Opera and Rugby!

Hello!

So I am trying to have a productive Sunday, but have not gotten all too far. I am not going to lie, I have not done very much schoolwork here. It has been very hard to concentrate on schoolwork where there are so many more interesting things to do (like the beach ;-) ). I have a project and a presentation due this week and I will get to them eventually… it’s just hard to put in a lot of effort when I only have to get a 70 or better to pass. I have been doing some reading… but it has been fun reading that I want to read. I’m on my fourth book since I’ve arrived. It’s nice to catch up on the books that have been getting dusty on my shelf at home.

Alright, on to the interesting stuff! On Wednesday night we went to the Opera. It is called La Boehm and it is what the Broadway show, Rent was based off of. It was all in Italian, and was absolutely beautiful. It was fun to get dressed up for a night out. We took the ferry into Sydney and then got dinner a little restaurant on the way to the Opera House. It was delicious! I definitely would like to go back. J After dinner we went to the Opera House and found our seats. There is honestly not a bad seat in the house. The Sydney Opera House is one of only two auditoriums in the world with perfect acoustics (the other one is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan!) The only issue with our seats that we found out halfway through the show was that there were subtitles being shown and if we would have been one row closer to the stage we would have been able to see them. We thought it was odd that there were so many people that could understand the words when most of the crowd would all laugh at the same time. Oh well. It did ruin things a tiny bit, but we got over it real fast because we were at the opera in Sydney! The show was very cool. At one point during a song the whole set started to rise into the air to show another set behind them. It took us by surprise a bit, but we loved it. I only was able to sneak one picture while inside. It is of the stage. I tried to take another, but was told that was not allowed. Oh well, I guess one is better than nothing. It really was beautiful inside with the round, curved sealing. After we left the opera house, we stood and listened to a little jazz band play at the Opera House Bar and we took in the sights of the city at night. I love it!

Friday afternoon we went to a professional Australian rules rugby match. We had a blast!! It was the New South Wales Waratahs (which I learned is a type of flower) against the Queensland Brumbys (a kind of horse). There was quite a large group of us that went together. We left at about 4:45 and caught the 5:05 ferry to Circular Quay. We grabbed some dinner near the marina and then boarded a bus to take us to the Sydney Football Stadium. It was a pretty big stadium and there were TONS of people. We got a few free things on our way into the stadium to help us cheer. Lachy (one of my Aussie mates) and I went in ahead of everyone else so we could buy a jersey for one of our other mates for his birthday. A bunch of us all pitched in to surprise him and it was totally worth it. Nate said it was his best birthday present ever! J After we found our seats is started to sprinkle rain. The longer the match went on, the harder the rain fell. By the end of the game the rain was really pissing down and we were absolutely drenched. A rugby game consists of 2 40 minute halves and a 10 minute halftime. Our seats were really good and by the end of the game we were standing right up next to the field because a lot of people ran for cover when the rain started falling. Most of us didn’t care about the rain since we were already wet. It almost made it more fun being in the rain. And of course it rained; whenever we plan anything… it rains! The Waratahs (the team I was told to cheer for) won! The final score was 24-17. I learned quite a bit about the sport, so it was pretty interesting. The trip home was pretty miserable since we were soaked. My jeans are still not completely dry! We were shivering from the cold by the time we got off the ferry. Instead of walking up the hill we jumped into a few taxis to take us up to the school. My dry, warm clothes have never felt so good! I was exhausted and called it an early night after the game. We are planning another trip to one of the upcoming games, and I am looking forward to that one!

We got to have a nice beach day yesterday to make up for the rain that we have been experiencing. I had a lazy night and fell asleep pretty early, but it has been quite an eventful week and a half and I really need the catch-up! A couple of exciting things that are up coming:

We are going to the Opera again on Wednesday, but this time for a free showing of Carmen on an outside screen outside the Opera House.

Saturday night (St. Patty’s Day!) we are going to a Jack Johnson concert!! It is an outside concert that is general admission, so we are planning on getting there pretty early to get up close! Opening for him is Matt Costa, Will Conner and Dave Rastovich.

Lastly, Here are the links to my new pictures! The first and second are to slideshows of my pictures from the Great Barrier Reef. There were too many to fit in just one slideshow! The third is to MJ's album from pictures of the GBR... there are a couple of doubles in there, but there are also a couple of different ones. The fourth one is to my album full of our pictures from the Opera and the Rugby game. Enjoy! I miss you all and hope you are enjoying the tales of my adventures in Australia! Please let me know if you have any questions about anything that I can answer!!!

GBR:

MJs: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2185759&l=d61af&id=22414798 (The name on this album is what we were required to say instead of "Cheese" to take the pictures...)

Opera/Footy: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2185583&l=0197b&id=22411794

Cheers!