Cultural Banquet

This morning Suzie and I went to the Salvation Army for a Cultural Banquet. Suzie plays in the band for the 'Salvos' and that is how I got the invitation for this occasion. It ended up being really cool. Each person/ family brought a cultural dish from their native lands. Suzie made some type of Belgian meatball bake. Even though she was born and raised in Western Australia she did a youth exchange through Rotary to Belgium for a year. I planned on making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cutting them into triangles. Yes I realize there are other classier American foods that I could have made but I didn't know about it until last night and PB&J sandwiches are cheap. I was getting ready to make them 20 minutes before we had to leave when Suzie came rushing in and said that she read the website for the bus wrong and that we needed to leave right away. So I didn't get to bring anything. I got to hear lots of Christian songs in other languages and even see some dancing from other cultures. All of the food was delicious!!! I got to meet aborigines, a lady from Lebanon, a lady from Wales who got to see Princess Di's wedding when she was 8, people from Italy, Samoa, China, and a Canadian gentleman who said he came to Australia for a visit and has lived here for 47 years. The picture shows Suzie, the only a fraction of the food there, and a few people socializing in the background. Suzie and I were 2 of 3 college students there. There was also a boy from China. Near the end some of the older ladies gave us disposable tupperware and told us to load up. So we did. We now have dinner all set to go for every night this week. It was quite a cultural learning experience and I really enjoyed myself.

After that I did laundry and watched a movie. I discovered while doing laundry that my ID card I have to swipe to get into EVERYTHING was suddenly sometimes working at our front door. Suzie's card wouldn't work either. It would read the card give a green light and then NOT unlock the front door. I reported it to the front office and they said that happens and to try 10 minutes later. 10 minutes is so long outside your own house in 98 F heat, directly in the sun because there is no shade. Tomorrow I will go talk to the Supervisor of this place. It sounded like that student working the front desk was just being lazy and didn't want to fix it.

Bad bus ride and jellyfish

Did a kickboxing workout this morning with my friend Sophie. Apparently somebody broke glass and didn't clean it up and Sophie stepped on a piece. Also, went to the bathroom this morning and someone killed a cockroach. They smeared it all over, yuck. It is still there 12 hours later. I don't want to clean either of the messes up because I didn't make them. But I also don't want to have to worry about glass in the carpet or a cockroach infestation.

Anyway after the workout we went to the farmers market. This time I bought a ton of fruits and vegetables. They are SOOOO delicious! We came back and I decided to eat one of my nice cold frozen popsicles that I bought yesterday. Yeah, it tasted like regular ice that was colored orange and had an every so slight taste of orange :( Well it did the trick and cooled me down a little bit. It only got up to 96 F today.

Then we went downtown to the Fremantle Market. It is only open on Fri, Sat, Sun. We took the bus to get there. We take bus number 100 to get half way and then have to switch to the 106 bus. There are no maps of any of the routes. We have to go online to www.transperth.com and tell it your origin and destination and it will tell you what buses to take. The internet told us to take the 106 to the Fremantle bus station. We pulled into a station but I didn't know which one, so I asked the bus driver if it was the Fremantle Station. He said yes. I asked where the market was. He said take the 501 bus. So we got off of the bus. Turns out that we could have stayed on the bus, we were NOT at the Fremantle station. The 501 took us to the Fremantle station. But we had to wait 40 min in 96 F heat! I was so angry that the bus driver lied to us and told us to get off of the bus, when we should have stayed on. Once we got to the market, I ended up fiding 2 skirts there. One was $35 and the other $25. I know that is expensive for the US but in Australia that is a freaking fantastic find. I'm super excited.

