(Photo stolen from Andrea.)

So….Vegas happened.

It was, once again, ridiculous and magical and full of hugging and laughing and inside jokes and and and me looking FREAKISHLY good in hats (and also a bit like Jason Mraz when I quickly glance in the mirror after several afternoon drinks).

(FYI I look good in all hats. I feel I may have mentioned this in a post before…oh yes, here.)

So, there was my ride with Ev’yan and Andrea, during which we stopped for SONIC, which I have not had in years and which made me flash back to sitting in the back of my boyfriend’s truck after Battle of the Bands when I lived in Alabama in 10th grade. Yes, that happened.

Then there was the mad sprint Nicole and I went on while trying to get to the Planet Hollywood “I Just Came from a Theme Party” Bar Crawl before everyone else, caused by the fact that instead of actually, you know, walking towards the giant hotel marked “PLANET HOLLYWOOD” we walked in the opposite direction, forcing us to haul ass back the correct way in order to beat the large group slowing converging on the bar and causing me to almost knock down a small child.

A little later was the time I fell asleep (also known as passing the eff out) only to wake up to Kerri to shouting that she needed to go out and “live my life!”

The next day, there was us getting free stuff by the pool before  Chelsee and Michelle (and husband) ran around the strip like crazy people looking for a giant statue of David and taking some photographic evidence.

After that there was a ridiculous amount of laughter, Kori teaching us that life is never that bad when you’ve got a jaw and that hooker cards are meant to be organized, me rediscovering I look great in hats, a delicious meal that was made “breader” by bread, Amy and I discovering we are clearly soul-mates, fountain-jumping, 60-year old brides belting out “Simply the Best” (“Maybe her husband IS simply the best…”),  insane amounts of dancing at Margaritaville (but sadly, NO Ke$ha!), AND a tiny penis straw.

Lastly there was an incompetent cashier, creepes covered with bacon, (finally!) champagne, and more carbs than I care to mention.

And after that, I went home and  there was LOST. OMGLOSTICRIEDFORFOURHOURSANDSTILLCANNOTPROCESSWHATHAPPENED….

But, yeah…Vegas. Vegas was awesome, as I knew it would be. The end.

Almost a year ago, I packed my car up with all my stuff, shipped it cross country, then packed the rest of my belongings in a ridiculously large bag, and boarded a plane to Vegas.

The first Annual Bloggers in Sin City extravaganza was a lay-over for me in between two lives. On one side of the weekend was college, my parents, the East Coast, and my last little bit of non-adulthood. On the other side was my own apartment, teaching, a new(ish) city, and some old friends. In between was one of the craziest, most ridiculous, most fun weekends of my life.

I met awesome bloggers, danced on the Strip. saw a Cirque show, ate some delicious Italian food, drank cheap foot-tall drinks, watched hilarious you-tube videos, played in the most beautiful bathroom in the US, and laughed until I cried.

Tomorrow I leave for round two. On either side of the weekend is the same life. A life I’m pretty happy with. A life I’ll be happy to return to on Monday, but this weekend, I’m hoping to capture some of the ridiculous  magic of last year.

See you on the other side.

As part of Gwen Bell’s awesome Best of ’09 year wrap up, I’m going to attempt to participate and reflect on this past ridiculous year. First up is the best trip of the year….

This was an unbelievably tough decision. This was a year that had me traveling to Boston for my college graduation:

to Vegas to meet some ridiculously amazing bloggers,

but as crazy and fun as those trips were, one trip definitely stands up above the rest (even though it technically started in 2008), which would be my trip to Australia. (Insanely long recaps here, here, and here.)

