Hello, Sydney!

We knew Sydney would be great, but we were surprised at the size and pace of this beautiful city. Our commute from the airport to the hotel turned out to be a little more complicated than we expected. After three train transfers with luggage in hand we finally arrived at our hotel and were thrilled with the location! Not only was the location great, but we were greeted by a very friendly staff, which we are quickly learning is the Australian way. We are a three- minute walk from Darling Harbor so we had to check it out right away. You wouldn’t believe all the restaurants along the harbor walk!

The locals suggested that we check out Paddy’s Market so we just had to do it. The market was filled
with all kinds of souvenirs and food. It made Soulard Market look very small. We both agreed that this would be a must-see for the girls and they would probably want to spend hours there. It was a beautiful, sunny, winter day so we decided to walk around the Chinese Garden. This was a nice relaxing break from the busy city life. We ended the day at St. Mary’s Cathedral for the evening youth Mass. We thought the girls might enjoy this.

We saw these bright red double decker buses
going around the city so we decided to do a little research. They were sight seeing buses that took tourists all over Sydney. We bought tickets and throughout the day we had easy transportation and great photo opps. This was also a great way for us to take inventory of all the attractions and decide what the girls might enjoy. One of the routes included an excursion to Bondi Beach. At this point we were willing to do anything to get warm! There was no doubt in our minds that the girls would enjoy watching the many surfers in the water. When our tour ended it was clear to us that it was really a RUSH hour as we noticed hundreds of people waiting to get on buses.

We knew our time here in Sydney was limited so we decided to split up for a little bit. While Mrs.
Mullen went on the Harbor Bridge climb, Mr. Smith had to entertain himself for three and a half hours. The bridge climb was a great experience and Mrs. Mullen was so glad that she did it. It was exhilarating to see the entire city from such heights. Mr. Smith decided to tour the Sydney Opera House, but sadly they weren’t holding any auditions. Once we met up once again it was time to eat and the server convinced us to try the local delicacy. And so we thought about the saying “When in Rome…” and we looked at each other and said “When in Australia…” And so….we ate kangaroo pizza. We agreed that we won’t be requesting it in the UA cafeteria, but it was a good local experience. Our night ended with great shopping.

As it turned out our trip on the big red bus included a second day that was a tour on the water. We
made several stops throughout Sydney Harbor, but the highlight was Watson’s Bay. Doyle’s Restaurant came highly recommended. If you like seafood, this is the place for you. You should have seen Mr. Smith’s face while Mrs. Mullen was peeling off the shrimp heads and enjoying every bite of it. Just when we thought we couldn’t take any more great pictures, we walked up a path to some beautiful views of the cliffs on the Ocean.



This trip has been better than we could have ever
imagined. Time and again we commented to each other about how friendly, hospitable and genuinely happy everyone seems here. We have some great ideas for activities with the students and enjoyed our visit with our new friends at St. Ursula’s college. We can’t wait to bring our students here next time. The Australians have taught us well. Our flight home is a bit delayed and we know there is a great deal of work to be done to start the school year on Monday, but both of us looked at each other and said, “No worries.”

-Mike Smith and Joni Mullen

Next stop- Brisbane

Just when we thought we had seen it all, we began another exciting adventure. While Melbourne reminded us of a European city, Brisbane took on more of a cosmopolitan feel similar to that of New York or Chicago. We picked the perfect time to walk down to the river. There were joggers, bicyclists, walkers, skateboarders, and many more active people. There was a beautiful bridge with purple lights. This was the perfect photo opportunity that we knew the girls would just love. The key was trying to take pictures without crashing into someone, especially since the other side of the sidewalk is the favored one. We had to hurry since the sunset comes much faster in the winter. We left there while it was dark and walked to find a Thai restaurant that was recommended by our new friends from St. Ursula’s. We walked into what we found out was the wrong restaurant so Mr. Smith was “thrilled” when we got up and left. The correct restaurant was just on the next block. The food turned out to be much spicier than we thought, but it didn’t matter because we were surrounded by these wonderful, friendly people once again along with plenty of water.

The next day started with a walk down by the river to catch a ferry that was headed to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Little did we know that we were about to see over a hundred koalas and kangaroos throughout the park. The highlights included holding the koalas and feeding the kangaroos. Thankfully the koala cooperated because the guide told us that she was a cranky old lady and it was getting towards the end of her shift. The kangaroos were all resting but we decided to go over towards them anyway. We shook the bags of food and one of them walked our way and she was hungry! Everything was fine and dandy until a jeep drove by and all the kangaroos jumped up at once. We froze for a moment and wondered if we were going to be part of the stampede. It was so spectacular and scary at the same time. That could only happen in Australia! We had a great day and our fun concluded with a ride on the South Bank ferris wheel giving us beautiful views of Brisbane at night.

