My Final HOOROO

Overall TWC’s intern abroad program in Sydney was a great experience and I am happy I was a part of it. It was an amazing two months in Australia and I will miss everything about it, from the unpredictable weather and cushy apartments to free drinks at Side bar and Aussie rules! In my time here I met a lot of great people both in and out of CAPA's programs. My internship taught me a number of soft skills from being able to take direction to being a better communicator. In as much as I am sad to see my time in Australia come to a close, I had a fulfilling experience and I know that I am not leaving empty handed. Coming to Sydney, working, and living on my own has been a truly memorable life experience!

This was our LAST night before we all left for the airport in the morning… Sagar and Sonia left the day before.

we all went our separate ways…

Hooroo!!

A Bittersweet Last Two Weeks

2nd to Last Week:

We were six and half weeks in and we had really grown accustomed to Australia; however, in a matter of time it was all coming to a close. I have heard the phrase “time flies when you are having fun” a million times and yet I still was not prepared for time to go by that fast. Nonetheless, we put the time we had left to good use!

Sydney is home to the world’s largest IMAX screen. So while the Londoners got rained on at the Red Carpet for Harry Potter, Sagar and I were fighting to be the first ones in the theater. After hours of sitting in line and a bit of drama with a group of student who tried to cut in front of us, we finally made it in and snagged the best seats in the house!

In regards to work, my supervisor was extremely keen on me experiencing the work side of things as well as exploring Sydney. Since I had already put in a few weeks of hard work and was really helping out my supervisor, she decided to let me off early on Thursday. Therefore, Sagar and I decided to use the day to do a little souvenir shopping! Paddy’s Markets is an underground market in Sydney’s Chinatown; it is home to a variety of inexpensive souvenirs.

CAPA did not arrange any weekend events for us so we planned a weekend trip on our own. Anna, Kelli, Matt, Dan, and Ryan took a road trip four hours into the Outback and camped out there for the weekend.

Sagar, Sonia, and I decided to forego the Outback in hopes of seeing all of Sydney and its nearby beaches. We got an early start on the day and hopped on a Double Decker touring bus and began our journey around Sydney.

We toured Sydney and its hidden treasures then moved on to beaches and finally we took a day trip to the Blue Mountains.

Last Week:

Sagar and I were determined to see a show at the Opera House before we left Sydney.

We went to the box office after work one night and bought tickets to see Pericles, a Shakespearean play about greed, loss, love, and hope.

Cockatoos are very common in Australia and still we had only seen them at the Zoo. Since it was our last week in Sydney and we all had leftover food, we gathered up our leftover bread, and headed to the Botanical Gardens to feed the cockatoos.

The bird whisperers

The last time we would see the amazing view of Circular Quay

It is our last week in Sydney and from this point on everything we did would be the last time we did it. It would officially be my last Thursday waking up to my blaring alarm clock radio. I was up at 8 am, out the door by 9:20, and at my desk by 10. I worked a full day, said all my goodbyes and headed home to spend a long weekend with the TWC gang.

CAPA hosted a welcome lunch upon our arrival and gave us a farewell dinner on our departure. It was a nice close to a perfect two months!

But it actually didn’t end their… Sagar thought it would be a good idea to put soap in the fountain by our apartment complex. This was the result…

Ok so this is my first and last lie of this blog! We didn’t put soap in the fountain we came home one day and found it that way and then made a funny story about how Sagar did it as his last hoorah!! So for the record WE DIDN’T DO THIS!!

Hooroo!!

What do the Zoo and Chocolate have in common?

We all had a quiet week at work so we were looking forward to an eventful weekend. Unfortunately, things didn’t go exactly as planned but even with the setbacks everything ended up working itself out.

Since we generally don’t work Fridays we decided to go to the zoo hoping it wouldn’t be too crowded. We took a ferry out to the zoo early Friday afternoon and were determined to see every animal in the zoo.

There was an Australian walkabout in the zoo where kangaroos, wallabies, and emus were allowed to roam freely. One kangaroo even hopped its way right in between a family of five that was getting ready to take a picture.

Matt petting a wallaby

The Taronga Zoo is very pretty; the best thing about it is the view of the city from almost every part of the zoo.

