Sickness and Happy Two Months!

Honestly, I have very little to talk about but since it was my two month on the 21st, I felt the need to write.  I have been deathly ill for 5 weeks now.  I have this terrible cough that I have had for 5 weeks now.  Since about five other people in my house had bronchitis, they gave me amoxicillin which had no positive effect on me.  Then they tested me for whooping cough which fortunately I do not have  and am now on another antibiotic.  Then I got hives all over my body which sucked big time and I looked like a leper and couldn't do much. 
     However, aside from my awful health in which right now I am taking 10 pills a day, Australia has been pretty good.  I think my house is getting lazy about going out and doing stuff so I haven't really done a whole lot.  I'm trying to motivate my house to take trips with me but I'm coming up short on partakers since people didn't really bring enough money to travel really.  I have this awesome trip planned to go to Tasmania and another trip to Ayers Rock and then take a train to Darwin called "The Ghan" which sounds so epic and so Darjeeling Limited.  But tours cost so much money so I'm trying to rent cars and do things on our own yet I need like four people to split the cost of the renting or else it would be mad expensive.  It is very frustrating but hopefully I'll find time to do all these things. 

     This past weekend I went to an AFL game, Australian Football League, which is also called Footie or Aussie Rules.  Basically it is played with a rugby ball and is on a circle field.  There are four posts on each end (see picture) and a goal through the middle is six points and a goal through the two outside posts are one point.  The players can run a few steps with the ball but then they must either bounce the ball or throw, punch, or kick the ball to another player.  The other player can tackle them, wrestle the ball out of their hands even when they are tackled and down.  Its a really fast paced game and these guys have to be in shape because it looks like a game of tag out there.  It was the last game of the season so I decided to man up through the hives and go.  It was a great game and the Sydney Swans won 114-70!
     This week is pretty hectic for me because I have two papers, one test, and one project this week alone.  I've been busy so I haven't done much more.  My posts keep getting further apart but it is because I've been sick and haven't really done much to write about as you cans see with this blog.  Summer back home is over and my spring is on its way!

City2Surf and New Skills

Last weekend I participated in City2Surf, a walk from downtown Sydney to Bondi Beach.  This walk is 14 km or 8.7 miles.  It is the largest timed race in the world with over 80,000 registered participants.  Since it was $60 to partake, a few of my housemates and I decided just to jump into the insanely large crowd.  Most people who started early in the race ran and the winning time was 41 minutes and of course I decided to run the whole thing.  Just kidding.  I think I ran about 0.5 km and only because the people I was with started running.  The people I was with said they were going to tell their friends that they ran the whole thing and I said no one who knows me well would believe me if I said I even ran 2 of the 14 km.  Sad, I know.  But honestly, it was a great morning.  One of my classes, Sociology of Relationships, is more of a self-help class and last week we learned about how you have to slow down in life to really notice what is going on around you.  This was exactly the story for the City2Surf.  One of my housemates ran the whole thing and only saw the path that the run was on.  Since no one I was with really cared about getting a certain time, we really slowed down our pace and saw the beautiful surroundings.  We saw a beautiful private beach (picture above on the left) that allowed you to see both the city skyline and the Habour Bridge.  It was spectacular.  Then we climbed this hill only to gaze again on the same things (picture below to the right of two of my housemates and I doing yoga's tree pose on the hill).  Later on in the race, we passed cliffs that we hung

our heads over to reveal a 100 ft drop to water crashing on the rocks (two pictures below, again with the yoga- dancer's pose).  It was so so so beautiful and you could see quite a few beaches along the shore.  I was so glad that we didn't care about how long it took because those sights really made the race what it was.  I also did it with a few of my housemates that I hadn't gotten very close to so it was a great opportunity to get more time to hang out with them.  We finished the whole thing in 2 hours 41 minutes.  Everyone wearing race tags got medals but I covered my stomach with my jacket and pretended to be a racer so ended up being the only one in my group to get a medal, something I will cherish my whole life because it is the only form of race I ever intend to be in.

     That weekend was also pretty exciting because we found this cave on one of the beaches that is really really awesome.  We went there and built a fire and just hung out for the night.  It was so beautiful and it is a very very very small beach so it is pretty secluded which allowed us to see the stars really well.  I then became quite the explorer and climbed all over the rocks finding more caves.  It is definitely going to be the new hangout for my house as it was the coolest cave ever.  We fit about 20 people in the cave at once and even more could fit.  I feel like a local now because I know of these hidden gems of Sydney.  

