Hey guys, wanted to update you on my New Zealand trip.
I'm sure most of you have heard about the huge earthquake that hit Christchurch, New Zealand yesterday afternoon. It really hit the city hard and I am one lucky guy because I was booked to go to Christchurch the day after the earthquake hit rather than the day of. The hostel that I was supposed to stay in a day later has been completely destroyed and so I feel incredibly lucky that I wasn't in it.
Today I received news from my travel agent saying that the airport in Christchurch is now open and that the tour that I was scheduled to go on is still starting tomorrow morning because we should be completely safe. For that reason, I have decided that I am still going on the tour tomorrow. I will only be in Christchurch for about 6 hours until the tour leaves to a place called Franz Josef Glacier. I should be safe for my whole trip which will last about 8 days.
Anyway I'm positive I will be safe so no one worry :)
Matt
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Lots of Good News :)
Hey everyone! I have lots of good news in this post :) First, I finally went skydiving! I've already tried to go twice since I've been here but both times the weather wasn't good enough to jump...Obviously when it comes to jumping out of a plane better safe than sorry! But I finally jumped a few days ago (when it was forecast to rain!) The weather turned out to be perfect and I got to jump over the beach! I have an great video of the jump but it's way too big to post on my blog. I'll try to figure out how to post it online somewhere and send it to everyone. I'm so glad I finally did it!
I'll attach pictures on the bottom of this post of the jump. Disclaimer: I think it's impossible to jump out of a plane and look good doing it haha ;)The pictures and the video are hilarious. Can't wait to show you guys.
The next good news is that I'm going to New Zealand in 5 days! I decided that I can't come all the way to the other side of the world and not travel outside of Australia so I'm going to New Zealand for 9 days! I'm going on a tour bus with other 18-35 year olds. I can't wait. I'll update my blog with pictures when I get home on March 3rd...or I guess March 2nd in the US :)
Also, my family comes in just a few weeks! I can't wait until they get here, it's going to be so much fun. We're going to be in Sydney for the first four days and then we're going to fly up to Brisbane for an additional four days. I haven't been to Brisbane before so I'm really excited to go.
I only have one month to go in Australia so damnit I'm going to make the most of it :)
Matt
I'll attach pictures on the bottom of this post of the jump. Disclaimer: I think it's impossible to jump out of a plane and look good doing it haha ;)The pictures and the video are hilarious. Can't wait to show you guys.
The next good news is that I'm going to New Zealand in 5 days! I decided that I can't come all the way to the other side of the world and not travel outside of Australia so I'm going to New Zealand for 9 days! I'm going on a tour bus with other 18-35 year olds. I can't wait. I'll update my blog with pictures when I get home on March 3rd...or I guess March 2nd in the US :)
Also, my family comes in just a few weeks! I can't wait until they get here, it's going to be so much fun. We're going to be in Sydney for the first four days and then we're going to fly up to Brisbane for an additional four days. I haven't been to Brisbane before so I'm really excited to go.
I only have one month to go in Australia so damnit I'm going to make the most of it :)
Matt
Monday, January 17, 2011
Another Update!
Hey everyone! Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years! I’ve done a ton of cool stuff recently and I wanted to give an update.
I had a really great Christmas at the beach here in Sydney. I went to a place called Palm Beach with probably about 20-25 other people from the hostel. We had a BBQ and just hung out on the beach all day. It was really difficult to be away from the family on Christmas so I’m glad I did something fun.
The very next day I left on a trip to Perth and then I went to Melbourne! It was a pretty short trip but it was definitely worth it… I went with a friend from my hostel and we stayed in both cities for about 3 days each.
The average temperature in Perth was about 105 degrees, so I got a slight tan for the first time in maybe ever haha….very hot but a nice place with incredible beaches. We took a ferry to an island called Rottnest Island, which was a definite highlight for me. The island felt like we were in Fiji or something…clear water and white sand. Apparently Rottnest Island literally means Rat’s Nest Island in Dutch because when Dutch explorers first discovered the island, they saw these huge animals that looked like rats and so they avoided it…turns out those “gigantic rats” were mini kangaroos called Quokkas! My friend and I were feeding them leaves and berries and they’re super friendly.
