G'day my friends!
Today was just as good as I imagined. I woke up early and got all dolled up, wore my little red dress, my wedges and black hat and had my study materials readily available on my phone. Leaving at 10:50 the girls and I walked to the train station all dressed up to catch the 11:20 train to Rosehill, where the race was taking place. As I said before today was the 2014 Guineas Day for the BMW Sydney Carnival, the horses were so fast and muscular. Luckily enough, we were able to get a table right in front of the finish line so we watched all the races end. I was pretty lucky today with my betting and managed to win $28 on my first race, lose some money on others but the last race I won another $23! Overall, I only spent $30. I had one of the greatest days today. I got many pictures of the horses and score boards and everything because I knew this was a popular event to attend. Every one was dressed to the T, dressed just like they were going to the Royal Wedding. I need to invest in a fun decorative hat for next time, yes there will be a next time. We were advised by one of the locals that if we wanted to find a nice rich boy we should either go hang out with the members of the race track, who are like 90 years old and in wheelchairs, so we passed on that option, or attend a race event at Randwick. Looks like I know where I'll be going over spring break :) I can't even explain how much fun I had to today and how excited I am to go to Saratoga with my family in the summer! Today was a great day and I got to meet lots of fun people and enjoy the gambling side of my life. I can't wait to finally gamble with people who know what they're doing (Marykate and Uncle Joe) so we can scream and cheer for our horses. Upon arriving to the race track, I was highly confused on how to read the boards and odds because its not the same way USA. Eventually I figured it out but thankfully Uncle Joe sent me the studying material, the racing form guide I was use to. I wish everyone was there to spend time with me and watch me in my element but hopefully we can all enjoy it together soon! Love you!
Oh yeah forgot to mention, we had to chase after a train today. Imagine 5 girls dressed in at least 6 inch heels running after a train holding onto their hats and trying to keep their skirts down. lets just say we weren't that graceful BUT no one wiped out, surprisingly!
From Down Under
Em
Ahh!
There has been one thing on my mind all week and its happening tomorrow! I'M GOING TO THE HORSE TRACK! This morning I woke up early and texted Uncle Joe to get the information needed to study for the races. He sent me the race forms for the big three races I am to focus on. Tomorrow I will be attending BMW's carnival held at Rosehill Gardens Race Course in Sydney. I have been studying all day and know exactly what horses and races I will be focused on. After studying for a little I decided to look up the etiquette of the local race track and realized I definitely did not have the clothing fit for the course so I strolled down to the local mall to pick up a dress and of course, a new hat. I feel like a little kid on Christmas Eve, I keep looking up pictures and thinking about how cute I am going to look tomorrow and dreaming of that husband I will find who owns a racehorse (one of my dreams in life). I have my train planned, my outfit hanging up, jewelry picked out, alarm set, phone on the charger so I'll be able to document this moment and my eyes pealed for Black Caviar. The only thing I am missing are my two horse track junkies, Marykate and Uncle Joe. I wish those two were here with me cause unlike Uncle Joe, Marykate and I win most of the times but we still all have a great time shouting and cheering on our horses (even if it is on Christmas afternoon watching it on a TV). As soon as I get to the grounds I am on a hunt for a paper version of the race forms. I've got my red pen ready and my game face on. I am ready to cheer on my horses and place my bets. I even gave mom an idea for my 21st birthday present today. Most kids ask to go to Vegas or Atlantic City, I want to go to the Kentucky Derby. I think there might be something wrong with me and MK cause as soon as I told her I was going to the track she responded with "I'm so jealous". Sorry mom and Auntie Mary you raised two horse track lovers, we've been betting ever since it was illegal for us through our moms. We'd walk up to the tellers with them and whisper to them our bet "$10 to win on #7" etc. I don't know if I will be able to sleep tonight because I am so excited. I am so sorry for the girls going with me tomorrow cause I will be seriously in my element.
Well for now, I am going to finish some studying cause as Uncle Joe said today, "study a little today and hit the books hard tomorrow." Wish me luck on my gambling adventurous in Australia! Love you all so much
From Down Under
Em
Long time no talk so...G'day mates!
Wednesday March 19, 2014 was the last day of school for the week. How ironic on my last day of school for the week I made a new friend! His name is Andrew but we call him Andres because we are in Spanish class together. Since I've taken 3 years of Spanish I translate everything the teacher says for him, he's not good at Spanish (shh lets not tell him I said that). Having a four day weekend might be the best thing I have ever done. After school I came home and ate dinner like usual. We had planned our weekend a couple days before so tonight called for us to go to Cargo Bar and Scary Canary. Cargo was getting closed down early because of the UTS people who held a party there that night. They all drank a little too much that the bouncers and bartenders closed the bar at midnight instead of 3 am. Since we had to leave Cargo, Alli, Drey, Kelley and I decided to walk to Scary Canary, a back packer bar up the street. When we arrived the line was long so we knew it had to be a good time inside. We waited in line for 22 minutes, the only reason we know the exact time is because the bouncer (our friend) told us we'd only have to be in line for 10-15 minutes so we kept track. Guess he lied. Once we got inside, there were so many people! After an hour or so Kelley and I decided to head home. Once we got home, I curled up in bed and went to sleep.
