Ski Trip

Good Morning All,

Heading out in a few hours to go on a ski/snowboard trip to Killington, VT. Unfortunately for me I neither ski nor snowboard so for me it's just a trip. A chance to get away from the bright lights for a while and hopefully relax, although with the crew thats going I doubt relaxed is going to describe anything this weekend.

Before I go though, I just wanted to say that I saw Cloverfield last night and while everyone else I was with loved it, I was not really all that impressed. I won't ruin it for anyone who is planning on seeing it, but I just felt like some of it was just way too far fetched at some points. Cinematography and the style was cool (be careful if you have a weak stomach, lots of Blair Witch-esque hand held shots). I'd give it 3/5 stars.

Other stuff going on...

With the all the happy baby news lately it's sad to hear that Lily Allen has miscarried.

Coach Coughlin was quoted in a press conference on how they were preparing for the weather for this Sunday's game: "I don't think we are going to have the balls in the freezer." I'm going to go out on a limb right now and say that I'm calling for a Giants/Pats Super Bowl in Arizona. Sorry Brett. LET'S GO GIANTS!!

"Paging Dr. Lohan" As part of her punishment for drunk driving Lindsay Lohan will be spending some time in the morgue

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers may be playing the Super Bowl halftime show, but the Counting Crows are playing the Super Bowl Eve party. Crows also have two new songs up on their website from their upcoming album Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings.

That's all for now. One class then off to the mountains. Have A Great Weekend.

Peaces.
"Johnny whispered good night, it's all tight Jane. I'll meet you tomorrow night on Lover's Lane. We may find it out on the streets tonight, Jane. Or we may walk until the daylight maybe."

Jetlag Sucks

So it's 7am on Tuesday July 3rd and I am wide awake. This probably because I was wide awake from 8am July 1st until 7pm July 2nd before I finally crashed and burned and slept for 12 hours last night. I'm back here now in good ol' Albany, NY. It's definitely a weird feeling. It's like I left yesterday except that yesterday there was 18" of snow and today its 75degrees and sunny.

It's seems all I've been doing since I've been home is eat. It's not even that I'm all that hungry, it's just that I see something that I haven't eaten in 18 weeks and I have to have it. On the drive back from the airport, we stopped at a rest stop on the Pike and even though I had two meals on the first flight and a big burrito in San Francisco's airport I had a bagel with cream cheese and a coffee at Dunkin Donuts. Then we stopped at the deli to get laundry detergent and I had two dill pickles, a bag of Cape Cod Robust Russett Potatoe Chips, and a Diet Stewarts Root Beer. I didn't sleep very well the first night. Ended up staying up until 5:30ish then napping for about 2 hours. I got up and had a Brueggers Bagel with olive pimento cream cheese. Then I went over to my Grandparents and had a bowl of cheerios. Then down to the deli for lunch and I had a nice tossed salad, another dill pickle, another bag of Cape Cod chips, an italian mix sub. You get the idea. I guess you don't even realize you miss so much until you are reminded of it.

It's still chaotic here to the point that it really hasn't hit me yet what exactly I left behind in Australia. I've been so busy with everything here running around already that I haven't really thought about it until now that I can't just walk down the hall and wake up my best friends and be like 'he you want to play some clue'. Sure I could walk next door and wake up my 5 year old cousin and play some memory or something, but it just won't be the same. What was in Australia will forever stay in Australia.

What did I learn in Australia?
I guess the biggest thing that I learned is that you create your situation. Regardless of the surrounding circumstances and the people around you, you are the most influential in making or breaking a situation. I guess mind over matter is true in a ways. Did I love the city of Sydney? Not really. I liked it a lot, but what I did love was the people I was with and the trips we took and the stupid fights we got into that made it all somehow worth it. I was talking to one of my aunts about our infamous 'nuclear saturday' when some of us let our emotions get the better of us and she summed it up perfectly. She said you were at a point that you felt like family and that you could say what you needed to say and you knew that it would be okay. That was the truth for me. I knew that regardless of the outcome of that night everything would be okay. And it was, sometimes I think it was better than okay and that we were stronger because of that night.

I learned that friends are people who know everything about you and like you anyways. Every single one of us has our flaws, but we also have amazing qualities that true friends will value more than our flaws. The most comforting thing about coming home to the states was knowing that I left Australia with some amazingly close friends. When you are forced into a situation where you are half way around the world from your closest friends and family you reach out for people. When I reached out I grabbed some keepers and I'm grateful for that.

I learned that it is more important to be yourself than to be who other people want you to be. There are enough people out there who will appreciate you for who you are, you don't need to be friends with everyone. You especially don't have to pretend to be someone you are not to make other people like you.

I learned that jetlag sucks.

Shawn

Tonight, it hit me...

Well, we know I'm going away
And how I wish, I wish it weren't so
So take this wine and drink with me
Let's delay our misery...

It ain't easy to say goodbye
Darling please don't start to cry
'Cause girl you know I've got to go, oh
And Lord I wish it wasn't so

Save tonight
And fight the break of dawn
Come tomorrow
Tomorrow I'll be gone

Tonight was a long, but much needed night for me. For the past two days I've been fighting a head cold and against my better judgment had a few drinks last night which made it even worse this morning. So I laid in bed all day drinking water, taking Emergen-C, and sleeping. Then I mustered up the energy to go to my last night of poker at the AB Hotel, because I hadn't said goodbye to Colin and Charnae and the other Glebe locals I've come to know. I had a pretty good feeling I wasn't going to do great, because I just didn't even have the energy, but I lasted until the top 15. I am now the only one of our group of regulars to not get first place at all in the poker tournaments at the AB. (I did however get first at Landsdowne and first at Ivory Lounge, so I don't feel too bad about myself) Well before I left Colin gave me a winners chip and told me to just tell the others that I won, and he asked me to come back to Sydney for his birthday on New Years Eve. I said it's a little soon and not so cheap, but I'd see.

