"I'm from Kenya, of COURSE I'm a runner"

So last night was....interesting.  I went to TKD practice, which rocked.  I can't believe how much that extra half hour of practice tires you out.  We did our usual warmup and stretching and whatnot, then the coach came out and decided we needed to do even more warmup, despite it being about 80 degrees in the training room.  So he started us out just doing burpees and other irritating/tiring exercises, except at the end of each set of 5, we had to do sprints.  Arg.  It was hilarious to watch everybody's speed drop off exponentially as the sets drew on.  Then after a quick water break it was time for footwork, doing slides forward & back, steps forward & back, then combinations of the above.  The hardest was the 360 footwork.  Spinning is definitely not my forte....given that I almost took out at least 3 people in my spastic rotations...Then it was time for hogu drills.  I have a love-hate relationship with hogu drills.  I love them b/c they're very related to sparring and help you with your rhythm, but I hate them if your partner has no rhythm, which mine....did not....*doh*  I did have the satisfaction of knowing that I was at least making contact at the right part of the hogu when I looked down and saw that my TKD shoes were taking on a slightly reddish tint from where they were impacting :D  My left roundhouse is improving, though now I need serious work on my doubles >.<  It's my new TKD mission...

So after TKD, I came back and was about to make some dinner, when I hear a very loud pounding on my door.  I open it up, and who do I see?  None other than a very drunken Timmy.  Oh...Timmy....he demands that I get showered and come hang out with the other people in his room, which I had no issue with, except apparently by the time I was done showering, they drunkenly wandered off?  *sigh*.  Thanks Timmy.  

I heard a bunch of people in the room across the hall from me, though, and decided that it was time for me to meet my neighbors.  So I pounded on the door, introduced myself, and just started talking to the group that was in there, and somehow ended up being dragged out with them to Turf (the bar directly nextdoor to RMIT).  One of the guys there said he was from Kenya, but given that he looked/spoke like he was from India, we were all a bit skeptical?  But he proved to be incredibly entertaining with his drunken belligerence....When one of his friends was going to come meet him, he tried to whisper across the table to us:

"My friend is coming, and he's an ass, so you don't have to like him, but be nice to him....but not too nice, I don't want you to like him, I don't even like him" .......??

*sigh*  It was good fun to hang out at Turf though, and tonight is karaoke night, so we shall see what comes of it.  My insane 1.5 hours of kickboxing is approaching, and I'm kind of scared.  The coach for this class is way more intense than George, and nearly killed me last time.  Still a great workout though :D

I also discovered that even with TKD shoes, you can still apparently get blisters on spots where skin has previously been removed?.....curses....but I also discovered that drained blisters can heal overnight!! yay!

We should go.....BOWLING!

Yeah, yesterday and today have been pretty lazy days, I gotta say.  I ended up meeting up with Camille at the club day on campus to see if there were any interesting groups I wanted to join with the approximate 10 minutes of free time I'll have per week :D 

I ended up joining the magicians club!  I'm such a nerd *sigh*, but I got a free deck of cards, and sleight of hand is super-cool, so I really want to learn it.  So after that, we were debating about what we wanted to end up doing that night, which slowly downgraded into us decided to go bowling....typical.

So we marched ourselves down to the casino complex (I swear that building is just designed to make people hemorrhage money) and got ourselves a bowling lane.  It was probably the nicest bowling alley I've ever been to EVER.  I'm used to the ones in Charlotte that are smoky and filled with drunk rednecks.  *DOH*  

Upon realizing that I SUCK at bowling, the game was over and we decided to kill another hour just around the arcade on the same level.  Of course I found the boxing game and of course I played it and got upset when the computer one and I was convinced it was not an accurate representation.  But then DDR happened and I had a joyous flashback to high school and my inner nerd rejoiced.

Today I got a fun phone call from the psych department saying that they had AGAIN approved me to take neuroscience.  JERKS.  So now I once again have no idea what my schedule will look like.  Barring any scheduling complications, my schedule will appear as follows:

Behavioral Neuroscience

History of Medicine

Brain, Mind & Behavior

Introduction to Microbiology and Immunology

SCIENCE WHEEEE!!  Today is going to be spent breaking in my TKD shoes at practice, then probably heading out to a club w/Camille.  Who knows what the night will entail!

Tomorrow is apparently Sports Day here at the Village, so I might go down and try to meet people that way before kickboxing.  Tomorrow night however, is going to be ridiculous.

I'm meeting up at this pub called Rooftop which, coincidentally is indeed on a rooftop, to watch the Lost Boys, then we're going to do karaoke (I am shamed), followed by a trip to the casino to attempt to win back that money we spent (I will not be gambling, as the casino is no longer my friend).  

I just want to SLEEEEEEEP *sigh*  I think by May I'm gonna have to take a week to just hibernate and recover from Australia as a whole.....

MMMM....Kangarooooooo

So yesterday consisted of me going to campus to sign up for various trips through the outdoors club.  I am SO pumped for all of them, though I did go on a bit of a rampage in terms of what I signed up for:

Surfing at Anglesea

Sea kayaking (take snorkels so you can just just out wherever)

3-day rock climbing in the Victorian Alps

2-day trip to the Great Ocean Road

Phillip's Island to watch the penguin parade :D

Caving trip

WOOOOOHHOOOO!!  Now comes the issue of planning spring break.  I'm thinking of going up north to Brisbane, and going to some of the islands off the coast there for camping time.  I do love me some camping, and camping is WAY cheaper than trips some of the other people are doing.  Round trip flight to Fiji for 890$?....no thanks.

At this place called Moreton Island in Queensland, there is an activity called sandboarding, which involves hiking to the top of these massive natural sand dunes, strapping a snowboard to your feet, and riding down.  How long do you think it took me while reading about this to decide I had to do it?  Approximately .1 seconds, that's right.  

After my various planning/strategy sessions, I headed out to meet people at the night market.  We met up with this on Australian guy and his friend who we met at the international students dinner, and had a pretty good night with them.  We all just got some food and sat chit-chatting and whatnot.  AND I ate a kangaroo burger.  I'm not sure which is worse, the fact that I ate kangaroo, or the fact that I thought it tasted good.....hrm....It tastes kind of like a mixture of steak and lamb.....it was interesting :)  Then I traded out with my friend who got an ostrich burger.  I didn't really like the ostrich very much.  It just kind of tasted weird to me, dunno why.  They were out of emu and crocodile :(  So I still officially have 2 more native Australian animals to eat before my rampage is complete *RAWR*

We then just headed back to RMIT and crashed, so nothing too crazy, but tonight is probably a pub crawl, so we'll see how that goes.  I am gonna run to campus to see if any of the student clubs look cool, and will probably try to pull my life together from there.

AAAAHHH It's SO close to classes starting!!!  Except I went to check out my textbooks....there are a lot of them :/

A Lesson in Aussie Slang

For those of you who are under the impression that Australians speak "English"...let me enlighten you to the truth:

Barrack = cheer for (you do not "root" for sports teams here, unless you plan on having a very sexual relationship with an entire sports team)

Mexican = Anyone from below the Queensland border?  Don't ask....

How're you going = What's up (that one took forever for me to understand)

Footie = not soccer anymore apparently, but Australian Rules Football (most cracked out game EVER)

Fairy Floss = Cotton Candy?

