My Family Is Spreading Rumors About Me!

Hey hey heyyyyy! So, I'm bored and putting off finishing my Media and Society essay...just can't seem to focus right now, but I'm not tired either...I don't know, doesn't matter anyways.  So yeah, I've told many of you this story already, but this is for those of you who I haven't gotten to tell yet.  Let me start off by saying that Newcastle can be a sketchy place.  You've got to be careful...biker gangs, hooligans, crime blah blah blah...so my aussie friend, Roxanne, was telling me about some people she knows that went out to the Brewery (which is a bar/club in Newcastle that we all go to a lot!) for a girls night out.  Well, one of the girls was hitting it off with this random guy and of course they started making out, so he was trying to get her to come home with him and she was like no no, its a girls night...so they just exchanged numbers...well it turns out the next day her face, around her mouth, breaks out into a ridiculous rash. So she goes to the doctor and he does tests and lab work and shit...well the doctor calls her and is like hey the police need to speak with you...what the hell right? So the police call her and are like, the only way a rash like yours is caused is if your skin came in contact with dead matter...we need to know everything about that guy you met at the Brewery...so the police raid his house and found 2 dead bodies!! EWWWWW and holy ass creepy!! Isn't that the most insane story ever?? It'll take you awhile to get over that...I was in shock for a bit.  But yeah, usually thats where the story ends, but not tonight...

...I decided to tell some of my fam that story yesterday over Skype...my fam being my mom, dad, sis, randy, gma, and gpa...well, I guess they told pretty much everyone they knew that story, inluding my Uncle Ric.  Well, I guess they didn't tell it clearly enough because my Uncle Ric thought it was ME who made-out with a random dude and got a dead body rash all over my face.  So he told his 2 daughters, my cousins, Aja and Tallyn, and then they told my Aunt Robin and our cousin Mike and who knows who else!? So my Aunt Robin facebook chatted with me just now and started yelling at me to not die and act like a drunken idiot and to not make-out with random boys...and I was like uhhhhhh, what the fuck are you talking about? That wasn't me! So after a good 5 minutes of both of us being completely confused, I finally straightened her out...so now shes spreading the word throughout my whole family that I'm not the freak who ipso facto made-out with dead people. Awesome right?

Basically, that didn't have that much to do with Australia...mostly to do with my awesome/crazy family who likes to spread rumors about me. Very niiiiiiiice.  Other than that, not much else is new.  Silvana and Randy are on their way to visit me at this very moment actually...they should be arriving in Sydney in like 7.5 hours or so...I'm meeting up with them in Sydney on Thursday night for the weekend. I'm pretty stoked about it...Stac is coming with me and we have a bunch of people we (and when I say we I mean she really cause I don't know them yet but they know of me and I'm sure I'll make a GREAT impression and then they'll love me forever as well) can stay with, so we don't have to pay for hostels! Yayayay! But yeah, we're gonna hit up the Aquarium, the Botanical Gardens, and Bondi Beach for sure...OH! and a random candy store that sells American candy...yes, Stacy is beyond excited about that part. OH! and I'm beyond excited about having Taco Bell.  Thats right, the only TB in Australia is in North Sydney so we're going on a crazy adventure to find it and enjoy every moment of cheap mexican goodness.

I think thats all for now. I have to finish this damn essay and start 2 others so I can have fun in Sydney all weekend and do nothing...good times, good times. Talk to you all soon...GET SKYPE EVERYONE so that actually means something! Kkkkkkk love and miss, peace.

Just A Night Out At Customs...

Me and my Aussie/Bara buddy, Daveys...he cracks me up!
Me and Jimbo...falling out of chairs?
With my friend Eric, passing time on the train ride into town...showing off "how tan and ripped I am".
My giddyness radiates through this picture...my girlies from Bara: Stacy, Ashleigh, and Kels.
My Aussie/Bara buddy, Thor...we're drunk and goofing off in the Common Room.

We're Finishing Eachothers Sentences Now?!?

Long time no talk all...my b. I wanna say I've been busy, but I really haven't been. At least not in the way most people would consider being "busy" is. I mean technically I have classes and all, but just like back home I always find stupid reasons to skip them...I should probably stop doing that, I think I have to turn some stuff in soon. Probably going to pop in the library tomorrow morning (haven't stepped foot in there yet) and try to figure out an essay due like tomorrow, oh well. Then...off to the beach! This is pretty much my daily routine, well atleast 4 out of 7 days I'm at the beach...thats what I consider being busy nowadays. I was there ALL weekend...getting my tan on for sure. Playing some beach volleyball like usual and then jumping in the water. Except I did a stupid thing, SURPRISE...I kept my white sunnies on my head and totally lost them in a wave...not too happy about that, they were my awesome free ones that i've had for like 2 years...thanks to Ricky, so sorry man, but you're not getting those back I guess.

