Moving out

I am sure that it surprises no one, but I am officially retiring this blog. Please seek me out at http://gradmuppet.livejournal.com/ if you care to read on.

And it's Friday the 13th...

So my knee is improving, albeit painfully slowly. I think I'm going to try walking on one crutch today, as I don't need to be on my feet all that much. In other news, I'm taken on the responsibility of directing/producing (with much help) this year's production of The Vagina Monologues. I'm so excited. Meetings and auditions will be happening before too long, but the bulk of the work comes in Jan., when we really get all our shit in shape for a Feb. two day run. School's going fairly well, and my learning community heads to the Franklin Institute for an exhibit on Darwin next weekend (so I really hope I can walk, because none of these freshman signed up to be pushing their mentor on a wheelchair or waiting as she hobbles around). That's pretty much my story, folks. Catch ya on the flip side! Cheers.

I have SO been better...

So the last few weeks have been busy as hell, so blogging just hasn't happened. This past weekend I was dreadfully sick, and then on Tuesday I fell and banged up my already not-so-good knee. I am now in an imobilizer, on crutches, and experiencing a fairly significant amount of pain. I wish I had better news to report! Oh, but I did get invited to join PSI CHI (the psychology national honors society, of course I said YES!), so that's good. Ok, I'm gonna go hit the pain killers. Cheers.

Getting in the swing of things

Hey all, so far classes are going pretty well. ID Science (science for non-science majors), aside from being WAY TOO EARLY, shouldn't be too challenging. My other classes seem tough but interesting, especially the ones for my major. In addition to my classes, I am also tutoring in the Education Enhancement Center, Peer Mentoring for a freshman psych class (for 1 credit), and serving as Secretary of Hillel. I think that's it...for now.

Still waiting for suggestions as to what should replace the "Aussie word of the day"

P.S., Moment of silence for Steve Erwin, ya'll. Thank you.


Cheers! Maddy

This is the orientation song...if you know the words, then sing along...

Needless to say, I returned safely home from Australia. I have now returned to school in PA (Arcadia for any of you oddballs who didn't know...) I am sorry for not updating all summer, but I was busy selling knives (working for CUTCO) and catching up with my boyfriend, family, and friends. Things are going fairly well, and as I mentioned while still in Australia, I do intend to keep this blog up and running while at school. There will likely be lapses during the times I return home, but by all means stay tuned. Anyway, I am once again an orientation leader, and the new students arrive tomorrow, so I'm gonna hit the sack. Just wanted to let you all know that I was back, and to let you know that I intend to continue to post. Cheers all...I need to think of something to replace the Aussie word of the day...any ideas?

It's the most poisonous snake in the world...I'm gonna poke it with a stick!

Aussie word of the day: Ripper - awesome, great, superb

"Where there's food, there are mice. Where there are mice, there are snakes. And where there are snakes there's Steve Irwin."

Just a couple of days left in this country, and then we go on home. Corissa and I decided that we really didn't have the money for the Gold Coast, as all there really is to do there is shop and tan. Instead we went to the *CRIKEY* Aussie Zoo, which, if you don't already know, is owned by Steve Erwin and his family (it was founded by his parents). It's been raining here, which it's barely done since the second or so week. My theory is that Brisbane is sad to see us go, but in reality it probably has more to do with the horrible storms they're getting farther up the coast. Tomorrow and Friday will pretty much be study, work-out, and packing centered, with Sat. consisting of my final followed by some quality friend time. Abdul decided that he's going to drive Andy and myself to the airport, so that's cool. Alrighty, it's sleepy time for this little Muppet...cheers, and I'll see many of you, my faithful readers, pretty darn soon!

Home in a WEEK!!

Aussie word of the day: kufuffle - a commotion (I just love how it sounds!)

