Ben and Jacqueline's Blog

Sydney at Last2

Well I’ve safely arrived and have started to settle in at my new house on Walter Street with Julia, Rory, and Ben. But before I get to my time in Sydney I should start with Graduation including a harboUr cruise, parties, and much more. Although I technically finished in December I graduated on the 17th from UCSB since they only have one ceremony a year. It was incredibly difficult to say goodbye to the friends that I grew so close to and those who enriched my life with a happiness I was blessed to have. The ceremony was surprisingly fast and Nadia, Julia, Jackie, Ashley, Sami, Alex, Kip, and I all had the priviledge to sit together. After the ceremony we had a delightful lunch at Zaffiro and celebrated the occasion with a bit of Moet and most importantly all of my Grandparents! After saying goodbye to Santa Barbara with more than a few tears that night with my amazing friends at Pepe’s and OTT, it was time to get excited for the next adventure and board that plane to Sydney….

Thursday morning Ben picked me up from the airport (red roses in hand ) and Siena brought lunch over before Ben raced off for an exam that afternoon. Then Siena and I did a bit of essential shopping to outfit my baby blue room followed by dinner down at Bathers with the family. It was wonderful to catch up with them before they left for their holiday in Italy and England. Ben will be joining them this Friday after his last exam and it’ll be my responsibility to drop him off at the airport – yes that entails driving on the LEFT side of the road! Friday and Saturday we spent setting up a bank account, getting a new cell phone number, unpacking, and preparing for Saturday night…

Saturday night was the long awaited ‘Jackie Warming’ Party. The theme was Round the World – Ben went as and American in a red white and blue wig and stars and stripes boxers, and I dressed in an Aussie flag. The hat I’m wearing apparently is worn in ‘the bush’ and the corks are meant to keep the bugs away although I found them very distracting when trying to hold a conversation. The party was a great success and I had a total blast. The French were there, a few Kiwis, a Limey or two, a matador, and many many more. Thanks to everyone that came and hope you had a fabulous time! The photos are priceless so definitely take a look!

So far settling in has been a breeze…in fact everyone has been so helpful and friendly. It seems wherever we go everyone wants to know where in the States I’m from since they know people in such and such or have been here or there. I’m also very impressed with all of Ben’s friends – they’ve been extremely welcoming and definitely the type of people you’d be lucky to be friends with. The weather is probably the only thing to complain about but it is winter and therefore expected. Today is actually the first day of rain I’ve witnessed although it’s been the wettest winter in 30 years – so I’ve been lucky with the 10 degree sunshine. I’ve been wearing my snowboarding jacket around the house and warming my hands with three to four cups of tea daily!

On Friday Ben is off to England for two weeks of celebrations – his brother’s 21st birthday party, dad’s 60th birthday party, mum’s birthday, and his cousin’s wedding! While he’s gone I’ll finish settling in, enroll at and explore Syd Uni, get used to the public transportation system, and get ready for our snowboarding trip upon Ben’s return.
Shoot me an email if you get a chance – I’d love to hear what’s going on at home.
Love,
Jackie

Posted: General

Holidays at last!1

It’s been quite a while since my last post, and a lot has happened so I don’t really know where to start. Anzac day has come and gone, but was great fun. We started the day with champagne and pancakes at our house a 9am, and headed out to the city after that. Nothing like a champagne breakfast to kick off some celebrations! The past 4 weeks I’ve also been doing ‘bootcamp’ at Fitness First (my gym). Bootcamp is outdoor training (running, situps, pushups etc) from 6-7am on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It has been a challenge but has actually been really good fun. The extra fitness is also going to come in handy because I’ve entered the ‘mini mosmarathon’ on June 17th, as well as the City to Surf on August 12th. For all of you that don’t know, the City to Surf is a 14k run from the city to Bondi. This year they have properly turned it into a charity event as well, so for any of you that want to sponsor me (and the wakeboard club team), go to this website and click on the ‘Donate’ link. The money goes to the Sydney Children’s Hospital.

It is starting to really cool off here as winter sets in, but I’ve been grasping on to the last of summer by surfing a lot, and also doing quite a bit of wakeboarding. A couple of weeks ago, I went up to the Hawkesbury for the weekend wakeboarding with Julia, Rach, and Nix as well as some uni people which was great fun as always!

Last Saturday was Julia’s Birthday, as well as the Balmoral Boards start of season party. Rory and I decided to start the evening off with a bottle of Pimms (yummy ) followed by beers at Greenwood at the Balmoral Boards event, and finally headed in to the city for Julia’s Birthday at the Argyle in the Rocks. Everyone had a great night, but we were all a little ‘tired’ on Sunday!

Last night was the end of session ‘Winter Chillout’ party at uni, which means that it is officially my mid year holiday, other than 4 exams but who’s worrying about those. I had a really fun time, ending up with a pretty late night at the pub down the road from uni.

That about brings you all up to date on what’s been going on, so now on to what is yet to come! The most exciting news I have is that Jackie arrives in Sydney in 2 weeks (finally!). I can’t wait to see her. She is going to have a busy first week here though. She arrives on thursday and we are having a big ‘Round the World’ themed party to welcome her on the Saturday. I’m then off to England on the 29th for 2 weeks for my cousin, Melissa’s, wedding. It should be a really fun trip, and I’m looking forward to catching up with all my friends over there, as well as properly celebrating Keiren’s 21st. Unfortunately Jackie isn’t coming but I’m sure she’ll appreciate having some time to settle in to Sydney!

The morning after getting back from England, I’m heading down to the snow with Jackie and some friends from uni for 3 days of snowboarding at Perisher Blue which I’m really looking forward to. It’s been 18 months since I last snowboarded. I’m also going to enter winter uni games, and compete for UNSW this year in August, and hopefully Jackie will be doing the same for University of Sydney – a bit of healthy competition never hurt anyone . That will give me a bit more snowboarding time, although I haven’t actually decided what event I will be competing in!

Anyway, I hope that this post hasn’t been too long and boring. Leave a comment or send me and email to let me know how you’re all doing.

Ben

Posted: General