THE END IS HERE

Just like that, it is over. The last two months of my life have been unbelievable. I have gotten to do things I never even imagined and made friends that will hopefully last a lifetime. Along the way, I have learned a lot about my culture, other cultures and grown as a person. It's been fascinating - every single aspect of it. Enough of that, on to the good stuff.

Friday:

Sorry I have not been able to update sooner. I have been trying to squeeze everything in to the last couple of days here in Sydney and I have not had much internet access. Anyway, this past weekend kicked off on Friday after we checked out. I know I have talked a lot about how nice the Aussies are but the story I'm about to share might be the best example in the history of the world (or at least my blog). So myself, Nick and Bo wanted to go to La Perouse. This was an old military fort right on the ocean in the middle of a port. Honestly, there isn't a whole lot to do there but take in the gorgeous views. The main draw for us though was that one of the most memorable scenes in Mission Impossible 2 was filmed there. You might remember Tom Cruise running across the bridge, saving the world, jumping up and down on a couch, etc. etc. Well in order to get there, we had to take a bus (fascinating, right?). The issue was A) I hadn't purchased a pass yet for the weekend and was going to have to pay for it out of my hard earned and even harder spent money and B) We weren't real sure where exactly we were going. We hopped on our first bus and were in for quite a treat.

We were greeted by a young friendly bus driver - not out of the norm here in Oz. However, he (Lee) wouldn't let me pay him for a bus ticket to where we needed to get to. Instead, he wanted to trade me my Oakley sunglasses and call it even, jokingly of course. I let him try them on and he got a kick out them. He could tell immediately that we were American and started giving us a hard time about being tourist and yankees and blah blah blah. It was all pretty funny and he still was persistent on not allowing me to pay. Whatever, I wasn't complaining. He even faked a phone call to the bus office about the helpless Americans on the bus. Eventually, after much razzing from him, we made it to where we needed to get on the next bus. He jokingly said he was going to get off the bus and show us around. At least, we thought he was joking. He actually got off the bus. Well as it ends up, he was apparently scheduled to get off the bus there. Then, he took the bus he was supposed to drive back to the offices for his break and turned it into a free private charter to La Perouse. He took the entire bus and drove us three right to La Perouse. Along the way, he shared some of his own entertaining stories, mocked people trying to get him to stop (my personal favorite) and took an absurd amount of joy in driving through puddles - nothing like a 12-year old boy stuck in a man's body driving a bus. Needless to say, it was an entertaining commute - not to mention the entire trip was free.

The reward at the end of the commute wasn't too shabby either. The views were spectacular and I could imagine Tom just sprinting across the bridge - so dreamy. That's a joke. In all reality, the views were worth any sort of trip. We walked down and around the base snapped some photos and were even treated to a beautiful rainbow. It was a spectacular site and a spectacular start to a spectacular day. Spectacular.

After La Perouse, we went to grab lunch at the Markets in The Rocks. The Rocks is one of the suburbs of Sydney and might be my personal favorite. It is the old part of town with cobblestone roads and limestone (okay that might or might not be historically accurate - just pick a stone you like, I could have said coal and you would have been forced to believe me) buildings. It is pretty neat. Especially for someone who likes history as much as I do. I got a tremendous Meatball wrap for only 8 bucks. A steal here in Sydney. My day was already memorable and I hadn't even made it to the main event yet.

"James Morrison and 11 Other Trumpet Superstars in...Fun and Brass" at the Sydney Opera House. I had been wanting to go to a show at the Opera House for my entire trip but hadn't found the time or the right show yet. Patience is a virtue and I was treated to a tremendous jazz show featuring the history of trumpet and jazz. My sister is drooling right now. I grew up listening to the shreaking of her weapon of brass destruction. Okay, actually she was pretty good but we all know I was the best musician in the family as well as the most attractive, most loved, most athletic and smartest (or none of the above). With a little bit of an understanding of the trumpet and jazz there could not have been a better show for me to see and that is just talking about the show. The facility is absolutely awe-inspiring. It's beautiful, magnificent. It should have its very own superlative because I can't think of one to properly describe it. I wish I could have/would have gone to more shows. If anyone goes to Sydney, go to a show. Don't ask questions. In related news, I might or might not have recorded the second half of the show on my phone and might or might not be able to send it to you if you're interested. Hypothetically, of course.

The entire day was just awesome. It was the perfect way to kick off my last weekend in Sydney.

