Okay, first off I apologize for not getting this up with all due haste upon arriving. Due to some odd circumstances with a certain airline that shall remain only slightly nameless (because I might end up mentioning it accidentally), my trip to college got off to a bit of a rocky start. Rest assured though, I got to my new college and am settled (settling in still, really) into a new life.
But before we get to that, I guess I should give you all a clue as to where I
went? Okay, here's a clue.
Sorry, the pigeon made me do it.
Here is the real clue. It's a big clue, so I'm hoping you'll all get it. A word of warning however, it gives you a clue to where I am, but not my percise location. I'll give get to that later. I DID however spend a week here, mostly sleeping and goofing off.
Sydney would've been a great place to go to University, because I know how to get around there. I'm familiar with most of it, and I know where not to go, but alas I couldn't find the classes I wanted, nor do I think I could've afforded the tuition. Although those may have changed since the last time I looked. Who knows. It IS certainly one of my favorite places on Earth, and I loved my time there. Given half a chance I'll be back there at the drop of a hat. >:)
I guess I should start out by explaining that I had trouble finding a school in the States that I actually wanted to attend, and could afford at the same time. I was told I would be put on a wait list. Or my inquires were never answered. Or I was told "Yes! We'd be very happy to have you! Just give hand over your arm, your leg and any future children you may have." Or the application fee to even see if I could get in was more than a month's salary. While I wasn't making a huge fortune every month, it was still a healthy chunk of change, and I didn't want to part with that just for a 'Yay' or a 'Nay'. I'm exaggerating a bit.
So, one day, in a rather disillusioned state, I found myself looking at a study abroad program for a school I wasn't even attending. I might not have been attending the university, but they had a large amount of partner schools from all over the world. Which is how I found myself trolling through all these schools outside the U.S. and asking them questions about what classes they offered and how much it would be and a bunch of other things. Two schools got back to me. One in Germany, and one in Perth, Australia. I ended up going with the one in Perth. :)
So here I sit in a studio dorm room, with very little of my acquired life around me. When I say acquired, I mean stuff that makes me smile. Stuffed animals, action figures, books, posters, wall scrolls, etc. Yes, I know I sound like a kid, but I still love all that stuff. I did bring some of it, but not as much as I wanted to. I figured I'd better keep what I brought limited, considering I'd be living here and would end up buying a lot of stuff that I'd need. Surprisingly, I haven't gotten much. Just little things, that caught my attention. We're talking the frivolous items, like a key chain with a little robot at the end, and a wooden collapse toy. One of those things were you push the bottom, and the figure on the top collapses, but snaps back into place when you let go? I don't know the real name for those, but they're amusing! Everything else is for basic living needs. Towels, some dish ware.. a mug with Bugs Bunny on it. Okay, so the last may have been crossing the line into frivolous. ;)
It is a very different life I stepped into. Well, not too different. College/University is familiar in that there are still large buildings in which you sit down to learn something, and you're surrounded by people draped in backpacks, shoulder bags, and looks of glassy eyed exhaustion. There are still the coffee shops that serve all kinds of food I can't eat, (gluten issues) but would love to have anyway. One of the cafes here serves a really good Green Curry, which I scarfed down faster than I should have. They also make excellent hot chocolate! Another has sushi, which I've sampled and found to be pretty good. Especially the smoked salmon rolls... ohhh those were good. I haven't found all the nooks and crannies yet, but I'm working on it.
I'll have to tell the story of the flight from hell (possibly haunted) next time. Although I think some of you have already heard it. Could be wrong.
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