2019 Recap

2019 has been a huge year.

In 12 months I’ve moved halfway across the world, backpacked around 13 countries, gotten 2 new tattoos and ended up in a Croatian hospital. It’s been a whirlwind and I have no idea how to summarise it eloquently but here’s my best attempt at 1am in the morning…

I kicked off the year at my first music festival and boy was it a doozy. I’m not sure if I could put up with the whole camping shindig again but I did have a pretty solid boogie with a fab group of friends so it was definitely worth it.

Don’t recall driving through a valley on our way to Beyond The Valley 🤔

The rest of the summer consisted of a newfound love of dog beach adventures with Honey and working with my favourite bunch of people at Publicis. Saving moolah for my Euro trip was a top priority but I still managed to see my favourite band SAFIA perform and spend plenty of time in the sun with my beach buddy Emma. I also joined F45 a month before I left Aus, and my god I wish I had done it sooner. I wrote about my experience here and vowed to keep it up when I got to London, despite how ridiculously expensive I knew it would be.

Soon enough the end of April rolled around and I found myself packing up my life into a big brown box. Well, it actually wasn’t that big which was kinda depressing considering it held the most important parts of the past 22 years in it. When my backpack was finally loaded and I finished writing a goodbye blog 4 hours before my flight, I was ready to jet off to Europe. First stop: Amsterdam.

It would be impossible to truly explain how much I experienced and learnt throughout my travels. I discovered the blessing of free walking tours and the joy of the free food shelf in hostel kitchens (can you see a pattern here?). I learnt to embrace spontaneity, whether it was changing my plans to keep travelling with new friends or agreeing to tackle an 8 hour hike in the Polish mountains.

My first, and probably last, full day hike in Zakopane, Poland.

Speaking of friends, I made some great ones in each city I visited. I’ll admit that some places were harder than others, especially when I was quite ill, but the close friends I did make (shout out to Lexy) will be with me for life #cornybuttrue. A lot of people worry that it’s hard to meet people as a solo traveller but honestly, it’s almost impossible not to if you’re staying in hostels. In fact, I actually found it hard to get downtime throughout my trip. There was just so much to do in each city and friend FOMO definitely played a part, so I had to make a conscious effort to be anti-social for the sake of my mental health sometimes. Losing my voice completely after a wild night of partying in Prague did help with that, but it made for a very lonely weekend when I was already feeling quite vulnerable.

My mental wellbeing was a big focus for me during the trip.

Whilst it was generally quite positive, there were some pretty challenging moments where I had to make some tough decisions. I never realised how much being ill could affect my mental health. Whether it was anxiety over my worsening symptoms or just the feeling of hopelessness that engulfed me after countless weeks of fighting infections, I ended up being pretty worn down. While I was generally fine for the first 2 months of my travels, with only a sore throat here or there, things started to go downhill in July.

It started with a sore throat that got so bad that I was struggling to swallow within days. I could barely leave bed because I was so fatigued and had developed a fever on top of the 35 degree heat my body was already battling with. I was in Budapest at the time and after 2 days of anguish I managed to secure an appointment with an English-speaking doctor. I’ll never forget the look of horror on her face when she examined my throat and exclaimed “My god, how are you still breathing?!” Turns out I had severe Laryngitis and some other infection that I can’t remember the name of. Armed with prescriptions for 4 different types of drugs, I made my way to the pharmacy praying for a miracle.

I slowly recovered over the next few days but kept getting ill every 5 or so days over the following month. Long story short, I was even worse by the end of it and had the worst experience of my life trying to figure out what was wrong with my body when I was in Croatia. I spent a total of 12 hours at Split hospital where I had blood tests taken, saw 2 specialists and had a mini breakdown when a Canadian lady gave me a hug. All of that agony amounted to the doctors telling me I had some sort of bad virus in my body but they couldn’t figure out what it was exactly. Their recommendation? Stop travelling and rest for a few weeks.

At first I thought about extending my stay in Trogir (the lovely island near Split I was on) but after a long call with my Dad I made the difficult decision of cutting my trip short a month. I had already pre-booked my flight to London the following day but seeing as they had a 35 degree heatwave forecasted and I was in no state to leave bed, I postponed it a day. When I finally made it to the UK I was lovingly taken in by my friends’ parents who gave me a place to recover for 2 weeks (thanks Charlotte). I barely left bed the first week but by the second I was slowly spending more time outside the house. I encountered my first deer in Richmond Park and started to look for jobs and a permanent place to settle in when I came back from Spain.

