wow.

this friday, october 19, marked the third month of our stay in australia. can i tell you how odd this is?

we have approximately two more weeks of school, then a week of student vacation--stuvac i'm not kidding when i say everything is shortened--which is like a calm before the storm for aussie students' last week before finals, but for us, it's a last hurrah. after that week, we clear out of here and spend a week in auckland, new zealand (3 hours ahead of sydney time). we've been told this final week is stressful. we expressed considerable dissatisfaction. then we make the big flight home to LA, i'll bounce back into arkansas around 7:00 pm US time, which is 4:00 am australia time and 1 am new zealand time. confused yet? me too. this site helps me somewhat.

someone asked me my favorite part of sydney today. the only answer i could come up with was that we have three weeks left here. it was also my least favorite part.

it stinks to be missing everything at once sometimes.

a word on cell phones! okay, all you prospective students. here's what i've learned about cell phones.

cell phone plans here are not great. at all. at home, you can walk into a wal-mart and pick up a prepaid cell phone for twenty bucks. not so here. many of us have paid $60-80 AUD for the hardware, and varying amounts for recharging our accounts. personally, i am using a phone a previous ASC student left. i had to purchase a SIM card, which was only $15-20 and came with a bit of phone credit on it. since then, i have purchased two $30 account charging cards, which will probably last me through the end of my time here. however, i don't use it much and only for emergencies or courteous moments-- i don't call up people just to chat normally. $30 is the lowest increment the charge comes in. cell phones are not necessary by any means--i know some people who love not being tied to their technology and get by fine and happy without one, but if you're prone to getting lost or love meeting up with people (who also have cell phones, which our group does), than it's probably a good call (pun intended!).

some sites to check out for research are telstra, vodaphone, and yes optus. mine is a telstra, and i'll leave the actual phone here with the interns so someone else can use it, but you've got to get your own SIM card. buy that here. i don't know how those things work internationally. happy hunting!