After getting back from my tour, the only thing I can really remember is cramming for exams, which I think went pretty well. The next four days I spent packing and wandering around Christchurch getting in some final souvenir shopping and checking out some places I hadn’t been yet. It wasn’t too exciting. Honestly, I kind of was ready to get out of there. After my tour, I kind of felt like I had seen all I needed to see in New Zealand for a while. So on November 12th, I hopped on a plane to Sydney Australia!!!!
Upon arriving in Sydney I threw my baggage into storage and completely coincidentally ran into one of the girls from my New Zealand tour who was from Japan. Pretty random. lol! I took the shuttle to the domestic terminal and waited for about an hour for Dani and Leslie to arrive. After excited Hellos, we took the shuttle back to our hostel. Needless to say it was….livable. lol. But cheap enough so whatever. After throwing down our things we headed out for pizza a block away. Took it pretty low key that night and watched a few episodes of Degrassi. Yes, Dani too. haha!
The next morning we got up and took the train into the city. Wandered into a pretty park and that ate breakfast at a little cafe. Then we walked down to Cockle Bay? Cockle Harbour? Whatever it was called, and hopped on a ferry to Circular Quay. The ferry was fun. Took some “windy” pictures and got great views of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. Seeing that first sight of the Opera House, was pretty flipping cool. It was like it finally hit that we were actually in Sydney, Australia!! Kind of surreal. We went up to the Opera House and took tons of pictures. Sat and relaxed on a rocky boat dock for a little while, then headed back into the city.
Later that day, we went into to the Barracks Museum which was in a historic building orginally held to accomadate convicts. Went back to the hostel and made some spaghetti for dinner. Got showered, then went back out to explore the Sydney nightlife. haha. Not really. More like we attempted to go bowling, but it was $16 a game, so we ended up going to a pub next door.
Friday we got up to explore some museums. Had brunch at a restaurant next door and then headed into the city. Our first stop was the Sydney Jewish Museum. It was pretty cool to learn about the Holocaust and everything from an Australian perspective. We also checked out the the Contemporary Art Museum which was also pretty cool. We were going to check out the police museum (after getting a little lost), but unfortunately it wsa not open during the week. We ended up walking around the harbour a bit more and made a stop for gelato. yum!!! Then we headed off to Bondi Beach!
It was a long bus ride to Bondi Beach. But it was worth it. Had we had our swimsuits with us and a little more time it would have been nice to hang out and relax. But we had fun wandering around and taking jumping pictures near the freezing cold ocean!! After having a nice italian dinner by the beach, we headed back to the hostel. We hung out, watched some more Degrassi, and had a late night pizza party. lol!
Saturday morning turned out to be nothing exciting. Had a nice relaxing breakfast next door before heading off to the airport. It was kind of a depressing ride, knowing that this was really it and I was heading back to the states in just a few hours!!!!
Airport was a bit of a pain. And by that I mean a big pain. Having to lug my luggage around and waiting in line forever to check in. To top it all off I got there too late to get a window seat and was stuck in the middle isle. The 12.5 hour plane ride not the greatest experience of my life. Watched Wall-E and Mamma Mia and couldn’t fall asleep the entire time. But it went by quicker than the ride there. Stopped in San Francisco for 4 hours and then off to Chicago. It was pretty surreal meeting my parents at the airport and realizing I was really home.
Overall, study abroad was by far one of, if not the greatest experience of my life. Despite the ups and downs I learned a whole lot – about myself, and the world. And got to do some pretty kick ass things I couldn’t anywhere else in the world. It was sad to leave knowing that I don’t know when, or if I will ever be back, but it was nice to see my family, sleep in my own bed, and just be home. I guess you could say, it was pretty bittersweet.
I guess that concludes this blog. Thanks to all those who read through my crazy rants and adventures!!!
<3 Brittany