Tomorrow is December 19

Since I left in September, December 19 has always been an important date I'd remind myself of frequently. "Don't worry, I'll be back December 19" or "We have so much time before December 19, lets plan something" I always had something else to do before then, even when I packed last week. I was packing to go home, but still had my trip to Melbourne to look forward to. Now I'm back (after another flight cancellation and rebooking)... went to North Head to watch the sunset one last time, sat on the beach looking at the stars one last time (well I guess that might happen again tonight), slept in my bed one last time. Tomorrow is December 19, the day I come home.

A few people from our program are leaving today, most of us are going tomorrow or Sunday. Its unlikely that I'll see most of them again, although its possible. Its going to be hardest leaving people I know realistically I may never see again. I sincerely hope I do, but that'd require a lot of traveling and schedule aligning. I've never had to say goodbye to people and move a continent away knowing that I won't be back in three months. I came home last night to a card and Christmas gift from my roommate Dana. I said goodbye to Jolly last week already, although I believe she is coming back for a few things and I'll say goodbye again. Dana started tearing up when I left for Melbourne already, tomorrow morning is going to be hard.

I've been told that coming home is even harder than leaving...things change and you just aren't the same. I thought they were kidding, but now I'm hearing it first hand from friends that have been abroad this semester. I am really excited to see everyone again, forgive me if I seem a little out of it for the first week or so. Between jet lag, the cold, and anything else that might be different/unexpected... its hard to tell what is going to happen. I'm going to hope for the best. With the holidays around the corner, I'll be seeing lots of people right away. I really am excited about it, but it doesn't leave much time for getting over a 17 hour time difference.

Thanks again to everyone who has kept in touch and helped me through my semester abroad. It was always nice to hear from people back home. I hope everyone is doing well and can't wait to see everyone!

Few more language things:

Row=an argument
Neat= a shot, you can get spirits "mixed" or "neat"
Entree=appetizer
Pissed=drunk, not angry
Arvo=afternoon

Kind of a lame last post, but this is probably it. I might feel compelled to blog about my journey home. We'll see.

I'm done... and in Melbourne!

This won't be the normal book-length posting I swear. My last posting was a little depressing, I'll admit. I got through my last final and made it to Melbourne. Our flight was cancelled last minute, but they found us another flight. We wasted the extra time in the airport playing the longest game of crazy 8s and eating Hungry Jacks. After our flight left (30 minutes after the original delay from the switch) we found out they were compensating us with a dinner and free drinks on a 1.5 hour flight. Definitely a difference between US and Australia domestic flights. Also, I never showed my ID to get on the plane, nor did I have to take out my bag of liquids. Restrictions are so much more relaxed here.

We made it to our hostel by 10pm and went down to the bar to celebrate. It wasn't that exciting and we were much more tired than expected, so we went back to our room to watch TV. That may not sound very exciting, but it is when you've been living TV-less for 3 months. Our room also has a bathroom inside... luxury by hostel standards. This trip is far less planned than Auckland, more of a relaxing and enjoy the last week in Australia sort of trip. Sunday we had breakfast at the hostel, went shopping at the markets, and then went to Witches in Britches, a dinner theatre. I've never been to one before, it was much more entertaining than I expected. We met the cast afterward and went out with them. Good times. I'll have pictures up when I have my cords (they're back in Sydney).

Today we slept in before going on a day tour to Phillips Island. Yes, I was finally going to see my penguins. The day was full with wine tasting, going to a wildlife park (got my final koala, wombat, kangaroo, and wallabie sighting in), sitting on a beach (that never gets old), and seeing some penguins in burrows near the noobies. We then went to the penguin parade which involved penguins coming out of the ocean from a long day of gathering food. We saw a bunch up close, and in a completely natural environment (minus the stadium seating and skybox for watching them... it was seriously set up like a sporting event.) They weren't being held captive and their actions were not set up. They were "little penguins" the only blue species and stand about a foot tall. This means they waddle even more than "regular" penguins and make them all the more cute. After watching a few groups cross the beach, we walked up a board walk and could see them meeting their chicks and partners back at the burrows. Saw some mating, fighting, feeding, you name it... seriously awesome. Unfortunately you can't take pictures because it frightens them to the point of death. Also, my camera broke yesterday (something happened internally so the lighting is all screwed up) so I don't have pictures from today... I'll steal from Brittany and Jenna and post later.

