Lovin' what I'm livin' with

Just another Thursday night at the Park Lodge Hotel

Adventures of Oz

Hola Amigos.. I mean.. G'day mates. I'm entering the final stretch of my time here in Australia and I don't even believe it! I have learned more than I could ever imagined I would about all different aspects of life including culture, communication, personality, professionalism and so much more! For any of you reading that are considering an experience like mine, weather it be an internship or study abroad program I highly recommend it. This unique experience has made me a more well-rounded individual and it's not even over yet. There has been some challenges along the way but I feel over coming them has made me a stronger person. 

Having gone through this program with a large group of students I was able to see how other people overcame their struggles as well. Some people started off homesick and were resistant to adjusting to a new environment. I, however, was not one of these people as I embraced my new environment entirely and took it on as an fascinating, exciting new experience. Although I've had my bad days where I just miss home, I never really felt home sick... until now. I think that the people who were resistant to adjusting [short term] to a new environment were able to adapt [long term] quite well. I was able to adjust but am now having some difficulty adapting long term. 

I feel as if my environment and circumstances were slightly different this may not be. I cannot complain about my experience what-so-ever as it has been, literally, a dream of mine come true. However, I can say that I now GREATLY appreciate the benefits and conveniences that I've been blessed with back home. Not that I didn't appreciate this before, but after nearly 3 months of small, shared living space, public transportation and very limited wardrobe options, I've realized how good I've got it back home. If I had not been fighting an on-going flu and/or allergies and maybe had my own living space, I reckon I'd gladly stay in Australia a great while longer. But since that's not the case, I'm counting down the days until I return to home sweet home.

As far as this past weeks activities I've had to 'slow my roll' due to the on-going under the weather condition I've been in. Last Monday I attended an Australian Rugby League game (see video post below). It was a CRAZY experience. Many Australians would say it's a 'bogan' game- refering to white trash. I guess you would compare it to Nascar in the states? But that wasn't even the best part!.. The game was super competitive and the underdogs (Souths) took the win in the last 30 seconds of the game.

And you thought a pint of Ben & Jerry's was expensive at your local 7-11?

Just a car blowing up...

Sydney Roosters v. South Sydney Rabbitohs

Fans rushing to the field after an epic win!

Mates at the Game

Throughout the rest of the week I just tried to rest up for a big weekend. Thursday night Patricia, Keri and I hit up this fab dinner called Pancakes on the Rocks. Best pancakes ever... put us all in a food coma.

On Friday I set out for Newcastle with my best Aussie mate Simon. I joined him on an adventure to this north beach town to visit his mates. It was awesome to get out of Sydney and see another new place. Newcastle was like a cross between West Chester and the Jersey Shore, where most of the night-life and other excitement took place on a few square blocks but it was right on the harbor, by the ocean. 

When we arrived on Friday we checked into a sweet hotel and hung out in town. We went to a bar called Honeysuckle which was right on water and I met all Simon's mates and we talked about all our 'great ideas' that would probably never get anywhere. Then we went out to a few clubs and had a dance with some funky people. Check the lady with the purple hair...

sweet hair

Just petting a camel..

Just riding a bike..

Saturday Simon and I went on a Hunter Valley Wine tour, about an hour inland of Newcastle. We visited 5 different wineries, some commercial, some boutique. It was beautiful and I saw so many wild kangaroos, but I was the only one on the bus that got excited about it. We shared a bus with a birthday party so we toured with a bunch of local Newcastle chicks. They were very entertaining. We ended up back at the hotel around 6 took a power nap and headed out on the town again. This time, we got to hang out with a cow... Ah, the adventures of Newcastle.

Hunter Valley Winery

We threw in a beer tasting as well

So pretty, I wonder what it looks like in summer!

Simon & I

@ Fanny's

 a cow..?

