Traedogg Down Under

This will be a very boring entry (for any of you still reading) and is basically just a chance for me to whine about actually having to do a substantial amount of school work here;) Somehow work/Australia don’t seem to belong in the same sentence!

My October is flooded with group projects, presentations, tests and papers, as are any final weeks of a college semester. Its just so much harder to motivate yourself to get work done when you live five minutes from the beach in Australia if you can believe that;)! And as much as I’m trying to blow off school and do the bare minimum to get by, those of you who know me know that I’m attending every single class, doing the majority of the work in every group assignment and meticulously crafting every single word in all my papers;) Its just who I am;) Along with work, the internship is keeping me busy, only in the sense that I spend a lot of hours per week there. However, it has been largely disappointing becuase there is never enough work for all of us interns to do, yet I need a certain amount of total hours (meaning I cant leave) so the majority of my day I spend trying to act busy;) On a positive side, I’ve met some pretty cool people at work (both Australian and American), however, am definitely counting down the days till I am finished with it! (kind of a blessing in disguise that I started so late in the semester!)

On a more positive note, this weekend I am taking my last planned excursion during my time in Australia (not that more excursions cant be planned in the six weeks I have left!) Me and two of my roomates (Jen and Alex) and two friends I went on spring break with (Danielle and Jess) are going to Jervis Bay, which is an area on the coast of Australia where lots of Australians like to vacation. Although the trip is planned and organized by a tour group, it should be pretty relaxing and is only one night. (we leave early saturday morning, get back sunday night).

Thankfully, it is breaking up a long month for me in Australia. And though I’m still having fun and trying to make the most of my time here, its unbelievable how much harder it is to be stressing about school when you are so far away from home, family and friends. It just kinda adds insult to injury;) Yet, thanks to a productive weekend this past weekend, I managed to plow through most of the work for my big assignments, other then starting my 10 paged paper!! (WHICH I NEED TO GET STARTED ON!!!)

Hope all you college students are weathering the storm at your respective campus’ as well! And to everyone, I miss you a ton! Six weeks and counting till I make my official return to the states on Turkey day! Until then… keep sending the emails……;)!

So I have quickly realized there is no way to verbally, and more importantly, concisely sum up an INCREDIBLE 10 day spring break trip (especially one up the east coast of australia), thus, I will let the pictures do most of the talking. I posted and captioned all 175 of them on my snapfish account in three different albums, and if you play them in slideshow view, you will be able to follow along with all the days and nights of the 10 day trip! (www.snapfish.com username: tlswartz@wisc.edu password: miss you click on the “photos” tab and my albums are in blue) But in brief summary, since I always seem to have something to say….;)

We began our “Extreme Adventures” (aptly named tour) in Brisbane, Australia, where I flew in late friday night after a long day of work in Sydney Friday afternoon. After a few hours of sleep, me and six of my friends/roomates from school joined the rest of our 50 person tour group aboard our double decker bus early Saturday morning to begin our tiring, but incredible 10 day journey. The 50 students traveling with us were from different universities all over Australia, so it was nice to meet new people. We also had two fearless tour guides, Alice (23) and Brian (26) who were bigger kids then most of the rest of us;) Although it got irritating at times traveling with so many people and having a set agenda (not to mention two overnight bus rides and staying in four different hostels over the course of 10 days) it was well worth it to see some of the incredible sights we saw.

The trip started off slow as we were all adjusting to one another, the lack of sleep, and an incredible lot of time on the double decker bus. But a trip to see steve irwin at the australia zoo the first day, and an outing to Fraiser Island (the largest sand island in the world) home to the most beautiful lake (complete with beach) I have ever seen (lake mackenzie) helped calm initial complaints/anxieties. That is, until, on day three, after a LONG overnight bus ride we are told that we have to pack everything we need for three full days on a remote island in one, small tote. (including outfits to go out, shoes, beachtowel, suits, sportswear, shampoo, sunscreen, makeup, camera and the list goes on and on).

After some problem solving, and 50 incredibly stretched out zippers, we boarded a sailboat and sailed 4 1/2 hours on the Whitsunday Islands (off the coast of australia and some of the southern most parts of the great barrier reef). We finally arrived at Whitehaven beach, one of the five most beautiful beaches in the world. And it was SPECTACULAR. It was the most beautiful place i have ever seen in my time on earth. After what seemed like way to short of a time, we boarded the boats for another 2 1/2 hour sail to our accomadation on a remote island on the Whitsundays: South Molle Island.

Since the accomadation was a resort and hostel, (although we lived in the hostel part), the next two days we were living in luxury, taking advantage of a beautiful pool and three outstanding buffet meals a day. We had free time one day (which i used to kayak and relax poolside with danielle, britt and some drinks) and we sailed again on the second day to snorkel a bit before returning back to Arlie Beach (no longer on the islands.. back on shore) to kill about 7-8 hours before boarding the bus at 1:00am for our second all night bus ride of the trip!

