I FINALLY have internet in my room...a recap

Ok, so I am a little behind…never quite been good at journaling/blogging.

I’ll start with Sunday, the 17th….

I woke up and had breakfast around 8ish with Sarah. A couple hours later we begin our 10 ten mile (no joke) journey around the city with Britney and Becca. Our first stop was Darling Harbour to watch the Dragon Boat Races that were a part of the Chinese New Year Celebration.

Then, we decided some shade would be nice, so we made a stop at the Maritime Museum and learned all about the Ice Man. The Ice Man is the oldest, intact, person ever found. The highlight was probably the lovely BBC documentary detailing the theories of his death. After the film, we ventured onward in our journey. The next stop was the Sydney Opera House (it was official…we were in Sydney)! And, of course there was a wonderful view of the bridge. Currently, we are working on getting photos of the Opera House from every angle…and Sunday was an excellent start to this endeavor. While at the Opera House, we checked out what was playing and currently have tickets to see “As You Like It” on Monday (more to come on that next week).

From the Opera House, we went into the Botanical Gardens. Absolutely gorgeous. I took a ridiculous amount of photos of the place. While there, we saw hundreds of bats, just chilling in the trees. It was like nothing I have ever seen. They are grey-headed flying foxes. Unfortunately, some of the gardens were closed by the time we made our way to them (but, fear not, we made it there on Wednesday).

Around 5ish, we started to venture over to The Domain, were a short-film festival was being held. After being there, for about 30 minutes, it started to sprinkle and the skies looked pretty grim. Of course, no one had an umbrella, so we eventually found a Starbucks downtown to hold out in until the start of the films. We ended up watching about five or so films before it began to rain again. This was our cue to leave. We hopped in a cab and headed to King Street, a popular street on the edge of campus with lots of cheap (a relative term) restaurants. The lucky winner of our business on this night was a Turkish pizza joint. I couldn’t tell you the name of it, but it was quite delightful.

Monday, the 18th and Tuesday, the 19th…

International Student Orientation…nothing too exciting, besides the fact that over two-thirds of the international students are American…YAY AMERICA!


Wednesday, the 20th

Today, was another big walking in the city day.

The day kind of got off to a late start around 11:30 when I met Becca, Sarah, Britney, and Nicole in the Queen Victoria Park (which is right off campus). The first stop we made was something we stumbled upon, actually. Another school, Sydney Tech, was having their big orientation day for the entire student population. We wondered in, acted like we went there, and got some free stuff.

The next stop for the day was Hyde Park. Turns out we walked through it on Sunday and didn’t even realize it. Here, we met the first not so nice Aussie. This man just refused to take a quick photo for us (even I, have never refused to take a tourist’s photo….that is saying something). Turns out it was for the better though, a real photographer took it for us, and got everything we wanted in the shot (there was a really tall building that we wanted in the background that was difficult to get, but he managed to fit it in). He was a champ about it.

After a short lunch in The Domain, we went back to the Botanical Gardens to visit some of the things we missed on Sunday. First, we went to the Succulent Garden.

Then, we headed up to a point where there is an awesome view of the Bridge and the Opera House. Of course, we took a TON of photos. Probably an unnecessary amount.

After, we walked through the gardens to find the Government House, only to find out that it was closed, again.

At this point, we were pretty tired and hot. The sun was really beating down, so we headed back to campus and called it a day.

Thursday, the 21st

Not so exciting of a day either. First, headed down to Gloria Jeans to pick up some free internet to catch up on emails and what not. After hanging out there for a couple hours, I determined it was probably time to set up a bank account, something that I have been putting off for a few days by this point. Then, to top of the day I finally made it back to Kmart and Target to pick up a few essentials. That was actually a really exciting point to my day as I usually get free time after they close. See, the Australians…not big on the whole working thing. Businesses (including stores) close around 6. The shopping center near campus is actually an exception and…gasp…stays open until 7. And, to be really crazy they stay open until 9 on Thursdays (yes, only Thursdays).

I'm HERE

Flight/Day One:

My first flight left Dayton at 12:40 PM. Of course, it was delayed for about one hour due to mechanical problems. Thank god my connection out of Dallas to LA had mechanical problems as well, or I might have missed my flight. Though it does worry me that two American Airline flights in a row had issues. I arrived at LAX around 6ish. There was a shuttle from the domestic terminal to the international one, but somehow I missed it and ended up walking out of the security area. It took a bit to realize that I needed to be in another building. My plan was to eat once I got through security again…the whole taking the liquids out, the computer out, and the shoes off. However, to my surprise, there was only one little magazine rack and a deli/bar behind security…and me, being lazy and not wanting to deal with the checkpoint again, went without a good dinner before my 15 hour flight.

I sat by myself for a bit. I saw lots of students my age, but I was a little intimidated to speak to any…not sure if they were with the same program as I or even going the same place. Eventually, I began talking with a girl named Becca. She is pretty cool and we have been hanging out pretty much since then.