Ah yes, Spain. This was one of those spontaneous trips I mentioned; which I booked about a month into my travels. You see, I had always dreamt of attending a famous tomato-throwing festival called La Tomatina at the end of August. I convinced Lexy to join me in my Spanish travels and we soaked up the sun in Barcelona before we wound up at the Stoke Travel campground. I feel like the festival deserves a blog post of its own so I won’t go into details apart from saying how awesome it was, except the part where I had my phone stolen, and how everyone should do it if they ever get the chance. You’ll still be finding bits of tomatoes in places they shouldn’t be days later but it’s 100% worth it.

Before I set off to Spain however, I managed to secure a job at an advertising agency called MRM McCann. It’s part of the McCann world group network which is a pretty big deal, so I was really proud of myself for landing a proper job after only interviewing for one other position. 4 days after I’d flown back from Spain I was thrown into the deep end of agency life working as a Social Media Account Manager on the Microsoft account. Despite having such a big break from work I was kinda excited to have some structure to my life again. My bank account was also very grateful as I hadn’t exactly budgeted for an extra month of travel #thankgodforsavings.

Fast forward 3.5 months and I’ve well and truly settled into not only in my job, but London as a whole. I honestly feel like this is my home now and have no intention of moving back to Aus any time soon. I’ve made some great friends, found the perfect place to live and started up F45 again (that’s when you know it’s the real deal). At no point in my move have I questioned being here, which has given me the drive to start building a proper life here from scratch. I’ve also already taken advantage of having the rest of Europe at my doorstep with a quick trip to Paris and I’m going to Belgium with Steph in a few days.

Looking back on the past 12 months, I can wholeheartedly say that it’s been the best year of my life. This post has only captured a fraction of what I have to share about it but if you’re still reading after 1500 words, you’re the real MVP. I want to say a big thank you to everyone who’s made some sort of impact on my year, no matter how big or small. Obviously most of them won’t read this blog but whether it was a new friend I partied with in Berlin or the man who helped me navigate Krakow bus station, I’m so grateful for each and every one of them. Okay, that’s enough soppiness for one post so I’ll end it here.

Adios Amigos, see you in 2020! *insert firework emoji*

Team Training, Life Changing

I’ve never been a morning person. Like, ever.

If you told me last month that I’d be getting up 4 times a week at 5:40am to exercise I’d just laugh and roll my eyes. But that’s exactly what I’ve been doing the last two weeks, and for some inexplicable reason I’m actually loving it.

A few weeks ago my friend Michelle (who’s also conveniently my neighbour) messaged me asking if I’d want to do a F45 trial with her. Now, I’d heard about F45 before but never really looked into it because of how expensive it was ($70 for a 7 day casual pass). But my curiosity was piqued when Michelle revealed that that our local Moorabbin F45 was offering a $14 14 day trial, so we decided to sign up together that night.

All I knew going into our first class was that it would be 45 minutes of functional cardio-based exercises. What I didn’t know is that we’d be completing a circuit with lots of different stations in each pod with 3/4 sets at each station. It was totally unexpected but also kinda motivating knowing that I wouldn’t come back to that station after I finished my sets there. It actually made me push myself a lot harder and I really gave each activity my all.

I probably shouldn’t have done that because I was legitimately struggling to breathe after the 3rd station. Like, I was bent over trying desperately to get oxygen into my lungs, all the while wishing that I was in my slow, gentle yoga class instead. After taking a few minutes to regain my breath, and with a much-needed dose of motivation from Michelle, I jumped back into the workouts and we smashed the rest of the class together.

The feeling of euphoria that washed over me after that last set was incredible. I looked at all the smiling sweaty faces around me and knew I had found my people (yes, I know how corny that sounds). Everyone was walking around high-fiving each other and congratulating us on getting through our first class.

Here’s a ‘exhausted but proud’ photo of us at the end of it:

Such a #whitegirl pose

While we were stretching and complaining about our sore muscles after the class, a guy recommended that we go to the strength class the following morning to aid our recovery. At first I laughed at the idea but the more Michelle and I talked to him about it, the more it made sense and by the time we finished stretching we had booked into the waitlist for the 7:10am class the next morning.

I was worried that we wouldn’t get into the class since we were #5/6 respectively, but the studio manager Laarni (who’s an absolute gun) said that people often drop out the night before and there was a 90% chance that we’d make it in. Lo and behold, at 9pm we both got texts saying we got into the 7:10am class the following morning.

Pain, pain, go away 👋

Apart from the whole ‘being able to breathe’ bit, I loved the strength class because it finally gave me the courage, and skills, to properly lift weights. Like many people out there, I’ve always been too intimidated to get into the weights section at the gym. There’s just so much that can wrong – your form is incorrect, the weights are too heavy or you just flat-out can’t figure out how to do a certain exercise. Doing the strength class at F45 eliminated all of these worries.

