It's been TOO LONG!

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't updated my blog in a LONG TIME! I know being too busy isn't an excuse but I have in fact been very busy!!!!!

Work is still going great! I am now an employee of Hostec and I absolutely love it. I am working in the International Academy. Our school offers Certificate III in Hospitality or an Advanced Diploma in Hospitality. The past few weeks I have been helping out in admissions until our normal admissions person come back. I am dealing with a lot of agents and students and making sure they have all the right documents to get into our school. It is a very interesting job. I get to speak with people from all around the world... although I don't think I would like to do this as a long term job. We have a new enrollment of  students coming on Tuesday so it will be great to put all the names I have been processing to their faces. When I am done with admissions, I will be working in a "Personal Assistant" type role to the Academy General Manager. I am very excited to work side by side with him. There are a lot of projects that I will be working on which I can't wait for! Now that I am a paid employee, I am working longer hours and working a lot harder. I do love the pay checks that are coming in, though! Because of these pay checks, I also get to go out a bit more!

I have done few really cool things in the past few weeks. One of the things I got to do is climb the Sydney Bridge. This was an AMAZING experience. I got to see the entire city from the bridge!!! We went on a perfect, sunny Sunday morning. The weather was GORGEOUS. The views were breath-taking! 

Climbing the bridge was probably the only tourist-type thing I have done in a while. The past few weeks have involved going out for different work events. I had a bbq with our patisserie students the other night. It was their last night before their industry placement session and they wanted to celebrate making it through all the schooling. The kids were so grateful to have the academy staff their so it was a lot of fun. Our academy also launched their first "Master Class- Cook-off." This was SOOO much fun. Our students competed in cooking a 3 course meal for the Hostec staff. We got to enjoy drinks and the best meal I have ever tasted. The started was pork belly (AMAZING) followed by Salmon and Lamb Cutlets for a main meal (for not liking fish, the salmon wasn't bad and the lamb was good as well, then for dessert there were 3 different types of cakes. My absolute favorite was this chocolate-hazelnut cake. All I can say is WOW! The pork belly dish got the people's choice award, voted on by the staff, and the dessert won the competition because of all the effort and design they put into the meal. It was a meal I will never forget!

Besides that, by working in the hospitality industry, we get asked to a whole bunch on lunches and wine parties and stuff like that all over the city. I am lucky enough to get to go to a lot of these... I love that part of my job!!!!!

So I have been quite busy with work, but I am having some fun on the side. I have found a really good group of friends here that always include me!!!! I am very lucky :) It is a long weekend in Sydney this weekend... Labor Day on Monday. I was looking forward to all three days on the beach but it hasn't stopped raining! Oh well...... I am off to a bbq now though with some friends but I thought I would stop by and let you know what I have been up to! Thanks to everyone who has been following my blog! I will put some pictures up soon!!!!!!!

If any of you want to see my work and what I have been up to go to, www.hostec.com. 

I MISS YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!

xxxxxxxxx Amanda :)

Happy Labor Day weekend!!!!!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend... can you believe it is the end of summer (for you) and winter for me!?!?! I can't believe how fast the past three months have gone by. If feels like yesterday I was getting ready for graduation at GAC, I even dreamt I was getting ready for final exams! 

My internship in Sydney has been unbelievable. I have learned so much and grateful for the opportunity. I am waiting to find out if my time at Hostec will continue. With my visa I am allowed to work another six months at the same company. I will hope everything pans out and I can stay at Hostec. I have made a lot of great friends and am finding my way around the city quite nicely. It is also starting to warm up, which I love. I spend almost every weekend either at Bondi Beach or Centennial Park. My life here is amazing, except I miss everyone at home so much. I am hoping if I stay a little longer, I will get a few visitors! It would be a perfect time for everyone that hates a MN winter to come and enjoy a Sydney summer!

Anyways I just wanted to check in and let you all know that I am doing well. I will post again soon when I find out if I get a job at my company or what my plans will be if I don't. It is really teaching me patience. I hate not knowing and not having a plan, but I have really had to learn how to "go with the flow" here. Everyone is SOOO laid back and lives life from day to day... a good attitude to live by, I guess. 

Hope everyone is doing well at home... I miss you all!!!!!! Keep me posted on all your news! 

Love you xxxxx

I'm getting really bad at blogging... sorry guys!!!! I have had a pretty slow week I guess. Not a lot going on besides work. I've been working a lot because we are so busy right now. I love working with HRM. We have about 60 staff members so it is great to be able to know everyone and help them all out. I really love my job, like I've said before!!! I only have 2 weeks left of my internship... SOOOO hard to believe! I am hoping to get a position though in the company to stay a little longer. I could stay for another 6 months max so that would be ideal. I guess right now I am going with the flow and praying I can stay a little longer.

I had a bachelorette (or "hens") party last night for one of my co-workers. We had a such a great time! I am lucky to be able to work with such great people!! 

I guess that's all that has really happened in the last week. I have been taking it easy and just enjoying all my time here. The weather has been really nice that past week so I am spending as much of it outside as possible. Life is good!

I still miss everyone back home and am praying for all my loved ones. If you have FB you should check out some of the pictures my fam uploaded. I missed my first Schuette Bowl ever! It was the hardest weekend here because I knew everyone was enjoying my FAVORITE weekend out of the year. My mom and sis created a card board cut-out of me though and I was with them in spirit. They did such a great job!!! 

 

I LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please send me an email and let me know how you are all doing! 

:) :)

Holiday in the sun!

Hey everyone! I hope life is treating you well back home! I have had, yet again, another busy week. One of the other interns, Mandy, and I decided we needed a little holiday so we took a long weekend from work and went to the Sunshine Coast. It is just north of Brisbane and the weather was AMAZING! We had 4 solid days of relaxing at the beach and exploring the nice beach town. It was so good to get a little slice of summer. I didn't realize how much I miss wearing shorts and the feeling of it being really hot outside. I can't believe I missed an entire summer. Although it is winter here, it is nothing like an MN winter! I haven't seen any snow so I don't think it really counts as winter. I did get a bit of a tan while I was gone. Everyone at work asked me where I got my fake tan because they did a really good job. I showed them my tan lines then and told them it was real... they couldn't believe a person could get so tan in 4 days. My skin really missed the sun I guess! Don't worry though, I used tons of sunscreen. There is no o-zone layer of Australia, so it is really important to load on the sunscreen.  

Besides my nice little holiday, things are going extremely well at work. I still LOVE my job. I can't imagine working anywhere else. I wish I could either, a) bring all my friends and family to live in Sydney with me or b) move my company to MN. Ideally, everyone would move over here because the weather is so much better and the laid back atmosphere is awesome. I at least now have a better understanding of what I want to do when I grow up! :) 

I have also have had a bit of a tough week. Let me tell you, I have been on an emotional roller coaster the past week. Extreme highs with work and life out here in Sydney and low lows with finding out some of my loved ones aren't doing well at home. If any of you are reading this, I want you to know that I am thinking about you and praying for you! It is SOOOOO hard to go through some of this all alone here but all the emails and fb messages from home really help! I will also be missing my family reunion, Schuette Bowl, this weekend. I think it will be my hardest weekend here to date. I miss all my cousins, aunts, uncles, and the rest of my family SOOO much and Schuette Bowl is my favorite weekend of the year. I know they are going to have a great time and I hope they all have a few drinks for me! I will be there in spirit!

Anyways, that's all for now. Keep in contact. I love hearing from everyone and could use all the letters from home right now I can get.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!! I miss you!

AG :):)