     I am also finally meeting more Australians!!!  One of the girls in my house, Alex, is really into pool and we both are pretty darn good.  There is a bar with pool tables that has free pool all night long on Mondays and Thursdays.  Since finding out about this awesome deal, we have been every Monday and Thursday.  While there, we met these two awesome Australian guys who pretended to be our boyfriends so we could escape from two really old creepy men trying to hit on us.  One of them is a pool guru, as I like to call to him, and has promised to teach me a few tricks.  I can already see improvement in my game and I plan on being a professional pool player once I get back.  You all better be ready for some games.  Oh and the guys are teaching me how to have an Australian accent which is actually harder than it seems since I live with Americans and don't know many

Australians.  It's definitely something I need to pick up so I sound so sweet when I get back.

     Another skill I am getting is very very interesting.  Last year, Caleb Jones let me cut his hair which I had never done before.  It was a pretty sweet experience and somehow it came up in conversation with my housemates.  One of the guys whose hair is as beautiful as Justin Bieber's, let Alex and me cut his hair.  We did layers and everything.  It was so sweet and it turned out really well.  We now have about five other guys and three other girls scheduling hair cuts with us.  Yes, this is very dangerous as I really don't want to mess up anyone's hair but I mean I have to get experience somehow, right?  It has been helpful going to the Rudy and Kelly School for haircuts because they talk through the whole thing allowing me to pick up on a few tips.  So since I can't bake here because we have no pans and mixers or anything, I decided to pick up a new skill.  Haircuts anyone when I return?

     Well it is finally starting to get really nice outside.  It has been upper 60s (upper teens in Celsius) and this weekend its supposed to reach 74.  It's weird because it is still winter here and the Aussies still think it is kind of cold.  Crazy I tell you!  The sunsets have been the prettiest things I have EVER seen in my entire life!  The water turns pink with the sky reflecting off of it and the colors are spectacular.  Pictures (to the left) don't do it justice but it is still pretty sweet.  We have been relaxing on the beach playing frisbee, rugby, volleyball, soccer, and just chillaxing all day long.  I'm so glad I only have three days of class but it is going to get dangerously hard to do school work as it gets warmer and warmer.  And then before I know it, I will be back in Virginia all tan from an Australian summer.

Aroma Festival and Camels!! Foundation Day!! Wine Tasting!!

     Last week there was an Aroma Festival in The Rocks in Sydney.  The Rocks are one of the oldest areas of Sydney and are located right under the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  The Aroma Festival is a coffee festival in which there are hundreds of tents all around with everything from about 50 different coffee shops to Turkish crepe things, camel rides, coffee cup paintings (picture to the right- made out of over 5000 coffee cups filled with milk and coffee and a combination of the two to make different tones.  It is the world's largest coffee painting or whatever you want to call it), cupcakes stands, gelato, and everything you could ever want in a festival.  There were some awesome things that I definitely just have to put pictures up of because it was the coolest ever.  For starters, I got to ride a camel along the edge of the harbor (picture below).  Yes, most of the riders were about 5 years old, but how could I turn down a ride on a camel for only $5?  What a steal!!!!!  It was a fabulous day and it was great to see the first of many festivals I plan on going to during my time here in Sydney.

     This past Thursday, 29 August, was Foundation day at my university.  Basically it is a day for the students to get wasted and attend classes drunk.  Everyone wore weird outfits including boys who dressed up like girls which was strange.  They had music playing all day, clubs performing, free gelato, pancake eating contest (which I sucked at but beat the guy I was racing against), and many other random things.  Then at night it is a big dance party both inside and outside.  I got to my uni at 9 am for class, got to the place on campus where Foundation Day was at at 4pm after class and didn't leave the uni til 1:30 am.  It was an extremely long day but an awesome day.  I've become quite the pool player and played for 5 hours that night.  I also was able to meet Australians for the first time really.  Since I live with 24 other Americans, I really don't get the chance to hang with Australians.  That night I met a ton of people and they said they would show us around town, teach us how to surf, and other things as well.  I also officially saw and talked to the second most beautiful guy I've ever seen in my life (only second to John).  Hopefully with these new connections, I can learn the Aussie things to do and places to go.  I'm tired of going out only to find other people from America there. 

     This Saturday I went to Hunter Valley to go wine tasting.  We stopped at three wineries and tried some really awesome wines.  I hated wine, except Moscato, before I left America but since wine is the only cheap drinks here, I have grown a liking for it.  The views were spectacular and the air was so clean and fresh being athe higher altitude.  It was a fabulous day being with all the girls from my house and being sophisticated trying all these really expensive, awesome wines.  My time here is still as amazing as it always is and I'm currently planning my trip to Fiji for Spring Break.  Enjoy the last weeks of summer break for me!