Hint!

The post below this one starts at the end of the day and goes up from the bottom. So scroll down and read from the bottom up, (so the days go in order!) okay and if no one needed this tip then just ignore me and my voices!

My Update on my trip thus far

Tuesday, March 10th Classes and my first Tuts of the semester. Realized the world is a lot smaller then expected

Monday, March 9th Classes and planned stuff for our april break and our trip to cairns

Sunday, March 8th

Saturday, March 7th Gay Mardi Gras - public arrest, a couple fighting with cops, getting pushed in a huge mob of crazy people. Dominatrix style floats with naked people getting "beaten".

Friday, March 6th - Coggee Beach- where i got knocked over by a wave and landed on my tail bone and i think bruised my ass in the process.

Thursday, March 5th Classes


Wednesday, March 4th Classes and Shoko's 21st Birthday - Dinner, Pregamming with yummy mud cake, went to the "three wise monkies" pub, Shoko got dragged on stage by singer of cover band and he annoced to the entire pub that she had never kissed an australian man. i dont think her boyfriend was impressed upon hearing of this later on. (although i do believe australian girls are infact, allowed). Got my sprained foot stepped on by a really REALLY drunk middle aged women i now have a scab/scare where the bitch stommped serveral times. Although she later proceeded to fall flat on her ass and could not get up for a while, i was ammused. I wish i could have hit her but fighting gets you kicked out. (I'm just a little bitter about this)

Tuesday, March 3rd Classes and went to "Of Montreals" concert

Monday, March 2nd Classes Started


Sunday, March 1st

Saturday, February 28th- Bondi Beach managed to sprain my ankle while playing in the water and get burned on my back, even though i was laying on my back most of the time. :/

Friday, February 27th The Zoo (so much to talk about that i wont even start describing until the full post! zoo = AMAZING <3)

Thursday, February 26th Masquarade (?)

Wednesday, February 25th

Tuesday, February 24th O-week, but i'm losing a day somewhere around here because i could have sworn i went to the O-week stuff on a monday but my monday's arent adding up so who knows? Saw "He's just not that into you" in the nicest theathers in the world. America needs to update!!


Monday, February 23rd- Went to Target (not as good as homes), some random shopping, rode a travelelator (its like an escalator but flat). Went to a yummy italian joint, and a bar crawl.

From this point forth i will just fill in some of the blanks of the days and return to update in further detail at a later time. for full discriptions of the activities that occured check back later. This is simply because i've been at this for a while and i'm losing days and miss-placing events in my mind. I'll either edit this post are throw in a new post. I'm hoping to not have to try to keep track of 4 weeks in a single post and remember to do this relatively regularly. :fingers crossed: Umm and if no one is reading this then the voices in my head will appritate the sentiment. Umm if days are left blank its because in my current state i could not recall the activities in which i participated in, but i'm sure that i did participate, once i remember what they are. :D

Sunday, February 22nd- Again did not do too much, went to the gym, got a horrrible tasting wrap from a place on King St. and hung around and went to bed early like an old person (i think).

Saturday, February 21st- Don't believe i did anything to exciting that i can recall and i dont think i went out, was currently feeling a bit out of place and rather nostaligic of geneseo and missing having lots of people to call up and harass to play with me but, oh well. It passed and i got over it and moved on.


Friday, February 20th- Went to the gym in the morning which wasn't to bad if not a little small and forgot a towel :/ and they charge about 3 dollars ( i think ) to lend one out so i just did some cardio and headed back to my room. Then around noon i headed out to Sydney Harbor and the Royal Botanical Gardens. We had lunch in this relatively cute reasturant right on the harbor and when we finished lunch we headed to take a look at the "coat hanger" the bridge that you see in all the pictures thats behind the opera house, and the Syndey Opera House itself. Where we acted like tourists and took a billion and a half (to be exact) pictures of both the bridge and the opera house. I will HOPEFULLY get to climb the bridge, its about 200AUD about which isnt to bad. We then went past the opera house and into the royal botanical gardens where we were told to speak to the plants, hug the trees, walk on the grass, and speak to the birds. Since the majority of the birds were Ibisis i avoided them, they scare me! However, there were random cockatoo's chilling with the ducks and the large scary birds so that wasn't to bad.

We then walked past some huge bamboo shoots and large palm trees and some lots of purty tropical flowers (pictures avilable on facebook). There were a million different places through out the gardens and we didnt get to see all of it but lots of things were seen and while walking to some place, can't recall where we were headed, we heard loud screeching noises and were very confused until we looked up to see trees upon trees full of bats. Fruit bats to be exact and they were absolutely terrifying, and some would fly about randomly and i do believe i had a few mild heartattacks, and they were all over the place so you couldn't really get anywhere with out passing a few trees full of these lovely little creatures.

