Cruuuuuuuise Timmmmeee!

Just as the other days started it was off to another day of school, but with a Sydney Harbor Cruise at later on that night who could complain? I went off first again to my Asian Studies class which isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The professor is really funny, maybe it’s his funny jokes that aren’t so funny, but he really knows how to make two hours fly!  As the Asian Studies class finished up, I was excited to meet Lauren at the International Lounge for a wonderful lunch… left over domino’s pizza! Note to self: don’t use the microwave in the International Lounge. If you are a person who likes to wait in long lines, I would suggest this to you. Once we sat down to eat I asked Lauren how her Creative Arts class was and it sounded like she had a pretty interesting day. She had been a little worried about this class because she knew it was going to be about drama and more than likely getting up and doing drama, but she was also excited about it. Turns out that the class was more laid back than she thought and even on the first day of her tutorial she learned many things that she can take back to the states with her. The teacher first read the class a book and then had them describe the characters with adjectives as well as metaphors. Later she had the students get in small groups to organize still shot images (like a camera) on scenes that involved the characters and their roles in the book but in a different setting. Watching the other groups was funny to her, but she also enjoyed getting up in front of everyone and performing as a group. I don’t think she’ll be as worried about that class anymore. Fisher Library is becoming quite the acquaintance with Lauren and me since we go there about every day to check emails, Facebook and other everyday things. Lauren was able to Skype with her mom for a little even though she said the connection was horrible and could barely hear her. As for I, it was a day full of laughter as I visited iFunny, a website with silly pictures, until it was time to go back to class. I really didn’t want to go to class anymore knowing that in a few hours we would be getting on a boat for our first ever cruise on the Sydney Harbor. Classes were classes, no need to go into detail about them because I wouldn’t want to bore you to death. As my last class finished at 6 and the harbor cruise being at 6:30/6:45 (we weren’t quite sure since there were two different times posted) it meant that I had to run home just for a quick change of clothes and to catch a bus down to Darling Harbor. As some may know, Lauren gets a little feisty when she is short on time, so it wasn’t the best time to joke with her. As the bus moved slowly down the street, we kept our eyes peeled for King Street as that was where the wharf was. By this time it was 6:25 and both of us were slightly worried. Once we arrived at King street, we jumped off the bus running. I tell you what, Lauren was like an Olympic runner, and I never thought I would ever see a girl run so fast in heels. As I followed behind her she kept saying, “Come on riley, quit being so slow!” Lo and behold that would come back to haunt her when we arrived to a double set of stairs. Then it was my turn to wait at the bottom and yell that she was being slow (all this yelling was out of fun just so you guys make sure). As we arrived at the Wharf 7 all we saw was a Navy looking battle ship. Puzzled, we both knew that’s not what we were supposed to be on so we kept searching. Our hearts raced as we thought we missed out on our harbor cruise, but soon there was a sigh of relief once we saw a group of students standing beside a sharp looking vessel. As we waited, we remembered that a group of our friends were supposed to be on the same cruise, but they were not there. Many texts were sent and we were soon asked to stop the ship if it were to depart. Luckily, that was not the case as they zoomed around the corner with their heels in their hands. Next, we boarded the ship. The food was pretty good and the views were amazing. Here’s a couple pictures of what we got.

The ship was a little rocky at times but fun to go up and down the waves sometimes. We clung close to the edge of the ship since that’s where the bar was, keeping us steady. Standing in the middle of the top floor was a risky move in itself. Time went by way too fast and we both wish we could have stayed out there forever!

Of course it would be foldable!

