My semester participating in the IFSA-Butler study abroad Ireland program is now almost over and I’m trying to make the most of my time left. I finished all of my exams and papers, and now I will have to wait a while to receive my grades and hope for the best. The last few weeks were a bit rough, having to do stuff to prepare for exam time and having to listen to everyone talking about what little time we have left. It made me really sad inside. All I really wanted to do was hang out and have good times, but I was stuck with so much work to do.

Yesterday was the first day of goodbyes for me. The first wasn’t so bad, but I know it will get worse over the next couple of days before I leave myself. There has been a lot of commotion trying to make sure that you get all the necessary pictures and also make sure to do things like get American phone numbers. I myself really need to start packing, and get everything together so I don’t have to scramble right at the end.

This semester studying in Ireland could not have been better. I had so many expectations before I came to Ireland, and I feel that as far as having fun goes, I definitely exceeded what I thought was possible. My memories are the greatest, and I’m so glad to have met so many wonderful new friends that are American, Irish, and international. I plan to try my best to keep in touch with people because no one will know what my study abroad experience meant to me except for the people I spent it with. Leaving Ireland will probably be one of the toughest and saddest things I have ever experienced, but in my heart I know I will make sure to get back.

I’m not sure whether or not I should start by apologizing or telling you not to worry, but this blog does not contain any real estate advice. Instead I will be talking about the trips I’ve taken over here and how I’ve been affording/planning them.

I’d like to preface this entry by saying that I usually like to have at least $100 in my checking in addition to my savings account, save half or more of my paychecks, and never spend more on my credit card than I am able to cover with money from my bank account. Since I’ve arrived to study abroad in Australia, I’ve thrown that financial caution to the wind spending $1000’s on traveling. In the next month I will be living like the stereotypical college student taking advantage of any offer of free stuff, eating at the dining hall 21 meals a week because I already paid for a meal plan, and being as frugal as possible with the amount of money I have left, potentially putting a few more things on my credit card. Although I am slightly anxious because I don’t even remember the last time I’ve spent to the point of being this broke (especially when I don’t have a job!), I know that I have enough money to get by and pay for the essentials. Worst case scenario I have over $1000 left on my credit limit…

So on that note, let me tell you all about the trips I have/ will be taking! When I first got here I was so excited about finally being in Sydney that I stayed in the area exploring the city, campus, and Newtown. I’d heard from various sources that you should do traveling when you initially get there because you have all the time in the world to explore Sydney, whereas it’s harder to get away from the city later on once uni has started. Well I ignored that advice, and things have worked out fine, but if I did the trip over I would have done more travel early on. I highly recommend that if you arrive at your australia study abroad destination a few weeks prior to the start of university that you pull yourself away from the exciting new surroundings you haven’t explored to go to some destinations a little (or a lot) further away. There are sporadic plane tickets at fantastic prices, so I’d say go with the wind and travel to wherever you can get a cheap flight for. There are happy hour deals from 12 – 1 for Jetstar, Virgin Blue, and Qantas. Utilize these deals to take weekend trips during uni as well, if you have the time and money for it. Although this method of trip planning takes more time and patience, it’s worth it in the long run because you will save a lot of money and get to visit more places.

My first weekend trip away was with surf camp. To be honest, I’m not even sure exactly where we were, I believe it was a few hours north of Sydney. Regardless, the beaches were gorgeous, whether was amazing, and I finally know how to surf! I had a blast and one of my good mates from ifsa-butler went with me. That trip was easy to plan; there is a company called colourful trips that runs trips at a discounted price for uni students so all we had to do was sign up and everything was taken care of for us: accommodation, travel, and food.

The next week it was already Easter holiday, the Australian equivalent of an American spring break. The Aussie students don’t travel as much as American students tend to, but I took full advantage of the time off and went to Fiji!! I booked a tour called ‘Coconuts’ through Extreme Adventures and spent three days on my own in addition to the tour. It was amazing, and as of right now Fiji remains my favorite travel destination. We spent a few days touring the main island of Viti Levu, two days at Beachcomber (which is hyped up to be a lot better than it actually is), and two days on Mantaray Island (which was beautiful and had AMAZING snorkeling! I saw a reef shark, ray, and lots of fish and color). Independently of the tour I took a day trip to South Sea Island and went on several dives during my stay at Fiji. The tour was a great value, but I had to pay twice of what you typically would pay for air fare because I didn’t book the trip until two weeks before it happened. So here’s another piece of advice: book your spring break trip early because air fare will cost an arm and a leg if you don’t. Spring break was only a month and a half away when I got to Sydney, so I didn’t feel like planning it because I was still making friends and meeting new people and trying to figure out where I wanted to go, but just book it and if you don’t go with people you know I guarantee you will be able to meet people easily.

Last weekend I went to Melbourne and LOVED it. I got a pretty good deal on flights by using happy hour, and thanks to my friend Pat (who was my tour guide in Fiji) I had a free couch to sleep on and some great tips about things to do while I was there. The first day I walked around Prarhan and shopped on Chapel St which was near Pats hostel Lord’s Lodge. After lunch my friends and I went to his apartment in St. Kilda, walked around that area, shopped on Acland st. All day Saturday we did the great ocean road tour. Sunday we split up. Since I was staying an extra day (no classes on Monday J ), I took a tour to Phillip Island to see the penguin parade!! It was a dream come true for penguin lovers such of myself. I went to the Esplanade Hotel, aka ‘the espie’, for some live music that night. On my last day I finally went into the cbd of Melbourne. I walked along the river, went through some neat shopping arcades, had the best cupcake I’ve ever had in my life, and generally just took in the sights. It was truly a fabulous and affordable weekend.