CHOCOLATE…

Sagar found this famous desert restaurant called Max Brenner’s. I had never heard of the place but I figured you can never go wrong with a place that specializes in chocolate! We spent our Saturday walking around the Harbor and perusing the small markets. Max Brenner’s was our last stop and it was a great way to end the day!

So what do the zoo and chocolate have in common? They make for a great weekend!

Hooroo!!

Different Agendas

It was 4th of July weekend in the U.S. but here it was just another weekend and we all intended to spend it in different ways. Some traveled, others stayed home and relax, and I shopped!

Sonia went on a 4 day getaway to Cairns with several other CAPA students. The trip was arranged by a travel group that CAPA hires to set up a number of organized travel options for interns to choose from.

They saw the Great Barrier Reef, went skydiving, hiked through a rainforest, took a boat through a crocodile pond, and the list goes on. The Great Barrier Reef was voted one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World and from what I heard it is truly amazing.

Anna and Kelly took a weekend trip to the Blue Mountains along with Kelly’s family, who were visiting for the week.

View from a lookout

When we visited the Australian Embassy in D.C., one of the speakers suggested we go to Canberra and celebrate the 4th of July at the U.S. Embassy. Unfortunately, the celebration was only for diplomats and no one could pull any strings to get us in. Although there was nothing going on at the U.S. Embassy, the boys still decided to take a bus to Canberra. Canberra is home to the Parliament House, several other government agencies, and a number of museums. Despite Canberra being the capital of Australia, there isn’t much draw to the city and I wouldn’t say it’s a typical tourist site for college students. I think the guys would strongly agree! They spent two days in Canberra visiting museums and touring different government buildings. Did I mention that they had to walk everywhere too, that may be why they didn’t have such a great experience.

I, on the other hand, had a great experience shopping! Sydney is a shopper’s paradise. They have everything from large elegant malls to small chic boutiques.

The Queen Victoria Building is one of the nicest malls I have ever seen. Naturally, I couldn’t afford anything in the mall but it was nice to see how beautiful the design of the mall is. With its rounded arch ways, high ceilings, ceramic moldings, and bold paint, the QVB is truly a site to see… even if you don’t buy anything!

The Forever 21 of Australia

The last item on my shopping list was UGGs. I figured since I was in Australia I had to get a pair of boots from the place where they originated! It’s interesting that UGGs, a boot made from cold weather, originated from such a hot country; but then again Australia is interesting.

Hooroo!!

Ordinary Weeks…Extraordinary Weekends

It’s funny how easy it is to get into a routine after doing the same things for a while. The weekdays are very routine; it’s work, class, TV/internet, sleep, and sometimes the occasional movie or UNO game. The weekdays can definitely be redundant but the weekends always make up for it!

Just like in college, weekends start on Thursdays. Most of us work 4 days a week so we usually have Fridays off. CAPA (TWC's partner abroad) sponsors a number of events for us to do on the weekends. They offer a range of events, from social and cultural events to experiential trips. Over the past two weeks we have gotten to take advantage of the entire range of events CAPA has to offer.

In terms of social events, Sidebar (a popular nearby pub) hosts a Thursday night event for interns. The event is the perfect intern get away. It gives us time to relax and unwind with our fellow students, Australian mates, and the rest of the world (because Sidebar is just below a hostel, so there are people from all over).

After experiencing the social scene, it’s always good to mix it up with a bit of culture. Each week CAPA sends us a Monday Memo; the memo states all the events that are going on in Sydney for that week.

A 3-D replica of Sydney was built on the floor of the Customs House

Sydney is a very lively city and there is always something to do so it is good to have the Monday Memo to tell us which events will be worth our while! The most recent cultural event that CAPA informed us about was a comedy show at the Opera House. CAPA managed to get a group rate of only $15 per student to see the show. $15 is extremely cheap for the Opera House so the tickets were a steal. Unfortunately, the show was in the Playhouse which is a smaller stage than what we expected for the Opera House so I am sure we will be going back again to see a show on one of the grand stages. I am not much of an Opera fan, but you cannot come to Sydney and not see a show at the Sydney Opera House…that’s just unheard of!! So I intend to sit through a however-long opera filled with funny costumes and high-pitched singing.

