sad news

so today at work has been pretty hard because of the sad news i heard today...

the amazing girl in my sorority, jill costello passed away today

:(

she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer that spread to her bones, breasts, and kidneys just a year ago.

jill was truly an inspiration to everyone at berkeley, she spoke for so many events, raised thousands and thousands of dollars with her 5k walks/runs for the bonnie j. addario lung cancer foundation, she coxed the varsity eight to win the pac 10 championships for crew! and graduation, sooo amazing...

its really hard to read about the news here at work because i can't really cry or anything, but i am in shock, its a weird feeling...

we are having another 5k for her in september so i want to raise as much money as i can! please make a donation here:
http://sanfrancisco.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=426922&lis=0&kntae426922=9D13DCD403184A66A747B9A3EE3E7546

and read her story here:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jillcostello

and keep her in your prayers :)

other than that its been a busy day at work, last night katie and i walked to get popsicles (callipos, my childhood fav) at the super market, and tonight i dont know what we are going to do....
julius just gave me a white chocolate chip brownie cookie, yum,
thats just about my day

oops...

so this morning there was an announcement for a special sale at the corporate store down below (its where they have like older products and i think they are cheaper) so of courseee i had to go down haha and spent $100...ooops! but i bought 10 items!! some perfume sets, make-up (mac and bobbie brown) and some aveda and origins stuff, steal!

it was soo crowded so funny

then laura caught me on facebook... oops :) but it was during my lunch break technically and she said it was totally fine, but stilll grrrr i want to be the perfect intern hahaah

the usual wednesday night: drag queen karaoke, FIFA wins, hot aussies, and wayyyy to much to drink :)

a brief introduction to my feelings this morning.... well lets just say i only got about three hours of sleep last night... so yes this is going to be a longgg dayyy hahaha but yesterday was oh so fun!

So after work on wednesday nights, we have a speaker series with our program... Brad sets up these like motivational speakers who just come give presentations to the group and its just about an hour and a half... last nights speaker was unbelievable!

his name was Nic Feteris, and he holds the record for the highest base jump, aka he jumps out off of cliffs, mountains, buildings, and planes and wayyyy to high in the air! we told us all about his crazy projects and explorations/adventures, with the coolest pictures!! he jumped out of a hot air balloon at 37,000 feet!! and he gets all these sponsors to make movies etc... we watched a movie of him jumping off this mountain in pakistan, and it was crazy because his whole body was doing flips! gahh so scary!! this is his website... http://tallstories.com/saxton/ but his message was just really awesome: to just take risks! failing in life at least shows that you are putting yourself out there and at least trying, so lets all live a little!
he even told us the best place to sky dive in sydney.... ;) maybeeee i'll do it!!!! gahhh ahahah
After that, we all headed to our usual scruffy murphey's bar for the weekly wednesday night drag queen karaoke!! and there was a new drag queen tonight, her name was maxi! hahahaha oh how we lovee karaoke, especially the regulars who are just crack-ups!
but i am not lying when i say we drank wayyyyyyy too much, literally!! so i started off by buying myself a big cup of cider, and then a smirnoff mule (i had to try this, basically its this drink of ginger ale, lime, and vodka, in a can... yes in a can... but only $6 and im on a budget! hahaha) and then after that, us girls probably got through i would say almost 12 pitchers of beer!! this one guy just kept buying them... dangerous... and then... i spotted to extremeley good lookin boys ;) they even sang! haha ... they sang TNT, but they were so hot!
we were all belting out as a girl sang "i wanna dance with somebody" and then YMCA and so many goodies... my voice is certainly gone today!
and then after karaoke ended, we stayed at the bar of course because now it was happening... and the two boys came over... and seriously bought us way too many drinks (another cider, a cranberry vodka, a jegerbomb shot, more cider... oh goodness gracious....) they were both from melbourne and were on holiday in the city... they owned a "Boost juice" which is a really popular smoothie place, and they were really young, so they were definitely well off hahaha, katie was saying that one of the boys said how his brother won the lottery, which is how they bought a boost juice at such a young age (i think they were probably 23), pretty cool, but they were super fun to talk to... and one just kept saying how gorgeous i was... can we say confidence booster ;)... they had recently took a trip to CA and went to newport!! they had all these pics along pch, so crazy! it was all just a whirlwind of fun, and then we had to catch up with the boys of our program who were in darling harbor to watch the USA game broadcasting on the big huge screens at midnight! so we all went over there (me, katie, and the two boys, matt and xavier... xavier what a name hahaha ) and we watched with all these other US fans... xavier bought katie and i white wine without even asking, how classy! and USA won!!! it was amazing!!! in overtime too!!! i didnt even realize how late into the night it was or how cold it was because they won!! wohooo!!!
after that, we got the boys numbers! yeeyaa! hahaah and then katie and i went back to the room and literally feasted it was so embarrassing haahah.... first we ate her entire box of "pure butter" shortbread cookies, and then i had cookies from work, and then some of my corn thins with hummus, and then she even whipped our her chicken! haha not a good feeling this morning...especially because we didnt end up going to bed until like 4am! but what fun! Nic even said to just live life to the fullest! and who cares that work is extremeley hard this morning hahahaah or that i drank enough to fill our backyard pool last night :)

working with fiona...

