June 23

Forgive me God for I have sinned. I ate kangaroo and I liked it. I am sorry.

My Dad and Debbie arrive tomorrow. I can't wait to get good meals and be taken on fun excursions. Everyone here is dropping like flies. These next few days are most people's last. It's going to be weird to be back at home. But I still have a lot to look forward to in the next few weeks. We will be enjoying Sydney for the next 4 days and then off to Cairns where we will experience the Great Barrier Reef and the rainforest. Then we go to Adalaide for reasons I'm not sure and then to Kangaroo Island. I probably wont have my computer so I'll have to tell you the stories first hand once I'm back in the states. I land July 10th. If you love me, you'll have a Dairy Queen waiting for me upon arrival.

Cheers

June 15

I have managed to accomplish almost everything I’ve wanted to do here. This weekend I checked off two more items that were on my list. The first one is driving. On the way home from Shabbat dinner, Brett offered Jenna and I a chance to take the wheel. I felt like a 16 year old in the car for the first time. I heard comments from Brett that I was sure came from my father: “curb Shira, curb!” and “green means go, Shira.” All I kept thinking was: I wonder if I’m insured in Australia. haha, just kidding. But I got the hang of it pretty quickly. Driving on the opposite side of the road isn’t that hard… it’s sitting on the opposite side of the car that is hard to get used to. There were at least 3 times within 10 minutes that I used the left handle to single a turn but instead got the windshield wipers. It was awesome and I’m so glad I got to try it.

The next item marked off of my to-do list was going to a gay bar on Oxford Street. Oxford Street is lined with gay bars and walking down the sidewalk could keep you entertained for hours… you see the darndest things. About every 30 minutes inside the bar, there would be a show put on by… someone. The first time it was 2 guys dancing on the bars moving in ways no heterosexual man could ever do. The second time was a ladyboy named Beyonce G-Spot, singing the little Mermaid, (refer to pictures). That’s something you don’t see every day. Anyway, we lasted about an hour in there; the amount of unavailable men was giving us a headache. So that was our memorable night on Oxford Street.

Not much more to tell ya. I went to the markets yesterday and a dance class today. The weather sucks. It has been raining for 2 weeks now and the wind is out of control. Well I have nothing further so it’s time to go raid my kitchen. Happy Father's Day to all :)

June 12

As expected I don’t really have any news. The things I look forward to in my day are…
- finding a new remote location in the library
- taking the train home so late that I don’t have to pay
- seeing how many books I can fit in my backpack
- Seeing how many times the people sitting next to me come and leave while I'm still there… max so far is 11

On Monday it was the Queen’s birthday so it was a national holiday. I went to Jenna’s so I could use her internet because for some reason mine has been very temperamental. Anyway, I had been facebook messaging with my professor who is 27 and way too much of a kid to be teaching. (The last day of class was held in the campus pup). And he was organizing a night out and invited us all in the class to come. Since my grades have been horrendous this semester, I hoped that making an appearance might have an affect. By the time I got there with Jenna and Major, he was wasted. He bought us all beers and we sat and talked. I purposefully brought Major along so he could hold a competent sport’s conversation with my sports class professor! It worked perfectly. By the end of the night Jenna was scolding him for making me write a 10 page pager as the final. His response (and I quote), “oh what does it matter, Shira’s already got an A.” Between me and you, that is anything but true. But as long as that’s what he thinks I’m not going to complain. But I am proud to say that I actually boozed with my professor! I don’t think that’s a statement many are able to make. It was quite an experience.

Tomorrow I hand in all three of my papers. Upon handing them in, my soul is returned to me and I am a free woman. Except I have one more exam on the 20th but it’s not an essay so that’s all that matters. Then during the evening, I’m going to shabbat dinner at the guy Brett’s house (Aussie guy who is coming to Texas next semester).

Also, Tuesday afternoon I volunteered to speak to students who are coming to the US next fall on exchange. I ended up meeting 3 more kids who will be at Texas! I get so excited just thinking about it. I’m glad that I’ll be able to take a piece of Australia back with me… or a person for that matter. Can’t wait to be able to show them the TEXAN WAY :)

I'm going to be home in less than a month.... WEIRD

June 5

Unfortunately, I’ve done most of the exciting things here and my days have become repetitive. School, food, and sleep seem to by my major activities. I’ve been loaded with a lot of work lately so I haven’t been experiencing much of anything anymore other than the Sydney libraries. But I just turned in a final essay today so I have one down and 3 more to go over the next two weeks. Most of my friends are traveling and doing exciting stuff but that’s because their school isn’t as hard and their grades don’t transfer. So I’m the loner stuck here by myself.

Last weekend we discovered a cool place in the city called karaoke world. We went there with about 10 people and sang karaoke the whole night. It was a cool place- it had tons of rooms that you rent out for a night. Then you fill the room with friends and sing without the uncomfortably of people you don’t know. Jenna and I performed a very convincing Danny and Sandy in Grease’s Summer Nights. But as the night continued, everyone just ended up screaming each song on the top of their lungs and it was turned into one big headache.