At the start of each class, regardless of whether it’s cardio or strength, the trainers give you a rundown of the exercises and show you how to do each properly. They also give you handy tips on making sure your form is correct to ensure you’re doing them safety and targeting the right muscles. Having two qualified PTs looking out for me actually motivated me to give each exercise a red hot go and I found myself enjoying the strength class way more than I thought I would.

Since those two initial classes, I’ve successfully completed 7 more and I’ve signed up for another two weeks. Michelle and I did the ‘Hollywood’ class this morning to kickstart our weekend, which was an extended 60 minute session combining both cardio and strength. Never in my life did I think I’d be working out to a live DJ at 9am in the morning but hey, there’s a first for everything.

Looking at this list makes me so proud

I know I’ve just spent a whole blog post explaining why I love F45 I feel like I’ve barely scraped the surface, so if you want to learn more about it here’s a handy link to the official site. I haven’t even touched on the screens around the studio that remind you of each workout and just the general pace of the class that really keeps you going, but maybe I should save the specifics for another blog post – or let you find out yourself.

One of said screens. During a class there’s a timer that shows how long you have left of each set.

So yeah, somehow I’ve gone from doing one Yoga/Pilates class a week to 4/5 intense cardio + strength classes and I can’t imagine going back. I know F45 is pricey but I honestly believe it’s worth every cent, you get so much more than a simple workout from it. I wish I’d discovered it earlier, not a month before I head off to Europe to indulge in all of my favourite cuisines but alas, fate’s a bitch.

I really hope I can find (and afford) a studio in London when I’m over there in July. I reckon it’ll be a good way to make friends and keep myself motivated during those cold winter months. If anyone’s considering going, all I can say it do it. You won’t be disappointed. As the slogan goes, it really is life changing, team training.

Adios Amigos *insert muscle emoji*

Now What?

After cramming a 2-month assignment into 14 hours of work this weekend, I’m finally finished with uni. GLORY HALLELUJAH!

Accurate depiction of me right now.

I feel like I should be questioning my existence and wondering what the hell to do with my life, but honestly, I’m actually really happy with where I’m at.

I was officially offered a full-time position at Ogilvy a few weeks ago, and finished my first full week on Friday. You guys are probably sick of hearing about how much I love work, but I really truly do. It keeps me on my toes, gives me heaps of creative freedom (thanks Chris) and makes me feel like I’m actually somehow succeeding at adulting?

I still can’t believe that I’m the longest-standing social team member at work, but since my old boss left in June, I guess the title belongs to me. 🙊 Our team right now is honestly the best it’s been (shout-out to Tim, Phionn, Cassie, Jules and of course our lovely intern Ava) – they make coming to work way more fun than it probably should be. There’s so much banter and each person makes our lil’ team that bit more unique and fantabulous.

The ultimate #socialslavsquatsquad,

As corny as it sounds, one of my ultimate life goals is to wake up every day looking forward to work and right now, it’s a reality.

I’m so grateful that I’ve had this job to motivate me to finish uni through some pretty big highs and lows. Looking back on it, I still think first year was my favourite. I was fresh out of high school and had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do; which I somehow succeeded at during my first few semesters. But then, after I got my first social media internship at Thinktank, I started to question whether Art Direction was really right for me.

I’m so glad I did, because I definitely wouldn’t have ended up working in social if I hadn’t, and would probably be joining the fish at the end of Finding Nemo right now.

My condolences to 99% of this year’s grads.

Working in Social Media is so exciting because of how quickly technology is evolving and expanding. Augmented and virtual reality are slowly creeping into every platform, and the amount of cool ads I nerd-out over each day is growing. Legit though, I actively ask people to tag me in the ads that come up on their Facebook feeds because I’m fascinated with seeing just how creative companies are getting.

If anyone’s considering a career in social, I couldn’t recommend it higher. *Translation for grads: There’s a lot of jobs going in this area so get on them before someone else does. I know I’m only just starting out but if anyone has any questions, feel free to hit me up! I’m all about sharing the love and helping out all my fellow human beings who are going through the inevitable quarter life crisis that comes with finishing uni.

Adios Amigos *insert celebration emoji*

Coming Home

Here I am yet again, writing a blog post at 5am.

Yes, that was an unintentional rhyme and no, I don’t plan to make a poem out of this post. I just want to talk about something that people seem to glaze over when it comes to travelling: coming home.

I’ve never found it hard to leave home for an overseas adventure. For me, it’s like an escape from reality that lets me explore the world and experience all it has to offer. For anyone who’s read my post about my plane obsession, you’d know just how much I enjoy leaving the country to leap into the unknown.

But something I’ve recently discovered is a surprisingly strong dread towards the thought of coming home. Not the ‘seeing family and friends and sleeping in my own bed’ part, but the idea of returning to reality and having to fall back into old routines after such an exciting time abroad. It’s exactly what I’ve had to do over the past two days after returning from the states and honestly, I’m really struggling to stay sane. After 3 weeks of non-stop adventure in the big apple, life at home just seems mundane and boring in comparison.

