i'm blue ba da dee a ba da

actually, that is a lie. i am a little bit pink in the cheeks (sunburn!) and between my fingers the webs are a bit orangey from the sunless tanner daily moisturizer. no blue to be seen. actually, that's an interesting side note: all the pictures i have with aussies i am the tannest one.. i am from chicago, people. i should never be the tannest. no, i reckon it's because they take skin cancer and uv damage a lot more serious here... hte other day, we were eating lunch in the courtyard and the weather was beautiful: a nice toasty 70 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, the sun beating heavily.. i'm pulling up my shirt sleeves and about to grab a towel and strip down to my skivvies while my friends were using newspapers to cover the backs of their necks. i reckon it's almost sunscreen season (their words, not mine). that'll be hard to get into...as soon as that sun starts shining all the time the only thing on my mind will be TAN TAN TAN! because we all know i have to come back to chicago in december with a tan. skin cancer or no skin cancer.

i get distracted so easily. i am coming down now off a two day high because of MARY'S BALL!!! alright. so for those of you not in the know, every college throws a ball during the year, and i got lucky because we have our ball second semester. so ours was a 60$ two course meal all you can drink pretty views over the lake fiesta... and it was AWESOME. okay. so. yesterday leading up t the ball was all normal and boring, i went to my lecture and tut and watched some entourage.. exciting life i lead, i know. and then around 5 everyone got ready and i had my kickass dress from this boutique down by brunswick st. it was not as formal as say, prom would be, but more like a fraternity semi-formal or something. stupid itunes, you suck at party shuffle. anyways, everyone looked really nice and pretty and smiling faces and all that stuff. we got a taxi to the powerhouse and got shuffled up a mary's-only line (which was good beacuse the line was LONG! the tickets had sold out). so the theme was 'a black & white affair' so the decorations were all, well, b&w; it looked nice. so we grab a table and go to get in line for the drinks because. well. yeah. so then this dragonlady was all "dont line up for drinks! waiters will bring them out to you! if you line up for drinks i will close down the bar!" and we were all "okay dragonlady watch where you breath that fire this is an expensive dress" and sat down.. only to not be served drinks. so we went to the other bar on the other side of the room which was still serving drinks? and proceeded to double fist it most of the night (you could only get 2 drinks every time you went up. probably a good rule). the food was good and the dessert was chocolate cake YUM, it was nice to have a meal with it, the rest of the balls only had finger food which were either crap or went too fast. so after dinner there was dancing and all that which we did for a little bit but mostly just went around and talked to people. and it wasn't like there was a bunch of drunk people being stupid.. at least the mary's crowd. i know a number of people spewed but i can happily say i don't know who they are, they weren't in my college. it was just an overall great night, lots of fun four hours and hours and hours!! so the venue kicked us out around 1 so we went for the after party at f4, which was randomly somewhere in the city, we managed to find it with no problems (surprise!) and this place was a trip.. they started out playing general pop music (helllllooooo UFO song!) and then moved onto american classics (um, grease lightening?) all the while using lasers and strobe lights to maximize the cool factor. but on the plus side i finally got to dance..you know me.. i just wanna dance, fuck guys, lets just DANCE girls. (thank you dane cook for that one). god, i feel super boring right now, i hope this is not a chore to read this, i'm sure i will read it tomorrow and be like "wow..that sounds like a ball i would want to go.. NOT." this suit is gray not. but take my word for it, kiddies, mary's ball was off the heeeezy. so we left f4 around 3 when they turned the lights on and said "go home!" which basically meant "go back and make toasties and hang out in the jcr!" which we obediently did.

so this morning was recovery at the clyde..=jugs of fat frogs at 11am.. that's not even bad, believe me, i slept till around 1030 till i was woken up by the phone.. but apparently people were out in the courtyard around 9am predrinking for the recovery. hardcore here at mary's..or just alchies. i unfortunately had work scheme at 1 which absolutely s-u-c-k-e-d. then more clyde till i had a lecture at 5 at AFL world. oh, true story. so my friends give me a hard time for my absolute lack of work load (9.5 hours a week much?) so today everyone took the day off of uni for, well, recovery, and me, the hardworking uni student that i am, went to my lecture, which at least impressed people for half a second till i told them it was at afl world. groan. afl world = like an espn zone but completely footy-oriented. also, it was free, so why would i not go? that was a fun walk down to QV though. i reckon if that clicky man didn't click so loud a tram or two might've stripped me of a toe...

anwayys, afl world was pretty b.a... it definitely got my psyched up for CHICK'S FOOTY this weekend!!! tomorrow we have our last training session and then our first match is saturday at 10am against NEWMAN! which means i will be taking on none other than miss kristen aka roomz.. don't worry, i will not let our friendship get in the way of me TAKING HER DOWN TO CHINATOWN!

oh! and siobhan just called and i am choc choc chocolate touring with her tomorrow..mmm..probably a great idea before footy training. oh, and i found out that our matches on saturday are early which means i can still make it to the g for the st kilda/richmond footy match.. probably the last one i will see because then it goes into the playoffs and tickets get too expensive for poor lil ole me.

alright, i can barely keep my eyes open, yes it is only 1022pm but i have had a long day people! oh, true story, i though this was witty of me.. maybe not.. but let me bask in my self appointed glory anyway. so i registered amanda for a race this saturday to get her to start running again.. and i talked to her today and was like, oh, what are you doing saturday, because i have a problem.. i registered for this race on saturday in downers grove, but see, 1) i am not in america and 2) i put amanda instead of my own name. so i reckon she got the hint and i talked to george about it and woot! it's a go! also, i will be able to find out the results on the internets so if she doesn't end up running (god forbid, save her soul) i will know!

oh! and tuesday we had dinner with liz&luke..it was GREAT and we found out about some of the stuff we are doing in tassie.. including a tour of the cadbury factory (true story: liz said by the end of the tour we would be sick of chocolate, but to make sure we stock up on it anyways.. to her i say GOOD DAY! that will not happen), a bike ride down mt. wellington (big mountain near hobart), white water rafting (YEAH YEAH!), and a midnight tour of an old convict prison... liz said she'd email the final itinerary sometime this week so i should be finding out the rest soon.. but i reckon what i know now is pretty b.a.

alright, i'm peacing out of this joint, slash going to bed. you there..in america..wake up, yo, its 833, don't waste the day! love, me

high fiiiiive!

guess where i just got back from. that's right. the LIBRARY. and that's not even the name of a pub.

oh, yeah.

i just felt like running!

we all know how forrest gump is pretty much the most amazing of all time. i like it because it makes me feel bad about my life. not in a bad way, in a "look what this socially inept and mentally slow human being can do in one lifetime! what have you done, alycia?" kind of way. well, today, i stepped it up a notch.

remember when i was all "i love my body it is great!" and then i stopped running for 2 weeks because i got sick. that worked out well for me. so today was the 10k that i signed up for eons ago...and it was GREAT. first of all, how cool was it to be running a race in australia.. not to mention, free tshirt, medal, and sunday paper! those aussies really know how to throw a race party. anyways, it's been FANTASTIC weather the past couple days. nice and warm and upper 60s.. spring is finally here. so i ran for the first time in 2 weeks on wednesday. and then i ran on thursday. and then i took friday off because i didn't feel like running. and then i did a speed workout saturday. and today was the 10k and BAM after 3 days of training i didn't run PR or anything but i did do a decent time (for me) and was able to go the whole time and still have enough left for a kick at the end. my time ended up being around ~56 minutes.. results should be up soon, and i'll know the official. but considering i've only run a 10k twice, and the first time was with dad and we finished just over an hour, and the second time was the DG one where i ran a ~52 minutes, i am not disappointed. i hadn't run in 2 weeks and my body was like 'oh yeah!' and totally rocked. so i'm happy about that. now i am trying to find more races to run because that is seriously the best motivation to keep running and running fast.