Before the flight, I called home using my calling card, as I thought I had thrown away my cell (come to find out later it was buried in my bag). I sat next to two friends that were studying in Melbourne. They were not with Arcadia or studying in Sydney, so that was a little disappointing. The flight overall was good. Quantas is amazing and I definitely recommend this company. The staff was so friendly and accommodating. The seats could have been a little more spacious, but it wasn’t too bad. I was way over prepared, too. I came with my own blanket, eye mask, snacks, pillow, etc. All that was provided. They also had excellent entertainment. They were also giving you food it seemed like every time you turned around. I basically slept the majority of the time and watched movies.

Upon landing in Melbourne, I gathered my bags, and met up with Becca and a couple GW girls. Going through customs went quite smoothly. After customs, we met Mazz, a coordinator with Arcadia, and took our checked bags to a truck to be stored while we were at orientation. Not everyone arrived on the same flight, so we waited at the airport for a couple hours. This was not the most fun thing, as I had been in airports or a plane since 11 AM East coast time on Monday and it was now 9 AM on Wednesday (though we did lose a day crossing the International Dateline).

Once all the students arrived, we went to a small town, St. Kilda. It was about 40ish minutes from the airport. For lunch I went with Becca and Sarah to a fish and chips place. We also attempted to call home on some phone cards, but it was pretty much a failure. After about a half an hour in St. Kilda, we drove on to a national park. Here we saw kangaroos!! We must have seen at least 50 and we also got to see a wallaby. Unfortunately, I took a camera with a dead battery, so I have no pictures of my own :( After our first wild encounters, we went on to the hotel in Sorrento where we stayed at for a couple days. I roomed with Sarah and Becca. Overall, the room was very nice. One of the nicest parts of the hotel was it was seriously two minutes from the ocean. It was more of rocky cliffs, meet the ocean. It was pretty much what I imagined California to be. After a nature walk that night, we finally went to bed around 9:30 PM. I was absolutely exhausted by this point and I went to sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.


This about half of the Arcadia group on one of the walks we went on.


The OCEAN!!!!

Day Two:

Thursday started bright and early at 7 AM with breakfast. I, personally, would have liked a bit of a later start. After breakfast we had a couple orientation sessions, followed by free time in downtown Sorrento. Sorrento is just a small little beach community so the downtown area wasn’t very large, maybe twice the size of West Milton’s downtown. Becca, Sarah, and I exchanged some our American money at a local bank and had some smoothies and gelato (which was delicious!). After free time we had a couple more sessions, followed by a hike which took us along the cliffs and down on the beaches. Later, in the evening we went on a boat ride across the bay. We had a couple dolphins chasing the boat in the beginning, which was pretty neat. Across the bay we had fish and chips. The fish was ok, the fries were pretty soggy and gross. I had my first taste of tomato sauce (AKA Ketchup). It is not too different, but you can taste a slight difference. At the end of the day, Heinz is better. The best part of the cruise was by far the seals we saw on the way back. In two days, I have seen 3 animals in the wild I have never seen outside of a zoo, very exciting. After the cruise, I pretty much went to sleep right away.


The Seals!

Day Three:

Once again, Friday started bright and early at 7 AM. We had a couple information sessions, and then headed to the city of Melbourne. We stayed at the Oaks Hotel, located downtown. Overall, a pretty nice hotel, though they didn’t want to give us more than one room key per room. This became a problem because people were not hanging out with the people they were rooming with. Overall, it was a general pain in the ass.

After arriving one of the Arcadia coordinators gave us a quick tour of the city. It is a really artsy/funky/alternative city. There are modern sculptures, graffiti (though they call it art), and street performers pretty much everywhere.


An alleyway in Melbourne.

There are also these cool little ally ways that are packed with nice restaurants and shops. We ended up being dumped in the middle of the city by our coordinator, but we managed to find out way. Sarah, Becca, and I each got cell phones. It was an interesting experience as we were quite confused about the plans, and the lady was confused as to why we were confused. We got prepaid phones (which none of us had every owned before…and on top of that some of the terms they use, it just so different than what is in America) After the cell phones, we went to Queen Victoria’s Market. This was basically a fruit and flea market type deal. It was pretty cool. We ate lunch at a little restaurant near by…nothing too exceptional. After lunch, we walked back across the city and went to some gardens.


The botanical gardens in Melbourne.

We had to cut that short to be back at the hotel by 5 PM. Here we had a “lets share our feelings” session. I personally didn’t really need that. After which, we had trip sign up. Each student is entitled to one free trip. For the University of Sydney it is a trip to the Blue Mountains. Other schools go on different trips. However, students from other university may sign up for these trips as well. The problem is that some have limited spaces. I got on all the trips I wanted to go on except the one to the rainforest and the great barrier reef (I learned today at orientation that STAtravel takes groups of students there, so I think I may do it through them). I am going to the Outback for Spring Break and Perth in April. After trip sign up, we went walking around the city. It took us a while to find something to eat, as many places were closing (we ate a late lunch and as such a late dinner). We finally ended up at a little pizza place that was pretty good. Most people went out on Friday night, but I was still pretty jet-lag and had no desire to have a rough morning. Our flight left at noon, but we headed for the airport at 8:30 AM. Drinking and waking up at the crack of dawn didn’t really seem like a wonderful idea to me. So, I went to after doing some emailing and whatnot.

More to come on the last couple days hopefully tomorrow :D