Home in the 9's

I have some new lingo for ya:

"Cup o' two SM," meaning a cup of tea with sugar and milk. People drink tea A LOT here, and if you order tea, it's automatically going to be hot. If you want cold tea, you have to specify you want it iced.

"Under the thumb," meaning whipped or under control. I like this one.

"Over it," meaning you're sick of something.

"In the 9's." This can also be "in the 10's," etc. It just means something happened in that hour. For instance, I just got home from our dorm dinner, so I'm home in the 9's.

You never hear people say "cell phone," either. It's always a "mo-bile."

It's fun to have so many people interested in America. When I talk to some people, they just look at me like they've never seen anything like it. Last night, a girl found out I'm not from around here and her eyes got wide.

*Gasp* "Where else are you from?!" That was amusing...

Today I had my first criminal justice class. It was incredibly boring. Myles is in my class, though, so at least I know someone. I bought textbooks and it only came to $200 for all my courses. One course doesn't have a textbook, two of them only have one book and the last class only requires these enormous course packets that were fairly cheap. I found out one of my tutorials will only be every other week as well, which is awesome.

Oh, and I tried going to the gym. I was all "pumped" about going, I got on the treadmill and 12 minutes and five seconds later, the gym closed. It closes for an hour every day and of course I went 12 minutes and five seconds before closing time. Oh well, it's not like I don't walk 20 minutes each way to class.

I also attempted to do my laundry. $2 to wash and that went fine, but once I loaded the dryer and put in my $1.60, it ate my money and didn't start. I had to hang everything up in my room. Myles gave me an ice pop to compensate for my eaten buck sixty.

Surprisingly, I'm enjoying dorm life. There's always someone around. I don't think I'll be heading to the beach quite yet, but there's a Bathurst Festival this weekend, so there's still something to look forward to.

Where are the bubblers?

I know there are only about 3,000 students here, but there really needs to be more water fountains on campus. They're called "bubblers" here. I think that's funny. A lot of the lingo sounds like kindergarteners made it up, but I mean that in the best of ways. I like the words.

It was chilly and windy today and when I said I needed my hoodie, Kathryn laughed at me. It's a "jumper." But they have jackets, too, so I asked what the difference is. Jackets have zippers. She laughed at me about saying "candy," too. "They're lollies." Even non-suckers are lollies.

Classes started today and I think I'll survive so far. It kind of felt like I hadn't been to school in ages and on the other hand didn't feel like class at all. It just feels like Australia. My first class was Aboriginal and Multicultural Australia. The professor is thin with a thick, gray beard and glasses. I had to walk with him back to his office to sign up for tutorials and we started talking about Native Americans in America. I knew one girl in the class, too, because I met her at the BCS barbecue.

My second class was Media Ethics and Public Policy. The title makes me gag, but the class wasn't bad. It's a larger one, but I know two people in it. We're going to have a presentation in a couple of weeks, so I may team up with them because they live in my dorm.

It's funny how people around here walk around in the rain like it's not raining in the first place. It was raining pretty steady on the way to my second class and there were only a couple of umbrellas. I got lucky because I got rides to both of my classes and the second girl even came back to pick me up.

I had to sign up for workshops as well. CSU (Charles Sturt University) is extremely strict on referencing and plagiarism and they use APA to reference, which I've never done. I signed up for a workshop to learn that and a few others so I don't screw up on my assignments. Australian universities in general are big on analysis, so I hope I do well. In my first class, we talked about history and I had no idea what they were talking about. Plus, all students have a compulsory Aboriginal class in high school anyway.

By the way, parking on their campus is free and much easier than UNCC.

Back to classes...the whole schedule is done differently from home. There are lectures and tutorials. Lecture outlines are usually put online and it's not a requirement to come, but students are required to make 8 out of 12 tutorials, which are at different times, different buildings and maybe even different professors. That's where 90% of the work is done. Some classes are 50 minutes and some are an hour and 50 minutes. I don't think any of them get to be as large as some at UNCC. Expressing different views is also encouraged.

For tutorials, you can pick the time you want to go out of a list of times, but for my second class, the time I wanted was already filled. I asked the professor if I could still get in and it shouldn't be a problem.

I'm kind of confused about the classwork, though. Sometimes the reading is provided and most classes require textbooks. The assignments just don't seem as cut and dry as at home, but it's probably just because I'm not used to the system.

I was going to tackle the gym today, but by the time I was out of my late class (about 6:30), I was tired and hungry, so hopefully tomorrow.

I did make ravioli on the gas stove, though, so I'm proud of myself for that. If I hadn't been so tired, I would've joined the slew of people going to "the Ox" or the Oxford Hotel, which is a big hangout for uni students. The downstairs is an indoor and outdoor pub and I think they have pool tables. Tonight was Tight and Bright night. Any excuse to dress up.

While I was cooking, a bunch of the "dormies" were asking me questions about studying here and telling me to say certain words. For Aussie, they pronounce it "Ozzie." They even have a chant: "Ozzie, oi! Ozzie, oi! Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie, oi oi oi!" Ha ha ha. That was hard to type.

