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[wanderingbill]

19/06/2017: day 24 monday

*** i went to work in the morning, where we had morning tea to welcome a new staff member, wei! I spent the whole morning finishing my homework for my online class, and then finished the spreadsheet analysis for survey 3 in the afternoon. the company is having training workshops for the week, so there's been food in the office all day, saving me some money. after work, i ate a subway sandwich and then made mint mojitos with vincent and vlad. we shared more about each other and then headed to bed. ***

[wanderingbill]

18/06/2017: day 23 sunday

sunday $2.50 transit cap means full day of adventure! we went to the beautiful blue mountains national park in katoomba, which is my first time outside of sydney since arriving here three weeks ago! it was a two hour train ride away, so i took a nap on the way there. when we got to the blue mountains, we were freezing in the cold. some of us bought gloves, others got coffee; i got myself a nice cup of hot chocolate to warm me up. we took a bus to the three sisters rock formations where we all took pictures for awhile [pic]. then we went hiking on a trail to the cascades waterfall, while taking more pictures along the way. we eventually reached another small town and hopped onto the train station there. when we got back, vlad, abigail, jerrold, and i got thai food under central station, and then i took a nap with v for a few hours. *** when we woke up, we went down to the lobby and did homework.

[wanderingbill]

17/06/2017: day 22 saturday

i woke up around 11am and tried to work on homework for my online class, but was unsuccessful. we got ready to go to p.j. gallagher's to meet up with steve so he could hand us our tickets. we then walked over to allianz stadium for our last time, and watched the international rugby union match of the wallabies vs. scotland. this is the first game we attended that the team we cheered for lost. after the game, we ate dinner and tried to work on homework, but eventually i decided to go to the bar with vincent and emily. i met them down at the dolphin hotel in surry hills and talked for awhile. it’s always pleasant to spend time just with a small group. once we returned to urbanest, i went to bed, since a lot of us have to wake up early tomorrow!!

[wanderingbill]

16/06/2017: day 21 friday

another day of work again! I finished my first spreadsheet and started to work on other things. phil showed me and gave me access to the website administration, so explored around a bit. it was a great day at work, because i actually feel like i'm gaining good experiences. once i got home, i cooked and ate dinner. later in the night, vlad, calvin and i went down to oxford street to grab some drinks at the stonewall hotel. we checked out all three floors and dances a bit before we left to the arq to go clubbing. it seemed like vlad and calvin enjoyed the night out so i'm happy about that.

[wanderingbill]

15/06/2017: day 20 thursday

i woke up super exhausted this morning after a really great sleep. i took the train to work and got there a little later than usual. however, i actually did a lot more today than i have on any other day. firstly, i went on a coffee chat with hannah, where we had a great conversation about my role at the company as an intern, as well as my goals during my time here. she took me on as part of the webinars team, where my first tasks include analyzing the post-webinar surveys and compiling a report for each. later today, i went with a few people at a the office, to a meeting with of one of the company's partners. this company is a tech start-up that creates develops online dispute resolution technology, and it's pretty amazing! we came back to the office and i spent the rest of the day finishing up work. after i went home, i cooked some pasta and put vegetables in the oven with calvin. the pasta was great, but we unfortunately left the vegetables in the oven for too long and most of it burned. however, we were able to salvage he carrots and potatoes. later that night, vincent, calvin and went to cafe lounge in surry hills, where we shared a pitcher of beer.

