February 21

Sorry I haven’t written in awhile. I have a lot to catch you up on. Right now I’m sitting at an apartment right on a beach called Coogee. Litterally ON the beach, it’s amazing. This is where I’m staying for the next 2 nights until I move into my place. Yes, I found a place finally in a town called Glebe. Its about 15 minute walk from my school. It’s a big Victorian house with a bout 15 rooms filled with students. I’m sharing a room with someone, but haven’t met her yet. That should be interested. Anyway, I’m staying with my friend Daniel Major from New Treir for the next couple nights, small world, right?! He’s on a program with kids from all different universities so I’ve met a lot of his friends. Jenna is going out of town with her cousins and her brother left yesterday so I’m fending for myself tonight.

Aside from still living out of a suitcase, things have been really good here. We went to the Sydney Aquarium, it was so cool. They had this tunnel set up underwater where sharks, fish, sting rays, and other scary looking things swim all around you. It was so scary to be so upclose to them. But I better get used to seeing sharks for when I go scuba diving (just kidding, mom).
One of the things I haven’t liked about Sydney is how expensive everything is. It says a lot that I had a McDonalds meal and it cost me $8 bucks. That is pathetic. It’s near impossible to find a meal under $15 bucks. I also hate how early everything closes here. All stores close around 6pm and even some pubs close around 11pm which is just weird for a big city. Also, the transportation system basically stops at midnight so if you’re out past then, you have to take a heaping expensive cab back home. And yes, that is Aussie lingo. When you’re talking about a lot of something, everyone says “heaps”. It’s funny.

Let’s see, what else… Jenna’s brother was dying to see the movie There Will Be Blood so we saw that the other day. I didn’t think it was that good even though it got great reviews. I found it a little ubsurd and that it didn’t have much of a plot. After that, I had this really good Thai meal but it quickly turned sour when it gave me my first dose of heartburn and then got me sick. That was not so fun, but I lived.

The sun here is soo strong! I practically have to bathe in sunscreen. But I’m getting some color which is really nice! I’m sick of my white legs reflecting the sun into people’s eyes. But somehow I’ve still managed to make a lot of friends from all over. We had an orientation for international students and I met a group of people from Germany and Canada and I’ve been hanging out with them a bunch. We all just signed up to go on a weekend trip to surf camp!!! How cool is that?!?! I can’t wait. Yesterday was the most beautiful day since I’ve been here, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. So we spent the day at the beach swimming in the ocean. About midday, they make an announcement that there are blue-bottles coming in and to stay out of the water because 50 people were stung in the last half hour!! Jenna and I looked at the sand and there were about 100 washed up on shore. It was so crazy. They’re very weird looking and see through with blue tentacles about a foot long. Thankfully, I didn’t get stung! Last night, Jenna and I went to a bar and met a crew from Northwestern. I dropped the name Norris Center Bookstore (their sschool’s bookstore which I worked over break) and they were like woahhh, how do you know that?!!! It was funny.

I can’t think of what else I’m forgetting to mention but I’m going to go have lunch now. Hope everyone is doing well!!