A Weekend in Sydney

My friend Will and I at the AFL game (he was cheering for the Sydney Swans, hence the red).

My friend Lisa and I at the AFL game (we weren't really cheering for anyone!)

Being silly at the Chinese food court (I was going for a walrus).

Me, Tim, and Yin Wei eating our delicious Chinese food.

Danny and Justin enjoying their food too.

I think I have finally recovered from a very eventful weekend in Sydney. Some friends and I grabbed the train up to Sydney early Saturday afternoon and did a little shopping and a little exploring. I got a new running top for my big race the next day and then we met up with some other friends from Wollongong to get some dinner. We walked around town for quite awhile bickering about where to eat (it's hard to make decisions when you have 10 people delirious with hunger) and we finally stumbled into China Town. We had all been there before but had only been able to find expensive restaurants that were too expensive for cheap college students. But we encountered some dumb luck and decided to check out a little underground food court within China Town. . .Jackpot. It was tiny, but jampacked with about 10 little Chinese restaurants all with huge portion sizes and no meals over around $7. We were all starving and quickly made our choices and devoured our food. The food was excellent which supports my theory that they dumpier a Chinese restaurant looks, the better the food is.

After dinner, about 70 people from I-house were going to the Aussie Rule Football (AFL) game in Sydney. We met them all at the game and watched the Sydney Swans beat the West Coast Eagles in a very exciting game. I sat by my friend Lisa who lives next door to me in I-house. She's from China and is one of the sweetest girls I've ever met. She wasn't a big sports fan though and I was pretty exhausted from a busy week, so we both didn't pay much attention to the game. I was convinced that AFL games only had three periods, so at the end of the 3rd period I got up to start leaving. Everyone gave me really weird looks and finally my friends informed me that AFL games have 4 quarters. Oops.

Once the 4th quarter was finally over we jumped back on the train and everyone headed back to Wollongong. Justin and I, however, headed to our hostel because our race started at 7:30 the next morning. We were pretty wiped out by the time we got to the hostel so we just headed straight to bed. Luckily our hostel was only a minute walk from the starting line, so we rolled out of bed around 6:45, got ready quickly and jogged over to the start. I was feeling a little nervous about the race seeing as I had been sick for the past couple weeks and was still fighting a cold, I was a little sleep deprived from a busy week and I had eaten Chinese food the night before. Definitely not the best way to prepare for a half-marathon, but when I started the race I actually felt quite good. I was running at a pretty good pace and was enjoying the route through Sydney. There were about 10,000 people in the race, so it was busy but not too crowded.

Around the half-way mark I started to get a little tired and I knew the rest of the race was going to be a struggle mentally. But I decided to push on because I really wanted to finish under 2 hours. It was difficult to figure out my exact pacing because they marked the entire course in kilometers and my math skills aren't 100% when I have already run 7 miles. Anyway, the last 3rd of the race I felt pretty terrible, but I started to get stubborn and refused to stop. . .also not a good choice. For those of you who know my running history, I returned to my old ways and collapse 100 meters before the finish. (DISCLAIMER: I AM COMPLETELY FINE SO NOBODY SHOULD WORRY!!!) I just got a little dehydrated and I think the combination of everything else led to my body just giving up. They gave me an inhaler and a bag in which I threw up my breakfast and then they carted me over to the medical tent. My friend Justin said that I was pretty lucky because I actually got my money's worth from the race. . .since the entrance fee includes the medical assistance, but most people don't get to use it.

Once I got over to the tent, they took my temperature and found that I was overheating a little bit. They covered me in ice packs and gave me a saline drip to try and rehydrate me. After a couple of hours recovering in the tent, my friend Justin finally found me. . .which was perfect timing because I was finally well enough to head home. We walked (very slowly) back to the hostel and I took a very refreshing shower. We had planned to spend the rest of the day walking around the town, but we both decided that probably wasn't the best idea.

Instead, we found one of the lovely parks in downtown Sydney and just rested in the sun for most of the afternoon. Around 3:30 we finally felt well enough to walk all the way to the train station to head home. We made it back to Wollongong around 6:30, just in time for dinner. I loaded my plate full because it was my first real meal all day. I felt so much better after a little food. The rest of the night was spent recovering from my exciting day.

