Traedogg Down Under

Well, this is not the deep blog with the final updates and pictures from my last days in Sydney you are probably looking for, but I decided to spend every possible last second I could with my loved ones here instead of spending an hour trying to sum up one of the most incredible experiences of my life (which, lets face it (as Jen ALWAYS says), is impossible).

After I arrive safely home in the states, I will do a recap of my final few days in Sydney, complete with a near panic/anxiety attack on my daily morning walk over the thought of seeing my favorite sites in this place I have comed to call “home” “for the last time”. Although thankfully, I realized something: it wont ever be “the last time”… Sydney, Coogee and my girls will be tucked away in a special place in my heart forever and will always be a major part of who I am and will always be. I can’t thank these incredible people enough for being my family away from home, and now, another “family” for life. A group of people I know I can turn to no matter how many miles or continents separate us. They will be the only people on earth that truely understand these four months of my life, and what Sydney, and Australia mean to me. And the only positive part about leaving these tremendous girls, is leaving them means coming home to the blistering, frigid-ass Wisconsin winter!? 😉 Leaving them means returning home to my loved ones I have been missing SO TERRIBLY the last four months! I cannot WAIT to see all of you and hug you and laugh with you, (and probably cry out of pure, genuine joy.) Just 48 hours of brutal travel separates us…pray for safe, swift travels!

Our theme song for the week-Keith Urban’s “Days Go By”

“We think about tomorrow and it slips away,
we talk about forever but we’ve only got today…
and the days go by
i can feel ’em flyin like a hand out the window in the wind as the cars go by
yeah, its all we’ve been given
so you better start livin right now
and days go by…”

And boy are we living. I cant even begin to put into words how incredible this last week has been. Surely one of the best in my life. With each passing day, and the return to the States looming, Sydney is getting more and more beautiful by the minute. I absolutely love this place. It is my home away from home and will have a special place in my heart forever. The fact I am days away from leaving the country is truely bittersweet. In one regard, I have never been more excited in my entire life for the moment I return home and see my loved ones, each of whom I’ve missed TERRIBLY this last four months. On the other hand, I am leaving a magnificantly beautiful country, one which I’ve come to embrace and truely love as my second home. The worst part about leaving is the fear that I may never be fortunate enough to return… thus, I am truely cherishing every last second of my time here.

On Tuesday, Jen Bree and I had plans to do one final Coogee to Bondi walk, and then for the first time ever, do the walk back from Bondi to Coogee (quite a hike.. 1 hour and 1/2 each way!). However, the volitle spring weather quickly foiled our plans. Of course the sun was beating down on us while we trecked up the coast to the beach. But within a 1/2 hour of stripping down to our suits to catch some rays, the wind started whipping, spewing sand EVERYWHERE (the force of the sand wacking every inch of our bare bodies was incredible) as the entire beach raced to pick up scattered belongings and sprint for shelter. After debating an “EXTREME” Bondi to Coogee walk in the pouring rain, we decided against it and hailed a cab home where i saddly spent the rest of the afternoon studying. We made up for it that evening, however, for the rain was NOT going to stop our dinner plans at our favorite Thai Resturaunt, Umarin for one final Thai meal in Australia. I, of course, ordered Cashew Chicken. From there we headed across the street (how convenient!) to our favorite coffee shop, Teascapes, for my and Bree’s third visit of the week;) The three of us chatted for hours before facing the wind/rain one final time for the evening on the walk home.

Wednesday brought more studying by day, more good food by night. Danielle and I arranged an outing to the Hard Rock Cafe in Downtown Sydney, motivated by the prospect of FREE REFILLS ON DIET COKE! (though it turned out to be diet pepsi). But it was the first American Style meal I have eaten since being in Australia other then Mc Donalds here and there! And by “American Style,” I mean, normal lettuce (iceberg and romaine vs. wierd weeds they usually serve), RANCH DRESSING (which 99% of resturaunts dont have), actual Ketchup (they have tomato sauce here and it tastes WAY different) and FREE REFILS ON DIET COKE! (which NO resturaunts have!). So needless to say, it was a very exciting meal… and because we were feeling so American, we left the waiter a 20 dollar tip (they usually dont get tipped) and completely made his night.

