But even though I started off not loving Sydney, I'm starting to appreciate some of the opportunities that simply weren't available in Wellington. The beaches are the most obvious perk, I've been to Bondi Beach three times now and have more fun every time I visit. The last time I went the waves were breaking nicely near shore so I tried my hand at body surfing. There were a couple of waves that really threw me around which was actually an enormous amount of fun if a bit tiring. As the afternoon waned Tiffany, Christina, and I ate at Mocean (motion but spelled like ocean...get it?) where we were amazed and satisfied by the happy hour $5 meal deals and the $10 jugs of sangria.
The next big happening in Sydney consisted of taking advantage of the Student Rush Tickets at the Sydney Opera House. I was very excited to see La Traviata becasue I believed that I had played part of it in High school. The specific song I was hoping to hear was "The Anvil Chorus" but I quickly realized that La Traviata was not Il Trovatore, even though they are both by Verdi, soI did not get to hear the song I was hoping for. However, the opera was still a breathtaking experience with amazing costuming, an impeccable pit orchestra, set changes that were of such a drastic proportion I have no clue how they managed it, and beautiful voices. Our seats were in the "premier" section which meant that they usually cost ~$270 but we only paid $55. Charity and I sat together while Steven, Drew, Steven and Jessie sat together.
As we were leaving the Opera House, Jessie suggested we go visit a club that was having a salsa dancing night that was just across the harbor. Steve, Jessie, and I ended up being the only ones to go because a few members of the group didn't have ID. Thanks to a very kind random stranger and Jessie, I learned how to not move like my hips were a board of plywood and picked up the basics of salsa. I'm hoping to make it to a few more of these and maybe even take classes once I'm back in the states. I've always wanted to learn how to salsa and also swing dance.
We got back to Travelodge at 1:30 and I crashed immediately...I knew that I had to be up at 6 the next morning! Why so early? Scuba Certification Class at 8am!
Steven, Charity, Allison, Katherine, and I are getting scuba certified together. We had our first in-water skills training on Friday and it was as awesome as it was tiring. We spent 6 hours learning about our gear and basic scuba skills such as entering the water, buoyancy control, clearing your mask of water while underwater (the overall most-hated skill by the group), sharing air, and the most important concept of never hold your breath! Then around 3pm we immediately went and applied all of this pool learning with an actual dive! Talk about sink or swim! I was so grateful for the swimming lessons I had when I was younger because I think they really helped me be comfortable and proficient in the water so quickly. I absolutely loved the dive!! I felt right at home underwater and I think I could easily find myself addicted to diving. Our dive lasted 30 minutes but I swear it felt like 5. I really need to learn some of the names for what I saw becasue even just offshore I saw some amazing biodiversity...I can't imagine what the Great Barrier Reef is going to be like! I do know that I got to 'pet' a huge Blue Groper (not grouper) that was easily three feet long and 18inches high...though Steven just informed me that once I finish my e-learning module I will discover that the blue groper was actually 33% smaller then this because of something to do with light, water, and how our eye interprets underwater....oh well. We also watched the blue groper uttery demolish a sea urchin...it took him a total of maybe half a second to break open the urchin and eat it...it happened so fast I didn't comprehend what was happening until afterwards.We returned to Travelodge under the impression we would take a 2 or 3 hour nap and then go out on the town...riiiiight. We did indeed nap from 7-10 pm...but then ended up being still exhausted from hauling our steel air tanks around and then went back to sleep at midnight.
The next day was pretty chill up until evening. We went to Paddy's Market and bought some produce and built up some good karma by helping some friends win tickets to go see Wicked. Then the craziness started...as it was gay mardi gras and the street by our hotel was actually a staging area for the big parade. Needless to say, it was quite an education and I saw so many more man-thongs and leather outfits in those 3 hours then I ever expected to see in my entire life.
Sunday started out slowly. Got up around 8am to eat breakfast and then rather unintentionally went back to sleep until noon. At this point, we went to try and win the daily lottery for tickets to see the musical Wicked. I had won the day before and gave my two tickets to Katherine and in return Katherine came with us to help raise the odds of us winning and she did! So Charity and I went to see Wicked with front row seats. It was superb and hilarious! I'm tempted to go see it again. Other then that, I visited a couple music stores becasue I'm starting to have serious violin withdrawals. I actually had a dream about not being able to play when I got home. Unfortunately, there were no good options at any of the stores I visited though I did find a good used book store and bought Jennifer Fallon's Wolfblade to read at the beach (though I promptly read most of it by the next day...oops).
Today (Monday) has been the first day of real rain and gloominess in Sydney. We visited the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and Museum which was full of scary old relics of medicine, displays of Australian pacemakers and premature infant care. The rain prevented me from going to the Museum of Pathology which was upsetting. Now that I'm done with classes I'll be spending the rest of my day writing my Biomedicine and Culture paper on the pharmakon nature of ADD/ADHD medicines. Fun right?
Things for this week: Uncle Earl concert Wed. night, Johnny Cash show at the Sydney Opera House one night, scuba diving friday, caving trip Saturday?
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