Monday I had to head to the doctor to get a physical for scuba diving. Justin and I both needed to get one, so we went to the Medical Center in town and waited for a doctor for almost an hour. We finally were able to meet with one and he just checked our blood pressure, gave us a breathing test, and did a few other vital tests. Apparently I'm healthy enough to scuba dive, so this weekend I'm getting certified!

I headed back to Sydney at around 3:30 on Monday with some girls from my study abroad program because our program was taking us to the Opera House to see When the Rain Stops Falling, an Australian play. We got to Sydney early so we could find a restaurant called Pancakes on the Rocks. It's a restaurant that has every type of pancake you could possibly imagine and it's located in a part of Sydney called the Rocks. We were all hungry (this seems to be a common theme in all of my stories), but our map was not very detailed and it led us on a wild goose chase around the city (this also seems to be a common theme). Finally after asking two different people for directions, we found the restaurant. The other girls got various types of pancakes (apple, strawberry, banana), but I opted for a Caesar Salad (I think I'll have to go back, so I can get the real pancake experience). The salad, however, was excellent and definitely hit the spot.

The play was very well done and was actually quite good, but it was probably the most depressing thing I have ever watched. It was a story about two different families and how their stories intertwine. There was murder, tragic deaths, lost love, rape, and divorces. Not the happiest of stories, but it at least ended with a little bit of hope.

Finals are approaching quickly and I am trying to get on top of my work, but I'm not doing quite as good of a job as I would like. It's amazing how fast my time has flown by here; in less than 2 months I'll be back in Minnesota!

James Bond and Captain Kirk

Some of the girls before the ball (L-R: me, Laine, Stef, Katie, Cassie).

My friend Beth and me with all of our winnings from the Black Jack table.

Hello Friends,

Today marks the end of a very relaxing, yet fun, weekend in Wollongong. On Friday we had the Casino Royale Ball on campus. It was dinner, dancing, and fake gambling for students who live in on campus accommodations. It was my first opportunity to really get dressed up here, so I wore the only nice dress I brought along (just a simple black dress) and I straightened my hair for the 3rd time since I've been here. A bus picked us up from International House and brought us all to Uni where the ball was held. . .the bus seemed a little out of place (I don't think Cinderella's fairy godmother would have approved).

We had assigned seating for dinner, but luckily I ended up at a table where I knew most of the people. They did some James Bond trivia during dinner (which I was awful at) and gave away prizes for best dressed. After dinner we were given fake gambling money and I went straight to the tables. I think I ended up playing Black Jack for 2 or 3 hours and I am convinced that it is my new calling in life. . .but only if I can always use fake money.

Saturday morning I decided I was finally fed up with the cold that I have been fighting off for the past 2 1/2 weeks, so I went to a clinic in town and got myself some antibiotics. I'm already feeling better and I'm hoping I will be 100% by the time I run my half-marathon next Sunday. I also got to spend a little time at the beach on Saturday and then some friends and I rented some movies from our favorite little video rental store (2 movies for only $6!) and relaxed for most of the evening.

Sunday I tried to put in a few hours of studying, but I got bored quickly. Luckily a group of I-house residents play soccer every Sunday and I decided to take a little break and join them. I was immediately reminded that I have not really played soccer in about 5 years by my lack of coordination on the field. I spent most of the game passing the ball to the other team and missing passes to me, but it was still a lot of fun. We got rained on half-way through the game which led to a lot of slipping and sliding and a few minor injuries (but everyone was just fine). I am feeling a little sore today though. . .

I must admit that I have achieved a new level of geekiness here in Australia. Some of my friends wanted to go see the new Star Trek movie (it premiered in Australia this weekend, but it has probably been out for awhile in the States) and I agreed to go with them on Sunday night. Here's the really geeky part. . .I actually enjoyed it! In fact, it was a really good movie and one of the better movies I've seen in awhile. I highly recommend it to everyone. . .even if you're not normally a sci-fi fan.

This was one of my last "normal" weekends in Wollongong, so it was nice to just relax and hang out with friends. I'll let you guys know if I have any more adventures in the near future and I would love to hear about what is happening in your lives as well so shoot me an email!

Mel-bin

Laine, Danny and I acting out London Bridge is falling down.

