Bye-bye Scotland!!!

Hi guys,
Just a quick one coz all the batteries are going to die and there's no free wifi! I'm At Glasgow Airport waiting for my plane!! I'm so, so sad to be leaving - I've had such an amazing time! But at the same time I'm really looking forward to seeing all you lovely people back in Australia!!
The past 7 months have gone so fast I can't believe it's almost Christmas and New Year and all that party stuff!! (Guys! What are we doing for NYE, by the way?! I'm thinking city, but then there's all those annoying drunk people ...)
It feels really surreal that I'm going home. I don't think I'll quite believe it until I'm curled up in my Marshmallow bed eating curly fries, and even then it might still feel like a dream!!
I got the email with all of my enrollment stuff yesterday. That's a whole other jar of crazy!!
I guess it feels particularly weird because when I came over here it was a whole lot of unknown - no job, no house, no friends. It was like starting a new book: no expectations and no idea what it will be like. Where as going home is like picking up the sequel to your favourite book in the world: You know the characters and the world inside out and you love them to bits, but you know everything will be a little bit different than how you remember, besides, you're different too. And this time you do have expectations and hopes and predictions about what will happen in this story, but really you have absolutely no idea.
Anyways, not long until boarding starts!!! And a little over 24 hours until MARSHMALLOW BED!!!!
Love you all and can't wait to see you!!!!
xo

On the train back to Scotland ...

I can't believe it's been a week since the Contiki tour finished. For that matter, I can't believe I've been away for over six months!! In five days I will be getting on a plane home!

I had an amazing time with Ruth in Paris! Here are a few pictures:

Me and Ruth in Paris

Repetto is a fancy Ballet shop. I bought new shoes and a gorgeous dancing bag!

Can't wait to try out my new shoes for reals! 

This Chocolate Eclair had chocolate cream in it!!

Pretty Paris just before sunset!

 After Paris I spent a few days in London shopping and seeing shows. I saw this musical called Looserville. I'd seen posters on the tube saying "If you like Greese/The IT Crowd/The Big Bang Theory/etc. you'll like this". It was fun, but not fantastic. The beginning was really great and funny. But then they kept telling the same jokes over and over and over and over again. I might do a review of it sometime ... but that might turn into a rant about how not all "Geeks" are obsessed with - or have even watched - Star Trek, especially the original series.
I also went to see The Perks of Being a Wallflower which was much better than I expected it to be. Still not fantastic, though.

Now I'm on the train back to Scotland. It's 5 hours of really boring so I made Monkey Moo a Facebook page. When I get back to Stirling I will add picks of all the new clothes I bought her. Check it out guys coz she's adorable!!

Til next time
xoxo

The Amazing Pasta Dinner in Venice and The Saga of the Apples!

One of our optional extras on tour was a dinner in Venice. I don't think any of us were fully prepared for the pasta epic we would be served ...

The first course was a plate of meat, a plate of veg and a plate of crispy, deep fried seafood.

First Course

 Then they turned of the lights and presented us with a plate of risotto with a shell that was on fire. There was a carbonara as well, but I didn't get a picture of it. It was the nicest dish of the whole meal.

Second Course

 At this point they realised that I really shouldn't have been eating any of the food because it all had wheat and milk so they started bringing me my own plates of pasta. When they brought the plate for the rest of the table the waiter would say to me, "Not for you, not for you."

Fourth Course

They brought me a plate of (I assume) gluten free pasta as well, but I'd been eating all the food anyway because it was so tasty.
A few days earlier, in the Rhine Valley, all the gluten and lactose free people had been given an apple for dessert instead of the cake or whatever everyone else had. I can't eat apples because they're high in fructose, so I'd felt a little bad. It had become a bit of a running joke with the group that they hadn't known what to give the special diet people, so they ran into the garden and pulled some apples off the tree (that's the story someone made up, anyway).
Back in Venice, after all our plates were cleared we were speculating on what might be for dessert. I made a comment that I hoped I didn't get an apple again because I'd feel bad not being able to eat it.
About a minute later the waiter brought this out ...

Dessert (for me, anyway!)

Us Special Diet people got apple desserts a couple more times on the trip. I was very excited in Florence to get an orange! It didn't taste great, but it wasn't an apple!!

