Rewind And Wind Down.... (Backtrack to Week 12.)

G'day...

Today is actually May 9th, Happy Mother's Day from Aussie, MUM! :)

I know I will be posting this late, as in- when I land in America...However, understand that this is my rambling emotions during the "I've been here 3 months and I have 1 month left week" only I cannot post it now, because I am surprising my mom and sister and everyone else by coming home on June 11. I land at 9pm the night before Erica's graduation party and I am VERY excited to be able to surprise her and my mom. Truthfully, Dad is too! I can't believe I'm going to pull this off- and to think, I've known since the week after I went to New Zealand the official day I'm coming home- I guess I can keep a secret after all!

So here it is, the final chapter of my book:

I'm so confused. Happy/upset/stressed/excited/anxious - how many other confusing emotions can I say I feel? I just don't know why.

The best thing I've ever done for myself was come abroad to Australia and I would never in a million years trade these 4 months for anything in the world. I have made incredible best friends, I've lived in a foreign country pretty much on my own, I've experience a million things I never could have dreamed I'd do or see EVER. Most importantly though, I figured out a bit more about myself. I know more about what's good for me and what decisions are the right ones.

No matter how anyone looks at it- there is nothing that can bring back this time once it ends in 31 VERY short days. I mean, thinking about it gives me butterflies. This weekend, potentially camping in Fraser Island, then here for 3 days then off to Byron Bay for my last time in I don't know how long... and then home for 2 days and off to Sydney for my last big trip, coming back on Sunday May 30th..giving me 11 days left in the Gold Coast, Australia...the place I can in so many ways call home.

I'm not sure how to look at it anymore.. I am having the time of my life here. I am living the dream, heck- even my mom says when she 'grows up' she wants to be Jodi Gold. OF COURSE- this is paradise and I am living worry free through it. Who wouldn't want this?!

Yet I know there is SO much ahead of me at home this next year as well. I'm home for 2 weeks of spending time with the family, seeing friends, seeing STEVEN :), relaxing and readjusting to life back in America. Then I'm off to the place I adore most- Camp. Playing on the waterfront, and with amazing campers for the whole summer.. the dream job really. Going back to school is even exciting- though the work will be SO hard considering I have not really done much to 'get by passing' here in Aussie... but moving into a house of my own with Jess and Liz down the line.. and being back spending time with my amazing boyfriend! I'm going to be an RC for recruitment and I only have class on campus 3 days a week.. and one of them isn't until 4pm! Let's be real, senior year of college?! It's sure to be epic...

but there is one thing stopping me from wanting all of this to come- and that is that I am in the most laid back, incredible place in the world AUSTRALIA. It truly is incredible and words cannot describe my love for this country. I even realized being here that I know more about Australia than I do about America, which is wild since I have lived in America for 21 years. I know that I want to spend some time experiencing the States, getting to see what we have to offer that so many foreigners come to see as I am here.

I've lived, I've traveled, I've studied, I've drank, I've skydived, I've hiked, I've taken over 2,000 pictures, I've shopped, I've drank some more, and I have made ever lasting friendships....and I have fallen in love with Australia... I will be back some day, and that's a promise.

In the end though, I love being the worldly 21 year old that I am. I guess the word for it is lucky. So as the end of an era draws near I have 2 people to thank for it all- Mom and Dad. Without you, I wouldn't even be here on the opposite side of the world from you enjoying every second of it. Thank you, I love you.

Until I land in America....

xoxo

Girls 5-Day-Weekend SYDNEY Style... (Week 15)

G'Day from the Sydney Opera House :)

It is an absolutely magnificent place to be!

Bright and early Wednesday morning..or should I say Tuesday night...at 3:45am, Kiki, Alyssa and I set out for the airport. We got picked up and brought to Gold Coast Domestic Airport. Needless to say, we got there way too early and were through security and at our gate by 4:45am. Yet our flight wasn't leaving until 6am. Alyssa and Kiki had both gone out the previous few hours to Surfers but I had chosen to maybe catch a few z's as I hadn't slept for over 5 hours a night, in about 4 days already. They were defininitely still intoxicated as we boarded the plane and lucky for them- they slept for the whole 1 1/2 hour flight.

Landing in Sydney was supposed to be the most epic thing to happen yet, except Sydney let us down with a HORRIBLE rainstorm! It was torrentially down pouring out and made the city a rather gloomy place to be. We took a cab to Sydney University Village where Alyssa's camp friend Laura lives. The SUV is similar to where I live in dorm-style housing, however mine is more of an apartment. Laura lives in a single room, in a building with a few of her friends. The room was a decent size, and since it was only 8am, the four of us decided to take a nap. I fell asleep on the hard floor, but woke up shortly after because it was absolutely freezing! To put it this way: I was in a sweatshirt, long pants, an a long sleeve shirt, plus my socks and my northface fleece. It was almost as cold as Boston. (or it felt that way at least). When our other friends landed a few hours later, we met up with them at their hotel. My friend Kiki turned 21 at midnight that night and for her birthday her parents got her and her 2 roommates a hotel room in Darling Harbour *The Rocks District* overlooking the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge- VERY COOL SIGHT! Little did we know, that as we watched the Opera House light up different colors that this was actually a once a year thing. We sat there saying how tacky the color scheme looked, but in reality we were watching a pretty popular light show.From their hotel room we went to a classy pub (I say classy because we were all dressed up...) where we split pizzas and salads and brews in honor of Kiki's 21st. After dinner and some pre-gaming drinks we went back to Sydney Uni Village and walked to a local bar they all go to. It was called HQ and was pretty similar to our bar near Griffith campus called the Tav. It was a fun night, but we ended somewhat early because we had all been traveling and were exhausted. We crashed in the Uni Village with a few of the girls we had connections to. They were ridiculously nice and let us all stay for 2 nights.