The view from hotel balcony

On Sunday we hit up the hotel breakfast buffet (amazing) and then headed back to Sydney. It was a great weekend with awesome new people. But it's been hard to get back into the work week after. This week I had another article posted to my company's forum.Check it out! 

 Okay I'm done now. 

PEACE AND LOVE TO ALL.

~mrlb

Oiiiiiiiiiii !

Hello beautiful friends & family. It's been a rough week due to the fact that I am now facing my second cold in just 8 days :( I'm resting up lost to try to get healthy again for my final couple weeks down under! This week I went to Bondi Beach for a fundraiser for an Australian children's fund. They broke the world record for Skating Santa's and had over 200 people dressed up as Santas in iceskates. It was quite the sight. I did not partake in the record breaking, as I was still over coming cold #1 so I just held everyone's bags and took pictures! On Friday I was feeling much better (thought I was cured) and spent the day exploring Sydney. I walked from my office building/gym which is in the central part of the city, back to where I live a few miles inland. I stopped at the Rocks Foodie Market and Salvation Army for some lovely bargain shopping. When I returned home I hit Moore Park with some mates for a frisbee toss and sunset over the city! Friday night I went out with some mates and found one of my house mates from Hawaii, Cole, has the same birthday as me. We went to a pub then a club around our area in Surry Hills. Unfortunately the fun didn't last into the next day as I woke up on Saturday with an extreme sore throat. I regretfully, did not stay in bed however, because I had a day trip planned to Blue Mountains. We took the train 2 hours inland to Katoomba and walked to the scenic mountain side. We hiked all through the forest. Despite my cold and the chilly/windy mountain climate, it was absolutely gorgeous. It was a fun trip but took a toll on me as I've been cuddled up in bed ever since I got back, except for a trip to the doctor :[ ! I'm now entering week 8 of my journey in Australia, time has gone by so fast. Hope everyone back home is happy and healthy and enjoying the easy summer time livin'. Send good healthy vibes my way, I need 'em! 

Peace & Love from afar ~mrlb 

My office building, level 2 and gym level 1- Export House, Pitt St, CBD

Handstand, sunset and skyline

One of my best friends and favorite Italian in the world, Mario

Just Hangin out...

Mates!

Cady & I at the lounge 

Cole & I jammin' on the train to Katoomba

Katoomba

Blue Mountains

The 3 sisters

Katoomba falls

Hiking through the forest

A cool table 

Free Fallin

One of my most treasured moments in Australia:

I requested this song to the 'no name' band at Side Bar in Sydney on the Fourth of July. I couldn't have asked for a better performance of one of my favorite songs of all time... Even though he didn't know all the words, the crowd, filled with Americans, got it covered !

I woke up wanting to kiss you...

<< This goes out to every single person I love in America. I miss you~
Mom, Dad, Jack
My extended family especially my beloved Nanny.
My beautiful friends from home especially Lauren, Paige, Chase, Courtney M.
My amazing friends in West Chester- especially my old roomies Alexx Lindsey and Kate and all the other friends that have made this a spectacular year of my life including, Sam T, Kev, Zach, Nate, Sam P, Tyler & a very very special shout out to my second family, who I could not survive without, WCUltimate Fam, I do not know what I would do without EVERY single one of you. I miss the US terribly especially yesterday being the 4th of July. There was a small celebration here in Australia for American Independence day, but nothing compared to how we do it in the land of the free.

Two weekends ago I went to the horses races with Kayla, Keri and Patricia. The girls had met a jockey who got us in the races for free. It was nice to get out of the city for a day and enjoy this nice event. Some of the girls bet and actually won a couple times, only one of them had a come up though. I guess I'm not such a risk taker because I couldn't bare the thought of losing money so I just watched. We ate lunch and I had a chicken kebab which tasted exactly like wings except on a stick instead of a bone. Yummm...