Thursday was another AWESOME day. Jen, Anna and I made the trip across Sydney Harbour to Manly Beach, which is a renowned beach on the North Side of Sydney (we live on the south side). The weather was PERFECT for tanning, so we layed out there a few hours before treating ourselves to New Zealand Natural Icecream (best icecream I’ve had since being here other then my Nestle “Heaven Bars” that I am obsessed with…. ask my roomies;)… I swear I’m going to write the Nestle Execs and tell them if they bring these icecream bars to the states, I alone would purchase enough to make it worth their while!). That night, more studying (see, little by little… I am actually working here too!).

Friday brought a little studying, but mostly tanning and working out, followed by a few evening cocktails in downtown sydney with roomates/friends. First, at around 500 I joined Anna, Danielle, Britt and Marissa (Danielles sister) on their hunt for fine looking businessmen in Sydney’s Central Business District. (Dont worry nick, I didn’t even look). The first stop was bar 333, but according to the ladies, there were not enough goodlooking men, so while they pressed on, I moved on to the Sydney Opera House to meet my roomate Jen (who is a photographer and spent the evening in the city taking pictures) for a drink. Since the Opera Bar is my favorite bar in the City, and Jen is one of my favorite people in the world, it was such a wonderful evening. We ordered our over-priced rum and cokes, took a seat overlooking the Sydney Harbour and chatted the night away.. mostly about how incredibly fortunate we are to be here, and how fabulous our parents are. (Mom and dad, I love you guys SO MUCH and will never be able to repay you for giving me this opportunity. I appreciate it more then you can even begin to imagine. This experience has forever changed my life!)

That brings me to this moment… where I could ramble on for hours reflecting on my last four months.. but I will wait a few more days for that! Pictures that correspond to this blog are posted on snapfish in the usual place! (see previous blog if you STILL dont know where that is by now!)

That title perfectly sums up my activities this past week, and this coming week too for that matter. Although I also could have wrote Good workouts. Good tanning. Good sleep. Because a lot of that has been happening too! Since school has ended and I finished my last paper, I’ve really been living the good life. Which, I told myself is well deserved after 3 1/2 years of hard work at college with the real world looming. Might as well enjoy myself and freetime to lay around in paradise while I have it! Yet I’ve procrastinated studying for my last final exam as long as i could (yes… its still over a week before the exam.. but best to start early!) So I will have a little work to do in my final week in Australia! Seems to accurately sum up my time here the past four months. A HELL OF A LOT OF FUN mixed in with a little bit of work;)

I could get all deep on you this blog, b/c I have been doing a TON of reflecting these past few weeks, but I’ll hold out. Instead, a quick recap of the weekends activities!

Saturday was pretty low key. I worked out, tanned (the usual… I wont say that any more from here on out… you can just assume I did..its my start to each beautiful morning!) That night, Bree and I went back to our favorite coffee bar, Teascapes for my favorite decaf mocha. (yeah.. decaf ;). It is served with a big snowcap (non-parril) on the spoon (my favorite part!) for a little added extra! Sunday, the usual morning, then JEN CAME HOME!!!! We also got two other “roomies” for the night as our friends Victoria and Marylin, who we met on spring break and studied abroad in Melbourne this semester, came to visit. We decided to celebrate at the Palace Aquarium Bar (in Coogee) that we went to the previous Sunday night. Every sunday they have incredible drink specials you just cant pass up. Jen and I got a buy one get one free Cocktail (I had a coupon) and I just wanted a pinapple and malibu, but was informed thats not a “cocktail” so the bartender (a girl) told me she’d fix me up with a special cocktail that had pinapple and malibu in it (with midori and cream as well) and it was one of THE BEST DRINKS I’ve had in SO LONG! I just dont know the name of the damn thing;)! After a few drinks, we called it an early night (as I usually do-although you have to when you either go out to eat, or grab a few cocktails nearly EVERY SINGLE NIGHT!)

