Submitted by Alyson Markley on the 2024 Winter HSBM program in Australia and New Zealand…
On January 1st, I began my trip to Sydney, Australia. There were a few bumps in the road to start, my first flight was delayed 7 hours and I missed my connecting flight due to this and had to spend a night in the San Francisco airport instead. But then I caught my 15 hour flight and landed in Sydney. We started our first day pretty busy with class and lunch all together, we even had our first wine tasting. Then day 2 we had class and went grocery shopping during it to try some new snacks. We ended day 2 with a nice steak dinner at the Manly Grill. Day 3 we started off with some time in the classroom then we took public transportation to a brewery and distillery. We learned so much about the process of how to make various spirits and different beers. Now for day 4 we have a free day and we are going to spend the day on the beach and exploring the town of Manly. Everything and everyone so far has been so amazing and this trip has started so well. The locals are so polite everywhere we go and they are always smiling. We are staying in a beach town called Manly and life just feels so peaceful and simple here. I can’t wait to continue this experience and learn so much more about Australia everyday.