Canberra

Well, the day started off on a rough night. I was apparently so exhausted from a week that involved 2 midterms, a presentation and a 4 page synopsis of the presentation that I slept right through my alarm. I was supposed to wake up at 6:20 since the cab was getting here at 6:40 to take us to uni. My friends called me at 6:47 at which point I got ready in 4 minutes and darted off for a day in Canberra, the capital of Australia. The international student office sponsored a trip for 54 of us international students. It was about a 3 hour bus ride. First we went to the Australian National Museum which was a joke. I was INCREDIBLY disappointed. I didn't feel like I learned anything. At least the architecture was cool! Next we spent two hours at the Floraids which is this big annual festival they have during September where they grow these magnificent flower beds where the colors of the flowers outline different pictures. They also have all sorts of little market shops and live entertainment. Right across from that was another museum focused solely on the history of Canberra. I felt like I learned a lot more there. Canberra is one of only two country capital's in the world (the other is Brasilia) that is entirely planned. It has this gorgeous lake running through the middle and all the main buildings forming a triangle across the lake. The last stop was a tour of the parliament house modeled after Great Britain's where the federal government sits and makes legislature. I'm glad I can say I went, but I would not want to spend more than a day there. It definitely does not hold a candle to Washington DC! oh AND I was told Canberra is the only place in Australia that sells Dr. Pepper but I never got a chance to go to the grocery store to look! :(

Sydney Harbour Cruise and a show at the Sydney Opera House

Last Sunday Campus East (where I live) sponsored a cruise on the Sydney Harbour. It rained all day so we were all wondering how this evening was going to turn out. Luckily, the weather cleared up as soon as we boarded the ship - err yacht. Yep, the boat was not at all what I expected with its 3 stories. We departed in time to see the sun set over the Opera House. We then cruised around the harbour for spectacular views of Luna Park (think Navy Pier or Coney Island), the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and eventually the Sydney skyline in all its nightime splendor. After an incredible dinner of pizza and Heineken beer was served, the bottom story was turned into a dance club. Thankfully the trip ended without any incidents since it was open bar all night. Afterwards four friends and myself decided to try out the Sydney night life. We found an Irish Pub featuring a cover band playing Irish tunes. The pub was 95% Irish people and we had a blast. There were no jigs, but plenty of dancing and singing along to the songs.

Tuesday night our study abroad program sponsored a trip to see The Narcissist at the Sydney Opera House. When we got to the train station we inserted our tickets so we could go through the gates but the machine took them. It turns out, they are programmed to know that round trip tickets can only be inserted into these machines twice before they are disposed. When we switched trains, though, we stopped to get a bit of food so that through off the sensors. We ended up having to find an employee to come open up the machines so we could search through the bins for our tickets since we needed them for the ride home. Unfortunately English was not his native language so communication was a definite issue. We finally got to the Opera House right as they started to ring the bells to signal everyone needed to get seated so unfortunately we missed out on a chance to explore and take pictures. The Theatre was not at all what I expected. It turns out there are 5 different performing centers and ours seated roughly 800 - a lot smaller than I would have expected. The study abroad program hooked us up, though, as we had front row seats! In fact, at one point in the play the actor spit out his pretzel and it hit my friend. The play turned out to be hilarious. The premise was an older man and woman, still single well into adulthood, made a bet who could find a partner first. The man was gay, though, and they both ended up going after the same man along with several other twists. One ironic part was when they revealed that one of the characters was histrionic (simply put: a drama queen) which was one of the personality disorders I just happened to have been tested on earlier that day in my abnormality of psychology class. Each time I go back to Sydney the shock and awe diminishes a little bit, but I know one day I will look back and really marvel at these incredible experiences.

Blue Mountain Hiking

My study abroad program sponsored an "adventure weekend" trip this past weekend in the Blue Mountains. We arrived right before dinner on Friday night and met up with 4 other uni's this study abroad program coordinates in the Sydney area. On the menu for dinner? Lasagna. Luckily I didn't mind because this was REAL lasagna with delicious garlic bread. In fact, the food all weekend was absolutely delicious. I even got tacos! After dinner we watched an Australian movie starring Aussie's own Heath Ledger. Poor guy. The rain did not stop all night which forced our morning activity of rock climbing to be moved to an indoor climbing gym. It was not quite the same experience since you can go to an indoor climbing gym anywhere, but since I had never even done that it was at least a new experience for me. Still, I had heard the abseiling/repelling was one of the thrilling parts of the weekend so I was a little disappointed. The afternoon more than made up for it, though. We loaded on our rain gear (thanks Mom for making me bring some!) for a 6 mile hike through the "Grand Canyon" of Australia. The hike was absolutely AMAZING. Since it had poured for almost 2 straight days, the water was rushing off the cliffs all around us. I have never seen so many waterfalls. The hike also included hopping rocks to cross creeks and in some cases even trudging through them. It concluded with a strenuous climb of roughly 200 stairs formed from rocks.

We woke up bright and early the next morning for one final tour of the Blue Mountains. This day was a little more of a traditional tourist visit, hiking to various lookouts for panoramic views of the entire mountain range and more waterfalls. We went on a ledge walk to get a close up view of the 3 Sisters, a famous mythological story here about 3 beautiful Aboriginal sisters turned to stone by a witch doctor and waiting to be returned to human form. We also took a breathtaking cable ride down the mountain. The scenery was truly majestic and I feel very blessed to have been able to spend the weekend hiking through such a beautiful and tranquil area.