Day 75: Poptarts: $17, blue fin tuna: $29000, The joys of food: Priceless

Yesterday I woke up at 6:30 for no reason and tried to go back to sleep. I hadn’t been sleeping very well anyway, so after 5 minutes, I found myself feeling rather ambitious. I decided to go for a run and headed off towards the cricket oval that’s about 10 minutes away from my apartment. I ran around it for a bit, did some stadiums in the bleachers, and then discovered this nice patch of level ground just outside of it that was perfect for doing some sprint work. I’ve been dying to do some sprints, but have been using the treadmill at the gym. That would just be unsafe and I would look downright funny trying to spring on a treadmill. So that was a great start to a very productive day.

I’ve done really well on my detox diet experiment. I’ve stuck to the diet really well and have almost totally cut out late night eating. My one major fudge was after dinner one night, without thinking, or maybe I was in a state of denial about what I was doing, I ate a small bowl of Cocoa Krispies. At least I used soy milk on them, right? Crap, I would kill for some sweets.

Matthew, a friend I know through Amber, invited me to come to the opening of this swanky new restaurant/bar down on the harbor with he and his friends. That means all free food and all free drinks. I asked him if he didn’t want to invite someone else since I can’t drink, but he said it would be worth it anyway. And I was definitely down for an excuse to dress up and go down to the rocks.

So last night, in the pouring rain, the four of us caught a cab and went down to the party. It was a Japanese themed place with gorgeous decorations, right on the water across from the opera house. Once again, it felt so surreal to be hanging out at a party right across from the opera house, which looks quite stunning at night. They were pouring glasses expensive wine, champagne, and imported Japanese beer by the second. After no more than 5 minutes, I caved and got a glass of red. I figure its just grapes right? And its packed with antioxidants. I don’t know what it was, but it was a delicious wine. Then the geisha looking girls started walking around with trays of Japanese goodies, which mostly consisted of seafood. I’m totally allowed to have small servings of fish every other day on detox. The boys and I go park it over by the kitchen so every time a tray of goodies comes out, we’re the first to grab them. It was so delicious, I had oysters, king fish, some fried fish or other, “hot tomato balls” (as I like to call them), some veggie thing, and on and on. I was good when they brought beef, and ice creams around, refusing both of them. The boys made it really hard as they kept messing with me about the detox and grabbing me more goodies, which I guiltily accepted and happily consumed.

The star of the food show though was this GIANT bluefin tuna. Supposedly, it cost somewhere around 500 per kilo, and the fish weighed 58 kilos (128 lbs). That means this was a $29,000 fish. As in it costs way more than my car. They brought it out to the patio and grilled it up while we all drooled on ourselves watching. We all got to eat some of it, and it was soo spectacular! In short, I had a fantastic night being fancy and being a total bust-up in the detox department. Also, I only have about 9 weeks left in Sydney (noooooo!), and Matthew is going to help me complete my to-do list big time, which is exciting.

I woke up this morning around 6 and noticed this funny orange glow around the outsides of my curtain. I figured the sunlight was reflecting off something orange outside and didn’t think much of it. When I pulled the curtains back though and looked outside, much to my shock, EVERYTHING WAS ORANGE. The sky was freakin’ orange! Like red-orange too. It was hazy and weird. I had no idea what was going on and just kind of stared at it for 5 minutes. One of my friends sent me a text pointing out that the sky was orange, so I knew it wasn’t problem with my vision.

I went back to bed until 8 when I had to get up for work. When I got up, I got on the Sydney Morning Harold website which solved the mystery. Apparently we’re in the middle of a huge dust storm. Temperatures have been unseasonably warm and a cold back came in from the west bringing with it really high winds that picked up heaps of dust from the outback. The sky isn’t as intensely red orange as it was around dawn this morning, everything is still a weird pale orange color. Visibility is low and everything is covered a layer of quality outback dust. It got all in my eyes this morning whilst I was walking to work. Its annoying, but also quite fun. A guy I work with, Tony, said he’s been here seven years and only seen this one other time. Pretty cool. (I got the pics from the Herald, too lazy to upload mine. That park is the one I went jogging in across from where I work and below is the bridge.)

Also, yesterday I went to this store on Glebe Pt Rd that sells American and British candy, including poptarts. I went to stock up on them for the road trip. A normal 6 pack of poptarts is $17! Yea, crazy. But I’ll pay for them, I miss poptarts quite a lot and I think they’ll be just the thing to break my diet with. Don't take your poptarts for granted!

Day 71: BushBarfing

Ok you (my family) are going to think I'm nuts, but just go with it. I find this to be Kathryn-antics at their finest, just laugh at me.

