AUSSI AUSSI AUSS!!!

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The day before arriving to Australia there was a supposed “meteor shower” the best ever, and it was supposed to last several hours. So, after going to sleep very late watching team America (which I fell asleep…opps), I was designated to wake everyone up, at like 5 am. I did the round and woke everyone up, Dounia Mercedes , Brittany,a nd gioel had had a sleep over, so they were very easy to gather. We all met outside, it was roughly around 30 degrees outside, and i was in my jamies…so basically I was freezing. And to our surprise nothing was happening, there was no meteor shower; all we saw was what looked like a planet in the distance, and lots and lots of stars. So taking advantage of being a wake at the crack of dawn, Adam and I went to the front of the ship and stayed up to see the sunrise. At this point, Adam and I had woken up at least 6 times throughout the voyage just to catch a cloudless sunrise (however we had zero luck, and by that point I had lost all hope that we ever would). However, that morning pulling into austrailia was perfect, it was the one amazing sunrise we saw the entire time on board, and it was worth it, we took around 30 pictures just of the sun :-D
So after our picture perfect sunrise we decided to pass back out, because immigration was coming on board. They were going to look at everyone individually, plus they had to look through some people computers to make sure they didn’t have any illegal material. We were finally able to get off the boat, at around 10ish. Our ship was located in a very convenient location; we had a walk way by the harbor leading to the Sydney opera house. There were bars, and restaurants all along, and it was a very nice walk to make. The first day in Sydney was spent walking, and walking, and we did a lot more walking….Before heading back we went to the opera house and purchased tickets for the following evening to see tales of Vienna woods. Adam, Jarle, and I walked back to the boat were we met up with Dounia, to go to an art walk that was by the beach. Dounia had spent the day doing the bridge climb in Sydney and was running a little late. By the time she arrived I was dead tired,a nd my feet were swollen from all the walking, but we all still went out. The art walk was displayed , by the rocks that surrounded the water. The pieces were all placed on different elevations, and in order to see all the pieces it was a hike. After our lovely hour or so hike looking at all the art, we went to look for a place to eat dinner. Parallel to the beach was a walk way with restaurants and bars, and we all noticed in the distance HAPPY HOUR. So naturally we all were very excited at the sight…..we went and sat there when we noticed the sign, which was not happy hour for drinks, but instead happy hour for food. Not completely disappointed, because we did need to get we sat an enjoyed yummy steaks, and pasta. By the time we finished eating none of us felt like partying, so we went back to the ship and fell asleep.
The following day was the beginning of my Academic field program…YAY! We all gathered early in the morning for breakfast to discuss how we would handle the port. After, we left for macquire university, were we spent the entire day, listening to random lectures about Australia and the programs offered on campus ( all of whoch was very very boring). I snuck away a few times to call Naty and find out how Catherine was doing, and see if she was out of the hospital yet (Catherine had been hospitalized because she was having difficulty breathing, and I had just found out). After a very boring day at the university, most of the post-grads and I went to the media release. And after i finished giving my infamous tours of the boat, I ran upstairs to get ready for our opera. I had purchased a very nice black beaded dress in New Zealand, and was very excited that I was going to have the opportunity to use it. We were running a little late because Asha was taking forever getting dressed, and I forgot my ID so I had to search ( and well, i didn’t end up forgetting it, I ended up leaving it in Adams pocket…opps….ya…
So we took a cab to the opera house even though it was in clear walking distance, but we were sure we would be late. The show was supposed to be a comedy; well it turned out to be a drama about the life of this one young girl. It went through exactly how her life was ruined because she got married and had a baby. By the intermission she was a stripper, her husband left her and her baby was very sick. By the end the baby died and her entire family found out she was a stripper. Leaving the opera house with a not-so-good feeling, we went to a bar. I was going to casually walk into the bar, because that was what I had been doing in every other port, but I was stopped because I needed an ID with my age on it??? …uh….yea definitely didn’t carry that with me (by that point everyone was annoyed with me) I wanted to hang out with everyone so Adam walked me back to the ship so that I could get my ID. We partied for a while but didn’t end up staying out that late, because the drinks were very expensive we didn’t want to spend the money….