On Sunday I went back to Manly beach and jumped in the ocean with Patricia! It was freeezing cold. Afterwards we did some shopping in the town. During the week, we had a barbie at Park Lodge with all the international students since it some people were to bid farewell. We had a ton of food and stayed up late eating and chatting. On Tuesday me and my Swiss mate went to Maxwell Brener's for some chocolate fondue. It was delicious.On Wednesday I stayed late at work to have drinks at the office because it was some other interns last day. Thursday was the start of an amazing weekend... my favorite so far. Despite the fact that I was taught the invaluable lesson that there are fake people no matter where you are in the world I still had the best time. On Thursday all of park lodge went out to Cargo bar and I met a cool Aussie! We chatted up about all the differences between Australia and America (he used to live in NY). Its quite funny how different we really are!

On Friday Carlos and I took a trip to Bondi. We ate at the mall and Carlos got KFC. He was in heaven. We went to KMart and it was amazing because its the only place I've been in Australia where everything is CHEAP.. even cheaper than some things in the US. It was incredible. When I got home I went for a long run in beautiful Moore Park. I made plans with Patricia to go out to a bar I'd heard about from so locals. Patricia and I went to Shady Pines on Crown Street. By far the best bar in Sydney. The Americanized Wild Wild West theme had me feeling like I was right at home. Bluegrass music played while I ate a bowl of peanuts out of the shells. Here I met a new Aussie mate, Simon. Since Patricia had to take her slightly-to-intoxicated friend home, I stayed with Simon and his mates. We went to another bar called spectrum that was kind of punk rock themed... Something I had not seen in Sydney very often. It was a very successful night!

On Saturday Patricia Keri and I went to Glebe markets a cool hippy market with TONS of vendors with all sorts of cool stuff. There were so many vintage clothing, art, jewlery, music, and all sorts of other vendors. Live music was played by local artists and there was a lot of food choices too. It was a really neat place.. I was too busy taking in all the sensory to take pics- sorry!

After Glebe we went back to Bondi so the girls could take there turn splurging on cheap goods at KMart. Then me and Kari went to Bondi beach for the winter festival! This is where we saw the ice rink on the beach.. One of the coolest/craziest things i've ever seen. It was 60 degrees and people were ice skating on the beach. We ate chruos and sipped chia tea watching all the Aussies fall on the ice.. it was a riot. We met Simon here and took us for a drink at Bondi RSL which is sort of like a country club except its just a restaurant and bar. You can see the view we had by checking out their Beach Cam except you have to view it at night because we're on the opposite time and if you look at it during the US day time it's just going to be pitch black. After, Kari and I headed back to Surry Hills to get ready for a night out.

On Saturday night I planned a big night out for everyone to go to a Sydney club called Chinese Laundry where there was a big DJ show featuring 12 different DJs and one famous Australian duo, The Aston Shuffle. Honestly this was one of the best nights ever. I had so much fun, I met some Aussies, dancing, sang, raged and I wish I could go back !!! We didn't end up staying so late just because it was so crowded that it got ridiculously HOT! We were all sweating so much so we left. On our way home we heard a DJ played inside another bar so we checked it out. The bar was completely empty but the music was so good!! All of us Americans took over this bar completely. It was awesome.

On Sunday after a morning recovery from a crazy night out, me and the boys went to walk the Sydney Harbor Bridge. What a view!

This week was themed around fourth of July obviously. We had a wonderful celebration but it doesn't even compare to a real fourth of July in the US. There were about 20 of us Americans all together celebrating and we got a free beer at Scubar for being American along with free hotdogs. After we went to Side bar for another free drink and free fries and an awesome live band. It was a completely free night, which was very enjoyable for me and I was very proud to be an American.

Tomorrow I leave for Melbourne (south of Sydney) with Kayla and Patricia.. As wonderful as Sydney is, I'm looking forward to going somewhere new for the weekend. Hope Everyone had an amazing 4th of July and is having a fun, happy summer!! If you couldn't tell from the beginning of this post, clearly I MISS YOU ALL.
So much love,
xoxoxoxo
~mrlb