Random thoughts/fun facts/words:
I'm aware that you're supposed to keep the same tense when you're writing but I go back and forth between past and present so forgive me. And don't mind the occasional lack of punctuation.
In regards to the name of my photo album on Facebook, Australians shorten everything. So when they say Australia it ends up sounding like Straya.
Australia-->Stralia-->Straya
I knew they drove on the other side of the road, but I never considered that they walk on the other side of the hallway/sidewalk/etc too! It is really confusing!!! I was so confused when the escalators at the mall were on the opposite sides.
It is pretty common here to take a gap year before going to uni. So a lot of the first years are 19.
Jug=pitcher
Zebra crossing= cross walk
Lolly= candy
Tomato (tah-mah-toe) sauce = ketchup
Preload/predrink = pregame
bathers = bathing suit
brekkie = breakfast
They say 'no worries" in response to everything.
Melbourne is pronounced Melburn.
Cairns is pronounced Cans.
Brisbane is pronounced Brisbin.
I posted pics of my room on Facebook if you'd like to see where I'm living.
I can't believe I could be taking my first round of midterms at Lehigh but I haven't even started class yet.
Spring break is next week at home and I'm only starting my first week of class.
I don't know whether writing day by day will help me sort out my thoughts better… so I'm going to give that a try.
Saturday Feb 21
Didn't go to the beach after the mall because it was raining. All this sogginess makes my hair ridiculous. After dinner we went to the main campus for our first orientation meeting. They were telling us to lock our doors when we sleep so people don't come murder us, and as an example they used Jeanne Clery who was killed in Lower Cents at "Lehigh University in the States". How random that of all the schools in the entire world they use that as an example.
Went to sleep really late tonight…10:30. I can't believe its only been a day, feels like a lot longer.
Sunday Feb 22
I woke up at 4:50 and couldn't sleep. So naturally I ate skittles because I was bored. And I noticed that they use kilojoules instead of calories on the nutrition label! I thought that was funny.
We went to the beach to learn about surf awareness and how not to drown. I don't know why I never learned this before considering that I go to the beach a decent amount and this makes complete sense: The waves are the safe part because it's shallow. After breaking, the water flows in a trough along the beach until it finds a deep part to flow back out. Those are the rips where most drownings occur. I don't know why I never considered where the water went back out. Played ice breaker games and learned stuff about safety and campus.
Tonight there was a block party, and every building had a different high school stereotype to dress up as. All the buildings have different nicknames. I'm in hospital, and there's also Alcatraz, trench town, the slums, yard, selfie and some others.
Monday Feb 23
We took the train to lunch at the Scarborough Pub, which had tables on a beautiful lawn on a cliff overlooking the ocean. I can't believe how pretty it is here. We have lush green mountains on one side and the ocean on the other. I got fish and chips, which were really good but really expensive. Everything here is so expensive. Ketchup isn't readily available on tables at restaurants here like it is at home, you have to go up and ask for tomato sauce, and they give you these little packets that squirt themselves. After lunch my friend Cara and I walked to the store so I could finally get a fan and not be sweating all night….they were sold out of fans. It's about a 10 min walk back to our dorms and the sun was so strong in those 10 minutes my face got burned. Put on a lot more sunscreen (Mom) and went over to the beach. It's so nice I can't stand it. After dinner, we got buses to The Patch, a local bar. Everyone was really pumped for it but I found it slightly underwhelming. They wouldn't let Alana in for about 10 minutes because she's from Montreal and her license is in French, it was ridiculous.
