GETTING HERE:
The long journey over here was not too bad besides a couple speed bumps:
As soon as we got to the O'hare airport, Terry found out that his bag was overweight by 9 lbs (this was fully our travel agent's fault for giving him the wrong info), therefore he had to pay $250 extra bones right off the bat. Let's just say Mr and Mrs Kowalski were not too happy. I, the smart one, had researched on my own how many bags you could take for free and the weight limit, so I did not get charged. Then Terry soon finds out that he has TWO Australian visas under his name-one with his correct birthdate and one saying he was born in 1930 (hahah this is quite comical looking back at this situation). Again, our travel agent's fault. This causes some problems, to say the least. Before every single flight we took that day, the airline called Terry's name over the loud speaker and he would have to go explain and sort out his visa mishap. We then found out that his passport number was cut off at the bottom of his passport, so they had to manually punch in his passport at each airline as well. This actually almost caused us to miss our connecting flight from LA to Sydney, which would have been BAD. But we made it, no worries.
Terry, Theresa, and I were all so anxious to get to Australia after our, well Terry's mishaps. The first flight to LA was a breeze. Then the 14 hour flight to Sydney was not as bad as I expected, although there was a lady sitting right in front of me with a HUGE bun in her hair, therefore blocking my view of the tv, but I got over it. I popped a sleeping pill and slept with my sweet neck pillow for 10 out of the 14 hours. Terry on the other hand was not so lucky. The sleeping pill did not work for him, so he was pretty much awake for the whole fight (and my snoring probably did not help whoops sorry ter!!) The food wasn't bad, plus we were sitting next to a very sweet older australian woman who gave us some tips and places to go. Theresa sat next to two very very attractive australian brothers who gave her the DL on the aussie lingo, food, and trips to take. I was a little jealous, but I mean Terry is good-looking too..I guess.
ARRIVING IN THE GOLD COAST:
We stepped off the airplane in Brisbane and immediately realized just how humid and hot it was here. VERY hot. We had pants on and looked like complete idiots of course, but we got our luggage and found the guy that was taking us to the Village where our apartment is. He was some funny australian older guy who was a tad bit crazy. It made the hour ride to Southport pretty enjoyable. Driving and seeing cars on the other side of the road and the drivers on the right side was pretty weird. They also have smaller cars here and almost no mini vans or SUV's, which I found bizarre. There is also these really odd-looking pick up trucks called Utes that are super low to the ground. They look like alien racing pick up trucks..I know very hard to imagine.
Anyways, we finally get to our apartment complex. We literally just got dropped off in front of the RA office with our very large suitcases. We got our flat numbers and keys, Terry is a quick 20 second walk from me and theresa's flat. We get into our flat to find that it was NOT AT ALL what the pictures and website explained. ALL white walls, concrete YES CONCRETE floors, the smallest kitchen if you even want to call it a kitchen, and the worst part is NO AIR CONDITIONING. Apparently that is only common in the states. Theresa and I were shocked. literally speechless. We just stood there for about 5 minutes not knowing what to do. It felt like 150 degrees outside and hotter inside and we had no air con (they call it that here). And they literally give you nothing. No plates, pots, bed linen, nothing. I was about to cry, wait I did. A little panic began to set it. We had just gotten dropped off in Australia with just our suitcases. We didn't even know where to begin.
Luckily, our Australian roommates were just moving in too. We have three Australian roommates, Bianca is from Cairns which is about a 24 hour drive from our Uni (what they call college here) she is 17 years old so not legal to go to the bars or drink which is funny because I am still not legal in the states, Stephanie is 18 and from Armidale which is about 5 hours away, and Becca who is 17 and moved to Australia from China about 2 years ago, she is pre-med, doesnt talk much and goes home alot. I think we scare her a little. Bianca and Steph are super cool and sweet and it is their freshman year, so they like to party just as much as Theresa and I. It is really interesting living with Australians. I am really glad I got the opportunity to live like this because I have learned so much from them already. Like the way we pronounce things differently and have different names for things. For example, we say "I want lettuce on my burger", while they say "I want salad on my burger" and other weird stuff like that. They also dont eat peanut butter here like us americans. My roommate thought it was the weirdest thing to eat apples and peanut butter. They also had never had PB & J or s'mores! Learning the Aussie lingo has also been alot of fun. Here are a few:
How you going? = How are you doing today
keen=excited/stoked. I'm very keen to go out tonight
heaps=alot. I had heaps of fun last night.
cheers=thank you
your welcome= no worries
brekky=breakfast (duhh)
fair=mall
tomato sauce=ketchup
and people really do say G'day Mate all the time. The Aussie accent is also pretty sweet, even though some people's are so strong I dont understand what they are saying half the time. I have tried to pick it up, but I am not very good at it. Terry, on the other hand, has perfected it. He could even fool an aussie.
