I'm Finally Here!

After the longest flight of my life, I have finally arrived in Sydney, Australia! Arriving in the airport was the most overwhelming experience I've had so far! Trying to convert my American dollars to Australian dollars and get a new phone with an Australian number all whilst maneuvering my two huge suitcases around. By the time I had finished that ordeal I had missed my ride to my apartment and ended up waiting 45 minutes for the next bus! The ride ended up being much better than just taking a taxi because the driver was a student who had just moved back to Australia after living in Minneapolis for 15 years! He could definitely relate to my jetlag and nervous feeling of being in the car on the opposite side of the rode.

I then moved into my six person apartment right on campus and spent the rest of the day exploring campus and the nearby town Coogee with one of my roommates! The campus is absolutely gorgeous! It's exactly what you always imagine your college to look like when growing up--brick buildings everywhere and tons of courtyards filled with grass and trees. The walk from campus to Coogee is about 30 minutes but we of course ended up getting a bit lost so it took us almost an hour to get there! Luckily the beach ended up being so beautiful that it was totally worth it! I can definitely make the assumption that I will be spending a great deal of my time there! The town of Coogee is super cute too. Tons of hole in the wall restaurants, drugstores, and quite a few bars!

My second day in Australia was spent at the grocery store which is a 20 minute walk up hill! You can only get as much food as you can carry home! And the combination of intense heat and humidity here, it's pretty much guaranteed that you will be soaked with sweat by the time you arrive home. I then went to an "afternoon tea" held by the exchange program at my school! It was so fun to meet so many international students from all over the world! Alright so my third day in Sydney has definitely been the best so far! I took the bus downtown with a few friends and got to see the Harbor Bridge and Opera House! It was so surreal to be standing right in front of the legendary structures that I've always seen in pictures and on tv.
We bought the cheapest glass of wine offered at the Opera House bar (which was still $8.50 because alcohol is insanely expensive here) and sat right by the water with the most spectacular view! Then we wandered up George St which is the main street downtown filled with all of the fun shops! We ended up in China Town and then caught a bus back to school. We spent the rest of the night in Coogee where we ate amazing Italian food at a local restaurant!

My next two days haven't been the best because the weather has been pretty crummy here! It was pouring rain yesterday so we spent most of the day in an indoor mall that had a Target! Yay! And today I walked to Coogee beach but it was so cloudy I don't think I got any kind of tan. I can only imagine what the next week holds for me because it is O Week (Orientation Week), which I've only heard amazing things about. Different parties and cruises each night, a trip to the zoo, and lots of time spent at the on campus bar named the Round House. Thus far I am completely in love with Sydney and life's only going up from here!