Submitted by Navleen Kaur the 2024 Spring program in Sydney, Australia…
Happy Lunar New Year! There are so many amazing activities happening at all times in Chinatown this weekend. Yesterday, my roommate and I attended the Lunar New Year Drone Show in Darling Harbour. There were many small drones creating shapes, images, and phrases to get the audience in the festive mood. The drones created a fire-breathing dragon, traditional food items, the Yin and Yang symbol, and much more! There are several ways to celebrate the Lunar New Year in Sydney. The official Sydney website has a list of events for people to check out including street parades, lion dancing, markets, art, and food! Something that surprised me was the diversity prevalent in Sydney. Before coming to Australia, I thought there would mostly be caucasian people living here. However, there are strong Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Malaysian and Korean communities. The cultural immersion studying abroad in Australia provides is deeper than I suspected. I feel so lucky to be living fifteen minutes away from Chinatown and many other diverse neighborhoods. My roommate and I have made it a goal of others to try as many cuisines as possible. A week ago, I ordered Japchae from the Seoul Ria Restaurant and it was fantastic! My roommate and I have made a list of authentic restaurants we want to visit – one of them is a vegan Vietnamese restaurant named Golden Lotus Vegan in Newtown. Today also marks the end of two classes. I had the Operations and Finance finals on Thursday and Friday respectively and they went well! The Professors are extremely kind and hard-working. They are also understanding the fact that we are cramming a semester’s worth of content into one month, so they make the material digestible for students. Overall, I am having a great time here and cannot wait to explore more! (Submitted on February 9, 2024)