Saturday:

We had another busy day scheduled for Saturday. It started out by making a trip to hell, I mean Paddy's market. This is the big huge market that is mandatory for every big city to have where everyone goes, barters and buys cheap crap for cheap. I don't think anyone actually enjoys the experience bust its just something you have to do and we needed to buy cheap crap for all of you, hope you're happy :). We stayed a little longer than expected but it was okay, we still had plenty of time left to make it to Bondi Beach.

We had stopped by the world famous Bondi on our first day here but didn't spend enough time to actually accomplish anything. This time, we went, did some walking around, Nick and Bo did some swimming, did some eating and did some more walking around. Nick and Bo decided to even go swimming in the Ocean. Those silly Americans. They were the only people in the water 1) without a surfboard and 2) without wetsuits. The lifeguard quickly came over and made it aware that there was to be no swimming aka being American. It was pretty funny the way they stood out but hey, "when in rome, do as the surfers do".

After Bondi we came back and decided to go Lord Nelson's for the night. This is the oldest brewery in Sydney. I had stopped by there for one beer earlier in the week but we wanted to get the full experience this time. 6 pints of beer later, we had tried all the beer and gotten the "full experience". My personal favorites were the Old Admiral - a dark beer and the Quayle - a beer (I guess I should maybe figure out what it was so I know what I like, maybe next time?). We weren't done. We decide to go to 3 Wise Monkeys because what would a night out in Sydney be without a trip to the 3 Wise Monkeys. Um yeah, we came, we saw, we danced, we conquered, we stumbled back, we passed out.

Sunday:

So this entire trip I haven't been able to sleep past 9. Not that I really wanted to but my body physically was not capable. So you can imagine how surprised I was when I awoke at 11 on Sunday morning. I did some wandering around during the day, grabbed some lunch and then headed to the Sydney Fish Market. A fish market insinuates two things 1) it is a market and 2) there is good fish. Okay, so my review my be a bit harsh but it was only because my expectations were so high. It was basically just a couple of fish restaurants in one building right on the ocean. The fish was just okay, not near as good as the Fish and Chips I had at Port Stephens. Salivation. Afterwards, we came back to the room then headed right back out to go check out Luna Park.

Luna Park is a little amusement park right beneath the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It has a stupid light up clown face that I think you can see from the moon. The thing is friggin' massive. Anyway, we figured we should check it out before we go so we made the trek down there and it was definitely worth at trip. The park was closed so we didn't get to see much of it but being right there next to the bridge and beneath street level was wild. You don't realize how big it is until you're right next to it. It looked like it was straight out of a movie or like it should be sprawled across a poster. It was very very cool. On our way back, instead of taking the train, Bo and I elected to walk across the bridge. This gave us a great view of the harbor, the Opera House and most importantly, an appetite.

We had been planning a trip back to Harry's Cafe de Wheels since the first time we went during the first weekend. Harry's specializes in meat pies. And when I say specialize, I mean they're world famous meat pies. We made the walk to Harry's and let me say that my chicken and mushroom meat pie was delicious. The best part of the meat pies is the mushed peas. Why don't we have these in America? That's not a joke. I honestly, need someone to tell me why we don't. I am both concerned and upset. What's wrong with our country?

And you thought we were going to stop at 1 meat pie. Ha! We were planning either another meat pie each or some hot dogs. See Harry's also specializes in dogs. I am not a big hot dog eater but Harry's hot dogs are different. I figured, "When else will I get to try a hot dog with mashed potatoes, mushed peas, onions, chilli, cheese and hot sauce. The answer? Never. So I ordered the Hot Dog de Wheels. I think they call it the Hot Dog de Wheels because someone has to wheel you home afterwards. Or maybe, it's because it is part of their name but whatever. Both are true.

Back at the apartment we just relaxed and eventually fell asleep.

Monday:

After falling asleep at about 1:00 a.m., I was up at 5:30 a.m. to go meet Bo and Nick at the Fifa Fan Fest for the Championship game. It was a crazy atmosphere. There were a ton of people there supporting their respective teams. You probably know how the game went. It's soccer, so they did the same thing back and forth for like 8.5 hours, eventually someone did something stupid and the other team scored. If the story line sounds familiar its because you've watched a soccer game before and they're all the same. Honestly, I was hoping for the PK Shootout but FIFA didn't run the whole overtime idea by me. Soccer can now be irrelevant again.