I came home to an empty house, exactly as it was when I left it. My whole family is overseas on a West Coast road trip right now, so I’ve been tasked with the duty of manning the house and keeping the rabbits fed whilst trying to settle back into everyday life.

I know that I shouldn’t expect anything to be different, but I can’t help that it all feels different. There’s no rumble of the metro outside my window, or a symphony of honks and angry yells from impatient drivers on their daily commute into the city. There’s no spontaneous singing or JB’s remix of ‘Despacito’ blasting me awake each morning as a partially naked Steph runs around in a towel yelling about puddles. Without my two favourite travel buddies Caitlin and Steph by my side, the house just seems dull and foreboding, and it’s making me miss the hustle and bustle of the city merely 48 hours after leaving it. #theseperationanxietyisreal

In New York everything was non-stop and exciting 24/7. There was always an adventure to be had and curfews to break when an exciting opportunity arose in the middle of the night. There were cools Brits to meet downstairs in the basement of our hostel (don’t worry it was a perfectly safe kitchen/chill out area, not a congregation point for the local murderers appreciation society) and people to smash in ping pong 4 nights in a row #pingpongchamprighthere. I made so many new friends from all around the world over a cup of tea and nachos, and I can’t wait to meet many more next time I take a plunge into the unknown.

I guess all I can do now is try to create some sort of daily routine that will make life a bit easier for me in the coming weeks. I’ve got a uni intensive starting today (in T-minus 3.5 hours exactly, whoops) that should help keep me busy and productive, and I’m planning to catch up with some friends later in the week, so hopefully I don’t go completely insane and soon enough my next trip will roll around and I’ll be able to escape this city once more.

Adios Amigos *insert USA flag emoji*

 

Pond-Jumping

You know what I realised today? We spend our whole lives pond-jumping. Now, I don’t mean this in a literal sense, although I did just find out that it’s an actual threat to the koi fish population according to Google. But no, I’m talking about pond-jumping in a metaphorical sense.

I’m sure that you’ve all heard the expression about ‘being a small fish in a big pond’ before, and this is the type of pond that I’m referring to. It’s the one that everyone finds themselves within no matter what occupation they have. Whether you’re a student scaling the education system or an adult growing your career within a business, we’re all really just fish swimming around in different ponds.

For most people, that ‘little fish in a big pond’ saying first comes into play when we start primary school as an eager little prep student. We’re seen as these small, naive and vulnerable creatures who will ultimately grow into big strong fish by the time we’re in Year 6. But then we enter high school, and it’s back to being that small fish amongst the sea of older students once again. Sure, we know much more than we did when we were in prep, but the idea still stands. That transition from primary school to high school is one of the first big ‘pond jumps’ we make in life.

From then on, and as we enter the workplace and start changing jobs, things can become a little bit more difficult. By the time we’ve climbed the ranks of high school and started to excel in our part-time jobs, we soon discover that we’re no longer small fish. In fact, we realise that we’ve morphed into the medium and big fish that we once admired in the very same pond we landed in all those years ago. As Year 12’s we are given the authority to decide where we want our lives to go and are tested on our knowledge of certain subjects to affirm our status and rank as the pond’s ‘top dogs’.

But then it happens again, we jump into another pond – university. Well, some of us do. Others decide to stay in our part-time jobs and keep growing within that pond into more senior positions. For those passionate individuals, pond-loyalty is obviously quite a strong trait which allows them to grow within the safety of an environment which they’re familiar with. Whereas in my experience, it can be very easy to get lost as a little fish in the big sea of university.

Sometimes I feel like I’m not actually learning as much in uni as I did in high school. I often find myself struggling to find the motivation to head in for a full day of classes and equally complain about having to trek a whole hour into the city for a mere 1hr lecture #priorities. But anyway, I digress. As I was saying, life is about jumping from pond to pond, and I think that although it can be daunting to leap into a new one, it can also be highly beneficial too.

For example, when I got my first internship at a social media agency, I was partially scared about actually helping out in a proper agency; but also very excited. Although it was a relatively small agency, I was still the least experienced there and found myself in a whole new type of pond. As I learnt more and more about the wonderful world of social media and grew my skills I found myself working there over the summer as a proper account manager. So in fish-terms, I had grown into a medium fish in this relatively small pond.

Whilst I loved working there and could have happily stayed on full-time, I knew that I had to swim on back to uni to continue my studies and get my degree. However, as fate would have it, I was soon given the opportunity to intern under the social media strategist at one of my favourite global ad agencies in Melbourne, ‘Ogilvy and Mather’. Talk about a big pond.