I also got a chance to go to Fremantle and it was great. I’m really really excited for Brooke; she’s going to love it.
Next stop was Melbourne. We had a bit less time in Melbourne than in Perth because our flight kept getting delayed but we still had a good time. Melbourne is like a smaller, more creative and artistic Sydney. It really reminds me of a European city like Barcelona because there are heaps of hidden alleyways with shops everywhere. It’s kind of like you have no idea what you’re going to find when you walk down the next street which I really liked. Melbourne is notorious for their “four seasons in one day” weather, but it was sunny the whole time I was there. We got very lucky with the weather.
Speaking of weather, it’s really sad what’s going on in Queensland at the moment. There is so much flooding that entire cities are under water. Victoria is currently being warned about severe flooding as well (where Melbourne is), so hopefully everything goes okay there. Where I live (in New South Wales), we’ve had quite a bit of rain in the last few months but not really any flooding. We’ve been very lucky.
Back to happier things….I got back from my trip on New Year’s Eve, slept a bit, and then went to a park with a perfect view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The fireworks were AMAZING. Apparently it cost the city of Sydney over 5 million dollars. You can watch some clips on Youtube of the fireworks, I’m really happy that I came back in time to see everything.
My family is coming to visit in March! I’m so excited; they’re going to love it. It’s been something like 27 years since my parents have been in Australia and my sister hasn’t been back since she was like 4 months old. The drinking age here is only 18 so my brother will love it as well :) It should be great!
Matt
I had a really great Christmas at the beach here in Sydney. I went to a place called Palm Beach with probably about 20-25 other people from the hostel. We had a BBQ and just hung out on the beach all day. It was really difficult to be away from the family on Christmas so I’m glad I did something fun.
The very next day I left on a trip to Perth and then I went to Melbourne! It was a pretty short trip but it was definitely worth it… I went with a friend from my hostel and we stayed in both cities for about 3 days each.
The average temperature in Perth was about 105 degrees, so I got a slight tan for the first time in maybe ever haha….very hot but a nice place with incredible beaches. We took a ferry to an island called Rottnest Island, which was a definite highlight for me. The island felt like we were in Fiji or something…clear water and white sand. Apparently Rottnest Island literally means Rat’s Nest Island in Dutch because when Dutch explorers first discovered the island, they saw these huge animals that looked like rats and so they avoided it…turns out those “gigantic rats” were mini kangaroos called Quokkas! My friend and I were feeding them leaves and berries and they’re super friendly.
I also got a chance to go to Fremantle and it was great. I’m really really excited for Brooke; she’s going to love it.
Next stop was Melbourne. We had a bit less time in Melbourne than in Perth because our flight kept getting delayed but we still had a good time. Melbourne is like a smaller, more creative and artistic Sydney. It really reminds me of a European city like Barcelona because there are heaps of hidden alleyways with shops everywhere. It’s kind of like you have no idea what you’re going to find when you walk down the next street which I really liked. Melbourne is notorious for their “four seasons in one day” weather, but it was sunny the whole time I was there. We got very lucky with the weather.
Speaking of weather, it’s really sad what’s going on in Queensland at the moment. There is so much flooding that entire cities are under water. Victoria is currently being warned about severe flooding as well (where Melbourne is), so hopefully everything goes okay there. Where I live (in New South Wales), we’ve had quite a bit of rain in the last few months but not really any flooding. We’ve been very lucky.
Back to happier things….I got back from my trip on New Year’s Eve, slept a bit, and then went to a park with a perfect view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The fireworks were AMAZING. Apparently it cost the city of Sydney over 5 million dollars. You can watch some clips on Youtube of the fireworks, I’m really happy that I came back in time to see everything.
My family is coming to visit in March! I’m so excited; they’re going to love it. It’s been something like 27 years since my parents have been in Australia and my sister hasn’t been back since she was like 4 months old. The drinking age here is only 18 so my brother will love it as well :) It should be great!