Thursday March 20, 2014 I tanned on the balcony until Nicole and I had to run a couple errands down the street in Myer. Myer is similar to a Bloomingdales/Nordstroms. Luckily enough for me its the end of summer here and I managed to get brand name bikinis on sale! It was an additional 75% off already marked down bathing suits. I just couldn't resist. I bought 3 new bathing suit bottoms and a new dress for less than $40! I love my bathing suits so much. That night the girls, this time including Nicole, and I headed out for night on the town again. Our first stop was Cliff Dive which was on Oxford Street in Surry Hills. This place is not marked outside and is in a basement. We've googled it so we knew where it was and what it was like. When first walking in you are greeted by a huge tiki head type of statue. The vibe of the bar is very beach-y and Caribbean like. Their specialty is a drink called a Monkey Hat which is served in an actually ceramic monkey hat. A couple of the people we met there had one. Unfortunately, Thursday nights are not Cliff Dive's best nights so we left. We walked five minutes down the road to Soda Factory. Yet again, Soda Factory was hidden. You have to walk through a secret door of a Hotdog restaurant/stand (heard they are the best hotdogs in Sydney) to enter into Soda Factory. Once we entered we knew this is where we were going to stay all night. It was 50s night at Soda Factory so they had a live band playing great songs. We all were singing and dancing and having a great time! There was a group of 15 or so of us that went from Cliff Dive to Soda Factory. We plan on going back to Soda Factory next week too, we had that much fun!
Friday March 21, 2014 took a turn for the worst. Nicole and I dedicated sight-seeings wanted to wake up early and catch the 10 o'clock ferry to go to Watson's Bay. Hearing great things about Watson's Bay we left the house at 9:20 am and power walked our way to Circular Quay to catch the ferry. We've walked to Circular Quay several time but we have never timed it, who knew it would take 40 minutes to walk to the ferry wharfs? We almost missed our ferry and we sprinted at times. Must've been all those business people clogging the streets and taking their sweet time walking to work. Once we got on the ferry we were relieved but very sweaty. The ferry was only 25 minutes long. Once we got off at Watson's Bay we looked around and looked at each other and questioned where we were. There was NOTHING literally nothing but a cliff to look at. We walked and walked and walked. The most exciting thing that happened to us was seeing a spider almost as big as our hand, wouldn't call that exciting more like terrifying. After dripping sweat and not being able to find what we wanted to see we hopped on the 11:35 ferry back home. I have never been so happy to sit down in my life. Being lazy and knowing it'd take at least 40 more minutes to get home walking, we hopped on a train from Circular Quay to Central. Once we were home, I was able to take a much needed nap cause yet again I was going out that night. Although tonight I was going out, I didn't not have to put my heels on and do my hair and makeup because I was attending Sydney vs Melbourne Rugby Union game with my Australian culture class. Our teacher, Steve, sent us an email telling us that Chris Evans would be there to hand out our tickets. After finding several kids in our class and not one person knowing what Chris Evans looked like or who he was we stood there like lost puppies asking everyone if they were him. Eventually, Bill (our classmate who goes to IU with Kelley), saved us all and found him because he was one of Bill's teachers. After getting our tickets we entered the gates and had a great night! The game was interesting. I have never watched a rugby game but watching this one was fun! All the kids from the class had seats near each other and we all bonded while watching the game and laughing. The walk to the stadium is a little less than 2 miles but didn't seem to take longer than 30 minutes. The walk home seemed to take a lot shorter of a time. When we got home Rachel and Justin got home shortly after. We decided to make Wedges and Sweet Chili sauce. They are so good. After that we all just went to sleep!
Saturday March 22, 2014 was the day we all knew we were getting kicked out of our apartment for an open house. I woke up in the morning put my bathing suit on and tanned. Shortly after I got on the balcony the cleaners came and cleaned our apartment head to toe including steam cleaning our carpet. A short while later I knew I had to leave because of these dumb house tours that are given every other week. Investors come to our apartment and walk through for 2 hours deciding if they want to invest in the property. The fact that the girls and I have to leave our apartment every other week is ridiculous because we did not agree to this. It was just sprung upon us a couple days after moving in. During that time, I went upstairs to hang out with Sami and Samm to pass the time. At one point I did not care if there were still people in our apartment I wanted to go home so I did. Thankfully, no one was there but Nicole. For her hike that she had to do on Sunday, she was instructed to make Banana muffins so we made them from scratch together. While they were cooking in the oven she had good news for me. She downloaded Dreamgirls, I FINALLY FOUND SOMEONE WHO LOVES THE MOVIE JUST AS MUCH AS ME! The alarm went off and it was time to take the muffins out of the oven, we should just be called Betty Crocker. They were amazing. We finished the movie and made dinner. Well on the plus side we know our newly installed smoke detectors work, thanks to me. I popped my chicken in the toaster and next thing I know the smoke alarms are whistling and making crazy noises even though it wasn't smokey! It was funny. After dinner we decided to play the movie again on the speakers as we got ready for our night out. This night we decided to head into Darling Harbour and go to Cargo Bar yet again because apparently Friday and Saturday are it's best nights. We somehow managed to get into the VIP line and not have to pay cover, I'd say thats a good night. After being there for a little bit and meeting some people we decided to leave and go home. Kelley, Nicole and I walked back home and went to bed.
