Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras-- a whole new experience

Well even though there isn't much that I've had to do, I have been staying really busy pretty much all the time.  Even though I only have 2 days of class a week (crazy, I know!), I really haven't had a ton of down time to just relax, and I still can't sleep past 7:30 in the morning (which I suppose is probably a good thing so that I get that much more time!).   I actually started running more this week, and it is such a nice place to run.  The bike path goes along the beach and I went for a 'long'-er run and made it to all sorts of neat little lagoon places.  Another day I went running with Nicole, and it was just so nice to have someone to run with... it has been quite a long time since I've had any company.  The weather has been fantastic, and even when it cools off I know I'll be able to have plenty of great adventures.  Also this week we were so lucky to have two fire alarms go off.  Fire alarms at home can be loud, but here they are deafening.  The first went off at 1:30 in the morning one night and it took me a full 30 minutes to fall asleep afterwards because my ears were still ringing so bad.  I think that they want to make sure there is no way possible that you stay inside, and it definitely works. 

Anyways, a rundown of my week is as follows:  On Tuesday, I saw "He's Just Not That Into You" with Katie, which was actually good, and not a typical chick flick as it made fun of how girls view relationships.  The cinema was really nice (though the seats had plastic covering which was odd), and Tuesdays are cheap ticket nights!  We luckily made it on time, but just barely because we took the train and it ended up being quite a walk from the cinema.  Wednesday night I went to one of the pubs with a bunch of people from Campus East, but walked home around 11 with Kelly (from Minnesota) and two Aussie boys.  It was a long walk, but we walked along the beach and the sky was really clear so we could see all of the stars!  It was beautiful.    Thursday I had a 'long' day of class, and in the afternoon went for a walk with some of my friends to the lighthouse by the beach where we stopped at a little cafe to talk and get snacks.   Then Friday, Kelly and I went wandering around Fairy Meadow to get a better idea of what's around, and then in the evening I went out for sushi with 5 other people and I got actual hardcore, uncooked, totally raw sushi.  Much to my surprise, it was really good and I lived to tell the tale!  

Then was Saturday... If I thought I had experienced craziness before, this completely blew everything else away.  Though I went with a huge group of Aussies and Americans to Sydney, after getting there, Katie, Kelly, Nicole and I separated ourselves to go see some touristy spots.  We wandered around Chinatown for a bit and then headed to the Circular Quay where we spent a lot of time by the Harbour Bridge and Opera House and took approximately 1000 pictures.  It was a perfect day, and it was awesome to finally get to see some of the landmarks that represent Sydney and come to mind when you think of Australia.  We headed over to the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade to grab a spot around 5pm although the actual parade didn't start until 7:30 since we heard that it would be ridiculously crowded.  We lucked out and walked past a street just as they were closing it off, so we were able to get front row seats!!

Boy were those 5 hours interesting.  They were filled with heaps of people watching and too much standing.  For anyone who does like people watching, this is the ultimate place to be... there were tons of cross dressers, half naked people, and just tons of ridiculously dressed men and women walking around.  Some of the floats were absurd and I can't believe that they actually get away with going down the street in public.  There was so much gay pride, and we were definitely in the minority there, but it was a really fun experience and something that I'll never forget.  I think people travel from all over the world just to be in Sydney for this weekend, and they make sure to take full advantage of it.  The parade was slightly too long, and the last hour got to be sort of miserable since our feet were killing us from walking around all day and standing in the same spot for hours.  

Most people took late trains back to Wollongong, but Katie and I spent the night in a hostel.  The next morning we got breakfast from a cafe and ate with a beautiful view of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge!  We spent the morning walking around the Botanical Gardens (where we saw tons of wild bats going to sleep!) and the afternoon at the Taronga Zoo, which is just a ferry ride away.  The zoo was great, and we spent many hours wandering around and seeing all of the animals.  My only disappointment was that there wasn't a petting zoo, so I didn't get to pet any kangaroos or koalas.  There's another petting zoo near Sydney, so I'm thinking I need to go there sometime soon.  By the end of the afternoon we were absolutely exhausted and glad to be heading home.  To think that this was just two days of adventure... hopefully I'll be ready to survive by the time I get to all of my bigger trips!  

Random Notes:

1.  There are obnoxious birds that are super loud every morning.. one actually sounds like a dying baby of some sort

2.  We get made fun of for not pronouncing aluminium as al-you-min-ee-um

3.  Everything is in celsius which I have trouble adjusting to and kilometers and kilometers/hr which I'm decent at thanks to running

4.  Granola bars are called muesli bars

5.   They definitely wear baseball hats, even though the study abroad office advised us not to bring them..

6.  Every primary and secondary school has uniforms

7.  Air drying clothes is huge here, and they don't have any dryer sheets available at the stores