Say a Prayer and Let the Good Times Roll!

I feel like I might be overdoing it a little with the posts, but it will slow down when classes really pick up, so I'm doing my best to transfer everything I can about Australia before I forget to keep posting.

This past weekend we went into the city to an area called Circular Quay (pronounced 'key') for the annual "Aroma Festival." We didn't realize quite how huge it was going to be, but there were hundreds of people around over 50 tents representing the best coffee, tea, spices and chocolate shops in Sydney. Circular Quay is the name of a section of the harbour where you can catch ferries to other places, have a great view of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House and where you can find the area called "... On the Rocks" (the restaurants are all called ---- On the Rocks, "pancakes on the rocks is famous for decadent 24 hour pancakes, I'll let you know when we make it out there). We also discovered the Market on the Rocks which is open each weekend and is like Eastern Market in DC but with more booths and very Australia-themed. I got a travel journal there and we're all planning to go back soon for gifts, knicknacks and general authentic, beautiful Aussie memorabilia. There are a lot of open air markets on weekends in the city, we're going to try a new one every week or two.

This is the view from the beginning of the path along the cliffs - so far, its my favorite place to go for a run!

I don't think I've mentioned Australian nightlife yet, so let me try and explain. Australians love loud techno music, American music and cover bands. There are a lot of pubs which are strictly American and Aussies who want to pick up American girls. Australian dancing looks a bit like early 90's bar mitzvahs - people stay fairly far apart, and we broke out a few classic moves like the shopping cart and running man for fun (and were only moderately out of place, if we had played it cooler no one would have noticed). In general, its a really fun experience to go to the nightclubs and dance around. Make sure you put on your most 'hipster' outfit though, these chicks are pretty trendy (and gentleman, you can't go wrong with a heinous patterned zip up hoodie).

This morning was my first day of class! The school has over 40,000 students and my classes so far are mostly Australians. Its hard to meet people in big lectures, but each one breaks down into a 20-ish person tutorial (tute) group that meets once per week and should be a great place to get to know people. So far "The Messiah Complex" and "The Use of Language" seem like good classes, I'll let you know about "Global Media" and "Australian Cultural and Social Environment" after tomorrow.

The building you see here is my apartment. 6th floor facing the beach is ours :)

I've met a lot of really great Americans through my orientation program and the groups that my roommates came with, we're still working on meeting Aussies, but that will come with time.

My friends and I are planning some great adventures too! There's something big each month: sailing and diving in the Whitsundays in August, spring break Thailand in September, surfing weekend in the Gold Coast in October and probably stopping in Fiji after finals are done in November. In between we're trying to plan day trips to the Blue Mountains outside Sydney, a visit to the capital in Canberra, a visit to our friends at the Uni of Melbourne, a trip to the wine country of Hunter Valley.... and then of course exploring as much of Sydney as possible - the Harbour, the Bridge Climb, the Opera, the markets, the zoo, a rugby game. It's unbelievable how much there is to do on this continent.

No worries, Rachel