February 19th (still my birthday in the states)
We had orientation at 9:30 am. Several of us met up outside of our apartment and walked over together. Our introduction to the university was made by "Uncle Greg" who told us that we should respect our elders and that the men always look prettier than the women for a reason in nature and that he really really wanted a grandson because there are things that men can do that women just can't.
Uncle Greg...
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| From Shots around Macquarie |
After this lovely introduction, we got bundles of information thrown our way, which no one was paying attention to. Two members of our crew participated in the Vegemite challenge, which was eating way too much Vegemite spread on bread with a cup of water the fastest. They were troopers.
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| From Shots around Macquarie |
Lunch was some native Australia sandwich I'd never heard of from this sub chain called Subway. There were free cookies, so I can't complain.
We had way too long for lunch and our herd was visited by this and that organization trying to get us to go on their expensive spring break package. The one guy pushing the New Zealand trip was insane. Also, there were several bits of slang in the information packets that we're still not really sure was or wasn't inappropriate. It was funny to imagine nonetheless.
When we returned to orientation, we sat through more information about classes and I found out that I wasn't registered for either of the classes I needed to take abroad. Fantastic! Even though I was mildly frustrated with this, I took care of business and met some nice people in the physics department who re-approved my classes for this semester. Thanks very much Carol; you were a giant help. I got my ID card, figured out I didn't qualify for 50% off concessions for public transport, and got my classes straight, all before 5 pm.
At orientation we got tickets for a free (enough) Sydney Harbour cruise. The only condition is that we had to be there by 7 pm. We left at 5:30 pm and we just had enough time, but luckily they weren't as stringent with the time thing as they let on. I don't think I mentioned this before, but it was 80's themed. Yeah.
There were a ton of international students on the cruise, many who I knew from Surf Camp and AustraLearn, which I didn't go on, but it feels like I did.
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| From Sydney Harbor Cruise - Stuck in the Eighties |
I had a hard time staying in one place. I had several moments where I felt crazy alone in a sea of people, but I tried to not let it get to me. There were periods of time where I would just disappear to another deck. I danced to "Let It Rock" and "Kids" on the DJ deck but that was it. I left pretty immediately after that. Overall, I had a great time on the cruise and got some great pictures. The harbour is gorgeous in all facets. I hope I have time to explore more of them over the next few months.
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| From Sydney Harbor Cruise - Stuck in the Eighties |
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| From Sydney Harbor Cruise - Stuck in the Eighties |
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| From Sydney Harbor Cruise - Stuck in the Eighties |
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| From Sydney Harbor Cruise - Stuck in the Eighties |
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| From Sydney Harbor Cruise - Stuck in the Eighties |
Everyone had amazing costumes and it was a blast to just people watch.
Also, Luna Park is horrifying and I want to go there.
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| From Sydney Harbor Cruise - Stuck in the Eighties |
After the cruise, making our way back to campus was much more difficult than I thought it would be. We went to several wrong bus stops and eventually caught one of the last buses back to campus. Here's a picture of the crew waiting at the bus stop:
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| From Sydney Harbor Cruise - Stuck in the Eighties |
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