So the next morning I woke up at 6:20am when I was supposed to be ready to leave at 6:30 for the coal mine…uh oh…I ran , and left my room with half done make up and non-matching socks…and I probably reeked of nothing nice. Lucky me the coal mine was 3 hours away, so I did a lot of sleeping:-D We arrived to a small town, were the manager of the coal mine was going to give us a lecture. (And I don’t know what it is about those lectures but I could never stay awake…and I didn’t make any exception here either…passed right out) So after our fun-filled lecture on coal mines, we had lunch, and then off to the coal mine. For the record coal mines are not very exciting….at all…so if you ever decide you just really really want to go see a coal mine, I would think otherwise. So after the coal mine we had another 3 hour ride back to the boat. Were I had a prospective student boat tour waiting for me. Well, my prospective student tour, was false advertisement instead I got cruise ship enthusiast. SO what is a cruise ship enthusiast??? A very very dorky senior citizen, or at least that was the cruise ship enthusiast i received…all of which were discussing the different types of wood that was on my ship….hmmm…what to do with them??? Well, one of them had cruised on my ship in the 60’s, and the rest knew way more about the ship then I could ever fathom. So, instead of giving my fun-filled tour about how wonderful our program is, I let them give me a tour about all the informative facts I could ever want to know about my ship. Luckily, the tour didn’t last long, I was definitely getting lots and lots of strange looks from my fellow boat people:-D
The following morning, I had wine tasting for my Academic field program, and Adam was leaving to Melbourne. So I said good-bye , and left for my bus. Again i had another 3 hour bus ride, and i hadn’t ate breakfast. We arrived at around 10 am at the winery, and they took us to this very larger room with large round tables and cheese and crackers in the center. And then they started pouring the wine…lots …and lots…of wine. And since my lovely Moroccan friend doesn’t drink, we helped her out. So we got double our dose of wine, with no food at 10 am…..I could only describe my state of mind in one word…drunk…So my brilliant leaders decieded that it was a very SMART idea to take us to a lecture after all the wine….So what did I do??? Yup…I fell asleep! This time I really wanted to listen because they were taling about tourism and marketing to interesting subjects for me. But I couldn’t do it, it was to much wine tooo early in the morning on a very empty stomach. Dounia an Ty the camera guy pocked me and tried to get me to stay awake…their efforts were in vein, no one was getting me to stay awake…man I think I was probably even snoring, I had such a restful nap :-D
So finally after the lecture we went to eat, and it was very good food…BBQ…YUMMMMO! And after the food, we walked around these botanical gardens, it was all very beautiful. And then drove home. That night Mercedes, and taylor were going to a metro bar, down town, and not having anything else to do Dounia and I staged along. We got there and Mercedes wasn’t allowed in because she was wearing flip flops, so instead we went to a regular bar. Where we found pitchers of beer for $7 which was a very very good deal. These Australian boys came up to us and wanted to chat, or more like buy us drinks…Not being into it, I agreed just for the free drink. We hung out for a while and Mercedes was challenged by one of them to chug a beer. During the process they started chanting “USA…USA..USA.” ……uh ??? why??? I am not sure if they were making fun of us, or if they were trying to be fun…either way that is when I decided it was time to leave. So we left, and went home.
The following day I didn’t go to my Academic field program because they were staying on board and I wasn’t in the mood to be on the ship. So I took the metro 40 minutes out of town and went to a town with a very very large 5 story mall, and did lots of walking.
he following morning, I had another prospective student tour. And lucky them i gave them all my insider tips and the do’s and don’t do’s hopefully they left with a little more knowledge as to how to survive

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