I flew into Uluru, or Ayers Rock, today, which is in Northern Territory, Australia, and is about a five hour drive from the nearest city, Alice Springs. So it is literally, in the middle of nowhere. I had come to terms with not coming out here because the flights are so expensive, but I am SOO glad I changed my mind. It's amazing to just be. There's so much going on in the city that you don't get a chance to just be.
I went on a tour called The Sounds of Silence tonight. The resort area is obviously in the middle of nowhere since Uluru is smack dab in the middle of the bush, but our dinner destination was even further out. We drove for about ten minutes straight out into the wilderness on a dirt road. When we arrived, we climbed up the red dirt path (they call this place the "red centre" and it's rightfully named b/c the dirt isn't brown or even orange..it is RED) to a small plateau overlooking Ayers Rock on one side and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) on the other. There, they gave us all the champagne we could drink and delicious crocodile, kangaroo, and salmon hors d'oeuvres. We had an Australian man playing the didjeridu, which he has done for this specific tour for 10 years. He took the time to explain to us the way the instrument is made in nature (termites hollow out the tree trunks) and how to play it. He was selling CD's, so I decided to get one (as I wanted one anyway, and figured it would be best to get one by an artist I had enjoyed live). It cost $30 freaking dollars though!! But, we talked for quite a while, and he was a very nice man with interesting stories..so it made up for the astronomical cost of his CD. Plus his grandparents were Aboriginal and Irish, so I related to that since I have Irish and Native American ancestors.
After watching the sunset, we walked down the other side of the hill to the "dining room" (although I feel weird about calling something with no walls a room). They gave us more and more wine, and we had a HUGE buffet. I got a crocodile caesar salad (AMAZING), some baby potatoes, kangaroo meat, lamb cutlet, and jasmine rice. After dinner, they turned off the space heaters and blew out the candles on our tables (which was the only light there), and you would not believe the night sky. I never realized how even when I go camping and think I'm seeing a beautiful sky how much light pollution is still present. You can't go ANYWHERE in America and be as far out in the middle of nowhere as I just was...at least not that I know of. Because like I said, there are about four resorts (one of which is a campgrounds and doesn't really count) in the area, and other than that the next nearest modern civilization is a five hour drive away.
I saw all these constellations that the Aboriginals formed their legends around, half the horoscope constellations (the other half aren't visible until later in the night, but I saw scorpio VERY WELL which was all that really mattered to me), and the milky way! The milky way was ACTUALLY visible...obviously visible..like a large creamy marble striped across the sky.
It was incredible. No, that doesn't even begin to cover it. Please, before you don't have the chance travel somewhere out of the norm..see something you never could have even imagined. I know America is great and there is plenty of variety to see, but don't rest in your comfort zone. Travel across the world to a place where you can't follow the north star home, where you can easily see Venus, Mars, and Saturn with your naked eye all lined up in a row, where you can be in touch with nature at all. Use your privilege of being born American to do some good for yourself. Test your limits. Go see something! I promise you won't regret it.
I wined and dined with Americans, French, and Italians tonight listening to the oldest woodwind instrument in the world on land that has been lived on by Aboriginal peoples for tens of thousands of years...When you have experiences like this you can't help but feel completely connected to every living thing. You just feel so alive, and like you're sharing it with every other living creature that has and will ever live. It's beautiful.
So get off your ass and do something! Don't use anything as an excuse. I'm one of the busiest people I know and I'm broke as a joke, and I'm doing something! So please, do something. You won't regret it...I promise!
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Apologies if my passion came across a bit...er, strong..haha Did I mention how much champagne and wine they gave us?? :P
Today I meandered around a small portion of the base of Ayers Rock for about 2 1/2 hours. I got a bunch of cool pictures I can't wait to upload, but unfortunately all the coolest stuff was off-limits for photographing b/c they're extremely spiritual sites for the Aboriginals.
Tomorrow, I am doing a sunrise tour and a guided cultural tour/walk around Uluru and a sunset tour at Kata Tjuta! FULL day! The first tour is 6:15 AM-noon, and the second is like 2:30-7 or 8ish I'm assuming..And then I check out at ten the next day to leave for Auckland! So, I might not have internet access til I get back to Sydney next week, but I hope to get bunches of comments, FB messages, and emails in the mean time! <3
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Spontaneous Vacation!
My boss gave me next week off, so I leave tomorrow bright and shiny in the morning to Uluru til Tuesday, and then I carry on to Auckland, NZ til Sunday! :)
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
I Come From A Land Up Over
Today was reportedly the "coldest day in Sydney in 25 years," and my heater broke a few days ago...I'm freezing my patookie off! It's strangely nice to be freezing though; I haven't felt freezing in quite some time. Winter time means blankets which means cozy, and I love cozy! :) I'm trying to find a good recipe for hot apple cider, so if anyone has one I'd love it if you shared.
I'm really glad I'm enjoying the cold weather though, because pretty much anywhere I wind up for grad school is likely to be much colder than New Orleans. Speaking of grad school, I accomplished a huge feat today: I finished going through all 306 American Psychological Association accredited PhD programs today! I've narrowed it down to 13 definite's, 15 maybe's, and 9 in-between (what I have coined "very maybe's").
