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Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney
July 10th 2008

Published: July 10th 2008

OHMYGOSH, I have SO much to write already and I have only been here for 3 days!

The 11 hour layover in LA went well, I met a girl in my program and we hung out all day and ate, nothing too exciting. 14.5 hour flight went well, slept for about 9 hours and watched on-demand movies for the rest 😊 Got into Sydney at 6am but didn't leave the airport til 10am because we had to wait for the other flight of students to get in. Then we drove into Sydney to our hotel and had a little meeting... then shower and a got a quick bite to eat. The place we are staying in is called the world tower and it is the most amazing place I have ever slept in. We are in 3 bedroom (4 people in our room) condo on the 64th floor... to buy this apartment it would cost almost 1.3 million dollars. Needless to say, it's incredible. Once I get internet on my laptop I will post pictures. It has a spectacular view of the harbor and this morning I was awake for the most amazing sunrise. So then Tuesday after our showers and whatnot, we went on a walking tour through Sydney and got to see the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, both of which were amazing. The city of Sydney reminds me alot of Chicago/modern London/ and even a little bit of Barcelona. After our walking tour we took a ferry around the harbor and ended up at this restaurant. I was adventurous and had KANGAROO! It was actually really good, it was served rare because it's a very lean meat, and this roo had an orange glaze over it. Delicous. Then we wanted a glass of wine and beer with our meal, but alcohol here is outrageous. A 6 pack of bud light (since it's importedt) is 40 dollars!! After that we went and bought some cheap wine and hung out in our amazing apartments, then hit up the hot tub.

Wednesday we got up super early and went to the Blue Mountains to go Abseiling (which is like repelling). It was a 2 hour ride, and once we got there it was SO pretty but SO cold. And I mean cold as in about 32 degrees farenheit and we were all in sweatshirts and jeans. Needless to say, it was one of the greatest, yet most miserable (haha), experiences of my life. I repelled down a 100 foot cliff which was cool, and then I just sat there freezing for awhile while people abseiled FACE FIRST down a 180 foot cliff. It was really cool and I can't wait to post pictures. After that we came back into Sydney, napped, and I went to dinner with some of my new friends in chinatown. Lots of excellent food for 8 dollars. After that, we went to liqourland to buy the cheapest type of alcohol .... BOXED WINE. So we all got ready and went to someone's apartment and partied there for awhile. I am so excited to post pictures and make you all jealous because we seriously felt like rockstars in this 1.3 million dollar condo with all huge glass windows overlooking Sydney while drinking our cheap boxed wine out of champagne glasses and coffe mugs. I mean, there were probably 30 of us in this apartment and there was still plenty of room!! After that, we headed to Kings Cross, which is the clubbing district and went to this smaller bar with a great DJ. Had a lovely 5 dollar beer and started meeting the locals. Mostly talked with this cute Indian boy (Melissa, I have pics 😊 haha) from Indiana who was working in Melbourne and staying with a family, who was also hosting this Argentinian guy, Jaquin! He was so much fun. In Sydney, dancing isn't really sexualized (I guess you could say) like it is in the states, so when we found out people don't "grind", Jaquin was like "what's grinding!?!" Haha, so we did a 10 second demonstration and he was like, 'oh!! I love Americans!!" hahaha. Then we walked all the way home and saw a scary transexual prostitute, haha. I will get to prostitution in a later post (and some of the other cultural differences) We got home at like 3am and had to get up at 8am!

So today we had a little presentation at 9am and we are getting on the elevator to go down and we are running late, so we're like, ok, everyone just pack in... so there were 26 of us packed in this elevator and someone's like "hope we aren't over the weight limit!"... WELL, we ended up getting STUCK IN THE ELEVATOR for 20 minutes, and it was so hot and some people were freaking out, some guys were getting mad, it was just a mess and I was just waiting for a cable to break and all of us die, haha. But we got out and I think I will be walking to the 64th floor from now on. Anyways, then we went to a hotel down the street for another presentation and my study abroad advisor was actually there (from iowa) haha! I had actually seen her yesterday on the elevator in our hotel. After our cultural/educational presentation, we hopped on the bus and went 45 minutes out of Sydney to an Australian zoo and got to pet kangaroos and wallabies and wombats! It was fun, but I left my camera at home, but my friend Geoff took some pics that I'll show you guys later!! Tonight we have a free night and are going to a mexican restuarant to eat and do some salsa dancing, then see some more Sydney nightlife since we don't have to be ready til 4pm tomorrow. I've been hanging out with these 3 guys and 2 other girls, so it's been a ton of fun and everyone is amazing. We've all clicked 😊 So it's gonna be really sad when everyone heads off to their different Universities.

People in Sydney really are SO nice and friendly. Last night when I was in the bathroom at a bar, these two girls started chatting with me and I had to leave after 10 minutes because they wouldn't stop talking to me and asking me questions! Haha. We also met some Australian guys who were super cool and everyone is just looking to be friends and exchanges numbers.

Tomorrow we go on a dinner cruise around the harbor for 3 hours. Saturday I leave at 6am for my east coast trip which consists of Cairns, Brisbane, Whitsunday Islands, Fraser Island, and some other places!!

I just bought a phone and got a number and will be sending it out in an e-mail, if you don't get it, let me know!! Love you all!! Start saving to come visit me because you don't want to miss out!! XOXO

I have so much more to write but need to go hit up the millions of shoe stores around our hotel with my friends😊 I will try and write while on my trip, otherwise you probably won't hear from me for a week!

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