which way is the beach? or the christmas parade...

its been a long time coming. this is going to be a nice and long update since i disappeared off the face of the planet for a few weeks. life has been definitely more than hectic could even begin to describe. so you might need to go away and come back to this blog entry. i'm sure i will be taking numerous breaks to finish this one out...but i have lots and lots of cool and fun stuff to say. i think?

so lets rewind a few weeks back. so meggie was here for about a week or so and we did some cool stuff. that sunday and monday were both pretty uneventful. i was done with classes but studying for my exams and doing work but meggie was able to get out a bit and go touring around the city. on tuesday (the day before halloween), puggs was supposed to be having a halloween party but it ended up being the lamest thing EVER, so we went for 5 minutes (i'm glad meggie was able to see it) but then we headed out to euro trash. it was me, meggie, siobhan, alycia and alcyia's friend jenna from st. mary's. we had an awesome time! it was a lot of fun just dancing around and although the crowd at euro trash is always very interesting (not sure whether in a good or a bad way), we danced our hearts out and i'm pretty sure meggie had a great time. which was key. on wednesday, i'm pretty sure i was back to the studying oh and on tuesday, meggie had went on th great ocean road tour and she had an awesome time which i was very pleased to hear. wednesday, halloween was pretty lame. i didn't go out and ended up just staying in and doing work. so that was that. thursday, meggie went on her phillip island trip and i'm pretty sure i was just doing work again. friday, we had an IES gathering for bowling and dinner which was a lot of fun. we went to kingpin bowling which was pretty sweet and i even had a couple of strikes...and then we headed to this greek restaurant for dinner. it was quite delicious. all in all, a night well spent. oh, and when we got back to the village everyone came up to our room because kristen had a surprise presentation for all of us. she made this awesome video of pictures and such from all of our various adventures since orientation and it was unbelievable. kudos for kristen for putting that together because its awesome and i'm so excited to show it to people once i get home. saturday...i think i studied some more. sunday, me, siobhan, leah, kristen and meggie set out to go to the market in st. kilda. unfortunately, the weather was really crappy and thus the market was canceled...after we had already went all the way there. so we walked around in st. kilda for a little before heading back. then, i did some work before going to church. it was meggie's last night in AUS (SAD SAD DAY), so we went out to dinner for thai at this delicious restaurant on lygon street, got gelato and gelatissimo before aussie idol came on. monday, i went down to meggie's hostel to say goodbye and it was so nice having her here so it was sad that she was leaving. it is so nice to have those friends that you know will always be there and you are sure will always be an important part of your life. i was sad that i couldn't have spent more time with her while she was here...but she said that she had a great time so thats all that mattered in the long run.

the following week, i had an exam and a paper due so i pretty much worked my life away. however, tuesday, was a national holiday for the Melbourne Cup. the only thing that didn't abide by the national holiday was the uni, so i had to take my bio exam that morning which was thrilling. really. thrilling. so that morning, siobhan, kristen and alycia had already left for the melbourne cup and i was still on the fence about going for after my exam. after my exam, i felt pretty good and leah and i decided to head to the cup. it was great! unlike the triple crown of the united states, there equivalent to the triple crown pretty much happens in only one week. the highlight of the week of races is the Melbourne Cup, in which is a public holiday, and there are literally hundreds of thousands people in attendance. All the women wear beautiful dresses, big hats or fascinators and look gorgeous...and all the men look extremely handsome chic in their suits. it was the most perfect day for the races...around 75 degrees, blue skies, sun shining and no sign of rain anywhere. oh, and also a minimal amount of flies (i will get those later). So, there is the melbourne cup, the crown emirate stakes day, derby day, and the oaks day....each of those days is titled after the biggest race that occurs on each day but there is a host of other races that also happen on those days. it is definitely one of the biggest days in aussie sports if not in aussie events in general. even in other big cities, everyone gets dressed up and goes and watches the races and gets trashed that night. but back to the melbourne cup. So, the horse "Efficient" ended up winning, and for the cup being my first horse race, i definitely want to go to more back home in the states because it is such a fun environment. there are many many drunk people, but all in good fun...and i love to get dressed up...so its always an excuse for that. so definitely, a highlight of my time in Australia.

