My Trip to Manly

Apparently Manly, a beach city on the northern shore, is one of Sydney's most popular seaside destinations. And I am lucky enough to know someone who lives there. My friend Jason, who I used to work with at Insight, was transferred to Sydney for work and I met up with him on Saturday.

Even though the Manly Ferry takes about 30 minutes from Circular Quay, and the last ferry back to the city is at midnight (which I missed), I have to say Manly is a pretty cool place. It seems to be much more laid back than the city- very much the beach life atmosphere. We went to a bunch of different bars on the water and along the main strip. One place we went had a casino area and Jason insisted on playing slot machines, or rather a specific slot machine that had been lucky for him in the past. But I guess I was bad-luck because I'm pretty sure he lost $100.
My favorite part about going to Manly was that I finally got to see a beach and even put my toes in the ocean. It was night time so the view wasn't great, but the next day we drove past the water and even went to North Head which is incredible because it looks over the harbour on one side and then the pacific ocean on the other. It was really cool and lots of fun!

Lions and Tigers and Bears...

Or rather... Koalas and Meerkats and Kangaroos ... Oh my!
This weekend I went to Taronga Zoo with my friend Lisa. It was amazing and I think I took a hundred pictures, no exaggeration. First off, you have to take a ferry to the other side of the harbour and the zoo is on a hill right on the water overlooking the city. Basically an amazing view for the animals and for picture taking.

My favorite exhibit was probably the koalas because they looked so funny sleeping in the trees in crazy positions, and they were a lot fluffier than I imagined. The chimps were cool too because the were so "human-like". Did you know that humans can get blood transfusions from chimps? When I got there I was excited to see the kangaroos because surprisingly I haven't seen any since I've been here. But apparently they're no big deal because they were kept in this far off corner where no one went. Also, they were all asleep and not very exciting- boo.

The newest addition to the zoo is a baby Pygmy Hippo, named Monifa (almost my namesake). It supposedly looks like a tiny eggplant, but unfortunately we missed the viewing. Anyway, like I said it was awesome and, bonus, I finally managed to get a tan on my arms- sweet!

My Favorite Evening in Sydney

Yesterday I went to a welcome reception at the Opera House with Inga. It was for international students at my uni (UTS) and also from University of Sydney and University of New South Wales. It was pretty cool because it was inside the Opera House in this reception area that overlooked the Harbour. And at one point we even snuck into the concert hall to take pictures.

After some appetizers, champagne and chatting with other students, Inga and I decided to go to the Opera Bar, which was is right next to the Opera House and on the water. What a perfect night! The weather was great, albeit a little windy. And we watched the sun set over the Harbour Bridge while drinking wine and eating oysters. We had great conversation and lots of laughs.

Of course I should mention that on the way back, Inga threw up in the train and then fell asleep on me, but everything before that was exellent. Ha! Also when I got back to my flat my roommates were going out and invited me along. So I got to hang out with Will and Jen for the first time outside the flat. So... life is good!

Just a couple gals...

... sitting on a park bench in the middle of the night in the red light district of Sydney, drinking cans of Gin & Tonic out of plastic bags. Classy!

Friday at Home

I had a late class tonight and I have an all day session tomorrow starting at 9am. So, even though its Friday I think tonight is going to be very low key. On my way home I stopped at Sushi World because I have been craving sushi ever since I got here! And they do have "California Roll"- yay!Look how cute it is... First the rolls were not cut into pieces and apparently its okay to eat them like a hotdog (as I saw one girl doing), but I cut mine into pieces for old times sake. But I gotta say, my favorite part is the soy sauce- look at the packaging- its plastic fish with a twist off nose. Ha!

Well, I just took a sleeping pill, since recently I've been staying up until 3am watching old episodes of "House" online. I really gotta get some sleep tonight because I have a full day of class tomorrow- yes, on Saturday!

Goodnight!... or Good Morning!

St. Paddy's Day and More...

Happy Belated St. Patrick's Day! I am so jealous of all the stories and pics I see on facebook. But, I did manage to get out and celebrate too. I went to an Irish pub called Paddy Maguires with Jackie and some of her friends. Unfortunately, I didn't have any green beer but I did have tequilla shots (huh?) and I tried a new drink- kind of. It was a beer cider (Catherine's fav!) with black currant added. It was bright red and so sweet and delish!
Since, it was a "school night" we only stayed out until 1am or so. But before we headed back we stopped to get late night fast food. We went to a place called "Hungry Jacks". I implore you to visit the website for this fast food chain. Does it remind you of a chain in America with a similar logo and identical menu? Very strange...

The next day after sleeping until 2pm, I went to the movies with Lisa (shes one of the girls I met at the Meet-up, from Montreal). We saw "Confessions of a Shopoholic". I have to say that although I did love the entire book series, the movie was completely different except maybe the names. I mean, hello!, the main character is supposed to be British (in the books) and instead they made her American! Oh well, it was still cute and a good excuse to get to the movies.

Since then I have been trying to be a good student. Actually I just finished my very first assignment. I had to write a paper for my Event Creation Workshop class and I chose to write about Mardi Gras. It was hard trying to remember how to write papers and create constructive arguments... its been five years after all. But I think... or hope... its okay because I am so over it!

PS- Happy birthday sis! I wish I could be there to celebrate with you!

Girls Night Out

Last night I went out clubbing in Sydney for the first time. I went with my friend from class, Jackie- pictured below. She's from South Africa and incidentally we have all the same classes together. She is also studying Event Management.
So, we went out with her flatmates and some of their friends. Oh and one of her roommates is actually American, from Denver- so there are other Americans here, who knew? Anyway we went out to Darling Harbour. I'd been there before during the day, but apparently at night time it turns into a huge party spot. There are so many clubs and bars all around the harbour.

I don't remember the names of the places we went to, but I do remember that I caused the group to not get into one of the clubs...typical! No actually, it was because I was wearing flip flops, or "thongs" as the door guy called them and I was all like 'Hello! You're lucky I'm wearing any underwear at all!'- Ha! So I guess I am going to have to start wearing heels again!

It was a lot of fun, the last place we went was playing old school music and we danced so long and hard that I lost one of my earrings- sucks! But a guy I was dancing with did buy me two beers so that made up for it I guess.

Here is a picture of some of the group, there were 8 of us at the beginning but people kept dropping off as the night wore on and I ended up getting home around 3am!

English is a Funny Language

I think I may have found my favorite word, or I more precisely my favorite pronunciation in Australian English. It's nothing weird or terrific... it is simply the pronunciation of "Z". No, not "zee", but "zed". LOL!

I don't know why I love it so much, I just do! I can imagine kids in school learning the alphabet: "...T-U-V-W-X-Y and Zed". And when I was at the Moonlight Cinema in the Park (see below) somebody left their car lights on: "License plate T-R-4-Zed-2-W". It’s wonderful and love it!

Although, I must admit a close second place favorite is the pronunciation of "aluminum"... as in the foil you put on top of your left-overs. Did you know that in most countries, except the US (of course) this word has an extra "i" before the "um"? It looks like this- aluminium, and pronounced "al-loo-min-e-um". Huh? So weird, right? Loves it!!