Happy Birthday, I'm 21!

Holy crap, I'm 21.

It's insanity, celebrating what would be such a huge birthday in the States here in Australia. Thousands of miles away from my friends who would be celebrating with me and my family who would be, too. But, thankfully, I have amazing, wonderful, fantastic friends here who made this milestone of a birthday just as brilliant as it would have been if I was in the States. I can't wait to get home and celebrate again, but it was a great day.

Friday, my boss at work came up to me and asked me what I was doing for lunch. I said nothing, that I had actually forgotten my sandwich at home and was planning on grabbing one from the convenience store down the street. She laughed at me and said that I would not be doing that - I would be going with the office to my birthday party at a restaurant in the complex! I was floored. I mean, I'd only been working there for four days and they were throwing me a birthday party? Amazing! So at 12:30pm, me and seven of my wonderful coworkers went to celebrate. It was so fantastic. They all chatted me up and I got to know everybody - they're so friendly and genuine, really interested in who I am and where I want to go with this job. It was great to hear all about their stories of the company and to feel like part of the team. We all split a couple bottles of wine and had some amazing food and then my boss (like my big boss, I mean the director of marketing) whipped out my present. Seriously. PRESENTS. Plural, actually. What company gives an intern who's worked there for three days presents!? I got the Scene It! board game, the first season of their show Satisfaction on DVD, a box of candy in a really cool Tangle (another one of their shows) box, and a Showcase (their series channel) beanbag chair. Seriously. A beanbag chair. It made me feel so welcomed and appreciated. I still can't believe how lucky I am to have an internship like this. Not only do they trust me and give me real work but they give me presents! And the cherry on top of the work day was heading to BUSC in the afternoon and seeing that my bosses from my internship over the summer sent me my Trouble the Water DVD with such a kind note on the inside. It made me feel so good! It was a great start to my birthday!

That night, Megan, MJ, Nathalie, Sam, and I went to my favorite Mexican restaurant, the Flying Fajita Sistas for margaritas and a pre-birthday dinner. Sam and Nathalie were going to be gone for the actual day so we decided to celebrate with them beforehand so nobody felt left out. We had queso and margaritas and they bought me a half dozen amazing cupcakes which we promptly devoured after the meal. We laughed and drank and rang in my birthday before heading home to sleep after our first week at work.

Saturday morning I woke up and went to the Paddington markets with Ashleigh and MJ for a little birthday shopping. I got a beautiful hair accessory for the Melbourne Cup that's hand made with beautiful pink flowers and feathers, a small cross-carry clutch made by an Australian designer, a red patent croc travel clutch also made by an Australian designer, a beautiful shirt dress and matching belt, a t-shirt with a unicorn on it (so cute), and a bag of yummy Tasmanian Pepperberry dark chocolate. We also got cupcakes and a delicious lunch at Sloane's Cafe in Paddington and chocolate frappes at Max Brenner's - a must for birthdays. :) I then went and got my nails done, which I needed to do and started getting ready for my birthday dinner.

15 of my amazing friends came out with me to Posh Spice, an amazing Indian restaurant in New Town where they do Bollywood dancing on Saturday nights. We had delicious butter chicken, curry, dosas, naaan, and jasmine rice while we danced with their Bollywood performer. He found out it was my birthday and pulled me up pretty quickly to dance with another woman who was celebrating her bachelorette party. It was incredibly fun. The bachlorette shared her giant blow up penis with me, which was interesting, and then afterward we piled into cabs and headed to King's Cross and SoHo. Our cab dirver didn't really know where it was so we got dropped off blocks away from the club and had to walk there. It was insanely busy in King's Cross and some drunk guys smacked my ass, which angered me quite a bit. I kept screaming, "I am not an object!" until our friend Maria found us and got us into the club - SoHo. The rest of the evening was filled with dancing and drinks, so much fun! We ended up back at home around 3am and I went straight to sleep.