Waking up early the next morning was only easy for me. Taylor and Alyssa had wanted to get up, but of course once I was showered and dressed they were still catchin' Z's...eventually I woke them up and we all went to meet our friends in Darling Harbour. It was absolutely gorgeous, despite the cloudy mess and possibility of rain in the weather. We wandered around and got a huge lunch of ribs at Hurricanes right in the Harbour. We all really wanted to see the aquarium so from there we got a ticket to The Aquarium, Wildlife Zoo-thing, and Tower. We had alot to accomplish in one day but didn't dillydally once we got passed Nemo, and the sharks :) It was a day full of animals- even though I don't like animals I was loving the day. We made it to the tower in time to go on a pretty epic 'ride' through Australia in a five minute film. We sat in these chairs that would jolt us and move us around it was cool. Though the sights in the top of the tower could have been better if the weather was nicer- it was still cool. Similar to the Eureka Tower I went to in Melbourne. Thursday was almost over so we split up after a bit of souviner shopping and went back to get ready for a big birthday celebration that night. The shopping was similar to NYC, where there were streets like 5th Ave and then there were small vendors too. We ate a great sushi dinner and then We all went to "Home Bar" in the Harbour. It's funny because there is a cover charge everywhere you go and even girls can't get passed that, but somehow we all got in for free and it ended up being a great drunken night for all of us- Quite easily one of the best bar's I've been to in Australia. It was fun, everyone was drinking, tequila shots all around! After we left the bar we all went back and hung around together for hours.

Friday we decided was our day to see the Opera House... we all got up and went to Pancakes on the Rocks.. it was great! Though we took awhile to get there, needing to check into our hotel..we wandered there eventually. Kiki, Taylor, Alyssa and I enjoyed our ghetto-ish hotel room where we had to actually put the room key in a slot to even turn the lights on in the room- pretty green, Australia. We walked over to the Opera House and on our way stopped to see a street show by some psycho named Sam. He pulled Kiki D into his show and danced with her- ending with a kiss where he tricked her into kissing him on the lips. We kept walking as his show got boring and we ended on the MAGNIFICENT Sydney Opera House stairs!!! It was truly amazing to be there, when we thought intensely about the fact that we were actually there in Sydney, Australia standing on a legendary, world famous monument. We could see the sunset behind the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and of course we took tons of pictures. We tried to take a few cheesy ones, before wandering to the Royal Botanical Gardens. We had to get through them before it got dark because at dark the park ranger comes around and asks you to leave. It was not as pretty as other gardens I've seen here, such as Cairns, but they were cool because it was the first time we'd seen color changes in the leaves and the feel of a different season. When we finished the garden walk we were pretty tired. It was getting dark and we ventured back to the hotel to relax for a bit. Though Taylor desperately wanted Dim Sum, they were closed and we ended up eating at a small cafe. It was cute and we were able to have a nice girl chat. That night we needed to see the area called Kings Cross that we heard was infamous for prostitutes. When we got there, we couldn't find one in sight, though when we went to the 5 level World Bar, we saw some pretty outrageous sights. The bar itself was absolutely incredible, each floor was different, the rooms were decorated like they were part of a house, but each one had a different attribute. There was a huge outdoor balcony area and on top of that there were live bands and multiple dance rooms. At all World Bars (we went to a wild one in Queenstown, New Zealand) they serve alcohol out of teapots. They're over priced and not worth it but we figured we'd get ONE anyways since we were there for the experience not to be drunk. When they gave us the teapot but with a card saying "anyone seen drinking out of the spout will politely be asked to leave" so with that, you get two medicine cup-shot glasses. Kiki and I sat down, took shots of our Long Island Iced Tea and hoped it would hit us. It didn't. We met a few people sitting around outside and then decided to leave and went back to our hotel. We called it an early night, but not after picking up a bit of drunk food and having serious girl chat time in the room. 

Saturday was our last day in Sydney, our last big hurrah of a trip. Except, we took it slow to start, leaving our room and heading to Bondi at about noon. We took a bus right to Bondi Junction where we explored in the rain and saw a few of the gorgeous apartments Sydney kids have been hooked up with. We didn't do too much shopping there, but we made sure to eat a meat pie at Pie Face before we left! We loved the city but wandered around Oxford Street and the Paddington Market for the rest of the day! We did a bit of shopping, but the only thing I bought was a Hamsa I have been looking for for years, and finally found one I loved! It was gorgeous and worth it. :) We didn't do anything except get dinner Saturday night. We ate cheap food at a Kebab and turkish spot, but it was ok. The rest of the night we spent re-packing, girl chatting and watching Alvin and The Chipmunks. Yes, Alvin. 

Waking up and leaving at 6:30 am was hell but once we were back on the Gold Coast by noon it was well worth the early trip. We all took the afternoon off mostly- I did some laundry and laid low. In the end, we had an awesome 5 day trip with the girls and were ready for the last week of classes.

Sydney was a wonderful city, lived up to expectations yet I still really think I like Melbourne more- it's culture was much more lively and in general, the city of Sydney was more like New York City than anywhere else...

...xoxo

Heaps of Dingoes..in a big way.. Fraser Island & Sunshine Coast (Week 13)

G'day from Fraser Island!

so this weekend...where do i begin...well, 6:30am Friday Holly, Mari and Hayley picked Taylor and I up...in our little nissan (that legit quick glance was a CRV...ahah) and off we went! We named our pretty silver vehicle Judith..and Judith treated us well this weekend, even though we beat her up a little bit...

Our destination was FRASER ISLAND...  The largest sand island in the world at 1840 km² with a resident human population of 360 people. 

It took us until about 1:30pm to get to Hervey Bay/Rainbow Beach where we let down our tires, bought a vehicle driving permit and our barge ticket, and ate lunch. Pretty soon we were off to the Island...by now, we had no cell phone service and were not so sure the next time we'd get it again. Needless to say, we made it across tretcherous sand to the barge where we drove right on and of course exited our car and snapped a ton of pictures of the gorgeous water and backgrounds.

When we drove off the barge 10 minutes later we were on Fraser Island surrounded by crystal blue water on our right and sand dunes stretching on forever on our left. Holly was driving at this point and we flew right down the GORGEOUS beach. It was breathtaking to be driving freely down a beach, no sight of anything but sand and ocean..it was the most peaceful place in the world.

