G'day, mate!: Solo in Sydney!

I realize that I haven't posted pictures yet from Bali, and I apologize a million times over for that, but I want to make sure that I remember everything that's happening to me in SYDNEY! I'll do another day by day scenario, as that helps me sort things out in my brain (slight case of OCD maybe?!) Here we go!

Wednesday: Wednesday afternoon, I hopped in a cab from Currie Hall and headed to the Perth Domestic Airport to get on my 2:30PM flight to Sydney, which would be approximately 4 hours, 10 minutes. My original flight from Sydney to Perth back in February was closer to 5 hours due to wind speeds (which makes me really happy knowing that my flights back to Los Angeles will at least be somewhat shorter...even if only by a few minutes). I got to the airport around 12:45, just in case anything occurred that would hold me up. So wrong. I literally got my boarding pass and went through security in a matter of about 6 minutes. I bought a magazine and some Mentos and sat there until a little bit after 2, and actually the time went pretty quickly. Got on the plane, and to my surprise I was in a security aisle seat, meaning that I got extra leg room. Thank you, Quantas Airlines, you put United to absolute shame. The flight was painless. I watched two movies; Country Strong and No Strings Attached, and was given a crappy meal of curried beef (?!) that I only ate the broccoli out of. The lady on my left lived in Sydney and said she had two daughters who attend the University of Sydney, so we gabbed at the end for a little bit.

Once we landed, I called a shuttle that could supposedly bring me straight to Asylum Sydney (the name of my hostel). I did that, waited about 20 minutes, realized it probably wasn't coming, and got a taxi instead. This cost me a wonderful $38 dollars, but it did the trick. My parents would be proud in knowing that when some creep guy saw me standing in a taxi line (which was full of people in business suits and briefcases) and said "But my car is hotter than a taxi...", that I gave him a "not so nice" response. Another lady after me also tried to convince me to share a cab with her to bring her to her home, and that she swore "I won't kill you or anything!" After these two encounters, I was dead set on getting a taxi, and getting a taxi alone. Once at the hostel, I checked in, and found my bed. The room I'm in has 3 bunk beds, and is disgusting. The hostel cost about $20 a night, and it definitely shows. The carpets are gross, the walls are gross, the complimentary breakfast is Corn Flakes. Luckily, my bed is decently comfy and my sheets are clean. Other than that, I really couldn't care less, because the next day, I got to see SYDNEY CITY!

Thursday: I was a little hesitant before this trip to be traveling by myself, but this day turned out to be amazing. I woke up early and showered, and got directions on how to make it to the Taronga Zoo (one of two zoos in Sydney apparently). I made my way outside wearing jeans, flip flops, and a hoodie, which was a perfect outfit for the day, as this place is about 10 degrees colder than Perth. I'd say it was between 60-65 degrees all day, which was perfect for walking around. I made my way through the Royal Botanical Gardens and to the actual city, but during the process, I saw the Sydney Opera House from a distance for the first time. It's hard to say how just...COOL this building is. It's breathtaking, as corny as that sounds. I was still a ways from it, and needed to get to the ferry stations where I'd take an actual ferry ride to the zoo. I sorta stumbled upon it (even though this station is obviously on the water...). I bought a ferry ticket for 9:45AM and had enough time to get a coffee. First REAL coffee I've had in Australia (the coffee at Currie Hall is awful, but I'm sure you could assume that by this point).

Got on the ferry later and headed to the zoo for about two hours. It was a great zoo, and was sorta built on the coast, so there was a lot of hills present. I left around noon, took another ferry back to the city, and by that point, it was about 12:30. I was getting hungry, but wasn't exactly sure where I'd want to eat. An exchange from Ireland at Currie recommended an Irish Pub, so I figured I'd make my way there. It was about a 20 minute walk, but when you travel alone and are taking a million pictures during the process, a longer walk can be a good thing. I ended up there, ate an amazing lunch, and actually was able to watch the Chicago Cubs play (and beat!!!) the St. Louis Cardinals live on television. This made my day! After lunch, I made my way back through the city towards the harbor (spelt 'harbour' here of course) and went through Hyde Park, which is almost like a mini version of New York's Central Park (which I've only seen pictures of). I stumbled upon an ANZAC Memorial within Hyde Park and went inside and took a few photos. ANZAC stands for Australian, New Zealand Army Corps and Anzac Day in Australian culture is kinda the equivalent of the US’s Memorial Day. I know a lot about this particular holiday because I had to write an essay on the topic in one of my Australian studies class and will have to write another in the OTHER class in about two weeks. So, to me, this kinda had a strange sorta meaning.

