G'Day Mates!!!

Haha... alright, I'm a dork. So Australia thus far has simply been amazing - minus the rain. Australia has been suffering from a ten year drought and of course, when I arrive, the rain starts. It is supposed to be going on for the week. It isn't too bad because it rains but sometimes it clears up and you are able to lay outside.

Last night me and a few girls went out bar hopping in Manly. All I have to say is that I have never seen prices so high for booze, it is ridiculous. For instance, my friend MJ got a martini and it was $17!!!! The cheapest think you can drink is beer for $6, which actually isn't that bad because it has higher alcohol content than the US. The other day, I met a guy who is from Sydney and I was asking him where the hot spots were. He said that there are plenty of bars, the only downside to Sydney is that it is much more expensive than Manly. I don't want to even think about how expensive drinks are going to be out there. Even if you go to a liquor store, the prices are extremely high. For a fifth of Jack Daniels, it costs $44. Australia has a high liquor tax to support their infrastructure, since it was built in the 1960s and grew rapidly, they need high tax dollars to support their economy.

Last night, after many bars and many drinks, the bartender was making last call and me and some friends decided to shots. I started talking to the bartender, Oliver, and told him how high the prices were for liquor compared to the United States. Oliver, let me add, is gorgeous. He was easy going and friendly to talk to and gave us our last drinks for free and took a celebration shot with us. I think I may have a crush. Haha

The next day we had a few more classes of orientation giving us a background of the college of what we were to prepare for. After dinner, me and the girls started drinking at 6 during happy hour. At a bar called Insitu, they have these "Apple Pie" shots that taste exactly like apple pie. You can't taste the booze and it is the most delicious shot in the world. After spending two hours enjoying happy hour, we went over to Shark Bar and sat down, while Kelley pulled out a deck of cards and we started to play drinking games and drink some beers. By ten o'clock, we were starting to get a little loud and rowdy when we noticed that they have a juke box where you can pick a song, and the video would come on throughout the lounge. If you put in $1, you got one video but if you put in $3, you got 3 videos. We got so into the videos that some of us, I won't mention who, started getting up and dancing drunkenly at only 10 o'clock. We were told that we needed to take it down a notch or else we couldn't stay. Lame.

After a few hours of drinking, we came back to the campus and decided to buy Backstreet Boys tickets. Yes, thats right, Backstreet Boys. Let me inform you a little bit about my childhood for those of you who don't know. I was that girl who plastered her bedroom walls with posters from Teen Bop of the Backstreet Boys. When I found out that they were going to be in Sydney when I was here, I HAD to go! So we stumbled into the computer lab and bought tickets online. I can't wait. It's going to be a good time and I am going to try my hardest to work my way backstage. I think I am going to tell people I traveled all the way from the States to see them in concert.

Anyways, sorry that it took me so long to make another post but I will try to get better at keeping you updated! Cheers