i feel home...

Australia seems just as much like Home as my real Home does. However, there are a few things I miss about the States...
1. hulu.com- the website to watch TV shows if you missed them on TV. I'm falling behind on House... Add netflix to this category as well.
2. pandora internet radio- pandora is perfect for doing homework to, or pretty much anything. However, 8tracks.com is a decent substitute.
3. Cheez-Its- enough said.
4. My car, Patrick the Passat- I miss the freedom of having a car. Even if I didn't go many places, knowing that I could was nice.
5. Free Laundry- DLC laundry is only $1 for the washer and $1 for the dryer, so it's actually not a big deal, but laundry at Marist is FREE.
6. Stick Deodorant- everyone here seems to use spray deodorant and I can't find anything other than that. Spray deodorant tickles me.
7. Skippy Peanut Butter- The main peanut butter brand here is Kraft. Not the same as Skippy. Not even close.
8. Bananas- at 93 cents a pound, bananas are the least expensive fruit in the States. Due to the flooding in Queensland a few years back, bananas are ridiculously expensive and do not taste the same.
9. Cheese- yes, they have cheese here. It's called Tasty Cheese. It is indeed tasty, but I wish I could find some cheddar or mozzarella. I found American Cheese- here it's called "Processed Cheese"....
10. Target- now I know that they do actually have Target here, but it's so very different. It's just a tease.

I absolutely love it here, but I do miss a few things. I guess I also miss my family.

Just call me a GLOBAL LEADER.
Macquarie University has a program called the Global Leadership Program. International students can participate in this program for the time they are here, and leave with a certificate and something nifty to put on their resume.

The program entails attending 5 different colloquium that we get to chose ourselves, and one Distinguished Speaker Service in Sydney. The Distinguished Speaker Service was a few weeks ago. We listened to someone in Australian government talk for a while, when in reality she was just using this as a way to receive votes from the younger population. I stopped listening at that point because I don't vote in Australia and I had no idea what she was talking about.

DLC Presents: The Sound of a Musical
Dunmore Lang College puts on a musical each year. This year was an adaption of The Sound of Music. Our musical, was a musical about DLC putting on a musical. It was really clever and witty. I played the part of a nun. Our nun costumes were large black trash bags and black pillow cases with a little white fabric sewed to the top. Extremely realistic. If I find photographs I will absolutely share them.

Parents and friends showed up to watch the musical. It went off without a problem at all. It was great. Then we had our after party, which was also fantastic. The end.

Coldplay. Music geniuses. 
The new Coldplay album came out last week. It's wonderful. Every single song. Listen to it.

I bought it on iTunes because my iTunes account is the American one, which is way cheaper than the Australian one and any Australian stores. It still hasn't showed up on my bill, so uh, whatever!

Travelling the World...
...at least New Zealand. I am beginning to plan my trip to New Zealand for after exams! Some friends of mine from DLC and I will be leaving for New Zealand on December 2 for about 5 days. I have a rough itinerary planned out, nothing is set in stone though. I'm so excited, if everything works out the way we're planning it I'll get to swim with seals and go bungee jumping! I certainly hope so.

Happy Birthday! ...and Thanksgiving, and anniversary, and Merry Christmas.
I sent my dad's birthday card in a package with almost all of the cards I will need to mail home before I get there. The package included Dad's birthday card, Michael's birthday card, Julia's birthday card, Sara's birthday card, Devon's birthday card, a Thanksgiving Day card and present, an anniversary card for my parents, and a Merry Christmas card! Did you know they add an extra $9 just to send something over 300 grams to the United States? Overall it wasn't as much money as I thought it would be, and it got there quickly, but that just seems silly to me.

Never Going Home.
As many people know, I will not be returning to the states until January. I have started planning my month travelling around Australia and I can't wait to see more of this wonderful place. I only have up to mid December planned out so far, as well as Christmas and New Years. For Christmas I will hopefully be doing Charity work in Sydney with the Wayside Chapel, but I have to sign up on December 5th, and I hear spots get filled quickly!

I will be spending New Years with the one and only, Rhys Alan Hobbs, which will be fun. I think we'll go into the city and see the fireworks that I keep hearing so much about, but it's really up to Rhys what we do.


If you have any suggestions on where I should travel or what I should do let me know! I'm up for any adventure I can do.

Cheers, mate!