At last, my intrepid blog readers, I have access to the internet from my laptop! Which can only mean that I am alive and well in Brisbane and must now attempt the feat of condensing the past week’s cyclone (that’s the Aussie term for “hurricane”) of activity into a succinct-ish post that wont use up an entire month’s worth of internet for you to read it…oh wait, internet access isn’t paid for per gigabyte in the states! Just one of the many rather subtle cultural differences I have already taken note of here in the land down unda. Check out a sampling of the list so far:
1) Everything is more expensive in Australia. Everything. For instance, I sauntered into the local Subway (yes, they have them here) and discovered this awesome deal:
Okay maybe it's just $2 more than the ubiquitous "$5 footlongs" in the states, but hey, it adds up.
Of course, when you consider their small population size (20 million vs. our 300 million) and isolation from the rest of the planet, the price difference makes a bit more sense, but it doesn’t make me any happier about paying $16 for a tube of sunscreen. Speaking of sunscreen…
2) There’s a hole in the ozone above Australia. Nobody bothered to mention this little fact before our overcast two hour beach walk, during which I applied sunscreen twice and still got burned to a crisp. Ouch. Lesson learned. (Note: I just checked the interwebs, and it looks like the scorching UV rays are due more to the direct angle of the sun rather than a weak ozone layer.)
3) The “Green” movement in Australia puts the U.S. to shame. Every toilet has dual flush (as opposed to only the fancy “LEED triple platinum plus yada yada certified” buildings in the U.S.), power outlets have on and off switches, you get nasty looks if you don’t recycle on the airplane, and most buildings have minimal AC or heating because the weather is temperate and who needs to be wearing a sweatshirt indoors in the middle of the summer anyways?
4) “School”, “College”, and “University” are three entirely different things. School = grade school (K-12), College = where you live while at University, University (aka “Uni) = your academic institution. I thus endured a share of confused looks informing my Aussie friends that I “go to school at Washington University, a college in St. Louis.”
Much more to come on that list for sure, so stay tuned. But now we must turn to:
Emily’s 4-Day Sydney Travelogue (the Abridged, Condensed, and Painstakingly Shortened version)
Friday: Spent over 30 hours in transit, including an 8 hour layover in which I paced laps in the very short LAX terminal with a woman named Kate, who, after passing me suspiciously two or three times going the opposite direction with her wheely suitcase, caught on that we had the same technique for passing the time. She was super friendly and memorable because she claimed she just saw Snookie in the airport bathroom. Alright.
Sunday: Wait, where did Saturday go? Who knows. I’ll let you know if I find it in my luggage someplace, because I arrived in Sydney a whole 16 hours ahead of you slowpokes back in the states. Ask me anything about the future and I’ll be taking your questions in the order I receive them. Our tour group of approximately 24 college students stayed at a super nice hostel (as far as hostels go), and took a walking tour of Sydney, which looks similar to most American cities except for this little guy pecking around everywhere like an Australian robin:
Needless to say, I felt about as touristy taking his picture as someone taking a picture of a common gray squirrel back at Wash U, ‘cause these ibises were pretty much part of the landscape.
Monday: I PETTED A KANGAROO. LOOK AT ME:
My life is complete. No really though, Featherdale Wildlife Park was full of native Australian animals including kangaroos, koalas, dingoes, emus (they were really ugly, the poor things), and dangerous, man-eating crocodiles (no men were harmed when we were there, fortunately). Here’s an awesome video of one jumping to grab his dinner:
We also went to the Blue Mountains, part of the Great Divide Mountain Range (I believe it’s the third largest in the world). It was a bit foggy/gross, but we did visit a beautiful rainforest down in an old mining valley that was truly worth the steep 57 degree angle tram ride down and up:
Tuesday: Beach walk on Bondi Beach AKA toaster oven (see anecdote above about the sun). Beautiful beach though. Pete our trip leader grilled us some super cheap “bangers” on the “barbie” (translation: sausage on the barbecue).
Wednesday: Emily became a surfer chick. Okay that’s a bit of a stretch, cause surfing was TOUGH. Lots of fun when you do hop up on your board ahead of the ominously encroaching wave behind you, and find you’re standing on water for a few brief seconds, but swimming back out to sea towing a giant slab of foam against a strong current and an angry sea god pelting you with waves is exhausting (as is that long run-on sentence I just wrote). Fortunately I bloodied and bruised my knee pretty bad on the shallow sand, so I got to take a rest early. I was, of course, a bit worried about this but the surfer dudes simply quoted me the popular Aussie phrase: “no worries” and offered me a band aid. No worries.
Thursday: Flight to Brisbane in which I sweet-talked my way out of a $40 excess luggage weight fee, so I felt pretty good about myself. Met Ann, our on-site director, at the airport, who is just plain awesome and eternally young at heart. Moved in to Duschene, my res college at UQ, in the pouring rain, and met Sister Catherine, the most archetypal all-women’s catholic college principal (read: “headmistress”) I have ever met (old fashioned dress and incredibly sweet demeanor). I'll do a more detailed post on Duschene later.
Friday: Due to the rain, my exploring of the campus was delayed until Friday, when I walked outside to discover the view from the front porch of my college:
Yep. I am going to school in a legit tropical paradise. Complete with, you wont believe it, wild cockatoos right outside on the lawn:
Too. Cool. (Though, if it makes you feel better, they are a bit loud, and the birds plus the ridiculous humidity and no AC makes sleeping at night a bit of an adjustment.)
Okay, I think I’ll stop there for now. Orientation Week starts Sunday, so I’m sure I’ll have a lot to report on after that’s all done. I'm in the process of uploading my many more pictures to facebook albums, and will posts the links to them here as soon as I do. TTFN!
