Who's Your Paddy?

Definitely one of the most eventful and fun weekends thus far. Despite not sleeping for close to 55 hours, I wouldn't change a single second of it. This weekend started off with an eventful Friday night that never seemed to end. So, that is sleepless night number one. I then proceeded to meet up with the crew at my favorite pub in all of Sydney, The Cock and Bull for St. Patrick's Day. Greatest little Irish pub and it happens to be literally right down the street from out apartment. Got to Cock and Bull around 11:00am and for $10 we got a full breakfast and an awesome T-shirt that said "Who's Your Paddy?" and this shirt became an instant hit with people throughout the day all over the city. The pub was great. They played so much Irish music and there was beer and dancing everywhere you looked. After hanging out at the pub for a while, we made our way down to Darling Harbor for our St. Patrick's Day booze cruise around the city. The cruise was from 2:00pm - 5:00pm and was definitely a lot more fun than I expected. It was mostly study abroad students from all over New South Whales and everyone was decked out in their full Irish attire. Open bar for 3 hours only leads to embarrassing pictures and lots of dancing but we had an awesome time and met some really cool and interesting people. After the cruise, we went for a walk around the city with our final destination being The Rocks. We stopped at this amazing place called Pancakes On the Rocks. It is more or less the fanciest I-Hop you could ever imagine but the food is absolutely delicious. I got this big chicken and bacon pizza that was delicious and they put a huge glob of sour cream and guacamole in the middle which just topped it off. Since our one friend Jenna went a little too hard on the cruise, she was pretty much comatose for the dinner so I also took it upon myself to help her with her pancakes which were out of this world. They top the long stack of pancakes with vanilla ice cream, butter cream, and whipped cream. AMAZING. Definitely going back there for a late night snack since Pancakes On the Rocks never closes! Yes, that's right, they never close. It is pretty common around here for a lot of restaurants and pubs to never close. After dinner we attempted to go on a pub crawl through The Rocks but some people in our group were slightly too intoxicated which made getting into the places a bit difficult. We ended up coming back to Bondi and just enjoying the rest of the night here but St. Patty's Day in Aussie was definitely the best one that I have ever experienced. The next morning, Matt, Josh, Andrew, Ben, and I took a train WAY out West to a small city called Penrith to visit some of Ben's family friends. Western Sydney is an area that many Australians call "Chat" which basically means very sketchy and rough. In these "Chat" cities, there are also a lot of "Bogan's" which is the American equivalent to a Hill Billy or White Trash (I know that is mean and I apologize but it is the only way I can describe it). Once we finally made it out to Penrith, we met up with Ben's friend Matthew who was actually born in the US but since he has been in Australia since he was about 9, he has complete and total Australian accent. He is now in his early 20's but he can still squeeze out a slight American accent which is funny to hear. It is also funny because there are NO Americans out in Penrith so when locals hear us talk, they love it more than anything. The can't tell that Matthews American accent is pretty bad because they don't know what they are listening for but when I hear it, you can tell it is a bit broken. We then made our way to Panther Stadium for our first professional Rugby game. We saw the Penrith Panthers take on the Rabbito's and it was one of the coolest sporting events I have ever seen. I have been going to Baseball, Football, Hockey, and Basketball games my whole life and I have sat in some of the best seats that money could buy but I don't think that I have ever had this much fun. We payed $11 for General Admission tickets and we sat on a grassy hill right in the Panthers end zone. We were literally able to go right up to the field and get within 10 feet of all of the players. I learned all of the rules to Rugby and I can now watch it on TV without wondering to myself, "What the hell is going on here?" It was fun to be an outsider and learn how sport fans are in other countries. One thing I learned was that rule number one is that you NEVER EVER EVER "root" for a team. That is a HUGE no no in Australian culture. You can cheer for a team or go for a team but NEVER root for a team. Rooting for a team essentially means that you have sex for the team. So it is like a groupy but 100000x worse. You don't want a Bogan in a Chat area to hear you say you root for the Panthers...Unless you're looking for a good fight. After the game, we went across the street to the Panther Club which is basically where everyone goes after the game for a few drinks and some food. The club was gorgeous and a lot of fun to hangout in. The locals all love that Americans take the time and effort to come out and see what it is like outside of the big tourist areas. Over all, it was a pretty awesome weekend. I cannot wait to go back out to Penrith for some more Rugby games. Today is family BBQ day so shortly I will be going to the store to pick up some Kangaroo steaks and Kangaroo Sausages (also known as Kanger-bangers) and also some Swordfish steaks. Should be another delicious BBQ at 97 Grafton Street! Stay tuned for more interesting stories and I appreciate you checking in and reading up on my journey down under. Means a lot to me. Cheers!