speaking of which, i talked to amanda after my race and told her all about it.. it was so weird running without her. she's always on my side and we always start and finish together.. she was my main motivation this summer, she's the reason i am running right now, she's the reason i signed up for the marathon.. i wonder if she even knows that. seriously..her times are great, she was running just after she had vito and all this summer "after having a baby 4 months ago!" she's the person that i would be able to carry a conversation with and she's the one who would be like "no, alycia, you can't spring the last mile" and she's the reason i ran that half to begin with. when i talked to her today she told me she hadn't run since i left, really, and she has no races signed up or anything either. which is disappointing because she's FAST! and i can't help but want to get her out there running again.

anyways, i'm babbling, and you don't want to read this. my main point is: i love my sister, and it sucks running without her. there. i said it. let the tears flow.

so after the race i came back to college and met up with em and kathleen and we headed down to the g to see if we could get tickets to the essendon game. it was sold out, which was disappointing, so we headed to bridge road for some shopping. i ended up getting ball shoes and a summer dress! woo for warm weather!

now i'm back here, freshly showered (shh..dont tell anyone..definitely did not shower after race, although i did change and reapply the deodorant..) and now i'm headed down to brunswick st for dinner with a bunch of people. and then it's work time! (yeah, right?)

okay. don't tell amanda, but i'm signing her up for a race when i get back, too. that'll teach her to stop running.

ok! gotta go! love, me

the sun is shining...

...birds are singing, bees are trying to have sex with them.

okay. now i'm not trying to preempt the weather but i'm thinking that spring is HEE-RE. that's 2 syllables in that here, too. so for the past couple days it has been a GORGEOUS upper 60s..today it got up to 70 and monday it is supposed to be 75. it's fantastic, i love it. keep this up, and melbourne just might make a marathoner out of me yet - i'm not staying inside when i could be outside running. speaking of which, i have the 10k tomorrow. eeek! my last race was the july4th one, the 4 miler with amanda.. gosh. that was a long time ago. i have been in australia for 51 days. i am about to start my 6th week of uni. mid-semester break is in 3 weeks! which means i need to get on booking my flights to brisbane. have i mentioned what i am doing yet for break?

so the first week is the IES field trip to tasmania... i don't know much about what we will actually be doing but it involves a trip to the cadbury chocolate factory (fyi: cadbury chocolate >>>> hershey's chocolate - except for reeses, which australia does not believe in). and we're going on a midnight ghost tour of a supposedly haunted prison. that's all i know, although tuesday we are having dinner with liz & luke so hopefully they can shed some more light on the trip. although it would be nice to be surprised about some things, too. like how the grampians was completely a shock and it was awesome.

the second week is on our own, so me, karri, and monica are headed up to brisbane. we're doing some tours, i think one of fraser island (world's largest sandbeach) and one up to the southern most point of the great barrier reef. i was so excited when i found out about the reef tour - that's the one thing i wanted to do while i was here, because who knows how much longer it will be here for? plus, since i am not going all the way up to cairns, there is less coral-bleaching because the sun isn't as strong as it is near the equator. this means more pretty coral for me! we also might head down to the gold coast or surfer's paradise for a day or two, but if we don't make it, it's aright, because i'm still planning a trip to sydney sometime in october for a 4 day weekend. adelaide is a maybe at this point. i guess i'll wait to see how my final exam schedule plans out to be.

speaking of final exams. let's talk about how i have NOT DONE ANYTHING for ANY CLASS AT ALL. um, alycia, i reckon study abroad does involve some sort of studying. now don't get me wrong.. i have gone to all my lectures and tutes. actually, i've only missed one lecture and that was for footy practice, but what's more australian than footy? in any case i have a bunch of essays due right before the break.. as well as an essay proposal due this tuesday, a 2000 word essay due this thursday, and a 500 word essay due sept 8th. now, the thing about uni here is that whereas the usa is all "pop quiz! 5 exams a semester! homework!" and you get your grade based on all of these combined, aussie uni is like "here! write an essay, it is worth 60% of your grade, and then your final essay is worth 40%!" so most of my classes have 2 assessments: one at midsemester, one due at the end, and then your grade is based on those two essays. oh boy. i should get on these.

but back to footy. so there's college sports and next weekend is chick's footy.. it is SO MUCH FUN! we had two training sessions already and although i am not very good.. we were doing a drill and after i kicked it to run to the other line i heard someone say "oh, she's a natural!" BOOO YAH. and next weekend is father's day (sept 2nd.. what the heck, australia?) which means lots of people might be going home which means MORE PLAYING TIME FOR ME?! we will seeeeee! either way i have to invest in footy socks and a mouthguard...fierce stuff here. also, do not be surprised if you get footies for christmas. it is just my way of finding people in the us to play footy with.

besides that..what has happened this past week? last night we had college netball finals, it was mary's vs. newman.. long story short, it was a great match, newmandestroyedus, and afterwards we went out to the clyde. i re-realized that vodka cruisers are not good skulled, and also not good green. my stomach did not thank me after. it did like the toastie though! and free chips!

the ball is in 4 days! i am super excited for that.. and today we bought tickets for the australia vs. argentina soccer match. i'm not a soccer fan at all, true, but then again i am not in america, and the game is at the mcg which will be holding 100k screaming soccer fans.. so i think i can handle being a fan for one night.

other than that. i cleaned my desk yesterday. i can see the gray colour of it now. anthony called me this morning, waking me up at 10.. for the first minute he didnt say who it was and my phone just shows it up as 'blocked'... and i had no idea who it was. then finally he was like "do you know who this is" and i was like "yes of course" because if i did this to someone i would hate for them to be like "uh..no" and lucky for me it was like CLICK! ANTHONY! and how awesome was it to hear from him.. it's been FOREVER.

yesterday i was on skype and saw amanda on, it was around 1130pm by her and she said that vito was having trouble falling asleep. so i sang him a lullaby and told him a story on the webcam and although it did not work at all on getting him to sleep.. it was nice to be able to at least somewhat connect to him. he is BIG! he has 2 teeth coming in and a full head of hair.. uncle jesse would be proud. that's the hardest thing about this whole trip.. not being able to see him grow up. how many chances do you get at that?

alright, folks. i got back from my room about an hour ago and i haven't showered yet. i bet you're really keen to know that, too. so i'm gonna go get my pineapple mango loofah on.. enjoy your saturday! i most definitely did!

love, me (i definitely was going to write alycia but wrote australia instead, too, fyi)

you're invited to a wedding

news flash: i am getting married. to australia. and it will be wonderful. we are going to have a fantastic ceremony but the big fiesta will be the reception.. tim tams and nutrigrain galore, with all different flavors of cadbury dairy milk and kit kats. max brennar is supplying a chocolate fondue fountain and the waiters will be fairy penguins to save money on their uniforms. we're registered at the big w.

but seriously, folks. australia is pretty much the most amazing place in the world, if you haven't guessed that already. sorry, lemont, illinois, you're being bumped to number two.

yesterday we went on a trip to phillip island. to be honest, i had no expectations.. i knew about the fairy penguin parade and i figured we'd see kangaroos but it was more an escape from melbourne to me than anything else. and, if anything, i was upset about missing open day for the uni, and wing parties at college. but that was all made up for by 1030 when we hit up some small town outside of the island and saw lots of pelicans. they were just strutting their stuff all over the beach, walking around like they owned the place. leave it to team ies to be like, no, fools, we will not allow that to happen, and we pretty much chased them around the small pier area. oh! and i saw the sting ray that killed steve irwin! or maybe it was the brother. either way, we went out onto a dock, and looked down in a shallow foot of water only to see this massive, 5-foot-wide stingray floating around waiting to attack his next victim. i didn't even see it at first, i had it confused with a pile of seaweed. let that be a lesson to me when i finally actually go into the water: stay away from seaweed that has a tail.

