First Post in OZ!

So I have officially made it to Wollongong. So much has happened I don't know how I'm going to make this concise without leaving out important details! This is going to just turn into a list of topics but lets see what we can do...

Flying: So I still really hate flying although Qantas certainly is far better than any other airline I have ever flown. I managed to get here without almost missing a plane or much in the way of delays, nothing more than an hour or so and given there were 5 separate flights (one was a few days later) that's not too bad. The planes in OZ (which is what the Aussies call Australia and is significantly shorter so it's what I will be calling Australia as well) are much bigger than at home. The international flight was fucking huge but even the flights from Sydney to Cairns (pronounced cans) and back again was only a 3 hour flight and it was set up 2 seats, 3 seats, 2 seats. And they still feed you on shorter flights! Something really stupid though... I checked in at Newark and they gave me boarding passes all the way through but when I got to San Fran they made me exchange my last 2 boarding passes for Qantas boarding passes. Why did they issue the initial ones in the first place anyway? Also, customs was a pain because we landed in Sydney, had to clear customs, gather our suitcases, re-check our suitcases, and get to our flight to Cairns in a relatively short time. One of my checked suitcases made it with me, the other didn't but it showed up the next day.

Cairns: So we spent 2 full days in Cairns and a half day at either end. The half days were pretty much just eating and unpacking/packing. The first full day we went to the Great Barrier Reef. The boat ride there was tons of fun even though it was a bit chilly. I went out snorkeling on the reef and for the first time in my life I didn't like it. When went to Michaelmas Cay and the coral was so close to the surface of the water I was convinced I was going to kick it, severely injure myself and single-handedly destroy the reef all in one stroke so I started panicking which made it really hard to breathe or swim. I did, however, use my entire underwater camera and saw a sea turtle. There was also a lot of purple coral which was really cool. The next day we went to RainForeStation which was really cool because there were Aborigines who showed us the didgeridoo, how they throw spears to hunt, and how to throw a boomerang. I, for the record, absolutely suck at throwing a boomerang to the point that it kind of hurt my hand. We also got to hold koalas (which are incredibly cute and cuddly), feet and pet kangaroos (which are incredibly lazy and apathetic), and see tons of other animals including qualls, wombats, wallabies, crocodiles (or maybe they were alligators?), and I held a snake! In Cairns we also had a few sessions about being in OZ and they were explaining to us that not only is drunk driving not allowed, neither is drunk biking, drunk skateboarding, drunk rollerskating, etc. My favorite piece of advice following this was "If you're going to be riding something drunk in Australia, you better make sure you know their name."

Wollongong: So it feels like after a zillion years and a ton of jetlag later I finally made it to UOW. The dorm I'm in is pretty crappy in quality and incredibly confusing. It makes Letts-Anderson-Centennial look simplistic. There are four different groups of building in Campus East and they are called: Trenchtown, Alcatraz (where I live), Slums, Hospital, and Post Grad. Welcoming names, yes? Alcatraz is apparently the nicest one. We have heaters in all of our rooms and you have to key into the main room (which is usually left open anyway) and then your individual rooms. The lights here all have motion sensors so if I'm just sitting at my desk for too long it turns the light off on me which is gonna be crazy annoying when I'm actually doing work but I got a lamp so it's okay I suppose. The outlets are weird - you have to switch them on before they'll work. But I suppose that's good for energy usage and whatnot except for the fact that I just leave them on if they have anything plugged in. The toilets also have 2 flushing options - half flush or whole flush. Yay environmental friendliness. Light switches are also upside-down. What you'd expect to be on is off and vice versa. The first night here we went to a bar. It was really odd being able to just walk up and order something. I haven't been carded yet since I've been here which makes me a little sad but I'll survive. A younger guy even bought a bunch of us girls drinks. I have even found a beer I like which is quite the accomplishment but in the mixed drinks here a rum and coke is half rum, half coke so that's not what I'm used to. They drink SO much here and SO often. I don't think I've gone one day in the gong w/o drinking anything at all. Tonight there's a pub crawl that I'm gonna check out for a bit, even if just to see where a bunch of the bars are. I've met a lot of awesome people here both from the states, locals, and people from all over the world.


Classes: Classes start next Monday. I finally figured out how many classes I should be taking (only 3! woot! I'm on my way to a 4 day weekend every weekend!) so now I need to do some juggling with what I'm signed up for and what I need to be signed up for. The whole process makes me feel kind of like a freshman all over again though, which really sucks. The time difference keeps messing me up b/c I can only call home fairly early in the morning or late at night at home. All those times that would be convenient during the day on either side involves one of us sleeping - or at least should be sleeping.

Internet: So the deal with me and internet is that I have basically unlimited internet but I'm still going to try to be on fairly sparingly and only check Facebook every now and then but my email will definitely be checked regularly. I decided I'm not going to forward my usual email to my UOW mail because I really just can't be bothered and this one has the notifications. Perhaps the stereotype about lazy Americans isn't completely wrong.

So I think this post is way long enough so I'm gonna sign off for now but I hope that gives you guys a good idea of what's going on here. I can also receive phone calls and text messages for free so if you want my mobile number I'll definitely pass that along.

Interesting OZ Fact: Not all buildings are required to be heated.