Next stop was Friend In Hand Pub. When we first got here Babs and I went to the Fall Out Boy show. We approached some random people who had I Love NY shirts so we had someone to talk to. Well turns out they were actually Australians. Got to talking to them and they gave us some good places to go and hang out and one guy Scott invited us to go to crab racing with him at Friend in Hand. We went for a few weeks, but then got sucked into poker and never really made it back. Doug had never been and we told him you have to do it once, so I met Doug, Stacy, and Jess there after poker and caught the races which brought back a lot of great memories.

Then it was on to Sidebar. Before there was ever poker or crab racing there was Sidebar. More importantly there was Dan and Dave. About a week after we moved in to Unilodge we had a barbecue for all the new residents. The live entertainment was an acoustic duo named Dan and Dave who rocked. They played a bunch of great American covers that reminded me so much of High School proms and what not. They also played a few Aussie songs that we've come to know and love like "Wish You Well". Well after their set on the roof we all went to Sidebar "Where the World mixes". From that day on we spent about 33% of our nights in Sidebar. Specifically the nights that Dan and Dave played. Matt and Brandon got the hook up early on and were sure to share it with all of us so a good night at Sidebar rarely cost anyone more than $10. Then there were a few weeks where we travelled or went to different bars and somehow we and Sidebar grew apart. Then we had the urge. The urge to go back and hear Bob Sinclair or The Killers and we forced ourselves into going. Well one thing led to another there were comments made and beers thrown and Alex got banned for life by 'Little Randy'. But no one else did and since Alex is away...we went to Sidebar without her. (Did I mention she is slightly in love with Dave?)

Somewhere after the first three chords of Save Tonight, it hit me. This was it. This was the last night we were ever going to see Dan and Dave, this was the last night I was going to play poker with Colin, and that was the last time I was going to get squirt with a hose while watching Hermit Crabs race across a table. It was a truly bittersweet moment because here was the finale of a lot of things and some of my closest friends were missing it. On the walk back from Sidebar it was Stacy, Jess and I talked about how we had come full circle. It was the three of us that left Boston together to fly here 18 weeks ago and it was the three of us saying goodbye to all these things we loved in Sydney.

I don't ever want to feel
Like i did that day
Take me to the place i love
Take me all the way
I don't ever want to feel
Like i did that day
Take me to the place i love
Take me all the way (yeah yeah)

The feelings I've had here in Sydney are feelings that I never want to forget. I never really want to re-live them either. It's a once in a lifetime experience and I wouldn't have changed a thing. The good times were really good and the bad time made me a stronger person (I hope). Sydney is definitely an awesome city. I don't really feel like I was able to take advantage of everything that I wanted to here. But then again 4 months isnt really all that much time to get to know a city. I've spent almost 3 years in Boston and there's a lot I haven't experienced. You get caught up in the little things, and forget sometimes to look outside of the box.

The more I feel like I'm ready to go home the scarier it is to realize that I only have three nights left. I'm reaching to hold on to everything I've experienced and remembered it all. I wish the weather was nicer so I could get a few more pictures of my favorite sites. It's been cold and rainy all week, good for them since its been a drought for decades. One city outside of Sydney recorded the most rain in June in 10 years. If it doesn't though, I have the memories. I'm pretty sure they are well engraved in my brain at this point.

With or without you
With or without you
I can't live
With or without you

Dan and Dave end everyone of their sets with "With or Without You" by U2. It seems a fitting way to end one of my final blogs from Australia. To my the crew here in Sydney. You guys have been my best friends for the past 18 weeks and I can't thank you enough for that. From Sidebar to Pontoon to AB Hotel to Wedges at Landsdowne to Bob's Kebabs. From weekends in the bush on Wilson's Prom or at Star City and Crown. From Cluedo to Creeping and Cap'n to Soco we've created some awesome memories and even stronger friendships. Sometimes it's very hard to live with you all non stop;) but 100% of the time I know I could not live without you. When Sunday comes let's just remember it's not going to be "Goodbye", just a "See You Later".

OZ074L

Well I played lots of rummy...

Cairns Australia the resort destination...or not. So this trip has been sub par. Crappy weather was just the beginning of it. Today Nap and I signed up to go Skydiving. Got up early the sun was shining and there was blue skies. Then we get into Cairns to meet the bus and its overcast. By the time we get an hour away to the airport there is a steady mist coming down. They decide to see if it clears up and we chill in their house for about 2 hours before they call it a wash. So we head back into Cairns and grab a bite to eat. Which was also sub par. should have just gone with our first instinct of Subway. So tomorrow I thought I'd just go back to Sydney. Read the signs and get up and leave, but Nap said he'd kick my ass if I came all the way up here and didn't go to the reef. So after checking with the place that does the tour I knew I could do the tour and make it back for my 630 flight. Book the flight. Go to book the reef trip and they are like, you have a flight, you can't scuba then bc you can't scuba and fly within 24 hours of each other. So now I can go to the reef, but I can't scuba, only snorkel. Haven't decided if it'll will be worth it or not. If not I have another day to kill in this hell hole that is Cairns.

Anyways...that's been my weekend to a T. Oh and Nap kicked my ass in Rummy every time.

