Week 14: Final Days! Santa is in Town

My flight out of Sydney is less than one week! How crazy is that?! Like I knew it would, this semester abroad has been unforgettable and far to fast. I know I will be dreaming of the sunny beaches and busy weekend markets while I’m crammed in a corner in Bartley Hall (the home of the Villanova business student).

My last weekend in Sydney has been spent in some of my favorite spots. Friday night after a late gym session with Chelsea, a few of us girls went to a cool Mexican-styled bar called Tio’s and I splurged on a recommended passionfruit margarita. It was good, but the cheap margeritas back home in our authentic Groveland restaurants definitely win.

Saturday I had the most amazing brunch at a place called Jed’s near Bondi Beach. Chelsea convinced me that I would love (and in fact, did) their vegetarian Japanese-inspired brunch option. This brunch bowl was served with chopsticks and made with red quinoa, eggs, and teriyaki tofu, then topped with seaweed, avocado, and teriyaki sauce – YUM!! My two loves of Asian food and brunch combined – what more can a girl ask for? Afterwards, I explored the Paddington markets and nearby thrift stores and shops. I’m really going to miss all of the weekend markets here – literally every Sydney suburb has one! My favorite for cheap items is the Glebe market, but I love the more touristy Rocks market too because they have the best Turkish gozelme. I also stopped this Saturday by my most frequented market, Paddy’s, for some produce and spices to bring home.

Sunday started bright and early with the Santa Fun Run 5K with my roommate Julie and a small group from the BU program. 4000 Sydney siders and tourists ran/walked side by side in identical red santa costumes from Darling Harbour to the Opera House. Seeing the steps of the Opera House covered in Santas was fantastic and so festive. It truly was a fun run, but it makes me more and more excited to head home for the holidays here in a few weeks! Yay holiday cheer!!!

I’m wrapping up my final Sydney Sunday in my favorite book café Berkelouw near Surry Hills. This place is great – the first floor is new books and cool, kitchy items like teapots and old-fashioned board games; the second floor, where I am now sipping my flat white coffee on an old leather couch, has a cute café and tables/chairs for reading with a nice view overlooking Oxford Street; the third floor is filled with shelves of secondhand books.

Tentative plans for this week: Zoo (Monday), Final Exam (Tuesday), Brunch/Beach (Wednesday), fly out to Melbourne on Thursday!!

Week 12/13: Rain Hits Sydney

Thank God for moms who remind you that "You're behind on your blog..." Or even better, "I like you friends' blogs better." Sherri 2 - Lyndsay 0.

The past two weeks have been unfortunately rainy here, though my 21st birthday was last week! Not quite as exciting overseas when you can already drink, but still a milestone I suppose... I'm not a huge fan of people making a huge deal out of my own birthday, though I was thrilled with all of the suprises. My mom managed to have miniature cupcakes sent to my internship office, and my Big Chelsea and Little Mandy sent me flowers to my apartment in downtown Sydney. My birthday evening after work was spent atop the Sydney Habour Bridge overlooking the city and surrouding harbours with my roommates Chelsea and Julie. The rain fortunately subsided that evening, and we watched the sunset from the top of the bridge. It was truly beautiful, though we couldn't bring cameras up for liability purposes and you'll just have to take my word for it. I was nervous for my interview of Yahoo Australia's CFO the next morning, so it was a fairly uneventful night, but Chelsea brought the roommates together at Baxter's for more cupcakes (FACT: I love cupcakes) and some champagne before heading home.

Last weekend was pretty rainy, so there were a fair amount of hours spent at Starbucks getting work done (aka pretending to work and singing along to the Michael Buble Christmas songs playing). Actually though, it was spent loooking for Spring/Summer work and internships. While I might not be ready to leave yet, my wallet most definitely is!

Looking forward this weekend to a Saturday brunch and hopefully some beach time if the weather clears up :)

Week 11: Markets, Festivals, and the Melbourne Cup

Last Tuesday was the Melbourne Cup, "the race that stops the nation" here in Australia. For those that can't be in Melbourne to celebrate the horse race, it's an excuse for a short day at the office and drinking festivities. Many of my friends had office parties with their coworkers or the day off entirely. Since my office isn't really "Australian" though, our staff being from all over the world, we didn't have too much excitement in our building. At the end of the day however we drank wine and spontaneously bet amongst ourselves on one of the races, and I won $20! Woo!

