The Last Supper

As you may know, I fly out of the Sydney airport at 10 a.m. tomorrow, Sydney time. I will arrive at LAX around 6ish in the morning west coast time, and at PDX at 2:55 in the afternoon! I have had that nervous butterflies in the stomach feeling allll day. I'm sad to leave, but excited to be home and start my official summer break. It's definitely bittersweet.

Basically, the last few days have been spent doing things for the last time. On Wednesday we went into the city one last time. I will NOT miss the train. We took pictures of the city, went to the Opera House, and did some last minute souvenir shopping. T'was grand.

Goodbye, city!

Packing and clearing out my room has been a process...a yet to be completed process...and as I'm writing this I have 12.5 hours until the shuttle picks me up for the airport. I'm really not looking forward to that 13-hour flight...or Customs in LA...or the 7 hours I get to spend in LAX.

Today I had to say goodbye to my friend Sara, who I met on my very first day here. She was in the same study abroad program as me, and we stayed in the same room at the hostel for orientation. I was not too happy about that. This evening, Abby and I went on a dinner date...and it basically actually turned out to be a date. First of all, we ordered the same thing--for dinner and dessert. She poured my water for me and ordered dinner for me. And I ordered dessert for both of us. So yeah, date.

We plan on staying up alllll night so we can sleep on our flights tomorrow and try to beat the horrendous jet lag that I expect to have. Except it is 6:38 p.m. and I feel like I could fall asleep standing up at this point. I don't know what's happening.

It's been an emotional roller coaster the past few days. It's hard to see this, the greatest experience of my life to date, come to an end. I can't believe I almost didn't study abroad. I am so thankful that I was able to and that I took advantage of it. But now it is time to come home to my family and friends, and I can't wait to see alllll of you!

Melbourne!

After staying up all night the night before our departure to Melbourne, we left the Village at about 4:30 a.m., caught a train at 5ish, and our plane left at 7. We arrived at this little tiny airport in the middle of nowhere (there are two airports in Melbourne, one near the city, and Avalon...way far away). We took a bus to the city and that took about an hour. Check-in time at our hotel wasn't until 2 p.m., but luckily when we went there at 10:30 they happened to have one room ready for us.

After dropping off our bags, we went out to explore the city. We went to the art museum, walked along the river and took our first pictures. Because Abby and I stayed up all night, we were ready to go back to the room by like 2. Sara decided to walk around the city more. Abby and I watched some episodes of Boy Meets World on my computer but eventually couldn't keep our eyes open. Soo, we took a nap for about an hour until Sara got back at 4ish. We ended up going to sleep at 8 that night...and woke up at 8 the next day.

And that brings us to our bike tour. We had booked a 4-hour bike tour of Melbourne from 10-2 on Friday. We got there early and sat around, and then all of a sudden this tall, Australian man comes over to us. We thought he was on the tour with us, but it turns out he was our tour guide, and we were the only three on the tour. The beautiful tour guide was named Ross, and we were smitten with him. You know how they say, "It's like riding a bike, you never forget"? Well you don't forget, but if you're me, you really suck at it after being out of practice for a few years. It also hurts the next day.

Me being out of my element.

So back to the important thing:  Ross. We were really curious how old he was...we guessed around 26 or 27. At the lunch part of the tour at Queen Victoria Market, Ross was buying us food, and I was literally saying, "He's soooo beautiful" and then Abby and Sara informed me that he was right behind me. So, he may or may not have heard me. Oh wellz. While we were all eating lunch, he asked how old we were, so we pounced and Abby asked how old he was. "I'm 30." And then 20 seconds of painful awkward silence. Wow. If you know who Ryan Kwanten is, (he's an Australian actor on True Blood and some other things) Ross reminds me of him. After our terribly awkward lingering goodbye from Ross, we walked back to our hotel and got ready.

