One Month Into School

Sorry for the delayed post, but things have been a little crazy these past 2 weeks. We went on our second pub crawl only days after our first one, but this time with other Sydney Uni Health Science students. It's called the Lab Coat Pub Crawl, so as you can imagine there were upwards of a thousand students in white lab coats. They didn't stay white for long though, as permanent markers acted as paintbrushes to decorate their bare surfaces. Since this is an annual event, some senior students have not an inch of space to spare on their lab coats, proudly. Of course our group stuck out like sore thumbs having these perfectly blank canvases, so a good part of the night was spent getting written on. It even started on the train ride downtown, and then we all excitedly poured out of the station almost trampling anyone not involved. Our lab partners definitely got a good laugh seeing some of the drawings we were sporting the next day. Luckily, the lab instructors expect this so I didn't feel too bad having some artwork on. Next year I'll definitely have even more! But all in all, it was a super fun night seeing some more of Sydney's crazy bars. Now if we could just remember how to get to them... And I wish there were photos to share! I stole this one from the Facebook page...

On-campus pre-drink

Next thing on our list was having our first BBQ, since it feels wrong to cook inside everyday when the weather is so beautiful. So two of our fellow Vancouverites, Physio students, went on a hunt for a grill and ended up buying one for $30 at K-Mart! Needless to say, they had Wes and I over that night for a zealous four-hour cook fest including pork, beef, chicken, lamb and kangaroo. Since our other friends missed out they were jealous, so this past weekend they had a BBQ party with the majority of our Canadian group. It probably involved the same amount of meat for a third of the people, resulting in more drinking than eating. It felt like home! Wes and I just have to get our own grill now, the only problem being getting it back to our apartment.
On another note, we were looking forward to having my Dad Down Under for the weekend. He got a layover for Friday and Saturday so we were able to spend a good amount of time with him. The main thing on his list was completing the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb, so we did it! And it was amazing! We booked it for twilight and were so happy we did because it'd definitely be too hot during the day. Plus, the view of the harbour all lit up was incredible!

We also got to see fireworks while we were up there! And there was no rain, which was extremely lucky because the forecast had been calling for it all week so we brought rain gear just in case. The clouds didn't even roll in until the last 5 minutes when we got a light drizzle of rain that was actually refreshing. The whole thing was 3 hours and I highly recommend it for anyone who's not afraid of heights. Sunrise or sunset would also be a great time to climb but I still think nighttime is the best! I also think there should be something like this in Vancouver... maybe by the time we get home... who wants to be the advocate?

Pub Crawls and Pancakes

Our second week of school was even more interesting than the first. Notably, playing with cadavers in Anatomy Lab. The bodies have most of their skin removed except for the fingertips, which is only to hold the muscles and tendons in place. We had arms AND legs this week, and I'm starting to feel a little bit more comfortable handling dead body parts. Wes' group had a man with half a face, where you could see his nose hairs and eyelashes etc. The creepiest thing about that was the fact that he was staring at them as they probed him. I'm glad I wasn't in that group... it was hard enough to eat lunch after lab already! But aside from our own little Body Worlds exhibit, we went on a Pub Crawl with some OT classmates. For $10, we got free entry into 4 bars with a free drink at each bar and pizza at the end of the night. Such a good deal and so much fun! It was a great way to check out the Sydney bar scene, even though we can't really remember exactly where any of them were.

The next day was a recovery day, or so we had planned, but a few physio friends wanted to celebrate St. Patty's since they have class on Monday morning. So we headed over to Mel's apartment with the intention of going out to Scruffy Murphy's, the Irish pub downtown, but unfortunately we never made it. We all blame it on Nick, a fellow Vancouverite, for drinking too much goon juice. If you haven't heard of goon before, it is 'wine' that's sold in-a-bag-in-a-box. Now I didn't think this was special because I've been drinking cheap boxed wine since I've been here, but goon is barely recognisable as wine. According to some, nobody has actually been able to prove that it's fermented grape juice inside. However, I think this is part of the charm when it comes to goon. It has the reputation for making you do crazy things that you'll undoubtedly regret the next day, as Nick can attest to. But one of the selling factors is that once the liquid has been consumed, the empty bag can been blown up and used as a pillow...

Very useful if you've just consumed 5 litres of non-descript alcohol. After seeing how much pain Nick was in the next day, I've vowed to never touch goon! I'm sticking to my actual wine and I hope Wes sticks to beer! This is not to say we never need a bit of TLC the next morning, but after St. Patty's especially. There's a popular breakfast spot that's only a 5 minute walk from our place, and it was the perfect opportunity to check it out. We quickly learned why it's so popular, it's an IHOP on steroids! There were so many different kinds of pancakes that we were totally overwhelmed. Here are a few snapshots of some items on the menu...

