Arriving in Sydney and Pro-Guard Water Safety

This post is a few days old but getting the wifi situated has been a real struggle. So while I will be playing catch up the next few days (finally finally moved into my apartment!), I will try to post as much as I can.

Thurs Jan 2, Technically this is all the same day….

So after arriving at the airport and sailing through customs, I had to wait for the group flight to arrive. I had taken a separate plane and hung out in Arrivals like I was instructed, anxiously looking for a program rep.

Someone finally came up to me and asked if I was with TEAN and it turns out there were 2 arrivals areas. So I then got to meet up with a few other kids that also had arrived early and chatted nervously about our upcoming adventure.

The next few hours were simply waiting for everyone to arrive/go through customs/ get checked in and corralled into one area. It was pretty sticky outside and we were all dragging our huge bags around to get to the buses that would take us to our accommodations in Sydney, the International College School of Management, Sydney. It is a private university and the building we are actually staying in is the same building used for Mr. Gatsby’s home in the recent re-make of The Great Gatsby.

It is a very old building and the rooms are very old. No AC. Sticky. Not glamorous at all. But they serve their purpose.

We had a presentation by the Pro-Guarding founders Kobi & Aaron about Water Safety, Rips, Lifeguarding, etc. Apparently they are pretty well known here and have a hit tv show on them.

After getting briefly settled in and having a quick lunch, we set off to enjoy Manly, the area in which we are staying. It is really hill-y here so we set off to see the beach. The weather got kinda cold though and it was sprinkling but we walked up and down the streets lined with shops until we decided to get celebratory drinks at the Manly Club.

In hindsight I should have gotten a picture because it was a cool looking place. I was with Alex, a guy who goes to Tampa U and Katherine, a girl from Quinnipiac. We enjoyed our drinks with a gorgeous view of the ocean. It was perfect. After a quick dinner of fish and chips, I have to go to bed because it has just been the longest day ever.