Week 3

Beginning of Week 3 and things were still changing. As if 6 hours of class just wasn't enough for a Monday... let's add another 2. For those of you not keeping track or just poor at math, that equals 8 HOURS of class. If you're thinking that I need to "man up" because that is like a "regular work day", I beg to differ. 8 hours of class is kinda like having 8 hours of meetings in one day. Raise your hand if that sounds like fun... Yea, I didn't think so.  It's painful. But I took this on for 2 reasons: The first, an hour after my last class gets out is my Yoga class. So no matter how hard the day was I can breathe, relax, and get myself ready to take on  more. The second reason, is that it's a Monday. What better day to be strained and dread completely?! It can only get better from there, right?!??  Well, I think so.

This is when I realized that the rest of my trip was going to fly... already on week 3 of classes and a month into the trip. When I think about the things I'm missing at home (friends, boyfriend, food, work, family gatherings, etc) time is standing still. But when I think about the amount of time I've been here, all the friends I've made, and how I'm already knee deep in school - I can't keep up! My mind is still back in Brisbane sometimes.

Knee deep in school, you ask? Why yes, let me explain... Projects and assessments were starting to creep up. I'm not sure what was happening to me. I am the queen of procrastination but with these huge projects, I was preparing them 2 weeks in advance and planning & outlining nearly 4 weeks in advance, I was a new person.

This was the week where patterns started forming. The pattern I'm referring to is an afternoon nap. These mornings are starting quite early and snooze really isn't an option if you want breakfast, so "nap" starting appearing on my To Do list. Might as well check things off!

One of the American girls (Kalyn) became ill and finally went to the hospital... for 3 days. Even though we weren't bff's by any means, hearing the updates gave me a weird feeling. I felt awful for her. Poor thing was 10,000 miles away from home, stuck in the hospital with her "new friends" and enduring awful, immobilizing pain. It was a long week for her. The worst part? They had no idea what happened - educated guesses being a spider bite. (You mean a spider like the huge one I saw just outside of my room??) My heart just hurt for her because family wasn't here and nothing was familiar... thank gosh her mom arrived a few days later. Mom and pain pills was the comfort that she needed, I think. I wasn't there, but from what I understand it was a dreadful experience.

I really started missing Egypt Valley Country Club this week. Ever since I was 16, I've had a job. And ever since I've been a freshman in college I've had 2 jobs working full time. I thought that I was going to enjoy the few months off... but truth be told, I missed working. As much as those crazy golfers make me nuts, I really enjoy my job. And many of the people I work with. I fully planned on taking advantage of the next month off... but was certainly ready to get back to the normal.

Afternoon naps needed to be a priority with the weekend that was coming up. Brace yourself.

Wine Wine Wine... CHURCH 2.26.11

Yet another epic weekend under the Australian sun. Saturday morning came fast enough (even without painting the town the night before). Alarm went off at 7am (giving me plenty of time to make it to the 8:15 meeting at the top of the hill) I did my hair, turned on facebook, finished my makeup, and... got stuck on facebook.

One thing I love about  being so far from home is that it gives me a legitimate excuse to check my facebook every single morning (some days I haven't even rolled outta bed yet and I'm off in cyber world!). Over my years I have learned a few valuable lessons - one of them being, if Inwant to be on time for anything, NEVER get on facebook in the morning (afterall, most likely not much has changed in the 8 hours that all of my facebook acquaintances were sleeping). But here, by the time I wake up, it is early evening at home - gotta see what I missed out on! Well, I've started adjusting to my new habit and setting my alarm 30 minutes earlier to account for my Internet addiction and social media time... So, it makes me right on time. I mean RIGHT on time... if you want me there at 8:14, then say that, otherwise it's 8:15 on the dot. Rant.

Back on topic - we make it to the group meeting spot, walk up the hill, and wait for the bus. It rolls up around 9. Perfect. That is 20 minutes of solid facebooking that I can never get back. Anyways, we're 15 minutes into the trip, Sarah is my bus buddy. and she is siiicckkkk. She pulls out a bag and yep... pukes. NASTY!!! I lean out into the isle way, tune it out, and watch Four Christmases (which goes by the name of 'Four Holidays' here... more politically correct), which ended up being quite perfect because of Vince Vaughn's reaction to the baby puking --> Totes me.