So Thursday night after we finish pump class at the gym, Amber needs to stop by Cole's, so we go to Broadway. Spring break is in the forefront of my mind, especially the fact that I've acquired this rather unpleasant gut in Stralia that won't go away despite the fact I've been eating very well and exercising regularly. (Ok, so I eat really well in the daytime. At night something goes wrong with my brain chemistry and I eat everything in sight. I hardly drink anymore but I can't control my late night appetite.) So I suggest we make a little trip to GNC. I have every intention of buying some awful diet pill that totally screws up your kidneys and flushes the fat our of you really well for like a week before you gain it all back in a flash (here's where you can laugh). I just want the gut to be gone in the spring break pictures. I can't look back on these pics and see fat Kathryn looking gross on her once in a lifetime trip. After that, who cares; its winter back in the states. That's reasonable, right? I look over the shelves and talk to the sales guy and we decide my best option is to go with a 7 day detox kit. Instead of ruining my kidneys, it will actually be good for my body and he said it will help prep my liver for the break. Goodtimes.

I have to stick to a very strict diet during the 7 days so when we go to Cole's I stock up on fruit, soy milk, muesli, steamed veggie bags, etc. Then Ambs and I decide that instead of cooking dinner like we intended to do, we should just make a trip up to the food court instead. Brilliant. I go to this "Mexican" place and get an "enchilada." Basically they just heap beef, sour cream, guac, cheese, etc. on my plate. I proceed to gorge myself on this mexi-mess and get really full and quite satisfied. I can do that, I'm starting a detox tomorrow.

We go home, tonight's going to be another all-nighter for me so I can crank out that 3000 word final essay for Outdoor Ed. Such a stupid pointless paper, but somebody's gotta do it I guess. I decide I'll just camp out in Amber's apartment and we'll study party in there. We set up like we're actually working, Amber on the couch and myself at the table. Well, someone left a box of Crunchy Nut flakes on the table so I proceed to pop it open and start eating them. Two huge bowls of Crunchy Nut Flakes later, Ambs busts out the Lite n Tasty cereal. And by busts out I mean the bag rips and it explodes all over the floor. No worries though, I go over and start eating it off the floor. (Clearly I am now in full-on stress eating mode.) I start to feel really sick. Then I spot a box of cookies that belongs to Kris who encourages me to eat them. It doesn't take loads of prompting before I finish them. Ok, now I feel really sick. Like, really sick. Ok and here's where you can laugh again: I decide that it will be really funny to go vom in Amber's flower bed. Haha, ok I think that's really funny. Then I talk Amber into trying it out so I don't feel so bad for tossing cookies in her ferns.

Alright so all this is going on and before I know it, its midnight and I haven't done squat on my essay. Amber and I settle down and do a little work. More like she dozes on the couch before announcing around 1 that she's going to bed. So I just hang out at her table working for awhile. Tim calls me around 2:30 or 3 as the boys are also taking a break from writing this same essay. I go over for half an hour and play a few rounds of hearts. Then I go back to Amber's and call up daddy because this essay is really frustrating and I chat with him for awhile. Around 6, the sun is up and I've gotten down 800 words and have a good idea of the direction I'm taking this thing, so I decide to call it a night/morning.

I walk over to my apartment with all my stuff in tow and when I go up to the door realize that I locked my freakin' key in my apartment! Craps. I walk around looking for the guard and then go to the blue box to call him. Turns out the guard gets off duty at 5 so I try to call an RA. No one answers. Great. My best option is go back to Ambers and crash on the couch. Before doing that, I text Violetta and tell her to text me when she wakes up because I'm locked out. She gets up around 7 so I can finally go home. I promptly crash.

Liam calls at 11 and wakes me up. I end up being grateful for this because I needed to get my day started. I'm really excited to start my detox! I drink a glass of hot water upon waking, wait 20 min, follow it with 100% fruit juice, have muesli and soy milk for brekkie, then for lunch I meet Emily and Amber for $6 Thai. They don't have brown rice so I eat stir fried veggies and tofu. I really like tofu actually. The rest of the day, I hole up in the law library and knock out most of the rest of my essay before its time to go.

Tracey and Arin are celebrating their fake birthday at Soho this night. I in no way like going to the cross, but its a birthday occasion (kind of). I'm a very responsible detoxer and don't drink a drop of alcohol. Grace and Joanna talk me into Subway after Soho so I half a veggie delite wheat wrap with Grace. Late night eating is a breach of detox code, but the food adheres to the rules at least. I swear I will get a grip on this problem.

Today was pretty boring. I just did practical stuff like clean my room and work out. The detox has totally started working though, I had awful gas pain this afternoon and it felt like my insides were rearranging earlier. Haha. Anyway, its Saturday night and I'm about to go to sleep. Like I said, I'm such a responsible detoxer. Oh, notable occurrence today: I booked a 3 day 2 night cruise on a ex-racing maxi yacht with Amber and Tim in the Whitsunday Islands over spring break. I am SO INCREDIBLY EXCITED! Can't wait can't wait!

Day 68: Here Comes the Sun

I'm always hesitant to post my whingey/sad blogs because I worry a certain few family members will beome concerned about me. Though, I caution them to fear not; its natural to cycle through periods of sadness. I'll do you one better than cautioning though, by following up on my gloomsday post.

