Bondi Beach!!!

Last week was pretty uneventful... but we stayed two nights in Bondi over the weekend. There was no class on Friday so we went to the hotel. No beach though because of rain. It didn't rain on Saturday, but unfortunately the weather was still pretty windy and cold, which makes for some pretty choppy surf. Some friends came down to surf as well and let me borrow a wetsuit so I decided to brave it. They're a lot more experienced than me... I couldn't even get out past the breaking waves! I was completely defeated. At least I got a good upper body workout.

Sam Running and I were told there was a church service on the beach so we asked all over on Saturday night and no one seemed to know anything. I was pretty upset about it. But Easter Sunday was beautiful and I thanked Him for how blessed I am. I rented a wetsuit and took my board out for a surf and soon I hear these sirens go off. I wasn't really sure what it meant and didn't see other surfers reacting to it so I just kept surfing. Usually they sound an alarm or make an announcement when the current it strong so I thought it was probably that. Those sirens went off about three or four times. Eventually I got tired and made it back to the beach where my friends told me they were shark sirens!!! Yeah, I said SHARK. I'm not sure why no one was getting out of the water. Anyway, I survived with all of my limbs.

Tomorrow I'm getting together with my History partner to start working on our History presentation. He is French, I am from America and we are supposed to give an in depth presentation about Aboriginal Genocide. We can hardly understand each other and no next to nothing about Australian history so this should be interesting. So today I'm going to the library to get a little head start.

NOTE: I haven't mentioned what a Tim Tam Slam is... Tim Tams are these rectangle chocolate coated sandwich cookies that are usually eaten with tea or a hot drink. To do a Tim Tam Slam you bite off a small part of two opposite corners of the cookie and put one corner in your mouth and one corner in the hot drink. You then suck on it like a straw until you feel the liquid come through the cookie. The Tim Tam starts to melt really fast so you have to 'slam' it in your mouth. This is the best part- the cookie melts like butter in your mouth and is like mushy chocolate heaven. I'm obsessed and will be bringing this tradition home with me.

Let's see- Saturday we went to Bondi for the day. I surfed, but the waves were small and the crowds were big. We are staying there for two nights next weekend for Easter so I'll be able to go early and beat the crowds. We also found a church at the beach for Easter service, so it should be an Easter like none other. Anyway, Sunday I went to the city to buy a few shirts and things for work since the dress code is more casual than expected. We actually caught the tail end of the St. Patrick's Day parade, which I wish I had known about.

Today at my internship Graham asked me to write up a contact report and creative brief from our meeting last Wednesday. This was new to me and I spent a lot of time studying examples of each, but I know it will stick with me now. After work, I decided to catch the 7:15 cycling class at the rec. The instructor and I got talking afterwards about triathlons and she's almost convinced me to do one here. It would be pretty difficult considering I didn't bring my bike or shoes, have never done an ocean swim, and don't have a car. Apparently, there are a couple triathletes that are regular in her classes so I might try to make friends with them...

Just internship tomorrow.

Designstreet and Rugby Night

The first two days of my internship may have been a little slow, but Wednesday was busy enough for both of them. I have to start at the beginning when I was picking out my clothes for the day. Usually I wear jeans and a top like everyone else in the office, but for some reason that day I decided to look a little nicer and wear a plain navy dress with a brown belt. I got to work and started reading emails. One was from Graham saying that he would be taking me to the city to visit with a client about a new project they had for us. Oh yes, I had one hour to brief myself with background information about their corporate card. I didn't really have time to get nervous. Thank the heavens I didn't wear jeans. Graham and I drove to the city and rode up to the 28th floor and met with Amanda. She told us all about their corporate card and the product they wanted to promote. I took notes like mad and tried not to say anything dumb.

Designstreet is only a creative boutique. We design the final artwork, not the campaign. So clients bring us in to execute their ideas. Ideally, I want to work one step ahead with the campaign planners, but this gives me insight into the creative side. Planners and creatives are two totally different personalities, so I'm learning how to interact with both.

