Good News! I made it here alive :) I’ve been in Sydney 6 days officially. The program coordinators are really good people and want to look out as much as they can. A lot of the other students are from BU and a couple others are from outside schools like me. But I still like being the only Wheaton person here.
My first flight to California was around 6hrs, and with my luck I sat next to an older Japanese man that told me how racist Australians were, especially in Sydney. We had the normal stranger to stranger plane conversation where Person A asks Person B why they are traveling to LA. And when I said I had a connecting flight to Sydney his jaw dropped. He told me when he had visited (granted that was 27 years ago) some Australians were overtly racist to him and were very liberal about sharing their beliefs, no matter how hurtful. He stressed how mistreated the Aboriginal culture is and how white Australians don’t even acknowledge the struggles of the Aboriginals because it does not pertain to them. In my head I thought, “damn, so Aboriginal is the new black (circa Great Migration to the Civil Rights Movement). Wow I really needed that, thanks Mr.”
Qantas Airlines is FLY! They have TV’s in the back of each seat. Not like Jet Blue TV’s where everyone on the plane watches the same thing, but touch screen TV’s with unlimited movies, music, television shows, games etc. You could even play a game with someone else on the flight. I didn’t enjoy any of it though – I went to sleep as soon as I got on the plane and only woke up when food came. OH! And for dinner they gave me salmon, I’ve never had salmon on a plane before, just peanuts. It was good too.
Jet lag is no joke. We got in on a Weds and I wanted to sleep so badly. But they say the best way to fight jet lag is to stay awake as long as you can. For me that was 8:30pm. Each day has been packed with new things for us to do to get settled in. So far I’ve registered for classes, got all my books, met with my internship advisor, attempted to unpack, and went on a scavenger hunt around the city. Sydney has to be one of the most beautiful cities I’ve been to. As cheesy and touristy as it sounds, I mean it.
The weather is FREEZING over here compared to what I came from. It’s the end of winter but it feels more like the middle of fall on the east coast. And now that I think about it, I under packed. The cost of living is ridiculous! Minimum wage here is around $15/hr! That’s more than I made in a summer. I went to the supermarket and a box of Fruit Loops was 7.99AUD. I laughed so hard and grabbed the no-frills box of Rice Krispies, Rice Puffs 2.99AUD. Since so much of their products are imported in Australia the prices are higher than they would be at home; liquor being one of them. The legal drinking age is 18 so I feel high and mighty going into bars and clubs that I wouldn’t be able to in the states. But drinks are expensive!
For my internship I might get placed at a non-profit organization called Women for Women. It spreads awareness about women’s issues in poor countries around the world. It’s goal is to rebuild for these women and create a support system for those who are victim to exploitation, war and poverty. The organization is based in New York and London and they want to expand it to Sydney. International Women’s Day is coming up in March and the woman I’d be working for is in PR and has been prepping and planning for this event non-stop. I do like PR a lot and Comedy Central taught me so much about PR this summer, but I don’t know if I want to intern in PR again, so soon after I finished up at CC. Since I’m in the journalism program I want to write more than anything and learn a thing or two on how to get better with my writing etc., so working for a publication would be ideal. But at the same time Women for Women fits perfectly with my interests and sociology background. I just hope that in the mist of planning for the Women’s day event my supervisor would let me cover something, or write a piece. I still have weeks to pick an internship; I just want it to be the right one.
On Saturday, the BU program coordinators created a scavenger hunt around the city. It was crazy! (in a good way) I saw the Botanical Garden, Centennial Park, Bondi Beach, and finally worked the bus system. Since internet is limited I'm rushing. But the pictures should say enough.
It's 5:13pm and I'm just leaving the student lounge to make a sandwich. Making food in my room is keeping my pockets happy. Peace for now. Updates will soon follow!
Kenya
Your first few days there have been quite hectic! OMG but your possible internship sounds AMAZING!! I would absolutely love something like that back home...I'll def look into that.
ReplyDeleteThe pictures look amazing...straight out of magazine. I know the japanese man's comment was frightening in a sense, but it is the reality of Sydney. Then again, his experience was quite some time ago...it shouldn't be exactly the same for you.
Woah cereal is uber expensive...yikes!! thank goodness for bargain prices and brands lol,