I decided to tackle both uni and my internship at the same time, with a cafe job on the side to make a bit of moolah. Whilst balancing everything was a bit of a struggle at times, I really loved the challenge and knew that it was the best way for me to keep growing within the industry. Transitioning from a small agency to a big one was an interesting experience for me. Although I had 4 months of social media account management under my belt, it seemed to dissolve as I moved back to an intern position at a much larger agency; and with it went my medium fish status. I didn’t mind being the small fish again though, as it let me learn the ins and outs of a multi-department workplace which I’ll definitely have to face again in the future.

And now that brings me to my current work/uni pond position. It turns out that both of my internships and social media work have actually helped my prove myself within Ogilvy as I was just offered a part-time ‘Social Media Community Manager’ position #fancytitlecomeatme. It’s a bit of a weird situation because I’ll be doing all of the tasks that a normal social media account manager would (ie. creating content, posting on accounts, replying to comments and generating reports) but I’m a bit too young and inexperienced to be awarded that title in such a big agency. Actually no, maybe my situation should be labelled as ‘ironic’ since I’ve been an account manager before? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Whatever the label, I’m just really happy that I’ve got the job and I’m finally going to be a small part of this big agency #suchexcite.

Although I didn’t have a specific intention for writing this post, I hope it gets you thinking about the pond that you’re in and whether you’re going to grow in it or immerse yourself in a completely new one. Because hey, who knows? Maybe you’ll jump into this pond with me and end up being my boss one day 😉

Adios Amigos *insert fish emoji*

P.S. Today’s shoutout goes to a certain motivational fish who managed to traverse across ponds and seas without ever giving up or complaining:

For reference, Marlin is me when I have to get at 7am for uni and work. 

P.P.S. After sharing this with my close friend Steph for her opinion, I feel like her reply deserves a mention in this post too:

#preachitsteph

 

 

Another One Bites the Dust

Um guys, I just realised that I’ll officially be halfway through my degree by the end of tomorrow. Just let that sink in…

Yes, this is a pun – a terrible one at that.

Hilarious, I know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

No but seriously, I can’t believe that it’s already the end of semester 1. I feel like the last 3 weeks have flown by like a pigeon on speed (pretty sure that’s the first time anyone’s legitimately used that simile in a sentence #alwaysafirst), and I’m the cat that’s desperately trying to catch it (I honestly have no idea if that sentence made sense – it’s the end of the semester, give me a break)

In between Europe prep, uni stress and interning shenanigans I’ve honestly been too busy to sit down and write a quality blog post, let alone spend hours doing nothing for the sake of having a deep, eye-opening internal reflection. I mean, I could spend this blog post doing just that, but I reckon I’ll have more than enough time to reflect on the first leg of my 22hr flight to London in just 12 days 😉 Yes, that was a shameless nod to the fact that I’ll be jetting off towards sunnier lands in less than two weeks heheh.

Anyway, since it’s the end of the semester and I’m procrastinating doing two 30 page readings for my final pop music quiz tomorrow, I figured tonight would be a great time to update y’all on my life.

• I don’t think I ended up blogging about this, but for the past 3 months I’ve been undertaking a social media internship at Ogilvy and Mather (one of the biggest advertising agencies in Australia). Again, I can’t believe that it’s gone so quickly because I’ve loved absolutely every moment I’ve had there and will cherish every memory for years to come. I might continue interning there next semester, but it depends on my timetable and how a few other things pan out within the next few weeks.

• I have eaten a grand total of 12 doughnuts from Doughnut Time since I first laid eyes upon their heavenly selection of beautiful treats. Since my first post, two new stores (in Degraves Street and somewhere in Fitzroy) have opened up, which has made it even harder to resist grabbing a doughnut when I’m in those areas. I’ve actually started documenting every doughnut I get and the stories behind them so STAY TUNED FOR A MASTER DOUGHNUT POST!

• I FINALLY discovered what’s been upsetting my stomach after 3 rounds of pointless hydrogen breath testing and one very effective blood allergy test. Ready for this? Turns out that I’m severely intolerant to yeast and cashews, mid-intolerant to eggs, dairy and wheat + mildly intolerant to potatoes, corn, rye and durum wheat. WHAT THE FUCK STOMACH?! When I got my results I thought ‘this is it, this is the day I die’ (more like ‘wtf do I eat now?’) but I’ve actually been managing to eat proper non-irritant food since I found out. Granted, I can’t have doughnuts anymore or my beloved bread, but I’ve accepted that sacrifices must be made.

• My latest TV series obsession has been with ‘The 100’. After 1.5 weeks of avid watching, I just finally finished the second season today and now I have to wait until we reinstall Norton security on my Mac so that I can dive into the depths of online streaming yet again.

