Whew! I'm way behind on posting, and I'm pretty exhausted for a Sunday evening, but for good reason. I'm trying to find the line between living and blogging, and when I double, I'm choosing doing rather than writing.
However, it's September 1st, and it's almost Rosh Hashanah, so what better way to ring in the new year than diving back into the blog. I'll throw some pictures in for those of you who are here to skim.
When I arrived last Friday, I struggled through customs (15 hours on a plane will do that to you). Australia has a "fast pass" where you can scan your passport (if you have a electronic passport) and get a ticket, then go to a quicker line where a computer scans your face and lets your into the country. After 3 tries, I got my passport to scan, got two tickets, and eventually made it through the gates without a passport stamp.
I checked into my hotel, had a meeting with some of my coworkers (who were gracious enough to come over so I didn't have to figure anything else). There were a whopping five of us here, a number that has since shrunk to four. We drank some champagne in the room to celebrate my arrival, finished up some emails, and called it quits a bit early on Friday to venture over to the so-called largest restaurant in Australia (and maybe the Southern Hemisphere!), then spent the rest of the evening mostly along the water. I made it until about midnight, which was quite a feat considering I'd landed at 6 AM!
That weekend was mostly spent exploring and saying goodbye to the colleague who left. An extremely condensed overview of the past week:
Ate lunch at the top of the Sydney Tower. This was one of my favorite things: the room rotates and you get a great view of all the areas of the city, so it was great to use it to orient myself. It was fascinating to see the names of the buildings: half are well-known corporations and half are Oz-specific companies that I've never heard of before. The Sydney Tower is unfortunately branded with the name of the mall and situated within a huge shopping complex, but oh well.
Went to Art After Hours at the Museum of NSW, where we got to see a lot of traditional and modern Australian Art. One of my favorite pieces was a huge room covered in black fabric, with a ton of action figures arranged in circles along the wall. Here's a bad photo:
There was also this car:
Walked the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which is the city's second most famous landmark. It's okay if you have to look up what it looks like - it's a cool bridge, but as far as I can tell its main purpose is "viewing platform for the Opera House."
Walked around the Opera House and the Botanical Gardens near the Opera. I also walked through Hyde Park, which is a big central park, at night by myself. I would never walk through Central Park at night, but this was the best-lit park I've ever seen. Plus I could probably run out of it if someone came after me - it's tiny.
Drank this drink with a rose in it:
As of this weekend, moved into my new apartment! I've got some nice outdoor space, a comfy bed, a washing machine and dryer, desk space, and an Aussie roommate. I also have no idea where the closest grocery store is, but I live behind the world-famous gelateria of Sydney. Seriously - everyone in DC told me I had to go get gelato at this place, and now I live almost on top of it. And I went on Friday and I can vouch that it's good.
I've been stringing this along to savor my favorite story of the week: the beach!
I had a generally good time and figured out that my sneakers and my bag match.
Since it's not a return hike, I tried to catch a bus back to Manly. Unfortunately, while I was waiting at the bus stop, the drawbridge went up, so all the traffic halted. I sat there checking my phone and trying to figure out when the bus was coming, when I heard a voice saying "excuse me, are you going to Manly?"
I looked up and two girls in a car were stopped right in front of me, looking out the window and offering me a ride. After a bit of back and forth I accepted and had a pleasant chat while we waited for the bridge to close and then drove the ten minutes back to the beach. Plus one for friendly Australians! (And also something of an anomality, according to my American coworkers, but I've already been randomly chatted up multiple times, so jury is out on this one - more to come on the subject of "random Australians talking to Michelle.")
One last photo from Manly Scenic Walk? I think so.
However, it's September 1st, and it's almost Rosh Hashanah, so what better way to ring in the new year than diving back into the blog. I'll throw some pictures in for those of you who are here to skim.
