Savouring Sunny Sydney

The past few days have been very exciting, tons of fun, and relatively busy, which according to my book, is never a bad thing.

Yesterday afternoon, one of my friends and I walked to Town Hall for the Travel Expo that was being held there. I had gone the previous day to watch two presentations on visiting South America and Antarctica [Jackee ;o)] and living and working in the UK, but I had arrived later than I had planned so I had missed a couple talks that I had wanted to see. This time, we listened to a representative from one of the travel agencies talk about visiting Africa, which is a place that I’ve always found captivating. Afterwards, we stayed in the auditorium to hear the editor of Get Lost, a travel magazine in Australia, talk about how to become a successful travel writer and get your articles published. It was pretty interesting, but the synopsis of the presentation was a tad misleading since it said that it was going to be about photography, too, so I think Steffy was left a little disenchanted. However, attending the expo and learning about all these travel opportunities have given me the itch to see more of Oz...... and the rest of the world.

Following the Travel Expo, I took a train to Olympic Park for the Hillsong recording. On the way, I met a few other people who were heading to the same location so we talked for a while. The couple I talked to the most was from Colombia. When I told Juan that I was from Pennsylvania, he said that although he ultimately decided to join his girlfriend in Sydney, he was originally planning to go to Pennsylvania to work with his brother…. at Dorney Park! It really is a small world, isn’t it?

I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect with the recording, but I had certainly been looking forward to it since I had learned about it…. and I definitely wasn’t left disappointed. We sang several songs that we had sung last Sunday during the church service and some new ones that I had never heard before. Overall, it was very powerful and almost a surreal experience. After the recording, a group of us drove to Pancakes on the Rocks for dinner. There, I met some more people, one of whom was a girl from Madison, Wisconsin who’s been studying at Hillsong College for the past two years.

Today, I finally participated in one of the free walking tours, which is something I had wanted to do since I first arrived in Sydney. I’ve done other ones in London, Dublin, and Krakow that I enjoyed so I was looking forward to doing this one. The tour started near Town Hall and worked its way up to Circular Quay, which is where the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House are. It was a great comprehensive tour of the city that made me realise just how much of Sydney I have yet to see. Australia is a relatively young country, but its beginnings are interesting to learn about, and the guides always have quirky, lesser-known stories to share with those who are on the tour, like rubbing the nose of il porcellino [pig] on Macquarie Street for good luck.

Not to rub it in at all… okay so maybe to rub it in a little :o), but being outside in the warm sun all day had left me feeling beat. Part of me wanted to go out and enjoy the Halloween festivities, but in the end, my bed won the battle.

Night to all my Northern Hemisphere family and friends.. stay warm!

From Bondi to Coogee

Earlier this week, after being invited by Faye and Jeryee, I attended one of the Connect Groups through Hillsong. It was a pleasant evening that included studying the Bible, eating dinner with a new group of people, and getting to know other members of the church. I’m glad that I was included because I found it to be incredibly spiritually stimulating, which is something I’ve been craving for so long.

Since we met at the Hillsong service not even a week ago, Faye has been a wonderful friend to me, not to mention a fabulous resource, while I’ve been in Sydney, and I’m truly grateful to have met

her. Yesterday afternoon, she and I met in the city centre and then took a bus to Bondi Beach, the most famous beach in Sydney. As those who really know me are well aware, I’ve never been a huge beach person, from the time I was a young child all the way through adulthood. Call me crazy if you’d like, but I’ve just never found comfort in the sand between my toes, the wind in my hair, or the salty air that invades my nostrils when I’m at the shore. However, I figured I should leave all my negative opinions of the beach behind and visit this popular tourist attraction at least once while I’m in Sydney, especially since so many people had recommended that I go during this time of year.

And I’m sure glad I took them up on their advice!