In the morning, we were supposed to go to the beach but it was pouring rain so instead we all got Thai food, my favorite, and watched some DVDs - a perfect post-birthday celebration. It was so fantastic to wake up to tons of birthday messages from Facebook and family, even though I'm on another continent I felt all the love. It was one of the best birthdays I've ever had, fantastic friends, fantastic food, and fantastic fun. I am so lucky to have such amazing people around me all the time on two separate continents and I feel so blessed!

It was an amazing 21st!

Showtime Australia: My Home for the Next Seven Weeks

I really think I have the best internship in the program. It's amazing, and I love it.

Now I've only worked there for four days, but I'll give you a basic rundown of what I've been up to so far.

I work for Showtime Australia, the television network. They combine programming like Dexter and True Blood from the States with original Australian programming that they produce like Tangle and Satisfaction. I'm working in three key areas: marketing, programming, and executive production. Marketing isn't really my major or interest but they're launching six new channels on November 15th so the marketing department and my main boss are stretched pretty thin. I'm really happy to help because they give me amazing responsibilities like creating two subscriber newsletters on my own, which go to over 50,000 people and creating the newsletter for their media contacts in the industry. It's been great learning about the processes that go into launching these new channels and getting them out there in Australia. Everybody is busy and excited. It's really dynamic and frenetic at times, the energy is amazing. The entire office is filled with friendly, engaging people who are willing to help me and include me in what they're doing, there's no real pretension, everybody is more than happy to hear my questions or explain what's going on.

In programming, I've just been shadowing their main programmer - Derek, who's working on the next year's schedules. My first big job was to catalog and alphabetize their entire DVD screener collection, which was a huge task. It was great, though, because it allowed me to absorb their entire library and see what I want to borrow and also what makes up a comprehensive collection for programming. I'm hoping to get more into acquisitions as well and learn the process of working with distributors to get programs and films on air across the world. It's a great department.

The executive producer, Kim also has quite a bit for me to do. I don't know what it really entails, yet, but I'm excited because she's a woman in a male-dominated industry and one who's fantastic at her job. She's the EP on most of Showtime's original programming, like Tangle, and I'm just really curious as to the specifics of her job and the daily ins and outs of what she does. When I approached her she was incredibly friendly and excited to get me involved, especially when she heard my concentration was on executive production and how really, truly fascinated by her job I was. I'm hoping she can steal me away in the next week or so, especially after the launch when marketing calms down a bit. All three areas are really great for me to have on my resume and the skills I'm learning are invaluable for the future. Not to mention - I get to watch DVDs half of the day. :) I need to familiarize myself with the Australian programs, so half the day is usually spent watching really great shows that I'm going to be super upset will not be available to me when I go home! I'm hoping one of my bosses will keep me in DVDs even when I get back to the States!

It's only been a week at my internship but so far I'm adoring it, I'm happy and ready to get up every morning, even though it's early, because I know the day will fly by with interesting and challenging work. It's such a success. I can't wait to keep learning!

Next up: birthday celebrations!

Spring Break: Southern Hemisphere Style

First things first: Spring Break!

Sam and I woke up bright and early on Sunday morning to fly to Fiji. After an all too expensive cab ride with a cab driver who thought we were ignorant tourists, we got to the airport and through customs, to our gate. The plane was huge, a big double-decker Air Pacific 747. The crowd going to Fiji was incredibly diverse. Most of the Hindus in Sydney were actually heading there because Fiji has a huge Diwali festival that was going on right as we got to Nadi. It was really cool to see all the women in their beautiful saris for the celebration. A great cultural start to our vacation. I immediately whipped out my Kindle and started Middlesex, a book I've been meaning to read for almost two years. Within pages I was engrossed and so happy that I had bought it. A fantastic book makes a four hour plane ride go so fast and by the time we landed in Nadi I was well into it and hooked. It was dark by the time we arrived so there wasn't much to do besides head straight to the hotel, the Sheraton Fiji Denaru Resort. It's on its own island with three other resorts and we got an amazing deal through Travelocity. They upgraded our room and man, was it beautiful. The whole resort was gorgeous, open floor plan with views of the ocean and palm trees. The people were so friendly and kind. In Fiji you say 'Bula' for hello, welcome, and most greetings. So we had to embrace the bula attitude that they were giving us. It was great. I was exhausted and so was Sam so we headed into the room to watch some TV and get room service and sleep - my number one goal of vacation.

