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!