First few days

I've been so busy these last four days! Been getting things set up in our apartment, going to orientation 2 days and meeting new people all the while. So far my favorite thing has been the pub crawl through the rocks we did last night. Edie & roomates, Beanca, Katie and I got together at my apartment, had a few toasts to "life changing moments", speaking of plans to visit New Zealand, and organize a Sydney unofficial before getting on the bus together to go downtown. The exchange students got together and went walking through the pubs in the neighborhood over looking sydney harbor. It was unreal. I think it was the most beautiful view I have ever seen. Pictures do absolutely no justice. This is a picture of Beanca and I in front of the Sydney harbor bridge. Hard to take particuarly good photos of the sights at night, but like I said, they don't do it justice. The crawl was mostly bars that had roof top gardens, all the better to soak in the view, chat it up with locals and travelers, and sip on a glass of "Pure Blonde". The night ended up leading to a club in King's Cross, where Katie, John, John, our two Aussie mates, and I broke off from the group, not ready to head back home for the night. The bars in Sydney start closing/charging extra around 10:00pm. Super strange, we actually started the outing at 5. But around 10:30 we all headed to "World Bar". It is a club known for serving their drinks in tea pots. We ordered a pot of long island ice tea and proceeded to chat it up with people from all over the world. It was great listening to stories, and just getting along with new people. We called it a night around 12:30 and 4 of us caught a cab back to Coogee. Katie and I got ready for bed and I fell asleep with my computer open in bed. I guess the sipping added up.

Today was another story...one involving less beer, more wine, and lots of barbie. We decided to invite all the exchange students to a

grill out on the public grills on Coogee Beach. Katie and I went to the market early and got plenty of garlic prawns and asparagus to grill. Edie is a great cook, so I was trying to be at least close to her level of expertise. Added some olive oil, capers, and lemon juice and rolled the asparagus up in foil and let it soak in all the flavors. It was a success, and something I definitely plan on doing again. The shrimp was easy enough, we just skewered it and wrapped it all up with the garlic and onions and let it grill to perfection. A lot of exchange students came and grilled things of their own as well.

Talked to some abo

ut surfing here and they said it's fine to just buy a board and sell it when you leave for pretty much the same pric

e. I think it's definitely worth it considering I

experienced a pretty good surf after our meal when everyone took their goon down to the sand and soaked in some rays. Katie and I spent prob 45 minutes just swimming, having fun in the waves. So much body surfing, huge surf, and lost sunglasses by both of us. Spent the end of the day in the Women's Bath that is right off coogee Beach. It's a little salt water pool calmed by the rocks. Just too serene to pass up. We spend the time swimming quick laps since it was cooling off and about to get dark. Headed home, skyped Mark a bit, ate a pb&j and watched some American tv, which is apparently also Aussie tv (desperate housewives and greys anatomy). Yet to see an Australian show.

Tomorrow we have plans to do a trip to Sydney if it's nice, so I'll have some good pictures soon!

Love,

Lees

First day in Sydney!

Finally arrived in Sydney yesterday afternoon, and immediately was thrown off by the laid back Aussie ways. Got to buy booze for the first time duty free, and I'm proud to say I kept it classy with a twin case of Jim Bean. haha. I made it through customs very quickly-coming in from honolulu was mostly Australians returning from vacation so it took about 5 minutes to get my bag and head to the Vodaphone store in the airport. I got a really crappy little phone with a rechargeable sim card and a USB mobile internet plug-in that has so far come in handy. The entire process though took me about 2 hours, all the while having a pleasant chat with the sales dude about lady gaga and Jeffery Star...

First person I called was Beanca, who is from U of I business but has been here for a month already. We had plans for me to stay there so I gathered my three bags and booze and headed to the bank to get some au $. The money is a lot different. There are coins for $2, $1, and the bills are really colorful. I like this money a lot better than ours haha.

I got on a bus to Bondi junction, a place famous for the amazing surf. It also has a tv show called Bondi Resucue haha. I found myself in front of a club blasting the loudest bass I've ever heard at 5:00pm broad daylight. I know some kids living in Bondi, so I'm sure I'll be acquainted with that place pretty soon haha. I quickly caught a cab, and the driver had no idea where Beanca's apartment was, but luckily she told me that it's by the famous Coogee Bay Hotel. Got dropped off gave him some money I wasn't really sure about, and got a $2 coin back-they don't tip at all here.

So after my long almost 20 hour journey I was seeing a familiar face and unloaded all my bags into her apartment, got ready, and went out for a drink down the street with Beanca and Eddie, another exchange student. We went to the Coogee Bay Hotel bar/beer garden and i got to use my money again to buy a "jug of cider".

It's a pitcher

of Strongbow, and it hit the spot. I did lose an entire day while flying, so though I left on saturday morning I arrived sunday

afternoon. Therefore the bar closed as soon as we finished our last sips and we headed home to crash by midnight from a long, but extremely exciting day.

Today is going to be pretty hectic, I have registration for classes, signing my lease, getting bus passes, id cards and finally moving into my own place. There isn't a time I'm not within view of the ocean though, so far, and I am already convinced that this is one of the best decisions I have ever made.

Love,

Lees

New address

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Going to be living in Coogee Beach-have 2 roommates and internet...So far this sounds absolutely perfect to me!

2 Weeks to go!

The background of this blog is a picture of exactly where I am going to be (Coogee Beach) in about 2 weeks. My journey is starting off in Honolulu, Hawaii for a few days and then I'm officially leaving the country on February 12th. I'm making an Australia bucket list right now, if I can get 75% of it done by the end of the semester I'll be happy...

In no particular order

• scuba dive the great barrier reef
• Lake Manapouri
• nomad through the outback (starting in darwin, ending up in Cairns)
• explore sydney
• make the trek to Melbourne
• See Tasmania
• Figi
• Visit friends in New Zealand
• See a kangaroo, Koala, etc
• See the three sisters
• Hike in the blue mountains
• Put shrimp on a barbie
• eat a vegemite sandwich
• surfer's paradise

I'm thinking that will grow over time, but that's what i'm starting off with. I am anticipating the best semester of my life, and I'm pretty sure I won't be disappointed.