Weekend in Sydney

I will start with Autonomy Day. It really wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. Kind of boring actually. You really need to be in the mood to drink and with a mishap from a roommate the night before the rest of us roommates weren’t ready. I had a bottle of Passion Pop ($4 bottle of champagne.. mix with orange juice and you are golden) and a can of beer (also $4). I was done drinking about noon and just relaxed at the apartment with Nicole the rest of the day. Later that night Nate (my roommate) had friends over but it wasn’t too bad.

Other than that, this past week has been pretty mellow. My roommates went out Wednesday night but I decided to stay in. Friday however, we decided to go o Sydney for the weekend. Sam, Nate, Nicole, Krysti, and I got a hostel (a place for students to stay in while backpacking or just traveling for cheap -- $27 per night – and that was a nice one) and stayed 2 nights. It’s mainly for students because the bedrooms are a lot like dorms. There were 4 bunks in my room (8 beds). It was really cool though because there was the Side Bar downstairs and a café where we ate breakfast. Also, there was a couch lounge with a big flat screen TV and a mini kitchen where you can cook your own food if you didn’t want to pay to eat out every night. Some people stay for weeks at a time. It was a really good experience and I would definitely stay in one again.

Friday night we arrived by train (it only cost us $18 each to get on a 3 hour train ride that goes straight from Newcastle to Sydney). We booked our room and then went to eat at a place called burgerlicious. It is supposed to be the #1 American Burger joint. We were all craving juicy burgers because it’s been a month since any of us has had it. If any of you who are reading this decide to come to Australia, don’t try the burgers. Definitely not American. They are disgusting. After that we went to the Side Bar for a few drinks and then went to bed.

Saturday morning we woke up and got ready. We walked approximately 7-8 miles throughout the day. We walked to Darling harbor which was absolutely beautiful. There was a boat show going on and the boats here aren’t like the boats you see at the DECC boat shows. They were all in the harbor and were yachts. Huge yachts. After walking around we walked to the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It’s a very famous bridge that people pay about $185 to climb it. Once on top you can see all of Sydney and it’s right in front of the Opera House. I get to do that later with my roommates and Catherine, the onsite program coordinator. It’s going to be amazing. We walked around the shops in the Rocks and Market City and Chinatown. We eventually made it back to the hostel to get all dressed up and go out to a fancy Mexican dinner at Café Pacifico. We walked there and all got Mexican Sangrias. Delicious. I ordered a Chimichanga (of course—for those of you who eat Mexican with me) and it had a bit of cinnamon in it so it was just sweet enough (so good!!) and got rice and beans. Before we got our food super loud music started up and we ended up getting free shots of Tequila for everyone in the restaurant. The chaser was different. It was tomato juice with tobasco sauce. Haha that was fun. After that, there was music going the rest of our meal so it was like one big party. We had a great time and spent about 2 hours there. Afterwards, we went back to the side bar and everyone danced the night away except Nate and I (we were too full to move so we sat outside under some heaters). Ended up going to bed around 2:30 and woke up at 8:30 to pack our stuff up and head out. We shopped a little bit more and then took the train back to Newcastle. The rest of Sunday night we just hung out and relaxed. The weekend was amazing and I hope mom and dad and britt get to make it out here so I can share this experience with them.

Again, I am in the apartment with slow internet so as soon as i can make it to the hub I will to post pictures of this past weekend!! =]