• This Sunday, my ultimate volunteering experience will come true when I help lead tea tasting + making workshops at the official Melbourne Tea Festival! For anyone who knows me – or has noticed my blog name + tea references throughout my posts – you’ll get why this is such a big deal for me.

• After just over a year of endless driving and having to rewrite my whole logbook from scratch, I finally got my P’s about 3 weeks ago and I’ve been loving driving ever since. I remember everyone telling me that once I get my licence, I’ll find it impossible not to drive everywhere, and believe me, they were speaking the truth. I’m just borrowing Dad’s car for now, but man it’s been a lifesaver.

Alrighty, that’s all the big stuff for now so I’ll wrap this post up before I crash for the night. Since most of my posts are written around the 2/3am mark, I’m surprised that it’s only just hit 12am, but I’m honestly so exhausted right now that I feel like I’m about to black out.

Adios Amigos *insert bread emoji*

P.S. Shoutout to Hannah Friebel for reminding me what a simile was. Thanks to you, I narrowly avoided accidentally calling my pigeon comparison an ‘idiom’ instead.

Hoot Hoot

I think that I have completely rediscovered the fact that I am I night owl, as it is 1:15am and I feel like I’m functioning in my prime.

I’m not sure if you can tell by my language, but I’ve just spent the last 4 hours researching and writing an analytical essay for uni so please excuse the fancy convoluted language and extraneous formalities (God, even that was ridiculously formal).

But yes, back to my point, I completely forgot how much I actually enjoy staying up late sometimes. There’s just something so peaceful knowing that I’m sitting here tapping away at my keyboard while the the rest of the world is asleep. Well, just the majority of people down here in Australia (if you consider 1am to be late). I just did a Google search and found out that it’s currently 10:18am in Lima, Peru where I would much rather be than here in my room writing this goddamn essay.

Speaking of Peru(ish), I was actually in Student Flights today doing some last-minute flight changes for my Europe trip which leaves in T minus one month! *Cue internal freak out* It’s so weird to think that this time in 4 weeks I’ll be somewhere across the Arabian sea about 2 hours from my stopover in Abu Dhabi (not gonna lie, I had to consult my dear friend Google Maps to figure out which sea I would be flying over). I’ll be miles away from home and all on my own in a random metal beast in the sky – what a lovely image, I hope none of you have a fear of flying. By now, I would have scouted out any hot guys on the plane and either made friends with the people next to me or plotted the most creative ways to kill them if they fall under the category of ‘the worst types of people to fly with’. I would have already eaten one or two airplane meals which I’ll admit I actually love because of how special it makes me feel to have my own meal delivered to me ready-to-eat (can you tell that I don’t get takeout often?)

Since I’ve diverted onto the topic of flying, now would be a good time to reveal my fascination and mild obsession with absolutely every aspect of flying. I love it all.

Well, not the screaming babies, long queues and those people who hog the terminal power outlets to charge their almost-full phones, but just the electric atmosphere that fills the air as soon as you step into the airport terminal. It’s that feeling of ‘holy shit, I’m going on an adventure’ and seeing the most amazing display of multiculturalism I’ve ever experienced that really gets me. I always like to play a game of ‘guess where the person is going’ with whoever I’m flying with (or sometimes by myself because yes, I’m that lame), and the results are usually both hilarious and entertaining. Needless to say, I’m always that person who seems to be ecstatically happy no matter what happens, as long as I have a boarding ticket and suitcase in tow en route to somewhere that isn’t Melbourne.

Don’t get me wrong, I love this city. But I also love the idea of exploring new foreign lands and meeting people from completely different cultures. I can’t wait to hear people speak French and Spanish in their respective countries, and try all of the delicious food on offer. I also can’t wait to meet everyone on my Contiki tour in real life, since I’ve ‘met’ more than half of them via Contiki’s virtual ‘Meetup’ app #lookatmebeingalltechsavvy. I can’t wait for the late nights, and taking ‘typical touristy’ photos with all of the monuments I come across. I also can’t wait to discover hidden alleyways, promptly get lost in said alleyways and get drunk off some DAMN FINE FRENCH WINE!

Okay, this post has definitely gone waaaaay off topic, but this is what happens when I need to work on an assignment and start to daydream (or just dream, since it’s now 2am?). I’ll wrap this up by saying that if you ever need motivation to work on an essay, you should book a trip to Europe and tell yourself that you can’t go if you fail any subjects that semester.

Adios Amigos *Insert plane emoji*

P.S. Today’s shoutout goes to my uber fabulous travel agent Stef, who has been so helpful in getting my whole trip organised over the past 5/6 months. I never knew how much easier life would be with a travel agent who can offer you cheap deals and real-life experience/advice on everything from what shoes to pack to the best ways to avoid identity theft #muchosgracias

Observing Life

I love people-watching. In fact, I’m doing it right now.

