Bondi Beach

I'd been feeling off the last few days so I took the afternoon and headed over to Bondi Beach. Didn't get as much reading done as I hoped because it was cold and windy, but it was really nice to walk around... This morning a girl told me in class that it was "so cold" people probably couldn't get out of bed... it was about 50 degrees out. I can't imagine how crowded the beach gets when it's warm!

My seagull friend...

Me pretending to study :) (yes i did take this photo of myself...)

"Surf Craft" = surfboard. You know that people bring them on the bus?

It made me laugh that the forecast was "fine"

More Photos

View of Sydney from the 8th floor of the International HouseDefinitely one of the most beautiful cities in the world... view of the bridge and Opera House from the Botanical Gardens.
Downtown Sydney

Bats in the trees at the Botanical Gardens- they were about 8 inches big!

Saeed (from Iran), Lindsay (from UT Austin), Kerry (from Tulane), me, Heidi (from Germany)

We loved this tree!

Saeed, me and Kerry at the Landsdowne. It's right down the street from the International House so we spend more time there than I care to admit :)

Winery in Hunter Valley
Off whale watching!

It was freezing and we only saw the top of a sleeping whale... but it was beautiful!

The sun is bright even in winter Downtown Sydney

Darling Harbour Flag on top of Parliament in Canberra
View of Canberra from Parliament

Constant State of Confusion

So after two weeks, I'm figuring out that constantly being confused all the time is just me adjusting to Australian culture! I keep thinking that I'm so glad that I speak English because otherwise I wouldn't be able to get anywhere or really accomplish anything. It's amazing how it's really the little things that make a difference. The biggest "culture shock" so far was eating at a little cafe yesterday. We were starving and just wanted to grab a quick bite. I really didn't expect the food (and service) to be so different here. For those that know me well, I'm a very picky eater and try to eat as little meat as possible. Well, I'm learning that being a vegetarian is not easy around here! I was already forced to eat a sausage last weekend because I had no other choice. So after about 15 minutes of trying to find a vegetarian option on the menu, I gave up and ordered pasta with chicken. 15 minutes passed... thirty minutes past and no food arrived. At this point, we drank our entire pitcher of water, and the waiter was no where in sight to fill it up. I was practically staring him down, and he still didn't come over! Eventually we got our food, and it was such a tiny dish. All I wanted was to stuff my face with food :( Then we couldn't figure out how to pay. I guess you had to go up to the counter, but they didn't even bring the receipt to the table so we just sat there staring at the wall. Now I know this does not sound like a big deal, but it's just kind of embaressing having to ask such silly questions all the time. I'm slowly mastering the bus system so I have faith I will eventually learn how to order food at a restaurant as well :)

Two Weeks...

I cannot believe I have already been here two weeks! Time is just flying by. I had my first 3 classes this week- still have one more new one tonight. I'm taking Advanced Spanish, Macroeconomics, Trade & Development, and Economentrics. I'm a little surprised because I thought the classes would be very challenging, but it seems like a repeat of what I did last semester. Trade & Development is a lot like the political economy class last semester, and Macroeconomics is a lot like Int'l finance. I'm sure though with the internship and having fun that I will have plenty to keep me busy :) We went out again last night- my whole "I'm going to bed at 10 pm" plan definitely didn't work but I had a lot of fun so it was worth it. Today I have Spanish and then I'm going to attempt to take the bus on my own, and I'm going to meet Bob DiMattia (from NGC) and his wife for lunch! Tonight I have econometrics from 6-9 pm.

Whale Watching and My Internship

I am back to the International House after whale watching today at Norman Bay. It was okay- we froze for 3 hours to only see a whale for 2 minutes! It was a little disappointing, but I know that whale watching is hit or miss. We did see a bunch of dolphins are we came back to the port so that was pretty cool. It was a gorgeous day so it was nice to be out on the water.

Classes start tomorrow so everyone is heading to bed early. It looks like I will only have class Tue-Thu! Yahoo! That means 5 day weekends which I'm very excited about because hopefully I will get to travel around. I really think I will just have no money by the time I get home, but I'm sure it will be worth it.