We arrived bright and early at the Tully river for a day of white water rafting level four (out of 6) rapids. All seven of the girls I came with and I got to be in the same boat with an awesome tourguide brenton. WE HAD A BLAST. This day was my favorite of the trip (until the ones that followed it). We laughed and got thrown around by the boat all morning and afternoon before boarding another bus to take us to our final destination: Cairns, Australia.

The final 4-5 days of the trip we spent in Cairns (which is very far south.. so extremely hott). By the time I got here, I already had an incredible tan, but needed to invest in some heavy duty sunscreen to avoid severe blistering! The sun here was brutal! Our hostel was AWESOME. The rooms were marginal (as they always are) but the hostel was complete with pool, bar, internet cafes, places to eat.. etc. It was a GREAT atmosphere!

upon arriving, Me, bree and rach are informed had to room with three of the guys in our group because there had to be six people per room and we were the odd women out. They ended up being hilarious guys (from the boston area.. Maurice (Mokey), Jack and Ben) and we had so many laughs with them in the days to come. (Nick knows not to worry.. it was nothing like that;)) In Cairns, we had a day of free time, spent a day snorkling/scuba diving the great barrier reef and another day cliff jumping (although I did not partake.. i was too tired/sick of being in a bathing suit when that day came).

I did, however, participate in an exclusive bungee jumping party we were thrown at a bungee jumping park in the middle of the rainforrest. Our group of 50 got a free bungee jump and bungee swing (mingon swing) if we wanted and almost everyone did both. I definitely took the plunge;) Dove head first of the plaform into the night sky with the cord at my ankles. It was NUTS. I bought the DVD of the jump for proof;)! The highlight of Carins had to be the last night of the tour, however, where we had a farewell party at our favorite bar there, the woolshed. They closed off the huge patio for our group and we all got a free drink upon arrival. That was the only night of the whole trip I really drank heavily (since we had to be up at around 630-700 every single morning but 1-2) and we all just had a blast.

My friends and I stayed an extra Day in Cairns, which I used to completly relax. I got my first manicure and pedicure ever, got my hair trimmed (since it was dead from 10 days in the sun, saltwater and chlorine) and then the girls and I had dinner at a cute little mexican resturaunt before heading to bed SUPER early for a 6:30am flight the following morning. The trip definately wore me out, but it was incredible. The pictures are a testimant to the fun we had, yet it feels nice to be “home”. Now a busy month of october with school/work piling up.

HOWEVER!!!! For anyone still reading, I found out when my one exam fell, and it is on November 23rd. So I’m going to forgo the week in New Zealand (for multiple reasons..but mainly b/c i dont want to travel there alone and also just really want to be in the states with my family and Nick for thanksgiving) and if all goes well, should make it back in the brookfield area after 36 straight hours of travel just in time to catch some pumpkin pie;) (so early evening on thanksgiving.. NOV. 24th). The flights are already booked!

I am officially on Spring Break Starting today: Friday Sept 23rd till Tuesday Oct 4th! Look forward to the longest blog when I get back and hundreds of pictures!!! Until then… love and miss you all!

Another 5:45 wake up call began my Saturday morning, only this time I was not headed to work (thank god) but on a tour to the Blue Mountains with my roomies! This tour was arranged by the same company that led us on the Hunter Valley Wine Tour and on that tour, we had the most abrasive, American (but who has lived in Australia now for 10 years so he thinks he knows all about the country) tour guide, Brent. We had been thinking of cancelling our Blue Mountains tour numerous times at the small chance at getting Brent as a guide for Blue Mountains, but decided to chance it. And sure as hell, we walk up at 8:00am, Starbucks in hand, to meet our tour bus a are face to face with Brent. It was a definite staredown from all parties involved, as he rememberd us… the group of American girls who didn’t tip him after he begged for tips for 5-10 min at the end of Hunter Valley, (even though tipping isn’t a cultural practice in Australia), and as we remembered him.. the boisterous American tour guide who cracked sexist jokes all day and loved to hear himself talk.

Being who I am, I decided to give Brent another chance and the benefit of the doubt.. maybe Hunter Valley just wasn’t one of his shining moments. But I needent have tried to be so nice. He was up to his old antics immediately, talking non-stop from the time we left Sydney for an hour to our first stop: The National Wildlife Park, slipping in a few sexist jokes/comments on the way. Despite Brent, the day was fantastic! (Although very cold as we continued our ascent into “the Blue Mountains”). When we weren’t trapped in the bus for hours with Brent on his loudspeaker, they had us doing amazing things! At the wildlife park, we got to see hundreds of native australian animals. Including Koalas, Kangaroos, Dingos, etc. I have GREAT pictures of all of these animals on snapfish including one of me feeding a kangaroo and one with a joey actually in the momma kangaroos puch! (the kangaroo pics are for you Tad! I tried to make it out with one… but it kept kicking me!)

