Christmas in Summer?

Happy early Thanksgiving! Sadly, I will be working on Thanksgiving but I told my family that I would FaceTime into their dinner while I am at work on Friday. I am going to miss my mashed potatoes, stuffing, and pumpkin pie, but I am loving the summer weather here. As usual, I'm just checking in to tell you all about my week in Sydney :)

On Monday morning I went to the Sea Life aquarium in Darling Harbour with James and Caroline and we found Nemo a couple of times along with some crazy looking sharks. It was pretty cool because the tanks had tunnels that ran through them at the bottom so we got to walk right through the middle of the tank and see a lot of the fish swim above our heads. We also saw penguins which was obviously my favorite part of the entire aquarium. They were really cool to watch and we learned all about how when penguins find a mate the males give the females the smoothest pebble they can find and then if the female accepts, they are monogamous for the rest of their lives. Its really interesting how humans kind of do the same with engagements.

Tuesday was uneventful (I seem to be having a lot of days like this lately), I just went to the gym and made some dinner and then went to bed. Wednesday was kind of the same but after work we had our second internship class where alumni from BU came in and spoke about how they moved to Sydney after going to BU or studying abroad here. It was interesting to hear about their experiences here outside of the program and how they adapted and assimilated to life here once they were on their own.

Thursday I ventured to work all by myself since Maddie and Emily were both out sick. It was strange being by myself and of course I got slammed with a ton of work to do when all week Emily and I had been asking everyone all the time if there was anything that we could do to help them. Although we did start to do a little bit of social media for the Instagram and for National Recycling Day we got to photograph a cup with a PwC logo on it and write a caption and it got posted which was pretty cool if you ask me.

On Friday after work Emily and I decided to go to running club. Steven and Alex, two boys in the program, started a running club and they meet once a week to go on a 2-3 mile run and then they hang out and play Spikeball and eat popsicles. It was a good time and we ran around Sydney Uni and then back to where we started, where we did an ab circuit and then ate some popsicles. After running club, a few of us went out to a bar called The Soda Factory. They had live music and it was kind of set up like a speakeasy because the front of it was a soda shop thing, and then you walk through the "refrigerator" and you get to the bar part of it. I really liked the music there so I had a great time.

Saturday morning was spent getting brunch with Emily. We went to Three Williams, a brunch place that my coworkers told me about. It was delicious and I would definitely go back again. Later that night, Caroline, James, April, and I watched Harry Potter (the 5th movie) since James had never seen past the 4th. We have plans to finish the rest of the series before we leave Sydney.

On Sunday morning I woke up pretty early and went to the gym for some me time. When I came home, I got brunch with Emily again and it was delicious again. Afterwards we walked past some markets nearby and decided to check them out. I got some essential oils that are supposed to help with stress (I will need it next semester when I'm back to real school work). After that, we went to the "Chinese Garden of Friendship". Its right near Darling Harbour and is kind of random in its placement but it was absolutely beautiful and so peaceful. After that, we walked around a bit and stumbled upon a dance company doing a public performance so we stopped to watch for a little bit. Then Emily met up with us and we walked to the Pitt Street mall to go shopping a little bit. Its actually really weird to see Christmas decorations everywhere when its 75 degrees and sunny all the time. It doesn't feel like the holidays at all so I have been making sure to listen to some holiday music once in awhile to remind myself.

Later that night, we checked out this bar right on Circular Quay called Hacienda. It was a really nice place to enjoy drinks for one of the last times before it becomes illegal again :) I do love it here but I miss the cold a little bit and I also miss my friends and family so I am excited to come home a little bit. Two more weeks left to get everything I want to do in though. I'm working on it! I hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving, eat lots of pie and mashed potatoes for me!