Goon = Franzia or equivalent US boxed wine

Eskie = Cooler

Bastard = .....apparently a term of endearment here?

I'll add more odd ones when I think of them.

On a different note:

                                                                +

+

+

=

               Martial JOY

I had my first BJJ class today, which was fabulous.  The female coach is unbelievable.  She's the number 4 competitor globally in BJJ, and is just a great instructor.  She'll be really good with learning how to handle people who are bigger, since she faces that problem all the time.  She's definitely very technical and precise, but also very nice and understanding when explaining techniques.  She's really going to help me understand more about the mental aspects of BJJ and the strategies in each position :D

Earlier today was our first day of meeting with other Australian students, except for some reason it didn't dawn on me that we'd be chilling with....FRESHMEN.  Obviously the Aussie students who are in their 2nd and 3rd years don't really need to be coming to groups to learn the lay of the campus etc.  So there I am, sitting in a group of 10 awkward 17-18 year old Biomedical majors.....it was crazy exciting, let me tell you.  I felt SO old.  After a quick campus tour, they kind of set us loose for a bit since we got done about 2 hours ahead of schedule....whoops. 

I set out to return to the Faculty of Arts office to try to get my schedule in order.  Here has been my catastrophic interactions with Melbourne as far as my classes go.  Besides them not having enrollment information for me etc, I finally went and met with an advisor and got signed up for 3 classes.  I then had to run to the psychology department to get approval to take a 2nd year psychology course (upper division at Berkeley).  The people behind the counter said they didn't know, and that they'd call me.  Great.  So when they finally did, they said they'd put a note on my file that I was allowed to take it.  Things SEEMED to be falling into place.  I then discover that I can't tweak my schedule online like EVERY OTHER NORMAL STUDENT EVER.

So when I went to talk to the Faculty of Arts today, I was told that apparently international students CAN'T change their schedules at will, because god forbid we actually know what is going on in our lives....I had realized the night before that two of my classes had a time conflict, so I had to re-work my schedule, and attempted to change my classes around and add neuroscience.  The guy at the desk said that there was no note on my file, and that they couldn't add me without proof in writing.  *SIGH*  So I called the psych department to ask them to call Arts, only to talk to some random girl who complained that I didn't submit a FORMAL request to be approved, and that I actually WASN'T approved to take the class....."but....you told me yesterday"...."um...ok....we'll call you later"......*RAWRAWRAWRAWR*

So now I have no earthly idea what my schedule is going to look like, because I have no idea what time neuroscience is at, or if I can even get INTO it....*growl*  I just wanna be a normal college student again.  I'm banking on not getting in to neuroscience just so I don't have to deal with it, and if I do, I'm actually probably gonna kill someone, since I've finally started to accept my schedule.

We shall seeeee what tomorrow holds, I suppose.  Though it will definitely hold kickboxing and TKD now that I have my shoes :D  Also....night market tomorrow!  I will post pictures since my camera is alive again :)  Tomorrow, I plan on consuming kangaroo and emu.  Wish me luck :/

On a different note, I don't think my roommate has been home for AT LEAST four days...I think she might be dead?  But to test my theory that she is indeed not returning home to our dorm at night, I've set up an experiment.  I put a tape-seal at the bottom part of her door, so that if the door is opened, the tape will be disturbed and I'll know she's alive.....or at least SOMETHING is alive and coming in to her room.....I need a hobby

Night Cat

TKD shoes came today :D :D :D

Yesterday mainly consisted of letting my body heal from kickboxing (soooo sore) and heading over to the QV for more produce goodness.  I met up with Melissa, Camille, Catherine, and Gina and we wandered around looking at tons of things for sale, it was glorious.  I love the QV.  It's so huge and so small-town feeling.  So after stocking up on veggies, and wondering why there were....camels....in the QV.....whatever.

So upon returning home and bumming around for a few hours, I got ready to go to our international students dinner.  While I was walking out the door though, I ran into Timmy.  To preface, when we left the pub at three, Timmy was still going....hard....So when I saw him, he asked me "Hey, do you know who I came home with last night?"...."um....no Timmy, we all left, you were still at the club"..."so I didn't come home with you?  Are you sure it wasn't one of your friends?  Because I took a cab here with some random girl..."...."yeah no that definitely wasn't any of us"..."....hmmm".  Oh Timmy....

Then was the international students dinner, which actually was pretty awkward.  I almost wish my friends and I hadn't sat together, b/c we just ended up talking to each other instead of meeting new people, but meh.  I met this one Aussie guy named Alex who was pretty nice, and another guy from RMIT.

So after dinner we were driven to this club in the Spanish district called Night Cat, which was pretty much a salsa club, with a really awesome live band.  However, I now feel like the most uncoordinated spaz ever.  There were people there who had obviously been trained to dance, so the rest of us were like...."ok...*awkward bouncing*...."  But it was a good time nonetheless.  We're going to go back there when we get motivated to go dancing, we've decided.  So we stayed at Night Cat until about 1:15.  Then came our cab-catching adventure...

We saw a cab pull over, so we were waiting on the guy in the front seat to get out, except....he wasn't getting out.  Then we noticed that he was pretty drunk-looking.  And then the fight started between him and the driver.  They were both yelling at each other with the driver pointing up the road etc., until finally the driver just opened the passenger door and told the guy to get out.  But then, being the sassy drunk he was, the passenger shut the door again and kept yelling.  All the while, we were staring and laughing, b/c that's what Americans do best.  

So now it's Monday, and I have a million errands to run.  Gotta go to campus to get my schedule fixed, and generally pull my life together before BJJ tonight.  And I have to call and make sure BJJ is actually happening....hrm.....We're having an Oscars party tonight like the foolish Americans we are :D  Yay for chill evenings!

Elephant & Wheelbarrow

Yesterday was a good day :D  I headed down for kickboxing at three, which was INTENSE.  We started with running, then wind-sprints, pushups, mountain climbers.  So after already being exhausted, we then strapped on gloves and did speed jab-cross combos for a set time, then sprinted to the end of the room, pushups, then back.  Just after that I was already dying, and the warmup just kept going....So we finally got to pad drills, and worked some hand/kick combos and whatnot.  I need to get my hips stronger, arg.  I have the flexibility for higher kicks, just not the strength.  *DOH*

Anyways, after that, I met up with Timmy, Johnny, Christine, and Gina, and headed down to the Crown Casino, where I proceeded to lose my money, as did everyone else :( :( :(  Though it was an interesting dose of....Australian Vegas?  I don't know.  People definitely can spend money here.  I saw people dropping 4-500$ at the roulette tables in a single turn!  It was ridiculous.  I wanted them to give ME money, instead of spending it all....