One girl may be taking me home with her this weekend...(That didn't come out right). She lives a few hours away on the beach and I was talking about wanting to travel. She's really excited to have me come along, so I hope it works out. Neither of us have class on Friday. Everyone keeps telling me I can come home with them some weekend and I tell them, "Take me!" I want to go everywhere. My roommate mentioned it, too. She has horses!

Oh, sad part. Kathryn, the girl next to me, will probably be dropping out tomorrow :( She's a first year, just 17, and she's decided to do history instead of nursing. For that, she'd have to go to the Wagga Wagga campus, about four hours away. She told me I can come stay with her in Katoomba one weekend. She's really sweet.

It's funny how students here go straight into their course (or major). There may be a couple of core requirements, but for the most part, students know what path they want to follow as soon as they get here.

OH YEAH! Shy called me earlier and said the rental car people had called. (I'm sure they had names). Since we had insurance, we don't have to pay the full amount for the scratch, but we do have to shell out $300 among us, $60 each. It's not like I have a job, so I'm not thrilled. I know it's our responsibility, but that's terribly high for a stupid scratch. We should've bought a silver sharpie to go over it. All the more reason not to be going out with everyone tonight.

Alright, well off to watch some TV with the fellow dormies. They were watching the Oscars earlier. It's so strange seeing all these shows from America here. I need to watch my Golden Girls DVDs soon!

KANGAROOS!!!

I heard the funniest joke today. There's an Australian comedian named Carl Baron or something almost exactly like that and I saw him on TV. "I liked a girl in grade three. She was Chinese...She probably still is actually." HAHAHAHA! That has nothing to do with my stay here, but I thought it was worth sharing. Moving on...

Yesterday, I went to the Blue Mountains with four other girls. I cannot possibly describe how beautiful it was. Pictures only do so much justice. We rented a car for the weekend and left at 7 Saturday morning. First stop: Hungry Jack's. It's pretty much a Burger King. Then we stopped to get gas and when Nichole (Wilmington) walked in, the guy behind the counter was singing at the top of his lungs. She said something about being on American Idol and then "had a chat" about Australian Idol. The other lady working there turned to Nichole and said, "Where are you from? England?" Here's your sign.

I also went in to grab a plastic spoon for my yogurt and they looked at me like, "Aren't you going to buy something?" Nope, just needed a plastic spoon, thanks.

The two girls who have international licenses were going to take turns driving. Astrid started out and was fine until we got to some pretty steep curves around the mountains. The car was a stick shift and we definitely burned some rubber in the middle of the road before coming to a complete stop. I got a great picture while we were stuck, though.

On the way, we had the windows rolled down and the weather was perfect. It was one of those moments where you smile to yourself and think "this is life." You don't want to close your eyes because you might miss something. Those are the moments that make everything worth it...It reminds me of that quote: "It's not the number of breaths we take that matter the most but the moments that take our breath away."

Next, we stopped in a teeny town to go to the ATM and search for muffins because Megan hadn't eaten breakfast. When we walked out of the store, we saw this spastic girly girl try to cross the road in the middle of traffic and almost get hit. It was actually quite funny because she yelled really loud and looked pretty clumsy jumping back onto the sidewalk. I'm sure I would have contained myself if she had actually been hit.

We made it to the mountains in about an hour and a half or so and stopped at Scenic World to get railway and skylift tickets. The railway is an extremely short ride on this roller coaster looking thing that claims the steepest slope in the world. It goes slow, but it almost goes straight down to a platform where there's an absolutely IN-CREDIBLE view of the mountains. On the left is the Three Sisters, a rock formation that looks like three pillars on one side of a mountain. The legend is that three sisters fell in love with three men from a different tribe, but marriage was forbidden and there was a battle. A witch doctor turned them into stone to protect them, but was killed in the battle before anyone could turn them back. Tough luck. There were statues of the sisters and the witch doctor in front of Scenic World.

The formations were made by water getting into the rock and making indentions in the mountain. Eventually, they'll be completely eroded away. That makes me sad.

After we took pictures at the platform, we hiked around the mountain a bit. Well, three of us did because the other two saw a snake and went back, haha. The mountains are near the town Katoomba and along the trails, there were a lot of signs about the mining history of the area.

When we were all good and glowing (girls don't sweat, they glow), we took the skylift back up the mountain. That was a LOT of fun. I took a video going part of the way up.
Then things got a wee bit sour. We got back to the (again, rental) car and someone had keyed it. I mean a big scratch along the back door. We were collectively upset, but Shy was outright MAD. She's petite and usually a very calm, sweet person, but she got into it with the manager because there was a sign right next to where we were in the parking garage that said "24 hour surveillance" and the manager said there's nothing he could do. He explained it's really for watching people go in and out and used mostly in case of a stolen vehicle. She's half his size, but she was all over him about it. I agree because the sign is misleading and not completely true, but I occupied myself with buying souvenirs while they argued.

