Where Did April Go??

Oi! Where do I even begin! Its been quite a while since I have updated you, sorry! I’ve been busy! I have 12 days until I leave the land down under… its going to be very bittersweet. But I really don’t want to talk about that, so I will tell you what has been going on!

Well, on April 4^th, I went with Dana and Scottie to the Maroon 5 concert. It was amazing!! Brandi Carlisle opened, and then One Republic came on. They were absolutely fantastic, but definitely did not play for long enough! After One Republic, Maroon 5 came and gave a fantastic concert! We had a ton of fun and it was definitely worth it!

The next my family arrived in Sydney. I met them in the evening for a bit to say a quick hello. Their hotel, the Marriott in Circular Quay (pronounced “key”) was beautiful! I went home so that MJ and I could get up early the next morning to meet them in the city. We had a big day of showing them around the city. The whole week with them was a pretty big blurr, so I am just going to tell you what we did throughout the week, instead of a day-by-day play-by-play. MJ and I took them shopping at the Rocks, the oldest part of Sydney, at a market that they have their every weekend. While we were there we took them to Pancakes on the Rocks and they really enjoyed it! We also went shopping at Paddy’s Market, a really big flea market type place with good shopping deals. We also took them to the Powerhouse Museum, which is the museum of Science and Design, and was supposed to be really interactive and sweet, but ended up being quite boring and a slight waste of time, but oh well. We got fish and chips for dinner at a place called the Blackbird Café in Darling Harbour. It was quite delicious and a very fun atmosphere. The next night they took the ferry over to meet us in Manly and we took them to Ribs and Rumps and tried KANGAROO! It was actually quite delicious, and its fun to say that we have tried it. We got the kangaroo as an entrée (aka appetizer in the US) and all got other main meals, I had a burger that was absolutely delicious! We then walked them to the ferry where we had a fun dessert at this place called Max Brenner’s “chocolate by the bald man.” To share we got two desserts. We got a delicious warm fudge brownie with vanilla ice cream and also a “fondue for two” that we shared between the 5 of us. It was a cute little fondue set that came with strawberries, banana, marshmallows, and banana bread to dip in either milk or dark chocolate. It was a lot of fun!

I stayed at the Marriott with them one night because I had to be at the city early the next morning to work a tour desk for a conference at the Shangri-La in Sydney Harbour. It was a good experience, but a little bit of a boring day. The Shangri-La was beautiful! Later in the week MJ and I had fun playing tourist with the fam and went to Centrepointe Tower, the tallest tower in Sydney. It is twice as high as the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The tower was very cool with some really great views of the city. We got our silhouettes cut out by the 90 year old man from Detroit. He was definitely a character! Paige’s and MJ’s turned out pretty well, but mine looks like I am 4 years old. We got some pretty good deals on a couple souvenirs and then proceeded to the base of the tower to do the Oz Trek. It began with a carousel type theater where it showed the 4 main aspects of Australia: The Rainforest, The Great Barrier Reef, The Outback, and The City. It was pretty neat, and then we went into a virtual ride where the seats moved and everything. It was pretty cool, but hurt my neck a little bit. We went and took a little walk around Hyde Park and then did a little more shopping near the Opera House and had a late lunch in the harbour. That was the last time that I saw my family before they left Oz, so we said our goodbyes and MJ and I headed back to Manly.

Our friend Jeff picked us up at the wharf when we got off the ferry and took us over to our friend Myles’ house for a bit of a barbeque. It ended up being a Bandicoots (the boys’ footy team) team party, which they did not tell us before they invited us, so it ended up being us two girls and about 20 (mostly Aussie guys.) They were pretty entertaining to say the least. The next day we were supposed to go on our tour to Hunter Valley but it didn’t work out, and we were both pretty bummed. We were supposed to have a level two VIP tour, but we had no way to get there! It was going to be way too difficult and expensive to get there, so it unfortunately just didn’t work out. :-\

Last week was our last week of classes and such. We all had to give our big marketing pitches that we have been working on allll term. Sunday night was VERY stressful and I slept for not even three hours! Our ads and such turned out pretty well, and I was quite proud of them since I was the only one who designed them. Out of a group of 7 only 2 of us really did anything (and there was one other girl that did stuff when asked but that was about it). It was quite frustrating and I am just glad it is over with. A couple hours after that presentation, I gave another group presentation of a wedding storyboard that we had to put together. It went well. After that I got to finally go to bed and sleep. On Tuesday I handed in yet another group assignment and then my friend Chris took both me and MJ to the doctors. The bottom line is that I have been sick pretty much since I arrived in Australia, but the last couple weeks it has been getting drastically worse. I have had a horrible cough, a really stuffy nose with a sinus infection and all I want to is sleep. The doctor gave me a prescription that was supposed to help. From Tuesday until Thursday night I pretty much just got worse, and I seriously slept ALL the time, I was awake for like 3 hours total on Wednesday and pretty much the same on Thursday. I started to get bad stomach aches and had no appetite and got dizzy and such. After I tried to eat dinner on Thursday it was pretty unbearable. We figured I was having side effects from the antibiotic, so MJ took me to the hospital across the street and the doctor told me to, obviously, stop taking the previous antibiotic and gave me something new to take. I think that one is finally helping and I am able to actually have some energy.

