Today was another relatively uneventful day, except for one event (does that make sense). We had class in the morning. We learned about business differences between cultures. Being a business management student, I found this pretty interesting. After class, that’s when it happened. Bo and I were walking to the bus stop outside of the University we study at and I saw what I thought was a big red leaf floating down to the ground. I looked at it, watched it hit the ground and then realized that’s not a red leaf. That’s a $20 bill. (Insert cash register noise). Had this been America and had I not been studying abroad trying to pinch every penny possible, I would have stopped and made sure it wasn’t anybody else’s. However, this wasn’t America and I am a poor college student. So, I just picked it up real quickly and kept walking like nothing ever happened. Meanwhile, Bo was just staring at me in disbelief. I figure it is God’s way of helping me out. Right?
Anyway, after we made it back we went on a hill run. I have mentioned before the giant hill in the park we have across the street. The thing kicked my butt today. It was a good workout. After that pounding, I went back and did some laundry and started packing for my weekend trip (be proud mom). Tonight was Nick Birk’s turn for making dinner. He made a delicious cheeseburger casserole and Caesar salad. We were more than full.
With a full belly, we then watched State of Play (starring Aussie and my favorite actor Russell Crowe) and baked brownies. I know I have mentioned that the ovens here are terrible so we ended up with Chocolate Cobbler. I’m not complaining. It was a chocolatey mess of deliciousness. By then, it was time for bed. I can’t wait for this weekend. I probably won’t have the chance or time to blog until I get back so my next entry is supposed to hold you over until I get back. Hope you enjoy. Until then…
Cheers!
Friday, June 18, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
DAY 27 AND 28: LETTING THE SUSPENSE BUILD
As far as days in Sydney go, these last two days have been relatively uneventful and I am going to try to be brief because I think my next entry will be a little more entertaining.
On Tuesday, I was able to do a lot of catching up to do since I had been busy most of the weekend. I spent the majority of the morning sending emails, posting blogs and skyping. It was a very relaxing and much needed morning. In the afternoon, I had a class about non-verbal communication. It proved to be pretty interesting as most of my classes have been. A group of us have learned that the best strategy for dinners is to have one room fix for a group of people. It’s cheaper and easier (minus the night your room is in charge). So on Tuesday night it was Bo’s room. He made a very wise choice and went with pancakes. It was delicious. We had our option of blueberry, chocolate chip or plain. I went with one blueberry pancake and one chocolate chip pancake. Job well done, Bo.
Today (Wednesday), I reported back to work. This week I am in sport programs. I will leave it at that. After work, it was our room’s turn to make dinner. Jeramey and I got a good a deal on some spinach and cheese tortellini and some frozen prawns at the grocery store. We whipped these up with some peppers, mushrooms, onion, garlic and pasta sauce and made a pretty delicious meal if I say so myself (and I say so). The pasta was supposed to serve 8 people all on its own and then we added all the shrimp and veggies. There was enough food to feed an army – or 6 college males. Jeramey found a frozen apple pie for super cheap so we fixed that afterwards. Needless to say, we were stuffed. Someone is going to have to roll me off the plane when I get back.
Anyway, that has been the past two days. We received our email regarding the details of our Cairns trip this weekend. It got me even more excited. I can’t believe I am going to be scuba diving on THE (I hate when Ohio State does that but still) Great Barrier Reef this weekend – surreal. I’m sure you will get more information and pictures than you can handle so look forward to that. Until then…
Cheers!
On Tuesday, I was able to do a lot of catching up to do since I had been busy most of the weekend. I spent the majority of the morning sending emails, posting blogs and skyping. It was a very relaxing and much needed morning. In the afternoon, I had a class about non-verbal communication. It proved to be pretty interesting as most of my classes have been. A group of us have learned that the best strategy for dinners is to have one room fix for a group of people. It’s cheaper and easier (minus the night your room is in charge). So on Tuesday night it was Bo’s room. He made a very wise choice and went with pancakes. It was delicious. We had our option of blueberry, chocolate chip or plain. I went with one blueberry pancake and one chocolate chip pancake. Job well done, Bo.
Today (Wednesday), I reported back to work. This week I am in sport programs. I will leave it at that. After work, it was our room’s turn to make dinner. Jeramey and I got a good a deal on some spinach and cheese tortellini and some frozen prawns at the grocery store. We whipped these up with some peppers, mushrooms, onion, garlic and pasta sauce and made a pretty delicious meal if I say so myself (and I say so). The pasta was supposed to serve 8 people all on its own and then we added all the shrimp and veggies. There was enough food to feed an army – or 6 college males. Jeramey found a frozen apple pie for super cheap so we fixed that afterwards. Needless to say, we were stuffed. Someone is going to have to roll me off the plane when I get back.
