Sunday, July 8, 2007

Ive been home for a little over a week now and things are just ..... weird. I enjoy being home because I miss all my friends dearly but at the same time, I can't get over Australia. I can't belive that I'm home again because it feels so right, but at the same time, I felt ast if Sydney was my life. For the past 4 1/2 months, Sydney was my life. It wasn't just a vacation. I got accustomed to everything about it and it really sucked that I had to leave. I know a lot of people said that coming home would be coming home to the real world but what does that really mean? 4 1/2 months is a long time and its enough to become adjusted to some place completely different.
Moral of the story....I wish I didnt havent any life goals because at this point, I want the complete opposite of what I've wanted my whole life ... and I just don't know what to do ...

Sunday, June 24, 2007

The final stretch....

It is literally the final stretch now because theres less than a week left in this amazing place. I just finished writing a paper at 8am this morning (yup, still procrastinating and pulling the all nighters) and I have my last final in about 2 hours.. which I am so screwed for. I also may or may not have failed a class I needed for my major. Great....

Well, in less than 7 hours, I will be boarding a plane again and going North up the East Coast. First stop will be Surfer's Paradise, and then probably Nimbin =D, Byron, Sunshine Coast, Moreton Island... who knows. Going to play it by ear and see how the weather is. Hopefully its a lot warmer than Sydney right now and hopefully get to go skydiving again!

I havent updated about my New Zealand trip but FYI, the most beautiful country, ever. WOW. Will do that when I get back from this trip, although I dont know how likely that will be since I will probably need to spend all day packing to leave for the states the day after. FOCK.

Weird... less than 7 days left and it still hasnt hit me. I feel like theres still ways to go while we're in Sydney. It didnt even occur to me that I actually only have 2 more nights in Sydney left after I get back from this trip... FOCKK. I wonder when it will hit me. But when it does, I know it will hit me hard as a big Ayer's rock. I'm a baby when it comes to leaving the fun...

For everyone back home, I'll be back July 1 @ late nightish in Stat.

For the Sydney team.... FOCKKK! and I <3 youuuuu guys. Yea shuttup I know I'm corny but we're allowed to be right now.

;]

Friday, June 8, 2007

time flies!

Wow. I can't believe it's already freaking June. Our last month here! =( It hasnt actually hit me yet because we're still in our same routine of getting wasted every night, poker, sidebar (although, a member of our team has just been banned from sidebar so we must devise a plan to sneak her in), star city (ha!), and watching movies.

This was our last official week of classes. We get one week study break and then 2 weeks of finals. Good thing I only have 1 final on the 25. I do, however, have a paper due next week and one due on the 26th. But, I'M LEAVING FOR NEW ZEALAND TODAY!!. Gosh, I've gotten more and more excited the closer it came. Will be there for 11 days.. it's gonna be caaraazyyyyy. Me and Jess are going by ourselves. We've rented a car for 10 days and will be driving all over the South Island only. We're going to board for at least 4 days! SNOWBOARD! I miss snowboarding sooo much even though I wouldnt have been able to board at home anyways since its summer or spring or whatever it is. Last week was the first day of winter here. But Australia's winter is not that bad. 60's ish. Anyway, our plans in NZ are to snowboard, climb some glaciers, SKYDIVING ( =D ), canyon swinging possibly. Canyon swinging is like bungyjumping into a canyon and then you get to swing all around the canyon after you've jumped... I saw a video from when my sister did it, was pretty sick.

O yea speaking of my sister (Diana), she's finally left Indonesia where she's been for the past week to go to Shanghai for the weekend and then home. She's been traveling Australia, New Zealand and Fiji for as long as I've been in Australia. That lucky duck. She's stopped by Sydney 3-4 times in the duration and she's hung out and partied with my friends and I each time. They <3 her. Maybe more than they <3 me. Nah jk. Hopefully. Ha. Well, I can say its the most we've ever partied together in our whole lives. haha. Good times, fo sho.

