Week 6!

I know I say this at the start of every blog, but I truly cannot believe I've now been here for a month and a half. I'm also now starting Week 5 of class. In Uni, you don't really get dates for classes, but it will be told that you will have a test in Week 5, or a paper due in Week 9, or the fact that Week 13 ends the semester. This past week has been a big transition week for me, and I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. First of all, I've realized that in the past two weeks I've had a ton of fun, but sort of lost site on a lot of my goals and reasons why I'm studying abroad. I was brought back to reality yesterday after a talk with Amanda. I realized yesterday that in the past two weeks I hadn't accomplished any of my major goals or top 25 list. This was the reality check that I needed, and I realized that a major problem is in the past two weeks I've been staying in my comfort zone. In the first four weeks, I was not at all, and I think that it was probably a natural progression to get back into it. But now that I'm aware, I'm bouncing straight back out, and I want to thank Amanda for helping me realize this. For example, goal #8. I've been hanging out so much with the NU group lately, and I really enjoy being with them all, but I can hang out with them in Boston in the fall--I need to focus on being in Australia. Then goal #2--I haven't been going on my long walks alone, so I need to truly get back into that (which I did today, but I'll talk about that later.) Goal #10--Staying away from technology. This is difficult since I am in school, and need to go on e-mail and "MyUni" but I've decided I'm going to go for a whole week without going onto facebook. This is inevitably going to be a challenge, but I know I can do it. It's hard to admit that you see yourself falling away from your goals, especially in a blog, but I think it's important for me to write it, so I can look back on it, and know that I've moved forward. So with that said, I'll focus on what I've done the past couple of days.
Friday was a great day, Laura, Brian, Justin and I went to Manly Beach. I was going to rent a surf board, but the waves were a bit too big for me that day, so I relaxed on the beach with Laura! Afterwards we went to this Gourmet Burger joint, and I had the most delicious burger, with Brie cheese, and all the fixings, as well as delicious fries with herb aioli sauce. YUM! Saturday was relaxing, and I got some homework done, and then I went to the Saturday Night Vigil Mass in honor of a good family friend, Annie Cavallaro, who passed away this past week. Although I'm not very religous, I really found the Mass beautiful and very peaceful. Saturday night Laura and I stayed in and watched Happy Feet and What Women Want. A very necessary way to spend a Saturday night. I did get some major insomnia, so I ended up working on my study guide for my Cell Bio test this week until 3am. Today (Sunday) I continued to study until about 2, and then went out walking, in order to do some of my Top 25! I went to Centennial Park (I'll post pictures later) and it was really awesome! It reminded me a big of Central Park, and there were various ponds and I even found some really cute pelicans and black swans. I then walked up through Paddington, which is a cute suberb with terraced houses lining the streets. The most "exciting" part of the day though, was when I was hit by a car. Don't worry, I'm okay, but it was very scary! I was walking across the road, with the walk signal, and the cars had a red light, but one car decided to start to make a turn without looking. He banged right into my knee brace, which actually ended up being my saving grace. I jumped up into the air a bit, but it hit so perfectly on the hard hinge of my brace, that it was pretty miraculous, and without it, my knee would have been likely crushed. It's hurting now, but not too much more than it usually does, and it could have been so much worse, so I'm fine!
Once I got back to Unilodge, I made dinner and did some more homework, and then a group of us watched Taken. It was a great movie, but pretty scary, since it was so real (at least parts of it). Today instead of my first goals, I'll list out my Top 25 since I haven't yet, and show which I've completed, and what I must do next!..

Complete: Bondi Beach, Centennial Park, City Centre, Hyde Park Barracks, Manly, Museum of Sydney, Paddington, The Rocks, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney Aquarium and Darling Harbour, Sydney Harbour, Sydney Harbour National Park, Sydney Observatory, Taronga Zoo

To be Completed: Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australian Museum, Chinese Garden, Museum of Contemporary Art, National Maritime Museum, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney Harbour Bridge (Seen it, but have yet to be on it), Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney Opera House (haven't been inside yet), Sydney Tower and Oztrek, Vaucluse House.

I'm a bit more than halfway! This week looks pretty rainy, so it should be perfect for some of the museums. And now for my lessons;

#16: Do not lose site of your study abroad goals!

#17: Even if you have the walk signal, and there is a red light, there is a chance you will STILL get hit by a car!

Those are the big ones of the week! I'm so glad to be back on track, and that should definitely make for more interesting blogs! Until next time...