That's all I can think of right now, but we have started to use heaps and cheers in our convos. so aussie.
Got a little off track there. Luckily, Stephanie's dad took us to a nearby outlet mall in his sweet alien pick up truck to get the essentials aka bed sheets and FANS and phones. We got to the outlet mall and were very overwhelmed. We slowly found out just how outrageously EXPENSIVE Australia is. I mean outrageous. My bed sheets cost me 60 dollars, at home they would have been 10. not cool. We bought the cheapest $30 brick phones. Then we found $10 fans. WIN. We each got 2..so Terry had to carry 6 huge fan boxes..pretty funny stuff. We then ate lunch at this weird cafe place where I legally bought my first beer in Australia for $9, which is the usual price for one beer here. again not cool. We easily blew through 200 within that first day. They also charge you per gigabyte for internet, which is very unfortunate and I use mine up way too fast. To give you an idea, I think we each blew through 1500 dollars within the first week. We definitely experienced a huge reality check.
With the shock of the money issue, our crappy apartments, no food, and no interaction with the real world or my family and friends for about 3 days, the home sickness started to set in. I was very close to buying a plane ticket home, which is funny to think about while writing this because I am IN LOVE with it here now. It just took some time to settle in and get used to everything. My jet lag was not bad at all, though I attempted to go out downtown our first night. FAIL. Terry also learned of the club dress codes: guys must wear pants at all times with nice shoes or else they are not allowed in. Which is exactly what happened to Terry and his khaki shorts the first night. fail again. So even though things were a little rocky at times, we survived and have almost been here for 2 months. crazy.
EVERYDAY LIFE:
So for the longest time, I was very confused about what exactly the "Gold Coast" is. I was not sure if it was an area, a city, or what. I now have learned that it is in fact a city. This took us about two weeks to figure out (along with the public transportation system). I live in a town called Southport which is an hour or so away from Brisbane. There is a main downtown city area of Southport and then right next to it is the city of Gold Coast. Surfers Paradise is the part of Gold Coast where all the clubs and pubs are that we go to every week. I know this might be a little confusing, but no worries mate, I still get confused too.
The fashion here is a bit different than the U.S. They also dress up to go to class everyday, which is not what us U of I students do on the reg. The girls dress in short crop tops with very high waisted ripped jean shorts or sundresses and the boys wear short shorts with tank tops called singlets. Terry has picked up a few of his own singlets AND a pair of jammers. Jammers are a short style version of the speedo. You could say that Terry is trying to tan his muscular thighs in these things-I think there are a few pics on facebook, you should see for yourself. They are very flattering on him though and the ladies just love it. Boys in short shorts took some getting used to, but they have grown on me. Another thing I noticed is that Australian guys dont like to pump iron or "get swoll" as some people would say as much as Americans, so alot of the guys are not very muscular or toned, which makes Terry look HUGE here. I mean he is, but still you know what I mean. Boys also keep their hair on the longer shaggy side and style it and stuff. Barely any boy has a buzz cut, so Terrence fits right in with his long locks. Of course, all the girls have long bleach blonde hair and are all very pretty. Overall, Aussies are very friendly and talkative. In class, they always are participating and talking- odd right?
side note: everyone here thinks Terry is either Australian, an American LAX player, or an all American jock. I personally think its the hair. He's got some great flow.
SCHOOL: Yes, I actually go to class. I attend Griffith University, which is about a ten minute walk from my flat. The campus is super hilly and very pretty. The buildings are relatively new and brightly colored and there's alot of cute little cafes and coffee shops. There is also a UniBar, which is literally a bar in the middle of the campus where kids go in between classes to drink. I get a kick out of it because that would never happen in the states. I am taking 4 classes, which is a normal load here, only which of 2 I am getting credit for at home (which stinks but whatever). I am in Physical Activity Promotion, Sports Coaching, Psychology for Health Sciences, and Australian History. I am the only American in my Sports Coaching and Physical Activity Promotion classes, which is pretty cool. I feel like whenever I talk, they all stare at me and think I'm weird because of my accent. They talk about America SO MUCH here. They talk about how fat and lazy we are and how huge our food proportions are, even though they just over took us as the most obese country in the world. They use American textbooks too, in fact one of my textbooks is written by a U of I professor-pretty crazy. They have way less assignments here than we do at home and barely any tests. I only have one test the entire semester. The bad thing is that since there is very few assignments due throughout, those assignments are worth alot more than what I am used to. For example, a one page paper I just wrote was worth 30% of my grade. So it is both good and bad because I never have stuff due, but I have to kick butt at the few assignments I do have. Overall, the classes are a lot easier and laid back. There is only one 2 hour lecture per week (which seems like eternity) and one 1 hour tutorial (what we call our discussions) for each class. My sports coaching tutorial is actually really interesting. We have class at the track and field on campus and I have gotten to play Rugby and Netball which I would not have gotten to do otherwise. Rugby is pretty hard because its basically backwards from football (?) I am not very good at it and Netball is basically a woman only basketball sport, but you can't move with the ball and there is no backboard on the net. very bizarre. Australian History is also very interesting and useful and the teacher is this crazy old australian dude who wears a different Hawaiian shirt every week. I am glad that I am actually learning about the history while I am here. That is probably my favorite class. Okay, enough about school. Sorry for rambling.