Friday night was our scheduled go-out-and-get-drunk-in-a-bar night. We ended up leaving for dinner at like 5...we're old ladies, it's fine. We were going to go to a place with tapas, but we got there and they all had weird things in them. Like anchovies and sheep's milk cheese. So we just found a place and got sandwiches, and I started off my drinking with white wine at dinner. After dinner we had to find a bar. There were a bunch of the trendy, young bars that were super packed with the $15 drinks and such...not my scene. We found an Irish pub full of 60-year-old men...apparently more our scene. We found a table and ordered drinks. We got there at about 7. At 9, a band started playing. After their first song, no one was clapping and they said something about it, so of course we couldn't resist. After that, we clapped louder than anyone after every song. At one point they said they were going to give us free drink coupons because we were such a wonderful table. I didn't think they were actually going to, but...

FREE DRINKS YAAAAAAY

They also asked if anyone had any requests, but they specifically asked us first. We told them we had to think about it, and we almost requested Don't Stop Believin', but then I realized there was only one song we could request...DOWN UNDER. I heard it on my first night out in Australia and I figured we should end on the same note. I'm really eloquent though, so here's how I worded our request:  "Down Under...is that what it's called?" I didn't want to be wrong... Anyway, they performed it and it was glorious. And before we left, we got a picture with them.

BFF

Saturday we had free. We went to the home of the Australian Open and walked around, and then we went to the Queen Victoria Market (it reminded me of Pike Place, for all you Seattle-ites) and met a girl named Michelle from our program who was going to uni in Melbourne. After lunch, we shopped for a looong time. I finally found some new sunglasses since I cracked mine a while back. We got dinner near our hotel and then went back for the night.

Sunday was the GREAT OCEAN ROAD day tour! We were hoping we'd have another hot tour guide, so when we were picked up from the hotel and met Brad, we all decided 'we could work with that.' He was no Ross, though. We later found out he smoked and then it was over. He was 29. Enough about that. Our first stop on the Great Ocean Road was Bells Beach. We stopped again in a little town for coffee and biscuits (aka cookies). We went to the Great Ocean Road arch and then THE BEST PART.

OMG BIRDS!

Yeah, basically I'm a crazy bird lady (penguins are my favorite animal, and pelicans are up there too) and this made me so happy. We also saw a wild koala, but that's old news, since Sara and I saw a wild koala that actually wasn't up in a tree sleeping, and it was in an area where it's really rare to see them. Next we went on a rainforest walk, and after that to the Twelve Apostles, which looks like this:

Annnnd then we went to the Gorge (that I don't remember the name of). I do know it was named after a ship that wrecked there. One deckhand survived and he heard a woman screaming so he went back out into the sea and saved her and they went back to the Gorge. Then he had to climb up and get help. That's the short version.

On Monday, our last full day, we went to Old Melbourne Gaol, which is a prison from way back when. It's where Ned Kelly, who is infamous in Australia, was hanged. It was really interesting, and kind of creepy. Then we went on to the Melbourne Museum, which, as we learned from Beautiful Ross, had a really popular attraction...a stuffed racehorse. Phar Lap (which means lightning) was an Australian racehorse. After winning like...7854302 races, he was sent to the States to compete in a race, which he won after being behind most of the race. He mysteriously died shortly after, and it is thought that the American mafia had something to do with it. So some famous New York taxidermists stuffed Phar Lap as a gift to Australia. Their names were the Jonas Brothers. No joke. When Ross told us we thought he was joking...I definitely laughed. There was other stuff in the museum too, obviously...but that was the most interesting story I had.

On our last (short) day, we got breakfast and took the free tram that circles the city to do some last sightseeing. I was happy to get back 'home' to my own bed and all that. I have my only final during finals period tomorrow... Geology. 45% of my grade. I hate everything. BUT 10 days until AMMURICA.

My ears are ringing.

So I've had a pretty busy week this week, all y'all.

Monday I went to a rugby game with my program. It was the Sydney Roosters vs. the Newcastle Bulldogs. I was pretty happy I got to root for (in Australian slang, 'root for' means something inappropriate, but I can't change habit) the wuss mascot. Anyway, in the end they were losing by quite a large margin, which is fine. We left early to beat the crowds and such. I also thought Monday was going to be my last day working at Sumo Salad, but I ended up taking a shift on Friday.

