greetings from down under! aka the fighting jet lag post
here i am in umm, well, it's raining so it's not so sunny newcastle! i'm fighting jet lag and my roomies at this lovely hostel (nomad's backpackers by the beach) won't let me take a nap b/c that's never a good idea. they told me to go for a walk but as soon as i stepped outside, it started to POUR so i retreated to the basement and the familiar, comforting glow of a computer screen instead. i am supposed to be meeting a friend of a friend for drinks at 10pm (it's 8pm now; my body think's it's 4am), but i don't know if i'm going to make it. he will show me around tomorrow, and sunday i've signed myself up for a wine tasting tour. eat a big breakfast, i was told, b/c i'll be having red wine, too, and don't want to pass out by the second winery, as someone else has done in the past. (and remember new year's? aah, yes, the cheap vodka and empty stomach from essentially not eating all day = diana in the bathtub puking on herself. not her most stellar moment, my friends.)

anyhow, i feel a bit silly for feeling so anxious these last few weeks b/c as soon as i got outside in sydney, at the city central train station waiting for my connecting train to newcastle, i took a deep breath, felt the cool breeze and remembered why i wanted to come back so badly. it was just a feeling in the air. maybe it's only b/c it's different from home and exotic just KNOWING that i'm 12,000 miles away from NYC. i don't know. all i know is it felt good to be here. and the real fun hasn't even started yet!

i could write for hours and hours about all the hectic shit that happened before i left, but i won't b/c that sucked and it's all in the past and thousands of miles away. let's just say: my family never fails to stress me out and make my life a living hell, and i exaggerate not.

but in more relevant news, i am LOVING this backpackers/hosteling lifestyle. people are just so damn friendly and outgoing and interested in getting to know each other. this backpackers i'm staying at hosts a free pizza dinner every friday, which is today. (i don't know where thursday went. i lost it when i crossed the int'l date line and won't get it back until june.) i sat at a table, eating pizza hut, listening to three brits discuss british soap operas. and i looked outside and we were in australia. i found it...ironic? 12,000 miles from home and i was eating pizza hut.

but as good of a time as i'm having, i do wish you could be here with me. yes, i am a bad traveling companion b/c i inevitably get annoyed with you (i'm sorry for being such a bad person) but i wish you could enjoy ALL OF THIS. yes, i'm lucky, and yes, i was stupid for being so worried. that doesn't mean i don't miss you and that i don't love you. but i'm doing fine...as long as i don't run out of money. :)

love yous.