Mom

Dear Mom,

I’ve been saving this letter for you! On Sunday my flatmate and I woke up to a beautiful, sunny day, so we went to the botanical gardens.

Our apartment is close to downtown, so there are lots of cool places we can walk to. To get to the gardens, we walked north, past Hyde Park, the Australian Museum, and the Parliament building, then followed the road as it curved into the gardens. The main road there is called Mrs. Macquarie’s Road. I’m not sure who these Macquaries were, but their name is all over this city (i.e. the name of my school). I like the idea of Mrs. Macquarie being a gardener, like you, and while Mr. Macquarie had institutions and buildings in his name, Mrs. Macquarie got the gardens in hers.

The gardens are sprawling and maze-like. We got lost a couple of times, and the confusing signs made me feels like Alice in Wonderland. There are sections for different kinds of plants—succulents, herbs, and a fernery, which was in a cool wooden structure.

The blazing sun we had woken up to quickly dimmed, but that left us with a strange light that was amazing in photos. The clouds look like smoke to me in some of these photos. The contrast with the buildings is unreal—it kind of looks like Sydney is burning down.

This is my flatmate, Chrissy.

She grew up in Dresden, went to university in Munich, and has traveled all over the world. She has amazing stories from her travels. She told me about a time when she and her friend had traveled to Madagascar and were staying on a remote island off the mainland with only locals around. Their tent was robbed, leaving them with no money, no food, no passports, and no means of transportation. Over the next two days, they had to find their way to the capital, then go to the embassy and call their parents for help. Can you imagine getting that call?

Then again, if that happened to you and you made it, I guess you’d feel like you could do just about anything.

From the gardens, we walked up to the harbor, then around that area, which is called Circular Quay. That’s where the opera house is. I was surprised when I saw it up close—it looks so sleek and modern in photos, but up close, it’s kind of dingy and retro-looking.

We came across the Aroma Festival on the opposite side of the bay, in an area called the Rocks. There were booths selling coffee, chocolate, tea, and food. This is the great thing about wandering: I had seen signs advertising this festival when I first got to Sydney and had wanted to go, but I didn’t know when or where it was. By exploring, we just stumbled across it.

I miss you and love you so much!!

Love,

Meagan

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Dear Paige,

You’re leaving for France in a week!! I’m so excited for you. You’re going to see how incredible it is to explore a place that’s entirely new. It's an amazing, exhilarating experience.

This week I’ve gotten settled into my new apartment and have taken a few days to read, write, and rest—things I haven’t really done since I’ve been here. My apartment hunt was so frantic and frenzied that it’s been nice to relax. Especially since the weather seems to be getting even colder.

Here are a few shots from my apartment: the living room, my bedroom, the kitchen, and the view from my living room.

It’s cool to be a part of the city—I didn’t realize this until I moved here, but I’ve never really lived in the middle of a city. LA is so spread out and there’s not really a central area that’s most densely populated, so it has an entirely different feel.

Although it’s been freezing the past few days, on Sunday we had a gorgeous day. Luckily, that was the day I went sailing.

A friend of mine invited me to join a group of guys he had sailed with the week before who have been on a crew together for years. They're all in their 40s/50s, have been sailing in Sydney their entire lives, and have amazing stories. They all love this city so much.

I didn't know this going into it, but it turned out it was a race! They’re part of a league that races from Rushcutters Bay, around the harbor to Manly, and back every Sunday, and this was the next-to-last one in the winter series. They were a little short on crew, so although I’ve never sailed before, I got thrown into it and ran around doing whatever jobs they gave me. Like this one.

...ha, well maybe next time.

We took off at about 10:30 AM and got back at 5 PM. It was incredible—sailing around the entire harbor, I got the most insane views of the city. And the sun was out, the sky was clear—it was pretty close to perfect.

Afterward, everyone who had been on a boat in the race (hundreds of people—there were so many boats on the water) got together at the boat club and had food and drinks, and they announced the day’s winners and the overall rankings.

Something I’ve noticed is that although many people who live here were born and raised here, most of them traveled all over the world before returning. Travel is really a priority in their lives. One guy was telling me that he had the most wonderful childhood imaginable, roaming wherever he wanted with other kids on the coast and in the water as long as he was home when the sun went down. But he took it for granted, and when he set out to see the rest of the world, though he lived in several other countries for years at a time, he eventually realized that there was nowhere he wanted to be more than here. Meanwhile, I think Americans tend to assume the place they’re from is better than anywhere else in the world and are content to stay without checking out other places. That’s definitely the perception of Americans here—that we’re insulated and comfortable in our little corner of the globe. It’s not necessarily negative—I think we’re seen in a far more negative light in many other countries—but it is a distinct opinion here. Definitely something to think about.