Since the last time I wrote, I've done a few pretty cool day trips. I took a ferry from Darling Harbour out to a section of Sydney called Manly. There were beautiful beaches, incredibly high cliffs, Darling Harbour National Park's gorgeous foliage, and historical military sites. I went with one of my friend's, Katy, after our tour guide to the Blue Mountains abandoned us (I'll explain more in a bit). It was a spontaneous decision of mine to go there for the day, and it was quite possibly the best site-seeing day I've had since I've been here. I got some beautiful jewelry from a local artist, and stopped at an office supply store called Smiggle!! At smiggle, I bought a water bottle (I lost my camelbak somewhere in the airport, so I desperately needed a new one) and some highlighters that smell fruity! When I went down to the beach, Katy and I met some extremely tan, 50 or 60-somethin year old men in speedos who asked us to go for a run and swim with them, and then they'd take us to brekkie. Haha! We politely declined, and began our hike up the cliffs and through the national park. It was such a beautiful day.
I had signed up for a guided tour to the Blue Mountains the day I wound up in Manly, but somehow the tourguide didn't get our names (there was six of us) on his roll call. So, after waiting at our pickup location for an hour and fifteen minutes, we finally gave up. When we called the travel agency, they repeatedly apologized, and we told them we could go the next day. So, we finally made it up to the Blue Mountains! There are these three long, vertical boulders directly next to one another, called The Three Sisters. The legend is that these three sisters were the daughters of an Aboriginal equivalent of a medicine man. He had discovered how to siphon the energy of the universe into magic, which he used to encapsulate his daughters in stone to protect them from an invading enemy who wanted to take them as his wives. The medicine man then turned himself into a bird, a bird which like a mockingbird can imitate the noises around him. He is trying to listen to enough human language to be able to re-learn the words that will free his daughters from the stone. (Technically, there are several variations to the story, but that one's my favorite!) I took a skyrail down the mountains into the rainforest, where I walked around a boardwalk amongst the most amazing trees I've ever seen. The branches formed these long, skinny vines that were in tangled bunches everywhere. Being the treehugger that I am, I never wanted to leave that forested boardwalk. There were far too many people down there with me though, chattering away about unrelated, unimportant things, and it broke my heart. However, rather than having a hissy fit that not everyone is so tree-obsessed or that they weren't sharing in my religious moment with nature, I just blasted Mazzy Star from my ipod and did my best to tune everyone else out. And you know what, it worked! I think I have too many hissy fits; I'm going to chill out more often.
The train I took back up the mountain was at a 52 degree angle. They pulled us up backwards, and I was terrified that when I got to the top they were going to drop us like on rollercoasters. It was soo steep!! Immediately after, we went to another area in the mountains, where there was some great hiking and lookout spots. There were several waterfalls and mountains as far as you could see. On the way home, we drove past some protected land, and we happened to see some wild kangaroos and emus!
I've had amazing weekends since I've been here, but last week I realized that my fatigue has been preventing from enjoying weeknights. So last week, I went to dinner with my coworkers twice and out with my housemates to see Toy Story 3D in the biggest IMAX theater in the world! By the way, if you haven't seen the final chapter of Toy Story yet, go immediately! It was the perfect ending, and all of us literally had to choke back tears.
We, meaning the Americans in the house, are planning on having a big party for the 4th of July to show all our new international friends what it's all about. Oh, and I'm going on a wine tour through Hunter Valley, and going to a big birthday extravaganza. So, I should have lots of fun stories after this weekend. Everyone, shoot off some fireworks for me on the 4th, because although we're going to celebrate, I highly doubt we'll be able to get our hands on any of those.
I'm really glad I'm enjoying the cold weather though, because pretty much anywhere I wind up for grad school is likely to be much colder than New Orleans. Speaking of grad school, I accomplished a huge feat today: I finished going through all 306 American Psychological Association accredited PhD programs today! I've narrowed it down to 13 definite's, 15 maybe's, and 9 in-between (what I have coined "very maybe's").
Since the last time I wrote, I've done a few pretty cool day trips. I took a ferry from Darling Harbour out to a section of Sydney called Manly. There were beautiful beaches, incredibly high cliffs, Darling Harbour National Park's gorgeous foliage, and historical military sites. I went with one of my friend's, Katy, after our tour guide to the Blue Mountains abandoned us (I'll explain more in a bit). It was a spontaneous decision of mine to go there for the day, and it was quite possibly the best site-seeing day I've had since I've been here. I got some beautiful jewelry from a local artist, and stopped at an office supply store called Smiggle!! At smiggle, I bought a water bottle (I lost my camelbak somewhere in the airport, so I desperately needed a new one) and some highlighters that smell fruity! When I went down to the beach, Katy and I met some extremely tan, 50 or 60-somethin year old men in speedos who asked us to go for a run and swim with them, and then they'd take us to brekkie. Haha! We politely declined, and began our hike up the cliffs and through the national park. It was such a beautiful day.