Anyway, that has been the past two days. We received our email regarding the details of our Cairns trip this weekend. It got me even more excited. I can’t believe I am going to be scuba diving on THE (I hate when Ohio State does that but still) Great Barrier Reef this weekend – surreal. I’m sure you will get more information and pictures than you can handle so look forward to that. Until then…
Cheers!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
DAY 26: A MANLY PICNIC
I left one important detail out of my DAY 24 blog. Manly is a hilarious name for a town. Everything is the Manly Store, the Manly Café, the Manly Restaurant, the Manly Lingerie Shop (okay, I made that one up but you get the point). It’s pretty humorous especially to someone who has a simple sense of humor such as me.
God Bless the Queen and her inaccurate birthday. I love three–day weekends. Anyway, a group of us students had been talking about doing a picnic for quite some time but never actually gotten around to it. Today was the day. We had originally planned on going to Bondi Beach – a beach right here in Sydney – but changed our mind because many of the students hadn’t yet been to Manly. So back to Manly we went. Twice in three days. I guess you could say I am pretty….manly (refer to me having a simple sense of humor in the first paragraph). We packed PB&Js, some chips, some cookies and some apple juice and off we went. We had another gorgeous ferry ride. The weather has been awesome the last four or five days – a nice change of pace. We got to the beach, found a picnic table and had a delicious, beautiful picnic right there on the beach. It was a great idea and a great time to just hang out with some new friends at the beautiful beach.
The Manly Beach.
Ocean-front property anyone?
Some of the crew hanging out at the beach.
After lunch, we walked down to one end of the beach and just sat and relaxed for about an hour. I ended up taking a nap and it was awesome. There’s nothing better than taking a nap on the beach…well, maybe ice cream.
Refer to DAY 24 blog: We went back to that ice cream shop – The Royal Copenhagen. I love the place. I had another ice cream cone and again, it was scrumptious. This time I went with White Chocolate Caramel Fudge and Devil’s Chocolate. Fjdkn0[42mp (sorry, that was me wiping the slobber off my keypad). We did some more walking around and eventually headed back to the wharf. We had a great manly fairy (I know that was the wrong spelling but it’s funny to read) ride back at sunset and were very happy with our day and full bellies.
This program should include a personal nutritionist.
Pictures from the Ferry ride back
I came back, made use of the pool and gym, and then made some dinner. Although it was my second time to Manly in a three-day period, I don’t regret it at all. Unfortunately, I go back to the real world of classes and work tomorrow but I am really starting to look forward to my Cairns trip this weekend. I can’t wait. As for tomorrow, I have class and who knows what. Until then…
Cheers!
God Bless the Queen and her inaccurate birthday. I love three–day weekends. Anyway, a group of us students had been talking about doing a picnic for quite some time but never actually gotten around to it. Today was the day. We had originally planned on going to Bondi Beach – a beach right here in Sydney – but changed our mind because many of the students hadn’t yet been to Manly. So back to Manly we went. Twice in three days. I guess you could say I am pretty….manly (refer to me having a simple sense of humor in the first paragraph). We packed PB&Js, some chips, some cookies and some apple juice and off we went. We had another gorgeous ferry ride. The weather has been awesome the last four or five days – a nice change of pace. We got to the beach, found a picnic table and had a delicious, beautiful picnic right there on the beach. It was a great idea and a great time to just hang out with some new friends at the beautiful beach.
The Manly Beach.
Ocean-front property anyone?
Some of the crew hanging out at the beach.
After lunch, we walked down to one end of the beach and just sat and relaxed for about an hour. I ended up taking a nap and it was awesome. There’s nothing better than taking a nap on the beach…well, maybe ice cream.
Refer to DAY 24 blog: We went back to that ice cream shop – The Royal Copenhagen. I love the place. I had another ice cream cone and again, it was scrumptious. This time I went with White Chocolate Caramel Fudge and Devil’s Chocolate. Fjdkn0[42mp (sorry, that was me wiping the slobber off my keypad). We did some more walking around and eventually headed back to the wharf. We had a great manly fairy (I know that was the wrong spelling but it’s funny to read) ride back at sunset and were very happy with our day and full bellies.
This program should include a personal nutritionist.
Pictures from the Ferry ride back
I came back, made use of the pool and gym, and then made some dinner. Although it was my second time to Manly in a three-day period, I don’t regret it at all. Unfortunately, I go back to the real world of classes and work tomorrow but I am really starting to look forward to my Cairns trip this weekend. I can’t wait. As for tomorrow, I have class and who knows what. Until then…
Cheers!
DAY 25: USA, USA, USA, USA!
That was our chant. Our only chant. Not creative, not that much fun but effectively annoying to English fans who had an entire arsenal of clever, drunken chants.
So the US soccer team took on the English soccer team at 4:30 in the morning – a rivalry that dates back to July 4, 1776. Okay, so what if that had nothing to do with soccer? It had everything to do with USA vs. England. Plus, it’s a lot cooler to say.