Anyway, yea. So, snowboarding, sky diving, glacier climbing and penguin watching =D. HOLLLA.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

i <3 australia

I'm comfortable here. So comfortable, I constantly say that I could stay here forever and never go home. I don't know what it is about this place. If it's Sydney that I love or everything about the country. Or maybe it's just the fact that I'm so carefree. My roommate pointed it out that she's never seen me stress over anything since I've been here. And she's right. There's only 4 1/2 months here on the opposite side of the world... why waste any time not being happy and enjoying myself? I've learned to put things into perspective and decide if something is worth my time to ruin my fun and so far, nothing has. I guess one of the reasons why I'm so content with staying here is for that main reason. Never have I been so carefree and not stress over something for this long of a time. Yea I know its only been 3 months but I guess this past year for me was such a rollercoaster ride. I originally came to Australia just to have a good time, because I love traveling, and because I love doing big things. But the couple months prior to leaving, I had many more reasons and I just wanted to get the fuck away from everything. I am a firm believer that time heals everything so I guess subconciously, I was hoping that everything would be ok when I come back half a year later. And it will. Because again, being here has made me realize so much. It's made me realize how lucky I am to even have such an amazing opportunity like this. It's also made me learn so much about life and mostly, myself. I know you grow as a person constantly and learn new things about yourself throughout your whole life but in the past 2 months, I've grown so much as a person, I can barely remember the person I was when I first came here. It's like freshman year of college, times a gazillion.

There is roughly 6 weeks left and it's so scary. The past 3 months have flown by so fast, I can't even fathom how fast 6 weeks will go. Everytime I think about it, I wanna cry already. The last week here is going to be rediculous. Even though I hang out with a lot of Northeastern kids and people who don't live so far away from New York, it's going to be sad to leave this place. I've met such amazing people here and I am very thankful for that. It kinda makes me glad that I've gotten close to Americans and not Australians, because there's a greater chance that I'd get to see them again when I'm home. We already talk about having reunions and people coming up to Boston to visit us and frankly, I believe that it's actually going to happen. You know how there are people you meet that you know you'll never see them again and you're fine with it? For some reason, I am very confident that we'll keep in touch and meet up again, someday, with everyone I'm friends with here. I think both sides would make a huge effort to do so.

I'm not even sure what I'm talking about anymore or what the moral of the story was. I wanted to save an entry like this until the end, but maybe there won't be an end anymore. Maybe I will just stay here forever. Or until I'm ready to come back. Because right now, I'm so not ready or willing. I feel like there's so much more to do and see and feel. I've already contemplated throwing away all my career goals and just taking life as it comes. But that might be naive as well. O well. I guess I have to come back....I've already signed that damn lease. Boo. Haha.

I'm going to make the next 6 weeks the best time of my life. But that won't be hard because the past 3 months have already been that.

Monday, April 30, 2007

We put out!