So on Friday, I had the very worst migraine I've ever had in my life...right in the middle of my research methods final! I felt so sick I was rushed over to health services, given a shot of some anti-nausea med (in my BUM!), and then, once I could stomach it, given some hardcore, knock-me-on-my-ass painkiller. Not sure what it was, but it did the trick...at least for a while. The migraine improved, but has continued to linger in some capacity even into today, a bit. Sat. I was a bit better and so I joined Corissa for lunch. I was not, however, anywhere near up to a treck to the Gold Coast, so we postponed until Wed. Yest. Samantha and Jess decided that the solution to all my woes was to take me for a gluten-free italian meal. Let me tell you, garlic prawn and gf penne pasta solves a lot! Heh. That evening I cooked Indian for the two of them, as well as myself and Andrea of course, and then I joined Sam, Jess, and their friend Tim for bowling. Over four games, I scored 85, 84, 75, and 85...not too bad for a girl who hasn't bowled in 9 or so years. We each played one practice frame before the game began, and I bowled a strike. I then proceeded not to bowl anything better than a spare the rest of the night. Such is life. It was far more fun than I expected, however, so I may even go again before another 9 years passes. Today I'm taking it easy and studying. Joy is going to come over tomorrow for a serious study pow wow. I can't belive that I'll be home this time next week...

Oh, and HAPPY FATHERS DAY, ALL! Cheers.

13 days!

Aussie word of the day: Aroona - Aboriginal word for "spring water," name brand of a bottled water

Well, I just finished my last paper of the semester, which will be turned in tomorrow. Now there's just two tests to go, and then I'm outta here! I have mixed emotions about leaving, as I think I've said before, but all in all I feel that I've done pretty much everything I wanted to (except see NZ, but Josh and I have hopes of going there someday). I'd certainly rather go home than take finals! Big shock. Tomorrow evening, Arcadia is hosting a farewell dinner for all of us, so that should be fun. Then again, this late in the semester, anything promising free dinner is fun. Hehe. In all seriousness though, it will be nice to catch up with some of the people I've barely seen since orientation. Other than that I have a few minor social events planned, and by minor I mean having some folks over for dinner and a possible bowling night, to finish off my time here. Oh, and Corissa and I are probably gonna do a day trip to the Gold Coast on Saturday, as she still hasn't been there, and it would be a shame for her to miss out on something so fun that's so close (about an hour train ride). It's really time for me to get some shut-eye, so I'm gonna wrap this up. Cheers!

Aussie TV is, how do you say...TERRIBLE

Aussie word of the day: dunny - toilet (often a porta-potty)

It's the home stretch, with only 1 paper and 2 finals to finish in two-and-a-half weeks. There will likely be another day trip to the Gold Coast with Corissa, but my the bulk of my adventures are over. I've finished my shopping for everyone, too, which is such a blessed feeling! Naturally I'm spoiling my boyfriend and God-daughter, but everyone else is getting pretty cool stuff as well, so fear not. :-)

Ok, that's all I had to say. Hehehe.

Woohoo, last week of classes!

Aussie word of the day: bikkie - cookie or cracker

I am half way through the last week of classes! Hooray! I had a neuroscience quiz today that was far easier than the last one (thank goodness). Other than that, I have a paper due in two weeks and two finals spread out over the rest of the time I'm here. I can't believe my trip is almost over! Weird...I feel like I got pretty much everything done that I wanted to, however, so I'm ready to come home with gifts and stories aplenty. I'm going to go enjoy my first homework-free Tuesday night in ages. Cheers!

Why aren't I sleeping?

Aussie phrase of the day: threw a wobbly - to get overexcited over something, to throw a "shit fit"

Don't you hate it when people read a book and then complain about the movie that is based on it? Too bad. The Da Vinci Code was whack. I understand that some things had to be changed for the sake of screen, and I accept that. HOWEVER, there were many changes that needn't have been made, and for those who have read the book, they proved wildly irritating. I won't give examples as I'm sure many of my readers (do I have "many"?) haven't seen the movie yet. Let me say this: if you've read the book, prepare to be frustrated. If you haven't read the book, prepare to be confused and often bored. Strong acting, poor plot adaptation in many ways. Ian McKellen stole the show, I must say. LOVED him as Teabing, as I expected I would. Still not sure how I feel about Hanks as Langdon, but he did a pretty good job, I must admit.

In other news, there's one more week of classes, and then revision week and finals. It's really nearing the end here, folks. I think I'm going to keep up this blog once I return home though, as I've gotten fairly fond of it. Don't expect entries to be anywhere near as exciting from Cali or PA, of course...ok, it's ridiculously late and I finally got my friends out of my apartment...I'm going to sleep! Cheers!

My weekend in the Whit.

Aussie word of the day: chunder - vomit, puke, chuck, etc.