Can't wait to be home
Shawn

World, Hold On

AHHHHHH...
It's going way to fast. I just woke up to realize that it is now June 9th and we have three weeks left here in Australia and I don't want it to end yet. There are two papers and a final between me and Senior Year of college and that is one of the scariest thoughts. A few weeks ago I was wishing my life away and I just wanted to be done with school and graduate, but I've changed my mind. I'm done with schoolWORK, but I could stay in school for another couple years. Or at least stay here in Australia with the crew. It's going to be weird to go back to everything after having been here for so long. They warned us about culture shock, getting to a different country and having to adjust to the things they do differently than us. They also warned us about reverse culture shock, which I thought was kind of pointless, but now I see it. I have to go back. I have to jump back into everything that I have left and put on the back burner for the past four months and expect to just fit right back in. It's going to be weird, strange, bizarre, and probably challenging. That's why I just want to stay here and just do my thing here, but I get to see everyone again which will be awesome.

This past week or so has been nice. Classes ended without much fanfare. We bought Monopoly and played that for a few days before we got sick of it. I enjoy Monopoly, but it's just one of those games that you can get bored with easily. We then got Clue though (Cluedo here) and that has been entertaining to say the least. I have been woken up at 8:45 on multiple occasions to a knock on my door, "Colonel and Scarlet want to play Clue and no one else is awake." We then proceed to play for hours on end. This is no ordinary Clue either. The scenarios we create may as well be rewrites of the scripts for the movie. There are all kinds of relationships between characters and exactly how Mr Green kills Mr Body with the rope is discussed in great detail every time.

Matt's parents are in got in to town at the beginning of the week. I went to lunch with them on Tuesday. I had a pumpkin, sundried tomato burger type thing that was suprisingly delicious. They love pumpkin over here, pumpkin sandwiches, soups, and desserts. Matt and his parents left yesterday to travel a bit up the east coast. I just book my flight to head up to Cairns on Wednesday after I finish my final. Everyone went on Spring Break and I felt left out so I'm going now. It's a lot warmer up there and I'm going to go scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef. I felt it was one of those Australia experiences I needed to do. Matt and his parents will be up there the same time as me so hopefully I'll be able to meet up with him for a couple days and maybe do something crazy...(MOM STOP READING)...like go skydiving. We'll just have to wait and see.

Today's Jason's birthday. Happy Birthday Jas we'll go out for drinks when I get back. My birthday is 10 days away and I can't wait. Jess and Barbara will be in New Zealand (I'm still mad about that girls), but the rest of us are going to go to lunch in the Sydney tower I think, (think Seattle Space Needle) then do a pub crawl from downtown back home hitting our favorite pubs of the trip and maybe find a few new ones.

Well I have to get started on my paper and studying so I don't have to bring work to Cairns. Love and miss you all. 21 Days

SHAWN

Where to Begin...My trip to Melbourne

So Wednesday afternoon my buddy Matt is deciding whether or not he wants to fly down to Melbourne to go visit his friend from home who is studying there for the weekend. He had asked me if I wanted to go a week or so before and last minute I had the money and said what the hell if you're going I'll tag along for the weekend. So around 11am we purchased our tickets for a 7 oclock flight. Pack our bags book the shuttle bus and get on our way. We get to the airport about an hour early and kill some time with a few rounds of golf (new card game we learned). We get on the plane for the hour plane ride and touch down in Melbourne, or at least what we thought was Melbourne. The airport may have been smaller than CBA's cafeteria and with Melbourne being the second largest city in Australia, behind Sydney, this seemed a bit odd. But we were rolling with the punches asked someone and found out there are two Melbourne Airports, the one we chose happened to be the one that is about an hour away by bus. So we buy our bus tickets and make our way into the city. From there we have to get on a train to Monash University where Colin goes to school. Of course our bus got us in about 5 minutes after the train leaves and we have to wait another half hour to catch the train out of town. No all this time keep in mind that Colin doesn't have a cell phone so we are completely winging it based on the directions he gave us and waiting for us to call. The school is another 15 minute bus ride from the train station and we think the busses will still be running at that time. So we grab some sodas and a bag of chips and get on the train. After being threatened with a $165 ticket for having my feet on the seat we made it in one piece to the train station. We didn't know which bus to catch and the girls we asked just happened to be going to Monash and offered to give us a lift to the campus. Making small talk in the car we realize that the girls actually know Colin and they take us right to his room, which of course he isn't in. It only took us about 15 minutes to find him and we decided to walk over to the bar to grab a few drinks after our adventure. The difference between University of Sydney and Monash University, is that in Sydney when you go out to the bar there are millions to choose from. At Monash when you go out to the bar you go out to THE bar. We get to the bar and Colin is introducing us to some of his friends and the first thing I notice is that one of the girls from the US goes to Northeastern and was my orientee my first summer. It's crazy how small the world really is. But it actually gets better. Another kid I got talking goes to Loyola. I was like that's funny my brother goes to Loyola where did you grow up? He says a small town outside Albany, NY. He goes you probably have never heard of it. He then tells me that he lives in Greenwich. I say I know Greenwich and oddly enough I've been there before. See I know the Talen's who used to live above me when I was growing up. Then the world shrank two sizes and he said his younger brother was dating Claire's sister Mary. Probably one of the weirdest bar experiences I've had on the other side of the world.