Matt
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Update!
Hey everyone! I think it's about time for an update!
Everything is good here, I'm just about to complete my internship and start traveling. On December 26th I leave for Perth and then I fly to Melbourne. Should be fun! I'm going to try and fit Cairns and New Zealand in towards the end of my stay here (when the weather gets better!)
Oprah is in Sydney at the moment and people are collectively losing their minds. It's crazy how much Australians love Oprah. She's been all over Sydney lately taping a few episodes of her show and the press coverage has been nuts. It's kind of fun though, make sure to catch those episodes when they air. I live right by all the places she is going to so you can get an idea of what I see everyday here :)It really is an amazing place.
I had such a great birthday last month, it was probably my favorite ever. My birthday was on a Sunday, so a bunch of friends and I went out to eat on Saturday and then out to a club on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Then on Sunday during the day we all went to the beach and had the best weather that we'd seen in weeks! Talk about lucky. A bunch of people put together their money and bought me a really nice Australia jacket, which is amazing. I've met some great people here!
Thanksgiving was great as well...I actually had two Thanksgivings! I had one a bit early in my hostel because no one had ever experienced it before and I thought it would be fun. I live with 3 chefs so that turned out quite nicely :) Then on the actual day of Thanksgiving I went to the apartment of some American friends who I've known since high school. Another chef friend made us dinner that time. I guess the moral of the story is to become friends with chefs around the holiday season ;)But seriously, it was a great time and I'm glad I had people to celebrate Thanksgiving with!
My internship has been a really great experience and it's crazy that it's been almost 3 months already. I've learned so much and I'm still shocked that I have my own office! When I come back from my trips to Perth and Melbourne, i'll need to find an actual paying job so that I can last until March. Nothing too crazy, maybe i'll be a waiter? We shall see...
I'm still at the hostel at the moment, which is okay. I've made so many friends that I'm hesitant to move to a new place with only a few people...I've gotten used to coming home from work and having 20 people sitting outside and hanging out! Maybe i'll go to a similar place next to the beach when my internship is over. Not quite sure what I'll do but I guess that's the fun of it. Who knows what I'll be doing three months from now, but I know I'll be having fun!
Matt
Everything is good here, I'm just about to complete my internship and start traveling. On December 26th I leave for Perth and then I fly to Melbourne. Should be fun! I'm going to try and fit Cairns and New Zealand in towards the end of my stay here (when the weather gets better!)
Oprah is in Sydney at the moment and people are collectively losing their minds. It's crazy how much Australians love Oprah. She's been all over Sydney lately taping a few episodes of her show and the press coverage has been nuts. It's kind of fun though, make sure to catch those episodes when they air. I live right by all the places she is going to so you can get an idea of what I see everyday here :)It really is an amazing place.
I had such a great birthday last month, it was probably my favorite ever. My birthday was on a Sunday, so a bunch of friends and I went out to eat on Saturday and then out to a club on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Then on Sunday during the day we all went to the beach and had the best weather that we'd seen in weeks! Talk about lucky. A bunch of people put together their money and bought me a really nice Australia jacket, which is amazing. I've met some great people here!
Thanksgiving was great as well...I actually had two Thanksgivings! I had one a bit early in my hostel because no one had ever experienced it before and I thought it would be fun. I live with 3 chefs so that turned out quite nicely :) Then on the actual day of Thanksgiving I went to the apartment of some American friends who I've known since high school. Another chef friend made us dinner that time. I guess the moral of the story is to become friends with chefs around the holiday season ;)But seriously, it was a great time and I'm glad I had people to celebrate Thanksgiving with!
My internship has been a really great experience and it's crazy that it's been almost 3 months already. I've learned so much and I'm still shocked that I have my own office! When I come back from my trips to Perth and Melbourne, i'll need to find an actual paying job so that I can last until March. Nothing too crazy, maybe i'll be a waiter? We shall see...