We woke up on Monday morning to an unfortunate sight - rain. But, rain in paradise is still paradise so we grabbed breakfast and I made the best of it by making some phone calls since my iPhone was my only calling option. I got to talk to Amanda, Danny, and Ben which made my morning. We then scheduled our spa treatments and decided to wander around the other resorts. I popped a squat on a pool chair under an umbrella to avoid the rain, curling up with my book. That's all I wanted - to read, to enjoy, to relax. Plus, Middlesex was so engaging that any free second I could get to sit down, I would. I got some Christmas shopping done since the exchange rate was so brilliant and then headed over to the spa to get a massage and a pedicure. It was exactly what I needed after all the work and stress of the first half of the semester. The pedicure felt great too, and afterward we headed out for an Indian meal to celebrate Diwali with the country. It was quite tasty but the creeping feeling of being sick was definitely catching up to me and by the end of dinner (and two pitchers of water just to myself...) I couldn't ignore it. I had to go back to the room and sleep, hoping I would wake up feeling better.

I did not. I woke up on Tuesday morning to more rain and the feeling of being hit by a Mack truck. My sinuses were under so much pressure I could feel it throughout my head not to mention a sore throat and an obvious fever. I thought I'd try to make it through breakfast but even that was torture, so thankfully when staying at a nice resort there's always a doctor on call. After breakfast I phoned her and talked for awhile, describing my symptoms. Unfortunately, with the humidity in Fiji she advised me to go immediately back to my room and rest. Her first worry was H1N1 with all the traveling I'd been doing, so she wanted me away from the entirety of the resort and in air conditioning to control my fever. So I (surprisingly happily) went back to the room until she could see me at 2:30pm. I did the one thing I love to do on vacation: read. I devoured Middlesex, absolutely ate it up. It was perfect, despite feeling sick, to lie in the air conditioning, in my giant comfy hotel bed, surrounded by pillows and a down comforter, reading a quality novel by myself. Even the rain and feeling sick couldn't really deter my happiness - this was vacation for me! When she showed up, thankfully my fever had gone down so she was pretty sure it wasn't the Swine Flu but instead a bad sinus infection that had spread throughout my body (I also had a painful rash on my legs and arms). Being viral, she couldn't give me an antibiotic but I got some Sudafed in my body and was able to sleep most of it off in the afternoon. I finished Middlesex right as the sun was coming out of the clouds while setting. I decided to go do the last of my Christmas shopping and try to meet Sam for dinner. We hung out by the pool for awhile then went and had a wonderful fish dinner. I had delicious scallops and Mahi Mahi. Even though it was a day of sickness and exhaustion, I really got to do two things that make a vacation for me - read and eat good food. I was not upset at all.

Wednesday morning we woke up to bright blue skies so we decided to take a charter boat out to one of the other islands for a good beach day. We took a day trip to Beach Comber Island and laid out on the white sandy beaches all morning. It was perfect. Soft sand, clear water, and music to listen to. We had a light lunch, met some new friends from North Carolina and chatted with them, then went snorkeling in the reef. We saw a nurse shark and I followed it as it darted away. The reef life was beautiful - lots of blue starfish and multi colored sea cucumbers not to mention tons of fish and coral. It was a good hour snorkel. Afterward, I planted myself back on the beach for a little more sun, started a new book (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), and enjoyed the last hours of the sun. The clouds rolled back in right when we were getting back on the charter boat and the day of sun and sea really took it out of me. My sinuses were back at it so when we got back to the resort I took a long, leisurely shower, reveling in the space to move around knowing I'd be back in the tiny Unilodge shower in mere days, and threw on my PJs. I was feeling too gross and sinusey to eat so I curled up and watched Party of Five, Grey's Anatomy, and Friends, thanking my lucky stars for the prevalence of US content on international TV. I fell asleep quickly, having to get up early to catch my flight back to Australia for the second half of my adventure...

