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sUgaaHappY
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Name: Stephanie
Birthday: 1/10/1985
Interests: exploring, relaxing, smiling, laughing, dancing, eating, roaming around nyc, spending time with friends and people i love, having a good time ;D
Occupation: Student
Message: message meEmail: email me
AIM:  sugahappy110
Member Since:
2/6/2002
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| I love how I only write on xanga in Australia when I'm procrastinating
schoolwork. I should be working on my 2000 word Econ paper..haha. xanga
number one, school number two. Oh well, I just took final numero uno
yesterday, so I deserve some chill time. I think I did relatively well
for about 2 days of cramming material. I just don't seem to care much
about my schoolwork here. The motivation to do it...just isn't there.  My
grades don't get calculated into my GPA. It just shows up on my
transcript, which is pretty major, but not major enough apparently.
haha... I'm not doing that bad in my classes anyways.
To celebrate after my first final, my roomie and I abused a little *ahem* and went to watch the 3D DEEP SEA IMAX show  ..oommgggggg
it was sooooo coooool. Words can't even begin to describe the amazing
in-your-face experience. haha. I recommend everyone to go see this
show, preferably when you're a little..you know..it makes the show a lot more interesting..lemme tell ya..hahah.
Imagine a giant jellyfish with tentacles spanning 30 feet eating like
20 smaller jellyfish. It was like a giant, slow motion, flowing,
pulsating, amoeba-like mass thing..CRAZY!! hahah..and this other part
with the coral spawning..CRAZY!! We were giggling and reaching out to
try and bonk the jellyfishes and some other sealife at one point.
hahah. Seriously, everyone go watch it if you can. I've already looked
it up. There are 3D Imax theaters all over the states. This show plays
at the AMC theater in Lincoln Square in NYC. hahah..I'm bringing the bf
with me to see this exact same show again  Here's my roomie and I at the theater. Gotta love the big glasses.
Good times..heheh..
I went on my last big vacation in Australia last week. Seven day trip up to Airlie beach, Whitsundays, Cairns, Cape Tribulation, and the Great Barrier Reef!
Airlie beach was a pretty poppin' town for just one main street. Went bar hoppin a lot. Here's a pic:
Me and a lot of my housemates at a bar called Morocco's. They served
giant beers there. GIANT. The glass was like taller than our heads. haha
Whitsundays was kind of a disappointment. It wasn't as pretty as I
expected it to be, but it was mainly because we got stuck with crappy,
cloudy, rainy, windy, chilly weather. We couldn't lay out that much,
except at White Haven beach, and I got seasick half the ride on our
catamaran. The swells were huge because of the windy weather. It was
horrible. I was curled up in a ball along with lots of other people
trying not to throw up half the time on the swaying boatrides to other
islands. yeaaaa, that was a bad experiene. Luckily, I brought some
motion-sickness pills and that prevented me from throwing up. Other
people weren't as lucky. When the ride was smoother, it was nice to sit
up on the deck, though. Shows how important the weather is to a
vacation. Our beach resort was pretty nice, except one night, our
German male roomate decided he wanted to piss on our floor cuz he was
"drunk" and "this was the part of the room you peed in". Yeah, long
story...anyways, here's a pic of us in Whitsundays on the deck of our
boat:
After this we went on an overnight 10 hour Greyhound bus ride up to
Cairns. It's a nice town. Susie and I didn't get much time there,
though, cuz our Cape Trib tour started an hour after we arrived in
Cairns, and the next day we headed straight up to the Great Barrier
Reef tour and then back to Sydney. We walked around the town the one
night between the two tours and went souvenir shopping and
face-stuffing with $5 late plate dinner specials..hahaa. don't
ask..well you can if you want..This place was so oriented to Asian
tourists. jeez. It was pretty surprising to see all this Japanese and
Chinese writing everywhere. I had no idea. Damn FOB tourists .
