red fish, blue fish PART TWO (days 4-7)

DAY FOUR Sunday, September 26: After contorting my body in a thousand different positions throughout the night in attempts to make my box of a seat comfortable, we were abruptly awoken by "Dynamite" and Doggie pouring goon into his mouth and slapping the bag. Of course, I threw my hands up in the air and got ready for the drunkest day of the entire vacation. We were extremely disappointed to see that the weather had no plans of clearing up as it drizzled all over us while we packed our 3 day packs for our stay on the Whitsunday Islands. We loaded up the banana boats and thrashed and crashed our way to the island. After dropping everything off at our awesome hostel, we jumped back on the boats and swerved and jumped off waves made by the other boat. Thought I may lose my life a couple times, but it was super fun! THAT'S WHEN WE SPOTTED THE SUN! It came out to play and the rest of the day was gorgeous. Arriving in the middle of the ocean, we anchored up and people went snorkeling and sunbathing while we consumed more goon. After a short time at this spot, we went to the most beautiful beach I have ever seen in my life. All we could see was cloudless blue skies for miles and the clear water rippling next to the white-sand beach. Seriously, out of a postcard. Things got a bit messy as goon races, chicken fights, nudity and girl on girl making out action broke out. The trip back to the hostel is a bit cloudy for me as well as bringing our belongings to our room and resting up for the party that night. Apparently I missed the memo on the "Jungle Fever" theme of the party and continued to run around in my bikini from the day for the rest of the night. At least I was a bit more clothed than most of the Loyola boys who were sporting their animal-print thongs. Speaking of thongs (Australia's word for flippy-flops), I lost my shoes and walked around bare-foot for the next few days. Liberating. Also painful. After a while of dancing on stage, running around in my bikini and probably making a giant fool of myself, I found myself with Dom, Tom and Sheehan and had a rendezvous on the massive golf course with a view of the mountains in the distance against the wide-open sky. We had some green on the green and the boys tried to kill toads. I can't remember if this is when I went and had a crying heart t0 heart with Mackenzie or when I went out to the dock and chatted with Mallory and Ant for a good 45 minutes. Either way, I wound up wandering home at some odd hour of the morning and had a chuckle at the state of my roommates passed out in crazy outfits with paint all over their faces and clothes, bags and alcohol cluttered on the floor. Fabulous night one, Whitsundays.

DAY FIVE Monday, September 27: This was one of those days that you wake up still out of it for most of the day until around the time you start drinking again. Wow, my liver hates me after this vacation. We were given a free day around the hostel so we lounged around the pool most of the day. The freezing cold water felt fabulous against my hungover head and we got some great sun-soaking time. The tour theme song was born and annoyingly, we were singing "ONE FISH TWO FISH EVERYWHERE WE GO! ONE FISH TWO FISH EVERYBODY KNOWS! WE ARE EXTREME AND WE'RE LIVING THE DREAM!" for the rest of the day. Or the remainder of the trip I should say. It was nice to have a break from waking up super early and putting massive amounts of alcohol into my body. Of course that couldn't last for too long and before I knew it, we were showering and getting ready for the "Plastic Fantastic" theme party that night. My outfit was pretty banging, if I do say so myself, although being stuck wearing plastic bags in the middle of tropical Australia is quite sweaty and uncomfortable. Daisy: "I'M WEARING ALL MY FAVORITE BRANDS, BRANDS, BRANDS, BRANDS!" Annaelle: "No you are not, you are wearing plastic bags..." (another classic Frenchie one-liner).

We pre-gamed for a lifetime, went and had some dinner and craziness ensued. Highlights: 1. Drinking games galore and epic pee stories 2. Meeting a dude from Namibia in South Africa who owned a farm with rhinos 3. Not losing my camera after a random hooligan took millions of pictures of everyone's bodies without their heads 4. More green. Two days in a row may be the record in Oz -- how disappointing. 5. Hanging out with complete randoms in a completely random room while wandering around on my own after an accident down by the beach. 6. Creepily taking sleep pictures of Jackie and being forced to sit on Adam's face. Which I might add, I would not do. Way to go again Whitsundays.

DAY SIX Tuesday, September 28: Disoriented wake up, I've grown quite accustomed to you after this trip. Had to say goodbyes to our amazing hostel that kept our disgusting secrets, a few pairs of shoes and my Ray-Bans. Hopefully someone else will now find my found Ray-Bans and enjoy them the way I did. It's all I can hope. We embarked to a large sailboat and more gooning began. At this point, I'm sure anyone reading this thinks we are all a bunch of alcoholics and would be repulsed by the amount of drinking. You should be. I can't believe I'm alive. Especially seeing as how me, deep water and proper breathing techniques with snorkel masks just don't go well together. I always forget how to breathe while snorkeling and have to

shoot out of the water when my mouth and mask fill with water. Put me out there with that while under the influence, OH! and horrible weather conditions, yeah...probably not my best idea. At least I had a noodle to keep me a float and Mary to desperately cling on to.After this life-threatening adventure, we enjoyed a delicious lunch and I played DJ while we danced away and people had a cold-cut ham fight. We docked off in a little town and while I should have purchased new shoes to wear (still running around barefoot at this point), I instead went with Molly and Sherm to the piercing place. Deciding I have already mutilated my body enough, I just offered moral support as Moll got her belly button pierced and Sam got her nose. Harry and Big Mike then decided to show up to get their nipples pierced. Good times. I ran around wasted for a bit (never actually getting shoes), spoke some gibberish, got some ice cream and passed out on the bus as we made our way to Mission Beach.

DAY SEVEN Wednesday, September 29: My favorite day of the entire trip! :) Although we had to wake up super early to head to the Tully River, it was totally worth it because we got to go white water rafting on Grade 4/5 rapids. Absolutely incredible! Our tour guide was a bit of a creep, but I think the entire company was just a little overly sexual because all of the rapids had sexual names like Double D Cup (where a girl lost her top once), The Climax and The Two Inch

(where the water gets really cold). Pretty funny though. We lost a few members in our boats as we crashed down the rapids, but luckily I stayed in. I was a bit nervous for Kelsey's life as she fell out in one of the worst rapids, but we came back with all members and we were already

battered and bruised from the days before, so overall it was a success. We flipped our boat, jumped off a cliff-like rock into the water, saw beautiful scenery and waterfalls and flashed some construction workers along the way. At one point the boys had to climb into our boat because they were stuck and clearly our boat of all girls were better navigators. There were a couple of points along the way where we could jump out and swim and float down the river and we stopped for a nice picnic lunch about mid-way through. The flies were a bit annoying and my arms were tired, but I would definitely give white water rafting another go.

