Sydney in a Nutshell

Now that I have told you about my last weekend, I am going to back track and tell you about the rest of Sydney. This is what I get for procrastinating on these posts. Feel free to send me angry comments for the confusion I have caused. However, back to the story. I have left you with my amazing two runs, and my amazing surfing weekend. There isn't much in life that can get better than those things.

Sydney has been amazing. I  love it here. It isn't a place I would like to live, but visiting would be just fine. These past three weeks have been a whirlwind. I just tried to keep pace with this city. It moves fast. I cannot really remember the order in which I did things, so I am just going to word vomit what I have done.

Classes are well classes. Not too much to say there. The study part of this program is funish. It is a learning experience. It is all about balance. How much time you want to put into school versus how much time you want to spend exploring. I have also had to learn how to adapt to different teaching styles. I am an engineer through and through. I like when teachers present the facts, show an example, let me work a few my self. Things are cut and dry and class structures don't change. Then I get over here. These are all my electives and no longer science classes. It has been a challenge to handle a class where a syllabus aren't set in stone, or when assignments are more loose in their interpretation, or when there will be no tests. I has been good for me to learn how to handle different subject areas with different types of teachers. It has also made me realize that I love being an engineer. There isn't anything I would want to switch to, maybe bio, but I love that teaching style.

St. Mary's Cathedral for high Mass. That is something I can elaborate on. I will admit that at school, I am not one to go to mass. Sorry parents, catholic school just didn't stick. Until this trip. Mass is amazing in a cathedral. Spectacular. Add chior boys who can really sing, an amazing priest who kept things positive, and the fact that outside those stain-glass windows is a beautiful garden, and you have the makings of a pretty amazing mass. One of the best decisions I have made on this trip. The building is a must see. It is so amazing (yes Allie, I apologize for using that world, but the synonym finder doesn't work on this program)

Aquarium and Wildlife Center. Do you remember when you were six and your entire living room was covered in legos. You could play for hours just building and building and building. Sometimes you followed the directions, sometimes you just figured out what you  could make. Each snap brought satisfaction. Well take that feeling, add gallons of water filled with the most amazing creatures, native wildlife and you have the most awesome two places ever. We were lucky enough to visit the Aquarium and Wildlife Center when they had lego creations brought in from Lego-world. It was like being a five year old again. I could watch a real life hugmongo shark swim by, and then go immediately see a life-size lego version. That has to be one of the coolest things you can. It is legos. You cannot help but smile. Aside from legos everything else was amazing. Manatee eating large amounts of lettuce, platypuses, starfish, puffer-fish, and more. Also I don't know how much you know about platypus but they are awkward. First off, they are mammals and lay eggs. So right off the gate that means they are about 1 in 3 species that can do that. Second of all, they have a duck bill but are mammals. Someone is a milkman's baby. That's all I have to say. Finally, they are much tinier than expected. They are iridescent and shimmer in the water and have the potential to be magnificent looking. That darned bill ruins it all. They just look silly. They cannot help it.

So that is the Aquarium. The wildlife center is equally amazing in legos and equally amazing in animals. If you didn't know this already, Australia is pretty weird when it comes to animals. They have tons are things that no other place has. Case impart kangaroos and koalas. The two things everyone thinks of when you say australia. They are so so so cute. Well koalas are, kangaroos are neat. Koalas remind me of small little old grandparents hugging a tree. They are not cute adorable just cute wrinkly. None the less they are something you need to see. Kangaroos well they are just exactly what you think. We have seen them growing up in movies so many times, or in skating rinks, or on tv that there really isn't much you see that you aren't expecting. That doesn't change the fact that they are amazing creatures. It is just something you've seen. My favorite exhibit by far though was the butterfly garden. It was spectacular. Michael and I went in and just watched. One by one they started to land on Michael. He had this  natural affinity for them. Up close, the butterfly is one of the most spectacular insects. It has fantastic wings that are dusted with something, that if I would have paid attention in bio I would know. I got amazing pictures too. It was fantastic. So aquarium and wildlife center = major thumbs up.

Manly Beach: If I could give up school, and officially become a beach bum I would probably do it on Manly Beach. Despite the name, there are women too don't worry. A thirty minute ferry ride through the Harbour leads you to this smaller quainter town. It is cute and petite and definitely a beach town. Ice cream places, small take away food places, surf shops, etc line the roads all leading to an amazing beach. Yes it is crowded, yes you can only swim in certain places, but it is still amazing. Plus now that I know how to surf, I will definitely be trying that there. Definitely.

We have also been fortunate enough to go on some fantastic field trips with the class. Australia has a rough past. Thanks to America, the British needed a new place to send their convicts. So where better than the newly discovered Australia. Convicts came in by the ship load. They served out their terms here, and then were able to continue on with their lives. Our first field trip was the barracks in Sydney. Basically their jail. It was a rough time. Hammocks squeezed in together, working from sunrise to sunset, diseases being brought in. The barracks was a spectacular building. Architecturally it is beautiful. Open windows, nail-less ceilings, stone walls, but it doesn't hide the fact that this was a jail. Also, outside the window you can see St. Mary's. Tell me that is not a bit eerie.

We also managed to go to the Quarantine Station on Manly. To stop disease from spreading, ships would be quarantined here. Passengers and shipments would be cleaned, if you were sick you were taken to the hospital, all for forty days. Medically this place was fantastically interesting. So the way it all worked was meticulous records were kept on board of how patients were doing. Because the journeys were twoish months, if someone carried a sickness on board with them it would show up on the trip. If that happened, the ship had to come to the quarantine station. The passengers would then be loaded off. They were split into three groups: those who were sick, those who had come in contact with the sick person but weren't sick, and those who weren't sick. Sick people went straight to the hospital. The second group went basically into isolation. The third went through an extensive washing, cleansing process. They were then kept for forty days. Then went to Sydney. This system worked so well that no diseases ever landed in Sydney. It worked that well. In a time where there is limited limited medicine that is impeccable. The system while harsh worked. The station itself shows the history in an interesting way. It is all open and breathtaking views, but harsh because well people did die here. People were stuck here for forty days. It isn't a happy place, but it isn't sad either. My favorite peice of equipment in the entire place, was the giant autoclaves to clean the clothes. It was soooo large, and so impressive, and I think Georgia Tech needs to get one immediately. It could do all of our autoclaving needs in one fell swoop. I am putting a request in now.

We went on one last field trip which I will save for my next post because well frankly it deserves its own post