Soooo you'll never get this! At the beach on Friday, there was like no one around for some reason...probably cause the waves weren't very good that day, anyways, we were swimming and we totally saw a freakin penguin!!! What the hell!? A penguin, alone, off the Aussie coast, in the heat...didn't expect that. I wanted to get closer, but didn't get a chance...must have been a much better swimmer...how sick would that have been though...having a pet penguin...next time for sure.  Still haven't seen a shark while I was swimming yet, I know, why would I want to? I dont know...just figure it would be cool as long as I didnt get any serious injuries or anything.  Speaking of injuries...there are these jellyfish here ALL the time basically, they're called Blue Bottles and they're annoying as all eff, seriously.  I havent had any problems surprisingly, but pretty much everyone else has.  Especially my one friend Drew, hes been stung twice already.  The thing that sucks about these guys is that they sting you, but they wrap themselves around you...so the only way to get them off is if you grab it and pull it off, therefore, you end up stinging your hand as well.  And the sting is apparently really ridiculously painful.  In the words of my friend Drew after I asked him if he got stung, he said "more like brutally fucking raped!" hahahaha, best quote ever.

Oh! I figured out my spring break plans...yayayay! Took long enough cause we couldn't make up our minds on what to do and we didnt want to spend a shit ton of money.  So Stac, Kels, and I are going on a 10 day adventure up the coast.  We start at Brisbane where we are going to visit the Steve Irwin zoo, wooooo! Then we will make our way towards Hervey Bay, Fraser Island for some 4WD, The Whitsundays for some sailing, and Airlie for some skydiving and more beaching of course.  Cant wait! Especially for the skydiving, its going to be ridiculous...I'll probably piddle (pee my pants), but no worries.  Oh and if we're allowed to have ipods on us as we skydive, I'm thinking of playing a little Tom Petty, some Free Fallin...I dont know, too cliche? Great song though.  Anyways, so all that is happening April 10th...I'll be sure to keep you posted on all that good stuff later on.

Other than that, I'm trying to get on this Mojosurf tour for this coming weekend, but it seems to be all filled up...hopefully I can cause its supposed to be a blast and its an awesome deal and a lot of my friends are on this weekend...once again, I procrastinated and didnt sign up the same time they all did so at the moment I'm not going with them...we'll see what happens I guess.  Then the weekend after that...the very beginning of April actually, Silvana and Randy are flying over to visit for 2 weeks.  However, I'll probably only see them a few days so I'm taking the train to Sydney to meet up with them, do some more sightseeing that I didn't get done the first time and just have some good fun...then I have spring break and they are going to Cairns and Melbourne and shiiiiiit so I wont see them much, weird right? Whatever it will be good times...maybe I'll convince her to finally get a damn tattoo with me...I know Randy is down...make her do it, I know you're both reading this.

Anyways, I'm tired and I have to get up early to go to the beach hahaha jkkkk, but not really I just have to do some other stuff too. So I'll be chattin ya up later...oh and I watched some Crickett...still worst sport ever. Which reminds me...March Maddness! Totally did a bracket here even though I cant watch it...fucking Boston College, Wake Forest and West VA can kiss my ass...frickin lost and I'm pissed. But yeah, back to bed. NIGHT!!! (Tay, that was for you). 

Cheers!

Adriana

Ridic...

Hey all!

So I know it has been awhile since I've updated the blog, but its been pretty busy here and nothing too exciting has been going down, just the usual.  School is really getting under way. Sucks. I have to start reading and writing my shit ton of essays, not happy about it at all.  I thought I wasn't motivated at home (those who know me well know how little I really did) well I'm really not motivated to do ANYTHING here.  Its just always so nice out that it's tempting to skip classes and go to the beach everyday.  The only thing thats keeping me from doing that all the time is the fact that I don't have money to throw away on buses/trains. 