On Tuesday, Abby and I got our hurr did. While we were waiting around for our appointments, Abby asked if we could go look at hair dye for her, and I obviously didn't want to be left out...soo we ended up dyeing our hair later that day. Between haircuts and hair dyeing, we went in to the city for Pancakes on the Rocks (even though we had just been there about a week ago) and then to Vivid Sydney. Vivid Sydney is this festival thing going on where they project 3D images onto the Opera House and the Museum of Contemporary Art. It was cool to see. I would post pictures, but the photo uploader on this blog post is being a bitch, so it won't work. Awesome.

Wednesday was the farewell dinner for our program. We went to a place called La Cita in Darling Harbour. Katie and I shared a pitcher of sangria and I got nice and tipsy while I waited for my food to come out. I GOT FAJITAS. So good. I didn't think I would have those until I was back in the States. There was also a slideshow with pictures from the semester. I sent in the most embarrassing pictures I had of my friends and I.

Thursday I had a presentation, which was 25% of my grade for Aboriginal Studies. I was so annoyed that I had that happening the same week that all of this other stuff was going on, but it gets better (worse). I also had a paper due for Aboriginal Studies on Friday. It was 40% of my grade. 65% of my grade for one class down in two days. Anyway, I'm done with that class now, for good.

Friday was the day I've been waiting for for a month and a half (or 10 years, if we're gonna be real about it). S CLUB IN CONCERT! It was fantastic. It was actually more like S Club 3 (Jo, Bradley, and Paul) than S Club 7, but it was still amazing. The opening act was Big Brovaz, which is some 90s rap-ish group from the UK? Everyone else at the concert seemed to know who they were, but Abby and I had no idea what was going on. OH AND WE ALMOST GOT A PICTURE WITH BRADLEY! We were sooo close to him, and he took a picture with these girls right next to us so we tried to be next...buuut he left. So upsetting. Oh and about the title...my ears are definitely still ringing. We were standing awfully close to where the speakers were...the consequences are not pleasant.

I probably won't blog again for a few weeks because my life is going to switch back to uneventful again, until my trip to Melbourne (June 14th-19th). Cheers!

Bridge Climb

As you may know, I did the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb on Monday. And it was amazing. We did the night climb, so we got to see the sunset from the bridge, and later see the city all lit up. I actually have a fear of heights, but it wasn't scary at all. The only semi-scary part was climbing down the ladders on our way back. I've always hated climbing down ladders. BUT ANYWAY. It was glorious. Probably one of my favorite things that I've done while I've been here.

WE DID IT! (Even though this picture isn't from the top...)

There was even a proposal on our climb! It was adorable. I somehow missed the whole thing, and there was one person behind me, and then the couple. I think everyone was oblivious, until our climb leader said he had good news, and then said, "____ just asked ____ to marry him and she said yes!" (Yeah, I forgot their names.) It really made me wish the hot guy behind me would decide to propose to me...no such luck.

I kind of thought I'd have more to write about this...anyway...here are the bridge stats:

Yeah...that's the back of the sweatshirt I bought. For those of you who don't understand meters, the bridge is 400+ FEET tall. And the length...well you can convert that yourself.

Sooooo.

Yeah, yeah it's been forever since I blogged last. But that's only because I have done nothing. Buuut on Friday afternoon I went to Wollongong, where there is another university. I went with Abby so she could see her friend Jess from her school at home and we stayed with her. Alexis came up Saturday morning and I went back with her Saturday night.

Anyway, Friday night we got dinner and then went out. Saturday morning we had planned to hike up Mount Keira, which Jess said takes about 3 hours to the top and back. So, after a slow start to the morning...we ended up taking the hike. I know I mentioned before that I went bushwalking VERY hungover one day a couple of months ago, and it cured my hangover. Basically, same situation yesterday. I couldn't believe we actually made it to the top. I was so proud. Oh and we saw a guy hiking down the mountain barefoot...I was creeped out. So on the way down, Alexis and I went ahead of Abby and Jess. Bad idea. We ended up getting lost. We took this trail that was all steep hills all the way down. It was a little terrifying. And Alexis lost her keys somewhere along the way...yikes. I did see a herd of deer in the wild though, which I didn't think I'd ever see in this country. When we got to the bottom, we were on some farm, and went to a house and asked them to direct us to Wollongong University. Luckily we were close, and once we got to campus we were extra lost again. We finally found the bus stop that we arrived at and Jess and Abby were there waiting for us. They had waited for 45 minutes, apparently, and I felt awful.