Bondi Beach is truly stunning with its fine white sand and crystal clear waves, well worth the

relatively short bus ride from the central business district. From what I’ve been told, Bondi is an ideal place to do shopping as well. Before heading to the actual beach, Faye and I walked along the strip of stores, browsed through some of the merchandise, and bought delicious churros on which to snack. The weather has been a little sporadic this past week, with temperatures ranging from the low 60s to the high 80s, so at least in my opinion, it wasn’t warm enough to actually go in the ocean; however, there were loads of people who disagreed and thought it was just the right weather to swim or surf. Instead, Faye and I opted to follow the 6-kilometer scenic coastal path from Bondi, all the way down past Bronte, and finally to Coogee Beach. It was a beautiful walk and strolling along the beach and listening to the waves crash against the rocks was very peaceful and even therapeutic. It may not have been ideal weather to go for a swim, but there isn’t a doubt in my mind that it was definitely the perfect weather to be outside and catch some rays.

Once we reached Coogee, we ate some fish and chips, prawns, and calamari from a local restaurant. Although it wasn’t the healthiest dinner in the world, it was definitely delicious.

Why… Hello There, Inspiration

Prior to moving to Australia, one of the things I was anticipating the most was attending a service at Hillsong. It was back in London that I first learned about the church from a friend, but I had never made it there since I ended up becoming involved with a different one. However, my friend and I checked out one of the services at the New York City location right before I left and found the entire experience to be beyond awesome and inspirational.

On Sunday evening, I was fortunate enough to visit the original Hillsong in Sydney, and it was everything I had hoped it would be and more: the energy was explosive, the music rocked, the pastor’s sermon was moving… and the atmosphere just felt like home.

This is exactly what I had spent the last two years searching for while I was in Pennsylvania.

Not only was the service spectacular, but as it turns out, I arrived in Sydney just in time to learn about the opportunity to be a part of Hillsong’s annual album recording session this upcoming Sunday, which is exciting. Of course, I’m definitely planning to be there.

After the service, I met with one of the girls, Faye, who was part of the welcoming team and ended up going out for dinner and gelato in Newtown with a bunch of her friends. Everyone was incredibly open and friendly, and it was great to feel like I was part of a church community again.

Yesterday afternoon, Faye and I met at the Queen Victoria Building, a historical spot in central Sydney. We looked for a restaurant to grab lunch and ended up walking to Darling Harbour to get Japanese food. I had my first salmon handroll, which was quite delicious. After that, we met her boyfriend, Jeryee, at Pancakes on the Rocks, where we shared several pancakes topped with chocolate syrup, bananas, walnuts, and my favourite part, ice-cream.

I’ll certainly be going there again for dessert.

Laughing in the Face of Jet Lag

For whatever unknown reason, moving forward fifteen hours has done me well in terms of finding a healthy sleep schedule. It doesn’t always happen that way when I transport between time zones, but I’ve been fortunate enough that this happens to be one of those instances.

In bed by 10 or 11pm, out of bed by 6 or 7am. Who knew it could be such a beautiful thing?

At the moment, I’m living with three fantastic girls: two from the UK, Fran and Emma, and one from California, Caylee. Yesterday, Caylee and I spent all morning and the better part of the afternoon walking around the city, trying to find places that were hiring. We were in luck as several places encouraged us to drop off our CVs. Fingers crossed, soon enough, we’ll be two Americans working in Australia… who can afford to live in Australia.

Aside from looking for work, we got lunch and just enjoyed the atmosphere of Darling Harbour. It’s a bustling area for sure, but the view alone could take anyone to a peaceful place. It's a great place to just soak in the fact that I'm here, and in short, I can definitely see myself spending more time there.

In my opinion, the cost of living in Australia is relatively high, particularly in Sydney. Even Fran commented on how expensive it is to live here… and she’s from London. Once I start working, I believe it will become less noticeable as with the pricey cost of living comes a rather generous paycheck, even for those working for minimum wage. Luckily though, I’ve been told that most jobs pay much more than that.

With such the exciting life I live, I think I'm off to bed soon. Until next time!

Flight Changes, Lost Luggage, and Invalid ATM Cards… Oh My

G’day from Australia!

