Book Crossing

Several weeks ago I went to the movie theater in Sydney and while we were sitting in this lounge area waiting for it to start, I noticed a lonely book on one of the chairs. Upon closer inspection, I saw that the book had a sticky note on it that said "I am not lost - Please read me - Details inside - www.BookCrossing.com". Very mysterious! Inside the front cover was a sticker that read:

Howdy! Hola! Bonjour! Guten Tag!
I am a very special book. You see, I am traveling around the world making new friends. I hope I've met another friend in you. Please go to www.BookCrossing.com and enter my BCID number (shown below). You'll discover where I've been and who has read me, and can let them know I'm safe here in your hands. Then... Read and Release me! BCID: 688-7254327

I thought this was a cool concept so I took the book home with me. The book itself was just okay- very predictable and I read it all in one night. But I wanted to contribute to it's international profile. So I brought it with me to Hawaii and left it at a Starbucks for someone else to read. You can follow the book online too, however it turns out that I was only the second reader so it doesn't have a very exiting life so far.

Big Island of Hawaii

I have never really liked the name, the Big Island. It sounds so generic compared to the exotic names of its sister islands like Oahu and Maui, but we wanted to go to a different island so here we are in the great state of Hawaii, on the Big lsland.

Almost as soon as I got off the plane, and met up with my family, we headed straight to Taco Bell; and then later we went to Wal-mart to get groceries. Are we Americans or what? So far I haven't seen much, but we're heading to the beach as soon as Mom makes breakfast. I love home-made food... I've missed it so much!

Aloha!

UGGS - Love 'Em or Leave 'Em?

I bought my first pair of UGG boots today! Even though they have a bunch of different styles now, I got the original version in tan. I think they were popular in the States in 1999, but I don't care because I love them! Perhaps I should throw some Coke on them now and get over it. (See how I make jokes about my dying Mac - I use laughter to cover the pain!)
They kinda make my feet look twice their actual size (see image above), but they also make my feet look extra Australian, since they are made here and probably what Aboriginals wore in the olden days. What do you think?

State of Origin

Last night after work two of my co-workers invited me out to happy hour to watch "State of Origin". No, this is not a movie or TV show as I first thought. But apparently it is a big Rugby League game between the Queensland Cane Toads and the New South Wales Cockroaches (gross!)... or as I referred to them Maroon and Light Blue (respectively). Apparently this game is a big deal because these are special teams formed with the best players from other rugby teams. See, there are all these different rugby "leagues" and something called Australian Football League which I think is also rugby, but with different rules. It's all very confusing and I lost interest half way through typing that last sentence...

Anyway, we went to a sports bar in Double Bay and watched the game. I was going for the maroon team (or QLD), even though I probably should've rooted for NSW since that's my home. But, Meg, my co-worker, is from Brisbane and told me to root for her team. Since she's beautiful and SO nice and I want her to be my best friend... I did. And I think I made the right choice because QLD ended up winning!! Bonus- I learned tons about rugby:

1. There are two halves, each forty minutes each... but the timer counts up, not down
2. Each team is trying to get to ball to the "end zone" (I'm not sure what its actually called), and in doing so is allowed six tackles from the opposing team, before they have to turn over the ball.
3. Players can only run or kick forward, but have to pass backwards
4. If a team does get the ball to the end zone this is called a "Try" and is worth 4 points.
5. You don't have to slide into the end zone, but everyone does!
5. After the Try the team is allowed a kick (aka. field goal) which must go between the "goal post" and is worth 2 extra points
6. Tackling above the shoulders is illegal
7. Rugby players do not wear any protection... not even cups! (see image below)So it was lots of fun and I even got to witness my first rugby fist-fight which was arguably the most exciting part of the game! And after it was over, both fighters were still playing in the game... strange! Also, I decided that rugby players have the sexiest legs of all athletes. Now I'm sure American football players, and soccer players have nice legs too, but rugby players wear tiny shorts and show them off. Loves it!!

Now with all my new rugby knowledge... I can't wait to go to my first "live" rugby game!!

One Tree Hill - Who Knew?

You know that feeling when you've been studying for hours on end and you start to go a little crazy? And you cannot possibly fit one more piece of information in your brain? And you try and find things to do, anything, to keep from studying?

