Hello all!

I know it's been quite some time since I've updated but I've been busy as usual. This past weekend was packed full of fun. On Friday I went to Manly Beach with a group of my friends and spent the day relaxing. We climbed up to "The Hole in the Wall", a tunnel made in the side of a cliff by the ocean, as the sun was setting. It was BEAUTIFUL and really peaceful. Then on Saturday my friend Tony and I went to Featherdale Wildlife Park and I got to pet kangaroos and koalas! I really wanted to bring them home with me but Tony wouldn't let me. Then on Sunday I went whale watching with one of the girls from work named Sarah. She's from Germany and is a bundle of fun. We had a great time whale watching even though it was rainy and really cold. We both survived without getting sea sick unlike some of the other passengers and saw about six whales and three or four dolphins! :) It was a great way to spend the day and discounted because we went through our internship at Captain Cook Cruises. Afterwards we had a coffee with our other intern friend Thomas and then went to the house he was house-sitting in the suburbs to have dinner and celebrate his last night in Australia. Thomas is also German and was heading back to Germany the next day. He might come visit me in the States though because he will be studying in Arizona. Monday was spent writing my 4,000 word research paper and was not nearly as exciting as the rest of the weekend.

Last weekend wasn't qutie as exciting because most of the interns went to Cairns or the Goldcoast and Byron Bay. I ended up staying home with Tony and watching an absurd amount of television. I did end up making some new friends and going out with them though. Sam, one of the other girls from our trip who lives across the hall from me, had two friends, Joel and Zack who had come to visit from the States so we met up at the Botanic Gardens on Friday and then went out with Thomas and Sarah afterwards. I didn't do much on Saturday but I did go out with the boys and their friend Lauren that night. For the most part Tony and I sat on the couch watching "The Big Bang Theory" which is hilarious. It was a pretty nice relaxing weekend though.

Other than that it has been the normal work, trivia nights, and going out with friends. I still haven't really made any Australian friends but I now have two German friends, Thomas and Sarah, and a French friend Flore, who is also an intern with us. We won 3rd place again at our last and final trivia night! I'm actually writing this as my final day of work is coming to an end. My paper has been submitted and I had my final presentation this morning. The only thing we really have left to do is an extremely early farewell breakfast tomorrow that no one really wants to go to, pack, clean, and squeeze in everything that we haven't done yet.

Tomorrow night I'll be going on a Dinner Cruise that my company gave me as a going away party with four of my friends. I may try to tour the Opera House this weekend if I can and I have to buy souvenirs for everyone.

I know I promised you all postcards and I have them and have most of them written but I'll have to send them from the United States. It's so expensive to send postcards from Australia to the United States and I have so many to send that it would cost me over $30 to send them all. Unfortunately many of them were written quite a while ago but I suppose you'll just have to use your imagination. Sorry!

I hope you've enjoyed reading my blog even though I haven't been the best about updating it. My experience has been absolutely amazing and wouldn't be possible without many of you. I'm not looking forward to leaving even though there are a lot of people back home I miss and would like to see again. There's so much that I still haven't seen or experienced yet and it will be sad to leave all the new friends I'm just starting to get to know. Hopefully I will be able to come back again someday but until then I'll have to find some imitation Tim Tams and mix my lemonade and sprite to make fake Solo.

Until I see you again, Peace, Love, & Tim Tams