It was low tide, so we got lucky, and drove freely throughout the beach, it was the most thrilling thing in the world to have this open white sand beach waves crashing, just incredible. On our drive we stopped at the shipwreck called the Wreck of the Maheno (The S.S. Maheno was originally built in 1905 in Scotland as a luxury passenger ship for trans-Tasman crossings. During the First World War the ship served as a hospital ship in the English Channel, before returning to a luxury liner. In 1935, the ship was declared outdated and on June 25, 1935 the ship was being towed from Melbourne when it was caught in a strong cyclone. A few days later, on July 9, 1935 she drifted ashore and was beached on Fraser Island. During the Second World War the Maheno served as target bombing practice for the RAAF and was used as an explosives demolition target by special forces from the Fraser Commando School. The ship has since become severely rusted, with almost three and a half storeys buried under the sand. Climbing on the shipwreck is not permitted. -WIKIPEDIA).. it was pretty cool, though of course I tried to climb inside and in doing so smashed my head...there is a big bump on my forehead- not cool. Yet, we continued on and We drove to the point, and hung out there for awhile. We got in some sun, nice tanning spot. and over this cliff thing you could see all of the sharks, dolphins, sting rays etc. in the water. It was pretty cool. I was laying there with my ipod in and eyes closed next to Holly when all of a sudden I heard Hayley and Mari yell my name and point and I turned around to be only 4 feet from a DINGO! I legit did the exact thing you're told NOT to do...grabbed all of my things, jumped up and sprinted into the car screaming. Of course, once I was safe and doors were slammed shut I snapped pictures..but holy shit was I scared.

We left there soon after and drove back down the beach to this townish kind of place called Happy Valley. This is where we were staying at a friend of Holly and Hayley's house... The Rigbys. These are two guys that Hayley and Holly met when they had visited Colorado last year. The Rigby brothers house was nice, very beachy. It was nice to be able to stay in a bed, compared to our friends that were camping with the dingoes!

The boys hadn't gotten to the Island yet so we went into the backpackers right in Happy Valley and went straight to the bar... after sharing 8 jugs of Pure Blond beer between the 5 of us girls, the boys arrived and we went to their house. We ended up drinking and hanging out there the rest of the night.

Saturday morning we all got up and headed down to the water. We laid out for a bit in the sun and ran into our other friends that had been on the Island as well. After a few hours we decided to go pipin' which is similar to crabbing...and use the pips to go worming in the sand to use the worms as bait to fish. Needless to say, I took the pictures- no slimy moving creatures for me! That wasn't as successful as we had hoped so we headed back to Happy Valley for lunch. The boys took naps and we all laid in the sun on the roof. After showering we tried to venture to the next "town" over but the tide was too high and we wouldn't make it, so we turned around and ate pasta for dinner a second night in a row. After dinner we all hung out and drank again, sharing stories and "playing the friend game" as Taylor calls it- where we would tell ridiculous stories getting to know eachother. We passed out pretty early since we were waking up at 7am Sunday to leave.

When we woke up at 7am we drove off down to the beach to leave the island but the tide was coming up too high for our Judith and we knew we'd get stuck..so that was attempt 1 and we turned around, went back to the boys house and had breakfast/slept some more. At about 10:30 we tried attempt 2, but it was only an hour after high tide and we again weren't going to get out. So at that point we went back to the backpackers bar and ate again, only this time it was lunch food. After that we finally made it out to the barge and off the island. However, on the drive out..we picked up two French men hitchhiking their way down Fraser to the barge to go back to their car on the mainland. They were interesting, nice though..and they were willing to sit in the trunk so it worked out fine! We dropped them at their car and made our way back to Hervey Bay/Rainbow Beach to fill our tires back up and get gas. We went from there to Sunshine Coast..simply following the signs and our instincts, as we had no GPS! It was quite the adventure. At about 4:30pm we arrived in Noosa Heads, and it was amazing!

Noosa is basically a little shopping kind of town, with a gorgeous beach, it's a mix between  Nantucket and the cape in a way...it's the classy version of Byron Bay- even though Byron is my favorite and I am headed there next weekend...

So yes, we shopped and had dinner at a great pizza place and then drove our last 2 1/2 hours home. We finally made it back- clearly needing to extend our rental car a day. It was epic though, a weekend for the record books.

It's Monday now... I have a full day of class tomorrow followed by some birthday celebrations for my friend Kiki and the rest of the week will be busy getting work done to leave for BYRON BAY on Thursday night. We are spending a few nights there...it might just be my last trip to Byron...in who knows how long. I can't wait though. Sydney next week with all of the girls. Should be amazing!

I've been here 3 months now...it's been a wild ride! Can't wait to share more!

xoxo

The Weekend of Facing Fears....Melbourne (Week 11)

G'day from Melbourne!

This weekend was great! I spent it in Melbourne with two friends, Rachel and Marni whom I have known since Dor L' Dor (Israel) in summer 2005. Both are Camp Tel-Noar girls and good friends of mine.

DAY 1: FRIDAY APRIL 30

The journey down to Melbourne began on a very hungover Friday morning. Let me back track first and tell you that when we were booking our flights there was a deal with Jetstar. Though we all sat via Skype from our computers in our rooms booking the flights, I was the only one to click and get the real deal for an 11 am flight. So, off I went flying alone. The only problem was, Marni and Rachel weren't arriving until  5 hours after me.  Needless to say I hired a driver to get me to the airport and I left, my first time ever really flying alone! I made it though safe and sound! I got myself a sandwich and coffee and got cozy with my book while I waited for my friends. They finally got there at 5pm and all was good. We took the Skybus from the airport into the city and took a tram to our hostel from there. We wandered a bit, just long enough to eat dinner at a hidden Thai place. Not too bad, but we were quite full after, stopping at 7/11 just to get some water and Pizza flavored Shapes crackers of course!

Our accommodation was Vic Hall. To call it a hostel would be lying, but to call it a hotel would too. Therefore, it is simply a classy Hall. We had a double bed and a twin bed, a big flat screen TV mounted to the wall and a private bathroom. Classiest hostel ever? It was pretty nice, and the beds were comfy as could be! Great for the relaxing and the sleep we all needed!

DAY 2: SATURDAY MAY 1

Saturday we were up and at it early, as Autopia Tours picked us up at 7 am for our Great Ocean Road tour, the EUREKA Package! To start we headed to a few great surf spots with beautiful views! The entire day was picture perfect, and I sure did take over 100 pictures of it all! At Bells Beach we had our morning tea and biscuits. From there we went to see wild koalas and parrots on our way down Great Ocean Road. The place we stopped for lunch was a quaint little town where we sat on odd rock formations, and bought a woman's homemade baked goods. It was cute! 

