G'Day Mates!

G'day From Sippy Downs, Australia!

I finally made it after a long long day of flying. Unfortunately I never got to live through Thursday, Feb. 11^th 2011, I skipped right to Friday the 12^th. After arriving in Brisbane, Nikki and I caught our shuttle to Unicentral, our apartment complex. It was beautiful! A pool, Barbie area, palm trees, exotic flowers… the works! It was so warm out and surprisingly humid. The complex is nice and I don’t think I’ll have a problem roughing it here for a few months. The time change is hard to get used to... fell asleep at 9pm here and woke up at 6am... that needs to change a bit! In time I suppose.

So far I have two room mates, Nick and Morgan. Both are Aussies and nice. One more room mate to come tomorrow. Getting used to a new country and people is definitely challenging but that’s what I hoped for coming into this. Being away from home was harder than I expected, but that feeling will disappear soon, as I will start at Uni and meet lots of new mates.

Walking a mile to the grocery store was a challenge. Especially since I had to carry my groceries all the way back in 85 degree temperatures. Life is definitely different here, but it is interesting to see how the Aussies live… they walk barefoot everywhere (even in the grocery store), roll their own cigarettes (my roomies atleast) and drink! I’m starting to learn some of the lingo but it doesn’t all make sense… a bench means a counter in Australia… that will take some getting used to but it’s all a part of the experience.

Can’t wait to sit by the pool, catch some rays, go for a walk and socialize tomorrow. Orientation starts Monday and lasts about a week. Then classes start! It will be weird being in school again! I like a schedule though and will be able to make friends.  There is a BBQ on Tuesday for all Unicentral residents so that should be fun too. So far, life is good on the Sunshine Coast and hopefully will improve everyday! Until Next time,