After the wild life park, we continued on to the Three Sisters, which is the must see “tourist attraction” of the mountains. Really its just three big rocks on the ledge of the mountain, but beautiful none the less. After lunch, the afternoon coninued on with a train ride on the worlds steepest train (which was crazy!) down into the valley of the mountains, followed by a ride on the flyway back up to the top! After a short tea/coffee break at the final look out point and a stop in this incredible niche candy shop we bored the bus one final time. Thankfully Brent gave his yapper a rest for an hour and played some native australian music while we traveled to our last stop of the day.. Sydney Olympic Park. (how exciting for me… I am there 2-3 times a week for work!). From there, we boarded the ferry for a river cruise back to Darling Harbour in Sydney. It was my first time on the harbour by boat, so it was exiciting! It also couldn’t have worked out any better, because Darling harbour was less then 2 blocks from where the NBL (national basketball league) game, Sydney Kings vs. Brisbaine Bulletts was being played at the Sydney Entertainment Center, and I just happened to have 7 free tickets for me, my roomies and our friend Danielle.

The game was awesome to witness. This was their professional basketball league and it was SO small scale compared to the states (as I imagined it would be). There were probably only about 4000 people there in an arena that held about 10000, and the cheering/excitment was minimal even though the two teams that were facing off are the two top contenders to win the league this season. The half time show was also entertaining. First, the six poms girls did their little routine (dressed in literally underwear… we were SHOCKED at how scantally clad they were.. that would NEVER fly at an NBA game in the states) and then they had 5 guys (three of whom for some reason decided it was necessary to have their shirts off for this) did a tumbling/karate/breakdancing routine. It was really cool. In the end, the home team pulled out a victory and we headed home after a full, long day, excited for our warm beds;) Pictures of the day as always are posted on snapfish! (www.snapfish.com username: tlswartz@wisc.edu password: snapfish… and remember to click on the PHOTOS tab… my albums are in blue.. my friends are in green!) Only 6 days till spring break!! (but unfortunately, 2 of them are full days of class, and three full days of work ;/)

You know, its days like today you ask yourself… how the hell did I get so lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life? At age 22 (in Australian time.. though only 30 min away from US time too) I really couldn’t ask for more. You’d think being so far away from home on your birthday.. away from family and friends and the boyfriend… that a “birthday” might be a pretty good reason to feel homesick (especially a 22nd birthday.. how depressing! what an old geezer I am!). But despite nine hours of work and three hours of travel time, my birthday away from home was all that I could have ever asked for… and more.

Not only did I get all the best wishes and love from everyone who loves me at home (most of whom even remembered by Australia time), but my new “family” (a slightly demented one.. but we willingly admit it) have helped to make this an unforgettable day…and for that matter, year of my life. To all of my friends and family at home who have continued to love, support and care about me from afar: you are my rock… my life and I cant wait to get back and pick up right where we left off.

But.. in the meantime… I AM SO THRILLED to say that my “family” in Australia are some of THE GREATEST, most THOUGHTFUL people I have EVER MET! They went OUT OF THEIR WAY to make the day of someone they just met not more then 50 days ago……I dont know what moves people to be so generous, and so inherently good, but I am certainly thankful for it. Let me explain who this “family” is. For those of you who know me, I am always being labeled by all my sports teams, friends, etc as the “mom”. I’m a little to responsible, organized, mature, serious…(but also incredibly loving too;)) for my own good. But in my new house, I was FINALLY NOT LABELED A MOM!! (See everyone.. I’m loosening up!) I WAS GIVEN THE ROLE OF: METROSEXUAL DAD!!! YESS!!!! Don’t ask me where this came from, but the six of us roomies sure had a good laugh over it a few days ago. And everyone in the house was assigned their own “role” in the family. Britt is the mom, Alex and Anna are the wild teens and Jen and Bree are the immature, yet fun-loving “kids”. (we are lame I know… but for us, its “home!”.. you gotta do something millions of miles away from everything you know!) So on my 22nd birthday, it was this “family”, along with all of you from home who cared enough to send snail mail, e-cards, and IM love who literally “made my day.”