I'm still at the hostel at the moment, which is okay. I've made so many friends that I'm hesitant to move to a new place with only a few people...I've gotten used to coming home from work and having 20 people sitting outside and hanging out! Maybe i'll go to a similar place next to the beach when my internship is over. Not quite sure what I'll do but I guess that's the fun of it. Who knows what I'll be doing three months from now, but I know I'll be having fun!
Matt
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Happy Halloween everyone! I had a great time today and I hope everyone else did too!
Tomorrow I’m starting the third week of my internship at a non-profit organization and I love it so far. I’m learning so much about the non-profit industry and it’s pretty exciting! I’ve already learned about web design, marketing, PR and fundraising...all stuff that can help me find a job when I come back to California! My coworkers are all awesome people who are very willing to help me out if I have questions or problems, and I even get my own office! I’ve never had my own office before, it’s so awesome. Granted, it’s also the storage room, but it’s an office and I’ll take it! :)
I couldn’t make up a more bizarre location for my work if I tried. It’s basically in the middle of nowhere surrounded by trees and grass. Because there is so much trees and grass, it’s the perfect habitat for one of the most deadly spiders in the entire world called the funnel web spider. They are ridiculously huge and we killed one in our office the other day. We also have spiders that live in the trees and fall onto people’s heads as they walk by! Every single tree I pass, I look up haha. Those ones aren’t dangerous, but who wants huge spiders on their heads?!
The most interesting part of my work’s location is that it’s next to a mental institution and the patients are free to walk around…I’ve seen some very odd things. We also have a mental institution for the criminally insane, but that’s down at the other side of the street and they are locked up of course. :)
One thing that I can say is that I am never bored! And I really do love my work so everything is completely worth it.
I think I mentioned in a previous blog post that I live in Little Italy…today there was a huge Italian festival right outside of my door and on my street. I literally walked out my front door and there it was. Hundreds and hundreds of people have been here today and there is authentic Italian food, clothing, music and even Italian books. I love stuff like this, I thought it was really cool! I spent the day out in the sun with some friends and eating lots of different Italian foods.
I’m going to be moving out of this apartment within the next few weeks to be closer to my work…But I’m going to be moving to the city, which will be so much fun! And it’s for the same price as I’m paying now so I think it’ll be worth it. It takes me an hour and a half to get to work, so this will help a lot. We’ll see what happens.
Lots more holidays coming up and of course I wish I could be home with family, but at least I have friends here to celebrate with. I have two options for thanksgiving; I will either make dinner with my American friends here, or I’ll make a Thanksgiving dinner for everyone in the hostel. No one at my hostel has ever celebrated Thanksgiving before, and they’ve only seen it in the movies so I thought it would be cool to celebrate with them. They keep asking me tons of questions about it.
Not sure what I’ll do, I’m just glad I have amazing friends here to celebrate with!
Miss everyone back home, hope all is well.
Matt
Tomorrow I’m starting the third week of my internship at a non-profit organization and I love it so far. I’m learning so much about the non-profit industry and it’s pretty exciting! I’ve already learned about web design, marketing, PR and fundraising...all stuff that can help me find a job when I come back to California! My coworkers are all awesome people who are very willing to help me out if I have questions or problems, and I even get my own office! I’ve never had my own office before, it’s so awesome. Granted, it’s also the storage room, but it’s an office and I’ll take it! :)
I couldn’t make up a more bizarre location for my work if I tried. It’s basically in the middle of nowhere surrounded by trees and grass. Because there is so much trees and grass, it’s the perfect habitat for one of the most deadly spiders in the entire world called the funnel web spider. They are ridiculously huge and we killed one in our office the other day. We also have spiders that live in the trees and fall onto people’s heads as they walk by! Every single tree I pass, I look up haha. Those ones aren’t dangerous, but who wants huge spiders on their heads?!
The most interesting part of my work’s location is that it’s next to a mental institution and the patients are free to walk around…I’ve seen some very odd things. We also have a mental institution for the criminally insane, but that’s down at the other side of the street and they are locked up of course. :)
One thing that I can say is that I am never bored! And I really do love my work so everything is completely worth it.
