First Week in Sydney

Because school has yet to start, the past week has felt like summer vacation. We have been exploring all around Sydney, going to different restaurants and bars every night. Each bar has different floors, usually one that's like a club, another like a lounge and a third that has a live band. They're all a little bit different too, so it's really fun to try different ones around the city! Some have karaoke too, where I recently saw a seventy year old man with tattoos covering his body sing "Somewhere over the Rainbow." He was definitely a regular! During the day we've been making trips to different beaches in the area, the two I've been to so far are called Bondi and Coogee, both of which are absolutely gorgeous. Yesterday at Coogee I had my first frightening Australian adventure, where I jumped off of a 40 foot cliff into the natural pool surrounded by rocks at Coogee beach. Definitely not the safest thing I've ever done, but with three thirteen year old Australian boys jumping off countless times in front of me and my friend Mike chanting "you only live once!" I couldn't resist! I certainly don't take it back, but considering I landed in water that was less deep than I am tall I definitely wouldn't do it again. On top of going to the beach I've also been figuring out my classes and signing up for clubs, so far I am enrolled in 5 classes, student teaching and am in the volleyball, dance and education societies. I've also been spending a lot of time with my flatmates, last night we stayed in and played games. My personal favorite was when we made our own charades game and each person had to put in five different words according to the categories we chose. PA, my roommate from Australia who lived in England for 15 years - who is also holding two rifles in his profile picture - put down people we did not know, movies we had not seen and "syringe" for the random category. He's quite the character, but one of the nicest people I've ever met!