I have made it to Australia! It has been a crazy first two weeks here but I am so happy to finally be settling into a routine and have time to look at/edit pictures to share. Today marks three solid weeks in the city. The one thing I have to complain about this country is their wifi, its really terrible. I have a data allowance not only for my phone, but also for the wifi at my apartment. It's also super slow, so any uploading of pictures has to be done via the wifi on campus. There’s so much to cover from the past twenty so days, so I’ll be splitting it up into multiple posts. First up – the first week fun and woes.
After multiple delays leaving LAX, I finally landed in Sydney 15 hours later. Due to the multiple delays, I unfortunately missed the bus I had scheduled to get to my apartment. Once I got over the pain of the ridiculously high charge of a taxi (and the additional cost/pain of the missed bus ticket), I hailed a cab and began chatting up the driver, trying to get a feel of the land and to see if he had any good suggestions.
My driver was an immigrant from Hong Kong who had lived in Sydney for thirty years. He had a unique sense of humor and provided me with an interesting insight into the life and culture of the locals. Wasn’t exactly the information I was looking for, but helpful nonetheless.
- “What sport do people follow the most here?” “Gambling. We bet on literally anything and everything”
- “What is something I have to do while I’m here in Sydney?” “Drink. There’s a pub or bar on every single intersection. If you don’t see one at first, you will”
- “What is something Sydney is most well known for?” “Flies. Drunks. And fat women, but not in a discriminatory way” (?)
With these tokens of wisdom, I headed out of the cab to check into my apartment at Urbanest. I’m staying at the Sydney Central right off of Broadway. It’s in the Ultimo neighborhood of Sydney, which is pretty close to lots of popular areas such as Darling Harbor, China Town, George Street, and campus (thankfully). So far it seems like a really great location.
Luckily, we are a five minute walk from the big shopping center in the area, which was a huge help when moving in. The apartment supplied basically nothing for us. So after lugging all of our luggage to our room, myself and two of my other roommates walked over to the Broadway Shopping Center and loaded up on bedding, towels, plates, cups, cutlery, hangers, you name it, we probably had to buy it. It was exhausting after a long day (or two or three?) of travel, but felt so good to finally make my bed and have a plate to eat off of.
Throughout the day, most of the other roommates moved in. I’m staying in an eight person en-suite apartment, meaning there are four double rooms (each with their own bathrooms) along one long hallway with a common room and kitchen on the end. There’s a lot of diversity in our room; three girls from Norway, two from England, and two others from the US. One of my roommates coincidentally enough is one of the other 15 or so students from Northeastern, which is a lot of fun. We’ve had a couple of group dinners and outings already which have been great.
On my first full day here, I met up with my old roommate from Northeastern, Anna, who was in Sydney traveling with her family. She had already been here for a few days and was thus a great tour guide, showing me and my roommates around the Opera House, Darling Harbor, George Street, and the Queen Victoria Building.
Mid way through our sightseeing, we stopped at a bar in Darling Harbor for some pizza and beer. It was a really cool vibe, right on the water, and beautiful as we got there just in golden hours of the early evening. Sitting there, enjoying pizza along the harbor watching some surfing championship on TV felt so right (and so Australian).
Beer Deluxe in Darling Harbor - great Thursday deals with pizza and a house beer
Amazing BBQ pizza - weird Australian touch, they add marinara sauce on their BBQ pizza
Afterwards, we all took a nap and somehow rallied to go out despite jetlag and travel/packing exhaustion to go out for the first time. We went to Ivy which is a really fun club that is known for their Thursday nights. It was a ton of fun and we met a lot of other friends from our program which was cool.
Friday we finally visited our campus for the first time! It did not disappoint. Seeing the Grand Hall in person for the first time was amazing. After our information session, some students offered to lead tours around the campus. Our guide was really cool and showed us some hidden courtyards, cafes and bars that have good student deals (not something you'd every find at Northeastern), and unconventional/hidden study spaces. Although I love Northeastern, being on an actual campus is such a nice change, and an adjustment which I will definitely enjoy getting used to. Because the University was built before many of the buildings in Sydney, it sits atop a hill that overlooks most of the city in nearly every direction. It feels like the epicenter of all of the neighborhoods we have visited so far.
On top of having to get used to looking left instead of right when crossing the street, and learning how to actually wait at crossroads (jaywalking is not a thing here and results in a hefty fine), the slang has also been a bit of a learning process. Australians shorten everything. We watched a video at orientation that sums it up pretty well. A few of my favorites that I’ve found that are used nearly daily include:
- Arvo – Afternoon
- Defo - Definitely
- Devo - Devastated
- Brekkie -Breakfast
- Cuppa - Cup of tea
- Sunnies - Sunglasses
- Bevvy - Beverage
- Bottle-o - Liquor Store
- How are you going? - How are you doing?
All in all, the first three days were a ton of fun, made up of lots of money spent and jet lagged hours, but I am so excited to finally start getting a routine here in Australia J