I found Nemo!

It's true, Nemo really was waiting at 42 Wallaby Way! Or...at the Sydney Aquarium. A couple of us took the train yesterday up to Sydney for a day at the Aquarium. We started off the day eating lunch at Darling Harbor, the location of the aquarium that also has lots of restaurants and shops. Nothing like lunch on the waterfront! We then walked next door to the aquarium. For those of you who have seen Finding Nemo, they have this tank with all the different fish from the movie since they end up in Sydney. For those of you who haven't seen it, go rent it! Anyway, the only animal they didn't have was a whale so I guess Dori must still be working on that one. They also had exhibits on the difference between crocs and alligators with one of each being present. There was a cage full of penguins which is still weird to see them not on ice. They even had a platypus, a native animal of Australia. Turns out, they are an omen of good luck because they have characteristics of so many different animals they were able to unite the different groups together. My two favorite exhibits, though, were the seals and a tank full of sharks and stingrays. The seals liked to show off for the camera, except the cute one sunbathing on the rock. The sharks and stingrays, meanwhile, were most likely on steroids as one of my friends put it. I have never seen such a mammoth sting ray before (since I see them all the time). Both exhibits had little glass hallways you could walk through so the animals surrounded you on all sides. That was surreal. I must admit, walking on top of a shark did get my blood pumping a little bit! It was a great day, though, and I love learning information (such as the animals like penguins who live in the arctics actually have anti-freeze in their blood!). I even bought a book about interesting Australian facts so I'll be well versed when I get back.

New Weight Loss Program: Move to Australia

Move over, atkins! Australia is the new weight loss fad! My recommendation for anyone looking to shed a few pounds: go to school in Australia. For those of you who don't know, I live 2 suburbs north of Wollongong. I try to walk to and from uni everyday to save money (although some mornings that just doesn't happen) which puts me at a round trip of 5 miles a day. Not to mention any shopping that needs to be done or anything else that requires additional walking. Another component of the weight loss program is time. With no obligations, commitments, or responsibilities here, I have more time than ever to devote to working out. You're probably thinking "working out? he walks 5 miles a day as it is!", but I'm still doing a fair bit of training for a triathlon and starting to do some weight training. So, add that into the mix and I'm one hungry boy! The only problem? The food here is D-I-S-G-U-S-T-I-N-G. I know cafeterias are not supposed to be good, but I'm certainly not used to ones that serve you leftovers. The thing about leftovers is that clearly people didn't like it enough the first time to eat it, so who wants it reheated? Besides, the choices are hardly stellar with a rotating menu every 4 days or so. I've had enough "lasagna" to last me for years. Beef or veggie because you get them both every week! This would naturally incline people to eat out more often, but with meals averaging twice as much here that doesn't really factor into a poor boy's budget. So there you have it, a revolutionary diet for the ages!

My own special sign at the URAC

So here's how it went down...it was a Wednesday and I was sleep-deprived and frustrated. Typical Wednesday. I went to the URAC (gym) after my classes to relieve some stress as usual by working out. After I changed I went to put my stuff in the lockers. The only one available was on the top shelf (picture cubby holes like grade schoolers, but with doors). I put my stuff in, but it seemed smaller than the others. I figured it was just because it was on the top shelf and I never used those since they were high up and it was hard to get your stuff in and out. Already frustrated I just kept cramming my stuff until it fit. I then entered my 4 digit pin code to lock it. I came back after my work out and entered my pin to unlock it, but I couldn't get the stupid door open. I kept entering the pin with no luck. Finally, I had upset the locker so much that an alarm started going off. Uh oh. I went to get a staff member to come help. He came and tried his key to manually unlock it, but couldn't get it at first. Once he finally got it open he saw the problem: I had jammed waaay too much stuff into the locker and he let me know it. Today I went into the locker room and there was a nice sign posted that said "please do not overstuff the lockers as they will become jammed and cannot be opened." At least you know it's not just the States where I cause trouble!

Random Collection of Thoughts

It's been a while since I last wrote anything, so I thought I would just add some random thoughts since I haven't been up to anything really exciting. Today marks one month that I've been in Australia. It's hard to believe how quickly it's going, and it's only going to pick up once the weather finally hits temps suitable for the beach. Thursday was an interesting day. I have never seen a place so capable of such drastic changes in the weather every single day. It makes it impossible to plan on what to wear. I walked to uni in shorts and a long-sleeved tshirt, very comfortable. Around 3pm, though, it began hailing again with the temp dropping so much you could see your breath! It hailed so much that it eventually melted into a pile of white slush that covered the campus. It looked liked it had just snowed. In fact, kids decided to have "snowball" fights with it because it's the closest most of them have ever seen to snow. Friday night I went to my first professional rugby match. This was rugby league (as opposed to union) where you have 5 downs to score otherwise you kick it away like football. The speed of the game is much faster than football, but not as exciting in my opinion. And it was down right frigid! The taxi driver on the way home said this is one of the coldest "winters" they've ever had. Lucky me! At least I won't feel guilty about spending most of my time watching the Olympics over the next two weeks.