i have decided that i really enjoy working with fiona, not just because i love her name hahaha but maybe its due to the fact that she is the eldest (at 40 woot woot!) hahah but maybe because she has kids, she just so friendly and fun to work with... shes in charge of education, which means training all of the counter managers, workers etc, but its really interesting working with her because i am constantly typing up all of this info about the fragrances and "hand and arm massage technique" (the step by step process haha i should memorize it) and i am actually learning so much about the two brands and their products themselves, which i have come to really enjoy. right now i am typing up a whole excel spreadsheet about every scent/note and its source, isolation procedure, and the fragrance it creates... too cool! for example:

here is an example of Amber (which is part of the fragrance Amber & Lavender... read the source its hilarious!)
source: Ambergris is a greyish-black excretion from the sperm whale and is often found washed up on beaches.
isolation procedure: Via extration of the powdered ambergris.
Fragrance: Woody, dry, balsamic, tobacco-like. Genuine ambergris is very difficult to obtain so nowadays substitutes are normally used.
weird haha
dont get me wrong, i do love the marketing side to, but when i get a break from gifting boxes for events and pr things, i kind of like it :)
i am excited to work with julius soon because he is in charge of sales, so i will get to see the math stuff
cool man
btw its raining again, and this time really hard, boo, and july its just gonna get colder!
i may have to buy some uggs :)
this morning i read some really cool articles in newsweek too and im still working on eat, pray, love (it got a little slow after i zoomed through the part about italy hahah


I just can't get over how interesting the products (notes) that go into the fragrances! did you know that Cinnamon is one of the oldest aromatic plants and is mentioned in the old testament!? and listen to this one:
Castoreum:
Source: From the beaver, Casto fiber, found in Canada and Russia. (weird!! how does jo malone find these things to go into perfumes!!?? so weird to think about all that they do creating these fragrances)
isolation procedure: The secretion is obtained from a gland found between the hind legs.

odd, very odd...

Taco Tuesday! who says you can't get amazing mexican food in oz!?

Tuesday, another day of work :) another day of rain :( but luckily, it pretty much only seems to rain when i am in the office! hahaha today was a FULL day of work, super exhausting, it was like my list of things to do never ended! more packing too, and packing up boxes even ughh hahaha... i forgot to mention yesterday that i couldn't help but laugh when the receptionist announced monday that all those wanting to do evening pilates or yoga to meet in the reception at 5:15... private yoga and pilates just for them downstairs!? no fair hahahaha

I got off work a little bit later so that i could take the bus back home with tracy since she gets off at 5:30... then i got ready for the night!

so last night, a big group of us (12 or so) all walked to this super funky and fun mexican restaurant by hyde park in the city... the waiter was from mexico even and all the bar tenders were so nice! the place inside was so festive and adorable, and i am being honest when i say it was the best mexican i have ever had!!! and jess was even saying that there was no good mexican food here, well this is where it must be hiding! hahahah.... we all first got drinks, Tracy and i ordered a pitcher of sangria to share (yes a whole pitcher for just the two of us hahah... and we ended up finishing off Kaegan and Kelly's too!) and then we all sat down, the place had the best chips! better than el ranchito, they were the perfect saltiness and the salsa was fab too! oh how i love sangria, chips, and salsa :) and then the FOOD oh my gosh! hahaha i got one of those taco salads that come in a giant flour tortilla, it had like lettuce, corn, onions, and not only a whole avocado on top, but also literally like a whole chicken! the chicken was like marinated in something too (almost like barbequed) oh my gosh i diedddd.... food coma for sure!! it was so huge i even saved some of the chicken for work tomorrow, and some of the yummy outside tortilla shell (it was sooo tasty) and two people didnt even want their sides of guacamole! so i stole those too haahaha oh what you do when you are living on a student budget :)
but really i need to upload a pic of this massive thing as soon as i can, it was soooooooo goood! dinner was soo much fun too, we all were just chatting away the whole time over drinks etc, i really love love everyone in the program! and then we all just walked back together and called it a night pretty muuch

oh and i had major major exciting revelation last night, so i realized that all the college students have been doing their final exams these past few weeks, and they end this week... so that means, HOT AUSSIES!! yesss!!! i am sooo exicted, hot aussie college students here i come :)

i realize that i feel like i am in college welcome week again (minus the 8 and a half hour work days) because all we do literally is eat and drink and be merry :) hahaha but what life! maybe i should walk to work instead of ride the bus from now on haha

first monday of work, getting ready for an exciting week!

