That evening we took the train down to Circular Que (pronounced circular key). This is the station right at the harbor by the opera house. We ended up in the Custom House first which is the building where the convicts were brought to when they first got to Sydney. It has now been turned into a public space holding several restaurants and a library. The main foyer has a 1:5000 or 1:500 scale model of Sydney underneath the glass floor. There also is a fairly interesting monumental stair that I will try to post a picture of later. After this we went to take a look at the infamous Sydney Opera House. It was pretty impressive at night with the uplighting and city lights. I met a guy from Holland who was traveling from New Zealand and had just gotten to Sydney. He later joined our group while we went to a pub and got a couple drinks and some dinner (biggest hamburger I have ever seen) and then to a bar.
The first 5 days have pretty much been rainy. Sunday had a lil sunshine and the trip to the opera house was dry but other than that it had been pretty wet.
Saturday the 20th we met at Redfern station and took a 3ish house walk with a local architect and city planner/politician. They were able to give us some insight to the area and show us some things we would probable have not noticed otherwise. They took us to a market that was much like Finley Market in Cinci. I got to try a pink lady apple for the first time and later purchased one for the road. I also got to try a pastry filled with Thai Curry lamp... or chicken I forget now. We then ended at a local pub and had some wine. That evening for dinner a couple of us went down King Street and got some Sushi and then stopped next door to get some Gelato. (the following evening one of the girls stopped to get some and I learned why different flavors are presented differently: If the flavor is inherent like the pistachio it can just be decoratively placed in the container. If it is a mixed flavor like cookies and cream they have to hand mix the cookie part in therefor must create the display a little differently)
Sunday the 21st Dan and I made a trip to Aldi's which was about a half hour forty-five min walk away. After grabbing a chicken wrap on the way back I took a much needed nap. After that I made some dinner (lebanese bread and australian cheese) and tried to catch up on the readings we are supposed to complete.
Monday the 22nd we started classes at Uni Syd. We still dont know what we are going to do for studio exactly but we did discuss our options and are pretty sure which direction we are going. After a little discussion and some lunch we went up to the Darlington Center and studied and sketched. We were mainly looking at the new restaurant and bar addition and how it fell into the site. It seemed to me to be a contemporary response to the site that already had 4 very different buildings on it each depicting the era in which it was designed. When we got back to our studio space we met with Adrain and she gave us a quick overview of contemporary art. This doesnt sound very impressive but the fact that she did so with no images and just talking with us in studio while still getting the message across is.
After studio a few of us grabbed a bite to eat at the hostel and went out for a drink or two. The hard cider here ( called just cider) is a lot better then those in the states. First we went to a pub called Kelly's then went to a few bars down the way. After opting not to go downtown we stopped at the grocery so I could get a few more bananas and some nuetela. (Emily forgive me if I spelt that wrong)
Yesterday, Tuesday the 23rd we met at 10 for a Sydney Architecture walk. A local architect took us on half of our city tour with him stopping at Custom House, Ferry Terminals, Social Housing, KGV Sports Hall, Observatory Hill, Walsh Bay (the five fingers), East Darling Harbor Site, 30 the Bond (we also had lunch here), Australia Square, Capital Building, and then the Sydney Museum. After our walk (four hours maybe a little over that) Dan and I went on a Ferry Ride over to the Zoo Area and back and got some really nice pictures of the opera house. The day was prefect not too cool and not to hot and sunny. Perfect day for walking. Then I talked Dan into another fairy ride that went down to Paramada and back which I thought would take maybe an hour or so total saying it went pretty far inland. However... It took two hours... he wasnt too happy about this. But the ride at first was into the sunset and we got to see a lot more of Australia then we had previously. The ride back was pretty chilly but once we got close to the city we went back outside and the few was gorgeous... freezing but gorgeous. I wish my camera would have had more battery or that it would have been able to take a more clear picture at night was the few was fantastic. After that we came back to the hostel and had dinner then I went up and got a lil hw done.
Today (Wed the 24th) is going to be a pretty packed day.
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