After the market we headed to the beach. We were hot and sweaty at this point in time. Here there are designated dog beaches. So we opted for that one. That way we got to play with puppies!!! Especially since ours are at home. We dove into the water immediately and it was phenomenal!!! After a while Anna said she saw a jellyfish. After about 20 seconds of deliberation she decided it was clear plastic trash. We moved away from that spot in the water. About 3 minutes later I felt a piece of free floating seaweed get wrapped around my thigh I looked down, because the water really is crystal clear, and couldn't find the seaweed. Instead I found a clear plastic looking sphere that was floating around about 7-8 inches under the water in the water. It was not moving but it was very symmetrical and I'm pretty sure it was a jellyfish. I didn't want to touch it and find out if it was trash or not. So instead we got out of the water.

After we returned home from the beach I told my roommates. They informed us that it was probably a dead jellyfish and that is why it didn't hurt when it touched us and why it wasn't moving anywhere just floating about.

After dinner I went over to Anna's and we had a movie night. We watched the Bourne Identity.

I learned at the Farmers Market that bell peppers are called 'capsicums.' I don't even have a clue where that name came from.

First Taste of Night Life

Today I got up and met with my Intro to Microbiology professor because that class is at the exact same time as another class. After about an hour of discussion it was finally approved for me to take Food Microbiology. The problem was that Intro to Micro was a prerequisite. That was the huge long debate. So I am officially in for a tough semester.

I then went to my Nutrition Education orientation and learned all about the class. That class will be a lot of work also but I should get a lot out of it. The orientation made me realize that I will have to relearn a lot of material. At home we say one serving of meat is 4 ounces. They don't use ounces here, they use grams. So a serving of meet is 250 grams. So that was an eye opener that I never thought about before. When they write papers they also use a different citation format. You also don't turn assignments into professors or T.A.s you turn them into the front office with a cover letter, which is another thing I need to learn to do before my first assignment.

After that I went on a library tour. I'm glad I did. Their library is 6 floors!! It is the only one but it is gigantic. Also the library is open from 8:30am to 5:45pm. That is CRAZY! Classes are scheduled all the way until 8:00 pm. How are students supposed to study?

Went grocery shopping again. Pretty darn excited about the popsicles I bought. I think they are the best investment I have made since I have been here. It was 96 F today.

After dinner I went out with a few friends to The Tavern. It is a bar here on campus. It blew everybody's mind that I don't drink. Had a good time until about 10:00 pm. By then it was too crowded and there were too many drunks. I have run into many people in the past that have stereotypes about Americans drinking until they are drunk and how inappropriate it is. Well, tonight I saw a lot of drunken Aussies, Indians, Chinese, Europeans, and everybody else from various places around the globe. I don't think it is just Americans. I think it is college students.

The Aussies are very much stuck in the 80's. Not like our current fashion with a hint of the 80's such as aviators, and belts around the middle of our waist when wearing a dress. I mean people over here have the crimps in their hair, the VERY floral prints, the strapless dresses that are shorts on the bottom. I'm pretty sure I saw dresses that were identical to the ones I used to wear as a kid. There are lots of neon colors and shoulder pads too. I'm pretty sure if mom and dad sent me Michelle's dresses from when she was in college which are in the basement closet I would fit right in.

FOODcents/ Moonlight Movie

Went to the grocery store this morning for an orientation for my Nutritional Education class. We learned about the FOODcents program that they have here in Australia. Pretty much it is about looking at a product, say flour, and seeing that it is priced at $2.50. Then when you look at the bottom of the price you can find that is it $1.25 / Kg (about 2.2 lbs) and looking at sugar which is priced at $3.80 per package which is about $1.90/Kg. Last, you would look at cake mix which is $4.00 for the box and is actually $8.40 /Kg. The average shopper would see that the packages of sugar and flour combined are $6.30 and the cake mix package is $4.00. They don't realize that cake mix is flour and sugar. Instantly they would have to spend and extra $2.30. But in the long run they could make multiple cakes and actually save money.

