Sydney here I come!

First of all, sorry if there are spelling mistakes in my blogs, my English is unfortunately not perfect. My plan is to post a blog every two to three weeks, so they may be a bit long the first few times because of the many new impressions. Anyway, let's start!

After almost half a year of preparations, the time had finally come that I would leave The Netherlands to fly to Sydney. It was the 17th of July and I woke up. With almost everything packed in my suitcase and backpack, I still had a few hours to go before we would leave for the airport. It felt crazy. Many of my friends were on vacation what had just started or some friends were still finishing their last courses. I, on the other hand, had packed my bag and would be starting with my lectures in Sydney again in just two weeks. I checked for the last time whether I had really packed everything and afterwards it was just waiting to go to Schiphol Airport. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, my parents, Nander and I got in the car with all my stuff. I noticed that I felt emotional and I realized that I would not see my friends and family for a long time. There was a lot going through me at that moment; I was nervous, excited and a bit sad. When we arrived at Schiphol, Martine called me via Whatsapp video calling to wish me a good trip, because she unfortunately could not come to Schiphol to say goodbye. After that, I checked in my stuff and it was time to say goodbye. This was something I had not been looking forward to for some time. I was really looking forward to this adventure, but it also gave me a double feeling at the same time. Particularly, saying goodbye to Nander was something I did not want to do and I found it very difficult. I gave my parents a big hug and kiss and I hugged Nander as long as I could. I could not keep my eyes dry and after a few minutes it was really time to continue to the customs.
 
Together with 4 boys from my faculty, Boris, Emiel, Pravesh and Chris, I flew to Sydney via London and Kaula Lumpur and after 32 hours, we finally arrived in Sydney. We went to our housing locations. We all live in a Urbanest locations that are on the edge of the campus so that everything is easily accessible within a 15-minute walk. I live in Urbanest Cleveland Street where Emiel and Pravesh also live. Chris and Boris live in Urbanest Central just a 10-minute walk from us. You can google the location on google maps (if you want to know where I exactly live in Sydney). You can walk to the harbour and the Opera House in around 35 minutes. My roommate is Grace, she grew up in Hong Kong but moved to Lyon to study there when she was 18. She stays in Sydney for a year to finish her bachelor's degree. On Thursday and Friday, I mainly took care of some things such as opening an Australian bank account, buying an Australian SIM card and buying cutlery and bed sheets. I did some sightseeing for the first time on Saturday. I went out with Tim (a friend from Proteus, my rowing club in Delft) Chris, Boris and Rik (a roommate of Chris). We first walked to the Opera House and afterwards we walked through the Royal Botanic Gardens, the park and along a large part of the harbour. And my first impression of Sydney... yes it is really a beautiful city. It is a modern, green and vast city. The atmosphere is great in the city, there are many young people and everyone is super friendly, relaxed and helpful. It is so much more relaxed than in The Netherlands, where everyone is always busy and runs around to get everything done.
 
On Sunday we (Emiel, Pravesh, Chris and Chase, another roommate of Chris) took the bus to Coogee to do the Coogee to Bondi coastal walk. And a super funny thing here about public transport; throughout Australia, every Sunday, everyone travels for only 2.70 dollars for the whole day, wherever you go (the area is somewhat limited of course). You can make trips on Sundays that normally cost you 30 dollars, and now for only 2.70 dollars. You see that many people use it to go out with family or friends to go to the beach, go surfing or hiking on the weekends. By the way, the coastal walk was very nice.
 
Furthermore, the weather is great here. Until now, it is a clear blue sky with sun and about 20 degrees every day. And that is about the worst we are going to get. After this it only gets warmer and better. In the mornings, the wind is still cool and you do need a coat, but from about 12 o'clock in the afternoon you can go out in jeans and a shirt (and maybe a sweater). Only, because it is winter here, it gets dark very early, namely around a quarter past 5 and then it's dark within 15 minutes. At least I have to get used to the fact that it is getting dark so early in comparison with The Netherlands at the moment.
 
