The past week!

G’day everyone! How ya going? I hope all is well. Things have been especially amazing here as of late! It’s strange because it feels like everyone is getting even closer and more connected to everything here, just when we’re starting to think about leaving this place. It makes me incredibly sad to think of leaving, I’m not ready yet. I can’t imagine never seeing these people again and not knowing when I’ll get back to this amazing country. There are still moments I miss people back home, but I still feel like there is so much for me to do and see and be here, it’s weird. The most exciting news I have about anything is that my brother got engaged!! Matt and Laura are now engaged, that’s crazy. And so incredibly exciting! I can’t believe he graduated from pharmacy school and got engaged in the same weekend without me there! I was sad I couldn’t be there to share in either, but still very proud and excited! Anyway, let’s get on with the story.

I’ll start with today and work backwards because that’s what I want to do. Today was great! The best part was getting to talk to Carly for two hours! I had talked to her for just a few minutes last week I think but before that hadn’t spoken a word since the start of January!!! Needless to say, it was absolutely wonderful to get to talk to my best friend again, it makes me feel more connected to home and some normalcy you know. It’s nice that she’s studied abroad and completely understands my feelings even though our experiences were different, those feelings that are even indescribable to ourselves are understood by someone else now! And I got to talk to my other best friend Jess for awhile. And a couple days ago I talked to Amanda before she left for Italy!! So it’s been wonderful to get to talk to my girls. Plus I got to talk to both Mom and Dad today, always a positive. I get to see Dad in just over a week now, too!!!! I got another card from Grandma that totally made my week as well! And some Kool Aid and newspaper articles from Mom! I also turned in a paper this morning and that always feels good, to be done and get rid of assignments. My classes were pretty good, helpful and useful. After my last tute Marc, Brandon, Scott and I stood outside and talked for about an hour and a half about nothing really. I love doing that, just having good conversation is a wonderful thing. By then it was time for caff. Caff is usually leftovers and not too great on Thursdays but tonight it was spectacular! We had chicken caesar wraps with chips, salad, potatoes, cucumbers, some chocolate mousse, and the rolls were actually crisp and warm! They have these amazing rolls every night, but most of the time they are cold, and usually not brown at all. Tonight they were browned and crisp a bit as well as still warm, a real treat!! Anyway, so I was happy, it was one of those times where Alissa eats more than most think she’s capable of you know. Then I went back to get some info on New Zealand from Loretta as I’m trying to figure out what to do for travelling after school. I ended up staying there talking with all her housemates for a couple hours, again, good conversation is amazing. Now I’m writing all you rather than studying for my test that’s online this week!

So, this past weekend was our trip to Sydney!! But before that we had our sloppy unit function! I love this place in case I haven’t said that before. Thursday night was a great time. Our units had all of the nightclub Statik to ourselves at first, we left about 7pm I think. That was a good time as there were quite a few people from all the different units that took part, so lots of different friends. We danced around and drank a little, don’t worry, I kept it to a minimum! After a few hours, the other units that had their unit function met up at Statik with us, that was even more fun! More friends came and there were tons of people all from res. A good time was had by all and I guess I’ll leave it at that. I was pretty exhausted from all I had done that week, but somehow I was still going strong all night and we were some of the last group there and we didn’t leave til about 2am. One of our friends came to pick us up which was really nice so we didn’t have to pay for a taxi. While we were waiting for him to come outside, we saw basically the Geelong Mafia. It was pretty freaky. They were all in black suits and long black trench coats with beards and nice black cars. I walked across the street and down a little ways in case something happened. They pushed some kid down on the ground and were yelling but then drove off. One of our Aussie mates said that really was like a real mafia so it was pretty scary but didn’t turn up to be anything which was good. Anyway, the problem with staying out so late was the fact that we were leaving for Sydney in the morning. Our flight was at 6am, which meant the airport shuttle came to pick us up at 3:30am. So we had a little over an hour to finish packing and be at the bus stop, no time for sleep. That was a little disappointing, but it was nice to talk to some of my housemates for a little while. I was exhausted because it had been such a long night! But we had no choice really.