One of the very pretty sites we saw along the Great Ocean Road.

One of the big trees we saw while hiking through the rainforest.

Acting silly in the padded room inside the Gaol jailhouse.
(L to R: me, Danny, Justin, Christy)

Laine, Christy and I decked out in our AFL gear before the game.

Some friends and I took a holiday this past weekend to Melbourne (pronounced Mel-bin). It is about a 1 1/2 hour flight south from Sydney and is part of the region affected by the forest fires this past February. We flew out Thursday night at 5:10 pm and finally arrived at our hostel in Melbourne around 9 pm. Our train ride to the airport was a little stressful because a few of the boys were adamant about not leaving too early for the airport. So we ended up taking a train that was scheduled to get us to the airport only a half hour before our flight. One of our trains got delayed and we got a little stressed about missing our flight, but luckily we made it to the airport with exactly the right amount of time to stop at McDonald's and then hop on our flight!

We landed at an airport about 40 minutes outside of Melbourne because the tickets were cheaper, but when we got there we found out we had to pay $20 to catch the bus into the city. . .so I think we ended up paying the same amount (which goes to show that good deals aren't always what they see). We found our hostel pretty easily and decided to go grab a bite of eat because we were all pretty hungry. Our hostel was located right on the edge of China Town so it was only fitting for us to eat some sort of Asian food. It took us awhile to finally choose one because there were SO many options and they were all SO similar. We finally settled on one and I got myself Beef and Sa Dae (not as good as Ming Wok, but still quite delicious. . .). After dinner we spent a little time walking around the town and found that it is covered in modern art sculptures. We saw an iron cast of a little dog-warthog thing and as my friend Tim was examining it, I thought it would be funny to scare him a little bit. I shouted "Aah" in his face and kind of jumped at him and he completely freaked out. He screamed/yelled and then punched me in the nose out of reflex. I guess his defense mechanism when he gets scared is to punch. . .luckily he stopped himself before he followed through and really punched me. Tim's a big guy though who doesn't scare easily so I was pretty proud of myself.

Friday morning I got up early and went for a run around the town. I found the Yarra river which runs through Melbourne and ran along it for awhile. They call Melbourne the sport capital of Australia and that definitely seemed to be true as I was running. I saw tons of runners and bikers, along with a fair amount of rowing teams out on the river practicing. After my run, I started the unpleasant task of waking up my friends for the day. . .actually, they were all pretty civil and I didn't get any pillows thrown at me (quite a different experience from waking up Whitney. . .). Once everyone was up we walked a few blocks to the Queen Victoria market which is a very famous outdoor market with lots of knicky-knack items and heaps of fresh produce. We shopped for most of the morning and I found myself a little Australian flag and some apples and carrots. Being the cheap college students that we are, we all just bought an assortment of fruits and veggies for lunch and went back to our hostel to eat them.

After lunch we went to the Gaol Jailhouse which is Victoria's oldest prison and closed in 1924. It was the sight of the infamous bushranger Ned Kelly's hanging. Apparently during the 19th and 20th century there was a field of medicine called phrenology which was the study of the shape of people's heads. It was believed that you could learn about someone's personality by studying the different contours of their head. Therefore, after the execution of every convict at the jailhouse, they took a mold of their face to be studied. We were able to see the mold of Ned Kelly's head, along with a lot of other notorious convicts. As part of our visit, we got to participate in a mock arrest where we were criminals being taken into the jailhouse. I was being arrested for "violent and threatening behavior". We were searched and then thrown into jail cells. We even got to take mug pictures!

That night out hostel had a free BBQ, so we ate the usual sausage on a piece of bread for dinner. The International Comedy Festival in Melbourne had just ended (Melbourne is also the comedy capital of Australia) and so we wanted to check out a comedy club. We found a pretty reasonably priced club in North Melbourne and headed over for the 8:30 show. The main performer was actually from the comedy festival and was just staying a few extra weeks in the city. The comedians were absolutely hilarious and we all had a wonderful time.