That was just night one. The next morning we got up and went to pick up the rental cars. The plan was to drive a few hours south to Phillip Island which has penguins and some really cool beaches adn camp out and then the next day drive a few more hours to Wilson's Promenitory and see some more beaches and do some hiking. Wilson's Prom as they call it is actually the Southernmost tip of the Australian Mainland. So we get in the car and drive Colin, Matt, and I in one car and two other cars full of people. We take our time on the drive down and take some awesome pictures of the scenery and landscapes. I drove the car for a while. It only took about a half hour to get my bearings on the road. Once you get used to driving on the other side of the road it really isn't as odd as you might expect. On several occasions though I turned the windshield wipers on instead of blinkers and we all got a good laugh out of it. We split from the group for a while and drove around to a couple beaches. We went to one called Red Rocks where we tried to catch a sundown, but it was too cloudy, so we met up with the group to set up camp. Now it wasn't very warm, but we had lots of blankets, but the clouds at sunset immediately turned into torrential downpours. Colin and I ended up sleeping in the car and the rest of the group in the 8 man tent. Luckily everyone was dry in the morning when we woke up. From Phillips Island we got up and drove to Wilson's Prom another two hours. The weather was overcast, but bearable. We drove into the prom and it was like nothing I've ever seen before. The mountains looked like something out of Lord of the Rings and the way the mist was on them was breathtaking. We saw some wild Kangaroos and some Wombats as well as some crazy birds. We stopped at the visitors center in the park before hiking the mountain and grabbed something to eat. While I was enjoying my PB and Banana sandwich, the birds kept getting closer. Then this little red parrot flew right up and sat on my shoulder and tried to eat my sandwich with me. We then moved into the car to finish our meal. Colin threw his apple core out of the car when he was done thinking the birds would just peck out it. Nope a seagull came over and attacked the other birds before swallowing it completely whole. We aren't sure but we think we may have actually killed it. It's squawk got noticeably higher and you could clearly see the core logged in its throat. It was still flying around when we left though so we didn't feel too bad. Next stop was the mountain.

The mountain we climbed was about a 3.5km hike. It was kind of rainy and the clouds were covering most of the peak, but we decided to do it anyways. We took about a half hour or more getting up the moutain and had a pretty cool view from the top we could make out a few other mountains inland and a beach below us. We decided to hang out up there for a while and take it all in. About 15 minutes or so later and the wind picked up. Within seconds the cloud had moved past the mountain and we could see 3 or 4 beaches up the coast and a half of dozen islands that were out in the water that we didn't even know were out there. The clouds came and went for a little while longer and we walked around the mountain a few times before heading out. The group wanted to head to the largest waterfall in Victoria, but our car decided to try and catch another sunset at a place called Whiskey Beach. After turning around a few times, we made it just in time. Just when I thought I had seen some awesome things in my life, I was literally breathtaking. The pictures look fake. There were enough clouds to make the colors pop out of the sky but not too many to block the view. I was done, I didn't need to see anything else on this trip and I would have been happy. Now I forgot to mention that two of our friends from Sydney decided right after we left Thursday to buy tickets and come to Melbourne friday morning. They called us and asked where we were we told them we were driving down and camping etc. They siad they'd think about it. Well long story short Matt's phone and mine died so we had no way of getting a hold of them and when we tried to call them from a payphone they didn't have service either. They spend the night in their car driving from campsite to campsite trying to find us. We headed back to Monash because they weather still wasn't great and we decided to crash at Colin's instead of in a campground again.

The third day Colin had work to do so Matt and I decided to head into the city and explore Melbourne. We finally got a hold of the girls and got a stern talking to about how we abandoned them and they weren't ready to meet us quite yet. We told them we try them again later because our phones were still dead. The city of Melbourne is very cool. The day was overcast, but we got to explore the downtown area and the river shores. We ate some decent Thai food and found a place to sleep for the night. The hostel we stayed at was pretty nice. The selling point was that there was free internet and breakfast so we spent the $30 for the night. Immediately after paying they said "Oh by the way, the internet isn't working right now". Figures right. We called the girls and they were still kind of mad. We told them that we were going to take a nap and shower up to go out to a couple bars that we heard were good. This was there second time in Melbourne and they said they might end up meeting some kids they met last time. We told them where we were staying and left it at that. Matt fell asleep and started snoring immediately. About ten minutes later when I finally closed my eyes there was a knock on our door. We were reunited with the girls finally. Bars are pretty expensive so we decided to buy a box of wine and drink a little before we went out. It didn't take us long to realize that we didn't want to go out and instead we made the fateful trek over to the casino. (Know that the girls have been 3 times since they had gotten to Melbourne two nights previous, and you thought I was bad). Well the night turned out pretty well, I lost about $100 playing blackjack for four hours which I didn't think was too bad. Especially since Matt walked away with $500 and treated to the worst pizza we have ever had. Day three complete, one to go.

So day four started out to a slow start. The 10am wake-up call to remind us that we were being kicked out came very early, but not early enough for us to have our free breakfast. We grabbed a bite to eat with the girls before they had to leave to catch there plane before going to grab a car to make our last journey of the weekend to the Great Ocean Road. The Great Ocean Road runs along the southern coast of Australia and is windy twisty turns along the waters edge and in and out of the mountains and a rain forest. long the way there are all kinds of beaches and cliffs to check out. Our goal was to make it to the 12 Apostle rock structures that have formed over time from the erosion of the water. We looked at the map and figured that we can make with plenty of time and we would go a little past and come back for sundown. Well we were told that it was about 3 hours to 12 Apostles. What they didn't tell us was that its 2 hours to the start of the Great Ocean Road and THEN 3 hours from there to 12 apostles. So we are meandering are way along the Great Ocean Road stopping at all these lookouts and beaches taking pictures. We stopped and grabbed some sodas and around 4 o'clock we hit Apollo's bay and decide to check the map to see where we are at. We were still only about half way. So we decided to stop chitchatting and taking our time and stepped it up to make it 12 Apostles. Now right before you get to 12 Apostles there is about 45 minutes of farm country with cows and sheep and ZERO ocean front. The sun was going down quick and we didn't think there was any way we were going to make it. We thought we were going to see the sun go down on a farm that may have been in Madison, WI. But we pulled up to the 12 Apostles as the sun was going down and sprinted down to the water to take some pictures and enjoy the view. Words cannot describe how awesome this place was. It was worth every penny and every Km of driving it took to get there. I love road trips and Matt and I definitely had a good time listening to horrible Australian radio and the same 7 songs over and over again. We played some movie game. Talked a little bit about life and the stuff going on with our group of friends and everything. It was just overall and awesome awesome trip.