Tuesday Feb 24
Up early for orientation at Uni. They took a solid 15-20 minutes telling us about all of the most dangerous, venomous snakes, sea creatures, mammals, birds and spiders. As if I wasn't already terrified of all the animals here, I can now add tiny poisonous octopi that live in tide pools and birds that like to pluck out peoples' eyeballs. Had sausages in a slice of bread off the barbie for lunch. Took our ID pictures (mine is really attractive with my nice sunburnt nose) and then had an hour to "relax" (clean/organize/unpack, plan spring break trip, Skype mom) before the pub crawl started at 4. Australians start drinking so early, jeez. We started at the Grand Hotel, which had several cool balconies outside in the back. They gave us shirts to wear because the pub crawl tradition is to write all over and rip each others shirts. A little after 6 we went to the Harp Hotel, which was more like our bars at home. They had karaoke and played a lot of good sing along songs, some pike classics which made me miss Lehigh, and of course Timber which I loved. I'm not used to spending money on drinks at parties at Lehigh, it was a struggle to have to buy every drink. Had some more sausages from the barbie…so weird how they just put it on a slice of bread. Went to the last place around 8, and they were playing techno-y house music (Ben you would've loved it). We were all tired by 9:30, and couldn't believe it was only 9:30. When the bus dropped us off at Campus East, Alana, Cara, Brian (from Long Island), Justin and PJ (both Australian) and I decided to go to the beach since it was still before 10 and what else were we going to do? PJ went swimming, but it was a little too chilly for me. The boys were reassuring us that they've survived their whole lives with all these poisonous and dangerous Australian creatures, so we will be fine for 4 months. Had my first really good night sleep.
Wednesday Feb 25
Woke up to pouring rain! I was going to try to finally get a fan at the garage sale but it was postponed. Skyped Ben (Hi Benjamin). Finally finished cleaning my room, and went to the mall with Cara, Alana and her roomie Dave. They have Max Brenners here! So we had an afternoon chocolate fondue snack. On the bus back, we saw our friend Ben who was coming back from the hospital with a bad spider bite. So much for being reassured about the creatures last night….Came back, booked my spring break trip to New Zealand, and found out that my grandfather had passed away (Love you Pop, you were the best). It's sad and hard being so far away but I'm glad I got to see him before I left. It's also nice to go sit on the beach and think, I could sit there and watch the waves forever.
Thursday Feb 26
Went for an early morning walk on the beach, and ran into Brian who was doing the same. I'm going to have to start doing that on the regular because it was perfect. I think tomorrow I'll go a bit earlier so I catch the sunrise.
Finally got my fan! Paid $4 for a bunch of useful stuff (hangers, hooks, extension cords, weights) at the Campus East garage sale. Skyped mom then back to the beach (hoping for the sun to break through the clouds). It did for a little:) It's about 76 degrees today but cloudy. This weekend is supposed to be sunny and in the 80s! I wish I could send y'all some sun! The water was a bit chilly without the sun completely out though. There were also dolphins riding the waves and jumping around in the surf!
I can't stop eating skittles and mini (they're extra mini) wheats whenever I'm in my room. Idk why. I should probably go for a run.
I accidentally fell asleep at the beach before and thought I escaped with only the back of my knees burnt. Found out later that that was not the case...I need to get better at getting complete sunscreen coverage….
Cara, Brian and I went to a cool (and expensive) bar that overlooked the beach for dinner. Pics on FB. Then there was a Mardi Gras party at the North Gong Hotel. All of the Americans were surprised to learn that Mardi Gras in Australia is NOT the same as Mardi Gras in the US. It's a gay and lesbian thing. They go all out with their outfits here.... The party was pretty fun, then went to the beach again afterwards with some new friends.
Friday Feb 27
Woke up at 6 for the sunrise at 6:30. Waking up early for the beach is the easiest kind of waking up early (even though I only went to bed at 2…). The beach was nice as always, but clouds were in the way of the sun so it wasn't perfect viewing conditions. Saw some more dolphins! Today, Alana Cara and I plan to go to uni and figure out where our classes are, then come back and go to the beach! A lot of my friends are going on an orientation trip this weekend, but I didn't sign up for it (I signed up for the other two in coming weeks). I got very generous offers to go to friends houses in Canberra and Sydney for the weekend, but I'm not sure what I'll be doing yet. I signed up for a hike to Mount Keira tomorrow which should be good.
