Did you miss me?

October 15th, 2018

Hello everyone!!! I have been so busy with assignments and traveling that I haven’t blogged in literally a month. So, welcome back and let me fill you in on everything that has happened this month.

Soooo to start us off, about a month ago Goldstein and the rest of the dorm buildings had a harbor cruise event. It was amazing. We all got onto this big night cruise boat and traveling down the harbor, under the harbor bridge, and right past the opera house. It was absolutely beautiful and a great night full of friends, beautiful views, and lots of dancing.

BALI BABY!!!

Day one - A couple days after harbor cruise I started my journey to Bali. I have to say, I was kind of terrified to be traveling to a country like Bali, where I didn’t speak the language, all by myself. The flight was only about 7 hours, which wasn’t too bad. On the plane, I sat next to this Irish woman and her husband who were very friendly and chatty, so it passed the time by quickly. The woman asked me why I chose Bali for my break and I told her because I have always wanted to go, and this was the perfect chance since I was already on this side of the world. When she told me the reason why she and her husband chose to vacation in Bali, I nearly fell off my chair. She explained that she had been battling breast cancer for almost 6 years and had just gotten her latest scans which showed that she was officially cancer free!!! Ever since she got that news, her and her husband had been traveling all over the world. She was such a positive woman that taught me a very important lesion: to live life to the fullest (especially while you’re young) because you never know what the future holds. In that moment, I felt so blessed to hear her story, and so inspired by her words. They always say that God chooses who comes in and out of your life, and I am so happy that he chose this amazing woman to enter my life and share her story.

When I landed in the airport I went through customs which was fairly easy, and continued to collect my bags. Once I had my bags, I started towards the exit to find the driver I was meeting up with. When I rounded the corner there were so many taxi drivers standing in a line with signs. All they did was call out to me asking if I needed a taxi, which made it very difficult to find the driver for the tour company I was looking for. I finally found him and we loaded up the car with my bags and were on our way to meet up with the rest of the group in a city called Kuta. I was able to drop off all of my bags at the hotel where I met up with the tour guide and she brought me to the restaurant where the group was eating dinner. It was very intimidating walking into a group of 15 people that already kind of knew each other. Everything was great though because everyone was so sweet and I felt very welcomed. We had dinner and headed to a local bar with live music. I spent most of the night getting to know people in my group, and enjoying the live music. After a few hours, we headed back to the hotel and went to our rooms so we could be well rested for the day to come. My roommate Nadine (If you’re reading this ILY and miss you so much xxx) and I stayed up talking and pretty much both fell asleep mid-sentence.

Day two – We woke up and headed downstairs to the little café that was owned by the hotel for a group breakfast. I got an amazing breakfast including toast, scrambled eggs, juice, tea, and fruit all for about $4usd. I became a millionaire overnight, and man was that a great feeling. After everyone finished their breakfast, Bonnie our tour guide gave us a little safety briefing and the itinerary for the next eight days. After our little chat we went upstairs to get ready and headed down to load the buses for our first activity of the day. We went to some local temples, which are a huge part of the culture in Bali. All of Indonesia follows the Muslim culture expect for Bali which follows the Hindu culture. Many locals go to temples to pray at least once a day, so visiting these sacred buildings was so rewarding. After the temples, we went to a local beach to hangout for a few hours and work on our tans. We got back to the hotel and went for dinner. We didn’t do dinner as one big group, we were allowed to break off into smaller groups to grab a quick bite to eat. My group decided to go to a little burger joint which was amazing, and again really cheap. Kuta is a fairly big city that has lots of nightlife, so of course we had to check it out. Our program rented out a bar to start off our night. At the bar they had beer pong, cards, and lots of different games set up for us. They also had a drink deal where you could get three cocktails for about $8usd. Once everyone had tried pretty much one of every drink we decided to move onto the next thing. Bonnie brought us to this massive nightclub with three different dance floors and bars. Our group went up to the roof bar which is where we spent the rest of the night. As if this place couldn’t get any cooler….they had a full buffet of food set up that was all you can eat. I was honestly in heaven and didn’t want to come back down. At around 3am we decided it was time to go home, so we made our way back to the hotel and passed out.

