That’s probably what most of you thought when I told you I was moving to Australia for a year (some of you even said it out loud). So, for those of you who don’t already know, here’s how this trip came about…
Last June, a girlfriend suggested we all take a Friday off and catch a Cubs game in the bleachers. As everyone from Chicago knows, the bleachers at Wrigley are basically just a big outdoor beer garden; it’s an added bonus that there also happens to be a baseball game going on at the same time but no one’s really watching. It was a beautiful Friday afternoon when, what started out as a group of seven of us ended up only being me and two other girlfriends and it is Alyssa who can be credited with the brilliant idea that we needed to sit next to hot boys. Well we didn’t see any hot boys but we ended up next to a group of ten guys from Bermuda on a bachelor party (HAHA kidding, the Bermudian posse was hot).
We’d already hit Murphy’s Bleachers for a little pregame fun and were double fisting before we even sat down so it was only the second inning when I spilled an entire cup of beer on the girl in front of me and decided I should not sit behind strangers. So I moved back a row to be behind Alyssa & Brandi and ended up next to Alex. We hit it off right away and I didn’t even see a pitch of that baseball game (and it was the Cubs Yankees series so it’s sad). After the game we all went to Casey Moran’s for cocktails and it was quickly evident that the day’s drinking had taken its toll and I needed to go home. I snuck away and was safely asleep (read: passed out) on my couch by 6pm but that wasn’t the last I’d see of Alex that weekend.
By Saturday I’d recovered (somewhat) from Friday and was ready to hit the city again for fun and drinks with friends. We were at Benchmark around midnight when I got a text from Alex (apparently he’d lost his phone AND credit cards at Casey Moran’s the day before and had just gotten them back). I didn’t see him Saturday night but Sunday he texted me again to invite me to the Cubs night game because they had gotten bleachers tickets. Two Cubs games in one weekend?! How could I say no? So I headed back to Wrigley and met the guys for the second time, though the events of the evening were much the same as the Friday game earlier that weekend - we drank, we went to Casey Moran’s, we had fun and we were all intoxicated.
Fast forward to Monday morning, Alex missed his flight home (which was not all that surprising if you’d seen him out Sunday night) so he texted me again and, fortunately for him, I was still on my couch so he came over and spent the day hanging out. After our hangovers subsided, we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo (Alex said it was the most amazing Zoo he’d ever been to), North Avenue beach and out for a casual dinner. And that day he convinced me to visit Bermuda in July for this crazy week of partying they’d all been talking about all weekend called ‘Cup Match’…
Cup Match is a two-day cricket game that takes place between the island’s St. Georges & Somerset teams and, like the Cubs’ bleachers, no one watches the game. The festivities all centered around boating and drinking followed by parties and then more boating and drinking – this weekend was right up my alley! I was in Bermuda for five fun-filled days and by the end of the trip Alex & I were dating and making plans for his next visit back to Chicago.
We went back and forth each month seeing each other when we could for long weekends but it didn’t take long for us to figure out that long-distance dating is no fun and we needed a better solution. Chicago is a bit cold for a native islander and Bermuda is small for a city girl so Alex suggested Australia one night and a few weeks later we both had visas for a one year stay. So now, nearly nine months after we first met, we’re preparing to embark on an adventure to remember!