Just to explain more about my internship, I'm interning part time with the Australian Industry Group. They are a membership organization that represents 10,000 Australian companies. Since they are located in Canberra, I'm going to work independently from Sydney for about 15-20 hours a week and will just visit the office a few times during the semester. I'm going to research a few areas for them: the effects of the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement on bilateral trade, potential changes to regional trade flow in the Asia Pacific and Australia's defense procurement process. The Australia-US free trade agreement was very controversial (similar to NAFTA in the US), and it looks like over the past few years, Australia's exports to the US have decreased rather than increasing like it theorectically should under the FTA. So I'm going to do some research and interview companies to see if we can find reasons why this is happening. Then, since the WTO is not doing so well, there is a lot of discussion about regional FTAs and Australia's future trade relationships in the Asia Pacific. They want me to recommend steps for Australia to take in the next few years- I assume Ai Group will use whatever I find in their lobbying the Australian gov't. The APEC ministerial meeting will be held here in the beginning of September and that is where many of these discussions about these regional relationships will take place. Nothing I do will be used in these meetings-- it's just exciting that such a big meeting will be held right down the street!

Canberra > Sydney > Newcastle

Day #2 of my internship at Ai Group went really well. I'm so excited to be working with the organization. It's a little nerve-wracking because they expect me to be their "expert", which is quite a stretch! But hopefully we'll learn a lot from each other. My supervisor, Andrew, took me to the Australian Parliament house which was really useful because Australia is having an election later this year and hopefully now I will understand a little bit of what's discussed in the papers. We also met an Australian journalist that covers international trade-- that was really interesting with the recent events in the Doha Round and then the APEC ministerials meeting will be held in Sydney in September. Of course, you probably have no idea what I'm referring to but it's really excited for a trade nerd like me. I met a really nice guy on the bus ride back who was about my age and is working for the Australian Dept of Defence. It's interesting to hear that everyone has the same experiences at the beginning of their career, even on the other side of the world.

I got back to Sydney late Friday night and went out for another night on the town. I'm worried that everyone will lock themselves in their rooms once the semester starts so I'm trying to live it up as much as possible. I had to get up incredible early today, Saturday, to head out for the wine and whale weekend! I'm actually in Newcastle now. We spent the day wine tasting and are now in a hostel at the beach. It's amazing how much everyone drinks here- who would think you'd take shots at a winery?? It was crazy, but fun.

Overall, I'm feeling like an emotional rollcoaster, having fun one minute and then quite lonely the next. I'm much older than everyone else here, which I wasn't really expecting. Just about everyone I have met so far is a junior in college, so that makes me a good 5-6 years older. Not a big difference in years, but it's a huge difference in maturity level. I'm kind of thinking now that any further traveling I do around the country will be independent, rather than with a tour group. Everyone is really nice, but I'm hoping to meet some older people in my classes. School starts up again on Monday!

Darling Harbour and Canberra

I am writing from a chat room in the Youth Hostel in Canberra- this whole computer is in Chinese which just makes me laugh. The last couple of days have been crazy with orientation. I actually fell asleep during Harry Potter I was so tired!! Yesterday I slept most of the morning and then did the Walk to the Water down to Darling Harbour. It was amazing- it's still a bit unreal that I'm here.

Then we went out to our new favorite hangout, the Landsowne Hotel. Dinner is only $5! That is pretty awesome considering how expensive things are. Here was the live entertainment for the night- he was amazing and we decided we are his new groupies:

We actually ended up meeting the Sydney Uni rugby team and partied with them all night... Steph, girl above, has made great friends with the Landsdowne owner so we got free drinks all night. It was a lot of fun!

I came to Canberra today to meet my internship people. They are really nice and I'm excited to be here. I'm exhausted since I only got a couple of hours of sleep last night so I will be turning it in very early! I've never stayed in a hostel before... tonight should be interesting!

More Sydney Photos

Australian Flag and People on the top of the Harbour Bridge

Proof of friends International House

Flat escalators

Orientation and My New Phone

We had orientation the last two days. It was pretty boring and not very useful because I had read all the info packets before I got here. I wasn't going to get a phone while I'm here but I decided I would have more friends if they could actually call me. So I went and got a pre-paid phone this morning. I think it's so cute! It has an FM radio if I want AND it tells you what suburb you're in! Amazing. Maybe this is all the rage in the US but my phone doesn't tell me-- it lets you know if you are at Sydney Uni, Darlington, etc. Now I won't get los and I can make plans without smoke signals :)

My roomate moved in today. Apparently she was here all weekend but they put here in a different room. Not really sure why! She is from the Phillipines- just graduated from high school and is studying law and commerce. I'm really excited about meeting all these new people. Last night we hung out at a pub with a bunch of Brits- it was quite amusing as they acted out all the different British accents. Tonight we are finally going to Harry Potter so I'm very excited- hopefully it won't be sold out! Tomorrow we actually don't have anything going on. Thursday & Friday I'm going to Canberra (the capital) and this weekend I'm going whale watching!!!