Based on my previous blogging attempts when I was in Europe, I wasn’t incredibly successful when it came to keeping my blog up to date, but I’m going to give it another go whilst living in Oz. Hopefully this time around, I’ll do a better job at writing new entries and keeping family and friends at home in the loop with what I’m doing.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been over two years since I’ve lived abroad because, as cliché as it may sound, when I think back on my Britain and Ireland memories, it really does seem like just yesterday that I was eating another meal at Vapiano on Great Portland Street, buying the most delicious cupcakes from Hummingbird, doing my weekly grocery shopping at Tesco, and exploring the likes of stunning storybook places, such as Galway, Wicklow, Glendalough, and Kerry. Looking back on the last two years spent in the US, although admittedly not always enjoyed, I’ve come to realise that they were necessary and served as incubators for great growth in my personal life. During this time, I may have lost a friendship or two, but I managed to strengthen others and build additional ones. I can say with full certainty that I’ve learned to appreciate the time I had at home, spending time with family and friends and figuring out what my next step would be.

Welcome to “my next step,” which happened to be uprooting my quiet life in Pennsylvania and moving to the other side of the world, far away from the family and the friends I hold so close to my heart.

True to my nature, I saved the vast majority of my packing for the last minute. Not that I’m the most well-traveled person in the world, but with the fair amount of travelling I’ve done, one would think that I would have mastered the art of packing by now… or at least become semi-skilled at packing lightly.

Not so much.

With only several hours to go until I had to catch the bus to the airport, I still had piles of clothing, shoes, and random knick-knacks scattered around the living room floor, all items I desperately

In the midst of packing

wanted to fit into my luggage and take with me. It literally looked like a tornado had passed through the room, and at one point, I think I just sat in the middle of the mess, sincerely believing I wasn’t going to be able to make it work and cursing myself for waiting that long to seriously pack. However, success is all the more sweet when failure seems inevitable and after much time and effort spent trying to cram it all into the allotted carry-on bag and two massive pieces of luggage I could take on the flight, I somehow managed to shrink approximately 150 pounds of belongings down to just under 100.

My long journey from the US to Australia started with a lengthy three-hour bus ride from the Valley to JFK. It worked out well because the only bus that would get me to the airport on time brought me there three hours before my flight, which is what’s generally recommended when flying internationally. This flight experience proved to bring about many firsts for me:: the first time flying from JFK, the first time I’ve been early for something… [in a long time, at least], and the first time I learned my luggage had been lost upon arriving at my destination.

What had happened was I was supposed to be on an Air Pacific flight from LA to Nadi to Sydney, but Cheapoair called me last week or so to tell me they were switching my flight so that I would have a direct one from LA to Sydney with V Australia. When I was at JFK, the woman who checked my

Leaving Fiji

luggage told me that I would need to go to V Australia in LA to have them print me a ticket, but she assured me that my luggage would go straight to Sydney. I did just that when I arrived in LA; however, the V Australia representative told me that I needed to go to Air Pacific first to obtain a ticket there and then he could issue me one. When I went to Air Pacific, the woman said that the flight with V Australia was full so much to my delight [because who doesn’t want a layover in gorgeous Fiji :o)], I would need to take my original flight from LA to Nadi to Sydney, but my luggage would be going with V Australia since that's how United had set it up at JFK.

Guess whose luggage wasn't in Sydney when she finally arrived on Monday… and wouldn’t arrive until this afternoon?

That was the first thing that went wrong, but I accepted it because I was finally in Australia and decided that something as trivial as being without my luggage for a day shouldn’t ruin my spirits. Besides, for someone who loves to shop, having to go out and buy some clothing wasn’t the worst thing in the world. It was an amateur move for not packing extra clothing in my carry-on, but I had no room and no reason to be concerned that my bags wouldn’t arrive in Sydney with me.

After being in Sydney for a few hours, I realised I had forgotten my outlet adapter at home so I went to the store to buy one, but when I tried to pay for it with my debit card, an error kept popping up. I tried to withdraw money from the ATM, but that wouldn't work either. As it turned out, I must have grabbed an old card I had in my wallet instead of my newer one, but it was the only one there so I’m not even sure where the right one is at the moment. I called my home bank to sort things out and another one is being sent to me. In the meantime, hooray for credit cards and the modest amount of cash I happened to have on me.