Well I am ashamed to admit that during my study breaks I was so desperate that I started to watch episodes of One Tree Hill. And worse than that... I actually started to like it. But I only saw season five and I'm still trying to decide if I should watch from beginning. What? I'm only like 5 years late or something.

Anyway, season five features an aspiring singer "Mia" (aka. Kate Voegele) and on one episode she sings a song that has been stuck in my head forever. I love it! So listen and enjoy... its her cover of "Hallelujah".

Sadly I can't find this version on iTunes... but the Jeff Buckley version is good too!

Done!

I am totally done with my first semester of school! Yay!!

I had my last final exam on Friday night at our remote campus which is a twenty minute train ride from home. As soon as we finished, Jackie and I wanted to celebrate immediately so we bought some gin & tonics from the closest bottle shop and drank them from brown bags at the train stop. This, of course, is totally illegal (as is drinking on the train- which we did too), but we decided if we were caught we would just play ignorant. We didn't care because we were done!! So now I have a month and a half of no school and no studying! Even more exciting than that is ... (wait for it) ... I AM COMING HOME!! ...Well sort of. On Friday, I am going to meet my family in Hawaii for a few days. So technically I will be on American soil, and any place that has Taco Bell is like home to me. (And yes, I've already looked it up and there are two Taco Bells on the island!) So I am very excited about seeing the family and feeling the hot summer sun on me! Five days and counting... yay again!

When I told my roommate about my plans his response was "Fair Dinkum?" (see Dingo Lingo). I laughed at him and told him I didn't think Australians really said that phrase!

What Does Australia Have Against Grapes?

Did you know that the purple colored Skittle in Australia is black currant flavored? I just bought a tiny bag (for $4) and noticed that the purple ones were really dark... almost black. And they tasted weird.... very currant-y. That's when I noticed the flavor on the back of the bag and realized that Australia loves black currant. I can never find grape juice in the stores (or cranberry for that matter), but there are always a bunch of black currant juices. What is a black currant anyway?

Maybe grapes aren't popular here because they only sell the kind with seeds in them. No wonder nobody likes them... too annoying to eat. Which makes me wonder, how does America take the seeds out of the grapes? Who cares... thank goodness they do! Also I've noticed that Australia loves figs. They are everywhere too... Very strange fruits.

PS- I am desperately trying to avoid studying. I am so over this semester! Two more tests and five more days to go!! Maybe I should clean my room now... that will motivate me to want to study- right?

I Finally Did It!

This week has been so cold!! Right now it is 8 degrees outside, okay that is in Celsius, but still that's like 46 Fahrenheit. I am SO cold in my room and have no thick blankets!! Last night it even snowed in the Central Western part of NWS. Who knew it got cold in Sydney? Not me...

Anyway, as I've mentioned before I'm always so paranoid that I will accidentally lock myself out of my bedroom, and today I finally did it! It happened after I got out of the shower... I was making myself some food and my bedroom door, which was cracked open, mysteriously slammed closed- automatically locking it and leaving me with no key! Fortunately I was wearing pajama pants and a top, unfortunately I was not wearing anything underneath (if you catch my drift), nor was I wearing any shoes.

Now, the procedure in situations like this is that you're supposed to go the security office so they can issue you a temporary key. Simple enough right? Well here are my problems:
1). The security office is in the main building of campus which is at least a five minute walk on a very busy street.
2). I have no jacket, or shoes... to name a few things... and I am cold even inside my apartment
3). My hair is wet from the shower and I am pretty sure I will get pneumonia if I step foot outside
4). None of my roommates are home to help me

So I had to wait around in the living room for a few hours (which allowed time for my hair to dry) until Will got home. He lent me his shoes and jacket so I could finally go to security, get into my room and get on with my life. What a mess!

Silver Lining: During my 'house-arrest' I did get to watch Oprah which was about celebrities who have battled with major medical issues (ie. Montel Williams and MS), and heard a great quote which I will share now: "Without the bad times, the good times wouldn't mean a thing!"

God Save The Queen!

Yesterday was a public holiday in Australia, it was the Queen's Birthday. And apparently theres a 'game' you're supposed to play where you drop a dollar coin (or a British pound) with the queen's picture on it, into a pint of beer. Then someone says 'God Save the Queen', and you chug the beer as quickly as you can. I'm not sure if this game is specific to the Queen's Birthday holiday, but either way I didn't get to play... so maybe another time.