after the pelicans we went to a phillip island beach that has some of the best views i have ever seen. the water was not hot but not lake michigan cold.. people were surfing (with wetsuits) and the weather was absolutely gorgeous.. we definitely lucked out on that one; other people who have gone have had it rain or be cold.. stefan (our tour guide) told us to bring our rain jackets on our beach trek but it was so warm that we ended up just stripping off layers. so the beach was pristine (yes i just google definitioned that word) and the cliffs were stunning and between the water and the sky i've never seen that many different shades of blue in one setting. the clouds are different here, too. lower. like you can just jump up and grab them out of the sky, and then put them into your hot chocolate like marshmallows. mmm..marshmallows. i really want a smore.

i'd put up pictures right about this point because it's easier to see what a mean from actually seeing what i mean. but hte carder reader has gone defunct and until i find one/buy one my marshmallow analogies are the best you're gonna get. or look on facebook. everyone that went on the trip took over 100 pictures each.. so i'm sure you'll see what i mean by sorting through the thousands of pictures. facebook is probably lucky they have the 60 photo limit per album.

so after the beach we stopped at a koala sanctuary and the koalas were all tripped out on eucalyptus and not moving. but it was nice to look at balls of fur. apparently, these bad boys poop 70-100 pellets a day which led to a humorous conversation... basically, it ended up as the boys going "what, girls don't poop or fart" and kristen shooting back with "um, clearly you haven't spent enough time with alycia and siobhan." listen, people, i can't help my bowels. actually, i was skyping my family today and my dad was like "how are your farts doing?" because clearly that is one of my best characteristics. seriously though. you get into a room with me and my sister after we've eaten dinner (of vegetables) and you will be begging for chinese water torture. ok. now that i've sufficiently destroyed any chances of lasting relationships via blogger...

so after the koalas we had lunch by the beach.. which ended up more as a photo shoot on some semi-volcanic-formed rocks. and we ended up searching for a loo only to find a crazy style automatic one.. as in.. press the button, door opens, press the button, door locks, you have 10 minutes to do your doody, classical music plays, automatic soap water dryer, press the button toliet flushes door unlocks BAM! you've just had a new and improved bathroom experience! i've never had anything like it.

then we headed on over to a wildlife sanctuary (as if anything could beat the loo experience) and we were given a feed bag and told to go wild. so you walk out into this open field with about 100 or so kangaroos. you shake the bag a little bit, hold out your hand, and all of a sudden you have kangaroos from all angles hopping right up to you. and it it doesn't look like they are going to stop - you expect them to just plow you right over. and some of them might've, if i didn't have my awesome cat-like reflexes. so they nuzzle their little noses in your hand and leave traces of saliva that i will cherish forever. some of them were females (obviously?) and had their pouches with little tails and feet sticking out..apparently little joeys like hanging out upside down? and you could shake their feets and pet their tails and then they'd pop their little heads out just to see what was going on. it was the most adorable thing ever. and we fed wallabies too, and some wombats, and EMUS! the emus were frickin CRAZY...these things would snap at your hand and just go crazy when they got food.. apparently they are low on the cordination scale and had no concept of manners.. lets just say up till that point i hadn't feared for my life in australia yet. i think karri got a video of it. hopefully she'll post in on youtube (hint, hint, karri) and you can check out what i mean. seriously. these things did not even compare to tim and jonathan fighting. it was a whole new level of extremisim.

okay, keep going. then we headed to 'the nobbies' and saw the sunset over the bay... spectacular. AND we got a two-for-one deal and were right in the middle of a seagull orgy! seriously..hundreds and hundreds of seagulls just going at it.. i'd insert a picture here to but YOU SICKO WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO SEE THAT? (i'll put one up as soon as that card reader starts working out for me).

then finally it was time for the penguin parade! it's this daily 'event' where hundreds of fairy penguins (less than a foot tall) come up from the ocean and burrow into the vegetation ashore. it happens every night right after sunset, for us, it was around 630pm. a bit underwhelming, i might say, still cool and a good experience but it was dark and cold and yes they were small but. i'd rather feed kangaroos out of my palm. you weren't allowed to take pictures, someone said something about how the flash could burn their retinas, and that's why it was so funny when siobhan took a flash picture and everyone around GLARED so evilly.. i could feel the pitchforks were coming, so we booked it out of there.

and the busride home was great. one of those nights were you just realize how lucky you are to be in australia with an amazing group of friends and having an experience that few people will ever know. and, flickering lights and karaoking aerosmith doesn't hurt.

also - the sky at night in australia? no little dipper, no bigger dipper, i don't know what i'm looking at. but it's gorgeous, and i love it, and i never want to leave.

i skyped my family today, too, well, tim and dad and mom for a little bit. i talked to dad and tim for over an hour; it's been over a week and half since i last had a real conversation with them. loyola threw away a computer or something with my social security ### and info on it..way to be, loyolatown.. identity theft, woo! i seriously hate that school. they are retarded. the study abroad department is pretty much the only redeeming factor...

alrights. i have to go get rsvp'd for my faculy dinner tomorrow (read: free wine). i'm out like a koala on eucalyptus.

love me

let's get ready to rumbalaarrrraa!

so i wonder what my roommate thinks about 'the thong song' blaring from my speakers. have i mentioned my roommate at all? she is an absolute doll, very studious, kind of quiet. except some nights she doesn't get home until after i do, but she doesn't go out. and she reminds kristen of a cartoon character..she doesn't walk anywhere.. just sort of.. prances. like a gazelle.

(side note: remember in 1805 freshman year.. I WANNA BE A GAZELLE! thats a shout out to amelia-town)

anyways. so today we just got back from shepparton, victoria, the fifth largest city in the state (NOT country). it was..rural. it reminded me a lot of felch, michigan, which for those of you who don't know is a city up in northern michigan in the middle of nowhere that has a walmart. shepp (as i will affectionately call it) has k-mart. and an aldi! aldi's are huge here, apparently..pdave would be in love with all the fit'n'active selections..

so why were we in boofoo, aus? we had a field trip for my oh-so-technical sport history class about aboriginal communities and the clubs they run. we went to a center called ASHE and a club called rumbalara, and watched some footy and netty. first of all, netty is the stupidest sport in the world. i guess that's the american in me saying that, as apparently it's pretty popular across the globe. but it seems to me to be an excuse for girls' basketball (which they do have here?) and you can't dribble and can't shoot layups and you have to wear a skirt and wear a bib that has your position on it. and it's specifically girls only. the players and everything were good but it seemed to be a less-contact, more feminine sort of basketball. you have to stand back 3 feet or something when people get the ball to shoot in an un-backboarded basket. in conclusion: let the girls dribble!

so the fieldtrip was fun..it was overnight, and we stayed in cabins. me, kristen, and siobhan were in one with 2 other girls, and we ended up in the same bed (how did that happen?) which actually worked out for the best because it was nice and warm and i'm a very cold person (obviously. cold and bitter). oh! so we went out for pizza at some local joint and got ice cream after. word to the wise: never buy imitation tim tams. we bought the coles version: "why pay less for everyday basics?" um, because, your version SUCKS. it had a white gluey paste in the middle instead of tim tam love. yes, i still ate like 252 of them. but that is besides the point.

we also met some australians outside our cabin late in the morning (1 am? not that late, actually) who happended to be really racist when we told them why we were in the area. we talked about the aboriginal footy club and how we were geniunely surprised not to see a population of indigenous people i guess just walking around (give us credit, we're bloody americans, and siobhan was 'a bit tipsy' <3) and they go 'if you're looking for Abos, there's probably a pack of them hiding behind your cabin ready to spear you'. um, ok. let's just say we didn't stay to make long lasting friendships.