Riley and I completed our first project ever together and presented it to one of our classes today. We had grouped up with another exchange student, Natalie, to prepare a presentation on ‘how to prepare to go bushwalking.’ That’s what they call hiking here. We purposely picked the second week to present because we would get it out of the way and basically get to relax the rest of the tutorial class time. With that out of the way we have successfully completed one third of the class requirements! Now we just have two reflections to complete once we go to the Royal National Park and Blue Mountains again for a three day weekend. After class we headed to Eastern Avenue which is the main road on campus to enjoy a couple of snags from a society BBQ that we had joined. Riley loves his snags (sausages on a piece of white bread) The snags were delicious as always and even had grilled onions on them. However, their choice of drink – raspberry juice was nothing close to juice and completely disgusting. We swear it was just straight cough medicine. I know that I had trouble drinking it since I can barely get down cough syrup anyways, but Riley came to the rescue and finished mine off! He struggled just as much though getting it down. Before we left campus for the day we went to the library to catch our emails. Riley found out that one of the bikes he’s been looking at on gumtree (craiglist) was still available and we could go check it out later tonight if we wanted because we had a International Welcome by the Lord Mayor to attend to at 6:00 in the Town Hall. We had planned on going down to George Street early on in the afternoon to check out the shops and statues that we were close to Town Hall. However, the lady with the bike did not get back to us in time for us to get directions to her house before we left the campus. That meant that we had to rely on McDonald’s internet which is never a good thing! That quickly sucked away an hour of our time and left us with little time to explore the Town Hall area before the event. Nonetheless, I was still able to check out two of the stores that I had hoped to, while Riley was left disappointed that we didn’t get to his. I know that I am glad I brought enough clothes for the semester because their clothing sizes are not like America’s at all. The lowest size I have ever found is a 6, which may be close to my size back home, but it still never fits just right. Their fashion sense is a little different than what I’m used to anyways, nobody cares if their bra shows or even their butt checks. That is seriously the newest fad here, cutting your jeans so short that it comes above the butt. I don’t even want to be reminded of how many butts I’ve seen since I’ve been here. But enough about the bum. With time fasting approaching for our International Welcome event we headed across the street to enter the Town Hall. There were security everywhere, but that’s to be expected. We checked in with our university and were escorted into the main hall. There were already tons of students, some of which we recognized. We met some guys from Ethiopia and Kenya before the Lord Mayor took the stage. We had to sit through a couple of speeches but with the free food and drinks we didn’t mind. We actually got to taste our first meat pie!

Once the Lord Mayor was done speaking she introduced an Aboriginal drum line that would be performing the entertainment for the night. They were definitely entertaining and quite good at what they do.

Real Aboriginal person - Native Australian

The event wrapped up pretty quickly and we headed out just a tad early to start our journey towards getting a bike. We had told the seller that we would be at her place around 9 o’clock and that’s exactly when we got there. The bike was exactly what we had hoped for, and had never actually been ridden before. However, when Riley went to take it for a test ride the tires went completely flat. That was a problem since Riley would never buy anything he wasn’t able to test out first. The seller agreed to stick it in her car and take us to blow up the tires at the newest gas station. But for all those worried about us getting in a car with her, don’t worry. She was very nice and Riley sat in front with his beating stick ready (umbrella). Fun Fact: Having a pocketknife or pepper spray, or even any type of self-defense device is illegal in Australia! Hence the umbrella. After the tires were blown up we both took it for a ride and thoroughly enjoyed it. We both felt like kids again! We paid a good price for it and then we were on our way back with Lauren on the new bike and Riley on his skateboard. He was so happy to finally get up to speed and cruise on his skateboard since I usually hinder him as I’m not as confident and skilled as him yet.

P.S. It was also 5.90 pizza day at Dominoes. We couldn’t resist.   

Crown Salads

This may be a contender for the shortest blog post ever. Basically all we did today was school work and go to class, which I guess is what we’re supposed to be doing. I had to go to class earlier than Lauren so she agreed to pack lunch for us and bring it to me later. With one class out of the way, we met in the International Lounge to enjoy our lunch. Then we headed off to the library to catch up on a few things. That's when we realized that I still had to get my anthropology book from the copy shop so we changed directions to go stand in a pretty long line. We got done in just enough time for Lauren to go to class. Once she got out we headed straight to Coles to pick up our groceries for the next couple of days. We had plans to make chicken salad for dinner, but Lauren still had one more class to go to. During Lauren’s tutorial she sat through an hour presentation from one of the students. She will have to present during week 7 on United States history and how it has impacted the education system. The topic won’t be hard for her because she comes from the United States and knows a lot about education, obviously, but she’s a little worried about the time limit. An hour, possibly two hours is a long time to talk! After Lauren got out of her tutorial, not to mention a little early, we booked it back to the apartments quick to make dinner before I had to go back to the University for a free massage.

