Time is Winding Down

As of right now I have 19 days left in Australia and 23 days until I am back home in the States. I have two weeks left in my internship and only a couple days of class left before heading back. My internship has turned out to be an amazing time and such a learning experience. For the next two weeks I am going to be shadowing news directors and eventually directing a news promo here and there. I will also be developing a news story, shooting it, editing it, and even getting one of the news anchors to present it on air. It'll be a great way to use all of the skills I brought to my internship and skills I have learned through my time at SBS to create a piece I can bring home and add to my resume. I am very excited at what is to come with that.

Yesterday a couple friends and I were able to attend the finale taping of our favorite show here in Australia. It was a long day but so much fun!! The 1 and a half hour show took about 5 hours to tape and we waited to get into the studio for about 3 hours. Afterward we wandered over to Darling Harbour to celebrate my friend Andrew's birthday. He surprised us all with birthday gifts. He gave my friend Alan a birthday scavenger hunt that I believe they are undertaking right now in the 100 heat- good luck to them with that. He gave Nikki a Disney book about friendship stories. It was such a sweet gift. He said he originally had bought me Will Anderson's new book Friendly Fire but then came across a book full of apartments in Paris and Sydney and knew that it was the perfect gift. Since I have spent much time here browsing through apartment listings on craigslist and getting excited about kitchen setups and floor layouts it really was a great gift.

Thanksgiving is this week and although I am sad to be missing it in the States, I will be happy to be celebrating it with this group here at a (supposedly) well-catered Thanksgiving feast being thrown at the BU Sydney Center. It'll be a bittersweet celebration highlighting the short amount of days we have left til we leave this beautiful country.

After leaving Australia on the 10th I will be heading to New Zealand for a short 4 day vacation in Queenstown. I have all of the flights and accommodations booked and am getting so excited! I plan to cruise around Milford Sound and marvel at its beauty and hopefully see a dolphin or two playing in the boat's wake. I am also planning on skydiving in Glenorchy (maybe with a friend, maybe not). It is going to be scary and stunning and breathtaking but I can't help but smile and get incredibly excited thinking about it. I also have tentative plans to go 4WD in the high country around Queenstown, if I do I know it will be stunning scenery full of sheep, fields, and still lakes. I will be heading back to the North Island via Christchurch to fly out of Auckland on the 14th and amazingly I will be landing in LA on the 14th and then subsequently landing in NY on the 14th. It will be a long trip!


My roommate Nikki works for a show on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (the ABC) and their final show is being taped on Monday (tomorrow) followed by an all night party that I was lucky enough to get invited to. I'll be attending the taping and the party and have a chance to wear a beautiful dress I bought at the Newtown festival a couple weekends ago. I'll get to meet Nikki's co-workers and mingle with some ABC execs, it is going to be great.

Nikki and I had plans to head to Manly beach today but unfortunately it is about 100 degrees outside and a Sunday...not really a great combination to get out and do something. So instead I plan to do my laundry, clean up around the apartment and get some homework done while listening to my American podcasts. It is going to be a great day.

Talk soon!

Love,
Ellen