Despite the 14 hour plan ride and the mild homesickness last Christmas, my trip to Australia was three weeks of bliss. It was sunny, warm, exciting, fun, and comfortable. Half-way around the world, I got to feel at home with one of my best friends and her family for the holidays. Millions of people visit Australia, but I got to feel like I lived there, as I celebrated Christmas with a remarkable family that made me feel a part of theirs and hung out with some ridiculously cool Australians, ringing in the New Year in a house by the beach. My friends Sarah, Sharon, and I hopped from Melbourne, to Mount Martha, to Sydney, laughing the entire time. I left $1800 richer (Impluse gambling, FTW!) and filled with memories that will last a lifetime.

Let’s hope 2010 brings me closer to my return to Australia and my reunion with my two amazing friends who made it the best trip of this year, and probably of several other years as well.

This weekend I went to Vegas. This weekend I met 25 (give or take) of the most awesome 20-somethings on the planet. This weekend, I made some new, amazing, ridiculously wonderful friends. This weekend was completely made possible by the internet. 

Crazy, right?

Although I don’t think I can do justice to the weekend on my own, I do hope to add my voice to the chorus of wonderful bloggers saying that this weekend was something special. Sure, it looks cool enough on paper: 25 people from around the country who know a creepy amount about each others lives but don’t actually “know” each other converge on Sin City for a weekend of fun, but what actually happened was somehow so much more than that. It was instant connections, heartfelt conversations, and hours and hours of laughter. It was looking around the room and feeling like you really got everyone who was there. It was not being self-conscious or fake, but just being able to be 100% yourself after “knowing” someone for about 5 minutes. 

Sure, there were highlights:

• Discovering an “all-day” happy hour (which, I’ve gotta ask, aren’t those just your actual prices at that point) with Steph, Kerri, and Rachel, and four hours later, realizing that EVERYONE ELSE ON THE TRIP had converged there for $5 wine and bathroom photoshoots. (#1 bathroom in the country!)
• Discovering MORE people who love the Kaitlin/Rick sketch as much as I do and acting out said sketch in said #1 bathroom in the country. (“I don’t wannnaaa goooo, Rick!”)

• Eating ridiculous amounts of fried food outside a wedding chapel with Doni and Nicole, where Nicole pronounced that if you are within a stone’s throw of corn dog nuggets, maybe it isn’t the best place to make a life-long commitment.
• Watching Matt achieve an EPIC goal on the strip. 
• Dancing and belting out “This Kiss” with Nicole and others during the Bellagio fountain show. 
• Watching Cirque du Soleil with my mouth hanging open, looking away only to look at Nicole and make my “Whattheeffjusthappened?!?” face.
• Getting the most rich and delicious $30 meal ever with some lovely Chicago gals at Stack, even if the waiter wasn’t so happy with us. 
• Discussing marriage and hot boy body waxing with Allison and Kerri in the Luxor pool. 
• Staying up late, chatting with my new favorite people about the internet, life, drama, growing up, and….oh who am I kidding, this entire trip was a highlight.

I cannot express how happy I am that I decided to go. I knew it would be fun, but I don’t think any of us expected it to be…what it was. Thank you to everyone who came and made it so fun! I can’t wait to see you guys again.

And now, some internet appropriate photographic highlights: 

Rachel and I in the ridiculously nice bathroom

Nicole, Doni and I dancing in the streets.

Andrea, Kerri, and Allison with...a pink gorilla suit?

Kerri, Rachel, and Doni looking fierce.

Nicole and Stephanie being rockstars.

Allison, Kerri, and Nicole getting excited for some Mario Batali food.

Well, here I am, all packed and ready to board my flight to Vegas in the morning. It’s weird. Last December, coming home to live for the semester instead of staying in Boston seemed like the worst thing in the world. I’d miss my friends. I’d miss “senior year.” I’d be bored. I’d feel useless. I wouldn’t accomplish anything. 

Four months later, I’ve gotta say, I was so wrong. This semester “off” has given me room to breathe. It’s given me time to get ready for a big change in my life. I’ve gotten done all of my Teach for America assignments, which from talking to other corps members, I’ve learned isn’t too common. I’ve been able to save up money to get myself some gifts of the electronic sort. (I’m looking at you D90 and Blackberry.) I got to spend time with not just my parents, but my grandparents and extended family in the area. I got to travel back to Boston and LA when I needed a break, but I got to just be for a while. 