No voice, no problem

Being sick is pretty crappy to being with. Being sick while studying abroad is pretty crappy x2. I guess going out every day and night for a few weeks and lack of sleep would cause most people to get sick at some point so it was only a matter of time before it hit me. I woke up a few days ago and my voice was completely gone. It was actually so bad that I had to have my roommate order a drink for me at the pub because no one could hear anything I said...Probably wasn't the best idea to go out when I was feeling sick but I learned my lesson. Been taking it easy the past few days and resting up so I get better. One major highlight of my weekend was definitely the Future Music Festival here in Sydney. On Saturday a bunch of my friends and I went to the huge music festival that lasted from 8:00am - 10:30pm. There were about 10 different stages and 3 of which were the main stages where top performers had their set times. Although many people reading this will have no clue what I am talking about, some of the performs I got to see were Fatboy Slim, Skrillex, Swedish House Mafia, and Paul Van Dyk. Those shows were absolutely awesome and it was even cooler because a lot of these performers do not normally come to the US. There were also some smaller stages where a DJ would play and they had foam parties and people would pretty much just go insane. My favorite part of the night for sure was when it got dark out and the stages would have different light shows. Definitely made the shows a lot more enjoyable and the party atmosphere was unmatchable. I had gone to a few music festivals before in the US including IDentity Fest and Dayglow but this was much different. Being in a different country with people of a different culture was pretty cool because a lot of people acted differently and even danced differently than people do back home. Plus, Australians are a lot more friendly so we made a lot of new friends and the social aspect was pretty cool as well. By the end of the night I was pretty exhausted so I grabbed a bus home and on the way stopped at my new favorite burrito place of all time. It is similar to a Calientes from back home but I think it is much better. It is called Guzman y Gomes and they have some of the best Mexican food that I have ever had. Australia may be far from Mexico but they still know how to make a mean burrito! Also, I made my official plans for mid-semester break AKA Spring break! I will be flying out of Sydney on April 6th with a huge group of my new friends to Christchurch, New Zealand. We will be roughing it for about a week, staying at hostels all over the South Island. Although I will have many more details to come in future blog posts, the majority of the trip will consist of extreme sports and activities such as Bungee jumping, hiking, white water rafting, kayaking, zip lining, and much much more. I will be returning back to Sydney on April 14th but I encourage you all to keep checking out the blog around the time I get back because I will be posting some awesome pics from my trip! That's about it for now. Hope everyone back home on the East Coast is enjoying the nice weather I keep hearing about. Cheers!

Being a tourist

Today I woke up and right outside of my window I saw that it was by far one of the most beautiful days that I have seen here in Sydney since we arrived a few weeks ago. I decided to take full advantage of the beautiful day and go out on an adventure and be a complete and total tourist for the day. I grabbed my backpack, some water, my trusty camera, and of course my sunglasses, and I headed out. Started my journey by going to the cleaners (this way I can look fresh and handsome for nightly activities) and then made my way down to the train station here at Bondi Junction. Jumped on the train and headed into Town Hall which is pretty much one of the major railway interchanges in the Central Business District. Jumped off the train there and began my journey. Walked down into to China Town and checked out some cool gift shops and was harassed by some locals who where trying to get me to try some sort of Squid. Another man (who didn't speak a word of English nor did he know how to open his eyes) grabbed my arm and tried pulling me into his little Vietnamese restaurant. Thanks, but no thanks sir, I am on a mission! So I decided to make my way down to Darling Harbor which is pretty close to China Town. I could have taken the train all the way to the Royal Botanical Gardens (my final destination) but I figured that would be cheating and I would brave the city and walk it. Darling Harbor was pretty quiet today but still beautiful with the boats sailing in and out of the harbor and the kids running around playing on the grass. It was fun doing the journey by myself this way I could really enjoy the trip and didn't have to answer to anyone or feel rushed. After taking a peek into the Sydney Aquarium and walking around the areas that are amazing for great restaurants and even better night life, I started my trek to Circular Quay (pronounced Circular Key by anyone and everyone in Sydney and they know immediately that you are a tourist if you say Quay as in kway) I had no idea how far of a walk it would be but I knew it would be far enough. I didn't have a map or a GPS or any clue where I was going. I just knew the general direction and followed the coast all the way there. FINALLY, I reached the Sydney harbor bridge which told me I was close to Circular Quay. Right before the bridge, I passed some awesome harbor side apartments which has been home to Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman, Russel Crowe, and many other famous celebrities. After traveling underneath the bridge and through the historical district of Sydney called The Rocks, I made my way through the infamous Sydney Opera House and into the gorgeous Sydney Royal Botanical Gardens. This place just might be the most majestic, beautiful, breathtaking, spectacular place that I have ever seen. These gardens are more or less Sydney's version of Central Park but with one major difference. Instead of being at the heart of the city, it is right on the harbor and is completely natural. Nothing is man made besides the walk ways and the city does an amazing job keeping it up. The gardens are full of grass fields, beautiful trees, wild animals, and places to just relax and take in the view. Since the gardens lay right on the harbor, you can see pretty much anything and everything you'd like from where you are. You can see the Opera House, the bridge, or the city skyline. I walked along the path, through some beautiful flowery gardens and trees and made my way up to the opposite end of the park which is called, Miss Macquarie's Point. This is by far my most loved place to go in all of Sydney thus far. As you will see in some of the picture I will post on here, the view will literally stop you in your tracks. I never ever could have pictured something so amazing being right in front of me and my only regret is that I cannot even come close to explaining how spectacular it was. Pictures do not even come remotely close to doing this place justice. After taking it all in and relaxing for a moment, I made my way back through the gardens and up into the city. I then found my way to Martins Place (the fortune 500 area) and jumped on the train to head home. Although it seems pretty short and easy when talking about it on here, the trip took me about 5 hours to complete and I estimated that I walked around 20-25 miles total. Quite the hike, but was worth every step. This city is fantastic and I could not have picked a better day to check it all out. Hope you all enjoy the pictures! More fun journeys are sure to come. Cheers!

