Today we all flew to Sydney to spend a few more days vacationing before Devin and I start class on Monday. For the record, I’m possibly the worse flier ever. I’m the kind of person whose stomach drops by simply going over a hill too fast, so things like roller coasters and airplane turbulence are not something I tolerate well. At even the slightest bout of turbulence, my heart rate skyrockets and my hands are flailing in the air. I instantly regress back to being a child, so bad to the point that my mom has to squeeze my arm and simply explain to me “Maddie, we’re just going through the clouds.” Writing this, I realize how ridiculous it sounds and how insane I must look death gripping my armrests and squeezing my eyes tight, but for some reason I can’t shake this fear of flying. Any advice on how to help my case would be greatly appreciated, but not if you’re just going to make fun of me while doing it.

While waiting for our bags, I saw a little elderly man – his getup complete with the glasses, slightly hunched shoulders, and pants pulled up a little too high – staring at the arrival screen very intently with flowers in one hand and a box of chocolates in the other. Even if this isn’t the true story, I want it to be because I think it is adorable. I think he was waiting for either his wife, daughter, or loved one to come home and how sweet is it that he had the flowers and chocolates to give? I wanted to go up and hug this guy and tell him, “You’re doing it right”. Bravo, sir.

When we arrived in Sydney this afternoon, I had no idea how spectacular our hotel room was going to be. Out our window, the opera house is at our one o’clock and the harbor bridge at our eleven. The picture I posted along with this entry is the view I am currently typing in front of. It’s so neat! And it’s also incredible to think I’m so close to where Dori and Marlin swam not too long ago. Anyway, Sydney seems super cool and I can’t wait to explore it.

So now Facebook has this feature that whenever you upload pictures, it can detect your friend’s faces. It makes it so much more convenient to tag my friends in pictures – when they are actually in the pictures. For some reason Facebook identified the emus I was taking pictures of as potential friends and asked me to tag them. So, that means that someone out of my Facebook friends might resemble an emu.

I felt like a freshman all over again today – my parents and Devin helped move me into the dorms I will be living in for the next four months. The whole process included the expected pictures in my room, courtyard, and in front of the building as well as the shopping spree at Target. The dorms I chose to live at have been well loved and are by no means spacious, but I know the friendships I will make will be well worth it. It’s like a one room hostel, with a tub that’s the perfect size for a six year old. But whatever, it’ll just make moving back into AXiD in January that much sweeter.

After we successfully moved me into my room, we took a field trip to the zoo. First priority: kangaroos. I think I would have been happy just to camp out all day in front of the kangaroo exhibit if I could’ve. I’m not sure where my fascination with them comes from – maybe it’s because I secretly want to be able to fit in one of their pouches – but bottom line, they are so cool. The kangaroo exhibit, like almost all of the other exhibits, wasn’t completely gated off, which means if a kangaroo wanted to hop over the little wooden posts to keep us out of their resting areas, it totally could have. Unfortunately that didn’t happen and instead the emus, which also were free range in this exhibit, were the ones who tested my personal space.

Another neat exhibit at the zoo was the butterfly house. In this one small building there were hundreds of butterflies, all just fluttering around. Some of these butterflies had huge wingspans and some were so brilliant in color, I was in awe. I kept secretly hoping I would attract one to ever so lightly land on my hand or something, but no, instead my mom was the one who was attracting them. She has always seemed to have this connection with nature that I am envious of because no matter what it is – wildlife or domestic – animals always seem to be drawn to her. This gift of hers is obviously not genetic, but I try not to be bitter about it.

Tonight we were all craving Mexican, so we went out in search of a place to satisfy our hunger pains. Once we finally found our way to a restaurant that had a table open, we discovered that Australia’s take on Mexican is not the kind of Mexican we're used to. Also, at least at this restaurant, they don’t want you to overflow your waistband. My dish was approximately the size of a silver dollar. The neat thing about this restaurant though was they took the tequila part of the Mexican culture very seriously because that’s the only alcohol they served, and all the bottles they served water in were old tequila bottles.

On our way back from dinner we noticed how the moon looked with whatever stage it was in (I don't know how to tell the difference, my apologies). In the states, depending on what phase the moon is in, it either looks like a C or a backwards C. But tonight, the moon looked like a U. Fun fact, I think the moon is different depending on what hemisphere you’re in, but I’m not entirely sure if that’s an accurate hypothesis because Google isn’t loading right now.

