Lazy Days are here again!

The next morning we awoke at 11:30. Ahhhhh… so nice to sleep in! It has become a tradition in Todd’s apartment to make pancakes with loads of stuff on top whenever there are guests, or it is a Sunday, or a Saturday, or if anyone feels the urge ;) and so I began to make pumpkin pancakes from a mix that Liz sent me in that amazing box of goodies. The pancakes were divine with bananas, syrup, brown sugar, cinnamon sugar and pretty much everything else sweet in the cupboards. Once we stuffed ourselves with pancakes and episodes of How I Met Your Mother, Anna and Todd proceeded to kick Steph’s and my bum at tennis. This form of entertainment didn’t last long as it was too much exercise for our still tired selves. We concluded this amazing day by buying prawns, salami, cheese and crackers at the store and going to Burleigh Heads to watch the surfers lap up every last bit of sunlight possible!

Monday and Tuesday we spent in true Surfers Paradise style. We went to the beach, watched the sunset over the canals and chatted for hours on end. I was fighting a cold and feeling quite sluggish but my naturopath roommate came to rescue once more with powdered vitamin C that managed to kick the cold (for the most part) right out of the park. I am going to fast forward a bit and say that today is the second day of Passover and I miss flying home from Berkeley for the holidays. One of the most memorable Pesachs I have ever had when we went to Grandma and Grandpa Sherry’s and Nancy made that INCREDIBLE chocolate mousse with pistachio crust… I still dream about that stuff, can you tell? ; )

I have also loved having friends over for Pesach (specifically non Jews) because they always get a kick out of the service and I love sharing my super rad religion! It definitely is harder celebrating Pesach and following the rules of kashrut without others around me doing the same but Todd has been very helpful and Becky (a friend I have known since pre-school!) is coming tomorrow so then we can make fun pesadic treats ;) Becky and I --->

With that I must get back to work. I have a final due date for my paper and it is due 66 days from now! Eep… I will discuss our AMAZING time in Sydney soon. Seriously, incredible city; look at my pictures on facebook if you don’t believe me! xox

The first 24 hours of Steph and Anna’s whirlwind trip to Australia!

I am taking a break from my unrelenting research in order to start reminiscing about my amazing week with Anna and Steph. I am afraid that it may take me a few days to get through it all because we did SO much and I am constantly working on my dissertation that is beginning to move from research to outline mode :)

Steph and Anna (as previously noted) arrived early Saturday morning. So early in fact that when we drove to Brisbane (with Todd getting lost for about 20 min ;) ) the shops were STILL not open. To pass the time we walked around this really awesome outdoor market that was slowly awaking (a market that I visited with Steff and my sis when she was here, don’t you just love when you stumble upon an old location just by chance?). At this point it is only 10am or so and we are all pretty exhausted already… bad news. So it was decided that we would just keep running all day in order to make it through!

Our next stop was the Lone Pine koala sanctuary where we pet kangaroos, wallabies, held a koala and gawked at various animals in cages such as Tasmania devils, lorikeets and a dingo. Anna and Steph were very impressed that we jumped straight into an “Australian adventure!” This adventure plunged us into a drowsy state and so the girls slept while I kept Todd awake and headed in the right direction ;) Our next stop was my apartment where the girls called their parents, boyfriends, siblings, other important people on Skype which gave Todd 20 min or so to have a much needed nap (I am not exaggerating about our tiredness…).

Coolangatta was next, the beach town south of Surfers that boasts the Gold Coast airport, amazing surf conditions, and an amazing burger joint that has gluten free buns (Todd’s idea of heaven). We spent a relaxed afternoon in Coolangatta: watching surfers, walking on the beach, eating amazing burgers and watching Todd attempt to catch the very slight gusts of wind with his kite (for kite surfing) but to no avail. The next step in our plan to keep everyone awake was to go home and get dressed up in order to go out in Surfers that night.

None of us are huge partiers but experiencing the club scene in Surfers is a must. It would be like going to Vegas and staying in your hotel room the entire time. After a fun evening of dancing at a place called Waaxys we all fell into bed at 2am. No one can ever say we didn’t make good use of our time! :)

Wooooooooooooooooooooooot !