We pull into Drayton's Winery... first stop on our Hunter Valley Wine Excursion. Before we know it, they're pouring wine after wine after wine (yep, first glass before noon)! Whites... reds... pinks... got 'em all. Our "wine guide" for this morning was absolutely fabulous. Such a charmer and makin everybody giggle. He was fantastic at his job.

Being that I'm 22 and many of these kiddies with me are 18-20, my palate is a few years more mature than theirs. I haven't enjoyed the age gap up until this point. Their faces made all sorts of shapes when they tried some of these, so I smiled and gladly drank their portion, too. :o)

We grabbed a big lunch and headed for McGuigan's. This winery stop was much more short and sweet. Tasted nine more wines, thanked them, and headed next door for our cheese tasting appointment. This was interesting to say the least. My palate may be mature for wine... but certainly not mature enough for this cheese. Holy smokerssss!!! I swear I put maneur cheese in my mouth. This is not a joke, people.

Loaded back on the bus and headed for The Village (creative name, I know). SO awesome. This was my favorite stop and we had a quick 20 minutes to check everything out. In that time we sampled chocolate, stopped to hear a local band, and got to see a wedding (okay, just checked out the bride...).

Chocolate golf balls from The Village Chocolate Shop. Made me miss Egypt Valley Country Club!

Next up was the Golden Grape Estate. This was our final stop. Believe it or not, by this time I was more than ready to stop drinking wine.

Our last few tastes at the Golden Grape, consisted of a Strawberry Champagne, Coffee flavored fortified wine, and the kicker - Chili Pepper spicy yuck. [*Not the official name; More of a self-given description.] We had just a few minutes to buy the wine we wanted and load back on to the bus for the 2 hour ride home. What awaited us was well worth the trip in itself...

A big, juicy, Medium Rare steak, with the best mashed potatoes that I can remember putting in my mouth, with a side salad garnished with fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots. The winner? FOR 10 DOLLARS!!!! My first American-priced, American-tasting, meal since I've been in the country. It was scrumptious. Obviously. If a steak can take up an entire paragraph in my blog on a busy weekend - ya know it was good. I wouldn't lie to you. :o) Full belly and marinated in wine? That spelled out bed time. Saturday night and the lights were out by 10pm.

Sunday mornings, or Sundays in general, are among my favorite at the college. It's usually quiet and peaceful. I wake up, watch Jeff Manion's sermon online, maybe blog, enjoy hot bacon and eggs, and make plans for my day. Except this Sunday was a little different. My body was boycotting that stinking alarm never going off later than 8am. I slept until 2pm (with the exception of waking up for brunch. haha. With the food being next best thing to horrid, a hot brekkie is not to be missed!!!). My body just needed sleep. So I slept my Sunday away.

I woke up mid-afternoon because it was time to get ready for HILLSONG!!! YEAAAAA!!! hillsong. Hillsong. HiLlSoNg!!!!! This "to do" has been on my list ever since this trip was still on the "I think I want to study abroad" chopping block. (Ummm, just to clarify - that was a long time ago). We left for Sydney at 4pm. We walked from Circular Quay to Central Station, which is quite a hefty walk. Grabbed dinner at BK, also known as HJ (they call Burger King's, Hungry Jack's here) and started the quest to try and find the Hillsong bus. Little did we know that we had to walk across the street, down the stairs to the subway, take a left, walk half a mile, veer to the right, go up the stairs, cross the street, take a left, cross the street, and it will be around there where the bus will pick you up. Uhhh... WHAT?!?!? We were so confused. But we made it - 30 minutes late.

The service was good (being that our dear friend Thompson got the time incorrect, we missed the initial worship), enjoyed the message, prayed with some enthusiastic people, then got to worship again. Kris was right... when worshiping, it was definitely a "mountain-top moment". Goosebumps. Every single person has their hands raised, praying, singing, saying prayers of thanks as loud as they could muster.

This photo obviously is not from the service we went to (because that would be very touristy and not to mention awkward if I were to take a picture in church). But, it's still Hillsong, so you get the idea...

Towards the end of the service, I just stopped singing, looked around, and thought, "Wow... I am not in Ada anymore." It was somewhat of a culture shock, but it was amazing. These people were just giving it all up... and not caring what other people thought. Sometimes I'm overwhelmed by His goodness and want to throw my hands up and sing as loud as I can. And I finally got to.

The only thing that I wasn't super excited about is, it felt like a business. Or actually... a production. The preacher would start to pray, the people would start to agree and speak out, the music would start playing louder, the preacher would start to yell, hands would go up throughout the church and people would start yelling. I like the enthusiasm but at times it was a little much coming from my little Ada shell.