There was even an old Asian woman who had no idea how to use a restroom, she left the stall door open, and came out of the stall just to pull up her pants- very strange! After taking fun pictures we were on our way, we saw all of the touristy spots along Great Ocean Road, focusing on look outs and our favorite the Twelve Apostles. This is said to be a wonder of the world.. but I am not quite sure. At the lookout for the Twelve Apostles the three of us took an awesome helicopter ride along the coastline to see the 8 remaining apostles from an incredible viewpoint. There are only 8 left, as the most recent to fall was in 2005. They are rock/limestone formations that over time rot away due to the crash of salt water in the ocean. It was absolutely gorgeous, and being my first helicopter ride that was very cool as well.

From the Twelve Apostles we went on to see other rock formations individually, the Lock and Gorge was pretty, we were basically inside a cave of limestone rocks. Then London Bridge was nice too. The story behind it is that London Bridge fell down, literally. In January, 1990 a couple was out on the far flat area of London Bridge rock, when the connecting piece fell into the ocean. It took 3 hours for the couple to be rescued, giving the media plenty of time to get there and show it live. Having all of this media attention it came out the next day that the couple was actually having an affair! Wrong place at the wrong time or karma? You tell me. 

After seeing that we were headed back to Melbourne. We didn't follow Great Ocean Road back, instead we took the highway to a little town for dinner. There was a huge accident involving an Asian tourist bus and a car colliding. We ended up turning around and delaying dinner to go a different route. Needless to say, dinner was Maccas- nothing special. We were so excited to be dropped off at our accommodation and not have to leave that the second we got back I showered and we watched a movie in bed, passing out soon after.

DAY 3: SUNDAY MAY 2

Today we met up with Marni's parents! They are so sweet. We woke up late, went wandering..and sat at an spresso bar for a bit before meeting marnis parents to go to lunch in federation square. From there we went to the 88th floor skydeck saw the whole city and did the edge ride that sticks out of the building and the floor goes clear so u look straight down 88 floors to the ground- so scary!! I hate heights :( :( and then we went to this ally with tons of street art- soooo  cool, I toook so many pics. Then that's when rach and I split from them and ended up eating meat pies at a great place called Pie Face and went wandering. After realizing how early it was we walked towards our backpackers and decided that instead we'd go for drinks. We considered saki bombs but changed our mind and went to this bar for happy hour. Low key- very low key. We just had a  drink and then came back here. I showered and we laid in bed watching yet another movie, though both tipsy- not at all motivated to go out.

DAY 4: MONDAY MAY 3
So today was pretty cool. Went on a free city tourist tram that takes you all over and explains where you are and such as you go. We ended up getting off in Federation Square but not before seeing a "man" that's no longer a man, but surely a woman jump on the bus with some interesting kids. Rachel and I tried pretty hard not to laugh until we looked at Marni and couldn't hold it in any longer. After wandering for a bit and seeing the ACMI (Australian Center for the Moving Image) which was pretty neat, we grabbed lunch at a little cafe and headed to the hotel to wait for our tour. When the tourguide arrived we were in a private tour being driven in a mini-van style Mercedes benz. It was silly...but off we went. We went to a couple gorgeous surf spots took tons of pictures of course. Also saw wallabees and then went to a koala reserve and saw kangaroos too. We were so close to cows and bulls too, they were practically coming up sniffing inside the car. Then we had afternoon tea, and then came to phillip island to see the 


penguins!! The penguins literally come up to shore at sunset in what's called rafts, or big groups of 100+. They travel quickly up the beach and waddle their way into their burrows. They made a ton of loud noises and you could clearly tell who was mating and who looked lost. They were just adorable and It was a shame we couldn't take pictures. (The flash hurts the penguins eyes). After that cool experience we had a great dinner (swordfish) and headed home. We went for dessert at Pie Face once we were back in the city, and left her parents after they walked us back to Vic Hall.

DAY 5: TUESDAY MAY 4

Today we had to be out of Vic Hall by 10am. In doing so, we found out that for 15 dollars each they would provide us transportation to the Airport later and give us a free place to lock up our bags, very clutch! We left and walked all around. We started at Queen Victoria Market where we didn't get much other than food and I bought Steve a present :) However it was cool to see, and if I lived there- I'd definitely get my fruits and veggies there- SO MANY CHOICES! We spent a few hours there wandering it like it was a flea market in Florida, before walking towards a new part of town. We were determined to shop! Not before we got delicious crepes though! It was pretty out at this point, cold but nice. We wandered in and out of stores going into Aussie's biggest department store where I felt like I was in Chestnut Hill at Bloomies! It was crazy but we all had the self control not to buy any clothes or anything! I'm proud of us! 

We then had to head back to our accommodation to wait for the transportation to the Airport. Security flew by and then we were waiting to board the plane. It was rainy at this point, but we had to walk across the tarmac and up stairs to board the plane for what was a bumpy and boring flight. Not only that, but when we landed in Goldie, the guy we had hired to pick us up told us he had to wait for the next flight to land in 10 minutes, and gave us each a $5 bill discount for the wait. Only he had a $20 so he gave Marni that, and said to split it. Tacky. Then it turned out I got a little grumpy because AN HOUR later we finally left the airport. Lame. Finally getting back to Griffith Village was nice though, I got to catch up with my girls and shower and I even put some pictures up because I couldn't sleep.

Now, after an amazing weekend getaway I am back on the Gold Coast and facing a bunch of roommate drama, more to come on that later- I'll keep you updated.

Until the next trip,

xoxo

Ruminations... (Weeks 9 and 10)

G'Day!

Not much has happened these two weeks. It's been a busy chaotic mess of figuring out how to get all of my work done and still be able to lay outside in the sun all day, and go to the bars at night. I managed, skipped a few nights out and missed half days out in the sun- no biggie.

I've come to the conclusion however, that these past three months have FLOWN by. I cannot believe that next week is already May. Next comes June and I leave here. It's wild to think about. I mean, I am so used to living here, I feel like when I go home it's just going to be strange, and I'm sure I will talk funny. For sure, my mates will just not understand :). It's going to be more of a culture shock going back to America than it was coming here!

