When I was little I used to dream about seeing the Sydney Opera House and I never thought I would make it to Australia to actually see it this early in my life. But guess who just made her 5 year old self so proud?This girl!! This weekend was spent in the iconic Australian city of Sydney exploring all the monuments, national parks and beaches it had to offer. On Friday we arrived in the afternoon and spent the night exploring the city and meeting up with some students studying abroad in Sydney. It was interesting to swap stories and see the differences in our abroad experiences. On Saturday we headed out to the Blue Mountains, a two hour train ride outside of Sydney. The Blue Mountains have been on my list since before I came to Australia as they are the most popular National Park in Australia. The weather however did not cooperate with us for the day and we spent it trudging around in the fog attempting to make out at least one view. Thankfully I love when fog rolls through trees so I was able to stay positive even though the iconic views were hidden. We all know I can never stay mad when I am surrounded by nature. On Sunday, Jess and I went to a morning service at Hillsong, a mega church in Australia. It was a great way to start the day with a talk about contentment and how to not settle in your life, to keep searching for your dreams and goals, something I have been trying to do myself. We spent the rest of the day exploring the harbor and seeing all that Sydney had to offer. On Monday, we finally had a sunny day so we decided to do the Coogee to Bondi beach walk. A three hour hike that connects the two beaches and passes beautiful spots along the coast. The day was spent in the sun and ocean and was the perfect ending to a eventful weekend in Sydney. It was a great few days seeing unbelievable sites with a girl squad everyone should be jealous of. Check out the moody pics below (musings continued after).
Side blurb: One of my favorite parts about DAAP is the co-op program in which we alternate semesters of school with semesters of co-op/internship in design, graduating with over a year and a half of experience. I have completed three internships and these past two weeks I have been looking for my fourth one for this coming semester. It was a crazy couple of weeks full of middle of the night interviews due to time change. And even with interviews at insane times, they never fail to give me an adrenaline rush. It is so exciting to see what people in the industry are doing and what opportunities are out there. Anyway, the real reason I am talking about interviews is because I want to talk about a question that I got asked. I am used to the typical questions; tell us about yourself, why are you in design, where do you want to go with design, why are you interested in our company, etc. But in this one particular interview I was asked: Who is your idol? Without even a breath, I said my sister, Meghan. From birth she has been my best friend, my inspiration, my idol. In my time here I have had a lot of time to reflect on who I am and to think about who helped shape me into that person. There have been so many people along the way that I owe who I am too and I truly believe that you learn something from everyone you meet. But growing up being Meg's little sister is where I get the characteristics I am most proud of. If you know Meg and know her well, you know that she is bold, she is wise beyond her years, she is compassionate and cares for people on a level I never knew was possible, she is beautiful in every fiber of her being and she is unapologetically herself. Growing up I used to be intimidated that I had to live up to the standard that she set both at home and at school. Yet it was the greatest gift she could have given me. I pushed myself to grow and to do well in class, to push the envelope and to fight for what I believed in and most importantly I learned to be confident in myself and own who I am. I never saw both Meg and I doing design, but I think we were both drawn to it for similar reasons; to problem solve, create visual solutions, and ignite change. At first I was aggravated to be following in her footsteps again, however it has turned out to be another things that brought us closer together. Design has allowed us both to study at the same school and grow even closer as roommates, sisters and best friends. While I may no longer follow Meg around the coffee table and do a front roll when she does one, she is still the reason I push to follow my dreams and believe in myself. Meg, thank you for always encouraging me and believing in me when I couldn't find it in myself to. You are the reason I am able to be unapologetically myself and fight for the things I think are right. I miss you more than I can explain and can't wait for us to create Eleniak Design and keep kicking butt for the next 150 years.
3 beaches, 12 huge bubbles, 2 coastal walks, 2 ocean dips, 1 sunburn, 2 cloudy days, 1 opera house, 5 jellyfish, 1 acai bowl, 4 rides on the steepest railroad, 2 long train rides, 1 nude beach, 30+ miles of walking, 1 sunny day and so many good memories later I am full of so much love for Sydney. I am now getting to the point where I can see the finish line of my time abroad and it is so surreal. Up until this point it has seemed like I have had all the time in the world and now here we are over 3 months in, with 2 weeks left of classes and a little over a month before I go home. Why you got to play me like that time? Here's to taking advantage of my last moments here and to not forgetting to stop and smell the roses.
Cheers - keleniak
p.s. Before this experience I promised myself I would do one new/possibly scary thing a week: This week that was seeing the Sydney Opera House. Something I never thought I would have the opportunity to see this early in my life, but I did it!