Amazing Adventures in the Land of Europe!

Hello Everyone!!!

I had the most amazing time travelling around Europe with 50 other wonderful people, an amazing tour manager and an incredible driver!! We drove through 8 countries in 12 days from Amsterdam to Paris.

Day One
We left from London at 7.30 am on Tuesday 30th October. It was a pretty long drive through England, France and The Netherlands to Amsterdam with a little break from the bus to get a boat across the English Channel. After checking into our hotel we went on a canal cruise to see the City all lit up, drink wine and beer, listen to cheesey music and get to know our new tour buddies.

Houses and Boats on the canals in Amsterdam

Day Two
We had the morning to look around the city. We went to the Anne Frank museum and walked through the house they hid in. Then we wandered around the streets and got a little lost, but it was fun! We stopped off at Mcdonalds to use the wifi. 

A sign next to our seats at Mcdonalds in Amsterdam

We then got back on the bus to drive into Germany. We stayed in a town in the Rhine Valley. We went to wine tasting after dinner which was surprisingly nice considering I don't usually like sweet wines. We got to try their ice wine (which is wine made from grapes that have frozen while still on the vine). It can only be made in a few parts of the world and only in certain conditions. It's very, very sweet, so while nice, I wouldn't drink a lot.


Day Three
Munich!!
It was a public holiday in Munich the day we arrived.

Munich

All the shops were closed and there was no music or dancing allowed. There's this big clock thing with people that move at certain times during the day, but not when we were there. Also there was no live music in the beer halls.

Pork Knuckles in Munich

But Munich was still amazing. We had a guided tour with a hilarious Canadian guide. Then we went to a restaurant for dinner. They have these Pork Knuckles that are roasted on a spit. It's kind of looks like a lamb shank and tastes like roast pork. But so much tastier! The crackling was the nicest I've ever had (Sorry Dad, I don't think you'll be able to beat it!).
After an amazing dinner, we went to the really massive beer hall. They have massive 1 litre glasses of beer. It was so full of people and so huge!! Then we went back to the hotel for a "quite night" ...

Day Four
In the morning we spent a little more time in Munich because everything was open again. Then we drove to Innsbruck in Austria.
It's a beautiful little town surrounded by amazing snow capped mountains.

Austrian Moountains

I spent ages looking at all the shinies in the Swarovski store. I bought a ring that changes colour as light hits it at different angles. The night in Innsbruck was pretty quiet after Munich.

Day Five
Venice!! Venice is an amazing city. It was my favourite place we went to on the tour.

Our Gondola Driver

It was beautiful with all the canals and the buildings and the shops. We went on a gondola ride through the city while drinking Italian sparkling wine.
Then we wandered around looking at shops and the buildings. There were all these shops with beautiful leather notebooks and calligraphy sets - like that paper shop I love on Degraves Street in Melbourne. There were gorgeous Venetian masks everywhere, too.
After wandering, eating Italian pizza and gelati we decided to find a cafe to relax before dinner.

My Incredible Hot Chocolate in Venice

I had the most amazing hot chocolate. It came as a jug of chocolate and a jug of milk that you poured into a cup to make as rich and thick at you wanted. It was so nice!!!
After hot chocolate we went to dinner.
Dinner was a huge selection of pasta. I don't know how many plates they brought out. They just kept coming! It crazy crazy and really yummy!!

Day Six and Seven
We spent two days in Rome. We visited a few main sites on the night we arrived and had gelati. The lemon Gelati I had in Venice was the best lemon ever and the Chocolate Gelati in Rome was the best chocolate ever.

The Colosseum at Night

On the morning of the second day in Rome we went to the Sistine Chapel which was pretty amazing.
Rome is a crazy place. It is absolutely chaotic. There are so many people and even more cars. I didn't really like it that much.
I had a fun adventure trying to get back to the hotel, though. I managed to navigate the trains okay. When I got to the station I started walking in the direction that I thought the Hotel was in. Just to make sure, I asked in a little cafe. They told me to get on a bus but their English wasn't great so they couldn't really tell me where to get off. I followed the bus for a little bit, but they go faster than I can walk! After a while I wasn't sure that the hotel was as far as I had walked so I waited at a bus stop to ask a bus driver if they knew where is was. These two guys were waiting too. They spoke Italian and I think they spoke French, but they didn't speak any English. They knew the hotel, though. So we got on  the bus and they told me where to get off and what street to go down.