Thursday morning I flew from Fiji to Brisbane, and then Brisbane to Airlie Beach or the Whitsunday coast. I realized when I got to Brisbane that the hotel I was booked in for the night was actually inaccessible from where I was flying into so I quickly canceled it and booked a new room at the Club Crocodile Resort - thank you iPhone and Travelocity! I landed in Airlie Beach just in time to watch the sunset on the bus back. I got to the hotel and crashed almost immediately, I really love sleeping in hotel beds! I did get to watch a couple episodes of Glee and have to recommend it in the highest. It was fantastic! I got a solid night's sleep and woke up early to head into town to check in for my sailboat leaving that afternoon. Unfortunately, I woke up to a bit of a nasty surprise...pink eye. It was not what I wanted before getting on a boat for three days. But, shit happens, so I packed up, got in a cab, and headed to the pharmacy before breakfast. I made the pharmacist put the drops in because I'm a huge baby and can't do it myself and spent the morning reading near the ocean at Airlie Beach. I had a great breakfast and lunch then headed off to the marina for the departure of Silent Night, the boat I'd be spending the next two nights on. It was a beautiful boat and the people were fantastic. I got to spend all afternoon lounging on deck in the sun, finishing The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and starting Never Let Me Go. The sun was beautiful and warm and I love a good sail so by the time we anchored in a small cove in the Whitsunday Islands I was happy to eat and chat with my fellow boat mates. I was pretty exhausted so I turned in early to wake up early - seeing the sunrise on the ocean is one of the best things in the world.

Saturday morning I woke up and we had breakfast then started sailing off to Whitehaven Beach, one of the most photographed places in all of Australia. This is the most gorgeous beaches I've ever seen, hands down. It's the largest collection of pure silica sand in the world. Silica sand is perfectly round and soft, like powdered sugar. It's so fine you can polish silver, exfoliate your skin, and brush your teeth with it. I loved it. The water was clear and bright blue and warm like bath water. I spent nearly an hour just sitting in the water swimming around. Then, I laid out and read my book a little more, enjoying the soft sand between my toes. It really was the definition of paradise, I can't think of any other way to describe it. We got back on the boat and had a much-needed lunch then sailed out to snorkel. It was the best snorkeling I've ever seen. The fish were fearless and came right up to you, not to mention the coral was bright, bright colors and so thick that sometimes you were within arms distance away from it. Our guide, Tom, told us that it was that good because it was a younger reef, still part of the Great Barrier but only 10,000 years old compared to the 30,000 years that the reef in Cairns is. There was this HUGE fish that came right up to us, it was so tame you could pet its head. It was as big as me, I loved it. After our snorkel we got back on the boat to an unfortunate plumbing problem which made the afternoon sail a little ripe-smelling but by the time we got to the cove where we would be sleeping it was fixed. Our captain, Brendan, showed us these beautiful eagles that came right next to the boat to swoop up the bread wrapped in bologna he was tossing for them. It was amazing to see them just feet from your face. After a delicious dinner we all had some wine and chatted until the evening when I got to fall asleep again to one of my favorite things in the world - the rocking of a boat. Sunday morning we got up early and had a magnificent sail back to Airlie Beach - the wind was fantastic so we were keeling and speeding along the entire way back. It was a great finish to a great couple days.

After getting off the boat and saying goodbye to my new friends I met up with some of my other friends from BU to get a cab back to the airport and fly back to Sydney. I was happy to see them after a couple days by myself and leaving Sam in Fiji, we had a great trip back. I even got to watch some Alias thanks to my friend Sam who's iPod was stocked with episodes. :) We got back late, unpacked, and went straight to bed (after a long shower, seeing as how we'd all been on boats that morning!).