Because tomorrow the madness begins. This weekend, of course, I’ll be in Vegas. Then I’m flying into San Diego to see my mom’s family and get my car, which shipped out this morning. Then after two weeks of relaxing slash getting done all the last minute stuff I need to get done in LA, it’s off to Induction, with a “break” in the middle for a workshop with school colleagues in San Diego, then it’s back to LA for 5 weeks of Insitute, then another 5 day workshop, moving into my apartment with Jillian and Josh, TFA Orientation, a week of inservice days, then TEACHING! It’s insane how much is about to happen. I think I need to take it one week at a time or else I’ll have a panic attack. 

And finally, I have to write some proper thank-yous to the two people who made these last four months possible. 

—————-

Mom and Dad – (who I know will read this entry before anyone else – and warning, Mom, you probably shouldn’t listen to any Miley Cyrus songs while reading this.)

(Thanks for posing for more pictures than I can count!)

Even though I can get stressed and obnoxious, grumpy and annoying, I have so enjoyed these last four months with you guys. I don’t know anyone else who loves and loves to spend time with their parents as much as I do, and I know how lucky I am for that. Sometimes, I honestly feel too lucky to have you guys as my parents. 

Mom, I’ve loved our Monday movie dates, our lunches at Panera, our secret shopping sprees, and our walks with Sookie. Please keep the kitchen company when I’m gone and don’t order pizza every night. I’ll send you the recipe for my green beans if you promise to make them once a week. Thanks for freaking out about American Idol with me and watching every subsequent interview, and in exchange, I’ll forgive you for baby talking to the dog 24/7. I promise I’ll send you reminder emails every day about what you should watch each night on TV.

Dad, even though we can’t always agree on politics or what to watch, I think we can both agree that House is awesome and always an excellent choice in television viewing. Thanks for putting up with my clogging the DVR, letting me drive the Prius most of the time, and of course, for Australia AND the computer. I’ll never let you in on how I got both, but I do appreciate you falling into my trap. When the next Star Trck movie comes out, I hope we can go see it together, if only to have another reason to yell “KKAAHHHNN!” Please make sure Mom doesn’t use the dog as her stand-in too much, and I’ll attempt to watch Fox News once a month for you to balance out my views. And yes, I do love my room. 

I love you guys and will miss you more than anything. Being far away from you is the worst part about moving to LA. 

Love your best youngest daughter,

Amanda

In an attempt to counteract my general laziness of late, I’m going to try to cram the rest of my Australia trip into one post, or I fear it will never be recorded for posterity. This is going to be epic. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

(To read my first two recaps click on over to here and then here.)

After Sydney, we headed down to Sarah’s parent’s beach house on the Mornington Peninsula. (It’s like Cape Cod for Australians!) We made a quick stop at her mom’s work to FINALLY meet the famous Helen. She was, of course, 100 times lovelier than I could have hoped and quickly became my Australian mother. After a quick lunch we finally headed to the house, which was adorable! It was covered in amazing flowers and trees, with an oasis of a backyard and a huge screened in porch. It was beachy and homey and just absolutely fabulous.

That night was Christmas Eve so we settled in to watch Carols by Candlelight, a Melbourne tradition of famous Australians singing every Christmas Carol known to man. We danced to High Five and cried at Silent Night and then settled into bed. Christmas morning was a little emotionally overwhelming. First, we opened presents! Sarah’s parents got me an Aussie Bar-B-Q cook book along with some other fine Australian items (chocolates, Tim Tims, Australian ice-molds, etc.), which was ridiculously sweet of them. Despite my amazing trip thus far, I ended up calling my family and getting choked up that I wasn’t with them. It was the first time I’d ever been away from my Dad’s side of the family on Christmas, and even though I’m Jewish, it’s still a big time of year for my family. Sarah’s mom gave me a big hug and all was alright, espeically when we got dressed up, and drove down the coast for an amazing five course Christmas meal complete with ocean views and party poppers filled with paper crowns and plastic mustaches.