We think it may have been keyed because the license plate said Queensland. All the others said New South Wales and apparently the two states don't get along very well. We were asking the lower manager (the boss man's son of course) why there's such a rivalry and he said it mostly has to do with the rugby leagues. How silly. He added that Queenslanders charge New South Walers more for bananas, too. They call them banana benders. Oh my gosh, that's ridiculous. Funny, but ridiculous.

We paid insurance on the car, though, so everything should be fine. We ended up eating our packed lunch in the parking garage and didn't feel bad about the shredded cheese we dropped in our parking spot.

The next stop was another lookout point that took our breath away. You can see the mountains for miles and miles. They're called the Blue Mountains because of the blue haze the eucalyptus oil creates when it seeps out of the trees. There was also an "aboriginal" man playing the didgeridoo, which reminded me of a Ricola commercial. Shy said he had a London accent and my RA said aboriginals aren't allowed to have their pictures taken because they believe it sucks their souls out. So I guess he wasn't a true aboriginal, but he sure looked like one and I got a picture with him anyway. He called me Tif and kissed me on the cheek. 5% scary.

Next we went to the Jenolan Caves. Let me just say that if I had been the one driving the road to get there, I would have wet my pants. I've never seen a steeper, narrower, curvier road. Thank God Shy was driving. I don't know how she did it. Astrid entertained us to get our minds off the nerve-racking drive by telling us about her hampster that was accidentally thrown in the bin when it was still alive. They later found out it was just sleeping. She cracks me up.

We eventually got there and the caves were amazing. I took a lot of pictures, but of course cave pictures aren't going to be spectacular. There was one section that the discoverer named after his wife in 1881. They wrote her name on the cave wall. It was gorgeous. The limestone and crystal was so sparkly and there were sections that looked like a stone sheet draping from the ceiling.

The total cost of the trip per person: $85.50. Go us. That's a rental car, gas and groceries to pack lunch plus $16 for the mountains and $22 for the cave.

By the time we got back to the car and up the mountain again, it started pouring. We were driving about 10 under the speed limit and I was still afraid we would hit a kangaroo because they come out when it starts getting dark. If one had come tumbling down the hill and hit the side I was on, I would have been traumatized.

Passing a farm, I saw this thing lying sideways in the grass and asked, "Is that a dead cow?" I had never seen a dead one before (not counting on my plate) and it was on its side with its legs in the air. Megan, a die-hard animal lover saw it and I thought she was going to cry. I was trying to make her feel better and told her maybe it had Mad Cow Disease.

But then...the best part of the entire trip...we were just driving along and I looked to the right...KANGAROOS!!!!!!! I smashed my face against the window and yelled. "Kangaroos, kangaroos, kangaroos, kangaroos!" Shy thought the back seat was going to explode. It was THAT exciting that I named this blog after the 5 seconds out of the whole trip that I saw them. I swear one looked right at me! :)

Now I can go home satisfied.

(This is really long).

For dinner we went to a Lebanese restaurant. Shy is Muslim, so she has to eat a certain meat. I tried hummus and had this stuff called falafel. Not too bad.

Last night, Megan and I ended up staying at Shy's. Miss Canadian Wilderness Megan darted to the other side of the room when we heard a massive possum outside the window, but no one can blame her. I think it fell off the roof or something. Their possums look different, too. I've only seen pictures, but they look evil. And kind of prickly.

We stayed up talking about religion, which was really interesting because Megan doesn't claim one, Shy is Muslim and I'm Baptist. I feel like we should be on a commercial about respecting each other's beliefs, holding hands and swaying to "Why Can't We Be Friends?"

Today, we all hung out again and ate pizza in the park downtown. Much better than the last pizza and really cheap because we all split the cost. Oh, and Nichole bought me a Cadbury egg! I had mentioned how I wanted one earlier, and she got me one at the store. :)

I ended up going to a Baptist Church with Nichole. This past week, BCS (Baptist Christian Students) had a barbecue on campus and I met a girl who put me in touch with Naomi. She lives in an apartment ("flat") right behind me and picked me up to go to church. It's a very small church and one of the only Baptist ones in Bathurst. People wore jeans and left the windows open because not many buildings (or older cars) are air conditioned here. Much different from my church, but everyone was so friendly. We went to the evening service because that's when most of the college students go. Nichole and I may join a small group.

Afterwards, back to Shy's for fudge cake and Grey's Anatomy, then a taxi to take us home. Taxis, by the way, aren't cheap.

Alright, well this is plenty long so I'm going to make a list of some random things I've written down the past few days to put on here...

1. I've found a lot of people here have either visited, want to visit or have relatives in America. Several of them know where North Carolina is. As an exception, I told one girl where I'm from and she asked, "Is that near Maine?"

Most people notice pretty quickly that I have an accent and I told Nichole we need to make an index card with all of our info because we get the same series of questions over and over. Where are you from? Oh, really? Where's that? How long are you in Australia? What are you studying?

