Opera House Night #1

Last night I attended my first show at the Sydney Opera House with 9 friends. We attended the 75 minute production of "Major Bang Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Dirty Bomb". Now let me tell you, I was throughly disappointed, not in the play itself which I thought was amusing although it didn't have a point to it, but rather in the Opera House itself. Luck have it, we chose to attend a play that was being show in the smallest theatre in the entire building. This place might have had room for 300 people and there were probably 150 there, not to mention the interior of the theatre was very bland. I think my high school auditorium is nicer. Although the play only had 2 actors, they did a good job of playing all the different parts. We already decided that we will have to return to see a production in the Concert Hall so we can get the complete experience of the building.
Afterwards, we went to grab some dinner at this surprisingly nice restaurant that is open 24 hours -- Since the play didn't end until 10:30 we needed a place like this. We all figured that we were getting used to Australia when we started to think that the prices weren't too bad, even with it costing $2.30 to add cheese to a burger that already cost $16. But along with a beer for $6.50, the bill wasn't too bad and tip/tax are already included in the price in the menu so you know exactly what you have to pay. With such a big dinner, we all decided to come back to campus without hitting up the bars. It was already 12 by that time so we would have had to leave a bar around 2 to catch the last bus home. Just didn't seem worth it and we were all tired. Good night none the less.
Today I did absolutely nothing other that sit around and take a 4 hour nap this afternoon. First Australian class in 13 hours......

First Night in Sydney

Well, I finally made it down to Sydney for the first time since I have been here. As expected, it was a great time to see how people live around here. There was Rugby on every TV and no one that I was with really understood it at all but being such a big sport here, I figure I will eventually learn. The community where I am staying offered a deal where they would take us downtown at 8 and bring us back at 2 for only $5. This is a good deal for the 30 minute ride considering it is about $6 each way if you take the public bus. We moved from Pub to Pub attempting to find the best deals on drinks. That really worked out well since each place that we went a beer was $6 and going for mixed drinks was crazy. It was $10 for a vodka and Red Bull and $20 for a double shot although the sign said cocktails were only $5, we just couldn't figure out which one was so cheap (I think it was Sex on the Beach). Might have been worth it but, come on, what guy is going to drink that? We moved on to an Irish Pub which had some great throwback music playing, I mean Spice Girls was blasting when we walked in. I liked this place because you could get a liter for $18 but for some reason they were not selling them so I had to settle for a half-liter @ $9.50. Doesn't seem like a good deal to me. I think that we found the best deal on Beer at what we believed to be a gay bar but nothing to back that up with. For $5, we got a beer that supposedly that was equal to 2 beers so that was a good find.
Finally around 1, we decided to go hunt for some food to top off the night. After walking 5 blocks we found a McDonald's. Now for expenses, the 10 piece nugget meal at home is about $5.50 but not hear, it is going to cost you $7. Oh, and did I mention that you only get 6 nuggets? So we all settled for the Quarter Pounder mean that was also $7, but it tasted like home. (Is that even a good thing? Still not healthy.)

Yesterday (Friday), I spent the early afternoon getting approved for classes that I want to take. I finally decided that I will be taking Organizational Beahviour (Australians spell weird), Labour Economics, Cross Cultural Management, and World History since 1945 - An Australian Perspective. So I have 2-100 level classes, 1-200, and 1-300 meaning if I decided to drop one, you can say bye-bye to Cross Cultural Management -- although this might be needed since I decided to double major and add Business Administration with a Management Concentration to my Accounting Major. All this work better be worth it!

Don't think much else has happened. Start classes on Monday -- Whooo!!

Peace Out.

First Week

Well, I have been here for about a week now and have amazingly accomplished nothing. I left from Cincinnati around 1pm on July 18 only to have a 9 hour layover in LA and not leave there until after 11:30pm on the 18th. After a 14 hour flight, I arrived in Sydney at 6:05am on July 20, so therefore I never had the privilege to experience Thursday, July 19, 2007. Talk about a long flight.
When I finally arrived at MacQuarie University Village, I started to meet my 4 roommates throughout the day. There is a man from Asia who I rarely see, a woman from Australia and 2 women from India (I believe). I think that I have done well so far in that I can remember all but one of their names.
I would have to say that the weirdest part is the 14 hour time difference and not having much connection to the US because everyone is usually sleeping while I am enjoying life down under. A lot of people went on pre-orientation trips. After spending the first 2-3 days going to bed at 5pm and waking up at 3am, I think that I finally have myself on a positive sleep schedule although I am still waking up at 7am even without a job. So I have spent my extra sleeping hours watching Weeds, Season 2 and Jericho, Season 1 (both are amazing shows).
Today I spent the mid-afternoon attempting to travel to North Sydney to meet the only connection that I have in the area only to be told both people were away for the week. Wasn't all that bad of a trip though since it kinda taught me how to use the Bus system. I am willing to bet that missing my return stop and having to change buses and ride for an extra 20 minutes wasn't all that bad. I just need to find what bus I can take that will pick me up and drop me off right in front of my apartment.
The fun is about to start as the rest of the normal students return to campus throughout the weekend and the parties start to get going, not to mention I start class on Monday (July 30).
If you want to contact me feel free: AOL & Skype-jordancmcghee; email-jordan.mcghee@richmond.edu; and for those who don't care about costs (it is free for me) cell- 61-0404-41-6865
I'll see how well I do keeping this up to date and adding some pictures from around the area. Cheers!