This past weekend was complete ridiculousness...a resemblance to this past summer in Gainesville that I would describe as belligerent.  It was so much fun!  Started off at the Brewery (its a bar right on the bay that usually has good live music outside and fun 'Atlantic' music on the inside).  That reminds me...Jenna, Alex, Trent, Diddy, Drew, Julie...Aussies are obsessed with that music here...Kings of Leon is HUGE...its crazy.  Theres a club, King Street, thats two floors and plays electronic/techno all the time...going there this Sunday...should be really fun. Anyways, back to the Brewery...started off there for a few hours...dance and drank...hungout with my friend Ashleigh (aussie) who was meeting her guy friend she hadnt seen in forever...Basically, we ended up hanging out with the Australian army all night haha, can you say free drinks?? FINALLY! Oh and one of them won a Jager singlet (tank top)...totally took it, so sweet.  Then we ended up walking down the street to this club called Fannies (btw, fanny in Australia doesn't mean butt...its means well the front haha).  It was crazy fun! Pretty much everyone had been telling us we'd hate cause we'd get raped or there are only sluts there..whatever, we went to try it out...really not that bad...pretty much like every other drunk club...we didnt go on their BUSIEST night, but it was still one of their good nights so I figure we still got a pretty good idea about whats its like...and I liked it so whatever.

Saturday got up early and headed to the beach after only about 2 hours of sleep, no biggie.  Well, we decided to go to Bar Beach cause we hadn't been there yet (we usually go to Newcastle or Nobbys Beach).  Since we'd never been there we didnt really know which way was the best way to get there...so of course we find out later that we took the most ridiculous way possible.  We climbed an EFFING mountain...I'm not kidding, there are mountains here...and we climbed it just to get to the damn beach in 93 degree weather...everytime we'd reach a peak we'd be like "YESSSSS we made it, must be right there!" Definitely wasn't.  It was definitely a couple of miles of hiking...whatever, I guess good exercise for the day...and we did get to see amazing views...took some pictures so hopefully I can put some up soon. So yeah, stayed at the beach for like 4 hours then hauled ass back (taking buses we'd never taken before) to campus to get ready for the Commencement Dinner.

The Commencement Dinner was just for my dorm, Bara.  Everyone had to get dressed all nice, girls in dresses and guys in ties.  It was basically a way for everyone to get together and 'begin' the new semester...good stuff.  After dinner, we all went back to the Commons and started pre-gaming...cause once again, we went out to the Brewery that night.  Being that I was completely exhausted, there wasn't ridiculousness, at least not from me.  I literally almost fell asleep on the bus on the way back from the Brewery that night...slept in til 12 the next day...the latest I've slept in since I've been here! Sunday and Monday were both chill days/nights...movies and shopping and the like.  But today/tonight should be fun...it's St.Patrick's Day here already...woooooooo! So stoked! So far no real plans yet, either going into town and going to the Finnegan's Pub or staying on campus and going to Bar on the Hill.

Anyways, I hope you all have a great St. Patty's Day! One of my fav holidays!! Drink a lot of green beer! Oh and for all of you in Gville, hit up Mothers and Durty Nellys for me! Love ya all!

Cheers!

Adriana

And Moooooreeeee...

Me with some of the boys: Braden, Sam, and Matt
Walking through Hyde Park in Sydney, it was part of the Free Tour
Stacy and I eating the "pancakes" we got made fun of for putting butter on
The girls at Customs: Stacy, Betsy, and Jess
Rub the pig's nose...its a touristy spot in Sydney...kinda like the one in Rome (is it Rome? I dont remember).

Just some more pictures...

Just enjoying Newcastle beach!
Toga! Toga! Toga! partyyy, with my 2 besties here!
At my fav club/bar, Customs, with Stacy, Matt, and Eivind
The ridiculous sand dunes I talked about, this picture doesn't do it justice.
Random picture from Gay Mardi Gras...

Get Out Of The Tree...Get Down!

Went to Sydney this weekend!! It was Gay Mardi Gras...holy geez.  Took a train in on Friday, it only costs 9 bucks for students from Newcastle to Sydney...not bad at all, definitely going to hit up Sydney a lot more because its so cheap.  Me, Stac, Kels, Ashleigh, Betsy, and Marissa stayed in a hostel called Glebe Village...less than 30 bucks a night, deal.  It was SO freakin cute.  Its in an area of Sydney called Glebe (I know, surprising right?)...its basically one long road with a bunch of cafes and little shops and houses on it...goes all the way down to the water.  I fell in love with this place...like if I decide to move to Australia, I might move here...that good.  

