I made it! I’m finally in Sydney, after what feels like a week of flying. The fourteen hour flight from LAX to SYD was actually pretty peaceful, and I managed to get a surprising amount of sleep. After landing, and making my way through customs, I met up with several of the other students in the program. None of us had arranged for transport from the airport to Georgia House (where we’re living), so we headed out to find someone that could take us there. We eventually caught an Airport Shuttle that took us there, for a reasonable price (much more so than splitting a taxi would have been).
Once here, we were checked in, given keys, and met with our CAPA (the group running the program) coordinators. Debbie, an ex-pat from US for her masters six years ago and never left, and Zara, a Sydney native, will be our main points of contact for the program. After an hour or so to settle into our rooms, we went on a walking tour of our neighborhood, finding the grocery store, bus stops, and ended at central station where we can hop on nearly any light rail train. They left us there to explore downtown and find our way back ourselves.
A group of us headed off towards downtown, wandering and with no expectations as what to find or to look for. After about ten minutes of wandering we decided to head off to Chinatown for lunch. We had a delicious family style meal, with bottles of Coke (with real sugar!), and headed to one of the shopping arcades downtown.
After doing a bit of window shopping, we decided to stop for some coffee before trying our luck at getting back home. The following conversation ensued at the coffee shop:
Brianna: “I’ll have a regular coffee”
Waitress: “Alright, what kind would you like?”
Brianna: “What kind do you have?”
Waitress: “Oh you know, Cappuccino, Latte, Mocha…”
Brianna: “Do you have any regular coffee?”
Waitress: “Those are all regular.”

And so went the first experience with cultural differences; its hard to find drip coffee in Australia (or at least this part of it). They mostly just drink espresso (as far as I can discern). I had a white mocha, which has actually much creamier and rich than any I’ve had in the states.
After our adventure with the shopping arcade we began our trek pack to Georgia House, hoping on a 343 bus heading down Elizabeth St, which dropped us off right in front our house.
Downtown Sydney was nice, but busy. There are just tons and tons of little shops lining the streets. I look forward to exploring it more over the course of the next few months.
The rest of the night was spent settling in, unpacking, and getting to know some of the other guys/gals on the trip.

Today (Thursday) we have a program orientation, where we’ll be going down to the CAPA office, and being introduced to the program and be given tips of living in Sydney, cultural differences to watch out for, etc.. Then the rest of the day is ours again.
Still nervous about the internship, but I’m sure that will be quelled after our internship orientation on Friday, and my interview on Monday.

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 @ 4:01 PM Australia, Travels
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