So the girls got kind of bored waiting on the boys to finish their poker game, so we headed out to find this pub that Camille wanted to find, and spent the next HOUR or so aimlessly wandering around downtown Melbourne trying to find this mysterious hidden pub, and were pointed in at least six different directions by various australians we asked...So we FINALLY found this bar, which on the third floor of this random building, so accessing it involved walking THROUGH a restaurant, then taking a sketchy flight of stairs to get there.  It was super-crowded, but an interesting pub.  It was formerly a brothel, which apparently was the drawing factor for Camille?  But the inside had astroturf for flooring, and all the staff were dressed like country-club sports pros.  It was....cool?  Since it was on the roof though, there was a really interesting view of Melbourne, which was nice :)

Timmy then decided that he wanted to get absolutely smashed, so we just aimlessly followed him, and ended up at this pub called the Elephant and the Wheelbarrow.  Timmy then informed us that it was the first pub he'd ever been thrown out of, when he poured beer on the heads of the bouncers from the third floor.....*sigh*....But we went in and were just hanging out, and all the sudden a live band started playing, which turned out to be pretty awesome.  We were all out dancing and whatnot, and the band kicked in to all these great songs from the 80s.  I have to say, screaming "Jessie's Girl" at the top of your lungs with a bunch of drunk Australians is probably one of the best activities ever.

So the time passed very quickly actually, and it was suddenly nearly three in the morning, so we decided we should probably try to get home.  After getting lost momentarily, we realized that (we THOUGHT) the trams were going to stop running at 3, so we started sprinting trying to get back to the right street to catch the last tram home.  We were sadly mistaken when we got to the tram stop, and read that....the last tram was at midnight....so we were only off by...you know...THREE HOURS >.<

Thus began the saga of our walk home, which involved Disney sing-a-longs, and stops at the 24 hour 7/11....that just seems wrong to me...but whatever.

Now it's Sunday, and I can barely move my arms, so I'm debating if I can make it to Parkour....That and the fact that I have a dinner thing to go to approximately 45 minutes after Parkour lets out, which is kind of a stretch....I think I have to scrap it again this week :(

But anyways, I'm off to the QV market for the day, then pool chilling time, then optimally meeting more good people at a welcome dinner for exchange students :D

Keep Those Hands Up!

So I managed to roll myself out of bed today to make it to kickboxing again (for some reason my body is convinced that it needs about 18 hours of sleep to be functional).  However, upon my arrival, after warmup, George told us that we weren't really going to be working drills, that it was going to be open sparring.

Let's have a brief little talk about sparring.  In Yongmudo sparring, there is no contact to the head.  Yeah, you might take someone's shin or bare fist to your ribs, which can hurt, but still, it removes a great deal of fear knowing that your head isn't going to connect with someone's foot.  In Muay Thai?  Not the case.  I learned a great deal about keeping my hands up today....

So the way the rounds would go, is you would grab a partner, and do a minute and a half of pure boxing, a minute and a half of pure kicking, and then a minute and a half of both combined.  My reflexes from sparring in Yongmudo have trained me to watch someone's hips.  If you stare at the belt, you can see the hips moving early, and this react faster to their kicks.  In Muay Thai, if you stare at someone's hips.....you take a left hook to the jaw....which is exactly what I did. >.<

The good thing, the guy had gloves on, as did I.  The bad thing, it was a solid shot, so I got my bell rung pretty good.  It's a good way to learn though.  I hold my hands naturally too far away from my face, and leave openings to get hit.  Lesson of the day: Look THROUGH your gloves, keep your hands high and in front of your face at all times.

Then.....payback.  My partner tried to throw a combo, but when he did, left a clean line to his head, so I threw a right cross straight up the middle and popped him square in the face!  Wooooooohoooo that was really satisfying!  The thing I love about martial artists is that they're the only people in the world you can punch in the face, and immediately afterwards, they'll give you a high five and tell you "nice shot".

I managed to collide knees with my next partner though, which hurt....A LOT.  Stupid bony appendages....*grumble grumble*  Anyways, I LOVE kickboxing so so much, and I'm so glad that I get to train it so much.  Tomorrow is a 2 hour class, so I'm really excited for that.

I still haven't gotten my classes squared away, so hopefully by Monday I can get that resolved, and I think my TKD shoes came today :D  I'm gonna meet up with this girl who added me on facebook a while back for dinner, and maybe go pub-hopping with Camille later tonight!  Woooo.  I'm so excited to start classes and finally have a (semi) normal life :)

Faculty of....Nowhere?

Today was the most backwards day EVER.  I woke up and got ready for my international student orientation, which I was kind of hoping would shed some clarity on my life.  So I successfully located the room it was in, which was progress in itself for me, and sat through an hour of information overload about Melbourne.  We were all then told to move on immediately to our college-specific orientation (or faculties, as they're called here), so I check the list, and discover that I was admitted under the Faculty of Medicine.  Oh cool, I think to myself, and check to see where the faculty meeting was held...and it wasn't on the list....fabulous.  So I go and talk to one of the coordinators to find out where to go.

Upon me stating I was admitted to medicine, she goes "oh, another medicine student huh?...well...we don't exactly know where you need to go to pick up your enrollment packet, so just give us your phone number, and we'll call you...."  Oh...um...ok?  So I opted to just wander with Camille to find her orientation...which we failed at.  We somehow ended up at an orientation for the Faculty of Arts, where I ran into two other girls who were also in the Faculty of Medicine and didn't know what was going on.  They apparently went directly to the department, and asked them.  The department didn't know they were supposed to have enrollment packets for us?.....*sigh*

So after going to the arts meeting, we went to the international student office, where we were told to go talk to the department.  We stated that we did, and they seemed concerned...So they said we should call the faculty again....which we did...and were again told they would call us back.  

After getting lunch, they finally called and said that we were being transferred into the Faculty of Arts....despite being....science majors...So we went to pick up our packets, and were again sent off to a different Arts office to pick up the paperwork.  oooook.  Once we showed up at said office, they were like....oh....you're enrolled in BOTH faculties...so we don't know how you're going to sign up for science classes, b/c you can't sign up for them through the Arts faculty......

Oooooook.  So I ignored that stuff and went home to try to just enroll for my classes, and get confirmed later.  So I made it to the part where I set up my email account.  After doing so, I realized that my email account won't accept emails?  Fabulous.

*sigh*.  Strangest day ever.  Whatever.  I finally made my way downstairs to play cards with Johnny and Timmy.  Tons of people were in the courtyard to go bar-hopping, but I wasn't in the mood to have 50 awkward first conversations.  I just don't do well with handling massive groups of people.  Five or less, and I'm good.  Fifty...not as much.

Arg, well tomorrow is kickboxing and jiujitsu, so that's a plus for me.  I'm gonna get a monthly tram pass so I won't have to hike all the way down to Flinders St. every time I wanna go to practice >.<

Also...TKD shoes come next week!

Jab-Cross-Roundhouse

Today thus far has consisted of a trip to the post office (surprisingly out of the way), then heading down to Flinders St. for my very first Muay Thai kickboxing class.  It was the most fun I've had in a LONG time.  SUCH a great workout.  The instructor was really friendly, but totally called me out on my awkward Korean martial arts manners (bowing etc.)  So we warmed up with some jump-roping, which I am SO uncoordinated at, then stretched out and went straight into combos, which felt GREAT.  I forgot how satisfying hitting pads can be :)

We started out just doing a jab-cross combo, then the instructor (George) would add one or two more steps to it, and we would repeat 10 times.  I'm becoming convinced that my left hip has declared itself an independent nation from the rest of my body.  It REFUSES to turn properly when I kick on my left side.  Note to self: WORK left roundhouses >.<

Anyways, after getting nice and sweaty, I promptly filled out my membership information and got all set to go so I can now go train there whenever I feel like it :)  Tomorrow will hopefully ACTUALLY be my first day of BJJ, so we'll see how that goes...