I'm excited though, there is so much ahead. Whenever I picture landing in Logan Airport and seeing the family I picture crying and running and jumping in their arms, as funny as it seems. On top of that, I can't wait to see Steve. I actually get giddy thinking about it!! I miss my boyfriend way too much! I also can't help but think about camp.. and the fact that I only get a few days at home before I leave again to go back to Pembroke. Should be an interesting summer to say the least.

Welll, I am off to Melbourne... :) see you on the return!

xoxo

These few weeks didn't bring much, except excellent Thursday nights at the Tav and fun times in the Village..

Pre-Game Thursdays @ TAV
Left: Me, Lucy & Colleen
Right: Me, Elle & Colleen

SWEET AS.....New Zealand April 4-11, 2010 (Week 8)

 G'Day from NEW ZEALAND!

Week 8 was spent in the South Island of New Zealand…a GORGEOUS place!! I planned to travel around with Kiki, Elle and Colleen. However, everyone we know from the states basically spent Spring Break in New Zealand some way! About 14 of us left on Sunday April 4 at about 1pm on a train to the Brisbane International Airport. The train felt like it lasted forever, but it was really only an hour. When we got to the airport and checked in, my bag was luckily only 18.9 kg (the limit is 20kg)! We got settled, had some dinner and waiting for our flight. None of us were sure how long the flight was but I think it was 7 hours because we got to Christchurch, NZ at 11:30pm (which is 2 hours ahead of Brisbane where we left from at 6pm). Whatever, we took a cab to Base Hostel, in Cathedral Square. It was late and we were exhausted but the 4 of us were in the room called the ‘Sanctuary’ a girls-only hostel room which was kind of cute, beds were comfortable even though I couldn’t really sleep.

Monday morning we woke up bright and early and caught a 7am bus to Queenstown where we would be staying the rest of the week. It was such a bad bus ride! 7 hours, but I was so exhausted all I wanted to do was sleep and I couldn’t no matter how hard I tried!! Elle and I were sitting together, listening to our ipods and admiring the incredible scenery. It went from city-like, to mountains, to rivers that were ice blue! It was also kind of frustrating because although gorgeous, I lost cell phone service during that time and couldn’t talk to Steve or my parents!

When we finally got to Queenstown we checked into our hostel, Deco Backpackers. It was quite a little hike up a hill but had the most incredible view ever! We had a private room for the four of us, with 2 bunk beds. It was cozy but we were happy to be together without any random strangers. The owner, who checked us in, told us that we had to do 3 things while in NZ: Skydive, Shotover Jet and ‘Meet foreign men”… we were a little sketched out by him, but made do. That night we went for dinner and brews in town at a pub on the warf. It’s was pretty cool. After that we just bar hopped for a little- nowhere too intense our first night after long traveling.

We also had to wake up pretty early on Tuesday because we were SKYDIVING at 10am!!!! Elle, Collen and I left our hostel wearing our legging, sneakers and sweatshirts ready to go at 10. We went to the NZone office and met all of the other people going with us. They brought all of us to the drop zone by 10:30am and even then I can’t say I was too nervous. See, before I left the states to come to Australia I talked myself into skydiving and even though my parents didn’t believe I’d do it- they went along with it. I was so convinced that even at the drop zone when I was in a jump suit and meeting my tandem instructor Greg it still didn’t hit me! I was so excited and nervous I’m sure but all I could do was laugh though out the whole plane ride up! Greg had held me back, Elle got in first with her tandem guy and her camera guy. Then Colleen with her tandem and camera men, and then Greg and I got in with my camera lady. This meant I was jumping first- EEK! So up we went and when we got above the mountains Greg showed me his arm band that said 1,500 feet- YIKES! So high up already and still another 11,000 feet to go!!! When we got to 13,050 feet the window/door went up and my camera lady was outside the plane holding on, filming me. I sat on the edge, out of the plane but attached to Greg while we both held on, he rocked back and forth 3 times and before I knew it I was free falling head first towards the ground!!!! It was a 45 second free fall, the most insane rush I have ever felt!! Your stomach doesn’t drop or anything, you just kind of blackout- it’s CRAAZZYY!! Then Greg pulled the parachute string, it opened (THANK GOD!) and we jolted up a bit. It was SO cold up there but it felt good too. The next 5 minutes were peaceful and amazing, floating over an incredible view of ice blue water and mountains and as we got closer I could even see the farms and sheep! We had a very smooth landing, I pulled my feet up to a sitting position and as we hit the ground I stood right up and the men pulled our parachute off. It was the greatest feeling in the whole world to have jumped out of a plane and landed safely back on the ground!! I waited for Elle and Colleen, we took a few more pictures and all hugged. We then walked off completely not feeling like we’d actually just accomplished a skydive! We paid for our pictures and video and went back to town to meet up with Kiki.

The rest of the day we were on cloud 9, I couldn’t even really tell you what we did besides walk around. I know we went back kind of early to shower and get ready for the big night. This was a good night mostly, except Elle and I couldn’t seem to feel any of the alcohol we drank! Haha. We went to dinner at World Bar, and just split appetizers. From there we went to the Minus 5* Ice Bar. It was pretty cool! I had always wanted to go to one, and we put on parkas and boots and went in. The drinks were delicious- I had Absolute Pears which is my favorite and we got to take tons of pictures with the ice sculptures. I even bit into my glass- it was made of ice! So funny! The bartender there told us at the end that he gives shooters for hooters, too bad he told all of these girls at the end of our visit- he could have gotten lucky and we could have gotten drunk! (only kidding) From there we met up with Marni and Rachel at the bar next door called Frasers. There was a bar crawl that night called ‘Epic Bar Crawl’ that for only 10 dollars got you into 5 bars and got you free shots at the door at each one plus discounted drinks ($5 spirits all night). We took this offer and had ourselves a grand old time! It was so weird but at that first bar a girl walked in and we both legitimately stared at eachother like we knew eachother- turns out she was a USY friend of Berko’s and we were like OMG PICTURE! Haha small world! We also met these boys who go to Williams in MA and one goes to Virgina Tech, but they were pretty cool and knew a lot about Boston- so of course we all hit it off! The night ended at World Bar when Elle and I ventured off from everyone to find out that the only late night food place opened was “Day and Night” (a 7/11 kind of convenience store) and Fergburger. We chose the chips option but there is more about Fergburger later.