Then I went to the classroom part of the FOODcents orientation, followed by my microbiology orientation. Walked around campus and discovered a small little shop that has 8 computers and prints 5 cents a page and 7 cents if it is front and back of the page. This is the cheapest on campus!!! All of the campus computer labs charge 11 cents a page. No discount if front and back printing. At Purdue it was 4 cents a page. 8 cents front and back. Plus Purdue gave every student a $20.00 allowance fro printing. Also discovered that it is $380 for a gym membership here. It was free at Purdue!! Plus Purdue has a swimming pool. This place does not.

Went to the mall and walked around for 3 hours because it was air conditioned :) It is the end of summer and all of their sales are going on right now. But for them a sale is $30 for a pair of shorts. $50 for a sun dress. I think that is a little bit steep. Here is a picture of the doughnuts that they sell in the mall. They are all neon colors for the icing and then they are half way dipped into sprinkles. Then we came home and got ready to go to the Moonlight Movie at Kings Park.

We left and took the bus about half way and then got off in order to switch to another bus that would take us the rest of the way. We got off the bus where our directions told us to but the new bus passed on by because we were not at the designated stop for that particular bus. Turns out that was the last bus. But we were told we could walk it in 20 minutes. The movie started at 7:30pm and it was only 6:30. We walked for 45 minutes and finally reached the entrance to Kings Park. This park, by the way, is HUGE! It is full of hiking, running, and biking trails. On our way there during the 45 min walk we stumbled upon kangaroo statues. decided that we were hungry. So we stopped at a grocery store we spotted and I bought a half of a cantaloupe, a banana, and a box of granola bars. Unfortunately, I could not find a single spoon. So every time we passed by a restaurant I would go in and ask if they had a plastic spoon to go. Anyway, we get to the entrance of the park, still no spoon, and we asked people if they knew where the Moonlight Movie was being played. They said at the top of the hill. 15 minutes later we made it to the top. Up there we could see the Perth city skyline.

At the top we asked to more people and they said it was another 20 minute walk down to the bottom of the hill on the opposite side that we just came up on. We said to each other to forget the movie, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and plopped down in the grass and ate our dinners and watched the skyline. I ate everything except the cantaloupe because I never got a spoon to eat it with :(

Then we walked to the bottom of the hill, caught a bus that took us home, and went our separate ways. It was so hot in my room that when I grabbed the shampoo and conditioner for when I took my nice, cold, and refreshing shower the liquid inside of the bottles was hot. So was the door handle to my room. After my shower my deodorant was warm to put in my armpits. It was all weird.

I did learn some more vocabulary.

We get fast food. They get 'take away' food.

HOTT DAY!

Oh my goodness, I think we have been hit with a heat wave!! I woke up today and did a kickboxing workout while it was still nice out. By the way I don't know if I ever mentioned it before but there is no air conditioning in any of the student housing units :( So did the workout and talked to Matt for a bit. Spent 2 hours planning what to do for when Matt gets hers. Then I went onto campus in order to get my classes figured out. It was 42 degrees Celsius. That means it was about 110 degrees Fahrenheit!!! Today was Guild O day. At Purdue if you are a student, you get discounts on everything. Here as a student you have to pay $100 to become a member of the Guild. Then you are eligible for discounts on food, clothing, and can join campus clubs. I went out after still not getting my classes figured out at the exchange office and decided to walk around the mad house of booths. Each club gives away shirts, reusable bags, hats, water bottles, hot dogs, and other stuff. After searching for what seemed to be eternity in Hell (really it was that hot today) I discovered they only have academic clubs. Chemistry club, nursing club, Business club. They do not have anything fun like surfing club, kayaking club, water ski club. I then stopped in at the Student Travel Association they have here on campus. They did inform me that the northern half of Australia, including the area around the Great Barrier Reef would be in the rainy season when Matt came to visit. Also, because it is Australia's #1 tourist spot EVERYTHING is way overpriced. So at least they hooked me up with some cool new places. I stepped outside and immediately realized that when I loaded on the sunscreen this morning I must have forgot my feet!! They felt like they were on fire and I walked back as quickly as possible.