Day Eight

Florence

Florence is beautiful! We wandered around until we found a little market with gorgeous leather bags. I found a stall with more gorgeous leather note books.
That night we had a lovely dinner with live music, lovely food and 1.5 litre bottles of wine. After dinner we went to the Space Electronic Discoteque for dancing! It was so awesome to dance again after 6 months!! And I got to wear the gorgeous boots I bought in Scotland!

Day Nine
We drove to Lucerne in Switzerland. It was gorgeous. More huge snow capped mountains! We went to a shop that sold watches and Swiss Army Knives. They have ones for doing your nails. They're so cute!

Mountains in Switzerland

Our Hotel in Lucerne

We stayed in an old Jail. The rooms were made to look like cells with barred windows and simple beds with foam mattresses. They were thick and on a wooden frame, so it wasn't that uncomfortable. Some people weren't all that impressed, but I thought it was amazing!
You may have noticed that all my photos are of beautiful blue skies and sunshine. I swear they're not photoshopped!! We had amazing weather. It rained occasionally, but mostly it was absolutely beautiful.  Nothing like the last few weeks in Scotland!!

Day Ten
We had a very, very long drive to Paris. After driving for 10 days the last thing anyone wanted was to be on the bus for another whole day! But we made it!! Paris is just as beautiful as the last time I was here. We drove around after dinner to see everything all lit up and pretty.

Day Eleven
In the morning we went up to the very top of the Eiffel Tower. It was really foggy, so you couldn't see very far which was kinda sad. It was still fun!
I found a little cafe to have Crepes and then went to see if I could find a new outfit to wear out that night, but I didn't like anything.
For the last night of the tour we went to the Moulin Rouge. It was amazing! The costumes were incredible, the dancing was corny but really fun, there was amazing acrobatics and fun music. I think all the girls were a bit disappointed that there were only topless ladies and no topless guys, but it was still fun!
Afterwards we went to the bar/club next door to dance the night away.

Day Twelve
Woke up early to say good bye to everyone going on the bus back to the airport and London. It was so sad to say good bye to all my amazing new friends and I miss them all already!!! Hopefully I'll see some of them again at some point!! Being my Nan's granddaughter, I'm already planning the next few holidays in Australia and Overseas!!

I'm staying in Paris with Mum's step-sister until Wednesday. Then I'm going back to London for a few days, then back up to Scotland ... then home!!
Can't wait to see everyone again!! Partying will occur and cupcakes will be baked.

Love you all and miss you so much - new friends and old!!!

xoxoxo

If you're a little confused ...

... Why I've seemingly randomly decided to go to uni ... So am I!! So I will try and explain it as much as I can ...

"What?! I thought you said you didn't want to go to uni?!"

I don't think I ever said I didn't want to go to uni at all-ever, I just said that I hadn't found any courses that really sparked my interest. But now I have.

"Aren't you giving up a great opportunity to live overseas?"

Yes. I can only get this working visa once in my life, but it's still valid until 2014 so I can come back if I want to. That aside, I was never coming over here forever.

"What made you decide to go to uni?"

Way back a year ago when the idea of working in the UK manifested itself in my mind and grew into something that I HAD to do right now! I wasn't in a very good place. I felt like I was just wandering around, doing absolutely nothing of value. I had no goals, no purpose, no direction. So the idea of going overseas was an escape from that nothingness. It gave me something to look forward to, and aim towards. Basically it gave me something to DO. When I came over here it was a crazy-awesome-adventure of new stuff and new people and new adventures! I did miss home, though (and still do!), but when I left I had decided that I wasn't going to come home until I had a clear plan of what I was going to do with myself. So whenever I felt really homesick, I'd brainstorm all the things I could do if I went home right then and worked out if that was really what I wanted to do with my life. One of these things was studying. It's something that has fluttered around in my head since I finished school, but I never found a course that looked interesting. Eventually I stumbled onto a few subjects at Swinburne that looked pretty good. The more subjects I looked at the more interesting it got. So I spent MONTHS debating whether or not I really wanted to study for three years and if I really wanted to go back home.  I decided that I pretty much wanted to stay here and go home to study equally, so I might as well apply for uni and If I got in, I'd go home. If not, I'd stay here.