Oh Oh and tomorrow is international student orientation, so I'll hopefully officially be a Melbourne Uni student with an ID card and an actual schedule of classes :)  Also maybe a few new friends?  We shall seeeeee

Tonight is the night market at the QV :)  Then maybe chilling on the patio and trying to meet more people that way? 

Ah how I love the subtle achieness of post-martial arts :)

Wait....what song are they playing?

I've been super-lazy for the past few days, mainly because of the insane heat.  When it's 92 degrees outside, you're not really motivated to do much of anything, so that's what I've been doing.  Camille came over yesterday and we tried to gain favor w/the people who have been hanging out by the pool.  But alas, there were too many, we were overcome :(  Did get drenched by this one Aussie guy who thought he could totally dive into the tiny pool and not cause a nuclear explosion....

Turns out said Aussie guy is my neighbor, so...sup neighbor!  I went down to Federation Square last night with Johnny to meet up with some other EAP kids.  I really regret not signing up for the Melbourne welcome program, since that's apparently how all the Americans met each other and now already have friends?  Arg.  So after wandering around by the river for a while, we all headed back, and Johnny and I decided we were going to make friends with the people who constantly sit on the patio.  Only to discover that apparently ALL of RMIT was going out?  So as we were leaving my dorm-room, we ran into my splashy neighbor (Timmy) and his friend Jinx, who said we should come out with them.  

We semi-reluctantly agreed, not really knowing what was going on, and ended up shortly thereafter on a tram with a few kind of drunk Aussies.  You take what social time you can get, I suppose.  So they dragged us to this club called Eurotrash, where apparently everyone goes on Tuesdays so they can get cheap dumplings....I'm sensing a theme in Aussie motivations...So we wander in, and don't really know what is going on for a good 30 minutes, as our hosts disappeared...

But we made our way upstairs and slowly found them again, and Timmy showed up again, so all was finally well in the world.  Actually I just like typing Timmy.  So Dance-fest 2008 began, and good times were had by all.  I met several random Australians, and then challenged Timmy to a game of ghetto pacman on the machines that they had.  That was really entertaining until I realized that I could only make the pacman go left and right.  That will only keep you same from the ghosts for so long....:(  FAIL

Then Timmy and I realized that....the rest of the group was missing?  He called his friend to find out what happened, and apparently Jinx was thrown out of the club?  *sigh* I thought it was supposed to be the Americans who got drunk and belligerent and thrown out of places...So Timmy and I headed out and caught a cab back to RMIT, at which point he insisted on seeing the balcony which I have no access to and is controlled by my roommate.  

So at 1 in the morning, there I am, staring at Timmy trying to reach through the room divider to my poor roommate's side to open the balcony.  She's gonna hate me :(  Anyways, I finally crashed, and am now up and functional and seeking kickboxing, so I must go.

OH, martial arts update.  Made a HUGE fool of myself in showing up to BJJ practice for the 6:30 class (a 25 minute walk from my dorm, in half my uniform with my gear bag) only to be told that Carlson Gracie was giving a seminar so unless I wanted to pay 190$ to hear him teach (which I really did, but didn't have the funds) I'd have to come back another time....whoops...Go me...   

"oh...so that's actually really far away isn't it..."

Arg.  If school doesn't start soon, I'm gonna lose my mind!  I went back to Big W today to get a few more odds and ends that I needed, and that was pretty much my only social outing.  I just have no motivation to go places since I don't have a group to go WITH.  I think I'm gonna lounge by the pool tomorrow.  There have been groups doing that the past few days, maybe I can strike up an awkward conversation?  Who knows.  I realized today that RMIT might be a little awkward since most of the people living here will probably be attending...RMIT Uni...instead of Melbourne Uni...hrm.  

It was SO hot today.  Curse you for still being summer, Melbourne.  I never thought I would dislike summer, but being this far from the beach is just mean.  It would seriously take about an hour via public transit to get to the beach.  rawr.  And Melbourne looks so close to the coast on a map, too.  It's deceiving me.  

I had my first Aikido practice today.  I also had my LAST aikido practice today.  I don't believe I'll be continuing it.  Maybe I will tough it out, because it might help my wrist techniques/falls, I just really don't like the way the instructor teaches, he's kind of condescending, and aikido is just too slow/boring for my taste.  It's very counter-active to my Yongmudo reflexes.  It seems to nice to just gently bring someone to the ground.  I want to take them down, then do SOME kind of submission, something to establish control.  We were doing various wrist techniques, and apparently pressure points are frowned upon?....oops...I think it's just a little too non-contact for my taste.  I do have my first BJJ practice tomorrow, which I'm SURE will fulfill my need to hurt/be hurt >.<  If I have the energy, I'll run after practice to help loosen up enough for my stretching.  Also have my first Muay Thai kickboxing class on Wednesday.  Woohoo!

Hrm, I'm kind of concerned though about my falls/judo technique.  I have absolutely no way to practice them, given the arts I am doing.  Man, I just wish I had my own little private room with cushy mats, a crash pad, a throwing dummy, and a heavy bag, that I could just retreat to whenever I felt like it.  That would help my judo.  I am determined to find a way to maintain my judo!!

*sigh* I guess I'll stay in aikido, predominantly for the mat time (since they're one of the only martial arts on campus who HAVE mats) so I can work my airfalls/soft rolls *grumble grumble*.

I think tomorrow is expensive laundry day (6$ per load?!), and probably just chilling by the pool here.  Maybe I'll even get a tan/correct the odd one I picked up at Manly....  

Immobility is fun!

Hey kidz.  Today has been probably my laziest day here.  I was super-sore from TKD practice.  Hip flexors are NOT accustomed to working this much >.<  My feet were still pretty sore this morning, I was opting to not do too much moving, so they could heal before Parkour practice tomorrow :)  Today begins my 3-week intensive stretch routine.  Let's see if I can stick to it?  I met up with this other EAP guy who's moving into my building, and explored my building a bit (found loads of new rooms, and the laundry, always a plus).  Then due to laziness we didn't end up doing much beyond watching tv in my room.  Not knowing people + injuries = room-bound.  But, I'm actually kind of enjoying my brief period of anti-social isolation, because I know as soon as orientation happens and I know people, I'll feel bad doing nothing or not hanging out with people.  

Tomorrow is my first day of Parkour practice, so here's hoping my feet can handle it.  I ordered TKD shoes today, so hopefully that will arrive soon so practice won't be as miserable?  I'm also probably gonna have my first kickboxing/boxing class on Monday yay!  Why I insist on punishing my body this much, I don't know.  Now to find a way to get a jiu-jitsu uniform for UNDER 200$ *DOH*.  Why they're so expensive, I don't know.  It's definitely gonna be a bit before I go about making that purchase....though I am going to need it, since my judo uniform has so much extra fabric, I'll just be GIVING away free grips to opponents...

Four days until my first international orientation.  Must....survive!

