Bondi Junction, O-Week, Sailing & Death Cab

I can't believe I've already been here a week a half! It feels like i've done so much in such a little amount of time. So far, I love it here. Everyday I see something that makes me enjoy this place even more. I can't even imagine leaving!

Sunday, February 19
Today we moved out of our hotel around 10 am but had time to kill before moving to our apartment. I got breakfast with MK and two other girls, Kate and Amanda. After that MK and I took a walk to The Rocks which is the area near the Harbour Bridge. We picked up our complimentary bridge photo and then shopped around a bit. The Rocks has a bunch of little temporary shops set up on the weekend. It reminded me of the Gaspee Days arts and crafts fair back at home. There was a ton of super cute stuff. Around 3 o'clock we loaded up and headed to Bondi Junction, my residence for the next few months. Our apartment is really similar to the hotel we just stayed in. We have a weekly cleaning service, washer and dryer in the apartment, and gym, sauna, pool, and hot tub down stairs... I'm glad to call this my home! I have 5 other roommates, one being MK. One of the girls is from a suburb of Chicago and actually went to high school with Tara, crazy! Our apartment is 3 bedrooms and has a open balcony and then a closed one, more like a knook. We eat a lot of our meals out here and since we're on the 14th floor we have an amazing view. You can see the bridge and the opera house! The six of us chatted for awhile, unpacked a bit, and then all went out and got dinner together.

Monday, February 20
Grocery shopping day aka stress. It's so hard going grocery shopping in a new market let alone one in a foreign country! It'll take a little time to figure out which brands for which foods we like best. I resorted to my usual purchase: pasta, frozen chicken nuggets, salad, and bananas. Obviously I got other stuff too but those are the pretty important things. I am determined to learn how to cook more this semester! In addition to grocery shopping we went to a few other stores to get hangers, etc. We live next to two malls and one of them is supposedly the second largest mall in Australia, supposedly. This could be dangerous. After all the shopping was completed MK and I had to Coogee to meet up with Stephanie, who also goes to Columbia. From there we went to campus to see a pre-screening of 21 Jump Street. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum were also there doing a Q&A. They were pretty funny and pretty wasted. After the movie we met up with some of Steph's friends at the bar on campus appropriately named Uni Bar. Someone Steph met here is ALSO from Columbia. Kinda weird but it was super nice to be able to talk about Chicago and have people actually understand. We headed back to Coogee to Steph's apartment for a bit and then we called it a night.

Tuesday, February 21
Today we took the train downtown and went to the aquarium which is located on Darling Harbour. MK and I met up with Morgan, Jenna, and Chelsea. Jenna and Chelsea are from Cranston. We have really random mutual friends, one being Livia. Seriously this world is too small. The aquarium is pretty neat. Australian's refer to Nemo so much, it's pretty funny. After the aquarium I stayed downtown with Morgan, Chelsea, and Jenna and we ate dinner at a rotating sushi bar. I don't think i've ever seen one in America but maybe you have. Basically you sit around a bar and there is a conveyer belt type thing that has plates of sushi and as it rides by you you pick up whatever you want. Pricey is based on the color of the plate. It's really neat and I ate so much delicious sushi. We had to keep asking what was in each kinda since they don't say. We were best friends with the chef by the end of the night. On our walk back to the train we found another Japanese restaurant that had green tea soft serve ice cream for $1 so we obviously got some. It was so delicious and I suggest you try it!

Wednesday, February 22
Today we decided to head to campus to make sure we knew how to get there from our apartment and also to make some adjustments to our schedule. It's about a 15/20 minute bus ride for us. We ended up being on campus for FOREVER but we eventually made it to the beach around 4 o'clock. The perfect time for an afternoon nap! We went to Bondi Beach which is about a 7 minute bus ride. It felt so great to be at the beach and relaxing under the sun. I could definitely get used to doing that everyday. At night we went out to a bar in Bondi called The Eastern, I think. It's free for Study Abroad girls on Wednesday. Interesting requirements on a random night.

Thursday, February 23
Today MK and I had a meeting for our internship. We didn't find out much information which was kind of annoying and we have to stay enrolled in all 4 of our classes until we are assigned a specific job. Once we begin the internship we drop one of our classes. We met a bunch of super nice kids. After the meeting we walked around campus a bunch because there were a ton of clubs out for O-Week (Orientation week). When we got back to Bondi we met up with Morgan and did a little shopping. I got two pairs of sandals for $9. At night there was an event on campus so we met up with people there. We ended up watching cover bands all night which was highly entertaining.

Friday, February 24
MK and I woke up in a scramble at 8:30 because we forgot to set an alarm. I literally passed out the night before so fast. We had to be at campus at 9. Somehow we were there by 9:04. I don't know how we moved that quickly. It was orientation for the university for all the study abroad and exchange students. Basically we sat through a 4 hour powerpoint and then got a free lunch which included a free shot. It's so weird going to a school where drinking is so accepted because EVERYONE can do it. Morgan and I walked around campus a lot afterwards and ended up joining the sailing club. I also think i'm going to join the photo club! Tonight MK and I traveled to an area in Sydney called Newtown. It's a mix of Wicker Park and Belmont area for you Chicagoans reading this. There were a lot of little shops for thirsting and music it seemed. We didn't get to walk around much. We saw Death Cab for Cutie at the Enmore Theater. It was the first time I felt like we were actually surrounded by Australians so that was pretty neat. The concert was obviously amazing and it was neat seeing a show in a foreign country.

