TGIF

It is finally Friday!!!!

Yay! I am ready for the weekend. I am so short on sleep that I came home from my internship and crashed. However, I did set an alarm so that I would be up to watch Survivor. Out of five weeks, I have only been able to watch three shows. I hope to watch more now that I am on a regular schedule. It comes on at 7:30 on Fridays here. A bad night, but at least it is early on the night.

Today at my internship I spent more time in Coldfusion. I have realized that I have also lost a lot of what I knew about HTML. I used to know it pretty well, but 3+ years without use and I start to lose it. I am sure this internship will provide a good refresher at web programming. However, the reason I stayed away from the web programming is that I got tired of it after working on it for so long in High School.

I am starting to see how almost everyone at my internship is a tight group. They all seem to get along well and there is somewhat of a family feel there. I am still picking up the office culture, but it seems to be cool... Only time will tell.

The next update may not come till Sunday as I am recovering my sleep.

Getting Tired...

This having to get up early for my internship is getting to me. I am used to staying up late and getting up late. Hopefully I will adjust soon. However, it is hard with class at night on Wednesday and trying to get stuff done back in the room. I will survive. Give me another week and I will have adjusted.

At the internship, I worked on Coldfusion coding. This is a language that I have zero experience with. It does remind me of ASP to an extent, but it isn't the same... They started me on it by giving me a page that they created and wanted me to add to it.

I thought I had it, but when I tested it, the page failed. They use Stored Procedures in SQL that allows them to hide some of the code. This is quite nice. (I can see using it on DebateComics. I will have to talk to Rains about it.) I had to then get some help to show me what I was doing wrong. I think I may start to understand more of it after I play with it some more.

I didn't take lunch at today, so I left at 4:00. I wanted to leave early so I could go get a haircut. I kind of needed it, or at least I thought I did. I went to a place on the edge of Chinatown on George St. The place was ok. It cost $10 and they did a good job, but the top ended up a little shorter than I thought I would have... It will grow.

How I almost died today...
1. Attacked by a crazy barber

Day 2

I finally got my computer at my internship up and running with all the required programs. I am also starting to find my spot in the office. The first day was a little odd, but today is better.

This morning, I arrived at 10 because it was raining and the busses were running late. I now know that if it is raining to add about 30 mins to my trip as the buss has to stop at every stop. People hate walking in the rain and I don't blame them. I have a 10 min walk after I get off the bus. Luckily, the rain had slowed during my walk. When I arrived, less than half the office was in, so I didn't feel bad.

Today I spent a lot of time learning about various projects they are working on and how they make it work. I also was able to get the feel of the network in the office. They still aren't sure where/what I should work on, but I am sure it will be fine in the long run.

After my internship I had class. I had to rush to make it in time. The master schedule said class started at 6:00. However, when I got there, the professor had decided to hold it at 6:30, so I rushed for nothing. Oh well. But, the class decided to move it forward to 6:00 on Wednesdays so that we get done earlier.

The Internship

Well... Today was interesting... I got to my internship more than a half an hour early. However, that isn't all that bad. After I got a desk and a computer, the computer didn't want to cooperate for me, so I had to reformat and reload. This took the whole day and I felt like I was working at Best Buy, but I was wishing I was getting paid for the work.

The staff seem really nice and helpful. I love the environment. The office is very open (basically one big room with only short (desk level) cubicles. Also, the dress code is extremely relaxed. Everyone except one of the sales reps, the owner, and I, were in jeans and T-shirt. Another cool aspect is the office is in a very upscale area of Sydney. Sotheby's is across the street and two doors down. There are several other posh and contemporary businesses as well including real estate agents and cafes. It reminds me of the upper east side of Manhattan.

I think this internship will be nice in that it will allow me to expand and improve my knowledge on managing the debatecomics.org. In fact, I have a few ideas already. However, this only means that I have more work to do when I get back to the States. lol..

How I almost died today:
1. Electrical surge at the office

Monday and Class.

Monday... The start of a new class. My class is the The Pacific Rim: Economic and Political Orders. This class seems like it will be a lot of fun. It meets on Mondays from 10 to 1 and Wednesday nights from 6 to 8. The professor is funny and seems relaxed. Hopefully all will go well. The rest of the day involved just catching up so I could start my internship tomorrow. I am excited and yet a little nervous.

I think the internship will be fun, but I am not sure how much it is going to help me with the business side of things. Oh well. I will take what I am given and make the best out of it.

I mailed a letter to the USA and it cost $3.60 Australian... That is expensive. However, I looked up the cost of mailing to Australia from the USA (via USPS (The post office)) and it was under $1.50 US.

I did have some good news tonight... I got my debit card to work over here now, and my bank was nice to me about working out the charges on my account. Yay!

How I almost died today:
1. Hit by a bus as I forgot how close to the edge of the road they are
2. Starved because I had no money to buy food until late

Back to Sydney

Spring Break....

Day 1: Sunday

Day 1 consisted of waking up, finishing packing, and all that good stuff. I made it to the airport with plenty of time. (45 mins before the flight). I must say, security of domestic flights in Australia is like what the airport security in the US was back in the late 80s and early 90s.

I arrived in Cairns at 10 at night. The place was warm and humid. It reminded me of arriving in Florida. The smell, temp, and humidity all had that same consistency as Florida does. When we arrived at our hostel, Gilligan's, it was great. I got my own room. The place was so clean! It had Air Conditioning, ensuites and more. We made a great choice with Gilligan's We still had 3 more nights there over the course of the week.

Day 2: Monday

Day 2 was a day of exploring Cairns. I visited the Lagoon, a big public pool at the edge of the ocean. Cairns has a lagoon because the ocean beach is a mud flat. I also explored most of the touristy areas of Cairns. After my day of walking around, I went back to my room and read my book for four plus hours. I was enjoying the balcony and then my bed. This was one of the more relaxing days.

