My Last Post From Australia!

Well, this is it.. my last day in Australia. My long Australian journey is coming to an end, and it is definitely a bittersweet time.

The last few days have been filled with saying goodbye to friends, saying goodbye to places in the city (like Darling Harbor, King St., Paddy's Markets, etc), cleaning, and packing! I am about 85% done packing my things... all I have left is the stuff I wont be able to pack until Sunday morning. I have a lot of luggage and it is a pain to carry around! I'll be glad when I am at home with it.

Tonight Charity and I are going to walk around Circular Quay and have a fancy dinner in The Rocks. Then we are going to meet up with our friends Dan and Meg and grab a few drinks in The Rocks, and say goodbye to the Opera House and Harbor Bridge. It will be hard, but I have so many pictures of each it will be hard to forget what it looks like! I will miss Circular Quay the most - there is just nothing in the US that compares to it (except maybe San Francisco.. maybe). It will be weird not being able to hop on a bus and head down there, like I have countless times before over the last 4.5 months.

Tomorrow (Sunday) my flight takes off at 2:45PM (which is 12:45AM Sunday in Cleveland) and I will be home roughly around 11:45 PM Sunday night. So - almost an entire 24 hour trip! Yuck. I guess that will give me a lot of time to reflect on my experience here - it has been an incredible 4 and a half months, and I am so happy I got the chance to do this!

Thanks for keeping up with this blog :) Can't wait to see all of you when I get home!

Love,
Becky

Mrs. Macquarie's Chair

Charity and I have learned to never waste a sunny day in Sydney!

On Tuesday we finally had a beautiful day- the sun was shining bright and there was no sign of rain! So, we decided to head down to Circular Quay. I got gelato at my favorite cafe, we walked around the Opera House, and took more picture of the bridge and opera house (as if we don't already have enough...). It was cool because Charity spotted some jellyfish in the water right in the harbor! It was weird because it is winter here and they are normally out in the summertime. I think it was the first time I have seen a jellyfish in the wild. Then we sat by a pond in the Botanic Gardens and relaxed. From there we continued to walk along the edge of the water and finished at a lookout point called Mrs. Macquarie's Chair.

I have been to Mrs. Macquarie's Chair before, on the day I went downtown by myself and got cool pictures of the cloudy sky, but I did not know what the spot was called! We sat on some rocks near the water and just enjoyed the sun. It is amazing how much the sun is vital to Sydney- it makes everything 100 times better! We stayed there for a while and watched the sunset. It wasn't extremely colorful, but it was still really pretty. The view from Mrs. Macquarie's Chair is amazing- you can see the Opera House and Harbor Bridge and the city all at once. It really is amazing.

On Tuesday night our group of IES friends went to Eagle Boys Pizza to enjoy $5 pizza night and watch TV in the well one last time! It was our tradition and the way I spent almost every Tuesday, and I will miss it.

Today I started cleaning my room to get ready to move out. Charity and I walked on King St. in Newtown (the main road where we live) and took some photos and said our goodbyes. King. St. is not very photogenic, but, it is nice to have photos anyway! It is so much more urban than anywhere I have ever lived. It will be weird to go back to living in a suburb. Tonight we are going to our last trivia night at the Marly Bar and it should be a fun time! A bunch of people are starting to leave, so these next few days will be filled with a lot of goodbyes.

Tomorrow Charity and I are heading to Darling Harbor and Paddy's Markets to pick up some souveniers!

Love,
Becky

One Week

Wow. Its hard to believe that this is my final week in Australia. To be honest, it still does not feel like I am leaving. Charity and I have taken so many trips in the last 4 months it is going to feel like just another adventure, except this time it is permanent and there is no coming back!

