A New Year’s Eve to Remember

Sydney, NSW – 1 January, 2011 at 11:19am
Kansas City, USA – 31 December, 2010 at 6:19pm

Yesterday is definitely a day that I will always remember. It started off with a reunion with a friend from college who I haven’t seen in 9 years. The random part of this story…she lives in San Francisco and is visiting Sydney for one week to celebrate the New Year. The more random part of this story…she is originally from Colorado and when I was in Denver visiting my friend Zach a few weeks before I left for Australia, she happened to be in Denver but we missed seeing each other when we were both downtown.

Me & Marissa....and the first pic of my natural wavy hair...ugh

Marissa and I met at K-State when we were both on the rugby team. Now I know you’re thinking, Emily was on a rugby team? I know, right…seems a little odd but I was dating a rugby player in college and sometimes girls do stupid things to impress their boyfriends…this was one at the top of the list for me. It was a fun game but I’m definitely not tough enough to hang with these girls. My career was short and sweet but my friendship with Marissa and a couple of the other girls has lived on.

I had been on the team for about 3 weeks when we had our first game of the season. I was a wing. Picture it, there I am running with the ball down the sideline…the next thing I can remember is waking up with everyone huddled over me, staring at me and asking me questions. Apparently, I had been knocked out by one of our opponents. She flattened me. I can’t remember if I went to the hospital or if there were just some medics on-site but someone official decided I had a concussion and need to be woken up every two hours to make sure 1.) I wasn’t dead and 2.) I wasn’t in a coma. Marissa being the awesome gal that she is took me to her house and woke me up every two hours on the hour…at that moment our friendship was solidified. 

Like I said, I haven’t seen Marissa in 9 years, minus the photos and updates on Facebook, so it was great to see her again. She is beautiful as always and has the same fun loving spirit as I remember. We chatted for about an hour and a half to catch up & have a beer in the sunshine and then we went our separate ways again. It was really good to see her and hopefully I will see her again before the next 9 years passes us by.

After our little reunion, Jason and I walked around for awhile and then headed to a movie to escape the afternoon heat. We saw The Tourist…descent flick but definitely not the best film either Johnny Depp or Angelina Jolie have starred in…I would suggest waiting for it to come out on DVD. Especially since the movie cost $18.

After the movie we came back to Jason’s to make dinner and take a power nap before heading out to watch the fireworks. Like I said in a previous post, I’m not a fan of crowds…nor am I a fan of New Year’s Eve…I refer to it as “Novice Night.” Most of my friends think I’m lame but I don’t care…but since Sydney is obviously famous for their NYE celebration (and partly why I came to Sydney at this point in the trip) I wanted to experience it. Getting there was a little obnoxious, lots of drunk people on the train…one sketchy and very shady looking young man took a liking to us and let’s just say using the words gross and disgusting are being kind…he was saying some very inappropriate things about me so thankfully Jason mainly dealt with him. After that bizarre encounter, the evening was spectacular. 

Jason took me to a little park overlooking the Harbour but away from the crowds and the drunk people (as requested). We were surrounded by families and heaps of cops (or coppers as they call them) so all in all it was an enjoyable and safe evening. 

Here is a taste of the festivities (video): http://randomthoughtstravelphotos.shutterfly.com/pictures/657

Randomness:

Holiday time off: Aussies, like most of the world shut down for the holidays minus retail stores. Not only do they close for the actual holiday but several companies will close for at least two weeks to a month to allow people to celebrate with their families and friends. I’ve been lucky enough to work for two companies who close the office for one to two weeks but America should definitely adopt this way of thinking…relax and enjoy = less stress.

Vacation: Australian law requires companies provide four weeks of vacation to employees instead of our standard two and they recognizes approximately 8-10 additional public holidays…another policy we should adopt.

Maternity AND Paternity leave…Australia has both. Paid maternity and paternity leave is 18 weeks at full pay and job security up to 12 months (unpaid after the 18 wks). Wow.

Have you ever seen an Ugg Boot just hanging out on the street? I have...