We decided that since it was now dark out there wasn't probably much left to see on the Ocean Road so we turned back and headed towards Melbourne. We turned one corner while we were inland and the full moon just lit up a valley that was full of a rolling fog. It was incredibly creepy looking and looked again like something out of a movie. Matt got a few good pictures and if I can get a hold of it I will post it here soon. We made it back to the airport around 10:45pm. We were planning on dropping our car off and sleeping in the airport, because our flight was at 6am. But, we had chosen the smallest airport in the world and they closed from Midnight to 4am. So what did we do you ask? We went back to the Casino in Melbourne. I didn't bring any money in with me at all and Matt only brought $50 which he lost relatively quickly. We wandered around for a while and got to watching some craps and learned how to play the game. We stayed there for a while talking to some Aussies about Australia and the states. Then somebody recognizes the guy playing next to me as Colin Miller. Don't worry Matt and I had no idea who he was, but turns out he was a champion cricket player that retired a few years ago. It was the equivalent of running into say Dennis Rodman in the states. He was known for his outlandish hair styles (which were pretty tame tonight). After that we walked around Melbourne for an hour or so and went back to our hostel to use the internet which they had finally got working. Then it was the drive to the airport and the flight back to Sydney.

If you can't already tell by my hour long post, this weekend has probably been the highlight of my trip so far. With no expectations going into it, everything worked out perfectly. It was some great times with some great people and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

This weekend most of the crew is heading up north for a couple days. I have some papers to work on that need to get done so I opted out of this trip. Things are good here and I hope things are even better back home. Less that 60 days still I'm stateside again.

LOVE YOU GUYS

I have to give a shout out to Linda who Matt and I met at the bar we went to on Phillips Island. Linda was a 47 year old woman who thought we were the greatest thing since sliced bread. It was quite the townie bar and we were probably the most excitement they had seen in decades. Here's to you Linda *Cheers*

Off to Melbourne

I'm heading down to Melbourne for the weekend. Decided this morning to fly down with my buddy Matt. Going to be staying with one of his friends who lives down there. Hopefully going to a anational park and the Great Ocean Road. Will be back Tuesday with stories and pictures.

Til then.

St. Patricks Day/BridgeWalk/Solitaire

So its been a while since I've posted. I've been doing the important things, like going to class and playing solitaire(which is a great time killer and surprisingly addicting.) Classes are going well. Still difficult to get used to the lecture/tutorial style. The lectures seem pretty pointless most days because they just recap what you read (or should have read) and then the tutorials are much more in depth. The class material is okay. Study abroad, is supposed to be about finding your self and experiencing other cultures. Most classes deal with Australian culture in a world perspective, so being from another part of the world creates some great discussions. The Australians are a very proud country. They don't bash American content like Grey's Anatomy and Heroes, but they do strongly embrace and back Australian content. Which is very interesting? My philosophy class and sociology class seem to be asking a lot of questions with very few answers. I left Philosophy yesterday truly believing that I had no free will. That didn't last long when I decided to not think about it any more.

St. Patrick's Day here was exciting. We got up early (10am) and headed to an Irish pub in Bondi Junction. Had some irish breakfast (no corned beef hash though) and a Guiness or two. Then we spent the day bouncing around from place to place and eventually made it back to our place. Meet a lot of native Irish folks which was cool and found some really cool pubs to go back and visit.

Sunday was the 75th Anniversary of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. They had festivals and stuff all day and they closed the bridge to traffic and you could walk from the north side into the city. (Not over the top, but I still want to do that too) It was a really cool experience because we were walking with 10's of 1000s of people. We even saw 4 or 5 people in wheelchairs that had signs saying "I walked in 1932, I wheeled in 2007." So to think that there were people that were alive and walked the bridge when it opened, and again 75 years later was pretty inspiring. I wonder if there is anything in my life that I experienced that I will be able to appreciate in 75 years.

Other than that I've been playing in a few poker tournaments. I won a free meal the past two mondays (which is always good) and I actually one the whole tournament last week. I got a whopping $20 and a trip to a $1000 game the end of April. I've been behaving myself besides the free poker games and have yet to travel to the Casino and spend money so thats a good thing.

Gould's you will be proud to know that the past three nights we have spent playing card games such as FanTan, Knock, and Spoons. It's nice to be able to spread a little 'culture' to people over here as well. A couple of them will come up to me randomly and be like "hey can we play that 7's game?"

Tonight I am going to the sneak preview of 300. I know its been the top seller at the Box Office in the states for the past two weekends so it will be good to see it here. Movies aren't as far behind as I thought. Some come out farely soon after and others are a few months behind. After the movie we go to Friend in Hand Pub on Wednesday's nights for Hermit Crab racing. (Mom you thought the greyhound racing was bad). You buy and name your hermit crab and the top 6 from each heat get a t-shirt. It's great mid week fun.