It is definitely a time of many mixed emotions. I am torn between a strong desire to go home, see my family and friends, indulge in all of my favorite foods, and get back to my regular life... and a strong desire to stay. I know that I cannot stay here forever, and honestly I do not want to, but it is going to be hard to say goodbye to a city that I have grown to love. But I am taking back with me incredible memories that will last a lifetime, and who knows- life may bring me back here someday! It has been great, and I have no regrets. I have had this dream since I was young, worked hard to achieve it, and had a truly amazing experience. I am grateful that my dear friend Charity was on this journey with me - we have been through quite a ride these past 4 months and it has been fun sharing this experience with her. There are so many things about Sydney and Australia that only her and I will know and understand, and that will always give us a special bond. I cannot be any happier with the way things turned out, and I am looking forward to sharing my experiences with family and friends!

Today Charity and I walked around campus, took some pictures and said goodbye to our all too familiar routes through campus. We went to the shopping center as well for the last time.

Tomorrow I have my only final. I am not too worried about it because I have done well in the class, but I am finding it hard to study. The weather has been absolutely terrible this week- cold and rainy! That makes it hard to sight see. But, hopefully we will get a few nice days so that we can explore and revisit all of our favorite spots before we head home on Sunday.

I will try and post again before I head home to let you know how the last week went. Looking forward to seeing all of you in a couple weeks!

I would like to say Happy Father's Day to my dad and to all the other fathers who read this blog. They do not celebrate Father's Day in OZ, so I had to send my dad a regular card! Also, a big Happy Birthday to my mom! I wish I could be there to celebrate with you, but, I will be home in just a week :)

Love,
Becky

All Sorts of Things + 4 Month Reflection

I have been busy every day since I got back from Cairns. With the end of the trip coming up there is a lot of activities going on, all of which have been a ton of fun!

On Friday, I went with Charity, Nate, and his friend to the Sydney Symphony at the Opera House. The show was called 'Romantic Perfection' and included a Berlioz overture, Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor with guest violinist Isabelle Faust, and Beethoven's Symphony No.6. The show was held in the main concert hall, and I am glad I got the chance to see it! It was pretty cool on the inside (though maybe not as pretty as Severance Hall). I do not know very much about classical music but I enjoyed the show. The music was soft and peaceful... causing me to doze off near the end. It was a nice evening.

Saturday night was the IES farewell dinner cruise on the harbor. We cruised around Sydney on a pretty nice boat, nibbled on finger food, and chatted with each other. It was weird to think that it was the last time many of us would ever see each other! It is crazy how time flies - it feels like we were all in Orientation not too long ago, and there we were saying goodbyes. I am glad that I went through IES because I think it was a great program. Merlin was a fun guy to have as the IES coordinator and we were able to do really cool things, such as the Outback trip, the Aussie Rules football game, and the show at the Opera House. I have made some good friends in IES as well, and will miss them when we all part our separate ways in the US.

On Sunday night Charity, Nate, and I headed back downtown to The Rocks to see Fire Water. Since I had no idea what was going on, I will provide the description given from the website:
"Take a journey back to 1814 as a ghostly convict ship emerges from the dark waters of Campbells Cove and explodes into flame. Featuring a stunning re-creation of the fire that devastated the 19th-century convict ship the Three Bees sending its cannon balls blazing across the harbour, Fire Water brings history to life in a unique free harbourside event never seen before in The Rocks."
It was a pretty cool show- creepy music and a boat on fire. Not bad for a Sunday night. After the show we went and took more pictures of the Opera House. It was the last night of the Vivid Sydney festival and also the last night of Luminous- where the Opera House sails are lit with different designs. I really loved seeing the Opera House all lit up, and I am glad I got a lot of great pictures!

