My Spring Break was Reggaetontastic

The weeks fly by and before I know it I'm ringing home wishing my parents a Shabbat Shalom. Crazy. This week hasn't been as full on (perhaps?) as the last, but I understand that I haven't really filled you in on Spring Break and Lear - two very exciting experiences of my time at Penn. Now, just to prove that I really did go away, and yes, I did really get a tan (I know, we all thought that it was impossible that white trash Sarah could get any hint of brown!) I'll be adding pictures throughout this lovely reflection - care to enjoy and understand why people who live in the North East NEED to go away during srping break - it's so damn cold around here!

So let me start again. Puerto Rico is sometimes considered America's 51st state, and in some ways it is. P.R is a 'territory' of the United States, deciding whether they want to be independent, or they really want to be part of the American dream - and all that comes with it. (When explaining to a roommate that the Queen of England is our head of state, she said, "So, Australia is like Puerto Rico?" Well, almost. Hrmm...) Since we only had a week to soak up that sun, P.R was the best place to be - we spent the first couple days in San Juan, the capital city of P.R and the next couple days in Rincon, a surf town on the west coast of the island. I would have preferred to stay in San Juan for the whole time, and explored the Rainforest and the islands off the east coast, but Rincon was a comprimise as one member of the group didn't want to spend all their time in a 'miami'-style setting. Understandable, but I wanted to party. And therein lay the rub.

San Juan was fun - but since we were there during the slow nights of the week (sunday, monday and tuesday) it was pretty quiet. The first night we went to a nice restaurant in Old San Juan and drank cocktails and searched for some nightlife but got lost (we had no directions or maps) and the night ended quite early. The taxi ride back to our hotel though was a party in itself: the driver pumped up the music and gave us maracas and we were clapping and shaking those maracas and singing to salsa music and reggaeton (Puerto Rican rap/hip hop - its bound to hit Australian shores some day, Daddy Yankee is HUGE here... and fun to dance to!).

Monday night we went to a Puertorican restaurant and then onto to explore Isla Verde. Monday night around the world is the slowest night. But that didn't stop us girls. We checked out the rooftop lounge at a gorgeous hotel and sipped cocktails overlooking the lights of San Juan. Here we are in the coolest elevator - complete with water within the walls, and bright lights illuminating the ceiling...

But it was really Tuesday night that was crazy. We arrived in Old San Juan ready for some salsa dancing and a nice dinner (I ate SO well in Puerto Rico - all that fresh fish built up the protein that I was lacking from campus food.. and it was yum!). But when we got to Calle San Sebastien, the street was packed! Absolutely packed with teenagers, 20 somethings (you can't tell anymore) and Americans on Spring Break. Here's a pic of Amanda and I in the middle of the street party. Well, we accomplished everything we set out to do that night - good food and wine (see the accompanying picture) and dancing at this rhumba club with a great band (and those puerto ricans can dance! Wow!). The drinks were cheap (and they tasted it too) and we were enjoying the general euphoric feeling of balmy and crowded nights. Walking to a club, I bumped into a friend from the production I was working on, King Lear. And Jeff was travelling with another friend of ours, Kate. It's such a small world there. And I thought I wouldn't know anybody there (since my knowledge of Penn students isn't so great). Well. We hung out with them for the rest of the night, and had some more taxi madness.














The next day we set off for Rincon - where our hotel was on a patch of beach directly from Paradise. Well, Puerto Rican paradise. We're spoilt in Australia, I'm telling you. I will never ever take our beaches for granted - From St Kilda and South Melbourne Beach up the coast to Bondi and then to Byron and Surfers and even up to Port Douglas - we are such a lucky country to have everything at our fingertips, beach, desert, rainforest, city, bush and the good ol suburbs. It's funny how I've become such a patriot since leaving Australia - I even miss the beer. And no, I keep telling the Americans, Fosters is NOT Australian for beer (they're marketing campaign is so successful!).
Well, here's Rincon.. enjoy

See? I have brown legs! Yay! Go the tan! (For those who didn't believe me)

One casualty of our time in Rincon was our weakness for dessert: they were so cheap, and so delicious! From cheescake to banana and caramel slice/pudding thing, we ate very well. Our favourite restaurant is where these photos are taken - we were sitting on the beach, the food was fresh, the music was nice, and it was lit by fire sticks.

That's all I have time for so far. Enjoy! And Shabbat Shalom! And Happy Birthday to Nana! Xxx

You gotta fight! For the right! To PAAARTAAY!

Yes! I have succeeded in going out EVERY night for the past week! Phew! Now that Lear's over, and I've come to the realisation that I have ONLY FOUR WEEKS LEFT until the end of the semester, I am determined to make the very most of my time here. I still have loads to catch you up on, don't worry, I haven't forgotten about that, but let me tell you about my week.

Monday: Went to see THE best movie (or one of the best) 'V for Vendetta' with my roomies. Man, I don't know when that's coming out to the cinemas in Australia or wherever my readers live (ISRAEL!!! Thanks Bunny and Itzick for your comments!!), but you must see it. I won't give it away, but it does raise questions about the justification of terrorism and the needs/means of the government in which to control the masses. Wow. Just wow.

