Mid-Semester Break

I just got back from an 18-day "spring break," and it was AMAZING. I started out in Auckland in the North Island of New Zealand and traveled around to the Bay of Islands, Waitamo, Roturua, Taupo and Wellington. I did this journey through Contiki Tours, which is a tour company for people 18-35. This basically means that you have a good time and party a lot. I believe I drank every night for the week-long tour. While I was in New Zealand, I wanted to be adventurous and do something I had never done before. I have always wanted to go skydiving, and according to people who had done it before me, New Zealand was the best place to do it. The same day I went skydiving, I also went zorbing and white water rafting. For those who don't know what zorbing is, you get in a giant inflatable ball with water in it and roll down a hill. You basically look like a giant hamster, but it's really fun. I also went sailing in the Bay of Islands which was really pretty. After a great week in NZ, I headed to Cairns to meet up with Christine and Hannah. They had gotten there 3 days before me to snorkel the great barrier reef. I had already done this with my family 11 years ago, so I just went to meet them for our next adventure. We stayed in Port Douglas, which is about an hour from Cairns. It is a small town with only 2 bars, so everyone knew us by the time we left. After Port Douglas, we met up with two other girls, Tasha and Sarah and went to the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast is like the mexico or florida of America for spring break. The weather is always nice and you are surrounded by beaches. This was probably our favorite destination because we did so much. We went to an amusement park and a water park in two days. Our third day we went to Byron Bay which is a small hippie town 2 hours from Gold Coast. I loved it there and want to go back some day. After 5 days in the coast we went to Brisbane for 3 days. This was a mistake because Brisbane is LAME. We only really needed one day/night there and we had to stay 3 nights in an awful hostel. We had been staying in nice apartments in Cairns and the Gold Coast, so ending in a hostel was not nice at all. I learned that I don't think I could backpack, so next time I want to travel I have to be rich. Overall though, we had a great spring break and now it's back to reality of interning and school!

Updates on my internship and my life!

Working at Niche has gotten a lot better, as I have gotten to do more things. The first week all I did was watch fashion shows, which got kind of boring. Now I have been able to go around collecting clothes, help choose outfits and return stock at the end of the day. Today I get to watch dance auditions and choose the best youth dancers for a dance competition. Basically, I have gotten more responsibility, which is great.

This past week I went a little crazy because I didn't have to do anything for school. I drank pretty heavily from Wednesday to Saturday and pretty much felt like I was back in Como. I did some embarrassing stuff, which I won't name, but to give you a clue, my make out count has tremendously skyrocketed since I've been in Australia. It's beginning to be a problem...

Anyways, my spring break is coming up on Friday and i'm SO EXCITED! I am going to New Zealand for a week and then coming back to Australia to travel to Cairns (great barrier reef), the Gold Coast (kind of like miami) and Brisbane (big city with good shopping, compared to THE CHI). I will be doing all this traveling for 3 weeks so I won't be able to update again until then!

My Internship with Niche Marketing Group

First, I would like to apologize for not posting anything for like 2 weeks. I have been really busy with "school" and my internship, which I will now tell you about. I am an Events Assistant for Niche Marketing Group. In case you are wondering how this relates to my major, PR and Advertising, I will tell you. I am interested in PR, but more specifically the events part of it. I'd rather be on site at events than sitting in an office writing press releases basically. So, that is why I chose this internship, because I get to go around Sydney to different locations to help with events. So far I have worked four days and I am working every day this week. It has been fun, but I surprisingly want more responsibilities. I don't do much of anything when I work besides help set up fashion shows, put clothes on hangers and dress models. Sure it's easy work, but I don't feel trusted with anything important. I want to get the most out of this experience, so hopefully the more I work the more I'll get to do. I also wish I was getting paid, because Australians make over $20 an hour. Rediculous I know. Must be nice...

Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang

Seeing Chelsea Handler live was always a dream of mine, but being able to see her in Australia made it twice as awesome and probably twice as funny. I felt like I got a lot of her jokes faster, being an American, than the Aussies did, because I was laughing out loud the entire time. Let's just say there was a lot of racism involved, which always cracks me up. As I have already noted, there are LOTS of asians in Australia. I was actually told that this country might be over 50% asian. That can't be true, but they are everywhere. In America we are used to seeing a lot more blacks than slits, and here there are NO black people. Chelsea was upset by this..."Where are all the black people? I'm used to having a lot of black people in the audience and I like that because they think EVERYTHING's funny. Now i'm worried because there aren't any here...The best is at book signings when they tell me to write their name and they tell me its "Damiracle." Black people just think they can make up names like one time some girl had a 4 in her name. You can't just put a fucking number in the middle of your name. Imagine having sex with someone that had a number for a name. You'd be like "Give it to me 50."" I DIED when she said this reference to hooking up with 50 cent. The Australians laughed too but they just thought she was just making a joke, I don't think they understood the joke behind the joke. She went on to tell a story about Chuy doing a porno back in the day and when her ex boyfriend found out about it he was pretty pissed. Her response to this anger was, "HE"S A MEXICAN MIDGET, WHAT ELSE IS HE SUPPOSED TO DO?" I fucking love chuy and later he came out on a motorized chair and slapped Chelsea's ass. A lot of the jokes she made were from her last book, because the show was part of the book tour. For example she talked about "The feeling," meaning her learning to masterbate at a very young age and loving it. She acted it out on stage for a good 10 minutes. My favorite parts of the show was when she talked about hating when people have kids who shouldn't and of course when she made fun of the asians. During the show, I found out that she absolutely hates Angelina Jolie, and that she has had 3 abortions. She told the audience that she takes the morning after pill every morning, even when she hasn't had sex...While being racist, she tried to say she wasn't, bc she didn't say "you smell like an egg roll," or "you have straight pubic hair." This was all highly offensive i'm sure to the Asians in the crowd, but I LOVED it. She is my idol for sure and I am going to see her again, whether it's in Chicago, Missouri or LA.

Mardi Gras Sydney Style

In America, Mardi Gras is all about beads, boobs and blacking out. In Australia, it's about Gay pride. I was happy with this difference in cultures because although I love celebrating Mardi Gras at home, no one knows how to have more fun than the gay community of Sydney. Another big difference was that the parade was at night rather than in the morning like it is at home. We arrived about half an hour before it started to try and get a good place to see all of the participants. I was surrounded by a lot of Asians of course and it smelled like bad chinese. I squeezed as far as possible to the front but this tall broad in front of me kept hitting me in the face with her pointy pony tail. I wanted to throw some bows in her face but I didn't want to cause a scene...or did I? Anyways, we probably only watched half of the parade because it got pretty repetitive. There was a lot of rainbow and a lot of skin showing. It was pretty entertaining, especially the large man on the motorized scooter. When we were done with the parade we went to a few different bars/clubs. I ended up staying out later than most, which wasn't a good idea. The girls I stayed out with wanted to rage until like 5 AM because that is when the trains start going again. I was smart and decided to explore the bus schedule for once. I got home around 3:30 which is a good three hours before I would have gotten home if I were to wait for the train. I was happy with my decision to say the least.

