First Year: Done and Done!

That's a wrap folks! First year is in the bag- well I think it's in the bag- apparently marks are released mid-December, however barring any unforeseen disasters I will be starting second year law school next March. Needless to say, as of the invigilator calling "time" on the last exam, it was time to PARTAY!

We made a bee-line to Manning pub and proceeded to enjoy a few cold ones in the warm early afternoon sun... It was a perfect ending to a perf... well interesting year!

There were many ups and downs, but thankfully mostly ups! Just to name a few....

Obviously moving to Australia to go to the University of Sydney to start my dream of going to law school...

Next, finding an awesome house close to uni, and lucking out with some inexpensive second hand furniture (except for a brand new, comfy bed- thanks Mum!) and new friends looking for a willing recipient of some no-longer-needed household items...

Then, finding gainful employment in Sydney and, while I was there, making some great friends whom I'm so glad I met!

Being treated to a fantastic weekend away in the Blue Mountains.

Meeting a group of amazing girls at uni and being able to help, support and learn from each other every step of the way.

And last but not least... meeting my wonderful boyfriend Nicholas! He and his family have been so wonderful to me. We have so much fun together and as Nick will soon be back from Darwin, I am looking forward to us actually living in the same city next year!

Lastly I have to say a BIG Thank You to all of my family and friends who without their love and support, I would not have been able to do any of this. In particular my Mum, Dad and Stepmum who kept me in the loop this year at home with lots of emails and phone calls and a computer to do everything on! And, my best friend's in-laws who, not only believed in and supported my idea of going to law school in Australia, but offered to adopt Bailey (my puppy). If not for being able to feel secure in the fact that my darling baby was in such competent and loving care, I wouldn't have come to Australia. I hear she is doing great and has finally graduated to level 2 of puppy pre-school!

Cheers to one down, two to go!

Half Way There!

2 down... 2 to go! I have an exam tomorrow. Yes on a Saturday... then, one on Monday and then I'm free free free until next year!! Wow- I can't believe I'm almost there. It still seems like a huge mountain to climb but in just three days it will all be over. I can't believe it! Some parts of this year have flown by, others have crawled (hello being sick with swine flu for three months!) but overall it's been an amazing experience! I am so looking forward to my trip home to visit my wonderful friends and family and then to come back and catch the last month of Australian summer. Wah hoo! The weather right now is GORGEOUS so it's going to be quite an adjustment to arrive in Toronto in the middle of winter. There is lots of snowboarding to be done so I am looking forward to that but I will miss the beautiful sunshine, long days and hot weather... not to mention my new friends here in Australia (both human and canine.) Check out Nick's dog, Tiki (above)- he's a little camera shy but so cute!

Gotta keep my eye on the prize until Monday when I can enjoy a little less of this

and a little more of this!

See y'all on the flipside!

Cinema in the Park: Breakfast at Tiffany's!

Is anyone else one of those people who, when discussing movies is always hearing "oh my goodness, you haven't seen 'X ' ?!?!" (insert classic film everyone has seen). Well as someone who just saw Dirty Dancing and Pretty Woman for the first time last year, I can safely say that I am definitely one of those people. In light of this you can imagine my delight when Nick's Mom and sister invited me to their local town Breast Cancer benefit- an outdoor screening of Breakfast at Tiffany's. Not only was I excited about getting to enjoy their lovely company, and contribute to a very worthy cause, but I got to cross another classic film off my list!

The setting for the evening was a little grassy parkette at the end of the road from the house (a very convenient location!) In terms of the screen, I wasn't sure what to expect, but as a point of reference, after the home-theatre sized screens at the local Newtown cinema in Sydney, something similar in size would not have surprised me; however, lo and behold, the screen was HUGE! The sound and picture quality was excellent and made for a very enjoyable "movie in the park" experience.

Nick's mom and sister were very organized and prepared with picnic mats, pillows, throw blankets and lawn chairs and even a backpack picnic basket with compartments for the plates, cups, cutlery etc.!

After setting up we settled down to scoff our yummy picnic of barbecued chicken, bread rolls, veggies n dip and cookies and brownies for dessert.

After dining at our very civilized and lady like picnic (complete with cups of tea with dessert) we settled in to watch the film. It was most enjoyable! One of those movies where I wonder what took me so long to get around to watching it! Audrey Hepburn was utterly fantastic as the main character and I found the movie very funny and entertaining to watch. What I really liked about it though was how layered the film was with symbolism and poignant lines. One of our favourites was when Holly is referred to as "a phony, but a real phony." Such great script writing! I guess that's why some people say things like "they don't make 'em like they used to..." Well I don't know if I'd necessarily agree with that being a universally negative thing (after all I love a good Jen Aniston chick-flick once in a while,) but I can see what they're saying.

All in all a great evening. The only sad part, (besides having to quash the urge to high tail it to Tiffany's myself) was watching the film made me miss my youngest sister Sophie, who often dresses up as Audrey Hepburn for Halloween and I think, bares a striking resemblance!!

Feelin hot hot hot!

Happy (belated) Halloween everyone. Amidst the days getting longer, the tropical heated breeze and the odd presence of Christmas greenery and carols in the mall, Halloween was a mere blip on the radar. If it wasn't for all the photos of friends' costumes and Halloween parties posted on facebook, I probably would have forgotten about it all together. Such a shame as it's one of my favourite celebrations! Here are a couple of pictures from last year:

A pumpkin I carved at the Crawfords' house. At $20 for a pathetically small carving pumpkin here, I was happy to look at a photo of a jack-o-lantern and call it a day.

This is me being a kind of burlesque cow girl last year. Classy as usual.

Ah well... there's always next year. More importantly, with Halloween out of the way it's now the official start to the Holiday season!

Incidentally November started off with a bang. 37 degrees today!!! I felt like I'd fallen into an oven. I can't remember the last time I experienced that high a temperature. It was unbelievably hot! I arrived at the library at 9am and was already sweltering. When I emerged from the air conditioning at 7pm it was still hot hot hot. I was so happy to have brought my swim suit. I swam at the outdoor pool next to campus until it was dark out and thankfully a tiny bit cooler for the walk home.

Lots more studying to do so that's all for now.