after six hours in the car...

katie and i have made it to cape cod.

i can't believe i'm down to almost a month before my departure.
honestly, where the fuck did the time go?
right now, it's raining obscenely hard outside and katie and i are listening to jaymay on my ipod.
it's the perfect day.

i've already compiled a list of what i will miss at school, but home is much more extensive.
here is a list of what i'll miss (besides my friends and fam, of course) from home while i'm down under:
1) my kitties. (orly, of course, is so much better than austin)
2) tivo
3) big red couch
4) my bed
5) abbey road vinyl
6) the hot tub and outdoor shower
7) gas fireplace
8) doing laundry for free
9) lola
10) the quarry
11) the triplex, martins...GB in general
12) the apple tree
13) cider donuts
14) tibetan prayer flags
15) the outside furniture on the deck
16) my pink 'italian' beta fish, guilio
17) my lovebird

to follow comes a bunch of pictures of what i've been up too for the past couple of months. i've been maximizing the time i've had with friends since i won't see a huge majority of them for four and a half months.

home

it only took me two hours to get home from school! i couldn't believe it--honestly NO traffic on the pike whatsoever.

Now that i've been home for a couple of days now, though, it's definitely sunk in that i won't be going back to bridgewater classes until september. kind of sad in a way.

BUT the closer i get to february first, the more excited i become...

ridiculousness

ready for this?

Hills and I have to run to the heritage room in the BSC library for a mandatory meeting with all the people studying abroad this semester.

I sat between Matias and Hills and tried to pay attention.

We were given this binder from the Study Abroad Office ("do we really have to read all this shit?"-Matias) and I immediately start looking at the table of contents (because i'm a nerd?)

Anyways, I turn to page 16 where there is a list of cultural stereotypes. Apparentally, other countries hate us. I mean, they have every right to dislike us right now because of President Bush, but hopefully a bunch of these stereotypes will go away come ObamaNation.

Here are the stereotypes about the US:
-All Americans are wealthy, greedy, and materialistic
-We expect everybody to speak english
-We are ignorant of other countries and of current events
-Americans are independent
-We have a strong work ethic
-The United States is a land of opportunity
-We are prone to violence; many carry guns
-We want everything done our way
-Everyone eats fast food and drinks coca-cola (yes, they used the word coca-cola. outdated?)
-We are friendly
-Americans drink to get drunk
-We are loud

This prompted Matias to laugh (especially at the "greedy and materialistic" stereotype) and say "i'm so glad I'm not American". Now would actually be a good time to say that Matias is from Argentina, haha.

I packed up a bunch of my stuff today. Lola (my car) is honestly full. I only have a couple of clothes in the room and a few bare essentials.

our room is so empty that it echoes. I kid you not.

Also, my roommate just gave me my hannukah presents! Abbey Road vinyl and a Beatles calendar! I LOVE HILLS!

honestly, i'm looking forward to leaving here but I know I will miss my friends. I'm just glad I will get to see a lot of them before I head down under.

And when I'm down under, I'll get to see a whole lot of other friends (and make a bunch more)

signing off.

every once in awhile when i'm walking to class or taking a shower or doing homework, i'll stop and think about the upcoming trip.

i get surges of excitement

today, a guy named Adam facebook messaged me. He's from cape cod and he's part of a facebook group that brings study abroad students that will attend murdoch university together, and he's going the same time I am! Apparentally he just found me from the group because I posted a message saying I would be attending Spring 2009. He was like, we might as well connect before we leave so we'll know each other before we go down under. CRAZY THING IS, he actually knows a bunch of people that go to bridgewater, one of them being a friend of mine who actually lived on my floor lastyear and who lives in my building this year.

weird how the world can be so small.

Since I got my flights, I've been a little nervous about who I'll stay with after my classes end, etc. Of course I'll stay with Hills and Ant while I'm in Brisbane, but I had no idea who I would stay with in Sydney. My friend Erin and I were talking online and it turns out she lives in Sydney and invited me to stay with her from June 11th to the 18th. YAY!

Also, My my two friends Talia and Julia are going to be in Australia for the summer and they will be in Melbourne while I'll be in Sydney visiting my other friends Manon and Julia. We are planning a huge get together and I couldn't be happier.


On another note, though, I am a little sad that this is my last week at Bridgewater. I mean, of course I'm excited to go to Australia, but the fact that I won't be seeing a lot of my friends until september kind of upsets me.

As for break plans (I leave on Thursday), I'm working over New Years. Hills and my friend Mal are visiting western mass for a weekend in January, then wisdom teeth removal, and then up to Bridgewater to see some friends one last time before my February departure.


let's get the show on the road, baby

confirmation

i confirmed my flight!

like, actually called them up and paid and everything!

I'M FUCKING GOING!

visa

after ten pages of ridiculous questions asking me whether or not i have ever been convicted of a crime, ever been out of the country for more than three months, etc. i finally finished filling out the visa form.

success!

it was approved, which is obviously a good thing because i wouldn't have been able to study abroad without one. psyched!

before a voice lesson

i have compiled a list of what i will miss (besides my friends, of course) about school:

1) dance parties to beyonce.
2) the "good" meat at comm. cafe
3) the L-shaped couch at cody and jimmy's apartment
4) don's recliner
5) driving aimlessly with mal (while belting out songs)
6) apartment 8b
7) contruction. yes, i said it.
8) mini golf ridiculousness
9) watching tiger
10) beirut with amy, as bad as we sucked
11) watching into the wild
12) the handicap shower
13) dunkin' donuts french vanilla iced coffee (with extra cream and sugar)
14) ecc ice cubes
15) pissing off plymouth county parking

the list goes on.

flight schedule finalized

okay,

i leave for australia february first. we got that one figured out. i need to find a flight to LAX before then, possibly the 30th. (maybe i'll see perez hilton?)

don't really plan on traveling much during the first couple of months. need to have things settled down there first before i head out to other parts of the country.

classes end june 5th. i fly out to brisbane june 6th to see my beeyootiful roommate, stay there until the 11th, then find my way down to sydney until the 16th.


then fly out from sydney back to LAX, then back to new england.

to say i can't wait would be a complete understatement