No trip to Brisbane is complete without an expedition to the Gold Coast. An hour-long train ride followed by a bus transfer that took us to one of the most beautiful beaches that we had ever seen. There were plenty of great restaurants and stores for shopping. We saw surfers and tourists getting surfing lessons and there was a class of high school-age girls learning to surf. Not one of them actually got up on the board, but they were having a great time. No wonder it was called Surfers’ Paradise. We still can’t get over how friendly everyone is here. We got on the bus to head back to the train station and the bus driver just let us get on for free. It must have been our accent.

-Mike Smith and Joni Mullen

The Scenic Route

Our next day began with a walk to the spectacular Victoria Market. We shopped around and chatted with a variety of vendors. Everyone here is so friendly and we left there with a map in our hands which is pretty typical for us on the streets. A couple stopped us and asked if we needed any help finding anything. We chatted about finding an arcade and somewhere to eat, and they mentioned going to a café at the Block Arcade. It turned out that we picked a perfect place to eat because we told the waiter we needed to get to the airport in an hour. He was very accommodating by bringing our food out rather quickly. Usually we order and wait a bit and they never rush us even if others are waiting for a table. The Australians never bring our bill unless we ask first. We have relaxing meals and never feel the need to rush. We left our hotel for the airport and said good-bye to Melbourne. It was sad to leave such a beautiful city, but we were excited to see what our next city would have in store. We had a two-hour flight to Brisbane and stayed in a nearby hotel. We went to sleep early to prepare ourselves for the next day in Toowoomba.

The next morning we were excited to get picked up by Ann Marie Pawsey, the Principal of St. Ursula’s College. She was so friendly and hospitable all along our journey. She decided to take us along the scenic route through the beautiful Gold Coast. The views were absolutely breathtaking. We had lunch at the surfers’ club. She said there are normally many surfers in the water, but that was not the case today. We had a two-hour drive to Toowoomba and enjoyed our conversation along the way. We are already discovering our common Ursuline connections. As soon as we arrived in Toowoomba Ann Marie drove us around St. Ursula’s College. We can’t wait to meet the students and co-workers tomorrow. After we parted we decided to try a Turkish restaurant which she recommended. This was the first Turkish experience for both of us and of course the waitress was friendly and explained everything. We enjoyed the food and the ambiance. The Australian accent definitely added to the experience, but they keep telling us that we’re the ones with the accent!

-Mike Smith and Joni Mullen

Brazil 2015 Photo Slide Show

Enjoy a slide show of captured moments from the Brazil Trip 2015

Experiences in Brazil

This trip has been very interesting so far. It's hard to explain. Everything is so different from St. Louis and it is really hard to adjust, but it has been really fun. Yesterday we went river rafting which was really fun. I have done something like that before but I was still really nervous. We went zip-lining again but this time we went into the water which was really cool. I really enjoy doing group activities because I feel like I am getting to know the other St. Louis people as well as the Brazilian students. I am really excited to see what the next few days have in store because there is so much that I want to do before we leave.

One thing that I have been very willing to try is the food. I am always scared to try new foods but I have tried a lot. And some of it was very good. Their pizza is different from America but really good and they have a lot of different things to try. I tried coconut water and fresh coconut even though I have never liked coconut and this was no different, but I am glad I tried it.
I have never been this far away from home and have never done anything even similar to this experience, especially without my family, so this is very difficult for me but I have enjoyed it so far. The language barrier makes things more complicated but the students and teachers actually speak English pretty well. I can't wait to go home and see my friends and family but I know that I will be sad to leave because this is such a beautiful country and I have already had so many great experiences.


-Claudia Peth

Brazil

So far this trip has been a great experience. I tried passion fruit juice today for the first time, and it tasted really good.

Enjoying juice and conversation while waiting for lunch

 I found it really interesting that they start school at 1:30 pm and go until 6:50 pm. They also go to school on Saturdays, so their weekend is only one day on Sunday. I like their time schedule, but I would not like a one day weekend. We zip-lined today and the view from above the beach and ocean was beautiful. I cannot wait to see what else the trip brings! :)

Kayaking near the shore at sunset