So, the days events. I started my birthday bright and early (literally) with a 545 wake up call followed by a 1 1/2 hour commute, 9 hour day of work (where I met two NBL players at a publicity function), and another 1 1/2 commute, which brings us right up to about 700pm when I arrive home again… EXHAUSTED but excited for dinner and a movie plans with the roomies. I walk into the house and the door to my room has a huge poster on it and two little balloons decorating the door. I push it open and my room is FILLED with balloons… the entire floor. Somehow, amongst a final exam, 2 presentations, and a full day of work for the other “intern” at the residence… my roomies found the time to blow up 50+ balloons and decorate the house with birthday signs/decor. So unnecessary, but just what I needed after a long day of work. Then, since Thai is my new favorite food, and I get cashew chicken nearly every other day for dinner, I decided that is EXACTLY what my birthday meal was going to be. So all six of us head off to dinner at one of the best Thai resturaunts in the city (and since there are about 100 of them… literally… thats a bold statement!) I go to pull out my money, and they wouldn’t let me pay!! (they aren’t supposed to do that!! only the 410/541 roomates do that!!!) And keep in mind, they were insistent on paying for me after three of them had ALREADY split the cost of my sky-diving dvd/photos for my “birthday”, which were over 100 dollars. WHO DOES THAT!? Why are these girls spending all of their money on me!! Then, two of the girls had to leave after dinner to work on hw, but the rest of us went to Red Eye (loved it.. and laughed the whole way home about it.. (if you’ve seen it.. u know why)).. and then I get home, and all of a sudden there is a cake and candles and singing and a Birthday Card! (signed by everyone in the “family” in their “role”) It was all just incredibly unexpected. Everyone is so busy, we all have mid-terms, spring break is in a week, we are all going broke with all the sight-seeing/trips and these five incredible girls not only spent so much of their money, but more importantly their time, energy and love on me. And i dont know what the hell I did to deserve it. It just really touched my heart.

To all of you back home, I miss you terribly, but your love and best wishes meant the world to me…. even though you couldn’t be here with me, singing, giving me hugs, decorating my room….. The fact that you took the time from your day to think of me and send your best warms my heart. But take comfort in knowing I am with some very special girls. They are doing a hell of a job in your absense… and without them, I would be terribly homesick. So sorry about this gushy blog… (although I’m convinced the only people still reading are my family and nick… and you too mrs. martin!) But if the rest of you are out there and just too shy to post…. sorry about the sentimental nature of this blog. But on my birthday… I can do WHATEVER I WANT! (which would include jumping out of a plane.. but I already did that last week!!!!!) (Pictures of the birthday are on snapfish….. www.snapfish.com username: tlswartz@wisc.edu password: missyou … make sure you click on the PHOTOs tab.. my pictures are in blue, my roomates are in green!)

Hey everyone! I somehow came down with another sinus infection over the last day, so this entry wont be long (because I can barely keep my eyes open at this point and I hear my bed calling from behiend me), but I wanted to update those of you that are still following along about the first day of my internship. I had to leave the house at 700 (so 5:55 wake up call) in order to get to my office by 8:30. (due to the whole bus, train, train system that I need to do to get there). So, when I finally do get there, my boss isn’t even there yet, but the rest of the 18 person staff (seems like SUCH a small number of people to me, consitering they are responsible for coordinating and marketing and financing every single thing having to do with basketball in the entire country!) was, and they were ready to start a by-monthly staff meeting and invited me to join in. They are actually moving offices at the begining of november (to another building in another city) so the meeting was about the floor plan and logistics.

After the meeting, I was given the tour of the office (really small) and introduced briefly to most of the staff (although I walked away not remembering 1/3 of them or their roles) and then was shown by the receptionist how to make media passes to send out to the media so they can get into basketball events. After that, they actually had me doing something pretty awesome, especially consitering it was my first day. I was assigned a player, Lindsay Tait, who is the starting point guard on one of the National Basketball League teams (equivilant to USA’s NBA.. only on a much smaller scale) , The New Zealand Breakers (the only New Zealand team in Australias NBL) . I spent the morning researching him and his team and then had to formulate 12-15 good questions for him for a “question and answers” feature on the NBL website. (It sounds easy to formulate questions for a player… but when you know NOTHING about not only this player, but about any of his teammates, or his team, or any of the other teams, or the LEAGUE its quite challenging!)

So after I came up with my questions I had to show them to my boss (who was quite impressed if I do say so myself) and then was given the number to the New Zealand Breakers office to try and hunt down where I could get a hold of Lindsay Tait. The Breakers (his team) are actually in the Sydney area (they actually play tomorrow night back over at olympic park against one of two sydney NBL teams), so I needed to get either his cell phone or the number of the hotel they were at. So after a few more calls, I was speaking directly with him, asking him my little list of questions;) It was really pretty cool. He also plays for the New Zealand national team that plays at the international level (againts the dream team for example). Also during the afternoon, my boss ditched out early to go to the AFL (aussie rules football league) finals in downtown sydney, so i took it upon myself to ask other co-workers if they needed help and ended up talking with two of them (that appeared to be in their late 20’s.. Jared and Lisa) for about an hour while we folded hundreds of womens bball posters for mailers. Lisa was telling me her and her boyfriend traveled “around the world” (LITERALY). After college they spent a year and 1/2 together traveling around the world… she went to four countires in south america.. in the states she went to DC, las vegas, LA, san fran, san diego, alaska, virginia.. she went to canada, cancun, a TON of countries in europe (france, italy, etc. etc.), and finished in southeast asia with singapore, thiland and the whole bit. UNBELIEVABLE! she said it cost them 40000 (20000 a piece) when it was all said and done. But I thought that was INCREDIBLE! if you take the time to ask about someone elses life, you usually end up finding out SO many unbelievable things!