That takes me to the final trip I have planned. I’m going to Fraser Island, the Whitsunday Islands, and Cairns for 10 days during the exam/study period in June. That was a nightmare trying to plan. All I can tell you from my experiences with that, is that travel agents aren’t that helpful. In fact, going to a travel agent ended up having me spend several hundred more than I would have if I booked everything myself (and I say booked because I pretty much planned the whole thing myself anyway). I’m still frustrated about it, and I wouldn’t be so poor if I just booked it myself, but what are you gonna do? Live and learn. Hopefully you can learn from my experiences. If I had booked the trip myself I could have most likely found cheaper flights by using happy hour again, and I would have looked into taking the bus instead of flying. While in the office I was told the train and bus would be almost as expensive as flying and take a lot longer. While the bus does take a lot longer, you can take a bus through the night thereby eliminating one night of accommodation you would have had to pay for and saving heaps of many on your travel fare. Unfortunately I could not cancel my flight after independently researching that fact, I wish my travel agent hadn’t dismissed the idea of a bus when I asked him. The one plus side to using a travel agent is it’s nice not to have to call all the various hostels yourself and they put your itinerary and travel vouchers altogether for you in one little case.

You may have noticed this day on your calendar in the April 25th box. I always have, because it just so happens to be my birthday as well. The only thing that I knew about ANZAC day was that it was a public holiday in Australia, and I only knew that much because that was also denoted on some calendars I’ve had. Last semester I had to give a speech about events that occurred on my birthday so I finally learned what it was all about, and this semester I was able to actually experience the holiday while participating in the IFSA Butler study abroad in Australia program (and turning 21!).

ANZAC is an acronym for Australia New Zealand Army Corps. ANZAC day is similar in context to Memorial Day with the party atmosphere of 4th of July. It commemorates the first military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during WWI. In 1915 the ANZAC soldiers landed at Gallipoli and fought the Turks. It was a military failure and 8,000 Australians died. Every year since then it has been a day of remembrance for the soldiers who have died and for the freedom they won for their country.

It was a little strange turning 21 on a holiday with such solemn roots (and in a country whose drinking age is 18) but it was a really festive day. It was really nice out, so I walked from St. Johns down to the Rocks in search of a game of two up. Two up is a betting game that is only legal on ANZAC day, and only at certain bars which have obtained the proper permits to run the game. It is played on ANZAC day because it was a game people played in the war. You’re literally betting on whether or not coins will be tossed and land on heads or tails. A circle is drawn on the floor and everyone stands outside the circle making bets with each other. Someone then goes into the middle of the circle with the kip (a small wooden paddle) that has 3 coins and tosses them up in the air. Then the coins land and you settle up your bets according to how many heads and tails there are.

We missed the parade, but we saw heaps of military personnel in their uniforms. It reminded me of high school when I was in the NJROTC and marching in the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Belmar, NJ. The first bar we went to was the Mercantile Hotel. It was nice and there was live music, but it was an older crowd and drinks were expensive. Also, there was no two up. So we left and walked down to the Argyle. That place was going off. They had bag pipers playing outside, and most importantly to us, two up!! I personally didn’t bet on the game, but I stood in the circle with the kip and flipped the coins. We stopped at one or two other places before heading back to college. One thing we noticed was a lot of people had sprigs of rosemary pinned to their clothes. We found out later that the rosemary signifies memory, which is why so many people were sporting it that day.

For me, that ended the traditional ANZAC festivities, and begun my birthday festivities. I went out to an amazing thai food place on King St. called Thai-riffic. My favorite thai place so far. Then I watched a movie because it was too early to go out for the night, and I needed some time to relax after the big afternoon we had. Our destination was Worldbar in Kings Cross. It was another first for me, and another great experience. There was a cover charge, but it was well worth it. The music and dancing was great, there was some live music, and you could order cocktails which came in a tea pot! I found myself wishing I had checked out Worldbar earlier in the semester.

That was it for ANZAC day. I continued my birthday celebrations the next day with my official birthday dinner at Mickey’s on King St. A little pricey for college students such as ourselves, but amazing food, plus it was my birthday so I figured I deserved a nice dinner out for a change. Afterwards we went to Star City Casino. I was really excited because I had never been to a casino before and it was something I particularly wanted to do for my 21st. We weren’t there for very long, but I played at the $10 blackjack table, and got blackjack on my first hand!! I knew it would happen; it was my 21st birthday, I had to get 21. My friends were skeptical, but I ended up getting blackjack twice more and I was up $60 when I decided to stop playing. I had some champagne to celebrate and played a few slots, but they were boring and it’s all electronic now so you don’t even get the fun of pulling down the lever and watching it spin. We finished off the night at Vegas in the Cross, which wasn’t as great as I was expecting it to be (a lot of people talked it up), but it was a nice wind down to a terrific 21st birthday extravaganza.