Even with a sinus infection, pink eye, and rain I still had an amazing vacation. I finished three books, got to sleep in, and relaxed as much as I wanted to. I came home with a nice tan, salt in my hair, and souvenirs for everyone back home. Everybody's Christmas presents are coming from Fiji, so be ready! :) It was a wonderful, relaxing break after the stress and frenetic energy that was the end of the first teaching period. I loved it. Check out more pictures at the bottom of this page - there's a link to my Picasa Web Albums now where all of my pictures from the trip are up!

Next up: Internships!

Apologies!

I can't believe it's been more than two weeks since I've posted! That's insanity.

Get ready for three rapid fire posts right....


NOW!

PS - That's my angry at myself face.

Off the Grid

I just wanted to make a quick post letting everybody know that I will be officially off the grid for the week! From today (Sunday) until Thursday I'll be on the beach in Fiji then Thursday until next Sunday I'll be sailing in the Whitsunday Islands!

I'll definitely write a long, long blog when I get home and internships start!

After eighteen pages of papers and two essay final exams my brain has officially melted and I can't wait to be on the beach, reading my book, with the sun on my face! :)

Have a good week everybody!

Cairns Adventures

Wow, what a weekend. I can't believe I survived!

Megan and I got up bright and early Friday morning to catch our 7am flight to Cairns. After an uneventful but cold (thanks for the no blankets, Jetstar) flight we landed in Cairns around 10am. We hopped in a cab and got dropped off at the wrong hotel, which sucked, but we walked the two blocks to the right one and were really surprised at how beautiful it really was. Unfortunately, we couldn't check in when we got there so we decided to head into town to buy a bus ticket to some of the beaches and have some lunch. After wandering for 20 minutes trying to find the bus ticket agent we decided to get lunch first as a Mexican restaurant was just opening up. It should've been a red flag when they advertised "authentic" Mexican cuisine but we've had good luck here in Sydney with Mexican restaurants so we tried it. After a good but spicy bowl of queso our quesadillas came. But they weren't quesadillas. Seriously, they weren't. I don't know what they were, some kind of tortilla filled with tomato paste and beans, almost no cheese, burned slightly around the edges. It was awful. I couldn't eat mine so I sent it back and they gave me a refund, no questions asked, thank God. Megan chose to eat her concoction and enjoyed it somewhat, though the queso was obviously the highlight of the meal. We, thankfully had a good sense of humor about it and left laughing at the Australian idea of Mexican food. The good thing was there was an amazing gelato place next door where they had TimTam gelato, which was amazing. Best gelato I've ever had. That made up for the psuedo-quesadilla. We got our bus tickets, dropped out stuff off at the hotel, and hopped on the 1X bus out to Palm Cove Beach. It was gorgeous. Just sand and ocean and sun. We laid out for about two hours then decided to check out the little shops around the resort. I bought the most beautiful opal pendant for my M necklace - it's my birthstone and I love it. I'm still obsessed with it and continually ask Megan, "Did I tell you I got a new opal?" We hopped back on the bus around 5pm and headed back into our hotel for some room service and an early night in to prepare ourselves for Saturday...

