94 Days of Summer, Day 94: Ishtar's Globe-Trotting Adventures

Although summer vacation is over, we are still reminiscing about it via our “94 Days of Summer” guest blog posts! Today we are checking in once again with Communication Studies major Ishtar Schneider. You may have thought that Ishtar did all of her traveling over the summer (Washington DC, NYC), but nope! She is just getting started!

“So the summer has officially passed and I’m staring senior year directly in the face. Whoa, so crazy.  I feel like it was just a few months ago that I was sitting in Professor Doohan’s office double and triple checking my schedule for the semester, nervous and totally in awe of the whole idea of college! Time really does fly.

To continue where I left off last time, I spent my last 2 and a half weeks in a whirlwind of travelling between DC, NYC, Albuquerque and ultimately, now, Australia.  I took a mega-bus up to the big apple for the first time—cost me $8 and is totally enviro conscious J– and I was blown away.  I loved every second of the 72 hrs I spent there.  I stayed with my friend in Manhattan and over on the upper east side (a la Gossip Girl) and we celebrated my best friend’s 21^st with a bunch of my girlfriends from highschool. Even though I was only there a short time I loved every single second of it.  I definitely need to make it back there soon!

the view from Ishtar's manhattan residence

Ishtar and friends in Times Square

Lady Liberty

Riding the Staten Island Ferry

DC= underwhelming

NYC = most amazing visit of the summer

After that I flew to New Mexico, which was nice and relaxing.  I got to see my grandpa (still kickin’ it at 97 years young), my daddy and a bunch of friends I haven’t caught up with in a while. On the 15th I flew out from ABQ to LAX.. we had a stopover in Vegas and guess who I see getting on the plane and who ends up sitting directly behind me in the plane? CSI actor Kevin Weisman. No George Clooney but hey, I rarely celeb spot so I’ll take what I can get. He was actually super nice and called goodbye to me as he exited, remembering my name correctly, so props to you Kev.

Ishtar's "brush with fame" -- actor Kevin Weisman

Around 4pm I get to LA and turns out my flight [orig. supposed to leave at 1030pm] was CANCELLED. This wasn’t too bad because the ticket agent saw me about to hyperventilate at this news and promptly switched me onto an 1145 flight and transferred my bags without any overweight charges. Score. However, I was supposed to be in a group flight with other people in my program and having no idea how to find any of them, I spent the next 8 hrs in the airport watching episodes of Criminal Minds.

Best.show.ever.

I’m as addicted to CM as Prof Doohan is to American Idol.

Also, did I mention that this flight replaced our direct flight to Sydney with a 4 hr layover in Auckland, New Zealand? Peachy. So after a just lovely 40 hours of travel time we arrive in Sydney jet lagged and exhausted.

But I’m finally here and so far the BU Sydney program has surpassed all my expectations—minus the flight drama—the apartment is the cutest little thing ever, so clean and located right next to our class building, and super close to Sydney Uni and University of Technology Sydney so we’ve met a bunch of other Australian college students just walking around. All 3 of my suitemates are totally fun and normal which is a welcome relief after the G-town disaster that was this summer. Bess is the one I’ve been spending the most time with- she’s a junior at UNC Chapel Hill and totally chic.We went on a harbor cruise the other day for a welcome activity and got to see the Sydney Opera House which is just breathtaking.  Classes start this week and I’m taking an Australian Culture and Society class, it includes a field trip to Melbourne that I’m really excited about, and a Mass Media class.

Ishtar's new home

The Sydney Opera House

Ishtar and her friend Bess

Can’t wait to see what this semester has in store, knowing Australia its bound to be an adventure.  I also started a travelogue-blog of more Aussie antics so feel free to check it out if you like www.IshtarInAussieland.blogspot.com. I’ll post pics and stories up there!  All in all its been a full summer and I feel blessed to have met the people and had the experiences I did over the last few months.

Ciao for now!

-I”

Thanks, Ishtar! Have a wonderful time down under!