So on Thursday, Corissa and I flew to Airlie Beach, which was lovely but a fairly small (read: one street bisecting one street) . We checked into Southern Cross sailing as soon as we arrived, and then checked into the YHA hostel around the corner. The following hours consisted of shopping in the few stores that looked promising (I picked up a lovely sarong), eating yummy seafood (and drinking crappy sangria), engaging in a failed pursuit of girly drinks, a walk along the teenie tiny beach, etc. The night ended fairly early, as there really wasn't much to do ("we're having dinner at 5, I feel like an old person..." - Corissa). We pretty much just chilled at the hostel, with a brief run for ice cream (I had strawberry, but would you believe that this place sold BEETROOT ice cream? Eww...) and a night time beach jaunt.

Check out was at 10 the next morning, and then we retraced our shopping steps of the day before (there were that few shops), had lunch, and met up with the bus that was to take us to the boat ("Boomerang") at 1:30pm. The ship was small and cozy, with a fantastically crazyfun crew of 4. Bretto the skipper, Benny the deck-hand, Megs the host/cook (who provided much gluten-free numminess for me!), and Dave the Slave (volunteer). The cast of characters who were taking the trip included three Irish girls, two Israeli girls, a group of four Scots, a couple of English folk, a girl from Chili, a few German, Norwegian, and Danish guys, a Canadian, and the two U.S.ers that were me and Corissa (I think that was everyone...). The ship was so small that Corissa and I had to share a bunk, but since nearly all our time was spent on deck, it didn't matter all that much.
The whole cruise took 2 days, 2 nights, and included two snorkel dives, a trip to Whitehaven Beach, and much gorgeous sailing.
We were supposed to be able to go scuba diving as well, but the boat for that never showed up. That was a huge bummer, but what can ya do? Saturday morning, we were awoken by ACDC music being blasted at 7am. Did I mention that Corissa and I had a speaker right over our bunk? Not so fun...I also got seasick on the deck twice that day, but didn't let it ruin my fun. What they say is true, better out than in! All in all, quite a cool experience, and the reef is amazing. I saw a billion fish, and even an eel! No turtles though.
Sunday we docked at 10ish am, and disembarked. We were filthy, salty, sweaty, tired, and gross, but we all headed to the pub an hour later for the "after-party" before people took off in their various directions.
Most people were spending the night in Airlie, so they showered and whatnot, but as Corissa and I were flying home that afternoon, we just grabbed some lunch (which I now know was wheat-laced...as I'm wheat-sick today). We grabbed a celebratory drink with the rest of the gang. As we were walking out of the path/driveway, I got hit by a car. Seriously, a car backing (thankfully very slowly) out of the lot hit me in the butt with it's bumper. No damage, but not cool, either. I shouted something inaudible, and then, along with the Canadian (who, as it turns out, was on our flight to Brisbane), we headed to the tiniest airport that I have ever seen. I kid you not, the parking lot was bigger than the entire airport. Two terminals, two x-ray machines...and the waiting area was mostly outside. We got on the plane from the tarmac. Good times. Take-off was then delayed an HOUR thanks to some issue over an elderly passenger's O2 tank. When we finally landed in Brisbane, we had missed the last airtrain (the train from the airport to the city) by 8 freaking minutes! Why does it have to stop running at 7:31pm on Sundays???!?!? We ended up just getting a cab, as we were WAY too tired to deal with figuring out the bus situation by then. It turned out not to be a total loss, as our cabbie (Matt) was a chill dude who played Metallica (and told me he was wearing a Metallica shirt under his work shirt) and discussed sub-culture social theory with me. The people you meet, man. We finally got home in the area of 8something, split off to our own apartments, and conked out. Well, that's not entirely true, because if you know me, you know I had to unpack first. Yeah, it's a sickness. I felt so much better after showering though, I cannot even explain. The wheat-reaction had already set in, which sucked, and remained in the form of headache, dizziness, exhaustion, and low fever today. Blah. I'm a bit better tonight, but I think I'm gonna just eat some soup and go to sleep really early. My sociology workbook is all I really have to do this week (do Wed.), so I can afford an early night. Ok, that's about it...Cheers

Just a quick check-in between adventures

Aussie word of the day: lolly - sweets, candy

Happy (belated) mothers day to all, and a shout-out to my mom, the birthday lady. Happy birthday, lady! Anyway, I'm off to the Reef this weekend, so I just thought I'd give a quick "hi" and "bye" before I left. That's about it, so cheers!