Also, tonight Devin and I got our Australia phones. Old school buttons y'all, without T9 or autocorrect. The buttons feel so weird, they click and move - something an iPhone has totally alienated me from. It took me about 3 minutes to send a text to Devin, but I have faith I'll be able to rally.

Stop what you’re doing, and if you haven’t seen it already, go see The Heat. My mom and I had a little date night and went to see it and absolutely loved it. It was full of crude humor, but once you get past your gut reaction of “oh my gosh did she really just say that?” I promise you’ll enjoy it. The one thing that stumped me the whole movie though is how Sandra Bullock looks the exact same as she did in Miss Congeniality. I want her and Jenifer Aniston’s secret to looking good for life.

So the movie theatre we chose was in a super nice hotel. Like super nice as in I didn’t recognize the kind of cars that were in the parking lot. The hotel didn’t seem like a hotel at all because of the fact it had shops like Burberry and Chanel, it had its very own casino, and in addition to the movie theatre, it also had a huge food court. To get to the movie theatre from the front entrance, we had to walk through everything I just listed. Because shops like Burberry and Chanel as well as casinos seem to attract a certain kind of people, my mother and I felt like peasants dressed in our casual outfits. I found myself wondering two things while walking through everything: one, do women find it difficult to hold their heads up when they have ten pounds of jewelry around their necks, and two, how much gel do all these men use in their hair?

We finally made it to the movie theatre though, and I instantly felt normal again - children were screaming and people were wearing jeans. However when we went up to buy our tickets, two things stumped my mom and I as we approached the ticket counter: the price and what “Gold Standard” seating was. I think my mom’s and my jaws both dropped when we saw that the price for one ticket was $19. So my dear friends back home, treasure the prices of movie tickets there because Australia proved that it is indeed worse some place else.

As we were handed our tickets, the cashier told us where our assigned seats were. Yes I know it’s weird – they do assigned seating for movies. Once we got over that initial shock, we made our way into the theatre, found our seats, and got comfortable. Let me just say, the dinky little theatres we have in Bloomington would be absolutely appalling to Aussies. These theatres were so nice – big comfy chairs, no sticky floors, no air conditioning on so high that it will give you frostbite. But wait, it gets better. During the commercials, my mom and I found out what the “Gold Standard” seating was. It’s like a VIP club for the theatres, where you get reclining seats, your own balcony to separate yourself from jean wearing people, and you also get served dinner and your choice of alcohol. Yeah, isn’t that insane? Let that sink in for a second to realize that something like that actually exists.

So there’s a little bit of Aussie culture for you. And oh yeah, go see The Heat. 

Today was another fun packed adventure, which took us from Melbourne out to Phillip Head Island. Our first stop was at a chocolate factory, and to be honest I wasn’t too keen on the whole idea since usually just the smell of chocolate can nauseate me. However despite that every corner I turned some one was handing me a piece of chocolate, I still had a bunch of fun. Not only did we learn about the whole process of making chocolate, there was a whole arcade room too! I made plenty of friends with all the little children because since all the games were goal oriented with chocolate being the prize, I was giving them all the chocolate pieces I won. Also included in this factory tour were the world’s largest chocolate waterfall and a one-ton block of chocolate.

After the factory, we headed out to spend some time with nature. Even though I had seen my first koala a couple days ago, I was still fascinated by them. They look so freakin’ cuddly but I guess they can get really mean, and oh yeah they carry chlamydia. So while we didn’t get close to the koalas, I did get luckier with the wallabies. Now I don’t know why, but before today I had no idea that wallabies are actually just mini kangaroos. I’m not sure if it was their eyes penetrating my soul with their cuteness or the fact that their body’s were so disproportionate I instantly felt sorry for them, but I could just watch them for hours, completely love-struck. Throughout Phillip Head Island, there were signs everywhere that said “Wallaby Xing”, and for some reason, I think I would be able to tolerate wallabies hopping across the road or roaming into my backyard more so than the deer that choose to test my brakes every so often.

Continuing on through the tour was our lovely hour at the winery. I discovered white wines are much easier on the palate than the reds, so Devin picked up the slack where I was lacking. However, I made a huge dent in the breadbasket and cheese, so that’s where my talents shined.