So yeah the hostel was awesome, we got a free bbq dinner the first night and free breakfast every morning, what the hell.  They gave us "pancakes"...pancakes in quotations cause they were really flat and didnt really turn brown...more like pitas, but whatev still tasted pretty good.  And as everyone knows, I don't do syrup and they didnt have PB so I was like shiiiiit, what am I going to put on this pancake?  Well Stacy doesn't usually put syrup on either, she does butter and sprinkles sugar on top, so I gave that a whirl...delish.  Oh and when we were putting butter on the pancakes EVERYONE stopped and stared at us...they thought it was weird.  I was like what the HELL...how is that weird? And then we proceeded to put sugar on top, so then everyone thought we were psychos.  Either way, they were the freaks because right when we got back to Bara I asked my aussies here and they said they put butter on it...wtf.  Long story, with no point...my bad.

Okay, so Friday we checked into our hostel and just kinda explored Glebe and ate and shit...then got ready for a night out.  We didn't go too crazy though because Mardi Gras was the next day and its an all day event.  Saturday rolls around and we got the free breakfast and went to this random market right up the street where there was supposed to be a bunch of random ppl selling clothes they made and all kinds of other stuff,  so ya know...it was supposed to be cheap.  I found some cute things, but the cheapest was like 20 bucks...so that would be a hell no...I'm not spending 20 dollars on a dress that will probably fall apart that night at Mardi Gras cause it was made so shittily (new word).  After hours of going to OP Shops, the market, Kmart, and everywhere else to find something funky to wear, we all went back to the hostel to start drinking and get ready.  Mostly everyone just wore cute, bright outfits...excepttttt for me and Betsy...we went all out.  I wore black leggings and BRIGHT yellow little running shorts over top and then my bright-ass colorful poofy belly shirt thing from Charlotte Russe...i looked siiiiiick. And absolutely ridiculous, but it was Gay Mardi Gras...so who cares.  We showed up at the park where the parade was going on at at about 3 or 4, but the parade didnt start til 745...we had to get there early or we wouldn't be able to get a spot to post up at.  After waiting a million hours, the parade finally started...but my awesome drunken state from my bottle of cheap wine basically wore off after 3 hours...sucked.  And there were a million people, worse than any Gator football game.  And as my family knows, I fucking hate crowds (which is why I fucking hate the Orlando mall...too many people in my way).  So I got over it within an hour...and we couldnt see shit anyways, so a few of us sketched off to find some food and draaaank.

Finally got some food and went to an awesome bar off George St called Cheers!!  Hell yes, I was obsessed with that show!  "Where everybody knows yours name, and theyre always glad you cameeeee!"  Still wearing my ridic outfit, but no worries...even though there were a few who definitely thought I was gay cause I dressed up, but I set that straight right away. Weird.  Anywayssss, played some pool and became friends with some random and SERIOUSLY cute aussies.  Got there number, so hopefully next time I'm in Sydney or they come to Newcastle we can all meet up...it was really fun.

Sunday was sightseeing day.  Stac found a brochure at our hostel for a Free tour of Sydney, we just had to meet at Town Hall at 1030 am...no prob bob...totally made it in time.  We get there and its just 4 of us, another American girl from NY, and the tour guide.  He had travelled to Europe and a few other places and there were tours all over the place that were free, so he and his friends decided it would be a good idea to start a free tour in Sydney...how awesome is that?  They had just started it 2 weeks ago...I was seriously amazed...makes me want to do something random like that.  But yeah, it was a little under 3 hours and we just walked all along Sydney...he told us all the history and of course we went to the Harbour Bridge and Opera House.  I definitely want to climb the bridge, but it costs effing 200 bucks, I dont think so.  So yeah, sightseeing was a highlight for sure!  I got a few pics, but my cam died so I had to use a disposable hahaha amazing.  But all my friends got some sick pics, so hopefully I can show you those.  Definitely going back to Sydney soon.  It is one of my favorite cities ever! Up there with New York and Rome for me.  Next time I hit up the town, definitely going to the Aquarium, wanted to last time, but ran out of time so oh well.

Anyways, it was an amazing weekend and I can't wait to go back there! Anyone who decides "heyyyy, I really miss Adriana, I think I'm going to visit her in Australia..." I'll pick ya up in Sydney and show you the town (because I'm an expert and all now).  Alright, I love and miss everyone...I know I say that every time.  Skype me: Adrianai713...I'm on around 10 or 11 most days, which is like 6 or 7 ish back home...do it. K bye.

I've Been Hit In The Face While In Australia...