Didn't think I'd do it, didja?

Aussie phrase of the day: piece of piss - an easy task (i.e. "getting her to join us was a piece of piss")

Guess what I did Sunday? You'll never guess, so I'll just tell you. I jumped out of an airplane at 14,000 feet while strapped to a guy named Steve. Yes, ladies and gents, I, your very favorite Muppet, went skydiving. It was incredible!! One of the scariest and most amazing things I've ever done. Some friends and I went to Byron Bay this past weekend, and other than skydiving just took it easy in the little beach town.

Next weekend, as I've mentioned, it's off to the Great Barrier Reef. I wish I could just skip my classes and get straight to the weekend, but at least there isn't too much going on this week other than a neuroscience assessment. Ok, I'm gonna study for that a little more and then hit the sack. Cheers!

6 weeks to go...

Aussie word of the day: Esky - cooler

Well, all but one workbook, one novel, one paper, two quizzes, and two finals are done. Gee, writing it like that, it looks like a lot more left to do than it seemed like in my head. Ah well. This weekend I'm off to Byron Bay with some friends, and next weekend it's up to the Witsunday Islands with Corissa. Right now I'm nursing my bad knee, as I went a little hard on it in the gym this week and it's protesting loudly. Ok, that's about it for now, just felt like giving a little update. Cheers!

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, OY, OY, OY!

Aussie word of the day: Rugby - game of the Gods

Went to a rugby game with Corissa tonight, which was entirely awesome. Australia beat New Zealand 50-12! Amazing game, though I don't claim to understand it all. The guys wear no padding, but surprisingly only two throughout the game had to be removed from the field due to injury (and only one of those two on a stretcher...he so got a concussion.) Anyway, it was very cool. That's pretty much the news from my camp for the moment. This weekend, for a change, brings with it school work galore. I am so jealous that Arcadia is wrapping up! Ah well, not too much longer, and I'm going to the Whitsunday Islands in a couple weeks to check out the reef, so I've got that to look forward to. Sleep time, now that I've seen to the needs of my Cinco-de-Mayo'ed roomie. Cheers!

You know you're roomie is homesick when she downloads and blasts her Alma Mater (Penn State)

Aussie word of the day: Akubra - wide-brimmed hat made popular by Crocodile Dundee

So my sociology paper finished up with a resounding 2,390 words. (assigned range was 2,200-2,500 words, to those who care). And I finished tweaking my stats project. Good things both, as they are both due tomorrow. I also finished my Gender/Postmodern book on Sat., and gave a fabulous seminar for which my paper is due next Tuesday. All that's left to conquer this week is an itty-bitty group oral presentation on O.C.D. on Thursday, and then it's smooooooooth sailing, with a reduced load of generally only one thing due a week (as opposed to this week, which killed).

My weekend, aside from the heavy pressures of school work, was fairly decent. I went out for Yum Cha (Dim Sum) with Corissa, Sam and Jess, and of course since we were in the city, we had to do a little shop-browsing. Queen St. typically has live performances by no-name cover bands on weekends, so we weren't surprised by the music blasting as we walked...we were, however, surprised by the huge throngs of people and added security. We took refuge in Lush (a natural bath/body products store that I LOVE), and glanced out from the doorway to see what all the hubbub was about. The band was none other than that of Russell Crowe. No wonder there was extra security...

Sunday Corissa and I made an appearance and what was supposed to be one of Brisbane's biggest events, the Seafood and Wine festival. What we found was a strip of overpriced kiosks hocking Beer and Fish & Chips. We booked fairly fast, though not before eating some of the very hard to find non-fried food. She had prawn skewers, and I had a lovely seafood pillow. The prices were fairly obscene, but at least the food was good. I guess we were both just spoiled, as we were expecting something akin to a New York or Monrovia street fair, and were left very disappointed.

Anyway, I'm off to enjoy some leisure reading, something I haven't gotten to do in ages. Cheers!

*head explodes from stress*

Aussie word of the day: Onya - Well Done, shortened form of "Good On You."