I think I mentioned in a previous blog post that I live in Little Italy…today there was a huge Italian festival right outside of my door and on my street. I literally walked out my front door and there it was. Hundreds and hundreds of people have been here today and there is authentic Italian food, clothing, music and even Italian books. I love stuff like this, I thought it was really cool! I spent the day out in the sun with some friends and eating lots of different Italian foods.
I’m going to be moving out of this apartment within the next few weeks to be closer to my work…But I’m going to be moving to the city, which will be so much fun! And it’s for the same price as I’m paying now so I think it’ll be worth it. It takes me an hour and a half to get to work, so this will help a lot. We’ll see what happens.
Lots more holidays coming up and of course I wish I could be home with family, but at least I have friends here to celebrate with. I have two options for thanksgiving; I will either make dinner with my American friends here, or I’ll make a Thanksgiving dinner for everyone in the hostel. No one at my hostel has ever celebrated Thanksgiving before, and they’ve only seen it in the movies so I thought it would be cool to celebrate with them. They keep asking me tons of questions about it.
Not sure what I’ll do, I’m just glad I have amazing friends here to celebrate with!
Miss everyone back home, hope all is well.
Matt
Monday, October 11, 2010
Random Experiences and Kings Cross
Hi everyone! I’ve been here in Sydney for about 3 weeks now, and it’s been amazing so far. I’ve made some great friends and I’m loving life. I finally saw a Kangaroo (and ate one), ate a meat pie, and was called love by some lady. Now I feel like I'm living like a real Australian!
I still have to try vegemite but I'm avoiding it like the plague. One whiff of that stuff and I was not a fan...but I will force myself to try it before I leave for sure. Yuck.
There are little things here and there that have been hard to adjust to, but overall it’s been surprisingly easy. A few minor things with language have tripped me up, such as here they call Rugby football. But I also live with foreign students who call soccer football. And I call the NFL football…That tends to get pretty confusing when no one knows which sport someone the other person is talking about!
I also have trouble passing people on the left side when walking. It’s something that I never really had to think of before, but in the U.S. we generally pass on the right. I’ve almost been in quite a number of collisions here because I walk on the wrong side.
I’ve also had some issues with buses here, but the issues are oddly hilarious. Before I got to Australia, a number of people told me to avoid an area called Kings Cross because it’s known to be dangerous. Well about a week ago I told some people I would go to a club with them in the city. Little did I know that the club was directly in the middle of Kings Cross. Oops.
The first sign that things may not go so well that night was when city workers came on board the bus and demanded to see everyone’s bus pass. Being new to Australia, I had the wrong pass and the guy said that there was a fine of $100. Luckily, he was a pretty understanding guy and let me off without a fine.
About five minutes later the bus is about to reach Kings Cross and I see two guys with their pants down to their ankles being searched by police. All of a sudden one of the guys ran for it into the middle of traffic and was chased by about six cops. Eventually one caught up with him and knocked the crap out of him. Someone's glasses flew across the road although I'm not really sure who's glasses. “Oh” I thought. “This is why I’m not supposed to go to Kings Cross.” When we arrived in King’s Cross, there were drug dealers and prostitutes all around us. Luckily the night ended up going pretty well though as we were able to avoid all the dodgy business going on around us and have a good time at a club. But I should probably look for different clubs in the future.
Then yesterday, on a separate bus, some goofball kept pressing the stop button but wouldn’t get off when the doors opened. Not such a big deal to me, but apparently it touched a nerve with the bus driver. The driver started screaming at everyone and then he refused to stop at any bus stop except the very last one. This was a bus completely full of people and many of them were pretty angry since they needed to get off at earlier stops. At this point people were screaming and cussing at the bus driver, who was screaming back and speeding like crazy. At one point we ran a red light and almost got into an accident, all the while people were yelling at each other. Eventually we got to the last bus stop and he let us out. I miss my car haha.
