What happened to Tuesday???

I left SFO at 10:30 PM on Monday 11/12 and I arrived in Sydney 14 hours later at 8:00 AM on WEDNESDAY 11/14. For me, there was no Tuesday 11/13. Where it went exactly I couldn’t tell you. All I know is that for one twenty-four hour period in the history of earth, it appears I had no being. I made it through my first day and didn’t even need a nap! I slept for 10 of the 14-hour flight, which probably doesn’t surprise anyone who knows my sleeping habits. I was once in the LAX airport with friends and slept through a high school marching band practicing.

The time difference was going to be very hard for me to remember as I have friends and family in two different time zones. Tara made me a very handy guide that fits in my wallet, called “What the F*ck time is it?” For example, it is Thursday 9 AM now in Sydney and it is Wednesday 2 PM in San Francisco, and Wednesday 5 PM in Atlanta.

We arrived via bus to the Sydney Central YHA hostel, located in the middle of downtown. My favorite Australian band, Powderfinger, (which I have loved since 2001) was playing loudly as we entered the hostel. I can’t wait to see them live! Lauren and I are in different rooms and I am sharing a room with 3 other girls from Germany, Japan, and Australia. I have not slept in a bunk bed since college and I can’t say I have missed the experience. I got stuck with a top bunk which has brought back a scary memory from my freshman year at Clemson, when I slept walked right off the top of my loft bed and landed face first on the hard ground. The fear of falling off my bed again is probably why I didn’t sleep well last night and I got up at 5:30 AM. I decided to explore early on my own. I got a coffee and was excited to stumble upon the local library, which I will go to often as I did not bring many books with me.

My first day in Sydney was very productive. We took care of the obvious most important task…getting local cell phones. I got one of those pay as you go phones. It is super expensive for me to make calls, over $1 a minute internationally, but I do get free incoming calls… hint, hint 🙂

We walked through downtown to the Bunac/IEP office to sign up for orientation on Friday and started looking for a place to live. We made an appointment to view a place at Coogee Beach, which is just South of famous Bondi Beach. We are meeting the real estate agent again today to view 3 more properties at the beach.

The hostel we are staying at is very nice and huge with 600 people staying here now. The cost to share a 4 person room is $35/night and includes breakfast. There is even a rooftop pool! They have free movie nights and last night it was make your own pizza night for $5 which also included a beer. After dinner we went to SideBar where Bunac was having a happy hour gathering. We met several cool people from the US that are also doing the work visa program.

My first impressions and observations of Sydney are: there is a huge British influence here, the city is beautiful, the weather seems perfect, the people are very nice and helpful, you drive on the left side of the road (must remember to look right, left, right!), the accent is even sexier in person although hard to understand at times, everyone wears flip flops (i love guys in flip flops!), the public transportation system is easy, American music is always playing, the toilet does flush the opposite direction, housing is expensive, and this is the hardest time of the year to find both housing and a job.

Today’s agenda is to explore different neighborhoods in the morning and then head to Coogee Beach in the early afternoon to view more properties. I have decided to find a place to live first and then begin to look for a job that is close to my home.

I still can hardly believe I am halfway around the world in Australia! WOO-HOO!!!