I decided to make spaghetti for dinner tonight. During this process I discovered 2 things about Australia. #1 the noodles here take almost an entire episode of the Simpsons to cook (25 min). Yes that is starting after the water boiled. #2 They have the Simpsons here! That is the first American show I have discovered here. Well they have their own version of a lot of reality shows like Australian Idol, So You Think You Can Dance Australia, and whatnot.

That is pretty much it. Not a very exciting day today. It was too hot to do anything. And the closest ice cream store is a 20 minute walk from campus!! You would think someone would have the bright idea of putting one closer than that. I swear they would have sold out today.

Tour of Perth, Fremantle, and Cottesloe

Today I went on a tour put on by the International Exchange Office. The bus was scheduled to leave at 9:30. A group of us walked to the meeting place together. We sat in the back of the bus because that was where there were seats left. I actually thought to myself "we are sitting near the bathroom, but it should be ok because we are only on the bus for 20 minutes between each drop off location." We hadn't even left and a kid stumbled back there made the comment "I'm so hungover" to us and then puked in the toilet. Came out and told us that he felt much better. We left at 9:30 am. At about 9:45am the same kid came back and puked 3 more times! Yuck!

Our first stop was downtown Perth. I hung out with Anna and Mark, both are from Canada. We perused various shops and ended up at a travel place called Peterpan's Adventure Travel. I grabbed some brochures for when Matt comes to visit. I also looked at opal jewelry since that is what mom requested I buy. Turns out there are a lot of options for opal. There is white opal or colored opal. Different quality levels and different plating options, such as gold or silver. I have needed a tote bag since I got here for various things. I keep borrowing my roommate Suzie's bag. So I walked by a souvenir shop and found a nice black one with white outlines of all of the animals in Australia. There was a sign outside the shop that said $5 and was surrounded by bags. I went to pay for the bag and it turns out the price was $12.95! Only the crummy plain white bag that said PERTH on it was $5. I went ahead and bought the pretty bag. We got back on the bus at the designated time and surprise, the puke smell was gone! Once everyone was loaded on the bus the driver announced that the toilet on the bus could not be used on this trip and that there were plenty of public restrooms where we could do our business. That poor bus driver had to clean out the bathroom on the bus.

We then went to downtown Fremantle. Perth to Fremantle is like going from West Lafayette to Lafayette. Anyways I discovered a very cute little shop. The owner was and author of a children's book series about an emu baby named Stripey. In case you didn't know it, when emus hatch they are actually black and white striped. So I bought the book for the second grade class that I volunteered at over my winter break. I also bought some art work. I got the laminated prints instead of the real art work because they were much cheaper and could fit in my suitcase when I go back home. Then we moseyed on down and found another souvenir shop. This time there was a white version of my brand new bag and the outlines of the animals were in all different colors and it was only $4!!!! I hate it when that happens!

After Fremantle we went to Cottesloe Beach. This was different than the beach I went to before. I have no idea of the name of the first beach I visited. This one was amazing!!! There was a breeze, not sand blasting wind. Also there was a pier. The rock formation that sticks out into the water. After swimming and exploring the pier one of the organizers of this event started a game of beach Cricket.

If you click on the picture it gets bigger. So there are two small sets of yellow poles about 2 feet tall. The pitcher stands at one, and the batter and catcher stand at the other. The pitch is aimed between the ground and the batter's knees. Once the batter hits the ball he runs to the other set of short yellow poles. Everyone else in the picture then tries to catch the ball (an automatic out, similar to baseball) or chase the ball grab it and throw it at either set of the short yellow poles. There is a tall yellow pole in the back of the picture. There are actually 4 tall yellow poles, those mark the bounds of the game. If the ball is hit passed them then it is a home run. Also there are a lot more people in the out fields, I just didn't get them in this shot. Ryan is the person in the orange shirt. He is the batter. When the ball hits the poles the runner is out, unless they made it to the poles prior. If the batter makes it, he scores a point. Then the batter goes back and repeats until they strike out, or get taken out. I'm sure there is more to an official cricket game, but this is how we played today.

