So, here I am

Well, hello again, blogging world.  

After a very long time and a number of harassments later, my busy schedule and I have decided to blog again.

As of October 4 4:29 PM, I'm supposed to be doing a hundred other things, like maybe applying to graduate schools, studying, picking up my paycheck, or eating, but I can't say I would be happier doing anything else but writing right now. 

There is so much I can write, for many a series of unfortunate and very fortunate events has been thrusted upon me since I started this blog almost 3 years ago.  Definitely not the prettiest of 3 years, but I can certainly say it has been a journey and growing period, and necessary to the development of ... me!  

I don't think it's important to list the series of unfortunate events, but what I will say is it's been a series of hard disappointments ... and not just coming to terms with the reality of things and certain people, but actually accepting them.  Talk about growing up.

But, among the disappointments and acceptance, I'd been having adventures of all kinds all around the world.  Since 2009, I've been able to plant my feet on the ancient, colorful, beautiful lands of 10 different countries on 3 continents.  Still irking to plant my feet on Africa and Asia.  

Of course I've learned a few things along the way, in my classes, in my travels, and at home, but there have been 4 things that I've become absolutely sure of:

1. I am extremely blessed to have everything that I have in my life

2. Those of my real family and real friends are of the most important and precious people in the whole world

3. There is absolutely no place like home

4. More recently, my prince charming had been waiting for me in New Jersey all along. Go figure!

So, here I am, 21 years old, senior year at college, continuing to learn and accept, and trying to remain happy, carefree, and calm through the growing pains and rainy weather.  But, I think I'm doing a pretty good job :)

No shoes? No worries!

Disclaimer: Australian lingo may be a bit confusing and overwhelming.

So, I’m about 2 cups of goon in and I’ve come to the full realization that this life is pretty chill.  I’ve mentioned in my other blog what goon is, but I’ll mention it again - goon is boxed wine.  It’s about $9 for 4 liters of goon.  Yeah, duh, that sounds normal, but this is what they drink here because a 24 pack of beer is a solid $35-$40.  Yeah… so we’ll suffer through some goon, instead of blowing money on beer.  Coming from a person who enjoys beer, this is borderline torture.  Do you know what it’s like to skull goon?  (Do you know what it’s like to chug boxed wine)?  It’s disgusting.

Continuing on the idea of casually skulling goon… life’s pretty crisp.  Every interaction continues to convince me that the typical Australian lifestyle is real.  Over the weekend, as I stopped by a friend’s apartment, he showed us his very valuable Ugg minis.  Yes, I said HE.  A male friend of mine very proudly sported his male Ugg minis.  Us Americans questioned this.  Again, he proudly informed us of the Australian way: we don’t care about style here, we just wear whatever is comfortable; we don’t care; if Uggs are warm, who cares.

That’s the thing here - they don’t care.  Did I mention most people don’t wear shoes?  They go shoeless because, it’s more comfortable I guess.  Who wants to wear closed shoes on a humid day of 90 degrees?  Even flip flops are a bit more comfortable when your feet are sweaty… especially on the changing, hilly terrain.  Even in class people don’t wear shoes… they have to be reminded.   It’s kind of contagious… I find myself not wanting to wear shoes.  And hey, if I can’t find shoes go match my outfit, I may just go shoeless. 

            Not wearing shoes may not be hygienic, but I guess who cares?!  That’s the Australian way of life.  They don’t care about anything other than comfort.  No shoes? No worries!  If you’re comfortable,  what else matters?  But seriously… what else matters other than being comfortable?  How many times have uncomfortable heals or shoes ruined your night with pain and blisters?  Too many times.  Here, beauty is not pain, beauty is whatever is naturally comfortable.  Why don’t we reduce the amount of pain we have to endure in the US? … because we’re not Australian, I guess.

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary (aka the zoo)

the zoo in australia is pretty different from an american zoo.  the australian zoo inhabits animals of the country.  whereas the bronx zoo inhabits lions, but, believe it or not, there are no free lance lions in the usa.

this sanctuary included tons of kangaroos, koalas, and crocodiles.  we passed through an entire section of over 100 kangaroos just lounging under the trees.  some of them were small, some of them were huge and muscular... at least 6 feet tall when they stood up.  some female kangaroos even had their babies in their pouches! i also got to see a few kangaroos hop! they moved too fast for me to get a recording.
there were too many koala sections for me to count, but it seemed around every other corner was a koala ground. one koala was trying to climb up the wall to escape.  all i wanted to do was pick it up and take it home with me! do you think stealing something that should be part of its natural land is a criminal offense?

