Adventures Down Unda!

Six months ago today on September 22, 2008, five tired, smelly American girls stepped off the plane in Melbourne into a life they had waited anxiously to experience. We had no housing, jobs, friends, or knowledge of the city of Melbourne. What we had was each other, and we knew that everything beyond that would work itself out.

Tomorrow I leave our apartment for good. April and Noreen are already in New Zealand (they left Friday), and I’m moving in with Lauren & Kelley in another suburb called St. Kilda about a half hour away from here. After April 13, I can no longer work for Peter Alexander due to restrictions of my visa. As you can probably see, I am once again at square one. Just as I got comfortable, everything had to go changing again.

The past few weeks since Mom, Rick and Pat left have been an absolute whirlwind and I truly apologize to everyone that I talk to semi-regularly that I haven’t been around. I worked at the Australian International Airshow for six VERY long days last week selling souvenirs inside of a trailer. I have been pretty bogged down with work, and it won’t be over until the end of this month as I’m working the Formula One Grand Prix here in Melbourne. Upside, I get to see The Who perform and I’m selling upgraded souvenirs at this one—we’re talking memorablia, folks!

On April 14, I’m flying up to Sydney to meet April & Noreen and welcome them home to Australia. On April 25, Lauren, Kelley, April & I head off to the Outback for a genuine Outback camping experience. Other trips looming: early July my good friend, Christina from UCI is coming to meet April & I in Melbourne and off we go to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos for about 6 weeks.

Clearly, there is PLENTY to look forward to before my projected return home in the beginning of September, but I can’t help but feel bittersweet towards the new changes. The beginning of our second six months brings a close to the last six—months that were filled with learning, laughter, and rich experiences. That being said, the best is surely yet to come…

On the first day of our adventure, my family shared with me: [/b]lunch at the Park Hyatt Melbourne, a walk around the CBD, Hoegarden and Stella Artois at the Belgian Bier Garden, and dinner at Claypots in St. Kilda.

On the second day of our adventure, my family shared with me: Breakfast at Picnic in South Yarra, shopping on Chapel St., a walk around the Royal Botanical Gardens, spa time with my mamacita, dinner with all of my friends at Ti Amo on Lygon St. in which Rick poured sugar on his carbonara, and pitchers of beer in Brunswick.

On the third day of our adventure, my family shared with me: a VERY early morning flight to Cairns, sausage & egg mcmuffins and hash browns at McDonald's in the airport, Dream Girls on the plane with my mom, a nausea-inducing drive to port douglas, checking into the Saltwater Luxury Apartments, lunch at Cafe Fresq, a dip in the pool, and dinner at the Jade Inn (President Clinton dined here in 1996 when he visited Port Douglas!)

On the fourth day of our adventure, my family shared with me: a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef on Calypso, two scuba dives to check out the wonderful world below, one snorkel to do the same, and dinner at the incredible 2 Fish.

On the fifth day of our adventure, my family shared with me: a tour of the Daintree Rainforest with Ross, our tour guide from Tony's Tropical Tours and a pale, boring family from Seattle. It included stops at the Mossman Gorge, a crocodile cruise, alexandra lookout, morning tea at a beautiful secluded beach, cape tribulation, a lunch of steak, sausages, fish, salad, fruit & great bread, a swim in a big watering hole, ice cream at the Daintree Ice Cream Company, and last but not least, a stop to check out the 25,000 flying foxes (a.k.a. FRUIT BATS!! EEK!) living in Port Douglas. Dinner of pizza and beer at Rattle & Hum finished off the day perfectly.

On the sixth day of our adventure, my family shared with me: a day to relax in Port Douglas... I took a private yoga class, we had lunch at the marina, shopped around the town, and I got a pedicure. The boys watched a gigantic groper feeding, and after consuming about 2 bottles of wine, we headed to a delightful Thai dinner. After Thai, we headed to Pokies, the diviest of dive bars, to hear live music and watch some Aussies make fools of themselves.

