Australia Day

A few days ago I embarked on an Australia day celebration. The way it has been described to me, Australia day is like July 4th in the States. Everyone here told me I need to go to a BBQ on Australia day, so it is definitely like the 4th of July. I almost got invited to a BBQ at this girls birthday party too, but when she heard that I was a friend of a friend of a friend, well she took back the invitation. Instead I went down to the rocks with a few friends. The rocks is the area in Sydney where the convicts were originally stayed. It is currently a really cute neighborhood with a lot of nice bars and restaurants. So we went down there because we heard that there was going to be a bunch of free concerts, but it was so disappointing. We found this one stage and sat down, with our nasty bottle of wine, waiting for the act to start and out came a man and a tambourine, and only a tambourine. It was terrible. He was trying to get the crowd going too and it was just not happening. After about 30 minutes of sitting there listening to a man shake a tambourine we got up and left. Thinking about it now I have no idea why we listened for that long, the only conclusion I have come to is that we were just too lazy to move.
We started walking back and I noticed this crowd of people gathered around these two men in aboriginal paint. The aboriginal community call Australia day survivor day.These two men were in traditional clothing and paint playing the didgeridoo. I thought it was really interesting until they announced that it was now time for people to come and take pictures with them if they pleased. I stood there and watched as random people walked and posed with their thumbs up and tongue sticking out beside these two men. I have to say it kinda made me uncomfortable. I cant explain why, but i guess in my mind I compare it to as if I decided to go to Idaho and pose in the town square and announce to people that they could come and take a picture with a real live Jewish person at this time. Something about it felt odd to me, but I may just be looking at in the wrong way.
we continued to walk around, but it was starting to rain, so we just headed back to Unilodge and relaxed on the amazing couches in the lobby area. I was okay with this plan, as it had been an exhausting weekend; a great weekend, but exhausting.

Side Bar on a Wednesday Night

So tonight I went to side bar, a bar near railway square. My roommate had been there before and asked me if I liked to dance when she heard I was going there. This comment made me nervous because at clubs in Boston I hate to dance. I hate rap and weird men rubbing up against me; it all is just not my thing. Despite this, I did agree to go and I am really pleased that I did.
We walked into this big room, with dim lights, and a band playing great music,but not just any great music.... 90's music, MY FAVORITE!!!!! I absolutely plan to go back there. 90's music is the shit. End of story.

The only thing to take note of was this one women. She was wearing a big bag on her arm and kept knocking me over with her huge purse. I don't mean bump into, I mean knock over. One time I legitimately fell. After her pushing me away with her bag 6 times I just had to stand there and just watch her. My friend, Jessie, also took notice of her interesting moves..... It was obvious that it was impossible to dance beside her, so we just started dancing with her. We found out that it was her birthday, but she declined to tell us how old she was turning. I'm guessing 30.

Day out at the beach

Last week I went to the beach. I do not consider myself a beach person because of my pale skin that loves to burn and my undesirable ability to get sand everywhere, and I mean every where. After going to the Sydney beaches my beach dissatisfaction has diminished. Although I am still pale and find sand in places days later, I cannot resist the beaches here. I took a bus and a train to Bondi beach, Sydney's largest and most tourist beach. This beach is huge and crowded, but beautiful none the less. The water is this clear green color that stretches for miles, with surfers anticipating the next wave. Australia has a problem with Rip currents that pull people out to sea. To avoid this, the life guards put up flags that advise people what area to swim in. You can also tell where that area is not, because it is where the surfers are. The surfers love the rip currents, or so that is what I have been told. There are also tons of topless women and people that are unnaturally tan. Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world so I re applied sunscreen every 10 minutes or so. Two men actually stopped me and a friend to ask if we were Irish because we were that pale. So I think we stood out.

There is a cliff walk that connects bondi and 3 other beaches( Tamarama, Bronti, and coogee) that I know of. This cliff walk is a must do for people visiting Sydney. Ahhh it is great. It literally is a cliff walk with a railing. You are right over the water. There are also cliffs you can climb down and the rocks have made little pools of water. I was worried that they were not safe to climb down,but I saw two old women sitting in them so I felt that maybe I could do it too! So I climbed down and sat in the pools of water and splashed around with some dogs. It was great. I have archived that experience as a top 20 most relaxing day of my life. AND.... I didn't get sun burned!!!!But I can't say that for others on the trip. Some people came back and it looked as if they were caught in an actual fire: purple skin, blisters.

We decided to pack up and leave around 6pm. We found ourselves at tamarama beach with no idea how to get home. We called 131500, which is supposed to tell you how to get home using the bus and train system. So we started to wait for the bus, which was not coming. Then we did something SO stupid. Disclaimer.... This is very out of character for me and I would never do this in normal circumstances... Soo a white van drove passed and yelled out the window "do you need a ride," before I knew what happened my friend yelled "yes," but the van kept driving. So we continued to sit there and wait for the bus. Then five minutes later the white van pulls up in front of the stop and offers us a ride. I checked them out: one of them had braces, they let me see their IDs, and they were both 21, so in desperation we got in the van. I had to sit on my friend's lap in the front seat with them. They also promised they wouldn't kill us, I guess it never hurts to ask first. So they agreed to drive us home, despite it being completely out of their way. One was a plumber and the other was a student at TAFE. They were so nice and complete gentlemen the whole way. I would like to give a shout to those two guys: thank you for the ride, and I am sorry we didn't go out to coffee with you, but we really wanted to go home and shower. Every time I see a white van I hope it is you Armidillo and braces boy.
A few days later I tried to find the bus route to tamarama beach and, honestly, had those boys not picked us up I don't know if we would have made it home. So thank you.

living life in Australia.

Hello All!

I have been in Sydney Australia for a little less than 3 weeks now and am very pleased to say that I am enjoying myself! Sometimes in the morning I wake up in my small bunk bed, located in a room that is the size of a bathroom, and picture myself on the map. I imagine the distance from Boston to Sydney and realize how far I am from home. Luckily I am enjoying the distance. Everyone I have met thus far has been great. The weather is amazing too. Right now Sydney is in the midst of summer, but it is a different summer than back home. So far the weather has been a dry heat with a great ocean breeze that feels like silk against my skin. Any one that knows me well, knows that I love wind! This might just be the city for me. There are also a lot of trees, which a lot of big cities are missing, and I adore as well. The trees are beautiful, but at night you see these huge bats, about the size of parrots or crows, flying over Victoria park. They are the largest bats I have ever seen in my life, but I have a feeling I'll be saying that about a lot of animals and things here.
Last night I went to the Chinese new year parade, but could not see anything because people here are so tall, specifically men. I feel kinda short here :( I have never felt short before although people tell me I am. I always heard that study abroad was supposed to teach you about yourself and so far I have learned that I might not be that tall, but I am not sure I am willing to except that. Until I am, I will continue to tell people that Micheal Jordan and I share sneakers.