After two weeks in Australia, I have finally found my rhythm in this gorgeous city!
I’ve pretty much gotten all of the bus routes I have to take regularly down to a science. This week has been a week of exploration. My roommate Maddie and I have tried to go outside of our little comfort zones within Sydney and go to new places. On Monday we spent the afternoon in Hyde Park learning about the Australian War Memorial and visiting the Cathedral located right outside of the park. Starting the week laying on the plush grass in the sun was everything and more. It gave me the rejuvenation I needed for my 3:30 pm class.
On Wednesday, the two of us went to the classic Bondi Beach with plans to spend the entire day there. This plan lasted a solid 2 hours before we were attacked by a rather painful sand/wind storm. Everyone ran off the beach and I can say I have never inhaled so much sand in my entire life. To reward our survival we got matching pearl bracelets and tried yochi for the first time!
Saturday was a make-up day for our missed beach day. Maddie, Jackson, and I made our way down to Brontë beach and it was absolutely gorgeous. There were definitely fewer people than at Bondi, so it was super nice and relaxing until we ran out of sunscreen. After being burned on every single beach day, I’ve finally come to the realization that spray on sunscreen does not fly in Australia. The most important thing on my shopping list is spf 50+ cream sunscreen in bulk!
Sunday was hands down the best day of the week because it was our roommate Sienna’s birthday! Saturday night ended with a quick run to pick up her birthday gift and decorate the apartment, so I was super excited to see her reaction on Sunday. Maddie and I decided to go to church that morning and we went to the famous hill song church in Waterloo at 8:30 hoping to get back for Sienna’s birthday breakfast at 10 am. Unfortunately for us, the campus was closed for renovations so we got into a random white van (sorry Mom) with a group of churchgoers to the Alexandria campus. Service was great but it lasted until 10:45. Since we weren’t making it to breakfast, we decided to meet them back at the apartment for dinner and our boat party for Australia Day. Dinner and drinks were amazing and the boat party gave us amazing views of the lights and fireworks! The day ended with us singing Happy Birthday back in the apartment. I’m so grateful to be with such an amazing group of girls in my apartment and with a great group in general! This is only week 2 out of 16 so I’m super excited to get closer with all of them.