Today (Monday) was roomie dinner. Unfortunately we had to cut it a bit short because my roomate Britt (who decided to extend her time in australia by an extra four months) had to work at 700 unexpectedly. So we left the house at 4:00 and headed downtown to Darling Harbour (one of our favorite areas of the city) to a little cafe called “Blackbird Cafe”. We had a really nice dinner (although britt had to leave early) which somehow, Bree’s parents paid for!!? (she swiped the bill at the end and said her parents wanted to treat us for dinner again… even though they already took us out to dinner when they were in Australia a few weeks ago). SO UNCALLED FOR! But SO appreciated. And whats the perfect end to a perfect night? Yup. Icecream. Bree, Jen and I hopped a bus back to Coogee and grabbed some icecream (Baskin Robbins to be exact) by the beach.

This coming week I have SO MUCH PLANNED! (And rightfully so! Its my last week!) My remaining days are just going to fly (as the last four months have). Hopefully I can manage to sneak some studying in and survive my final… but i always find a way to make school somewhat of a priority. Its a curse I know. Something tells me this time, it may not be that high a priority;)

PICTURES OF THE WEEKS EVENTS INCLUDING PICTURES THAT CORRESPOND WITH MY LAST BLOG ARE UP ON SNAPFISH! (www.snapfish.com username: tlswartz@wisc.edu password: miss you)

Just one and 1/2 weeks, one exam, some light packing and a lot of free time seperates me from the states. I cannot BELIEVE the last four months have flown by this fast, although somehow they always do. Since I wrote last, I’ve been up to much of the same! My week was largely spent working out, tanning (since the sun finally decided to return here), a few trips to the city and a few movies. It’s been SO nice to have time just to relax and enjoy my friends and the country in my last few days, although without a TV and LOTS of free time, you have to get creative!

Monday was really low key. I don’t really remember doing much of anything! Tuesday I went for coffee at a cute little cafe in Randwick (the neighboring city) called Teascapes before heading to “The Spot” (a popular area of randwick where the movie theater and a bunch of resturaunts are located) to see the movie Elizabethtown. Although it was somewhat cheesy, I really enjoyed it. The entire message of the movie was about how important family is, and it really reminded me of my crazy group and how dearly I miss everyone! Wednesday was another movie night, but this time, we watched The princess bride at home (Such a classic!)

Thursday and friday were much more exciting! Thursday after tanning and a work out, I headed downtown with Bree to finish up some shoppin at Paddy’s Market before grabbing some Starbucks (best coffee in the world) and chatting. Afterwards, we met Anna, Britt and Anna’s mom for free Gin and Tonics at Cargo Bar in Darling Harbour (our new weekly ritual). Friday, Anna’s mom took the roomates out for dinner downtown at a bar/resturaunt near the Sydney Harbour “Jackson on George” (George is the name of one of the main streets that runs through the city). It was SO delicious and great to be back downtown. I just cant get enough of downtown Sydney. It is the most beautiful big city in the world, and I am convinced I will never see anything else as great in my lifetime.

Today (saturday) I have nothing planned, but somehow something always goes on! Sunday Jen (my roomie thats been traveling for 10 days) is coming home and I’m SOOOOO EXCITED TO SEE HER! And Monday, which is the day I’ve probably been looking the most forward too, all the roomies will be back together again for one final night (before girls head off to travel here and there) and we are going downtown for a roomate dinner.

I cant BELIEVE how quickly my time here is winding down. It has been a blast, and there will definiately be a blog or two to come full of my “deep thoughts” about my experience! I will post new pictures in a day or two! Hope all is well in the states! Miss and love you all!

