So I saw that kangaroo! AND I got to hold a wallabee, just to top it off!
Apparently kangaroo are like deer in the States. They jump in front of cars, tower at heights of 7-8 feet of pure muscle, and often end up as roadkill. We met a lady we call "Aussie Mom," and a friend of hers rescues baby kangaroos and wallabees from their dead mothers' pouches and brings them home to nurse them to health. So we got to hold one of her wallabees and pet the little kangaroo which was scampering around her house. It was amazing! I feel like I'm actually in Australia now! :)
The people here are just absolutely wonderful. I feel like I make a new friend everywhere I go. It's funny though because people always assume that I'm from New York City (though I'm actually from the capital region, about three hours away), and they always ask, "Do you have a lot of driveby's and gangs there?" I just want to say, "Oh yeah every other day one of my friends gets shot down as they're leaving the shopping mall." It's so funny the idea of NYC people have, when in reality, Julianni has done such a wonderful job of cleaning up the city that I would feel totally safe going there by myself.
So last week the jetlag hit me full force, and I came down with a cough. Currently I have lost my voice completely, which my friends seem to enjoy since they have a break from my constant chatter. :) (Although the waitress at the restaurant today seemed quite annoyed with my inability to speak. I had to have the girls translate for me.)
This past weekend a big group of the international students drove a few hours to the Gold Coast to stay for the weekend. We spent the days shopping and sunbathing on the beach, and the nights clubbing in the city. The sand felt amazing! It's not coarse and rocky like the beaches I usually enjoy; rather, it's soft and squeaks when you shove your feet into it. We found some gorgeous spots on the beaches and took tons of pictures.
The clubs were packed with people "holidaying" (as opposed to "on vacation"). The only annoying thing was they played the same songs at every single club we went to! I can still hear them in my head, and I hate waking up still hearing them! As one friend said, "I never thought I could get sick of Justin Timberlake, but I did!"
Oh, funny story! (Just for background, my life is like a movie - the craziest, most random things happen to me everywhere I go! That's why this story is just like a mundane, everyday happening to me, though everyone around me found it absolutely hilarious.)
We were in one of the clubs Saturday night (about 10 of us went "bar crawling," or what I would refer to as "club hopping") and after four hours of dancing, my feet had started to painfully remind me through a burning sensation that I was wearing three-inch stilletos. So to soothe their constant complaints, I sat down on a stool near the bar, took my feet out of my shoes and twisted them back into the stool to give them a break. I was just sitting there when all of a sudden, for some reason still completely unknown to me, I felt my stool tipping forward and next thing I knew, I landed on the floor (in the very middle of the bar area!!) on my hands and knees. Everyone around me gasped and I felt like the few seconds it took to stand up lasted a few minutes. A couple of the guys helped me up, asking if I was okay, and trying to figure out who pushed me. I don't think anyone pushed me, and I definitely wasn't drunk, so I think the stool just wasn't balanced. But, oh man! it was just the funniest thing. My friend says, "I was standing right there talking to her one minute and the next minute I look over and she's on her hands and knees on the floor!" So funny. I have floor-burn on my one knee, which is also a bit black and blue, but it doesn't hurt. And my feet feel better, thanks for wondering.
I'm sure there are other adventures I am completely forgetting. I know there were so many other things I thought, "Oh, I have to remember to blog about this!" But of course I forget them all. So this'll have to do for now. Tomorrow the second week of classes start (I love all my classes, the professors are great and I'm so excited to learn everything I can!), and I am going to bed early tonight so maybe I can feel better and actually be able to talk tomorrow.