Next, we got changed, cooled off with some ice cream and crammed back into the bus again to

head to Cairns. The drive was absolutely stunning and I didn't want to fall asleep to miss it. The plants and trees in Australia are so unique. I've never seen so many colors and shapes. We passed by a lot of sugar and banana farms and saw so many gorgeous flowers. When we arrived at our last hostel, Gilligan's, we showered up and got ready for BUNGEEEE JUMPING! On the way to Cairns I found a liquor store that actually sold normal spiced Captain Morgan (first bottle EVER in Australia) so I was ecstatic to get my drink with my real draaank. We had some liquid courage shots and boarded the double decker party bus to get to AJ Hackett. I felt like I was in a dream. We blasted loud music while dancing and taking in the hot air and cool breeze of the first night in Cairns and pumped each other up for what was sure to be one of the scariest experiences of our lives! We had a choice between bungee or the sky-swing first and it worked out I did the sky-swing first with Ali and Rhys. It wasn't really that scary at all, but still lots of

fun. By the time we were done with that, they were almost going to close down the Bungee. I would've liked one more tequila shot before taking it on, but there was no time for that and it came down to now or never. I ran up the millions of flights of stairs to the top and patiently waited my turn. Heights don't usually really scare me and I love thrill rides, but looking around at the pitch darkness and not even being able to see the water below was a bit disheartening. A ton of people had gone before me so I knew I would be fine, but jumping head first into nothingness still gets your heart racing a little bit. Luckily they don't even give you time to think when you're standing at the edge and the next thing I knew I was flinging through the air like Gumby with my boobs sliding out of my jumper. Between my shrieks people heard me shouting, "MY TITS ARE COMPLETELY OUT!" By this point in the trip, my boobs being covered was more of a shock than not so I guess it made sense for them to fall out here as well. This had to be one of the most exhilarating things I've ever done. I felt like my body parts were made out of silly-putty being stretched and pulled every which way. When I stopped whipping around, a man grabbed my wrists and pulled me onto a little a boat where I was safely brought back to shore. WOOOOO! We then returned back to the hostel and quickly got more drunk and ready for the Woolshed. I participated in a wet t-shirt contest and lost to huge breasted ladies. They were all in our group though, so go them. Probably lost some dignity, but it was a great time. Only live once, why not be stupid and crazy while having a great time. Story of my lifeeee.

Ta-ta for now x

one fish, two fish PART ONE (days 1-3)

Well, it certainly has been a while.

I really thought I would be better at this, but seeing as how Weeds and hanging out with people have taken over my life, writing has kind of been on the back-burner.

Wish I could say school work has been evading as well, but let's be honest, I never really do much work. Finals are coming up soon though and Australia school is a bit harder for me than America school so I may have to put in some real effort here pretty soon.

Enough about school though. I do have quite a bit of back-tracking to do...I haven't written

about any experiences since Darwin which was nearly 2 months ago. I am awful. Rather than going back in chronological order, I'm skipping ahead to the good stuff: ONE FISH, TWO FISH. Broken Hill can wait.

Seeing as how this was the best vacation I've ever taken in my life, the adventure known as One Fish, Two Fish will probably require a few entries. For now, I will take you back to where it all began...

WARNING: The following material may not be suitable for family members (especially great-grandparents). Although I love you dearly. x

DAY ONE Thursday, September 23: Annaelle and I sleepily dialed each other around 4 am to make sure the other stopped pressing snooze and actually got out of bed to meet the magical taxi man who would take us away to our 10 day vacation of madness and insanity. Arriving in Brisbane at mid-morning, we decided to explore the city and see what it had to offer. We couldn't get over how touristy the city was and couldn't imagine going to uni where there would constantly be that many people. Would definitely do way less work then is already done. The weather wasn't great so our dreams of napping on the beach were pretty much diminished, but we had a good time getting lost and finding random landmarks like the government house

and this gorgeous courtyard. After a bit of shopping and a delicious lunch at the Rainbow cafe, we were able to check into our hostel and crashed out for a few hours--well a lot of hours. Way more than planned. Waking up, we realized our friends should've gotten there hours before so we were extremely confused and a bit worried. To distract us from our worries, we showered, got ready and decided it would probably be best to start in on the goon. Frenchie was missing in action for a few weeks before holiday so I had an amazing time catching up with her and having a little one-on-one time. We finally heard back from everyone and it turns out their flight had been delayed by a few hours. Listening to the overly repeated 10 songs on Annaelle's phone, we kept on the goon and awaited their arrival. Sammy and Dais joined us for a bit of gooning and we were off to the first club. By that time all of the Monash kids had arrived and met up with some of the Brits who were road-tripping from Brisbane up to Sydney and had some drinks. Louise had free drink cards that she kept passing out so that turned into a lot of drinks.

Pretty much the night progressed with me and Zahra entering some sort of musical chairs

contest up on stage. I'll let this excerpt from Kenzie's blog explain how that went down...

"...as the music stopped, they needed to complete a task ranging from finding something long and hard, finding something canadian, finding a condom and putting it on their hand, and best of all, finding a thong and holding it up in the air. This is where Amanda's flashing came to play... she was wearing a dress and of course we wanted to win, so we got her thong which ripped on the way off and left her somewhat exposed for the rest of the night."

Well, pretty much got kicked out of that place so Daisy and I found ourselves at another club. Didn't stay there long and wound up wandering down the street until we ran into some Loyolans at a nice outdoor bar called Joe's. The fresh air sobered us up a bit while a cider kept us feeling head hazy and we enjoyed some nice bantering and excited chattering over the warm weather.Daisy and I staggered back to the hostel where she got a nice show--"Do you like it? ;)--and it was time to hit the bunk-beds.

DAY TWO Friday, September 24: First actual day of the tour! Feeling a bit hung over, we rolled out of bed and maxi-ed over to where our tour guides were meeting us. Right away I knew this was going to be a fucking awesome trip. The tour guides, Dan, Doggie and Mike were cracking jokes the moment we walked on the bus and they kept repeating how they were going to make sure the next week and a half would be one of the best times of our lives. Oh how right they were... We also met our bus driver Johnny who I formed a very special bond with over the trip. Good bloke. After all the introductory stuff, the guys pulled out what would become

a source of complete and utter embarrassment to me for the duration of the trip, but in

a brilliant and hysterical way: THE SIN-TIN. The Sin-Tin goes a little something like this...Whenever one does anything particularly shameful, embarrassing, hilarious or downright stupid while wasted, that said person has to contribute a sum of money as a payment for their sin. Next, of course, the tour guides asked if anyone had done anything Sin-Tin worthy the night before and a chorus of nearly half the bus screamed my name. Already the trip was off to a great start. Although I had to pay for my sins, I was also introduced to what would instill great pride for me and my fellow shit-shows and I was asked to wear the Leader's Jersey.

