Week 1

Aussie: It's official, I'm as "Aussie" as a "Yank" can get; I've got a local mobile number, I've opened up a bank account, I'm registered and enrolled in all my classes, I've got an address and I've ridden the public transportation! Yay!

Accommodations: Yesterday I moved out of the youth hostel and into my university accommodations; Burton and Garran Hall. This is both a good and happy thing and a sad thing. It's bad because I'll no longer live in the center of the city which was a very convenient location. It was neat meandering through the city each evening on my way back "home". I'm actually going to miss it there. The good and happy thing is, I've got permanent accommodations and I don't have to live out of a suitcase anymore! Yay! I spent yesterday moving in: unpacking all my stuff, making the bed, putting up my postcards, straightening and going through the ridiculous amount of papers and pamphlets I've managed to pick up in a week and so forth. And then I passed out at about 8:00pm like an old lady! Today I'll be putting up all my pictures of friends and loved ones. It'll be home soon, but it won't easily be HOME because HOME is where my heart is :)

Arachnophobia: When I first checked out the Hall on last Tuesday, I didn't like it very much at all. The hallways are narrow and claustrophobic and they smell, not to mention the Hall's "mascot" is a redback spider! The first thing that went through my head was Ron Weasley saying, "Spiders! Why did it have to spiders! Why couldn't we follow the butterflies!" hahaha, so that's how much of a dork I am, but personally, I think Ron had it right, why does it have to be a spider!? And a super poisonous one too!? Why couldn't it have been a butterfly? Or, ok, a platypus since they have that poison toe thingy, that's intimidating, right?! So they've gone and posted pictures everywhere of this spider and I don't like it. :( At least I can buy air freshener to take care of the smell... I guess I'll just have to avoid looking on the walls. I'm hoping and praying I never come across one in person!

Attractions: On Wednesday I went on a Canberra tour with the other international students. We drove by the Fyshwick Markets, which is like a huge farmers market with fresh produce. It's usually a tad cheaper than the stores and it's supposedly quite the experience too. We would've stopped, but the bus left late. Then we went to the Parliament House! We had about an hour to explore around ourselves which was a weird experience since you would never be allowed to do that in the States. The second hour there we were given a free guided tour and we even got to sit in the observation deck and see the House of Representatives in action. They voted "No" on something, but I can't tell you want it was because we couldn't hear the first bit and I know nothing about Australian government or politics. The last stop on our bus tour was the top of Mount Ainslie which has a spectacular panoramic view of the whole city, pretty cool. Canberra is actually pretty cool because a lot of the government things to do around the city are free like the National Mint and the Botanical Gardens. Eventually, I'll get to all of them!

Adventure Across town: Thursday night, Rhiannen and I went to check out a room in a share house that she might, hopefully, move into, come next week. She won't find out until Monday but we're keeping our fingers crossed. We were supposed to arrive and see the place at 6:30pm...needless to say, we didn't get there at 6:30pm. It wasn't until nearly 7:30-8:00pm that we finally go there, but it was an adventure! First we took the express out of the city centre to the bus interchange. The express busses come every 5 minutes and the furthest you could go would only take about 30 minutes. But the next bus out of the interchange to Chiefly where we needed to go wasn't for 20 minutes which seemed forever. The suburb that the bus interchange is in is nice, but the interchange itself is probably the dodgiest place in all of Canberra! Then, of course, the bus we took was the "slow" bus because the stop we wanted was near the end of the loop, but it meant not sitting in the interchange so we took it. And then, once we were dropped off, we weren't sure which direction to walk. Eventually we got headed in the right direction, but the actual street we were looking for wasn't labeled properly. Rhiannen found house 32, walked straight up to the door despite us being unsure and thankfully, it was the house! It seemed like a lovely little house and a pretty good fit, but the guy said he wasn't going to decided until Monday. Then again he asked, "So you like the place?" and one wouldn't ask that unless there would be some kind of future! Keeping our fingers crossed! By the time we made it back to the City, it was at least 9:30pm and we hadn't eaten dinner so we went to Maccas (aka McDonalds). To make it even, the next day I had her help me lug all of my luggage across town to my dorm and it was a hot day to be moving such heavy things! teehee

Alcohol: While it is legal here for me to drink, and I've sampled some (a cup of sangria and a flute of champagne at the Multicultural Festival last weekend), this subject makes me nervous and uneasy. For one thing, they only accept an Australian Driver's license, a passport or a "Proof of Age Card" as an official age defier. It would be a very bad thing to carry around my passport all the time, as it could be stolen or get lost and they are hard to replace and that just would not be fun. So I could get a proof of age card, but that's just one more thing to round up documents for and one more card to carry! Boo! Anywho, for orientation week, the Hall I'm living in as set up a bunch of event, most of which as various parties in the evenings. I really don't want the week before I start classes in a foreign country to be all about drinking and that's pretty much what it's planned to be. Boo again! See, in the States, I'm not old enough to drink to so it's not in my life and besides that, drinking culture isn't really my personality. This going-out-to-a-pub-or-bar-or-club-thing-because-it's-what-uni-students-do is going to be hard to get used to! I'm really really praying I can find a group of nice friends who would rather explore all the touristy things to do in the city, go on bushwalks, play games and just good ol' enjoy each other's company as opposed to party, party, party. A trip to the wineries, sure. A pub every now and again, ok. But every night or at least every weekend... no thanks, I'll gladly pass! Being able to drink may be an indicator of age, but refusing a drink is a mark of maturity.

Atmosphere: It's raining again. Though, I prefer the rain to the heat. The rain is deterring me from going grocery shopping since I have to carry everything back myself across town, and one hand will be occupied by an umbrella, I haven't left yet on account of only having one hand. But this past week it's been pretty darn hot! It's been in the 80s (F) and 90s (F) and it's not very enjoyable if there is no beach or even pool near by! Rhiannen's been making fun of me because I think it's ghastly and she keeps telling me it's uncomfortable, but it's not "hot". "Hot" is when it gets in the 40s (C) which is over 100 (F)! If I experience 40C, I'll agree with her for sure, but I still think in the 30s (C) is hot too! But just those few days of sun, and I've already got a healthy Aussie glow with browned shoulders and such. My feet, that's a different story! They've got a real funny tan!

Animals: Still nothing other than birds, but I still think it's cool that they've got wild cockatoos! They're a bit annoying squawking at dusk and in the early morning.. ok, real annoying, but cool! Rhiannen thinks it's funny that we only have cockatoos in pet stores and as pets in the States. (She's started writing down all the weird Aussie-American differences.) But since the Hall I've moved into is near the base of Black Mountain in the bush, any day now and I'll get to see a kangaroo in the wild! Yay! Can't wait! hehehe! :D