Australia, I love thee!

Hi Everyone! I've been so busy lately I've had no time to blog recently. I sit at the computer all day at work so I barley want to get on here on week nights. Today is my day off (Friday) and sadly I've been on the computer all day... but for good reasons! This morning I got to skype with my home boy, Nate and all day I've been booking travel arrangements to go to Melbourne in a few weeks...  can't wait! 

Last weekend was a lot of fun! On Friday I joined a gym that is on the first floor of my office building. On the way home my friend Kari and I got lost in Circular Quey, the train station in front of the Opera house, and ended up in the great botanical garden! It is a huge beautiful garden located right in the middle of the city. When I got home, I ate a home cooked Italian pasta dinner made by my very best Italian friend, Mario. He is such a good cook. Everyone prepared for a fun night out to celebrate Claudio's 21st Birthday! Us American's showed him how to do it right for your 21st. First we went to side bar where there was a 2 man band playing American hits. I got a shout-out for knowing the words to Free Fallin' :) We all had a blast and eventually split into groups and some of us went to Scubar- a backpackers bar. After a long night out I slept in til 1 the next day and it felt wonderful. 

On Saturday it was very rainy. We went to Paddy's Market for lunch and some shopping. It's a right near Chinatown so a lot of the shops are run by Asian people and it's cheap- not something you see in Sydney very often. On the way back from down town Sydney we stopped at blockbuster to pick up some dvds for the week. Saturday night we spent the night to watch a movie. On Sunday I went to Manly beach with Claudio, Yves and Mario and some people from their school. We took the ferry to Manly and spent the day playing beach volleyball. It was beautiful weather and I got to teach all my foreign friends how to throw flick (frisbee term). They all love it! On Sunday night me and the boys ordered pizza and watched more movies. 

My third week at work was awesome. My company, the Export Council of Australia, is getting super busy planning an up coming event. I got to attend a few more meetings this week and wrote an article that went to the website and blog, only the first of many. Also, I've been going to the gym everyday which is awesome! I took a body pump, boxing, yoga and spin class. They were all sweet-as and Aussie's really know how to power through a work out.

On Monday night some of us went out to celebrate my best girl, Kayla's, 22nd Birthday. We went to a mexican joint called El Loco and made happy hour by 1 minute. After dinner we went to hole-in-the-wall bar called century bar for $3 drinks- cheapest I've seen in Sydney. Then we went to McDonald's and got 30 cent soft served ice cream cones. This is literally the ONLY thing in Sydney that you will find cheaper than in the US. 

On Tuesday after work I met Claudio for dinner in Circular Quey and then we went to Opera Bar, a classy high end bar right next to the Opera house. We met an American bar tender there from California. This week was busy busy but I'm glad it's over because I like being able to relax now.. ahhh. 

Last night we welcomed in a new intern/resident, Andrew from Florida and everyone went out to Scubar. We had a lot of fun dancing in the black lights. A group of med students came in their white lab coats. It was a riot. This weekend I am going to take it easy, but still make good use of my time here in Sydney. Next week should be super busy at work but I'm looking forward to it. Until next time~

Peace, love and no worries

~mrlb

Group in the kitchen on Claudio's 21st

Opera House and city from the Ferry 

me and Mario on the ferry

Sail boats in the harbor

Beach volleyball

Manly Surfers

Manly Beach

Manly volleyball

Me and Mario on our sunset ride home

The city & sunset

It was a windy ride!

City sky line from the hill in Moore park

Street Artist

Wild Parrots... I think they're a couple, I've seen them twice in the same spot now.

Great Botanical Garden

A cool tree

Mario cooking his famous Italian pasta for us

Chocolate anyone?

Black light part @ scubar

cool face paint!

Chile, America, Mexico and Holland

Photobooth!