Note to self: Invest in TKD shoes >.<

So today pretty much consisted of everything related to martial arts.  I woke up and just chilled out for a few hours before getting moving and walking down to Flinders St. to check out these 2 gyms I looked up online.  The first one I found was this tiny Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gym that reminded me a lot of the one in Charlotte (puzzle mats, goofy instructor, small class size), so that is DEFINITELY going to be my haven.  I then went to check out the other gym for boxing/Muay Thai, which I'll have to go to a few classes before I can really feel it out.  I walked back to my dorm and hung out for a little bit, recovering from the heat mostly.  Why is Melbourne windy at the most inappropriate times?  Arg. 

Anyways, I headed out for TKD practice around 5, and met some of the people there who seem nice.  However, much to my dismay, I discovered that there were *GASP* NO MATS.  It was the evil hardwood floor of DOOM!  While I never thought I'd say this, I wish the floors were dirtier.  There was NOTHING to reduce the friction when I would pivot on my feet, leading to the inevitable removal of one of my valued callouses.  So after bleeding for a bit, and cringing at the formation of another blister on my other foot, I finished out practice, and limped home feeling wounded both in body and ego.  It's embarrassing to think about how much work my left side kicks/sparring needs.  I have NO rhythm when I spar.  It's sad!  Luckily, this entire semester pretty much is going to be devoted to sparring as the team has a big tournament coming up.  It's going to be good and bad, as I know I need the work, but the work is going to be miserable.....My cardio is seriously out of shape.  I thought that 2 hours was going to kill me....Whatever, tomorrow I'm heading down to the QV to scope for shoes.  Curse you, hardwood!  I never thought I'd miss the Berkeley mats so much!

I'm sadly/masochistically looking forward to my shower of pain (hot water + missing skin = pain).  I was so glad to finally break a hard sweat, to feel my body digging to keep going.  Martial arts love, right there :)

*sigh* Please stop dancing AT the cars...

Hrm....what have I done recently.  The day before yesterday, I went wandering down to just outside downtown Melbourne, which is actually pretty cool, lots of stores and whatnot (mainly a grocery store that I got so excited about :/).  I finally got my cell phone set up so I feel at least moderate connected with the world.  Now I just need more people to HAVE my cell phone number so that I can actually be concerned with people calling me.  

Yesterday I was supposed to meet up with Camille to go to the QV market (Queen Victoria), which is sort of a flea market and farmer's market combined.  That actually turned out to be pretty cool, the only downside is that I really need to consider the length of walk back I'm going to have when purchasing goods >.<  Afterwards, I dropped all my crap off and decided to go wandering for that boxing gym I had looked up, only to discovered that it....did not exist?  *DOH*

I must now rely on the judo gym downtown still being open :(  Later though I met up with Aurora, and we were just going to go grab a pint, but she said this other guy from EAP and some of his Aussie friends were out too, so we went and met up with them.  They were all really nice, but a little too crazy for my tastes.  We went and had a few rounds at this pub right by the river (downtown Melbourne is super-pretty :)) then headed out to this random place in Chinatown b/c they wanted cheap dumplings?  Though I'll admit, 5$ for 15 dumplings IS pretty cheap.  But that somehow spiraled into them daring each other to take Siracha shots?  *sigh*....it wasn't pretty.  We then ended up randomly hovering outside this one club, debating whether or not to go in, and in the process, as several cars tried to drive up the back alley we were in, all the guys would proceed to dance up alongside it, and then without planning would follow the cars in sync dancing aggressively after it.  Aurora and I were like.....um....ok...well...I guess that's one thing to do...  We did have a massive dance in the street when they started playing Footloose?  I'm so American.  But hey, the Aussies knew it too, so I didn't feel THAT bad. 

They wanted to stay out later, by my clock is still not adjusted, so I opted to turn in, and took the tram back to RMIT.  All in all it was a decent night and I was happy to have social time.  Aurora is pretty cool, and I'm glad I met her.  I'd really like to meet some people in my dorm though...I think today I'm going to make my way back down to Flinders St (downtown) to find that judo gym, and then here is the best news:  MY FIRST TAEKWONDO PRACTICE IS TODAY!!  Yay for mat time!!

Then I'll probably end up meeting back up with Camille, since she has this other international student buddy who's supposed to be showing her around?  Hey, social time is social time, and maybe this girl can enlighten me as to what in the world is going on?...oh Melbourne

Melbourne, Round 1

Sup fooooolz.  I was actually moderate productive today I suppose.  I met up with Camille around 2 to go wander around, which was fairly enlightening.  We didn't quite make it all the way into downtown Melbourne, but discovered the MASSIVE mall that's about a 10-15 minute walk from my dorm.  That was nice to be able to pick up more things for my dorm (laundry basket, life supplies, etc.).  At least now I'm a little more settled than I was, though I still have yet to meet another RMIT Village inhabitant other than my roommate.  Everybody is gone during the day, and at night I'm so tired I just want to chill in my pajamas, which is not yet socially acceptable as a first impression.  There are other UC students coming to RMIT soon, so it'll be nice when they get here.  

I've successfully gone a 24 hour period without saying a word to my roommate.  This is going to be a fun semester, I can already tell.  At least I slept pretty well.  I'm still not 100% on this time-zone though.  I think my body clock has adjusted to somewhere randomly over the Pacific Ocean.  I get tired around 8-9 p.m., and wake up around 7 a.m.  *DOH*  That is not normal college student sleeping hours.  What gives?  

Tomorrow I'm meeting back up with Camille to go to the Queen Victoria market (bargain hunting) for food/more life supplies, and hopefully either before or after, I'll be able to go scouting for the boxing gym near my dorm.  I MUST train.  I'm starting to lose my mind!  I always know when I'm getting the jitters when I start having martial arts dreams.  Though I'm WAY more skilled in my dreams than in real life.  Curses. 

I did finally get an Australian cell phone though, which is nice to have, as it makes me feel connected to life somehow once again.  You don't realize how attached to technology you are until you suddenly don't have it.  At least I have my tea.  I'm growing so addicted.  *shakes fist*  It's ok though, at the mall today I discovered a massive store selling nothing but tea and tea accessories, so I'm PUMPED.  

I found out when orientation is for international students, so it'll be nice to have that come so I can hopefully meet other lost souls to bond with.  Though I forgot what subject Melbourne admitted me under, so I will probably end up going to the wrong orientation......my bad.  Whatever, they can't be TOO different right?  

My thoughts on my schedule are as follows:

1-2 psychology courses (2nd year courses, so shouldn't be overly difficult, but still interesting)

1 history class for a breadth requirement (aboriginal history could be interested, and definitely isn't offered at Berkeley)

1 for fun class (possibly anatomy, taken P/NP, just for my own pre-med insane desires)

I might end up getting a sketchy paid under the table job to supplement my travel habits, but we'll see if I have time once my life is taken over by class and training.  I would ideally like to just see physically how often they'll let me train, and then do that, and figure the rest of my life out later.  Standard.  I think I've forgotten how to kick.  Crap.  This is going to be a fun reintroduction to the mat.  However, I'm forcing myself to get off my gross diet of traveler food and get back in the gym tomorrow, so that is going to be painful/awesome.  

I'm starting a training journal as of tomorrow so I can keep up with how much/what I'm training to get some direction, and hopefully keep myself on track.  WHEEEE!!

