Sunnies = sunglasses
Maccas = McDonald's
Arvo = afternoon
Zed = z. I don't get this one because most things they say are to make words shorter. Zed is longer.
Snags = sausages
Torch = flashlight
"Heaps keen" is a common phrase. Ex: I'm heaps keen to throw some snags on the barbie.
"Reckon," "fair enough" and "she'll be right" (sounds like she'll be alright to me, but apparently it's not, is used to essentially say "it'll be ok") are also very common phrases.
At home, everyone uses emojis in texting. Here, they don't use emojis but they really like using :).
Kangaroos here are like deer at home. They're the road kill on the side of the road.
There are no squirrels! (But everything else here can kill you so maybe squirrels wouldn't be so bad)
Printer paper is not 8.5 by 11. It's longer and thinner so it inconveniently doesn't fit in the notebooks I brought from home. Also printing here is a nightmare, I miss the easy free printing at Lehigh.
Friday Feb 27
After breakfast (where we decided that it was too beautiful a day to waste going to uni), Alana, Dave and I went for a run on a path that was along the beach, and ended up at a point with a swimming pool right out on the rocks where waves were breaking. There are a lot of pools right on the water like that. Once again I was just blown away by how pretty it was and by the fact that I live here. Then I made them do abs with me. Got on our bathing suits and went right back to the beach. It was such a nice day. In the 80's and sunny. I reapplied sunscreen like every 10 minutes (Mom)…meanwhile some people (Dave) didn't put any sunscreen on… The sun was so intense though, it's unreal. Everyone was at the beach because the weather was perfect.
We were going to go to a foam party tonight but didn't because everyone said you get pinkeye and I've had enough pinkeye for a lifetime so I didn't want to risk it. Played cards against humanity instead. Everyone going on the orientation trip tomorrow went to bed, but Melissa (from Rhode Island, and used to row too!) and I hung out with people and then went to get pancakes from Red Frogs (a group that promotes safe alcohol use, so they provide food and offer non alcoholic events) in the games room where I used my unbelievable foosball skill to destroy a bunch of boys. Granted, they were mostly drunk and couldn't play foosball anyway. Can't blame them…not everyone had family foosball tournaments throughout childhood like I did. Oh well.
Saturday Feb 28
There is a trail from the main uni campus that leads up to Mt. Keira. (It's about a 5-10 minute bus ride to uni campus from Campus East). The first part of the climb up Mount Keira was so steep and had so many steps, I was dying. It really made me miss being in crew shape. It was also really hot and sweaty. Yum. Then we just weren't on a trail anymore and were scaling the side of the mountain with loose, slippery soil, leaves and falling rocks. So that was fun. Not sarcastically… it actually was fun, but tough and not what I was expecting from this casual hike. Then, we got to some boulders and big rocks that we literally had to rock climb. Got to the top and the view was not disappointing. You could see north to the point where we ran yesterday, the Wollongong lighthouse, and Lake Illawara to the south. Had snags in bread for lunch. We told the Australians that we use hamburger buns for hamburgers and hotdog buns for hotdogs and they were like yeah, we're just lazy. (But they're right, buying a loaf of bread is more cost effective and efficient than buying a bunch of different buns).The walk down took forever because we kept getting lost. Oh, and people kept finding leeches on themselves. (Not about that, EW). There was a little one on my shoe. Apparently they like to hide in between your toes. By the time we got back to Campus East it was almost 4pm. We left at 10 this morning. I was so ready for a nap on the beach. Then was still really tired and went to bed early.
Sunday March 1
Did my first load of laundry, and Mom you'd love this, they only have a few dryers, because they have clothes lines outside that most people dry their clothes on. Prepared for class tomorrow and that sort of thing. Went to the beach for a bit with Jesse (from Manitoba) and Melissa. It was really windy and cloudy, so we only stayed for half an hour and it started pouring right when we got home. There was a really loud and windy thunderstorm. Taught Jesse, Dave and Melissa to play hearts. (New hearts nights! hah jkjk nothing will ever compare to hearts nights at Lehigh :) )
Tomorrow is the first day of class. I have 9 hours of class. 9:30-7:30 with one hour break.
