Recent Happenings!

Thursday, February 28

So I tried Vegemite yesterday morning, and apparently I'm not yet an Aussie, because I thought it was gross! I've been told it's an acquired taste, so I'll try it again, but I have a feeling the results will be the same! 

So I went to uni on Tuesday and got a tour of the huge campus! It is very nice, but there are so many stairs that they actually consider one part upper, and the other part lower.

Yesterday I was able to Skype my friend from home, and that was super nice!  After I Skyped with her I headed off for the coastal walk.  The beach that I live on is Maroubra, but the best part of the walk is from Coogee Beach up to Bondi Beach, so I took he bus to Coogee and walked from there! The walk was absolutely gorgeous, and I took a ton of pictures! (See Facebook album) As I was walking and enjoying the water views, I was reminded of the song, "My Redeemer Lives" by Nicole C. Mullins.  (Youtube it) Particularly the part "who told the ocean you can only come this far."  All in all, it was an amazing and refreshing walk!  I took the bus back from Bondi Beach, where I found a Ben and Jerry's on the boardwalk. Unfortunately, the prices here are even more ridiculous than they are at home, so no ice cream for me : ( 

The family here has already gotten me addicted to a new show, "My Kitchen Rules."  The show follows home cooks from each state of Australia, and they must each cook for all of the others in the competition as well as 2 judges. They then rate each other's dinner, and the couple with the lowest score is sent home. The show is really funny and very good to watch together, as everyone has their own favorite team. 

So today I had a mandatory orientation for all international students, but all of the information was pretty much common sense.  After the information session here was. "Sausage Sizzle" where they were giving away trips for spring break.  Unfortunate, I did not win anything : (

The trip to Taronga Zoo is still on for tomorrow, and I can't wait to see some Australian wildlife in it's actual habitat! 

The weather today was actually not perfect : (. It is in the mid 60's, windy, and has been sprinkling off and on.

Until Later, 

Kaitlyn

I'm Sure You've Been Waiting!

Tuesday, February 26

So I'm sure that you all have been dying to hear how things are going!

I moved in with my more permanent host family on Sunday afternoon.  While this family isn't the original one that I was going to, and was a last minute change, I couldn't be happier with the way things worked out!  The family that I live with has 3 daughters, ranging in age from 22-19.  The family owns 4 apartments all in 1 building, and I share one with their oldest daughter.  Across the hall is the parents apartment with the kitchen that we use.  About a 5 minute walk from the house is the cafe and surf shop that the parents own and run.  Literally across the road from them is the beach! The family has been extremely welcoming and helpful!  They are a very close family, but joke with each other, just as mine does, so I feel very comfortable.  I eat breakfast at the cafe, and they pack me a lunch if I need it, but we eat dinner at the house with everyone.  After dinner we watch tv together.

I went to UNSW (University of New South Wales, or my uni) yesterday for an exchange student information session.  This entire week is called O week, which stands for Orientation week.  It was pretty crazy, as UNSW has 49,000 students, and it seemed like all of them were on campus for all of the free stuff that was being given away!  Also, all over campus there were booths set up for each club that the uni had to offer; I signed up to receive more information from a few clubs, so I'll see what looks interesting once I receive more information.  I was also able to set up my student account, and get wifi access to the campus (both things that I knew I needed to do)!  

I also got my schedule (they call it a timetable) and I'm super happy with it! I have class from 10-12 on Mondays, 9-2 on Tuesdays, off on Wednesdays, 5-6 on Thursdays, and 10-2 on Fridays.  Classes start on Monday, so I don't have long to relax!

The weather today is supposed to be in the low 80's but now that I'm so close to the beach, there is always a nice breeze. 

My plans for the rest of this week are: head to uni later today for a campus tour, beach tomorrow, back to uni on Thursday for a mandatory orientation session for exchangers, and to the Taronga Zoo on Friday with other exchangers!

I may sample Vegemite tomorrow for breakfast  : )

Until Later,
Kaitlyn

Hello Again!

Saturday, February 23

I can't say that I'll update everyday, but I realized there were a few things that I left out of yesterday's post, and a few interesting things that happened today. 

First, the weather here is much more tropical than I expected.  It has been in the mid 70's yesterday and today, but extremely muggy and humid.  Part of the reason that it has been humid is because it has been raining since last night, off and on. While summer is their wet season, they are receiving more rain than normal.  Summer officially ends on February 28, with autumn beginning on March 1.  Temperatures will still be in the 70's and 60's.

Second, the town that I'm in right now is called Epping, and I visited Chatswood today (very Australian sounding, don't you think?).  I will be moving to my permanent home in Maroubra tomorrow.  I'm told that the house where I'll be staying isn't more than a 1km walk from the house, so perhaps I'll be there frequently!

