Birthday

I enjoyed my birthday celebration tonight courtesy of 2 families who have been more than generous in offering hospitality to me over here.

Enjoyed an amazing dinner of lamb, chicken, and greek pie and even got some gifts. Now to enjoy the weekend.

Birthday (Almost)

I'm putting some finishing touches on a big report for my Investments class due tomorrow.

Am also looking forward to going out to dinner with the Garrett and Hensley families tomorrow night for my birthday.

Classes

Academically, school has kicked in to full gear and I have been busy with classwork the past few days. I'm in the process of trying to finalize a report for an Investments class which has involved some pretty extensive excel usage and integration of calculus. I have been working with another Australian on the project which has made the process easier, but we'll be taking a break tonight for baseball practice.

Kangaroo has now become a staple in my diet since it is the triple crown of foods (cheap, tasty, and healthy). Throw some bbq sauce on a roll and some hot kangaroo and you got yourself a sandwich...sorry Katrina.

Gold Coast Trip

I got back in yesterday morning after my trip to the Gold Coast (north of Sydney).

After leaving early Thursday morning by way of plane, I got in about an hour and a half later at Gold Coast Airport. From there, I caught a bus with another friend from baseball that I was traveling with to Surfer's Paradise. After walking around the city and hanging out on the beach, I stayed the night in a hostel with my room having 4 people housed in 2 bunk beds. My friend who I went with on the trip was housed in the same room with me along with an Australian and a Brazilian.

The room situation worked out real well as the Australian (Matt) was headed up to Brisbane in Friday (about an hour or so north) in his van but would be leaving from there to drive to Byron Bay which was south of where the hotel was by about an hour. He offered to give me a ride after he finished up to head to Byron Bay and surf which allowed me time to check out Surfer's Paradise more the following day before leaving for Byron Bay.

In the morning I went with Ryan (Amherst baseball player from the US) to catch a ride on a jetboat which not only offered excitement speeding around with over 600 horsepower on the water, but also gave us the chance to see wildlife and some man made islands which are not accessible otherwise to the public. During the boat excursion, we were able to see not only the city from the water, but also the Sovereign Islands which are home to the most expensive plots of real estate in the state of Queensland. One building cost over $20 million to build and was equipped with a titanium roof owned by a German doctor who designs prosthetic limbs out of titanium.

The wildlife included a range of colorful exotic birds and pelicans as well as a wallaby. I pointed out the wallaby after seeing it, and we were able to pull right up to the beach to get up close. The area is also home to dolphins with the older ones often seen herding fish towards land for their young to teach them how to hunt.

The Q1 Building in Gold Coast (tallest building in the southern hemisphere)

Surfer's Paradise

After the boat tour I walked around Philip Park which offered great views.

Seafood place I grabbed lunch (prawns are their shrimp)

(Southport Yacht Club)

After checking out the park, I got seafood from this shack right on the water and had some calamari and fish of the day from New Zealand before meeting up with my roomate from the hostel who I caught a ride with down to Byron Bay.

Once arriving at Byron Bay, it is clear the town has a much different smaller town "surfer" culture than city that is called Surfers Paradise. Reminded me of Iceland compared to Greenland with the name being a misnomer.

I was able to take pictures after arriving later in the day in Byron Bay and check out the town itself which had a small town beach feel to it. I spent the night at another hostel in a 4 bunk room. At the hostel, I met two Irish guys who were very entertaining especially when the bar/restaurant area of the hostel started up their karaoke night.

The next day (Saturday) I got up at 7 with Matt who drove me down from Surfer's Paradise and went over to catch some waves at the beach. I got to try my hand at surfing and wander around the area. I caught a bus later that day to Coolongatta (where the airport is) and scoped out their beach and grabbed dinner as I had a flight the next morning departing at 6:10 am. At the hostel where I stayed my final night, I befriended a guy from Ghana who was teaching himself some accounting and was looking into opportunities to pursue an MBA. After talking and passing along some resources to him for reference, my baseball friend Ryan arrived at the hostel as he had come down to Byron Bay a day after me. We both were booked for the same flight out and rose nice and early for the flight back.

Later Sunday, the night was capped off with the weekly "Orphan's Dinner" held at a family's house who has been essentially like host parents for me and I enjoyed some salmon, prawns (shrimp), and a mixture of some lebanese salad amongst other things as it was a birthday celebration for Deb (who has pretty much been a host mom). I brought over some cake and chocolate hazlenut cookie rods to share.

