...It's back

Here I was thinking how lucky I was because my throat infection thing went away... for awhile. It's back. =( It's currently almost 4 in the morning and I'm miserable. Luckily thanks to some Ibuprofen and popsicles I'm dealing but I am not looking forward to the next couple days. Last weekend was horrible because I felt like this. I can't even sleep it hurts so bad! Classes start tomorrow and I cannot even express how bummed I am that I'm sick again. =(

The City

On Tuesday... so for most of you on Monday... we went on a tour of the city. We live about 15 miles outside of Sydney so it's not like we can see the Opera house from our windows or anything. We hopped onto this cool double-decker bus and drove through the city while our tour guide told us all she knew about it. Our first stop was a place that I believe is called look out point or something along those lines. Basically it's a really good place to go if you want a good view of the Sydney Harbour with the Opera House and bridge. We got out took photos and walked around. Then we hopped back on the bus and went to one of Australia's most famous beaches, Bondi Beach. There's even a reality show that takes place there and they were doing filming. Zac Efron was even there! It was a beautiful beach with clear turquoise water and nearly white sand. The wind was ridiculous though. Our tour guide who lives around the corner from the beach said she hadn't seen it that windy in many years. Regardless of the wind, it was a nice place to enjoy lunch and some sunshine. After awhile we headed over to a place they call "The Gap." Apparently it's most famous for being the number one place people commit suicide. Just a TAD morbid but it was still a cool place. We were so far above the ocean and the view was gorgeous. I guess there have been a lot of ship wrecks there because when the lighthouse isn't working ships can't see the rocks and crash. They even have an anchor on display from a ship that crashed there years ago. Out of 120+ passengers, only one survived by clinging onto the rocks until some locals found him. Sad huh? After wards we headed to a popular bar in Sydney for a drink. I had a glass of some pretty good white wine. After a long day of touring and that glass of wine I was ready for a nap! And that is exactly what I did when I got home. =)

You're alive and you matter and this pink holiday doesn't get to name you.

This is for my United States loves who are living in February 14th.

The first most.... horrible, fun, painful, exciting, exhausting, wonderful, tear jerking... days.

Okay, so let's start with the flights. We (as in Katie, who goes to OSU as well) flew on a plane from Portland to San Fransisco, where our connection was. It was the tiniest, scariest plane and it was such a crazy bumpy ride. Luckily, it was only an hour and fifteen minutes. So we get to the San Fran airport and we had some stuff to figure out... but don't worry, we had 8 HOURS until our flight left... so we got everything figured out. We spent our time eating and I watched the episodes of The Bachelor, The Biggest Loser, and Lost that I deprived myself of that week. It went by quicker than I imagined it would, though the anticipation was killing me. Our flight finally started boarding at 10:05 p.m. and we stepped onto the biggest plane I've ever seen (except in movies) or been on. We got situated, took off, and fell asleep an hour or so into the flight... consequently missing dinner. So we were starving for quite sometime until they brought some snack packs by. I slept in about 30-45 minute increments probably about 6 or 7 times. So if you can do the math... it wasn't very much sleep, and broken sleep is even worse. I thought I knew how long 15 hours felt like... turns out I had no idea how long that actually was. I remember waking up and feeling like we should be well past half way, only to find out that we had barely made it 1/3 of the way. It took a lot of patience and some distractions to make it through but let me tell you... nothing is better than waking up, opening the window, and seeing this...

I know right?! Gorgeous. I couldn't fall back asleep after I saw that. We flew over Sydney about two and a half hours after this and it was crazy. This place that they call Australia, is in fact real. It's not some pretend place that we just talk about... I saw it. Opera House and everything. Here, I'll show you what I saw from the plane...


You have no idea how exciting this was to see. It's like I've been waiting for this to happen for so long. And it's right there, I can see it, and I'm SO close.

So we got off the plane, went through customs/immigration/etc and found our group. Then we went outside. BIG MISTAKE. I think people on the east coast think they know what humidity is but I've got news for them. When its 100 degrees and the highest possible humidity and you're in a place that has virtually no ozone... you feel like you could just pass out on the side walk and die. I considered doing this but tried to push through. I did get a nice wake-me-up kick in the butt (almost literally) from our bus driver who let go of my 70 lb bag that slammed into my leg scraping and bruising me pretty badly. But... no worries, mate. Can I just say I probably hear "No worries." or "No worries, mate." approximately 30 times a day. It's apparently the cool thing to say and also a substitute for you're welcome.

