Public Holiday, APEC Protests, Birthday Parties

I am so happy that my mid-semester exams are over with! Last week was so hectic, but it was made up for with a really fun weekend.


Friday was declared a public holiday because of the APEC Leaders Meetings that were held here in Sydney. About a million people left the city (25% of the population) and half of the CBD (central business district) was surrounded either by police vans or fences. I think they were really worried about violent protests so they turned it into a police state.

I attended my first protest/rally on Saturday! I actually had a really hard time not laughing because I'm not sure what the point of it was, and I've decided that they are actually a complete and total waste of time. I guess the protestors felt like they were doing good, but I think I would rather work for change in other ways. I'm really glad I went though. I was there when they arrested the 2 organizers, which is talked about in the middle of this article.


Then we took a ferry across the harbour and went to Balmain and Leichardt. Actually, on the way we went past the Opera House- there were snipers at the top of the building and police boats all around! Pretty crazy... Anyway, we didn't realize that we made a big circle and ended up just on the other side of campus. We literally traveled 45 minutes to end up 15 minutes away from where we started! This is what you get for being a tourist. But we ended up eating at a really nice Italian restaurant. Overall it was a really fun day.

On Sunday, it was our friend's 23rd birthday so we went to a great Lebanese dinner. I actually tried lamb for the second time. I was nervous but I ended up really liking it! Very surprising since I don't like very much meat. Maybe I will try kangaroo after all!

Now it's the beginning of another school week. I don't have as much homework due this week but I have several group projects that we need to get started on. I cannot believe how quickly the semester is flying by!