I'm aware that you're supposed to keep the same tense when you're writing but I go back and forth between past and present so forgive me. And don't mind the occasional lack of punctuation.
In regards to the name of my photo album on Facebook, Australians shorten everything. So when they say Australia it ends up sounding like Straya.
Australia-->Stralia-->Straya
I knew they drove on the other side of the road, but I never considered that they walk on the other side of the hallway/sidewalk/etc too! It is really confusing!!! I was so confused when the escalators at the mall were on the opposite sides.
It is pretty common here to take a gap year before going to uni. So a lot of the first years are 19.
Jug=pitcher
Zebra crossing= cross walk
Lolly= candy
Tomato (tah-mah-toe) sauce = ketchup
Preload/predrink = pregame
bathers = bathing suit
brekkie = breakfast
They say 'no worries" in response to everything.
Melbourne is pronounced Melburn.
Cairns is pronounced Cans.
Brisbane is pronounced Brisbin.
I posted pics of my room on Facebook if you'd like to see where I'm living.
I can't believe I could be taking my first round of midterms at Lehigh but I haven't even started class yet.
Spring break is next week at home and I'm only starting my first week of class.
I don't know whether writing day by day will help me sort out my thoughts better… so I'm going to give that a try.
Saturday Feb 21
Didn't go to the beach after the mall because it was raining. All this sogginess makes my hair ridiculous. After dinner we went to the main campus for our first orientation meeting. They were telling us to lock our doors when we sleep so people don't come murder us, and as an example they used Jeanne Clery who was killed in Lower Cents at "Lehigh University in the States". How random that of all the schools in the entire world they use that as an example.
Went to sleep really late tonight…10:30. I can't believe its only been a day, feels like a lot longer.
Sunday Feb 22
I woke up at 4:50 and couldn't sleep. So naturally I ate skittles because I was bored. And I noticed that they use kilojoules instead of calories on the nutrition label! I thought that was funny.
We went to the beach to learn about surf awareness and how not to drown. I don't know why I never learned this before considering that I go to the beach a decent amount and this makes complete sense: The waves are the safe part because it's shallow. After breaking, the water flows in a trough along the beach until it finds a deep part to flow back out. Those are the rips where most drownings occur. I don't know why I never considered where the water went back out. Played ice breaker games and learned stuff about safety and campus.
Tonight there was a block party, and every building had a different high school stereotype to dress up as. All the buildings have different nicknames. I'm in hospital, and there's also Alcatraz, trench town, the slums, yard, selfie and some others.
Monday Feb 23
We took the train to lunch at the Scarborough Pub, which had tables on a beautiful lawn on a cliff overlooking the ocean. I can't believe how pretty it is here. We have lush green mountains on one side and the ocean on the other. I got fish and chips, which were really good but really expensive. Everything here is so expensive. Ketchup isn't readily available on tables at restaurants here like it is at home, you have to go up and ask for tomato sauce, and they give you these little packets that squirt themselves. After lunch my friend Cara and I walked to the store so I could finally get a fan and not be sweating all night….they were sold out of fans. It's about a 10 min walk back to our dorms and the sun was so strong in those 10 minutes my face got burned. Put on a lot more sunscreen (Mom) and went over to the beach. It's so nice I can't stand it. After dinner, we got buses to The Patch, a local bar. Everyone was really pumped for it but I found it slightly underwhelming. They wouldn't let Alana in for about 10 minutes because she's from Montreal and her license is in French, it was ridiculous.
