Sydney, Australia is constantly ranked among the most beautiful cities in the world, and after visiting, I can definitely vouch for those countless online rankings that popped up when I googled “world’s most beautiful cities.” In fact, those countless online rankings are one of the many reasons that, despite all my fears and anxieties that I had, I took the leap and came to Australia in the first place. And finally, after a long stint studying for midterms at uni (as they call college in Australia), it was time to take a break and see what Australia has to offer.

With my newfound group international students from around the world, we planned to take a 14-day trip away from uni from Sydney all the way up to Brisbane, stopping to see all the beautiful sights along the east coast of Australia. And finally, that day came. After all the eager excitement, planning, and preparation, we were waking up at 3:30 a.m. to hop in an Uber and get to the airport as we made our way onto our flight to Sydney. From the plane, I saw it: the beautiful skyline, villas and coastline that make Sydney so beautiful. Touching down on the tarmac and exiting the airport, we beelined to Sydney harbor to take in all the sites. Passing Hyde Park, the famous cathedral, and tons of government buildings, we wandered through the botanical gardens until we finally found it: The stunning, breathtaking, Sydney Opera House. Walking down the steps leading up to the Opera House felt so surreal. I had that “I made it” feeling stronger than I’ve ever experienced before. After months and months of preparation and years of dreaming, it finally happened: I got to see the Sydney Opera House in person and was standing in the city that I had loved and only imagined being in since I was young.

It was such a magical experience: sitting under the opera house on the harbor, eating at one of the many bustling restaurants that lined the coast. Soon after, we started exploring the city and all that it had to offer, including walking along Biondi beach, observing the sights from the Sydney eye and whale watching just off the coast. It was all nothing short of a dream come true. But all this didn’t come close to what would come next. During the second night, we all booked tickets to go see a show in the iconic Opera House that I was gushing so much about earlier. The show was spectacular and was made that much better when accompanied with the overwhelming and immense feeling of joy that I felt being INSIDE one of the most famous architectural works in the world.

If you couldn’t already tell, my experience in Sydney was better than I could have ever asked for and exceeded my already insanely high expectations. People talk about knowing your place as soon as you step into it and that life is waiting for you there, and I had those intense feelings as I was walking through the streets of Sydney. It’s for sure a city that I will be visiting again and on top of that is one that I will most definitely consider moving to in the future.

---

Learn more about this blogger’s study abroad program: Monash University