I am up 30 min before my alarm this morning. This is not because I have slept so well these last few days (lie) or last night (total and complete lie) but rather that I am so excited because Anna and Steph land in Brisbane in exactly 53 minutes!!!! Todd is still savouring his last 9 min of sleep but I figured my time was better spent sharing my excitement with all of you! Above is a picture of Anna, Steph and I from my graduation last May. Little background on them in case anyone does not know how special they are to me :) --> Steph, Anna and I were on staff together last year and were incredible incredible RAs and friends. I was also a clerk with Anna and Steph is just, well, my Steph :) The three of us used to get together (whenever we weren't slammed with homework) to watch Gossip Girl or Brothers and Sisters today and all living in the same building made hanging out incredible and super easy! They are incredible friends and I can not wait to show them off!! (I am sure they think they are coming here to see Australia but really they are here so my Australian friends can see that I have super cool American friends) :) Todd and I are picking them up from the airport and then we will probably see a little bit of Brisbane and then go to Lone Pine Animal Park so we can hold a koala... as you do... in Australia :)

Just Cause…

Last week I mentioned to my mom that I was on the way to KMART. “What!”, she exclaimed. “They have KMART there?” I guess I kind of forget sometimes about the massive influence American culture has on other countries. At times it doesn’t really even feel like I am thousands of miles away. These American companies in Australia have become commonplace. Of course my attitude towards these companies is completely different while I am here. For the most part I can proudly say that I had very rarely stepped into a KMART and had never stepped into a KFC but both of these claims reversed within a month of landing in Australia. KMART has become my go-to shop for most essentials like notebooks, bedding, photo printing etc and I have discovered a grilled chicken wrap at KFC that I am actually quite fond of… shocking, I know :)

Of course McDonalds is big here as always as well as Burger King which is called Hungry Jacks because when Burger King expanded to Australia there was already another company here with the Burger King title. Starbucks is Starbucks although it is not a place I frequent because of the huge cost that would incur! Wendy’s is kinda like a Dairy Queen (and not associated with the American chain in the slightest) and the biggest disappointment is the Australian Target. Yah no, don’t get excited. It is NOTHING like the Target at home. Ok maybe I didn’t need to make that all uppercase but still… nothing like it… Picture a Marshalls or T.J.Maxx that you are super excited to scour for good bargains and come up with didely… that is the Australian Target. It is funny because when I think of places I would like to bring my Australian friends Target and Costco immediately pop into my head… sick? Yah probably… corporate America brainwashing? Sure looks like it!

Ps. Here is a birds eye view of my apartment. It is the long apartments running off the left side of the picture and parallel to the top and bottom of the picture. Got it? :)

Pps. Anna and Steph come in 11 Days!!!!

Ready, Set... Finished Class!

Well school has begun again and to be frank it almost feels like Berkeley again. Of course that is attributed 100% to the consistently rainy weather we have been experiencing for the past month but any connection to Cal is nice ;) In other news, my classes have begun….. and ended. After going to classes on Monday and Tuesday my friend Steff and I discovered that our program had been changed for the 2010 class and one could now undertake a dissertation option for credit as a Masters student. Before this we were only allowed to write a dissertation if we stayed for a third semester and I had decided that it was not worth my time and money to complete this option. In any case, after approaching the head of our department and persuading her to bend the rules a bit I am now doing a years worth of work in the next 4 months and will be cramming my head full of useful knowledge- go figure. I have decided to research the past, present and my predicted future of film and television marketing. I want to focus on unconventional means of promotion and I am sure my topic will broaden and shrink many times in the next few months.

In other news my day was brightened immensely when I got a package of yummy food from Liz! She sent me some Trader Joes staples like pita chips, cinnamon puffins, pumpkin pancake mix, chocolate covered peanut butter pretzels and of course the best thing made by Mars: dark chocolate peanut M&Ms :) Snail Mail + Food = Paradise