The rest of the Christmas and Boxing Day was a blur of enjoying Entourage marathons, playing with Sarah’s dogs Jackson and Griffen, pushing our way through crowded Boxing Day sales at the mall and generally relaxing.

Sharon and Jackson on the beach

Saturday, the day after Boxing Day, Sarah’s parents had a big Bar-B-Q with all their friends and family. It was great to meet more of Sarah’s friends and talk with some more real Australians about our trip. Sharon and I figured out at the end of the day that we ate for 5 straight hours – starting out with meatballs, meat pies, sausage rolls, and other hors devours and ending with grilled lamb, chicken, and anything else you can think of. I’ve never been more full but it was completely worth every bite.

Sunday, we had another shopping excursion on Chapel Street, meeting up with Sarah’s friend Taff, who looks like an Australian Lauren Conrad but way nicer. We shopped and ate (sadly, at TGI Fridays…why must these thing spread?) and ended the day seeing Slumdog Millionaire, which Sarah and I then talked about the rest of the night. (Seriously, if you have not seen this movie, stop reading immediately and buy yourself a ticket. Right now.)

Things get a little blurry in my time line here…I believe the next day Sharon and I took off on our own to take in the Melbourne Aquarium. My favorite part was probably seeing all the real life Finding Nemo characters and convincing Sharon to face her fear of sharks in the Shark exhibit.

Nemo!

Monday night things got a little interesting – We decided to take in Melboune by night, which we hadn’t done yet and which was beautiful. After walking around a bit, Sharon decided she wanted to hit up the Casino along the Yarra River, since she’d never been gambling before. After taking in the Casino’s spectacular light show (note the intense sarcasm) we made our way over the slot machines. Having both been to Vegas before, Sarah and I explained to Sharon how to play the slots then sat by and watched. After a few rounds, some chairs down the row opened up and we decided to play a few rounds ourselves while we waited for Sharon. I put in a $2 coin that quickly ran out then put in another, figuring that would be my final bet as Sharon was going down quickly. Then, Sarah had some luck and won $8! We were excited to be able to pay for a cab ride home. On my end, I was down to my final 2 cents and bet it all on one last go. I was about to get up, when the guy next to me shouted “Oo, you are doing so well!” I was confused, but then I saw that my last bet had turned into one of those mini-games that comes up sometimes. The guy next to me seemed super excited about it,  but I had no idea what it meant. It reminded me of the game that came up when I won $15 in Vegas, so I figured maybe I’d add to our cab fund. The game involved flipping over cards, like in a memory game. I started picking cards randomly, because honestly, slot machines make little to no sense to me. But then the cards kept matching and the guy next to me kept getting more and more excited, until I turned over one last card and everything started flashing. The guy pointed to the top of the game yelling ” You won big! You won big!” I thought for a second he was pointing to the $64 prize, and I was pretty pleased with myself. Then Sarah noted that the big prize was flashing…the $1850 prize. Yep, I won the big jackpot. On my final 2 cent bet. Sarah and I started absolutely freaking out! People came over to congratulate me. A woman from the casino came and made me sign a slip of paper then brought me out cash in a locked black box. All the while, I looked like this:

I still can’t believe I won. I also can’t believe people asked me if I was going to keep playing. Hell no! I took that cash and ran. I really wanted to go out and get drinks, but Sharon was a little miffed about my winning when I didn’t really want to go gambling in the first place, so I settled for going home and attempting to explain to my dad in a 4 minute phone call what had just happened. I’m currently saving my winnings (which are sadly much less in US dollars) to buy my new MacBook!

