Blackmores Half Marathon

At the starting line

Mid-race

 This morning I woke up at the buttcrack of dawn and ran in the Blackmores Half Marathon in Sydney. It was so cool! We ran across the Harbour Bridge, through the Botanical Gardens, through the Rocks, and finished at the steps of the Opera House. I ran it with two of my guy friends from Campus East, they both beat me, but we all were able to run the whole thing so it was a success! My friend Daniel (red shirt) ran at a slower pace with me for most of it because he has had some knee troubles recently and we had a great time singing and taking pictures...oh yeah, and running too. Unfortunately, my tendonitis in my knee came back towards the end...my body is always up to something.

The event was huge, there were 7,000 people running in the half marathon alone, and there was also a full marathon, a bridge run, and a family fun run. I believe there were around 35,000 people participating in all. The whole city seemed to revolve around it for a day. Streets were shut down all over and a lot of the buses stopped their routes for the morning. We did get some perks for participating, public transportation was free for the day and they loaded us up with goodie bags in the recovery area after we finished. All in all I am really glad I did it!

One more week of classes then we have mid-session break and I am off to New Zealand!  Yeehaw!!

Finishing...WOOT!

Melbourne

 1. I like dinosaurs.

2. Saw these in a cool little store. Makes me want to bake some kick-ass cookies. (haha get it??!)

 3. My cousin, Hayley. See the family resemblance?

 4. Finally saw some Kangaroos! They were hanging out on the race track at Hanging Rock. Apparently, last year they had to stop a race because there were too many of them on the track.

 5. My new boyfriend.

 6. Ocean Grove...can never go to too many beaches. 

7. Never too old to play!

Sydney Harbour Cruise

 This past weekend I went on a cruise around Darling Harbour with the rest of the crew from Campus East. They set up the cruise and entry into a club afterward, but it was up to us to get there and find our own places to stay. A few of us took a train up early in the day on Saturday and spent the day at Bondi Beach. The photo on the left is from the train ride up. It got pretty silly, it was one of those days when anything anyone says is funny. My abs were sore by the time we got there from laughing so much. Anyway, my friends Kim and Sonya and I got ready at my friend's place in Bondi and planned to meet all the boys at the harbour. Of course, we didn't know exactly how to get there so we got thoroughly lost and ended up having to run full out (in dresses, carrying our heels) all the way around the harbour to get to the right dock. They said before hand that if we weren't on board right at 6 that the cruise would leave without us and we really didn't want to miss it! Go figure, we got there late and the boat still wasn't even there. Oh well, at least we looked really classy running around and then we were nice and glistening (sweaty) by the time we got there. I only added the photo of us on the train before we had to run because that's when we looked our best. (See Mr. White, I DO have female friends!)

The harbour looked beautiful all lit up at night. We cruised past the Opera House and under the Harbour Bridge. It was quite a sight! The next day we were lazy at the beach again. It seemed silly to move when the weather was perfect and the beach was only about a hundred meters from the front door. 

This week has been mellow so far, I have been working on a couple of assignments, but I haven't had any class so I really can't complain. Tomorrow afternoon I am flying to Melbourne for the weekend to see my Uncle Dave & fam. Can't wait!

Study Bug

I have had a presentation, a paper and 3 tests (2 down, 1 to go) in the last week. They have all gone well so far, but I sure am tired of studying! I figure there was no reason not to share the boring bits along with my adventures. I want to prove to y'all that I actually am going to school, not just romping around all the time. I even have photographic proof, this is me in the library...on a Saturday! Seems like it should be illegal. I do have an entire week off from school next week though, the psychology department gives us a "research week". I think I shall research cheap flights to Melbourne.

Black Tailed Seagulls

A couple of weeks ago I went to the beach with my friend Jack in between classes. We went for a swim and sat out in the sun for a bit. While we were sitting, a few seagulls waddled past. They all had black on their tails, like the one above. Jack, imparting his Aussie wisdom, told me that the ones with the black tails are actually slower than the ones whose tails are all white. Being as gullible as I am, I sat there for a solid 10 minutes watching these birds trying to decide if I could catch one. It made me think of when Ben and I used to (and by used to, I mean we definitely still do) chase lizards. Then one time we caught one and didn't know what to do with it. I couldn't decide if I wanted to chase this bird because I didn't think I would want to actually catch it. It's a good thing too, because it turns out Jack was just pulling my leg. Not only do all seagulls here have black on their tails, they are definitely not slow enough to catch. Jack : 1 Jessie : 0

Mt. Keira

I have been on a hiking craze. I have conquered Mt. Keira 3 times in the last week, and have plans to go again on Saturday. The trailhead is just up the road from the bus stop at Uni and it only takes a couple hours, so it is very accessible and convenient. I went the first time with an Aussie friend who regularly runs up the trail. I will not running anytime soon, but we are planning to do it weekly along with another one  of my roommates. In addition to climbing with them, I have been dragging my fellow Americans up with me when I can. We had a group of 10 last Saturday and a few more who want to do it this Saturday. It was extra fun with the Americans because we stopped a lot to take cheesy pictures. Prime example above. The photo on the right is from a bonfire that we had on the beach last weekend. It was put on by a bunch of people from Campus East (which is where I live) so it was close and very mellow. My friend Zack (in the photo) is studying at Sydney Uni and came down for the weekend to hike and hangout. He's a cool kid. 

School has been going well. I am getting to the point where I actually need to start writing papers, studying for tests and preparing presentations. That being said, I spent half of my day today surfing and hiking and only had to go to class for a little over an hour. Life's rough...Tomorrow will be a homework day. This weekend there is another rugby game and some other UCSB girls are coming down to see it, so I am going to do all my hw before they get here! 

I am busy most of the time, but I do think about home a lot! I seem to miss random things on any given day. Yesterday, I really missed my bike. Transportation is easy here though, there is a free bus that does a big loop around Wollongong, cheap train rides for students, and a couple of my friends have cars. Also, most things are within reasonable walking distance. 

Ok, I already showed him, but this last photo is for Ben. Between you, Sam, and me we might have the whole world covered eventually! 

"Tell Me Your Life Story"

So, this one is for Grandmom. Just a bit of background for everyone else: I share a genetic trait with Grandmom in that we both seem to walk around with a sign on our foreheads that reads "tell me your life story". We both seem to end up having conversations random strangers that feel a need to tell us more about themselves than we ever need to know.

That being said, the other day I got off of the bus to go to a friend's place and a large, possibly toothless woman started talking to me while we waited for the light to change at the crosswalk. She saw my phone and started rambling away asking if I have bluetooth because she would really like some new ringtones for her own phone. She then proceeded to play for me all of the ringtones that she did have on her phone. I'm not sure why this particular traffic light took so long to change, but it clearly was not on my side. My friend was also not helpful, he turned and walked away because he was laughing too hard. Apparently, he has little experience with strangers at the bus stop. The combination of the Aussie accent and no teeth made it very difficult to understand her, but I did find out that her name was Cheryl.