Someone hire me, please!

Well, still no job unfortunately. But I've only been applying for a short time. Applying online is big here and I applied for LOTS of positions online. I also went around the city with my resume like a door to door salesman. A lot of places were hiring that I dropped my resume at so I am hoping to hear from one of them this week!! I applied to a lot of restaurants, but I don't really want to work in one. It's no fun serving people and at least at home the tips were a perk. But I guess people get paid a lot to be servers, so not too bad. But don't get me wrong, I am not being picky whatsoever; I will be happy with any job.

There was a shoe store and a children's clothing store that I would really like to work at! The managers were really friendly and I think I would really enjoy working in an atmosphere like that. So fingers crossed that they want me! The manager at the children's clothing store and I seemed to really click and she seemed to really like me so that is always a plus!

Besides applying to jobs, I have caught up with some friends here. It was really great to see people again! Especially since Steve works crazy hours, I gotta entertain myself. But if you know me, that's never been a difficult task for me. I really do love Adelaide and enjoy just walking around the city. Living in the suburbs is no fun right now, but will be getting an apartment in the city which will be much better! I am not a fan of catching a bus all the time, they aren't exactly reliable here and the rides are pretty boring. And the bus route I live on has some pretty odd people on the bus. Sometimes I wish I had my car to just drive into the city, but once I am in the city I really like being able to walk around. Keeps me much more active.

Last Wednesday I went to Steve's indoor cricket match, which has become fun for me since I actually get what's going on now! The guys on his team are really nice and funny and you know I always like socializing. And last night we went to a friend of his 21st birthday party, which was REALLY different than our 21st birthdays. Her parents rented out a place and there were speeches, but it was fun and it is always good to meet Steve's friends. Tonight we're going to head to China town for some cheap, and REALLY yummy, Chinese food. Then we're going to go see Robin Hood which I am quite excited about!! I have heard it's really really good.

And today, just applying to more jobs, applying for a tax file number and cleaning some! Not the most exciting day ever, but life is still great!

Until next time chicos...

BACK! in the Land Down Under

I am finally back in Australia! Last Thursday I landed in Melbourne nice and early at about 5:30 in the morning. I feared getting through the customs and getting my baggage would take quite awhile. But no, don't let anyone fool you...it does not take as long to get through an Australian airport as it does a major one in the States. One thing that I found amusing was that when I went through customs, the officer looked at all my stamps and then looked at me and then looked back at the stamps and then asked "So where all have you been?" Believe it or not, this question confused and I kinda stammered trying to figure out what the man wanted until he asked "Were you in the U.S. before?" Uhhh DUH! I just got off a plane from L.A. and on my customs card it said I had boarded my flight in the US...that was a weird question.

Anyways....
I was quite jetlagged at first, but I seem to be all caught up now! It's been so great being back here and hanging out with Steve. On Saturday night we went out and I ran into a couple of my friends from when I was here previously so that was really nice! I plan to meet up with them soon to hang out and really catch up. Been looking for jobs and found some possibilities but today will be the day I will actually be handing out the resumes. Hopefully it will pay off and I'll start working soon! I am going to spend the day in the city doing that and also getting information on how to set up a bank account here! So much to do but so excited that I am starting this next adventure!

Much more later! Wish me luck on the job hunt :)

Nearly 2 weeks

I leave in almost 2 weeks!!

AND GET TO SEE STEVE IN ALMOST 2 WEEKS!!

words can't explain the excitement, :)

The Home Stretch

With 18 days until I leave my home of literally 23 years, I am getting pretty nervous. Don't get me wrong, I have no regrets on the decision I have made to go back and make Australia even more apart of my life, but the whole one-way ticket not sure when I am going to see my family and friends again is bound to make me nervous! However, I am also beyond excited. So many people talk about how they'd love to do what I am doing and most those people will never do it. But I AM!

I am starting to get things figured out, like how I am going to get my stuff over there. There's also the little things I need to get done that will make a big difference, like print out pictures of my friends and get an album for them. I bought a travel book for all of Australia and got my own measuring cups. Let's be serious, I am still gonna use my system of measurement for cooking. I am too use to it. And I'll keep getting recipes from Food network so they'll be in the right system.

As of now, I will be attending Bond University for law school. It is in Gold Coast, Queensland which is a really nice place. I am deferring my acceptance til January 2011 because of financial reasons and also because I am going to give University of Melbourne one more chance. I would love to be in that city so I am going to try my hardest to make it happen.

This past weekend I had a reunion with my Clemson friends up in Greenville, SC. It was so great to see everyone and it felt just like old times. It made me so sad leaving them but I know I will see them again. Plus who doesn't want to visit Australia?? Tomorrow I am heading to Auburn to see my cousins, then next weekend to Tuscaloosa to see my Grandmother and then out to Charleston to see Kathryn and Abby. I am trying to see the most people I can before I leave for the other side of the world!

Ah so much to do before departure!

I am going back!

Alright, it's been MONTHS since I posted. Obviously a lot has happened in that time.

