Entry 13

Sydney is actually starting to get chilly. Since it’s in the southern hemisphere Australia is going through autumn while America is in spring. It never gets below freezing in Sydney, but now that its May its too chilly for shorts in the evening. Most students here are just starting to make plans for their winter break— I booked my trip to New Zealand and I can’t wait to travel to another new country. This past weekend I visited the Sydney Aquarium and got to see a ton of fish, sharks, and other aquatic animals. The platypus is one of the strangest animals I’ve ever seen— a nocturnal marsupial with the bill and webbed hands of a duck, but the tail and body of a beaver. When the first one was exported from Australia to Great Britain for genetic analysis at a zoology university, the scientists thought a prank was being pulled on them. The cuttlefish was one of the most surprising fish I saw because its mastery of camouflage is even beyond a chameleon. My favorite exhibit had to have been the octopus, because I think they are the coolest of any animal. Octopuses have three hearts, a beak like a bird, and are the most intelligent invertebrate in the world. Instead of having a central nervous system like humans, Octopuses distribute their neurons evenly. This means each arm has a mind of its own and even after detached from its body, an octopus arm will still hunt and attempt to feed a mouth that’s no longer there! Mexican food is not popular in Australia at all, but I found a burrito joint near my gym that’s almost as good as Chipotle (almost). Besides Mexican food I also miss southern brunch foods, and good home-cooked meals. Portions are smaller in Australia, a large coffee here is the same size as a small in America. While obesity doesn’t seem nearly as bad here as it does in the US, Australians are very critical of their countries health. The local government runs commercials fairly regularly to advertise federally funded weight loss/ healthy eating programs. Smoking surprisingly seems more common here, and after doing two research projects on the domestic and international wine industries I can say for a certainty that Australians drink more than Americans.

Today has been hard not being in America because I wish I was able to celebrate Mothers day with my favorite woman in the world. There are a lot of influential mothers and grandmothers in my life, but I’ve always looked up to my Grandmom, my Grandma, and my Mom. I hope everyone appreciated the mothers in their life this week.