When I arrived last Friday, I struggled through customs (15 hours on a plane will do that to you). Australia has a "fast pass" where you can scan your passport (if you have a electronic passport) and get a ticket, then go to a quicker line where a computer scans your face and lets your into the country. After 3 tries, I got my passport to scan, got two tickets, and eventually made it through the gates without a passport stamp.
 |
| I know some of you are bored already. Have a photo of the Sydney Opera House. |
I checked into my hotel, had a meeting with some of my coworkers (who were gracious enough to come over so I didn't have to figure anything else). There were a whopping five of us here, a number that has since shrunk to four. We drank some champagne in the room to celebrate my arrival, finished up some emails, and called it quits a bit early on Friday to venture over to the so-called largest restaurant in Australia (and maybe the Southern Hemisphere!), then spent the rest of the evening mostly along the water. I made it until about midnight, which was quite a feat considering I'd landed at 6 AM!
That weekend was mostly spent exploring and saying goodbye to the colleague who left. An extremely condensed overview of the past week:
Ate lunch at the top of the Sydney Tower. This was one of my favorite things: the room rotates and you get a great view of all the areas of the city, so it was great to use it to orient myself. It was fascinating to see the names of the buildings: half are well-known corporations and half are Oz-specific companies that I've never heard of before. The Sydney Tower is unfortunately branded with the name of the mall and situated within a huge shopping complex, but oh well.
Went to Art After Hours at the Museum of NSW, where we got to see a lot of traditional and modern Australian Art. One of my favorite pieces was a huge room covered in black fabric, with a ton of action figures arranged in circles along the wall. Here's a bad photo:
There was also this car:
 |
| It's art. |
Walked around the Opera House and the Botanical Gardens near the Opera. I also walked through Hyde Park, which is a big central park, at night by myself. I would never walk through Central Park at night, but this was the best-lit park I've ever seen. Plus I could probably run out of it if someone came after me - it's tiny.
Drank this drink with a rose in it:
As of this weekend, moved into my new apartment! I've got some nice outdoor space, a comfy bed, a washing machine and dryer, desk space, and an Aussie roommate. I also have no idea where the closest grocery store is, but I live behind the world-famous gelateria of Sydney. Seriously - everyone in DC told me I had to go get gelato at this place, and now I live almost on top of it. And I went on Friday and I can vouch that it's good.
 |
| This isn't the gelato place, but it is a view from a cafe in my new neighborhood. |
I've been stringing this along to savor my favorite story of the week: the beach!
The photo above was my first view of a Sydney beach: Manly, which is a huge wide beach in north Sydney. You take a 30 minute ferry (past the Opera house, naturally), then walk across the street for a few minutes and you are in the middle of this vast, vast expanse of sand.
I had to dip my toes in the Pacific. It was cold, but not too cold, which was totally worth it. I'm excited to see the sine rise over the Pacific. It'll be a new sight.
After spending some time basking in the beachiness of it all, I left to do the Manly Scenic walk, which is a trail on national park land within city limits, which I find pretty cool. It wasn't too strenuous, although it did waver between boardwalk and rock scramble (or maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe I just lost the trail for a bit) and allowed me to take photos like this:
 |
| I got this in exchange for taking a photo of four Australian women, who made sure to tell me, "we're not even tourists!" I found this funny. They made up for it by taking a good photo. |
I had a generally good time and figured out that my sneakers and my bag match.
 |
| This was an accident, I swear. |
Since it's not a return hike, I tried to catch a bus back to Manly. Unfortunately, while I was waiting at the bus stop, the drawbridge went up, so all the traffic halted. I sat there checking my phone and trying to figure out when the bus was coming, when I heard a voice saying "excuse me, are you going to Manly?"
I looked up and two girls in a car were stopped right in front of me, looking out the window and offering me a ride. After a bit of back and forth I accepted and had a pleasant chat while we waited for the bridge to close and then drove the ten minutes back to the beach. Plus one for friendly Australians! (And also something of an anomality, according to my American coworkers, but I've already been randomly chatted up multiple times, so jury is out on this one - more to come on the subject of "random Australians talking to Michelle.")
One last photo from Manly Scenic Walk? I think so.
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