After FIFA we went back and had a delicious breakfast at our hotel and started to pack up since we had to be out of the room by 11. I got packed up and then headed out for a day of exploring on my own. I went back to Circular Quay (Opera House and Bridge Area) one more time and then climbed to the top of one of the columns. This isn't the "bridge climb"everyone hears about but it's about $200 cheaper and offers a comparable view I would imagine. It was spectacular to actually look down on the Harbor. I was lucky too. It had been overcast for most of the day but finally cleared up while I was atop the Pylon.

After the climb, I made one more trip back to Surry Hills just for good times sake and then headed back to the hotel. This is where things get interesting. See, my roommates had left and I didn't want to pay for the hotel on my own for one night and I knew I would be leaving early in the morning so I went ahead and checked out with no plans for Monday night. Unfortunately, this also meant I would be without a shower for the 36 hours leading up to flight. Something, I was not too happy about. I talked to the people at our hotel and they let me into the fitness center to take a shower. I don't know if it was my good looks or charm that made this happen ;). After I was cleaned up, I knew exactly what my plans were.

I had about $75 left, total. In my bank. In all my accounts. So obviously, the only option was to go to the Casino. Duh! But really I was doing this for more than one reason. I knew that if I went around 8 and just took it pretty slow, I could at least make it late into the night at which point I would get a cab to the airport and spend the night or something. Well, that's exactly what I did. I showed up at 8 and just took it pretty slow. I was up some, down some, up some more, down some more. I was wandering around trying different dealers, trying different tables and then it happened.

I got hot. Real hot. Real, real friggin' hot. Not my temperature, my cards. I looked down at my chips and I was at $100, I looked down again and it was $200. I looked down again and I was at $400. I had to step away but I couldn't but I did. See there mom and dad, I don't have a problem. It was about 2 a.m. and I was starving. I went and got some Nachos. Nutritious, I know. I contemplated walking out with my $400+...for about half a second! I wanted to go big or go home. I had no plans, no where to go and I was on fire. So I went and sat back down with the intention of not allowing myself go below $300. I did some more up and downing and eventually when the table closed at 4 a.m. I was at about $540. Again, I thought, "Maybe I should just walk out". And then I thought "Maybe I should just ignore my manhood". Go Big. Or Go Home. I went to the $20 table that was still open. I could smell blood. I got even hotter. Eventually making it up to almost $900. At $1000 I was walking out no ifs, ands or butts. I never got there. Instead, I left at 6 a.m. with $703.50. See, I can stop. I kept the $3.50 as a souvenir. I think I have two new lucky coins! To clear this up though, I went from 5:30 Sunday morning to (I'm assuming the plane flight) without sleeping. That's almost 36 hours. I think my body is going to hate me. Oh well, it was worth it.

It was a crazy night and something I will be telling my grandkids years from now. But then again, this entire trip has been that way. And that's way I have blogged about most all of it. I want to be able to look back at this and remember the trip that changed my life and molded who I am. I don't know if I will continue blogging (my readers will probably have to let me know if they care about my life enough) but I do know this has been a ton of fun for me to recollect and recap our crazy stories from "The Land Down Under". I hope you have enjoyed it half as much as I have. Until next time (if there is one)...

Cheers!


View from top of the bridge.

The Opera House. Before the show.

La Perouse. Sight of Mission Impossible II

Again.

The end of my last night.

THE FINAL DAYS: Making Lasting Memories

Well, my time in Sydney is drawing to an abrupt end. It seems just as surreal as when I first arrived in Australia. I can't believe I have spent almost two months of my life in this country and I can't believe it is all coming to an end so quickly. I have learned a lot about myself along the way. For instance, I really love to travel. I have been fortunate to travel a lot with my family but I didn't realize how much I truly enjoyed the challenges and adventures of traveling until I did it on my own. I also learned that I am a lot more independent than I thought. This has been a great learning experience and I feel like it has proven that I am capable of "fending for myself". I know I'll be able to survive someday in the "real world" on my own.

Okay, enough with that boring stuff. On to the fun stuff. Well, these past couple of days have been pretty lame. We all seemed to forget that studying is part of the STUDY abroad program. Our final papers are due tomorrow. Instead of working on it, I am blogging. I hope you're happy. My paper is a "Cross-Cultural Comparison of Collegiate Athletics." If anyone is really interested, I would be happy to send it to them. I have conducted a lot of research and am pretty proud. It is something I might continue to work on, refine and possibly publish. One of my supervisors is really encouraging it. He thinks that just that paper would make me a highly sought after job candidate almost anywhere in Australia. We will see...it's an option.

