Well I'm here. Sydney. Australia. Half way across the world and a hop skip and a jump from Antartica. Now that I've been here for a weekend its starting to sink in that I'm actually here. The flight out here was ok. Going out to LA was your stantard american flight experience, and then I got to spend almost 12 hours at LAX airport. The highlight being a nice conversation I had with a lady who lives in Sydney named Christina. Got some inside tips on where to go and what to do.
My flight from LA to Sydney was an amazing experience. If you ever have the chance to go to Australia fly with Qantas airlines. I'll swear up and down it will probably be the best flying experience you've ever had. Not only were the crew extremely friendly but the seats were fairly spacious. I actually could stretch out my legs under the seat in front of me. The meal was excellent. I had lime chicken with a corn salsa, bean salad, and some bread. Oh and all beverages they have are free...none of this charge you 6 dollars for a minature alchoholic beverage crap. I personally went with one of the local beers the Victorian Bitter. It was decent.
They also gave us a snack bag that had chips, cookies, a bottle of water, a whole package of breath minutes and other odds and ends.
Now here is the best part. Each seat had a TV screen in it. So I was able to take my pick of 40-50 movie choices and watch it on the screen in front of me...FOR FREE!. So with 14 hours to burn I opted to watch The New World and Match Point. Besides this I had an amazing breakfast and also managed to sleep for a solid 7 hours. Trust me. Go Qantas.
We arrived here in Sydney at 6:00am in the morning. We were met by a staff member who kindly helped shuttle us back to the building we are staying in the Unilodge. I have a wonderful apartment/loft...complete with a minature kitchen and a decent view.
After a couple hours break to take a shower and get settled it was off to orientation. Mainly orientation was to take us around Sydney a little bit to give us a feel for the area. I was able to see such famous landmarks such as the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge.
Saturday we were given another tour of Sydney. This time we covered more of the historical side of the city getting a better feel for the surrounding areas. Sydney has a population of approximately 4 million people so its rather large, and as we were to discover on Sunday, its rather exapansive. On Saturday, we had the afternoon to ourselves. My friend and I decided to wander around the Public Botanical gardens (check out the fruit bats!). It was beautiful to say the least. 3 some odd hours later we ended back up at the Circular Quey (where Sydney Opera House is) and enjoyed the setting sun.
Sunday another one of the faculty members, Daryl, took us on a beautiful trip around the northern end of Sydney. Starting in Manly(which I have to briefly mention caused us to run smack dab into the show The Amazing Race...they wouldn't admit what show they were filming, but it became pretty obvious when you saw teams running around with film crews running after them), we ended up in Palm beach which is where, despite the frigid waters, a couple of us decided to go swimming. We then headed back to manly where we caught a ferry back to Circular Quey and on home after an exhausting day of adventure.
All in all it has been an exciting and busy weekend. 
My First Post From Australia
Where Do You Draw the Line?
Lately I've tried to keep my nose out of the political maelstrom that comprises our government. Mainly because I was tired. I was tired of getting frustrated, annoyed, and worried about the course our country is currently taking. Ultimately I was tired of how, with each passing week, it became more and more obvious that the government has a 'hall pass' letting them do whatever they please, whenever they please, legality be damned.
However the recent spat of new events has once again reawakened the urge for me to dive back in. I just don't understand how the american people can sit by and watch Bush and co. continue to walk all over anyone they please, especially since it has become evident that the government has taken to treading on its own citizens, not being satisfied with crushing other countries with a military fist.
So now we have Hayden being installed as the new head of the CIA. A military officer....what a surprise. Immigration has all of sudden become a hot topic. Bush's solution - build walls and send in the military. I'm not sure why this ever increasing reliance on military force isn't more a cause of concern for americans.
And of course there is the NSA fiasco. Now, of course, companies like Bellsouth and Verizon are denying they supplied any phone records to the NSA. We, of course, should trust the phone companies, who didn't feel that outraged when the story broke, and only denied any involvement after there was movement to file lawsuits against them.
What really gets me is the fact that according to recent polls 62% of americans don't care that their phone records are being compiled by the government. After everything that has gone on with the current administration you mean to tell me that people actually trust Bush when he says the goverment is not using these records to snoop into your personal life? Just a couple of weeks ago Bush was telling america it was only monitoring international phone calls. I guess he just forgot about the massive database of domestic phone calls the NSA was also compiling.
And of course there is now the recent news that the FAA is implementing a new security program at airports where security guards are trained to look for people who look stressed or nervous. Are you kidding me? I don't know about you but when I travel by air I'm always stressed and nervous. Spending 6 hours in seats that were apparently designed for kids 12 and under, sitting next to someone who is experiencing gastro-intestinal issues is not exactly the best recipe for a restful and relaxing day of travel.
The question is where do we draw the line? If history has taught us anything, it is to be extra cautious of governments who disregard more and more of your civil liberties while constantly increasing the role of the military in the daily operations of the government. I've read that estimates show our government now allocates more money to the military than the combined spending on military by the rest of the world. Should this not be setting off alarm bells across our nation?
Of course, things don't get any better when you look at how the military is spending all this money. I recently read an interesting articlehttp://www.commondreams.org/views06/0518-26.htm on the ongoing efforts of our reconstruction efforts in Iraq. One of the many reasons I didn't support the invasion of Iraq was because of our history of making things worse rather than better in the aftermath of our playing politics. Once we were there though, there was nothing but to hope for the best. Maybe it would work out. But by the looks of things our continuing occupation of Iraq is only serving to make things worse. And, if you read the article, how in the world do we justify building an embassy that would pass as the palace of your dreams, when we refuse to spend the money necessary to fix the problems we created?
And yet, what are people up in arms about? The Da Vinci Code. Christians around the world, and especially in america, are out protesting in force...a fictional film.
At least we have our priorities straight.
Planes, Rain, and Film Festivals
Well, the sun does exist. For those of you who don't pay attention to the news, the New England area got battered with rain like it hasn't seen since 1936. It continued to rain for over a week straight and I was beginning to wonder if we would ever see the sun again. Thankfully the rain has ended.
With less than a week to go, its starting to sink in that I'm actually going to Australia....for almost two months nonetheless. Yesterday I went and exchanged some money for some Australian currency and I was reminded of just how dull American money is in comparison to other countries.
Picking up the Australian currency ended up being one of those, "Wow, I'm really doing this," moments. I've had my fair share of travels, but I've never been out of the country as long as I will be this time. And distance wise, well you can't get much further from the U.S. than Australia.
So next wednesday I get to look forward to spending 21 hours on airplanes. I may go insane, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to break my streak of having never used a bathroom on a plane.
Once we get there they waste no time throwing us into things. It's basically going to be dropping stuff off at our rooms (at 7:30 in the morning) and then off to orientation.
Other than taking two courses while I am there, I will also have the privelege of attending the Sydney International Film Festival.
http://www.sydneyfilmfestival.org/ They've given us VIP passes that allow us into any of the events or films for the entire festival. Of course this now makes the task of what to see more difficult. With close to 200 films being shown, there is no way I'll be able to see them all. With that in mind, I'm a little curious as to see what films you would choose to see. Check out the website for a listing (and descriptions) of films being shown.