We woke up bright and early on Saturday morning for our day of adventure. The skydive company picked us up at our hotel at 7:30am, both of us were groggy and super nervous at the prospect of jumping out of a plane at 14,000 feet. We got to the office, signed our lives away (there was a paragraph in the contract that actually stated that there was an element of "luck" to skydiving, we signed a LEGAL document that talked about luck, were we insane!?), and suited up. I got some sweet parachute pants with purple stars, Megan's had red stars, and then we both did our interviews for our DVDs. After about 45 minutes of waiting for my tandem instructor we finally hopped into the van and headed out to the airport. We all loaded into a tiny little plane - two girls who were jumping at 11,000 fit, our instructors, our videographers, and us - and took off. It was really amazing to watch everything get smaller and smaller, it's hard to determine how high you actually are but all the instructors wore altimeters and kept showing us - at 11,000 the two girls went out and then Megan and I started to get really nervous. Then, 14,000 feet came quickly and the door opened and I got to go first. Slide up to the edge of the plane, relaxed legs over the edge, head back, arms crossed and GO! It was AMAZING. There is no feeling like it, you can't even imagine it. The air rushing around you, the feeling of free fall, the screaming to regulate your breathing, the way your skin flaps, it was like nothing else I've ever done. After a full sixty seconds of free fall the parachute was pulled and we got to glide and soar over the Australian country side for almost five minutes. How beautiful! The mountains, the rainforest, the beach, the haze over it all, I can't even describe it. We were absolutely soaring. I loved it. We even got super close to a pack of hawks over the sugar cane fields and it was so cool to see them up close and in action. We had a nice smooth landing and I was so sad it was over. It was brilliant, breathtaking, and absolutely bizarre but I'm so happy I took the plunge - literally! Afterward, Megan and I were so jazzed we got delicious meat pies and cupcakes at a little restaurant near the office and called home just to make sure everybody knew we were safe. Unfortunately, Megan's DVD didn't work but she got some great photos so while she dealt with her refund I went to Billabong to grab a pair of board shorts for our next adventure then we went back to the hotel and changed. While we were lying by the pool we got a call saying our rafting trip had been canceled. We were really upset but thankfully the kind people at Raging Thunder transferred us to another company - R and R Rafting - which saved our afternoon. So we continued our lounging then headed out to the Barron River to raft. I was way more nervous about rafting than skydiving - come on, drowning is way scarier than going splat on the ground - but it was really fun! We had a great guide - Kendall - and he let us get out of the boat a couple times and float down the rapids ourselves, which was my favorite part. There were some scary ones where he made it pretty crazy and scary but it was an experience I'm glad I took part in. It was beautiful going down the rainforest and it was a good fear to overcome. It's weird that I'm afraid of rafting - I love water! But I think it's the prospect of flipping over and getting trapped under the raft, I have the same fear when I sail little boats. But, whatever. After rafting we headed into the pub with our guide and had a beer, checked out our photos, and then went back to the hotel. After a long shower we decided to hit up Splash, the seafood restaurant on The Esplanade, the main drag of Cairns. We had a great dinner, great drinks, great conversation, and then went to the Night Markets to do some tipsy shopping for souvenirs. I got some boomerangs for some special people, an Australia sweatshirt and a long string of pearls for myself, and a beautiful sarong that I can't wait to use all the time in Fiji and the Whitsundays. We went back to the hotel after our little excursion and crashed right into bed.

After a daylight savings mixup with my phone we woke bright and early to walk down to the dock for our Ocean Free sailing day. The morning started off with a breakfast of muffins and tea and a two hour sail out to the reef. I slept for most of the sail out there, rocking boats put me right to sleep. It was a good nap to start the day as I was still pretty exhausted from the night before. Once we got out onto the reef we snorkeled all morning. It was gorgeous, although overcast. We saw a bunch of fish and some amazing coral formations along with anemones. I love snorkeling and swimming so it was sad after a couple hours that we had to go in for lunch and then went right onto Green Island. On the island we did a little more souvenir shopping and went to the Marine Land where we saw huge HUGE crocodiles, big turtles, and lots of fish that evaded us on our first snorkel. Megan started to feel under the weather so we grabbed some cold drinks and relaxed a bit at the resort after wandering around for awhile. We went back onto the boat and I snorkeled for another half an hour before we started our trek back to the mainland. It was still hazy and overcast, which sucked, but it didn't matter because we enjoyed some nibbles and wine on our sail back in. I even spotted a pod of dolphins, which was amazing to see. You usually have to pay extra for that! :) Back in Cairns our day in the water had exhausted us pretty readily so we ordered Thai delivery and were out pretty early. What else is a holiday about besides catching up on your sleep?! It was great to have a day out on the Great Barrier Reef and just enjoy the ocean and all its glory. I love it.