Anyhoo, Cape Trib was so cool. Went on a scenic drive, nice bushwalk
hike with our guide, a crocodile cruise to go look for crocs, which we
saw lots of, walks along a really cool Dubuji rainforest boardwalk and
the actual Cape Tribulation!
us hanging on a tree in Cape Trib
us on our crocodile cruise tour
one of the actual crocs we saw just chillin on this log..haha..pretty
cool creatures..until they go into attack mode..DANGER! DANGER! (haha
yeah, that friends episode just popped into my head..hahah )
me and Susie on the Dubuji rainforest boardwalk..such a cool 1 hour
hike.. this was the coolest rainforest I had seen throughout Australia
the view up top of the amazing dubuji rainforest..so cool!
view of Cape Tribulation from the lookout point
tons more pix from this trip posted on facebook
I don't have any digital pix of the Great Barrier Reef unfortunately.
Took tons on my underwater camera, though! It was an amazing
snorkelling experience. Sooo beautiful. The fish and coral were all so
colorful and lively. This was the highlight of my entire trip. We had
nice weather on our boat out there too. So, I got to lay out on the
deck and tan. Overall, it was a nice one week vacation despite the poor weather 
On another note, I'm going home in SEVEN days!! I can't believe this
endpoint has finally arrived. It's crazy to think that my entire four
month stay here in Australia has finally been wrapped up into these
last 7 days. I have so many errands, packing, and finals studying to
do. Luckily, a final day trip can be squeezed into there to go to the
town, Manly. I'm ready to go home at this point. I just want to get
through my last final and paper, file my taxes, pack, and all that
other junk to go home and see Kenny and my family whom I miss ever so
dearly. I'm glad I'm only here for a semester and not an entire year.
This 4 month experience is about the longest period away from home I
think I can handle. Home sweet home in seven days!! 
| | |
| i don't want to do schoolwork..sooooo..xanga entry tiiime!!
I'm leaving Australia on June 27th!!!  ..kinda sad, kinda happy...I do miss home and all your pretty faces, but I've grown so accustomed to the life that I have here.
I'm gonna miss taking the bus all over Sydney, even though I miss the hell out of my car at home...
I'm gonna miss traveling and discovering all these new and exciting places around Australia...
I'm gonna miss only having two days of class a week..it's great..i'm
seriously "studying" abroad..it's more like a four month vacation with
some schoolwork thrown in here and there...
I'm gonna miss the people that I have been living with and have come to
know..I'm definitely gonna keep in touch with a bunch of them...
I'm even gonna miss going to work and my internship... I love the little baby girl I babysit at work!
Everything just seems so much more interesting and exciting
here..probably because I know it will have to come to an end
eventually, and I just want to absorb everything up. I still get amazed
when I walk around the city, even when I'm just going to the taxation
office to pick up my tax forms on my lunch break. It's just amazing to
experience and be a part of a different culture for four months of your
life. I'm really going to miss this place...
BUT...I miss my lovely BF, I miss my loving family, I miss my caring
friends, I miss my car, I miss all the yummy food that exists at home,
I miss going into NYC... I miss a lot of stuff in the US too.
SOOO...I'm kinda happy, kinda sad about leaving Australia. Life must go onnnn...more good things will come
Itinerary for the rest of my time here:
June 8-15: Trip to Whitsundays, Cairns, Cape Tribulation, and the Great Barrier Reef
June 19: Econ Final #1
June 20-25: study, pack, run errands, go see a 3D show at the IMAX
while being ..hehehh.., visit Manly, eat at the famous buffet at the
top of the Sydney Tower and try kangaroo, emu, and camel for the first
time..haha, shop a little more, take tons of last pictures, and get
upset that I'm leaving
June 26: Econ Final #2
June 27-28: Flight home to the US!!
then July 5-Aug 30: internship in NJ!!