If that isn’t what most of you have been thinking these last three months, you certainly will be in these next few weeks. With classes and my internship complete, I literally have NOTHING to do but enjoy myself in Sydney with my roomates and friends in my final few weeks. (Well, I do have one final exam the day before I fly home and had a BRUTAL 8 paged paper due this Thurs, but I finished it already!!) So, other than minor studying and MASSIVE packing, its just me, the beach, good food, pleanty of drinks (hey when in Australia… do as the Australians do!) and friends from here on out.

Since classes ended on Wednesday, I have had an incredible time and managed to start and finish my last paper of the semester amist dinners, happy hours and tanning (when the weather cooperates!). Jen left for a trip up the coast for 10 days, Bree’s grandma and sister are in town, and Alex has been swamped with school, so Britt, Anna and I took it upon ourselves to have fun without them;)! And when you live in Sydney, Australia, good times are almost impossible to avoid.

On Thursday night we headed out to Darling Harbour in Downtown Sydney to a trendy bar, Cargo Bar, with outdoor seating overlooking the Harbour. With literally THOUSANDS of bars to choose from on any given night, how did we end up here? Simple. FREE DRINKS! Every Thursday from 6-8 they serve FREE Gin and Tonics. No catch. Just show up and drink as many as you can in 2 hours. It’s that simple. Too bad it’s not free Captain and Diet cokes, or free Martini’s… but you can’t look a gift horse in the mouth;) Gin and tonic has never tasted so good! Once happy hour ended, we didn’t feel like paying for drinks with 3 weeks of bars and dining out ahead, so we called it a night early and headed home.

Friday night, the three musketeers (me britt and anna.. for this week anyways) decided to hit up a new resturaunt in Coogee right along the Beach called “Five O’s”. We heard there was a great variety of food on the menu for only five dollars, including steaks! You cant beat that! (or so we thought). It’s really sad that three PR/Advertising majors couldn’t see right through the false advertising, but after FREE gin and tonics the night before our guard was down! We get there and sure enough, there is a five dollar menu, complete with steak, pasta, chicken, etc. We go to place our order and they say “what drink would you like with that”, and we reply, “oh we’ll just have water,” to which they say, “you have to buy a drink in order to get the five dollar prices.” AH HA! So I ordered a bottled water… FOR $3.20! But I really cant complain. The steak, which was 300 grams (so a good size.. i cant do the conversion to ounces!) was EXCELLENT and came with mashed potatos (which I decided to forgo for some veggies), so it was still a deal! After dinner, we wandered along the beach for a while and took in the scenery and then Anna and I came home and watched a movie.

Saturday was paper day. Enough said.

Sunday, after tanning in the afternoon, the usual suspects (britt, anna and I) decided to head down to one of two popular bars in Coogee, the Palace (which is right off the beach) for their happy hour specials. Every sunday night from 4-8 they have 4 dollar Caronas and with our palace cards (since we are “members”) we can get $2.50 beers (but quality level of a PBR or Blatz;)) or $3.50 rum and cokes every Sunday-Thurs. So naturally, who could pass up a deal that good? Certainly not me. We met our friend Margaret and somehow snagged a table right on the balcony overlooking our beach and the ocean. It was one of those moments where you are like. Oh my gosh. I live here. We spent then next few hours chatting over a few drinks before meeting our friend Danielle (one of the funniest girls I have EVER MET) her sister (who is visiting) and Jess for “girls night,” which naturally involves dinner, movies and something sweet (in this case, it was chocolate, chocolate chip and toffee cookies). For dinner we went to my FAVORITE cafe right off the beach where they have the BEST Gyros and Wedges with sweet chilli and sour cream. Wedges (potato wedges with sweet chilli and sower cream), is easily my favorite “REALLY BAD FOR YOU” food here and I’m shocked I haven’t written about them before this entry! Sweet chilli sauce is SO huge here. They put it on EVERYTHING and it is SO good. But I would argue it tastes by FAR the best combined with sour cream on top of these potato wedges. To DIE for! Needless to say, ladies night was a success.