When it was all said and done, the day was fine. Good, normal job. Nice people. etc. and after an hour and 1/2 commute home, I was WIPED OUT. But I’m just SO bored with the idea of working a 9-5 job like that. I’m sure it would be different not to be an intern and constantly needing to ask..”what do you have for me to do now?” But nothing about that kind of life appeals to me. I really want to be in a job where most of my day is directly interacting with/helping other people as opposed to spending the majority of the day with a computer or stack of papers. So.. the revelation of the day is: I really think I could be a college professor. I know for some of you, the thought of being trapped in academia forever sounds like HELL! But to me, it sounds WONDERFUL, I LOVE to read (and with reading comes LOTS of learning), and write and dont mind speaking in front of large groups of people. Most of the job entails interacting directly with other people, and the hours are not the boring 9-5 block. There is more flexibility. I also dont mind the thought of having to do research and writing text books;) yup.. NERD! Anyways, this entry was much longer then I intended it to be, and horrendeously boring (I appoligize) but I just am not feeling like myself tonight! My sinuses have got the best of me! Hope all is well at home!

This is NOT a joke. On Wednesday, September 7th, 2005 Jen Smoose, Brianna Harris and I went skydiving over the beaches of Australia!! I really appoligize for not telling anyone beforehand…(especially you mom, dad and T) but it was with good reason! I did not want to make anyone needlessly worry about me (or try to talk me out of it!) I figured after I was safely on the ground… no one could be too mad at me for it;) And you know me, I greatly weighed the risk of dying (1/20000)…. and realized I had a better chance getting hit by a car as a foreign pedistrian then jumping out of a plane! But risk or not, Jen, Bree and I decided weeks ago that before we left Australia we were going to hurl ourselves from a plane together…and today was the day.

Now I’m sure many of you are thinking…”what on earth posessed her to do that!” But the reason was simple. I just really wanted to. Sounded like one hell of a time, and since I am not afraid of heights, I thought as long as I was coming over to Australia to be carefree, challenge myself and make the most out of my life, what better way to see the country then from above. Not only that, but before I left the states, my dad gave me a St. Christopher pendent (a gesture that actually really meant a lot to me) and told me it would keep me safe on all my travels. So of course I had it on today and knew I would make it to the ground in one piece. That… and I have WAY to much living left to do. (God and I talked it over.. he told me he had more in store for me). So… enough pleading my case on why jumping was necessary… time to tell the tale of my adventure!

I’ll begin by saying the experience is indescribably BRILLIANT!! A “must do” before you die type of thing. (Although I take no responsibility if you do make the jump and end up being the 1/20000 who plummet to your death!) The journey began the night before when Jen Bree and I spent our evening writing out “just incase” letters, journal entries and emails…”just in case” anything were to happen. The following morning we left instructions with our roomate Britt where she could find these important notes if need be, and were out the door by 8:30 to take a bus to the train station. We rode by train 1 1/2 hours to North Wollongong (doing crossword puzzles and listening to music (“Hanging by a Moment” was my song of choice)) until we arrived at 11:01. After a quick call to “Skydive the Beach,” they sent a van to pick us up and take us to the drop zone.

At the drop zone, the first thing we did was sign wavers which clearly stated, “Skydiving often results in severe paralaysis and/or death.” (no joke) Yet, we cooly laughed it off, gave them our John Handcock and hopped into our hott looking skydive jumpsuits (after paying a pretty penny). Before we had time to finish taking our “we look so hott in these jumpsuit” pictures… a group of completely psychotic men come running into the building yelling for us…. YUP…. our tandem instructors! They were really quite a group…. honestly, if I saw them in a dark alley, i might be tempted to run in the other direction.. but as the lady who worked in the office told us… “you have to be a little crazy to skydive for a living!” And, these men turned out to be INCREDIBLY WONDERFUL people (that is why you never judge a book by its cover).

I quickly, politiely asked my instructor, Adam, if he was going to take good care of me today. He assured me he would b/c he recently fell in love and had too much to lose. I smiled and told him I was in love too;) (probably the only thing this man and I had in common…. that, and the parachute that would guide us both to safety!) After literally a few seconds of going over the position my body was supposed to be in while falling through the air and getting strapped into a harness of sorts, 10 of us (five jumpers and five instructors) were loaded onto a bus to take us to where the planes took off. On this bus ride, I learned that my instructor and I would be jumping first since our weight total was the least!! (don’t ask me why that matters…but someones gotta be first!) We then unboarded the bus and boarded the plane immediately (the trick of the whole day was they never gave you enough time to think for too long) and we began our 25 minute assent to 14000 feet. Our drop height. From there, there was only one way down… and that was a 60 second free fall, followed by a 5-7 minute parachute ride to earth. (Not jumping was not an option… not for me anyways). The whole way up, I was just thinking how wierd it was that I was surprisingly calm. I really wasn’t nervous or freaking out in the least. I was just excited and really wanted to get out there. This jump was about trust… (in a man I just met 20 minutes earlier…. with my life.. but hey… I’ve always been one to have faith in people!)… and trust in God that he would get me to the ground and somehow I just knew he would. Not only that, having the company of two of my best friends, Jen and Bree made the experience all the more worth while.

