# 1 SYDNEY IS A STUDENT CITY
Everybody knows that Sydney is a multicultural city. I’d say it’s a city full of young people, the so-called student city. However, you can also find older students there. Many people come there to stay along time, and the only way to stay so long is a student visa. You have the opportunity to meet people from around the world and make a lot of friends. What’s crazy that every nationality has something typical, something signature. Well I really had a chance to experience that. We can say about the Italians they are talkative, the Uruguayans and Brazilians are hot and full of life, the Colombians are very nice people, the Mexicans are very communicative and cheerful, the French are gentlemen, the Russians are proud, the Chinese are studious and curious, the Hungarians are very friendly, the Japanese are very polite and the Slovaks are our brothers. Such a small Babylon!
#2 SYDNEY IS AN EXPENSIVE CITY. LET’S EAT SUSHI!
When someone reminds me of school in Sydney, the image of sushi pops in my head. I will immediately remember the sushi. Australians love Asian culture. They are directly obsessed with Japanese or Thai restaurants. I had sushi for my lunches. I found that the food which I prepared at home cost exactly the same money that I spent in the restaurants or take away shops. It was quite a paradox as the sushi is quite expensive in my country. It was a cheap thing there and I almost always chose it!
# 3 ACTIVE LIFESTYLE
I have to say that people in Sydney are very active, fit and skinny. There are a lot of beautiful people there too. Who thinks that Sydney is flat,( it was my idea of Sydney at first), is wrong. The city is full of hills. You have to get used to the high temperature. A lot of people run along the beaches. Chris, my Business English teacher in language school I visited, also used to run every day. He always told us that he used to run by the song “Reptide” by Vance Joy along Coogie Beach. And when he was tired, he had a cup of coffee in the local coffee shop and made a “selfie.” A lot of people also exercise on the beach. I worked in the coffee shop near Coogie beach. I always passed a lot of people jogging or taking some kind of exercise on my way to work early in the morning. I like Sydney´s lifestyle. This lifestyle you can actually find all across Australia. People are very actively there. They wear sportswear and sneakers. Who knows, maybe they came back from running or are just about to go for run. The paths along the beaches call for it.
# 4 MOTIVATIONAL AND INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHTS
I personally love motivational and inspirational thoughts. You can find a lot of books on this topic in my library. It gives me power, courage, and inspiration. I have a better mood from this. In Sydney, you can find them on the streets, in the subway, in the shops, cafes, and the Australians home. If you are same as me, you will find yourself in motivational paradise there.
# 5 NATIOANAL FOODS CAN ALSO BE AN OYSTER
I remember us talking about our national/traditional cuisine at school. We talked about Australian as well. Everyone was upset because Australian traditional cuisine does not exist in fact. You can find a lot of nationalities who brought their habits and typical cuisine there. Typical food can be “Fish and Chips” and also “Oysters“. I love them. I was in oyster paradise. You have the chance to taste them on the fish market where they are always fresh. Or you can pick it up at Oysters farms.
# 6 NEWTOWN – ARTIST DISTRICT
Newtown is one of the most stylish neighborhoods of artists I have known. There are plenty of cafes, galleries, boutiques and theaters. The proper underground as it should be. The streets are full of graffiti and some of it are really beautiful art works. One of the most famous monuments is the wall painting “I Dream” , which was made as a tribute to Martin Luther King and dates back to 1991. in this neighborhood I found a very good coffee, an ice cream. I bought super t-shirts, muffin-shaped earrings, and my favorite designer’s dots shoes.
# 7 BONDI BEACH AND BONDI JUNCTION
Bondi Beach is one of the most popular beaches in Sydney. It was the first beach I wanted to see, and I saw it. I was surprised how many people are involved there with the cult of the body. And as I say, don´t go to Bondi beach without a sporty body. Well, your ego can go down very fast and easily. You can buy fish and chips for $ 18.90 there.
Bondi Junction is a junction of trains and buses. I visited schools there. You can shop at Westfield shopping mall, which is decorated with renowned names such as Dior, Prada, and Gucci. You can also find many yoga centers where you can stretch your back early in the morning. You can find a lot of older people who practice yoga but definitely do not look their age.
