Today was my first day in Australia! The plane ride was actually not that bad, fourteen hours went by faster than I had expected since we each had our own personal tv's with new movies, music, and tv shows. They kept us well fed and gave us goodies to make our plane ride as comfortable as possible. I sat next to Angelina and made a new friend Justin. He's from Maryland and slept for most of the trip. We were picked up from the airport and thirteen of us took a bus to our campus. It is strange how the scenery, at least on the hour ride from the airport to our campus looks really similar to America. I would describe it as looking like Florida. Our driver said he's always wanted to buy a cheap car and drive across America :) he told us some helpful things such as giving the peace sign is completely acceptable however flip it around into what we would use as "two" means "up yours twice" here. Good to know when taking pictures.

Checking in took FOREVER! there was about 60 new students who had to check in and they went by two's. luckily ours was the first van to arrive so we got registered within two hours. they had boys bring our luggage and linens to our room. I was greeted by Todd, a really nice Australian boy who showed me to my apartment. It seems like I don't even need to say "really nice" because everyone here is SO friendly! No matter where we go everyone is super helpful and nice. None of my roommates were there when I arrived so I had the apartment to myself to move in.

My apartment is, for now, very clean and perfect for college living. We have a fully equipped kitchen and a spacious living room which leads to our balcony overlooking campus. I have my own room and bathroom which is so nice. My bed is huge and the shower is amazing. They are really big on conserving water here which becomes apparent with the toilet. There are two buttons (i'm sure you can guess what the two different ones are for) I have yet to get my internet up but our phones work calling between rooms. To let my parents know I had arrived safely I actually borrowed Angelina's roommate's computer. She is from Germany and was so friendly. It was a bit complicated since everything on her computer was in German however with her help I was able to send a brief e-mail.

Angelina, Danielle, and I were all STARVING from our long trip. I believe it was around 6pm in America and we hadn't eaten all day so we decided to make our first meal. It turned out to be an experience. We started in Danielle's apartment however after trying to turn her stove up I blew a fuse and killed the oven (no worries it was fixed a few hours later). We ventured back to my place where we put on some water to make pasta...40 minutes later...the water still was not boiling! I could not believe how long it took for a pot of water to boil! Danielle begged us to just throw the noodles in and let them soak however having some standards I decided to wait a few more minutes, we settled with warm almost boiling water and made pasta with marinara sauce. Justin stopped bye, funny since he always seems to be awake when there is food being served :) and we all had a nice meal.

My first roommate arrived! Her name is Alice and she is from Australia. She is 19 years old and super friendly and had just gotten home from working at a fruit and vegetable store. She has been living here for about a month and is going to what we would call tech school to become a personal trainer. I was all worried that I would be living with three other girls after searching the apartment for clues as to who my roommates are but she informed me that the other two are boys, one from Austria who is 23 years old and one from Australia who is 18. I have yet to meet them but she says they are really cool.

Danielle's friend who lives about 10 minutes from campus decided to drive us around the city and give us a tour. It was really fascinating. Everything here is so clean and looks new. Driving was a new experience since the driver is on the other side of the car and they drive on the left side of the road. We kept thinking we were going to be hit by oncoming traffic and crossing the street Danielle was almost run down by a car because she instinctively looked right which of course is wrong. Ryan and his family are moving to an apartment about a mile from his house but we got to see his old house which was beautiful!

After a very long day we all decided it was time for bed and went back to our apartments to sleep. Back home it was probably around 3pm so it took me all of 10 seconds to fall fast asleep. I woke up the next morning and it was freezing! it is technically winter here so the nights get rather cold. luckily I have a quilt on my bed but I am bundled in a "jumper" or what we call a sweatshirt and pants. Other fun things they say differently a cell phone is called a "mobile phone" and McDonalds is called "mackers" I'm sure I will be able to give plenty more examples. I had an interesting experience with Angelina's roommate Ben when I told him to "shut up!" as we would use in excitement for "no way!" or "get out of town!" he was a little taken aback and asked why I was telling him to be quiet. I quickly apologized and explained and all was well.

Making breakfast was another interesting experience. I woke up to the sound of what seemed like thousands of birds squaking at what is here 6am (4pm back home). I decided to make eggs however I quickly found out there was no butter or spatula in sight. correction- there was a "spatula" however it was more like a spoon with holes in it and completely useless. I attached a picture of the disaster that was my breakfast and decided to make a shopping list :) Danielle and I are going for a run soon, hopefully we won't get too lost but hey that's half the fun. I have so much more to write about and hopefully I am not giving too much detail! Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this! I will write again soon.