I got on the airplane to Sydney, Australia at 10 pm on Saturday. I arrived on Monday at 6 am, having skipped Easter Sunday entirely. I went with my aunt and uncle, who both live in Sydney, to their apartment where I unpacked and changed clothes to go to an afternoon picnic with more relatives. I played with my three year old cousin Zach, and then caught a bream in the river! Later that night, my aunt, uncle, and I went over to one of their friend’s house in a more rural area to grill lobster, steak, burgers, and the bream I caught.
The next day I went with my uncle to MacQuire University where he is currently studying to get his PhD in geophysics. On Wednesday I went to Jamie Oliver’s restaurant with some relatives on vacation in Sydney from Hong Kong. They have a four-year-old daughter named Sydney who had a blast with Zach. That night I had my first ever beefcake for dinner. On Thursday I spent the day with my great uncle in Western Sydney watching Zach. We walked downtown and went to the local sushi bar. The next day I visited Paddy’s Market (which like a giant indoor swap meet) with my aunt and bough a pair of Ugg house slippers and prepared to stay overnight with my great Aunt. My great Aunt brought me on a ferry to Manly Island to see the beach and to an 18 Footer Sailboat Club. 18 Footers are tiny sailboats with giant sails that fly along the surface of the ocean in races.
I arrived in Tasmania at 12:20 am on Sunday and met Ben Jenkinson, the Scotch Oakburn Round Square representative. He brought me to the boarding house which, unlike Athenian, is a couple miles away from the main campus. I watched a year 9 Australia Football game. Mr. Jenkinson described it as lacrosse without the sticks, but I still had no idea what was going on. I had my second beef pie and it was equally delicious. I toured Cataract Gorge a bit and saw a sea lion.
Today was my first day of school. I have my own room that was previously occupied by a TA. This morning I wasn’t woken up by the normal routine because I have a room not by other student rooms. I woke up at 7:30am and scuffed down some quick breakfast then threw on some clothes to get on the bus at 8:10am. All of my classes are double periods which are essentially all long periods. In a day I have one long period then recess for 45 minutes where students can relax and eat a snack. Then I have my second long period and then fifth period which can be a number of different events. Today it was a high school meeting. During lunch, the boarders have a separate lunch from the day students. Hot dogs were on the menu for the boarders today. After lunch I went to biology, a class with all girls and only two boys. We did a lab to learn about enzymes and starch which had a very similar format to labs in tenth grade chemistry. After school I signed up for the school’s Australian footy team and for the 3000 meter race tomorrow. When I got back to the boarding house, I changed my clothes and skateboarded to K-Mart with some friends. We bought some cola and snacks then went back to do some studying. At 6 pm the boarding house had a dinner of honey carrots, broccoli, and corn beef. After dinner I finished up the last of my homework and called it a night.
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