Working Abroad .05

And the traveling work adventure continues! Last weekend I landed in Sydney - my first time ever setting foot in Australia. Biggest surprises so far? 1) The amount of Ugg stores everywhere; 2) The amount of diversity (lots of cultures intermingling here) and 3) how genuinely friendly/happy/go-lucky Australians are. I always heard that they were nice, but until you work with them and chat with them every day you don't really know just HOW nice! 

I arrived on Easter weekend and we had Monday off. I ran my third race in the past month; a really small, local Australian 7k race in Centennial Park. It was so small that they had handwritten numbers on our bibs! It was a good run. Afterwards I ventured out to do some sightseeing. I walked all around Darling Harbour (so many boats and docks!), then went on a long walk to the famous Harbour Bridge, Sydney Opera House, and The Rocks (oldest town in Sydney). I absolutely loved it. I walked on the bridge and got some breathtaking views of the city too! 

I also just completed my first week of work in the Sydney office here. By far this is my favorite Google office that I have ever visited (it even beats some of my favorite offices like New York, Chicago, LA, and even Singapore...) When I walked in Monday morning, my jaw dropped from all of the vibrant, colorful Googley decorations. I snapped a pic of my favorite conference room called "Down Under" - when you see the picture you'll understand why :-) It's really fun and refreshing to be in a new office surrounded by awesome people. 

I'm currently sitting in the Sydney airport waiting to board my flight to Auckland for the weekend! Next week will be the LAST week of my Explorership before I head back home. I can't believe I will have been abroad for 6 WEEKS! Looking forward to my last weekend getaway.... I mean, it's not every weekend you get to jet over to New Zealand ;-)