasons. First, the beach is so close you can basically taste it and second, we have to walk everywhere so I better have some great legs after this. Mainly what we have discovered on our daily beach travels is 1. you don't want to mess with the blue jellies, 2. Coogee beach IS topless for all of those wondering, 3. if you befriend the right Aussies you will get free beer and games on the beach, and 4. living at UNSW is heaven on earth. Our crew has also made a point to stop at a vietnamese sandwich place or AMAZING fruit smoothie place at least every two days. The beach life is great.
     So I haven't even addressed why I've been so bad about blogging. Well, yesterday, my shit got stollen. Had to happen to at least one of us americans and it looks like I picked the lucky straw. Hooray! We all decided to go to this club called Ivy downtown, a HUGE complex of 3 stories with a pool, DJ and multiple bars. I had my purse on me the whole time but I guess dancing and going through the crowd got the best of me because a reach into my purse and WHAT DO YOU KNOW my phone is there BUT NOT MY WALLET. Cue the tears. I don't know if anyone has been robbed before, but it is one of the worst feelings there is. A complete violation of self. So even though my wallet was gone, my amazing friend Jess had some bus passes left and was able to take me home. And even before that she, and I quote, "Took selfies while you were crying" in relation to bawling to my sissy about my loss. I laughed a good while after she told me this. What else are friends for? After the mishap I got back home, stayed up till 6 to talk to the credit card/debit card companies, then woke up at 8 in order to try and get a new student card as well as fill out a police report. Not my idea of a first week.
     Thankfully, I go to the greatest school south of UNC and everyone is so amazing and perfect and wonderful and nice. I went to the exchange office in tears and Andrew, an aussiemate who called me out in front of all 1000 exchange students for posting a "first taste of Vegemite video" on facebook, as well as a fan of my Papaw's video about Australia, gave me some tim tams because I was so distraught. He literally is my favorite person here. They told me how to file a police report and everything but before I was able to, wait for it, Ivy called and they found my wallet! I feel so bad for the sweet woman on the other line because I was incoherent crying from tears of joy. They may have stollen all of my money and my new keychain, (really who does that?), but they left the picture of my daddy as well as student ID, credit cards and drivers license. I went back into the exchange office and Andrews colleague, I'M SO SORRY I FORGOT YOUR NAME, gave me her bus pass to get back downtown to retrieve what had been stollen. After I took the arduous journey downtown and back, I came back into their office with tears and oreos as a thankyou. I really am forever in their debt. I also have amazing friends here who have kept my spirits up. I really am so lucky!
     And so we come to today. What is on tap, you may ask? Well, after having a physically/emotionally draining past 24 hours it's time to celebrate MARDI GRAS/GAY PARADE! Although it's raining, you can't rain on the gays parade, physically and metaphorically. I am SO excited and can't wait to de-stress a little bit. Who knows, tomorrow I may post some inappropriate Mardi Gras pics on here just for shits and giggles. But you'll have to check back in to find out!!! xoxoxox

     Greetings from Aussieland! Finally here! Let me tell you though, the going goes tough and this tough went going. (This made sense in my head at the time). 

     To start off this trip of mine we arrived at the Asheville airport an hour before my flight, only to discover it had been delayed by two hours. Awesome. Now with Elizabeth on your side, aka MY MOM, things get done. Somehow ended up on US Airways to LA to make my flight, yet had to check out and check back to United within an hour once there in order to get on my flight to Sydney. LET THE GAMES BEGIN! 

     Flight to Charlotte was a first, sitting backwards looking at everyone during takeoff like on display. Thankfully sat next to a man who, seeing the struggle that is a small white girl carrying luggage twice her weight, helped me carry a baggage to the next terminal until I parted ways. Things were looking up! Not only that, but I got to see my Seeeeessterrrrrr. 

     My Sissy had been waiting on the other side of The DO NOT CROSS OR ELSE YOU GET TAZED red line, one that if I stepped over and gave her a hug I'd have to go back through security. TOTALLY AND AMAZINGLY WORTH IT. Hands were held, tears were exchanged, and I got to give my sissy the biggest hug before I left for four months. It is going down in history as one of the best sister moments. I thought it would get even better than that becasue before I left my gate unexpecdlty to go see my Sissy I saw, wait for it, HILARY DUFF (inner child screams). Containing my excitement of "Omgomgomgomgomg Lizzie McGuire is on my flight" in my head, I made eye contact with her while boarding and gave her a smile in hopes to get an autograph. She was not having it...childhood dreams crushed. She was with her child though, Luca, whose name I really shouldn't know, so i'll give her the benefit of the doubt. But folks, dreams were FARRRRRR from over! 