After the excitement of the casino, I was glad to be headed back to the beach on Tuesday to stay at a huge vacation house with 20 of Sarah’s closest friends for New Years. Looking back, I think our three days at the beach house were some of my favorite days of the whole trip. For three days, we watched the boys play their own weird “catch” game based on cricket (complete with beer and cigarettes in every hand that wasn’t holding a bat or a ball), played cards (I totally kicked ass at poker), watched movies, played drinking games, lounged on the beach, and talked and talked and talked.

The boys playing "cricket"

Everyone hanging out our first night at the house

Hanging out with Sarah’s friends added so much to my trip. I wasn’t just a tourist in Australia. I got to talk to all these people my own age about their lives, their views, their jobs, and about things of absolutely no importance. I loved seeing how they saw America and vice versa. They were also unbelievably accommodating  and friendly and so much fun. I wish I could be friends with them all the time! New Year’s Eve was especially entertaining as everyone got mildly ridiculous and I got an excellent Australian New Year’s kiss (or pash as Sarah would say.) I was more than a little sad to say good-bye to everyone come Thursday.

Luckily, Friday was filled with the excitement of Sharon and my tour to Phillip’s Island. Basically, we got on a bus in the morning, and headed to an Australian winery, then to a wildlife park where we got to feed Kangaroos and pet a baby Koala. (Sadly in the state of Victoria, you can’t hold the koalas. Fail.)

Sharon and the Kangaroos!

The day ended on Phillip’s Island with the world famous Penguin Parade, which is this huge tourist attraction where you go watch the tiny penguins come up the shore and into the dunes on the beaches every night. It was amazing – all these little penguins waddling together in giant packs up the beach and into the hills, all like they knew exactly where they were going, totally unbothered by the mass of spectators there. I recommend it if you think you can resist grabbing a tiny penguin and running home with it.

Saturday, we had another outing with Sarah’s parents, who by this point were officially our Australian parents. They took us to a place called Soverign Hill, which is an old west type town from Australia’s gold rush. They had horse drawn carriage rides, gold panning, and amazingly cheesy street performers, including a little old man who played the accordion and told us he had a niece who was a gynocologist in Kentucky. “Maybe you know her!”

Us with some (we assume) struggling Australian actors

This man was AMAZING

Sarah’s dad entertained us by buying a large walking stick and showing off his color guard moves. All in all, a lovely day.

Sunday was mildly depressing, as Sarah had to leave us. During the course of the trip, Sarah and I realized we are truly soul mates. I didn’t think I could feel much closer to her, but I can definitely say she is and will probably always be one of my best friends, despite the fact that a 20 hour plane ride separates us. She completely understands me (my love of staying in and watching television, my love of Nikon digital cameras, my love of adorable Australian boys…the list goes on and on) and provided me with a once in a life-time trip. Saying good-bye to her was definitely the only downside to the whole experience.

Sharon and I attempted to cheer ourselves up with last minute shopping, and later that night, Sarah’s friend Nick (who may or may not have been my New Year’s kiss…) surprised us by renting Pineapple Express and taking us out for our final dinner. (I told you Sarah’s friends were freakishly nice!)

Monday Sharon and I, somehow miraculously, packed up all our stuff and headed to the airport to fly back to the good old U.S. of A.

Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean

I ended up staying in LA for the next week, catching up with my best friends from the LA program, Grace and Patrick, hanging out with my sister, shopping with some sorority friends, and showing my future LA roommate Josh around the area I hope we end up living in. I, of course, hit up Joan’s on Third and had a major celebrity sighting (Jennifer Anniston, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette had dinner where we were getting drinks then walked RIGHT BY US out the back door and into a swarm of paparazzi. Total LA moment.) The whole time, though, all I could talk about was Australia.

I sincerely hope I get to go back one day.

"Victoria - THE place to be" - I couldn't agree more.

