The City

The Sydney Opera House is one of the most recognizable structures in the world, which is saying a lot considering it was first opened in 1973. Honestly, I never thought I’d be able to see it in real life, let alone step inside. The Harbour Bridge is just another beautiful sigh that Sydney has to offer. As one of the longest single arch bridges in the world, it’s gives a breathtaking view of the Opera House, but also a once in a life time photo-op of the two side by side when you’re in the Botanical Gardens. On March 18^th, Jenna, Jill, and I boarded a plane. Jill is petrified of flying, like the most scared person ever. I don’t mind airplanes at all, but listening to her on the plane was making me paranoid that it was going to crash. Obviously, it did not and we landed safely in Sydney ready to go to our hostel. We were staying in King’s Cross, a

section south of the harbour, which is known for its nightlife. It may not have been the best decision we’ve ever made, but the folks at the Jackaroo Hostel were lovely and very informative. We dropped our bags off on Friday night and went in search of some pub grub. We didn’t find any place open, but we ate at acuteItalian restaurant and had some of the best lasagna, gnocchi, and pesto the three of us had ever had. This doesn’t include the dessert that was passion fruit gelato covered in chocolate, YUM!

The next day we dedicated to sight seeing. We woke up bright and early only to find out that it

was raining. We didn’t care. We were only going to be in Sydney once and we weren’t going to let Mother Nature slow us down. After a quick train ride, we made our way down to Circular Quay and finally we got our first glimpse of the famous Opera House. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful. We took turns snapping photos and running up and down the steps. Then we saw the bridge and the photos started over again. Jill decided to go on an extreme boat ride on the harbour, so Jenna and I headed over to the Botanical Gardens and Mrs. MacQuarie’s chair. It would happen that on our walk the sun started to shine. After we

met back up with Jill, it was lunchtime. We found a pub, ate some fish and chips, schnitzel, and drank some beer. We wondered all over the city and then finally decided we were too tired to go any farther. We headed back to the hostel to get ready for dinner. Saturday night, we went to a quick Mexican restaurant located about 2 seconds away from our hostel. Jenna and I had decided that while we were in Sydney, we’d try to meet with our friend Andrew aka Nappy who is also studying abroad from Merrimack. He said he was heading to The Rocks to go bar hopping. The Rocks is an adorable artsy section of the city, just north of the bridge, where Jenna and I had ate the most delicious corn on the cob earlier in the day. It was really good to see Nappy and he showed us some fun bars in the city. While we were out, I made friends with a boy named Jonathan who was on a gap year after graduating from Princeton University (I know right, husband material). We hung out with him for the rest of the night as well. All in all, it was a fun night!

Sunday’s weather wasn’t much better than Saturday’s and we got a little nervous about what we were going to do. We went off in search of somewhere to get lunch and finally found the only open food court in all of Sydney. As luck would have it, we left indoors to find that the sun had come out and it was now warm and bright. There’s only one thing to do in Sydney when this happens: Bondi Beach. Bondi Beach is one of the most famous beaches in the world because of its rips, waves, and location. The lifeguards at Bondi save over one thousand people from the rough waters a year.

There were jellyfish everywhere on Bondi, so I didn’t dare put anymore than a toe in the water. It was a nice beach, not very crowded considering its fame, but the view from on top of the rocks was beautiful. We headed home after a little while and got ready for our fancy dinner. There was one area of the city the girls and I had been dying to see, but hadn’t made it to yet; Darling Harbour. We had a heard of a place in Darling Harbour that has delicious kangaroo steaks, so we headed there. I had called Jonathan and he met us there. We feasted. The kangaroo (which Jenna so bravely ordered) was delicious, a little chewy, but full of flavor. I got risotto with scallops, which was equally as good. It was a fun night and having someone new with us to break up the conversation was a nice change of pace. After we said our goodbyes to Jonathan, we headed back to King’s Cross, went to a few hotel bars, and then headed to bed for the night. Monday we woke up, sad to be leaving such a beautiful city, but excited to get back to school and tell all our friends about it. Obviously Boston will always have heart, but I think that Sydney might be my second favorite city of all time. Visually stunning, hospitable, and cleaner than my own bedroom, it truly is a treasure in the world.

The City video here!