Not much on the agenda for the next few days. We're meeting up with Melissa and maybe going bowling, seeing more of the city, and hanging out before heading back to Sydney on Wednesday night, end of term on Thursday, and flying back to the States on Friday. Time is passing too quickly, I'm going to miss my life here. Its going to be hard adjusting back home. Its going to be great seeing people from back home. I'm excited and sad at the same time... everyone seems to be feeling the same way. I said goodbye to Jolly for possibly the last time before I left. She's done with finals tomorrow and moving out before I get back. It was hard to say goodbye. Dana started crying and I haven't even said goodbye to her yet. I hate goodbyes. Normally I'd consider them "see you laters" but it might not be the case here. Not fun.

I hope everyone has a great week. See you soon!

Two finals down, one left.... one week til home!

I fly home in a week. Next Friday at this time I’ll be on my flight home... study abroad experience complete. Australia has been great, I have really enjoyed my time here. Sydney is a wonderful city to explore, Manly was a great location for three months (I don’t think I could do touristy suburb for life), and I’m happy with my adventures to Cairns, Auckland, and soon to be Melbourne. The weather has been less than desirable most of the time, save a few decent beach days, but you can’t win them all... and with the alternative being subfreezing, wind, and snow... I guess I turned out alright. Big picture at the end of the day, studying abroad was a pretty sweet decision. It broadened my perspective on a lot of things and made me pay attention to the world around me... not just America and the Midwest. I guess that’s what it’s supposed to do, right?

So Australia was a good choice; I got to try a lot of new things... surfing (not that I ever got good at it), scuba diving, sky diving, and canyoning. I entered a safe, but unfamiliar environment. Not knowing anyone coming over, I had a chance to figure out who I was without the influences of family and friends watching my every move. I found out I’m more of an individual than I give myself credit for. Also, I might have more introverted tendencies than people often assume. Thanks to Dr. McRae for pointing that out. I always knew I liked traveling and seeing new places, but seeing the rest of the world has now become a top priority. I’m still not sure exactly what I want to do with my life, but I know there’s going to be lots of traveling involved. I love the ocean and sunlight. I’m never going to live in a climate with consistent rain. I’ve had multiple dreams of being back home and breaking down crying because I can’t see the ocean... I don’t think it’ll actually ever happen, but it might. There are few things more relaxing and calming than looking at the ocean for hours, walking, beaching, thinking, talking... these things are all more enjoyable with an ocean in sight.

That being said, I also found out what I don’t like. I don’t like being forced to wear a uniform especially just to go to lunch. I don’t like systems that are set up to demotivate people. An organization that consistently tells students they’re not good enough and doesn’t offer to help them succeed is nothing I want to be a part of. I’m sick of grading systems that don’t record an individual’s achievement. I thought the Carlson bell curve was bad until I came here. While the grades must average to a certain letter in the end, at least you receive marks for what you do. I have one test left... I don’t have any idea what my grades will be. The few marks I’ve gotten back are comment sheets with a letter grade on them. This is meant to be a “range” grade... no numbers. How do you average letters? Also, the comments are inaccurate... things you were marked down for not including may have been explicitly stated during your presentation. The lecturer of course doesn’t want to hear your opinion or justification, nor do they want to provide theirs. I’ve never in my life been hoping to achieve 65% in a class... now I’m praying I can achieve just that in two of them. There is no rhyme or reason for failure, they must enjoy giving low marks. The people here for three years (most of them with English as their second language) study so hard just to hope for 50% and a pass in the class. If you have a school where everyone is hoping to get 50% you don’t have high enough admission standards, or your lecturers are not properly preparing students for assessments or grading properly. I’m not going to blame the Australian education system... I’m not sure how other schools run... but the academic curriculum and procedure here don’t make any sense to me.

Academics aside... I’m pretty much ready to be done with this place. Again, not Australia, but ICMS. There are pros and cons to the international environment. I feel like I kind of missed out on the true Australian culture but also feel blessed to have met people from around the world with such a variety of perspectives and experiences. I have the best roommates in the world... they keep my lamp on for me at night when I’m out late, give me herbs/medicine when I’m hurt or sick, teach me about Chinese language and culture, make me try authentic Korean food when I want to take the easy way out with teriyaki chicken. I’ve learned so much from them. I was scared at first, and I’ll be the first to admit it, but it turned out so well. I’m really going to miss them when I go home. Luckily they both created facebook accounts so we can keep in touch. I know people from Sweden, Germany, Norway, Finland, Australia, Malaysia, China, Indonesia, and Brazil... I'm sure there's more. Didn't expect that coming over.