Monday turned out to be a beautiful day, so Charity and I did not waste it and decided to head out to Watson's Bay. It is a small town about a 10 minute ferry ride from Sydney, with nice beaches, pretty coastal views, an a great view of the city. We walked along the trail of the Sydney Harbor National Park and saw Camp Cove beach, Lady Bay beach (which happened to also be a nudist beach!), Hornby Lighthouse, explored some old forts, and saw The Gap- which is a jagged coastal area that is really pretty and had a grand view of all of Sydney. It was such a warm and sunny day and I really enjoyed exploring Watson's Bay and being outside. It is supposed to rain every day for the next week so I am glad we got the chance to go out there and have a nice day. After we got back to Circular Quay we watched the sun set behind the Harbor Bridge. It was really pretty. After going to Circular Quay 4 days in a row I can officially say that I will never get sick of it. There is something about the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House that just never gets old. I will hate to say goodbye!

As far as a 4 month reflection goes... all I have to say is that the last month has been great! From dinners with friends, to the Jazz and Blues festival, art galleries, the Cairns trip - sky diving, snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef, to the Symphony, a farewell cruise, Watson's Bay and much more, this month has been filled with a lot of fun and adventure. At 4 months with less than 2 weeks to go I am now finally able to look back at the experience as a whole. I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to come to Australia and experience all that I have, and I am incredibly happy and grateful! I have learned a lot, and have seen and done a lot, and I really have loved it all. I can now see why so many people say that studying abroad is the best experience of their life - because it truly is.

The next few days look quiet, just working on final things for my internship, and maybe start studying for my final next Monday. The next 2 weeks will be filled with many 'lasts' which will probably be the most bittersweet time of my life.

Here is a link to a facebook album of a ton of pictures from the last few weeks:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2067051&id=15508583&l=b487d5f8ba

Love,
Becky

Cairns- The Grand Finale

It is safe to say that Charity and I ended our travels around Australia with a bang! We spent 4 days in Cairns and it was packed with awesome adventures. Cairns is a city (not metropolitan like Sydney, but relies almost completely on the tourism industry) in Queensland. This is on the northeast coast of the country, which means it is closer to the equator and much warmer than Sydney! It was so refreshing to see the sun and enjoy warm weather. Here's a run-down of the trip:

Day 1: We left Sydney bright and early and took the 3.5(ish) hour plane ride to Cairns. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at the airport and took a shuttle to our hostel. As I've said before, I do not particularly like staying in hostels, but its so cheap you are crazy if your don't. The one we stayed at in Cairns was not the best, but it worked out just fine.

Since it was so warm and sunny, we decided to head to the beach. Only there is no beach in Cairns. For some reason the tide recedes really far, and all that is left is a smelly mudflat! Instead, they have a giant swimming pool, complete with sand and everything. So, we met up with some friends from IES and relaxed in the sun. It was nice to just enjoy the weather and wade in the pool and relax. Charity and I went to the night markets and I picked up a few nice souveneirs. That night we all went out to dinner, got desert, and walked around the boardwalk/pier area. It was a nice, relaxing first day.

Day 2: On Tuesday we were picked up really early and went on a day tour of the Daintree Rainforest. Our first stop was the Rainforest Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary. There were 3 sections- the Rainforest, Wetlands, and Grasslands. Each had a path to walk through and there were a ton of birds an animals, including crocodiles, emus, parrots, wallabys, kangaroos, cassowaries, and a koala. A lot of the animals were free to roam around, and we had a close encounter with a huge emu which was pretty scary! From there we went into the Daintree National Park and stopped at the Mossman Gorge. It was a pretty area with a nice creek and rainforest scenery.

Next, we took a ferry over the croc-infested Daintree River and stopped at The Cape Restaurant where we had a buffet lunch. The place was right on a beautiful beach and we had a lot of time to relax and enjoy it. There were all of these sand balls all over the beach from the crabs when they burrow under the sand, and we found a couple of small crabs zipping around. For the first time since coming to Australia I felt like I was in a tropical island-like place.

After lunch we went on a botanic walk. One section was a mangrove, and there I met my match- sand flies! They are very tiny and love to bite and I wound up with 42 (yes 42) bites! Good thing I still have my bottle of amonia... Our last activity of the day was a cruise on the Daintree River. We saw a few wild crocodiles, including a huge alpha male named Scarface, some snakes, crabs, and birds. No major action but it was still cool to see these animals in the wild.

