Good friends, good fun, good sun

Orientation and all! Allow me to present you to my school, the University of Sydney. This is the main quadrangle, the oldest part of campus. Not all too exciting, but it's really pretty! Gothic style and all, but it's actually really new--all of it was built after 1850, some even as recent as the 1920's.

There was lots of information, lots of talking, lots of meeting new people, and lots of tours. Some sights from around campus...

The Graffiti Tunnel! I plan on painting my name in here sometime this semester. Expect a picture within the next few months. But there's much more! There are a couple of museums on campus; a natural history/anthropology museum, and this other museum, Nicholson Museum. It houses the collections of one of the forefathers of the school (I think he isn't actually the founder, but he's pretty up there).










Anyhow, I've made some new friends, and we went to visit Bondi Beach again. The weather's finally gotten better after a couple of wet weeks.


Of course, this week is all about "welcoming the international students," so there's been BBQ and parties galore. BBQ's here are all about the "sausages" or hot dogs--there's just about nothing else they serve at a BBQ, but a free meal is a free meal, no?














So, lots of parties and lots of going out with friends. We also went on a weekend trip: wine tasting and dolphin watching!
The vineyards were nice, especially one where there was cheese tasting as well. Yum, you know me, I love good food!

For dinner, we went to "The Brewery" in Newcastle, which turns into a bar/club scene after dinner. There was a bachelorette party going on there, and there was this little old granny groovin' to the beat! It was so adorable. I got a picture of her, but you can't really see it too clearly. Nevertheless, it was a pretty cool night.

We stayed overnight in Newcastle, and then took off to Port Stephens the next day! We went out to Nelson Bay...

and we saw some dolphins! They were kind of hard to spot, and there weren't too many, but it was still pretty awesome.


We also got to hang out in the boom (sp?) net, which was pretty cool except sitting on that net with the water pushing you right against it really hurts something ridiculous.

There was also a water slide and some drifting in the water, but there are no pictures because my camera is unfortunately not waterproof.

Anyways...there was also a trip to Birubi Beach, which was absolutely gorgeous. It was super relaxed, and a conversation overhead:

"I'll meet you back here on the beach tomorrow after school, yeah?"
"What time, do you think?"
"About four."

Now, let me show you that beach. And adorable Mickis and Sina!