Ignore the peace sign!

I know you're jealous of our salads Mama!

 Needless to say the massage wasn't exactly what I expected because instead of getting a massage it was a class on how to give a good massage. Because the class was oddly numbered I first had the instructor as my partner, meaning I had to be in front of the whole class! But sadly, another person came in late and I had to pair up with them. The class itself was very informative and fun, allowing me to learn a lot. We mainly focused on the head and neck, but if I were to complete the rest of the course I could learn about the whole body. After class was done I headed to the library to meet up with Lauren so we could walk back together. She had been trying to do some reading for her class on Wednesday that she had just found out about. The rest of evening was spent doing homework and class readings, as well as relaxing.     

Project 1 complete (check)

Sundays: relax days, or rather homework days. Today we had a little bit of both. This Sunday started off with both of us going to the Catholic Church for the first time in Australia that was right down the street from us. We arrived in just enough time to catch the opening song and be surrounded by incense. For Lauren, the church wasn't much different than what she is accustomed to - the alter, pews, choir, priest were all present. However, she was not used to the choir singing in an opera resembled chant where the guys followed what the girls said (basically saying everything twice). Sometimes we didn't even know if they were speaking English or Latin. Nonetheless it was a nice mass in a beautiful, old and aged church. After church we headed back to change and get ready for our study session with another classmate. As a group we had signed up to present a tutorial on how to prepare for bushwalking to go ahead and get it out of the way. Lauren had skyped with her brother, Alex earlier in the week (on his birthday!) to get some tips on what to talk about in the presentation. We are definitely thankful for his knowledge on hiking and greatly benefited from it since we flew through the research and preparation of the presentation in less than three hours. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday I don’t think, especially when that means we only have two more things to do for that class now! With the project done, we chatted with the other girl Natalie who is also an exchange student from the US about our adjustment so far and plans for Spring Break. Afterwards we went our separate ways, with us heading over to the shopping center. We ended up in Kmart with shoes for Riley and a scarf and hat for Lauren somehow in our hands (don’t know how that happened)! But in our defense it is the first thing that we’ve bought for ourselves since we've been here, for that we are completely proud of ourselves for. Then it was time to head back and have leftover unstuffed peppers for dinner, gotta love leftovers! The rest of the evening was spent with Riley catching up on some textbook reading for his anthropology class and Lauren catching up on the blog and finally starting some laundry for the first time in Australia! 

P.S. Our walk to the university video has been uploaded! Check it out!

Tack Now!

This was the first Saturday that we were both in our new accommodations and since it was Saturday, why not sleep in? We both woke up around 10 A.M. and got ready for the day. It started off with a trip down to Mackers (A.K.A McDonalds) for their so called ‘Wi-Fi’. As always, it was packed! We’re not really sure why it’s always packed when the average value meal cost over $8.50. As we searched the room for a couple of abandoned chairs, the only ones available were two in the corner that had trash all over them. As we headed over, Lauren remembered that there was seating upstairs. As we walked away, something caught Riley’s eye… a monopoly piece just sitting on the table! He gets excited about those pieces because usually he finds free food on them, which in Sydney for a college kid is like finding buried treasure! So he headed over to see what it was. For obvious reasons, Lauren didn’t want to sit at that table, but she didn’t mind me picking up the piece. Turns out it was an instant win of a snapfish photobook which got Lauren very excited! We headed upstairs to find no one seated in this lobby and it was actually nice and spacious up there! We pulled out our computers and started the connecting process. We both usually have trouble trying to connect and for this reason we try to avoid it. Once one of us finally gets internet the other one loses it and vice versa. Today it was the same old story, but we had a mission of finding directions to get to the Sailing Club BBQ. The Uni of Sydney Sailing Club facebook had a few directions on how to get to the BBQ but we just wanted to make sure we knew exactly where we had to go. We figured we would take the free shuttle bus to Circular Quay (or rather the Harbor) then catch a ferry to this so called Rose Bay. And that’s just exactly what we did! We found the right stop for the bus and then asked some information guy which ferry to catch to get to Rose Bay. He headed us in the right direction to Wharf 4 where we encountered a slightly grumpy lady for purchasing our tickets. Regardless we were able to purchase student concession tickets that amounting to us saving a whole adult ticket! So instead of it costing $22 for two adult round trip tickets it costs us $11 which was very exciting! A few minutes, and a couple good views of the Harbor and Opera House, later we were off on our first ferry ride. We chose to sit on the back of the ferry that was open and we caught a much stronger gust of wind than we expected. Boats on the harbor don’t really look like they travel that fast, but once you’re on the boat man, those things fly! We had two stops before our final destination but it gave us even more time to soak up the view and sunshine!