Living on campus was convenient, and at first the castle thing is pretty sweet. Eventually it gets hot and you want to open your windows, but you can’t because there aren’t screens and there are bugs galore. After about two weeks you’re sick of the food... there’s only so long you can last on an all carb and fruit diet. When it gets to finals time and you’re really craving something good to get you through a long day of studying and exams, they quit serving hot food. Breakfast is cereal, bread, fruit, and yogurt... lunch is cold sandwiches and salad. This is the schedule for the rest of the term. Apparently they can just stop serving real meals. I’m glad I’m going to Melbourne this weekend. Also, that its holiday time when I return and there will be plenty of delicious hot food to eat.

For the last week the internet has been worse than normal. Most stuff just won’t load, other sites have certain pages that will load, the idea of uploading pictures is a joke. I actually write my blogs in word now, email them to myself, and wait in the lab for a computer to open so I can post. The school’s email system doesn’t actually work... emails don’t go through, if they do, it takes about 2 days. I’m not sure how a place can operate without functional technology, but this place is pretty good at ignoring the problem. I know some of this stuff seems petty... but its frustrating. I can’t imagine putting up with it for three years. Students and staff complain about being here and the way things are run, but no one does anything about it. Term one is bearable... people are too focused on studying and learning English to care. Term two everyone just looks to get by into industry training. They leave for 9 months and either drop out to keep their industry training job, or come back refreshed from being away for so long. Two more terms and people usually just stop and settle for a diploma. Those that do complete all three years for a bachelor go to school strictly for class and to get a degree... no one enjoys being there. I can’t wait to return to a campus with some enthusiasm and organization. I may be a 7 digit number, but at least in Minnesota I feel in control of what I’m doing. Here I feel pretty helpless, and that even less people care about what is going on.

I know... how can I complain right? I just had the opportunity of a lifetime. You’re right, I did. I think I took advantage of it and learned a whole lot. It feels a lot better writing it down. Not that anyone reading can make it better, nor would anyone at this school care to. I wouldn’t trade the people I’ve met, the places I’ve seen, or the adventures I’ve had for anything else. I think these things would have been equally great in an academic environment where success and achievement is encouraged, students are supported and motivated, and activities or functions have a schedule and format with details available. I guess I got better at dealing with uncertainty and ambiguity? Another lesson learned I suppose.

Tomorrow I take my last final and fly to Melbourne for a four day trip to relax, see penguins, hopefully tour the Great Ocean Road, and celebrate the terms end. For those of you who don’t know, I think penguins are quite possibly the coolest animal around and I am so excited to see a sunset penguin parade. Not a ton planned like my last trip, but I’ve heard Melbourne is a great city to explore by foot. Let’s hope the weather cooperates. I’ll return Wednesday night for a going away party and some wine on the beach, finish packing Thursday morning... then attend end of term dinner and party. Friday morning we’re hoping to watch the sunrise on the beach before checking out of our rooms and heading to the airport. Lots of travelling before I’ll be back home in Minneapolis at 10pm Friday, local time. Should be a good week.

So this turned into kind of a book, congratulations for making it to the end. I’ll probably have one more update on Melbourne? Other than that, my blogging is coming to an end. I appreciate everyone who has followed my journey and sent me messages. Special thanks to my mom who has been sending cards almost weekly. They always seem to come at the right time, whenever I need a little encouragement to keep me going. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone when I return. I’m currently jobless with lots of time for coffee, lunch, etc. if anyone is interested.

Have a great weekend :)

And procrastination sets in...

So I actually did end up at the beach... pretty much from 9-5. I got my case study back, not the grade I wanted, but it’ll transfer back as an “A” anyway. One down, three to go. Deb, Chelsey, and I left college at 9:30, picked up some food from Coles (grocery store), went to Shelley beach and didn’t leave til 4pm! Six solid hours of beautiful sun, water, and friends... and I was actually productive. I brought my studying flashcards with me. It was really my last day to spend at the beach, saying that makes me want to cry, but it was a good one.

We got back and had dinner, studied a bit more, and then headed into the city with PC for more end of term video filming. I’m going to be in that thing so many times. You never really know what to expect when you agree to film, and tonight proved to be just as entertaining as the other times. I found myself playing a trombone in a rock band, jamming with a boom box through traffic in the heart of Sydney, and singing more solos. The first thing he tells us when we get out of the van, “Now let’s be quick about set up... this sort of thing is actually illegal.” Always an adventure, that’s for sure. Also, the city at night is gorgeous. My internet is being awful again so I can’t post pictures with this post, but I’ll try to have them up on flickr. My camera is terrible for night shots but a few worked out. It was really nice to drive around the city at night and see Christmas lights and decorations.