Mamma's Gone, Party's On

Sorry I have not written in about a week now, but I have been really busy going to the beach and drinking. My mom left on Monday, and now I have a lot of free time to do things that affect my health in a negative way. On Thursday I went to Bondi Beach, which is one of the prettiest beaches in Sydney. It is also one of the most crowded for this reason. It was my first time at the beach since I have been here, because every other time my friends went, I was out of town with my mom or at surf camp. On Thursday night, Christine, Hannah and I went out at Kings Cross to meet up with Christine's friend from high school. He had an internship here for 2 months and it was his last night to go out. Kings Cross is known as a seedy area of Sydney. It is the red light district of Australia and there are lots of bars and clubs to go to as well. We went to a place called World Bar, where the most popular thing to drink is concoctions out of teapots. There is a board with around 20 different things you can put in your teapot, and then the bartender gives you shot glasses to drink out of. There is a rule that you can't drink from the spout of the teapot or you will be asked to leave. Christine broke this rule very quickly, but luckily she was only given a warning haha. We drank about 5 teapots while we were there plus other drinks. It was a good night. We left the bar around 3 AM and decided we needed some drunk food. We got these big slices of pizza and devoured them within minutes. We were somehow still hungry and found ourselves heading to Mcdonalds. This is where shit got nasty. We sat down at a table with leftover food on it and Christine and Hannah started eating the leftovers...Christine finished SOMEONE ELSE's burger. Basically she was a homeless person digging through a dumpster. I wanted to vom on her. Hannah ate some leftover fries, which is still kind of gross but not as bad as eating a leftover burger. I, on the other hand, spent $10 on a 10 piece chicken nugget with fries. Yes, even McDs is more expensive here. The night should have ended here, but it didn't. The trains don't start running again till around 5 AM and we didn't want to wait. We made the mistake of getting in a car with a strange and drunk old man that said he would take us home. He stopped at a gas station and started filling up his tires with air. This gave us the impression that he was gonna drive us half way across Australia so we booked it. He also tried to give us a joint, but we were pretty sure it was laced. D.A.R.E. taught us well. Finally, we got in a cab and told the driver we couldn't spend more than $50 on our ride home. He agreed to get us there and we made it back home safe and sound around 5 in the morning. It was quite the night. Surprisingly I wasn't that hungover Friday morning, but I did get sick later in the day. I think it was food poisoning, because I yacked 3 times. I have never felt so neaseous. Today is a new day and it's MARDI GRAS! I will tell you how that goes tomorrow...

Melbourne

This weekend I went to Melbourne with my mom and Christine. It was an hour south of Sydney by plane. We were there for 3 days but only 2 nights and we did SO much in that short period. When we got there and settled into our hotel we took a shuttle to St. Kilda, which is a nice bohemian area by the beach. I loved it there because it was a different feel than the other places I have been going. There was a sort of atmosphere and a younger crowd. We walked around for a while taking pictures of the beach and looking at the Botanical garden. Our second day in Melbourne we visited the Gaol jail. This jail had real prisoners and was running up until 1994. We went on a tour of the jail and got to see and read about the people that were there and where they had to stay. Then we got to be pretend "arrested" and given fake names and fake charges. We were treated just like the prisoners would have been treated but I assume way less harsh haha. It was a really cool experience. After that we ate at a cafe in Federation square and then walked around Melbourne until about 4 30. At that time we got picked up and drove almost 2 hours to see the Penguin Parade. The Penguin Parade is a famous attraction in Melbourne and in my opinion is a MUST if you visit. Once we got to the park we looked around at the gift shops where I bought a stuffed penguin whom I named Waddles. He is adorable! Then a big group of people gathered at the beach and waited for about an hour for it to get dark. This was around 830 pm. When the sky turns black, the smallest penguins in the world, called "little penguins" come out of the ocean and go to their burrows for the night to feed their babies. It was one of the coolest things I have seen. They come out in big groups and I got to watch the walk for a long time and at a very close view. We weren't allowed to take pictures because the cameras scare the penguins :-( I wish everyone else could see how darn cute these little guys were...Some are way fatter than the rest and those ones are the cutest! The penguin parade was my favorite part of the trip to Melbourne. On our last day we took a free tram around the city and went to the Victoria Street Market where there was a bunch of fruit stands and other trinkets. I felt like I needed more time in Melbourne to get the whole feel, but overall it was a great city and I would like to go back one day.

School has begun...

