Hello again!

So... it's been a long time since I last blogged! Things have been pretty busy around here. I still love my job. Everyone is so much fun and so welcoming. I have gotten to do a few fun projects the past week and am moving departments on Monday. I am excited to see some other aspects of HR. Besides work, I haven't done a whole lot. I am going to the Blue Mountains this weekend and I booked a trip to the Gold Coast in August. 

I have really fallen in love with Sydney. It is such an amazing city. I wish you could all come out and visit. Work life is so laid back and it is very team oriented. I do miss everyone back home! I also miss watching the Twins! I am slowly starting to understand the sports here... still not as good as America's past time though!

I hope everyone is doing well... I'd love to hear from you all! Send me an email and let me know how you are all doing! :):):)

I love this place!

It's been a great week here in Sydney. I have realized how much I love it here!

I had the day off on Friday. I slept in and just took some time to relax. I hadn't really been feeling well all week so my boss told me to catch up on my sleep and take the day to myself. I was really excited for my day off but the whole time, I wished I was at work... I guess that is a sign that I love my job! I went to the city later in the day to meet up with Mandy, one of the other interns. We took a long walk around Darling Harbor and down by Circular Quay. It was a really nice night out... we had dinner outside and then found some ice cream! Then, Saturday the weather was PERFECT! Mandy and I hung out in Hyde Park for the afternoon then went and saw Transformers 2 in the Imax theater. It is the largest Imax in the world... it was GREAT! The movie was really good and it was an awesome experience. After the movie we went back to my place and went out later that night. We went to the World Bar and had a couple of Tea Pots. It was my favorite bar when I was in Australia and New Zealand last time so it was a lot of fun to go back! Today it was another PERFECT day out so went to Bondi Beach. The sun was shining and there was a light breeze. You couldn't have asked for a better day, well maybe it could have been a little warmer. I am becoming a weather whimp... I am starting to think that 60 degrees is freezing. It will be a shock when I come back to MN! 

I hope everyone else is doing well! I wish you could all come here and experience the Sydney lifestyle. Everyone is so laid back, especially in the the business world. I am really getting spoiled with my internship... I want to move the entire office to MN with me when I come back! If you get a chance to come and visit I guarantee you will have the time of your life! Keep sending the emails... I love hearing from you all :):)

G'day Loves

I hope everyone is doing well back home! I miss you all and wish I was spending time on the lake!

Things are going really really well here. I continue to love my job and things with my host family are getting a lot better! Here are my updates for the week...

I met with both the CEO's of my company the other day. They are both really nice guys. We talked for a long time about what I want to get out of the internship and what they can do to help me. They said whatever I want to do  or get out of it, they will work with me to reach those goals. They also said that when it is time for me to go back home, they have connections all around the world  and will get me a job where ever I want to go! That was refreshing to hear! After our meeting they invited me to a corporate dinner for hospitality companies all around Australia. It was a black tie affair type of deal and each plate was ridiculously expensive. There were only 1o spots for our company out of like 80 that work at Hostec. I had the best time there! My whole department went, even my really tough boss. We got there a little early so we went out for a drink before hand. Then at the dinner, it was free alcohol and food. We had Thai food... it was interesting. A lot of sushi type stuff... I didn't like most of it but since I was with my CEO's I figured I shouldn't be picky. We had some of the best/most expensive salmon in Australia (I know my mom would be jealous). My one CEO, Raman didn't like some of the wine they served so he went and bought our table special bottles. They made sure my glass was always full, at one point I had a glass on wine, champaign, and a beer in front of me. They said the best way to get to know someone was by having a few drinks... well I had more than a few, we all did. It was a lot of fun though. We drank and ate expensive food. Then afterwards, we went to another pub to drink more. I was the most drunk I have been in Australia and it was because of the CEO's and my boss. My boss was really layed back and we had really good conversations. It was a great night. My host mom even called my cell phone because I usually don't stay out that late on work nights, she was worried about me! 

Tonight I am staying in and tomorrow we are going out for drinks again after work because it is thirsty thursday. I hope my real job is like this!

Send me an email, ageorge2@gac.edu, to let me know how you are all doing! I MISS YOU! 

:):) AG

g'day mate!

g'day loves
How are you all going? I'm just sitting here in the city at work having scooner, 
maybe I'll get a jug later. I'm going out with the blokes tonight. I haven't met any 
bogans yet but hopefully tonight! The weather is a bit dodgy... it's pissing rain so I 
havent' been able to wear my sunnies. I'll have to get out my jumper like the rest of the locals. Everyone can tell I'm a yank here because I don't think it is freezing! I'm having heaps fun here although, it's a bit lonely, no one ever rings my mobile. Your blood is all worth boiling, none of you are bludgers.

Ok so I really don't talk like that! I wrote that with some of my co-workers the other day. They were teaching my how to talk like a real Australian. Maybe I will master the language by the time I get back! :)

So it's been a while since I last posted but I have been kind of busy. This past week I got to talk to a lot of people from home through emails and skype. It is sooo good to hear from everyone! I know you all thought the world would not revolve without be but it has (haha jk) 

This whole week it has been raining almost everyday, yesterday and today ALL day. It has been some good resting and catching up time! I added some more pictures to facebook.... it takes a really long time to add them here but maybe I will soon! 