Man, one more month of classes (followed by a month of study and exam time) and they are PILING on the work. I can barely breathe, so if it takes me a while between posts, please forgive me. For example, we had Tuesday off to celebrate ANZAC day. How did I commemorate the brave and the fallen? 5 1/2 hours of stats project. Oh the soldiers would be so proud. At least we (me and my study group) got it done. That leaves me with a 200 page book to read and write a seminar paper about, and a major (10 page) sociology research paper to write. Oh yeah, no fun for Muppet this weekend. I did manage, in honor of having a 2-day houseguest (a friend I made on the road, girl named Sari), to check out the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary on Wednesday (my reward for Tuesday's labors). It was amazing! Totally made my trip to cuddle with a koala (see my profile picture). And now, at the request of a few folks, some pictures from my various travels.
In front of the Sydney Opera House
That's the Three Sisters behind meCorissa and Me at a lookout point (Mrs. somethingorother's Chair)
Making friends with Kanga and Roo at Lone Pine

Cheers!

Awesome trip...soooooooo tired

Aussie word of the day: Hooroo - bye (informal)

I might as well start from the beginning. The flight to Sydney was uneventful, and when we arrived we checked into the Blue Parrot hostel, which was absolutely lovely. Nice, clean, small, friendly, much better than some of the backpacking horror stories I've heard from friends. Once we got settled, we walked around the city and had dinner. The following day (Sat.) we traveled the city on a narrated tour bus, and took a tour of the gorgeous Sydney Opera House. I took pictures (where I was allowed to) and will post them once I get them all uploaded to my computer. We also did some shopping, including Corissa finding a stunning Aussie opal pendant for herself. That evening we hit up the Aquarium. Getting home was an adventure in and of itself, as we ended up walking across most of the city in search of the right bus, only to find ourselves near enough to the hostel to just finish the trek on foot. Sunday we did more city exploring, and then set to the evening bridge climb. Once in a lifetime experience, let me tell you! The view from the top was incredible. Monday we went on a Hunter Valley vineyard tour and wine tasting, which was lovely. I actually liked a few of the wines! The chocolate tasting at the end was the best part, though. That took pretty much the entire day. Tuesday we briefly visited the Sydney Jewish/Holocaust Museum, and then boarded our train to the Blue Mountains. The hostel there was...in a word? Sketchy. The place itself was nice, clean, spacious, but some of the folks living there (yes, living there, there were some fairly permanent residents) were pretty freakin' weird. Corissa jokingly slept with my new mini digeredoo just below her bed, just in case someone broke in. The town itself was tiny and fairly dull. We did manage to have a good time when we took a tour bus to a place called Scenic World, which included two sky lifts, several walking paths, and a train ride through and over the mountains and next to the rock formation The Three Sisters. Again, I took tons of pictures, which I will upload soon. I also found myself a gorgeous (and inexpensive!!) Aussie opal ring. It's a good thing we only spend two nights there, however, because we would have gotten bored of the rest of the town pretty quickly. All in all the trip was very enjoyable, and chock full of adventure (of various kinds). This weekend will hopefully bring some concentrated R&R, as I'm fairly exhausted from it all. We walked so much that I hardly feel that I missed out on anything being away from the gym a week! Much love to all and whatnot. I hope all is well with everyone (if it wasn't, I'd probably have heard about it!) I promise I'll finish my website soon, but between pesky schoolwork and then my trip, it sorta fell to the bottom of the list. Cheers!

P.S. There IS no Wallaby Way! Damn it.

Sorry I've barely, this week's been busy as hell

Aussie word of the day: Winge - whine, complain, bemoan

So, this week I tried kangaroo sausages (kanga bangas). That's right, devoted readers, Australia is the only 1st world country that eats it's national animal. So I had to try them, right? They are...chewy. I'm gonna stick with my all-beef hot links from here on in.
In other news, I lost another 1/2 kilo, and I finally found a pair of jeans that fit both my hips and my wallet. They are an Aussie 10, which is about a U.S. 6. I'M A SIZE 6! You heard me.
I leave for Sydney TOMORROW! Can't wait can't wait can't wait. I promise to take tons of pictures, but I may not be able to post them until I get back (no idea what my internet access will be like.)
Happy Pesach to those to whom it applies, I went to a seder at a local synogogue, which was nice. Small, but nice. Turns out a guy who's also here with Arcadia (but goes to Penn State) was there, too. I didn't even know he was Jewish.
Ok, well I need to go get packed, so I'll leave you at that. Night all!