2. The bird I mentioned in my last blog is a magpie. The ones that sound like Scuttle.

3. I haven't gotten used to people passing ("overtaking") and driving on the right. I can't even cross a street properly because I don't know which way to look. Roundabouts don't help, but they do eliminate traffic lights and stop signs.

4. I don't think I'd be good at rugby. One guy tried to explain it to me and apparently you can only take 8 steps before bouncing the football. 8?! I'd lose count. There's too much to think about. Plus, when you bounce a football, you're not guaranteed the direction it will go.

5. A barbecue is not what I thought it would be. When people here say barbecue, it's usually putting some sausages (that look like hot dogs) on the grill (the actual "barbie" or barbecue). Sometimes there's steak, but definitely no pork with barbecue sauce. :(

6. Everyone knows our president and I sure didn't know their prime minister's name before I came here. (Shy lives next door to where the old Prime Minister Chifley lived). In fact, I think Cheney is in Australia right now or was a couple days ago. Some people rioted in front of the U.S. Embassy in whatever state he went to, but most people here are really laid back and don't hate America or anything. I've heard a few Bush jokes while I've been here, but I've also heard jokes about their own prime minister. A lot of people are against the war here and in other countries and when it came up on the way to the mountains, I said my piece.

I really wish we had more international news in America. I rarely know anything about other countries and I feel so ignorant when I come here and Australians know as much or more about my country than I do. I've only had one person directly ask me my view on Bush and the war, but I know close to nothing about their politics. I mentioned that to Myles (my RA) and he said America is a big country with a lot of different states to be informed about. True, but I still need to keep up more.

7. On a lighter side, I really appreciate everyone leaving comments. I love reading them. I hope everyone is enjoying the blog and sorry for making this one so drawn out.

8. So I left my address a couple blogs ago and I don't know if it makes a difference, but NSW should follow Bathurst on the address. That stands for New South Wales. I changed it on the other blog. It's just something I didn't think about.

Alright mates. It's 1 in the morning here and I start classes tomorrow, so wish me luck and 'ava g'night.

P.S.

I'm putting more pictures on here because it would only allow me 5 per blog.

1st trip!

I get to go to the Blue Mountains tomorrow! It's about 2 hours away and I'm going with 4 other international girls. I flew over them on the way to Bathurst, but we'll get to take a train around them and do some sightseeing. We were going to go for a weekend, but a day trip is cheaper. (If you're not earning wages, can you call it "excome"? Because when you earn money, it's "INcome"...Just a thought).

We rented a car for the trip today. Shy (Manchester) and Astrid (Holland) will be driving because they have valid licenses here. If I had to drive a stick shift on the other side of the road, I would wreck before I got out of park.

Today was pretty good. This whole week has been long because of everything we've been doing. This morning, I walked all around campus and took about 75 pictures. I forgot to mention that there's a golf course on campus, too. I made the mistake of cutting through it to get to the buildings because the grass was wet and freshly...mowed? mown? I didn't have room for my AP Stylebook in my duffle. (That's the truth). By the time I got to the other side, my flip-flops had kicked wet grass and dirt all over the back of my legs. Such is life.



After lunch, I went swimming with a couple of girls and the sun didn't come back out until 20 minutes before we left, even though it had been out all day. When we went into town to rent a car, I got Chinese food and will not again until I come home. Pretty gross.



I also went to the Uni Bar tonight. Everyone goes out really early. Megan and I went to watch a karaoke type thing. This one guy played the drums, which was awesome, but then he started singing and it was terrible. I didn't stay very long because we have to get up early!

Oh yeah, and as a sidenote, it's really hard to get used to things happening on the other side. Not only do people drive on the opposite side, but they walk on the opposite side, too. I'm used to moving to the right when passing someone, but it's the other way around here and I keep running into people. You should've seen me at the grocery store.

Random fact: I don't know what they're called, but there are birds here that have a creepy call. Somewhere between a kid yelling and someone being strangled. Bless its heart. It reminds me of the scene in The Little Mermaid when Scuttle is trying to sing to make Eric kiss Ariel.

Until tomorrow, 'Ave a g'night.

Overwhelmed

Today I attempted grocery shopping. Number 1: I didn't recognize half of the brands. Number 2: again, everything is measured differently. Number 3: It's expensive! And number 4: they sell drinking coconuts! (They have a point at one end).

My roommate, Sally (Sal), another girl in our dorm Rachel and myself went to Woolworth's, which is silly in itself because Woolworth's has food! I bought a lot of the same things I would buy at home and enough to last about a week and a half or two weeks. Grand total: $123.75. I felt sick. Of course, that's including a $27 battery charger because I blew mine last night. It popped really loud and the room smelled like smoke for awhile because my adapter is vicious. Without a battery charger that fits the outlets, I don't have batteries to take pictures. That, of course, is unacceptable.

But back to the grand total that made my head sweat, I even bought cheap stuff. Off-brand everything. Some stuff wasn't that bad, but some was outrageous. Milk was $3.59 or something and not even a whole gallon. Well, they have liters anyway, but it's just about a pint. Honey was $4.30! That was one of my luxury items; I didn't buy much that I didn't actually need. Oh and their apples are tiny, probably half the size of the ones at home. Someone told me (AFTER I shopped) that Cole's is cheaper.