"Why does the idea of going to uni scare you more than the idea of moving to the other side of the world on your own with no job, no accommodation and barely any money? That's NUTS! Uni's really not that bad!"

Most of you know that I really did not like high school. I was really not very happy for the last few years (for various reasons that I won't go into), so I have formed an association between "unhappiness" and "studying". That said, I love learning things. I love researching things to find out everything you could possibly know about things. If I'm really passionate about something (Disney) I will stay up all night reading stuff about it and then tell everyone I know all the crazy and interesting stuff I have found.

But as much as I am excited to go to uni, there is still a nagging fear that some of the things that made me sad in high school will come back. They probably won't because I'm older a wiser and awesomer now, but at the moment, it feels like a huge gamble.

I'm not promising I'm going to stick at it for the whole three years (my dad hasn't set an excellent example on that front!), but I want to try it and see what all the fuss is about!!

xoxo

Birthdays, Europe and the Next Crazy-Awesome Adventure!!

Hey Crazy Kids!!

I'm off to Europe in about two weeks. First I'll spend a few days in London and then head off one this tour. It's 12 days and goes through Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and France. I'm super excited!!
I bought a coat today to keep me warm and dry as it is getting very cold and wet. It's the middle of Autumn, but the weather is more like the middle of Melbourne's Winter ... with more rain! It's amazing seeing all the leaves changing colour. I know SOME trees at home lose their leaves for winter, but this is ALL of them. It's so pretty!!

Autumn in Stirling

I'm still working in the Careers Centre at Stirling University. I was supposed to finish last Friday, but they want me to keep doing a few hours this week while the lady I was covering for settles back in from being on sick leave. It's only two hours a day but it's something to do that's making money rather than spending it. YAY! Money!!

Last week was my 20th Birthday. It's kinda weird not being a teenager anymore, but I'll probably get used to it. I guess I'm supposed to act kinda grown-up now or something ... Naaaaaah!!
It was the first birthday that I can think of where I haven't had some kind of super-awesome party. That was really strange. It was kind of nice in some ways ... no obsessive planning for months, no rush to get ALL THE THINGS baked and pretty-fied, no searching every $2 shop for random decorations and costume-type things and then realising that Dad won't let them in the house because they have a tiny speck of glitter! All that is my second favourite part of birthdays (my favourite part being when all that crazy planning falls into place and  have an awesome day (or four) with my favourite people in the whole universe), but it was a nice change. (Don't worry guys, I'm already brainstorming ideas for my 21st! I don't know how yet, but it WILL top the Disney party ... wait how do I top that cake? That cake was a masterpiece in amateur cake decorating! Anyway ...)
It was a nice, quiet birthday. We went out to a restaurant a few nights before for Tapas (My parents used my birthday as an excuse to go out for Tapas, so we decided to do the same. Ours was nicer.) It was so tasty but there was so much food!! We managed to get through all of it, though!
Ralph was out on the actual day, so me and Mairead went to a little Italian place for dinner. It was a nice restaurant, but nothing too fancy. And that was basically my birthday.

Except for one tiny little detail that completely blew my mind.
But before I tell you about that. LOOK! It's Pinkie Pie singing the Nyan Cat song ... FOREVER!!

Okay, so now I've tortured/adorabubbled you to tears you are probably close to the emotional state I was in when I woke up on the morning of my 20th birthday, read all the lovely birthday messages everyone left for me on Facebook and, before rolling over and dozing for a little while longer, casually checked my emails.
And found that Swinburne had sent me an email offering me a place in the Arts degree I applied for a few weeks earlier.
On my birthday.
I got accepted to university. On my birthday.

So, yeah, I am going to university next year to do Arts at Swinburne. Which means I actually have to physically be in Melbourne. So I'll be home before Christmas (and there will be cupcakes).


I will write a post soon about what led me to this crazy decision to apply for uni, why the whole idea terrifies me a million times more than the idea of moving to the UK with no job, no accommodation and enough money to last about 4 days and why I'm still gonna do it anyway!!

Love you all!!!
xoxoxo

Some stuff that has happened ...