I just came back from a weekend that was anything but ordinary. Me and Alex made a drunken decision to go to Melbourne the following day, for the 2nd time. Following what was already a crazy night at the club and had to board a plane at 6am. Jess wanted Thursday night to be rediculous enough to cover for the weekend since she was not coming with us. What was supposed to be a Chris Brown and Beyonce afterparty turned out to be a drunken mess (what's new) with bottles of wine and champagne and massive shots. Needless to say, at least someone had their head in the toilet by the end of the night.
With two hours of sleep, me and Alex catch a flight to Melbourne. As spontaneous as the booking of the flight was, we had nowhere to stay once in Melbourne, had no idea what we were going to do or go. Since the plane ride is only an hour, we arrive in Melbourne at 7am, and we're like, 'what the f do we do now?'. Still very very drunk and tired, we start roaming. We decide we need to call Shawn and Matt because they were in Melbourne too but didnt know we had spontaneously decided to come. As I reach into my bag to grab a hoody because its so dam cold!, I noticed something. I didn't bring any pants. Or underwear. Or my debit card. Way to pack while I'm drunk......
Unsure of what to do, we were at least def sure that we wanted to hit up the casino. What else could we do at 7am? We go in with $10, each, hoping for the best. We managed to not lose all of our money. Until 12pm. Now with $0, and no place to stay and no clothes... We finally decide to tell our friends that we're in the same city as them but they thought we were joking at first. They are already on their way camping so me and Alex decide to meet up with them the next night. Very excited, as me and Alex are definitely the camping kind of girls. Well we spend all day walking around the city, shopping, buying me pants, charging my phone and exploring beautiful Europenesque alleys. We love it.
That night we were determined to get into all the places that we couldnt get into last time, for whatever the reasons were: too late, cover, ugly men, yadda yadda. We went to this one bar, Section 8, which is all outdoors. It was pretty chill until theis bouncer started talking to me and told me that I'd have a grand old time back in his bedroom. ALEX, I'M IN THE WATER! What a creep. I got out of that one, only to have a guy start talking to us who brought his purple teddy bear to the bar. What is going on?! Time to leave... the other bars we went to wasn't cutting it either, so we did what every bored person does at 2 am...went to eat and called it a night.
The next morning we rent a car and head towards Phillip Island to watch the penguin parade. Boy was it weird driving on the wrong side of the road, but it didnt take long to get used it. 2 hours and 140km/h or so later we arrive in Phillip Island and we have extra time so we wander the town and the beaches. When it was time to see the penguins, we were sooo excited. We sit on the beach and wait til the sun goes down so the penguins will come out of the water to run back to their burrows in the sand. The first lil penguin appeared and he was the cutest thing ever. Then about 15 little penguins come out of the water after him and they just stand and wait for their whole 'crew'. The penguins are about 8 inches tall and so freaking adorable! For an hour, we watch as groups and groups of penguins come out of the water. We werent allowed to take pictures because it scares them and makes them regurgitate the food out of their mouthes that they saved up all day. But we still managed to get a video. Har har.
After the penguins, we planned to drive another 2 hours to meet the boys but we havent been able to contact them all day. We decide to still go, however, and drive around the campsite to look for them. Ha. We really have no directions and we just follow some random sketchy signs and hope for the best. Mind you, these 'major highways' are like driving through one lane dirt roads. Well we finally reach the entrance to Wilson's Promontory National Park and we are two relieved little girls. Only to find out that there was a 30km drive ahead of us of nothing but forest and wildlife. We found out about the wildlife when we almost ran over some bunnies and wombats. It was literally the road to nowhere. Until we got somewhere. An hour later. The campsite. Thank god. To make a long story short, for 3 hours we drive around and around every little street and dirtroad and look into every lot yelling MATT and SHAWN. Everyone big group we pass we're like. Matt?? Shawn?? Americans?? Failure. We end up camping with this group of 10 Australians because they felt bad for us after the 3rd time we drove around. Ha. Whatever. It was time to get wasted after much frustraion.
The next day we were supposed to return the car by 12noon. Halfway of speeding like maniancs home, we decide to keep the car for another day, sleep in the car that night, and drive to the airport. And this was when we decided that all the crazy decisions made about this trip, were made drunk with no thinking through at all. We go along with it anyway.
We spend almost all day at this crazy insane mall and then meet up with the boys back in Melbourne City at their hostel. Story exchanging, begin drinking for the night, and drunk by 8pm. We make our way to the casino before we hit the bars, but before we knew it, it was midnight and we're still gambling. Needless to say, we never made it to the bars.
The next morning was when we were heading back to Sydney. And of course, we missed our flight. We would. Only because we were fatasses and sat at the breakfast cafe for way too long. Even after I sped my ass off going almost double the speed limit and probably got a ticket from the stupid radar cameras. Lazy cops.

Moral of the story: Things always turn out alrite no matter how bad it seems.... if you put out.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Lock it up!

Wow, I have totally been slacking on this. I hate writing. I feel like a picture album on facebook can tell you more than me writing. But I guess I'm going to do it anyway, haha.

Last week we went on spring break! We had all started getting really excited for it 2 weeks before and of course, I had started packing 2 weeks before. That was little difficult, however, because the clothes I needed to pack were still the clothes I was wearing because the weather is the same. Which is also weird, that we were going from Sydney's warm weather to another place with warm weather. But itd still be awesome. Anyway. I was real excited for skydiving, and rainforests, and sailing and finding nemo, and skydiving!

We arrive in Cairns (pronounced like CANS), which is in northern Australia, the Cancun of spring breaks. I always love the feeling when you step out of the airport into a new city. So we arrive at our hostel and we're 3 hours early for check-in so we roam around. First off, our hostel was the most amazing hostel ever. Bar, outside bar next to the pool, pool with crazy waterfall thingy and beergarden. Definitely nicer than some hotels I've stayed at. So we walk around the city and down the Esplanade, and then we end up where we always do. The casino. On our last trip to Melbourne, I discovered I had a new found love for casinos. Especially slots since I won $500 on a 2cents machine! I had actually never even been to the casino in the States since I turned 21 and now I love them. No bueno.... Anyway, lost some money, and then went back to check-in our hostel. The first thing we did was lay out next to the pool. With drinks, of course. I thought I found me some Brazilians but they were Italian/Swiss. O yea, I also have a new found love for Brazilians (the men, not the wax), but I'll leave that for another time =].