A legit pirate ship?

Mama - this one would be a really good one for you to paint, but really hard I know.

 As we were approaching Rose Bay we tried our best to scope out where this BBQ was taking place since we were an hour late at this point. We spotted a place that looked like it was populated with a BBQ so we headed in that direction. We passed this awesome park which we agreed to revisit afterwards. We came upon a sailing club and figured we were in the right spot, especially when Lauren started to recognize some of the exchange students from our classes and events. Starving at this point we grabbed some chips and realized that more snags (sausages) were being made. We ambled over to a group of girls who turned out to be Australian and started some casual conversation. They informed us that no one had eaten yet actually, meaning we weren’t late after all! Relieved we patiently waited for the snags and continued talking with these girls about our US experiences and their Australian ones. They advised us on a few places to visit and things to do while here. Soon enough we were enjoying our snags (Lauren’s soaked in ketchup and BBQ sauce) and sat down with another group of people, guys this time. There was a German guy, Canadian guy, and an Australian. Both the Canadian and Australian guy had sailed before so they mentioned taking us out for a ride after we were done eating! We were both excited about that, especially since the Canadian guy named Ian did live up to his promise to take us out on the water. Lucky for us we were the last group to get to go out on the water also! Here is the video (which will come later) that we took while on the water, along with a few pictures.

 The ride was absolutely terrifying for Lauren, but Riley got risky and sat on the outer edge of the boat to really lean with the wind. Being that close to the water, going that fast was something else, but it was an unforgettable experience at the same time to say that we have now been sailing on the Sydney Harbor! Once we landed back on shore we helped pull the sail boat in and then went to dry off. With the afternoon turning into evening we decided it was time to pack up and say our goodbyes. As we were passing the wonderful park that we saw earlier we couldn’t help but stop in and act like little kids again. First we went on a seesaw that was actually two benches which we liked, and then this other contraption that was so much fun but super dangerous at the same time. It was an elevated circular platform that had a bar in the middle connected to the sides. Weird thing is that this platform could move in any direction, front, back, side to side and actually pretty dramatically too, not just a little move. I think the main goal is to see which of the two people lasts the longest on it (considering the name of the equipment was rodeo). Not to boost or anything but I, Lauren did last the longest! A couple of elderly folks were off to the side yelling faster, faster and Riley got tempted into trying that, knocking himself off in the process. We took a quick ride on a swing that ran down a clothesline type of deal, which was probably a lot more fun when we were little. Anyways, it was time to catch the ferry back, get a few good pictures of the Opera House and Harbor Bridge as we came back in to dock then to quickly catch the free bus back into the city before it stopped running for the day. Earlier in the day we had been invited to join a guy that we had met at the Catholic Society meet and greet to come to his place and play a few board games. Running a little behind we hustled towards Coles to pick up ingredients for unstuffed peppers which we made in record time. Then we hustled back to the same spot on Broadway Street to meet Neil at his apartment. Turned out to not be a game night with other people, but rather just the three of us so that he could acquaint us with the games first before we played with his friends. Kinda sounds a little intimidating, I know. The games were new to us, so for that we were thankful, and probably some of the best games we have ever played. Fun Fact: Did you know that board games actually have an Oscar type of deal and can be awarded Board Game of the Year! Yeah, I didn’t know that either, and turned out to be something that Neil was very much in to. He introduced us to the Board Game of the Year for 2004: Ticket to Ride and then 2010: Dix it. Both were super fun to play, so I can see why they won the awards! We’re already looking forward to the next time and getting to meet his friends. Lauren is also excited to introduce her family to these games as well! 