So today was my first monday of work since last monday was a holiday... i was pretty tired from going to bed pretty late last night (and full of cider :) ) hahah but i had my usual breakfast and morning bus ride... its going to rain again today, but hopefully not too hard.

work was super super busy today.... i just have non-stop tasks and laura just keeps giving me more hahaha, but i did a lot for Fiona today, she is in charge of "Education" for jo malone and la mer, which means that she's in charge of training all of the workers that work the counters for JM and LM at big department stores.... they need to know sooo much! because they must know how to give hand and arm massages with the products, and they need to know how to fragrance combine the jo malone scents. i worked on a big powerpoint presentation and excel sheet that had all the fragrances, and their respective top, middle, and base notes.... its interesting to see the notes of the perfumes and how they interact with one another to get a specific scent. jo Malone sells these "Fragrance chronicles" that contain a main scent and then a smaller bottle of each note, so you can customize your scent! pretty cool... each slide also had descriptive words of the perfume and who made the scent, a lot of times Jo Malone works together with another person to create a scent. i had to print out all these powerpoints about La Mer and its whole process of making the special creme (i couldnt help but read a little as i was working :) ) and then i had to bind them all into booklets... i also have a new talent to add to my resume:
the backwards black bow of a ja malone box! wow i dont know how many jo malone things i packed, and i am now a masterrr of ribbon tying! hahaha they do this special bow... so watch out Flo, i am going to be the new master christmas wrapper ;)
work work work, then on the way home i stopped at tom and toms to get internet.... libby and jackie were there... but it was sooo slow yet again! so i just went home, made some dinner and katie and i watched some tv, and then bed :)

Sunday Funday!

a day of firsts: first rugby match, first meat pie!!

So one of the guys in our program (i don't know if i ever mentioned that there are only four guys haha and two are twins) one of the twins works for Cancer Council, which is an organization that raises money for cancer research. their ambassador for the program is Benji, who is the star player of the rugby team the tigers, so on sunday, pretty much the whole group of us all volunteered at the rugby match on the tigers home field, vs. the raiders.

We had to leave pretty early in the morning and go to the field (which was pretty far in a more suburb area i think in west sydney), so basically our deal was that if we worked before the game started (from like 11:30 until the game started at 3) and then afterwards, we got in for free, steal! hahah but actually it was really amazing because we all were volunteering for about like 5 hours just for fun! what a good deed :) and for a great cause!

so we all paired up (april and i were together) and before the game started (all the fans turn up at like 12:30 because they get all the food and have to get a good spot, because the stadium gets packed!!! the stadium is mostly like a grass area instead of seats which is really fun because everyone just picnics :) ) .... so we had to sell these raffle tickets and shoes laces etc for the cause, and just imagine a bunch of americans selling these hahahah ... lets just say i got a kiss on the cheek from some random drunk australian and a way too many creepy looks :).... there were soo many of us volunteers that it was pretty hard to sell anyways hahaha, but just being there was so fun! and we all get some traditional hot chips (fries) with tomato sauce (ketchup) and potato wedges with sour cream, and of course i had to get ice cream too (snickers and mint chocochip :) )

so my partner was april, and one of her life dreams is to be a mascot, and she got to be one!! hahaha she got to be a bear and she was the cutest mascot ever! i swear she is going to be the next snow white at disneyland (no joke im actually serious) haha and brad was a banana, and kaegan was a bird... and then the mascots had to do a run race on the field and i got to go on the field!! and it was on tv!! and i was soooo close to the hottesssttt rugby players ever!!!! it was soo fun!!!

and then we all watched the game together! and then afterwards had to stick around to get donations.

then we all headed back and had a pretty eventful bus ride full with drunken roudy tiger fans (who won!!! yayyaa)

then we all went to Harry's Cafe De Wheels, which is the original meat pie cafe!

i got a chicken mushroom cream one, and to be honest, it kinda just tasted like a chicken pot pie hahah but i tried their famous beef curry one topped with peas, gravy, and mashed potatoes (i was not as much of a fan of that one haha) but i haddd to try a famous meat pie! and mine was definitely tasty! then the whole crew went to an irish pub right next door, got a booth, and probably all drank at least 5 glasses of cider! (big glasses haha) but it was really fun just to sit around and get to know the crew... we played a good few games of "never have i ever" hahaha

then katie and i headed home together and stopped for a magnum for her. and i had cookies and another crunchie chocolate bar :)

then sleep because work tomorrow!!

Bondi Beach--Moo Burger, beautiful views, hot aussies....

bondi :)

Today was our first weekend day after work, and what a fabulous day it was!

So the group all met downstairs at 10:30 and we walked over to central station where we hopped on a double decked red bus and did an hour an a half tour of the city! we all sat on the top together, almost getting our heads chopped off by the trees above, and dying in the wind hahahah but it was fun to see the city from up there! Then we got on another bus that took us down to Bondi beach (the famous sydney beach) and it is just as gorgeous as people say it is!!! we all went STRAIGHT to moo burger though because we were all starving hahaha and oh my gosh, one of the best lunches i have ever had... the burgers were HUGE! they used these yummy multigrain buns that were massive, and really good mayo/tomato relish stuff and the fries were to die for, and i got a crunchie shake too!!! i think i was the only one to finish my burger hahaha (so major major food coma afterwards) the restaurant was really cute with long tables and the best view! then we all walked down to sit on the beach for awhile....