I had signed up for a guided tour to the Blue Mountains the day I wound up in Manly, but somehow the tourguide didn't get our names (there was six of us) on his roll call. So, after waiting at our pickup location for an hour and fifteen minutes, we finally gave up. When we called the travel agency, they repeatedly apologized, and we told them we could go the next day. So, we finally made it up to the Blue Mountains! There are these three long, vertical boulders directly next to one another, called The Three Sisters. The legend is that these three sisters were the daughters of an Aboriginal equivalent of a medicine man. He had discovered how to siphon the energy of the universe into magic, which he used to encapsulate his daughters in stone to protect them from an invading enemy who wanted to take them as his wives. The medicine man then turned himself into a bird, a bird which like a mockingbird can imitate the noises around him. He is trying to listen to enough human language to be able to re-learn the words that will free his daughters from the stone. (Technically, there are several variations to the story, but that one's my favorite!) I took a skyrail down the mountains into the rainforest, where I walked around a boardwalk amongst the most amazing trees I've ever seen. The branches formed these long, skinny vines that were in tangled bunches everywhere. Being the treehugger that I am, I never wanted to leave that forested boardwalk. There were far too many people down there with me though, chattering away about unrelated, unimportant things, and it broke my heart. However, rather than having a hissy fit that not everyone is so tree-obsessed or that they weren't sharing in my religious moment with nature, I just blasted Mazzy Star from my ipod and did my best to tune everyone else out. And you know what, it worked! I think I have too many hissy fits; I'm going to chill out more often.
The train I took back up the mountain was at a 52 degree angle. They pulled us up backwards, and I was terrified that when I got to the top they were going to drop us like on rollercoasters. It was soo steep!! Immediately after, we went to another area in the mountains, where there was some great hiking and lookout spots. There were several waterfalls and mountains as far as you could see. On the way home, we drove past some protected land, and we happened to see some wild kangaroos and emus!
I've had amazing weekends since I've been here, but last week I realized that my fatigue has been preventing from enjoying weeknights. So last week, I went to dinner with my coworkers twice and out with my housemates to see Toy Story 3D in the biggest IMAX theater in the world! By the way, if you haven't seen the final chapter of Toy Story yet, go immediately! It was the perfect ending, and all of us literally had to choke back tears.
We, meaning the Americans in the house, are planning on having a big party for the 4th of July to show all our new international friends what it's all about. Oh, and I'm going on a wine tour through Hunter Valley, and going to a big birthday extravaganza. So, I should have lots of fun stories after this weekend. Everyone, shoot off some fireworks for me on the 4th, because although we're going to celebrate, I highly doubt we'll be able to get our hands on any of those.
Excuse My Absence
Oh, my poor, sad little blog!! I know I have been neglecting it, but honestly I don't see how people find the time to live a full life AND have the energy to chronicle it. I have tons to write about, but I'm always too worn out when I get home. I finally feel like writing now, but it's 1 AM. My writing-brain only turns on at inappropriate, late times, and only when I have something to do early the next morning. So, I am going to put off the next post for just a LITTLE longer, in hopes of putting an end to my chronic fatigue and the accompanying writer's block.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
A Royal Affair
Ow! My bloody, aching feet! And no, I haven't begun using Aussie slang this early on in the game, I mean I'm blistered to the point of hemorrhage. I decided to wear pumps to work today. I wore them on my first day of work, last Thursday, but was smart enough to keep them in my purse for the commute. I have a ten minute walk to the bus, followed by a ten minute bus ride, and completed with another ten minute walk to my office. Now I know that that is long enough to need to wear flipflops or some other comfy shoe for the walk. I have no idea how I'm going to wear shoes tomorrow, my feet are raw! Bleh!
Despite, today's distraction of constant foot pain, work is only getting better and better. My boss (Adam) is great; he's the kind of guy who jokes around with everyone and makes everyone feel important, all whilst having this air about him that makes it impossible not to respect and be slightly intimidated by him. He currently has five PhD students who are all working on super interesting research. Lucky for me, I get the opportunity to help with all of it if I want to, which I do. The first group I'll be assisting with is led by two doctors, Adam & Pat, and one of the PhD students, Nigel, and is focused on social anxiety disorder. I got to participate in the study as a control, I've been reading up on the topic, and today I spent the day organizing data. One of the last people working on the study, recorded a lot of data into the eye-tracker system, but it was all a mess. I have basically had to re-do everything, which is super tedious, but I'm excited to be able to basically start the project from the beginning.
My first, long weekend in Sydney was amazing! We all had Monday off for the Queen's birthday. :) Friday night, everyone in the house chipped in $7, and our house managers, Virginia & Dusan, cooked us an exquisite three course meal. We had goulash, which was the best soup I've ever had, an AMAZING chicken and rice, and a fruity dessert. It was my first time since being in Australia that I felt full and with a very happy, satisfied belly. I really enjoyed the time getting to know all my housemates too. And the next day, we went down to Bondi Beach and then did the cliff walk along all the other beaches in that area. It was a really long day and everyone was exhausted, but it was so worth it! It's been a long, long time since I've seen anything so beautiful. The pictures came out so well, but don't even come close to giving the real thing justice.
Sunday was a great day of site-seeing, with a trip to Wildlife World and the Sydney Aquarium. Wildlife World was swarming with all the local Australian creatures. The koalas surprised me with their adorableness, which I'd never previously agreed with. Conversely, the kangaroos were super boring, and appeared super mean. Funny enough, the majority of them sat around scratching their balls all day. The aquarium, after having swam on the great barrier reef a week before, was rather disappointing. All the aquariums I've been to in the States have been leaps and bounds more entertaining. Oh well!
