Sick in Sydney!

Hey all!

Don't worry, the title of this blog is not sick OF sydney...because that would be entirely false...but rather sick IN sydney...because, yes, big surprise, I've been sick for the past week!


Those of you who know me well know that I can't go a month without getting sick or acquiring some strange injury or disease. Well my time in Australia hasn't been much different. The first couple months weren't bad, just a few minor colds here and there. But this past week has certainly been a doozy! It started out with a cold that got progressively worse to the point where my voice was gone and I was considering turning myself in to the swine flu police! Instead I decided to try and fight it with some sudafed and advil and I'm finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. However, during this little bout with the potential swine flu, I somehow managed to contract some sort of virus of the armpit (just don't ask...) I had to see a doctor and was prescribed some perscription medication to make it go away. A week went by and everything was clearing up nicely. Then one morning while Emily and I were in pilates class, I lifted my arms over my head to get into one of the positions and to my surprise, I revealed a HUGE nasty rash going from my armpits down to my elbows on both sides of my body!! Mortified, I scuttered out of the pilates class half way through and ran back to my apartment. So back to the doctor I went, only to be told that I am apparently now allergic to pennicilin! I was prescribed more medication this time to clear up the allergic reaction. For the past 3 days I have felt like a little kid with chicken pox...I can't remember the last time I've been this itchy! So needless to say I haven't had much sleep because I wake up every 5 minutes scratching my armpits like a monkey!!


And that is the story of my week being sick in sydney! Sorry for potentially too much detail but I tend to overshare! Anyways, I'm happy to say that today I am finally really feeling on the mend!! I was able to go to the gym (twice to make up for lost time) and got a good night sleep last night! Now, the rest of my week will be spent studying and writing all my final papers! We are in our last week of classes at Uni and then we have a week vacation (called StuVac because they abbreviate EVERYTHING here!) and then finals week after that. I'm working on getting as much work done this week as possible because next week Emily and I are off to FIJI!! We are SO excited to have a little getaway on the beautiful island! Some of our friends had gone to fiji in the first couple weeks that we were here (when we went to Cairns) and we are staying in the same resort that they stayed in which they told us was fantastic. We are leaving next Friday (June 12th) and returning to Sydney on June 16th. When we get back, I have one final exam on the 19th and a final paper due on the 20th, and then school is over and I have a few days to enjoy Sydney before heading back to the states!!


Speaking of enjoying Sydney, a couple weeks ago Emily and I decided to walk around Sydney Uni campus and take some pictures so our friends and families could get a bit of an idea of where we are going to school! Here are some of the pictures I took that day:


First off, here is a shot of the great UniLodge that I'm always referring to. This has been my home for the past 4 months and has treated me very well! Emily and I live in room 2103 and our room looks into the middle of the building which is a big courtyard.


This is the bridge I cross every day to get to class. In order to get on campus, we have to pass through Victoria Park which has lots of trees, flowers, grass, and a little pond with birds, ducks and fish. All of which I will showcase now:












These flowers are everywhere and they remind me of the orange-beaked ducks two pictures ago! I love them :)

And here are just a few that I took of some buildings on campus:

This should give you a bit of an idea of the massive hill that we have to trek up every day to get to class! At the top of the hill is the Great Hall where I have my Arab-Israeli Conflict tutorial class.


Here is a close-up shot of the Great Hall. It is pretty much straight out of Harry Potter!


This is the Sydney Uni Library...but as you can see it's nothing that great, so when I want to get some quiet studying done, I go to the Law Library, shown below:


This building is brand new and the architecture is really cool. I go into the basement to study and I also have my Australia: Land and Nation class in one of the lecture halls.

I don't have any classes in this building but I think it's beautiful so I took a picture!

Okay and that's all I have for now!! Hopefully you can sort of get a better sense of my academic life here in Sydney! Yes, I DO study on top of all the partying and adventuring! :) I can't believe how fast this last month is flying by...I have really started to feel at home here and it will be so sad to leave but of course I have all of you to look forward to seeing when I get back to the states!!


xoxoxoxo,
Lauren


P.S. Just wanted to give a little shout out to the little bro...he came in 6th in the 400 meter run at the all-district track and field meet the other day and broke his personal record by running it in under 52 seconds!! Anyone who has run the 400 before knows that that's a great accomplishment! CONGRATS BUDDY!!