Me on the side of the pier looking at the other side of the beach.

Anna and I are at the end of the pier looking out towards Africa. No we can not see it. It is just in that direction.

Orientation Meeting/ Mall

Today I woke up and went to my mandatory orientation meeting from 10am-noon. It was pretty darn boring. They told us about culture shock, using the campus website, signing up for classes, and whatnot. When they covered the topic of obtaining a drivers license, they did discuss some interesting facts that I thought I should share with you. I know people that complained when certain laws came into effect. Here are some Australian laws that hopefully put people their place and make them stop complaining.

The drinking limit is 0.05 I was informed that is about 1 glass of wine for a lady and about 2 drinks for men per hour. If you get a blood alcohol content above that your license is taken away, no questions asked. There is not DUI nonsense. The catch phrase the Aussies says is "If you drink and drive you are a bloody idiot!"

Even if you are riding a bike and have a BAC higher than 0.05 your license is taken away.

Seat belts are mandatory for every person in the car. If someone does not wear their seatbelt it is a $500 fine. If the driver is caught not wearing their seat belt it is $1000!

Talking on the 'mobile' (cell phone) or texting is a $250 fine.

Wow, I guess we have it pretty easy in the USA. Our laws are like a slap on the wrist.

During the orientation I learned a few other tidbits of info. The money here is plastic not paper so it doesn't rip. They have 5 cents, 10 cents, 20 cents and 50 cents coins. $5, $10, $20, $50 plastic bills. I'm sure they have bills higher than $50 but I have not received any and don't know for sure. The coin size from largest to smallest is 50c, 20c, $1, 10c, 5c, $2. It is a little confusing and I have to read every coin before I pay for something. I feel like a little kid learning how to count change at the stores.

After the orientation I went to the mall in search of cheap end of summer clothing. Specifically skirts and dresses because it is in the 90's over here and I want something that doesn't stick to me legs and will replace the shorts that I ripped. Turns out all of the "sale" items are still ridiculously expensive. I was at the mall with my friend Sophie. Sophie was born and raised in Yorkshire England and her family moved to Singapore 8 years ago. Anyways we were on our way to the 'Chemist' (pharmacy) so I could buy contact solution, because apparently that is the ONLY place you can get it. We saw a store across from us in the mall and started to cross the main aisle when we heard "Stop.....Hey.... Stop!!!!" We look to see a security guard running and pounce into another man knocking the man into a sunglasses rack right outside of the Chemist. The man then fell and 2 security guards started tackling him. The man put up a hell of a fight and was very close to escaping, twice, when a third guard came. The were finally able to put the man in handcuffs and take him away. I think the man was caught stealing, but I never found out for sure. By the way, the security guards wear dress shoes, dress pants, a polo shirt, and suit jackets. I think that would be a terrible uniform to wear because it would be hard to take a thief down, as I clearly saw.

Then I came home and have just been chilling out every since.

*More vocabulary:

A 'rubber' is what you erase pencil markings with

And a 'fag' is what people smoke, not a cigarette

I did actually know these and a other words from previous posts. I just share them all with you incase you didn't know. This way readers of my blog get to be culturally educated as well.

Beach and a Barbie

Annette, Faith, Me, Nicky, and Gavin

I woke up today and got ready to go to the beach with Alyssa from the film festival and a few of her friends. She told me to meet at her place around 9:30 am. I arrived at 9:35 and they had already left. I was very bummed that they didn't wait. But, it was my fault, I should have been on time. Anyways so I turned around and made the 15 minute walk back to my place. One of my roommates, Nicky, was awake so I invited her to go with me to the beach. Her boyfriend Gavin is a local Aussie who has a car!! This means I didn't have to try and figure out the terrible bus schedule. Two more girls joined us, Annette and Faith. The beach was nice with white sand and crystal blue water. Unfortunately, it was also very windy. I brought cards but we could not play them because the wind was so bad. They water was VERY choppy and decently warm, which was fantastic to play in. No sharks and no jelly fish encounters! The most dangerous thing were the random rocks that me foot kept landing on. When we got out of the water the wind had picked up to the point where it was stinging. My entire body was getting sand blasted. All I felt was non-stop stinging. So we left. We were only at the beach for 1 hour. Apparently, I missed my nose and my chest when I put on sunscreen. They are both very red!! So red that my roommate Suzie was singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to me this evening.