Our group of about 20 got there at about 4:00 in the morning. It was cold, very cold. We were vastly out-numbered and vastly out-enthused. The English were going crazy and had tons of chants, which I still have stuck in my head. England was supposed to win the game rather easily. Then they scored a goal very early and most everyone thought the route was on. It looked like it was going to be a long day/morning/night depending on where you were watching. Us Americans don't roll over and die. We stand. We conquer. We eat an absurd amount of fast food (I'm thinking this was the pregame speech). The U.S. stayed in it and caught a lucky break when the English goalie let a shot bounce off his hands and trickle into the back of the net. The English outplayed us and probably deserved to win but the game ended in a 1-1 draw. The English have to just hate everything American. They’re like our red-headed step-child only they used to be our parent (think Kentucky family reunion – kidding).
The big screen in the harbor.
After Dempsey scored and a fist pump from someone.
Afterwards, I wanted to sleep and thaw. We headed back to the Apartment and I passed out for a couple of hours. When I woke up a group of people was in the middle of planning a trip to Paddy’s Market. I have blogged about this place once before but it’s your typical big-city market – tons of stores, tons of people, tons of trinkets and a little overwhelming. Reluctantly, I headed out with the group. We got there and a group of about five of us broke off from the larger group. We did some wandering around and had our fill. About 30 minutes after we arrived we were heading back out. We ended up spending more time planning and getting there than actually being there but oh well.
We came back and a group of us made some burgers that were delicious and then just relaxed. After about four days of go go go, it was much needed. I headed out to get some groceries at about 10:30 – everything gets cheaper late at night. It was actually really nice. I got some really good deals and didn’t have to fight all the crazy people. This might be a habit I bring back home with me – we will see. Anyway, it was an enjoyable day and I was excited about the Team USA draw. Tomorrow is a public holiday for the Queen’s Birthday even though it is not her birthday (thanks for that logic England) so I am not sure what is planned beyond the fact I don’t have to work. I will keep you posted. Until then…
Cheers!
So the US soccer team took on the English soccer team at 4:30 in the morning – a rivalry that dates back to July 4, 1776. Okay, so what if that had nothing to do with soccer? It had everything to do with USA vs. England. Plus, it’s a lot cooler to say.
Our group of about 20 got there at about 4:00 in the morning. It was cold, very cold. We were vastly out-numbered and vastly out-enthused. The English were going crazy and had tons of chants, which I still have stuck in my head. England was supposed to win the game rather easily. Then they scored a goal very early and most everyone thought the route was on. It looked like it was going to be a long day/morning/night depending on where you were watching. Us Americans don't roll over and die. We stand. We conquer. We eat an absurd amount of fast food (I'm thinking this was the pregame speech). The U.S. stayed in it and caught a lucky break when the English goalie let a shot bounce off his hands and trickle into the back of the net. The English outplayed us and probably deserved to win but the game ended in a 1-1 draw. The English have to just hate everything American. They’re like our red-headed step-child only they used to be our parent (think Kentucky family reunion – kidding).
The big screen in the harbor.
After Dempsey scored and a fist pump from someone.
Afterwards, I wanted to sleep and thaw. We headed back to the Apartment and I passed out for a couple of hours. When I woke up a group of people was in the middle of planning a trip to Paddy’s Market. I have blogged about this place once before but it’s your typical big-city market – tons of stores, tons of people, tons of trinkets and a little overwhelming. Reluctantly, I headed out with the group. We got there and a group of about five of us broke off from the larger group. We did some wandering around and had our fill. About 30 minutes after we arrived we were heading back out. We ended up spending more time planning and getting there than actually being there but oh well.
We came back and a group of us made some burgers that were delicious and then just relaxed. After about four days of go go go, it was much needed. I headed out to get some groceries at about 10:30 – everything gets cheaper late at night. It was actually really nice. I got some really good deals and didn’t have to fight all the crazy people. This might be a habit I bring back home with me – we will see. Anyway, it was an enjoyable day and I was excited about the Team USA draw. Tomorrow is a public holiday for the Queen’s Birthday even though it is not her birthday (thanks for that logic England) so I am not sure what is planned beyond the fact I don’t have to work. I will keep you posted. Until then…
Cheers!
DAY 24: FILM FEST AND DOING MANLY THINGS
All I had planned Saturday was the Sydney Film Festival at 10 in the morning but beyond that, I was looking forward to a relaxing day. It ended up being just that but I did much much more than just the film fest.
The day began with donuts. Dough. Nuts. Always a good thing when a day starts with donuts. Our movie began at 10:00 a.m. so the four of us that had tickets went to Baker’s Bun before hand and got a bunch of donuts we could eat on the way and during the movie. I love the place. The donuts are absolutely delicious. If everyone ate one donut every morning, the world would be a much better (and fatter) place – I’m convinced.
Bo making a very tough decision...If you can't decide, get 'em all. That's my philosophy.
Worth the trip.
