It's almost time to leave!?

So I'm actually surprised at the impossibility of finding internet around here. I pretty much pass out as soon as my head hits the pillow every night, which doesn't do me so well when I wake up in the morning at 6 and can't fall back asleep...

Thursday we went to wine country with good ol' Smoky. He's the same guy that took us through the Blue Mountains. We had no real mishaps in the morning... we ran to the train station again. The mishaps happened more the night before. We were going to be changing rooms on Thursday, but since we were going to be gone before reception was open and we weren't going to get back until like, 9 at night, we needed to put all of our stuff in storage and get a locker for all of our overnight stuff... it was such a pain in the butt, but ended up working ok. Thursday morning, we even had time to order breakfast at Wakeup (my new favorite breakfast is toasted muesli (granola) with fruit, yogurt, and honey on top).

I read Water for Elephants, which Miriam gave me, most of the way and finished it up. Such a good book.. you should all check it out. Especially Grandma and Grandpa! I just found out it's going to be a movie in 2011... I am freaking out right now. Thanks, Miriam! :-)

Before we went to wine tasting, we went to a few national parks, which was fun. We walked around and I got some good pictures. When we stopped to listen to Smoky inspire us all with his amazing wisdom of anything and everything, I felt something on my leg. I looked down. THREE BLOOD SUCKING PARASITES ON MY LEG. OMG. I freaked out. Smoky had a hay-day and turned it into a teaching moment. Big surprise there, haha.

We went to the first wine tasting place and I tried all of the wines, but I really didn't enjoy any of them too much. I started to feel really exhausted (I guess the last few days caught up with me). The next two places we went to, I decided not to drink, which was good because I got to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful weather and take some great pictures of wine country (even though I don't enjoy wine too much, I LOVED the scenery). The third (and last place) we went to, I was laying out in the grass, when I hurt Smoky inside saying, "Typical American, passed out in the grass. First one down!" Way to fulfill a stereotype there, Smoky. I do, however, believe that Laura, Chelsea, and I are breaking through a LOT of American stereotypes. We may have a very obese country, but in the Blue Mountains, we were at the front of the pack. I almost feel like it's required to do so just to show others that we really aren't what everyone says we are... I haven't decided yet if that's good or bad.

Anyway... we got back, hopped off the bus, and asked Smoky if he knew of any good places to eat. He took us to, you've guessed it, Wakeup! He got us a 6 dollar meal, though, so who can argue with that? A free drink, too! (I miss free refills).

So yesterday, when we woke up in the morning, had to haul all of our stuff to ANOTHER hostel. I however, woke up again at like, 630 and since I'd run out of internet on my phone, didn't have anything to do, so I made the ever so wise decision to go running (not!) Since I was so sore, it was the worst run of my life.. and it's so hot out. Ick. I probably could have walked faster than I was running, haha. Anyway... I'm a big obsessive with travel itineraries (right, Katy?) so it was only two trains to get there, which was nice. It's not as nice as our last place, but it's only 20 bucks a night, and as of right now, we're not sharing with anyone. We got settled and then went walking to meet up with Mijke. We shopped for a while on Oxford Street, but when we realized that we were too poor for that business, we hopped a bus to George Street (Main St. here in Sydney) and ate at a sushi bar and then shopped for some time more. While we were in a jersey store, trying to find something for Chelsea's uncle, our favorite orange shirt guy made his second appearance (totally creepy). He walked through with his CD player and we all couldn't help but laugh.

In other news, I gave in and finally bought my first pair of leggings. I was so excited about my new outfit that I changed into it right after I bought it. Smoky (darn that Smoky) gave us tickets the day before to a place called Gaff here in Sydney where his good friend owns the joint or something. It was a free food voucher. Thank GOD it was free, cause that food was NAST. We were all pretty ticked off. So I ate two heaping plate fulls of pineapple chunks instead. Yum yum.

We got back to the hostel to get ready to go out, but of course, because of my narcoleptic nature, I dropped to sleep right on the spot. Ugh. I need to work on that. The other girls ended up just hanging out and chatting since Mijke had to get up early. And now she's gone :-(. Making new friends is hard sometimes since you have to say goodbye....

Today we're just going to chill. We're hoping to go to a beach/park, but it looks like rain, so maybe we'll go to the aquarium instead. Whoohoo.

If you're reading this right now, email me at sarbabe05@gmail.com or cram@wisc.edu or write me a message on facebook to tell me what you've been up to, please :-)