Although Sydney is a great city, we have all been dying to get out of it and these past two weekends our wish came true. Our first weekend out was an escape to Hunter Valley, where we went wine and cheese tasting. At Hunter Valley, we stopped at two wineries and one brewery.


We tasted a number of different wines… some good, some bitter, some absolutely unbearable! My experience was a good one but I don’t think wine is for me so I am sure that will be my first and last wine tasting.

The following weekend we set off for Port Stephens. It was a long drive but it was well worth it. We began our first day there with a trip to a shark and stingray zoo.


Everyone had a chance to feed the sharks and stingrays and a few people were actually brave enough to get in there and swim with them. I was not one of those brave souls; instead, I watched from a comfortable distance. A few scares and laughs later, we left the sharks and sting rays and headed to the sand dunes of Birubi Beach.


The dunes were pretty steep and once again I was the scaredy cat and was slow to get out there. But in my defense, a few people went before me and I think only one of them made it to the bottom without wiping out and getting a mouthful of sand!! Well I took my chances, got one the board, and sped down the sand dune… I almost made it the whole way before eating sand. The next times down the dunes were much better and it was a tiring but extremely fun time!! Before heading back to our hotel we stopped at the beach to enjoy some waves and the sunset. It was absolutely beautiful!!

The next day was much more relaxing. We went on a 3 hour whale and dolphin watching cruise. It is whale season in Australia so we were guaranteed to see a whale…

the dolphins were just a bonus!

We spent the rest of the day shopping and dining at port… oh and jumping on a trampoline!!

As the weekend came to a close, we prepared for hop back into our weekday routine and remained hopeful that next weekend would match or exceed the previous one!

Good and Bad

Like all things in life, there have been both good and bad parts to my intern abroad experience, and the past two weeks have been the perfect example of this. Before you read this I want to make it very clear that this is not at all representative of my overall feelings; instead it is meant to touch on some of the problems I have encountered in the past two weeks. So optimists beware...the following may be hard to read.

On the bad side...

Courses

• Our Perspectives on Experiential Learning Abroad (PELA) class, which is supposed to support us in our internship and help us gain insight into the Australian workplace, turned out to be very redundant. As others in the program realized that PELA was not important to them, they started not participating, carrying on side conversations, and overall just making the class even more useless.
• The political science course is very long! But seeing as it is a 6 week course, it makes sense that the class meets for 3 hours twice a week.

Work

• Finance is a tough field for interns to enter because to do most of the highest level work, you need real experience that extends beyond introductory courses and extracurricular activities. Since finance is already a tough field, the best internships are with companies that have a specific procedure for interns. My original placement site didn't have one in place.
• In my last blog I spoke about my optimism and my hopes to be given more worthwhile tasks; unfortunately, that optimism died and I realized that my old site would not be able to provide me with the experience I had hoped for. Two other Finance interns had similar troubles.

Switching internships

• TWC's partner abroad was unable to immediately respond to our internship problems. They have a strict procedure and timeframe for acting on problems with internships; however, we have only limited time left here in Australia and we felt that a switch should have been made more quickly.
• In my opinion, a lot of the problems that some of us have faced at our internship sites could have easily been avoided if more research had been done on the companies we were placed in.

Economy

• The effects of the U.S. economic downturn are present here in Australia. The fluctuations in the exchange rate make it very difficult to exchange money because you are always in search of the best rate.
• The cost of living is high in Sydney. Yes, it is manageable and not as expensive as LONDON (sorry London TWCers) but I find myself going through money pretty quickly here, and I am a very frugal person, so it is saying a lot to say I spent money.

Time

• Time goes by way too quickly! We only have just under 3 weeks left!
  

Okay, optimists, you can read easy from now on. The bad is over and there is a lot of good to come!

On the good side...

Classes

• There is only 1 week of PELA left (since we have class only 6 of the 8 weeks we're here), which clears up our last two Thursdays in Australia!!
• We are going on a field trip!! Our academic course professor was given money for us to go and see the Hyde Park Barracks and to sip tea at the Parliament House.