The movie was called “Killer Inside Me” and was shown at the State Theatre. This place was not your typical AMC. It was unbelievable – 3 levels, incredible architecture and beautiful art. Just being in the theatre was worth the $15 ticket, which is a good thing because I’m not real sure the movie was. The main draw of the movie was Casey Affleck who was the lead actor in one of my favorite movies – “Gone Baby Gone” (if you haven’t seen this, stop reading, go to blockbuster, watch it, and resume reading – it’s that good). Two star actresses were Jessica Alba – always a plus – and Kate Hudson. We knew going in it was supposed to be a dark, twisted movie. That’s exactly what it was. It’s one of those movies that just make you really think about human behaviors in general. It’s hard to describe how I felt about the movie. I really liked the plot but I felt it was more graphic than it needed to be. I wouldn’t recommend it but don’t regret going to it at all.
I wasn’t sure I would like seeing a movie at 10:00 in the morning but it ended up working out beautifully. We walked out of the theatre to an absolutely gorgeous day. I was originally planning on just going back to the apartment and getting some work done but the four of us decided it was too good of a day to stay at the apartment complex.
Instead, we went on a walk with no specific plan or path. We started out by going to St. Mary’s – the largest Cathedral in Sydney. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, they don’t allow any pictures inside but I got some of the outside to give you a thought. I was fortunate enough to visit many of the Cathedrals in England when my sisters were there studying abroad and this Cathedral was just as beautiful as those. Obviously there is not the same history in a 100-year old Cathedral in Sydney as there is in a 600-year old Cathedral in England, but architecturally, it was just as beautiful.
Stunningly gorgeous.
After St. Mary’s we headed through the Royal Botanical Gardens. These were also very impressive. It was a wonderful stroll through a beautiful park. It was impressive on a winter day, I can’t imagine what it looks like during the summer.
When we got through the park, we ended up at the Sydney Opera House. Don’t you just love going on a walk with no particular purpose and ending up at one of the most recognized buildings in the world? Oh wait, you’re not in Australia, you wouldn’t understand (sorry, I couldn’t resist ☺). So there we were no particular plan or purpose just kind of wondering what to do next. We spontaneously decided to hop on a ferry headed for Manly Beach. This is something everyone tells you to do while you’re here but we had not yet tried or planned. It was the best decision of the day – even better than the donut choice and you know it’s good if it’s even being compared to donuts! The 30-minute ferry ride was beautiful and Manly was awesome.
Part of an incredible Ferry ride.
Ditto.
The Royal Botanical Gardens
Manly reminds me a lot of Miami. The streets are lined with shops and restaurants and you are right on the beach. By this time, we had walked off the absurd amount of donuts we had ate or at least that was what we wanted to believe so we stopped for lunch…on top of a building. We ate at a restaurant that was actually a rooftop of a hotel there right on the beach. The view was awesome and the food (fried calamari and a bucket of shrimp) was delicious.
Just a little rooftop dining.
After lunch we did some more walking around and eventually ended up at an ice cream shop. I know what you’re thinking. Ice cream and donuts in the same day?!?! And the answer is yes, absolutely yes. I’m going to take advantage of my metabolism while I still have it. It was a great choice and probably the best Ice Cream cone I have ever had. It was a waffle cone that they dip the top of in chocolate and then I had two scoops – one was called midnight cookie (chocolate and brownie) and the other was Royal Copenhagen (honeycomb and butterscotch) they top it off with whipped cream and then they have all the caramel, chocolate and sprinkles in a dispenser that you can add on your own. It was heavenly – worth the ferry trip all on its own. After finishing the cone and making sure my heart was still properly functioning we headed back to the city. Fat happy campers.
The ice cream cone fell out of heaven and into my hand. yummmmm.....
I made some dinner and headed for bed at 10:00. We have a very early morning tomorrow. The U.S. soccer team plays England at 4:30 a.m. Sydney time and a large group of us want to go to Darling Harbor, home of FIFA Fan Fest, to watch the game. I’m sure you will get to read all about it. Until then…
Cheers!
The day began with donuts. Dough. Nuts. Always a good thing when a day starts with donuts. Our movie began at 10:00 a.m. so the four of us that had tickets went to Baker’s Bun before hand and got a bunch of donuts we could eat on the way and during the movie. I love the place. The donuts are absolutely delicious. If everyone ate one donut every morning, the world would be a much better (and fatter) place – I’m convinced.
Bo making a very tough decision...If you can't decide, get 'em all. That's my philosophy.
Worth the trip.
The movie was called “Killer Inside Me” and was shown at the State Theatre. This place was not your typical AMC. It was unbelievable – 3 levels, incredible architecture and beautiful art. Just being in the theatre was worth the $15 ticket, which is a good thing because I’m not real sure the movie was. The main draw of the movie was Casey Affleck who was the lead actor in one of my favorite movies – “Gone Baby Gone” (if you haven’t seen this, stop reading, go to blockbuster, watch it, and resume reading – it’s that good). Two star actresses were Jessica Alba – always a plus – and Kate Hudson. We knew going in it was supposed to be a dark, twisted movie. That’s exactly what it was. It’s one of those movies that just make you really think about human behaviors in general. It’s hard to describe how I felt about the movie. I really liked the plot but I felt it was more graphic than it needed to be. I wouldn’t recommend it but don’t regret going to it at all.