Friday morning at 3:30am the shuttle picked us up and I was dozing in and out as we picked up a few more people on the way. It was us four Kansas girls, Loretta, Jenny, and Heather and me. When we got to the airport we had to wait almost an hour to board so we sort of slept for a bit. On the plane, we had different seats, so I just passed out asleep before take off and didn’t wake up until we landed, it’s just an hour and a half flight I think, but I was out. So that was the sleep I got for that night, I’ve never done that before! It was a little crazy. We picked up our luggage and called the hostel for our free airport shuttle, it took us awhile to figure out where we were supposed to go, I think it was the lack of sleep. We found it and got aboard another shuttle and dropped off a few people before arriving at our hostel, the famous Jolly Swagman. It was still early morning so we had to wait a little bit to get checked in and get our room. I talked to the guy some about how to get around, particularly how to get to the Opera House by bus because we were going there shortly. He helped us out and gave us our sheets and keys and everything after we paid. We went up and changed clothes and got our stuff ready for the day. We pretty much had to leave right away to catch the bus to make it down to the Opera House by 10 for our scheduled tour, when we did it then it was cheaper when we booked it online. Well, the fact that we weren’t positive what we were doing and we were all a little slow running on just about no sleep, we were confused by the busses and had to wait awhile for one. By the time we got to Circular Quay it was just 10 so we didn’t actually get to the ticket place at the Opera House til about 5 or 10 after, too late to catch our tour. She just had us pay a few extra dollars to go on the 10:30 one so that wasn’t too bad. The funny thing was we saw this lady the next day walking near our hostel. Anyway, so we went on our tour and it was one of the highlights of the trip for me I think. It was awesome to be in this world famous building and see all the parts of it. It was a rainy day out so we stayed inside the whole time. We actually got to go backstage just a little to get from theatre to theatre which was pretty cool. People who work and perform at the Opera House go back there, and we saw some of the dressing rooms and such and where they go on stage, it was awesome. Those were all in the smaller theatres but still. We saw 4 smaller theatres I think, including the studio and then moved on to the two big halls. First we went into the Concert Hall which was breathtaking really. It was so gorgeous and quite impressive. The ceiling was all lights and everything and had a really interesting design, like for the acoustics or whatever, I’m not sure how to say it. The organ was huge and it was just awesome to see it all. She told us some about how much people get paid, who all has been there and what the seats cost. It was impressive. The lobby for it was pretty sweet as well since you could see the Harbour bridge and everything from it. We moved on over to the actually Opera House last. That was pretty impressive as well. We just watched the rehearsal in there, the ballet people were all in there for class. It was beautiful as well, and really neat to see them in action just practicing. Our guide was a little crazy, but that made the tour even more interesting. There were these two little girls that were pretty adorable as well, one of them wanted to sing. The architecture of the building as a whole was quite impressive. The structure and design was intriguing. I really enjoyed that tour and getting to see so much and admire the beauty of the building I guess. We went back and walked along the harbour a bit back to the bus stops. We couldn’t decide what to do for awhile so we ate some lunch in a food court down there. We looked in a couple shops and bought umbrellas since it was cold and rainy that day. Of course, after we bought them it didn’t rain the whole rest of the time. So we decided we were all tired and cold and it was dreary, so I figured out the busses and we went back to the hostel to nap and relax for a bit. Heather and Jenny bought tickets to see a play at the Opera House that night so they got ready for that. Then we all headed out to get some dinner at this fast food type local place with fish and chips, kebabs and the like. Then they left and Loretta and I went to the local Cole’s to buy some fruit and water for ourselves. That was a strange experience since we were in the city, the Cole’s was like a little inside this building, and I think it may have been mostly underground, because it was two levels. It was strange, hard to find our way around, but we got the stuff and headed back to the hostel. Loretta and I had an easy night of playing way too much solitaire and pinball on our computers. We thought we got free wifi in our room but we didn’t. We went down and talked to the people about things to do and how to get different places so that helped us out a lot. We just relaxed and went to bed early as we were so tired!

I know that was only one day in Sydney, but I’m so tired and want to go to bed, so I’m going. I have another busy and needing to be productive day tomorrow. I’ll try to write the rest of Sydney in the next couple days to post, though. There are three more days of exciting adventures to look forward to!! Get excited! I’ll leave you with a hug and good wishes and these quotes.

“If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we are not really living. Growth demands a temporary surrender of security.” ~ Gail Sheehy (devotional)

“Laugh at yourself, but don't ever aim your doubt at yourself. Be bold. When you embark for strange places, don't leave any of yourself safely on shore. Have the nerve to go into unexplored territory.” ~Alan Alda

Love always, Alissa