A Sydney Wander

The original point of going to Sydney was to audition for the Central School of Speech and Drama's graduate program - the school itself is in London, but they audition in Sydney, which seemed a much more reasonable option than a 30+ hour flight to the UK from New Zealand. The audition process took most of the morning on Saturday, one group for the BA track (they were all so young!) and one for the MA track (we were all still young!). There were several staff and a few alumni around to answer questions, and the audition began with a vocal and physical warm-up led by one of the school's speech teachers. Then it was time to play the waiting game, as auditioners went in one by one to perform their monologues for the panel. The dance studio where this was held is glass, on the second floor but open to the ground floor, so we could see and occasionally hear people as they auditioned. Two girls discovered they were doing the exact same audition pieces because of this. I was one of the last to go. One of my fellow auditionees said that I had "a great 'scary' voice," so that was nice. Then there was a bit more waiting once everyone had gone, at which point they posted a list of people they wanted to call back. My name was not on that list, which meant this was the end of my application. My feelings on this were a bit mixed - it wasn't what I would define as a pleasant moment, but these things happen and life goes on. Still, it was nice to have an immediate answer, rather than several weeks of obsessively checking my phone/email.

From here, I walked back to the botanic gardens to tour the Governor's House, which I'd seen the day before and decided it looked interesting.

Sadly, photos were not allowed inside. It was a grand old building, though surprisingly less opulent inside than the exterior would suggest.

Next, I wandered off in search of the art museum I'd seen from the cab the night before.

 
This turned out to be the Art Gallery of New South Wales, which has an impressive collection of 16th-19th century art - what I was hoping to see after a rough morning. While I can appreciate modern and abstract art on an academic level (okay, not even remotely academic, who am I kidding), I personally prefer detail and sweeping landscapes because they're pretty.

In one gallery, within a second of glancing at a landscape far across the hall, I knew it was Milford Sound, and my heart did a little "I wanna go home to New Zealand" dance. Sigh.

The gallery has a massive, stunning collection, and I sadly didn't have time to see all of it due to my late arrival. But this was definitely a place to which I would like to return!

I continued wandering, past St. Mary's Cathedral, a modest little affair on the edge of Sydney's Hyde Park.

Apparently, it was wedding season, as I saw a grand total of seven brides during that afternoon and into the evening, one of whom was accompanied by a small fleet of classic cars. I felt uncomfortable taking photos of a complete stranger's special day, so here's a completely unrelated photo of a fountain in Hyde Park.

That evening I went back to the opera house to celebrate my failure with a ticket to the Australian Ballet's production of Giselle. The fifth season of Game of Thrones was about to start airing, so there was a gigantic promotional Drogon on the steps of the opera house, complete with smoke machine.

Audience members DRESS for the ballet in Sydney, so the people-watching was pretty great. The ballet itself was incredibly beautiful, and I spent most of it with my jaw on the floor in wonder. By intermission, I was feeling more kinship with the three little girls in sparkly dresses sitting next to me bouncing with excitement than I did with the fashionable folk of my own age. The human body is capable of some amazing things.

After the show, I was so tired that I nearly fell down the stairs while exiting the theatre. My human body is capable of some really ungraceful things.

I took a few more photos of the bridge and opera house, as it was still a bit surreal to me that I was actually there.