School started this week. I currently have 3 classes on my schedule but I am dropping one of them once I secure an internship. I attended my first class, Changing Bodies, Changing Selves, yesterday. In this class I will learn about why people get tattoos, plastic surgery, etc. My teacher for this class is a lesbian. She seems very down to earth and edgy (she had a very strange haircut, wore cross earrings and had a tattoo all down one arm). Too bad this is the class I will be dropping in about 2 weeks. It could have been an interesting semester. I went to my second class today, which is a 300 level Politics course. I believe it's called Global Political Economy. The name makes it sound difficult but the work load consists of 2 papers and 4 journal entries. My third class which is a journalism elective called PR Theory sounds like a bit more work. I had it on Monday, but I couldn't go because that is when my interview was for the internship program. I know that there are no exams in that class either though. I am so lucky to not have any final exams this semester :-)

Surf Camp

This weekend I went to Surf Camp Australia and it was SICK. I have to say that after two days of learning how to surf, it might be one of the most challenging sports out there. It was so hard for me to make progress fast like a lot of the other beginners, especially the boys. When everyone was getting up on the board during our first lesson I still couldn't. We had 3 two hour lessons and I stood up on the second lesson. That was impressive for myself considering how much I was struggling. Surfing is all about timing and balance. You need to paddle at the right time and stand up quickly or else you will miss the wave. I found I did the best when I got a push from one of the instructors because it gave me more speed. Paddling makes your arms VERY sore. I currently can't lift mine. All of the boys were much better at surfing than the girls and I think it's because they are stronger and faster. They all got up so quickly and made it look easy, but I promise you it's so hard. It is also very dangerous. I got hit a few times by other people's boards and I also hit a girl in the back of the head with mine...It hurts. Overall, surfing is an awesome sport and I had a lot of fun at the camp. If I were to do it again, I would probably get a private lesson because one on one help would be way more beneficial and help me get better faster. I'd have to say that the best thing about surfing is the hot surfers. All of my instructors were DIMES with GREAT bodies :-)

Aussie Lingo

While I have been here I have learned that some words mean other things than what they do in America. Here are a list of some Aussie terms you need to know:

How you going?- This means what's up or how are you; not how are you going to get there
Thongs- flip flops
Heaps- lots or tons
Bearings- directions
Mang- to eat quickly
Run a muck- cause trouble

There are more that I probably just can't think of right now but I will update you later with heaps of words ha.

This week we had orientation and registration for our classes. It did not go too well. We each got handed a schedule and were told that those are our classes. All the Mizzou people have to add or drop classes because none of us got the classes we actually NEED to take while we are here. There system is fucked here and we don't even sit down with a counselor. Its a free for all if you ask me. Today I am going to lay out for the first time and I hope I don't burn. The sun is so strong here. One day I didn't put sunscreen on my face to just walk around and my nose and shoulders got burnt. That is what not having an ozone layer does to you.

Zoo, Bridge Climb and Goone

There are not many places where you can "cuddle" koalas in Sydney, but Rea found a place where we could of course. At the Koala Park I learned that Koalas are not bears, so it is wrong to call them "koala bears." I also found out that they are nocturnal and basically sleep all day long. They were so cute and I wanted to steal one. The kangaroos are kind of scary but it was fun to feed them. I still don't understand how their big babies fit in those little pouches.

This week is Orientation week at my dorm. This basically means that there are fun activities for all the new kids all week long, which mostly involve getting drunk. Last night we played "ice-breaker" games that were just rediculous. They included suck and blow and who can make the longest chain by taking off their clothes. Australians are quite sexual it seems. We had to do a scavenger hunt and bring back certain items as a group. Some of the things on the list were a thong, which they call g-strings here (ew), a condom and a sex toy. Only one person out of all of us had a sex toy and it was a boy. Kind of scary because it was a vibrator. When we were done with our games, we were invited to take part in a Goone race. Goone is the equivalent to our Franzia only it tastes AWFUL. There were about 10 orientation leaders each holding a bag of this nasty wine for us to drink in a line. I will have to get used to drinking that crap because it is the cheapest thing there is here ($10 per box). By the end of this race, I was drenched in Goone because half of the time I got spilled on when drinking from it. They also don't slap the bag here...the mizzou crew tried to introduce the concept but they weren't having it.