Work

• Although we thought TWC's partner was slow to respond to our troubles, they did come through in the end and they have found new placements for all three of us finance interns who had complaints.
• The other eight interns have really enjoyed their placements. Some of them have been given opportunities to do exciting work! For example, Dan is getting to write horoscopes and short pieces for the tourism magazine he works for. Sonia is working on one of Greenpeace’s major campaigns.

Switching internships...

• TWC's partner abroad listened to our problems and decided to make some changes.
• They had us fill out some surveys and they really seem like they are going to make changes. We are the pilot group, so bumps in the road are expected, but I am sure next year will be much better.

Economy

• I have only become more frugal so in the long run I will save more money!

Time

• Time only goes by fast when you are having fun… so it’s clear we are having fun!!

We are going to make the best of the time we have left by doing and seeing everything Australia has to offer us (within our budgets of course)!!

Hooroo!!

Getting the Ball Rolling

We have been in Australia for almost three weeks now, and we are all really starting to get in the grove of things. We have memorized our schedules, learned our way around the city, and even mastered our internal clocks.

My schedule was not too hard to master. I work three days a week for a total of 24 hours. So far, my job has been slow to start because they are still getting acclimated to having me around. It’s been an effort on both parts and Caritas employees have been very friendly. In the upcoming weeks, I hope to take on more difficult tasks, but until then I will continue to showcase my Excel skills and my ability to take detailed notes during the finance team meetings. Apart from work, we have a political science class 2 days a week for 3 LONG hours each day. Don’t get me wrong, the class is interesting; however, it’s sometimes hard to follow because to truly understand political science, you need to know the history behind the laws. Nonetheless, our professor does his best to bridge the gaps between Australia’s history and its political system.

Naturally, learning our way around the city was a little harder to do than simply memorizing my work and class schedule. The public transportation system in Sydney is really good in that it encompasses the whole city; you can get almost anywhere in or nearby Sydney by bus, train, or ferry. However, the transportation system has one major flaw… the buses are NEVER on time. I have learned to expect buses anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes later than they were supposed to be there. Despite the unpredictable buses, we have still managed to learn our way around and truly experience Sydney in both the day and night!

We have had the weather on our side these past weekends, so we took that to our complete advantage!

The koalas at Sydney's Wildlife Park

And the kangaroos

Since the weather was so nice we decided to venture out of the city because many Australians have told us that Australia is not a city-dwelling country; instead it is a country that enjoys its outdoors. This fact was not at all surprising. Australia is home to a few of the natural wonders of the world and many breathtaking sites.

We are still working on making our way further out of Sydney and into places like the Blue Mountains, Port Stephens, Great Barrier Reef, and hopefully the Outback!

Until then…

On the ferry leaving Sydney

Surfing is a huge deal in Australia and everyone does it. We saw everyone surfing--from young boys and girls to old men. It is important to remember that it is winter here! Despite what you might think, it does get a chilly in Australia, which means the water is freezing. However, freezing cold water does not stop these Aussies!!

The ferry ride home was beautiful…

Harbour Bridge at sunset

The view of the city

The Opera House was lit up for Vivid Sydney, a festival of music, lights and ideas

Getting out of the city was amazing because in the city you can sometimes forget you are in Australia, so going to Manly Beach was a great reminder.

Memorizing my schedules and learning my way around was no big deal compared to how hard it was to master my internal clock. My first week here, I had to fight of sleep every night, and most nights I lost the battle. But now, my internal clock is synching itself with Australia time and I am having no trouble staying up.

We went to Luna Park, which was fun but it was a high school hangout… OOPS!! Well now we know!!

We went out to celebrate Dan's birthday

The next weekend was Matt’s birthday so we had to do it all over again...

Sonia got a free sombrero for being Mexican at Mexico night

We have finally started to enjoy Sydney’s nightlife, and a thriving nightlife it is!!

Hooroo!!

Weekend. Welcome. Work.

Weekend.

After Saturday, we had the weekend to ourselves. We spent our time getting necessities and exploring Sydney. Our first task was groceries. To my surprise, grocery shopping took over an hour. It was a real task trying to find food that was comparable to what we have in the States while still being affordable. Nonetheless, we all managed to find the basics in the grocery store; so it is cereal, sandwiches, and pastas from here on out. But with groceries out of the way it was time to get into the fun things that Sydney has to offer.