Anyways, I'll update more when tomorrow comes :)

Massive Pictures & RMIT Village

Picture Captions:

1) They have HUGE bugs here

2) That koala had surely the most uncomfortable sleeping position ever

3) Hooray for wallabies!

4) That one LOVED me, and I got to scratch it's head.  CUTE

5) I made build-a-bears!!!

Ok, so I have FINALLY made it to Melbourne, though not without a couple of bumps along the way.  I made it to the airport, but of course my bags were overweight since the domestic weight limits are lower, but the girl at the counter was SO nice to me.  I was at the airport way earlier than I needed to be, and since some flights had been getting canceled, she just put me on an earlier flight to be sure I got where I was going, AND didn't charge me the full fee for my bags being overweight.  Then I had the interesting experience of going through Australian airport security.  My ID was not checked.  Not once.....that seems safe?  Hrm...Anyways, I got my sushi logs (standard) and made it onto my flight, and landed in Melbourne.  The only downside was, I was schedule to be picked up from the airport by Melbourne Uni....except I had no way to contact them to tell them I was arriving early (curse not having a phone), so I had to kind of hang out by baggage claim for a little under an hour, but I finished my book, so it turned out to not be that bad at all :)

Then I was picked up by a very nice Australian man with a great big bushy beard named Keith (or KEEF according to him) and two other students from Hong Kong, and was taken to my dorm at RMIT Village.  The only thing I dislike about Australia is the fact that I constantly have NO idea what's going on.  I don't know if I have an RA or who they are, don't know when orientation things start, etc.  I met my roommate, who...I don't think I will be having bonding time with....She is very Chinese and upon my arrival, promptly told me that she was taking architecture classes and therefore would be working very late at night, and shot me a look of "you'd better be QUIET".  So that was comforting...Bleh.  As happy as I am to be in Melbourne right now, I was about to try to head out to get some things for my dorm room, and was told that apparently everything closes at 5 p.m.?  Great....

So I decided to go wandering around Melbourne Uni's campus, which was actually pretty nice, though I nearly got lost.  Melbourne is definitely not laid out as easily as Sydney.  I found a convenience store where I at least got some food and toiletries, which is a start I guess.  Things are oddly quiet right now, which is probably due to the fact that orientation doesn't start for another TWELVE days.  So of course, most people aren't moved in yet, so I haven't really met anyone.  I'm gonna go wander around and explore the common areas later and try to meet some people I suppose. 

Tomorrow is probably going to involve me making my way into downtown to get more stuff for my down (clothes hangers, laundry bag, etc.) and optimally find some kind of gym for boxing or muay thai or some other option.  Hrm.  A map will be critical...

More updates to come tomorrow, and thank goodness I have guaranteed internet/lodging for the next month.  *sigh*.  It's been a long three weeks to get here since I left Charlotte, but I'm FINALLY in Melbourne.

The Palms

So after surviving my last night in Sydney (pretty fun actually, I'm discovering that I'm apparently a pretty good pool player?) I woke up this morning and packed up all my crap, and had the joy of remembering how freakin' annoying it is to have it all. >.< I said bye to Mallory which was super-weird since we've been joined at the hip for a little over a week, and trekked over to my hostel. If I was just a backpacker, it would actually be really cool since I could just hang out with everybody and wouldn't have to worry about having a ton of stuff. There are definitely a lot of hippies here though. Some of them have been just chilling in Sydney for over four months. They just bum around and hang out. Wouldn't that be nice? I truthfully think I'm just going to sleep in my clothes and take the shuttle to the airport in the morning, since I really don't feel like unpackingand repacking and finding everything all over again.

I went out for a walk through King's Cross today, which was actually pretty nice. It's amazing how much daylight can take away the sketchiness of a place. Definitely don't think I'll be taking a walk tonight though....argargarg I want to be in my dorm and settled and know what classes I'm taking and where things are and to have a cell phone and to be on the mat blah. Not having mat time is driving me nuts. I need to get my martial arts jitters out! I want to do dive rolls and throws and bag work and playtime!

Hopefully when I update tomorrow I'll have some semblance of order in my life. Here's to shaking things up in Melbourne (or Mel-bin as the Aussies put it)

Back in Bondi

So Mallory and I are sitting at this internet place in the mall in Bondi. *sigh*. We're going to go to Bondi beach in a bit, but we didn't trust the weather to stay nice long enough for us to commit to going, so it's not quite a full day trip. It's our last night in Sydney together, so we're probably going to go by the Rocks tonight and just enjoy the harbour and hang out. As much as I know the other EAP kids want to go party, paying 50+$ for a cab, drinks etc. just isn't worth it. I'm too broke for that. I've been trying to get to know some of the other kids going to Melbourne, but it's hard when we're only together for 2 days, and clicks have already formed etc.

My roommate seems pretty cool, so I'll probably meet back up with her when I get back to Melbourne, but we'll see what happens. It's definitely going to be a weird set of days. Not looking forward to having to figure out cell phone/internet/classes, but still kind of exciting to get to learn the layout of a new city and all that stuff.

Tomorrow I get to migrate out to a hostel overnight until I hit the airport for Melbourne the next day. Let the insane inter-Australia travel planning BEGIN! Some people from STA Travel came to orientation today to talk to us about good travel deals and stuff and I got super-excited, though I dunno if I can afford it all. I'm gonna have to pick my travel destinations very carefully. I mean, roundtrip flights to New Zealand are 500$! Hrm....

Will post my schedule when I obtain it. More updates after this commercial break....

Wait.....are all the trains seriously closed?

*sigh* Today has been RIDONKULOUS. So after having the super-random breakfast which included Vegemite (crazy Australian spread consisting of salty yeast extract leftover from the beermaking process which is occasionally spread on bread), molasses for pancakes, and ambiguous cereals, we were herded into this random room to listen to 2+ hours of talks, giving us information we already knew, or could have been emailed, thus sparing us a random waste of time/money in Sydney for orientation. DAMN.

They then shuttled us out the door for a lovely harbor cruise...in the rain....great. So we got to listen to random over-accented Australian commentary on various facts. We tried to escape the cruise at the aquarium, but by the time we made it downstairs, they had already unroped the boat. I VERY seriously considered a dive-roll off the boat to freedom, but I didn't want to strand my friends. Curses.

So we finally took our awkward group photo in front of the opera house...again. Luckily by this point it had stopped raining, so we gathered a group and set off on a hunt for a good bottle of wine and a location. We ended up after WAY too much wandering, settling in at a decent Chinese restaurant in Chinatown (which is way more authentic than the one in SF, given that....it's a bit closer to China...) After dinner, we wandered to Darling Harbour, which feels like home to me now, the neighborhood is so cool and familiar, and sat down on the steps of the harbour drinking good wine and chit-chatting. It was an awesome time. Then, however, it began to rain. AGAIN.

So we began to walk back into downtown, looking for a train station, only to discover, that at 10 p.m. on a Saturday night in Sydney Australia....ALL the train stations are closed. Excuse me? NOT OK. So we had to walk all the way from Darling Harbour to King's Cross, which is a LONG walk, especially in the rain. But apparently according to the random Scottish guys who were cat-calling us in the park, we look like native Australian girls, so I guess that's progress...?

