It’s already been over a week!

I’ve been quite busy with Orientation the past few days. There were a lot of seminars and information sessions. I met a number of other international students. There are about, I would guess 300 students… and about 75% are American! I couldn’t believe it. There were about 5 other Canadians and I’ve only met one of them who is from Calgary. What I don’t get about “most” of the Americans that are here studying is that they met or knew each other before coming to Australia. And it seems as though, they stick together in their little cliques and don’t care to meet anyone else. I don’t get why You come to Australia to study if you’re just going to be friends with other Americans ONLY?!?! To be honest, you can tell who the Americans are in the bunch... you can spot them a mile away and most girls seem to be those sorority type, snobby girls that I don’t care to meet. But I have also met some really nice ones.

In speaking to these people there were 4 questions that were always asked: What’s your name? Where are you from? What are you studying? Have you found a place yet? I’ve come to realize that I’ll only remember one of these details about a person. If I can’t remember their name, I’ll most likely know where they’re from or what they are studying! It was really hard to try to remember people’s names. In some instances, I introduced myself to the same people twice!

Most people I met are also living at the Village where I am. Some have other accommodations and a good portion of them are still searching for a permanent place to stay. It seems like that is quite difficult and despite some annoying nuances about this place, I’m glad I have a home and not living out of my suitcase in a hostel!

I met a girl Helena from Poland who also lives at the Village. Tuesday night she invited me out and we met up with some other people that also live here: two guys from the UK, a girl from Mexico and some others. We then went to a bar called Kuletos (which I had already been to with Jemma) that is two steps away from the Village. Except when we decided to head over there that night, it was pouring rain and we got wet! We had a few drinks there and then headed over to someone’s apartment in the Village. Our group had grown to about 15 people and I also met another guy from Canada. They later went to a club called Scruffy’s which I had heard was a total meat market where the guys are aggressive and the atmosphere is ‘dodgy’ (or sketchy). So I decided not to go, especially since Helena had already left.

Yesterday I went on a walking tour and met and talked to different people. I met an openly gay guy, Chris from DC who is HILARIOUS! I also met Kristen from Oregon, Mary Kate and Heather (I think!) from Boston, Maria and Claudia from Austria, some guy from Mexico and Marcello from Brazil. The walking tour (which by the way, it rained the whole way!) ended at CargoBar at Darling Harbour – very nice place. We had a free drink and chatted. Then later Kristen, Marcello and the guy from Mexico went in search of food and then headed home in our separate ways.

Kristen and I at the Harbour.

Darling Harbour by night

There are tons more people I met and briefly chatted with but again, it’s so hard to keep track. So far everyone has been super nice, delightful and enjoyable to be around.

Some good news! I can now Skype and Webcam! I took my laptop to the Library and they configured it for me. But the downside is that I have to pay for downloading (go figure! This country has obviously not heard of UNLIMITED downloading for a decent price!) So webcamming gets expensive, but I can transmit my webcam images to whomever and don’t have to worry about paying anything.

I also found out about a really cool course that is designed for International Students to get to learn about the Australia Sport culture in a hand-on way via numerous field trips to rugby games, surfing competitions, etc. So I’m taking that as my elective and that should be fun!

I’ve discovered Tim Tams! This is quite the Australian treat and is embedded in the hearts and culture of Australia much like Vegemite (ick!) It is a chocolate filled, chocolate biscuit, covered in chocolate! And the best way to eat it is to bite the opposite ends of the biscuit and suck your tea with milk through it like a straw. It melts and becomes a chocolatey, gooey and delicious mess! This stuff is so good!So good... I cannot begin to describe.

I also got my hair cut today at Toni&Guy. I went to their teaching academy and got a hair cut for $18 by a hairdresser in training. The instructor watched the whole time to make sure my hairdresser was doing everything right. What a sweet deal and it was pretty good. But of course, as I stepped out of the salon to catch the bus, it rained… just my luck!

My new hair cut called, Transient Length.

In all the times I’ve gone out… I usually have beer. Mostly cause it’s cheapest and that’s what everyone else has. I keep ordering different beers and honestly, they all taste the same to me.

There’s an International Student Party tonight so hopefully that’ll be good time. But the weather is quite miserable and rainy… can’t wait until it gets better. I signed up for a Wine and Whale weekend for next weekend. We’re traveling up to the Hunter Valley for some wine tasting then going on a whale watching cruise! The weather better be good for that one! And classes start Monday… I don’t want them to start…. I just want to have fun, go out and do Sydney-esque things.

PS I’m in need of a serious massage… I must have pulled a muscle in my shoulder carrying all my groceries yesterday 