So last night I'm writing that last post after coming home from work and promptly putting on the ugliest and comfiest sweats I can find. I hop in bed and catch a nap while waiting for Amber to come over and eat dinner with me before she goes to church. Well she never calls, so I give myself the go ahead to eat some Thai I have leftover from lunch last week. I then get a phone call from Reed who asks if he can borrow me for 15min, I say sure and meet him down by the Well. He has had a bad day as well and has decided to reward himself by smoking a cigar. A noble reward methinks, so I keep him company and we discuss the Taylor-Kanye debacle and other general things. I'm glad he called, I like hanging out with the guy. I then pop by the corner convenience store to pick up a few things and strike up a long conversation with the guy working behind the counter. He says I look sad, I tell him work sucks, he tells me I'm just complaining. I acknowledge that he's absolutely correct and then we start talking for awhile about psychology and I'm pretty sure he has no idea what I'm talking about. An enjoyable conversation nonetheless.

After that, I go home and get dressed as Noah is hosting a "Wine and Cheese and shit" party (the title of the facebook event). As in everyone is getting together to do what we always do except this time we'll be dressed up and drinking wine. I exchange my sweats for a black dress and mascara but can't bring myself to wear anything other than flip flops as I'm still being a "sooky la la" as some of my Aussie friends would say. (Far as I can tell, that means I'm sulking, but no one's clear about it and its been emphatically pointed out that its 'sooky' not 'sulky.') Then I head to Noah's. Wonder of wonder, joy of joys, Joanna (fellow Tulanian) has brought over Pat O's Hurricane mix that her mom sent her in the mail!! AND there is a full spread of delicious cheeses plus chocolate covered strawberries that Koko brought. Hi, I'm in heaven. Sooky la la Kathryn has left the building. I thoroughly enjoy the rest of the night socializing until we get kicked out of his room and then later the Well by RA's. Everyone goes to Marly after, except for me who decides to go get some rest... but only after I've snuck in a bowl of Coco Krispies. Gaah, shame on me. I know I'm being redundant, but, curse you late night eating!!

This morning when my alarm goes off, I roll over and notice a strange presence in my room. I enter consciousness and dare to pull back my curtains. YES! Its the sun!!! I am instantly overjoyed, I put on my fabulous full length hot pink sundress that I bought in Shreveport just before coming here. Today is awesome. I'm in the library where I'm meant to be working on my outdoor ed final paper, but I felt the need to share. And now, I will keep myself no longer from the task at hand as my all day class marathon begins in approximately an hour. I'm excited for it though; its sunny out.

Day 67: The Funk

I seem to be in a bit of a funk. My uni work is kind of looming over my head in a weird way. I know I’ll get it done, but I haven’t formulated any sort of strategy to accomplish this. That unknown plus the unknown of how my grades are actually going to come back makes me uncomfortable. And then there’s just the annoying/unpleasant stuff: Amber isn’t feeling well. My knee started bothering me during spin yesterday so I had to quit early and today my hip is bothering me quite a bit. I was running late for work this morning and then realized I should probably bring an umbrella with me because the sky looked ominous, and upon returning to my apartment I discovered I locked myself out. I had to go get my wallet to have card access to work so I had to jump through several hoops to get into my room making me even later for work. Not that this matters though, no one really notices when I come in. Yea, work puts me in a bad mood too because its so painfully boring. Another thing is that its really starting to get to me that I don’t have a church or faith community here that I really feel connected to or even like for that matter.

Right, I know, I’m being a total whinging shelia. Honestly, I think what it all comes down to is the fact that the weather has been cloudy the last 3 days directly correlating with the duration of my funk period. If it was sunny, this stuff probably wouldn’t bother me. I checked the weather and we’re not supposed to have a proper sunny day again til Saturday, ugh. Oh well, I know where I’ll be headed Saturday… the beach.

Some good stuff has been going on. Yesterday was Alex’s birthday so we had cake and went to Scruffy’s which was fun as always, but sadly much emptier than usual. Liam picked me up from Scruff’s around 2 so we could go to this legendary meat pie stand since I mentioned recently that I haven’t had one since I’ve been here despite the fact that they’re a dietary staple. When we got there though they had just sold the last pie and were closing up. I suggested Pancakes on the Rocks which is like a nice IHOP that I’ve been meaning to check out. So we went there and split a delicious Mexican crepe. Crap I miss Superior and Juan’s soo much. Liam, being the sweet person he is drove me around the Rocks for a bit and showed me some gorgeous views of the opera house and then we drove over the harbor bridge into north Sydney’s nice suburbs. Its so surreal going on a late night drive past world icons.

Other than that, nothing exciting is going on. Spring break is fast approaching though, which I am sooo excited for! Oh and I’ve been talking to Amber about how I feel about church and stuff. She texted me a little while ago about feeling called to go back to the church she first went to in Sydney so we’re going to check that out on Sunday. Could be promising! And my lunch break is happening in ten minutes, I just felt a surge of glee.