Last but not least was the Penguin Parade. It sounds cheesy, but this was one of the best experiences of my life. These penguins are “Little Penguins” – that’s their official species – and they measure out at about 13 inches. Since it is winter here, these little guys go out on approximately 4 week long trips out at sea, eating their fair share of fish, to come back happy and full, if all goes well. Since these guys are so small, strength in numbers is important, so they basically do everything together. When they sleep at night out in the middle of the ocean, they form these big floating squares, and when they come ashore after their big trips, they don’t do it alone either. We had first row seats on the beach to watch these little ones fight against the surf and the seagulls to make it to their burrows on the hillside. The first penguin we saw break out from the surf faced the wrath of the seagulls, which starting pecking at him as he tried to march up the beach by himself! He then sprinted, to the best of his ability, and squealed his way back into the water, and I was almost in tears because I thought I was going to witness a Little Penguin death. Luckily though, the next time the penguin emerged from the surf, he had six of his closest friends to help back him up. And sure enough, the seagulls stayed away and they all marched up to the rocks and started to hop their way home. The whole march takes about an hour or so, and at one point, there were two little penguins coming straight towards Devin and I. I honestly thought I was going to get to take one home with me, but alas they turned a sharp left before I could have reached out and snagged one. We learned that about 90-95% of Little Penguins die within their first year because the winter is so hard for them, so the fact we got to see over hundreds of them waddle ashore blew my mind. And yes, I cried.

Tomorrow’s agenda: sleeping in, dodging rain drops, and finally getting to see The Heat. My dad also just informed me that today is National French Fry Day, so while I missed out the on the opportunity to celebrate, hopefully back in the states you’ll get to take advantage of this wonderful holiday.

I think one of the reasons I still find it hard to believe I’m in Australia is because of the fact that I see so much of the states here. Aussies’ commercials, shows, music, and business are heavily influenced and taken over by American brands and by what is going on in America. For instance, Australia has this nifty little show called Sunrise, which is literally a spitting image of The Today Show – down to the color scheme.  The news they cover on Sunrise is also very similar to The Today Show in that it isn’t actually news. This morning for instance, there was a beard competition being broadcasted as a segment.

There are also a couple other things I’ve noticed on TV. The first thing is cricket. I watched it for 45 minutes yesterday, and by the end of the match I still had no idea what was going on. It probably didn’t help that I didn’t have the sound on or have subtitles, but regardless cricket is a tough sport to pick up on. The other show, which I noticed last night, is Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Yes that show still exists – how I don’t know. According to the questions I knew the answers to though, my winnings would have amounted to $200.

Devin and I finally got our bikes out to do a little exploring along the major river here in Melbourne. The whole path is probably in between 30 and 40 miles, and the whole thing was crazy busy with people walking and biking. Melbourne is such an active city, and really bike friendly. Not to say I’m going to try to bike on the street during rush hour any time soon, but the fact I can ride 20 miles without being interrupted by traffic makes me feel like I’m back home in Indiana.

Another thing on the to do list today was to try and find a cheap phone to use while I’m here in Australia. The first store we went into seemed to have a pretty good deal: for $30 dollars a month, I would be able keep my old phone and would be given a new sim card. I was so excited because that would have just been so convenient, but as soon as I handed the guy my phone I knew luck wasn’t on my side. Turns out, Verizon cock blocks you from trying to do this sort of thing and I can’t even take my sim card out. But like every sad story, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Yeah I have to buy a new phone, but I can have unlimited international text. So friends come Monday afternoon, be ready for me to blow up your inbox. I’m already shaking in excitement.

I decided to be a little adventurous with my dinner choice tonight – I tried lobster. I can say with confidence that might be the only time I choose lobster. The fact I was given tools to disassemble my meal was the first red flag. Anyway, at the end of the day, I’m still in Australia, so that can always be my fall back if there’s ever a time I don’t feel like I’ve been super adventurous with my meal choices.   


P.S. Happy 21st Lena! This beer was for you, mate. Xoxo

Today we went on a tour of the Great Ocean Road and I had a close call with motion sickness. We were in a van that was on it’s way to becoming a bus, so in other words not small at all, however that didn’t stop our bus driver from taking turns at 65mph. I honestly thought I wasn’t going to make it but luckily when we stopped for lunch, we found a chemist aka pharmacist who had tons and tons of motion sickness medicine. For some reason saying chemist instantly makes me think of a drug dealer – I think Breaking Bad is to blame for that.