# 8 COOGEE AND RANDWICK
I have a weakness for Coogee beach. It’s just as nice as Bondi Beach but I think it’s even more beautiful, more relaxed and more peaceful in some ways. Nobody cares about you, especially which clothes you wear, if you come by car or bus. I was lucky to work in a small, quiet cafe. Every morning, our most frequent customers were great guys who returned from surfing and ordered their cups of coffee and delicious breakfast. Australians simply know how to enjoy life.
Randwick cannot be underestimated. There is one of the restaurants called Rell’s kitchen, where I started to prepare my first coffee. Here I also met my first employer Rick, who hired me in his diving business. My friends aunt lived there too. The bus drivers here stop only to waving. Randwick is not snobbish, but the main thing is that it’s close to the beach.
# 9 MANLY
Sydney is a city full of beaches, so you cannot miss Manly Beach. A lot of people relax and play beach volleyball and other beach activities on a long strip of sand. There are lots of pubs, bars, restaurants, and shops full of plush kangaroos and Australian flag items. The magical thing is that you get to this beach by boat, Ferry.
# 10 TIMETABLES THAT NO ONE HOLDS
Transportation in Sydney can be difficult for travelers. You have a lot of transport choices. I most often used trains, monorail, ferry, and buses. The trains are connected to the subway and run underground in the center. I used the monorail the most, its track is hanging over the city. I would like to tell you about buses (maybe not). Most stops do not have timetables, and if they do, nobody follows them. If you do not want to come somewhere late, you must count with this. Transportation is astronomically expensive, even for the Japanese. The best thing you can do is to buy a prepaid card. The price depends on the distance and hours which you will travel. The trips are free after a certain number of trips per week.
# 11 KNAFEH JERUSALEM STREET FOOD
Have you ever heard about Jerusalem Street Food? I discovered it at the Sydney´s Food Street Festival. It was an amazing bakery located in a transport container. At first view, this truck touched me with its graffity design. This super idea came from Ameer El-Issa and his Palestinian family, who now lives in Sydney. And what makes it all so unique? Who doesn´t know, Knafeh is a sweet cheese dessert, sprinkled with crushed pistachios soaked in sugar syrup. The top of this cake is pretty crunchy. I would say such “crème brulee“ of the Middle East. Everyone prepare it a little differently. I realized the best baking from the bearded bakers. The most of all it’s one big show. They bake, dance and sing, all together. And they’ll write something funny on the tray. They serve around 2000 to 3000 customers per night. There is a great atmosphere around them. They are always in a different place with their car. You never know where they will be next week. You always learn about their location only from Facebook. They also have many fans that travel for them to remote locations. However, the constant changing address is not an obstacle. There are a lot of fans who cannot get enough of them.
# 12 AUSTRALIAN FASHION AND BEAUTY STYLE
I like how everyone feel free here. You can find scrambled white collars, but most people wear sporty clothes. Girls wear black leggings, a shirt and a pair of sneakers. Mostly Nike. In summer, of course, they wear swimsuits and shorts. There’s always reason to jump to the beach. You will also find a lot of crazy people. You can have a feeling that somewhere in the neighborhood must be a masquerade ball. With my friend Beata, we had such a deviation that we took pictures of them and sent each other.
I find amazing that you can find a lot of Asian beauty shops there. I am in love with facial masks. Some are quite funny, for example with a picture of panda. I will write an article once about this ‘beauty miracle’. They are really amazing. I do not know better thing for my skin. They work very deeply, smoothen. They turn off your skin. The effect you can see immediately.
# 13 ARCHITECTURAL JEWELS
It would not be fair if I haven’t mention very beautiful buildings in Sydney. It is pretty impossible to describe them here in details. You have to look them up in the guide books or look at my photos for yourself to see.
SYDNEY I MISS YOU!
I have my favorite cafes, sushi shops, dancing salsa clubs, places where I liked to walk and beaches. My friends stayed there. Sydney will always be for me a city where you can happily work, learn, dance and just laugh.
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