We got up and had our first experience of standing outside while the bus
loaded. we ate at the hotel, which had a great restaurant compared to the
rooms. We had an average hotel breakfast, and got our first (and for most
of us, our last) taste of Vegemite. Vegemite is this nasty yeast-based
stuff that looks like peanut butter made with prunes and chocolate. We
found this hard to believe, but we were told that a large percentage of
the Australian population loves the stuff. But they had Cocoa Krispies,
so we were set.
After breakfast we got on the bus and headed out to the Australian
Parliament House. It is an awesome building- it's built into and under
a hill. There were lots of neat clocks (one of those strange things people
tend to remember.) We saw the rooms for their House Of Representatives and
Senate. Very nice place. From the roof (which is actually the top of the
aforementioned hill) we could see the War Memorial.
After seeing Parliament, we went to the Questacon Museum of Science and
Technology and toured it. It was an average hands-on science museum, but it
was entertaining nonetheless. We ate lunch there, and then hung around the
gift shop until it was time to go. Michael Heiman went back in and got lost.
He delayed us about an hour, and though it was no big deal to us, Mr.
Montgomery got really mad and went in to get him. Poor Michael.
We had another average breakfast (I don't believe we ever had an interesting
one, so from this point on I won't even describe them unless they were
particularly groundbreaking) and then we went on another memorable part of
our journey- the Sydney Opera House. First, however, we went to a landmark
Me in front of the Opera House
on the harbor called Mrs. Macquarie's chair and took a big group picture.
(I will post this picture on the page as soon as I get it scanned.)
It turned out quite delightfully. Then we went across the harbor to the
Opera House, where we took a tour. It's really cool on the inside...
the architecture is very interesting. We went into the main opera auditorium,
where we learned about how special structures hanging from the ceiling
improved the acoustics, so additional amplification was not needed around
the room. The tour guides then insisted that we sing "The Star Spangled
Banner." We need to practice.
After the tour, we went on a boat ride around Sydney harbor. It was very
refreshing and relaxing. And free Coke! We drank till we were sick. I
think they lost a lot of money on soda that day. After the cruise, we
went to the New South Wales Art Gallery to see an exhibition on Aboriginal
Art. After seeing another Aborigine dance (they took volunteers, and some
of us got to dance too) we had another sack lunch and ended up playing good
old American Football with a bunch of oranges. After lunch we went to
Costello's to learn about and purchase Australia's most famous
precious gem- opals. Some people bought some. I decided they were too
expensive and made faces at the kids who were buying them through the front
window. Then we had a few hours off so we went to Darling Harbor mall and
shopped for two or three hours. I don't recall buying anything, but some
people made some nice purchases.
Stephen and Steffan in by a double-decker bus
After shopping, we returned to the hotel and from there we went to the
Hard Rock Cafe Sydney. We were ushered up to the top floor and were forced
to wait for some mediocre hamburgers. After dinner we got to go down a few
at a time to look around and buy stuff. I wandered around for quite a while,
and bought a dog tag for me and a shirt for my little sister. We were pooped
after that, so we headed back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.
This page was created by Nick Huinker with lots of help from Lacey Tauber. Main People To People graphic courtesy (much thanks!) to the People To People Student Ambassadors Website.
I would also like to thank Mr. Sam Montgomery, Mrs. Jo Beth Oestreich, and Ms. Debra Davis, our fearless leaders, as well as everyone else whom I shared this experience with.
