My First Almost Week in Sydney

     Some mornings I wake up and have to pinch myself as a reminder that I am actually here in Sydney. It's still pretty unreal to me, and generally it's moments when I am looking at the Opera House or listening to all the Australian accents around me that I remember where I am. But here I am. And while it's been a week since I left (and a little less than 7 days of actually being in Sydney) things are less and less overwhelming each day.
     This past week has been a whirlwind of sight-seeing, walking around the city, meeting people and remembering what hostel life was like. Aside from the now-and-then homesickness that creeps up on me every once in awhile, I have been keeping busy and having a lot of fun.
     On my first full day in Sydney I had my orientation with the Work and Travel Company. This program has a really nice facility in the center of the city with free wi-fi, a travel desk which provides help with planning any trips around Australia I may want to take and a job resource center that is responsible for helping to place me with any temporary work that may come up. I have kind of put the job hunt on hold for the first few weeks while I'm here and trying to embrace the holiday part of my adventure and let myself be on vacation. After working for so long saving up for this trip. I think I deserve a little vacation before I jump back into the working world! Aside from the logistical help, the Work and Travel Company also serves as a resource for any help I may need with setting up a life here in Sydney--from finding a place to live to dealing with being homesick and so far away from home. It's actually very reassuring to know that at the end of the day, if I needed somebody to help me with any obstacle I feel like I can't handle on my own, they could help me out.
     The rest of my days here in Sydney have been spent purely exploring the city and meeting people. I took a tour of the city, I lounged around the beach for a couple days (sunbathing and playing in the ocean in January? Amazing!) and I may or may not have shopped just a little bit. :) The hostel I am staying at has so far been a pretty solid resource for meeting people. There's a cafe out front where there are always people from the hostel hanging out at, there's a few common tv/internet hang out rooms, and there's a bar in the basement that gets pretty wild later at night. I am in the "backpacker's ghetto" of Sydney, so pretty much wherever I go within a 1 mile radius I am destined to meet other backpackers who are doing the same thing I am.
    Tomorrow (or today, depending on when you are reading this post) I am going to a 5-day Surf Camp. This camp takes me and a group of 60 people two hours outside of Sydney to a private beach where we surf all day and really get a good grasp on the sport. Everyone stays together in beach cabins that are only a few hundred feet from the beach, and every morning and every afternoon we are split into smaller groups of 8 and we are taught to surf. Who knows, maybe by the end of this camp I will be a pro surfer! However, if that doesn't happen, the best part about this camp will be that it is the same group of people for 5 days straight (not like a hostel where people are always coming and going) and I will be put into a situation where meeting people is almost forced on you.
   Anyways, this has been a kind of broad overview of what has been going on with me here in Sydney. I hope that those who have been wondering, especially after my last less-positive post, have had their curiosity filled for the time being. The next post will probably be after surf camp, so I will be sure to give some more updates then! Hopefully I'll have some pictures uploaded next week as well, so for those who just want to skim my ramblings, there will be a visual to go along with! G'day!