After that whole debacle, we had delicious fish and chips and walked around Wollongong and saw the lighthouse and the beach and such. It is a really pretty area. Alexis and I had planned on taking a train at 8 or 9 o'clock back to school, but we were basically out of things to do by 5ish, so we took the 6 o'clock train instead. I was so anxious throughout the whooole ride to just get home and shower and pass out. And that's exactly what I did. I slept until about 10:30 this morning...which is freakishly late for me lately.

Today I am holed up in the library writing a paper, and tomorrow evening I am going to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge, so I'm really excited about that.

Should've been a farm girl.

As you may or may not know, this weekend I returned to the alpaca farm where I had my country life weekend in early March. I will get that next, but first I suppose I should fill you in on my life since my last blog post. Basically...nothing happened. Except Anzac Day. I went in to the city for the parade with Abby, Sara, and my mother. It really made me realize how little we do for Veteran's Day at home...kind of sad. There were groups of different veterans and soldiers marching, and also bands and such. For some reason there were about 43802 groups of bagpipers...I didn't know bagpipes were so big in Australia. But anyway, bagpipes always make my mom cry, so she had an emotional day. Aside from that, my parents went back to the 'homeland' or 'old country,' as my dad wouldn't stop referring to it. I also went out for the first night in basically two weeks...but there are no fun stories there.

SO. The farm. I have decided that I should've been a farm girl. Actually, I always wanted to live on a farm when I was little. Man, would I be in good shape. But seriously. Fiona picked us up from the train at about 6 pm on Friday and it was already dark, so we didn't go see the alpacas. We had delicious dinner and dessert, as usual, and then Ian got back from being in Queensland for work. We chatted a bit by the fire and went to bed. The next morning we accompanied Fiona on the morning feedings, and also learned to drive the Gator! It was so fun. I'm terrified to go home and start driving again, since it's been so long and I'm used to seeing cars drive on the left side of the road now, but driving the Gator may have helped ease my nerves a little. The steering wheel was on the left side, so that also made it easier for Sara and I to comprehend. Obviously, it is a lot simpler to drive than an actual car...

We got to witness more spit-offs (or the alpaca pregnancy test that I described in my previous blog about the farm). Saturday afternoon we went up on the hill and literally picked up rocks. We were finding rocks for Fiona and Ian's rock wall that is being built in their front yard. Somehow, it was fun. Everything we do on the farm is fun. We did the evening feeding of the alpacas as well. After that, Ian drove us around in search of wildlife. We still had not seen a wombat in the wild, so we were hoping to see one. We ended up seeing two, and some kangaroos and rock wallabies. There was also an owl, but I just barely saw it. We went back for dinner, and after dinner, Ian took us out again. That's when the best thing ever happened. We were driving along and then an animal was on the road in front of us. We all thought it was a wombat at first, but it turned out to be a KOALA. Koalas are endangered, so it's rare to see them in the wild. Ian has lived there for 10 years and seen 3. Sara and I were there for two weekends and saw one...soo, I'd say we were pretty lucky. We ended up seeing another wombat and some more roos/wallabies, but they paled in comparison. That was my Cinco de Mayo. I even went to bed at 10 pm. I'm quite the party animal, but it was an exhausting day.

Sunday we got to see Fiona and Ian trim some nails, and also trim the fighting teeth that male alpacas grow. It was interesting. Oh, and the last time we were on the farm, there were two very pregnant alpacas...this time we got to see their babies. (Baby alpacas are called cria, actually.) One of them was only a week old! The other was three or four weeks old. They were adorable, and we even got to hold the smaller one. I can't believe I actually won't be going back to the farm again before I leave...it makes me all emotional! I will miss Ian and Fiona, and Trema (the dog) and the alpacas.

It's quite nice.