If you stood at the corner of La Trobe and Swanston streets, you’d see me sitting on the bench propped on the outskirts of the State Library Lawn. I’ve just finished 3 hours of back-to-back classes and am killing some time before I head to interning. I’m happily tapping away at my keyboard, only glancing down every few seconds to make sure that what I’m writing is making sense, and taking in my serene surroundings .

Here’s what I see:

• A girl just passed me wearing all-black with her bright blue bob tucked away under the rim of her black bowler hat. She looks like she’s in her early 20’s and fits the stereotypical look of an ‘arts’ student. 
• Another girl with a tattoo outline of Africa on the back of her arm just sat down on the steps in front of me. Her hair has been ombre’d from a chocolate brown to a golden honey blonde and her dark navy leather backpack has a burgundy pom pom accessory hanging from it. —> A very flamboyant dark-skinned guy, who I assume is her friend, just ran up to her yelling ‘OMG GUUUUURL’ and the two embraced in a warm hug.
• An old Asian man just mounted one of the green benches next to the lights and is hopelessly trying to summon a taxi.
• A caucasian man with softly tousled hair crosses in front of me carrying a Nike box. He’s wearing round black-rimmed glasses and reminds me of bit of James Potter (from the Harry Potter series). If I had to guess his profession, I’d bet my money on him being a writer
• An elderly couple wearing backpacks and holding hands are being guided towards the intersection by a young man with a map. The couple are squabbling in French whilst the man eagerly waves his hands around a gestures to the monuments around him. 
• An elderly black man wearing a cream suit and a black cap just stumbled up the stairs humming to himself.
• A large group of tradies just sauntered down Swanston street in their matching tan Timberland boots.
• A person sporting a mid-length beard just crossed the street with their long brown hair tied back in single thick braid. They were wearing a bright azure blue t-shirt with thin pink glasses and khaki pants which has honestly confused the heck out of me when it comes to determining their gender. All I’ve got to say is, YOU DO YOU COOL PERSON!
• A short girl with a bright purple bob just powered across the path in front of me on her way to Melbourne Central station (I know this because she told this to someone that she was speaking to on the phone). She has a medium black and white koi tattoo on the back of her lower right leg and seems to be in quite a hurry. I hope she got where she was going on time.
• The huge flock of pigeons which have been eyeing me up for the past 20 minutes have finally encircled me and accepted me as one of their own. I’m going to assume that it’s because I’ve been sitting here motionless for the past 20 minutes and not because I smell like a pigeon.
• A guy in his early 20’s swiftly mounted his skateboard and glided away after crossing the intersection. No hesitation, no nervous glances, he popped down the board and away he went.
• An african american man wearing a mustard-yellow t-shirt, faded red jeans and tan boots just crossed the road. His whole outfit is my aesthetic personified.
• There’s a businessman on the phone pacing the green grass of the library law. He’s obviously very stressed as the poor grass in getting an absolute hammering #onelikeoneprayerforthegrass

It’s now been half an hour and I’ve probably laid eyes on a thousand people. If I could type fast enough to document them all, I would – because all of them are so unique and amazing in their own way. Who knows what experiences, stories and knowledge they bring to this world, I hope that one day I can talk to some of them and discover their stories (yes, like Brandon from HONY).

Okay, I’m going to stop being all deep and meaningful now and get my ass into gear before I’m late for interning. That said, has been a really relaxing, fun and eye-opening experience, so my message to you is this: Sit down and people-watch. Not because you have to, not because I told you, but to see what kind of weird and wonderful people you live with in your city. It’s such a simple and sincere act which can end up being moving, insightful, inspirational or just plain boring sometimes. What you make of it is up to you.

Adios Amigos *Insert eyes emoji*

Rub A Dub Dub

Okay firstly, I’ve always heard the start of that ‘rub a dub dub’ nursery rhyme and thought it was about rubber duckies in a bath, but alas (as I learnt tonight) it’s just about 3 men in a tub #tryexplainingthatonetoyourkids.

I’m just going to leave this here

Secondly, as much as I love my rubber duckies, you know what I love more? Lush Bath Bombs. Well, the fabulously sparkly ‘Intergalactic’ one that Michelle bought me for my birthday recently, to be precise.

Before I get into this post, let me give you a small insight into my life over the past few weeks. I’ve had group projects, presentations and assignments due left right and centre, two days of interning + 4 days of uni a week, my driving test (which I passed, woohoo) plus a whole range of other stressful things going on which have been driving me insane. In short, I’ve been needing a break from it all; even if it’s just for an hour or two.

