Out With Friends

Even though I am back in Adelaide safe and sound, I still have a few recaps that I have to do. I would have finished all of them sooner since I have been back for over a week, but our internet has been out the whole time! For a blogger or anybody else who relies heavily on wire-ability, this is very inconvenient. Alastair is able to use his phone as a modem, but it can get expensive if we use too much data. Hence,  less blogging!


Here is a photo-friendly recap of me out with some of my friends in Chicago. I was lucky to spend time with my girls, although it still wasn't enough time. I also didn't get to see everybody who I wanted to see! One of my Saturday nights home, though, I went to Kirkwood (the same as the Indiana University bar) in the Lakeview area of the city. 

Me, Nicole, Goda

Chandra and Irene

Kate, her boyfriend Dan, me, Irene, Dan's friend

Kate, me, Irene

Kisses for me!

I found someone's hair extensions of the floor in the bathroom. I guess there are worse things I could have found on the floor. 

Kate, me, Nicole

Kate and Dan

I missed out on photo ops with some very important people, including my longtime friend Andi who let me stay at her apartment that night. Still, I had such a great time with my girls. Unfortunately, I don't have many girl friends in Adelaide. It's made me appreciate my friends that I have at home even more. They are the best!

Here are some more updates since I left America:

• I got my perfect seat on the flight home. It was an aisle seat in the middle rows, and the seats next to me were empty. I was also the last row before the bathrooms, so I could lean my seat all the way back without feeling guilty or having to bring it upright during meals
  
• I slept twelve hours during the flight
• When I woke up, I learned that all of the toilets on the plane broke except for one. We were almost diverted to Brisbane, but they managed to fix a few of them. 
• The day before my flight, I requested an Oriental vegetarian meal. I told you all last time how I thought the meat was inedible, so I decided to go vego this time. There were so many vegetarian options to choose from, but I finally decided on Oriental. Grains and veggies sounded nice. I ended up getting a tofu and vegetable stir fry for dinner (I was so tired that I didn't eat it) and some strange hot cereal with spices that was sort of okay. All in all, I didn't feel sick at all from eating anything, so I think I will request special meals from now on. Sorry that I didn't take any photos. They would have been helpful!
• I arrived in Australia on the second day of a five-day weekend. There was Good Friday, then Saturday and Sunday, then Anzac Day was Monday and Tuesday was an extra day for Easter. In a normal year, Australia gets a holiday for Easter (Easter Monday), but it was on the same day as Anzac Day this year. 
• My bag got lost going from Melbourne to Adelaide. Long story, but it had something do with the fact that some lady working for the domestic terminal at Qantas would not let me get in line to get a new tag on my bag so that somebody would know to put my bag on the plane to Adelaide. Luckily, my bag came to my apartment a few hours later. 
• Despite sleeping on the plane for 12 hours (we took off at 11:30 pm Los Angeles time, so my body wanted to go to sleep anyway), I napped when I got home for four hours. I then couldn't stay awake past 8 pm, so I slept for another twelve hours. I have now been in Australia for a week, and this is the first time I have been able to stay awake past the 8:30-9:30 range. Please note that I love sleeping, so perhaps I've subconsciously been thinking of excuses to sleep for ridiculously long amounts of time. 
• I am FINALLY driving a manual car! I practiced over the long weekend, and I now drive it to work. Alastair has a work car for an indefinite amount of time, so I drive his car. I have only stalled it once in the past week of driving it. I am a champion. 
• I made new discoveries about my leg "injury". I injured my sartorius muscle; not my IT band. My mom took me to her personal trainer, who specializes in injuries, at her gym. She poked and prodded at my leg for a while. When she pressed down on my inner thigh area, it was excruciating. I never felt even half that amount of pain when I went to that physiotherapist in Adelaide. I learned that the irritation on the other side of my leg came from inflammation in my sartorius. My mom's trainer gave me stretches and exercises to strengthen it up, so hopefully it will finally get better!
• I came home from work yesterday and watched the Royal Wedding live from beginning to end. Australia had it good with the time difference. 

More recaps to come over the next few days!