Australia played Germany in the World Cup on Sunday at 4:30 AM local time...well, I guess technically 4:30 would mean it was Monday. After seven hours of galavanting around Sydney, I knew I'd never make it til 4:30 in the morning, so I took a nap from 6:30-11:30. I was so cozy, I didn't think I'd ever get out of bed. I finally forced myself to get up, and thank god, because I had an amazing...morning! haha! I rolled back into bed around 7:30-8, and slept almost all of Monday away.
Sorry, if this post totally sucks. I have a new obsession with Grey's Anatomy, thanks to Morgan, and I can't stop watching! Including while writing this post..haha Sorry! Oh, and there's a bunch of pictures up on Facebook, and those of you who don't have an account should still be able to see them. If you're in this boat, leave me a comment with your email address, and I'll send you the link.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Acclimation
I was sitting talking with some of the other Park Lodge residents, and realizing how weird a life I've lived. I used to complain that I had missed out on "normal" life experiences, because as a teen I didn't experiment with drugs and alcohol like many of my peers, or because I didn't sneak out, or go to crazy parties, or get detentions. I'd hear all these adults talking about the crazy shit they did in high school, reminiscing the good ol' days. It took me a while, but I now understand that the reason those people tell stories about their crazy times in high school is because that was the highlight of their lives and they're trying to relive it through their memories. I am soo incredibly happy that I didn't have a normal upbringing and that people think I'm an odd duck, because the last thing I'd want is to be "normal" and have to relive my past to be happy. Sure, it's strange that I've moved 25 times in my life, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I can relate to almost every single other American on my program because I've lived or visited near where they do or wherever they're telling a story about. When I get home, I'm going to be the weirdo who spent my summer in Australia's winter, rather than going to Europe like everyone else. And here, I'm the weirdo who feels significantly safer in Sydney than her home town, and has never taken a city bus, not because my city is too small to need to, but because they're too unsafe. I was talking to one of my co-workers today when I went to go tour the office (still don't start til Thursday) about how I feel a bit more comfortable in Sydney than others in my program simply because New Orleans isn't terribly "American." He, having just visited New Orleans a few weeks before, said he completely understood, and also told me he and a bunch of his buddies agreed that there were only three cities worth mentioning in America: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans.
I haven't had any culture shock yet, although there are some slight differences I've been admiring. The city is impeccably clean, except in the residential areas where the dogs seem to really enjoy taking a shit on the footpaths (aka sidewalks). There's certainly the hustle and bustle of a city, but people have no problem stopping to give you directions and they return friendly smiles as you pass one another on the street. The sirens are just slightly off key from ours, almost as if it were battery-operated and said battery was starting to die. Everyone has these adorable little toddlers that they cart around in strollers identical to what American toddlers use solely for their babydolls. In the morning, Sydney smells of freshly baked bread everywhere you go, and Asian cuisine dominates the restaurant scene. There's a surprising number of people wandering around the city during the day hours, yet they in no way appear homeless. In fact, there aren't many homeless or crazy street people at all.
I'm staying at this adorable old Victorian house that's been split into 22 rooms and houses a maximum of 50 people. Currently there's only about 30 of us, and it should stay around that number all winter. We had a house meeting tonight, so we all got to meet each other. It was nice, because up until tonight I had met less than a handful of people in the building NOT associated with AustraLearn. Minutes before I had been talking to Morgan on Facebook about how I was never going to make any friends, because I was going to have to make them off the street and that's far too sketchy and I'd never be able to do it. I was just being crazy though, because I've made a dozen friends through AustraLearn. Yes, I came over here to hang out with Australians, but who ever said I can't also have American friends? And tonight after the meeting I hung out with some Australians staying in the house (who I'd actually already met), another American guy from some other program, an Irish guy who crazy resembles my dad, and this French guy. Poor Mathieu (the French one) doesn't know much English, and everyone was just rambling along not trying to include him in conversation at all. Even when they would try to talk to him, they spoke super quickly and with words and phrases very English in nature. I decided he will be my motivation to do my Rosetta Stone and learn French, and I even asked him if he'd help me practice. I feel like the French are a very understood people, the vast majority of the French people I've met have been nothing short of wonderful. Canadians too! I guess I just like rooting for the underdog haha!
I will now bring you on a virtual tour of my building (albeit, my bedroom which I have yet to unpack and is an utter pigsty!) It's a three-story house, and I'm on the top floor in #33. There's a front staircase and a back staircase. I pretty much just take the back stairs because they're closer to my room and all our common areas (Plus, I've always liked houses with two staircases, and the back stairs excite me because I feel they're more secretive.) The back stairs are right by the back door, and once you exit the kitchen is an attached room directly to your right, followed by a patio with attached room containing the washer and dryer. After the patio area there's an unattached room we use as a lounge, which has digital cable, a playstation, some travel books, and three bookshelves full of old VHS tapes.
I haven't had any culture shock yet, although there are some slight differences I've been admiring. The city is impeccably clean, except in the residential areas where the dogs seem to really enjoy taking a shit on the footpaths (aka sidewalks). There's certainly the hustle and bustle of a city, but people have no problem stopping to give you directions and they return friendly smiles as you pass one another on the street. The sirens are just slightly off key from ours, almost as if it were battery-operated and said battery was starting to die. Everyone has these adorable little toddlers that they cart around in strollers identical to what American toddlers use solely for their babydolls. In the morning, Sydney smells of freshly baked bread everywhere you go, and Asian cuisine dominates the restaurant scene. There's a surprising number of people wandering around the city during the day hours, yet they in no way appear homeless. In fact, there aren't many homeless or crazy street people at all.
