Days 1, 2, 3 and 4

Arrival: There were no complications yesterday with my flights; everything was pretty much smooth and on-time. The flight from LAX to Sydney was quite long, but I slept for most of it, I think. It wasn't a good sleep as I think I may have woken up every 2 hours or so, but when I did wake up for good, it was the morning of the next next day! hahaha. I didn't think I'd have much jet-lag since it was dark when I went to sleep morning when I woke up, like any normal day. However, last night I was pretty pooped at 8pm because my Los Angeles-synced body clock still thought it was 1am and I woke up this morning around 5am for the same reason. Sooner or later I'll get the hang of it.


(Showing the flight path from LA to Sydney across the Pacific Ocean and crossing the Equator)

Atmosphere: It's cloudy and overcast today with showers predicted throughout the day. This is actually quite unusual for Canberra. It does get pretty hot here but usually it's a dry heat, similar to a desert. Today it is really humid and muggy. I hope this clears up soon, cause I want SUMMER! ;) It'll stay nice until about mid-March before it dips into cooler temperatures. I've been told it can get to below 0 (C) here... I am not looking forward to that, but thankfully I've got a few months between me and winter.

Attention: I was picked up from the airport by Hayward, an ANU student, who dropped me off at the YHA hostel to check in and take my luggage up to my room while he kindly waited and then drove me to the school. I picked up a "Welcome" packet for International students. Upon learning that I was actually just an international exchange student rather than a plain ol' international student, I was quickly passed off to people higher up and since I'm nearly one of the first to arrive, I was able to get a lot of special attention while they tried to sort out my housing fiasco. Ros's maternal instincts kicked in and she made sure I was well taken care of. This was such a huge comfort and blessing and it made it a lot easier to not cry, knowing that I had good people in the International office looking out for me.

Accommodations: I understood that I was to arrive between Feb 5 and 7th because the international orientation is on the 9th. I thought I was only one day early, come to find out, housing contracts don't start until the 13th. There are quite a lot of international ANU students at the hostel as well! Why they do it this way, cannot be explained. So the deal is, I'll find out soon, very soon, but will have to stay at the hostel until the 13th when I am able to move in. Hopefully it will be a place on campus since they are trying hard to get as many of the international students in on-campus housing.


(This is a picture of the 8-share I was in for one night at the YHA hostel)

Assignment: Anyways, Ros entrusted me into the Nat's care for the rest of the afternoon. He gave me a brief tour of the ANU campus and showed me to the School of Art. When we made it back to his office, he insisted that I use his phone to call my parents since I had not yet phoned them. It was a incredible blessing to be able to call my dad and speak to him for a bit and let him know that I arrived safely and was being looked after. Nat and I then walked into the city where we grabbed a coffee and I was able to ask him all sorts of questions about life in Australia and such. I felt much better asking him all of my questions rather than another student or someone my age because he was far more knowledgeable and aware even at just several years older than me. Also, I felt less judged. After drinks, he gave me a tour of the city center and we walked the mall, swung by the cinema and a few camera stores that I will be needing to go to once classes start, and the supermarkets. In Australia, people tend to shop at butchers, fruit and vegetable stands, and other specialized stores rather than America's one-stop-shopping. Prices are typically neither cheaper nor more expensive, but this way of shopping is preferred.

Account: And speaking of prices -- IT'S SOOO EXPENSIVE HERE! My iced tea yesterday was $4.00, and my salmon and asparagus penne was $17.00! Nat informed me that lunch ranges from $15-20 and dinners $15-25. A combo meal at say, McDonalds might be $9.00! But this will be good incentive to learn to eat a little less. Lol! To account for at least part of this, tax is mostly included in the listed price and tips are EXTREMELY rare, but wages are considerably higher.

American: I was surprised (comforted and pleased) with the amount of American things in Australia. Here they also have McDonalds, Subway, Payless shoes, Borders bookstores, Baskin Robins, Krispy Kreme, KFC, and Hungry Jacks (aka Burger King).


(the Maccas in the Canberra Centre Mall)

Amigos: Adrianna, one of the girls in my room (also my bunkmate), was in the room when I finally made it back to the hostel. We chatted for a bit and then went out to grab dinner. She will also be a student at ANU, but she's starting her Masters and is looking for independent housing so she can bring her car and cat down from her home in Darwin. Places to live in Canberra are hard to come by since like our capital city, Washington DC, not many people actually live IN the city. Rhiannen is one of my roommates from a different 4-share. Immediately I noticed the cross necklace around her neck and let me tell you, it was like seeing blue sky after 40 days of rain- it gave me such hope! She doesn't make fun of me for asking silly questions about Australian life or lingo and the best part is she loves Jesus! We decided to go check out a random new church together this evening and it was so peaceful and reflective. The church is called Canberra City Uniting Church. After the service, everyone gathered around for tea, coffee, crackers and fellowship. And it was quite the eclectic and international group! We've made plans to grab some "American" pizza at the "I <3 NY big slice" over some "Barefoot" beer, hopefully tomorrow during the Super Bowl! It'll be good ol' American fun! She's also extremely generous and hospitable and invited me to go back to Sydney with her one weekend to see some of the city and her church, I'm really looking forward to it.

"Australian": I'm quickly learning that there is no such thing. It just doesn't exist. See, I thought I was going to Australia to experience Australian life, but really the world just got a little bit closer. There are all sorts of Indian and curry restaurants, Sushi places, chinese restaurants, Portuguese restaurants, and so forth. Especially this weekend during the National Multicultural Festival, but more to come on that later!

Availability: The mall and stores close at 5 or 6pm and the city starts to look slightly ghostly by 8. It's something that I'll definitely have to get used to because in America, everything is based on connivence.

Animals: No special sightings, but there are quite a lot of interesting birds! At dusk they all seemed to come out and sing, tweet, and squawk. It was kinda pretty, but very loud! Nonetheless, at least they don't have pigeons and seagulls! I've found out that one of the birds is a cockatoo..wild cockatoos! I just think that's soo cool!

And there you have it, an account of Andrea's arrival in Australia.