My bad luck with my computer has continued. The external hard drive crashed but fortunately, I was able to exchange and I am back up and running again, sort of. Still some minor kinks I need to work out but they will have to wait until I get home - I have spent enough time in the Apple Store here. It is a pretty impressive store though - three stories all glass. Pretty wild. On my most recent trip, my Apple Genius (person who works with you on your computer) didn't have an Australian accent. He sounded American so I asked and ends up he went to IU and is from Fort Wayne. Small world, huh? This led to several minutes of trashing each other's schools (jokingly...kind of) and just sharing stories of Indiana and our experiences in Australia. He was really nice. However, he was about as successful at fixing my computer as Tom Crean has been at coaching the Hoosiers in basketball (how's that feel IU fans?). He tried, I will give him that and he was a nice guy. Anyway, another genius ended up helping me out and getting a majority of the issues solved.

My last day at work was relatively uneventful, fittingly. We all said our goodbyes and I even got a polo as a going away present. I wanted to get a sweatshirt on my way out but they were $80. Instead, I settled for a t-shirt and then promptly left both on the train. I love throwing money away, especially when I don't have any. Oh well, can't take it to the grave. After work, CAPA treated us to a dinner at a restaurant in Darling Harbor. It was a nice dinner and good time to get everyone together one last time. After dinner, I went back to the apartment and was about to settle down to go to bed when I heard a knocking on our door. It was several others from our program asking if I wanted to go out. Under normal circumstances I would have definitely said no but the last days in Sydney are not normal circumstances so out I went. We headed to Scruffy Murphy's for transvestite karaoke. Yeah, you read that correctly. It was um...well...uh...interesting? A little bit too much for my personal tastes. I felt paranoid the entire time - not knowing who was a man, who was a woman, who was a man dressed as a woman or who was a woman dressed as a man, or who used to be a man and now is a woman...you get it, the list could go on. After watching some of that we headed to our old standby, the 3 Monkeys Pub. We enjoyed some live music and then headed back to the apartment eventually.

It was a great night and I am looking forward to several more before I head out for good. As for now, I have to go to our final class and present my paper. And no, I haven't done any preparation. Wish me luck...Until next time...

Cheers!

DAY 45: THE FOURTH IN THE AUS

Do you get it? It's the USA in a different order. Okay, never mind, I know I'm not funny. Well, the start of my day provided some comic relief. I got ready to go grab a coffee and some breakfast with the guys. I was ready to head out the door and I was greeted with a problem. I had not a clue where my jacket or shoes were. Read the last two paragraphs of the previous entry if you are confused. I mean I have misplaced things before but shoes?! How do you misplace shoes. I knew they had to be one of three places: the bar, I was relatively certain they weren't there; my room, I had turned the place upside down and not found them or; anywhere else in the world, I knew they had to be somewhere. I did some asking around but had no success. It would have been much much easier if I could remember the details of the previous night. I ended up finding both my shoes and jacket in my friends Andy and Tyler's apartment - an apartment I didn't remember visiting but um, oh well. I got my shoes, my jacket, a coffee and a muffin in the morning - a great success. Deliciously Unhealthy Meals 4, Jonathan 0. Again, refer to previous blog.

We made the two and a half hour trip to Hunter Valley - Australia's equivalent to our Napa Valley. We grabbed a lunch at a local brewery. I didn't try any of the beer. Just looking at it made me queezy but I did have a Mexican pizza (I'm so cultured -I had mexican pizza in Australia on America's Independence Day) that was very good. Deliciously Unhealthy Meals 5, Jonathan 0 (In my defense, there weren't many healthy options at this place).

Here was the schedule for rest of the day: Wine tasting, wine tasting, wine tasting and wine tasting. It didn't exactly sound appealing after our previous night but we were all pretty excited. The first winery we went to was really cool. We got to try three reds, three whites and two dessert wines. I knew nothing about wine going into the day and was eager to learn. I learned a lot about the wine and a lot about my own tastes. I discovered that I prefer white wine. My favorite white that we tried at the first place was the Simellon. It was crisp, citrusy and very light. The reds were okay, but not so much my style. Then we had the dessert wines. The Late-picked Trademiner (or something like that) was my favorite wine of the day. it is made to go with a fruity dessert and was absolutely incredible. It was crisp and light and would have gone perfect with or in any type of fruit. Apparently, it is similar to the ice wines of the US. That means nothing to me, I just know it was my favorite of the day.

