Exchange on Exchange: A Tale of Bromance Pt. 1

Hey folks,

so classes finished up and I decided to pack my bags and head to Sydney for the weekend to stay with Jimmy Craig at Macquarie University. I felt a need to get away from college and the flights were reasonably priced so I scrambled to get my assignment done so that I could fly out on Thursday night. James met me at the airport and we took the train to his college, heading over the bridge with a view of the harbour and the glowing Sydney Opera House. The first night was a quiet one with a few beers at his campus bar and meeting all of his new Australian friends. I was focused on using this time to relax, see Sydney, and trying not to think about the last few weeks. The next day James had an essay due so in typical fashion he put in two hours of sleep before getting up at a ridiculous hour and poring over his notes and pumping out a few thousand words. This gave me a chance to have a great sleep in and wait for him to be finished. In the afternoon after some lunch we trekked into the city centre to see the sights and meet up with a few of my Canadian friends from La Trobe who were also there for the weekend. James and I wandered through the streets of King's Cross, taking in the sights of umpteen massage parlours that definitely offered happy endings and turning down flyers for all of the strip bars in the area. Although Porky's did seem intriguing... Not the kind of area to raise a family but we are students and it's the only way to do it! At their hostel we met a small Indian man named Rohan who claimed to be from New Zealand and sported a strange hybrid accent. Little did we know, he was going to play a big part of our weekend as a source of conversation and hilarity. The first thing he did when we walked into the room was offer us all a bottle of cognac to take shots out of the lid. We humbly refused for more reasons than one. After the girls took their sweet time to get ready, we decided to head to the waterfront to see the Opera House at night and go for a beer in an area called the Rocks. Sydney was hosting a light and sound show all over the city so all of the monuments and heritage buildings were lit up with projectors beaming kaleidoscopic colours and famous quotations. Even the Sydney Opera House was a part of the show. We wandered around, taking it all in, and solving the mystery of whether P. Shermann, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney from Finding Nemo actually existed as each one of us had Googled it at some point to find out.

With Jimmy as our guide, he took us to one of the 4 bars in the area that claimed to be Syndey's oldest. It was very typically Australian with an older crowd but provided the starting line for our crawl of the city. After an Irish pub and dancing to a cover band, we decided to head to a pancake house that was supposedly open late. En route. we couldn't resist the salsa music booming out of one place's windows. We furtively crept in, not knowing what to expect but within 30 seconds we were on the dance floor surrounded by people that actually knew how to salsa dance, pulling all of the moves. We were there, giving it our best shot, making fools of ourselves, and a mockery of the art form. I rocked the air maracas a lot. Legend.

After our late night pancake supper we decided to head back to the hostel. James and I had noticed that there were two spare beds in the girls' rooms and we were keen on seeing if we could scam some free lodging for the night instead of making the trip all the way back home. We crept in and passed out in the bunks and slept blissfully until Rohan's alarm clock started going off at around 6 am. This wouldn't have bothered me, if only he had gotten up when it started ringing and didn't let it go on and on before shutting itself off only to start again 15 minutes later. This happened a fair few times as well. The worst thing was the ringtone for the alarm was a Good Charlotte song.... Why? Of all the bands in the world to wake up to... why Good Charlotte, Rohan?

The next day James and I wandered around the city, checked out Darling Harbour, ate kangaroo burgers and went to the Maritime Museum. We saw Captain James Cook's Endeavour and got to go on a ship called the James Craig. Australia has a rich history especially to do with the early settlers/explorers and their relationship with the Aboriginals. Some of the stories are really interesting, but often full of bloodshed as well. After that, another quiet night listening to music and playing video games with James' friends. It's amazing what you can learn about a person by the way they play Halo 3.

The next day after another sleep in(Looking back, I might have seen a lot more of Sydney if I hadn't slept so much, but I obviously needed it), James and I went to a Rugby League game at the Olympic Stadium which was really cool to see. It was then that I decided that before I die I want to go to the Olympics. Just being in that stadium gave me that feeling of excitement in my stomach that can only be achieved from watching an exciting competition. We saw the South Sydney Rabbitohs beat the Penrith Panthers in front of a home crowd. Rugby is a really fun sport to watch and I am slowly adjusting to the rules of Rugby League as opposed to Union that I am used to. Fun fact of the day: The Rabbitoh's are owned by Russell Crowe and they got their name because back in the day the players used to earn a few extra bucks by selling rabbits outside the game, calling out Rabbit-oh! in the streets. They would skin the rabbits on the spot, getting blood and fur on their jerseys that they later wore in the games. The opposition wouldn't appreciate this and would mock them by echoing the Rabbit-oh! call on the field. I think the South Sydney Fluffy Bunnies would sound better.

After the game we went back into the city to explore some more and grab some dinner. We mutually agreed that we would not be satisfied until we had eaten a rack of ribs each so we set off in search of a place that served them. Harder than you might think in Australia. But we found a place right on the Darling Harbour and chowed down. After meeting up with the Canadian girls, grabbing a spontaneous pint at another one of the oldest bars in Sydney, we went back to James' place. We went to see a movie called Harry Brown with a few of Jimmy's friends. The movie stars Michael Caine and was nothing short of amazing. It was like Gran Torino meets Taken but set on the commissioned housing estates in England. Gritty, and really well shot, I highly recommend it. After that we just hung out and talked about movies and listened to music. James and I also like to do this thing where we put on a song and then describe what we think would be a cool music video for the song. It may sound lame but we get really into it and have come up with some really cool ideas, or so we think.

The next day James had class and I was leaving in the evening so we said our goodbyes and parted ways. It wasn't as heartbreaking as it sounds since we both knew James would be in Melbourne the next weekend to continue our adventures. I spent the day wandering around the city by myself which is actually one of my favourite things to do. I went to the Lululemon outlet that recently opened to see my friend Desiree from Carleton. A fellow marketing student on exchange, it was good to see her (as brief as it was) and catch up. While doing a crossword on the waterfront in plain view of the Opera House, a boat pulled up that offered free rides to Cockatoo Island for an art show. With hours to kill before my flight, I hopped on, more interested in the free boat ride in the famous Sydney Harbour than the art show. Just as I got on it started to rain but I wasn't deterred and stayed on the deck, taking it all in as we sailed under the bridge past Luna Park. The art show was more freaky than interesting as it was set up in abandoned factories and industrial buildings on this deserted island. Wandering into one room alone, I found an exhibit of life-size wax figures of all the socialist leaders of the world in glass coffins except Fidel Castro was asleep on a bed, with his chest moving up and down and the sound of breathing coming out of his mouth. I didn't stick around for long.

After that, I went to a restaurant and had a rather depressing dinner for one although I did convince my waitress I was a small-business owner visiting Sydney because I was interested in expanding my t-shirt company and opening a store there. My motive? no idea. But I love how you can be anybody you want to be when you are in a new city.

I flew back to Melbourne with my final week of classes on the mind and wondering what Jimmy and I would get up to next weekend. That's all for now folks. I hope everyone is well back home. I do have some other great news that my sister Mairead got engaged the other day. Her and her fiancee Andrew will be getting married on New Year's Eve this year which is really exciting. Party on!

Love,
D