With Mary occupying my bed, I found myself curled up on several couch cushions from the common room sofas I'd placed on my floor, using my old Ventura College sweatshirt as a pillow, and sleeping underneath my favourite beach towel. (Surprisingly, I was quite comfortable using this sleeping arrangement - sofa cushions don't get nearly enough credit, LOL!) My trusty alarm clock was buzzing away underneath my bunched-up sweatshirt, cheerfully proclaiming the arrival of morning, and the noise of kookaburras, parrots, and lorikeets ("chirping" doesn't quite cut it when it comes to Aussie birds) filled my tiny room.

Balancing on my make-shift bed, I reached underneath my "pillow" and flipped the switch on the alarm clock, effectively silencing its enthusiastic and persistent beeps. I attempted to wake Mary from her deep, jet-lagged slumber.

"Oi, Mary. Mary? It's 7:30. 7:30, Mary?"

"Mmmmph."

The incredible thing was that she actually did sound exactly like that: "Mmmmph." I couldn't help it: I burst out laughing, lost what uncertain balance I had maintained on the sofa cushions, and tumbled into my desk, which really woke Mary up. A split second passed in which she quickly pieced the situation together before joining in my laughter. We took showers at lightning speed, talking and laughing over the shower walls and the noise of pouring water (or dribbling water, in my case...I was in the "evil" shower), dressed rapidly, and walked over to the A-Block dining hall for a bite to eat.

Back in my room and revived by granola, crumpets, and fresh fruit, we assessed our "plans" for the day: book tickets for the train from Sydney to Brisbane - which left a considerable amount of free time in which we could do...well, anything! So, we headed over to the Crown Street Mall for some browsing, and to purchase a couple gifts for Jim and Bev, the generous couple Mary knew in Brisbane who had insisted we occupy their two guest beds when they heard of our plans to vacation in Cairns.

After we'd determined a variety of jams, bikkies, and a bottle of wine would serve as thank-you gifts, Mary and I headed over to Gloria Jean's for a cup of coffee (Mary's) and a Chai Latte (mine.) Inspired by that environment generated by busy coffee shops (a blend of hustle, bustle, and chaos, and that vague sense of anonymity mixed in with strong notes of coffee bean and cinnamon sticks), we found a cozy corner and settled ourselves in for another long heart-to-heart, sipping our steaming cups of coffee/Chai at appropriate intervals.

Now, you may have thought that, after several hours of intense conversation at a Sydney cafe and the additional time spent catching up after we'd turned out the lights in my room at Weerona, we wouldn't have that much left to discuss. You would, of course, have been impressively wrong. :P Having been close friends from the tender age of zero (six months on Mary's part), and having maintained and strengthened that friendship over the next twenty-two years, four-and-a-half months of almost non-existent communication had accumulated a fabulous wealth of stories, experiences, dreams, and thoughts. We both understood that we'd be hard-pressed to talk enough over the next ten days if we wanted to cover all the material we'd acquired. :D

By the time the clock (make that my mobile) struck (displayed) 3 PM, we'd caught up on the activities of family and friends back home in the States, revealed future hopes, dreams, and ambitions, unraveled the mysteries of failed relationships, solved world hunger and determined how to achieve peace worldwide (never underestimate the power of two twenty-two year old women in a coffe-shop fueled by coffe/Chai!) We both decided that was enough for the time being and determined we'd better vacate the cozy corner for the use of other young women desperate for a good chat.

A short bus ride later, I was eagerly taking Mary for a tour around the university's campus, exploring classroom buildings, pointing out where the highly addictive Subway cookies could be found, and (of course) meeting the truly evil ducks that terrorize the campus. (Quite frankly, you haven't lived until you've experienced being chased across a green lawn by a large red-and-white duck intent on biting your jeans; this has indeed happened to me on more than one occassion, here. LOL!)

After I'd fulfilled my duties as tour guide, we walked back to Weerona so I could do a bit of packing. I was going to be changing buildings (moving from C to B Block) at the start of the next session, so I needed to package up my belongings into a few boxes (yes, sadly, I can fit most of my possessions into three medium-sized packages) before we left on our "Epic Adventure." Mary was wonderfully patient as I rolled posters, folded clothes, and piled books into my boxes.

Having fulfilled my packing obligations for the day, we wandered back over to the dining hall to satisfy our now rumbling stomachs (goodness knows the food could use a little "help" during the winter holidays, here: I have a distinct memory of Mary examining the food selection, pointing at a main course and inquiring in a perfectly serious though slightly concerned voice, "Is that alive??").