After that winery, we made a quick stop at the chocolate factory and got to try some chocolate and do a little looking around. Given my sweet tooth, there were plenty of tempting options but I decided to go with a couple of chocolate cover strawberries. Given my options, I would say I earned half a point for this one. Deliciously Unhealthy Meals 5, Jonathan 0.5. After that, it was on to our next winery - Drayton's Family Winery. This was a smaller, family-owned winery. We tried some more wines and then got to try a couple liquors. My favorite was the White Chocolate Liquor. It is not something I would ever drink a lot of but one or two sips was very good.

We had one more stop - the Golden Grape Estate winery. Here he got to try several more wines and a couple liquors. My favorite was the strawberry sparkling wine (that means champagne in Australia) and my least favorite was the chili liquor (fittingly called dragon's breath). It was a beautiful day, we got to try some beautiful wines and it was a uniquely Australian way to celebrate my favorite American holiday. Oh and I capped it off with a salad from the grocery store. Deliciously Unhealthy Meals 5, Jonathan 1.5. You can't win 'em all. Until next time...


In the Valley.


The Grape Estate.


Drayton's...clearly.


Candy Thong anyone???


Chocolate Company


Cheers!

DAY 44: Sharks, Whales and Beers. Oh my!

What a day! It started with breakfast (most days do). A coffee and an orange poppy seed muffin. The muffin (let this be the official start to me trashing my nutritious diet all weekend) was delicious and was an oman for how well the rest of the day was going to go.

The first thing on the schedule (pronounced shej-ule in Australia) was the Australian Ray and Shark Center. There we were able to feed and pet some sharks and rays. Some even put on waders and got in the water with them. I did not want to take the risk of getting soaked and spending the rest of the day wet and smelling like fish so I stayed out of the tank but still got to feed and touch the animals. It was a really great experience.

After the shark and ray center we headed to the sand dunes to do some sand surfing. We were all pretty excited. We got there and had to take some 4-wheel drive trucks out to the dune that we were actually going to ride. The truck ride was just as fun as the surfing. Bouncing over through and around the dunes was enough to get the adrenaline flowing for the main event. We got to the top of our dune and were greeted by an extremely strong wind and cold. It had become overcast and that with the combination of the wind made the sand extremely cold on our bare feet. We were also greeted with the news that we would not be allowed to stand because they had someone break a collarbone and both wrists last week. Gotta love a company that uses its customers as guinea pigs and crash test dummies. We ended up going down the dunes sitting on our board but it was still very fun. However, what goes down, must come up (or something like that). The trek back up to the top of the dune was pretty difficult. Okay, really difficult. After about two or three trips down the dune, being blasted with a cold wind and getting sand in places we didn't even know we had, we were all ready to head back to the port to change and grab some lunch.

I know I have had a lot of "best _________ I have ever had" moments in my trip. Things such as donuts, pancake breakfast, ice cream cone and jumping-out-of-a-plane-experience have filled that blank. You can add fish and chips to that list. We went to a place called "Bub's" for lunch. They claim to have famous fish and chips and were voted best fish and chips in New South Wales. That was enough convincing for me to give it a try. What I was served was a platter of deep fried goodness. Bub's did its best Indiana State Fair impression and fried everything but the plate. I had fried calamari, fried shrimp, fried scallops, fried fish and of course, french fries. It was absolutely delicious. The fish was so tender and the batter was crispy without overtaking the taste of the fish. I'm still drooling just thinking about it. For those of you keeping score at home, that is Deliciously Unhealthy Meals 2, Jonathan 0 - and there's plenty more where that came from. After lunch and checking my pulse (I had to make sure my arteries were still properly functioning), it was time to go watch some whales.

I wasn't sure what to expect from whale watching. I figured I would be tremendously disappointed or tremendously entertained. Fortunate for me, it was the entertained option. The scenery alone was worth the trip as we cruised to and through several islands and inlets. We were also very fortunate from the wildlife aspect. We got to see dolphins and whales - a successful day for the people doing the whale watching and the whales doing the people watching. I am convinced that this is the only reason a whale would ever need to jump out of the perfectly good ocean. Anyway, the whales are enormous, graceful beasts. It is unreal how big those things are. Unfortunately, I don't have the lightning quick photo taking reflexes to catch any whales mid air but you'll just have to trust me.

