Part 2: In Which Kings Cross has Nothing to Do with Trains

So, the first leg of break was spent in Sydney, and after walking around a bit, I decided that it was the illegitimate child of London and San Francisco with reminders of Brisbane and, according to Rachel, bits of Chicago (where I have  never, so I can't confirm). Some hills, some older architecture and all that jazz.

Giant Coke sign. Probably the most identifiable landmark in Kings Cross

We arrived in the city a little late in the evening and settled in at our hostel before doing a little night-life exploring. Oh goodness. I'm going to assume everyone who is reading this understands what the Row is at USC (or at any college in general). I didn't believe it existed in the real world. I didn't WANT to believe it existed. But alas, it does in the form of Kings Cross, also known as the train station with Platform 9 ¾ in London Sydney's red light district. Skin-tight skirts and dresses, too tall heels and wedges (seen both on feet and in hands), douchey-looking guys, lone pukers, and all other things associated with the Row. Only instead of houses, there were clubs. It was definitely an interesting atmosphere with fantastic people watching. I'm more of a bar person myself, so I can confidently say that I prefer my hipster-y, bar-filled West End area of Brisbane better than this form of nightlife and going out. But Sydney is a far bigger city, and  a bigger clubbing scene was expected. Plus, I heard a few locals talk about other areas in surrounding suburbs that are a little more low-key. I'll have to make my way over yonder at some point. Anyway, I don't want discourage anyone from going there. If you want to party hard, it's definitely the place to be. Just avoid the prostitutes and strip clubs. Or don't if that's your thing.

For the record, I do really like Sydney a lot. I just wasn't expecting what I saw. Lesson learned.

Easter Break, Part 1: In Which There is an Overview

Hello, errrrrbody!

Sorry I've been MIA for the past couple of weeks. I am two weeks into class (booo) after a fantastic Easter/mid-semester break and haven't been able to write everything out to relay to all of you. For break, I had originally planned to go somewhere outside of the country (perhaps New Zealand, Fiji, or even Thailand), but in the end, ended up traveling just south to Sydney and Melbourne instead. 

born ready

 I've got a lot to go through, so there will be multiple posts about what sort of shenanigans I got into. But if you haven't got the time to read through everything, here's the quick run-through of what adventures were had:

Sydney

Easter mass at St. Mary's cathedral

Royal Botanic gardens + government house

Sydney Opera House + Sydney Harbour Bridge + Mrs. Macquerie's Chair

Pitt St Mall

Darling Harbour (Sydney Aquarium + Hoopla Festival)

Powerhouse Museum (Engineering Awards + lace construction exhibit + the Wiggles exhibit + HARRY POTTER: THE EXHIBITION excited? me? no…)

Bondi Beach

Sydney Tower

Blue Mountains (temperate rain forest + old coal mines + Three Sisters + aboriginal art)

Olympic Park

Paddy's Markets + Chinatown/Chinese Garden of Friendship

National Maritime Museum

Melbourne

Great Ocean Road (cold temperate rain forest + a million beach pictures + 12 Apostles + London Bridge)

Old Melbourne Gaol

Alley full of graffiti + St. Paul's Cathedral + Federation Square

Yarra River

Rod Laver Arean + Melbourne Cricket Grounds + National Sports Museum

Melbourne Comedy Festival

Queen Victoria Market

Botanic Gardens

Chinatown

And of course food, drink, and merriment.

The following entries will individually cover each day of my trip (or not, I may get impatient and lump a bunch of stuff together). Some will be long, some will be short. Most Some will be boring, some will be eye-roll-inducing. All in good fun. Read all, read none. Do whatever you want. Just know that I had a fantastic time with everything.

Onward!

Small Updates before a Big Adventure

I thought I'd let errrrbody know what's been going on (not much) since my last little post. I won't update again for at least another week because..

I'm headed to Sydney and Melbourne for break! Woooooo!

Butterbeer! Yes!

But more on that in a bit.

First and foremost, HP Alliance Trivia Night was a success! Questions were answered, butterbeer was served, and silliness was aplenty. Every team had to make up a name. I can't remember all of them, but two of the better teams who kept going into the "sudden death" round were Albus Brian Wulfric Percival Dumbledore (aka Dumbledore's full name) and Lightning Strikes (all members had a lightning bolt on their foreheads). We were the Marauders because we're that awesome, duh. Winners of each round got a free jug of beer. 'Twas very, very fun, and everyone else in the RedRoom Traddies was aware of our extent of HP knowledge and nerdiness by the end of the night. Fun Fact/one of the answers to a question: the actor who plays Oliver Wood is named Sean Biggerstaff. I have the maturity of a 12 year old boy, and you won't be forgetting that fact anytime soon if you do, too.

Anywho, the Saturday following that was my chemistry midterm (boooo) but hours prior was my first social sport/intramural soccer game (yay!). We're a team of individuals who have never played together before but still won 4-0. Awesome. And I scored! Bonus! So that was fun. But it did make me miss club at school. Let's face it: most Aussies, Scottish-born Aussies, Canadians, and Frenchmen do not know "Bojangles" or "Smang It." But that's besides the point.

That night was also the birthday of two friends from Rutgers who threw an "American-style" party complete with red cups (ordered off Amazon), jungle juice (which ended up being a goon-y sangria type of thing, still good though), beer pong (which was too expensive, so water pong was the alternative), and flip cup. Nothing makes you have a proud-mama moment more than seeing a table of non-Americans playing beer pong next to a table of non-Americans playing flip cup after teaching them. I would call that a cultural success.

And the rest of this week has been boring and filled with finishing up assignments. Blah.

BUT it is now mid-semester/Easter break!

Me on break obviously

I'd call it spring break, but it's technically fall here. I'm heading down to Sydney for a few days and then to Melbourne (pronounced "mel-bin") for the remainder. Super excited. Expect many pictures. And keeping with the HP theme, I'm going to the "Harry Potter: The Exhibition" in Sydney. It was in the States for a bit but in Chicago, Boston, Seattle, and New York. No love for California. But we're getting a theme park eventually, so meh.  What I won't be doing in Sydney is the Harbour Bridge Climb, and before you press that caps lock button and start yelling at me, I will be doing it the next time around, as I have already booked another trip down to Sydney in May for Labour Day weekend. Now, for a few end-of-the-blog-post notes:

Heart-breaking fact of the day: There is no 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney :( I google-mapped it in hopes of finding nemo it. Alas, there is only 42 Wallaby Circuit and two different 42 Wallaby Close's, none of which are close to Sydney. Booooo.

Fun fact of the day that almost puts my broken heart back together: I have mentioned this to a few people the first time I read it, but I shall share it again. The "P. Sherman" part of "P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney" was a joke among Pixar or whoever was working on the movie (I can't remember the details): it's "fisherman" with a Filipino accent. Teehee.

Assignment (yes, I'm giving you one): Say "good eye might" fast. Good. Now, you speak Australian, too. (Thanks to Sam for that one)

Okay, enough pre-trip shenanigans. I should probably finish packing. For a lot of you, enjoy/don't die within your last few weeks of classes. I have faith in you guys!

Happy Zombie Jesus Easter weekend! Get chocolate wasted!