...now back to trying to start my paper...
| | |
| (taking a break from my crapload of schoolwork....even though i haven't
really started this particular paper..one out of the SIX..aghhh  )
CHECK OUT THIS BAD BOY OF A CAR..it's called the Venturi and it's the world's first fully electronic, battery powered sports car!! it's sooo freeakn cool..and i think it's beautifully
designed. it goes 0-100 km/h in 4.5 seconds and you can charge it in
any household outlet!! it takes 16 hours to fully charge the car and
then you can drive it around for 400 km, which should last about a
week! if you use a heavy duty charger, it only takes 3 hours to
charge!! DAAAAAMN..i love
sports cars..the growl of the engine just turns me on ..hahah..although,
this electronic one is completely silent..oh well, it's so nice to look
at n drive i bet..hahah..i want my own mclaren/ferrari/aston martin in
the future. i can't get one of these venturis cuz they're only going to
make 25 of these and then discontinue it. The maker made it only to
prove to the world that a battery powered sports car could be created.
He doesn't want it to become a household thing, so he's only
making 25 of them. Damn, i'm a dork.. haha...yes i am dedicating
a xanga entry to this car  ..this is
what happens when you watch the show "beyond tomorrow" on tv
while you're procrastinating schoolwork..hahah..check out this sexy
beast. the website is:
http://www.venturi.fr/us/index.php3
(side note: babe just bought a new car!! i can't wait to drive around in it!! it's the mercedes benz CL500 AMG )
okk..i'll throw in some fraser island and hervey bay
pictures from this past weekend so i dont seem so dorky. it was another
freakn awesome trip!! we went on a self-guided 4x4 camping trip on the
world's largest sand rainforest!! we drove ourselves around on the
beach, through insane sand roads (i thought i was gonna die half the
time we were driving inland/outland..soo scary), set up camp every
night on the beach, under the amazing expanse of stars (i've never seen
so many stars up in the sky at once..so beautiful), traveled to several
different lakes/attractions/campgrounds on the island, cooked our own
food, bonded with our team members through games like "never have i
ever"...very interesting game i must say..(we all hated eachother when
we first met..totally had a love/hate relationship throughout the trip.
one minute we were yelling at eachother, the next minute we were jokin
around, havin a good time..hahah..the london girls we met in our group
were so freakn cool..the other people..ehh not so much, especially this
one guy..i wanted to kill him..let the dingos eat him)..oh yeah!! we
saw dingos!! they were scattered around our camp on our second night
when they smelled our dinner..kinda scary..i have also learned to pee
in the wild..yes..at the ripe age of 21, i was finally forced to learn
how to... "pop a squat"  ..i
hated every minute of it, but i had no choice..thank god for toilets in
the world..but yes, to sum up cuz i'm too lazy to type out more of what
we did...fraser island was beautiful and awesome!!
group shot with our car (top from left to right: ian, susan, aimee (our
fave londoner!), christina, jenny, amanda, clare, me; bottom right to
left: susie, christina, joey (boy i wanted to kill))
us in front of the tent we pitched for ourselves..me, christina, susie, susan
combination of the beach road we drove on and the really cool maheno shipwreck!
two views from indian head, a cliff we climbed up at the end of the beach road
us trying to go sandboarding at the immense sand dunes on fraser! the
sand was a little too damp from the rain to go boarding...so we rolled
down the hill instead..hahahah..sooo much fun
wild tortoises we saw at lake allom! the lakes there were so cool..the
other lakes we went to were crystal clear, refreshing, freshwater lakes
where you could swim/sunbathe/exfoliate (haha the sand was so soft)
so beeeyuutifullll..that's the ocean along the beach road (ppl get
eaten by tiger sharks if u go into the water.. doesn't it look so calm
though?! i really wanted to see sharks along the surface!)
lots more pix on facebook
P.S. What's everyone doing this summer? Who's going to be in NY/NJ?!? I
got an amazingly well paid health policy internship in Princeton, NJ
this summer when I get home!!! (does anyone know of anyone looking to
sublet around that area by any chance??) i'm so freakkkknnn happy!!
Life is just
too good right now
| | |
| "SWEET AS..."