Day three – We woke up the next morning in dire need of food, Nadine and I headed to the café in the hotel for some pancakes and toast. We tried to get money out of the atm which was an epic fail, and headed back up to our room to pack our stuff up. We checked out of our hotel, loaded up the buses and started our trip to our second location. One thing I have noticed is the amount of garbage all over the place here. Apparently, the locals here have no care in the world about plastic and materials that hurt the environment. Bonnie told us that it is totally normal to order a drink and have three plastic straws come with it! We arrived at our new hotel in Cangu. Once we arrived we had lunch at the roof top bar on top of our hotel. Also, when we arrived they gave us this little fruit juice smoothie thing and I honestly felt like royalty. After lunch, we got our room keys and Nadine and I brought our bags to our room to get settled in. We spent all afternoon by the pool enjoying the sunny weather. We met up as a group for dinner at this cute little Italian restaurant. I had gnocchi, which was decent but not the best Italian food I’ve ever had. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and went right to bed because it had been a long day of travel.

Day four – “surfs up dudeeee” Can you guess what we did today? We started the day off with some breakfast at the hotel which was so good. They serve fried rice for breakfast which was a little weird, but they also had every pastry you could ever imagine. After breakfast Nadine, Beth and I decided to walk around the town and somehow ended up at the spa for mani, pedi, and massages…oops. I got a gel manicure and pedicure and a foot massage all for $22usd, crazy right!! After we were fully pampered we headed back to the hotel to get into our bathing suits for our surfing lesson. We got to the beach and were immediately thrown into the water with our surf boards. This lesson went a lot better than the last one I took. I stood up multiple times, don’t worry videos will come later on! Everyone was absolutely dead after the lesson because surfing takes so much out of you, so we went back to the hotel to take showers and get ready for the night. Nadine and I got ready really fast so we walked around the local markets while we waited for everyone else. We met up at the beach with the group to have sunset drinks on the beach. The sunset was absolutely breathtaking, probably one of the best I’ve ever seen. We headed to a local restaurant for dinner after. I decided to try some classic Indonesian food, so I went with Nasi Goreng. This is chicken skewers that have been marinated in peanut sauce, fried rice with a fried egg on top, and prawn crackers. It was sooooo good!! After dinner I went back to the hotel to reorganize my suitcase because we were moving to the next location the next day.

Day five – we woke up and got breakfast and checked out of the hotel. We were traveling to Lovina which is at the very north tip of Bali. This trip took us about 4 hours driving but we broke it up with different stops. First, we stopped at more temples which were even more beautiful then the first trip. Our second stop was at a rice patty farm where we got to walk through the rows of rice and even help out with some of the farming. I felt right at home here, it was so green and beautiful. There were many volcanos in the distance which were amazing to see because I had never seen one in person. We had a buffet lunch at a restaurant right next to the rice farm. I got to try so many different Balinese foods, and it was great. Back in the busses we went and onto our next and final stop for the day: a massive waterfall. We were able to go into the waterfall and swim around for a bit. Once everyone was cooled off we got back on the bus and drove another 20 minutes to our own private villa. The company of the program I was on owns a villa at the top of a hill that overlooks a small village and tons of mountains and volcanos. It was the most beautiful view I have ever seen and the whole place was ours for two nights. It was like an all-inclusive resort in the middle of nowhere, what more could you want? We got settled into our rooms which were dorm style with bunk beds. We had three bunks in my room with 6 people to the room. Our room was in one of the villa houses down the hill a bit, and we had our own outdoor bathroom with the most magical stone shower that was literally outside in the middle of the jungle. We put on our swimsuits and spent the night in the pool with an all you can eat buffet of delicious food. We finished the day with a bonfire and card games.