Maybe I'll try Aldi and see if it's as cheap as at home. I calculated how much my grocery bill would be in American dollars and minus the battery charger, it would be about $65. That's still a lot. I usually spend about $50 every two weeks and I buy more.

Anyway, let me go back to yesterday. Last night the "uni" (said "you-nee") had Dag Night. Everyone dresses up as stupid as possible and goes to the bar. The bar is actually really nice. Very big with tables, a place for performers and a dance floor. I was going to go because it's one of the biggest events of the year, even though I'm not a drinker. I ended up hanging out with Megan (Canada) and taking the bus downtown. We got back around 6, ate dinner at the dining hall and then I went home for awhile. We met up later and found another girl from my dorm, Kathryn. There was a tent set up on the lawn, right beside the Uni Bar, with a DJ and free drinks.

We ended up at Megan's place and ordered pizza. Much better at home. We had to chase the pizza guy because there are no street numbers on campus. There are only road names. On the way back, we looked for kangaroos because they come out at dawn and dusk. No such luck, but Megan saw two today and screamed.

I miss all my friends, but there are so many people to meet here. I just got back from watching Love, Actually with 6 of the international girls. This weekend I'm going to take pictures of the campus, so I'll have more interesting stuff to put on my blog.

Some things are so funny here. There are a lot of roundabouts in Bathurst and I keep thinking if there were that many in Charlotte, the number of accidents would triple. The pedestrian signs are cute, too. Instead of having two people crossing the street, there's just a picture of two legs. And instead of "Yield," the sign says "Give Way."

The walk to class is amazing. I'm going to take a video of part of the walk and see if I can put it on here. I pass a couple of playgrounds (there are swings!) on one side and cows and sheep on the other. And all the trees are nice to have.

One annoying thing is that I can't use my hairdryer. A few girls have said even with a converter, theirs wouldn't work, but I might be brave and try anyway. It would be a shame to have bad hair the whole time I'm here.

Oh! I have an address now! I'm having mail sent to the International Office so it's free. Here it is:

Care of International Office, CSU
Panorama Avenue
Bathurst NSW 2795

I actually live on Brilliant Road, but I didn't want to pay for a post office box. I have to save my money for pints of milk.

P.S. The time on this thing isn't right and when I try to fix it, nothing happens. Grr.

Take a seat...

G'day! First and foremost, this is going to be a long blog, so take a seat and put your feet up. Where do I begin?

So Friday (it's Tuesday here), I flew out of Knoxville to Charlotte. Very short ride. Once there, I flew BACK over Knoxville and on to San Francisco. Apparently, we flew over Denver, Colorado and Salt Lake City, but it was dark by then and I couldn't see it, which made me sad. On the way, there was an older guy with an English accent sitting next to me. He bought 3 mini bottles of wine for the 6 hour flight and worked crossword puzzles for a long time. I've never been good at those. I always feel like I need to be more educated.

Once to San Fran, everyone jumped up as soon as the plane parked. It reminded me of getting off the bus in middle school when all you want to do is go home. I explored the airport a bit and thought it was unusually quiet on my end. Then I took a shuttle bus to the other side, so I guess I was just on the side with all the tired people. I saw the Golden Gate bridge lit up, too, so that was exciting.

From there, I flew to Sydney, about 14 hours away. The plane was really nice and had a screen that tracked the flight. Again, I was disappointed that it was dark while we flew over Hawaii. The screen said we were at 35,000 feet and going 577 mph. The trip actually wasn't that bad and I got some sleep. I sat by a girl who is also studying abroad and a guy from Iowa who was going to New Zealand.

Oh, and during the trip, I took an Airborne tablet, which is supposed to help you not get sick in public places. It was supposed to be zesty orange flavor, but it tasted like 90% Alka Seltzer and 10% Tang. I think I felt worse after drinking it, but hey...it had herbs so it must've been good for me.

I DID get to see the sunrise before landing in Sydney and that was pretty amazing. I went to the back of the plane and the stewardess and I took pictures. I thought we were going to smash into the water when landing, though, and that scared me pretty well.

In the Sydney airport, I went straight to customs, then to baggage claim. They had funny trolleys to pick up the luggage. They looked like supermarket buggies, but without the basket on top. After that, I got in a ginormous line for security. There were 2 lines -- one for people who had certain items to claim and one for people who didn't. I was in the "nothing to claim" line. Basically, if you have food, artifacts, animals and that type of thing from other countries, you have to claim it. Well, being me, I was confused about the food because I had trail mix in my bag. There were forms to check if you had things to claim, so I checked food. Then the Iowa guy told me trail mix is ok so I marked it out and put "no" for food.

So of course I get up to security and they think I'm trying to hide the fact that I have food. I told them it was trail mix I bought in the airport. "Are you trying to hide something?" Why yes, I am. Cuff me now.

Even if I had something bad, why would I tell them?