I am taking Hydraulics and Hydrology, Pollution Control and Cleaner Production, Planet Earth, and Photography. The first three are for my major, and photography is because I would never ever have time to take a studio class at Lehigh. I'm hoping they won't be too hard…wouldn't want to spend all my time at school studying (hah). They generally only have one lecture a week and one or two smaller tutorials here. (How can you cover enough material with only one class a week?) Not that I'm complaining because hopefully it works out that I only have 3 days of class each week.
Monday March 2
My first class was hydraulics with third years, and there were about 5 girls in the whole lecture hall. I felt extremely awkward and out of place. I wasn't sure how timing would work out since classes end and start at the same time, whereas at Lehigh we have a 10 minute break between class end and start times. It seems like the time is more of a general idea of when to be there, because people just walked in and out whenever. Learned that one of my classes today is a lab that only meets once the entire semester, and switched my photography class to tomorrow, so I was done much earlier than expected. Pretty happy with my first day. I was planning on walking along the beach to the lighthouse but Alana, Brian and Eli were already there. So I met up with them and we sat and talked and enjoyed the view. It was cloudy but still really nice. Went to a little shack for fish and chips, which were delicious once again. Walked to the Patch, which is the place to go on Monday nights apparently. As per usual, I wanted to go to the beach afterwards because when am I ever going to be able to go to the beach on a whim at midnight ever again?? Brian, Melissa and I went. Had a deep philosophical conversation about the ocean.
Tuesday March 3
Woke up to another beautiful morning. Went for a run with Alana down to the lighthouse. Got dive bombed by a bird, (Katie, it was terrifying) I freaking hate these birds. Got a ride to uni with a third year because they get free parking on campus if they carpool. Smart. 4 hours of photography was dreadfully boring, we didn't even take any pictures, and this class seems way too intense for an intro elective. Already had a quiz in hydraulics. Good thing I haven't thought about fluids in literally 3 months. I got a little overwhelmed because all of my classes seem hard and I wasn't expecting that.
Wednesday March 4
Pollution control was actually interesting! Pollution makes me so mad I just wanna fix it. So maybe that's my calling. Finding better ways to reuse and recycle stuff. But I got put into the Thursday tutorial for this class so that ruins my 4 day weekends. Later had a three hour geology lab where we went outside and mapped the courtyard, learned how to use compasses, analyzed rocks and such geological things. Waiting for the bus back, a drunk local repeatedly called us several really aggressive unpleasant names. That was exciting. Later went to the Grand Hotel, the place to be on Wednesday nights. Then to the beach with Justin, Brian and Eli after! Brian lost the sole of his shoe somehow, so Justin, with his Australian accent, says, " You lost your sole mate!" (Soulmate, get it? I thought that was hilarious but maybe you had to be there).
Thursday March 5
Slept in because I don't have a tutorial the first week! All my friends had class today, so I went for a run along the beach. It was really windy so not too hot, but clear and sunny, and the water was a bright pretty turquoise. Went back to the lighthouse in the afternoon and explored the rocks and tidal pools with Brian. A bigger and mostly natural swimming pool was made right there in the rocks. Watched some guys rowing, doing what it seemed like were starts except they row in what looks like a beach lifeboat and their technique is different. For dessert, went to Max Brenners' with Red Frogs for their cafe crawl.
Friday March 6
Melissa and I don't have class today so we wanted to rent surfboards and go surfing (finally!!!). But we were advised by a friend that the waves would be too big for us. I spent much of the day at the beach and the waves were absolutely perfect for surfing, I really wish we had gone. More people were surfing today than I have seen here so far. The waves were different today, not as turbulent and annoying to swim in, so spent a lot of time in the water. Dave and Lachie (new Ausralian friend) were making fun of our American accents.
I found out today that they fit me into a Wednesday pollution class instead of Thursday! So I do have 4 day weekends now! That made me really happy.
This week absolutely flew by. My friends and I have been planning weekend trips for the rest of the semester, but I have too many places I want to go and not enough time!
This weekend, I'm going on an orientation trip to Jervis Bay to see some dolphins and kangaroos, learn about aboriginal food and activities, see some sights and go canoeing! I'm looking forward to that.
It is funny to think that I could be on spring break right now if I was at home. I'm glad my friends are on break though because I don't feel as bad snap-chatting them pictures of the beach when they're also on the beach in warm places like the Bahamas (hi Han 😘) and Cancun.