Most of my time so far has been spent sitting on the Internet as I job and apartment hunt, but I did have some free time yesterday afternoon to walk down to The Rocks and see the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge. It honestly wasn't until I first laid my eyes on these attractions that it

First of hopefully many visits to Circular Quay

dawned on me that I’m actually in Australia. Funnily enough, this is typically what it takes for me to fully comprehend that I’ve finally arrived somewhere. For instance, I can tell you that I didn’t have a true sense of arrival in Seoul until I looked up and found myself staring at the Seoul Tower, in London until I strolled along the street and stumbled across Westminster Abbey, or in Paris until I peered outside my window and saw the Eiffel Tower. Remarkable moments that have made me stop dead in my tracks and ask myself, “How did I end up living such a blessed life?”

So here’s to another hopefully amazing year filled with great adventures, memories to reflect on in the future, and stories to tell for years to come.

The Great Exodus from the UK.. er, Britain

Behind with updating again.. oops! I seem to go in spurts where I'm good about posting what I've been doing.

At the end of April, Heidi, Kay, and I ventured to Belfast in Northern Ireland. While Belfast itself wasn't overly impressive, Giant's Causeway was a different story. Pictures simply couldn't do it justice. On Saturday, the three of us took a tour up to Giant's Causeway and spent the afternoon there. When we returned to Belfast, we found our adorable bed & breakfast and ate dinner at an Indian restaurant. We spent the following day exploring Belfast, which included taking a black cab political tour.

While I haven't found my camera cord, I did manage to borrow a friend's so the following photos are my own:

Coastline of Giant's Causeway


Beautiful, no?




Kay and Heidi




Our B&B


Queen's University


City Hall


Murals in Belfast

Visiting the Scottish Highlands and Sunny Cambridge

I recently decided to take a tour of the Scottish Highlands. A lot of people had recommended going up there and so I decided to act upon the opportunity. I'm so glad I did because Scotland is absolutely gorgeous, and it was a nice change of scenery from London. As tacky as it might sound, it was seriously like being wrapped in a blanket of natural beauty for five straight days. The tour was amazing and took us all over Scotland, including Stirling, Oban, Inverness, Ullapool, Loch Ness, and my personal favorite, the Isle of Skye!

Hopefully I'll post my own pictures later on, but for now, courtesy of Myles, let me give you a taste of what Scotland is like:

The Royal Mile in Edinburgh


William Wallace Monument


Glencoe


Ben Nevis


Carbisdale Castle


Balnuaran of Clava


Since we had all been to Oxford, Heidi, Kay, and I only felt it was fair to visit Cambridge as well. We lucked out with the weather again as it was just perfect! Similar to what Kay, Mara, and I did in Oxford, we visited several of the colleges and just explored the city. It's an adorable area. We even went punting on the River Cam, which runs right through Cambridge.

With much thanks to Kay and Heidi, here are some photos::

Walking to the city centre
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Inside King's College




Downing College


Mathematical Bridge


Punting on the River Cam


Heidi and I with the Bridge of Sighs behind us


Market


Trinity College


Clare College


Round Church


Sidney Sussex College


Sidney Sussex College Dining Hall


Magdalene College

Jackee and Allison Go to Porto

I'm a little behind on updating again. A lot has happened within the past few weeks, but I'm just going to focus on the beginning of the month in this post.

It's fitting that the first time I leave the UK, it's with Jackee. I wish she and I could have traveled to London together, but I'm so glad she came to visit!

On the first day she arrived, we hung out at the hostel and just caught up since it's been quite some time since we've seen each other. The following day, we met Kay at Vapiano for dinner. I know I've said it before, but I love the food there! Although, as far as I'm concerned, it's really hard to go wrong with Italian..

The real fun began Friday evening, which is when we flew down to Porto, Portugal for the weekend. When we initially started to plan our trip, Dublin, Paris, and Madrid were among the destinations we were considering; however, then we decided that our goal was to go somewhere interesting but less typical than the usual traveler would venture. That decision landed us in Portugal.

And now some pictures, courtesy of Jackee::

Wandering around the city




Down by the Douro River


Porto from across the river


Restaurant where we ate lunch


Wine tasting


Boats on the Douro River


Vila Nova de Guia




Dom Luis Bridge (Eiffel Bridge)


On our cruise


Toward the Atlantic Ocean


Old city wall


View from the bridge


Beautiful sunset over Porto


Night view


Park in Casa da Musica


Casa da Musica