Having a great time. Missing you guys. Waiting for news of my newest cousin.

Currently Listening to: Bruce Springsteen Nebraska
PS All you Bruce Springsteen fans, Bruce is currently in Atlanta recording with members of the E-Street Band. The recording should be complete by May and a full band tour is expected in September. Anyone willing I would like to attend 15 shows. They can count as 22nd birthday, Christmas, Graduation, and 23rd Birthday Presents

Classes and other stuff

So classes started on Tuesday. I have had 3 of my 4 classes and they don't seem to be too bad. The worst part is that two of them are 400 person lectures. Even at a big school like Northeastern, I've never had a class that was that big. Both are entry level classes but have a lot of Australian and study abroad students. My third class is a class designed for study abroad students so there are only 14 of us, mostly Americans. It is a history of Aboriginal history and struggles they face today. Should be interesting to learn about the culture of the Aboriginese people.

Today I walked to the Opera House again. It is nothing like it appears up close. Each roof is its own building. It's still nice looking but its just very deceiving from far away. The weather has been cooler the past couple days. A couple days in the 60's before this weekend then back to the 80's. Friday night I scored tickets to see Fall Out Boy and Barbara and I are going to go to that show.

At surf camp, I tried Vegemite. It wasn't fantastic but not horrendous either. I had some on my toast for breakfast. It's VERY salty and someone compared it to eating toast with Soy Sauce on it. Last night we went out for Thai food and I ate Chicken stir-fry with a spicy chilli sauce that was very good. We are going to try and conserve money and eat in the next couple nights. I made a big salad and I bought roast beef, tuna fish, PB&J, and pasta. Turkey is very expensive here. $25 a kilo. I don't know how that converts to LBS and I usually just order by the slice, but you can get a nice piece of steak cheaper than a nice piece of turkey or chicken.

Tomorrow morning I have class at 9am so I'm going to call it a night and try and get a full night's sleep. No big plans for the weekend besides the concert Friday night, but there are many parts of the city to be explored...and if tis really nice I'm sure we'll be heading to one of the beaches.

Miss you guys

Currently Listening to: U2 "With or Without You"
Looking for a good book...leave some suggestions in the comments for me :)

La Boca Cielo

For those of you who have not seen Y Tu Mama Tambien, La Boca Cielo is an imaginary beach they refer to as "Heaven's Mouth". This weekend I believe we found La Boca Cielo. About 5 hours north of Sydney (7hours on the way up with Friday traffic) we settled in to our bunks on a remote beach known as Crystal Head. Here we had two crazy days and nights of surfing, eating, some drinking by the campfire, and an all around amazing time. I keep thinking that I could find anything cooler here in Australia and then we find this.
Saturday morning we got up at 7am for breakfast and then by 8pm we walked to beach and then about 15 minutes north on the beach to some great waves. We all got boards and after about 30 minutes of basic surfing info on land it was into the water. The guys there are real pros and know a thing or two about surfing. Within an hour or so I had stood up on the board and spent the next couple hours fine tuning my skills. Because the the weather is so strong Down Under we took an afternoon siesta from Noon to about 3:30. We went back to a different spot on the beach where there were some quality big waves. Surfing is definitely a sport and after paddling out and wiping out a few times I was beat. Next up was a first class barbecue with Australia's favorite Sausages. With orientation and welcome barbecue at UniLodge(where I'm living) I think I've been to 8 "sausage sizzlers". But after a very filling meal and a crazy game of Jenga to determine who did the dishes(Team 7 did not have to do dishes :)), we headed to "Humpy" a campfire set up right by the beach for a few Toohey's. By about 12:30am, we are all dead and most of us called it a night. 7am again this morning we were awake and ready to head to the beach for a couple more hours of surfing. I didn't think I was as tired as I was but after a few times more trying to get up the board I felt like my arms were going to fall off. I surfed for about an hour then just hung out on the beach and took some more pictures of everyone.
Overall it was a great weekend. I will definitely either be renting boards at some of the local beaches or heading back for another weekend before I leave. All the guys at the camp, Kimbo, Trent, Blakey, Jim, and Ian were so chill. Ian is actually from New York. He was born in England move to Rochester then New York City. After he graduated from college four years ago he came to backpack Australia for a few months, went to surf camp, ended up buying into the company and now runs their marketing and promotions. As great as it sounds, I'm not quite good at surfing, but maybe before I leave I'll be better. And there is always North Carolina.
I have a few pictures from today and they took pictures of all of us surfing yesterday. Classes start tomorrow, but I don't have classes on Mondays or Fridays so I'll probably get the pictures up then, and do some laundry.

Until then...

Currently Listening to: Matt Costa "Sunshine"

Off to Surf Camp

Well this week has been a pretty uneventful one. It rained for a couple days and was overcast for the other couple days. That didn't stop us from wandering around the city or heading to another couple beaches. We discovered Bronte Beach, which is near Bondi, but a lot smaller but still very nice. This is probably my favorite beach so far. The water was a little warmer and the waves were a lot bigger. There were also two tidal pools which you could go swimming in and one even had lane lines. The beaches are very different from what I'm used to on the East Coast.
My timetable (schedule) is finalized for now. I am taking four classes Media Globalisation, Intro to Sociology, Reality Ethics and Beauty, and Indigenous Australian Sport and Culture (Which has fieldtrips :)) Classes start on Monday when we get back, but because I don't have classes on Monday or Friday I get an extra day to relax.
Today at 5pm local time we are heading out to Surf Camp. We travel about 4-5hours North of Sydney where it's just us and the dolphins and kangaroos to hang out on the beach and get surf lessons. It should be a great time. The five of us from Northeastern are all going so thats nice. I've got to shower and pack and clean up my room but I just wanted to give an update. I'm going to try and get some more pictures up before I head to the bus.