I love my friends 

Amazing Australia

ELLO LOVES! I've been on quite the adventure this past week... Life has been moving extremely fast, but every moment has been incredible. It's been exactly one week since I left the states and I think I'm finally adjusted to my new environment. I left LA Monday night and flew into Sydney for a quick layover, and then landed in Carnes Wednesday morning. Once there, I had orientation with my fellow US intern students and my amazing orientation leaders, Todd and Ross, both of whom are Americans living in Australia. Our first day consisted of getting settled in at our hostel called Gilligan's Backpackers. Then we had an information session where we were learned about setting expectations and goals for our internship, as well as a little background on Australia (history, culture, lingo, ect..). We then had dinner at The Pier and headed back to our hotel for a night of Aussie Bingo and drinks! Things really got interesting when the game turned into loosing one article of clothing until someone gets naked... 

That's Aussie Bingo for you.... Moving onto Day 2 in Carnes

Thursday we woke and had another info session before we set out for Rainforestation. We took a bus way up a mountain for a day of Australian wildlife and culture. We got to hang out with some wildlife, go on an Australian Rain forest duck tour (yup, just like the one in Philly), met Aboriginal peoples and experience their culture, learn how to throw a boomerang, and hold a real live koala!! When we returned to our hotel, Ross took some of us ladies for a nice long bike ride around town. After dinner I was beat and went to bed early so I was well rested for the Great Barrier Reef tour on Friday.

My amazing orientation leaders, Todd and Ross

Jack the Ripper

Wallaby 

Baby Wallaby 

Carnes from up top

 Friday morning we woke up at the crack of dawn to hit the water. Our group shared a local boat tour with some other students from Mexico. It took about 2 hours to get out to the first reef, where I opted to scuba dive... best decision I ever made. Even though it was an extra cost, the experience was incredible. I saw tons of coral, fish and all sorts of sea creatures. The best part of all was I found Nemo. He's so stinkin' cute in real life!! After lunch on the boat we headed out to another reef. I snorkled this one which was just wonderful. There were loads more fish on this reef. It was incredible to be swimming on the GBR with thousands of fish all around me. The pictures did not capture the essence of the moment and words can't even describe the amazement I felt. I'll never forget this experience in Australia.

Great Barrier Reef Tour

Me with our scuba instructor

 Saturday was another travel day, and I would final arrive to my temporary home in Sydney. The evening flight was gorgeous, with clear views and a beautiful sunset in the sky. When I got to Sydney I met my roommate who is from California who didn't get to go to orientation because of a delayed visa. There are about ten of us from the program staying in the same hotel which is just across the street from a huge park in Surrey Hills, Sydney. Almost everyone staying in the hotel are extended stay international students. Not only do I get to experience the amazing culture of Sydney, but I'm living with people from Chile, Italy, UK, Holland and Mexico. I couldn't have asked for a more culturally enriched environment to be living in.

 Even though most of us were exhausted by Saturday night, we couldn't resist living it up on our first night in Sydney. 5 of us girls took one of our 2 fellow American mates, Carlos out to the local bars. Everyone must of thought he was our pimp (lol). First we went to a mod bar where we crashed a private birthday party, then we went to pub that was having a costume party. Since we weren't dressed for the occasion, we split after ripping up the dance floor. Sunday I was able to explore Sydney at it's finest... well not really since it was pouring. For those of you who don't know, it's winter here. Sydney winter is like fall in PA, except very very wet. It's mid 60s during the day and drops to low 40s at night. Despite the ran, I went for a run in beautiful Moore Park, went to central station to get a bus/train pass and went grocery shopping. Sunday night a few of us went downtown to check out the light show. It really hit us that we were finally in Sydney when we got to the harbor and saw the Opera House. WOOOOOOOOO!!!

 Today (Monday), was my first day at my internship! It was a very long day but the weather cleared up nice. I work right across the street from the harbor so I enjoyed my lunch outside along the water :) Check the view below-

These next few weeks should be interesting, challenging and but most importantly, just plain fun! I will continue to blog my experience. I miss everyone and I hope things are going well back home. I hope everyone is happy and healthy. If anyone would like to personally contact me please get a hold of me via facebook or e-mail, where I can give you my address, phone number, or skype address. It would be lovely to hear from anyone back home, any time.

lots of love
~mrlb