Muffy Toe

For all you family-type people, here are the newsy details of my last few days.

Who knew that Sydney is Australia's version of New York City? Because I certainly didn't. I always wanted to live a year outside of NYC and now I (kind of) am!

Our public transportation/city adventure took place on Friday and was very successful for a first time. Erika, Sam and I took a bus to the train station and a train into Central Station. We had no map and no agenda so we just started walking and learned to use the occasional map on the street and to ask people where we were going.

Almost everything about Sydney reminds me of NYC, only better. The streets are full of cars and buses, the sidewalks are packed with people, there are rows and rows of little shops, cafes, and coffee shops. Everything is very old, but with huge new skyscrapers towering above.

We went inside one beautiful old building that reminded me of the Galleria on the inside- three stories with lots of high-class shopping plus a cute little flower market.

We first stumbled onto Darling Harbor and walked across that bridge. I can't wait to come back here in the evening- I think the lights must be beautiful. We saw signs to the Harbor Bridge and began walking that direction. We never found the pedestrian walkway across the bridge but came across a perfect little observatory.

Through a little tunnel (under the traffic crossing the bridge), we found another observatory, this one for the Opera House. (Erika and I want to go see "Madame Butterfly" in March.)

Next, we walked down to Harrington Street and a little district called The Rocks -very old and quaint, right by the water. We were so tired from walking and found a little homemade ice cream parlor. There was a man with a nice camera taking pictures of the place so we asked him if he would take a picture of the three of us with my camera. Then, he asked me if he could take a picture of me getting another (free) scoop of ice cream, and I happily complied. He actually wanted a picture of me putting chocolate syrup on my ice cream cone. Unfortunately for me, I didn't really want any chocolate syrup, and unfortunately for him, syrup really doesn't stick to ice cream, especially when it's in a cone. Erika and Sam think that there's going to be a big poster of me in the window next time we come. If there is, it will be of a sweaty Michelle with a confused "chocolate-syrup-doesn't-stick-to-ice-cream-oh-no-there-it-goes-onto-the-floor" look on my face.

By now we were probably miles from Central Station so we got directions to the closest one. There was a station in The Rocks but we had to change trains in Central. We were so proud of our public transportation efforts up until this point but we accidentally hopped onto the wrong train because we were in such a hurry to catch it. We only went two stops too far (which isn't bad), and we managed to catch the right bus home, so that's not bad for a first time.

I think this first adventure to the city was very successful. We now know the closest bus stop to the Village, where the train station is, which train to take (the express and the regular line) and I know where almost all of the districts in Sydney are. We can make it roundtrip for about 9$AU.

Everyone who lives in the suburbs seems to take the train. We were leaving the city around 5:00 and it was packed with tired people and lots of schoolkids (every single school here has uniforms, and they aren't just polo shirts and khakis, they're really different, like pink jumpers with blue socks or something).

Saturday we went to Manly Beach. It was very beautiful and very hot but with a cool breeze. The sunscreen I bought here has the consistency of glue so I am proud to say that I did not get burned. I’m not snow white anymore and I’m not tan either- I think my skin is somewhere around a yellowish color. I have a million more freckles and my hair is lighter, too.

I saw an iguana bathing in the sun and three border collies! (All were smaller than Benny, but it certainly made me miss my puppy.)

(Walt and Jenny- there were people scuba diving off of Manly Beach. Something to look into?)

Macquarie has a sister college in Manly so we had a “barbie” (BBQ) on their lawn. There was a band playing great cover songs like “Brown-Eyed Girl” and “500 Miles.” The college looks like a castle and sits on top of a big hill overlooking the beach.

Erika and I did laundry Saturday night. There’s a cute little deck to sit on while you wait for your clothes so we enjoyed reading in the cool weather.

Sidenote: The weather here reminds me a lot of Arizona because it's so cool in the shade, it's just the sun that absolutely bakes you. I think the hottest time of day is around 4 and 5:00, not noon. The evenings and early mornings are very cool, too.

Yesterday evening six girls and I went into the city for the Tropfest Film Festival- it’s the largest film festival in the world. Over 700 people submitted seven minute films and they showed the finalists last night on a giant screen in a huge park. They have judges (famous Aussie directors and actors) and the winner gets a million dollars to make a full-length feature film. It’s a huge deal every year for Sydneysiders and hundreds showed up with their blankets and picnic baskets. It started pouring halfway through. We all huddled under our blankets for awhile but when it was pouring so hard we could hardly see the screen, we decided it was time to leave. It was fun to walk in the pouring rain but a cold train ride home.

I’m excited that school is starting today. I feel like I’m getting dumber by the hour and that there’s a large chance that I’ve forgotten how to write and how to study. =) I have mixed feelings about living in the suburbs. I like that the campus and Village are so beautiful and relaxed, but I’m not used to everything closing early (around 5:00). My roommate Taya and I have Fridays off from school, so we might make that our “city day” and go into Sydney and study or roam.

I didn’t go to church yesterday because the only ones I’ve seen so far are non-denominational. I know there are others I can take a bus to, but I don’t know where they are so I’m going to wait and talk to the Cru people or the Navigator people. They’ve already set up hundreds of little booths on campus for all the clubs and organizations. I don’t have class till 3:00 so I’ll enjoy checking all of them out.

I’ve realized that I tend to shy away from things I think I won’t be good at, and I want to break this habit while I’m here. Some of my new friends and I are going to take salsa dancing lessons and do a 2-day surf camp. I’m excited.

I am mastering this whole walking on the left business. Rock.

A special "hello" to the Thursday night group. I was certainly missing you all on Friday afternoon. =)

Bye for now,
Mich

# posted by Michelle : 11:26 AM