Friday night, Nikita and I went down to the Rocks for what was supposed to be a Night Bazaar. It wasn't as big as we thought it would be, but we watched an entertaining colonial storyteller for a bit and split some vegetarian dumplings before exploring the Hole in the Sky bar. As part of the event, we received bird masks to put on when entering the venue. The bar was small, but three stories tall, and everything was white (floor, chairs, tables, etc.) Everyone sat on the floor. In one small corner was a black birds nest that a few people were sitting in too.... so strange. We stayed maybe 5 minutes before leaving for a bar we had been wanting to try near the Quay called Palmer & Co. We ended up meeting a guy getting married on Sunday and being entertained by his extremely drunk best man, who was trying to find somewhere to dance. Great bar, especially compared to the bird bar.... eek.

Saturday I took a personal day to explore the Glebe markets and check out Watsons Bay. The Glebe markets have an ecletic mix of stalls, many of the clothing tents being what looks like rich girls selling their closets to make money (rows of hangers with cute clothes for $10 from brands like Top Shop, Zara, etc.) I also had some AMAZING lemonade... there's something about fresh squeezed lemonade on a hot day that never fails to delight. Watsons Bay was a ferry ride away, and boasts fresh fish n' chips by the dock. The ferry ride was beautiful (still a Florida girl at heart I guess - I love being on the water), and I managed to find Camp Cove, which is a small beach area away from the touristy dock area. The water was perfectly clear, and felt great on such a hot day. Watson's Bay is great because it definitely has a small ocean villlage feel, but in the distance you an see the outline of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

Sunday was rainy and a bit dreary. The Newtown Festival was still on, and even though I missed out on the dog show in the morning on account of the rain, I went for a few hours in the afternoon with Chelsea for some good food, live music, and shopping. We even got a free smoothie from a lady making them on the back of her bike (when she peddaled, it blended the drink. So cool!!).  In the monring I killed a few hours at Starbucks to get some work done and get of the apartment. Even though it's out of my way, I've made my way over there a couple times this past week because they have Chrsitmas music playing and I just love it! Australian Starbucks coffee is pretty crap, but the atmosphere is still great and I usually get my favorite seat in a window seat over looking Darling Harbour and the boats.


Also a S/O to my mom and family for the birthday package! I was mentioning to Chelsea last week how I haven't gotten any mail in Australia (understandably). My favorite part of the box were handmade cards from Eric and Michael though, that looked like two year olds drew them. I showed them to my roommates, and they were like "Oh cute! How old is you brother, like 4 or 5?" HA!

Week 11: Festival of Dangerous Ideas - Re:Savage Advice

This past weekend, I headed to the Sydney Opera house to hear a few dangerous ideas. FODI is relatively new annual event in Sydney that brings speakers from all over the world to discuss some pretty controversial and unconventtonal topics. I attended two talks: "Savage Advice" by Dan Savage and "End of Men" by Hanna Rosin.

While the talk is still fresh in my mind, I thought I'd write down my opinion of Dan Savage's speech:

First off, Dan Savage is an excellent entertainer. His honest vulgarity is entertaining and relateable. Here Savage discussed his belief in and concept of monogomish relationships. As a married gay man in an open relationship, Savage relayed his idea that fully monogomous relationships are unnatural and oftentimes dangerous to long term partnership. Based on the truth that we are innately sexual creatures and are physically attracted to other people (Savage: "We all want to f*** other people!"), Savage explains that monogomish relationships are oftentimes more practical, happy, and healthy (in some sense of the word). He does acknowledge however that these types of relationships are not for everyone, and he doesn't recommend everyone goes out now to cheat on their partners. This is a pretty simplified summary of course, and you'd have to read more of his work to get a better idea of his arguements.