And that brings me to today where I finished up the last edits to my paper, relaxed (athough didn’t get to tan b/c it was cloudy all day) and finished a massive amount of odds and ends. Tonight I am taking a break from the “festivities” as is most everyone else. Pictures of this past week are on snapfish in the usual place (for those of you who dont know where that is by now.. read the previous blog), and just about every blog from here on our will have pictures to accompany it for your viewing pleasure. Just 2 1/2 weeks until I return home!! how can that be too soon, and not soon enough all at the same time?!

Today was my last day at Basketball Australia and although I will miss my co-workers I will NOT miss waking up at 5:30am every morning and the 9 hour work day and 3 hour commute! Today was a particularly good day at work because the Melbourne Cup (the huge horse races like the kentucky derby) was taking place in Melbourne, and at 3:00pm right before the big race, my co-workers stopped working, pulled out the booze (wine, champaign and beer) and a whole spread of food (meets, cheeses, chips, crackers, candy etc) and sat and watched the race and proceeded to socialize for the rest of the day! They also took that time when everyone in the office was gathered to thank me and give me an awesome “Basketball Australia” trucker hat and Austalian Boomers (Australian National Team) beenie! SWEET!!!

And in case any of you were ever curious as to what my co-workers/office or what a “day in the life” at Basketball Australia was like, I took 23 pictures today to paint that picture for you! They are posted in the usual place… www.snapfish.com username: tlswartz@wisc.edu password: missyou Make sure go to the “photo’s” tab! my albums are in blue!

Last day of class tomorrow.. then, fretting all weekend about an english paper due next wed that I am dreading writing. There is the Traci you all know and love!!! I just need to get it over with.. but starting is the WORST part!!!

Australians do not celebrate Halloween, although I have done my fair share of candy-eating in the last week regardless, but have boycotted all costume parties thrown in our American-Based city of Coogee. To me, the costume dilema has always been more stressful then fun, as creativity is not my thing;) So I happily opted to spend my Halloween weekend at an infamous Pancake House in the Rocks (an upscale area of down Sydney) on Friday night, and at an NBL game on Saturday night to see the Sydney Kings take on the West Sydney Razorbacks (little cross town rivalry!).

The Pancake house was AWESOME! I met two of my roomies Jen and Bree downtown after a long day at the internship for a fabulous dinner? well, breakfast, as I got pancakes and hashbrowns! I did not, however, get one of the “Dessert Pancakes” the place is famous for… they were just a little too intense for me! (Check them out here! http://www.pancakesontherocks.com.au/desserts.htm ) Afterwards, we were all tired and full so we bused back to Coogee for an early friday night!

Saturday, after a productive day of cleaning my filthy room (mom you would have been proud!) I watched Good Will Hunting with Anna, then headed to the NBL game with Jen and one of my Co-workers Shenton. Although it was a cross-town rivarly (so excitment was high) it just so happens to be the best team in the leage (Sydney Kings) vs. the worst (the West Sydney Razorbacks) and the game was a complete blow out (Kings by 32), yet it was fun to get out downtown none the less, especially when the tickets were free! (Perks of the job!)

This coming week is my last official week of school before a 5 day study week and 3 week exam period. I officially finished the 10 paged paper I have been whining about for the last month, but still have one more 8 pager left and a final on the 23rd of November-the day before I fly out! November will be GREAT because if i ever get this paper out of the way, I will have a lot of freetime to hang out with my roomates, meet various family members of friends/roomates that are coming in and out of the country, hopefully tan a bit (although its been SO rainy lately), and relax! (Although other then October, I still feel like I’ve been on a 3-4 month vacation… next semester at Madison is going to be a slap in the face!!)

