Our first week in Sydney has been pretty amazing. On our first day, we arrived very early and got an initial tour of Sydney. We walked around the Botanical Gardens and found a nice spot to sit and talk. For our Welcome Dinner, I got a Chicken Schnitzel Burger, but some of my friends tried Kangaroo. I couldn’t bring myself to try it, but people mostly told me it tasted like steak. The next day our classes started, but I only had one, Global Management, and it wasn’t until 3. In the morning, one of my roommates and I took the train to the Sydney Fish market where we walked around for a while and I bought octopus to cook for dinner. We then met up with some friends to grocery shop, and went home for class. Our professor Nigel is from Australia, so he gave us a lot of insight into what to expect from our stay here. We got out of class at around 6 and I went home to make dinner. Cutting up the octopus was interesting to say the least, the ink sack opened and there was black all over the kitchen. Eventually I got the gunk out of the head and was able to cut up the octopus and start preparing it (it actually came out pretty good).
The next day our 8 am class, Australian Life and Culture, started, so that was a bit of a rude awakening. After class, we went to the Broadway mall to do a bit of shopping and grab lunch. Some people had to leave for class at 12, but two of my roommates and I stayed to shop for a bit longer and then went home. During Global Management later on, Professor Nigel brought is Vegemite to try in class (it was not very good). For dinner, we went to our friends’s apartment and we all made dinner together. The rest of the week was pretty much the same with classes and hanging out with friends, until Thursday when our weekend began.
We went to the Ivy after completing our homework and had a ton of fun. The next morning, we woke up early because we had to move out of our apartment due to some mold and broken appliances. Check-out was at 10, but we couldn’t check into our new apartment until 5, so we headed to Bondi Beach. We elected to Uber instead of taking the train because it was much faster, and with 6 of us going, it was very inexpensive to split. The beach was gorgeous. We swam, tanned, read, and bodysurfed the day away, and by the end I looked like a total lobster (note to self: reapplying only once is not the way to go when the UV is 14). Once we got home from the beach, we decided to all go to dinner at a bar nearby called the Quarryman Hotel. We had dinner and drinks on the roof, and it was delicious. After that, we went home and went to bed early to prepare for the walking tour of the Rocks that was planned for the next day.
Our walking tour of the Rocks was really beautiful and very educational. We learned all about the history of how Sydney was settled and built. My favorite part of the tour would have to be the oyster shells that were sculpted into one of the buildings. After the tour, we got lunch at Sydney’s oldest pub, First Fleet. After lunch, half of us wanted to go shopping, but the other half (which included me) preferred ice cream and taking the tram home. That night, we went out for a bit, but I left early to get some sleep for our event the next day, and I am so happy I did.
Sunday we went to Walkabout Wildlife Sanctuary. It was absolutely incredible. We started the day by walking around with the Kangaroos, Wallabees, and Emus and were allowed to pet them and just hang out with them. After that, we listened to Tassin Barnard, the owner of the sanctuary, give a wonderful talk about how she changed careers and the incredible things her community has done for the park, as well as what she has done for her animals and community. In the afternoon we had Sausage Sizzlers for lunch, learned to crack whips and throw boomerangs, learned about the plant life in the park, and saw all of the different kinds of animals they had at the sanctuary. It was honestly one of the most amazing and life-changing days I have ever experienced, despite being 102 degrees out.
Overall, Sydney has been amazing so far. I never could have expected how beautiful the city would be or how incredible this experience could be. The friends I have met I know I will have for a long time, I will never forget this first week, and I know it is only the beginning.