Yesterday was one of biggest national holidays down under, called Australia Day. This is very similar to the 4th of July in many ways because it revolves around friends, fun, and fireworks! The whole day feels like one big party as all of the locals wear clothing that resembles their country’s flag and celebrate together. Ideally, most locals get together at a friends house for an Australian barby and crank up the radio as it plays the top 100 songs from that year (I got this feedback from almost every local I asked). Since we’re all still fairly new to the area, the beach seemed like a fun party place for our American group to hangout at. Sunscreen here is no joke, so reapplying it every hour or so is actually very necessary. A few kids in the group mistakenly thought they could beat the harsher UV rays, and ended up with some pretty wicked sun burns. We stayed at the beach until right before sunset, and then made our way to Darling Harbor for the fireworks show. This isn’t the main Harbour with the Opera house, but it’s just as breathtaking. I’m no stranger to fireworks, but the production that was put on blew anything I had ever seen out of the water. They even choreographed music to the continuous explosion of numerous fireworks. My roommate, Danielle, and I were almost moved to tears from the spectacle, and it made me want to sign up for an Australian citizenship immediately!  I’ve already decided that I could easily spend the rest of my life hear, so I will have to start looking for loop holes in order to make that happen.