Day 64: Bike Ride

I have a rare moment of spare time with which I will update you on my life. But I'm really sleepy, so it will be in bulleted list form:

• I gave my presentation on Thursday. After a slightly shaky start, I ended up rocking it. I don't even care if I make a poor grade because I understand the difference between substance and process metaphysics to some degree and presented on it. Good for me, darnit.
• Liam invited me over Thursday night and we watched Die Hard with his roommates.
• Friday I can't remember what I did besides go to the gym. Oh yea, we had a bbq at Matthew's house which involved mild degrees of drama btw Amber and others.
• Saturday I went to the gym then brunch. Ordered the Big Hoochie Breakfast and proceeded to gorge myself on eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, grilled tomato, mushrooms, etc.
• Spent all of Saturday afternoon sleeping. It was so marvelous, but felt a little wasteful.
• A friend from work celebrated her 22nd birthday Saturday night, went to her flat then Cargo Bar down in Darling Harbor.
• Today deserves its own paragraph:

Liam and I went on a bike ride around Sydney we've been planning all week. At the last minute, his dad met up with us which was such an added bonus. Mostly because I LOVE people's parents and haven't hung out with any parents in ages. He picked me up and we drove to a park and then started off. First we went over the ANZAC bridge which I almost like more than the harbor bridge if you're allowed to say that. Then we went through Darling Harbor to the rocks and crossed the harbor bridge! It was gorgeous; no, beyond gorgeous. On the other side we hung out in a little park down by the water for a bit before heading back over the bridge.

Then we went to Lord Nelson's pub which is a micro-brewery. I LOVE micro-brewed beer. So I ended up trying 3 schooners of different ones, all of which Liam's dad bought for me. The best was one called 3 sheets. I've never had beer like it. I want to say it tastes like flowers, but that doesn't make it sound appealing. You'll just have to take my word for it I suppose; or come to Sydney. The three of us ended up hanging out on the patio of Lord Nelson's all afternoon. The weather was nothing short of immaculate. It was the warmest day Sydney's had since I've been here. The guys were generally picking on me, nothing new. At one point I was getting onto myself for drinking in so many calories and Liam's dad told me to quit being a wingeing sheila. Hahaha. I stinkin' love Aussies. Man I love this place.

After we biked back to the car, Liam took me to this place that he swears has the best chicken burgers ever. I don't know if I've blogged about chicken burgers yet, they're extremely popular here. I get them all the time from Aiden's right outside the village and they're popular for a reason. So we went there and I watched them heap the mayo onto my burger and tried not to gag. Back at his house I scraped it all off with a spoon and instead of me throwing it away, he insisted I put it on his chicken burger. So gross. These burgers were pretty good, but also a grease-tastic mess. Liam's backyard is well stocked with furniture: a dining set, several couches, a bed, random shelves, etc. We hung out back there with his roommates for a bit until I got to sleepy and then I took a nap on the conveniently placed bed until it was time to go.

I went back to the village and met up with Amber for church. I still don't like Hillsong. I think tonight was my final time going there, I just really can't take it. Its good for certain people, but I just don't do well with the worship style. And now I'm going to hit the hay. I'm really zonked, even though I managed to rest all weekend. Another big week is ahead, wish me luck!

Day 59: Life in the Bat Cave

Greetings from the Well. The Well as in the Sydney University Village bar. In Australia they don't have 24 hour study lounges (the LBC) or coffee places (PJs) which are my favorite places ever to study. Heck, the library doesn't even stay open past 10pm! So where's a girl to go when she needs to pull an all nighter!? My answer to this question is the Well. I have 24 hr access to it and hopefully everyone will be gone by 11 or so. It is Tuesday and perhaps you've already gathered that I won't be going to Scruffy's tonight. Sadness abounds.

Monday was crap, it was rainy and I concentrated on metaphysics really hard all afternoon in the Law library after running errands that morning in a drizzle. I did get to talk to my beloved family on skype though, which was awesome! I went to the gym after class as I always do and ran a bit to get some cardio in before ab & bum class. My joints hurt really bad after running for 20 (probs due to the Blue Mtns hiking) and Amber couldn't make class so my bummedness multiplied and I did abs then left without even going to class. I went home and cooked pasta and went to bed. I think it dawned on me why I can't get rid of my gut even though I watch my caloric intake and workout all the time: I eat WAY too many carbs and I do too much resistance training and not enough cardio. I will be focusing on cardio and trying not to eat carbs at every single meal. I have three weeks until spring break.

(I will now switch to stream of consciousness writing style mid-post; sorry if this offends but I'm talking about today now) Today I wake up and realize I'm being really pathetic and need to perk up despite the fact that school owns my life and is trying to wreck my happiness. I pop open my planner to write something down and then I see it written in the Monday box: professional development workshop- 6:30pm JFR bldg. AHHG CRAPS! I FORGOT to go to my mandatory professional development workshop last night! I have a tut in an hour that I haven't read for and my school work pile is hitting the ceiling. I am tempted to hit the panic button but don't. I read some Jesus over breakfast to calm down and them skim my history papers to equip myself with the general idea and head to class. This is a freshman course and I'm American so they always ask me what I think anyway- zing! easy participation points. It goes off without a hitch so I'm pleased and head to the Law library slightly overwhelmed by all I have to do, but manage to not hit the panic button somehow. Little by little I will get this done.