Well I hope you are all enjoying the sun... it is the middle of winter here now and won't get much colder which is a good thing. It is only like 60 degrees but I guess that's freezing. August and September will start getting much warmer. I can't wait to go to the beach and actually enjoy the Australian weather!  I MISS YOU ALL :):):)

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone had a fun, safe week! I really missed being at home for the 4th. It's back to work though. I got a new wireless thing for my computer so I am going to be able to keep updated on the world a lot easier! I am going to fill you in on a few random things now...

First my job. So my company is a human resources/recruitment firm for the hospitality and tourism industry. There are three main parts of the company. The first is our international academy. They teach courses in hospitality and culinary arts and stuff. Their are actually quite a few students in the academy and it is really respected around Sydney. It is doing so well right now that they are also opening academies in Melbourne and Brisbane. Then we have the recruitment part. This department takes a lot of the students from the academy when they graduate and a few other people and places them with top jobs all around the world. Some of the main clients are places like the Sydney Tour restaurant and restaurants at 5 star hotels. Finally there is the training/retail department. This is the department I am working in right now. In Australia, you have to have a licenses to serve alcohol, waitress, work in a place that involves gambling, and in coffee shops. Our company offers these classes to people, mostly backpackers. These classes are called RSA (responsible service of alcohol), RCG (responsible conducting of gambling), then there are green cards for construction and road workers and a coffee culture class. Right now I help booking the courses and finding people to take them. Australia also changed/ inducted a new program called Job Services Australia. I am doing a market research project on it and finding job networks that can use Hostec for their clients. I kind of like this but know that I don't want to do market research for the rest of my life. I am very excited to move to the recruitment department. I will spend a couple weeks in each one that pick one to stay in for the rest of my time. Everyone at my work is really nice. It is a very young atmosphere. I would say the general age is between 20-35. In my main department I work with another girl named Amanda and the person I work with in the recruitment departments name is Georgie... I found that quite funny.

It is also winter here in Australia. Everyone walks around with scarves and mittens and big winter jackets.. It is like 60-70 degrees everyday! I walk around in a t-shirt and everyone thinks I am crazy. I keep telling them how cold it gets in MN and they think I am even crazier for living there. With winter comes flu season... just what I needed. Today about half of the office was out with the flu. My boss wore a mask for about half the day... kind of joking but kind of serious. He said he can't afford to get sick. He also bought us all our own little hand sanitizers to use whenever we could. I hope that I got the flu and all that crap out of the way in the real MN winter. 

Things are going much better with my family. I had had some problems with them. Nothing major. The main thing was that everyone but the 15 yr. old boy smokes in the house. And there is a 20 yr. old daughter I didn't know about. She lived with her bf until they broke up and she moved home. The only thing is I am currently in her room so she has to either stay with her mom or her brothers. It made things kind of awkward there. I didn't really feel a part of the family but we have worked out that the family wont smoke in the house anymore so I can spend more time with them in the family room. Also, Helen's (my host mom) dad comes over every Sunday night for a family meal. (I am included in this) He is the nicest, coolest old guy I have ever met. He loves American baseball and knows all about the Twins. We talk about that a lot when he comes over. He also makes me feel so welcomed which is great! Ashe (the youngest boy) is an amazing soccer player. His team is playing in the semi finals next week for this really tough league and if they end up winning the finals we go to Canbrara which is the Capitol of Australia and the family asked me to go along for a long weekend to watch soccer. I really hope they make it! Oh and one more thing about my family here. I have a new nickname... it is "soft touch." They have 2 dogs and a cat and the boys kind of pick on the animals. Also when they get in trouble they all run to me because they know I can't be mean to them. They will run in my room and on my bed if they get in trouble or are trying to hide! It is small but I am slowly becoming more apart of the family.

I have so much more to tell you about Australia but I will save it for another post. Keep emailing me updates about your life! If you have a time to that I can call you that would be great. It is really cheap for me to call skype to cell/home phone!

I LOVE YOU ALL!

Amanda :)

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. I really wish I could have been home for it... it's one of my favorite holidays. I spent the 4th wine tasting in hunter valley. It is this really great place. It kind of reminding me of minnesota except for fields of corns and beans there were acres and acres of grapes. I went with a whole bunch of other Americans so we really celebrated! 

I got to talk to my mom and all of my family today which made me sooo happy! I miss them all so much and wish I could have been at the lake with them. I also got a new thing for my computer so I can be online a lot more often. I love hearing from you all so send me an email! 

I hope life is good for everyone. It is beautiful outside today so I am going to go on a walk around town. It is also family night here so I will have supper with my host family which is usually really good! Skype me or email me! I MISS YOU ALL! :):):)

HAPPY 4th!

It's been awhile since I've blogged but I have been quite busy. I hope everyone is doing well in the states... I MISS YOU ALL! I am a little sad I will be missing the 4th of July. I would usually spend it up at the lake with all my family. Since I can't do that I am going wine tasting with a whole bunch of other Americans. 

Work has been good. I really like what I am doing. We deal with a lot of backpackers who want casual work in Australia. You need a license to bar tend and work at restaurants and coffee shops here so we provide the courses for them. THen we help find them jobs. It has been really cool so far. Right now I am working on a big market research project for the company. I don't necessarily like doing the research but they said it will pay off in the end... we'll see how it goes. I move departments next week and I am really excited for that. I really want to work in the HR department!

Not much new besides that. I kind of stayed in and relaxed this week. I am spending too much money :)  

Send me an email. I would love to hear from you all and I am allowed to check my email at work!!!

LOVE, AG :):)