Finals, family time and time to say goodbye

Hi everyone,

This is my last blog about my exchange in Sydney because I left Sydney last Monday to travel for 2 months through Australia. Well, then at least I have something to tell and photos to show you when I am back in The Netherlands. But how were my last 3 weeks in Sydney?

The beginning of my study break was pretty relaxed. On Tuesday evening, I went indoor climbing on the campus with the bushwalkers and there we got a lesson about different canyoning techniques. There are always a lot of canyon trips organized by the bushwalkers between November and March, but unfortunately, I will not be able to participate in that, just like the annual bushwalkers Christmas dinner in December. But I have had a great time with the bushwalkers and I am very happy that I became a member of the society.

On Thursday morning, I took the train with Mike to Mittagong where Maddie would pick us up from the train station. We were spending two days on Maddie’s farm in Mittagong, 2 and a half hours south of Sydney. It was an absolutely beautiful farm. They had cows and horses and a huge piece of land, no less than 220 acres, which is equal to about 89 hectares (yes that is really megaaaa). A large part of their land is simply meadow and forest so it's great to pull yourself back from the busy city and go to the farm because they do not have wifi (they do not live there permanently) and there is hardly any internet coverage.  Maddie grabbed her father's cowboy hats and Mike and Maddie really looked like a cowboy and cowgirl. Maddie gave us an extensive tour on the farm and we had a nice stroll on the land. There were at least 30 kangaroos at the edge of the forest and in the woods which was super nice to see (I think I never get enough of hopping kangaroos in the wild). We played some tennis later in the afternoon and made a good dinner. Chris also came along that evening around 9 o'clock. Maddie had given me the big bedroom with the double bed with those beautiful large sliding doors through which you immediately walk into the garden and had a view of flowers (I would love to have a bedroom like that in the future). I have not slept in a double bed for the past 4 months so I slept like a baby that night.
On Friday morning, Maddie and Mike had a short walk to see the horses while I was baking eggs and Chris was trying to get out of his bed. We played some Australian football in the garden and after a short walk on the land was it time for lunch. Mike and I went back to Sydney after lunch.
On Saturday morning, it was really time to start learning for my final exams. I had two finals on Wednesday and one on Thursday, so 3 exams in 36 hours was quite a lot. That meant that I spend every day from Saturday to next Friday from 9 in the morning until late in the evening with my nose in the books, except for Sunday evening. On Sunday evening I met up with a friend, Corin, from Perth to grab some dinner in the city. I met Corin in the summer of 2017 when I was on holiday in Tuscany. His father’s side of the family is Dutch so he visits The Netherlands once in the few years. But he was in Sydney to visit his family and it was great to catch up. It was crazy to hear his voice again because he has a pretty heavy Australian accent and I had already forgotten how that sounded. Because most people in Sydney do not have a heavy accent because a part is foreigners in Sydney and it seems that people in the north, the west or towards the countryside have a heavier accent anyway. But I'm going to Perth in mid-January, and then I see Corin again, so that’s great.
After 4 full days with my nose in the books, it was Tuesday night. Nander had his bachelor ceremony in Delft today, which I unfortunately could not attend. My mother had brought a bouquet with flowers to his parents so that they could take it to the ceremony and his dad played cameraman for me, what was super sweet, so that I still got the feeling that I was a little bit there with him at his graduation ceremony. Nander and I had already celebrated it a bit in July before I left, but he had received a small gift from me from Australia because I am very proud of him.

The next morning I had my final exam for econometrics. I find it difficult to estimate how it went, but hopefully good enough. That afternoon I learned a bit and that evening I had my final exam for mathematical finance for 4 hours. I was completely exhausted that evening. But I did not have time to relax because I still had to study the full Thursday for my microeconomics final exam that I had in the evening. Fortunately, the exam went well.

After a week of studying day in day out, I decided to relax on Friday before I would learn for my last exam of macroeconomics because my brain still felt a bit brain-dead. That Friday morning, I first went to the hairdresser to get a haircut. That seemed like a good idea to me with the warm Australian summer ahead. Plus I got a little tired of my long hair. And then it was finally time for something that you just have to do when you're in Australia; let’s go surfing bro. So I went to Maroubra beach with Chris and Pravesh for an afternoon of surfing. I surfed once a week in the summer of 2016, so I know a little bit how to do it. But the waves were pretty big and the surf (this is where the waves break) was super strong, so Pravesh and I barely got through it (because you want to surf behind the point where waves break). So the surfing conditions were pretty bad at that moment. But well, after about 100 attempts to get through the surf, after being pushed back by the waves and falling over every time, I finally came through the surf after about 45 minutes. But then came challenge 2; tackle a good wave. I did a lot; played an airplane on my board, a mermaid or a falling bunt, but a good wave, no that was not one of them. I have laughed extremely hard with Pravesh about how we probably looked like idiots to the other experienced surfers, but well, we had great fun. Oh and are you wondering what about Chris? He has a little more surf experience so he came through the surf but did not really catch any good waves as well. But after a lot of attempts, falling and waves smacked in my face, I was completely exhausted and my body sore so we decided to call it a day. And when I woke up Saturday morning? My body was hurting everywhere; my arms, my back and my hips. I haven’t felt so sore in a long time and I’m sure to get some beautiful bruises the next few days.