There was an entertaining side story to the whole trip. It was a windy day and the ocean was pretty choppy. Some people could handle it and some people couldn't. I was just fine but some of the others on the boat weren't. The 1st level lobby was described as a battle field by someone on our program. If it was a battle field, vomit was the weapon of mass destruction and victory was getting to the toilet. It was quite the scene.

After making it back to the port, it was time to head to the brewery. The name of the brewery was Murray's. It is a small specialized brewery that brews 7 beers. 2 of those beers were just released earlier in the day as part of Dark Beer Month. It was an awesome night. We got to see the actual brewing process, learn a lot about beer and taste some delicious beer, wine and chocolate. We even got to mingle with the owners of the brewery.The entire night was one of my favorite things we have done since we've been here. It was awesome because you could tell how passionate about what they were doing and that they did in fact really enjoy it. They also served us some delicious pizza for dinner. Deliciously Unhealthy Meals 3, Jonathan 0 (it gets worse). My favorite beer was the Whale Ale and my favorite wine was the Sweet Red. I had a glass of the Whale Ale with my pizza and then decided to go ahead and get a $12 bottle of the Sweet Red Wine and then things got interesting.

After dinner all of us tipsy college students headed back to the port. Maybe my favorite moment of the night...starting the Purdue fight song on the bus. The majority of the students on the trip were from Purdue but the bus was also carrying students from other various Universities. It even had one student from the inferior college down south and his blood must have been boiling hearing his rival's fight song on the other side of the planet. What'd we do when we got back? What college students do on a Saturday night - went out looking for a place to um, hydrate. We were a little more successful Saturday night than we were Friday night and found a little bar that had live music. It was a great night of dancing, drinking and friends. I'm told I even started the Purdue Fight Song again. That same person also told me I did the Macarena dance early and often on the dance floor. I'm an embarrassment. We all had a great time, didn't get too out of control, didn't cause any physical damage to the bar, and made it home safely. All in all, a great day and great night. Until next time...


The beer.


The sunset after whale watching.


Some scenery while whale watching.


Lunch. Yum.


The hill.


That's not a black hole, that's a two meter ray. yikes.

Cheers!

Oh and because I promised it, Tyler Eger, Alexine Mudawar, Kelly Crismore.

DAY 43: Shoe on the other foot

My time at work is winding down but today was an interesting opportunity that allowed me to talk a lot about America. After spending the majority of the trip trying to learn as much about as Australia as humanly possible, I spent all day Friday talking about America - a fitting way to kick of the Fourth of July Weekend.

I showed up at work wearing casual clothes because I was told I would spend most of the day moving things - essential marketing skills. Well, when I got there, everyone seem confused as to why I was wearing shorts. Apparently, there was a miscommunication or rather, there was just no communication at all. Fortunately, I had packed my dress slacks and shoes just in case and went and changed in to them. When I got back from changing, I was told that I was in fact, going to spend most of the day moving things. It was very confusing. I didn't want to change again and just decided to get my work clothes a little dirty. Poor choice.

I spent the first half of the day moving cupboards, shelves, tables, TVs, and chairs. Everything but the kitchen sink, literally. The interesting part of the day was who/whom (I don't know the difference and my mom has been picky about my grammar so I made this multiple choice, you choose) I was working with. It was two young lifeguards my age. They had not been to America and had a ton of questions which I did my best to answer honestly but as far as they are concerned, our toilets are made of gold and it rains candy. We'll keep the truth between us, they'll never know.

After moving all of those things for the daycare, we went to the sport fields to move some stuff out of sheds. It was unbelievable some of the things we found. We found everything from Canoes to bottles of beer that looked to be about ten years old. Got through all of that and then went back to the office covered in dirt and grime. I only had about an hour left but spent it with one of the marketing directors. He considered going to the states to play hockey in college but in the end decided against it. He was very interested in how the NCAA works so I spent the last hour of my day talking more about America and its collegiate athletics. I could spend days talking about collegiate athletics and he actually wants to sit down at lunch and talk some more about it since it is something the Uni is trying to mimic.

After work, I hurried on home and got packed for Port Stephens. We made the two hour bus ride to the Port and arrived around 10:30. What'd we do? What college students do on a Friday night - went out looking for a place to um, hydrate. Well, the joke was on us. Port Stephens, like the rest of Australia shuts down at about 8:00 p.m. and we didn't know the area real well so we just went back to the apartment and headed to bed. Probably the best thing that happened to us. We had a full day scheduled Saturday and I am extremely happy I was well rested for it. Until next time...

