Sept 14th - I'm no longer alone! YAY!

So today I ended my stint of loneliness today as all the other Stanford people arrived today! I woke up early (probably due to that jetlag) and found one of the programme coordinators eating breakfast as she was attempting to learn all our names. We quickly began chatting about exciting things in the upcoming activities like a senate simulation and a scavenger hunt (which will happen tomorrow! =)  Soon enough, students arrived from their early red eye flights awfully tired and disoriented. Its was so exciting to see familiar faces of my freshman and sophomore dorm mates and to have people to chat with after a few days of solitude.

As we couldn't check into our room until 2 everyone wanted to walk to keep themselves awake. So my group headed to the botanical gardens, where one member avidly looked up the many birds spotted. Australia wildlife even in the city is strange as there are egrets that wander around like pigeons and eels that live in bonds.  We had some more pretty views of the harbour again and got close up to the opera house for some better views.

We wandered back for lunch, but found that nearly all shops were closed on sundays so stopped in at a local chain called pie face and sat in the quad watching a wedding couple take their photos. On our way back we managed to loose Steph briefly but found her again somehow in the mayhem of Westfield mall.

At the end of the day we had a barbecue on the roof where everything was served from burgers and chicken to some kangaroo loin. A few of us ended the day with some card games and enjoyed the comfort of the hostel lounge before they head off in their travel exhaustion to bed. It is fun to be with friends and ti begin to get to know some of my unfamiliar fellow classmates on our exiting journey tomorrow!