From Saturday I was busy studying again. But on Monday evening, I had a farewell BBQ with Chris’s roommates, Maddie, Boris, Pravesh, Emiel at Urbanest Central. Jill and Cole joined us later that evening (whom we had met in Tasmania). It was a very nice BBQ but also crazy to say goodbye to some of the group. Because Jill and Cole would start their travels this week so the BBQ was the last moment I saw them and we said goodbye including big hugs.

On Tuesday evening, I went to the airport to pick up mom and dad from their long flight. Fortunately, they had a good flight and they were very happy to see me again. I then brought them back to their hotel and went home afterwards. Wednesday was the last day before my last exam. I studied hard in the morning and evening, but I met up with mom and dad in the afternoon and to show them Watsons Bay and Bondi Beach. Dad is super happy to be back in Australia after 30 years and it still feels like home to him he said.

On Thursday morning I had my last exam until 12 o'clock. Afterwards, I met up with my parents at the Opera House and it was lovely weather; it was about 23 degrees and sunny. We then walked to the Botanic Gardens and via the CBD to Darling Harbour. 30 years ago, Darling harbour was nothing expect dilapidated yards told my dad. Now it is a trendy harbour with many terraces and bars with many beautiful buildings. We drank a beer to celebrate the start of my summer vacation. After that, I took my parents to Victoria Park and showed them around on the campus. This was also the last moment that I would walk on the campus, so I decided to record some nice memories on camera.

We went hiking in the Blue Mountains on Friday and Saturday. We spend the first day hiking around The Three Sisters near Katoomba and we slept in a youth hostel. It was nice weather but very windy that day so still very cool. The second day, we went to the Wentworth Falls and we did the same walk as I did in the middle of October but then in the pouring rain and now in the sun. I was surprised by how extremely small the waterfalls were compared to 6 weeks ago. We also saw a Black Kingsnake what was my first snake in Australia. And it was great to see that people were canyoning at the Empress Falls. That evening, I went with my parents to Darling harbour to see the fireworks at 9 o'clock, what is there every week (pretty expensive I should guess). When the fireworks were over, I walked back to Urbanest Central to spend the rest of the evening with my friends. Most of my American friends would leave early Sunday morning to go back to The States. We went to an underground pub called The Baxter Inn that night. They had more than 1000 different types of whiskey (even though I had a beer myself). At 3 o'clock that night, it was really time to say goodbye to them and I gave everyone a good big hug. I felt a little bit sad to say goodbye to everyone, because we have experienced so much together over the last 4 months, what nobody at home will be able to completely understand. And this farewell also indicated that my time in Sydney really was coming to an end.

So after 5 hours of sleep, it was Sunday morning. I cleaned up my room and did the Spit bridge to Manly coastal walk with my parents, which they found a very nice walk. We went out to dinner in The Rocks and the three of us ordered a delicious lasagna. My parents were surprised that I never went to a restaurant in Sydney during my 4 months here, but I just told them that is what students do. That I liked to cook together with friends and it is much cheaper than eating out. That evening I packed up the last things and made my room spick and span.

It felt so crazy to leave Sydney and like such a short time ago that I said goodbye at Schiphol Airport on July 17th. I still remember the flight very well, the transfer at Kuala Lumpur and that I was super excited and nervous at the same time. But also the introduction day at the university and the first evenings going out are still as fresh in my memory as if it were yesterday. It's unbelievable how fast the time has flown by here and that I now have started on my second chapter here; travelling around in Australia for two months.

If you want to know more about my travel plans, just send me a message. The plan for the trip with mom and dad is as follows: Sydney > visit a old friend of dad > Canberra > Melbourne > Great Ocean Road > Grampians NP > Adelaide > Flinders Range > Cooper Pedy > Uluru > Kings Canyon > Palm Valley > Alice Springs > flight to Darwin > Kakadu NP > Katherine > Litchfield NP > Darwin.

The second part I will travel partly with Chris (between Cairns and Brisbane) and partly by myself and looks something like this: Travel down the east coast from Cairns to Brisbane with Chris and see all the highlights on the way > Then spend NYE in Brisbane with Chris and Boris > Then travel further down the east coast by myself back to Sydney and visit a cousin on the way > Fly to Perth and visit a friend there > Travel up the west coast to Exmouth and back to Perth > Fly back to Sydney and then fly back home on January 23th:) See the beautiful map I made with my Paint skills and by putting several google maps on top of each other. In short, there is still a lot on the planning. I hope you enjoyed reading my blogs and got a bit of an idea what my student life was like in Sydney for the past 4 months. I'll see you all again soon!

Oh and don’t forget to have a look at the photos, after all a picture says more than a thousand words!

Lots of love,

Simone