I left Australia, in tears, December 11th. Steve came to see me in Sydney before I left and we had a great time. That was definitely the worst flight ever. It was good to be home, but I was really itching to get back. I already had a feeling that I would be going back to Australia...but after some time, I knew I HAD to go back. I've applied to law schools over there, keeping my original plan somewhat. I have been accepted to one, but waiting to hear back from the one I would really like to go to so fingers crossed!

I have my one-way ticket back, May 4th, and I am BEYOND excited. I absolutely cannot wait. I got my work and holiday visa, and I am excited to start this new adventure in my life! I have a lot to do between now and then. I am going to be there for at least 3 years, I have a ton to figure out!

So the countdown starts: 50 days until I leave!

Happy Halloween from the land down under!!

Well, it's Halloween here and it is definitely nothing like home. We've seen some directions around and know that some people are going to dress up, but really nothing like home.

A lot has been going on since my lost post...

Last Saturday, Kathryn and I went on a tour to the Adelaide Hills and it was so enjoyable!! We first went to Gorge Wildlife Park where we held a Koala, saw various others animals and played with Kangaroos!! We then went to Hahndorf which is a small old "German village" up in Adelaide Hills. We had lunch there (AMAZING dessert) and walked around all the neat shops. From there we went to a local chocolate factory and cheese factory. Both were amazing. The cheese was all goat cheese, but each was done differently. Kathryn and I sampled every single one, then each got 2 and had a great time snacking on them with crackers and some local South Australian wine. We then went to Mount Lofty which looks over the whole city/area. It was gorgeous even though it was a tad overcast. Needless to say we really enjoyed that adventure and it was great to get out of the city. Especially since I basically spend my whole time here. Kathryn at least goes out to the university for her research.

This past Wednesday we went to a movie because this theater has what they call "student rush" and it's a discounted ticket along with a free beer, wine or popcorn. We saw Julie & Julia and really enjoyed it!! It was a such a warm evening and so nice out that after the movie neither of us wanted to go home. We walked around and found this neat cafe that Kathryn had been to before and loved. It was like the first super warm night so everyone was out and about. This was all on Rundle Street which is on the other side of Rundle Mall (an all pedestrian, outdoor shopping area) from Hindley Street which we live on, and it so much nicer!! Think of Hindley Street as Destin or Myrtle Beach and Rundle Street as Charleston. Needless to say we love going down there and getting away from Hindley Street for the night. My boss says she refers to Bourbon Street in New Orleans as "Hindley Street on steroids". Which is very true! It's a toned down Bourbon Street. But anyway, we had crepes for a dinner (and I also had it for lunch the next day).

Thursday was exciting for me. Work was having a fundraising cocktail party and silent auction. I spent the day in North Adelaide at the place setting it all up and then stayed to greet the attendees and then later handle all the payments for the auction. I wasn't very excited about it at first because it was mainly all older people but it actually ended up being very fun and was for a good cause! There were dozens of Gold Medal Australian wines for auction, I had never heard of any of them and I might remember a few if I saw their names again.

Friday was a nice day and we headed to the beach. I know I am not known to wear sunscreen at home very much, but I definitely lathered up. The sneaky sun still managed to get me though and I got some random burns. The sun is SO strong here. There is literally a hole in the ozone layer over Australia. It has something to do with the wind currents from Antarctica. So burnt skin happens very easily. Despite burns and lathering up, I am still getting tan.

Today we went sea kayaking with dolphins! It was absolutely beautiful. We went down to Port Adelaide and where we were is now a dolphin preservation area. It all started when a dolphin was given lots of notice because it would race in the river along side the race horses running on the land. The dolphin, which became known as Billy, always came near to play when the horses were out. What's also cool is this dolphin also started doing the trick that dolphins do at Sea World and other parks where they ride the water standing up on their back fin. This is obviously nothing they would need to do in the wild and no one taught her, she did it all on her own so it's really interesting it even happened. And now there are a couple other dolphins that have been seen doing it too after learning from her. It's a river that leads into the sea, but the dolphins love being there because it is the main breeding ground for fishes. There was also a lot of neat water birds present for all the fishes. We lucked out and saw many dolphins and there were also two shipwrecks there that are apparently worth millions to archaeologists. We then went to the Mangroves that are very tropical trees that grow at water, and considering we are not in a tropical area...it really is a freak of nature they are here. It was all so beautiful, we enjoyed it so much.

The tour group we went with also does sea kayaking out in the ocean near cliffs and in sea caves. That tour is full day and sea lions are part of the great views!! We're hoping we'll be able to do that, but we will see!

On next Thursday we will be leaving for Melbourne, and are both so excited to see another city!!

IT'S WARM!

So, today was wonderfully warm at 77. Don't ask me what that is in Celsius, because I don't have a clue. My friend from the U.S. and I put on dresses and when we left our apartments to go to the grocery store, I noticed everyone was still dressing as if it was dead winter. Why do people do that? It's warm, wear warm weather clothes. So we were the happy-go-lucky americans walking down the street in our dresses and sandals, and we loved it.