Hey everyone!!!
I know I haven't posted in ages ... I'm terrible!!!!

Things have been pretty crazy since my last post in July!!! I'll try to write it all - in order - for you ...

Sometime around my last post my two Lithuanian friends found out they had to go home in August to go to uni. They started the same day I did and were also expecting to stay until October, so it was a real shock for everybody!
The day before Nora and Tomas left we got two new staff and were expecting another girl a few days later. The first week without them was possibly the hardest week of my life. I took over doing breakfast from 7.45 to sometime after 9 for the B&B residents (which Nora had been doing). You all know what I'm like if I have to be conscious before 10am, right? Somehow I actually managed to wake up and be there on time, although I skipped a couple of breakfasts and in order to get enough sleep I skipped dinner a few times as well because we finished packing up the restaurant after 9pm. In total I worked about 69 hours across 6 days.
Which is basically why I got sick.
Not quite two weeks after Nora and Tomas left the two French staff were due to go back for uni as well. They'd come in July for just two months. That two months went so crazy fast and was so much fun!!! So it was really sad to be saying good-bye to them too.
Just before they left I took most of a day off sick. I had a fever and felt nauseous and dizzy and just plain awful. I had been fighting colds for the past few weeks but this one was a really nasty one. I took lots of tablets and got a little bit better each day, but I had barely any energy and a really painful cough that, when it got really bad, made me retch quite violently. It was really not fun.
Work was insanely stressful as we were short staffed (one of the part-time waiters had appendicitis), still training the new people and the restaurant was quite busy. And of course, being sick was just making it so much harder.

So that's basically why I left.
I've been staying with Mum's step-dad in Stirling for a little over a week. The doctor put me on antibiotics for a chest infection and I have mostly gotten better but I still have a small cough.

I registered with an admin recruitment place and they found me a temp job at the University, which I started yesterday. I'm doing the reception for the careers advice centre which is a pretty interesting place to work. Everyone's really nice and I really love being back in an office (which is kinda sad), doing dull tasks like cutting cards and putting them in envelopes (which is possibly sadder).

I miss everyone in Pitlochry and everyone who left before me to go to their respective homes. It was definitely the right thing to leave, though. My health has improved and I am generally much happier. I don't know how long I will be doing the job I'm in as it is to cover sick leave. And I have no idea what I will do next!!! But that's okay :)
Love you all!!!
xoxo

PS. I have slightly a lot more time now, especially on the weekends, so if anyone wants to skype/IM please let me know and we can organise a time! I miss you all and would love to hear what you've all been up to!!!

Look guys! A poll!!!

There is a poll to the right of the page (under the blog archive) with ideas of future posts. Please vote!!!

A New Post: Now With Pictures

So I must be going to blog around about once a month. Okay then.

I found some photos on my phone and camera that I thought you all might be interested in. So ... Pictures:

This is a Robin I made friends with at Pitlochry station one day while I was waiting for a train. I couldn't work out if the thing it's standing on was a rock or a very rotten sandwich ...

I went to Edinburgh with Ralph a while ago. He had some meeting or something, so I just wandered around. I was walking down one of the main streets and from a few blocks away I saw a shop that could have been a Build-a-Bear Workshop, but just as easily might not have been. Sure enough, when I got closer, it was. I swear I wasn't looking for it! It found me!! So I bought Monkey-Moo a UK-themed outfit to add to her collection of clothes from around the world.

This is the main road where almost all the shops are found (along only four or five blocks).
I live just a little bit further up from where this was taken.

Here is one of the MANY gift shops on the main road. They are all full of over priced souvenirs and pretty things.

I'd really like to go to this cafe one day. It looks tasty!! Here is the website: http://www.hetties-tearooms.com/










I found these matches in a drawer in the staff kitchen. They freaked me out because I've only ever seen red matches. They really don't look right!!!

This is the kitchen in the restaurant (part of it, anyway). There are a few other rooms through the doorways at the back there. Because this place has been running for over 50 years (and it's Britain so all the buildings are ridiculously old, anyway), there's lots of bits that have been added at different times and squeezed into odd places so everything on the property is a bit of a maze.
In the B&B there's a corridor that is less than a metre long, separated by two insanely heavy fire doors (there are really heavy doors everywhere, it's really annoying!!). The corridor could be something to do with fire prevention or maybe it's a teleport to an alien city on Pluto, I don't really know what it's for other than to be weird.