A Night out on Town

Once again we were off to class, but this time it was to the second class that we shared, Sport Learning in Australia Culture. We had very little knowledge about the class or what to expect but we were pleasantly surprised. We sat down in a lecture hall that had about 20 other students and then this really Australian professor started leading the class. He was shocked to see how little the class size was since this was usually one of the largest classes for the international students. However, with the lecture being on a Friday afternoon, we quickly let him know this was the reason. Riley and I did not mind the small class size, especially since everybody got to introduce themselves and state where they were from. Almost everyone was from the United States, but we’ve come to expect that. Then the professor went on to explain that if we wanted, we could come to class for a little bit longer on Fridays and then complete the course in 8 weeks instead of 12 weeks! We were all for that, especially since we have another 8 week course of Tuesdays. That means that later in the semester we will have Tuesday, Thursday AND Friday off from school. I mean really, are we even going to school here?! With that settled, the professor went on to discuss some of the class field trips that we would be partaking in. We would complete two of the seven required field trips on the first weekend of the semester which was great also! Friday night we will be attending our first rugby game called Super 15 Match which will be New South Wales vs. South Africa! We are definitely excited to see how rugby compares to American football since a lot of people say it is just as aggressive but without all the pads which seems crazy. Then on Sunday morning we will be heading to a nearby beach to see a Nippers Competition which is where young teens compete in life saving and water rescue competitions. This is apparently a big deal in the Australian culture since teens are highly encouraged to participate in these types of activities. It is actually a requirement here that you know how to swim by the time you are eight or nine years old! The professor discussed a couple of other field trips that we will participate in as well as the 400 word reflection essays that we will have to write afterwards. With just one final essay at the end of the semester we both think that this class will be a breeze to get through, but a fun and culturally educational class at the same time. After class we enjoyed our packed lunch on the lawns outside the education building. Afterwards we headed for the computer lab to research a couple of things as well as get organized with a few of our classes. We are still in the search for a bike and/or maybe a job. Time got away from us, especially since we had to complete a few blogs doing that time. With both of us getting hungry, and it being past five o’clock, we headed back to our apartments to get ready for our date night. We had decided early on in the week that we wanted to enjoy some seafood on the Sydney Harbor! A girl from one of our other classes had shared with us how easy and inexpensive riding the buses were so first we headed to Central Park to get a MyTen bus pass for 8 dollars. This is give us 10 bus rides all throughout the city, so that’s not bad at all! We quickly caught a bus that took us all the way down George Street, past a ton of shops and malls, (and the first Starbucks that we have seen here!) before dropping us off at the Harbor. We took a stroll around the harbor to look at the outside menus that all the restaurants displayed. It didn’t take us long to realize that this was going to be an expensive night. Most of the places advertised $30 - $40 plates, which we figured wouldn’t fill our starving stomachs. A little discouraged we kept looking, but finally decided on a place that had tuna sandwiches. Riley had wanted to taste real tuna, so that seemed like the best choice. The food thankfully came very quickly and we enjoyed it with a nice view of the Sydney bridge and Harbor. Afterwards we went to take another look at the Sydney Opera House at night and enjoy some ice cream overlooking the water. It was exactly the perfect night to enjoy each other’s company in Sydney Australia!

 

Pictures of that view will come soon :)

Homebush Bay, Not Tempe.

