June 25, 2008

Today we arrived at the Sydney airport at around 8 am. We lost a day traveling because of the time difference. The flight wasn’t too bad and I met two really nice people on the plane. I saw 50 Cent, Beyonce’s Dad, and the girl from wildfire at the airport in Los angeles. In Sydney their roads have these underground tunnels to help control pollution from the cars and one of the major tunnels had a malfunction or something and it shut down so we waited at the airport for about an hour and a half. Then we left and came to where we are staying which is the World Tower Building. Sydney reminds me of London with a mix of Chicago because of all the tall buildings. Some said it reminds them on San Francisco and others NYC. The building we are staying at has over 70 floors and is the middle of downtown Sydney. I am living with Jenna, Laura, Laurel, Molly, and Tamika. I am going to take pictures so that I can remember what it looks like. And our view is amazing! We are in 6303 and we can see Olympic park and out to the ocean and Kings Cross. It is really nice. There is also a shopping center downstairs that includes a grocery store so that is really convenient.

After taking showers and sort of unpacking Russ took us on a tour of Sydney. We went to Hyde park to eat our lunch, which was Subway, and as soon as we put the food down and homeless man came up to us and to diffuse the situation Russ just gave him a sub. There is this bird, the Ibis, and it is really weird looking but they are all over the city. We went inside a war memorial that was built in the 1920’s (?) and it was interesting to note that there was a woman on the outside just as there were men and there was a statue inside of a man that was being held up by women. Even back then they gave women equal treatment. We then walked through Hyde Park, past the museum, through a shopping center, up past the hospital, to the art museum, through the botanical gardens, down by the harbor, and past the opera house. At the Botanical garden I held a bird and it was really fun. We then took a fairy to Darling harbor where we had dinner. I had Kangaroo meat. I liked it but i didn't like the sauce.

I am really tired though because of the time difference and all that we did today. I looked at my pedometer and I took 17000 steps and walked about 6.5 miles