I also had a few of my friends that I met on the NZ trip come and stay with me for a night. They were going to Cairns the next morning and wanted to be closer to the airport so they came to visit. It was really great to see them- especially since who knows when the next time will be…

Then last Sunday I had my last bit of fun before the hell of finals began. A group of 4 of us got tickets to the Sydney Opera House. We went to see Edward Scissor Hands. It was an amazing show. It was mostly dancing and it had a great set. The theater was surprisingly small. I learned that there is more than one theater in the place which I didn’t realize before. But I’m glad I can say that I saw a play in the Opera House.

Don’t expect much exciting news during the weeks to come :(

May 25

It’s so weird to think that I’m going to be back in my bed in a month and a half. Most of my friends are already home which is even more weird to consider. I’m not ready to be done yet!!!
Even though my time is running down, my adventures still continue. After I went skydiving, I got sick which I believe was my parents still finding a way to punish me from across the world. I could even hear their words in my head: “that’s what you get for being stupid, Shira.” So I’ve been dealing with a sinus infection for the past week which is no fun.

Once I felt better, I went with my friends to an amusement park called Luna Park. It’s a kiddy theme park across the harbor and I’m pretty sure we were the only people over the age of 11. But we still went on the rides, won stuffed animals, and had a blast! On Monday, my friend Liz and I went on a little date. We went out to lunch in the city and then walked around window shopping. Then we went and saw the Real World house. (The house where the cast from the MTV show Real World lived). After that, we walked around the Chinese Gardens which was very pretty (recommended by Uncle Allan - thanks!).

Then Thursday night I went to a friend’s 21st birthday party in north Sydney. This is an Aussie boy who is conveniently studying in Austin next semester so that’s really cool! But his parents had the most amazing dinner party for us. I haven’t been that well fed since I got here. Thank you Jewish parents.

Friday I left for Brisbane to visit my friend Krueger who is studying there. It was a really nice visit – the weather was amazing and I was able to layout on the beach again!!! We spent a lot of time in the city and walking around town. Brisbane is nice but it’s nothing special. Also, her school is kind of in the middle of no where. But she lives with all Australians so it was a fun atmosphere. Now I’m back in cold Sydney and getting ready to live up the next few weeks before I have to start preparing for finals. Talk soon! Cheers.

May 17

Hi everyone - now that I've come down from the high of flying, I can share with you my experience. Friday morning I woke up at 530am to take a train with 8 of my friends to the city. From there, we were shuttled into a town called Wollongong which is 2 hours away. After signing my death certificate and promising not to sue them after an accident, we all put on our jumpsuits. We then get our harnesses attached and prepare ourselves for departure. Right before we're about to leave, a women comes into the office and says in the most nonchallant voice, "Suzanne, what's that number again to call and report accidents?" The room goes dead silent and then we all start yelling. The woman cracks up and goes "whoops, I mean car accidents. I just saw a hit and run." That was not a smart business decision because we all can't stop freaking out. And no sooner after that occurs do they tell us its time to go. So we pile into a van and head to the airport. We meet our tandem divers and they give us a 3 minute briefing on what we're supposed to do upon take off and landing. 3 minutes of instruction and my life is on the line... great. Next thing I know, we're loading the plane. 17 people cram into this tiny jet and take off. Somehow I still wasn't scared and it didn't really occur to me what was about to happen. After 15 minutes of flying and at the height of 14,000 feet, the pilot shouts out "one minute" and the door opens. At that point it hit me and it hit me hard. Everyone starts screaming and one by one they drop like flies. My instructor inches us toward the door. I don't remember much about the first 5 seconds of freefall probably due to shock, but I know I was screaming on the top of my lungs. The entire drop you hear nothing because the wind is so loud. On the website it says you freefall for 60 seconds but I don't remember it feeling that long. The rest of the ride down took about 6 minutes. All in all, it was an incredible experience and something I just had to do once in my life. I posted lots of pictures onto my website and I have a DVD documenting the whole experience. And in case anyone is interested, if I recruit 4 people, I can go again for free... any takers?!

May 16

Sorry mom... sorry dad...

May 14

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve written but not much has happened here. School overtook my life for about a week. I spent my days in the library and in my room writing a paper. I really was hoping that studying abroad would be more abroad and less studying but oh well.

Two weekends ago I had my friend Alex come to visit me. She’s studying in Brisbane and she and 3 of her friends came to see Sydney. I did more touristy stuff with them than I have in a long time! We went on a ferry boat ride in the harbor which was fun. I took them to one of Sydney’s many markets called Paddington market. It’s tons of booths and tents set up with anything from produce to souvenirs. I bought an Aussie sweatshirt, thongs (known in American as flip flops), and a purse all for $40 bucks! Wahoo. That’s really the first shopping I’ve done since I’ve been here- things are just way to expensive. Then we also did this walk from Coogee beach to Bondi beach. It’s just this beautiful walk along the ocean front for about 5 miles. It was absolutely amazing! I took a bunch of pictures which I’ve posted for ya’ll. I also included a pic of my new house!! Don’t let it fool you though, it is terrace housing so I really only live in half of it, haha.