That's
what I think of when I think back to our spring break trip to New
Zealand 3 weeks ago. It's a term kiwis aka new zealanders use when
describing something cool...like..that's sweet as..hell..or w/e..but
they just say sweet as..haha. i'm gonna start using that term back home
now. But anyways, it was an amazing 9 days/9 nights trip filled with
tons of sightseeing, driving, EXTREME SPORTS..hellll yeaaaah, getting
to know the locals, who are sooo friendly, and the other Americans on
the tour with us, having a good time, and just walking/hiking around.
New Zealand is a breathtakingly beautiful country..shiet, it's
where Lord of the Rings was filmed. We actually saw some areas where
filming took place. There's just too much to say about our time there,
so here's a list of various activities and things we did there as well
as some pictures instead. It was a ridiculously fun trip. It
made all the money we spent worthwhile.  (Our living situation was great too cuz babe upgraded our hostels to hotels most of the time  )
We went:
-SKYDIVING, WHITE WATER RAFTING (on a grade 5 rapid!! the hardest one!!), CANYON SWINGING (it's pretty much like bungee jumping, except you swing at the end), JETBOATING (basically
we're on a speedboat going really fast around sharp corners in a
canyon. it looked like we were going to hit the rocks so it was
sometimes scary. the "shotover spins" were cooool), GLACIER HIKING (we
climbed the franz josef glacier for altogether 10 hours; we had all our
parkas, boots, hats, gloves, talons, etc. given to us; it
was quite a workout, but the view up top was amazing, and it truly
was a once-in-a-lifetime experience), HIKING UP A MOUNTAIN (but we never made it to the summit, cuz we got tired and decided it would take too long..haha), ON A CRUISE THROUGH MILFORD SOUND (this
is a beautiful place, 5 hours out of queenstown, where there are
literally thousands of waterfalls during rainfall. so beautiful), RIDE UP A MOUNTAIN ON A GONDOLA AND THEN DOWN ON THE LUGE (gondola
is essentially a sky tram; the scenery of queenstown was beeauuuutiful
during the trip up; the luge was like a sled with wheels you sit on,
and you control the direction and speed with a stick-it sounds and
looks kinda ghetto, but omg it's so much fun. kenny and i went twice,
susie went only once cuz she almost died on it..she's not good at
handling a stick..hahah  ), WENT TO MINUS 5 (it's
a bar made entirely of ice-the sculptures, bars, tables, chairs,
drinking glasses, walls, everything! was made of ice! they gave us
parkas and gloves to wear, and we couldn't be in there for longer than
30 min or else we'd start freezing!), WALKED/HIKED AROUND TO CHECK OUT AMAZING LANDSCAPES,TOWNS/CITIES AND SCENERY, and HAD FUN TIMES WHEN WE WENT OUT AT NIGHT! All my pictures are on facebook so you can see everything there. check out my pix!
coast by barrytown..so beautiful there
that's me jumpin off for the canyon swing!! i was screaming my head off!
glacier hiking!! we're showin off our talons (spikes at the bottom of our boot)
milford sound!! that's our boat behind us
more milford sound!
jetboating!! can u spot us in the pic?? haha
me at the minus 5 bar!! i'm sitting on an ice ram..haha
white water rafting!! we're on a grade 5 rapid here!! look at us go! haha u can see the struggle in our faces..hahah
skydivingggg!! haha i am screaming my friggin head off here. you see me
say OOMGGGG in slow motion right beforehand in my dvd..hahah..god this
was the shit
New
Zealand was that much more fun because my babe was in town and came to
NZ with us! He arrived 5 days before we left for NZ, and during that
time I showed him all around Sydney! We went to Darling Harbor, Sydney
Harbor, the Opera House, Chinatown, the Sydney Aquarium, Star City
Casino, Paddy's Market, Wine Tasting in Hunter Valley, the walk over
the Sydney Harbor Bridge, Luna Park, the Chinese Garden, paddleboating
in Darling Harbor, and the monorail around the city. DAMN, we did a lot
in 5 days. haha I just realized, while listing this stuff out.
