It's Been a While...

It’s been a while since my last update, a little over two weeks. Sorry about that! I wish I could tell you the reason for that was being tied up with school work, but I would be lying.

These last two weeks have started my jam packed weeks ahead.

March 5: The Opera. A group of us headed into Sydney and grabbed dinner before catching a show at the Opera House. We saw La Boheme, which is the opera that Rent is based off. It was in Italian which made comprehension a tad difficult. During intermission, Steph and I split some champagne and a wine & cheese platter. Wonderful! What am I going to do when I get back to the States?! The show lasted just over two hours. I really enjoyed La Boheme, but seeing another Opera isn’t at the top of my list. It was a great opportunity while I was here and I am glad I did it, but it really isn’t my thing. Maybe when I get older I will appreciate it, like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman?!

March 6: One of the guys that I have really gotten to know here is Nate. He is from Wisconsin and is also studying abroad here. The 6th of March was his 21st birthday, which is apparently a HUGE deal here, even though the legal drinking age is 18. We all found that out the hard way. Nate, and all of us, definitely enjoyed that night… I enjoyed it so much, I didn’t make it to class on Friday! Oops! Rest assured though, I did call-in “sick” just in time to not lose any PC points!

March 7: After not making it to class, I was hesitant to head into the city and sit through a Rugby game (one that I don’t understand). But my group talked me into it and I am glad they did. Even though it began to down pour, it was still a great time. We were in the sixth row right by the goal line. Not too shabby. That game is definitely intense and I don’t understand how those people survive through it. We would like to go to another game, so we are trying to figure out one that would work with our schedules again.

March 8: BEACH DAY! Yay! Many of the students here have to make up the classes they are missing for Easter weekend. I got lucky! My teachers don’t want to come in on a Saturday to do that. So, instead of being in a classroom all Saturday, I was at the beach! Soaked up some sun and all that good stuff. After a nice day at the beach, the MSU and GVSU crew headed down to the Manly Italian Restaurant for a quality meal. It was wonderful! Of course after a legit meal, we can’t afford to go to the bar and buy drinks. So we definitely went old school, bought a bottle of champagne, and headed to the beach. Hung out and then made our way into The Steyne. Danced the night away!

March 11: Classes all day and then 4 of us had a reservation in the Grand Dining Room (GDR). With Hospitality students here needing practice, on campus students are allowed to make reservations and eat in the GDR free of charge. It is definitely a nice change from the AWFUL cafeteria food. Danny (a RA), Caitlin, Sean, and I were in heaven! We had soup, rump steak & potatoes, ice cream with fresh berries, and to end the meal, a hot latte. It was AMAZING! And FREE! Yay! After a wonderful dinner, we headed down to Shark Bar for $9 Jugs (aka pitchers). With the balcony doors open, it is nice there. But as soon as the doors close, it turns into a sauna. So what do we decide to do after a night of dancing? Swimming, of course! Well, when we aren’t prepared with swim attire, some people get pretty crazy! The police came to check it out, but had no problem with it and just told us to be careful swimming at night! Definitely not the reaction police in the states would have had.

March 13: Stephanie’s boyfriend, Felipe, flew in Thursday morning. All he wanted to do was eat Kangaroo. So that’s exactly what we did. We found a place in Manly, Ribs and Rumps, that serves kangaroo for dinner. I can’t say I ordered it, but I did try a bite. It tasted almost like a sweet steak, but smoky, too. It was good, but I don’t like the idea of eating a kangaroo. They tell me it’s like eating deer back home, but I don’t feel that way. We bar hopped around to show Felipe all the places we hang out. It was a good night and Felipe got a little taste of what Manly is like for us.

March 14: We didn’t do much. Wasn’t a really exciting day. We did, however, attend a cross-dressing party at the bar here at ICMS. I rocked a tie. Nothing too festive, but the guys, I think they really enjoyed wearing the skirts/dresses!! When the party ended, Andrew convinced Caitlin, Annie, and I to stay up until 6am and watch the sunrise. So we did. Didn’t take much convincing. We headed up to the headlands on campus and waited. And waited. And waited. Then it was over in like 15 minutes. Yippee! Wasn’t the best view of the sunrise, but it was nice to chill out for a night.

March 15: The New St. Patty’s Day… and the JACK JOHNSON CONCERT! Woot Woot! We slept in and ate lunch at the school before heading into Sydney for the concert at Centennial Park. It was an outdoor concert and there were between 26,000-30,0000 people there. Mayhem. It was so much fun. We bought a t-shirt, but only because it says Australia & New Zealand Tour. It was an AMAZING concert and I know he will be at DTE this summer. You should ALL go! When we arrived back to Manly after the show, we wanted some good quality green beer. Wasn’t happening, until Katie from GVSU whipped out her own bottle of food coloring and dished it out to the Americans! We had ONE beer and went home. Australians don’t rock St. Patrick’s Day like the Americans do!

March 16: Sunday morning we had to grab brunch and get ready to leave for horseback riding. We went to a ranch that was about an hour and a half away to ride. There were 15 of us in the group and only about 4 experienced riders. That made things a bit interesting at times. These horses were definitely trail riding horses. They knew where they were headed and stayed in a line for the majority of the time. This wasn’t SO exciting, but it was nice to be out riding. It had been a while for me. The trail took two hours and then we headed back home. Grabbed dinner in the Corso and headed back to school. At about 8:30pm, the guy RA’s, Caitlin, and I headed down to Shelly Beach. Every Sunday there is a group of people that get together and “play with fire.” I don’t know what it’s called, but they twirl long sticks, batons, and ropes around with the ends on set fire. In the one corner there is also a group of people with a variety of different percussion instruments playing tribal music. There were bongos, tambourines, cowbells, maracas, and even a saxophone. It was intense, and really interesting to see. I will for sure be heading down there again.

March 17: Today was kinda lame, but that’s not a bad thing. I slept in until lunch time. We had made a reservation in the GDR again. Yum! We had soup and ice cream again, but instead of rump steak, we had grilled cod and mashed potatoes with mango salsa. Again, delicious. With our bellies full, Annie, Sean, and I sat down and busted out two hours worth of work on our Events 121 project. We got a lot done and I can honestly say it’s been a LONG time since I put that much time, consecutively, into a project. I was pretty impressed. Dinner was terrible, of course. Rice and a roll for me. Not a fan of anything curry. Yuck.

Now class all ‘til Thursday! Then up EARLY, like 5am, Friday to head up to the Blue Mountains. We are staying over night and visiting the Jenolan Caves on Saturday before we leave. Easter will be weird not being at home… But I will survive.

Hopefully everyone had a fun St. Patty’s Day and I hope you all have a wonderful Easter. I love and miss you all. Can’t believe how fast time is flying by!

Love&Miss.
Erica Jo
xoxo