Proudly I took the brightly colored yellow and green shirt and put it on in honor of everything despicable and schwasty. As if it were Christmas morning, the tour guides pulled out yet another surprise for us. This time it was a large, inflatable boxing kangaroo of our very own. After we all signed it, we decided on the name of Cuntaroo and Baby Cooter for his baby. While someone had drawn a big, black dick on him, many people thought his name should be Tyrone so I think our roo had a confused identity between Cuntaroo and Tyrone for most of the trip. Regardless of his name, we were told that we were to protect him with our lives and take him everywhere we went. The two other One Fish, Two Fish groups would be trying to capture him and behead him and we were meant to be doing the same to their kangaroo. This meant war.

Suited up in my leader's armor, we crossed over unknown territory into the Australia Zoo. Dedicated to Steve Irwin, the zoo invoked feelings of sadness that he is no longer with us. His wife and two kids put on quite a show with crocodiles and obnoxious singing, but it just

wasn't what it would have been if good ol' Steve could have been there. RIP Steve Irwin. This was definitely one of the major highlights of the trip. I got to hold a koala (although my photo would later get ruined due to something wet landing on top of it in my suitcase...lame) and spoon with kangaroos! I could have done this for hours. There were like 50 of them hopping all over the place and lounging around. You could walk right up to them and pet them or lay with them. So soft, cute and cuddly! Everyone kept trying to get me to hurry up so we could see other stuff, but I just never wanted to leave those roos.

Wrapping up at the zoo, we boarded the bus and stopped off at a pub to get the first drinks of the trip going. We grabbed a cider, hit the liquor store and loaded up on all sorts of goon, cider and boxed vodka-cranberry. Fabulous invention. That's when shit got crazy.

Slapping the goon, we got a bit silly. Dynamite by Taio Cruz was chosen as our trip song and the absolute shit-show was off to a start. Screw sleep, drinking was the name of the game for this vacation. As the drink set in, protests for a bathroom break were echoed throughout the bus.

You may think that only boys are allowed to pee outside, but this particular rest stop proved that idea to be very wrong.

Pulling over in the middle of Nowheresville, Australia, we all had quite the bonding experience pissing, squatting, and of course taking pictures of each other doing said activities. Back on the bus, we continued the rest of the way to Hervey Bay. Raging on, Rhys christened the bus with vomit and we stumbled to our rooms (or in Mary's case, she fell over in the middle of everyone, brought her stuff into one room and ended up sleeping somewhere completely different because she couldn't find her original room). Great times.

As if we hadn't already consumed enough alcohol, we had just enough time to set our stuff down, change and then it was off to the booze cruise. Rhys vomited yet again (in the exact same spot as before) and spent the night drinking water rather than the free beer and wine. However, the rest of us consumed disgusting amounts and a lot of the night blurred on from there.

A mandatory Daisy and Amanda photo shoot took place.

I was up in the Captain's area for a while pretending to drive the boat--probably not the safest idea. And I even made myself an 18

year old boyfriend who was working at the bar. We went back to the hostel and the party continued. I guess I jumped in the pool with the Leader's Jersey because I woke up with it soaking wet on the floor of

the Loyolan's room. This is also where I found myself passed out on a random bed by myself in my bathing suit and a sweatshirt around 6 am. Realizing I was very close to my own room, I staggered down the stairs and Daisy let me in. After recapping the night and giggling uncontrollably (waking everyone else up of course--ANNAELLE: "Shh, eeet's not time yet!"), I remembered the following: Ernie and Chris showering together, running around topless, going to the pool, being prank-called by my own cell phone and attempting to go to Sydney to retrieve it, making up and performing If You're from California, I Wanna Bone Ya, I'll Never Phone Ya with the tour guides, and actually semi-assaulting Hannah and Morgan. Morgan recounts the fabulous experience in her blog when she she states,

"Babygurl stormed in at some point and actually sexually assaulted me. She was nude and strattled me while I screamed rape. Oh BBG."

She liked it.

DAY THREE Saturday, September 25: After giggling the morning away, the tour guides came to wake us up and we departed for a ferry ride that would take us to Fraser Island. The weather wasn't looking to great so we were all feeling a bit discouraged. Day 3 and still no sun? What kind of vacation is this? It was even more disheartening when w

e got to the beautiful Lake McKenzie, which is meant to be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, but the rain was really discouraging us. But being the troopers that we are, we obviously didn't let it bring us down for long. We still dove into the water and spent a few hours exploring the little island. Daisy, Annaelle, Dan and I even trekked through a jungle wilderness to get to another area and Annaelle revealed one of the most hilarious stories I've ever heard

in my life. Let's just say, I've got to keep that one buried... We had a nice buffet lunch at a hotel down the road and then went on a gorgeous off-road drive over a beach that they referred to as a highway. The ocean crashed along on the side and the bus expertly drove over the squishy, brown sand. The rain actually made the scenery more alluring and caused the water to be more violent, which was cool to see inside the warm, dry bus. Me and Dais had a pretty nice soundtrack on her pod that added to the whole experience. We stopped and saw a shipwreck, a fresh water creek, penis trees and the this adorable little girl who was kissing and hugging Cuntaroo. Luckily the family didn't speak very good English, so I don't think they understood the profane language and dirty things written all over it. After many photos, we headed back to the hostel where we showered, ate, loaded up on liquor and got ready for the dreaded 12 hour bus ride to Airlie Beach.

MORE TO COME LATER! :)

spring breaaaak.

one fish, two fish--let the craziness begin. <----click on that link to see what i'll be up to for the next 10 days!

energy.

I really want to dance all over my room singing and dancing right now, but I think I've done enough to scare my dorm room neighbors.
There's a lot of pent up energy running through my body after being a drooling, sleepy zombie for the last 5 days.
Probably some adrenaline from left over anger and annoyance from a conversation with the toxic one earlier as well.