With the five minute warning, I was told to kneel in front of the door to the plane where i was quickly strapped into the harness of my instructor (VERY SNUGGLY) and with two minutes to go I put on my goggles (which the instructor tightened SUPER tight on my face… these babies were going nowhere!) At one minute the door to the plane was opened and I was looking down at earth and seconds later, Adam and I were tumbling out of the plane towards the ground! It will be IMPOSSIBLE to describe what it felt like to fly through the air.. miles and miles above…. but it DID NOT feel like falling. It was one of those.. “OH MY GOSH…THIS IS ME!” moments where you are trying your best to remember every detail… but its an out of body experience. The 60 seconds went by like 5 seconds…and it literally felt like you were suspended in air. There was no sensation of falling whatsoever. Then, when the parachute was pulled, (my moment of “oh god.. please open”… and i was expecting to get yanked up into the air.. but it really was just a slight lifting up and a relaxing ride to the ground! My instructor even let me steer!

THE BEST PART OF EVERYTHING: ITS ALL ON VIDEO! There was an option to buy a photo/DVD package for a hell of a lot of extra money. I couldn’t allow myself to spend $125 dollars on it above and beyond what it already cost to jump, but my two roomates Jen and Bree (Two of the greatest girls I know) INSISTED I got my experience documented. And by insisted, I mean they told me point blank not getting it wasn’t an option b/c they were going to split the cost of it as a gift for me for my birthday! It was one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me…(for two people I had met only 50 days ago to do something like that for me????) It just really touched my heart. They (along with my other 3 roomates) have made my time here all that I could ever have hoped it would be and more. Without them, I would be incredibly homesick.

But… these pictures and DVD footage Jen and Bree paid for… are easily the WORST DOCUMENTED PICTURES AND FOOTAGE I HAVE EVER SEEN OF MYSELF! Jen (a photography major) blames it on the “fish-eye lense” and the angle of the shots! But the fact that the pictures turned out how they did was perfect. It just wouldnt’ have been right if they turned out any other way. Other then the jump itself, my favorite part of the day was sitting with them in the drop zone afterwards watching the tapes of one another laughing our asses off! (or laughing at ourselves again, even harder, later that evening with our roomate Anna). Jen, Bree and I all agreed we could use the incriminating photos of one another in any way we saw fit for the rest of our lives! (I took full advantage already and posted some good ones of each of them along with me on snapfish! And for any of you who thought I was vain and only post photos I look alright in.. you were SO WRONG!) Nick, you will also take GREAT pleasure in these pictures. You know how you tease me about my big nostrils (all out of love of course).. well.. lets just say the camera (and freefalling at such rapid speeds) AMPLIFIED the width of my nostrils;)! A LOT! (mom.. kinda looks like your drivers liscence photo of old;)!!) But thankfully my face (and the faces of my roomies) returned to normal upon landing;) I hope everyone goes to the sight and gets a good laugh at our expense. Really… please do. (www.snapfish.com username: tlswartz@wisc.edu password: missyou make sure you click on the “photos” tab.. my ablums are in BLUE.. my friends ablums are in GREEN)

So in conclusion… for any of you still reading… skydiving was the experience of a lifetime. It was one of the greatest days I have had in my life (but dont feel to bad about this if you weren’t there… the rest of you at some point were part of one of my other “greatest days”). But Jen, Bree and I will be life long friends after going though this together. But I have a feeling.. even if we didn’t jump out of a plane together… we still would have been lifelong friends anyways;)

Finally–after seven weeks of waiting, I am finally officially interning somewhere. The place: Basketball Australia. The situation actually couldn’t have turned out better (at least from the outset). Today I met with my boss, Marc Howard and instead of a formal interview he took me across the street to the coffee shop, bought me a coffee and we chatted about the position and the organization. But let me back up….

As I have mentioned before, the Basketball Australia office is out at Sydney Olympic Park (literally where the 2000 olympics were held), and Sydney Olympic Park is located in Homebush Bay (Suburb of Sydney)… for those of you in WI, it would be like going from Downtown Milwaukee to Delafield or Hartland. Marc told me to meet him at 3:00, but having nothing to do all day, (and lets be honest here… me being who I am) I decide I want to catch a bus that would allow me to catch what I thought was the appropriate train and if all went well, arrive at 12:01 p.m. at the Olympic Park Station. 3 hours early;) I wasn’t sure how hard it would be to catch the appropriate train…because there are trains that run from Central Station (in downtown Sydney) to Olympic Park, but they run less frequently and not before 9:30 in the morning and not after 5:00pm (which wont be early enough or late enough for work). So, the alternative is taking a train to another city nearby and then taking an express train from that city to Olympic Park. Sounds complicated right? Especially since I have to take a bus from my house to the train station in the first place!