Tuesday Feb 24
Up early for orientation at Uni. They took a solid 15-20 minutes telling us about all of the most dangerous, venomous snakes, sea creatures, mammals, birds and spiders. As if I wasn't already terrified of all the animals here, I can now add tiny poisonous octopi that live in tide pools and birds that like to pluck out peoples' eyeballs. Had sausages in a slice of bread off the barbie for lunch. Took our ID pictures (mine is really attractive with my nice sunburnt nose) and then had an hour to "relax" (clean/organize/unpack, plan spring break trip, Skype mom) before the pub crawl started at 4. Australians start drinking so early, jeez. We started at the Grand Hotel, which had several cool balconies outside in the back. They gave us shirts to wear because the pub crawl tradition is to write all over and rip each others shirts. A little after 6 we went to the Harp Hotel, which was more like our bars at home. They had karaoke and played a lot of good sing along songs, some pike classics which made me miss Lehigh, and of course Timber which I loved. I'm not used to spending money on drinks at parties at Lehigh, it was a struggle to have to buy every drink. Had some more sausages from the barbie…so weird how they just put it on a slice of bread. Went to the last place around 8, and they were playing techno-y house music (Ben you would've loved it). We were all tired by 9:30, and couldn't believe it was only 9:30. When the bus dropped us off at Campus East, Alana, Cara, Brian (from Long Island), Justin and PJ (both Australian) and I decided to go to the beach since it was still before 10 and what else were we going to do? PJ went swimming, but it was a little too chilly for me. The boys were reassuring us that they've survived their whole lives with all these poisonous and dangerous Australian creatures, so we will be fine for 4 months. Had my first really good night sleep.
Wednesday Feb 25
Woke up to pouring rain! I was going to try to finally get a fan at the garage sale but it was postponed. Skyped Ben (Hi Benjamin). Finally finished cleaning my room, and went to the mall with Cara, Alana and her roomie Dave. They have Max Brenners here! So we had an afternoon chocolate fondue snack. On the bus back, we saw our friend Ben who was coming back from the hospital with a bad spider bite. So much for being reassured about the creatures last night….Came back, booked my spring break trip to New Zealand, and found out that my grandfather had passed away (Love you Pop, you were the best). It's sad and hard being so far away but I'm glad I got to see him before I left. It's also nice to go sit on the beach and think, I could sit there and watch the waves forever.
Thursday Feb 26
Went for an early morning walk on the beach, and ran into Brian who was doing the same. I'm going to have to start doing that on the regular because it was perfect. I think tomorrow I'll go a bit earlier so I catch the sunrise.
Finally got my fan! Paid $4 for a bunch of useful stuff (hangers, hooks, extension cords, weights) at the Campus East garage sale. Skyped mom then back to the beach (hoping for the sun to break through the clouds). It did for a little:) It's about 76 degrees today but cloudy. This weekend is supposed to be sunny and in the 80s! I wish I could send y'all some sun! The water was a bit chilly without the sun completely out though. There were also dolphins riding the waves and jumping around in the surf!
I can't stop eating skittles and mini (they're extra mini) wheats whenever I'm in my room. Idk why. I should probably go for a run.
I accidentally fell asleep at the beach before and thought I escaped with only the back of my knees burnt. Found out later that that was not the case...I need to get better at getting complete sunscreen coverage….
Cara, Brian and I went to a cool (and expensive) bar that overlooked the beach for dinner. Pics on FB. Then there was a Mardi Gras party at the North Gong Hotel. All of the Americans were surprised to learn that Mardi Gras in Australia is NOT the same as Mardi Gras in the US. It's a gay and lesbian thing. They go all out with their outfits here.... The party was pretty fun, then went to the beach again afterwards with some new friends.
Friday Feb 27
Woke up at 6 for the sunrise at 6:30. Waking up early for the beach is the easiest kind of waking up early (even though I only went to bed at 2…). The beach was nice as always, but clouds were in the way of the sun so it wasn't perfect viewing conditions. Saw some more dolphins! Today, Alana Cara and I plan to go to uni and figure out where our classes are, then come back and go to the beach! A lot of my friends are going on an orientation trip this weekend, but I didn't sign up for it (I signed up for the other two in coming weeks). I got very generous offers to go to friends houses in Canberra and Sydney for the weekend, but I'm not sure what I'll be doing yet. I signed up for a hike to Mount Keira tomorrow which should be good.