All of which comes back to the point that I’m so excited for your trip. I want to hear all about it. But first, when is your test for your license?? Should San Diego be afraid?

Love you so so much!!

Megs

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Cavin and Michele

Dear Cavin and Michele,

I really can’t thank you enough for introducing me to these lovely people.

Michael and Amanda are so warm and wonderful. They researched the best options for a phone and bank account for me, drove me around, and went out of their way to make me feel at home while I stayed with them. And Lucy and Abbey are the most adorable little girls—playful, mischievous, sweet, and, of course, as kids tend to be at (almost) 2 and 3 years old, full of energy.

On Friday, Amanda drove me (and the girls) to see Macquarie University, where I’ll be taking my course.

The campus is pretty removed from the city, and it really feels like a step away. There are tons of trees and lots of open land. I think it’s going to be a perfect place to study, and since I'll be living in the city, it will be nice to get away and focus in that environment a few days a week.

After that, Amanda did the (nearly) impossible and took us to Ikea, which has to be one of the most difficult places to keep up with two toddlers. She kept them entertained in the kids’ section while I picked out a dresser, closet organizer, hangers, etc. (The next day when Michael moved me to my new apartment, he even built the dresser for me. Does a greater act of goodness exist than offering to build Ikea furniture for someone? I think not.)

The last night I stayed with them, they bundled up the girls and we all walked to the pub down the street from them (right on the water in Coogee Beach) and met some of their friends who live in the neighborhood and have a daughter Lucy’s age for dinner. Pubs are everywhere here—they’re casual, and some, like this one, are very family-friendly. The kids had the $5 pizza special and the adults had burgers and chicken. Their neighborhood has such a wonderful community feel. They--along with most people I've come across--seem so happy here, and it’s easy to see why.

Anyway, thank you again for setting me up with your wonderful friends. I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to Australia.

Love you guys! Hope all is well.

xo,

Meagan

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Dad

Dear Dad,

I have an apartment!!

I just made the deposit payment (they call it "bond" here) as well as two weeks' rent on a room in an apartment (I should really start calling it "flat"). Yay!!! I feel like I just got a job I really wanted. I had completely forgotten how stressful it is looking for a place to live. Actually, I've never really experienced that stress, because I've never done it on my own--I've always had a friend/roommate who has taken the lead, and I've just gone along and okayed or vetoed their finds. This one was 100% me. Booya.

This week has been consumed by apartment-hunting. For the most part, it's been amazing. It's forced me to learn to make my way around the city and see corners I might not have explored otherwise. And more importantly, it's forced me to do it on my own.

As you know, I have a pretty impressive ability to get dramatically, illogically lost (remember when Den and Paige and I tried to go to the beach in San Diego and we ended up in the desert?). If I walk around with someone, there's no chance I'll retain any knowledge of where things are. I'll walk and talk with blinders on. But when I'm by myself, it's basically survival mode. I mean, I could end up anywhere. So I have to be vigilant about paying attention to my surroundings, I have to carry around maps that I discreetly pull from my bag and take peeks at in worst case scenarios, and, most importantly, I have to write specific directions to everywhere I plan to go in this little notebook before I leave the house. I would be nothing without this little guy.

When I started looking for places to live, I had no idea what area I wanted to be in. Most Americans and other tourists are drawn to the eastern beaches, specifically Bondi. It's laidback and bohemian, and in the summer it's supposed to be a massive party. All my friends who came to Sydney for a semester abroad during college live there. The very few people I've been introduced to through mutual friends who live here are there. So initially, I thought it was where I wanted to live. However, see the map below.

Point A is Bondi Beach, over there on the east coast. See where Macquarie is at Point B? Across the harbor (sorry, HARBOUR), north, and allll the way west over there in a suburb called North Ryde. The commute would include a walk, a bus, and two trains, adding up to an hour and a half of travel time. I don't mind a long commute, but three hours a day of travel time on several different modes of public transportation is just not happening.

So, I started exploring my options. I wanted to find somewhere that was sort of a compromise between school and the beach. I've been told that the area where Macquarie is located is very suburban and really sort of out in the boonies,* so I didn't want to live there. People suggested various areas to me and I plugged countless locations into a website here that tells you how to travel using public transportation (in case you're interested, it's http://www.131500.com) as I navigated the treacherous unknown of gumtree.com.au, which is essentially craigslist in Australia, and domain.com.au, which is a similar website just for real estate. A lot of the ads are easy to weed out. Here are a couple examples:

(Only free bread sometimes?? What are they thinking?)