So, little Traci leaves her house at 10:30am to find her way across the many suburbs of Sydney alone.. and low and behold… everything runs like clockwork. I asked the right questions, got on the right trains, read the appropriate signs.. and end up at Olympic Park at 12:01! Go figure;) My next “problem” that I anticipated was finding my way from the train station to the actual office. Before I left the house, I drew myself a map of the city (since I couldn’t print it off my computer) and, turns out, the office was less then a block from the train station! And after locating the exact building (by about 12:10 p.m might I add), I smugly wandered over to a quaint park directly across the street where I took out the lunch I packed for myself and sat in the sunlight for the next 2 1/2 – 3 hours doing my reading. The point of this entire paragraph was simply this: initially, when i found out the internship was all the way at Olympic Park… I was all cranky about it. “Its too far!” “It will be too expensive to travel out there three times a week..” “blah blah blah blah blah….” I whined. Turns out, it was SO easy to get there and not only that, a lot cheaper then I thought. Whats more, I get to work at OLYMPIC PARK! Its such a cool area and I’m SO fortunate I get to work out there!

Not only that, but the organization I am working for is the overarching organization that oversees literally EVERY SINGLE BASKETBALL PROGRAM in the country. No joke. Obviously bball isn’t as big here as in the States, but in order to generate more excitment for the sport and run everything more effectively, all the bball leagues and organizations have come together (the driving business concept for this was “One Basketball”) under the name “Basketball Australia.” (my company). This includes their mens and womens national teams (that compete in the olympics and during the year play against other countries like new zealand, china, etc), and their NBL (national basketball league) (their version of the NBA)… WNBL (womens national bball league)… all their youth basketball programs (including rec and competitive)… wheel chair basketball… EVERYTHING. So its really kinda cool. They dont have college bball here, however, (or any sports teams at all for that matter) b/c their Universities here really emphasize academics and dont have the funding for all the sports like in the US. Each college has “sports clubs” however, but thats it.

Now, here comes the best part. The actual job. Originally, I was supposed to intern three days a week. But two of us “interns” got placed at Basketball Australia, and our manager doesn’t want our schedules to over lap. So I will only be working Tuesdays and Fridays every week, and on Thursdays every other week. (so i get a little extra free time that the other interns dont get.. and our internship coordinator (professor) is aware of this and knows the situation is out of our control, so he doesn’t have a problem with us working less hours for the same amount of credits). NICE. However, I will be working an 8:30 to 5:30 work day (9 hours… ouch).. and with an hour and 1/2 of travel by bus and train each way.. that makes for a 7-7 day. As far as the type of work, it sounds very similar to what I did for Athletic Communications at UW Madison. Above and beyond a bit of clerical work that all interns do everywhere, I will be corresponding with relevant media, setting up press conferences, writing material for newsletters and writing for and updating the Basketball Australia web site. Sounds good to me! Just goes to show you everything works out how its supposed to in the end. Sometimes you just have to be a little more patient, and maybe even deal with rejections and failures along the way for the right opportunity to fall in your lap. My first official day in the office is this Friday. Lets hope I’m this excited after that! (I did bring my camera along today for some pictures… beware.. i had a little bit too much caffeene today!) www.snapfish.com username: tlswartz@wisc.edu password: missyou

So the blogs are getting less frequent, (I appoligize), but Im assuming there are only a small number of people still following along anyways, and those are probably the same people I hear from by email on a regular basis! I wanted to wait to write this one until I had some definite information about the internship to report, and I think I finally do! So here are the academic and social updates for the week.

This week was week six of school and between my first big presentation and second big test, and trying to get things solved with the internship, it was a busy week! The test and presentation went fine in my eyes, but we’ll see what the professors thought of my efforts;) I finally spoke with Marc Howard at One Basketball and it looks like I will be there for sure. I am meeting with him on Tuesday at 3:00 to discuss hours, expectations, and to hear more about the company. Like I mentioned before, “One Basketball” is an organisation (australian spelling of the word.. sorry;)) that houses all of the basketball leagues in the country. (Like their National Basketball league (mens and womens) as well as youth leagues/camps). The offices are at Sydney Olympic Park (the site of the 2000 olympics) which is in Hombush Bay, one of Sydney’s many suburbs. It would probably be a 25 min drive from where I live out there, but since I dont have the luxury of a car (not sure I would want one anyways with the price of gas these days), I will have to take a bus into the city to the train station, and take a train out to the placement. It sounds like a pain, but really, it will give me time to get my reading done, and will force me to explore more of the area then I would have otherwise. So I am very excited to get started! It seems like a great place to work!

