After so much thought and planning, I've finally landed in my new home for the next two years!

It took a long time to get internet access because I came earlier than when school was to start (pre-planned) since my family was travelling with me and the place where we were all staying was going through some big change-over from dial-up to wireless so had no internet. Internet cafe just seemed pricey so I had to wait until school started to get myself set-up.

[picture on the left is of Sydney taken while I was on the plane]
Thank you again to everyone who had been so wonderful in sending messages all throughout!

I had a lot of things I wanted to write about so I'm just going to have to break it down for y'all (Aussie styles)



[picture above is of the city of Brisbane]

Food (most important)

There are SO many restaurants in this city, I wonder how any of them make money. The good things is you have an amazing variety of food - Traditional Western, Thai, Arab, Indian, Malay, Indonesian, Japanese, Morroccan, Chinese - you get the picture. And many of the places are halal so it's great selection.

As for grocery items, I found pretty much everything the same as back home as for selection, except that it's a little more expensive here, but only by a couple dollars or so. But pop/soda (whatever you prefer) is expensive here so has caused me to break my - albeit, bad - habit of drinking Coke everyday. A regular 2L bottle will run you around $4AUD while a case of 24 cans can be from $18-24AUD. So, water it is (bottles also slightly more expensive but will have to do).

[picture on the right is of my dorm room (there's more to it, I promise, just can't see it because it's around the corner...)]





On campus there's a fair bit of selection - I never went to a university that had meal plans or anything so I don't know how it's supposed to be, but it seems fairly good in variety and taste. Since I am living on campus I have a meal plan, but my lovely parents got my a fridge and microwave so I can store things like cereal, bread etc in my room.

[picture on the right is the sunrise as seen from my family's hotel]

Transportation

I haven't seen as many bigger luxury cars here (your standard BMW, Benz etc) but they're still around. A lot more Toyotas and Hyundai cars with most of them being smaller hatch-backs or mid-size cars. You'll still see lots of SUVs and 4x4, but not as many as in Toronto I think.

Buses are clean and affordable - much more so than the TTC I think, but I never depended on that too much so I may be wrong. There are also many trains, but no subway system - which I believe can't be done because I think there are earthquakes here...?

[picture on the left is the beach in front of my parents' hotel]

People

Despite the reputation of being a more "racist" country, the people here have been nothing but welcoming and nice all around. They generally seem to have the same mannerisms as Canadians (they say their "please" and "thank you") and are talkative.

There isn't a huge deal of diversity where I'm living (but then again, I live in a city thats probably 60-70% Indian so I'm used to seeing that and other cultures) but still many people of various backgrounds.

People are very laid back here - flip flops are national dress code, but many people walk around barefoot everywhere in malls, outside etc (maybe it's where Britney Spears picked it up?). But girls are always dressed casual, but also dressed up, if that makes sense. The latest of every style is adorned by women of all ages. Men are also casual, t-shirt, shorts, flip flops. But with gorgeous weather there's nothing else you really need.

Social Life

I haven't really caught on to the social scene here because I've been trapped in the bubble of university life (which I've never experienced having lived at home during undergrad and off campus while in Michigan). But there are LOTS of shopping centres here - all with and outdoor/indoor style so you get to be outside with the stores. The pictures below show some of it. There are tons and tons and TONS of clothing and shoe stores which puts me in a very dangerous place. So tempting, but no money...what's a girl to do!?!?! They have a lot of the big store names like we have in North America - Target, K Mart, Toys R Us and Tandy (which became Radio Shack in Canada, which is now The Source by Circuit City) so getting things for my room has been easy enough.

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I really am enjoying myself here for the most part. My classes started this week so I'm back to the books and have been busy otherwise setting up my dorm room and meeting new people and exploring my new home away from home.

My family, who came here with me, got back home this past week but because I've kept busy I haven't been overly homesick. Though once my family left I did sit in my room just wondering how it is that I ended up all the way here...this time last year I was getting ready for Michigan!

[The picture on the left is of my dad and sister on the beach]

I'm sorry for the late post but the internet itself took awhile to get set-up and then everything else. I've been updating myself on everyone else's blogs as much as I can - though it's only been about 2 weeks or so, I feel so out of touch with everyone.

Hope you're all doing well.

P.S. VDG has actually mellowed out and become a very sweet and fun girl. Since she was the only person I knew when I got here we hung around together and she turns out to be quite the social butterfly so has managed to meet a lot of people which she has made a point to introduce me too so it's been fun getting to know her and others around campus.

P.P.S. Flickr is having many issues and won't upload all my pictures so I will try another way of getting around it soon...the ones above are just a few of them