It was after 10 when we got back to Manly and I was sick of studying so I went out with Britt, Candace, and Jenna. Last Tuesday night in Manly... it was a good night out. Not as busy because most people stayed in to study, but still fun. This morning I went for coffee with Kah Mun. We wanted to hang out once more before end of term dinner. The countdown is becoming a reality, finals are here. Three days of finals, four days in Melbourne, end of term dinner/party, and then 30 hours of travelling home. Scary. Crazy. Sad. Exciting. It’s really hard to describe.

I’m going to the gym with Deb before I settle down and study for the night. It’s cram time... tomorrow morning I have my first exam. 33 questions... 22 five line responses, 11 ten line responses, 3 hours. My hand is going to hurt so bad. I think I’m going to go to the gym after each one to relieve stress. I haven’t been able to walk along the beach lately, it’s not as relaxing since it’s summer now and there are so many people. I’ve actually started enjoying the gym (I know, weird) it’s my latest escape from college. I can never bring myself to go alone though, so we’ll see if my gym efforts hold through when I get home.

I’ve been in Australia for three months as of today. I thought I’ve run into almost all the quirks already, but there’s still more...

-Pool balls... they aren’t stripes and solids here, but rather red and yellow. And they don’t have numbers on them either. I actually played pool last night, and surprisingly enough, won!

-Coffee...I’ve been holding off on real coffee because I’m spending too much money anyway, but finals time make it a necessity. When I went out with Kah Mun this morning I wanted just a black coffee... turns out you can’t order that here. Everything is espressos and has foam. Its delicious, but different.

-Bars...they don’t have food at bars here. There is no bar and grill... like the Silver Spur, Sallys, Applebees (I don’t know who is all reading, but you should recognize one of those) not even a short menu with fries or burgers. You have to leave to get food. Also, each establishment has several actual bars in it, and multiple levels/sections.

Procrastination is a beautiful thing. Well kinda, I'll probably regret it during exam time, but I've had a lot of great conversations this week. It's interesting hearing everyone's perspectives as our term comes to an end and we start realistically thinking about home, our term abroad, what we did and didn't do, what we miss and what we will miss. I miss Chipotle, I think I've made that pretty clear, but what I didn't realize I missed until the other day, was hugs. I miss hugging people I love. Get ready, in 9 days you will be hugged.

Ok I've rambled again, now it's time to focus.

Finals...blah

It doesn’t matter where in the world you are... finals week sucks. I’ve been a good student this semester—went to classes, took notes, participated in class—much more than I have in the past and I still feel overwhelmed. I don’t know why I thought classes or even grading would be easier over here, maybe because everything else is so laid back and chill. My finals are worth more here than at the U (50%, 40%, and 50%) which makes them a little more significant and intimidating. I don’t know if I mentioned the grading system here before... its HD, D, P, C, F instead of A ,B, C, D, F and fail only starts at 50% here instead of 60%. This sounds great, you only need 50% to pass... except its 10 times harder to make the mark.

Take for instance, my presentation in Strategic Management, I thought I did reasonably well, maybe not the best in class but above average. I got a 30... out of 50! I found out one American got a 35, but everyone else was between 30 and 32. I’m nearly positive they don’t curve grades here either. This means my assumed GPA boost may not turn out to be one at all. Now if I’ve learned anything this semester, it’s that life is about so much more than classroom instruction and a GPA... and I guess I kind of knew that before, but it’s still frustrating. I don’t even want to argue with the teacher because I’m pretty sure his response will be “you should have prepared more and followed the rubric.” This is the same teacher that gave us the impossible midterm. In my opinion, if you’re going to grade ridiculously hard, you should probably prepare students for the material. His lectures are like story time with lots of real life examples, but nothing relating to what he actually tests on or expects from presentations. I’m a little scared to get our group report back.

Nothing I can do about it now... except study harder for the test, except I don’t know what its going to include. I made it to the beach for 20 minutes on Sunday before it started raining. Monday was overcast and eventually it thunderstormed so no good beach weather there either, maybe that’s for the best. I just have to keep looking forward to my Melbourne trip. My last weekend in Manly/Sydney wasn’t all that crazy, but it was relaxing and enjoyable. It’s weird to think about how little time I have left here. Trying not to focus on it, but the date, finals, and Christmas decorations are all screaming at me. Also, I changed my linen for the last time today. Weird.