Tuesday: I went with a friend from the play, Stephanie (picture below), to see Margaret Cho, a famous comedian whose platform is mainly politics - politics of race (she's Korean), her sexuality (she's bisexual) and her many problems with the Republican party - the Iraq war takes the cake, though. She was enjoyable - funny, but she seemed to slugging it at the Bush administration but doing as much damage as she accuses them of perpetrating. As narrow-minded as they are. Not that I'm a Republican sympathiser, no siree, but I felt that was lacking from her show. Anyway. Then we went for a quick bite to eat (coz both of us hadn't had any dinner: I only finished class fifteen minutes before the show) and Stephanie, i found out, has a very VERY loud voice. SO basically the whole restaurant heard our conversation - which at times wasn't so appropriate... And then we bumped into Krystal, who joined us. We kept nattering on until they kicked us out. It was a fun night.

Wednesday: This was a crazy day. I first went with Krystal downtown to take her shopping for a dress - I wanted to go downtown because I haven't been there often enough. Then I had to go back to campus and meet fellow Aussie Jess for lunch. And THEN I went with Stephanie to South Street - which I heard was a funky, eclectic street filled with kooky stores and cafes. I thought cool, similar to Brunswick St or something, but it kinda disappointed me. The stores were a little tacky, and the cafes didnt seem so appealing. I know I might seem like a snob, but the whole of Philadelphia is kinda grubby. Anyway, what I did see was in this cool food store (why the hell does it always come back to food??) was YEHUDA MATZA! I was SO excited. It's the only matza I eat. I thought I might be missing my Pesach staple. Well, fear not, for I found the magic food.... yay! I was lugging it round with me the whole afternoon. But it was nice place to visit.

Wednesday night: Went out with Maija and her friend Laura to Smoke's, a typical campus bar/pub. It was 'Sink or Swim' night - 50 cent drinks until midnight. Woo hoo! So the challenge is to 'swim' the night - not get totally trashed and 'sink'. Here are some lovely pics of us!














Thursday: I decided to go to the Hillel formal - "Fidel on the Roof" at a bar called Cuba Libre. I never thought I'd percieve an event as too Jewish, but somehow I felt a little too cool for this school. Yeah, as if that's possible. Sarah? Cool? Well, if you looked at this crowd, you might have been thinking what I felt. I'm used to Aujs events where there are at least over 100 ppl, and thats a bad function. This 'formal' only attracted around 70 ppl. As soon as Krystal and I got there (she was my date - and thank god for that! Without her, I don't know who I would have danced with...Definitely not the short Jewish boys that wore pink ties, glasses and kippot... yeah, I told you.. Not that I'm judgemental, but I had different expectations - especially for a school that was nicknamed JewPenn) we decided to go straight to the bar. It seemed that was the only thing to really make the most of - the absolutely delicious cocktails. Both Krystal and I danced and danced and had a ball going nuts. We had fun, despite our surroundings. It was us that pulled the shmoozing jews from the sidelines and onto the dancefloor. Who would have thought - Sarah the dancer.... As my mother told me today, I only began dance lessons when she noticed that I was an awkward and stiff child. Thanks mum! I certainly appreciate it here! Even though I am just a white Jewish Australian girl, I seem to have some moves that keep me up with the rest of American society. Well, perhaps the Hillel formal represented where I was coming from, I thought my dancing was on fire! Woot!

Friday: Went with Maija to get her computer fixed FAR AWAY (= expensive taxi ride!) but we had fun because we went out for a nice lunch in Old City Philadelphia, complete with pesto butter with the accompanying bread, and delicious veggie burgers. It was a nice change from the crap around here. Well, Friday I was blessed with good food. Rebecca's parents wanted to take us roomies out for dinner, and since I was the only one that was free, we had a nice intimate dinner at a lovely French restaurant. Her parents are really sweet, and our families seem quite similar. Their dog also has a lot of health problems like my Sandy boy. Rebecca's dog Connie even underwent some heart surgery. Anyway, it was nice meeting her parents, since I think I may join them over Pesach. Yes! A home cooked meal! Ok, this is real weird now. I'll shut up about food. Maybe I should be a food critic? Hrmm......

Saturday/Today: I was going to watch Rebecca in a chalk drawing contest, but it was raining this morning, and we didn't feel like standing out and getting wet. However I did do something silly today and joined Jess to watch her boyfriend Kenny play baseball against Columbia. First off, it was a longggggg walk, in the near wet, and we thought we were about to get lost. We finally arrived, and discovered that they were only in the third inning - six more to go! Arghh! Within ten minutes it turned realllly cold and after an hour we found a place behind the stadium and did star jumps to keep warm... At the end of the game I couldn't feel my feet or toes... Seriously, they were numb... Were we going to walk allll the way back to our apartment? I don't think so! The first cab we hailed chucked us out after twenty meters. We didn't do anything, and all of a sudden he said, "Get out of the cab. Get out now." What the? So rude! We were FREEZING! We managed to get another taxi and finally into our warm room. Ahhhh. What a week.