Saturday, February 25
Today was our first event for the sailing club... talk about moving quickly! It was more like a welcome barbecue. Morgan and I went and it was at an area called Rose Bay and it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. The area we walked in at was gorgeous and there were probably, no exaggeration, 25 dogs playing in the water. I was crying with tears of happiness, obviously. We finally met up with the group and hung around for a bit. I went out sailing with two guys, one was Hubert who is originally from France and I'm not sure about the other guy. Oops. They did most of the work while I took in the sights of Sydney from a little sail boat. It was gorgeous. We were doing well and going strong for about 20 minutes and then all of a sudden our boat tipped over. :( It wasn't scary because it tipped over really slowly and we were wearing life jackets. I just bobbed around while the two guys tried turning the boat right side up. We couldn't because the sail was stuck under the sand. Finally the boat was up but filled with water so we had to swim in to shore. I didn't have a problem and actually really enjoyed being in the water for the first time since we've been in Sydney. It was definitely a memorable experience. We ate lunch and socialized a lot. We met a lot of Australians and other foreigners. After the event a group of us went to a pub called the Golden Sheaf. Everyone there was so fancy and dressed so nicely and we arrived in bathing suits and cover ups and surf shorts. We had a lot of fun. Australians have a very different culture than us when it comes to going out to bars/restaurants. There was always a pitcher of something or a plate of something at the table at all times. They call it a 'shout' and that's when you buy a round for the group. It's pretty neat. They were all so friendly and it was nice to chat with locals finally. We've been around so many Americans lately because of all of our program activities and stuff. At night Morgan and I went to a bar in Bondi and just got a drink and chilled out. It was a really awesome day besides the fact that we got so sunburned!

Today: Sunday, February 26
A chill day... finally! I woke up and hung around for awhile and eventually found the motivation to go to the gym. Working out was confusing at first because your pace is in km/hr instead of mi/hr and your distance is in km and not miles. This will take some time to get used to! Overall it was a successful run, I think! Afterwards I skyped with Jen & Jeff for a little over an hour which was awesome. It was my first time skyping with anyone since I've been here! (Well, I did video chat with Emma but her mic doesn't work so it was kind of a fail, sorry girl.) I showed and was sitting on the computer when Emerson called me on skype so we chatted briefly and while we were talking Keighlea and Jon video chatted me from Facebook. Overall, it was a very successful day for video chatting! I obviously miss everyone so much but I literally have been SO busy here that I haven't even felt homesick! I met up with Morgan at the market and we did a little shopping. Man, grocery shopping is so stressful and I'm only cooking for myself. I can only imagine what my mom deals with now. Tonight Morgan and I cooked in her room! We had salad, potatoes, and I made kangaroo burgers! Everything came out well and kangaroo meat is so cheap here so I think we'll be eating it a lot! We also baked a cake which came out pretty well despite our skepticism considering that it was only $0.67! We just finished watching Midnight in Paris and now i'm off to bed. We start classes tomorrow. I'm not really nervous i'm more weirded out, haha. I feel like I haven't been to class in so long! The class I have is Live Entertainment and Popular Culture and I have it with MK and our roommate Dana just by chance!

Things have been so crazy. I think now that classes are starting our schedules might become a little more normal. We'll see! I haven't gotten to edit any pictures from this week but I'll be sure to post a few here in a post as soon as I do! For now you can look at some of the pictures from our Harbour Cruise that I told you about in my first post!

the twins who are also from cranston... CRAY.

Luna Park

Also, here are some word/phrase differences that I've noticed so far: 

College is Uni. So you go to Uni not college.
Sunscreen is sun cream.
Planner/ journal is diary.
Chips are fries.
They also say "No worries" instead of "you're welcome." For example, Me: "Thanks for the ride!" Australian response: "No worries." It's my favorite and I hope it becomes natural for me to say.

That's all for now!

Goodnight from down under!

Study Australia Orientation

I think I finally have enough time to sit down and write about everything that has been going on here in Australia!

Let's start at the beginning!

SO MUCH FLYING. Providence -> Chicago -> LA -> Sydney. I think that totals up to about 22 hours of flying. Having a layover in Chicago was heartbreaking. All I wanted to do was run off of the plane to frolic around the city. By the time I got to LA I was already sick of worrying about all of my luggage: 2 huge duffle bags just under 50 pounds each, my backpack, and another bag (full of just shoes). I hung around LAX, which actually wasn't as nice and cool as I was expecting, until I met up with MK. We checked in to our international flight and ate some much needed dinner in the airport. Before we knew it it was time to board our huge Qantas plane and head to Australia! By chance my seat was right behind MK's. The plane was fairly nice and had SO much movie options. I tried watched Ides of March but fell asleep about 20 minutes in. I think I watched 20 episodes of Modern Family and I was probably laughing out loud on the plane. The kid I was sitting next to goes URI which was pretty weird and coincidental. We left LAX around 10:30 PM on Monday February 13th and after 15 hours and a few couple hour naps we arrives in Sydney, Australia at 7:30 AM on Wednesday February 15th.