Until later

Currently listening to: Ben Folds - "Gone"

As promised...some pictures

Here is the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Here is a shot of our arrival to Bondi Beach, Sydney's most famous beach.

This picture I took when I was wandering down George St. George St runs the length of the city and has lots of shopping and government buildings.

This is a picture of the Sydney Opera House from across one of the port entrances in the Harbour. Right in front of a restaurant called Wolfie's Cafe. I have pictures of the that which will be up also.

And this last picture is a picture from Bondi Beach as well.




So our first real weekend here in Sydney was excellent. It started out with the Harbour Cruise on Friday night. It was a beautiful warm night on the Harbour. We sailed under the Sydney Harbour bridge and right past the Opera House. Then Saturday morning we got up early for our Wine and Dolphin weekend. The ride up north to Hunter Valley was about 2 hours long. Our bus was mostly Americans which was kind of weird. I met some girls from California that know KappaSigs at San Diego State. There was this girl from Tennessee who was really cool and goes to Uni also. Then there was a whole group of girls from New Orleans (Tulane). We went to three wineries and even though I'm not a huge fan of wine I enjoyed myself. I found out I enjoy white wines over reds, but we learned a little about all of them. Then Saturday night we went up to Newcastle and stayed in a nice hostel on the ocean. We got some drinks and stayed in after having all of things Subway. Sunday morning we got up early and had breakfast then drove another hour or so to Port Stephens where we went on a 2 hour boat ride. The ride was beautiful. The day was pretty overcast, but it was nice not to have the sun beating down on us. The scenery was amazing. The mountains and islands looked like something out of a movie. Then we went on to one of the bays and watched the dolphins swimming around. After a little while they came right up close to the boat and we got some good pictures and videos of those as well. Then we drove the three hours back to Sydney. All in all the weekend was very successful. Hopefully they will continue to be this much fun.

Last night we got into a very heated discussion about stereotypes and experience and how that effects how we judge people we meet. It was interesting to see where different people come from and how they approach different issues. I'm sure its not the last time discussions like that will happen.

Not much going on this week. This weekend we are going to Surf Camp and then classes start at the beginning of next week. So far my schedule looks like I will have no classes on Mondays and Fridays which will give me some more time to travel around Sydney on weekends.

Hope you enjoy the pictures and there will definitely be more to come.

Cheers

First Big Weekend

Well the first week has been great. The weather has been great. Sunny and mid 70's to 80's. We have been to two beaches Bondi and Coogee. Bondi was slightly bigger and more touristy. Coogee was really nice, a better swimming beach than Bondi. No one else here is really into swimming, but thats fine I just run in and cool off. I have a mobile(cellphone) now. If anyone would like to call me internationally, you can call the mobile at 6120406694591. That should work, if not email's the cheaper way.

So we had our international orientation this week which was pretty uneventful. We have our classes, I'm just waiting to check my timetable (schedule). Next week is the normal orientation which is optional. This weekend though is going to be crazy.

Tonight we are going on a four hour harbour cruise. It's students from all of the local universities. So that cruise goes until Midnight and then we are going to a club afterwards. Then tomorrow morning we are going on an overnight trip to Hunter Valley (which is their wine country) for some vineyard tours and then a dolphin watch. Four of the five of us from Northeastern are going on the trip. It should make for a great weekend.

Food is okay down here. I've been eating a lot of Thai and Japanese food. Sushi down here is really good, really fresh. I've had a burger and it was just okay. I'm managing to find stuff thats edible and we cook a decent amount.

Well its 5:30pm at night and I'm going to take a nap before tonight. I'll write about the weekend when I get back on Monday. Until then Cheers.

PS. I swear I'll upload pictures soon. This morning I walked down to the Harbour Bridge and the Opera house and got some nice pictures....soon I swear.

"Come Pick Me Up, I've Landed"

Well its Sunday February 18, 2007 and I have made it to Sydney, Australia in one piece. The plane ride was not as bad as i expected, even though I only slept for about 4 hours total. I watched five movies on the flight from Los Angeles to Sydney. After leaving 18inches of snow in Albany, NY its nice to be able to wear shorts and a t-shirt again and my sandals. Last night we walked over to Cockle Bay harbor. It was beautiful and as soon as I get them on my computer I'll upload some pictures. Three of the four other girls were on the flight from LA. The fourth girl had her flight cancelled but was able to get on a flight Saturday (home time). Everyone is very nice and we are getting along great.

Today I woke up around 9:30 and went for a run through the park across the way and through the U Syd Campus. The campus is really nice and I took some pictures of that as well. Next up on our list today is a trip to the grocery store, some lunch, and then off to discover one of the many beaches around.

Currently listening to: Wolfmother - The Joker and the Thief

Why Australia?

Well I've gotten alot of questions about of all the places in the world, why did I choose Australia? First off I've always thought of Australia as some kind of mystical place where kangaroos box people and dingos eat babies. Who wouldn't want to go there? Plus they have the Great Coral Reef and they had the Crocodile Hunter. Then there's Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts and Hugh Jackman...and then there's Men at Work. So it had its pluses and minuses. But really, I figured if I have 4 months I might as well go to a place that I may never get back to. Places like Ireland or Italy I could go to for a two or three week stay. The flight isn't exactly two days long like it is with Australia. Another good and bad thing about Australia is that they speak English (or sorta english, right mate?). It would have been nice to go and immerse myself in a culture to learn a language. Overall I decided that Australia would be a great experience on the other side of the world...with summer weather.