I'm not going to explain the title of this post right off the bat, its just too good.  So classes finally started here this week.  My class schedule is pretty sweet, no classes Monday or Friday...four day weekends for sureeee.  As of right now I'm only registered for 3 classes, but I'm trying to get into this fourth one, but their system here is gay as hell (along with about a million other things) so it may be awhile til I get in it.  Oh, and so far I know I'll be writing about 12 essays this semester, not looking forward to it.  I guess I forgot this was STUDYabroad, not just hanging out. 

So yeah, back to the things that piss me off...you all knew this was coming sooner or later, figure I should just get it over with now.  So besides the internet system being completely ridiculous, their school system is as well.  And by school system I mean they don't schedule time in between classes.  The class times are like 12-1, 1-2, 2-3, etc...I didn't understand this so I just made it so none of mine were back to back like that.  But out of curiosity, I asked an aussie and they said, "well teachers know this so they'll let you out early and start class late".  This fun little fact kinda blew my mind.  Why the HELL wouldn't the school just set a damn time for in between classes if the teachers basically have to do it anyways?!?  It just doesn't make sense to me.  And I've realized throughout classes this week that a lot of ppl are walking in late anyways and lecture has already started...so basically you're screwed if you have back to back classes, whatever I guess.

Lets see, what else is there...Everything on campus (and a lot of places in Australia in general) close early as eff!  Like 4 or 5 ish...ummm, what the hell.  I guess no one cares if you work here cause they really don't give you much time to get shit done if you do.  Oh and the public transportation sucks here too...its freakin 3.20 AUD to get on the damn bus and it only lasts an hour...which def isn't long enough to go food shopping and the like so you have to pay ANOTHER effing 3.20 AUD to get back on the damn bus!  Which reminds me...there are no buses that actually like go through campus...this campus is pretty freakin big...and granted I would probably walk most of the time from my dorm to my classes cause its only about a 15 minute walk...when it rains unexpectedly, I would like to catch a bus, but I can't. Lame.  

And Another thing...I just found out today that they don't buy books back...let me say this one more time, what the hell.  They say its an 'american thing', I don't even know what that means, but apparently theres logic in that somewhere...looks like I'm selling my shit on amazon then.  Well, thats enough ranting for now...

Last night was a good time.  Went to Customs again, which is rapidly becoming my new fav club/bar...love it!  Got a lot of drinks...they make great vodka sunrises...never thought i'd say that, but its only 50 cents more than a beer so I figure why not...OH WAIT! one more thing to rant about, then I'm done.  Newcastle banned shots.  Yes, they banned shots at bars.  Its ACTUALLY illegal.  WTF!  This place gets so sketchy and dangerous, I guess, that the city thought banning shots (allows you to drink alchy too fast and therefore get ridiculous) would bring down crime and what not...don't think that works...which brings me to my next story.

One of my besties here, Eric, got punched (hit) in the face last night for talking to a girl.  Let me just say, hes probably one of the least confrontational ppl ever...hes a stoner, without being stoned all the time, weird, I know.  So yeah, that totally went down last night, no good.  THEN, one of my other besties, Stacy, got 20 bucks stolen/taken/lost/misplaced...whatever, so that was a major downer!  And I, of course, just got pissed everyone was bumming and we had to wait, while drunk, for the damn train over an hour! suuuuuuuucked.  

But today, after classes to make myself feel better, I got a few Bara peeps together to play a little vball...good times, like always.  And there was a ball kinda going between me and my friend Eivind so he goes for a full-on kick, and I mean serious full-on soccer kick, and beemed it right into my face (another hit).  We were prob less than 3 feet apart...It didn't really hurt though cause it hit more of my eye than my nose, which would have hurt like a bitch.  So of course I was laughing hysterically, cause thats just awesome...and no one got it on camera...I'm so pissed! I wanted to see what it looked like. Oh well.

And my other Bara buddy, Jim, was playing touch rugby and got slammed in the face while going for a pass (last hit, so far).  So yeah, pretty much now its our goal to make sure everyone we know get in the face somehow or someway while in Australia.

Lastly, going to Sydney this weekend with Stacy, Betsy, Kelsey, and Ashleigh...and a bunch of other people are meeting us there.  Its gay Mardi Gras this weekend...SO EXCITED!! Hopefully I can get a crazy ass outfit together so I can fit in, should be a drunken good time...I'll keep you all posted of course...probably wont be online again til sunday/mondayish...love you all!!!