Thursday began with an early rise for some introductory lectures, specifically tailored for us law students. This meant that there were significantly less students in attendance than there had been at the international arrivals lectures, but it gave us all a chance to meet some people who would actually be on our course and in our classes. It turned out to be an introduction aimed at those students who either hadn't studied much law before - if their main subject was business, for example, and they are maybe only doing a "Business Law" class - or those who had studied in a country where the main practice is civil law. In Australia, there is a mix of civil law and common law, which is exactly the same as in Scotland, so it ended up being a day full of information those of us from Glasgow already knew.
The highlight of Thursday was to come after classes had finished since there had been a game of football - or rather tragically soccer, as I'm getting used to calling it over here - organised on the International Students Facebook page. One of my biggest concerns before coming to Australia was whether or not I would be able to find a group of like-minded people who were keen for some 5-a-side. Both an indication of how relaxed I was about moving to the other side of the world for a year, as well as how much I enjoy a kick about! After a quick run home to get changed and grab my boots after class, I made my way up to the large grass pitch on campus. The University campus here is quite remarkable: two different gyms; five different pitches which are used for rugby, Aussie rules football and of course proper football; a swimming pool; several tennis courts. The main rugby pitch even has a grandstand and electronic score board - unbelievable facilities! Anyway, the football was a success, I met some new mates and played well, even in the heat of a pleasant winter day! The match ended up finishing as a 4-4 draw, in which I banged in a hat-trick and one lad commented that I was like, "Messi with a Scottish accent." Writing that one down for my autobiography.
Thursday night involved a "Welcome to Sydney!" party arranged at the on-campus pub for all the international students, so we grabbed some food from Coles - just like Tesco - on the way home from the football, before getting showered and changed and heading back out. The plan was to have a quiet night, since classes began at 9am again the following morning, however after a few pints - sorry, schooners - things escalated very quickly and I got home around 3am after a small bar crawl with some new friends. First real night out in Australia, no hangover the next morning and also won a game of pool. Success. The highlight of the night probably being the handful of 'dance-off' competitions that were held in the bar in order to win a variety of day trips to local tourist attractions - very cringeworthy and reminiscent of a bad school disco. Needless to say I didn't take part in the cringe-fest however took some wicked pleasure from laughing at the drunk people who did decide to get up and partake!
I've just realised that this is going to be a huge post; think I'll need to update more regularly.
So, Friday was basically more of the same as Thursday had been - not much going on in the introductory lectures and I was glad to get home as I was shattered. Ended up heading out and playing football again that night though, then came home, got the joggies on and caught up on Top Gear. The plan for Saturday was to visit the Sydney Zoo, across the harbour; rumoured to be a truly brilliant place to see a great variety of weird and wonderful creatures.
Saturday began with a fairly early rise and some breakfast - another beautiful day here and it's the coldest month. I'm talking properly nice weather where you could definitely wear shorts and t-shirt, not a cloud in the sky and it is winter here! I can't get over it! Met up with Jessica and Alex - both on my course back home in Glasgow - and Jordan, who's from the United States, at the ferry terminal to catch the short boat journey across the harbour to Taronga Zoo. The ferry took around 10-15 minutes and gave us some brilliant views from the water looking back towards the tall buildings of the CBD, the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. The return trip was even better, with the sunset casting a magnificent light across the harbour - I'll let the photographs speak for themselves. The zoo was excellent and again, I took a lot of pictures; as expected the kangaroos and koalas proving to be the most popular.
In order: koala - cracking photo; the world's most venomous land snake; and a wallaby - not a kangaroo!
Again, in order: city skyline from the zoo, city skyline at sunset from the ferry; and finally a great shot of the Opera House.
As we returned to the harbour from the zoo, we decided to stay out and have a few drinks before heading home and possibly going out later in the night. This resulted in a short stroll before finding a nice looking bar where they were advertising a "Happy Hour" - perfect for us students! Generally drinks are quite expensive here but through practice I'm hoping to find the best places to go for a night out! At the first bar, we decided that glasses of white wine and a platter of oysters would go down a treat and so we did exactly that. Poor students, right? Had to take a photo just to prove it actually happened. The night once more escalated far beyond where it was meant to and several beers, some more wine and a few tequila's later we left an Irish bar in the city centre around 4am. Woke up this morning with a banging headache and in desperate need of some food and water.
I've spent this afternoon chilling out and listening to some music; the soundtrack to this particular blog post has been Noel Gallagher's debut solo album - if anyone hasn't heard it, then sort yourself out and give it a listen! Truly brilliant album and perfect for a quiet Sunday. I've did absolutely nothing of note all day really, so decided to fill an hour or so firing out this update; about to go get some dinner now and bed soon I imagine. Quick mention here for the quality of the iPhone camera as I was very impressed with the pictures that it's taken so far.
Until next time.
Jamie