After the beach we came home and showered to get the sand out of my ears and off of the rest of my body. We all chilled out for a few hours and then half of my roommates showed up for a house barbie. That is Australian for BBQ. The grill they use is more like a griddle. They clean the grill with salt and oil. Then they cover it in oil and cook their meats. Suzy, Carmela, Crystal, Nicky, and I were they only ones who showed up for our house Barbie. We made it BOYM (Bring Your Own Meat) and a type of salad to share. I brought pasta salad. It was good and we all had a great time.

There are also some more vocabulary words that I learned today:

A 'boot' is the trunk of the car

A 'jumper' is a sweatshirt

'rockmelon' is cantaloupe

'sultans' are raisins

That is all for now. I have orientation meetings that start tomorrow.

Farmers Market/ Film Festival

This morning I woke up and went with a few friends to the local farmer's market. It was about a 10 minute walk. It is very similar to that of our farmer's markets back home, except for that fact that the produce is cheaper than that in the supermarkets. Whereas, at home it is more expensive. They sold potted plants, fruits, veggies, cold cuts, cheese, honey, tea, and ice cream. I bought locally made honey, which is very delicious, and fruits and veggies.

After the farmer's market we all went back home to our separate units/flats and ate lunch and put our purchases away. We decided to go to a film festival tonight. So around 3:30 I left to meet up with everyone else. They all live on the other side of campus, about a 14 minute walk. On my way to meet them there was a big flock of parrots on the ground eating pine cones!!!! I walked up to within 4 feet of them and took pictures. I saw the parrot on my 2nd day here and then only ever saw them in flight after that. Now I finally have pictures!!

Anyways, so after I got the pictures of the parrots I continued on my journey to the far side of the campus. Just to give you a better idea, this campus has 40,000 students. That is actually a little bit bigger than Purdue University's campus. I got to the end of a road and there was a fence. I needed to get on the other side of the fence in order to meet my friends at the bus stop. So I did the only logical thing. I jumped the fence. On my way down the tip of the fence caught my short's pocket and ripped it :( so now I need to go buy another pair of shorts. I made it in time to catch the bus though.

On the bus we got to meet local teenagers. They were very forward, brash, and rude. They kept asking why Americans thought they were better than everyone else. They also asked why every American is fat. (By the way, not a one of the 6 of us was fat). They did all of this in the worst redneck impression that I have ever heard. The teens thought they were cool as they carried their skateboards on the bus and wore rat tails in their hair. Not even stylish rat tails. These started in the middle of the back half of their head, and were off center. The 80's has made a huge comeback in Australia. Everyone wears jeans above their bellybutton and cut off shorts. Along with neon colors, high tops, and sequins.

Once downtown we went down town to a location called Fremantle. We ate at dinner at what seemed to be Perth's very small version of China town. But China town has cheap food. I got a nice dinner for only $6. Then we went to the show. It was a much smaller venue that what we had anticipated. Also, because we were students we only had to pay $6 to get in instead of $10. We watched a film about a bunch of internet short videos. They were all very comical. It was 9:00pm so we decided to catch the bus home. We took one bus to about a half way point and then had to get off and switch busses. Turns out the other bus, which is the only bus that would take us back to the university stopped running at 8pm. So we hailed a taxi. The taxi driver took us home and didn't charge us because he was actually done for the night and our home was on the way. So we thanked him immensely.

Alyssa, Anna, Carmela, Kyle, Chelsea, and me!

