Getting to Sydney

After a eight hour layover in Auckland, New Zealand (where I didn't leave the airport) I had just a three hour flight into Sydney. I ended up sitting next to a handsome older man who just got done doing a comedy gig on a cruise boat. We decided we would chat and try to get a lil drunk off the free little wine bottles we got. After 22 hours of traveling solo I was happy to have some pleasant company for my home stretch. Which ended up working out really well because my new friend was then happy to share his taxi with me and take me right to Clelia. Clelia is my Italian friend who I met when she studied at my high school for a year. And who also hosted me in Italy and now in Sydney. Clelia lives in Coogee Beach, Sydney with her Italian/Australian boyfriend, who just so happened to be in LA for my first week here. So, us girls have had their apartment to ourselves. We are literally steps from one of Sydney's best beaches and she has a rooftop to see it all! Clelia has been a great hostess, but when we hang out with her friends I'm generally the only one not from Italy, but its ok, give me and some Italians some wine and beer and we all forget I'm not from Italy!




oK, SO logistics...
LIVING: I found a house with three Australians in a very central area. I'll be living with a girl and two guys all 22 or 23 in a cute old house right behind the Rendwick horse race track. Where aparently from our roof we get to see free races and music festivals. I'm also only a 10 minute bus ride to Coogee or Bondi beach. Cockroaches are a problem in Sydney, but after Uganda, I think I'll manage. For only $600 a month, I'm actually lucky I'm not sharing my room. Everything is pretty expensive. Which leads to....
JOB: I have the opportunity to have a full-time marketing internship and Perelli Tires, which is JUST the opportunity I was hoping to find. HOWEVER, the pay is only $1000 per month. This would mean in order to survive I would also have to get a side job working at a bar for another 10 hours a week. I just don't think working 50+ hours a week was the experience I was looking for. So, if I could talk them into a part-time maybe even unpaid internship I'll do it, but otherwise looks like I'll be pouring some beer at the local pub! Which at $20+ an hour isn't a bad job.
Well, I think I got the basics covered and y'all are up to date! But just so you know, I think about my friends and family constantly while I'm here. I miss a lot from back home, but this will become a home soon too, I'm sure. Just wanted to remind you how much I love you.

Off to Australia!!! But first, a lil stoppy poo in LA....

I had a wonderful time stopping in LA on my way to Sydney. I got to see beautiful friends I haven't seen in too long and even got to go to my dearest friend Joe's short film premiere at an Independent Film Festival. I must say it was quite the highlight. I met Joe in Eugene, during college and now he lives in LA doing the acting thing. Which if you know me at all, you'd know this used to be a very dear dream of my own. So, Joe very kindly let me be his date and we headed to the Zero Film Festival with the Director and Actors of the film, who also happen to be many of Joe's closest friends. We all had a ball, so the next evening I also joined them for their x-mas party before I had to hop on my plane. I had so much fun, I'm really hoping I'll be flying through LA again on my way home, whenever that ends up being.

Why Australia?

Why Australia? This is the number one question I got asked before I left and now I'm here and its also the first thing people ask me. So, by popular demand l will give one of my awkward half answers to this question: I have an intense case of the travel bug, and because of poor (aka fun) spending habits I can't afford to just travel anywhere I please. So I decided to head somewhere I'd be able to support myself, while also getting to see a different part of the world. Through my travels I have also managed to randomly meet Aussies wherever I go, and I can't help but to ask myself, why do so many Aussies have such a travler's spirit? Have I found the land where I must have lived in a past life, are these my kindred spirits? Or does Australia kind of suck, so they try to get away as much as they can? I haven't found the answers yet, but I did just get here. So far, I can't imagine this land of shocking blue water, sandy beaches and beautiful bodies sucks; but I'll let you know what my walk-about leds me to believe once I've finished my time here. But until then, let's throw some pawns on the barbie and cheers Mate!