On the seventh day of our adventure, my family shared with me: a slightly hung over and curvy ride to the Cairns airport, a sucky flight to Sydney in which our seats didn't recline, arrival in Sydney and a fantastic lunch at a little Italian restaurant in Potts Point near our darling boutique hotel, Simpsons of Potts Point. Next we headed to the aquarium followed by dinner at Metrio near our hotel.

On the eighth day of our adventure, my family shared with me: an incredible five hour, 15km bike ride touring ALL OVER sydney, beers and pretzels at Lowenbrau in The Rocks after our ride, Alan Cumming in I Bought A Blue Car today at the fantastic Sydney Opera House, and steaks at Sienna Mar in Wooloomooloo.

On the ninth day of our adventure, my family shared with me: a trip on the ferry to Manly, a beautiful beach in Sydney, lunch at Shelly Beach, gelato at the wharf, ferry back to Sydney, failed souvenir shopping in China Town, a twilight climb of the Sydney Harbor Bridge, and the strangest Chinese dinner at Golden Century Seafood Restaurant in China Town.

On the tenth day of our adventure, my family shared with me: a hellish flight back to Melbourne (mom, we don't have to ever talk about it again), arrival at the Como Melbourne in South Yarra, lunch at the Greek Deli and Taverna, relaxing afternoon in Melbourne, dinner at Lucky Coq with Kelley and Lauren.

On the eleventh day of our adventure, my family shared with me: girl alone time shopping and eating lunch in the city, boy time seeing Milk, the last Suzuki Night Market of the summer at the Queen Victoria Market, and dinner at Little India.

On the twelfth day of our adventure, my family shared with me: a big ol' breakfast at the Como followed by a tearful goodbye as they left to return back to Cali.

Words can't even begin to describe how fantastic it was to see my mom, Rick and Patrick. I feel so incredibly blessed to have such an amazing family that will fly around the world to come see me and share in this amazing experience I'm having in living here in Australia.

I love you guys, thank you so much for coming here to visit me and for every single part of the last week and a half.

25 things about me is going around the world of facebook like a bad cold. I tried to avoid it, but lo and behold, I was sucked in and have fallen victim. Basically, you write a list of 25 things about yourself. I find always find them really interesting when I read them about other people, so I thought you might find it interesting about me, too! You probably already know some or most of these things about me, but oh well, here they are anyway. If you've already read this on facebook, don't bother reading, it's the same!