Our tour guide’s name was Paul, who was such a cool dude. He’s one of those people who just seems to genuinely love life and everything included in it. Every question we asked, he treated it as if it was the most interesting question ever. He also had a plethora of good music choices (here’s a link to my favorite song from today: http://www.donspencer.com.au/lyrics/PLEASE_DONT_CALL_ME_A_KOALA_BEAR.pdf). Besides me almost tossing my cookies and learning songs about koalas, we got to see some pretty neat stuff. The Great Ocean Road got its name because of the fact it follows the coast for the most part, which I think is something like 270 km long. Creative name though isn’t it? Along the ride, we stopped in numerous spots to take pictures of the beaches. We also stopped at a koala sanctuary, where I saw my first little guy! They are super lazy, eat a bunch, and have absolutely no interest in humans. Therefore, my vote is on the kangaroo being the marsupial I get to snuggle with while I'm here - my fingers are crossed. Lastly, we ventured into a rainforest where I found a snail that is actually carnivorous. Isn’t that creepy? I was disappointed when I found out they didn’t have any teeth.

13 hours later, we made it back home. I don’t want to speak to soon and jinx myself but I think my jet lag might be over with. I mean it’s 11:15pm right now and I’m still going strong. The reason I’ve stayed up this late tonight though is because I’ve been trying for two hours to get a Wi-Fi connection on my phone to attempt to send a text. I had to stop because I was getting ready to chuck my phone off our balcony. I guess I have five more months to get it working, so we’ll see how long it takes.

The weirdest thing to think about is that for all you back in the states reading this, it’s just now your Thursday morning.  So technically, I’m writing to you from the future. 

I wish I could say I did something crazy last night, but I can’t. Instead I went to sleep at 7:30, er I mean 19:30, and then slept for 11 hours. Good news is though I woke up feeling completely refreshed, which is good because today was international orientation. It’s amazing how quickly I lose the ability to sit still for very long during the summer, so today’s six hour orientation was definitely a test. After we sat down, I quickly scoured over the schedule for the day and realized there was morning teatime. I got all excited because I thought it would be a freshly brewed out of kettle type thing, but I guess for 200 students that would be impossible, so we were just given bottled ice tea instead.

I learned some valuable things today during orientation. For instance, calling professors by their first names is encouraged – calling them professor or doctor is strange. I also learned some cool slang terms. Yes they actually had a whole PowerPoint on Aussie slang. Here are a few: thongs are flip-flops, tomato sauce is ketchup, and mosquitos are called mozzies. A good rule of thumb for Aussie slang is that they shorten a lot of words and then just add an “ie” on the end and there you go. We also had a police officer, fire safety guy, and a lifesaver i.e. life guard come talk to us. So not only did I learn about how to test my smoke alarm every month, I also learned how to properly show someone I’m drowning (laying flat on my back, fist in the air and waving it side to side; you don’t want to leave your hand open because that makes people think you’re just trying to say hi.)

After orientation, Devin and I were determined to figure out the train system. Needless to say it is such a good thing everyone speaks English because we had no idea what we were doing once we got to the station. I know it’s going to take some time getting used to such a big city, I just wish I didn’t automatically feel like I’m shutting down inside whenever I’m unsure of what to do. Like today, trying to figure out our train tickets, it felt like everyone else was moving at 1000 mph, while I felt like a malfunctioning turtle. My dad always used to harp on me for saying “huh?” whenever I didn’t understand what someone had just said to me, so since I’ve been here I’ve transformed my “huh?” into “I’m sorry?” So much more professional dontcha think? Anyway, I’ve had to ask people to repeat what they say multiple times because even though they speak English, everyone’s accent is so different. I’ve also caught myself joking around in an Australian accent a lot these past two days. My explanation for that is I think I’m subconsciously trying to force the development of an accent for when I come home. A shelia can dream right?

I experienced two miracles on the way over here – the first being that I was able to sleep for almost ten hours on the flight and the second miracle was the fact that my ankles actually resemble ankles. The no kankles deal is totally because the airline had a listed of suggested exercises to do while being confined to your seat. So while I was catching up on my Modern Family episodes, you can sure bet I was doing my knee lifts and ankle rotations.