Day 3: On Wednesday Charity and I headed on a boat out to the Great Barrier Reef for some snorkeling. The ride out was very rough- our boat was tossed around like a plastic toy boat in a bathtub. I took a good amount of motion sickness medication, but for the first time in my life I threw up from motion sickness. It was pretty embarrassing, but I did not feel too bad because I was one of probably a dozen or more people who was sick. Luckily the reef itself is very calm and once I got into the water it was fine. I wore a wetsuit for the first time, which was fun, though not very comfortable.

I have only been snorkeling once before and I was young and scared, so I was not sure what to expect. First getting out onto the water is pretty scary- there is a lot of coral, and a lot of fish, and you are basically vulnerable to anything that is around you. Plus, I had to adjust my breathing while also trying to look down into the water, but it didn't take long to get used to. We went out with a guide at first and he took us near some very shallow areas which was both cool and scary because we swam really close to the coral! Charity and I rented an underwater camera and had fun taking pictures. We snorkled 3 different times between 2 locations and had a blast. It was so beautiful - basically like swimming in an acquarium at a zoo only much, much larger. The fish were beautiful and so was the coral.

Day 4: On Thursday I learned just how adventurous I was. Charity and I decided to go sky diving! We chose to go through Jump the Beach, which is a sky diving company that lands right on Mission Beach. Charity went before me and so I went to the beach and hung out for a couple of hours. I was able to see 2 different groups land (including Charity) so by the time it was my turn I was very confident about the divers' ability to land on the beach and not in the ocean!

I orded a video and pictures, so I have the whole thing recoded. I got harnessed in, learned how to sky dive, and off we went. We squeezed in the tiny plane like sardines. I had originally paid for 11,000 ft. but the person who I dove with, Jeremy, did not seat us in the right place on the plane so I had no choice but to jump at 14,000 ft!!!!! (Luckily I did not have to pay extra for this, it was a little secret). I was the 3rd person out of the plane and surprisingly I was very calm. As I was getting ready to jump I was thinking "Holy Shit!" in my head (and may have said it a few times...) but it reality I had no time to think, you are out of the plane before you know it.

The feeling of free fall is really cool - it is similar to sticking your arm out of a window of a car, except that you feel that pressure/force on your whole body times 10. It was not scary at all but a ton of fun. I made some poses for the camera/video and looked around. Before I knew it free fall (about 60 seconds) was over and the parachute opened. It did not hurt and I had a beautiful ride down to the beach. I was able to see so far- the mountains, the beach, islands, the Great Barrier Reef- all of it. It was so incredibly beautiful. We landed on our butts on the beach but it was still a smooth landing. I had so much fun and would do it again in a heart beat!

So, our trip to Cairns was pretty amazing - rain forests, the Great Barrier Reef, jumping out of a plane at 14,000 ft - it doesn't get much better!

I have a lot going on this weekend so I will post soon and tell you all about it.

Here are my 3 facebook albums from the trip. Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2066739&id=15508583&l=aef82014bb

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2066741&id=15508583&l=ea8d26b2b0

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2066743&id=15508583&l=c826597304


Love,
Becky

All that Jazz

I had a wonderful weekend.

On Thursday, the group dinner went well. Not many people showed up, though, but it turned out okay because people ended up calling their friends instead. We had egg drop soup, orange chicken, and peanut butter cookies. The food was OK... nothing great. And, the peanut butter cookies were really weird because the peanut butter here is different. The peanut butter doesn't have hydrogenated oil in it (it is illegal here) so the cookies tasted different. It was still a nice evening though.