I start by apologizing super hard to my internship coordinator about missing the workshop and tell her I would be very happy to do anything she wants to make up for it. Then I quickly concoct a reflective journal that was due the day before and email it in along with my apology. (Luckily I foresaw myself doing this and asked for an extension last week... even though she never answered that email. Oh well.) Next, I move onto some history assignment where I have to post to a discussion board on which we're supposed to be engaging with the American students that we teleconference with every week. Namely we're supposed to like sound smart and then ask each other questions. I'm in the awkward spot again. I don't need to ask Americans questions about America but I'm in school with the Australians... whatever. I just yack about how this guy Parkes sounds like he has a super manifest destiny complex and passionate nationalism that he's trying to bring to Australia. Australians just aren't huge nationalists far as I can see so I wondered what was the place and influence of Parkes and people like him on Aussie history. (This was taking place at the end of the 19th century just prior to Oz drafting its constitution.) Alright, moving on. The social work discussion board is up next; this week's topic: depression. I write about differing response styles between between the genders and this greatly contributing to the fact that depression rates are MUCH higher in the female population. I hypothesize that a balance between men's avoidant response style and women's ruminative tendencies could produce favorable results. Then I respond to someone else's post about over-medicating, self-esteem, rah rah. Obviously, I should get some lunch at this point. I have a veggie delight baked potato at Manning house and sit out on the patio by myself. I talk to my potato a little bit but then feel funny doing that because I'm eating it at the same time. You would never eat your pet rock or an imaginary friend or whatever inanimate object you choose to talk to when you're lonely and locked in a library all day. Oh, then would you look at the time, I have a lecture in half an hour which gives me no time to begin to continue working on my metaphysics presentation. Instead I chat with Peyton on skype and try to find him a plane ticket to Australia. He could totally come over Tulane's fall break, but I can't manage to find anything less than $1800, which is too high. And frustrating. I know I'm not looking in the right places, but I don't know where else to look. I'm so jealous of those people whose friends and/or family come visit them, its so special and all that garbage.

So I go sit through a couple of lectures about WWII's impact on Oz and implications of child sexual abuse. Oddly enough, I've managed to maintain a positive attitude throughout the day despite being locked in the bat cave (library) with only my books and a baked potato to keep me company. Then I bust it over to the gym for some spin class. I LOVE spin class. I push myself really hard and pretend I'm running over piles of articles about metaphysics and Australian history and little statues of Buddha. Oh the joy of breaking a good sweat while techno music is blaring and Caroline is yelling to pick it up to double time. I find myself enjoying the finer things in life such as the feel of the contours of the spin bike handles cradling my palm and the smell of fresh mulch by the footbridge on my walk home.

I get home with a little less than 15min to shower and dress myself before Bible study. I manage to do it and am only 5 min late. Amber and I meet with her friends and we drive over to Matt's house for connect group. There is a delicious fruit salad and tea awaiting me there along with lots of Jesus discussion, prayer, and all things I love. Even though I worked my bum off all day doing school work and haven't even gotten to work on my metaphysics presentation, God is keeping me sane through this whole ordeal. I stop by Hoochie's for a cup of coffee on the way home and strike up a conversation with the people working there. I still suck at ordering coffee and ask them for advice. The girl says something about me being American and says she'll be sad when this bunch (the one's in the village this semester) of Americans leave. Apparently the ones here last semester were total witchy jerks. I ask where they were from; she replies the northeast to which I roll my eyes and say "obviously."

Anyway, now I'm here chilling with my cup of joe, on my blog. I'm sure its obvious to you that I'm avoiding the task at hand. I'm a sucker for procrastination. I did so well all day powering through my work, I can't possibly keep that level of efficiency up forever. I mean I do have all night though. Ok, well I'm going to get started now. I hope that I didn't bore you to tears.

Oh and I just remembered this other thing that happened today. While I was in the library I got an email from my boss at work sent to all the interns saying something along the lines of, "Someone relabeled the COPS database. Who did this and what were you thinking!?" Omg, that was me. So then I write my second extremely apologetic email of the day and explain what happened. She emailed me back shortly and was like, "its ok, we'll work it out when you come in tomorrow." Oh holy night, tomorrow is going to be one exciting day in the office. Yeeps...

Day 56: FresherINTENSITY

Last weekend I went on a field trip with my outdoor education class to the Blue Mountains National Park. It was awesome!

Friday I caught the 8:25 train to Katoomba with a bunch of my other classmates and we settled in for the roughly two hour train ride. We slowly left the city, went through the suburbs, and traveled through the countryside into the mountains. Towards the end we dozed off for a bit and then woke up at Katoomba. Turns out a few of our other classmates missed the 8:25 and had to catch the next train so we had half an hour to fart around Katoomba. This turned out to be a fabulous thing as we happened upon a cupcake shop that had a coffee and cupcake for $5 deal. Sa-weet! I got some coffee and two little cupcakes: a cookies and cream and a white chocolate coconut. They were so divine. When we finished up there, the other group had arrived and we broke into our groups for the weekend who were our cabin mates. I was in girls cabin three with Jackie (adorable Minnesotan with huge blue eyes, one of the only Christians I've met here), Maya (hilarious Berkley kid, was wearing her ultimate frisbee team gear), Mahalia (German who I did the group project with who is rather bossy/argumentative, but lovable), and Alice (the Canadian). I suggested we call ourselves team SB after a ridiculous rap song that had been stuck in my head all week (and that I have a huge affinity for). It was agreed upon. I really loved the girls in my cabin, we bonded quite nicely.