we also walked by one of the sanctuary workers with a dingo on a leash! it was so cute!! yes, i know they have the ability to bite my hand off, let alone kill a child, but i couldn't help thinking i wanted to play with it.  it looked like a combination of a dog and a wolf/fox.  the dingo was beautiful.  we were able to pet  its back, not close to it's face, while it was on its leash, but it seemed to be more interested in getting lunch.  there was a gated area of dingos and they looked like they were having so much fun running around.

there were also a bunch of different kinds of colorful birds.  i think birds are beautiful but there are so many different types i don't know any better.  we went to a bird show and an eagle flew right over my head and it's wing actually hit my head.  really cool.

the greenery of the sanctuary alone was a zoo.  there were so many colorful flowers and plants. and really tall tropical trees including palm trees.  although the entire park was shaded, it was pretty brutal to walk through the humidity.  

lizards just live everywhere (even on my campus) in australia.  you can hear them rustling in the grass and they often pop out in the middle of the sidewalk when you least expect it.  i almost stepped on one.  gross!  

overall, the sanctuary has been my favorite part of my week here.  animals scare me, especially snakes of any kind, but i don't mind when they are behind a glass. plus, now i got a close look of all of the snakes i have to avoid while walking to class, like the red bellied ones =X. 

i'll keep you posted on more of my campus animal sightings... we have a koala habitat on campus so i'll look out for those... and the snakes and spiders

byron bay

there isn't much i can say about byron bay because while we were there for a few hours, we only sat on the beach.. which i definitely do not mind.  the sun is brutal.  i had to apply sunscreen every 40 minutes even though im fairly dark.  those who did not, suffered from pretty intense burns.  what makes it worse is that us americans are coming from the depths of winter with no base tan.  but you can be sure everyone has a base tan now.   the currents were unbelievably strong.  i could barely walk in the shallow waters.  the waves were crazy.  i tried to have as much fun as i could, but i was mostly fighting for my life. 

it was typical of a non american beach.. men were in speedos and women were topless.  we ended up playing beach volleyball with these 2 guys and it was a lot of fun when the sand wasn't burning out feet off and the sun wasnt baking our backs.  it ended up being a pretty big game and i went to hit the ball, but the ball hit me a few times.  good laughs.

i don't really need to explain how beautiful the beach actually was.  crystal clear blue water and white sand that made a strange noise when you walked on it.  

we didn't really go into the town, but we passed through it on the bus and it looked touristy but it still looked very cute.  people didn't have shoes on, naturally.  

no shoes, no worries seems to be the australian motto

too easy, mates

So there is a lot I could write about but I figure I’d start with the beginning. 

I landed in Australia safe and sound.  Yeah, the flights were long but I slept the whole time.  On my way to Los Angeles, I woke up just in time to see the plane fly over a part of the Grand Canyon.  It instantly got me excited.  My flight from Sydeny to Brisbane was delayed so I was late to get picked up in Brisbane by my uni (short for university, what they call college here).  When I finally got on the bus, the bus went into applaud, that the girl from Brooklyn made it alive.

We got to campus and got our housing assignments.  The dorms are pretty much apartments – a kitchen, living area, 2 bathrooms, and 6 bedrooms.  Housing here is also pretty interesting.  It’s co-ed and international so I live with 3 guys and 2 other girls.  Also, you can’t choose your housing, even the domestic students.  So every year, students live with different people.  Pretty cool.  Oh, and if you know me at all, you know having a kitchen where I need to cook for myself is an experience in itself.  You should see our freezer for our frozen food collection.

My dorm area is located on top of a huge hill so I can see the top of my campus.  It takes about 15 minutes to walk down to the classrooms and it’s pretty brutal.  I don’t think I will ever get used to the hill.  I’ll probably just camp out in the library (or the Uni Bar) most of the time so I don’t have to walk up and down this hill.  Did I mention there is a campus bar?

view from the pool

those white buildings are my campus. that's how far it is from the top of the hill

the pool

Campus is beautiful.  Basically feels like a tropical forest.  I saw a koala in a tree a few days ago and there are a lot of bugs and snakes.  The birds also sound like monkeys here.  It’s always noisy.  I’m also currently sitting by the outdoor pool 2 minutes from my room.  It’s a pretty sweet life.  Oh, and that Uni bar …

The students here are really friendly.  Since its “orientation week” everyone has just been drunk every day.  Do you know what it sounds like when a bunch of Australian dudes are screaming at each other during drinking games?  It’s pretty awesome. 

The lingo here is really different, but really cool.  The garbage can is called a rubbish bin and getting drunk is called getting loose.  It’s really funny when they say it in an Australian accent.