We had the pleasure of meeting a few people that call Hillsong home. Fantastic, genuine, wonderful people that wanted us to be apart of this church and call it home while we're here. We thanked them, dashed for the last Hillsong bus. And got lost. Yep... those confusing directions on the way there, were apparently just as bad on the way home. But we made it. And at quarter after 11 at night, we all got back to campus and headed for bed.

Splendid day. Splendid weekend. Just 4 more days of "business" (class) then another exciting weekend in the city. And this one oughta be good - It's Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Celebrate? I think so. After such a refreshing weekend, it made Monday just not seem that bad...  

Setting Sail on Week 2!!

There is no such thing as 'slowly easing into the semester' here in Australia. By Monday of Week 2, I needed to print off 200 pages of Rooms Division notes, read 2 chapters in my Tourism book, look up "additional readings" for my Human Resources class, and complete terminology for my Front Office class. Noooo problemmm. The general rule of thumb here is, for every hour you spend in class, it is expected you spend 6 hours outside of class doing homework. Again, no problem... I really didn't want to experience Australia anyways.

Enough on academics. World news was bursting at the seems this week. On Tuesday (the 22nd) a 6.3-magnitude Earthquake rocked Christchurch, New Zealand. I'm sure news spread around the world... but it's a little different when it's your neighbor that is getting rocked. Discussions took place in all classes and donation after donation were being collected in efforts to show support to our southeastern neighbs. It was really amazing all the support that took place, not only around campus, but all over Manly and Sydney.

On a lighter note, another history maker, headline-breaker was that both Queen Mary II and Queen Elizabeth were sailing into Sydney at almost the exact same time (coincidence? I think not). They have both been to Sydney, but never at the same time. Together they carried over 5,000 guests and 2,200 crew members. It was expected that tourists were going to spend upwards of $3 million (US dollars) while in town for those few hours (according to the Wall Street Journal).

We became QMII groupies!

The neat part? They were setting sail 5 hours apart from each other. The first at noon (I had class and missed it) and the second at 5pm (done!!). And into Sydney we went! If this was breaking history... we had to be there. It was actually kind of fun! We sat on the hill and watched this massive boat not move an inch for a very long time. Then once it started moving, we followed it for a while... It was headed straight for the Harbour Bridge and lemme tell you - it was NOT fitting under it. But full speed, it went. Silly girls, we were actually getting nervous as this thing was hauling towards Sydney's most famous bridge. But false alarm - they were just posing for a perfect photo opp.

And then the Queen Mary II was off... not sure who was more excited, us or the people on the "city on the water":

Yes, that is thousands of people standing on the back of the boat!!!

The rest of the week came and went. In a nutshell, the weather was still incredible and school wasn't of utmost priority... yet. So we made daily trips to the Corso and to Manly and to any place we could think of as an excuse to be outside. We were here to soak up the culture; not to stare at the walls in the library.
We went to the Wharf:

We took pictures of ourselves:

And we soaked up their way of life:

Afterall, we were going to remember the laughs, the beaches, the historic moments, and the sunsets... not the inside of our textbooks.

Ice Breaker 2.18.11

What better way to break the ice than to have an on-campus party called "Ice Breaker". I say: There isn't.

Friday after the first week of classes had arrived: Worthy of a celebration, indeed. It was time for the entire campus and all nationalities to put on their party pants and get to know each other a little bit. For us girls, it was a great reason to crack open a bottle of wine, get dressed up, and dance. We really didn't need a whole lot of arm twisting. Then you add showing up fashionably late and... bing, bang, boom - you have yourself a recipe for social success.

There was grilling, outside bartenders and a d.j., and of course the Bassment Bar was open for business and packed as can be with yet another d.j. on deck. For being a small school, they know how to throw a party.

My favorite RAs who are cute as a button (guest bartenders).

And of course, the crew:


Liza, Sarah, me, Molly, Audrey, & Megan!

  There was fist pumping and alot of dancing. There wasn't much more that I could have wanted.

Just kidding. I wanted a legit after-party. Check. Yup, had that too. At 10:30 (quiet hours on campus) there were coach buses waiting out front of campus to drive us down the hill (cuz it's nearly impossible to walk in heels) and take us to Hotel Steyne. ICMS had planned a rooftop after-party for us. Yes, you read that right - coach buses took us down the hill to drop us off at a hotel rooftop VIP party exclusively for us.