Sorry for my rambling, I needed to let my finals frustration out. My week is full of flashcards and jamming to Brittney Spears, Pink, and Lady GaGa. Never thought I’d say that sentence in my life. Its supposed to be nice out today, my plan is beaching 9-5 with my notecards. Okay maybe not actually 9-5, but a good long while. Tonight PC is taking a group into the city to film more end of term video with the city Christmas lights and then its my last Jugs night at Shark Bar. I only started going half way through the term, but Tuesday night has been a great midweek social break for everyone at college. Oh yeah, last night we had pancakes and REAL coffee as a finals study break. SO good. Its been so nice hanging out with people watching movies and just talking this past week. I'm really going to miss some people here. Anyway, I should probably get on to the whole studying thing again. Hope everyone else that is studying right now is having better luck than I am... Happy Finals Week!

See you all in 11 days...

And another week flies by

I hope everyone has had a chance to read though my New Zealand posts.. if not, just look at pictures. They're beautiful.

This week went by so quickly. Tuesday I took some time to relax at the beach during the day. Tuesday night my marketing group met and that was about it. Wednesday Kah Mun and I went to Bondi Beach to do a coastal walk. I've been meaning to make it out there and haven't yet. I'm so glad I did. You think after seeing this much of the ocean it'd get old, but each beach is so incredible. See below!

Bondi Beach

Tamarama Beach... I could look at this forever

Thursday started off with marketing group work.. then dinner... then marketing again. Thursday night was "Auction" at school. Students were auctioned off to raise money for Bear Cottage, our school's partner charity. I was expecting people to go for $50... maybe $100 tops. Needless to say I was shocked when the bidding for the first girl started at $50. She ended up going for $180 and it went up from there. $300, $500, $600, $700... it was ridiculous. I don't know where students came up with this money. The General Manager came to support the event and brought the Mayor of Manly with him. While they were thanking everyone for supporting Bear Cottage someone yelled out "500 dollars!" The DJ started playing a song and all of the sudden the GM and mayor were dancing on stage and the bidding went up to $1000! I don't even know how to describe how shocking everything was this night. It was a lot of fun, but definitely not what I was expecting. Acts ranged from hip hop dancing to drag to stripping santas to Brady Bunch dancing to pole dancing. It was an experience, thats for sure. Lots of fun and it was nice to have everyone at the school together out of uniform. There were buses taking students to town for an afterparty but we still needed to put the finishing touches on our marketing project so it was marketing again for me. We finished at midnight and I was feeling pretty good about what we had done.

Drag routine at Auction

Friday morning we had our presentation at 10:40. After a few mishaps getting our report binded, and someone eating some of our project (fiber chocolate bars... chocolate with metamucil in it, whoever thought they were clever by stealing our chocolate probably paid for it later) we had everything ready and rehearsed our presentation. Our semester long efforts paid off, it all went really well. It was the best group I have ever been a part of. Group projects can really be a drag and cause lots of frustration, but that didn't happen this time around. I took a nap in the afternoon and then went to dinner. PC was asking for volunteers to be in the end of term video. I'm already in it a few times and was ready to go on a walk, but went anyway. We got dressed up as the ICMS choir, I sang Pink, and rocked out with a boombox on my shoulder in my walking clothes. Should be entertaining to see the final result. I'll have a copy so if you want to see it when I get home, that's possible. We also did a scene behind the bar and PC insisted on making us cocktails for props. Its still weird that a school accepts and even encourages drinking at times. After actually taking a walk with Deb, we went out to celebrate being done with school... except for finals. It was a good night.

"Fine Line Marketing" outside the "Trump Boardroom"

Cocktails in hand, ready for more filming

This morning I got up at 8:30 and headed into the city with Dana and Jolly. They wanted to take me to Chinatown before I leave for the term. Since I'll be in Melbourne next weekend, this was our last chance. We took the ferry over and rode the CBD shuttle to Chinatown. I don't remember if I've explained my frustration with Sydney's bus system... I got the ferries and trains figured out, but the bus system is kinda messed up. However, on Wednesday they started a new shuttle system that provides free transportation in a loop from Circular Quay to Central Station from 9:30a-3:30p so they're not losing money from rush hours, but reduce congestion in the city during the day and make the city more convenient for visitors. Melbourne and Auckland both have services like this as well... different than the States, but I guess things are different when the economy runs on tourism.