I'm staying at this adorable old Victorian house that's been split into 22 rooms and houses a maximum of 50 people. Currently there's only about 30 of us, and it should stay around that number all winter. We had a house meeting tonight, so we all got to meet each other. It was nice, because up until tonight I had met less than a handful of people in the building NOT associated with AustraLearn. Minutes before I had been talking to Morgan on Facebook about how I was never going to make any friends, because I was going to have to make them off the street and that's far too sketchy and I'd never be able to do it. I was just being crazy though, because I've made a dozen friends through AustraLearn. Yes, I came over here to hang out with Australians, but who ever said I can't also have American friends? And tonight after the meeting I hung out with some Australians staying in the house (who I'd actually already met), another American guy from some other program, an Irish guy who crazy resembles my dad, and this French guy. Poor Mathieu (the French one) doesn't know much English, and everyone was just rambling along not trying to include him in conversation at all. Even when they would try to talk to him, they spoke super quickly and with words and phrases very English in nature. I decided he will be my motivation to do my Rosetta Stone and learn French, and I even asked him if he'd help me practice. I feel like the French are a very understood people, the vast majority of the French people I've met have been nothing short of wonderful. Canadians too! I guess I just like rooting for the underdog haha!
I will now bring you on a virtual tour of my building (albeit, my bedroom which I have yet to unpack and is an utter pigsty!) It's a three-story house, and I'm on the top floor in #33. There's a front staircase and a back staircase. I pretty much just take the back stairs because they're closer to my room and all our common areas (Plus, I've always liked houses with two staircases, and the back stairs excite me because I feel they're more secretive.) The back stairs are right by the back door, and once you exit the kitchen is an attached room directly to your right, followed by a patio with attached room containing the washer and dryer. After the patio area there's an unattached room we use as a lounge, which has digital cable, a playstation, some travel books, and three bookshelves full of old VHS tapes.
Kitchen
Patio area & laundry room
Another area of the Patio, and our House Managers Virg (short for Virginia) & her partner Dusan
{Here marriage isn't as big as in America, and often times people will stay in long-term, committed, co-habitating relationships without getting married, so hearing someone speak of their partner doesn't necessarily mean they're gay. Speaking of which homosexuality is much more widely accepted here too, which is extremely cool.}
The lounge
All of this is directly across the hall from my bedroom
I will tack a picture of my room on here as soon as I sort everything out. I started out in #26 off on an alcove by myself in a teeny room with two twin beds. There's an AustraLearn girl with allergies to EVERYTHING who brought her twin-sized allergen mattress cover with her from home, but her room (#33) had a double bed. I told her I'd be willing to switch if she really felt like she'd get sick in her room. Idiot that I am, I forgot to test out the bed before agreeing to the switch. So, I went from a super comfortable twin, to a double that I stick to one side of because rolling is impossible due to it's 20-year-old pull-out couch mattress quality :-/ I did buy an egg carton mattress pad (because that's the best quality they had to offer here. I guess no one has heard of memory foam yet over here), but I'm thinking of folding it in half to add more cushion as it's still not cutting it.
My mattress pad purchase adventure was a rather interesting one. I had planned on going to Wildlife World to see all the little koalas and kangaroos. But considering stores close around 5 here (except on Thursdays which is late night shopping day), I wanted to go to get a mattress pad first knowing I wouldn't be able to sleep through another night without one. I heard they have Target here, so I figured that would be the best, cheap way to get one. So I looked up the address, found the bus I needed to take, and walked over there. Then I got really confused about which side of the road I needed to be on, and walked back and forth like three times. One way listed the correct bus number and time (hint, hint!), but the side I was positive I should have been on didn't. So, rather than putting two and two together and realizing I'd misread the map and was supposed to be going the opposite way, I decided to walk. Morgan can tell you better than anyone, that when I'm supposed to be taking a bus but decide to walk instead because I get a "brilliant idea" that it will turn into a day of rushed, confused walking about a city for hours on end without actually getting anywhere. At least I'm consistent, because that's EXACTLY what happened...again. I walked for like 2 1/2 hours in the wrong direction, and somehow, by the grace of god, wound up on the major street right off where my house is (but in a completely different area than where I started my unexpected trek). Needless to say, didn't make it to Wildlife World; hell, didn't even make it to freaking Target! I got home, had a glass of wine and a slice of cheesecake, and passed out for a few hours before trying for the mattress pad again. I finally, after getting lost again (it's almost unbelievable, i know!), made it down to the shopping center that had KMart, not even Target, HA! I did get a winter coat for $30 at another store in the mall, and a scarf that was half off. Oh, and I bought a purse! ME, a purse! The girl who has carried the smallest possible wallet and nothing else for two years bought a bag, but only so I'd have something to cart my work stuff with me to and from the office.