After this, I did some more wandering around, but had a 4PM reservation to get a one-hour inside tour of the Opera House. I made my way to the box office to claim my ticket and turns out they had to move my show to 4:30 instead. No big deal! Again, when you’re traveling alone, you don’t really get the chance to ‘complain’ to anyone outloud or get fussed over things as easily. Underneath the land that the actual Opera House sits on are some shops and restaurants. I found a Baskin Robbins (yes, with all 31 flavoUrs (gotta love the British spelling). I got a fat-free smoothie (trying to be healthy!). After buying a bracelet from another shop, I went to the tour, given by an older gentleman that explained the history and architecture behind the building. The Opera House is incredible, and there aren’t any other words to describe it. I’m normally not one to really be impressed by buildings and what not, but this was awesome. He said that the builder was originally from Denmark and what was supposed to have taken six years/seven million dollars ended up taking 14 years/102 million dollars, but in the end (according to my great expertise) it was worth it. The building itself is comprised of various sections of a dome-like structure that can actually all fit together. There’s an opera hall and a concert hall (made for just what they are entitled to). The opera hall can seat about 2,600 people while the concert hall I believe is around 1,500. I made it out of the tour around 5:30PM, right as the sun was setting over the Harbour Bridge. It. Was. Gorgeous! I stood there and just stared at what a great day I had, and how fortunate I was to be standing in a place that many people will never get the opportunity to see in their lifetime. I was exhausted from the day, and didn’t want to take the 20-ish minute trek back to Kings Cross (where the hostel is), so I got a Starbucks (they don’t have those in Perth), jumped in a taxi, and made my way back. I went to bed around 9PM…

Friday: I woke up early on Friday and went for a run through the Botanical Gardens. It was more of a jog/walk than anything else, as I didn’t realize how insanely sore I was from walking around the day before. Still, it was beautiful and slightly warmer outside. Once back in the disgusting hostel, I showered, ate my ‘complimentary’ corn flakes, and was about to head out when another American and I got to talking. She’s from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is here for the weekend on a break from studying at the University of Queensland (hope that makes sense!). She was heading out to Bondi Beach, supposedly one of the more beautiful beaches along the East Coast. I tagged along with her on the bus ride, but we only ended up staying there for about 20 minutes. It’s ‘winter’ here, although we would have had no problem laying in our swimsuits. The residents here dress for 60-degree weather how Chicagoans dress for 10-degree weather; it’s really amusing to me. Me in my flip flops and them in their scarves and gloves.

I ended up staying with Beth for the rest of the day actually, and it was our goal to make it up one of the pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. On our way, we stopped and ate lunch at a German restaurant, one that had amazing food. I’m eating very…internationally (?!) on this trip; Irish the first day and German the second. Afterwards, and after getting a little lost, we found the walk up the bridge, and actually went across! All of this was free for us; if you actually want to go ON TOP of the bridge, you have to pay about $200, and well, we all know the money struggle that is study abroad. Still, going across, and being able to say, “I crossed the Sydney Harbour Bridge!” was/is too cool. Bad part about all of this? My camera battery died while on top. Thanks, Nikon Coolpics, thanks a lot! Again, didn’t get fussed and just tried to take in all the scenery. The other side of the bridge that leads to North Sydney doesn’t really have too much (mostly housing), so we simply turned around and headed back. It was about 3PM by this point, and Beth and I were both sorta dragging our feet, so we took a bus back to the hostel and crashed for some naps.

Beth has some friends from Queensland that are also here for the weekend, so after eating Subway for the third dinner in a row, we got ready and actually headed out to meet up with them. There were five of us total, me just being the random girl from Illinois, but I actually got along with them really well. We went to the same Irish pub that I had gone for lunch the day before, as they had some drink specials. To me, it’s kinda hard to ‘let loose’ when you’re with people you’ve just met, so I wanted to call it an early night again. Beth was feeling the same way, so we split a cab back to the hostel and went to sleep!

Saturday (today, as I write this): I slept in early this morning until about 10:30AM and went for another jog/fast-paced walk through the Botanical Gardens. Once back, I downed some more cornflakes and took a different route to walk back to the city. Again, I just wandered around for the first half of the day and went into one of the major cathedrals of Australia, St. Mary's Cathedral. It was the goal of the city to build one that was similar to those present in the UK, and it was quite awesome. I actually went inside and sat through some of the mass that was going on too, which was quite...peaceful? I didn't have enough time to sit through the entire mass, but it was worth it because the inside was gorgeous (my describing word for everything this weekend)! I headed to the harbor and went through one of the markets that was going on. I bought a few things, including some jewelry and gifts for other people, and ate lunch around 12:30PM. I had a Turkish lamb sausage for $5. So good! Again, eating so internationally! I was going to the town hall afterwards to meet up for a 'free tour', and on my way there, I stopped to watch some street performers that were actually quite talented. It's a big thing around the harbor for people to make their livings performing.

Once at the town hall, I went on this free tour; the girl who was running it, who actually began the business with her boyfriend about two years earlier, makes profit simply from tips. This means that at the end, you determine what the tour was worth. For two and a half hours, she walked us around the city (there was me and about 15 other people, a lot of which were from the UK/Europe), and she was so knowledgeable and down-right entertaining. I paid her 25 bucks at the end, and I think that was more than a deal/bargain. The tour ended around the bridge, again being able to capture some great photos. I took a cab back to the hostel, ate some Mexican food, and here I am now, writing to you guys!

I leave tomorrow morning at about 5:30AM for a 7AM flight, and will make it back into Perth around 10:30. At that point, I'll have six weeks left on this study abroad adventure, my time being utterly consumed by schoolwork at that point. Can't wait to share all the photos I've taken this weekend (about 300 total!). All in all, I am beyond pleased that I came to Sydney, and highly recommend this city.