Bittersweet Symphony

I literally cannot believe I have less than one week here. Seriously, I can’t wrap my mind around it. I think it’s the weather that’s been messing me up. My internal seasonal clock wants to break out the Christmas wrapping and holiday cheer because that’s what I usually want to do when it gets cold for too long. But instead, I have to constantly remind myself that everyone at home is still in flops and bathing suits. Two things that have been buried in my closet for several weeks.

Last Saturday was my last day at the Breath which was probably the saddest part of it all. I loved working there and the people were just so great. Occasionally, on weekend nights, someone will dress up in the blindingly bright pink pig suit and wave/take pictures with the kids. I’ll give you one guess as to who was the lucky girl that got to do it Friday night. That’s right. And I loved every minute of it. Saying bye to everyone on Saturday was bittersweet and I left with several gifts/Hog’s Breath paraphernalia. :)

So lately, I’ve been thinking about things that I’ve wanted to do in Australia before I left and I was mentally going through the list. Visit Sydney and walk the bridge? Check. Swim in the Pacific (from the other side)? Check. Learn to surf? Check. See a kangaroo? Check. Eat kangaroo? Now that one had not been done. But it just so happened that my friend Steffen had bought some and cooked it up for his dinner the other night, so he let me try a piece. And so now I can officially say I’ve tried kangaroo. In all honesty, it wasn’t anything special, and if you hadn’t told me, I probably wouldn’t have known. But it still kind of made my day.

Another noteworthy thing that made my day was the amazing package filled with cookies that my grandparents sent me! I mean really, what is more exciting than getting a box full of Grandma’s cookies all the way on the other side of the world? Not much.

While the Aussie accent doesn’t really faze me anymore, I still can’t get over certain words. Here are some new ones for you:
Sunnies= sunglasses
Mozzies= mosquitos
Rellies= Relatives
Pushy= A bike (specifically my hot pink Southern Star that I’m currently trying to sell)
Bickies= Biscuits (like cookies)

I probably shouldn’t be writing this post right now instead of studying for my exam that I have later today, but someone’s gotta inform of you all of the life down under. I miss you all SO much and will see many of you in less than a week!!

A Movie Script Ending

Last week there was frost on the ground. Actual frost. And at the moment, my heater is on full blast. Not exactly how you picture Australia, huh? Everyone thinks its sun and surf all year round here… not quite the case. The one perk about it being this cold, however, is that people have taken pity on me at work and have been offering me rides. So I’m not complaining. Speaking of work, I’m actually starting to get really sad about leaving The Breath. While the biking to and fro isn’t my favorite, I have really liked my job there and love the people I’ve gotten to work with. So it’s all starting to get bittersweet in some ways.

Although I will tell you, finals are over in less than 2 weeks and that’s looking pretty good. Pretty much my life has resorted to studying the 4 subjects I’m taking here inside and out now that classes have ended. Work finishes up this weekend and all that’s left is the 4 exams! It’s a bit crazy in a way: I’ve been envisioning going home and imagining what it will be like for so long and now when I think of something from home, it just seems so close. For example, I discovered this candy place in the mall here that specializes in American candy (for our Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup and peanut butter M&M cravings). They also sell Pop Tarts. For $11. Ridiculous. I don’t even like Pop Tarts that much, but knowing that I could have one in 12 days if I wanted to (for free since our house is usually stocked) puts a smile on my face. Not much else is going on here, besides the work, the studying, the cold, and the mental countdown I have going until I get home to America!

Also, although I have not developed the Aussie accent, as hoped, I have picked up some slang. It’s actually in my vocabulary, not just words I think are funny. I found myself saying “how you going?” the other day without even realizing it. So you may hear me say that, among other words such as “heaps”, “whinging”, and “feral”, all of which are in my every day vocabulary. (whinging= whining and feral= disgusting/trashy. Similar to how my mother uses the word “skanky”). :)

Tension is a Passing Note

So the countdown has begun. It starts to become real once you realize there’s less than 20 days. Life here is… well… let’s just say I’m anxious about coming home.