Today I climbed the Sydney Harbour bridge. It took about 3.5 hours for the preparation and climb and it was an awesome experience. We weren't allowed to take our camera with us so I only have 3 pictures from it that we bought. I would recommend this climb to anyone visiting Sydney because it's the best view you could ever have!

Good Vibrations

So yesterday I went to a music festival called Good Vibrations. The ticket was very overpriced, but Christine persuaded me to buy it because she said I was going to have the time of my life. She was very wrong. The concert would have been great if it didn't rain ALL DAY. Apparently, rain isn't common in Sydney, and if it does rain it is on and off sprinkles. We woke up to a cloudy day but we hoped for the sun to come out at some point. Our new friend, Jordan, who we met through Sophia, told us about the concert beforehand and was nice enough to come pick us up at our dorm yesterday morning. He took us to his house which is in the North Beaches area. It reminded me of Southern California with all the beaches and surfers. On the way we stopped at a DRIVE-THRU liquor store! I didn't know those existed, but they do in Australia! It was sick. Once we got to his place we met his friends and partied for a bit before taking a $90 cab ride to the concert. Money is lost quickly here and I don't like it. The concert started at noon and went till 10, but we got there around 2 and left at 8. It started raining about an hour after we got there and it never stopped. It was fine at first because I had an umbrella, but it became very uncomfortable after awhile. A lot of the good bands didn't have tents over them so we didn't get to see them because we didn't want to stand in the rain. The only good thing that came out of the experience is that on our way into the concert, we got "Free Snooki" t-shirts and our picture taken for the MTV Australia website! Look for me on there! I wish it hadn't rained all day, because Good Vibrations would have been awesome if it was a sunny hot day like it usually is in Australia. Now for the worse part of the day. We had the hardest time getting home. We had to go back to Jordan's place to get some of our stuff and then we tried to take a bus to the train station. EPIC FAIL. The bus passed by us TWICE without stopping. Apparently you have to hail it down like a taxi for it to stop around here. Once that happened, we tried to catch a cab and got denied. The driver told us we were going too far. Finally another cab drove by and agreed to take us to the nearest train station, which was $35 away :-( When we got there we bought tickets with the only money we had left and jumped on the first train we saw. It was the wrong train. We had to get off, detour back to the stop we got on at and wait another 20 minutes for the right train. At this point I wanted to die. Christine was laughing about how funny our situation was, but I didn't find it so funny. I was tired and thirsty and I just wanted to be in my bed. We got home around 11 pm and I was so thankful. I am glad that adventure is over!

Arriving in Sydney

I am finally in Sydney! I have been here for less than 48 hours and I already love this city! The 14.5 hour flight from San Francisco was not as bad as I expected it to be. I slept for over half of it with a little bit of help from my friend "Ambien." Once I arrived, my mom, Christine and I were greeted and driven to our residence hall. I was shocked when first seeing my dorm room, and not in a good way. The building is so old and my room feels like a sauna. Luckily, every room has a fan, which I keep on at all times. After getting over the initial shock of the small, hot room I will be living in for the next 4 months, I realized I am going to love it here. Everyone is so friendly. Everyone I met at the dorm my first day here was so friendly and helpful. After settling in, my mom, Christine and I ventured out to explore. We walked to the University campus, which is very pretty with lots of trees. Then we found out that there is a huge mall 5 minutes from our house which has every store you can imagine, even a Target! After walking around for a few hours and getting some stuff for my room I came home and went to bed. It was probably around 9:30 pm here, which is 4:30 am at home. It was a long, tiring day. Today was my second day in Australia. I got an australian go phone this morning so I can communicate here locally. Then, my mom, Christine and I went downtown Sydney to explore the city for the first time. We walked the harbor and took pictures by the Sydney Bridge and Opera House. It was gorgeous! I am really looking forward to starting school and getting acclimated. Tomorrow I am going to the beach :-)