Day 3: Tuesday

This day started off way too early. We had to be down in front of the hostel at 7:15. Ouch this is early for me. However, this early morning wake-up was worth it. We were picked up by a curly haired Ozzie whose driving made it seem like we were on a rollercoaster. However, I survived safely. The bus (15 person van) took us out to Port Douglass. This place also had the Florida feel, plus it had sand beaches. The town was small and I was almost left by the bus. I was with 4 people from the BU program and we were eating ice cream when it was time to arrive at the bus. We booked it down there to see it drive off. However, one of the two other BU people were on the bus and the driver had them call us and he picked us back up.

From Port Douglass, we went out to the Rain Forest. This was an awesome sight. I really wanted to go swim in the river, but we didn't have time. I took some pictures of the river, a stangler fig tree, and some cool other plants.

Onward to lunch and then the Daintree River. At the Daintree River, we got off the buss for a Croc spotting River cruise. The cruise was nice, but we only saw 3 Crock. One was lying in the water and the other two were in the grasses on the edge. Anyways, they were hard to see. I must say... They don't feed the animals on these cruises like they do in the states. On our boat, there were some frogs as well, so take a look at those pictures as well. The boat dropped us off near a cable ferry that we would later cross on our way back to Cairns the next day.

The final stop on our trip was PK's Jungle village at Cape Tribulation. PK's left a lot to be desired as I thought I was camping in a tent more than staying in a hostel. There was a huge spider on one of the building that I took a picture of. The best part about PK's was I met some really nice people that I would later hang out with in Cairns.

Day 4: Wednesday

Today was for hanging around Cape Trib and heading back to Cairns. I mainly stayed up near the buildings as my stomach was not agreeing. This did allow for me to read some more and relax. When the bus came to pick us up, we had all hoped it would be a different driver... We were wrong. This time there was no stops on the way back to Cairns, just a 2.5 hour drive. This sucked and I almost got motion sickness.

After arriving back in Cairns, I met back up with the people I met down at Cape Trip. We all went out to a place called the Woolshed. It was an interesting bar. We had fun and talked from 10 till 1. However, at one the "Wet T-Shirt Contest" started. Well the girls in the contest when further than wet t-shirts. It turned into a stripping contest among the two finalist.

Day 5: Thursday

Day 5 was another day to relax before our 5pm ferry to Fitzroy Island. However, I chose not to relax. I instead when skydiving! I jumped from 14,000 feet. This was an awesome experience and I would recommend it to everyone. During the initial freefall it was almost as if I was floating... The I went into and a cloud briefly before the parachute was deployed. It was very odd hanging outside the plane right before the jump. The only thing that I could think of was that I should be inside the plane, not outside of it. Next thought was, crap.... I am headed toward the ground. Finally, I was like... Wow! This is fun.

I would be willing to do this again back in the states. I am really glad that I stepped outside of my comfort zone Skydived.


Fitzroy Island is very nice. However, everything on it is expensive. It is a coral island. There is very little sand, but a lot of old coral pieces. Here, we made friends with the staff and stayed up talking with them till 2 or 3 am. They were really nice people. We were invited to a staff party for one of the guys birthday the next night.

Day 6: Friday

Day 6 was early as we went Sea Kayaking. This was a blast! We kayaked to Little Fitzroy Island where were snorkeled on the small reefs and then had lunch. After lunch, we climbed the to the top of the Island. This hike was nearly vertical! At times we used old vines to climb. I didn't know we were going mountain climbing! At the top is a lighthouse (the newer unmanned style). The trip down was much easier as they led us down a hidden path that had a rope and a ladder! Why didn't we go up this way? Finally is was back to the main island. I was so glad I went on this day trip when it was done.

That night, we met back up with the staff after dinner for the birthday party. The party was pretty good except one girl tried to spit fire and she was new at it and she got burned. It was bad as her skin started to peel later that night. She was taken to the hospital back in Cairns the next morning.

Day 7: Saturday

In the morning was our Glass Bottom Boat Tour. The tour sucked, but it was free in with our package. What can I say.... After the tour, we went on the "Thunderbolt". The "Thunderbolt" is a jet boat that takes you out to the "Outter Reef" also what people consider the Great Barrier Reef. We went snorkeling on two different sections. This was a blast and so was the trip out and back. The trip made me miss using the wave runners this summer.

After we arrived back at Fitzroy Island, we had a half hour to get our stuff and catch the ferry back to Cairns.

Tonight I was able to get an extremely nice one person room with a fridge. I wished I didn't have to be up so early the next day to catch my flight.

Day 8: Sunday

The flight back home was bright and early at 6:10 am. It left from the International Terminal as it was a continuation of a trip from Asia down to Sydney. This flight was on Australian Airlines (a division of Qantas), however except for the Cairns to Sydney, it only fly internationally. It was cool when I arrived back in Sydney that we were able to walk passed customs and immigration without having to stop and deal with not being from British Commonwealths.

When I got back to my room in Unilodge. I was so glad to be back so I could finally get some rest.

That sums up my trip. Questions? Leave a comment and I will respond. I also should have the pictures up very soon!

How I almost died on Spring Break:

1. Killed in a crash by a crazy bus driver
2. Bitten by a huge spider
3. Passed out from lack of sleep
4. Left behind in Port Douglass and killed by locals (it is called the "Deep North")
5. Run out of money and have to sell body parts to make it back to Sydney
6. Jumped out of a plane
7. Joined a shark for dinner
8. Attacked by a snake in the rainforest
9. Food poisoning
10. Boat sinks
11. Standed on an Island