best burger ever:

tracy and i met up with jackie and libby and walked along the beach with them, and jackie and libby went in the water!!!! ccrazzyyy crazzyy girls! haha all the surfers were wearing wetsuits obviously so i could not believe they went in! and then we walked by these really hot aussie men in speedos haha and one totally started talking to me (the hottest one too :)!) his name was owen, and him and his friends were going rowing, but get this, they were rowing in a "surf rowing boat" which i've never seen before...its like a crew boat, but for the waves, really cool... they even took libby and jackie out for a spin, which was hilarious! i was sad when they left hahaha

after we walked all along the beach, tracy and i went into the stores, i bought a super comfy sweater from a local beach store :) and we bought friendship bracelets! then katie met up with us later too, and then pretty much the whole group all headed back together because it was actually getting pretty late... i loved bondi, it was soooo pretty! i definitely want to go back (we want to go back and watch the sunrise!) and also i have to go back to this famous fish and chips place that is supposedly the best (they even deep fry mars bars too....ewww hahah)

by the time we got back, we were all sooo exhausted.... tracy, katie, and i just bought some goodies and watched shrek 2, and then connie and carla (such a funny movie!) and called it a night

My Future at Estee Lauder: first day of work! (forgot to post from last week...oops!)

my building

So today was my first day of work and it was nothing other than perfect. i feel as though i have been describing everything as just amazing, but really i am not lying when i say how fabulous everything is, and now work too :)!

So i woke up this morning (i knew exactly what bus i had to catch etc) made the best breakfast with my passion fruit yogurt, and a banana, and some crumpets... packed a lunch of a turkey sandwich, salad, and some snackies, and made my way to work! of course i ended up walking too fast and catching two buses too early! lets just say that i ended up getting to work at 8:20 instead of 9 hahahah so i ended up sitting outside and read for awhile...

my work is in Rosebery which is pretty south of the main city (its called the central business district) and almost near the airport, my bus ride is about 20 minutes. the building is absolutely gorgeous! i walked up and was greeted by the nicest receptionist, who called Laura (the lady i interviewed with)... then Laura came and i was aghast by how freakin adorable she is! i want to be a cute australian girl working for jo malone and la mer :) she is probably the bubbliest, sweetest girl i have ever met, and all the girls are the same way! Laura took me on a tour of the offices, showing me the other floors where Mac, Bobbie Brown, etc are, and the financial part too... they also have a tons of kitchens and common rooms... the kitchen has free cookies all day (this definitely was my home around 3 pm haha)... so i work in the jo malone and la mer wing...there are about 4 of them on the team (Laura said i will be working with each, each week... she does marketing, some do brand strateging, others do education, others events) and get this, the lady in charge is out for a few weeks so i am working in her office! hahaha that means i have my own office that looks out to the others cubicles! wayyy too cool hahaha... all the girls are soo nice and adorable! one of the girls is new and she is supppperr nice too... i could definitely see myself working here :)

So both La Mer and Jo Malone give these HUGE presentations every 6 months basically on what the company needs to change from last month and what they will be releasing this month etc etc (basically a 3 hour long presentation) that they present to David Jones (this is their only retailer in australia right now, its Australia's nicest/most expensive department store)... Laura took me through both powerpoints, where i seriously learned more than a marketing class at berkeley could ever teach me! hahaha it was sooo interesting to learn about the company, i was just sooo into it! Its all so official around here, i have my own key card that swipes open all the doors, my own office, computer, email, and this whole folder with all the info i need to know about the company ... and my work plan for the next few weeks.

After that it was down to business! i started updating this sheet with all of the products prices and categories etc etc (its crazy how expensive la mer is!!! one product was $3500!!)

i got to spray a sprit of jo malone's new perfume coming out too! (its a new floral scent :) )

so i am thinking i want to intern next summer for them again, but in london, but i am serious when i say i want to raise my kids here... its just so gorgeous and i love the people and the lifestyle...

so work work work and then 5:15 came!! then i took the bus home, made a fabulous dinner, had a glass of wine with Katie and ate a box of her gluten free butter cookies (she is celiac!) and watched a little tv, then bed :)

can't wait for work tomorrow!!! and then tomorrow night we are all going out

wohooo

new Jo Malone Fragrance discovered...

just some exciting news hahah
so i always thought red roses was my favorite Jo Malone Perfume, but as i was gift wrapping candles for the astro awards today i discovered a new magnificent scent, vintage gardenia!!! omg it smells soooo good! i want teheheh.... i'm thinking about going down to the corporate store (which is below our offices where they sell i think like old products etc) and buying the perfume if they have it! yay!
btw i have a new skill added to my resume: the backwards bow of jo malone gift boxes ... hahaha
oh and the receptionist just announced: all those wanting to do monday night pilates or yoga meet in the receptionist at 5:15... how cool!?

:)

Friday!

I'm taking a little break at work this morning :) its just me, Julius, and Siena in the office today which is kinda fun... we already gossiped this morning about perez hilton and some other aussie stars hahaha... Siena is just sooo nice to talk to too! she's had a rough couple of weeks because she just started (she used to be an event planning manager in perth) and she said she didnt realize how analytical and number crunching and excel her job was! which is why my econ is coming in handy hahaha...i've got a lot of work ahead of me today... i've got to finishing packing the things i started yesterday, and now i have to get ALL the Astro Awards bags ready, and convey to the rest of the team the changes i made organizing their hard drives, plus whatever else they give me! well i'll be posting more tonight obviously!

