the flights over went decently. my flight to LA was uneventful. i met a girl who's living in perth for a year as a nanny for an australian family and we just chatted a little. luckily i didn't miss my flight like the last time i flew through LA, so i no longer hate that airport quite as much :) the flight from LA to sydney was... boring. the entertainment system that plays all the movies was broken, so no entertainment for us! however, i was pretty used to long flights with no movies as the air pacific entertainment system was terrible and i couldn't figure out how to work it on the way to tanzania. the only big problem was my broken reading light! it would have been one thing if it straight up didn't work, but it quickly came to resemble a strobe light. it would flicker on and off for a few minutes at a time then stay on or off for 30 minutes or so and then start over again. i don't know what was wrong with it (nor did the flight attendants) but take my word for it: a strobe light over your seat when people are trying to sleep doesn't win you any friends. luckily i was surrounded by a group of catholic priests in sandals and hooded robes with roped belts who were pretty chill. i got to sydney and made a pretty easy connection to brisbane. it cost me $370 to get my bags on that flight, which was a tad ridic, but i'm learning that australia is just beastly expensive in general.
i arrived at the airport and a cute old man was waiting for me to drive me to UQ. we made it over to union college in about an hour after dropping off 3 other girls throughout the city. a cute aussie guy helped me lug my bags up the stairs (haven't seen him since... he's probably sprawled out in his room with a broken back) and i started unpacking. in typical story-of-my-life fashion, neither my room phone or internet worked. while i realize my last post was about my newfound hatred of technology, i'm going to go ahead and eat my words. it was a little lonely for a while there as i had absolutely no way of communicating with the few people i had made contact with before i got here.
a lot of the past few days has been spent running around the suburbs and trying to get stuff for my room. i even took a city bus to kmart... twice. haha. i also had the distinct displeasure of trying to purchase a cell phone from the world's most bipolar kiosk employee. she kept coming up with all this new paperwork i needed in order to get a phone plan, so it took me 5 trips to the kiosk (ten bus trips back and forth... thank god i brought a hefty supply of dramamine) and 4 trips to the bank to get this random paperwork. i was a tad frustrated. then once she finally decided i had all the paperwork, she spent over an hour talking about how much she loves laguna beach, the city, and the hills (mtv reality tv shows). apparently she even called mtv australia to see if they'd star her in a show called "brisbane river." (there's a big river that runs through brissy). i waited until she had handed the cell phone over to let her know that i'd never been around LA or met lauren conrad.
on one of my countless bus trips, i met another international student from the states. she asked where i was from and when i told her MN, she goes, "oh, are you from anywhere near edina? basically my entire school goes there." she goes to DU. talk about a small world. so dianne and i have been hanging out a lot and slumming it on the city bus together! :)
i think i've attended more orientation sessions this week than i have at my past 4 schools combined. we've got the typical orientation sessions... how to make friends, how to register for classes, etc. on top of that, we've got "safety down under" (where we learned about jellies, cone shells, sharks, snakes, spiders, kangaroos that jump in front of your car, how to swim on beaches properly and avoid riptides, which way to look when you cross the street, who to call to receive antivenom, how to distinguish between different species of poisonous animals), "working while studying" (making sure you're within your visa rules, how to file aussie taxes, how to find minimum wages), "adjusting to life with australians" ("if we make fun of you or give you a hard time, we like you. we also like beer. and parties. and beaches. and sunshine. welcome to australia!") and a lot of other random things like that. oh and i learned a little tidbit at one of the sessions: apparently the US is no longer the fattest country in the world... australia recently took our place. whoo! way to go guys. the aussies are only just beginning to get to school as they've all been on holiday, so i've really mainly met internationals so far.
the diversity here is insane. there are 2000 international students at UQ this semester, representing 160+ countries. the international student population alone here is the same as CC's entire student population. students from egypt, iran, switzerland, the US, UK, canada, spain, tanzania, fiji, brazil, norway, chile, italy, china (424 students from china alone!), japan, denmark, malaysia, france, india, germany, iceland, mexico, samoa, countries i've never even heard of, the list just goes on... it's SO cool. there are at least 5 different countries represented just in my hall.
the campus is gorgeous. huge sandstone buildings with carved columns and tunnels... it's pretty cool. i'll put pics up when i get around to taking them. the food at union sucks, but it's all part of the uni experience i suppose. the weather has been wonderful. warm and sunny during the day and cold at night... a little too cold sometimes though! i wasn't expecting it to be THIS cold. i sleep in a hoodie (with the hood up), long sleeved shirt, tshirt, sweatpants and socks! i haven't been downtown yet (by the way, to get downtown you take the FERRY!), but dianne and 2 aussie girls and myself are going on a little pub crawl this evening. i'm learning that australia is super expensive. dianne and i nearly passed out when we got to the liquor store the other day and learned that a bottle of smirnoff costs $40!! and a 6 pack of corona is $20! the guy working at the store laughed and told us that all americans react like that the first time they buy alcohol down under.
i'm excited for next week. the whole student population will finally be back so i'll be able to find that hot aussie boy of my dreams! (just kidding. kind of.) but union college (my "dorm") is holding all sorts of parties next week and on wednesday there's a big fair called "market day" where all the clubs and sports put up booths so you can see what's offered. unfortunately, i already know i can't join the scuba diving club b/c they meet thursday nights... and i have lab from 6-9. i could not possibly be any sadder about this fact. i have literally been moping all afternoon. i am getting depressed just thinking about it right now, so on to the next paragraph.
i keep forgetting that i also have to start class next week. i'm taking 2 bio classes, a chem class and a religion class. i can't even imagine what life would be like at US colleges if they ran like AUS unis do. the kids who are receiving a bachelor of marine studies (i'm receiving a bachelor of science with a marine science major so it's a little different) will not take a single non-science related class in all four years they are here. they have a few electives they get to take, but they all have to be program-related. where are the classes about counting poop, madonna and reading about va-jayjays?? i was hoping i'd be able to ease back into the school process, but no luck. 3 out of my 4 classes have lectures, tutorials AND labs. meaning they each meet 5 times a week for 1-4 hours. on tuesdays i have 7 hours of class and on thursdays i have 9 hours... starting at 8 am and ending at 9 pm! i also have 8 ams three days a week and a 9 am on friday. ugh ugh UGH!! did i say UGH yet?!?! haha mainly i'm just upset i won't be joining the scuba club. sigh. now i just need to fit in some volunteer work, a job, tennis?, a church group?, a choir group? i think i'll be lucky if i see the light of day outside of lab. every kid i've talked to who's studied abroad down here has said that classes are "SOooOO easy." what! ahh.
anyway, time to go shower then head out. hope everyone is sleeping wonderfully :) ...
maybe it's not my weekend, but it's gunna be my year. i'm so sick of watching while the minutes pass as i go nowhere. and this is my reaction to everything i fear. 'cause i've been goin' crazy, i don't want to waste another minute. --all time low
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