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