Aaaaand another week has gone by in Sydney, just as fast as all the other weeks before it. This week seemed to go by especially fast, as I got to spend the time with my family [hence why I have been slightly behind on blogging, such a busy week]! I loved reverting back into slightly-touristy mode in order to show them all the things I think are wonderful about Sydney, as well as exploring a few things I hadn’t yet experienced during my time here. A brief rundown of our [...]

Two-for-one post today! But first, I’ll be catching you up on my Sydney life through pictures    The roommates: Sam, Julie and Rebekah in front of our favorite city landmarks! So lucky my roommates are so normal and lovely.  My apartment at the Meriton is probably the nicest place I will live for the next ten years of my life, the pictures do not do it justice. 1.17.2013   The morning began with me being incredibly confused. I was very ready to wake up in my bed in Blaine, MN, and [...]

This has been the single longest day of my life. It is currently 10 p.m. on a Wednesday night in Sydney and with the exception of 6 hours, I have been awake since 7 a.m. Monday morning in Minnesota. The time change makes it sound more impressive than it is, but in any case, I have been awake for a very, very long time and I am forcing myself to blog before I go to sleep. Truly, the 15 hour flight was not that bad. I managed some sleep, watched [...]

I have a new friend at work. It is a lost bird that has been staying with us for the past week. It is a galah which is native to Australia. Like I mentioned before, the birds and wildlife are so interesting here. It is a very pretty bird that happens to hate everybody on staff except me. The bird will not bite me and it will find a cozy spot on my scarf to stand on while it nuzzles my neck. I usually do not like birds. Having a [...]

As a study abroad student in Australia, I knew that I had to make it to Sydney to see the famous Opera House, Manly Beach and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. However, I had another wonderful reason to visit – my roommate Amelia is studying there this semester! With the exciting prospect of celebrating both of our 20th birthdays, this trip was going to be a reunion to remember! Leaving Townsville felt so strange, for though I had traveled throughout the semester, I had not embarked from the Townsville airport. After [...]

Monday was my first day of my Australian Government and Politics class. I have 2 really cute old men (cute as reminding me of my grandpas ppl!). One was formerly in parliament for 10 years and the other wrote many political books and even ran some big campaigns around here. They talked for about 2 hours then took us to the pub down the street and bought all 11 of us around of drinks. Definitely something I was not used to, but absolutely enjoying!  Liz, my roommate, and I are [...]

After our internship orientation, the folks from CAPA bought us all lunch at the Australian Hotel near the Sydney Harbor serving us pizzas like Kangaroo and Alligator pizza. I didn’t get to try any of the gator pizza but I did try some of the Kangaroo pizza. It was interesting, probably will never eat it again, but it tasted like a tough beef jerky. Along with lunch I had my first taste of an Australian beer called a Dirty Granny. It was an apple cider beer made from granny smith [...]

Hey, I made it and I’m alive! After a long flight, I have finally made it to Sydeny, Australia! It is absolutely beautiful and still seems so unreal that I am actually here! The best part of the flight was watching the sunrise while flying into Sydney. Soo awesome! When we arrived into Sydney, it took about 20 minutes to go through customs and by 7am a bunch of us grabbed a taxi to our apartment in Waterloo, Sydney. It was definitely weird to see the drivers side on the right side [...]

Off to Australia! I’m going to miss America and my family and friends so much, but I am anxious to get my life journey underway – down unda’. See you in July! I’m sure the time will fly as I create these memories. Next time you hear from me I will be in Australia! Until then, check out the  Top 7 Places I Want to Visit in Australia 1) Queenstown, New Zealand “Adventure Capital of the World” Home to the film “Lord of the Rings” I REALLY want to go [...]

We spent a fun filled weekend in Sydney.  The city was quite amusing.  Starting the day off right, I over slept for my alarm and instead of waking up at 5:45 as originally planned; I woke up at 6:30 and needed to be on the bus at 6:45.  Rushed as rushed can be, I had showered, dressed, packed, and Laura made me toast, packed a few other snacks and raced to the bus making it on time thankfully. Then for the next 3 hours we were on the bus for our adventure [...]

Happy Autumn! I realized the other day that in the year 2010, I will never experience the season of spring…weird! It’s getting cooler in Sydney and the beach days are coming to an end, but I am embracing the situation and continuing on with my Australian adventures. This past week was pretty relaxed with heaps of uni work and hanging out around the village. I was battling with a paper all week and finally finished on Thursday. After I finished my paper, Betsy and I went and played in the [...]

Last week’s exciting events started on Tuesday when Betsy and I headed out to the Olympic Park is to watch friends play water polo. Before coming here I never really watched water polo, but it has really grown on me! When we arrived at Olympic Park, thoughts of all the people from all over the world that walked on the grounds started racing through my head. We saw that outside of the ANZ Stadium where the opening ceremonies and track and field were held and then we saw the inside [...]

The time continues to fly by and I cannot believe I have already been back from Easter Break for two weeks now. Since Easter Break I have been busy with uni work and just exploring Sydney some more. It’s so nice that I now know my way around town, Sydney definitely makes me feel right at home. Right after East Break, some of my friends that I had met while in New Zealand and Mike my friend from Minnesota came to visit. I was so excited to show them the [...]

I have now successfully completed my second week of classes and find myself wondering  where the time has gone. There is no possible way I have already been in Sydney for a month!? I don’t have class on Mondays, so some friends and I trekked to Coogee Beach for a nice relaxing afternoon. We found some rocks to climb on and an amazing wading pool type thing and had fun jumping in the water, getting pounded by waves, and soaking up the sun. I could not think of a better [...]

What a week it has been. I spontaneously booked a flight to New Zealand for March 18. One of my friends from MN is studying in Auckland so I am going to go visit him for 5 days. I am so excited and it really should be an adventure. On Friday we walked to the Fish Market for lunch. There is basically a ton of seafood for sale, literally anything you could imagine. They will prepare any seafood for you, so one of my friends and I split this platter [...]