LIVING: The village where we live is actually pretty cool because there is about 500 or so people that live here. It is a mix of international students (mostly Americans) and Australians. I've met people from all over the world-England, Switzerland, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and Papa New Guinea to name a few. Terry actually has one roommate from Oxford, England and another one from Switzerland. We have made a solid group of friends that we hang out with all the time. Most are Americans from the east coast, one is from Oregon, a few from England, and one girl who actually goes to Loyola in Chicago (small world). It is going to be awesome being able to go home and visit everyone! We might even make our way to England someday. Overall, it's a nice place to live-there's a pool that we lay out at between classes and on the weekends, its only a short 20 minute bus ride to the beach, its easy to make friends, and they give us free food on Taco Mondays and BBQ tuesdays.
FOOD: The food here is pretty much the same as home, except their BBQ's are not your typical American barbeque. They don't grill burgers or hot dogs (they don't even sell hot dog buns here), they grill sausages. They call it a "Sausage Sizzle". You literally are given white bread, a sausage, and bbq sauce. There were so many free sausage sizzles the first couple weeks that I will never look at sausage the same way ever again. Aussies also love their fish and chips and chicken parm. They literally serve chips aka fries with everything. Thai food is also huge here. They call McDonalds Mackers and Burger King is Hungry Jack's. We have become really keen for the 50 cent ice cream cones from Mackers recently because it is the only affordable thing on the menu (...but seriously). There is a nice bbq area by the pool in the village where we can grill, so we have been buying chicken and steak and having Terry grill for us. It has been nice being able to make my own food. I've actually learned how to cook! (Aren't you proud, Mom?!?) Some girls and I went out for a nice dinner a couple weeks ago where we tried Kangaroo and Crocodile. Kangaroo tastes like steak and beef jerky combined and croc tastes exactly like chicken- I liked both of them alot. Almost forgot about the instant coffee. They do not use coffee makers here, they instead boil water in a kettle and then mix in instant coffee. It is not good by any means, but I guess it gets the job done.
GOON and TIM TAMS-Since alcohol is so fricken expensive here..a case of cheap beer is about 45+ dollars and hard alcohol is even more pricey, everyone drinks very very cheap boxed wine. The generic name for it is Goon. It is about 8 bucks for a whole 3 litre bag, but it is NOT good. at all. TIm Tams are these delicious wafer cookie things that everyone is OBSESSED with. They are so yummy and addictive. I am definitely bringing some home for everyone to try.
HOT HOT HOT: The first month was absolutely unreal. I have never been so HOT or sweat as much in my entire life. LIterally, I would walk 5 feet and be dying. And then of course, the first weekend I was here I did not realize how strong the sun was and burnt to a nice little crisp after a day at the beach. Found out that aloe vera would cost me $25. So I learned the hard way that I really do need to use my 70 SPF my mom made me bring. The weather is cooling down a little now, but it still is on an average day high 70's or 80's.. I still can not straighten my hair, so I've been rockin the curly fro here. It has also started to rain alot, which kind of stinks but it is nice to actually be able to be productive and not have the urge to go to the beach or pool hence why I am writing this blog entry. By the time we leave, it will be Australia's winter so in the low 70's, still not very cold.
WOAH. that was alot. I am going to wrap this up just so you are not bored with my kinda long summary. I will write about all of our trips and excursions that we have been on next. so stay tuned..I promise I will blog again soon (really!) Overall, we are having heaps of outrageous fun and basically on a 4 month long spring break. we have really rough lives. G'day mates!
The Village where we live!
An area on the Griffith campus
Some of my girlfriends here!
