I'm not even sure of where to start!
After a painless pass through customs, we were swept away to Dunmore-Lang College, given a brief orientation, and sent to shower. We were pretty nasty. Dr. J then offered to show us Maquarie Center and how to get downtown. Maquarie Center is a real mall with a real food court and real stores--lots of real stores. It's aproximately four levels and I don't feel as pressured to consume as I would in something more like the Wausau mall or a Madison mall, but that could be just because I feel very much like a tourist and I'm a bit shocked by the variety.
To get downtown we had to take a bus! It was really quite exciting, I do like public transportation. Starting Tuesday, we'll have passes that allow us to use the buses, ferries, trains, and other public transports for free.
We got off by a region known as "The Rocks" kind of by the harbor bridge, and walked around the harbor--through places known as the Quay (where I saw Rainbow Lorekeets in a tree),
around the opera house, and the botanical gardens (where I fell in love with fruit bats), and some other regions whose names escape me presently. On the bus ride back, we saw a cockatoo hanging out in a tree.
I am impressed at how tidy this city is--considering a population of about 4 million (remember, that's metric though :) ) there is very little litter and any sort of homeless folk seem to be well hidden. There also seem to be far fewer billboards and other invasive, flashy advertisments, but maybe I haven't been in the right parts of the city yet for that. I saw a St. Vinny's that I plan on going to in order to acquire more shorts (based on the none that I brought with me, whoops) and see what thrifting is like down under. I spoke with a woman today about thrift stores and she said that they're all church associated, mostly anglican. She also was telling me that Target and K-marts here are both owned by the same company--fun fact.
I haven't had too much interraction with people outside of my group, but there seems to be a fairly laid back, friendly attitude here. If I had to pick a larger city to live in, I would consider Sydney. It's right up there with Duluth.
Photos from Day 1
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=58635&l=6003a&id=500764078
After a painless pass through customs, we were swept away to Dunmore-Lang College, given a brief orientation, and sent to shower. We were pretty nasty. Dr. J then offered to show us Maquarie Center and how to get downtown. Maquarie Center is a real mall with a real food court and real stores--lots of real stores. It's aproximately four levels and I don't feel as pressured to consume as I would in something more like the Wausau mall or a Madison mall, but that could be just because I feel very much like a tourist and I'm a bit shocked by the variety.
To get downtown we had to take a bus! It was really quite exciting, I do like public transportation. Starting Tuesday, we'll have passes that allow us to use the buses, ferries, trains, and other public transports for free.
We got off by a region known as "The Rocks" kind of by the harbor bridge, and walked around the harbor--through places known as the Quay (where I saw Rainbow Lorekeets in a tree),
around the opera house, and the botanical gardens (where I fell in love with fruit bats), and some other regions whose names escape me presently. On the bus ride back, we saw a cockatoo hanging out in a tree.I am impressed at how tidy this city is--considering a population of about 4 million (remember, that's metric though :) ) there is very little litter and any sort of homeless folk seem to be well hidden. There also seem to be far fewer billboards and other invasive, flashy advertisments, but maybe I haven't been in the right parts of the city yet for that. I saw a St. Vinny's that I plan on going to in order to acquire more shorts (based on the none that I brought with me, whoops) and see what thrifting is like down under. I spoke with a woman today about thrift stores and she said that they're all church associated, mostly anglican. She also was telling me that Target and K-marts here are both owned by the same company--fun fact.
I haven't had too much interraction with people outside of my group, but there seems to be a fairly laid back, friendly attitude here. If I had to pick a larger city to live in, I would consider Sydney. It's right up there with Duluth.
Photos from Day 1
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=58635&l=6003a&id=500764078
No shorts? That's just silly!
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