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 :-)