So since it was just me and siena in the office towards the later afternoon, i got to leave work 5 minutes early, woo! hahah then i went to Tom n Toms coffee shop to try to get internet, except my computer died! and it was soo slow, ugh its so frustrating not getting internet, but anyways, then i met up with Tracy and Alexa and we went to get Thai down in darling harbor...we went to this amazing thai restaurant with a view of the entire harbor!! we each got our own dishes instead of sharing because we couldnt make up our minds haha so i got a fish stir fry and omg, i think Tracy almost died when she saw it! it had the most fish i've ever seen, but straight up calimari that was not fried! as in whole mini octupi, i DIED hahaha i actually ended up asking them to substitute those for more shrimp and regular fish hahaha bc it was wayyy to scary to eat, but wow was full afterwards of fish! hahaha such tasty shrimp, mussels, some white fish, scallops, you name it.... alexa had this really good noodle dish, and tracy got pineapple fried rice, in a pineapple! hahah and the place had really good glasses that moved haha....

after that we went to a chocolate bar (they have seriously millions of them here...instead of fro yo places haha) and we shared churros con hot chocolate! omg best churros i have ever had! (hannah i thought of you in spain haha) we were soooo fulll! hahaha but it was sooo good!

then we all got ready to go out,

we went to pregame in Jackie and LIbby's room, and then we went to watch the rest of the Germany match in darling harbor at the FIFA fan fast! its such a fun venue outside with drinks etc... when the game ended we were going to go to a bar to wait until the USA match started at midnight, but a lot of places were asking big coverage, so katie and april and i went back to the room to drink a little more hahaha...then we went back to the game, but it was sooo cold!

tracy and i took a break and went to subway to get cookies (of course haha tracy is my sweets buddy :) ) and then we were going to go to this club called HOME, a really fun dance club, but the game was still going... i ended up just going back after the game bc it was so cold/ i knew we had an early morning... so i went back and had some tea and more cookies (of course) and called it a night....

longgg day of work, relaxing night :)

Another day of work!

this morning i stepped outside and it was raining! but i didn't have time to grab an umbrella so i just put my scarf over my head and continued hahaha but luckily it didnt rain hard at all, and it was actually quite warm too! the rain even stopped half way through the day so that was good... my usual bus didnt come on time this morning, so i just got on another one assuming it would go somewhere near my work... haha....well lets just say i ran a few steps towards work because it dropped me off farther than i wanted but i was still 2 minutes early! haha

today was suppperrrr long and tiring, i was literally working non stop ALL day! i only did a few administrative tasks, and then it was the kind of bitch work interns do, aka stuffing like a billion la mer and jo malone bags full of items, but it was important because all these bags were going to promotional things, and i also had to decide what products jo malone was going to give to the presenters for australia's version of the "oscars."

i'm feeling more and more responsibility here which is really cool, even Siena was mentioning that she was sure i could actually work here when i'm older! pretty cool hahaha, but i think it would be so fun, and then maybe i could work my way up to directing all of estee lauder :) but lets not get too ambitious just yet hahaha....

did i mention that they have yoga classes for the office during lunch! haha crazyyyy... laura made cookies today, what a treat. i'm getting really excited for this weekend!!!! on saturday we are doing a city tour bus (you know those double decker busses haha) and then we are going to bondi beach! we are probably going to all eat together at this place called moo burger where they are famous for their burgers and shakes, i am already getting so excited because they have a crunchie shake!!!! gahh i HAVE to get it tehehe... i have attached wikipedia links for the lollis (they call candy lolli here) and sweets that i constantly mention, for those that dont know haha... well crunchie is chocolate covered honey comb! yummmmyyyyhttp://moogourmetburgers.com.au/

and then sunday we are going to the rugby match!!! and we get to go for free because one of the guys in the program is working for this cancer foundation and we are going to help promote it at the game! yay!

i tried to catch Tracy after work today (she works really close but 15 min later and we always try to catch the same bus home) so i got off late around 5:30, but she had gotten off early!! bahaha so we missed each other :( .... so i went home and we all had din din, tracy and katie and i hung out in the room for a bit.