By the way, the pics are of me, Krystal, Lauren (editor of First Call) and Amanda. I also wrote another article for First Call - it's about the trials and tribulations of being tall - and you can check it out at www.firstcallmagazine.com Yay! Have a great weekend, y'all!

The Pics as Promised...

Pic One
Left to Right: Amma, Me, Rania, Maija, Dan.

Pic Two
Maija, myself and some random football player with the perky ass.


Pic Three
Rania and Me.
Rania is Maija's roommate and in my Israeli Literature and Film class. She is egyptian, muslim, majoring in Middle Eastern studies and also studies hebrew! She is so cool. I offered to help her with Hebrew, coz I figure that I can do the basics. I hope.
Pic Four
Myself and Maija, my lovely fellow Melbournian. We love to laugh :D

All we need is a BIG catch up!

Ok, so I'm not sure if photos are EVER going to work on this damn site. Really, that's the reason I haven't updated this blog. If only you could see what I was talking about. I'm not sure if the vivid imagery I use in my descriptions really suffices. Well, I suppose for the time being you will have to deal with that.

Well, its been brought to my attention that people are actually reading this blog, and perhaps are missing it a little. Well, I'm just responding to the reaction of my readers - which is NOTHING! Fill up those comments people! Seriously! Otherwise I'll be just as lazy as you! Or embarrassed, as my sister once pointed out to me. But I said - embarrassed? What the hell for? All you have to do is post your thoughts on something I wrote. Or even a complete tangent that has absolutely NOTHING to do with what's going on this side of the hemisphere... No pressure, of course.

Well, that starking rave rant aside, what has this little miss gotten up to. If that's even a proper sentence, complete with grammar and all. If that's how you spell grammar. Or is it grammer? Ok, I'll stop being annoying. So, since the last entry (which was actually written over a week ago) I've had spring break, some kind of throat infection, a couple more midterm papers, and King Lear. Phew! So let's recap - wish me luck. I hope my memory is like it used to be...

As the midterms piled up, I assumed some sense of denial but still worked every day from dawn till midnight trying to get everything done in time. Well, I would have had I not been so sick. On Wednesday night (okay, this is going back a long way, it was Wednesday the first of March) I began feeling an itch in my throat. That night I went with my roommate Rebecca, her friend Raha and her brother Steve to see this awesome band SoulLive perform in an auditorium on campus. Even the hall (designed by the Venturi architects) was cool. It was such a great night, the music was fabulous, we danced close by to the stage, and by the end of the night I had lost my voice. That's when I realised that something was up - I had not really sung that night. SoulLive's music is not really the type to which you sing. Hrmmm, something was rotten in the state of Denmark. But, as Sarah often does, I ignored the symptons and my own sleepiness and went to bake cookies and watch a video at Raha's place.

Spring Break
Now, I could have chosen to have a Spring Break like the ones you watch on Channel E! or in the movie 'The Real Cancun' - for those who have never seen any incriminating footage in either media, it consists of crowds of drunk college kids flashing their chests and kissing their best friends (of either sex) and other wild random acts. Now, while that sounds like a load of fun, I wasn't sure if I really wanted that. I wasn't sure if that was really me. Now, perhaps it is me in another lifetime, but I suppose we'll have to go to that lifetime to see.

Now Puerto Rico was the flavour of the month for Penn kids, and apparently everyone was here. But since I don't know anyone it made no difference to me. For the first couple days we stayed in Isla Verde in San Juan, a lovely patch of beach that hopefully can be seen below.

You Base Football Player (King Lear)

OK! I'm back! Yay! It's been a long break from this blog, and I do apologise for those who actually read it. Thanks dad. And mum. And alana. And the grandparents. It's nice to know that at least my family ins interested in what I have to say.
But is that the real reason for writing a blog? To vent? To express my thoughts in the public domain? To publish my opinion in a free space, with no editing or censoring... well, I do do a little of self-censorship, since I have no idea who my audience is. A mix between my friends, family, grandparents, random people (who are really random because they don't often come onto this site.. I don't blame them.)

So, what have I been up to these past couple weeks? Well, it's been pretty crazy, with midterm papers and take-home exams (which i happen to complete last minute - a habit which i really should get out of my system... no matter where I am in the world) - but that hasn't stopped with from partying. Here are some pics of a girls night out. We first went to a party hosted by some footballers.... urgh. We didn't have much fun. But we took some nice photos!





Then we went on to a club on campus known as MarBar and danced the night away. A dance marathon was being held at the club, so for a change they had GREAT music (ie Michael Jackson and Madonna) and no unwanted sleazes! I could have kept dancing until the wee hours, but my friends were tired and wanted to go home.

Ok, so I'm having trouble uploading the photos to the site, but will be adjusted later on. Check for more lovely pics of me posing with Maija, Rania, Amma and Erica. There is also a photo with a random football player who had the perkiest bum ever! Maija was a little intoxicated by that stage, so she had fun pinching it. The party's theme was 'white trash' - and the people there certainly lived up to their costumes.

Oh, by the way, the title is a line from King Lear, the production I was working on for the past couple months. More on that in the next post..... Oooh, gotcha curious, eh?