So I've arrived!! All it took was 45 minute flight from Boston to New York City, a 6 hour layover in JFK, a 5 hour flight to Los Angeles, an hour layover in LAX, and then a 16 hour flight to Sydney before I walked out into the warm 65* weather in Australia at 10:30 am Thursday December 1st. Whew!
The program I booked with is in partnership with Outback Packers, who has been in charge of our accommodations here in Sydney for a few days. They supplied us a shuttle bus ride from the airport to X-Base hostel, which is located on Kent St in Sydney and then a three nights stay. I've never been in an hostel before so it's pretty neat to meet so many people who are basically doing the exact same thing I am doing, however I thought my days of running down the hall in a towel to take a shower were over when I moved out of the dorms sophomore year - psych! But it's nice to have a home base and a place to relax and refresh which was so crucial after such a long trip. I'm staying in a 10 person room - but luckily got a bottom bunk in the corner so it's not bad. They have internet access (24 hours for $8) and laundry ($8 for a wash/dry! And we thought $1.75 was bad!) facilities. It's also right in the middle of Sydney so it's super easy to go out and explore. There are also plenty of stores; I've been able to get a converter and toiletries so the only other thing on my arrival to-do list is to unlock my iPhone to see if I can use it here instead of buying another cheap phone. (Which is MUCH more complicated than it seems, so if anyone has a trusted unlock method online let me know!) It's all about doing things cheaply, so walking has been the main way to get around from sight to sight. Which honestly is my preferred way to get around, especially when I can do so in shorts and sandals!
As I've said I've met quite a few people, but the most important person is Louisa who the only other person who enrolled with Outback Packers through RealGap like I did. She is from England and has been traveling around Asia before coming to Sydney a few days before I did. We've been hanging out and getting to know one another, comparing likes and dislikes and similarities and differences between America and England. As she's been here a few days already she has been able to do a bit of touristy sightseeing, so today we did a few things that she hasn't done yet, which honestly were a few of the things I would have preferred to do anyway. Because we are staying at X-Base we get quite a few deals on tourist packages around the city so today we went to the Sydney Wildlife Center and Aquarium and then to the top of the Sydney Tower - the second highest point in the Southern Hemisphere!! (<-- advertising gimmick...) It was really cool - got tons of pictures the local wildlife and views of the city from above. Tomorrow is our last day in Sydney, and we were thinking of visiting some of the local beaches, like Bondi and Manly, and as it is going to be good weather and rather inexpensive that seems like our best option. And then on Sunday morning we have to get up early to catch a 7:10 train to our training ranch in Coonabarabran. The original plan was to take a 6 hour bus ride, but there has been some flooding here so we are taking the train instead - which I'm assuming will have us arriving to the training ranch a few hours ahead of schedule.
But until then I'm trying to soak in as much of Sydney as I can - while not spending loads of money! It's a pretty cool city - it's really open and clean and because it's fairly young and was all built around the same time it has this sort of uniform architecture and color scheme. Naturally I've walked to the Sydney Opera House and took loads of pictures. But overall I find that there aren't many discernible characteristics that set Sydney apart from others. It's very developed with many stores and shops that you would find in America. And though most of the people talk in an accent, the fashion is basically the same too. The one difference is how many Asian people there are! But after thinking about it I realized that it makes sense because we are much closer to Asia here than we are at home.
And speaking of home: I've found that most other developed countries don't have a particular fondness of America as I experienced in Africa. For example I met a boy from Denmark and our conversation went like this: "I'm from Denmark, what about you?" "I'm from America" "Oh/Ew (I would spell it like 'oh' but it sounded like 'ew') America? I don't like Americans." Haha, like WHAT! (He actually said that, by the way.) But apparently many other people have the same reaction - just not quite as blunt about it. Which is very interesting - I guess I know that Americans have a stigma attached to them , I just forgot about it after the welcome we received in Africa. So personally I think it's quite funny, but I never thought that I would consider telling people I was from Canada before Vermont. I think I'm just going to stop saying America and just say Vermont and let them sort out where Vermont actually is (wait, is that in Stowe?) before they judge me as a stereotypical loud, on-my-way-to-obesity, commercialized American that voted for G.W. Bush (HA! sorry, had to get that one in there...) and supports the cutting down of rain forests and unethical treatment of kicking puppies. Oh America. Or should I say 'merica!!
Well I'm about to meet Louis to go check out a market near the Sydney Harbor and get a bite for dinner. Let me know if you have any specific questions and I'll do my best to answer them the next time I can post, which will probably be once we are at the training ranch on Sunday or Monday (Australia time).
Miss you all!
xoxo Zee
(And I did try to post pictures, but it took FOREVER so I gave up. Sorry. Kinda)
America! Fuck Yea!
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