so anyways..this past week has been BAM BAM BAM. i haven't skyped the family in a while which sucks because amanda will text me being like vito is awake! or ash and brandon are over! and i am all "i am far away from the computer" which sigh sucks. but skype has not been working lately so i don't know if it would even work and that would just be hella frustrating. oh! i did skype madi way back a while ago, maggie was there too. how crazy was that - i have not talked to her in WAY too long AND she's already back at loyola getting ready for the semester. it is crazy how they are just starting now and i have been in school for 4 weeks (granted, doing nothing. i should get on that.)

wednesday we went to this super chill cool place called 'bar nothing' and had 7 cocktails for 20$. let's just say we will be going back. and then we landed up at pa's where i realized that moccasins + dirty pa's = disaster. OH!

so on our way from bar nothing to pa's we took the tram and ended up getting stopped by the yarra tram popo!!!! they were all "let us see your tickets" and i was all "i am cheap and bought a concession even though i do not have a concession card" and they were all "siobhan why did you validate your ticket if you are a dumb american" and siobhan was all "how did you know my name" and then those 2 random "twins" were all "they are dumb americans let them go" and the popo were all "alright you scared us off with your wits" and we were all "yaaaaay! RUN AWAY NOW!" of course that is all paraphrased. but still! ADRENALINE RUSH! ps me - have a ticket next time. it is not worth 150$ to save 1.30.

thursday we got together and made haystacks but sadly with allbran instead of fiber one which still tasted good but they are much pointier and will poke your mouth! also, they don't believe in butterscotch ANYTHING here so that was a letdown. anyone have a good butterscotch recipe? butter + scotch?

alright, yos, i reckon it's time for tea. let's do this.

tinkle tinkle little star

is it just me

or is it majorly awkward to pee when a boy is in the bathroom listening?

i don't mind the coed bathrooms or walking around in a towel or showering next to someone else. and i'm not one of those pee-shy people at all. but to be in a completely silent bathroom while a boy is washing his hands and the only sound is the tinkle tinkle... call me susie oldfashioned, but i just can't do it. well, i can, and i did, but that doesn't take away the awkwardness of it all.

anyways, i feel like we just shared something deep.

off to go reading! i would've started much sooner but i was distracted COUGH COUGH KRISTEN COUGH COUGH

dear chicago...

you'll never guess...

h'okay! so! i don't even remember what i last wrote about..pretty sure it had to do with food though. mmm.. oh. right. the fiber one haystacks. i want to make them here but i can't find butterscotch chips anywhere...don't think they exist here. that's okay. that just makes the ones amanda makes extra special. and all the better.. if i made them myself it would just end up in diabetes. although with my diet i am sure it is inevitable. but i digress!

speaking of haystacks.. after letting my australian friends here try reeses, they showed me their version of the chocolately-peanut-buttery treat.. which turned out to be (da da da da!!) chocolate and peanut butter HAYSTACKS! only they called them 'spiders' and made them with chow mein noodles.. they were delish.. a far cry from reeses but a valiant attempt! and it was pretty cool that they were made the same way as haystacks. oh, and another interesting factoid (about food, duh): my friend claire had homemade cookies from her momma (chocolate chip BISCUITS, if you will) and me not having home made COOKIES in forever had a couple..they were good..but much less sweeter, sugary, and fatty than american choc chip cookies. later that night i looked up a recipe for the australian version and found out that they dont use oil, eggs, brown sugar, vanilla.. all the usual ingredients in our gems. so, yeah. interesting fact. a little glimpse into why australia's waist lines <<<< american's belt.

amanda wrote me an email about the michigan trip and it really sucks having to miss out on it. this was the first year they were actually there for the actual blueberry festival..apparently dad ran in the 5k and i'm sure they had more than one blueberry pie..and the 1c cookie sale was probably still going on at that bakery. and jonathan and tim got in a big fight, no surprise there. so besides that i really would've loved to have been there. but, look at this way. one month is already completely gone... the time is going by so fast.

uh, yeah. so my week? i was sick then better then sick and then better and now i'm sick again. i suppose it wouldn't be that bad if i didn't have the marathon approaching.. i am no mood/condition to run and obviously i need to be getting on that.. i have the 10k in like 2 weeks... oh boy. tomorrow i don't have time to run with my classes, unless i got up at like 9 or 930.. we'll see if that happens (cough: it won't). and right now i barely have a voice, because i went out last night to birra bella for the launch party and it ended up with just a lot of screaming as you tried to talk to people. that probably didnt help the cold, either. ahh. well.

ok that was pitiful. i just tried to peel an orange (vitamin c, you know?) and it was a big sticky mess. i ended up just stabbing it with a fork and tearing it in two (think hulk style) and sucking the juice of that bad boy. and now you know how i eat oranges. TMI, thanksssss.

clearly if you're reading htis blog you are not reading it to find out how i eat oranges (that's just an added benefit!) oh! i never mentioned this. so monday night i went for a late night walk with some friends here that started out as a walk around college crescent but evovled into a trip to brunswick st for 12 different flavors of ice cream. (side note: the flavors here are WEIRD. mint choc chip and cookie dough do not exist..but you can find lychee and toasted sesame where ever you go?) and that made us sick with ice cream so we ended up walking and walking.. down to mcg..up to fed square..then up swanston back to college. it took a good couple of hours and the best part was when we got to fed square they had these towers that scroll messages..and you can text a message to a number and it'll show up on the tower. so rosie texted something along the lines of "em x 2 and leesh and rosie and kathleen are the best night walkers this side of the flip side" (actually..i think that's exactly what she texted..go my memory) and it showed up and scrolled on the tower for a long time..we left it still scrolling..probably because it was 11 at night and no one was there. now, that's pretty cool on it's own. but the dork in me was like "leesh! people at home call me leesh!" and i made sure to tell them this. look. the nickname is INTERNATIONAL now. woooo.

friday we went on another field trip! good on us for all these cultural outings (i am clearly making the most out of my days off, see? 9.5 hours is a perfect amount of uni). we went to st. paul's cathedral (prettttty) and the national gallery of victoria (think art institute). the gallery was really cool (and free!) and we saw some..interesting.. pieces. like a metal balloon animal dog. i have pictures aplenty.. oh, and a video of the queen vic market for amanda. the market is HUGE..nothing we have in the states. so you'll want to catch that when it comes out on youtube (FYI).

today is monica's birthday so we are going out for thai food and dessert... and right now i'm off to the state library with emma to (da da da dahhhh!) get library cards. because, duh, how cool am i.

i thought i had more to say but i guess i don't. and, clearly, my humor is not at tiptop shape. i am sorry for the lame entry. and then i found 20 dollars.

love, me

there's no such thing as too much christmas

i would just like to let you know that currently (as in, right NOW) i am chewing on a homemade fiberone haystack. and it is the most amazing thing in my life. not only is this one of the best tasting desserts in the WORLD (dont believe me, ask paula davis) but the fact that it traveled over 3000 miles just to get into my belly makes me as happy as a butterscotch-haystack-fed-clam. yep, you heard me.

within the past 2 days i have received 2 packages and 2 postcards. i am the luckiest person ALIVE. i knew the packages were coming but seeing a sign that says "Alycia! You have a package!"...it might as well be Christmas. Yesterday I got a box from my parents, which I knew what it had in it because I told them what I wanted. Still, it was one of the greatest feelings to open it up and find gum and crystal light and my purple pumas! and the running top that i thought i brought but most defintely forgot at home.. AND my tennis magazine. the only thing missing was the popcorn which was confiscated by customs..apparently unpopped popcorn can't make its way into australia (could be pests attached!) and dad included 5$ which at first im like..um...ok.. but then i remembered last semester and all of last year when he'd slip me a 5 or 10 every time he'd drop me off at school. and then i was like, awww. dad. oh! and the reeses! which i ate most of, but i did share some with some aussies who had no idea what they were (those poor souls). australia does not believe in mixing peanut butter and chocolate. search me.