[wanderingbill]

14/06/2017: day 19 wednesday

I woke up bright and early and got breakfast in surry hills with R. [pic] then I took the train to work. I was able to read a few articles about conversion rate optimization and user experience, but i had to leave the office at 12 today. I stopped by Paddy's market to buy vegetables, and went back to urbanest to cook with andrew. we didn't cook any protein so after i finished my plain pasta, i went to KFC and got fried chicken, yummmms. the aussiesquad (as we call ourselves) left around 2pm and took a bus over to belmain and met up with steve and the other students and lawn bowled. towards the end of our lawn bowl session, we played class-wide games. I bowled the closest to the jack out of everyone in the class, so I won a spot to go to a pre-game party for the Austalia versus Scotland rugby union game!! afterwards, we caught a bus back to urbanest, where I knocked out in my room and napped until 9pm. When I woke up, I went over to Oxford St and got pasta with K :) afterwards, we went over to Bitter Phew, and then to Stonewall Hotel for drinks. After I got back to urbanest, I went over to V's room. ***

[wanderingbill]

13/06/2017: day 18 tuesday

another week of work at my internship! today was a busy day at the office. some people were in meetings for hours, while others had constant phone calls to attend to. everyone stayed in the office past 5, which is later than usual, but I started making my way out. I stopped by paddy's market to buy groceries, but it had closed already by the time I got there. anyhow, andrew and I cooked dinner - chicken pasta, and got ready for bed. later that night, i went over to rendezvous and spent the night with R. ***

[wanderingbill]

12/06/2017: day 17 monday

day off! queens' birthday is a public holiday, which means that nearly all businesses are closed today. a group decided to go to the royal national park which is around 30 miles south of central sydney, another group took a ferry across the sydney harbour and went to toranga zoo. as for the rest of us, vincent led us to palm beach, which is around 40 km away from the city, and a 2 hour train & bus ride. the bus ride to palm beach felt never-ending, but when we hiked up to the lighthouse on the end of the peninsula, the view was definently worth the journey [pic]. when the sun had set, we went down to the beach and chilled by the sand until it got dark. we came back to urbanest, i took a quick and hot shower, and then met the group at a pho restaurant. we got back to our rooms, then andrew and i had a long chat until midnight. i got ready for bed but then went over to spend the night at v's room again.

[wanderingbill]

11/06/2017: day 16 sunday

i woke up around 9 headed home and got mcdonalds. i never wake up early enough to have time for breakfast. i got my food takeaway back to urbanest, and did some homework for my online class. around 1:30 i went out to surry hills to meet with K snd got brunch and drinks [pic]. then we went to his place to smoke a bit. *** i went back to urbanest and took a long 3 hour nap. when i woke up, andrew made dinner for the two of us, and we headed over to the girls' apartment and played some drinking games. when it hit midnight, we cheered in celebration for the queens birthday. i left with v and slept the night there.

[wanderingbill]

10/06/2017: day 15 saturday

J cooked me breakfast and I went home on the train. i ten did laundry for pretty much the entire afternoon. around 5pm, i went to usyd’s fisher library to watch the amazing race, and then got ready to go to greyhounds race for the sports class. we got a free fish & chips and beer voucher, but watching the dogs race in the rain was heartbreaking. we went back to urbanest and changed our clothes, and went out with the group. first we planned to go to scary canary, but the line was long and there was a $10 entry fee, so emily and I asked a few locals for sugggestions and ended up having a full blown conversation with then. however, this meant that the group had to wait for us, oops! we eventually went to scubar to spend the majority of the night dancing. right around 1am, 30 minutes before the sydney lockout law applies, we went to sidebar. unfortunately, emily was considered to be a little too far gone to be allowed entry, yikes. those who were let in danced for a little bit, and we all walked back to urbanest a while later. then, spontaneously, i went over to D's place in zetland and spent the night there. ***

[wanderingbill]

09/06/2017: day 14 friday

second week of work completed! in the morning, i received an email from the university of sydney notifying me that a lost item of mine has been located. apparently when i got off the bus at martin place, i had dropped lost my wallet. fortunately, i was able to meet up with david, the guy who picked up my wallet, and retrieved it. thank the Lord. later in the day, i sat in on a skype call between ellie and julian at Flare, to talk about a new hr system that my company is looking to implement. after work, i headed over to the university of sydney and finally picked up my lost tablet from steve. i went home and cooked dinner, and went on my first date with A at the Dolphin Hotel and Cafe Lounge. i had to leave to go eet with some people for karaoke at the orient hotel at the rocks area of sydney. my song didn’t come up for a long time, but i had to leave to meet up with J at the arq club. afterwards, i went to J’s place and spent the night. ***