At the visitor's center type thing we waited for the "world's steepest railway" to come pick us up so we could go on our first bushwalk (aka hike). I thought the world's steepest railways was on Pike's Peak. I still think it is because this wasn't actually a train, it was more like an amusement park train. But anyway, the track down into the valley was REALLY steep and a fun ride. At the bottom we took lots of pictures and set off down the trail. Maya, Jackie, and I had tons of energy and were hyping out the whole way being spastic, singing, etc. Every time we came across a rock or waterfall or something we felt that we needed to climb it. Several of the other cabin groups passed us; they obviously weren't getting the full experience like we were. At the end of the trail there are hundreds and hundreds of stairs to ascend to get back out of the valley to the parking lot. I appreciated their calorie burning potential, but they were a bit of a challenge to take on. At the top were super gorgeous views and things of that nature.

We went to the grocery store after that to buy food for the weekend. It was a bit complicated trying to get 5 girls to agree on meals for the weekend. I grew a bit annoyed after a while and went to the cereal aisle. Everything was sorted out soon though and we brought our groceries to the bus and then went exploring in the town. There were bakeries galore. I had to exercise extreme willpower not to walk into all of them and eat loads of decadent whatnots. I did well though and the only store I went in was to buy some postcards. Then we loaded up the bus and went to our camp.

The road to camp is really windy and I swear, overtime we drove to and from, I felt nauseous. It was adorable though. The cabins were really nice. The kitchen had good appliances and was stocked with all the cooking supplies we could ever need. The living room had two couches that we pulled up around the cozy fireplace that heated the house. We crashed out and napped for a bit before making pasta primavera for dinner. I bought lots of healthy food, but other bought cookies, chips, etc. so I ended up way over eating of course. Oh well, then we went down for the campfire.

Our instructor, the gorgeous NFL QB-esque guy I've spoken of in previous posts, really likes to hear himself talk and make us do dumb group exercises. So he rambled for awhile about challenging ourselves and rah rah and then made us go around the circle and share what we would do to make tomorrow the "goodest day ever." Yes, goodest. I'm not really sure why he was so stuck on the word goodest. And we had to put our name in it somewhere so we could learn each other's names better. My girls left soon after this campfire sharing session ended and went to bed.

The next morning I woke up at 6 to go try and track kangaroos. Jackie, Noah, Liam (who will be expounded upon later), and I broke off into a group and went down into the field. Soon after we got there we saw two kangaroos hopping off, very cool. We walked around for another hour hoping to find some but didn't have any luck. Its a lot colder in the mountains than it is here in Sydney so I was quite freezing, but it was lovely seeing the sunrise over the valley.

One of the boys cabins consisted of 3 Aussie boys-Liam, Craig, and Job-and Noah. These Aussie boys were the most flaming INTENSE people I have ever come across. They would yell at everyone about picking up the intensity and showing initiative and generally acted like loud morons. They were never quiet, never ever ever. They called Noah the fresher (similar to freshman) and would run around yelling FRESHER INTENSE! And he was supposed to respond, but generally just looked at them like they were insane. My cabin and there's ended up hanging around each other a lot, I guess because we were all sitting towards the back of the bus. They got it in their heads to pick on me, Maya, and Jackie a LOT. They called me the princess, and precious (which they consider a derogatory term). Maya started this game where the only object was to smack people on the bum. Well they took that and ran with it. Craig had this big walking stick they called Ram Rod and he would pop me on the bum with it which would really set me off. Anyway, I could fill 6 pages talking about their antics, but the takeaway point is they were intense and liked to push our buttons. And at this point in the day I could deal with it, all fun and games, rah rah.

Our bushwalk for the day took us down into a canyon type thing that was heavily forested. It was lush and tropical with a stream running through it, heaps of ferns, lots of rocks to scramble over, quite shady and very cool. I've never been anywhere like it. The girls and I fell silent once we had made it a ways into the canyon so we could all just take it in. Occasionally the boys would get close to us and we would groan because they were hootin' and hollerin' the whole way through the valley. At the end of the track the canyon got really narrow and there was a swimming hole. All the boys from the intense cabin, Maya and Jackie, and a few others swam across it. I sat that one out as it was fuh-reezing. That walk took several hours, and then we went on another shorter one after that. This one was through a more arid climate and took us by a river that flowed through a cave that was really neat.

