St. John's, Aquarium, Botanical Gardens, and Footy game

This weekend was packed with adventure and fun! Wednesday night my friends and I attended a St. John's College party: Grooves on a Grassy Knoll. A "college" in Australia just means a dorm (Uni means college). It was pretty much a high end frat party. It was located in a fenced area outside (on a grassy knoll, imagine that) and there was food, beer, live music/DJs, and dancing. It had been raining that day so they put up tents but the ground was still wet. Unfortunately for me, my shoes broke within five minutes of being there. I had to walk around barefoot in the muddy grass for the rest of the night. There were porta potties outside for the girls (my friends generously let me borrow their shoes to go in), but the boys bathroom was simply a roped off corner where they peed on the tarp fence. When walking home, I had no choice but to walk right past the "bathroom" tarp fence (which was located on a downward sloping hill) where the grass was muddy with pee water. Yes, I was still barefoot. Disgusting. But overall, it was a fun night.

We went to the aquarium on Saturday located in Darling Harbour. It was very fun and we saw a ton of cool animals. My favorites are below.


Fountain that we passed on the way to the aquarium



Glowing Coral

We ended this trip by taking a bus to the Botanic Gardens near Sydney Harbour. We figured it would be a perfect end to the day; it was beautiful outside, the garden was free, and it was only a short bus ride away. Unfortunately, we neglected to realize that it's still winter! We got to the garden and everything was dead. Bummer. We will have to come back in the spring when the flowers are actually in bloom!

Today I attended an AFL (Australian Football League) game, otherwise known as Footy. We were in the 10th row, and practically being spit on. The game was completely bizarre but a blast nonetheless. It is played on a round field with a rugby ball, but the ball is kicked, punched, or dribbled down the field. Points are scored by kicking the ball between four tall posts; a kick through the middle posts is 6 points, through the side posts is 1 point, and hitting one of the posts is also 1 point if the ball does not go in. It is currently the AFL world cup, so at half time all of the international teams walked around the field. When the United States team came around to our side (who knew we had a footy team), my group started a "USA" chant. I'm sure the Australians around were annoyed but the team was very appreciative as I'm sure they were not expecting so much support in Australia.

Hair

haHA. I've found hair products in Australia that work on my hair!!! The huge stash of hair products that I brought in my suitcase are dwindling down so I have been on a desperate hunt for something that works. I wish I could stick it to the man but I don't know who the man would be in this situation. Nevertheless, I feel like I have outwitted an enemy! With this problem solved, I can now live here forever.

Taronga Zoo and Manly Beach

My friends and I travelled to the Taronga Zoo last weekend and it was such a blast! We took a beautiful ferry ride there which passed by the bridge and opera house. Unfortunately we are not considered "real students" so we couldn't get all the great zoo and ferry discounts. I felt bad for the man selling tickets because almost every one of us was sassy with him in frustration. Regardless, the full price tickets were still worth it.

Once we got to the zoo we were like kids in a candy store, squealing at every animal we saw. I won't list them all but here are some pictures of the memorable moments and I will describe them in order.

The huge pelicans were one of the first things we saw. They were so big that I am pretty sure they could swallow me whole if they really wanted to. Nothing eventful happened with the birds but it was one of my favorite exhibits so I figured I would put it in.

Next was the lemur. It came right up to the glass an was cooing right in our faces. Another one of my favorites.

The next three pictures are located in the children's petting zoo which held sheep, pigs, and chickens (very Australian, I know). My friends and I pretty much stampeded over the small children to get our hands on sheep pellets. The zoo worker rolled his eyes at us but still gave us each a handful of food! Once the worker had left, one sheep decided to try and escape by jumping the fence into the standing area. It obviously didn't think things through because I ran at it full force, hands streched outward to pet it. It got so scared that it aborted the mission and jumped right back into the pen, but not nearly as gracefully as it had lept out (as you can see in the picture).

Next we saw an emu which was just roaming around the zoo without a care in the world. After this picture was taken I tried to get close enough to touch it but right as I was an arms length away it fluffed its feathers and made a very low noise from inside its throat threateningly. Obviously I turned and ran as fast as I could. It reminded me of the time I was almost attacked by that mother swan in Karlsruhe, Germany as a child.

Last but not least is the kangaroo. All of his kangaroo mates were laying lazily on the ground sleeping, but this one bounded right up to the side of the pit. Someone threw in a map which was eaten and demolished within 30 seconds.

We ended the day watching fireworks from the Darling Harbour bridge.

That same weekend we went to Manly Beach - another ferry ride away. We sun bathed in the middle of winter and watched the surfers. We also walked around the downtown area a bit which was very cool and sporty. We bought ice cream which was deliciousss. Unfortunately it did me no favors as I got a huge wad of chocolate stuck between my two front teeth right as we ran into people we knew. I was laughed at for five minutes.

Beach Walk, Campus, Harbour Cruise

Sorry I haven't posted in a while! I've been very busy. The rain finally stopped sometime last week so my friends and I were free to wander around campus and soak in its beautiful buildings and landscape. Our Quad is absolutely gorgeous, and it's what you see in all of the University of Sydney brochures. We also found some other hidden gems around campus, like these bizarre levitating chairs (at least that's what we like to call them). They make me very nervous because they only touch the ground at the foot of the chair. We also found a grafitti tunnel hidden below a building, which was very cool.

There are also these giant birds that walk around campus which are seriously terrifying. I havent gotten a picture of them yet, but they have black feathers, long necks, a scaly scalp, and a huge curved beak. I swear they can sense fear because they have attacked my friends and I on the green three times now, and I've never seen them attack any Australians. We make a scene about it everytime which is very embarrassing but seemingly unavoidable.

Arcadia, the program I used to study abroad, organized a beach walk from Bondi to Coogee. The walk took two hours and was absolutely breathtaking. The weather was gorgrous too, but the course was extremely hilly. I find myself fairly athletic and I was struggling to keep up with the guide near the end. I have plans to go back and run the course a couple times before the semester is over.

Some interesting stories were told on the walk, like about one beach that we passes that our guide told us was strictly for the beautiful people of Sydney. Mostly models beach there and if you are not a beautiful person, you are shunned off the beach. Needless to say we are going back when it gets warmer to see how fast we are shunned.

Once the walk was over we BBQed kangaroo hotdogs! They tasted like sausage and were very good. Another fun fact: I have yet to see a hot dog bun in Australia. They use two pieces of bread and eat it like a sandwich instead.

After the walk I had my first look at Sydney Harbour! (I am aware that it is spelled 'harbor' in America but the correct spelling here is 'harbour') I went with my friend Maggie and roommate Alyssa. We walked around the opera house and the bridge and ate at a pancake house in The Rocks - a section of the city. The pancakes were SO good. I will definitely be back.

I went on a Harbour Cruise last Wednesday with more people from the University. We left from Darling Harbour and the boat toured us around the opera house and bridge for three hours. There were drinks, pizza, and dancing. What more could you ask for? I have also successfully requested Justin Bieber at almost every outing my friends and I have been on. The boys want to kill me, but the DJs take pitty on the 20 year old who loves JBiebs so they play it for me. At one club I requested JB with my friend and the DJ called out in the microphone "And now, Justin Bieber for the lesbians up front who look like they're ten". We're obviously highly respected for our music choice.