I haven't really talked about the friend I made from the U.S. Her name is Kathryn and she went to College of Charleston and graduated in May in Marine Biology. She's here with AustraLearn as well but is doing research at the University (AKA Uni) here in Marine Biology. Her and I are really similar and get along great since we both are pretty weird and goofy with our quirks and funky little habits that others might find too strange to handle. Haha. Introducing ourselves as Katy and Kathryn both 22 and recent graduates of South Carolina schools I think causes some people to think we're making it up haha. We've been doubted a couple times on the truth of our stories. We showed one guy our IDs to prove it haha. We also always get the question "Are you guys from Canada?" and we both reply quickly "NO!" Not that there's anything wrong with being Canadian, we just aren't haha. What's even better is we both want to do the touristy things and explore the Adelaide area. We're in the process of planning a trip to Melbourne for the beginning of November and Kathryn has already looked up a TON of information on Melbourne with a long list of neat places and sights to visit for food and beer and anything else our hearts desire. I'm very lucky to travel to the other side of the world and find a girl living next door that's so much like me! I won't lie, we do draw attention to ourselves because we are outgoing and bubbly but it seems Australians haven't minded it. We make friends everywhere, including the line at the grocery store while Kathryn is trying to pay with traveler's checks which proves to be a long process!

This weekend was a really fun weekend. Neither of us work on Fridays so we decided we'd go to the beach. Well, while walking to the mailboxes for Kathryn to mail a postcard, we decided to stop for a beer at this pub right by us, mainly because we noticed the heaps (yup, aussie lingo) of aussie guys around it. Good thing we did, about 2 minutes into being there we befriended a couple guys from a town outside Melbourne here on their Footy Team Trip, which is what Footy teams do after the season is over...just go to another city and have fun! For those who don't know what Footy is, you might want to Google it because my explanation is probably not going to be very accurate. But it's a sport similar to rugby but it's "ozzie rules" and so there is random kicking involved along with different passes and three field goals...and just a lot of confusion and chaos if you ask me. These guys were lots of fun and then shortly another teammate came to the pub and soon our beach plans were forgotten. Whoops. After some time we met up with the rest of their team at this little bar in their hotel that had karaoke. Needless to say, that was very entertaining. After too much off-key singing, we headed out again and had a great night with them all. They were all extremely nice and so much fun. So the next day we woke up and it was yet another nice day. Well, we thought we'd go walking around, maybe grab a beer outside a pub and just enjoy the great weather. Which we did, but then we met another Footy Team Trip. Apparently they're all over Adelaide this weekend. These guys were from Melbourne and were another great group of really nice and fun guys. We even were given two extra jerseys they had made for their Footy Trip with their team name and logo and "Footy Trip Adelaide 2009" on it. Talk about a souvenir! Haha. We had a great night with them as well, guess we should learn some things about footy now.

Today I have just gotten some grocery shopping done along with cleaning up my place. Yes parents, it's actually pretty clean. I think it's because I don't have very much stuff here. I watched the the Netball World Series, which is another sport played here and I know England since that is who Australia was playing. Well, again, if you don't know what Netball is then you might want to Google it. But, from what I could tell it was similar to basketball except that you can't dribble or move with the ball and the basket doesn't have a backboard. The ball is moved down the court by an overhead pass basically. The ball kinda looked like a volleyball too. Also, the ring on the court where people shoot is really small and it seemed like you can't block someone from shooting. That would frustrate me. They also would slap the ball with their hands on defense to keep them from successfully passing it. I think that's what they were doing at least. The quarters were really short and it was weird not seeing a sport as aggressive as what I'm use to watching/playing. So there's another sport I've learned about that I had never even heard of before coming here!

Australia has been great so far. The people are friendly and genuinely want to know why we're here and how we like it. We're complimented on our accents daily (but I feel weird saying thank you, it's not like we chose our accent and we like theirs back! haha) and get made fun of a lot (which in aussie language means they like you, think back to kindergarten...).

And I have tried Veggiemite. Again, Google it if you don't know it, but it's this brown goopy stuff that is really salty and bitter but apparently has heaps of nutrients in it. It was pretty gross, but being cheap with lots of health benefits it apparently was an Australian staple in poorer times.

OH! And something really weird. Last night, the main street of Hindley (which is what I live on) was blocked off because there was a parade of zombies. I kid you not. Heaps of people were walking dressed like zombies, with fake blood and all. I will never understand that, it was too strange.

And yes parents, I know I'm here for my internship. Which I do enjoy, I really like the people I work with and they give me great ideas on where to go for touristy stuff. The work is sometimes fun, and sometimes not. There is a program that has to be made for the games so I'm hoping my boss is going to let me work on that once it's being designed. I already had a couple ideas for it that she really liked, soooo I'm hoping that will lead to me working on it. Really I could probably design the whole thing because it's fairly simple and I've done similar things before, but I'm sure I'd be doing it with someone else.

alright, mates...until further adventures, that is all for now!