We explored some of Sydney’s main attractions…..

Opera House, one of Sydney’s most famous attractions

and some “not-so-main” attractions.

A random smashed car… I think it is supposed to be art??

Extremely random “tree men”

Unfortunately, the sun did not grace us with its presence this weekend; instead, we spent our weekend dodging the rain. I am sure you are thinking how do you dodge the rain, but trust me it is entirely possible to dodge the rain in Australia. It only rains hard for about 4 minutes at a time then you have about 10-25 minutes of on and off mist. Therefore, you can dodge the rain by strategically walking from place to place. The key is to always walk by buildings that have extended roofs aka a 4 minute shelter. Oh and I guess you can always dodge the rain by buying an umbrella but there is no fun in that.

CAPA got us some tickets to an AFL rugby game. We watched the South Sydney play Canberra. Unfortunately Sydney lost according to the score but if the scoreboard wasn’t there, I would have left not knowing who won. Rugby is a very confusing game but it is a huge deal in Australia so I hope to understand it better before I go to my next game.

They start kids on rugby at a young age.

They cut kids in line to get a picture with the South Sydney mascot.

Our weekend came to a close pretty soon largely because we are still on North America time so we are usually out by 10 o’clock, 11 if you’re daring. Ryan describes jetlag as feeling like an old man all day, weak and weary until you cannot fight off sleep any longer. I would say that’s about right.

Welcome.

Monday and Tuesday were our orientation to CAPA. On Monday, we learned more about the CAPA program and the classes we would be taking. Zara also filled us in on some words that mean different things in Australia. For example, in Australia biscuit = cookie, rubber = eraser. I think the hardest one to remember and definitely the most embarrassing one to get wrong is napkin = sanitary pad, here they say serviettes. To avoid potential embarrassment, I am just going to point or gesture when I need something.

CAPA treated us to lunch after our Monday orientation.

Tuesday was our internship orientation, where we discussed interviews, professionalism, and pub culture. The discussions on interviews and professionalism were pretty standard but the talk about pub culture and its place in the work place was interesting. Our CAPA representatives explained that Australia has a very strong pub culture and drinking is naturally the social and cultural behavior of Australians. Therefore, it is not uncommon for workers to go to a pub during their lunch break and then return there when they got off work at 5PM. Drinks at lunch would never fly in the States. I am interested to see what other differences there are in the workplace.

Work.

My interview is tomorrow. I have planned my travel route, picked out an outfit, and practiced interview answers. I hope tomorrow goes well.

Hooroo.

Arrival in Sydney

Airplanes… can’t live with but most certainly can’t live without them. On May 28th, we boarded what was supposed to be a 5-hr flight but instead turned into a 7-hr flight because of a mini-thunderstorm and poor timing. Of the many times I have flown out of Dulles, I think I have left on time just once. Therefore, it was no shock to be leaving late. My only concern was arriving to LAX in time to board my flight to Sydney. Fortunately, my concerns were unwarranted and we arrived to LAX just in time to be the last people in line to board the flight. I had a 13 hour and 26 minute journey ahead of me and I was not at all looking forward to it.

To my surprise, the plane was comfortable, the food was decent, and the movies were interesting. So 3 meals and roughly 14 hours later, we arrived in Australia at 7 a.m. on May 30th. (Yes, May 30th, when flying to Australia you lose a day and then when you fly back to the States, you gain a day.)

Apparently, Australia has a number of vacationers this time of year; the customs line weaved through the “retractable maze” and then continued on out the doors. It was interesting to see that the line was a clear representation of the diversity that is present in Sydney. After a while, we made it through customs, got our bags, met our CAPA representative, and headed outside to board the shuttle that would be taking us to our apartments.

Our apartments are just 15 minutes from the airport. Unfortunately, when we arrived we could not check in right away. However, that gave us time to take a tour around town. When we returned to the apartment complex, we were given a brief lecture on the rules and safety before checking into our rooms.

In the courtyard of our apartment complex

The rooms are extremely nice. I am in a 4 person bi-level apartment with 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, a full kitchen, living room, and four balconies. I think the front desk accidently gave us the presidential suite. Lucky us!!

