Mid term exams... then SYDNEY!

    Mid Terms: I had 2 exams last week, one in Sales Management and one in Psych. Love, Sex, and Relationships and a paper for Internet Advertising. I didn't have one for Advertising Principles and Practices because we do debates and are about to start an advertising campaign project. I studied a lot and I think I did well on my exams, we find out this week.

    Then my friends and I, as well as heaps of Bond students, traveled to New South Wales for the weekend for the mardi gras parade in Sydney.

    When we got there on Thursday night, we met up with the rest of our group and hung out at the hostel. We stayed at "Wake Up" hostel on Pitt St. It was pretty nice for a hostel and there was a cafe, a TV room, internet access, and the Side Bar which was a lot of fun! There were so many people staying there from all different countries.

< our hostel

     On Friday we did all the tourist things and explored Sydney. We took the Sydney Hop on Hop off double decker tour bus. We went to some markets, china town, around Darling Harbour, and then the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The Opera House and the bridge were amazing! We had so much fun and took a bunch of pictures! There was a wedding being set up in the Royal Botanic Gardens near the Opera House.

    I also saw the Anzac Bridge, Australia's oldest cathedral - Saint Andrew's Cathedral, the Public Library of New South Wales, Sydney's oldest pub, where Russell Crow lives, King Edward VII statue and memorial. I learned that even though the British pound was their official currency, Australia used Rum as another currency in the 1800's.

Russell Crowe's house at the end

    Saturday, Feb. 27, was the famous Mardi Gras Parade on Oxford Street. 1/2 million people come from everywhere for the Mardi Gras celebration. It was crazy! There were so many interesting people!
This is the description from the mardi gras website: "The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival is the world’s premier gay and lesbian cultural festival. Spanning two weeks in 2010, from the 19th February – 6th March, the Festival aims to increase visibility of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities and their culture."  http://www.mardigras.org.au/index.cfm

   Our last day in Sydney, we went to Bondi Beach! That day there was a tsunami warning, but nothing really happened...boriingg. Bondi Beach was soo pretty! We had a lot of fun walking around the outdoor market that had a bunch of tents selling different things and sat on the beach and watched the surfers.