Classes, Beaches, and Hikes, oh my!
- Silvia W
- Feb 26, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 1, 2024
To begin this post, a little reflection. Students who are from Australia have asked me what some differences are between here and back home. At the time, I didn't really know what to say, but now I have a couple answers. First, it always feels a lot safer. I'm obviously not taking that for granted, not doing anything too dangerous or stupid, but it just generally feels better. Second, everyone is SO nice! Everyone seems willing to strike up a conversation, which is just awesome. Third, grades are called marks here. If you want partial credit, you're talking about part-marks and so on. And finally, public transport is so reliable and clean! I love buses and trains!
On a related note, how am I different while I'm here? Well, I am the navigator for my friend group! Which seems absolutely crazy to me because I am so terrible with directions, but no one else thinks that. Even after I got us on the wrong bus going the complete opposite direction, they still trust me to get us where we want to go. I love leading and being in charge, so it works for me.
I've now completed a full week of classes, and I am excited for this semester. Specifically, I recently switched into a class called Sport and Learning in Australian Culture, and it is going to be amazing. It really focuses on experiential learning, which means we go on a ton of interesting, immersive field trips. Now you may be thinking, hey Silvia, you're not that sporty (or at least that's what I was thinking), but it's the fact that this class connects sport to Australian culture and looks at it from a socially critical perspective that has me hooked. More on that class soon, as the field trips begin this week.
On Thursday after some morning classes, we went to Malabar Beach, which was quite lovely, aside from the fact that you had to cross a rather painful band of rocks to get into the water. Also, on the way there, there was sky writing! Further research revealed that this was supposed to say "Twifties" - an advertisement by the chip brand Twisties acknowledging that Taylor Swift is in town. Not every day you see sky writing, and we watched this while it happened, so that was neat.
Afterwards, when we were trying to go home, we experienced the aforementioned bus mishap - oops. We got on the bus and maybe 2 minutes later, the bus stopped and we were told it was the end of the line and we had to get off. Luckily, there was another bus coming in 20 minutes and also the end of the line was BEAUTIFUL! And had a lookout tower.
On Friday, I had my first true solo adventure! I have no classes on Fridays, so I had the whole day to do whatever I wanted. I went down to the historic district of Sydney, called The Rocks, and walked around there and Barangaroo Headland. It was very very hot that day, and I was glad I wore my swimsuit because I found a nice little netted-off cove of the harbour to swim in. There were little fish but I assume the net wouldn't let in jellies or sharks? There were lots of other people swimming, so I knew it was safe.
Then, a little more exploring of The Rocks and a lunch of fish and chips from The Rocks Cafe.
I found an alley called the Suez Canal, and I don't know if you can really tell, but I could easily touch both sides of it without fully extending my arms.
On Saturday, we ventured all the way to Barrenjoey Headland, about a 2 hour bus ride from where are we are staying. Something I read said it was about as far north as you can get and still claim to be part of Sydney. We stopped for lunch at Oliver's Pies to get some iconic Australian meat pies. I loved my pie and sauce (ketchup)! Mine had steak and mashed potatoes in it.
The walk to the lighthouse began just walking along a road for a while, where we saw a flock of cockatoos who were very friendly and gently ate out of our hands. Then the real hike began, which was just 10 minutes of stairs straight up to the top of the hill. We couldn't go up in the lighthouse, but we didn't really need to. The views from outside were fabulous. Apparently, it is a great place for whale-watching, so I might be coming back in May when the whales are migrating. I love a marine mammal!
That night, we ended our adventure by listening to Taylor Swift's concert at the Olympic Park. We sat outside and sang along, and it was pretty fun. I do appreciate some Taylor Swift. Please enjoy me lip-syncing to "We Are Never Getting Back Together."
I want a meat pie!!! I think we commented that ever culture has one…
Also - loving your solo (but safe) sense of adventure!
Tell us about your classes, too. Another place is Nilpena Ediacara National Park in South Australia. It preserves wild evolutionary history and has a rich desert landscape. (see nature.org/magazine/p34