This is my sixth full week in Sydney and so far no complaints about the city. The classes I am taking during this 4-week block are harder than last block. In my Organizational Behavior class, we use case studies to provide real-world examples of the concepts we are learning. I don’t know much about OB or used case studies before, so I am learning a lot. We have a midterm in OB this upcoming week and I am not really sure what to expect. I am also taking Individual Federal Income Tax, which is being taught by Dr. Alexander. I have taken corporate finance and business law, and this class is kind of a combination of the two. A lot of the topics we cover are things I know about but have not looked at them from the taxation perspective. We had two guest speakers in Tax this week. Both guests were Bucknell alum and both offered us great career advice and talked about how they ended up living in Sydney. One of the guest works for Meta (aka. Facebook) and she brought in the Meta Quest VR goggles for us to try. It was super cool but I’m not sure I would get a pair until the technology becomes more advanced.
My mom came to visit me in Sydney this week, and I got to show her around the city. She got in last Sunday and was here all week. When she got here we had a walking tour of The Rocks in which we got a lot of history about the area. After the tour we walked across the Sydney Bridge and got an amazing view of the city from the bridge tower. We also went to the Sydney Opera House and saw Gatsby. The play followed a loose interpretation of the movie and included a lot of wires and acrobatics. We also went on a driving tour of the Blue Mountains and saw the Three Sisters. We got to see a lot of amazing views of the Blue Mountains and would recommend going if you’re ever in Sydney. During the Blue Mountain tour we got the chance to pet a koala which was super cute. We went to the top of the Sydney Tower and got a 360-degree view of the city. After the Sydney Tower we went shopping at the Queen Victoria Building (QVB). The QVB is a massive 5 or 6 floor mall with what feels like endless different stores. One of the nights we went on a harbor cruise and dinner. We got a tour of the Sydney harbor and then got dinner at Balmoral bay. The restaurant was right on the water and the food was delicious. One of the best parts of the week was all of the food we got to try. One of the places we went to was called Primi Italian and I had one of the best spaghetti bolognese I have ever had. One of the restaurants we went to was called Hickson House Distilling Co. Hickson is a gin distillery located in The Rocks and their gin drinks and steak are really good. At the end of the week we visited the Madame Tussauds wax museum which is alway a fun time. We took pictures with the likeness of many actors and historical figures.
I am only in Sydney for two more weeks and it feels like time is flying by. While I am looking forward to my internship in Singapore, I will definitely miss Sydney. I have spent a lot of time exploring the city and have gotten to know it pretty well. There are still a few things I want to do before I leave, like going to Manly Beach and doing some museum tours. Hopefully the next two weeks will be as fun as the last six.