I don’t feel as though this is real life. When does this magic end and my reality begin? Australia has treated me like a queen, so when do I return to the U.S. to be a pauper again? Something strange has happened on my arrival here: Instead of being your average, everyday, typical 20 year old girl, here I’m something so much less unimportant.
Last Monday, I went on a date with a British bar manager, Simon. Every time I go to the 5 Boroughs in Kings Cross, he gives me as many free drinks as I can handle. He brought me out for (a really expensive) dinner in Darling Harbour at Adria, and then we stopped for drinks at another bar down the harbour. It was such a great night. We talked for hours without a lull in the conversation at all. He’s a sweet guy, and I think he’s really into me.
Last Wednesday, I went on a date with a Australian stunt man, Ben. He brought me on his motorcycle out to Manly. We ate at Manly Grill, and then we zoomed up to this secret little look out from which you can see the entire coast, all lit up at night. It’s so dark out there that you can see all of the stars and this beautiful band of the Milky Way. It was so peaceful, and Ben is so interesting. He races cars, drives a motorcycle, performs stunts for commercials and films such as the Great Gatsby and Wolverine, can carry on conversations about everything or nothing for hours, and he’s absolutely so nice.
Last Friday, I went to a rugby match between the Rabbitohs and the Roosters for my Sports and Learning of Australia class. It was so much fun, and I really enjoyed getting to be in on that bit of Aussie culture. I drank shitty beers and yelled for with South Sydney for the Rabbitohs and got a little too rowdy just like Australian tradition. A player from the Rabbitohs who is on injury leave went with our class, and he was so much fun to watch – yelling obscenities at the Roosters fans, screaming on his team, and getting belligerently drunk with the rest of us. He ended up texting me the next day and asking me out for coffee.
That night, I went on a date with an Australian from Tinder (LOL), George. We went for drinks at this little locals’ bar, Stitch, and then out to Bungalow 8 down on Darling Harbour. He’s really sweet, and I think I made him a little nervous. We had a great time, though, and he ended up being really funny. He told me about all these beaches that he wanted to bring me to and got me really excited to explore a bit more of Sydney.
On Sunday, I went to Bondi Beach with my Sports and Learning class to watch the Nippers. After, I went to breakfast with Ben and my friend Justin, and then Ben drove me up to the lighthouse because a German boy, Lucjan, I met in Byron Bay asked me to meet him there. It was beautiful. But Lucjan apparently knows most English but not all, and when I called him, he meant to have told me to meet him at the LIFEGUARD stand and not the LIGHTHOUSE. Rookie mistake? But Ben picked me up again and drove me back to the beach. Otherwise I would have been walking back to the beach for over and hour and a half. So I ended up spending the whole day with Lucjan, and I had expected him to be a cocky asshole or really boring because he’s ridiculously attractive, but he and I have so much in common. He was so interesting, and we talked about travel and the world and our thoughts about life for hours. And he ended up coming over to my apartment later that night for wine and more conversation. He’s absolutely so gorgeous, too.
So then yesterday, I had coffee with Simon before class, and then after class, Ben came over and hung out with my roommates and me, and then TODAY, I went to the beach with George. But the beach was absolutely so fucking cool. He drove me out to Wattamolla, which is awesome because I wouldn’t be able to get to this beach if I didn’t have someone with a car. But this beach, oh my god. It was incredible. On one side is a freshwater river with a waterfall and cliffs to jump off, and through a copse of mangrove trees and grassy sand, is the beach. Because there are rocks way out at the edge of the bay, the beach has zero waves, so you can just lay on your back in this glassy smooth ocean. It was amazing.
Tonight, I think I’m going out with a couple of my roommates tonight to celebrate if she gets this job or to forget about it if she doesn’t.
Life is just pretty great right now.
Sunny(Sydney)side of Life 