Week Two: October 2

Getting Settled

1. Neighborhood

I'm spending the first 5 weeks in Hillsdale, a suburb in southern Sydney. I'm walking distance to several grocery stores, Westfield shopping center, and best of all, TKMaxx! Maroubra beach is a short bus ride (or 10 minute drive) away, and is a great place to watch the sunrise or take a walk along the ocean. To get into the city, it takes about 45 minutes by taking the bus and connecting to the train or the light rail. This week, I spent a lot of time exploring my new neighborhood and getting familiar with the bus routes.

2. Transportation

Public transportation is a widely debated topic in Sydney. Those that are born and raised here (called Sydneysiders), generally feel the transport system is lacking and could be vastly improved. However, despite this being popular opinion amongst locals, the system is heavily used by people of all backgrounds and ages -- from elementary school students to businessmen and everyone in between -- which drastically contributes to its safety.

Having grown up in Boston, a city where the public transportation is structuarlly unsound, falling apart and often catching on fire... it doesn't take much to impress me. Sydney's system includes metros, trains, busses, ferries and light rails that reliably connect every inch of the city, the suburbs, and surrounding cities -- getting an A+ in my book.

Here's my favorite view of Sydney, which ironically is from the public ferry that runs from Circular Quay and usually costs between $7-$10.

Although readjusting to relying on public transportation has not come without a few lessons and reminders...

• The bus doesn't wait for you if you're late: I will leave at 9:30 to catch the 9:30 bus that's a 10 minute walk away, and continue to be confused and disappointed as to why I didn't catch it.

• Public transportation is not free: It's possible I engaged in accidental fare evasion earlier this week, which happened to be the same day the transit police came onto the light rail to check everyone's tickets. This happens, but not often. By a small miracle, I escaped the $200 fine.

3. Shopping Centres

I would say one thing that rivals my love for Syndey transport is the shopping centres. There are several "Westfields" throughout the city, which can only be described as a shopping mall with grocery stores, banks, farmers markes, restraunts, department stores and clothing stores all combined into one easy to access building.

My immediate thought was "Why do so many competitors do business in the same building?" I'm not sure I have an answer yet, but it is incredibly conveinent to stop at 4 different grocery stores and the farmers market all in one place.

Anyways, I have spent more hours than I'd like to admit at the shopping centre this week... from setting up a bank account and a phone number to buying groceries and splurging a bit at Kmart.