We found the Korean restaurant Jolly's friend recommended, Seoul-Ria, and went inside. It was my first time eating Korean food and honestly, it went better than I expected. We ordered a bunch of dishes to share... Korean sausage and ox intestine (yes I tried it), noodles in black sauce (no idea what the sauce was but it was good), kimchee pancakes, and my choice, teriyaki chicken with rice. I had to have a safety food. Turns out they also give you a variety of appetizers while you wait. There was soup, vegetables, pasta, kimchee, potatoes, and a few other dishes. Oh yeah, and I ate this all with chopsticks. Those of you who have seen me eat with chopsticks before know it can be pretty entertaining, but I really got the hang out it. The girls helped me out a bit.

Me and Jolly at Seoul-Ria

It was so much fun hanging out with them for the day. Dana is pretty homesick and was really excited to be in Chinatown and eating familiar food. When we finished, Jolly went to her friend's house in the city and Dana and I walked through Hyde Park and went inside St. Mary's Cathedral before catching the shuttle back to the wharf. It was a beautiful day, a little warm (94 degrees) but a great day for the park and looking at Christmas decorations. Side note: the banners here say "Happy Christmas" and have cockatoos on them. Weird, but there are normal Christmas trees throughout the city. We went to St. Mary's just as the service was ending, and looked around. It was enormous and so pretty. I really like old churches.

We eventually made it back to college and drank a ton of water. I was so dehydrated. I took a nap and then went to dinner. My finals don't start til Thursday so I decided I could afford a night off and watched the latest Office episode with Deb. We then watched Princess Diaries 2 (which I was plesantly surprised with) and Mary Poppins. Quality Saturday night if you ask me. So there you are, another week gone. I have 13 days left here and am looking forward to each one of them. As the Christmas holiday draws closer I am really glad I'll be home for the holiday, and hopefully a white Christmas. Traveling around here would be nice, but seeing family and friends will be great.. and I might need some time to snap back to reality. Hope everyone has a great weekend:)

More on Auckland

If you haven't read the first part of Auckland.. do so first. There's a lot to read, this week should be pretty boring so you can take your time.

After crashing early on Saturday, we woke up at 8:30 for a quick breakfast and were on the way to Rangitoto Island. Rangitoto was the last active volcano in the area, erupting 600 years ago to form the island. Its uninhabited and protected by the government. We took a ferry over and hiked to the summit. The peak is 259 meters and it takes about an hour to walk. I underestimated the amount of physical work this would be. Luckily we wore our walking shoes. The view at the top was spectacular. The sun was shining again and we could see the city, other islands, the harbor bridge, and lots of water. We walked around the crater and headed back down. The ferry only runs three times a day so we sat on a bench and rested by the water for a while. It was perfect.

City skyline from the ferry
At the top with the city behind me
More islands:)
Hiking back down. It was a beautiful trail, and thankfully well shaded!
Me with Rangitoto in the background... I was at the very top!

After getting back into Auckland at 1:30 we grabbed Subway before the Santa Parade. Melissa is one of the pickiest eaters I know, we had to go with something familiar. The parade was unique, different than any I've ever been to. It seemed to be a mix of Christmas and Halloween. Instead of buisnesses having floats, they were groups of people, mostly children, either performing, or playing music, or just dressed up in crazy costumes. There were also cartoon characters and huge balloons. They figured 150,000 to 200,000 people would attend. It was fun to watch although we kept moving along the route so we could stay in shade. Kinda weird watching Santa and toy soldiers when its 85 and sunny.

Kiwi's playing a Christmas medly

No Christmas parade would be complete without the Grinch

We spent the rest of the day walking around the city. We found the Victoria Park Markets where I bought a few souviners. There are parks everywhere. The hiking, walking, and sun wore us down and we went back to shower and nap before finding some dinner. We ended up at a pizza shop that reminded me of Punch Pizza back home. We sat at a table next to some old couples from Florida. Americans seemed to be everywhere we went. After a delicious meal we walked around some more, saw someone jump from Skytower (192 meters of freefall along a cord) and three people get in the bungy ride that flings you up and whips you from the ground to 50ish meters and inbetween. This county is all about adrenaline rushes. I love that though, keeps things exciting. We made our way back to the hostel to rest for the night. We came back to a new roommate, she had just gotten in and was going to be traveling the country for two weeks. I'm jealous, but plan on doing the same in the near future. Hostels are great places to stay, you meet such a variety of people with so many different stories.

