This past week and a half in Sydney has been amazing. The first week we had orientation and were put in this amazing hotel room right in the heart of the city. The first night they took us out to dinner and I actually ate kangaroo. It tasted like really good teriyaki chicken, which is kind of wierd now that I think about it.

The rest of the week we got to do such amazing stuff like repel down these huge cliffs in the blue mountains which beauty rivals that of yosemite. We also played with kangaroos and koalas. Kangaroos are kind of ugly up close. Like giant jumping rats. And everytime I saw the little kangaroos (i forget what they are called) I kept thinking of 'Roccos Modern Life.' The last night we went on a harbor cruise and saw the sydney opera house up close. It was beautiful.

I'm living on the beach in coogee until I get my housing in Bondhi on Saturday. The weathers been amazing and every morning we have been getting fresh fruit and banana bread and sitting on the beach. It all seems so surreal.

I still cant believe I'm here. And for all of you who know me really well, I still can't believe I'm actually getting tan hahaha.

Things I've noticed so far about Australia:
1. Thier portion sizes here are SO small. No wonder Americans are fat
2. Americans are liked here becuase we helped them out in WWII
3. A lot of Aussies love to talk American politics. I think its crazy that they all watched OUR election and I still cant even tell you who thier prime minister is
4. Even though there is a recession here as well they dont talk about it nearly as much as we do
5. They say mate, cheers and aye...A LOT!
6. They are tons of other nationalities living here as well. You never know who you're going to meet.
7. They call Sprite lemonade
8. They are big on thier chicken schnitzel here which is just basically really good breaded chicken


i'm sure i'll think of more soon

I am FINALLY at sydney at my orientation. we left the gold coast this morning after only 2 hours of sleep. It is seriously insane there and SO much fun.

We went "club crawling" a couple of times and go tin free because we were american. though ive been told many times that i dont look american, but the second i open my mouth they can tell im from california. And then they start talking about arnold the govenator

ashely and i seriously have the worst luck. we were walking to a club (the bedroom where the club is actually lined with beds) the other night when it started POURING and not just that but insane winds as well. we were holding on to the light post to keep form falling over. all we could do was laugh. then yesterday everything was all booked up because of valentines day so we walked around for 2 hours in the rain looking for a place to stay. when we finally did it was at this kids resort and our room had bunk beds and play station in it. the pictures are hilarious an das soon as im in my new apt i'll post them all.

its wierd to be around all americans again since weve only talked to one in the past week. its nice though. we are all lost together.

"go forth and set the world on fire"

I have to write this fast becuase im paying for internet but i promised you all i would post so i'll let you know about my last couple of days

the plane ride to sydney wasnt bad at all. we were in a brand new plane that let you choose the movie you wanted to watch. so that was pretty amazing

after we landed in sydney we took a flight to collengata. we met some friends and stayed there one night. Ashely and I threw an authentic australian boomerang...and then broke it. we also went night swimming. the water was soooo warm. but knowing our luck...we got stung by jellyfish.

the next day we took a bus to surfers paradise and checked in the cheers hostel. we went on a massive club crawl with all of the hostels around here. we partied with english, aussies, canadians, swedes, french, welch, germans, irish and italians. it was so insane and soooo much fun. we then broke into the marriot pool and swam until 5 in the morning.

today we laid on the beach all day. even though it rained a little bit. saturday we are going on a booze cruise for valentines day and on friday we are doing another club crawl with 4oo people!

everyone here is so amazingly nice. and surprisingly enough there are NO americans. everyone makes it a big deal when they meet us. its kind of funny.

love you all and miss you!