Other than that ridiculousness, I’m doing pretty well. I start my internship next Monday and I’m really excited to get to work. I think I can do a lot of good work for this organization, so I can’t wait to get started. I might need to get a second job fairly quickly because of how expensive it is here. Minimum wage here is $15 an hour (!) and the Australian dollar is worth about the same as the American dollar at the moment so I will definitely be making good money even if I work some BS job to pay the bills. We’ll see what happens.
Also, I may need to move apartments fairly quickly. I love where I live right now, but it’s over an hour by bus from my internship…I’m not sure it’s worth it. On the other hand, the place where my internship is located is in the middle of nowhere and it’ll be really hard to meet people…I’ve got a lot to think about!
Here are some more pictures I’ve taken in Sydney.
Another Sydney Opera House Picture
Random picture I like
Reid House!!!!!!!!!!
This is just outside my front door. So much to eat!
This is a bunch of people I live with in Georgia house.
Miss everyone back home, write me messages!
Matt
I still have to try vegemite but I'm avoiding it like the plague. One whiff of that stuff and I was not a fan...but I will force myself to try it before I leave for sure. Yuck.
There are little things here and there that have been hard to adjust to, but overall it’s been surprisingly easy. A few minor things with language have tripped me up, such as here they call Rugby football. But I also live with foreign students who call soccer football. And I call the NFL football…That tends to get pretty confusing when no one knows which sport someone the other person is talking about!
I also have trouble passing people on the left side when walking. It’s something that I never really had to think of before, but in the U.S. we generally pass on the right. I’ve almost been in quite a number of collisions here because I walk on the wrong side.
I’ve also had some issues with buses here, but the issues are oddly hilarious. Before I got to Australia, a number of people told me to avoid an area called Kings Cross because it’s known to be dangerous. Well about a week ago I told some people I would go to a club with them in the city. Little did I know that the club was directly in the middle of Kings Cross. Oops.
The first sign that things may not go so well that night was when city workers came on board the bus and demanded to see everyone’s bus pass. Being new to Australia, I had the wrong pass and the guy said that there was a fine of $100. Luckily, he was a pretty understanding guy and let me off without a fine.
About five minutes later the bus is about to reach Kings Cross and I see two guys with their pants down to their ankles being searched by police. All of a sudden one of the guys ran for it into the middle of traffic and was chased by about six cops. Eventually one caught up with him and knocked the crap out of him. Someone's glasses flew across the road although I'm not really sure who's glasses. “Oh” I thought. “This is why I’m not supposed to go to Kings Cross.” When we arrived in King’s Cross, there were drug dealers and prostitutes all around us. Luckily the night ended up going pretty well though as we were able to avoid all the dodgy business going on around us and have a good time at a club. But I should probably look for different clubs in the future.
Then yesterday, on a separate bus, some goofball kept pressing the stop button but wouldn’t get off when the doors opened. Not such a big deal to me, but apparently it touched a nerve with the bus driver. The driver started screaming at everyone and then he refused to stop at any bus stop except the very last one. This was a bus completely full of people and many of them were pretty angry since they needed to get off at earlier stops. At this point people were screaming and cussing at the bus driver, who was screaming back and speeding like crazy. At one point we ran a red light and almost got into an accident, all the while people were yelling at each other. Eventually we got to the last bus stop and he let us out. I miss my car haha.
Other than that ridiculousness, I’m doing pretty well. I start my internship next Monday and I’m really excited to get to work. I think I can do a lot of good work for this organization, so I can’t wait to get started. I might need to get a second job fairly quickly because of how expensive it is here. Minimum wage here is $15 an hour (!) and the Australian dollar is worth about the same as the American dollar at the moment so I will definitely be making good money even if I work some BS job to pay the bills. We’ll see what happens.
Also, I may need to move apartments fairly quickly. I love where I live right now, but it’s over an hour by bus from my internship…I’m not sure it’s worth it. On the other hand, the place where my internship is located is in the middle of nowhere and it’ll be really hard to meet people…I’ve got a lot to think about!
Here are some more pictures I’ve taken in Sydney.
Another Sydney Opera House Picture
Random picture I like
Reid House!!!!!!!!!!