Anyway...then I pushed the trolley to the front of the airport and it was SOOO busy. I didn't know where to go at first, but I saw a booth for currency exchange and got about $20 in Australian money. (Their money is so much prettier than ours). Thank goodness because I had to take a bus to the other terminal and that was $5. We passed a bunch of witty billboards that I didn't understand and I got to see everyone driving on the opposite side. Once I got off the bus (which was playing Sheryl Crow), I didn't have a trolley anymore and I had to carry ALL my luggage through the doors. A 50 pound rolling suitcase with a toiletry bag on top, a 35 pound duffle, a laptop bag and another tote bag. I got lucky because the line for the next airline I needed was right in front of me. I did, however, have to pay $84 to put my 3rd bag on the plane because it's such a small plane and I was over the weight limit.

By the way, why is America the only country not to use the regular metric system? Things down here are in kilograms and liters for gas and I don't know what I'm doing. They have military time, too, so it takes me awhile to figure out what time it is.

I was in the Sydney airport for 7 hours before the next flight, so I read, walked around, watched an episode of the Golden Girls on my computer, listened to the ipod and waited 15 minutes for a smoothie. I tried ordering a sandwich at Subway and when I asked for ham the woman didn't understand me. "Hem?"

All the people in the airport had shorts and the girls were wearing cute little dresses and here I was stinking in my hoodie, so I locked myself in the bathroom to wash my face and change my shirt. I crossed my legs so I would have some kind of class, but not for very long because it gives you vericose veins...The time went by pretty fast. I watched a little boy and his "mum" play cards. I love when little kids have accents.

I finally got to take my last flight around 2:30. It went from Sydney to Bathurst with about 15 people on the plane. The ride was gorgeous. Over Sydney, all the houses were really close together and you could see hundreds of reddish brown rooves. But at the same time, you could still see the coast for a long time until we went over the mountains. Breathtaking. My head was against the window the whole time. It looked like the waves in the ocean, except miles and miles of greenish brown mountains. I've decided I like large planes better than small ones, though. They're less bumpy. I always get a seat by the wing, so I can't see as much and then when we land, I'm right by the wheels. There's something about rushing to the ground on tiny wheels that doesn't sit right with me.

Oh yeah. And on all of the flights when the crew did demonstrations for emergencies, they all said to get your own oxygen mask situated before you help others. What a caring bunch, haha.

So I finally made it to Bathurst about 3 something and the guy was right -- farmland. The airport was tiny. Fiona, my international studies advisor, met me there with her husband. It's hard to get used to getting into the car from the left to be the passenger. And I don't cross the street very well because I don't know where to look.

All the buildings here are so interesting though. It's like a cross between Charleston and an Asian country. They're very cute and close to the road. At the airport, all the buildings were interesting shapes and even the playgrounds are especially creative.

My first night here, Fiona took me to my dorm. And yes, it is a dorm. I thought I was going to be lucky and have an apartment, but no, I have to get used to wearing flip flops in the shower again. They call flip flops thongs. That threw me off. I live in MTG, which stands for Miller Truskett Gordon, the 3 buildings...I think it's Miller...Hmm, I'll have to go look. It's actually not bad. I was the first one to move in besides the RA (residential advisor) out of about 40 people who will be living here. My RA is really nice. His name is Myles. Oh, that's another thing. Each building is 2 floors and there are girls and guys on each. I don't know how sharing bathrooms is going to go, but it can't be too terrible. Everyone has come out of the shower stall fully clothed anyway, haha.

As soon as I got here, I unpacked. I have a bed, desk, closet and refrigerator! We also have 2 bathrooms on each level and 2 kitchens and a common area on each floor.

I met my roommate yesterday. Her name is Sally. Everyone in the dorm so far is a "first year," pretty much a freshman, but Sally is 21 like me. She calls me dal, like doll. Next week when classes start, the others will move in.

After I unpacked, my RA drove me to campus ("uni" for university) to show me where to go for orientation the next day. They call it O Week. I find that funny.

Then I met several other international and exchange students when we all went to dinner with Fiona. There are students from Malaysia, Hong Kong, Canada, England, Sri Lanka, Kentucky and good ol' Wilmington.

One guy from the States and I walked down the street to try to find a converter. Their outlets aren't the same, so I had to buy an adapter to plug in my computer. That would be why it's taken me awhile to write. We ended up getting a little lost in the rain because I couldn't remember what street I live off of. I asked a taxi driver because I didn't want to pay and we eventually found it.

After that, our dorm went bowling. Some people went to the Uni Bar (yes, there's a bar on campus) afterwards, but I went home because I was exhausted. I ended up staying up for awhile and talking to the 2 girls that live next door. We talked about differences between Australia and America. So far, I'm the only non-Australian living in the dorm. I brought up American Idol and they have Australian Idol here. They actually have a lot of our shows, but they get them a season behind. Right now, a few of them are watching the O.C. I would pick something else but whatever. They also watch Grey's Anatomy.

