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!