After the hikes I decided to reward myself with a big steamin' plate of wedges and cheese back in town. Oh and then I bought an ice cream cone because that just wasn't enough. Back on the bus the boys thought it would be really funny to try and light my hair on fire. I FREAKED out on them and went to the back of the bus to avoid them. I legitimately wanted to poke their eyes out or beat them over the heads with a sack of rocks. I know they felt bad about it after that and gave me the lighter as sort of apologetic gesture. We made it back to the cabin and cooked delicious burritos for dinner. Campfire time after that. We had to go around and share some meaningful experience we had during the day, how special. In town we bought Lindt chocolate and marshmellows to make s'mores. However, they don't have grahm crackers in Australia. We bought some Ritz cracker type things and they worked really well. I was so stuffed. Jackie and I went to sleep on the couches in the living room so we could sleep by the fire. Everything was peaceful and perfect.

On Sunday morning, Jackie and I got up early and had a little quiet/prayer time on the front porch of our cabin that was really pleasant. Sadly, after that we had to pack up everything and load it back onto the bus. I said goodbye to our cozy cabin and then we headed off for the day's bushwalk.
This one was SO incredible. It followed this stream from the top of the ridge down into the valley and there was waterfall after waterfall after gorgeous waterfall once again set in the rainforest. We stopped for lunch at the bottom of this huge waterfall and I went for a dip in the pool at the bottom of it. It was horribly freezing and so I got my picture made and then ran back out of it. And, yes, I had my coat on over my swimsuit the whole time. Then we ascended all the way back up to the top of the ridge at the waterfall. It was a giant series of ladders and really steep stairs getting back up to the top. But waiting for us up there was an ice cream truck! Yay. I got a "nutty nibbler," so good. Liam came around and looked at the view with Maya and I for awhile. He was acting extremely civilized and after giving him a hard time, I remarked that he was almost pleasant when not acting like a total moron. He invited Maya, Jackie, and I over to his place that night to play foosball. For some reason, I accepted the invitation.
It was time to leave after that. Sad, I know. We caught the train back to Sydney. I made dinner and a little later Liam came to pick me up. When helping his roommate move the foosball table out into the yard, we somehow lost all the balls and spent the next half hour looking for them. No luck. Instead we played their version of paddle ball which involves hitting tennis balls at each other from across the yard at each other with giant q-tips towards a target to score points. Liam is quite the nice/decent person when not on outdoor ed field trips. He said he was acting like a moron on purpose to liven up the trip or something... who knows. Later we all went up on the roof and hung out up there. It was cold, so I borrowed Liam's jacket and I realized after he took me home that I forgot to give it back. This worked to my advantage as he invited me over tonight to watch a movie so that I could give him his jacket back. Sadly, I couldn't go because I've been working on a presentation on substance metaphysics ALL DAY and have made no progress. I'm really brain dead and am about to go to sleep. Do you have any idea how frustrating trying to understand substance v. process metaphysics is when the author of the article juxtaposes all these schools of thought in such a way that its really hard to keep them all straight. This presentation is going to be terrible. I had an Aussie kid tell me today though that professors always pass international students; I hope that's true.

So, as you can imagine, today was really blah. It was also rainy which added to the blah. Tomorrow is going to be another metaphyisics ontology extravaganza so the future isn't looking so bright yet. I'm ready for the week to be over.

Day 49: Melbourne Part 2

So last time you saw me I was laying in my own tears and snot on my hostel bed. Fastforward three hours and I am still laying on my hostel bed. For some reason I decide to get up and make an effort to see a little bit of Melbourne since it was such an undertaking to get there. Helen and I leave the hostel and catch the free tram that circles the CBD. Melbourne has one of the largest tram, aka streetcar, systems in the world; it also has lots of French looking architecture. While these things sound reminiscent of New Orleans, Melbourne has no warm, comfortable, chill air about it. Its missing the charm. And its rainy and freezing. There aren't any big time attractions in Melbourne that you go there to see, like say an opera house, so we really have no idea what we're doing. While riding around the CBD though, I grow a little hopeful that there will be some cool things to do once we get our barrings. We go to the "harbor" area, harbors in Australia are supposed to be cool right? Well this one consisted of some restaurants and weird statues. It was a small wannabe Darling Harbor that was a miss.

Luckily, Helen knows a guy that lives in Melbourne. Actually she met him at a bar a few weeks ago in Sydney. I insist she not talk to him because that's creepy but she does anyway. He fills us in on where to get a good dinner, Lygon Street, and then volunteers himself to come along. This doesn't thrill me. Also luckily, two of our friends from the apartments where I live in Sydney were also in Melbo for the weekend so they meet up with us too. Turns out Lygon Street is amazing; its a little Italy of sorts with amazing Italian restaurants and bakeries for miles. And the guy Helen knows, Adam, is pretty cool too. So we meet up on Lygon Street, I have some lovely pasta and a couple of glasses of wine and once again feel at peace with the world. Then Adam suggests we go to this bakery/confectionery place down the street called Brunetti that he says will blow our minds. I don't really think much of it and am quite full but we head that way. Turns out it does way more than blow my mind. This place is AMAZING. Its huge and filled from wall to wall with pasteries, candies, chocolates, goodies, num-nums, etc. as far as the eye can see. I am elated and take a good 20 minutes to pick out exactly which goodies I will be eating. I select a chocolate canolli and strawberry tart. Oh and they are SO good, divine really. I wish I lived there. Except there would be the whole issue of me weighing 300 pounds and having to be buried in a piano box, but its almost worth it I think.

