Living In A Dream

I am so grateful to God for this amazing opportunity. I am literally living out all my dreams. Not only has Australia surpassed my expectations on every level, but so has Boston University’s program. Although the tuition is significantly lower here, the quality is superior. Thanks to BU Sydney’s value on outside of the classroom learning I will be able to visit sites such as the Blue Mountains and Melbourne on BU’s dime. Also, thanks to the program I have a part time job with perks that make my stay here a lot more economical. Now on to the more fun stuff. A quick recap of my week before I share the amazing photos and videos from it. There are ton of them, because Australia is so beautiful that everywhere I go I feel compelled to take a photo. Since I’ve landed here, I have only gotten 4-5 hours of sleep a night. Between exploring during the day and enjoying the night life each evening all my days are starting to run together. This past week my program took my classmates and I on a dinner cruise in the Sydney harbor. It was gorgeous and the food was decent. My entire Saturday was dedicated to helping out with a city wide scavenger hunt. The high was 98 degrees, so it was a bit of a struggle. However, being able to walk on the beach after made it all worth it. Yesterday was dedicated mostly to the beach, where I got stung by a jelly fish and sun burned. Yes you did not misread that, I got stung by a jelly fish! One of the most painful things I’ve ever experienced. Also, if anyone knows how to treat them I am happily accepting home remedy advice. The waves were huge! I took in a lot of salt water before I realized that the only way to avoid being washed out is to dive under the waves. There’s a trail on the coast, where you can hike to different beaches. Some were ambitious and did the 5k walk. My feet were in pain from previous adventures so I set up camp at the second beach. Before heading to the beach I had to stop by the mall I had visited previously, where a nice samaritan turned in my phone.

Pause.

I would like to take this moment to speak about how open and amicable Australian culture is. Everyone is so willing to strike up a conversation with you. Also, everyone is willing to help. The other day I was near the Sydney Opera House and the strong wind knocked all of the 20 documents I was holding down the stairs. As soon as it happened, everyone that witnessed the incident started chasing down papers and bringing them to me. Had I been in Boston, I probably would not have gotten anything but a few chuckles and stares. No one had to hesitate. They just acted by instinct. It’s my favorite part about the culture. I can wonder the city mapless and get detailed directions from anyone. Okay, that was a long pause. I started a five hour lecture today. Since it seems that the classes may take over a lot of my free time I may not have as many pictures in the future. Now, I will stop rambling and post the gorgeous pictures.

Pictures of colleague and I as we wait at one of our scavenger hunt locations.