Last Couple of Weeks in Australia

I arrived here roughly four months ago and was so nervous that I would miss home and not find any friends and fail out of school, etc. Basically, I was anxious about everything that studying abroad involves. However, this has ended up being an incredible semester and I couldn't be more blessed to have gotten the opportunity to come here. I have dreamed of going to Sydney since I was a kid, and now I'm here and it is almost over!! Weirdest mix of emotions ever. Just thought I'd list a few things that I am going to miss the most:

• 4202... better known as 4204.
• Harrison Dunbar Warnes, Samcock, Elliott, Amy, Pierre, Jaimie and the many other Australians that I have fallen in love with over the past 4 months.
• My amazing study abroad group full of awesome girls :)
• Thursday nights at Kelly's 
• The freaks on King Street
• King's Cup - draw a 4: the gecko <3
• The convenience of public transportation
• The beach
• Late night run for "chips" at Aidan's
• Taking the bus downtown for the sole purpose of getting a spicy tendercrisp sandwich from Hungry Jack's
• Good ol' Marly Bar 
• The words "heaps" and "keen"
• Thai food
• Free Sunday bbq at SUV
• Having the grocery store, local pubs/bars, convenience store, bus stop, train station, clothing stores, etc. all on the same road and within walking distance
• Australian beer

I'm sure I'm forgetting about a million other things, but those are the top ones. I must go back and do all of this again someday... Sydney has become a home away from home.

Midsemester Break

Over the spring break here, I went to Cairns which is in Northeast Australia in the state of Queensland. I went with all the girls in my study abroad program and we had SUCH an amazing time. The day that we arrived in Cairns went to the "beach." Little did we know that Cairns doesn't have a beach... it has a swamp... full of saltwater crocodiles. Sooo basically no one swims in the rivers or ocean around there because you will get eaten by giant, angry crocs. The second day, we went on a diving/snorkeling boat to the Great Barrier Reef. Absolutely breath taking. It was my first official ocean scuba dive, yay! I even got to feed a giant Hawkbilled Turtle. They eat a certain coral that is the equivalent of smoking marijuana for humans, so basically all the turtles were high and happy haha... On the third day in Cairns, I went bungee jumping off of a 60 meter platform in the rain forest. That was pretty terrifying, but also kind of exciting. Exhilarating is probably the best way to describe it! On the fourth day, we zip-lined through a 100 million year old rain forest and that night we ate dinner while watching an aboriginal presentation.

Tasmania and Tempranillo

I spent all of last week touring the east coast of Tasmania, which is the only island state in Australia. It was absolutely breath taking! Only 500,000 people live in the entire state, so I could literally walk down the road at 6pm and see no one in the towns that we stayed in... such a difference from Sydney. The weather in Tasmania is normally cold and rainy, but I got really lucky and it was sunny/partly cloudy and about 60 degrees every day.
Highlights of the trip -
Bay of Fires -

 

Hazard's Beach -

On the way down to Remarkable Cave -

 Remarkable Cave -

The day after I returned to Tasmania, all I wanted to do was sleep... So... I went on a wine tour, of course. I spent the day with the girls in my study abroad group and we got a tour through the Hunter Valley which is known for its wonderful wineries. Such a nice way to end the perfect week :) 

Sharks with Scoliosis and My First Trip to a Microbrewery

I am in LOVE with Manly. I got to see my first beach in Australia yesterday... and the waves were beyond massive. We caught a ferry across Sydney Harbour to Manly which took about 30 minutes and it was such a beautiful ride! When we got to Oceanworld, we watched a little movie about the basics of scuba diving and pretty much just got dressed and got in the water. I wore a 3 mil suit with a 7 mil suit on top of it because the water was SO COLD! Anyway, the tank was absolutely amazing. One of the sharks had scoliosis and looked really funny... haha... she was my fave. After the dive, we went to a microbrewery called 4 Pines. I had a hefeweizen, which was a German wheat beer? It was delicious... but I pretty much had no idea how to say any of the fancy beers... There was an adorable quote on the wall that made me laugh out loud: "A fine beer may be judged with one sip but it's best to be thoroughly sure." So cute. Anyway, here are my fun pictures from the shark dive. Enjoy!

