surfing, the wizard, and american-girl-on-bus syndrome

Hello everyone!
It’s been a while since my last email! Things have been admittedly less exciting- mostly schoolwork.
I've had a ridiculous amount of papers the past few weeks. There is less day to day work, and fewer tests, so nearly my whole grade is made up of papers.
I have been having fun though! A few weeks back some friends and I instituted a tradition of "Thursday adventures" because a bunch of us finish class at 3 on Thursday and have nothing Friday. These are usually touristy things in Sydney that we haven't done yet. These have included the aquarium, Paddy's Market, and the Sydney Tower. Paddy's Market is a giant flea market type place, with stands selling everything from ultra-touristy stuff to knock off purses to electronics to band tshirts and everything in between. We were laughing because one store had sports jerseys (mostly NFL or NHL) and a couple of them were wrong.
The Sydney tower was pretty cool- you go up an elevator to get a view of the city area and a lot of the surrounding suburbs (which are still considered part of Sydney). From the tower (which offers 360 degree view) we were able to find a friend's room in his apartment complex that's by the university. He was a little freaked out by that. haha.
Another fun thing: this past week, I got to see Wicked!!! I got tickets through my Australian film and theatre class. I'd seen it last fall on Broadway and loved it, so I was really excited to see it again. It didn't disappoint. My friend Elyse is in the class as well, so we went together. Interestingly, all the actors used American accents. Well, to me they just sounded neutral (and therefore American, as my non-American friends are quick to point out) Elyse had seen it before as well in London, and she pointed out an interesting point about the play: in London all the characters had British accents except the Wizard. Which completely changes the interpretation of this one song where the Wizard says "where I'm from, we believe all sorts of things that aren't true. We call it history." The song is just about how things are true from different points of view, which I always thought just applied to all people on earth (and not oz, apparently). But the way the London show interprets it, that's an American thing. Interesting.
Last weekend I also went to the Botanical Gardens, which are beautiful. I guess the only really newsworthy thing to say about them is that they are home to a massive amount of bats. Seriously. We walked in towards a giant tree, and as we got closer I realized that the tree is FULL of bats hanging out. Literally. ;) sorry couldn’t resist. But anyways, there were a lot of bats. And they were the biggest bats I’ve ever seen up close. Pictures on facebook will follow as soon as I get email back in my house.
I've been surfing the past two weekends, which has been so much fun. It had been more than 6 weeks since surf camp, so I was pretty bad, but after two hours I got the hang of it again. The water is also beautiful, it was awesome to just be hanging out in the waves. It’s also fun to go surfing regularly- it takes me a little less time for me to get the hang of it each time. Both times we've gone to Manly Beach, which is fun because you have to take a ferry to get there. We've also managed to time our returns home so that we go as the sun is setting behind the harbor bridge, which is so so so beautiful. I may or may not have taken loads of pictures on the ferry. :)
Speaking of public transportation, I have observed an interesting pattern: people love talking to me en route to places. I call it American-girl-on-the-bus syndrome. This is especially true if I'm with another girl (usually Elyse, who is Canadian and has the same accent as me). But if people either speak to me in passing or overhear Elyse and I talking (basically long enough to recognize that my accent is not Australian), people love to strike up conversations. On one ten minute train ride three separate groups of people talked to us! This morning, a guy sat behind me guessing what part of the US I was from (first Midwest, then California). It happens most on the bus/train/ferry, but occasionally happens at stores, cafes, and even street corners. They are also usually adults (not students). It has to be the accent, because if I’m on the bus reading, then people don’t do it. Also, if there are any guys with me, it doesn’t happen. If you have any better name suggestions, let me know. :)
On Thursday, I fly out to the Whitsunday Islands for spring break! Some friends and I are doing a three-day sailing trip in the Whitsundays, then taking an overnight bus to Cairns to spend the rest of the week there (it has both the Great Barrier Reef and rainforests). I’m very excited!
It’s strange to think how long I’ve been here. The 2+ months have flown by. It has been interesting, because the first half of my semester has been largely Sydney-based. I’ve had papers, and really gotten into life at uni and in the city. But the second half will be much more traveling. Luckily, Australian uni setup is a little different and is conducive to my plan. We have about 4 weeks of class left after spring break (and at least one of my classes ends earlier than that, possibly 2). Then there is another week off (which is technically a “study vacation” but who says you can’t take your studying across the outback with you?) where I am likely going to Alice Springs and Uluru (aka Ayer’s Rock). Then there is 2 1/2 weeks of exams. During this time I only have on and it’s toward the end so more traveling will happen then. After exams end, it will be all travels until I head home in December. Yikes! When I write it out like that, it seems so short. But there is so much left here that I want to do!
That’s all for now folks. I’m sure that my next message will be full of snorkeling and such.
Love from down under,
Emma