Today I finally had to return to classes after seventeen glorious days of break. Lucky for me though, I still haven't started back at work, so I didn't have to work after class today as usual. Also lucky for me, I basically don't have class on Tuesdays because I always skip the one lecture I have. And once again lucky for me, there is no class on Wednesday because it is a public holiday. And Wednesday is my least favorite day of classes. In the past week I have done a lot of chillin' with the parents.

Last Sunday I met my parents with two of my friends at a shopping centre near where my parents are staying, then went back to their apartment and hung out a while. We went out to dinner and then watched some Australian TV. (For all you Americans that watch The Voice...the Australian version is much better. Even though I've watched like half an episode at home.)

Last Monday my parents came to the Village and got to see my place. As I expected (and even with warning from me) they thought it was disgusting. At least only downstairs is disgusting, though, so we hung out in my room upstairs for a little bit and they got to meet more of my friends. After they left in the afternoon I think we just hung out. I think I also Skyped my wonderful little for at least an hour and a half...it was much needed.

On Tuesday my parents, Abby, and I all went to the Sydney Aquarium in Darling Harbour and then had lunch. The Aquarium was really crowded which made me hate everything at times...but somehow I made it through alive/without punching anyone. We took a water taxi from there to the Opera House and I bought the print that I hadn't stopped thinking about since we toured the Opera House in March. It was a very solid purchase. My room senior year is going to be decked out with Australian things.

On Wednesday I went shopping in Hornsby again with Katie and my mum. I was trying to find a bridesmaid's dress for my brother's wedding in August...which I all of a sudden got really stoked for. I had no luck though. After shopping, I went back to Normanhurst with my mother and Sara and Abby came up to the apartment later. We got Chinese food from a place there and then...watched more Australian TV. (The TV in our flat is really fuzzy and gets like five channels...so all we ever watch is Friends.)

On Thursday I went to the city with both of my parents. We shopped a little, and I found the dress that I will possibly be wearing to the wedding! Annnnd now I'm even more excited. We walked to the Museum of Contemporary Art after shopping. It was fairly small, and some of the art was just weird...you know, because it's contemporary. But some of it was cool. The best part was probably the view of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House from the roof...even though I've seen those approximately 437289 times now. They never get old.

Friday was the celebration of my friend Sara's 21st birthday! During the day, Abby and I bought some necessary supplies, such as mixers, two cakes, frosting, candles, and a boa for Sara to wear, of course. We decorated the cakes and brought them to Sara's. We ended up going in to the city to Scubar, which is the place where we went out the very first night we were in Sydney! And Friday was the first time I've been back since. It was pretty fun. When we were in the city we saw a flyer for S Club 7's upcoming Australian tour and just about had a panic attack. So of course, when we got back we purchased tickets for their June 1st show in Sydney. I am sooo excited for that.

On Saturday I went in to the city with my mum. We did some souvenir shopping, walked through the Botanical Gardens, had lunch, did more souvenir shopping, and had Starbucks. Australians hate Starbucks coffee (the ones I've talked to about it, anyway) and this is the second time I've had it while I've been here. If you know me, that may surprise you.

On Sunday, Abby and I woke up horribly early to go on a trip down the Hawkesbury River with my parents (Ron & Jan) and the people whose apartment they are staying in (Ron & Jan). There was a long drive with sightseeing along the way, and history and such. We were driving along the Convict Trail. We stopped at a small village with an Inn and basically nothing else...and there were SO MANY CARS. Ron (not my dad) said that there are usually about two cars there when they stop there. Turns out, there was a folk music festival happening. There were cars with Western Australia license plates. For you Americans, the distance from Western Australia to New South Wales is basically the distance from our West coast to East coast. After that short stop, we went to Jan & Ron's cabin on the river (that I don't know the name of). Abby and I went tubing! It was so much fun...but girls are required to wear wet suit bottoms in the water there...that was an interesting experience. I wasn't expecting to get to go tubing, so that was definitely a wonderful surprise. And of course, we went back to my parents' and watched The Voice.

That's about it...later today I am going to see The Lucky One, since I read the book and it was amazing and made me cry... And then dinner at my parents' place and...watching The Voice. Standard.