i need to stop eating these haystacks. my body can only handle so much fiber (as i've learned my lesson from, believe me..) and then today i went down and got a package from amanda and george and vito, which they had rushed delivered but got stuck in customs for 4 DAYS. come on australia. get with it. and inside was loads and loads and LOADS of GUM every single flavor that i havent had in forever and australia does not believe in making. so keep your extra, australia. your gum sucks. God bless the USA and our 029850928 flavors of bubblegum. and, also inside, still fresh and tasty, the butterscotch fiber one haystacks.. mmm.. these are so good. i love my sister, the girl can cook. i've eaten like 6 already. but i missed lunch, so, oh well. i'm clearly on like a sugar high right now.. true story. nutrigrain cereal is pretty much amazing (cant get it back in the states) and its also one of the only cereals here that has sugar in it. so when i was talking about how much i love it, the reactions i got in return were "but theres so much sugar in it!" clearly, they have never heard of a little gem called "cinnamon toast crunch." or "reese puffs - the candy you eat for breakfast!"

ok! NO MORE FIBER ONE HAYSTACKS! save them! that is my problem.. i get so excited by american food that i kind of just gobble it all up right away. and then it's sad. true story: send more packages. Oh! and, the 2 postcards were from gil, from disney world.. how jealous am i. and i wasn't expecting them at all, so that made it infinitely times better. seriously. all this love from home and how am i supposed to want to stay here?

the answer to that: tim tams. it's the timtams, people.

oh, my belly. so much fiber.

my body is a wonderland

i love my body. can i just get that out there? i am in love with it. other people probably love their bodies, too. they teach you that in like health class 101. love your body. i love my body.

i could leave it like that but 25 years from now when i log onto the intranets and read that i'll be like, what? was i high when i wrote that? high on endorphins, there, buggo. i went running today after sitting out of the past week because of my cold. so today i was feeling better and figured i'd go for an easy jog around prince's park, maybe walk some of it if i needed. and my body was like, BAM! and burst right back into runner mode. it was like i've never rested, i was able to do a workout that i was able to do a month ago before i left. so take that, kokenes, mr. "everyday you sit out of running is 3 days lost of training." maybe for morbidly obese people like him. so, in conclusion, my body is friggin AMAZING. i love it. which is good, too, because i have about 3 weeks till my 10k and 2 months till my marathon. bring it on.

in other news, i love my family. dad wrote me an email yesterday, i'll copy and paste it in here so i don't ever forget it:


Hi Leesch, I'm not use to writing letters so bare with me. It sure is quiet without you at home but on the bright side your room has nevered stayed this clean. I hope school is going o.k. You have a couple of weeks of school in already and they haven't even started out here yet. Remember, if you ever need anything either use our credit card or tell me and I'll try to send it out to you. I can't wait to see those pictures that you are taking, so I can tell everybody how much of a learning experience this is you and us. I hope you are feeling better, take care of yourself,and I miss you. Love Dad To think, it only took me 10 minutes to type this


i was smiling so much when i read that. oh dad, he is so witty. seriously though, he made me laugh. and it may only be a few sentences but it means so much to me, and i miss my family, and i wish they were here with me. i don't know how else to say it.

other than that.. now that the love is out there.. me and siobhan went to a footy game yesterday at MCG.. essendon vs hawthorn. i'm gonna go eat lunch and then i'll be back to write about that adventure!

hmm. i wonder if i should have left my internet on. oh well.

alright so yesterday at the footy game siobhan was like "let's go take a picture with those giant pompoms!" referring to the huge pompoms that each team's cheersquad flails around during the match. so we go down there and ask them, and they are SUPER friendly and start talking to us, they think that's it's great that we're from america, we get another "welcome to australia!" and then they ask us if we want to sit with them (2nd row right behind the goals!) and hold up banners and flags and all that. of course we say yes and it was pretty much the greatest sporting event of my life. we got on the jumbo tron almost everytime that they scored a goal (a whole 7 times) and i'm sure we were on tv as well.. essendon ended up getting DESTROYED by hawthorn but it was still the most fun game EVER. now we decided that every time we go to a footy match we'll play the innocent americans.. "can we take a picture with your pompoms? oh, they're floggers? how cool.."

alright! that's a good update for now, methinks, so i'm gonna peace out of this joint. see you in december!

love me

use the force.. not the force, the forks! the forks!

today was like being at fv all over again! for 2 hours i completely forgot i was in the middle of australia, and by middle, i mean southern tip, but you know that. so while we're at mary's every student has to do a 2 hour workscheme a week, which means you work in the kitchen doing, well, kitchen work. like washing dishes, setting tables, etc. so i had mine for the first time today and it wasn't that bad, it just took a loooong time but i don't have class till 415 anyways so whatevs. it was funny though doing it, because there's about 4 of us a time, and rather than fv where everyone just tries to get the job done, or does a shit ace job, or just avoids doing something completely, everyone here was really helpful and worked together and most of all CLEAN, actually following procedures as opposed to FV where, well... people didn't. so it was 2 hours and while it sucks having to do it it's not like i have a choice, and it's not really at an inconvienent time, so that's not too bad. i'm sure by next week i'll be like OH EM GEE I HATE WORKSCHEME I AM NEVER DOING IT AGAINZ. but until then!

so i've been fighting off this bitch of a cold for about 4 days now and it's in the annoying "you're not sick enough to stay in bed but you're too sick to go get drunk" phase. like last night we had floor dinner at this place, joe's garage, on brunswick st and it was decent and afterwards everyone was going to be going to pa's but my head was like POUND POUND POUND and my nose was like TRY BREATHING WITHOUT ME! and my body was like SHIVER SHIVER so in the end my bed won out, but i just started reading harry potter which i borrowed from someone, so i'm living vicariously through a 17 year old wizard. i don't know what happens yet, knock on wood, so DON'T BLOW IT FOR ME. ok love.

other than that.. we had our IES sunday dinner on... SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY (i don't know what's with me and capslock today.. just go with it) and it was enjoyable although that was like.. night one of my sickiness so i just ended up leaving early to hit the hay. monday i felt better (?) so after staying in bed all day i went out to beerfest australia '07 at the village.. that was fun it was with the old crew so can't screw up there. tuesday i had classes yucko and then after tea went and saw the simpsons movie which was good but it was also just an extra long simpsons episode on the big screen. it was funny and all that, definitely weird seeing such an american icon in australia. good though.

and last night was wednesday and now here i am on a lovely thursday afternoon. i am dreading going to class mostly because i have my migrants tute which i decided to stay in.. that, however, means that no, i have not bought the reader yet, which means no, i have not done the reading yet, so yeah. tutorial should be a good time, i clearly have much to say... and then i have my sports class which hopefully will be as enthralling as last week.. and then we're supposed to go out probably to pugg's but i just want to get over this cold more than anything else. tomorrow i'm going to see the lucksmiths at night with some aussies here (think, tshirt weather) and as for the weekend who knows. i just want to get over this cold! someone send me some chicken soup and some love love love, okay?

ahhh i guess i should go buy that stupid reader and try to get a page or two in before my tutorial. maybe i can come up with something intelligent to say (although i feel chances are slim). alright, i'm peacing out of this here blog, yozzzzzzz have a good august 2nd!

dirrrrty pop (but not dcp, they dont have that here)

alright so. this past week has a been a WHIRLWIND of craziness and now here i am doing my best to procrastinate going on a run. actually, i don't know why i am procrastinating, i have a big craving to run but i am kind of worried about my knee. but i have a marathon to run in just over 2 months and i feel like it's a big deal that i at least try to get back into the running shape i was in pre-australia.

true story, i never joined the gym. f that. i've always been a big supporter of using my own body weight for strength training, and i hate running on treadmills (read: i am a cheap poor college student). so, i saved 5$ for the two week deal and i promptly went out and spent it on timtams. i mean, i have to walk 3 blocks just to get to the safeway (that's 6 blocks both ways, for all you non-math major types). 6 blocks walking to buy timtams is practically a marathon, especially that 3 block walk there where you are just filled with yearning for the chocolately fudgey biscuity goodness. i am working up a sweat just thinking about that. whereas the ab-ductor machine does nothing for me.