I was planning to work on my assignments until the wee hours of the morning tonight, but after spending 6 hours straight on one assignment I decided to listen to the wise words of this truly inspirational woman instead:

‘PREACH IT SISTA’

Having given up on all hopes of study, I realised that I could finally have my first Lush bath bomb experience tonight. After promptly filling up the bath with some steaming hot water and sending an obligatory snapchat to make everyone jealous of my ‘me time’ I decided to whip out the bomb and properly examine it. Instead of trying to sound all artsy and poetic, how about I let Lush’s website do the explaining while I go get myself some chocolate (the clock’s just hit 1am so this treat is now compulsory)

 

 

 

 

Can we take a minute to marvel at the fact that some lucky bastard got paid to test heaps of bath bombs just to write a short description about them?! I know that’s probably not how it works but hey, one can dream right?  *BTW, please excuse the fact that I’m getting very sidetracked in tonight’s blog entry, it’s been ages since I last posted and I’m trying to get back into the writing style/rhythm of it, plus there’s just so much I want to say and share about tonight #sorrynotsorry

Anyway, after making myself a nice cup of tea and lighting some candles, it was finally time for me to release my bath bomb into the bath’s watery depths. I caught the whole thing on snapchat of course, but since uploading videos to this blog is such a hassle let me just show you how AWESOME this bomb looked when it ‘exploded’ in the water. It literally burst everywhere and started to fizz and bubble up right before my eyes. Here’s what it looked like a minute in vs. 10 minutes after:

After scalding my feet twice and almost submerging my phone, I somehow managed to have a pretty decent soak in my sea of galaxies and sparkles (that’s right guys, there was glitter in the bomb). Although I was interrupted by Sonia, Mum and Dad 7 times exactly, it was nice to have some time to myself. The whole bathroom smelt divine and I felt like I was floating through the universe at one point (maybe that was the heat of the bath or the fumes getting to me, who knows).

Whilst I’d love to finish the entry on such a positive note, there are a few things that I didn’t like about the bomb and the experience as a whole which I feel like I should share:

1. It was impossible to get myself fully clean after the bath. No matter how hard I scrubbed with soap, I felt like I had a thin layer of oil on me that left me feeling a bit ickly and unclean after – though I did smell super nice. I blame it on the bath bomb, not my trusty dove soap #subtleadvertising.
2. I learnt that you should NEVER fill up your bath completely with boiling water. Even if you think it’ll cool down in the half hour it takes you to get ready, I promise you it won’t… and you will scald yourself… twice.
3. Please for the love of god use speakers to listen to music instead of headphones, or at least wireless headphones if you have them. I tried to listen to music through my Apple earbuds and although it seemed to work for the first few songs, my arms soon got very tired from holding my phone away from the bathtub. I also got too paranoid to just leave it on the edge of the tub, I swear my iPhone has a mind of its’ own.
4. Finally, I learnt that no matter how hard you try, you will never get ALL of the glitter remains off your bathtub after using a bath bomb. You just have to accept that after 10 minutes of scrubbing there will still be glittery remains scattered across the tub and there’s nothing you can do about it.

So there you have it, my first experience with a bath bomb. In terms of quality and experience, I’d rate the whole thing a 7 (I don’t think baths are my thing) but if I factor in the cool bath bomb it would raise the score to an 8.5. There are heaps of other bombs to try, so keep an eye out for me at the Swanston street Lush next time you’re in town 😉

Adios amigos *insert glitter emoji*

PS. Today’s shoutout goes out to my main gal Michelle Libeson, without whom I wouldn’t have had this glorious experience tonight #youdidgood

Staying Alive

So its currently 12:30am and I just realised how GODDAMN SLACK I’VE BEEN WITH MY POSTING LATELY. Like, I promised myself that I would keep this blog updated at least every 2 weeks, and well… It’s been almost a month now 🙊

I’M SORRY NON-EXISTENT READERS! I have so many great posts in the pipeline, but just not enough time to sit down and write them all. Well, that’s what I tell myself as I binge-watch 5 episodes of Suits in a row (my new favourite show).

See, it’s dawned on me that whist watching Netflix is a comforting form of relaxation, writing blog posts doesn’t fit that description anymore. I wonder why that is. Maybe because I’ve convinced myself that every post should be perfectly polished and succinct. Or maybe it’s because I get so caught up in my writing and spend hours and hours labouring over one article.

Whatever the reason, I’m not going to give up on this blog and my posts. I’m going to keep writing when I can (with at least one post every 2/3 weeks minimum) and keep the dream alive *motivational fist pump* 

That’s all I wanted to post for today. Nothing amazing or spectacular, but just a reminder that I’m still here and I still love this blog, but life gets hectic sometimes and that’s okay. 

Adios Amigos *insert Harvey Spector’s suitcase emoji*

P.S. Shoutout to my newfound ‘Suits’ fangirling buddy, Kosta 🙌