P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney

On June 27^th, at approximately 12:00 PM, it finally hit me that I was in Australia. It was around this time that I looked out the plane window and saw the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Opera House. I actually laughed out loud, slightly in disbelief of what I was seeing. I had finally made it.

After collecting our bags, we hopped on a bus and traveled to the University of New South Wales, where we’re staying until July 15^th. The campus is about 15 minutes by bus outside of Sydney in the Kensington neighborhood. It’s actually a fairly nice campus, a lot of the buildings are architecturally interesting, and they have this long promenade that is lined with academic buildings on either side. It’s quite picturesque. I have my own room here, which is nice, because I finally feel like I’m not living out of a suitcase. Our dorm is set up kind of like a hotel, there’s a courtyard in the middle that all of the rooms connect/look out on. There’s no roof over the courtyard, which is nice when its sunny…not so nice when it’s raining.

That night we went across the street to Pinocchio Sushi to eat, and I had the greatest 10 dollar meal ever. Well, at least it felt like that…because decent 10 dollar meals are hard to find, especially when it comes to dinner. My meal consisted of a starter of miso soup and two small salads. One was a potato salad, the other a spicy cabbage. Next, seasoned rice and teriyaki chicken was brought out, and then topped off with a 5-piece spicy tuna avocado roll. I know some of you may be thinking this is highly uninteresting…but the fact that I got all of this for 10 dollars blew my mind. So that’s why I’m describing my dinner to you in my blog.

The next day, the 28^th, we had class from 1-5, which is kind of a bummer. It’s easy to forget that I’m actually here for school, because we manage to fit in so much sight-seeing when we’re not in class. Anyways, after class we took a bus to Coogee Beach and had dinner down there. It gets dark pretty early here, because it is winter, so we weren’t able to go down to the beach, but I made it back there recently and its really nice…but that’s for another post.

The 29^th was the first day we made the trek to the city. That morning, we got up early and took the bus down to Paddy’s Markets. Basically, if you’re looking for cheap souvenirs/jewelry/clothes this is the place to be. There were easily over 100 different stalls, and about 75% of them sell ‘genuine’ UGG boots. Funny how all of the labels had different designs and fonts...but we asked the shop owners and they assured us they were real. And I’m the Queen of England.

This is the building Paddy's Markets are housed in. There's a shopping mall on the second floor.

Later that day, after class, we jumped on a bus headed for Circular Quay, then walked over to the historic area of Sydney called the Rocks. It’s a really cool area, with cobblestone streets and historic buildings that house restaurants, shops, etc. We had to interview business owners and tourists for class…which I think would be very difficult to do back in the States. Everyone is just so friendly here; starting up conversations just seems to come naturally to them. We talked to one guy who was part of this new initiative that takes vacant buildings and puts designers, cafés and high-end stores into them for 6 months. It’s called the Rocks Pop-Up Project, and they’re using it to try and attract more locals to the area since it tends to be touristy. I really like the concept, and the business major side of me is trying to think of where we could use this back home. I’m thinking Broad Ripple or maybe downtown in the big City Market building?

This is probably my favorite area of the city.

After finishing up our assignment we explored the Harbour(notice the British spelling), and of course marveled at the Opera House and Harbour Bridge from up close. I’m pretty sure I have pictures of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge from every angle imaginable. As if I would forget what it was like to see them in person.

 

When you get close to it, you can actually see that the sails are covered in different shades of white tiles. And yes, we all touched the Opera house...we just felt like we had to.

 

A shot of the Harbour Bridge taken while standing in the Rocks.

Later that night we went out with some local students from our dorm to a club in Bondi Junction called The Eastern. It was three levels with a different DJ on each floor. There was a big group of us that went, and it was a really good time…but I stayed up way past my bedtime that night. I’m getting too old for that kind of stuff…just kidding.

Thursday we had a field trip to the North Head Quarantine Station in Manly. To get there we drove across the bridge, so we all got kind of excited about that. It was pretty much just like driving across any other bridge…but nevermind that. The Quarantine Station was used to decontaminate ships and their passengers before they could go through to the city. It was kind of creepy because people had to stay there for months if they had the flu or something like that, and some would die in the hospital. It’s now been renovated and they are using some of the buildings as conference centers and hotel rooms. Don’t know if I’d ever stay there, especially knowing about the whole people dying there part.

 

The people from that Discovery Channel ghost show came here and saw ghosts in the shower room. They would apparently put chemicals in the water that would burn people's skin because that was the only way they knew how to get rid of germs.

 

This crow kept following us around...it looked really ominous sitting on top of the hospital roof.

We called it an early night on Friday because the next morning we were leaving for a trip to the Blue Mountains. I’ll save that for the next post though!

-Haley

P.S. P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way Sydney does not exist. So don’t believe everything Finding Nemo tells you. And if you’re curious, yes, I have watched Finding Nemo since I’ve been in Australia, and I found myself analyzing where the dentist’s office was located. Based on the view from the window, I’d say his office is in Manly.