It is not good to be home ALONE on a dark and rainy night in a 150 year old house in Petersham, NSW. Unless of course you aren't afraid of the dark.... unfortunately, I AM!

With that said, let me set up the scene for you. It is about 8 p.m. Friday night. It rained ALL DAY Friday (even though I wore a white shirt... boo crappy weather!) I went straight home (with my jacket zipped ALL THE WAY UP) instead of going out in the yucky weather. It was very cozy at home, so I decided to watch some movies. My roommate came home halfway through the second movie. She sat down and we both watched the movie. All of a sudden, without any prior warning, the lights cut completely off.

Now, imagine being in our shoes: two foreign, young women in a pitch black house at night. Yea... IT WAS SCARY. I will admit to being a scared-y cat. It is actually quite liberating to get it out in the open ;) We did not know what to do. We couldn't use the phone because it is cordless. We couldn't find a flashlight or any candles. So, what do you do when this happens? Well, if you are like me, you walk outside in your pajamas without shoes into the (deadly, poisonous) spider infested backyard.  Smart, I know. When we decided that was a stupid idea, we went to find a flashlight. Every squeak we heard around the house in our minds was someone coming to get us. We finally found a few flashlights and some candles. We lit up the kitchen and made Milo (Australian drink) since we did not have any marshmallows to roast over the candle fire. So for 2 hours, we sat in the kitchen with a flashlight in one hand and a butcher knife in the other. Nothing was going to get us. We were fully prepared with the needed kitchen utensils to ward off any attackers.

Now for your enjoyment, here is a glimpse into what my Friday night consisted of... not exactly what I thought my Study Abroad experience would be like...

 Notice the candles and knives (which were used for protection!)