Sydnayy

So if you have been reading my blog faithfully, you would know that I had a big decision to make about this past weekend. I chose to go on the Dickinson funded trip to Sydney instead of going to a famous party here at Cromwell. Lucky for me, I made the correct decision.

After a late taxi fiasco, the Cromwell/Women's crew made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare before our grand adventure. We met our amazing guide, Rus, upon arrival to Sydney. I'll say it now before I start raving for half this post. Rus was the best tour guide I have ever had! The first day there we walked around the city of Sydney, including THE OPERA HOUSE! Then we had dinner at a nice Irish-y place where we got to grill our own steaks. I wish I could say here that I learned how to make a great steak, but alas, I still am a sub-par griller. From there we went on a group pub crawl with our directors which was an absolute blast. We went to some of the oldest pubs in Sydney and some of the nicer places in town. Afterwards we spent the night in our awesome hotel rooms which had two bathrooms and a wonderful kitchen! Definitely a nice break from Cromwell living.

We took an amazing walk around the famous Sydney beaches which provided some of the prettiest sights I have ever seen. Blue water, sunny days, paradise. We followed up our walk with visiting the Paddington Markets which house up and coming designers and little booths of jewelry and crafty things. I loved the feel of the market and going there gave us all a chance to experience what a local person in Sydney might do on a Saturday afternoon. I also had an amazing Tandoori chicken sandwich at a little restaurant, proving that my palate is finally branching out, and a brownie from a specialty chocolate store. Good Eats, all day. Did I mention that we also got to eat amazing Malaysian food for dinner?

Another cool thing about our trip to Sydney is that we got all day Sunday, before we had to leave, to decide what we wanted to do. A few of us decided that we wanted to go to the aquarium and the Paddy Markets (like a Chinatown market) with meat pies for lunch for the proper Sydney experience. It was a great day, and I actually like meat pies even though there are some haters in the US.

It was a great weekend in a place that most people never get to visit in their lifetimes. Special thanks to Dickinson for funding the trip and the amazing meals. This week is a short week of classes because of Ekka, the national holiday, and the normal lax schedule of Australia. This upcoming weekend I will be traveling again!

I think pictures give a better description of the weekend: