Classes and Chocolate Wombats

Let's see, what have I been up to for the past few days?...

Saturday Elisabeth and I went out to a pub called The Fiddler with some Australian guys she met at the Ranch. Ben and Elisabeth were flirting massively, so Marcus and I were basically wing(wo)men for those two. Marcus is 18, just graduated high school, so I felt a bit awkward (I mean, I was expected to flirt with a guy closer to my little brother's age than my own).

The night was fun, but it was a bit of a fiasco getting home. I'm used to the idea that if you invite people out, you get them home, too. It doesn't work that way in Australia (or Norway), though. When Elisabeth and I were ready to leave, we just walked out and tried to find a bus home. I'm not exactly sure where the Fiddler was, but it's past Epping, which is basically one of the closest places you can get a bus back to Macquarie. We had to pay $70 for a cab home, and in order to help split the costs, Ben and Marcus shared the cost of the cab with us. Ben ended up staying the night in one of our empty rooms since it would have been too much to drive all around Epping (where he's from) and North Ryde (where Macquarie is). However, it was cool being able to spend some time with some actual Australians.

Sunday I finally got to meet Tanya, my penpal since third grade! We were going to go to Manly Beach, one of the more populated beaches in Sydney, but it was raining, so we decided not to do that. Instead, we went shopping at a mall for new sandals for me. I was looking for new flip-flops (or thongs, as the Aussies call them), but I found a cute pair of sandals that just had a strap over the foot. We stopped for sushi in the food court, then drove around Manly so that I could see the area. If I had to pick an area of the U.S. that Sydney reminds me of, I'd say California. It has that same wide-open feel around the roads that I've experienced before.

I also discovered something amazing from Tanya. Most Australians like to tell ridiculous stories to non-Aussies because not many people really know that much about the country. There are Americans out there who believe that Australians ride kangaroos to school. One of the stories that they like to tell is of this animal with four-inch long claws that look like a koala bear...a DROP BEAR! I was soooooooo excited when I found this out. Yeah, I'm a loser.

Shoes have not been my friend since coming to Australia. I currently have six blisters in various stages of healing on my feet, some from my new shoes. I haven't been the happiest clam on the beach walking around.

I've had three days of classes now. Astronomy may be a bit more work than I'd like, but I'd rather take a science class I'm interested in rather than taking chemistry or biology at UR. Queer Theory is going to be awesome! We have a three-hour lecture Monday afternoon, but it's only one hour of lecturing; the second half we view a movie. I picked up Theories of Subjectivity rather than going after the internship, since I didn't get a response from my advisor at UR about whether the credit would transfer until after the application deadline had passed. However, the class will transfer for WGSS credit and will basically be a philosophy class. I wanted to take at least one philosophy class before graduating.

Instead of having just one bookstore, like at UR, there's the SAM Shop, with notebooks and memoribilia, and the Co-op Bookshop, where books and course notes are sold. The lines to buy books are HUGE. I guess when you have a bookstore maybe 3 times the size of UR's for a school 10 times the size, you're going to have problems. Also, they didn't sell my Astronomy textbook, so I have to find it online. Ugh.

Dave, my friend from UR who is studying in Melbourne, Australia, at the same time as me, will be coming up in about two weeks to visit Sydney! I need to find some fun stuff for us to do, and plan when I'll go down to visit Melbourne. I also need to hurry and plan my spring break vacation. It's cheaper to book flights now.

I asked Accomodations where our last two roommates are. Turns out that they're two Japanese students taking a language class that starts March 15th, so they'll be here in about two weeks. Christian, Elisabeth, Sarah, and I are a little worried that we'll have bonded so tightly that they'll have a hard time fitting into the apartment. Also, we worry that they won't be able to speak English well or will be like many of the Asian students we've encountered so far--shy or very insular, always talking in their native tongues to each other, etc. However, we'll make sure to give them the benefit of the doubt.

There's been an activities fair for the past few days in the courtyard so that you can see all of the different groups that you can join. There are a million different religious groups and Asian groups--Chinese, Japanese, pan-Asian...I did find, however, the womyn's collective and queerspace, so I'm on the mailing list for both of those groups and I've already checked out the women's room and the queer space, safe rooms where you can go to hang out, study, meet new people, etc. I've already met some cool Australians that way.

There's a graph that they show every study abroad student called the enchantment/disenchantment/adjustment graph. When you get to the new country, you're really excited and you love everything. After a little bit, you start to get homesick, but after that you adjust. I'm starting to feel the disenchantment part of the graph, but it's more like a bumpy roller coaster--one minute I'll be missing home, friends, family, and/or Will; the next, I'll be so excited to be here. I'm looking forward to the homesickness passing, though.

Okay, off to look for internet for the apartment, plan some trips around Australia, and get my textbook! Love you all!

P.S. I was craving chocolate the other day, so I bought a chocolate wombat. It was delicious. I took pictures (which will be up as soon as I upload them onto my computer).