Hi friends! Heading into the seventh of eight weeks in Sydney, I cannot even describe how fast time has gone. It only seemed like yesterday that we got off the plane to venture into this land that now feels like home. Although the weather has been inconvenient at times, most days have been hot and sunny, providing excellent opportunities to go to the beach and enjoy the great outdoors. This past week was no exception. The weather was very cooperative, making it even more enjoyable to head outside.

On the other hand, this week has also been my most challenging academic week because I had to prepare for two ten-minute presentations in both classes. My first presentation was in my Aussie Life and Culture class, where I described Larrkinism and The Aussie Hero. My second presentation was on a fancy cuisine called Peking Duck in my contemporary politics class, which I discussed in my previous blog. Although I was not required to present on Peking Duck solo, I really wanted to put my research skills to the test and force myself to get more comfortable with public speaking since I would not share any of the work with anyone else. After Thursday evening, I remember racing back to my room, relieved to finish my second presentation; I was exhausted and slept a ton that night! Unfortunately, I had two classes on Friday starting at 8 am, meaning I had to stay sharp and hustle until the end of the next day.

Despite all this, I taught my roommate, John, this week how to solve the Rubik’s cube. After randomly fiddling with my cube for a while, grabbing the attention of all my roommates, I convinced John to sit down with me so I could teach him the steps to solve it himself. We sat through every step, and I showed him everything he needed to know, from which moves to make to visualizing the different patterns that one can come across on the twisty puzzle. Although he is still perfecting some of the later steps, John has been a great learner, and it puts a tear in my eye to see how happy he is now that he can solve it! Also, to celebrate, John, Jonah, and Dom visited Chinatown for a sit-down dinner Friday night. Most of us got noodles, and the food was super good. I only remembered to take a photo after I finished, but I am glad I remembered! The cool thing about the restaurant we ate at was that it had multiple shelves of the cat that waved his hand (called the “beckoning cat”). Never have I seen so many of those in one place. Nevertheless, I got the cold noodles dish while the other guys got different broth dishes. We all enjoyed the wonderful evening in preparation for a fun weekend ahead!

On Saturday morning, my roommates and I woke up fairly early to prepare for the Hunter Valley trip. We left by quarter past nine, and the journey was very long. We eventually stopped in a small town to get a pre-planned lunch and explore the local amenities too. I was surprised at how different the small-town experience was from a city experience like in Sydney. The police station was tiny and off to the side, and only one major store sold many things, including coffee, fruits, meals, clothes, sunscreen, and more. It also served as the main post office for the town, showing just how minuscule the area was. Since it was so sunny, I had to put on extra sunscreen that weekend so I would not get burned. We then visited three wineries as part of our Hunter Valley weekend, which was cool. I took some awesome photos as well.

Being out in Australia, one thing I had wished I had brought was my drone from home. I don’t know the rules in Australia on where you can fly a drone, but the places we went to made for some fantastic shots! Nonetheless, we spent the night in Newcastle in a very polished hotel. It was a nice change of pace; we all had only one roommate (instead of multiple roommates), which I liked! After arriving in Newcastle, a bunch of friends and I went to an Italian restaurant for dinner. I sat at the head of the table and ordered a cold glass of milk and a delicious dish of Casarecce al Beef Brisket. It was amazing and one of the best Italian dishes I have ever had! Following our meal, we all ventured to Woolsworth to grab a treat before returning to the hotel. After a long day, I called it an early night, eager to enjoy the hotel breakfast in the morning and explore further.

The following day, I eagerly got up at 7 am to eat breakfast. Especially, as I got older, I have gotten less picky, especially for breakfast foods. After that fantastic meal, I ventured off with Aleksa to find the nearby beach, where we walked along this long boardwalk. The scenery was breathtaking, and it was a shame we could not stay for an extra day. We ended up walking up the hill to this small lighthouse since the courtyard part of it was open to the public. We then walked to the end of the boardwalk pillar to snap a few photos. On our way back to the beach, we came across three older adults with a dog resembling my dog. After conversing with them for a bit, I found one of them had family right in New Jersey, where I am from. It is incredible how you can be in a place as far as Australia and still meet people from similar places or backgrounds! On top of that, their dog was a doppelganger of my boxer dog Rosie back at home. Although the dog was not a boxer (I forget what breed they said they were), seeing such a lovely four legged friend was nice.

Later on, I decided to do some walking alone on the beach. Aleksa could not walk on the beach with his shoes, so we met back up half an hour later. The beach was amazing; there was a certain area of it that was sort of in a corner so you had waves coming from both the left and right side. Although it was not lifeguard protected, that would defiantly be my ideal relaxation spot. After meeting back up with Aleksa at the boardwalk, we returned to the accommodation, stopping at a coffee shop along the way. After we packed up our belongings in the afternoon, we all headed out as one big group to go to a local Thai restaurant. With our pre-picked meals, we sat and waited for our food while conversing about our weekend. The portion sizes were very generous and the food was terrific. As someone still reasonably new to Thai food, it has definitely grown on me, and I enjoy it a lot now! After the meal, we all departed for the third winery visit of the trip, which was very interesting! One thing intriguing to me is how vast and expansive the fields are; there must be a lot of factors that go into making the wine products.

Thank you for tuning into my blog this week. Although my time in Sydney is slowly coming to a close, I have already made some exciting plans for next week that I can’t wait to share. Not to mention, my Mom is coming to visit as well! Love you, Mom (and family at home), and safe travels to the land down under!

-Colin