Then tracy and i went down to darling harbor where they have a bunch of restaurants, shops, bars etc along the water, and they are having this FIFA fan fest with all this food etc and they have a huge projector screen that floats in the water!! and a band performs! we were going to go in, but tracy didnt have her id, and the game that was playing was korea, so it was allll asians haha not hot aussie men, but we are def going again! we walked to get ice cream and one of our fav spots :) i got mint chocochip and banana in a cone, and she got banana and rainbow in a cone... then we walked by this restaurant that had a special "churros and hot chocolate!" like in spain! so we were sooo tempted but we really wanted ice cream, then on the way back we both looked at each other and were like we need it haahha but luckily it was closed! or else we would have been wayyy to full of sugar :) ... we shopped around for a bit (i bought this cool ugg socks that go over your uggs!) and then walked back...we talked to a few people in the program in the lobby and we all cant wait for weekend!!!!!!!!

omg and guess what, they have fruitella here!!!! i thought only holland had it! and peppermint magnums! will keep posted for when i try :) luckily we still have fruitella at home bc last time i overloaded in holland hahahah

Drag queens and Karaoke... oh what a night

Day 2 at work! a lovely wednesday once again full of sun :)

Woke up early again today, had a fabulous breakie once again of my passion fruit yogurt, and a banana, and some museli, made a lunch and it was off to work again! so nice to walk the few blocks and then just to the bus for a short bus ride.

this time i was 20 minutes early to work haha so i read for about 5 minutes but then just went to work early. i got to meet two more people today, there are 6 people who work in our little corner and i am obsessed with each of their names (or maybe just how they pronounce them haha)

there is: Laura (who i mostly work for), Siena (the nicest girl i have ever met, seriously, she's soooo soft spoken and just adorable; she is from Perth and just started working a week ago :) ), Julius (the only guy) who is hilarious; Fiona (its her 40th birthday today!) ; Callie (she left today for London and Hong Kong for "Global Roundtables"... i want her job!!; and Holly (she is the one that is in charge of everything but shes working in the US for the week)...

today we celebrated Fiona's birthday by singing to her and having tons of blackberry cheesecake...i thought i didn't like cheesecake, but i also thought i didnt like plain chocolate or beer, and things are starting to change a little here ;) but dont worry i still dont like beer, but last night was an exeption, but anyways back to work...

so we sang her a little song, and i worked worked worked... all the girls are so nice and friendly, we all joke around here. Today i did a few important tasks, but one of them was this excel spreadsheet that literally took me like 3 hours and 8490382390 tries to make, it was like a puzzle! sooo hard! but it was perfect in the end tehehe i can sometimes sneak onto google to check emails and just once in awhile facebook during my lunch break, but its really hard to keep up with communication all the way over here! there is just so much to tell constantly!!!

the rest of the work day was nice, and then i went home, made some yummy yummy dinner, had a glass of wine ;) and then got ready to go out with the group!

we went to "Scruffy Murphey's" a total like college irsh pub where every Wednesday night from 8:30-midnight there is dragqueen karaoke, yes i did say drag queen karaoke... well anyways the big rugby match was on, so we all ordered some drinks (me of course my fav cider) but pitchers of beer were only $7! we waited and waited until the game finally ended, and then wow was i in for a surprise.... there was a stage set up with all these lights and tables of "regulars" who apparently have been coming here since like before the millenium haha...

anyways, so then the two dragqueens come out...OMG hahah one was like i swear 7 feet tall and had better legs that i will ever have. and the other was like an old man, but a woman, ohhhh geese.... so the way it went, was you put your name in for a song request and then at the end you get your name in a drawing for $100 towards the bar haha... so first the drag queens went around asking where everyone was from and making the most hilarious comments, i swear i have never laughed so hard!

then the first lady was up.... let me just first tell you that i thought she was just here to watch the game, but oh nooo, apparently she has been coming every night for like 30 years bahahah, dont worry i will attach photos, but shes this tiny old little lady in a poncho, i also recorded half the acts because it was soooooo worth it.... then after her there was this old man (i think probably like in his 70s, with total side burns that went like horizontal on his face, and he was by himself) and he sang some rock song, and i swear i thought he was going to have a heart attack! we were all dyyyyyinngggg... the same poncho lady had a bunch of friends who were all i think the people that are filmed on american idol because they are so terrible but yet think they are good.... and of course the drag queens had to perform (hilarious once again) and of course we had to go up and make the biggest fools of ourselves! us girls sang lady marmelaude.... luckily it was after about 10 pitches of beer and cider....but we got a ticket for a free pitcher! and it the end we won $20 towards the bar, saving it for next time....

at the end, the entire bar was up dancing, and yelling at the top of their lungs the YMCA hahaha it was suchhhhhh a fun and great night, i really enjoy hanging out with all the people in my program! it was interesting to hear how everyone's work experiences were too, some didnt like their jobs at alll! and some were doing total bitch work... but others really liked their's ;)

afterwards Katie and i stumbled back to our place, luckily i had stolen a bunch of cookies and crackers from work... and then it was off to bed :)

Queen's Mum's Birthday: a wonderful day, seriously.

finding work! on the ferry :)

opera bar, my fav place! and with a cider, at 12:30, bliss :)

yay for sydney!

pancakes on the rocks!! i got the blueberry patch

today was amazing no doubt about that. i never want to leave. i love everything about it here, the people, the program, the vibes, the views, love love love!

So today, monday, is the queen's mother's birthday, so its a holiday and there is no work.