Thursday is going to be an exciting day for the whole semester. Why you ask? Well, simply put, both of us don’t have class on Thursdays! So of course today is going to be full of crazy adventures! We have both found out that we cannot sleep in past 9am (I know, I know, most of you who are reading this are probably at your jobs by then) but we have enjoyed meeting up and having morning breakfast while listening to the busy Sydney life. After breakfast and before our big journey, we have to properly prepare our bags to ensure that we will make it to our destination and back in a safely manner (big thanks to the advice Alex gave us). Once the bags were packed it was off to our first stop; university to pick up our ID cards. We had been warned about a strike that was going to take place on campus today but we were unprepared for what we were about to walk into. Professors were lined up at the top of the stairs from Victoria Park asking us to not cross the picket line. A little confused, but with a mission in mind we headed into the university anyways only to find that the ID shop was closed due to the strike. Frustrated and annoyed we headed towards the train station. We arrived at the train station knowing that we wanted to go to the IKEA in Tempe, which was a 10 minute ride from Sydney. Unfortunately, we forgot to write down our directions and train stops. So, when it was time to pick a train, we just decided to wing it and pick a train to Strathfield which we ‘remembered’ from the research.  As the train left towards Strathfield it passed many different stations that we never saw on Google maps.  Before you know it, the 10 minute ride became a 20 minute ride which gave us the indication that we were headed in the wrong direction. The train finally reached Strathfield and we had no idea where to go! Obviously we weren’t at the mapped out station like we wanted. Completely lost, we decided to try and find a map of Strathfield, hoping it would give us a sign of which way to go. Sadly, we did not see a big sign saying “IKEA this way!” At this point we were both a little discouraged and with our heads hanging low, it was time to head outside to see if we could find someone to help us. The first stop was Oporto, which apparently is the ‘healthy’ version of fast food. As we walked into the store, there was a man behind the counter that looked Australian. We were super excited because we actually thought we were going to talk to an Australian for once. Again, another wave of discouragement hit us when he spoke and an Italian/German/Not sure what accent it was came out of his mouth. Although, he did inform us of a bus that came around and picked up people going to IKEA which was nice. So we headed out the door and was on the hunt for this bus. The search ended quickly because we both wanted to sit down on what looked like a comfy bench. While sitting, we did notice a bunch of people getting onto this white van which was a little sketchy. We thought about investigating more about this van but we decided to go back into the station to ask for help. Surprisingly, the workers in the station were more helpful than we thought, giving us directions and letting us back in the station to exit the other way for free. Usually when you enter or leave the station you have to put your ticket through this machine and since we had already exited once that would have been a problem. So then we were finally on our way, with a little help from an international friend who had texted us directions on where to go. She said it was a straight shot down the main road, Leichen Road, which was really Concord Road. Even some construction guys helped us out by looking up the shopping centre on their 3G iPads. Both of our sources told us it was a three mile walk down the road, and thankfully they were right! Exactly an hour later we were sitting in IKEA Homebush Bay lobby taking a rest.

 

We then explored the upstairs and found out the prices were a lot more expensive. A dresser that Riley had bought in Charlotte for $149 was $329 here! With our stomachs growling we had a beeline for the restaurant only to find this…

 

Squid Ink Pasta was not on our menu so we made a quick decision

to head downstairs to the bistro to get classic pizza and hot dog!  

Lauren was a little disappointed with the pizza since it tasted oddly like grass, only because it was a vegetarian pizza. Of course we had to end the lunch with ice cream, which was ten times better than the IKEA ice cream in Charlotte, plus it came out of this machine that we put in a gold coin for.

 

With a few items in our shopping cart we headed towards the checkout lanes and then into the rest of the mall. We stumbled upon a few stores that looked interested and seemed to have good deals but we were sadly mistaken. It seems that everything in Sydney is expensive. We wanted to leave the mall early to make it back in time for the Wine and Cheese event that the Catholic Society was hosting on campus. We met a lot of cool people there, one guy in particularly that we really hit it off with. Neill was a native Philippine who has travelled around the world and has lived in Sydney for about four years. We shared our experiences of the US with him since he hopes to go there this year. Later in the night he invited us to come to one the trivia nights that he weekly attends at local pubs. We hope to check it out one time, along with maybe one or two board night games that he hosts at his apartment! The Catholic group was heading to dinner afterwards and we thought about joining them but since we had planned to go out on Friday night for seafood we decided to pass. With it being past seven we made a quick stop at the library which was closed due to the strike, irritating us once again! After all the madness of the day we decided to head back to make dinner (barbeque sandwiches which were once again delicious) and call it a night.