This weekend I went to a local rugby game for a fieldtrip. Sports here are SO VIOLENT. It’s almost hard for me to watch. But this was just a community game- it reminded me of watching little league but with adults because it is such a family attraction. It was cool though to see how the whole community comes out to support these teams.

Anyway, I handed my paper in today so I feel like I got my soul back. Now I gotta go get ready for some celebrations!

April 27

I MOVED!!!! I’m so excited about being in my new place! It’s in Bondi Junction which I am quickly becoming obsessed with. And it’s so close to Jenna, that now it only takes me 20 minutes to get to her rather than an hour and 20 minutes! The only downside is that it will take a little longer to get to school but that’s it. I have my own room and my own BIG bed; I love it! The woman I live with is really cool. I think she’s a party girl on the weekends because she doesn’t get up before noon! I’M not even that bad anymore!! But she’s sooo sweet and so nice, and a very eccentric and dynamic person. The guy who lives here is the same age as her and he describes himself as “a little flamboyant.” I have yet to meet him but I’m very excited about it. This sounds like it’s going to be a fun house!!

For mommy and anyone else who might want it, here's the address:
131 Ebley St
Bondi Junction NSW 2022
Australia

Living over here is so convenient. Jenna and I went out last night for a friend’s birthday, we took the train back to the Junction and we were so tired that she was able to just crash at my place. (She is currently still sleeping). It’s really nice to be able to do that. Saves money on transportation too!

Yesterday was the first day in 2 weeks that it didn’t rain! Ya right Australia is in a drought! They say this is the weird year of weather they have ever had… GREAT!! So on this one last day of summer Jenna, Liz and I went to….. THE HORSE RACES!!! It was such a crazy experience. We had to get dressed up in fancy attire at noon. I’m talking high heels, hair-do’s and all. When we got there, they had complementary Clinique makeovers! So we all got our hair done. I felt like a princess. When we finally made our way inside, there were crowds of people placing bets. So the 3 of us, who knew nothing about what we were doing, bet on some horses to make sure we got the full experience! Of course we all lost, but at least we had fun doing it! It was kind of weird to be surrounded by such fancy people at a horse race. I felt like I was in the 1920’s or something. All the women had these huge feathers and hats on their heads and the men were in ridiculous looking striped suits. It was quite the scene. Anyway, I really enjoyed that!

Friday was a national holiday called ANZAC day. It’s kind of like our Memorial or Veterans Day except with a lot more drinking and gambling. It’s the one day out of the year that it is legal to play a gambling game called 2 Up. It’s basically like flipping coins and calling heads or tails but with money. I was too busy moving to see this extravaganza but I hear it’s really crazy. Then they have all different kind of sporting matches throughout the day which is some big tribute to the Army. I had to watch a game for one of my classes but I didn’t find it much different than any other game.

So I got my first paper back the other day… and for the first time in my college career, I got a D!!! If you don’t remember me telling you how impossible it is to get good grades, here is a perfect example coming from a straight A student. Australian universities are highly competitive and only 4% receive high distinction. So the good news is that it would transfer back to UT as only a B but it was still a slap to the face none the less.

I can’t think of anything else noteworthy right now so I should probably go wake Jenna up. I’ll be posting more pictures soon!!!

XOXO

April 20

It’s Sunday morning and I’m delaying the start of my essay writing and test studying. I have my first test on Tuesday and I’m very scared. I’ve heard from endless people that if you’re a straight A student in America, you will get C’s in Australia. The tests and grading system is that much harder. So I’ll let you know how that goes.

This past week has been mostly rainy. The summer is officially gone and my warm clothing has officially come out. You will all be interested to hear that I went to a lyrical class at the Sydney Dance Company studios on Monday. It kicked my ass and reinforced the fact that I’m so incredibly out of shape. I felt the repercussions of it all the way through Thursday. But I bought a 5 class card so I’m going to try to go every week. It felt good to be back in the studio.

On Thursday, I volunteered to speak at an exchange fair to people from Sydney thinking of studying overseas. I decked myself out in Texas gear, whipped out a jersey, and sported my Longhorn bag. I spent the next 4 hours answering questions about the abroad experience and Texas in general. By the end of the day, I was incredibly homesick. I never realized how much I loved Austin.

Last night was Passover and while I was invited by some random Aussie guy to go to his Seder, I felt a little uncomfortable since I had only met him once. So instead, 15 of my friends had a giant feast in honor of Passover. I even left the balcony door open for Elijah figuring he could just as easily fly in. Then I secretly hid an afikomen and laughed while all the guys ran around trying to find it.

And now I’m sitting here having just called everyone to say hello and I’m dreading having to start studying. So I guess that means today really isn’t different than any other day…

April 14

It’s weird that I have been here for 2 months now. Sometimes it feels like it’s been forever. But I have 3 more months to go and lots to do! This weekend I went to an AFL game (Australian Rules football). But don’t let that fool you because it’s NOTHING like football. It’s more like a violent soccer if you ask me. But it was really cool to watch. The game was at Olympic Park which was where the Sydney Olympics were held. The place was huge! It was also nice because I went with 2 Aussie boys so they could explain everything to me!