Got some of the tingling in my limbs out earlier by belting out some Biebs while cleaning, but I think it's time to jammm out to my new-found angsty girl music, The Pretty Reckless.
Ever since Tragic Kingdom was first put on for me circa 1996, I've just had a thing for angry girl rock bands.
I wish I could say I followed in Miss Stefaini's footsteps singing powerful and edgy songs of my own, but instead my lyrical genius swayed more towards the hatred of onions. I believe the "I Hate Onions" tape recording is still saved somewhere in the depths of my childhood memory boxes.
To be released as an EP later this year ;)

In any event (tell me if I am overusing this phrase...seems to be coming out a lot lately), I am feeling much better and am hopefully going to make it out to the Tim Burton exhibition this weekend. Maybe take a pole dancing class as well. Just for fun...no worries family. At least go to normal dance class on Friday night for sure! And ZUUUUMBA tomorrow. Gotta get this body a bit more in shape for spring break in t-minus 8 days! So excited for Queensland. Bungee jumping, exploring the Great Barrier Reef, sky swinging, laxing it out on the beach and pAArtying hard. <---yes, I did just do that.

Sweet skype sesh with the sibs and Gram put a smile on my face. Plus this status that my Grandma posted: Mertle DeCoursey: coming home from school today Braden asked how Sissy was doing and he knew how she felt. Because when you can't breathe it's scary and he knows 'cause he has been there many times. He thought if she had a "neb" that would help her breathe better. You have to love the wisdom of 7 year olds and his concern for his big sister who is doing much better.

Man do I love that little boy. Dancinnn time.

xxxxxxxxx, Amanda.

darwin.

Major catching-ups to do.Lucky for all of you, I have come down with a respiratory infection and am sentenced to rest in my room for the next 5 days. I figured I could catch up on blog entries seeing as how I am no longer feeling like the world is spinning around me nor that I will suffocate in my sleep due to unmeasurable amounts of snot giving me a lack of oxygen.
If you think it's disgusting, imagine how I feel.

Moving on, we head back to the last weekend of August (25-29).
Early Wednesday evening, Kevin, Miguel and I packed up our bags and said goodbye to the miserable cold and rain of Melbourne and a big HELLLOOOO to the gorgeous 90 degree weather of the Northern Territory of Darwin.
While it was all sunshine being there, getting there was not.
Tiger Airways has to be the worst airline EVER and we had a mess of a time figuring out where to check in at the cast-off and dingy terminal that is the home of Tiger. Well, you get what you pay for. At least the less than decent reputation of the company got me through security without having to check my AT LEAST 5-kilo-overweight baggage. "I don't get paid enough to be bothered with this right now," replied the hard-working Tiger representative. Score one for me.

Loaded up with candy, snacks and magazines, we took to the 5 hour flight and passed out most of the way. We landed at the Darwin airport around midnight and could immediately feel the humidity creeping in from outside. None of us were feeling very tired from the long naps we took on the flight, and after we got all checked in at the hostel, we decided the only sensible thing to do would be to go out.

The lovely man from South Carolina working the desk at our hostel gave us his Monsoons member card and told it was the place to be. And seeing as how we went back every day of our
trip, it certainly proved to be. Dressed in our summer bests of cotton dresses and man capris, we had a few drinks and shared a few laughs. The boys seemed to have a few more drinks than I did and I was left with the last laugh of taking care of their asses around our new town. At around 4 am, we decided we were hungry and went on a search for food. Again, asking for advice from our hostel, we got pointed in the direction of where an open food joint may be. Miguel decided to try to be the leader and took us around on a goose chase around the block. We ended up passing our hostel again and crept by in the shadows on the other side of the street to hide our American embarrassment. That's when I took the reigns and got us to Uncle Sam's which presented a fine display of nastily fried everything. The crowd was looking pretty sketch so we hastily ate our yiros (I guess this makes a bit more sense than spelling it gyros...) and split and knocked off for bed around 5.

The next day kicked off with a nice jog for the three of us, which was probably quite a sight to see since none of us had done much physical activity in Australia leading up to this event. Through the huffing and puffing, we got to see a ton of the city and hit the tourist centre to figure out what we should do for the next few days.

Maleleuca on Mitchell was an awesome hostel located right on Mitchell Street, the main stretch in Darwin. We enjoyed laying out on the pool deck for a few hours and eventually hit the streets to do some exploring. On DAY ONE we encountered:
1. The douchebag photographer Paul Arnold. He had beautiful artwork of the outback in his gallery, but his "pure modesty" really brought down our opinion of him. Nevertheless, I contributed 50 cents to the ass for a pretty bookmark with frangipanis.
2. Amazing Italian Cafe--cannot, for the life of me, remember the name of it. But it was sooo good! Ended up dropping my camera on the ground and cracking the touch screen. So yep, we are now awaiting the arrival of camera #4. Great times.
3. Bus ride--This was quite interesting. We saw some girls being put in the back of a police caravan, got our first real dose of the indigenous life in Australia and randomly got off on a stop that lead us to a FABULOUS day.
4. Botanical Gardens; The scenery at this place was absolutely stunning. We had a great time taking photos and relaxing to the sounds of the garden. I even tried to swing from a vine Tarzan and Jane style, but the vine ended up falling on me and giving me a nasty scratch on my back. Never again. Sorry nature.

5. Medill Sunset Market

This baby requires its own paragraph. The market was possibly the most incredible thing I've been to in Australia thus far and I really felt the roots of the country here. There was a sense of community among everyone and it was just all about enjoying the music, weather and craft of everyone who contributed. Set up directly next to the beach, we were able to see the sunset over the ocean and soak our feet in the salty water. Booths lined the strip bursting with food, artwork, jewelery, clothing and miscellaneous other treasures. I kept getting lost from the boys because I just wanted to take everything in and see everything that I could. We met up in time to hear this incredible man playing what looked to be 4 or 5 didgeridoos hooked up to a sound system. Another man accompanied him on the drums and together they made a crazy beat that had the entire crowd clapping and dancing along. The rough sounds coming from the wooden didgeridoo mixed with the electronica and created an intense energy that gave me chills. Everyone was entranced by their show and it wasn't long before the locals were dancing along, swinging their hips every which way to keep up with the increasingly fast rhythm. We stayed the entire 5 hours that the market lasted for and I came back with a few unique items! (Of course, making my suitcase heavier...what did you expect from me?) I got a gorgeous maxi dress with swirls of red and blue, a red crochet bikini, and a hand-painted, glass-blown necklace that apparently represents fertility. I chose it because it had the prettiest design, but upon looking at it closely, you can see that some of the paintwork on it resemble little sperms. Let's just say, I'm not hoping for my own fertility at this point, but wearing it for the many women out there and I'll use it for myself when the time comes...ha. I also got a few tank tops that are called "Second Skin" and legit feel like you're wearing nothing (which we all know is something I'm very fond of). I'm wearing one of them right now actually...what a coincidence. ;) We ended our market trip with some delicious Asian food and treated ourselves to Thai massages. Probably the most relaxing 10 minutes of my life. I have no idea what that man did with his hands, but it was pure magic and released every knot I had. Could really use that again right now...