(Good to know that no one is staying in the living room / sunny room. If only there weren't those simply rules complicating things.)

...I could go on, but you get the idea.

Eventually I concluded that downtown Sydney would be a good option, because if I could walk to a train station there I could just take trains to Macquarie rather than dealing with an extra leg of the trip on a bus every day. The beach areas are also pretty accessible, with lots of direct bus routes. And, as I started to explore downtown, I realized how much I liked it. It's a fairly small downtown area, easy to get around on foot, and busy, but slower-paced than an American city like New York or San Francisco. It has a good feel. Plus, as you're walking, you hit harbors with gorgeous views, like Darling Harbor, which I stumbled across one afternoon.

I also had lunch at a place with local cuisine...kangaroo and emu pizza!! Both were delicious. Here I am with my new friend Kyle, who works at a bank downtown and met me for lunch. I guess I really should have take a close-up of the pizza.

Finding an apartment downtown didn't turn out to be easy. There are some strange things going on. First of all, there is seldom an ad for a room for just one person. Whether they mention it in the ad or not, most of the rooms have 2, 3, or even 4 people living in them. It's insane. I guess the apartments are so expensive that that's the only way people can afford them. I quickly picked up on this and realized I needed to ask up front whether the room advertised was a single.

The funniest one I actually went to see was advertised as a room for a single person in a nice building, for a low price. I should have known something wasn't right, and truthfully I kind of did, but I was curious so I went anyway. This lady had literally put paper over the windows of this glassed-in balcony/sunroom kind of thing and put a futon in there and was trying to rent it out. I laughed out loud when she showed it to me. Now THAT is what the Aussies call "dodgy."

I was advised to look in Surry Hills, which is a cool, young area in the southern part of downtown. I felt out the area and liked it--lots of restaurants, cafes, shops, bars, and still very central. So I went to see a couple places there, and last night I saw one I liked. Both the apartment and the room are spacious, clean, and in a nice, new building. It's a three-bedroom with a guy and girl who have just moved into the other two rooms--both nice, normal people. And it has the best location: access to all the good things in Surry Hills, and a two-minute walk to Central Station. That means instead of taking buses, trains, etc. for an hour and half to get to classes, I can jump on one train for about 40 minutes and it will take me straight to school.

I took a night to think about it, and this morning when I woke up I was terrified of losing it. I put down the payment and got the keys today, and I'll move in on Saturday. I'll be able to get out of the way of the Williamsons (who are so unbelievably welcoming and wonderful but can't want me here forever), and get settled and hang out in the area before orientation for school starts next Friday.

Mom told me how well you did at the meet last weekend. Not that I'm surprised, but I'm always so proud of you :) How was the All-Star game with Den?

I've Skyped with Mom a couple times, but I want to see you too! Let's do it this weekend. Miss you and love you.

Soooooo much,

Peepers

*I can't remember their term for that here, although I did learn it recently.

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Dennis

Dear Den,

Right now I’m eating an Aero bar. A mint one. And I have a feeling there are going to be many more over the next year.

I promise I’m not trying to make you jealous. Let’s say I’m enjoying it for both of us. Like I said, I wish Wonka TV was real so I could beam one over to you.

Anyway, I’ve spent the past couple days starting to explore Sydney. Why is it so satisfying to learn your way around a new city? Don’t get me wrong, I’ve still got a whole lot to learn, but any little victory—especially if it involves public transportation—feels like a major coup. Getting where I want to go when I’m on my own honestly gives me a little bit of an ego boost. And you know what? It doesn't feel bad!

However. That only happens...oh, maybe 70 percent of the time. And when I don’t get where I meant to go? Well, then I wander.

That’s what happened today—I took the bus too far and ended up in the middle of downtown, so I got off and wandered for a few hours, then walked on a main road through several different areas of town until my poor battered feet wouldn’t tolerate any more and I had to hop on a bus. I wish you were here to wander with me—we would have fun running around this city. Today for lunch I stopped in one of those sushi places with the revolving carousel like the one we ate at in London, and I thought about you and that day. Remember when the spider came out of the faucet?

On Friday night I went with a girl from San Diego down to the harbor and saw the Sydney opera house. It really is stunning at night—I’ll have to go back and see it during the day as well. For some reason my camera refused to take a picture you could see it in, but here’s a picture of me in front of a black background and a few lights—I swear it’s back there.

Yesterday I took a gorgeous walk along the coast from Bondi Beach to Coogee. The beaches here are tiny both in length and width—they look miniature compared to California beaches. But it’s kind of nice—it makes them seem friendly, sort of tailored for leisure. I’ve never liked trekking through what feels like miles of sand to get to the bathroom. At the beach in Santa Monica, there's so much sand that it’s seriously a 20-minute round trip. Here, between the few small beaches is a lot of rocky coast.