Our walk through Hyde Park was nice though, it's really pretty at nice. I could really settle into Sydney as a living option. It's a great city and would never really get old. It's just such a cool place to be, and has so much to see. *sigh*

Now I must figure out how to occupy myself for another awkward day of orientation/random downtime? Oh well, I'm sure it will involve another ridiculous adventure. More posts to come, ideally with pictures assuming my next hostel has wireless? Comment please! I need a dose of home :)

screw you, EAP

Today has been interesting....to say the least. Mallory and I got up early to go the Sydney Wildlife Park which was right by our hotel. It was soooo cool! Australia has the weirdest/biggest bugs ever. They have bugs that climb and swim and jump and....it's kind of creepy. There were spiders bigger than my hand. I dislike that. But once we got through the weird insect part, it was the snake part, which was super-cool since I love snakes. Australia has something like 10 of the top 30 most venomous snakes in the world? Great. Just wonderful. So Mallory and I went on a mission to find the koalas, and when we did, we were disappointed to know that you couldn't hold them (lame), and that they were all sleeping (more lame). Whatever, I took pictures of them anyway, and my time shall come...

OH MAN. When we made it to the wallaby enclosure, I nearly died of estrogen rush. Those are the cutest animals on the PLANET. There wasn't really a fence or anything, so they would come up SO close to you, and I hand-fed one some leaves and got to scratch it's head! I nearly died from cuteness-overload. It was seriously the best moment of my life. I want a wallaby for a pet. SO BADLY.

So while I was coming down from the wallaby-high, we went into this butterfly exhibit where you could just hold your hands out and all these butterflies would come land on you and just chill. We stayed there for a good hour just letting them land on us, and looking at how pretty they were, it was great.

After that though, we had to head over to our new hotel for EAP, which is seriously in the boonies. We're near King's Cross, which for those of you who don't know, is the sketchy former drug/prostitute part of Sydney, so that's fun. There was NOTHING around the hotel, so the concierge told us to hike to this random train station and take a train to Bondi to go to a mall? I was skeptical, but overall it was actually a pretty nice mall. It just wasn't exactly what I wanted given that my time in Sydney is limited. However, I did some nice shopping (it feels so good and so bad to spend money. *DOH* I made Build-A-Bears for Michelle, V, and Melanie though. They're hilarious, and say "SSSPPPBBAAHOOO!" when you squeeze them. Wow I'm such a nerd.

Anways, after spending WAY too long at the mall and being on our feet all day, Mallory and I decided to head back here, at which point I met my temporary roommate, who is also going to Melbourne and seems pretty cool, same with Mallory's roommate. It's awkward b/c the EAP kids are scattered everywhere and don't really know what's going on, but hopefully tomorrow's orientation will be better? *sigh*. I probably won't be able to update much due to being broke and not wanting to PAY for internet anymore. Anyways, hopefully, pictures to come, and more stories of Sydney awkwardness! YAY!

So.....we're kind of really high up.....

Today was ridiculous.  Mallory and I slept in, which given the amount of walking we did yesterday, felt AMAZING.  But then our hotel decided they urgently needed to test every emergency system them had ON OUR FLOOR AT EIGHT IN THE MORNING.  Jerks.  So, needless to say, that was less than enjoyable.  But by the time we actually got moving, the sun was out again! Yay!  

In our excitement, we decided it'd be a great plan to try to find the Sydney BridgeClimb place (without directions obviously), and wandered through downtown Sydney until we found it, and randomly booked a trip UP the Sydney harbour bridge.  I want you all to read that carefully.  UP.  Not ACROSS like most people do, no no.  UP.  

So we went wandering to get food to kill time until our appointment, only to see the sky begin to darken menacingly....CURSES!  We made it back to the place without it raining still, and began to go through our orientation.  In order to climb the Sydney harbour bridge, you apparently must put on ugly gray jumpsuits, and be breathalyzed, which was hilarious.  So to get government clearance to climb the bridge, the company had to pass all these safety standards, including the fact that every single thing you take up the bridge with you must be strapped to your body in some form or fashion.  It makes for some CRACKING outfits.  All in all, I had on a jumpsuit, rain pants, safety belt, safety clip which slid along the safety wire, radio, headset, kerchief, baseball cap, and a rain jacket.  GOOD LORD!  

Because the weather gods hate me, as soon as we were preparing to go on our little practice course they devised (to get people to not freak out on the bridge itself), it begins dumping water outside.  Great.  I was about to climb a giant maze of metal while there was lightning in the sky.  Excellent plan.  But, our Aussie guide pressed on, and we started walking through the under-belly of the bridge, which didn't get freaky until the floor became a see-through metal mesh, so I could see the water about a hundred feet below.  We kept walking and climbed all these ladders until we got onto the main arch of the bridge and started our climb, taking a few pictures here and there (they have to take the pictures since they don't trust stupid tourists like me to not drop their cameras).  By the time we got to the official top of the bridge, we were 452 feet above the Sydney harbour....which is REALLY high up.  Mallory and I got to the top and gave one loud "SSSSPPPPBBBAAAHOOOO!!" to Sydney.  I think the city appreciated it.  

I did learn a bunch of cool stuff though.  Apparently they used six MILLION rivets in the construction of the bridge, and it is the largest single-arch bridge in the world (I think).  They also said only 19 people died while building the bridge, and only one of those deaths was from physically falling off the bridge.  Weird.  Oh! and from the top of the bridge you can see the big mirrored glass skyscraped in the helicopter scene from the Matrix! 

Now it's pouring rain again, and Mallory and I are seriously contemplating just going to bed.  I'm SO tired.  But I must press on.  There are koalas to be held tonight, and I'll be DAMNED if I'm going to leave Sydney without at least poking one.  tee hee.

We have to check in to our other hotel before orientation starts on the 9th, so who knows what tomorrow will hold.  Probably more ridiculousness since Mallory and I have no earthly idea what we're doing with ourselves.  whoops

Manly Times at Manly Beach

Today was probably the best day I've had in a very long time, in Australia or otherwise.  I had forgotten how easy it is for me to become a beach bum.  Today was the first sunny day we've had, so we got outselves to the beach as fast as possible.  We took a ferry from Circular Quay to Manly Wharf, which provided a gorgeous view of the harbour (Aussie-spelling, it's already happening).  Sydney in the sunlight is easily one of the most beautiful cities in the world.  The water is so blue and the hills and surrounding areas to downtown Sydney are so green!

So upon arriving at Manly Wharf (the name makes me giggle every single time), we headed straight for the beach.  However, there were several lifeguards hammering signs into the sand saying the beach was closed?  That didn't exactly stop the tens of surfers who were still out regardless, nor did it stop me from playing in the Tasman Sea!  The water felt so nice and warm, and I finally felt like I was having a summer vacation.  It was such a ridiculously great moment to be playing at the beach in the middle of February while the rest of the world is stuck in winter.  I felt like I had my own private playground.  I was shocked at how few people were actually there, given how nice the beach/weather was.  OH, and apparently all the pedestrian crosswalk signs in Sydney are Michael Jackson crossing signs, since it's just a pair of legs wearing high-waters....