Met a famous Australian actor today

I went onto campus with my roommate Crystal today. She is from South Africa and has lived in Australia for the past 4 years. We were walking to get to the bookstore and she suddenly squealed a little bit. Turns out an actor from a show that she loves was near the bookstore on his 'mobile,' we call it a cell phone. Anyways, so I got to meet an Australian actor named Ben Mortley. He plays an Italian character on Mcleod's Daughters. That is an Australian show. I only know about him because Crystal went fanatic when she saw him. I took a picture of her with him. She also got is autograph. I probably should have done the same, but I had no clue who the guy was.

I also got to travel outside of campus today! Crystal's friend David picked us up in his car and took us to the 'shopping center,' we call it a mall. At the shopping center was a store called Woolworths. I spent $114 on groceries that should last me about 2-3 weeks. MUCH better than Coles. Coles was the place that I shopped at when I first arrived and everything was ridiculously expensive.

I washed my $120 bed sheets today. They are still very stiff and starchy:(

Another achievement is that I bought Tim Tams. These are Australian's famous cookies. They are super delicious!

*another vocabulary word I learned today. We 'rent' things, they 'hire' them.

Vocabulary Issures

Even though Australia is an English speaking country there are still a few word barriers. Here is what I have discovered so far.

What we call a Major is what they call a 'course'. This is difficult when I'm on the Curtin University's website trying to pick out classes and I keep searching under Courses. Turns out what they call classes is 'units.' This is also difficult because I live in a 'unit' instead of a dorm. Their on-campus apartments are called 'flats'.

Also they 'do' classes where as we 'take' classes.

We take out 'garbage' they take out 'rubbish'.

When filling out a form, you are asked to 'tick' a box, as opposed to 'check' off a box.

A girl commented on how pretty my file was. I was confused until she pointed at my folder in my hands.

My roommate Suzie moved in. She is from WA (Western Australia). I offered to help her unpack and move in. She told me that I could help her put her 'crockery' away. Turns out that means pots, pans, plates, spoons, and every piece of kitchen utensil.

That is all I can think of for now. I'll be sure to let you know when I learn more.

Facts vs Myths

They do drive on the left side of the road here. The light switches are flipped down in order to turn the lights on, and they are flipped up in order to turn the lights off. Parrots, magpies, pigeons and GIANT crows are the common birds in the city. Kookaburras live out in the bush. As for the toilet argument. I 'm not sure which way they flush. Here is a video, you can make your own call.

Day 1 Signing up for classes

I slept really well until 3 am when the sprinklers went off and I thought that water was left running somewhere. I went back to sleep only to wake up to what sounded like ugly monkeys yelling at each other. Eventually, I went back to sleep. Woke up at 7:30am. I bought groceries the previous evening. I bought cereal ($7) half gallon of milk ($3) and orange juice ($3). I came back from the store to discover that there is nothing in this apartment. No bowls, cups, spoons or any other kitchen related items. So I poured my cereal in my nalgene bottle, poured milk on top of it, and drank my cereal. I actually drank the milk and the cereal stayed in the bottom of my bottle so then I used the handle of my tooth brush in order to pull my cereal out. I also drank the OJ straight out of the carton. Turns out is is orange drink, very gross.

I then went on to campus to get my ID card, sign up for classes, and a bus card. 5 hours later I accomplished getting my ID card and got signatures of professors to let me take their class. Still need to actually sign up for class and get a bus card. At least I got to learn the campus and get to know my professors for the semester. The buildings go by numbers not names like Union, or Stone Hall. Also the numbers are randomly assigned to the buildings. They are not in numerical order like you would think. This makes finding a building very difficult.

On another note, when I went outside this morning a big white bird flew over my head and landed on the ground about 10 yards away. It was a parrot!!! They are all over the place. There are also big black birds that look a lot like ravens. It is these ugly birds that woke me up early in the morning. They are very loud and sound like a grumpy monkeys.