Other then the internship and class, this week I spent a LOT of time with my roomates just hanging out. We did not have a major “sight seeing” event planned for this week, but there are pleanty of those left to come. The pocket book needed a break. We did, however, order Thai food from this awesome resturaunt a block from our house (Thai food is my new favorite food) on Tuesday night and brought it back to our house where we watched friends re-runs on one of my roomates computers for the night! (Remember, we don’t have a TV!) Yesterday, I spent the day in the city with some of my roomies and then went to Youth Group for this church I found online, Hillsong. The youth group was INSAINE. There were so many people there (like hundreds), and a live band led praise and worship (with a combination of hard rock and rap songs;)) and then a great youth pastor delivered an awesome message (my favorite part), but the whole experience was just a little bit too intense for me. I did like the message that was preached and it had many important implications for my own life, but I think I will just attend the Sunday morning services from now on, which are a bit more traditional. It was great, however, to see so many young people excited about church and worship, and what was even more interesting was the ethnic diversity of the group. There were lots of different Asian groups represented along with Australians and Americans. I am just looking for ways (other then the bars 24/7) to get out in the community and participate in Australian culture. Its very hard to meet and get to know people in the bar setting, as we all know well;)

This week (week seven of school) is GREAT because I am in one english class, and all english classes are cancelled for the week because the english professors consult with the freshman in their intro classes about big papers they have to do. So I dont have my english lecture on Monday/Wednesday or my english tutorial (discussion) on wednesday. So even though I start work (which will DRASTICALLY shrink my freetime), not having English for the week will help in the adjustment;) And, Jen, Bree and I (who also have english classes) intend to make the most of our Wednesday off… we’ll have something up our sleeves I’m sure;) It is also only 3 weeks from spring break where I’m taking a 10 day trip up the east coast (where its warmer) to hit up all the main tourist hot spots including the great barrier reef. We will be white water rafting, sailing the whitsunday islands, going to frasier island, seeing steve irwin, cliff jumping, the GB Reef, and probably bunji jumping. (its already included in the price of the trip, so we’ll see if i have the guts to go through with it!) http://www.extremeadventures.com.au/ The trip I’m going on is called “One fish two fish”… it should be a great time!

Anyways, I swore I was going to be productive today, but funny how that never happens as planned! Look foward to hearing from all of you soon!

So, I haven’t blogged in quite a while, but there hasn’t been a whole lot of interesting updates! So I’ll just fill everyone in on the week. Tuesday night I went and saw a play at the Sydney Opera House about the life of Judy Garland. It was SUCH a great night. Me and my roomate Brit met before hand to grab a drink at the Opera House Bar which overlooks the harbour. The view of Sydney at night is just INCREDIBLE, but unfortunately, my digital doesn’t take scenery pictures in the dark! We had an interesting confrontation on the 1/2 hour bus ride home from the city to our house, however. A drunk, old, Aborigional women sat across from us and started yelling at us out of nowhere. I cant even type some of the things she called us, because they were just that terrible ! (and lets face it, my grandma reads this blog!) She was like.. “Oh you two are just F****** YANKS!” (among other things). She literally yelled at us for about five minutes straight before we got up and tried to move away from her, and then she lunged at us.. and other passengers on the bus jumped in to defend us and the bus driver radioed for help and dropped her off in front of the police station! It was even more dramatic then I have the ability to make it sound online too! it was like nothing I have ever experienced! This lady literally took a lifetime of anger out on Britt and I in her drunken stooper! Good thing we have thick skin;)

No new world on the internship. My coordinator is looking to place me at One Basketball, which an overarching organization that houses all the australian basketball leagues (so their version of the NBA and WNBA). This week, however, the contact I needed to be in touch with was at some big tournament in Cairns, so, everything has been on hold until he returns. The problem is, their offices are about an hour away from where I live. So I will have to take a bus into the Central Train Station in the city, and then take a train out to my job and back every single day, but hopefully if I end up there, it will be worth the trip! It sounds fun anyways…..

Other then that, I’ve just been burried in school work this week, as I have a test and presentation this Wednesday. I did manage to go out downtown on Saturday night, however, with some of my roomates and our friend Danielle. I haven’t been drinking much since I’ve been here b/c its really expensive and I dont want to do anything stupid while I’m out…(there is just WAY to much to lose in being drunk and careless 😉 )… but the roomies dragged me out for a late night on the town and I had a BLAST! We went to a popular, tri-level bar called “The Orient” right near the harbour. Australians LOVE their american 80’s music, and we just got down to all our 80’s favorites (and a few early 90’s) all night long! (foot loose, livin on a prayer, brown eyed girl, I will survive, summer of 69, greece.. just to name a few!) We danced so hard and so long, not only was I sweating, but, I got home and my ankle was kinda sore, so I took off my high heal boots, and sure enough, swollen left ankle! Now thats a good night out! (pics are online at snapfish.. www.snapfish.com username: tlswartz@wisc.edu pasword: missyou)