Let's Have A Look...

Pictures: Top Left-Everyone at the amazing hostel we stayed at: The Chill House. Top Right:Kelli, Katie and me waiting an eternity for the bus to King's Cross.

Mid Right-the Amazing 12 apostles..do you see the rainbow?

Third Row Left:"Sisters":Kelli and I. next row right: Cassie and I at the Nobbies in Phillip Island. The seals weren't there; probably bc it might have been too windy? Bottom right: My roomates:Katie, Kelli, Ashley and I at Ivy.

(Let's have a look)... at what I can remember from the last 2 weeks or so... 

So it has been awhile since we had ventured out into the city..aside from work. We had wanted to go to this place called Ivy several times but for some reason we never got around to it, so this time we went. The club/bar/whatever you want to call it was absolutely beautiful. It had a running fountain inside of it and an open-air rooftop. I met some nice people...2 of which were in the advertising field. I'm thinking, "Hello, I'm listening..let's chat." So we did a little bit of networking and went on our way. 

The following Monday at work, we gained a new member to our marketing team so we went out for lunch...sushi. I've never had it before, and my co-worker's reactions were basically utter shock and disbelief. SO we went to this place that had a 'sushi train'. You sit at the bar and little plates of sushi are just sitting on a track that breezes past you and you pick and choose what you want. The prices are based on whatever color the plates are. I had no idea what to get..it was greek to me...or japanese I should say...so Heidi picked for me. She said she would start me off slow with chicken (cooked) and avocado. Later I had tuna and even salmon! (too slimy). I couldn't remember how to use chopsticks so I used a spoon like a fool. And what I thought were pretty little transluscent orange sprinkles all over the sushi roll were actually salmon eggs. GREAT! Well, I ate it anyway. All in all, it was a good experience..and I am now a fan of sushi.

Speaking of this new guy at work...you ladies from home will like this- One of his 'mates' is that guy from "The Hills" that's dating Whitney. You know, the hot guy in a band?!! I couldn't believe it...but he told me how this guy dropped out of uni and changed his name for modeling or something. Basically, I need to be introduced to all of his friends. And a rhetorical question- So why are the gorgeous Aussies in the US while I'm here?? Anyway...

This past weekend we flew to Melbourne.. the other major city in Australia. When we arrived we had a few hours to kill before hitting the bus to meet up with the Parklands gang who were in Phillip Island. The feel of the city is completely different than that of Sydney. It seems a bit slower paced, more artistic, and the people are generally friendlier. I didn't feel like I was playing chicken with the people facing me while I was crossing the street, and a very nice lady overheard Kelli and I pondering getting a bite of sushi to eat and recommended us to a place across the street that was, "the best sushi, so fresh and so cheap! Only 2 dollars a roll!" So we took her advice. I played it safe and got a fried chicken roll haha, but it was delicious! It's funny because a lot of the sushi here is shaped similar to a burrito unlike the small rolls that you would expect. Nice for sushi on the run though!

On one of the streets, there was a Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary display in the windows of a department store. 18 of the world's top designers (ex: Jimmy Choo) recreated the Ruby Red slipper according to their designing style. I thought it was a pretty cool idea.

So we made our way to Phillip Island via a 3 hr. bus ride and Kevin kindly picked us up in the van they rented. The hostel we stayed at was called the Chill House and it was so sweet! It was actually someone's house that they converted into a 10 bed hostel. It was very quaint, and the guy who owned it actually made a fire for us (because it's freezing in melbourne) and sat and hung out with us. I would have stayed there for several days if we had the chance. 

In the morning we drove to a famous landmark at Phillip Island called the Nobbies. There are seals there, but we didn't see them... but there were the largest waves I had ever seen!

