Hello friends! I hope this finds everyone having a lovely Sunday. It's pretty good, I already lived it, haha. I have been here 6 weeks and so excited I made it this far! Woo!
I'm getting a bit sporadic with writing but honestly I don't feel like I have done very many interesting things since going to Sydney! (I want to go BACK!!!)
I really like my little job at Black Pepper Cafe. It is so great to need to be somewhere and be busy! On Saturdays and Sundays BP serves yummy breakfast all day long. So all day there are slews of people coming in and ordering lots of coffee and smoothies and milkshakes to go with their Eggs Benedict and blueberry pancakes. I can't even count how many banana smoothies and iced coffees I have made over this weekend, but the best part is making too much...and getting to taste it :) I worked with 5 girls today, including Bek from my floor, and even though we were crowded and busy and hot I really had a good time chatting and gettting to know them. I'm still finding that I introduce myself to someone and start talking, and then somewhere along the way I get the "Wait, what are you doing here?" A relevant question! However, I did see someone wearing a Tarheels hoodie today and I got so excited I had to go ask if they were NC fans and it turns out they were-so random!
I also tried Vegemite on buttered toast at the insistence of Jenna, a girl I work with. Honestly, it was not that bad although it is incredibly salty. We tried to decide what the American equivalent would be, as far as being brought up on a certain food-because all Aussies are brought up to eat it. All we came up with was peanut butter and Pop Tarts. I can still stand by the statement that I will eat anything besides onions...and that now includes vegemite.
One park of working at a cafe is being able to drink free coffee my entire shift! I've been having a hard time knowing what to ask for when ordering coffee because everyone here is all about their lattes and cappuccinos and I'm more of a black coffee with a little milk and sugar kind of girl. I had an unfortunate incident in Sydney when ordering an iced coffee, only to be brought a huge class with about 1/4 coffee and 3/4 ice cream and whipped cream, yeesh! SO I learned by working at Black Pepper that what I need to ask for is a "long black" (as opposed to a "flat white" which has heaps of foamy milk in it...no thanks).
And I can officially say that I am no longer mesmerized by seeing a kangaroo. That sounds disappointing but it's not! I went on a field trip on Thursday with my Indigenous Studies class to Namadgi National Park to see indigenous rock drawings. I have NEVER seen that many kangaroo before, not even on Animal Planet or the Discovery Channel. It was amazing. The path we were walking on wasn't wooded or marked off and they would hop right across it in front of you. The first time I saw a kangaroo on campus I got so excited I ran towards it and fell on my face, but now I can look at nonchalantly like, "Oh look, a kangaroo." . I'm a bit of a kangaroo snob, if you will. Haha.
On the hike back, someone suggested we not take the path back and instead cut straight across this HUGE meadow because it was a more direct route. HA! An unforseen and massive nasty bog and wet grass had us all laughing and trying not to fall in. (Well, I was trying not to fall in.) It ended up adding about half an hour to our time in the end. And then everyone had soggy feet on the drive back...except me! My sandals helped me out on this one, win!
This weekend all my girlfriends headed off to either Sydney or Melbourne but I decided to stay in Canberra and work and catch up on school stuff. I could have take these classes at UT, so I'm not hugely worried about them but we are missing some time in Septmeber to go to the beach. My teachers are totally understanding and are letting me turn stuff in early. Nice.
We had originally planned to go to Byron Bay and then up to Surfer's Paradise, but after further investigation we decided Surfers was kind of seedy and we would rather just stay in Byron. I am very happy with this decision! I can't wait for the beach! 3 girls' parents are coming over our break and so they are headed up to Cairns after Byron but I'm headed back here once again to hopefully work a bit
I'm also happy to report that the weather is starting to seem more cooperative. No more fleece! It hasn't seemes as cold lately except when the wind blows. It was so nice today and it actually got up above 60! After work I took my homework down to the lake and started writing another short story for my narratives class. Spring is in the air! It's amazing what some sunshine and warm weather can do for a mood.
I have also gotten more feedback about my Southern accent. Somebody today told me it was not that bad, which I consider positive!
