For my last week in Sydney I wanted to hit all of my personal favorite spots. Tuesday I went on a run around the park. I also got an apple croissant from the Terrace before class and I still dream about this croissant. The perfect gooey baked apple center with brown sugar on top. Then, to top it off, we went to ArmsLength like we do every Tuesday for our last pasta and wine special. I wanted to be surprised for this most special meal, so I asked my friends to keep the pasta special for the month a secret. It ended up being a really good tomato sauce with baby tomatoes and mozzarella on gnocchi, which was my favorite pasta special so far. It did not disappoint. I am coming for their tiramisu one day.
Wednesday I wanted to get some work done, so I walked through the city and then headed to Mitchell Library. But not after taking a peek at the State Library of NSW to see if they had added any new galleries! A cartoonist’s work about aboriginals caught my eye after learning about the aboriginals in Aussie Life. Then, I headed to the beautiful library where I finished my work for Contemporary Politics. I knew nothing about Duterte and his War Against Drugs, and found this lesson on the consequences of weakened checks and balances and its detrimental effect on democracy to be an enlightening lesson. Drastic policies as a result of the growth of centralized power have been dangerous enough to kill thousands, and what happened in the Philippines is just one example of this. In a way, to celebrate being in a nation that does not struggle for their rights, I headed to the Sheef with my friends to celebrate, and to exercise this freedom!
Thursday I woke up bright and early for the sunrise. I knew I had to see a Sydney sunrise before I left, so I reluctantly got myself up to meet my friend at Coogee. We sat up on a rock and were surprised to see a surfer out in the distance being hammered by huge waves. We made sure he didn’t drown of course, but it was also super funny. There was also someone flying a drone capturing the sunrise and a lot of people out and about for 6:30 in the morning. We saw a yoga class and everything. It was such a peaceful view that I would get up to see the sunrise early every day, but I figure I can just do that when I’m old and get my beauty sleep now. Then, of course I had to meet my roommates for Blackwood one last time. I got eggs on toast because I wasn’t too starving, but the drinks are always the highlight to me anyways. I decided to get chai on a whim. It was calling my name. Sure enough, it was delish. It was one of those self-pour the shot of chai into the milk, and anytime I get chai I think of my friend Maya, and boy would she have drank this upppp. We went to the beach after and it was perfect.
I also got a little tour of the emergency room in Sydney the night before leaving because I dislocated my knee. I think the life lesson here is don’t try to carry an open suitcase the size of yourself through a doorway. Maybe instead of trying to find floor space in the hallway to sit on it in order to close it (because the room has no floor space), just take some stuff out! This is my lesson in overconsumption. Probably didn’t need 3 purses. While an unfortunate circumstance to find oneself in 6 hours before a flight, I also am reminded of how great your body is at naturally healing itself. The wonderful thing is that the kneecap moves itself back into place and if you keep it straight enough it’ll heal itself. It went from feeling like nothing was holding it together to feeling almost normal in just a few days!
I was much more grateful to be able to do all of the activities that GAV planned for us knowing I could’ve probably been flattened by the entirety of my belongings. I snorkeled the entire 3 hours we were allowed, and got sunburnt even though I thought I was done with the whole burning thing. Fish seem to live such happy, peaceful, uncomplicated lives just swimming around, as long as they don’t get eaten of course. The coral was also a maze of colors and fluorescence, a beautiful option for real estate if I were a fish. A fact that surprised me about the wildlife was that some fish species actually have the capability of switching genders because of their evolutionary adaptations and diversity in species from being around for 500 million years. It makes you wonder what the human species would be capable of given that amount of time to evolve (if we survive that long). Maybe we could fly or shoot lasers out of our eyes or something. Or we could all live like Spiderman. Never say never.