More Zoo Photos

Look Right

Sydney, Australia- the friendliest and most helpful city in the world!

Taronga Zoo

Today was the best day so far- after a long night's sleep, I'm finally feeling like the jet lag is wearing off, and I have a much better grasp of my surroundings. The last few days have just been a daze! But now I feel like there is hope I can take the bus on my own and not get lost! I woke up at 5:30 am (too excited to sleep!) and finished organizing my room. At breakfast, I actually met a guy from Baltimore! That was pretty cool.

Later this morning I met up with some people from the US and Norway to go to the zoo!!! We took a ferry going past the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge...

Now I really feel like I'm in Australia. The last couple of days I've been around so many Americans (since we're really the only ones here so far), that it felt a lot like home, but now it's sinking in that I'm really down under.

The zoo was so much fun. There were so many trees, and it was so peaceful and quiet. You never would have known how many families were there (it is still winter holidays so the kids are out of school). The animals were amazing- you could get so close to the kangaroos, emus, koalas, giraffes, etc. Some people actually took photos almost next to the kangaroos. It was great. I also decided that even bratty Australian kids are adorable when they whine with their accents :) And it's cute hearing Australian parents yell at their kids. They just sound so polite! The Australian people here in the International House said they don't really feel the same way about American kids, hahaha. And also, in Australia, they are not allowed to keep "natural flaura and fauna" at home- aka, they are not allowed to keep kangaroos and koalas as pets. Oh yes, to get this answer I had to look like an idiot and ask. Let me know if you have any other silly questions about Australia you'd like to know! I'd be more than happy to look like a moron to find out... :)

One thing that I have noticed about the whole city, and especially the zoo, is that it is so clean! And there are not that many trash cans around. I feel like most cities are pretty dirty just because of all the people- you seriously would never know how many people live in Sydney because it is generally so clean and quiet here.

We are going to try to go to another club tonight- it's Sunday so I doubt many people will be out but it is fun to explore. It's so nice not really having any responsibilities or anything to do for a couple of days... it's pretty awesome :)

Centennial Park

Cockatoos and ibises in Centennial Park.. they think they are pidgeons...

Was that 5 or 10 kilometres?

Yesterday I had a bad run in with the metric system! Well, I can't blame it on the metric system- it was just my poor map reading skills. I convinced a group to walk to Bondi beach. Looking at the map, I thought oh it's only about 4 miles. It'll take us about an hour but it will be fun! Well, 2 hours later we were in the middle of the most amazing park watching wild parrots flying around! But were still 3 miles away from the beach!! Apparently it was really a total of 10km (6.2 miles)-- and I learned that walking 6.2 miles is much different than running them. It's also more difficult when you have 5 other people with you. So we enjoyed the part and got some food at a local store and took the train back. Which took only 5 minutes. We walked for 2.5 hours when we could have been there in a few minutes! So I still haven't made it to the beach, but hopefully that will be an adventure later this week.

Last night I took a nap before we were all we out- I went to sleep at 7:30 and didn't wake up until midnight! oops! I thought everyone went out without me, but I found out this morning that everyone fell asleep. Maybe there will be more partying tonight... we do have all semester so I'm not too worried about exploring the nightlife :)

Clubbing, Sydney style

Last night we hit the town... I'm so disappointed! I guess people don't go out until very, very late here so not many people were in the clubs even by midnight. There were a ton of people in the streets, just not inside. So we are trying it out again tonight. Also very interesting, they have heat lamps inside the clubs! I guess they don't use central heating anywhere here. I have noticed in the Int'l House they have radiators on the ceilings. Pictures will be posted shortly :)

There is a big alumni weekend going on at the house so I got to meet more people yesterday. We are going to explore the city today so that should be fun....

I have friends!!

