yesterday i moved into my permanent apartment building for the semester. while it's not quite as nice at my stay in the 5-star World Tower in sydney, it is pretty damn nice. I will post a picture when i actually take one, but i still have a full view of the city skyline and can see the ocean from my balcony. life continues to be treating me well. tomorrow i am going to the beach for the first time and will be applying for a few jobs in the local skate and surf shops, so wish me luck.
today, Nick, his roommate Adam, and I took the train an hour and a half to the Soundwave Music Festival outside sydney. we got there right on time, but there were about 8,000 people (literally) in no form of a correct line trying to get in the fairgrounds. long story short, it took us a little under 4 hours to get inside. luckily, we made friends with the people who were standing next to us so we had some people to talk to. they also had a little bottle of the local bundeburg rum, but after a small sip, we realized it wasn't worth the taste. finally we got in and i got to see Every Time I Die, Poison the Well, Horse the Band, the Bloodhound Gang, Alice in Chains, In Flames, Say Anything, and about 10 other bands that i am too lazy to type up. it ended up being an awesome day, but now i am tired and going to go to bed. tomorrow is the first day since i have been here that i don't have to set an alarm in the morning so life can't be much better right now, haha.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
alter-egp thursday/"gettin tuesday"
yesterday was one for the books. we started the day early and went to the Blue Mountains for a day of abseiling/repeling down mountains. i know it sounds awesome, but it was even better than you can imagine! the weather was perfect, the people were great, and the view was unlike anything else i've ever seen. i got to bounce down mountains and even free fall off a 250 foot cliff into the temperate rainforest. after helping the crew carry equipment up the mountain, they had coolers of mice cold Toohey's New beer just waiting for us. after a beautiful ride back, me and the mates had a night on the town, and I introduced them to my beer duck, haha. after a lot of drinking and stumbling into some pretty seedy joints, i had to carry my roommate home. i put him to bed, then figured i would take it easy.
PS - i discovered that i speak with an australian accent when drinking...exclusively
Monday, February 16, 2009
First few days
I have been beyond busy ever since i arrived. I don't even know how i can include everything that has happened, but I will do my best to reveal some of the highlights.
I got in around 6:30 AM on Saturday morning only to find that i was randomly rooming with my only two friends i knew at Maryland. They had some orientation stuff going on, so I decided to go on a long walk around Sydney by myself. During the 3 hour walk, some highlights included seeing the Opera house, the royal botanical gardens, thousands of fruit bats in the rain forest, wild cockatoos, and eating my first Turkish Delight candy bar. Later that day, I met up with my friends and we took a bus to nearby Coogee beach. There is a 4 mile trail along the cliffs/ocean connecting Coogee to Bondi Beach, so we spent our rainy afternoon enjoying the sights of the beaches. Even though the rain sucked, it was a great day. We finished the night by going to a place on Darling Harbor called Club Cargo. Not only was this the best club I've ever been to, the DJ was absolutely amazing (not to mention that all the ladies were stunning).
The next day, my friends moved out to go to their respective schools, and I finally had the privilege of starting my orientation. I met my roommates later in the afternoon and we've all been together since. We've really gotten along great and I think the semester will be a blast. After yet another night on the Darling Harbor and a Kangaroo Steak later, we went to a cigar bar called Cohibar for a beer. We got there just in time to miss the down pouring rain, so we just had a beer and waited until the weather passed.
Since that night, the days have been filled with orientation at the University of Sydney. My new friends Danny, Chris, Cole, Megan, Caitlin and myself have all been pretty bored during the actual sessions, but the campus is absolutely gorgeous (even in this piss poor weather). In addition to learning about bus routes and scheduling classes, we have been taught that it can actually be friendly to call someone a bastard. I love this country.
Hopefully I will be able to have a few pictures up soon. I'll have an update soon enough.
- Charlie
I got in around 6:30 AM on Saturday morning only to find that i was randomly rooming with my only two friends i knew at Maryland. They had some orientation stuff going on, so I decided to go on a long walk around Sydney by myself. During the 3 hour walk, some highlights included seeing the Opera house, the royal botanical gardens, thousands of fruit bats in the rain forest, wild cockatoos, and eating my first Turkish Delight candy bar. Later that day, I met up with my friends and we took a bus to nearby Coogee beach. There is a 4 mile trail along the cliffs/ocean connecting Coogee to Bondi Beach, so we spent our rainy afternoon enjoying the sights of the beaches. Even though the rain sucked, it was a great day. We finished the night by going to a place on Darling Harbor called Club Cargo. Not only was this the best club I've ever been to, the DJ was absolutely amazing (not to mention that all the ladies were stunning).
The next day, my friends moved out to go to their respective schools, and I finally had the privilege of starting my orientation. I met my roommates later in the afternoon and we've all been together since. We've really gotten along great and I think the semester will be a blast. After yet another night on the Darling Harbor and a Kangaroo Steak later, we went to a cigar bar called Cohibar for a beer. We got there just in time to miss the down pouring rain, so we just had a beer and waited until the weather passed.
Since that night, the days have been filled with orientation at the University of Sydney. My new friends Danny, Chris, Cole, Megan, Caitlin and myself have all been pretty bored during the actual sessions, but the campus is absolutely gorgeous (even in this piss poor weather). In addition to learning about bus routes and scheduling classes, we have been taught that it can actually be friendly to call someone a bastard. I love this country.
Hopefully I will be able to have a few pictures up soon. I'll have an update soon enough.
- Charlie
Thursday, February 12, 2009
My cursed, but blessed flight...
So i left my dads house on february 11th at 1 PM to catch my 5 o'clock to LA. All went smoothly and I got there fine. I had a few hours, then boarded my plane to Sydney at 10:15PM LA time. We were supposed to take off at 10:30, but due to technical problems, sat on the runway until 2:15AM. we all hated life, however, we took off. about 4 hours in, the "check engine light" came on and we were told that we would be landing in honolulu, oahu and there for almost 24 hours before we continued to Sydney. At first, i was frustrated, but then i realized I was in Hawaii and could just sit on the beach and enjoy life. I will be posting all the pictures on facebook eventually, but since i had a little time to kill, i figured I would post a teaser picture now. so far everything has been AMAZINGLY fun (minus the plane troubles) and i will be in sydney soon.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Welcome!
Hey everybody,
This is my first post for my study abroad blog. Over the course of the semester, I will be posting pictures and writing about some of my day to day activities so you all in the States can keep up with my warm, awesome life in Syndey. If you know anyone who doesn't have this address and would like to keep up with me and my travels, it would be awesome if you could pass it along for me. Thanks a lot, and hopefully i'll have something cool for you as soon as I land!
Charlie
This is my first post for my study abroad blog. Over the course of the semester, I will be posting pictures and writing about some of my day to day activities so you all in the States can keep up with my warm, awesome life in Syndey. If you know anyone who doesn't have this address and would like to keep up with me and my travels, it would be awesome if you could pass it along for me. Thanks a lot, and hopefully i'll have something cool for you as soon as I land!
Charlie
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