That night, I had a great time. I had a huge dance party with EVERONE (the people in my head... you'll meet them someday...). Aparently I was having a blast and Jess and Alex were having a blast just watching me. Wish I could tell you how the night really went, but you know me, I don't remember a damn thing when I'm drunk. So the next day, we wake up at 7am for skydiving! We were so scared as we were getting ready but so excited at the same time. Well, I was at least. Alex was effing petrified for her life. We're running late, which seemed to be the reoccuring theme for the trip, and well, always, so when we get downstairs, the bus man guy is already there with his skydive van. He says "Skydiving is canceled" and I'm like "haha you're not funny" but he was serious, due to the weather. So here we are at 7am with nothing to do. We tried to do other things like bungy jumping and whitewater rafting but it was all booked. I was so bummed! We spent the rest of the day exploring the city. And by that I mean shopping and getting our nails done.

This night was also crazy. We met these two hot french guys and the shit show began. We spend all night trying to figure out what they're trying to say and they spend all night imitating what ever we say. We teach them how to play fuck the dealer and we get them wasted. haha. And then we hit the bars. Good times. The next morning we were doing the Cape Tribulation tour. Rainforests and waterfalls and crap. Wow, what a morning. Long story short, the bus driver did not want to wait for 2 of us that were getting food and drove off, while me and Alex were on the bus and the other 2 had to chase the bus down. Needless to say, it was a bad start to the day. It did not help that it was terrential downpouring all day. And my camera broke! GRR.

The second half of the trip, we went sailing for 3 days in the Whitsunday Islands. 7 hours south of Cairns but still at the Great Barrier Reef. Everything was so beautiful and amazing! I chose to do 3 scuba dives and each time was effing awesome. There is just so much coral and fish! I felt extremely lucky just to be able to say that I went scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. I felt lucky just being on the boat. Sometimes, I'd have to stop myself and take a deep breath and be like, 'I'm sitting in a hottub, on a boat, in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef'. Absolutely amazing.

The girls we met on the boat made the trip what it was. They were crazy and we're crazy, so together = lots of fun. It was probably the best sober fun ever. I guess we bonded more because we all slept in the kitchen/common room/dining area/our bedroom. Fun times. Refer to pictures. http://northeastern.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2092715&l=2cc7e&id=1800964

Off the boat, and back to Airlie Beach. Cute lil town, reminds me of Newport. Not so cute at night when you get kicked out of the bar for being 'stumbly' and then banned from all the other ones because they all radio eachother to not let "a drunk asian girl with a cowboy hat" in. Assholes.

So, that was Spring Break 07!
















P.S. I got a new piercing =]

Monday, March 5, 2007

Jellyfish


Words cannot explain how beautiful Crescent Head Beach was. It was where we went to Surf Camp this past weekend and everything was just amazing. Mojo Surf Camp had their own private beach area that was probably the size of Jones Beach. Beautiful blue water, constant crashing waves and glittering sand. It was so absolutely breathtaking. Many times we just sat there, silent, and took in the beauty of everything. I almost didn't want to take any pictures of it because there is no way a snapshot could have portrayed what it really was. But I did, haha.

Amazing. The instructors were the epitome of the Australian surfer dude. Kimbo, who was in charge of the camp, was the most perverted guy ever. If your bikini was not double knotted, you'd give everyone a free show cuz he would pull the string as he walked by. I learned that the hard way. Tough noogies.

Surfing was everything I thought it would be, and more. I was able to stand up in my first few tries. So we surfed for two days straight and it is damn tiring! But so worth it.

At night, we sat around a campfire thingy and drank booze. How typical. When that got boring, we drank on the beach and again, just stared at how beautiful everything was.

Overall, it was one of the most amazing weekends I've had in a long time. It was definitely something I've never experienced before and probably won't very much. Living in a beach shack and surfing all weekend on a beach that was our own. Loves it.