Now back to class....

Last Minute Trip to the Gold Coast

With my class schedule heavily weighted towards the earlier part of the week, I have more flexibility to travel over weekends. One of my friends through baseball who plays back at his college in the US offered the idea of heading up to the Gold Coast and Surfer's Paradise for a few days. The area is in the state north of New South Wales (where Sydney is) in Queensland and we were able to get relatively cheap flights there and back through JetStar Airlines.

We are headed out tomorrow morning on an 8:50 am flight and will be staying at youth hostels in Surfer's Paradise and Byron Bay areas. Should be a great trip and will be taking plenty of pictures.

Bloomberg Visit

I started off the day with some running before heading off to some morning classes. As a way to shake things up, I gave myself another excuse to trek into downtown Sydney after registering for a free class to better familiarize myself with the financial software of the Bloomberg terminal. The class was held at Bloomberg's Sydney office on the 36th floor in one of the high rise financial buildings and had amazing views overlooking the Anzac bridge (named in honor of the Australia New Zealand Army Corps), the Opera House, and the harbor.

After finishing up the class, I was able to get some free fruit, yogurt, and other food courtesy of Bloomberg all the while enjoying the view overlooking the city.

I wrapped up the day taking some swings in the cricket cage (which I used for baseball practice). The set-up can be seen down below and took some creativity with a net to substitute for a traditional L-screen to protect the thrower.

To end the evening, I went over to the gym for a boxing workout.

View from Bloomberg Sydney's office

The batting set-up (cricket cages are noticeably more narrow than baseball ones) 

Royal National Park

After leaving from my dorm at 8 am, I arrived at the Royal National Park with other students on the abroad program around 9:15-9:30 and took a canoe down the Hacking River encountering a little wildlife along the way, including a bunch of cockatiels and a sighting of a 4 foot fish swimming by my canoe that could have

easily been from the tv show River Monsters. 

In addition to canoeing, I also got to throw around a boomerang in the park before setting off on a hike and shooting pictures of some amazing views. The hiking trail had an almost Cape Cod feel with the combination of sand and low lying shrubs before reaching cliffs of sandstone. The group then continued on into the forest of palms and other native Australian trees and led to a waterfall deeper inland.

Royal National Park

Am up nice and early as I will be taking a trip to Royal National Park. Pictures to come.

First Summer Baseball practice

After my internship I took the bus along with another American college baseball player to Five Dock, a suburb of Sydney where I was met by the player-coach of the summer baseball team I am planning to play with in Ryde (20 minute drive north of my dorm). Based on the practice and mentality, it should shape up to be a fun season with good talent.

The Australian player-coach played division 1 baseball in the US at Dallas Baptist University and offered to give my fellow American and I a break on the cost for the team so long as we can work some baseball camps with some younger guys.

Amazing how expensive everything over here is; minimum wage is a little south of $20, so it makes it much easier if you are holding a job.

 

One Month In

I can't believe I have been here a month already, and am honestly a little disappointed to think I only have 3 months left in Australia. I will continue to try to get as much out of my time here as I can and as the warmer months continue to approach, I can collect some better snapshots and take advantage of Sydney beaches.

As for today's agenda, I was able to meet with a Portfolio Manager of an American hedge fund which actually has an office here in lovely Sydney. The office is located in the historic part of the city called "The Rocks" which is also right on the water. Despite the location, the manager himself actually trades predominantly in the American markets (go figure) but I have a hard time believing he would trade the Sydney locale and weather for Greenwich, CT (where the fund's headquarters are). I really enjoyed getting to pick his brain on his trading strategy and get details about the firm itself and if their compliance department gives the go-ahead, it looks like I may be able to shadow his trading activities.

After the meeting, I sprinted to the nearest bus stop to get back to campus with classes on my schedule from 1-4 and then another from 4-6. With classes dominating my entire afternoon, I was invited to dinner with some Australian friends who have in a sense taken on a role that is essentially a host family and enjoyed some unreal chicken curry and plenty of Australian-grown fruit including a new staple in my diet; the kiwi.

