O Week

So it has only been 3 days since I last posted, but it has been a really busy week so far packed with all sorts of activities.  I forgot to mention in the last post that I realized that I was in Australia when I was at the surf camp and as we were walking back to our cabin, we saw 5 wild kangaroos just hanging out and jumping around outside the door.. it was crazy!!  Needless to say, Colette, Nicole and I got very excited about it.. probably more than is normal, but I was happy to get some confirmation that I wasn't just in some beautiful spot of California.  

Anyways, as I said in the last post, this week is O Week on campus and at the uni.  Basically there are heaps of events going on and it's great because it has kept me incredibly busy.  All the dorm buildings here have different names (I'm in Hospital.. others are Alcatraz, Postgrad, Slums, Trenches), so on Monday night there was a party where people had to dress up representing where they lived.  I didn't really know about it until last minute so my outfit wasn't anything too special, but some people were definitely in character.  My roommate Pricey did a lovely job cutting up jeans and a shirt and putting red paint all over himself to look like a car crash victim.  The outfit turned out quite well.  One thing that is really neat about the pubs here (they never call them bars) is that they're a lot more open and have some really cool outdoor ones.  They definitely aren't as gross as ones at home.  Also, something strange is that you have to pay for bus tickets to uni, but there is a free shuttle that takes you to the pubs if you want to go.  The shuttles are actually a lot of fun and people sing and have little chant-offs between the front and the back of the bus.. makes for an interesting time.  Another two things that I find weird are that a.) the big nights people go out are Wednesdays and Sundays and b.) they usually head to the pubs by 8 or so and are back by around 11 or so.  I'm not going to complain though, it's nice for me.

Tuesday was another fun-filled day as I spent the morning at the beach enjoying the gorgeous weather, and the afternoon hanging out with people around campus.  I'm starting to get a semi-decent group of people to hang out with, so it's nice because I don't constantly feel like I'm butting in on people's conversations anymore.  That evening there was a Campus East pub crawl that went to 4 pubs around Fairy Meadow and Wollongong.  The pub crawl started at 4 in the afternoon and was supposed to go until midnight.. ridiculous!  People here are definitely insane, but I suppose most of them are first years so this is their first time away from home and are going a little crazy as a result.  The pub crawl was fun but tiring, and I ended up only going to 3 of the pubs.  The second one was a really good time because it was karaoke night there and a lot of people went up and sang.  I'm a chicken so I didn't, but I had fun listening to and watching everyone else.  I walked back to Campus East with two of my friends and it ended up taking over an hour!  But we were very happy with ourselves because we didn't really know we were going, but made it back with no problems.  On the walk back we ran into a random 30 year old guy who was walking back from somewhere and he was with us for about half of the walk.  This is another example of how nice Australians are.  He was such a nice guy and obviously we had never met him before.

Wednesday was finally more of a laid back day.  I finally went to the mall in the morning with Nicole and a girl named Spela who is from Slovenia and got a phone.  I really think that I could have gone the whole time here phoneless, but I figure it's better to have one just in case.  It is really strange though how I have become less dependent on technology already (besides skype.. eek).  At home I go crazy if I forget my phone somewhere for a while and here it wasn't even an issue for me to get one.  The mall is actually really nice and is half outdoors and half indoors.  In the afternoon, there was a comedy group called Tripod at uni.  I went with Pricey, another Aussie, Doug,  and a kid named Jaret (who as it turns out lives 15 minutes away from me at home).  They had all sorts of booths set up at uni and Pricey and I played on one of the bouncy velcro things.  Tripod is from Melbourne, is really popular in Australia, is very similar to Flight of the Conchords, and ended up being really entertaining.  It was a good way to spend the afternoon for sure.  That evening, Katie and I just hung out and looked through all sorts of travel information.. there is so much that I want to do and not enough time (or money)!

Yesterday, Katie and I went on an op-shop crawl, in the morning/afternoon.  Op-shops are what they call thrift stores, and it turns out that they have tons in the area around here.  I spent a total of $9 (so about 6 American dollars) and got a dress, heels, laundry detergent, and Katie and I got a set of 4 wine glasses (because boxed wine-- called 'goon'-- is all that they drink here since it is cheap and there was recently a law passed on hard alcohol because there was a binge drinking problem so it is taxed pretty hard now).  Needless to say, the trip was quite successful.  We stopped at a little shop to get chocolate shakes and specifically ordered thick shakes, not milkshakes, and we ended up getting a chocolate milk-like drink.  It was good, but not what we expected.  I don't know if that's typical for all of Australia or just this one shop, but I thought that was pretty odd.  The rest of the day was just spent hanging out, going for a walk with Katie, and not doing a whole lot.  