The biggest news of the week is that I’m moving to a new place! It’s not that I don’t like it here because I do- the people are really nice. But it’s really out of the way from where my friends are and I end up spending so much time traveling and money on cabs at night. Plus I hate the owners of this place. They impose rules that make me feel like I’m 12 again. (No eating in your room, no guests past 11). So I’m happy to be going in less than 2 weeks! The place I’m moving into is more of like a home stay because it’s an actual house. I’ll be living with a 29 year old woman and a 33 year old gay guy. I get my own room finally and big bed, wahoo!! So I think this is going to give me a whole new experience and I can’t wait.

I’m also looking forward to my trip to Brisbane! I just booked it for the end of May. I’m going to visit one of my best friends from high school who is studying there. Hopefully we’re going to make a day trip to the Gold Coast where there is some good scuba diving!!

I have to say, I’m very jealous of Europe because I walked around the entire city of Sydney today trying to get wireless internet and there’s no such thing. The closest thing I got was in a Starbucks- you could connect but for $6 for half an hour! Absurd. So I’m jealous of all my friends in Europe who can go to any café for internet.

Other than that, nothing too exciting is going on. Hopefully that’ll change soon though. Stay posted :)

April 3

New Zealand is amazing. There isn’t one part of the country that isn’t stunning. Jenna and I went on a 6 day tour of the south island. Our favorite place was Queenstown. It’s known as the adrenaline capital of the world and most of the kids went skydiving and bungee jumping. I choose to go hang gliding which was soooo cool! You basically just run off a mountain and take flight with a massive kite attached to your back. The guide even let me steer. I felt like I was on top of the world. Jenna and I also took a gondola up a mountain and then took a luge ride back down. All I could think of was the movie Cool Runnings. That night in Queenstown, our trip leaders took us to a bar called Minus 5. It’s a bar made 100% of ice. They give you big jackets and boots and gloves. The walls, tables, chairs, cups, everything was made of ice. I had never seen anything like that so it was definitely a cool experience. Speaking of ice, another one of my favorite moments was hiking on a glacier. I always heard in school about that thing called the ice age but it was pretty neat to actually be walking on one.

I would also like to redeem my reputation by saying that I won a hula-hoop competition at a club one night and got a free sweatshirt!!! Those bar and bat mitzvahs really do pay off.

The only downside of the trip was that most of it was spent on a bus. They packed so much into the days that we were constantly on the road. I was up to see the sunrise almost every day. On one of the drives, they took us to see where Lord of the Rings was filmed.

After our tour, Jenna and I went to Wellington to stay with 2 friends from UT who are studying there. We had such a good time together and it was so good seeing them. But it made me really homesick for the first time. :( Speaking of home, what are the chances that I walk onto the tour bus on the first day of the trip and 3 faces from Wilmette are staring back at me. It was such a weird feeling to know someone in the middle of New Zealand let alone kids I went to elementary through high school with! These 3 guys are studying at another university in Australia and booked the exact same trip as me. And I also ran into another Wilmette girl in Queenstown. SMALL WORLD!

Oh yeah, cool story I almost forgot… Jenna and I arrive into NZ and are going through customs when we see this group of old, ugly guys with long hair, a body guard, and hot girlfriends. We immediately knew something was up. So Jenna asks one of them “are you guys like a band or something?” And the guy turns around and shows us his shirt. We look at it blankly not knowing what the hell it meant. Seeing the empty stare, he goes, “we’re Alice Cooper… you know, the one’s playing with Ozzy Ozbourne and Kiss tonight.” It was straight out of a movie. Yet Jenna and I being the young ignorant generation we are, still didn’t recognize them. So Jenna continues with one of the stupidest questions she can think of and says. “oh cool, so do you like what you do?” And his response was, “it’s ok; it’s a job”. So then a minute later we all walk out of baggage claim behind them and all the fans are yelling and taking pictures and asking for autographs. I felt like a celebrity. And also slightly idiotic for still not knowing who they were. We had to go home and google them. Anyway, that was our 5 mins of fame.

Other than that, I can’t think of any other good stories. It was a great trip and now it’s back to the books. Hope to hear from you all soon!

March 18

Cheddar cheese isn’t orange and it tastes bad too. My grilled cheese tasted like Styrofoam yesterday.
There’s no such thing as ketchup here- it’s tomato sauce.
I’m seriously missing miracle whip.
But I’m in fruit heaven. There’s a fruit stand on every other block and it is incredibly delicious. (Melissa- this is your dream country. It’s like Whole Foods free tasters times 10)
I find weird things with this country every day. For instance, there is a particular bird that sounds like a choking baby. It’s quite frightening because sometimes I forget and start looking for the choking/wailing baby and then I realize it’s those annoying birds again. Also, the sand at the beaches in this country makes noise when you walk on it. I’ve never seen anything like it but the sand squeaks underneath your feet. It is super cool; I get a kick out of it every time.