We played in the water and wandered to another beach where we just relaxed for most of the day.  I got a tan too!  Finally I won't be AS pasty and white....*doh*  Then we headed back to the ferry as the rain was approaching, sadly.  That was definitely the best shower ever though.  As much as I love the beach, I love rinsing off the beach grime more.  

Then we headed out to get dinner as the rain was rolling back into Darling Harbour, hitting up our usual cheap foodcourt, since we're starving college students, no matter what continent we're on.  I don't think we've had a non-foodcourt meal since we've been here, which is genuinely terrible, but we get SO excited when we find one.  It's tragic, really.

To top off the night, we headed out to the Sydney Aquarium, which was AMAZING.  We wandered through looking at all the exhibits, though were seriously bummed out that we couldn't find the platypus.  I think they were lying about actually having one, and just put up signs saying that it hides a lot to make it seem like they're cooler.  I got totally stared down by a saltwater crocodile.  It crept up to the edge of the tank underwater towards me, and I officially would never want to fight one of those things.  As much as I love sparring, I love keeping my limbs more...

I'm super-wiped from the beach (I forgot how much being in the sun takes out of you), but was SO excited to finally have a day outside where I could actually see color in the sky.  The opera house looks so much nicer in the sunlight :)

I think tomorrow Mallory and I are going to climb the harbour bridge, which should be super-cool, and then head over to Luna Park, which is this crazy amusement park on the other side of Sydney Harbour.  I WOULD go to an amusement park. *sigh*  OH OH and tomorrow is the wildlife park, and I swear to god if I don't hold a koala....so HELP me...  

Time to see the OOOOOOOOPERA House!

Well today was definitely interesting to say the least.  Mal and I woke up to another glorious day of overcast doom and gloom, but at least it hasn't rained yet.  Hopefully it will have cleared up enough by tomorrow for us to go to the beach?  So we finally got moving after probably the best night's sleep I've had in a long time.  Jet lag can be a glorious thing when you have time to sleep it off.  So we were SUPPOSED to meet these other EAP-ers at their hotel, except the concierge at our hotel sent us in the COMPLETE wrong direction, so after wandering the streets of Sydney for over an hour, we decided they probably weren't waiting on us any more....whoops.  We somehow ended up near the harbor bridge and opera house, so we decided to scope it out since we were already there.  The harbor itself is a really cool area, and really pretty, even when it's grey outside.  We wandered around the opera house, which is also really really pretty and apparently textured on the surface, which I have never noticed in pictures before. 

Then came the awkwardness of the opera house.  This super-sketchy African guy came up and asked us to take his picture, so we agreed, at which point he demanded that Mallory join him in said picture.  She awkwardly agreed, and after two pictures, he decided it was my turn....WEIRD.  Then as we politely tried to escape, he says "don't worry, I'm coming after you"......excuse me?  We fled...rapidly....

Anyways, I began my collection of handstands around the world with a picture of me doing a handstand in front of the opera house.  However, I do need to practice them so I can skip the needing a spotter part...Hopefully I'll re-take a better one later, and get one in front of the harbor bridge too.

After walking for waaaay too long, we made it back to our hotel to regroup and prepare for the night, which obviously involves internet time in the hotel lobby...wooohooo!  Sydney definitely needs to stop being so expensive though.  I'm going broke so quickly here!  I haven't even spent money on anything other than food, which is the sad part.  Mallory and I are debating catching seagulls and using that to sustain ourselves.  College-students at their finest....

Now we're preparing for a night at the Sydney Aquarium!  Yay for being science dorks!  I'm getting jittery though without having time to workout on the mat.  I'm losing my mind!  I just want to get to Melbourne so I can check out the martial arts program and get back in the routine of hurting people....I mean....what?

My battery is slowly dying, so alas....I must depart, but I will update tomorrow with more ridiculous adventures in the land down under :)

Unisom & Golden Gaytime....

So...I'm sitting in the lobby of my hotel in Sydney, doing various internet-y things.  It has been the longest day of ALL TIME.  After making a mad-dash to the airport and rushing goodbyes, I got to wait around while the airline tried repeatedly to convince Mallory and I that we didn't actually need to fly to Sydney that day, since they overbooked the flight.  When we finally did board about 30 minutes late, we got to sit on the plane for another 30 minutes while waiting for people from a flight from Chicago to get on.  I spent that down time getting to know my flight neighbors, who consisted of 3 screaming kids in my row, a screaming baby in the row in front of me, and 2 more screaming kids in the row behind me.  Lovely.  

Thankfully, Michelle had stocked me up with a most excellent travel survival kit, so I got to flip through trashy magazines until takeoff.  I decided to just catnap until the airline dinner came, just in case it was worth eating.  It was not.  So, out came my dear friend Unisom.  I didn't exactly know how potent a single Unisom capsule can actually be, so I decided I would try to watch 300 until it kicked it.  So about 20 minutes into the movie, I was down for the count, and it was all I could do to put my laptop away before I passed out.  Keep in mind, this was only about 1 hour into the flight, and I still had 13.5 more to go, so I was thinking I would maybe be asleep for about 8 hours...MAX.  Then I woke up over New Caledonia, approximately 2 hours off the coast of Australia.  WOW.  That was probably the only thing that made the flight bearable.  Well, that and earplugs for the screaming kids.  

So upon landing, I hauled all my crap off the plane to adventure through customs, where NONE of my travel documents were checked, and I was sent through with a cheerful "no worries" from the customs guy.  I finally got my bags, and set off to exchange my money, which was amazing, b/c Australian money is plastic and has see through portions and is unrippable and weird shaped coins.  I then set off on my adventure to find a shuttle to our hotel, which took an awkward amount of time, and I had the joy of almost getting run over by several cars because I kept looking on the wrong side of the street for traffic...

Upon getting into the shuttle, Mallory and I looked death in the eye several times with this guy's driving.  The whole...cutting across multiple lanes of traffic while driving on (seemingly) the wrong side of the road...it's scary.  But we made it to our hotel in one piece, only to be told that our room wasn't ready and that we would have to hang out for an hour.  That shouldn't have been bad news, because we're in Sydney, right? Tons to do.  Except it was POURING rain.  Not fun after getting off a 14 hour flight.  So Mallory and I trekked around getting drenched until we found a shady asian restaurant to eat at, which was also having electrical work done on it at the time... so we got to eat in the dark for half our meal, it was cool.

So we got even more soaked on the way back to our hotel and went snack hunting at a convenience store, where I came upon the ice cream section, and the hilarity that is the "Golden Gaytime" bar.  I didn't even look at what was in it, I just bought it for comic effect.  Needless to say, I probably should have read it better....because it was super-gross.  NOT golden nor a gay time at ALL.  

Now Mallory and I are sitting in the hotel lobby jacking the wireless internet, sulking over the rain.  Hopefully we're going to meet some other EAP-ers for dinner, so we can be social and feel better about our Sydney experience thus far.  We're going to try to track down some INDOOR activities for tomorrow so we can actually see some of the city, though the weather forecast for the next few days is quite bleak (rain every day).

I'll be in regular internet contact due to my aversion to rain, so feel free to email/facebook me at will!

p.s. - They have a fast food place called Chicken Wizard here.  I think I've found my calling.