(To catch up on my recaps, start here And now, the adventure continues: 

Saturday was a big day for us. We started out in the morning by heading to Victoria Market in the heart of Melbourne. It’s a huge outdoor market with anything you can think of: food, clothes, shoes, jewelry, souvenirs, bags, and hats. It was overwhelming. We had to just take it row by row. I picked up a fun pocket watch necklace and presents for my mom and dad, while Sharon made out like a bandit, with souvenirs for all her friends. Sarah and I wasted time proving my theory that I look good in all hats. (It’s totally true, and Sarah agrees. I credit my haircut.) 

After a quick food court lunch (it sounds lames, but was actually amazing – their food courts are kind of lovely.) we took a tram to the South Bank (I think that is what its called…Sarah, you can correct me.) where we planned to go up in the Eureka SkyDeck, a new residential building that is now the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. It’s a sweet building – the top is actually coated with gold!  They have an observation deck on the 88th floor, along with something called the Edge Experience. Basically, it’s this little room, a little bigger than an elevator, that is entirely made of glass and moves out of the building! So, you are standing in it, the glass windows are all fogged up, then you hear a cracking noise and the windows go clear, and it’s like you are floating 88 stories up. Being mildly afraid of heights, I had a minor heart attack, especially because Sarah kept making worried faces at me when there was any weird noise just to freak me out, but in the end, it was just ridiculously cool. Also ridiculously cool – the entire thing was free as Sarah knows the people who run the SkyDeck. Our tickets even said VIP. Score. 

Saturday night we finally met the rest of Sarah’s friends for our big night out. We started out drinking some Australian wine in Sarah’s apartment with new friends (to Sharon and I) Nick, Dan, and Steven – all of whom, I must say again, were awesome – then headed out to Chapel Street, a very posh shopping and dining street by Sarah’s apartment. We met some more people at the bar, while I marveled at the relative cheapness of cocktails. We then, for some reason, stopped at Friday’s (as in TGI – yeah they have them there too…), and Nick and I instantly bonded over our intense desire to leave.

Finally, we headed out towards our final stop, a cool Irish Pub, where the rest of Sarah’s friends were. Anna, Taryn, Sheeho, and Kate were all there again, and my love for them further solidified. We drank and attempted to dance the rest of the night away, while Sharon and I rejoiced in staying up past 9PM. All in all, a successful night out. 

Sunday, we headed to Sydney! After a short plane ride (before which, no one checked our ID’s! It must be nice to live somewhere that doesn’t anger the world…) we met up with our camp friend, Matt, at the airport, as he was nice enough to pick us up. After a short driving tour that included driving over the Sydney Harbor bridge, Matt drove us right up to Circular Quay, home of the famous Sydney Opera house. You should be thankful at this moment that I’m using Sarah’s photos and not mine, as you are being saved from my 100+ photos of the Opera house from varying vantage points. (“Here’s me right in front of it! Here’s me on the other side of the Quay! Here’s the back! Here’s the view riding away on a ferry!” What can I say? I was excited!) It was extremely cool, though, to be in front of something I’ve seem in pictures hundreds of times (not to mention animated in my favorite Pixar movie, Finding Nemo.) 

That first day is a blur of lunch, photos, dancing to terrible street performers (where is the video, Sarah!?), and taking in the city. At some point, I think Sharon and I walked around Darling Harbor, which was right behind our super fancy hotel (thanks again, to Sarah’s dad!) 

The next day, after riding in a circle on the monorail singing the song from The Simpsons, we headed back to Circular Quay to go jet-boating! This was by far my favorite activity from Sydney. Basically, you get on a poncho and get in what is essentially a 30 person jet-ski. The driver does all kinds of tricks and turns and you get soaking wet in the process of seeing the entire harbor, which was absolutely gorgeous. It was ridiculously fun. I would recommend it to anyone. 

The next two days in Sydney were filled with shopping, eating, movies (I’m ashamed to admit I may have seen High School Musical 3 a…hrmmthirdhrm..time. It’s an addiction I’m dealing with…) There was room service and long waits for buses and museum visits and entirely too much fun. Sadly, by Wednesday it was time to leave, but luckily for us, it was Christmas Eve! 