After getting unpacked and realizing it was only 1PM, Alexie, Sonia, and I went out to find a place to exchange our money and buy a broadband internet connection for our rooms. Coming to Sydney, I knew that I would be without my cell phone and high-speed internet; however, when I got here and realized that I had no way to contact my family or friends I knew something would have to be done about that. Getting a phone was too expensive so a broadband modem was the next best alternative. Thus, the search for internet began.

Downtown Sydney


A cool way to see the downtown Sydney

We stumbled across a fountain and a park

We followed the roads that our guide, Zara, took us on earlier today during our tour and with a bit of improvisation and luck we wound up at a mall. The mall was huge; it had a number of stores I have never heard of before and a lot of great sales but I fought temptation and found a place to purchase a modem. SUCCESS, we had internet!!

We thought we had spent a great deal of time at the mall because when we left it was dark outside; but it was only 6PM. I had no idea it gets dark here at 5PM. With the darkness and the onsets of jetlag, by the time we got back to our apartment we were really tired. However, we all decided that we were going to stay awake until 10PM so that we wouldn’t be terribly jetlagged tomorrow. We watched a movie then played UNO for two hours as we counted down until our 10PM bedtime. When 10PM rolled around everyone darted to their respective rooms and turned in for the night. I am pretty sure I fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow. Tomorrow is another day and I am more than excited to see what it brings.

Hooroo!!

10-day DC Seminar

You will be amazed the number of things you can squeeze into 10 days. In our 10-day seminar before we left for Australia, we did everything from DC exploration and mock interviews to guest lecturers and cookies and coffee at the Australian embassy.

The Metro station is conveniently located right behind our apartment complex which made it pretty easy to get around DC. One of our assignments for TWC was to explore the city in preparation for all the exploring we would be doing when we got to Sydney. Our “Sydney group” split in half and set out to see most of DC in day. If have been to DC before you would know that it is a grand feat to try and see it all in day because of DC size and overcrowding; yet, we were destined to get it done. My group of five visited seven landmarks that were spread across DC.

Columbia Heights, where we began our journey

Memorial Day Weekend Parade on U-Street near the African-American Civil War Museum. The parade was commemorating the African-Americans that had served our country.

At Friendship Arch in Chinatown trying not to get run over by the bikers participating in Rolling Thunder

See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil at the Folger Shakespeare Library

Although we did not get to see all of DC, we did see a great deal of it and lots of fun exploring.
Our first day of the seminar was pretty much the standard day 1 introduction. The only exception being the mock interviews, where we had an opportunity to practice for the interview we would have at our internship site.

The first day of the seminar was a bit redundant but the days to follow were much better. The seminar combines education with experience. We had read a number of articles about Australian culture, government, and the environment. Our readings were backed up by guest speakers that were either Aussie-natives or just extremely knowledgeable about Australia. The speakers were honest, sometimes brutally, about what we should expect in Australia. But I appreciated their insight, advice, and jokes.

The interns during our lunch

The sites we visited were also a great supplement to our readings about Australia. We sipped coffee and ate cookies and chocolate covered strawberries with the personnel at the Australian embassy, where we also got advised about main attractions and nightlife in Australia by the head of customs and traditions.

That was one of my favorite site visits. We also visited the CATO Institute, where we heard from an Adelaide native, Salli James, about trade and economics in both the United States and Australia.

Some other places we visited include: Oceana, Asia Society, and Capitol Hill. Capitol Hill was one of the most memorable visits for most people because we were able to see a few rooms that people usually only see on TV or never see at all. For example, we got to sit and take pictures in Nancy Pelosi’s private office.

At the end of the seminar we paired up and gave a 20 minute presentation on a specific topic that dealt with Australia. The presentations reiterated everything we had learned the last nine days and made us even more prepared to leave for Australia. The last event of the seminar was the farewell dinner that TWC hosted at Elephant and Castle.

The seminar is over now and it is time to re-pack my bags and mentally prepare for the long journey I have ahead of me. Tomorrow I will begin my 21 hour trip to the Down Under!! It is hooroo to DC and g’day to Australia!!

A perfect way to explain what we have done in DC and forecast what we will do in Sydney

Hooroo