On Friday I went on a Blue Mountain Tour with MJ, Dana, Kari, Jillian and Joanie. We were joking about it because one of the Aussie blokes called us “the standard six” the other day, which we found pretty funny. A couple of the girls were excited to hear that we have been given such a nickname! Ha! Anyways, the day started with us getting up at 6am to catch a 6:30 taxi (that didn’t show up) so we called and ended up getting picked up halfway down the hill. The taxi took us to Circular Quay where we got picked up by our tour bus, the Wonderbus! First stop: Featherdale Wildlife Park. It was a lot of fun because we got to pet koalas and feed and pet kangaroos! I loved it. It was nice just to walk around and see some of the animals up close. We spent about an hour there and then continued on our journey to a little town called Leura (pronounced like “Loorah”). It was a cute little town that reminded me a little bit of the quaintness of Elk Rapids. It was really interesting because the trees there were not native to Australia and were changing their colors for fall and were loosing their leaves! Since all of us girls are from Michigan, we felt like we were back home! It was a very cute little town. We got lunch and walked around the town for a little bit and then were on our way again. Next stop: Scenic World. We had a couple of options of what to do. Most of the girls hiked down the hill to get to the bottom, but because I was still pretty weak and tired, I chose a different one and MJ accompanied me on. We took a Scenic Skyway that took us very high across the Jamison Valley. It was very cool (but a little nerve-racking for me with the whole heights thing). We got some pretty great pictures tho, especially because we were able to see Katoomba Falls, a really big and pretty waterfall. After going across that, we took a cable car (Australia’s steepest cable car, to be exact!) down to the bottom and did a little nature walk and took some pretty pictures. It was a World Heritage listed rainforest down in the valley. We walked around and were able to get a few good pictures of the Three Sisters, the most visited spot in Australia! To get back up to the top we took the steepest incline railway in the world! It felt like we were almost at a 90 degree angle! After leaving Scenic World, we drove for a minute or two and got out and took a few more pictures of the Three Sisters at a lookout point. From there we continued on to a winery. It was a pretty old, small, but cute winery. We were there for a little under an hour and then continued on to the last bit of our trip. We stopped at the Olympic Showground so we could see the Olympic Stadium and take a couple of pictures. From there we took a ferry cruise to Circular Quay to end our journey and get on our last ferry back to Manly. We missed our last ferry by less than two minutes, so we waited for another 40 minutes to get back and arrived back in Manly at 7:30. It was a very nice day, even if it was a long one!

We have had some pretty crappy weather the last few weeks. It’s been a bit rainy and chilly (its been nicer in Michigan!). But we finally had a nice yesterday! It was almost 25 degrees, so about 75 degrees Fahrenheit, so we got to spend a couple of hours at the beach! Yay! Today is Sunday and it is time to get back to reality. I need to really start studying! I have two exams on Thursday, one on Friday, and one the following Thursday. I am really not looking forward to this, but it has to be done. I have a couple of different albums to post for you so here they are:

First off, I realized that my last album didn’t really work for you so here are pictures from the Outback and such:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2191962&l=30808&id=22411794

Here is the album with pictures from when my family was here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2195289&l=c5f28&id=22411794

Pictures from our Blue Mountains Tour:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2197959&l=0e400&id=22411794

This one is just the beginning of a random album for you to peek at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2196031&l=ebe80&id=22411794

Also here are MJ’s pictures from :
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2195287&l=0c21a&id=22414798

Lastly, MJ and I are also very excited because we finally booked our hotels for New Zealand and Fiji and they look very nice! We are going to Auckland, New Zealand from May 9 to May 13, then Fiji from May 13 to May 16, and then Hawaii from May 16 to May 20! We have some beautiful travels ahead of us! And for those of you who are wondering, we arrive into Grand Rapids around 9am on Wednesday, May 21. Here are the links to where we are staying:

New Zealand hotel

http://www.thequadrant.com

Fiji Hotel

http://www.outrigger.com/hotels-resorts/fiji/outrigger-on-the-lagoon-fiji

That’s all for now! Cheers!

134 meters above sea level??

