Grand Finale

well, i've been home for almost a week now, but i am still in denial so i've been putting off writing my final entry. 

my last week in australia was amazing, and made me never want to leave. i had three finals, two that i had to go to and one that i took online. other than that i pretty much chilled with my friends pretty hard, savoring our last moments in the sun. we laid out on the balcony and tanned every day, went down to the pool, to the beach... the usual and all the things i am missing so terribly right now. 

on friday kathleen's parents came and on saturday they drove us to burleigh heads beach and then brought us over to their apartment in surfers for some good eats. i loved having family visits. saturday was my very last night in australia, and i had to be on the bus to the airport at 5:30 a.m. so obviously i decided to just stay up and go out instead of sleeping, as i would have plenty of time to sleep on the 13 hour plane ride home, and only one last night with my friends in oz. so we went out to fiddler's and then ruby tramp, a live music irish pub and then a nightclub; the usual night in surfers.. haha.

it was a terrific last night except for when i fell into a man hole. here is what happened: i walking and texting (don't do this at home) and my friend bill was trying to get my attention but i was not really paying attention. when i finally looked up at him, it was too late. i fell into a hole. it was painful, and probably ridiculously embarrassing, but i have some pretty bad ass bruises to show for it. ask to see them. i may show you. i had to force everyone to leave around 4:30 so i could get back to school and pack up and get on the bus. luckily one of the girls i with got kicked out around that time for dancing shoe-less on a table and trying to steal a picture off of the wall.  

so i said all my tearful (and by tearful, i mean i was crying on the inside) goodbyes and got on the bus, still in a state of toxic delirium.  i passed out, and arrived an hour later at the brisbane airport. luckily none of the girls i was flying with had gone out the night before so they could help me re pack my bags when they were over the weight limit and the lady wouldn't just let me pay for the extra weight. i was a messss...

however, my sunday travels were far from over. our flight to LAX was supposed to leave at 9:50 a.m. but got delayed until 11:30. we made it to LA 1 1/2 hours late and missed our connecting flight to chicago so we got put on standby, but sunday is a ridiculous day to try to get to chicago so we didn't get out of LAX until 2:00 p.m. (that's 5 hours later, in case you were confused by the time difference). however, when we got to chicago we found out that our original flight from chicago to green bay had already been cancelled because of the weather conditions so we wouldn't have made it out that night anyway. well, we had had enough traveling after 31 hours and just wanted to go home. so kathryn, alicia, and i took a 1 1/2 bus ride to milwaukee where my mom picked me up and drove me 4 hours home. 

that brings us to approximately 5 a.m. on monday. no worries though, i wasn't even a little tired as in my mind/body it was only 8p.m. (australian time). needless to say the jeglag has been killing me all week, and i've been really sick, hopefully not with the swine flu. i miss australia terribly already and am just trying not to think about it too much at this point. i am super excited to see all my friends in ripon this weekend, and to turn 21. honestly it's the only thing keeping me going...

peace & loves.

17 April

another crazy week and i have no idea where it has gone! last week was my last week of classes, which was exciting/bittersweet because it means i only have two weeks left here. i can't believe it. last friday was good friday which is apparently a very big deal here in oz because everything was closed. i kid you not, not even the food places on campus were open, we couldn't go to the gym or lay by the pool... it was ridiculous. the weather was not too nice either, so we were stuck inside most of the day watching movies and bumming around. 

however, casey and lauren and i got a little restless by dinner time and decided to go on an adventure to mudgeeraba. it is one of the buses that goes from campus, but i have only ever taken it as far as the robina towne centre or possibly the nerang rail (the train). we wanted to see a little bit of mudgeeraba, and hopefully grab a bite to eat whilst we were at it.  well, we arrived in mudgeeraba and discovered that it, too, was completely closed up and there was absolutely nothing for us to see/do/eat. however, we reached the end of the route so we had to get off. luckily, the mudgey bus turned into the seaworld bus so we got back on the bus and decided to go into surfers. it was a very long ride because when we finally got off the bus in surfers EVERYTHING was open! it was very exciting. our next task was to find mexican food, since we were all in the mood. not so easy, as the closest mexican restaurant is not really within walking distance of cavil ave. and kind of off of the main strip. so we ended up going to pancakes in paradise instead, which turned out to be a very nice idea. yum. then we got back on the bus and returned to bond.

saturday was another not so exciting day, a lot of chillin pretty hard, but SUNDAY kathryn, casey, lauren and i rented a car and drove down to byron bay for the east coast blues & roots music festival featuring missy higgins, jason mraz, and ben harper! we only got tickets for monday since it was kind of expens, so on sunday we met up with my friend kathleen and her brother and his gf who came for a visit. we walked around town a little, grabbed a bite to eat at our hostel, and then casey and i played tour guide of our favorite place in australia! byron bill even re-entered our lives for a min.. hahaha...