Next we head to a bar. Adam explains that there aren't any nightlife centers in Melbs, but rather bars and clubs are spread out through the city down alley ways and the like. You really have to know what you're looking for. He proves his point by taking us down this alley where we see a club that I think we're going to until we turn off down another double sketchy alley and proceed to head through a non-descript door arriving at our destination. Its actually really cool. Its a total hole in the wall dump, eclectically decorated with old junk. Also extremely New Orleansy. The fake plants remind me of F&Ms.

Later, we leave that bar, which I'm not even sure has a name, and go back to the hostel to change clothes. I put on a big ol' sweater and boots to increase my chances of surviving the cold. Then we go to this club where I have to pay $15 to get in. Vom. The music is really techno-y, apparently also very characteristic of Melbo, and while I'm not a huge fan I'm determined for this night to go out with a bang. I dance with some Aussies and ask the DJ to play Britney. Lo and behold HE PLAYED BRITNEY, in a Melbo techno club! Granted it was kinda a techno remix of If You Seek Amy, but it was Britney. I win. I also make that my new life goal: to have Britney played in every club I ever go to in Australia. (I don't even have to ask at Scruffy's anymore, the DJ plays it every Tuesday and points to me.) The other girls make fun of me because they think Adam is sweet on me and then they all want to leave to go watch some soccer game. I want to stay put because I payed $15 to get in here darnit and I don't like soccer. So they leave me with Adam and think this is all very entertaining. Yea, fine. Fortunately, he's nice and takes good care of me, gets me home safe, pays for the cab, and all that. Back in the hostel, sweet hostel, I hit the hay.

Next day I wake up and go to free pancake breakfast that the hostel does every Sunday. The pancakes are actually more crepe-like and they taste a little funny because I have no butter and the syrup is gross. Not bad though, all part of the experience. Then Helen and I go to the Melbourne museum. I quite enjoy it; they have dino bones, a forest exhibit, and I got to learn all about Phar Lap. Phar Lap is the horse Aussie's are obsessed with and they have him stuffed and in a display case. Turns out he's a rather large horse. In the gift shop I buy a Phar Lap magnet and a couple of other magnets for the collection and then Helen and I head to lunch.

Post lunch, I meet up with Adam and my friends from Sydney and the four of us go to a footy game. For those of you who don't know, footy is Aussie rules rugby. Its held in the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) which is apparently this famous stadium. It is a cool stadium I'll say and a good experience. Then we head to the Eureka Sky Tower which is this giant skyscraper with an observation deck on the 88th floor so you can see heaps of stuff. Its located in a really pretty part of the city across the Yarra River from the main part of the CBD. Nice views, cool stuff. Then we head back to Lygon Street for dinner. I split a delicious pizza with Jackie and insist we all go back to Brunetti. Welcome back to heeeaven. This time I get a milk chocolate almond cluster and a truffle thing for round one and then I go back for another round, because I have no plans on ever coming back to Melbo; may as well get more, right? Round two is a hazelnut macaroon and some kind of chocolate nutty biscuit thing. So amazing. Then we go back to the hostel and crash because we're all quite tired.

Monday Helen and I have cornflake breakfast then start the trek to the airport. Turns out Melbs has two airports and our flight happens to be out of the one that is 45 min away from the city in the middle of nowhere. Cool. We lug all our stuff down the the free tram, take it to Southern Cross Station, hop a bus to the airport, which is really more like a shed than an airport, and then catch our plane. In the shed airport no one weighs my bag, asks for an ID even once, and doesn't make me take my shoes and jacket off to go through security. The flight is marvelous. Its only an hour and 15 min long and I read for my history class the whole way. Then we're back in glorious Sydney!!

We train to central station and catch the bus home and I'm SOO glad to be home! I put my stuff down, call Amber, and we immediately go to the gym for 5:30 yoga class with the intention of staying for 6:30 ab & bum attack class. Turns out we mixed up the times and yoga isn't until 6:30. Pump class starts at 5:30 so we do that, then yoga, then stay for the ab & bum class. Three hours at the gym makes me feel a lot better about all the sweets I ate over the weekend. The scale is discouraging though as I gained 4 pounds in Melb.

So in conclusion, I learned: Manners are not possessed by everyone, I am SOOO glad I picked Sydney over Melbourne to study in, DO NOT drive from Sydney to Melbourne- the flights are cheap enough and take 1/10th of the time.

Also, a sidenote: I texted V on Sunday and apologized for yelling at her just to be the bigger person and all that good stuff. Yea, I didn't enjoy it, but I'm glad I did. I saw her a few minutes ago and we stopped and talked for awhile like everything was fine. So, everything is fine. I'm really behind on a lot of things, but am catching up. Had a good day at work. Aaaaand, that's Kathryn goes to Melbourne and such. The end.