Day 1:
After going through customs and finally retrieving our luggage we met up our study abroad program. From the airport we headed right to downtown Sydney where our hotel for orientation was located. This hotel was GORGEOUS. Our room was on the 72nd floor and we had an amazing view of Sydney. Supposedly the rooms go for about $2,000 a night! After a brief meeting we were finally able to shower and clean up which felt amazing after all the traveling we had been doing and the sudden exposure to 80 degree weather. For our first dinner we ate at a restaurant called Blackbird which was located on Darling Harbour. I ate kangaroo. That sounds so weird to say. It was surprisingly really delicious. Here in Australia people are encouraged to eat kangaroo because there are so many of them and also because kangaroo meet is really low in fat and very high in protein. After dinner we walked around Darling Harbour a bit and then headed back to the hotel.

View from our hotel room

Sunset from our hotel room

Kangaroo dinner at Blackbird

Delicious sangria at Blackbird

Day 2: 
We went on a super long walking tour of Sydney. We saw so much of the city. There are a ton of beautiful parks and a lot of neat museums that I definitely want to go to while we're here! On our the tour we were in Martin Place where they shoot their morning show (similar to our Today Show) and we actually got to be on TV! They called us all over and we got to wave at the end before the show ended. Success. For lunch we ate at a place called Harry's which they told us most of the locals go to. It's a famous food stand for meat pies. It was... interesting. After the walking tour we headed to the Sydney Harbour Bridge to climb the bridge. While on top of the bridge we got to see ROD STEWART. He was in the group ahead of us. Absolutely wild! Standing at the very top of the bridge was ridiculous. I couldn't believe that I had just climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge and I was staring right at the Sydney Opera House and the rest of the gorgeous place. It's still hard for me to believe i'll be living here for four months. We were absolutely exhausted after the events of the day. On our walk back to the hotel from the bridge a group of us stopped and ate at a restaurant called Star Bar. I had the most delicious wrap and then we went back to the hotel for the most needed shower ever. That night we hit up a bar for a few drinks and then headed to bed.

Australian morning television

Harry's meat pie

Birds that we hung out with on the walking tour

An amazing view of the bridge and opera house

At the top of the bridge!

Day 3:

Today we finally got to go to our campus! I'll be studying at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and the campus is absolutely gorgeous. It's completely different than what i'm used to at Columbia. I'm really excited to be surrounded by a ton of grassy quads. The campus is large but i'm sure i'll be able to navigate it just fine after a couple of weeks. We finalized our schedules, got our student IDs and ate some lunch. MK and I also got the most delicious smoothies. Our campus has so many placed to get food! After this we headed to Featherdale Wildlife Park. Here we got to see wallabies, koalas, dingos, Tasmanian devils, pretty birds and crocs. We also got to play with kangaroos both big and small and see a 7 month old baby marsupial. Adorable. It was a really neat place because the kangaroos and wallabies weren't in cages, they were just hopping around all over. Also, koalas seriously DO NOT MOVE. I honestly thought they were fake for awhile, hahaha. I was exhausted and took a nap when we got back to the hotel. For dinner we ate at a little place right across the street and I actually got falafel. Hello Israel. A few of us went down to someone else's room and before we knew it there were about 35 of us hanging out. That night we went to Star Bar for a little dancing. Overall, another fantastic day!

Campus

Campus

7 month old marsupial

Koala 

Kangaroo

Albino kangaroo

Koala

Day 4:

The final day of our orientation activities. We met up at Hyde Park, got into groups, and began the Amazing Race. We traveled around the city completely tasks and receiving clues. It was super helpful because we had to take trains and buses so we kind of got used to that whole process. We were in second place for such a long time but then someone gave us the wrong directions and we ended up in 10th. We ended at the Opera House and ate a super delicious lunch. I had a salmon salad sandwich and it was so great. Back to the hotel we went. We showered and got ready for the Harbour cruise. The cruise was a ton of fun and hilarious. We laughed so much at dinner. All the Australian waiters were just adorable. Dinner was a really great fish dish and then some chocolatey thing for dessert. We saw amazing views of the bridge, opera house, and skyline. I haven't edited photos from this day yet so I'll post them in the next entry (or just edit this one later)! MK and I wanted to go to TropFest (the film festival here) after the cruise so we attempted running over there right after we docked. Unfortunately we were too late but we did get to see the closing fireworks. Another exhausting day and off to bed we went. 

Orientation was amazing. Our hotel was incredible. The food was delicious. The sights were unbelievable. I still can't believe this is all real!