but i digress! (shout to the p-ryor, whoot whoot)

so it's friday now. sunday all the mary's kids moved back in and 1) they are super de duper friendly and 2) majority of them are supremely awesome. so there was a minipub crawl on sunday night and then monday night we had bucks and hens nights back-to-school style. i had no idea what that meant until i got here, but it's when guys go on one pub crawl and girls go on another and then you meet up at the end. everyone wore their old school uniforms (i got mine from an op-shop (thriftstore)) and we walked around melbourne reeking of style. no kidding. it was a LOT of fun. and i got to meet a lot of the girls who are all really really nice and really fantastic people overall. so we went to a bunch of different pubs whose names i don't remember and it's not really important anyway, but then we finally met up at the clyde and apparently newman was on a barcrawl too that night. fyi - mary's and newman are rivals (take that team awesome) and a fight broke out (but i use the term fight very loosely - maybe a minor SKIRMISH (that's shout out #2 to the pryorizzle, for those of you keeping track)). afterwards we made our way to the turf club by rmit village which was PACKED but a good time. i got into bed but remembered that yes, i did actually have uni the next day, at 11. so my shortlived vacation time at melbourne was finally coming to an end. sigh.

so uni! uni was good.. it was actually nice going to class again and my subjects are pretty interesting, so i don't mind going. plus, my earliest subject is 10am on wednesdays so it's not bad at all. tuesday night then was..oh, dinner with the senior students. that was okay. afterwards i just went back to newman and hung out with team awesome who has been disappointingly awol as of late. wednesday was more uni! and then christmas in july which was a formal dinner complete with our harry potter-esque academic gowns. dinner was a lot of fun - it was decorated really pretty, and everyone looked nice, but basically it was all you can drink free wine, which was fantastic. i wasn't going to drink and then i was like, stupid alycia, it's free, take advantage. so i did. and it was good. after dinner we made our way to p.a.'s (dirty p.a.'s?) where i was denied entry because the bouncer wouldn't take my student id, so i went back and got my illinois drivers license which the idiot would have no idea was counterfeit or not. um, hello, sir, clearly i am 18. so i eventually got in and woo!! it was a lot lot lot of fun! the wine might've had something to do with that. mmmm, wine.

thursday was yesterday..went to uni... missed dinner because of my sport class (um, hello, most blow off class in the WORLD) and instead i gorged myself on nutrigrain (don't have it in the states, its pretty much the best cereal known to mankind) and then afterwards was trivia night which was hella lame. not a lot of desire to go out last night (i'm on the every-other-day mode) so i stayed in and talked with some people here then met up with kristen and andrew and did the same thing.

so today, no uni! me and kristen just got back from the market where i picked up some pretty fantastic goodies. tonight is the dirty 80s turn which i am super excited for - i have a fantastically horrible oversize gold HUGE SHOULDERPADS jacket and some leggings, should be a good time. so i'm gonna peace out now: the agenda: run, shower, buy books, go to supermarket and buy timtams, possibly netball/city, dinner, 80s turn. arlhglahelr okay running time! go me!

clementines are mandarins here, duh

okay. so i can officially say that the homesickness has set in. and i was going so good too! i'll put all the blame on jonathan. i finally figured out the network downloading thing this morning and i was putting all my new videos and music onto my iphone. so i put on the 'going away to australia' dvd that jonathan had me for me before i left and watched only a minute of it before i was like "no! bad idea! put it away!" but it was too late...

don't get me wrong. i have a strong base of friends here - i just got back from downtown with a couple of them. i'm keeping busy all the time and not getting home till late at night. so it's not that i'm lonely, because the friends i have here are great and fun and all that. i don't know what it is. i was walking down lygon today and i saw this man standing in front of a restaurant who looked like a fatter version of my dad. and for a slim second i thought it was him, but that went away fast because obviously it wasn't. and that's when it hit me that i'm here for 5 more months and there's no break in between it all. i want to be here. i like it here. it's just that i like it at home, too.

so today all the rest of the 160 kids at mary's are moving back in and i'm fully prepared to be completely overwhelmed. it was nice for the past week when there was only about 40 people back, it was easy to get to know people and go out. so tonight is going to be crazzzzy with people. i'm excited for this week, though. we have a back to school themed pub crawl tomorrow, tuesday is senior dinner night, wednesday is christmas in july, thursday is trivia night, friday is the dirty 80s turn, and saturday is...saturday? wow. so it's going to be out out out every night.

you're in australia, alycia. suck it up.

okay!

i think the main thing is to just keep busy - kind of hard to do with only 10 hours of class, right? also, i need to get on sending stuff home to people. i'm gonna go to the market sometime this week (let's be honest..probably not till friday) and pick up a wide assortment of souveneirs.

obviously iron&wine tuneskis are not helping. christina aguilera? yes! oliver would be proud.

alright, kiddies. enough sap time. also, i'm joining the gym tomorrow. and i'm gonna start running again - i think that's a big part. i just haven't the motivation to go. but i have a marathon to run in 3 months that i should probably start training for. or something like that.

peace out!

knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door

dear me,

please note this point in your life when you were naive enough to not acknowledge an apparently social wide custom (at least in the uni circuit). please continue to play oblivious to the awkwardness of the night's events, but at the same time, next time, stay in bed.

love,
yourself.

better bigger faster stronger

so, the shower: not so bad! there was a vent that wouldn't close up in the corner of my stall but other than that..it was relatively easy to get a good temperature and had decent pressure..also..someone left a radio in there that constantly plays and while i was lathering and rinsing, kanye's 'stronger' came on which a) i have never heard on the radio and b) i have never heard on the radio in AUSTRALIA so that was quite the pleasant surprise, kanye would be proud. now i'm playing that on repeat (along with young folks) and it's pretty badass, i must say. so now that you know that you should also know that i am back writing this so soon because at this point i just want to get it over with. i could/should do this by pen & pencil (abby got me that nice journal!) but i am a lazy bum when it comes to handwriting anything (which is why you all have not got postcards yet) and this is just so much easier. except when technology fails on me - go figure!

so the room is still the same temperature as it has been, but i since amassed a total of 7 blankets (and i sleep under all of them). it seems like everyday i come back and there's another blanket sitting on the foot of my bed (which i am quite okay with) so sleeping is much more pleasant. except for the dreams i've been having.. i basically never had dreams back in the states (lack of ambition and whatnot) but here my mind is like a kid with add downing pixysticks. the other night i had a dream about a tornado touching down in a mall as i ran to avoid it, and last night i was dreaming of running along this path that looked an awful lot like bluff road, lemont, il, but was in australia.. i ended up in a truck rig somehow with a medley of killer animals (lions, tigers, and raccoons! oh my!) but none of them wanted to eat me. i was also at one point in an american car trying to drive on the australian roads (opposite sides). i woke up while i was trying to escape the truck rig (now i'll never know what happens to me!) maybe it's the southern hemisphere water doing crazy things to my head. or the beer.

so.. when we last left the spectromagical life of alycia it was monday. it's friday now. i am now fully enrolled as a student at melbourne uni, woo! my purpose of this semester is finally actualized. now i just have to go to class: which shouldn't be hard... i have a total of 10 hours of class time for the WEEK. 10 hours. i wouldn't even be a full time student at home (yet i am getting 16 credit hours for this semester (shhh loyola)). check out this schedule:

monday: OFF!
tuesday: 11-1230 apartheid in south africa lecture
415-545 migrants and refugess in australia lecture
wednesday: 10-12pm Australian political economy lecture
12-1 Australian political economy tutorial
thursday: 315-415 Apartheid tutorial
415-515 Migrants tutorial
515-645 sports and education in australian society lecture
friday: OFF!