And with that, I’ll break for the day. Up next, Carols by Candlelight, Christmas presents, Boxing Day madness, and a ridiculous amount of food. Stay tuned…

After a ridiculously fun and exciting month away, I’m back! I can’t believe that my trip is over, and I’m still a little jet-lagged, but I want to get everything I can down about the trip before it all starts to slip away. I don’t know how I’m even going to begin to tackle this, but I think it’s all still fresh enough to recount to my satisfaction. And to Sarah’s, as she’s told me she is looking forward to my recap, and I don’t want to disappoint! 

But a quick note before I do: I want to thank my lovely sister, Stephanie, for keeping my blog company while I was gone. She’s currently loving LA and getting closer and closer to getting a job everyday. She’s definitely doing much better than she’d been doing in NYC, so I’m happy for her!

And one more note: I wanted to make this recap complete with amazing pictures, but unfortunately, I’m the forgetful type who leaves cameras and iPods in my sister’s car before getting on plane rides home…so no pictures as they are currently traveling home through the kindness of UPS. Fail. 

So…here we go. 

On Tuesday, December 16th, I left my house at 4AM (painful, I know) and traveled to LA. I ran into my American camp BFF, Sharon’s, arms around 2PM Cali time, and we proceeded to spend a ridiculous EIGHT hours in LAX, waiting for our flight. (My dad wanted to pad my flight time, just in case…they wouldn’t even let us check our bags until 6!) It seemed an endless wait. Finally, at 10PM, we boarded our 15 hour flight (economy seating surrounded by 4, yes FOUR, babies…for 15 hours.) Luckily, I’d been up for about 22 hours at that point, so I fell asleep halfway through Mamma Mia, which I couldn’t even see as in economy, the only screen you get is a giant projection at the front of the section, which short people can’t see. Again, fail. 

But when we got off the plane in Melbourne, it was totally and completely worth it. We walked out of baggage claim, and standing in the middle of a huge crowd of people, was Sarah’s smiling face. She screamed. We all ran to each other and hugged, and I instantly felt somehow at home, halfway around the world. 

That was instantly tested when we got in the car, which if you don’t know, is doing the whole other side of the road thing, which you don’t think will be that weird, but it totally is! Every time Sarah made a quick left turn, I had a heart attack. On the drive, Sarah pointed out some landmarks to us as we drove through the heart of Melbourne, and I could tell how excited she was to tell us about the city. 

Sarah warned us that the first day would seem like a blur, and she was definitely right. I know we got back to Sarah’s apartment in a very posh neighborhood on the cutest street ever, before heading out to explore the city. We walked around one of the big shopping streets then met Sarah’s dad for lunch (who, over the course of the trip, became one of my favorite people ever), but the whole time, I just felt weird. I thought jetlag was just tiredness, but it was really just an off-feeling. It was bizarre. 

That night, I somehow pulled it together enough to make a good first impression on all Sarah’s friends at their favorite pub, the Knott. We (Sharon and I) got a Pot and Parma (pot of beer and chicken parmesan - omg, so delicious!), and met some fabulous people – Anna, Katie, Taryn, Sheeho, Dan, Steve – I didn’t know it then, but many of them, too, would soon become some of my favorite people. I should have expected that Sarah would have amazing friends – I mean, she’s friends with me! – but I was surprised by how welcoming they were and how genuinely excited they were to meet us. Sadly by nine, the jetlag got the best of us, and we had to head home. 