Hiking, waterfalls, and... dewgongs?

Salutations!
I realized that I ALWAYS begin these with "hey everyone" so I'm trying to mix it up. Any suggestions?
I hope everyone is doing well! I am great. There has been a lot going on the past week. Last Tuesday I went to another play, Norm & Ahmed. It's about the interactions between an Australian guy and Pakistani guy, and it was really thought-provoking especially about race. I don't know if "I liked it" is the right was to say it, but it has really gotten me thinking and I'm getting a lot out of it.
One afternoon we went to the Sydney Aquarium, which was pretty cool. One of their big attractions are dewgongs (which are a lot like manatees)- they're surprisingly graceful. Apparently pirates used to mistake them for mermaids- although how you mistake a big grey animal for a half naked woman is beyond me. :)
This past weekend some friends and I went to the Blue Mountains, and it was an AMAZING trip. We caught the train up to the mountains Friday morning (only took 2 hours, and suprisingly cheap to do) and spent the weekend hiking, exploring, eating, and generally just hanging out. There were six of us, so we had a room to ourselves in the hostel we stayed at, which was really fun. Even though the weather was supposed to be bad on Saturday, it cleared up by 11 and that was when we were just starting to hike.
The Blue mountains are beautiful. The main access point, Echo Point, overlooks a huge canyon- it's kind of life the Grand Canyon on a smaller scale and with lots of trees. There's also a rock formation known as the Three Sisters- I've heard a couple different stories about them, but they all agree on this: three beautiful girls (princesses?) were turned into rocks by a witch doctor (who may have been their father) to protect them (from war, or a beast, or something). But he died before he could turn them back, and they're still giant rock formations. You can't climb on them anymore, but you could hike all along the canyons, which is what we did a lot of. We found a couple waterfalls which were beautiful -and slippery, which we discovered when we climbed up the sides. No one got hurt, but some of us got pretty muddy. :) The forest was closer to rainforest than they are at home- we saw a lot of parrots! Nothing lethal though- no snakes or spiders.
We also discovered the world's steepest railway. It's advertised as such, and journey comes complete with the Indiana Jones theme in the background as you go very fast down a very steep incline. Basically it's a really quick way to get from the top of the canyon to the bottom. There was also an air tram (I think that's what they called it) which gave a great view of the surroundings.
All in all, it was a great trip. There wasn't much to do in the town at night, but we had such a fun group of people that we had a blast just chilling at the hostel. A interesting side note: none of the four guys brought soap on the trip. Luckily I did, so crisis averted. :)
Well I think you're up to date! This week has been really crazy, I have three papers due within two weeks of each other. And here, papers are worth a lot more than they are at home. Also tonight I'm headed to a wine and cheese tasting put on by a couple of clubs at school- there's an arts festival for the next week or so going on, so there's a lot of fun cultural things to do.
I love you all! As always, the emails are amazing and make me smile every time I hear from you. Have a great labor day and do something fun (and slightly crazy) for me!
Love from down under,
Emma