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
so that was long as crap lol but...ur campus is a 45 minute walk from where ur staying?? how does that work? do you take a bus to campus?? and you had a 7 hour ride to the surf camp? thats ridicolousy long! lol
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