I wasn’t sure I would like seeing a movie at 10:00 in the morning but it ended up working out beautifully. We walked out of the theatre to an absolutely gorgeous day. I was originally planning on just going back to the apartment and getting some work done but the four of us decided it was too good of a day to stay at the apartment complex.
Instead, we went on a walk with no specific plan or path. We started out by going to St. Mary’s – the largest Cathedral in Sydney. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, they don’t allow any pictures inside but I got some of the outside to give you a thought. I was fortunate enough to visit many of the Cathedrals in England when my sisters were there studying abroad and this Cathedral was just as beautiful as those. Obviously there is not the same history in a 100-year old Cathedral in Sydney as there is in a 600-year old Cathedral in England, but architecturally, it was just as beautiful.
Stunningly gorgeous.
After St. Mary’s we headed through the Royal Botanical Gardens. These were also very impressive. It was a wonderful stroll through a beautiful park. It was impressive on a winter day, I can’t imagine what it looks like during the summer.
When we got through the park, we ended up at the Sydney Opera House. Don’t you just love going on a walk with no particular purpose and ending up at one of the most recognized buildings in the world? Oh wait, you’re not in Australia, you wouldn’t understand (sorry, I couldn’t resist ☺). So there we were no particular plan or purpose just kind of wondering what to do next. We spontaneously decided to hop on a ferry headed for Manly Beach. This is something everyone tells you to do while you’re here but we had not yet tried or planned. It was the best decision of the day – even better than the donut choice and you know it’s good if it’s even being compared to donuts! The 30-minute ferry ride was beautiful and Manly was awesome.
Part of an incredible Ferry ride.
Ditto.
The Royal Botanical Gardens
Manly reminds me a lot of Miami. The streets are lined with shops and restaurants and you are right on the beach. By this time, we had walked off the absurd amount of donuts we had ate or at least that was what we wanted to believe so we stopped for lunch…on top of a building. We ate at a restaurant that was actually a rooftop of a hotel there right on the beach. The view was awesome and the food (fried calamari and a bucket of shrimp) was delicious.
Just a little rooftop dining.
After lunch we did some more walking around and eventually ended up at an ice cream shop. I know what you’re thinking. Ice cream and donuts in the same day?!?! And the answer is yes, absolutely yes. I’m going to take advantage of my metabolism while I still have it. It was a great choice and probably the best Ice Cream cone I have ever had. It was a waffle cone that they dip the top of in chocolate and then I had two scoops – one was called midnight cookie (chocolate and brownie) and the other was Royal Copenhagen (honeycomb and butterscotch) they top it off with whipped cream and then they have all the caramel, chocolate and sprinkles in a dispenser that you can add on your own. It was heavenly – worth the ferry trip all on its own. After finishing the cone and making sure my heart was still properly functioning we headed back to the city. Fat happy campers.
The ice cream cone fell out of heaven and into my hand. yummmmm.....
I made some dinner and headed for bed at 10:00. We have a very early morning tomorrow. The U.S. soccer team plays England at 4:30 a.m. Sydney time and a large group of us want to go to Darling Harbor, home of FIFA Fan Fest, to watch the game. I’m sure you will get to read all about it. Until then…
Cheers!
Sunday, June 13, 2010
DAY 23: MORE WORK, MORE PLAY AND SOME EXTRA CARGO
Well after a night on the town and about five hours of sleep at best, I still had to work on Friday (unfortunately, calling in sick is not really an option ☺). Two hours on the train and bus was a good way to make sure I was prepared for the day ahead. I finished a book that would highly recommend to anyone interested in a read about leadership. It’s called “It’s Your Ship: Management techniques from the best damn ship in the navy.” It was entertaining, thought provoking and well thought-out. Anyway, I got to work not sure what to expect since I was working in Operations again.
I worked with the lifeguards for the first half of the day. Let’s just say I look good in a Speedo. Okay, I lied I didn’t have to wear the “uniform”. Instead, I worked on cleaning their office and did some maintenance on the pool in the Plant Room – where all the chemicals and cleaners are put in the pool. Their PH levels were low which means nothing to you or me but I was just told to put some magic potion (technical term) in a big tub that I had seen done on my original tour of the Centre. Funny story (refer to No Pants Dance): My parents ended up shipping me two pairs of black pants so I could have more than one pair here. This was the first day I had worn the pants. So here I am pouring Bisodium Sulfate (magic potion) into this big ‘ol tank. I get it all in without getting anything on me, put the hose in to mix the chemicals, the water pressure is strong enough that it shoots out of the tub and sprays my legs and shoes with some of this Bisodium Sulfate. I don’t know what Bisodium Sulfate is for but I do know this BS is not for pants. For the rest of the day I had a white residue on my pants – maybe a speedo wasn’t such a bad idea. I had a good time doing all of this. It was a nice change to get out from behind the computer. This is one of the major perks of working in the sport industry and one of the major reasons I want to work in it.