I
got so homesick after he left. I missed home, my family, friends, my
car and its convenience (seriously ppl, be grateful you have a car at
your disposal), new york food...everything! It passed over a couple
days, but Babe was soooo sweet and surprised me with lots of flowers,
balloons, a box of chocolates, and a bottle of baileys at work!! It was
to make me feel better about being homesick and for our anniversary!!
it was sucha surprise!! i come back from my lunch break, and i'm
like..what is all this?!? I love you!! you're the sweeetest!!  
Then,
this past weekend Susie (aka Fafi..hahah) and I went to Melbourne for 4
days! It was another fun trip! First day, we rented a CARRRR. omg how I
missed driving, even though everything was on the opposite side. It
took a little bit of time to fully get adjusted to it, but it wasn't
bad at all. We drove to Phillip Island to see the PENGUIN PARADE!!!
omg soooo cuuuute!!! you see hundreds of tiny fairy penguins swim
in from the ocean, waddle around the beach, and then see them up close
and personal when they waddle up the sand to their sand burrows for the
night. We then used and abused the car to go out at night in St. Kilda and at the Crown Entertainment Complex aka casinooo!!
It was great, we got hooked up with free parking and entry to all 3
places during the night so it was aweeesoomeee. haha, being american
does have its priveleges here in Australia.  God I miss driving and its convenience. We used the car the next day before we had to return it to go SHOPPING,
too. We shopped for 2 out of the 4 days we were there. haha. They have
amazing shops, especially on bridge rd. Susie and I almost went broke
we shopped so much. hahah..we got nice clothes, ON SALE,
though, hahah..so we didn't feel so bad We
went sightseeing around the city too, during those 2 days of shopping.
See, we're not thaaat crazy with the shopping. We did other stuff
too..heheh. Furthermooore, we went to see the famous GREAT OCEAN ROAD on
a day tour! It was sooo beautiful, especially the 12 apostles. Mother
Nature is remarkable. The world is indeed a beautiful place these
pix are all on facebook too, so check those out to see what we did/saw.
heheh. Ohh, and we went to a ridiculously crazy nightclub called
Chasers on Chapel St. OMG it was jam packed, awesome music, awesome
light shows, great dancing..so much fun. Friggin, australian guys love
to dance. They even fight for stage space..like WTH?! it's the complete
opposite back home..it's hilarious. I have come to LOVE Australian
house music and the fashion Australian girls have. Their style is
hottt!
Great Ocean Road!! so beautiful..gosh...
city of melbourne..this is right by the federation square
chasers nightclub..omgggg it was friggin INSANE..good shit 
us at the great ocean road..there's the 12 apostles right behind us!!
it was so frikkin windy there..we were gettin blown over..literally
another great ocean road spot..by shipwreck site i think?
this was from when we were sightseeing around the city after
shopping..we're havin a good time in carlton gardens here...susie's
apparently having too good of a time..weird girl..hahah
Damn
this is a longass entry. hahah. I haven't updated in so long, so I'm
trying to cover a lot of ground. I'm at my internship right
now..hahah..so yeah, I have plenty of time to type between talking to
potential clients on the phone. haha it's great to get paid while
xanga-ing.
P.S..I'm chopping my hair short next week!! I've decided I'm ready for
a change, especially after seeing all the cool haircuts the Aussie
girls had in Melbourne. I loved their hair styles, granted none of them
were really short..more big hair. But yeah, I'm gonna chop it off up to
my chin. kinda scared, but excited. anyone have any suggestions as to what style? I'm
telling the lady to do what she thinks looks best on me. I figure
she'll know what she's doing cuz I'm going to a nice
place..international salon called Toni & Guy. SOOooo yeahh, next
time you guys see me..I'll have short hair!! hopefully I won't turn out
looking like a freak  ..*crossing fingers!*
Life is GOOOD
| | |
| So I haven't updated this thing in like a month. How is everyone doooing?? Australia is still AWESOME as ever. I
don't think I could ever get sick of this place. There's just so much
to do here. Then again, I thought about it and there's a lot to do in
the US too, I just haven't looked into it as much, and I'm not willing
to spend nearly as much money
as I do here. My money is disappearing ever so quickly. I think it'll
all be worth it, though. We've planned trips for:
-New Zealand for Spring Break, which is coming up in TWO weeks!!! woot wootttt
-Melbourne for 4 days..2 weeks after we get back from spring break..
