Sydney

A few weekends ago, from May 7-11, I boarded a plane to Sydney with Jackie (from Marist) and Rana (from California). Oddly enough it was the first time since February 20th that I had been on an airplane. Somehow, I have managed to cover quite a lot of ground in cars, vans, buses, trains, and trams.

Most of the trip was unplanned and we only had a vague outline of what we wanted to see and do, but that seems to be the only reasonable way to go about traveling these days. Essentially, I'm learning to be flexible. We stayed with Eric Gentile (also a student at Marist) and his five friends from New York. Another North American-dominated weekend. We felt like we were staying in something that resembled a frat house superimposed onto a fancy apartment in Coogee Bay, but it was free and Eric was incredibly generous so there will be no complaints, just gratefulness. Plus, the couch was comfortable.

We arrived and got ourselves settled. We were pretty tired so we hung around the apartment that evening and the following morning we walked and ran along the 6km Coogee Bay to Bondi Beach coastal walk, which was absolutely gorgeous: lots of rocks, waves crashing, lap pools meeting the sea, and Waverly Cemetery (which reminded me of Poe's "Annabelle Lee," the 'kingdom by the sea,' 'sepulcher' bit). There was a lot of construction along the way so we were forced to take a number of detours through the streets, which Rana informed us reminded her of San Francisco: a hilly beach-town meets suburb appearance. We encountered a neat staircase that had little mosaics embedded on each level. We arrived at Bondi Beach and sat around for a while. The water wasn't too cold as far as I can recall, but we didn't swim. We just put our toes in it, sat around, and admired the beauty.

In the evening, we went to Darling Harbour where we met up with Amy Wheeler! In celebration of Darling Harbour's twenty-first anniversary there was a fireworks show so we watched that and caught up for a bit. We returned to Coogee with the intention of returning to the city, but we were overcome with a wave of fatigue and decided to stay at home instead and wake up early the following day.

We awoke with the intention of finding Sydney's oldest coffee place, but could not find it in The Strand, so we abandoned that plan and instead, went to the Glebe Markets and I met up with Kat (also from Marist, this was a Marist/NY-filled weekend). The markets were amazing: lots of handmade crafts, jewelry, scarves, clothing, etc.

Afterward, we grabbed coffee at a fair trade coffee shop and then headed to the greatly anticipated Sydney Harbour. The sight of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House seemed to confirm our distance from home and our presence in Australia. Although it is primarily a tourist attraction and we didn't walk on the Bridge or enter the Opera House, it was useful in placing us in the greater global context because it's such an icon and uniquely Australian. Most of the time when I said I was studying in Melbourne, people did not know where that was until I put it in relation to Sydney, so it was fun to take pictures, fully realise just how massive the Opera House buildings are in real life, and absorb the fact that I am actually in Australia and on whole different continent.

We walked through the Botanic Gardens for a bit and then around to the Museum of Contemporary Art, which is located in The Rocks, the historical section of the city. At the Museum we saw an exhibit by Yayoi Kusama, which is one of the most physically effective exhibits that I have ever seen. It's extremely powerful in person since most of her pieces consist of rooms filled with repetitive designs such as metallic balls the size of bowling balls lined up next to each other, a room filled with cloud-like pillows, and tiny rooms for entering and looking around, usually decorated with mirrors, Christmas-like lights, and bright lights with cushiony designs on the floor. It's really hard to articulate now that I am trying to. Kusama describes herself as an "obsessive artist" and a lot of her artwork is based on repetition and pattern. It is also autobiographical, psychological, and sexual. Although it is more meaningful to experience it first hand, it might be nice to check out her artwork. Soon after, we returned to Coogee and eventually went out. We went to Fortune of War, Sydney's oldest pub, which had a certain historical old world sort of charm and then we went to a variety of other places that were not very entertaining beyond being aesthetically pleasing, like The Argyle.

On Sunday, we intended to go to the Blue Mountains; however, in order to get there we would have had to rent a car or take the bus and since our day started later than we anticipated, we did neither and instead decided to enjoy the city a bit more. We went back to The Rocks, had coffee at a cute shop, and then meandered through the markets and eventually made our way to Newtown, an area predominantly filled with fun restaurants, where we ate Thai food, enjoyed wine, and where I found a shop called "Vegan's Choice" where I had vanilla ice cream on a cone! The word "Vegan" just brings joy to my heart.

The return journey to Melbourne took hours upon hours it seemed. We woke up around 7am and I arrived in my room by about 4pm thoroughly exhausted. Sydney was fun, but I am quite pleased that I chose Melbourne to study in. It just seems more fitting. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I think I'm happier here than I would have been there (but that's assuming a lot). My opinion of Sydney is directly related to the fact that I did not have enough time to explore the best parts. Either way, it was a good time and I think it would be silly to come all the way here and not see Sydney. There's so much to see here, so much. I think I'll have to return someday.