This week and last week are "finals weeks." Tuesday evening I went to the Manly Wharf Hotel with Mary, Jackie and Heather for their 15 dollar pizza and drink special. We sat outside along the wharf and we watched people pass by as we enjoyed our pizza and wine. Afterwards, we went to Copenhagen to get our fill of ice cream!
I only had one final last week - Intro to Sport Management. This was on Wednesday afternoon. Mary and I studied together beforehand, and we felt pretty prepared for our exam. It was a two hour exam, and while it was a little different than I thought it would be, it wasn't too bad. Afterwards I ran out to the tennis courts to play soccer. Not many people showed up, so it was great exercise, but also really tiring. Since I was still hungry from the mediocre dinner, Jackie, Heather and I walked down the hill to Nando's, a chicken place which has really good pitas and "peri peri chips"!! Peri peri is a spice found in Africa, and they put it on their chips (french fries) and chicken. I've come to crave Nando's a lot here, and I'm definitely going to miss it when I go home.
Thursday afternoon was beautiful! I went to Collin's Beach with Mary, Ashley, Heather and Jackie. Mary and Heather were very adventurous and jumped off of the rocks - fun to watch, but definitely not for me! The sun was shining and keeping my skin warm, but the breeze was strong and kept making us all chilly, so we left a little earlier than expected. Since it is autumn here now, it gets darker earlier and the prime sun time is basically right around noon. That night I decided to treat Mike to a birthday dinner (because his birthday is May 30, but we will be back home working so I won't be seeing him then). We went down to the Manly Italian restaurant. It was delicious! I also had bought a bottle of wine from the Hunter Valley tour, so we brought that along as well. The evenings can be chilly here, so after sitting by the beach and looking at the moon reflecting on the water (see second photo), we went to Max Brenner's for a cup of hot chocolate before venturing back up the hill to school.
Friday was a rainy, cold day in Manly. I did leave the castle for a little while to souvenir shop with the girls, but I spent the majority of the day watching FlashForward online with Mike. That show is definitely addicting!!
Saturday was a much nicer day, even though it was still on the cool side. I took the ferry into Sydney around noon to meet up with Taylor who is studying at the University of Sydney for the semester. (Earlier I wrote about meeting up with Taylor and her mom in Manly.) After getting a warm Starbucks drink, Taylor and I walked to the Rocks and walked through the markets. We also walked along Circular Quay. We saw a couple of street performers. One was a man who from far away looked like he was dancing with a woman, but in fact it was a life size puppet that was attached to his shoes. It was very strange and I think people were giving him money because they felt sorry for him. The other street performer was a contortionist who fit herself into a 16 inch box. It was sort of disgusting to watch her fit into that box!! (fourth photo) We quickly walked away after she was done with her show. Then, Taylor and I took a train back to where she lives in Bondi Junction. Her apartment used to be a hotel room, and it has a great view of the city. I met her roommates and some of her guy friends as we took a bus to Bondi Beach (third photo), walked along there, and stopped at a restaurant for a dinner of fish and chips and cider to drink. It was a fun afternoon catching up and sharing Australian stories. When I came home, I went out with some friends to Shark Bar - a bar that we have frequented since we came to Manly. Overall, it was a great day!
After brunch on Sunday, Mike and I walked to North Head and from there we took a trail to Shelly Beach. We started at the Former School of Artillery where soldiers were trained before and during WWII. We also saw some gun posts and bomb shelters that had been built in case of an attack on Sydney. It was quite a warm afternoon, but the views we could see from North Head were of at least 4 northern beaches, so it was definitely worth it! When we made it to Shelly Beach, we watched surfers in the waves - including one who was surfing with his small child lifted above his head! That is talent right there! Mike and I ended our walk at the beach where a group of friends were laying out for Jessa's birthday. After about two hours of being there, we were covered by the shade of the trees that line Manly Beach, so Mike and I had milkshakes from Copenhagen and laid in the grass by Manly Wharf with Ashley and her boyfriend Pete. It was a great one to spend one of the last beautiful afternoons here!!
This week I have three exams, unfortunately. I will be studying for them, packing up my room, and getting ready to go to New Zealand with Mike. While I am looking forward to seeing the beauty of New Zealand, I can't believe I'm going to leave Australia so soon. Everything has been so amazing! One of my favorite little things is the sunset here that I can see from my window. Almost every night I see it, and I always try to capture it in a photo, but that never seems to show just how brilliant the sky really looks! The first picture is an attempt at the sunset from last Thursday.
It is time to review before my exam! Cheers!!
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