Still not entirely sure how I feel about all of this monogomous vs. monogomish talk, but here are my immediate thoughts: 1) I can see why conservative religious people fundamentally disagree with and  hate Savage and his ideas. 2) Religion aside, there are definitely some ideas I agree with here. I don't think anyone can debate Savage's claim that we are all attracted to other people regardless of your current relationship status, age, beliefs, etc. I can also understnad and support the claim that many open relationships may in fact be stronger, healthier, and longer lasting then purely monogmous relationships. 3) The whole talk, however, I seemed to be caught up on this opinion - Even though this idea of monogomoish relationships satisfies some of our innate human desires and tendences and may make us happier, does that mean it's necessarily a good idea? Just because I desire chocoloate and it makes me happy, does indulging in it make it a good idea? I don't know... food for thought.

Week 10: Wildcats to Kiwis: Weekend in Auckland

My spontaneous trip to visit Xenia in Auckland last weekend was just what I needed. After going Friday night to a new place called Mojo Record Bar with Chelsea (really cool bar with fantastic beer - my new Aussie favorite is Stone & Wood's Pacific Ale), I was exhuasted by the time I made it into Auckland Saturday at 12pm NZ time. I was running on a few hours of sleep, but seeing one of my best friends on the other side of the world - "Is this real life?" - was beyond worth it. We started off the afternoon by walking through the main shopping street of the city and grabbing some coffee and cookies. We then met up with Xenia's friend Kelsie and walked along the harbour looking at the ships. Xenia and Kelsie that week had meet some of the crew members for one of the largest boats docked there, so we were on the hunt to find it (which we did!). We grabbed a couple happy hour drinks then before meeting up with Tommy (another fellow Villanovan) and heading towards Mount Eden for a beautiful view of the city. We rounded off the night with pizza and beers at a little Italian restaurant in the city in an outdoor seating area.

Sunday, Xenia, Tommy, and I spent most of the day a ferry ride away at Waiheke Island. We did a few hours of hiking along the coast of the island, and finished in a little beach town where we found fresh fish and chips. We stumbled upon this little nugget of insight too. Love it.

Seeing Xenia reminded me that even though I'll miss my life in Sydney, I'm excited to get back to the Villanova bubble to see all of my friends again. And make some money... I'm sure I'll be complaining about it a a few weeks in, but until then - SEE YOU SOON CATS<3

Week 9: Work Week, Social Weekend

We officially started our program internships this week. Tuesday through Thursday, 10-4pm (prime hours, I know) I intern at an online startup that "connects aspirational women to inspirational mentors" - PropellHer. The office (by office of course I mean apartment... startup, remember?) is located in Waterloo, about a 30 minute walk from my building in central city. I'm technically titled the Relationship Management intern, but as we know in startups, titles are very loose - a more accurate title would be: general assistant/social media helper/tea lady/grassroots spokesperson/cat walker. The last one is especially important. Frankie is our office cat, and if I feel like grabbing a coffee during the day, I have to hook him up to his leash and bring him with me - it's fantastic.

Also, you may know that the Blue Mountains near us here in Sydney are in a state of emergency due to massive brush fires. We've had a few days of intensely smoke-filled skies, and I took this picture above walking home from work last week. The sun is the little red circle on the top right. Freaky, huh?

On Saturday, a few of my roommates and I headed over to the outdoor Rocks market before heading accross the harbour to Manly. I indulged in a spinach, mushroom, and cheese gozelme for lunch (like a turkish crepe; see picture on the left) YUM and bought some post cards. At Manly, my roommate Nikita and I spent the afternoon at the annual Cider Festival at Hotel Steyne on the beach. I had 10 taster tickets and couldn't even manage to use them all since they filled the glasses so high! Anyways, it was an adorable fall festival type setup with hay bushels, candy apples, and wooden stands. Besides all of the usual apple and pear ciders, they had some other interesting flavors that I loved like Stassen's Eldenflower and Lime - delicious. I love that cider is so big on this side of the world, because it doesn't seem so popular in the States.

On Sunday, Chelsea and I used our Groupon on a small group wine tour in Hunter Valley. Small is somewhat of an overstatment actually - there were only four of us total, the other two guests being a young Irish couple living in Surry Hills. We went to four wineries of varying sizes, a cheese shop, chocolate shop, and sparking wine shop (aka champagne). The Irish girl Michelle and I tended towards sweeter wines, usually white, while Chelsea and the Irish boyfriend prefered bolder red wines - merlots and shirazs. Hunter Valley is known for its semillon wines and a uniqe type of wine called Verdelho, a white wine made from a Portuguese grape that thrives in the Australian climate.