Kiki and I had been talking about going on a wine tour for so long, and on Wednesday we got our chance! We went on Appalachian’s Central Otago Wine Tour. They picked us up at noon, and it was Kiki, myself and two older woman plus our tour guide. It was really nice! We went to 4 different vineyards, all of which had different kinds of wine to offer. We tried about 6 different wines at each cellar door, and one vineyard we got to try just pressed grape juice- so yummy! At that same vineyard we saw the presses and machines that make the wine, along with what the grapes look like after pressing. There was one particular red wine here that I loved called the Mathilde and I wish I could send it home to my dad, but unfortunately that is impossible with all of my luggage! When we got to the end of the tour we saw the river that Lord of the Rings was filmed on, just outside the last and prettiest cellar door. It was quite cool, the AJ Hackett bungee bridge is over that same river too. When we got back we were really needing a nap but skipped out on that to go dinner with the girls and get our party on since everyone else was meeting up in Queenstown that night.

We started at this bar next to everyone else’s hostel, where I grabbed my friend Tommy. See, at Buffalo Club it was “Ringa Wednesday” and they “WANTED: Red Head Ringas…” the reward was a $50 bar tab! Of course we brought ringa Tommy, and ended up getting beer and shots at the bar with him for a bit. It was pretty funny. We met back up with everyone later on and even I was dancing with the girls, we were going wild..it was just a lot of fun!  We even ran into our friends from the night before on our bar crawl and they went to World Bar with us. We had a late night that night that ended in Kiki and I eating Fergburgers! They are the greatest burgers ever. We got them with Brie cheese and wasabi inside the meat. Very good. They are world famous and everyone told us we had to go there- definitely a good choice.

Luckily we got to sleep in a bit on Thursday, Colleen went on the shotover jet with everyone else who had just gotten to Queenstown while Elle, Kiki and I went for a short little hike/walk in the Botanical Gardens and park. It was so pretty! There were flowers and trees everywhere and the hill overlooked the lake and mountains. We had a picnic lunch there before going back to meet up with the crew. We did some shopping and relaxing in town for the afternoon before Elle and I decided to get our cartilages pierced! I was kind of nervous because I had never gotten a piercing with a needle- but it was ok, pretty painful but I toughed it out! We looked cool at least- haha. That night we didn’t really plan to go out too late but did! We started the night at Winnies eating a delicious meal that only cost us each $15! We had great pizza and pasta and enjoyed some cider and beers with it! We were told by the waiter that we should stick around because the live band coming later that night was supposed to be really good- so we stayed and someone gave us 2 for 1 coupons that got us a ton of free drinks. The band was awesome and we had a great time! We ventured to World Bar for a bit drinking Long Island Iced Teas out of tea pots and dancing our butts off. We then went to Buffalo Club before heading home for the night for an early wake up the next day.

Friday morning bright and early the BBQ Bus picked us up at 7am to go to Fiorland National Park and Milford Sound. This was probably one of the coolest days. Funniest part was the bus picked up a kid in a Manitou sweatshirt, of course we had mutual Jewish friends and just had a good laugh over it. The bus ride total was 4 hours, but we stopped often along the way. We had 2 rest stops but in between got to stop about 3 times for short 15 min-45 minute hikes along places like Mirror Lakes and other Fiorland National Park spots. At one point the tour guide told us that we were EXACTLY in the spot between the Equator and the South Pole! SO COOL! We also stopped at one spot that had a crystal blue stream surrounded by mountains, that was where our tour guide cooked the BBQ for lunch. It was pretty yummy- kebabs and pasta salad! Even the orange juice was good and I hate orange juice! We took incredible and artsy pics this day… loved every second of it. My camera is AMAZING!! Finally we got to a tunnel that has a traffic light that only goes green every 15 minutes- we had to wait a bit so we got out and took some pictures with a huge chunk of ice/snow, pretty sweet seeing as I miss the snow a little bit. We eventually got to Milford Sound in time for the cruise around it. It was peaceful and pretty nice- though windy. It rained a little while we were out there but the waterfalls and rocks and open Tasmanian Sea were awesome sights! We even saw the cutest seal name Sylvester! The cruise took us South through the sound into the Tasmanian Sea and back North through the sound. Our bus ride back we slept through most of it, stopping once and grabbing some food and running to the restroom…but other than that after 14 hours of a day trip sightseeing the South Island we ate McDonalds for dinner and decided to stay in for the night. We met the guys and 1 girl staying across the hall from us at our hostel- they are all in the air force stationed in Japan currently. However, they went to Colorado State which is where Colleen goes- so we got to talking to them, pretty neat the kind of people you meet at hostels- some sketchy ones but some nice ones with great stories to tell.

For our last full day in Queenstown we checked out of the hostel at 10am but were allowed to keep our luggage there all day. We spent the morning/afternoon drinking our first Starbucks coffees of the trip and laying in the grass by a garden/park. I actually managed to take an amazing nap in the sun! aturday (gardens, fergburger, bus to Christchurch)

After a quick ‘nap’ in our cozy amazing hotel room we woke up at 4am for a 4:45 taxi to the airport. Only to get to the airport that early and find out we didn’t actually need to be at an international terminal since we had a connecting flight in Auckland. Needless to say, we could have slept another hour. We went through security and everything, got some juice and stuff and slept a bit more in the airport before boarding our flight at 7am. It was a quick flight, even though Elle and I were next to eachother and both passed out the entire time..but when we landed in Auckland we had to run to the international terminal, check through customs and security and then when we got to the gate we had about 5 minutes till boarding time. Luckily we all spent our last 10 New Zealand dollars on croissants and coffee before grabbing that plane! Kiki and I tried to watch movies for that flight but failed to do so, as I slept off and on through most of it. Landing in Australia was like coming home, it was great to be back even though we missed our great break in New Zealand. We also had another long hour train ride from Brizzy to Helensdale Station, but took a $40 cab ride from the station back home. It was a decent day out but we went food shopping and got settled back in before passing out very early to catch up on sleep.