One downside to summer coming in Australia (so you all aren’t too jealous) is THE FLYS! I dont know how i came to Australia not having heard about them! Some days I seriously think I am in the midst of the second plague experiencing the wrath of God first hand! These little annoying flies just SURROUND you the second you step outside and you go to swot them away, and they come right back in your face (literally). It is SO irritating feeling constantly violated by something the size of a pea! I asked my Australian classmates if it got better as the summer went on.. and they scoffed: “Better!? This is only the beginning! Just wait for the bees and the wasps!” Oh yippie. All I know is, a few blasted bugs aren’t going to keep me from enjoying the warmth in my final few weeks in Sydney, Australia… they just better stay the hell out of my way;)

October Showers bring November Flowers? The Rhyme certainly doesn’t work as well here, but lets hope the meaning behiend it still applies! Its been one rainy week in Sydney! It has literally rained 6 of the last 7 days, but thankfully my mood hasn’t matched the weather!

Despite a homework-filled month and plenty yet to finish with just 2 weeks of class to go, this last week was a fairly decent one. I was extremely productive and not only knocked off a 20 minute seminar and 15 paged marketing plan, but made significant progress on my 10 paged paper. I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel where school is concerned, and lets hope this “light” is a very sunny November so I can return home at the end of it with a great tan before getting slapped in the face by a Wisconsin winter!

One thing I also have not mentioned much about lately is my internship. For a while, I absolutely despised going and that was not only due to the fact that I have a 3 hour commute (1 1/2 hours there and 1 1/2 hours back by bus and train), or that I have to wake up at 5:30am on internship mornings, but because I felt under-utilized and usually bored. And although not much has changed in that sence, there have been many positive things that have resulted from my experience. First of all, I really enjoy the majority of my co-workers. I work with two other interns from the states, Elizabeth and Patrick, who are both great people, and are just as bored as I am most days, so we find ways to have fun! Also, I do have an Australian co-worker I am good friends with, Shenton, and not only does he get me tickets to NBL games, but he finds ways to take the interns out of the office to “run errands” and always answers my questions, not only about the job, but about the culture and life of Australians. He also offered to drive me to the airport before spring break so i didn’t have to take the train!

One of the “errands” he took us on was a trip to the Sydney Kings practice because he needed a photograph of the star player, CJ Burton, who just won the player of the month award. CJ also plays for the Australian Boomers, which is Australias national team, which would play against the Dream Team in the Olympics and there is rumors circulating around Australia now that he may have a shot at the NBA. So anyways, we show up to this practice and of course we get to meet CJ and the other players, which was obviously pretty sweet, BUT what was even more crazy was seeing their practice facilities! They literally practiced in an old-run down shack of a gym with grafitti on the outside, a ransacked two-court playing area on the inside (with a pick up game going on the other court) in a random no-name city. I was shocked! This is their national basketball leage.. and not only that, but the Sydney Kings are the three-time defending champions! It really put it in perspective for me how small-scale basketball is in Australia and how little money the league and teams have. The salary caps for all of the teams cap off at a 736,000 max.. so divided amongst 10-12 players isn’t all that much;) you do the math! It was really an eye-opening experience. Also, on average, the kings get between 3000 and 4000 fans at their games, and, the 5-6 free-to-air television stations (so not cable) dont cover/air the basketball games! So how is anyone going to get excited about/follow the sport and their home team if the games aren’t even aired on public television… especially since only 20 percent of the population (or less) has cable! It just has really got me thinking critically about how crucial media is to the success/following of sport (good thing too.. b/c thats what my 10 paged paper is on!) So.. despite not learning a lot in the office, it has opened my eyes to truths I probably never would have recognized had I not worked there!

So all and all, even though I dont have any fun excursion to report on, life in Australia is good! 2 weeks of school left, 3 days of the internship, 4 years with the boyfriend (our anniversary was Oct 20th) and 33 days till thanksgiving, when my 5 flights and 48 straight hours of travel will hopefully land me safely on the ground in Milwaukee!

