A Night Out in the City

So I did promise to write an update about what happened last night (Friday night). Since Friday has been set as our "going out night," we're constantly looking for cool and fun new places to try out. The first weekend we were here it was Oxford Art Factory (a basement bar with live music) in Surry Hills (a suburb of Sydney) followed by The Forresters, another crazy busy bar nearby.

The next weekend we went to the Rose Hotel (also in Surry Hills) and then on to the Beresford, which was a very big, very packed bar/club/venue also with live music. Up until then it was our favourite - everyone was really classy and the place was amazing.

Last weekend we tried out another bar called Scary Canary which is listed as one of the best backpacker bars in Sydney. It was nice but small. We then went on to another small bar called Stitch, and then on to a place called Frankie's pizza. I thought it was going to be a regular pizza place (honestly - I was excited to get pizza) but turns out it's actually another bar type setting with a dance floor etc.

This weekend we wanted to try more new places. So, yesterday we got home from work at 5, made ourselves some dinner (pasta with homemade cheese sauce and chicken - mmm) and then got ready to go out. We set out at about 8:30 and first went to another backpackers bar called Scubar. It wasn't very impressive although it's really cheap! At most bars a cocktail is about $15-20 (which is ridiculous) but at Scubar they were only $6. So, we had a few drinks there and then moved on and went back to the Beresford. We quickly left there as it was really crowded and the upstairs area where there is usually live music and dancing was closed for a private party. We had heard some people talking about another place called Ivy so we decided to try it out. It was amazing. When we first got there and realized that it was a $20 cover charge to get in we debated for a minute (you don't have to pay cover usually) but decided to go for it. It's a building with 7 or 8 floors with another building beside that's 6 floors. The one building had an open cutout in the roof all the way down the middle to the dance floor on the first floor below. It started raining at one point and it was so cool to watch everyone dancing in the rain having the time of their lives. The other building has a pool... No one was swimming last night cause it was kinda cold but apparently people do when it's warmer! Definitely need to keep that one in mind for future weekends.

              

Dampening the Mood

So apparently when we came down here to so called "sunny" Australia, we brought the rain with us. I've now been here for 3 weeks and 2 days, and there has probably been about 6-7 days where it hasn't rained at all. Oh well, I can't really complain when getting messages from people at home saying it's -15 and snowing. It's still always in the positive temperatures here! It's hard to tell but it's raining in the picture - that's my view out my window at work!

Since my last post nothing too interesting has happened. Went for a long run down to the closest beach (Coogee beach) on Wednesday night (and took the picture below) which was lovely, not many people can say that they can run to the ocean!

Shopping times are really strange here, Monday-Wednesday and Fridays stores and banks are only open during regular "working" hours, aka 8-4 or 9-5. Most stores are open similar times on weekends, although banks are closed which is very odd. Thursday is the "late night shopping" night where everything is open till 9, so of course last night needed to be spent shopping. We went to a mall in Bondi Junction called the Westfield mall (it's a chain of malls - weird I don't really get it) which was absolutely massive - it has 7 floors and two sections on either side of a busy street. Most of our time was spent looking in stores at all the expensive things we could never afford ($3000 chanel purse anyone?) although we did get a few things that were reasonably priced. Everything is so expensive here it's crazy... Just as an example we found a revlon eye shadow palette (a small one) that was almost $30! At home it would be like $8. Also another random fact about shopping here - all the grocery stores are within malls. So you have to go to the mall to get groceries. It's weird.

Anyway, that's all to report for now. Going out tonight (haven't decided where to yet - probably a local bar/club of some sort) so hopefully will have something interesting to tell after that!

Delayed Creation

So, for some reason I've only just gotten around to creating a blog now. I know... I'm three weeks in, I should've done this a long time ago. I could've posted so many things about getting started with my new life here in Australia. But, it didn't happen, so just going to have to start now. Better late than never I guess. So I'll give a very short version of what I've been up to so far. Regan and I arrived here on November 6th, exactly three weeks ago today. The flight was a little rough on the way over, I was really sick in the first section to Vancouver and then the section from Vancouver to Sydney felt like the longest thing I've ever done. Anyway, we made it in the end.

The first week was pretty much just boring "adult" stuff like sorting out bank accounts, phone plans, grocery shopping, and shopping for a few apartment essentials (laundry bins, closet storage etc). We lucked out big time by coming over already having a job and an apartment set up for us. The jobs we have are at the University of New South Wales in the optometry building - my parents had my back there through knowing the right people. We work for two different departments within the same building and one of them owns multiple apartments and houses that they give out to employees or people who come to visit the company - so we also lucked out big time by getting one of those from when we arrived until April. We started work on Monday November 11th. It's good - great hours (9-5 Monday to Friday), a great location, and with really nice people.

In other non work related news, Friday night has been deemed as our "going out night." The drinking age is 18 here - so that creates many more opportunities to go out on weekends! We've found a few cool places to go so far, including some with live music, dancing, and of course many people drinking far too much alcohol. We've been trying to make some new friends while we're here which is harder than it sounds when most people already have a core group and aren't interested in adding two lonely girls to it. We did make a few friends though which has been nice - we met them while out one Friday night and have seen them a few more times since then, including going to the zoo with one of them! Our weekends are usually spent going out on Friday night, shopping or going to markets or the beach on Saturdays, and then Sunday is usually what we like to call an "adult" day - where we do all the boring things necessary when you live alone (clean, cook, grocery shop, laundry etc).

The biggest thing that has happened since we arrived is that Regan decided she's heading home at christmas time instead of staying until May with me like the original plan. This came as a shock to me as well as everyone at home I think but it's her choice so I can't really do anything about it. Luckily, I have another friend Chris from back home (we lifeguarded together in the summer) who's been planning to come to Australia but was weary to come without a job and living arrangements etc. So, he's going to come out to replace Regan in her job and the apartment starting mid December. It will be a change for sure - but hopefully it'll all be for the best in the end.

Anyway, I think that's basically it for now. I'll try to post again soon!