Decided to hit up our number one spot, MONSOOOOONS, again that night and got pretty wild. Between the 3 of us, we split 7 jugs, had tequila shots and probably a few mixed drinks. Needless to say, things got silly and we all got down on the dance floor. Or the stage? Definitely one of the top days/nights I've had in Australia. Perhaps the top. We babysat each other back home and hit the sack around 5 again.
DAY TWO started off with showers...which was a good thing because we starting to have shame. (Although no shame in topping off jug #7 the night before...)
Next we traveled down to the Aboriginal Art History Museum. We saw some really cool artwork, a real dead crocodile named Sweetheart and a very interesting exhibit on the cyclone that nearly wiped away the city of Darwin back in 1974. It was a mass tragedy and many people lost their homes and their lives. Obviously the city has been rebuilt, but it took many years to clean up the mess left behind by Cyclone Tracy.

After the museum, we walked along the beach and took in the beautiful scenery. I swear I saw crocodile tracks, but I'm pretty sure they just belonged to some type of bird.
Next we attempted to go to some type of indoor marina, but it was already closed by the time we got there. Instead we found ourselves by the Wharf Precinct so we explored around there and came across a stretch of condos with a little beach area. We laid out in the sun for a bit and went for a dip.
On our way back to the hotel, we wound up being invited to tour the Queen's house. So random. It is an event that happens once a year and we so happened to stumble across it. Had scrumptious tea and scones and scoped out the house. Very lovely indeed. Unfortunately my cracked camera died halfway through the Queen's 5th garden (or was it the 4th?) so my photos stopped there.
Headed back to the hotel to rest up for the night and get ready for the rest of our friends to join us!

Stopped off to get some Vodka Cruisers and enjoy some grub at The Duck's Nuts. Kevin seems to think this is like the Australian version of the bee's knees, but I'm just not seeing it.
Hit up the pool bar for some more jugs and went to the Vic so I could get some free champagne for ladies' night. And get the free champagne I did. Served by shirtless men in bow-ties. Niiiice. We then were entertained by a male stripper who even flashed us a nice view of his package. I don' t think I'll ever be the same. I was having a great time dancing with some girls from the hostel and new-found New Zealanders, but the boys had had quite enough and told me the others would be to the hostel soon.
We got back to Maleleuca just in time to greet the new-comers, Liz, Sarah, Dan, Victoria, Sam, Paul, and Mary. Settled them in and brought them out to Monsoons. Weird.
"Oh Mister Torres, welcome back..." The bouncer knew Miguel by name. Fabulousss.
Got to steppin, learned how to do the Melbourne shuffle a bit although I still look like a bumbling idiot and don't understand how anyone can move their feet like that. Had a good time, but everyone was kinda sleepy so we headed back. Hung out with some Australian army men out by the pool deck till the sun came up. I think bed time was 7 am that night. Not much time for sleep in Darwin.

DAY THREE with everyone was fun! Family breakfast at The Coffee Club and went to the main event we had all been looking forward too....CROCODYLUS COVE. What a bust. This is the home to the Cage of Death where one is inserted into a crocodile's tank in a glass tank and the croc is meant to snap and swarm around you. Terrifying, right? Well the damn 80 year-old crocodile sat and stared at the man in the cage and didn't even move. None of the crocs in the whole park seemed to want to move. We watched the feeding which was semi-cool, but peaced out of there pretty fast.
I decided I wanted my last day to be nothing but relaxing so all of us girls took to the pool for the rest of the day. Hung out with our new army friends, made more new friends who gave us floaties, had a few drinks and soaked up the sun. Great last day.
Ended off on a high note with a fancy dinner at a charming little tapas restaurant. The food was amazing, and the conversation--even better ;). Even if the boys hated us.

Kevin, Miguel and I bid our farewells and headed back to the great city of Melbourne where we took in a footy game the next day. Not sure how we made it as we were all so tired, but I'm super glad I did! The Melbourne team's mascot is actually the Demons and their colors are red and blue (WOOO DEPAUL!). I got myself a scarf to representtt. Enjoyed some ciders and went home to crash out hard.

Yup, that about sums it up! Broken Hill to come hopefully sooner than this one did. Byeeee. x

rest in peace.

Over the past year, three people under the age of 25 have died from my hometown. No, they weren't my best friends and I haven't even spoke to some of them in years, but at some point, all of these people have been in and affected a part of my life. My heart goes out to those who still knew them on a more personal level and all those who are hurt by these tragedies. I have either gone to school with or worked with these people, have shared millions of laughs, and know their families and friends. One death is hard enough, but we are looking at three in the span between January and August. Drug overdoses, suicide, and car crashes have taken these people away from the world and every single time the phone rings to report the news, my heart shatters into pieces for their young age, their families and their loved ones. Just wanted to take a minute to remember these amazing people and share my short and sweet experiences with each one. Thank you for those memories and know that we will be passing on those memories forever. Rest in Peace Rachel O'Brien, Ricky Jaros and Jon Halverson. You will be forever missed.

[7th grade choir concert]

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of Rachel and I from back in the day, but I did take this of all the girls outside Bethel for our Spring choir concert.

I met Rachel O'Brien in first hour on the first day of 6th grade. All the boys liked her and I had a serious case of the green-eyed monster. She heard my laugh and saw my chubby rollie-pollie-ollie body running to the water fountain and thought I was handicap. Despite this fact, by the time Mr.Vigardt's homebase? (homeroom?...what the hell did we call that last hour of class?) rolled around, we had hit it off as friends. Rachel could always make you laugh. Whether it was doing an impression, making a silly face or telling a joke, she was always gushing with goofiness. We drifted apart as the years went on--different interests, new friends--the typical high school girl reasons for losing touch. I'm so sad I won't ever get the opportunity to hear one of those jokes again. I'm so sad I didn't try to rekindle our friendship or help in any way. I knew so much of what was going with her through the gossip and the grapevine (evil, high school bullshit), and never did anything to stop it. For that Rachel, I'm sorry. Just know there are millions of people that would give anything to see your smile again.