My supervisor, Matt, came and got me after I was done with that project and he took me to their sports fields. They were very nice. Not quite “up-to-snuff” with a Big Ten University (by they way, I am totally on board with the Nebraska decision) but still very nice. They had an Aussie Rules Football Field, a Rugby Field, a Cricket Field (I don’t know what it is actually called) and a very nice soccer field that serves as the training field for Sydney Futbol Club. They also had some tennis courts including a couple of clay courts. It was nice to get outside on a beautiful day and see these facilities but most of all just get some time to pick the mind of my supervisor. He is a really interesting guy with a lot of the same interests as me. We had a good chat then went and got some lunch. I packed mine (in an effort to save money) but he stopped on our way back at this little café in a corporate park just off campus. Wrap your mind around this. This corporate park consisted of probably 7 or 8 buildings at the most, but accounts for about 5.5% of Australia’s GDP think about that…(allowing time for thinking)…okay, maybe this is just interesting to me but I’m a nerd.
The second half of the afternoon brought me the “They finally recognized I’m capable of legitimate contributions” moment. I met with the manager of the entire Centre and he gave me a small project. I finished it up much faster than he was expecting. While I was returning the project he asked ,“You wouldn’t happen to have any experience with event management would you?” Besides creating and hosting a golf tournament, hosting multiple School of Management Council events (shout-out: purdue.edu/smc) and being a part of hosting tons of Big Ten sport events, no I don’t have any experience. I think he might have known all of this and was testing to see if I really had the kahonas to say all of this. Obviously, I do. So we ended up talking for quite some time about a corporate Olympics they were hosting for one of their bigger corporate clients. More or less, he was struggling with this project and kind of handed it over to me and told me “figure this out”. I spent the majority of the afternoon trying to wrap my mind around all of the information and creating two proposals. Hopefully, this is something that I will get more ownership of and continue to work on. I headed home at 5 p.m. ready for a three-day weekend. But first…
… pretty much the entire Purdue group wanted to go out Friday night, so that’s what we did. I grabbed some delicious sushi for dinner at a neat little Japanese restaurant near our apartment. A lot of the restaurants here are B.Y.O. (bring your own). It’s a cool idea and creates a neat environment. Us three guys that went to grab sushi grabbed a six-pack before hand and took it into the Japanese restaurant. It was one of the better $15 meals I have ever had. I will be back and I will take pictures.
After dinner, we met up with the group at a very cool bar called Cargo Bar (http://cargobar.com.au/cargobar_about.html). The bar is located right on the water in Darling Harbor. We had a great time. It was great way to kick-off a 3-day weekend. On the schedule: Sydney Film Fest and FIFA Fan Fest. Looking forward to it. Until then…
Cheers!
I worked with the lifeguards for the first half of the day. Let’s just say I look good in a Speedo. Okay, I lied I didn’t have to wear the “uniform”. Instead, I worked on cleaning their office and did some maintenance on the pool in the Plant Room – where all the chemicals and cleaners are put in the pool. Their PH levels were low which means nothing to you or me but I was just told to put some magic potion (technical term) in a big tub that I had seen done on my original tour of the Centre. Funny story (refer to No Pants Dance): My parents ended up shipping me two pairs of black pants so I could have more than one pair here. This was the first day I had worn the pants. So here I am pouring Bisodium Sulfate (magic potion) into this big ‘ol tank. I get it all in without getting anything on me, put the hose in to mix the chemicals, the water pressure is strong enough that it shoots out of the tub and sprays my legs and shoes with some of this Bisodium Sulfate. I don’t know what Bisodium Sulfate is for but I do know this BS is not for pants. For the rest of the day I had a white residue on my pants – maybe a speedo wasn’t such a bad idea. I had a good time doing all of this. It was a nice change to get out from behind the computer. This is one of the major perks of working in the sport industry and one of the major reasons I want to work in it.
My supervisor, Matt, came and got me after I was done with that project and he took me to their sports fields. They were very nice. Not quite “up-to-snuff” with a Big Ten University (by they way, I am totally on board with the Nebraska decision) but still very nice. They had an Aussie Rules Football Field, a Rugby Field, a Cricket Field (I don’t know what it is actually called) and a very nice soccer field that serves as the training field for Sydney Futbol Club. They also had some tennis courts including a couple of clay courts. It was nice to get outside on a beautiful day and see these facilities but most of all just get some time to pick the mind of my supervisor. He is a really interesting guy with a lot of the same interests as me. We had a good chat then went and got some lunch. I packed mine (in an effort to save money) but he stopped on our way back at this little café in a corporate park just off campus. Wrap your mind around this. This corporate park consisted of probably 7 or 8 buildings at the most, but accounts for about 5.5% of Australia’s GDP think about that…(allowing time for thinking)…okay, maybe this is just interesting to me but I’m a nerd.