My house has a really good location though, and now that I'm starting to finally figure out the bus system it's even more convenient. It's only like a 10 minute bus ride to anywhere. There's a lot within walking distance too, including a pastry shop, a pub, a Blockbuster (strangely enough, they're not out of business yet! They have really cool deals several days a week too!), and Surry Hills Village Shopping Center. Inside the shopping center there's a Cole's grocery store (where I bought my Frooty Rings I've been eating every morning for breakfast, and freaking gourmet tasting Easy Mac!) and a LiquorLand! Oh, and like a pharmacy, Budget Buster (dollar general) and Post Shop (post office) too. Maybe today I'll actually make it to Wildlife World! One day...
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Orientation in Cairns
June 1st I got up at 6:30 AM Eastern Time to make my flight from Tampa to Miami, which only took an hour. I HATE the Miami airport though, and as always my flight from there was delayed (TWICE)! I finally made it to LAX though, with plenty of time to spare til my 11:30 PM flight to Brisbane, Australia. There, I met up with some of the other girls doing AustraLearn internships. Everyone in the program is from America, but all from different states and different universities than me.
Honestly, my five hour flight from Miami to LA seemed shorter than the fourteen hours it took to reach Brisbane! I watched The Book of Eli, Shutter Island, and Avatar; ate dinner and breakfast; peed about a jillion times; got up and did ridiculous stretches in the aisle even though I didn't see anyone else stretching at all; and slept a good deal. After the flight, a bunch of the other AustraLearn interns said they only got up twice the whole flight because they felt bad making the other people in their row get up. I am SOO glad that I had an aisle seat and was able to move around as much as I wanted.
From Brisbane, we went through customs, which was no biggie. Thankfully, they didn't confiscate the Girl Scout cookies my mom gave me for the trip! I would have cried! They had these adorable little beagle looking hound dogs as their drug dogs, and it was soo cute because they'd hop up on people to sniff their back packs and stuff! I know they have incredible noses, but it was just funny to see such a tiny, adorable dog trying to look intimidating. :) Anyway, then I hopped on a plane to Cairns, which is where our orientation was before all the interns flew off to their separate internship locations.
So, I landed in Australia at 6:20 AM on Thursday, June 3rd! I was in the air for all of June 2nd..I have yet to calculate how long I was actually awake before getting to sleep (in an actual bed for more than a few hours at a time), but I believe it was some horrendous amount of time. Cairns is very far north on the continent, so it is warm year round and has a very tropical climate. Honestly, it felt just like New Orleans, maybe a bit more humid if that's possible. The majority of the other interns are from up north, so they were all melting. But now that I'm in Sydney and it's like 13 degrees Celsius (approx. 56 F) I'm freezin' my little tail off, and they all think that it's perfect weather.
We stayed at this cute little hostel called the Bohemia Resort. It had a little bar area with a bunch of tables right by a really nice pool and hot tub, that I regrettably didn't use. The rooms had bunk beds, and I roomed with four of the nine other girls who have Sydney internships. So, from the airport our internship leader, Russell, picked us up and brought us to the Bohemia. I swear, I have never seen so many people so happy to shower. We all felt disgusting from our two days of traveling, and therefore thoroughly enjoyed our icy showers in nasty communal showers. We did a couple hours of orientation, where Russell covered different cultural issues and whatnot. Afterwards, we walked down to Blue Sky Brewery where AustraLearn bought us dinner. After that, we all went back to the Bohemia, and the vast majority of us were asleep by 8 PM! haha I honestly don't think I had jetlag at all, I was just sleepy from having not slept more than a few hours while sitting up in days!!
It worked out alright though, because we had to be up at six for the next days activities. I had never been so ready to get up at 6 AM in my life. It was actually pretty funny, because around three in the morning I woke up and just fidgeted around in bed for a while trying to get tired. I heard all the other girls doing the same, as we had already gotten a full night's rest. We had continental breakfast at the resort before getting on a bus headed towards the marina. Funny thing, they served some version of Australian spaghettios for breakfast...I didn't try them but thought it was pretty hilarious that that's a breakfast food over here.
We boarded the Passion of Paradise II bright and early and headed out to Michaelmas Cay to do some snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. Michaelmas Cay is protected land for these godawful nasty birds that like to live there, so the part of the beach humans are allowed on is very minimal. They have most of it roped off, and the consequence for crossing said rope is a $7,500 fine. There were so many thousands of birds that someone couldn't have paid me $7,500 to stand in the midst of them all. Yuck!
I bought an underwater disposable camera, so as soon as I find a place to develop the film I'll post pictures from snorkeling. I really enjoyed the snorkeling, but it certainly took a while for me to comprehend breathing underwater worked and was okay! The first time I stuck my head in and started to take a breath I freaked out too much and pulled my head right back up. lol After a few minutes though I was fluttering all over near the beach. There were so many types of coral. And these MASSIVE clams that I believe the crew members said were like 100 years old! I even saw an adorable little stingray about the size of a dinner plate. He was sand-colored and had little blue dots all over him. My friend Marcy (who goes to Marshall University in Huntington, WV where I went to middle school---small world!) and I tried to follow him, but he wasn't too keen on that idea and quickly lost us.