What a crazy weekend to update you about! As of last Wednesday night, I am officially a part of the rock climbing club at my school. I went climbing at the indoor wall and was totally sore the next day. But I really liked it so I signed up for a day trip to the mountains in order to do REAL mountain climbing!! So, Sat morning I work up at 6am and was on the mountain by 11. I couldn’t believe they were just going to throw me on the mountain and make me fend for myself. I had no idea what I was doing and they didn’t exactly teach me. It was more of a “figure it out as you go along” kind of thing. Well the end of the story is that I made it!! I climbed my first rock all the way to the top with only minor bleeding on my elbow, haha. During the course of the day I made 5 climbs, 3 of which I made to the top. It was so incredibly hard; I don’t know how I did it. But I’m paying for it now with the amount of scrapes and bruises all over my arms and legs. That night, I went to an Aussie house party. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but there are these 2 Aussie boys who studied abroad at UT my freshman year. A week after I’d been here, I ran into them at the film festival. Since then, they’ve really been taking care of us and showing us around. They are part of the Jewish Aussie bubble and I knew this right away. But as I was walking to the party, I knew I was getting close when someone on the street goes “Sheket b'vakasha, hey!” And sure enough, the next house was where the party was. I thought that was really humorous.

Sunday I spent recuperating… otherwise known as relaxing on the beach. It has been so unbelievably beautiful lately. We’ve had about 8 days straight of cloudless skies. I’m in love. I could really get used to this. Monday, (no school on Mondays, whoahah) I went on a surfing day trip. It was 9 of us crammed into an old van. There were a few Swedes, an English guy, Canadian couple, a Brazilian guy, and then me. I love being surrounded by all these different people. Thankfully, everyone was trying surfing for the first time so I didn’t make that big of a fool of myself. The surf instructor was a beautiful blond Aussie boy so most people paid close attention to his lessons (most people as in just me). We were given 2 classes in the beginning of the day and everyone was able to stand up before we went to lunch! I had my fair share of wipeouts but I also caught a few waves!! I was so proud of myself. Granted, we learned on like one foot waves, but still! At the beaches I go to, the waves are usually around 6 feet so I don’t think I’m ready for that yet, but at least I can consider myself a real surfer chick now. I also was left with a wicked ugly wetsuit tan. And I have officially been stung by a jellyfish. There were these baby jellyfish that look like a blob of clear jelly and I got stung a few times. Thankfully, they aren’t the painful kind- they just feel like someone is pinching you for a second. After all the wipeouts, jellyfish, and climbing scrapes, my skin felt totally raw and the salt water wasn’t helping. I felt like I got beat up this weekend with all my cuts and bruises. But it was worth it!!!
I didn’t get to celebrate the crazy St Patty’s day shenanigans because I was so exhausted by this point. But I am going on my field trip later today to an Aboriginal school -should be very interesting. That’s all for now… I should probably start paying attention to class. Hehehe

March 12

I’m sitting on campus in between classes and thought I’d catch up on my ‘blogging’. It’s been a busy week. I have been to all my classes now and I’m feeling a little overwhelmed with all the reading I have to do. I only have one class that requires a textbook; the others just have huge reading packets. I think marketing is going to be a fairly easy class for me. And I enjoy going to it because I made friends with a very nice piece of Aussie eye candy. My Indigenous Sport class has its first field trip next week and we’re going to an inner city school with Aboriginal kids. I’ve found it more difficult than I thought to understand the instructors here because they have such strong accents. I can’t imagine being in another country that isn’t a version of English. My other classes seem kinda difficult. The teacher in the Social Construction of Difference class admitted to being an insomniac on the first day of class so his lectures are all over the place… great. But let’s be honest, I’m not here to study (just kidding, Dad).

This past weekend Jenna and I went to the Blue Mountains with a group of 12 others from all over the world. We represented the US, France, Holland, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Spain, and Italy. I thought that was pretty cool. We took a train there Sat morning, stayed in a hostel that night and came back Sunday night. That was my first experience in a hostel. It wasn’t that bad but I can understand why it was only $25 bucks. We spent the days hiking the mountain. We trekked through the rainforest, saw some waterfalls, and took pictures of the amazzzzing views. It was quite beautiful. Maddy, you would have loved it. I thought about you on the hike :) So at the end of the first day of hiking, we were trying to get back in order to catch the last bus. And we realized the bus left in 20 mins and we were on a trail that took 30 mins to get back. So all 12 of us start sprinting up the mountain. My legs have never burned so much in my life. I felt like we were in an army boot camp running through the jungle and up this mountain. We get there to find out that we were all wrong and had 45 minutes to spare before the bus came. It was pretty funny. But I was disappointed about one thing and that is: the mountains weren’t blue.

As for my roommate situation, the African woman is gone and I had the room to myself for a few days which was nice. And Liz, one of the girls who live upstairs, moved into my room to cut her costs. She and I have been going out together some so it’s nice to have a travel buddy. She’s from Georgia and has a strong southern accent. She’s studied in Brisbane during college and now is back here to work. We get along pretty well so that’s good at least.

Tonight, I’m planning on going to the rock climbing center and joining the club. I hear they go on really cool trips to mountain climb. I’ve graduated from the doorway stage and now I’m tackling mountains.

Time for class.

March 5

I’m convinced I should have been born here. Australians don’t say their R’s and I didn’t either until about age 8. Of course that was after years of traumatizing speech therapy. So after spending the next 4 months here I might need another round of speech school.

