And the rain continues....

Only two days have passed and I feel so overwhelmed by all that I have to tell you! 

On Friday, we had more glorious orientation sessions. They are literally so horribly boring…but, they are DONE now!  At lunch, Marisa, Sophie, Steph, Grant and I went to the Broadway Mall food court.  They literally have every type of food – even sushi rolls that are $2.00AUS (they are just like our rolls but uncut…therefore cheaper!)  It, of course rained continuously all day again…pouring only when we needed to walk outside.  That afternoon we walked in another herd to Darling Harbor where we went out on a big boat (like the Catalina boats) and toured the Harbor.  We were out for three hours and saw Russell Crowe’s house, the Opera House and both harbor bridges.  I would love to show you pictures but my camera FREAKED OUT that night and self-deleted all but one picture…oops.  There was a feast on board…I am really embracing the whole free food thing now that I really am a starving college kid.

After the cruise, Adrienne (the front desk girl for the BU program who is like 25ish) suggested we all go to CARGO BAR in Darling Harbor if we didn’t want to go home at 8:30 on a Friday.  As much as I hate going everywhere in the BIG group, we went.  OMG, best decision so far!  The club was uber chic…think a lounge/club in LA.  It is right on the water and they were having some sort of event with food and a well-known DJ.  It was lots of fun!  We danced and danced and then walked back home (gaining plenty of blisters between all the girls on the way).  That is the first going out place we are super excited to repeat. 

Although there were optional excursions to see local areas on Saturday we decided to sleep in (not that any of us did…we are all waking up freakishly early here!)  Grant, Ted, Marisa, Soph, Steph and I went to THE ROCKS and got pancakes from a place (pancakes on the rocks) with tons of different pancakes that Soph remembered from when we backpacked around Australia before college.  After we all engorged ourselves with breakfast foods (the first American portions since we arrived…normally we are all STARVING because everything is healthy and small here!)

After, we wandered through a weekend outdoor market where they had local foods, lotions, arts, and beautiful crafty things.  We wandered North from there until we reached the Observatory Museum on top of a hill that looked like a mountain from the Harbor Cruise…We are definitely getting our exercise through walking here!  We went through the museum where they had pieces from the oldest telescopes in the world and had a dome that is the structure of the oldest operating telescope in Australia.  The boys liked it a LOT more than us but I felt like I learned my random facts for the day. 

From the tip of the Harbor we wandered all the way back to Darling Harbor.  (I have no idea how to describe the walk other than it is the distance from North End to West Campus at BU.)  Once we were there, we bought tickets to ride the monorail around the city.  This would have been a great idea EXCEPT its sort of hard to see outside rainy windows in small compartments STUFFED with random (interesting) people.  We rode the complete track around the city center and then circled back around till Paddy’s Market stop and got off there. 

Paddy’s Market is behind Darling Harbor (where the Real World was filmed…we saw their house).  Inside the market is a huge swap meet set up with endless vendors of the same cheap stuff that nobody actually needs.  Luckily, our trip was well worth it because we found the farmer’s market portion in the back corner.  Signs selling huge bunches of fruits and vegetables made my empty wallet very happy.  We decided to split up, buy ingredients and make a family dinner in our communal kitchen at UniLodge.  We left the market spending less that $20AUS collectively with BBQ sausage, corn on the cob, grapes, tomatoes, avocado, salad, and more! 

We were all beat by the time we walked back home.  After some separate regrouping in our rooms we went over to Glebe Street where we got yummy mochas in Fair Trade Café.  Our server, who was loving her herbs, gave a jumbled explanation of the difference between American coffee terms and Australian ones.  Here, you order a flat white, short black, long black…. (The longer…the more water…. they all have the same amount of espresso).  I felt like we were FRIENDS sitting around a wooden table in the shape of an alligator on our eclectic couches.  We got some last minute stuff from the grocery store and headed home to cook.

Our dinner was AMAZING.  We had so much fun sitting around a BIG table in the common room on our floor.  (Soph and Steph are two doors down so the girls always win when choosing location).  Afterwards, we got a little silly and started Couch Olympics where Grant and I totally won with our combined team: “Canadagascar.”  We didn’t go out last night, just some good old fashioned bonding time with great friends.

I am really, really lucky to be here with the people that I am.  AND…the sun is out today!  I better go enjoy it while it lasts. Until later- xoxo gabs