Sunday March 23, 2014 was a relaxing day for me. I was the only one home because Kelley is with her mom who got here yesterday, Rachel was in Newcastle and Nicole is on her death of a hike. Typical me, I got my bathing suit on and tanned. After tanning I made a salad for lunch and decided to do some homework. Nothing too exciting happened today but the fact that its Miss Jane Ann's birthday! I can't text you but I just wanted to say Happy Birthday! I am not excited to start school tomorrow but at least I had a nice relaxing last day to the weekend.
From Down Under
Em
G'Day!
This post won't be long just gonna add some pictures of what I've done the past few days..definitely nothing too exciting seeing as how I am in school all day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
On Monday, March 17, 2014, after classes and dinner the girls and I took a stroll down to Circular Quay to see the Opera House lit up green for St. Patrick's Day. Walking past all the gelato and ice cream shops made me want to buy some but I resisted..go me! Oh and we also got our new furniture, yay! But were still curtain-less, I never knew how much I loved curtains untilI didn't have any.
On Tuesday, March 18, 2014, I had to wish my mommy a happy birthday! At 3 pm sharp my time, it was midnight her time so I sent her a Happy Birthday Text! Later that night Drey and Nicole and I looked at new places to go around town, planned our adventerous weekend and chatted.
Today, Wednesday March 19, 2014, is finally my last day of school for the week..can I get a woohoo!? I'll be on campus from 7:30-4:00, after my last class I will be sprinting home. The girls and I decided to try something new tonight and go somewhere fun and where more Australians go. the Thing I am most excited for today has to be lunch. I am a hungry hungry hippo sitting in my 8 am lecture right now...although I did eat an apple and peanut butter.
Other than that my week has been pretty lame but tomorrow starts the weekend and we have lots in store for that so I will definitely keep you updated each day with all the fun activities we do and the towns we explore!
Love you all :-*
From Down Under
Em
G'night Mates!
Today was an exhausting day. Like usual, we (Nicole and I) awoke with the sun because the blind guy went MIA with our blinds. Today we didn't mind waking up early because we had big plans. This morning at 9:30 Rachel, Allie, Drey, Kelley, Nicole and I had planned to have a little family breakfast before the festivities started at noon. We made choco chip pancakes, cut up fruit and eggs. It was so delicious. After breakfast we started our celebration of St. Patrick's Day just as how the Irish would do it. We were so happy because the weather app told us it was going to pour today but the sun was shining bright and sunny. About 10 minutes before leaving for the parade which was at noon, the cloud opened up and poured...needless to say we did not make it to the parade :( sorry Grammy. While waiting for the rain to stop I facetimed Zac and Steph, wow I was so happy to see those two. After the rain calmed we as a group decided to head over to Scruffy Murphy's an Irish backpacker bar to check out the scene it was not our type of place so we decided to go get burgers at Grill'd. Let me tell you, the bacon cheese burger I consumed today was the most magical burger I have had here so far (mainly because its the only burger I've consumed). After lunch it was already 4:00 pm so we headed home but managed to see a organized protest about the government going on. They were walking up and the street with cop cars leading, we thought it was the St. Patrick's Day parade and got excited but it most definitely was not, rookie mistake. We played music and I cleaned up a little and then I ended up on my bed and taking a cat nap. This cat nap was longer than expected but much needed. I woke up to the fuse blown again and our food was melting in our fridge. I sent a strongly worded email to Christian about how this needs to be fixed ASAP. This is ridiculous seeing as how we woke up this morning to a blown fuse, also. There is no need for the fuse to be blowing since no appliances are being used when sleeping. Sorry for that rant but anyways after waking up I was able to FaceTime with Jordan whose all the way back in Tampa. After that I decided to make pasta, 3 meals in one day who do I think I've become??? The rest of the night was just relaxing and doing a little homework assignment that is due on Wednesday. Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day so after my night class the girls and I decided we are going to walk to the Opera House because they turn it green to celebrate. I hope the weather is warming up for all of you! Love ya so much :-*
PS. Sorry Mom and Rick I blew out the converter with my straightener so tomorrow first thing on my agenda in my 3 hour gap between classes is to go buy one, oopsies
From Down Under
Em
