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I ended up not buying dried fruit in Thailand - I bought a pair of Havaianas flip flops instead to replace my trainers. Travel tip: Do not wear tight shoes on flights - it gets sweaty and uncomfortable!!! And turns out buying Havaianas was the right choice - when I arrived in Sydney, after a 9-or-something hours long overnight flight, during which I had only got off my seat twice for teethbrushing purposes, my feet had swollen to the size of broken ankles. I freaked me out, coz I have to admit, I usually think my ankles are pretty elegant. So as soon as I got to the hotel by Sydney Central Station, I googled the foot-swelling phenomenon. Reading about blood clots, DVT and strokes freaked me out so much, I decided to see a doctor - just in case! So I spent my first day in Sydney walking around, looking for a medical centre which is open on Sundays and getting lost many times in the process. I finally found one, and glad that I did. The doctor prescribed a pill to get rid of excess body fluids and told me to go to the hotel and lie down with my feet elevated. What a boring way to spend your first day in Sydney! I tried to negotiate with him, suggesting that I just go to 1 museum instead of 2 or that I go to the gym to, you know, get my blood circulation going, but he firmly ordered me to elevate my feet for the rest of the day.
I'm usually not a person who listens to doctors, (they always seem to tell me there's things Ican't or shouldn't do, which I find extremely limiting) but this time, I thought I better listen, so that I will be fresh and healthy for the intensive program University of Sydney has put together starting tomorrow night. And, after a good, long sleep, with my feet raised on 3 big cushions, I have now got my ankles back. I've never been so happy to see them before!!! The thing is, I'm secretly planning on buying a pair of sandals while I'm here and my feet have to look elegant to deserve such a treat.
Foot problem under control, I can now tell you about my plan for my two weeks in Australia. Tomorrow, I'm gonna visit Sydney Aquarium in the morning, hit the Paddy Market's on the way back to the hotel, and in the evening there's a cocktail party at the University of Sydney. The next three days will be spent in training, visiting the different faculties of the university and learning more about their procedures and the whole training session will end with a gala dinner on Thursday night. After that, I've got appointments to visit University of Technology Sydney and Macquarie University. Next weekend I'm going to be a proper tourist and visit every single possible tourist attraction in Sydney. Next Monday, I'm going up north to Brisbane, but I'll write more about that later on :)
So, that's the plan, and I'm really excited about it! I've been to Sydney before, when I had a 9 hour transfer here on my way home from New Zealand. I wanted to see as much as possible in the short time I had here, but it was raining so badly and I ended up just spending hours at the museum of contemporary arts, then going back to the airport to read my book and wait for my next flight. This time, I'm going to see everything there is to see in this beautiful city.
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