Week 8: Backpacking New Zealand

For my semester break, I spent a week backpacking the south island of New Zealand with my roommate Chelsea. We literally walked straight out of our exams to the train station around the corner to catch our plane on Friday afternoon, October 4th (a little behind on my blog updates, I know). Our adventure then really began the following morning on an 8-hour bus ride to Queenstown on Saturday, from where we would jump on the Stray Travel bus for the remainder of the trip.

Our week was too long and jam packed to write about, so here are the notes I kept during my travels:

Friday

• Straight from finals to flight
• Stayed in the Christchurch airport lounge after landing at 1am until 7:30am bus
• Lounge had beanbags and backpackers sleeping everywhere 

 

Saturday

• 8.5 hour bus ride to Queenstown
• Stopped in local town farmers market - oat & caramel bar - yum!!
• Checked into 12 person dorm room at Nomads Hostel
• Dinner at local fish and chips stand down the street - fries and spring rolls
• Hot chocolate/wifi at local chocolate shop
• Teapot drinks at The Find with 3 roommates from Brisbane

Sunday 

• Nevis bungy and tandem canyon
• AWESOME tempura tofu burger lunch at Fergburger
• 3.5 hour bike ride to Jack's Point along the lake
• Ciders and dinner at Longhorn pub
• Reading and cards night with the Brisbane boys at the hostel

Monday 

• "Good old New Zealand - its the way the world used to be" - tour guide Kerrry
• First day of Stray tour - hilarious tour guide and group of only 6 travelers (Kerry calls himself Uncle F*** F***)
• Mirror Lake, Milford Sound Cruise, Valley of Disappearing Trees, Mnkey's Creek (filled up water bottle with pure glacier runoff water)
• Staying in single rooms at Te Anau motel - huge kitchen to make dinner, comfy lounge area, beautiful outdoor cabin feel 

Tuesday

• Late 10am start from Te Anau towards Invercargill
• First stop, controversial windmills - locals think it takes away from the natural landscape
• Cool public restroom stop with automated door/paper dispenser and 10min limit. Also, cued elevator music when lock activated
• Invercargill museum stop to see Burt Monro motorcycle and documentary then lunch at Noodle Canteen
• 5pm ferry to Stewart Island. Best commentary of the day from Kerry: "Yeh I went snorkeling with hump back wales! Did ya know they have five foot penises?! Far out huh?!" Haha!!!
• 4 bed backpackers hostel with big kitchen and comfy couches/puzzles but SO COLD
• Quick walk after dinner to bay then ciders with Chelsea and Kerry at the southern most pub in the world - South Sea Hotel  (picture below)

Wednesday

• Stewart Island: Sunrise jog to Fishmen's Point. Brekkie at hostel. Then hiking from Observation Rock to Dead Man's Cove and Horseshoe Bay. Intense trails! 3.5 hour trip
• Beer batter mussels and chips at South Sea Hotel. Delicious!
• Stop at Park n Save in Invercargill on bus ride back to Queenstown for the night
• Upgraded to 10 person room at Nomads w/bathroom  

Thursday

• Bus to Mt.Cook
• Rainy day in the valleys, so stuck in the converted hotel for the afternoon... watched Love Potion #9 and later played Quiz Night at the hotel bar
• Quiz team name: "2 Americans..." - last place.... Free pitcher of lager for participating though!

Friday

• Weet Bix challenge on the bus since we were late. 2 min to eat one bar - eek! Kind of like saltine challenge
• Rangitata Rafting day! Awesome 2.5 hour trip with 5-stage rapids. Guide Mike was HYSTERICAL! At the end of river, cliff jumping.
• Group games in the hostel: Scrabble, UK version of taboo, Box challenge
• Super nice hostel with three level bunk beds!!

Saturday

• Re:Start coffee cafe and shopping in Christchurch
• Christchurch botanical gardens and rebuild bus tour
  • Hurricanes on 2010/11 leave the city in a major state of construction and rebuilding
  • Beautiful reconstruction so far! Very quaint artsy feel being established... quesidillas @ Mexican food stand in contruction park
• Burlesque show in Hornby - really weird
• Walked 5 miles to the airport on a highway

And just a couple other great pictures...