Anyway, after our morning meeting, Graham wanted to swim over lunch break. He took me to this swim/gym/cafe place for corporate folks who want to escape during lunch. He swam while I frantically tried to read up on some background info. Then we went back to the office for another round of meetings to find out exactly what they wanted us to design. We'll be using their campaign strategy to make brochures, powerpoints, and pamphlets.

Thursday was class, class, class.

Tonight I went to my first ever rugby match!! Kevin, Raychel, Sam R. Tom, and I decided to cheer for the South Sydney Rabbitohs because they were the home team...and Russell Crowe was at the game cheering for them. I guess this game was a big deal because it was the 100th anniversary + the season opener. We were told it was a huge event and were expecting large crowds comparable to an NFL game. We got there two hours early, but I bet only 25,000 showed up to watch. I guess this is a nice sized crowd for them, but it was nothing like the attendance and rowdiness of our sporting events. It was cool to watch, and we started picking up on it by the end. For instance- unlike football, the team that scores starts the next play with the ball and they get 6 tackles before they give up the ball. Also, their field goals are kicked 20 meters back from wherever they crossed into the endzone. So sometimes they would kick diagonally from the sideline! That takes skill. The players are huge brutes that I would never want to meet in an alley. There is rugby league (which we went to) and rugby union. They have slightly different rules, and I think in union the players are even bigger and the rules (or lack of) are more barbaric.

Tomorrow, beach.

Workin' It

I finally started at DesignStreet! Yesterday (Monday) I started walking to my internship a little after 8am. My boss had been on vacation and didn't come in until 4, so they really didn't know what to do with me. All morning I read the manuals and learned the computer programs. It didn't take me long to realize that all those classes at Mizzou actually DID teach me something! Today was a little better. My boss, Graham, was still busy catching up from the week before so he couldn't do much with me, but Alex let me work on some jobs with her. Nothing exciting yet, just entering data into the computer. They did start me on answering phones- "Good morning, DesignStreet, Kristine speaking..." It wasn't so bad. They had me making phone calls to suppliers by the end of the day. Graham said this was their slowest week in a long time, so there should be more to do next week.

Everyone in the office except Graham and Dan are under 26 years old. I have a little office/large cubicle next to Brooke and Martin, the account managers, and they are constantly giving me songs to download and ideas of places to go. It's a pretty fun environment.

Not much to say today... Yesterday was rainy and I had class, which is probably good because it forced me to stay home and get some things done. I was able to sign up for fall classes at Mizzou and make reservations for the Whitsunday Islands. It rained all night. So today it was sunny and we tried a new beach called Coogee. It was small and had mostly locals so it was a nice change.

I know I haven't written in a few days, but there really hasn't been much going on. It's been tough the last few days, but somehow I've managed. Here is what I did....

Monday- Went to the beach with Alec and Beth. There's an funny story with Beth- we met her in the LA airport during our five hour layover and, by the end, felt like we'd known her our whole lives. She is studying in Brisbane so we invited her to stay with us any time she wanted to see Sydney. Welp, she called and said she was coming so she stayed with us for about 4 days. Anyway, we laid out at Manly for awhile, and then I decided to look at surf boards again. A half hour later I waltzed out of the shop with a board. Yep, I purchased one. It is white with a lime green logo and I chose hot pink board wax, so it looks pretty cool. Then I realized quickly that traveling during rush hour on the buses and trains with a surf board is difficult and you make enemies with everyone around you. I stood in the middle of the train holding onto my board for dear life.

Tuesday- Went to the beach with Raychel and Sam (roomie). We just sunned ourselves and found some pretty great gelato for the ride home. Gelato is a virtually fat free ice cream type of thing, and its texture is in between sorbet and ice cream. It's pretty popular here. Everyone is so health conscious here, and everywhere you go they have vegetarian options. Even when we went to Katrina's for the barbeque she asked if any of us were veggos. After the beach we just went home and I actually did a bit of reading for my history class. Oh, and we made a late night trip to the grocery store for brownie mix...