The second half of the afternoon brought me the “They finally recognized I’m capable of legitimate contributions” moment. I met with the manager of the entire Centre and he gave me a small project. I finished it up much faster than he was expecting. While I was returning the project he asked ,“You wouldn’t happen to have any experience with event management would you?” Besides creating and hosting a golf tournament, hosting multiple School of Management Council events (shout-out: purdue.edu/smc) and being a part of hosting tons of Big Ten sport events, no I don’t have any experience. I think he might have known all of this and was testing to see if I really had the kahonas to say all of this. Obviously, I do. So we ended up talking for quite some time about a corporate Olympics they were hosting for one of their bigger corporate clients. More or less, he was struggling with this project and kind of handed it over to me and told me “figure this out”. I spent the majority of the afternoon trying to wrap my mind around all of the information and creating two proposals. Hopefully, this is something that I will get more ownership of and continue to work on. I headed home at 5 p.m. ready for a three-day weekend. But first…
… pretty much the entire Purdue group wanted to go out Friday night, so that’s what we did. I grabbed some delicious sushi for dinner at a neat little Japanese restaurant near our apartment. A lot of the restaurants here are B.Y.O. (bring your own). It’s a cool idea and creates a neat environment. Us three guys that went to grab sushi grabbed a six-pack before hand and took it into the Japanese restaurant. It was one of the better $15 meals I have ever had. I will be back and I will take pictures.
After dinner, we met up with the group at a very cool bar called Cargo Bar (http://cargobar.com.au/cargobar_about.html). The bar is located right on the water in Darling Harbor. We had a great time. It was great way to kick-off a 3-day weekend. On the schedule: Sydney Film Fest and FIFA Fan Fest. Looking forward to it. Until then…
Cheers!
Day 22: SOME HISTORY, A HAIRCUT AND AN OLYMPIAN (MAYBE)
Thursdays might be my favorite weekday here. Check that, it is my favorite weekday. It starts out with class at 10:00 a.m. - perfect timing. It's not too early but at the same time it is early enough that you still have the majority of your day when it's done. Today's class consisted mostly of videos. We learned a lot about the history of the english language and then more specifically, the Aussie accent. For something that doesn't sound that interesting, it was pretty interesting. Pop quiz: What type of English did Shakespeare write in? The answer: Modern English. Yeah, that archaic gibberish that William used is actually Modern - I have my doubts. Apparently Old English refers to anything pre-1066 before the french took over. At that point in time, French was the main language in England. That era lasted for about 300 years and then Modern English (think Romeo and Juliet) became all the rage. The English language as we know it is actually mixture of many different languages that all sort of mixed together since the 15th century...or something like that. Much of the Aussie accent comes from the Cockney people of England. The Aussie accent was actually looked down upon until the 1970s. Before that time, the Australian media would actually import British on-air talent to avoid having any Aussie accent in their program. Weird, huh? Eventually though, companies started taking "risks" and using Aussies and believe it or not, it worked. Who would have thought listening to someone who talks like you would be more enjoyable than listening to a foreigner with a funny accent? Those crazy marketers and their earth-shattering ideas. I know it's tempting but please don't cite me on any of this - I hope my professor isn't a devout follower of Boiler Outback. As for you other followers - you're welcome. After countless (actually, I guess you can count since I've numbered every entry but that's not the point) blogs about food, coins, pants and other trivial details of my life, I figured it was about time to drop the "knowledge bomb" on my readers.
So yeah, after class I headed to the train station...but not to catch a train. A train station in Sydney is more like a shopping center with a train that happens to run through it. I went to the train station for a haircut. That's not a type-o. These "train-stations" have everything in 'em. There's high-fashion clothing shops, restaurants, shoe-stores, bakeries, butchers and yes, even a barber. About ten minutes and $30 later (another example of the outrageous prices here in Sydney), I had myself a fresh cut. The great thing about the 10:00 class - you go to class, get your "errands" done and still have time do whatever you want. I chose to spend this time working out. I hit the gym for a quick weight exercise, then the pool for some cardio, then the sauna to loosen the muscles, then finally the hot tub just to make sure I completely dehydrated myself (seriously though, I just wanted to run the jets on feet which are still sore from surfing).
Time for the food paragraph: For dinner I wanted something quick, healthy and cheap. The solution? A tuna salad wrap. However, I didn't have pre-made tuna sald. I actually made the tuna salad - impressed myself a little bit to be honest. Took some canned tuna, some onion, some green pepper, some tomato and some carrot, mixed it all together in a bowl with some salt and pepper, some light mayo and some honey mustard. Threw all of that on to a toasted whole grain wrap and had a delicious dinner with some grilled asparagus. It was awesome. My roommate Jeramey finished off what I couldn't fit onto the wrap and loved it too. And of course, washed all down with an ANZAC biscuit and some milk. Okay, that's it for the food for this entry. Now back to your original programming.