I got to meet more of my roommates today. There is Carmela (who I met last night) from Toronto Canada, Ashley from Boston, Rikke from Norway, Kristen from the USA but I don't remember where, and Suzie from right here in Western Australia. Suzie moved in 2 hours ago and brought pots, pans, and other kitchen stuff. She cooked a veggie stir fry and had leftovers and no tupperware. So I got dinner for free tonight!! Also she taught me that the orange drink gets diluted with water. Even though it looks like water with a slight tint of orange it really does taste more like orange juice than when it was straight out of the carton.

When I was on campus earlier I ate lunch at a cafeteria there and stole a bunch of plastic forks, spoons, and knives :) The lunch I ate came in tupperware! So I definitely saved that and have a bowl and spoon for my cereal!!

Arriving in Australia

I went through a travel agent in order to get a cheap and easy flight to Perth, Australia. I was told that I would fly from Chicago to Melbourne, Australia and then from Melbourne to Perth, Australia. I left Chicago at 7:30 pm EST. I then flew for 4 hours to Los Angeles. Had to get off of the plane and transfer to a new one about 1 hour later (midnight EST). Then I flew for 14 hours to Sydney. After flying for 1 hour they fed us dinner. I slept through it, but the people that I shared the flight with said is was really gross. The food on United Airlines is awful. Later, around 7:30am EST I received a snack. It was chicken sandwich that consisted of a white bun, 3 slices of chicken, and 1 slice of cheese. I took a big bite because I had not eaten for 10 hours and it turns out the sandwich was crunchy and very cold. It was FROZEN! I called attention to a stewardess and she told me to open it up and wait for it to thaw. When they served breakfast 6 hours later (about 3pm EST) it was a yellow hockey puck that they called an egg. It quite literally had the consistency of rubber. This hockey puck came with diced fried potatoes mixed in with either granola or bacon bits. I honestly cannot tell you what it was. I think it was a weird hybrid combination of both. Eventually was landed in Sydney where I had a 1 hour layover. Again, I had to get off the plane, go through security, wait at the gate, and get back on the same stinking plane. All of this so I could fly 1 hour to Melbourne. At the Melbourne airport I did get to transfer to Quantas airlines. This is an Australian airline. I had a 3.5 hour layover. I recharged my computer and met an Aussie named David. He was very nice and let me borrow his computer to write an email home. He also told me all about Perth (where he was from) and pulled up a map on Google and showed me places to go and see. We then boarded the plane. Even though the plane left at 2:30pm Australian time and was only 4 hours long they fed us lunch!! I was so excited! And it was GOOD food too. They also fed us Frosty Fruits a type of all fruit popsicle as a snack later on. Landed in Perth FINALLY. And David had a co-worker picking him up. He offered me a ride to campus because he was going that way anyways. I took it and saved $50. Now, I know my parents would probably yell at me and call me stupid for doing that. But this guy had also given me his business card and called a friend to help hook me up with a job. And was as every bit helpful as he could be.

Once I arrived to my on campus housing office they quickly informed me about what seemed to be a thousand different things. It was 5:30pm Australian time and the stores closed at 6:00pm. It also takes 15 minutes to drive there. So another girl and I had 15 minutes to buy towels, sheets, and pillows, and food for dinner/breakfast in the morning. They dropped us off at a grocery store. I could only buy food. I came back and the people in the office made is sound like I had to buy their package of 1 towel, 1 pillow, 1 set of sheets, and 1 duvet. This package was $110!!!! I finished moving in and one of my 7 roommates had come back from being out and about. She invited me to her friend's place to drink wine. I don't drink but I decided to at least be social and it was only 7pm. We walked 15 minutes to her friends. I was there for about 1.5 hours and did meet a bunch of people. But then my head kept dropping because I was so sleepy. keep in mind is was 7am EST. So to meed it felt like I had stayed up all night long. I made my way back via campus security (they give rides to students at night for safety reasons).

Once back I place everything on the floor called matt and my parents and I took every last ounce of energy to make my bed with the super scratchy, formaldehyde scented, expensive sheets.