Just for fun, this is how amused I was upon riding in a bus down the hill:

That's right, folks. I had been in Australia for 3 weeks and was still THIS amused with driving on the different side of the road. Apparently culture acceptance is a gradual thing.

Back to the party... Legit? Yes. There was shenanigans to be had. After dancing our faces off on the rooftop, we got warm and headed outside back to the corso. It was time for pizza. Flute man played us a tune as we enjoyed our extra large slice of Margherita Pizza. When we were sitting in the middle of the Friday-night chaos, this local couple ended up sitting beside us. We took the opportunity to talk to them for a hot minute and... they were adorable. Hard to put into words... but they reminded me of Dus and  I.

It made me remember how much I was missing my best friend and wished he was VIP-ing with us. That was plenty for one night: 6 hours of dancing followed up by a slice of pizza. Pretty much my norm in a nutshell.

Let the semester begin! Week 1 [of classes]

The familiar feeling of settling into a semester had just begun. You're gonna need to go to Student Services to check on uniforms for this class... and you just realized you're gonna need a whole seperate notebook for that class... and you definitely need to buy the book for that class because you're already behind in readings and it's only day 2...and... and... and...!

Seems like the week fills up more with "housekeeping" items than actual studying!

But the glory of it all, being it is the second day of class - you still have the fire burning. Here's what I mean - You still have full intentions on being weeks ahead of deadlines and completing all the readings before your lecturers even assign it. Now, don't get me wrong... this is a feeling that only lasts for the first week. So it is to be enjoyed and taken advantage of.

That being said, Sarah and I (found and) walked to the library to do some reading for our classes. I had the afternoon open and what better way to spend it than in the library (certainly not the beach that lies just outside my window). To conserve funds, I decided that I wasn't going to purchase any textbooks; especially since they were all on reserve at the library. I just figured Don (the librarian) and I were gonna be bff's for the term; ya know, on a first name basis.  Go figure - the week that I'm all fired up about about reading textbooks (which obviously wasn't going to last long) is the same week that the lecturer's have all the books to display to the class, so they aren't available. Super.

Plan B?  A walk to town to enjoy some Ben and Jerrys!



Creepin out Sarah's window.



The rest of the week really slid by, finding the correct classrooms and getting in a pattern. With having no Friday classes, seems like the week was over just as soon as it had started! The biggest challenge was to make it through 6 hours of classs on Monday, then the following 3 days were cake!

This gave me plenty of time to spend outside of my room (i.e. In Sarah's room soaking up the view) and being a tourist around Manly and Sydney.

It was perfect.

Aspiring Barista 2.17.11

We were smoothly settling into the 3rd week of being in Australia. Culture shock was dissipating, but price tag shock was not. It still pained me every time I looked at the price tag of, well... everything. $4 for a can of soda, $8 for an ice cream cone, $10 for a "value meal" at Burger King... So pretty much, whatever you get in the U.S., DOUBLE the price and that is Australia's price. I wanted real food, Australian style clothes, and to pay for a trip to Melbourne. And, I had alot of time on my hands.

Solution: This girl needed a job!!

Quite a few Americans had applied at every place that would accept their resume. No luck. So, I prayed about it - about where to apply and for the guts to do it! So, as I took a walk down the Corso, I saw this sign:

HERE!!!:

If that wasn't an answer to my prayers - I dunno what is!! So, I talked with the barista on duty who was very encouraging, took a day to update my resume, and turned it in to sweet little (manager) Alix who told me she liked me and to come back on Saturday and have a talk with the owners!!  Not sure what my plans were - but I was free!!!

Saturday morning came and I marched back down the hill to the Wharf to see Alix and the owners of Gloria Jeans. One of the owners was able to slip away and have a chat with me. He said my schedule looked great and I'd make a great addition to the team. Then, he double checked just to make sure that I was studying abroad for a year. I kindly corrected him that my Visa was up in May. At that, he smiled and said "well I'll certainly keep you in mind."  Fail. Had the job and lost it because I told the truth. It was shortly after that, that I was informed by my peers the only way to land a job here is to lie and say you're in Australia to stay.

Mmmm... nope. Can't do it. Pretty sure that if you get a job by lying it's real bad karma.

No dice. But I was oddly okay with that. I've worked 2 jobs my entire college career. I was in Australia - there is no better place to have some extra time on your hands.