Work is coming to an end. Although not before they max out my student visa work limitations, it seems. I have a full week of Hog’s Breath in front of me and I KNOW I’ve been working there too long when I saw the first person I actually knew there last week. It’s kind of like working at the Dexter DQ, where every other person you know is someone you went to high school with, except it was weird because I don’t really live here. Anyhow, it’s keeping me busy and is somewhat of a nice distraction from studying. My last class is tomorrow (!) and then finals start next Wednesday. Finals are really stretched out over here, so I have one every 3 days which makes it slightly less overwhelming.

This weekend was pretty chill and just involved Trina and I watching the OC and baking cakes (for all of you who don’t already know, I have become quite the domestic goddess, you just wait and see). But now, it’s time to finish off the week. The weather has gotten cooler already and while it’s not raining anymore like it did all last week, I’m ready to start putting my shorts and dresses in my suitcases already and am missing my Uggs.

I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for everyone’s grad parties that I missed- you know I would be there if I could! Also- happy 25th to Mom and Dad and I hope you had fun in Mackinaw!

Time Turned Fragile

So it has been far too long since I’ve last updated; I don’t even know where to begin. It might be a bit jumbled, but I believe I left off at the semi…

Semi-Formal was a few weekends ago, and so everyone from my dorm got dressed up in “Fairy Tale” theme and went. I arrived and felt like I was at a Halloween party, seeing as how everyone got really into it. I guess Halloween isn’t big down here, so this is their excuse to get all dressed up. I went as a fairy and enjoyed a nice meal with all the people from my dorm; they had an after party later that night in the dining hall with dancing, and by midnight, I was out. But the whole thing was really fun.

Classes have been…. Meh. But I was thinking about it, and after this week, I have roughly 7 more days of class and then finals! Finals stretch out for 2 weeks here so I’m planning on studying my butt off to make up for…. Well, I don’t want to say “lack of work” that I’ve done here, but…

In other news, Trina, Lauren, and I decided that it would be a good idea to go on a cleanse detox. Whether it WAS a good idea, I have yet to decide. Basically, the Master Cleanse involves drinking a bunch of salt water in the AM, this lemon juice/water/syrup/cayenne pepper mixture throughout the day, and tea at night. With no food. We started on Tuesday, and the cleanse is supposed to last for 10 days. Now, I know myself well enough that 10 days without food was just not going to happen, so I shortened it to 5. We were all going pretty strong… until Day 4. And then we crashed. But I will tell you: my mood has never changed so fast as when I first ate that sandwich after 4 days of nothing but this mixture that basically tasted like sour lemonade sweetened with syrup. I was elated. It was definitely… an experience, I will say that.

Work has been going well- nothing new to report there. But it is slowly starting to hit me that I will be home in less than 5 weeks. And that thought excites me. Don’t get me wrong, AUS (and NZ) have been awesome, but it will be so good to be home again. Also, the fact that everyone from home is out of school and tanning by the pool, while I am here with my heater turned on as it gets perpetually colder, kind of makes me jealous. I was so excited that I was leaving the snow for sun that I didn’t even think about the way home. Last week, it rained for most of the week. Now, I love rainy days, but when you can’t eat and you’re supposed to be in the sunniest place on earth, getting up to walk through the wind to class is not appealing.

This past weekend was basically spent living at my friends’ apartment. Daniel was scubadiving in Cairns for the weekend so the girls pushed the mattresses together and we had OC watching marathons (with our rediscovered love of food). The girls also could have had a bake sale with how much food they baked one night. But now, I have to do work and get everything organized before I leave for Sydney. I leave on Thursday and I have no idea what I’m going to be doing there once my plane arrives. But I’m sure I will have a blast catching up with people from the CIS (the study abroad program I went through).

I will be putting up pictures of my life recently soon and will update about the wonderful city of Sydney when I get back. I’m sure I forgot a lot of things to write on this blog, but that will just give you another post to look forward to… :)