Welcome back, mates! I’ve been in Sydney for over a month now. This week was very academic, as our first block of classes ended on Friday, but the weekend was a great getaway to Melbourne—a perfect reset before Block 2 classes.

Block One Done

I have now completed Business Law and Australian Life and Culture, two drastically different courses. Business Law was fascinating because it was logical and highly detail-oriented. It gave me a solid foundation for understanding the right questions to ask and showed me just how vast the law truly is.

In my Australian Life and Culture course, I couldn’t have been more wrong about what I expected to learn. Honestly, I imagined at least some discussion about kangaroos and koalas, but I was mistaken. Australia’s origins are surprisingly similar to those of the United States. The first inhabitants, the Aboriginal people, had their land colonized and stripped away by the British. Eventually, Australia gained independence—but unlike the U.S., they didn’t fight for it; the British granted it before WWII. However, they still maintained strong ties to Britain. That changed when Britain lost Singapore to Japan in WWII and didn’t back the Australians, leading Australia to realign with the U.S.

We also explored Australia’s identity—think the rugged, outback, crocodile-wrestling stereotype, like Crocodile Dundee. Our professor let us in on a little secret: few Australians actually fit that image. Yet, time and time again, Australians are portrayed in a one-dimensional way that lacks representation for the country’s diverse population. We frequently watched documentaries and films to help us understand these concepts, which provided a broad perspective on what makes up Australia’s cultural melting pot.

My first block of classes was great, and I’m looking forward to taking International Marketing and Contemporary Politics next month!

Airport Adventure

After Friday’s Aussie Life class, I packed for Melbourne and worked on my Business Law exam before heading downstairs to the airport. Naturally, I overpacked, but I still managed to fit everything into one suitcase and my backpack. I will never understand how some people pack everything in just a backpack!This was a full Bucknell trip, so all 26 of us had a designated area at the airport for our group flight check-in. We said goodbye to our checked luggage, got our boarding passes, and headed to security—where I had the most shocking airport experience of my life.

We walked up to an empty security line, and I instinctively put my backpack and belongings into a bin. But there was no boarding pass check, no ID check, no shoe removal, no taking devices out, and no dumping water bottles. I didn’t even go through the full-body scanner—just the old-school metal detector. It took maybe 60 seconds. Absolute breeze. Even when we boarded, they still didn’t ask for ID, despite GAV (the company organizing our activities) instructing us to bring passports. Ridiculous!

I had a middle seat both ways, but the seats felt bigger than usual economy, so no complaints. On the way there, I had a morning coffee, and the caffeine hit. I ended up chatting with both of my seatmates, Tommy and Jonah, and by the end of the flight, we were playing Hangman—they were good sports. The flight was only an hour, and after surviving a six-hour flight and a 13-hour flight to Australia, this was nothing.

On the way back, I downloaded This Is Us, which I discovered is available on Disney+ in Australia (while I had watched it on Netflix back in the U.S.). That made the flight fly by, and I was thriving.

Melbourne

After a slight flight delay, we arrived at the hotel past 10 p.m., so I went straight to bed to rest up for Saturday. Our tour started at 9:15 a.m., and Sienna, Ariana, and I were on top of our game—we grabbed breakfast beforehand. Thank goodness, because the tour lasted about two and a half hours, and we didn’t stop for food until 11:30.

Melbourne was nice, but it didn’t quite have Sydney’s vibe. It was funny seeing so many things named “Carlton blank” (Carlton Street, Carlton Park…even Carlton beer!), which is my dad’s name.

The tour’s highlight? Spotting an Australian possum! I had a totally different image in mind, so seeing one in person caught me off guard. We also learned about the Australian Gold Rush and how the children of wealthy gold miners inherited their families’ fortunes at just 16. Naturally, they went wild spending money, which is how Melbourne got its Royal Exhibition Building—with real gold on top to flaunt their wealth.

After the tour, we stopped along the Yarra River for a much-needed cocktail break. We had been walking a lot, so it was the perfect pit stop. My lemoncello spritz? 11/10.

We wandered around Melbourne, popping in and out of shops, and even visited the National Gallery of Victoria. While the main exhibition was sold out, we explored the gift shop and saw Dancing Pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama.

That evening, Ariana found another TikTok-approved dinner spot: Sam’s Cali Cantina. No surprise—it was delicious. Afterward, we went out, but our tour guide, Charlotte, was not kidding about Melbourne’s techno-heavy music scene. Not really our vibe, so we didn’t stay long.

Instead, we ended up at Yarra Falls, where we had a great end to the night, chatting with our whole roomie group. We made friends with Nick, a bartender born and raised in Melbourne, who was excited to teach us some Aussie slang. He and Charlotte also let us in on how they spot tourists:

1. The accent, obviously.
2. 90% of Melburnians wear black on black—so if you don’t, dead giveaway.
3. Anyone seen with Starbucks. (Though, in Sydney, I definitely hear Aussie accents ordering Frappuccinos.)

By the end of Saturday, I had walked 30,073 steps—12.48 miles. Crazy!

We had to be out of our rooms by 10 a.m., so I enjoyed sleeping in until 9:15. Ariana found another great breakfast spot: White Pony Cafe. It was a 45-minute walk in the heat (a drastic change from Saturday’s overcast weather), but worth it. I had the best orange juice of my life—I have no idea how they made it, but it was life-changing. My breakfast? Eggs and toast with avocado, because I needed fuel for the day.

We then explored Fitzroy Mills Market, a flea market selling secondhand goods and breakfast. Seeing a variety of vintage NFL shirts in Australia was comical. After the market, we took our time heading back to the hotel, popping into shops along the way. We eventually settled at The Elephant and Wheelbarrow, enjoying an outdoor table and sitting there for hours just chatting. I also got to teach everyone the card game Knock! Before heading to the airport, we made a gelato stop (my request, obviously). Fun fact: Gelato is actually more popular than ice cream in Australia due to a large Italian migration.

The airport experience was again seamless. Security? Easy. Flight? Smooth. I was exhausted when we got back, but it felt nice returning to our little Sydney home.

I know the Sydney Opera House tour is happening this weekend, and while the forecast is all rain, I’m hoping we’ll squeeze in a beach day soon. Stay tuned for next week!

Cheers!
-Alexa