Forgot to tell y’all that I tried vegemite yesterday. It was an experience I would rather forget, but at least I got to cross it off the bucket list. BOOYAH. Anyways, today has been a pretty incredible day. We started off with a tour of Sydney and it’s historic areas. Several blisters and a reminder of my lack of shape later, I felt like I learned all that there is to know about Sydney and the beginning of Australia’s history. Did you know that Australia was originally founded as a penal colony? Georgia was too, but I have since realized that this continent is way cooler. All of the historic districts are fascinating and even though I was tired, I could easily have continued walking around for several more days. At least until hunger and thirst wore me down to the bone (added that last part to avoid ending with a preposition…grammar booyah). After the tour, we had free time, which would have been well spent doing school work, but instead we went to the beach. A 30 minute ferry ride across the Sydney harbor took us to Manly Beach. It was full of awesome shops and food. I got some sweet souvenirs and ate a sushi burrito (better than it sounds). The beach was like a pristine beach from another world. Then, we came back and listened to a pretty awesome lecture on Australia’s biodiversity. All in all, it was a pretty cool day. I’m off to grab dinner in China Town and I’ll check in with y’all later. Try not to get too lonely in our time apart. Cheers mates!
Day 2
Woke up in the mornin’ feelin’ like P Diddy. Actually, no I didn’t. Jet lag really takes a toll on you. After waking up at 3 AM Australia time, I tossed and turned until 7, then the dehydration that had accumulated from prolongated exposure to high altitude caught up with me.arted out as a very unhappy camper this morning, but after my toast and flat white (Australian version of some sort of coffee that really does the job) and the equivalent of an aquifer of water to drink, the day really turned around. Then, I had to pee.
We started off the morning with a visit to the Parliament of New South Wales. For those of you who don’t know ( which is probably most of you…silly Americans), Australia is broken up into different states. Each one has its own parliament and New South Wales is the state in which Sydney resides. It was actually quite interesting to see. Some of the members of parliament take a very direct approach to legislation by yelling things like, “YOU’RE A LIER!” while other people are talking. After our visit to parliament, we had free time for lunch. Some of the guys and I grabbed food from the grocery store and ate it on the roof of our hostel, where the view is quite spectacular. Then, we walked alongside the harbor until we got to the Opera House. The view from the other side of it is incredible (I attached some pictures). After that excursion, we had our first quiz of the trip, which was interesting. I never knew that there could be so much information on a subject that I thought I knew, but didn’t. The interesting part will be our grades when we get them back.
Finally, we finished off the day by going to see “Elijah” at the Sydney Opera House ( I know you put that in italics, but I can’t figure out how to work this blog junk). It was a truly incredible experience that many of us slept through. Opera and jet lag don’t go well together, but thankfully I was able to beat back my animal instincts for the entire show, which I immensely enjoyed. Them Auzzies really know how ta sing. All in all, this was a great day and I am pumped to see what tomorrow holds. Time to turn in for the night. Check in tomorrow to see how things are running’ with the Yellow Cohort.
Day 1
Well, it feels like I’ve been awake for 24 hours. I’m over exaggerating…it’s really only been about 22 hours. We left the airport this morning and went straight over to Featherdale Wildlife Park in Sydney and met just about every Australian animal you can meet. To my dismay, there was no platypus, but I’ll let it slide just this once. I even came close to conquering some of my fears by entering the reptile house. Due to confidentiality agreements, though, I can neither confirm nor deny that I kept my eyes open. Just kidding…I did. They were in glass cages, but it still felt like those suckers were staring straight into my soul. It felt great to look back and say a big BOOYAH in their faces…still scared, but looking fear in the face. After leaving Featherdale, we came to the YHA, a youth hostel in the Rocks areas of Sydney where we’re staying. It is incredibly nice and in a great location, which is a couple minutes walk from the harbor. You can see the Sydney Bridge and Opera House from our roof. We had our first lesson of the trip after unpacking. It focused primarily on safety and what not to do. A particular story stuck out to me featuring a young lady who passed out on the beach beyond the “dingo proof fence”. She ended up being alright, but that statement really put me in the mind frame of where we are…the dingo zone (get it…like “Danger Zone”, but dingo zone…). After a dinner of pizza (mine gluten free and containing duck meat…don’t ask), a couple people from my cohort and I went for the five minute walk down to the harbor to see the Opera House and Sydney lights at night. It was a breathtaking sight and we ended up walking almost all the way around the harbor. There were so many people out running and enjoying themselves that it created a wonderful, friendly atmosphere that only enhanced my love for this city. The only negative I can think of so far is that there are almost no overweight people. It kind of sets an impossible standard that could be an issue when I decide to move here. I can’t change my ice-cream eating habits just to look like everybody else in Sydney when I’m 60. A man’s gotta eat. That’s all folks…I’m off to combat jet lag. Hope you enjoy the pictures below and on Facebook! 
Arrival
Well…we made it. Fourteen hours, a bunch of ginger ale and some in flight movies later, I think we’re all feeling a little worse for wear, but we’re definitely excited for what’s to come. Currently, we’re sitting in the Sydney Airport (it has some fancy name I can’t remember) waiting on some group member from other flights. Once they arrive, the Yellow Cohort will be off to chill with koalas and stay away from some snakes. I came here to face my fears…not touch them. Hopefully, we can get our dreamed of “kangaroo selfies”. You’ll see it if it happens, and if not…there’s always photoshop. The fun is in the unknown. Anyways, I’ll check in with y’all later. In the meantime, check out these awesome photos of the trip thus far. I think I could have some potential as a great photographer.
Pre-departure
I would say welcome to my new blog, but that would imply that it’s worth reading. Hopefully, if you know me, you could tell that was sarcasm. If not, then I suggest switching over to pintrest. Now that we have that settled, this blog is my account of my summer study abroad experience. I leave tomorrow, May 11 and will be gone until June 5, exploring and learning about Australia and New Zealand. Life is too short to waste it sitting in front of the TV, so I’m taking my education halfway across the world to liven things up a bit. This is a dream trip of mine and I am incredibly excited for it, but am still nervous in these pre-departure hours. All thoughts and prayers (as long as they’re nice) will be much appreciated, because two of my greatest fears, snakes and heights, are quite bountiful in the land down under. It is in facing our fears, though, that we truly begin living. Someone famous said that in a book or something…I dunno, but it will be the core of my heart and focus for this trip. I’m going to be pushed outside of my comfort zone (a common side effect you could experience from continuing to read this), but I know that it’s necessary for me to become the man I’m meant to be. Anyways, thanks for reading and make sure to stay tuned in the coming weeks. I plan on posting entries and pictures on this blog every day, so if you don’t hear from me in a while, either I’m having the time of my life, or one of the many deadly things in Australia has eaten me. Just kidding mom.
wcnichols17 