Katie, Alexa, Tracy, and i all went to Pancakes on the Rocks for breakfast this morning (its a famous breakfast place with basically the craziest pancakes you have ever seen... i'm talking ice cream on your pancakes for breakfast hahaha) i got the blueberry heaven... i did half crepes and half pancakes and then it had blueberries and cream and butter and vanilla ice cream (but i was saving the ice cream for another time)... we all decided we wanted to go again for dinner hahah

After that we met up with a few others in the program and went to the botanical gardens...we walked all through that for a bit... it was gorgeous! we took the best pictures! i'm forgetting so many things that happen because i don't get internet, so i'm late on my blog posts :/... i'm hoping to get internet at work... but anyways, after we went and got drinks of course at the opera house bar, which overlooks the harbo and the bridge, omg it was breathtaking! and no of course 1 o clock is not too early for cider teheheh... then we rode the ferry back to darling harbor. after we got some food in our rooms, then brad advised that we practiced getting to work, so tracy and i went to ours because they are really close to each other, which was an adventure to say the least, but at least we made it! it was fun because our works are close to each other and the bus ride was fun...we took pictures in front of our buildings too hahah... my work is kind of far from the city, but i cannot wait to start tomorrow!!!

after finding work, the four of us got dinner and mc donalds (yes mc donals, how embarrassing, but i forgot how good it was, memories from childhood haha) because they have free wi-fii there, but the internet sucked, so so much for that.

then we went in the hot tub and sauna at our hotel :) and then we went to Clauia's (a girl from milan in the program) to celebrate her 24th bday! so muchhhh food! all these cupcakes (covered with tim tams :) ) and cheesecakes and chocolates, what a night

phew, just wrote the blogs for the last three days, just sooo busy here and loving every last bit!!! and work tomorrow!!

bye for now :)

A Day of Goodness...

darling harbor!

tim tam slam!!

this morning i woke up and took a walk down to darling harbo for breakfast... darling harbor is literally right next to where we live and it is amazing! it has all these fun bars and restaurants and the sydney aquarium, sydney wildlife world, the chinese gardens, and all this FIFA world cup stuff! it is going to be amazing to live so near by! anyways, sydney literally has the BEST yogurt in the world! literally! i went to this place and you can choose yogurt with different toppings...i got half banana and passionfruit, and then half covered with museli (like granola) and omg the thing was huge! and then i got a fruit cup, omg besttt breakfast of my life hahaha it was just fabulous! i ate it and people watched and read my book in front of the harbor thinking how amazing life is :)

after that i went back to the room and Katie and i went to the grocery store! what fun! hahaha i bought all this food for the week.... pasta, veggies, chicken, sandwich stuff, salad, you name it... oh how i love markets... katie and i are already becoming such great friends!

after that we had an orientation where brad had to explain things about the program, but basically we all got super excited about the things we want to do... everyone is down to climb the bridge! can't wait!!

omg then we did this thing called a TIM TAM SLAM! hahaha so tim tams are the chocolate covered chocolate biscuit cookies, bascially amazingness, and we bought the double coated ones :) so brad made us all do a tim tam slam twice! basically what you do is you have a cup of hot tea, and you bite the opposite corners of a tim tam, and then you sip the tea through the tim tam until it basically melts the cookie part and then you shove the whole thing in your mouth so it is just a melty chocolatey mess haha kind of confusing to explian, but it was awesome!

Brad gave us some tips for our internship, and the low down on australia terms...

after that me and katie and tracy and alexa (two other girls i have become really close with) went down to darling harbor to have some lunch, just such pretty views... i had my first crunchie!! (chocolate covered honey comb bar... yummm) and afterwards we had to get ice cream... this place had over 30 flavors, now how am i supposed to decide!!?? haha i got a scoop of banana and a scoop of this like birthday cake one, and of course in a cone tehehe.

after that we just walked around darling harbor for a bit and then hit up the market again.

later that night we were all pretty tired so we just made dinner at home and then just all shared a bottle of champagne :) what fun

oh and i forgot to say that we live right next door to the chocolate room. aka dangerous ahahha they had 30 different flavors of hot chocolate! katie and i both wanna try banana (her fav flavor is banana too!!!! i swear i'm not the only weird person hahaha)

but anyways we are plannign on all goign there soon :)

Last Day with Jess and 1st Day with University of Dreams!

first night together! some of the groupview from my room (23rd floor!)
bedroom
living room
kitchen

So this morning I woke up kind of early, excited to finally check in with my program!! I made a little breakfast, and then Jess was going to go on a run down on the beach, so I walked down to the corso/boardwalk area with her... I just had to stop to get a cappucino and muffin :) (i like their cappucinos only because they can actually make foam haha) and then as Jess ran along the beach, I walked haha but it was fabulous... it was a weekend so everyyyone was out in the morning, all active, i loved it. People were surfing (i think there was even a surf competition) and even little kids surfing! so cute! and all these people playing beach volleyball,and walking along the walkway that runs along the beach... a lot of families, but i love how everyone is so cheery and active, loving the nice sun during winter...i swear i hope it stays this sunny.

afterwards jess and i walked through a few stores, i bought my first australia item! just some makeup hahah woohoo! then we went back to her place and hung out for a bit, we watched some more world cup and then jess and her boyfriend drove me to drop me off at my program.

