So, How was 9 November?

As with so many things … actually going through with something … that a part of you never really believed you’d be gutsy (or stupid) enough to do  … is an incredibly surreal experience.

My parents dropped me off at LAX, and the first thing to greet me was an outrageously long Air Pacific check-in line that ran almost outside the terminal. As I stood in line, laboriously carrying my luggage towards what I knew were to be astronomical luggage fees, I started to notice something.

“Ya, I reckon this is gonna be a full flight.”  … “We’ve been on holiday in Vegas, but we’re excited to be getting back.” …  “Mum, how much longer do we have to wait?”

I had just barely entered the airport, but a little part of me felt as if I had already left the United States, and made my first step into a very new and very different world.  I stood in silence as I listened for the different accents surrounding me, until I finally reached my own ticket agent.

Here, I learned two things, one good, and one bad. The first was good.  I was underweight for baggage, my two bags total weighed less than 23 kg (50 lbs), and I wasn’t going to have to pay anything extra. Woo Hoo!!  But on the coattails of this excitement, I realized something, I had been struggling for about an hour with luggage that I knew had to be weighing in excess of a few tons, only to learn that together they didn’t even weigh 50 lbs. Kind sirs and gentle ladies, it is official, I am a wimp!

In the plane, I was seated next to a kind grandmother separated from her daughter’s family, which included her one and only 12 month old granddaughter, and spent a good part of the journey showing me pictures grandbaby, whose had long locks of hair since infancy, I know, she showed me ( ;) ). Opposite the kiwi grandmother, there was a precocious, sweet, and surprisingly talkative little 10 year old Aussie.  The little boy taught both me and the grandmother how to use all the little gadgets in the plane, and telling us both about his love of the band AC/DC as he played air drums with his eyes closed.

Air Pacific planes are a wonder to behold, if for nothing else, the fact that there are capable of flying.

This is the plane that took me from LA to Fiji, I took this in Fiji when we landed,
it's so dark because it's 5:30 am, and I guess it's still dark at that point in Fiji

Before we took off the plane stated to fill with a mechanical smell, the grandmother next to me started giving me furtive looks, but the crew seemed unperturbed from what they had been doing, and off we left, the plane shaking and rattling, people grabbing their armrests as the plane took off from the runway. 

Finally making it to Sydney, I got a chop in my passport, but decided to declare the jamacillo for my roommates that we got on Olvera Street in LA. This, of course, put me in a slightly longer line, but I can sleep easier tomorrow knowing that I did not smuggle anything into Australia that will cause a crop plague. I think I’d feel pretty badly about that.

The hostel that I’m staying in is trendy and hip. Haha, and I am most definitely not. Grandma Mimi’s Cottage is more my speed, but “The Bounce Hotel” is more my price range. After dropping off my stuff and buying a $5 dollar lock for my cupboard (they advertise the cubbie, but I don’t seem to remember them telling people to bring their own lock …). I decided to go for a walk around Central station and around my hostel.

View from the roof, to the left, that's Central Station in Sydney

This is the south side of the CBD (central business district)

Sydney, I have to admit, is nothing like what I had imagined it to be.

To see what I saw in my mind when I thought of Sydney, first bring back memories of Finding Nemo’s Sydney, and combine it with Southern California, and that is what I thought Sydney would like.

But it’s not! It’s a proper metropolitan city, it’s edgy, it’s grimy, it’s even a little dirty and old! I haven’t seen a single surfer walking barefoot down the road, instead men wearing overly stylish European business shoes, and sharp looking outfits and ties. The streets have alleys and feel older to me than I think Sydney should feel. Little cafes with posh titles like, “Le Monde”, “Taste”, and “L’Veaux” are every few feet. People sipping cappuccinos with fashion forward hairdos sit on the street of the cafes. Again, a place called “Sloppy Jacks” would be more my speed, but the closest I came was a little supermarket.

Winding alleys don't feel very "Sydney" to me

Sydney is certainly more European than I had thought it would be.  But I like it.

Later on, after the supermarket dinner (which consisted of some English style “lemonade”, a sandwich, and some chocolate) which cost me $15 (everything is SOOO expensive here!) I finally met some of the people that I would be staying with.

When the English (and Aussies apparently) ... talk about lemonade, this
is what they're talking about. Think a more lemony 7up

When I got my money exchanged I asked for small bills because it's easier to use,
but also, its just so gosh darn pretty! I had no idea how pretty the money is
here in Australia

I have met six girls, five of them have been English, and one of them is Scottish, very nice to one another, only cordial to me. The first one I met feels a little like the queen bee. These girls have been here for ages. And they are all English! (And by ages, I mean some of them have been here for months).

Staying here feels like I have signed up for a cruise I never intended to.  There’s sausage and bread tonight (which I’m assuming is like the Brit version of hot dogs?), as well as a cheese and goon party … goon apparently meaning wine.  I feel like I need to be social and participate and not be a bum … but I also don’t want to, and I have no interest in mingling with the ‘hostel elite’ … haha, perhaps this is why they’re only cordial to me, so an early (lame) night for me, and then sightseeing ALL DAY TOMORROW (woot!).

So I’m off to buy some internet time, take a shower, watch a TV show, and then goodnight for me! Haha, like the lame American that I am!

p.s. had the sausage and bread … the bread is regular sandwich bread, but the sausage is like a really really tasty hot dog, it was amazing. (I decided to go for the sausage and bread, after getting so slammed with lunch … I wasn’t going to say no to a free meal).  Anywho, I ate a free meal, and then continued on as scheduled and am now truly off to bed … hard to force myself to stay up, but worth it, now I won’t have jet lag. J

p.p.s. Ketchup is called tomato sauce here