Tally's Birthday

This morning I met my flatmate, Isabelle. She's from South Korea but goes to Cornell University in the states and is lovely! She was only there for a bit to drop off some of her stuff but we agreed to meet later at the 'Afternoon Tea' that UNSW is hosting for all the international students.

The tea was held at 3.30pm in the sports pavilion overlooking the sports ground called 'The Oval'. We all chatted and grabbed some more free food and drink and I managed to find Dan who's a guy also doing Music at Newcastle who's done the exchange too. We all met loads more people, some great, some not so great... I had to teach this one 6ft American guy called Dylan how to make instant coffee because he filled his cup half full of the granules and then was about to add only milk. Bizarre...

It feels like freshers all over again, which I guess it kind of is because we're all new, but it seems weird because we're two years older now and it should be really easy to just all get along, but some people are just so... awkward!? I have met some really nice people though, and I'm sure I'll meet loads of Aussies when I start lectures on Monday. There are hardly any Aussies in halls because in Australia, most of them live at home and then go to their local uni.

After the tea I grabbed some stuff from my room and then hopped on a bus to Circular Quay and caught the 6pm ferry to Manly to go see Tally, a friend from home, who's birthday it was. Tally's come out here to stay with some family friends in the Northern Beaches to work and travel round Australia for a few months. The ferry ride was incredible as it was already dark and we left the harbour between the Harbour Bridge and the Opera house and the city was all lit up - it looked amazing. I sat outside for the whole journey and happily snapped away.

Tally met me off the ferry at the other end and we were taken out for dinner by Sam and Helen, the people she is living with. Sam is a musician, a hip hop artist, and Helen is his mum and they live in Belrose just above Manly. Helen took us to Hugos, an amazing pizzeria by the water, and treated us to some amazing pizzas and wine. After dinner, Helen took all of Tally's presents and balloons home and we went to go meet Sam's friend Nick in a nearby bar. A few drinks later, we headed home to chill at Sam's house and celebrate Tally's birthday late into the night.

The next day, Sam and Nick had to work, but Tally had the day off and so we headed into the city to go exploring. We spent most of the day shopping and I invested in a new pair of trainers as I have vowed to myself to get fit. I chose the offensive purple and orange colour so that I can't accidentally-on-purpose lose them in my room and actually, I quite like them! They're super comfortable too and should earn me kudos with all the sporty Aussie's.

Tally and I headed to roam round Darling Harbour and we stopped for a drink at the Cargo Lounge, where I also bought her a chocolate fondant as a birthday treat. I really liked the atmosphere down on the waterfront so I asked at the bar if they were hiring, but the girl said to come back in a few weeks when the summer season starts to kick in and they up their staff numbers.

Once we were tired of walking around, Tally came back with me on the bus to see where I lived and I showed her around the campus a bit. Whilst we were in my room, we remembered that we'd heard that Fat Freddy's Drop were playing in a month and a bit, and so we booked our tickets together. If you don't know who Fat Freddy's Drop are, they're an amazing reggae/ska band who we saw at Outlook Festival last summer.

Tally soon had to head back to Manly as she was working early next morning and I went to go find the others to tell them to book their tickets too.

We have an induction day tomorrow with all the other international students... doesn't sound like it's going to be much fun, but it'll be useful I guess.

B