Getting my first job at Champps Americana in the middle of my hometown of the NB with Shannon (one of my very best friends!) seemed to be one of the greatest things that happened to me in the spring of my senior year. Then I met Ricky Jaros and it quickly became the ABSOLUTE best thing EVER! I thought Ricky was SO sexy and my heart jumped every time he would speak to me. I didn't really know him all that well, but it really tore me up when I heard about his car accident today. I'll never forget this one day at work that I was excitedly working with Ricky. We were both putzing around at the host stand and he came up to me with one of those plastic rings out of the vending machines. He flirtatiously slipped the ring on my finger and gave me a little wink. Pretty sure my entire world stopped. All because of Pretty Ricky. When Shan started seeing Tyler (another one of the Champps crew...), the opportunity to see Ricky outside of work presented itself. I was taken at the time (and madly in love with my boyfriend, I might add) so I knew nothing would happen, but I was still excited to get out of the kitchen and expo-line setting with him! That night, me, Shannon, Tyler and Andy (another server) all had drinks and hung out at Andy's apartment. I had so much fun with Ricky--talking nonsense, playing games and taking pictures. He got fired from Champps not too long after that and I haven't heard much of him since until today. It's strange because I was thinking about him the other day. When Ellie brought up his name, I thought it was such an odd coincidence that he had just crossed my mind. Unfortunately, the news behind the name wasn't anything I wanted to hear. You're in our thoughts and prayers Pretty Ricky.

Jon Halverson and I went to school together since I was in Kindergarten. I knew who he was, but we never really crossed paths until my sophomore year and his junior year of high school. He was in my boyfriend's group of friends and started dating one of my best friends. Naturally, we all hung out all the time. Halvo introduced me to the wonderful world of marijuana. He was always down to have a good time and we let our minds take us on all sorts of crazy adventures all together. Emily and Jon went through some dark times where we didn't see them for a while. I missed her terribly, but I was surprised by how much I missed Jon as well. Over the time of hanging out, he wasn't just Polski's friend anymore--he had become my friend too. After I went away to school for a while, I got a message from Emily saying they were getting better. Treatment and support were helping them to clean up their act and I was so excited to get home to see them. The first time we all partied together back at the U of M house, they were both proud to show off their sobriety. I was thrilled. :) Every time I would go home over the past 3 years, the U of M house would bring us all together and we'd get down like the old times. Jon and Emily were always there--so in love and ready to reconnect with all their old friends. Jon would always be the first to ask how Chicago was going and catch up. The last time I saw Jon was only weeks before he died. I had come home for Easter weekend and without fail, we headed down to the U to get our party on. When I arrived, Jon was already there jersey-ed up with Bulls gear and ready to get down. We smoked a few bowls and he told us about his plans to go to culinary school, Emily's plans to move into his apartment and upcoming travel plans. I got wind of the suicide nearly 10 days later. Pure shock took over and I thought it was just a joke. A cruel joke at that. None of the boys had heard yet and it wasn't until I heard the funeral plans that it actually hit me that I wouldn't be seeing him when I went home the following weekend. All of these people's deaths are tragic, but Jon's will ache forever. We may not have been the best of friends, but we were always together. We were always around each other. He was the most incredible boyfriend to someone I love and treasure very much and a great friend to so many others. I still cry every damn time I see your picture Jon. I went to get a photo from his Facebook to include in this post and I saw that the picture above was set as his profile picture on April 5--days before his death. It just hit me all over again. Love you Jon--we're still thinking of you and missing you constantly.

xx, Amanda.

how i wish.

[Le Love repost]

With everything I do, I always wish you were here.

I see these incredible sights and experience once in a life time opportunities.

All the while, I'm thinking about how much you would love to be doing these things.

Not even necessarily with me.

Just knowing you, I can picture the way you would react or what you would say if you were the one to be doing them.

Most times I think about what it would be like if we were doing them together.

I think I need to be doing them on my own--branching out and learning for myself with the help of the extraordinary people around me.

But that doesn't mean a part of me doesn't still ache for you to be next to me.

Darwin update later.

xx, Amanda.

epic fail.

Helloooo all! :)

Backtracking a bit, the ABC party was absolutely insane.

Some may say it was too insane, seeing as how it resulted in the loss of camera #2 and my leather jacket. Boo.

And possibly because there were people running around in bath mats, bubble wrap, entire showers + curtains (yes, it really happened), and other countless household supplies.

Woke up with a pounding headache that lasted for most of Friday.

Pretty much a fail of a day besides heading to Pinewood with Sam and Daisy to consume footlong Subways, and in my case, an entire litre of milk with one extra-doughy M&M cookie.

Next it was off to try to watch Jersey Shore which turned into a 3 hour ordeal due to internet issues in Daisy's room.

Skipped out on dance because Tom had studying to do, but had a nice steak dinner (more food) with Alex and hung around with Kevin, Miguel and Nikhil for a few hours and continued to eat approximately 4 slices of pizza.

Seriously, such a whale in Australia.

Saturday was an even bigger failure than Friday.

Attempted to set an alarm for 10 am to head into the city for the day, but apparently I forgot to turn it on and ended up sleeping until noon.

Good work, Amanda.

The only noteable part of the day was Daisy making me and Sam English mac&cheese. Yummm.

We were incredibly excited to go out in the city for a night of proper clubbing, but after drinking goon while singing in my room with Jackie for a good hour and heading to the Deakin projector room for a relentless game of Arrogance where I was forced to down a glass of goon, Jameson and coke mix, and mysterious punch, I was pretty much down for the count.

[GOON = boxed wine; the only thing we can afford to drink in Oz]

Quite literally down actually. Daisy found Sam and I snuggling on the pavement outside Deakin around 10 pm, and we were both cuddling in her bed by 10:30.

So much for making it to the city at all on Saturday.

At least the early bed time got me to wake up around 7 am wondering why on earth I was in Sam's bed.

This put me on a fast track to having a productive day.

After failing miserably all weekend, I forced myself to get ready and head downtown Melbourne.

As I was not the only failure of the weekend, we had a few minor setbacks to take care of before we could go to the city.

If it was possible, Sam also had more of an epic fail of a weekend than I did. Leaving her passport, credit cards and keys on the bus the day before, Sam took me an Mary on an exciting adventure to the bus depot. The CLOSED bus depot, I may add. (Ammendment: The bus depot was not actually closed; we just went to the wrong door. FAIL).

