Week 1

G’day mates!

I have finally made it to Australia! I am so happy to be on land after flying for 21 hours!!! When we got off the plane at 6a.m., we had to go through customs and I got searched by the dog and had to get my apples removed! I was so scared because I had to go to a separate area with the security guard while they searched my bag! So if any one is planning on bringing fruit into Australia, don’t haha! 

After I safely made it into Australia, we had to take the train with all our luggage to our hotel apartments which are located in the middle of Sydney! The rooms are very nice, with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a washer and dryer. I live with three other girls, one who is from Memphis and the other two are from Chicago! After this, our journey down unda began!

Day 1

Wed, May 28^th

Adjusting to the time change has been quite difficult for me! We are 14 hours ahead of New York time, so I have been pretty tired! After we settled into our apartments, we went to Bondi Beach. This is a seriously stunning beach! It is about 15 minutes away from the city and our hotel. Here we climbed these awesome rock formations and the view was just unbelievable! There is also a huge outdoor swimming pool right above the ocean, which is really cool! We spent all day at the beach and then we ate lunch at a little café which had the most delicious pancakes! After this, we had a pizza fest to end the night!!

Day 2

Thurs, May 29th

This morning we did a walking tour of Sydney! It is such a beautiful city! It reminds me a lot of New York City, except there is a lot of architecture that is very European along the streets. There is a large amount of Asian people here and many Asian restaurants! We walked through Chinatown and walked to the Sydney Opera House and the Harbor Bridge! It is so surreal how incredible it is! After this, we went grocery shopping since we have to make all of our own food here! This was an experience because all of the food is different so it took us probably almost 2 hours to find everything we needed! For dinner, we went to The Apprentice, which a really fancy restaurant and we got a five-course meal! The staff were all waitresses and chefs in training so it was an interesting spin!

Day 3

Fri, May 30^th

Today we took the Ferry to Manly Beach, where we got a surf lesson! This was awesome because I have always wanted to try surfing! We were all given extremely tight wetsuits and a surfboard! It was so hard; I give lots of props to surfers! It is a serious workout!! I found the hardest part was standing up and then staying up! I wiped out many times, but also caught some awesome waves! It is honestly such an incredible feeling when you actually catch a wave! At the surf lesson, I picked up some interesting Australian lingo from the surf instructors! If you say thank you, Australians usually say “no worries” instead of “you’re welcome” They also say “how you going?” instead of “how are you doing?” Another common phrase, which I am sure you have all heard is “mate” as everybody is either “mate” or “love.” At night we went to the VIVID light show, which is a 20-day festival in which all of the major buildings and monuments in the city are light up at night! It is so awesome to see the city light up at night!

Day 4

Sat, May 31^st

This morning I went to the park to workout and practice some basketball! Here I met a kid named Max, who was also working on his game! He said that he loved watching American basketball and his favorite NBA player is Kobe Bryant!  Later in the day, my friends and I went on the Sydney Tower Eye Tour, which is called SKYWALK. On this tour, we went on Australia’s tallest building called the Westfield building. We went all the way to the top and then walked along the edge while only being attached via harnesses. We wore blue jumpsuits, which were pretty cool. From the top of the building, we had the most incredible view of the entire city. At one point in the tour we got to walk out on this glass where it was only the glass separating us from falling to our death below on the street! After this, we then went to the Sydney Aquarium! The cool thing about the aquarium is that you go underground into these tunnels and sharks, string rays, and many fish swim over top of you! I have never been to an Aquarium like that before! Oh, I also saw a platypus, which is such a unique animal! To close the day, we went to Darling Harbor, which is a beautiful little water front area and we saw fireworks!

                                                       

Day 5

Sun, June 1^st

Today we went to the Sydney Wildlife Zoo! We saw many kangaroos, wombats, koalas, crocodiles, and many other weird animals. I learned that 80% of the species found in Australia can’t be found anywhere else in the world! My favorite part of the zoo was getting to go in the koala cage with three koalas, it was here we got to be up close and personal with them as they ate eucalyptus and climbed trees. It is illegal to hold a Koala now in most states in Australia, so that was a bummer, but we still got pictures and got to be right next to the Koalas! To top our Sunday night off, a few friends and I went to the Lindt Chocolate Café, which was amazing! Lindt Chocolates makes those amazing Lindor Truffles you all love! I got a molten lava cake and my friend got a dessert waffle! It was incredibleee! Good friends, good food, good life so far here in Sydney, Australia! That is it for week one here down under, I will be sure to post next week!:)