Third, the steering wheel being on the opposite side of the road is hard adjusting to, but not as hard as the driving on the opposite side of the road.  Left turn on red is common here, but it still feels odd. Lots of rotaries all over the place too.

An interesting practice that perhaps the US should employ is what happens when one is becoming a driver.  At 16, one takes a written test, and if passed, the student must drive with a square with a "L" attached near the license plate, with an already licensed driver.  Once they have enough hours, they take a test in the car, and if passed, receive a square with a red "P" which they must still attach to their car.  They are then able to drive solo, but have restrictions such as not past 11 o'clock at night, or they are only allowed a certain number of people in their car.  After approximately a year, they pass to another level, still a "P" but a different color, and it must still be attached to their car.  They again have restrictions, but after a year they are finally considered an unrestricted, licensed driver.  While things are similar in the US, I think that it would be beneficial to know which cars to avoid ; )

So we headed out today to another shopping center, a "posh" (per the mother) one located in Chatswood.  There are 2 shopping centers in Chatswood, the main one we went to was 4 floors, but the other one had 6.  Each mall has it's own attached parking garage. The first 2 or 3 hours are free parking, but then they charge you (sometimes $10 an hour!).  Inside the shopping center were butcher shops, fish markets, bakeries, supermarkets, and normal shops.  I saw 4 shops here that we have at home: Target, Kmart, EB Games, and Pandora.  Also "normal" was a KFC in the dining court.  So now I know where I can be reminded of home! 

I was again struck by how expensive it is here, as a small coffee was considered cheap at $3.50, and a sandwich and drink were at least $10!

So I saw an amusing sign today, similar to our US "slow children at play" but this Australian one said "go slow children don't bounce"  : )

Until Later,

Kaitlyn 

And So It Begins!

Friday, February 22

Well hello everyone! 

Thought it was about time I let everyone know what I've done so far.  The final leg of my journey was a 14 hour flight from San Francisco. My plane left at 10:35pm, which was 1:35am, home time, so I slept for the majority of the flight. I had an aisle seat, but the seat next to me was empty. Because of the empty seat next to me, I was a lot more comfortable than many people, but still slept pretty fitfully. So when I had left San Francisco, I had emailed the Homestay Agency my flight information, and had heard that they had called my house to find out what time the driver needed to pick me up from the airport, so I was pretty sure that there would be someone to pick me up at the airport, but I didn't know who I would be staying with.  My flight got in right on time, and I didn't have to wait long for my luggage to come on the carousel. (By the way, 100lbs, a carry on, and a purse are not nearly enough space to bring stuff for 5, almost 6 months! But $470 is too much for an extra few pounds) I got through customs with no problem, but got into a discussion with the customs agent about the wifi in Sydney, because I couldn't connect to the airport wifi, so I still had no idea where I'd be staying.  He was not very encouraging about the wifi in general in Sydney, but I've not had any issues at the house I'm currently at.  So after I got through customs I was able to find the driver waiting for me with no problem.  The driver gave me information about my hosts. I found out that I'd have a temporary host family until Sunday, when i'd switch to the family that I'll be with for the rest of the time.   The driver told me that we would be waiting for another student who was coming in 40 minutes later than my flight had arrived, but he was going to be staying with my temporary hosts for all of his stay. He came in on his flight from China, and we headed to the host home.

The  trip took about 30 minutes, and we only drove along the outskirts of Sydney, but it reminded me of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Very closely built, with buildings being taller rather than wider.  Also, advertisements were everywhere, in many languages. 

I arrived at my interim host( for tonight and tomorrow) around 10:45am. My interim hosts are a nice couple with an adorable 2 year old named Liam.

I was able to get Internet access from them, so I was able to update Facebook (highly important, obviously) and send a few emails. We then had lunch, a ham and cheese sandwich- no Vegemite or kangaroo yet! I then took a nap, and the the mother, myself and the other student went out. The student had to go to his university, about a 7 minute drive from their home, and I went to a shopping center across the road from the university, with the mother.  I was able to get a converter, so I can now charge my phone, iPad and laptop.  We also went into one of the two more popular supermarkets, Woolsworth's.  Most things  seem to be a bit more expensive ( a dozen eggs for $2.99) but a few items seem comparable in price (a bag of bakery rolls for $2.00).  Before coming home we stopped at the other popular supermarket, Cole's,  so that the other student could purchase a SIM card for his phone.  Our last stop was a Dr's office where the mother had to pick up a prescription. I was again reminded of Dominican Republic and El Salvador, as the Dr's office was in a sort of multi-story outdoor mall, with other shops, businesses, and offices.  We came home, and I wrote this! 

A fun fact: Gold Rush season 3 just began here, and the father is a fan. It's on in the background as I write! 

Plans for later are dinner (spaghetti), a shower, and bed! I'm not necessarily looking forward to them in that order!  ; ) 

Until Later, 

Kaitlyn