It's interesting being back in the dorms again.  I didn't love the experience the first time around, but it's definitely better now that I have my own room.  The rooms here are actually pretty big and have tons of storage space.  This little dorm unit that I am in is probably close to the same size as my apartment back at U of I and it doesn't have a kitchen and only has one bathroom.  Something really nice is that we have a cleaning lady that comes every week!  I was not expecting that.. The one thing that I do love about the dorms is not having to worry about buying and making food.  I'm definitely adjusting to it and while food is a little different, it isn't too bad.  I have found that they make food spicier here than at home, and dishes that you would never expect to be spicy are.  The other night I had pasta with a normal looking red sauce but it ended up being incredibly spicy.  All in all though, food is very similar to at home and I've been enjoying it.  I tried eggplant parmesan the other day and it was delicious!  I have yet to try vegemite, so we'll see how that treats me.  Meals are fun though and back at home they were my favorite part of the dorms too.  

Well, in a few hours I'm heading on a trip to the Blue Mountains for the weekend.. I'm pretty excited and it should be a fun time!

Random Notes:

1. They call sweatshirts and hoodies jumpers

2. Instead of 'how are you' or 'how are you doing' it is 'how are you going'

3.  About 50% of Aussies take a year off of school before going to uni

4. They don't tax anything at stores.. it is amazing!

5. Everyone is way more active and healthy here than in the States.  People cycle everywhere and even older people are in good shape and out exercising

6.  There are significantly more traffic circles than stoplights, and barely any stop signs

7.  They really do say mate all the time

8.  Having popped collars is common and is not looked down upon here.. though I made it known that I'm not a fan

Week 1 Has Come and Gone..

Hey all!  Sorry about the slowness in getting a blog up.  As you can imagine, I have been pretty busy doing all sorts of stuff here!  So believe it or not, I am actually on the opposite side of the world and in Australia..  For those who I haven't taken the time to explain it to, I'm studying at a place called the University of Wollongong which is about a 90 minute train ride from Sydney.. the good news is that while the train ride is semi long, it has gorgeous scenery the entire way.  Everything here is just really green, lush, and beautiful, much of a change from cold, brown Illinois.  

I'm living at a place called Campus East and it is located about a 45 minute walk from the main campus (you can't call it campus though... it's always referred to as uni and whichever residence you live in is called campus.. quite confusing at first).  Campus East is in a suburb of Wollongong called Fairy Meadow, and my dorm is about an 8 minute walk from the beach!! It's great and the waves here are huge!  I mean I guess I've never really left the US, but I figured the waves would basically be the same, but I was definitely wrong and they're all huge here.  Uni is gorgeous too and has tons of trees, ponds, and flowers.  Definitely makes for an enjoyable setting to walk around.  I was very happy to find out that there is a bike path that runs right along the beach, so I'm sure I'll spend a decent amount of time there.  It is super awkward getting used to everything being on the opposite side.  The actual car thing isn't that bad to get used to, but the little things that you don't think about are the ones that get you.. Like which side of the bike path to run on, just what side of paths to walk on in general, which side of the stairs to go up.  I'm getting much better though so that's good!

Anyways, the weather has been great here.  It has been in the mid to low 80's everyday and sunny.  It kind of reminds me of Florida as it has had small raining bits for like 5-10 minutes but then never comes back.  I'm not sure if that's actually common or if it has just been like that this week.  I got into Wollongong last Wednesday and surprisingly wasn't as jet lagged as I expected to be.  I was pretty exhausted though and after an afternoon at the beach I pretty much went to sleep right away.  I was homesick on Thursday because I didn't have any friends yet, was roommate-less, and the two girls that I had been hanging out with just complained about how nothing was like the US (even though a. a lot is similar and b. THEY CAME TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD.. of course it's not the same).  But luckily I got a roommate on Thursday!  Her name is Katie and she is from Calgary which is in Canada by the Rocky Mountains.  She seems really nice and I think we're similar in a lot of ways and will get along well.  

The really neat thing about residences here is that they do tons of stuff together.  Unlike at home where all activities planned by the dorms are pretty lame and no one goes to, here, everything they plan is packed and it's all really fun stuff.  Also, RA's are more like your friends, and just do everything with you, and the residences kind of support alcohol and have alcoholic events which is insane.  Everyone here is so friendly, helpful, and laid back, much unlike the US.  If you don't know what you're doing or where something is, you can just ask a random person and they are so ready to help you in whatever way possible.  I'm still getting used to it because it is such a change.  An awesome one, but just different.

