I was nothing but excited to go to Australia. For the months of December and January, it was practically all I could think about. I learned soon on in my application process that if I went to ANU, not only would be the only person from Wesleyan going to Australia, I would be the only person in my program to go to that school. I would be completely blind, not knowing anyone at all. I got really excited about this. This situation was a perfect situation to test myself: can I go and live on the other side of the world not knowing anyone at all and make a name for myself and survive? Can I become a citizen of the globalized world?
With those questions in my mind, I left the United States on February 6th and after over 24 hours of flying and travelling, I arrived in Sydney, Australia on the 8th. Flying was all just one giant blur. At the airport in Sydney, I immediately met the IFSA- Butler people and made some friends. There was Matt and Jay, two other guys from Nescac schools (Colby and Hamilton.) Then there was Jacqueline, Julia, and Olivia. The IFSA people took us on a bus to our hostel at the Rocks, a neighborhood in Sydney that was historically inhabited by convicts. Currently, it overlooks the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge, making it one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Sydney; a city that is already extremely expensive. After getting settled, we took a walking tour of the city where we saw the business district, the Rum Hospital, and the botanical gardens. To me, Sydney seemed like New York City if it was warm and tropical. After the tour of Sydney, my friends and I went to a bar called Frankies. It was a really grungy bar and had $10 beer and shots, but it was fun because the bartender, Odessa, was awesome. Apparently, the place had good pizza too; but I never actually tried any. We then had to go back because our program was going to a nice restaurant for dinner. But we returned later that night (after Jay bought a $40 pack of cigarettes) to a packed bar played grunge music. However, it wasn’t our scene so we soon left the bar to roam the streets of Sydney to find a better club…we never did.
On the second day, we took a trip into the Blue Mountains. First we stopped at Featherdale Wildlife Park just outside of Sydney. Wildlife parks are just like zoos except they claim to provide more enrichment for the animals and all of the animals were native to Australia. The park was pretty cool; there was even a kangaroo hopping around in the open, which the zookeepers didn’t seem to mind.
After the park, we headed into the mountains. But first, I want to talk about Eucalyptus trees. These bad boys are weird. For example, they don’t shed leaves; they shed bark. Eucalyptus leaves are toxic as well, so when it gets really hot out, the trees secrete a blue haze, hence the name for the Blue Mountains. Also, they explode when they catch on fire, so do what you want with that information. Anyways, we get to this mountain town called Katoomba, which means “water falling over the rocks” or something along the lines. Katoomba is pretty cool because it has spectacular views of the Jamieson Valley. From this scenic outlook, you take the Giant’s Staircase (a path used by the aboriginals for hundreds, if not thousands of years) down into the rainforests. Upon reaching the bottom, we then took a steep train back up to the top. The train was like a roller coaster lift. We then took a trip to an aboriginal presentation and also designed and painted boomerangs.
We then took the bus back to Sydney. That night, we went to a club called Ivy. Even the line to get in was enormous, but we did end up finally getting in. The club was huge, 7 floors with an indoor pool. The club took up the entire street block. People said it was a really trashy club, which I can see, but I had fun.
On the third and final day in Sydney, the gang and I decided to go to Manly Beach (the beach was named Manly Beach because upon European Arrival, they never encountered a group of men more manly than the aboriginals.) Getting to Manly was extremely easy. All we had to do was walk down from our hostel to the Circular Quay (harbor) and take the ferry over. The ferry was a very east 20 minute scenic ride. Once we got to Manly, it was less than a 10 minute walk to the beach. The way to the beach was lined with shops and plazas too. When we got to the beach, we found out that we could only go into the water in a relatively small section between 2 flags because it was too dangerous to be in the water anywhere else, but the water was nice! After the beach we grabbed some fried food and headed back to Sydney. That night we had a cruise around the harbor, and then promptly engaged in shenanigans afterwards. Thus concluded my first trip in Australia: Sydney. If I could describe it in only a few words, I would describe it as an expensive and tropical New York.