And so it has come to this: a whole summer of adventures - of desert island sunrises and smooth turtle shells; of blue glacial ice and bone white sand; of countless memories never to be forgotten - finally coming to a close. This has been, with no exception, the best summer of my life.
This past month has been frittered away basking in the hot Australian sun, chasing Dolphins through the surf on my morning runs, praying for rain to clear the air - and bemoaning it when it does... It has been - in contrast to the months preceding it - a month of relaxation, of reading trashy literature and achieving my aim of memorising the entirety of Triple J's Hot 100 for 2009, 10 and 11...
Last week was O-Week 2012, a week where all the newbie international students are given the chance to learn from their own mistakes... and therefore introduced to both On-Campus accommodation and Fanny's nightclub. Oh dear. It was a lot of fun though - we have met a lot of new people, and reaped the rewards of an afternoon browsing the Expo - Newcastle's equivalent of a Freshers' Fair. Many Freddos were consumed.
We endured Fanny's with the Newbies for the Teds Tight and Bright Party - an unmissable opportunity to coat yourself in apparently indelible neon paint and regret it the next morning. You'd think neon orange handprints were not common decorations for runners in Newcastle, judging from the looks I was getting... It was a lot of fun though, and the paint came off eventually!
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| Captured precisely the moment a drink was poured down my back! |
The past week has played host to three birthdays: Liz's, Roseanna's and Josh's. For Liz's 21st, we bought a Groupon for an inordinately large number of cocktails in Sydney, where we spent the night sampling far too many Mango Daiquiris, and failing to find the fabled Salsa club upon which we had stumbled months before. Roseanna's 22nd was a much more sedate affair, consisting of a lovely BBQ by the foreshore, with too much food and not enough cake, as ever. For Josh's 21st, Liz cooked a colossal English Breakfast, followed by a candied Bacon-topped Birthday Cake and a bottle of Jack Daniels. Smart.
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| Sydney with the Girls |
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| TOO.MANY.COCKTAILS. |
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| Josh's incredible Birthday spread! |
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| JD and Bacon Cake. Smart. |
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| Birthday Cake numero dos! |
We have booked tickets for Groovin' The Moo festival in May, which I am incredibly excited for. Anyone who has spent more than 2 minutes with me will know that I've been waiting approximately FOREVER to see City and Colour live - and had three missed opportunities. But FINALLY I have the chance to see him, with heaps of other amazing artists in... Maitland. A small, bogan country town - not exactly the venue I'd imagined for this momentous occasion, but hey! I'm not complaining! I'MSOEXCITED!
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| MAY 12TH AAAAYAYAYAYA |
And so it is, that the most incredible summer of my life so far has come to an end. Two days ago, the Australian summer officially ended and autumn has begun. There is still so much to look forwards to in my last three months in this incredible country. Uni has restarted, but my mind is preoccupied with squeezing every last drop out of my time here. Already suggestions are abounding as to our next destination: the Blue Mountains? Western Australia? Tasmania? Australia is such an amazing, varied country - I have lived here for eight whole months and still feel that I've barely scratched the surface. Uni has restarted and eaten into my free time, my funds are nearly non-existent after a summer of travelling, and I have little over three months left - but I will travel more. I will see more. Australia: I'm not finished with you yet.
<3
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