The Little Things

Hello!
For the past 3 weeks, my friends and I have been having getting together every Friday to watch Jersey Shore, a T.V show that is ridiculous in all ways. As the internet is slow, we spend all day downloading it to watch. Every week, more and more of our Australian friends join us to watch it. Through the show, I learned some small but interesting tidbits about Australians.
Food wise, Australians don't really eat pickles out of the jar. Its not a popular thing to do and most Australians that I have talked to connect pickles with Mcdonalds burgers (Mackers). I originally thought they were kidding and decided to set out to buy a jar of pickles to snack on. Low and behold, the supermarket only had two different types of pickles. Compared to the states, it was a sad showing.
Another small difference that we discovered was that it is not a big thing to eat chocolate covered pretzels. Most thought the combination sounded weird. There are also no bagels here. None. They just don't have them. Also, no Reese's or Gold Fish.
Continuing with food, Australians also seem to really love schnitzel. LOVE. It's everywhere. People are constantly going out for schnitzel burgers, Subway offers a schnitzel burger and it just seems to be ingrained in everyones diets. Meat pies are a popular snack, along with Timtams (possibly the greatest chocolate snack on earth). If there was every a reason not to leave Australia, that would be it.

I'm going to bed but before I do:

More words:
candy= lollies
pharmacy= chemist
q-tips= ear buds

sinus infection, earrings, shampoo
-Amanda

It's Been Awhile

This post is going to be a little haphazard:

Last Saturday, friends and I went to a rugby game. It was the Sharks (go sharkies!) against the Titans. We took the train to Cronulla, went to the game, and then went out for drinks in Miranda, a Sydney suburb, afterwards. I really enjoyed the game and hope to get to another one in the future. 

The Saturday before that (July 30th), my friends and I went into Sydney for the day. We took the train into the city and spent the day site seeing. The Opera House was just as pretty as I imagined it would be and we walked across the Harbor Bridge. 

I was pretty sick this morning so I skipped my one class of the day and will probably go to K-mart in a bit. Unfortunately, its not warm enough this week to go to the beach. My friends and I are also buying our tickets for our spring break trip to Bali later today. For some reason, writing isn't coming very easily to me right now. I'm gonna try to add more later. Good night to everyone in the states!

Words that I may be using all the time when I get back to the states:

- reckon, keen and heaps. 

P.S. Happy Anniversary Bubby and Pop!!!!!!

home cooked food, texts, dayquil,

Amanda

It's Not Like Crocodile Dundee

No one says sheila. They don't say shrimp on the barbie. Yet, Aussie's do have an interesting way of speaking. As everyone learned in their history classes (or my dad in all of his books on Australia), Australia is a country created from criminals. Coming from lower class backgrounds and prison cells, the words and lingo still used in Australia were ways to communicate freely around the police. While not every word used currently was used in a prison, the way that the Australian people abbreviate their words is based off of their history. Anyway, here are some of my favorite words that I now use to get around.
Thong= flip flop/sandal
Trakkie= sweatpants
Jumper/hoodie= sweatshirt
Mate= I have no idea how to really define it but its used all the time. Kind of like dude.
Oy= Used to get someone's attention. Like yo
Fairy floss= cotton candy
Bathers= swimsuit
Uni= college/university. "School" is used to describe up until grade 12
Arvo= afternoon
No worries= you're welcome
My shout= my turn to buy this round (used at pubs)
It was also stressed to us to never say that we 'root for a team.' The word 'root' has a completely different meaning here. It translates to the f word.

surfing, money, camera
Amanda

p.s. I promise I'm taking pictures mom!

Orientation Week

Orientation week in Australia is nothing like orientation week in America. There is almost nothing directed at getting us situated or reading for class. We had one day on campus where we learned about health care and little else. Other than that, this week has just been a lot of drinking and meeting people. I've meet a lot of great people and went to a pub for the first time. 

With regards to my living situation, I'm living 15 minutes from uni on Campus East. It's the largest living area, with 600 students, split into smaller dormitories. I live in a building called the hospital and the names of the other buildings only get better; slums, alcatraze, the yard, the trenches, etc. I've been spending a lot of time on campus (its been raining none stop) watching movies with friends and getting to know my roommates. I'm living in a suite with all guys. Supposedly we have a girl living with us but no one has ever seen her. 

I'm now currently packing up for surf camp, a weekend trip that a lot of my new friends happened to also be going on. I would be looking forward to it more if it wasn't raining like crazy. I'll write more later!

Fish and chips, rain, phone

Amanda

Getting to Australia

Hello all! I know I kept saying that I wouldn’t keep a blog but I changed my mind. I don’t know if I’ll update as frequently as Ben but I will try to be consistent. WARNING TO READERS: I have questionable spelling and mediocre grammar. 

To begin my blog about my time in Australia, I would like to tell you how I came to be in Australia. I knew that it was going to be a long day of traveling when my flight to L.A was delayed. I was only slightly perturbed as I still had plenty of time to get to my 11:30 pm flight to Melbourne. After finally getting on a plane, we were than removed from said plane a half hour later as the engine may have been “vibrating” and it was not deemed safe. I had arrived at the airport at noon and by 6:30, after 4 1/2 hours of delays, I was on a flight to L.A. My bad luck continued in L.A.X as my baggage was misplaced on another carousal and I had trouble catching the bus I needed to take to the other side of the airport. When I finally thought luck was back on my side, I was informed that I did not have ticket to Australia. For any of my friends that may read this: don’t EVER book tickets from studentuniverse.com. After an hour of calls and general anxiety, I was presented with a ticket. I was now sitting in premium economy, which was amazing and I really enjoyed the service, but everyone else on my group flight was sitting together. Having a ticket calmed me down but I still needed to make it through security. Once again, bad luck was on my side and I was pulled aside by security. At 11, I was finally at my boarding area. I handed in my ticket and....was pulled to the side for a random security check. I had no idea I looked that suspicious. 

All in all it was a very stressful day but I like to think that my program will be even more amazing because of it. My mindset is that this is the yang to my ying. Out of the bad, only good will come. Also, now that I am no longer living it, this was one of the funniest days I’ve ever had. 

Also, when I send out emails for one of the school groups I’m involved with we sign with three words or things we are currently thinking about about. I’m going to keep that going so;

new friends, psychology, cloud formations,

Amanda