In addition to these bats, and the large scary birds they have HUGE spiders just giant creepy 8 legged, 6 eyed creepy crawly things. And if we know anything about me at all its my abnormal fear of spiders thus and so this trip while pleasent and nice weathered and warm was full of me being freaked out by said birds, bats, and spiders..oh my!

On a happier note, While at the rose gardens we saw this beautiful wedding that was ending (the ceramony part at least) and everyone was wearing red and white and the roses were all blooming and it was just very pretty and rather enjoyable.

There was also a tree where if you walked around it once you could make a wish because some trees have spirits and such. So that was cool as well.

That night i went to club called the "purple sneaker" and it was very hipster-ish. With lots of boys in tight pants and bright shirts and girls in large glasses and the like. Of course the occasional random large man who was there by himself in the middle of the crowd being creepy but we ignored those. I didnt stay out too too late since i was rather tired from the night, but i had a cranberry and vodka, not the best i've had but not terrible, hung out and danced for a bit, watched a fight get broken up and headed on home, after a stop for pizza. At which random australian men asked me and 2 of the girls to pose for pictures because we were american which is odd since they looked just like us :/. Oh well, what can you do!

Thursday, February 19th - Don't really remember to many details :/ lol from this day (i think i went to rebel sporting goods and kmart and bought some goods that i had been needing and i think that was the extent of my excitment for the day). At night however we went to the International student party at one of the two bars on campus. Manning bar, and hung out for a bit, I got a redbull vodka for like $9 :/ and then we hung out for a little bit but it was on the lamish side and the vast majority of the time we were there, a dance off of sorts was occuring so we didnt sit around to witness to much more of that and proceded to head out to bars on King St. We went with Shoko and Dilyana (will be known as Di from here on out) and her friend Mini, and Mini's friends Kristina, Kristen, Leah, Jasmine, and Cassy to a bar called Kellys. For some reason Thursday nights are very slow around here and not to many people go out. But Kellys had kareokee so the girls sang "99 problems but a bitch ain't one", By Jay-Z. And some creepers hit on Di, like a man in his 40s i think told her she'd look good topless on a beach :/. Anyway, got another vodka redbull ($11!!) and that was it for my night of drinking since i'm poor and 20 bucks on two drinks, even with the conversion is kinda pricey). We then went to Marly bar but the place was dead so we headed home probably around 2 am -ish.

Wednesday, February 18th - Took a walk to Darling Harbor from the main campus, which is about a half hour walk in real time but we went around all these random places and it took about an hour and a half or so, not to bad. We went with two guys from colorful trips (or something of that sort, one of the travel agencies and that presented during orientation). And they told us some fun facts about Australia, such as the fact that koala's have shrunk their brains down so that they dont use as much energy and therefore sleep more, about 20 plus hours a day. or that if a kangaroo (i believe) is pregnant and is not getting enough food / water / whatever will put her pregnancy on hold and then when she is capable of getting more nutrients starts the pregnancy up. Also, emu's and kangaroos are the only creatures that cannot walk /hop backwards. Then we stopped by a pub that did hermit crab racing which seemed interesting and were told by our tour guide (Bob) that Australians love to gamble (suprise suprise) and thats why they have silly gambling things like hermit crab racing. And thats why they dont have huge places like vegas...but a lot of pubs/bars make a lot of money off of slot machines.

We got to Darling harbor and got a card to get a free drink at a bar called Cargo Bar (which at night turns into a dance club.) The bar over looked the Harbor and was mostly open to the elements and i had a nice cup of white wine and chatted with another girl from my program, her name is Shoko and she also does not attend brockport (anyone senseing a pattern?), and one of her friends Dilyana who is Balgarian but attends Harvard. After drinks and chatting we walked around and found a nice place to get dinner where i got Chicken Shnitzal (which is breaded and then fried chicken) with some chips (fries). It was very good and i'm a fan. Although they rarely have ketchup here, they call it tomatoe sauce and in most places they charge you any where from 25cents to 45cents for a side of it. (there are pictures on facebook, and eventually there will be some on shutterfly of Darling Harbor and all that jazz)

We then walked back to the village while stopping to get chocolate at a convience store on the way and asking directions back home.

Tuesday, February 17th - Went to the second day of orientation which offered information of the usage of the gym, surf camps, different travel agencies to travel with, surf camps and swimming safety, and enrollment (which i offered more information about in said previous post). I am taking: Media in Contemporary Society from a sociological aspect which is rather interesting thus far. Human Rights and Social Protest which is also interesting and the tutorials (which will be explained at length later on) make me feel not so smart :/. Australia: Land and Nation, which i'm taking because I figure if I'm already in this country I might as well learn something about it besides where the best pubs and shopping are. Graphic Design: which does not involve computers of any sort so thats just odd but oh well its a fun three straight hour block of time. After enrollment i signed up for the gym (which i have not been able to attend recently which blows..again more later). And got my student ID card, and my phone set up and running, and then got my internet up after a 30 minute chat with the IT guy, very nice man by the way. I then believe i proceeded to get dinner and hang out for a bit before going to sleep.

