Wow, I can’t believe I’m already halfway through my time in Sydney. To realize that I embarked on this journey only a month ago is almost incomprehensible and is making me look through what bucket list items are still left to complete.

During the proper week, I spent much of my time wrapping up assignments for my classes. In my global management course, my group and I presented how Lego adapted its brand strategies to appeal to the Chinese market. I really enjoyed doing the research for this presentation due to how it combined my two majors alongside a product I have been very familiar with since I was young. Here is a link to the slides if you’re curious! https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1F93U__uv-p5u7mY8TUwBTNSkNRugRd3oa1J1jOLkpV4/edit?usp=sharing. 

Additionally, I finished my Aussie Life and Culture class with a final paper pointing out the hypocrisies in the “true Australian” identity. Throughout the semester, we learned how the original colonizers settled the shores of Australia without considering the Aboriginal population they were taking the land from. Centuries later, as other countries have immigrated to Australia, there has been underlying xenophobia, specifically towards Italian and Middle Eastern populations which I find very interesting. These people were immigrating to Australia to pursue better lives as portions of the British population had in the eighteenth century, but the ancestors of the Anglo-Australians believed that they were the ones being invaded. I enjoyed compiling all of the information for this paper and hope my professor enjoyed reading it.

On Friday, we boarded our flight to Melbourne, landing so late in the evening that everyone decided to head to bed that night. The next morning, we took a group walking tour of the city, learning about its history, Victoria’s separation from New South Wales, and the gold rush. I was amazed to learn that all of the gold found on top of Melbourne’s most artistic buildings is real gold as a sign of the city’s wealth. 

The Melbourne Royal Exhibition Building with a goldleaf dome

Some of the many Victorian style houses with their ornate railings

After the tour, we spent time walking around more, looking through shops, and learning the city better. Once I went back to the hotel, Aleksa and I went out for dinner before hunkering down to finish our finals. Unfortunately, by the time I was done writing my paper, people had come back unsuccessfully from their journeys to find somewhere interesting to go. This was definitely a disappointment and will be my priority if I ever go back to Melbourne.

One of Melbourne’s many “arcades” or covered shopping streets designed after Italian shopping districts

Sunday was a much-needed rebound from the disappointing night before. Aleksa, Sienna, Lauren, Alexa, Arianna, and I went the opposite direction of the tour we went on Saturday and found a very good breakfast spot. I ordered biscoff french toast which was delicious and an apple juice that tasted like biting into an apple (in the best way possible). We walked our food comas off by going to the markets nearby where we all successfully thrifted something. I ended up buying a Green Day shirt that has art from each song off one of their albums which I found very different from most band merch I see back home in the U.S. Afterwards, we looked in a few other stores as we head back towards the hotel and stopped for drinks at a British pub. I was very happy to get my first draft Guinness since Ireland and we all sat around playing card games and eating pizza in the nice weather. We grabbed ice cream as we went back to the hotel and then began the journey back home.

Walking through Melbourne’s Chinatown on our way back to the hotel

After some shaky moments, I really enjoyed my time in Melbourne and think I could spend one more weekend there, though I am not planning on doing so this trip. I personally far prefer the beachier aesthetic found around Sydney to Melbourne’s more traditional city feel, but enjoyed understanding Melbourne’s uniqueness at the same time. 

Lastly, as I am finishing my blog on Monday, I began my first new class of the block. I had international finance bright and early but really enjoyed how personable the professor seems to be. He just sent an email with additional guidance for understanding the material and I feel that if I need any additional support, he will be very accessible which is great. 

Additionally, it was very exciting to see the Eagles win the Super Bowl. With Sienna being a big Eagles fan, a group of us Bucknellians went to the bar next to our accommodation to watch the game and while I only caught the second half, it was exciting nonetheless. I was very surprised to see how many Australians know the sport, teams, and players as well as they do and enjoyed the very different atmosphere for the game. I’m also very happy for my dad and will send him a text tomorrow morning here in Sydney to see what he thought of watching his favorite team win.

With that, I will leave this blog here. I am looking forward to my first International Marketing class tomorrow and feel that class will expand on everything I have learned in the past 8ish months between Dublin and Australia.