The portions are huge and we were full until dinner late that evening. It's safe to say that Pancakes On The Rocks is our favourite hangover cure for sure. We're going to introduce a few of our friends to the madness next time things get messy the night before. There are only a few locations around Sydney and we're so lucky that we've got one so close. When we were staying in Darling Harbour with our moms for the first few weeks, we walked past a place that had a line-up every time and we wondered why. But we solved the mystery, it was a Pancakes On The Rocks. They need to expand their business to North America, it would go wild! I guess for now you'll just have to settle for IHOP and we'll be dreading having POTR withdrawals when we get home.

Into the Swing of Things

With week one of class over, and our first true 4-day weekend, we're getting used to our routine. Class doesn't start until 9am (an hour later than the Physio students, which gives us something to brag about to them) and we're done at 3 on Tuesdays, 4 on Wednesdays and noon on Thursdays. We usually go to the gym each mid-afternoon, which is only a 7-min walk. I've never been a member at a gym so nice, Fitness First, for only $16/week for students.

A small part of the cardio section

 We have full access to all of the amenities, including the sauna, steam room, showers, fitness classes and we each got 3 free sessions with personal trainers for joining. On the same street as the gym, there is an Italian Deli which we frequent often. They have produce almost as cheap as Flemington Market (supplier for Paddy's Market) down the street and in much more manageable quantities. In the grocer across the street, I found 4L boxes of wine for $9 and it's actually delicious! And Wes found 24 cases of beer for $30! 

Sign in a pub

There are also many restaurants with reasonably priced meals, so we've checked out a few of them so far. An Outback Steakhouse is also there. However, our favourite restaurant is '1000 Spices' only 3 minutes away. You may have already guessed by it's name that it's Indian. There's also a place where we've gotten kebabs a few times, falafels and shwarma, which are cheap and yummy. It takes 10-mins by car to get to the Costco, and memberships are only $60 so we'll try to go about once a month to stock up on meats, cheeses, yogurt and frozen fruit. Like the American Costcos, they sell booze there as well. The majority of grocery stores stock alcohol though, but in a different section, like we're getting back in Canada now! That's one of the things I'm looking forward to when we get back home, as well as watching our TV shows on an actual TV screen instead of our laptops. I'm also looking forward to purchasing jugs of beer again, because for some reason none of us understand, they're extremely difficult to find. However, the ones we have found are super cheap, and I mean $9-$11! But there's always a negative to the positive... After a hot day at Bondi Beach, we spent Friday night out with some friends at Frankie's Pizza Joint, an obscure underground bar. Unfortunately we were disappointed with the limited selection of pints (or lack thereof). Cans of beer were $7.50 and schooners, which are mini pints, were $8.50. At about 2am there was a joint consensus that pre-drinking is definitely the best way to go, undergrad-style; I guess some things never change eh? 

Oh and before I forget, here is the photo of our apartment, as requested...

And another photo of Sydney's beautiful beaches, just because...

Manly

Finally Settled

The last two weeks have been an absolute whirlwind! Good things have happened but also bad, so I'll start with that. My laptop, which has been with me through thick, thin and all through my travels, is now resting in peace. It fell off the couch after a little too much wine one night and the display took the worst of it, so I sadly had to replace it. However, on the plus side I have the latest and greatest operating system in a ridiculously lightweight laptop with a bangin' battery life (according to Apple, mine was almost shot anyway). Another new thing in my life is our apartment, which we moved into last Friday. The location couldn't be much better and the pool/hot tub is like a tropical oasis!

Yes, that IS a waterfall.

We've explored our neighbourhood and learned the ropes on how to use the trains and busses to efficiently get to campus, downtown and the nearest beach, Bondi. The day we spent there with our moms was great, minus the sunburns. A three hour walk from Bondi to Tamarama beach, Bronte, Clovelly and then Coogee beach in the burning sun will do that to you. It's the perfect way to see the breathtaking coast, but highly recommended at any time other than high-noon!

Bondi on a less busy day

Consequently, we had to take a little time off from the beach, so we ferried over to Manly five days later for a relaxing afternoon. Wes and I took a dip in the Pacific, which was a hell of a lot warmer than off the B.C. coast! The sand is comparable to Southeast Asia, fine and white with the best feeling between your toes. I SO don't miss the weather back home, but I do have pity for all of you stuck in it. If you feel as though Seasonal Affective Disorder (aka Winter Blues) is getting to you... feel free to come visit us down here, we'd love to see you! In the meantime, we're officially starting class tomorrow after a fun week of orientation activities, and we look forward to our four day weekends! Why couldn't undergrad have been like this?!