Anyway, on Monday, I had my introduction day. That is completely different from the introduction weeks we have in the Netherlands where we party and get to know student associations for a whole week. We started with a campus tour and a small introduction with things that we had to remember or arrange before the lectures would start next week. At noon we got lunch and at 1 o'clock in the afternoon was the big introduction and there were 2 remarkable things. First, almost everyone started their speech with an Acknowledgment of Country. It is a way of showing awareness of and respect for the traditional owners of Australia. Protocols for welcoming visitors to the country have been a part of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures for thousands of years. Despite the absence of fences or visible borders, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups had clear boundaries separating their country from that of other groups. Crossing into another group’s country required a request for permission to enter. When permission was granted the hosting group would welcome the visitors, offering them safe passage and protection of their spiritual being during the journey. While visitors were provided with a safe passage, they also had to respect the protocols and rules of the land owner group while on their country. Today, obviously much has changed, and these protocols have been adapted to contemporary circumstances. However, the essential elements of welcoming visitors and offering safe passage remain in place. A Welcome to Country occurs at the beginning of a formal event and can take many forms including singing, dancing, smoking ceremonies or a speech in traditional language or English. A Welcome to Country is delivered by traditional owners, or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have been given permission from traditional owners, to welcome visitors to their country. There were Aboriginals at the opening, a lot more modern than before but still tinted and scarcely dressed during the opening to perform a few ritual dances for us. I found it very nice to see how much respect they show here for the traditional residents. Furthermore, they have some kind of extra legislation on sexual consent, in which you have to give specific permission. Here all students, including us, must briefly follow a module online to show that we understand what this means. I was surprised, but in Australia, they are pretty strict with this. Watch the video called “Tea and consent” on YouTube, to get some idea about the context.
 
I met my mentor, Chloe, that afternoon. She is also a third-year bachelor student and just returned from her exchange in the United States. That evening after dinner I went with Pravesh and Emiel to Tim, who lives in the Queen Mary building on the other side of the campus. There we did some card games with a few more exchange students on the 11th floor with a beautiful view over the skyline of Sydney. On Tuesday afternoon, I went to The Rocks which is a somewhat older neighbourhood in Sydney. That evening I ate again with a group and did not do much special that day. Wednesday we had a picnic in Hyde Park not far from the Opera House.
 
Thursday and Friday I went out by myself during the day. On Thursday I took the train to Milsons Point just on the other side of the bridge. I walked along the coast to Balls Head Reserve and walked around there. It was super quiet. I only met an older couple and walked around nicely alone and heard the birds. It is crazy how you walk between the tall buildings one moment and the other moment through peaceful nature. After that I walked back to Milsons Point and walked to the city centre via the bridge. That evening there was an opening party of the University of Sydney (everyone calls it USYD here) in a club on the campus. It started at 7 o'clock in the evening and there were a lot of Asians. There were snacks and all kinds of dance battles that those Asians found fantastic. We were with a group of around 10 Dutch people and a few others. It was very nice and at 12 o'clock the party was over and it’s was time to go home. Early feasting certainly has its advantages. Friday, I went to the Art Gallery of NSW and afterwards I went to the park and lay there in the grass in the sun. That evening we went to eat at Chris's house in Urbanest Central with 16 people until we went to the big semester openings party at 11 o'clock. Chris eventually went out with some other Americans, but we went to the party with a group of about 10 people. Beer in bars and clubs is generally very expensive here, you pay about 8 to 9 dollars per beer. The party was very nice and cozy though.
 
Sunday was the last day before my lectures will start. I got up in time, because we went to Manly beach with a group of about 12 people. It was clear blue sky again and 24 degrees so perfect beach weather. We took the ferry from Circular Quay to Manly beach. Some guys have swum in the sea, but the sea is still pretty cool at the moment, so I thought paddling was enough. It was quite busy on the beach and the boulevard because of the good weather and because it is Sunday. Afterwards, I put my first blog online and sorted out some nice pictures for my blog (sorry it's so many, but I really could not choose). I also read some documents before my lectures start tomorrow. The semesters are fairly short here. We start here in their second semester. The semester is 13 weeks of classes and I follow 4 courses. Afterwards there are 3 weeks of exams and I am finished with everything at the latest on the 24th of November. Then the Australians have summer holidays until the end of February so about 3 months. And they have a winter vacation of about a month throughout July. Oh and super nice, I have a week's holiday in the last week of September (I'm not used to that in Delft anymore). So I follow 4 courses here; Intermediate Microeconomics and Intermediate Macroeconomics (senior courses), Introduction to Econometrics (junior course) and Optimization and Financial mathematics (intermediate course). The courses all seem very interesting to me and I would like to start tomorrow. In the first week, I do not have any tutorials so I have Thursday and Friday off (even though I probably have to do some homework). I do not really miss home yet, but it will probably come later.
 
Well, this seems to me as enough for now. I hope you enjoyed reading my first blog and that it gives you some idea about my life here.

Love, Simone

PS. For photos see the photo album called "First 10 days in Sydney".