I tried Vegemite. It was nasty. Too salty and bitter at the same time. Never again. Sorry to disappoint.

Oh, and yesterday I went to the Big W, basically Wal-Mart. They also have a K-Mart and Woolworth's has everything, even groceries. I really love the campus. You can walk to a ton of places and it's very open and green. And WARM!!!! That's the best part.

There aren't that many students compared to UNCC. I forgot the actual number but it's something like 3,000 I think. The campus is very spacious. Apparently there are kangaroos on campus!!! I even walk by an agricultural farm with cows and chickens and a little elementary school on the way to class. It's about a 15 minute walk.

I've met a lot of fun people. One of the girls next door is Erin. She's a self-proclaimed "country bumpkin" who's afraid of cattle. Last night she was saying something about her courses and said she's going to school to learn how to professionally fingerpaint. She's doing nursing, though, so I'm not sure where that came from.

They drink a lot of tea, too. We had morning tea the first day of orientation. OH!! And I saw my first dingo! It was a puppy! How cute. I'm really glad I'm not going to have a job here because there's so much to do to keep busy. (One of the common jobs for international students is working at the corn factory. One year, a student from Sweden took a job there and found a beheaded kangaroo that got caught in the machinery. That's not for me).

Yesterday, Fiona took us around Mount Panorama. It's a racetrack, but COMPLETELY different from Charlotte. It's about 11 miles long and not an oval. It goes up this curvy road to the top of the mountain and there are houses scattered around the track! There are even goats at the bottom of the mountain from a farm! I asked someone where people sit to watch because there are no seats around it, just a low concrete wall. She said people congregate at the finish line. I need to go back to take pictures.

Today, I got my schedule (or "timetable") worked out and my computer login. As of now, I don't have class on Friday! I was on campus a long time and actually have my first hint of sunburn because I'm smart and forgot the sunscreen. The theme of O Week is a safari, so each night, there are things planned in relation to the theme. Tonight is Tribal Night, so our dorm is all dressed in weird garb. In a little bit, we're going to the Uni Bar. I'll probably be the only one ordering a Coke. The picture is in front of the dorm. I'm not sure where the others are, but the RA is the one in the front.

Earlier, after dinner, we played games on one of the fields to get to know people. One game is called musical knees. All the guys are down on one knee and the girls walk around til the music stops. The last guy standing fell over because 3 girls tried to get the last "seat." Funny stuff.

I also saw a game of cricket going on on one of the fields when I first got here. It's kind of like baseball, but the bat is flat and I'm not sure what happens after people hit the ball.

The language is so interesting to hear, too. I caught myself saying "yeh" yesterday. They leave out most r's and have the funniest words for things. One girl next door laughed at me yesterday for saying candy. They call it all lollies. And instead of "How are you doing?" it's usually "How are you going?"

Alright, well I'm beat and hungry and people are leaving soon, but I'm sure I'll have a ton to write later. I need to walk to campus to take pictures soon.

Cheers!

P.S. If anyone knows how to rearrange the pictures on this thing, let me know!

54 songs later

So tomorrow is the big day. At this point, I just want to get to where I'm going. Yesterday I drove to Tennessee to see family. It took me 54 songs (uninterrupted), half a cup of sweet tea and 30 minutes of driving through snow to get here. Not too bad.

Today, Emily (sister) told me she doesn't want me to go to Australia. "That doesn't sound very fun to me...But I like their animals." She's 4.

Tomorrow I fly out of Knoxville at 3:30. It'll take me 52 minutes to get back to Charlotte with an hour layover, then onto a 6 hour flight to San Francisco. I'll wait close to 2 hours there and then take another flight to Sydney. That's a whopping 14 hours and 32 minutes. Ick.

That's not quite the end, though. THEN I wait for about 7 hours before my flight to Bathurst leaves. That's a 40 minute flight, bringing us to a grand total of 9,894 miles traveled. I just finished packing some snacks to take with me. I'd also like to take a moment to give a shout-out to Bed Bath and Beyond for supplying my travel pillow.

So I guess unless I get extremely bored, the next time I write will be from Australia. I'll be 15 hours ahead of the time here, so let's hear it for some jet lag.

See ya on the other side!

right about here...

So this is a pretty terrible map...it doesn't even have Bathurst on it...but this gives an idea of where I'll be. Bathurst is about 2 1/2 hours west of Sydney and as you can see, there's a pretty big continent I'm going to have to explore. Yesterday I met a guy from Australia and I asked him about the area I'll be in. The word "farmland" landed on my ears and I wasn't ready for it.

"What? That wasn't on the web page!" But he also said it's much more of a community because unlike a place such as Sydney where everyone commutes, people in Bathurst stay there. That made me feel better. I guess if I don't know anyone in the whole country, I don't need to be introduced to a new crop of faces every day. I'm sure I won't be disappointed...I wonder if they have hay...

By the way, I've added something to my agenda. I must go snorkeling now...And parasailing and mountain climbing and regular sailing...and shopping and walking...and train riding and to the theatre.