[wanderingbill]

08/06/2017: day 13 thursday

it was another rainy morning here in sydney, some of us ate ramen and got boba at chinatown, then i went back to my room and took a long nap for the rest of the afternoon. in the evening, we headed over to p.j. gallagher's irish pub across fox studios and got a pitcher of beer to share. then we went to the sydney cricket grounds to watch sydney swans beat the western bulldogs. we went back to urbanest and called it a night

[wanderingbill]

07/06/2017: day 12 wednesday

a group of us went to a matcha cafe in an alley off of george street. everything we ordered was very delicious, and was especially aesthetic. [pic] for lunch, i got mcdonald’s and headed over to class. after class ended, a group of us headed over to the “harry potter” building on campus, which also included a small museum. however, since the rain didn’t seem to be stopping, we decided it’s best to go back to urbanest. we ate and played some card games in the living room

[wanderingbill]

06/06/2017: day 11 tuesday

the majority of the day was filled with work, which has been a little bit dry. but after work, i headed to mappen noodle down george street, and met up with vincent and the group. we had some great noodles, and got boba afterwards. after returning to urbanest, we booked plane tickets to cairns, as well as tickets for the koala gardens, and tickets to the great barrier reef. can’t wait!

[wanderingbill]

05/06/2017: day 10 monday

it's been more than a week since arriving in sydney, most of us are fully settled and have gotten used to daily life here. today, we had a hands-on class for the first two hours. we met at the sydney uni sports & aquatic centre. there were different groups doing different activities including passing a rugby ball, punting an australian rules football, and shooting netballs. afterwards, we got lunch and went to the lecture hall and learned about the rules of these sports. after class ended, andrew and i went to coles to do more grocery shopping, then cooked dinner and meal preped for tomorrow's lunch at work. more excitingly, a huge group of us started to plan for a weekend trip to Cairns, Queensland, where we plan to hold koalas and snorkle at the great barrier reefs. we booked the hostel already, and hope to book the plane tickets within the next day or two. andrew and I finished the night off watching ariana grande's manchester tribute concert while playing some 8 ball pool on our phones.

[wanderingbill]

04/06/2017: day 9 sunday

another beach day! sydney's transit system has a hard cap of $2.50 for all travelling on sundays, so the group of us deceided it'll be a great idea to venture out to manly beach across the harbor. we took a train from central station to circular quay station, and then hopped on a ferry from the wharf to manly. as soon as the ferry docked, we aimed towards the beach. i rolled up my jeans and stepped into the water. wow. the water is sooo warm. a few people swam out onto the rocks, while some of us just stayed by the sand.

then, we went over to 4 pines brewing company where lora and i shared a beer sampler. it was a great experience tasting the different types of brews.

later that night, we went over to the girls' apartment and played drinking games. it was great to bond with these new friends.

[wanderingbill]

03/06/2017: day 8 saturday

it’s the weekend! today was a full and exhausting day. early in the morning i woke up and got ready to go to our first field trip for the australian sports and culture class. a group of around 10 travelled decided to travel together. we first took a train all the way to the end of the line at bondi junction, and then a hopped on a local bus down to bondi beach. there, we met up with steve and the other students and were given a brief lecture about the beach and ocean sports, as well as surf life saving, which is essential in the australian beach culture. we spent some more time at the cafe by the beach and filled out the worksheet packet with steve, then, some of us went back to urbanest where i took a small nap. the nap turned out to be a pretty great idea, because right around 5 pm, we headed out to allianz stadium for our second field trip. we attended the Sydney Roosters vs. Brisbane Broncos NRL game. a few of us grabbed meat pies and beer, and cheered on the Roosters. the score was tight, but in the end, the Roosters won!! 

later that night, the group of us went out to surry hills and checked out a few bars there, including tio's and royal albert hotel, and we ended the night at 3 wise monkeys on george street.