New Zealand was an incredible place. Absolutely gorgeous and peaceful, the Kiwis are so nice and everything worked out perfectly for our spring break. Now, it’s crunch time with a lot of work this upcoming week!

Xoxo hugs & kisses

Missing you all, but I’ll be back before you know it…as this time here is FLYING by!
A lot to look forward to for this summer, it's going to be big- get ready!

Not much to offer in Week 7...

G'day from Down Under!

Week 7 did not have much going on. I was finished with classes Tuesday night and was very ready for the break. I did a bit of work Wednesday, Thursday and Friday especially since the weather was pretty crappy for sitting on the beach. We spent most of the nights drinking here in the village and not going out as we wanted to save money for our upcoming Spring Break.

We did however go to Harbour Town three times for various different things...it was kind of hectic! The only exciting thing new that happened this week was Taylor, Kiki and I went to SUSHI TRAIN! It was quite the experience to say the least...involving some sushi stealing and bus stopping. I wouldn't exactly call it un eventful but at one point Taylor tried a piece of Sushi that she really didn't like. So she put the other 5 pieces back on the tray and went to place it on the train...only she couldn't reach and so I put it down. Twenty minutes later, the little lady that works there came over asking if it was our sushi and telling us we can't put it back on the train she saw us. We managed to get out of it, but of course I stared Taylor down! Not cool. Haha. Needless to say, we finished up quickly after and hopped on the bus back to campus.

Alot of boring days this week but who can complain they were the first since we've been here!

xoxo hugs and kisses!

The First In The World To Celebrate Pesach 5770 (Week 6)

G'day and Chag Sameach from Down Under!

Tonight I went to a Passover seder at Chabad in Paradise, the local Chabad in Surfers. It was needless to say an epic experience. About a week ago my two friends Marni and Rachel told me about this place and we all agreed we would go together. Completely unsure of how to dress, what to bring, what to wear and what to expect we took the bus to the Chabad and gave it a go. When we were at the bus stop there was another girl, Ashley, with us and this other girl who looked like she was dressed conservatively enough to be going to the same place as us. When we got to the building it turned out she was there too. We were all playing some Jewish geography and the Rabbi came to introduce himself to us. He was wearing a top hat, and sporting a long beard just as I had expected. When we asked where we were from and I replied Boston his response was "I have relatives in (some town) and NATICK"...I nearly fell over. Truly defined for me how small this world actually is! Even better, his relatives live about 3 streets away from me. SO WEIRD! Then there is a group of us sitting playing some more Jewish geography and I met a girl named Dana who is from Ohio and goes to Arizona... well, turns out she is a CHI O! Small world keeps getting smaller, I was SO excited to meet a sorority sister of mine I was almost giddy about it!! She's wicked cool and I am excited we met! There was another girl from UAlbany, and two girls from London and 2 from Illinois and more from Canada. There were Jews from Brazil, and Israel too. Some people were speaking Hebrew to each other and I tried to pick up on what they were saying but I was having a hard time.

Overall there were probably 80-100 people at the seder (largest one I've ever been to!) and the rabbi kept making everyone in the room finish their entire glass of wine each cup. We ended up going through 4 bottles of wine just between us girls! When we stood up, we were like uhh..not supposed to be drunk at a seder! They were giving us wine that was 11.5% alc. very crazy! People were singing and dancing, even the rabbi got up on a chair and danced a bit!

The coolest thing about the seder was that the rabbi goes "just think, you are in australia...you are the first people in the world to celebrate the seder and welcome in Elijah." :) such a wild thing to think about!!


The other thing I thought was weird was that I expected a very long seder lasting into the wee hours of the morning. However I got something completely different, an hour long seder followed by the meal and singing. It was really nice to be able to follow along and hear the Rabbi and sing along as well, but I have to say I was relieved that it didn't last for hours! The meal was decent too, we were quite full after! We had meat pies for the main meal! It was brisket meat in a meat pie! We also had shmurah matzah and Israeli salad and of course they served plates of beets...Aussies love their beets! 

I also found out that the Rabbi comes to my campus every Monday for discussion groups and told us we can give him our numbers and he will meet up with us. It was also cool to meet some other Jewish students studying here at Griffith since I felt I was lacking that. I didn't really know what to expect for the student scene but the Rabbi helped break the ice, made fun of all of us a bit and it was nice. The whole thing was much more laid back than I had expected and no one was as covered (elbows and knees) as I had thought it would be. We sang alot too and instead of parsley we dipped onion into salt water (I don't recommend that)! The big thing I missed though was Daddy's horseradish! The horseradish here was gross and even though the haroset was pretty good, it didn't make up for it! There were eggs and gefilte fish and everything too though.I am thinking I am going to skip my lecture tomorrow night and go to the second seder at the Chabad. 

Whether I get to go tomorrow night or not I had a great time tonight. I really, really, really am glad I went and got to experience this. I think it'll be one of those stories I tell for a long time to come!

Let the crew of usuals know they have competition for who has a better seder though ;)

Chag Sameach to all of my Jews throughout the world, a happy and a healthy!

xoxo hugs and kisses!

SHOW ME YOUR TEETH! Brisbane and Lady Gaga (Week 6)

G'Day from Brizzyvegas!

The week has been busy! We went shopping at a few local shops one day with my neighbor Emma, she is Australian and knew of some places to show us. I also finally found raw tuna sushi which has been a challenge! Sushi here is so cheap! On average, 2 big rolls and a drink for 6 dollars, but all of there tuna sushi is tuna salad which is pretty gross to have in sushi. Yet one little woman working at Happy Roll managed to find me 4 pieces of raw tuna and I was in heaven! Next week we might try a new place that is a little more expensive but of course not too bad (10 dollars kind of thing...) and they are supposed to have great tuna sashimi! Can't wait!

I have done more work these past few days than I have since December! It's kind of unreal. I even spent a few hours on a bright and sunny Friday in the library! Which by the way, I rarely even do at URI anymore! It was clutch though because it paid off, I got my work done and now it's a relaxing Sunday night instead of a stressful one!