monday it was POURING rain all day long so after breakfast we went on a quest for rain boots, which seemed to be what everyone else had deemed appropriate outwear for bluesfest, as it was being held in a mud pit because of all the rain. however, we couldn't find any cheap enough so we went with some cheap flip flops, which were immediately ditched as soon as we tried to trudge through calve-deep mud puddles. despite the monsoon, however, the festival was superrr fun. missy higgins was amazing, and jason mraz was good as well. ben harper was good, but i thought could have been better. he was being a little emo, and didn't play any of the songs i know and love by him. nonetheless, it was a pretty sweet time. we got back to our hostel around 1 a.m., climbed in the shower to scrape the mud off our bodies, and went straight to bed as all of us were dying of exhaustion by that point. 

the next morning we got brek at twisted sista, did a little walking around, chillin at the beach with about a million other people on tuesday afternoon. i am telling you, this place is legit. early afternoon we finally decided we had to head back to the gold coast because lauren's dad and brother were coming to visit and since lauren didn't have a phone he hadn't really been able to get a hold of her and may or may not have been a bit concerned about her whereabouts. i loveee meeting everybody's families, especially parents, because i forget how much i miss having real adults/parents around sometimes. sooo yesterday (thursday) a bunch of us went over to where lauren's fam was staying and we hung out at the beach while we waited for them to get back from skydiving in byron bay. we ate a ton of food, and just chilled in this super nice apt. in surfer's. good times.

the weather has been soooo much nicer lately, after having straight rain for almost two weeks. i guess it is nearing the rainy season, but supposedly it hasn't even been raining that much compared to how much it usually rains this time of year. whatevs, as long as i leave here tan i am a happy girl. =] tonight i think i am going to my first rugby game, which should be exciting, and tomorrow i am going to brisbane with casey. then i may have to buckle down slightly and make some sort of attempt to study for finals. we'll see...

9 April

it was sooo good to see my fam last weekend! they got here on friday afternoon, and casey and i took the bus into surfers to see them. turns out their hotel was actually on the other side of surfers, so it was a lonngggg ride, and we were def the only people left on the bus by the time we arrived at the sheraton mirage. it was all good though because they took us out to dinner for some seafood buffet. =) 

after din we left my fam to rest for the night, as they had been traveling for about two days, and the time difference and jet leg can really get a girl down the first day/night. casey and i decided that we would stop in surfers for a drink since we were already there, so we went to .o'malleys where, wouldn't you believe it, a cricket team was celebrating the end of their season. they came all the way from melbourne! we were like, omg we were just there last weekend and loveddd it. then of course they bought us lots of pitchers of beer, and you know you can't just leave when you're getting free drinks like that so we made it kind of a big night, especially for a friday. funnn.

saturday morning i got up and went back into surfers to show the fam around. i've never really walked around there in the daylight too much, so it was just as interesting for me as it was for them. we had some brekk and then walked around and did a little shopping and people watching. it was fun. then i thought that i would take them into broadbeach for some din, but when we got there it was not what we were expecting so we decided to go see if we could get into the benihana's back in surfers. fail. so we ended up walking back into surfers to go to a little italian place. it was delish though.  after din i quick went back to the hotel to change and clean myself up a little bit before heading BACK into surfers to meet up with some friends at waxy's for night two. =) i've never spent so much time in that place before..

sunday the fam came and picked me up at school and we headed over to byron, which is one thing i insisted they absolutely must do when they were here seeing as it is my fave place in the entire world. we got there just as it was starting to get real hot out, and i took them down to the market. then my dad and brother went to the beach and my mom and sis and i walked around town, doing more shopping and people watching. they tried some kebabs and were impressed, i think. we headed out just as it was starting to rain [again] and they came back to bond so i could give them a little tour of my place of residence.  we walked into market square to get some food, but since it was sunday everything was closing pretty early, so they decided to just go back to their hotel to get some eats. i stayed here to get some rest cause i was tireddd.

monday i met the mom and sis at pac fair while my brother and dad stayed back at the hotel to lay by the pool. sydney was looking for a dress for senior tea, but apparently the mom and sis aren't loving aussie style so they didn't find much. oh wellll... then as dwe went back to the hotel to rest for a bit before din, then finally made it to benihana's which was delish. then i came back to get some sleeep. tuesday i had to get up real early to go see the fam off, which was sad to see them go already! but now they are up in port douglas doing some adventurngous things like rainforest and sailing trips. hopefully it is nice weather there! then they are heading to sydney this weekend and then going home! what a short trip.

i, on the other hand, only have two more weeks here so i intend to make them count!