Friday we hit the ground running. We drove about an hour outside Melbourne to hit the first of many elementary field trip-like  attractions we would visit on our trip. Seriously, everyone we told about this outing had the same reaction – Oh  my god! Puffing Billy! I haven’t been there since I was four/three/two! (The age somehow always got younger.) Basically, the Puffing Billy is a historic steam train in the Dandenong Mountains. It’s tradition for kids to sit on the railings with their feet hanging over the side of the train (affectionately know to us later as sitting “Puffing Billy style”) We thought we would go for a half an hour ride (courtesy of Sarah’s dad – a big wig in the tourism industry who, along with Sarah, a force herself in the industry, got us tickets to EVERYTHING.) We got on and enjoyed the ridiculously beautiful views of the countryside. When we got to the first stop, however, we were ready to head back. Unfortunately, we were told we had tickets to the next stop then an hour “layover” of sorts until the train went back the other way. We made the best of things and decided to get lunch at the little snack stand, which we were told was the only place to eat. We ate outside, where Sharon and I had our first sighting of a magpie, a freaky looking bird who got entirely too close to my sausage roll. (I also tried my first bite of meat pie!) We then walked around the area to look at some more animals when we discovered an actual restaurant with indoor seats and non-microwaved food. Thanks Puffing Billy workers for that tidbit of information. Oh well. We had fun. On the way back, we got an indoor “private” car, since it was a bit chilly, and had some…interesting conversations until a couple got in the car behind us and proceeded to make out the entire ride back! 

We then rode back into town to meet Sarah’s work friends for drinks, but not before stopping at her office and taking some ridiculous photos. (They’re coming, I promise!) Sarah’s work friends were lovely, again not surprising, but also not surprising, jet-lag kicked my ass again around 6, and we had to head home before I fell asleep at the bar. 

And, now I have to go get ready to go grocery shopping with my mom. This recap is going to take longer than expected…luckily, nothing interesting is happening to me at all right now, so I feel like I have time to do this trip justice. 

On one more note: class starts today at my college, and for the first time in four years, I’m not there. I’m trying to ignore this fact t0 the best of my ability.

I’m just adding my voice to the chorus here on my blog to wish everyone an amazing holiday from down under! I’m missing you guys a ridiculous amount, but have been checking up on my sister and am pleased that she is keeping my blog company.

Her post may or may not have made me cry, since this is the very first Christmas I’ve ever spent away from my family. I thought it would be tough, but I’ve even surprised myself -  I’ve cried about there times already and it’s not even Christmas at home yet. (It’s 11AM Christmas day here though. Crazy time differences!)

Other than the crying fits, my trip has been amazing. I’ve been on steam trains and jet boats. I’ve been in Sydney, Melbourne, and of course, Sarah’s parents beach house (where I am now.) I’ve taken loads of pictures, all of which you will be forced to look at soon. Wish I could write more, but I have to get ready for lunch. Merry Christmas and Happy Channukah everyone!

My giant suitcase is packed. My to-do list is all checked off. I’m officially ready to get up tomorrow at 4Am to catch my 6:30Am flight to LA and then sit around LAX until 10:30PM when I’ll board my 15 hour flight to Melbourne. Yep, that’s about 36 hours of straight travel, but hopefully I’ll be in a Tylenol PM induced sleep for the better part of that 15 hour flight, and at the end of it, I’ll be able to see Sarah’s lovely, smiling face waiting for me at the airport Love Actually style. (This is for real: Sarah told me the Melbourne Airport has big double doors like at the end of Love Actually. I told her I’d sing God Only Knows to get the full effect.) Plus, most of the sitting around time at LAX will be with Sharon, so we can keep each other excited. 

Don’t worry, though. I’m not leaving you all here high and dry. My sister will be blogging in my place  for the next few weeks. She’s attempted to blog a few times at her own little space, but she is hoping this will motivate her to start doing it regularly. She’s pretty much my twin, so you might not even notice a difference. Right now, she is also in the midst of moving to LA, but to pursue a job in television (just like I used to be doing!) So..yeah, be nice to her.

I may try to post a bit while I’m gone, but I don’t know what my schedule or computer access will be like, so I don’t want to promise anything. Don’t blog too much while I’m gone, or I may  have a google reader related breakdown when I get back! Happy Holidays!