Of course the bus depot was in the middle of nowhere, so we took a while to figure out where we were going, but got on our way and made it to Flinder's Street!

Got some Hungry Jacks and Sam realized her pump was broken. Sorry Sam, it just really wasn't your weekend.

[HUNGRY JACKS = Australia's version of Burger King]

We ran around to nearly every pharmacy on the blocks between Swanston, Little Collins and

Collins to find that not one of them sold syringes.

Apparently people are not diabetic in Australia.

We decided to just head down to Queen Victoria Market, where we had originally planned to go before all the chaos of Sam's life or death situation came about, and found a pharmacy that sold syringes.

Thankfully, no death for Samantha Efrusy on Sunday, August 22nd. The Queen Victoria Market is a huge trade market that sells everything from food to clothes to art to wigs. (I really need to get one of these wigs). We only had about an hour there before closing time, so we will absolutely be returning.

Next, it was off to the discount camera shop to pick up lucky camera #3. I got a lovely Nikon Coolpix touch-screen camera + memory card for about $150 US dollars which made me incredibly happy, but I am still going to protect this baby with my life.

After searching for a French workbook at a few book stores (I am still currently looking for an interactive French workbook that will help me to relearn French...if you have any suggestions, please send them my way), we stopped off for "the best juice in the world."

While this South American treat was quite delectable, it was not the best juice in the world.

As a spur of the moment decision, we attempted to get my face pierced, Sam's nose re-pierced (for about the 50th time) and Mary's tragus, but unfortunately everywhere was closed.

All I wanted was to come home with a camera, a French workbook and my face pierced.

1 out of 3. Rough odds.

Got some cute clothes and shoes though, and had a WONDERFUL time wandering around taking ridiculous touristy photos all about Melbourne. We even found the Melbourne version of the bean!

Aimless wandering through the Greek precinct and Chinatown eventually lead us to our final destination--the Eureka Skydeck Tower.

The Eureka Skydeck is the tallest residential building in the world, and the 5th tallest building in the world in general.
Melbourne is such a gorgeous city and seeing it all lit up at night was incredible. The lights sparkled on forever, expanding further out than my vision could even stretch.

Exhausted and hungry, we decided to eat at this Greek restaurant called Kouzina.

We filled our bellies with delicious souvlakis and bougasta and had some bonding time.

It felt like we were sitting there for hours sharing funny stories, life lessons and crazy experiences.

Perfect end to a lovely day.

And it made the whole feeling of failure wash away.

Although I would've felt much better with two little studs next to my eyeball and a French workbook in hand.

Tata for now, xx.

great ocean road.

I realize I haven't written much about what I've actually been doing here.
Too busy being a big emo baby and writing about socks. :/
Haha, but I am done with the sadness--told you it was just a phase!

This past weekend, Monash Abroad took all of us DePaul kids, Loyola kids and any other internationals who wanted to out on a drive along the Great Ocean Road.
[GREAT OCEAN ROAD = A 243-kilometre (151 mi) stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia between the Victorian cities of Torquay and Warrnambool. The road was built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932, and is the world's largest war memorial; dedicated to casualties of World War I. (Thank you Miguel's Facebook).]

Well anyways, this past weekend was one of the best yet.
The trek started early in the morning on Campbell's tour bus of fun.
Seriously, best tour guide ever.
Drove for a while until we reached the largest surf museum in the world! (AKA, Surf World Museum) in Torquay (which is also the home of Quiksilver!)
We watched a documentary about these two Australian boys who decided to surf the 50 states.
It was hilarious and nice to see home! They represented Minnesota really well too, so that made me smile :)
You can get a glimpse of the video at-->SURFING 50 STATES.
Sooo funny.

Next it was off to surf lessons of our own!

Besides the fact that it was absolutely FREEZING, surfing was, for the second time, AWESOME.
I'm really disappointed that I didn't grow up in a place that surfing was the norm.
I absolutely love it.
And for only going twice in my life and having absolutely no upper-body strength, I'd say I'm pretty good.
Stood up once and rode in on my knees quite a few times.
The conditions were horrendous though and the wind kept knocking us around. Nevertheless, it was a super good time.

Made a few more stops along the way to where we were staying for the night and saw some wild koalas and crazy birds.
I absolutely love the wildlife in Australia. So different than anywhere else in the world.
Even if some of the animals are scary as hell and make strange noises.

That night my tour group stayed in an actual home rather than a hostel in Apollo Bay.
It was just like being at summer camp all over again with bunk beds and all the girls in one room!
We had our own little kitchen and living room, plus a room with a pool table where we got our drink and dance on.
After everyone pitched in to make ourselves a delicious little meal, we started the party.
<---Wannabe. Of course busting out the oldies tunes like SPICE GIRLS and Sarah played me a little Grease 2 Cool Rider. Went to the local pub and hung out with everyone and went back to the house for a little dancing on the pool table. Typical. Woke up sideways on my bunk bed around 7 am, just enough time to get a decent hour of sleep before heading off to the rain forest. Rocked out my zubaz for the entire day, despite mocking and comments from everyone and their mom. Got the comment, "Either you were really lazy or super hung over to be wearing those all day." I'd say it was a good combination of both, but really it was for the absolute high fashion and style that those babies exude. Whatever, they made for some great photos anyway.

On the way home, we made stops at Loch Ard Gorge and London Bridge. We also stopped at this absolutely gorgeous beach and actually got some sun while we were there. The helicopter tour of the 12 Apostles was one of my favorite parts of the day. I'd never been in a helicopter before and we got a great view of the formations caused by thousands of years of erosion. Doesn't sound very lovely, but it was actually incredibly beautiful.

The three hour drive home wasn't too bad since I passed out for most of it, but we also had some good sing-alongs and chats to pass the time.
The trip really showed me how much I love and care about these people already. We had so much fun together and it really just felt like a little family.
It also gave me a huge bite from the travel bug!

I've been in Australia for nearly 2 months now, which means only a little over 2 months left!
I know that sounds like a lot, but these 2 months have flown by so quickly and I'm sure the next 2 don't plan on slowing down at all.
All I want to do is travel and see as much of Australia and the surrounding areas as I possibly can.
Who knows when I'll be down here again and I just want to make the most of it while I can.

