Allie The Reporter

Blonde.  Plenty attractive.  And, randomly American.  This stranger approached our group as she must’ve overheard our natural aww of the area.  She introduced herself as a student that was living in Sydney for a year, where she attended “uni” (University) here, which was about half an hour from our location.  She was involved in journalism, and she was doing a report-esque piece on what people thought about the Sydney Opera House after seeing it in the paint for the very first time.  Always one for classic quotes, I was quick to spit a few sincere lines about my lasting impressions.  One of my personal quotes is buried in another entry back there somewhere, but I promised to get to it, and so here is the connection.  After gathering a few lines from us, she explained how she was a student from San Francisco State and gave us a few nightlife recommendations.  Her mission accomplished, we moved on… physically, anyway, as I mentally decided that I should’ve seized that opportunity to at least find a friend or fern (a term for “a local that guides a foreigner around” that I learned from The Amazing Race) in her, but there was no real opportunity without coming off as forced or awkward.  We moved closer to the building, when we burdened Greer with taking another group photo in front of it.  After that was finished, the San Fran blonde suddenly beckoned us again: “Hey!  Can I take a photo of everyone together?”  Of course we all said yes, and as soon as it was snapped, I asked her for her name. It took all but half a second before the entire group knew where this was going.  The fact that her first name was “Allie” was no more help than her being named “Kristen” or “Lindsay,”—a name that could have multiple spellings and variations.  The group began to disperse and I asked her on a more personal note her last name, which wasn’t one that was obvious or easy to spell.  However, when I mentioned Facebook, she went ahead and wrote down her name, and as an added bonus, took it upon herself to add her e-mail address and Australian phone number.  Nice.  As of writing this, I do have one new Facebook friend, a first from Australia, and with any luck, an evening outing to the local Sydney scene is in order.  After we parted ways and I joined the group, where more photo ops were created and enjoyed by various members among various cameras.