We figured the best way to spend the evening would be by destroying the few brain cells left over from my final exams by watching multiple movies in the TV Room and by consuming disturbing quantities of lollies, chocolates, and popcorn, so we took a short walk through the darkness to the video store in Gwyneville to pick out a couple films. Searching for The Princess Bride, we were horrified to discover Gwyneville Video actually doesn't possess this timeless classic, so we had to readjust our plans for the evening to watching Stardust and A Good Year.

We claimed the TV Rooom (well, OK, "claimed" is a little strong, seeing as there was almost no one left at college to actually be using the TV Room, LOL!), grabbed my doona, popped some popcorn, and got comfy for a quiet, chillaxed evening - just what the doctor ordered for battling jetlag or recovering from daunting final exams. :D

We didn't see another soul for almost the entire time we spent watching the movies, except until thirty minutes before the end of A Good Year when Philippe (one of the senior residents at Weerona) drifted in through the door, almost giving us a heart attack in the process...I'll admit, I may have screamed for a split-second, :) He'd heard the movie from the hallway, had cued in to the fact that the actors were speaking French (his native language) and had decided to check out what "the two crazy friends" were watching.

After socializing for a few minutes, Mary and I packed up the DVDs, sad bits of chocolate and lollies remaining, and my doona, called it a night,and retreated to our warm beds...well, Mary's bed, my sofa cushions.

*****

All-in-all, a good day. :D

July 1st, 2009

I groaned as the shrill ringing of my alarm clock pierced the quiet night at the ungodly hour of 4:57 AM. Surprisingly enough, I don't typically get up at 4:57 AM: under normal conditions, that time of the morning would find me bundled up under my doona (that's Aussie for a blanket, by the way), exploring Dreamland. Instead, I found myself crawling out from my warm bed, cringing against the cold as I sat at my computer and logged onto the University of Wollongong's student network, "SOLS." For some horrible reason, my STAT151 professor had arranged for tutorial enrollment to begin at 5:00 AM and, with a few hundred people attempting to score the perfect class time, it becomes a sort of competitive sport, with everyone trying to log onto the system at exactly 5:00:00 to get the choicest picks.

Unfortunately I discovered that my motor skills didn't exactly seem to function at their peak in the early hours of the morning. Precious seconds escaped as I struggled against my own fingers to type in my username and password so that, by the time I had logged onto the network, it was already 5:00:18; eighteen vital seconds had been lost, and (in that frighteningly brief amount of time), all the best classes had been filled.

C'est la vie. :)

*****

7:15 AM. Once again, my alarm clock rang out, trying valiantly to prove that volume has nothing to do with size. (No, seriously, this thing is barely the size of my palm and has such impressive vocal cords it could easily wake up an elephant!) This time, however, it was easier to abandon the heat of my bed: I had a train to catch!

I took a shower and dressed hurriedly, pulling on my favourite blue jeans, a black and silver t-shirt, and sliding my feet into my black Havaianas (a pair of Brazilian flip-flops with a sparkling crystal in the straps.) With a quick glance at the clock, I grabbed my leather shoulder bag and a colourful jacket and made my way off campus grounds, leaving my hair to dry at the whim of the wind and sun.

Walking briskly, I quickly found myself passing through the Wollong Tennis Club, Beaton Park (the large gym behind the Weerona campus), the Australian military base, and three or four residential neighborhoods before reaching North Wollongong Station. I ran up the ten steps to the platform, got a ticket from the ticketing machine, and waited approximately twelve seconds for the train bound for Central Station in Sydney to pull into the station.

*****

I love the train ride from North Wollongong to Sydney. It follows the sandy coastline for the majority of the hour and a half trip, only occassionally traveling smoothly inland to give you a glimpse of lush forests and greenery, bubbling streams and creeks, and the occasional waterfall.

Settled comfortably in my single seat, I studied the vibrant landscape as it flashed past my window. It's at times like these when I wonder how I finally ended up in such a stunningly beautiful, strange country...a place where frighteningly deadly (and large!) insects, bizarre mammals, unique land formations, and disarmingly gorgeous and friendly people call home. Regardless of all the twists, turns, and downright struggles I went through to get here, I truly am here...

Lost in my own thoughts, I was caught off-guard when the train conductor announced we had arrived at our destination, Central Station. I retrieved my bag and stepped out into the sea of people on the platform. A swift glance at the clocks overhead informed me that it was 9:45 and that I'd have to run if I make it to my connecting train (Mary and I had arranged to meet at Museum, a station located beside Hyde Park in the center of the city), so I negotiated my way as quickly as possible through the crush of people surrounding me and acquired a seat on the train bound for Museum.

9:56 AM: I arrived at Museum and went to meet up with Mary.