With the time difference from here to the US, I wanted to wish a happy birthday to my brother Matt who is now 16 which didn't hit me until I just typed that number. Scary to think he is legally allowed to sit behind the wheel of a car especially judging by the way he drives the jetski.

 The iconic Sydney Harbor Bridge

Older buildings in "The Rocks"

 
Restaurant owned by famous LA Galaxy soccer player Kobe Jones (about as famous as soccer players get)

Kangaroo for Dinner

Earlier today, I wrapped up the Sydney Winter Baseball season in Quakers Hill about a 40 minute drive from where I am in Sydney. I enjoyed my time with the team and and experienced some success in Aussie baseball hitting .460. I will continue playing as we begin to change seasons as it gets warmer and the summer league starts up.



Now onto the topic of Australian food. While there is a lot of the same food here as in the US with a lot of Asian influence, especially Thai, there is definitely some food which is unique to Australia. Which brings me to my dinner tonight...

so good

Miso Soup and Sushi

After getting to my internship bright and early and working some modeling magic on excel while sifting through financial statements, I was invited to Sushi Tei (a Japanese Restaurant) for lunch courtesy of the company credit card. 

 

(Sushi Tei, Sydney)

I got to take full advantage of enjoying what was easily the best sushi of my life; and tried everything from an eel roll to octopus, squid, salmon, tofu (underrated food), and tuna...but that was only the appetizer. The meal included miso soup which tasted similar to french onion soup, but you added anything you wanted to it as you cook it at your table your own way and can toss this unbelievably amazing beef, noodles, vegetables, and even an egg among other things. While Sydney itself is not cheap, lobster is as a delicacy is taken to the next level as its so rare it sells for over $100 per pound (at least at this place).

Since tipping is not used normally at all in Australia, the service is much different and the table had a button which you pushed if you wanted something, definitely different than American style restaurants. After wrapping up an amazing lunch (which makes me hungry to think about) I was able to meet an executive in the hedge fund industry at his office which overlooked the city of Sydney and the Opera House itself. I finished off the day by getting in some boxing and conditioning at the gym where the club trains.

Overall not a bad day.

Day 25

Was able to head out to one of the "ovals" used for cricket, rugby, and baseball to get in some morning sprints to kick off the day. Will be headed to class shortly, then planning an excursion in to Sydney and thinking of seeing Dawes Point 

and hanging out in the Royal Botanical Gardens to enjoy the day.

Sydney Tower, Aquarium, and more baseball

Got to see the city of Sydney from the Westfield Tower yesterday. The tower is 305 meters tall, as high as the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Afterwards I went to the Sydney Aquarium to chill with some sharks and see other sea creatures. 

Today I had a another chance to play baseball Aussie style and picked up a couple more hits, RBI, and stolen bags while getting to face an Australian pitcher who pitched in Double-A ball a few years back. The field itself was in Hawkesbury, described by my teammates as being "in the boonies" and a great place to go cowtipping. The guys on the team and Australians in general have a unique but very entertaining sense of humor. The Aussies love messing with a French player on our team, while cracking jokes among each other.

I finished off the weekend with a weekly dinner at some friends and family's house and tried some Turkish Tea, which seems to be glorified hot cider.

Boxing in Australia

Having already met former Kickboxing World champion Grant "The Bomber" Barker who introduced me to boxing and gave me his old jump rope, I joined Sydney University's boxing club tonight and will get to train with them during my time here as cross-training for baseball. It'll be interesting to see how baseball translates to the ring.

Looking forward to checking out the Sydney Aquarium tomorrow using the tickets I got courtesy of the University baseball coach.

 Grant Barker during his fighting days

Casinos, Ferrari's, and Baseball

Now 3 days into the start of classes I have firmed up my schedule composed of Investment/Portfolio Management, Financial Math, Mergers & Acquisitions, and an Internship in Sydney's Central Business District (CBD).

After my first class of the day, I went with a new friend to Star City Casino in Sydney to take advantage of $10 lunch special at their awesome buffet. On the way out I snapped a couple pictures of the red Ferrari's parked out front (5 to be exact) and after returning to campus and sitting through another class, I got in some practice with other Sydney Uni baseball guys. I also met another new player from the US who plays ball at Amherst College in Mass. That makes 3 Americans across the club's 3 teams including another from Georgia who played D2 ball at Albany State.

 Star City CasinoOne of 5 Ferrari's in the background