(we're going
to rent a car and drive the Great Ocean Road...man I gonna have to
concentrate so hard, so then I'll drive on the
correct side of the road)
-Fraser Island and Hervey Bay 2 weeks after Melbourne..
(this is like a
rainforest in sand..where we're going to drive a big 4x4 and camp out
on the beach n
stuff)
-Whitsundays, Cairns, and the Great Barrier Reef 3 weeks after that during our study recess..WOOOHOOOO
(Whitsundays is a gorgeous
yacht sailing/beach resort place (most recommended
trip in
Australia
apparently)...and in Cairns we're going to go to Cape Tribulation,
another
nice rainforest place,
and then SNORKELING at the reef!!!)
-and then MAYBE..Fiji and Thailand after classes depending on various things
I'M SO EXCITED!!!!
Other than this stuff, we've been visiting a hell of a lot more places.
I'm too lazy to type em all out..surprise surprise..we've gone
wakeboarding for a weekend, blue mountains for canyoning and abseiling
(AMAZINGLY FUN), taronga zoo, etc. etc...all my pictures are on my facebook albums! there's tons n tons of pix if you're ever bored..and they pretty much speak for themselves..here's a bunch:
here's my roomie and i with the famous bears at the Rocks. Each country has a famous local artist paint a bear. cool/cute place
susie n i by the sydney harbour bridge. the opera house is like right next to us.
us in Hyde Park before the Gay and lesbian Mardi Gras parade..before i passed out
lauren, susan, christina, me at the Royal Botanical Gardens by the Opera House
us at a nightclub/lounge called the Eastern..in the VIP lounge..where we were "on the guestlist" somehow..heheh
us on the wakeboarding trip.. the boat in the far back is the boat we
wakeboarded behind..i stood up for about 20 seconds on my second run!!
and i've never done this before!! i'm amazing..haha jkkk
us at the taronga zoo..this was the nicest zoo i have ever seen..sooo
nicely setup..the animals were so cute!! as were we..haha..how adorable
is this picture
that's me abseiling in the Blue Mountains..imagine all that..with me in
a wetsuit, with a waterfall surrounding me..that was canyoning..it was
freakin AMAZING..we first had to jump/swim/walk through the wet canyon
before we got to the waterfall..but yeah..this was a fun and
spontaneous weekend..we decided so last minute to stay the night at a
hostel and go canyoning the next day...great decision on our part
Other Highlights:
-I now have a paying job on Wednesdays (minimum wage here is $15..how
awesome is that) I'm an "optometrist assistant" What I do is babysit
this 9 mo little girl, with the occasional real work. My boss is pretty cool too.
-I also got a paying internship on Thursdays and some Fridays!!! It's a
Sales and Marketing internship for a custom software engineering
company. Yeah, i know it's a little different than my field of
interest, but I think corporate sales is applicable to lots of things.
Plus, now I don't have to rush home for an internship back in the US,
although I'm still a candidate for a bunch of internships back home.
-I have a pretty damn good schedule. I'm really happy with the way
everything turned out here. I'm just happy happy happy here!!
-MY BABE IS COMING THIS SUNDAY!!!!! I'm going to show him around Sydney for about 5 days and then we're off to NZ!!! My hunnie buns is comin to town 
-I MET PVD!!!! I hugged him,
took a picture with him, and we talked to him for a little bit. He even
rolled down his window to ask if the picture came out funny because we
were going hysterical that we met him!! I told susie we were gonna meet
him tonight, and I made it happen!! even with our drunkenness!!!
Booyaaaaa  lookie lookie..don't you love our big cheeses
I love Australia I can't wait till babe comes so I can show him around to all the places I like! 
Here's my new desktop picture. It's a view from the Taronga Zoo that I
took on my lovely digital camera. How gorgeous is that?!?
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