I saw bunches of little Nemo's but no Dory's. There were these cool green and purple metallic rainbowy fish. And I swam with a school of silver fish just like the ones in Finding Nemo that formed funny shapes to cheer up Dory when Marlin tried to ditch her. And yes, I realize I'm a huge dork for referencing Finding Nemo so much but I can't help it, so brace yourself for more over the next few weeks! lol
You didn't have to be certified to go scuba diving, and they said they'd let you try it out near the surface for ten minutes for free. I figured I'm in Australia on the Great Barrier Reef so why not! I didn't want to later regret having not done it. So, I strapped on all the gear and plopped down in the water. They had two ropes tied to the boat, one at the surface and another about one meter deep. They had us stick our faces in and get used to breathing for a while at the surface, before pulling us down to the lower rope. After a couple minutes they signaled to ask us if we were ready to go down for the dive. I signaled back a "hell no!"...Well they didn't exactly teach us that sign, but I think what I made up got the point across pretty well, because the instructor came up to the surface with me. She asked me why I didn't want to go, and I explained that I was panicking just there on the ropes and that the breathing underwater thing just wasn't flying with me. She asked if I'd be willing to swim out near the surface to have more time to get comfortable, so I complied. I completed the whole dive with the instructor and two other unexperienced divers. Those two both swam off on their own (still following the instructor, but no longer arm-in-arm) after a few minutes. The dive leader kept signaling at me to ask if I wanted to swim independently too, and I just kept staring at her with my wide, terrified eyes vigorously shaking my head "no." I clung to that woman about the same as I did to my mom when she first brought me in the deep end of the pool to try to make me swim for the first time. I was petrified the ENTIRE dive, but I did see some cool things. My favorite part was playing with the spaghetti-looking coral that when touched pulls away from you. So that was my first and last dive experience; definitely not my thing, but I'm glad I stuck with it through the whole dive.
We went to a second snorkel location, but it was right after my dive and it was in the middle of the ocean rather than off of a beach..PLUS the waves were getting much more choppy, so I decided to sit the second round out. A few other girls did too, and we were just sitting at a table inside the boat's "saloon" talking. As we were at a stand still, the skipper---who, I kid you not, was named Popeye---came to hang out with us and chat for a bit. After a while he even offered us drinks on the house. So I got a Chardonnay, and people weren't kidding..Australian wine is really good! (FYI, the drinking age in Australia is 18, not 21, so this was completely legal.) Also, it was a good thing we stayed inside because we all got to see a view that none of the snorkelers were able to enjoy:
We were on the boat from 8 AM til 5 PM and despite being in Australia's ozoneless sun all day long, I managed to escape with absolutely no sunburn!! Operation "tan before leaving the US for a bit more protection" with the help of my 100+ SPF is definitely working! We got to shower before going to our second half of orientation, and thank goodness because my hair was matted to my head. A bunch of people went out after dinner but about 8 of us just went back to the Bohemia. I wanted to be well rested before my flight the next day and didn't feel comfortable having more than one drink until I figured out how to stay hydrated (I swear I've been dehydrated ever since I left the States; it's hard to drink as much water as is necessary!!), so I went home. I did stay up til about 10 or 10:30 though which was much less pathetic than the night before.
Check-out was at 10 AM, and right after us Sydney-going folk hopped on a Maxi-Taxi (that's what they call the van cab's over here) to the airport to catch our flight. We got to watch Alice and Wonderland on the plane and they served us lunch even though it was only a 2 1/2 hour flight! Stupid American Airlines doesn't even give you a free peanut or pretzel anymore! Ironically enough, the penne pasta and roasted veggies with an orange/pineapple/passionfruit popsicle for dessert was the best meal I've had since being in Australia. The food isn't bad; it's actually really similar to American food. It's a lot of the same dishes, they just taste different. I think my tummy is going to take a while to adjust to it, because I've had a bunch of tummy-aches since I've been here. Oh, and there "tomato sauce" (aka ketchup) is not so great :( Oh well, I'm sure I'll find yummy stuff soon; I've just been spoiled by New Orleans' out-of-this-world cuisine. Guess you can't have cool stuff like the Great Barrier Reef AND the world's best food all in the same country.
So now I'm in chilly Sydney. I guess it's been raining almost every day lately, but the locals are saying it should clear up for a while soon. I'm still not sure if they're just saying that so we don't get scared off lol. The house we're staying in is pretty cool, but I'll save all that info for the next post, as this one's getting awfully long and it's almost 1 AM here and I'm zonked!
Goodnight all! Oh, and Saturday, June 5th was a good day, so enjoy it. And let me know if you need anymore advice from the future ;)
Honestly, my five hour flight from Miami to LA seemed shorter than the fourteen hours it took to reach Brisbane! I watched The Book of Eli, Shutter Island, and Avatar; ate dinner and breakfast; peed about a jillion times; got up and did ridiculous stretches in the aisle even though I didn't see anyone else stretching at all; and slept a good deal. After the flight, a bunch of the other AustraLearn interns said they only got up twice the whole flight because they felt bad making the other people in their row get up. I am SOO glad that I had an aisle seat and was able to move around as much as I wanted.
From Brisbane, we went through customs, which was no biggie. Thankfully, they didn't confiscate the Girl Scout cookies my mom gave me for the trip! I would have cried! They had these adorable little beagle looking hound dogs as their drug dogs, and it was soo cute because they'd hop up on people to sniff their back packs and stuff! I know they have incredible noses, but it was just funny to see such a tiny, adorable dog trying to look intimidating. :) Anyway, then I hopped on a plane to Cairns, which is where our orientation was before all the interns flew off to their separate internship locations.
