Sydney

I have been here for almost a month.. .or maybe a little more. It is unreal how time has gone by! I have been staying at a hostel the entire time. I tried to get an apartment, but my half ass attempt didn't work. The hostel is in Bondi Beach... a cool little beach suburb of Sydney. We walk around town barefoot... and do much more.

The hostel is called Indy's surfside. People come and go a lot but I had made an amazing group of friends. It's hard to back track now and go through everyone... but staying there for so long made me really understand the hostel lifestyle. In the hostel you have the people that live and work there (Nick or as I call him Snickers, John the manager and headband Dave), you have the people that stay no longer than two weeks (Martina, Alaska, Lottie, Celia, Ian, Steve, Rachel, Vicki, Chelsea, Peaches, Mike, Martin), you have the people that stay a little longer (Marc, Phil, Big Steve), the people who seem like the resident hostel-er (I think I now fall in that category, Jay, Bob, Hans, Lee) ... The people I named above for the most part were my crew of the first week... some left after a week and some stayed on for another... You become so close to people so quickly... we all had a great time... and it is super difficult saying goodbye. Lotti and Celia had left... they were the last of the girls to leave... and I was just left with my boys... but the night Marc brought them to the bus depot... they had him turn around for a return to the hostel for an extra week! You get sucked into this place... everyone always seems to stay a little longer. Through Lottie and Celia I met friends of theirs from home- Lizzie and Sophie...

As people leave... you realize from the hostel employees that everyone is replaceable. The newbies come in and off they go all together for wild nights of partying again. It's a hard concept for me to be okay with. I have had a blast at the hostel and made new great friends.. but the first set could never be replaced in my eyes. We were the most open group- chilled out, inclusive, non judgemental, friendly... and out to have a great time. Since they have left... I have met some more great people... Lizzie, Sophie, Phil, Matty and more... Lizzie and Sophie are about to leave soon... which make me really sad.. they are the last of my 'girls' that are here... but I still have Jay... who is the male version of me... and again, you meet new people and just get used to the fact that people come and go. Some people I know I will see again and others I hope to... but it's hard to think that you become so close with someone so quickly and realistically you will never see them again. But others I know that is not true.... and the nature of travelling... you bump into people in other places! Marc (who I absolutely adore... funniest and sweetest kid alive!) and Phil are in Melbourne so I will see them when I go away fo rhte weekend... Steve will be in China when I am there... Lottie and Celia in NZ... MAritna, Sophie and Lizzie in Thailand... so sometimes it does work out!

It really is great though, to meet so many people. It is never boring in the hostel. We go out far too much... but we also have chilled out nights in the TV room... 20 something of us sharing bean bags and watching movies. I also have become the 'mom' (besides being the oldest)of my group and make big dinners for all of us... that creates some type of normalcy in the surreal lifestyle we live.

Bondi has a few bars that we go to on our local nights... Bungabar, a bungalow like beach bar up the road from us... B.B's - probably the coolest bar in Bondi, but that really doesn't say much and the hotel.. we always end up there late night, they have Buck hunter!!!

Tuesday nights is World Bar night in Kings Cross... they have tea pots that they fill up with shots... yummy stuff. My favorite night in Sydney by far was spent at World Bar. It was indy night and the crew went there. For some reason everyone went home early except for myself, Ian and Steve. We danced the night away... that is the night I became... 'one of the boys'... too much fun!

On some nights we end up going for a swim in the ocean... as we live one block from the beach.

It's hard to explain the life and tell all the stories... but it has been incredible! The nights are very late and loud... it's hard to have a night in there which makes it very difficult to work as well...