A lot has happened in the last few days. I started school and I’m pretty excited about my classes. I’ve had 3 of the 4 so far. My marketing class seems average. It’s a big lecture of about 300 but the teacher seems cool. He gave us riddles on the first day which was kinda dorky but whatever. A lot of the stuff he touched on was familiar to me so I hope that it won’t be too hard of a class. Grading here is extremely difficult. An 85+ is called high distinction. About 3% of people will ever get that. Then 75-84% is distinction which is also considered an A the states because of how hard it is to receive even that. 70-74% is a credit which they tell us is what every student strives for. Below that there’s pass and fail. While most abroad students only need to get a passing grade to get credit at their university, my grades transfer. So that means I actually have to work while I’m here. How unfortunate. But the good news is that the campus is absolutely beautiful and puts me in a good mood every time I walk there. The older part of the campus has buildings that look like castles. It’s exquisite. Mom, you would love the old architecture. They’re doing a lot of construction though on part of the campus which really takes away from its beauty and makes it like a huge construction site, but whatever, I still like it. It’s pretty spread out only because there are a lot of parks and open fields. I usually find one and sit there in between classes. Back to my other classes… My Indigenous Sport, Education and Culture class is really cool. It’s about 25 people and it’s almost all exchange students. The people are cool and I can tell we’re going to all be friends by the end of the semester. Especially because we get to go on fieldtrips!! I haven’t done that since the 5th grade but I can’t wait. My Sociology of Sport class is going to be really hard but very interesting. The teacher seems strict but really knows what she’s talking about. And it’s very hard to get used to this, but teacher’s here don’t go by Dr. or Professor. You are supposed to call them by their first name! I don’t even call my friend’s parents by their first names so it’s very odd for me. Speaking of odd, I also haven’t gotten used to asking where the toilets are. They don’t refer to them as restrooms or even bathrooms but I still feel so impolite when I ask for the toilets. So anyway, I have my final class tomorrow and I’ll keep you posted on how it is.

Like many days, I spent most of the day today at the beach. I’m loving this weather… although March 1st marked the official end of summer. That was a depressing day for me. But it is still warm during the day which is good. I learned how to body board today! I made an Aussie friend and he took me out and showed me how. I even rode the waves like a real surfer chick! Haha, it was great. But then I got a call from surf camp and they told me that they overbooked the trip and that I got booted off. I’m so upset because we were all looking forward to it so much, but we’ll have to go another weekend. Instead, Jenna and I are going to the Blue Mountains. Some foreign exchange students from Jenna’s school invited us so we hopped on board with them. Then 2 weekends after that we go to New Zealand!!! Have I mentioned how psyched I am about that!?!?

I have had a few anti-American experiences lately. Until now, I thought the Aussies were all so nice and laidback but I’ve been proved wrong. To go into details about each story would be very tedious right now but let’s just say they were not nice experiences.

On a livelier note, I had a very interesting night last night. We were at a pub and the DJ comes over the loudspeaker and announces a limbo contest and of course Jenna and I run up to enter. There were tons of people going through and the whole bar stopped to watch. After about 20 minutes, it was narrowed down to 3. (Both Jenna and I making up 2 of them). I have never limboed (is that a word?) so low in my life and the body pains today confirmed that for me. (that, and I’m out of shape). But I am sad to say that I got second place. I feel like I let everyone down and I am very sad about it. Mostly, because the person who won was this little, German, gumby of guy… that’s right, GUY!!! I couldn’t believe it! I like to pretend that he was at an advantage because he doesn’t have boobs but I guess I just have to give him credit for being a freak of nature.

Ok it’s time for bed, got a big day of wave jumping.. I mean class tomorrow. Talk to you all soon!

March 2

It’s 130pm and my roommate is still sleeping. She likes to sleep through half the day and yet still go to bed before midnight. I find it a little bizarre but maybe that will change when school starts. She’s only my roommate for a week and then someone else will be moving in. But she’s 30 years old, from Africa, and I have to ask her to repeat almost everything she says. She also, really enjoys being naked which I’m guessing is an African thing. She’s incredibly nice though and we get along fine.

Yesterday I spent part of the day at the beach watching an Iron Man Competition. The beach was packed with bleachers and people were everywhere. It lasted about 4 hours and they had different water competitions. It was fun. But the more interesting part of the day came later. It was Mardi Gras last night. But not the beads and masks we’re used to. Here, Mardi Gras is a gay festival. The parade went all around the city and millions of people lined the street. It was pandemonium. People were getting trampled and most everyone was drunk. It was really scary at times when the crowd started pushing. I went with one of the girls who I live with, her name is Liz. And we watched what we could for about 45 minutes and then gave up. It was so overwhelming and chaotic. It was definitely worth seeing and I took a whole bunch of pictures, but it was absolutely crazy. Everyone was in costumes, had their face painted, and more. The amount of men in tight sequined Speedos was uncountable. It was hilarious. There’s a link to the right of my blog that will take you to the pictures.

As for now, I’m about to go to lunch with an Aussie boy who studied abroad at Texas 2 years ago. We ran into each other at the firm festival last week so now we’re going to catch up. I’m constantly reminded of how small of a world it is.
Bye everyone.

