Study Abroad, Chapter 3: Last Week of Freedom Before School Starts!
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This week started off rather early with a 9:00am Econ Orientation Session. I ended up getting a free lunch out of it, so waking up early on a Monday morning wasn’t all too bad! After Orientation I headed into downtown to look for a job, ending my search with a couple of possibilities. I’m not being too selective on where I will work as minimum wage here is around $25/hour. Ideally my job (if I actually end up getting one) will be in the hospitality industry: a restaurant, retail store or bar. My goal is to immerse myself in Aussie culture versus sitting behind a desk in an office somewhere.
After my mildly successful job search, I headed back to SUV (where I live) for some free pizza and trivia. It was whack, so I left. Somehow I ended up at a friend’s house on the other side of town. From there we decided to join a Pub Crawl that was happening on King Street. It was fun as we made a bunch of new friends.
King Street, Newtown
Tuesday rolled around. I woke up before 11:00am as that was my pre-set time to register for classes. My timetable isn’t looking too bad, as I have a four day weekend every week as Monday and Tuesday are my gap days. After picking classes I headed out to do a bit of grocery shopping and laundry. Oh, and I bought a TV for my room! Later that afternoon one of my roommates (Lucy, the Aussie one) invited a bunch of her friends over to drink and chill on our balcony. It was fun and I learned how to drink for next to no money ($5 boxed wine + juice = “goon”). My other roommate (Mel, the Austrian one) cooked a bunch of pasta, and was about to throw away the extra before I noticed (free dinner!!). I ended up staying in to recover that night, and I’m glad I did as Wednesday night ended up getting a bit crazy.
The view from my balcony.
All day Wednesday I sat around doing nothing until about 7:00pm. The plan was to hit up a $10 all-you-can-eat/all-you-can-drink Thai buffet to stuff ourselves with copious amounts of food and wine. After the buffet we all headed to the UniLodge (another apartment complex on the other side of campus). The UniLodge has a rooftop pool, which is where our other friends were at. After getting to there, we realized that none of us actually wanted to go swimming, so we left for a bar. And so began our own little pub crawl on Broadway. We jumped from bar to bar, ending our night with some drunken Karaoke.
The UniLodge
On Thursday I headed into the city to meet up with a friend for some lunch. After lunch he had to go back to work, but I decided to give myself a walking tour of Darling Harbour and the Opera House. It’s beautiful. I intend to go jogging around the area next time I have some free time, but that day I wasn’t wearing proper jogging clothes. Instead, I headed back to SUV to workout at Newtown Gym. Later that night we invited a few friends over and threw a balcony party at our apartment.
Beautiful view of Syndey's iconic Opera House.
Friday came and went. That night I ended up at The Ivy, and probably spent way too much money. I didn’t even intend to go out, but these two girls I had met at the UniLodge two nights before wanted to see me. I’m not one to turn down a good time, so I got dressed and went. It was a bit overrated, though I will probably go back.
Oh, but Saturday was ridiculous. Every year Sydney plays host to the world’s largest gay festival and parade. They call it Mardi Gras, and I promise it’s just as ridiculous as Mardi Gras back home (probably even more so as everyone here is gay). In good fashion, our friends all dressed up in comical sailor outfits and headed out to catch the parade. Words cannot describe what I saw. I hope I can one day blur out all the nudist transexuals and other weird creatures that were walking around that night.
To give you a little taste of Sydney's gay Mardi Gras parade...
Sunday has turned out to be just another recovery day. Woke up to a free Bar-B-Q downstairs and now I write this entry. Tonight I will most probably stay in as tomorrow is our first day of classes. If you would like to keep in touch, why not sign up to receive email updates whenever I post? Click here.
RELATED POSTS:
- Study Abroad, Chapter 4: First Week of Class!
- Study Abroad, Chapter 2: What’s Up Sydney!?
- Study Abroad, Chapter 5: Same Old, Same Old.
- Study Abroad, Chapter 1: Sorrento & Melbourne