I am finally meeting people here in the International House- I'm so glad I'm living here. I have been hearing horror stories about people trying to find housing. Ugh, too stressful! Last night we rented a movie- from BLOCKBUSTER. I was so upset I wanted to cry!! I traveled over 30 hours for Blockbuster?? And I got my hairdryer at KMart! It is so Americanized!! But there are little differences that make me feel better- like the fact that escalators in the shopping center are flat- they aren't stairs! It's so weird- I'll have to take a picture when no one is looking... :) I decided I have to take all my pictures of the campus this weekend before everyone else arrives next week- just wait until you see the street intersections. They remind you which way to look! I think I'm going to get hit by a bus because I keep looking the wrong way.

I am meeting people from all over- US, Australia, Iran, Pakistan, France, Indonesia, NZ. I love it! Nothing too funny or exciting happened today. I woke up bouncing off the walls at 6:30 am. We had a Daily Arrival session this morning, and orientation will start on Monday. I got my login for the computer system and get this- you pay per megabyte! So that means every time you look at a website, it downloads all these megs of pictures, files, etc. You get 6MB free a day and pay $0.02 for every meg after. So strange. Tonight we're going to try out some of the local nightlife, and I convinced some people to explore the city with me tomorrow. The initial idea wasn't so hard, it was convincing them to walk 4 miles to the beach :) Sure we could take the bus, but walking is so much more exciting. Unfortunately, it is way too cold to go swimming but I need to see the water!

And I realized why people hate the winter here- they don't use central heating! In my room I have a little tiny space heater that takes all night to warm the room. And all of the buildings on campus are freezing cold. Oh well, hopefully it won't be cold for long!

I am here!

And it only took me 5 minutes off the plane to lose my passport!!! Don't worry, I have it back now, but it was a rather terrifying 30 minutes running around the airport trying to find it. All I could keep thinking was "Thank goodness they speak English here because I have no idea how to explain in Spanish!" I actually called my family, got in the taxi and started to leave the airport before I realized I lost it. Turns out it fell on the ground as I was exiting Customs, but the wonderful info desk people found it before I was deported :)

Highlights of the trip so far:

- On the flight from Dulles to LAX, the woman next to me decided it was a really good idea to take off her shoes and go into the airplane bathroom BAREFOOT. She also didn't seem to understand personal space and kept touching me with her nasty toes the whole trip

- Qantas is really the best airlines ever. I have never seen such an enormous airplane (11 rows across!). We were delayed about an hour and a half because they had to refuel the plane (i think they said 70 tons of fuel). I didn't mind the wait because the Qantas Customer Service Manager gave us great food! I figured out the way to beat jet lag is to stay up over 24 hours (we ate dinner at 4 am DC time) and now I feel great. I sat next to a fun 11-year-old who was with about 150 other kids on a People to People ambassador trip. I didn't get my ice cream as promised on the Qantas website but I did watch some great Australian tv shows so that made me happy

- Guy in Customs: "What's your nationality?" Me: "American" Guy: "Good, that girl in front of you said White. We don't like that here. That's why she's being checked but you are free to go" hahaha

I am all checked in to my room in the International House. It is cozy to say the least (smaller than my freshman dorm), and I'm not sure when my roommate gets here. I walked around the campus this afternoon trying to get my course schedule straightened out. I feel so discombobulated just being on a new campus trying to figure out where to go for what. Everything is just a little bit different- I can't figure out how to flush the toilet and the keys are these weird metal bars you stick in the door.

I saw a posting for some people going to see Harry Potter tonight so I'm hoping to meet up with them... Maybe I will try to find the Sydney Opera House tomorrow but the city is MUCH bigger than I expected. I feel exactly how I felt when Mom left me at my dorm at Maryland 7 years ago- no freakin' clue what I'm doing but I'm excited to be here :)

Wheels Up!

I am off! My flight leaves tonight and I'll arrive in Sydney at 7:30 am local time. Door to door I'll be traveling for about 27-28 hours. Is it possible to survive for so long without a cell phone? I'm about to find out!

Turning over a new leaf

Today was my last day of work! It is really weird to leave but I'm excited about what's yet to come. I realized today that I have lived my life in 3.5 year increments. I lived in Texas for 3.5 years, I went to Maryland for 3.5 years and now I've worked at NGC for 3.5 years. Three and a half years from today will be February 2011. In 2011, the Women's World Cup will be played in the US, and London will be ramping up for the 2012 Olympics. Maybe by then we'll even have a solution for social security (hey, we can dream :) . I hope to be working for the government either in the US or overseas. Where do you think you'll be?