dear xanga,

oh hello. how are you? fantastic! i'm so glad to hear that. today i've found it extremely easy to get sucked into the computer- not literally of course. i meant to only spend about ten minutes to check my email and it's been about an hour. grr. so, i decided to pro-long this computer visit by writing you a lovely letter, dear xanga.

so yes, things back in america have been ever so wonderful. i've been keeping myself busy and plus i got a little babysitting job going on. easy money fo sho. last week i visited mark at u of i and my friends at olivet. it was nice seeing my campus again, especially since it's so different from wesley, and it was nice seeing my friends. the visit made me extremely excited to move into the apartment in january, even though kim and bethany won't be there. i have so many plans when i go back- i'm going to TALK, work out, cook, and get involved. i like having goals like that, but a lot of the time they don't happen. oh yeah, and i'm going to study a lot- ha. we'll see. i've been thinking a lot about high school lately and how i wasted my first two years of it by being such a baby. that revelation made me think about my first two years at olivet and how i wasted those too. if only i could get over my fears quicker, then everything would be better. australia has helped me out some, but not completely. when i was there i thought i was all "fixed" but i must have been delusional because when i came back i was still faced with the same problems i've been trying to overcome since before australia. wow long sentence. i'm just going to leave it.

well, i should get back to my long list of things i wanted to get accomplished this week. at this rate, it will never happen.  give me a call!

hi. what's up? that's cool. i'm back in chicago. and it's been ok. i've enjoyed seeing people i missed etc etc, but i really miss australia. i miss my friends there. last night i couldn't sleep until 2 am (blasted jet lag) and i wished so hard i could be back in the common room at epworth house talking about nothing with joel and milo and whoever else was still up that late. i had coffee at starbucks in takeaway cups and knew exactly why joel hates them so much. it's so much quieter here. the kitchen is cleaner and my room is all mine, but i'm kind of lonely. i am the kind of person who needs alone time. even though i've only been home like 3 days and have been around people pretty much nonstop, i still feel lonely. everything i want to talk about or every little joke i say would only be understood by people i've met in australia. that makes it pretty difficult to adjust here. no one understands it when i say "soy gud" or sing "black fingernails, red wine..." i thought moving back would be hard in different ways than it has been. i miss wishing that people would go away! i miss only having 4 crappy tv channels. i miss peanut butter and nutella on crumpets, although i rarely got those anyway because everyone in the house would scarf down those crumpets the second we got them.

i might be just a little overly dramatic here. ok, probably a lot. there is so much that i like about america. i wish i could make america my new australia. i feel like my old self here, which kind of sucks. i feel like i haven't even left. i feel like all the changes i made in myself in australia have evaporated and i'm back to being stupid annoying ali. i am being such a baby. i was super lucky that i got to have the experiences i had, and even though i'm kind of screwing myself over (school wise), i am unbelievably glad i went away. but, i am a bit upset that i am not living through any culture shock. what the heck!? it's only been three days. anyway, i am excited for the next month and a half of NOTHING (though i need a job). give me a call, hey? i'd appreciate it.

this is probably my last post until i am back in lovely america. and it's my last day at wesley! i'm officially done with all my assignments. woot! and i don't have internet at my house anymore, so this is it kiddies. i just said kiddies. who am i? seriously.

anyway, i can't believe my time here is over. i haven't really thought about saying goodbye yet. though, on sunday at church i cried because i realized saying goodbye to milo and joel was going to suck. i originally wasn't too torn up about it which i was kind of worried about. i'm going to miss those guys an unbelievable amount. not to mention, leaving my little american clique is going to blow soo much as well. i'm gonna miss natalie, jen and melinda so much, and i can't forget our escorts josh, jesse and david. we have so much fun when we go out. wah! i'm not sure i want to leave now! but i do at the same time. i'm ready to see everyone again. and sleep in my own bed. and eat american food. and be amazed by the shoppers on the say after thanksgiving (natalie said that'd freak me out so i'm gonna have to go). it's going to be weird having stores open late every day and  it's going to suck having no cross walks. it's going to be crazy seeing  people driving on the right side of the road and seeing plastic bags everywhere! but i'm ready to see the american culture from the outside. i'm actually excited for reverse culture shock.

anyway, this semester has been probably the best four months of my entire life. i encourage everyone to go on a semester abroad because it has shown me so much about my own life and about my worldview. not to mention what it has taught me about american culture.

i can't wait to see everyone soooo soon! only eleven days left. wow. oh did i tell you that i'm going skydiving in new zealand? yeah. me. insane. i probably will crap,pee, and barf in my pants. i don't know how it works but it will. alright, talk to you soon for real. isn't that insane?

hi. it's been so long, a bit too long i'd say. the internet at my house has been out since last monday so this weekend i haven't been able to update or what not. boo hoo indeed.  you may be surprised to hear that i am not at the nsw library as i have been several times in the past couple of weeks. no, this time i am in the wonderful and quite spacious (ha) wesley institute library. it's about as big as my bathroom. no exaggeration.

anyway, what's up? oh yeah? that's pretty sweet. this past week has been busy and crazy and fantabulously fun. i've had a lot of papers and assignments and speeches due which blew, but it's mostly over now. this is our last week of school here. no more mondays! woot. so, last tuesday i took the day off and went to coogee beach. i did the beach walk/ cliff walk from coogee to bondi beach (famous for surfers) and it was an amazing walk. i found a few tiny and cute beaches on the way. it was such a nice day! the waves were huge and i saw my first real live surfers and they were actually surfing. i'm planning on doing the same thing tomorrow instead of writing a paper i have due friday. the pacific ocean is too beautiful to miss out on by writing stupid papers i say.

this weekend was a blast. friday night wesley had end of year dinner, which was pretty much exactly like a senior prom. only much smaller than lt's. i had soooooooooooo much fun. we danced like crazy. and i wore really high shoes that i got for only $15! that night was amazing dude. amazing. afterwards, a bunch of people went to my house to sit on the roof, but that party only lasted like 20 minutes. buses make everyone go home early. plus i was beyond tired. i ended up staying up til 2 anyway watching tv with milo, jesse, and joel in the common room.

saturday i met nat at circular quay and we went to manly beach. it was such a cute surfing town! we even saw people pretty much doing it on the beach. sick. we had to leave early because nat got stung by a bee or something. we took this "speed ferry" back to sydney and i thought i was going to vomit. sadly i didnt. my vomit time is running out! i don't want to resort to sticking my finger down my throat now.

saturday night was tons of fun too. i met jen, kersti, jesse, viv, natalie, josh, kathy, melinda, and david at town hall and we went to this pub we've been trying to get into for weeks but never could because 1. we wore thongs (those are flip flops) and 2. jen left her new york id in new york. we finally got in though and guess what? it blew. so we went to our regular hang out- this backpackers club by central station. i love it there! we danced an insane amount. it was a halloween party too (even though they don't have halloween here, isn't that sad?) so they played all this halloween music and some guys dressed up as girls. jesse, viv and i went home at 2, but everyone else stayed out till 5:30! wowza. i've never stayed out that late, what a bummer i went home.

yeah, so that's what's been happening with me. i leave australia in just 2 weeks to go to new zealand. i'm really sad about that. i'll miss it here so much, but i'm super excited to see everyone at home. i think i'm getting semi ready to be there. im extra excited to have my own rooooooom and big bed that doesn't squeek like crazy if i move a finger. anyway, hope you people who read this have a good week. see you in a few!