clearly, my semester will be a rough one. i hope i can handle it.

as for my past week, let's see. tuesday i went out on a pub crawl with some kids from my college (aussies!). um, hi. i LOVE australians. they are possibly the greatest people alive. we started out in the city center and went to a bunch of different pubs (don't know names, don't ask) before ending up at pugg's for the night (surprise!). i ended up learning what skulling is (chugging) and the art of throwing a 20 cent piece into someone's drink (forcing them to skull). and at pugg's i met up with the rmit villagers which was cool, because it was definitely weird not going out with them (and no team awesome!). most of the night though i got to know the aussies which was pretty cool. when we finally decided to leave it was raining (big surprise, melbourne!) and we decided to run home so we wouldn't get soaked (hello marathon training!). so as we're sprinting up elgin st or whatever road it is, one of the aussies shouted "welcome to australia!" which i'll take as my official welcome. it was just cool hanging out with australians..kind of crazy. like, hi, i'm in australia. whoa.

wednesday we did the whole enrollment thing and later on at night went to go see harry potter at the LARGEST IMAX IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE, woooot! it was pretty sweet, especially since the last half hour was in 3d. it was also nice to take a break from going out for a night (we were home by 930, woo!). me and kristen ended up going to hang out with andrew (aka, mr. illness) because it had been too long since we all hung out together (like 6 hours, whoaaaa).

thursday i finally got my ids (i accrued like 72 of them in a 2 hour period) and then instead of doing the amazing race thing we opted out to exploring the city. we walked around and window shopped before stopping at myer (like macy's) and got our makeup done for the night at the cosmetic counters. the lady who did mine and siobhan's went a bit overboard (think pornstar) and we definitely felt awkward when we left to go to the dinner for the race. made sure to stop in a bathroom and lightened up the purple just a little bit. unfortunately we didn't get a picture but i'm sure it won't be the last time we get our makeup done (way to be cheap ass students, us!).

so later that night we opted out of the pubcrawl that we were supposed to go on. instead we went to casino night at rmit and then headed to pugg's (again!). i saw a bunch of the aussies i knew so i hung out downstairs with them instead of going up to the CROWDED dancefloor. dancing at pugg's on thursdays is great but yesterday it was ridiculously packed..could barely move..and i hate getting TOUCHED by random people and also it smelled badly of bodily odors. so i stayed downstairs and met a bunch more aussies (who are all going on a ski trip this weekend, so i won't see boohoo).

and now here i am! i'm going to lunch now and then after i think i'm going to some thrift store shop with some aussies to get stuff for O2 week next week. there's a back to school pub crawl (think catholic school girl) and an 80s-retro turn in the JCR. so we'll see what crap i come home with (i mean, quality clothing goods). alright, kids. i can only listen to so much kanye. that's a lie. young folks is on repeat.

see you yesterday! <3

welcome to the australia, mate

ARGH!

i just wrote the most amazingly long post EVER and low and behold safari is sure to crap out on me. thanks, apple! you rock!

seriously, kids..this novel of a post talked about dreams, kangaroos, my shoe size..everything worth knowing about me and my crazzzzzzy adventures. now, i have nothing but a large large disappointment in my void of a blogging life. i am going to go drown in my sorrows in a shower. that will most definitely take about 20 minutes to get to the right temperatuer (i had written about that too!)

so, in conclusion, crapple is a 5star computer. i'm going to post this now so that i forever remember my anger at this very moment in life. it's 1135 am. time for a shower. and wine. would you like some whine with that wine? gosh, i'm witty. okay. PEACE!

just because i'm closer to antarctica...

...doesn't mean i need to know what the continent feels like everytime i go to the bathroom. seriously..every single building and hallway and ANYTHING inside is ch-ch-chilly, but the bathrooms are ice cold. to quote kristen: "it's too cold! i don't want to take my pants off!" she's a classy broad. obviously.

so i don't know when the last time i wrote was but obviously a LOT has happened since then. today is the...17th? it's sad that i have no idea what day it is. well, not sad. actually that's pretty standard. everything for the past week has been go go go and now i am finally getting some downtime to do absolutely nothing!

so last week we had melbourne welcome where we stayed at queen's college with all the other international kids, which was basically all americans. it was 4 days of constant movement which was great, it was a lot of fun, but it took soo much out of us. by the last night all we wanted to do was stay in and watch a movie (girlie night?) and eat tim tams which we did. mmm. tim tams. they are endless here and right now they're even on sale for 2$/box at safeway!

so melbourne welcome... we went on tours of the city (aka to find out where the 'big w' is (read:walmart)), we visited a wildlife sanctuary where they had kangaroos, koalas, emus, etc.. it was cool to see them here because we got to feed them from our hands. they were supertame and would just come up to us and nuzzle their noses in our palms. at the same time though it was just a little bit less cooler than when we saw them for the first time out in the wild. if you could call backyards wild, haha. the koalas were less than impressive. no, they were cool, they were just sleeping when we saw them. the 'dropbears' is what aussies call them..because when you walk underneath trees they can just drop into your arms. the emus we saw were HUGE and massive and scary and pretty much ugly.

last saturday we went to a footy match (geelong cats v collingwood magpies) and george from the miami had told me to be a collingwood fan. me, the impressionable young dame that i am, heeded his advice and went for them (not rooted..rooted=sexed). turns out they are like the cubbies of aussie rules footy! by the end of the match i was going to switch over to geelong until i realized that i am better at criticizing a team than i am cheering for them. so collingwood it is (they lots, by the way. pretty badly). makes me not miss home so much when i have the cubbies' curse tagging along with me!

we also went to the eureka tower which is 88 stories up? and saw melbourne from above.. that was pretty sweet to view the city as a whole. and i could look down and see rod laver and vodafone arenas in all their aussie-open-glory. which reminds me, i want to look up tours of rod laver while i have internet (who knows how long this will last for).

oh! my laundry should be done soon (yes i am doing laundy! its only been 10 days, too, but all my clothes are pretty muddy and gross and let's be honest, they smell). besides i was only to bring 2 bags to australia..i need to cycle these clothes wisely. so go on, be proud of me for doing laundry. i am!

last night was the first night of re-o week for the rmit village kids.. not rio week contrary to popular belief. there was a horrible linkin-park-every-song-sounds the same band but then there was a cover band and who doesnt love covers? so we rocked out to that all night. tonight there is a pubcrawl right after tea (dinner). if i have learn these slang words so do you, eh?

i should go get my laundry now which means i need to log off my internet so it doesn't continue to charge me. it costs a lot here! then i'll try to call home and find out they want to skype this shiiiiiite up! hopefully the rain stops so we can go to the qv market..melbourne weather = not so hot. literally. okay.

peace out cub scout!

happy birthday to me!!!!

july 10th, 2007
1242 pm aussie time

okay. so. back to business of writing this thing. im trying really hard to keep up with it..so far so good eh? right now we're on the bus ride home from grampians... we went out this morning for a bush walk to a waterfall that was about a half hour hike away..really pretty stuff. i climbed to the top of it (by myself - no one else was daring enough to get their pants dirty?) and saw a fantastic view of the mountains of australia. who knew australia had mountains? there is pictures of it and all that good stuff so no worries, mate. you'll see it.

i guess i left off on yesterday's adventures. i don't know where. we had the wine tasting blah blah went to bed early blah blah and then the next day woke up, had breakfast, then went on our rock climbing experience.. the place we went to was about 30 minutes away on this crazy unpaved sandy road in the middle of nowhere..that was an adventure in itself, i guess. we got there and met earl and ian (our guides) and picked up our gear, then hiked it to the wall. the greatest part about it all was that it was a real clif we were climbing..not man made in anyway at all (not even the parts of the rock that seemingly made excellent handholds). so we all took turns climbing and belaying and all that good stuff. i climbed two walls..first, an easy one, then the hardest one they had there...and just so happened to make it higher on that wall than anyone else (this wall was tough, i earned the bragging rights). so take that, boyzzzz.

