Questions
Today was pretty busy at work - In the morning we had a Unit meeting (which we in theory do biweekly - that doesn't always happen). Not only is it nice to catch up one what everyone is involved in across the Unit, but there is always cake. Today someone made a very delicious blueberry and cream sponge cake with jelly between the layers as well as flaky, light pinwheel cookies. It was not a bad way to spend an hour. After lunch Cindy and I headed downstairs to meet with the head of the Division about some of the projects we have been working on.
This evening as I walked home the weather was really nice, so I decided when I got home I would go for a run. Last time I ran in Sydney I did it in the park and on the Uni campus, but as things are a bit quieter because of holiday (and because I really have wanted to try running in the city) I elected to run in the city. When I walk to work and walk home there are always runners on George Street in the thick of the throngs of business people and tourists. Going off of what I said yesterday about crowds in the city, I really wanted to try out city running. Usually in New Orleans I run in the Neutral Ground of St. Charles, and have run down to the CBD a few times, but the urban scale of Sydney is substantially grander. While I haven't run in a while, and didn't make it to the CBD, I did enjoy the sensory experience of running amongst commuters. I didn't quite make it 5k before I called it quits - I really need to get back into the groove of things if I really want to run a half marathon in October (like I keep telling myself I want to).
When I got home I was beat, but it was definitely a great way to cap off the day and I really look forward to resuming my exercise regimen when I get back to New Orleans.
In an e-mail today, mom posed a series of questions to me regarding living in Sydney. While I have regaled you for the last four and a half months with stories of my escapades, and sometimes offer a glimpse of life in Australia, I haven't really explicitly talked about lifestyle down here. With my time running short down here (as well as things to talk about during the week running low - there is only so much I can talk about work!) I think this is not a bad approach to this. E-mail me or post questions and I will be happy to answer...
Consider telling about the Uni atmosphere while most are on break...is it different around the campus now?
Admittedly, there isn't much of an atmosphere to begin with at the Uni, due to the fact that most people live a fair commute away from the Uni and only come for class throughout the week. Also, I live south of the Uni and walk east into the City, skirting through the southernmost portion of campus on my walk to work. In the morning things are a bit quieter (as I cross the path into campus from Redfern, the closest train station) than when school was in session, but there are still people. My street is quiet, and always has been.
Also, you haven’t really told us if most people drive in to work in the city or if they are more pro public transportation.
Most of the people I work with take transit into the city. The line of buses down George Street, and the people pouring out of Town Hall Station as I walk across the plaza to access Town Hall House (the building I work in). Candice and Amanda take the train to work. I think Kylie usually does too, though I know every so often she drives. Overall I would say a large percentage of the population commutes by public transit. That being said, there are still plenty of cars in the city causing quite a bit of traffic (though no New York).
Are there suburbs with regular houses or is it all urban settings for Sydney? I guess your area is considered urban or in-town? Is the housing any like Atlanta?
Sydney sprawls along the east coast and inland toward the Blue Mountains, just like any major city. This took a bit of research, but it turns out there are 656 suburbs and localities in the Greater Sydney area, administered by 40 local government areas. As I previously mentioned, the City of Sydney proper is made up of 32 of those "inner-city" suburbs. Outside of the City, the suburbs are lumped into zones such as the "Inner West", "Northern Beaches", "Eastern Suburbs", and "Sutherland Shire" (there are at least ten distinct regions, I won't name them all). The inner city suburbs that make up the City of Sydney go from very dense (in the CBD) to dense, older suburban (like where I live) composed of mainly terrace houses with very small yards. When you get out of the City you get more of the suburban sprawl like any other city.
By the numbers, metro Sydney has 4.6 million people spread out across almost 4,700 square miles with a population density in the more urban area of 5,330/ sq mi (as of 2006). A close comparison is Atanta (how convenient) with 4.7 million people in the 'urban' area of 1,963 square miles. However, the density of the core of the city is lower than Sydney with 3,190/ sq mi. Admittedly, as I live in the City, I don't get nearly the same experience I did as living in the suburbs of Atlanta. I would say the density of the residential sections of City of Sydney, a twenty minute or so walk from the CBD, is a little bit higher than Uptown New Orleans (smaller yards, terrace houses are connected in rows). If you get a bit further out toward Marrickville or Petersham (still only 15 minutes by train to the city) the density and residential scale is very similar to old New Orleans.
While on this topic, I realized I haven't really ever showed you what my house looks like. Here you go:
Do people drive mainly
vans and SUVs or not?
Cars tend to be a bit smaller here than in the US (but not as small as Europe). That being said, there are SUVs and vans, but the trend seems to be more toward sedans and even station wagons (surprisingly). A few of the car types are the same as the US (ie Ford Fiesta, Volkswagon Jetta, etc.), but there are also some brands we don't have in the US (ie Holden, Skoda, etc.). The funniest thing is that many of the Asian brands are pronounced differently down here: Hyundai becomes he-unh-dae (vs. hun-die), Nissan becomes Nis-en (vs. nee-sahn), etc.
That takes care of the questions for now - please e-mail some questions to answer, or post responses to the blog post and I will attempt to answer them in the next post!
