Oz

Ok, so I think I’m going to skip telling everyone about the RainForeStation trip – you’ll have to ask me about it another time. The highlights of the trip though: I got my picture taken holding a koala, fed and pet kangaroos and wallabies, and held a snake (which decided to wrap around my neck a little too tight for comfort). Now onto what life is like so far in Australia…

I live in the International House, so there are lots of Americans, Aussies, and people from all over. I actually feel like a bit of a disappointment because apparently some people knew my last name and were hoping that I was from somewhere Spanish and would therefore speak it. I’ll have to add it to my list of things to do before I die – learn to speak Spanish like a native so I’m not a total let down to people :D I share a room with a girl named Caitlin from Staten Island, NY, but she goes to UConn. She’s pretty awesome – there will be some roommate pics up eventually. Our room is kinda small but we make it work. We have all the normal dorm room stuff plus a sink in our room! It’s nice because we don’t have to leave the room in order to brush our teeth. We have a bathroom on each deck (floor) that is co-ed…I haven’t had any interesting run-ins yet though. We have to pay for our internet, but for 30AUD a month we get 15000 gb so it’s more than enough…I might even be able to play some WoW at the end of the month if I find I have a lot of gigs left!

My dorm (or campus, as they call it) is about a 25 minute walk from the university and a 15 minute walk to the beach. I know how to get to the beach better than I do the Uni, actually. Luckily, there’s a shuttle that takes us from our campus there. There’s also a train station right next to my campus – it’s like a 100 meter walk down the road. It’s a city line train, so it goes all the way up to Sydney and runs pretty late, so I could potentially make a day of it. But it’s good because one stop north is the station next to the campus where a bunch of my other friends live and one stop south is the Wollongong city stop, which is like a two block walk to an amazing mall. I still have yet to just go explore the city, but I’ve only been here a bit over a week, so I’m sure I’ll get around to it. The mall had a ton of stores. There were two components to it. You had the normal mall bit and then there was this outdoor area where there were a bunch of cafes and more expensive boutiques. I bought this really pretty dress (all the girls wear dresses when they go out, so I feel compelled to buy some to stay up with the fashion) for AU$12, which comes to be about US$7.70, or an AMAZING DEAL! I bought all my toiletries and whatnot else that I needed – it’s becoming more and more real that I am in fact going to be living in this beautiful place for the next four months. I think that once classes start it will really sink in that this is not just a vacation. Either that, or I’ve already accepted it and I just don’t miss AU that much. Think about it – being 15 minutes away from the beach or on a campus surrounded by cement, where it’s cold and rainy all the time? Which would you pick?

The beach itself is amazing – I took pictures so everyone can be jealous. Beach etiquette is a bit different here. For example, there are flags and it’s highly recommended that you swim between them. It’s the place where the lifeguards have deemed that it’s safe and where they are more likely to be able to help you. People swim between the two red and yellow flags and surfers have to surf outside of the blue flags. They also put up warning signs – like today, there was a sign that said ‘beware of blue bottles.’ Blue bottles are like mini Portuguese man of wars. The Aussies were telling us that it’s not that bad of a sting and that the lifeguards have spray that stops the pain. The water itself is so warm and so clear! Everyone is probably aware of my fear of water I can’t see into. Well, here I don’t have that problem! There is seaweed/kelp on the bottom of the ocean and even though it brushes against your legs in a creepy ‘omg what the hell was that’ kind of way, you look down and see it’s just seaweed and you calm down. The water is really warm too. Back home, when you get in the water it takes like 5 minutes for you to get numb enough for the cold water not to bother you anymore. Here, as soon as you get in, you think, ahh, that’s just chill enough to take away how hot it is. Which, by the way, that giant hole in the ozone layer is right above Australia, so everyone always wears 30+ sunscreen. There is none of the 4 tanning oil. They’re very serious about skin cancer down here because they have a huge amount of it. When I was walking to the mall, there were about three or four clinics for skin cancer. The waves are way more fun here too. There will be giant ones, about three or four of them right in a row. Today I attempted to learn how to ride them in, but I was always too afraid of losing my bottoms or my top to really do it.

Classes start this week – I don’t start until Tuesday morning and this week we only have lectures. Normal weeks will have lectures (usually 1 hour) and tutorials (usually two hours). My schedule as of now is this: Tuesday mornings 830 – 930 Redefining Eden: Indigenous People and the Environment lecture, then 930 – 1130 I have Australia Content: Media, Narrative and Celebrity (this class doesn’t have a tutorial, so that’s why it’s a longer lecture) and then from 330 to 530 I have my Australians and the Great War tutorial. On Wednesday I have from 930 to 1130 my Redefining Eden tutorial and then from 130 to 230 I have my Australians and the Great War lecture. And that is all my classes! I’m actually excited for them to start – I really do enjoy learning and these classes are pretty different from what I take back home.

On another note, today at the beach I played a bit of touch footy (basically touch rugby) in a small little area (so not a whole lot of running and cutting) and I realized how much I miss it. My knee is sore now (it might also be from the pilates I did earlier today too though) but I feel compelled to make it super solid so I can play again (sorry mom! At least you’ll get good action shots though). It really didn’t hinder me too much, or at least a lot less than I thought that it would, but I’m sure I was favoring it.

I’m really having a good time here – I know I’ve only been here in Australia for a little over a week but I think this was exactly what I needed after all of last semester’s nonsense. Additionally, I’m most likely going to be going to New Zealand for spring break (although for them it’s called Easter holiday because the seasons are switched) and going to see some Lord of the Rings sites, which pretty much makes my life every time I think about it.

Some other little things about Australia that I want to tell you:
• Money: The money is plastic. Apparently before it was, everyone was ruining their money because they were taking it in the water with them. Also, you don’t pay sales tax on anything or tip at all. The price you see is the price you pay. Here instead of $1 notes (they’re called notes, not bills) they have $1 and $2 coins. It’s actually pretty awesome because you think, oh man, all I have is change, and then you count it and it turns out you have close to $20 in your pocket.
• Opposite directions: Yes, they drive on the other side of the road over here. Apparently it’s because when driving, your dominant hand is on the wheel and your non-dominant hand is shifting (they only drive manual! I get props because I can) and everything just aligns better. However, it extends to more than just driving…when walking, they walk on the opposite side of the sidewalk too! For a while I would be walking into people, but I think I’m catching on now.
• Toilets: I haven’t actually seen the water flow in the opposite direction. It doesn’t really flow around like they do in America. First, there’s a lot less water in the bowl and then there are usually two buttons that you can press. One is for a lesser amount of water and the other is for a larger amount of water – I’m sure you can figure out why you would use one and the other. The water just kind of rushes into the bowl – there is no clockwise or counter-clockwise action.
• Stars: This is probably the weirdest – nothing looks familiar. I was outside and looking for a dipper and didn’t see one. Instead you have to look for the Southern Cross (it’s the star formation on the right side of their flag and potentially a tattoo for me ;) ) . I couldn’t find it when I was looking for it but apparently it’s sort of upside down in the sky, so I think I’ll go check again tonight.

That’s all for now – next time I post I should be able to talk about my classes a bit more and hopefully I should have pictures up soon! If you want to know anything else, just let me know and I’ll see what I can do.

Additionally, here is my contact information in case any one wants to send me some love (I’m buying post cards tomorrow so if you want one, send me an email or something with your address!)

Lisa Espinosa
International House
University of Wollongong
Wollongong NSW 2522
Australia

My mobile number is: 0466002510