I was woken up by construction workers outside at 5 am. There is no 8am courtesy start here. I managed to lay around until 8 before packing my things and checking out. Seems so crazy that we were leaving already. Unlike the first two days, Monday morning was overcast and mildly chilly. We opted to walk to the Auckland Museum and I was glad we did. It was about an hour casually walking and we got to cut through Auckland Domain, one of the largest city parks. There were random statues and artwork throughout, lots of fun trees, and cute gardens. When we go to the museum, we found out "Sue" was the special exhibit. "Sue" is the worlds largest T. Rex who is normally on display at the Field Museum in Chicago. I saw her there this summer, which means I've now visited Sue in two different countries and hemispheres. The museum was full of Maori artifacts (they are the native people of New Zealand) lots of jewelery and wood work. The detail and design was incredible. That was probably my favorite part of the museum... next was the WWII section. Random fact: 1 in 5 New Zealand men fought in WWII. That is more, proportionately, than anyone else in the British Empire. They had so many artifacts and POW notes. There were also red poppys, and I read about Flanders fields which McRae told us about on Remembrance Day. The museum was a lot different than our first two adventurous days, but very enjoyable and a nice change of pace.

Auckland Museum (orange signs are for Sue!)

Maori boards... each man had his own personal design

It was noon so we headed out and went by a few of the big churches in Parnell, the "Uptown" of Auckland if you will. We walked around before catching the bus to Sky Tower, our last activity. Auckland's public transport system makes so much more sense than Sydney's. It was comforting knowing someone in down here had it figured out. Sky Tower is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. Kind of similar to other places I've been, Empire State Building/Sears Tower, you ride an elevator to the top and look around. It was a little different because have glass panaling so you can see below, and also offer base jumping from the sky deck and also a sky walk, where you walk along the outside. The view from the top, despite the cloud cover, was incredible. It was crazy looking over to Rangitoto Island knowing that yesterday I was looking at the Sky Tower from the summit there. Everything was decorated for Christmas and the employees were wearing Santa hats. I'm starting to get into the Christmas mood.

Well that ends our New Zealand adventure. It was way too quick. We caught a bus back to the airport and waited around til departure. It was so quiet, calm, and clean... airports here are so nice. When booking flights, we looked for the cheapest option around the time of day we wanted to fly. We chose Emirates for the way home, and good thing we did. Our flight there was nothing special... 4 hour international flight without so much as complimentary water. Way home we had a full meal, movies/tv/games, pillows, drinks, and the nicest flight crew. It was a flight enroute to Bankok and Dubai which may have had something to do with it. Everything was in English and Arabic. I was told Middle Eastern hospitality was the best in the world, and after this flight I think it might be. We made it back for the 730 ferry and walked back up the hill to college. It was an exhausting but incredible weekend. I kinda want to go back.

Things I need: A better camera!

Also, the internet has been awful and uploading pictures to both blog and flickr has been difficult. I'll keep working on it.

Ahhh December!

So I was checking in for my flight back to Sydney today when I realized... its December! Where has time gone? Oh yea, and I made it home safely. I have so many stories and experiences to tell about (and 224 pictures to prove them). I'm on cloud nine right now... or ten if possible. I had the most amazing weekend in New Zealand. Absolutely phenomenal. From Sydney airport to Sydney airport, the trip was only 72 hours. We packed each day full of adventure, and crashed each night. More details and pictures to come later... maybe even another few posts, I have a lot to say.

A little background... we (Melissa and I) booked this flight mid October already. We picked Auckland because it had the cheapest flight, no other reason. I planned our itinerary on Wednesday and we just kinda went with it. I didn't have too many expectations, people say New Zealand is beautiful, but I just wanted to get out of Manly, away from ICMS and homework and finals. Well it is beautiful, I did get away, I never once looked at homework... and it exceeded all expectations.

Friday night our flight was scheduled for 6:45pm. We left school by 3pm because we weren't quite sure how long public transportation would take and wanted to be there in plenty of time for our flight. Well we checked in and found out our flight was delayed an hour so there was a lot of sitting and waiting. Weather threatened to delay us even more, but luckily we were able to get out before the next storm came into the vicinity. Except for a little turbulance it was a good flight and we got in at 12:30am. Got through customs in no time and were on our way to the hostel. Both Sydney and Auckland airports are incredibly clean and calm. People are very friendly... complete opposite of my experiences with LAX. It was 2 am Auckland time before we got settled in our room and we went to bed. Our first adventure began at 9:30am!

Saturday morning we woke up at 8:30 and headed out for our canyoning trip. We stopped for breakfast at Starbucks (original, right?) and looked around a bit before meeting our ride. While waiting I saw a man in a Minnesota Twins jacket and hat. Then we met a girl, also waiting for canyoning (different company), from Bird Island, Minnesota! What are the odds that the first person I meet in New Zealand of all places, grew up less than an hour from my hometown. Her name was Kate. Our ride came and it was 40 minutes to Piha Beach (see below) and the canyons we were going to abseil.