25 things about me

1. I hate wearing seat belts. I know they save lives and all, but still.
2. I LOVE all Asian noodles. I could eat top ramen for every meal of the day.
3. The majority of my friends are girls.
4. I like to sing when I’m wearing my iPod at any chance I get, especially when I’m out and about. I hate it when there are people around and I can’t.
5. I’m not a very good cook and it really upsets me. I really want to be.
6. I read Perezhilton.com every day, it’s sort of sad, really, but I do think he is great and I just can’t help by love celebrity gossip.
7. I haven’t been in a serious relationship in four years. Yikes.
8. When I work out, I think about how Britney got back into shape and if she can do it, so can I. Then I generally tell myself to stop being such a baby and to suck it up.
9. I am really competitive and also very stubborn, which is a really bad combination. I hate to be wrong and challenge other people continuously.
10. I always sit with a pillow on my lap when I sit on the couch.
11. My dream job is to be a pop star—think a Britney/Lady Gaga/Rihanna/Beyonce combo. I want to be her for many reasons: I love to sing, I like to be on stage, I am creative and artistic, and I love music. There are some other kind of embarrassing reasons too, such as I want cool clothes, lots of free stuff, to be able to travel all over, and meet other famous people.
12. I have traveled to 13 countries (US, Canada, Mexico, Engand, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Italy and Australia). Hopefully by the time I return home the number will be at 18 (New Zealand, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos).
13. I have lived in 3 different countries: US, Spain, and Australia.
14. I have NO idea what I want to be when I grow up, mainly because I want to be at least 15 different things right now.
15. I don’t know how to play any instruments and I find that very upsetting.
16. I would rather read a book then watch TV.
17. I have a sickeningly good memory when it comes to movie quotes. My brother is the same and we recently decided that if we could somehow make a useful application of this is our careers, we would be millionaires.
18. I love talking in accents. I do, however, have a slight problem in that I love talking in them when I’m around that particular nationality, which can definitely get my in trouble.
19. I LOVE my bed. I think being in bed is the best thing in the whole entire would.
20. I used to put make up on in the car all the time (when I had one). It’s really quite bad actually, because I have in fact put it on while the car was moving.
21. I am not the best driver, in fact, I could be considered a bad driver by many. I have hit a total of 6 parked cars: my own WITH my step-dad's, a neighbors, 2 friends, and 2 others that didn’t matter.
22. I have been attacked by 2 dogs. One was my own, when I was about 2 or 3 and the other when I was 9. Strangely, I still LOVE dogs, more than any other animal in the whole wide world (RIP Jordan).
23. I really want to write a book. I have most of the materials gathered, though I’m still building. Those of you who know me very well know what this book is going to be about. Look for my name on the New York Times Bestsellers in about 5-10 years.
24. The ocean and space scare me A LOT. Both for basically the same reason, they represent a huge, vast unknown. There are big giant scary animals in the ocean and space, man, I don’t even know what the hell is out there.
25. I’ve realized some incredibly big things in the last year or so. Most importantly, I’ve realized that life is about surrounding yourself with fantastic, real people. People that love you for everything you are and everything you’re not.

I watched the inauguration from a stationary bike at the gym with a lump in my throat and pride in my heart. Never have I been so proud to be an American as when I watched our first black president be sworn into office, hundreds of thousands of people around him celebrating joyously-- TOGETHER. People were hugging, crying, and sharing the excitement and happiness of new era. It signified a renewal of brotherhood and what is important in our great nation- pride, common good, acceptance and respect.

The next four years will prove to be interesting if nothing else, but I have great hope that we will help to turn our country and our world in a better direction.

Our future looks bright and I can't wait to see what happens.

Music suggestion: The Whitest Boy Alive, Hercules and Love Affair
Beer Suggestion: Pure Blonde
Movie Suggestion: Slumdog Millionaire (I know, this is not Australian, but neither are the bands I just suggested so there)

As 2009 started, I found myself with a dwindling bank account and a month of minimal scheduling at work. Minor panic ensued and I began frantically updating my resume, printing it out, and handing it out to anywhere that would talk to me. I applied to about 35 jobs, not one that I felt good about or that gave me any sort of promise.

After days of not hearing anything, I started to feel really down on myself. I wondered how it was that someone with a bachelors degree can't seem to get a serving job because "they don't have enough experience". I was sad and above all, I was bored. For four years in college, I drove myself into the ground, not just burning the candle at both ends but chucking it into a raging fire. I often wished for a less complicated life in college, and now, when I had it, I felt stagnant and unchallenged.

I called the 35 places back and not one asked me to come in for a trial shift or interview. I sulked, cried and whined to my roommates and mom, feeling down on my luck and that life was not fair. And then, out of no where, I snapped myself out of the funk.

I realized that I am not here in Australia to live lavishly by any means. Nor am I here to work like a mad woman. I am here to enjoy myself and soak up the experience. I have all the time in the world to work (well hopefully at least!) when I get home and the choice to come to Melbourne was not made so I could spend it working. I decided to enjoy myself no matter what my financial status was and that if worst came to worst and I had to come home, so be it.

Of course, right after I had my epiphany, hours started popping up all over the place at my store and others, so now I'm working a ton. It's great-- I am taking what I can get and enjoying myself at the same time.

Another life lesson learned-- in some situations, you have to CHOOSE your happiness. In allowing myself to let go of my worry, things worked themselves out in a short amount of time. I chose my peace and found myself in a much better position mentally and emotionally.