The next morning Laine, Danny and I woke up super early to go on a tour of the Great Ocean Road. This is a road that goes between Adelaide and Melbourne and is a popular tourist destination. It includes some of the most beautiful beaches and rock formations I've ever seen. Our bus picked us up at 7:15 am and we didn't get back to our hostel until around 9 pm. We stopped at the Surfing Capital of the world (Torquey) which is home to one of the biggest surf competitions in the world. The main surfing beach is Bell's beach and we stopped to take some pictures there. The beach was completely covered in surfers. . .and I would say pretty much all of them were 100 times better than me!

After stopping in Torquey we made a few quick stops at some nice ocean views and finally stopped around noon for lunch. We had a picnic at a little park on the side of the road which was just a few hundred meters from forest that was absolutely filled with koala bears. We were able to take tons of pictures of the cute little guys and we even saw one or two that were awake and moving (which is quite exciting seeing as they sleep about 20 hours/day).

After lunch we did a really nice rainforest hike and then stopped at some of the major tourist sites. We checked out the 12 apostles which is a famous rock formation in the ocean. . .I think there used to be 12 rocks, but some of them have fallen down due to erosion. We also walked around the site of a famous ship wreck in which only 2 young people survived. Our last stop was the London Bridge. This was a rock formation that used to be connected to the land by a little bridge. . .but a few years ago the bridge collapsed (London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down) and the story of its collapse is pretty interesting. I guess a couple was taking a nice romantic stroll along the bridge when it fell down, luckily they had made it to the other side before it actually collapsed so they weren't hurt. It took a long time for rescue crews to get out there because they needed to be helicoptered back to land, so there was a media frenzy there by the time rescue crews arrived. It turned out that the guy who needed to be rescued was actually married to two women and needless to say the other one found out because their rescue was broadcasted globally! Kind of unlucky. . .but he probably deserved it.

We were pretty pooped by the time we got back to our hostel and the rest of our group was nowhere to be found. We hung out at our hostel's pub for a little while, but then we all crashed and went straight to bed.

Sunday morning my friend Justin and I got up and did another run around town. We made it back, had some breakfast and then woke up the rest of the group. Our big plan for the day was to go to the Aussie Rule Football (AFL) game in town. Melbourne is really into sports (as I said before) and their favorite sport is AFL. We headed to the Cricket grounds (where AFL is played) around noon after we had stocked up on cheap AFL apparel and gotten lunch at a meat pie shop inside the train station. The Melbourne Demons (ranked last in the league) were playing the Geelong Cats (ranked first in the league) and most of us decided to cheer on the underdog. The stadium was absolutely HUGE. . .we think it probably held around 100,0oo people. It didn't fill all the way up, but there were at least 30-40,000 people there. The Demons were absolutely crushed by the cats, but it was still a fun game. The rules in AFL are really bizarre, but I still think it might actually be easier to follow than American football.

For dinner we went to a little Mexican restaurant called Taco Bill's (the boys were all going through Taco Bell withdrawal). We got some delicious margarita's and I ordered a big plate of nachos. We were all intent on checking out the town that night because we had been so sleepy the other nights and it was our last night in Melbourne. We spent a good share of the night wondering around a little lost, but eventually we found our way and had a very nice evening.

The next morning included a run and then a little shopping around town. We visited the skydeck of the Eureka tower which is the tallest residential building and the highest viewing platform in the Southern Hemisphere. It was fun looking at the city from an aerial perspective. . .but we all agreed that the tower wasn't all it was cracked up to be. . .just one big marketing ploy.

We just walked around the town for the rest of the day visiting a war memorial and the botanic gardens. We got lunch at our favorite little meat pie shop in the train station and then headed to the bus stop to catch our ride to the airport. Our flight was supposed to leave at 7:15, but it got delayed about an hour. This put us back in sydney around 9:30 or 10. Unfortunately the delay made us miss the earlier train home and we were forced to take the 11:30 pm train back to Wollongong. So we went to a grocery store inside of the train station, stocked up on snacks and then hung out on the platform for what seemed like forever.

We finally made it back to I-house around 12:30 or 1 and unfortunately I still had homework to do. I had worked really hard the week before we left, but I wasn't able to finish all of my assignments. So, my friend Justin (who also had a lot of homework) and I got ourselves some caffeinated drinks and stayed up most of the night finishing our assignments. I got everything finished. . .but found out that the assignment I had spent the most time on wasn't due until Friday! Oh well, it was my first true all-nighter in college and hopefully my last!