All I wanted was coffee. It was Monday morning and I was getting  ready for my 3-hour flight to Los Angeles to  visit our USC branch and  help at the Aussie Fest with our branch at  UCLA . The smell from Starbucks in the airport was calling my name, but I opted for a bottle of water so I could catch a few more hours of sleep on the plane. The cashier thought I was Japanese and started reciting the name of a Japanese priest to me…

I snuck in my third carry-on underneath my laptop bag (FTW!) and waded through the already crowded plane to my aisle seat in the back. I breathed a sigh of relief to find my seatmate was already asleep. No awkward small talk for me this morning. I yawned, rubbed my eyes, and succumbed to uncomfortable head bobbing, turbulence and the man beside me opening and closing the window throughout the whole flight.

My flight wasn’t bad, although my head was still clouded with sleep. My stomach was growling with a confused hunger. In Texas it was lunch… in California it was breakfast. I settled for a chocolate muffin .

Meeting everyone at the USC branch was very cool. Nate, one of the travel advisors, showed me around campus before I headed to lunch at Denny’s. My sole purpose was to use their free Wi-Fi, but it wasn’t working. Lame. I checked-in with the team back in Dallas and talked to the Career Services office at USC about the World Traveler Internship.

After the event, I took a taxi cab back to Santa Monica. $55 for just 14 miles.

Luckily, my hotel was just one block from the beach, the Santa Monica Pier and the Third Street Promenade. The room was a little cramped, roughly the size of a standard dorm room and came complete with a box fan and no windows – I rushed out to explore the area in order to avoid the rising fear of claustrophobia.

It was only 5 pm, but my stomach was still on Texas time and ready for some din din. I scoped out a couple potentials for some eats, and walked up and down Third Street to find out what all the fuss was about. Lots of shops and restaurants, but nothing really made it for me until I came across pinkberry! Alas, my burning curiosity for the craze will finally be fulfilled. Small. Original. Raspberries & chocolate chips.

And it was good.

The snack kinda ruined my appetite so I ventured back to the hotel to connect to my boyfriend via chat and to catch up on some work. Too bad the internet was dead and it took them over a hour to fix it – despite my constant suggestions of the router being an issue and we should try another port. Finally they brought a new router, and wa-lah! Hello, internet!

6:30 pm rolled by and I scurried out of my windowless room for some much needed sustenance. The eatery winner was the Thai Delight, where I had to buy my rice separately. I had some spicy shrimp and scallop and the tom yum soup – which was a bit of a disappointment. Zense & asian mint in Dallas were much better.

2 hours later I was in bed, lights out, with my alarm set for 6:30 am.

Later.

Sydney is the wild child of world-class cities. Oh yes. It blends the deliciousness of Hong Kong with the nightlife of New York, the posh nature of Paris with the glitz of LA, and (what am I talking about?) they have kangaroos! That’s right blokes and sheilas, we’ve gone Down Under!

Feeding Kangaroos at the Sydney Zoo

One of my favorite parts of this quick jaunt was my stay at the Wake Up! Hostel. Seriously, check it out. When I was there, we had a raging party David Hasselhoff themed. And while I love the scenery of “Baywatch” (Pamela), I was very stunned by the skyline of Sydney (complete with the roaring Opera House and Harbor Bridge). Last time I was here, I was actually able to climb that thing. None of those acrobatics on this jaunt, though!

So I met with two friends over here from my previous adventures – Kaylie and Megan! Kaylie took me out for an American food as popular as baseball, beef burgers, and ‘baby on board’ bumper stickers – Mexican!

Thank god for that. I was running low on the burrito-meter.

And Megan took me to the subject of this short – the zoo! I was able to chill with some cheeky critters, see some old pals, and head for good times (all around). Oh, I’ve been meaning to mention this for a while.

While I’ve been out and about, I’ve been using this great little thing called the ISIC card.

Here’s a tab of what I’ve saved (in Sydney alone):

• Money Transfers: $15.50USD
• Zoo Ticket: $4USD
• Train Tickets: $2USD
• Breakfast: $3USD

Just imagine, that’s only from my Sydney expenses. When I get a chance to do my final expenses, I’ll let you know how much I saved by using the internationally-recognized student ISIC card. That means more money for gas, books, and trips to Wal-Mart. Oh yes. Don’t forget those. Later kids!