Wednesday, 6 March 2013

Settled in Sydney


Hi All,

I am sending this email from my new apartment!! I am all settled in a region of the city called Ultimo with another girl from the University of Guelph and 6 other flatmates after being in a hostel for the first week, it is very nice to be settled. We are a 10 minute walk to campus and right across from central station which is convenient for getting most places in the city including Bondi Beach which is about a 30 minute transit ride away, we were there a lot at the beginning of last week while the weather was great. The end of last week and this weekend were quite rainy which is apparently the norm here at the end of summer. 

Had a wonderful time on my "Extreme Adventure" last weekend. Met a ton of international students, mostly Americans, and gained a good solid group of friends to start off my time here. We have been able to sight-see and learn our way around together. Although it rained on the Saturday of the trip our spirits weren't significantly dampened. We started at the Australian Reptile Park where we were able to play with "free range" kangaroos and touch eucalyptus-smelling koalas along with many other native Australian animals. Our Saturday afternoon was spent in the Hunter Valley which is famous for it's wine, we visited three wineries (although none of the ones my mom had pointed out that she had a connection with the owner!). Sunday morning we went on a dolphin watching cruise in Port Stephens and our afternoon was spent "sand surfing" on the dunes, this was a pretty wild experience and I liken it more to sledding than surfing. It was super hot to jumping into the ocean after was well received.

Orientation week went well, the campus is much much bigger than I am used to at Guelph but it is very beautiful, some parts of it look like Hogwarts! I felt welcomed and informed. Lots of clubs to join and things to try, we will see what the semester holds, I joined "SurfSoc" which is the surf club (although I admit that this was mostly because they offered tie dying!)

Saturday morning Jacy (my Canadian friend) and I went to the aquarium on darling harbour which was quite a nice one and we got a deal Saturday night we attended the Mardi Gras/Pride parade here which was a huge event that drew a crowd of over 23,000 people and there were over 2,000 people in the parade, it was quite a spectacle. 

Just finished my first day of school! I only had two classes which I was able to find easily! The lecture halls and some of the words that they use to describe different parts of the academic world are a bit confusing and different at times but I'm sure I will get used to it soon. I am taking 4 courses which is a full course load here and currently working with my program councillor back home to make sure that all of my credits transfer so I will still be on track to graduate in Winter 2014. I have Friday's off which will be good for travelling. I may look into getting a "one shift a week" job while I am here, it seems to be the norm because cost of living is quite high. There is a Canadian clothing store called "lululemon" that has a couple stores here that like to hire Canadians so I may look there. 

Well that's about all for now, I can't believe it has only been a week and a bit since I have been here, I am having a great time but I do miss everyone at home. Luckily for me there is Skype!! (if you don't already have me on skype my name is Brittany Burek, I should be the only one in Canada)


Hope all is well in everyone's lives back home. Lots of Love,

Brittany

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