IES Orientation

As it turns out, I was able to get internet in my room. I still can't figure out how they charge students for internet... but hopefully I don't run up a high bill.

IES had Orientation from Saturday the 14th-Monday the 16th. We stayed at the Coogee Sands Hotel on Coogee beach. Unfortunately the weather was rainy the entire time, and most of the activities were outdoors... The director of IES here in Sydney is Merlin Luck. He reminds me of a cross between Dane Cook and Shaggy from scooby-doo, funny, laid back, and goofy. He is an awesome guy- he was even on Big Brother Australia!

But on the first day we arrived we were taken to the hotel. Then we rode this British-style double decker bus through parts of the city, mostly the Coogee and Bondi areas. There were two buses with IES students, but the other bus broke down mid-trip. So my bus was dropped off to grab lunch. I ate at "Hungry Jacks" which is Burger King in Australia. They named it Hungry Jacks because they did not want to offend the royal family- it still tasted the same though! After lunch the other group joined us and we started a walking tour of the city. We saw places such as Hyde Park (very beautiful, plan to go back), St. Mary's Cathedral, and some of the financial district. But, it began to rain hard so we had to cut our walking tour short and took a bus back to the hotel. Due to extreme jet lag, I went to bed at 5:30PM!

The second day of orientation was more action-packed. We took a bus to Darling Harbor (big tourist spot) and took a speed boat tour through the harbor. It was really fun despite the rain- Charity and I got soaked. The boat driver did complete 360's in the boat, and it was definitely a new experience on my end. When then went to the Black Bird Cafe, where I ate KANGAROO! It honestly tasted just like a piece of fillet. Afterward we took the monorail to the Sydney Tower, the tallest building in Sydney. There we took a 'virtual tour' of Australia (like a 3D Disney ride- made me sick!) and went up to the observation tower. It was cool to be so high up in the city, but once again it was rainy so it was a little hard to see everything. The best part of the day was when we got to go on the Sky-walk. I had to put on a jumpsuit, get in a harness attached to a railing, and was able to walk outside on top of the observation deck! I couldn't take my camera but it was so beautiful. The rain had stopped and I could see so far. The city itself reminds me a lot of San Franciso and is equally as beautiful.

On the last day of orientation we went to the Featherdale Wildlife Park. I got to pet wallabys, take pictures with a baby koala, and feed kangroos! I was trying to get a picture of me feeding the kangaroo- the first attempt didn't work so Charity tried again. But the kangaroo grabbed onto my hands to take all of the food! It was a little scary, but luckily I got a decent picture! I saw some other cool animals like a giant croc, and some ugly wombats. Afterwards we headed up to the Blue Mountains. We stopped for some traditional Aussie food- meat pies! I had a chicken one with some veggies, and it turned out to be pretty good. The Blue Mountains were beautiful- we stopped at Govett's Leap, which is a lookout point. Story goes that Govett was an outlaw who was running from the cops. Rather than being caught he and his horse jumped right over the edge of the cliff. So they named it after him. It is also the location of Bridal Falls- a pretty little waterfall. Since it was so rainy, cold, and windy, I did not actually hike. Maybe I'll go up there again one day.

So that was my orientation. It was fun, but rainy. Here is the link to my facebook album where I posted pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2059771&id=15508583&l=bd11b
If the link doesn't come up or work just copy and paste it and it should work that way. Enjoy!

Love,
Becky