Let me just say now that I am in Australia, I am so glad I will be here for so long. Granted the thought of saying goodbye to my parents is something I’m not even dealing with right now, but for real AUSTRALIA IS SO COOL. I could listen to Aussies talk all day and never get bored. Devin and I determined on the way over here that most Australians seem to add an upbeat emphasis on to the last word of a sentence, which makes them sound so happy whenever they are talking to you.

Here are some things that I see it taking time to get use to:

Even if you aren’t in a car, you still stay on the left of wherever you are.

How many people and cars are in Melbourne – I felt like I was in a zoo. The fact that Bloomington rush hour and walking to class on campus can sometimes cause me anxiety is lame.

The whole Celsius thing is going to be a struggle for a while, because the algebra equation involving 9/5 is, you know, not the most convenient thing ever. But trust me I am just so ecstatic I actually get to use something I learned in algebra outside the classroom.

Military time. I’m not sure which I’ll master first, the Celsius conversion or being able to remember 1500 is 3:00pm.

The fact that Rice Krispies are called Rice Bubbles. What?

This afternoon, Devin and I went to go set up a banking account for him to use while he is here. I know I said I felt like I was in a zoo while walking around, but as soon as I said hi to someone and engaged in a conversation, that anxious feeling went away instantly. Every single person we ran into was so nice and genuinely interested in what we had to say. I can’t imagine going abroad somewhere where English wasn’t their national language – I would become a recluse. Since there is no language barrier here though however I’m never going to shut up.

We were warned that everything would be a lot more expensive here because minimum wage is something ridiculous, so the price of everything is inflated. For example, as I look at our room service menu for what is available for breakfast I see buttermilk pancakes – yum right? Think to yourself, how much would you pay for a stack of 3 pancakes? Probably not $17 right? Needless to say, I don’t think I’ll be ordering them anytime soon but good thing I didn’t come to Australia for their pancakes!

Hands down, being in an airport is the most interesting place to people watch. You see some people in their most vulnerable state, crying or yelling at an airline employee. You see, and hear, those people who have no idea how loud their voice really are. You also see kids on leashes. But perhaps the most interesting thing you see in an airport is what people consider their version of an outfit that is suitable for flying. In case you were wondering, mine still resembles a college student: Nike shorts, t-shirt, sweatshirt. I plan on milking this look for as long as I can – I highly doubt if I’ll ever look at a pair of wedges and say to myself “ah yes, those are the shoes I will wear on my next flight”. Needless to say, due to the fact our layover was six hours long in Dallas, I did my fair share of people watching. 


The two meals I had came in a straight up tie in terms of which I wouldn’t want to eat again. For those of you that don’t know my diet or are confused by my rules, here they are. I love meat, but not if I don’t know where it comes from or the animals that produced it were treated in a non-humane way i.e. factory farming. It’s my first big effort in standing up for Mother Nature you know? I have the utmost respect for those who don’t eat any meat at all though, because being a vegetarian is really freaking hard. If you know a vegetarian, pat them on the back. And if you know a vegan, they can get a hug. With that said, I just went ahead and assumed the meat in the Dallas-Fortworth Airport wasn’t from a family farm. Therefore, I showed up at Blimpie, hoping I could find something above the rating of two and a half stars, but I realized a little too late how measly my veggie sandwich was about to be. However I was trapped – the sandwich artist was not letting me run away. Incase you are unfamiliar with the term sandwich artist, or didn’t know it was a real thing, it is Subway’s official title for the person who puts your sandwich together. Side note: With that kind of description for the title, might I say I am quite the sandwich artist – ask Devin, I have made him many a good sand’miches.) The problem with veggie anything though is that for the non-vegetarian, they sometimes freak out and don’t how to compensate for no meat. Therefore, for a sandwich, the solution always seems to be more lettuce. Lettuce is cool and all, but not when it’s the main ingredient and I didn’t order a salad. But whatever, I ordered a cookie and an apple too so I was satisfied for a while. I’ll spare the details for my other meal, but long story short: Mexican dish, with the substitute for meat being jalapeños.

So I had started to think the reality of this situation wasn't going to hit me. Well it just did. Thanks to my friends posting sentimental pictures and statuses coupled with my growing anxiety that these are my last two hours in the states until December, I'd say I'm pretty unstable at the moment. I'm going to start doing lunges down the terminal so by the time we board our flight, I will want to sit down for at least eight hours...which only takes up half the flight time. But here it goes - Bon Voyage! The next keystrokes I type will be in a different hemisphere.