Day 3 in Australia

Yesterday was my first foray into Sydney. I didn't mention much about going to my campus because I was quite tired, but I will try to remember what happened. I find there are so many new things to see and do that I have to make a conscious effort to note them in my mind so I can talk about them here.

One thing that just popped into my head: The Aussie made a meat pie and then watched cricket. For those that don't know, that is VERY Australian. I read much about the Australian loves of meat pies and cricket so it was hilarious to see it happening in front of my very eyes as I read in the living room.

I love school!


But I digress. Yesterday I saw the University of Sydney campus for the first time, and opened my bank account successfully. There's a branch right on campus, and it was very streamlined and modern looking. For instance, the tellers stand pretty much behind a very sparse desk, there aren't tills of bills or anything. They punch the amount they want into this machine that is between the two tellers and it spits out the money they need. It's all very minimalist actually. And the people that help you open accounts and things are just at an empty desk with LITERALLY only a laptop. Very neat! Very friendly too. I had some good chats while I was there, probably because they are forced to be friendly but also because my accent and lily white skin give me away as a foreigner!

The weather was quite rainy yesterday, though. Not what you'd picture Sydney weather to be like (if you are picturing Sydney weather at all). At one point I was caught under an awning with a group of five Australian businessmen (very tanned and very good looking. I am pretty sure everyone in this country is attractive. Men and women. I honestly have not seen an unattractive Australian yet. Is it something in the water??) who were discussing the issue of grout between the cobblestones on campus. So I learned quite a lot about grout as I waited for the downpour to end. Apparently the grout situation is unacceptable and one of them needs to provide a whole new set of specs to get this matter dealt with speedily and correctly. Who knew!

My commute:

I got back to Manly around dinnertime and The Aussie and I ordered in Thai. Green chicken curry to be exact. It was really good, according to The Aussie it's the worst Thai in Manly, but the cheapest. And I am always happy with the cheapest! The Aussie 2 isn't around very much, I think because he has a girlfriend somewhere else so he hangs out with her. I see him in the morning though on his way to the shower. He says "G'day." It makes my day. Ha ha.

I was pretty tired yesterday as a result of getting up at 5:30am, going into Sydney, running some errands, and getting the ferry back. So I crashed at around 9pm. I am not feeling too jetlagged thankfully. I think I have The Aussie to thank for that. If I had slept that first day, I would probably still be quite exhausted and on a funny schedule.

This morning I got up at about 6am. The Aussie left for work at 6:30am, and I think that's why I woke up because I keep my door open to let the ocean breezes in or else it's too hot, so I can hear everything in the apartment pretty easily. These boys go to bed super early and wake up super early. And when I looked out the window at 6am, there were probably already over a hundred people on the beach. Swimming. Walking. Running. Skateboarding. And it was barely light out! No wonder everyone here looks great.

I was to meet Marie at the front of the Law School building at 9:30am this morning. We finally got in contact and arranged that. Oh whoops, guess she doesn't have a secret name anymore to protect her identity. Anyway, I joined a Facebook group for Sydney Law School, noticed a girl from McGill had posted, and sent her a message and we got in contact and have been corresponding back and forth in the months leading up to our arrival here. So it was fun to meet her in real life. She's very chill and we get along well and we were both saying how happy we were to have eachother to figure everything out!

We went to an International Student Arrivals Orientation session at 10:30, and it was very helpful. Definitely put me in the "You are in school and not here to live on the beach" mentality. Which was quite nice, actually. Starting school is exciting! The possibilities are endless. Reality will hit me soon, however, but for now all of the newness of it all was lovely.

After the Orientation we went to see her apartment, and then had lunch in Newtown. That's the suburb I hope to find a place in. It was very neat! Such a stark contrast from beachy Manly, but in a good, fun and funky way. It makes sense that in such a big city there will be a lot of different areas that each have their own unique qualities.

I got back to Manly this afternoon and then went for a swim at Shelley Beach again. (Was going to go across the street to my beach, but then there was an announcement on the loudspeaker about blue bottles. The Aussie went down to check it out, came back up and said "Nope. You're not swimming here. There are literally hundreds of blue bottles on the beach." He didn't have to tell me twice.) I brought my book and just had a quick dip and then laid on the beach reading for a good while. It was awesome. It's also really neat to just people watch here! Not only because everyone is pretty (ha ha) but just the lifestyle is so different from Canada. Everyone is laid back, out and about, enjoying the weather, enjoying the views, enjoying the water. On my walk back I stopped and watched some surfers which was neat. I hadn't taken time to do that yet. I got that feeling of "Wow, I live in Australia now. Huh!"

I don't think I am lonely yet, which is good. I have a decent amount of social interaction per day, which is key when settling in somewhere.