One of the Purdue students celebrated her birthday yesterday so a big group of us went out for the night. We started off at a really neat bar called the Argyle. It was really nice - two levels, very nice architecture and interior design, brick flooring and a glass box for the DJ that created an illusion like he was just floating. Well, we went there because you could get two-for-one cocktails until 8. You know the saying, "sounds too good to be true"? Yeah, this was too good. The issue was that one cocktail cost anywhere from $16-20. As far as I am concerned you are getting two-for-the-price-of-two-or-three OR two-for-the-price-of-32-Keystones-on-a-Thursday-night-at-the-Neon-Cactus but oh well, it was a lot of fun and a really cool bar. After hitting a couple more bars, we decided to hop in a taxi to get home. The taxi drivers here are all very friendly and you’re actually supposed to sit shotgun. I called shotgun, got in and tried making small-talk. I wanted to be friendly so hopefully he wouldn’t take advantage of a bunch of poor college kids. Naturally, I started by asking him his name. For whatever reason, he didn’t want to give it to me which began a 15-minute debate between him and I on the positives and negatives of him telling me his name. Obviously, I won this argument because not only was I right but even in my state, I was able to make a very good argument. His name was Kamel Chater and (according to him) he was an Olympian. I didn’t believe it – at all. Well, the next day at work I looked it up and sure enough, there was a Kamel Chater Olympic boxer for Tunisia – just as he had said. I can’t actually find any pictures of him but I guess I will take his word. It sounds much cooler if I can say I got a taxi ride from an Olympic boxer than if I say I got a ride from some guy named Kamel Chater.
Eventually we made it back around 1 or so, which gave me enough time for about 5 hours of sleep before it was time for work. It was worth it. I had a great night with some great friends. Until next time…
Cheers!
So yeah, after class I headed to the train station...but not to catch a train. A train station in Sydney is more like a shopping center with a train that happens to run through it. I went to the train station for a haircut. That's not a type-o. These "train-stations" have everything in 'em. There's high-fashion clothing shops, restaurants, shoe-stores, bakeries, butchers and yes, even a barber. About ten minutes and $30 later (another example of the outrageous prices here in Sydney), I had myself a fresh cut. The great thing about the 10:00 class - you go to class, get your "errands" done and still have time do whatever you want. I chose to spend this time working out. I hit the gym for a quick weight exercise, then the pool for some cardio, then the sauna to loosen the muscles, then finally the hot tub just to make sure I completely dehydrated myself (seriously though, I just wanted to run the jets on feet which are still sore from surfing).
Time for the food paragraph: For dinner I wanted something quick, healthy and cheap. The solution? A tuna salad wrap. However, I didn't have pre-made tuna sald. I actually made the tuna salad - impressed myself a little bit to be honest. Took some canned tuna, some onion, some green pepper, some tomato and some carrot, mixed it all together in a bowl with some salt and pepper, some light mayo and some honey mustard. Threw all of that on to a toasted whole grain wrap and had a delicious dinner with some grilled asparagus. It was awesome. My roommate Jeramey finished off what I couldn't fit onto the wrap and loved it too. And of course, washed all down with an ANZAC biscuit and some milk. Okay, that's it for the food for this entry. Now back to your original programming.
One of the Purdue students celebrated her birthday yesterday so a big group of us went out for the night. We started off at a really neat bar called the Argyle. It was really nice - two levels, very nice architecture and interior design, brick flooring and a glass box for the DJ that created an illusion like he was just floating. Well, we went there because you could get two-for-one cocktails until 8. You know the saying, "sounds too good to be true"? Yeah, this was too good. The issue was that one cocktail cost anywhere from $16-20. As far as I am concerned you are getting two-for-the-price-of-two-or-three OR two-for-the-price-of-32-Keystones-on-a-Thursday-night-at-the-Neon-Cactus but oh well, it was a lot of fun and a really cool bar. After hitting a couple more bars, we decided to hop in a taxi to get home. The taxi drivers here are all very friendly and you’re actually supposed to sit shotgun. I called shotgun, got in and tried making small-talk. I wanted to be friendly so hopefully he wouldn’t take advantage of a bunch of poor college kids. Naturally, I started by asking him his name. For whatever reason, he didn’t want to give it to me which began a 15-minute debate between him and I on the positives and negatives of him telling me his name. Obviously, I won this argument because not only was I right but even in my state, I was able to make a very good argument. His name was Kamel Chater and (according to him) he was an Olympian. I didn’t believe it – at all. Well, the next day at work I looked it up and sure enough, there was a Kamel Chater Olympic boxer for Tunisia – just as he had said. I can’t actually find any pictures of him but I guess I will take his word. It sounds much cooler if I can say I got a taxi ride from an Olympic boxer than if I say I got a ride from some guy named Kamel Chater.
Eventually we made it back around 1 or so, which gave me enough time for about 5 hours of sleep before it was time for work. It was worth it. I had a great night with some great friends. Until next time…
Cheers!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)