PS - New blog about my boring life back in the real world - http://welcometothemaelstrom.blogspot.com/

Don't get too excited...

Back - sort of. Sitting in the Melbourne airport and decided to finish this darn thing from Friday, since I didn't finish it that night.

Thursday June 12 - So after my boring lame-ness on Thursday, I actually fell asleep during the "Caves" episode of PE. While I was busy snoozing, Sarah and Kristin started cooking our 'goodbye dinner.' Main, Sarah, Michael, Alan, Kristin, and Daniel all ate together - Main's mac and cheese, snaggers, lamb, garlic potatoes, lots of good food. Afterwards, we (Sarah, Main, Kristin, Michael, and I) headed out to Freo where Michael and I saw the new "Incredible Hulk" movie (better than I expected!) and the other three went to some bars. We met up again after the movie and hung out at a nightclub for a bit (called "the Clink") and Michael actually got ID'ed! that was funny.

Another break - computer is about to die. **So my computer died, headed through customs, found an outlet, and back online! **

Hung out there for awhile and watched some terrible dancing, then headed back to the Village.

Friday June 13 - Was woken up early around 9am by Michael who wanted to invite me to Garden City with him, Kristin, and Sarah. Basically it's just a mall and I was tired and cranky (apparently so was Kristin) and elected to remain in bed. About 30 minutes later, Sarah knocked on my door to invite me to the same outing. My decision remained the same. So I slept in, woke up and did some packing. Around 1pm I finally got bored enough to call Michael and ask him to come with me to the Perth Zoo to return the pin my mom got me (duplicate of the one I got myself) and to get a patch for my aunt. We left about an hour later and headed over to the zoo. I got my patch and Michael bought a lapel pin of laughing kookaburras. Then we headed into Perth and got some lunch at KFC/Subway and then jumped on the Freo train to Karrakatta. We of course got on the express that skips that stop but managed to get there eventually. We got out and then headed into the cemetery where Heath Ledger is buried. Surprisingly, this was Michael's plan, not mine, to try to find his gravesite. Not knowing at all where he'd be, we just wandered around the cemetery for awhile, but the weather was nice so it was fun. After wandering enough (and not finding it) we finally found our way back to the train station and went into Freo, and then took the 99 bus back to Murdoch. Parted ways there and I made some dinner with Alan (or really he just made me dinner - chicken and rice). Then Main, Kristin, Michael, Alan, and I all headed down to the Kardinya tavern where Sarah was working. We each got a free drink (non-alcoholic for me) and then watched people singing karaoke (no idea how to spell that). Then walked back up to Murdoch and played cards for awhile (Kristin's last night, mine as well).

Saturday June 14 - Got up slowly... depressingly... I was too late to say goodbye to Krsitin (who had to leave earlier for her flight). I spent awhile frantically packing up stuff, once I realized that, while I had all day before I had to leave for my flight, I only had until 4:30 pm to check out of my room. So Michael and Alan helped me pack and clean up my room until around 1:30pm. Then we three headed down to Subway on South street to see Main at work. As well as return the movies to Blockbuster. Once we got there, we didn't see Main so finally I asked the other employees if Stuart Main was working. He was, but he was on his break and busy taking a dump at the time. Eventually he emerged and we all talked for a bit. Then he made a free sandwich for Alan (we weren't expecting such a discount) and Michael and I did the stupid thing and got McDonald's. Around 2:45pm we headed back up to the village to finish cleaning/packing. I got everything clean and all my stuff thrown into Alan's room by 4:20pm and then found out I just had to turn in my key and checkout pack to a slot in the door outside the office, no inspection or anything. At least not with me there. Oh well, we played some MarioKart and I finished packing my stuff into my suitcases - after donating some to Alan and Michael and Main. Then I made mashed potatoes with the potatoes that Kristin left me, good dinner for Alan and myself. Hung out for awhile... watched Richie Rich on TV (Mr. Gilmore!) and eventually had to head out to the airport. Main had offered to drive me, but his car was a bit small so one big suitcase and my backpack fit in the trunk but the other bag had to take up a seat. Alan and Sarah had to battle for who got to come drop me off, and Alan won (or lost?). Had to say goodbye to Sarah then. Backseat of the car was a bit crowded with me, Michael, and my big bag but it was ok. Main kept the mood light which was good, kept me from breaking down too early. And the Ghostbusters theme song came on the radio - which was just amazing. Got to the airport and found out my flight was leaving 30 minutes earlier than the information I had, but it all turned out alright. The guys waited with me until I had to eventually board the plane. Then of course I started to cry, I'm going to miss them all so much. Got on the plane, Saturday turned into Sunday...

Sunday June 15 - On my way now, about to fly back in time. Not sure how this is going to work actually. I fly out of Melbourne at 10:25 am on Sunday morning and arrive in LA at 7:30 am on Sunday morning... very odd. So I got to the Melbourne airport, and called Michael on Skype - even though it was 4am in Perth. Not very nice of me, but I was lonely and still depressed about leaving. Talked to him until my computer died (which I wrote about earlier) and then finally got to check in. Got through customs and everything fine, came to my gate and eventually found an available outlet to plug my computer into. Just finished talking on Skype to the family back home and decided to finish updating this blog, perhaps for the last time. Or maybe I'll just keep it up, even though I won't really be travelling anymore for awhile. We'll see. It's 7am Perth time, 9 am Melbourne time, 6pm Minnesota time and I'm logging off now.