Monday morning we slept in then checked out of the hotel. We got our pictures developed and had a great, sweet breakfast at the Cairns art gallery then went to the lagoon to lay out. Around noon, I thought we'd head out to Trinity Beach but Megan's cold had definitely caught up with her and her fever was too much to handle. So we went back to the hotel and straight to the airport to sit in the air conditioning and try to get on an earlier flight. Unfortunately, we couldn't, but Meagan got some real Sudafed in her system and took a good, long nap. I finished two books and tried to find a pair of sweatpants with no avail. Our flight was delayed, which sucked, but I read on the plane. Once we got back to Sydney, we had to wait in a 45 minute line for a cab. Finally, we got back home, I watched some How I Met Your Mother, and went to bed!

This week is ALL about work. I have a six page journal due on Friday, a 1500-2000 essay on the ABC vs SBS (basically Sydney vs Melbourne rivalry), and then a final Friday and a final Saturday. But - Sunday I'm off to Fiji and the Whitsundays! So hopefully all the work will get done, I'll pack, and be ready for my real vacation next week! Check out my photos, too - http://picasaweb.google.com/cramermj36, they're all there. :)

G'night from down under!

Melbourne - it's pronounced Mel-Bin, not Mel-Born

I can't believe it's been a week since my last post! I'm so sorry for the delay but there was no wireless internet in Melbourne. I'll go day by day again.

Sunday - We left around 9am, piled on buses, and headed to the airport. Flying domestically in Australia is incredibly simple, none of this liquid nonsense we have in the States. You don't even have to take off your shoes. We had an hour to blow at the airport so we got some breakfast and I bought new sunglasses (I left mine at the dorm) then all piled into the plane. Seventy twenty somethings with four guides equals loud, unorganized plane. Some people didn't realize that size restrictions for carry on baggage is different here so they brought on standard US sized rolling bags which are much, much to big for the overheads here. It was kind of chaotic as a lot of people had to check their bags and find their seats. They almost unloaded us, which would've been bad. We arrived in Melbourne with enough time to explore the city for awhile. I, unfortunately, had some bad sushi and was holed up in my room for most of the evening. Thankfully, my friend Ashleigh kept me company and when I was feeling good I got to see some of the city and explore Federation Square.

Monday - Bright and early wake up call for our first lesson about Melbourne from our program director Mark. It's funny because there's a huge rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne and we have all Sydney-ites teaching us but they all seem pretty neutral on the issue (except one professor, Sharon, who is hilarious in her hate of Melbourne). Afterward, I went on a tour of the Australian Center of the Moving Image, which was beautiful, brilliant, and so inspirational. People forget that Australia has a vibrant film and television culture and it was so well represented at ACMI. There was a great exhibit on the history of film, television, video games, and the internet in Australia along with beautiful displays of their most famous stars - from director Baz Lurhman to Cate Blanchette - whose Oscar is on display. They had amazing interactive displays with video games, lighting, camera tricks, and animations. We all felt like big kids. Check out our time splice video! http://www.acmi.net.au/timeslice/Timeslice.htm?file=ts-20090928-6d7f6196c4ce097aa2182e2498258713.flv After ACMI we went to grab lunch - crepes! They were delicious and very filling. We then met up with Taryn, Molly, and Megan and went to the Melbourne Racing Museum, which was interesting for Taryn and I (we both ride) but kind of boring for everybody else. We then decided to do some shopping because Victoria (the state Melbourne is in) is known for its boutique culture and off-beat clothing. We went to the Ugg store where I could get a pair of comfy, warm shoes then I got the most amazing pair of pajama pants from this store called Peter Alexander. I wish we had it in the States! It's so cute. My pants have unicorns on them - or horses with swords on their heads for those Scrubs fans reading. I also got a beautiful hand-made purse, one of only six in the world, that will be perfect for work. It's really classic and I can't wait to beat it up at Showtime and in LA. :) Finally a stop at a beautiful photography studio where I bought a print of the Sydney Harbor Bridge and a little gift for a friend. After a short nap we headed to Little Italy for a feast. It was great pasta, great wine, and great friends. Megan, Ashleigh, and I went to this little churros place for dessert where I had a peanut butter chocolate churro. Healthy it was not, delicious, definitely. I headed home pretty early because Tuesday was an even earlier wake up call.