Canyoning sounded like fun, but honestly I had no idea what we were getting into. First we got suited up in full body wetsuits, booties, shoes, harness, and a helmet. Then we walked 20 minutes on a trail uphill through the forest. Its a good thing I've been walking and going to the gym here, otherwise I would have died on the walk alone. Along the way Tony, our guide, pulled some leaves off a tree and had us try them. Supposedly they're good for toothaches... some herbal remedy. They tasted all right. We finally reached the top and went through the basic technique of rapelling down a cliff. Jump in a cold river, walk down a ways before getting to a 25 meter cliff. Tony tied the rope to a hook on the rock and makes the loop for the first guy in our group. Before I could think twice it was my turn. I started inching back until I got to the ledge and then looked down. There was a waterfall running next to me and yes, I was supposed to trust my life to rope and harness to lower myself down the vertical cliff. Once I started going, I realized it wasn't scary at all, and I didn't pay much attention to the actual rapelling part... I was too busy looking around. The waterfalls, forest, canyon... most beautiful place I've ever been. I hit the bottom and couldn't wait for the next one. It was only 10 meters and we landed in the water. Next was the 50 meter cliff. Waterfall beside (you can see in the back of our group photo.)

Our group after making it down our largest cliff

It was so nuts... we all made it to the bottom and had some lunch before the real fun began. Our final abseil was only 15 meters but it was cut into the canyon and we were in the waterfall. This one was my favorite.

Getting reading to decend

I wasn't kidding when I said I was in the waterfall

We got to the bottom and had to squeeze through a hole, swim over to an island and then jumped rocks until we got to a dead end. So we jumped. It looked like a tight squeeze but in hindsight it wasn't too bad. 15 foot drop to the water. 4 of the 8 made it (the others wimped out and walked around). Then we were at another waterfall, this one was a more shallow slope and we got to ride down on our backs holding onto a rope. After that was another hole we wiggled through head first and a 20 foot jump that was wide open. We continued walking through the canyon and eventually wound up where we started off. It was intense, but SO much fun. You're all thinking "This doesn't sound like something you would have picked out." But hey, when in New Zealand, do as the Kiwis do. (I said "New Zealander" to a guy in our group and he corrected me, they're "kiwis") The adventure itself was a blast, but our group made it even more fun. We had a couple from Auckland, a couple from China, and two students from an ESL school- one Finnish and the other Swiss.

We made a pitstop at Piha Beach on our way home. It has black sand because it's volcanic. I made the mistake of trying to take my shoes off.. turns out volcanic sand is really hot, especially on hot days. Did I mention the weather? The weather was perfect. We could not have asked for a better day. We made our way back to Auckland. Lots of sheep farms on the way. New Zealand has a larger sheep population than human. After showering and a short nap in the hostel, Melissa and I went down for dinner. The hostel provided a "free meal" which was actually just a sandwich that tasted so bad we couldn't finish it. Instead we found a kebab place (they are as popular in NZ as they are here) and walked around the city a bit. We grabbed a beer at the hostel bar but it was really loud and obnoxious. The day had worn us out and I was sleeping by midnight.

Me at Piha Beach

Piha Beach from above

I'll save day 2 and 3 for tomorrow. This got to be pretty long already. Although there are a few more things I'd like to say:

-I love traveling. Even more than before. For the first time I didn't feel anxious or worried about anything. I feel confident finding my way through unknown cities and meeting random people to find out what to do and where to go.
-I love New Zealand. I won't say I regret studying in Australia, my adventure abroad is not about regrets. But I think I would have enjoyed New Zealand a great deal. I plan on going back some day, especially to see South Island. Everyone in Auckland said it is even more scenic and fun. That can't happen until...
-I have a new goal. I am going to make it to all 6 livable continents before my passport expires on January 8, 2018. That gives me 10 years and I've already got two down.
-No matter how much fun I have traveling, I love hearing other people's stories and adventures to find out what else is out there. I caught up on all my friends' blogs before even checking facebook when I got back.
-I have an idea of what I am going to do when I graduate... more on that later maybe

Ok and finally... some NZ vocab/things:
kiwi=someone from New Zealand, also a bird found there
lid=helmet
lift=elevator (same as Australia)
Double Happy=fast food chain serving European and Chinese cuisines
Burger King... its not Hungry Jacks like Australia

There are/will be ridiculous amounts of pictures on Flickr if you'd like to see more!