Anyway, that's all the photos I have at the moment, but I will try to take more soon.
If you have any questions or suggestions of posts, leave them in the comments!! I will try to post again soon!!
xoxo

CAKE!! And some other stuff that has happened since I last posted ...

Okay, so i suck at blogging. That's pretty obvious. I have a few draft posts that I haven't finished for various reasons. Mostly, I got bored of them so I figured you all would too.
Some possibly interesting things that have happened in the last month (sort of in chronological order):
I went to Glasgow
I saw The Little Shop of Horrors at the Pitlochry Theatre
We got a stove/oven thing in the staff accommodation so we can cook real food rather than fast food and microwave food
I cooked rice in the microwave (several times, now) and it didn't fail!!
My boss has started calling me Matilda because of Waltzing Matilda ... (I'm worried that I'll actually start answering to it by the end of the summer!!)
My mum sent me some rice bread which has been awesome and yummy
Baileys is possibly my new favourite alcohol and Nora (the other waitress) and I discovered that it is amazing on vanilla ice cream
I found the most amazing chocolate cake

Which brings me to CAKE!!!
Tomorrow is my day off. I always try to do something nice, like go out for lunch, go to another town or city. This week I've saved up heaps of the money I set aside to spend on food, etc. because I decided to stop buying junk food and eat nice, healthy, fructose and lactose free meals (for those who don't know, I'm fructose and lactose intolerant).
I decided to go to one of the cafe/restaurants that I really like for dinner. Partly for fun and partly because they have free wi-fi and I bought LA Noire from Steam this morning because it was 75% off and the internet on my phone is way too slow to download 12GB (turns out the free wifi is too ...)
Anyway, I got crumbed calamari to start which was really nice and tender and not too oily or anything.   Then I had lasagna because almost everything else on the menu was fish, and I didn't feel like more seafood. There was nothing particularly special about it. It was yummy, though.
Then the waitress plonked the dessert menu in front of me. I looked through it and debated whether I wanted more wheat and sugar and dairy and all that stuff that I've been avoiding for the past week. Since I had gone out as a special treat and all, I convinced myself to try the chocolate cake. It had a really tasty name ... something to do with chocolate fudge something. I got Baileys and milk, too, because the tasty name of the cake sounded like it would go well with Baileys.

It does taste as amazing as it looks.
I'm sure you all know that I am a complete snob about my baking. My cupcakes are the nicest in the world and so id my chocolate fudge mousse cake.

This cake was equal to or better than my chocolate cake.

It was warm and fudgey and creamy and melty. It had warm sauce in the middle that was rich, but sweet enough to balance the richness of the cake.
I actually wanted it with cream, but I think she heard me wrong. i'm glad, though. it was proper ice cream. It was really creamy and had real vanilla bean! It tasted just like the first ice cream I made, but only my parents had that. For the rest of you, it was sort of like the other vanilla ice cream I make, except creamier and with more vanilla flavour. IT WAS SO NICE!!!!! And it did go really well with the Baileys.
As you can imagine, after all that high fructose and lactose food, I have a TERRIBLE stomach ache ... But it was SO worth it!!
Anyway, that is Cake. And now I must sleep to recover from cake.
I will possibly post again at some point ... We shall see ...
xoxo

Day 22

Hello everyone!!!
I've been in the UK for three weeks, so I thought I'd better actually start this blog I told people I'd start. It's a little too pink at the moment, but I will make it look awesome when I get around to doing some more web design stuff.
I am in a little Scottish town called Pitlochry. You can check it out here: http://www.pitlochry.org/. It's full of old stone houses and quaint gift shops. It's a tourist town so there are heaps of accommodation-type places. I am working in the restaurant here: http://macdonalds-pitlochry.co.uk/. It's fun most of the time. Except when the stupid computer-gadgets we use to take orders stuff up. That's not so fun. Especially since it always seems to happen when the bosses are around ... Stupid computer-gadgets ...

Anyway. I'm not really sure what to write on this blog since basically all I do is work and buy food in my break (I will do a post about food sometime), so please ask me questions and give suggestions for posts in the comments.