Sharks with Scoliosis and My First Trip to a Microbrewery

I am in LOVE with Manly. I got to see my first beach in Australia yesterday... and the waves were beyond massive. We caught a ferry across Sydney Harbour to Manly which took about 30 minutes and it was such a beautiful ride! When we got to Oceanworld, we watched a little movie about the basics of scuba diving and pretty much just got dressed and got in the water. I wore a 3 mil suit with a 7 mil suit on top of it because the water was SO COLD! Anyway, the tank was absolutely amazing. One of the sharks had scoliosis and looked really funny... haha... she was my fave. After the dive, we went to a microbrewery called 4 Pines. I had a hefeweizen, which was a German wheat beer? It was delicious... but I pretty much had no idea how to say any of the fancy beers... There was an adorable quote on the wall that made me laugh out loud: "A fine beer may be judged with one sip but it's best to be thoroughly sure." So cute. Anyway, here are my fun pictures from the shark dive. Enjoy!

Australian Healthcare and Endangered Sharks

Soooo judging by the fact that I have spent an insane amount of time in the health clinic at Sydney Uni, I thought I should dedicate a blog to Australian Healthcare. It is so strange compared to America. Normally at TCU, I would walk into the health clinic, fill out a form, the nurse would do assessments (height, weight, blood pressure, temperature, etc.) and then I would sit and wait to be called back by the doctor. Here, you sit in the waiting room, get called to the doctor's room, he asks you what is wrong, takes a 2 second glance in your ears and prescribes you meds. It was so quick and awkward... and I'm guessing that is the downfall of their healthcare, given the fact that I was diagnosed with a double ear infection, but he didn't think to check my sinuses which were also quite infected. SO SILLY. However, I am hopefully going to start feeling better eventually now that I have been diagnosed with a sinus infection as well.
On to more exciting things... I am diving in a shark tank on Thursday at Manly, which is an hour ferry ride from Sydney Harbour. I'm pretty excited about that. The tank will be filled with grey nurse sharks which are considered endangered in Queensland and a species of concern in the U.S. They are pretty big, but I mean, I still wish I could dive with great whites.. because that would be legit. There will also be stingrays the size of a queen-sized mattress in this tank. pretttttty!
Other than that, I have been doing school stuff and trying to get well. So hopefully this weekend I will have more adventures to post on here. Love y'all!

The Broke College Life.

I have a double ear infection... that's pretty exciting. I'm not too surprised though, given the fact that I live off of wine, ramen noodles, and cereal. The one attempt I made at cooking a "real meal" was insane. I mean the food was good, but I had to buy a red bell pepper for $15/kg. That is so NOT okay. So instead, I walk to the convenient store and get cereal, oreos, and ramen noodles for $23... which is still NOT okay... but whatever. I'm allowed to work 20 hours a week here if I decided to get a job. Minimum wage here is around 15$... so really it wouldn't be a bad idea to get a job...
I went to the Helm Bar again a couple of nights ago. My friend Erin and I met a 42 year old boat-hand... he was... nice. Then the bartender got off of work and came and sat with us. He was a 23 year old from England named Ollie. We all ended up going to play pool (called snookers here... not pronounced like snookie... pronounced sn-ew-kurs) at a really cute pub on George St. Luckily the 42 year old guy went home somewhere in between the Helm Bar and the pub on George St... He probably missed his girlfriend who was sailing in Tahiti?.. or blacked out in a cab somewhere...
There really is never a dull moment here in Aussieland. The people are so friendly and adventurous! It has definitely inspired me to not be such a bore ALL the time! However... it's probably the cause of my ear infections too...
I'm planning to go to the beach this weekend with some of the IES girls. I'm sure it will be absolutely gorgeous.. it will be pretty cold with the ocean breeze blowing though. I've also been looking into planning our skydiving trip to Wollongong. I can't wait to jump out of an airplane overlooking the most gorgeous ocean and beaches! I just haven't quite decided how I am going to force myself out of that plane... At least I will get to land on the soft beach.
Time is absolutely flying by here... so bittersweet! I definitely miss Texas, but I have so much more that I want to do here, and only 100 days to do it in! Love and miss y'all!

"I Climbed It!"

It's a Sunday... which means I now need to do ALL of the reading that I have due this week haha... woohoo! Yesterday I climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge which was soooo beautiful. It was actually way more of a workout than I had originally expected. We got to wear these really funny astronaut-looking suits with harnesses connected to us so that we didn't fall off the 440 foot bridge. It would be a long drop... It is the widest single-span bridge in the world at 161 feet wide. so basically, it was amazing to be at the very top of it. Our tour guide told us that out of the 14000 men that originally built the bridge, only 16 men died... and no one had harnesses or anything holding them onto the bridge! so so so scary. There is an adorable little red light that flashes on top of the bridge for planes to see. It is called "Blinky Bill." loveeeee it! you can see Blinky Bill allll the way from the Blue Mountains. After we climbed the bridge, we went to a delicious place called Pancakes-on-the-Rocks. They serve pancakes with ice cream on top... need I say more? Then we all came back to the village and crashed... 440 foot climb + pancakes with ice cream = bed. in case you were ever curious about that combo. Miss and love y'all!

Call Me the Kanga-whisperer.

Mondays suck in every country... FYI. I start classes at 10am and end at 6pm with awkward 1 hour breaks between all the classes... so I'm pretty worn out at the end of the day. Especially since I have a disgusting cold. I sound like I smoke 3 packs a day... cute!
This past Saturday, I went to my first rugby game. It was little league rugby - precious! They can tackle each other though... and it's co-ed... so that was a little odd. And people can drink at the games... imagine people with 6-packs at little kids' soccer games. After the game, I went to the aquarium with some of the girls in my IES Abroad program. I honestly have to say that it didn't impress me as much as I thought it would. I would definitely say that the Monterrey Aquarium is much better. However, there were really cool tunnels that went beneath the tanks so you were surrounded by the water and the fish.

                                              Three Shark Friends Taking a Snooze :)

                                                 Biggest Stingray I have EVER Seen.

                                                                Lego Scuba Diver

On Sunday, I went on an IES Abroad field trip to the Blue Mountains which is about two and a half hours north of Sydney. On the way there, we stopped at the Featherdale Wildlife Park which was sooooo much fun! We got to feed kangaroos and wallabies that freely roam around the park while we look around at other Australian animals. I basically wanted to take every animal home with me... of course. A baby goat bit my finger though... so I would probably leave that one there. When we arrived at the Blue Mountains, it was freeeeezing!! We ate lunch on a spinning floor that gave us a good view of the mountains. I couldn't really look up though because the spinning made me feel sick haha... Then we took an old mining train down to the rain forest below. We walked through the forest and looked at old mining houses and stuff like that... pretty typical tourist things. Then we took a gondola type thing back up the mountain and got a great view of the entire canyon/mountains. Oh and the mountains look blue because the Eucalyptus trees give off a chemical that reacts with the ozone layer and gives off a blue tint. 

                                                                 Baby Wallaby!

                                                       They Kept Kissing. So Cute.

                                                                  Baby in Pouch :)

                                                           Sleeping Wombat. Presh.

                                                    I really wanted him to kiss me....

                                                      Albino Peacock. Super Cool.

                                                                    Dingo Puppies!

                                                                 The Blue Mountains

                                                       Cool Trees at the Blue Mountains

I'm planning on climbing the Anzac Bridge on Saturday so I'm pretty excited about that. I'm also looking for some cool places to go scuba diving. I can sign up to go cage dive with great whites... kind of really excited to look into that one. Other than that, it's just another week in paradise! Love and miss y'all!