OH MY GOSH, when i walked into my room i literally DIED! we are living in the nicest building, with pool, sauna, gym, jacuzzi! and our room is a legit hotel! we have a huge kitchen and couch area (its a pull out bed even!) and a huge bathroom and beds with comforters! i dont even need to buy any appliances... and katie my roomie is SO nice! we have all these things in common too hahah

so anyways, i unpacked a little and then katie and i got some snacks and then unpacked somemore haha

then we had a dinner with all the people in the program, they are only 20 of us, and everyone is SOOO nice! i absolutely love it! they are all so excited about sydney too :) we had a buffet dinner with tonnsss of mushroom cream pasta with cheese, and my first fish and chips!! omg tempura battered fish is the best thing that every happened! goodbye artieries :)...After that we all went out together to three monkeys bar, when i discovered that thankgoodness sydney has tons of cider! my favvv! i had like 2 pints ;) hahaha it was so much fun to be out with everyone!

we didnt stay out too late because everyone had arrived that morning! but still what a great time!

yayayay!

day 2 continued...

After my extremely ambitious morning adventures, i rested a little bit during lunch and then set out for another exciting day... i decided i had to ride the ferry that goes to the city (which jess takes everyday) it takes about 30 minutes and goes along the coast past the northern beaches.

As we turned the last corner and the sydney opera house was in site, i got the chills, i am actually here! crazy! i would have to say it looked a little smaller and less white bahaha but still gorgeous! same with the bridge! i even saw the people walking up on it :)

anyways, the minute i got off the boat i needed sweets (what can i say nothings different ;) ) so i tried another ice cream place thats on like every street called Royal Copenhagen... they had such good flavs (i felt bad bc i tested like 6 and i dont know how they feel about testing here haha) but anyways i got a scoop of banana and a scoop of their royal copenhagen, which is honeycomb and butterscotch! in a cone of course... yum! it was better than yesterdays even...then i walked along "The Rocks" past a few flee markets and shops etc etc... and to the opera house... it all looks sooo pretty, i cannot wait to work in the city! then i made my way back and got ready for the night

Jess, Jess's friend who went to USC, Sarah (hannah's cousin), and i all went out to dinner for Thai, which was super fun... and now we are watching the world cup! wooo!

tomorrow i check into my program!!! cant wait!

the most AMAZING morning hike/walk/adventure EVER!!!!

So I cannot even contain my words right now about how amazingly beautiful the views i saw this morning...every time i would reach another point along my hike and see a new view of the vast ocean i couldn't help but speak aloud (luckily no one was around bahahha) but seriously i wish so much that you could have all seen how gorgeous it is here! i like wanna move here :) (don't worry i'm thinking not for awhile tehehe) but anyways about my morning hike/walk/adventure.....

so i woke up this morning, had some breakfast, and set out for a nice morning walk around 8:30... the sun was still low and the air crisp, but it was absolutely beautiful... i walked into the main little town part (the corso) and decided to walk along manly beach again...i saw signs for "the manly scenic walk" which pretty much wraps all around each cove and beach along the coast... all the way to the bridge that connects to the city, but thats like reallly really reallyyyy far, but anyways i walk along the beach and then continue up the path into this amazzzzzzinnggggness! it was a total hike above the cove/rocks, and every time i would get higher and higher on the cliff and see an even better view! omg it was JUST GORGEOUS! literallyyy i haven't seen something that beautiful for a longgg time..... it was weird to look out onto the ocean because thats the exact direction of usa! anyways i wished so bad everyone could have been there... but back to my walk/hike.... it turned into more of a hike because then i got up in the wildnerness/rocks...saw some other people but it was actually pretty calm and quiet... i kept walking and walking and walking just speechless over the views.... the paths started getting kinda confusing, but happy me just kept walking haahah i ended up walking all through the sydney national reserve park, and then some old artillery school, and then even the quarantine station (which is where people used to have to go before immigrating to australia) but i actually fully got lost hahah and there would like no people and i found myself going up paths and then turning around and then walking more, totally in the middle of no where! finalllyyyyyyy i saw more people but i was still like in the middle of this wilderness on top of the cliff that jutts out from the cove (i'll have to explain with a map later) but then i found a nice man who directed me and i kept walking and walking and three hours... i repeat three hours later i made it back!!!! wow hahahah so now i don't think i can walk for awhile....and i am a fast walker, so that was one hell of a hike hahahaha but i still wish i had my computer during the hike because i'm forgetting so much, but it was literally SOOO pretty!!! and i saw the cutest little neighborhoods above these beaches (i wanna live here when i'm older with kids :) )

here are pics of my hike:

what a beautiful morning!

amazing ocean....far far away is the usa!
start of my walk
pretty view of manly beach
gah getting so excited each turn i make!
wilderness
northern beaches in the distance!

:)
my home!
taking it all in!
continuing along the coast
basically did the entire right part!
yesss
eeee
beautiful!
getting farther and farther away from manly beach
so happy!
pretty rock sitting
how romantic
going into the wilderness

where i got lost hahah



:)
crocodiles?

another point where i was lost

collins beach
little manly...aka adorable place to live
made it back! to manly cove!!