Now there was also the decision of what program in Australia to choose. There are about three or four offered by Northeastern and my top two choices were Sydney and Bond (at the Gold Coast). Bond is the popular program that is right on the beach and about 30-35 students from Northeastern go every semester. Sydney on the other hand is a major world city with easy access to the beaches. This program is a little less popular with more like 5-10 students going every semester. I decided I wanted to apply to the Sydney program because I love city life and just wanted to experience more than just sitting on the beach. I can do that in Florida. (I know it's not the same ocean or beach, but you know what I mean) So I went with Sydney and now there are five Northeastern students going. Me and four girls. What's nice about this is that I don't have to worry about constantly feeling like I have to go out with Northeastern students and it forces me a little bit to go out and experience the city and meet other people. Although honestly we all know I don't need encouragement to go out and meet people.

Because I'm the only guy on the trip from Northeastern I also lucked out and have a single room. It's a cool suite with a bathroom, kitchenette and lofted bed. I post some pictures of the sample room.

So that's why I chose Australia. Hopefully it will be everything I expect and more. From people who have been I believe it will be. Two weeks til departure. Can't wait.

Currently Listening To: Ray LaMontagne - Till The Sun Goes Black

Ahhh only 16 days

Okay so 16 days is going by too quickly. I just want to thank everyone who made it to my going away party this weekend. It was really good to see everyone. I know I will see a few of you between now and when I leave, but those I don't it was good to wee you. Now it's crunch time. I made copies of all my documents today and now I have to start getting my clothes together and make a list of what else I need to get. I have to go and exchange some money so I have it when I get there. I'm at the library now and its telling me I have to get off the computer. I'll talk more tomorrow...I'm getting very excited

Congratulations to Adelle who gave birth this morning. Good Job waddles!

Currently listening to: Dave Matthews Band - Best of Whats Around Vol. 1 (Disc Two)

21 days til lift-off

So in exactly 21 days from now I will flying high above middle america on my way to Los Angeles. Its insane how soon it will be here. There are still alot of things that I need to get ready before I go. Hopefully I'll have some time this weekend to organize stuff and start packing since it's mostly summer stuff going with me. Tomorrow's high temperature in Albany, NY is 11degrees. That I will not miss while I am away.
Sunday I am having a going away party. I know its early but I have a big family and there are always things going on so this is really the only weekend that we could do it without overlapping with someone elses party. As it is, Sunday is my Uncle Jim and my cousin Allison's birthday.
Lots of good music out now. I'm listening to Mika who is a really unique artist. Kinda of Queen/The Darkness type music but really good. You can hear him on the promo's for MTV's Monday night lineup and some Motorola commercials. While we are talking about music, why is the year that I decide to leave the country the year that I know people going to Coachella and Bonnaroo two huge festivals that i've been trying to go to for years. If you haven't seen the lineup for Coachella check it out at www.coachella.com Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine reunites, Mika and alot more. Maybe I'll fly back to Cali for the weekend...

Currently Listening to: Mika "Grace Kelly"

Everyday a little closer

Every day i get closer i get a little more nervous about what its going to be like. I think I've said before that I've yet to leave the country besides Canada, which doesn't really count. It looks like I'm going to have a laptop over there to use which is going to make a huge difference. Means I can bring all of my music over (not just the 4gb's on my iPod) and I'll be able to update the blog and send pictures more easily.

Just waiting to hear where I'm going to be living and if I'll be living by myself or with another student. Either way I'm not too worried about that. I've lived w/ two guys (my brothers/then my frosh year roommates) and by myself, so either way I'm sure I'll make out okay.

What else am I nervous about? Umm I guess being able to do everything I want in a short period of time. Four months isn't that short amount of time, but it'll fly by I'm sure. I'm excited that there are alot of concerts going on in the area while I'm down there. Dave Matthews Band, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Damien Rice, Snow Patrol, Beastie Boys, and whole bunch of other ones. Hopefully I'll be able to get to a couple of those shows and also some small local bands would be cool.

I have to get my camera ready make sure its working well so I can talk all kinds of pictures. I'll make sure to set up a site so I can link them when I upload them.

Until laters...

Listening to: John Mayer - Continuum

Just over a month until I leave

Happy New Years

I guess its really starting to kick in now that I will be heading to the complete other side of the world in just over a month. This weekend I'll be traveling to NYC and Boston wrapping up a few things and saying my goodbyes. My grandparents just put up and atlas so they can see where I'm going to be and where my cousin Christopher is. He's heading to Sicily with the marines where he'll wait to be deployed over to Iraq again. Thursday night I had dinner w/ a bunch of the guys from high school and one of our teachers. It was good to talk about some great high school memories and realize that we are just as ridiculous as we were back then. The weirdest thing about Northeastern is that I still have a year left and all of my friends are graduating. When we left a couple said "the next time you see us we'll be college graduates." Its baffling how quickly four years has gone by. I can only imagine how quickly my four months in Australia are going to be. I've been looking at all kinds of guide books and Top 10 lists of things to do and I hope I have time to do half of what I want to.

I thought i was going to make it all year without snow, but we got about an inch this week in Upstate NY. The weather has been so abnormal lately that the cold feels abnormal now. Down in Sydney its summer. Can't wait to break out the shorts again and get into that ocean.

35 days.

Listening to Mat Kearney...look for a post about him soon