Next weekend I'm heading up to Darwin, which is in the Northern Territory of Australia. I thought I was going to be braving it alone because I'm flying out Wednesday and everyone else is flying out Friday night, BUT Miguel literally called me seconds ago and told me he was able to make it with me. Very exciting news!
I'm sure I would've been fine to go on my own, but it'll be nice to have someone else to explore the new area and make the most of our time there.
Finally going somewhere warm! It's supposed to be in the 90's, so I can't wait to get my sun on.

The following week we are going on a trip to Broken Hill with our Australian Idol class.
This is meant to be like a trip to the outback and I'll even get to ride on a camel!
We get back the day before my birthday, so I basically have 3 weeks of events to look forward to!

Tonight is the ABC Party in the city, so that should be awesome!
[ABC = Anything but Clothes] I think I'm using these cheap-y little bags that Monash gave us at the beginning of the semester to construct some sort of dress/outfit. We'll see how it goes.
Then tomorrow I'm going to hit up Chapel Street for dance class.
My friend Tom introduced me to this wonderful little dance studio called The Space and I've taken a couple of hip-hop classes there. They have huge mirrors and I've gone a bit early or stayed after to work on turns and mess around there. I refuse to lose my dance skill while I'm away for the year!
Haven't actually gone out on Chapel Street so I'm pumped to do that after class tomorrow with my friend Alex. :)

This weekend is already shaping out to be a great one and I think we are going to top it off by doing some sight-seeing in Melbourne on Saturday.
So really I just have months and weeks ahead of me to look forward to!

I do miss you all terribly though! Don't get me wrong.
Just skyped with Mom and the little ones for a bit, but they don't have a camera yet so only got to hear their voices.
I'm pretty positive that I'm going to come home around the 10th of December.
Probably head straight to the Chi and spend a week or so there and then head home through Christmas and New Years until I'm off again on the 7th of January!
Of course, that all depends on my travel plans here and cost and everything, but tentatively that sounds pretty good to me.

I'm off to try to construct my ABC outfit...
Love you all, xx.

procrastination.

So, I really should be doing homework so I don't need to worry about anything at the sleepover at Sonika's tomorrow night, but I just keep finding myself reading random blogs and notes that other people have written. I'm too tired to create anything witty or inspiring of my own at this point, so that'll just have to do. I came across the Google verb thing where you write in your name + a verb in a Google search and note the first thing that comes up. (Ex. "Amanda needs").
Here's what I got...

Amanda needs to pee.
Amanda looks like she is pouting here.
Amanda says: We lie to make it seem like we're not Little Miss Bitch.
Amanda wants a Hug'n'Kiss.
Amanda hates good music.
Amanda asks: Is print dead? (HOPE NOT!)
Amanda likes to distract herself with silliness. (Accurate).
Amanda eats my meat.
Amanda wears sexy chaps and rides Marshall like a bronco.
Amanda was arrested for possession of crack, prostitution, a bar fight and her misdemeanors of drinking during probation and for stealing pearls out of the bank safe box.
Amanda loves lesbians. (Fabulous).

Update on Great Ocean Road soon!
xo.

socks.

I fucking hate socks.

Maybe they keep your feet warm when it's cold outside and can sometimes make shoes more comfortable (ex. tennis shoes while working out feel better with socks), but other than that socks just suck.

Have you ever fallen asleep with socks on?
I don't comprehend how people can do that.
One time I decided to moisturize my feet with lotion and trap the moisture in with socks overnight to leave my feetsies soft and delicate.
Not only did I have trouble falling asleep, but I woke up and had a terrible day.
I fully blame the socks.

Socks under the sheets are just wrong. Plain and simple.
Like the genius that sent in the PostSecret above said, it feels as though you are putting your feet inside a foot prison trapped with heat and discomfort.
To this day, I don't think I have EVER worn socks to bed after that horrible experience a few years back.

On top of that, there is the issue of socks while doing laundry.
You don't even want to get me started on socks and laundry.
First of all, laundry is a horrendous activity in and of itself. Then dealing with the damn socks…ugh.
On average, I probably end up losing three socks every time I put in a load of laundry.
Where the hell do those fuckers disappear to?
This makes the already tedious job of matching the socks together in pairs even more of a hassle.
There are probably at least five lonely, pair-less socks floating around in my drawer at the moment.

In all fairness, socks do (usually) help with the problem of stinky feet.
Back in the day, on one of my thousands of trips to Disney World as a child, I decided to boldly show my hatred for socks and didn't wear them for a week straight with tennis shoes while running around, getting 8 year old wild at the theme parks.
My feet looked all pruney, you know, the way they get when you've stayed in the bath-tub for too long, and smelled (smelt, if we were in England) like foul fish for the following week.
That's when I learned that while there are many downfalls to socks, sometimes they are a necessity.

Hm. And that's a rant about socks.
Probably should've used that time to write my Australian Idol paper, but I think this will be a bit more enjoyable for the public to read.

That is all, xx.

lost.

Struggling a bit today.
I didn't get much sleep last night. To-do lists, school, traveling plans and worries had me tossing and turning until nearly 5 in the morning.
Actually having to tackle the tedious, never-ending list was even worse than laying awake thinking about it.

A weird funk has kind of taken over me lately.
I don't know if it's just because school is getting to be a bit more difficult, or if all of our upcoming trips and activities have me stressing out, but I'm just not being my usual happy-go-lucky self.

Surely it's just a phase. Life wouldn't be life without ups and downs and twists and turns.
No matter what happens, it is not the end of the world.
Little obstacles may present themselves, but nothing is going to ruin this experience for me.
While Australia may be a bit more complicated than home (and sometimes I fail to see the logic of some people/situations), I'm sure I'll be able to feel my way out and make it through.

Feeling a bit lost and weird is normal.
Especially when you're thousands of miles away from home on basically the furthest most continent possible.
Still, it would be nice to have some people here to make the going a bit easier.
Always missing the fam.
A Braden kiss would be nice right now.
An Andrew Polski snuggle.
Gram's witty banter in person rather than just over Facebook posts.

But luckily, I've been doing this for a few years now.
While it doesn't always make it easier, at least I know I can survive it.
And when the going gets tough on my own, I know I have some exceptional and life-changing people already on my side to help me navigate through this crazy Australian adventure.
That's another post for another day.

And tomorrow is just that--another day that will hopefully be funk-free.
What do you know, tomorrow is Tuesday, which means FREE pancakes.
I'd say free pancakes = a pretty funk-free start to any day.
Sleep would probably help too.

Good night, Australia. Good morning, America.
Love you all, xo.