February 28

Right now, Jenna and I are organizing a 10 day trip to New Zealand for spring break. I’m getting more and more excited as we plan it. So far, we are spending a few days in Wellington with our friends from UT and then taking a 6 day adventure trip of the south island. I can’t wait! If you have any “must sees” to recommend, let me know! It’s kind of absurd; we have class for 3 weeks and then our spring break starts over Easter. How dumb is that?! But I’m not complaining.

I got my school schedule figured out yesterday. It’s not the best schedule because it’s kind of spread out, whereas most of my friends condensed their classes into 3 days, but it’ll do. I have Monday off which means I get a 3 day weekend, wahoo! Then I have a marketing class from 10-12 on Tuesday, followed by a class from 3-5 called Indigenous Sport, Education and Culture. Then on Wednesday, I have Sociology of Sport from 9-11 and 1-2, and Marketing from 11-12. Thursdays I only have Social Construction of Difference from 12-2. And Friday I have it again from 11-12. Unfortunately, I’m taking very particular classes that don’t have multiple times to choose from, so I’m stuck with it the way it is. But I don’t think it’s TOO bad. Yesterday was the first day of “O-week” which is what they call their orientation. And let me tell you, it’s a party!! I’ve never seen anything like it, it’s like a carnival and it goes from 9am til 1am with different events all over. I had some cotton candy which they called fairy floss, haha! And apparently, there’s no such thing as a dry campus here because they put on events that serve alcohol literally on the front lawns of school! There are pubs next to the cafeteria too. It cracks me up. They don’t take their drinking lightly here. So I went to this carnival thing, signed up for a whole bunch of activities and clubs, listened to live music, ate BBQ, and played with the animals in the petting zoo. It was a lot of fun. It goes on for the next 2 days but I’ll probably be skipping out on most of it since we had our international orientation a week ago. But classes finally start this coming week, so it’ll be nice to get started.

I hear I’m getting a roommate sometime today. They came in and made up her bed so I’m assuming she’ll be arriving soon. I have no idea what to expect so it should be interesting. (yikes!)

I had a very interesting experience the other night at a pub. My friends and I were sharing a pizza and drinks around 8pm and someone comes over the loudspeaker announcing the crab race was about to begin and to place your bets on a crab. We were utterly confused and we stayed around to check it out. So about an hour later, they come out with a big tin bowl and they set it upside down on this board game looking thing. Everyone has crowded around to root on their crab and when they take the tin off, the crabs start racing! Each crab has a number on its back and whoever gets to the end first wins. They give away t-shirts, free drinks, and more to the winners. It was quite the site to see. You never know what you’re going to come across in the Land of Oz.

Well, today I’m going to have lunch with a guy from Houston. We have a mutual friend at UT that hooked us up so I’m going to show him around the city, (as if I’m some pro). Hope you all are enjoying my journal.

February 26

I have officially moved into my own place and it is such a relief! I have a share room but my roommate doesn’t come for another few days. I’m back to having a twin bed which I thought I left back in the dorms but oh well. There isn’t a lot of storage space, so my stuff is inevitably all over the floor. (some things never change). The place I’m living is kind of like an international or boarding house. It has about 15 rooms filled with 1, 2 or 3 people. The kitchen, lounge, deck, bathrooms, etc are all communal. Everyone is students between 20 and 30 years old. I’ve noticed how common it is here to be a student in your 30s or 40s. I’ve only been here 2 nights but so far the people seem really cool. It’s located on cute street called Glebe Point Rd and it’s filled with restaurants, fruit markets, book shops, and anything else you can think of. It’s a cute area but just like everywhere else, difficult to get around.

The traveling has been especially hard on me because Jenna and I spend so much time together. She is staying with her cousins right now and is going to another Uni (university). To get to her it will take me and hour and a half at least. It’s very time consuming and eats up a lot of energy figuring out how to get around. Yesterday, we were trying to figure out which bus line to take and we asked a police officer. He told us where to go and then offered us a ride as well. So I experienced my FIRST ride in the back of a cop car. They don’t have bars separating the front from the back and you can open the doors from the inside. It’s amazing how much safer this country is than America. In fact, mace, pocket knives and anything else is illegal here. So that was a different experience. Everyone is so nice here and goes out of their way for you, it’s really cool.

Today, I went to the zoo with one of my Canadian friends. We took the ferry there and spent the day with the kangaroos, pandas, and koalas. It was great and I have tons of pictures! Then I went to the beach because it’s so hard to resist here. It was hard to get used to all the topless women and tight Speedos.

The nightlife has been great. There are so many areas to go out and I’ve made sure to try them all. The other night, we attended a film festival with around 10,000 people. It’s held in a huge park and it reminded me of 4th of July fireworks at Gilson Park. Everyone sets up picnics and watches 16 independent short films on these huge screens. The tradition started at a local bar where they had contents for the best short film. And over the years, it has become super popular. It was really neat.