Cheers!

DAY 41: BACK IN BUSINESS...

...sort of. I got my computer back which is good. All the information that was on my old hard drive is now on my external hard drive meaning I am now left with the task of getting it on my new hard drive and in the right place which is bad. Oh well, it is better than no computer at all. It is just going to take some time. Which brings me to my next point.

I am running out of time. I can't believe this unbelievable trip is coming to an end. It is now official that I will be back the 13th of July. Thanks to the hard work of my dad for arranging my flight back. He did all the dirty work AND he is going to be picking me up from Chicago since I couldn't get a flight back to Indy. And believe me, I know that after 24 hours of flying, I will want nothing more than a 4 hour car ride home. Nothing. It will be worth it though. I can't wait to see friends and family. Okay, enough with these boring details. On to my boring week. Get pumped!

Well, this week has been relatively uneventful. I worked Monday, had class Tuesday, worked Wednesday, and had class today (Thursday). I guess the highlight would be the talk that I had with one of my co-workers on Wednesday. As a requirement for our Intercultural Communications class, we have to write a final paper that has something to do with our internship or our major or anything really. The nerve our teacher has to actually make us work. I have chosen to compare the sports marketing techniques between Australia and America. Broad, too broad. So I sat down with him to just kind of talk through some things. He, Matt, really helped give my ideas a direction that they so desperately needed. I have really enjoyed working for him and he has been very helpful. I look forward to keeping in touch with him. He is also planning an extended trip to America at some point and he wants to meet up when he drives through Indiana (everyone DRIVES through Indiana, he might actually stop). One funny thing that we talked about at the end of the conversation was gun control. Random, I know but his attitude was very funny. Guns are illegal in Australia. He just couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that America has gun stores and you can get your hands on a gun almost any time you want. I got to say, Australia seems to figured out a way to make it work. Reason #346 why we love this country. Anyway, I assured him that he would not get shot in America and even gave him some ideas from my own travels within the states. So that's been the excitement of this week but I have some details I left out of my last entry for you now.

I witnessed Australian, and world, History last week. Australia's government is structured a lot like England's which means nothing to me but hopefully something to you. There's a parliament and a prime minister - that much I can tell you. Well last Thursday, the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, was basically impeached. He was in the last three months of his three year term and parliament basically voted him out and another person in the span of 2 or 3 hours. In America, this process would take 14 years. The person they voted in? Russell Crowe. Okay, that's a lie but he would have had my imaginary vote. The person they voted in was Julia Gillard. She is the first she Prime Minister in Australia's history. So in the span of a little more than a year, I was present for America's first black President and Australia's first woman Prime Minister. Perhaps I should make a trip to North Korea and see if I can usher in a democratic leader. Honestly though, Gillard wasn't met with near the "hoopla" I think a woman President would receive but it was still pretty interesting to follow the news.

The other less-serious piece of information I meant to share with my readers but forgot to was the basketball game I witnessed. One of the first things I do when I get back is play basketball. I can't wait. Anyway, the Macquare Sport and Aquatic Centre was hosting a corporate olympics event last friday. One of the competitions was Basketball. I walked in to watch one of the games. It. was. awful. Immediately, my skin started to boil and my eyes fell out. It was that bad. These were grown men and women that made my 5 year-old niece look like a hybrid of Lebron James and Larry Bird (she's white, she can't look too much like Lebron). I honestly had to try not to laugh out loud.L Let's just say the emphasis on basketball to a young boy growing up in Indiana is obviously different than the emphasis of basketball put on a young Aussie lad. I just had to remember this is probably what Americans would look like if we tried to play cricket. But we never would, we only play real sports. It's just fascinating how a sport like basketball can be so incredibly popular in America (especially basketball crazy Indiana) and not even be on the radar in Australia. Strange.

Well, that's really all I have for you. Now that I have my computer back I will try to update more frequently. With that said, I will be at Port Stephens all weekend probably unable to update but will hopefully have some good information at the start of next week. I will also return to using some pictures. I have them now on my computer...somewhere...hopefully...probably.

One last request: I hope that in my absence, all my readers will eat an extra hot dog/brat/burger, consume an extra beer, and light something or someone (unintentionally of course) on fire for me on the 4th. I will miss it. Until next time....

Cheers!