On the way, we stopped for lawn bowling with some New Zealanders I met. Lawn bowling is actually not very similar to indoor bowling, except for the fact that you throw the ball the same way (except these are not perfectly round so the weight is distributed differently, which makes them do this crazy curve kind of like a frisbee). Instead of knocking over pins, you and your team try to get your balls as close to the target as possible.

The court (alley? field?) was weird because there’s a cemetery adjacent to it, so we were basically surrounded by graves. That, along with the light and the total silence up there, made it feel pretty surreal.

Later I watched a rugby game at a bar. And this morning, since my jet lag is still in effect, I woke up in time to see the sunrise, which was unbelievable from the second-floor deck of the Williamsons’ house. The photos don’t do it justice.

How is your alone time alone at the apartment going? Are you going down to San Diego? Miss you--I’m so glad I got to come see you last week. Is it weird that I’m craving those Cuervo chocolates??

Love,

Megs

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Sarah

Dearest Sarah, my hubs of hubs,

I'm here. I'm here. I'm actually here!!

Sydney is rainy right now, which has prompted several Australians who know it's my second day here to apologize profusely for the "rubbish weather," but that means it's the perfect time for me to write to you.

As I might have told you, my dad spoiled me and used his frequent flyer miles to bump me up to first class on the flight from LA to Melbourne, which essentially means those 15 hours were magical. I got on the plane, put on the pajamas they gave me, drank two glasses of champagne, had a delicious salmon dinner, and slept like a baby in my bed. Literally, a bed. There aren't even seats in rows up there--they're pods, staggered and diagonally positioned, and when you're ready to sleep you sliiiide it all the way down to bed position. It feels like you're in a crib on a spaceship. I woke up when they were serving breakfast and asked the flight attendant how much longer we had, expecting 6 or 7 hours, and she said two and a half. I actually wished it would last longer--I didn't even get to finish Shutter Island!

When we deplaned in Melbourne and I found out I would have to get all my luggage to go through customs and then check it back in for my flight to Sydney, I got a teeny bit worried. See, I packed for a year--three massive bags, each just shy of the 70-pound international limit, plus a carryon that was far bigger than it technically should have been and a purse that probably weighed, oh, 20 pounds. At baggage claim I almost took a couple of innocent bystanders out as I retrieved one bag, then literally just as I was wondering how the hell I was going to handle all of them, baggage services paged me on the intercom. I put a few more lives in danger as I maneuvered my cart over to the desk, and when I got there, they told me that two of my bags had been left at LAX and would be delivered to the address where I was staying the next day. I can't lie--there was a little bit of relief there, considering the circumstances. It almost felt like--shall we say--a blessing in disguise? But more on that later. (Oh yes, there's more. Suspenseful, right?)

When I landed in Sydney, I was greeted by a beautiful rainbow. That is a true story. It was probably the cheesiest thing that has ever happened, but obviously I had to take a picture of it. I did my best to block the fact that I was taking a photo of a rainbow through the window of the plane from the other passengers, but they probably saw. I don't care, it was worth it.

And so here I am. I'm still getting occasional flashes of realization that I don't quite know what I'm doing, but that's okay. They probably won't stop for a while, and that's okay too. Those moments are good for us, right? I guess they're part of the reason I'm here.

I'm staying with the loveliest, most welcoming and hospitable family. Their house is gorgeous, and the view from the floor-to-ceiling windows in their kitchen / dining room on the second floor is breathtaking. I'll have to send you a picture--it's really unbelievable. I was worried about jumping from San Diego summer to some foreign winter I've never experienced, but other than the recent (and, I've heard, unusual) "rubbish" weather, it's not bad at all. I've set up a bank account and gotten phone service, both of which were pretty painless endeavors. The only thing still missing is the luggage. Yes, we're back to that.

I called Qantas's lost baggage line yesterday afternoon to give them a different number to reach me, and the woman I spoke to told me that the bags weren't showing up in the system. However, she also told me they were going to have $400 for me to pick up at a building in Sydney for my inconvenience. This morning, I called again to check on the bags and was told that the bags were still not showing up in the system, but that they were going to give me an additional $200 since it had been 24 hours. Then a couple hours ago, they called and told me the bags were on the way and would be delivered to me this evening. So, about that blessing in disguise. I've gotta say, Qantas, you lost my bags, but I ain't mad at ya. We're all good.

More to come. As always, ALL of my love, and give my little Addy-Roo a kiss for me!

Love love,

Meagan Tara

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