Tuesday - Started at 7am, bright and early, with Starbucks with MJ. We then proceeded to pile on a bus for our tour of the Great Ocean Road. I can't even begin to describe the absolute beauty we saw. It's akin to driving the Pacific Coast Highway but much more because there's almost no development along the whole road. We stopped in Lorne, a cute resort town where wealthy Melbourne-ites vacation where I got a wonderful piece of banana cake and was almost attacked by an angry duck. We stopped and drove all along, taking pictures and enjoying ourselves in the bus. Our tour guide was fantastic, he was hilarious and let us play our own music the entire way - he even played "Never Have I Ever" with us. Fantastic. Then we stopped in Apollo Bay for some fish and chips for lunch, which were also delicious. I had my obligatory peppermint Magnum, my favorite ice cream bar, and Ashleigh and I wandered around finding post cards and hilarious Australian tabloid magazines. We were all tired and weighed down from lunch so the bus was quiet for awhile on the way to the Twelve Apostles - the most famous sandstone formations on the Great Ocean Road. They were stunning and we got there right at sunset so it was even more beautiful. The bus was lively and happy as Mac (our guide) took us off roading for a bit before heading to one last lookout. We spent some time in a cove, exploring the beach and where there was once a shipwreck with only two survivors. By that time it was getting dark and we were all hungry again so after another hour bus ride we landed in a little town with a great noodle shop and a Macca's (that's what they call McDonald's here) where Megan and I got teryaki noodles and some fantastic McFlurries. By that time we were all exhausted and the two hour bus ride home was quite besides the music playing. Back in Melbourne we all crashed despite best intentions to go out. It was nice to fall asleep with all that splendor on my mind, I think sometimes we forget with all the shit that goes on that the world is really a beautiful place.

Wednesday - Departure day! Thankfully we had time in the morning and afternoon to do some more exploring. I took a photographic Melbourne tour with some people and we shot some beautiful photos around the city. It's a great place to take pictures because they've put an insane amount of modernist architecture and art installations all around the city so there are interesting and fun shots. We walked for about three hours, snapping pictures and playing with our cameras. After a getting on a wrong trolley which doubled our time back into the city (but who cares, the trolley was free and it was fun!) Ashleigh and I broke off from the group and had an amazing, AMAZING Greek meal. Probably the best I've ever had, better than Steve's in Boston. It was absolutely delicious and the restaurant is open twenty four hours! I wish we could've gone back and bottled their hummus and tzatziki, I would live on that and their baklava for all eternity. Unfortunately, at lunch, Ashleigh realized she left her phone in the cab so we spent a couple hours trying to retrieve it but were unsuccessful. So, after the initial panic and then frantic search for it we were both wiped so we decided to decompress in Starbucks for an hour before our bus left to head to the airport. We had an uneventful flight - with dinner and wine for free to boot - and then went back to Unilodge to crash.

It was a great trip, though I really love Sydney the most. Melbourne is too trendy for me, I like the more classic feel Sydney has. Not that Melbourne isn't a fantastic place to visit, I just don't think I'd live there. But, it was an amazing trip and we had a wonderful time. It was good to get out of Sydney for a couple days and experience Melbourne and its "four seasons in one day" (freezing, raining, boiling and sunny, then cold again).

Today was uneventful - Pilates in the morning, which always makes me feel good, then class (where I, yet again, asked all the questions during the guest lecturer's lesson), packing for Cairns, and now Internship Night with some former program participants who can give us the low down on what Sydney is like in terms of the workplace.

Another amazing weekend - Cairns with Megan for skydiving, white water rafting, snorkeling, SCUBA diving, and just plain relaxation on the beach! Next week is hectic with a paper, a six page journal, and two finals so hopefully I can fill you in between academic obligations. But for now...

G'night from down under!