Things are also pretty expensive here.  $10 for TWO chicken breasts!  Not that I know what to do with a chicken breast anyway.  Alcohol is so expensive here.  For a 24 pack of beer, it is $35; for a bottle of Jack, $60.  So what do these infamously drunk Australians do? DRINK GOON!! Goon is boxed wine.  You gotta do what you gotta do right?  If you have to drink some goon, you gotta drink some goon.

control

this is my own little therapy. i hope anyone can relate, but i'm sure they can. and it may be a little weak because i havent written in a while.  this is dedicated to my ladies in cordoba, argentina :)

over the course of the past year, i had my share of ups and downs.. but, mostly downs.  it was a constant struggle, frustration, and fight to accept things i did not want to accept about myself, but also about others that are very close to me.  everything and everyone i believed in that (i thought) had always stood beside me, were upside down.  my world was distorted and detached, like a scene out of alice in wonderland.  the room flipped and everyone was on the ceiling above me, hundreds of feet away, and i was alone.  at any moment, those people and things on the ceiling, could have fallen and crushed me.  i guess you can call this "growing up".  did i like it? absolutely not..especially someone like me who has diagnosed herself with "peter-pan syndrome".

most of this felt out of my control. the room was not only upside down, but spinning uncontrollably.  but i learned a valuable lesson: nothing is within our control.  we do not control anyone or anything.  anyone or anything can be taken away from us at any moment.  the situations we are surrounded by daily are out of our control.  the weather, our family, our friends, our possessions, our professors, and our feelings (to a point) are uncontrollable.  the only thing we can control is ourselves.  control of the self is the most important skill someone can learn.  you cannot control a situation, but you can control your reactions to it.  if you can respond to a situation in a positive way, you have control of yourself; therefore, no one has control of you.

with this, comes control of the mind.  to control how you react, you need to have control of your mind.  you need to direct your thoughts in a positive direction, otherwise, (and i can testify) your thoughts can, and they will, eat you alive.  you need to be independent.  with control and acceptance, you can be happy.  control, acceptance, and happiness can only come from 1 place .. yourself.  if you lose it, your room will spin out of control.  i hope for every person out there that has read this, that your room, never spins out of control so much that you crash.

listening to 'explosions in the sky'

RIP fountain day?

i do recognize that i sound a little dramatic, but this is the only thing that's occupying me right now. it's not the end of the world.

earlier today, i was writing a blog about the top 10 reasons why i love SUNY albany in hopes of boosting our morale after the school-wide disappointment of the events of kegs and eggs weekend.  well, ironically, while i was writing this blog, i got an email and extensive facebook status updates about the cancellation of fountain day.  there have been rumors since last weekend that fountain day was questionable, but we were all ensured that the president would not cancel a school tradition for the actions of 40/+16,000 students.  right?   wrong.  fountain day 2011 has been cancelled.

1. after years of catholic schooling and consistently having traditional, fun events threatened by misbehavior, i can tell you, threats do not work.  we will still act the way we are used to acting (in this scenario, getting drunk).

2. like i said, it is a tradition. fountain day unites the school.  the fountain is the center of our university, literally and figuratively.  it's even on our SUNY ID cards.  it is very important for a school to provide us with events that we can look forward to and hold pride in.  something that identifies us.  after the school-wide disappointment and shame after kegs and eggs 2011, we desperately need a fun event to unite us again.  to pick our heads up and say "this is my school, i love it here. look at this great event"

3. because this event is taken away, i am not only disgusted with the .2% of students here, but now also with the administration for doubting us.  it's insulting.  i understand kegs and eggs was representative of the school, but the shame enough is to punish us. anyone with a sense of pride should of been embarrassed by the president's email sent last week ridiculing our behavior. individuals should be penalized. penalizing an entire university will have it's repercussions for the university and for us.  what happens when you piss off 18,000 students between 18 and 22 years old?

4. a school's best publicity is from its students, not by fox news, not by princeton review, or youtube.  in order to be best publicized, the student body must remain happy.  the "suspension" of fountain day has angered and annoyed the student body, whereas before this, any student was willing to stand up for the school after kegs and eggs.  now that the students are angry, it is very hard to find reason to stand up for the school.

5. "suspending" fountain day is a symbol.  our pride has been suspended.  (personally, i think the major program cuts is just as much as bad as this, but obviously we care more about having fun than OUR education).  but, how long will our pride be suspended? what will it take to restore it?  a downtown clean-up? degrading emails? facebook events?  fountain day?  tosh.0?!

i beg the president to reconsider his decision. i think this decision has far more repercussions that any of us may be expecting.