On Friday I went on a tour of a Church of Scientology with Charity and her religion class. It was very interesting. I didn't know too much about Scientology before the trip, and so it was nice to learn about it. It defies our perception of 'religion' - it is very academic and secular, and less focused on prayer and worship. The foundations are very Freudian- focusing on subconscious moments in your past when you experience pain, and using counseling to go back to those moments, relive them, and release that pain. So, there is a major focus on counseling. The church itself was very nice- it looked like the office of a Fortune 500 company. But that is mostly because it is one of the upper level churches. It was a cool experience and I am glad I went.

After the tour we walked to a Chinese Temple which ended up being kind of disappointing. But, on the walk back Charity and I stopped at a store which had Dr. Pepper! I haven't seen Dr. Pepper anywhere in the last 4 months and so it was such a nice treat! I also got a Hershey's candy bar because stores do not carry Hershey's products- mostly just Mars products. It was awesome. That night was the last night of Film Soc. and we watched Boogie Nights. I will miss Film Society and watching free movies every Friday.

On Saturday Charity, Nate, and I headed to the Art Gallery of NSW (New South Wales). It was a big place and very nice inside. I am not huge on art but it was nice to look around and see all of the paintings. From there we walked to Darling Harbor for the Jazz and Blues Festival. We watched 2 shows- both were pretty good. They performed on a floating stage in the harbor. After the show we went to Pancakes on the Rocks.

Today was a nice day. I went by myself downtown to Circular Quay because it was such a nice day I couldn't stand sitting in my room! I got some gelato, walked all along the shore and got amazing pictures of the Opera House and Harbor Bridge. A bunch of storm clouds came through and it made for amazing pictures. Luckily, it did not rain on me! I even saw a pretty rainbow! I stuck around and watched the sun set behind the Harbor Bridge. It was beautiful. I took many pictures :)

From there I walked all the way to Darling Harbor and met up with Nate. We watched another jazz show- this one was awesome and much better than the night before! At the end of the show there were fireworks which were cool. It is so cold here so it is weird seeing fireworks and being so cold- I am used to the warmth of the 4th of July.

Anyways, it was a great weekend! Tomorrow I am off to Cairns until Thursday night. Should be a great trip and I am looking forward to it - especially the warm weather.

Now off to do my least favorite thing... pack!

Love,
Becky

Done and Done

Classes are officially over!!! It feels nice knowing that the rest of my time here I can relax! I only have 1 final and 1 report for my internship to complete, which won't be bad at all. I had a couple of final papers as well but I have finished those. On the one hand it is sad that classes are over, but, this semester was not the best as far as classes go... so I don't really mind :)

I have just a little over 3 weeks left! Hard to believe. I feel like these next 3 weeks are going to be so packed with fun activities that I will barely have time to stop and catch a breath!

Yesterday night our trivia team, Team Charity (pictured) went up the street to Marly Bar for another go at trivia. They usually have a trivia night every Monday in the apartment complex where we live, but they are over for the semester so we decided to go to Marly. While we did not win it was still tons of fun! Charity and Dan got hats, which was nice. The Aussies really love trivia nights, which doesn't bother me because I always enjoy it. We hope to make it back to Marly with the 2 remaing Wednesdays we have left!

Tonight I have the group dinner for the cooking class. Since the classes got messed up they are compensating us $10 and giving us a ton of wine at tonight's dinner. Typical Aussie compensation... wine! I am not sure what the menu is... but hopefully it will be good!

Tomorrow I am going with Charity and her class on a tour of a church of Scientology and a tour of a Chinese temple. Both should be very interesting. Tomorrow is also the last night of the Film Society, and we are watching Boogie Nights. On Saturday Charity and I plan to go an art gallery.

Then, I leave for Cairns Monday morning! Should be a great trip... exploring a rainforest, snorkling on the Great Barrier Reef, relaxing, and Skydiving!!!! Yes, I am going to try again to skydive. Hopefully this time the weather will cooperate! We are going through a company called Jump the Beach- so we are literally diving out over the ocean/Great Barrier Reef and landing on a beach! Should be awesome.

I will post about my weekend before heading off to Cairns.

You guys will see me before you know it!

Love,
Becky