so after that afternoon break it was back to the books as i still had a paper and an exam. i pretty much locked myself in my room for about a week. but I did go out a few times to do some fun stuff. on that friday night, siobhan and I decided that we were finally going to go to perseverance which is the fun club/bar/pub that is known to play 90's music on friday nights. fun? ABSOLUTELY. it was definitely a great time and i am glad that we finally were able to go. on saturday, we had our Final IES gathering...a bbq at the village. spring/summer has definitely hit so the weather was great and it was a nice ending to a great semester of IES. i made potato salad (the first time i have ever made potato salad) and everyone said it tasted good...so i guess i'll go with that but it wasn't mom's...so it couldn't have been that great! but anyways, a nice afternoon. it was also the last time the 6 of us were going to be together...so we all just came up to siobhan & my room after the bbq and hung out for a couple of hours just enjoying our last time together as a 6. i dont think that i could have picked 5 better people to share this experience with. we are all so different but yet share so many similarities which makes us work. we don't really have any intergroup quarrels which is very nice and strange because usually with 6 girls, that is bound to happen. it wasn't until i was talking to meggie that i realized how lucky I was to have such a strong group of 5 girls that are always willing to do something with you. you never really have to go out and exploring on your own because someone is always down for it which is great. there has been so much shared between the 6 of us that no one else could possibly understand. we have too many inside jokes to remember and too many memorable quotes to forget. besides being in love with everything about australia and melbourne...im in love with the 6 of us. i am already dealing with the issue of how I am not sure of how I am going to go home and not come back to this place for at least two years...but i am also dealing with the realization that i also do not know when the 6 of us are going to be together like we are now. although we are already planning our reunion in the district...its going to be weird to not be able to call monica and leah downstairs every half an hour to procrastinate. and going to be weird to not have kristen and alycia come over to "do homework" or more likely just to watch a movie. but thats enough about that. we weren't just the 6. we are the 6. and we'll forever be the 6.

ok. so then sunday, monday, tuesday and wednesday was me sitting studying and doing work. all day every day. so that was pretty uneventful. on thursday after my final exam, alycia and I went to the immigration museum which was great. it is a very interactive museum and i will be putting up pictures soon. I actually learned quite a bit about australian and international history and all of the various populations of immigrants from different places around the world who live here. i definitely understand why they say that australia is one of the most diverse places. its because it clearly is. and it only gets more diverse by the day. and its wonderful. later on that evening, alycia and I went to Claire's (one of our Aussie friends from Alycia's college) art exhibit opening. it was pretty sweet. the other BIG university in melbourne is RMIT which is the royal melbourne institue of technology which is basically their equivalent to a RISD. so, all the pieces were unbelievable and i really loved claire's work. everyone was insanely talented especially only because most of them were first, and second years (more like a sophomore and a junior), but a lot of their stuff looked like it could be easily seen in MOMA. alycia and I then headed over to kristen's and we watched a movie...Sideways...not that great in my opinion but i did learn a lot about winetasting (which i am not sure how will really benefit me).

yesterday, i slept in way too late but i think my body hated me for not letting it sleep before and then alycia, kristen and I went to the Royal botanical gardens (yes, again) to just relax, read and enjoy the unbelievable 80 + weather. it actually was really hot. almost too hot if you ask me...because it was that kind of heat that if you sit in it for about 30 minutes you are sweating. and the FLIES. this is definitely something that i need to tell you about. the flies in australia are none like i have ever been exposed to in my life. in the states, once you a fly bothers you and you shew it a way, its gone. it leaves you a lone. well, not here. not only do they not leave you a lone but there are so many of them. everywhere. its awful. you can not walk down the street without being attacked by tons of them. eek and ew. they hover over you and are just a nuisance. so trust me, when i am back in the states, i will never complain about flies again because they have nothing on australian flies. last night, alycia and I met up with kristen to go to perseverance and kristen had gotten there much earlier and was in but alycia and I waited outside in line for about 30 minutes and didn't move anywhere...and then kristen came out so we ended up just heading back. but there is a huge festival down on brunswick street today and tomorrow so i am going to try and check it out.

today, kristen, leah and I went to the Myer Christmas parade. yes, a christmas parade in the middle of november in 80 degree whether. i have never been in a place where you could either go to the beach or to a christmas parade? all in all it was pretty awesome and i am really happy that i went. pictures will definitely b posted soon. then, i headed to the market to get some of my souvenir/christmas shopping done that i have been putting off for the whole semester. it actually went pretty well and i plan on finishing it tomorrow. tomorrow, tho, i have quite a few things on my schedule. not only do i want to go the market in the morning, but i also want to hit up the festival on brunswick street, the polish festival, st. kilda and go to church. boy oh boy. i do not know if it is all possible but i shall try. and i will get back to you on how successful i am. I'm definitely going to the beach on monday as I plan to have most of my stuff packed which is what i have been upto this afternoon. i can not believe that i am packing to go home. these months have flown by and an experience that i thought would never end...is now ending an i don't know how im going to deal with it. i have seriously been considering coming back here for med school...because i do love it so much. as long as i have waited and been in anticipation to come here, i knew that i would like it but i didnt realize (i only hoped) that i would love it as much as i do. i definitely can see myself living here on a permenant basis....

ok. so thats it for now. i will definitely post before i head home. gosh, that sounds weird. but i dont think i will have my final post until after i get home so stay tuned for that too. until then, Cheers!