Sharks, Sushi, Surfing & Sights

Had orientation this morning. Learned a few important things:

1. I have a greater chance of getting hit in the head by a coconut than getting attacked by a shark. (That's a relief. Plus a guy in Perth got attacked recently, so that should be the 1 for the yr).
2. The deadly snakes are in hibernation until spring/summer and they only live in the bush. So if I head to the Outback before October I should be able to avoid dying at the fangs of a snake. Sweet. 
3. The boxer jellyfish (also deadly) only exist up north and only come out in the summer because it loves warm water. 
4. The most recent crocodile attack happened because a drunk guy hoped over a fence enclosing them and landed on its back. Not going to follow in that genius's footsteps so again, should be ok!

After orientation I went and grabbed some lunch. I was for some odd reason craving sushi, and there just happened to be a place nearby, so I grabbed a variety pack. Revelation: sushi in the states is NOT the same as sushi elsewhere in the world, like Australia. First, as shown in the photo below, the soy sauce comes in a fish-shaped plastic tube. Hilarious. Second, the actual sushi rolls are, well, different. One of them had pickles in it. But most bizarre was the sushi roll stuffed with actual canned tuna fish!! Yes, like the kind you mix with mayonnaise and make sandwiches with. I was shocked. It was disgusting. Tuna in sushi should be raw, end of discussion. Then I ate a Caramello Koala, a caramel-filled chocolate shaped like a Koala bear. I couldn't resist, and it was yummy.

Soy Sauce in Sydney

After lunch I met up with Stephanie, a girl I met through a girl who worked with a girl who I worked with at Yale, got it? Anyway, we had been corresponding prior to my arrival to Sydney, and today was the first day we met up. We took a trip to the famous Bondi Beach (pronounced Bond-EYE Beach, I had been saying it wrong). This was the Australia I had envisioned- the surfer-dude, laid-back, beautiful beach scene. It was awesome!  This picture only captures one teeny-tiny corner of the beach. In fact, you don't even see the beach, you see rocks. But the sun was so bright that you can't actually see the beach in the pics, so this will suffice for now.

Bondi Beach, Sydney 

While walking along the beach, Stephanie ran into an Australia woman whose apartment she had looked at to rent. So we stopped and chatted with her and her boyfriend. They were super nice, and most importantly, her boyfriend was a surfer and surf instructor. He use to participate in world surfing competitions and stuff- pretty darn cool. Anyways, he said that he could give us surfing lessons and that he would take us to better beaches that were more private and therefore better for learning how to surf. He said the other day he went surfing and there were a ton of dolphins out in the ocean and he was just out in the ocean paddling with them. Seriously?! Amazing. And he said he would take us back there!! Stephanie said she would be in contact with the woman, so I really really REALLY hope that we can arrange some surf lessons with him (and that its reasonably priced).

Lastly, here are some pics from yesterday as promised.

View of Sydney Harbor Bridge from Circular Quay

Sydney Opera House (duh)