So, I landed in Australia at 6:20 AM on Thursday, June 3rd! I was in the air for all of June 2nd..I have yet to calculate how long I was actually awake before getting to sleep (in an actual bed for more than a few hours at a time), but I believe it was some horrendous amount of time. Cairns is very far north on the continent, so it is warm year round and has a very tropical climate. Honestly, it felt just like New Orleans, maybe a bit more humid if that's possible. The majority of the other interns are from up north, so they were all melting. But now that I'm in Sydney and it's like 13 degrees Celsius (approx. 56 F) I'm freezin' my little tail off, and they all think that it's perfect weather.
We stayed at this cute little hostel called the Bohemia Resort. It had a little bar area with a bunch of tables right by a really nice pool and hot tub, that I regrettably didn't use. The rooms had bunk beds, and I roomed with four of the nine other girls who have Sydney internships. So, from the airport our internship leader, Russell, picked us up and brought us to the Bohemia. I swear, I have never seen so many people so happy to shower. We all felt disgusting from our two days of traveling, and therefore thoroughly enjoyed our icy showers in nasty communal showers. We did a couple hours of orientation, where Russell covered different cultural issues and whatnot. Afterwards, we walked down to Blue Sky Brewery where AustraLearn bought us dinner. After that, we all went back to the Bohemia, and the vast majority of us were asleep by 8 PM! haha I honestly don't think I had jetlag at all, I was just sleepy from having not slept more than a few hours while sitting up in days!!
It worked out alright though, because we had to be up at six for the next days activities. I had never been so ready to get up at 6 AM in my life. It was actually pretty funny, because around three in the morning I woke up and just fidgeted around in bed for a while trying to get tired. I heard all the other girls doing the same, as we had already gotten a full night's rest. We had continental breakfast at the resort before getting on a bus headed towards the marina. Funny thing, they served some version of Australian spaghettios for breakfast...I didn't try them but thought it was pretty hilarious that that's a breakfast food over here.
We boarded the Passion of Paradise II bright and early and headed out to Michaelmas Cay to do some snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. Michaelmas Cay is protected land for these godawful nasty birds that like to live there, so the part of the beach humans are allowed on is very minimal. They have most of it roped off, and the consequence for crossing said rope is a $7,500 fine. There were so many thousands of birds that someone couldn't have paid me $7,500 to stand in the midst of them all. Yuck!
I bought an underwater disposable camera, so as soon as I find a place to develop the film I'll post pictures from snorkeling. I really enjoyed the snorkeling, but it certainly took a while for me to comprehend breathing underwater worked and was okay! The first time I stuck my head in and started to take a breath I freaked out too much and pulled my head right back up. lol After a few minutes though I was fluttering all over near the beach. There were so many types of coral. And these MASSIVE clams that I believe the crew members said were like 100 years old! I even saw an adorable little stingray about the size of a dinner plate. He was sand-colored and had little blue dots all over him. My friend Marcy (who goes to Marshall University in Huntington, WV where I went to middle school---small world!) and I tried to follow him, but he wasn't too keen on that idea and quickly lost us.
(ewww)
We were on the boat from 8 AM til 5 PM and despite being in Australia's ozoneless sun all day long, I managed to escape with absolutely no sunburn!! Operation "tan before leaving the US for a bit more protection" with the help of my 100+ SPF is definitely working! We got to shower before going to our second half of orientation, and thank goodness because my hair was matted to my head. A bunch of people went out after dinner but about 8 of us just went back to the Bohemia. I wanted to be well rested before my flight the next day and didn't feel comfortable having more than one drink until I figured out how to stay hydrated (I swear I've been dehydrated ever since I left the States; it's hard to drink as much water as is necessary!!), so I went home. I did stay up til about 10 or 10:30 though which was much less pathetic than the night before.
Check-out was at 10 AM, and right after us Sydney-going folk hopped on a Maxi-Taxi (that's what they call the van cab's over here) to the airport to catch our flight. We got to watch Alice and Wonderland on the plane and they served us lunch even though it was only a 2 1/2 hour flight! Stupid American Airlines doesn't even give you a free peanut or pretzel anymore! Ironically enough, the penne pasta and roasted veggies with an orange/pineapple/passionfruit popsicle for dessert was the best meal I've had since being in Australia. The food isn't bad; it's actually really similar to American food. It's a lot of the same dishes, they just taste different. I think my tummy is going to take a while to adjust to it, because I've had a bunch of tummy-aches since I've been here. Oh, and there "tomato sauce" (aka ketchup) is not so great :( Oh well, I'm sure I'll find yummy stuff soon; I've just been spoiled by New Orleans' out-of-this-world cuisine. Guess you can't have cool stuff like the Great Barrier Reef AND the world's best food all in the same country.
So now I'm in chilly Sydney. I guess it's been raining almost every day lately, but the locals are saying it should clear up for a while soon. I'm still not sure if they're just saying that so we don't get scared off lol. The house we're staying in is pretty cool, but I'll save all that info for the next post, as this one's getting awfully long and it's almost 1 AM here and I'm zonked!
Goodnight all! Oh, and Saturday, June 5th was a good day, so enjoy it. And let me know if you need anymore advice from the future ;)
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