Lisa gone Down Under: First Days & Impressions from Sydney

After a really long flight (you can handle this better in your twenties somehow 🫠) and an adventurous journey to my Airbnb (yes - you also have to turn the locks the other way here 😅🙈), I'm happy to have landed in Sydney.

The first day greeted me with rain. Fortunately, many museums are free, so there's always a good program for bad weather. Despite the unfriendly weather, it quickly confirmed what many had assured me beforehand: You'll like Sydney 🤗

On the second day, I took a Free Walking Tour through Central City. I learned a lot about the first settlement of Australia and its ongoing reflection. I also discovered some fun facts - one I'd like to share: The Queen Victoria Building (QVB) was built between 1893 and 1898. Originally, the QVB was designed as a market hall. Due to high rental prices, it almost underwent reconstruction into a parking garage, but a Malaysian company came forward to convert the building into a shopping mall. The real fun fact: As a gift for the reopening, Queen Elizabeth II wrote a letter addressed to the citizens of Sydney. This letter is kept in a safe in the building and can only be opened on the Queen's instructions in 2085. The contents of the letter are unknown, and everyone is eager to see whether it contains a simple 'Congratulations and all the best' or more 😅

Flora and fauna are, of course, also very exciting - even in Sydney, everything is bigger and greener. I haven't spotted many birds yet (and fortunately, I've been spared from creeping and crawling animals so far 🙏), but one bird you encounter all the time in the center: the Australian Ibis, or as it is affectionately called by the locals: The Bin Chicken. See why 😂

In the first few days, I of course had to go to the famous Bondi Beach. A bit underwhelming, I have to admit 🤷‍♀️ But the Coastal Walk to Coogee is really beautiful - aside from the crowds of people.
(It was still a bit too cold and unstable for surfing, but I'm already ready to start. I'm a princess, what can I say 🤷‍♀️)

Otherwise, I reactivated my meetup app (I had used it intensively in my early days in Vienna). So I participated in a cultural exchange on Friday evening. It started at 6:00 PM and - what I didn’t know - turned into a Latin night party at 10:00 PM. I stayed away from this one as I was still struggling with jetlag - but maybe next time 💃

Tomorrow is my first day in the office, and I'm already very excited to meet my Australian colleagues, their workday, and the exchange.

Additionally, I signed up for a boot camp in the evening. Who knows, maybe this will become my thing here in Australia 😊

Cheers mates!
Lisa