So now to the fun stuff, this was an epic weekend! ,My roommate Taylor's best friend from home in NY,Liz, goes to BU and is studying in Sydney right now. Liz is roommates at BU and in Sydney with my old camp friend, Allie. It was a very small world connection we made the first week here and they came to visit Gold Coast for the weekend. Friday night started by 10 of us girls adventuring to a locals bar we'd never been to before called Swingin' Safari. Turned out to be an old house made into a bar with live music and a very chill scene. It was located between Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach, somewhat convenient and pretty cool but closed early, at midnight. From there we walked 5 blocks to Beergarden where we met up with everyone else. After a half hour we got bored and Taylor, Lucy, Mikey and I went to O'Malleys where we found all of the other URI kids who go to Bond (the other Aussie Uni on the Gold Coast where mostly Americans go..very popular school). It was fun to see everyone but Taylor, Lucy and I left pretty early and headed back to campus.

On Saturday we planned to get up early to catch a train to Brisbane but overslept. We ended up getting to Brisbane around noon after a very long ride, but our first Aussie train experience. Kiki needed to go to a Bridal expo (the biggest Bridal expo in Queensland!) for her marketing class, but Elle and I skipped out on that an explored! We got off the train in Southbank, Brisbane. Unsure of anything we wandered, and found the greatest spot... first: GREY STREET! Now for any true Dave Matthews fans, this was a ridiculously exciting moment in our lives. We found a great little roundabout with signs saying Grey St. all around. I walked the street singing "on the corner of Grey Street and the end of the worlddd!" it was amazing. And of course, being the tourists (and DMB fans) that we are..both Elle and I posed for pictures!

SO after strolling down Grey Street we wandered into a gorgeous garden area and found the city river and a lagoon. Elle and I had a picnic lunch in the garden/park and then walked around taking amazing and artsy pictures of our surroundings. It was gorgeous, and the weather was perfectly sunny and breezy. We eventually met up with Kiki and strolled through this little market. We only bought a couple old fashioned Australia posters but they are cool. (I got one of Fosters beer with a baby joey inside the label! Even though they don't actually even drink Fosters around here...it's an Aussie beer). We were staying with our orientation friends for the night who go to the Griffith Uni in Brisbane (Nathan campus) so we met up with them and walked around the city a bit, we took a bridge over from Southbank.. a very pretty walk!

top: city from view of bridge

bottom: city from across the river in the central park

When we finally got to the Nathan campus we chilled in their flat for a bit, very different than ours here in Goldie! We took forever to get ready, and I put thunderbolts of gemstones on both Kiki and Elle's faces because they dressed up like Gaga. I didn't go all out, I just had a headband with a bow and lace face cover like her. Now for the fun...our adventure getting from campus to the Brisbane Entertainment Center was rather exciting.. only not. We were running late already, had NO CLUE how to get around Brisbane and knew we'd miss our chance to pre-game at the bars. However we were told by the first bus driver that it'd take 2 hours to get there and if that was true we'd miss her show. We RAN from the bus to the train in a panic. Our train was already there, and we only knew that because we ran to it and asked a lady getting on the train. Luckily, we made it and about 35 minutes later got off the train and basically jogged our way through a crowded path of psycho people just like us, dressed up as gaga, to the box office. When we finally got our tickets we ran to the entrance to miss just half of her first song. Sweet life. Soberly, I tripped up the stairs and hurt my knee pretty badly- I guess that's why I shouldn't run in dark places up stairs. Needless to say, Gaga was INCREDIBLE!!! She is such a great performer and we were up out of our seats and dancing and going wild. It was even her birthday so we got to sing to her- very cool. The show was awesome as she loves her fans and kept telling us. Gaga had about 12 different costume changes and worked them into the show alot, she only left stage a few times but she has screens coming down with a twister around her as she changes inside and did a few other fun things. Her dancers were so fun to watch too! The slower songs where she played piano were awesome and she followed them up with huge powerful songs. She ended with 'Bad Romance' as her encore and it was wild. So glad I went!! After the show we met up with our other friends who had different seats than us and began our 2 hour adventure back to the campus. When we got back we all just crashed basically and woke up early today to head home. It was another 3 hours of traveling till we got home today but it was worth it, the show was amazing and Brizzy is a great city. I didn't get to see my friend Shabot from my Israel trip but hopefully next time I am in the city we can meet up.

As for other new things...the first Passover seder is tomorrow night here in Aussie and I am feeling the homesickness of wishing I could be at home for the holiday but my two friends who go to school with me that I know from camp and our Israel trip found a Chabad in Surfers that we are going to attend their seder. It should be an interesting experience to say the least, but I am kind of excited because I have yet to meet any Jewish Aussies just yet. The other thing is, Marni and Rachel found a place to get matzah and picked me up some today so I really am still keeping it on the other side of the world, it's just a bit harder. I wish you all a happy passover. Chag Sameach.

I am still missing my Rhode Island loves. It's hard because Greek Week is coming up and I really miss my Chi O girls. However, if you're reading this- know a postcard is headed your way!! As for home, I miss my house. I miss my family. I miss my big girl comfy bed with lots of pillows. It's okay though, because I Skype the family often. I miss Steve alot, alot. We are looking for a good place to take a long weekend together this summer and I am very excited for it. Don't get me wrong though, just because I miss my Mommy doesn't mean I don't absolutely love it here! Australia is incredible and I would recommend it to anyone in a heartbeat. Coming abroad to study for a semester was probably one of the best decisions I could ever have made and I am learning a lot not only about this fabulous country but also about myself and I love every second of it. "Live Out Loud" as Janelle would say. It's exactly what I am trying to do.. just wait till you see me skydive. It's a whole new thing I have going on...called facing fears. I'm enjoying it. :) So I do miss you all, and love you but don't mistake homesickness for wishing I wasn't here...because I find them to be very different.

Also, we are having a room inspection this week so lets hope for the best for our entire block. I'd say we're quite the party block and I can only hope it's clean enough to pass inspection!!

This will probably be the last post before New Zealand (which will be amazing!) because we leave in 1 week. I can't wait!! Kiki, Elle, Colleen and I are traveling around together and it's going to be the best week. We are  horseback riding, going on a wine tour, taking a cruise around the Milford sound, SKYDIVING!, and lots more! I can't wait to tell all of you about it after!

:) hugs and kisses!

xoxo