But I did get to go to dinner with Lisa and afterward we went to Circular Quay to check out Sydney's Vivid Light Walk. It is a part of Smart Light Sydney that showcases art sculptures and installations that use innovative and smart technology. There were some cool pieces, but the best part was definitely the last stop where they light up the sails of the Opera House in all these cool patterns. Unfortunately I couldn't get great pictures pf this because I apparently don't know how to take pictures at nighttime. But check out the slide show below anyway...

Pink Party

I'm finally done with accounting, and I literally could not be happier!! My final exam, last Saturday, went pretty well so I'm fairly confident that I passed... yay!

Fortunately we had an extra reason to celebrate on Saturday night. It was my friend Ashleigh's birthday party and because her favorite color is also pink, just like mine, she had a pink themed party. Everyone was supposed to wear something pink, but strangely even though I love pink I don't have a lot of pink clothes. I think black is my color... so Jackie and I went to Paddy's Market to find something cheap and pink to wear. What we found were pink wigs- ha! It's like last Halloween all over again. I am not sure why I am literally a foot taller than the other girls, and looking slightly tranni, but it was tons of fun. People called us "Pinky" all night and the other girls hated us!

Social Suicide

This week I have been spending many long hours and late nights studying for my upcoming accounting final exam, which is taking place this Saturday. And since I usually just spend all day in the library or at a friends house with my face in a book, I have not made much of an effort to look my best as I typically would if I had class or something.

So I came home from the library the other day, and truth be told I hadn't showered, I was wearing no make-up, and dressed slightly homely, so I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised when my roommate's friend, who is always over, saw me and said, "Monica, You're looking very..."

"Lesbian?", I helped.

And she said, "I didn't want to say... (ha ha)... I just mean usually you're dressed up when I see you. And now you're wearing runners (tennis shoes) with jeans"...(gasp!).

Uh, since when is that a problem? So then my two roommates both turned and looked at me and Will said "You're definitely not supposed to wear runners with jeans, I learned that from Jerry Seinfeld". He said I was committing social suicide, and Jen agreed.

Huh? No one told me!! I am so sure I have seen other people wearing sneakers with jeans, like maybe Britney Spears... and if you're telling me Britney is not a fashion icon I won't know what to believe anymore!! :)

I Cried Today...

My beautiful Mac is still in the hospital and truth be told I have been very lonely without it. So you can imagine my delight when I got a message from Josh at the Apple Store telling me to call him back for updates. Unfortunately, my delight was very quickly squashed when the first thing Josh said was, "I don't have great news for you!".

In my original estimate they were just going to replace the touch-pad and the exterior casing, which was already going to cost a small fortune. But apparently they did a diagnostic test and found out that the damage was much worse inside the hard-drive. Josh was trying to explain it to me, but I didn't understand all his fancy computer-lingo... so I can't be exactly sure what was wrong, but he just said that there was a lot of liquid inside and that typically this will erode the hard-drive over time. And that he definitely recommends replacing this.

I told him that it doesn't sound like is going to be a cheap fix.. and he said it would cost approximately the same amount as I originally paid for my brand new 15" MacBook Pro... EIGHT MONTHS AGO!!! As you can imagine, I immediately started crying, on the phone to this IT-stranger... oh and I was at work too (but luckily no one was around).

Was I supposed to get travel insurance on my computer because Josh seemed quite taken aback that I didn't have it. But when he realized I was weeping on the other side of the line, he tried his best to make me feel better, by telling me that I could maybe sell the old computer on Ebay since the LCD screen didn't have any damage. Thanks! Oh, and he said he wouldn't charge me for the $100 diagnostic fee, and would try to clean out as much liquid as he could. I'm so glad I wasn't in the store when I heard this news... although maybe they would have just given me a computer since guys are so awkward around crying girls.

I am SO incredibly upset, I think I could start crying again if I think about it much more... I can't believe I am such a idiot!

Oh, a brighter note... it is official! My sis is coming to visit me next month which I am extremely excited about. This conflict of emotions is quite unsettling!

School's Out for Summer!!

... I guess technically school's out for "winter" down-under, and more technically I still have three finals to get through, but no more classes (... no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks!) Yay!! What will I do with all my free time now? Maybe I can finally read/ become obsessed with Twilight, or take a tour of the Opera House, or visit the Blue Mountains... or just sleep till noon and try to make some money. Yeah, that sounds about right!