"....No Worries Mate!"

... the first time I heard the above statement after saying Thank You to someone, I thought- Well, I wasn't worried but ok haha! Oh the differences between Australia and the US are plentiful, but I'll get to that. So Hawaii came and went, and United actually gave me a free voucher worth 400 bucks towards a U.S. to U.S. flight! It's about time they owned up! We didn't get to take the surf trip, and they won't refund us our money, but I'm going to try to get United to reimburse us for that too. Ok... enough about that already, I'm in AUSTRALIA!!!!! 

So the first sign I was here was when I arrived Saturday morning. The shuttle driver loaded my bags onto the trailer behind the van and told me to go sit in front. Naturally, I walked up to the right side of the car and reached for the door. He then shouted, "So you wanna drive huh?" Whoa! Wrong side! I've got it now, they drive on the right side of the car. It was a rainy day, not what I expected for Sydney, Australia. It rained for the next 2 and a half days, and I was really bummed about it. But early afternoon on Monday, I saw the sun for the first time...and it was beautiful!!! 

There was a scheduled  orientation trip to the Zoo for international students, so I and a few other Mizzou students decided to tag along at the last minute. GREAT choice! We bought the all day bus/train/ferry pass for 17 Aus. bucks and took the bus about 30 minutes into the city. When we arrived..(mind you, this is the first time I had seen the city b/c I live in the suburbs) I was amazed. Sky rise buildings everywhere overlooking the ocean, and the harbor bridge, and the Sydney Opera house...I was thinking, Ooooh Ahhhh... the whole bit!! We stepped off the bus, and I got chills. For the first time, I finally realized why I had come here. It just felt so right. So then we walked through the city a bit, and naturally, I was in awe. We then took the ferry to the zoo. I didn't even realize what we were doing until, bam... the Sydney Opera house was right in front of me!!! But.. to my dismay, it's actually smaller than it seems and pretty dirty. Someone should definitely take a power washer to it. I talked to a newlywed couple from Tasmania, and they were great. We asked them about certain gestures that we thought might be offensive to Aussies, and it turns out that the middle finger is pretty universal. However, the backwards peace sign also means F You. 

So at the zoo, you take a Gondola (sp?) up to the top of the zoo and make your way down to the bottom entrance. First sight was... Koalas! Wooo hoo!! We then went to the Kangaroo walk and saw lots of them! I won't bore you with all the details, but basically- the Zoo was amazing. the entire time you walk through it, the backdrop is the Sydney harbor. I loved it. 

We had a day pass for transportation already so we decided that we should all go back to the city that evening and check out the local establishments. It was a Monday night, and most people here actually do work... so there weren't all that many people out at the supposed 'hot spots' of Sydney. A few 'mates' and I eventually found a really hopping place called Scubar. It was so packed that we stood outside for about 30-45 mins waiting to get in at 12:30 at night. But, we got in, no problems, no cover charge (woo hoo!) and it was fun. We made our way back to a 'night rider bus' to get us home. But the one thing I noticed about the city was that it was  SO CLEAN! They have street sweepers/cleaners come through the sidewalks almost every night, and the air I breathe here just feels better! It also felt so safe. There were a few people sitting here and there, but they didn't bother you unless you spoke to them. In that case, they were generally pretty helpful. Oh, and I forgot to mention I went running through the streets of my neighborhood the other day, and with gentle rolling hills and again... clean air, it was great.

I had my internship meeting the other day. They gave me 8 potential positions/job descriptions to look over. To my dismay, there were no huge ad agencies. In fact, there were none at all. They are mostly marketing companies with a mix of advertising in their work. And then there was a non-fiction book publishing company made up of 4 women and a Children's magazine with 5 employess. I immediately eliminated these positions as possibilities. I read through all the proposed internship project information, researched the companies, and the four I narrowed it down to were...

-a place called ACP Magazines. The top magazine publisher in Australia. I would be assisting the marketing team in developing and executing marketing programs for ACP men's lifestyle and sports titles. Its smack dab in the middle of Sydney, on the 24th floor of a sky rise. The location and the prestige of the company were its main appeal. www.acpmagazines.com.au

-the second is a place called 33 interactions. It's a boutique marketing acency whos main purpose is to service larger advertising and marketing agencies. I would be the Online Marketing Intern. I would be mostly responsible for a new website. www.33interactions.com.au

-the third is for the State government in the International Student center... I would work within the marketing team writing and editing media releases, copywriting, etc. www.studyintafe.edu.au

-The fourth is called Marketing Mechanics which is a full service mkting and ad agency, and I would assist the Marketing director. www.marketingmechanics.com.au.

Sooo, I believe the next step is interviewing with all of these companies, provided that they're still interested in receiving an intern. Mind you, these are all really short descriptions and I'll let you know how I really feel about them if and when I get the interviews. Eeeek.

The weather here is absolutely gorgeous. Not a cloud in the sky... but of course, I have to register my classes today at one o clock. So my roommate Kelli and I are really bummed because we don't get to go to the beach today like our other two roommates do. But I think this weekend we are going to go to the two main beaches.. Manly and Bondi and perhaps stay in a hostel in a little beach town there. And there's a huge film festival that attracts thousands to Sydney every year that will be taking place on Sunday. I'd like to check it out! Welll that was the first half of the week in a nutshell... more later! I need to put up pictures too, but I'm running late to this little meeting! Gotta goooooo!