Australian Healthcare and Endangered Sharks

Soooo judging by the fact that I have spent an insane amount of time in the health clinic at Sydney Uni, I thought I should dedicate a blog to Australian Healthcare. It is so strange compared to America. Normally at TCU, I would walk into the health clinic, fill out a form, the nurse would do assessments (height, weight, blood pressure, temperature, etc.) and then I would sit and wait to be called back by the doctor. Here, you sit in the waiting room, get called to the doctor's room, he asks you what is wrong, takes a 2 second glance in your ears and prescribes you meds. It was so quick and awkward... and I'm guessing that is the downfall of their healthcare, given the fact that I was diagnosed with a double ear infection, but he didn't think to check my sinuses which were also quite infected. SO SILLY. However, I am hopefully going to start feeling better eventually now that I have been diagnosed with a sinus infection as well.
On to more exciting things... I am diving in a shark tank on Thursday at Manly, which is an hour ferry ride from Sydney Harbour. I'm pretty excited about that. The tank will be filled with grey nurse sharks which are considered endangered in Queensland and a species of concern in the U.S. They are pretty big, but I mean, I still wish I could dive with great whites.. because that would be legit. There will also be stingrays the size of a queen-sized mattress in this tank. pretttttty!
Other than that, I have been doing school stuff and trying to get well. So hopefully this weekend I will have more adventures to post on here. Love y'all!

The Broke College Life.

I have a double ear infection... that's pretty exciting. I'm not too surprised though, given the fact that I live off of wine, ramen noodles, and cereal. The one attempt I made at cooking a "real meal" was insane. I mean the food was good, but I had to buy a red bell pepper for $15/kg. That is so NOT okay. So instead, I walk to the convenient store and get cereal, oreos, and ramen noodles for $23... which is still NOT okay... but whatever. I'm allowed to work 20 hours a week here if I decided to get a job. Minimum wage here is around 15$... so really it wouldn't be a bad idea to get a job...
I went to the Helm Bar again a couple of nights ago. My friend Erin and I met a 42 year old boat-hand... he was... nice. Then the bartender got off of work and came and sat with us. He was a 23 year old from England named Ollie. We all ended up going to play pool (called snookers here... not pronounced like snookie... pronounced sn-ew-kurs) at a really cute pub on George St. Luckily the 42 year old guy went home somewhere in between the Helm Bar and the pub on George St... He probably missed his girlfriend who was sailing in Tahiti?.. or blacked out in a cab somewhere...
There really is never a dull moment here in Aussieland. The people are so friendly and adventurous! It has definitely inspired me to not be such a bore ALL the time! However... it's probably the cause of my ear infections too...
I'm planning to go to the beach this weekend with some of the IES girls. I'm sure it will be absolutely gorgeous.. it will be pretty cold with the ocean breeze blowing though. I've also been looking into planning our skydiving trip to Wollongong. I can't wait to jump out of an airplane overlooking the most gorgeous ocean and beaches! I just haven't quite decided how I am going to force myself out of that plane... At least I will get to land on the soft beach.
Time is absolutely flying by here... so bittersweet! I definitely miss Texas, but I have so much more that I want to do here, and only 100 days to do it in! Love and miss y'all!

"I Climbed It!"

It's a Sunday... which means I now need to do ALL of the reading that I have due this week haha... woohoo! Yesterday I climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge which was soooo beautiful. It was actually way more of a workout than I had originally expected. We got to wear these really funny astronaut-looking suits with harnesses connected to us so that we didn't fall off the 440 foot bridge. It would be a long drop... It is the widest single-span bridge in the world at 161 feet wide. so basically, it was amazing to be at the very top of it. Our tour guide told us that out of the 14000 men that originally built the bridge, only 16 men died... and no one had harnesses or anything holding them onto the bridge! so so so scary. There is an adorable little red light that flashes on top of the bridge for planes to see. It is called "Blinky Bill." loveeeee it! you can see Blinky Bill allll the way from the Blue Mountains. After we climbed the bridge, we went to a delicious place called Pancakes-on-the-Rocks. They serve pancakes with ice cream on top... need I say more? Then we all came back to the village and crashed... 440 foot climb + pancakes with ice cream = bed. in case you were ever curious about that combo. Miss and love y'all!