"Don't ever go to Redfern," they said on the plane...

So, I generally have a pretty great sense of direction, not going to lie. Today, maybe it was the vertigo, but my sense of direction was completely off. I don't know what it is, but ever since landing in Sydney I feel like I've been unable to read a map properly. I miss my google maps on my blackberry, that's for sure! Anyway, here's how today unfolded.

Unannounced to me, school is closed on Sunday. I found this out while standing outside school, the school that's an hour away from my apartment. I was able to pick up internet outside of the building so I managed to call home for a bit, send some pre-typed e-mails, but was unable to really do anything else. After my battery died a short hour later, I had recalled our CAPA leader Zara stating that there was a pretty spectacular view of the bridge and the opera house just down the hill from school. So I took off, down a hill (not even knowing if it was the right hill), following the two signs there were for McMahon's Point (assuming this was what she was talking about).

Her statement of Sydney hills rivaling San Francisco hills seemed to have escaped my mine at this point.

Holy cow are my legs sore! I walked down a hill for a good 35-40 minutes. I kept doubting that I was going the right direction, but I didn't have anything else to do so I figured why not. Eventually I made it, and yes it was worth it, but man that was a long walk! The views were spectacular and there wasn't anyone else in the area so I was able to sit and enjoy the view for awhile. But then came the task of getting back up the hill…

There was a ferry stop right around the corner from the point. I went and waited for a ferry for a good thirty minutes. After seeing that still none were coming, I left, and decided to walk back up the darn hill that took me forty minutes to walk down. Mind you, I still have my laptop on me at this point, so I'm carrying an extra 10 pounds. After an hour I was back at the top, exhausted, and back on a train over the harbor. My next quest was to find my internship site.

I wanted to follow the path I would be taking on a usual basis, so I backtracked nearly all the way to my apartment (even though I saw a bus I would eventually be taking while in downtown). I found my first bus stop and bus perfectly fine. Now, the first bus I take is to a train station, but there are three different train stations in this area. I should note here that train stations are not well marked in Sydney. Usually you have to walk through a mall to get to them, and I was actually very confused at this point as to how many train stations were in this area. But, the bus I needed to take supposedly ended its route at the station I needed to get off at. Sounds easy enough, right?

Nope.

The first train station is Central - the biggest train station in Sydney. It has four bus stops to access it. At the fourth bus stop, everyone got off the bus. I, stupidly, assumed this was the last stop so rushed off the bus as well ONLY TO SEE HIM CONTINUE ON HIS ROUTE! First mistake. Not knowing quite where he was heading, and my map not notifying me what stations were in the area, I started to make assumptions (second mistake). I knew I needed to get to Railway Station, and I was at Central Station. I walked into Central thinking I could just easily hop a train to Railway Station. Remember that note about Central being the biggest train station in Sydney? Yeah, there are over 30 platforms. Try easily catching a train ANYWHERE! From Central, I had two options for next stops: Town Hall and Redfern. I knew Town Hall wasn't right, so I assumed (third mistake) that Railway Stations was Redfern and headed over to Redfern.

Apparently, Redfern = the ghetto of Sydney. And yes, I still had my laptop on me. Thinking I may still vaguely be in the right area, I walked 20 feet to the left, 50 feet to the right, and promptly ran back into the station. Being in the ghetto of Sydney, however, the train platforms were not well marked and it ended up taking me twenty five minutes to get back to a station that was 30 seconds away! Ugh, after getting back to Central and finding my way out of that maze, I pulled out my maps and started walking again. Eventually (20 minutes later) I found my stop…where I needed to be over an hour ago…and it was fifty feet from where I had gotten off the bus in the first place (please, Sydney, label your streets better).

For the second leg of my trip, there are 5-6 different buses I can take. Two of the buses that I could take pulled up at the same time so I hoped on the second one. After 20 minutes of riding that bus, a red flag really, really, REALLY should have gone off when the first bus turned off the road my internship is on and my bus didn't (fourth mistake - if I could take either of these buses, my internship really should have been before the first bus turned off). But, I kept going. (There were a few indicators for other peoples internships that I was looking for; my only indicator is a street name, and Sydney does not label the streets at every street corner.) I kept going for another forty minutes. And then my bus turned, and I wasn't at my internship, and I knew I was in the wrong place.

This was the point where I sent my roommates a text stating that I was incredibly lost. They were unable to locate me on a map, and I knew that was trouble (ahaha, oh god that was trouble). I crossed the street and checked the timetables and thank god the same bus I was on was coming back in 12 minutes (supposedly, the numbers are really just suggestions). I boarded the bus, however, to find out that I had gone so far out of the zones that my travel pass covers that it would cost me an additional $5 to get back to the city!! AHAHAH! $5 for a flippin' bus ride all because I was lost! Hah! Of course I had to pay it, and I asked the bus driver to let me off at Johnston Street (I still needed to find my internship). The sad thing was that as soon as he let me off at Johnston Street, I turned around and the shop was right there - I easily could have taken his bus back to the city. But nope, he pulled away right as I was about to get back on and there I was, waiting for another 20 minutes.

I eventually got home, and stayed in the rest of the night (enough being lost for one day). What will take me 40 minutes on a usual basis took me nearly four hours today. And this is why we find places in advance...