Monday, February 16th - Arrived in Syndey and went to the first day of orientation which I discussed in detail in the previous post. so look there for more information. :)

What I should have posted about 4 weeks ago!

I got in about 7:50 am on Monday the 16th and got off my 13.5 hour flightlooking like a mess went through customs and baggage checking and all that jazz, took a taxi ($30.10) to the Sydney University Village. Checked in, payed almost $200 for pillows, a blanket, ugly 80's sheets and an ugly 80's comforter (i'll post pictures later); and a preused towel (which I have thus far only used to go to the beach cause it kinda creeps me out). Showered, and was about to head into orientation (for all the exchange kids) when I ran into 2 girls from the brockport program, neither of which attend brockport. They're flight was later than mine and this was already some where around 11ish. SO they get checked in and we decided to meet after they showered to head to orientation. Then as i was getting my photo taken for my room key (its a card...they use cards for everything..and not the same one, i have one for my gym, one for myroom/building, one for student id..etc). I met a guy named Drew, from south Carolina who came alone so we adopted him.

So we went to lunch..which had wierd and not good tasting food (except the fresh fruit was yummy). and then went to some part of the orientation and left.We came back to our rooms, (Drew, Cayla and I are in studios and Michelle is in a 5 person flat). And drew went to sleep and the girls and i unpacked. Then michelle, cayla and i went up to King Street, which is about a 2 minute walk from our dorms and found a $2 store which smelled funny and I bought some coat hangers, bowls, cups, tissues and a winebottle opener. Then we went to an internet cafe, got some pizza and bought alcohol (SKYY cost $35...alcohol here is very expensive except for wine and even still its pricey). We were going to go out but fell asleep!

I have yet to see, let alone pet a Kangaroo. They have a lot of Ibises awhite bird with a long black beak (see below). Today we went to all our orientations found out our classes and how to register (as international students we have to go through their office, and for add/drop we have to go to each prof to do so.) There are NO caps on their classes they just add more sections if need be, so unless you need a prereq. to get into classes you can get in no problem. The only wierd thing is for your time tables they pick which section your in if you open your timetable and like it, you HAVE to print it there and then otherwisethe next time you open it, the time table will have changed. I have til the 2nd of march and then theres a shopping week where i can go to any lecture sit in on it and pick if i want to go. There classes here are alot harder and an 85 is very hard to get so they generally aim for just PASSING (which fortunately is my goal since grades dont transfer). They have some fun classes to like australia outdoors, and Australia through sports.

Here everything is wicked expensive Sydney uni makes you pay as i said perMB of your internet service if you're not on the schools website..so no youtube, or skype, or videos or major pictures of any sort so all that will be via internet cafes and such. a gym membership was expensive and 2 slices of pizza and a soda was like 10 AUD so no complaining about MIAS! lol i Think thats the jist of my experiances here and i'll update my blog a little later on and i'll probably detail that a bit better.

"Ernest Hemingway was once prodded to compose a complete story in six words. His answer, personally felt to be his best prose ever, was "For sale: baby shoes, never used." Some people say it was to settle a bar bet. Others say it was a personal challenge directed at other famous authors."

I recall Amanda mentioning reading something to this effect last semester and when I stumbled across it tonight I just had to post it, if to simply remember it later on. Google "six word story" and see some of the things that come up. Some are funny and some are sad and some just are.

So I guess the voyage began today, in a manner of speaking. I flew out of Rochester at 630 this morning and arrived in San Jose at 11am (their time...2pm est). I'm hanging out at my brothers house until Saturday when I leave for Australia at 1030 pm. Arriving in Sydney at 805 (their time) on the 16th. I got here and showered because I hate the memory of the plane so did that, drank wine and sat around and did very little. So here my voyage starts, listening to some cross cultural music of some sort after my 4th or so glass of California wine (yum), and my first cup of tea. Since I'm going on approximate one hour of sleep and some airplane sleep (i.e. shutting my eyes to wake up to a flight attended asking me questions). I intend to pass out out now...will update more if anything arises until then here' to California grapes!
:sings California here i come in my head:

Quotes

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
~Mark Twain

“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things - air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky - all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.”
~Cesare Pavese

“People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home.” ~Dagobert D. Runes

"Have you ever looked at a picture of yourself and seen a picture of a stranger? Makes you wonder how many strangers have pictures of you?"
~One Tree Hill