Into the city!

Yesterday I went into the city with a group of friends. I was really excited to see Sydney, such a famous city! After brunch in the CYC we trekked down the hill to catch the ferry. I bought the 10 ride ferry pass, a better deal than just buying individual tickets for every trip. We ran to get good seats at the front of the ferry. The entire 30 min ferry ride was beautiful. Scenery of Manly, houses on the water's edge. hundreds of sailboats, and of course, the Sydney skyline plus the famous Opera House and Sydney Bridge! The sights were amazing, and I took probably 100 or so pictures.

Once we exited the ferry, our first stop was.... Starbucks! Easy to spot the Americans I suppose. The Starbucks is right outside of Circular Quay (the harbor.) After being refreshed with iced coffees, we walked to the markets at "the Rocks." The Rocks are older buildings that are really pretty and house different shopping stores. The markets are open on the weekends - a couple of blocks full of tents with different items for purchase such as dresses, clothes, souvenirs, food, and a lot of jewelry and crafts as well.

Following the markets, we walked to the aquarium. The group had six girls and Mike, so much to his dismay the walk to the aquarium was very long - full of stops in different shops. What can you expect when you are with a group of girls?? After awhile, Mary, Mike and I walked ahead of the group to arrive at Darling Harbour. It's really open, there is a strip that has heaps of restaurants and tourist attractions, as well as an event venue, the National Maritime Museum, Wildlife World and the Sydney Aquarium. We met with the group and got student discounts for our aquarium tickets. The aquarium was full of different marine life - so much to see! My favorites were the penguins (so cute and playful) and the clown fish in the anemone. A couple of exhibits they had featured glass walkways where fish, sharks, manta rays, and sea turtles were surrounding us.

After exploring the aquarium, we went along Darling Harbour to a restaurant on one of the balconies called BlackBird. I had "fish n chips." I'm very proud of myself for trying a lot of different foods while I am here. Normally, fish is not my thing. However, I found the fish and chips delicious. I figure living near the ocean is a good reason to try different seafood, and I think I actually like some of it!

We walked back to the ferry. It was right around sunset, so we got some pretty pictures of the sun setting over the harbor, opera house, and bridge. Then, a crew member came up to us and asked if we would like to take some pictures from the crew only top deck! It was an exciting experience, and we got to go in the captain's cabin and talk to the crew members and the man who was steering the ferry. They talked about Sydney and some cool things to do in Manly and pretty much made my night!

At night, there was a bonfire at Collins Beach. A group from ICMS went down to the beach to hang out and party a little. It was a great set up, but I was pretty tired so I didn't stay too long.

Normally on Mondays I have four classes, but my class from 4 to 6 was cancelled due to lecturer illness. I've been learning a lot of different things in my hospitality class - many things I didn't think I would ever know! The class I seem to learn the most about Australian culture in is Service Management. Today I learned that in the state of New South Wales, you can only write with pencils until year 4 of school which is when you get your "pen license." Crazy Australians!! Today at lunch we had "beef pie and mash" which is a little bread pie with beef filling and mashed potatoes. It was really good, plus I was really hungry!

Tonight: dinner, contemporary health issues from 6 to 8, and yoga 830 to 930. Yoga typically isn't my thing, but I should probably work on my arm muscles at some point in my life! Plus, I'm hoping it helps strengthen my back for soccer.

Cheers!!