This will be my last livejournal entry ( Read more... )

As I went through security at Sydney airport, a group of my closest Aussie friends chanted, "RPA! RPA! RPA!"I turned back and looked at them; they all had these big grins on their faces. RPA was of course the nickname I earned for my stay at the Royal Prince Alfred hospital. When I glanced back, I spotted two of the girls beginning to well up. I ( Read more... )

Something happens when Colin and I get together. Regardless of where we are, we inevitably end up on some sort of wacky adventure, and his two weeks at St. Johns were no exception. From throwing a 90s Party full of mirth and macarena to drinking goon on the grass to winning whiskey to pilfering pillows from pubs, his time in Sydney was a series of ( Read more... )

In stark contrast to spending my reading week hunched over a sprawling heap of books at Butler Library for 18 hours a day, this time around I spent the weekend before my Finals either lying on the beach or drinking hot cocoa while reading poetry. A friend and I flew up to Byron Bay and spent four days at a youth hostel that resembled the Oregon ( Read more... )

Recently, I woke up with three fingernails coated in black nail polish and two friends from high school on my floor. One of my first thoughts that morning was, "Now they understand John's ( Read more... )

Today, a friend from the States asked me how my time in Australia was, and I responded with "Great." The last three months has been whittled down to one benign word: great. Great was the best I could muster; great doesn't describe the ups and downs of my time here nor the quirks and surprising similarities of Australia nor how I've grown as a ( Read more... )

The air was saturated with the smell of fish- even the bakery had that unsavory fishy smell. With their glassy eyes, hundreds of whole dead fish laid in piles on crushed ice. Dozens of live crabs with rubberbands holding their claws together scampered in their water tanks, and there was even a huge dead octopus sprawled out with the suckers on its ( Read more... )

At dinner, I saw an Australian smear a layer of Vegemite™ over his fish. At first, I thought this was single most repulsive act I'd ever seen, but soon I realized that this adoration of Vegemite™ is the wellspring of Australian strength and identity ( Read more... )

Five minutes ago, I got kicked out of a bar ( Read more... )

Australia has one great culinary invention to lord over the rest of the world: the Tim-Tam Slam. Deceptively simple in the design, a classic Tim-Tam consists of chocolate creme layered between two plain sugar cookies with a chocolate coating. That's it, but somehow, the 'biscuits' cause people to experience nirvana. By striking the perfect balance ( Read more... )