My student loan will cover that, right? (The sweat is forming on Dad's brow). I'm kidding. Sort of.

it's about time

Woo, look at me figuring out the colored font! I am such a pro...

So I've been asked to write about planning for my trip and my first thought is, "Where do I begin?" I leave Wednesday (in 5 days technically because it's 12:12 a.m. right now) for Tennessee since I'll be flying out of Knoxville. All of the family lives in Tennessee, so it'll be easier for them to see me off. (Mom said she wants to put a sign in the back windshield for the drive to Knoxville that says "Australia or bust." I told her that's embarrassing and I would take a picture, then cry).

Friday is when I actually leave for Australia, exactly one week from today. The first stop is Charlotte, which seems highly unnecessary since it's backtracking, but whatever. Then off to San Francisco and Sydney! From Sydney I'll be taking ANOTHER plane to Bathurst, which is the city I'll be studying in. I'll be at Charles Sturt University, which reminds me of a school like Duke -- smart and intimidating where people walk around wearing ties and knowing too much for their own good. It doesn't help that there aren't that many pictures online, but I was personally placed at the school according to my major, so I suppose it's meant to be. I really wanted to go to Wollongong (pronounced Wool-un-gong) because it's RIGHT by the ocean (and the mountains) which, to be honest, was more important to me than the classes offered. But Bathurst is only 2 1/2 hours from the coast, so I guess I'll survive. (I couldn't have Wollongong because of the limit on exchange students and my majors).

At this point, everyone keeps asking me when I'm leaving. Geez, I'm going! But the truth is I've been planning for this trip since last March. I happened to waltz into the study abroad office about a week before orientation sessions began and made an appointment to get acquainted with all the ins and outs of going abroad. That's how early you have to plan in order to apply for scholarships...which I didn't get because I have bad luck with getting free money.

Anyway, after I applied for scholarships, I had several months to "chill" and didn't have to worry about much of anything. Then it was crunch time and I had to review all the schools I could possibly go to in Australia. Do you know how long I put that off? It seemed so overwhelming, but when I started looking at each school, I got really excited and found pictures of koalas for my desktop background.

Several schools had virtual tours and feedback from other international students, which helped. I didn't want to go to a techie school or one that was too big or too small. Bathurst is about the size of UNCC and sounds like Chapel Hill -- it's in a historical district, but very up-to-date with a lot going on.

I originally wanted to study in New Zealand (after seeing an episode of Baywatch filmed there several years ago) but it was going to be about $12,000 a semester so I said, "Uh, I'll just go to Australia!" Australia has exchange programs, so I narrowed it down to the schools on the coast, then looked at the population, the student/teacher ratio and number of international students. I wanted a true Aussie-feel, so weeded out all the schools that had pictures of all non-Australians on their websites. (Maybe not the most accurate, but we all have our ways).

In the last few months, I've found out just how hard it is to figure things out over the Internet. There have been numerous times I would just sit in front of my computer and yell, "I just want to talk to someone!" I wanted someone to take me by the hand and tell me everything I needed to do, but, alas, I am no longer 4 and I don't handle being bossed around well. Plus, what a learning experience! (And yes, that sounded like an informational video for incoming freshmen).

After I chose my top 3 schools, there were lots of forms, recommendations, transcripts, advisor meetings, etc. to get in order. The staff at UNCC's study abroad office has been an enormous help. They've made everything seem less stressful and helped put things in perspective. A couple months ago, I began corresponding with an advisor from Charles Sturt as well, and wow did I have a lot of questions for that poor woman. But hey, she's getting paid!

Until recently, I was overwhelmed not only with school and work but getting a passport, student visa, plane tickets (thank you Aunt Christa and Uncle Lynn), health insurance (I have to have both international and Australian health insurance) and prescriptions filled. There's SOOOO much to think about. I think I'll be paying rent both here and in Australia since I've had zip luck with finding a subleaser here (I tried hard, no joke), but I'm going and that's something to be happy about. I just never realized there was this much to consider. I'll be leaving my car with my parents and oh how I will miss it, I have to get my taxes done the day before I leave, I had to go to the doctor and dentist, change my address, find out an alternative way to call people...which, for future reference, it's really expensive to get a global phone. You have to pay for your current phone plus the one you use internationally and for Verizon, that's $4 a day. I'm taking the Skype route and investing in an international phone card. I'll still have to pay my monthly bill for the phone I have here, but it's still cheaper than canceling service before my term is out or paying for a global phone.

But anyway, basically there's just a lot to it. HOWEVER, I couldn't be happier that I'm getting this opportunity and I know it'll be worth every minute. Even though it's been a little rough at times, it's Australia! How many times will I get to go there? And it really does bring a sense of accomplishment to know I've done all this planning.

I still have to pack and hang out with everyone before I go, but I'm really excited. Everyone keeps telling me to take a picture of a kangaroo and eat vegemite.

A little piece of advice: If you want to go abroad, go after Christmas. It was a major help to ask only for money to help save up.

testing 1,2

hello! this is my first post on my first blog so i'm really just making sure this thing works.