Is this reality?

G’day!

First of all I want to wish Andrew a happy 21^st Birthday!!!

School:

I have successfully made it through my second week of classes at USYD. Tuesday was a beautiful day so a friend and I decided to go to the beach for a couple of hours after class. It’s hard to believe I can just jet out to the beach after class after growing up in Ohio where the nearest beach is 9 hours away. This past week I added two new classes and dropped two old ones. My schedule is as follows:

Monday- Australian Theatre, Film, and Learning (We watched clips from several Australian films this week including Mad Max which stars a young Mel Gibson. I am looking forward to the field trips associated with this class, plays and a tour of the opera house.)

Tuesday- Fitness Training: Theory and Practice and then Learning in Outdoor Education (my longest day but two of my favourite classes)

Wednesday- Sports, Leisure, and Youth (sports history/sociology)

I don’t have class on Thursday or Friday!

Weekend Adventures

Last Weekend: 

 There is so much to do and see just around the city. My Australian friend Shona took me and Emma down to the fish markets for lunch last Friday. We ordered a fish platter and I tried my first octopus. It did not look appetizing, but it was good, aside from being really chewy!

On Saturday we got up bright and early to check out a different Farmers market in Camperdown. It ended up to be way more expensive then Paddy’s Market so we left and went there instead. On our way to Paddy’s we stopped for breakfast at a little cafe on the corner of Abercrombie and Ivy St., Bobby’s. While at Bobby’s my friends and I decided from now on each Saturday we are going to try a new cafe for breaky (breakfast) on our way to get our fruits and vegetables from Paddy’s Market.

Saturday afternoon a big group of us went to Bondi Beach to relax in the sun! Ah lovely lovely!

Sundays are one of my favourite days here. Every Sunday I get to open a letter from my Mom and my apartments have a free bbq! I love my Mom and I love free food! After last Sundays bbq my friends, Emma, Michelle, Ashley, and I decided to walk down to Darling Harbour and go to the Maritime Museum..which was also free woo! The walk down to the Harbour was enjoyable because of all the live street music and we cut through China Town. At the museum there were tons of neat exhibits on Australian water culture and I learned a great deal about the RAN (the Royal Australian Navy).

This Weekend:

Friday I went to Bondi Beach with some friends and we did a coastal walk that spanned from Bondi to Coogee Beach. The whole walk was 6 km (3.75 miles) and took us about 2 hours to complete because of all of the picture and swimming stops. The pictures speak for themselves as to how pretty the scenery was!

Cemetery we passed on the Coastal Walk

 This mornings cafe was, Pausa, located on Harris St. right off of George St. It was another great day of bargains at Paddy’s and I got some dried strawberry’s to put on my cereal this week...yum, anything to jazz up the corn flakes!

This afternoon, Emma and I walked down Glebe Point Rd. to a park that I had discovered a few weeks ago on a run, Bicentennial Park. We laid out a blanket, wrote in our journals, and soaked up the sun.

Not Better, Not Worse, Just Different:

It is the most peculiar thing here, they do not have folders. This past week while shopping for school supplies my friends and I searched high and low for normal folders. All we found were manila file folders and $4 normal plastic folders. I needed four folders so I opted for the manila file folders. I always thought folders were so practical, how do they live with out them? Ha ha.

A month in and I am just now getting to know how to order a coffee. Their coffee here is thicker and stronger with froth on top. I have learned that if you want a normal coffee you say, “I’ll have a long black.” And if you want to add cream to it, you do not ask for cream because they will give you whip cream. Instead you ask for milk on the side, and if you don’t want to be shaking, you add a lot of milk! It’s very flavourful and delicious!

On our walk to the park today, Emma and I passed a specialty store that imported American and British sweets. A bag of candy kisses the size of a soccer ball was $65.00. OUTRAGEOUS!

Travel Plans:

This past week Emma and I booked our flight to the Gold Coast for Easter break. We will be in the Gold Coast in Surfers Paradise for a few days before heading down the coast by bus to Byron Bay. From Byron we are going to take a train to our friends Beach house for a few days before returning to Sydney. While at the Gold Coast we may venture up to Brisbane for a day as well. Should be a great trip!

Job/Volunteer Update:

I got a job this week! I will be working at Cold Rock (the Australian equivalent to Cold Stone) serving ice cream. The shop is close to my apartment and I will be working around 10 hours a week. It will be nice to have a little cash in-flow! I didn’t have as much luck with lining up a physiotherapist to volunteer with. Apparently students observing Physio’s here is uncommon because they believe it invades patients privacy. This was disappointing to find out, but I’m not going to give up on it quite yet.   

WOW that was a long post. Sorry I am so slow to update! I hope to update more often in the future!

Cheers, Betsy