An hour later, I was still sitting beside the fountains in Hyde Park, waiting to rendezvous with my friend. Somehow or other (as always happens), we'd missed something during communications and had failed to meet up with each other. I figured the safest bet was to just stay in Hyde Park in the most obvious spot I could find and wait for her to either show up or call.

Just then, my phone began to ring.

"Hola?"
"Nikki! Where are you??"
"Hyde Park. Where the heck are you?"
"Hyde Park Cafe!"

"Two seconds."

One of the shorter conversations of my life, I think. ;)

A minute or so later and I was being hugged by one of my oldest and best friends.

*****

If you had flipped the fast-forward switch and had scanned ahead five minutes or so, you would have found Mary and I standing in the queue at Museum Station so we could purchase the all-powerful Red Pass, that amazing ticket that gives you access to almost every single bus, train, and ferry in Sydney City. Slipping my precious red ticket into my pocket, we tripped downstairs to the underground platforms at Museum Station and boarded the first train bound for Circular Quay beside the famous harbour.

"Where do we want to go?" Mary asked.

"Hop a ferry?" I suggested.

Which is what we did. We randomly picked a ferry (our only incentive was to find one that was leaving as soon as possible), and found ourselves walking across the gang-plank onto a ferry bound for Cremone Point. Feeling like movie stars (images from Titanic flashed simultaneously through our minds as we stood at the prow of the little ferry boat with our arms outstretched and the wind blowing in our hair, we navigated through the waters through Sydney Harbour, around to Cremone, and then back to dock at the harbour again.

We wandered nonchalantly around Sydney for the next hour or so, glancing into random shops, peering up mysterious alleys, and just taking in the sights. (Naturally, we took the obligatory photographs posing beside the Opera House, LOL!) We discovered the Nurses' Walk in The Rocks (a famous shopping district) where we found a lovely little cafe for lunch and settled down to have a good chat. We hadn't seen each other since I moved here to Australia, and (unfortunately) communication had been pretty minimal, so having the opportunity to just sit and talk was awesome. There was so much to catch up on (like the fact that she was moving to Argentina in a few weeks!!) that we must have sat in that tiny hide-away cafe for several hours.

Several cappuccinos, a few bikkies, and months of catching-up later, we realized the growing dark and decided we'd better relocate. So, we returned to exploring the city, drifted back to Circular Quay, made a stop at the Queen Victoria Building (one of the most impressive shopping malls I've ever experienced), climbed the steps outside the Opera House, looked at the Harbour Bridge shimmering with lights in the dusk,...that was when I realized just how much I love Sydney. :)

By this time, however, it was getting pretty late, and we needed to catch the train from Central back down to North Wollongong, so Mary and I made our way through various stations and platforms until we got to the YWCA where Mary had spent the last couple of nights. We battled our way through the crowds of people standing by the door (OK, so it was more like one or two stragglers, but that's winter for you in Sydney: kills the tourist season, LOL!) and retrieved her luggage from the luggage room.

We must have looked quite a pair as we maneuvered our way across streets, along sidewalks, and down various flights of stairs until we found ourselves back at Central Station. We had a little more than a twenty minute wait for the Wollongong train, so we made a quick stop at a cafe within the station for a hot cuppa and a few bikkies (or it may have been a couple of muffins, I can't remember, LOL!) before climbing onto the train, dragging our rather tired feet and several suitcases with us.

*****

The trip back to North Wollongong was uneventful, while the station was deserted when we arrived. Pulling Mary's suitcases behind me, I led the way back to Weerona, pointing out rather (un)interesting sights as we went,...of course, the fact that it was dark didn't really help as I did my best to show off bits of Wollongong, LOL! Oh well...

10:30 PM: It felt good to be home, after a long day out. My room was warm and comfortable, and Mary and I fell right back into a good conversation almost as soon as I had her settled in my room.

An added bonus to the day? Mary had come "bearing gifts," so to speak. My Mum and Dad had sent a few things from home with her to give to me: my very favourite-est vanilla chai tea (there simply are no words to explain how yum this tea really is. ;) It was a major contributor in helping me get through those first few months when I was sooo sick with my muscle disease thingy...if you've got to be stuck lying flat on your back in bed for ages, you may as well have some of the most delicious tea ever!), "real" ibuprofen (because, for some reason, the stuff they label as "ibuprofen" here doesn't do a thing to bring down my all-too-frequent fevers, help with my ever-recurring muscle issues, etc.), and last, but most definitely not least, a sweet letter from my Dad. (I love you, and miss you heaps, Dad! Hugs!)

End Day 1...sort of, LOL! Goodness knows how long we ended up talking late into the night...it most definitely wasn't the 1st anymore by the time we fell asleep. :P