The only bummer? I wasn't going to get a discount on coffee. Merrrr.

Unstoppable. 2.14.11

If you figure an hour to shower and straighten my hair, plus another 10 for make-up, then 25 minutes for brekky... Alarm should be set for 6:15am. Normally, I would have freaked out seeing that time on my alarm clock. But the beauty of it was - I still hadn't adjusted 100% to the time difference. Don't get me wrong, it still felt early; stinkin early. But not painful, like 6am normally feels.

Shower.
Make-up.
Breakfast w/ the crew.
Class at 8am.

Human Resource Planning and Performance. This was a class that students took in their last semester before graduation. It was gonna be tough. Certainly one of my most demanding classes of the term. Mr. Jean-Etienne Joullie was the lecturer (they're not referred to as 'professor', here). French, serious, and a radical thinker. I could tell right there I wasn't going to make it out of that class the easy way. But I was ready for the challenge.

Class at 10am. Well, since this was my 2nd class of the term, I had already figured out the secrets - classes start at quarter past the hour, not on the hour as we all originally thought. So I stroll in at 10:10am (5 minutes early) to a class that is already begun and the statement "I'll deal with you later". Ohhhh jeez. Great first impressions. Let me introduce: Paul Collins (from 'Straya). Homeboy is ridiculous. 100% jokester. He is teaching my Beverage and Bar Management class. If class #1 put me to sleep... this class was waking me up whether I was ready for it or not!

Class let out right on time leaving me exactly 30 minutes for lunch. This should seem as if it is more than enough time. Until you factor in waiting in line for food almost 15 minutes then having absolutely nowhere to sit. It makes lunch-hour seem more like a game show; with the prize being able to sit and eat.

Class at 12pm - Introduction to Tourism. Kerrie King walked in and she is just cute as a button. Quiet tone with a perfect Australian accent. But... she doesn't mess around. Her passion is Tourism and she expects you to learn more than what seems like humanly possible. Readings... class notes... slides... lectures. I appreciated the warning though.

After making it through 6 hours of class on Day 1, I was whipped. So whipped, it didn't phase me when I was woken up from a mid-afternoon nap with a call from reception saying that something had arrived for me. I walked downstairs to see the receptionist with an anxious grin on her face. I didn't have to tell her my name... she handed me the bag of goodies. I went to walk away... and she stopped me. She said that I couldn't just walk away without her knowing what my sweet guy had sent me and I had to open it right there. I opened it up to find instant coffee (to feed my addiction), chocolates, 2 bags of French Vanilla creamer (because I prefer a little coffee with my cream), and Australian strawberry licorice (D and I's favorite snack in America. Except he always ate all of mine, so now I had a bag to myself!). Oh, and of course an amazing bouquet of red roses.

I realize this pic is a little awkward - but it's the only one showing all of my goodies!

I couldn't pick up the phone fast enough... I was so in shock I didn't really say anything when he picked up. Just fought tears. Thank gosh he can read my thoughts, even from halfway across the world. He knew what to say. Turns out... that wasn't all. He told me to get online and a link took me here:

With a note, saying:

Happy Valentines Day baby....
Being this is our first Valentines together, I wanted to do something really special... Well, being you're 10,000 miles away at the moment - it makes it a tad bit tough. BUT, I don't want you to ever forget how much I love you, even with all the miles between us. So with some the help from Mark and Jamee, I hope you like....

When I watched this, I was in pure disbelief. This man had gone above and BEYOND my wildest expectations. The song that he sang was "our song" for me being away. We've each listened to it a million times and the lyrics were perfect. There wasn't even a chance of me holding back tears... and I cried like a baby. And watched it over and over and over. Molly looked at me from across the room with her best words of encouragement, "Only 13 more weeks!"  Nope, not what I had in mind for inspiration... I kept crying.

Slowly the word had got out and girls started piling in my room to check out this video. I had had plans to head to Manly for the afternoon... so D and I said good-bye and planned to talk later. The rest of the afternoon was somewhat of a blur...

I had been so excited to give Dustin his gift (via Skype) that I had planned out since December and show him his card. But after getting a video, roses, coffee, and candy - I was no longer excited. In fact, I was beat at my own game. I thought I was good at surprises.

To finish Day 1, I had my first Yoga class. Yoga was supposed to be good for clearing the mind... but even concentration and deep breathing couldn't get my mind off of everything that had just happened. I was an emotional wreck.

But by far, the luckiest girl in the entire world.