Way to rain on my parade

First week of classes down and only 12 more to go! School here, as I said earlier, is a lot different than the US of A but after some getting used to it isn't too bad. The commute to class on the train is probably the worst part but it is pretty relaxing and the people I meet going to and from campus is always entertaining. Speaking of meeting of entertaining people, Thursday night was a pretty cool experience. On our way to a bar called "Ivy" in the Central Business District, we met a man from southern Australia who ended up tagging along with us. His name was Eran and at first, it was a little weird having this 35 year old man hanging out with us but after a few shots and some good music we were all best friends. Probably the highlight of my night was getting into a VERY heated political debate with this man. Me being more conservative than not, I have a completely different view on politics than most Australians do. Socialism works pretty well here due to the lower population and easier distribution of wealth. We argued about everything from unemployment, former and current US Presidents, Australian politics, religion and politics, and much much MUCH more. I just found it pretty interesting how much Australians know about the US but at the same time, propaganda works and a lot of what they know isn't exactly 100% accurate. Anyway, yesterday was Australia's version of Mardi Gras which we all attended and dressed up for...First of all...Australian Mardi Gras and US Mardi Gras are two VERY different things. Australian Mardis Gras, as it turns out, is a HUGE gray pride festival. I knew that gay pride was one aspect of the event but I had NO clue that it was the ENTIRE event. Since I wanted to dress up and show off my new found love for Australia, I wore an Australian flag shirt, Australian flag hat, with Australian flag colored beads and an awesome Australian flag painted on my face by the lovely Glory Goodman. I soon saw that everyone was dressing up in rainbow flags, big butterfly wings, torn shirts, and speedos...made for a very interesting night...I didn't stay there too long and actually ended up calling it an early night but it was certainly an experience I will not soon forget. One thing that has been a bit of a drag lately is the horrific rain we have had the past 5 days. Today was the first sunny day we saw all week and we all took advantage of it by running to the beach as soon as we woke up. The rain has been so bad in some parts of New South Whales that over 75% of the state (which is about the size of the east coast of the US) was either flooded or in danger of bad flooding. We all received emails from the government as student visa holders to stay inside for our safety but you're only in Australia once so we neglected to listen and went out in the rain just about every night. This leads me to my next short, funny, and slightly embarrassing story. My new shoes that I love to wear seem to have NO grip on them. So as it was raining I decided to run across the street to avoid getting hit by cars since I still don't understand which direction they are coming from and, in front of all of my peers, I hit the sidewalk...feet completely came out from under me...and like Godzilla, went down with a thundering boom. Sad part was I got one of my nice new shirts all wet...I survived with little to no injury besides the terrible blow to my ego. At least it gave everyone a good laugh. I will remember next time it rains to not run and jump around so I suppose you live and you learn. Almost time for family dinner so this is where I leave you all for now. Hope all is well back in the States! Cheers!