This evening as I walked home the weather was really nice, so I decided when I got home I would go for a run. Last time I ran in Sydney I did it in the park and on the Uni campus, but as things are a bit quieter because of holiday (and because I really have wanted to try running in the city) I elected to run in the city. When I walk to work and walk home there are always runners on George Street in the thick of the throngs of business people and tourists. Going off of what I said yesterday about crowds in the city, I really wanted to try out city running. Usually in New Orleans I run in the Neutral Ground of St. Charles, and have run down to the CBD a few times, but the urban scale of Sydney is substantially grander. While I haven't run in a while, and didn't make it to the CBD, I did enjoy the sensory experience of running amongst commuters. I didn't quite make it 5k before I called it quits - I really need to get back into the groove of things if I really want to run a half marathon in October (like I keep telling myself I want to).
When I got home I was beat, but it was definitely a great way to cap off the day and I really look forward to resuming my exercise regimen when I get back to New Orleans.
In an e-mail today, mom posed a series of questions to me regarding living in Sydney. While I have regaled you for the last four and a half months with stories of my escapades, and sometimes offer a glimpse of life in Australia, I haven't really explicitly talked about lifestyle down here. With my time running short down here (as well as things to talk about during the week running low - there is only so much I can talk about work!) I think this is not a bad approach to this. E-mail me or post questions and I will be happy to answer...
Consider telling about the Uni atmosphere while most are on break...is it different around the campus now?
Admittedly, there isn't much of an atmosphere to begin with at the Uni, due to the fact that most people live a fair commute away from the Uni and only come for class throughout the week. Also, I live south of the Uni and walk east into the City, skirting through the southernmost portion of campus on my walk to work. In the morning things are a bit quieter (as I cross the path into campus from Redfern, the closest train station) than when school was in session, but there are still people. My street is quiet, and always has been.
Also, you haven’t really told us if most people drive in to work in the city or if they are more pro public transportation.
Most of the people I work with take transit into the city. The line of buses down George Street, and the people pouring out of Town Hall Station as I walk across the plaza to access Town Hall House (the building I work in). Candice and Amanda take the train to work. I think Kylie usually does too, though I know every so often she drives. Overall I would say a large percentage of the population commutes by public transit. That being said, there are still plenty of cars in the city causing quite a bit of traffic (though no New York).
Are there suburbs with regular houses or is it all urban settings for Sydney? I guess your area is considered urban or in-town? Is the housing any like Atlanta?
Sydney sprawls along the east coast and inland toward the Blue Mountains, just like any major city. This took a bit of research, but it turns out there are 656 suburbs and localities in the Greater Sydney area, administered by 40 local government areas. As I previously mentioned, the City of Sydney proper is made up of 32 of those "inner-city" suburbs. Outside of the City, the suburbs are lumped into zones such as the "Inner West", "Northern Beaches", "Eastern Suburbs", and "Sutherland Shire" (there are at least ten distinct regions, I won't name them all). The inner city suburbs that make up the City of Sydney go from very dense (in the CBD) to dense, older suburban (like where I live) composed of mainly terrace houses with very small yards. When you get out of the City you get more of the suburban sprawl like any other city.
By the numbers, metro Sydney has 4.6 million people spread out across almost 4,700 square miles with a population density in the more urban area of 5,330/ sq mi (as of 2006). A close comparison is Atanta (how convenient) with 4.7 million people in the 'urban' area of 1,963 square miles. However, the density of the core of the city is lower than Sydney with 3,190/ sq mi. Admittedly, as I live in the City, I don't get nearly the same experience I did as living in the suburbs of Atlanta. I would say the density of the residential sections of City of Sydney, a twenty minute or so walk from the CBD, is a little bit higher than Uptown New Orleans (smaller yards, terrace houses are connected in rows). If you get a bit further out toward Marrickville or Petersham (still only 15 minutes by train to the city) the density and residential scale is very similar to old New Orleans.
While on this topic, I realized I haven't really ever showed you what my house looks like. Here you go:
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| The first floor of our house - one of a row of thirty that are all fairly similar. |
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| The second floor of our house. Pardon the sloppiness of the drawings. |
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| A section through the left side of the house. Please don't build off of these drawings :P. I did these freehand and didn't measure anything. |
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| Looking from the front door into the house. While the house is pretty grungy as it is student housing, many of the details of the 100+ year old terrace are still intact and the ceilings are really high, which is quite nice! |
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| The living room from the bottom of the stairs. |
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| Looking toward the kitchen from by the (covered) fire place in the living room. |
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| The kitchen with door to the laundry and downstairs bath from the living room. |
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| Looking toward the front of the house from down in the kitchen. |
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| The front door and Kayla's door from the staircase. |
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| The living room from the stairs. |
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| Hannah's room and the upstairs bathroom from the stairs. |
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| My room and Abs' room (and the front door) from the landing by the bathroom. |
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| Standing at my door on the top landing looking toward Hannah's room and the upstairs bathroom - illustrates nicely how high the ceilings are! |
Cars tend to be a bit smaller here than in the US (but not as small as Europe). That being said, there are SUVs and vans, but the trend seems to be more toward sedans and even station wagons (surprisingly). A few of the car types are the same as the US (ie Ford Fiesta, Volkswagon Jetta, etc.), but there are also some brands we don't have in the US (ie Holden, Skoda, etc.). The funniest thing is that many of the Asian brands are pronounced differently down here: Hyundai becomes he-unh-dae (vs. hun-die), Nissan becomes Nis-en (vs. nee-sahn), etc.
That takes care of the questions for now - please e-mail some questions to answer, or post responses to the blog post and I will attempt to answer them in the next post!
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