We get to our apartment complex and I am given the keys to my place. I walk in and basically just burst into tears. It is absolutely trashed. And although I know I am quite the exaggerator, I kid you not, this is the most disgusting and smelly place I'd ever seen. I'm talking rotting food everywhere, flies, maggots, trash, used... personal items, piled dishes, and everything else awful you can think of. Turns out... they never cleaned it out after the summer residents. I was pretty mad but didn't want it to ruin my first day. As of today, I have a clean apartment so much has improved in that category. I'll post photos of my room in my next blog entry.

We decided to walk to the mall which we thought was a ten minute walk. Well, it's not. It's more like 30 minutes. I know that's not long but again, 100 degree weather and that humidity makes it feel like hours. So we do some shopping, oh by the way everything here is so ridiculously priced. The US$ and the AUD$ are close to being equal so it does not make up for it. For example, one towel, $40. My $5 face wash from home... $17. Movie tickets...$18. Let's just say I am NOT regretting stuffing my two giant suitcases so full that they barely qualified to make it on the plane. Anyways... at this point my strep throat thing (which I didn't mention before but I was pretty sure and still kind of am sure that I have strep considering I get it often, know what it's like, and have some nice pustules in the back of my throat) is killing me. I can't even swallow my own saliva. I am so incredibly dehydrated and exhausted that I get the worse migraine I've ever had in my life. I tried to tough it out... but I honestly couldn't see straight anymore. My vision was blurry and I couldn't walk straight. I lost it. I could not stop crying. I ripped open the toilet paper I bought and bawled my eyes out. A guy came up to me and allegedly asked "Are you okay?" but all I could hear over and over was "Are you cut?" Katie ran all around asking everyone she saw to try to figure out what we could do. We ended up taking a taxi home, I took some migraine medicine, and napped. It took the migraine away but not the throat stuff. I managed to make it through the rest of the evening... and I also managed to blow up my hair dryer. It literally caught on fire when I plugged it in. I learned the hard way that most US hair dryers can't handle 240 volts. At least it wasn't my lap top! Which I did bravely plug in today (two days after the hair dryer incident) and it worked! I went to bed at 9:00, because in Oregon time it was really 2 in the morning.

So day two... I barely slept the night before because I kept waking up in pain. Katie and I went to get some groceries and some other stuff and I loaded up on popsicles and yogurt. I'm super thankful I did that because that's all I ate for the next 24 hours. But, unfortunately for me... I wasn't eating enough and apparently taking too much ibuprofen for how little I was eating, so I spent my sleepless night vomiting every hour or so. And let me just tell you how good stomach acid feels on a sore throat!

So I took a shower and decided to be up for the day, which just happens to be today, and it is also Valentines Day. Which took me awhile to realize and I think I might have cared for about 3 seconds and quickly got over it. So today... today was good. I miraculously started feeling a little better. Still got the pus going on, still taking the IB, but I am eating solids, and enjoying myself. I got an awesome Aussie roommate today names Heidi and I really like her a lot. I'm getting to know some people here and I'm really looking forward to everything that is to come. I'm learning to adjust and realizing (Which they would spell "realising") that not everyday is going to be wonderful. You've got to take the bad with the good. But I'm thinking there's going to be a lot more good going on down here than bad.

P.S.

THINGS I'VE LEARNED:

• elevators=lifts

• jello=jelly

• jelly=jam

• they don't do peanut butter and jelly here... they think it's a gross combo?!

• granola bars= musely bars

• diapers=nappies

• shopping carts=trolleys

• lines=ques as in "are you in que?"

• Vegemite=sick nasty

• Vegemite cheesy bite=even worse

• for here or to go=eat in or take away (sounds like "aiden or tegway?")

• kilojoules are about 4.19 the amount of calories... so take a calculator with you to the grocery store

• check voltages before plugging things in

• be careful when crossing the street... cars come from a direction you're not used to

• don't try to get on the bus on the right side... there's no door

• don't carry big backpacks on your back in small stores... or domino effects of shelf products are a common occurrence
  

• if you look like an fool, just start talking and they'll understand... because you're American... and you don't get it

All my love from Sydney! Have a good Valentine's Day tomorrow!