Day six – today we woke up and watched the sunrise over the mountains from our villa. We went to the bottom of the hill, to the beach for breakfast at this restaurant. After everyone was done with breakfast we got onto these tiny boats, 4 people to a boat and headed out to sea. We drove 30 minutes out from shore where we saw thousands and thousands of dolphins. The ocean off the coast of Lovina is where 90% of the world’s dolphin population lives so we spent hours out on the boat with the dolphins. When we made it back to shore, we got to do some kayaking and enjoy some time on the beach. Next, we headed to a local family to see how people live in Bali. The family we visited lived on a coffee plantation and had their own garden, so we got to go on a tour of their farm and the whole process of making coffee. We even got free coffee facials out of this trip. The garden was massive, and they had every possible crop growing. We got to try many different fruit, veggies, plants, and so much more. My personal favorite fruit that I got to try is known as snake fruit. It has the same texture as a pear but in order to get to the fruit, you have to peel off the outer skin. When you peel off the skin, it looks like a snake shedding a layer of skin and that is where it gets it’s name from. After we explored the families property, we all gathered around in a circle and learned how to weave baskets from scratch. First, we had to cut the bamboo into thin strands, then learn the pattern, and finally start weaving. It took forever to get the hang of, but once I did it was very therapeutic.

After basket weaving, we sat down for a feast. The woman and all of her children had spent the whole day preparing a huge lunch for us and it was amazing. Everything was taken right from their garden, so it was super fresh.

When we got back to the villa, we were all exhausted so Bonnie decided to surprise us with full body massages. They brought in 5 Balinese women who set up their beds in the shade by the pool. Honestly, I felt like I was living like royalty. After I had my massage, I swam in the pool for a bit and then went to get ready for dinner. I took a shower in the outdoor shower and it was amazing. If you thought I took long showers at home, that is nothing compared to how long my shower was here. We traveled back down to the beach for dinner at the same place we had breakfast, and the family that owned the restaurant had a litter of puppies in the restaurant. It doesn’t get much better than that! We got back to the villa and sat out on beanbags playing games until bed.

Day seven – Today we woke up early to travel back down south and off the island of Bali. We took a ferry to another island that makes up part of Indonesia known as Nusa Lembongan. The ferry was about a thirty-minute ride and was very peaceful. When we arrived on land we loaded up the “taxi” and drove to our new hotel. The taxi’s here are very interesting. It looks like a truck with a trailer attached, something you would transport cattle in, but hey we signed up for the culture experience so I guess that is what we got. When we arrived at the hotel, we got our rooms and were able to settle in. We were staying at an all-inclusive place so lots of people were here celebrating their honeymoons. We immediately put on our bathing suits and headed for the beach. We took tons of pictures (especially on all the swings that sat in/near the ocean), and enjoyed everything the hotel had to offer (including beach service and a few pina coladas). We got ready for the night, enjoyed dinner at this little restaurant on the island, and went to bed early.

Day eight – We woke up and had breakfast in the hotel. I have never seen so many breakfast foods in my life. There were tables and tables of food buffet style, it was amazing. I think I had about four helpings. After everyone was so stuffed, we got on a boat and set sail for the coral reefs. We snorkeled around a few different reefs with tons of fish, manta rays, and many different corals. When we got back to land, we went for lunch (as if we needed more food), and took naps because snorkeling really takes a lot out of you. After our naps, we all met up to travel to the other side of Nusa for sunset drinks on the beach. We finished our last night at this little beach restaurant with some of the best seafood I have ever had.

Day nine – My last day! We woke up and had one last family breakfast together. I spent most of my day sitting poolside and enjoying my last few hours of vacation. When it was time to go, we took the ferry back to the mainland and eventually made our way back to the airport. It was sad saying bye to everyone, but this experience has allowed me to make so many friends that I can’t wait to see again in the future. Nadine, I promise I am looking into flights to come visit you!!!

When I got back to Sydney, I had so much work to catch up on so for the past week that is all I have been doing. My friends and I did visit the aquarium which was a nice break from homework and I felt like a little kid again. I even wore the little plastic fish hat they gave me the entire time we were there.

I have two more weeks of classes left and then exam period. It is sad to see my time in Sydney is coming to an end, but don’t worry, I still have two more little vacations left before I leave. Miss everyone tons!!

Also P.S - If you made it through that entire post you are an absolute legend!

XOXO – Jor