     Well, I got on the plane and was by an exit seat so I got leg room about twice the size as I was. A dream! The only other person on my row though was this man who I could see was getting frustrated becasue his legs are a twice as mine with about 1/4 the leg room I had. I offered up my seat, like I feel any person would, and BOY was he happy. First, he told the waitress that ANYTHING I wanted he would get for me. This started off with two vodka cranberries and a plate of fruit and cheese, which I didn't ask for, waiting for me when I returned from the bathroom. Yummmmmmmmmm. Also at the bathroom I talked to a man from UNSW who seemed really nice, gave me a handshake, and told me about biblical names.... Anywayyyssss...

     So I got to talking to this man in my row whose name is Artimus, who you know is going to be cool just by the name. He ended up being headed to Sydney too and was giving me tricks of the trade and tips galore. He said anything I needed just call, and that his wife and children would take me out while I"m here. Not only that, but they might to go Fiji one weekend just the two of them so he said he'd let me house sit/ babysit their 2 kids, 7 bedroom house and pool. At this point I was pinching myself multiple times. He also gave me some movies, which I will not name out of legal reasons, for my computer. It was the best flight of my life. He also bought me the "Cafe PLus, Cafe on the Go" box for my next flight, and helped me carry my luggage to baggage claim. I don't know how I got so lucky. We parted ways at baggage claim, saldy, hugs and all, and that's where my luck took a left turn. 

     I was at terminal 1. United was at terminal 7. I didn't know how the hell to get there. After taking two escaltors, and an elevator, a man who worked there saw me, as he put it, "struggling," so he decided to help. He directed me towards a tram, I the only passenger, and I took it to terminal 7 and thought I was home free. Thennn when they checked my passport they said I didn't have a visa. Awesome. After much panicing, and three more scans, my visa was THERE! I then ran through security, ran to my gate, and I was on board to Australia! 

     The plane to Australia was nothing to write home about. I sat next to an Aussie who was busy with her kindle, and an american who really loved history. They tried to play "last vegas" and failed, then "monk" and failed again. After my odd vegetarian in flight meal of strange indian food, I was out for about 10 hours and was good to go once I woke up. Plus, I WAS IN SYDNEY! WHAT?!?!

My first interaction with Sydney was like my whole trip. Complete confusement and being lost. Thankfully I met the UNSW group and Andrew, our driver, who is an American Australian. He was born in Australia, lived in America since he was 8, then moved back two years ago. He's Australian with an american accent. I dig it. Also, he has a wonderful taste in music with Beatles knock offs and Notorious BIG. Got to school and checked in thinking my roomie hadn't gotten in yet, but she did! Her name is Sophie and she is from South Korea and is literally the sweetest person I've ever met. Needless to say, I lucked out!!! I unpacked a bit, we went to go eat lunch with some more exchange students, then we headed to the beach with even more newbies! The crazy connection with one of the exchange students, Jessica, is that she's friends with my grand little Shelby in my Envrionmental Fraternity. They both live up North so it's a crazy connection. 

So Jessica, Meaghan (roomies with Jess), Sophie and our new friend from Holland Evelien made an afternoon at the beach. Evelien and I were so excited that we just stripped to our swimsuits and ran straight for the ocean. The water was AMAZING! It was exactly what I needed after my trecherous journey. Sophie and I went in once more which wasn't as pleasant. Also on our way back we got some bathroom essentials from Cole's, basically a Harris Teeter/Ingles, and found the nearest liqueur store, which is the most important! Cheap wine is the way to go here because let me tell you, alcohol is EXPENSIVE. 

Next on the roughness of our adventure my new keycard didn't work so Sophie and I were locked out. Of course. But, because it's Australia, the security gaurd was the nicest person eve,r even after a 12 hour work day, and he got us up straight away. I'm telling you, I love it here. Sophie and I then had dinner, mine consisting of more things Artimus purchased for me on the plane, and we then went to UNSW Village. We had some more exchange friends waiting for us! 

So the crew that went to the beach is the same one that went to the pregame, or pre as they call it here. The flat belongs to Bianca (American), D (American), John (Australian), and 4 others who we didn't meet. We also met Hayden and Kyle, also from the states, as well as a slew of other exchange students. In one room we represented USA, Spain, Chile, Canada, South Korea, Holland, Mexico and Australia. The UN would be proud. 

After the pre (aka pregame, which is what they call it here) we hit up a nightclub that included expensive drinks, smoke effects, a dance floor and silent disco. The silent disco also included Grease songs galore which was a real treat. I was out until 2. Needless to say it was fun, but I was exhausted. After being up since 7, that will do it to you.