When I arrived back from the Outback on Saturday night before Easter I walked and met my Aunt Sharon and Uncle Bill at their hotel. They were staying at the Old Sydney Holiday Inn. It was so nice to see them! I liked having the familiar face around. We went to a late dinner at a cute little Italian place called Amo Roma. I had some delicious gnocchi! After dinner we walked back to the wharf where I caught the last ferry back to Manly and then had walked the wonderful walk up the hill.

I got up early Easter morning and caught the first ferry back to the city. I met up with Sharon and Bill at a little breaky café by their hotel. I had some delicious pancakes. We then went to the Opera House and took a tour which was very nice to see everything. You got a little different point of view than when we went to the show there a few weeks ago. We then went over to George Street and did a little shopping and got a bite to eat. Later that afternoon we went and did the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb!! It was so fun and SO scary! My heart was racing the whole time and there were different points during the climb that my whole body, especially my legs, were shaking! We had 11 people in our group because one lady changed her mind at the last minute and didn’t want to do the climb. The very top was probably the least scary part of all of it. I felt really safe, and it was absolutely beautiful! We could see Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban’s apartment from where we were! There was someone out on the porch, and it quite possibly could have been one of them! Our guide for the climb was nice and pretty funny. It was definitely a big accomplishment!! I was very glad we did it.

After the bridge climb we went to a really nice dinner at a place right by the Opera House called The Aria. It was definitely a 5 star restaurant! We had an amazing meal! For my main meal I tried Blue Eyed Tarella, a fish that I have never heard of, and it was delicious. Everything was plated very nice and pretty as well. The chef’s name was Matt Moran and for those of you who know… Anthony Bourdain gave him a really good rating! After dinner I took them on the ferry over to Manly to show them around. It was a nice evening to take the ferry over and they really enjoyed the sight of the city. We walked down the corso and then were supposed to go up to the school so they could see it, but we ran out of time because they had to make sure to catch the last ferry back to Sydney so we said goodbye and they went home.

Since we had Monday off of school as well, we got some nice time at the beach. It was another beautiful day. I was sick all week and had a really bad headache so I did a lot of sleeping. We had fun this week having some photo shoots for Diesel ads that we have to put together for our Marketing classes. The winner from each class will get displayed on one of the walls of the school. We had a party to raise money for Breast Cancer last night called the Pink Party and it was a ton of fun! My parents and sister were supposed to arrive last Saturday, but their flight was delayed out of Chicago because of a big snowstorm so they wouldn’t arrive until Sunday. MJ and I were supposed to go to Gold Coast and Brisbane with them for the weekend and then fly back Monday, but we didn’t get to do that because of time so that was a little bit of a bummer. They are up there for the week and then coming back down tomorrow to stay in Sydney for the next week. It will be nice having them here and show them around. They are very excited so it will be fun.

We spent a good portion of our day last Sunday at the beach. While we were there the alarms went off to tell us there was a shark in the water! (This is the second or third time that a shark got through the "shark nets" while we've been down at the beach.) We sat for half an hour thinking there was a shark in the water, when a lifeguard went by and mentioned that it turned out only to be a school of fish that was just changing directions. That seems to be a bit of a difference to me! ha! On Tuesday I got to try my hand at surfing! My friend Chris, an Australian from Sydney, took me down for a couple hours before class. It was so much fun even though I did not do well. I didn't make it into the standing position, which I am ok with since it was my first time trying. I did get better at just staying on the board and balancing throughout the time. We are going to go again sometime soon and I cannot wait!

Tuesday night I ended up going with my friend Andy to watch his water polo match. He played in the same pool that they played during the Sydney Olympics in 2000, which was cool to see. We got there early enough to watch the game before his so he could explain some of the rules to me, and then I watched his game. I got the basics down and it was a lot of fun! One small side note since I brought up the Olympics, something kind of cool was that my friend Andrew swam in the Olympic trials for Beijing a week of so ago. He has been training for a very long time. He swam 2 events (I believe the 200 and the 400), but unfortunately just missed the spot by only one or two spots. It was still a very nice accomplishment!

Yesterday was my friend, Chad's 21st birthday. A few of us went out for Chinese food at this nice place called Pheonix by the wharf. It was delicious, especially since I was looking forward to it all day (and the dinner option at the school ended up being Veal Schnitzel). Last night after dinner the SRC (student organization) put on an auction... for people. It was kind of a joke date auction to raise money for a children's hospital nearby. It consisted of 12 acts of people to be "bid on" some people did it on their own and some went up in pairs. Everyone had coordinated routines and it was pretty funny. Afterwards we went out to our normal Thursday night place for a night full of dancing. I am SO excited for tonight because Dana, Scotty, and I, plus some others who are sitting close nearby, are going to the Maroon 5 with One Republic and Brandi Carlisle concert at Acer Area (near the Olympic Stadium).

Here is the link to my newest photo album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2191962&l=30808&id=22411794