"Adjustments" Sydney - Part 2

Shooting around Bondi Beach

Was it difficult adjusting to Sydney? Upon my arrival in mid-May it was unsurprising that jet lag was the biggest challenge to overcome. Sydney is a whopping 15 hours ahead of Minneapolis in the time department so my days were nearly flipped. I landed in the morning (around 6 a.m. Sydney time) after a lengthy 15 1/2 hour flight. Because I landed in the morning I had to keep myself awake until the night, or else overcoming jet lag would be even more difficult to do. With all of this said here are a couple of things that I found particularly challenging or confusing in my first week or so here:

• Everyone driving on the opposite side of the road/steering wheel on opposite side of vehicle. My instincts have me looking in the wrong direction when initially crossing the street. Hopefully this won't be my final post because of it.
• Leaving early summer in the northern hemisphere and entering early winter in southern hemisphere. Coming from Minnesota, Sydney's winters don't intimidate me whatsoever, however, it is challenging to suddenly go from having longer summer days to dropping back into shorter days. Thanks 23.5 degree tilt.
• JET LAG - I will reiterate this. Honestly, jumping fifteen hours into the "future" is rough on ones body. Also, when I fly back to the States, I will leave Sydney at 10 a.m. for a 14 hour flight only to land in LA at 7 a.m...on the same day. Time zones are weird. So I'll pretend that I am achieving time travel.

Those are probably the three biggest things and while some may seem silly to you they were the ones that I personally dealt with the most. Regardless, I am well traveled and Sydney has been nothing but spectacular ever since my arrival so none of these were anywhere close to being unbearable. I would take all of the above ten times over!