Wednesday- I decided I ought to have one more surf lesson with my new board so I wouldn't over-estimate my skill and kill myself. So Shayna, Shannon, and I (two of my roommates) scheduled a lesson from 9-11 am. Shayna also has her own board. We left the house at 7 am... what do most people do at 7 am? Go to work! Yes, yet again we were in rush hour on a bus with two surf boards and a bunch of people who clearly hated that we were in swimsuits while they were in work suits. We put the boards in the back and slowly the bus filled to capacity. Of course none of them were getting off at our stop so we had to try not to impale everyone on the way out. We missed the ferry, so we had to pay extra to ride the Manly Jet Cat, which is a very large speed boat that goes twice as fast as the ferry. Arriving at our lesson, we could tell the instructors doubted our ablility since we are beginners with our own boards. We just had to rip it up and prove them wrong. Shayna and I got pretty comfortable with our boards. I was able to learn to turn and ride the wave before it broke. I'm by no means a pro, but I definitely got over my buyer's remorse.

Today- So today was disappointing: I had class. Boo. No, actually I'm enjoying my classes so far. History is interesting, but I have several adults in my class taking continuing education, and they dominate the conversation. In my child psychology class we talked about corporal punishment today. Apparently, since I was spanked as a child I am probably aggressive and have a strained, if not non-existent, relationship with my parents. I can't wait to write my paper.

A few notes- Dad is coming to visit over spring break (April 21-26.) We will be touring Sydney for a few days and flying to the Whitsunday Islands up north. We have decided to definitely do the bridge climb and probably go skydiving. Yes, we will jump from a plane and freefall for 30 seconds before, hopefully, a parachute releases to save us. Nuts. Now that I have written that, Dad, you have to do it. He has always said he wanted to do it, so what better place.

Also- My internship officially starts next Monday at 8:30 am. I get to wear jeans to work, which is both pleasing and upsetting. I packed a TON of work clothes to now find that it was wasted space.

Oh, and if anyone wondered, the water does drain counterclockwise.

A Really Gay Day

Sydney's largest party of the year has over half a million in attendance. The main event- the annual Gay Mardi Gras parade. Yeah, this year it was the 30th annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. I've never been exposed to that sort of thing and apparently it is a big deal in Sydney, so we went. I would say it was primarily college kids there, all dressed to impress in neon colors and rediculous costumes. I wore a neon 80s looking day dress and felt stupid until I got there and saw the spectacle. Sam (roomie) and I took our lunches and sat in Hyde Park across from the bagpipe player, who had cheeks like a blowfish. We had to find a spot to watch from by 4 pm and the parade started at 7. There was every kind of gay group you can imagine in the parade, some would flaunt crazy costumes have dancing groups, while others just had a float and music. I wish I had taken some videos, because the pictures don't do it justice. It really was a good time because of all the energy, music, and free stuff they gave out. Most of it, like the drag queens, were hilarious, some of it was just disturbing. Anyway, I'm glad I did it once.

Today Sam, Raychel, and I went to Manly. Raychel has kept in touch with one of the surf instructors from camp so she had lunch with him, and I looked into buying a surf board. The instructor said they bought boards at cost so he could get one for me pretty cheap and send it back to town on a bus that picks up campers. Hmmm... we'll see if this actually happens.

I officially have my internship at Designstreet now and will hopefully start within the next week or two. My child psychology should be pretty cool, I have a lot of older women in my class for continuing education and our tests come directly from lecture. The Australian history class, on the other hand, will be a challenge. I'm partnered with a French guy for our tutorial presentation, and neither of us know anything about Australia coming in to it. A new perspective...

Cheers.