This is just outside my front door. So much to eat!
This is a bunch of people I live with in Georgia house.
Miss everyone back home, write me messages!
Matt
Monday, September 27, 2010
First week in Sydney!
Hey everyone! Welcome to my Sydney blog. I’ll be posting updates for the next several months about my experiences in Sydney. So far, it’s been amazing! I love the city and I love where I live. I live in an international student hostel just outside of the city and in the heart of Little Italy. The hostel is basically a dorm for people who are traveling. Being a transfer student in college, I was never able to live in the dorms and I always felt like I missed a bit of the college experience. This is sure making up for it!
When I first got to the hostel I had a bit of trouble getting to know people. As far as I know, I’m the only American, and so a lot of people were intimidated that I speak fluent English and they are still learning. After a few days they got over that, so now it’s a lot of fun! I love learning about different cultures and learning new languages and this is the perfect place to do that. My best friends here so far are from Holland and Sweden. I’m trying really hard to stop saying dude because I don’t want it to rub off on them :).
It’s great that the hostel is in Little Italy, because we have amazing Italian restaurants and gelato all over the place. We’re also close to Thai, Indian, and Japanese restaurants. I’d say I lucked out there because I love to eat and there’s some good stuff here! It’s also cheaper than I expected, which is a nice surprise.
Unfortunately, dorm life does come with its downsides…It’s currently 11 pm and my next door neighbor is blasting cheesy Swedish music that sounds kind of like the Baywatch theme song over and over …I half expect David Hasslehoff to run out of the room in slow motion. Eh, could be worse.
I’ve been able to tour around a lot of the city already; here are some pictures that I’ve taken so far. It’s a beautiful city and it’s just about to be the beginning of spring so the weather here has been PERFECT. I was struggling with my allergies when I first got here since everything is blooming, but I found Claritin at one of the local drug stores so now I’m good to go. I also found peanut butter!
Sydney Harbour Bridge
Sydney Opera House
Bondi Beach
Another Bondi Beach
Hyde Park
I can’t believe that I’ve only been here a week. I’ve done and seen so much already that I can’t imagine what life is going to be like for at least the next six months. I’m excited to find out! I’ll update my blog every few weeks, so stay tuned!
When I first got to the hostel I had a bit of trouble getting to know people. As far as I know, I’m the only American, and so a lot of people were intimidated that I speak fluent English and they are still learning. After a few days they got over that, so now it’s a lot of fun! I love learning about different cultures and learning new languages and this is the perfect place to do that. My best friends here so far are from Holland and Sweden. I’m trying really hard to stop saying dude because I don’t want it to rub off on them :).
It’s great that the hostel is in Little Italy, because we have amazing Italian restaurants and gelato all over the place. We’re also close to Thai, Indian, and Japanese restaurants. I’d say I lucked out there because I love to eat and there’s some good stuff here! It’s also cheaper than I expected, which is a nice surprise.
Unfortunately, dorm life does come with its downsides…It’s currently 11 pm and my next door neighbor is blasting cheesy Swedish music that sounds kind of like the Baywatch theme song over and over …I half expect David Hasslehoff to run out of the room in slow motion. Eh, could be worse.
I’ve been able to tour around a lot of the city already; here are some pictures that I’ve taken so far. It’s a beautiful city and it’s just about to be the beginning of spring so the weather here has been PERFECT. I was struggling with my allergies when I first got here since everything is blooming, but I found Claritin at one of the local drug stores so now I’m good to go. I also found peanut butter!
This is my bedroom. Yes Mom, it’s already dirty. What else did you expect? :) For some reason they gave me a bunk bed even though I’m living on my own. It’s actually a good thing because I can have friends stay over and it’ll be easy.
Sydney Harbour Bridge
Sydney Opera House
Bondi Beach
Another Bondi Beach
Hyde ParkI can’t believe that I’ve only been here a week. I’ve done and seen so much already that I can’t imagine what life is going to be like for at least the next six months. I’m excited to find out! I’ll update my blog every few weeks, so stay tuned!
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