after that we went to the top of the cliff for abseiling (repelling). this was FREAKY.. you tied a rope to you and basically just walked backwards off the edge of the cliff...i'm not so bad with the heights fear but this scared the crap out of me. earl was really trustworthy though (for an aussie bushman) and i made it down alive. obviously.

all in all it was a fantastic experience..like nothing i've ever tried before. i'm really proud of myself for what i was able to do and it really connected the group with the whole bonding thing. it gave everyone an adrenaline rush and all those good exercise endorphins. by the time we finally made it home everyone was starving. or at least me. mostly me. so we went out to this resturant (the quarry) and i had a kangaroo fillet, which was a bit juicy (read: bloody) for my taste. the best part of the meal was the dessert..our table each ordered a different one and then passed them to share. mmmm sticky date pudding...apple and pear pie...brandy snaps...so far the food here has not disappointed. THEN after that luke & liz surprised me with a lamington cake (much better than any kind i've ever made) with a sparkler and singing candle on top. everyone sang to me, it was really sweet and surprising and made me happy. right now this is one of the greatest experiences of my life, and i'm so glad i'm here.

amanda and george and vito all called me at midnight MY TIME on my birthday..the only ones (although tim was close at 3am). i really appreciated that. i miss them tons and vito i'm sure is crawling and hopping and talking in tongues by now. thats the only part about this trip i am truely missing. otherwise this is one of the greatest opportunities of my life and i can only hope that it keeps getting better.

now, enough of being an unsocial computer geek on this busride home (i'm gonna go listen to my ipod).

going out tonight for my birthday! hopefully it should be a good time (finally legal!)

love, me

the champions of grampians

1132 am july 9th

3 days after my last blog...still have no internet access so i don't know if i can exactly call this a blog. it's more of a 'dear diary' sort of jiggy.. speaking of the word dear, it's kind of like that dear abby article that talked about the twins alicia and amanda. weirdddddd. not that the internet audience knows what i am talking about. or at this point cares, this is supposed to be about australians and kangaroos and didgeridoos.

so i guess a lot has happened since the plane ride. i landed safely and soundly in australia with all my luggage in tow. luckily for me on my flight from sydney to melbourne i met this girl kristen who i found out was in the same program as me, so that was pretty sweet. it helped to know that i had someone to get through what i figured to be the hardest part of the trip (thus far?): finding my way out of the airport. we got into melbourne on time and both cleared customs (which was remarkably pretty easy? not that i had anything to hide. except for the drugs). we found our togoto dude and he drove all of us into the city, giving us advice about melbourne and offering handy dandy australian sayings..of the favorites: "colder than a mother-in-law's kiss" and the tale of politicians who "lost the unloseable election" after building the mcdonald's-esque structure leading into the city.

we got to the miami hotel and met up with three other ies kids and went out to lunch with them. we found a small cafe along errol st and munched it up, then came back and showered. oh my god. that shower was GLORIOUS. you will never know what i mean until you travel on planes for 24 hours straight, arrive in a strange city knowing no one, walking in cold and rainy weather but are able to wash away all your worries with some streams of hot water and victoria secret shampoo. i mean, the shower was okay. i guess.

we met liz and luke and went to a meeting about the program, then went out a pub afterwards for dinner. i ended up with a pot of pure blonde..after an embarassing experience with the bartender. it might take a while to catch up on that whole slang thing. i thought i had it down. nope.

woke up the next morning to leave for the first field trip, to grampians national park about 3 hours west of melbourne. along the way we stopped at this winery for lunch (delicious!) and a wine tasting tour. i guess the tour was kind of cool besides the fact that i didn't know what the man was saying. wine isn't my forte. we tried a bunch (no black puma) which all tasted great, or at least as great as my unrefined wine tasting skills could go. definitely was a cool exeperience.. it was like all of a sudden, civilization! after a 2 hour ride into nowhere.

so we got to the park later than we thought, unbagged all our stuff, ate dinner and basically crashed at 10pm. early but still later than our previous night of 8pm. slowly but surely that jet lag will disappear.

it's 1145pm right now..im basically just trying to stay up to my birthday (in case someone calls). i guess i'll be super depressed if no one does. anyone? anyone?

everyone is asleep now though so i feel bad typing so loud. im gonna finish this up tomorrow on the bus ride home...

today was great though. roos, bike rides, rock climbing, abseiling, more roos, 6 desserts, a singing birthday candle, victoria bitter. and it's not even midnight yet.

good onya, mate.
me

leaving on a jet plane

So it's 6:01 in the morning Chicago time right now, Friday July 6th... I have no idea what time that translates to where I am right now. I'm on the plane from San Francisco to Sydney as I write this...I'll have to post up let to the internets because obviously I don't have it right now. I was inspired to write because of hte moon but now there are a couple things I want to mention..

1. the flight from chicago to california was pretty good. compared to my last flight (from disney world when I had some kind of squirmy-parasite-stomach virus that was HORRIBLE) it was rather smooth and plus i wasn't gassing up the cabin with toxic fumes this time. true story. we ate at sweet tomatoes right before i left and i made sure to stay away from the bran muffins. only one. maybe two. anyways the coolest part was looking out the window (always a window seat) to see the rocky mountains below.. the sky was crystal clear and i could easily make out the snow capped mountains. and when we got into san fran it was sunset... now i have seen the sunrise over the atlantic plenty of times.. so seeing the opposite over the pacific ocean was a new treasure. it was really, really pretty. and we flew in over the lights over the golden gate bridge which was also pretty cool.. i feel like my adjectives are really underwhelming right now. use your imagination.

2. so while it would've been nice to spend some time in california, seeing as i have never been here before, it was not going to happen and my flight to sydney left an hour later. i met this other girl on the first flight who is studying in newcastle (2 hours north of sydney) and we were talking about how the trip is finally realized.. like there's no turning back now. not that i want to. but i'm just saying.

3. so we load up onto the flight.. first of all, this plane is HUGE. tim, it has that double decker you thought the air bus had (but didn't). i am in row 53, 10 wide. and there are still plenty of rows behind me. first class is SWAAAANKY. economy is not. As i write this i am cramped into a devilish 2x2 foot hell hole.. if i had claustrophobia i'd have gone crazy by now.

4. now, my main motivation. it's dark out right now (still have no idea what time it is) and according to this super in flight map projection, we're a couple hundred miles or so south of hawaii. We're going... 590 miles per hour and still have over 4000 miles left to travel.. it's -37 degrees outside right now. i knew it was winter in australia but this is just ridiculous. possibly has something to do with our 32000 foot altitude.

5. the moon! the moon is RIDICULOUS. it's so bright..and the stars are too.. i wonder if i'm seeing new stars because of the new hemsiphere.. i want to find that out. it's nothing like i've ever seen before and if my seat weren't so uncomfortable i'd want to ride an airplane just for the views. as it is, i'm refusing to come home unless someone flies me first class. $20000 is well worth my comfort and satisfactoin. start saving.

6. also. this chick next to me is a frickin annoying diva -like lady. um, miss, if you're going to act like that, cough up the money for first class. or at least economy plus. i'm sorry, it's a 14 hour rlight, and i'm going to have to go to the bathroom, and if you don't want to get up to let me out, my butt is going to be in your face. enjoy it.
7. so now what. our arrival time in sydney is 5:57 am saturday. i have no idea what that means. All i want to do is lay out on a bed... i don't even get a recovery day. i land in melbourne hopefully around 945am.. get to my hotel and hopefully shower and maybe nap.. have to be out the door by 345 in the afternoon for a meeting.. then we leave at who knows how early on sunday for the first field trip.

wa wa we wa. lets do this.