That’s been all that’s going on these days. I start school in a week so I have to get as much in before then as possible! Until next time…

February 21

Sorry I haven’t written in awhile. I have a lot to catch you up on. Right now I’m sitting at an apartment right on a beach called Coogee. Litterally ON the beach, it’s amazing. This is where I’m staying for the next 2 nights until I move into my place. Yes, I found a place finally in a town called Glebe. Its about 15 minute walk from my school. It’s a big Victorian house with a bout 15 rooms filled with students. I’m sharing a room with someone, but haven’t met her yet. That should be interested. Anyway, I’m staying with my friend Daniel Major from New Treir for the next couple nights, small world, right?! He’s on a program with kids from all different universities so I’ve met a lot of his friends. Jenna is going out of town with her cousins and her brother left yesterday so I’m fending for myself tonight.

Aside from still living out of a suitcase, things have been really good here. We went to the Sydney Aquarium, it was so cool. They had this tunnel set up underwater where sharks, fish, sting rays, and other scary looking things swim all around you. It was so scary to be so upclose to them. But I better get used to seeing sharks for when I go scuba diving (just kidding, mom).
One of the things I haven’t liked about Sydney is how expensive everything is. It says a lot that I had a McDonalds meal and it cost me $8 bucks. That is pathetic. It’s near impossible to find a meal under $15 bucks. I also hate how early everything closes here. All stores close around 6pm and even some pubs close around 11pm which is just weird for a big city. Also, the transportation system basically stops at midnight so if you’re out past then, you have to take a heaping expensive cab back home. And yes, that is Aussie lingo. When you’re talking about a lot of something, everyone says “heaps”. It’s funny.

Let’s see, what else… Jenna’s brother was dying to see the movie There Will Be Blood so we saw that the other day. I didn’t think it was that good even though it got great reviews. I found it a little ubsurd and that it didn’t have much of a plot. After that, I had this really good Thai meal but it quickly turned sour when it gave me my first dose of heartburn and then got me sick. That was not so fun, but I lived.

The sun here is soo strong! I practically have to bathe in sunscreen. But I’m getting some color which is really nice! I’m sick of my white legs reflecting the sun into people’s eyes. But somehow I’ve still managed to make a lot of friends from all over. We had an orientation for international students and I met a group of people from Germany and Canada and I’ve been hanging out with them a bunch. We all just signed up to go on a weekend trip to surf camp!!! How cool is that?!?! I can’t wait. Yesterday was the most beautiful day since I’ve been here, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. So we spent the day at the beach swimming in the ocean. About midday, they make an announcement that there are blue-bottles coming in and to stay out of the water because 50 people were stung in the last half hour!! Jenna and I looked at the sand and there were about 100 washed up on shore. It was so crazy. They’re very weird looking and see through with blue tentacles about a foot long. Thankfully, I didn’t get stung! Last night, Jenna and I went to a bar and met a crew from Northwestern. I dropped the name Norris Center Bookstore (their sschool’s bookstore which I worked over break) and they were like woahhh, how do you know that?!!! It was funny.

I can’t think of what else I’m forgetting to mention but I’m going to go have lunch now. Hope everyone is doing well!!

Feb 15th

I’ve only been here for 3 days but it feels like a lot longer because I’m doing so much. I’ve been to a welcome session at my school, looked for accommodation, got a phone set up, seen the Sydney Opera house, and more. I know this city’s public transportation system like that back of my hand. The family I’m staying with is in Vaucluse which is a bus and train ride away from my school. And the family doesn’t really do sit down meals so every night Jenna, her brother, her cousin Robert, and me go out for dinner. But tonight we had our first dinner with them because it was Shabbat and they had guests over and it was delicious. Mom, I even did the dishes! As for night life, lately, Robert’s friend Andrew has really shown us around. Last night, he took us out for a Valentines Day dinner and then to a Pub with him and his friends. The night before, we all watched a movie together. Tonight, we’re venturing to a new part of the city. I’ve been very proud of myself lately. I get up around 9 every morning and don’t go to bed until about midnight. So my days are packed and by the end I’m ready to collapse.

I’ve been a little disappointed with the weather though. Apparently the entire summer has been like this and it’s supposed to be like this for the next few months. It’s overcast every morning, if we’re lucky the sun breaks through in the afternoon, and then at night it rains. Ugh. Yesterday, we spent the afternoon walking around downtown, through the most amazing Botanic Gardens, and then to the Opera House and I managed to get my first glimpse of sun. And today I spent 3 hours at one of the beaches called Bondi and it was beautiful. But when the sun isn’t out, it’s pretty chilly out.

The whole housing search has been really difficult mostly because I don’t have internet access. Also, all the rooms available are being leased out by families or a working couple in their 30’s. Not exactly what I had in mind. So now, I’m thinking about finding people to just rent an entire place with me. This should be interesting. I’m going tomorrow morning to a slew of open houses. And real estate here is unbelievably expensive. It’s equivalent to living in downtown Chicago. I went to see a place yesterday that was being leased for $160 a week and it was the size of my walk-in closet. I could stretch my arms out and they would just about touch the walls. It was so old and decrepit looking, that I stayed for about 30 seconds and then ran the other direction.

Aside from all the troubles of trying to settle in, this is probably the most beautiful city I have ever seen. I hope to be getting you pictures in the days to come so that you can see for yourself.