Friday morning I went on a hike with a group from Campus East up Mount Kiera, which is the mountain right behind campus.  It was quite eventful because there were way too many people to fit on the bus so they had to go in 2 rounds.  The bus I was on was first and after we got there we realized that there was no RA on our bus and we had no idea where to go.  Luckily, we had this kid Reese with us who is an Aussie and has a remarkable sense of direction.  After thinking we were lost many times we made it to the top of Mount Kiera.. apparently the other group never even made it up there, yikes.  Along the way we encountered many lovely leeches and somehow I walked away being attacked the least, with only one attached to my shoe.  Many people had them all over themselves.. Sick.  It was a long hike, but a beautiful day, and the view of Wollongong from the top was beautiful!  

After getting back from the hike, I rushed to gather my stuff and meet up with a girl named Nicole (who was one of the girls I flew in with), as we were heading to surf camp!  We were supposed to meet Colette (the other girl I flew with) at a different train station, but due to lack of communication and time we hopped on a train last minute.  Apparently you have to buy train tickets before you get on the train, but we didn't know that and were rushed so we didn't, and didn't realize it until after we were on the train for a bit.  About 15 minutes away from getting to Sydney we see a police walking on the train and we freaked out because we didn't have tickets and heard that the fine was pretty substantial.  We tried to outsmart the police since the trains have 2 floors and saw her go to one first in the next car over, but we failed and ended up playing the dumb American card, even though we know that is really bad.. She was so nice and after checking our passports to make sure we had actually just arrived, she explained to us that you need to get them before you get on.  Yikes, what a close call..

Surf Camp was at a place called Crescent Head, which we thought was about 2 hours away but ended up being closer to a 7 hour drive from Sydney.  It was gorgeous up there and the best part is that it wasn't touristy, and the only people on the whole beach besides the people in the surf camp were like 3 locals, so we basically had it all to ourselves!  We got a great weekend for weather and it was warm, but not too hot the entire time.  Believe it or not, I learned how to surf.  Not well, but I can stand up so I consider it to be a success.  The camp was a lot of fun.  It was run by a bunch of guys who have basically been raised in the area and just surfed their whole lives.  They were really funny, super laid back, and just fun to be around.  The food was awesome too, so that helped.  We had 3 total lessons/times to surf, and the rest of the time we just got to hang out at the beach and wander around, so I had a lot of alone time and time to think which was nice.  My eyes ended up getting really irritated by the salt water and sun, so I didn't surf for the entire time, but it was still a blast.  We were all so sore the next day in very awkward spots.

Then yesterday was Monday.  We had international student orientation in the morning which was pretty boring as expected.  I learned that UOW has 18,000 students with 4,000 international students.. Quite the ratio!  I got to meet two of my other roommates in the afternoon, and they're both first year Aussies.  Their names are Pricey (his name is Michael price) and Chiera (not sure if that is spelled right, pronounced Key-air-uh).  They are really friendly and super nice, and I was really excited to find out that I have Aussie roommates!  We still have a mystery roommate, so I don't know when they'll get in.  This week is 'O' Week on campus which is a really big week for all of Australian unis.  Basically both the unis and residences have tons and tons of activities going on all week, so it should be packed and fun!  I'll report back later with more adventures.  Sorry for the length of the post, I just had a ton to squeeze in.

Random Notes:

1.  They say HEAPS all the time here

2. The toilets here don't flush the same or opposite direction as they do at home... they just kind of have a rush of water that explodes and washes it down

3. People here don't have as negative of an outlook on Americans as I expected

4. There is an Outback Steakhouse close to where I live... weird.  They also have McDonald's, Subway, KFC, Burger King (called Hungry Jack), all the same gas stations, Aldi, IGA, and lots of other random places that I didn't expected

5. Their peanut butter is extremely expensive!! Almost $8 for an off brand regular sized jar.. not cool.. and they don't have Reese's

6. You have to pay for internet in your dorms and STILL get a quota on how much you can use

7. They have basically all of the same music, TV shows, and movies as we do at home, but are just a little delayed in getting them

8. You don't refer to people as freshmen, sophomores, etc and if you do, no one will know what you're talking about.  It's first years, second years, etc..

9.  Majors are called courses and faculties, courses and classes are called subjects, schedules are called timetables, and the pharmacy is the chemist