We drove back to Melbourne and walked around the city a bit more...then we went out in the evening. First stop was a place called Cookie, where we stood on the turfed rooftop for a bit. It got too chilly after awhile so Kel and I decided to move on.  We were trying to meet up with some people who were also visiting Melbourne from Wollongong. We ended up getting lost and exploring the city. As the alley that we were heading down began to narrow and the graffiti on the walls started getting thicker, we decided to duck into any place that showed signs of civilization. So there it was, an irish pub called Puggs. It looked crowded so I figured it would be a good spot. I never said I was good with first impressions. I think we were the only 2 that weren't regulars...and it was awkward. A 40 year lady in the bathroom was hitting on Kelli. She tried to tell me the reason she got turned down from the last bar she went to was because she couldn't walk in her heeled boots. I responded with, "or were you too drunk?" She said, "Well that, but..." haha it was hilarious. It was time to move on.

We then wandered around and found a place called Young & Jackson's. It was cool because it had a live band. A man that kindly bought us our drinks (the whole time, thanks buddy) asked us if we were sisters.  I responded 'no' and Kel responded 'yes' simultaneously. He caught on at first but I then decided to have some fun with it and quickly backtracked. I told him I didn't hear him correctly or something and we went with this whole sister idea for awhile. He ate it up. This guy was a riot...and he introduced us to his old (and by old I mean he was literally at least 70) friend Kenny, who we chatted it up with for awhile. The Sister Act went on for some time but then things got weird so we "went to the bathroom" but actually slipped out of the place without notice. ;)

As we were navigating the city looking for another stopping point, we directed a couple of guys to 'Cookie', where we had been earlier. They were surprised at how knowledgeable we seemed about the city and as they asked how long we had been there, we responded with "a day." Basically, we circled the city several times that night. We ended up at one more place, a night club called "Billboard". We ran into some people from our Spring Break trip, not the ones we were looking for, but it's crazy how small of a world it is anyway. After awhile, we found our way to some pizza (not even good) and began our long trek back to the hostel. We calculated that we were out for 8 hours that night...we got in at 4 am and took a 2 hour nap because we had to head to the airport a little after 6 to go rent a van for the Great Ocean Road-Roadtrip. 

After a few hours of rental car company drama we finally secured our van and the 8 of us headed on our way. We made it to the 12 apostles, a famous landmark in Australia. They are these gigantic rock structures made out of limestone that stick out of the water...words and pictures really don't do it justice. It truly was an amazing sight. We made stir fry as a group back at the hostel and headed back to the city in the morning.

Back in Sydney: back to work. I only have one more week left (insert fist pump here). I interpreted this past week as a break from class/school to get ready for the hellish weeks ahead. I enjoyed it.

A couple of our friends from the Parklands have a basketball team and they play every wednesday evening. After weeks of hassling, we finally made it to a game to watch. Team America is awesome!! They played the supposed best team but dominated them! Do I hear a championship calling?

Later on that evening, we all headed to a local hotel (bar) and where I found out that I wasn't invincible. Without going into too much dignity diminishing details, let's just say I participated in a faux dance off and rolled my ankle. Heard the pop, excruciating pain but too embarrassed to tell anyone...until I got home. (Thanks Kel for being awesome through that) Anyway... it swelled up, and it was difficult to walk but it's not broken, just sprained. I expect there to be a full recovery by the end of this weekend...or by tomorrow-well that had better be the case, because I've got stuff to do!! Kings Cross here I come again!!!! 

What's up next: Newcastle to visit the Spring Break gang and do the Hunter Valley Wine Tour (next weekend)

Hopefully a trip to Western Australia the last week we're here...details on that coming soon.

How about an update on Aussie lingo? It's been awhile...

Terms and phrases:

"Swayt"- pronunciation for Sweet

"Wicked"

"Fah Out!"- Far out

"Bloind"- dragged out pronunciation for Blind...referencing getting really drunk. "We were absolutely bloind last night!"

"Ta"- Thank you...only heard that in Melbourne though.

"Bloody"-as in What the bloody hell are you doing?

"oy kay"- pronunciation for O.K.

"Wanka" a derogatory term generally used to describe guys

"Good on ya!"- Way to go.