Coming back to Sydney was a dread. We knew we had classes starting the next day. You know that feeling. Monday I had one class and my gosh! It was in an auditorium of 500 and as I was waiting outside, I thought I was at the wrong place because fobs were PLENTIFUL! I was thinking that maybe it was a calculus class? Oh no, because 90% of the class was fobs. Awesome.
Today I have Sport and Learning in Australian culture. One of my two bullshit classes where I'll be going on field trips to rugby games and museums and stuff. Can't wait!

Call me! 04 0669 4436 If you can figure out how to call int'l because I havent yet.
Please keep in mind the 16 hour difference. Thanks.


Our hot guide, Ian














Me carrying the effing heavy board.














That jellyfish is bigger than my head!




<3 Northeastern.










The End.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

SPF 2

I have never been so relieved to finally arrive at my room in Sydney, two days later and 5 extra suitcases more than anticipated. FIVE! None of which were mine. When I stepped out of the airport, it was sunny and HOT! 50 degrees warmer than it was in New York. It was awesome! I immediately forgot about the TWO DAY delay that I couldnt stop bitching and crying about previously. Anyway, I had agreed to take a taxi with someone I met on the plane because we were staying at the same place. Boy did I not know WTF I had signed up for. I had my trolley (cart) of 2 suitcases, which is the normal limit by the way, and she had her three. Yup, three trolleys of 5 monsterous suitcases. Anyway, three hours and many "stupid American" stares later, we made our way to the UniLodge.

I meet the 4 other Northeasterners and amazingly, we all get along real well, maybe a little too well. Haha. The first couple days, we meet so many kids from BU, ironic how we're all the way on the other side of the world and we're still meeting Boston kids. We also met a group of kids from Indiana U. who frequently join us in our late night debaucherys.

The nightlife here in Sydney is definitely up to par with what a major city should be, I suppose. I have only been to bars so far, but I hear the clubs play mostly techno. Will have to venture into that soon. The music, is usually a live band playing 90's music where you're forced to dance like a fool, well because we're usually drunken fools, it's great. Incredible hulk? Huh? Yea, I asked for one and they gave me a blank stare. Big beer culture, not so much liquor. Being as how a 750ml of Soco costs about $35.00. How disappointing! So yea, I've been forced into killing myself with beer and more beer. No worries, my sister will be getting me a bottle of tequila from the duty-free shop when she visits in a couple days. And cigarettes, $12 a pack! Ouch.

This weekend was very eventful one. It started off with Friday night on a Harbour Cruise, AKA Booze Cruise. Unlimited wine and beer. Oh no. The Wolfie came out in all of us. 400 drunk kids on a boat, with two toilets, and a pole. A pole that got a lot of action. The cruise reminded me of the Staten Island Ferry. Standing outside with the breeze, passing amazing city sights, and a beer in my hand. We saw the Harbour Bridge, the Sydney Opera House, and all the city buildings from night view. Beautiful. The next morning at 8AM, we board a bus to go on a Wine & Dolphin weekend. We went to Hunter Valley and visited 3 winerys and their wine-tasting events. I don't think we learned too much about wine but we did discover that frizzante is great! 10 out of 10 for taste! Chas (our awesome bus driver) didn't get to sneak us into another winery but we were all pretty buzzed. That night, we stayed at a hostel in Newcastle. My first hostel experience. Nothing like that crazy Hostel movie. It was very wholesome. The room, not us, cuz we were drunk and swinging on bunkbeds. The next day, we went on a dolphin watching boat where we stalked dolphins around the sea. Good times. We attempted to go sand-duning but the sand was too wet and it wouldnt slide. It looked awesome though. I really wanted to pretend I was snowboarding down the huge sand dunes. They said you can carve and everything. Boo. Next time. We went to a beach to compensate for not sand-sliding and then that concluded the trip. O yea, and people were having sex on the bus back.

Other than the weekend events, I've just been going to the beautiful beaches (so far Bondi Beach and Coogee Beach). Abundance of surfing at the beaches, which hopefully I will be able to surf after this weekend's Surf Camp trip. Getting trashed everynight, as usual, meeting tons of new people, and seeing beautiful sites. No, I have not seen any kangaroos or koalas yet. But I am in the city and those are only in the outback, so that's probably why.

You can check out pictures on my facebook. If you don't have facebook, you're beat.
Til next time.

p.s. School still hasn't started yet.
p.p.s. SPF 2 is def not safe for Australian sun. Eeks.