Redemption is sooooo sweet. And we certainly redeemed a bad weekend with a fabulous dinner at a resturaunt on the harbour on Monday night. One of my roomates, Bree’s, parents are visitng from LA. They offered to take all of the roomies out for a really nice dinner at a steak and seafood place in the city, Nick’s bar and grill off of darling harbour. (I did not pick it out! it was by coincidence!)

We get there after a long rainy monday, and nothing on the menu is under 25 dollars. Mr. Harris buys three bottles of wine, they tell us to get whatever we want (along with ordering four side dishes for all of us to share) and needless to say, we had Salmon, Kangaroo, Steak, Shrimp and Lamb! I had the salmon and it was EXCELLENT. But I did get to sample just about everything else and it was one of the nicest meals I have ever been to! Somehow food always tastes better too when someone else is paying;)

I also ended up deciding that I was just going to leave my flights as is (with the extra stopover in Minnesota) and still try and make it home sometime on thanksgiving night. Although, the Thanksgiving festivities (at least at my house) will be pushed back a day. Until then, time to buckle down on the hw! big presentation tomorrow along with a 15 paged marketing plan, presentation and test next wednesday, the following wed a 10 paged and 5 paged paper, and the following wednesday a 7 paged paper! I am actually doing work here too;)!

That is the question we kept asking ourselves all weekend long. What were we thinking signing up for a weekend excursion to Jervis Bay! Where is Jervis Bay? I didn’t know before I signed up for the trip, but I know now. The supposed “Jewel of the South Coast” (as the brochure so proudly proclaimed), was a lot of nothingness and certainly out in boonieville Australia!

To make a long story short, it was easily the most dissappointing, boring weekend I have had in Australia (yes, not everything here is always so rosy)! But I guess in three months of being here, to have one mundane weekend isn’t so terrible. To better explain:

We left early saturday morning, drove 2 1/2 hours, stopped at a po-dunk Emu farm for 20 minutes, then stopped in another really small town for some lunch before the boat that was supposed to take us on our “Dolphin Cruise” was 1 1/2 late and by that point, no one felt like a Dolphin Cruise. Especially after sailing the Great Barrier Reef and seeing dolphins and many other aquatic beings, it was VERY anti-climactic. Then, we were bussed off to our hostel, which we took a 20 minute gravel road to get to, and upon pulling up, there was no resturaunt, no bar, no nothing but the hostel and woods for miles and miles. We did have a nice cook out (compliments of our tour guides) where I did get to try kangaroo (which was GREAT! tasted like steak!) But after that, there was nothing to do, so I went to bed early. This morning, they let us sleep in, then they took us on an hour “bushwalk” (which was basically a stroll up the coast of a small bay (I’m not sure it was even jervis bay), it was pretty, but I live in a beach town with a beach that is twice as beautiful). Then, we boarded the buses, and went to a nearby beach on Jervis bay. Would have been nice, but it was about 55 degrees and overcast and we all sat there in jeans and sweatshirts before boarding the bus and headed 2 1/2 hours home. Oh well. I’ll know next time not to book a tour in a city not only I, but none of the Australians from my internship have ever heard of.

Then, I get back to an email saying my flight on thanksgiving day on Northwest airlines has been changed and what once was a direct flight from LAX to Milwaukee so I could make it home in time for thanksgiving, got magically changed to one with a stop over in minneapolis which I wont get home until 841. So that really SUCKS. Its definitely been a frustrating weekend, and now I have to mess around with the travel situation, b/c I’d prefer not to spend thanksgiving day (two of them, one in australia and one in the US) all by myself in airports. WHAT A HEADACHE. So needless to say, I’ve had better weekends here. But I figure I cant always blog about good stuff. Not everything in life always goes the way you want it to. All you can control is how you react to it.